by Mark Lingane
“It may be time to rethink this,” Oliver said, “as the hour is so dark.”
Nikola threw his hands in the air in desperation.
“It can end everything,” Isabelle pleaded.
“That’s exactly what I’m afraid of,” Nikola said.
She stood tall and turned her back. “This leaves me no option. Thrown, you know what to do.”
“Commander, you’re requested to step aside from your position,” Thrown said.
“You’re deposing me?”
“We can do this the hard way, or the easy way. The choice is yours.”
“I’ll say no.” Nikola stood defiantly against them. His eyes were fierce, his shoulders set. For the first time the others were reminded that he was once their greatest soldier. “And I dare you to defy me.”
“Unfortunately, I had expected this,” Thrown said. He clapped his hands twice and six guards emerged out of the shadows.
“I’m sorry, Nikola, but you must do this,” Isabelle said.
“Your years away have hardened you.”
“For the first time I feel I have something I can’t lose,” she said. “Protecting him is more important than my life.”
“Then go, take him,” Nikola said. “Run. The country is big, with a million places to hide.”
“No more running. No more hiding. I’ve been doing it all my life. My family has hidden for two generations. No more.”
“Commander,” said Thrown, “for the last time, do you surrender your position?”
“No.”
“Given the powers invested in me from the highest chain of command,” Thrown said, “I arrest you for obstructing the forces and perverting the course of justice.”
“This is from Number Two?” Nikola asked.
“I don’t make the rules,” Thrown said, “I just enforce them.”
“Captain,” Thrown said to Isabelle, “you are hereby given the position of commander.”
Two heavyset guards flanked Nikola. Everyone knew he could resist and escape. There were legendary stories about his abilities, although they were from more than a decade ago. Even so, everyone held their breath.
A guard tumbled in through the doorway. He was battered and bloodied. “Commander,” he spluttered, looking at Nikola, “they’re inside. The cyborgs are among us.”
“How did they breach?” Isabelle said.
“There’s no way they could have,” replied Nikola. His face was dark. “Someone must have let them in. We have a traitor among us.”
“Why are they here? Why have they returned?” cried one of the dignitaries.
“I can guess,” said Isabelle, “and it isn’t going to happen. We’ll conclude this afterwards.”
“You’re assuming there’ll be an afterwards,” Nikola said. There was a dark tone to his voice.
“Nikola, I’m sorry, but the situation has changed.” Isabelle hesitated. “Can you forget and forgive what went before?”
“You’re lucky my sense of duty is stronger than my sense of righteousness. But this isn’t over. We’ll be discussing it later.”
A guard came running down the stairs from the floor above. “They’re heading for the tower.”
“This is it,” Nikola said. “I’m engaging.”
The others gasped. No one had seen him train in years, but everyone knew he still did. Ten years behind a desk had not softened his physique. Now everyone was scared.
“I’m suiting up,” he repeated, “and when this is finished I will be the one saying what we do or do not do. And if anyone has a problem with it, they can fight me for it. Anyone have any hesitations?”
The assembled crowd went quiet.
“I didn’t think so.”
Nikola turned to Thrown. “Get my equipment and meet me by my precious books. I’m guessing we have only minutes. Be there.” He turned and stormed out of the room.
Thrown slunk out after him.
The assembled crowd burst into pandemonium.
*
Sebastian had felt them as they had approached the gates. He had tried to tell people, but no one would believe the cyborgs were returning. He had hunted down Isaac, dragged Melanie away from a resting Gavin, and was taking them all to the remaining tesla tower.
“We only have a few minutes,” he said.
“Minutes? What can we possibly do in minutes?” Isaac cried. He had his owl tucked under his arm.
“I have a plan.”
Melanie was in full combat uniform, which she had had carefully tailored to be more appealing to Gavin. She was wearing a lot of leather, and she had done her hair.
“Why didn’t you sense them earlier?” she asked Sebastian.
“I think it’s because last time they were underneath us, and something’s different about these ones. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”
They all ran up the stairs to the control deck. It was still heavily damaged from the previous battle, with parts of it held together by patchwork repairs.
“Most of the dials look dead,” Melanie said. She tapped the cracked glass of one dial, which fell off and shattered on the ground. “Are you sure this still works?”
Sebastian heaved on the large wheel under the remains of the dials. They heard the rush of gas and some of the dials sprang into operation.
“Isaac, you control the hydraulic pressure. Melanie, you aim. I’ll do the electricity stuff.”
“What am I aiming at?” Melanie asked.
“Any point where you can see a big group of cyborgs. Isaac, you turn the steam wheel left or right to keep the needle in the green band on the dial.”
Isaac grasped the wheel to test how stiff it was. His muscles strained as he turned it one way then the other. He gave Sebastian a nod.
“They’re in,” Melanie shouted. “How do you operate this?”
“You have crosshairs on the top. The right lever moves it up and down, and the left lever moves it left and right. As you move it, steam will escape from the hydraulics, and Isaac will need to maintain the correct pressure. When you have the target let me know and I earth the dish. Then the electromagnetic wave will come out. Ready? Let’s do this.”
After the bickering and arguing stopped about whose fault it was when nothing happened, the small team began to show some semblance of coordination. But their first shaky attempts landed close to the mark without actually hitting anything.
“How do I know if I’ve hit one?” Melanie said.
“He’ll fall over, or something,” Sebastian said.
“No blood?”
“No.”
“What’s the fun of this? Engage!”
Sebastian pulled the lever, there was a sharp zapping sound and his hair stood on end. A silent wave rolled out and sparks flew everywhere.
A line of advancing cyborgs stopped in their tracks, seemingly lost. Several seconds later a fierce fighter came in and spun around with swords blazing. The black cyborgs fell like dominoes.
“I like that person,” Melanie said. “I wonder who it was.”
The crew began to gain momentum. Melanie was targeting with pinpoint precision, and Sebastian was able to give her the power she needed when she asked for it. Even Isaac was getting the hang of the steam wheel. Sweat poured off him as he struggled to maintain control of it. He dragged his hand across his forehead to wipe away the sweat running into his eyes.
The dish lurched up and the beam shot out over the city wall into the distance.
“Sorry,” cried Isaac. “It slipped. “Sebastian, what’s the matter? Hello?” He waved his hand in front of Sebastian’s face.
Sebastian shook his head. The beam had shot out over the mound, maybe even hitting it, because he had felt the beast under the hill stir momentarily. Power could be transferred to it over the air.
“I’m back,” he shouted. “Power is building. Ready in ten.”
“Ten what?” Melanie said.
“Seconds, of course.”
“It could’ve been minute
s. I’m new to this.”
“We’ve got trouble,” Isaac yelled. “There’s like hundreds of cyborgs. A big group’s split off toward the admin tower. There are about twenty of them.”
“You have power,” Sebastian called out.
“Nothing happened,” Melanie replied. “Are you sure there was power?”
“Definitely.”
“Well, it had no effect.” She squinted. “And I have bad news for you. It looks like Nikola and your mom are being surrounded by them.”
There was a deafening explosion from beneath them. The building suddenly lurched to the side. Melanie and Isaac screamed. Sebastian looked out the control room window onto the street below. Two cyborgs had the largest gun he had ever seen. It took two of them to move it. It had a long tube, similar to a cannon, but a large gray box was on one end.
One cyborg pulled a lever on the side of the tube and a large blue translucent ball roared up toward them. The blue ball hit the wall next to Sebastian. Shards of brick and stone flew over him. The strange blue ball continued past, and he felt it engulf him. He blinked and felt the power around him.
He focused his mind, extended his hands and released the energy straight back at the unsuspecting cyborgs. The blue ball impacted the plasma cannon and exploded. Metal shards radiated out, cutting the cyborgs to ribbons. They collapsed into pools of their own blood.
There was a loud cracking sound and the floor dropped down. Everyone collapsed to the floor, scrabbling for something to hold onto. The tower started to twist, slowly shaking and leaning as it drifted down toward the ground. Isaac managed to grip onto the steam wheel, but the pipes buckled.
Melanie was clinging to her levers and had a disturbingly clear view of the approaching ground. Behind her, the floor was rapidly becoming the wall, and the boys would soon be hanging above her.
She placed one foot on a lever, twisted and leapt up to the steam wheel, clutching at it with one hand. She grabbed Isaac around the waist. Her footing was beginning to slip. The cobbled street was only yards away. She released her grip from the wheel, and with her boots fighting for grip she ran the few paces to Sebastian, picked him up and charged out of the opening. She leapt onto the dish, which crumpled under their combined weight and they slid down toward the street.
Melanie breathed deeply, crouched and leaped up powerfully just as the control level crashed to the ground. She landed heavily on the street and ran a couple of unsteady paces forward before all three came crashing to the ground, rolling head over heels. Before they had time to breathe, Melanie was up. She grabbed the boys by whatever she could find and pulled them into the nearest alleyway. The rest of the tower crashed to the ground, with dust and rubble spiraling skywards.
Before the dust had settled Sebastian was running toward the admin tower.
There were cyborgs everywhere. He had to duck and dive around the slow-moving enemy to keep out of their reach. His head thumped as he ran through the crowd, with no direction offering any relief. The pain was making his eyes water, but he refused to give up.
He arrived in the square with the admin tower under full attack. He saw his mother, swinging a lightsword with one hand, firing a gun with the other, and kicking with any leg she had free. She was covered in blood. He hoped it wasn’t hers.
Nikola rose up behind her. Sebastian had never seen him look like this before. He wore dark gray armor flecked with black. He knew where he had seen that before. Kevlar. Nikola carried a large sword, which he was almost dancing with his movements were so graceful. He swung it with ease and deadly precision.
But pushing its way through the advancing cyborgs was the biggest specimen he had ever seen. It stood two feet above everything surrounding it. It pushed everything out of its way. It was marching straight for his mother.
Sebastian cried out. He felt the pain and anger rising. He summoned the power from the cyborgs surrounding him and screamed. The wave rolled out from him, knocking them all down. They stumbled and fell as systems were scrambled and instructions were confused or lost. But still the huge creature walked on. Its hideous pale face showed no signs of being affected by the wave.
Nikola leapt forward and struck two lightning-fast slashes into its body. Blood poured off it. The creature swiped at him and knocked him to the ground. It reached forward and clasped its claw-like hand around the struggling body of Sebastian’s mother. It brought around its other hand and smacked it across her head. Her body went limp.
Nikola jumped up and unleashed an unrelenting barrage of deadly attacks, driving the beast back, but it did not let Isabelle go. Then a mighty hand came around, catching Nikola by surprise, knocking him clean across the street. He crashed into the wall on the other side, smashing his head. He fell to the ground and lay still.
The huge creature turned and slowly walked away with Sebastian’s mother in its claws, dragging her helpless body behind it.
“No!” Sebastian screamed.
He felt intensity inside his head build. His body felt like it was about to explode. He held his hands in front of him and released the tension forward. He saw the wave roll down the street after the creature. He dropped to his knees.
The creature stopped, looked back over its shoulder directly at Sebastian, shook its head and continued dragging the unconscious Isabelle behind its large, grotesque body.
For Sebastian, the world went sideways. He collapsed to the floor and darkness took him.
*
He woke with a start and called out for his mother.
Melanie stroked his head. She had a wet cloth in her hand. She looked very tired. “You need to rest,” she croaked.
He pushed against her and tried to stand up. He took a pace and collapsed to the ground.
“Lie down. You have severe concussion. You’re lucky to be alive. Think of Isaac for one minute.”
“Is he dead?”
“No … but his owl will never be the same.”
“I don’t have time for this.” He pushed her aside and charged off.
She lunged after him, but her exhausted body couldn’t move fast enough. She called out for him to stop, but it was futile.
He ran to the place he knew he could find Nikola. Up the stairs he staggered and into the library. Nikola was heavily bandaged. Blood was weeping from the strapping around his head and arm.
“They have her,” Sebastian cried.
“Don’t you think I know that? I want her back just as much as you, but we don’t have anything to fight with. We have nothing left.”
“So you won’t do anything?”
“We can’t do anything.”
“There must be something.”
“We have no weapons. We have no soldiers. We have no plan. If we march on them in numbers they’ll kill every single one of us. I wish, for all the stars in the sky, that there was another way.”
“But it’s my mother,” he cried.
He turned and flew out of the library. He ran out into the street, tears running down his face. He felt dizzy, the street swirled around him and he collapsed, unconscious, on the ground.
36
THE CITY HAD gone into lockdown. People were either hiding in the makeshift defense quarters in the city hall, or were on patrol around the gates. Everything was shut or broken to an extent that no one could get in. It would be days before reinforcements turned up and there had been constant sightings of cyborg patrols. The occasional shot had been taken at them, but they always managed to stay out of range.
Melanie and Sebastian watched the sun set from their usual position on the roof. Sebastian threw stones into the street below. Melanie idly kicked her heels.
“It’s not fair,” Sebastian said. “I only had her back for such a short time. Now she’s gone again and they won’t go and get her.”
“Before I say something good, I’m going to say something bad. They’re right. The city is weak. It has no power, no might. Attacking the enemy for one person is crazy and would only end up with the senseless s
laughter of everyone.”
“So what’s the good part?”
“That was the good part. Just kidding. Sometimes, on special missions, a smaller force is better than a larger one.” She smiled and gave him a wink.
“Are you saying we should go?” he said.
“Do you want to stay? Seems to me the longer we stay here the more likely it is the cyborgs will attack.”
“They really seemed determined about something. It was almost like they were fighting for survival.”
“They really don’t like your family. It would be good to find out why. Something’s been bugging me. Out of all the places in this big wide country, how did the cyborgs find you in your town? How did they know you’d come here? It’s almost like someone’s been watching you and telling the cyborgs where you are. I think there’s been a rat in your nest.”
“I’ll bet it was my aunt Ratty.”
“That would be a coincidence,” Melanie said. “Imagine if your aunt called Ratty was one. Maybe it’s something you should think about.”
“I miss my old home.”
“Really? You don’t like running and fighting for your life? Wondering if today’s the last day you’ll be alive?”
He looked sideways at her. “I often think about the people I’ve lost along the way and wonder what’s happened to them. I wonder if Dr. Filbert is okay, and how Merv and Sheila are doing, and what Bindi’s up to.”
“She was that girl you liked, wasn’t she?”
“I didn’t like her. She was, well …” He smiled. “She seemed pretty excitable.”
She gave him a nudge. “Yeah, course she was. Wonder why.”
Time clicked by. They watched the guards wander by down in the streets below.
“I’m sure I know the answer to this,” she said, “but when did you want to go?”
“Now.” He stood up.
She stood up with him. “I thought so. I’ve already packed food and stuff. Let’s meet in the school ruins in twenty minutes. Cheer up, kiddo, we’re going to save your mom.”
*
