The Agathon: Reign of Arturo (34 page)

“Focus on the probes, destroy them,” Jack said in her ear.

She suddenly realised that she was being trained. One of the spheres erupted with a bolt of white light hitting her squarely on the leg. The impact sent her spinning once again out of control and the pain of the strike shot all the way up her spine. She screamed in agony as she grabbed her leg. She did not like being toyed with and she manoeuvred her hands again to regain control. Tears began to well in her eyes as her body reacted. She felt a familiar warm energy stir in the base of her spine as she looked at the floating spheres in front of her. They began moving slowly towards her. The semi-circle formation was now a random scattering, as they each changed their angle of attack. She felt a tinge of rage and focused on one of the spheres. She reached her hand up and released a bolt of blue lightning from her fingers. The energy connected with the sphere and it exploded instantly in a ball of white light. There was something different about the power she felt. It was more focused, more controlled, and the energy bolts seemed to come together in one combined ray of light. She felt powerful.

“Good,” Jack said, “now let’s see if you can hit a moving target.”

The spheres suddenly split apart and began darting off in different directions. One of them fired a beam of light towards Carrie. She focused on her legs and fired a quick burst of propellant from her feet sending her soaring upwards and away from the incoming beam. It missed her as she directed her hands towards the sphere,
which was arcing around her in the opposite direction. She focused hard, keeping the ball of light in her sights and fired bolts of blue light from both her hands. The sphere exploded. Carrie smiled and looked at the remaining four probes. She decided to attack. They each went in different directions and began travelling away from her as if in retreat.

“Oh no you don’t,” Carrie whispered to herself as she fired her hand and feet thrusters simultaneously, directing herself towards one of the escaping probes. One of them arced off to her right and began flanking her current flight path ending up directly behind her. She looked back as it followed her. She cut her thrusters and with a quick flick of her wrist, turned quickly and fired a bolt of light from her right hand, hitting the following probe head on. A small blue fireball lit up the darkness as it exploded. She flicked her wrist again and returned to her pursuit of the escaping probe. Its distance was increasing. It seemed to be much faster than she was, so she stopped and took aim with both her arms outstretched. She fired a burst of blue electrical energy in its direction. Nothing. She had missed. She tried again. The sphere was now small. She focused on it, took a breath, and fired again. A few seconds later a small burst of blue light told her she had hit her mark.

Two to go.

A sudden burst of pain in the small of her back sent her spiralling through space.

“Be mindful of your surroundings,” Jack said in her ear.

She screamed at the intensity of the pain. It was like she was being sliced open by a sharp knife.

“Fuck you,” she screamed, unsure of who the anger was directed at.

She wrapped her arms around her chest and waited for the pain to subside. As the feeling of being ripped apart faded, she took a deep breath and tried to shake off the shock. She looked up and saw the last two sphere’s approaching from different directions. She fired her hand thrusters and stabilised herself. She looked at the oncoming
blue balls of light. One approached from the left, the other from underneath her. She positioned her arms in the two directions and tried to track them as they neared. She fired. One explosion lit up the blackness from her left. She repositioned both her arms below her and fired. A second explosion erupted from beneath her. She let out several large breaths and felt a tear trickle down her cheek. She looked back at the planet and the glass mushroom space station as silence took hold.

“Good,” Jack said in her ear, “now let’s try something a little bigger.”

Earth One

Aron sat at Vishal’s desk and listened to the hum of the power cables as they fed the station. Vishal had helped him bring the body of the Colonial Guard down to the basement level of the power station and placed his heavy corpse in one of the equipment storage rooms. Aron was surprised at how calm Vishal had been when they had told him of the murder. Aron kept the handheld weapon tucked neatly in his trousers, in case he decided to turn on him. While he seemed to be on their side, he could not be completely sure. There was too much at stake to give away trust at this stage. He stroked his face and looked at Maya’s pod. Vishal was on one of the upper levels taking power readings from one of the newest additions to the power plant. A two-year-old boy from a family in the Red Tribe. It was hard not to show how sickening the whole process was, and he still harboured an intense anger at Vishal for his role in all of this, but he needed him.

For the moment he was alone. Watching his daughter in the pod. Studying her quiet expression as he wondered if there would be anything left of her at all, that is, if she ever escaped. He thought about the long talk he had with the crew of The Agathon and what they proposed doing. It was risky. In all likelihood this was a one-way trip, but if he could save her, then it would all be worth it. If he could save
them all, then his life would be the least he could give. Florence had left the power plant and was on her way to The Unity to prepare. She had told the Colonial Guard that her escort had remained in the power plant to guard Aron. The ruse would not last long. The Kandinsky was now showing up on the stations long range scanners and was only minutes away from rendezvousing with Earth One. All Aron could do now was wait. India would prep The Unity for launch as soon as Florence relayed all the information. Vishal was the key. He was busy locking down what he could of the pods and placing the power systems into a cyclical feedback loop, to keep them operating for as long as possible if anything happened to the main power grid. Which it would. Aron stood from the chair and picked it up. He walked over to the pod holding his daughter and placed the chair beside it. He sat down and stared up at her.

“So, I guess you should know something,” he said to her.

The hum of the power cables attached to her body echoed around the lab.

“I am your father,” he said stretching out his arms.

“Bang up job I’ve done so far, eh?” he said, “you won’t know who I am when you wake up, but we have a lot of catching up to do, you and I. I should probably tell you about your mother. She would have wanted that. Well, you look just like her. It’s incredible, actually. I don’t know what colour your eyes are, but I am hoping that they are like hers. She had the most beautiful blue eyes. We knew each other when we were kids, your mother and I. She was a scrawny little thing back then. Back before Arturo Verge. I found her hiding inside a food crate, playing with two vegetables, pretending they were people. She looked up at me and handed me one and asked if I wanted to play. I fell in love with her from that moment on. We were inseparable, your mother and I. It was fairly innocent then, we were just pals, but I knew she was the one. I nearly lost her once, during the O2 crisis, but we stuck together and made it through. I’ll tell you about it when you wake up.”

He sat back in the chair and removed the pulse gun from his trousers. The butt of the weapon was digging into his waist. He placed it on the floor next to the foot of the chair.

“You know, now that I mention it, there is a strong possibility that you may never get to meet me,” he said.

He placed his hand against the glass and ran his fingers over the curved cold surface.

“I am going to bring you back to life. You hear me?” he said, raising his voice.

Maya suddenly twitched her head ever so slightly. Aron smiled.

“Okay, I’m done,” said Vishal’s voice from behind him suddenly.

Aron turned to look at him and nodded.

“You realise we’ll probably be shot the second we walk out of here?” Vishal said.

Aron looked back at Maya.

“Then we better run,” he replied getting up from the chair and grabbing the weapon from the floor.

The Unity

“This whole idea is insane. The Kandinsky’s guns pack a serious punch,” Oliver said to India as he attached the last of the explosives on to the core.

“Yeah, but we’re faster, you worry too much, Ollie. Just get the damn things locked into place, Aron will be here shortly,” India said handing him the last of the primer charges.

“You’re the boss,” Oliver said scratching his beard.

India turned away from him and moved towards the exit. She was stopped in her tracks by Florence who had just boarded the ship.

“Florence,” India said, “you made it.”

Florence nodded slightly and looked at Oliver.

“Are we ready?” she asked India.

India turned and looked at Oliver who nodded back.

“Ready as we’ll ever be,” she said, “come with me, you can join me on the flight deck.”

India placed her hand on Florence’s shoulder and guided her to the door that led out of the engine room. They both had to duck as they headed out into the corridors, as the hatch was barely big enough to fit one person through it.

“Any problems?” Florence said to India as they made their way through the ship’s corridors.

“None so far, the crew has been put off the ship, so it’s just us ladies and Oliver at the moment. Cozy,” India replied.

Florence nodded. She looked shaken.

“How about your end?” India said.

“I had some trouble with one of the guards, but it’s been taken care of,” Florence said.

“I see,” India said looking at her.

“We need to get the stations locked down and everyone back into their resident living quarters. I haven’t quite figured that part out yet,” Florence said, “Aron and Vishal said they would take care of that on their way here.”

India nodded.

They continued through the belly of the ship in silence, and made their way up to the flight deck. When they arrived India offered Florence a seat, as she fired up the main flight control systems. After a minute or so she turned to Florence.

“He was a real piece of shit, ay?” India finally asked her.

Florence did not answer straight away. Her eyes seemed to glaze over as she looked out at the stars and main habitat ring of Red Tribe. She finally turned to India.

“It was not always like that,” Florence said softly rubbing the back of her hands nervously, “there was a time when he showed me great kindness. It was a great honour for me to have been the chosen one.”

“What did he do to you, Florence?” India asked bluntly.

Florence turned and looked at her with sadness pouring from her eyes. The look suddenly changed to anger.

“Everything,” she replied looking at the ground.

India looked at her and placed her hand on hers.

“Well, it’s nothing compared to what we’re about to do to him,” she said.

A sound from the flight console broke the silence and India turned to the sensor panel.

“Shit,” India said, “they’re early.”

Florence followed India’s eyes.

“Engine room, we have company, prepare to fire up the core,” India said tapping the comm panel.

“They’re early!” Oliver said.

“No shit, Ollie, just get it done,” India replied.

24

Earth One

A
ron watched the last security door to the Forbidden Zone close firmly behind them and looked out into the corridor. Vishal nodded to him as they started walking.

“I have not left that lab in nine years,” Vishal whispered to him.

“Yeah, well, you’re not missing much,” Aron replied scanning his surroundings. They walked to the end of the hallway and came to another locked door. Aron paused and looked at Vishal.

“You ready? There’s no going back,” Aron said.

Vishal looked at him and smiled.

“I need the exercise,” Vishal said.

Aron nodded and removed the pulse gun from his waist. He hit the release button and the door opened. Two large Colonial Guards stood at its entrance. They turned to face the two men that had just emerged. Aron raised his weapon and fired twice. The two guards crumpled to the ground. He looked up to see a woman staring at them in shock.

“Don’t be frightened,” he shouted, lowering his weapon and raising both of his arms. She stood there shaking. She was carrying a basket full of linen which was now on the ground. Both of her hands were placed over her mouth in fear. Aron stepped over the two bodies and approached her. Vishal stepped over one of the guards and
relieved him of his weapon. Aron approached the woman. He recognised her. Her name was Jane, she had a small green stripe on her sleeve, which identified her as being from the Green Tribe, most of whom were delegated to maintenance tasks, like fixing and running the waist distribution network on the space stations. He knew her family. She had a husband and one small boy. A seven-year-old called Thomas. She had short brown hair which was tied up in a ponytail. While she looked well beyond her thirty-six years, she looked strong. Green Tribe was well fed in comparison to Red. They had important skills that Arturo needed and they were rewarded for their work, with priority in food and healthcare.

Aron walked up to her while still looking beyond her, down the length of the corridor, to see if the other guards had been alerted. He placed his hand on her arm. She was shaking.

“What did you do?” she whispered to him, “you will be executed.”

Aron smiled.

“Jane, after today, there will be no more executions, I promise you that. I need you to go back to your quarters and stay there. Lock your doors and don’t let anyone near you or your family. Just for the day. Please trust me,” he said to her.

Aron felt her arm loosen up. She calmed down and looked at the dead guards behind him.

“Let me help you, Aron, we can all help you,” she said to him.

Aron smiled at her. There was more courage here than he thought. People were tired. Angry. They wanted a way out.

“It’s too dangerous, Jane, please just do as I ask,” Aron said to her.