The Red Girl

by Thomas Davis

  He held her gaze. “You fail... you stole this card from my pocket. It's all on you. All of it.”

  Catherine silently nodded and took the card. “That fool, Johnston. He had a scientist fetching him coffee. Such a shame” Author said and shook his head. “See you around Cathy.”

  “Catherine, sir,” she awkwardly blurted out. Manning smiled and left the room. Catherine took a few minutes to compose herself. This was the big leagues, the deep end. It was win or die from this point forward. She cursed Johnston for pushing her this far past the edge.

  9

  Confrontation

  The Irving district was booming economically during the long years of the conflict. It’s many factories produced munitions for the battleships that sailed through the cosmos waging war against the dreaded Arez armada. But when the fighting stopped eighty years ago, so did the prosperity of the district. The factories closed and the most skilled laborers left the district or the Station entirely. Those who couldn’t leave fell into despair and poverty. The Irving district was now a hopeless, crime ridden, area full of desperate people trying to get by any way they could. It was dangerous place for outsiders. Especially for a naïve boy and an alien, unfamiliar with her surroundings and local customs.

  Jake and Adeola were walking down a partially lit street when a group of young men approached them.

  “Hey, funny running into you here,” said an average looking guy that had the air of a leader. Jake looked confused. “You got them credits I lent you, young buck?”

  “What?”

  “Breaks my heart you don’t recognize your old pal, but I tell you what. Empty out your pockets onto the ground and I’ll let you walk. Even after you disrespected me in front of all of my friends. I’m forgiving like that.”

  A burly looking fellow walked up and stood next to the slender man.

  “Look,” Jake stammered. “Is there any chance you would let us through?”

  “You disrespected me? Now you want us to let you through?”

  Jake stared.

  “Seems like we gotta teach you a lesson in manners, kid.”

  “There is no way that is going to happen.”

  “Well, then we have a problem.”

  At the leader’s signal, some of the gang members rushed at them. Adeola made a run on the wall and kicked two out of the path. She wrapped her palm against the fist of another man and twisted his arm out of joint then quickly ducked as another swung a metal object at her. Deftly, she threw a kick that connected at his ankles then punched him to the ground. She could feel his jaw break against her knuckles. She settled into a fighting stance.

  “You think you’re some hot stuff? Get ‘em!” yelled the leader. More of them made a mad dash for her and Jake watched in amazement. His left hand was twitching as his fear and awe grew. Part of him wanted to get into the fray and help her out while the other part was scared of getting hurt.

  He stood fixed to the spot and willed his entire being to man up. He punched himself squarely in the face. The blood came by the gallons and the pain multiplied like a symphony gone bad. He punched himself again and his feet moved and took him to where the action was happening. He got the wind knocked out of him as soon as he got close to the fight. Adeola was handling three men while the leader who knocked him out was smiling down at him. Jake quickly got back up only to get knocked down again. He spat blood and his organs felt like they had been on fire. The energy he had left through his feet and his sight became blurry. He struggled back to his feet again.

  His assailant charged in once more. Jake finally noticed that the man attacked him the same way each time.

  Steps forward with the left leg then throws a right punch straight, Jacob thought. “It’s like a puzzle?”

  The man stepped forward with his left leg but this time Jake ducked beneath his punch. He had a clear line of sight to the man’s jaw and he thrust his fist upwards. Jake connected with the man’s jaw and knocked him back a foot or two. Jake’s left hand was throbbing. He never landed a punch before. He imitated Adeola’s fighting stance as best as he could.

  “You want some more?!!!”

  The leader put up his hands, “Look, can we call this a truce?”

  Jake looked surprised. Was his punch so powerful that he knocked the will to fight out of this grown man? A pride swelled in his chest. He lowered his fists and accepted the olive branch. “Sure, just grab your friends and get out of her.”

  “Sure thing kid.”

  The man was looking past Jacob. Jake turned around to see Adeola standing there. All of the gang members were laid out at her feet. Arms were broken, eyes were swollen shut and teeth littered the ground. She looked upset, sad. Jake ran to her, took her by the hand, and pulled her away from the carnage. They got two blocks away before stopping.

  Jake placed his hands on Adeola’s shoulders, “Ad? Are you Okay?”

  She didn’t answer. She leaned back against a wall. Her eyes were tearing up.

  “Ad? Please, talk to me. What’s wrong?”

  “All I’m good at is hurting people.”

  “But,” Jake struggled to understand her. He’d always been afraid to fight. Her strength just gave him the confidence to finally stand up for himself. How could that be a bad thing? But it wasn’t important right now for him to pick apart why she was upset. He just had to be there for her. “Want to talk about it?”

  It took her a moment, “I ran away from home.” Jake offered his left hand to her. His hand was still slightly trembling from the confrontation before. As she took his hand he felt that her hand was also trembling.

  “I’m here.”

  “In our fifteenth summer we have to undergo the trails,” a tear rolled down Adeola’s cheek. Jake was surprised to learn that she was actually younger than he was. “The final trial is ritual combat and…. And I hurt someone. I hurt them so badly that they may never be the same.” The tears were freely flowing down her face at this point, “Everyone…Everyone… They praised me for it. They were so proud of me.”

  She was squeezing Jake’s hand so hard that it hurt but he endured. He owed it to her. “It’s okay”

  “My mother…. She’s the only one who understood me but she’s gone now.”

  This wasn’t one his puzzles that had a clear solution in the end. This was someone he cared about who had real problems that he couldn’t solve with all of his logic. No matter how much he wanted to.

  “Thank you.”

  “I… I didn’t do anything. Nothing useful anyway.” He looked down.

  Adeola placed her left hand on his bleeding cheek then touched his forehead with hers. Their eyes closed and their breathing went one into the other. Both hearts slowed down and synchronized to the language that breaks all barriers.

  “This is a sign of affection on Samael,” she said. “I have never felt like doing this with anyone until now.”

  “Does this mean what I think it does?”

  “Shut up.”

  “Okay.”

  They both laughed. Jake placed his left hand on her cheek and pulled her in till the tips of their noses touched.

  …

  Travis Takeda was fiddling with a soldering iron and gadgets in a room full of junk. The drone of an old cooling unit was the only source of air in the tightly packed room. His forehead was a pool of salt mixed with water and his concentration was zen-like. Beside him was a piece of the pod with wires running to and from it. He had a LED screen propped up in front of him as he went to work with the soldering iron.

  Ten minutes later he smiled then proceeded to flip a switch. A small red dot lighted on his Navi and he smiled.

  “I have finally tracked you, Jake. You will not be the cause of my death. I wonder what you are doing out there in dangerous territory.”

  Quickly, he packed what he needed and went out of the room. He shut the door beside him and threw the keys on the roof.

  His Navi rang and the caller ID displayed Annabelle Takeda. Travis let it r
ing for a while before turning it to silent mode. The last thing he needed was to get in a fight with Anne; he knew he had no excuse to feed her. Nothing ever satisfied her once she had her eyes set for you. It was one of the beautiful things that had pulled him to her. Now, it was one of the things that made him run in the opposite direction – even though he was still very much in love with her. Finding their son was paramount, anything else was secondary. Annabelle would skin him alive if she found out he was responsible –albeit indirectly, for Jake’s skirmish with the authorities. It was a good thing he found a way to track the Arez girl through the technology lined in her flight suit, which she wore beneath her disguise. Who would have known that he had the ingenuity to craft things that could save his life and marriage?

  “Please be alright, Jake. Please be alright.” He broke into a run at the thought of things that may go wrong.

  10

  Things Fall Apart

  Catherine Fisher had commandeered an unregistered data pad from storage. She used an ex-employee's credentials to acquire the pad. Louis Johnston was the only person who was supposed to have access to departmental credentials, but due his laziness, he gave Catherine all of his authorization codes allowing her full access to the system. This way she could do his job more efficiently. If things went south, Louis would be the one they came after first.

  Serves the pig right, she thought.

  She finished uploading the Liberty Shield algorithm to the Station mainframe. Then took in a deep long breath until her complexion went slightly pink. Her finger hovered over the activation icon for what felt like hours. She weighed the consequences of her action. It was true that she had been bitter when the project was canceled while they were perfecting it. All they ever wanted to do was provide a way out in the case that something as bad as what was happening did happen. It felt foolish and almost comical to think that what they were trying to prevent was here to bite them on the behind. People take their freedom for granted, she thought. The public’s sense of entitlement irked her a lot. Most of the people on the station had no idea of the price paid for their freedom and the things that were denied because of a misguided understanding of the technology. She threw all the flying thoughts away and pressed the button. For a moment nothing happened, then instantly her small office was filled with blue holographic images. She stood and walked to the center of the room while clutching the data pad to her chest. Every Frame on the Station was at her command if she so desired. Finally, she was seeing Liberty Shield in action. Catherine smiled the brightest she ever smiled. It was beautiful to her and full of salvation’s light.

  Things were starting to go her way. She finally got to use this system that she worked so hard on. She was on the verge of getting a better job and a mentor. And no matter how things go, she would never have to set foot in this office again after today. Her face grew determined as she scanned the floating first person images.

  “Alright. Where are you hiding alien?”

  ***

  Anne Takeda was frantically searching the streets for her son while David Assad followed from a distance. Unnoticed. Anne had stormed out of the house to look for Jake before thinking it over first. It would’ve made far more sense to wait for the little delinquent to come home. To catch him by surprise once he set his school bag down. She had already committed to her search plan so there was no turning back now. Contrary to her own belief, Anne was a particularly stubborn person once she set her mind to something. And that son of hers had been working her nerves lately. His constant passive aggressive challenges to her authority within the house were infuriating and he could be intolerable. Anne loved her son but she had trouble liking him at times.

  It was difficult to find a teen playing hooky on a space station. Where did the kids even hang out these days? She though. It had been so long since she was that age. And even back then she was far more conservative and responsible than her peers. The other kids used to call her “ma’am” in jest.

  She had already checked the shopping district near the Bowie Academy campus grounds. There was a store there that sold the puzzles that Jake was so fond of. The clerk didn’t recall seeing him that day. She was wandering at this point. With no leads, and Travis not answering his Navi, she decided to venture towards her husband’s salvage yard to enlist his help with the search.

  “Anne,” a voice called out to her. She turned around to see that it was Edna Fong, proprietor of a local diner.

  “Edna, how are you?”

  “I’m fine. I’m fine,” Edna replied. “Is everything okay? I just saw that boy of yours.”

  “Really, where did you see him?”

  “He just came in and bought a plate to go. Not ten minutes ago. He looked hurt.”

  “Oh no. I’m looking for him, which way did he go?”

  “He went off towards Chelsea? Yeah Chelsea,” Edna explained. “I tried to stop him, get him some help but he wouldn’t have it. The best I could do was to give him a first aid kit.”

  “Why didn’t you reach me?”

  “I was trying. I was trying. I couldn’t find your Navi frequency.”

  “I’m sorry Edna,” Anne looked down the street. “I’m just worried. Thank you your help.” Anne quickly walked away.

  “Anytime. Please let me know when you find him and if he’s okay. Okay?”

  Anne broke into a jog. She began this quest to find her errant child with the soul purpose of scolding him. Now a new mystery was afoot. What had that fool boy gotten himself into? For all of his intelligence, he was severely lacking in common sense. If he’s hurt why was he roaming the streets? She spotted a drop of blood on the ground of a moderately crowded street. Further away was another drop, a trail. The trail led her to a quieter block and an alley. As she creped into the alley she heard voices speaking barely above a whisper.

  “It’s good right?” A boy’s voice asked.

  A female’s voice replied to him but Anne couldn’t understand her. Whatever she was speaking, it wasn’t Terran.

  “Oh. It’s called Risoto de Carne.” It was definitely Jacob speaking to her.

  The unintelligible girl’s voice replied once more and the two laughed together.

  “How did break the fork?” Jake giggled.

  The red girl smiled and replied in what sounded like Arez.

  “It’s plastic, you don’t have plastic on Samael?”

  Jake and Adeola were closely sitting on the ground together cross-legged. Jake was covered in bandages and Adeola had visible bruises on her hands. Annabelle stepped into their view and confronted them. “Get away from my son,” Anne screamed. Adeola dropped her plate, leaped to her feet in front of Jake, and crouched into an aggressive stance upon seeing the metallic woman. Frightened, Anne stumbled and fell back against a wall behind herself. Adeola was screaming at Anne in Arez when Jake cut between the two. He faced Adeola and placed his hands on her shoulders.

  “Ad! Ad! Calm down that’s my mom!”

  Adeola looked at Jake then to the metal woman then back to Jake. “Your mother is a machine?”

  “I told you that already.”

  “No you did not.”

  “Yeah I did.”

  “Actually… Yes I remember now. It is still strange.”

  “Ad…. Relax you’re freaking her out.”

  “What is freaking out?”

  “Sorry. You’re scaring my mom,” Jake deeply looked Adeola in the eyes. “Please.”

  “Fine,” Adeola relaxed her stance and took a step back. Jake walked towards his mother.

  Anne grabbed Jake and pulled him close. “Jake! What happened? Did she hurt you?”

  “No. No. Mom… She’s a friend.”

  “Did you hit your head that hard? She’s an Arez! They’re dangerous,” Anne exclaimed in an angered whisper.

  Adeola’s earpiece had a peer-to-peer connection to Jake’s earpiece. She couldn’t understand Annabelle’s words but she could understand her intent, the fear in her voice. Adeola moved away
and sat with her knees pulled up. Her arms wrapped around her legs as she looked on mother and child.

  “She isn’t an enemy,” he repeated.

  “What would you know about such things?” Anne snapped.

  “I know enough.”

  “No. You don’t. You’re coming with me and then we’re calling Station Security.”

  “You never listen.”

  “I listen to reason and you’re acting like a child right now.”

  Jake got angry and lashed out, “This is why pop never comes home.”

  “What?”

  Jake immediately knew that he went too far. As soon as he said it he regretted it. “Mom. I didn’t mean that.”

  Anne was deeply wounded by his words “Yes. You did mean it.”

  “No I’m just angry.”

  “You’re angry at me. You think I’m pushing your father away but you have no idea what it takes to hold a family together,” her voice cracked. “How hard it gets.”

  ***

  Back in her tiny locked office in the municipal plaza, Catherine's eyes were burning as she examined the small holographic images floating around her. It had been too long since she last blinked. Everything around her felt like an ocean and the images seemed to be schools of fish. The task was proving to be far more difficult than she had imagined when she made Author the promise. There was too much information for her to sort through all at once. It would take a longer time for her to analyze, categorize, assimilate then map out a pattern – it would take time she did not have because she remembered his warning. And then there was the fear of not screwing things up. This was the break she had been looking for and wishing for every morning in front of the mirror. She would be damned if anything would make her make a puddle out of these fine ingredients.

  Out of the corner of her eye, a dozen or so screens passed at a fast speed. With a flick of an index finger and a supporting thumb, she paused the carousel.