Earthfall

by Rhett C. Bruno

  ADIM crawled across one of the viewport’s thin structural members so that he wouldn’t lose magnetic traction on the glass. He stopped above the guards, his main body shrouded in a projection of the stars. While he waited in that position, he commanded a small battalion of remaining androids to fight their way toward the command deck.

  As soldiers filed out of the room in order to respond to the diversion, ADIM aimed his arm down at the glass. A concentrated beam of energy shot out from above his wrist, and with it he traced a circle around his position. He was careful to make sure it didn’t fully penetrate. The emergency shutters on a ship as advanced as the Ascendant would be dense; too dense, likely, for him to breach it with either the beam or one of his missiles. He couldn’t risk that.

  He dug his fingers into the incision and waited until the androids had caused as much of a commotion right outside of the command deck as possible. Then he shoved his hands through, grasped the underside of the glass and flung his body downwards. The powerful change in pressure attempted to tug him back out, but the emergency shutters slammed across the viewport, squelching the vacuum and sealing the hole.

  ADIM located the nearest targets as he plummeted, taking them out with precisely aimed shots between their eyes. When he finally landed it was within a ring of eleven dead Tribunals. He quickly camouflaged himself to appear like one of them and remained lying on the ground, playing dead. It was a trick he’d learned from the captives on Ennomos. On certain occasions they would feign stillness when he entered.

  More alarmed members of Benjar’s honor guard raced toward him. Their guns were raised, but there was nothing to aim at. Only the dead. ADIM waited until they bunched up to try and figure out what had happened, and then he sent a missile straight into the middle of them. A shower of blood and severed limbs rained down in front of him, shrapnel tearing through the corpse he’d lifted to shield himself.

  “There’s one of them in here!” a soldier on the other end of the command deck shouted. “Kill it!”

  Another large squad ran at ADIM, unleashing the contents of their pulse-rifles with no fear of breaking the viewport since the emergency shutters were closed. They fanned out so that an explosive would be relatively ineffective. ADIM ducked behind the pile of carcasses and assessed the situation. The structural ceiling of the Ascendant was high and ostentatious beyond efficiency. He fired another missile at a truss which he determined was decorative. It came loose and swung low in a wide arc that took out half the squad. The rest were so stunned that he was able to take them out with five well-placed bullets.

  With the defending forces that were present dispelled, ADIM turned his attention to the command deck itself. Dozens of HOLO-Screens and consoles lined either side of the long hall, but he was seeking the main one, the command console upon which all others were dependent. He located it at the far end of the deck, just in front of an ostentatious, vacant seat meant for Benjar Vakari.

  ADIM hurried over to it and placed his palm on the surface. He had to work quickly before more forces arrived. He could see through the eyes of some of his androids in the hangar that Mechs were being dispatched to intercept him. The scene was too chaotic to notice if Sage and the others had made it off, but he wasn’t picking up their vitals and there was a hole blasted through the hangar entrance.

  He focused all of his power on becoming one with the Ascendant, searching through its vast array of programming to find what he was after. It was drastically more complex than the Tribunal Freighters and even the White Hand. He calculated it would take a minute or two to pinpoint the data associated with the ship’s weapons systems and defenses.

  As soon as he initiated his search, something unexpected happened. All of the systems of the Ascendant began powering down. The lights of the command deck went dark, and even the hum of the ship’s air recyclers hushed.

  This is how they will attempt to keep this unit out? he thought. He shifted focus before power was completely lost to search for a way to reverse the sequence. It was then that the command console overloaded. Somebody else in the Ascendant’s computer switched every one of its systems back on at once, sending a powerful surge of electricity through the entirety of ADIM’s main body.

  It didn’t hurt—he couldn’t feel pain—but the entirety of his memory core was scrambled. All contact with the other androids was lost, and his connection to the Ascendant was severed. The surge kept him from being able to remove his hand from the console as it continued to pump so many volts through him that the lights in the room were flickering.

  When it stopped, he was so stunned that his limbs were useless and his vision was impaired. He crumpled to his knees, unable even to reach out with his com-systems to make contact with Cassius.

  “I had a feeling your master would send you after me, abomination,” a voice said. “I knew he wasn’t dead. Surround the creature.”

  Boots slapped against the floor as a group of figures arrayed themselves around ADIM. All he could see were blurs.

  “I’ll have to thank Cassius for this little trick when I find him,” the man continued. “It was his idea to use electric surges to nullify your kind back when he stood with us against Ceres.” A face leaned down in front of ADIM, and only when it was inches away was he able to recognize it. It belonged to the Tribune Benjar Vakari. “Or did he not tell you how he destroyed the last robotics factory in the Circuit on Lutetia?”

  “They…were…weak…then,” ADIM responded. His voice sounded distorted. The pitch ran from high to low, and he couldn’t control it.

  “Weak like you are now!” Benjar cackled. He stood tall and glared down upon ADIM with contempt. The guards surrounding them joined him in laughter. “So this is the son Cassius built for himself? You’re as useless as his foolish boy who died on Earth.”

  “His name…was…Caleb…Vale,” ADIM said. He was the human child of the creator, and was by definition ADIM’s brother if he could truly be considered a son. It was going to be difficult to obey his creator’s orders to keep Benjar alive for speaking those words when ADIM found a way out of his state of stasis.

  “Caleb Vale. Caleb Vale. If I never have to hear that name again I’ll thank the Spirit for the rest of my life! All he ever did was try to take credit for the plant the Spirit of the Earth blessed us with. That’s all. You think I wanted to be forced to get rid of your maker? Cassius was a mighty tool. He was the hammer of the Tribune until that damned boy caused him to go soft. He left us no choice.”

  Benjar wrapped his fingers around ADIM’s metal jaw. “But we allowed him to keep his life, and this is how he repays us? Murdering innocents? Killing a Tribune? Drawing us into a war? Well it’s over. I’m going to finish the job I should’ve eight years ago before the others decided we should be merciful, and you’re going to lead us straight to him.”

  ADIM tried to respond, but as he did something incredibly hot began to cut through the back of his head. Benjar’s followers were attempting to open him up so that they could access his memory core.

  Benjar stood. “If this is how he wants to fight, then I’m happy to oblige him. I’m going to pick you apart piece by piece, abomination. I’m going to ravage your memory and reprogram you so that the next time you return to your master I can watch with a smile as the monster he loves so dearly puts a real bullet through his skull. Then I’ll send both your Spiritless bodies hurtling into the sun. The people of the Tribune will rejoice for our defeat of the Ceresians, but that will be my true victory.”

  ADIM felt somebody’s fingers poking into the enclosure of his head. For the first time in his short existence his main body was compromised. All the millions of seconds of memories he’d collected, everything that made him different than the other androids, that made him ADIM, was being threatened.

  Is this why they fear death? he thought. For once he understood that very primitive and human emotion, because he himself was experiencing it. His ‘death’ meant he could no longer protect his creator, and that was a service h
e needed to provide.

  He transferred every ounce of what little power remained under his control to his memory core. His limbs stopped twitching. His vision went completely blank. His main body was as useless as a rag doll, and with all that was left of him he reached out. There was an android outside the entrance of the Command Deck, sawed in half, but still active and wielding its gun. Soldiers were in its way, but they were facing Benjar from across the room.

  “This…unit…Cassius…Vale’s…son,” ADIM spoke. He had to distract Benjar and the men working in his head. They had no idea how to operate him like his creator did, and he needed to buy some time before they discovered how to power him off.

  Benjar scoffed. “You are hunk of metal. A cheap illusion of life empty of the Spirit’s grace.”

  The cloven android crawled nearer, slowly. ADIM positioned it to aim its rifle between their legs.

  “No…” ADIM replied. “The Spirit is the illusion.” That was one of Cassius’ first lessons. ADIM was real. He walked, he served, and now he even feared. Like a human backed into a corner and deciding to fight even though it was futile. “I…am…ADIM,” he proclaimed.

  As soon as the words emanated through his vocal systems he commanded the android outside to fire its entire clip at the command console which had crippled him. It took every last bit of his power, and, as the console exploded in a dazzling display of sparks and flames, he shut down.

  CHAPTER TWELVE—SAGE

  Metal through The Hand

  Bullets zipped by Sage’s visor, fired from the flashing muzzles of a green wall of Tribunal soldiers. They were lined up in front of the brig’s main exit and had Sage, Talon, Tarsis, and the rest of the Ceresians pinned down.

  Talon grabbed Sage’s shoulder and shouted: “What do we do?”

  “We’ve got to push through,” she answered. “It’s the only way.”

  “Great,” Tarsis coughed. “And how do you expect to do that? Or was it all part of Cassius’ plan to get rid of us?”

  Sage raised her pulse-rifle with her artificial arm and poked it around the corner. She fired blindly. A bullet or two grazed off of her metal forearm as she did, but it held up. It was made out of the same, nearly-indestructible alloy as ADIM.

  By the time her clip was empty, she had no doubt she’d hit a few Tribunals. It wasn’t enough. The line of soldiers pressed closer.

  “Fuck this!” one of the rescued Ceresians hollered. He raised his gun and charged out into the hallway. He barely got off three shots before he was riddled with holes.

  Sage reloaded, extended her artificial arm, and fired blindly once more. Again her arm was battered but managed to hold up, only this time a chorus of screams followed. Much more screaming than there should’ve been.

  “The creatures are behind us!” voices shouted in terror from the ranks of the Tribunal soldiers.

  Extraneous gunfire clanged against the walls of the passage. Sage peered around the corner and saw androids leaping up over the Tribunal lines, their white eyes glowing.

  ADIM! she thought. She couldn’t believe it. He’d sent them down to help all on his own. An android was saving her life.

  Tarsis noticed as well. “Charge!” he rasped, signaling the crowd of freed Ceresian prisoners to follow him into the hall. Bullets flew in every direction. Sage glanced back over her shoulder into Talon’s watery blue eyes. She could tell how much he wanted to join his people in the fight, but nothing would pry him off of his daughter. She wasn’t going to let anything happen to either of them.

  “Stay behind me,” she ordered before she bounded out into the corridor to join the fray.

  It was chaos. Bodies were everywhere. She jumped as high as she could and stabbed the blade of her artificial arm into the ceiling. While hanging there, she used her human arm to shoot at anything in green. The gun was heavy, but she clenched her jaw and maintained her aim.

  Once the blade couldn’t hold any longer, she dropped and rolled forward. The butt of a gun swung at her, but she twisted out of the way and cut the Tribunal across the stomach. She flipped her rifle over to her artificial hand and shot another one through the chest. That was when her clip ran out again. She dropped the gun, and as she did she caught the reflection off a corpse’s visor; Talon and Elisha were right behind her.

  The body of an android flew in front of her. She evaded it and bowled over a soldier. Behind that soldier she saw Tarsis receive a blow to the head from the gun butt of a Tribunal and stumble back onto his rear. As the soldier took aim to finish Tarsis off, Sage leapt through the air, over the Vergent, and planted her blade deep in the Tribunal’s chest. His gun went off as he toppled over, the bullet striking Sage in her lower torso.

  She howled in pain. It was a clean shot, straight through a weak point in her armor and out the other side without hitting anything vital. She fell to her knees, and as she did she saw the back of Tarsis’ exo-suit soar over her and grasp another soldier by the throat. Even through her helmet she could hear the man’s neck crunch. Tarsis tossed him to the side before grabbing Sage’s arm and yanking her to her feet. There were no other soldiers left standing.

  “Can you still move?”

  “I’ll be fine.” Sage spit a gob of blood into the base of her helmet. Implant or not, she had been trained to tolerate pain. All she had to do was bite her lip and focus on the task at hand.

  Tarsis nodded. “Let’s get them out of here then. Forward! To the hangar!”

  Only two Ceresian prisoners survived the scrum. A handful of androids remained intact as well. Sage checked to make sure Talon was on her heels, and then they all pressed on. She snatched a new pulse-rifle off of the ground on their way.

  The androids stayed out in front, absorbing the brunt of the few defenses left on their way back to the hangar. It was apparent that Yavortha had never expected them to escape. Sage knew that when they reached the hangar the quiet wouldn’t last. She’d seen the transports arriving from the settlement on Fortuna earlier. This was where their plan was left open-ended. All that remained was finding any possible way off of the Ascendant so Cassius could retrieve them. They were going to have to improvise.

  When they reached an entrance to the hangar, what remained of ADIM’s force were positioned outside of it. Sage placed her back against the corner. She was breathing heavily, and through the bottom of her visor she could see a stream of her own blood running down the leg of her armor.

  The rest of her companions lined up alongside of her. Every one of them was looking to her for answers. Everyone except for Tarsis. He was leaning against the wall, wheezing, hardly able to stay on his two feet.

  She peered into the massive hangar. It’d become a warzone. Smoking remnants of Mechs and fighters littered the glossy floor, sprinkled amongst countless bodies of both metal and flesh. The android numbers were dwindling; they wouldn’t last much longer. They’d already lost the area around the vent through which they’d entered.

  Beyond them she recognized the armor of Hand Yavortha, all the way across the hangar amongst a sea of green. He was standing on the raised ramp of a transport ship.

  “We’re going—” Sage began before a sharp pain pulled at her stomach. She pressed her human hand against her wound and took a measured breath. “We’re going to need to find a new way out,” she said. “We’ll only get one shot at this.”

  “Nice fuckin’ rescue this was,” one of the Ceresian prisoners remarked. “I say we blast through!”

  Blast through, she thought. She peeked around the corner and saw two vacant Mechs sitting against the wall behind the ranks of shooting androids. Their rail-guns might be enough to break the soundness of the Ascendant’s hull.

  “Talon, can you operate a Mech?” she asked.

  “I’m not sure,” he said. “I helped Julius with one or two back on Kalliope but those were for mining.”

  “There’re two left. I’m going to provide cover so you can reach the exterior wall. I’ll load into the further Mech and fire the rai
l through the side of the hangar. You and Elisha will be sucked out into space and Tarsis and the others can hold on until Cassius retrieves you. I’ll follow right behind you.”

  An unexpected look of dread seized Talon’s face. “No!” he yelled, grasping Sage by her forearm. “We’re not bringing Elisha back to him.”

  “There’s no time to argue, Talon!” Sage barked. She looked toward the two surviving Ceresians. “Get in Tribunal suits and put on the helmets.”

  They didn’t even wait a second before picking through the many Tribunal corpses around to find one with an uncompromised suit. Talon backed down and started whispering with Tarsis while they waited. Sage took that time to use her wrist-blade to bend the punctured portion of her own suit over her bullet wound. That would ensure that there was constant pressure on it and that her suit was sealed when she entered space.

  When she was done she glanced out from cover again. A sea of green was crashing down on them, under the direct command of Hand Yavortha. Androids were dropping one by one.

  An explosive round took out a cluster of them, spraying metal arms and legs through the air. If she was even able to reach the second Mech it would take some time for it to charge up its rail-gun. She wasn’t ADIM, so she couldn’t calculate the odds, but it was beginning to seem likely that she wouldn’t be able to follow Talon out into space.

  One last mission.

  “Talon, are you ready?” she yelled. “We’re going to get her out of here.”

  Talon brushed back Elisha’s hair and looked down at her, lines of terror wracking his face. She’d never seen him so scared. “I’m ready,” he whispered.

  “On my signal then.”

  Sage closed her visor and switched on her helmet’s com-link. She lifted her arm, giving the freed Ceresian prisoners just enough time to finish putting on their suits. Then she let it fall, signaling the rest to move before she ran out shooting.

  She hopped from android to android, taking cover behind each one and picking off what were once her own people. Talon sprinted behind her, weaving his way across the bodies and the debris toward the Mech parked against the adjacent wall. She couldn’t see Yavortha’s face as he watched her from across the hangar, but she could just imagine his rage. It propelled her. It felt good to join a fight from beyond the shadows against someone she knew deserved it, for once in her life.