Silent Mobius: Red Destiny
Book 1:
Chapter 2: Smoke and
Mirrors
Authors: OSTOCOM
Email and Website: see our
profile
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: We do not own
Silent Mobius or its characters, but we do own our own characters. See Book 0
for complete disclaimer.
-----------------------------------
An eight-year-old girl
with pigtails skipped down the sidewalk, swinging her backpack along beside
her. It was a sunny day, school had just gotten out, and she didn't have a care
in the world.
Then she saw the monster.
It flitted above her head
like a bloated, steel-gray tadpole. Even though it had no eyes, it followed her
with unerring instinct as she began backing away. Its mouth opened above her
head, and a stream of drool wound its way through rows and rows of teeth,
splashing at last on the girl's freckled nose. The girl screamed and ran. The
monster flicked its tail and swam effortlessly through the air, coming closer
to its prey every second.
Three women began running
after the monster and the girl. The shots from their guns and the clacking
sound of their boots on the pavement blended together to create a pulsing
rhythm. A few of the shots hit the monster, and it began spurting green blood.
It hissed and swooped down around the girl's ankles. She screamed.
"I've got it!"
shouted a slender auburn-haired woman. She took aim and fired. The monster
slithered out of the way, and the shot hit the girl in the leg. She fell, and
the monster dove toward her, sinking its teeth into her neck. Blood shot into
the air and her neck snapped with a sickening crunch.
Two of the women looked
away in disgust, but the third, a short redhead, simply sighed. "Computer,
freeze program," she said.
She turned toward the
auburn-haired woman. "Well, that was a fine example of precision
marksmanship, Commander."
"What happened?"
Miakoda asked, looking from her commanding officer to the eerily paused melee.
"The Hawk fought
dirty!" Adara replied heatedly.
"Of course it did," Calixta said. "They always do. But that
wouldn't have mattered if your reaction time hadn't been so slow."
Adara gritted her teeth.
"We've been at this for two and a half hours, *Lieutenant*."
"Right," Calixta
said. "Looks like we need to go for an even three."
Adara's fingers began
twitching. Miakoda noticed and said hastily, "Maybe we should stop soon.
It *has* been a long day."
Calixta looked at her
teammates and noticed for the first time how tired they seemed. To be honest,
she didn't feel much better. "All right," she said. "Just one more round. Computer, close present file and
run file LHAttack3.sim."
The computer whirred, and
at last the girl, monster, and sidewalk disappeared. The lights dimmed and an
alleyway surrounded the three women. They heard a thumping and clanking sound
coming from the dumpster. "Get ready," Calixta whispered.
Suddenly the lid of the
dumpster flew off as a swarm of Category Threes burst out. Miakoda reflexively
raised her arms and created an energy shield. The Hawks slid through it as
though there were nothing there. "I need backup over here!" she
shouted.
Adara spun around and
fired a shot—or tried to. Unfortunately, her finger slid through the trigger
without setting off any reaction. "What the hell?"
"Looks like
something's wrong with the SATI," Calixta said. "Try mine." She
tossed her gun to Adara, but it too slid right through Adara's hand.
The Hawks began swarming
around the three women. "Computer!" Calixta
shouted. "End program!"
The program continued
running. More and more Hawks congregated in the alley, forcing their opponents
back into a corner. "Looks like voice recognition is down, too,"
Calixta said.
"I'd say that's the
least of our worries," Adara commented. "How are we going to get rid
of all of these?"
"Manual
override," Calixta said.
"But there's no
way—" Adara began. She watched in astonishment as Calixta sprinted through
the hive of Category Threes all the way over to the far wall. After Calixta
tapped a few buttons on an instrument panel, the Hawks and the alley vanished
without a trace.
"See, this is really,
really bad."
Adara wasn't sure she'd
sum up the situation that way, but she decided to humor Calixta. "What do
you mean?"
"Well, for one thing,
the computer isn't recognizing voice commands, and for another, we're having
problems with the Solidification and Tactile Interface."
"What does that
mean?" Miakoda asked.
"Without the SATI,
we're basically just fighting collections of photons, which doesn't
make for a realistic simulation at all. Real Hawks can't get through your
shield and I can't run through real Hawks, but Adara *can* fire a real gun, and fairly decently most of the time."
"Thanks…I
think," Adara said.
Calixta grinned and then
sighed. "Honestly, I just don't think the primary memory was designed to
handle this kind of input. I'll have to
see if there's some way I can reroute our secondary systems through some other
interface to free up system resources, or whether I'll have to buy and install
an upgrade—" She yawned. "And then I'll have to, um—wait, there was
something else…"
"Calixta,"
Miakoda interrupted. "What about the contractors you were talking about
hiring?"
"Oh, um, I decided
against it. Too expensive. Besides, I can handle
it." Calixta yawned again.
"Have you even been
home since you started working on this project?" Miakoda asked.
"Well…no…but it's not
like I have anything better to do at home."
"You could
sleep," Miakoda pointed out.
"I don't need
sleep," Calixta snapped. "I have caramel frappuccinos."
"Lieutenant
Solaris!" Adara barked. "You will hire contractors, and you will take
a nap! These are your orders."
"Yes,
sir!" Calixta saluted. "Request permission to fall asleep, sir."
"Granted," Adara
said, smiling.
"Thanks."
Calixta collapsed on the floor and curled up into a ball.
"Calixta?" Miakoda said. "Are you sure you don't want to
sleep on the couch upstairs? You'd be more comfortable."
"Nahfie,"
Calixta mumbled.
Miakoda shrugged. "If you say so."
"I'll fight you for
the couch," Adara said.
"That's all
right," Miakoda replied. "You can have it. I'll just—" She was
going to say, 'get some work done,' but upon further reflection, she decided
she was too tired. She finished with a yawn, "—sleep
somewhere else."
------
Several miles north of the
simulated carnage, a very frustrated Amber Ramirez shut the door to Captain
Marshall's office. Her second interview with the captain had been like pulling
teeth, and at the moment, Amber longed to yank out a few of Captain Marshall's.
Maybe that would take the smarminess of his smile down a few notches.
Her fingers clenched her
pencil as she replayed the interview in her mind: (What could he tell her about
how mem-sweeps worked? Not much. He had only supervised the experiments, not
created the technology. So who did create the technology? He didn't know. He
could name a few scientists who had worked with it, but they hadn't invented
the procedure. Did he have any idea who had? He thought maybe someone named Avaré. Did he have any contact information for this Avaré? Sadly, no. What about a
list of the test subjects? He was very sorry to refuse such a pretty
journalist, but that information was classified. She understood, but was he
absolutely certain that Mackenzie Jameson hadn't been a test subject? Why did
she insist on this so vehemently? He had been Jameson's commanding officer, and
he would certainly know if she had been. How had she come to be so misinformed?
Her sources were protected, but she had read about the accident on the
_Victorious_... wasn't it coincidental that Jameson should contract amnesia
while on a ship that was performing mem-sweep experiments? He stood by what he
said before. The two incidents were totally unrelated.)
"Always with the lies and the deception!" Amber exclaimed. Her
pencil snapped in half, and she picked up the pieces distractedly. Why wasn't
anyone being upfront with her about what was going on? One thing was for sure—
She thought of something
her favorite journalism professor had told her: "When you can, always get
your information straight from the horse's mouth." Amber giggled in spite of
herself. It was such a funny expression. She always took the intent seriously,
though. And tomorrow she planned to head to the stables and get a look at one
of the horses….
------
When Calixta and Adara
returned to work the next morning, they found a woman sitting in the waiting
room. Miakoda was already at the front desk, apparently working, although she
kept throwing glances at their guest. The woman stood up when they entered and
took off the sunglasses she had been wearing. She stood about 5'7" and
most of that was in her legs, which were gorgeously sculpted. She was on the thin
side, and the black dress suit she was wearing only seemed to emphasize that
fact. Her auburn hair was cut short and perfectly styled. She smiled at them,
and Calixta felt a little shiver pass through her. This woman was definitely
cold.
Adara stiffened. She
almost hadn't recognized the woman standing before them until she had smiled.
Adara would recognize that slightly haughty smile and those cold blue eyes
anywhere. "Mother!" she blurted out quickly.
"Hello, Adara. It's
been a while."
The lieutenant commander
scowled. "Yes, it has. I wonder why?" she asked sarcastically. She
clenched her right hand into a fist as she fought for control over her
emotions.
The two women stared at
one another for an endless moment. Finally, the older woman broke her
daughter's gaze and looked down at the floor. "I guess it is my fault. But
it's good to see you again."
Calixta and Miakoda looked
back and forth between Adara and her mother. The resemblance was uncanny when
they stood side by side. Their field commander definitely took after her mother
in looks. The tense silence was finally broken as Calixta nudged Adara in the
ribs. "Are you going to introduce us?" she whispered.
"My
mother, Erika Jacobs. Mother,
these are my teammates Calixta Solaris and Miakoda Nakai." She indicated
each woman in turn.
"It's a pleasure to
meet you both," Erika replied, offering each one a small nod. "Adara,
may I speak with you alone?"
"I'm very busy now,"
she answered brusquely. "I don't even know how you found me here. Perhaps if you come back later?" She started to walk
out of the room towards her office, but Miakoda blocked her path.
"Talk to her,"
the Navajo whispered. "She did come all this way."
Adara glared at her for a
moment, but finally turned back around. "My office is this way. Follow
me." She headed back, not bothering to check and see if Erika was actually
following her.
Once they had left, the
other ECC members exchanged worried glances. "I've never seen Adara lose
her cool quite like that," Calixta commented as she traded places with
Miakoda behind the front desk. "I mean, she may get upset, but she's never
rude."
"Ms. Jacobs indicated
that there was a falling out many years ago," Miakoda explained. "I doubt
they've spoken since. And I know Adara's father got custody of her when she was
seven, so it's likely she hasn't seen her mother for years. This has to take an
emotional toll on her."
"Well…I guess. But
still…" Calixta cast a glance at the closed door where the reunion was
taking place. "You don't suppose we ought to have the fire department on
standby, do you? Just in case?"
Miakoda just sighed.
------
"How have you
been?" Erika asked as she took a seat in the slightly uncomfortable chair
situated in front of her daughter's desk.
Adara had to fight a smile
as she watched her mother try to get comfortable, although she realized she
shouldn't be that petty. "Fine."
Erika looked exasperated.
"You could try being a bit more polite to your mother, Adara. I did come
all the way out here to see you."
"Which begs the
question why, doesn't it? So tell me, Mother, why after all these years do you
suddenly decide to finally remember that your only child still exists?"
"I'm a different person
than the one you remember, dear. I've come to reconcile. It's been too long
since I've seen my baby girl. And may I say you've grown up beautifully."
She smiled beatifically.
Adara found herself thrown
of guard at the kind sentiment. (No thanks to you,) she thought to herself.
"Yeah, thanks. Dad and Judith made sure of that, and I'm grateful to
them."
Erika narrowed her eyes.
"Spiteful today, aren't we?"
"It's nothing less
than you deserve!" Adara spat. "After everything that happened, you
think you can just waltz back into my life? You've got to be kidding me!"
She clenched her right hand slightly as she glared across the desk.
"Be careful. You're
liable to start a fire."
The glare worsened.
"Like the one I started when I was seven, right?" Her hand clenched
harder and a small spurt of flame shot up. "Get out. I don't know why you
even bothered coming here. Just get out. I never want to see you again."
Erika looked hurt.
"Adara, be reasonable—"
"Out!" the fire
elemental roared. The air in the office started to get warmer. "I can't
believe that after all this time, you *still* won't admit the truth!"
"Adara—"
"Just go. Or I won't
be responsible for what happens." The young woman turned her back on her
mother.
Erika looked at her
daughter for a long moment before shaking her head and standing up. "If
that's what you want, I'll go. But don't think this is over, young lady. You
and I still have a lot to talk about." Her heels clicked loudly in the
silence as she left.
Once she was outside the
office, she dropped the airs she had affected and sighed. "Well, that
could have gone better," she admitted to no one in particular.
A certain Native American,
however, happened to be within hearing distance. "Let me talk to
her," Miakoda offered as she put a sympathetic hand on Erika's shoulder.
"Adara can be stubborn sometimes, but if you can get her to calm down,
she'll usually listen to reason."
The older woman shook her
head. "I'm afraid she gets it from me. I'd appreciate any help you could
give. We didn't exactly part on the best of terms…but I want to be a part of
her life again."
Miakoda smiled
reassuringly. "I'll see what I can do. Is there a number she can reach you
at?"
After scribbling a quick
note, Erika thanked her again and took her leave. As she stepped into the
chilly November air, she pulled her coat a little tighter and smirked. Things
were going to go well if she could get the sympathy of the other ECC members.
It was time to report back to Jerel. The plan was going perfectly.
------
Adara was almost tempted
not to answer when she heard the knocking at her door. She had a fairly good
idea of who was waiting on the other side, and she wasn't quite ready for the
confrontation she knew was coming. The knocker was insistent, however, and finally
Adara found herself saying, "Come in."
As she suspected, it was Miakoda
who opened the door. The willowy Navajo entered her office and shut the door
behind her. She offered Adara a smile and a cup of coffee, both of which the
lieutenant commander accepted gratefully.
"I was hoping we
could talk," Miakoda offered after a few moments of silence.
"There's nothing to
talk about," Adara insisted.
"Your mother's back.
It's been many years since you've seen her, hasn't it? I can't imagine how hard
this must be for you."
Adara laughed mirthlessly.
"Hard? Get real, Miakoda. I honestly don't care if I ever see that woman
again."
"I find that
difficult to believe. You wouldn't have agreed to talk to her, even had I asked
you, if you didn't really want to. What's bothering you, Adara? It seemed like
you wouldn't even listen to her." Miakoda looked imploringly at the other
woman, hoping she could get her teammate to let out whatever the problem was.
"You wouldn't
understand," she sighed heavily as she closed her eyes. "After all
these years…she still can't admit the truth."
"The
truth?"
Adara looked torn for a
moment, but she shut off her emotions and said, "Nothing."
"Adara…"
"I said it was
nothing!" Internally, Adara winced.
That had come out a bit harsher than she had expected.
Miakoda held up her hands
peaceably. "All right, I
understand. But if you ever want to talk just let me know. And let me give you
this." She handed over the small slip of paper with Erika's phone number
on it. "In case you change your mind."
"That won't
happen," the fire elemental said coldly.
However, Miakoda noticed that she tucked the paper into her desk drawer.
"You know where I'll
be if you need me." With that she took
her leave.
The ECC's
field commander hardly noticed Miakoda's exit as she squeezed her eyes shut to
hold back tears. (Mother…after
everything that happened, why are you here now?) She stared at the ceiling searching for
answers that she knew would not come.
------
Adara sat in her office,
contemplating the recent return of her mother and her conversation with
Miakoda. She was completely unprepared for the crackle of the intercom and
Commander Jameson's voice ordering her to report to her office at once. Adara
started, and her chair, which had been leaning back, toppled over. She picked
herself up off of the ground with an embarrassed
smile.
"Lieutenant
Commander? Are you all right?"
Jameson asked over the com.
"Fine, fine!"
she barked as she tried to right both herself and the chair. She was glad neither
of her teammates had witnessed that. No doubt Calixta would have teased her
about it for weeks. She laughed slightly. "Just a little
accident. You wanted to see me, sir?"
"At your earliest
convince, Commander," Mackenzie's voice replied dryly.
"On
my way, sir." She gave the
chair one last glare before filing out of her office and down the hall.
------
"Chief, are you
crazy?"
Mackenzie looked back at
Adara, a faint smile playing at the corner of her lips. "It's very possible."
"I mean—" Adara blushed, appalled at her own impoliteness. Twice in
one day. She hoped this wasn't going to become a habit. She drew herself up to
attention. "May I speak freely, sir?"
"By
all means, Commander Davis."
"I'm not sure it's a
good idea to speak to a journalist. You just don't know what they might find
out about us if they get suspicious."
"And I have a feeling
this journalist would get more suspicious if I refused to speak to her. One
thing I've learned as an officer is to take the press seriously."
"Yes,
sir." Adara hesitated for
a moment, then asked, "Are you sure you're taking it seriously
enough?"
"Yes," Mackenzie
said. "I am. Ms. Ramirez is working on a story about the memory sweeps.
Most likely she wants my opinion about the testing. It doesn't seem to me that
her questions will have anything to do with what we do here."
An alarm sounded, and
Calixta's voice came over the intercom. "Red alert!
Hawk attack at Metropolitan and Bedford."
"That's your
cue," Mackenzie said, gesturing. "Exit, stage
left."
"Yes,
sir!" Adara saluted and
ran out of the room.
Mackenzie sighed. Despite
what she had told Adara, she wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea of an
interview. Memory was a sore point for her. Since her accident six years ago,
she hadn't been able to remember anything past her seventeenth birthday. She
remembered spilling ice cream cake on her new shirt…the smell of candles…her
parents' laughter…a badly wrapped package containing an old hardback copy of
Milton's _Paradise Lost_...but everything after that day was a dense white fog.
The harder she tried to penetrate the fog, the thicker it got, until she felt
as though she were suffocating in her own mind. She couldn't imagine why anyone
would want to give people the power to create this sense of powerlessness, this
total loss of self—
Well, of course there
might be another side to the issue, but Mackenzie couldn't see it through the
white fog. She disapproved of the mem-sweep
project wholeheartedly. She couldn't understand why anyone on the _Victorious_
would have volunteered for the procedure. Its implications were frightening,
and she was of the opinion that such tests should never have been permitted in
the first place.
"And that's what I'll
tell her," Mackenzie said aloud. There was no need to go into detail. She
buttoned the jacket of her crisp navy-blue suit and smoothed her French twist
hairdo. As she left the room, she locked the door to her office behind her. It
was time to meet the press.
------
"How familiar are you
with mem-sweep technology, Commander?" Amber looked across the restaurant
table at Mackenzie and readied her pencil.
Mackenzie took a sip of
her dry martini. "I understand the Navy conducted some preliminary tests.
I don't know anyone who participated, or much about the procedure itself,
though."
"Are you sure about
that?" Amber leaned forward, training every journalistic sense on
Mackenzie, hoping to get some clue to this ridiculous riddle.
"Yes," Mackenzie
said. "I don't believe in grasping for power or in trying to play God with
people's lives. That was the mistake that lost us
"So naturally, you
avoided the issue." Amber's brow furrowed. Commander Jameson was telling
the truth, and what she said made sense, but—
"I'm sorry I don't
know anything helpful." Mackenzie spoke with genuine regret.
Amber smiled as she
fiddled with her crystal necklace. It was refreshing to find someone who was
actually trying to tell her the truth. Still, the fact that none of the stories
were lining up frustrated her. On a hunch, she said casually, "It's too
bad you weren't a test subject, or something like
that."
"I would *never* be a
test subject!" Mackenzie exclaimed.
The commander's vehemence
took Amber aback, but she pursued the point. "Of course not…but
hypothetically, would you remember if you had been?"
"I wouldn't
know."
"I'd like to ask you
about your accident six years ago…the one on the _Victorious_," Amber
began hesitantly.
"What?"
Mackenzie stared at her, confused and suspicious.
"I was just wondering
about it. The timing of it…and the fact that the _Victorious_ was conducting
mem-sweep tests on board."
"Those two events have
nothing to do with each other." Mackenzie signaled the waiter and paid for
the drinks. "I need to go back to work."
"So do I," Amber muttered as Mackenzie left. "So do I."
------
The glass window on the
phone booth was broken, making Amber feel completely exposed. She shouldn't be
making this call here and now anyway, but she had to be sure….
She swiped her electronic payment
card and dialed the number. One ring…two…good, she was there, after all. She
cupped her hand around the mouthpiece and said in a stage whisper,
"Admiral Henderson?"
The wind whistled through
the glass, as though trying to snatch at her private conversation. "Yes,
yes, I know I shouldn't be calling…right, I'm sorry…yes, this will be quick…I
just have to ask—are you absolutely sure about
Commander Jameson? …What? Yes, I'll hold…"
Amber had just begun
humming along to "Hail to the Chief" when she heard a click on the
other end of the line. "Hello, Admiral?"
The only response was the
mechanical buzz of the dial tone.
Amber frowned. Admiral
Henderson had been a source of hers for nearly a year, had always been polite
and helpful, and had been unusually forthcoming with information on this story.
So why the sudden secrecy?
Amber fingered her
necklace. No…she had heard the sincerity in Admiral Henderson's voice, followed
by the harried tone of someone who had been interrupted. The admiral had meant
to give her the information. So she wouldn't have hung up on her, which meant…
Amber dialed the number
again. Nothing. The silence on the end of the line
confirmed her suspicions more than anything the admiral could have said. It
also proved the stakes were much higher than anyone had imagined….
Adrenaline surged through
Amber, and she dialed the next number with remarkable speed. "Hello,
Commander Jameson?" she said. "We need to talk."
------
Amber stepped up to the
building where Mackenzie Jameson worked. It was a short, plain brown-brick
building—clearly designed to be functional, not beautiful. But that was the
modern way, Amber thought regretfully. There wasn't much time to be spent on
aesthetics anymore.
Her architectural reverie
was interrupted by the arrival of three women: a short redhead, a slim
auburn-haired woman, and a tall Native American. The auburn-haired woman was
disheveled and her gray eyes blazed with fury. "I can't believe how many
Hawk attacks we've had! At this rate—"
Amber's ears perked up.
These women looked vaguely familiar. Hadn't she seen them recently?
"Hawks?" she asked.
The three women snapped
their heads toward her. Two of them looked inexplicably nervous, as though
they'd been caught doing something wrong. The redhead, however, looked at Amber
nonchalantly and said, as though her words explained everything, "They
bother the horses."
"Horses?" Amber began feeling confused.
"Right, because
horses can't fly."
"I…don't
follow," Amber said, more confused than ever.
"Well, hawks can fly,
right?"
"Yes…" Amber
said, not sure where this conversation was leading.
"But horses can't
fly."
"Right," Amber
said impatiently. "So what?"
"Well, if the hawks
and horses get into a fight, the hawks can fly away, but the horses can't. And hawks, being birds of prey, like to attack the horses.
Now, take a Clydesdale. A Clydesdale is big enough to fight back, but say you
have a Shetland pony and a big hawk swoops down. Well, unless the Shetland pony
knows judo—which most of them don't, and the ones that do aren't very good at
it—the hawk's going to win. You see what I mean, right?"
"No, I don't."
Amber's temper began to get the better of her. "I don't care about any of
that. All I want to do is find ECC Headquarters and speak to Mackenzie Jameson!
It's urgent! Do you understand?"
"If it's so urgent,
why didn't you ask about Mackenzie Jameson instead of asking about hawks?"
Amber clenched her fists
at her sides. It was bad enough that she couldn't get any sort of reliable
reading from the redhead, but it was worse to have to deal with blatant
misdirection used against her by someone so infuriatingly stupid. "Well,
I'm asking now!" she said through clenched teeth.
The Native American woman
intervened hastily. "This is Equine Cleanup and Control Headquarters. Commander
Jameson is upstairs. This way."
She opened the door to the
building, and Amber followed her gratefully.
Once Amber and Miakoda
were out of sight, Adara turned to Calixta. "Well, that was strange even
for you."
The two went inside.
Calixta looked around, and then whispered, "I think I saw her in the alley
yesterday when we were fighting the Category One."
Adara massaged her
temples. "Seriously?"
"For
once, yes. And if I had to
guess, I'd say she's a journalist."
"Great," Adara
moaned. "So why didn't you just stay quiet, or make up some plausible
story?"
"Because,"
Calixta said, "you can argue with lies, but you can't argue with
crazy."
Adara stared at her for a
second and started laughing. "Well…I can't argue with that," she
said. "Still," she added as she calmed down, "We should probably
avoid talking to her again if we can help it."
"I agree,"
Calixta said. "I have a feeling we might not be able to avoid it,
though."
Adara sighed. "I was
afraid you'd say that."
------
"This is it,"
Miakoda said, pointing to a closed office door.
"Thanks," Amber
said. Miakoda nodded and withdrew.
Amber took a deep breath
and knocked on the door of Mackenzie Jameson's office. She heard a tired but
authoritative voice say, "Come in," and she obediently stepped
inside.
Mackenzie sat at her desk
filling out paperwork. She looked up at Amber, and the lines of fatigue seemed
to dig themselves deeper into her face. Nonetheless, she welcomed Amber
politely and invited her to sit down.
"Thank you,"
Amber said, sitting down in an armchair across from Mackenzie's desk. "I'm
sorry to interrupt you. This won't take long."
"I'm glad to hear
that," Mackenzie said, smiling a little.
"It's just…"
Amber looked for a tactful way to phrase her suspicions, but abandoned the attempt
after a few seconds. "I think you were a mem-sweep test subject."
Mackenzie drew herself up
in her chair. "I assure you, I wasn't."
Amber hadn't expected her
to say anything else, but she had secretly hoped for a more open reception. She
countered calmly, "I do have my sources, Commander. Besides, you've
indicated yourself that you have trouble remembering things. The doctors
diagnosed you with severe amnesia, didn't they?"
"My memory
problem," Mackenzie replied coldly, "was the result of an accident."
"Do you remember the
accident?" Amber asked.
"No. According to the
doctors, the seconds leading up the accident never got transferred into
long-term memory. It's not unusual for that to happen in cases like this."
(No, but it's sure
convenient,) Amber thought. She realized a confrontational attitude wouldn't
help at this point, though, so she laid her opinions aside and continued
probing. "Who told you about the accident?" she asked.
"Captain
Marshall."
"And…you trust
him?" Amber tried to keep the skepticism out of her voice, but some
emerged anyway.
"Implicitly,"
Mackenzie said.
Amber looked at her
incredulously. Mackenzie noticed the look and continued, "You're a
journalist, Ms. Ramirez. It's your job to be skeptical: to question what you're
told, and maybe even distrust it. But when you work with someone—and know that
you may have to face death with that person—you learn to trust. You trust
because you have to. I don't expect you to understand."
"You're right; I
don't," Amber said pointedly. "It's been my habit to only trust
people who tell me the truth."
Mackenzie stood up, her
fingertips pressed against her desk. When she spoke, every word was weighed out
with cold, deliberate authority. "If you want me to believe you, Ms.
Ramirez, you'll have to present me with more convincing evidence. Right now, I
only see speculation. Good afternoon."
"But—"
Mackenzie inclined her
head in Amber's direction. Suddenly she looked tired. "If you were in my
position, Ms. Ramirez, would you believe that what you're saying was the
truth?"
"No," Amber
admitted. "But I'd look into it anyway." With that, she thanked
Mackenzie for her time and left.
------
Amber strode furiously
down the corridors of the building, her head pounding. Her story was due
tomorrow, and she had next to nothing to go on. At this rate, she was going to
have to settle for finding some people on the street and getting their
opinions—which she wouldn't mind if it weren't going to be the whole thrust of
the story. Why were so many things getting in her way?
As she thought this, she
ran headlong into a short man with thinning black hair and large hands. "Why
don't you watch where you're going?" she asked irritably. Then she
realized how rude that sounded, and said in a lower voice, "I'm sorry.
Excuse me."
As she began walking away,
the man called after her, "There's no reason to be alarmed, miss. I'm just
fixing their computer systems."
Despite what he said,
Amber was alarmed. She spun around, but the man had already disappeared down one
of the corridors. Her necklace had gone cold enough to chill her skin. She had
to find someone. Now. She had to warn them….
She picked her pace up,
sprinting through the hallways, narrowly avoiding hitting the walls as she ran
around the corners, hoping to find someone, anyone….
Suddenly she found herself
in a large common room, where the three women she had seen before were sitting.
"I just thought you should know," Amber gasped, "that there's a
man here who claims to be fixing your computers. He's not doing anything of the
kind."
"What do you
mean?" Miakoda asked.
At the same time, Adara asked, "What makes you say that?"
Calixta, however, didn't
wait for any confirmation, but leaped out of her seat and ran down the hallway.
Well, at least *someone* took her seriously, even if it was the village idiot.
Amber's pent-up fury at being ignored, lied to, disbelieved, and given the
runaround for over a week finally burst. "Well maybe if someone would give
*me* a straight answer, I'd return the favor!" she shouted. "And just
because no one else is trustworthy doesn't mean I'm not either!"
Amber turned around and
stalked out of the room. She had done what she could, and now it was time to
leave. She had a story to write…if one could call it that.
------
Calixta raced down the
hallway, her hand on her gun and her body on full alert. Her eyes scanned every
person, every corner, looking for anything suspicious. Of course, with all the
contractors in the building, "a man here to fix your computers" could
mean anyone. (I should have asked for a description,) she thought. (But no—that
would have required foresight and intelligence. Well, never mind. Think now. It
would be someone standing alone…probably near a vital system…someone like that
man over there….)
He was
short, standing on tiptoe to get a better look at the wires he was twisting
back together with his large hands. Calixta stepped up behind him and tried to
act nonchalant. "Hey, what are you working on there?"
"I
was just installing some RAM," he said, gesturing toward the panel.
"Giving your holomodule a little memory boost."
"Oh,
I see," Calixta said. "That's amazing. I really don't know how you do
it."
The
contractor stood up to his full height, and Calixta detected a certain swagger
to his movements. "Well, it's a simple task for someone with a little
technical training…"
"Wow,"
she said. "I had no idea that a little technical training would let you
install RAM for the holomodule right into the building's main power grid."
The
man's sense of superiority faded as his mind fumbled for an explanation.
Calixta didn't plan on waiting. She pointed her gun at him and ordered,
"Move."
His
waxy face twisted into a smile-like grimace. "You're smart," he said,
"for a human."
The
meaning of his words didn't fully register in Calixta's mind until he started
to grow. Soon he stood eight feet tall. His face flattened out, his hands
turned into claws, and one of his legs morphed into a serpentine mass while the
other became a cloven hoof with a spike protruding from a bulbous knee. He
rasped out, "But even the intelligent must die."
At
this, Calixta snapped out of her shocked trance. Her mind swiftly catalogued
her options. She needed to get everyone out. Now.
She
began to run toward the far left wall, feeling a jolt of adrenaline as she did
so. The Lucifer Hawk glided behind her. He moved slowly, as though he was
utterly unconcerned about whether he caught her now or later. (He thinks he can
just play with me,) Calixta realized. This infuriated her. Once she reached the
wall, she pulled the fire alarm with unnecessary force. Purple ink splattered
all over her hand and the alarm blared through the building.
Calixta
wiped her hand off before pushing the button
for the emergency intercom system. "Attention!" she shouted. "We
have a Code One alarm. Please exit the building immediately. This is not a
drill. Repeat: this is not a drill. Please exit the building immediately."
She
heard a grating laugh behind her. "That's good advice," the Lucifer
Hawk said. "Are you going to take it?"
"Not
on your life," Calixta said through gritted teeth.
"What
about on *your* life?" the Hawk
asked. He gestured with his club-like hands. "Perhaps you would leave if I
told you I planted a bomb in that panel."
"No,
I sort of figured that was what you were up to," Calixta replied. "A
surge bomb, is it?"
He
hissed in surprise, and perhaps even admiration. "You really are
unusual," he said. "I might almost regret killing you."
"I'm
sorry the feeling's not mutual," Calixta said, readying her gun. She heard
two sets of footsteps behind her.
"So,"
Adara said, a dangerous twinkle in her gray eyes,
"I hear we're having a fire drill." She pushed her arms out from her
body and launched a steady stream of fire toward the Lucifer Hawk. "How
does flame-broiled Hawk sound for dinner?"
"Fine,"
Calixta said, ignoring the Category One's yelps as she made her way toward the
main power grid. "But I need to take care of this bomb first."
"Great,"
Adara muttered. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to get her flames to follow the
Hawk, who was disappearing and reappearing at random.
"How
long do we have?" Miakoda whispered, in between the shots she fired.
Calixta's
fingers sifted expertly through the wires. She flipped a switch, and looked at
the red digital readout. "Just under four minutes."
"Can
you defuse it?" Miakoda asked.
"I
don't know." Worry showed in Calixta's brown eyes as she punched buttons
to close down electrical pathways. "Just cover Adara."
"Belay
that, Lieutenant Nakai." Mackenzie's authoritative voice rang through the
large room. "Shield Lieutenant Solaris. I'll provide the backup."
"Aye,
Chief." Miakoda saluted sharply and tossed Mackenzie her gun. Mackenzie
leaped up and caught it in midair. She began firing at the Lucifer Hawk before
her feet hit the ground. The bullets hit him in a neat line down his
midsection. He disappeared again just as Mackenzie landed in a defensive
crouch.
Miakoda
closed her eyes briefly to concentrate her energy. A second later, a
golden-brown shield surrounded her and Calixta. Just then, the Category One
reappeared near them. He swung his arm furiously at the shield, but even his
massive hand could not penetrate the shield.
He
roared in frustration. "You will not win!" he shouted.
"Delta
four, Commander Davis," Mackenzie ordered.
Adara
nodded and aimed a fireball at Miakoda's shield. The shield sizzled with the
heat and the Lucifer Hawk backed away from the flames toward Mackenzie, who
drew a second gun from her holster.
"Now!" Mackenzie shouted. Adara circled the Hawk, maintaining a
relentless flow of fire, while Mackenzie discharged rapid rounds of bullets.
The Category One howled and seemed to have difficulty escaping.
Behind
her psychic shield, Miakoda began to sweat. "Are you almost done?"
she asked.
"Honestly,
bombs aren't my thing," Calixta confessed. "All I can do is cut off
most of the power so that we don't have as much energy surging through here
when—"
"But
that means—"
"We
have a minute and a half," Calixta said. "Run!"
The
word echoed urgently throughout the room. Mackenzie and Adara stopped their
attack, turned, and ran. Miakoda and Calixta followed hot on their heels. Down the hall. Turn. Down the stairs.
There was the emergency exit door…so close….
The
door opened easily when Mackenzie pushed it. She, Adara, and Miakoda raced
outside and ran out toward the street. Calixta reached the door at last, and as
her hand brushed against it, she found herself swept up eight feet into the
air.
"You…*will*
die," the Hawk growled. He was covered in clotted aquamarine blood, and
there was a crazed look in his beady eyes. "You must understand my
power…the power of Mannos…and know that you cannot escape the hands of
fate…"
He
swung a clawed hand toward her, ready to dismember her, to tear her to pieces
and eat her. Calixta's hand slid toward her holster and withdrew her gun.
Without wasting a second, she pointed it directly at Mannos' eye and fired.
Mannos howled in pain. He flung Calixta against the wall. Her
head hit the wall with a resounding crack that was indistinguishable in her
mind from the explosion of the building. She saw a painful glow of light and
then darkness enveloped her. The last thing she felt was the agony of warped
steel, burnt wires, and splinters of bulletproof glass.
-----------------------------------
Next
Episode Preview:
Mackenzie:
"Human beings are but the sum of their experiences. But what if your
experiences are taken from you? Are you any less a human? Can you ever get back
that which cannot be replaced? Or should you merely let it be forgotten? Deep
within the human heart lie the answers you search for."
Episode
3: Memories of a Shadow