by Scott Rhine
The man with the towel howled with panic as he ran down the hall, straight into Zeiss, who was coming back into the dojo on crutches. When the blond TA saw the stranger covered in red ribbons of fluid, he tripped the running man and slammed his head into the wall. Then Zeiss fell on the culprit like an Alpine avalanche.
“Z, you came out of nowhere,” the man with the towel babbled.
“Stay down!” Zeiss growled in a voice so loud it could’ve been a bear. The culprit wet himself but didn’t move a muscle otherwise. “A, hit the panic button and check Red.” His voice was shaking, as was his right hand. It kept clenching into a fist and unclenching.
Alistair followed the sound of the shower and sobbing. Red had a glazed look on her face as he approached. When she swung her sword, he blocked, shouting, “It’s me.” When she focused, the referee said, “We’re here. We got him.” She lowered the bamboo sword and used it to prop herself up. Drops of red fluid rolled down the side. “Is that blood? Showers: off. Lights: on,” the referee ordered. When the lights came on, he said, “Omigod, what happened?”
From Zeiss’s facial reaction, Kaguya said, “I’ll take over here. You check on Miss Benson.” She nudged him off and sat on the culprit’s back instead.
The towel man realized how precarious his position was. “We didn’t actually do anything to her.”
Kaguya squeezed an artery and the perpetrator’s eyes rolled up in his head.
“Three students down in the lower dojo . . . correction four,” Alistair said into his radio. “Send trauma medics and armed security.”
When Red saw Zeiss hobbling toward her, she took a shuddering breath. “Those three were hoping to jump Kaguya in the shower. They were going to settle for me.”
Hearing her own name and the plan, Kaguya sent an angry psi-bolt into the towel man’s brain stem. He wouldn’t wake up anytime soon. She ran to join the others at the crime scene.
Zeiss went to Red and held her while Alistair used the injured attacker’s own Taser to put him out of his misery.
“I had to put the Rex down,” Red whimpered.
Zeiss turned pale, taking the weapon from her as she summarized the attempted rape and defense with brutal precision, as if it had happened to someone else. When she finished, he said, “Kaguya, take her to the men’s showers.”
“Didn’t you hear me?” asked Red.
“It was pitch black in this room. The only witness just said that I attacked them,” Zeiss stated.
“I was a witness.”
“We’ll tell everyone you’re in too much shock to talk.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“What does every student do when faced with a Rex?” asked the TA loudly.
“Run,” recited Kaguya.
“I couldn’t,” Red objected.
“They’ll say you could’ve escaped when the lights were out,” Zeiss reminded her. “Because you have your black belt, your attack is assault with a deadly weapon minimum.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” she said, a hint of doubt creeping into her voice.
“Given your history of violence against this man, the mil court could try you for murder.”
Red blinked, speechless.
Zeiss continued, his voice cracking. “You also described this very procedure in a public forum. When you kill a known enemy with a planned set of steps, that’s called what?”
“Premeditated murder,” said Alistair. “That’s time in jail just waiting for the trial. The penalty for me leaving my post is a court martial. Given that it ended in fatalities, I could do time in the brig, too.”
The color drained from Red’s face.
“We’re not going to let that happen,” Zeiss said softly. He resumed his adjusted re-enactment with the referee. “I heard the screams and rushed in. I was striking from lower because I was leaning on the crutches, A. You saved me from the Taser by turning out the lights and pegging the second guy.”
“I don’t think it’s right for me to play hero,” said Alistair.
“Is it right for both of you to get kicked out of the program?” asked Zeiss. “Man up.”
“I’ll grab a second stick.”
“I choked the third as he ran away,” said Kaguya. “Neither of you knows the technique.”
Alistair’s radio bleeped. “Professor Horvath armed and closing fast.”
“Let’s go to the men’s showers,” cajoled Kaguya, pulling Red by the arm.
They all moved to their places.
When Horvath ran through the door, she saw the red splatter and panicked. The walls and shower dripped with mock arterial spray from half a dozen murders.
“Treasure is locked up, sir,” Alistair reported. “We foiled an attempted gang rape. This is chalk from Z’s bamboo stick.” The hand on her sidearm trembled for a moment as Horvath stood over the unconscious criminals. Alistair continued to stumble over the planned lie. “That one will tell you: Z surprised them and killed the Rex in the dark.”
The phrasing tipped her off. Even with everything at stake, her former assistant couldn’t bear lying to her. Zeiss chimed in, “That’s right. Forensics will show my weapon killed him and injured the other. Let’s go to your office, sir, and I’ll sign a statement.”
Refusing to be herded, Professor Horvath read the truth from the scene. The footprints and weapon strikes on the Tasered man were Red’s handiwork, no doubt. She knew enough to proceed. “Z, the Rex is the one who injured your knee.” It wasn’t a question. “You had to go for the kill because he’d knocked you down and wasn’t stopping.”
“Yes, sir. A-man, you got the blood on your hands treating my injuries,” whispered Zeiss. “I appreciate it.”
“What?” asked the referee.
“Across the eye ridge,” Trina said, kissing the spot indicated on Zeiss’s forehead. “It’ll swell and drip blood into his eye. He can fake the injured ribs.”
Kaguya heard Alistair protest, “Do I have to?”
“Without it, no one will believe he bested Merrick, even with a staff from behind. We have twenty seconds.”
Zeiss crouched and braced. Trina held him by the shoulders for the two blows it took to make him bleed.
“Let me get you an ice pack,” Alistair said, hand shaking.
“Not until it turns purple,” hissed Zeiss.
Trina handed Alistair a field bandage. “I’ll be writing the girls’ statements.”
When the six guards burst in, the former Grunt-Monkey was struggling not to weep as he applied first aid.
****
The guards let Kaguya play her phone video games while she waited. After threading the game maze to the center of Osaka Castle, she posted a note on the Shogun’s desk in handwritten kanji. “Rogue agent provided me with inside track to Monk. Switching to carrot. Help them find half the explosives.”
When she glanced up from her message, she saw the Benson girl staring at the wall of the clinic, reliving the trauma. Kaguya closed her game and went to comfort the child.
Chapter 22 – Age 6: Grandma Claudette
The little girl named Miracle didn’t speak for days after the kidnapping attempt at the UN Dessert Fair. Due to the media storm, New York wasn’t safe, so her parents sent her to stay with ‘Grandma Claudette’. Arab papers had Mira’s blurry, red-handed picture on the front page. They painted her as the child of the Great Whore Jezebel, who hated Muslims and taught her to kill. The FBI was still investigating the fundraiser incident, and rhetoric was flying on all sides.
After Claudette Fortune met the company jet at the DFW airport, she took the girl’s hand and said, “Hi darlin’, you ready to have some fun with Grandma? Riding ponies? You love Carmen’s blue corn enchiladas . . .”
The fifty-year-old brunette starlet sat down in a black plastic chair. “Listen with your special ears, okay?” The girl obeyed. Claudette tasted like sweet tea and pecan mini muffins. “I’m your mother’s best girlfriend, your father’s friend, and Daniel’s step-mother
. We’re family, you understand. Nobody’s going to hurt you while I have you here. Do you believe that?”
The girl nodded.
“Why do you think they sent you here?”
The girl whispered, “I murdered that man. Now they don’t want to be around me.”
Claudette shook her head. “No. That man wasn’t human; he was a virus, a destroyer.”
Mira cocked her head. “That’s not the way Daddy’s church talks.”
“It’s the rules we decided on for our species when we accepted the pages.”
“The funny gold paper that talks to people?”
Claudette nodded. “But you don’t need to read pages to have talents. You were born knowing what they teach, at least some of them. Your mom and a bunch of really smart people made some rules. One of those rules said those who kill humans can be reclassified. They change from being normal cells in the body to a cancer. Our species is permitted, after a warning and three witnesses, to end that threat.”
“I heard their lights go out, Grandma.”
The starlet held the girl tight. “Those who live only to consume and destroy are no better than the virus. Their plan was to drug you with the food and have fake paramedics haul you off in an ambulance. They were going to get your dad to change his vote and then kill you.”
Her eyes got big as Claudette continued. “They didn’t want me to tell you, but you need to know how and why to keep this from happening again. Who did you tell about the elephant ears?”
“Everybody,” cried the girl.
****
Days later, after numerous consultations with therapists, as the girl drank a Steak and Shake milkshake, Claudette asked, “What have you learned, darlin’?”
Mira held up a finger. “Number one: people are always trying to kill or threaten the person making a change.”
“Big words. What’s number two?”
“With the right gun, your aim doesn’t need to be perfect. Just learn not to jump or close your eyes when you hear the bang.”
When the guard raised an eyebrow, the starlet said, “It’s okay Henri; better too early than too late.”
The girl continued, “Three: people can use things they know you like to hurt you. Don’t let anyone know. Four: even though Mom likes dancing and Trina likes gymnastics, I should learn to fight like Dad.”
Claudette shook her head. “Benny works out every morning with kickboxing; that isn’t for you. But you’re right. The best way to recover from being a victim is to kick someone’s ass. When it happened to me, I vowed it would never happen again. I’ll talk to your daddy. He’s more okay with you studying martial arts than Jez would be.”
****
That evening, she sat with her arm around Mira on the sofa as they watched a movie. Claudette said, “I love spending time with you, darlin’, but you have a mother that you need to spend time with while you can.”
“Mom’s always working.”
Grandma nodded. “Without Trina there, she won’t be able to.”
The girl’s face brightened in a smile. “Really?”
“Jez promised to cut back to twenty hours a week unless there’s an emergency.”
“Those happen a lot.”
Claudette kissed her on the forehead. “Smart girl. You and Benny will keep her honest, though.”
Mira didn’t remember what the movie was about; she just kept staring at the delicious smelling dish of candy. She couldn’t bring herself to taste it because she didn’t know who might have poisoned it since it left the store. She had to stay alert if she wanted to protect her mom.
Chapter 23 – Isolation Chamber
Daniel sat listening in the clinic room where Zeiss was being poked, prodded, and monitored. The TA confessed, “I screwed up.”
Trina paced and told him, “I saw the tapes. It could’ve happened to anyone. You did your best to contain the situation afterward, and you saved Mira from the immediate fallout. There’ll be another bonus.”
“Would you people stop with the damn money?!” Zeiss burst out. “What do you mean immediate?”
Trina said grimly, “The UN is sending investigators to look into the incident.”
“I know my story. I’ll stick to it.”
“That’s just it. Mira can’t. She’s killed people before—justified, but she confuses the incidents. We can’t afford for anyone to question her in this fragile state. She needs a few weeks to recover.”
“Send her to some spa and delay her a semester.”
“She won’t go. Worse, they want to know what broke our conditioning over the Rex. They’re supposed to be safe. Now the UN is worried any of the Rexes could go rogue.”
“And Red would do her best to convince them that the only good Rex is a dead one,” Zeiss sighed. “Or slip about her cover when she’s angry.”
“You understand why she needs to be sequestered,” said Trina. “I have a plan, but I need your help.”
“It’s that old Chinese curse: save someone’s life and you’re responsible for them forever,” Zeiss sighed. “Tell me. The pain meds will help.”
Daniel chuckled. “Actually, it’s that vacation time you’ve been requesting.”
“Pardon?”
“We’ll leak to the school that you and Red are suspected of faking a drug test,” the billionaire said. Zeiss paled. “One of the extreme administrative penalties is to sentence students to undergo isolation testing early. It’s brutal and causes a lot of washouts. Usually participation is voluntary and near the end of the third year. But if someone’s a problem, it gives us a chance to get rid of them early with no fuss.”
“That worked so well with Merrick.”
Trina glared at him. “Focus. Once it begins, nothing can interrupt the test short of a drop request or Marsh pulling them from the program. There are six people in the pod: no class, no TV, no computers, and no distractions for two weeks.”
Zeiss smiled. “I’ll sign. I don’t need a computer because I hand write all my math papers first. But why would I take this training?”
“Because I checked the ‘space travel’ box for you when you became my assistant,” Daniel admitted.
“For a chance to work on my dissertation in peace for two weeks, I’d do just about anything,” said Zeiss. “But Red needs a sympathetic woman for her room. She’s . . . still recovering from the attack.”
Trina looked at the floor. “I tried everything I could to make sure it would never happen to her too.”
Daniel held her hand. “You did. Who can we get? Sonrisa can’t miss that much class.”
“Mori-san emailed me his personal gratitude this morning,” Zeiss noted. “Kaguya told him I prevented the rape of both women and was injured in the process. When he demanded I name a reward, I asked him to send his personal explosives sweeper team. They’re going to sniff every inch of this island until we find those bombs.”
“Turning disaster into opportunity. Kudos,” said Daniel. “But what does that have to do with the female problem?”
“Kaguya lied to her father. She begged me not to show him the fight video, and she seemed almost human when she was comforting Mira earlier. She might volunteer if approached properly, sensei.” Zeiss stressed, trying to signal Daniel.
Trina nodded. “I’ll arrange it.”
“He means me,” Daniel sighed. “She flirts with me constantly.”
“Oh? Then I’m definitely getting her to volunteer.”
The TA warned, “This is going to wreak havoc with everyone’s schedule. Can you manage without me for two weeks?”
“If you put your finger in the ocean and take it out, does the imprint stay?” Daniel asked.
“No.”
“Then you’re replaceable.”
“You should write Hallmark cards,” Zeiss joked. “Yours is much better than Red’s flattery: you’re abnormal and don’t know much, but at least you’ll talk to me.”
This got Trina to laugh, despite the serious topics. “He just d
oesn’t want you to worry. If it makes you feel more appreciated, he’ll whine and complain to me the whole time you’re gone. But that’s my problem. You consistently exceed expectations, Z. If you need anything, say the word.”
“What about Alistair?”
“We’ll need at least one person for the UN investigators to grill. Unfortunately, he’s not comfortable with lying to get the ‘hero’ label. He admits to zapping one man with his own Taser, but he’s spreading the rumor that you did most of the work.”
“Great.”
“Don’t worry; you’ll be cleared. I’ll make sure of it.”
“No. I didn’t mind the manslaughter charge, but the reputation thing is getting out of hand.”
She leaned forward and kissed the livid bruise over his eye. “You’ll bear that, too.”
****
Zeiss was the first one who moved into the isolation pod. It had three twin beds like any other student pod; however, there were no windows, clocks, TVs, microwaves, or computers. There were, however, stacks of paper and pencils in the common area. He picked the room with the escape hatch on the bottom half of the curved sidewall.
He was merrily sharpening a pencil when Red arrived. She was subdued, with no splash of color in her hair. The clothes in her bag were all muted tones. There were three other men already unpacking. Zeiss pointed, “I reserved the room next to the bathroom for you ladies and made up signs to switch the room between boys and girls. Luckily, I brought my own tape and paperclips.”
“You just live for this shit, don’t you?” Red grumbled. Smacking the side of her goggles, she complained, “There’s no signal here.”
“It should still work in video-log mode; you just can’t hit playback. Nothing but rest and productive time,” he sighed. His knee was strapped into a sky-blue immobilizer. He wore tan shorts, sandals, and a mock tourist T-shirt that said, “Switzerland: Make chocolate, not war.”
