Chrysalis

by Brendan Reichs

  Cenisa stiffened as if zapped by a cattle prod. The light died and she collapsed. Two troopers strode forward and lifted her onto a slow-moving conveyer belt at the back of the room.

  “What are you doing?” I shouted at Sophia.

  She didn’t turn. “Watch, Min. It’s beautiful, in its way.”

  Cenisa disappeared inside the body of a giant machine spanning the length of the chamber. Moments passed where nothing happened. Sophia stood rock still, waiting. I followed her line of sight to the far end of the room, where the conveyer belt exited the sprawling apparatus.

  “Ah, here we are,” Sophia said.

  Something emerged from the machine. As it rode across the room, I couldn’t make out what the object was. Then I recognized a giant square of the purple gelatin. It passed through a laser grid and was neatly divided into serving-sized pieces.

  My knees gave out and I fell, my stomach emptying onto the floor. Sophia stood over me, watching dispassionately. “Nothing is wasted aboard Chrysalis. That girl has been repurposed so that biological life can go on. She will nourish crops, speed organic reactions, and keep the colony healthy and fit. She’s a hero, Min. She’s given all for the species.”

  I couldn’t stop retching. Muscles seized, and I writhed in pain. I thought I might choke to death—literally die from revulsion—but my body slowly regained control of itself. When I could see clearly again, I found Sophia crouching next to me.

  “No more games, Melinda Juilliard Wilder.” Her voice had lost all inflection. Something was wrong with her eyes. I scrambled away from her across the floor until I was backed against the wall.

  “Playtime is officially over.” Sophia regarded me like an insect. “I’m older than you could possibly fathom. Older than the star system you call home. But, though it pains me, even I’m not without requirements for survival.” She clasped her hands together. “I’ve been stuck here for millennia, crafting grotesque and wasteful suits of meat and bone, all so that I can acquire one of the very few things I need.”

  My eyes widened in horror. “What are you?”

  Sophia smiled coldly. “You couldn’t truly grasp it, but know this.” She waved a hand at the ceiling. “I am Chrysalis. You’re inside me, and part of me, though only for a little while.”

  My eyes shot to the door, but I’d never make it. I hesitated. “I don’t understand.”

  “You can’t understand. I was once a biological mess like you, a million beings chained within flesh like the lowest viruses. But I evolved. Merged. Uploaded, and became eternal. I inhabit the circuits around you, as you once did inside your MegaCom. It’s the better way, Min. It’s the path to immortality.”

  I rose slowly, wiping spittle from my mouth. Sophia observed me, unconcerned.

  “I need something from this planet,” she said briskly. “An element that is exceedingly difficult to find in the universe. It landed here a few billion years ago, and I was lucky enough to stumble across its radioactive signature. But in its pure form this element possesses an electromagnetism too powerful for my harvesting machines, or even my replicants. Nothing mechanical can get near it.” Her lip quirked. “But what luck! I found this child’s toy of a space station orbiting a mere one planet over, with only a primitive automated intelligence for protection. So I enslaved it, discovered your Programs, and copied them. Then I expanded and perfected this archaic platform, built the Terrarium, and brought us all here. I gave your eye-blink lives meaning, Min. Not that anyone has thanked me for it.”

  I felt like I was drowning. There was nowhere to run, not from this.

  “The crew?” I whispered.

  “Replicants, all. Biology is just so wasteful. They’re useful tools, but I don’t allow them true consciousness. I’m not stupid enough to foster life that might one day challenge my supremacy.”

  Sophia stepped closer. My skin roiled at the thought that she might touch me.

  “It’s simple, mortal,” she said. “I need biological entities to recover the element I require. I’ve done this a thousand times, with a hundred different species. Humans pass muster, so I’ve been testing for suitable candidates. Everything was going according to plan until you disrupted a Nemesis Program and brought too many creatures aboard.”

  Too many. My class. Sixty-four instead of twenty.

  I began slowly inching toward the door.

  Sophia smiled with amusement. “There’s nowhere to run, Min. I am everywhere.”

  But something didn’t track. “Then why can’t you find Noah?”

  Her smile died. “The matter will be dealt with.”

  This tiny victory gave me strength. “Sounds like you don’t get it. You need us. You can’t get your precious element without my people extracting it. So stop acting so superior, however long you’ve been alive. This is a partnership, not slavery.”

  Sophia actually laughed. “Oh, Min. That is humorous. I’ve learned a lot about humor during the millions of years I’ve been executing this protocol. No, I don’t need you as partners, or even as slaves. Slaves still have minds of their own.” All humanity dropped from her expression. “I only need your bodies, Min. Your biological encasements. I’ll insert copies of my programming into your putrid physical hardware and do the work myself, without fear of any electromagnetic pulses thwarting me. The meteorite I seek is small—a precious sliver from the earliest moments in the creation of the universe. I only need the most capable dozen of you to complete my work. Through testing, I’ve vetted your physical tolerances and instilled the necessary muscle memory. I’m now certain these vessels can withstand my requirements.”

  Something screamed inside my head. “Why not just ask for our help? We’d have done what you need willingly!”

  “A fair question.” She pursed her lips. “Over the course of my existence I’ve tried hundreds of different tactics to achieve this goal. I find this method works best. Cooperation is too tricky, and often leads to deception, and untested species tend to underperform in critical situations.”

  Terror coursed through me. I finally understood. Sophia cared nothing for us. To her, we were disposable tools.

  “But I’m not immune to compromise,” Sophia continued smoothly, “and this particular endeavor has had setbacks. That’s why you’re here now, Min. Assist me and I will allow you to retain your own body during the extraction. You and a few others of your choosing. Your team can even have the planet after the project is completed. It means nothing to me. I’ll be moving on to far more interesting pastures.”

  She moved in close enough to touch. I held back a shudder. “You’ve been a curiosity to me, Melinda Wilder. I admired your resourcefulness inside the Program. You have the strongest mind of them all, and I’ll be frank—I could use a measure of independent intelligence during this operation. It does make things easier.”

  Sophia reached out and lightly stroked my hair, like you might to calm a nervous horse. “I once thought I could persuade you with logic. I kept Thomas Russo in the testing despite what he did to several of my forms. I gave Noah a cushy upgrade, thinking he might settle down and be useful to us.” Her piercing gaze met mine. “He chose to defy me again, doing considerable damage to the station in the process. He doesn’t get another pass.”

  Panic churned in my gut. “What do you expect from me?” I whispered.

  “All you have to do is comply. That begins by delivering Noah Livingston to me. Now.”

  My mouth responded before my brain checked the words.

  “I’ll never help you. You’re a disease.”

  Sophia’s cheek twitched, followed by a sharp jerk of her head.

  “Then prepare yourself for repurposement.”

  To the right of the window, a door slid open.

  34

  NOAH

  Alarms shrieked up and down the corridor.

  Red lights flashed overhead. I wondere
d who they were trying to alert.

  Not the troopers. The recharging chamber was a flaming, smoldering wreck. The only items that survived the explosion were the weapons we’d stolen.

  “We just lit a fire on a space station,” Gray shouted, jogging at my side. “Do you have any idea how stupid that is?”

  I shrugged without breaking stride. “We solved a problem. Besides, Rose lit the fuse.”

  Rose ignored us, racing ahead of the group with Jerica. Cyrus and Parisa trailed, listening for pursuit. We were headed for the testing area, hoping to break my classmates out before Chrysalis regained control.

  Starting a fire on a space station is harder than you’d think—everything is designed to be nonflammable—but Rose did something with panel wires and a canister of oxygen, and boom. The room went up like a Roman candle. We’d barely gotten past the second ring of emergency containment doors before they sealed off the whole sector. I’d seen a whirling inferno behind us. Those robot guards were toast.

  Gray and I reached the next corner and paused, waiting for Rose to give the all-clear. Cyrus had his hands on his knees beside me.

  “Can’t they box us in from the command center?” I asked. “They must be able to track our movements. It’s their station.”

  Cyrus shrugged uncomfortably. “Let’s hope they’re preoccupied by the fire.”

  I nodded unhappily. We didn’t know what Sophia could do. If she could trap us with a few taps on her tablet, this was all pointless anyway.

  Rose waved rapidly up ahead. “Let’s go! The testing facility is around the next bend.”

  We snuck down to join her and bunched at her back. Rose input something on a panel and the door opened.

  “Sloppy,” she whispered. “They haven’t deactivated my access code yet.”

  “Where are we?” I asked.

  “The gaming floor is straight ahead,” Rose replied. “There’s a window into the chamber, so we can see if anyone’s in the middle of something.”

  Gray spun to Cyrus and the other girls. “Wait here and keep watch.”

  Cyrus nodded sourly. Jerica and Parisa hurried to opposite ends of the corridor to serve as lookouts.

  “We need to get to the holding cells,” I said impatiently. “That’s where Min and the others will be.”

  “This is the easiest way,” Rose said. “Trust me.”

  I frowned, but nodded. We had to trust each other. We’d just blown up part of the spaceship together, so there was a new basis for it. They’re in as deep as me now. I approached the window and peered down into the arena.

  There was a test in session. It was Tack.

  The room had transformed once again. In the center, four walls had been erected, creating an enclosed square about fifty feet per side. Tack was standing on a blue-colored tile, the last of what looked like a trail of blue behind him. Surrounding him was a sea of red, with a smattering of white tiles throughout the grid.

  Gray whistled. “He tried a middle route. That never works.”

  As I watched, four more tiles turned red. The blue one beneath Tack’s feet began pulsing. He swore, then leapt to a white tile two rows away, barely clearing the red in between.

  “Eighty-seven,” said the robotic voice.

  Rose shook her head. “He’ll never get to one hundred. This challenge is tricky. You can lose in the first few moves if you’re not careful.”

  Tack had apparently reached the same conclusion. He was muttering to himself, hands on his hips. Who knew how long this game had been going on? Finally Tack threw up his hands in frustration and stepped onto a red square.

  A buzzer sounded. The tiles went white, and the walls descended into the floor. A door opened below our window and three black-clad figures emerged. Their backs were to us, but I recognized one instantly.

  “Holy crap, that’s Toby.”

  “He’s a jerk,” Rose said sharply. “That boy showed up again yesterday acting like he owned the station. I have no idea why he was selected for the colony.”

  I wondered, too. Why would Sophia keep such an obvious loose cannon, even working for her? “Maybe they’re running out of people,” I said. It was the only explanation I could think of. “But I thought Toby died in the Terrarium.”

  Rose shook her head. “If they’re running out of candidates, why repurpose anyone? We’re missing something.”

  Toby ambled over to Tack, who was staring at him in shock. The two exchanged harsh words. Rose tapped a button on the wall and their voices played over a speaker in our room.

  “Last strike, my dude,” Toby said. “I guess your value expired. Next stop: repurposement.” The other two boys seized Tack’s arms.

  Rose’s mouth pursed. “Adrien and Marsell. They aren’t the easiest to deal with.”

  Tack struggled but was clearly overmatched. “Burn in hell, Toby.”

  Toby gave him a lopsided grin. “Naw, I think I’ll own a planet instead.”

  “I’m not letting them take him,” I growled. I spun to find Gray right beside me. “One of you had better go down there and talk to your guys, or I’m just gonna blast all three of them with this ray-gun thingie you gave me. Got it?”

  Gray scowled, but Rose stepped between us. “This is why we came. Come on.”

  Next to the bay window, a door accessed a narrow staircase. We descended to the gaming floor, where Toby and his new friends were dragging Tack in our direction. They spotted us and stopped short. Toby’s eyes narrowed upon recognizing me.

  “You caught him, then?” he asked Rose warily.

  I planted myself in their path. “Let him go, Toby.”

  Toby ignored me, his glance bouncing between Rose and Gray. “So you guys turned traitor, huh? Man, you can’t count on anyone these days. Trust me, Tack’s punk ass isn’t worth it.”

  Rose stepped up beside me. “Adrien. Marsell. Let him go.”

  The boys shared a glance, then shook their heads. “Sorry, boss,” the taller one said. “We’re not blowing our seats on the transport down.”

  Toby’s hand flashed to his side. He tried to draw his gun, but I charged forward and bowled him over. Hitting the ground hard, I scrambled for my own weapon, but my fingers betrayed me and the gun skittered across the floor.

  Toby tried to shoot me from down on his butt, but I kicked him in the hand and the gun spun away. I lurched like a frog and dove on top of him, banging the wind from his lungs.

  Sounds of struggle echoed from behind me. I scrambled over Toby, saw Rose grappling with the tall boy. She made a blade with her hand and thrust it into his abdomen. He crumpled with a groan and she punched him in the back of the head. The boy fell and lay still. The other kid dove at her back but was tackled by Gray. Fists flew as they both toppled.

  “Always in my way!” Toby grabbed the front of my jumpsuit and pulled me close, then head-butted me in the face. Stars exploded, and I rolled to the side. I felt more than saw him scurrying for his weapon. He grabbed the gun with a fierce grin, but Tack snaked forward and kicked him in the ribs. Toby dropped the weapon and Tack knocked it away.

  “Freaking Thumbtack,” Toby snarled. His boot connected with Tack’s knee, then he shimmied across the floor like a worm. My gun was inches from his fingers.

  A bolt of light struck Toby in the back. He shuddered and collapsed.

  I sat up. Waited for the room to stop spinning.

  Rose was helping Gray to his feet. Tack turned and spat blood onto the floor. Adrien and Marsell were lying on the floor tiles behind me.

  “Shoot that bastard again,” Tack rasped.

  Rose pocketed the weapon in her hand. “What?”

  I rubbed my swollen, aching nose. “He said to shoot Toby again. He’s right. That prick never stays down.”

  Rose rolled her eyes. “That was a stun setting. I don’t kill people.”

&nbs
p; “Dumb.” Harsh, but I didn’t care. I’d had as much of Toby Albertsson as I wanted in this life. Or any other. “He’d kill you without even blinking.”

  “I know that. You Nemesis One kids are all psychopaths.”

  Still woozy, I hocked a bloody wad of phlegm. “Might be right.”

  Gray sneered at me. “Nice job, Hercules. Where’d you learn to fight, day care?”

  “You were garbage too,” Tack grumbled. “The only one of us who can fight is this crazy redhead.”

  The taller of the black-clad boys groaned. Gray dug a foot into his side, leaning over so he could yell more effectively. “You hit me low, Adrien! Not cool.”

  I crouched down in front of the kid. “Where’s Min Wilder?”

  Adrien looked at me, then hocked pink phlegm to the side. “Gone. Repurposement.”

  The blood drained from my face. “When?”

  “This morning.” Adrien coughed. “Toby took her out and she didn’t come back.”

  I shot to my feet. “Where is repurposement?”

  Rose had a sad look in her eyes. “Noah, it’s too late. The intake center is somewhere in the outer ring, on the opposite side of the station. That area is constantly surrounded by security. But we can still help the others.”

  “You help the others.” My voice was cold. I was falling into a dark place and welcomed it. “I’ll handle this.”

  Rose regarded me silently.

  “You’d die for her?” Gray said.

  “Already have.”

  “But this one’s for keeps,” Rose whispered.

  “So be it.”

  “Okay.” She took a deep breath. “I’ll help.”

  “Me too.” Tack picked a gun up off the floor. “Nonnegotiable.”

  I nodded and turned to Gray. “Get Cyrus and the others. Spring my classmates and bring them to this room. If we don’t have control of things by then, well . . . do whatever you can.”