Ghost of Mind Episode One

  Chapter 7

  Alice

  The cold and wind and ice still hadn't cut through her, frozen her to the spot, or even dented her mood.

  Because he was gone. He'd transported away. Why in all that is holy had the man followed her off the railing, Alice didn't know. Though she could appreciate that his armor was better than anything else in the slums, the weather of Orion Minor was unforgiving.

  But he was gone. And just in time. She'd heard his armor creaking, cracking up, giving way. She'd smelt the fear, listened as his heart had started to go haywire in his chest.

  Alice didn't indulge in a laugh or a smile, and neither did she redirect her falling body towards the building. Though she could probably latch a hold of it, clamber up and through some hole in the side, she wasn't going to bother.

  She'd already made the decision to fall all the way down to the planet's surface below. The salt and snow covered surface that was legendary for its particularly horrendous beasts and monsters.

  It wouldn't bother her. The cold and animals should keep the security forces away for now. Then all Alice had to do was track across the landscape until she found a block sufficiently far away from Alpha that no one would look for her.

  Then Alice would begin life again. And if that didn't work - if John Doe still wouldn't give up or if he somehow figured out that the fall hadn't killed her - she'd find her way off the planet. No matter the costs, no matter how hard it was, she'd do it. Alice had no other option.

  As the wind slammed into her, it did not force her against the building; she held her ground. She made herself heavy, redirecting her energy to increasing her relative weight. It kept her anchored against the wind and ensured the salt glanced off with no damage.

  Just as the white, ice-covered surface of the planet below came snaking into view, something happened.

  A light. The familiar bright yellow of a transport beam. It sliced right through Alpha Block beside her, right at her.

  She had a split second. She rammed her eyes wide, her body stiffening in a snap.

  She did not have time to move out of its way; it would have her signal anyway.

  The beam locked onto her.

  The light began to condense over her form, shifting right through her as it tried to break down her molecules.

  But it was not going to happen. While Alice could not allow herself to undergo an in-depth biological scan, she could also never allow herself to be transported. The whole process would reveal exactly what she was. Plus, there was another, far more prominent problem; transportation was based on Old Tech.

  And Old Tech, no matter how removed from the original devices developed by her forebears, always responded the same way around her.

  As the beam tried its hardest to break her down, it suddenly surged. The light grew to a blinding, blistering white just as Alice's own eyes widened as far as they could, the skin around them drawing so tight it could snap.

  Alice, baring her teeth, letting the burning sensation of the beam travel through her, concentrated with all her might.

  As the light surged, the beam itself became ten times as strong. Whereas before it could have safely transported anyone within a 200 kilometer radius, now it could service half the planet.

  Nothing in the Union tech database could do that, unless it was attached to one of the giant generators in a Union Forces’ battle cruiser.

  But despite the light, despite the strength of the beam, Alice fought.

  And she won. The beam suddenly doubled back on itself, snapping around like a whip, not a light, then it crashed into a section of the planet below. There was a massive burst of energy, then pop. Nothing. A 100 meter block of snow and salt was suddenly gorged out of the surface below her, the beam snapping it up and transporting it away instead of her.

  Alice, eyes still so tightly held open that she could have crushed her own cheek bones, continued to fall. But whereas before she had controlled her descent, her arms and legs stiff and wide to slow her fall, she no longer had the energy.

  She flopped, the hood finally fluttering form her eyes as the winds of Orion Minor ripped into it.

  Alice was strong. Unbelievably resilient when classed against a soft-fleshed race. She was the last of the Old Ones, after all.

  But she was not immortal. She was not immune to damage. She would not be spared from death.

  And though she had a list of abilities that would make Commander John Doe blush, her weaknesses were worse.

  She could be sapped dry in an instant. Old Technology had used the energy of the very creatures that had created it. While Alice could operate it, if she was not careful the Tech would steal right into her soul and take away everything. Every last scrap of life and power.

  That had been the downfall of the Old Ones, she was sure of it. And right now, as the transport beam had feasted on her power, it might be the end for Alice too.

  She plummeted.