Word of the conflict in GA had reached Alsterase in a matter of hours. Being unable to think of anything constructive, and at the same time not detrimental to their cause, RJ chose to ignore it. But as usual, David did not.
It had been three weeks since they had spoken. When they met in the halls, neither of them so much as waved. Neither RJ nor David was ready for a truce. But now he was going to talk to her whether she liked it or not.
He found RJ and the others in RJ and Whitey's room. They completely ignored him.
"Fine. A city full of innocent people is being leveled, and you sit here playing bottle caps and swilling beer," David said sarcastically. He took another step closer, and the bottle cap hit him in the face.
"God damn it, David!" Sandra screamed, "you screwed up my shot!"
"That shot must have been way off to begin with for it to have landed in his face," Whitey laughed.
"I get to shoot again," Sandra declared.
"Sandy, you were nowhere close to the cup," Levits said with a laugh. "There is no way that you could have hit it."
"She not have another turn," Mickey said, crossing his arms.
"You little fuck, you wouldn't care if she went again if you weren't winning," Levits pointed out.
"You wouldn't be so ready to let her go again if you were winning," Mickey accused.
"I didn't say I wanted her to go again," Levits said, "all I said was you wouldn't care if you weren't winning."
"It's all immaterial anyway, because Poley didn't go yet," Whitey said, "and we all know Poley will win."
David walked out of the line of fire and decided to ignore them. RJ lay on the bed going over some sort of map. "Can we talk?"
"I've just gone over this map for the twelfth time. Not to mention graphs and charts, etc., etc. We can't go into GA. They are too well implanted, and we don't have the manpower." RJ was quick and to the point.
"Surely we could . . ."
"To put it in simple terms, David. It looks like a trap. I make traps; I don't fall into them."
There was no emotion in her voice. The matter was closed. RJ's attention was once again focused on the map.
David turned on his heel and stomped out. He went back to his own room, where Kirsty greeted him with a hug.
"How did it go?" she asked.
"It didn't." He flopped down on the bed and put his hands behind his head. "RJ never changes. Everything has to add up, or she wants no part of it. She never sees it as human lives . . . Ah, hell, I don't know any more. Maybe she's right."
"No, she's not right," Kirsty declared with fire in her voice. "Can't you see it, David? They're just work units. Work units like you and me. We're expendable. Notice that, except for you and Mickey, the entire inner circle is made up of ex-military personnel. Mickey would do anything RJ told him to, and you . . . Well, they got rid of you, didn't they?"
David looked at her as if she had just shown him something new and ugly.
"RJ doesn't worry about the lives of untrained civilians. Every time she has made a decision like this, it has been based on how many trained lives would be lost in return for how many untrained lives, and she weighs it ten to one."
David thought about it, and decided Kirsty was right. "But what can I do? I don't have any real power." David shrugged helplessly."The only power I had was what power RJ let me have. Without RJ I have nothing."
Kirsty suppressed a grin.
"If only you had your own army." Kirsty placed her next words carefully. "An army of work units. People like us who would listen to you instead of RJ . . ."
"Kirsty, you're a genius!" He got up and ran over to hug her. He lifted her off the ground and spun her around. Kirsty smiled smugly. It was all over now but the crying.
RJ heard the ruckus coming from outside before anyone else. She rose from the bed and went to the window. She saw David standing atop the old vehicle and saw the group assembling.
"What's he up to?" Sandra asked looking over RJ's shoulder.
"Starting a rebellion against the rebellion. Come on, we've got to stop him if we can."
"RJ means well, and it's true that she has led us to many victories. But now she wants us to lay low and be quiet while the Reliance systematically lays waste to an entire city. To GA, a town that is only a few hours' drive away. RJ says the risk is too great. She says that too many trained men will die to save the untrained. In other words, too many soldiers will die to save a bunch of work units. Well, like a lot of you, I was once a work unit. I think the lives of all men are equally important—that no man is more worthy of being saved than another.
"RJ's thoughts are clear and logical. She is right. If we go, a lot of us will die. But if we don't go, if we stand idly by and do nothing to help our brothers, then we are morally wrong! RJ has made up her mind, and that of the inner circle. But we are free men with free choice. If only half of you will go with me, we can run the Reliance out of GA. It's time that we had another real victory!"
"What the hell are you doing?" RJ asked as she made her way through the crowd.
"I'm going to save GA, whether you like it or not," David said as she reached him.
"At whose expense, David?" she quipped. "Will you save it with the lives of men who would foolishly follow you into a trap? Because that's what it is . . . a trap! If only half of you go, then only half of you will die, accomplishing nothing."
"Are you God, RJ, that you can see the future? She knows no more than you or I. Who will come with me to save the work units of GA? Or is it only ex-military personnel that are worth saving? Is this our brave new world?"
The split was predictable. The ex-military wouldn't follow David to the toilet, but the former work units—nearly half the population of Alsterase—couldn't follow him fast enough. David herded his people into troop carriers and freight haulers.
Kirsty insisted on going.
"You know nothing about fighting, Kirsty. You'll be safer in Alsterase."
"I don't think so, David. You know how RJ feels about me. How they all do. They'll just look for a reason to kill me." She took his hand and started to cry. "Please, David. I'm afraid."
"OK, Kirsty, but we'll leave you up the road. Well away from the fighting."
Kirsty smiled broadly as he walked away to go check on supplies.
RJ approached David. "You won't listen to reason?"
"Will you?"
RJ's cool snapped, but her voice never rose. "I never thought this day would come. I never thought, in my wildest dreams, that you could betray me like this. Betray the New Alliance like this. How could I see that you would use the power that I helped you obtain to turn so many against me. No one could have convinced me that it would come to this. That you would jeopardize everything that we have worked for in an attempt to prove to the world that you are more righteous than I. I should have left you in the woods. You will bring defeat upon us all."
Her words stung. He didn't feel like he was betraying anyone, he was only doing what he thought was right. "If you really believe that, then why don't you try to stop me?" David asked.
"Toward what end? Open warfare in the streets of Alsterase? Don't you realize what you've done? We were a people united by a common cause. You have purposely divided us. You have taken one people and made us two. You have made us enemies of each other." She shook her head sadly. "Topaz is right. Power does corrupt." She walked away, shoulders slumped, head held low. She pulled a coin from her chain, and chucked it into the air to let it fall where it would.
David saw it fall and picked it up. "I'll bring this back to you when I've won, RJ," he called after her. When she didn't respond he put it in his pocket and continued to himself, "Then all will be right again. You'll see."
RJ couldn't sleep. Of course, she didn't really need to sleep every day, so it was no real problem. She stood at the window and looked out at the city. Her heart was broken, and she was worried. She hadn't counted on this. She hated not knowing. She hated it when things didn't go as calculated. It left her at a loss. How do you deal with something that you weren't prepared for?
How bad was it going to be? Should they leave Alsterase? Were they in danger here? If they were, leaving could be the worst thing to do. After all, at least they had cover here, and a plan for defense. On the open road they would be sitting ducks.
"Want me to help you worry?" Whitey asked from the bed.
RJ joined him on the bed, laying her head on his chest and wrapping her arms around him.
He held her tightly. "It's bad, isn't it?"
"I don't know. Could be. I'm thinking of evacuating to the Island, at least till things cool off."
"I still can't believe he did that," Whitey shook his head.
"I can't believe that I didn't see it coming. The way he's been acting . . ."
Whitey laughed. "Honey, no one, not even you, can figure out every angle. Not when human beings are involved."
"I'm scared, Whitey," she whispered.
Whitey was shocked. He couldn't imagine RJ being afraid of anything.
"Of what?"
"Everything. Life was so simple when no one was counting on me. When I didn't care about anyone and no one cared about me. Now . . . well . . . if I fail . . ." She swallowed hard. "I love you, Whitey."
"I love you, too. Everything will be fine; you'll see." He held her tightly.
The primary attack was silent, and consisted of one person, if you could call Zark a person. He kept to the shadows as he walked down the street, and no one saw him. He made straight for the hotel and entered it without a hitch.
Dex looked up from where he'd been almost asleep behind the desk. "What ya . . ."
The laser was silent, but no less effective. The fat man slumped in his chair, breaking his favorite rule.
The GSH made his way up the stairs heading purposefully towards the fourth floor. When he reached it, he moved along silently towards RJ's room. But even a GSH can't be held accountable for a squeaky floorboard or a human's over-sensitive hearing.
Sandra wasn't quite asleep. She had just left Levits, Mickey and Poley back at the Golden Arches not quite thirty minutes ago. She heard someone in the hall outside, and was willing to bet it wasn't 'the boys.' When they came in, they made enough noise to wake the dead. She got up quietly, slipped into her robe, and picked up her laser. She went to the door and opened it a crack. She saw the stranger, weapon in hand, poised outside RJ's door, and she didn't hesitate. She stepped quickly into the hall and fired. She scored a direct hit, but the stranger didn't even stagger. She knew instantly what she was up against. She hit the floor and rolled so that his first shot missed, then she jumped up and ran for her room. She knew it was a wasted effort, but if she could just keep it busy.
"Freak! RJ! It's a Freak!" The bolt ripped through her temple and flung her into a wall. Fate was kind to Sandra. She fought to the very end and died instantly.
RJ heard the blaster fire and Sandra's warning. She pushed Whitey onto the floor and jumped up, grabbing her chain in one hand and her laser in the other. She never got a chance to use either. The door exploded in splinters, and a titanium-steel projectile ripped through the doorway and across her face and forehead. She fell limp to the floor. Whitey fumbled for the rocket launcher they kept under their mattress. He got it and raised it to fire. The first bolt caught Whitey in the gut. Whitey continued to raise the launcher to a firing position, but before he could fire, a second bolt caught him in the chest. As he lost control of his body, and the weapon fell from his hands, he saw the GSH pull a laser knife.
"No!" Whitey mumbled through a mouth full of blood.
"I suppose it would be kinder to kill you so that you didn't have to watch this." Then he grinned and cut RJ so that her mechanical heart fell out of her chest, and her life's blood poured onto the floor. He left the heart hanging there. Then he grabbed RJ's chain from the floor. He waved at Whitey. "It belongs to my woman, now! Have a good time dying, you two."
Zark went in search of the robot, but it wasn't in its room, and he was running out of time. Soon the troops would come flooding in, and he still had one more thing to get before he could return to Capitol and Jessica.
Zark ran down the stairs. In the lobby, he discharged a fire grenade. That would take care of anything he might have missed.
Levits saw the fire first. "My God! The hotels on fire!"
In a matter of seconds, the entire clientele of the bar was in the street.
"I hear choppers," Poley informed Levits.
Levits didn't want to be in control. He didn't want to . . ."Poley, Mickey, go sound the alarm. You and you,"—he pointed at two slightly familiar faces—"come with me. The rest of you, go to your units." They all went in separate directions. By the time Levits and the two men with him hit the hotel, the lobby was completely in flames, and there was no way of getting through. "The back door!" Levits yelled, and the others followed. The back door had been nailed shut for security, so they broke in a window. Guns were drawn. "You two, evacuate the lower levels. I'll get the fourth floor."
"Hey, Levits!"
He turned to face the man. "What?" he asked, shortly.
"Good luck, man," he said, and saluted. It was the first time in a long time anyone had shown him that kind of respect.
"You, too." Levits took off at a dead run. He took the steps three at a time, fighting back the fear and uncertainty with every step. The last time he'd been in charge of anything, everything had gone so dreadfully wrong. He had done everything wrong. Please, God, let it be different this time.
The first thing he saw when he reached the fourth floor was Sandra's lifeless body. He ran to her and rolled her over. She was obviously dead. He held her close. "Oh, Sandy!" He didn't even try to stop his tears. For a moment, he was just going to hold her and let the flames consume him. Then he saw RJ's door, or the space where the door used to be. He left Sandra and ran for the room. More horror greeted him there. Dead! They were both dead! He started to leave and return to die with Sandra.
"Levits . . ." The voice was so low, he almost didn't hear.
He ran back to Whitey's side. "Thank God, Whitey! I thought you were dead, too . . ."
". . . will be soon," Whitey choked and blood oozed from his mouth. "Save RJ."
Levits refused to even look at her mangled body. "I can't, Whitey . . . Maybe you . . ."
Whitey was sinking fast. "Listen to me, Levits. RJ is a GSH. You can save her! She's got Pronuses . . . in her jacket . . ." The light went out of his eyes, and Levits closed them.
"I understand, Whitey. I'll save her." Levits approached the mangled body and felt for a pulse. "Well, I'll be damned!" He looked at the metal heart that lay on her belly. Swallowing hard, he took it in hand and shoved it into the opening in her chest.
It only took him a second to find the jacket and a second more to find the pills in her kit. He put three directly into her mouth from the tube, hoisted her into his arms, and headed for the roof. He loaded her in the chopper, and got in himself. In the distance, he could hear the roar of aircraft coming in. In a few minutes, the air would be full of them. The city that had given shelter to their rebellion would be gone, like Sandy and Whitey. He started the chopper and took off.
"Don't die, RJ." He gritted his teeth. "We have to make them pay, RJ. You and me, we gotta make them pay for all they have taken from us."
He had barely cleared the building when there was a loud explosion, and suddenly the whole building was in flames. This time he had done everything right, and he had still failed. Maybe that was just the way life was. For Whitey and Sandra and all the others who would die tonight, the fighting would be over. But for the survivors, the fighting was just beginning. For him and RJ it could never end.
Not now.
Zark's luck was exceptional that night. He was about to give up his search for the metal man when he looked up and saw him running straight for him.
Poley stopped dead and grabbed Mickey, who would have kept going.
Mickey saw the GSH.
"Go sound the alarm; I'll keep him busy," Poley said. "Run!"
"We should both run," Mickey said, pulling on the robot's hand.
"We can't outrun it, Mickey. Now go! Run!"
Reluctantly, Mickey took off as fast as his short little legs would carry him. He glanced back over his shoulder just in time to see the monster cut Poley's head off with a laser knife, and put it into a bag. The sparks flew, but even the realization that Poley was a robot didn't ease Mickey's feeling of loss. He couldn't let Poley down. He ran faster than he ever had before. He finally reached and sounded the alarm, and Alsterase awoke.
Topaz met Levits at the pad. "I saw the choppers on the radar. I tried to sound the general alarm, it must be on the . . . Oh my God!"
"She's bad." Levits lifted her out of the chopper. "Well, come on, man, don't just stand there." Levits started for the medical unit. He laid her down on one of the surgical tables.
Topaz looked at the cut on her face and forehead and the gash in her chest. He saw the veins in her neck thumping and knew she was barely alive. "My God!" he said again.
"Whitey said she's a GSH, and she must be, because I gave her three Pronuses, and they didn't kill her. Her heart's mechanical, too. What the hell is she, Topaz?"
"She's everything that Stewart knew. Everything that he wanted to be." Topaz was far away, and he wasn't doing anything.
"Don't just stand there, man . . ."
"Quite right. What have you done besides the Pronuses?"
"Her heart was out of her chest. I shoved it back in. I . . ." Suddenly he turned white, ran into the hall, and threw up. Funny, doing it hadn't made him sick, but looking down at the dried blood on his hands did. Thinking about Sandra and Whitey didn't help. When he was done puking, he sat on the floor and started to cry.
Topaz scrubbed and put on gloves. In five-hundred-some years he had learned just about everything, and what he didn't know, Marge did. Together, they went to work on RJ.
The battle lasted four hours before the Reliance admitted defeat and retreated. As soon as the last Reliance plane was out of sight, the survivors started their exodus for the island. When the Reliance returned with reinforcements, they would find nothing.
It was unlikely that they would think of the island. Topaz had worked hard to make it look abandoned and unapproachable. If they did, though, they would find some nasty surprises waiting for them. With sixteen laser cannons, all controlled by Marge, it would be nearly impossible for anything to get close enough to do any actual damage.
Mickey had insisted that they take Poley's body with them. He sat on the boat by the lifeless body of his fallen metal friend and wondered how many more of his friends were dead. He hadn't seen any of them. Not Sandra, Levits, Whitey or RJ. He could hear the others talking.
"David Grant did this."
"That girlfriend of his did this."
"Has anyone seen RJ?"
"No. She must be dead. If she weren't, someone would have seen her."
"I can't believe that Poley was a robot."
"You suppose RJ's a robot?"
"Whitey Baldor wasn't sleeping with a robot."
"Hard to believe Poley was just a robot."
That did it. Something in Mickey snapped. "Poley wasn't just a robot. He was my friend. He gave up his life so that I could sound the alarm. He loved life, and he loved his sister. If that don't make him human . . . Right now, I would gladly give any of you to have him back."
GA had been a disaster. Everything that RJ had predicted came to pass. The whole city was a trap. As soon as they arrived, Reliance troops crawled out of nowhere to surround them.
In the battle that followed David lost all but twenty-three men, and his left arm was broken. It hung, limp and painful, at his side. At the first opportunity, he led his shattered command straight for the rendezvous point where he'd left Kirsty, the vehicles and three guards. Their only chance for survival was a quick retreat.
When he saw the smoke, his tired legs found the strength to run. The sight of the burning vehicles and dead guards made little impression on him as he searched frantically for Kirsty. Calling, crying, searching. Ten minutes later the last of his small command struggled in and collapsed.
"You fool. You bloody fool!" a battered and weary man said from where he sat propped up against a tree resting what was left of his right leg on the ground in front of him. "She burned you, man. She burned us all. She used you, and fools that we are, we followed you."
"She couldn't . . ." David slumped to the ground. Could it be true? How could it be? He loved Kirsty. Kirsty loved him. Then where is she? Where the hell is she? How did the Reliance know we were coming? He buried his face in his hands. What the hell had he done?
"By now, Alsterase will be a black hole on the map."
"We didn't listen to RJ. Now she's dead . . ."
"NO!" David refused to believe this lie.
"Then where's your girlfriend, Grant?" the first man asked. "She burned us, and you can bet your sweet ass she burned RJ, too."
David stood up. "We'll have to go back. Help them . . ."
Several men laughed. "Help them do what?" one of the younger men asked bitterly. "Pick up the bodies?"
"We managed to live in spite of your 'leadership,' Grant," the first man commented. "I think I speak for us all when I say we're better off without you. Face it, Grant, the war is over. They won, and you helped them. We all helped them."
They left him there. Not one of them asked him to go along. For a long time he just sat there looking at his broken arm. He really should do something about it, but he couldn't be bothered. The longer he sat there, the more convinced he became of Kirsty's betrayal. She had never really loved him. She had used his love for her to pull him away from RJ. RJ had loved him, and what had he done to her? The answer to that question was back in Alsterase. He had to get back there. He got up and started walking.
Zark walked into Jessica's office. She looked up and saw no smile. For a moment, she thought he had failed. In fact, it was Right, who was sitting on the corner of Jessica's desk, who first saw the smug smile light up the GSHs face.
"Well?" Jessica asked impatiently.
The GSH walked over to Jessica's desk and dumped the contents of the cloth sack. RJ's chain rattled out, quickly followed by Poley's head. Jessica jumped up, clapping her hands in delight, and ran to embrace Zark.
"Is she really gone?"
"I cut her heart out and then set the building on fire. She's dead, Jessy," Zark said proudly.
Jessica moved back to the desk and picked up the chain. "Hard to believe that she would put such store in this thing. Hard to believe that someone as intelligent and powerful as RJ would become so attached to something like this. Or this, for that matter." She rolled the head around on her desk. Soon tiring of her new toys, she picked them up and set them on a shelf with her other trophies. She turned then to address Right.
"She and I were so much alike . . ."
"When she heard the girl scream she pushed her lover to the floor. She spent the last few seconds of her life trying to save him. If she hadn't, she might have beaten me. You and she were nothing alike."
Zark looked at Right, and the man bit his tongue to keep from laughing. The petty rivalry between them ended at that moment. They both knew they were in the same boat. Neither of them meant spit to Jessica Kirk. They were just toys, and toys are disposable. Maybe she had loved Jack Bristol, and maybe she hadn't, but she certainly loved no one but herself now. Now that RJ was dead, all that passion would leave her, too. She could return to a being of pure logic.
Worst of all, she no longer needed them. They would be kept like house pets—used for her amusement. They had helped her achieve her goal, and in doing so had made themselves unnecessary.
David walked through the day and into the night. Fever and guilt racked his brain. The arm, now swollen and blue, didn't hurt anymore. He didn't know why, he was just glad the pain was gone. In his mind scenes and words kept playing and replaying. Sick and tormented, he didn't even realize that he was walking in the wrong direction.
In his mind, he saw Alsterase in flame. He saw RJ lying in a pool of her own blood. He heard RJ saying, "I never thought in my wildest dreams that you would betray me, betray me, betray me, betray . . ."
"NO!" David screamed, and slumped to his knees on the ground. "Oh God! What have I done?" he cried. He lay down and looked up at the star-studded sky, which could just be seen through the trees.
The voices cried out at him from the night, and would not be quieted.
"Power corrupts."
"Help them do what? Pick up bodies?"
"If only you had your own army, David . . ."
"We were fools to follow you."
"You don't look at the big picture, David."
"She's not cast-iron . . ."
"Is she a hybrid?"
"Yes, and well shielded."
"Now you finally know how it feels, you bastard."
"Down with the Reliance . . ."
"Please turn the lights out." David now realized that he had never seen Kirsty unclothed with the lights on. No doubt because she wanted to hide the fact that her coloring, like RJ's, wasn't a tan.
"It was fear that allowed the Reliance to rear its ugly head."
"Ax murderer."
"Thank you, boy." An old man dropped a coin into his hand. A coin, bent coins on a chain. RJ's chain gleaming in the sun. A hand reached out for him, a man out of breath and out of hope.
"I'm not your enemy." He took the offered hand and found it warm and strong. He found himself being lifted up. He'd look up and see RJ's familiar grin and all would be right with the world. But when he looked up, all he saw was a grinning skeleton wearing a chain, with patches of platinum blonde hair straggling down from the few bits of scalp remaining.
David woke screaming and jerked upright. He was burning with fever despite the coolness of the night air. His shivering made the arm throb and ache again. He ignored it all, scrambled to his feet and ran as he hadn't run since the day, long ago, that he had broken out of prison.
He had to get back to Alsterase. RJ had to be all right. He would make it all up to her.
If he hadn't killed her.
Kirsty paced back and forth along the deserted stretch of road. She was, admittedly, early. It would have been nice if, just this once, the Reliance had been early as well. She knew she had nothing to worry about, but she still felt exposed sitting out here in the middle of nowhere. She gripped her bag of precious money and papers in one hand, her laser in the other. Nothing but darkness around her, so what was she worried about? She was a hybrid, a trained killer. She had nothing to fear. Yet she couldn't quiet the uneasiness of her gut.
"Brave heart, Kirsty," she said out loud to herself. "You are going to be one rich, blue-eyed Governor." She tried to laugh, but it got caught in her throat and she almost choked. How many people had died today because of her? People she'd known . . . David. So what? David was a sap. He fell for it all—hook, line and sinker . . . Because he loved me. Because he trusted me in spite of what his friends told him. He stuck his neck out for me. He was willing to give up everything for me, and I made a fool of him. Then I killed them all. David, RJ, and all the others. A cold chill went down her spine as she realized just what she'd become. She was evil.
She'd set David up right from the start. She'd played on his emotions and his naïveté. Her every move had been calculated and cold. At the time she originally chose her course, she told herself that it wouldn't bother her. But now that there was no going back, she was appalled by her callousness, cruelty, and capacity for treachery. The only evil in the night was herself. She felt unclean, as if a black cloak of wickedness were swallowing up her soul.
There had been several points at which she'd made choices. Good or bad, righteous or wicked, Reliance or Rebellion. She now realized that she'd made the wrong choices, but it was too late to do anything about it.
She'd thought she would be able to go through life without a single backward glance, but now she wasn't sure that she'd be able to live with all she'd done.
David ran on. Running on nothing but willpower and adrenaline. For the second time in his life, he was running for all he was worth, without direction. And once again it was fate and another human body that stopped him. As he fell, he saw a flying sliver of silver. He'd been in combat long enough to know what it was. He grabbed wildly and caught it. When he turned to face the person he'd run into, pain and night, fever and guilt couldn't hide Kirsty's face. She was every bit as shocked as he was. Without hesitation, he aimed the weapon at her head.
"I know it's not good enough, David. But I'm sorry." She held open palms out to him. "They made me do it, David. I was afraid."
"RJ was right about you," David hissed, "and now, she's probably dead."
"I'm sorry, David . . ." Kirsty cried. This time, her tears were real.
"RJ saved my life more times that I care to count. She told me things that I never knew. She carried me on her back for hours, and she never asked for anything in return because she was my friend. But you fixed that, Kirsty. I was a fool who got caught up in my own importance, and you knew just how to play on that." His finger started to close on the trigger.
"Please, David, I . . . There's enough money here for us both to live well. Think about it . . ."
"I don't want to think about it, Kirsty. If I think about it, I might enjoy killing you." He fired and the bolt hit her between the eyes. She fell, dead, but David didn't feel any better. Just then, he doubted that he would ever feel better.
Headlights appeared down the road. David ducked back into the woods and ran. He didn't look back.
It had been three days since the attack. RJ was alive, but still unconscious, and there was nothing to indicate that she would be coming out of the coma any time soon.
Her fingers didn't twitch; even her right arm was still. Her eyes stayed closed and didn't seem to be moving. No mutterings left her lips. She was unnaturally still and silent. While her vital signs improved daily, no one was reassured, they may have saved the body, but that didn't mean they had saved RJ.
The weather outside was a good reflection of the spirits inside—cold, wet and dark. The rebels had plenty of food and water, and the accommodations were better than any they'd had in Alsterase. There was ample booze and plenty of movies, but try as they might they couldn't erase the memories of that night. It was all too fresh and too horrible.
The smoke from the smoldering embers of what was left of Alsterase added to the gloom of the skies. The only light came from the reflection of the flames on the clouds and was anything but comforting.
The cries of the wounded could be heard throughout the fort despite the best efforts of the medics in charge. The medics did all they could, but many of the injured needed doctors. There were no doctors here. Doctors were rich; they had everything they could want, so they didn't rebel. Topaz was the only one who knew all of the medical techniques, and that was only because he could access the information from Marge. Their equipment was limited, and there was just so much that one man could do, even when that one man was Topaz. Some had been so bad that Topaz loaded them with painkillers and let them go gently into the night.
Every day brought more death, but even horror eventually ends. Today for the first time everyone seemed stable. Maybe the rest would make it.
Topaz looked in on RJ. Levits was with her. He wouldn't leave. He hadn't slept properly, and he barely ate. He just sat there talking to her, begging her to live.
When he'd finished crying that first night, he'd gathered himself together and helped organize the air and sea evacuation of Alsterase. When everyone still alive was out, he sat down in RJ's room, and he hadn't left for anything but a call of nature since.
Topaz didn't pretend to know why, but for some reason the fall of Alsterase seemed to have tied Levits to RJ. As if he expected to live only as long as she did, and Topaz thought that was probably true.
"Topaz, RJ's not just a GSH, is she?" Levits asked.
Topaz was a little startled, as he'd been in the room for nearly ten minutes before Levits acknowledged his presence.
"No. Stewart was a geneticist, a cybernetics genius, and a tinkerer. RJ is Stewart's child. And I don't just mean because he created her. He took an Argy woman's egg and impregnated it with his own sperm. He genetically engineered the fetus, and implanted that heart when the time was right. That heart is far stronger than anything he could have structured genetically. He left her emotions intact; let her be her own woman. RJ is in a class all her own."
"He should have been dead, Topaz," Levits said in a faraway tone. "There was a hole in him you could have put both fists into. He willed himself to live long enough to save her. It's hard to believe he's dead. Hard to believe any of them are dead. Sandy . . ." His voice caught in his throat. "She was everything I ever wanted in a woman—beautiful, bright, cunning, and always ready with a joke. She could always make me laugh. I love . . . loved Sandra. I guess everyone knew that. I had my time with her, just like half the men in Alsterase did." He smiled. "She made me feel special, though. For the time that we were together, she made me feel like I was the only one. I could have made her love me, too, if it weren't for David. She loved him, and he scorned her. Now he's killed her. If there is a God in heaven, then let that bastard be dead, too." He was crying again. He had been crying off and on for three days. It didn't annoy Topaz; Levits had a right to his tears.
Mickey walked in quietly, closing the door behind him. "How is she?" he asked.
"There's no change," Topaz answered.
Thank God for Mickey. Since he was the only member of the inner circle who was not dead, too busy, or otherwise incapacitated, the burden of running the whole show had fallen on his shoulders. In the wake of the disaster, he had made sure that all the day-to-day business was taken care of. Simple things that no one else thought about. He assigned sleeping quarters, made sure the meals were prepared and eaten, and the bodies quietly cremated. He tried to raise morale by having Marge show a variety of light and amusing movies, and edited the public reports on RJ's condition. Tragedy had changed them all, and it had brought Mickey's leadership abilities to the surface. It had forced him to become all that he could be, and he had come through with flying colors. Everyone had always thought of him as RJ's pet, believing she kept him around out of compassion. No one would make the mistake of taking him for granted in the future.
Mickey walked over to the bed and stepped up on the stool placed there for his use. "The scars still look bad," he said.
That was another strange thing that Topaz had noticed. Mickey always spoke in full sentences these days.
"I expect they will heal in time," Topaz said.
"What's that?" Mickey asked excitedly.
"What?" Topaz leaned forward and looked where Mickey was pointing.
RJ's arm was jerking again.
Levits dried his face and looked.
Her eyes flew open, and she sat straight up.
RJ was back!
She rubbed at her Pronuses-dry eyes, trying to regain her vision. When she reached to push her hair back, she found it a good six inches longer. She took a deep, cleansing breath and winced. Her chest hurt, her vision was fuzzy, and her brain felt heavy and dull. After a few moments, her vision cleared, and she saw Topaz, Mickey and Levits. Levits looked as if he had been crying. She couldn't be sure of the scattered images that filled her head.
"Whitey? . . . Sandy?" Her voice barely worked.
"Not just now . . ." Topaz started.
"Oh, God! No!" She started to cry, and found herself in Levits arms. "Poley?"
"The GSH took Poley's head," Mickey said sadly.
"I'm going to Capitol and kill that bitch." She pushed away from Levits and jumped out of bed. Her knees gave way, and Levits had to catch her.
"RJ, that thing cut your heart out of your chest. You're not going to be able to do anything for awhile," Topaz said gently.
"God damn it!" she cried. "She built that damn thing to kill me; I know she did. Instead, it just killed everyone I care about." The tears fell, and this time it was she who clung to Levits. A few moments later she wiped her eyes and ran her hands over her scars. A lost look crept over her face. "Where's my chain?"
Till then, Levits hadn't thought about it. Now he realized that he hadn't seen it in her room. He realized how naked and vulnerable she looked without it. "I don't know, RJ. I didn't see it, but I was in a hurry because of the fire."
"It took it, just like it took my brother's head," she said with conviction. The significance of Levits' remark hit her suddenly. "You saved me?"
He shrugged.
"Well, at least I was right about you." She couldn't stop her tears, so she buried her face in the shoulder Levits offered. "David!" She spat "No, I did this myself . . . You tried to warn me, Topaz."
"It's not your fault, RJ. No one blames you. Don't blame yourself. Just get well so we can go kill the bastards," Levits whispered.
"I want him," she cried. "I need him. God, why didn't he stay still? It hurts . . ." Her voice was drowned in choking sobs.
Topaz motioned to Mickey, and he followed him out of the room.
"Well, she's alive," Topaz said, trying to sound happy about it. He was happy, but . . .
"She's going to hurt for a long time." Mickey looked back at the door. "They're both basket cases. What are we going to do? The minute she feels half-assed better, she's going to go off and try to kill everyone. Levits will only encourage her. I don't want to lose them, too."
"We'll just have to make sure that they don't do anything stupid." Suddenly, Topaz became very interested in the floor. He dropped to all fours and began a frenzied search, muttering to himself.
Mickey didn't even blink. He just walked away shaking his head. He had work to do.
David hurt, too. He had finally given in to the fever and lay down by a stream to rest. When he woke up, he set his arm as well as he could using broken branches and strips torn from his shirt for a splint. It took the last of his strength, and as he lay back, panting, he passed out again.
The next time he woke up, dawn was just breaking. His fever seemed to be gone. He felt as if he'd slept a long time, but had no idea exactly how long. It could have been hours, from the smell of his clothes. Hell, it could have been days. Physically, he felt better.
God only knew the extent of the damage he'd done. He didn't even know where he was. Kirsty was dead, his arm was broken, and his sole accomplishment was to have led a group of brave men and women to their deaths. He had to know the worst. He had to get back to Alsterase. The first thing was to stop walking in circles. A road, any road, and then directions.
RJ was up and out of her room, but she was far from healed. She was walking the wall, as was often the case since she'd emerged. The wall enclosed what had been the yard of the prison. From this position, armed guards of centuries past watched the prisoners taking their exercise. RJ used the wall to look at Alsterase.
Seven days after the holocaust, the fires had finally died. The rain probably helped, but more than likely there just wasn't anything left to burn. Alsterase was nothing but a charred ruin.
She walked in a short, white robe, seemingly oblivious to the chill in the air. Her hair now reached the middle of her back. She didn't bother to cut it. Hell, she didn't even bother to comb it. Once a day someone talked her into bathing, and Levits combed her hair. She didn't even notice.
She wasn't going to make it. She'd lost too much. At first she tried. Sometimes she even thought she'd be OK. Then she had to go to bed, alone.
Without Whitey, living just isn't worth the effort.
She pulled her robe tighter, but the chill she tried to block didn't come from outside. Home's all burned up, freak. She gave up trying to get her shit together and just wallowed in her depression. Unlike the ancient guard, her patrol only succeeded in keeping people out.
As David neared Alsterase, he was greeted by the foul stench of burned and rotted flesh, and he knew before he saw the burned husk of the city that his worst fears had been realized. The stench and the flies increased as he walked deeper and deeper into the city.
He tried not to look too closely at the bodies, for fear he might see someone he'd recognize. The hotel was burned to the ground, as was the Golden Arches. The stench was much worse in this part of town. The realization that these stinking piles of flesh were comprised of his comrades' remains made his stomach lose its hold on the river snails he'd eaten for lunch. When he could, he ran the rest of the way to the docks, deliberately blinding himself to the carnage.
Most of the boats had been destroyed. It was dusk when he found a sound boat with a nearly full tank of alcohol. He checked for the hundredth time to be sure he wasn't being followed, and headed for the island.
Mickey was shuffling quarters again. Those wounded who were well enough were going to their new quarters, and those still in bad shape were moved so that they could see the viewscreen to ease their boredom.
Morale was higher now that RJ could be seen walking around. It helped that there had been no more deaths. The noise caused by all this organized confusion was nearly deafening, so the sudden silence fairly screamed. Mickey turned and searched out the cause.
Tattered clothing, a ragged beard that didn't cover the cut on his cheek, and his arm in a sling, it was undoubtedly David Grant. If nothing else, there was simply no one else who could have gotten through the security system alive. Mickey felt the waves of hatred and watched as the muttering started and seemed to propel the crowd toward David with murderous intent.
"Enough!" Mickey screamed, and they were abruptly silent. He continued quietly. "There has been enough killing for now. No one man can be blamed for what happened. The Reliance did it. David was just a patsy." Mickey looked at David, and was surprised to see the same lost, blank look on his face that RJ wore these days.
"Come on," he said, and David followed him. Mickey led him to the showers. "I'll get you a clean suit of clothing."
"Mickey . . . is RJ OK?" David asked, almost afraid to find out.
"No! She's not OK," Mickey hissed. "She's barely alive. Many weren't so lucky. Few got out of this like you did, with barely a scratch." He started to leave.
"Mickey, I . . ."
"I'll send someone to put a proper cast on your arm." He was gone.
The 'someone' who put the cast on David's arm took great delight in re-breaking the bone so it could be properly set. Still, it felt better after it was all over. Better than it had since it was broken. David went in search of Mickey, but found Topaz instead. Topaz wasn't surprised to see David, so David assumed he must have already spoken to Mickey.
"You look well," Topaz said as if it were a crime.
"I want to see RJ," David said.
"She won't want to see you."
"Why don't you let RJ be the judge of that," David said hotly. He stopped abruptly and got himself under control. "I'm sorry, Topaz. You have every right to hate me."
"I don't hate you, David. Admittedly, you're not my favorite person right now, but I don't hate you. You're doing a good enough job of that all by yourself. Come on, I'll take you to RJ. She's walking the wall again. She usually does these days." Topaz led the way.
"She's up then!" David said in pleased relief.
"If that's what you want to call it," Topaz replied sadly.
Levits saw them from the doorway where he waited for RJ. Before Topaz could stop him, he was on David. "You bastard!" Levits had David by the throat against the wall. "How dare you be alive!"
Topaz pulled Levits off David with an effort and held him. "Calm down, Levits."
Levits struggled in Topaz' arms.
"Don't make me hurt you, Levits."
Finally Levits slumped, his rage spent.
"It's all your fault, you bastard," Levits hissed. "But maybe it is better that you hear it from her. After all, you've hurt her the most."
"Go on," Topaz told David.
David walked out onto the wall. RJ stood at the end of the walk, her back to him. Her hair hung to the middle of her back and blew in the salt breeze. Had it been that long? It had been so long since he'd really looked at her. In the white robe she looked even darker than usual. He wanted to run up and hug her, but knew that wasn't possible anymore.
"I'm not ready to go yet, Levits," she said without turning around.
"It's me, RJ," David said in a low voice.
RJ didn't turn around, but he saw her shoulders stiffen. "You!" She said it as if it were a curse. After a silence that seemed to last forever, she ordered, "Go away, traitor."
"I'm sorry," David said.
Again there was a long silence. Then, to his dismay, she started to laugh. It was an awful sound. "You're sorry," she laughed. "Did you hear that world? David Grant is sorry. Sorry! Oh, now that's rich! You help Jessica destroy me, and you're sorry!" She still wouldn't face him. "Have you seen my lover or my brother? What about Sandra?" Her voice sounded calm, but David felt the rage.
"Not yet," he answered shakily.
"Well, there's a very good reason for that. You see, they're all dead!"
"Oh, my God!"
"Well over half the population of Alsterase is dead. The city is in ruins. Jessica Kirk is happy. She has my chain and my brother's head." As she spoke, she finally turned to face him, and David stepped back in horror. "So, you don't like what they did to my face."
David looked at the ugly red scar that ran down the side of RJ's face, then looked away.
"No, David. Look." She opened her robe, and David saw the ten-inch scar which now marred her once perfect body. She pulled her robe back around her. "A GSH came in the middle of the night. Thanks to your misguided loyalty he knew just where to find us. He killed Sandra, shot Whitey, then he shot me in the head, pulled my heart out of my chest and left me for dead. Levits saved me—Levits and Whitey. You see, Whitey lived just long enough to tell Levits what I am. Maybe it's finally time for you to know what RJ stands for."
"I don't want to know anymore," David whispered, his throat tight.
"Well, I'm going to tell you anyway. I'll start by telling you my full name. R-J-12 . . . Get it, David? It's a series number. I'm a GSH!" she screamed.
David's eyes bulged.
"I'm an unprogrammed, unlimited GSH. A human couldn't have lived. Hell, I shouldn't have. They sent a GSH to kill another GSH, but he wasn't completely successful. He didn't kill my body, just my soul. 'R' is for reject, 'J' for jerking, as in my arm movements. Twelve is my number in the series. Jessica Kirk is one of that twelve. She and I are the last two alive, supposedly. I used to hate being a freak. I used to be ashamed. I thought it made me less human. No more. I have learned a lesson. In fact, I've learned several. The first is that when people love you, they love you no matter who or what you are, or what you do, and the opposite is true for those who hate you. The second is that no matter how superior you are, there is always someone better who is waiting to prove it just as soon as you let your guard down. The third is never to trust anyone completely, because you can never be sure of the people they trust. The fourth—never give anyone power that you can use yourself; at least you won't use it against yourself. The fifth and most important is that it doesn't matter if your heart is made out of titanium steal alloy, because it can still be broken. Life was so much easier when I cared for no one, and no one cared for me."
She turned her back on him and looked back towards Alsterase."When I had no roots and my only desire was to eat, drink and sleep when necessary, I didn't really care whether we won or not. But in those days, I didn't know the casualties as individuals. This time, I did."
"RJ, I don't know what to say . . ."
"That's because words are meaningless at this point." She looked out at the ocean. "There was a time, David, when I loved you. Not just as a friend, but as a woman loves a man. But you wanted no part of me. Then Sandra loved you, and you treated her like shit. You gave your love and your loyalty to this woman who betrayed us all. Just go away, David. I finally don't love you anymore."
"Well, I do love you, RJ. I don't know if I can ever make it up to you. All I can say is that I was an idiot. You were right, and I was wrong . . ."
"That doesn't bring him back. It doesn't bring any of them back. I doesn't take away my scars, fill my empty bed or my empty heart." She laughed bitterly. "Look at you. The word man. Words won't fix this, David. Nothing can fix this. I wish you were dead, but I don't have the desire to kill you. I wish I were dead, but I'm not." Her voice broke in sobs. "Go away! Just go away!"
Mickey put David in a room as far away from everyone else as possible. The bed was warm, and he was tired, but he couldn't sleep. He understood Levits' anger at the fact that he was alive when so many were dead. It was all his fault, and yet he'd lived. He wished he hadn't. He couldn't get RJ's face or her words out of his mind. She looked utterly defeated. No light shone from her eyes; instead they were sunk back into her head and dark circles bruised them. She'd lost weight, and she looked weak and unkempt. She just didn't care anymore. The fighting spirit that had driven them all was gone. She was broken, helpless, fragile and afraid.
He sat up slowly, filled with shock and horror. What had RJ said? Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. If RJ had been like this in the beginning, he probably would have returned her love.
Driven to his feet by his thoughts, he started pacing. "Oh, God!" he groaned. He'd got his wish all right; now he didn't want it. He wanted a strong, aggressive and confident RJ. He wanted the RJ who would kill a man with one hand while she drank a beer with the other. This cringing, broken creature wasn't RJ.
"God forgive me, Sandra." If he had stayed with her and returned her love, none of this would have happened. Sandra had needed him, but as a partner, not a protector. That hadn't been enough for him. Now he realized what a treasure he'd thrown away. Too late. All too late.
He slumped down on the bed, crushed with guilt. Little Kirsty, crying, cringing Kirsty, had toppled mighty RJ with his help. That was biting the hand that fed you with a vengeance. No wonder everyone hated and distrusted him. He hated himself.
But RJ hated him, and that he couldn't handle.
He had to find a way to gain her forgiveness.
He didn't attempt to talk to anyone in the next two weeks. He caught a glimpse of RJ every once in awhile. She never looked any better. Sometimes he watched her walk the wall, aching to help her. But he knew that he was the last person on Earth she wanted to see. He stayed away.
For the first time he was able to sit close enough to overhear a conversation in the mess hall.
"I think she's gone mad."
"Look at her eyes. There's nothing there."
"I don't think she's ever even going to dress."
"They say she won't even comb her hair; Levits does it for her."
"They're having trouble getting her to eat."
"What's going to happen to us now?"
That was a good question. Units called in daily from all across the Zone, but the orders never changed. Stay put and keep a low profile.
The New Alliance, which had started with two people with the same dream and had grown into a force to be reckoned with, was crumbling. Dying, even as RJ was dying. Not for lack of troops, weapons or supplies. Because of RJ's foresight, the losses in this attack—though large—were far from crippling. No, it was dying because the nerve center was dying.
David got up and went to watch RJ as she walked the wall. He heard Topaz and Levits coming and ducked into a doorway to avoid a confrontation.
"She's not getting any better," Levits said to Topaz. "She's stopped healing. She needs to eat. I can hardly get her to eat enough to sustain herself. She told me the other day that she wants to die. I don't know what to do."
Topaz shook his head and stopped walking.
"Instead of becoming less depressed, she becomes more so," Levits sighed. "Can't you fix Poley?"
"I wish I could, but . . ." Topaz shrugged."Stewart was a bit of a realist. He put the robot's brain and personality chips in the head. Without it there is no Poley, just a simple headless service robot. I hardly think that's going to cheer her up."
"I wish I knew what to do. It's as if that bastard jerked her self-confidence out with her heart, and I don't know how to shove that back in," Levits said.
David didn't wait to hear any more. He now knew where his redemption lay. He now knew what he had to do.
He made his way to the main computer room.
"Marge?"
"Yes, David Grant?"
David sighed with relief. Obviously, no one had thought to reprogram Marge. He still had clearance. "I need you to get me into Capitol."
"Difficult, but not impossible," the computer droned.