by Adam Carter
Throwing myself forward, I collided with the animal and encircled its head with my arms. Rearing on its hind legs, the lion attempted to hurl me off, but I clung steadfastly, for to lose my grip would have seen me mauled to death. Rolling to a crouch, Cassiel thrust her sword upwards, piercing the throat of the lion as the blade slid neatly through its flesh. Shaking its shaggy mane, the lion roared in anger – I don’t know whether it could feel pain – with great gouts of blood spraying down upon the Themistonian.
Staggering to one side, the lion tottered upon unsteady legs and I released my hold and fell beside Cassiel. It had all happened in just a few moments, but afterwards I realised if it had lasted for a prolonged period of time we would have surely died. We only managed to inflict the damage we did through luck, for in attacking a cyborg lion head-on neither of us knew what we were doing.
Cassiel was shaking. Her clothes were covered with blood, her sword was gripped tightly in her hand and I feared she was going into shock.
“You did good,” I assured her. “Cass, you did good.”
“I thought it was a robot.”
“It is. Except for, you know, the organic parts.”
“So much blood.”
“That would be from the organic parts.”
“I killed it.”
“It’s not exactly alive. Besides, it’s not even dead.”
The lion did not look too good, and without the sword the wound was pouring blood into the decking. Unfortunately, it did not look all that certain that it was going to die from the terrible injury Cassiel had inflicted.
“You think we could make it to the shuttle?” Cassiel whispered.
“Only one way to find out.”
We sprinted for the Bunnyhop. Gordon had started the engine, but I had no doubt he would wait for us before lifting off. With the hangar open to the air, there were no doors to open, so all we needed to do was get aboard.
“No,” Mary-Louise said from the body of the wounded lion. “Roz, don’t put me in this position.”
I felt sorry for her; but I got over it. Bundling into the shuttle, Cassiel and I drew the door closed behind us and saw Gordon was strapped into the pilot’s seat with Iris keeping an eye upon the countess, who was seated with her hands bound before her with electrical cable.
“Hold on, people,” Gordon said as he punched the appropriate switches to raise the shuttle. It moved shakily, but it could have jerked all the way back to the Glory so long as it got us there safely.
Then Gordon swore and I looked past him to the sky outside. Two sleek missile-shaped craft were hovering there, while a third, much larger vehicle was coming straight for us. Gordon pulled frantically at a lever, veering our shuttle out of its path, and I fell hard against the wall, Cassiel landing atop me in a tumble of arms and legs. A dull thunk resounded through the shuttle’s side, followed by a sharp jolt. I knew precisely what it meant: we had struck the wall or something and had ended up back on the hangar deck.
“That was a troop carrier,” Iris said, panicked. “They’re keeping us boxed in with the two fighter-craft while their troops converge upon our shuttle.”
“We’re talking Securitarn here, yes?” I asked.
“Why did Mary-Louise even call them?” Cassiel asked. “The countess is working against them.”
“The countess is also working for them, remember,” Gordon said.
“Working for them,” I said, “but only so she can work against them.”
Cassiel hung her head. “I’m so confused.”
“Mary-Lou was probably frightened,” I said, “and fell back on what she knew. Countess, you’re up.”
“I’m up?”
“You and I are going outside to buy some time. Gordon, how long do you need to fix the shuttle?”
“Fix it? There’s nothing wrong with it. We took a bump, that’s all. But we need those fighters out of the way, or they’re going to blow us out of the sky as soon as we poke our noses out.”
“Then be ready to fly out in a hurry,” I said. “Cassiel, stay and protect Iris.”
“Protect me?” Iris asked. “I’m coming out there with you.”
“Use that augmented brain of yours, Iris. So far, they haven’t seen you, and the countess here hasn’t told them you’re alive. Stay here and they might still think that. Right now they’ll just think Gordon’s causing them trouble for ruining his life.”
“I’ll tell them,” the countess warned. “If you take me out there, I’ll tell them all about Iris Arowana.”
“Sure you will,” I said. “That’d be about the same time I tell them about the red pin badges and the plot to destroy their company. Or we could both keep our mouths shut and everyone wins.”
She did not like me talking to her like that; but she also did not have any choice. Hauling her from her seat, I shoved her towards the door even as Cassiel opened it for me. The young woman who had become my companion for this adventure was pensive, for I had grown used to reading her reactions over our time together.
“I’ll be fine,” I told her. “I do this sort of thing all the time.”
“No you don’t.”
“Can’t pull the wool over your eyes, can I?”
“If you did, you’d only be doing it out of friendship.”
I vaguely got that this was a reference to her being covered up because of her religion, but under the circumstances I’ll allow her the clumsiness. When this all began, I never thought the two of us would become close, but a succession of near-death experiences apparently does that to people.
I left the shuttle without quite knowing what to say. The countess went to say something cruel, so I shoved her forward as roughly as I could.
The Securitarn carrier had landed and armoured men and women were pouring out to form a line. Their black garb was a mixture of leather and metal and reminded me of various forms of riot police I had seen over the years. Some carried batons, while others were armed with guns, which I’m sure must have been illegal.
“Hi,” I said, injecting as much assertiveness into my voice as I possibly could. “Lovely day for a picnic.”
“Release your hostage,” one of the goons said. I think it was a woman, but beneath all that armour it was difficult to tell. It occurred to me that with their faceplates down they were like an obscene version of Cassiel.
“I think there’s been some kind of mistake,” I said. “The countess and I were just talking. We’re old friends, you know. The security system here must have backfired and called you guys in. I mean, if there was a problem, she would have called the police, yeah?”
The logic of my statement was not something the suited figure even acknowledged. She held no weapon of her own, but then generals never had the need to. Wielding a weapon and wading into a fight would only have made their lives shorter.
“I won’t ask again,” she said.
“Sounds like you just did.”
That annoyed her, and it probably wouldn’t work in my favour to antagonise her but I couldn’t help it; fear makes me annoying.
“If you don’t release the countess I’ll order my soldiers to shoot you.”
“Soldiers? You’re a security firm, not an army. Besides, shooting me wouldn’t be in your best interests.”
“No?”
“No. Countess, tell them why.”
The countess looked at me, startled. “I have no idea why you think I’d … Officer, shoot her, shoot her now. These people are insane. Look at me. They’ve tied my hands together and they’re trying to rob me blind.”
“Gordon Hawthorn,” the Securitarn woman said, ignoring the countess. “Is he in the shuttle?”
“Who’s Gordon Hawthorn?” I asked.
“Is he in the shuttle?”
Their interest in Gordon was not surprising. Gordon was their one link to Arowana, the person who knew how she had died and probably the person they held responsible for their lost asset. They would want to make an example of him, to take him back to their
superiors so they had at least something to show for their efforts.
“Sure, he’s in the shuttle,” I said. “You want him?”
“You’re in no position to make a deal.”
“Maybe there are cards I haven’t played yet.”
The countess tried to break away from me, but I held her firm. “She’s buying time,” she said. “Just rush the shuttle with your troops, they won’t stand a chance.”
“Are they armed?”
“One woman with a sword she doesn’t know how to use.”
“Hey,” I said, shaking her. “Stop doing that.”
“What did you expect? That I’d stand here and play the terrified hostage?”
She had not mentioned Iris, which meant I couldn’t even tell the Securitarn goons about the red pin badges; the instant I did so, Iris was doomed. When making deals with the devil, it seems I should have ironed out all the kinks in the contract first.
“You can’t win here,” the countess said. “The best you can hope for is being taken alive.”
“They’re not police, they wouldn’t dare kill me.”
“If that was true, the two of us would have met under entirely different circumstances.”
She did not elaborate, but there was no need to. All this time I had seen her as a villainess, a betrayer of my trust, yet I had never stopped to consider why she was doing what she did. Her problem with Securitarn had to have stemmed from somewhere, otherwise she was just a rich woman with nothing better to do with her time. Securitarn had harmed her, perhaps even killed someone she loved, and she had the money to do something about it.
I’ll never know the truth about her, all I have is speculation, but from the few words she spoke my opinion of her changed. It didn’t mean I liked her any better, but at least I didn’t think she was necessarily in the wrong. It also meant she might have kept Iris’s secret after we had gone.
“I’m tired of this,” the Securitarn agent said. She motioned with her hand and her troops circled me, enabling them to shoot me if they were so ordered.
My options were dying, so I leaned close to the countess and said, “I could still give you up even after we escape. Just remember that.” Then I shoved her forward and legged it back to the shuttle. I heard the Securitarn agent shout and a gunshot exploded through the hangar at the precise moment a terrible pain tore through my leg. I fell hard upon my side, my hands clutching at the sticky wet mess at my thigh. I was still a short way from the shuttle and could see Cassiel in the doorway. She was on the verge of coming out after me, but strong hands were restraining her. Since Gordon would have been in the pilot’s seat, I could only think it was Iris holding her back.
The pain was not as bad as the shock, which in turn was not as bad as the realisation that I was going to die lying on the floor of a hangar. I looked down with trembling eyes as the Securitarn agent strode smugly towards me. She drew a gun from her holster and levelled it upon me.
“Shouldn’t have run,” she said. “I have a tendency to shoot people when they run. Knee-jerk reaction.”
“This is murder.”
“Didn’t you know? Securitarn owns this system. No one cares what happens to you here, only Securitarn matters.”
I stammered a response, but I’m ashamed to say it was more a plea for my life than a coherent sentence. Unfazed, the faceless agent squeezed the trigger.
She swore violently as the bullet slammed into the ceiling; then screamed with shock and pain as she realised she was being torn apart by a half-dead cyborg lion. The rest of the group lunged for the lion with their batons, afraid of catching their commander in the crossfire if they started shooting. The lion bellowed a terrific roar and scattered them with its giant paws. The whole force fell away like a collapsed house of cards and the lion dropped back to all fours by my side.
“Mary-Lou?”
“Roz, are you all right?”
“I need to get out of here.”
“Can you walk?”
“If it keeps me alive, I can run a marathon.”
Mary-Louise smiled. “You’ve taught me a lot, Roz, and I’ll always be grateful for that. Securitarn are my creators and the countess owns me, but you’re my friend and that’s all that matters.”
Using the body of the lion for support, I struggled to my feet. The pain in my leg was incredible, but I could not stand around there forever.
“Go,” Mary-Louise said as the Securitarn force regrouped. “I got this.”
I ran for the shuttle and no one paid me any attention. I did not know whether the Securitarn commander was still alive, but she was certainly in no position to be giving any orders. The rest of the unit had far more to worry about than an injured woman running away from them.
Cassiel grabbed me as I made it to the shuttle and Iris slammed the door closed. “Gordon,” she shouted, “get us out of here.”
“But those fighters …”
“Forget the fighters, go!”
Gordon slammed the throttle forward and the Bunnyhop rose from the ground, shooting forward even as it did so. I stumbled to the front of the shuttle and fell into the seat beside Gordon. My leg was pumping blood all over the upholstery, but I strapped myself down so it would help against the bumpy ride we were promised. The two fighter-craft loomed ahead of us and they targeted us even before we had cleared the hangar.
“We’re not going to make it,” I said. “Those ships have orders to kill us.”
“We’ll make it,” Iris said.
“I’m with Rosalita on this one,” Gordon said, his knuckles white from where he was clutching the controls. “What do we do?”
One of the fighters veered to the side, as though to target another enemy, and I watched amazed as a great form of blood and fur launched itself through the air. The lion landed on the nose of the craft, unbalancing the vessel and sending it into a mild spin. Mary-Louise ran across its arrow-shaped body and leaped from its wing to land upon the second craft. The first spiralled out of control, for the exertion of such a weight pushing against its wing was too much for its astonished pilot to compensate for. The nose clipped the edge of the building, the wing slammed fully into it and the entire thing careened towards the ground far below.
The second craft banked in an attempt to rid itself of its unexpected passenger, but the lion was not to be dislodged. Impaling the craft with its claws, the lion was tearing at the cockpit window with its teeth. I can only imagine the fear going through the pilot’s mind as this craft too spiralled to its death.
We saw no more of this strange encounter, for the Bunnyhop Express tore away from the area and climbed as fast as it could.
“Get us off Ganymede,” Iris said. “Get us back to the Glory, quickly.”
“It’s not that simple,” I said. “There are checkpoints, defence screens, customs …”
“How do you think we got in?” Iris said. “We have a code which gets us past all of those things.” She tapped the side of her head. “Benefits of knowing how to access all the right systems.”
I sat back and thought about how difficult it had been for me and Cassiel to get to Ganymede, for we had been forced to stow away. It was funny to think that Gordon and Iris had a way out, that they had always had this way out. It seemed someone had made a plan after all.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Iris had fixed up my leg, which was only fitting since I had done far more for her when we’d first met. It still itched, but there was no permanent damage. We had returned to Jupiter’s Glory and placed as much distance as we could between us and Ganymede. We had a man on the command deck monitoring Securitarn chatter, but there was no mention that Iris was alive. Gordon was a hot topic of conversation, but that was to be expected. Cassiel and I had a couple of side-mentions as well, but no one was quite sure of who we were, or even our names.
“Well,” I said, “we’ve survived and it’s time for me to move on.”
“You’re leaving?” Cassiel asked in surprise. The four of us wer
e in the infirmary, but none of the others had suffered anything worse than mild cuts and scrapes. All in all, we had been incredibly fortunate.
“I’ve never been one to overstay my welcome,” I said. “I’ve never nearly died so many times since meeting you guys and I’d like to go back to the way things were.”
“You’re still wanted by the law,” Gordon said.
“I know. Whether it was my fault or not, I’m an illegal halo ring miner. That’s another reason to leave. If I stay here, you’re harbouring a fugitive.”
“We’re not exactly loved by the law ourselves,” Gordon pointed out.
“No, but you’re not criminals.”
“We’ll miss you,” Cassiel said. “I’ll miss you.”
“I’ll miss you too, kid. I’d ask you to come with me, but I’m a bad influence. Besides, someone has to stay here and look after the lovebirds.”
“Where will you go?”
“Best I don’t tell you. Besides, I have no idea myself. What about you guys, though? The countess probably survived down there.”
“I’m not sure,” Iris said. “So far as we know, she hasn’t said anything, but she still could.”
“I have a feeling she won’t,” I said. “Securitarn have ruined a lot of lives, Iris, not just yours. They’re not nice people, which was something I didn’t know before hooking up with you. The more people who realise that, the more will be able to stand up against them when the time’s right. They may be a big corporation, but at some point even they have to be answerable to the law.”
“I wouldn’t bank on that,” Gordon said. “Firms like Securitarn can get away with anything.”
“As for the whole episode,” Iris said, “it wasn’t a complete loss. I learned a lot from Hilda Myers.”
“The computer programme in Securitarn?” I asked.
“She’s in charge of their media manipulation,” Iris said. “That means she has access to all their dirty secrets, otherwise she wouldn’t know what she was supposed to be suppressing. I was able to lift a lot of information from her database, a lot of things Securitarn didn’t upload into my brain. It’ll take me a while to sort through all the information but there may well be something there I can use against them.”
