by M. M. Perry
“Naomi,” one of the Alphea’s said.
Naomi could no longer tell which was which as they were both dressed in identical orange-piped jumpsuits.
“What happened? Why aren’t you with Eagle Eye?”
Naomi knew they would neither want nor care to know about Mike’s complicated feelings, so she talked around the reason.
“Book intercepted messages. The Captain and the rest of Command will be coming for them,” she said.
“Yes, we know,” Cadmus said snidely. “I do hope they sent you back with something more useful than that. Surely they know we’re also capable of snooping on the bridge.”
Alphea ignored Cadmus.
“Were you able to convince many soldiers to join our side?”
Naomi nodded, eager to avoid any potential prying into her relationship with Mike.
“Sixty or so, I think. More than a quarter the force.”
“That’s not enough,” cursed Cadmus.
“Well,” Naomi interjected, “no. But, they’re sure if they can prove that the same people who ordered those four kids executed are still in charge, they can get most of the rest of them. They’ve focused on influential soldiers, people who others would follow if they thought the cause was just. Is there any way we can find something like that for them to use?”
“I think that’s something we can help with,” Alphea said warmly. “In fact Jeremy has contacted someone who can take us right to what we need. Go, get some rest. I expect the bridge will move shortly. We may have to jump in the fray ourselves, and you’ve probably had a long day.”
“Thanks. I am tired. If there’s anything you need?”
“No. You rest,” Alphea said.
Jeremy tugged gently on her hand. She let him lead her into the dark toward their sleeping berth. Naomi felt a pull on her sleeve and stopped, Jeremy halting with her. Bullseye had followed them from the conference table. Naomi could just make him out in the dim light, though she couldn’t see the expression on his face.
“There are reports in there that say they think Eagle Eye abandoned his duty because of you,” Bullseye said.
It felt odd to hear Mike’s voice with such a different tone.
“I heard something about that,” she confessed.
“Why?”
“I can’t speak to the way Command thinks.”
“You misunderstand. He’s me. Why you? Why are you special? I read through his personal files. They read remarkably similar to mine. He’s had the same opportunities as me, the same drive to succeed. I’ve met you. I don’t feel some great connection. You’re like so many civilians I’ve helped before. And you even come with a,” he gestured toward Jeremy, “complication. Why would meeting you so fundamentally change him and not me?”
Naomi could hear the genuine need in the question, but she had no answer.
“Perhaps, when it’s all done, you’ll be able to ask him.”
They left Bullseye just outside the glow of the conference area. When they arrived at their cots, placed side-by-side, Naomi collapsed into one and fell asleep instantly.
Fifteen
Naomi opened her eyes. It felt like she’d only slept for a few seconds. The lights were brighter around her than when she’d collapsed into the cot, but not by much. Jeremy was shaking her arm.
“It’s started. An hour ago the bridge called all the military they knew to be loyal to them. Now every soldier is being ordered to assemble in the barracks’ training center. Alphea thinks they’ll move on Mike any moment now.”
Naomi scrambled off her cot feeling her bones creak. She wiped her eyes and looked around to see bustle throughout the makeshift camp.
“What’re we doing?”
“We need to be ready if they fail. Alphea says there’s no way they’ll let any of us live. We’re going to have to fight if that happens. We’re spreading out so they can’t just depressurize the module bay and be rid of us.”
“I’m ready. Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“In the middle of a coup?”
Mike, Chef and Book stood next to each other in the large, open space of the training room. Kitch, near the front of the group, surreptitiously caught their eyes and nodded.
“I didn’t have time to crack those files, boss,” Book said nervously.
Mike shook his head.
“Alphea said not to worry about that.”
“Did she say anything else?” Chef asked.
Mike shook his head again.
“Frustratingly, no. She was cut off. That’s how I knew this was coming. All communication to the barracks from the rest of the ship has been cut off.”
“This is it then? The moment of truth,” Book said, looking around at the gathered soldiers. “And we’re all here, too. Almost all of us.”
“I’m noticing that, too,” Mike said, looking around.
“Do you think they’ll just open fire on us?” Book asked.
“I don’t know.”
The room abruptly quieted as several soldiers appeared above them on a catwalk, flanking Yvette. She strode confidently to the middle of the catwalk. Mike would have sworn he saw her smirk as she caught his gaze. He wished he was better armed. He only had a blade on him. All the rest of his weapons were in storage. He was sure the other soldiers assembled were similarly equipped. Yvette raised her hand to command attention.
“Captain Kyi has asked me to speak on her behalf. Right now she is busy securing the ship from any mutineers we might have missed,” Yvette said over the group.
The soldiers began to murmur.
“Yes,” Yvette said, commanding their attention again. “I can see this is a surprise to many of you, and that gladdens me. It means this upstart rebellion has yet to poison your minds. However, I am disheartened to see a number of you don’t look at all surprised by this turn of events. Those of you who have moved against your fellow soldiers, your Command, your own ship. Who have acted against our mission - you will be dealt with harshly.”
She glared down at the group, pausing for dramatic effect.
“What happens when we don’t obey?”
“Punishment to those who disobey,” the soldiers replied in unison.
Mike kept his mouth shut, refusing to respond to the call outs.
“Why do we obey?”
“Obedience assures success.”
“What does success mean?”
“Success is Mission’s End.”
“Yes. I am proud most of you remember your lessons so well. Very good. There are, however, some among you that have been turned against us. Who fraternized with civilians, forgetting the careful line we draw between civilians and military.”
The soldiers glanced at those around them, wondering who Yvette was talking about. Mike kept his eyes locked on the gennie from Command.
“When we allow the military,” Yvette continued, “to become close to civilians, it can be hard to deal with them appropriately when they endanger Mission’s End. One such civilian has endangered Mission’s End more than any before her. She secretly contacted the Tereshkova. Was convinced by their leaders to sabotage our ship, making negotiations for parts essential. Then made sure she was included in the group to go to the Tereshkova, where she helped them plan a takeover of our ship. She seduced a brave and noble commander, polluting his mind with lies and perversions. He is, unfortunately, too far gone to be forgiven. He has done too much to harm the mission. He must be punished.”
“Punishment to those who disobey,” the soldiers chanted.
Yvette nodded.
“He may have spoken to you. May have even convinced you, by lying about what occurred on the Tereshkova. When brave, noble second marksman Diego ‘Casings’ found out the truth about this woman, he killed her, ending her selfish, evil scheme. He then valiantly disabled the Tereshkova, ensuring they couldn’t threaten our ship further. And how was honorable Diego rewarded for his loyal service? He was murdered by his squad mate. A fel
low soldier. His friend. You must keep this in mind when you decide what to do with Eagle Eye.”
Mike felt the heat of everyone’s gaze on him. He ignored them, staring coldly up into Yvette’s eyes. Her face was expressionless, like she was stamping out an insect.
“Don’t think about the Eagle Eye who went with you on missions, the man who may have saved your life, or the life of someone you know. That man is gone. That is not the man in this room, the man who was tricked into treachery, murder and disobedience.”
Mike could feel his body filling with anger. Chef nudged him, calling his attention to the soldiers closing in on them. Mike was heartened to see that is wasn’t all the soldiers. Many held back, unsure of what to do in light of this information. Others stood firm, their gazes steady on Mike, indicating their solidarity with him despite what Yvette had said.
Based on the tale she was spinning, Yvette obviously believed Naomi had been killed. If the soldiers Mike had talked to had doubted him before this detail, their doubts were dispelled by the obvious lie. However, Yvette was peddling powerful propaganda. Without Naomi to offer as proof, Mike was unsure if he’d be able to convince the rest of the soldiers of Yvette’s deceit.
Book bumped into Mike as he took up position opposite Chef, flanking Mike protectively. Mike saw Kitch moving to join them. He shook his head ever so slightly. He knew the soldiers around him were on the verge of a frenzy and another of his squad mates barreling through the crowd to come to his aid would not squelch that fire.
“Wait,” a voice called out.
The room turned as one to Mack. He hopped onto a weight bench to gain some height. A few of his men closed ranks around him, gearing up for a possible confrontation.
“I know we all want to believe what Yvette says. It’s in our very blood. We’re raised to believe them. We’re raised to trust their every word. But we all know they can choose wrong. We all remember the four. I say to you, remember the four when I tell you she’s lying.”
Yvette, unperturbed, smiled down at Mack serenely.
“I’m so sorry you got caught up in this, Mack. Many under your own command stand with me. Don’t worry, we all know Eagle Eye can be very persuasive. I’m sure after some intensive realignment, you’ll see the light.”
“No,” said another.
Sticks hardly needed to gain height, her head easily over most in the room, but she also stood atop a weight bench.
“This woman lies. She says the girl Naomi is dead? Bullshit. I’ve seen the girl with my own eyes, here in this barracks, last night. I wasn’t sure until just now exactly how corrupt things had gotten in Command. Hearing her say these things, making up whatever story best fits her needs, I know, I was right to believe Eagle Eye.”
Yvette was taken aback, but she quickly regained her composure.
“He showed you a civilian? Told you who it was? Of course he did. That’s what sells his lies. Did you ever meet Naomi Tesla before last night? How can you be sure it was even her?”
She looked around the crowd. She saw she was gaining them back, and returned to her well-rehearsed speech.
“We must act swiftly, before Mike’s forked-tongue can do more damage. I ask you…”
Yvette’s voice was drowned out by a crackling of the rarely used ship-wide public address system. The whole room was startled by the sound.
“I hope this reaches those in the barracks in time,” Alphea’s voice echoed down at them. “All communications to you have been cut off, so this was our only option to get a message to you. I won’t say much myself, since I have only minutes before they’ll break down the door and get in here. This is a personal audio log from five years ago. A day I think most of you will remember well. If I’m right, you’ll recognize the voice as well.”
A sound came down from the speakers as if items were being shifted, followed by a squeal of feedback, then finally a calm voice, speaking almost emotionlessly. The room around Mike was deathly quiet as it began.
“Year six hundred sixty-seven. Day ninety-eight. We may have perhaps gone a little too far today with the conditioning of the soldiers…”
“These are lies! It’s a lie!” Yvette screamed from the catwalk. “You can see that, can’t you?”
She failed to get any response from the soldiers, unable to drown out the speakers.
“Some of the soldiers felt we were pressing too hard on the citizens. Particularly after a mission to contain four school children who wanted to choose their own jobs. We put the school children in holding for the time being. It was decided we might use them as an example to the soldiers. A kind of shock treatment, if you will. Xavier thought if we showed the soldiers how unimportant civilians were to the overall mission they’d stop personalizing them so much. It’s been a growing issue that they are forgetting the civilians are merely a tool to get us to Mission’s End. They have no other function than that, and if they fail at that function, they must be removed.”
“Do not listen. It’s a fabrication!” Yvette screamed at them, losing the last shred of composure she had.
The recording droned on.
“A bit of hubris for us, it seems. The obedience conditioning our predecessors came up with worked so well, we thought we could build on it. What we didn’t account for was how long it took for the initial obedience conditioning to set in. We assumed that their past conditioning would facilitate new conditioning. It turns out we were wrong.
“Before the demonstration we spent weeks using the repetition of the phrase ‘firm hand’ in concurrence with the ‘success’ mnemonic developed by our predecessors. It went well enough. They understood they were to repeat it. But we wrongly assumed they were actually absorbing it as well. They were merely performing a task like animals, waiting for a reward for behaving as expected. When we brought them all to witness the airlock execution, we continued using all the obedience mnemonics. But things got out of hand. The children began behaving pathetically, crying, banging on the viewport, begging for their lives.
“In retrospect, we all realized it was too soon. We should have waited another month, but Xavier was worried Kyi would discover exactly what we were doing and object. She’s meddled in our authority over the soldiers before, even though we told her they are not, nor will they ever be, her concern. She may have to be dealt with eventually.
“We had to sacrifice a few members of Command afterward to appease the soldiers. Make them think we were punishing the people who’d come up with the idea. The sacrifices protested at first, of course, but I was able to convince Kyi it was necessary.
“She needed to know why, because she can never just accept that we’re doing what’s best for the mission. I couldn’t tell her about the children being put in the airlock. So, I told her it was a training exercise that ended with the death of several soldiers. That we needed to show the soldiers we were accountable. Kyi fought me on that, too, trying to discover what it was we were doing in the barracks, but I put her off for now. We may need to have the counselors have a go at her to keep her in line. Note that idea for possible later use.
“One good thing came of this event, however. We interviewed the soldiers afterward and found a good number of them weren’t bothered by the incident. Perhaps they were more susceptible to the training. We aren’t sure yet. We’ve decided to use these soldiers for the messier work from now on. They don’t seem to mind. One in particular seemed eager to head up this new secret division. Casings, I think he calls himself. Diego is his official designation. His record is fairly lackluster, but he makes up for that in enthusiasm.
“It might be beneficial to share this small success with the Tereshkova. Winning their trust has proven difficult. They aren’t faring well with the counseling angle we gave them. They’re finding their civilian population more resistant. Perhaps they’re having the same problem with the conditioning of their civilians as we are with our soldiers. We’re both pushing too fast. I’ll update with any progress we achieve in my next log. Yvette signing off
.”
Mike glanced up at the cat walk to see Yvette and her soldiers had vanished. The soldiers that had been encircling him receded, shamed at thinking of attacking him.
The public-address system crackled again as another log began playing.
“Year six hundred sixty-seven, day one hundred two. So far everything we’ve tried with regard to the…”
The transmission was interrupted by a loud explosion. Voices could be heard coming closer to the radio.
“I am a gennie. I was put on board for exactly this reason. If I think this is the right thing to, I have the authority to…”
Alphea’s voice was cut off abruptly by a gun shot. Mike jumped at the sound, a knot forming in his gut. There was a clattering noise, then a click as the transmission was shut down.
Mike looked around at the soldiers, their faces ashen.
“It’s time we take this ship,” he said.
Jeremy and Naomi ducked into an open leisure room, took two generic jumpsuits from the wall, and changed into them. Naomi tucked the piece of paper Chef had given her into her sleeve. As the suits became active, their vitals lit up and the stripes on their arms formed their corresponding positions. Naomi looked down at her arm and shook it.
“It says I’m Carol Blackwell. And yours is wrong, too. It says you’re Byron Salk.”
“Alphea changed the records associated with our DNA. She said it wouldn’t help us hide in a prolonged search, but in the short run, it should keep us off the radar of anyone looking for us,” Jeremy said as he peeked around the corner. He grabbed Naomi’s hand, urging her to keep up.
They moved swiftly through the halls but no one paid attention. First shift would be starting soon, so most of the people around them assumed they were worried about being late. They made it to the center of the ship unchallenged. Jeremy hurried Naomi to one of the few lifts capable of stopping at every deck. As they got in, Naomi tugged his sleeve.
“Are you going to tell me where we’re going now?”
“We have to be out of the way. I was given a few options of where to take you, but when I suggested this they agreed it would be a great place to go,” Jeremy said as he hit the deck floor button.
