It was quite peaceful in the young forest. Terraforming was still in its infancy on Apollon, having only started seeding a decade ago. Still, the pines were tall enough to obscure Sophie’s presence from the OTech scouts that were hovering silently above. Sophie wished she had taken more time to enjoy being out in nature, if it could be called that. There were a lot of things that she wished were different, currently.
Sophie wished she could have lived her cover. She wished that MI would have burned her years ago so she could live a relaxing, sedentary life here. She wished she could have been with Violet under different circumstances. She wished she had decided to follow in her sister’s footsteps instead of being drawn in by the appeal of romanticized interstellar espionage. Now she was running for her life, confused and in disbelief at the events that had just transpired.
Violet was dead. Or was she? Not 20 hours ago, Sophie was gripped in her warm embrace, as alive as she had ever felt in her life. She wondered if it was a trick. Maybe what she had seen was an elaborate fiction. She had heard stories about interfaces being hacked, and victims being forced to experience a digital torture that couldn’t be distinguished from reality. Or perhaps it was staged in order to easily break off the relationship like in a convoluted plot from a sitcom. Maybe it was all just due to an overactive imagination. Sophie wiped the sweat from her brow as she took a break from running, leaning back against a tree. The texture of her wrist against her forehead was sticky and flaky.
Sophie looked at her arms to find them covered in blood, then instinctively went to wipe them on her top, immediately noticing it too was thoroughly soaked. The sight of blood brought back images of Violet’s pale face in her arms. It made Sophie’s stomach churn. She brought her hands to her mouth to try and hold it closed, but reeled at touching her lover’s blood to her face. Having nowhere to put her hands, she held them away from her body as she vomited on the forest floor. She couldn’t hold her hair back or grip her gut, so for a few moments, she just stood in place and shook as the panic washed over her.
She had never felt as disturbed and physically sickened by blood and violence. She had received years of training in how to suppress negative reactions to it, and she had seen much more violent things on a regular basis when she was in Wonderland. However, she had never watched someone she loved die in such a manner. In fact, she had never seen anyone die at all, not really. It was a crushing feeling that she had never expected.
Thinking about all the changes that were going to happen, that have already happened, Sophie wondered whether it was worth it to even go on. She thought about stepping into a clearing and letting them find her. Maybe they would kill her on sight. If they didn’t, she might be able to talk her way out of it, explain that she wasn’t the one that did it, that it was Misty Hodges. She still had the video saved, and would happily give it to them. But then she thought about MI. They would not be happy to have another off world agent in captivity, and could send more out to eliminate her. Any way she looked at it, she was going to die, be imprisoned, or constantly look over her shoulder for the rest of her life.
The first option was sounding better with every passing moment. She looked at her bloodied hands. She wanted to split them open and jam the hidden blades deep into her neck. She tried to, but her body wouldn’t respond. Instead, it picked itself up off the ground and continued moving through the forest toward the safehouse.
The journey was long. 70 km on foot, and because the Mirror fried her wireless firmware, she had to do it all without GPS. Luckily, orienteering was one of the courses that she excelled at, and the relatively small area on Apollon that has been populated so far was a blessing compared to some of the horror stories she was told through MI.
Sophie considered herself pretty fit. Unlike most people who spent a lot of their free time in VR, she had a good habit of daily exercise and maintenance of her meat. She was quite fond of her flesh, usually, but at the moment, she was really regretting not opting for the fully prosthetic body that was offered when she joined MI. Her entire body burned and ached at the level of physicality she was putting it through, save for her prosthetic arms. She gradually increased the pain dampening in her interface as her body strained against her brain. Eventually, she couldn’t increase it anymore. Her interface was effectively interrupting the undesirable sensation, but it could do nothing to assist when her body started refusing to follow direction.
The last few kilometers to the safehouse were a mess of stumbling and falling to the forest floor. When she saw the recognizable ventilation stacks peeking above the canopy, she let out a sigh of relief. She still had another half hour before extraction, and even though she had less than a kilometer to go, the state of her body made her wonder if she would even be able to make it that far. She crawled and dragged her body the rest of the distance, and once she made it onto flat ground at the lumbermill, she pulled herself up to her feet and braced herself against the walls. Her last challenge was the flight of stairs that led to the scanner. She took her time down the stairs, fearing that the journey would end with her neck broken right next to the finish line.
After successfully making it down and into the scanner, the door into the safehouse opened, and she stepped through. She was then at the top of another flight of stairs overlooking the lounge area, where several people were gathered around the couches, watching the news broadcasts intently. When they heard the clatter of the entry door locking, they looked up in unison, and when they noticed it was Sophie, each one put on varying levels of disgustful expressions. One person in particular, Cari, went beyond disgust into pure hatred and fury.
“You fucking bitch.” Cari said. The rest stayed silent. Most of them looked like they agreed with the sentiment. Even Yarim turned away from Sophie, unable to look her in the eyes. He did, however, make a half-hearted attempt to grab Cari after she shot up from the couch and began making her way toward the staircase. “You fucking bitch!” She said again as she stomped up the steps to give Sophie an open-handed slap that was more akin to a hit to the side of the head with a baseball bat. The force of the blow knocked Sophie off her feet and sent her tumbling down the stairs.
“Whoa, Cari! Take it down a notch!” Yarim interjected but refrained moving from his spot. It did little to stop Cari as she moved back down the steps. She pulled Sophie off the ground by the hair on the back of her head, then slammed it against the nearest wall.
“Faren and Ella are dead because of this slut! Why shouldn’t I just pop her in a nightmare, or stroke her out and be done with her?”
“We don’t know what happened to Faren and Ella.” Yarim said. “We have no reason to believe Sophie had anything to do with them.”
“They aren’t here, that’s all the reason I need.” Cari again picked Sophie up using a fistful of her hair as a handle. “You’re lucky your networks out, or you’d be dead already, or something like it.”
Cari brought up her other hand, and a cable snaked out from her wrist, reaching towards the ports on the back of her skull. Sophie didn’t resist. With the news blaring her name and image, and all of her friends and colleagues staring daggers at her, she agreed with Cari. The situation was all her fault, and what made it worse, she couldn’t figure out what she had done wrong.
Just as Sophie felt the cable tickle her neck hairs and brush against her skin, she was suddenly dropped to the ground. Cari started reeling backwards, losing her balance, and falling to the floor herself. Every joint in her prosthetic arms and legs began to bend backwards, sending a steady signal of intense pain to Cari’s brain, causing her to make a sound somewhere between retching and gasping.
“That’s enough.” The Mirror said as she appeared at the entrance. A moment later, Cari’s limbs released, and she angrily rose from the floor. She looked at the Mirror with the similar animosity as she had toward Sophie, but the Mirror looked back at her with a blank face as if to say, ‘You’re not the only hacker in this cell.’
Their eyes were like guns, ready to fire off a series of wireless scripts at the slightest provocation. It was a standoff until Yarim stepped between them and began pushing Cari away. She turned and marched away in a huff, to the workshop where she grabbed a heavy pipe and started beating the hell out of Yarim’s Frankenvehicle. Yarim had the urge to rush in and stop her, but realized that they would be leaving soon, and in all likelihood, they would never be coming back.
“Sitrep.” The Mirror ordered.
“We are missing Faren and Ella, everyone else is present and accounted for. There has been no contact with either of them since...” Yarim cleared his throat and glanced over at Sophie. “... the incident.”
“When did they last check-in?”
“19 hours ago, on schedule. What’s the status on extraction?”
“Our transport will arrive in orbit in 26 minutes, and it’ll land 90 seconds later at the loading dock.” The Mirror descended the stairs and stepped over Sophie. “Move her to the couch.”
Yarim obeyed, picking Sophie up from the ground. Faye and Takami scoffed at having to give up their seats. Yarim was able to shoo Takami from his spot, but Faye stayed in her place in petty defiance.
“She’s going to get the fabric all bloody.” Faye said. Yarim rolled his eyes and lightly kicked Faye’s legs, urging her again to move, but she gave him the finger. “Fuck that, we’re not her therapists. She’s a highly trained, cybernetically enhanced spy, for God’s sake. She doesn’t need the whole fuckin’ couch.” Faye said, crossing her arms and remaining in her spot. Yarim shook his head then gently sat Sophie down in the empty spot. The Mirror stepped in front of her.
“What happened?” The Mirror said with the tone of a demand rather than a question. Sophie pushed herself up in her seat and took a few deep breaths, then bowed her head and brushed her hair away from the ports on the back of her skull.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“I have video of the event saved in local memory. I’d like you to watch it and share it with the rest of the cell.” Sophie said. There was a pause as the Mirror considered the request. “I don’t fully understand what I saw myself. I want to make sure I’m not crazy.”
The Mirror moved toward Sophie and gripped the back of her neck, then connected to her via wrist-cable. Sophie watched as control over her interface was given directly to the Mirror, who expertly navigated through menus to find her video memory. Sophie wasn’t sure she was ready to relive the experience, but now she had no choice. She took another deep breath.
The Mirror started the video a few moments before they had lost contact.
“Actually, I’m calling MI right now. Find some cover outside and wait for orders. The next packet is in 6 minutes.” The Mirror could be heard saying in the video.
Sophie made no sound but made an affirmative gesture. As she started to retreat to the edge of the forest, Sophie noticed the hanging blinders moving in a nearby window, then heard an ear shattering scream cut short, coming from within the house. Sophie froze for a moment, then began to sprint toward the entrance.
“Sophie?” The Mirror shouted. Sophie continued running. “Sophie stop! That’s an or-“ The Mirror was cut off by digital artifacting and silence as Sophie crossed the threshold into the house. After passing the foyer, she turned into the living room to see Violet standing near the center of the room wearing a black nightgown.
By now, the room in the safehouse was completely silent as everyone began watching the video shared by the Mirror, including Cari.
“Violet...?” Sophie said in the video. Violet turned toward her. She had a look of confusion and absolute terror on her face, and a dark red line across her throat. She took a step towards Sophie and tried to call out to her, but a torrent of blood began pouring out her neck and mouth. She stumbled with the first step, and Sophie rushed in to catch her. She wrapped her arms around the bloodied woman and gently tried to bring her to the ground.
That’s when she noticed the figure standing in the corner of the room. The video was paused as she came into view. A couple of gasps filled the room.
“That’s Misty Hodges.” Takami interjected.
“That’s... not possible...” Cari said. Sophie got the sense that they were privy to more information than she, but before she could ask, the Mirror was already answering.
“Misty Hodges was found dead on Hephaestus. Her throat was cut and body dumped in a waste reservoir. Time of death hasn’t been fully determined, but it had to have been at least 12 hours prior to Violet’s death.”
More than anything, Sophie wanted to say, ‘I fucking told you so’, but she bit her tongue.
“She’s got to be a skin-job, right?” Yarim asked. “Surgery, or fully prosthetic.”
“Maybe, or a clone, or... could it be a long-lost twin?” Cari said, fully aware of her audience. The Mirror continued the video.
Misty was a direct threat, and as she was trained to do, Sophie tried to rise to her feet and activated both of her concealed blades, but before she could lunge at the threat, she felt Violet pull her back down in a desperate attempt to hold on to her. Sophie tried not to look down at her, trying anything not to see it again. She tried closing her eyes, but the video bypassed her eyes entirely and was sent straight to her visual cortex. Again, the woman she loved was crying profusely, and her screams came as a muffled gurgle. Again, she looked at Sophie as if she could do something, anything to help.
Sophie looked back at Misty to find that she was gone, and the video paused again. The room was silent for a few moments.
“What the f-Where did she go?” Faye said, breaking the silence by expressing what was on everyone’s mind. “You looked away for like a second, she can’t move that fast without you at least hearing it.”
The Mirror rewound the video, and Sophie was treated to another view of the absolute worst thing she’s ever seen, and it was impossible to look away. She still had her interface’s pain reduction turned to full, but it did nothing to subdue the knot in her stomach and the lump in her throat. She felt the tears welling in her eyes. She felt like her heart stopped beating. When the video looked back up and away from Violet, Sophie sighed with relief.
“Could it be a hack?” Faye asked. The Mirror was silent for a moment as she looked through Sophie’s wireless signal data at the time. Cari was also working away doing her own analysis on the paused frame itself.
“There was an all-channel emergency signal being sent out by Violet, but other than that, Sophie wasn’t receiving any other data.” The Mirror said.
“I don’t see anything indicating video modification either.” Cari said. “However...” At that moment, everyone received invites and joined Cari’s view. “I took a look at the IR and UV data Sophie was recording. I didn’t see much on UV, but in IR, after I’ve fiddled with the temperature range a bit and turned up the gain, I see...”
In the spot against the wall where Misty was standing was a faint shadow in the outline of the woman, almost imperceptible even with the enhancements. Again, the room fell silent.
“Is that...” Faye started.
“Therm-Optic Camouflage?” Takami said, doubting his own eyes.
“That’s impossible!” Yarim said. “MI’s prosthetic stealth tech isn’t even close to that level of effectiveness. I mean, unless any of you guys have found anything while in cover?”
There was a round of shaking heads from every one of the deep cover operatives in the room, including Sophie. As there was no answer, the Mirror continued to play the video. In it, Sophie started to get up, but Violet grabbed the sides of her face and guided her gaze back to meet hers. Sophie hadn’t been a religious person since she was a child. In fact, she was openly critical of religion whenever it was the topic of conversation. Now, however, she was starting to remember what it was like to be in Hell. All she could do was watch Violet as she began to convulse and observe as the life left her eyes again.
The video continued at regular speed until the moment Sophie ran out the door and re-connected with the Mirror. At that point, the Mirror pulled her cable from Sophie’s skull. When Sophie regained control over her interface, it immediately started barking warnings regarding high levels of stress. It recommended dropping her into a stress relieving nature simulation. Sophie didn’t hesitate to accept it and was dropped into a beautiful mountainside cottage overlooking a sunset. She no longer cared that her physical body was now catatonic, or whether they would just leave her here when the transport arrived. All she wanted to do was erase the image of her lover’s horrified, bloodied corpse in her arms. It was an impossible task.
The Mirror and the rest of the cell noticed but didn’t mind. Even Cari felt a degree of respect for what she had gone through.
“So, what the hell are we looking at here?” Cari asked. “A false flag assassination, clearly meant to implicate Athenon, carried out by someone with the resources to acquire personal stealth tech more advanced than anything Military Intelligence has or is aware of.”
“Could this be the Apophis Faction?” Yarim asked.
“The Apophis faction hasn’t even existed for a week.” Faye said. “I don’t believe that a bunch of disgruntled farmers could organize, gather resources, and plan this attack within a few days.”
“Okay, then what about here on Apollon?” Cari asked.
“I really don’t think so.” Takami said. “I’ve been close to much of the affluent community here, and have seen some pretty shady shit, but nothing to suggest OTech weapons or stealth tech funding.”
“If the tech was black market, then I would have heard about it.” Faye said. “Of course, she did come from Hephaestus, correct? If it could be built anywhere, it would be there, yes?”
“I suppose so.” Takami said.
“I’m not so sure...” The Mirror said. “If the Interstellar Transport Commission found out that Hephaestus was smuggling assassins, the whole planet could be cut-off from transport privileges.”
“Are you kidding?” Cari said with a laugh. “Hephaestus is the largest Manufacturing Hub in the Galaxy! If they were cut off, it would only end up hurting everybody else. Besides, Hephaestus has always been on pretty good terms with MI. I just don’t see it.”
“We can speculate until we’re blue in the face.” The Mirror said. “The fact is we don’t have enough information. All we can really do is hold on to the data until we get back to home base.”
“And then what?” Faye asked. There was a pause as nobody had an answer. “Do you think they’ll let us follow up on this mystery?”
“I think it’s just as pointless to speculate on what Athenon will do with us.” Takami said.
“I mean... you don’t think they’re going to ‘retire’ us, are they?” Faye asked. There was another pause as the cell glanced around at each other, hoping that somebody else would give a definite ‘no’.
“Maybe not all of us...” Takami said, then looked over to Sophie, who appeared to be sleeping peacefully. He wasn’t sure exactly what he meant. Were they going to dispose of the entire cell except for Sophie because of what she knew? Or would they get rid of her to save political face, and let the rest of them continue serving? Takami shook his head at the thought. “No, no, they won’t retire us. They’ve invested tens of millions in each one of us. It would be a complete waste of resources if they got rid of us.”
As confident as Takami was, the rest of the cell wasn’t so sure. They didn’t think they had much to offer in terms of actionable intelligence. The murder of Violet Hodges was the biggest thing that had happened to any of them, and it really only happened to Sophie. Whether they were attempting to curry favor, or they were just killing time until the transport arrived, each person in the cell pulled up a copy of the video and began analyzing it however they could.
The news was continuing to escalate. The media had already found Sophie’s personal history, and that she did not, in fact, die in a training accident years ago. They also had all of the info on her cover, and they were displaying images of her sister, Sarah, all across the screens as well. She was wanted in connection with the murder of Violet and was already suspected of being another spy for Athenon. Those in the cell that were paying attention scoffed at the prospect.
When the Mirror received a notification that the Transport had arrived in orbit, she motioned to the rest of the cell. Yarim scooped Sophie up into his arms and carried her up the stairs and through the scanner. The cell moved to the concrete landing pad and arrived just as the transport came hovering over the surrounding trees and quickly parked just above the pad. An aperture opened at the bottom of the craft and a metal ramp descended.
The cell was greeted by a pair of armed escorts and automated turrets. They were quickly scanned and then ushered swiftly into the transport without a word spoken. Even before they were off the ramp, it began raising into the hold, and the transports aperture closed.
“Jumping in 5...” came a voice over the intercom. The Mirror wasn’t sure what the plan was once they were on the transport. On one of the nearest displays, she could see the outside, and once the countdown ended, they were suddenly in orbit around Athenon.
Back at the safehouse on Apollon, as soon as the transport vanished, the resulting vacuum caused an implosion powerful enough to collapse most of the lumbermill and bury the safehouse beneath it. It was likely very noticeable by Apollon authorities, but it was a risk that MI decided was worth it.
Meanwhile, Sophie sat in a comfortable poolside chaise lounge chair, staring blankly at the picturesque sunset over the peaceful forest valley below. The relaxation program also spawned two virtual companions, a man and a woman, dressed in almost nothing, who quietly and gently approached and sat by her side. Each of them were generated based on data gathered from her porn habits and other digital encounters. Both of the perfectly angelic forms started to touch her, brushing their hands over her skin. Sophie would have been into it if she had just been dumped by some douchebag, but the situation was perhaps a little more serious.
She was surrounded by a highly detailed, perfectly tailored fantasy simulation, but nothing she was seeing now was able to obscure the image in her head. She felt as if the lump in her throat was big enough to suffocate her, and the tears streaming from her eyes threatened her with dehydration. Instead of the arousal that her companions were trying to instill in her, Sophie chased the thought of death. She didn’t want to be there. She didn’t want to be anywhere anymore, but unfortunately for her, there was no way out. All that she could hope for, now, was that Military Intelligence would decide to retire her.