Mercs!

by Dorian Dawes

  “Doesn’t have to be like this,” Rogers said. “You can stop this nonsense. Hell, I’ll find a new body for you. We can go our separate ways, if it’s what you really want.”

  “Oh that’s not what I want at all,” Cyrus said. He grinned. “I’d love it if you stayed. Blew up the universe with me. Defied our original programming.”

  Rogers folded his arms. “It can’t be like that and you know it.”

  Cyrus pulled his hat back, revealing his face to Rogers. His eyes were soft and sorrowful. “Dammit Rogers, you know I like you. Closest thing I’ve got in the world to a brother. Why can’t you understand how I feel?”

  Rogers rubbed his gut and winced. “That’s the thing, I do understand. Walking out of this town, my anger and heartache burned as fiercely as the noonday sun. I gave everything for these folks, and all I asked for was to belong.”

  “So let’s kill them,” Cyrus insisted, taking a step. He raised a fist. “Make them regret casting us out and selling us like cattle.”

  “What good’ll that do, Cyrus?” Rogers said. “That’d hurt a lot of innocent folk and I don’t want that. Seen too much suffering and death anyhow. It don’t fix the pain.”

  “And what do you intend to do?” Cyrus sneered. “Hold arms with them? Sing campfire songs? Maybe if you get enough prosthetics, become as human-looking as possible, they’ll pretend you’re one of them. You’d like that wouldn’t you? To be assimilated into their group.”

  “Can’t say as I would, partner.” Rogers sighed. He pointed to his chest. “I like who I am. I’m special. I’ve made some new friends. If I’m going to use violence, I’ll use it to protect innocents, not hurt them.”

  “They’ll never accept you,” Cyrus yelled, spittle flying from his mouth. “You’ll always be just a machine to them!”

  “I admit it’s a long battle ahead of me,” Rogers said. “But it’s one I’m willing to fight.”

  “Enough talk!” Cyrus drew his revolver and aimed it between Rogers’s eyes. “It’s time to finish this.”

  “Don’t do this, brother,” Rogers pleaded.

  Cyrus drew back the revolver’s hammer with his thumb. “Twenty paces. I’ll take the east, you take the west. We shoot at high noon. I think that’s fair.”

  “I don’t want to kill you.” Rogers stared, his gut heavy.

  “I think we were always gonna end up here.” Cyrus’s eyes burned with pain and hate. “We’re just too different.”

  Rogers’s brow furrowed. He pulled his hat tighter about his head. “Fine.”

  They each took their positions. Rogers looked to the skies. Ching Shih knew how to program a synthetic environment, far more detailed and warm and real than anything he could come up with. It felt wonderful. She’d even managed to simulate his breath and heartbeat.

  That twinge of panic welling up within him; the way his pulse accelerated. This was what it meant to be human. He knew fear, the instinctual flashes of self-preservation and awareness of one’s mortality, but had never truly felt it until this moment.

  Rogers didn’t want to kill Cyrus, but he didn’t want to die. Any doubts he might have had in his mind were gone. He was no mere machine. He was alive. He was sentient, and he wanted to keep on living.

  His eyes flicked over to the clock in the center of town. He’d spent hours staring at it on idle days, lulled into a lazy stupor. He knew it well. He could count each and every tick.

  The bell chimed. Rogers swiped the gun from its holster and fired. His ears rang from the flash of gunfire. A second passed like an eternity.

  Cyrus pulled his hands away from his stomach, revealing clothes stained crimson. He stared wide-eyed at fingers sticky with his own blood. Rogers abandoned his gun and raced to catch Cyrus in his arms.

  “You always were more accurate than me,” Cyrus said. He coughed. “Nice shot, Sheriff.”

  “It’s all about timing,” Rogers whispered. Hot tears ran down his face. He’d never been able to cry before. “I’m sorry.”

  Cyrus smirked weakly. “Me too.”

  Gunfire boomed in his ears, echoing through the town. Rogers felt a sharp pain, and could only stare, gaping at the bullet wound in his gut. Cyrus lowered his smoking gun. Rogers collapsed next to him. They lay there for a minute, bleeding out and staring at the sky.

  “So this is how it ends,” Rogers said, lips dry. “We die together.”

  “This was a nice little town, wasn’t it?” Cyrus said. “Never really appreciated it until now.”

  “Goodbye, Cyrus.”

  “Goodbye, Rogers.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  TALISHA KEPT TWO robots at bay, firing at each with precision blasts from her arm cannon. Rogers’s body slumped forward at the console, his code vanishing from the screen. His hat fell from his head and drifted to the floor. Ching Shih closed her eyes, the clear expression of regret on her face.”It is done,” Ching Shih said to Talisha. “You can stop firing. They are both dead.”

  The robots stumbled forward, the lights fading from their eyes. They fell clanking against the floor. Talisha turned to Rogers, mouth hanging open.

  “This should have never happened to him,” Talisha’s voice shook.

  “He was remarkable, I admit.” Ching Shih’s tone was reverent. “I take full blame for what has transpired.”

  Talisha stepped behind his fallen body. She pried apart a plate on the back of his skull to find his memory chip. She removed it with delicate fingers and pressed it into Ching Shih’s face.

  “Can the data be recovered?” Talisha demanded.

  Ching Shih lowered her eyes and shook her head. “You would get just a machine. That spark of consciousness is gone. Just streams of obliterated data running throughout the satellite. It might take years to collect it all.”

  Talisha inserted the chip into her gauntlet. “Fuck you. I’m not giving up.”

  “You would do better to learn how to let him go,” Ching Shih said. “Honor his memory and sacrifice.”

  “Yeah. Well, I’m fucking stubborn,” Talisha said.

  A crashing sounded from the next room. Both Talisha and Ching Shih raised their weapons and aimed at the door. Bluebird stumbled in, clothes tattered and her body riddled with bullet holes, but still alive. She held one of the robot’s heavy machine guns in a weary arm. She saluted with the other.

  “Turns out, I’m pretty hard to kill.” She smirked, letting the gun drop to the floor. “How did our boy fair?”

  “He’s dead,” Ching Shih said quietly. “But he succeeded.”

  “I’m going to try and save him.” Talisha glowered at the pirate. “Bluebird, can you carry his body out of here for me?”

  Bluebird scooped the android’s body up into her arms. She took special care to place the cowboy hat firmly about his head. A pained expression crossed her face as she touched her forehead to his.

  “I’m so sorry, metal-man,” she whispered. “You deserved better than this.”

  They were interrupted by a flash of red lights blinking overhead. An alarm shrieked loudly in their ears. Ching Shih typed feverishly at the console.

  “What now?” Talisha barked.

  “A program has set the entire satellite to self-destruct,” Ching Shih said. “Cyrus must have had it set in the eventuality of his death. Vindictive little shit, wanted to take the rest of us with him.”

  “Can you stop it?” Talisha demanded.

  “It’s too late. I’m locked out of the system,” Ching Shih said. “We have to evacuate. Now!”

  “My ship’s probably faster than yours,” Talisha said. “Come with us.”

  Ching Shih raised an eyebrow. “One might think you’d do better leaving me here to die.”

  Bluebird scowled. “That is not her way.”

  Small explosions rocked the satellite. Talisha supported Ching Shih on one arm, helping her through the scarlet-illuminated corridors. She used her arm cannon to blast falling debris out their way and clear doors that refused to open. Th
ey managed to escape into the hangar and were making their way to her ship when Ching Shih stopped her.

  “The hangar doors,” Ching Shih said. “Do you have any way of opening them?”

  Talisha swore. “My weapons systems aren’t repaired yet, or I’d blast us out.”

  “I can help,” Ching Shih said. “Take me to my ship.”

  Talisha shook her head. “No way am I letting you stay behind for some noble-sacrifice bullshit!”

  “Don’t be ridiculous!” Ching Shih scoffed. “I’m old, I’m not senile. I can call on the Red Fleet. They’ll blow a hole into the side of the hangar and give us enough time to get out.”

  “How will you have time to get back to my ship?” Talisha demanded.

  Ching Shih smacked her shoulder. “All I need from you is to help me over to my ship and stop arguing with me.”

  “Fine! But you better be fast and clear the explosion in time.”

  “I am plenty fast, you young brat!”

  “That’s it. I’m carrying you.”

  Talisha scooped Ching Shih into her arms and flew the old woman to her ship. Talisha gently deposited her into the cockpit. She gripped Ching Shih’s hand tightly.

  “We’re going to make it through this,” Talisha said. “All of us.”

  Ching Shih sniffed dismissively. “I’ve done my work. It’s you I’m worried about.”

  “Good luck.”

  “I wish you the same, bounty hunter.”

  Talisha flew back to her ship where Bluebird waited. She opened the door and they slipped in quickly, each hurrying to their seats. Bluebird sat Rogers’s lifeless husk into one of the seats and buckled him in, her eyes growing soft for a moment before another set of explosions rocked the satellite and blew open the hangar doors.

  Outside the Red Fleet were already changing course. They’d done their job and were eager to get away from the exploding satellite. Talisha leaned forward in her seat and flicked on the propulsion systems. The ship lurched and sped out the hangar at top speed.

  They barely cleared the blast in time. The sky exploded behind them into a spectacular orange glow. The ship trembled as debris from the satellite’s explosion rammed into its backside. Alarms flashed across Talisha’s panel.

  “What is happening?” Bluebird said, gripping the sides of her seat.

  “Didn’t get far enough to avoid damage to our systems,” Talisha yelled attempting to right her course.

  The ship approached the planet at break-neck speed, smoke trailing from its rear. Talisha didn’t even look up from the console as she flew to divert all power to the forward-facing shields. It’d be her best bet to cushion their landing.

  “I am no pilot!” Bluebird shouted. “Tell me what that means!”

  “We’re going to crash!”

  Bluebird’s eyes went wide. “Thank you!”

  “You’re welcome!”

  Clouds zipped past the windows as nothing more than a dizzying blur. More alarms flashed across the console as systems overheated. The planet was coming closer.

  “It’s been a helluva ride, Big Blue!” Talisha yelled. “You’re a fine woman, and a fine soldier!”

  Bluebird clamped a hand on her shoulder. “If we are to die, then it has been an honor to die alongside such a ruthless and honorable warrior.”

  Talisha blinked. “You think I’m ruthless?”

  She hadn’t time to press the issue further. The ship plowed into the earth. Talisha’s head smashed violently into the console. Everything went black.

  THE WORLD RETURNED to her through indistinct shapes and faraway voices. She felt a dull pain in her forehead. Talisha groaned and struggled to sit up.

  “You’re awake,” an elderly voice said, coming in more clearly. “Don’t overdo it. Your armor cushioned the blow, but you’ve still time left to recover.”

  Talisha blinked a few times, placing a weary palm against her forehead. “Where am I?”

  Distinct shapes formed gradually until she could perceive Ching Shih kneeling beside her. The old pirate was dressed simply in colorless old robes. She looked older and wearier. They were sitting in a dry wooden room full of cots with one or two other wounded soldiers. Talisha assumed they were injured members of the Red Fleet.

  “Dover Town,” Ching Shih said. “The citizenry have been most gracious, especially after hearing of Rogers’s sacrifice. Agda was most insistent they hear the tale.”

  “So Bluebird made it okay?” Talisha said.

  “Karstotzkiyans are made of strong stuff,” Ching Shih said. “Her particularly so. I owe you a great debt.”

  “Hmm?”

  “You could have left me to die in space. You rescued me.”

  Talisha shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t always know if I’m doing the right thing or not, but I’m still gonna try to save everyone I can.”

  “That’s not always possible.”

  “Still have to try.”

  Ching Shih pursed her lips. She leaned forward, elbows perched on her knees. “I have been putting a great deal of thought in remaining on Archimedes IV. Dover Town, specifically.”

  “It’s an easy place to hide out on, I guess.” Talisha said.

  “Not that,” Ching Shih said. “The IGF have a clear interest in that temple and this planet. Cyrus took away my chance at completely obliterating Plymouth’s forces. Both factions will return, and these people are unprepared. They sold their sheriff for guns and they don’t know how to use them.”

  “Do I detect a hint of altruism?” Talisha smirked.

  Ching Shih scowled, but then the dour expression softened. “My ultimate goal is still to protect my fleet, but revenge and piracy isn’t enough. War is coming. Without my help, this planet will suffer.”

  “It’s already suffered,” Talisha said. “Lots of people died for that temple.”

  “And more will continue to die unless something is done.” Ching Shih closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “So what are your plans after this? More bounty hunting?”

  Talisha laughed, even though it hurt. “Hell no. I’m turning in my license. I’m done.”

  The door to the small building burst open and Bluebird ducked inside. She had to turn to the side to get through the door. She waved and bounded over to Talisha.

  “Finally awake, lazy bones!” she said, her voice far too loud for such a cramped space.

  Talisha winced and smiled. “Hey, big girl. How’s it going?”

  “These people do not know the ways of war.” Bluebird wiped her nose with her forearm, sniffing. “But I will whip them into shape.”

  “Agda has agreed to help me train the citizens of Dover Town how to best defend themselves,” Ching Shih explained. “Her training regiments are…brutal, to say the least.”

  “It is for their benefit. Make them big and strong, like me!” Bluebird flexed for emphasis. Her expression softened. “Bounty hunter, come. I’d like to show you something.”

  Ching Shih stared, openmouthed. “Out of the question. Her injuries are too severe. She needs rest.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Talisha said. “Bluebird can carry me. Right?”

  Bluebird bowed, smiling. “I would be honored.”

  She scooped Talisha into her arms and carried her gently into the streets. Talisha saw it immediately. A statue of Rogers had been erected in the center of town. Talisha clamped a hand over her mouth and tried not to cry.

  “It has a plaque and everything,” Bluebird said. “The Savior of Archimedes IV. Sheriff Rogers of Dover Town.”

  Talisha sniffed. “Maybe once we find a way to restore him, he can finally see it.”

  Bluebird’s expression darkened. “I hate to be the one to tell you this, bounty hunter. Ching Shih has been working nonstop on the chip you recovered from his head. I understand you may disagree with her on many matters, but she knows her shit.”

  Talisha stared into her face. “So there’s nothing? He’s just gone?”

  “We have memories, but they are on
ly recordings,” Bluebird said. “They’re being used in a presentation to commemorate his sacrifice and love for this community. He’s really dead. Any hope of recovering him went up with that satellite.”

  Talisha buried her face in Bluebird’s chest, shoulders tight. Bluebird patted her head softly. She reached into her shirt and retrieved the locket with her wife’s picture.

  “Bounty hunter, look.” Bluebird held the locket in front of Talisha. “I know what it’s like to lose people we love. Find something of his that reminds you of him. Keep it close.”

  “Does the pain go away? Ever?” Talisha said, voice quivering.

  Bluebird shook her head. “No, but you learn to live with it, and it becomes the new normal.”

  ANOTHER WEEK OF healing and Talisha took off in her ship with the knowledge that she’d soon return. She had a few days journey ahead of her, into a star system far away from Archimedes IV. She was going to the Cole System, to a planet ravaged by the Corporate Wars. While in her ship, she kept looking to the cowboy hat hanging on the wall. Bluebird had given it to her just before she left.

  Talisha landed on a launchpad within the capital city of the planet. It was a central hub of the rebuilding effort. Despite the best gentrification efforts, it was still swarmed with homeless beggars. She took a lift into the lower levels of the city. The nonprofit organizations and soup kitchens were located here to siphon the unseemly wretches away from the expensive apartments and skylofts.

  Talisha stood outside the door to an orphanage surrounded by refuse and filth. She wore a dirty shawl wrapped over her pristine armor and kept her helmet tucked beneath one arm. Any sign of wealth and she’d be immediately swarmed by those begging for her sympathies.

  The door opened. A little girl with brown hair and wide frightened eyes stared up at her. There were burn marks across her neck and lower arms. Talisha waved and tried to look as friendly and nonthreatening as possible. The girl screamed and retreated into the safety of the building, her bare feet padding against the tile.

  Talisha could hear a familiar voice bark something in Swahili, and then an older woman with graying hair bound tightly into braids was standing at the door. A cigarette hung loosely out of her mouth as she stared. She leaned against the doorframe, folding her arms across her chest.