

The Dead Planet Series

Exodus

Book 1

Drew Avera

Copyright © 2014 by Drew Avera.

Smashwords Edition

Visit: www.drewavera.wordpress.com

Prologue

The year 4412 on Mars:

Pain was my only friend in this dark laboratory. This labyrinth of hell has held me captive for the last two months. It wasn't bad at first, mostly physical exertion to the point of exhaustion. I had endured that kind of training growing up playing sports, but this new part of my training was something else entirely. 'The human mind can only endure so much torture,' at least that is what they told me coming into this. I wish I had volunteered, at least then I wouldn't feel as if I were a prisoner being tortured by my guards.

"Dr. Roblin, how is Prospect Blackwell holding up?" the man in a black Agency uniform said as he walked through the door. I could not see his face but I had heard his voice before, come to think of it I had heard his voice several times throughout my time here. Wherever 'here' is, I'm not sure.

"He is physically a perfect candidate, Agent Gentry. I must confess that I am concerned with his mental capabilities though," the doctor talked about me like I was a caged animal, unable to think on my own.

"What capabilities would that be, Dr?" There was an air of concern in the agent's voice, though I'm not sure why. I would think that the idea of someone who is willing to put up a fight would be an attribute worthy of a member of the Agency.

"He is not responding well to the reprogramming. Each time we show him a picture of you he becomes discontent, almost as if he is remembering what you did to his father," Dr. Roblin said. Just the mention of my father brought me back to remembering what had happened. I can only see it in short spans of time, my father dead in the street, Kara crying in my arms, flashing lights surrounding the scene, and finally his face, the man who murdered my father.

Agent Gentry paced around me; even under heavy sedatives my eyes were able to follow his form. His long, tired face reflected his years of abuse at the hands of the Agency. Now as a prospect I would have the same future in store for me. My eyes closed under the weight of my heavy eyelids. It had been days since I have slept and I could feel every ounce of pressure on my body from the electrodes that stimulated my senses. I decided to close my eyes and listen as the other men spoke.

"What do you propose we do about that, Dr?" Gentry asked as he turned away from me.

"Well, many prospects have become valuable agents without receiving one hundred percent of the reprogramming procedure. Given his physical strengths and mental stamina, I would say that he will pass the Agency's standards with a minimum of seventy five percent of the reprogramming completed. That is purely an estimate, but I will have to conduct further analysis to be sure."

"How much of his memory will he retain?"

"As much as we allow, sir," Dr. Roblin typed some commands into his computer. I could see the holographic display illuminate his corner of the room as I opened my eyes. "These are the areas of the brain that respond to memory stimuli. Prospect Blackwell is apparently fixated on those memories created within the past twelve months or so. I suspect that the trauma of losing his mother and father in a short period of time has caused these barriers to our programming. I would suggest overriding the safety protocols to ensure a proper reprogramming, but it is risky. If it doesn't work then we may lose the prospect entirely."

"Meaning he will die?"

"Yes, sir," the doctor tugged at his collar and swallowed hard. Agent Gentry loomed over the doctor and stared down at the hologram. The blue and green light reflected from his face as he looked back at me. Our eyes met and I could have sworn that I had seen something like remorse in his eyes. I blinked once and the look was gone.

"If he were to keep these memories, how productive would he be with the Agency?"

"If we can get to seventy five percent then he will perform above average, sir."

"Is there a way that we can target a specific memory that he is attached to?"

"Which memory do you have in mind, Agent Gentry?"

Gentry walked in front of me and grabbed my face in his hand. He lifts my head so that our eyes met. I was too afraid to close my eyes as he spoke, "My request is that when you are done with him, I don't want him to associate my name or my face with the execution of his father."

"That is a very specific request, Agent Gentry. At best I may be able to create a cloud over that particular memory. Anything more than that is speculative," Dr. Roblin typed more commands into the computer as he spoke.

"Then I suppose that is the best that we can hope for," Gentry said as he released my face from his grip.

"Why would you want me to target that particular memory, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Because I don't want some rookie agent armed with a gauntlet to have it out for me, that's why. I have four years until retirement, so I'd like to spend that time without looking over my shoulder. It thought it would be a good idea to put in for a transfer, just to keep things on the safe side," Gentry said as his communicator buzzed in his pocket. I watched him retrieve it and answer, "Gentry." He stood silently and held the communicator to his ear. I could see a vein throb on his temple. It was a visible sign of either anger or distress. I had been learning the different signs, but I still was confused by some of the emotions that sparked similar reactions. "Understood," he said before closing the communicator and shoving it back into his pocket.

"Another assignment, sir?" Dr. Roblin asked while looking over the computer console.

"Yes, I'm going to be reporting to Clenist tomorrow, so I'll be leaving you under the supervision of another agent." Gentry looked back at me for a moment as I tried to raise my head to meet his gaze. It was futile; I did not have the strength to move at all. "Just see to it that this prospect doesn't remember who I am, understood?"

"Yes, sir," more typed commands emanated from his finger tips as I glared up to see Agent Gentry walk to the door. I could feel the cold fluid of sedative entering my bloodstream through the veins in my arms. I made eye contact with Gentry one last time, and then everything went to black.
Chapter 1

Five years later:

Another assignment nestled itself snuggly into the promised chaos of my day. Multiple assignments in a single day had become something of a rarity for me as of late. Alas, good things often come to an end, and given the circumstances of my life, I'm quite surprised that the good things in life have lasted this long. My guess was that the Syndicate had a few extra thorns in their side that needed pulling today. The United Martian Syndicate, or the Syndicate as most people referred to it, has stood as the dominating power since the inception of our civilization.

It is operated by the wealthiest men in the world, the ones who hold control over everything; the economy, health care, education, even the population of a given region is in their hands. I suppose they figured population control was just short enough of a rein to allow them control over every aspect of our humanity. It's fair to assume that they are right; the amount of criminal activity here is negligible for a place that has established so many laws. Our society did away with any kind of historical judicial system as it was known on Earth. Now any kind of criminal activity, confirmed or circumstantial, meets its demise at the end of a gauntlet. It stands to reason that fear would be the most motivating tool at their disposal and they use it with a gleeful vigor.

I could smell the sea salt in the air as I turned the corner on the rust colored sidewalk that drove me deeper into downtown Archea. All through the city you could see homage to our planet as each building's exterior was constructed from the same rust colored sand, at least in some part. It was such a common design element that most people didn't even notice, but it was my job to pay attention to small details like that. Those details are the ones that can keep a man alive in this society.

I moved quickly down the sidewalk maintaining my usual pace. Time wasn't of the essence, but two years of training for this kind of job taught me to constantly keep on the move, regardless of whatever situation I found myself in. I have been a policeman for just over five years, and I have found over those years that I am just another pawn of the Syndicate. The policemen stand as the second most feared organization on this planet, but we are also the most oppressed. We are not eligible for marriage, property ownership, nor are we revered as citizens. We are basically the discarded children of our society, owned by some and loved by none. Of course that wasn't always true for me. I had hopes and dreams of having a family once upon a time. I was even engaged to be married when I finished high school, but that engagement lasted three weeks. My dreams were suspended by my recruitment into the Agency, the legal name for the company that I work for.

The one thing that every prospect learned about the Agency was that they found you for the job. Once recruitment began you were stuck, unless they determined that there was something within you that conflicted with their programming. I was certain that the resentment I held for the Agency for putting a hit on my father would have been enough to disqualify me. I was wrong, I was burdened with this job one way or the other because after all is said and done you have two choices; accept the position or accept the alternative...death.

I had been miserable for the first year of this job and it showed on my face, the misery still does even to this day. Coming out of the programming portion of my time as a prospect had a debilitating effect on my psyche. I had been cursed with the memories of a life that the doctors wanted me to forget. Those memories coupled with the programming forced into my mind almost drove me mad. I remember being called a success, but I felt like a failure as everything in my life fell down around me. The Agency accepted the fact that I remembered my family and what I had left behind, but I could not accept it for myself, this created a lot of tension in my life, and I found it difficult to create a balance in my world of regret.

I stand six feet tall and weigh in at one hundred sixty pounds; I'm strong and agile despite my looks. My face has become sunken in where my cheeks used to be plump. My black hair hangs longer than it should, but finding time for a haircut is not usually a priority when on the job. The only possessions I have are my uniform and gauntlet which was tailored to fit me, everything else is issued by the Agency. My apartment and furnishings are mine so long as my employment lasts. I have nothing and I am nothing. This job is the only thing that has defined me for the last five years. I have had nothing else to show for my life except for a death toll that rises on a daily level.

I turned another corner and entered the Whelming Building through the front entrance. Mr. Whelming was a wealthy man with a lot of power in the Syndicate, at least until he started making risky decisions with his investments in an attempt to build up his wealth. Now he was a target of the Syndicate because he had brought this undue attention to himself and they have tasked me with the hit. In case I failed to mention it before, the term policeman is a politically correct term for "political assassin". There is no law enforcement agency established here on Mars. There is only the Syndicate who controls the Agency, everyone else falls in line or is quickly removed from their life of servitude.

I passed by the reception desk on my way into Whelming's office which was guarded by two retired policemen. I noted the face of each of the men as I passed; a part of me recognized the taller of the two men. His weary face was very distinguishable, but after a few years in this line of work and dealing with the wealthy and all of their lap dog lackeys it could be easy to see a face and not remember the context for recognizing it.

The two men knew better than to interfere with official Agency business so they stepped aside. The brief eye contact I shared with them confirmed the years of mental scarring they had experienced with thirty years of assigned murders under their belts. Retirement was the only way out of the Agency while you were still breathing, and these men had served the Syndicate well. I often thought of retirement as a fool's reward for doing such a dastardly good job. Maybe I was the fool because I'm still doing it instead of jumping off a cliff or firing a laser into my brain. Or, maybe my compulsion to succeed has driven me so far over the edge that I have plummeted further into the darkness.

I strolled into Whelming's office unannounced and I could see him seated at his large desk. He looked up to me and the fear in his eyes showed me that single characteristic which was shared by all of the distinguished guests on my hit list; regret.

"Serus," he said as his face whitened. Fear mustered into a stench that I could smell from ten feet away.

"Mr. Whelming, I believe you know why I'm here," I said. This was after all not a social call and he knew that better than most. Whelming had been responsible for many assignments that I've completed during my time in the Agency. For him, that time was coming to an end.

"I swear, Serus, I can explain everything. Believe me when I tell you that it's a matter of global security!" He was trying to buy me. It was a common way that people in the Syndicate tried to prevent their demise. They either paid you a ransom or they fed you enough lies to guilt you into buying them time to escape. Neither method ever worked with me, I retained enough pre-prospect memories to understand the process.

"Save it," I said. "You know that once a hit has been placed on you that it must be carried out unless it's canceled by the person who ordered it."

"I understand that, but I have an explanation for what's going on. All I'm asking for is twenty four hours to sort this thing out!" He pleaded with me like a child.

I stood there and watched this man all but get down on his knees and beg for mercy. I was certain that he was stalling and that charade didn't make my job any easier. I contemplated which route I wanted to take. Kill him now and be done with it, or give him enough time to run and hide? I'll admit that I don't usually give it a second thought; luckily the right decision presented itself as a call came over the intercom in his office.

"Mr. Whelming, this is dispatching at the Agency. I just wanted to confirm your order for Dr. Kara Blackwell."

Our eyes met at that moment when the dispatcher said my sister's name in conjunction with a hit that had been originated by this coward! Knowing that his time was up Whelming pressed the confirm icon on the holographic display that illuminated from the base of the intercom onto his desk. As soon as his finger touched the icon the call ended and I was once again alone with my assignment, the man who had just assigned another policeman to kill my sister!

Rage is an emotion that had been processed out of my mind during my training as a prospect. That long lost emotion splintered within my psyche as I jumped across Whelming's desk and wrapped my hands around his throat. There was something primal in my attack that defied logic. This was the reason why emotions were dissolved during our training; you never knew when an assignment might become personal. My resolve to choke the life out of him with my bare hands began wrestling with my programming; I could feel the tension of my hands ease around his neck. Whelming lay limply on his back, sucking at the air that had been deprived from his lungs moments earlier. I stood and walked away trying to gather my thoughts and calm myself down. It was very uncharacteristic of me to lose control of my emotions like that, but given the circumstances it should have been expected. I dare any man not to take the killing of his sister personally. Even those agents with a one hundred percent mind wipe learn to re associate their memories over time, especially when the death of a family member triggered their memories.

I paced in a circle around Whelming as he sat up coughing and rubbing his purplish throat. I could see the indentations from where my fingers had been. My adrenaline lowered with my heart rate as the seconds passed. I touched the silver gauntlet on my right wrist which gleamed against the black leather of my jacket and set the laser to the highest setting, the laser's diffuser illuminated in a bright blue beam. I stood over Whelming and set the sight into the center of his forehead. He sat there and whimpered like a beaten animal cowering before its abuser. Regret showed on his face, but I did not give a moment's thought about mercy for this man.

"Please, Serus," he choked while looking up to me through red, teary eyes. "Just twenty four hours. Please!"

"I may have relented and given you a chance at escaping, but putting the hit on my sister negated any chance I was willing to give you." I lied to him of course, but the emotional turmoil of knowing that he had a chance to live, satisfied the seed of hate that was growing in my heart for him.

"I didn't know that Kara was your sister! I'll do anything. I'll cancel the hit, I swear! Please!" He was crying out for me to save him. It was in my power, but it was not my desire to do so.

"It's too late," I said as I fired the blue beam through his skull. The heat from the laser charred the black glove on my right hand and cauterized the hole left in his head, a clean kill for the Agency's recovery team.

I powered down my gauntlet before taking a seat at Whelming's desk and I activated his computer system. I scrolled through the files until I came across the paperwork associated with the hit he had placed on Kara. The personal information confirmed that it was indeed my sister, but the reason for the hit had been left blank. That was unusual, I thought to myself. If it had nothing to do with money then maybe it had to do with the global crisis Whelming had alluded to earlier. I looked at the clock and noted that Kara would be home within the hour, based on that information I knew that her home would be the most likely place for the hit to be conducted.

I rose from the chair and walked out of Whelming's office leaving his body sprawled on the floor with smoke still rising from the hole that I had put in his head. A look of terror had been etched onto his face the moment before I had killed him. It would remain there permanently. The two retired policemen who were his bodyguards still stood outside of the office. The taller one acknowledged me as I stepped out into the hallway.

"Serus," he said in a deep gravelly voice. It was at that moment that my memory jolted back to why I recognized him. I placed the voice with his face. He had been the policeman who had initially trained me when I first became a prospect, but even more than that, he was the one who pulled the hit on my father. It's crazy how human memory worked. Without the programming I would probably have wanted to kill him, but now all I felt was pity. I nodded my head in his direction and carried on quietly.

I left the Whelming building and began walking towards my sister's home which was about two miles away. My mind was racing as I questioned why a hit had been placed on her. She was a scientist, what could she be a part of that would cause such interference within the political climate? Did it even have anything to do with politics, or did Whelming put the hit on her for personal reasons? A mind full of questions and doubts occupied my thoughts as I walked in a half daze, barely noticing the expression of fear on the faces of pedestrians who walked around me.

Most of the world would never need to face a policeman pointing his gauntlet towards them, but the fear was still there. I was used to these looks now. The horrific look on the face of my sister and my fiancée when I was recruited into the Agency was enough to shatter any thoughts of going through life unnoticed. Now fear and dread were the only emotions that connected me to another human life.

I had been immediately separated from my fiancée and my relationship with my sister had dissolved a few years ago because of my career. Now the only communication between us came in the form of a birthday card every year. I had no idea how to fix our relationship which was another byproduct of my failure to adapt after my training. The mental trauma of what I had endured caused me to shut down emotionally which had driven us further apart, that caused a deeper scar to be cut into my psyche, so I dove deeper into my work. That tunnel vision work ethic took my mind off of it most days, unlike today.

I traveled the two miles in just under an hour and I situated myself in a suitable position to watch her house. I felt that there was no need for me to alert her unless a policeman arrived to conduct the hit. I may not have been the greatest brother in the world, but I could at least spare her any unnecessary drama if I could take out the policeman without her knowing about it. I sat between two trash dispensers and hid in the shadows as the sun fell behind the horizon in front of me. From this vantage point I would be able to watch the house undetected, but still be close enough to be an effective barrier between any policeman and Kara. I looked down at my watch and saw that she would be home soon. With a clear idea of what was coming I sat and waited.
Chapter 2

As I sat in the darkness between the two trash dispensers I could see Kara as she walked up the sidewalk towards her house. She was dressed in a fashionable business suit that was a double breasted design, much like my uniform. It was a dark color that was hard to discern in the darkness, maybe burgundy or dark blue and I noticed that she was wearing her hair up in a bun. I also noticed that she was alone, but I felt a nervous sensation pass through me as she got closer to the sidewalk leading to her front door.

Like clockwork, three policemen emerged from behind various cover points down the street from where she had just walked. I was surprised that three policemen would be assigned to this hit. I was more shocked by the thought of what she might be involved in to warrant that kind of detail. Outnumbered three to one I did the only logical thing that I could do. I leapt out from the shadows and ran across Kara's lawn as she opened her door. A split second later three blue beams of light engulfed the door frame. I kicked the door shut behind us to act as a barrier. My instinct to do so was misguided as a blue laser cut through the door like it was paper just above my head.

Kara rose frantically and gasped from the dual surprise of seeing me and having her home attacked by a group of unknown assailants.

"Serus, what the hell is going on?" She shouted.

"You've been assigned as a hit, Kara," I said as I reached for her hand. We ducked into the small kitchen area as the door was kicked open. I quickly adjusted my gauntlet to a high enough beam to kill the intruding policemen and fired at the first one I saw, hitting him in the chest, a kill shot. Kara screamed behind me as a second policeman targeted her through the kitchen window. I pushed her out of the way as the beam shattered the glass and burnt the flooring where Kara once stood. I fired quickly and hit him in the arm. He recoiled from the pain and redirected his aim back to me. I spun around quickly and ducked behind a wall as a blue beam cut through the dry wall above me. I aimed at the policeman using the trajectory of his own beam as a reference and scorched the wall of Kara's home as I fired. His beam faded out of sight and I worked under the assumption that he was now dead.

"Kara!" I called out to her to see where she was.

"Serus! I'm in the pantry," she called out.

"Stay there, and don't move!" I said as I scanned the perimeter. There were three policemen initially and now there should be just one. I moved through Kara's small house and surveyed the area, trying to identify which hiding places I would have used if I were to perform the hit. Sometimes knowing how your enemy thinks can help you come up with a better offensive strategy. I heard a rustling sound in the bushes outside Kara's bedroom so I went to peer out of the window. The second policeman was still alive and lay on his back shaking the bushes outside the window. I realized why he was rustling the bushes almost a moment too late as a beam singed past my head. It came from around the side of the neighbor's house where the third policeman was hiding. He must have assumed that I would roll left because the beam cut through the wall in a low sweeping maneuver.

I avoided the beam by rolling to the right and fired through the wall in a circling pattern. It caused a lot of damage but it was effective when you lost your opponents precise location. I stopped to listen to see if I had wounded the third policeman. All I could hear was the heavy breathing of the second one I had wounded before. I took a moment to fire upon him to alleviate the threat of him potentially getting the best of me.

All I heard for several seconds was the ambient noise of the air conditioner unit outside. No breathing or crawling sounds coming from outside. I sneaked into the next room and gazed out the window. Once there I could see the lifeless body of the third policeman lying next to some broken bits of the exterior wall of the neighbor's house.

I wasn't convinced that all threats were alleviated until I patrolled the house and the outside perimeter several times. Once I was satisfied of the relative safety of our situation I returned inside to collect Kara from her hiding spot in the pantry. I opened the door and saw that she was crying as she sat on the floor.

"Kara," I said. "I'm here now and you're safe." She looked up to me with her moist green eyes that showed the fear that she had of dying, the same kind of fear that she had of me. She looked at me like I was a monster.

"Serus, what's going on? Why were those policemen targeting me?" She asked me those questions in a way that made me think that she might already know the answer.

"I was going to ask you the same question," I said as I took her hand and helped her up. I looked over her to make sure that she was not injured in any way. She looked fine.

"Oh my! Serus? You've been wounded!" She said alarmingly. I looked down at my left arm and could see burnt flesh behind the charred sleeve of my left arm, just above the elbow." Are you in pain?" She asked as the expression of fear she had of me turned into an expression of concern.

"No, it must be from the adrenaline." I reached into my pocket and produced a bottle of Serum. It was a drug issued to policemen to dull our pain sensitivity without affecting our cognitive thinking. It also worked well with sleep deprivation and to dull hunger.

Kara was unbuttoning my jacket to get a better look at the wound. I groaned as the material scratched against my torn flesh a little more roughly than I think she intended. It was a nasty looking wound but there was no bleeding. I could move my arm fairly well so I doubted that there would be any serious permanent injury to my arm. Kara threw open some cabinets looking for a way to clean the wound and found some alcohol and bandages.

. "I'm sorry, but this will burn," she said. I winced slightly as she poured the contents of the bottle onto the open wound.

"Kara," I said. "We need to talk."

"So talk," she replied while pouring more alcohol on the open wound.

"I don't know why you've been targeted, but you're a fool if you think I believe you're ignorant to that knowledge," I said through gritted teeth as the alcohol burned inside my wounded flesh.

"Way to beat around the bush about it," she said with an irritated tone.

"I'm here to save your life, Kara. This isn't some stupid game that children play where you can start over if you lose. This is life and death. The same organization that killed dad is now targeting you. All I know if that Whelming assigned the hit. He said it had something to do about global security. I thought he was bluffing to try and prolong his life..."

She cut me off, "Whelming is dead?"

"Yes. He has been for a couple of hours."

"Good," she said. "That maniac has been messing around with my research for months. I'm not surprised at all that he put a hit on me." Her words hit the air with a stoic matter of fact attitude.

"Look, tell me what's going on so that I can help you. The hit isn't over until the assignment is complete. The only person who could call it off is dead. Our only other choice is to hide you until I can cancel it on my end. That could take several days."

She finished cleaning my wound and took a hard look into my face. I knew that my face was not the one she once recognized as her brother. I was someone or something else entirely now. She bit her lip and looked around the room nervously.

"Where can we go?" She asked.

"I have a friend named Thom who is a policeman. I trained him two years ago and I can trust him."

"Alright," she said. "I'll follow your lead on this, but I have to tell you what I know first."

"First, do you still have one of my uniforms here?"

"Yes," she said as she went to retrieve it from a chest at the foot of her bed. She unfolded it and shook the wrinkles out before handing it to me. "Here."

I took the jacket and gingerly put it on, careful not to snag the sleeve against my wounded arm. It was a little loose from the years of long hours and lack of proper nourishment typical of my line of work. Policemen typically only eat to survive; there wasn't much in our lives that gave us purpose beyond our daily assignments. Just another perk of being in the Agency.

"Let's leave now and go to Thom's," I instructed. She gathered her things and we left her home behind. I could see a tear streaking her makeup down her face as we walked silently. She kept wiping at her eyes so I maintained a watchful eye as we walked the five miles to Thom's apartment.

Policemen are not permitted to own possessions but we are given the luxury of having a choice in where we live. Thom picked an apartment by the water. His father had been a fisherman and Thom liked to sit by the water and think about his dad. To the best of my knowledge I believe his dad was still alive, but like most families they were fragmented because of Thom's recruitment into the Agency and the only memory Thom had was a vision of his father on a fishing boat. Thom had preferred to suffer in silence on the matter, a usual method we policemen used to deal with our internal torment. A torment that no amount of programming can ever cover up.

We approached Thom who was sitting by the water watching as the moonlight reflected off the surface. I purposefully made a sound as we walked to alert him of our presence. It was never a good idea to sneak up behind a policeman, even if you are one yourself. He looked back at us when we were about thirty yards away.

"Serus," he said in his usual one word greeting.

"Thom," I returned. "This is my sister Kara and we are seeking refuge." I said getting straight to the point.

Thom looked around before answering, "of course, let's go inside." He led the way into his apartment and offered his sofa for us to sit. "What's going on, Serus?"

"That's something that I'm still trying to figure out myself, "I said."Kara is caught in the cross hairs of the Agency and a hit was placed by Whelming," I looked at Kara urging her to let us know exactly what she was involved with. She lifted her hands to her face and massaged her temples as she exhaled.

"Alright, I'm ready," she said as she lowered her hands to her lap. "This is a long story," she motioned for Thom to take a seat. We both leaned forward, intent to hear what she was about to say. Something that was big enough for the Syndicate to want her dead.
Chapter 3

Thom and I glanced at each other just before Kara spoke, realizing that whatever she had to say would be the kind of sensitive information that could get both of us killed. I felt somewhat bad for leading Thom into a family affair like this, but Kara and I had no one else to turn to. I knew this would put me in Thom's debt and I was fine with that. Anything to protect my sister would be well worth it.  
"As you know, Serus, I'm a scientist who does research and analysis on our planet's atmospheric conditions. Because we use an artificial electro-magnetic field, we need to constantly monitor it. The magnetic field allows us to maintain our atmospheric conditions, oxygen levels, and it protects us from most of the space debris that threatens us on a daily basis. Any changes in our atmospheric conditions can be very devastating.

"Anyways, I was monitoring the nuclear power source that powers the northern hemisphere's electro-magnetic field when I realized that the uranium core was depleting at an abnormal rate. I put in some calls for a new uranium core and found out that all of the uranium discovered on Mars had not yet been enriched. I guess they felt that we had enough in our supply to last us another decade.

"By my calculations we have enough nuclear energy to power the magnetic field for another year to year and a half. We have enough uranium to last another several centuries, but we need to keep our power grid on line long enough to enrich what we have on hand. Given our current situation we will be pushing the envelope on the enrichment process being able to finish in time to create a new core. We are dealing with a process that hasn't been performed in at least twenty five hundred years when our ancestors left earth! It will be a challenge just to meet the deadline, but if word about this gets out it could cause mass hysteria.

"After double checking my figures I talked to some of the higher ups at the university to find a way to secure as much unnecessary power from being used in the metropolitan cities as possible, my thoughts were that we could reroute it to the magnetic field generators to buy us more time. Apparently that was a topic of interest because those power sources feed into the technology services that everyone uses and everyone is addicted to technology. I got into a heated discussion with Mr. Whelming about this a few days ago and I told him that some people may not be able to live without technology, but no one can live without the atmosphere. I guess he felt that I was too passionate about the situation to be trusted to keep quiet. He was talking about how a loss in technological services could affect how our society functions; he also mentioned something about profits in his ramblings. Now that he tried to have me killed I feel like I should have let the proverbial cat out of the bag sooner."

"I don't think it would be a good idea to do that, at least not yet." I said.

Thom stood up and paced around the room while clasping his hands behind his back. He moved over to the window and looked out over the water. "What is wrong with the uranium already mined?" He asked.

"Without the enrichment process it will lack efficiency," she said. "Besides the fact that the magnetic field generator is depleting the core too rapidly for how it was designed. Without fixing the generator, the problem will just arise again at a later time. This planet isn't exactly rich on natural resources, much less uranium specifically so we would have to be careful not to waste what little we do have."

"What would we need to do in order to prevent the magnetic field from collapsing entirely?" I asked.

"I really don't know what can be done," she said. "Everyone at the university already knows about it, but the technology we have is different from what they used on Earth. It's a science we have to learn to use when time doesn't permit us to fail. Maybe if we can find a supply of enriched uranium that no one knows about then we can avoid this fiasco. To be honest though, things are looking bleak."

I looked up at the clock to see that it was just after midnight. In about seven hours Pontiff White would be in his office. Maybe I could go see him about pulling the Syndicate's interest off of Kara. Unfortunately for all I knew he could be behind the decision that called the hit. He may just be a puppet of the Syndicate, but he still held more power than most of the people on the planet. Still, if he wasn't behind the decision to kill Kara, and he knew of another supply of enriched uranium then maybe he could put a stop on the hit and help us save the magnetic field at the same time.

I went to the window and stood next to Thom and gazed out over the water. I could hear him breathing in and out of his nose as he stood there contemplating what Kara had told us. "What do you think?" I asked.

"It's possible that this information is critical enough that the Syndicate felt they needed to silence any potential threats who may release that information. Kara most likely stood out as the biggest threat. Realistically at this point every scientist that works with her could have hits placed on them. Also, I find it unlikely that there is some magical uranium supply stocked away that people have forgotten about. Best case scenario is that the people working on those power generators can delay the inevitable."

I knew he was right. I had to play my cards close to my chest. If I approached White about the hit on my sister then he may shrug it off and word his answers accordingly, always preserving the image of the Syndicate. If I approached him about some scientists being targeted for hits then maybe he won't draw the connection between me and Kara being related and I can get more answers. I also doubted the chance of anyone finding a hidden supply of uranium. If it did exist then putting the hit on Kara was moot. Either way it was going to be tricky to get answers out of White given the circumstances we were in.

"Do you think Pontiff White knows anything?" Thom asked.

"I was just thinking about that myself," I replied. "Maybe I should pay him a visit."

"It's risky, Serus. Three policemen were killed by a fellow agent. If you go into his office trying to meddle in affairs of the state then he may connect the dots, provided he hasn't connected them already," Thom said.

"Yeah, you're right," I said.

"Of course I'm right," he smiled. "I had a good teacher."

I nudged Thom in the ribs with my right elbow and smiled, a small reprieve from the drama of the day. Sometimes it's good to have a friend. A looked over at Kara who was rubbing her eyes tiredly. I knew I had to do something to save her. She was all that I had left.

"Thom, I need you to look after my sister while I'm out. Can you do that for me? This is something that could go south very easily and I don't want her to pay for any failure on my part with her life." He nodded in response and I walked back over to the couch and sat next to Kara, taking her hand in mine.

"Kara?" I whispered. She lifted her tired green eyes up to my own and a frown pouted her lips. "I'm going to fix this, I promise. I just need you to stay here with Thom. You can trust him as a friend, I promise," she nodded at me as I draped my arm around her shoulder. I could feel her heart beating under my arm; obviously the fear had not subsided from what had happened earlier. She was as fragile as a flower, and now this kind of political war was invading her life. I had to protect her at all cost.

I patted her back gently before standing. I straightened out my uniform and nodded at Thom before turning to leave his apartment. I looked back and smiled at Kara before walking out the door; she brushed her raven black hair away from her face and smiled back at me. Once upon a time we were almost twins in our appearance. Now it seemed that life had preserved her beauty, but left me a shadowy version of myself. I stepped out of Thom's apartment and went on my way; my next stop would be the office of Pontiff White.

Chapter 4

One of the biggest downsides to leaving Earth was the lack of fossil fuels to allow everyone to have a vehicle. Even with electric motored vehicles, the right to own and operate a vehicle was restricted by the Syndicate. The lack of convenience irritated me as I walked into downtown Archea and approached the square that surrounded Pontiff White's palace. The palace served as a penthouse and doubled as his office, it was a gross example of the Syndicate's waste of money. Why would their puppet need a twenty foot marble statue of himself centralized in a fountain? I imagined it was merely a show of power and authority to those brainwashed enough to believe that our governing body even gave a damn about us.

You would be hard pressed to find someone outspoken about their ill will towards the Syndicate though. Most of our society knelt at their feet and waited for the scraps of wealth to be tossed down to them like dogs. I may be a pawn myself, but I'm not ignorant to the fact that we are all expendable in the eyes of the Syndicate. Our worth is only in what they stand to gain from us.

I crossed the courtyard using the rust colored sidewalk leading up to the palace and opened the entrance door; its frosted glass was adorned with the Pontiff's name and title. It would be more appropriate if it read 'puppet' I thought to myself after entering the building. The vast lobby was decorated with expensive hand woven tapestries. A wide reciprocating waterfall followed up the four story wall in front of me. The building was an engineering marvel to say the least. Large windows scrolled up the outer walls of the building and cast generous colorful beams of lights emanating through the stained glass. Hues of blue and purple mixed with a soft red glow fell upon the ceramic floor and spread out in front of me. I walked into the tubular elevator to my left and was surrounded by clear acrylic as it lifted me to White's office. The elevator was quiet and smooth as it lifted me up, almost like I was riding upon air.

When the elevator stopped I stepped out into a long hallway lit by recessed floor lighting. Each step I took caused the lights beneath my feet to shine brighter, casting an unusual glare in my eyes. I could see Pontiff White in his office at the far end of the hall seated at an enormous metal desk surrounded by holographic screens. Two businessmen who were likely members of the Syndicate sat on a couch opposite where he was sitting. I could see the discomfort in their faces as I approached the room.

The two businessmen readjusted themselves in their seats in order to watch me as I paced in front of White's desk. The stoic expression on his face conflicted with the rapid breathing I could hear coming from him. He wore a dark double breasted suit as did the other two men. I sensed uneasiness about the men on the couch and could see one of their faces grow paler by my presence. The members of the Syndicate may be powerful men, but they were cowards as well.

"Is there something I can do for you, Serus?" White asked me between heavy puffs of his cigar.

"You know my name? I wasn't aware that we had met previously," I said.

"No, we have not met before, but that stroll you took through that hallway with the floor lighting allowed me to take scans of your face and match them to my database. Now I likely have more information about you than you have of yourself." He said the words with a smug grin that bared his perfect teeth behind his thin lips. He released the cigar smoke in heavy funnel shaped plumes from his nostrils. The lines in his face were faint despite his age and I suspected surgery was a common practice of his.

"Very well. I have come to you concerning assignments against some scientists that were issued recently," I said.

"Oh, is that so? I wasn't aware of hits being placed against multiple scientists," he replied while looking at the businessmen on the couch. They avoided eye contact with me when I looked at them. White flicked ash from his cigar into a crystal ashtray on his desk and manipulated the holographic displays in front of him.

"I see. Well I have cause for concern regarding the reasons behind the assignments,"

"What reason would that be?" White asked.

"It's just that no reason has been filed. Usually we know why the hits are being carried out." I said.

"Fortunately for you, Serus, those reasons do not concern you," he said with a dismissal wave of his hand. He bit the cigar between his teeth and chuckled at the other men. They produced their own semi-confident smiles until I glared at them.

"I believe I am entitled to know why a hit is to be carried out," I said, perhaps a little too emotionally.

"And why is that? It wouldn't have something to do with the three dead policemen at your sister's home last night would it?" I felt my face go pale after he asked that question. "Yes, Serus, not only do I know who you are, but I also know that your sister, Kara, was scheduled for assassination. Its funny how being Pontiff carries so much useful information isn't it?" He smiled as he puffed his chest heroically and winked at the men on the couch when he leaned back in his seat, confident in his dominion over me.

My hands began to sweat and my heart began to race. My ruse was falling apart, I should have planned better. Now my cards were laid out before my opponent while everything I held dear was on the line. My sister was slipping through my grasp and I wasn't sure what I could do to save her.

"Surely you understand my concern for my sister's life?" I asked.

"Yes I do, but I'm sorry to tell you that I cannot help you. The hit was not assigned by my offices or anyone working for me. It was apparently arranged at a much higher level and I am not in a position to release any other information regarding it. All I can do is offer my condolences for the impending loss of your sister." He rocked back in his chair and kicked his feet up. His facade was just that. I could see how quickly his heart was beating by the pulsing of the veins on his forehead. That small detail made me think that maybe he was just a sheep in wolves clothing after all.

Still my heart sank. I assumed that I would have been able to make him bend to my will, but he was a powerful, well connected man. He sat in his seat with a hard set jaw and titanium spine; I saw no remorse in his eyes when he looked back up at me. Only the tell-tale throbbing of the vein on his head showed any conflicting information that made him look weak. Maybe I was over thinking it I thought to myself as I swallowed a lump in my throat and recognized an emotion I had not felt in several years, fear.

When you are consumed with your work and your job involved taking the lives of other people, it was easy to become desensitized to death. It was a whole other sensation when the person scheduled to die was family. The programming in my head distorted my thoughts and I felt compelled to flee. I turned to dismiss myself from the office and realized that my eyes were welling up with tears at the thought of losing my sister, the sole surviving member of my family.

"It was nice speaking with you, Serus," White said as I walked out of the door. I was too consumed with fear and frustration to say anything back in retort. The other men stood to follow me to the door, but stopped as I stepped out into the illuminated hallway. I entered the elevator and turned to see the door to White's office close right after I made brief eye contact with the Pontiff. No remorse reflected back at me, but I could see a man trapped by his position. He may not be able to help me, but I was sure that he knew something more. It wasn't a wise decision to come here in the first place. I couldn't push the envelope more by going up against the men who held all of the power. I needed to gather more information first, have some ammunition to throw into the fire. Right now all I had was my sister's testimony. I didn't know if that was enough, but maybe more could be found. I left the palace and began walking back to Thom's apartment.

My fear began to settle down and I figured it had to do with the fact that I was no longer in confrontation with the soulless men up in that office. I turned back and looked up at the office window where Pontiff White's office would be. I could see the man standing in the window and he was looking down at me. If I could peer into that man's soul I think I would only see darkness. Some men are soulless and others are devils. I wasn't sure which kind of man White was, but I was deathly afraid that I was soon to find out.
Chapter 5

I was walking through the city square on my way back to Thom's apartment when my communicator buzzed in my left breast pocket. I retrieved it half expecting a new assignment. It was Thom's number. It was very rare that anyone other than a dispatcher called a policeman on his communicator. I assumed that it was urgent so I answered quickly.

"Serus," I answered.

"Serus, its Thom. I don't know why, but when I woke from a nap and went to check on Kara she was gone. I searched my apartment and the surrounding area. There was no sign of another person entering my apartment so I think that she must have left on her own accord."  
I felt sick at his words. Kara had no business going out on her own. The potential of running into another policeman was too high for her to be that reckless. "I'm on my way. I'll swing by my apartment and will try to contact her communicator. Just keep an eye out," I said.

"Will do. I'll contact you if she comes back," he replied.  
"Alright, Thom. Thank you," I said before closing the communicator and sliding it back into my breast pocket. My apartment was two miles in the opposite direction and I didn't have time for tracking down my sister. As scared as I was, I was also pissed by her decision to leave Thom's house unprotected. I swore under my breath and continued the walk to my apartment.

I arrived about thirty minutes later and performed a quick survey of the area. If Pontiff White knew the connection between Kara and me then I was sure the Agency would know as well. You never can be too careful. Satisfied that no threat was imminent I entered my apartment and shuffled through my contacts list to retrieve Kara's communicator information. I pulled out my communicator, dialed the link and waited for her to answer. Several buzzes later it was left unanswered. My nerves were beginning to get the best of me. I tried three more times before giving it a rest. I left a message on the last call hoping that she would get the hint.  
"Kara, it's Serus, I'm not home right now because I went fishing. I hope to see you soon," hopefully she would understand the message and return to Thom's apartment unscathed. I moved about my apartment and gathered some supplies that I thought would be useful later, extra money, a secondary battery and charger for my gauntlet, and a small bag of clothes including a fresh uniform. I didn't know how long it would be before things returned to normal, or if they ever would. I was hopeful though as I locked up my apartment and stepped out into a mid morning sun that beat down a little warmer than usual this time of year. I decided that the best chance to find Kara was to head back to Thom's.  
The walk was long and my heart was full of dread. The programming I had endured during Agency training was driving me nuts. It was as if my mind was tearing down the walls of my humanity brick by brick and it was giving me a headache. I did my best to control my breathing and ease the anxiety that I was feeling. On the outside everything seemed normal, but inside I was full of turmoil.  
As I past Pontiff White's palace I could see businessmen dressed in expensive suits entering in groups of three. I recognized some of the men as retired policemen and assumed that they were attached to a security detail as members of the Syndicate grouped together for a meeting, one that was sure to be about the information Kara shared with me. I continued past the palace on towards Thom's apartment. I still had another hour of walking before I would arrive and I spent that time routinely checking my communicator for a call from either Thom or Kara. The holographic display was blank each time I checked it.  
I found Thom standing next to the water behind his apartment when I arrived. He was still dressed in his uniform despite having the day off. It was typical of us policemen not to have a wardrobe exceeding what was issued to us, plus maybe a business suit for formal affairs. I let out a slight whistle as I walked up behind him and he turned to look at me. He was holding a small screen in his hand and had a look of concern drawn across his face.  
"Serus, there is something that you need to see here," he said. I could hear the concern carried in his voice as he swept out his hand and the holographic image spread out over the still water. It was a news program with a headline dictating the failure of our artificial electro-magnetic field. I had wondered why so many in the Syndicate were in Archea, this news must be why.  
Thom increased the volume so that I could hear the report. Kara's name was not used, but I knew that the information had to have come from her. The report gave the exact time line of one to one and half years before the magnetic field collapsed. Those words had been used by my sister the night before. My headache increased as my programming battled the next onslaught of fear and dread over my sister's safety.  
I pulled out my communicator and dialed her again, several buzzes went unanswered. Frustrated I closed the communicator and shoved it back into my pocket. I felt like hurling it into the water, skipping it like a stone, but I knew that was unwise. I looked up to Thom and saw that he was staring at me.  
"It will be fine, Serus," he said as comforting as he could manage. I noticed the attempt, but ignored it. I knew the truth. Even if I could save Kara, time was still running out for the rest of humanity. I felt powerless to do anything to stop it.  
The image over the water changed to show an uproar of citizens in the square. They had accumulated in less than an hour and it looked like a growing mob. They were chanting their calls for the Syndicate to do something to save them. I imagined White starring out of his window with disdain covering his pale face while puffing his cigar through clenched teeth. He would be their symbol of hope, but he would sit back to watch all of them die, I was sure of it.  
I reached for my communicator again knowing it had not gone off, but compulsion made me look anyway, the screen was still blank. I let out a frustrated sigh when I jammed it back into my pocket. Thom looked at me with the worried look still painted on his face.  
"I'm sure that she is alright," he stated.  
"Yeah me too, but for how long? Did you know that a large number of board members of the Syndicate have convened at the palace? Surely it has something to do with the failing magnetic field that is all over the news now!" I could feel myself growing more anxious by the second.  
"Yeah, I saw the report scrolling at the bottom of the image. It's the largest meeting in fifteen years," Thom said. He looked back down on the image of Archean citizens standing outside the palace crying for their savior, whoever that could be. "Let's go inside and wait for Kara," Thom finished.  
I followed him back into his apartment and collapsed onto his couch. I rubbed my eyes and realized just how tired I was. I hadn't slept in more than a day and it was beginning to wear on me. I grabbed a small vial of Serum from my belt and dripped it onto my tongue. It dulled my weariness to the point that I no longer noticed, but it left my mind able to function normally. At one point I had survived over a month without sleep while on Serum, but it can make you go mad if you continue much longer than that.

Thom brought me a drink and sat down across from me. He stayed silent, probably worried about his own family and how they were dealing with the news about the impending doom befalling all of us. It was fine though, the silence helped keep my headache at bay. I closed my eyes for a moment, but they jerked wide open at the knocking sound at Thom's front door. I jumped up and ran over to peer at the security screen to see Kara standing there alone. I jerked the door open and looked into her eyes. It was a moment I had been afraid I would not experience again.  
"Kara!" I said as Thom walked up behind me.  
"Serus, I think I made a mistake," she said as tears ran from her green eyes. I took her hand and she fell into my arms, worn out from the stress of what she had just been through. I had an uneasy feeling swarm over me; suddenly I noticed a laser sight moving up her back towards my hand. My eyes followed it straight to the gauntlet of another policeman standing across the street. I let out a breath and tensed as I spun around and flung Kara into Thom's arms as I slammed the door shut and locked it. Kara must have been followed and now we were no longer safe here. There would be only one way out now. We would have to fight our way out.
Chapter 6

Kara screamed as four blue lasers cut through the stone wall in front of Thom's apartment. Thom jumped over the couch and flung open the closet door to grab his gauntlet. I looked out of the window and saw three of the policemen scrambling for cover. One of them was hiding behind a vehicle and was within firing range. I fired my gauntlet and hit him in the neck killing him instantly. I had lost sight of the other two policemen so I moved quickly away from the window and joined Kara who was hiding behind the couch.

Thom crouched down beside us and set the controls on his gauntlet. "How many?" He asked while he kept his eyes moving.

"There were four of them that I saw. I took one out, but there could be more," I replied. It was hard to tell how many policemen were out there without a good long look, a risk I wasn't willing to take.

"It looks like we're kind of stuck in here. I only have three windows to serve as vantage points. I can cover the bedroom if you can cover in here," he said.

"Sounds good, let's get this over with and regroup," I said. Kara was crying next to me. I put my hand on her shoulder to try and console her. I didn't think that it would do much good in the middle of a fight, but I wanted her to know that I was there.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't know that they were following me. It's all my fault." The tears ran down her face is streams that smeared her makeup.

"Shh," I tried to quiet her down. "It's alright, you didn't know. You've been under a lot of stress. We will get through this just like before." I moved over to the bay window and peered out. I could see some movement behind a large bush and I took aim. The laser from my gauntlet hit my target and set the dried leaves of the bush ablaze as well. I didn't feel confident that it was a kill shot so I treated it as a living threat and fired again, there was no movement. I kept my eyes moving and scanned the perimeter for another policeman. I could hear Thom in the next room taking fire and cussing under his breath. I maintained my position for the next several seconds before I decided to join Thom.

I ran into the room with Thom and ducked under the window. The back wall was covered with burnt holes where the lasers had fired at Thom and missed. I could trace the blue beams and calculated where the next policeman was located. I fired in a large sweep and the policeman's beam went out. It had to be a hit. Was it a kill shot? I didn't know. Thom stood up and fired his gauntlet into the head of a policeman who had crept up less than ten yards away. That was four targets down.

We looked out from the windows, he stayed in the bedroom and I moved into the living room. Neither of us could see any more policemen lurking outside. The bush that was burning on the other side of the yard filled the area with black smoke as the sun began its decent towards the horizon. The days were short this time of year and time was flying by in a blur. It felt like I had lived through a week in the past two days. I was a wreck.

I looked over at Thom, "watch Kara while I go outside and take a look." He nodded at me as I ran out of the apartment to make a quick sweep of the area. I looked behind all of the hiding spots that I could find. All four bodies were sprawled out and lifeless on the ground. Each of the men looked fairly young and were probably somewhat inexperienced. They had to be rookies. It figured that the Agency would send in the most expendable policemen for a hit like this. These men may have radioed in what was going on and their location before the attack started. If that were true then the Agency would now be aware of Thom's involvement as well as my own from the fight at Kara's home. I made a final sweep of the area and felt it was secure before I returned into the apartment to check on Kara who was still hiding behind the couch.

"Are you alright?" I asked as I checked her over for injuries. Her clothes were torn a little, probably from when I threw her into Thom's arms. She was crying and blabbering about it being her fault. I was concerned that she was potentially going through a mental breakdown. The human mind can only take so much. "Look, Kara, you need to stay with me. It will be fine, but you need to calm down. You can't change what has happened, though you do have control of what will happen. Are you with me?" I wiped the tears from her eyes and gave her a hug. I could feel the shaking of her body between sobs begin to slow down. It was a good sign at least. If I could calm her down then we might have a chance of getting out of here.

"Alright," she said as she pulled away from me and started wiping the tears and smeared makeup from her face. "I'm sorry," she said and she started to stand. "I just can't believe this is happening." She stood there shaking from fear in the middle of Thom's apartment, the furniture was strewn throughout the room, holes and cuts were torn through the walls of the apartment. It looked like a war zone. I guess you could call what we were going through a war. It certainly felt like one.

"I know, Kara, but we will get through this together." Thom walked up to us and gave me a nod letting me know that he was ready when we were. "We need to get out of here," I finished. Thom and I escorted Kara out of the apartment. We left our gauntlets armed and ready in case another policeman emerged to perform the hit. I felt better having a friend who cared fight by my side. It helped take some of the edge off.

"I'm pretty sure White was behind this hit," I said to Thom. "The timing was too perfect and he was the only one who knew that I was with her." He was the most likely suspect in a very short list.

"Sounds reasonable. I could see that being the case. I guess now they know that I'm in the fold as well." Thom said with a slight grin. I think he liked this more than he would like to admit.

"Well I guess you are now at least. We need to find shelter, a place to hide and sleep. We can't keep Kara out in the open, it's too dangerous. The only place I can think of to go is to my father's old apartment. It has been condemned for a few years but it is one place that they may not think to look. It could buy us some time at least." It wasn't a great plan, but I'm mostly an offensive strategist. Trying to play defense in this situation was a weakness that I hoped I would not regret.

"I'm game," Thom replied, he was still along for the ride.

"One more thing," I added. "I need you to keep watch over her. Don't let her out of your sight. I don't think she will bolt on you again, but I don't want to tempt her. I'll relieve you after I share some words with White." I believed that Kara knew the risks now. She was a smart girl; surely she wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

Thom chuckled under his breath and gave me a pat on the back. "I won't let her out of my sight." That was just what I needed to hear. With that behind us we went to find shelter at the condemned apartment that had belonged to my father. Hopefully it was still somewhat inhabitable. Either way it would be better than parading around in the middle of Archea. Together we walked, keeping a constant eye out for further danger. This wasn't the kind of quality family time that I would have wanted, but it did feel good spending time with Kara again, despite the circumstances. I put my arm around her as we kept to the side streets, traveling to the last home that I had really known, our father's apartment.
Chapter 7

Once Kara was settled into the condemned apartment that had belonged to our father I began conjuring up how I was going to approach Pontiff White. My first thought was to try and play it safe, but considering the fact that he already knew that I was involved then I didn't see much point in pulling punches. I sat on the stool next to Thom as he was looking at the latest report to see how things were going after the bomb dropped about how the magnetic field was beginning to fail. According to the report it seemed that the mob was beginning to disperse. It happened quicker than I imagined it would. I supposed that people forgot how to fight when they relied on the Syndicate to take care of them. It was probably better for them to forget.

"I'm heading back to talk to White," I said to Thom as I rose up off the stool.

"Alright, we will stay here until you get back. I'll be honest though, I don't feel that this is the safest place for fugitives," he said as he motioned at the windows that exposed us to the outside world with their lack of curtains. I shook my head in agreement.

"I know, but it's all we have right now." He nodded back as I began to leave. It had been dark for about five hours. Most of the citizens were going to bed about this time, but I was certain that Pontiff White would still be awake and in his office. A certainty that fueled my resolve during the long walk to the palace.

I stayed in the shadows once I approached the palace. I was surprised to see more people in the square than they had shown on Thom's media device. Either the people had returned or the image had been edited to make it seem that things were dying down. I was more than certain that White was still awake when I was able to see him peering out of his window down at the mob of people.

I entered through the same entrance I had used earlier that day. I was no longer drawn in by the beautiful expensive furnishings that surrounded me. I ignored them all as I went to the elevator and was lifted to the floor where White's office was located. The elevator door opened and revealed the pale lit floor that would scan me with each step, transferring my information straight onto White's computer. I didn't care about that as each step I took brightened the hallway. I made large strides to cross the hallway as quickly as possible and stepped into White's office without knocking.

The Pontiff was still standing at the window with his back to me when he spoke, "Serus, I've been waiting for you."

"I'm sure you have," I responded. "There was another hit attempt on Kara tonight. Based on the fact that she was followed instead of immediately being executed upon discovery I figured you were behind the hit."

"You figured correctly," he said as he turned around to face me. The look on his face was not the confident, maniacal look I had seen earlier. "I wasn't left with much choice in the matter. You can see what happened when the news report was released. Mass hysteria that is still going on outside this palace. I have seen reports from other cities that show the same reaction, citizens crying out to the magistrate buildings, looking for a hope that is not there, clinging to their false gods, the Syndicate! That same Syndicate, whose board members were in my office when you arrived earlier today stirring things up. As I said before, I was left with little choice in what I had to do."

I was taken aback by his words. Just earlier today he had seemed so deep in their pocket and so very incorruptible that I felt he was indeed their crazy little puppet. This man I was speaking to now was different, almost pathetic in his attempt to woo me with his anti-government slurs.

"You look puzzled, Serus," he said. "Is it really so odd for me to be speaking this way? I'm relatively alone in my office with this madness erupting outside. You and I are the same person. We are the feared pawns of the Syndicate. We are powerless on our own, but we are energized by the very thing that we hate. Victims, you and I are the victims, Serus! Look out there and see what your sister has done and ask me why I had to give the order. I had them follow her to lead them back to you. Had you stayed out of the situation entirely then it is possible your sister would be dead, but the entire world would be ignorant of what is to come. By saving your sister you have damned every single person standing out there. Ignorance is bliss and the sheep have been so full of bliss that it has become sickening!

"I don't blame you for defending Kara. I really don't to be perfectly honest. I'm just not in a situation now to benefit from any direction that this fiasco will go. So I did what I was told to do and ordered the hit. I'll admit that I wasn't surprised that you came out on top, yet again. Trust me when I tell you that it's only a temporary victory."

Anger and confusion erupted from me as I lunged toward him and slammed his head against the window. It was thick enough not to break from the force, but I could see that it had hurt the older man in more ways than just his pride.

"Wait!" He choked out as my hand pressed against his throat. "Wait, I have something to tell you." I looked around before easing up off of him. "Please take a seat and listen to what it is that I have to say."

We moved over to the couch and chairs next to his large desk and sat opposite of one another. He was still rubbing at his neck trying to calm down. "What is it?" I asked, irritated at the reprieve I had just given him. I felt nauseous as the programming battled with my emotions yet again.

He held up his hand and gestured for me to wait a moment. He walked over to a book shelf and grabbed a small box that was adorned in gold and silver and sat it on the table next to the couch. He pushed the box across the table towards me, willing me to open it. I grabbed the box and felt the weight in my hand before I opened it. It contained a single photograph of a young woman and was accompanied by a few documents regarding an assassination. I scanned over it quickly and stopped at the name 'White'.

"That was my wife, Ambrees. She was pregnant when the Syndicate had her killed," White's face was worn with emotion as he said those words. "She was killed because my father was a wealthy board member of the Syndicate who decided to make some unwise financial decisions that didn't reflect well with the views of the Syndicate. He owed them a debt that he could not afford so he decided to jump from a building to his death. The Syndicate then passed that debt down to me. I'm sure that my father knew that our family would be ripped off financially, but that was only the first installment of what my father owed. The next installment would be my service.

"I'm sure you know that the position as Pontiff is not an elected position. We are recruited much like the Agency recruited you. We have the same limited freedoms that you do. No family and no possessions. When they told me that they wanted me as Pontiff I explained that I was already married and my wife was expecting. I thought that all of the money that was taken from us would have appeased their lust for power. They instead informed me that it had been taken care of. I naively thought that they were going to allow me to have my family here in the palace. I was a fool; the hit had already been carried out. I was powerless then, much as I am now. Just a puppet commanded by the hands of others."

White sat there with his head in his hands. I could tell that he was crying by the slight shake in his shoulders. "Who was the policeman that carried out the hit?" I asked.

"Gentry," he replied.

"I don't recognize the name," I said.

"I'm surprised," he said. "He was the same policeman who executed your father."

I was shocked. I could see the policeman's face all these years, but never knew his name. I didn't know if it had been programmed out of my mind or if I never knew his name to begin with, but hearing it now made me feel sick. Not just because of my father, but for White's wife and unborn child.

"What is it you want me to do with this information?" I asked.

He looked at me with red, tear streaked eyes and said, "I want you to shut down the Syndicate."

"It's impossible," I said. "They control everything. There is no way to get into a position to bring them down."

"No?" He asked. "Do you know what their plan is for the dying magnetic field?"

"No."

"I do. They plan on doing the same thing that brought humanity to Mars in the first place. Do you know how we came to be here?"

"No."

"Of course not, no one does when they are not in a position like mine or part of the Syndicate. Over two thousand years ago Earth was running out of the resources that allowed our ancestors to live the kind of lives that they wanted. One country feared the next country because of their nuclear power capabilities. The same power sources could also be used to create bombs that held the potential to destroy entire populations.

"Wars broke out as the next country started a nuclear program. Each war was followed with another and yet another causing the oil deposits to dry up and the economies collapsed. The wealthiest men on Earth came together to make a plan to start over. They pulled their resources together and funded what became known as the Mars Exodus.

"It took them half a century to build the technology to turn this once dead planet into something inhabitable. They used the same nuclear power to create our artificial electro-magnetic field so that they could harness an oxygen rich atmosphere. Vegetation was planted to allow renewable oxygen generation and that vegetation was followed by animals. Finally after many years and many dollars spent, Mars was ready to sustain human life. Those wealthy men set up a lottery system to bring a small percentage of humans to Mars to create a new civilization. The winners of the lottery received a new chance at life, but waived their ability to live life their own way with liberty and freedom that they had enjoyed on Earth. This started the culture that we know now, where the Syndicate controls the people through population control. The Syndicate has no remorse in killing for their personal gain. So here we are."

"Wait a minute, so the Syndicate plans to return to Earth?" I asked.

"Yes, it has been several centuries since anyone has returned to see how Earth has held up, but based on the previous report it is still inhabitable. They also want to use the lottery system to take some of us back with them."

"How does the lottery work?" I asked.

"It doesn't work. They pick and choose who goes and give them the ticket to board the transport. They will restart everything on Earth the way they did here, by using population control."

"What can we do?" I asked.

"That is the billion dollar question isn't it?" White said. "If we make people aware of what is going on then it will cause more trouble. I suggest we let the lottery go as planned, but assassinate the winners."

"What?" I asked. "That's about as improbable as taking down the Syndicate!"

"You do realize that common people such as yourself will be left on Mars to die if you do not do this don't you?" He asked. "At least this way you can give you and your sister an opportunity at a life that otherwise might not exist."

He had a point. What else could I do? Sit back and watch the world end while the privileged continue to run people's lives? Something had to be done and it seemed that I was the only one in a position to make that something happen. Me and my unlikely new ally.

"I'm in." I said, and shook Pontiff White's hand. The puppet has seemed to have cut his own strings, I thought to myself. We will see how this goes.
Chapter 8

As I was settling into the idea of an alliance with Pontiff White I could feel an awkward situation about to present itself. How was I going to know if I could trust him? He held all of the power in this relationship. The answer came just as I was about to leave.

"Serus," White said. "Before you walk out of that door, there is something that you need to know. The Syndicate programmed an alert to be initiated the next time you walked through that hallway. There was nothing that I could do to stop them. I'm sure you understand."

I guess I could have felt betrayed, but if he wanted me dead then why would he have alerted me to the danger that I was about to walk into? He moved over to his desk and brought up the security images of the square. It illuminated into a large holographic display.

"There are three policemen posted outside. They are at the northern, southern, and western exits. The eastern exit into the square is surrounded by water and would be nearly impossible for you to escape detection. My suggestion is the southern exit. There are five streets easily accessible for escape, provided that you can take out the policeman waiting for you. Considering the fact you've recently dispatched seven policemen I would say that you are more than capable of escaping." He turned the holographic image to face me and highlighted the policemen posted at the exits with red circles. I went over the escape route that he had mentioned and could see that he was indeed presenting me with my best option.

"Thank you for this information," I said as I turned to leave.

"Serus, one more thing," he stopped me. I turned back to him. "The Syndicate will be looking for you. My suggestion is to either avoid them completely or confront them head on. If you want my help then you can earn it by helping me to destroy them. Also, don't pay any attention to any of the words that I will be saying to the media. I will need to continue this faithful puppet act in order to prolong our chances of succeeding." White stood at his desk and smiled at me, it was the look of an old man who was holding onto the last bit of youth that he could muster. The final act of defiance by a caged beast.

"Understood," I replied and walked back out of the office. The lights illuminated under each step that I made, sending a signal to dispatch to alert the policemen below that I was leaving the palace. It was information that I would not have had without my new alliance with White. Just when I thought things could not get stranger I go and form an allegiance with someone whom I thought was my enemy.

The elevator descended down to the ground floor and I walked through the lobby towards the southern exit. I had to go down several long hallways to make it to the exit; once I was close enough I slowed down and tried to sense movement on the other side of the door. I could see a policeman standing outside about fifty yards from the exit door. He had his back to me, but kept his head moving from side to side. I could tell that he was on full alert and any sound from the door would caution him to my presence. I adjusted the laser on my gauntlet and fired. The glass made a loud popping sound that resonated through the hallway. It did not shatter, but I had succeeded in blasting a hole through it leaving it spider webbed around the hole.

I was cautious before I went outside. I was afraid that the sound would alert the other policemen to my position. Once outside though, I realized that the sound of the water outside would have deadened the sound of the glass fragmenting. I maintained my position for several moments before jutting out of the square and crossing into an alley. I ran for at least a mile before I slowed to a walk. The area I was in was not exactly bustling with activity so any sudden movements from the shadows could be a policeman waiting for me.

It took me a little over an hour to return to my father's old apartment. Kara had been sleeping and Thom was standing watch outside of the room that she was in. I knocked before entering so that Thom would know it was me and not attack me.

"How did it go with White," he asked in a whisper.

"It went alright. I know what the Syndicate is up to now. White told me everything," I replied.

"Did you kill him?" He asked.

"No. Believe it or not I think he is a friend." Even I had to question my judgment as I heard those words escape my lips.

Thom laughed, "Are you kidding me? He tried to have you and your sister killed!" He was almost shouting.

"Look," I said while trying to keep him quiet. "He is a puppet of the Syndicate and does as he is told. We both know that. I came across some new information that makes me believe that I can trust him. He told me that they killed his wife to force him into being the Pontiff."

"He was married?" Thom asked.

"Yeah, and she was with child when she was executed. It was a way for the Syndicate to get revenge for what his father did," I said.

"Which was what?" Thom asked.

"I don't know exactly, but whatever it was it cost White his riches and his family," I said.

"Damn, tough break losing his wife and child," Thom replied.

"No kidding. How's Kara?" I asked.

"Sleeping in the next room. She's been quiet," Thom answered. He fumbled around with his jacket and pulled out his media device and switched it on. The holographic image appeared on the wall in front of us. The report showed images of the protests from earlier today and announced an impending speech from Pontiff White that would be aired in a few hours. "You should get some sleep," Thom said. He gave me a look that made me feel as if he was giving me an order.

"Yeah. Are you alert enough to stay up?" I asked hoping that he would say yes.

"I've got Serum to keep me awake," he said. "Besides, I can sleep when you get up."

"Do me a favor and wake me up when White goes to give his speech. Something tells me that it may be something of interest to us," I said.

"Will do. Just get some sleep," he said.

I walked into the next room and lay out on the floor. As soon as my head touched the floor I was out cold, it was a wonder I hadn't passed out before. I guessed that my body just had enough. The stress of our situation had compounded itself and finally I would receive the rest that I so desperately needed.

Chapter 9

I was trapped in complete darkness as a resounding roar emoted all around me. My hands and feet were bound together tightly as I tried to call out for help. It was impossible for my throat to make a sound, or at least it was impossible to hear over the roaring sound surrounding me. The noise was haunting and sent chills down my spine. I struggled against my restraints uselessly as I opened my throat for another scream. I felt a tearing sensation in my vocal cords, but still I made no sound.

I felt hopeless in the darkness, then all of a sudden a bright light like the sun illuminated all around me. I strained to make out the image of a vast arena surrounding me. It was an enormous rust colored bowl where people were shouting and cheering by the thousands, their faces were hidden by identical white masks. Fire erupted on the platform that I was restrained to and I could feel the heat burning my skin. I attempted another blood curdling scream that escaped my lips without making a sound. I was weak and encapsulated by fear and misery.

I squinted from the blinding light that was causing my eyes to burn. Everything became a blur with floating bubbles running from side to side. I widened my eyes despite the pain and made out the form of another platform with someone else trapped on it. It too was blazing in a devilish inferno. It was hell before my eyes. Long black hair blew in the wind that whipped like the flames into giant pillars, the hair parted to reveal a familiar face that was frozen in the same terror that I felt. Kara! She was held to the platform by the same mechanisms that held me. I could see her mouth moving, but I could not hear her screams because of the roaring crowd, instead I felt them like a knife that penetrated my heart with every single beat.

I tore at my restraints with every ounce of strength that I could muster. I screamed and frantically writhed trying to break myself free. It was useless, I was useless. I sat there as a guilty spectator and watched as my sister burned for her crimes against the Syndicate. She burned to the cheers and resounding applauds that were emanating from the faceless cowards in the arena. Her screams were welcomed with fiendish lust by those who controlled the lives of others. The flames died down and she was gone. The last member of my family evaporated before my eyes, now only ashes floated away and settled into the rust colored dirt of the arena. The final resting place for those deemed to be wicked.

The flames swelled closer and closer to me. The fire burned over my skin but the only pain that I felt was in my heart. My longing for my family would forever go unsatisfied. I was left alone to face the flames, alone to taste of death, alone with the bitter hatred that I felt for myself. I should have done something to save Kara. But what could I do? I was trapped on this burning platform! I was a useless, pitiful fool, but it will all be over soon.

Every thought, every burden, every regret was facing me. Looking me in the eye just one last time before the bitterness of hate consumed my final breath. It was better like this I thought. I was only half a man stolen from his life. I remembered love before the end came swooping down at me through the flames. Thank God I knew love in those last moments. The alternative was for me to die hollow, void of any emotion, void of any reason to live. Just a hollowed soul, much like those who survived the Agency into retirement. They had nothing left in life. At least this way I had my sister. At least this way I didn't have to die with the regret of surviving.

My body convulsed from the flames that were overtaking me. A shaking emanated from deep down in my chest. It was my heart breaking. No amount of programming from the Agency would allow you to ignore this kind of pain. I felt everything in that final moment. Another shake.

"Wake up!" Another shake was felt by my burning nerves.

"Serus!" I can hear her voice. Maybe there is life after death, but I was hoping for nothingness.

"Serus!" My eyes opened and I saw Kara kneeling over me. Her face and body were unmarked by the flames. She was crying and had her warm hands lain upon my shoulders smothering the flames. I could feel that the heat was dying down. That must have been my nerves dying because I could see the flames were still there.

"Serus!" Her lips were moving as she said my name. She wiped another tear from her eye and I could see Thom walk up behind her. Had he been burned too? I hadn't seen him on a platform. I didn't see anything anymore except for Kara, and Thom, and a stained wall.

Where was the arena that had been set ablaze? Where were the thousands of people wearing the white masks? Where was the sound of the roaring that I had heard earlier?

My reflexes jumped and I sat up quickly. My body was warm but not on fire. I looked around confused and saw Kara looking at me, fear had consumed her. Thom stood behind her with concern marked across his face.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"It was a dream," Kara said. "We've been trying to wake you for fifteen minutes," she finished. She was obviously shaken by the whole ordeal.

"Oh God," I said. "It was horrible! Everything was on fire. I watched you burn!" I shouted. I could see the terror on her face. Kara had believed that dreams were pathways that our lives could take in reality.

"It was only a dream, a nightmare," she said. "I'm still here and I'm fine," she hugged me and I could feel her heavy breathing on my neck. She was trying to cover up her own fear to settle my own. I had never had a dream like that before. It was so real. I could feel the flames lapping up my body. It was too realistic.

Thom knelt beside me and put his hand on my forehead. "I think you may have a fever," he said. That was possible I supposed.

I wiped the sweat from my face and went to stand up. My throat was dry and I was light headed. I moved slowly into the other room and Kara walked behind me warily with Thom following. The media device had been switched on and the holographic image depicted a growing mob in the square. Their shouts sounded like a roar. That must have been what I heard in my dream. They were setting fire to different buildings and vehicles, causing damage to everything as they protested. The headline along the bottom of the image alerted viewers to the lottery that White had mentioned to me the night before. I had not missed his speech, but what I witnessed now was the precursor to what was coming. Fire burned across the image on the wall.

The lottery would only save twenty five percent of humanity. The rest would die! Population was controlled by the Syndicate, just like everything else. I had to take down the Syndicate. More fire erupted in the square and people were trampled by the mob. The image moved on to Pontiff White standing stoically by his window looking down on the crowd below. He looked unmoved by the commotion and violence below. There was something behind him. I looked at the image and studied it harder. I made out the image of another suited man, the puppeteer, the handler, a member of the Syndicate.
Chapter 10

I watched the image illuminating off the wall from Thom's media device. The mob in the square had grown larger as the initial winners of the lottery were about to be named. Pontiff White was now standing stoically, high upon a platform in the middle of the square protected by a clear acrylic booth. His voice was amplified through a speaker system that circled around the square and the transmission was picked up by the media crew and sent out to the general population. He stood tall amongst the citizens, dressed in a dark burgundy double breasted suit. His light brown hair was slicked back with tufts of gray that appeared on his temples. He looked like a modern day king, royalty who graced the peasants of the land with his presence; he was a king leading the blind to their deaths.  
The amplifiers squealed as the microphone was switched on. The speakers were turned up so loud that you could hear each exhale of his breath. I could see the people in the square press their hands up to their ears until the squelching sound subsided. Pontiff White never even flinched; instead he just looked out over the crowd with his jaw set, unmoving like a statue.  
The crowd soon erupted into another outraged boycott of the Syndicate's pending lottery. Shouts resounded through the square, even on screen I could see how the sound shook the windows in the nearby buildings as Pontiff White stood quiet. His resolve was unshaken by the mob, but I could see as he clinched the podium with white knuckled hands, the only visible sign of the distress that he was going through. It took several moments for the crowd to die down enough for his words to be heard. A hush was carried through the square that could be heard by viewers worldwide. The same hush quieted even the rambling thoughts in my own head.  
"Attention, citizens," he said in a booming amplified voice. "It is with great solemnity that I come to you today to report that which you citizens have come together to protest, and to verify the fact that a lottery is indeed in place. The winners chosen are to be transported back to Earth. You may be wondering why this is necessary, and I wish to answer that question to the best of my ability. Recently it has come to the attention of the Syndicate that our artificial electro-magnetic field is in danger of failing. It is not just a possibility, but the danger is imminent. Its rate of decline is the result of the nuclear power generator that powers it. We do not have a supply of enriched uranium on hand to maintain the generator and that puts our planet at risk. What short supply we do have has already been used to power the generator, but sadly it is being used up too quickly. The core is used up at a much higher rate than it was originally designed to do.  
"The Syndicate and I are dedicated to preserving humanity by any means necessary. The lottery will be used to dictate the order in which all people will be transferred back to planet Earth. It is in your best interest to be patient with us as methods are put in place to ensure the survival of everyone. The early results of the lottery will be released after this speech and the transports back to Earth will be underway by the end of the week. I ask that everyone remain patient so that this exodus can occur as seamless as possible. Your cooperation in this matter is critical.  
"I know that many of you are concerned with the quality of life that you will inherit once you return to Earth. I share that concern with you. It is true that none of us have personally seen the conditions in which we are returning, but based on the previous expedition to Earth many years ago, it is clear that we will not be the only humans on the planet. It is also apparent that Earth has experienced many hardships over the past several centuries; they have suffered much more so than we have here on Mars and that will affect our quality of living on a considerable level. The natural resources of Earth have grown scarce and I believe that the humans of Earth will benefit greatly from our advanced technological resources. We will all experience a hard adjustment period, but all is not lost. This will be both an exodus and a reunion of sorts. It is important that we depart from our home with an attitude of unity, that communion between us and our brothers and sisters of Earth will make the biggest impact in the life that we will experience in the near future.  
"I just want to remind you that the lottery results for tonight are only the initial list. Many more names will follow in the days, weeks, and months ahead. I encourage each of you to remain calm and allow the Syndicate to care for your needs as it always has. Thank you for your time and good night."  
Pontiff White's words seemed to be a comfort to the crowd in the square. Perhaps because they were not privy to the information that I was. They did not know that only a fraction of the people on Mars would be returned to Earth. Their ignorance would be a welcomed relief that they did not know existed. For the rest of humanity, all hope was lost. Those left behind would die and the Syndicate did not care. This lottery dictated who would live and who would die. It was a form of population control that had never been experienced in our Martian history.  
The image of the Pontiff was replaced by a scrolling list of names. There were thousands of names that repeated every ten minutes or so. Each name on the list correlated with a corporate leader. Big money bought them a position onto the transports heading back to Earth. They were the elite, bred to rule and to live on despite whom died in their stead. It figured, why save the people who have nothing to lose? Why should you care about another human life that did not immediately affect your own life? I watched the names scroll for over an hour. I could feel my heart fill with anger as my resolve to bring the Syndicate down was strengthened by this total disregard for human life. Alliance or not, I would see vindication for those who would be lost. It did not matter whether I killed one or all of the members of the Syndicate. Retribution would be made, I swore to myself.  
Kara watched the image and I could see the expression of dread swell upon her face by not seeing her name on the list. The reality of having a hit on her head did not seem to bother her near as much as the realization that she would be left to inherit whatever death was surely around the horizon. I grabbed her hand and squeezed it, trying to offer whatever comfort she might find by the gesture.  
"There is something you need to know about the lottery," I said aloud. Thom and Kara both looked at me. "It is rigged. When I went and spoke with Pontiff White he told me the Syndicates plan for returning to Earth. Only twenty or thirty percent of the people on this planet will be transported back. The rest will die when our atmosphere dies, however long that takes after the magnetic field collapses. This lottery is just a ploy that will allow them to save themselves while they quiet the mob that's brewing."  
"They will just leave a majority of its citizens to die?" Thom asked with exasperation.  
"Yes they will," I said coldly. "They will only save those whom they have something to gain by saving. Most of us have nothing to offer them. The Syndicate will first seek self preservation and then they will save people based on what will be most beneficial for them as they build a new society." Those words sounded monstrous. How could a person or group of people not value human life more than that?

The reality of our dire situation was making me nauseous. My emotions were on edge, from the stress of my nightmare and the anxiety associated with the false hope that was deified behind the lottery. I could feel a new emotion begin to well up deep within my body. It was an emotion that had been severed during my programming as I underwent training with the Agency. The most motivating emotion in any man's arsenal. That one emotion that draws the most motivation out of a man who was hell bent for his cause, an emotion that spews forth like a volcano erupting fire and raining death upon his enemies. That emotion that felt like a pain that was both dreadful and satisfying. That emotion was hate, and it was growing.
Chapter 11

I was in the middle of the street that ran along the coast of the Archean Sea. I could not remember how I had gotten here and I didn't remember leaving Thom and Kara in the apartment. I also had no idea how long I had been away, but I enjoyed the feeling of the wind blowing across my face. I could feel a storm brewing in more ways than one. The dark sky reflected in red hues out across the water. It was a sight I had loved in my youth when I came here with my father and Kara. Those memories seemed like a lifetime ago, that little boy seemed like a completely different person altogether. I shoved my hands into my waist pockets to warm them up a bit. The cold current of the sea added a chill to the air that surrounded me. It felt nice, but it did nothing to the burning sensation I felt as hate coursed through my veins.

I turned in a slow circle and took in my environment. Even after all the years since I had been here last everything still looked as it did before. A single, tall building towered over the rest of the shorter buildings in the area. The building was owned by a man named Stern Harling, he was a former business partner of my father. Stern and I were connected now in ways that words could not express. It was Stern who had initiated the hit on my father; the hit that had ripped a father from his children so soon after an illness had taken their mother as well. I also had heard that it was he who had suggested my recruitment into the Agency only a week after the news of my engagement with Laurel had been announced, once again stripping me of the life that I desired in order to be happy. Harling and I were connected alright, but I felt that I was the only one who could see the link. A link that I now planned to sever permanently.

I stood with my back facing the water and felt the wind beat across my back, whipping the bottom of my jacket around wildly. I could feel a chill mist from the waves fall upon my face and neck, cooling my skin, but still the hate was warm as it coursed through my body. My programming should have been lighting off neural blockers to kill the spikes in my thought processes that enabled this emotionally responsive behavior. I could barely register that my programming still existed except for a slight nudge or impulse to settle down from time to time. I didn't know if I had finally learned to ignore it, or if the programming was dying all together. Either way I was satisfied with what I was feeling now. Emotions made me feel alive which was more than Stern Harling would be feeling soon, very soon.

It was a short walk to the Harling Building, but I took my time and reveled in the decision I had made for myself. I walked with a purpose that I wanted to savor for as long as possible. I stood a mere forty yards from the entrance to the Harling Building. I breathed as slowly as possible as I waited. At any moment he would emerge from his office, leaving work for the day, confident in what he had gained at the expense of others. Part of those achievements was responsible for the countless deaths that helped to fuel the economy, another was his selection by the lottery to be returned to Earth and continue business as usual. The same business that had my father killed.

The streets were nearly empty while I waited. Only a few vehicles drove past in those final minutes that I waited. Their headlights cut through the darkness in a wash of bright illumination that left me momentarily blinded. After the fourth vehicle passed and my vision cleared I was able to see Stern exit his office building. He was alone, too confident in his status as part of the elite to be escorted by guards. It was perfect; his death would be carried out uninterrupted.

Harling walked towards me as I stood in the shadows. His footsteps were heavy against the pavement. He was dressed in an expensive suit with an unusual tailored cut. It was a light gray color with light vertical lines evenly spaced around it. His head was balding on top but the hair he had left was dark and created a horseshoe shape around his head. Harling was a large powerfully built man despite his age and the years had not worn him down like they had to most people in his position.

He stepped into the same shadow I had been lurking in before I spoke and alerted him to my presence. "Harling," I said. "It's been a long time."

He paused abruptly and began to step back. "Who is it?" He asked with a slight tremble in his voice. Regardless of his power he was not an intimidating man. In fact he struck me as more fearful of others than anything else. He had a reputation of always playing by the rules with the Syndicate. As my father's business partner he had blown the whistle when my father went astray from their dubious plans. I would like to believe that my father had been doing the right thing, but those thought were not comforting. Harling had a list of people he had killed through assignments with the Agency. His hands may be clean of blood, but his soul was black with the deaths of many, and that count would only rise in the months ahead unless I stopped him.

"You're not a very good man are you, Stern?" I asked in a deep voice. I watched him cower back in fear. "You and the other members of the Syndicate are responsible for the deaths of thousands. What makes you think I believe your lottery will save everyone else?" I knew the truth about the lottery, but I wanted to hear him lie to me, I wanted to hear him say something to justify the end that I so wanted him to experience.

"The lottery is legitimate!" He cried. "It's the only way we can transport everyone. We can't haul everyone off this planet at once, but we can if the transports leave in waves. That's why we are doing the lottery." He was almost frantic as he spoke.

"Lies!" I growled. "You and the Syndicate will survive and leave the rest of us to die!" I stepped out of the shadow and struck him across the face. He fell back and his eyes widened as he realized who I was. "You will kill others like you killed my father!"

"No!" He shouted. "It's not like that. I swear! There just isn't any other way." I could see his eyes well up. A coward hidden in wolves clothing.

"You lie," I said as I struck him again. He fell over into the street and I followed him as he stammered backwards on his hands. "You lie to my face?" I hit him again and again. He cried and squirmed with each blow I delivered to his face. "Tell me the truth!"

"It's true!" He shouted. "I'm telling you the truth!"

I punched him in the face again before arming my gauntlet. The blue sight illuminated his bloody face in the darkness. Fear was his only companion now. I aimed the sight at his forehead and held it there. The low dialed laser beam was reflecting off of his head and I could smell his flesh begin the burn.

"No, please stop, please!" He cried again. I kept the laser in the same spot, it was still burning. "Alright, I admit it! It's all a lie," he swore. It wasn't enough.

"Tell me more," I said while I kept the laser on his forehead.

"The Syndicate is using the lottery to preserve transports for the rich. If we can send the transports back after we are all safe then we will, but no one on the board is hopeful of that outcome. With the lottery at least people will feel like they have a chance." The coward ratted out his own kind, pathetic.

"Why lie about the purpose of the lottery?" I asked.

"It's to keep people quiet. If they don't know what's coming then we can leave in peace." He had tears running down his face and a quivering lip as he spoke. I could feel the terror course through him. His elevated heart beat was visible to my senses and I could see his chest heave as he gasped for air. He retched onto the street from the fear. I had had enough. I felt a burning desire to end him. I set the gauntlet to kill and took aim.

"No! I told you the truth! Please!" He shouted.

"I know," I said. "I knew your scheme all along." I fired the laser into the center of his forehead. The beam went straight through his head and burned the tissue as it hit. There would be no blood splatter from the wound. Before his body collapsed I was able to see a faint light filter through the hole in his head. It had been a clean shot. I was satisfied with the way it felt. Hate was a very useful emotion indeed.

I bent over and reached into his left breast pocket. This was the reason for the head shot. I didn't want to risk damaging my escape plan. I pulled a plastic lottery ticket from his pocket and examined it for a moment. It was about five inches by three inches and red in color. There was no name on the ticket, just a series of numbers stamped into the hard plastic. No identification would be necessary from what I could tell. As satisfying as killing this man had been, I almost smiled a wicked grin at my new insurance policy. Now Kara and I had something that the Syndicate did not anticipate. We had a way off the planet.
Chapter 12

The night sky loomed overhead as I returned to the shoreline and began walking home. I was trying to relieve myself of the aggression that had been building itself inside me. I have never enjoyed the act of taking another person's life before tonight. Then again, it had never suited my needs up until this point. There was something about killing the man who had placed the hit on my father and who had turned my life upside down that was freeing in a scary kind of way. It wasn't for that reason alone that I killed him, but it carried a bit of weight in the gratification that I felt by doing so. I was still carrying the lottery ticket in my hand and I flexed the hard plastic between my hands. So much power was held within this piece of red plastic. It granted life by its presence and death by its absence. It really was not a hard comparison to draw between the ticket I was holding and the Syndicate. Both represented an over indulgent form of population control. The Utopian dream of equality meant that everyone was expendable if you weren't the one who held the power.

I felt a vibration in my jacket and retrieved the communicator from my breast pocket. The screen illuminated, but the hologram did not give any contact information. That was an unusual glitch but I answered the call anyway.

"Serus," I said into the communicator. The other line had a small amount of static interference. That was common in some areas due to the artificial electro-magnetic field that spiked from time to time. At night you could see the amplifiers reflecting light several thousand feet in the sky. They almost looked like blinking stars, but I barely noticed them now.

"Serus, its White. I need to meet with you tonight. Where are you now?" He asked in a quiet voice. The static seemed to muffle some of his words, but I could make out most of what he was saying.

"I'm by the shore about two miles away from you," I said into the communicator.

"Excellent. I want you to meet me in the conference room on the second floor of the palace in an hour," White said. "Come alone and don't be late." He closed the connection after those words and the line went dead. I wasn't sure if something was wrong or not, but I tried not to let it worry me. I was still on a natural high after killing the man who had placed the hit on my father. The same man who had deeply impacted every negative thing in my adult life. It was a high that I was not soon to live down.

I began to walk to Pontiff White's palace in the square. I was keeping near the shoreline so that I could feel the wind blow through my hair. The buildings were dark along the street except for a few businesses that were still operating at this time of night. The street lights glowed in a pale light that had cast shadows at unusual angles along the walkway. I kept a steady pace until I was just outside the palace. I slowed down and tried to stay hidden in the shadows while I kept an eye out for any fellow policemen who may have been waiting for me. I saw one about seventy yards away standing in a well lit area. I scanned the area for a moment and soon found a way to enter the palace yard undetected and I went for it. I crept silently in the dark areas of the street before I ducked onto the walkway leading to the palace. The policeman had kept his back to me the entire time and did not hear me scurry into the building.

Upon entering the palace I noticed that the lights had been dimmed. There wasn't a huge difference in the lighting, but it was enough for me to notice. Part of my training with the Agency had given me a keen attention to detail; I could notice something minor that was out of place if it were necessary to do so for survival. The lighting situation though did not seem threatening to me. I entered the elevator and ascended to the second floor of the palace. The conference room was a short number of steps from the elevator on the other side of the hallway.

Pontiff White was waiting for me. He was sitting in a large leather chair situated at the head of a long wooden table. His computer was on and it projected an image of medical crews cleaning up the remains of Stern Harling. The reporter mentioned the fact that the hit had been carried out by a policeman. They did not give a list of suspects, but I could feel White's eyes follow me as I moved to my seat. I looked away from the image without regarding the report. I stopped and sat next to White as he was switching the volume down on his computer. He looked at me and crossed his arms over his chest.

"You asked to see me," I said as I leaned back into my chair, unmoved by his obvious discontent with me.

"Yes," he said. "I had some concerns when I sought to form an allegiance with you. I thought that maybe you would help me to bring down the Syndicate, but I didn't think that you would immediately strike out on some personal vendetta. Harling was not a key player in the Syndicate, so why did you kill him?" His voice was low but it carried an air of authority with it.

I exhaled before I spoke. "I believe that he was in fact a key player. I did what you wanted and I sought out a means to take the Syndicate down one by one. There is no personal vendetta other than to kill them all and hope for an opportunity to save my sisters life," I said.

"Tell me, Serus, what made him a key player?" He raised his voice and slammed his hand on the table. "He was nothing more than a rat in a cage. Just because he had something to do with the hit placed on your father does not make him a key player. We are talking about the Syndicate! Harling was just another pawn in the game. He didn't make any decisions that affected the world! He only made decisions that affected his own personal gain." He eyed me warily and he had a look like he was trying to read my mind.

"It wasn't like that," I said.

"Don't sit there and lie to me by saying it wasn't personal, Serus. You went out and you killed him just over an hour ago. Let me tell you that I drew the connection you had to him in less than three minutes!" His face had turned red and I felt that maybe his anger had more to do with self preservation than it did with my killing a minor member of the Syndicate. Maybe he was afraid of being found out. I closed my eyes and attempted to redirect my anger. Now wasn't the time to blow up at White. He may be right, maybe I did react in that way because of personal reasons. But Harling shared the blame in creating me, he brought this on himself.

"Look," I said. "Maybe it was unwise to go straight for Harling, but I'm not in a position to know where the pieces of the puzzle go. I'm just there to take out all the pieces."

White rested his head in his hands and closed his eyes. "I know, Serus, but we just don't have time to waste on killing pawns. I need you to target the leaders. I need you to find some way to bring them down. Maybe it's my fault for not coordinating things better so I will assemble a list of names and give them to you. It will be a pecking order. If we take out the people on the top of the list then it will give us an opportunity to take control of the Syndicate and shut it down from the inside."

I nodded at his plan. It sounded like it was a good one. It was systematic in the way we were going to approach it.

"Go home and get some rest," he said. I rose to leave but he stopped me again. "One more thing. I only assumed that you killed Harling, but I don't have proof beyond my own speculation and your lack of denial."

I was surprised by his need for evidence, the media coverage pretty much pointed right at me without saying my name. I reached into my pocket and retrieved the lottery ticket I had taken from Harling. I flexed it in my hand a little before I tossed it onto the table in front of White. The card bounced a few times before it settled on its side so that he could see what it was. He looked up at me and smirked before I turned around and walked out of the room. No words were necessary, but there was an exchange of understanding between us in that moment, and that was enough for now. White had his proof.
Chapter 13

I left the palace and Pontiff White behind. His concern over how I was operating was a little off putting. I didn't regret our alliance, but at the same time I resented the idea that he might want to control me the same way that the Agency has been. That thought reminded me of the fact that I had not been notified by the Agency in about three days. My only interaction with them had been either fighting or alluding policemen ever since the first hit had been attempted on Kara. Was there a connection between that event and my contact with the Agency? My involvement would not have been known until several hours later when they followed Kara to Thom's apartment. This coincidence was peculiar to say the least.

I pulled my communicator from my jacket pocket and I looked at the display. No messages were shown, just as I suspected. I could only assume that the break in communication was their way of effectively cutting me off. I was surprisingly not upset by this revelation. It was freeing for me to be out from under their control. The past few days had been a seemingly endless battle in my mind with human emotions going up against the programming I had received in training. It was still sketchy, but I seemed to have a larger pallet of emotion at my fingertips as well as an uncanny ability to control them unlike ever before. I didn't feel like an incomplete person anymore, and with my ability to control every facet of my emotions I almost felt like I was beyond human.

I sneaked past the policeman that was still standing guard and I darted into the shadows of an alley across the street from the square. He had stood unmoving the entire time and I had kept my eye on him. As a rookie most policemen constantly move their heads side to side in an attempt to keep a constant assessment of the situations that they were in. That method slowly degraded over time as we became more confident in our abilities. He had been too young to have such a mastery over his perceptive skills like a twenty or thirty year veteran. Yet another peculiarity that I had experienced today. Things were not what they had seemed. This felt a little too easy.

The walk back to my fathers condemned apartment was without incident. The moon and stars shown in the black sky as I was wrapped in the embrace of a silent city. I could hear my boots contact the pavement step by step as I walked. I routinely checked my communicator from time to time, nervous that I might receive a call from the Agency or from Kara telling me that something was wrong. A call that I would never receive.

I turned a corner and could see the apartment in the distance. The hulking building was dark and dreary where it used to be full of life and future possibilities. I could barely remember that time now, so far in the past it seemed like another life. As I approached the door entering the apartment I could see that the door was ajar. I knew that I had closed it when I left, but it was possible that Thom had stepped out for a moment to get some air. I was cautious as I reached for the door, afraid of a million possible situations that awaited by eyes.

I nudged the door open with my left hand and braced myself for a possible attack. The apartment was deathly quiet and the few items in view had been damaged and left out in the open for me to see. I crept in slowly with my gauntlet powered and ready to fire. The blue light from the sight illuminated the floor as I stepped over bits of broken glass and debris. I could see Thom's media device laying on the floor where it had been stomped by whoever had come into the apartment. There was no sign of Thom or Kara in the living room so I continued into the bedroom where Kara had been sleeping before. My eyes fell upon a body sprawled across the floor. The room was black and I could not make out who it was. My heart sank at the possibility of Kara laying there lifeless.

I scrambled over to the body and shined the light to reveal Thom's bruised and bloody face. Whoever had done this had wanted him to live, it was a message left for me. What that message was I could only speculate, but it had something to do with Kara not being left dead inside the apartment. Whether or not she was alive now was the question that was hard set in my mind and how I was going to find her was the next question to pop up.

I checked Thom's vital signs and could see that he was still breathing. That was the only good sign of my current situation. I pulled my communicator from my jacket and called for a medical crew to come save him. It was not the safest option considering the Agency was obviously trying to get to me, but now that they knew where we have been hiding, nowhere would be safe. I needed to save Thom's life and that was my first priority. If I could save him then maybe he would have information that could help lead me to Kara. It didn't matter if it was a setup, she was the only family I had left and I would die to save her if that is what it took. I could feel my heart race at the thought of not finding her. That fear birthed anger and the anger reignited the hatred that I felt for the Syndicate. I would find Kara and I would kill anyone who stood in my way.

I stood up and walked around the room trying to find evidence that could lead me to Kara. The room was clean except for Thom and the mess strewn around the apartment. This was definitely a message from whoever had organized the hit, a hit that was looking more like abduction. The only blood that I could find was from Thom's wounds. As far as I could tell, Kara was either alive or she was killed at another location. I hoped against the latter.

I could see flashing lights coming from outside and I went to the door to usher in the emergency medical personnel. They entered quietly and checked Thom's vital signs. They confirmed what I had already known, that he was indeed still alive. They put a brace around his neck and placed him on a board to carry him out to their emergency vehicle. The two men spoke in some medical terms that I did not understand, all while ignoring me completely. Maybe they were afraid because I was a policeman, or maybe because there was another policeman laying on the ground beaten almost to death. Either way it didn't bother me, I was used to being ignored for the most part. The only people who focused their attention on you completely were the ones you were about to kill. At that moment you were the god of their lives, they couldn't help but focus on you, and the blue beam pointed in their direction.

The medical crew carried Thom out in a hurry to rush him to the hospital. "Would you like to ride with us, sir?" One of the men asked. The question caught me off guard.

"No, thank you," I said sheepishly, embarrassed that I had been taken aback by the initial question. "I'll go to the hospital to see him once he wakes up. Here is my contact information."

I handed the man a card with my name and communicator information. It was awkward handing someone a card in whom you were not about to carry out Agency business with. It was without burden that I handed it to him. He stuffed the card into his pocket and closed the door behind him just before the driver took off. The vehicle jetted away with a flash of lights and a blaring siren, leaving me behind at the apartment, alone to figure out exactly what had happened and where my sister had been taken. I ran my hand through my hair and exhaled in frustration. I didn't know exactly where to begin, but I was certain that once I found who was responsible for this that I would kill them. I fumbled around with my gauntlet and checked its charge.

With nothing else to do or nowhere else to go I began walking. I wasn't sure where I was going, but I felt compelled to just walk and kill time until the hospital alerted me that Thom had awakened. I walked towards the shore to the south, pulled by the memories of being there with Kara and my father so many years ago. I hadn't felt it before, but being in my father's old apartment had brought some long since forgotten memories back to the surface. Just another glimpse into the humanity I had left behind before the Agency. A humanity that I now found to be as pleasant and familiar as home.
Chapter 14

The vibration of my communicator interrupted the daze that I was in. The hours of walking had placed me about a mile from the hospital where Thom was. I was half watching the sun rise over the horizon when I reached into my jacket for the communicator and answered it.

"Serus," I said.

The female voice on the other end was a relief. "This is Ayne; I'm a nurse with the Archean Metropolitan Hospital. I was calling you in regards to a policeman here in our hospital. His name is Thom Brine." She said.

"Yes, how is he doing?" I asked.

"He is doing much better, sir" she said. "He has been awake for the past twenty minutes and he is alert. His cognitive skills are working just fine. He knows who he is and he has asked for us to contact you."

"That's excellent," I said. "Is it alright if I come over now to see him?" I asked.

"Yes, sir, it is. He is being transferred to room four twelve as we speak," she said.

"Thank you. I will be there soon," I said before I ended the call. The good news was that Thom was awake. Unfortunately it was too early to tell if he knew anything that could lead me to Kara and whoever was behind her abduction. I was still working under the assumption that she was still alive. It gave me hope of at least being able to see her again.

I was almost running to the hospital, eager to check on Thom's condition and to find out what I could about Kara. I entered the hospital and went straight towards the elevator. I pressed the button for the fourth floor and waited for it to take me up to Thom. I excited the elevator and noted that his room would be down the hall to the left, about halfway down according to the sign that was posted on the wall. I could hear the beeps and whistles of medical equipment chirping as I walked down the hall to Thom's room.

I knocked on the door to room four twelve lightly. The door was opened slightly and I could see someone laid up in the bed. He had an ice pack covering part of his face; most likely it was being used to reduce the swelling from his wounds.

"Come in," he said after I knocked. I opened the door the rest of the way and walked in. I stood in front of him and looked down to see his chart. I picked it up and started reading his list of injuries. I noted that there was nothing more serious than contusions, a possible concussion, and a fractured rib. He was lucky to be alive and only suffer from the injuries listed on the chart.

"I'm pretty sure that chart is for doctor's use only," he said jokingly.

"I'm glad to see you still have your sense of humor," I replied. "How do you feel?"

"Like hell," he said.

"So now you feel like you look," I laughed hoping to ease the tension in the room. Sometimes a sense of humor does more to help a patient than medicine, or so I had heard.

Thom laughed at my joke and then groaned as a pain apparently made him grab at the broken rib mentioned in his chart. "Yeah. Pretty much," he said. "I'm sorry, Serus. I wasn't able to protect Kara. There was no sound or warning at all. The door just flew open and about ten policemen entered the living room. I swear that I tried to fight them off but there was too many. I'm sorry that I failed you," he finished.

"Did you see if they harmed Kara at all?" I asked.

"I'm not sure. After they busted through the door I tried to stand my ground. Like I said, there was too many of them. I did hear Kara scream and I think that they dragged her out of the door. That's the last thing I remember before waking up here."

I could see that he was visibly shaken by the experience. I patted him on the shoulder to acknowledge him as I struggled to fight back tears. My hope for Kara being alive was still holding on by a thread. I was afraid of what she may have had to experience once she was abducted though. She was not a warrior like Thom and I, trained to ignore pain and suffering. She was a scientist, she was soft hearted. She didn't condone violence so I figured she most likely would not fight back. Now she was alone, afraid, and quite possibly hurt. I had to go out there and find her soon.

"Thank you for standing up and fighting for her," I said. "I know it was a lot to ask of you to defend my sister, and you did as much as you could. You did more than most men would for another person and I really do appreciate it."

"What are you going to do now?" Thom asked me.

"I'm going to go back to White and see what he can dig up. I don't think that this was a hit. She was abducted and I think it was to send me a message," I said as I walked over to the window and looked out. The morning sun shown bright through the glass and I could see the water reflecting the sunlight in a million different shimmers. "My hope is that she is alive and that I can find her. If I can save her then I will. Regardless I promise you that I will kill whoever is responsible."

Thom groaned in bed from his injuries while he tried to sit up. He was grabbing at his belongings on the night stand next to his bed.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm going to go with you," he said.

"No, you need to stay here and rest," I replied. "Lay back down!" Thom grumbled as he laid back and rested his head against the pillow. "I'll find her and I'll let you know when I do," I said. I went to walk out of the door and stopped before leaving. "Thom?"

"Yes, Serus?"

"Please let me know if you need anything. I owe you one," I said before I walked out of the door. I was thankful that my friend was alive and that he would be alright. Still I was just worried that the same could not be said yet for Kara.

I left the hospital and began walking towards the square. I knew that White did not want me to risk coming to his palace, but given the circumstances I couldn't afford to wait for him to contact me first. I walked down the street in long determined strides and kept my eyes open for danger. I was a fugitive who was walking in open daylight, defiant to the Syndicate, and I swore to myself that I would stay defiant to the end.
Chapter 15

It was about midmorning when I arrived at Pontiff White's palace. The square was buzzing with people carrying on about their daily lives like bees in a hive. There was a huddle of protesters crying foul about the lottery and blaming the Syndicate for their dire circumstances. A quick scan did not lead me to believe that any policemen were in the area. Apparently in my haste I misjudged my environment. A blue beam fell upon my chest and my immediate reaction was to jute out of the way. A laser blasted past me and struck a chunk of marble along the outer wall of the square.

My right arm reflexively lifted and I pointed my armed gauntlet in the direction the laser had come from. There was a scattering of civilians who were screaming for their lives and it took me some time to figure out where the policeman had been. I could see him skipping sideways trying to get a fix on my position and a better vantage point to fire upon me. I watched him intently and I could see that he was a rookie. He wasn't paying attention to his own position and he was waiting until he felt that he had a good shot on me. By that point I had already had my sight set on him. I fired my gauntlet a fraction of a second before he had me sighted. My laser beam penetrated his chest at full blast, killing him instantly. I was without remorse. The stupid kid had it coming. I was on a mission and he got in the way, now he was history.

I continued moving towards the entrance of the palace amongst the sound of frantic screaming and the chants of protesters ringing out from the square. I wanted to scream out for White to come to me so that I wouldn't trigger any kind of alarm to alert the Agency of my presence in the palace, not that another dead policeman wasn't going to be obvious enough that I had been here. I walked into the elevator for what seemed like the hundredth time in a week and I was lifted to White's office.

I stopped myself from stepping out into the lit hallway leading to White's office. The sound of the elevator had alerted him of a visitor and he looked up at me from his desk. His face had a slightly irritated look drawn upon it, either by my presence or by something else completely unrelated. I wasn't concerned with his opinion of my being here because I had my own concerns and my own agenda to follow. Kara was the most important thing to me right now and all else can be damned.

White stood up from his desk and straightened the front of his suit before he walked towards me. He was dressed in a charcoal suit with a black shirt and white tie. The wardrobe made him look at least ten years younger and he carried himself with confidence as he approached me. White stepped into the elevator and did not speak to me; instead he just pressed a button that lifted the elevator to another floor. We stopped at what looked like a storage room or an attic at the top floor of the palace. White stepped out first and I followed him out onto the hardwood floor that was covered in a light film of dust. This place had obviously not been seen by human eyes in quite some time and it was cluttered with boxes and other miscellaneous junk.

"What brings you here today, Serus?" He asked without the hint of frustration that I thought would be evident by my unsolicited arrival.

"It's Kara," I said.

"What about Kara?" He asked obviously not knowing about the recent turn of events.

"She has been abducted."

"When did this happen?" He asked.

"Last night. It must have happened while I was here with you. When I arrived at the apartment the door was ajar and I could see that a disturbance had occurred. Kara was nowhere to be found. I did find Thom in the bedroom; he had been beaten by a group of policemen." My depiction of what happened sounded very surreal to me.

"Unbelievable," he said. "Do you think that you may have been followed there?"

"I don't think so, but I have been so wrapped up in things lately that I suppose that it's possible that I didn't realize that I had been followed." That thought had not entered my mind until now. What if I had led the Syndicate to our hiding place? What if I had led them to Kara?

"Is Thom still alive?" White asked.

"Yes. He is in the hospital now," I said.

"What is the extent of his injuries?"

"Mostly cuts and bruises. He also has a broken rib and possible concussion according to the medical record I read in his room."

"Really? Those injuries aren't very serious for someone who has been attacked by a group of policemen. What do you think?" He asked.

"The way I see it, I believe they were trying to send me a message by not killing him. I don't think that they have killed Kara either. At least not yet," I said.

"I suppose it is possible, but usually if you are a hindrance then the Syndicate has you removed permanently. This leads me to believe that they either have another agenda, or this is not the work of the Syndicate." He had a point that I had not yet pondered. What if this was something far beyond the Syndicate's control?

White pulled out a small computer device from his pocket and turned it on. A holographic screen appeared in from of his face and he typed in some information that caused the screen to change patterns several times. All I could see was a scrolling list of names with certain ones highlighted in red. After several moments he stopped and secured the device before turning to look at me.

"There is no information that I can find regarding a hit on Kara in the system, not even the attempted hits that we both know have already occurred. Someone must have deleted every piece of information associated with it from the database. Let me tell you that there aren't many people who have that kind of power. It is pretty much limited to the Agency and about two dozen of the most powerful men in the Syndicate. I'm sorry, but I don't have any other information than that." He said.

"Do you think that maybe she is still alive?" I asked hoping that he would agree with my assessment.

"I'll be honest with you, Serus. There is a chance that she is being held and kept alive in order to lure you into their snares and I hope for Kara's sake that this is the case," He said.

"Can you give me a list of those names?" I asked.

"That shouldn't be a problem, but I'm afraid I don't have a clue as to which name to start with," He replied.

"That's fine," I said. "I'll just have to eliminate each name one by one then want I?"

"I suppose you will," he said as he switched his device back on. Once the file loaded with the names he transferred them to my communicator. I could feel it buzz once the information had finished transferring and I looked at it and verified that I had received the file. I placed my communicator back in my jacket pocket and walked back into the elevator with White. He pressed the button that returned us to the lobby and I stepped out, leaving White in the elevator.

"Good luck, Serus. You're going to need it. The names on that list are some of the most heartless men that I have ever known. I hope that Kara is well. Please let me know what you find out," He said.

"Thank you. I will," I said as I watched the elevator door close around Pontiff White and I turned to leave. The list of names was only a starting point. A means to an end. An end I was looking forward to providing for whoever had abducted my sister.
Chapter 16

I pulled my communicator from my pocket as I left the palace. I could see a medical crew cleaning up the remains of the policeman I had killed no more than twenty minutes ago. I supposed someone called it in after the circus of people died down a little. I turned my communicator on and scrolled through the list of names that White had sent me. Most of the names were not known to me, but I could recognize a few who lived here in Archea. The first name I noticed was Martis Ceane, an older, very powerful man in the Syndicate. He ran a company that controlled most of the technological research that we benefited from here on Mars. He shared his business ventures with a short list of other prominent men who had their hands in other businesses. It was a spider web connecting these men to all kinds of business relations that blurred the line between who was in charge and who was merely a participant. Did I think Martis had my sister? Most likely no, but I was sure that with his connections and his name being on the list that there was a greater chance that he knew who did have Kara.

I headed west towards Ceane's office. It was only a few miles away and he was sure to be at work at this time of day. I walked out in the open daylight keeping a watchful eye out for a potential threat. I didn't want to be surprised by another hit attempt because I was too wrapped up in my thoughts. Now wasn't the time for autopilot or any knee jerk reactions, I was on a mission, and if I wanted to succeed then I needed to stay focused.

It took me about an hour to reach Ceane's office building. It was about thirty stories tall and I could not remember ever being inside of it. I walked into the lobby which was lush with decorations that showed off his financial power in a much less gaudy way than the palace, but it was still sickening to see that kind of waste. I saw a directory illuminated on a wall next to an elevator and I walked over to see where Mathis Ceane's office was located. According to the directory it was on the twenty seventh floor. I pressed the up button for the elevator and waited for the door to open.

The elevator was not as nice as the palace but the building was much larger and served as a business that employed thousands of people. Sometimes function was more important than looks. The elevator doors opened on the twenty seventh floor and I stepped out into a large room equipped with large banquet tables decorated with fresh roses. There were bottles of wine set on display and soft music was playing from a speaker system in the ceiling. I stood there a moment trying to figure out which door on the other end of the room might lead me to Ceane's office. All of a sudden one of the doors on the right opened and Mathis stepped out with a double handful of wine bottles. He didn't even notice that I was in the room until I spoke.

"Mathis Ceane," I said. He stopped and looked in my direction, almost falling over when he realized who I was. He rebounded quickly and composed himself before speaking.

"Yes. How can I help you," he said in a very businesslike manner.

"I'm here to get information about the abduction of my sister Kara." I said to him.

"I had nothing to do with that," he said as he turned to focus on the placement of his wine bottles.

"I didn't accuse you of having anything to do with it, but I do know that you are a man well connected. A man who has his hands in many things. I'm sure that you have at least some knowledge of what happened to Kara."

"I assure you I don't." He said. "Thanks for stopping by. If you'll excuse me." He avoided eye contact with me as he scurried on about his business, ignoring me and my plight trying to find Kara. He was lying and I was certain of it. Mathis went to set a wine bottle on one of the long banquet tables across the room and I had enough of the run around. He would tell me what I needed to hear, I thought to myself. I fired my gauntlet and a blue beam shattered the wine bottle in his hand sending wine all over the table and it dripped onto the expensive carpet in the room.

Mathis screamed in fear and stepped back. Blood ran down his hand from being cut by the bottle when it shattered. That wasn't my concern. As far as I was concerned his time was limited today.

"Are you crazy?" He cried. "Do you know who I am? What I have the power to do to you?" He was frantic, afraid, and I liked it.

"I know exactly who you are." I said. "You are one of the highest ranking board members of the Syndicate. You have the authority to make my life a living hell, which is no small feat considering the training I underwent to become a policeman. Now I have the same question for you. Do you know who I am? Do you know what I am going to do to you if you don't answer my questions?" I asked in a loud voice. I was angry. I was fed up with the charade, the politics. I was ready to end him here and now, but I desperately needed information first. I had to calm down and get what I came for. My emotions were peaked and my programming was making it hard for me take control of my actions. I tried to slow down my breathing and regain control.

"What is it you want to know?" He asked. "I had nothing to do with her abduction."

"Is she alive?" My first question came out with a little more anxiety to it than I could avoid.

"I imagine that she is." He said. "For now at least."

"Who took her?" I asked with more control in my voice.

"Now that's privileged information." He said. Wrong answer. I fired my gauntlet within a few inches of his head; the beam burned a hole into the stone work behind him. "No! Please stop! I'll tell you!" He pleaded.

"Start talking now or the next one will be on target." I said.

"It was Sorell." He said. "I have a business relationship with him. He runs the facility that your sister worked at. I don't think he intends to harm her. I think he just wants to use her to try and figure out a way to save the magnetic field." He was lying and I could feel it.

"Don't you dare lie to me, Ceane!"

"I'm serious. It was Sorell!" He cried.

"Where is he?" I asked.

"He has an office at the university where Kara worked. He is a cautious man who is afraid of tall buildings. His office is on the first floor." Now it seemed that Mathis was being a bit too helpful. I was confused by this and decided to press harder.

"What is his plan, Mathis?"

"Just to save the field. Not everyone in the Syndicate wants to leave this planet. It's our home." He said.

"Kara said the uranium wasn't enriched and without that process being performed then the whole planet was doomed. How does he plan on saving the field?" I asked.

"I don't know the science of it. I just know that is his plan, save the planet and take all the credit."

I walked around the room pacing. It was plausible but he gave me the information a little too freely for my taste. He was obviously up to something. It was either a set up to trap me or he was setting Sorell up for betrayal. Either way I didn't really care. I believed that Sorell was the one who had Kara held captive. Whether or no she was still alive or if this was a setup to get to me was another set of questions that I didn't want to focus on at the moment.

Ceane was standing still and starring at me, watching me pace around the room. I didn't like the expression on his face, the thoughts that must have been running through his mind. If I left him here alive he would surely contact Sorell and let him know I was on my way. That action could get Kara killed. I only had one option I thought to myself before I lifted my gauntlet and fired into Ceane's chest. The beam had been set on full blast and it carved a hole in his chest about the size of a grapefruit. Blood and chunks of meat splattered on the stonework behind him.

I pulled out my communicator and scrolled through the names. Once I found 'Mathis Ceane' on the list I deleted it. I then scrolled to find Delyn Sorell. I hadn't made the connection before, but now it made sense. He probably knew Kara personally from the university. He would have the necessary knowledge about her to link her to our father's apartment where she was hiding. That put him next on the list, next to meet my gauntlet. He better hope for his own sake that Kara was alive. Otherwise his death would be drawn out as morbidly as I could make it. I stepped back into the elevator when the doors reopened, leaving Ceane's body to be found by an aid or other business associate. There had been a lot of blood on my hands the past few days. There would be more before I was finished. I was sure of it.
Chapter 17

I left Ceane's building and walked out onto the gridlocked street. Vehicles were stopped due to the protests that were erupting all over Archea and most likely the entire planet. I looked up into the sky and could see that it was later in the afternoon that I had thought. It must have been several hours since I had last checked on Thom so I decided to go visit him in the hospital. It was at least a forty five minute walk through the bustling city streets to get there so I decided that it was best to take the back streets to get there. There was too much at stake for me to keep tempting fate by allowing myself to become an easy target. I would not be able to accomplish anything if I were dead.

I made my way to the hospital in under an hour and entered through the rear entrance. This area was relatively empty of people and enabled me to go unnoticed. Thom had been placed in room four twelve on the fourth floor. I entered the first elevator at the end of the hallway and pressed the circular up button to make the door open. I climbed aboard and waited until it lifted me to Thom's floor. His room was just around the corner to the right. I knocked at the door lightly with my fingers hoping that I would not disturb him if he were sleeping.

"Enter." He said. I walked into the room and was happy to see that he was in much better spirits than he had been earlier in the day. "Hey, Serus. I was just thinking about contacting you. Have you found anything about Kara yet?" He asked.

"Not yet," I said as I sat on the chair in the corner, it was not as comfortable as it looked. My entire body was sore and weary from all of the walking and fighting I had endured recently. I could see my reflection in the mirror across the room. Dark circles were under my eyes making me look like death warmed over, my cheeks were sunken in and I looked like I hadn't eaten in months. My hair was unkempt and I thought to myself that I looked like a homeless person wearing an expensive suit. I was a total wreck.

"I'm sorry to hear it." Thom said in a low voice. The swelling on his face had gone down dramatically since the last I had seen him. The medication and ice pack had done wonders on his wounds but he still looked like hell.

"I Appreciate that. I have come across some information though that could help me find her. I just wanted to check in on you and see how you were feeling." I was genuinely concerned for him; he was my closest friend and had willingly put himself in the middle of this drama.

"I feel great! They gave me this pill that makes me not feel anything. Seriously, Serus don't worry about me. Go out there and find Kara. She needs you a lot more than I do." I could tell that he was still hurting physically and that he was just trying to put my mind at ease about it. I'll admit that I needed that ease of conscience.

Thom's communicator buzzed on the table next to his hospital bed and he groaned slightly when he reached over to grab it. He answered it in a low voice which was typical. Most policemen practiced this tactic to prevent someone else from eavesdropping on our conversations. A lot of the information put out by the Agency was classified. It wasn't that we were rude; it was just a matter of the way we were trained.

"Thank you." He said before closing the connection of the line. Thom ran his hand across the good side of his face before moving up to his hair. He had a look of bewilderment stretched across his face. I couldn't imagine what could have shocked him like that.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"Uh, yeah." He said still looking somewhat confused as he fumbled his communicator from his hands and onto his lap. "That was someone with the lottery service. My name was drawn. I'm booked for transport in two days."

I was taken aback. This didn't line up with what Pontiff White had said was part of the Syndicate's plan. What was going on here? "Really? You have been chosen to be transported back to Earth?" I asked in as enthusiastic of a voice as I could muster. I really could not believe it. Confusion swept over me with a little bit of anger sprinkled in. I knew that I shouldn't show this emotion to Thom. It wasn't his fault. Maybe White didn't know how the lottery worked, or maybe he was out of the loop. The Syndicate wasn't an organization that necessarily followed its own logic. Still it was quite a leap to go from saving the rich and powerful and moving all the way up to saving members of the Agency, we were the expendable part of society. Something wasn't right and I was determined that I was going to figure out what that was.

"That's great news, Thom! Listen though, I really need to jump on this lead that I have and try to find Kara so I'm going to head out now, will you be alright?" I hoped that he didn't sense the withdrawal from my voice. This was just too much to consume right now.

"Yeah! Go on, I'll be here watching the media report. Let me know what you find out." He said.

"I will." I walked out of the room as anger and frustration battled for my attention. It was getting very difficult to cover up my emotions, but I didn't want to make Thom upset by making him think that I was angry with him. I owed him a debt of gratitude for trying to save Kara. I just felt like I had been double crossed by someone, but the evidence didn't point to who. I wanted to trust White because he gave me the list of names for who might have Kara, plus he gave me information that kept me from getting killed by an ambush of policemen residing outside of the palace that same night that we formed our alliance. On the other hand, you should never trust a politician. I was in too deep to back out now. My first priority was to find Kara and regroup. There was a lot on the line and I aimed to follow through with the plan, regardless of who I had to kill to achieve it.
Chapter 18

I walked out of the hospital with my head in a daze. I couldn't believe it, Thom had won the lottery? I thought that it was supposed to be rigged. I thought it was in place just to keep the average citizens occupied while the wealthy members of the Syndicate left them here to die. Was I told wrong? Was the Syndicate not some evil looming figure of doom and gloom that has been hovering over the lives of other people? Was Pontiff White simply trying to use me to gain some kind of leverage against the Syndicate? There were too many questions clouding my mind right now. I had to stay focused. I had to find Kara.

I turned the corner heading north when suddenly I was blindsided an attack. I was knocked to the ground by a heavy blunt object. I rolled onto my back and looked up to see my attackers. I was surrounded by six policemen; each of them had their gauntlets sighted onto my chest. There was nothing I could do. Any sudden movement and I would be killed by six blue lasers scorching into my chest cavity. I was powerless against them, I laid there bewildered and then I was knocked out by a boot hurdling through the air and striking my head.

I woke up later and realized that I was tied up in the back of a vehicle. I could hear radio transmissions from inside, but I did not recognize any of the voices. The vehicle was driving quickly through what I assumed were very busy streets because of all of the swerving and some of the bumps caused me to bounce around quite a bit. I struggled to break free from the rope that was binding my hands together. It was a useless effort, I couldn't break free.

After several minutes the vehicle finally stopped. The compartment door opened and I expected to see where I had been taken but I soon realized that a black shroud had been placed over my face. I could hear some noises like running water and footsteps, but that was all. I couldn't figure out where I had been taken with those few sounds. I tried to sniff the air but the shroud muted my senses and prevented me from taking in the smells of the location. I was clueless as to where I was.

Two sets of arms grabbed me and stood me up. They pushed and forced me to walk as they guided me through what seemed like a long set of corridors. I could hear several footsteps clacking on the ceramic tiles of the floor and some metal doors were opened and then closed before I was shoved into a stiff metal chair. The shroud was then ripped from my head and I could see that I was sitting in a darkened room with a single bright light that shined inches from my head. I could make out the figures of several men in business suits standing around me, but I could not see their faces. The light was blinding and I was forced to either look at the ground or close my eyes.

"So very nice to finally meet the man who has been terrorizing my brothers and sisters in the Syndicate." The voice spoke with a slight accent like someone who had lived in many locations, but had never settled in one for long. It was distinct in its ambiguity and nothing more.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Names are not important, but since you will not live beyond this day I will tell you that my name is Sorell. I imagine you have probably heard of me based on the fact that you have killed an associate of mine," He was the kind of man who was cocky about the power he wielded. He spoke with a kind of amusement in his voice, like he was on the verge of laughter. I sensed that there was something maniacal about this man, he was definitely the kind of person who would have had Kara abducted.

"What do you want with me?" I snapped.

"I just want you out of the way," He said. "I could have had you killed in the street like an animal, but I believe there is more to your cause than just a man looking for his sister. Is that so?" He asked.

"I don't know. Is it?" I asked defiantly.

"I like you." He laughed. "You speak with an air of authority, but you are nothing. You speak defiantly, but your defiance is what is getting you killed. You are a paradox, Serus. And that is very entertaining to me."

"I'm here to please," I quipped.

"Very well," He made some kind of gesture and appeared to speak to the men around him. "Gentlemen, once you have been properly entertained by Serus I encourage you to continue that entertainment down the hall with his sister. She has refused to cooperate with me and I'm done trying to negotiate, I just want to clear the slate. Kill them both."

"Wait!" I said.

"Yes?"

"I need to know. How did you know where to find me?" I was sure that I already knew the answer. White had to have double crossed me. I just needed to hear it; I needed to know for sure.

"That information was given to me by your associate," He said.

"So White sold me out?" I asked.

"Hardly, but you just sold him out. Thank you for relaying the information. And to answer your question. Your friend Thom Brine alerted us to your location."

"What? Thom? Why would he do that?" I asked.

"There is a simple answer to that question, Serus. He ratted you out for a lottery ticket." Just the way he said it sent a dagger into my heart. I was betrayed by someone who I thought had been my friend. I had trusted him! He sold Kara and me out for a lottery ticket to Earth? I would have provided his escape by killing people like Sorell, but now I was facing the end as Kara was held captive down the hall. I was betrayed!

The door to the room was opened and several men including Sorell stepped out. I could hear the breathing of two men behind me as I craned my neck to the side and cracked some vertebrae. During the time Sorell that had been speaking I had been working to loosen my restraints. I had been able to adjust the control on my gauntlet and now I was armed and ready. I was not about to go down without a fight. Not today. Not ever.
Chapter 19

One of the men grabbed me by the shoulder and I fired my gauntlet behind me in a sweeping circle with a twist of my wrist, I was able to hit the man holding me in the leg and he cried out in pain. The other man was apparently not armed and ran for the door. I stood up and spun my back to him and fired in a wide arc. The laser cut against the metal walls and heated them up so that smoke emitted from them. The laser impacted the man's body and severed him in half. The first man was scrounging for a weapon when I spun around and fired, killing him as well. I walked over to the first man and found a knife on his belt. I grabbed it and fumbled around with it until I was able to cut the rope that was binding my hands together. I was free, and now I knew where Kara was being held.

The benefit of being in a room that was sound proof was that no one heard the commotion of the fight, or my breaking free. I slowly opened the door and peered into the hallway. I found myself on one end of the hallway and figured that Kara would be at the other end. I ran as quietly as I could and came up to the last door. I jiggled at the door knob and found that it was looked. I fired my gauntlet into the door frame until the lock broke and I shoved the door open. I probably should have checked the guards for keys first, but the gauntlet had worked just find. I peaked in and could see a woman with long black hair wearing a pant suit hunched over a chair. I ran over to her and checked her vital signs. As soon as I touched her she startled awake and kicked me in the leg. For some reason I thought that she may have been unconscious.

"Oh my, Serus? It's you!" She shrieked.

"Yes, it's me. Are you alright?" I asked while rubbing my shin.

"I am now." She said. "Sorry I kicked you, but please get me the hell out of here!"

"It's alright, sorry I scared you, "I said as I cut through the rope that was tied around her wrists. After I had finished with the knife I tossed it aside and helped Kara stand before I checked her for injuries. She seemed to be alright.

"Can you walk?" I asked.

"Yes. I feel a little weak from not eating, but I'm fine other than that." She said.

I grabbed Kara's hand and pulled her along. I peered out of the door and listened for any kind of alarm that may have been set off when I escaped. I didn't see or hear anything so Kara and I ran down the hallway to the double doors. I kicked them open and was shocked to see three policemen standing outside waiting for us.

I pushed Kara out of the way and fired at the policeman standing closest to me, hitting him in the chest. I dove out of the way as a beam was fired in my direction. Kara was hiding around the corner and I went to the opposite corner so that I could fire at the other men without potentially harming her. Each time I peaked around the corner another blast of blue beam almost took my head off. This was the first time that I had feared for my own safety in a very long time. My heart raced and I could feel tension building up around me. Fear was becoming a distraction at a time that I needed to focus, not only for my life, but for Kara's as well.

I fired my gauntlet into the stomach of another man as he approached. His momentum carried him within a few feet of Kara who screamed when he landed next to her. I thought he was dead, but then he reached his hand out to Kara and grabbed at her. There was nothing I could do because I was taking fire from a policeman down the hall and if I fired in Kara's direction then I might hit her.

I frantically fired at the policeman down the hall but I could not hit him. Each time I emerged from the corner he fired at me again. He was in a position that I could not defend against properly.

"Kara!" I screamed. "Don't just sit there. Fight back!"

Kara was crying and struggling to break free from his grip. The man had her wrist and was pulling himself closer to her. If he could get his hands around her throat then he would kill her. I looked around the corner again and quickly pulled back as a blue beam was fired past my head. I looked back at Kara and her assailant, his wounds were horrible and blood was running out of his mouth. It was obvious to me that he was in shock, but the adrenalin in his body and the programming of his mind allowed him to continue trying to carry out the mission like all policemen are trained to do. Injuries or not, the mission always came first.

Kara was still crying and struggling to break free from his grip. I had to do something, but each time I tried to line up a shot I was afraid to fire. At this range if I shot her it would be point blank and I would kill her. It was a risk that I could not take.

The policeman was clawing at her and trying to pin her down. Kara screamed as she struggled even harder. Another laser beamed past by my head when I looked back. I glanced over at Kara to see her fighting the policeman on the ground. Suddenly she reached down at his guard belt and grabbed his knife from its sheath. In a wail of tears she began stabbing the man in his back over and over until he was breathing no more. I must confess that I was shocked by her reaction. I never imagined her capable of that kind of brutality. She sat there with her hands covered in blood and looked at the knife in her hand. She was almost hyperventilating at the shock of her reaction to the situation. She had to have stabbed him at least twenty times.

Apparently the policeman down the hall was also shocked by what had happened and stopped firing. I took advantage of his lack of attention and fired a blue beam straight into his skull. The fight was over now and I had to get Kara out of here while we still had the chance. As much as I wanted to kill Sorell I just couldn't risk Kara's life to do so right now.

I grabbed Kara's hand and helped her up. "Kara, it's alright, he's dead."

"I know," she said with tears welled up in her eyes. Her breathing was beginning to settle down. I sensed that she was starting to shut down emotionally, it was a normal psychological method of coping with a tragedy, and most policemen experience it in one form or other.

"We need to get out of here," I said as I tugged at her hand. She looked up at me and nodded. I held her hand as we both ran through the hallways trying to find an exit door.

"I know where we are!" Kara said as she slowed to a stop.

"What? Where are we?" I asked.

"The university." She said as she tried wiping the tears from her eyes. "I used to work in this building a few years ago."

"Great. So how do we get out of here?" I asked.

"We were just in the old storage area in the back. If we take a left here we will find an exit into a parking area behind the university." Kara ran ahead and I followed close behind her. She seemed to be coping with the situation that required her to kill that man. Killing was not an easy thing to deal with psychologically. I expected that I may need to help her through it later. Right now she was running on adrenaline while we tried to escape. I could see the rear exit doors down the hall as sunlight shown through the glass windows. Kara and I ran out into an empty parking area and were thankful that no one was around. No alarms or anything were sounding and it seemed that we had made a successful escape, at least for now.
Chapter 20

Kara and I ran from the university grounds as quickly as possible. I was thankful that she was without injury, but we had nowhere to go that was safe. We needed to find some place to rest for a while, restore our strength.

"I'm starving!" Kara said. It must have been a couple of days since she had eaten last. It's been about five days for me. It's hard to keep track when you've been living on Serum.

"Fine, we will stop at the first safe place I can find." I said. We must have run a good two or three miles away from the university before we slowed down to catch our breath. We came across a restaurant that had minimal business so we stepped in. It was a seat yourself kind of establishment with one waitress who served the entire restaurant. Kara and I took a booth in the back corner; I sat facing the door so I could keep a watchful eye out for any policemen that may be looking for us.

"Hello, my name is Glora. Can I take your order?" The waitress was about my age with a thick build. She had closely cropped blond hair and gray eyes. She smiled at us and seemed unmoved by my status as a policeman.

"Can we get a couple of sandwiches please?" I asked.

"Do you have a preference?" She asked.

"No." I said.

"We will just have your special if that's alright." Kara interrupted as she gave me an odd look.

"Two specials. I'll have that right out." Glora said as she walked away.

"Excuse me." I called her back.

"Yes, sir?"

"Do you have a media device available so I can catch up on the lottery?" I asked. Glora frowned a moment before retrieving a device from the table next to us and switching it on. The image illuminated on the wall next to our table. I looked back to thank her, but she had already gone back to put in our order.

The list of names was scrolling in four columns that seemed to go in an endless loop. I was looking for names that I knew, but most of them were businessmen who were members of the Syndicate. The list was towards the end when I looked for Pontiff White's name, but it was not there. Kara read along with me and pointed out names of fellow scientist that she knew, most were in the pockets of the Syndicate. I focused on the list as it started over and then I saw his name. Kara gasped when she saw it, 'Thom Brine'.

"I can't believe it!" She cried.

"I know. He told me."

"Do you know what he did? He stood there while those men carried me away!" she was practically shouting.

"What?" I asked. "Sorell told me that Thom had sold me out. I just assumed he told Sorell when I was at the hospital. You mean to tell me that he alerted the Syndicate to come and get you?" I asked.

"I don't know. I think so. All I can tell you is that I was asleep and the next thing I know these men are grabbing me by the arms and dragging me out. I saw Thom standing in the living room talking to one of the other men as they drag me out of the room. I made eye contact with him and he looked away. He didn't try to step in or say anything!"

I couldn't believe it. When Sorell told me he had sold me out I thought it was just to protect the board members of the Syndicate from dying by my hand. Now I knew that I was set up by someone I thought was my friend, my ally. I swore under my breath. He had not only condemned Kara to death by ratting me out to Sorrel, but he was the one who set it all in motion.

Glora reappeared with our sandwiches and sat them down on the table in front of us. "Were your names on the list?" She asked.

"Not this time." I said as politely as I could. "Thank you." I switched the device off so I no longer had to look at it. Kara and I ate our turkey sandwiches and chips. Real food really did me some good. I hadn't realized how bad I felt until I finished eating. I felt energized for the first time in days. Kara skipped etiquette while she stuffed her mouth with food as quickly as she could. We were both done eating within minutes.

"What are we going to do now?" Kara asked.

"I really don't know. We have no refuge and we can't afford to just roam around the city and hope that we aren't detected. The only thing I can think of is to go to White. He has his palace and it's filled with rooms. Maybe he can put us up for the time being." I said.

"That sounds like a good idea. Let's try that." She said.

I nodded and stood up from the table. I dropped some money down for a tip and motioned for Kara to come with me. We left the restaurant and started walking towards the square. It wasn't too far away and I was careful to keep an eye out for possible threats. Now that we escaped I would bet that our fugitive status had skyrocketed. Once we made it to the square I scanned the area with my eyes and looked for any policemen I could find. It was odd to not see any in the area. Maybe there was a turnover of duty or the word had not been put out that we had escaped. Either way we needed to hurry inside the palace and find refuge.

We entered the lobby and Kara gasped at the beauty of the waterfall on the wall in the back. I supposed that she had never been inside the palace before. We walked to the elevator and stepped in. It immediately lifted us to Pontiff White's office. Kara tried to step out first when the door opened, but I grabbed her before the floor could scan her. White looked up and quickly stood up from his desk and ran over to the elevator with us. He pressed the button that had taken us to the attic before. No one spoke until we were at the top.

"I thought you were dead!" He said. "Word has been passed to the Syndicate that you were neutralized."

"We escaped." I said with a nonchalant shrug.

"Well, I'm glad to see you. How did you escape?" He asked.

"By killing people." Kara quipped.

"Of course. How silly of me." He laughed nervously.

"We have a problem." I said.

"What's that?" White asked.

"Thom betrayed Kara and me."

"How did you find that out?"

"Sorell told me."

"It doesn't surprise me. Sorell was probably trying to get information from you and told you that to get in your head." He said.

"No it's true!" Kara said. "Thom stood by and let them take me!"

"Oh my! That is a problem." White said.

"It's worse." I said. "When he said I had been betrayed I let your name slip. I'm sorry."

Whites face grew several shade paler. I could see worry crease across his face and his jaw went slack. I had just betrayed the one man who was in a position to help us. He paced the room silently for a moment. "I guess that explains why the lottery hasn't pulled my name yet." He said. "The puzzle is coming together piece by piece. Sorell knows that I was helping you, but instead of pulling a hit on me he chose to make it so that I stay here and die. It makes perfect sense."

The three of us stood there in silence and reflected on our situation. There was no hope for us. We were doomed to die on a planet that was erupting in chaos.

"White, I know it's a lot to ask, but Kara and I have nowhere to go. Do you have a room that we can stay in until all of this blows over?"

"Yes, of course. There is a suite on the sixth floor that will serve you nicely. I know you're concerned that you betrayed me by letting my name slip. Don't worry about that. I knew the danger when we started this. I knew the risk and still chose to go against the Syndicate. I would choose to do it again in a heartbeat." His words made me feel somewhat better. "Come; let's get you to your rooms."

We followed White back into the elevator and stepped off on the sixth floor. At the end of the hallway was a large suite that served as a living space for members of the Syndicate. It would now be a home to fugitive's hell bent on bringing down the people who were leaving the rest of us to die. It only seemed fitting that we would enjoy the living conditions of those I was going out to kill, but first I needed sleep. White showed Kara to her room and then pointed me to mine. He walked out of the suite quietly and closed the door behind him. I walked over to the bed and laid out across it, it was a luxurious comfort that I had not experienced in years. I was out as soon as my head hit the pillow.
Chapter 21

I woke up after a long deep sleep and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. My body was sore and stiff from lying in the same position for so long. I could feel the bones in my back popping as I stretched and rolled over onto my back before sitting up. Despite all of this I felt like a new man. It's funny what real food and sleep can do for a man. I rose up out of bed and walked into the living room where Kara was sitting in front of a media device watching the latest report on the lottery winnings.

"Good morning," I said as I sat down beside her.

"It's afternoon, Serus," She said with a smile.

"Oh, I didn't know," it was the truth.

"It's fine. I know that you needed the sleep," she said. "White stopped by earlier today. He dropped off some food and asked for us to attend a meeting whenever you are ready."

"Sure, I'll eat some lunch and we can meet up with him after that." I walked into the dining area and grabbed a bowl of fruit and some pastries. I shoved the food into my mouth like I hadn't seen food for over a month. Another product of my training with the Agency is my ability to eat an entire meal in mere minutes, of course manners and etiquette went down the drain.

I finished my lunch and put the rest of the food away. Kara laughed at me as I finished and I cut her a dirty look letting her know that I didn't appreciate it, not that she cared though, sisters never change. Kara walked over to help me with the cleaning. Once Kara and I were finished I contacted White via message and he set up an appointment for us in the conference room on the fourth floor.

Kara and I left the suite and went into the elevator. We were in the conference room and seated before White showed up so we just waited.

"How are you feeling?" I asked. I knew that she had been through much more than most people could handle, with the abduction and having to kill the policeman with her own hands.

"I'm fine considering our circumstances," she said.

"Did you sleep alright?" I asked.

"I did sleep, but I kept jarring awake. I had visions of that policeman from yesterday. All I could see was the blood running out of his mouth as he was grabbing me"

"I understand. You've been through a lot, but trust me, it gets easier over time." She nodded her head in agreement as White walked into the conference room. He was dressed in a black double breasted suit with a stiff collar. His suit was very similar to my own except for his dress shoes and lack of a gauntlet.

"I hope that you both rested well," he said in greeting.

"Yes, thank you," I replied.

"I hope you don't mind, but I would like for us to get down to business since the transports will be leaving in the morning. I already have a ticket from when you killed Harling, but we still need two more tickets in order for the three of us to make it on board a transport and return to Earth."

"Hold on," I interrupted. "I thought our mission was to bring down the Syndicate. Not just kill people to take their tickets so we can leave."

"Taking down the Syndicate will be impossible to accomplish in a single day, Serus. In order to fulfill our duty we must be on board those transports. We just have to take them out before they can set up another corrupt government on Earth, and if we can, we need to find a way to save the people that they leave behind. Quite simply put, we have a long road ahead of us," White finished.

"Alright then. What's the plan?" I asked.

"Thom has a ticket that was awarded to him because of his betrayal of you. He is probably the easiest person to gain access to being that he is still in the hospital. Most of the lottery winners and board members are already on the transports setup in their quarters. The transports are heavily guarded and it will be next to impossible to gain access to the board members. Our best chance is for you to kill Thom and take his ticket, and then we will ambush someone who is planning on boarding at the last minute. This way we will have three tickets allowing all three of us to board."

"Sounds easy enough to me," I said. I looked over at Kara and could see how the talk of killing Thom was affecting her. He had betrayed her as well, but she still had a soft spot for human life. A sense of compassion that had already hardened in mine and White's hearts. "When does this need to happen?" I asked.

"I suggest nightfall so you can go in under a cover of darkness. The hospital is not guarded so if you go in alone and use the rear entrance you should be able to go undetected. Besides, you and Kara are now presumed dead. I saw a report via message through the Syndicate that you were permanently dispatched. Apparently Sorell did not stick around to make sure that the job was done properly. I guess their plan is to just leave me here to die with everyone else. No one will be looking for either of us."

"Then it's settled then. I'll go kill Thom and meet you two back here."

"Yes, but one more thing," White said. "I want you to take Thom's gauntlet and bring it back to me."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because you will be the only rouge policeman on the transport and I plan on taking part in this mission beyond just being some figure head making decisions. I will wear the gauntlet and help out with the mission," He said.

"Alright. I'll bring back the ticket and the gauntlet and meet you back here, and then the three of us will go to the transport station," I said as I rose to leave. Kara and White both stood up to see me out.

"The sun will be going down soon. I will plan on your return in a few hours," White said.

"Serus?" Kara said. "Please be careful. I don't want to lose you." She walked up to me and hugged me in a tight embrace. She was fighting back tears but was still trying to be strong. She was not as weak as she had been before all of this happened. She was turning into someone darker. I hugged her back and rubbed my hand over her hair. She broke away first and pulled her hair back behind her ears. I could still see my kid sister in that small gesture.

I smiled at Kara and nodded at White as I walked out of the conference room. I knew my mission, and I knew what would happen if I failed. I needed that fear of failure to empower me now. I felt it spike my adrenaline. It gave me a reason for each step that I took. The fear was taking over my body like a drug. It numbed the pain and fueled my rage at the same time.

The elevator door closed around me and lowered me down to the lobby. I could see orange and purple sunlight peaking through the stained glass windows of the lobby as I walked through. I was determined to succeed. I would save my sister, Kara. I would kill my friend who betrayed me. And as for the Syndicate? I would kill them all.
Chapter 22

The wind was blowing an unseasonably cool breeze when I stepped out of the palace. I wasn't focused on the wind, but it was the kind of thing that grabs your attention away from whatever else you're focused on at the time. Perhaps a storm was on the horizon, it was hard to tell when you lived in a coastal city, and the weather can change in minutes. I cracked my neck as I walked, still trying to relieve the stiffness in my body after my long slumber. What can I say other than the fact that I really needed that sleep. I felt more alert and more alive. The food helped a lot as well.

I turned the corner on my way to the hospital and I could see rioting in the streets. Some businesses had their windows knocked out by rocks from pissed off pedestrians crowding the streets. Someone should intervene, but what would be the point? These people will still die once the magnetic field completely decayed. If it wasn't going to be oxygen deprivation then it would be from a series of asteroid impacts that will take place all over the planet. I shook the thought out of my mind and kept walking. My mission was in front of me. I had to kill Thom.

The sky grew darker with each passing step. I was starting to enjoy the darkness; it was feeling more like home than I had felt in a long time. I guess I should be concerned by that thought, but I wasn't. The hospital appeared at the end of the street in front of me. The lights lit up every side of the building creating a kind of torch in the sky that beckoned the weary to come to it. It beckoned me.

I walked in through a rear entrance and headed straight for the elevator. Not a single soul was in sight. I walked into the opened door of the elevator and pressed the button for Thom's floor. The elevator rose and then stopped at the fourth floor and I went straight for room four twelve. I entered the room without knocking. This was not a social call. Thom looked up at me with a look of fear on his face. It was apparent that he thought that I was dead. He must have realized that the shoe was about to be on the other foot.

"Serus," he said with a tremble in his voice.

"Hello, Thom. What's with the sour look on your face? Is it after visiting hours?" I asked.

Thom scrambled up from the hospital bed and tried to reach for his gauntlet. He wasn't fast enough. I jumped across the room and grabbed him by the back of the neck and hurled him at the window. With the rush of adrenaline coursing through my veins I was able to lift him completely off the ground. The impact of his body against the glass caused it to splinter in a spider web effect.

Thom groaned as he stood up on the other side of the room. "Serus, I can explain," he said.

"Explain what?" I asked. "How can you explain betraying a friend by having his sister abducted? How do you explain having your friend set up to be tortured and killed for a lottery ticket? Didn't you realize that I was on the side of taking down the Syndicate and using their tickets to save all of the people I cared about?"

The look of his face showed his regret. It was too late for that. Now was the time for reckoning. Now was the time to finish what I had started. I jumped over the bed and grabbed Thom by his throat. I clenched my hand around it as tightly as I could. Thom struggled against me. The lack of oxygen to his brain was making him weak. The longer I looked into his wide eyes the angrier I became.

He betrayed me and let my sister fall into the hands of my enemy! With that thought running through my mind I slammed his head into the window. The thud of his head connecting with the glass caused a satisfying crunching sound. He betrayed me by alerting the Syndicate of where I was, allowing me to be abducted and almost killed. I slammed his head into the window again. I could see the life escaping him as I gripped his throat harder. Blood began running out of his mouth and eyes. It must have been from his brain swelling inside his head.

I looked at the man who I had trained to be a policeman. I had taken him under my wing. I had made him a part of my family when things had gotten bad with Kara a few years ago. I had trusted him and he betrayed me. I put everything I had behind the next motion that I made. I felt the hate boil over. Every part of my body leapt with the anxiety of what I was about to do, but I was powerless to stop myself. Rage was taking control and was in the driver's seat. I lifted Thom up by his neck and drove him through the window with every ounce of strength that was in my body. The window shattered from the hit and for a split second I made eye contact with him for the last time. In that moment I met his black soul that was so consumed with selfishness. He was not the man that I had known. He was a monster just like me. I saw him as such before I released my grip. He seemed to float in the air for an eternity before gravity regained control of Thom's body. I watched him fall fifty feet down to the street. We never lost eye contact with each other until his body impacted the ground below. His head split open and splattered blood that formed a pool of red that was oozing all around his body. I starred for a moment to see what I had done. My heart should be breaking, but I was glad that this part was over. Glad that I had reconciled his betrayal of my family. Satisfied that I could now save Kara with the lottery ticket that had belonged to Thom.

I moved away from the window as people began to gather around Thom's body on the street below. I walked over to the night stand next to the bed and grabbed his lottery ticket and his gauntlet that had been lying out in the open. I stashed the ticket into my breast pocket along with my communicator and carried the gauntlet in my left hand out of room four twelve. It was clear at this point that visiting hours were over.
Chapter 23

I made it back to the palace within the few hours that White had been expecting me. I went straight to the conference room where we had met last and I could hear conversation once the elevator door opened. I walked into the conference room to see Kara and White sitting with an arrangement of food on the very large table. A media device was showing the report from the hospital where I had just killed Thom. The body had already been removed but the image showed people cleaning the blood from the pavement where he had fallen.

Kara looked up at me with a surprised expression on her face. She leapt up to me and embraced me. "You made it!"

I hugged her back. "Of course I made it." I said. I pulled the lottery ticket that I had taken from Thom's room out of my pocket and handed it to Kara. She took it and examined it closely.

"All of this violence for something this small?" She said.

"It's a lifeline." White replied as he stepped over to me. "More people have killed for an opportunity to live than they have in self defense. The logic does not make sense but it is true. It is the society in which we live."

White took the gauntlet from me when I offered it to him. It was clear that he had never held one in his own hands before. He turned it over in his hands, taking in every detail. The silver weapon was heavier than it looked. Each tiny control served a purpose. The neural sensors that stabbed into your wrist when you wore it reacted to your brain waves. For a policeman the gauntlet was a part of them.

"How do I put this on?" He asked. I took the gauntlet and manipulated a control that caused into open along a locking seam.

"Place it over your wrist and close it. It will lock once it is closed and you will feel the neural sensors enter your body. It is only painful for a moment." I said to him.

He looked at it questioningly. Was this something that he really wanted to do? "Will it work through clothing?" He asked. "I can see your jacket sleeve is covered by your gauntlet."

"Yes. The neural sensors will go through clothing. They will travel as far as the first nerve that they find."

White closed the gauntlet around his right wrist and grimaced once it was closed. It was clear that he felt a stabbing pain in his wrist. It was only for a moment before it passed. Kara looked at White, intrigued by this development.

"How do I fire it?" White asked. I demonstrated the use of the controls on the side.

"This is for the sight. This controls the power of the beam. This light will flash when you need to recharge it. Make sure that you keep it turned off until you can control your thought patterns in regards to firing it. A stray thought could cause it to fire on its own because of your nerves reaction to thoughts. This is a part of you. A limb that has grown that you now have to learn to control like an arm or a leg." I said.

White turned the gauntlet on and I grabbed his arm. He looked at me. "What is it?" He asked.

"The first rule is to never aim your gauntlet at anything you do not intend to kill. Accidents happen all the time with recruits. You have not had the training so it is very imperative that you follow this rule."

"I will." He said. I nodded my head to encourage him to take aim and fire at will. He had set the beam to a low setting and fired at a candle stick on a table in the back of the room. The sight had assisted his aim and he hit the target on his first attempt. A smile stretched across his face as he fired at the candle on the other table followed by the communicator that had been sitting next to it. I thought he was getting the hang of it.

"Very good. You have figured out how to aim and fire at will. That skill will be very useful in the future" I said.

Kara bit her lip. I could sense a bit of envy in White's new toy. It of course was not a toy, but she wanted one anyway. "What is our plan now?" She asked.

White looked up at her. "I'm glad you asked." He said as he switched the gauntlet off. He went to a computer that was sitting on the table and switched it on. A map of the transport station illuminated into a hologram. He had marked some points of interest on it already with a few notes written in the margins.

"This is the entrance into the transport station. There is only one way in and out so we are limited in our means of arrival. The marks on the map here and here are direct routes to the primary transports for the highest ranking officials of the Syndicate." He pointed those positions out on the map and enlarged the image around the second mark. "The second transport will be the easiest for us to access. It should be less guarded than the first and will not be filled with as many of the higher ups."

I looked hard at the image of the map and identified some hiding spots that would be available to me. "Why not try to take out the first transport?" I asked.

"If we do that then we will alert the guards of our presence. They will halt the departure of all the transports until they find who is responsible. It's a risk we don't have time to make." White sounded like a general who had gone over the plan thousands of times. He made a good call.

"Alright. When do we leave?" Kara asked. She seemed to be more in control of her emotions and more assertive. She was handling the situation very well under these dire circumstances.

"Just after midnight." White said. "We don't want to go too early because we may be identified if a large number of people are walking about. If we go later then our potential targets will be less but we won't have as large of an audience to get in our way."

"Good plan." I said.

"I thought you would say so." White replied. "In the mean time we should enjoy some food. It may be the last meal we have that has any consistency for several months." He laughed at the possibility of eating freeze dried food. All of our technological advances and space food was still disgusting.

The three of us feasted on the food that White had provided. There were all kinds of protein foods to give us energy. Steak and chicken were grilled to perfection. It was a last meal fit for a dying man. I just hoped that this would not be the last meal for any of us tonight.

We finished the meal and sat back to watch the media report. It showed images of the transports being fueled and loaded for the exodus. It seemed strange to me that there was such an event centered on this. These transports were going to leave millions of people to die. You would think that the whole population of the planet would be up in arms and going after the Syndicate. It seemed like people were too ignorant to stand up for themselves. That was probably true I supposed.

The clock chirped at midnight and it felt like the air in the room had disappeared. All three of us looked at each other and it was a moment of very real fear that closed around us. The only thing that allowed me to stand at that moment was my determination to save Kara from what would be the end of the world as we knew it. White stood up after I did and was followed by Kara. We three stood defiantly at our mission. Was it easier to sit back and let events unfold around us? Of course it was. We were not ignorant to that fact, but neither of us was willing to give up our lives without a fight.

We left the conference room and entered the elevator. From there we walked through the lobby and out into the square. From the square we were in the streets walking to the transport station. Every step brought us closer to another opportunity to live or to die. Each step closer to a reality that we had spent days trying to achieve, but seemingly felt unattainable. This was the final fight on Mars. Within hours we would either be dead or on a transport for Earth. Each step marked time as the seconds passed by, then minutes, until we could see the transport station in the distance. Illuminated by artificial lights the transports looked like huge metallic buildings. Primitive in their design, but advanced in their ability to preserve what life could fit aboard them. The reality of each foreseeable future passed through my mind. It was now or never.
Chapter 24

The transport station was enormous and was filled with a collection of transporters parked in a configuration that enabled a multitude of people to board and depart without any bottlenecking problems. I was amazed at the size of the complex. There were hundreds of people inside the compound and even more were outside who protested the Syndicate and the lottery winners. The half moon that hung overhead was barely visible due to the bright lights of the compound. The organization of this venture was almost militaristic in nature.

"Oh my!" White said obviously dumbfounded by what we were walking into. "I was not expecting it to be so busy this time of night!"

Kara gripped my arm and I could feel just how nervous she was. We were about to walk into the lion's den. We were in the Syndicate's court. Anything could happen, but I was ready to face it.

We walked around outside the entrance gate but we were stopped by a bright light that illuminated around us. It was blinding like the light in the room that I had been taken to after Sorell had me abducted. This situation stank of his involvement and I was soon to find that I was right.

"Well, well, well. I see we have some unwelcome guests." He said in a playful cocky sort of way. He had good reason to be confident because about two dozen policemen emerged and held us up. "I don't suggest any sudden moves. You don't want a hole blown through your body or anything do you?" He laughed a sinister laugh and sneered at us.

One of the policemen walked up to us and looked us over. "The only people allowed to board a transport are those who have a lottery ticket. This is not negotiable." I could hear nervousness in this rookie's voice. I guess they had a problem recruiting senior policemen to work as security for this kind of event. The rookies were always the most motivated and the easiest to be manipulated.

"We have tickets." White said a bit too willingly. What was he doing? I only had two tickets and there were three of us. The rookie policeman looked up at Sorell for some kind of affirmation.

"By all means, if they can produce a lottery ticket then let them pass." He laughed at the ridiculous assumption that we would have tickets to board. White and Kara produced their tickets and Sorell's laughter ended. It seemed that he had believed that White was bluffing.

"I would like to have Serus come with me as my bodyguard." White said. I could see what he was doing. He was trying to find a loop hole to get us on the transport.

"I'm sorry, sir. One ticket per person is the policy." The rookie said. This caused Sorell to laugh again. "No bodyguards or other unauthorized guests."

"That's ridiculous!" White said. "How many members of the Syndicate boarded with their families on the same ticket?"

"This man is not your family."

"He is my brother." Kara interrupted. The rookie looked up at Sorell again. Instead of laughing he just shook his head no.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot let him pass without a ticket. Policemen do not have families according to the rules of the Agency," the rookie shot down Kara's hope of my joining her. Kara looked up at me with concern. I could tell that she was afraid that I would be left here to die.

"Serus?" she said.

"It's alright, Kara. Just go. Take the opportunity and go to Earth. You may not have the opportunity again," I said. Kara frowned and looked down at the ground. She was about to cry, but I grabbed her and held her close. She had grown stronger, more resilient in the last few days. I knew she could handle the separation; at least that is what I wanted her to think. Deep down I was terrified of losing her, afraid of not being there for her. "It will be alright, I promise."

Kara released me and wiped a small tear from her eye. I brushed a strand of hair away from her face and smiled at her. Every part of me wanted to lash out against these policemen and the maniacal man standing above us. I struggled to maintain my self control, losing myself to the hate I felt inside would put Kara in danger. I had to ensure that she boarded the transport safely.

Kara turned and handed the ticket to the rookie who had stopped us. He accepted it and the first rank of policemen stepped aside and allowed Kara permission to board. I was thankful that she was able to leave this dying planet, but I was afraid of what would happen without some kind of protection. She looked at me and smiled for what I thought would be the last time. She was leaving and I would stay here and die.

Kara walked past and followed the route to the transporter that she had been directed to board as the policemen closed the ranks between us. I felt a compulsion to act now that Kara was safe and I followed through with it. I jumped past White and tried to fight my way through the ranks to go and be with my sister. Three policemen grabbed me and threw me to the ground. I was pinned down and had at least a dozen lasers pointed at my head.

White jumped over to assist me but he was held back by some of the other policemen. He too had lasers pointed at his face ready to kill him. Sorell stood above us and clapped his hands with a smile on his face.

"Bravo!" He said. "I love your passion! So ready to kill or be killed." He laughed again. His laughter was becoming very annoying. "Let me put it to you like this, Serus. If you fight us then not only will we kill you because you are outnumbered, but we will kill your sister before she even sets foot on Earth. Do you understand me?"

I shook my head in acknowledgment; I found it hard to speak with hands pressing down on my neck and chest. There was nothing I could do. If I acted out I would be killed and be unable to protect Kara. My only option was to trust White to protect her.

The policemen released White and he straightened out his suit. He was still wearing the gauntlet but I thought that he wasn't even thinking about it anymore. That was until he touched it with his hand. Not in the kind of touch like a man who adjusts his cuff over his wrist. This was a calculated move. It was the kind of move that warranted a reaction if it went any further. What did he think that he was doing? Was he crazy? If he carried on with this then that would put Kara in danger too. Oh my God!
Chapter 25

Click. That was the only sound that I heard. I winced at what I thought would be the outcome. Was it over? Was I still alive? What was happening? I still felt the heavy weight of boots press against my chest and neck. The blood was rushing to my head so that all I could hear now was the sound of my beating heart. I was afraid, but I opened my eyes and looked up to see White standing over me with the Thom's gauntlet held in his left hand. I was shocked that he had not fired upon the policemen or Sorell. White was still standing unscathed as he walked over to one of the policemen. He said something to one of them that I could not hear and I felt the pressure ease up off of my chest. I was confused as White extended his hand to me and helped me up.

Everything was surreal. I could not believe my eyes, I was in shock. Was my brain so overloaded that I was now hallucinating? White led me by the arm away from the group of policemen. We walked until we were out of earshot of the men and Sorell who was on the catwalk above the ranks of policemen; perched fifteen feet above the rest of us exuding an air of authority.

"Things have changed," White said to me. The expression on his face was solemn, almost grief stricken.

"How so?" I asked, half expecting him to turn on me and stab me in the back. I still questioned whether or not I could trust him even after he allowed Kara and me to stay at the palace.

"We are surrounded and we are out gunned. Our only hope is for us to make a sacrifice," he said. My heart sank. If I stayed here then I would die, and with the rush of emotions that I had been experiencing lately that thought caused me to dread what was about to come. Also if White escorted Kara to Earth then how was I going to know if she were safe? He didn't have the training and skills that I had. He was an old man, and no matter how much he intended to do right by her, he was already going to be at a disadvantage when trying to protect her adequately. I had to go, it was my duty, and it was my responsibility!

"I owe it to Kara to go and try to protect her," I said. "She is all that I have left!" I spoke urgently. My heart was beating more rapidly with each passing moment. Fear was the leading emotion that was feeding me at the time.

White stepped back for a moment and I could see in the reflection of the streetlight that he had wiped a tear from his eye. Was this some kind of surrender or betrayal? I didn't know. I couldn't read his thoughts. I was still dealing with the confusion that stemmed from moments before.

"Look, Serus. I know that we had this planned out, but even the best laid plans can fall apart." His words were quick and low.

I could feel the anxiety building to the point that a bead of sweat grew upon my brow because of it. "White, please." I interrupted.

"One of us has to stay," he said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the lottery ticket I had given to him when I killed Harling. The hard plastic reflected the light that was shining around us so that it almost appeared as a small red flame in his hand. I was mesmerized by the inherent beauty of it. White looked up at Sorell and then back to me. "You take this ticket and this gauntlet and you swear to me that you will kill that son of a bitch. I don't want to hear a maybe. You do it. Just promise me that you will do whatever you have to do to bring down the Syndicate. Bring their entire world crashing down on them. Do you understand?" The tone of his voice was fierce and without remorse.

I gasped as he handed me the ticket along with the gauntlet. I couldn't believe it. I flicked the hard plastic with my fingers and dragged it across my skin. It was real. The man I had thought was a puppet to the Syndicate was now sacrificing himself for the better good of others! For the better good of me. "How can I repay you for this?" I asked, emotion was welling up inside of me and I felt like I might lose my composure.

"By promising me that you will do as I have asked," he said. "I'm putting my faith in you. I'm laying my life down for you. You're the only person I know who has what it takes to set things right, to make a real difference for the future," White choked up a bit and wiped another tear from his eye. This was a side to him that I doubted that anyone had ever seen since his wife had been killed along with their unborn child.

"Thank you," I said. I couldn't think of anything else to say or anything else that I could do besides take his hand and shake it; this was the final show of respect for a man who had given his life for mine. He shook my hand with a firm grip and after he let go he turned away and walked off. Was he right? Could I set things right?

"Hey! Where are you going? What's going on?" Sorell screamed as White walked off. He looked down at me and could see the lottery ticket White had given to me. The expression on his face turned from a stoic dictator glaring down at his people into a cowardly expression that better represented who he was as a person. Without another word he darted off to who knows where. To my relief the policemen at the gate accepted the lottery ticket and allowed me access to the transporter that Kara had gone to. This was actually happening; Kara and I were leaving this planet and its inhabitants to die. My heart was troubled at the dire need for the people to be saved.

The only retribution for those people would come as I killed each member of the Syndicate. I had to kill men like Sorell who so easily disposed of other people. I would dispatch him easily enough. He and every single board member I came across from now until my dying breath. I walked through the complex with Thom's gauntlet in my hand. Its weight was a reminder that I was alone in this endeavor, but I would not have to suffer its burden alone. Kara would be by my side, and I would walk through the fires of hell to defend her.
Chapter 26

I walked into the cargo bay of the transport and was astonished to see all of the people scurrying around. The transport was enormous. The cargo bay alone could have held the apartment building that I had lived in. The steel structured walls were labeled with identifiers that told you where each passageway led. I imagined that it must be very easy to get lost in the maze that surrounded us. The entrance was wide open and despite all of the people around me I was able to find Kara standing in a line labeled 'Receiving'.

I ran up to Kara and could see that she had been crying. She was not paying attention to anything going on around her and she did not even see me approaching her.

"Kara," I said aloud hoping to get her attention. She looked up at me with teary eyes and I could see relief written on her face. She lit up at the sight of me.

"Serus! I can't believe it. I thought that they had refused to let you board without a ticket," she said as she hugged me in a tightly. I could feel her cheeks spread into a smile when she laughed. "What changed their minds?" She asked.

"It was White," I said. "He gave me the ticket I had given him when I killed Harling."

"Are you serious? He gave up his chance of surviving for you?" She asked. I could see her confusion. From what we had previously known, Pontiff White had never seemed like the kind of man to sacrifice for the benefit of someone else. "Surely there must be some kind of catch. He wouldn't just give up his seat without insisting on something in return, so what was it?" Kara was intelligent enough to know that some things are too good to be true. In this case though, it was true, and the answer was very simple.

"The only thing he asked of me was that I carry out the plan we had made and take down the Syndicate. He wants me to kill them all, every single last one of them. When I do that then my debt will be paid." I said it in a way that made it seem that his request did not match my own intentions. The reality of the situation was that we shared a very similar view towards the Syndicate. I wanted them brought down just as much as White did. We both had something in common in regards to the Syndicate. They had taken our families away from us, and now it was time for pay back. Now was the time for reckoning.

"How does he expect you to do that?" She asked. "You are only one man. It will be impossible to kill them all." Kara said. Her logic was sound, but I still held hope that I would be able to do what I had set out to do.

"That is something that we will have to discuss later," I said trying to change the topic of our conversation. "This line is pretty long. What are we supposed to be doing here?" I asked.

"This is where we get assigned which state room we will live in during the transport. Now that you are here then we can share one. I was reading a handout that said that some staterooms can hold up to four people so we will most likely be sharing with another person or two." She said.

"Great. Nothing beats sharing a living space with someone you don't know." I said sarcastically.

"Shut up," she sneered at me. "You know you're lucky to even be here. I wouldn't complain too much if I were you," she eyed me insinuating that I had made a joke at the expense of the thousands of people who would die by staying on Mars. I knew she was right so I kept silent.

The receiving line was moving at a fairly consistent pace. It took us about half an hour before we were seen by the woman at the counter.

"Tickets please," the woman said. She was a dark skinned woman dressed in a pink blouse. Her hair was cut to her shoulders and she had a cheery disposition despite many hours of dealing with people checking on board the transport.

Kara and I both handed her our tickets and she typed some information into her computer. "What are your names?" She asked.

"Kara and Serus Blackwell," I said. The woman gave me a once over, I could see her eye my gauntlet ominously. I placed my hands behind my back to remove it from her sight. She produced two identification cards and handed them to us.

"These cards will serve as room keys for your state room. They will also be used as a food voucher. You will be authorized three meals per day and you will need to present this card in order to eat. I have you sharing a small stateroom on level echo. It is state room number thirty three. Please enjoy your stay," she said to us and quickly looked up to the person behind Kara and me. I led Kara by the arm over to the passageway that was led to the echo level. We had to climb four ladder wells to get to our level and our state room was at the end of a long passageway.

Kara swiped her car and the door to the state room unlocked. She pushed the door open which revealed a small room with a two stacked bunk beds setup with two stand up lockers to hold our belongings. Fortunately the pamphlet Kara had read said that there was a store on board for us to buy new cloths and toiletries. Several months of walking around in dank clothing would have been awful.

Kara and I looked over the room and I decided to take the top bunk. She sat down in a chair that was in the corner behind the door and sighed.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"It's everything," she said. It seemed that the light was dimming behind her eyes. Reality was setting in and she was taking it hard. "I just can't get over the fact that our home will be no more and instead of the Syndicate trying to save everyone they are just saving themselves. With the exception of the two of us I would be willing to bet that most people on this transport, and the others just like it, are in some way tied to the Syndicate. It's a shame, and I wish that there was something that I could do about it. Something that I could do to make a positive change. Do you understand where I'm coming from?"

"Yes I do," I said as I turned to face her. I pulled a stool off the top of one of the standup lockers and sat in front of her. "That is the same thing that I am trying to do. I want to make that change, but the only way to do it is to erase the corruption by destroying those who caused it." I ran my hand through my hair and cleared my throat. I looked down at Thom's gauntlet that I was still carrying. I now realized why White had handed it to me. It wasn't that he was surrendering, but he was giving me an opportunity to find his replacement. I looked at Kara sitting in the chair with her head rested against her right hand. She returned the look with a curious expression.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Just an idea," I said.

"What's your idea?" She asked as she leaned closer to me, intent on hearing my master plan.

"Why don't you join me? You could be my partner in bringing down the syndicate," I said.

"Really?" She asked in a sarcastic tone. "How am I supposed to help you?"

"With this," I replied as I held the gauntlet out to her. I could see her reflection in the polished silver as she starred at it, questioning whether or not she wanted to touch it. "You can use this, and I can teach you how."

She looked up at me and her jaw was slack like she was dumbfounded by my suggestion. She glanced back at the gauntlet and ran her hand over the smooth surface of it. I could see that she was on the fence, somewhere between saying yes and running away. I needed to give her the push that would allow her to make the right decision for herself.

"This will be your chance to get back at the people who abducted you. The people who tried to kill you," I said. "Together we can go after the people responsible for killing our father." She gasped and looked up at me. She held my gaze for several moments and without looking away from me she grabbed the gauntlet out of my hand.
Chapter 27

Kara held the gauntlet and moved it in her hands and looked at it. She knew exactly what it was and precisely what it meant to wear one of these. She had been the one person who had beaten that reality into my head when I had first been recruited by the Agency. To be perfectly honest, if it were not for Kara I most likely would have killed myself when I had gotten the news of my recruitment. Just the idea of giving up everything that I loved in order to be a murderer for hire was almost more than I could bear at the time.

I was engaged to marry Laurel. I was still recovering from the loss of my parents and trying to take care of Kara. Simply put, the love that Kara had shown to me during that time had kept me alive. Unfortunately that was the same love that drove us apart a few years ago. I guess it must have been too much for her to handle, with the way the training and the job had changed me. I was a different person than I had been when we were kids growing up. A part of me had died and it had been replaced by someone who lacked the emotions of someone who could care for someone else. When she saw me she only saw the brother who had died.

As I looked at her now it seemed that she was willing to embrace the kind of life I've been living for her own. I had seen her kill a man already, and I knew that she was able to rebound from it emotionally. It was a scary thought, but it was necessary to the success of the mission for her to stand by my side against the Syndicate.

"Are you sure that you want to do this?" I asked. My heart was fluttering at the thought of my sister becoming someone like me. I wasn't evil, but I was damaged. How could I drag her into this kind of life?

"I told you, Serus that I want to make a difference. I'm done with watching things happen around me, to me, and not being a force to stand up for what I think is right. If making a change requires a sacrifice then I'm fine with that."

I was shocked by her determination. In less than a week she had gone from a timid scientist who I felt that I needed to protect, and now she had grown into a force to be reckoned with. "I just want to make sure that you know what it will cost you."

"Everything and nothing," she said in a hushed voice.

"How do you figure that?" I asked.

"Look, Serus, I'm not part of the Agency. I don't have to follow their rules and restrictions on my life. I'm a free person and I plan on staying that way. I'm not afraid of them and I don't have to bow before them anymore than you do now," she said.

I thought about that for a moment. It was true that I no longer worked for the Agency. My soul purpose in life now was to bring down the Syndicate, the governing power that forced me to be alone in this life; they were the ones who forced me to go without believing in my dreams and following my desires. I was now free to do what I wanted.

I had a moment of realization that had not occurred to me before. I had not felt any tendencies from the programming in two days. I had not experienced a single stuttering thought that tried to lead me away from my own endeavors in those two days. I really was free, both mentally and physically.

"You know, you're right. This is the perfect chance for us to start over. If we succeed in taking down the Syndicate then there will be no one to run our lives and force us to do what we know is wrong." That idea instilled a sense of hope in me. I hadn't known what freedom felt like during my adult life, at least not true freedom.

"See? We don't have a choice not to act. We have a responsibility to do so," Kara said. "Now I just need you to teach me how to use this thing." Kara lifted the gauntlet up and looked at it again.

"Do you remember what I had told White when he put it," I asked.

"Do you mean the part where you said that there would be a sudden sharp pain from the sensors entering your body?" She asked.

"Yes. Also you need to make sure that you keep the laser turned off until you want to use it. Most people have accidental firings occur when they leave it on," I said.

"I do remember you telling him that," she said as she opened the gauntlet. She placed it over her right wrist and latched it closed. The gauntlet made a click sound when it was locked. Kara remained quiet, but I could see in her eyes her reaction to the pain caused by the sensors entering her skin, seeking the nerve endings in her arm. The sensation must not have lasted long because she soon eased up the tense look on her face.

"Are you alright," I asked.

"Yes. The pain has subsided," she said as she rubbed her arm above the gauntlet.

"That's good. Why don't we just have you wear that around for a little while and get used to wearing it until we can find a place suitable for you to practice using it?"

"That sounds alright," she said. Kara looked down at the silver gauntlet wrapped around her wrist. She now had the same power as I did against the Syndicate. She had both the weapon and the will to use it.

There was a sudden vibration of the transporter that caused both of us to look up in alarm. A man's voice came in over a speaker system in the room to tell us what was happening and there were some beeping sounds that followed. The man was apparently the one who was commanding the transport. He spoke very concisely and told us to remain calm and to stay in our state rooms until we were out of Mars' atmosphere. Once he stopped speaking the vibration started getting worse. I did not think we were off the ground until there was a sudden moment of feeling like we were falling. There was a lurch and another falling sensation. I grabbed hold of Kara's hand, but the sensation soon passed.

The launch sequence seemed like it lasted several hours, but in reality we were out of the atmosphere within a half hour. The falling and lurching sensations happened about a dozen more times before the transport seemed to finally stabilize. We were confined to the state room and starred at each other. I could only imagine what Kara was thinking. I don't imagine that it could be anything good based on what I was thinking. I was afraid that we were going to die. Wouldn't that be a sweet irony? Luckily everything settled down a bit and the launch was a little bit more enjoyable, despite my fear of crashing.

Once we were out of the atmosphere the buzzing noises and the vibrations quieted completely. The transport commander came in over the speaker system once again and welcomed us to outer space, our new home for the next several months. I wished at that moment that we had a window to look out into the vast darkness. I would love to be able to look down at our home from several miles away and watch it grow smaller and smaller. Maybe we would have a chance to view it later.

Kara and I sat in the state room for another half an hour before we decided to venture out and explore the transporter. It was enormous, and we needed to figure out where we needed to go for food and other daily errands. Kara pulled out the pamphlet she had gotten when boarding and unfolded it. There was a map drawn on the back that showed where the galley, restrooms, and stores were located. I stood up and reached out to Kara. She took my hand and stood up beside me, together we walked out of the state room to experience whatever may come our way. At that moment I was hoping for a hot meal and some fresh clothes.
Chapter 28

Kara and I walked down the passageways of the transport taking our own grand tour. Kara held the map and pointed out which direction we should go. Placards on the bulkheads aided in letting us know exactly where we were located at any given time. Without those we would surely have gotten lost several times.

It took us about thirty minutes to find the galley. Once we were there we found that it was large enough to seat about six hundred people at a time. Many of the seats were already taken but the line to receive food was fairly short. We made it through the line and were amazed to find that we did not have to eat freeze dried food, everything was fresh fruits and vegetables, and they were even serving grilled meats. This put a smile on our faces; at least the first meal would be a good one.

Kara and I collected our trays and presented our tickets to pay for the food, it was more of a voucher that allowed us three meals each day so that they could conserve food. We found a table in a corner and sat down. There was a media device at our section and it showed maps to help people find where they were going, there was also a timer at the bottom of the screen to let us know how many days until we would reach Earth. Seven months, thirteen days, four hours, twenty six minutes and counting. Reading it like that made it feel like we would be stuck on this transport forever.

We ate our food and reclined in the relative comfort of the galley. It was open in order to allow people to come and go as they pleased without disturbing each other. The galley was not as large as the cargo bay had been, but it was infinitely more comfortable. Kara and I sat and talked for a while after we finished our meal, the sound of a hundred other people talking did a lot to drown out our conversation.

"Where do we need to start?" Kara asked me as she pulled her hair back behind her ears.

"I'm not sure," I said. "I guess it all depends on what it is that we are starting."

"The mission, Serus. Where do we start with the mission?"

My smile faded somewhat at the thought of her being so interested in getting down to business. There were several factors in our operations that needed to be sorted out first. She needed training on how to use the gauntlet, we needed to figure out which members of the Syndicate were on board this transport, we even needed to know what part of Earth we were scheduled to land in relation to the other transports. If we were across an ocean from the main members of the Syndicate then that needed to be calculated now. It could be difficult killing people and disposing of their bodies while we are here in space, which was a factor that could not be overlooked.

"Well, I think the first thing we need to do is to take the list that White gave me and bounce it off the roster of names on board this transport," I said. "From there I can train you in some essential fighting techniques as well as how to use the gauntlet."

"Do you still have the list?" She asked.

"Yes, it's saved on my communicator," I said.

"We'll if we can find a computer that has access to the roster then I can bring it up and bounce the names off of those on the list," she said.

"Perfect. Where can we find a computer that would have that sort of information?"

Kara pulled out the map and set it on the table in front of us. She ran her finger along the diagram and read the name of each compartment that she came across. "Here it is. Administration, passageway bravo on the seventh level. It's pretty much on the other side of the transporter," she said.

"Then I guess our tour will take us to the seventh level and passageway bravo," I said.

"It seems that was," Kara said as she began to stand up and collect her tray. I followed her to the scullery to dispose of our trash. Kara still held the map in her hand and approached one of the placards on the bulkhead to figure out which direction we needed to go. Kara took a right down the next passageway as I followed her.

It took us several minutes to find a ladder to take us to the seventh level, but once we found it we were set. It was a quick climb up three levels and passageway bravo was to our left. The administration office was down the passageway on the right. The door was locked due to the department being closed. I jiggled the door knob uselessly and sighed. There always seemed to be a barrier in my way.

"Hold on," Kara said as she pulled a pin from her hair. She bent the pin straight and jammed it into the lock. She twisted the hair pin for about fifteen seconds and suddenly the lock clicked and the door opened.

"How did you do that?" I asked in shock at the uncharacteristic skill that I had just discovered in my little sister.

"I've locked myself out of my house more times than I would like to admit," she said. "It comes to a point where you either keep paying for service calls or you figure out how to break into your own home." We both smiled at the circumstances that enabled us to succeed at breaking into the administration office.

Kara and I walked into the office and looked around at the entire computer systems set up throughout the room. She sat down at one of the stations and began typing commands into the interface. I stood over her shoulder and watched her work. The programs opened before our eyes as she typed away and scrolled down the lengthy list of names. In less than two minutes she had found the roster of the names of everyone on the transport with us. She pressed the print icon on the display and a stack of pages printed out.

I grabbed my communicator and read the list of names that White had sent me. "Damian Wise?" I asked.

She shuffled through the pages to the names that started with 'W' and browsed through the names. "Not on this list," she said.

"Lea Harris," I read aloud.

"No."

"Ghon Abert?"

"Yes," she said and circled his information on the list. I continued through the list until I found Sorell's name. I did not expect him to be on the same transport as us. "Delyn Sorell?"

"Yes, Sorell is on this transport," she looked up at me with wide eyes.

"It's alright," I said. "Both of us are armed and ill teach you how to use the gauntlet. We can just stay in our state room as much as possible to avoid any possible contact with him until you're comfortable."

Kara nodded her head and collected the pages that she had circled the names on and stuffed them into her pocket. I closed my communicator and placed it into my breast pocket as we started to leave the admin office. Kara grabbed the rest of the papers and placed them in the shredder as she left. I hit the door lock on our way out still thinking about the fact that Sorell was out here with us. The thought of that happening had never crossed my mind, but now I knew just how careful we would have to be in order to succeed.
Chapter 29

Urgent, this was the only way to describe it. It was urgent that I teach Kara how to use the gauntlet. It was urgent that I train her in basic fighting techniques. It was urgent that we go undetected throughout the transport while doing so. Kara followed me through the passageways as I sought out a suitable training area. We were deep in the bowels of the transport when I finally found it. In the level below the cargo bay there were engineering spaces, long and empty passages separated by bulkheads every thirty yards. There was no one in the area to disturb us down here while I trained Kara. This would be perfect, and we could start the training immediately.

"Move that control to the right to arm the laser," I said as I pointed at the control on my own gauntlet. "Keep the level low to keep from damaging anything. When the time comes to use it for real then you will need to set the level higher. Down here we will practice targeting and firing at low levels, alright?" I asked to gauge her comprehension of what we were doing. She shook her head.

"Alright then, do you see that yellow sign painted on the bulkhead at the end of the passageway?"

"Yes," she said.

"I want you to aim for the center of it and will the laser to fire with your mind."

Kara took aim and a blue laser exited the gauntlet and struck the yellow sign just above the center. She ceased firing the laser and looked at me with a smile. "I did it. I hit the target!" she was giddy with excitement.

"Yes you did. But the thing you need to realize is that your enemy will be returning fire," I said.

"I thought we were the only people on board with gauntlets," she said.

"Maybe we are, but that's not something that I want to leave to chance. If we experience a fight then you need to be able to take aim and fire in a split second. This time I want you to take aim and fire within two seconds, roll to your left and fire again, still trying to hit the center of that target."

Kara squinted at the target and took a deep breath.

"Visualize the target," I said.

She exhaled and threw her arm up and fired the laser. The blue beam struck below the target. She rolled left and fired again this time missing the target by more than a foot. Kara cussed under her breath.

"It takes time," I told her. "Just keep practicing. You will get better each time you do."

She stood there and glared at the target again. She thrust the gauntlet forward again and fired this time hitting the yellow target. "Yes!" She said.

"Very nice shot," I said. "Now do it again." She gave me a dirty look. "You have to be consistent. Just because you hit an unmoving target once does not mean that you can hit that same target under pressure. The mechanics of it need to become muscle memory. Now try it again."

She eyed the target again and fired just to the right of it.

"See?" I said.

"Shut up," she retorted as she fired again, another hit in the center of the target. She relaxed her stance and tried again, another hit. She smiled but it went away as she missed the next shot. We stayed in that area for two hours as she stood and took shots at the sign at the end of the passageway.

"I think that is about enough for the day," I said. "We don't want to run the power down on the gauntlet."

Kara sighed as she turned the control off. She had come a long way in those two hours. She may not have seen the progress because she was too focused on the missed shots, but the reality was that she could fire faster and with more precision than she could when she started. I put my arm around her shoulder as we walked away.

"Honestly, you did really good, Kara. I'm very impressed."

"I'm angry that I keep missing the target," she said. "I would get a few in a row and then miss. It was really frustrating."

"I know, but that's just how it goes. No one is a perfect shot every single time. Trust me though, you did great."

Kara smiled at me as we walked up the ladder leading up to the cargo bay. It was packed with people walking around and meeting other people on the transport. We walked through the cargo bay towards the passageway that would lead us to our stateroom. We stopped at a booth that had been set up to sell clothing to those who needed it. There was no line so Kara and I stopped to check it out.

The clothing selection was somewhat generic. For men they had plain mock turtleneck shirts and black pants similar to the ones that I was already wearing. For the women they had a similar outfit with a different cut around the neck to expose a little more flesh. I looked at Kara and could see that the pant suit that she was wearing was not practical and decided that it would be best to purchase some new clothing for each of us.

"What color shirt would you like?" I asked Kara.

She looked at me and then down at her gauntlet. "Black, I think it will look more militant."

"You don't have to dress militant just because of what we are doing," I said. I was a hypocrite because that was the reason that I was choosing black. Well that and the fact that it makes it easier to hide in the shadows.

"I still want black," she said with a smile.

I nodded at her and looked at the person running the booth. "Two black outfits for each of us," I said. The woman in the booth grabbed the new clothes and put them in a bag for us. I paid for the clothes with the last of the money that I had on me. It didn't matter considering the fact that the food was paid with a voucher, besides Kara brought money as well for toiletry items. I handed Kara her bag of clothing and we left the cargo bay behind us and headed to our state room to change before lunch.
Chapter 30

Kara and I stood in front of the mirror in our new clothing. The smooth cloth was designed to keep you cool in the heat and keep you warm in the cold. Kara looked like a different person now that she was dressed in all black. The black pants and black top were a stark contrast from the silver gauntlet that was wrapped around her wrist. She completed her new look by pulling her hair back into a thick braid that fell halfway down her back. I have to admit, she looked the part of resident bad ass, and I was impressed.

"It's a good look on you," I said and she starred into the mirror mesmerized by how much she had changed.

"Thank you. It feels right, but I don't know about you."

"What about me?" I asked.

"There's something missing that we need to complete your look," she said as she grabbed my old jacket from my policeman uniform. The jacket had my rank insignia on the collar that she removed before handing it to me.

"Put this on," she said. "Don't zip it up though because I want to see what it looks like on you open."

I pulled the jacket on over my shoulders and let it hang open. The bottom of the jacket rested on the back of my calves and the open front allowed me to have more freedom of movement.

"What do you think?" I asked as I turned in a small circle in front of her.

"I think you make the jacket work," she said with a smile. "It definitely completes the look."

I laughed at what she said, but it really did go pretty well with the new clothes. "Are you ready for lunch?" I asked.

"Sure. Let's go."

Kara and I walked out of the stateroom and headed for the galley. The galley was quite a bit busier than it had been earlier, but the food was well worth the wait. It was essentially the same meal, but I was still expecting the freeze dried food to show up at any time.

"You really did well with your training today," I said trying to strike up a conversation. Kara was busy shoveling food into her face and just shook her head as she starred over across the galley. "What is it?" I asked as I tried to see what she was looking at. The galley was filled with people and I wasn't sure what Kara had seen.

She swallowed hard before speaking. "Serus, there is something that I need to tell you, and I want you to keep an open mind. Can you do that?" She asked.

"Yes, of course," I said. "What is it?"

"It's Laurel," she said. "She is on this transport."

"What?" I craned my head and tried to see her, but I couldn't find her face in the crowd.

"She's over there by the desert bar," Kara said. I looked at where Kara had pointed and could see Laurel standing there. She was dressed in a uniform representing the company that ran the transport ship. My jaw dropped at the fact that other than the uniform she essentially looked exactly the same.

"I can't believe it," I said. "I haven't seen her in five years."

"I've seen her from time to time at the university on business. I haven't really spoken to her for a few years though. It's kind of awkward, you know," Kara said before shoveling more food into her mouth.

"How so?" I asked.

"I don't know, it's hard to explain, but she was never really the same after you were recruited. It was like a part of her died and it was hard for me to see her like that. Eventually we just stopped speaking," Kara said.

"I see," I sat there and looked at Laurel. She was still beautiful with her brown hair and blue eyes. I could see her acknowledge a patron at the desert bar and turn like she was about to leave. I couldn't lose her. I had to speak to her now. "Excuse me a moment," I said to Kara as I stood up and walked towards the desert bar.

Laurel's back was to me when I stepped up to the bar. "Excuse me, Laurel?"

She turned to look at me and I was so close to her that I could see my reflection in her eyes. Her eyes widened as she realized who I was. "Serus?"

"One and the same," I said.

"I can't believe it's you!" She wrapped me up into her arms as tightly as she could. "I can't believe that you are here, right here!"

"Yeah, it's kind of a long story about how that happened," I said as I nervously ran my hand through my hair.

"Are you still with the Agency?" She asked with a little less enthusiasm pouring out of her lips.

"Actually no," I said. "I'm kind of a fugitive."

The look of shock spread across her face. "A fugitive?"

"Yes," I said meekly.

"Who are you running from?" She asked with grave concern.

"I'm not really running," I said. "It's a long story and I would love to tell you about it, but now isn't really the time."

"Alright, I can understand that," she smiled at me and it almost broke my heart. We had been so close to having a life together before it was taken from us. I knew that I still carried scars from that moment, but the thought that she shared those same scars was hard to handle. "I get off shift after dinner tonight. Would you like to meet up then? I can meet you in the cargo bay?"

"Yeah, sure," I said. "Right after dinner I'll meet you in the cargo bay."

She smiled and brought me closer to her and kissed me on the cheek. "I look forward to it."

"Me too," I said as I turned to walk back to Kara, trying hard not to take my eyes off of Laurel, afraid that she would disappear forever. I stumbled and bumped into someone all of a sudden and looked up to see who it was.

"Excuse me, I'm sorry," I started to finish my sentence, but stopped short as I looked into the eyes of Sorell. He was inches away from me and there was nothing that I could do. I wanted to kill him right then and there, but there were too many people who could get hurt in the process.

"Serus, I almost didn't recognize you," he smiled and gave a slight chuckle when he said it. "You should watch your step. You never know who you will end up bumping into," he laughed and made a gesture to a policeman standing next to him. Apparently Kara and I were not the only people armed on this transport.

"I'll take that into consideration," I said as I started to walk away, brushing my shoulder against Sorell's as I did so. I walked over to Kara who was standing next to the table that we had been sitting at before.

"Is everything alright?" She asked me.

"Yeah, well at least it will be. Laurel wants to meet me after dinner," I said.

"That's great, but I was more asking about your encounter with Sorell."

"Well that's another matter entirely. He came with policemen to guard him."

"I can see that," she said. "The problem is that now he knows that we are here," her voice carried the weight of concern.

"It will be alright. You have enough skill at firing your gauntlet that I'm not concerned. Besides I'll still be here to protect you," I said. "Let's get out of here though."

Kara followed me down the passageway away from the galley and we headed back to our stateroom. We both needed to get some sleep and both of our gauntlets needed to be charged. This was an afterthought though because tonight I would have an opportunity to be with Laurel for the fire time in five years. Just the idea of seeing her reminded me of the emotions that had been returning to me recently, and I could feel my heart race at the thought of seeing her again tonight.
Chapter 31

I followed Kara up the ladder that led to the cargo bay. I was torn between my recent experience of seeing Laurel after five years and then bumping into Sorell. I could feel the tension behind his maniacal smile and unsettling laughter. He was a plotting man, one who always wanted to be a few steps ahead of his enemy. As strange as it sounds, I could see similarities between us. I have a personal philosophy; always stay six steps ahead of your enemy.

The cargo bay was full of people carrying on about their normal routine. More shops had been set up in the hopes of continuing business as usual for many people. Based on the look of things, we were essentially a city moving through space. I stopped in the middle of a group of people and looked back at Kara.

"Is there anything that you would like to do?" I asked.

"I guess we can walk around the shops to kill a little time," she said. "Do you want to split up and meet back here in an hour?"

"I don't know if that's a good idea," I said.

"Relax, Serus, I'm armed and ready," she lifted her gauntlet to show me.

"Alright, but seriously, I want us to meet back at this spot in one hour."

Kara spit her tongue out at me as she trotted off. I was amazed at how confident she had become in just over a week. I was happy for her though, she seemed to feel like she had a purpose, and the stress of what she had been through had given her the determination to fight instead of falling into submission.

I walked to take a look at what some of the shops had to offer. There was everything from clothing, electronics, and furniture to make the staterooms a little homier. I was looking at a mobile reader at one of the Booths when I felt two hands wrap around my arms. I hadn't been paying attention and now two policemen had me by surprise.

"Serus, we need you to come with us," one on the men said. I allowed them to lead me away from the cargo bay without saying anything at all. We went down a ladder near the passageway where I had trained Kara earlier. The lights were dimmed, but I could make out the image of a few other people at the other end of the passageway.

The two men stopped about twenty feet away from the other group of people and then Sorell stepped into the light. He wore a smug look on his face, the kind of look that insinuated that he had won some great battle over me.

"It seems that we keep bumping into each other," Sorell said with another chuckle.

"It would appear that way I guess. What do you want?" I asked.

"Oh, that's a simple thing really. You see, I have an issue with someone who is focused on killing members of my Syndicate. It makes me feel uncomfortable, like maybe that person is going to take a stab at me." He looked at me warily when he said those words. "I suppose it could just be my imagination, but I really do get the feeling that you don't like me," he said.

"That's funny. I get the same feeling from you," I said.

Sorell laughed hard and began pacing in a small circle in front of me. "Do you know why insurance is the most powerful business on our society, Sorell?"

"No, I don't."

"It's because those who have insurance feel protected, those who don't have insurance feel helpless, and those who own the insurance companies can control them all. You see if you don't have insurance then we can have our doctors flat out refuse to help you, and it would be completely legal for them to deny you. On the other hand, if you do have insurance, but the cost of treatment is too great, then we can have you denied just the same. It really isn't about the money, but the power. No one wants to die so they buy your insurance feeling confident that they will be taken care of, and then all of a sudden we just pull the rug out from under them." He laughed again and it was making me sick.

"What's the point to your story, Sorell?"

"The point is, the electro-magnetic field is dying because we found that it would be profitable."

"Are you kidding me? Millions of people are about to die for some kind of profit?" I was shouting the words at him.

"Yes." He paced in front of me and shrugged his shoulders like the death of millions did not concern him. "You see, our society was about as close to a utopia as you could get, but the profit to be gained from our people was too low. People were living longer and costing us more. Technology that was so great one hundred years ago was becoming a burden to our pockets. We tried population control, but the benefits were not there like they had been historically. We needed another exodus, we needed an out. The last expedition to Earth showed that the Earth humans were savages. They had destroyed each other in the name of religion, or class, or the color of their skin. If we go there and set up a new government then we will be like gods to them. And I, being the leader of the Syndicate, am ready to be there god."

"You are a lunatic," I said.

"Quite so," he laughed at me and snapped his fingers. Two of the policemen stepped out of their ranks and walked through a hatch behind them. "The other thing that I love about the insurance business is how it can be used as a metaphor for any given situation. Say I have a lot of food, then I have an insurance policy to keep from starving to death. Or if I have a blanket then I have an insurance policy to keep from being cold. Are you beginning to catch my drift?"

"Yeah I think I am. So you think by catching me then you have an insurance policy to keep me from killing you?" I said.

Sorell laughed again his wicked laugh. "So close to the truth, yet so far away." He turned to the men as they were walking through the hatch with a third person. "No, Serus, my insurance policy is not that I caught you, it's that I caught your old fiancée," he said as he pointed to Laurel. "And one false move on your part will insure that I kill you both."
Chapter 32

"Laurel?" I couldn't believe that Sorell had found the link between Laurel and me. Two policemen were holding her by the arms and I could tell that she had been crying, it made me think about Kara and when she had been abducted.

"So I believe we have an understanding then?" Sorell said.

"If you let her go then I will not kill you," I said. Sorell laughed at my words and stepped up to me with his smile drawn into a sneer. He back handed me across my face, a move that I didn't see coming.

"That is not what this is about." Sorell screamed the words at me. "I am not afraid of you, Serus. I just don't appreciate the fact that you feel that you can have power over me." He punched me in the stomach so hard that I was sure that he had fractured one of my ribs. I heard Laurel scream, but it was a muted sound because of the ringing in my ears. I felt like I was underwater and being held down by my arms.

"During your training you are taught that you are nothing. Do you remember your training?"

"Yes," I said between gasps, I was certain of the fractured rib now.

"Yet you think that a person who is nothing, who has nothing, can stand up against the Syndicate?" He hit me again in the face. My vision was blurry, but I could see Laurel break free and run away. I tried to call out to her, but I was having trouble collecting my thoughts, maybe I had a concussion. My words came out in soft mumbles that even I couldn't understand.

"Sir, what about the woman?" I could hear one of the men ask as the blood rush to my head settled down.

"Let her go," Sorell said. "We can find her later, after we kill Serus and his sister."

He's going after Kara too? I eyed him and realized that this would never be over. He didn't want me to surrender my cause; he wanted me dead and out of the way. If I died then Kara and Laurel will be killed too. By standing here and taking this punishment I was only conceding to his demands and enabling him to kill us all. I had to fight back.

I steadied myself, ensuring that I had good footing for what I was about to do. Once my feet were planted I put everything I had into flinging the men who were holding me together. I only succeeded in throwing the man to my right down onto the ground. I was weaker than I had thought. The man on my left went to grab me but I reflexively threw my fist into his nose, blood splattered in a high arc over his head.

"One of you men take control of this man." Sorell shouted. The policemen in the back started towards me, but my hands were already free and my gauntlet was armed. I fired at one of them and they fell over dead from a shot to the neck that seemed to have disintegrated the bones in his neck. I fired another wild shot narrowly missing the next man who tackled me. I struggled under his weight, but he was strong. He pinned my arms down so that I could not fire at him.

Another of the policemen came up on my right side. I looked over and could see that his leg was in my line of sight so I fired my gauntlet and relieved him of his left leg. The man howled in pain and fell over, going into shock immediately. The larger man who was on top of me struggled to keep me pinned down. I was thrashing against his restraint and trying hard to break free. The first man that I had knocked down came up and pinned my right arm down and secured my gauntlet. I still struggled to fight them off, but it was useless. I had succeeded in killing one of them and knocking two more of them out of the fight. There were still three more policemen and Sorell to go up against, but my hope was quickly fading, as was my strength.

"Very we'll played, Serus," Sorell said with a smirk. He was delighted by my show of force regardless of the outcome. "You are so very passionate aren't you? You obviously can see through the charade and know that I'm going to kill you. Before this moment I was perplexed at how to do it, but now that you have killed one of my policemen it only stands to reason that he will need to be replaced." Sorell smiled a toothy grin again.

"What, do you think I'm going to work for you now?" I spit the question out of my mouth and noticed the taste of blood on my tongue. It must have happened when I was tackled before.

"No I don't expect you to live past the next minute or so, but your gauntlet will make a nice addition to my already indomitable power. Wouldn't you agree?"

I watched Sorell come up and unlock my gauntlet from around my wrist. I could feel the sensors pull out of my skin, but the discomfort of that moment was nothing compared to the dread that I felt. After he killed me then he will go after the ones that I love, Kara and Laurel. Sorell tossed the gauntlet in the air a few times playing with it.

"Get on with it," I said defiantly.

"Oh, I will. Don't you worry about that," he said. Sorell clasped the gauntlet around his wrist and made an awkward facial expression as the sensors dug into his skin. Once the sensation passed he was back to his normal, maniacal self. He turned the control on and took aim at a point on the wall behind him and fired. "This is an excellent weapon. I can see why the Agency has its people use them. It's so easy to fire."

I looked at Sorell and still tried to fight against the men who were holding me. Sorell smiled at me again and adjusted the control to a lower setting. He fired the gauntlet at my neck and I could feel the burning sensation as the laser impacted my flesh. I grimaced at the pain, but I refused to cry out. His smile was only getting wider as I eyed him the entire time that he fired upon me.

"This is great fun," Sorell said as he brought the gauntlet down and adjusted the control again. "But fun time is over. I think now is time to finish this." He brought the gauntlet back up and I fought to keep my eyes open as a blue laser beam tore through Sorell's chest. I had to blink and refocus on Sorell as his body fell over limply. Did I just imagine this? The large policeman on my left turned around and then fell backwards with a hole in his head.

Realization struck at that moment that I was being rescued. The policeman who had been beside Sorell ran up to stop the intruder, but I put every ounce of my body weight behind my shoulder as I sent it into his stomach, stopping him instantly. I jumped onto him and began striking him in the head with everything that I had. Blood pooled onto the floor from his cracked skull that was caused by my assault. I could see the last policeman fall to the floor dead beside me as I continued wailing into the other man's face. I was in a dark place of hatred and contempt and I could feel myself falling away from reality, away from my humanity.

"Serus!" I could hear her scream my name. Kara had come to save me, but I was beyond saving now. Each punch that I delivered to the mush that was once a person's head reminded me that I was too far gone. "Serus, stop!" It's too late, I can't stop.

"Serus, please?" This voice was different. It wasn't Kara this time. Was I missing something? Laurel! I turned to see the horrified look on her face at what I had done, what I had to do to survive.

"Laurel," I said feeling powerless. She would never understand what had happened. She would just look at me like I was a monster for killing this man with my bare hands.

"Serus," she said as she wrapped her arms around me, unafraid of what I was and what I had done. I put my arms around her and held her close. Kara walked around the passageway and killed the two policemen who were still breathing.

"You can't be too careful," she said as she looked at me. I nodded my agreement with her as I stroked Laurel's hair with my hand. Kara disappeared behind me and I could hear a metallic clicking sound before she returned to my field of sight. She was holding my gauntlet in her hand. "I think it would be a good idea for us to get out of here," she said.

"I agree," I took Laurel's hand and followed Kara back up into the cargo bay, back up to a life that would be less dangerous, at least for a time. For now I had the two women that I loved most by my side, Kara and Laurel. That was more important to me than surviving my run in with Sorell.
Chapter 33

Kara and Laurel led me up to the medical unit which was down the passageway from the galley. My fractured rib was very painful and it made it hard for me to breathe. Each step was more laboring than the last and I could feel my adrenaline dying down. I was on my own power now, no fear or life changing event to fuel me on to the next step and it hurt like hell.

"Are you alright, Serus? You seem to be weakening," Laurel said to me as she gripped my hand in hers.

"I've been better, but I've also been worse," I replied hoping that it would ease her concern.

Kara was leading us and having the pedestrians move out of the way so that we could get to the medical unit without delay. I appreciated her concern, but I felt that it was a little too much given the circumstances. At least that was my thought until I coughed up blood. It was a hard hacking cough and my hand came away with thick blood smeared across it.

"Oh no, Kara!" Laurel yelled out. "He's coughing up blood. We need to hurry."

I looked down at my hand and ran my thumb over my blood stained fingers. I was mesmerized by how it felt sticky and I could create a swirling pattern with it. Kara fell back and helped Laurel carry me because my legs were becoming weak and useless. That was the last thing that I remembered before everything went black.

I was standing on the edge of a cliff overlooking the water below. The waves broke against the rocks and created salty foam that looked like it was inviting me to dive in. There were aromas that I was not used to smelling beyond the salty water. I looked around at flowers that I had never seen before. They reflected the sunlight and were beautiful. I looked up at the sun and noticed that it looked bigger and brighter than I had ever seen it before. I reached my hand out hoping to touch it because it seemed so close.

It was a silly thought that I could hold the sun in my hand, but I tried again anyway. I was in a kind of utopia, but I could not remember how I had gotten here. The image of everything around me fluttered for a moment. The sun and sky became a dark room with a single bright light shining down on my face, and then I was back in my utopia. I shook my head trying to rid myself of the vision, but it happened again. I reached down and fell upon the rocks below trying to anchor myself to my utopia.

I closed my eye, but all I could see was that dark room with the single bright light shining on me again. I opened my eyes but my vision fluttered again, the dark room was pulling me away, stripping me of everything that I so desperately wanted to cling to. I struggled to hold on as I watched the rocks and trees blink out of existence. My feet were lifted as I held onto the large cliff with everything that I had, and then it was all gone. I was in a sea of darkness and I floated there alone. I was amazed by how the silence and the warmth were comforting and within moments I fell asleep.

It started as a little beep that chirped every other second. They were only a slight irritation at first as I nuzzled back into the comforting darkness. Now it seemed that the beeps were trying to annoy me. I fought to maintain my composure, unwilling to move out of the darkness that I loved so much. I honestly tried to ignore it, but the beeping became too much. I lashed out of the darkness and I opened m eyes for the first time in what must have been several days.

I looked around to see a well lit hospital room. The beeping was from the machine that was pumping oxygen into my lungs. I was stiff all over as I looked around the room. There was the bed, a table, a media device mounted to the wall, and a couch in the corner with someone laying on it.

"Kara?" I said without realizing it. She didn't move so I said her name again. "Kara?" She looked up at me and pulled her long dark hair out of her face. She had been sleeping for a while based on the redness on the side of her face from the cushion on the couch.

"Serus, you're awake," she said.

"How long have I been out?" I asked.

"A day and a half," she replied. "They pumped you full of drugs for the surgery."

"Surgery for what?" I asked.

"You had a broken rib that punctured your right lung. It was pretty bad so they had to do emergency surgery on you. You've been sleeping off the drugs during since then."

"What happened with Sorell and the policemen?" I asked.

"They are all dead and disposed of," she said. "Laurel had a hand in ensuring their disposition. I guess it pays to have friends who know their way around a transport." Kara smiled at me and I returned it.

"Where is Laurel now?"

"She's at work. The commander said that she could have some time off once you woke up, but he couldn't justify giving her the time when there was nothing that she could do."

"Sounds like a lovely person to work for," I said.

"Maybe, but he was the one that helped us get rid of the bodies so he must not be that bad," Kara said.

I chuckled a bit though I had to hold my side due to the pain. "Maybe so."

"Serus, there is something that I need to speak with you about."

"What is that?" I asked.

"It's about Laurel," she said.

"What about her?"

"I've had a pretty long conversation with her last night while you were recuperating. It seems that she still holds some very strong feelings for you. My concern is that the lifestyle that we will be leading on Earth will not allow for you to explore the possibilities of a restored relationship with her."

"What are you suggesting? That I not pursue a relationship, or that I kill the mission before it even begins?"

"I don't know," Kara said. "Either way life will be hard. If we allow the Syndicate to control everyone like they have been then there will be no hope for a decent future, if you step away from Laurel then you may lose a chance at being happy."

"We'll why can't I have both in my life?" I asked.

"Do you really expect her to accept the kind of life that you will be providing?"

"What kind of life would that be, Kara? One where I am fighting for freedom?"

"No, one where you will be fighting for anything. Do you not realize the potential risks involved? It would be unfair to uproot her from a secure life without at least speaking to her about the potential harm that may come because of her decision."

Kara was right. If I allowed Laurel to get hurt because she didn't know what she was stepping into then I would never be able to forgive myself. It was something that I was going to have to discuss with her when I saw her next. I knew what I wanted and I knew what I had to do. I couldn't easily let one go for the other.

"What does she know about our mission and what we are involved with?" I asked.

"Nothing. I skirted around her questions, but I'm sure she will ask you many of the same things that she asked me."

"Alright, I'll talk to her tonight and let her make the decision after I tell her everything," I said.

"Are you sure?"

"I have to be. There's too much at stake," I laid my head back on the pillow and closed my eyes, thinking about a future with Laurel was filling my heart with hope, but the possibility of pushing her away because of my mission stripped that hope away and stomped it to death. It would be her decision in the end; I just hoped that I could live with it.
Chapter 34

The hours passed like days as I waited for Laurel to come and visit me. The doctors insisted that I stay under observation for another day or so, but I was ready to make a break for it. The sterile hospital room made me feel uncomfortable to say the least. Kara went out to grab a meal at the galley as I sat and fiddled around with the media device trying to find something to occupy my time.

We were receiving transmissions from Mars and the reports were bleak regarding the escalation of rioting in the streets. It was a variable frenzy of anarchy not just in Archea, but elsewhere as well. Frustrated and bored I flung the remote controller to the foot of the bed and laid my head back to rest. I had counted the ceiling tiles more than once and I was getting ready to count them again when she came walking into the room.

"Hey," she said with a smile across her face. Laurel leaned over the bed and planted a firm kiss on my cheek and I could smell the fragrance that she was wearing. It was a very familiar scent.

"Is that Prim Rose that I smell?" I asked, taking the smell deeper into my lungs.

"Yes, I'm glad that you remembered. It's the only perfume that I've worn since you gave it to me on my birthday. You know, the birthday before you were recruited into the Agency."

That memory hurt quite a bit. There are so many things that I wished that I could go back and change if I was given the chance. "I do remember," I replied.

"Well I'm glad that you're awake now. You missed our meeting the other night that we were supposed to have after dinner."

"Yeah, I was a little caught up in something," I cut her a sly smile. She seemed to be taking things rather well considering the fact that she had been abducted momentarily by a psychopath.

"About that, what was that all about?" She asked somewhat sarcastically.

"I guess I rubbed him the wrong way," I replied.

She laughed and flashed her perfect smile, the one that made my heart race. "Serus, there's something I want to discuss with you and it's very important."

She was serious now. Her flirtatious looks disappeared completely like someone flipped a switch. "What is it?" I asked with a little concern creeping into my thoughts.

"I was talking to Kara last night and she insinuated that the two of you were into something that would not allow me to be a part of your life. I'll admit that the thought had crossed my mind millions of times. I've pondered what I would do if there was ever a chance of us being together again."

"And?" I interrupted.

"And there is a reason I never married," she said. "If I was not able to marry the man that I loved, then I was not going to get married at all. I suppose it was some kind of hopeless romantic thought that we could be together in the end, but if what Kara said is true, then maybe it just wasn't meant to be."

My heart sank. What had Kara said to her exactly? All I wanted right now was to hold Laurel forever and I thought that I had that chance. Was I wrong? "Laurel,"

"Hold on," she said. "I don't care what you and Kara are up to. I can handle it. I promise. I just need to know if she was warning me of the danger of getting involved or," she trailed off for a moment.

"Or what?" I asked. My mind was exploding with what could possibly come out of her mouth.

"Or if she was trying to push me away because you no longer wanted to be with me," she said as a tear poured down her left cheek. She was sitting on the bed next to me and I reached out and plucked the tear from her cheek. My heart was racing. All that I wanted was sitting in front of me. Without even thinking about it I reached my hands around her and brought her down on top of me.

Her weight hurt my rib where it had broken, but I didn't care. I would take the pain if it meant that I would be able to have the life with Laurel that I wanted. We kissed each other and held each other close. This was what I had been missing over the past five years. This was the only thing that I had ever truly wanted.

Still I had a nagging thought in my head. Should I cower before the Syndicate and the duty that I had decided to uphold in bringing them down? Or instead do I risk my relationship with Laurel by doing what I had sworn to do? I couldn't allow this to go further without having first told her everything.

"Laurel," I said between long passionate kisses. "There is something that I need to tell you."

"What is it, Serus?"

"It's about what Kara and I are doing." She looked up at me waiting for me to finish. "I think that the reason Kara said what she did is because she doesn't want to see you hurt."

"I'm not worried about that. I just want to be with you," she said.

"That's what makes this so hard for me," I said. "I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with you. It's just that Kara and I have something very important to do and it could put you in danger."

"What is so dangerous, Serus? Do you mean like what happened last night?"

"Yes and no. Last night was an accidental incident. What we are doing is going against the Syndicate. Kara and I made a vow to take them down by killing all of the board members. Things are going to get worse before they get better, and I just don't want to put you in the crossfire."

"Isn't that something that I should be able to decide for myself?" She asked. I could see the outrage in her eyes.

"Laurel, I'm only trying to protect you."

"I don't need your protection, Serus. I need you!"

"It's not that simple. If anything were to happen to you then I don't know what I would do with myself. I can't lose you."

"If you take the decision for me to be with you out of my hands then you've already lost me," she said. Tears were beginning to well up in her eyes.

"What would you have me do? This life is dangerous. These people are dangerous, heartless fiends who will use anything that they can to bring down their enemies.

"Then why don't you teach me how to defend myself?"

"We're talking about people more dangerous than a common mugger. These people kill without blinking an eye!"

"Then let me help you. If Kara can help then so can I."

"With what?" I asked. The longer this dragged on the worse I felt.

"With this," she said as she pulled a gauntlet out of her purse. I looked down at her hand and could see my reflection in the silver finish of the weapon that she was holding.

"Laurel, where did you get this?"

"Off of one of the bodies that we disposed of last night. I saw Kara wearing one and figured that there must be a reason. Women aren't allowed in the Agency, so she had to have taken it from a dead policeman."

"That is somewhat true."

"Look, Serus. I'm just trying to meet you halfway here. Last night as everything was happening around me the only thing that I knew was the truth was that I loved you and that I would never give up on you. Please don't give up on me."

"Alright," I said as I took the gauntlet from her hand and opened it. I put it around her wrist and held it there for a moment. "This is going to hurt a little." I closed the gauntlet around her wrist and heard the lock engage with a click. Laurel's eyes welled up for a moment, but she wiped them dry. Once the pain subsided she fell into my arms. She was one of us now. A warrior against oppression. A victor over the bold men who would condemn a planet. Laurel, Kara and I would stand together to avenge a dead planet.

I held Laurel in a warm embrace and loved the way that it felt. I closed my eyes and breathed in the sweet smell of her Prim Rose perfume. I remembered the occasion when I had bought it. I had bought her flowers, but felt bad for going the cheap route. I had come across a vendor on the street selling perfume and picked the one fragrance that didn't make me gag.

I had told her this five years ago and in our absence from each other she had continued to wear the fragrance that I had bought her. It's funny how love worked. I smiled at the memory and opened my eyes to see Kara standing in the doorway looking at us. She smiled back at me and I knew that everything would be alright. I was surrounded by those I loved, and together we would bring down the Syndicate.
Epilogue

I have stood before these people for thirty years as Pontiff. The thoughtless puppet of the Syndicate. Its power had reached into the soul of every man, woman, and child for so long that the people feared life without the comfort of its dominion over them. I watched from my office window in the palace as the mobs ripped themselves apart. The fear of death caused outrage through Archea, and the entire world for that matter. Holographic images painted the walls of my office with footage of destruction throughout Plenum and Ferette. Clenist, which was only one hundred miles from here, was completely torn apart by the mobs. Recent reports showed their declaration of coming to do the same here at the capital.

My nerves were shot and I have gone days without sleep. When I gave up the lottery ticket to Serus I had figured that Mars would dissolve into oblivion without much fanfare. I guess that I was delusional because the mobs had already started protesting. The escalation of the protest began last month which marked one year since the transports left us behind. I swore under my breath. I could be on Earth right now fighting the Syndicate, instead I'm here and waiting for the final curtain to fall.

There was a sound of shattering glass as someone hurled a stone through the office window behind me. There was no need to have it replaced, based on the power level of the northern nuclear generator, our magnetic field would only survive another thirty some odd days. I had employed some crews to reroute power from many of the factories near it in order to keep the field alive for as long as possible. They were still working against the clock as final preparations were in place to shift the power over. Best case scenario, the alternate power source would feed the magnetic field for another nine to fourteen months. That was a pretty wide margin for error. I supposed that was their nice way of saying that they didn't know how long it would hold up.

I walked away from the window leaving the broken glass scattered on the floor. I took a seat at my desk and began typing away at the holographic keyboard. I was working on my final address to the people of Mars. How do you start a eulogy for people who are still alive? How do you pluck hope from their fingertips?

The display in front of me filled with words that didn't seem to make sense, even to me. I was no longer the man with a secret. I was the man who was trained to hold everything together as it splintered apart in my hands like a dried out sand castle being whipped by the wind.

I felt the tingling sensation in my left arm just before it went numb completely. This was the fourth time it has happened in the last month. I was just concerned enough to keep it a secret because we were all going to die anyway. I rubbed my hands together and tried to shake the blood flow back into my hand. Frustrated I swiped my hand across the display and clear all of the words that I had typed. It didn't matter what I would say. No one would care. My words would not benefit anyone beyond a few minutes of relative comfort anyway. Why should I even bother?

"Pontiff White?"

It was my secretary, Nila. She had continued working for me over the last year. I guess she figured the relative safety of the palace was better than roaming the streets as they were destroyed by the mobs. "Yes, Nila?"

"The media is all set up for your speech in the square. They asked me to tell you that security would not be an issue."

"Of course," I said. "I'll be down shortly. I'm just trying to figure out what it is that I'm going to say."

"Maybe you can tell them to hold on to hope," she said.

"Don't be naive," I said. "What hope do we have beyond dying painlessly in our sleep? No one will be returning for us. My only hope is that Serus survived the transport to Earth and has succeeded in killing the names on the list. I'll die happy knowing that my wife and unborn child have been avenged." The numbness in my left arm became a sharp pain as my blood pressure increased at the thought of our peril.

"Yes, sir," she said in her meek voice. I had offended her by stripping her hope out of her grasp.

"I'm sorry, Nila. I'm just stressed out from a lack of sleep." I was holding on to my arm and massaging it, trying to dull the pain.

"Very we'll, sir. I'll go and let the media people know that you'll be down soon." Nila walked away, but not before I saw a tear fall from her eye. She was trying to be strong, but this new world that we were living in was filled with discomfort. We now lived by a different set of rules.

I paced around my office willing the words to come to me. I was at a loss. I didn't want to stand in front of the world and have nothing to say, or even worse, to say the wrong thing. I cringed at the pain in my arm and gritted my teeth. I walked over to the shelf and opened the box that contained the picture of my wife and the article regarding her death. I pulled down a bottle of whiskey and drank from it as I stared into the thirty year old picture. It had been taken the day she discovered that she was pregnant. I still remembered every line of her face in my mind, even after all of these years.

I downed another pull of whiskey as I fought back tears. I had kept this bottle as a memento after I had stopped drinking. It was a poor man's drink, but I didn't care. There was something about the burn as it went down my throat that I had craved. I found it comforting for the first year after they had killed my wife. Something had happened to cause me to stop escaping into the bottom of the bottle. Maybe I had become like them, the people that I hated. I didn't know the reason why now any more than I did then, but I had kept the bottle and thirty years later I was finishing every last drop.

I sat the empty bottle down on my desk and placed the picture into the inside pocket of my jacket, right over my heart where it had belonged all of these years instead of being put away in a box on the shelf. I had been a coward through my life. I should have welcomed the death that would have been awarded to me by denying the Syndicate. Instead I had just crawled into their arms like a baby, becoming another pawn in their game.

I walked out of the office and felt the warm glow of the lights illuminating under my feet. The elevator doors opened to allow be in and dropped me to the lobby below. I looked at the sunlight peering through the stained glass windows in hues of blue and red and I felt like I was witnessing the beauty of it for the first time. I felt soreness in my throat like I was going to cry, but it never came. The rush of water from the waterfall across the lobby caused me to stop and take in its beauty as well. Every lavish thing in the palace I had taken for granted, just like I had taken my family for granted.

I stepped out of the exit and into the square. The crowd erupted in cheers and cries for mercy. What mercy could I show them? We were all going to die. I walked up to the crowd of media people who were finishing the preparations for my grand speech, the one that I still had not written.

"Here is your microphone, sir," the man with perfectly styled hair said to me as I approached him. He pinned the microphone onto my collar and switched it on. Another man adjusted the level on the controls so that everyone would be able to hear me. He gave me a nod when everything was set.

"Is there anything that you need before we get started?" Nila asked me.

"I could use a drink of water," I said as I still gripped my left arm in my hand. Nila walked away to retrieve the water and I stood in the square and looked out at the gathering of people. Some of them loved me, but most of them hated me, I hated myself. I pulled the picture out of my pocket and looked at it again under the light of the sun. In that moment I hoped for an afterlife, I just wanted another opportunity to tell her that I loved her.

Nila returned with a glass of water, "Here you are Mr. White."

"Thank you," I said as I took the glass from her hand. I downed the cool water in small sips, stalling, hoping that everything would end without the need to make a speech. It had been my own idea, but without anything worth saying I was now regretting my decision. I finished the water and set it down. The media man nodded at me to let me know that they were ready.

I walked up to the podium and stood before the crowd gathered in the square. I was not protected by an acrylic shield like I had been before. I was out in the open, vulnerable to any attack. This was another choice that I had made. I did not care about my security. If I died before the end came then that would make things easier to deal with. It would be a kind of suicide due to a lack of planning on my part.

I made eye contact with several people as I stood there quietly. An old woman with kind eyes and wrinkles on her face, a young man who wore a scowl on his face who was standing next to another man who wore a smile on his, they all stood before me waiting to hear what gospel I had to tell. There was no good news. Every ounce of my body wanted to fall onto a sword and end my despair. I gripped my left arm tighter trying to subdue the pain. I felt a bead of sweat drip down my forehead and I watched it splash onto the podium. I looked back up at the crowd which was hushing itself, waiting to hear my words. I felt nothing in that moment. I willed myself to speak, but nothing came out. I tapped the microphone and heard three loud pops through the speaker system resonate out into the square. I swallowed hard and felt my legs give out.

I fell to the ground behind me and felt the dull pain of my head hitting the pavement. My eyes were still open as I looked up into the sky. Nila and several other people surrounded me and I could see their mouths moving but could not hear what they were saying. I ignored them and continued to look up at the sky. The sun burned, but I kept my eyes open. I could see light reflecting off of something directly above my head. It must be one of the electro-magnets that forms the magnetic field around our planet. It had been years since I had noticed one. I kept starring at it warily as someone began pushing down on my chest in rapid succession. The reflection flickered and then appeared bigger. More chest compressions followed and I could feel something tear in my chest. Why were people pushing down on me? I looked up still and this time I noticed a second reflection and then a third, followed by a fourth. This was it, I thought to myself. The end was here in all of its magnificent glory, so I closed my eyes to embrace it.

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this book and want to continue with The Dead Planet Series. I would love it if you would leave a review of this book and share it with your friends. If you would like to join my mailing list then email drewavera@gmail.com if you send me a link to your review then I will send you the second book in The Dead Planet Series for free as a way of saying "thank you". I really appreciate you taking the time out of your day to visit my world.

About the Author

Drew is an active duty navy veteran from Mississippi. He joined the navy in 2000 as an aviation electrician. He lives in Virginia with his wife and kids and writes part time. He is an avid science fiction fan and loves comic books, novels, and just about anything else in the realm of science fiction. To connect with Drew go to the following links.

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