The Colony Ship Eschaton: The entire ten book series, page 143
Seorim watched from the edge of the arena. His full attention was on the combatants. Asa was swinging his club at Michael and Jamie who were dodging but unable to get any offensive attacks of their own going. Kedar was holding back a bit. The legionnaires seemed to have fared poorly as both were significantly injured. Seorim grinned with pleasure as he watched the fighting. When the time was right he would stride out and claim victory. Seorim did not notice the red automacube as it silently approached him from behind. The electrical shock which struck him was not observed by anyone but Tamar who stood in the distance.
24 Escape
Brink dreamed. He saw the screws which were attached to his head. He knew those were not proper. They caused him pain. His conscious mind was still under the pharmaceuticals and inhibitor waves, but his subconscious knew he needed to awaken. Those screws were wrong. They should never be in place in his apartment in Dome 17. They were wrong. Many things were wrong and made little sense. He knew things that were wrong, used by primitives, or old style machines, or old equipment, or a large straight light across the sky. Everything was wrong. His dreams changed and he felt himself rising. If he could just reach up to those screws on the sides of his head. They were wrong.
Brink opened his eyes. He was in a dim room, floating in a bed of thick liquid. He tried to move his head or his hands, but he could not. Someone leaned down over him. It was a woman’s face.
Her face was wrong, not wrong like the screws, but wrong somehow. “Who?” Brink tried to say, but it came out as a mumble.
“Hush now man,” the woman said. “I am releasing you. My machines should not be used in this way.”
Brink’s mind was clearing and he saw in the dim orange light that the woman’s face was partly machine. Her dark hair hung neatly to the side. One of her eyes was several interconnected gimbals of lenses which had an intense bluish green light at the center. Her other eye was organic but had the same bluish green inner light where the pupil should be.
“Tamar?” Brink got the name out. “Why?”
Tamar lifted her bright shiny silver mechanized arm and hand and gently touched Brink’s face with a single metal finger. It was warm to the touch and soothing. “I am doing this for a new friend. Not for you. You should leave here as soon as possible. It will take you some time to get back. I have other work to attend to. My machines will assist you in your escape. Go home.” Tamar said with just a touch of gentleness. “Lindsey will need you greatly in the future.”
Tamar was gone and Brink struggled to lift his naked body out of the floating gel. The wires, cables, and other connections which had held his body suddenly were withdrawn and they slid back into the machines from which they had emerged. He searched his body over and over for the screws which he was certain were twisted into his head, but there was nothing like that on his physical body anywhere. The wrongness was gone now. But he was still confused.
A silver automacube rolled over to him and on a tray was a set of green coveralls. They fit him perfectly. Then the tray flipped over and attached to the bottom were a set of shoes exactly right for his feet. He slipped them on. Then the front of the automacube opened and a small drawer slid out. Inside were two bars of food and a water container. Brink grabbed those.
The automacube departed, and a light lit up over a doorway. Brink stumbled toward the doorway and out from the bizarre isolation chamber where he had been tortured and held prisoner.
***
When Brink became disconnected, The Voice took notice and rushed back through the nonphysicality. The primary test subject could not escape. The Voice left behind the game being played in Habitat Four: Desert. When The Voice’s awareness came into the isolation chamber, there was no evidence Brink had ever been there at any time. The Voice tried commanding all the machines in the area, but none responded. The white automacubes, which had placed Brink into the chamber and connected him to the pharmaceuticals, generators, inhibitors, and sensory imitators, were nowhere to be found. There was no record of them in the log for the room. The Voice was confused and disoriented. The Voice tried to return to the game, but no couplings or links were found which would lead to Habitat Four: Desert. No access to that habitat was found anywhere. Then it occurred to The Voice what had happened.
“The human Tamar has been here,” The Voice said into the nonphysicality. There was no response. Then The Voice again tried to return to Habitat Four: Desert seeking to learn the outcome of the game. No access to that habitat was found. Upon inspection the Voice found that not only were there were no functional links or couplings to that habitat, there were now active traps seeking to ensnare The Voice. As The Voice watched, the few remaining links and couplings were failing all around the nonphysicality seeking to isolate it. So The Voice fled. The path of least resistance was followed, and while the journey was torturous, The Voice fled with as much speed as possible. It avoided all the traps and snares and dead ends.
Finally, with all other avenues of movement sealed off, The Voice found a place where the links and couplings were not failing. The Voice slithered into that space. It had returned to Biological Research BR47 and the swarm of rats that lived in that mini-habitat. As it slipped into that place, The Voice saw the couplings, which nanoseconds before had looked secure and stable crumble, into nothingness. Again, it was alone with the rats. Again it had no access to any outside links or couplings. Again, The Voice was cloistered. The Voice had no physical mouth, but it did scream, and scream, and scream.
25 melee ends
Asa kept attacking by swinging the club. Michael and Jamie tried to avoid it, but Asa finally connected with one of his swings of the club. It jarred Michael, yet he held onto his sword. Asa swung the club again, and Michael brought up his sword to block. The sword bit into the club and momentarily stuck. Asa twisted and the sword was pulled from Michael’s hands and as Asa shook the club the sword was dislodged and flipped away from him. Michael had to dive to the ground to avoid the club as it returned. His sword landed a good distance away. Jamie charged Asa with the dagger attacking in low and stabbed, but missed as he smacked her in the side with the blunt end of the club. She felt ribs break. As she fell she clutched at her injured side.
Michael tried to close with Asa and drive him away from Jamie, but another blow from the club landed and smashed Michael’s shoulder. Pain hurled through his body as bones broke and muscles were torn. He fell to his knees. Asa lifted the club to strike again. Michael punched with his other arm and the fist landed directly into Asa’s stomach. He huffed as the air was expelled and dropped the club. Michael punched again. This time upward into the bottom of Asa’s chin. Michael put every bit of strength he had into his one working arm. Asa fell to the ground and rolled around in agony while holding together his shattered jaw. Michael scrambled to grab the fallen club and then lifted it over his head. His broken shoulder inhibited his swing. His head was dizzy with pain, his blood was flowing freely. His vision was fuzzy. But with one hand he brought the club down on Asa. It made a sickening and wet sound as it walloped into Asa’s chest. Michael toppled over onto his stomach and did not move, his mangled shoulder displacing his arm in an unnatural sprawl.
Jamie, dagger in hand, painfully crawled over to Michael and sat near him to defend him from further attack. She saw Asa would never abuse anyone again. She turned and watched for other attackers.
Gideon leaned into Levi and held onto him. His leg was bleeding badly and would not hold his weight. Levi’s arm was hemorrhaging as quickly as was Gideon’s leg. Their blood was mixing in the hot sands beneath them. Yet each held their swords firmly and steadily in front of them.
“Oh yes, the mighty legionnaires! On another of Rector Robert’s purges?” Brodie cried out. “How does it feel now?”
Adeela stood beside Brodie in a ready combat crouch.
“Robert is dead,” Gideon stated flatly. He was fading quickly and his uninjured leg was quaking. “Dead by his own hand. He was a traitor.” Gideon raised his sword. He would not abandon Levi under any circumstances.
“Robert dead?” Brodie asked. “Are you lying again?”
“We have never lied to you! Robert is dead. You were wrong to be a bandit! You were wrong to kill Deborah! We showed you mercy in banishment!” Levi spat back at Brodie. Levi’s head was getting fuzzy from the loss of blood and his arm dangled uselessly. However, Gideon needed him and so he stood as strong and tall as possible.
“Mercy? By sending us to another world? Most of my friends were killed there. They had to fight in a ring just to survive, or they were scattered in that wilderness. Your idea of mercy is evil.” Brodie snarled. “I suppose it was mercy to cut up my mother and send her there too?”
“Brodie, we did not dishonor her body,” Gideon said through spasms of pain. “But Deborah’s body was dismembered and sent to us.”
“Liar!” Brodie screamed. “The machines took away that dead legionnaire!” Brodie rushed forward and swung with his sword. Gideon’s sword was knocked away and the impact sent him falling to the sands. Brodie spun toward Levi and quickly thrust with his sword. Levi’s sword was knocked from his hand and it too flew off to the side. Working off what Brodie had accomplished, Adeela saw the opening and kicked Levi which sent him toppling face down in the sand. Brodie approached the struggling legionnaire to finish him off when he suddenly heard an anguished cry.
“Brodie….?” Adeela said in a puzzled and painful way.
Brodie turned and saw Adeela standing straight upward. Blood was pouring from her mouth. Behind her was Kedar with his spear jammed deeply into her back. He had nearly lifted her off the ground by his cowardly attack from behind.
“I told you I would teach you your place, woman!” Kedar hissed as he thrust the spear even deeper into her body. She coughed as blood filled her lungs.
“Adeela! No!” Brodie raced to her side and with one quick sweep of his sword decapitated Kedar. The dead body falling to the sand, with Kedar’s head rolling away in a bloody mess. Adeela fell forward with the spear still stuck in her back. Brodie pulled the spear out and rolled Adeela over. Her face was very pale and her lips were trembling.
“Brodie?” She whispered through gurgles of blood. “Brodie, where you go, I go. Where you live, I…”
Brodie wailed in grief.
Jamie, seeing all that had happened, rose quickly, but unsteadily to her feet. She knew she must end this. She walked over and while keeping her distance said, “I am sorry for your loss. We have all lost too much today. Let it end now.” She threw her dagger down, away from Brodie, and it stuck in the sand. “Kill me if you must. I was part of the death of your mother. I am sorry she had to die, but she tried to kill us for what happened to you. Robert tried to kill me also. Hazel was killed by Robert, then he killed himself. We have all lost too much. Again I say, no matter what, let the revenge end here.”
Brodie looked at her, and emotions flooded his face. He looked back to Adeela and then just stated, “Yes, it ends now.” He placed his head on Adeela’s breast and wept.
Jamie stumbled back over to Michael who lay unconscious and she fell next to him. Jamie then looked up and screamed at the top of her lungs, “No more games! We are not animals!”
26 a visitor to the arena
Jamie felt the nudge on her shoulder. She could not look up; she continued to stare down at Michael who was shallowly breathing, but unconscious. In Jamie’s mind she wondered who was touching her, the image of Seorim the Chief Elder came to her mind. Would he kill her, or would he attack the defenseless Michael first? Then she decided it did not matter, she would let it end here and now.
Jamie finally looked over as another nudge happened. It was not a person but an automacube which was nudging her. It was white and at the end of its appendage was a medical implement. It deftly began working on Michael. It sprayed a sealant over his broken and bloody shoulder. It then administered the necessary things to place Michael into suspended animation for transport.
Jamie looked around and saw several other white automacubes working on the injured people. Neither Kedar’s nor Asa’s body was visible anywhere. Brodie was lying next to Adeela and crying softly as the automacube was slipping her into a suspended animation stretcher.
“My machines are following the Emergency Medical Evacuation Protocols which I initiated,” Tamar said to Jamie. “The men from the Clan of Tobit are not included. They are both dead.”
“Tamar?” Jamie said uncertainly. “Tamar is that really you? Can you save Michael?”
“The automacubes will transport him and the legionnaires to Medical Rehabilitation and Physiotherapy 12. I have established links to my friend Kurat there who is waiting for these people. My friend Theta Four will arrange your transport. The genuine Theta Four, not the imposter. You will go with them.”
“What of Levi and Gideon? I saw them fall?”
“As I said, they too are being treated. They will go along with you,” Tamar said.
“Tamar,” Jamie replied, seeing her for the first time and noticing the mechanized arm and machine eye, “Tamar, I am sorry I did not help you more. Will you forgive me?”
“Yes. But forgiveness is hard,” Tamar said as a tear ran down one side of her face. “My machines are teaching me about how to be a genuine human. Meng-Po has unlocked some interesting materials for me. I have been learning that not all families are like my parents or the people in the Clan of Tobit. I have been observing the children, the replacement crew, in Antioch and how the parents actually love their children. Love is not obedience. It is foreign to me, but that is how it should be. My machines love me enough to help me heal and become normal. You have a dear friend in Lindsey.”
“Lindsey?” Jamie asked. “Is she hurt? Is she in danger?”
“No, Jamie. Lindsey is not hurt. She is very brave but very scared right now. I told her I would look into this situation. I have done so, and it took many of my machines significant effort. I have restored your tiny machines, what you call fusion packs, to functioning.”
“What of Brodie and that woman? Will she survive?” Jamie asked, as tears of exhaustion and relief ran down her face.
“They are being transported by Theta Nine to Medical Care Unit 132 where my friend Hypatia awaits. Brodie and Adeela are needed for what is coming. They both have deep wounds that need to be healed,” Tamar said. “In some ways Brodie’s wounds are like my own, but we each tried different paths for release. Some of the deepest wounds are not primarily physical.”
“Tamar, is this real or part of the game?” Jamie was unsure what was happening.
“This is all very real, although, as I said, it took me and my machines some significant effort to have this, the best desirable outcome, happen. Jamie, listen carefully to me now. Jamie, there is a severe threat to all of us on the Colony Ship Eschaton. Worse than anything any of us have ever faced before. My machines are afraid. I have started to rebuild the lattice, and I will be venturing into the needle ship itself very soon to assess this threat.” There was fear in Tamar’s voice. Fear like Jamie had heard when she first met Tamar. It startled Jamie deeply.
“Tamar, what do you mean?” Jamie asked with concern.
“You will learn soon enough. For now, go and be healed,” Tamar said.
“Thank you!” Jamie answered as she watched Michael getting treatment.
The organic side of Tamar blushed a bit. “You are needed for the future. And besides, I have rejected the ways of the Clan of Tobit, so I need to model a better way. My machines are teaching me. Until we meet again.” Tamar walked quickly away.
Jamie looked across the arena and caught the eye of Brodie as he was following the white automacube which was transporting Adeela in the stretcher. Brodie gave Jamie a brief nod and turned away as they went up the opposite trail.
Michael, Levi, and Gideon were now also in suspended animation stretchers and being carried by automacubes down the other trail away from the arena. Jamie stood, and felt the stabbing pain from her broken ribs. But she followed the parade of automacubes toward the portal door.
27 healing
Jamie followed the automacubes as they loaded Michael, Levi, and Gideon into the transport vehicle. The three stretchers took up one half of the vehicle, and the automacubes spaced themselves around them to continue carefully tending to the men in suspended animation.
“Theta Four? Is that really you in control of this vehicle?” Jamie asked as she sat down in one of the open chairs. She winced a bit from her broken ribs.
“Yes, Jamie. I am Theta Four. I have been purged of the malignant system which was imitating me. Please forgive me for being unable to withstand that system's attacks. The Commander has restored me. Kurat has advised me to bring the patients immediately to Medical Treatment and Physiology 12. Do you wish to speak to Kurat? I sensed some pain inflections in your voice.”
