by Brian Mansur
“You have a Red Cross on your arm, Lieutenant!” Sean went on. “You could be called a war criminal for attacking an enemy like that! What if they use what you did as an excuse to shoot the next Mykonian medic they find?”
Mortified, Sarah knew he was right. She’d abandoned her patients in a foolhardy attempt to rescue him. And what she had done might indeed end up costing others their lives.
“I’m not that important, Sarah,” he said. “Why did you risk yourself for me?”
Sarah coughed. Her eyes swam in tears. "I couldn't let you die. I couldn't." At that, she began gasping.
I can't breathe, she thought, choking on her own fumes.
Sean's eyes bulged as he finally noticed the tell-tales flashing in her HUD. Both her rebreather and O2 tank had given out. He moved swiftly to pop her neck seals and raise the helmet a few centimeters. Feeling like a child who'd been hiding under the bed covers for far too long, Sarah inhaled the cool, fresh air. Her head quickly cleared some.
She blinked and shook the moisture from her lids. For a long moment, she stared helplessly into Sean’s ice blue eyes, her lip quivering. He stared back, agony etched in his face. And then he pulled her to him in a tight embrace.
15
Location: Warden orbital space lane, Cervantes system_
Cef swam in the waves of violence and terror washing up from the Warden relays near Zeus. With his expanded mentality, he sampled thousands of personal agonies at once. As Zeus broke apart, his lobes soaked in the screams of the doomed. Meanwhile, his neuronal feeds lapped up the tearful cries of refugees in the shuttles. All the while, his innards relished the counterpoint of silence echoing from the dead.
While gorging on the suffering, Cef merrily declared to Len, “Phase Two has begun. You may now counter-move.”
Len considered his options one last time. Game simulations continued to play out in his ancillary brains. He ranked follow-on scenarios according to shifting probabilities bubbling up in a chaotic sea of possibilities. The impact caused by Rafe’s fortunate meddling had exceeded Len’s expectations. The simulations indicated that the Mykonian spy might do even more damage to Lilith and Cef. Len saw a shifting pathway ahead: one which he might set Rafe upon to deliver hope for a meaningful counter-strike.
At last, the transhuman said, “I exercise the following overrides.” His commands surged through the Warden network.
Privately, Len worried. Even at the speed of light, his orders would take minutes to reach Belia. He projected that the Mykonians would lose several more units before his override of Lilith’s shut-down codes could be enacted. But at least there was one—very costly—command line that he expected she would be too late to do anything about.
“That will not make Lilith happy,” Cef noted with an almost musical expression of glee. “You now have only nineteen percent of your playing options remaining.”
Len resisted the impulse to respond. Against his better judgment, he accessed a camera-feed from the Zeus lifeboat carrying Rafe’s children. In its belly, people mewled. Some vomited as they struggled to adjust to zero-gravity. All of them grieved.
A sympathetic cascade of discharges played across Len’s multi-brain. He hurt for them. Disconnecting the link, he returned his attention to plotting how to beat Cef at his cruel game and so win the freedom of Cervantes’ humans.
Location: Lilith’s private estate, Lakshmi Colony_
All around Rafe, Mykonians burned and died. Screen after screen replayed the destruction of Zeus, the Typhoon, and a dozen other vessels. He guessed a third of the BELCOM fleet had been annihilated in the span of ten minutes. Eventually, his gaze fell upon Henry who, at that same moment, glanced back at him.
Was that pity in the spy’s eyes? A measure of admiration?
After the initial shock over losing his home and probably also his family, Rafe had grown remarkably still. He had no strength left to fight. He hurt in too many places to count, mind and body. He’d slept little in three days. And unscratched itches plagued his stinking body. If someone pushed him over, he doubted he’d get up for a week.
And why fight? If Gita and the girls were dead, he had no one left to live for.
Rafe looked on as Lilith watched her vid screens with unbridled glee. She’d seemed particularly pleased at how her mech had endured the boarding party’s weapons. Before the Feni’s escape pod launched, she’d ordered Natrix to send six mechs from the cargo holds toward the Tsu. Each rode atop a boxy, high-acceleration transfer rocket and would reach the battleship in minutes. Lilith clearly expected them to overwhelm the ship with little trouble.
At some point in the parade of flaming destruction, Lilith turned to Rafe and said, “You see, Mr. Hastings. Nothing of what you suffered matters. I’ve beaten you anyway.”
The words pricked at Rafe’s broken heart. Despite his prayers, Lilith’s attack had succeeded. It was even odds at best that his family had escaped. His only other consolation lay in knowing that fewer Mykonians had perished because he’d kept his secrets.
The not-knowing made him want to tune the world out: to lose himself in the cauldron of misery within. Then a flash of memory struck. Once his father had spoken of being a young cadet on his first live-fire rifle range. The senior Hastings thought he’d been doing poorly, so he let his shots go wild toward the end. When he left the range, he found that he’d been two hits away from earning a sharpshooter badge. The lesson: “Don’t throw away your bullets, son.”
Reaching for some final reserve within, Rafe told himself, They could still be alive. And you’re not dead. So, pay attention. You still have work to do, Commander.
Staring ahead, he noticed how the Lakshmian Prime Minister, Shaasti Dalip, kept checking his handheld. Rafe imagined the stream of calls and alerts his frantic staff was pinging him with. On Lilith’s left, Henry resembled a father embarrassed by his daughter’s overly exuberant behavior at a funeral.
A long silence passed before Dalip said, “The media is mostly focused on the news about Zeus. A few have picked up that the Mykonian ships are also being taken out.”
“Satisfied then?” Lilith asked the two men. “Have I not delivered what I promised? We’ve routed the Mykonians. And with only half of the Arbiters in position.”
“I’ve already signaled Celes,” Henry said, his serious manner a stark contrast to Lilith’s. Even through his grief, Rafe appreciated that display of professionalism. One shouldn’t celebrate until all the cards were played.
Lilith said, “And you Dalip?”
“Impressive, but why couldn’t we do this to all of the Mykonian colonies and be done with them?” Dalip asked.
The woman shrugged and grinned. “My resources have their limits. Shall we make our announcement now and expand them?”
Dalip replied, “What if the fleet’s survivors come for us or your Arbiter emplacements?”
Lilith kept smiling. “You’ve seen what I can do to their ships if pushed too far. And we have enough Casabas to frighten them off if needs be.”
The prime minister said, “I would have preferred a demonstration of their abilities.”
“I told you I don’t have any to spare. But what are you worried about? We can trust the Wardens’ weapons. Have some faith.” She cuffed him on the shoulder.
Dalip pondered her explanation for a beat. “Yes. Yes, it is time to address the system.”
As Lilith and Dalip stood to leave, she asked, “You’re sure you won’t join us, Henry?”
Feigning disappointment, Henry said, “It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to show myself yet. Besides which, I should take care of our loose end here.” He gestured at Rafe. “Please, enjoy your moment. You earned it.”
Lilith nodded graciously, then paused to study Rafe. She shook a finger at him.
“Don’t kill him yet, Henry,” she said. “Not if you want to sleep in my bed tonight.”
Rafe shifted his eyes toward Lilith as she departed, wondering where else had he heard words like those.
Before he could pursue the notion further, he noticed Henry stalking toward him. The man pulled a syringe from a breast pocket in his coat.
“Pain-killer and stimulant,” the spy explained. The cool tendril of liquid relief spread quickly through Rafe’s veins, silencing many of his screaming nerves.
Feeling his body relax a degree, Rafe wheezed, “She’s too vindictive for her own good.”
Henry regarded Rafe with a set jaw. “Yes,” he admitted. “And crazy.” The words echoed with regret. Rafe couldn’t help wondering if the man was actually developing feelings for the deranged mob boss.
“Well,” Henry said, recovering from his melancholy, “now that the game is finished, will you tell me what happened with the information Baylor gave you?”
“The game’s not over,” Rafe replied, coughing.
“No, I suppose it isn’t.” He scratched the back of his head. “As you can tell, she isn’t likely to give you to my custody.” He crouched to Rafe’s level and peered past his swollen eye sockets. “I could kill you now if you like. You’ve earned that courtesy. Just say the word.”
Rafe stared back, his head wobbling like it might fall off at any moment. He ignored the inner voice begging him to accept the offer.
They might still be alive! his inner voice shouted. Keep him talking!
“Why haven’t you killed Lilith yet?” Rafe asked.
Henry gave a crooked smile. “You’re very good Commander Hastings. As you said, the game isn’t over. I’m sure you can deduce my reasons.”
Rafe could. He imagined that only Lilith controlled whatever gifts she had received from the Wardens. Rather than risk losing access to her arsenal, the Celesians were willing to chance the mad woman turning her toys against them. Rafe suspected Henry’s lust for the seductress also had something to do with it.
“I am genuinely sorry for you and your family,” Henry said. “With any luck, once Lilith and Dalip have made their broadcast, your government will see the wisdom of conceding to us. There is no need for more Mykonians to die.”
Rafe stifled a painful chuckle. That he could find anything funny amidst his grief surprised him. But he had heard few things more humorous.
“Live under Celesian rule?” he asked.
The founders of the totalitarian Celesian Union had spent the last fifty years conquering or otherwise absorbing all the colonies orbiting Celes. Only a grudgingly signed treaty with Mykon kept them away from the fractured Belian system.
“Come now, Mr. Hastings,” Henry said. “Celes is not all that different from Mykon. We both use A.I.s to govern our lives. We just take it a step further than you.”
That was an understatement, Rafe knew. Instead of mere public oversight, the Celesian populace had a total lack of privacy. Everything one said and did in Celes, even in one’s own home, was policed by an A.I. who reported suspect activities to an army of overseers. The Celesians took the nightmare a step further by fitting their population with slave collars. The police used them to punish violators for even talking in ways deemed disloyal.
“You don’t look convinced,” Henry said. “Tell me, how many fathers molest their daughters in Mykon every year? How many rapes happen in privacy zones because the victims are too ashamed to bring charges: even though your A.I.’s see what goes on in your homes anyway? How many murders are still committed each year?”
“By whom?” Rafe said, trying desperately not to think of his daughters in agony. “Private citizens? Or the state?”
“It is not murder if the state lawfully executes a criminal.”
Rafe harrumphed in spite of his discomfort. The Celesians broadcasted a public execution every week or so for vague and minor offenses. Everyone had heard reports of the union’s ‘re-education’ camps. Sometimes people would escape Celesian space on a freighter or talk to a visiting national. They shared stories of horror and oppression on a massive scale.
“It is murder,” Rafe replied, “if the law isn’t just or the judge isn’t honest.”
“But of course,” Henry said, “that is the beauty of our system. The A.I.s ensure honesty and impartiality. They cannot be bribed or fooled.”
“But the A.I.s can be told to lie. They aren’t Wardens.”
“And what evidence could you possibly have that such a colossal betrayal of trust had occurred?”
“It’s all academic. Lilith will just stop our ships and kill us, won’t she?”
Henry stared Rafe down. His silence confirmed Rafe’s suspicions. Lilith’s trick to shut down the Mykonian defenses had limits. It could be countered. Why else hadn’t Henry used it to point out the futility of resisting the Celesian alliance with Lilith? Why else had Lilith needed to reassure Dalip with her cryptic reference to that so-called “Casaba” weapon?
Henry opened his mouth to speak when a harsh klaxon alerted them to a public Warden announcement.
Henry turned about. “Ah, Lilith’s address is about to begin.”
On the room’s most prominent screen, an obsidian Warden enforcer appeared. Without preamble, it said, “Denizens of Belia. The bankruptcy of your thinking has brought you to the edge of disaster. We offer you a choice and hope. You may fight amongst yourselves, or you can unite under a steward of our choosing. We give you Empress Lilith. Defy her if you wish, but be warned, she enjoys Warden custodial immunity. Your new empress will address you now.” The camera panned to Lilith. Dalip stood close by, slightly behind her right shoulder.
“Thank you, Warden,” Lilith said. Rafe felt nauseated revulsion at her beatific, almost motherly smile.
“I am humbled to have been chosen as your administrator,” she said. “Celes has united with me. Together, we will end the oppressive machinations of the Mykonians. Together, we will bring peace and a new era of prosperity to Belia and the Cervantes system.”
The audacious words prompted Rafe to look to Henry. The Celesian’s narrowed gaze and tightened jaw couldn't be mistaken. His hands had clenched into white-knuckled fists. Dalip’s onscreen face had also hardened.
They didn’t expect that little nugget about immunity. Now they can’t kill Lilith.
In point of fact, they could try, but the Wardens would quickly execute anyone who harmed Lilith. It had been some time since protective Warden custody had been invoked, but Rafe recalled how punishment could extend to any immediate family, close friends and loved ones. If an order to kill or maim Lilith could be traced back to any officials, they would suffer the same far-reaching punishment. Rafe wondered if even an Arbiter would override the woman’s new immunity.
“Thanks to intelligence from the Wardens,” she continued, “we now know the Mykonians have been quietly threatening Belia’s governments for the last decade. If their demands for resources and slaves were not met, the Mykonians secretly promised to destroy entire colonies using their Arbiters.
“Ever since the fall of the Empire, these foreigners professed to be our friends. In reality, they have been trafficking Belian refugees, goods, and money back to Mykonian space to fatten their economy and service their citizens. We will never know how many were tricked into leaving their homes under false promises of new and better lives. We will never know how many of our brothers and sisters have become the slaves of Mykonian factory managers and farm bosses. We will never know how many of our women and children have been turned into sex slaves, catering to the debased lusts of the Mykonian elite.”
She paused to let the doubt and outrage perfuse her viewers. Rafe, of course, took her words as a personal insult against everything his shattered life stood for. He didn’t believe for a second that he served so reprobate a nation. He couldn’t face his wife again, if she still lived, thinking he had been part of a machine of abuse that he strongly suspected had grounded her in the years before they met.
“And,” Lilith said, “for those of us left behind: poverty. Look around and ask how it is possible that the Mykonians can be so prosperous while we yet struggle? How can this be unless they are cheating us? Well
, their tyranny ends now! The Wardens have gifted me, personally, with control over many new weapons, including Arbiters. At every Belian colony, the Mykonians have positioned their ships, so at every colony, I have placed Arbiters with their own nuclear arsenals to defend us. For your own safety, I recommend you do not attempt to interfere with these weapons systems.”
Lilith waited for her audience to assimilate the implications of those statements. She commanded Arbiters that would defend themselves and which could annihilate the homes of anyone who opposed her.
“Today, I have used these tools to paralyze all of the military forces at Belia in order to make it possible for me to safely humble the Mykonian fleet and destroy their Arbiters. Be assured that control of your defenses will be restored presently. And you have my promise that I will help defend your colonies from these evil people if needs be.”
Evil?! Rafe thought to himself. You attack my wife—my innocent little girls—and call us evil?
He churned more as Lilith said, “I have no wish to see people die needlessly,” as though minutes before she hadn’t expressly targeted his house on Zeus. “As a token of my mercy, I allowed the residents at Zeus time to evacuate before destroying the station. I have deliberately left more than half of the Mykonian fleet at Belia intact. I grant them two week’s grace to resettle Zeus’s refugees and tend to their wounded. Afterward, I order them to remove their warships from Belian space or else I will do it for them. Details on a program to deport Zeus’s survivors will be forthcoming. Rest assured, anyone who tests my strength, or patience will suffer.”
Rafe jolted to hear her admit that most of Zeus’ population might have survived. He’d counted only a handful of lifeboats blasting away during the attack’s live footage. This news gave him more hope for his family. This, in turn, bolstered his resolve to survive and get word about what he’d learned back to his comrades. If only he could let them know about how thinly Lilith had spread herself, they might have a chance at striking back.
