Red Eden: Homeworld Bound | Chapter 6: Friend or Foe
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Chapter 6: Friend or Foe
Jack jumped out of bed with a cry.
A pigtailed girl in a blue dress stood at the doorway with her hands on her hips. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”
Stunned by her sudden appearance, Jack grabbed the photo album off the bed and held it up. “That's you in here, innit? Who-what are you?”
She gasped. “Give it back!” She ran to him and jumped up and down. “Give it back! Give it back!” She grabbed the album and scurried into one of the adjacent rooms.
Jack followed her into a cluttered room. She sat on a bed with her back to the door. Her shoulders heaved as she wept into her hands. He took a step towards her and stumbled over a dollhouse. This was the second time tonight he'd nearly tripped over a child's toy. Mildly annoyed, he kicked it aside and knelt by her bedside. “Hey there, what's your name?”
“Ella.”
“Hi, Ella. I'm Jack. Why are you crying?”
“Nana's gone. Everyone's gone.”
Jack glanced at the green photo album next to her. “Your nana must have passed away over a hundred years ago. Have you been living alone here all this time?”
“It doesn't feel that long ago.”
This was the same girl who hadn't aged one iota in fifteen years' worth of photographs. Could she be a supernatural being? A mutant? The result of some sort of sick genetic experiment? Jack's curiosity had been piqued, and he wanted answers. “What's the last thing you remember?”
“After I said goodbye to Nana, I went to sleep.” Ella turned to look at him with her glistening blue eyes. “When I woke, everything looked different, like the city was turning into a forest.”
Jack wondered if she had recently come out of cryogenic stasis. “Are there others with you?”
“My friends – they're hiding. Anna says you might be dangerous.”
“Who's Anna?”
“A teacher. She looks after us.”
An adult would likely provide better answers than a sad little girl. “Do you think I could speak with Anna?”
Ella closed her eyes. After a few seconds, she opened them. “She says she'll be here shortly.”
Either the girl was pulling his leg or she had gone insane from a century of living alone. “I see. Are Anna and your friends... imaginary?”
She furrowed her eyebrows as if offended. “No.”
“Jack,” Derek called from the main room, “we've got company.”
Jack cast a wary glance towards Ella before walking out of the room.
Four others had entered the suite – two girls, one boy and a young woman. Jack parked his gaze on the young woman. Oh la la. Check out that brunette. Her wavy brown hair hung a few inches below her shoulders. She wore a beige cardigan over a white dress shirt, and a pair of jeans. She was a picture-perfect model of an old-timey twenty first century woman.
“Ain't this island supposed to be un-inhabitated?” Erwin asked. “Ellen, what the hell?”
“I'm not sure how to explain this,” Ellen said over the radio.
The more the merrier as far as Jack was concerned. He extended his hand to the cute brunette. “Anna, is it?”
“Yes.” She timidly shook his hand. “There are soldiers in the city. You don't look like one of them.”
“Nah, we're a different party. Say, you're not with those soldiers, are you?”
Anna shook her head. “Who are you?”
“I'm Jack. My friends here are Derek and Erwin.”
“Are you from America?”
“Close.” Jack winked at her. “Mars.”
“I see. That would explain your space helmets and your outlandish outfits. Forgive me. I am still a bit disoriented after waking up.”
Jack rolled his neck and shoulders. “We woke up from the deep freeze not too long ago ourselves. Joints are still a bit stiff.”
“Deep freeze?”
“Cryogenic stasis.”
“No, that's not what I meant. We've simply been... asleep.”
“You mean like Sleeping Beauty?” That was definitely going to be her new nickname.
Anna rubbed her temples. “Mother must have,” she grimaced, “decommissioned us.”
Before Jack could work out what she meant, Derek leaned over and whispered, “I think she's a machine. I'm picking up unusual EM signals emitting from her and those children.”
Jack sniggered. Then he saw the serious look on Derek's face.
Anna hugged herself. “Mother created me to teach and look after the children of this island. When there were no more children, I no longer had a purpose.”
“Why weren't there children?” Derek asked.
As Anna answered, Jack leaned closer to get a better look at her face. He barely paid attention to what she said as he was completely engrossed by just how real she looked. As he stared into her light brown eyes, the most human-looking eyes he had ever seen, he noticed that they were moist. She was crying.
“Why would a people collectively decide to have no children?” Derek asked, likely in response to her answer.
“I don't know,” Anna replied. “I am saddened by their decision. Life became very lonely without children.” A tear rolled down her cheek.
“No way,” Jack blurted out loud. “Robots don't cry.”
“We're more alike than you think,” she said, wiping away her tears. “Why have we been awakened? Does Mother need our services once more? Are you the new inhabitants of this island? But then who are those soldiers? Why is Mother so silent?”
“You're even more clueless than we are,” Derek said. “Who's this Mother you keep referring to?”
“How do you not know? Mother is she who created us, who presides over Eden.”
“Gabriella Romero,” Ellen whispered over the radio.
Oh shit, Jack thought.
Erwin approached Anna with a growl. “Yo mama's soldiers are trying to kill us.”
“What?” Anna stepped back. “Why?”
Erwin raised his left fist. “Because we're here to take back the Earth.”
Anna raised her hands. “I don't know anything about this conflict. Just keep me and the children out of it. Ella, get over here.”
Ella darted out of her room and hid behind Anna. The brunette gathered the children behind her. Jack could see the fear in her wide, watchful eyes. He still couldn't get over the fact that she was a robot.
“Jack, let's go,” Erwin said. “I'm not staying the night here with these things lurking over our shoulders.”
“Hold on,” Ellen said. “If they're still loyal to Gabriella, they might alert the soldiers.”
Erwin glared at Anna. “That's right. Can't let that happen.”
Jack didn't like where this was going.
“We won't tell anyone you were here,” Anna said as she continued to back herself and the children towards the door.
“Shit,” Ellen cussed. “They can hear our radio chatter. I'm switching to an encrypted channel. You guys should do the same.”
To Jack's horror, Erwin drew his Dapao Shredder and pointed it at Anna. “Hold it right there. You're not going anywhere.”
Anna pushed the children out the door. “Run!”
Jack slapped down Erwin's Shredder. “Are you insane? You're going to shoot an unarmed woman and her children?”
Erwin gave Jack an incredulous look. “They're robots.” The Huoxing man ran after Anna and the children.
“Erwin,” Jack yelled. “Shit.” He grabbed his bag and his Solokov and motioned for Derek to follow. Together, they ran after Erwin.
Jack reached the railings overlooking the dining hall. Erwin was halfway down the stairs. Anna and the children were out of sight, though Jack could hear the children screaming. “Erwin, just leave them alone.”
Erwin stopped and glared at Jack. “If she alerts those soldiers, our cover's blown, and it's your father's funeral.”
Jack bit his lips to keep from yelling expletives. He ran down the stairs and stormed past Erwin. “Anna, wait. We just want to talk.” He leaped over tables and chairs and charged into the lobby. Just ahead, the exit door slid shut behind Anna and the children. He chased after them. As soon as he stepped outside, a dozen beams of light focused on him. He stopped dead in his tracks, eyes squinting from the intense glare. He vaguely made out the black outline of Anna and the children kneeling on the ground with their hands in the air. Heavy rain pelted Jack's helmet. It sounded like the steady roll of a military drum.
“Martian,” a deep voice boomed over a loudspeaker, “drop your weapon.”
Jack held his left hand over his eyes and peeked through the gaps between his fingers. He saw at least a dozen soldiers with their guns pointed at him. Lightning flashed, thunder rolled, and Jack thought he heard a window shatter. Just as shards of glass rained down on him, Erwin's booming voice rang over the roll of the thunder. “Jack, get to cover!”
Gunfire erupted from above.
Jack dashed back through the entrance just as bullets ricocheted off the walls flanking him. A couple of bullets struck him in the back. It stung like a bitch, but he knew his suit would hold. He veered right and took cover behind the wall next to a window.
“Yeah, you like that?” Erwin shouted over the radio.
“They're taking cover behind their vehicles,” Derek said. “Jack, see if you can flank them.”
Jack had only basic military training, aside from the many hundreds of hours he had spent playing military sci-fi VR games, but he knew enough to understand a flanking manoeuvre. He cut across the dining hall in search for an alternative exit. He found an emergency exit in the hall leading to the kitchen. He took the exit and ran through the rain. He returned to the front entrance parking lot and took cover behind a bus.
As Gabriella's soldiers exchanged sporadic gunfire with Erwin and Derek, Jack darted from one car to the next, gradually making his way behind the enemy. He got to within fifteen metres of the soldiers. They had their backs to him as they fired their weapons from behind the cover of their armoured personnel carriers, of which there were three. He aimed his Solokov at the soldiers and opened fire. The enemy screamed as they fell to his bullets. Lightning flashed, and he saw blood spurting out of the enemy soldiers.
The survivors retreated into their armoured vehicles. A floodlight mounted to the roof of one of the vehicles swivelled towards him. He saw the black outline of a turret positioned next to the floodlight. There was a flash of light followed by a sonic boom, but it wasn't the thunder. Sparks danced next to his head, and then the ground beside him exploded, leaving a small crater.
“Holy shit,” Jack yelled. “Erwin, take out that turret.”
“On it,” Erwin responded.
Jack kept his head low as he scurried to the next car. He heard a terrible screeching noise, like metal screaming under torture. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that the car he had left behind had shrivelled into a tangled mess of metal under an intense barrage of bullets. The turrets on all three armoured vehicles were firing simultaneously at the same target. Then the turrets swept their gunfire across the parking lot, spraying bullets indiscriminately in all directions. If even one of those bullets hit him, he would have a real bad day.
He slung his Solokov across his back, prayed to God and scurried across the parking lot on all fours. Cars all around him wilted under the turrets' intense firepower. Sparks danced and chunks of pavement pelted his visor. He hopped over a concrete barrier, and a second later, it exploded into dust. He kept crawling until he reached the bus. From there, he stood up and ran back to the emergency exit on the other side of the retirement home. He was now safely out of the danger zone.
“One turret down,” Erwin called over the radio.
Jack ran inside the retirement home and made his way to the lobby.
“Two down,” Erwin said.
Jack took cover behind the wall next to the window facing the front parking lot. He heard a sonic boom followed by the sound of rending metal. He peeked out the window and saw a turret fly off the roof of one of the armoured vehicles.
“And that's number three,” Erwin said.
The armoured vehicles started rolling.
“You can't run from Big Bertha,” Erwin hollered.
Jack heard another boom. Sparks danced on the roof of the lead APC. The vehicle served towards him. He jumped out of the way just as it crashed through the window. He rolled across the floor, drew his Solokov and aimed at the tiny window in front of the driver's seat. Blood, brains and bits of bone had splattered all over the inside of the window.
The passenger door flung open. A black-clad soldier stumbled out, face covered in blood, screaming like a madman as he fired wildly in all directions.
Jack put a bullet through the soldier's head.
“Dammit,” Erwin said. “The other two got away.”
“Watch the sky for VTOLs,” Ellen said, “as soon as the storm breaks, they'll attempt to fly out of there.”
“I'll get on the roof and keep watch with Ol'Bertha,” Erwin said.
“Jack, you alright down there?” Derek asked.
Jack stared at the soldier he had killed. The sight of all that blood made him feel queasy. He let his Solokov fall to his side. “Jesus, Derek. How many people did we just kill tonight?”
“It was in self-defence,” Derek said.
“Technically, aren't we the invaders?”
“Jack, those soldiers are on the side of evil,” Ellen said. “Don't lose any sleep over them.”
Jack swallowed, though his mouth was dry. “Easy for you to say, floatin' up high in the clouds.” He tore his gaze away from the blood and gore. His next thought was of Anna and the children. He hurried over to the front door and ran outside. “Anna, are you there?” He spotted her and the children lying face-down on the pavement with their hands covering their ears. They were shaking, and soaking wet. He knelt next to Ella and put a hand on her back, causing her to flinch. “Hey,” he whispered. “It's over.”
Ella turned around and propped herself up on her elbows. She stared at him with wide eyes, her chest rising and falling rapidly. Do robots even need to breathe? He wondered.
“Jack,” Derek said.
Jack glanced over his shoulder.
Derek came to join him. “You think Anna told them we were here?”
Jack shook his head. “Those soldiers found us soon after we arrived. They must have spotted us on the highway.”
Derek bobbed his head. “It makes sense that they've got sentries posted throughout the city. We should be more careful from now on.” He tilted his chin towards Anna and the children. “What should we do about them?”
“I remind you,” Ellen said, “that those things can send and receive radio signals.”
Jack remembered how Ella had telepathically communicated with Anna. He cast a suspicious glance towards the android brunette. “Be honest with me, Sleeping Beauty. You wouldn't rat us out to those soldiers, would you?”
Anna shook her head. “We have nothing to do with them. We've been hiding from them. Without Mother to guide us, we don't know who to trust.”
“They fight for Gabriella, and Gabriella created you,” Derek said. “How do you feel about your creator?”
“There's no use denying our love for her. Clearly you Martians consider her your enemy. But we are just her children. We mean you no harm.”
“Don't let her doe eyes turn you stupid,” Ellen said. “You have to shut them down.”
Jack turned around, hissing. “That a euphemism, Ellen?”
“If you can't bring yourself to destroy them, then find their off-switch and flip it.”
Jack looked to Anna, then Ella. “Why? They're harmless.”
“You don't know that.”
“Shutting them off is like putting them in a coma. I won't do it.”
“If that thing didn't have a pretty face, you wouldn't hesitate to shut it down.”
Jack winced. Ellen had a point. A particularly sharp one.
“Jack,” Derek said, Solokov held at the ready.
Jack looked where Derek was aiming. Out of the darkness, a ring of antlered beasts stepped into the faint light emanating from the lobby entrance. Four-legged shadows prowled in the background, growling ominously.
The antlered beasts parted as a lone figure rode forward atop a long-maned chestnut horse. The rider wore a midnight-blue cloak with the hood pulled over his head, obscuring his face in darkness. He wore a white coat underneath his cloak and he carried a rifle on his back. The horse came to a stop a few paces from Jack. A yellow ring glowed in the animal's black eyes.
“I've been waiting for you,” said the hooded figure in a low, gravelly voice.
“Who are you?” Jack asked.
“I'm the guardian of this island. I kept watch over Gabriella's tomb.”
Jack eyed the ring of wild beasts that had encircled them. “You some kind of druid?”
The hooded figure raised his right hand. The beasts backed away a few steps. “Tell your trigger-happy friend on the roof not to get too excited. I'm not your enemy.”
“Erwin, hold your fire,” Jack said.
“I see bears down there, Jack. I'm real tempted to shoot them.”
“The animals of this island won't harm you,” said the hooded man, “so long as I control them.”
“How?” Derek demanded.
“Not unlike how you control your falcons.”
Derek snorted. “Is everything that moves on this island a robot? Are you a robot?”
“If I'm a robot, then you're a chimpanzee,” said the hooded man. He gestured at his animals. “These beasts are flesh and blood, but they are also so much more.”
Jack had no patience for cryptic answers. “Whatever. What do you want?”
“I want to help.”
“Why?”
“It was my life's mission to prevent the self-styled Mother of All Creation from rising from her tomb. Alas, it has already happened.”
“What's your beef with her?” Jack asked.
“Must you really ask? She was a tyrant. Use your imagination.”
Jack snorted. “Thanks for the insightful answer. I really trust you now.”
“The one named Hanlon. I warned him about Gabriella. He didn't listen.”
“Wait. You spoke with my father? When?”
“Just before the Edenites ground ashore on their longboats.”
“Did you see what happened?”
“The women surged forth, bringing with them their cretinous children. Because Hanlon was unwilling to harm these women and children, he ultimately allowed them to enter the tyrants's tomb unimpeded.”
Jack detested the man's judgemental tone. “I guess he was too much of a gentleman. It's a Hanlon family weakness, you see.”
“A weakness that will doom your people if you do not correct it. Those women who came with the barbarians – they are not human. They are Her children.”
Derek pointed at Anna. “You mean like her?”
The hooded stranger passed a casual glance over the androids. “These creatures are merely the prototypes. Go back to sleep, my children.”
Anna and the children collapsed onto the pavement.
“What did you do to them?” Jack demanded.
“I can control them just as I can control the creatures of this island.”
Jack knelt next to Ella and shook her limp body. The girl seemed dead. He glared at the hooded stranger. “The hell are you, man?”
“As I've said, I'm the guardian of this island, but you can call me Doctor Sorenson.”
Jack had half a mind to punch this loon in the nose. “You're a real creep, you know that?”
“Your android friends will be fine. I assure you.”
Jack clenched his fists. They'd better be.
“You said you're here to help,” Derek said. “How do you propose to do so? You gonna command your army of reindeer to stampede the enemy to death?”
“You have superior weapons and armour to your adversaries. You do not need me to help you fight. However, I don't call myself a doctor for vanity's sake. I am an actual doctor. If you ever require my services, come see me at my clinic at the town of Hofn.”
With that, the hooded man turned his horse around and trotted away. His beasts followed him. They disappeared into the haze formed by rain and darkness.
Jack scooped Ella up in his arms. “Derek, help me take them inside.”
One by one, Jack and Derek carried the four unconscious children into the building and laid them on a bed together in one of the empty suites. Jack came back down for Anna. He carried her into a separate suite and laid her to rest on a bed. Her clothes were still dripping wet. He didn't know if androids could feel cold. Nevertheless, he dried her off as best he could with the towels he found in the bathroom. He drew a heavy blanket over her body and tucked her in. Before leaving, he gently brushed her damp hair off her forehead and whispered, “Sweet dreams, Sleeping Beauty. I hope to talk to you again someday.” With that, he turned off the lights and shut the door behind him.
Derek waited in the hall, arms crossed and back pressed against the wall.
“Guys,” Ellen said over the radio, “The storm has cleared, and I’ve got a falcon overhead. The enemy’s closing in on you from all sides.”
“And we got two VTOLs bearing down on us,” Erwin said.
Jack uttered a tired groan. He didn’t sign up for this. He came for the adventure. He wanted to go sightseeing, preferably with a beautiful lady at his side. Instead, he got war. Damn that Gabriella. That bitch must have been a real party pooper back in her day.
“It’s suicide to try and fight them all,” Ellen said. “You’ll have to make a break for it.”
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