I stepped next to Neona as she stared ahead at Luther. She closed her eyes and bit her lip when I looked at her. “Don’t tell me you have something to add,” she muttered.
I cleared my throat. “No, but I wanted to let you know you shouldn’t worry. It shouldn’t be an issue to boot Xena up. If anything, she’s waiting on me to do it. Xena is loyal to the Legion, but her and I are a team. She likely felt uncomfortable answering questions in that format without my presence. It’ll be fine,” I grinned, placing my hand on her shoulder.
We walked forward. “And if we can’t boot her back up?” she asked hesitantly.
I tapped my temple with my index finger. “I know pretty much everything Xena does about that ship anyway,” I lied.
Truth be told, I was lucky if I knew half the statistics Xena did about the XU-97, but I felt there was no need to tax Neona with additional stress. We needed Neona at her best. Luther had an extraordinary amount of pressure on his shoulders, and he reacted as such, but I was trying to keep everyone around him positive.
Neona sighed loudly. “Whew, that makes me feel... somewhat better,” she said.
“Good,” I said, grinning.
We walked for several moments without a word. Luther was moving so quickly I could barely see him. I chuckled as he disappeared around a bend. “What?” Neona asked.
“I’m not sure why Luther is in such a hurry. I doubt Xena will reboot for anyone but me,” I said.
She smiled. “Probably just blowing off steam and doesn’t want to see me for a while,” she said.
I glanced at her. “He was always good about that. On the rare occasion that we did argue, he would remove himself from the situation until he cooled off. His mother, your grandmother taught him that inadvertently,” I said.
Her eyes widened. “Oh. I’m curious, what kind of woman was she?” Neona asked. She reminded me of a curious little girl momentarily.
I pushed out my bottom lip. I wasn’t sure if Luther ever mentioned her to Neona. I did a double take at her as we rounded the corner into the metallic bunker portion of the installation. “Luther’s mother was, difficult to say the least. She was physically abusive to Luther... and I suspect she suffered from undiagnosed mental conditions herself.”
“You mean, she beat him?” Neona asked.
“I don’t know specifics, but I know Luther lived in fear throughout his childhood. She was a large, powerfully built woman,” I recalled.
“You met her?” she asked.
“Once, only briefly. She was somewhat quiet during our encounter, probing my demeaner for any hints of animosity. I gathered she was curious how much Luther had divulged about her. I had plenty of resentment built up, but I didn’t let her know it. I left her in the dark. It took a lot for me to show restraint, it was everything in my power not to claw her fucking eyes out,” I recalled, curling my fingers.
Neona smiled. “That’s what I would have done.”
“Well maybe if I was your age, I wouldn’t have given it a second thought,” I said. I could feel her staring at me.
As I thought about it more, I wouldn’t have attacked Luther’s mother physically even if I were Neona’s age. Sure, I was angry at her and it would have been satisfying, but she was an older woman when I met her and likely mentally disturbed.
Instead of clarifying my stance, maybe it was better to find some common ground with Neona and dealing with bottled up aggression seemed like a good start.
Chapter 3
SEVERAL MINUTES LATER...
Ahead, I saw Luther talking to two Legion guards in all black body armor. He had his arms crossed as he stood in front of a door in the fallout bunker. We were surrounded by light green metal: grated floors, pipes on the ceiling, and thick walls.
As Neona and I approached Luther, I could hear him. “And how long has the android been inside the interrogation room?” he asked.
The guards looked at one another nervously. “I’m not sure exactly, a couple of hours,” one of them said.
“Open the door,” Luther commanded. A guard immediately turned and opened the hatch. Luther glanced over his shoulder at us nearing him. He waited a few moments before stepping inside. We followed behind him as one of the guards cleared his throat, staring at Neona as we entered the room.
“Do you have something to say, soldier?” she stopped on a dime parallel to the soldier. She kept her voice down considering Luther was in earshot.
“No, Knight,” he responded, staring straight ahead. She glared at him for a moment before marching inside.
I walked into the barren, plain metallic room. Xena was seated in the middle, completely still with her head slumped forward. There was a small wooden table in front of her and another chair that was empty on the opposite side of the table. A cord dangled from the ceiling with a single lightbulb. It swayed back and forth, casting a dramatic light on her in the otherwise dimly lit room.
Xena’s dormant shell was surprising to see. Her usually cool blue eyes were black as night as she slumped lifelessly in the chair. Her arms were pulled behind her. Luther stepped forward, looking her over.
“And why did you decide to bind the android’s hands?” he asked. He didn’t raise his voice, but his monotone frightened me, as if there was a severe penalty for the wrong answer.
Neona stood beside me. I shifted my eyes toward her without moving my head. She gulped and took in a great breath. “It was just... precautionary,” she replied.
Luther glanced over his shoulder at the guards staring through the door. “Give Knight Neona the keys to the android’s handcuffs. Then, leave us,” he commanded. One of the guards entered the room and placed the keys in Neona’s hand as she stared through him. He was careful not to look Neona in the eyes as he kept his head down. He turned away from us and sealed us inside.
“Unbind your prisoner, Knight Neona,” Luther ordered.
“She’s not my prisoner. Again, it was simply a precaution—”
Luther’s head whipped toward her, cutting her off.
She pulled her long black overcoat forward and stood tall. She lifted her chin and cleared her throat as she walked behind Xena. She glanced at me before kneeling. I heard two clicks as the latch released, then a clack as the large, reinforced handcuffs dropped onto the metal floor.
“There,” she said, standing up.
Luther seemed to be collecting his thoughts for a few moments. He turned to the side so that both Neona and I could see his face. I noticed him glance up at the ceiling. “This was supposed to be a simple, yet important task—retrieve intelligence from Xena regarding the XU-97 capabilities so that we may prepare a defensive strategy. After the android refused to answer, you decided to press it for information here? This is where we interrogate prisoners, Neona. Considering the importance of this intelligence, any deviation, any oddity displayed by the machine not to divulge this information should have been forwarded to me immediately. Instead, you took matters into your own hands without knowing how the android would react. Well, we know now, don’t we?” he explained, glancing at Xena as she sat there powered down.
Neona let out a long sigh. Luther slowly approached her. He stopped two paces in front of her and stared at her without a word.
She nodded slowly and paused for several moments. “My mind has been foggy, racing with these... thoughts,” she said.
“What thoughts?” Luther asked, softening his tone. There was a moment where I could see his transition from the commander of the knight order to a concerned father.
“The Architect. The things she showed me while I was under her control. The old world. Isn’t it possible that rebounding humanity will result in nothing but death and misery anyway? Isn’t this just a vicious cycle? The future generations won’t appreciate our sacrifice. They didn’t appreciate or learn much from the horrors in their own history. They’ll be quick to rebuild their civilization without a care, and then what?” she asked, looking at the floor. Luther glanced at me as I stared at Neona
with wide eyes.
Luther walked by Neona and paced around the room. He held up his index finger. “I knew the Architect before the Mave came into power. And I can tell you, despite her eventual rise to power, she was weak. I saw fear in her eyes. Fear of loss. She was so traumatized and afraid of experiencing another tragedy in her life, that she took matters into her own hands,” he said, stopping next to me. He looked at me for a moment.
“You’re saying there’s no truth whatsoever to what the Architect showed me about the people of your time?” Neona spoke up.
“Let’s get something straight. My time is now, not then. My wife, and my family were born to stop extremists like the Architect. Whatever life I had then, served as a vessel to the present. The Mave nanobots that run through your veins, also run through mine. I too, witnessed the same imagery of misery and death as the Architect attempted to use to break me. I endured it for nearly two decades. The nuclear fires, mothers smothering their children by the thousands because they didn’t want them to die slowly by radiation poisoning. It only subsided when I drove my sword through her skull. But I knew all along this imagery and extremism was only a rationalization for her own fragility,” he said.
Neona gulped. She shook her head. “How could you... endure that for so many years?”
Luther walked to the opposite side of the room. He faced the wall. “On the way, I overheard you two speak of my mother,” he said, looking at the floor.
“The truth is, my mother reminded me of the Architect in many ways. She wasn’t as intelligent or cunning, but they both were unable to face their own demons. Instead, they lashed out, rationalizing with convenient half-truths. My mother built a wall of lies around our household. Constructing a narrative that I was a hell spawn descended directly from my father. The reality? She hated my father because he left her. Her narcissistic, erratic, and unaccountable behavior pushed him away. She never moved on from it, spiraling into an abyss of anger. The Architect was unable to recover from the death of her son. Instead of grieving and moving forward with her life, she needed someone to blame, initiating a campaign against all of humanity,” he explained. He paused for a moment, meeting eyes with both of us. “I saw from an early age how dangerous the construction of false narratives could be. It allowed me to not only resist the Architect, but to see completely through her,” he said softly, approaching Neona. He put his hands on her shoulders.
“Have you grieved for the man you loved?” he asked, lowering his voice.
Her eyes widened as she looked up at him. She glanced down at the floor. “Yes, Father, when he was infected by the Mave,” she said.
Luther nodded. “I admired how well you took his loss. Until one day, a doctor came to my quarters and told me you had been pressing him for information about the Mave virus. Do you remember doing this?” he asked.
She looked away from him. “Vaguely,” she said.
“The doctor told me that you wanted to know what would happen if we destroyed the Architect. If it were possible that everyone infected would return to normal if she was killed. He explained that he had no idea, but that it was unlikely. Do you recall the conversation better now?” Luther asked.
Her eyes glossed over. “Yes.”
“Is it possible you’ve been holding on to hope during our campaign against the Architect? That one day your love might recover?” he asked.
Neona stepped toward Luther. She clenched her fist. “I wanted to put him out of his misery! I didn’t want him to be one of those, creatures, walking around like that, drooling, scampering around like an animal!”
“But now that we’ve destroyed the Mave, the realization and the pain of loss has resurfaced. I see it in you, now. No one can blame you for those feelings of sorrow, but we must be honest with ourselves,” Luther said. Neona bit her lip and panted heavily as she looked through Luther. Tears began to trickle down her face, dotting the floor.
I stepped near her, outstretching my arm. “Neona—”
“No!” she said, jerking away. “Don’t,” she said, stabbing her finger at me as she stormed toward the door. She knocked loudly twice, wiping her eyes. She pulled her coat down. The door opened and she marched through, stopping beside the guards. “Don’t look at me. Pay attention to your surroundings!” she ordered.
One of the guards peeked around through the open door. I could hear Neona’s boots clacking against the metal floor as she marched away. “Yes, close it,” Luther ordered.
Luther looked at me out of the corner of his eye. “I had my suspicions that she was holding on to hope, but only now were they confirmed.”
I took a step toward Luther. “I don’t even know how I would handle that situation. If I knew you were one of those creatures, it’s possible I might hold on to hope that you might recover too, no matter how outlandish or low percentage it seemed. The doctor didn’t tell her it was impossible that the Mave virus would reverse, just like the Titans never told me it wasn’t impossible for you to be alive after all these years. When you love someone, all you need is a glimmer of hope,” I said.
I jumped back as Xena shot up out of her chair, standing tall. She knocked over the table in front of her as her eyes glowed blue. “Sorry to interrupt, Captain,” she said casually.
“Um. Okay, why the dramatic entrance?” I asked, noticing my hand on my sword. I glanced at Luther as he stood in front of her with his arms crossed.
“I was in low power mode. I heard some of your conversation, but I couldn’t respond until now. When Knight Neona questioned me, I noticed a strange signal from Titan. It was supposedly from a group of survivors that were trapped underground. The message stated that there were twenty-six miners underground when the colony was attacked. They had survived and managed to beam a distress signal toward us,” she replied.
I narrowed my eyes at her. Luther glanced at me and shook his head. “We don’t have the means to aid them, Xena, it’s all we can do to help ourselves at this point,” I said.
Xena bent over and picked up the table. I heard her mechanical joints whine as she lifted it, placing it back where it was. “Captain, I’m not suggesting we mount any sort of rescue mission, what I’m telling you is the message wasn’t from the miners. The Moderator fabricated it. It wants me to respond to reveal our location,” Xena said.
“But doesn’t the Moderator already know our coordinates? If it has access to Titan’s data, then it knows where we are,” I asked.
“I would estimate that the Moderator is prying to see if we’ve acquired any aircraft that would threaten its assault on the Legion,” she said. I sighed as I thought about General Corvin for some reason. I imagined him drifting around in an escape pod in cryosleep. I never liked the guy, but he didn’t deserve that. He understood his chance of recovery was slim to none.
“Captain, I must also inform you that XU-97’s voyage here is different to our trip here with Colonel Drake,” she said.
“Why?” I asked.
“The Moderator doesn’t have to worry about conserving fuel for the trip back. It’s burning through fuel at an extremely high rate. We have less than two weeks to prepare,” Xena replied.
“Exactly how much time?” Luther demanded.
“The saving grace is Titan’s orbit isn’t completely ideal for a voyage to Earth. However, considering the rate of speed the XU-97 is traveling, we’re looking at arrival in ten days, minimum,” she explained.
Luther slowly turned away from us. “Ten days,” he whispered, staring at the wall.
“When I retrieved the distress message, I was able to take a snapshot of the Moderator’s location, but I would estimate it was able to take a snapshot of mine as well. Since then, I have made it impossible for the Moderator to collect data on us,” Xena said.
Luther whipped around. “That’s not what I want you to do,” he said.
Xena’s eyes shifted toward me. “Excuse me, Engineer?” Xena asked.
“Listen to me, I want it to appear that you’re concealing yo
ur location, but actually give the Moderator a breadcrumb trail of where you are. Is this possible?” he asked.
“Uh, yes actually. I can make it seem as if I’m gathering intelligence about the XU-97’s location, this could reveal our location periodically,” she replied.
“Good. When it arrives, our people will be as far away from you as possible,” he said.
“Understood,” she said without hesitation.
I showed Luther my palms. “Hold on. We’re going to use Xena as bait?” It wasn’t a terrible idea, but I wasn’t a fan of throwing Xena to the wolves either.
Luther nodded his head. “Xena has proven herself to be a steward for humanity, what better way to showcase her loyalty than to spare thousands of human lives? We’re going to recover that anti-aircraft gun the nomads mentioned, and when the Moderator returns, Xena will be awaiting to give it the homecoming it deserves—by blasting it out of the damn sky,” Luther said.
“Brilliant strategy, actually,” Xena said, glancing at me. “Wouldn’t you agree, Captain?” she asked. I ignored her, staring at Luther.
Chapter 4
THE NEXT MORNING...
There were two knocks at my barracks door. “Who is it?” I asked.
“Leo... can I come in?” he asked.
I had no idea what time it was. “Yeah,” I said, pulling my blanket up over my chest.
“Hey,” he said, shutting the door behind him.
“You’re going with us I presume?” I asked. Last night after Luther made the decision that we would use Xena as bait against the Moderator, I filled Leo in on the details.
“Of course. Corporal Dinu told me after we spoke that I was leaving on the mission at first light,” he said.
I looked at him. “But it’s not even close to first light, is it?”
He looked back toward the door. “Ah, no, it’s a couple hours away,” he said.
“Thought so,” I replied and yawned. “So, what’s going on? Why are we up so early?”
The Legacy of the Lioness Page 2
