Dr. Xemura laughed. “Did you not think, my dear Zora, that I would disable the chip in her? You did not secure the interface in any fashion.” He laughed with his mouth closed. “Very careless of you.”
Zora looked down.
Ailsa kneeled down. “Texa, it’s Mommy. Texa?”
Dr. Xemura continued laughing. “I can assure you—” he started.
“Baby, I need you to use your power.”
“—that her will is subverted right now by the technology. There is nothing—”
“I love you, baby girl. I promise to always take care of you, my little princess,” said Ailsa. She hugged Texa’s limp body.
“—absolutely nothing,” continued Dr. Xemura, “that you—”
Texa took a deep breath. “Do you promise not to kill us again, Mommy?”
A tear rolled down Ailsa’s cheek. “I promise. I’m so sorry.”
“—can do.” Dr. Xemura’s face hardened. “Take them now!”
Gards grabbed their arms behind their backs and started to handcuff them.
“Texa, I just need you—” started Ailsa.
“I heard your thought, Mommy,” said Texa. She twisted her head to the side.
The Gards collapsed to the ground.
Ailsa stood up and smiled. She covered her mouth. She picked up Texa and hugged her tight. “You did it, baby girl. Good job.”
“Please stop that, dear.” Dr. Xemura picked up a gun and pointed it at the ground in front of Ailsa and Texa.
Gabriel leaped at him and his brother opened a hole in his chest. Gabriel fell dead to the ground.
Zora ran at him. “You bastard!” She raised her hand to smack him.
Ailsa put Texa down. “Just hold on a minute, honey.” She got behind Dr. Xemura.
Ailsa grabbed one arm, Zora the other. Zora bit his gun hand and he released it. Ailsa flipped him over and put a knee in his back.
“What do we do with him now?” asked Ailsa.
Zora reached for the gun.
“No!” yelled Ailsa. She grabbed Zora’s arm and held the gun up. A shot fired off into the sky.
“We have to kill him,” Zora yelled.
“People need to know what happened,” said Ailsa. He has to be put on trial, exposed, the Republic ended. Otherwise, nothing will change.”
“No,” said Zora. She ripped the gun away from Ailsa and it hit the ground.
Ailsa picked it up and fired at Zora.
Zora gulped for air but her lungs were gone. She fell dead to the sidewalk.
Vernor sat up and laughed. “Very good, my dear. Excellent work. We are quite the team, as always.” He looked behind Ailsa and a tremor crossed his face.
Ailsa turned around. Texa lay still, flat on her back on top of a Gard. A spurt of blood erupted from her chest. Her left arm and a piece of her chest were missing.
Ailsa sat at the kitchen table and sighed. She wanted to remember something. It tugged at her memory. She knew it was there but the details escaped her.
She remembered the last few years with Vernor. The surprise romance, the lavish marriage and now, the life of fame and luxury he provided her as President of the Republic Trust.
She walked to the kitchen window and looked out. Republic Guardians kept watch at the end of their drive. She admired the green fields around their home and thought of children playing in them. Her children. Lots of them.
A sound came over the radio. She smiled and softly traipsed up the padded stairs. She turned right at the top and opened the nursery.
The baby stood up in its crib. The pacifier fell out of her mouth and she gurgled at her mother.
She cradled the baby in her arms. “Oh, Alexa, you’re such a beautiful—” started Ailsa.
A spark jumped into her mind. Protectorate 13477. Uplift. The Death Shop. Zora. Gabriel. Vernor. Her Vernor. Texa.
She touched the back of her head. There was something round and hard under her skin.
Her eyes went wide. She felt the current. Alexa looked up at her with curious yet knowing eyes.
The front door opened downstairs. “I’m home, dear! Where are my girls?” It was Vernor.
* * *
George Donnelly is the author of space opera, robot apocalypse and dystopian science fiction series. A rebel and unreformed idealist, he believes equally in human rights and abundant hugs before bedtime. Get a new free short story every month at GeorgeDonnelly.com.
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What to Read Now
J.P. Medved
Things are changing.
For decades the libertarian fiction canon has been relegated to the same few works, including Robert Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, the works of “the Neils” — L. Neil Smith and J. Neil Schulman — such as The Probability Broach and Alongside Night — Vernor Vinge’s anarcho-capitalist The Ungoverned, and Michael Z. Williamson’s Freehold series. All great reads, but too few.
Luckily, a new generation of libertarian fiction authors is emerging, seeking to portray their ideas and values in rich, fully-imagined worlds and stories. We understand the importance of advancing liberty on the cultural, rather than just the political front. We know that dramatizing our beliefs in story form makes them more inspiring, more convincing, and more ‘sticky’ than dry position papers or polemical op-eds.
We’re not, for the most part, backed by huge media and publishing companies. We’re taking advantage of the democratizing nature of technology and self-publishing to bring our work directly to you. We’re building followings, careers and lasting cultural institutions like the Libertarian Fiction Authors Association. We’re spreading liberty.
And you should read us.
Here are some of our best works that you should be reading right now:
House of Refuge, a seasteading novella by Mike DiBaggio;
Lando Cruz and the Coup Conspiracy, a dystopian look at a future agorist rebellion by George Donnelly;
High Desert Barbecue, a fun clash of libertarians and radical environmentalists by Reason Magazine’s J.D.Tuccille;
Darkship Thieves, a traditionally published libertarian space opera by Sarah Hoyt;
And, lastly, my own Granite Republic, a novella about a future New Hampshire trying to secede from the U.S.
These stories will inspire, inform and, hopefully, spread the message of liberty and defiance quite a bit farther than the traditional libertarian mainstays of arguing on the internet and writing policy reports.
Enjoy the thrill of liberty!
Acknowledgments
George Donnelly
I’d like to thank my fellow authors. It is a tremendous pleasure to work with you. I’m especially grateful for the support of J.P. Medved who was the first to jump on board and has been a steady and enthusiastic supporter during the arduous journey to a finished product.
Thank you to our twenty-two first readers, to our reviewers and Indiegogo campaign contributors. You have added immeasurably to this anthology.
John Joseph Adams’s impressive string of anthologies inspired me as have the published works of L. Neil Smith, J. Neal Schulman, Phillip K. Dick, Ayn Rand and others.
Thanks to Indiegogo for enabling us to crowdfund the publishing of this book.
Indiegogo Contributors
Thanks to those who contributed t
o the anthology via our Indiegogo campaign. You have buoyed all of us quite handily with your support. We are deeply grateful to you!
Michael Glazier
Vivek Bhatia
Starr O’Hara
Vicen Morales
tylerluyben
pilar.sanroman
dbrlevy
Anonymous
Anonymous
Susan Savon
Christopher Greenstein
Jared Pilosio
Anonymous
Alex R. Knight III
About the Editor
Former starship redshirt turned rag-clad resistance fighter, George Donnelly is the author of space opera, cyberpunk & post-apocalyptic science fiction series. A single unschooling expat dad, George prefers zombies to aliens but is primed for any meatspace apocalypse minus grey goo.
@GeorgeDonnelly
AuthorGeorgeDonnelly
GeorgeDonnelly.com
[email protected]
Also by the Authors
For more books by the authors of this anthology,
visit
GeorgeDonnelly.com/ThereWillBeLibertyAuthors
Defiant, She Advanced: Legends of Future Resistance Page 24
