by Justin Sloan
“You left an unconscious man in the bathroom?” Alicia hissed. “I have to go next. Please tell me there’s more than one bathroom.”
“Not that way,” he admitted. “Not that I saw, anyway.”
“Ugh.” She stood and headed off in the other direction, right past the Japanese couple, leaving Marick and Shrina to sit across from each other… awkwardly.
“So…” Shrina finally said, nodding to the sky. “How’s it up there?”
“The space station?”
She shrugged. “Unless you’ve been anywhere else up there. I’d love to speak with someone who’s been on Titan or Mars.”
“Just the station for me.” He actually considered that, remembering everything under the current shroud of negativity but trying to think of how he’d seen it before recent events. “You know, it can be quite stunning at times—beautiful views of Earth and the way space looks from different angles.”
“You miss it,” she said, leaning in. “Even with all of this, you miss it.”
He considered that, but then shook his head. “I grieve what it might have been, maybe miss the version of it that was in my head.”
“And what was that?”
“There are two versions—the one I remember with me as a super soldier, a Marine turned Project Destiny badass, ready to lead the world into space exploration. Then there’s the version that’s foggy, the one that went something like this—your sister and I, planning our lives together, living on the space station with children and raising those children in a world where Project Destiny really was our destiny, where the current system would lead us to the next evolution of mankind.”
“Maybe New Origins will,” she said with a shrug, then leaned back and held out her hands. “How do you know their move against the governments isn’t the necessary step for that plan?”
“Harming innocents? Declaring war against your own kind? No, that’s never the right answer, regardless of the outcome. You know this.”
“Of course I do. I’m just saying that in another five hundred years, when humanity is out in the stars, traveling through galaxies and having conversations with aliens like the ones we’re having now, maybe they won’t care as much how we got there.”
“Not so different from the rest of history,” he replied, nodding.
“Exactly. America… enough said. China, with everything they did to conquer surrounding countries and incorporate them into their borders, everything they did to conquer their own people, as a matter of fact—we could look at any great power and the horrors performed in order to reach that position. So again, what makes New Origins any different?”
“The same answer we always give—that now we know better, and that it’s better to save lives, to prevent it. Had I been alive at the time of the pilgrims and had the option to look at it as we know it now, would I say that we shouldn’t move to the Americas because we’d essentially wipe out a people? Of course I’d take that stance. To do otherwise puts you in the same place as every evil dictator or mass murderer in history.”
“Harsh.”
“Is it?” he asked and took a breath, looking around for water and making a note to find some at the first opportunity. “Tell that to the sufferers in a more recent case, with all the refugees, all the children without parents, everyone hurt from the war that resulted in the Alboranian Holdings.”
She nodded, looking lost for a moment. “Tell me. My sister… Sorry, I forget you don’t remember.”
“You…?”
“Remember our parents? Yeah. And we adopted a neighbor girl who lost her whole family.”
He shook his head. “Damn. I’m so sorry to hear it.”
A flash of anger rose inside him and he raged against the fact that someone had taken those memories from him. More than ever, he wanted to find the bastards behind this and punch out their skulls. If he had Admiral Nor in front of him right now, or her smug son, he’d… he’d… No. He pushed those thoughts aside, focusing on his breathing.
He realized his eyes were closed and opened them to see Shrina staring at him with a frown.
“You okay?” she asked.
“Honestly? No. Let’s get this over with, ASAP.”
“Shouldn’t be a problem,” Alicia said, returning to her seat. “We’re here.”
They all turned to the window, watching as the train pulled up to a fancy new station. It had been constructed of a red and orange metal made to look like an advanced version of what the coliseum had once been—great arched walkways and lights shining out in various directions. The station had been built above the original coliseum on a floating port so that they were able to look down and see the remains. The War of Gods had left it in a state of mere rubble, with a few arches here and there to remind tourists of its previous glory. Flying pods took new arrivals from the station to their destinations around town, some circling over the remains below for an extra close view.
The train ride had almost been a step back in time, especially starting in northern Italy. But here, in the capital of Italy, all was normal and high tech again. Images of tall models walked through the sky, pausing and turning, showing off the most expensive and inappropriately revealing dresses. Men sported watches and kicked a soccer ball in just their underwear, and a child dressed in gold held out a piece of melon that seemed to smile at the viewer—all projections into a sky that had been sold off for ad space designed to be reminiscent of the ancient gods, but now those gods were models and fancy brands.
“You can almost understand Yerbuna and her cause,” Alicia said, glancing around at it all. At a look from Marick, she added, “I’m not saying I’d go Titanian and declare war on this place, just that we’ve certainly become enamored with it all. Every year seems to bring a further devolution into shopping madness.”
“Don’t get me started on sports stars,” Shrina said with a chuckle. “Kids want role models? They need to start looking right here at the three of us.”
“Wanted criminals?” Marick said with a chuckle.
“Depending on whose story you’re listening to,” she replied, “and, for the record, don’t put me in that category. I’m not there.”
“Yet.”
“Right… yet.” A darkness passed over her face and she frowned. “I’m still not sure how I feel about you dragging me into this, probably destroying my career and definitely any chances with SID.”
“Only if they find out,” Alicia said with a glare at Marick. “And we’ll do our best to ensure that doesn’t happen.”
Shrina nodded her thanks and they made their way to the string of pods. Marick couldn’t help but notice that the Japanese couple was looking their way, or seemed to be. When he looked away to watch his step and then looked back, they were gone.
“Stay alert,” he advised and then ducked into the pod Shrina had called over.
“Embassy housing,” Shrina told the car, and Marick was surprised to see that there was no driver. There wasn’t even a separate part, just two rows of seats facing each other. Shrina noticed his eyes roaming about and explained. “Italy has actually benefited from its proximity to the Alboranian Holdings where much of the war profits have been put into advancing their tech. This is one such example.”
“I guess even the drivers in the other pods don’t do much these days,” Alicia said with a thoughtful glance about. “It’s kind of like those self-driving cars they had going back toward the end of the twenty-first century.”
“Only these fly,” Marick noted. “A bit more worrisome, if you ask me.”
“Eh,” Shrina said with a shrug and motioned him over to the window, pointing to the windshield where he could just barely make out lines. “They all follow roads still, just not roads we can see. The cars are tracked. Even the tourist ones over there in the ruins have lines and are organized in a system similar to flight patterns.”
“Impressive.”
She scrunched her nose, then laughed. “Who are you kidding? You just came from Space Sta
tion Horus. I doubt a couple of tourist cars are really impressive.”
He grinned. “Not so much, but still, I’m loving it. I have memories of Earth but mostly from my time in the Marines. The tourist stuff, as much as it’s ridiculous, is also kind of exciting.”
Alicia took his hand. “You were always into this stuff, actually. Had to have the nicest new jeans, the…” Her speech was interrupted by her sudden laughter. “Sorry, I can’t do it. No, no, you hated it all.”
Marick grinned. “That’s mean. You almost had me there for a sec.”
“Gotta have fun somehow,” she said as she leaned in. “You also really loved doing the dishes and cooking. Let’s see…”
“Just don’t mention anything in the bedroom and you can keep doing this all day,” Shrina said with a laugh.
“Oh, nothing there would be a lie though.”
Marick frowned, not sure he liked this game but also not sure if jokes like that meant the sisters had ever shared stories. It was entirely possible that right now Shrina knew more about his sexual history with his wife than he did.
“Relax, dear,” Alicia said, taking his arm. “I can only joke because I know it’ll all be over with soon.”
“Let’s hope so.” He turned to watch the city fly by—more skyscraper ads and vast, lit-up shopping centers, and occasionally more ruins in various shades of light.
Suddenly, an out-of-place light blasted him from the side just before he saw a pod hit theirs, knocking it sideways. Their pod began to fall but then started to right itself.
“I thought you said these things have routes and don’t crash!” Marick shouted.
“They don’t crash,” Shrina protested and then shrieked as the lights from the other pod appeared again and smashed into theirs, knocking it out of control. Then their pod was falling, spinning as they were flung about, and Marick braced himself with an arm around the door handle, the other snatching the green bag out of the air and pulling it tight, not wanting any explosives to get triggered in the crash that was about to happen.
The ground slammed into them and the pod crumpled. Marick pushed, feeling the pressure of it pressing down on him and tossing him about, but he did his best to keep his body stiff and extended, trying to keep the pod from collapsing down on them.
With a final rocking and a creaking sound, they stopped. Screams sounded and then another pod crashed nearby.
Marick’s head was pounding and his ears were ringing, his body aching. But he knew that if he was feeling like this, the others had to be feeling about ten times worse. Pushing himself up, he noted that Shrina had a gash on her head and blood was trickling down her cheek, but she was awake, jostling Alicia.
“She’s out! Help!” Shrina yelled.
Marick knew they had to act fast but was caught off-guard when bullets started spraying the remains of the pod, two making it through and hitting the seat next to Alicia. He leaped into action, grabbing the exoskeleton from the bag and flipping it open, then strapping it on in a flash. Next, he pulled Alicia up to him and kicked open the already mostly-broken roof, which was at their side.
“Follow close and stay low,” he told Shrina, then took his free hand and tossed her a blaster before taking one himself.
“Damn, damn, damn,” she was saying, looking at the thing and testing it.
“Just like a regular pistol,” he said. “No safety, but watch out for civilians.”
He leaned out to look around the edge of the car, catching a glimpse of the shooter, but then pulled back as another round of bullets sprayed nearby.
“One shooter,” he said. “Bounty hunter, I’m guessing.” Marick pulled Alicia up and kissed her on the cheek. “Wake up, dear. Wake up!”
“I’ll take her,” Shrina said, motioning. “You focus on that prick.”
“You sure?” he asked.
She nodded. “FBI, remember? One of the big things in the last century or so was insisting that we handle ourselves as well as men, meaning being able to get our comrades out of harm’s way. I wasn’t a field agent, but still, I went through training like all the rest.”
He nodded, letting her take Alicia over her shoulder, and considered the grenades. But there were too many civilians nearby and too many old ruins he didn’t want to further destroy.
A barrage of wails sounded and then flashing lights appeared as authorities approached. It was time to get out of there, and as much as he hated it, he only saw one option in this situation—teleportation. He turned, eyes searching for the best spot and ducking as more shots rang out. The shooter was getting closer.
A line of buildings formed a wall around an area of land not far off and up a bit, which would allow them to get out of the bounty hunter’s line of sight. He quickly scanned it, setting the designated teleportation spot, and then pressed Alicia’s shield on.
Shrina’s eyes went wide as the bubble formed around them. “Probably should’ve done that earlier,” she noted as more shots came, some bouncing off of the shield while others were vaporized by its energy.
“It’s not for the bullets,” he said and then pulled her and Alicia to him. “We haven’t tried this with three people. Stay close.”
“Oh, we’re going to—”
At that moment, both bars went to one-hundred percent on his display, and the bounty hunter appeared, leaping over the remains of the car, pistol at the ready. When he saw them disintegrating from the legs up, his eyes went wide and he squeezed his trigger. By the time the bullet left the gun, they were gone.
Marick landed on one knee, catching Alicia. Shrina fell at their side on her back, grunting in pain and twisting in agony.
“Don’t shout out,” Marick said, gently setting Alicia down and moving closer to check on her sister. She didn’t have bubbling skin or any blood aside from what had already been there from the crash. He held his hand to her head and she focused on it, her pain seemingly subsiding.
“It’s gone,” she said. “I don’t know what it was, but it’s not hurting anymore.”
“You weren’t the one wearing the shield, and you don’t have the enhancements. I should’ve expected something like this. I’m sorry.”
“I survived,” she said and pushed herself up, then gasped. Crawling forward, she made it to Alicia’s side, helping her to sit. Alicia was coming to.
“What happened?” Alicia asked, groggily staring at them.
“You teleported,” someone else answered, and all three whipped around to see the Japanese couple from the train stepping out of the shadows. A pod hovered behind them in an alley, though it was clearly not like the rest with its sharp edges and harsh red light.
Marick went for his blaster, but the Japanese man held up his hands, quickly saying, “We’re not your enemy.”
That wasn’t enough to cause Marick to put away the blaster, but he paused, eyeing the man. “And why do you say that?”
“We’ve been tracking you since Japan. Even though you wear their uniforms, you’re fighting against Project Destiny soldiers. So are we, and we just want to talk.”
The woman’s eyes darted past them, her glasses flashing green in the corner, and then they all noticed movement. “He’s coming,” she said. “The hunter. He seems to have a trace on you, or maybe surveillance from above.”
“Come with us,” the man said, motioning to the pod behind him.
“We can take this guy,” Alicia said, still mostly out of it but at least sitting up at that point.
“Maybe yes, maybe no,” the woman said. “But there’ll be more. If he found you, so can they.”
“She’s right,” Marick said, helping Alicia up. “You two, go.”
“All of you,” the Japanese man said. “I insist.”
“I’m coming,” Marick replied, “but not until I deal with this guy.”
“Marick—” Alicia started to say, but he was already off, using his exoskeleton to leap from the ledge, scanning the surrounding area for movement as he did. There was a flash in the darkne
ss and a burst of light as a pistol went off, and then Marick hit the ground, running faster than anyone on Earth would be able to run, other than the Taipans.
The bounty hunter saw him coming and rolled, getting off a shot as he drew a blade, but the shot barely nicked Marick’s arm. He returned fire, keenly aware of the police now turning their vehicles in his direction. This needed to be over fast.
Shots went off, only to vanish into the night as the bounty hunter smiled smugly. He had a shield of some kind too, Marick realized, cursing. When he was close enough to Marick, the hunter started running and then leaped and blasted into the air with a burst from something on his back that didn’t let him fly but sent him much farther than Marick had expected.
Another shot came his way and Marick hit the ground before rolling sideways and continuing his pursuit.
The hunter turned toward Marick and fired two shots, using his thrusters to leap up to the ledge Marick had just come from. The hunter hadn’t realized how fast the enhancements and exoskeleton would make his opponent, however, as two seconds later Marick was plowing into him. The thrusters went off, sending them both into a nearby building and then up, but they slammed their heads into a patio as they came back down.
As they slumped to the ground, Marick thought the attack was over, only to have the man grunt and lunge at him with a blade. Without hesitation, Marick caught the blade with his exoskeleton, blocking the blow, and then punched the man hard enough that his nose went up into this head and he fell, dead.
At this point, the police were closing in on him, shouting something in Italian but switching to English as they commanded him to lie down and drop his weapons. But he had other plans, and instead, he ran in the opposite direction, back to the alleys. Before long, he was in the pod with the Japanese couple, his wife, and her sister, speeding away down dark alleys and into parts of Rome he would’ve likely never visited.
Even though he was relieved to have escaped, he was more than anxious to find out who these two were and how they were involved in the whole scenario. For now, however, that would have to wait. One of the police pods had just flown up behind them, lights bouncing off of all surrounding walls, and the Japanese man turned with a frown.
