Now that there was a plan, the mood in the base ballooned with hopefulness. The atmosphere that had weighed on them heavily like the humidity before a storm was suddenly electrified with anticipation and excitement.

Certain members, like Tomas, Beta and Alva, had more to do than others but the rest of the volunteers rallied themselves to help in anyway they could, bringing in materials, prepping supplies for the journeys that some of them would take and seeking help from other tribesmen that would lend their aid. The Banuk were ready for a fight as were the Tenakth and the Oseram and Carja were on board as well. The Nora were without anyone to make contact with and it was unknown if Nemesis had besieged the Embrace. The Utaru, those that could see beyond the need to replant their fields for the harvest in order to make sure there was a future in which to enjoy it, were prepared to do what was necessary.

The time to act was held in tension with Heph’s machine building schedule, their knowledge about Zenith’s and the imminent extinction of life on earth.

Aloy checked in on everyone as they worked. It helped to keep herself busy. Her part to play in the plan wouldn’t begin until she was onboard the rocket. Tomas called her into the science room where his biomatrix printer was hard at work.

“Printing something new?” Aloy asked as she walked in.

“As you know, Nemesis can possess humans as well as machines,” Tomas said, forgoing any small talk, “but the virus you used to hurt it in New York and when you’ve unseated it from cauldrons, seems to act like…an anti stick program.” He opened his FOCUS’ display and tapped on an icon. “Your Zenith bodysuit is already linked to your FOCUS so if you need to protect yourself if Nemesis gets to the Odyssey before you escape it, activate this program.” He sent it across to Aloy’s FOCUS and she opened it up, curious. “I doubt it’ll work for long, especially if Nemesis injects itself into you, bypassing the suit altogether but it might give you thirty seconds to escape.”

“She won’t need it,” Beta’s voice said timidly from behind and Aloy turned to see her sister staring at her, paler than usual, “you’re not supposed to be on the Odyssey when Nemesis gets there…right?”

“It’s just a precaution.” Aloy assured Beta. “Hope for the best. Plan for the worst. What do you have there?”

Beta looked down at her arms and the round devices she was carrying. “These are the mines to blow the Odyssey up.” She stacked them on the table then activated a holo image of the Odyssey. “For optimum deployment the mines will need to be placed in specific locations where energy cells will magnify the mines’ explosive ability.”

Aloy leaned down to look at the image. The Odyssey was a long vessel, almost like a spear with two giant circles that spun around its mid section. The holo image lit up the energy cell locations in red. “Looks like there are quite a few energy cells…some look stronger than others.”

“When the Zeniths were forced to flee Sirius, they did so without fully prepping the Odyssey for launch or its deep space journey,” Tomas explained, tapping the image, “many of the cells are burnt out. I recommend igniting at least ten of them, spread throughout the ship, to make sure there isn’t enough of a hull left for Nemesis to infest. Don’t forget to leave one on the rocket.”

“And the transport pods are where?”

“There pods along the length of the Odyssey but there are also two on the bridge,” Tomas double tapped the image and it magnified, showing the interior of the Odyssey bridge which was about two thirds of the way down the spear, “one on either side.”

“It’s pretty straightforward.”

“Are you sure, Aloy?” Beta stammered. “I mean…it’s in space…there’s no where to go if it doesn’t work.”

Aloy put her hand on Beta’s shoulder. “It’s going to work. I’m going to make it work.” She picked up one of the mines. “How do I detonate these?”

“Any of the mines can be used to activate all of them,” Beta turned the mine over and showed Aloy the switch, “but for that, you’d have to be on the Odyssey.”

“Which I’m not going to be.” Aloy replied firmly. “Can I use my FOCUS to remote trigger them?”

“Yes.”

“What’s the countdown?”

“You set the timer to whatever you deem appropriate.”

“Excellent.” Aloy put the mine on top of the others and saw Beta’s pained expression. “Beta, it’s going to be fine. I can do this.”

“I know…” She nodded, trembling. “I know.” She turned and left, Aloy watching her go.

“Tomas,” Aloy said quietly when she knew Beta couldn’t hear her, “the trigger for the mines…can you put it on your FOCUS and trigger it from earth?”

Tomas looked up, a frown on his pinched expression, his blue eyes confused. “I suppose you could take a relay module and leave it on the rocket to help boost the signal…but why would I do that?”

Aloy turned around to face him. “Because if something does go wrong…and I can’t trigger those mines, I need you to do it.”

“Uh…why me?” Tomas shook his head. “I’m not a hero. I think we established that.”

“But you are capable of making hard choices,” Aloy stepped towards him, her voice lowering, “Tomas, if Nemesis is on the Odyssey and I haven’t left it…if there is a chance to kill it, I want you to trigger the mines.”

Tomas’ eyes widened and he took a step back. “No…no…I can’t…Beta will hate me for life!”

“But at least she would be alive to do so!” Aloy’s exclaim was soft. She paused and licked her lips. “Tomas…let’s be fair, I don’t like you very much and I think the feeling’s mutual.”

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

“That would be an accurate assessment.”

“But you like Beta,” Tomas swallowed as Aloy breathed in deeply, “and Beta…I know she likes you.”

Tomas folded his arms and looked away. “You make us sound like adolescents.”

“She is one and you’re only ten.” Aloy said pointedly. “I want my sister to have the chance at a normal life…and I will do whatever it takes to make it happen.”

Tomas backed away. “Isn’t there someone else you can ask? Erend? Zo?” He bumped into a wall. “Kotallo’s a warrior. He’d know the meaning of sacrifice.”

“Don’t you ever ask him to do that.” Aloy’s words were particularly biting and Tomas blinked, stunned at her ferocity. Aloy had to pull back from her emotion. “No one in the base will kill me to save the earth…no one…except you.”

“Forget Beta hating me…everyone will hate me.”

“I’ll leave a message for them in case it happens.” Aloy put her hand on his shoulder. “It’s just a precaution…please Tomas.”

Tomas held his printer tablet close to his chest and nodded. “Fine. I’ll do it…but you’d better not put me in that position.”

“Believe me, I don’t want to be in that position.” Aloy smiled, turned and started to walk away.

“Why do you trust me?” She paused and looked back at him, illuminated by the holo image of the Odyssey. “I’m the clone of the man who destroyed the earth. You hate me.”

“I would never think to take credit for Elisabet’s innovations,” Aloy shrugged, “why should you bear the blame for Ted Faros’ atrocities?”

“Aloy…do you have a moment?”

“On my way, Gaia.”

Aloy jogged up the stairs to the control room and found Gaia where she always was, golden and glittery, her smile almost human and the light in her eyes so real Aloy did wonder if she had a soul.

“What do you need, Gaia?” Aloy saw the display of the Zeniths with markers across the earth. “Possible Zenith consciousness locations?”

“Yes,” Gaia waved her hand towards it, “I have calculated the likelihood of individual consciousnesses emerging in locations pertinent to the Zenith personalities…but that is not why I called you here.”

“Oh?” Aloy frowned. “What’s up?”

“I have completed a risk assessment of the transport pods from the Odyssey,” the image of one scattered the previous display and Aloy walked towards the wall, studying the schematics that looked remarkably similar to the rejuvenation capsule they had in the basement, “they are short range transport vessels for one person only and have not been utilised since the Odyssey left for Sirius a thousand years ago.”

“Tomas used one, though,” Aloy argued, “he flew to Los Angeles.”

“Tomas’ flight in the pod was within earth’s atmosphere, at a consistent altitude until landing,” Gaia explained, “what you will be attempting to do is use the transport pod to enter earth’s mesosphere where the rate of descent will cause the pod to increase in temperature due to friction within gas molecules.”

“Like when a meteor falls to the ground?”

“Precisely.” Gaia nodded. “Many meteors burn up before they strike the ground. The pod will go from the extremes of below two hundred degrees celsius to over two thousand when about to land.”

Aloy licked her lips and gazed at the pod schematics. “It’s designed to withstand those kinds of extremes…isn’t it?” She turned and looked at Gaia.

“The pods were only meant for low orbit evacuations or to escape into space should the Odyssey need to be evacuated,” Gaia brought up an image of the Odyssey hovering over earth, “however, the Odyssey is in a high orbit, outside of earth’s atmosphere.”

Aloy swallowed. “What are my chances?” She asked quietly. “I need to know.”

“I calculate the likelihood of your survival at thirteen percent.”

Aloy’s hand grabbed the railing, feeling her head reel at the damning figure. “Thirteen percent?” She whispered.

“This is dependent upon your wearing the Zenith bodysuit that will help protect you from extreme temperatures within the pod.”

Aloy lowered her head, feeling her senses swim. “Thirteen percent…”

“Aloy, this course of action will almost certainly lead to your death. This must be addressed.”

Aloy looked up at the display. “Gaia…how long until Nemesis has caused human extinction?”

“By my calculations within five days, Nemesis will have wiped out all major settlements and will begin hunting down any remaining survivors.”

She gazed at the image of earth, the pretty flickering hologram of blue and green, desperate and frustrated.

“If I attempt to move the Odyssey closer into earth’s atmosphere…even if I knew how to do it, Nemesis might be able to ride its wreckage back to earth. It has to be destroyed in space.” Aloy swore. “No…not when we’re so damn close!”

“Aloy, a meeting of the command core group is in order to revisit this situation.”

Aloy swallowed, now staring at the grating at her feet. “Gaia…I need you to do something for me.”

“Yes, Aloy?”

She turned and looked at the luminous presence that symbolised the protection of earth. “I need you to fudge the figures to make it look like I’ve got an excellent chance of surviving.”

Gaia blinked, holding Aloy’s stare. “You want me to alter the data?”

“Yes.”

“That in essence, is a lie.”

“It’s not ‘in essence’ a lie. It’s a big, fat lie.”

“You are asking me to lie.”

“Yes.” Aloy pressed her lips together. “Yes, I am.”

Gaia’s tone was measured and calm. There was no animosity or condemnation. “Aloy, Elisabet Sobeck instilled a very strong sense of morality in me. To lie is against the foundational precepts of my core programming.”

“I know and I’m not asking this of you lightly…”

“Aloy,” she paused, surprised at Gaia’s interruption, “why are you asking this of me?”

“Because if Beta or Zo or Erend or Alva or Kotallo or any of them out there found out my chance of survival, they wouldn’t let me go!” Aloy pointed at the doors towards the common room. “They would insist on finding another way or worse! They’d try to come with me! This plan is our best chance! We don’t have the time to come up with another solution before Nemesis finds this base and kills all of us. I have to go!”

“Even if there is only a slight chance you will survive?”

Aloy closed her eyes and shook her head. “You said it yourself, the chance of our success greatly outnumbers the chance of my surviving. One life risked for thousands, even tens of thousands…there’s no question…no argument you can make! It’s worth the sacrifice! This is what I was made for, Gaia. You made me to save the earth…that’s what I’m doing.”

Gaia stared at her. “I never intended you to lose your life for the second time to do so.”

Aloy swallowed. “Are you going to do it? Fudge the figures?”

“I am uninclined to do so…”

Aloy licked her lips and stood up straight. “Then you leave me no choice. I order you to change the data to give me a reasonable chance of survival, over fifty percent, and to keep this conversation a secret. Authorisation Elisabet Sobeck, Alpha Prime. Understood?”

Gaia lifted her chin. “I…understand. Alpha authority accepted…”

Aloy felt a terrible breaking between them, trust irreparably severed. She wanted to apologise, to tell Gaia to take it back but she couldn’t, not if the earth was going to have any chance to survive.

“Aloy! Aloy, can you hear me?”

“Erend?” Aloy escaped the control room and sprinted downstairs. “What’s wrong?”

His face was as pale as death. “Talanah just sent through a message. Meridian has fallen.”

Meridian was the Sundom’s capital city built on top of a mesa which protected it from all ground assaults and only the most powerful projectile weapons could breach its walls.

“Did Nemesis use Stormbirds to drop bombs?”

“No, she means Meridian has fallen,” Erend trembled, “that bastard Nemesis…sent Rockbreakers beneath the mesa…and destroyed the foundation.”

Aloy’s skin grew as cold as ice. “There are hundreds of people in Meridian…let alone in the lower city!”

“I know,” Erend pushed his hands over his head, “Talanah said they got some people into the palace but that’s on another mesa and they’re trying to evacuate…”

Their conversation had drawn a crowd. All the volunteers had surged into the common room to listen to Erend’s devastating news. Eamon, a former sun priest was visibly shaken.

“Aloy…what do we do?” He asked weakly.

Aloy’s jaw tightened. “Get everyone together. We have to do what we can to save the earth and all the people on it while there’s still anyone left alive to save.”