COLONY SHIP 02, UR: DOWNTOWN DISTRICT
Everything happened so fast.
One moment, Lee Okada was riding comfortably in the back of his personal sedan. The next… well, everything was a blur. He remembered a freight truck appearing out of nowhere. His bodyguard and driver, TX-8, had slammed on the brakes to avoid it, but it was too late. They must have hit the side of the truck, because Lee recalled hearing the crunch of metal and shattering glass. Then the sedan was spinning around like a top and Lee was thrown against the seat in front of him.
The world went dark after that. The next thing Lee knew, a pair of children—a human and a CAST—were hauling him from the car. Lee stood up and braced himself against the passenger door. His head was still spinning. Belatedly, he realized the human boy was speaking to him. “I’m Marten, by the way. This is Alpha, and the red bird over there is Charmie.”
The boy was rather young, maybe six years old, with clear blue eyes and a ridiculous leather cowboy hat on his head. His friend, the CAST, possessed a robotic body with red and white parts. And the bird… was a red Rappy, or something like it. Lee blinked twice to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating.
“Um, so, what’s your name?” asked the human.
Lee couldn’t care less about the children. Let the brats get vaporized with the rest of the filth. All Lee cared about was reaching the docking bay where his shuttle was housed. He needed to get away from
Ur before Typhon decided to blow them all to smithereens.
Still, it was a considerable hike to his destination. He might run into Darkers along the way. If that happened, the children would make good decoys. They would be slow and weak, easy prey. Disposable. He would sacrifice them at the first opportunity.
In that case, they might be useful to him after all. Lee smiled and replied, “Lesker. You can call me Lesker.”
It was an old alias, one of several he’d used over the years. He had the falsified documents to back it up… not that he expected to need them. He doubted the children had ever heard of Lee Okada before. Then again, anything was possible. They might have heard his name if they’d listened to the news lately. Either way, he wasn’t prepared to take that chance.
Better safe than sorry, he figured.
“Someone is still in the car,” the CAST boy, Alpha, was saying.
TX-8, Lee realized. The front half of the sedan was smashed up beyond recognition. It looked like an accordion. No way anyone could have survived a collision like that, not even a CAST. If TX-8 was in there, he was little more than scrap metal now. “My driver,” explained Lee, feigning sympathy. “He perished in the accident, I’m afraid. A terrible tragedy. Now come along, children, I’ll get you to safety.”
The CAST brat ignored Lee and rounded the sedan. He stopped in front of the driver’s side door—or what was left of it. Peering into the window, Alpha called out, “You are mistaken. This man is alive.”
The boy then got to work extracting him. It was a difficult job. First he had to straighten the vehicle’s metal chassis, which was twisted and bent from the crash. Lee took note of Alpha’s exceptional strength, his mind already plotting three steps ahead.
He may be a child, but he’s still a CAST. His strength and speed far exceed my own. I’d best keep that in mind when I throw him to the wolves…
Alpha tried opening the car door. It creaked and groaned but wouldn’t budge. Eventually the boy gave up and simply tore the door from its hinges. Inside the sedan, a CAST with sleek black armor was pinned beneath the steering wheel. Alpha carefully pried him from the vehicle’s vise grip and laid him down in the street. He was severely damaged, his body cracked and broken. He could hardly move.
“…—ank you… for your… —ssistance…,” droned TX-8. His vocal processors were barely functioning. They sounded like they might give out at any moment.
Hesitantly, Lee stepped forward and stopped beside Alpha. He glanced down and gave his crippled bodyguard a pitiless head shake. The prognosis, it seemed to him, was clear.
TX-8 swiveled his angular head to regard Lee. His glowing violet eyes offered no criticism or condemnation. If anything, they contained a twinge of regret. “Forgive me… —aster…”
Lee said nothing to TX-8. To Alpha he commanded, “The Darkers could show up at any moment. Leave him.”
The boy stayed where he was. In a calm, quiet voice he responded, “There may still be a chance to save him. We should not abandon him here in such dangerous conditions. It would be… unethical.”
Beneath his sunglasses, Lee’s right eye twitched. How dare the little brat talk back to him like that! Couldn’t he see TX-8 was a lost cause? This world was all about survival of the fittest. There was no room for mercy or weakness, not here or anywhere. “Listen up, boy,” he growled, trying to contain his anger, “you’ll come with me if you know what’s good for you. Think about your friends over there, the cowboy and the bird. Don’t you want to protect them? Keep them safe?”
Alpha nodded, slowly.
“Then
come on already. We’ve no time for this.”
Still the CAST wouldn’t move. He just stood there, indecisive. It took most of Lee’s willpower not to leave him on the spot.
In the end, TX-8 spared the boy from making a decision. His power core failed with little more than a tired whimper. The robot’s glowing eyes faded to a lifeless black, his broken body rendered completely slack. He was dead.
Finally, thought Lee. He tugged on Alpha’s shoulder and the boy reluctantly followed along. They returned to Marten and Charmie, waiting anxiously at the street corner.
“What happened?” asked the annoying boy in the cowboy hat.
“Nothing,” muttered Lee. No one said anything after that.
* * * * * * * * *
The further they walked, the more chaotic it got. Five blocks. Ten blocks. They kept going. Marten was starting to wonder whether it was a good idea letting a stranger lead them around. His mother taught him to always be wary of strangers.
“Be careful around adults you don’t know,” she had said. Then again, Selena had been a stranger once, too. She’d saved him when his old home,
Orpheus, got overrun by Darkers. So maybe this new stranger wasn’t so bad after all. Maybe he was just trying to help.
He sure didn’t act like it, though. Despite what Lesker said about getting them to safety, he seemed more concerned with saving himself. But Marten didn’t know where else to turn, or whom else to trust. He, Alpha, and Charmie were caught in the middle of a city besieged by Darkers. Selena and Delfoy were nowhere to be found. For the time being, the only one they could rely on was the mysterious man in the black business suit.
“Where are we going?” Marten finally asked.
“The north side docking bays,” Lesker answered brusquely. He didn’t bother turning around. “I have a shuttle there. We can escape this place until it’s safe to return.”
“What about Selena and Delfoy?”
“Who’s that?”
“My… my guardians, I guess.”
“They’ll have to find their own way out.”
“But—”
Lesker stopped in his tracks and faced the kid. “Let me give you a piece of advice, boy. Worry about yourself first and everyone else second. Do that, or you’ll end up getting yourself killed. This isn’t some video game. It’s not a fairy tale. And don’t think for a second that someone’s always going to be there to save your sorry ass when you need it most. Because when it comes right down to it, the only person you can count on is yourself. Now, I’m offering you a way out of this miserable hellhole. If you’ve got any sense, you’ll take it. Or would you rather I leave you and your friends here with the Darkers? Hm?”
Marten couldn’t read Lesker’s expression behind those dark sunglasses, but he got the distinct impression it wasn’t pleasant. The boy lowered his head and averted his eyes. “No, sir.”
“Then be quiet and do as I say.”
Marten nodded unhappily. He and his friends continued following Lesker down the street. They pushed their way past throngs of fleeing bystanders, navigated a sea of hastily abandoned cars, and stayed far away from the squads of ravenous Darkers sweeping the area. Then the group turned north, away from the downtown district, away from the roiling heart of the storm, and made their way through an area informally known as “Hotel Row.” It was where tourists and businesspeople liked to stay when they needed a room for the night, close to downtown but without actually getting caught up in the urban congestion.
They had just crossed to the east side of the street when it happened. Up ahead, a low rumble was quickly gaining in volume. Marten couldn’t figure out what it was or where it was coming from. It sounded like… rustling. Or maybe scratching? Like a thousand fingernails being dragged across a wire screen, but so numerous they lost all distinction. And then—
At the end of the block, maybe a hundred meters away, a group of people scrambled into view from somewhere to the right. There were about a dozen of them, scattered and frantic, screaming in terror and running for their lives. They turned suddenly in the direction of Marten’s group. And then—
From behind the people, a wave of pure blackness swept into view. It was rolling and churning like a tidal current, except this one was
alive. A wave made of a thousand insectoid Krahdas. More than a thousand of them, probably, judging by the size of it. And it was headed their way.
Lesker didn’t waste any time reacting. He bolted for the entrance of the nearest hotel, not far away. Marten and his friends had to sprint to keep up. The glass sliding doors parted and the four of them raced into the hotel lobby. It was a fairly upscale place called The Grand Galactic, though Marten didn’t have time to admire the décor. He was too busy chasing after Lesker, who was headed towards the exit at the back of the room. The black-haired man ran past the elevator without even slowing down.
Marten was confused. Wouldn’t it be safer upstairs than staying down below with the Darkers? “Wait, where are you going?” he called. “Aren’t we going up?”
Lesker didn’t reply. He just kept running. In response, Alpha put on a burst of superhuman speed and cut him off, forcing the man to stop in his tracks. “Out of my way, robot,” Lesker growled.
Alpha didn’t budge. “Marten asked you a legitimate question,” he responded, calm as ever. “It would be polite of you to answer him.”
The man stood still for a moment, quietly seething. Eventually he decided it was faster to simply answer the question than argue about it. “I’m getting
out of here, not going
up. I already told you, I have a shuttle waiting in the docking bay. And I have precious little patience for ungrateful brats. Now get out of my way.”
The CAST was about to reply when a door burst open at the end of the hall behind him. A pair of hotel employees, desk clerks, burst into the room with panicked looks on their faces. “Darkers!” one of them shouted. “They’re right behind us! Everybody… run!”
There were a handful of other people huddled around the lobby. Upon hearing the news, they all made a mad dash for the front door. Before they could reach it, however, the wave of Krahdas outside finally reached The Grand Galactic. The great glass sliding doors automatically parted and a gaggle of the diminutive Darkers spilled inside. Meanwhile, more Krahdas entered from the hallway in back. Now both exits were blocked off.
“Looks like you get your wish after all, boy,” Lesker muttered. He hurried over to the elevator and tapped the call button frantically. Almost immediately there was a loud ding and the big golden doors slid open. Lesker and the kids piled inside. As the elevator doors started to close, a dozen Krahdas came rushing straight at them. They looked hungry for blood and were closing in fast. The Krahda in the lead made a diving leap for the doorway—but just missed it. The elevator doors shut and the Darker slammed into them with an echoing metallic
thunk. Lesker pressed the button for floor nineteen and the lift began its ascent, leaving the mayhem on the ground level behind.
Marten shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. There was an awkward silence in the elevator, save for the jazzy music being piped in from the speaker system above. Seemingly oblivious to the tension, Charmie began chirping along with the song. No one bothered to stop him.
* * * * * * * * *
Ten minutes later, Lee Okada was staring out the window of a nineteenth floor hotel room. It was the only room they could find that was both unlocked and unoccupied. Judging by the cleaning cart parked outside, the maid had been cleaning the room when the Darkers invaded the city and hadn’t bothered closing the door on her way out. So now Lee was stuck in the damned hotel with the damned brats instead of heading to the docking bay where his shuttle was housed. He was starting to regret letting the kids tag along. They might make good decoys, but they were also screwing up his plans.
Behind Lee, the bird called Charmie was bouncing up and down on the floral-patterned bed. It was chirping incessantly while making silly faces at the human boy, Marten. Lee could see it in the window’s faint reflection and it was driving him mad. “Knock it off,” he demanded sharply, without turning around.
“Sorry, Mr. Lesker,” replied Marten. “Charmie was just trying to cheer me up, that’s all. He didn’t mean anything by it.”
“Well, tell it to cheer you up quietly. I’m trying to think.”
“O-Okay.”
The bird quit chirping but it was still making faces at the boy. Marten tried and failed to stifle a giggle. Beneath his sunglasses, Lee rolled his eyes in exasperation.
This is why I despise children and pets, he thought with a scowl.
He continued gazing out the window, his thoughts drifting towards the future. Maybe, if he got out of this alive, he would consider contacting his older brother Tyrius. They hadn’t spoken in years, not since Tyrius and Father had their falling out. Brother had been first in line to run the family business, but philosophical differences drove him away. He left home and started his own rival crime syndicate, Cerberus. The venture had been a success, rivaling even KAI-OS in its power and influence, a fact that irritated Father to no end.
Lee hadn’t contacted Tyrius for two reasons. First, because he viewed collaboration as a form of weakness. He should be strong enough to rule KAI-OS without the aid of others, family included. And second, because he wasn’t sure how his brother would react. Lee had been a very different person the last time they were together. Now he was all grown up—and a business rival no less. Still, family was family, was it not? Even a cold-blooded serpent like Lee Okada occasionally felt the need for familial comfort.
During Lee’s musings, a peculiar black fog crept into view outside the window. It was barely noticeable at first, a silent specter at the periphery of his vision. Lurking just out of sight. As it approached, its tendrils snaked and curled through the air in the most unusual way.
The fog was accompanied by something else, a rhythmic booming like an ancient war drum. It was faint at first but grew steadily louder as it continued.
Ba-thoom. Ba-thoom. Ba-thoom.
Lee was shaken from his train of thought. He recognized that sound. That fog. And he knew, at once, the danger they represented. Three simple words flashed through his mind. They were not the result of paranoia or superstition as he might have wished, but certain truth.
Typhon is coming.
An icy chill rippled up his spine. Was his luck really so bad? Were the cold hands of fate coming to claim him once again?
Lee’s mind was racing, calculating, formulating. It was debating the best response to the situation. His first inclination was to leave the kids behind and make a break for it. To run away and hope for the best. That sounded like the best option, given the circumstances. Then again, perhaps a more measured response was in order. If he took off now he’d be facing a city full of Darkers by himself. That didn’t sound very appealing, especially without any pawns to sacrifice.
What was he supposed to do? What to do, indeed?
“Mr. Lesker, what’s that booming sound?” asked Marten from behind him.
“I thought I told you to be quiet.”
“But Mr. Lesker—”
Lee spun around and shouted furiously, “Shut your mouth, boy! Or I’ll come over there and shut it for you!”
The boy and his friends shrunk back, terrified. At first Lee thought they were frightened by his sudden outburst. But the look on their faces, a look that seemed to pass right through him, told him otherwise. The children were staring
past Lee to the window behind him. Slowly, hesitantly, he turned to follow their gaze.
A giant reptilian eye filled the window’s field of view. Its glow bathed the hotel room in a hellish shade of crimson.
Lee froze.
Typhon. There weren’t many things in the world that scared him, but this was definitely one of them. And it seemed to be staring right at him.
The great glowing eye narrowed—in anger? Recognition?
It knows who I am, Lee realized.
It remembers.
It was an absurd thought. The creature hadn’t existed back then, not in the same way it did now. Back then it had been a strange fusion of man and beast—and the man had been in control. This new creature, the one currently looking in their hotel window, was all beast. A mindless killing machine. At least that’s what Lee assumed.
“I d-don’t think it l-l-likes you very m-much,” Marten stammered, nearly petrified with fear.
“Nonsense. Don’t be… ridiculous,” Lee replied. But he didn’t sound very convincing, even to himself.
Outside, mere meters away, Typhon threw back its massive head and let out a deafening roar. It sounded like death incarnate. Lee quickly covered his ears, yet they were still ringing afterward.
The great beast took a step back. Before Lee could process what was happening, one of Typhon’s clawed hands came swiping at the building. In one swift motion, it tore through the top of the hotel like a wrecking ball. Suddenly the roof over Lee’s head wasn’t there anymore. It was simply… gone.
Haltingly, Lee looked up. Up at the black terror nearly blotting out the smoke-filled sky. Typhon glared down at him, its red eyes filled with intense hatred. Hatred for
him, for Lee personally.
He couldn’t deny his culpability. Not to himself, anyway. The situation was entirely his fault. He had funded Naya Kestren’s work after the ARKS disowned her. His men provided the Darker specimens used in the research. More recently, he had activated the nanites inside Shankar’s body, unintentionally transforming the man into the monster towering over him. From start to finish, Lee’s fingerprints were all over it. His fault. Now those choices were coming back to haunt him. To get their final, bloody revenge.
Lee slowly shrank away from the creature. “No… please,” he whimpered, his voice barely audible.
There was nothing he could do and he knew it. No way to plead, or bargain, or escape. Not this time. Above him, Typhon raised a massive hand overhead. Each blade-tipped finger was larger than he was. The hand hovered there menacingly, ready to squash him like a bug at any second.
Lee stood frozen in place, unable to move. Unable to think. A single bead of sweat slid down his immaculate cheek. Then, with the force of a speeding freight train, the giant hand came crashing down, pulverizing Lee in an instant.
…Or at least, that’s what he expected to happen. The next thing Lee knew, he was being swept off his feet and carried to safety by none other than Alpha, the white-haired CAST boy.
A moment later, Typhon’s hand smashed into the floor behind them. The blow was so heavy and powerful that it destroyed half the room and cut through multiple levels at once, leaving a jagged, gaping hole down the center of The Grand Galactic. Unable to support the uneven weight distribution, the hotel began to creak and totter. It wouldn’t hold up much longer.
Still carrying Lee in his arms, Alpha barked an order to the other children. “Marten! Charmie! Grab the mattress off the bed and bring it here!”
The little cowboy’s eyes were as wide as saucers. “But—”
“There is no time! You must trust me and do it now!”
They complied right away after that. With Marten in front and Charmie behind, they hefted the mattress over their heads and joined Alpha beside the gaping hole in the side of the building. The hotel was leaning heavily to the right and they had to fight to keep their balance. The whole building creaked and groaned. It sounded like it might collapse at any moment.
“Get on the mattress and hold on tight,” said Alpha, gently yet firmly. “No matter what,
do not let go.”
The boy and bird did as they were told. As soon as they were seated, Alpha bent down and set Lee on the mattress behind them.
“What are you doing?” demanded the black-haired man, incredulous. “You’re not actually thinking of—”
Alpha didn’t wait for him to finish. He hoisted the mattress over his head and jumped off the side of the building.
Not a moment too soon. Behind them, The Grand Galactic uttered a final, anguished groan before finally collapsing in on itself. The twenty-story building, a longtime fixture in Hotel Row, was brought down by a single blow from Typhon. As it fell, large slabs of concrete broke loose and tumbled through the air. Alpha used the falling debris as stepping stones, bounding from one to the next to control his descent. His CAST precision and agility kept them one step ahead of certain death.
On top of the mattress, Lee held on for dear life. He felt lightheaded and nauseous. In front of him, Marten and Charmie were screaming at the top of their lungs. Pieces of the hotel, including furniture, were raining down all around them. A table on their left. A dresser on their right. Meanwhile, the street below was rushing up to meet them at an alarming speed. At the last moment, however, Alpha activated previously-hidden thrusters on the soles of his metal feet and coasted gently to the ground. He carried the mattress to a safe distance before setting it down on the pavement, then helped the three passengers to their feet.
Lee dusted himself off. Despite being shaken up, he was surprised to find himself uninjured. Somehow the CAST brat had managed to guide them to safety after all. Even so, Lee was enraged at being treated like a piece of luggage. He was about to voice his displeasure when another bloodcurdling roar from Typhon interrupted him. Evidently, the beast just realized Lee was still alive… and it was
not happy about that.
“What now, boy?” Lee asked the CAST.
Alpha glanced at Typhon, then back to Lee. “Now… we run.”
TO BE CONTINUED
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