They arrived at the end of an alley where they waited and watched.
A convoy of hover cars fled past them from far above. Others that had been parked on roofs, alleys, and garages chased after them. The Ward had drawn out Stavon’s men as they raced toward DanuVitro.
“Hold on,” Tolman said as he accelerated the hover car, angling it almost vertical, while trailing in Zarnel’s wake. They followed her away from the others and made a wide circle toward the backside of the penthouse.
“There,” Margi yelled and pointed to a section of low-lying buildings where four hover cars had rocketed off the rooftops, aimed to intercept them.
She braced her gun over the side and fired. The glass on a nearby structure exploded as the laser struck it. She took aim again and fired. As she did, laser light from another’s gun shone in her eyes, temporarily blinding her. Tolman angled the car higher, and the engine strained.
She looked ahead and saw Zarnel driving with one hand and taking aim with her gun in the other, laying a salvo of green laser light as she sped on. One hover car dropped from the sky, causing another to swerve from its trajectory. That car trailed Tolman’s from afar and was gaining speed.
Margi turned backward to straddle the back of the seat. She felt Tolman’s hand on her shoulder blades, steadying her. She took aim and fired. The other car swayed left and right, causing shots to scatter at its sides. One hit Margi’s seat, causing her to lurch back only to be held firm by Tolman’s hand.
She caught sight of another hover car diving from above. Zarnel’s. Shots spewed toward the chasing car, hitting it. A ball of fire erupted and it spun off and hit another structure, causing the glass to collapse on three stories.
They rounded Stavon’s structure. She could see the landing pad on the penthouse. Her heart raced.
In the distance, hover cars circled and dove with lasers streaming in all directions. Black smoke lay in the aftermath.
Zarnel’s car spun as she laid another round of shots in every direction but theirs. Tolman’s car still climbed as the penthouse came into view. Margi saw a clear landing as they neared.
Another hover car banked them. She recognized the driver as being with The Ward. His passenger fired at a hover car as it dove toward Tolman’s, speeding at them as if on a suicide mission if all else failed.
Shots rained down on Tolman’s car and it lurched to the left as the right engine failed. Margi looked at Tolman and saw that his right arm had been hit. He let loose the driver’s stick and the car careened toward the structure.
She leveraged the stick to right the vehicle, but they were losing altitude. Another car passed them as it fell from the sky, its driver having ejected. It crashed onto Stavon’s landing pad, breaking away its pier. The car slid to the edge and hung.
Tolman grabbed the stick but angled the car so high that Margi felt like she was on a ride at the fair that had lost its pistons and was about to fling its passengers into space. The car swerved toward the landing pad, crashing into the wreckage, with both cars heaped to the sloping ledge.
Tolman and Margi leapt out and scrambled to the door. Margi lost her footing as the pad tilted farther. She slid toward its edge and felt Tolman’s hand grasp hers, his other holding firmly to the door latch. Pain showed clearly in his face as he strained in spite of his wounded arm.
The cars slid off the foundation as the landing pad dropped flush to dangle at the structure’s side. She sensed her weight float away from the pad as it fell away from her, then felt the jerk of her elbow socket as Tolman suspended her. He fell to the floor at the opening with her hand firmly in his grasp. She dropped flush to the side of the facade. Looking down she saw black clouds mingled with the white ones and cars veering in and out scattered along green lasers that appeared to string them all together. There was no safety there, only too many moments of awareness on her descent until she would reach the streets.
Tolman rose up through the threshold and pulled her to safety. Margi toppled onto him as he fell backward to the floor. She looked beyond him to see a man emerging from the hallway, taking aim. She fired her gun, throwing him against the wall. She jumped up and ran toward him. He was dead. She placed his gun inside her waistband and canvassed the space while Tolman was firing outside.
She peered into the empty hallway and skimmed along the wall as she went, then darted into the closet. She dropped to her knees and retrieved the case of devices that had stored the collection of entries. These personal backups would be Rivner’s contribution to a better civilization. Her private dialogue had preserved her voice above her wayward life.
She located the ones with the entries she needed, placed them in her vest pocket, and returned to the main room. Tolman had scooted away from the landing pad’s door and was lying on the floor near the dead man.
“Don’t die,” she said.
He grinned as if he were laughing at her. It was a good sign and would do for the moment. She helped him to his feet and led him to Stavon’s garage.
She hit the console panel and the garage wall began opening to the sky. A breeze wafted in, carrying metallic-smelling smoke from the battle outside.
Stavon’s cars were aligned head to end. The rose gold convertible with white interior was in the last position. She helped Tolman into the passenger seat and set the dead man’s gun in his lap. She hopped in the driver’s seat as wind blew in from the opening.
Tolman strapped himself in.
She started the engines and stared at the dash for a moment. Tolman reached to a switch and the car hovered. She glanced over to find him grinning at her again.
She chuckled and angled the driving stick to the ledge and over the top they went. The car swooped from the sky as she had seen done so many times before. She recovered and leveled the vehicle, then darted ahead of the others with Zarnel on their tail.
Tolman fired his gun ahead of them. Margi aimed the vehicle in a kamikaze maneuver, making the opposing car veer defensively. Tolman took his shot, and the car spiraled in their direction.
She drove the stick downward, and they plummeted. Zarnel kept pace as she fired her weapon all around her as did Margi and Tolman. When Margi noticed that other drivers were shooting at her assailants, she concentrated on fleeing the war zone.
Zarnel managed to maneuver ahead of them and indicated that they follow her. Margi let her take the lead, and together they angled around the structures and went to street level, where they hid.
Zarnel jumped from her car and ran to Tolman.
“You okay?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said and laid his hand on Margi’s.
Zarnel examined the wound. “It took a chunk. But you’ll be fine.” She retrieved a kit from her car and bandaged him.
“Nice car,” she quipped.
“I’ve had my eye on it,” Margi replied and ran her fingers along the white seat. “Of course, now it’s got blood on it.”
Tolman laughed outright. “Sorry.”
Margi leaned over and gently kissed him. “Don’t go,” she whispered.
“I’ll try not to.” He closed his eyes and rested.
* * *
Sometime later, they made their last leg to the meet-up location. They entered the station where Byn and a group were waiting.
Margi approached him and handed over the diary entries. He invited her to join the team readied at their stations. Together, they searched over the entries as Zarnel and the others watched, while Tolman recovered.
At last, they displayed Rivner’s entry from her first Great Adventure. When she finished, the group was silent, just as taken in by the repentance as Margi had been and more so.
Byn spoke first. “Margi. We need you to record an introduction to the video. They need to know who you are.”
She knew this was true. She followed a woman to a recording area. She was about to give the story of a lifetime.
She looked into the camera lens and spoke. When she finished, she felt the silence of narrative that w
as spent, having nothing more to say.
She peered at the camerawoman.
“You got it?” the woman asked the others.
“Got it,” one said.
The others went to work preparing the film.
Margi went to Tolman. “Ready for another round?”
He laughed and flinched.
“I’m proud of you,” he said.
She swept the hair from his forehead and kissed him.
Zarnel sat with them.
Margi asked her, “Was the raid successful?”
“No.”
Margi lingered on the thought. Stavon would be even more entrenched at DanuVitro and have more members of The Ward. People would fear defeat more crudely as Stavon would surely show them what could be done with it.
“We’re going live,” someone said.
She helped Tolman from the cot, and they followed the others to the display. They saw the virtual monitors checkered with individual windows that cast from all sections of town. One by one their holograms faded away.
“Audio. Now,” one said.
A static sound and crackling noise burst from speakers placed throughout the city. Margi’s image appeared on all of the hologram sites.
“My name is Margi Hall, though I look like Rivner, spokeswoman for DanuVitro and wife of its CEO, Stavon. I was brought to Danu from my dearest planet Earth as an experiment. I lent my voice to play the part I was given so that I could survive, and I now know the horrors of DanuVitro and want the citizens of Danu to thrive to their fullest. This is why I bring to you a diary entry Rivner made upon her first return from Meno. I hope it sheds light on the personal costs of making the wrong choices. Know that Rivner loved her people. We have this message for you: Remember who you are.”
The video cut to a young Rivner. She settled before the camera. “I took my first Great Adventure this week. I went as a teenaged boy.” Her voice cracked. She turned off the camera. Then the video resumed with Rivner composed. “I named him Welser because that was the name I knew him as back on Danu. I knew this boy.” She looked down and then peered into the camera a moment before continuing. “I killed myself on Meno.” She ran her hands through her hair. “I spent a whole lifetime on Meno and did nothing. I wish I hadn’t done it.” Rivner turned off the camera.
The complete video played over and over. Margi and Tolman ventured outside and went around the corner. They walked until they came across a boardwalk with the video playing. A speaker carried far as the sound echoed off a row of buildings.
People emerged from their homes and stood gaping and pointing at the image. Some shed tears. Hover cars overhead stopped as their passengers took in the sight below.
Margi wanted to weep for them, not in remorse but in seeing truth now contrasting against the lies. A civilization that had been lost at least twice to the self-serving at last might have a future with Byn and The Ward. They had hope. Stavon had lost his most valuable resource—the concealed lie.
Tolman held her close to him as they watched. The video satisfied for a time until she knew that her journey was coming to a close. She needed to see what her fate was to be.
They returned to the station and saw the celebratory cheer that had enveloped the place. Young and old displayed the same spirit of vitality. A new tomorrow was at hand.
Byn approached them. “Margi. Thank you.” His eyes glistened.
“We’re not done,” she said.
“No, we’re not.” His face sobered, she suspected from the weight of an obligation that would prove to be harder to fulfill than releasing a new civilization. He needed to return her to Earth.
He regained his composure. “Already we are getting more recruits. Let my group gather them and we will go to DanuVitro.”
She relished more time with Tolman, but she was also anxious for her return. She didn’t see Rolo. They would need him. “I understand,” she said and yet part of her did not.
Tolman led her from the room.
He took her through the tunnels, this time at a leisurely stroll. She was recognized by some who hugged her but respected Tolman’s guardianship and went about their way. Others passed by them, more than she had seen before, their brisk pace telling her they had urgent business. The expression on their faces indicated that they might seek out someone they loved. A renewed spirit had filled even the dark, dank tunnels of Danu.
They came to a fork in the passage and were about to venture down one side. A man headed their way and something about the way he moved was not in keeping with the mood of the others. He drew a pistol from his far side and aimed at her.
Tolman and Margi startled. Others scattered. Stavon’s men surrounded them. She thought they might shoot her dead right there in a puddle, but the wrath of Stavon would prove too great to chance even that.
Another man approached Tolman and struck him across the head with a pistol. Tolman dropped to the ground and groaned. Another kicked him in the ribs, rolling him onto his back.
Margi screamed and collapsed on top of him. They would have to kick and punch their way through to him if she had her way. She glared at each of them, daring them to try.
One grabbed her, lifting her to him.
She glared hate into his soul, which she imagined already full of residue from bad deeds.
“You’ll see how it feels soon enough,” he said.
The other men smirked.
They yanked Tolman by the arms and hoisted him up. They bound her hands behind her and did the same to Tolman, then paraded them through the tunnels before their common fellows.
People pressed their backs to the walls as they passed by, horror on their faces. No one stepped forward. No one dared. Margi understood and forgave them. She had known that fear.
They emerged at street level and trod through the hologram video of Margi and Rivner, where they were escorted to an awaiting DanuVitro car and driven away.
Tolman reclined in the seat, possibly with broken ribs. Margi tried to brush against him to prop him up.
One of the men held a gun to Tolman’s head. She backed away, and the man lowered his arm. She turned toward the window and remembered Rolo’s words: Anything is possible. She exhaled the tension.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The car rose above the smoke and then the clouds. Margi saw the DanuVitro structure ahead as they continued to climb higher. She saw the glass floor of Stavon’s office ahead of them. A familiar figure sat at the desk.
The car circled to the private pad and landed. A man pulled her out and walked toward the guarded door.
She yelled for Tolman, but the car had taken flight.
She walked with the man through the corridor lined with artwork—an aesthetic that now seemed offensive against the mood of the day. A guard had replaced the assistant at the entrance to Stavon’s office. He knocked on the door.
“Come in.” The tone was without inflection from a man who considered the events mundane. She knew he didn’t, but the game had begun.
They entered.
Stavon rose from his seat and walked to her.
The guard asked, “Shall I remove the cuffs?”
Stavon looked her over. “Can I trust you?”
“Can you?” she mimicked.
Stavon furrowed his brow at the guard. The man left with her hands still cuffed.
“You look different,” he commented.
“I’ve been enlightened.” She held back a torrent of ridicule that would do no good.
He stood before her. “I treated you like a queen.” His tone was rebuking, with an air of disappointment and shame. Yet his words fell flat.
“I never wanted to be a queen.”
“No?”
He looked genuinely surprised. “Not when I discovered the costs,” she corrected. “You have no soul.”
“Now, you’re nostalgic.” He placed his hands in his pockets and strolled to the window wall. “That’s quite a mess you made out there,” he said looking out. He turned to her. “I hea
r you broke my landing pad. That’s inconvenient.”
“Don’t be glib.”
“Such a waste.” He paced toward her. “At least we are now well-funded with new participants, compliments of The Ward.” He pointed his finger in the air. “Oh, and that little stunt you pulled with the video hologram was quite crafty on your part. I won’t soon forget it, but the people will. Ferli is writing up a press release.” He chuckled. “You irritated her more than Rivner did. Impressive.”
The cuffs were digging into her wrists, pressing into the bone, but she didn’t move.
“I admit I’m at a loss as to what I’m going to do with you. Long term, that is. Let me show you what I have planned in the short term. Come,” he said as he walked to the door.
Margi followed him out with the guard falling in line behind her.
They walked along the familiar halls and passed the room where Rolo had given her the covert examination. They went farther. Margi’s pace slowed as they approached the room where she had once seen a man’s clone.
Stavon opened the door and ushered her in as the guard waited outside. What stood before her was a sight that she could never have dreamed of in any nightmare. A clone with transparent tissue buoyed in a vat. Red arteries and blue veins coursed blood through the limbs and torso to a heart that was beating. The eyes showed through the lids. Teeth were still taking form deep within the gums.
“Meet a younger you for your return from Meno,” Stavon said as he walked the circumference of the tank.
“You can’t,” she whispered with what breath was left in her.
“I’m actually very excited with the results. A new and improved you. It’s perfect timing really. We’ve been working on it for far too long. Rolo is quite helpful though, as I’m sure you’ve discovered.”
Her thoughts dispersed into a thousand directions. She closed her eyes to block the scene but found no solace. There was no escape. She wanted to kick the vat and have its cloudy contents spill out, along with the blood and bile and half-formed tissue. It was only a body, she told herself. It wasn’t a person without someone to assume it. She would not. She gazed at the body and wondered if she would take the same actions that Rivner did with Welser and refuse a life that she didn’t want to live. At least this body was a clone and not from a person she loved. Her thoughts snagged on the notion.
The Assumption Code Page 18
