"Perhaps, though, a reminder of why you will all serve at the front just as willingly as you have served here for so long."
She jerked as the voice returned and raised her head to look at the front of the room. One of the freed, one she mercifully didn't recognise, had got to his feet. He turned to face the room, his eyes wild and tears now running down his face. As she watched he drew his knife from his belt, lifting it to press against his neck. Without hesitation he drew it slowly across, a wide gash opening as he pressed hard. Blood spurted out, catching those at the front who didn't move as he collapsed to the floor.
Her reason fled, any chance of doing something now gone. She was pushing herself backwards, feet sliding as she shoved, desperate to escape, to be anywhere but here. Stem, on hands and knees suddenly emerged from the freed, sweat gleaming on his brow and breathing heavily. He grabbed her, hand to hand, and she could hear him in her head
"We have to get out of here."
He responded to the next thought almost instantaneously.
"We can't do anything, it's too late to help them. We have to get out."
"I can hear you, little creatures, strange creatures who speak like us, you are living in my world and I can hear you. You cannot save them, and you cannot save yourselves, I will find you, I will taste you and---"
She shrieked, cramming her hand over her mouth to cut out the sound. She felt herself push with all her might and the voice was gone. Stem was white, his hand clutching hers and she pulled, trying to move backwards without standing. A wave of hate and anger washed over them, and her shriek became a moan as sickness welled up. The freed, free no longer, were turning slowly, eyes, dead eyes, seeking them out and she broke. She staggered to her feet and ran, pelting through the doorway and the next room and hammering on the lift button until it slid open and she fell in, Stem collapsing beside her and holding down the button for the engine deck until the doors slid mercifully closed. As the gap narrowed she could see 'their' army bearing down on her and she squeezed her eyes closed, turning away.
She was shoved against the wall furthest from the doors, head buried between her knees, hands wrapped over her. She heard a sob and cracked one eye to see Stem, curled on the floor, tears pouring down and arms wrapped around himself. She crawled over on hands and knees and held him, awkwardly rocking as his sobs became coughing and retching.
They'd got back to the engine, all self-belief fled with the tears. They'd curled up on the bunk, shivering and sick and stayed there until the next game had forced them from it. A ship had left sometime during their convalescence, carrying the freed to the war, minus the man who had slashed his own throat.
Now, as she stared out at the stars, all she could see was his face, the eyes so terrified and the knife so sure, so steady.
Chapter Eleven
The game had been horrible. No mourning period for her. This, apparently, was no longer the way things worked. They were the only team still flying and the Lord hadn't recruited anyone new, so it was them versus other Homeships. Of course, most of the teams had been decimated by the warehouse incident, so the entire setup was smaller. The atmosphere had been desperate, no one wanting to lose and have to face some new surprise at the end of the long walk. For her and Stem it was a strange affair.
Finally free of the Lord's terrible influence, they'd recognised just how evil the game was, how utterly wrong, yet had no choice but to take part. They'd also discovered something amazing, something that gave them heart when they most desperately needed it. She allowed herself a slight smile, remembering the moment it had kicked in.
They floated free of the Homeship, one solitary fighter drifting into the void. There were about ten Lords playing today, so probably twenty or thirty ships in total. The drop in numbers had encouraged yet more change and today there was a stripped-back approach. No teams, no tactics, just flying and shooting, everyone for themselves. The zone was big, mines littering the area. They had also found an asteroid belt, a seemingly endless procession of rock drifting slowly through space and straight through the middle of the zone.
It was this that she headed towards as soon as Stem got them underway. They hadn't talked about how things would run. She'd strapped into the pilot's seat and he'd taken dad's, as if they'd been a team for years. As the game got underway, they found their awakening was good for more than just emotions.
She took them into the asteroids, challenging the rest of the field to match them. Some of the craft were too big, too cumbersome and were taking their own approach, using their sheer weight of weaponry to chase down smaller prey. Some, however, followed them in, dodging between the huge spinning chunks of rock.
She'd found one of the larger ones and parked them as close as she could, teasing the Vale so it hung above the same spot and took the same path. She could see another craft, about to fly past their position and made to shout instructions at Stem. As she opened her mouth she realised she could hear his thoughts, even without touching, and he could hear hers. The plan she was about to outline was already in his mind, his hands tensed over the control panel. The ship, a sleek cruiser covered in scars, careened by, weaving and bobbing to stay clear of the debris. She let the ship fall backwards, then twisted and rolled to come up behind it and the chase was on.
The cruiser was good, making small movements and keeping the speed high, but she kept close, giving Stem the best chance to find the shot. As they flew, she felt her mind expand and she stopped thinking, letting pure instinct take over. Stem's mind merged with hers, and the flight became a dance, opportunities being seen and discarded just as quickly, every permutation of moves mapped out and analysed, all in seconds.
They revelled in the freedom, the two of them and ship becoming one. Almost absently Stem triggered a shot, two blasts neatly removing the engine from the cruiser and leaving it drifting powerless, but safe.
She came back to herself, just for a second, then another ship came into view, a larger vessel hovering near the asteroids and waiting. They called its bluff, hurtling free of the field and inviting the inevitable rain of cannon fire. As predicted, it opened up with everything, rockets and shot coming as a wall towards them. She teased with it, throwing the Vale around as the spilt second they had before impact became minutes under her control.
The Vale spun and flipped, obeying her every touch. The wall of death flew harmlessly by and then they were facing the shooter, coming in from above and Stem was laughing as his cannon stripped away first one engine, then the other.
She was laughing as well, the anguish of the past week gone as the power took over. She could feel the charm boxes singing, suddenly alive in their crates and she took the ship back into the belt.
Again, she felt consciousness return and with it a sudden sliver of fear. She slowed the Vale, keeping it steady.
"Stem, we've gotta stop, he's gonna realise."
Stem was still under and took a few moments to respond.
"Huh?"
"The Lord, he's gonna realise something's up if we keep flying like this."
"Huh. Yeah, crap, you're right."
Their eyes met across the cockpit, the excitement they were both feeling suddenly tempered by memories of the week. She sighed, then gave him a slight grin.
"We can still win though, right?"
He laughed and nodded.
The rest of the game was torture. They were still linked, but took time over everything they did, just enough to appear normal. There weren't many ships left anyway, but they fought with two more, leading them through the asteroids until a shot presented itself. One of them lost control and hit a rock, the explosion bright in their screens and the guilt came flooding back, another death added to her conscience.
They landed back on the Homeship, pleased to have won, but far happier to have missed the long walk. They had a day to tweak the Vale and spend the credits they won and the next morning found them sat in the cockpit once again, discussing what to do next.
"We're leavin
g right?"
Stem looked at her, waiting for more.
"I mean, just like you said, you know, we're gonna leave, soon as we get the chance and head for the front. We can't stay here, not now."
Stem let his head drop, shaking it slightly. When he looked back up, his eyes were wet.
"I just, I don't know if can run away now. Look what we did Ally."
His voice had sunk to a whisper.
"Don't we owe it to them to do something, at least something? All my life I've been searching for the answer and finally we've found it. We know what's happening, what's been happening for hundreds of years. Can you really just run away, now?"
She shook her head violently, stopping just short of putting her hands over her ears.
"I don't want to. It knows about us Stem, it knows we're here and the longer we hang around the more chance there is it's gonna find us. It can't find us, it..."
She trailed off, feeling her guts twist. She stood and pushed past him to the crank. She began to start the engine, pumping the handle as he sat and watched.
"Ally, please?"
"No, no."
She was shaking her head, her ponytail whipping back and forth. Her arms were aching, but she couldn't stop. The light went green and she hit the button, the engine roaring into life. She threw herself back into her flight chair, yanking the straps down and into the buckles, then checked the screens. The dock was almost deserted. She jumped as Stem put his hand on her arm.
"Ally, what are we going to do? They won't let us off, where are we supposed to be going?"
"We're testing our repairs, checking everything works."
"Think about it, think about what just happened. If we show ourselves now, they'll know it was us."
She shook his hand off, hauling on the sticks until the Vale rose into the air.
"ALLY, please..."
His voice trailed off as they looked through the screens and out onto the floor of the dock. There were about 20 men, dressed in armour and carrying guns. Her blood ran cold and she put her hands over her chest, as if to protect herself. They walked stiffly, forming a line between the ship and the airlock. Then they calmly knelt and raised their weapons to point them at the Vale. She brought the ship back onto the metal floor, the gentle thump as they touched down making her jump. She thought she'd be ready for the voice, but she doubled over and moaned as it crawled inside her.
"Gamers, where are you going, what reason do you have for leaving your home?"
Stem was bent over, his hand gripping the back of her seat, knuckles white. She coughed, almost vomiting, then managed a hoarse mumble.
"We have done repairs, we wanted to test them."
"Ahhhh."
Her hands were sweating and she trapped them between her legs, nails digging into her suit. She stopped breathing, half-upright and trying desperately to still her mind, to make it empty. The silence stretched out.
"I understand, but this cannot happen, gamers, you are part of our ship, part of our home. There have been disturbances, strange happenings that have left me anxious and eager to make you happy here, this cannot happen without you on board. You will stop the engine now and return to work."
She let out her breath in a long rush, wanting to slam her hands against the controls but feeling pathetically grateful at the same time. She looked at the screens again, at the slaves with their guns pointed implacably at the ship. The guns should be terrifying, but were overshadowed by the voice that had left her shaking and wrung-out. She reached out and slowly, unwillingly, switched off the engine. The voice was gone
She felt as if a shadow had been lifted from her mind, light allowed to flood in once more. Stem had picked himself up off the floor and was leaning against the wall, taking slow breaths. Their eyes met and he shook his head.
"We can't leave, Ally."
He gestured to where the men still stood.
"They've got guns. That's what our rebellion did."
He paused, glancing around then looking back at her.
"We have to do something, we can do something."
"It knows about us Stem, how can you even think--"
"It doesn't."
He hissed, face suddenly angry.
"What just happened proves it. If it knew who we were, they would have opened fire and we'd be burning alive. Think about it. The whole rebellion thing; the Lord didn't know about any of it until we walked into that room, right? It didn't know about us and it didn't know about any of the others. Don't get me wrong, it's powerful, like, way more powerful than us and we don't wanna get anywhere near it, but it's not omniscient."
"What?"
"I mean, it's not everywhere. It's not like it's inside all of our heads at the same time. Did you feel that thing that was happening when were in the room?"
She shuddered, nodding her head and unconsciously wrapped her arms around her middle.
"That didn't feel conscious, not like what just happened, like a person. It felt like a tool, or maybe magic, some kind of spell designed to trap your brain. I don't think it did that with its mind."
"Maybe not, but the guy..."
She paused, feeling her own eyes filling with tears.
"You know, the man who cut his... It did that, I know it did that."
"Yes, it did."
His voice was a mix of sadness and frustration.
"But that was one person, right in front of it. So yes, up close is bad, but here, in the rest of the Homeship? It doesn't know who we are."
He said it like a rallying cry, as if it were the ledge he was clinging to as the wind threatened to pull him away.
"We can't leave and it doesn't know us. I think we can still do something."
She was shaking, seeing the blood spurting out, all the freed turning to face them, and she buried her head in her knees. She heard him sigh and the creak as he sat back in his flight chair. She raised her head, and their eyes met and she groaned.
"What, if we did do something, would you want to do?"
He didn't jump forward, and she was grateful for that, as she was for the quiet way he spoke.
"So we try freeing someone again and see what happens. If we get away with it, we can do the same for more people."
"But doesn't that leave us in the same place as before?"
"But I think if we explain it differently, get them to understand that it still has the power, they'll be more likely to stay calmer and listen to ideas."
"Ideas?"
Now he did begin to get excited, his face lighting up.
"So, the full-frontal approach didn't work. We know that the Lord can undo whatever we do just like that. But a quiet rebellion, something that isn't aimed at it directly. It wouldn't know it was happening until it was too late."
He sat back, grinning at her triumphantly. She shook her head, feeling the tiniest flare of excitement in her stomach as he began to elaborate. She cut him off.
"But what if it does realise who we are? What then?"
"What else are we supposed to do? We can't leave! You wanna sit here for the next year, five years, whatever, hoping that something happens?"
She had nothing to say. He began, quietly, to once again explain. The more she listened, the more it seemed to make sense. Of course, as he outlined his grand plan, she already knew that it wouldn't be quite so simple, but she let his enthusiasm carry her away from the regret that hung like a noose around her neck and the fear that sat in her stomach like lead.
They'd used their credits. Not just the ones from winning the game, but some of those that dad had stashed away. Despite what had happened, leaving was now a definite thing, something that would be happening, and when it finally did they wanted to be as prepared as possible.
They added extra screens, swapped over some of their older cannon for newer, better models, and, as subtly as they could, doubled their life support capacity. Over the following week they would also pack more compressed air into every spare space on board until the Vale was litte
red with tanks.
So prepared, the time came to set the plan in motion. They'd been back in the engine for a couple of days after the game and were taking a break to head out into the ship and search for the right person to free. As they headed through the arch and out into the corridor, they saw something that made them duck back inside, grabbing for one another and scampering behind the nearest engine block.
They stood silent, waiting as the clank of boots passed them by. Sneaking back out, they watched as two men, clad in armour and carrying guns, strode by. She found them terrifying. Maybe it was because of what had happened in the dock, but she thought it was something else as well. In here, the people with the guns could do anything they liked, they held the power. Even as these thoughts ran panicked through her mind, she recognised them as being entirely new, concepts that had before only applied to the alien.
She turned to Stem, eyes wide. Her mind was whirling, feeling much as it had during the meeting with the freed. So much pressure, so much that could go wrong; and why did it feel like it was all on her?
"I don't want to get anyone else killed."
She could feel her control slipping and this time was grateful when he took her hands, bringing her gently back to him.
"We can only do what we can."
"What's that supposed to mean, really?"
"It just means that either we take a chance and maybe begin to change things, or we run away and hide and wonder what we could have done."
"But why does it have to happen here, now? What's so urgent."
He hissed, his face showing his frustration.
A Game of War Season One Amazon Page 9
