Ghost of Mind Episode One (28 page)

He pushed himself towards her again,
incredibly quick on his feet.

Though Alice had already snapped herself up
to her own feet, she had not yet gained full control of the chaotic
energy inside her, and her usual strength and agility had not
returned.

John lunged at her.

She twisted to the side, turning on her foot,
but as she did, her broken shoes finally gave way.

She stumbled.

He brought his arms wide and wrapped them
right around her.

It was a powerful, full-bodied move, and she
could feel him anchor his boots into the hull, trying to lock her
into place.

Then he brought up a hand, trying to pull at
her hood.

It wasn’t going to happen.

She brought her arm up, somehow pushing
against his grip, and she thrust her elbow back into his armor.

Nothing but her skin and bone connected with
the extremely hard exterior of his armor. But the move was a
powerful one, and it jolted him off.

She could hear him stumbling, and she darted
forward, tucking into a roll, changing direction, and snapping up
to face him in a swift move.

He circled around her, hands wide, fingers
splayed.

He did not have a gun in his hand, and maybe
John Doe was just as smart as she was starting to give him credit
for, because if he had pulled a gun out this close to the energy
spire, it would have created a fatal chain reaction.

He lunged at her again, but she dropped to
her feet, twisted around, and angled a kick at his legs.

He leapt right over her move, landing easily
by her side, and darting towards her once more.

He was quick. Incredibly fast. Much faster
than Alice had expected. And she just managed to dodge his grab as
she twisted to the side.

He didn’t bother to say that he was here to
help. Neither did he bother to say that if only she trusted him, he
would do what he could for her.

Just silence. Maybe his audio feed wasn’t
powerful enough to push through the interference the spire was
generating behind him. Or maybe he had finally given up.

He circled around her again, arms stiff by
his sides, but pose one of poise and readiness.

Her senses and power and strength and agility
were starting to return to her.

And then she heard it. And she felt it.

He was contacting someone through his armor.
Making some kind of call, some kind of request.

No doubt to the troops behind, maybe to that
woman who still had hold of Helper.

No doubt John Doe had a plan.

One Alice wasn’t going to let him put into
action.

It was her turn to fling herself towards him.
She brought her arm up, directing a blow at his chest. He changed
direction just before her blow could strike, and he dodged
back.

But Alice followed him.

He shifted back again, she followed
again.

And then he shifted back one final time. As
he did, it brought Alice just outside of the protective field of
the spire.

And that would be when the impediment field
locked her into place.

In an instant, quicker than anything Alice
could process, it snapped all around her.

Light shot out from behind each of the three
barriers, forming a sphere all around.

As the impediment field locked her in place,
her eyes drew wide with surprise.

John Doe finally stopped moving.

But Alice did not.

She curled her hands into fists, curling her
toes at the same time, directing the energy through her body,
strengthening it, getting ready to move.

‘
Increase the field,’ John suddenly
snapped, his voice echoing out clearly.

And the field increased.

It began to pull and tug at Alice, and as it
did it lengthened her arms out, yanking at her legs until she was
pulled off the floor, and she hung there, a good meter above it,
her body stuck as if she was halfway through a star jump.

John Doe backed off towards one of the
barriers, still keeping his eyes locked on Alice, never turning his
helmet away from her. That woman ran up to his side, Helper still
held in her hand.

She stared up at Alice, and Alice stared down
at her.

When you have something worth fighting for,
your strategy will change. It is only logical.

Helper’s words still rang through her
mind.

Something worth fighting for.

She had it.

So it was time to change strategies.

Alice did something she had told herself she
never would.

If there was one thing far more dangerous
than any other that Alice could do in this entire galaxy, even the
whole universe, it was to reveal her true power.

As long as she kept it hidden, no one would
know what she was.

She no longer had that luxury.

‘
You’re trapped now, don’t move against the
impediment field; it is turned up too high, it will hurt you,’ John
said clearly. But as he spoke to Alice, he also mumbled towards the
woman to concentrate on removing her hood.

Alice would not let that happen.

She closed her eyes.

It was time to reveal exactly what an Old One
could do.

In a second she pushed the energy out. The
real power within. Channels appeared along her skin, the same
channels that the robot soldier had tried to crack through when it
had locked its grip around Alice’s throat.

Except this time they were intentional.

They lit up white and blue, energy cascading
through them. And as they did, Alice snapped her arms closed around
herself, breaking through the impediment field, and landing on the
hull with a resounding clang.

Everybody turned towards her.

She didn’t need to be possessed of incredible
senses to register the shock upon that woman’s face or the sudden
desperate change in John’s stance.

Alice did not pause. She stood up, reached a
hand out, and called Helper.

In an instant it shot from the woman’s grasp,
and she stumbled forward from the force of it. John leaned down and
locked an arm around her middle, stopping the woman from falling
over.

But it was too late to catch Helper.

He shot towards Alice faster than any bullet
from a plasma round.

He landed in her hand, her shoulder shifting
forward from the force of the impact.

Then she brought him down, opened up her
palm, sent a surge of energy into him, and let him fly free once
more.

‘
There’s been a change of plan, Helper,’
she said aloud.

‘
Change of plan,’ Helper chirped from her
side, ‘it is only logical.’

It was only logical.

She was going to blast her way out of here.
Even if she had to display every last one of her Old One powers,
she was going to do it.

As she stared at John Doe, for a moment Alice
didn’t move.

She wanted him to pull back his armor, wanted
him to set his helmet to transparent so she could see his face.

Just like he had been trying to tug back her
hood since they had met, right now Alice wanted to look into his
eyes.

And she could do that, couldn’t she? If she
got close enough, she could override the armor, tell it to switch
the helmet off.

She took a step forward.

And that was when she saw it.

The light starting to stream down from
above.

It was almost as if time slowed down for her
again.

Her senses flared, her intuition screaming at
her.

Somebody was about to transport her.

They had a lock. Within half a second the
beam would reach her.

Alice had one option and one option only.

To do the one thing that she had promised
Helper she would not do under any circumstances. Release herself to
the engine core, use what energy she had to alter its protocols. To
create a complete shield. One of the most advanced technologies the
Old Ones had possessed.

So Alice did it.

She let go of everything. She spread her arms
wide, her fingers dropping open.

The channels over her skin erupted with
energy. It flowed down into the hull, light white and blue lines
shifting over it as they dodged this way and that, searching out
the device they would empower.

Just as the transport beam locked onto her,
snatching onto her form, that terrible light starting to break down
her particles, the shield erupted into place.

And it was an eruption. It was a sight and
sound Alice had never before experienced.

It was amazing. The sound of the shield
practically ripped through the air. And it cut through the
transport beam instantly.

But it took everything she had.

For a bare second Alice’s eyes opened wide as
she stared out at the thick crackling blue field in front of her.
She saw the enormity, she appreciated how incredible and strong it
was.

And then she fell.

She crumpled on the hull. Unconscious.

Chapter 41

Alice

She did not know how long she had rested
there for. But when she blinked her eyes open, the consciousness
returning to her in a snap, Alice saw that night had fallen.

It was thick and dark around her, and yet it
could not touch her; the complete shield was still in place all
around her.

The light of it reflected over her skin,
dancing over the hull around her.

‘
Conscious, conscious,’ Helper chirped from
her side, ‘you have regained consciousness. Act immediately. We
must leave.’

Alice tried to push through her
confusion.

In slow snippets her memory returned to
her.

She opened her eyes wider.

She shifted her head around, pushing her face
to the side.

She didn’t seem to be capable of pushing
herself up to her feet; her body throbbed with fatigue. All of that
energy she had given up to create the complete shield had
practically drained her.

So instead she just lay there, her head on
the side, her body still crumpled around her. And she stared
forward.

That was when she noticed that there was
somebody just beyond the edge of the force field.

Alice herself was close to it; her face was
barely 30 centimeters from the edge of the flickering field. And
whoever was on the other side was just as close.

They leaned down further. Their black armor
glinting under the reflected light of the shield.

She recognized the armor.

Someone brought their face into view,
planting a hand onto the hull, angling their head down.

John Doe.

He no longer had his helmet on; but Alice
could see that the force field that had taken its place was in
effect, glistening and glimmering as it no doubt picked up feedback
from the complete shield.

But that was not what held her attention.

His gaze did.

His expression was . . .
unreadable.

Surprised. Amazed. Confused. Overcome.
Suspicious.

Everything.

All jumbled into one.

‘
Rupture the shield,’ Helper said from
behind her, ‘you can momentarily use it to destabilize the
anti-gravitational chamber. This will be the distraction we require
to escape.’

Maybe John Doe couldn’t hear Helper, because
he didn’t suddenly jump to his feet and shake his fist at the
little robot.

No, he continued to stare right at Alice.

And she continued to stare right back.

‘
Though the complete shield will last for
as long as we require, we should not allow them to gain
reinforcements. I have been monitoring radio traffic, and several
Union Force ships have been redirected to this area. We must take
this opportunity to leave. It will take no effort on your behalf,
just a simple command in order to shut down the shield. I will take
everything from there.’

Alice still didn’t move. She just stared up
at him.

John Doe.

In fact, she had no idea how long she stared
up at him, and she had no idea how long he’d been staring down at
her. She had been unconscious for some time; long enough that day
had dwindled into a dark night. Had he been leaning there against
the shield, as close as he could get to her, for that entire
time?

Maybe.

She wanted to pull herself away. Do exactly
what Helper suggested, and take the opportunity, maybe the only one
they would get.

She couldn’t.

Something about his eyes seemed to hold her
in place.

Stop her.

Freeze her.

Or maybe she did that to herself.

Maybe that’s what she wanted most. To stop
the paranoia, to stop the escape, to the stop the running.

And right now she could appreciate how it
felt. To be safe for a flickering moment, and yet to face her fears
in the exact same breath.

Because wasn’t that exactly what John Doe
represented? A Union Commander hell bent on finding all of the Old
Tech he could get his hands on. He was Alice’s worst nightmare.

Well right now she was staring up into the
eyes of that terrifying apparition.

And rather than push her away, and force her
back into her life of escape, they seemed to pull her in.

‘
Alice, we must go. We must find your
people. I analyzed the woman Evelyn’s speech patterns, biological
readings, and I accessed her history from the ICN. I do not believe
she is lying.’

That got Alice’s attention.

Perhaps the only thing that could.

‘
We must regroup and ascertain whether this
information is correct. The strategy has altered,’ Helper
chimed.

The strategy had altered.

Alice closed her eyes.

The last thing she saw was John staring down
at her.

Then she shut it off.

She sent the command to the complete
shield.

The rest she left up to Helper.