Ailsa searched for the least dangerous way to reveal her complete lack of papers.
“How long has it been on fire, citizen?” asked the Guardian.
“It… just started,” said Ailsa. She turned to go.
“Papers, please!” said the Guardian in a severe tone of voice. “Citizen, stop.”
Ailsa kept walking.
“Citizen, stop,” said both Guardians at once.
Ailsa broke into a run. There was a brown gate at the back of the Taco McDonalds. She made for it.
A sharp pop sounded and Ailsa hit the ground hard. Her left calf burned.
Milton opened his eyes. He stood up. “Lizzy? Lizzy!”
“Milton,” she yelled. She looked back at him as he rose from the ground.
The Guardian bore down on Ailsa and Milton limped after him.
“Please don’t kill me,” Ailsa whispered to the Guardian.
The pearly figure stopped a meter from her. “You have missed your uplift appointment, citizen. I will now take you to Protecty Central for uplift. I will not hurt you. This is a voluntary procedure.”
“I don’t want to go!” Ailsa yelled.
“This is entirely voluntary,” it said. “You agreed to these terms—”
Milton got behind the Guardian and ripped off its helmet. The head underneath was all wires, shiny metal and iridescent circles.
“Run!” Ailsa yelled.
The grotesque head rotated. The body followed. It grabbed Milton’s head and twisted. Milton’s dead body thudded to the ground.
The machine turned back to her.
Ailsa screamed.
The machine-Guardian fell on her. Ailsa kicked and screamed and scratched but it was too heavy.
It’s going to kill me now. The weight of the machine bore down on her chest. Ailsa struggled to breathe.
I want to see it. I want to see the end. She gritted her teeth. She opened her eyes.
A weapon discharged. She trembled. The machine lay motionless next to her. A dark figure stood over her, blocking out the streetlight.
She squinted her eyes.
“Get up,” he said.
She grabbed his outstretched hand and pulled herself up.
He was tall, dark and with a creeping midsection. He looked familiar. Ailsa searched her memory.
He smiled. He was missing teeth. Others were black. Large, dark purple bags pulled at his eyes.
She took a step back. “Who are you?”
He was silent a moment. ”It’s me, Gabriel,” he said.
“Where did you go?” Ailsa asked Gabriel. “You abandoned me!” She pounded his nearest shoulder with both fists.
Below, the city was alive with light and fire. They passed through a low, dark cloud.
She tired of hitting him. “Do you have one of those metal boxes in the back of your head, too?”
“What?” he asked.
“I saw someone, from my old protectorate. They put a box in his head during uplift.” She grabbed the hair at the nape of his neck and pulled.
“Ow!” he yelled. The car jerked to the right.
She rubbed her hand all over the back of his head. It was greasy. A stale smell released into the air. But there was no box.
She wiped her hand on the seatback. “Okay, you’re clear. Why—”
“I was scared.” He turned to look at her. “I’m sorry. They sent a dozen big ships in for Texa.”
The sound of her name made Ailsa go rubbery. She hunched forward. She wanted to cry but she just felt empty and exhausted.
“You look different.” She turned to study him. “You look like you got beat up.”
Gabriel shrugged.
“And the man with the box in his head, he looked better than I remember. Am I going insane?”
Gabriel reached a hand over to caress her face.
She slapped it away. “You abandoned me!” she screamed. “Set the car down! I can’t trust you. Everything is screwed up!”
“Relax!” Gabriel descended the car. They passed through thicker and darker clouds. The smell of burning plastic entered the car.
“What’s burning?” she asked.
“It’s the city,” he said. “Just look at it. It’s on fire. The Republic has called an uplift. We’re rising.”
Gabriel leveled off the car. She looked out into the street below. People carried fire and they were burning buildings.
It’s Texa. The thought flashed through her mind. “Texa’s doing this,” she said. “She made me see Milton as ugly because he is ugly inside. She made me see you as handsome because you are good. And now…”
Gabriel turned and smiled. “But I am handsome.”
“Did you see that the Guardians are machines now?” she asked.
“What! That’s not true. I have a friend—” he started.
She giggled and her shoulders relaxed. “I know what’s happening. I know how to get Texa back and how we can be free. I know what to do.”
He studied her face. “You’ve taken Jubitol.”
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She focused on Texa’s face. It came to her in a flash.
“I knew it. Of course!” she yelled. “We have to go to XLS1.”
Gabriel turned to her, his eyes big. “XLS1? Not with me, you’re not. Forget it!”
“Enter,” said Dr. Vernor Xemura in a whisper. He sat behind a polished metal desk. On the other side of the floor-to-ceiling windows behind him, flames from multiple buildings licked the sky.
A rotund, stooped man in a bursting tuxedo waddled into Dr. Xemura’s office. “What the hell is this, Vernor? Unrest, yes. A little terrorism, if we must. Clean out some protectorates, yes, dear God. But burn the city? Everyone is blaming me!”
Vernor grimaced. “Relax, Alexander. I’ve—”
“I have called an emergency meeting of the trustees for tonight. They’re going to find out about all this.” Alexander pulled a handkerchief from his front pocket and mopped his neck.
“Where are your guards?” Vernor asked with a sly grin. “We need to keep you safe, Mr. President.”
Alexander glared at him. “Safe from what? The Rising? Please. You’re the only threat that concerns me!”
Vernor stood up and looked out the window. His gaze fell on the fires and his heart warmed. The sickly artificial smell of burning plastic at once raced his heart and lightened his head. He turned around. “A little creative destruction will do us good. The rabble will burn up their own protectorates and we simply re-prioritize the cleaning list.” The corners of his mouth and his eyes creased.
Alexander glared at him. “More cleaning? What about when it reaches our neighborhoods? Do we clean them, too?”
“If need be,” said Vernor. He turned around and tensed his jaw muscles. “I tire,” he said in a louder voice, “of your questions. We must order the Republic perfectly. You know what is coming.”
“But, is this really—” started Alexander.
Vernor held up his hand. “The trustees dither and you question. But I do! I am the only one preparing us for the inevitable.” He sat down at his desk and took a yellow pill from a glass bowl. “If not for me, for my efforts, my experiments… my resolution and strength, the Republic would be dead already.”
Gabriel touched his ear. “Who is this?”
“Gabriel?” a woman asked. The voice was familiar but it raised a tension in his gut.
Gabriel scowled. “I’m not—”
“It’s Zora.”
Gabriel took a deep breath. He looked through the windshield. Ailsa waited for her order to come up at the food truck.
“What have you done with Texa?” he asked.
“This has a simple solution,” she said. “I don’t know why the Rising didn’t think of this before. Didn’t you tell them you’re his brother?”
Gabriel pursed his lips.
“You marry me, I kill your brother and we take over his holdings, including his trusteeship. Ailsa and Texa go on their merry way. Well, at leas
t Ailsa.”
“What?”
“You heard me. I’m telling it to you straight,” she said. “I checked with the Committee. You are in his will. You get everything. It’s a matter of personal survival now, anyway.”
“I don’t know if you noticed, Zora, but I am interested in Ailsa. I’m not interested in you. And it looks like you helped kidnap Texa again,“ he said. “Where is she?”
“Look, I’m just as much a victim here as she is. I got the devices out of them. It’s not my fault that soldiers showed up and took her. They took me, too!”
“I’m not—” Gabriel started.
“I’m a prisoner here, too!” she yelled.
“Then how come you get to make a phone call?”
Zora was silent a moment. “Look, how much do you know about her?”
“Enough. They need me.”
“She whores herself out.”
“Go smoke yourself,” he said.
Zora sighed. “I’ll nutshell it for you, Gabriel. Your brother engineered them to—”
“What are you saying? He created them? They’re clones? What?” he asked.
Zora sighed. “You know, it’s not that important right now. Here’s the important part. Vernor is engaged in a power play. He is trying to take over the Republic. He is using Texa’s mental powers to do this. If we can kill him—”
“You want to kill my brother. Do you hear yourself?”
Ailsa left the food truck with their food in hand.
“With us, she can have a normal childhood. But for Vernor she is a lab rat, a tool, a weapon.” Zora paused. “Listen, Gabriel, I know about your—”
Gabriel hung up. Ailsa got into the back seat and handed him his half of the food.
“I got your favorite,” she said. “Kung Pao Soy, right?” She smiled at him.
Gabriel stared out the windshield.
“What’s happened?” she asked. “Did somebody call? What?”
“No. No, it’s nothing. Just hungry,” he said with a tired smile. What the hell do I do now?
“I just can’t,” said Ailsa. “I can’t eat anything.”
“Aren’t you hungry?” asked Gabriel. They sat high above the city in the black taxi and watched the fires rage below. XLS1 was straight ahead and just below them.
“I am so hungry, Gabriel, but… my whole body hurts. It’s Texa. They’re hurting her. I just know it.”
“We can’t just go in there,” he said. “All we have is this half-drained Gard rifle. We won’t make it past the front door.”
She dropped her Chinese food and hung her head forward. “Give me an idea. You must have one. What’s going to happen? What should I do?”
“I just—” he started.
“How have you avoided the Gards all this time? You know how to use a gun. You’re his brother. There has to be something you can do…” Ailsa frowned and looked away from him.
“I’ve got nothing,” he said. “I’m sorry. Yeah, he’s my brother but we haven’t—”
“Just shut up,” Ailsa said. “I’ll take care of this. Give me the gun and drop me at the front door.”
“You are insane,” Gabriel said. He opened the glove compartment and pulled the gun out.
“No,” she said. “I’m a mother.”
“I don’t want you to feel that I’m—” started Gabriel. He set the taxi down in the street in front of XLS1.
He turned to face her.
“How much is the fare?” Ailsa asked.
“Oh, go bloody smoke yourself,” he said. “I have taken a lot—”
Ailsa got out and slammed the door on him. He rolled down his window.
“Now, just hold on a second…”
Ailsa didn’t hear him anymore. She held the gun at the small of her back and strode towards the entrance.
I’m going in there, I’m going to kill anyone who gets in my way, I’m coming out with Texa and then we’re getting out of here. I can do it. I have to.
A robotic arm zoomed in on her from above the front door. At the end of it was a translucent black ball. “What is your business here, citizen?” it asked.
Ailsa brought out the gun and fired at it. She missed.
A red light flashed above the arm. “Hostile intent detected. Stop and present identification, citizen,” it said.
She fired and missed again. “Damned thing!”
A loud metallic sound came from the front doors. “Lockdown protocol enabled.” The voice came from inside XLS1.
“Subject identified as research asset 1176892-CS32,” said the arm. ”Lockdown disabled manually.”
She held the gun right under the black ball and fired it. A piece of it disappeared and the ball crashed to the ground next to her.
She stepped forward. The glass doors slid open.
The robotic sentries were still. Ailsa walked towards the elevator and got in. The frosted, pentagonal ‘83’ button illuminated with a gentle melody and the doors closed.
This is creepy. He’s letting me in without a fight. He plans to kill me up there, neat and clean, like a lab rat or an old dog. One of his goons will be waiting for me. And it will be completely legal.
She looked around the spacious elevator car. It burst out of the building interior and climbed the outside of the building. Smoke billowed from the city. They were putting out the fires.
Gabriel. His taxi rose with her, he outside, she inside. She raised her hand to him. He looked away.
The elevator doors opened on the 83rd floor. She whirled around. No one was there. She poked her head out.
Ailsa stepped out of the elevator and walked down a pristine, white hallway. Frosted glass surrounded her. Lights illuminated on the floor to guide her path.
This is incredibly weird. She fingered the trigger of the Gard rifle. She held it close against the back of her thigh.
“Lizzy, I’m right here,” said a voice behind her.
She swiveled around. It was Milton.
“You’re dead,” she said.
Milton smiled. His skin was pink and smooth. His face was taut. He looked to be no more than twenty-five years old.
“You’re— He revived you.”
Milton nodded.
“Why?”
“Same reason he revived you, Lizzy. We belong to him.”
“Bullshit!” she yelled.
“Texa belongs to him, too.”
“No!”
“He created us. He is our god, you could say. He keeps us young, saves us from our—”
“That’s ridiculous!” she screamed.
“I know what I’m supposed to do,” he muttered. He twisted his body to look back.
“Who are you—” Ailsa started.
Milton whirled around and kneeled. “I’m doing the best… I… Okay! I can do more. But…”
Ailsa spotted the box. “Your neck…”
Milton looked over his shoulder at her, his eyes wide and gritting his teeth. “I know!” he yelled.
Ailsa took a step back. “Anyway, I—”
He stood up and ran towards her. “You can’t go in there. It’s my job. Yes, I know! It’s my job!”
He kneeled in front of her and reached for her hand. She jerked it away.
“We’re an experiment, you see,” Milton said. “He… Shut up! She deserves to know! He made us, together, as his perfect Adam and Eve. Together, we made Texa.”
“You’re not her father!”
He cocked his head. “I’m sorry. I know. I’m a little… pathetic these days. Yes! He let me keep my memory but he always took yours, and Texa’s.” He nodded his head with a strained frown.
“You’re insane!” She kicked him and pulled out the gun. “Don’t get in my way. I’m getting Texa and we’re—”
He lay on the floor and giggled like a baby.
She proceeded down the hall. At the end were two huge double doors. They were ajar.
She threw them open and screamed.
A cold, wet wind greeted Ailsa. It
stank of smoldering plastic, gunpowder and rot.
Dr. Vernor Xemura lay dead at his desk. A thin, shiny piece of metal extended out of his forehead.
Ailsa cringed. She picked up his head and examined it. It was the same man who had threatened her in the white room. It seemed so long ago. The wind hit her again. She looked straight ahead, to the left of the desk. A pane of glass was blown out of the wall.
A black car hovered outside on the other side of the wall. Zora carried something wrapped in white. She placed it into the trunk and slammed it shut. The car rotated and a back door opened.
“Zora!” Ailsa yelled. She ran towards her. “What are you doing?”
Zora threw herself head first into the car and hit her head on the edge of the roof. “Go! Go, Gabriel! Go!”
Ailsa reached out the window. She looked down. It was pitch dark. The raindrops disappeared into the void. She grabbed Zora’s foot and pulled. Zora grabbed hold inside the car.
Ailsa looked into the front seat. A dark figure turned around. It was Gabriel.
Gabriel? She yanked on the leg and Zora’s shoe came off. Ailsa watched it disappear into the gloom.
“Let go!” yelled Zora.
“Tell me where Texa is!”
“Bugger off!”
The car inched away from the building. Ailsa held on tight. Only her feet remained inside the building.
Zora kicked her. “Let go, you stupid bitch!”
Ailsa wrapped her hand tight around the top of Zora’s calf muscle and dug her nails in.
Zora screamed.
Ailsa steeled her hand. Her feet slipped off of the edge of the building but someone grabbed them.
She turned her head. It was Milton.
“I’ve got you, Lizzy. Let go!” he yelled.
The wind buffeted all of them and the cab slammed into the building. Milton, Ailsa and Zora landed back inside.
Ailsa got on top of Zora and punched her. “Where is she? What did you do with her?” Ailsa pulled a fist back and droplets of blood splattered to her face.
Milton grabbed Ailsa’s legs and pulled her away from the window. “We don’t need them, anymore, we’re back together now,” Milton said, “and we can make another one.”
“Let go of me! Another what? What are you talking—” Ailsa started.
Defiant, She Advanced: Legends of Future Resistance Page 22
