by Marie Dry
Hours later, the door still didn’t open, and Balthazar hadn’t come to her. She sat on the bed, alternately fuming and wanting to vomit with fear. Was this her punishment for enjoying the food in the mess hall now that they had a decent cook? For taking pleasure in the discussions with the cyborgs, enjoying making love with Balthazar, while Ter was enduring slavery.
At last, she heard a click, and the doors swung open. She half expected to see Balthazar standing there, but the doors had opened by themselves the way they did before.
Aurora ran to Balthazar’s office. She didn’t need the symbols on the wall to point the way anymore. It was reassuring to see them appear normal now, flashing at a slow calm pace. Hopefully, it meant Balthazar had calmed down as well and was ready to listen to reason. In spite of how she ended up on this ship and how strong he was, she never thought she could be that scared of him.
He stood facing the wall where a scene of New York was displayed, his broad back tense.
“Don’t you dare bomb New York,” she demanded.
“I do not need to dare. I will do it,” he said without turning away from the wall.
“Ter might be in New York, Balthazar, I won’t allow you to mete out vigilante justice.”
“They tried to kill a cyborg.”
“That’s no reason to just start killing innocent people who had nothing to do with it. Please, I beg you, don’t bomb the city. The last intel before I had to come here was that Ter might be in New York.”
They locked gazes and, in her mind, she could hear a clock ticking, counting down on Ter’s life.
“I told you I rewrote the three laws of robotics,” he said at last.
“What does that have to do with you bombing New York?”
“The first rule is a cyborg may never be harmed by a human.”
She rubbed her forehead. “And because a small group of fanatics tried to kill one of your cyborgs, you’re going to kill thousands of us, using that stupid rule as an excuse.”
He clenched his hands, turned his back on her. “You are to go to your room.”
That rumbling in his chest started, but this time she wouldn’t be cowed. She planted her feet and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not going anywhere until you promise not to bomb us.”
“If they hand over the humans responsible for wounding my cyborg, I will not bomb your little city.”
“My sister is down there,” she screamed. Aurora marched forward, grabbed his arm, and turned him to face her. She nearly fell over because she was braced for a resistance that never came.
He leaned down to her, grabbed her chin, and forced her face even closer to his. “My cyborgs are my responsibility. Not your sister.”
“Don’t you care about me at all? That I need to find her. Balthazar, I need to find her.”
“I need to ensure no more cyborgs are wounded.”
“How is the wounded cyborg?” Was it someone she talked to in the mess hall? One of those sweet cyborgs that tried so hard to make conversation? Who wanted to be the first to tell her the ship’s news? She mourned that he got hurt, but she couldn’t stand by and let Balthazar bomb New York.
“He is gravely injured.”
“I’m sorry, Balthazar. I’m sad too, and I hope he survives. But bombing New York will only make things worse.”
“I have to teach humans not to harm a cyborg.” There was something dark in his eyes, nightmare memories that bred the kind of fanatics he wanted handed over to him.
“I’ve saved thousands of children.”
His brow drew together. “Why are you telling me about human children?”
“I need you to understand why you can’t bomb New York, and why I have to find my sister.”
“You told me.”
“You don’t understand the responsibility I carry. It’s because of me that she is with those monsters.” Aurora looked down at her hands, hunched her shoulders against the shame pressing down on them. “My parents may have sold us, but I sold out Ter.”
She could feel his gaze boring into her skull as the silence lengthened.
“If you had stopped for your sister, I believe you both would have been caught,” he said at last.
“I will never know, and I will have to live with that for the rest of my life.” She couldn’t keep the bitterness out of her voice. She and Ter had tried so hard to be good, to not be a burden to their parents. In spite of everything they did, they still ended up with the monsters.
She waited for him to give her the look she’d received from the police and the social workers after her escape. The look that asked what she did to make her parents sell her. Balthazar could destroy her with that question.
Nebuchadnezzar entered and, after a glance at him, Balthazar looked toward the wall that instantly came alive with images.
As she watched horrified, they showed New York. More explosions rocked the camera. The cameraman and the journalist swore, and the image shook as the camera man ran while still filming, the journalist screaming his report while he sprinted for safety.
“The tinners bombed New York. They seem intent on flattening the city,” the newscaster shouted above the chaos of people fleeing amid loud explosions.
Aurora turned to stare at Balthazar. “You said they had twenty-four hours. Balthazar, there were women and children living there. My sister was down there,” she screamed hysterically. She slammed her fisted hands against his chest, didn’t care about the pain that shot through her arms.
He stared at her for a moment then, with a deliberate movement, grabbed her arm and dragged her to their cabin. He pushed her inside and turned on his heel.
“You can’t leave me here. I have to find out if Ter is alive,” she screamed through the closing door.
His only answer was his receding footsteps.
She couldn’t open the door. He’d locked her in. Furious and scared for the human race, she sat on one of the opulent chairs and watched as New York burned in spectacular color. She jumped bolt upright when the images of tinners appeared. That’s what they are, she thought defiantly, tinners--cold-hearted, murdering tinners. Machines without hearts.
They suddenly materialized out of thin air and, without a word, doused the fires, assisted hostile humans to safety.
One of the newscasters followed a group around that held devices she thought might be scanners, while they drove up and down the streets on odd-looking motorcycles that gleamed with tattoos like those on their ships. Every now and then, they would stop and disappear inside a building. After almost three hours, a tinner appeared from within a building with a device in his hand.
He walked up to a journalist who looked scared, but also elated. The camera shook, but the person filming kept it on the tinner and the journalist. “Your traditionalists are responsible for the bombs exploding. You will come with me while I disarm the bomb.”
The newscasters followed, and the camera shook even more. “This is an unexpected development. Stay with us as we risk our lives to bring you the full story.”
Aurora’s breath got stuck in her lungs. Two separate images appeared on the wall. The cyborg transmission crystal clear and the shaking image broadcast on Earth, taken by the camera man on the ground. The tinner entered the building and led them to a basement.
Explosives were stacked against a pillar. So much that, she thought, it might take out half of New York if it went off. The traditionalists didn’t have the resources to buy such a large quantity of explosives. Did they?
The newscaster continued to report with suppressed fear and excitement. The tinner proceeded to work on the bomb. It took half an hour before he’d disarmed it, carried all the components away, and handed it off to a tinner in a dimensional doorway.
What was going on here? The bomb the tin--the cyborg--showed the reporter had been human made. “He’ll never forgive me,” she whispered.
While the cyborg walked with the explosives, the world rocked around him, and a loud booming noise came over th
e newscaster’s microphone.
The cyborg stopped and stared at the explosion, so still that he seemed to have turned into a statue. A very small tattoo flashed from his neck to pulse on his temple.
“No.” Her whisper sounded like a scream, echoing around the room. If another cyborg had gone to disarm a bomb in a different building and the bomb went off, he could be dead. What if it was one of the silent cyborgs who passed her the salt in the mess hall while trying to hide their curiosity about her? Her heart nearly stopped. What if Balthazar went down there?
She angrily wiped the tears off her cheeks and tried the door again. She wanted to be out there, to help. To calm Balthazar down, if he was on the ship. When the door wouldn’t open, she tried the channel she could contact Balthazar on.
He didn’t answer.
CHAPTER 15
Hours later, she sat on the bed, too tired to pace or try again to get out the door. The wall lit up, and the world news channel logo appeared with a message to stand by for an important message.
Ten minutes later, Balthazar and the president were shown on the steps of the white house. More than the first time she saw him, Balthazar looked menacing and other. Even from here, she could see he was still furious. In all the time she spent on this ship, she’d never seen him like this.
Balthazar stepped forward. His imposing figure dominated the podium. His reptilian eyes stared into the camera. “Cyborgs did not bomb your little city. We do not need to plant bombs. If we wanted to, we could make you extinct, bombing you from the sky.” A murmur went through the journalists, but he ignored them. “I sent my cyborgs here, asked them to risk their lives, because my female asked me to keep this city safe.”
He was talking to her. “He’s never going to forgive me,” she said, and her own voice sounded reedy and thin in the room.
The president stepped forward. He looked as if the words he had to say had already soured on his tongue. “The cyborg nation has agreed to work toward a future of peaceful coexistence.” He stopped to let his words sink in. Cameras flashed, and some journalists held up recorders while others frantically scribbled on tablets. “To this end, they have agreed to peaceful trade with human farmers.” Again that dramatic pause. Now he fixed the crowd with a grim look. Showing them the soldier who’d lived through two wars. “Certain factions don’t want this. To show their displeasure, they planted bombs in New York. If the cyborgs had not deactivated these bombs, New York would be devastated right now.”
Balthazar stepped forward. “We are scanning for bombs planted in other cities.”
A murmur went through the crowd, and even the president paled. Aurora had never thought of that possibility.
“These terrorists did not try to kill the cyborgs. They planted bombs that would’ve killed humans,” the president said.
“But what about Ter?” she shouted at Balthazar’s and the president’s image. “What if another bomb goes off where Ter is held?”
All they did was talk, make her do what they wanted, and, in return, they didn’t even try to find her sister.
Balthazar stopped talking. Cyborgs stepped through a dimensional door and what looked like about six men and a few women were dragged onto the lawn behind Balthazar and the president.
“Please, God, no,” she whispered.
There could be no returning from this. No brokering of peace and then being freed to search for Ter.
The president couldn’t hide his surprise and then his fury. “Stand down, Balthazar.”
Balthazar stood a distance from the microphone, but his voice resonated. “Humans will learn the consequences of killing my people.” He motioned to the humans subdued by cyborgs clad in black uniforms, the visors hiding their faces, making them look even more menacing. “These humans tried to kill a cyborg. They were caught while they were setting the bombs and will be executed.”
It was that last explosion. It must’ve killed a cyborg. She could see his tattoo pulse against his neck all the way up to his temple. He wouldn’t be this angry if his man wasn’t either dead or badly hurt. He held his body so tightly, she knew he wanted to beat the humans he’d caught. “No, Balthazar,” she whispered.
As if he heard her all the way down on the planet, he looked right into the cameras. “After their execution, the peace talks with the president will resume.”
The president glared at him, obviously wanting to have his soldiers kill or arrest Balthazar, but not daring. The dimensional doorway didn’t close and, for all he knew, there might be cyborgs with advanced weapons in there. Just waiting for anyone to make a wrong move. Their orbiting ship could bomb them as well.
“We did not agree on this,” the president said through gritted teeth.
On the screen, five cyborgs stepped forward and using something that looked like ray guns from a science fiction movie killed all the rebels. One moment ten people stood trembling on the lawn and the next only burning ashes remained. It happened so fast no one had a chance to react.
The president turned to Balthazar, his hands clenched into fists, and spoke urgently.
“Save your breath, that damn stubborn cyborg won’t listen,” she said, wiping tears from her cheeks.
Aurora cried and clutched her knees even tighter. How could he? Even if they were guilty, how could he have them killed without a proper trial? Did he act that way because he’d been taught by the people who made him to kill anyone who rebelled against the establishment?
The camera moved, and the president walked to the microphone with balled fists. “I condemn, in the strongest terms, the execution that just took place.” He stopped and his jaw bulged. Aurora could hear his teeth grinding on the cyborg transmission on the wall. “I will convey the correct procedure to deal with crimes of any nature to Balthazar, the leader of the cyborgs. I am sure, in the future, an incident like this can be avoided.” He stopped and leaned slightly into the microphone, his gaze penetrating. “I would also like to address any human citizen that thinks killing other humans is the way to protest the peace talks with the cyborgs. Any unsanctioned aggression perpetrated in protest against a human or cyborg will be treated as treason in the future, and the culprits will be executed by humans if they are found guilty in a court of law.” Murmurs went up from the journalists, and Aurora imagined some shouting went on in homes where people watched as well. “Peace talks with the cyborgs will continue after they agree to respect human laws.”
Aurora snorted at the image on the wall. “Don’t hold your breath.”
Balthazar walked in hours later. He stopped just inside the door, and they stared at each other in fraught silence.
“I’m sorry I accused you of bombing New York,” she said at last. “But, Balthazar, how could you execute those people?”
He took off his uniform jacket and placed it in the closet. “You did not show me trust.”
“Is that why you killed them?”
“You think I would kill for such a reason? Do you know so little of me?”
“Balthazar, the first time we became aware of your ship, you bombed us. Use your logic. Why would I trust you? You didn’t even care when I told you about my sister.”
He walked over to the bed, loomed over her. “Now that it suits you, you want me to think with logic. But when it doesn’t, you revile me for not being able to pull my face into the same expressions as humans. You act as if that means I am incapable of feeling.”
Aurora refused to be intimidated. She stood and placed her hands on his chest. “You shouldn’t have executed those people.”
“They wounded a cyborg with their bombs,” he spat out.
“I know you’re angry because your soldier got hurt, but killing those humans didn’t help the situation. They should’ve been tried in a human court and sentenced.”
He removed her hands from his chest, and she felt the rejection as if he’d slapped her in the face. “Come with me.”
“Where to?”
“I will show you my soldier.”
He dragged her to a glass box that reminded her of Snow White’s coffin in the fairy tale. But she knew what lay inside wouldn’t be anything out of a fairy tale. The cyborg on guard sprang to attention when he saw Balthazar. Aurora dug in her heels. “Please don’t make me look at something awful.”
Balthazar dragged her forward without answering, and she had no choice but to approach what she knew would be a terrible thing. She was right. Inside the glass was a fragment of a cyborg skull, his brains exposed. Gouges ran through the exposed brain matter. Pieces of the head remained connected to the spinal cord with what looked like mere threads. The spinal cord, still attached to the skull, looked oddly decorative sheared of its muscles, tendons, and flesh.
She slapped her hand over her mouth, her stomach roiling. Was this one of the soldiers she knew? That she talked to in the mess hall? Seeing him like this, she understood Balthazar’s fury. She didn’t agree with what he’d done, but she could understand it now.
The eye opened and moved to look at them. Aurora whimpered and tried to step back.
CHAPTER 16
“This is what your humans and their laws have done,” Balthazar said. The pain and anger coming from him, echoing in his voice, was as hard to bear as the sight of the broken cyborg.
“I’m so sorry,” she said to the wounded soldier. Her stomach recoiled. Without ears, how could he hear her?
That eye stared at her, unblinking.
Aurora studied her feet, ashamed because she couldn’t look at the suffering soldier anymore. Couldn’t look into that tragic eye. The horror of the moment kept her still and almost trancelike. No wonder Balthazar had executed all those people. She could only imagine what he must have felt. She swallowed the bile that rose in her throat. She didn’t want the soldier to know that seeing him like this made her want to puke. “Does he feel pain?”
