Enid was sitting in the seiza position in her underclothes. She was meditating for the first time in a long time. Her Atlantean armor was folded neatly on her bunk her katana now modified with a monomolecular edge was sheathed by it side. On the other side was her recently favored weapon, the customized bolter. She had an assortment of monomolecular throwing knives and grenades of various flavors on a bandolier. Anyone who entered her room would make no mistakes she was ready for war. Bee’s voice came through her personal holo-phone.

“Fifteen minutes until transport empty.”

Enid didn’t open her eyes.

“Thank you.”

“Why aren’t you dressed yet?”

“Because its easy to meditate when I’m not wearing armor that feels like it is trying to eat me.”

She heard Bee sigh.

“Not what I meant. I’ll be ready.”

Enid tapped her wrist closing the comm-link. She bowed forward and touched her head to her hands which she placed very deliberately in front of her. She sat up straight and looked towards where she knew the sun to be.

“God, if you really need me to fix this demon shit, make this work.”

Enid stood up and rubbed her face. She pulled on the legging like armor then the top letting the parts merge. She looked at her Sarah face in the mirror and closed her eyes then slide her finger up the chest and sealed it. The armor formed itself to her. It seemed to understand her intent. Protective plates were already starting to form over her vital areas. She extended the wings and they flexed for her. She let the energy fields collapse. She deliberately buckled on the various weapons. The armor’s plates molded themselves to fit her new accessories. She finally slung the Katana over her back. She looked at herself in the mirror and tugged her long platinum blond hair into a ponytail and then spun it into the bun at the back of her hair. Her wrist started to beep.

“Answer.”

Bee appeared on the display that floated where Enid could see it. Enid could see it in her eyes and spoke.

“Go time?”

Bee looked a bit paler the usual when she saw Enid dressed for war.

“Dark Mother.”

“What?”

“You…you just look like who I used to see when I would imagine the Dark Mother when she was getting dressed to do battle with the Dark One.”

“Thank you.”

“Be careful, please.”

“Get my daughters out of here safely. I’ve been through worse. Where is the transport crew now?”

“At the security check point by the docks.”

“Monitor my progress, when I’m ten seconds out blow the charges. I’ll leave comm’s open.”

“I’ve cleared the way.”

Enid left her room and used the armor’s enhanced speed to move swiftly down the passage to the tube. The door opened and inside were two of her fake Identity colleagues. To say the were surprised to see the usual quiet and demure Dr. Sarah Young dressed in enough weapons for an army would be an understatement. It was Samuel and Tobias. Both older gentleman who showed it with their lack of cybernetics. They started to laugh when they saw her.

“Its closer to Christmas then Halloween Dr. Young.”

Enid drew two pistols and pointed one at each of their heads.

“My name is Enid Aurelius, Dark Mother, Empress of Eternal Night and mother of two of your ‘subjects’ get back on the tube or I’ll shoot you in the head.”

She motioned with her head for them to back up. One hit the security panel on the tube.

“Help! Help! Armed intruder!”

Bee’s voice came back through.

“Oh No! I’ll send someone right away.”

Tobias got a smug look on his face Enid felt like punching him. The pair were collectively the most stuck up, arrogant sexist pigs she’d met since, okay well She had been in Ancient Japan so it hadn’t been that long.

“Security will lock down the tube. Your whatever this is, is at an end Dr. Young.”

Enid made an effort to appear to listen intently to her surroundings.

“Hmm sounds like the tubes still moving. Standard security response time is, mmm five minutes minimum in the middle of a tube. Our trip is five minutes and I know I’m a woman, but you’re going to have to trust my math here and it says that I could kill you at least fifty times before they get here, or the tube stops.”

Samuel shook his head at Tobias.

“Oh, come on, give me an excuse to kill you both. I really want too.”

Tobias still as smug as ever spoke, over Samuel’s very fervent warnings.

“You are obviously not going to kill us or you would have when I hit the alarm.”

Tobias made a reach for her pistol. Enid shot him in the face. Samuel had been making a similar move but jumped back the moment the gun fired. Enid sounded slightly sarcastic as she spoke.

“Sorry Hon, he tried to grab my gun. I had no choice.”

Enid holstered the pistol she’d just fired and looked at Samuel still leveling the gun at him.

“So. Want to question my ability to kill you like he did?”

Enid glanced down at the body. Samuel’s face, which was splattered with blood went extremely pale and shook his head.

“I wasn’t with him. I’m…not really part of this.”

“Come on Samuel. You liked stick needles in things that couldn’t fight back didn’t you? Looking at the teenage werewolf girls in cold storage?”

He shook his head.

“Its okay, you don’t have to tell me, I already heard you talk to Tobias about it. Ya, one of those girls is my daughter. You sick fuck.”

Enid punched him with her free hand. She was pretty sure she broke his jaw and nose. He went down. He could still be conscious but there was no way he was going to put up resistance now. She kicked him in the gut. She probably just broke some ribs too. She took her pistol and put it in his hand and pulled another out of her pack and slide it into the holster.

“Security Chief, this is Dr. Young, Dr. York shot Dr. Peterson. I was able to put Dr. York down with a few punches. You might want to send medical…and a security team. Blood everywhere.”

“Roger.”

The tube came to a stop and Enid got off and slipped down a side corridor. She glanced behind her as a group of four security and two medical personal rushed onto the tube. A few minutes later she heard alarms start to blare. It was her sign to assault the security team and transport crew. Enid dashed into the room where the security team were in the middle of going through the transport crew’s belongings. The fire alarms going off had sent the security team present into disarray. They were covering their transport crew with their weapons. One even shot one of the crew by accident when Enid arrived and started killing them with her Katana and bolter. It was over in less then a minute. Six security guards, eight crew all dead. Enid flicked her blade then wiped it off on the clothes of one of the crew men and sheathed the sword. She reloaded her bolter. By now the ship was on full lock down because of the hundreds of fire alerts that just flared up. The security comm net was a mess. The teams had never trained for this sort of chaos. The computer was announcing warnings for all sectors all quarters. There wasn’t enough crew to attend to all the damage. Then Enid heard Bee’s voice over the speakers.

“The ship is on lockdown. We are under attack by a class Omega threat. Enid Aurelius a vampire ancient is on board and tearing the ship apart. All crew and staff find a secure room and shelter in place. Any surviving security teams should immediately report to Amber Sector. She is heading there. I repeat all crew and staff find a secure room. Security report to Amber Sector. Fire suppression system is active and atmosphere will vent as soon as impacted compartments are air secure.”

Enid cracked her neck and caught her reflection in the mirrors of the foyer for newcomers to the ship. She was covered in blood and the black fluid used in cybernetics. She ran to the tube and waited for Bee to give her the next target. She was waiting longer than she expected.

“Sorry for the delay, ran into an unexpected…situation.”

“What?”

“I know what Amber Sector is now.”

“What is that?”

“It’s the life support system for the owner of BMC.”

Enid’s head snapped to the holo-display so fast she almost hurt herself. She spoke each word very deliberately.

“What is his name?”

“Albert McDonald.”

Enid punched the reinforced glass of the tube cracking it with the strength of her Atlantean Armor.

“New target.”

“What?”

“He is the priority.”

“But your daughters.”

“I love them, but that man is true evil.”

“Enid.”

“Unlock the tube.”

“Stop, I sent all the security there.”

“Then its going make it easier to find them all.”

“You’re mortal and outnumbered sixty to one.”

“Ever heard of the Battle of Thermopylae?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Have you ever heard of the Battle of Thermopylae?”

“Ya, something about an army of a thousand vs an army of two million.”

“The Greek army Led by Leonidas, King of the Spartans. The woman who trained me in the art of war, was his daughter. So, in my opinion it’s a little light on their side.”

Bee let loose a few curse words and the tube car started move. Enid closes her eyes and willed the helmet of her armor to form. She opened her pack and started to decide if she was going to use 80’s action movie tactics or stick with conventional rocket launcher warfare. She bounced between minigun and rocket launcher for several seconds and finally decided on the old tried a true rocket launcher-armor piercing shrapnel combo. She’d follow it up with some grenades and see what was left. When she was close she spoke again.

“Stop the car.”

The tube car came to halt. Enid hung a holo-web over one of the polls her natural form shimmered into existence, even had Bloodseeker. She blew it a kiss.

“You’re beautiful babe, sorry about this.”

Enid popped the emergency exit and hopped out.

“What are you doing?”

“You didn’t think I was going to ride the tube to amber sector station and let them open up on me as I arrived, did you?”

“I kind of actually did.”

“Okay if I wasn’t mortal, I would totally do that to scare the shit out of them but in this case, I’d rather not eat a fully volley of anti-vampire rounds if it’s all the same. Broke three ribs on just pistols.”

“Thank you. You sounded angry.”

“I’m fucking pissed, I thought he was dead and gone. So did Amee.”

“Why would she care?”

“Never mind just guide me through the service ducts.”

“The diagram says Jefferies tubes.”

“Ya I’m not using Star Trek terminology.”

“Star what?”

“Never mind just get me into position to drop plasma charges.”

“You aren’t!”

“Oh, I totally am.”

“You’re just as insane as the book says.”

“I have never claimed otherwise when it came to bombs. I’ll need you to place your guards where I place the charges”

“Do you have a nuclear weapon in that bag?”

“No, I usually am one, so I didn’t see a point. Should I get one?”

“No! How can you be so relaxed?”

“After the first three hundred battles, you kind of just… get used to it.”

Enid crawled along the vents placing charges where Bee would declare choke points and assign teams. Plasma was a weapon in the same class as her Hellfire rockets, the kind of thing you’d get charged with a war crime for using. It created an electromagnetic sphere and heated the interior to just over ten thousand degrees Celsius. The electromagnetic pulse generated seized most cybernetics causing the targets to first be stuck, then incinerated. Some of the more expensive cybernetics had heat shielding so they’d survive the inferno. But if there was any flesh on them it would be gone. Full conversion jobs with brain jars could survive if they had the heat shielding. Anyone else was…water vapor and slagged metal.

“How the fuck did you get plasma charges anyway?”

“I’m very convincing when I’m not mortal. These emp pulses aren’t going to fry the pods, are they?”

“No, they are small and contained. Those are weapons of nightmares. There is a reason they have by banned by everyone.”

“Trust me Bee, this is merciful compared to me as a vampire. I would just reach out my hand and their bodies would be torn apart. They will die so fast they won’t feel it.”

“Why don’t you just break into amber sector in the jef- the service ducts and detonate one over his life support.”

“What are the chances I can even get there? And if I do, what are the chances they are EMP, heat shielded and fuckium shielded? Guy has been alive for a thousand years. Trust me when I say anything that old gets paranoid about its safety.”

“You don’t seem to be.”

“Life is life. It begins when it begins and ends when it ends, worrying about it just wastes time.”

Enid placed the last charge and closed her pack. She crawled towards the exit.

“Once I get into position send the tube. As soon as they start firing tell them to cease fire because it’s a decoy and you just picked up several more on the ship sensors. Send them to the choke points. Once you send them crash the security comm net and start rescuing everyone.”

“Are you going to be okay alone?”

“Look Bee, at that point if I’m not the only thing you can do is get my kids out of here and anyone else you can rescue. They are going to blast the tube to pieces possibly cause a hull breach, the damage from the plasma charges is going to make navigating the service ducts difficult. If any security survives it will take them an hour to get to you at the least and any response to you will be scattered at best. I am trusting you with my daughters, don’t let them down.”

“Thank you.”

“No Bee, thank you. No matter what happens from here on out, you didn’t let me down when I needed you.”

“Sending the car now.”

Enid heard Bee over the ships speaker system.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“Target is on a car in Tube 2. I have no control over it. Eta is two minutes! Protect Amber Sector at all costs.”

Enid closed her eyes. The results of her ruse echoed through the hallways of the sector. She could hear Bee struggling to tell them to cease fire. Then Enid could hear the rush of booted feet rushing in different directions.

“Bee turn down your volume, its about to get loud.”

“Acknowledged”

Enid closed her eyes again and took a very necessary deep breath. How different this was from jumping into battle as a vampire. The pounding of her heart in her chest. The rush of blood. The surge of adrenaline. She felt like she was going to explode.

“Code word: Armageddon. Start countdown to detonation. Ten count. Then Play VNV Nation, Control seventy five percent volume.”

The countdown started on her HUD when it reached zero she heard Bee start to say something but she was drowned out as the deep bass started to vibrate through the Atlantean armor from her holo-phone. Enid kicked the service door out and lept to the floor. She charged at several surprised looking guards who were trying to figure out why comms just went dead and instead of launching a rocket she tore through them with her monoblade katana and bolter. In the hallways that led from this cross junction she saw mini-stars explode into existence the brief flashes not giving any of those trapped inside the spheres a chance to scream. She moved back to pick up her rocket launcher, but she felt the deck start to shake under her feet. The hardened and reinforced door screamed loud enough to overwhelm her pounding music as it burst open. The deck continued to shudder. Her gift screamed at her to duck so she did. The biggest half-wolf she had ever seen went flying over her head and dented one of the walls as it slammed into it.

“What is fuck that supposed to be?”

It was shaking its head from the impact then spun around looking for her. Enid kicked the launcher out of harms way she didn’t want the ordinance going off because it got stepped on randomly. She threw her bolter away and tossed her sword to safety. Neither would do her any good against a wolf-born. His eyes locked onto her. She rolled out of the way as one of the vicious taloned claws that was over half her size ripped the deck plates where she had been to shreds. It moved with a speed that belayed its size. It was all Enid could do to avoid getting hit she eventually found herself cornered. She had no choice but to try and block one of his blows. She formed a large round energy shield on her arm as he struck. While it lacked the reflective kinetic barrier of her plates it would hopefully stop her arm bones from being shattered from the blow. His claw hit the energy barrier and it shattered instantly the remainder of his momentum slammed into the arm plate which sent Enid flying into the nearest wall causing her to groan. The armor also sent him flying and he smashed through one of the thinner compartment walls taking out a lunchroom and getting embedded in a wall on the far side. Enid stood up and tried to shake off the hit. The wolf was doing the same. She took the moment to get two of her grenades out, one was silver nitrate, the other was just silver shrapnel. He roared at her and in a strange bipedal trying to run four legged charged at her from across the hallway. His talons rending the deck as the impacted it. Even with his speed she was still faster in her Atlantean armor. She dove out the way and did a back flip to land on her feet. The corner of the corridor where he hit was ripped apart and he smashed into the far wall which was the other hall. He dented it easily. The hit made Enid wince. Partially because she could see his head was now malformed and she knew the kind of punishment actual armored hull could take. Just imagining what would happen to her if she took the full brunt of that attack even as a vampire made her shudder. She spoke in spirit-kin tongue. While preparing to use the silver-nitrated grenade.

“Look friend, I’m not here hunting wolf-kin, just here to kill a very bad man who has trapped you.”

He was still shaking his head and rubbing it. The thick bone plates were starting to heal themselves. Wolf-born in their hybrid shape healed almost as fast as vampires and didn’t have to use blood to do it. He’d be in fighting shape in seconds.

“I am true named by tooth and claw! I am Slays-Demons and I am your elder! You will stand down.”

The wolf shifted and stood from where it had been crumpled by smashing the wall. Enid stepped backwards. She could see it in his eyes now that he wasn’t trying to rend her limb from limb. They were empty. This was just an animal. No sentience just a lust to kill. Enid shook her head and threw the first grenade as he started to move. It started to sweep its massive claws in the air to clear the blue colored mist, but its flesh started to boil and sizzle. It started to cough up blood and it ran towards Enid claws ready to strike. Enid dodged to the left. Silver was acid to wolf-born. He started to howl and scream. His eyes were turning milky white as the gas burned them. Even his sense of smell would be lost to him. All he could feel now was burning. Enid didn’t want to resort to the grenades, but he was unstoppable otherwise. He was blindly slashing at the air now and roaring. She waited for her moment and grabbed onto his seared arm and pulled herself up latching her arm around his neck. She tossed the second now armed grenade into his open mouth and grabbed his nose and jaw and pulled them together. Her armor barely had the strength to manage it. She felt the explosion pulse through his body. He fell forward and she lept off of him. She watched his body continue to shake as the silver burned through it. He never shifted to his true form. She said a silent prayer to spirits on his behalf and picked up her discarded weapons.

She picked her way through the debris left by the shredded door. Her gift started to scream at he again and saw a flash of a blade sliding through her neck. She lept backwards and after a flip landed on her feet and shimmering blade sliced into the wall. Enid drew her Katana and swiftly and prepared a defense. The swords owner came out of the shadows, and she was looking at herself. Her true form was in front of her. The green eyes were staring at her.

“You will not harm the master, pretender!”

The fake her lunged towards her blade whistling as it flashed through the air. Enid parried the blow deftly. Her clone’s strength was on par with her armors, so this was going to be a fight of skill. Enid hoped this knock off didn’t have her power to alter time.

“You’re a clone. And the fact you called a mortal your master makes me sick to my stomach.”

She saw the dupe’s fangs come out.

“Ooh baby’s got fangs.”

The clone screamed and made a clumsy attempt to baseball bat Enid. Enid deflected the attack easily. She was trying to piss the clone off, but she also wasn’t sure what vampiric powers it possessed. Any number of them could make for a bad end to this fight. Enid’s fears came to life as the clone’s shaped started to blur. All Enid could do was close her eyes and let her gift guide her parries. The strength of each strike increased to the point where the last one sent her katana flying and she was on her back staring up at her face with silver blade about to pierce her chest.

“You can’t win, you’re just a mortal!”

The clone lifted her silver blade to slam it through Enid’s chest. Enid formed her energy shield and smashed the blow aside. Her gift had told her it was coming. Enid kicked her in the chest while she was trying to recover and formed a wrist blade from the armor plate on her forearm and stabbed it through the clones beast plate and then heart with all the force her armor could muster. The clone gasped in surprise and her fingers released the silver blade Enid caught it with her free hand.

“Impossible…impossible. You’re mortal. I can hear your heartbeat.”

“You are an imperfect copy, being a vampire never made me special, it’s always been my gift to see the truth.”

Enid kicked the clone off of her wrist blade flicked the silver sword to her dominant hand and swept it through her neck. The clone’s head hit the floor and rolled along the deck. The body didn’t age, meant she’d only been a vampire for less then a decade. Enid blinked as she felt her heart stop she felt the strength return to her. She stood there for a few minutes. Six full conversion cyborgs stormed the room from deeper in Amber Sector. She looked to the compartment’s ceiling.

“Are you fucking kidding me? This was another fucking test? My daughters are not pawns you righteous asshole!”

The guards had been about to open fire before her outburst but now they just seemed confused. Enid looked at them.

“I’m not in the fucking mood.”

Enid reached out her hand and closed her fist the heavily armored cyborgs all crumbled like aluminum cans. She flicked her fingers and the balls of armored cybernetics smashed through several compartments. Enid reached out her hand again and closed her fist pulling it towards her and the heavy bulkhead that had slammed down behind the guards twisted and peeled apart. She walked through it. Another set of cyborgs blocked her way. She glanced back at the blast door then to them.

“You really want to do this for a thousand-year-old fossil who will just clone you and replace you after I kill you?”

The lead cyborg lifted his weapon. She altered time and when she let it resume its natural flow the cyborgs brain cases had all be slashed open and were leaking onto the ground. She stepped over their remains and tore her way through the next blast door. Apparently, the old man’s last line of defense were his medical team who were trying to form a human shield. Their apparent leader an older woman held up her hand.

“We can’t let you do this.”

Enid stared her down.

“I burned an entire castle full of nuns to get to one woman. If you think a few doctors and nurses are going to give me any hesitation you are very much mistaken. He attacked my children. There are consequences to his actions. Its time he learned that.”

One of the younger people stepped forward. She had red hair and green eyes. She looked familiar to Enid. She could be her daughter.

“Please stop, he is my grandfather.”

“Then I feel very sorry for you because I came here to end him and his family line forever. Everyone who isn’t related to him can feel free to leave. Don’t bother lying about it, I’ll know.”

Enid grabbed one of the unarmored but armed security guards with her telekinesis and threw him into a wall.

“Last warning. I can kill you all with a thought. You fuck in the sandbox of the gods you will soon find yourself in the shit.”

They hesitated but they all fled leaving the one granddaughter. Enid approached her and grabbed her by the neck. She let her true form out and let the armor collapses her helmet. She looked the girl in the eyes.

“I look like his clone, don’t I?”

“You look like my grandmother.”

Enid looked back towards the body of the clone she’d fought.

“No…my grandmother was free.”

“Your grandmother was a clone of me?”

The girl nodded Enid found herself relaxing her grip.

“I should kill you. Its disgusting that he used my face for them. Its like I’ve been raped all over again.”

The girl was starting to cower as Enid’s anger grew exponentially. The look in those green eyes remind of her of Eyre when she had been younger and had broken a vase and Enid had snapped at her.

“Kid, where is your mother?”

“She died… clones… they… die quickly.”

“When I’m done with him, I’m blowing up this ship. You can die now, you can die then, or you can escape it is your choice, but if you’re leaving: Go!”

The girl looked at Enid she seemed about ready to run.

“Go now!”

The girl started to run away and Enid looked to the door they had been protecting. She reached out her hand and closed her fist the door crumbled into a ball and with a flick of her wrist it went flying over her head into a wall. She walked inside and was met with what was left of a human. He had hoses running out of various ports and his skin was pasty and covered in age spots. His old eyes looked up to her from his throne of tubes. She doubted he had anything left to use to get a woman pregnant. She glanced in the direction of the fleeing teenager then back to him.

“Albert McDonald this has been a long time coming.”

A half synthetic male voice echoed in the room. It belonged to someone who had been Scottish at one time, at least by accent.

“Enid Aurelius, we meet at last. How well I know your face, but those are not the kind eyes of my dear wife.”

“You assaulted me when you cloned me. Then you used her, this puppet, this mockery of life to create offspring? And they call me the monster.”

“She loved me as your husband loved you. He wanted you so desperately he paid me in blood so he might have you.”

“You idiot. He wasn’t my husband; He was the Black Son. The real evil in the universe. He wanted a clone of me so he could secure his claim as Emperor. You signed a deal with the real devil and for what? So, you could linger here? If I were you, I’d rather be dead.”

She blinked when she heard the half-synthetic voice cough. She looked at Albert’s libs and noticed they were moving.

“I was on a mission, a mission I thought you might understand, I was trying to save my daughter’s life.”

“From what?”

“A rare genetic disorder. My genes, they have a defect. Any children I have, their genes slowly degrade and their cells die off and eventually…they die.”

“So all of that…the fake vaccines? The kidnapped werewolves and vampires. The deals with the Black Son, the augmented humans? That was to save your daughter’s life?”

He coughed again and Enid could see the skin bag’s shriveled and wrinkled head moving.

“How are you even still alive?”

“My own…make up makes it so my cells just never die. With vampire and werewolf blood…I can live indefinitely. Eventually my parts fail just from wear and tear. You see, both the curse to my children and my ability to live…forever. Come from you. I can trace my linage back to Narfordshire.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Yes, your daughter Eyre had several children. And they had children…and the genes passed by your god-like blood…caused my daughter to…die.”

“Why not just turn her?”

“She was too far gone.”

“You realize none of this is going to save you? You kidnapped my daughters. I’ve killed for far less.”

“I understand. Did you…did you kill my granddaughter?”

“No. She is innocent.”

“Thank you for that. I…I recorded her a message when I knew our defenses would fail. I asked them to leave you know. They refused. I’m glad you didn’t kill them all.”

His shaking shriveled hand started patting a data crystal. Enid approached and reached out her hand and took it. She looked at it.

“You can watch it…its not encrypted. There is no need for secrets between us.”

“I’m not your wife, Albert.”

“You know…way back when I first saw your photo, I saw my wife in you, my first wife. She had the reddest hair you’ve ever seen. She died in a car accident when our daughter was seven.”

Enid slid the crystal into one of her pouches.

“Albert, how did you think taking my children would end?”

“Exactly like this, perhaps with more death.”

“Then why did you do it?”

“I didn’t, those were the machinations of a corporation that has taken on a mind of its own. A dragon I could not slay. They keep me on a short leash these days. Give me my pet projects like my wife…my daughter, my granddaughter. Keep me alive to harvest fresh cells for their rejection proof organs…ones that never die of old age, that they can repossess on death and shift to the future host. Better then cybernetic they tell me…”

“Why me? Why did you use a clone of me?”

“My DNA with yours? Makes for a viable child no gene defect.”

“So I am literally the only entity in the universe you can have a child with that will live?”

“As far as I know yes.”

Enid opened and closed her fists.

“And if I kill you, those organs which are cheaper then the cybernetic ones, the ones that save so many lives of people in need… will eventually just stop being made, the supply will dry up?”

He coughed again his old head nodding. She was face to face with him and she could hear his weak voice without the need of a speaker system. She could see the old weariness in his eyes. She’d seen it so many times on old vampires ready for the eternal sleep.

“A short cut…a mistake I should have never made. I needed money fast, so I used…my gift to create organs.”

“You know the only reason you survived the cloning of me the first time, the capture of my brother, and his wife, and the death of all those poor augmented humans is those organs. I wonder if Amee knows you’re alive.”

She saw his eyes look away from her and towards the floor.

“Another one of my many, many sins. I…became obsessed with her when we found nanites coded to her DNA. Then a corpse appeared with them embedded in it, all manner of cybernetics, metal bones… I did not understand…what she represented. When I was first rescued from my lab, I was still obsessed with her. I cloned her. You see she was my first second clone. Trinity, Trina for short. One of my assistants kidnapped her… stole her away. Raised her as his own. She started to develop new cybernetics as she grew and started to ask questions… Eventually the wrong questions. Once they found out she had nanites in her system no one could stop them, not even the Chairwoman of the WTO, SATO at the time. They chased that poor child down and disintegrated her.”

Enid let out a laugh. Albert looked up at her from his prison.

“The death of a young girl, even a clone is not funny. Her feelings were real, she was raised from a baby not knowing her origins she had every right to life you do.”

“Look I’m sorry I know it is not funny, its actually terrible, but I just…can’t believe you didn’t do the math. She didn’t die there. She jumped through time. The corpse you found in the 21st century, that was her. The nanites couldn’t keep her body in one piece because she was a clone and there were imperfections in her DNA. Those nanites you found, are of alien origin. They can time jump the host provided it’s a perfect match for what they’re encoded for. The reason you probably found nanites in the past is because I’m going to somehow drag some with me when I go back again.”

“How do you know all this?”

“Because Amee Jace…Morris is…an ally.”

“The chairwoman…is the original host.”

“You will never tell anyone that will you?”

“No”

Enid sensed the truth she looked up again.

“You fucking asshole! You give me powers back. You put juiciest target in front of me and the you rip it all away! Fuck you!”

“Who are you talking too?”

“God. Who do you think?”

“Are you alright Ms. Aurelius?”

“If I’m being honest, I’ve had better days. I almost got eaten by a mutant werewolf, I had to behead myself and now I’m talking to the vilest human being to have ever lived whom I find myself unable to kill him because the greatest good is leaving him alive. And fuck, you’re probably part of the key of saving the god damn fucking universe. Do you see the cosmic joke?”

He coughed again and shook his wrinkled bald head.

“You know what, I’m done with explaining his bullshit to everyone. So what now? My plan was to blow this abomination up with antimatter weapons. Now I can’t because it is your life support….”

Enid hung her head and shouted.

“Fuck.”

Enid held up her finger.

“I’ll be right back Albert.”

Enid flickered out of existence and found her robot still happily attached the servers. She tapped her holo-phone and opened the UI for the robot. She hadn’t quite finished the download. Enid tapped the script she’d started to get the download going and commented it out the bit about running the fusion reactor overload sequence malware and redeployed it. She flickered out of existence and reappeared in front of Albert. How she had missed the ability to bend time to her will. Enid cleared her throat.

“Where were we?”

He blinked at her slowly with his old, tired eyes

“You can teleport?”

Enid look behind her reflexively.

“What? No. I can just bend time to my will. Makes it look like I teleport because I can speed myself up or slow everything else down.”

He coughed again.

“Could you get my a drink, please?”

Enid looked around and saw a cooling unit she opened the glass door and removed one of the reusable water containers. She’d been quite impressed with the never use once ethic of the future. Living in domes with limited resources it was built into their society. She looked at it and walked it over to him. He lifted it and took a drink. She would have assumed him too feeble for such a task.

“So Albert, if your cells don’t die of old age, why is your skin like that?”

He nodded.

“You seem more in tune with biology then I assumed of an ancient vampire.”

“If I’m not dead, I’m learning. I spent a few decades as a pediatric surgeon. I’ve been to university twice. Medical school twice, well you know how it is, science degree, medical degree, surgery specialization. Well at least in Scotland.”

He nodded.

“I know it well, I was a medical doctor myself in the distant past. My cells will not die of old age, but they can be damaged by outside…factors. They are more resilient then normal but the sun did its damage well. What was left…did not survive being strapped to this…prison. My muscles of atrophied but they only need my organs working.”

“Muscles can be electrically stimulated.”

“Yes, yes. But as I said, they need my organs, the could care less for my comfort. They’d rather spend it on defenses.”

“You know who my sister is, once my friend gets your experimental subjects off this floating purgatory, she has instructions to jump to the closest FTL comm relay and send the location to her. They’ll have ships here in less than an hour.”

“Then this…terrible ordeal is over for the ones they kidnap, and for myself. My poor granddaughter.”

“Say again? What about your granddaughter?”

“I stayed here for her. My daughter went to try and wrench control of BMC away from the soulless monsters that now suck it and the people it once helped dry. They killed her and replaced her with a clone. And what of my granddaughter?”

“Wait, they just randomly do that? Murder someone, clone them and put them in place?”

He nodded.

“There is a clone of me, a puppet doing whatever the board says now one wears my dead daughter’s face and is also their puppet.”

Enid sighed. How could she be feeling sympathy for this fucking monster? He cloned her. Used her clone to make an offspring… He had violated her personally and so many others. He had done so many terrible things yet here she was feeling sorry for the prick.

“Where? Where is the board? Where are they cloning these people? You tell me and this shit ends now.”

Enid tapped her wrist and turned away from Albert.

“Bee! Bee!”

“Yes?”

“Have you left yet?”

“Was just going through pre-flight.”

“There’s a girl. I need you to find her. Red hair, green eyes, fifteen, maybe sixteen. Could be my kid. I need you to find her, take her with you and keep her safe at all costs. A lot of lives depend on it.”

“Enid? Is he dead?”

“No, he’s not fucking dead. Its complicated. Just find the girl. Ignore the doctors leave them here I’m not blowing the ship. Get the girl and follow the plan. Robot is on her way to the transport.”

“But the virus.”

“I stopped it from deploying.”

“Got it.”

“Wait one.”

Enid glanced back of Albert.

“What’s her name?”

“Hope.”

“Her name is Hope McDonald. She’s his granddaughter.”

“Got it. That it?”

“Yes. Good luck my friend.”

Enid heard Bee’s voice on the loudspeaker.

“Hope McDonald. Please report tube one. All others in Amber Sector shelter in place. Threat is still in play. She has only granted safe passage to the girl. This is now a hostage situation. Everyone stay calm and shelter in place. Hostile has advised that anyone showing up at the tube station that is not the girl will be killed on sight. Any available security teams stand down. I repeat stand down. Hostile has rigged the ship to blow and is providing demands.”

Enid tapped her wrist and walked back to Albert.

“Bee will keep her safe.”

Albert nodded slowly his eyes looking at Enid with a new respect.

“You were here the whole time, weren’t you? You infiltrated the ship designed to keep vampires in and out by being a mortal. You are…a miracle. Even with all my knowledge and skill I could only create a pale imitation of you. I came close with the first attempt, so close, but she lacked your power. Oh she had your reflexes and your muscle memory, but your mind must be…so far beyond human.”

Enid tapped her temple.

“No, I’m a human up here, I’m just old, like you. Plan? That was a fifteen-year-old hacker, a bodyguard and me randomly asking her to make a couple of ID’s. The mortal part, that was just God fucking with me, again. Vampires can’t make themselves mortal. Doesn’t work that way, not on purpose.”

“How did you manage to get here then?”

“Do you really want to know?”

“I would. If you don’t mind sitting with me and talking while we wait for the WTO to arrive. Call it mercy, respect for a foe, or just to mock the pathetic security of my runaway corporation. I care not which.”

Enid glanced around and walked to a drink machine. She selected a strong coffee, black and the picked up a chair and pulled it near enough to him she could hear his voice and they could see each other’s faces clearly. Close enough for conversation, far enough to not appear overly friendly.

“Let’s call it peace talks.”

Enid leaned forward she let the gloves flow back into her armor and she cupped the mug in her hands. She let her elbows find purchase on her thighs and she started relating her story.