S-2879 • L9 Fluxluna • D06 Sintosi
"Fluxluna opens the current in newborn light.Sintosi attunes sky and path.The tide draws signs in living silver.The story moves forward, clear, on a thread of light."
Kiara remained silent the entire time.
As for me, I tried to prepare myself psychologically, emotionally, and spiritually.
The unexpected was waiting for me.
I exhausted my Maiden's curious imagination.
I grew tired of guessing.
Whatever was going to happen, would happen.
I wanted to live the moment.
To dive headfirst into that world.
When we were close to landing, Kiara picked up two garments and handed one to me.
"This will be our disguise.
You can wear it over the uniform."
I unfolded the black tunic and was struck by the quality of the fabric.
I looked in the mirror.
The outfit concealed the uniform.
Kiara wore one as well and used gloves to hide the tattoos on her hands.
She also configured my biochip so it would darken my eyes with black makeup.
"It worked well."
She sat in the seat across from me.
"They should avoid knowing we're foreigners.
There are rebels who reject Abdel, but he influences most of the people.
If anything happens, we could be arrested.
We want to avoid that.
They also have a certain disdain for more independent androids.
To them, we exist only to serve humans.
That's all."
Kiara raised one finger.
"Your face must always stay uncovered.
The only exception is these garments."
She also explained that they dispensed with connecting themselves to the nanosystems of the Aether Network.
Mercenaries moved under the security of anonymity.
That also meant that if we disappeared, were arrested, or even killed, no one would come looking for us.
"Not even for someone from Zenith like you."
Kiara placed the weapons in her holster.
I swallowed hard at the warning.
"Alright. Let's go."
She opened the plane door.
A gust of wind enveloped us.
It forced me to close my eyes.
I steadied myself against the frame, adjusting to the new landscape.
My jaw dropped.
Golden sand surrounded us.
Blending into a grayish sky.
I could hardly believe the desert before me.
I crouched and touched the hot sand.
I smiled like an idiot.
Kiara frowned.
She looked at me strangely.
I cleared my throat.
Then followed her to a nearby establishment.
Someone with only their eyes visible greeted Kiara.
"Authorization," they asked.
The android showed the holopass.
We walked around.
A car was waiting for us.
After storing our things, we continued toward Cairo.
The city was nine hundred kilometers from the Sahara Desert.
It would take us about three hours to get there.
"What kind of place was that?"
"A mercenary outpost.
The Sahara is known as the Dead Zone.
Just like Nobody's Land.
Kemetia Command, Egypt's militia, barely cared about them."
Was this happening everywhere?
It was hard to believe people lived in such deplorable conditions.
A new knot tightened in my chest.
I used the journey to admire the immense field of sand, which, under the sunlight, created blinding points of light.
It took my breath away.
The beauty of the place was dazzling, even surrounded by danger.
We left the desert borderlands behind.
A gigantic wall encircled Cairo.
We faced chaotic traffic while trying to enter through the gate.
Heavily armed androids and humans guarded it.
When it was our turn, an ET greeted us in Arabic.
Kiara secured our entry.
I understood almost nothing.
The wind kept disrupting my hearing.
At times, my biochip failed to capture the real-time translation.
We flew over the circular metropolis.
A dusty air covered it.
Twelve colossal statues of Egyptian gods were carved into the golden wall.
Glittering, they watched over the five-hundred-meter-tall buildings.
Twelve smaller statues surrounded the Al-Azhar Mosque, home of the leader, Abdel.
Below them, people crowded in long lines.
Offerings in their hands.
In the distance, the ruins of the pyramids covered part of the golden landscape.
Destroyed by the Aether Network's attacks.
We parked on a ground-level street.
A faintly green wind covered part of the district.
The smell of polluted silica flooded my nostrils.
The soft ground held stains and filth I couldn't identify.
Insects hovered over piles of garbage between the alleyways.
The overcast sky bore witness to the desolation.
Most of the commerce was food, convenience, and restaurants.
Tech shops and robot shops were the minority.
Some people walked around cheerfully.
Others kept their heads down.
A Cairo soldier approached a short man and struck him across the head with the butt of his weapon.
"No offering, vermin?
Come with me."
My heart slammed against my chest.
My head throbbed.
Kiara signaled no with her head.
My saliva caught in my throat.
I tried to ignore it when we reached the Ebony Retreat.
The hotel's false façade was made of adobe.
It reproduced an ancient-looking structure.
Obelisks and bronze columns.
The ET received us.
We climbed a staircase.
Walked into a small room.
One window.
A dresser.
Two beds.
"I'll prepare everything for our trip to the Port of Alexandria," Kiara said.
I lay down on the hard mattress and took a nap.
Kiara woke me at dusk.
I shook the ache from my body.
Pushed the drowsiness away.
She projected a holo-map of the Port of Alexandria.
"We're going through these mountains."
An orange route lit up.
"I'll leave the car in this abandoned place.
We'll continue on foot.
The warehouse is here.
We'll stay in that cave overlooking it.
From there, I'll gather more information."
"We're not coming back here?"
"No. I walked around Cairo.
Things are ugly as hell.
The soldiers are stopping and detaining people for no apparent reason.
It's too risky to stay here."
Her gaze shifted between concern and pragmatism.
"I understand."
A pang of dread rose in my chest.
I hated that feeling.
"I'll need two days to analyze the object's location.
The weak points of the site.
On the third moon, we infiltrate.
I need you to prepare yourself here."
She tapped my forehead.
"Try to relax, alright?"
Some time later
We began the journey to the Port of Alexandria.
Kiara's words had left my heart unsettled.
An inexplicable heat made my hands itch and the hairs on my body rise.
Something eluded my perception.
Something invisible, lying in wait.
I avoided thinking about it and distracted myself with the view.
We passed security once again.
Flew over less technologically developed airways.
The nanoelectromagnetic waves failed.
We almost crashed twice.
Small miserable towns and stretches of vegetation composed the outskirts.
Titanic statues of Egyptian gods surrounded Alexandria.
We followed an alternate route, and Kiara veered off toward the mountains.
The terrain was altered.
Similar to the irregular geography of the rest of the city.
The android explained that Alexandria had been used to test the R-FUS, because they wanted to observe how the tremors would affect cities.
They avoided full power, but caused devastation across the region all the way to the Ras El Tin Palace.
Mountains had formed because of the tremors.
Until then, they had tested the bombs in the Sahara Desert.
"That explains why half the Desert became sea," I said, somewhat outraged.
"The only intact structure is the Citadel of Burj.
The fortress we're infiltrating.
Or rather, the warehouse attached to it," Kiara added.
We arrived at an abandoned site.
Metal walls.
Corroded by time.
Strangely solid for a ruined place.
Obsolete technology everywhere:
panels, televisions, cables, and a signal tower.
It looked like the remains of a communications base.
"I'm camouflaging the car, just in case."
Once she was done, Kiara removed her tunic.
She told me to do the same.
She adjusted the weapons on her body.
Then fixed me with a searching look.
I frowned, uneasy under her scrutiny.
"I'm going to teach you how to fire the gun.
I hope it won't be necessary.
But if the situation demands it, you need to know what to do."
I stepped back.
"N-no. I want to preserve life."
"I know."
Kiara held my shoulders gently.
"Please. I'm only going to show you.
We don't always shoot to kill."
I swallowed hard.
Tried to reason through it.
The whole situation was agonizing.
But a dictator ruled this place, outside the official nanosystems of the Aether Network.
That put us in danger simply by being there.
We were near a military fortress.
Ready to fire on us at the slightest misstep.
Worse than that was the fact that we were going to invade it.
Maybe it really would not be necessary to shoot.
I tried to cling to that thought so I could keep going.
"Alright."
Kiara picked up a revolver.
"This is the safety.
Androids connect to it automatically.
You need to configure your biochip to automatic weapon sync."
Trembling, I drew the gun from the holster and opened my biochip screen.
I found the gun's code and enabled automatic weapon connection.
A tingling ran through my arm and skull.
A holosight appeared in my field of vision.
"Good.
Now aim.
Shoot there."
Kiara pointed to a poster on the wall.
I recoiled.
Lowered the gun.
"N-no."
"It's just a wall."
Kiara watched me with an unreadable expression and took my hand.
Gently squeezed it.
"If you freeze at the wrong moment, I may be too far away to save you."
"I-I know…"
Sweat trickled down my forehead.
I raised the gun.
"O-okay."
I had to keep my emotions under control.
I tried to calm myself.
"That's it. Aim there."
Kiara encouraged me.
A pixelated reticle of three circles.
One inside the other.
Target enclosed.
My arms moved involuntarily toward it.
I aligned the sight.
I received the prompt to fire.
The gun trembled in my hands.
I swallowed.
My fingers locked on the trigger.
If I fired, it would mean that… that I was willing.
That I accepted this world.
I closed my eyes.
Took a deep breath.
Emptied my mind.
More sweat ran down my face.
Settled on my eyelashes.
I blinked hard.
Struggling to hold the gun.
My knuckles turned white.
It's just paper.
I pulled the trigger.
BANG!
I fired the revolver.
Recoiled from the impact.
Dropped the weapon.
Kiara placed it back in my hand.
"Always hold on to your weapon."
She glanced at the poster.
"That was good.
Now you know the feeling. Let's go."
I closed my eyes.
It had been terrifying.
I imagined what it would be like to shoot at someone.
How could they do that so easily?
I returned the weapon to the holster and followed Kiara.
I had to forget what I had just done and focus on the mission.
We walked along a narrow trail between the mountains.
I glanced down at how high we were.
Vertigo hit me.
"Look ahead."
Kiara led with effortless agility.
I stepped carefully.
Focused on my feet.
Forward.
The path narrowed even more.
Kiara took my hand.
We pressed against the wall.
Barely enough space for our feet.
We reached a wider opening between the mountains.
Kiara pulled me across.
My hands slipped with sweat.
I nearly fell.
I clung to the wall with all my strength.
My soul left my body and came back.
She motioned for silence.
Drew the revolver.
PFFT PFFT PFFT
Three silenced shots echoed.
I dug my fingers into the rock.
They burned.
My breathing kept pace with my pounding heart.
Kiara pulled me by the arm.
"Alright, take this."
She placed a drop on her forehead and handed me the vial filled with a bluish liquid.
"It's CaloraX.
A heat inhibitor so the thermal sensors don't catch us."
Over her shoulder, three bodies lay on the ground.
I shook my head.
Swallowed bile.
Trembling, I took a drop under my tongue.
"I'm hiding the bodies.
Wait here."
Kiara mixed the blood spatters into the dirt.
How was she so used to it?
Her casualness intensified my nausea.
"Come on."
She walked to a table with papers and weapons and picked up a document.
"These are orders to shoot anyone who approaches the fortress."
She took I'll Devour You off her back and pointed it toward Burj.
"There's a line of bodies around the walls.
I'm going to hack their comms to keep this quiet."
We continued along a winding path and came upon a gap.
Kiara jumped across easily.
I, on the other hand, felt only fear.
And weakness in my legs.
She extended her arm.
"I'll catch you."
Her voice carried certainty.
I glanced down.
My saliva refused to go down.
Sweat glued the fabric to my skin.
"I-it's challenging."
"I'll catch you. Trust me."
The determination in her eyes made me feel safer.
I stepped back.
Breathed deeply.
Jumped.
Reached out.
My fingers slipped in her hands.
My feet slid in the dirt.
My body tilted backward.
Kiara grabbed my wrist.
Pulled me up with force.
I clung to her with tears in my eyes.
"I thought…"
"Told you I'd catch you."
She stroked my hair.
"Come on, we have to keep going."
Voices at the next post alerted Kiara.
I waited while she moved ahead to check.
PFFT PFFT PFFT
A sequence of silenced shots.
Silence.
PFFT PFFT
More shots.
Shouts echoed from above.
PFFT
I suppressed a start when she reappeared.
Kiara pointed to a staircase carved into the mountain.
"They're patrolling up there."
She hid the bodies.
Kept moving ahead.
Cleared the posts.
Erased all evidence.
We reached a small cave hidden near a ravine.
Cleaner than I expected.
It gave us a perfect view of the Citadel of Burj.
I leaned against the wall to catch my breath.
"You're sleeping on the ground."
Kiara pointed to a hollow between the rocks.
"I had enough of that hard mattress."
My stomach growled.
"Food?"
The android threw her head back and laughed.
"Hungry?"
My face warmed.
"That's not it.
Maybe a little."
I removed the mask.
Actually, I was starving.
"Take this."
She tossed me another vial.
The label read FamineFix.
"It'll keep you going while you don't eat.
Only until this mission is over.
Best not to use it for more than a seluna.
Your body still needs real food."
I swallowed it.
Immediately, I felt satisfied.
Even energized.
Kiara adjusted the sniper rifle on a bipod.
Lay down and looked through the optic sight.
I sat at the edge of the cave and watched the city.
As my eyes grew heavy, I thought of what I had done.
What I was still going to do.
What would remain of me when it was over?
I fell asleep soon after.