Total System Failure

by James Hightower

  Pale, watery eyes met his. A pang of grief shot through him. The wrenching hole in the pit of his stomach threatened to tear him apart. Had he only been some side project for Project Five Squared? His mother, his creator, didn’t even seem to notice pulsing blade of pure energy poised to cut her throat.

  “You promised me.” Tears welled in her eyes but didn’t fall. “Don’t let me die again.”

  Alec stood as though his feet had become a part of the hospital tiles. Staring across the sea of colors, the urge to turn around and leave nearly overpowered him. No. He couldn’t leave this time. Not again.

  “I didn’t keep your promise.” To his shame, his voice shook. It’s not real. Yet, he found himself clearing his throat and pressing on. “But I think I understand. And I forgive you.”

  She had wanted him to eventually achieve these powers, but she’d also wanted him to be an expression of good in the world. That’s what the promise had really been about, but he’d floundered so long in his own ego to realize it. She must’ve known her research would be put to corrupt endeavors. She used his grief against him, used it to make him feel empathy. To make him malleable to doing the right thing. Something Agent Square and Gray lacked. It didn’t make her right, but he understood.

  A strange placidness crawled across the android’s face. Agent Square jerked straight, eyes fixing on him as though seeing him for the first time. The scene ripped apart like a torn sheet of paper.

  Back on the shuttle, his shield sank into the wall. The shimmers and splinters went to black. Nothing.

  He sucked in a breath. It was impossible. The hole of blackness gaped at him.

  Just over his shoulder, beyond the scattered ruins of armchairs and sofas, Agent Square grunted. The android stood, arms pressed flat to his sides, a thick vein bulging along his neck and another throbbing like a burrowed worm on his forehead.

  “Help,” Agent Square said through gritted teeth. “Me.”

  Of course. The android had been stalling to figure out how to plug the hole. A screen appeared in front of him, instructions on how to help Agent Square plug the hole.

  He could hardly believe it. He’d won.

  Even as victory soared in his chest, a sense of hopelessness dragged him down. This was the end. Behind Agent Square, the body of the policeman lay in an unmoving heap. How many more will die before it’s said and done?

  He approached. Agent Square swayed where he stood. Alec had a decision to make. Knife or necklace?

  The necklace first. He dipped into the android’s frayed pocket. His fingers closed around the rough edges of the diamond. Agent Square grinned. The android moved quicker than he’d seen.

  Purple flashed.

  Elation filtered through the shock. The necklace. He still had it tucked in his fist. He looked down, to discover the purple blade jutting out his chest. He opened his mouth to scream, but the sound never reached his ears.

  “I may or may have not been exaggerating how much I effort that took.” Agent Square pointed a nose at the gash in space behind him.

  The sword came down. A shock of pain rippled through him. His hand. The necklace.

  Through the shock and haze of pain, he lashed out with his newfound power. Reaching out to the shuttle, he shut the power.

  The lights died out. The only light was from Agent Square’s blade.

  His stomach fluttered as the gravity control failed and a sudden weightlessness lifted him. He dove for his decapitated hand on the floor. Once he retrieved it, he launched himself up.

  Leaping from each piece of furniture for cover, the chairs as cover, beams of light lanced in his direction. The blasts erupted against the ceiling. Debris drifted down, and ripped cushions from the seats fluttered like stunned butterflies all around him. s

  Closer to the ceiling, debris clustered into a chalky cloud, blocking his visibility. He focused on the hole. He knew what he would have to do. He bounded to another armchair just as the sofa he’d been clutching exploded in a beam of light.

  Almost there.

  He jumped again. This time, the energy blast sailed inches from his shoulder. He pushed off from another armchair. He ignored the notification for his flagging battery and brought his shield to life.

  He struck the wall head first, shield extended. The wall shattered. Alec entered the vast expanse of space, the void pressed around him like a thousand oceans, and the cold he’d expected turned to a heat that he couldn’t imagine.

  The shuttle blazed back to life. It slid by quickly, towards its destination even as the vacuum of space ripped it apart. The shuttle became a barely distinguishable silver smudge against black. The Moon squatted in the darkness like a pock-marked white marble.

  The last reserves of strength flooded from his limbs.

  In the infinite dark, the diamond glittered in his fist like a slice of the Moon itself.

  In the backdrop of the Moon, a column of flame shot out and quickly vanished. The shuttle. He squeezed his eyes shut. His entire body burned as though on fire.

  A voice spoke in his head. A familiar voice. Gray. I knew you would do it, but unfortunately, there’s still much left for you to do.

  Why not you? He wanted to be angry, but no longer had the capacity for it. Why can’t you do it?

  No response. He opened his eyes to discover Earth floating in front of him. The swirling expanse of white and blue, green and brown, interlocked like pieces to a puzzle. A world probably already at war as the first bouts of human resistance were no doubt materializing.

  Moved by some instinct, he sought out with the planet. His pulse spiked and his battery fell to zero. Red and urgent, a message spanned across his vision.

  Total System Failure.

  Gravity tugged at his ankles. The edges of his vision darkened, but he locked his gaze on Earth, the cloudy sapphire jewel he called home. He watched it grow until an absolute darkness overtook him.