Dark Space- The Complete Series

by Jasper T. Scott

  Atton sat clutching his injured hand and glaring up at her, his chest heaving with fury. "Go ahead, shoot me, too!"

  "That would be too kind."

  "You dumb sclut, you killed him!"

  "Watch how you speak to me. And no, I didn't kill him. Haven't you learned? No one ever dies here. I'll have Omnius resurrect Ethan after this is all over, but right now we don't need him getting in our way."

  "He'll never forgive you for making him a clone. He barely forgave me for becoming one."

  Valari laughed. "He was already a clone."

  Atton did a double take and turned to look at his father's body. Ethan looked the same as ever—fifty-something years old, not twenty-one as he should have been if he were a clone. Atton turned back to her and shook his head. "He's too old to be a clone."

  "Omnius aged him so that he wouldn't figure it out. I knew there was a chance he'd kill himself after I tricked him into sleeping with me, and that's exactly what he did. We had to bring him back the next day and invite you over to keep him from doing anything stupid."

  Atton shook his head, sickened by Valari's machinations. "What guarantee do I have that Ethan will be brought back?"

  "Do you really think I'd go to all of this trouble to get him just to throw him away?"

  Atton stumbled to his feet and glared at her, his hand still stinging fiercely. He recalled Omnius's plan to kill Valari, and he willed himself to be patient. All he had to do was get her to the Icosahedron and Omnius would do the rest. "We need to go," he said. "It's not safe on Avilon."

  "Agreed."

  "First, I'm going to find the rest of my family."

  "And do what?"

  "Convince them to go with us."

  Valari's expression softened. "I'll go with you."

  "I'm going alone."

  Valari hesitated. "Of course. Take one of my couriers."

  Atton was about to object, but Valari was already heading to her hangar. He followed her out and up to the pilot's side of a shiny black air car. Valari waved open the door and Atton jumped in.

  "Be careful," she said. "The streets will be more dangerous than ever right now."

  Atton nodded. "I'll see you on the Icosahedron." He shut the door in Valari's face and dialed up the grav lifts to hover off the deck. Rotating the car to face the shielded entrance of the hangar, Atton gunned the thrusters and raced out into the Null Zone.

  Atton set course for Hoff's apartment, and began taking the most direct path there. As he dove down into the lower levels, Atton saw that Valari was right about the streets being dangerous.

  Cars crisscrossed between buildings in every possible angle and direction, except for the legal ones, making flying more hazardous than ever. But the pedestrian streets looked even worse. Racing shadows darted into stores and darted back, their arms fully-laden with stolen goods. Atton could actually hear the security alarms screaming as his car roared by.

  By the time Atton arrived at Hoff's apartment, his hands were shaking from the adrenaline of near misses with other cars. Atton rode up the lift tube from the building's guest parking, straight to Hoff's apartment on level twenty. He ran out of the lift and down the hall. Rounding the corner to Hoff's apartment, he found the door wide open. Fearing the worst, Atton slowed to a fast walk and drew his sidearm.

  When he reached the open doorway, his eyes widened with horror and his aim faltered. To one side of the living room lay the charred and smoking skeleton of a Null guardian drone. To the other side lay Hoff with two EMTs attending him, and both Atton's mother and half-sister crowding around.

  Hoff was the first one to notice him standing there. He sat up and said, "Hello, Atton."

  Atton felt relieved to see him sit up. "Hoff, we have to..." He trailed off as he heard something—the clanking footfalls of drones. His heart suddenly pounding, Atton spun around just in time to see Valari come racing down the hallway toward him, leading a squad of drones.

  He blinked, shocked and angry to see her. She'd followed him here! Valari brushed by him in the doorway.

  "Valari?" Hoff asked.

  "What are you doing here?" Atton gritted out.

  "Keeping you safe. It's a war zone out there," Valari replied. Then, to Hoff she said, "We need to get away from Avilon right now."

  "You've turned against Omnius?" Hoff asked, his eyebrows arching.

  Valari snorted. "What are you talking about? We need to leave Avilon because it's about to go up in smoke, and we don't want to get caught in the blaze. Are you coming with us or not?"

  "With you where?"

  "To New Avilon. It's already in orbit. We'll be safe there."

  "Go frek yourself, Valari," Hoff replied.

  Guardian drones came clanking into position to either side of Atton, occupying all the space in his peripheral vision.

  Feeling suddenly apprehensive, Atton turned to his stepfather with an imploring look. "You can't win," he said.

  "We can't take Omnius's side," Destra said.

  Atta shook her head. "Atton, didn't you see the Union's transmission? Omnius is evil. Now we have proof. This is our only chance to defeat him—or at least escape!"

  By now the EMTs had stopped working to listen to the exchange. They eyed the drones and each other nervously.

  Hoff smiled and jerked his chin toward the drones. "Are these my executioners?"

  Atton swallowed thickly. He felt like he was going to be sick. This was spiraling out of control. "No, Hoff, listen—"

  "Save your breath. I'd rather die than serve Omnius again."

  "That can be arranged," Valari said.

  "Wait!" Atton said.

  Valari pointed to Hoff with one arm raised, her thumb pointing down. The drones recognized her unspoken command, and mechanical clicking sounds filled the air as weapons slid out of armored compartments. The EMTs dove for cover, and Hoff spread his arms wide, welcoming the end.

  "No!" Atton roared.

  "Dad!" Atta said.

  Then came a crackling roar and a blinding tirade of laser fire. Hoff's body jittered and convulsed under fire; then he fell over backward, his clothes smoking. A noxious smell of burned meat and synthetic fibers drifted through the room. Destra threw herself over Hoff's body, sobbing, while Atta stood up and took aim with a weapon Atton hadn't realized she was holding.

  Atton tried to shout a warning, but the drones shot her first. Her shot went wide, slashing a dark furrow in the ceiling above Valari's head, and then Atta hit the floor with a solid thud.

  Destra belatedly noticed what had caused the sound. Then she screamed and cursed at them as she rushed to Atta's side. Valari pointed at her next, thumb turned down, and another barrage struck her down.

  It all happened in a matter of seconds. Atton gaped at the scene before him. The EMTs fled, not even bothering to gather their equipment. This was all his fault. His entire family was dead, struck down in seconds. He never should have come.

  Blood raged in Atton's veins, demanding justice, but a cooler, calmer side of him warned him not to do anything rash. Omnius had already promised Valari would die. He just had to be patient.

  Atton turned to Valari, his eyes cold and dark with fury. "You didn't have to kill them," he said quietly. "My mother wasn't even resisting."

  Valari frowned. "Don't be so dramatic. I didn't kill them. They're just sleeping. They won't be the only ones Omnius has to bring back when all of this is over. And they were already clones, so what's the big deal?"

  What's the big deal?

  Atton turned back to look at them all lying there, smoke rising from their clothes.

  The big deal is that they're my family.

  Chapter 43

  Ethan ran after the redheaded Etherian who'd agreed to help him find Alara's apartment. After what felt like a lifetime of charging down streets, cross streets, and alleys, they found Fairview Tower and rode the lift tubes down to level 20. Once there, Ethan raced down the hallway until he came to apartment 20G. He raised his hand to trigger the
buzzer by the door, but then he hesitated.

  Would Alara be happy to see him? Or would she tell him to go jump off the nearest rooftop?

  "What are you waiting for?" the redhead standing behind him asked.

  Ethan cast a grimace over his shoulder. "A miracle," he replied, and then he touched the buzzer.

  Moments later the door swished open and Alara appeared, her violet eyes wide and shining. She was even more beautiful than he remembered her.

  "Who are you?" Alara asked, her gaze flicking from Ethan to the redhead beside him and back again.

  Ethan's jaw dropped. She didn't even remember him! What had Omnius done to her?!

  "Don't you recognize me?" he asked. But then he realized why. Therius had cloned him on Origin and in the process he'd turned the clock back by about thirty years. Alara hadn't met him as a young man, so she wouldn't recognize him now.

  "Ethan?" Alara asked.

  Or maybe she would...

  Alara's eyes widened, and her ruby lips parted in a gasp. Her shock only lasted a moment, however, before her eyes narrowed to angry slits and her gaze settled on the redhead standing beside him. "Is this your new girlfriend?" she asked, thrusting out her chin. Tears sprang to her eyes, but it wasn't sadness Ethan saw shimmering there—it was hate.

  "Let me explain—" Ethan said, taking a quick step forward and reaching for her hand.

  "Don't touch me!" she said, recoiling from him and slapping his hands away.

  "Alara, just listen!" He nodded sideways to indicate the redhead. "She's someone I met on the way over. She helped me find you!"

  "Find me? You already know where I live. Or did you get drunk again and forget that, too? The first time you forgot you were married to me, and now you forgot where I live. Pretty soon you're going to forget you ever met me. Why did you come here, Ethan? Why transfer to a clone? Did you really think I would take you back after what you did?"

  Ethan's brow furrowed. He was missing something. "Wait a minute," he said. "When did I come here?"

  "The night after you cheated on me, you came to convince me that it had all been a drunken mistake, that you thought Valari was me. You really don't remember any of that? Wow... when you get drunk you don't mess around!"

  "Mom?" a little girl's voice came from somewhere within the apartment. "Who is it?"

  Ethan's heart jumped in his chest. Trinity!

  Alara turned to address their daughter. "It's your father," she said, just as Trinity appeared.

  "Trin," he whispered.

  She looked uncertain, not recognizing him.

  "Don't you remember me?" He tried a crooked smile, but it came out broken. His eyes burned with the threat of tears. His own daughter didn't recognize him!

  But then Trinity's eyes widened and she gasped. "Dad!" she exclaimed. She ran toward him and crushed him in a desperate hug. "I missed you so much!"

  "So did I, sweetheart," he replied, kissing the top of her head. "So did I."

  Alara looked on. She bit her lip and shook her head. "Why did you do it, Ethan? You're here now, a clone. Despite all your objections to life in Etheria and Lifelink transfers, you decided to become a clone anyway. You could have followed us here rather than drink yourself senseless and end up cheating on me with another woman!"

  Ethan grimaced, feeling those words stab him straight through the heart. "Alara, I didn't transfer... not the way you think, anyway. When I woke up in Valari's apartment and realized what I'd done, and then I thought about you and Trinity, both dead—at least, that's how it seemed to me at the time—it was all too much for me. I couldn't take it. I crashed an air car into the surface and died a Null, Alara."

  "You what?" Alara frowned. "Then why did Omnius bring you back?"

  "It wasn't him. I woke up in the Getties, on Origin. A man named Therius resurrected me. He said he intercepted my Lifelink data when I died, and he used it to clone me. He's been doing that for some time to recruit his army from Avilon. You saw his message, right?"

  Alara's eyes widened. "Yes. You came with them?"

  Ethan nodded. "We need to go now, while we still have a chance."

  "Wait—you killed yourself before or after you came here to convince me to take you back?"

  Ethan's brow furrowed. "I never came here, Alara."

  "Yes, you did."

  "If I did, then it wasn't me."

  "You looked more like you than you do now. You were still old."

  "That doesn't make any sense."

  "Unless Omnius brought you back and aged your clone so that even you wouldn't know he'd resurrected you. Why go to all of that trouble?"

  Ethan shook his head. "I don't know. I don't even know what you're talking about, but we can figure this out later. We need to go."

  "Go where? Therius said he came to set Avilon free. Why leave now?"

  "What he didn't tell you is that Omnius has a massive warship in orbit right now. It's not even right to call it a ship. It's a hollow shell five times the size of Avilon that Omnius calls New Avilon. Even crippled as he is, we're too badly outnumbered to win. Therius knows it, and he has a plan, but you don't want to be around to see him put that plan into action."

  "What are you talking about?"

  "The Union fleet is loaded with nanite bombs. Therius is going to drop them on Avilon if Omnius doesn't agree to back down."

  "What? Why would he do that?"

  Ethan shrugged. "I wish I knew."

  "They're going to kill us?" a panicky voice interrupted.

  Ethan turned to see the redhead who'd led him here backing away slowly, shaking her head. She had her arms wrapped around her shoulders, hugging herself.

  "It's okay," Ethan said. "We're going to be long gone before that happens."

  The redhead backed into a corner and sunk to the floor in a daze.

  "Who is she?" Alara whispered.

  "I don't know. I ran into her on the hover train on my way here," Ethan replied.

  Alara watched the other woman for a moment before turning back to him. "If what you're saying is true, then we have to do something, Ethan."

  "Yeah, run away and never look back. And we need to go now. We're running out of time." He reached for her arm, but she resisted. "Alara..."

  "We can't abandon the entire human race, Ethan."

  "What choice do we have?"

  "We can't just stand by and watch trillions of people die!"

  Ethan sighed. "If you have an idea, I'd love to hear it."

  "You tell me. You came with them. Isn't there some way you can get to the bombs? Disable them somehow?"

  Ethan shook his head. "We tried that."

  "We?"

  "Me and Atta."

  "Atta Heston? She came with you?"

  Ethan nodded. "The only way to stop those bombs from going off is to bring Omnius back online so that he can intercept them with planetary defenses, but we're never going to escape Avilon if we do that. No one will. The war will be over in seconds."

  Alara grimaced. "Then we'll be back where we started."

  "Yes."

  "But what's worse? A life of slavery to a lying, manipulating AI is still better than no life at all."

  Ethan arched an eyebrow. "Are you sure about that?"

  "Let me put it another way: would you rather be alive on Avilon with me and Trinity, or dead and turned to free-floating atoms by a hungry swarm of nanites?"

  "There's a third option. Run while we still can, and live free somewhere far from here."

  Alara shook her head. "Even if we could, and Omnius never found us—which you and I both know is unlikely—could you live with trillions of deaths on your conscience, knowing that you could have done something to stop those people from dying?"

  "Frek it!" Ethan pounded the wall with his fist, startling Trinity. Ethan saw her wide eyes and trembling lips and began rubbing her back. He went on in a calmer voice, "We don't even know if the bomb threat is real. What if it's just a bluff? And even if it's not, Therius might stop short of
using the nanites."

  "You met this Therius, didn't you?"

  "Yes..."

  "So what do you think? Would he use them?"

  Ethan thought about that for a moment, remembering the Union leader's emphasis on faith and belief in a higher power. "I think he's a codice-thumping nut who'll blow us all to the netherworld if we give him half a chance."

  "Then it's not an empty threat."

  "No."

  Alara stood there, staring at him for a long moment. "How do we bring Omnius back online?" she whispered.

  Ethan grimaced. "We're going to have to disable the Eclipser."

  "The... ?"

  "The device we used to take Omnius offline. It disrupts quantum technology."

  "Do you know where it is?"

  "Roughly."

  "Then let's go," Alara said, turning and leaving her apartment.

  "Hold on a second!" Ethan called after her, but she didn't turn around.

  Cursing under his breath, Ethan took Trinity's hand and then glanced at the redhead who'd brought him this far. She was huddled on the floor in a fetal position, her eyes glazed. He couldn't leave her there. Grimacing, he walked over and offered his free hand to help her up.

  "Let's go," he said.

  She stared at his hand, as if she didn't know what to do with it.

  "Come on!" he snapped.

  She grabbed his hand and he yanked her to her feet. He turned and ran to catch up with his wife, dragging Trinity along. They arrived at the lift tubes together, and found Alara already waiting there with the call button lit.

  "Alara, you're not coming with me."

  "You bet your cheating ass I am," she replied.

  "What about Trinity? This is going to be dangerous."

  "We're clones, Ethan. We already died. What's the worst that could happen?"

  "You could die again, and we could fail to bring Omnius back online. Then you're going to stay dead."

  "Then let's make sure we don't fail. Besides, you just said we're all going to die anyway."

  "We're all going to die?" Trinity whimpered.

  "Not if we run," Ethan said.

  "No one's running anywhere," Alara replied. Then she looked to Trinity and smiled. "And no one is going to die, sweetheart. Don't worry."