Redemption Protocol (Contact) (2 page)

Two of her crewmates blinked out of life.

Five of them left. She needed to do something.

With her teeth clenched and her eyes screwed shut, she thrust her weapon around the side of the console and discharged it. The weapon danced in her hands as the micromissiles streaked out, spiraling across the bridge and seeking out her enemy.

She was punched hard in the stomach and driven back by the stunning force of the blow. Her eyes popped open. She found herself slumped against the bulkhead with a gaping hole in her abdomen. She opened her mouth to express surprise. A mouthful of blood splashed down her tunic.

She vened hytelline, took everything, all at once.

Shit
.

~    ~    ~

“Katie! He's coming!”

“What?”

“He's com... oh, he's stopped.”

“Stopped?”

“No, he's coming. He's definitely coming over! Ooh.”

“Mel!”

Mel squeezed her arm, hard.

“Stay calm. Don't giggle. But do smile. But don't witter. He's nearly here!”

“Mel!”

“Ooh, exciting!”

~    ~    ~

Anna tried to concentrate. Only two of them left. She felt numb and distracted. She looked absentmindedly at her weapon, a meter from her hand.

Standing in the doorway, obscured by the haze and bathed in red light, was the black silhouette of the intruder. Their jetpack reared up like demonic wings as smoke drifted from their shoulder racks.

It was the devil, come to collect.

The intruder walked forward with their right arm raised like tyrannical justice. Her final crewmate stood up and... died. So quick, so meaningless.

Her gut ached in a distant, remote way.

The devil approached her.

She raised her eyes and stared at him. She was the final remaining member of the Alliance Vessel
Defiance
. She'd never thought of the name as ironic, until now. She thought about Stevie in his dungarees. She brought up a picture of her son in her mind's eye. Maybe she should try to dictate a message, say something.

The reality of what was happening hit her.

She sobbed.

~    ~    ~

Tully stopped in front of the swing.

Katie looked up at him. Her expression was cool. She had a lollipop in her mouth and twirled the stick in her right hand.

The girls looked wary and a bit, well, scary. Tully looked down at Katie's cute black socks. Shit, he was looking at his feet.
Attitude
. He raised his head. Katie’s best friend, Mel, lifted her chin.

“Yeah?”

“Hi.”

He didn’t know what else to say. Nothing came to mind.

Mel smirked. Tully’s mind raced. He was blowing it. He'd had so many cool things to say, but now they all seemed lame. He was on another continent over here. A foreign continent. He turned to look back at Jan.

Jan shouted, loud enough to clear traffic.

“You're the man, Tully!”

He grinned.

“Hi, Katie.”

“How do you know her name?” Mel demanded.

Katie gently smacked Mel’s arm. Hope surged in Tully.

“I was wondering if you want to see a holo sometime?”

She looked up at him, sucking on her lollipop, prolonging his agony.

“You know, erm, together. Like, a date.”

“Ooh,” said the girls.

Tully caught the hint of a smile at the corners of Katie’s mouth.

He waited in trepidation.

He never realized how long a second was before.

~    ~    ~

Havoc stood by the forward console, cloaked in smoke and red light. He retracted his visor as he deftly flicked switches and communicated by cast. He didn't bother to mouth the words.

“I'm in.”

“I never doubted you, Son.”

“These clones are useless.”

“They're meant to be the best.”

“A real crew wouldn't be so easy.”

“Hmm.”

“Ok, weapons configured... and away.”

Havoc thought about what Forge had said about the clones. It sounded expensive.

“They're not going to give me a hard time about the clones are they?”

“Don't worry, Son. I'm sure that will be the least of their worries.”

“Good.”

He frowned. The clone lying in front of him was trying to speak. It coughed blood.

“Please. Help me.”

“Hell, General. Clones begging for their lives. What next?”

“It tests resolve, Son.”

“I have a son.”

“You're calling me Son and she's telling me she's got a son.”

“She?”

“You know what I mean.”

“He's called Stevie.”

~    ~    ~

Tully watched Katie as he bubbled in a pot of hope and fear.

Katie pulled the lollipop out of her mouth and gave him a cute smile. Her voice was playful.

“What do you want to take me to see?”

He might actually do this!

“Weelll,” he said, racking his brain.

He realized that his face was serious. Smile, Jan had said.

He smiled effervescently.

Katie smiled back.

It was working!

~    ~    ~

Havoc stepped back and savored the moment.

“Full saturation. It's done.”

High in the atmosphere of Jemlevi, the munitions starburst. The shells rocketed outward before starbursting again, deploying hundreds more canisters. Viewed from above, the expanding circles looked like bacteria reproducing on a slide.

“Well done, Son. You should feel proud. You've done a great thing.”

Havoc felt elated. It was the pinnacle of his professional career. A twelve month covert operation culminating in the penetration of a military ship on active duty. A one man mission to highlight critical security weaknesses that could cost millions of lives. Now they could assess the threat and take proper steps. Months of follow up and closing the loop, but not by him. His job was done.

He felt justified pride in himself, his service and his boss, General Claudius Forge.

“Thank you, Sir. I couldn't have done it without you.”

“Well, hell, Son, I know that.”

He laughed.

The clone choked.

“Please.”

He looked at it, bemused.

“Damn, you are convincing.”

“Help me.”

“Help you what?”

“To live. My son.”

He shook his head. The clone stared at him, its features at a loss.

“What kind of monster are you?”

He felt a twinge. It was too much. Someone in aesthetic design deserved an award.

He shot her in the head.

It
, he corrected himself.

~    ~    ~

Tully grinned.

It wasn’t by choice. His cheeks pulled outward as if someone had hooked their fingers around the corners of his mouth.

He was really grinning now.

He tried to speak.

He couldn’t. He couldn't speak.

He lifted his hands to his face, but they felt sluggish as if they were trapped in liquid amber. The amber set and his arms froze into place.

Katie looked embarrassed.

“Ok, Tully, I'll go with you.”

She was covering for him. Her friends stared at him like he was some kind of weirdo. He wanted to tell them that he wasn't, but he couldn't stop grinning. His face distorted as his skin stretched tighter, exposing his gums.

His neck muscles contracted, standing proud of his windpipe as they pulled his head down to his chest. Saliva foamed out of his mouth and dribbled onto his chin. Mel turned away in disgust.

“Come on, Katie. This guy's a weirdo.”

Katie didn't move. She stared at him with a mixture of concern and revulsion. Mel slapped Katie on the arm.

“Come on, Katie.”

His hands formed claw shapes, tensing so hard they hurt. He realized he was holding his breath. He tried to breathe in.

His lungs wouldn't suck. There was nothing but resistance.

He panicked.

Katie stared at him, transfixed, as he dropped to his knees. He sucked as hard as he could. His eyes roamed wildly, desperate for air.

Katie screamed.

His lungs burned.

He was drowning in the air in front of her.

~    ~    ~

Havoc noted the readings with satisfaction.

“We're done.”

“You're done, Son.”

“Signals from the surface. Is that your team?”

Forge laughed.

“My team is a long way away.”

“What?”

“You’re too trusting, Son. You always were a day late and a dollar short.”

Havoc reviewed the signals from the surface.

“What the hell is going on, Forge?”

Silence.

“Forge?”

Nothing.

~    ~    ~

Tully's lungs were on fire.

He was suffocating on the playground outside his building. It didn't make any sense. He was desperate to react, but he couldn't control his body. He sucked at nothing. There was an immovable wall blocking his chest. His adrenalin surged, making him giddy.

The mammalian parts of his brain triggered his instinctive drowning response. His head jerked against his paralysis as his brain tried to lift his face out of the imaginary water. His arms spasmed, unable to move, as his autonomic nervous system tried to paddle to raise his head up.

He felt a spear tip thrust through his chest. The pressure on his breastbone was staggering. Something reached down his throat and gripped his heart. He couldn't gasp or moan. The snake encircling his heart squeezed relentlessly tighter. The pressure was intolerable.

He forgot about his breathing. His heart was imploding.

His vision blurred as his lips curled back in an involuntary snarl. His vision darkened from the outside in, gradually narrowing as his brain screamed for oxygen, until all he could see was Katie staring down at him, her hand over her mouth, tears streaming down her cheeks.

She was blonde and beautiful.

He died on his knees with his eyes wide open.

~    ~    ~

Katie stared at Tully.

“Come on, Katie! Come on!”

The girls screamed as Tully's friends, the coffee skinned foreigners, tensed and foamed at the mouth. The boys collapsed, grinning hideously with their eyes wide open.

Dead.

Katie heard screaming from the streets around them.

It had barely started.

~    ~    ~

Havoc had a terrible realization.

Alarms flashed across the bridge of the
Defiance
. Bodies lay scattered around him; ship officers from his own side, dead by his own hand.

Initial reports were coming from the surface. They sounded genuine. People were dropping in the street, clutching their throats as they convulsed, kicked and died, while others with different skin pigmentation watched in shock, horror and impotence. The death toll was mounting. The feed said thousands of people were already dead. Soon it would be tens of thousands. The genie was out of the bottle. A genetic weapon. The lowest, most contemptible form of warfare.

What had he done? He’d launched the weapons. Hundreds of thousands of people would die. His vision blurred as his mind retreated, shutting down. It was his fault and there was nothing he could do to change it.

Bridge instrumentation showed three incoming ships – suspiciously nearby given their absence an hour ago. He felt the horrendous vectors of conspiracy and betrayal converging on him at light speed.

General Claudius Forge was his idol and his inspiration.

His betrayer.

He caught his reflection in the instrument panel. With each pass, the red light exposed his true demonic form.

~    ~    ~

His training got him out.

On the run. Out of the system, out of that galactic segment and still running. A price on his head. Constant petty betrayal and backstabbing. The shock he’d felt the first time he saw his face on a wanted poster.

Despite his desperate efforts there was no goodbye to his wife and kids or his family and friends. Most people were ashamed to have known him.