“So you’ve used the park to launder mob money.”
“I suppose that’s one way of looking at it. Personally, I don’t care where the money comes from. It’s just money put to a good scientific and economic use.”
“So you’re saying you’re doing this for the science?”
“Absolutely. Science needs power and influence. The park brings us influence over the wealthy and famous. And how do we do that? We have what they want: the power to cheat death and live forever.”
Jeffries laughed. “It’s nothing less than immortality. Look at Diane. She’s beautiful isn’t she, and she looks even younger than her daughter. That’s because she has a new body, cloned from her DNA. All we had to do was transfer her mind into her new cloned body.”
“And what about the old one?”
“The old body — unfortunately her brain was fried when her mind was downloaded.”
“So you burnt her alive in order to point the blame at the AAA.”
“It was the only way to stop Mr Larsen and his AAA zealots from protesting. They were becoming a nuisance and a threat to our business. But we’re not monsters. We pumped her body full of drugs. She wouldn’t have felt anything. And her mind lives on in a new body.”
Two armed men came into the room. Even if Shelby started a firefight, now he was out gunned.
“And the reason you’re telling me all this.”
“I’m not a bad man, Shelby. I even like you. But you’ve upset our principal investor, and he wants redress for the death of his son.”
Morelli pulled a pistol from under his jacket. “You killed my son and two of my cousins.”
“Your son was a monster that preyed on young under-age girls.”
“Never! The Chief Justice faked that evidence.”
“I saw her body myself. Your son tortured her and raped her before he killed her. I put him down like a rabid dog.”
“You're lying. I’m going to enjoy killing you.”
“No,” shouted Scarlet.
The noise of the gunshot reverberated around the reception. Shelby fell backwards onto the floor, and pain seared through his body. The second and third gunshot hurt like hell, but he was alive. The old armour had worked.
“Body armour?” said Morelli. “Good. I can make your death slower and more painful.”
He shot Shelby again. This time in the leg. Shelby winced.
Scarlet broke away from her captor and ran to his aid standing between Shelby and Morelli. “Leave him alone.”
“So you two are more than just friends?”
“I love him.”
“Good. Then he can watch you die, before I kill him.”
Three gunshots rang out and Scarlet fell backwards.
“No!” Shelby yelled out. But it was too late. Her body fell backwards into his arms. She was breathing, but barely alive. Rage raced through his veins.
Then something else caught Shelby’s eye: a flashing light near the helipad. It was the flash you get when the sun catches a lens of a sniper’s scope. How many times had he told Jess to cover her scope to avoid scope glint from giving away her position? This time he would forgive her. He pointed the index finger of both hands at the statue of the dragon. A fraction of a second later, the large reception window shattered and the large dragon statue exploded into thousands of pieces.
Shelby scrambled to retrieve his gun. He shot the man who had been holding Scarlet and the other two men at the back of the room. In the chaos, Morelli escaped and Diane took cover behind a table. Jeffries ran out onto the balcony and hid behind a tub of flowers.
Shelby sat on the floor cradling Scarlet in his arms. He was in excruciating pain. Most likely, he had one or more broken ribs and his wounded leg hurt like hell. But nothing was more painful than watching Scarlet’s life force ebbing away. She was dying, and there was nothing he could do to help her.
“Why?” he said as tears ran down his face. “You’re not meant to save me. It should be the other way around.”
“I’ve called the dragon… He’s going to be so pissed,” she said with her last breath. Her eyes closed: she was gone. Shelby sighed. He felt pain, rage, and sadness.
In the distance, the dragon rose into the air from its nest with a mighty roar. It beat its wings and roared again as it headed towards them belching balls of fire.
Shelby held Scarlet's lifeless body in his arms. Torment raged inside him. He felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned and saw Diane smiling at him. “She’s not dead.”
He looked at Scarlet again. Her body was lifeless. And then he noticed something unusual. There was no blood around the three bullet holes in her chest.
“What’s going on here?” said Shelby.
“It’s a replicant,” said Scarlet’s mother. “You don’t think I would let that monster, Morelli, near my daughter. She’s safe downstairs.”
“Thank goodness,” said Shelby. “Where is she?”
* * *
Scarlet sat up and gasped for air. A moment earlier, she had been facing Morelli with his gun. He had shot her three times. Now she was in a cylinder-shaped sleeping pod in the launch room. Her memory flooded back to her. She remembered her mother taking her to the launch room before their meeting with Morelli, helping her into the pod, and injecting her with the dream juice.
Morelli had killed her replicant. But she was alive, and Shelby was still in danger. She climbed out of the pod and looked around her. She was naked and needed something to wear.
In the corner of the room were various costumes and props used during the dream sequences. She spied her leather skirt, sword and shield. They would have to do.
She climbed the stairs from level minus two towards the reception area and peeked into the main reception room.
* * *
“Why’s the dragon loose?” said Diane staring through the broken window at the dragon heading towards them.
“Scarlet called it,” said Shelby. “I wouldn’t mess with it if I were you. It had a connection with Scarlet’s replicant. And it looks like it's really pissed.”
“It shouldn’t be doing anything?” said Diane. “It’s not programmed to react emotionally.”
The dragon raced towards them beating its powerful wings.
“Where’s Jordan?” said Diane.
It was too late. Fifty feet away from the balcony the dragon paused in flight and released a huge roaring fireball that exploded on the balcony. The fireball turned Jeffries into a human torch. Shelby and Diane took cover behind the plinth of the former dragon statue as fire reigned all around them.
“Stop!” yelled Scarlet standing in the doorway with her sword in the air.
The dragon stopped.
“Thank God you’re alive,” said Shelby.
She smiled at him. “You okay? I need to speak to the dragon.”
“Be careful. It’s just fried Jeffries.”
Scarlet walked past Shelby and out onto the balcony, where the Dragon had perched. She glanced at the charred remains of Jeffries’s body.
“Don’t go near it,” said her mother.
She ignored her mother and approached the dragon “It’s me. Do you recognise me?”
“I felt your spirit die.”
“That was my replicant.”
“I don’t understand?”
“It’s complicated. But the spirit of the Dragon Queen lives on in me. You and I are bonded by friendship, laughter and trust. Will you help me defeat an evil monster like you did before?”
The dragon studied her for a moment. “Yes.”
She turned towards Shelby. “Are you all right?”
He tried to get to his feet again and winced with the pain. “Just a flesh wound. I need to get after Morelli. He’s getting away.”
“You’ve done enough. Stay here and I’ll stop Morelli.”
“But it’s my job. It’s what I do.”
“Not this time.”
She turned back to the dragon. “This time we hunt a human mons
ter.”
The dragon held out its claw. “Climb on.”
Scarlet climbed onto the claw and from there on to the dragon’s neck.
“Be careful,” her mother said. “This is for real; it’s not a constructed dream.”
Scarlet blew Shelby a kiss. “I’ll be fine.”
The dragon beat its wings and rose into the air. Shelby watched as Scarlet flew off with the dragon. She waved at him and he waved back. He wondered if he should worry for her safety, and then he put the thought out of his head. After all, she was the Dragon Queen.
* * *
With Scarlet chasing after Morelli and Jordan and Morelli’s henchmen dead, it left Shelby alone in the reception area with Diane Chambers. All around them the once splendid reception area now looked like a bomb had reduced the place to a mess of broken glass and porcelain. Diane sat down beside him.
“It’s all gone wrong. None of this was meant to happen. We were building a park to show off what science could achieve with androids. I can’t believe that Jordan’s dead. It has all been for nothing.”
“Jordan, Johnson, Adams, Walker, Larsen, Foulks, Detective Taylor and the receptionist at Dietrich Hotel are all dead. Not to mention the attempted murder of a Chief Justice and a Special Marshal — was it worth it?”
“Ouch… I didn’t know all that. Jordan said he would take care of the details… I’ve really messed things up big time, haven’t I?”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t exactly do anything wrong, but then again, I’ve done nothing right. I should have tried to stop Jeffries and Morelli. But how could I when Morelli threatened he would hurt Scarlet?”
“Then why did you bring Scarlet here?”
“To protect her.”
“By setting me up?”
“It was Morelli’s idea. He wanted you to take the rap for Chief Haglon’s murder. It would have been ironic if he had succeeded. But replicants can’t be easily controlled by anyone other than their original. And it was shot and damaged by the police in the attempt to kill the Chief Justice.”
“I found it downstairs in one of the freezers with Doctor Thexly’s body.”
“It was Morelli. He blamed her for messing up the assassination attempt. She didn’t deserve to die. Poor girl. What a mess I’ve made of this.”
“Then you better not hang around.”
“What?”
Shelby winced with the pain in his leg. “If you were to leave, I wouldn’t be in a position to stop you.”
“What about your gun?”
“I’m not going to shoot you. How would I explain that to Scarlet?”
“You’re letting me go?”
“I’ve no reason to arrest you. The real Diane Chambers is dead. No one is looking for you. You should go while I’m still in a generous mood.”
“But I can’t go until I know Scarlet’s safe.”
“Don’t worry about her. I’ll look after her and make sure she’s safe.”
“There’s something else I must do. I can’t allow anyone to make the same mistake I did.”
She walked over to the computer console and typed.
“What are you doing?” said Shelby.
“What I should have done all along. Delete the mind downloading software.”
Shelby hobbled over to the screen. Pages of data were scrolling through the screen. She was staring at the screen. “My life’s work… it’s gone.”
“Where will you go?”
“It’s better if you don’t know. I’ll be out of Scarlet’s life… she’s better off without me anyway.”
“You know she loves you. At your funeral she was in pieces.”
She started to leave and turned. “Thank you for telling me that. I thought I had lost her. But I have to go. Look after her for me, please.”
“I will.”
* * *
Scarlet rode the dragon towards the heliport. The only exit from AndroDigm was via the heliport. If Morelli was trying to escape, that's where he would go. As she arrived, she found him climbing into one of the heli-cars.
The dragon dived down and roared as flames torched the heli-car. Morelli ran out of the burning vehicle, and seconds later the heli-car exploded into a fireball sending a large plume of smoke into the air. The dragon rose above Morelli ready to pounce again.
“Wait,” said Scarlet. “Follow him.”
The dragon obeyed, climbing high above him and circling him like a vulture waiting for its prey to die.
Morelli ran towards the cave under Dragon Mountain. As he reached the entrance the dragon unleashed a huge fireball. When the smoke cleared the entrance was empty. Morelli must have disappeared into the cave.
The dragon landed outside the cave and Scarlet dismounted. She could hear nothing from the cave. She tiptoed into the mouth of the cave and stopped. Ahead of her, Red Demon was gorging on his midday meal. This time it wasn’t children he was eating. It was Morelli’s headless body. Scarlet looked around her. At her feet was Morelli’s decapitated head. There was nothing she could do. So she left the demon to finish his meal and mounted her dragon.
The dragon beat its wings and took to the air. Scarlet flew over the park for one last time. It could have been a great project: a fantasyland for joy and fun. Instead, it had been corrupted by evil and greed.
She returned to the main reception of the Initiation Centre and dismounted. She nuzzled the beast. “Goodbye my dragon.”
“We will meet again in your dreams.”
The Dragon beat its powerful wings and rose into the air again.
“I hope so,” said Scarlet to herself.
She watched it as it flew back to Dragon Mountain.
Scarlet turned towards Shelby. “Where’s mother?”
He turned and Scarlet’s mother had gone. He shrugged his shoulders. “Everyone knows your mother’s dead.”
“You let her go, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Where did she go?”
“I don’t know. The Angel City PD will soon be here. It's best she remains dead a little longer… What happened to Morelli?”
“He lost his head and other body parts to Red Demon.”
Jess walked into the room with her sniper rifle.
Shelby smiled at her. “Well done. You saved my life with that shot.”
“And I didn’t have to kill anyone.”
“Well, I’m grateful,” said Shelby.
“And what happens to this place now?” said Scarlet.
“I think your mother did something on the computer before she left.”
Scarlet raced over to the console and stared at the screen. Thousands of files were scrolling through the screen. “What’s she done?”
“She said she was deleting the mind downloading software,” said Shelby.
“Maybe she doesn’t want anyone to repeat her mistakes,” said Jess.
Scarlet sighed and shook her head. “It’s not that at all. She transferred those files to a remote cloud location.”
“Where?”
“They’ve gone. I can’t even track them. The system has self-destructed.”
Shelby laughed. “So much for deleting her life’s work.”
“That’s my mother: always looking ahead. What now?”
“The Angel City PD should be on their way.”
“I meant after that. You said you would stay until you finished the case. Does that mean you’re going?”
“I also said I didn’t want to outstay my welcome.”
“There’s no chance of that yet.”
“Are you sure you want to hang around? When the police arrive they’re going to want answers.”
“You’re wounded. I’m not leaving you here on your own. We stick together. What are you going to tell the Chief of Police?”
“The truth — well, a version of the truth. Whether she believes me or not is another matter.”
The wailing sound of a police heli-car landing at the helipad marked the arrival of th
e police.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Shelby was never sure whether the Chief of Police believed him or not, or whether she was just too embarrassed to pursue the case. But in the end, the charges against him were dropped.
Sorting out the legal mess from AndroDigm Park was a different matter. Technically, probate gave Scarlet a controlling interest in the park. But the park was the subject of an on-going money laundering investigation that could result in the assets being appropriated by the state. Scarlet didn’t seem to mind. She cared only about the welfare of the android dragon, which the investigators didn’t seem to notice had gone missing. Some say it had been reportedly seen in the wilderness in the vicinity of Shelby’s cabin. But as Shelby pointed out to the local press — these reports were as reliable as the number of big foot sightings in the same area.
As expected, no one was looking for Scarlet’s mother. It took Shelby and Jess three months to track her down.
It was the early hours of the morning at the Angel City Space Centre. Shelby and Scarlet were watching the passengers board the shuttle to the space station. From there, the passengers would join the Mars Adventurer on its four-hundred-million kilometre trip to Mars. Trips to Mars didn't come cheap, and those privileged enough to go had to have the skill sets to build and develop the Mars Colony as well as the financial means to afford the passage.
“There she is,” said Scarlet. “How did you track her down?”
“Jess found her; although she said it wasn’t too difficult. Your mother wanted a fresh start. And where would a billionaire cyber genius go? Mars. Androids are perfect for Mars mining and terraforming. They don’t breathe air. And your mother is probably the best cybernetic designer in the world. Jess checked the manifest and found her.”
“Are you going to arrest her?”
“Why? There’s no outstanding arrest warrant for her. According to Guardian, she’s dead. Her new name, according to the Mars Adventurer’s manifest, is Diane Logan. It was easy to find her. It was the only name on the manifest that wasn’t on Guardian.”
“Diane Logan — now it makes sense. That was the name on the computer logs at AndroDigm for the person accessing Guardian. She must have been the one protecting the assassins’ anonymity. Do you think she was responsible for their deaths?”
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