Authors: Kevin Laymon
Today, telepathic commands were given via the queens calling for some of the greatest of clans to convene in the assembly halls of Sta-Bel, a major city nearby. So Kio-Kai awoke, poked through the thin layer of mucus that encased him in the lifeblood and fell to the floor--wet and sticky. He squirmed to his feet as if born again and stretched his wings in an attempt to dry and free them of the goo that dripped heavily.
He felt weak and yet anew. His limbs which were once broken, were now healed. His bones ached, but were again whole and solid. His antennae had grown back atop his head and hung down his sides where they rightfully belong. His skin abrasions were alleviated, healed closed during the time he spent regenerating in the lifeblood. A little more time in the chamber wouldn’t have hurt by any means, top out on healing of his body and soul, but for the most part, he felt revived, made full again, and ready to carry through battle to avenge his dead friends and family.
“How are you feeling?” asked a young twitcher drone that inspected him from head to toe with his big efficient eyes.
“I have never felt better,” Kio-Kai responded as he rolled his stiff neck in circles until loose. Looking around the chamber, Kio-Kai could see some of the other survivors from the ravaged city. Still suspended in their cocoons, not many were as lucky as he to have survived the tragedy. Even fewer were healed enough to escape their mending prisons as soon as he. Grateful to be alive, but knowing that the attack on the city was a moment in history he would never forget, he stretched his wings and took flight towards the city of Sta-Bel.
***
“Vice Admiral, the council is here to see you,” Linus announced.
For the first time in the past forty-five minutes of awkward silence, Fox lifted her head from the table she sat before. She had not spoken a word to Aisha or anyone else for that matter. She simply waited for this moment. Giving a nod, she stood, stretched, and assumed a professional straight postured stance.
Five men and women entered the room wearing long, thick, gold and black silk robes. Below the cuff line, on their right arms, they each sported what look to be oversized, shiny metallic wrist watches with curved displays that wrapped around their arm like a bracelet. They shuffled in line and took a seat at the other end of the table. No smiling, hellos, or eye contact. Just entering, walking to their chairs, and parking their old decrepit asses in a seat.
“Counselor Lewis, Guajardo, Axstrasa, Ivanok, and Scott.” Linus said walking behind each member of the group, stopping to introduce each by surname. Just as soon as he had concluded his introduction of the lot of them, Aisha had forgotten their names.
How does the vice admiral keep track of all this?
she thought.
“Good to see you Miles, it has been a while,” the vice admiral said with a smile.
Even Aisha knew that such a smile was forced and fake, and she was quick to pick up on Miles as being the leader of the posy, as he was the first to speak.
“Vice Admiral Natalia Fox, the council is very displeased with your leadership as of late and deems to find you accountable for a list of unjust, immoral actions, on top of multiple violations of the laws set in place via the Project Salvation terms. Not only have you violated these terms on multiple fronts, you above all others should have a very good understanding of these laws as you personally took an oath to uphold them.”
“Wow, getting right to it huh?” Fox spat.
“This is a serious matter, Miss Natalia, for you to take it lightly would be to add another charge against you,” Miles fired back, his eyes burning through her.
“I think the president would speak in a positive manner on my behalf. I would like to request time to find a suitable lawyer and gather a defensive strategy for myself against these charges as well as reach out to the president for his input on any matter of injustice.”
“Denied. The days of lawyers and strategies of lies within trials has been long since abolished. When accused of a crime, it is best to swing down the hammer of righteousness swiftly and justly. Something you failed to do in the case of Tyler Flynn.”
Wow, that was incredibly low,
Aisha thought
. Is that what this is about?
“Is it true that you were the last person to see Tyler Flynn in his cell before his escape?” One of the two women on the council pressed. Her face was old and full of wrinkles like a dried out grape.
“This is true. Though it is currently to the best of our knowledge that his escape was carried out with the help of his artificial intelligence drone,” Fox defended.
“You see, what irks me is that you made no attempt in searching for the escaped terrorist. Turning the other cheek is quite suspicious in itself with this case,” the second councilwoman added.
The president told her not too,
Aisha thought.
Tell them,
she screamed in her own head.
“Given we do not know which way he went, I determined it unnecessary to waste resources hunting down a man who will die by sundown without proper rations. Also I did not want to upset the workforce by flaunting the idea that a radical escaped imprisonment.”
“What of the species extinction executed via your command?” One of the old men chimed in, turning the direction of the prosecution to another forefront.
It was then that Aisha realized that they were ganging up on her. Hitting her from all sides with legal jumbo to benefit whatever cause they held at stake.
“All acts of engagement protocol were followed in the extermination of the locust hive. They initiated an attack and we countered in a swift manner that-”
“No vice admiral, the other one,” Miles snapped, cutting her off mid-sentence.
“I am afraid I do not follow,” Fox played.
“Do you deny sending your nephew on a secretive mission, early before dawn this morning to eliminate a nomadic alien entity?” The man pressed.
Natalia stayed silent. She could self-incriminate herself or deny the accusation but it was clear that this council had knowledge of the mission to dismantle the stone giant.
“This is true,” she finally said, breaking the awkward silence in the room.
“To what grounds were the acts of engagement protocols followed there, Natalia?” one of the women interjected.
Fox stayed silent. It was discernible that talking was no longer going to help her situation through the situation.
“What say you, Natalia Fox?” one of the old men scoffed.
“Do you wish to forfeit this trial we have brought to you?” Miles suggested. “It may well be wise to do so, sparing you from the rest of the charges we have against you.”
Still, Fox said nothing. She just maintained eye contact with the floor as if peacefully reading from some imaginary novel embedded into the steel.
“So be it,” he continued. “Due to your previous list of honors, you are given two options. Option one, we strip you of all titles, achievements, and rank then, and only then, may you be allowed to conform into the civilian workforce program. Or,” he paused. “Option two, you keep hold of your military achievements and ties and are euthanized with dignity intact. It really is a question of how much you value your own life and if you wish to end it within the institution you have dedicated your life for or continue it in the civilian based caste.”
How the hell are those options?
Aisha thought.
This is insane.
***
Ness worked through the morning that had now dissipated, submitting to an afternoon swelter in the desert. He peered over his shoulder every ten minutes or so to look and see if his brother had returned from being pulled away to help with some foreign task up at the warp gate. Every second that passed another pebble of guilt would be added into the pit of his stomach.
I should have told that big, ugly brute no or I should of went with him,
he argued within his mind.
It will only take a few hours,
he reminded himself of the words the man spoke to him. But many hours passed by, and while Ness continued to sweat and perform his own job in the heat, his brother did not return as promised.
“Break time,” a man bellowed from down the line and Ness, on edge, anticipating the call for some time, was the first to drop his tools into the dirt and take off, pushing through crowds of workers until he could climb his way out of the pit and head towards the warp gate.
He walked around work zones, careful as to not enter them and risk being confused for a worker that should be assigned there. It took him much longer to reach the gate than anticipated and he knew that his break had been long since over when he actually managed to reach it. He just prayed that no one would notice, no one would come looking, and drag him away, at least not until he got eyes on his brother who had been gone for far too long.
A single warden, in his thirties with a rifle slung across his chest, stood guarding the single entrance to the fenced in warp gate. “The hell you doing kid?” the guard called out to Ness.
“I am looking for someone.”
“Looking for someone? Shouldn’t you be to work? Who the hell told you to come over here and look for someone?”
“My pit boss did,” he lied. “A kid got pulled over this way to help with something, and I am supposed to bring him back.”
“Well, there are no kids here, ‘cept you.”
“Please, I just need to go in and retrieve him. My boss will whip me if I do not return with him,” Ness desperately begged.
“What did I say, kid?! No one is in there! Only entrance is through me. A team of engineers entered a few hours ago to pull in a carrier and every single one left after the job was complete. Besides, the warp gate is in a state of cooldown. Anyone foolish enough to go near it now would be dead within minutes.”
He is not here
, Ness realized, spinning around to look out across the vast desert scape.
Oh, my God! He is not here!
Now in the great assembly halls within the city of Sta-Bel, with no seats left to take, thousands gathered to learn the next course of action decided by their leaders. Kio-Kai squeezed into an opening on a crowded stairwell to see the stage and listen to the speech.
A queen Kio-Kai did not recognize walked across the stage. She had evolved from a grinder; gone from processing bodies into lifeblood to nurturing, laying eggs, and birthing life from self.
“Today, hundreds of queens convened on the issue of the humans that dwell above us,” the queen began as she hissed off into the crowd. “The suspicion has been confirmed, that the humans were indeed responsible for the destruction of our once great city Val-Muel. Determining our best course of action was not an easy thing to do. Deciding whether or not to send lives off to war is never a choice any queen wants to make. But after much debate, we have concluded to sound the drums of war.”
The crowd erupted into cheers. They were hungry, but not for food, for blood. Kio-Kai felt it himself, the desire to not only fight the humans, but to rip out their throats. Even if he should fall on the fields of battle he wished to be remembered for killing thousands in the name of his fallen friends for, not even a thousand human lives could pay the debt of death in claiming one of his comrades.
“Now to speak on behalf of the queens who have made this decision, I introduce you to one of our finest warriors. From the clan of Kai, an elder at heart, this hunter will be the general that leads the assault on the humans,” she paused to allow the hunter she spoke of time to come forth, “Qaz-Kai.”
Lai-Kai’s father
, Kio realized.
Because queens do not require a male to lay their eggs, a father within the Vai-Zik was an elder to his children. A teacher in the ways of survival and duty.
“The Via-Zik empire,” Qaz-Kai began, his voice deep with authority, “has seen and overcome countless times of hardship. We have faced a bounty of foes and eliminated copious threats. We have defended our lands and spread our empire against all odds. We have conquered everything from rock giants, to anolems, and even hydra worms. The humans are weak compared to the strength of the mighty rock giants that still roam our planet. We will overcome, we will prevail, and our way of life will continue. The Vai-Zik together will not fall at the hands of the squishy, weak race of man.” The horde grew in admiration, but Qaz-Kai was quick to continue his message.
“They are vile little creatures, greedy to take and possess land they do not own. But their tragic invasion may serve as a blessing. While they are no doubt a hostile species, they are simpleminded and quite easy to defeat. Once dead, their bodies are full of nutrients that we can harvest and stockpile in the form of the lifeblood that fuels us all.
We have decided to send a battalion of eighty thousand to the surface in the assault. The assault that will begin in a few hours.”
“Eighty thousand? If we send eight hundred thousand, we could end them all, every last one by nightfall,” a grinder hissed beside Kio-Kai.
He is right. While a crew of eighty thousand could likely handle them, sending eight hundred thousand would certainly guarantee their demise in a quick and easy fashion.
“Qaz-Kai is wise in battle,” a hunter before the disgruntled grinder proclaimed, “Have faith in our leaders. War is chaos and you don’t want to be stuffed shoulder to shoulder in a fight.
“In addition,” Qaz-Kai bellowed, “The anolem champion, Brutalius, lived through the collapse of Val-Muel. The best arena fighter we have ever seen will be joining us for the strike against the humans.”
Brutalius stepped forth and once again the crowd burst into praise. Brutalius was not a native to the Vai-Zik empire, but all adored him. He was their champion and considered to be as much a part of their family as any hunter, twitcher, or grinder. He did not speak the language of the Vai-Zik, Kio-Kai assumed, but he certainly understood it. Standing upright, he towered over Qaz-Kai and the grinder queen beside him. He was indeed an instrument of war crafted by God and gifted to them all.
“I know that many of you are eager to volunteer for this fight, certainly, more are interested than we actually need. Queens will initiate a draft and select soldiers to join us in the assault. There shall be two groups consisting of forty thousand fighters. I will lead one of them underground to infiltrate the human strongholds, while Brutalius will lead the other into a direct frontal assault.
Our desire is for the humans to be drawn forward to engage Brutalius’s battalion. This will grant my army the ability to sneak into one of the hatcheries that spawn the humans and wreak havoc from within, crippling any chance they may have of gathering reinforcements.”
The elder hunter’s speech was stocked full of youth backed by copious amounts of vitality, ambition, and pride. Brutalius and himself backed away while the queen moved forward. Together, the three shared in a moment of praise and recognition for their resolution in deciding how to best handle the situation with the invaders from above.
***
Vice Admiral Natalia Fox stood before the council of Citizens United facing the ultimate choice of life as a civilian or death as an honored and respected member of the military.
Aisha couldn’t believe this was happening and felt a responsibility to prevent her commander from facing this extreme criticism. By definition, protecting the life of her superior was her greatest priority and yet she felt hopeless against the council that hid behind the technicalities of law. Political conflict felt personally violent, revealing the uneven distribution of power between levels of authority. In this battle, Aisha was a machine of war feeling helpless against her opponents.
“I have made my decision, but also have a request for the council,” Natalia stated swiftly, not wasting any time contemplating her options in the slightest. “I ask that my execution be carried out on the bridge of my beloved ship. Drifting off into the cold grasp of death while at the helm of my carrier is a fitting death for someone with my ranking and achievements. My assistant, Aisha Sayegh, will carry out the execution.” Her statements were bold and full of authoritative demand as she was defining the details of her own death.
Aisha’s eyes lit up as if she were being pierced through the belly with a blade. She did not want to have to commit an act of murder and it would be murder, even if the vice admiral had chosen Aisha as her executioner. Although she felt a sense of pain in the truth of it all, the reality was that her commander would be the real casualty.
A civilian life, where all ties to the military are revoked, was as much a death sentence in the mind of a proud, loyal captain as facing death itself. Natalia was one of the lead architects of Project Salvation and she had no desire to brand her legacy a smear in human history.
“Your personal body guard, re-assigned to the task of carrying out your execution sentence. A poetic man may find interest in such theatrics. I will grant you your wish,” the lead council member said with a twisted smile, as if amused. “You will have thirty minutes to make arrangements with your executioner as to what must be done with your effects in your passing. Any messages you may have for family members or what to do with your personal belongings needs to be addressed. This council may be dismissed into the next room until your capital punishment is carried out and you are confirmed deceased.”
The council silently stood up and exited the room to sit and wait for confirmation of death in the next.
There was no appeal, no goodbye, no I am sorry, or good job on the progress of Project Salvation,
Aisha thought of the cynically cold group of men and women as they left.
The clicks of Natalia’s boots rhythmically echoed across the metallic floor at a slow pace as she took her time in admiring the magnificent ship she command over for so many years.
New Horizon was her home-- an extension of herself that she had put every last ounce of her soul within. She ran her fingers along its walls in silence and awe with a faint smile as if being aboard her again for the very first time.
Aisha had no idea how to proceed and did not understand how the admiral’s decisions justified the consequence of death. Then Fox stopped in her pacing, took a seat on top of her command table and began.
“A few years ago, Dr. Evelyn Gray was experimenting with overriding the human brain with the artificial intelligence software developed for Project Salvation. The software was uploaded into nanobots and then converted into a liquid based serum to inject in the brain. It would work like a virus to overtake its host and be in complete control of the subject’s intellect. The trials seemed successful, but the human brain would burn itself out trying to eradicate the foreign virus. The body would literally overheat, turning the brain into mush trying to fight off the virus. In time, another strain was tweaked to allow the human body to accept the foreign substance. However, when the virus spread and overtook the brain, it killed the human host and claimed the body as its own. The original idea was to have all the information supplied by limitless intelligence embedded into the human body. Unfortunately, human minds are fragile and unable to share its limited space with a superior being. It will ultimately submit to the greater power. This weakness proved inferior and the virus was able to eliminate the human soul.
Dr. Grey felt as though a host with the will and intelligence to peacefully coexist inside their mind with a foreign intelligence might serve as the only true way to reach a successful trial. She locked herself in her lab and performed the neural injection upon herself. For a few minutes, she successfully tapped into the software overtaking her body and established communication. But when revealing the sense of joy, the human emotion was a trigger for the AI to kill her. Colleagues broke into the lab in time and injected her with an antidote that killed off the virus. She lived through the experience to tell the tale. Shortly after the incident, the project was shut down and the doctor was stripped of her ranks within the UIGN.
She drifted off into the sunset and continued her work secretly in the private sector where, through corporate backdoors, Citizens United picked her up and funded her to ultimately perfect a simpler version of the serum. This version started out slow and progressed in linking the two entities in a safe speed. This served to not overwhelm the human and together the software and its host could co-exist for many years within one vessel.
I have no jurisdiction over Citizens United. They are the political entity that keeps the military in check and the military handles the civilian workforce.”
“Who keeps the hierarchy in check?” Aisha questioned trying to follow in with the history lesson.
“It was the only way to kick start Project Salvation,” Fox said, completely ignoring the question as if implying there was no answer.
“Well, why would CU want to convert all of life into supercomputers?” Aisha questioned, indulging down a different path of curiosity.
“Did you see their wrist watches?”
“Yea,”
How could I not?
she thought.
Every single one of them were sporting the watches like some estranged occultist fashion statement.
“Those watches can do a many of things. First and foremost, they are linked into their nervous system via a CPU chip that rests in the base of their spine. The single most frightening thing those watches do, is allow the user total control over the software serum developed by Dr. Evelyn Gray.”
“Why are you telling me all of this?”
“Too many people that are part of this project are naive of how things truly work. We only have ourselves to blame really. Dumbing down society for so many years, we created the perfect little sheep: obedient, blissfully ignorant, and content in every way. Due to the scale and importance of Project Salvation, humanity needs a team of people aware of the true nature of things to carry on the torch through the darkness of night.”
The following silence between the two of them reminded Aisha that she was tasked with killing the vice admiral. An uneasiness overcame her as she tried to reignite any form of conversation. “What of family members and personal effects?” she pressed.
“Bah, I have neither,” Fox said coldly, as if not fazed by the lack of friends or companions acquired through her life’s journey.
“What about Jason? Isn’t he your nephew?”
“Yes, cocky little bastard will be fine,” she let out with a sigh before rolling her shoulders and cracking her stiff joints loose. “The president will reassign a replacement to take charge of Project Salvation. My execution is nothing more than Citizens United sending a message to him that the next fool he sends better play by their rules. I have strongly opposed their injection theory. I fear that in my death, there will not be many that stand against their notion for a false sense of security, and in time Proposition Zero will be passed.”
“Proposition Zero?” Aisha questioned wide-eyed.
“The bill allows for the injection of the military and civilians with a restricted version of the serum that would not have unlimited access to the AI’s database of knowledge. If you were a doctor, you would be granted access to anything in that category of intellect. A cook may have access to an unlimited array of recipes and ways in which he may conjure as such. A pilot would be a master of his craft alongside all his fellow pilots. The AI living alongside the host would secretly monitor and report thought activity to anyone wearing the watch. Anyone with the full dose, control watch, and authority could wirelessly project thoughts into the heads of the lesser subjects.”