All Light Will Fall (10 page)

I watched the halo-clock strike 7:02 a.m. Time here was my
worst enemy. It dragged me through the days like a shackle to the neck. I was a
hostage of time.

My id marker suddenly vibrated. I took a dosage of halos
then laid back in bed. Ever since my return to the humanization facility, I
began to feel like my mind was sound again. Whatever they had done, it relieved
all my symptoms.

There was one issue it didn’t cure, however. At times, when
I looked in the mirror, I saw someone else. I saw something dark, that thing
Tank described as dangerous. Elric saw it too, and so did Kitty. They were all
afraid of it. It was uncontrollable. It was unnatural.

The message board lit up across the room. Training sessions
would resume in the next five minutes. I sat up, grabbing my mr2. A few days
ago, I was given clearance to carry it around the sector. A pair of MW’S came
and programmed it to my id marker. The weapon and I were one now. No one else
was permitted to use it.

The sector was crowded as I made my way to the arena. It
would be my final session, one of my final thrills on Earth. When the door slid
open, I looked his way. Raine smirked, a flash of merriment in his eyes. He
approached me with a pompous sway in his step. “That savage look in your eye, I
hope it never fades,” he whispered. “It’s quite attractive, 2102.”

My body tensed. Among the recruits, addressing each other by
number was a means of disrespect. “Foolish and incompetent, those qualities
suit you well, 1098,” I hissed.

Raine circled around me, eyeing me up and down. “You’re not
above us, 2102. You’re wild, tenacious, but not above us. That Gene-Nome 1 must
be something else. It must be hard to control... the bloodlust, I mean.” His
taunts continued, slithering from his lips like a hiss. I eyed him curiously.
How did he know about Gene-Nome 1?

“You know what you need, 2102? You need someone to suppress
your fury.” He stood before me, a triumphant smirk on his face. “I can tame
you,” he whispered, caressing me by the chin. “Tell me which you prefer...
whips... or chains?”

I snagged his wrist and squeezed, snapping it in two. Raine
shuttered at the knees. I took my other hand and grabbed him by the throat.
“Tame me?” I snarled. “Say it again. I’m just dying to rip that tongue right
out that insolent mouth of yours.” I pushed him away. He stumbled a bit before
regaining his footage.

“You’ll regret this, 2102.” he hissed, messaging his throat.
He gripped his wrist, snapping the bones in place.

“Show me if you can,” I challenged.

Raine cocked his neck to and fro then raised his fists. I
shook my head at his arrogance, tying my hair up for the fight. A circle of
recruits crowded around us. “How about a wager,” Raine said. A cocky smile
slithered over his lips. “If I win, you get down on your knees in front of me,
for everyone to see.”

“You underestimate me,” I spoke. “But so be it. If you win,
I’ll get down on my knees. And if I win... you die. That way it’s for certain
that I’ll never have to hear that mouth ever again.”

Raine smirked. “Let’s go then.”

“Stand down, recruits!” The circle dispersed as Lieutenant
Cambridge barged into the arena. “Petty squabbles among elite soldiers are
intolerable in this program!” he snapped. “If I ever find you in position to
battle, I will have you deleted on sight! Is that clear?”

I yanked my hair tie loose. “Yes, lieutenant,” I uttered.

“I understand, Sir,” Raine said.

Lieutenant Cambridge nodded. “Good, now shall we begin?”

I paid Raine no attention. He was a pitiful soul. He cared
too much for validation, and that was why he would always stand beneath me. I
needed no approval. I needed no form of reassurance. That was the difference
between us. He needed pride to exist, to survive. Pride, to me, was a weapon. I
did not need it to live. I could reign just perfectly without it.

The session was short, and when it ended, I was requested
for assessment. I was clear for departure that afternoon. Valler had been
rather congratulatory of my success. I ignored his compliments however. My only
concern was my promise. I would go to this new world. I would kill for ARTIKA.
I would protect for ARTIKA. As long as I had my dignity, I would do these
things. And one day, when my dignity was not enough, I would have my freedom as
well. Whatever the risk, freedom would be mine to keep.

I took a last look at myself in the mirror. I looked like a
soldier, like an arsenal. I had been red-tagged. ARTIKA had designed a suit for
me to wear as an indication of my title. It was a deep scarlet with an
intricate symbol stitched on the right side of my chest. It was the Nazar’s
symbol for New Eden.

I slipped my two hand guns in the holsters of the suit then
looked to the message board. It was almost time. There was a knock on the door.
I went to answer it.

“That suit is definitely not your color,” Kitty said. She
smiled, Tank and Elric standing beside her. I joined them in the hall.

“You ready?” Tank asked.

“I’m ready,” I said.

“Looks like we’ve all been red-tagged,” Elric noticed. “I
have to admit. I’m kind of upset about the way things turned out,” he placed an
arm over my shoulder. “I mean, how could they separate me from my ray of fire
but put you and Red on the same team?”

Kitty rolled her eyes. “Don’t be a baby. She hardly likes
you anyway.”

“Ah, that’s not true,” Elric grinned.

“No,” I said, “it’s true.”

Elric scowled. Tank and Kitty laughed at the ridiculous face
he made. “That’s Red for you,” Tank said, “cold as ice.”

We were silent for a while. It was a thick kind of silence.
The kind that seemed to sit heavily in your chest. “Hey.” We looked up at
Elric. “When we get there, let’s not forget our promise,” he said.

“That’s right, to our dignity was it?” Kitty perked.

Tank nodded. “I’ll see you all in another world then.”

The light on our halo-coms lit up. It was the image of
Lieutenant Frost, summoning us for departure.

“Time to get going. Celeste and I are this way, we’re
scheduled for the east wing,” Kitty said.

Elric nodded and leaned into my ear. “Watch yourself out
there, my ray of fire,” he whispered.

I glared at him. Tank laughed and grabbed him by the
shoulder. “Let’s go, Casanova. We don’t want to be late.” They began down the
hall.

“Bye guys,” Kitty called, “knock them dead!”

Elric cast us a grin over his shoulder. Tank merely raised a
hand as his form of farewell. “Aren’t you going to say goodbye?” Kitty asked. I
looked at her then turned to walk away. She was quick to follow me. “Seriously,
that attitude of yours is worse than before,” she complained. “It’s a wonder
those two like you so much.”

She nagged me all the way to the east wing. She was like a
fly in my ear, but I tuned her out eventually. We signed in under Lieutenant
Frost, pressing both palms against an id halo-pad. The sector was hectic,
recruits and MW’S racing through the fleet of space shuttles.

“This is exciting,” Kitty said, looking to the sky. The
hangar ceiling was open for takeoff. It was our first time seeing the outside
world, and I had to agree with her. It was hardly believable.

Our halo-coms lit up again. It was a face message from
Lieutenant Frost. “Report to shuttle d17. We are scheduled to launch within the
next ten minutes.”

“Ten minutes,” Kitty said. “I feel nervous all of a sudden.”

I looked at her. “If I were you, I would try to feel nothing
at all.”

Kitty scoffed. “That’s easy for you to say. There isn’t a
recruit here that’s as cold and clever as you are.” She stepped around me and
headed for the shuttle. Even though I had gained a slight amount of respect for
her, she was still too much like a child in my eyes.

When I reached shuttle d17, there was another id check-in.
The mw on duty gave me some kind of injection before I boarded. I saw Kitty
there, speaking with the other members of our team. We had trained together
numerous times in the arena. I came to discover that we each added our own
assets to the team.

Luke, the one sitting in his seat with his eyes closed, had
an impressive strategic mind. West was conveniently strong, standing a full six
feet, four inches from the ground. Urban was quick and proactive, always a step
ahead of all the other recruits. Then there was the misfortune of having Raine
as a member of the Alamo team. His eyes were always on me, always challenging
me to something. While all the other members respected him, in my eyes, he was
nothing and would remain nothing.

I ignored them for the time being, moving through the other
recruits aboard d17. They parted on instinct to make way for me. That’s how it
was. No one was before me. They could try, but then they’d end up on their
knees, and standing behind me wasn’t worth that kind of humiliation.

I stood in front of my seat. It had been marked and made
ready for departure. My halos-suit hung beside it, fully equipped. A life pack
and my id mr2 were strapped to the back of the suit. The more I looked at it,
the more real things became.

“Nervous?” Raine said from behind.

I answered him without turning around. “Still moving that
mouth I see.”

“I am. It has a lot to say to you, 2102.”

“Perhaps it could spare me until landing. That way you can
go to your death without me having to hear a word.”

Raine smirked. “You worry too much,” he mocked. “I just
wanted to tell you that when we do land, I’ll be the one taking charge.”

I turned to look at him. “That’s the problem, 1098,” I said.
“That title, you’ll have to take it from me. And we both know you’re too
incompetent to do even that.”

His muscles tensed, and just as he was about to retaliate,
Lieutenant Frost called us to attention. I joined the league of recruits,
leaving Raine to himself. In truth, I had no desire to lead the Alamo team, but
Raine had much to learn. It seemed I would have to remind him of his place.

“Gather around recruits,” Frost ordered. “First off, I want
to congratulate you all. What you have achieved is a great honor. ARTIKA, the
Nazar, and the people of Helio Tellus will be forever in your debt.”

In our debt? A great honor? I found it shocking, how
beautiful his lies sounded. “I have a few announcements before takeoff. First,
when you land, do not wait too long for your comrades to reach the rendezvous
point. The mission comes first. If a team member is terminated, you will
receive a notification by halo-com. Second, stay updated with New Eden. We
expect a report every ten hours. Lastly, expect regrouping. As you know, we
tend to lose a handful of recruits within the first day of arrival. That is
all, recruits. I wish you luck. I wish you success.”

We saluted the lieutenant. He returned the gesture then
turned and exited the shuttle. “Please take your seats and secure your safety
belt. Takeoff will commence in three minutes,” a voice announced.

I strapped myself into the assigned chair. Kitty sat beside
me, pulling the bars over her shoulders. “This is it. It’s really happening,”
she whispered. “I’m nervous.”

“You said that already,” I told her.

“Aren’t you nervous?”

“Should I lie to ease your mind?” I said.

“You’re too much for me, I swear,” she scoffed. Out of the
corner of my eye, I saw her smile. I didn’t know what I felt in this moment.
There wasn’t much I did feel. Ever since my awakening, I tried not to. I didn’t
wish to feel, because the moment I did, was the moment I would be more than
recruit 2102. I would be more than Celeste. I would be human, and to be human
was a curse.

The shuttle shook all of a sudden, and then we were
airborne. There was at least fifty recruits in d17 and not one of us spoke.
There was nothing to say. We could only wait.

The turbulence was heavy on our way to space. Kitty held
tight to the safety bars, her eyes closed the entire way up. She mumbled
something under her breath.

“What are you saying?” I asked.

She looked at me. “Nothing, just something Tank told me to
say.”

“What is it?”

Kitty hesitated for a second. “Fear does not exist, because
fear is not in my mind. He told me to say it if I ever got nervous.”

I nodded. “That’s good. Say it until you believe it. Only
then can you survive.”

The shuttle jerked violently, waking the recruits from their
stupor. “We are now nearing the zero-energized zone. Caution, the safety bars
are now lifting. You are now authorized to enter the halos-suit ig.”

I stood from the seat and positioned myself. I held up my
arms and backed into the suit. The metal closed in around me. I lifted the
shade of the helmet to get a clear view of my surroundings. “Please secure
yourself to the safety railings. The sky door is now opening.”