The Enclave (The Verge) (25 page)

Katherine rushed back to help and as she grabbed hold of one of Daniel’s arms, she could hear him whispering “No.  No.  No.  No.”

After a brief struggle, Katherine and Joshua forced Daniel’s hands away from his head.  Scratches could be seen running through his hair onto his forehead and blood and skin were caked in his fingernails.

“Daniel stop it,” Joshua begged his brother and it was the first time Katherine had heard real distress in his voice.  “Stop it.”

“What are you doing to him?”  Katherine turned back towards Barkley though still keeping a firm grip on Daniel’s arm.  He was fighting the hold that she and Joshua had on him.

“As I said,  56 knows.”

Katherine turned back to Daniel.

“Daniel.  Don’t believe what Barkley had told me.  He is just a freak living in his own fantasy world.”

“No 72.  What he says is true.  They ran some tests on me while I was in stasis and now I know what they were intended for.”  Daniel shivered and his arms abruptly went limp.

“What are you talking about?”  Joshua asked, still keeping his hand around Daniel’s arm.

“They want to do an ‘in-house’ test before they release us out into the wild.  They want to see if I can make you do murder.”  Daniel’s eyes slowly moved to his brother’s face.

“You don’t believe they can really do it though.”  Katherine knew it was a stupid question.  Of course he believed it.  Why else would he react as he did?

Katherine looked over her shoulder to glare at Barkley and was surprised to see Doctor Ross standing next to him.

“Are you finally beginning to believe me now 72?  No?”  Barkley turned to Ross and gave a small nod.  “Then a practical demonstration is in order.”

“You will not break me Barkley,” Katherine shouted.

Barkley gave no reply.  Instead he watched as Ross placed a thin metallic ring on her head as if she was being crowned.

“What Doctor Ross has placed on her head is an Ontolic Amplifier.  As well as being a brilliant Nano Surgeon, she just happens to be a latent Ontolic and she has created this device, which can amplify her ability into something she can use.”  Barkley was ginning now.  “She has been tuning it to 56 and now we are going to see if our experiments have been effective.”

Katherine looked at Joshua in horror, only now just realizing what Daniel realized from the start.  “You Bastards.  Joshua’s Daniel’s brother!”

“Brother?  Well now, that
is
unexpected.  And it will just make the results of this test more substantive.”

Again, the rage rose in Katherine but she did not let it control her.  She let go of Daniel’s arm and it fell to his lap and grabbed Joshua.  “Josh, move away from us, get as far as you can from us.  Just in case.”

“Just in case of what?  I don’t understand.”

“Just do as I say.”  Katherine shoved him hard and he went sprawling backwards across the floor. 

Then Daniel began to scream.

She moved to clamp Daniel’s head between her hands but stopped as she started to hear his voice inside her head.

’72  Tell Joshua to forgive me but I can’t fight it.  I can’t…’
  Daniel’s tone sounded agonized and desperate. 
‘Forgive me for making you do this.’

‘Barkley’s to blame.  Not you-’

‘…72. Katherine.  I am sorry.’
  It was the first time Daniel had called her by name.  There was a pause as he slumped.  He then looked up into Katherine’s eyes.

‘I am ordering you to kill Joshua Val Myra by any means necessary.’

Chapter

Twenty-Eight

…a
ny means necessary.

At that moment all other thoughts disappeared from her head.  Daniel’s words seared a path through her mind, driving back and impaling any resistance that reared its head against it.  All she could think about was how she was going to eliminate Joshua Val Myra.

Katherine turned and saw Joshua standing uncertainly against the far wall staring at her in confusion.  Behind her Daniel gave a gut-wrenching groan and then fell silent.  She did not turn back to look at him but felt her own consciousness begin to rise slowly to the surface.  It could look and comment but could make Katherine do nothing that would contradict the order that was given to her.

Katherine then felt true fear for the first time in three years.  She felt Daniel’s order in her head compelling her to kill his brother, but her will was trying desperately to fight against it.  And was losing miserably. 

Katherine felt her body move towards Joshua and she could see by the look on his face that he finally had realized what was about to happen.

“I don’t want to fight Kath.”

Katherine continued to close on him.  Joshua stood still, his arms held locked at his sides.  He was making no move to defend himself.

“Forgive us.  We can’t stop it.”

Katherine abruptly felt tears fall from her eyes and down her cheeks.  She still had control of her speech.  But that was all.  Katherine was just like the man in the corridor, except that she was very aware of what she was doing.  She was no zombie; her mind still inhabited her body.

“This is serious isn’t it?” Joshua straightened up against the wall, keeping his arms locked to his sides.  His eyes darted between her and Daniel.  “They’re using Dan to make you murder me.”

Katherine could not answer that. Her slow, threatening advance spoke volumes enough.  She tried to fight against her movement but her muscles ignored her, they kept following the will behind Daniel’s Ontolic order.  “I can’t control myself.  You have to stop me.”

And then she struck.  Her hands flew out to hit Joshua in both the windpipe and the gut.  She did not look at his face; she did not want to see her betrayal reflected in his eyes.  At the last second Joshua’s hands flowed from his sides and blocked.  Her blows diverted, one into a blank space by his side and the other hit the wall directly behind Joshua.  He then slipped away into the open. 
Shit, that was fast,
Katherine’s consciousness noted with a tinge of respect. 

Her body reacted to Joshua’s blocks and dodge and launched into a blistering attack following him across the floor so fast it should have been impossible.  But she had seen herself move in the corridor footage, Joshua had no hope of defending himself; Katherine watched the scene from the inside in despair with tears flowing freely down her cheeks.

Joshua staggered backwards, blocking some blows and jumping back to avoid more.

Katherine’s body just kept up the barrage of blows, her arms, fists and legs moved and flowed like raging white water, beating away all before it.  Joshua began to crumple before her, vainly trying to block her but was just that little too late each time.

‘Daniel help me.  I’m going to kill him!  I can’t let someone else die because of me.’

Katherine’s despair scratched like agony across her psyche.  She had thought herself strong and hard but now she was nothing.  Nothing except someone’s tool.

And tools can be broken.

Resolve suddenly crystallized her reason and as Joshua’s bruised body began to instinctively fold to protect itself, she knew how to fix this.  She knew what had to be done.

‘Daniel.  You have to disable me or kill me.  Break me somehow.’

‘No!’
  Daniel’s cry was a mirror of her anguish.

‘Do it or your brother will die.’\

‘No.’
Painful, pitiful
.  ‘NO!’

Katherine’s body continued to batter at Joshua.  They were not killing blows she noted.  They were designed for wearing an opponent down.  She was ordered to kill him but instead was batting him around like a cat playing with a mouse, delaying the moment of finality.  In that Katherine saw a flicker of hope.  Deep down her sub-conscious must be fighting back.  But it was still too late for Joshua.

‘Daniel do something.’

She heard the scraping of metal against the floor and Katherine’s trapped mind automatically thought of Barkley. 
That bastard is enjoying this.

Daniel gave a strangled cry and then Katherine’s mind was suddenly filled with Daniel’s Ontolic presence.  She heard him speak in both her head and through her ears.

“I order you to stop attacking my brother.  I now order you to think for yourself.”

“No! Doctor Ross, do something.”

Katherine suddenly had control again and jerked back the kick that was aimed at Joshua’s side.

“Joshua are you okay?”

Joshua unfolded from his ball clearly in pain.  “I’ve felt better.”  As he rose to his feet she was relieved to note that nothing was broken.

“Daniel.  You did-“

Katherine stopped in mid-sentence as she saw Daniel sitting against the wall.  He had the pistol Barkley had dropped earlier and he had it armed and aimed it at his head.

“Doctor Ross, as soon as I hear your voice in my head I will pull this trigger.”

“Daniel, no!”

Joshua started to stagger towards his brother but Katherine caught him before he could go further.  “What he’s doing is the only thing keeping you alive at this moment.”

Joshua strained against her grip a moment longer before relenting.  He nodded his understanding.

“We have other things to worry about.”  Katherine turned her attention to Barkley and Ross.  Both were paying no attention to her and Joshua.  They were talking frantically together in low whispers, trying to find a way of regaining control.  Barkley was not gloating now.  Their glances were solely for Daniel and his pistol.

“How do we get to them?”  Joshua’s face was puffing and already beginning to show the blue of bruises.  The man was lucky that he still wore his light armor otherwise the rest of his body would not be able to move for the swelling.

Katherine’s own hands were cut and bleeding, their knuckles spilt and swollen.  Her eyes flicked to Daniel who sat statue still with the pistol pointing to a spot behind his left ear.

‘Don’t do anything stupid.’

‘I could say the same to you.’

‘Holding yourself as ransom is good thinking Daniel.  Hopefully they don’t call your bluff.’

‘Who said I was bluffing?’

‘Just keep up the charade and distract them while we think of a way out.’

Daniel gave Katherine a slight nod.

“We have to find a way past this barrier,” she said aloud to Joshua.

“Easier said than done.”

“We’ve got to do something before they do.  If only we had a slicer.”

“A what?”

“A slicer – A kinetic shield tuned to the opposite spectrum to the barrier and allow the wearer to ‘slice through’.”

Joshua tapped the control panel of his light armor.  “Mine is dead.  I think you damaged it when you…”  His voice trailed off.

“Right.”  Then Katherine remembered what was in her utility belt.  “Sam!”  Katherine’s hand flew to the front pouch and fished out the shield generator that she took from Sam’s body armor.  She quickly checked the display and was instantly relieved at what she saw.

“There is enough juice left to be able to get one of us through and then
its shot.”

“But you have no weapon,” Joshua hissed.

“I don’t need one.”

“56, put that gun down!”

Barkley’s voice cut across the sudden silence, but Katherine could not take her eyes off of Daniel; he was dripping with sweat and the hand holding the pistol now under his jaw was shaking with the effort it cost him to keep it there.

“No.”  Daniel’s voice shook as he spoke and his eyes squeezed shut as he fought to keep his mind his own.

“If you do not drop that gun I will have someone come through that door and shoot your brother.”

Daniel opened his eyes and looked long at Joshua.

‘Daniel, don’t drop that gun.  Josh and I can deal with anything that comes through that door.  If we play this right we might even manage to get ourselves out of here.’

‘I trust you 72.  Just keep Josh safe.’

Daniel’s eyes never left his brother and uneasiness about Daniel started to rise in her chest.

Daniel’s eyes flicked back to Barkley and Ross.  “The gun stays where it is.”

“It seems that filial safety no longer matters to you.  So be it.”  Barkley thumbed on the comm unit at his workbench.

“Security.”  Barkley had put the comm on loud speaker.

“Kill the male prisoner that was just bought in to me.  And try not harm my two test subjects.”

‘Yes sir.’

Katherine activated her kinetic shield and stepped between Joshua and the door, all thoughts of trying to breach the barrier forgotten.  The battery would only be able to absorb two or three shots before going completely dead.

“Josh, get down!”  Katherine clamped a hand hard on Joshua’s shoulder and pushed him unceremoniously to the floor.

“Hey-” Joshua began to protest but Katherine cut him off.  “I’m kinetically shielded, you’re not.”  Joshua glared at her but stayed couched behind her, bruising was now purpling his face and the small intakes of breath gave away the fact that she must have done more damage to him than he let on.  “I’ll see if I can toss a gun your way…”