The Lightbreakers of Orpheus [21]
A serialised Sci-fi novelette
Previously [20]
[21]
“In normal conditions we’d have to let him recover completely. But there’s no time to waste. And he’s not a normal human, so… let’s hope for the best,” Doc Benton talked, trying to catch his breath. Derek marched onward through the hallway of the old hospital without waiting for the elderly physician. Doc Benton hurried ahead of Derek, and opened the door to a hospital ward.
The one standing there was a proper Lightbreaker. Fully dressed in a black mech suit. Helmet over his head. Unrecognizable. Derek paused before entering the room.
“Mark? Are you ready? Jimmy is starting the engine. As we spoke, the Vulture will get you as close to the nearest Lightbreaker outpost as we can. We will communicate through our old communicators. The Rebels can’t perceive them. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” Mark replied. He was a half-machine again. He knew what it meant. This suit was his casket. Mark knew he won’t survive. That wasn’t even an option. His mission was to find Anouk’s whereabouts, get her to safety if possible, and cause as much damage to the Rebels as he could.
He followed Doc Benton, and Derek to the Vulture05. Every move Mark made was heavy, and exhausting; he had gotten used to the freedom of his own body belonging to him, not the Rebels. Yet the suit, and the biomechanics amplified his strength, his resilience, and the sharpness of his perception. The darkness was back, and his thermal vision as well. His brain analysed the information he perceived in every painful detail.
The flight didn’t take long.
“This is it. You’ll have to walk the distance through the desert, before they find you. We can’t fly any closer,” said Derek. He walked with Mark to the Vulture’s exit.
“Find her, please. Alive or… dead,” Derek said quietly, “don’t forget who you are, Mark.”
Mark gave a short nod. He stepped onto the red sand of Orpheus, walking back to the place where he last heard the Voice.
***
“Sir, what are your orders? Supreme Leader Jerome, sir?”
“What do you want?! Leave me this instant!” the latter yelled insanely at his officer. Though the doctors assured him that operations went well, Jerome was in excruciating pain.
“I had forgotten being human meant being in constant pain.” He smirked.
He laid in a hospital bed, connected to monitoring devices beeping, and rustling their comfort to him. Jerome was alive but the pain made him wish for a quick death. He was on the strongest medication possible, his mind was clouded, and thoughts unclear. But it was worth it. Perfection was always worth it.
“Sir, the Lightbreaker units had been waiting for orders, we can’t afford a stand-still, the Government forces are…”
“I SAID, LEAVE ME ALONE!” Jerome bellowed with his healthy eye bulging.
“Yes, sir. We’ll wait for your orders, sir,” the officer saluted hurriedly, and ran out the hospital ward.
“Soon I’ll be stronger than ever. I will be human again, the perfect human I once was,” Jerome laid back, taking deep breaths, all the life-support devices yawping in a mechanical chorus.