Stolen Minds

  *****

  Hannah and Lola followed John out the lift into a room filled with buzzing electronics, holographic interfaces and flashing lights. Everything was pristinely organised and the large windows offered an outstanding, panoramic view of the whole city of Safe Haven; and there was a view of the holographic clear sky above.

  “Welcome to Atlas’s Sky Hub,” John said as he promptly started walking towards a console and Hannah followed, while Lola cautiously surveyed the room.

  "Greetings Mayor," Atlas welcomed. "How may I assist you today?" Atlas asked and John ignored the question.

  “Hannah?” A disembodied voice called and Hannah turned to the screen beside her to see a video image of Nathan in John’s Office. “I figured I’d get this interface working, so that I could see what was going on there,” Nathan added.

  “We just got here Duke; John was just about to enter the codes to give us access to the consoles, weren’t you?” Hannah replied.

  “Of course,” John said and promptly entered the codes.

  "Access granted," Atlas informed and Hannah immediately started searching the database for the file she needed.

  “By the way, you were pretty quick to run out the other night, and you never called,” John said and Nathan’s facial expression changed.

  “What, you didn’t tell him?” John said after watching both Hannah and Nathan. “My, my. Don’t look so surprised, it couldn’t be helped, you were gone Nathan and she has needs…” John said with a smirk.

  “Shut up!” Hannah said.

  “My mistake; he is surprised because my Guardians are at this very moment apprehending him,” John said in a very serious tone, and Guardians could now be seen on the video feed, with weapons pointed at Nathan. Hannah snapped her sidearm and pointed the barrel firmly at John.

  “Release him,” Hannah said menacingly.

  “I knew we shouldn’t have trusted you,” Lola said and she unsheathed her sonic blades.

  “It’s OK, we’ve got what we needed from him…” Hannah said.

  “And so have I,” John interrupted and three Heavy Armour Sentinels smashed through the windows. Hannah felt panic rise to the surface inside her, she chanced a glance at Lola’s determined glare and Hannah hardened her resolve.

  A holographic image came to life and Hannah realised that for the first time she was looking at a virtual construct of Atlas, and he looked like a Rebu, but his image seemed to twitch and she also caught the impression of a Human face, for a brief moment.

  “Hannah, I don’t know if you’re receiving this but the Mother Ship is on its way to Safe Haven, I repeat Mother Ship enroute to Safe Haven. I’ve already told Rohan and they are on their way to you. I hope you’re OK, Hank out,” Hank broadcasted over their secure communication network.

  “My men have already begun writing an antivirus for your little software upload, and like Atlas, the Rebu Mother Ship is under my control; yes, I know about the Rebu. Put down your weapons and live, it's pointless to resist,” John said.

  “Bastard,” Lola said but she didn’t drop her blades.

  “But how? Why?” Hannah asked as she tried to stall for time, while her implant continued the search for the shutdown file on Atlas’s database. If she could shutdown Atlas then the balance would shift in her favour.

  “I have lived among Humans for many miserable decades, always the Mayor of Perimeter 1 but with a different face. I was forced to wear this feeble skin and bear the stench of this Human filth, simply because the Council covertly declared me Safe Haven’s warden. Apparently, Atlas was designed to protect against manipulations to its coding, it is self-aware and sees such manipulations as a threat to its existence, not to mention the actions that it’s forced to commit on its humans. It’s my job to make sure that it continues to serve the Council’s interests,” John said. “But that was before the Council sent me Annabelle of Maxim, contained within the shell that we have all come to know as Dr. Hannah LeBeaux. Even trapped, your prodigious ability bled through and you created for me my redemption; Select turns a job that would have taken decades, into something that could be completed in a matter of years. So, ex-Councillor Annabelle, you have my thanks,” John added as two more Sentinels entered the Sky Hub.

  “Don’t call me that,” Hannah said.

  “So you’re a Rebu and you plan on sucking the life out of us?” Lola asked.

  “Such a great talent for stating the obvious, but what other purpose could such a lesser life-form possess?” John replied and turned to the Sentinels. “I see that you captured another intruder,” John said pointing to unconscious female Rebu that one of the Sentinels carried.

  “She must have been the one who halted production at the Sentinel Base, no matter, I’ll deal with that issue shortly,” John said. “And then I’ll shed this wretched form, but oh, you won’t be around to see that...” John added with a menacing smile. “Kill them,” John ordered as he walked away towards the large windows.

  “Coward!” Lola raged and in that moment Daniel and Rohan, who were disguised as Sentinels, sprang into action and engaged the other Sentinels.

  “Protect Hannah!” Daniel screamed at Lola, just as she was about to join the fight.

  “Damn resistance, to hell with it,” John muttered. “Take me to the Sentinel Base,” John added, and a Sentinel promptly broke from the skirmish and flew the Mayor out the window, away from the Sky Hub.

  “You need to get them out of here!” Sophia screamed, while ducking from cover to cover trying not to get hit by stray fire, as she made her way toward Hannah. The pristine hub had turned chaotic and surges of electricity sparked from ruptured circuits.

  “Leave it to me,” Lola said and promptly charged into the fight, expertly wielding her sonic blades to deflect the searing hot rounds. She had identified her target as being neither Rohan nor Daniel, it fought like neither of them. And with that conviction, her suits offensive systems came online; her speed increased and she felt more energy course through her. Swift as a breeze, she exploited an opening and found herself facing the Sentinel target, and in the next instance she slashed at it with her blade. As she expected the Sentinel stepped back to avoid the deadly blow, so she launched herself and kicked it backwards, edging it closer towards the window. Suddenly, she felt a hard blow break through her personal defence shield and it grazed her head. As Lola fell, losing consciousness, Daniel brushed past her and caught the Sentinel beside the window in the abdomen, and he carried it out the window. Hannah was frantic, shifting her focus between the battle and her database search, safely protected behind cover with Sophia beside her. There was a loud explosion and Hannah peered up to see Rohan holding an extended arm, with visible electrical surges coursing around it. He clenched his fists and the surges disappeared:

  “I have to go,” Rohan said simply to Sophia, as he ran towards the windows and launched himself into the air towards Daniel. Sophia looked to Hannah and saw the fear that she felt in Hannah’s eyes.

  “I’d better check on Lola,” Sophia said and she placed her arm lightly on Hannah’s shoulder, before walking off to Lola’s unconscious form.

  “I’ll… check on Duke,” Hannah said wrenching her mind from its astounded state.

  “Duke, are you there?” Hannah said via her communicator.

  “Hannah! Thank goodness… I thought you were dead…” Nathan started. “So I… I just… I… “ Nathan stuttered.

  “Hang on Nathan, I’m activating a visual feed,” Hannah said as the visual display came online. “Goodness…” Hannah said shocked by the images that she was seeing. There was blood everywhere and the bodies of the Guardians lay unmoving around the office, the marble ornamental model of Safe Haven sat at its post on the desk, with bloodstains all over it.

  Nathan sat at John’s desk with his head low and his undertaker uniform stained in blood; his hand rested on the desk, tightly gripping his sidearm.

  “I just snapped… I don’t know what came over me, all these peopl
e…” Nathan said.

  “I knew he shouldn’t have been receiving military training, but he insisted, saying he would rather do the same thing everyone else did… ” Sophia said as she interrupted her scans on Lola to watch the live feed of John’s Office.

  “Duke, it’s going to be OK. We’re alive but Daniel is still fighting and so is Rohan, Lola is unconscious and Sophia is tending to her, she’ll be with you once she’s done. I know you’re hurting right now but… “ Hannah said.

  “Hannah can you hear me?” Hank’s voice interrupted.

  “Hank, it’s John Grayson, the Mayor, he’s the one controlling everything. He’s a Rebu and has control of the Mother Ship and Safe Haven. He’s on his way to the Sentinel Base now and I’m guessing he wants to make more of them, so you have to destroy that ship or get off it somehow,” Hannah blurted.

  “I’m sorry we can’t do that… We need this ship to return home and force the Council to reverse its position on Earth, otherwise all of this will be for nothing,” Hank replied.

  “Then take control of it,” Hannah replied.

  “Easier said...” Hank said. “If John Grayson is who he says he is, then he is the Captain of this ship and it seems that only the Captain of this ship can access its main console, let alone enter any useful codes,” Hank added. “Were you able to shut down Atlas? That should slow down Sentinel production...”

  “I’ve just started running the program,” Hannah replied.

  “How long?” Hank asked.

  “Hard to say, a lot of Atlas’s hardware up here has been damaged. I’d say anything between fifteen and thirty minutes,” Hannah replied. “And before you ask, no we can’t just blow it up because that would trigger a fail safe sequence, trapping everyone in Safe Haven and since the Mayor, the only one who can fix it, obviously has no interests in fixing it, we’re screwed; who knows how long it will take to rebuild Atlas’s systems.”

  “OK, let your program run. What about the others?” Hank asked.

  “Lola is pretty banged up, but Sophia is taking care of her and Nathan is sitting in a room of half a dozen Guardians that he just killed…” Hannah said.

  “Damn, that’s rough, but this is a war and we have lost people on both sides…” Hank interrupted.

  “You’re right, but I can’t help wondering if it’s worth it,” Hannah said.

  “Don’t start questioning your convictions now, you’re in too deep and there are many more people who are alive that are depending on us. Where’s Rohan?” Hank said.

  “He went after Daniel; by the way, can you believe it, he’s alive!” Hannah said.

  “Yes, I heard. Rohan told me earlier, when I was having trouble reaching you on your communicator,” Hank replied.

  “I can’t believe he survived… I saw that thing sticking out of his chest,” Hannah said.

  “Rebu have two hearts, we can survive with one, but not for very long without medical treatment. It’s like I said before, we Rebu are hard to kill…” Hank said.

  “Indeed we are…” Hannah’s implant said to her, taking her a little by surprise.

  “Anyway, when you’re done there, do whatever you can to capture John, we must gain full access to this ship,” Hank said ending the transmission. Hannah felt odd, there was no pain in her head and the once persistent pounding had now disappeared, but she felt like she was only an observer within her body. Suddenly, she felt her body spasm…

  “I’ve found you…” Her implant said. “Treatment complete, mental bonds reinitialising… Reversion completed…” Hannah's implant continued in voice that sounded eerily like Hannah’s and then Hannah lost consciousness but her body remained standing.

  “I can’t believe she rushed in like that…” Sophia said while stabilising Lola’s vital signs. “She’s truly a brave one… They all are.”

  “We all are, we who fight the Rebu High Council and all its power and influence,” Hannah’s mouth spoke with a smile and a voice that wasn’t hers. Sophia lifted her head from what she was doing and looked towards Hannah.

  “Are you OK Hannah?” She asked.

  “Especially you Sophia, you gave up the name and honour of Traxis for my cause,” added the strange voice.

  “Annabelle…” Sophia asked and then Hannah’s suit began to surge bright blue energy currents and the false skin that once covered Hannah’s body shed, and it fell to the floor, revealing the grey alien skin beneath. Sophia rushed to her side already conducting a bioscan on Annabelle, but as she approached the strange phenomenon subsided.

  “Annabelle, is it you?” Sophia asked.

  “Sophia… It has been too long,” Annabelle said.

  “I can’t believe it worked!” Sophia exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around Annabelle. “What do you remember?”

  “My memories are strange… People called me Hannah… No that was someone else wasn’t it?” Annabelle said.

  “I’m not sure but yes, I think that it was,” Sophia replied.

  “I’m having flashes… But I don’t understand,” Annabelle said and then started to rub her temple.

  “Hannah… I was trapped inside Hannah… But then where is Hannah…” Annabelle thought out loud. Her expression hardened with determination and she flew out the window, racing towards the Sentinel Base, determined to get answers…

  “She didn’t even let me finish my scans…” Sophia muttered to herself with a hopeful smile before deciding to see to Nathan, who was still sat in the same position.

  *****