Rebellion (Rebel Wars Book 1) Read online

  The wondrous world of the digital Library had opened her eyes too much. The species that still existed beyond human and Corporation, the planets that still needed freedom from the foul conglomerate. The history of the Corporation would take her a long time to read, so she set it aside for later viewing. A game-plan needed to be drafted and that was her first priority. She wasn’t sure what remained of her imagination but something had tickled her fancy, something she was certain her human side would have hidden giggles behind disbelief over. There was a race that had visited ancient Earth before Earth could walk and left remnants behind. These remnants were the source of mythology and ancient tales, a race that controlled biological constructs of immense strength and fantastical ability. Alice’s mechanical shoulders shrugged with disbelief. If she was reading this right, they were the origin of the myth of dragons.

  Fiora had laughed hysterically when she read the entry and showed her men who followed suit. Nobody believed that what she had read was true and it was frustrating though it didn’t bring her to anger if she could still be angry. She continued every logical train of thought she could think of to convince the crew that she was reading fact and not some lame brain fiction created by the Demon. That according to the history she’d unveiled the existence of not only dragons, but ones that could travel through space and survive in the vacuum. They dismissed her and left Alice with the slight disappointment that came with being shot down over an exciting new discovery. That must be what the Tillman sisters went through every day, she mused. So what, even if there weren’t dragons it would be interested to see what kind of other races and technology existed. There had to be something to warrant this life of loneliness and it had to be more than just the slaughter of mortals. Alice could live forever if she chose, so why did she have to devote her life to nothing but killing?

  The war wound end eventually, and despite the fact they were outnumbered and outgunned, they would find a way. Humanity was known for its resourcefulness and its disregard for the rules of both society and physics. If anyone was capable of bringing the giants down, it would be humanity. Alice looked out over the stars and found she could count them without any effort, pulling up star-charts in her head to name each one. The Library was manifesting within her and creating a symbiotic relationship, the feeling of emptiness fading each passing day as she educated herself. There was so much to learn and so much more she could accomplish with this information. “

  Beware Corporation for I am the Calamity.”

  Chapter 22

  Commander Ahzulhand held his blade in one hand, frightening the man in front of him to near tears. The man had struggled to even pick up the Commander’s weapon let alone wield it one-handed. Ahzulhand stepped forward with equal parts strength and grace, the wind from the great blade knocking his opponent to the grassy floor of the training ground. Ahzulhand laughed and thrust the blade into the ground, offering a hand to his fallen friend.

  The cowardly Captain Reinholdt accepted the hand and pulled himself up, looking a way in shame. Azhulhand’s broad face was covered in the bushiest beard every grown by any Corporation man that had ever lived, a point of pride he would never forget to tell someone at a dinner party. His mustache was waxed and curled to a perfect point, and his eyes were the color of golden suns. He smiled, a warm and gentle smile his face devoid of the bulging features most Corporation men possessed. Reinhold was slender and bulging in the face, no facial hair to speak of and his eyes held fear not kindness. The coward had made friends with Ahzulhand out of necessity not kinship, though he had no doubt Ahzulhand regarded him as a brother. Reinhold turned his back to Ahzuland and exited the training room without a single word. He was disgraced during their training matches as usual, but he swore he’d never seen Ahzuland use only one hand on that weapon before. He hated swords anyways, they were arcane and unnecessary when you could end a life from a mile away with a single effort.

  Azhulhand watched his friend leave and sat down onto the grass with a mighty thud. He laid back and felt the tickle of the strands of grass caress his face. He looked up at the ceiling and the simulated night sky that calmed him so. He was a violent man who never could outrun the wars he fought. At night he heard screams and during the day he felt bones snap underneath his blade. He was so happy that he got to use the blade again since the rebels were. He didn’t mind so much the clicking death of firearms, but he preferred when he could get to really know someone. You never really knew anyone you spoke to until their life was about to be taken from, then you’d know everything you could. Were they cowards? Were they gentle giants? Were they just angry beasts? Ah the things you could learn when dueling.

  Azhulhand wondered about this Alice. Was she a duelist? What could he learn about her? The distress calls from Gaia had reached his ears too late to warrant any action on his part, though he was intrigued to hear how the Demon had betrayed the Corporation to get a sweet taste of revenge only to be run through by a couple hundred pounds of irony. It pleased him and when he spoke of it to Reinholdt even his gaunt friend chuckled some. Reinholdt was never one to face a man down but to find a way out of ever having to do so. The two of them made a compelling and odd friendship and yet no arguments from HQ over their performances could ever be made. They were still fighting against a very ancient race of people that could alter the biological form of their planet’s animals. Fighting monsters and shapeshifting demons made one a bit more open to obscene challenges. Azhulhand figured a break wouldn’t hurt them any and ordered both of their ships around. Azhulhand piloted a warship fairly well, but Reinhold held onto a capital ship of great power and renown. Where Azhulhand ruled the battlefield, Reinholdt ruled the sky and together they could take down any opponent, if they so wished.

  Azhulhand stood and gathered his weapon, the night sky reflecting off the golden-hue of his armor. He didn’t like the azure armor of the knights and hated the crimson purview of the Paladins from the rebellion, so he decided he would create armor his own. It was within his rights to do so as a Commander of the Corporation. Reinholdt stuck to black and grey storm armor, if you could call it armor. It was lightly plated clothing but he seldom needed actual armor in the bridge of a starship. Azhulhand reflected for but a moment and left the training hall. He knew an unrelated assignment would be given to him soon, though he also knew he would ignore it. The Demon had called a blood hunt on Alice and had not surrendered that verdict before his death. The swordsman and the captain would prepare to catch their quarry soon. Azhulhand hoped the hunt would be worth it, he was tired of disappointing prey.

  Chapter 23

  Alice hadn’t settled down in a new home in the Tower yet. Without the need to eat or sleep she spent most of her time wandering the streets or in the wilderness of the Birthplace Forge’s sphere. She had lost track of time more than once and had started to wish she had way to just power down and let the eons pass her by. She wasn’t sure she could describe what she felt as boredom but the logical conclusion was exactly that. She amazed herself at first by how free and fast her mind worked. She analyzed the combat data from her missions and had requested Project to whip her up a few upgrades of her own design. She couldn’t bring herself to face any of the Tillman sisters, in fact when they had sought her out she did her best to hide from them. It wasn’t fair to them, this wasn’t their fault, she just had no real desire (if she even could call it that) to talk to them.

  Alice missed the sensations of her physical form, the cool water splashing around her artificial feet. Her sensors let her know the exact temperature of the stream and the wind that guided it, and the best she was able to summon up were memories of those feelings. The metal body that encased her mind had periodic sparks of energy that her systems couldn’t quite keep up with. These spurts of energy had given her cause to explore deeper into the artificial ecosystem of the Birthplace Forge. The architecture and geological wonders were astounding, even to a logical mind such as hers. It made her recall the days of wonder and surprise with incr
edible and vivid accuracy.

  A week had passed since her execution of the Demon on Gaia, and nothing within her had changed. She’d gone through minor repairs delivered by the Artificial Intelligence, Project and had tried to occupy herself with work. Project had informed her that her mind was capable of greater feats now, however she still had a human mind that could not upload or download data gracefully like his could.

  “How can I have a human mind and be stuck in this shell? I can’t feel, I can’t sleep, I can only think and even then a computer is still better at it than I am? Maybe it was best I just died on that planet with the Demon!” She shouted, though her voice-projector was turned low due to her rare moments of speech. In her mind she envisioned human fingers tweaking the projector and adjusting its output in the way she had grown accustomed to. It was the easiest way to get the cerebral controls to follow her commands. Alice sat down on a sturdy-looking wooden log, resting her feet in the glass-like water. She marveled at the simplicity of everything. Simple, yet so intrinsically complex.

  “Pretty easily, Alice. Your brain is simply a complicated pattern of electrical energy that contains your mind. Some other form of previously undetected energy completes it, not quite sure what to make of that. But you are the first successful mental transplant done. I was amazed when I ran your diagnostics and found that your mind had been transferred in its entirety! Can you imagine what we can do with that? Even my daughter, Andreya, had no clue it would work this well!” Master Tillman said.

  Alice hadn’t noticed any heat-signature out of the ordinary or even detected his approach in the slightest. She couldn’t be startled in the typical sense, but she was definitely surprised to hear his voice. She kicked off the water, shunted off of the log, spinning and flipping in the air to land several feet in front of him. She realized the incredibly sloth in which she pulled it off in comparison to his quick and shadowy approach. She had never seen the man before, but he spoke of Andreya as his daughter.

  “Master Tillman.” She said, adjusting her posture from defensive to relaxed.

  “Yes Alice. Have we never met before? That is strange, I could have sworn that we had! Oh well.” He reached his hand out to hers with a quick jaunting walk, she took it for the ritualistic handshake; only he didn’t let go. He led her down a path in the woods and released her hand, the point assumed to be taken. The sky had grown to a darker palette, if even for just a few minutes. The rapidly changing environment was crucial to the survival of the ecosystem, and Alice had adapted with expected ease.

  “Where are we going? Not that..I have anywhere else to be.” She said.

  “My my. That sounded almost pitiful. It’s quite astonishing what you’ve become. Your logs say you remember emotions rather than feel them. It’s so beautiful. It’s as if you require a human component physiologically speaking, in order to actually feel. Scientists have oft wondered about the connection with human biology and emotions, you know…actual heartbreak, thinking one is sick and becoming sick, that sort of thing. Psychosomatic components have always fascinated me. In fact I’d like to..”

  “Master Tillman. I may have all the time in the universe, but patience is not a forte of mine regardless of what body I’m in.”

  “Right. Listen. I’m here because I have to tell you some things, some things that you may not want to hear, but they aren’t all bad.” He said

  They had started walking down a deep path into the darker areas of the woods, light was politely misdirected by the thickened foliage in the canopy above them. Alice had no problem with the dark or anything else that nature could throw her way. She felt above the natural order of things, perhaps even a demi-god in her own right. She had transcended temperature, sustenance, and even death.

  “Well then. I don’t really remember despair anymore. So go ahead.” Alice said

  “Have you noticed any spikes in your energy levels?” Master Tillman said

  “Yes, but nothing unusual.”

  “In fact, very unusual. The human mind shouldn’t be producing the extra levels of energy you’re experiencing on your own. It’s quite fascinating, but it could burn out some of the circuits that are holding you together. No matter how far science has progressed, it’s possible that we have never really pinpointed the concept of a human soul. And even though that definition is very vague it appears to be showing up in your energy readings. Your emotions are tied to these energy fluctuations. Even if you can’t feel them in the traditional sense, we believe that’s what is causing these spikes.”

  “The soul? I’m not really keen on discussing religion.” Alice said

  “Maybe it’s not religious at all. Either way, your body won’t be able to handle these kind of readings for long and truthfully, I’m not sure you want to anyways. You’re siphoning off data in your thought processes constantly. I believe these are your emotions. Alice, you are not meant to be a drone. And though it was fascinating, I think in the coming years you’ll have to shed that form.” Master Tillman said.

  “So. I am to die after-all?”

  “Maybe so, or maybe there is another solution. I’m working on it as we speak. But I need to know something.”

  “What don’t you already know?”

  “Do you wish to have your emotions back, your ties to Alex?”

  Alice hadn’t noticed before that he was leading her to the memorial gardens, a place where the statues to commemorate the dead were erected. She looked up at the one they were closest to and saw the face of her dead husband carved in stone and manufactured in his likeness. She considered it for a moment and started to notice what Tillman had mentioned. She was siphoning off data she assumed was meant for her feelings and emotions. She nodded to him, her blank face giving no hint of what it was she was processing.

  “Do it Master. Get me out of this form and let me…embrace what it is I am shedding.” She couldn’t bear the conversation any longer, kicking straight into the ground and leaping into the darkened sky and canopies. She didn’t care to hear any more, he had his answer and had delivered what she had not wanted to know. She couldn’t run away from her heart forever, and she wasn’t going to be allowed to die any time soon. She found a quiet place away from everything and laid herself down on the rough forest ground. She couldn’t sleep. She wanted to, but she couldn’t. With a thought she shut down her view of the outside world and focused on a hymn from her childhood, distracting herself with every note and lyric she could remember. All she wanted was to be home, even without her Alex she could be home with her love and memories of him. She had none of that now, an open funeral on the ground of the forest. She hoped the days would pass her by and she would lament no more.