Rhea's End

  “No, sorry, not you.”

  “Come on - to the captain with you.”

  Roy seemed quite chuffed, “With some luck this might be a fantastic opportunity. A good place to plant a bomb would be the control deck. Let’s keep an eye out.”

  I tried to explain to the man, “I had a dream that there was a bomb, thats all.”

  “Oh, why’d you have to say a thing like that?” said Roy hiding his face in his hand.

  I tried to ignore him and continue, “I got scared and had to look. I had a very traumatic time, on my last trip into space.”

  “Oh, yes, we’ve all heard about that. A very close call for you.”

  He stopped manhandling me quite as roughly but I was still led on at the same pace.

  The doors to the flight deck swept open and the captain and various crew members all turned to look at me as I was led through.

  “Captain, I caught her snooping around the cargo bay. Claimed she had a dream that there was a bomb on board.”

  “I’ve just had a thought,” said Roy, looking worried.

  “Really, a dream?” said the captain, walking up and staring straight into my eyes.

  Roy continued, “Those crates we saw.”

  “Yes, I really meant nothing by it,” I said to the captain, pulling an innocent and sweet face.

  Roy leaned close to me as if trying to catch my attention, and said, “Perhaps, they’re smugglers. Delivering illegal goods to the border planets?”

  “What?!” I said turning my head sharply towards Roy.

  “What, indeed,” said the captain, “I’m afraid we don’t take kindly to snoops, on this ship, rummaging through other people's possessions.”

  “No, thats not it at all.” I pleaded.

  “Tell me, what did you see down there?” The captain's eyes looked menacing and all the pleasantness of my first meeting with him was gone.

  “Nothing,” I said shaking my head.

  “Oh, dear, what have you done?” said Roy, looking concerned, then he was suddenly distracted, “Oh, what’s that over there?”

  He peered down at an old service android.

  The captain turned to the crew member who’d brought me here, “Frankie, tie her up and put her in my quarters, and keep an eye on her ‘till I get there.”

  Roy skipped along, next to me, as I was led away. “Hey, Did you see that old android? I should have just hacked into that. It’s easy. Almost no security at all.”

  Chapter 4

  The captain’s office was large and decorated with wood and fine furnishings. It looked completely out of place with the, muted metals of the rest of the ship.

  Frankie led me to a chair by the captain's desk, and tied my hands together, tightly, behind my back. He then walked over to the side, near the door, and lent against the wall, staring over at me.

  “You’re very quiet,” said Roy, squatting in front of me, with a smile.

  “Shut up!” I muttered at him.

  “Shut up?,” said Roy with alarm, “I thought you was going to offer me an apology.”

  “An apology. For you?”

  “Well, yes, I had this all planned out, nice little explosion, mission complete, and you went and got yourself captured - ruined everything.”

  I murmured under my breath, “I just want to travel without facing danger. You created this whole mess.”

  “Ahh,” said Roy, stepping back, “That is true. They didn’t like you looking at those crates, did they.”

  I shook my head. “Perhaps you’re right - perhaps they are smugglers - perhaps they’re arming the rebels on Ply.”

  “That could be the case. Hey, you’re thinking that’s why I’ve been sent to blow up the ship. It’s starting to make sense. I told you they wouldn’t be nice people.”

  Frankie was looking over at me. His face seemed sympathetic. But only due to the fact he knew what would most likely to happen to me.

  “You don't even know why you're doing this?” I said to Roy.

  “Hey, I’m, at heart, just a computer virus, despite this handsome fellow that you’ve turned me into.”

  And what was your plan for me, when you’ve blow up the ship?”

  “Well, I don’t know. My task would be done.”

  “You’d just let me die, then.”

  “We’d go down in a blaze of glory - you and I.”

  He put his arm around my shoulder and swiped his other arm through the air, fluttering his fingers.

  “Well, that’s not going to happen. You might as well try to help get me out of here.”

  “That’s a good idea. I’m about to get right on it.”

  The ship’s alarm went off - red lights flashed as a loud siren rang out.

  Frankie jumped forwards and rushed out of the door, to see what was going on.

  “You did that?” I said, “But I’m still tied up.”

  Roy just smiled. A moment later, the door opened and the service android came in.

  “You’re controlling him?” I asked.

  Roy just kept smiling as he started to fade away.

  The robot gave a salute. “It’s me, Roy, at your service.”

  “Great, can you untie me.”

  “Of course... then again,” Roy hesitated, “maybe not. I need to go and blow up the ship. It might be better for you to stay here - nice and quiet - not causing any more... problems.”

  “No, let me go.”

  He ignored me and left. The door slid shut behind him.

  Chapter 5

  The alarms came to a halt and Frankie returned.

  “False alarm,” he said, retreating to his previous position by the wall.

  Moments later, the captain came in and marched round his desk, sitting down and leaning forwards on his elbows. He stared at me for a moment. I looked away, awkwardly.

  “Who do you work for?” he asked.

  “I work for Sports Universal.”

  He got up, walked around the desk and slapped me across my face.

  “Tell me now, before I have to get rough.”

  I felt a tear on my face. I couldn’t help it. It looked weak and I didn’t want to show it, but I was frightened.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said.

  He turned to Frankie and pointed.

  “Throw her out of the airlock.”

  I gasped. “No, please no.” I said.

  He turned his back on me as Frankie dragged me out of the room.

  I pleaded to Frankie to let me go, as he dragged me down the corridor.

  The only thing he said was, “Sorry.”

  I struggled. One last push for freedom before I was placed in the airlock, but it was no use. I just wasn’t strong enough.

  I collapsed onto the deck, in the airlock, and he shut the door on me. I looked through the glass at his face and pleaded with him. I really didn’t want to die. I didn’t want to die this way.

  It occurred to me that, if I still had my old Rhealian internal enhancements, I could have ripped his head clean off. Of course, Roy would then have been able to taken complete control of my body and used me to blow up the ship.

  But of course, that must have been the plan. The surgery to have all the internal enhancements removed was overly complex and it had been suggested to me that I should just leave them there. It’s quite possible people just assumed I still had all that old synthetic technology, invisibly installed, in my body.

  Roy appeared next to me.

  “Look, I know how to blow up the ship, but I’m having problems. I’ll save you if you agree to help me.”

  “Please,” I said, “save me.”

  Frankie hit the release button for the outer door. Nothing happens. So he started hitting it repeatedly, expecting a different result.

  “So, you’ll help me blow up the ship?” said Roy.

  Roy reached out his arm, to shake my hand.

  Frankie had started to become frustrated. Now he was trying to open the airlocks inner doo
r. Still nothing happened. A look of confusion grew across his face. I could tell what he’s thinking. He was wondering if he should risk leaving me here, in order to go and get help? He hit both buttons a few more times, then hurried off, down the corridor.

  “Deal?” said Roy.

  “If I can get out in an escape pod.”

  “We can try that, sure,” he said, giving an uncertain nod.

  “No, that’s the deal.”

  “Ok, ok, deal. Put it there.”

  I shook his hand and immediately the inner door slid open.

  “This way,” he said, leading me towards the corridor. My hands were still bound behind my back. How had I shaken his hand? Another little illusion.

  He paused in the doorway and looked back towards the airlock. The airlock’s inner door slid shut and the outer door opened into space.

  “That will fool them,” he said, “Hurry up.”

  “Where’s the bomb.”

  “You’ll see.”

  Chapter 6

  We went back into the cargo hold. There was no sign of anyone, but I sneaked around, keeping an eye out.

  “Where’s the android?” I asked.

  “I sent him back. So nobody notices he’s missing,” said Roy, “I imagine that infecting you was a spur of the moment change of plan. The weapons here included explosives. I really wasn't prepared properly for the task, but we will succeed.”

  “Ok, so what do we do?”

  “We have to mix the explosive, then rig it to blow.”

  “How?”

  “Relax, I’ll talk you through it.”

  We stood by the small clutter of crates at the far end of the cargo hold.

  “Open that crate there?” commanded Roy.

  He pointed to a crate with the lid already loosened, presumably by the android.

  I opened it and saw a collection of large guns and EMP grenades.

  “That’s our detonator,” said Roy with a smile. “It fires exploding bullets. It should trigger the explosives.”

  “You mean, just shoot the crates and they blow?”

  He shook his head, “No, not that easy.”

  I got the feeling he needed a little reminder about our deal, “And how do I escape?”

  “Well, you did insist on making it hard for us, in that regard.”

  “Open that crate over there,” he instructed.

  Again, the lid had already been prised open. It contained plastic bags full of powder.

  “Explosives?” I said, picking one up.

  “No, not yet. Get that bucket and pour the contents of one of those bags into it.”

  I did as he said. “Now what?”

  “Pour in some of that.” He pointed to a large plastic bottle of liquid. It was heavy. I had to scrape it along the ground to move it and I spilt quite a bit on the floor, when trying to pour it.

  “That’s enough. Now, stir it.”

  “With what,” I asked, looking around.

  “Anything. One of the guns.”

  I did as he said and it made a paste.

  “So, is this the bomb?”

  “Yes, but don’t detonate it yet.”

  “I didn’t plan to.”

  You’ll need to apply it around the hull. The cargo bay’s perfect. Blast it all into space.

  “Can I put my hand in?”

  “If you like.”

  I scooped up some of the explosive and rubbed it over the walls.

  “Thats it. Do a line all the way around the edges.”

  I did that, then I took a step back to look at my handy work.

  “Now what?”

  “Now you shoot it.”

  “I can’t. That’s not our deal.”

  Roy just stared at me, as if he’d simply hoped I’d go along with it.

  “Well, the android can’t use guns. Believe me, you’d already be floating in space if he could.”

  “Where’s the escape pod?” I asked. I knew the answer as soon as I asked the question. I’d passed it in the corridor.

  “Oh, no, we had a deal,” shouted Roy, as I ran through a corridor.

  Here it was. The escape pod. I hit the button to open the door. Nothing happened.

  Roy’s voice rang in my head. ‘I can’t let you go, yet.’

  He appeared next to me, and said, “Come on back. I’m bringing the android, we’ll rig it so the android can fire the gun.”

  “Ok,” I said, with a nod. I didn’t trust him for a minute, but I needed him.

  I followed him back and the android was there, waiting.

  Roy smiled, confidently, “If we tape the gun down and tie some string to the android that loops around the trigger, then the android can pull the string and fire - easy.”

  The android had some tape and string ready in his hand. I taped the gun down on a crate, pointing it at the explosive paste on the wall.

  “Now, you’re not going to fire until I’m evacuated from the ship.”

  “You’ve got my word.”

  “Ok,” I said tying one end of the string to the trigger and the other end to the android’s hand.

  “Good, good, is that all done?” asked Roy, enthusiastically.

  I said, “Yes that should do it.”

  At that moment the android pulled the string and the gun didn’t fire.

  “Hey!” I shouted.

  “That didn’t work,” said Roy.

  “You had no intention of letting me escape, did you?”

  Roy just shrugged, “We’ll if it worked, you wouldn’t have known, besides you’re a loose end. You don’t want to live with the guilt. Why didn’t it fire?”

  “Oh, the safety catch, but I think the deal’s off. I can’t trust you.”

  Roy froze. For a moment, I thought he was about to cry.

  Instead he started pleading with me, “But we’re in this together. Amigo. We’ve come so far. You’d be dead anyway, come on.”

  I looked down at the crate. I could see what I should have done from the start.

  Roy must have sensed my thoughts. “Wait, no - no!

  I reached into the crate and pulled out an EMP grenade.

  “Sorry, but it’s been nice knowing you,” I said with a smile.

  I activate the grenade and threw it onto the floor.

  It blew, knocking out all the electronics in the area. The lights flickered off and my head span as my mind implants cut out. When the the lights came back on, Roy had vanished.

  I’ll report the ship and crew, once i’m rescued, I thought, as I climbed into the escape pod. I’d have to avoid sending a distress signal for a few days. I don’t want this ship to be the one that found me. But there’ll be enough supplies.

  I separated from the ship and the pod blasted to a safe distance. Then, I sat and watch the ship ride onwards, from out of the little window in the escape pod.

  The Seahorse began to sail off into the distance for a minute then it blew. The stern of the ship blasted outwards and debris flew in all directions. A series of small explosions followed and then it was adrift, dead.

  “Surprize,” said Roy as he appeared next to me, “I bet you thought you’d miss me, but, wow, that was a close one. Total success; cheers for that.”

  “What happened?”

  “When you threw that EMP grenade, you had me really panicking. I thought I was a goner. Next thing I knew I was transmitting myself from door to door all the way over to the safe side of the ship. When it was over and systems started rebooting I jumped back, spreading along the ships doors, but you had gone. That’s when I realized. I could jump into the gun’s cpu and flick the safety off, myself. When you went to the escape hatch I copied myself back into you and waited for the copy of me, in the gun, to work out how to fire.

  But isn’t this great? We made it - both of us. Mission complete. What shall we do now? Celebrate, woohoo!”

  I was stuck in that pod for two weeks. I learnt to tolerate Roy’s bad singing and incessant enthusiasm. I noticed, after the first we
ek, that he’d disabled the escape pod’s distress call. I reactivated it and was eventually found by a Dalmaineon freighter, on its way to Earth. I’m, now, looking forward to us landing, so I can finally remove the remaining mind implants.

  “Oh, but you wouldn’t. We were getting along - you and me. Anyway, we have our mission, remember? We have to blow up the ship.”

  Part 3: Rhea Reborn

  Chapter 1

  I woke up with her standing over me. It was the same almost every morning, for the last two years. I’d see her muttering by the window, in my corner of the cell. She looked out at the night sky. Straining her eyes to see something, and some nights she’d see it. Rhea - a wandering speck in the night sky.

  I’ve been to Rhea myself, over a century ago, before the stories started to emerge of how dangerous a planet it was. I ended up losing somebody there. Someone I felt close to. I could see that Florina had also suffered on that planet. We barely spoke of it, but I felt it was something we had in common and I tolerated her presence.

  She didn’t explain what she’d done to end up here but I got to see something of her power. She would wander about, arguing with herself, and occasionally things would happen.

  It was when she opened the door to the cell that I realised she could be the key to my escape.

  The guards couldn’t understand how it had happened, so they punished me. They thought I could have been tampering with the locks. I was the dominant figure in the cell, I got to sleep by the window, I was the one to blame.

  I’d been lying on the floor, half asleep, when the door unlocked. We all have to sleep on the floor, with just a bit of straw for comfort. I don’t have a problem holding onto my bedding, but Florina would lose most of hers to the others in the cell.

  “No,” I heard her say firmly to herself, as the doors bolts clanged and the air pressure pushed the door open, “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

  I stared at the open door, tempted to take my chance. If I attempted to run, punishment would have been months of solitary confinement, and one unlocked cell door wasn’t nearly enough to escape from Death’s Hold - prison moon for the Dalmaineon Republic.

  It’s a cruel and ancient legacy from their decades of dictatorship. Only a quarter of the moon was used for female inmates - the quarter of the moon that never received any sunlight - never received any visitors. Women were sent here to be forgotten, and I was no exception.