Battle Lines Read online

  “What is it?” he asked. Mercury bit his lip and Sol continued in a soft tone. “Speak freely. What’s on your mind?”

  Mercury’s gut was twisting up into knots. Then he started speaking and it all unwound. “How am I…supposed to stop that?” He pointed a finger up at the number of estimated casualties on Erithian’s display. The number expanded to fill their vision.

  Sol knelt beside him and turned his face away from the display so Mercury was forced to look into his eyes and put his big hands on Mercury’s small shoulders. “Listen to me Mercury,” he said tenderly. “Don’t dwell on the size of the task. Break the problem down into manageable pieces. It is a lot to handle, but you are not alone. You have me. You have the others. When I am finished with the six of you, you will be more than ready.”

  Mercury nodded. Even though he had no idea how Sol would prepare him and the other Angels to save humanity, he trusted the man more than he trusted himself. “Okay.”

  “Remember the Metians. ‘The battle is won first in the mind.’ If we believe it, then we have the chance to make it happen.”

  Mercury knew from his nightly lessons in the DreamTanks the Metians were an ancient warlike society. They existed thousands of years ago back when men killed each other with bows and arrows. The Metians believed battles were fought before they even happened, all in the mind.

  “If you can’t trust in yourself,” Sol said. “Then trust in me. Would I ever lie to you?”

  “No,” Mercury said with conviction.

  “Then you have nothing to worry about,” Sol stood up. “It doesn’t matter if you can’t see that future just yet.” He gestured at the AI’s display. “That’s why we have Erithian.”

  The holographic form of a non-descript young boy appeared. “Don’t worry Mercury. I’ll handle the heavy lifting.”

  Mercury slowly let out a breath. He looked from the AI’s avatar up to the number of predicted casualties with new perspective. Sol’s words were all he needed. Then, a thought occurred. “Even if we reduce that number to zero,” he said calmly. “It won’t fix the problem that started the revolution. In a year or ten or twenty, we’ll have the same problem.”

  The surprise on Sol’s face was evident. He smiled and shook his head. “Well done Mercury, you’re absolutely right. The Sons of Liberty are a symptom of the larger problem. However, the equation is about to change. Erithian, show him please.” The holographic boy smiled and then the Eye shifted, an engine of some kind appearing. “This is the MauKe drive,” Sol said. “It is capable of opening wormholes. Do you know what those are?”

  Mercury gave a crisp nod. He had learned about those in the DreamTank. “Wormholes are a link between two points in space,” he recited. “By passing through them, it is possible to break the speed of light barrier and travel almost instantaneously from one point to another, regardless of traditional distance.”

  “Exactly,” Sol nodded. “This is a power mankind now possesses.” The image of the engine was replaced by the dual suns and five planets of the Hel system. “This is all humanity has ever known. Five planets, only four of which we could terraform.” Erithian’s Eye shifted again, zooming out until the Hel system was lost in a cloud of bright specks that comprised one spot on one of the arms of their galaxy. One giant sea of light, and every speck of light was a star.

  “We could never explore them all,” Mercury breathed. “Not in a million years.”

  Sol said nothing. Then the galaxy shrunk. Mercury watched as it was joined by the surrounding galaxies, becoming smaller and smaller until it vanished completely in a nebulous mist of multicolored light.

  This is the entire observable universe.

  Still Erithian’s display shrunk everything down further, until the glowing mist coalesced before him into a patch of light the size of his hand. Mercury could not tear his eyes away from the sight. Every ebbing wisp represented a space so vast and infinite as to be beyond comprehension, yet here it was. So small and finite.

  “Humanity is about to undergo an expansion event unlike any other in history,” Sol’s voice filled Mercury’s ears, rich, resonant, and directionless. “The universe is about to get a lot smaller. Once the Event begins, it may never end. For better or worse, mankind will never be the same again.”

  The pocket infinity before Mercury’s eyes winked out of existence and the room brightened. He blinked a moment, dumbfounded. He felt like he had been dreaming, only for it to be cut off by a bucket of cold water. Sol stood before him.

  “Humanity must be unified by the time the Event occurs,” Sol went on. “Otherwise…the damage will be on a scale not even Erithian can predict.”

  “That’s why defeating the Sons of Liberty is so important?” Mercury asked.

  “Exactly,” Sol nodded. “I can keep the existence of the technology a secret, but only for a while. We must put down this insurrection quickly and decisively, using any means necessary.”

  “And once we stop this revolution,” Mercury began.

  “We will have peace for ten thousand years,” Sol finished.

  “Ten thousand years?” Mercury’s eyes went wide.

  “That’s a conservative estimate,” Erithian said.

  Sol nodded. “Once the Event begins and becomes self-sustaining, Erithian will be able to manage humanity and maintain their unity. We just need to put down this rebellion.”

  “Okay,” Mercury started to nod. “One way or another, let’s make it happen. Time to wake the others?”

  Sol smiled. “When we wake the other five Angels, they will need a peer to show them what being an Angel means. Can you do that for me?”

  Sol rarely asked him to do anything; if something needed to be done he simply gave the order. The fact he was asking now communicated the gravity of his request. No matter what came ahead, Mercury would make Sol proud. “I will Sol, no matter what.”

  “Thank you.”

  ***

  On the way down to wake the other Angels with Sol, Mercury refreshed himself on each of their files. He swept his fingers across the bright display of the HoloPad. Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Not a one older than eleven, and yet each had been chosen by Sol to be Angels. Mercury had met them all once before when Sol rescued them, but since then they had all spent anywhere from one to eight months in the DreamTanks. They had all been in various terrible states, but the DreamTanks took care of that. From analyzing their personalities and learning styles to physically and mentally conditioning them and giving them a baseline education, the DreamTanks did it all.

  Venus. The blonde Bjornish girl looked like she was born straight from the snow of her home planet. She was ice on the inside too, already showing readings of single-minded tenacity, but it was driven by a deep fear of weakness. Made sense, given what Mercury had seen of her parents’ abuse. She had been in the DreamTank longest, but even so her receptivity readings were even higher than Mercury’s. The machine could download information directly into her brain with almost no resistance. Sol’s mentor, Teresa Balemore seemed to be something of an idol for the girl. She had a strong lone wolf complex and was fiercely loyal; maybe they were linked to her obsession with the Balemore.

  Earth. The boy was small, but you would never know it looking at his face. Bright, fearless, blue eyes poking out from a mess of dark hair. At first Mercury had doubted the Taurusian orphan would be physically capable of being an Angel, but the boy had done pretty well in the DreamTank all things considered. He would probably be on the small side his whole life, but the data showed he was expected to make a fine Angel. Great team player. Mentally, he was probably the healthiest of all of them. The boy was already showing a developed sense of perspective that reminded Mercury of Sol. Perhaps it was because Earth lived at the same orphanage as the general.

  Mars. Strong, with buzzed, black hair and dead, gold eyes set against dark skin. If Earth was the most mentally healthy, then Mars was compensating. Even older than Mercury, the Maraccan boy soldier showed extreme signs
of being an emotional suppressor, and he was really good at it. The kid could easily be mistaken for a psychopath. That explained why he had killed the other boy on Maracca. “Our greatest strengths are our greatest weaknesses” as it were. Not only had he been a Zero, but he had also cared for Jupiter and Saturn while they were in that warlord’s army. The Maraccan planet did not share the same luxuries of its moons. The fact that Mars had survived and protected two other children as well was astounding. Apparently, there had been four other kid Zeroes with them too, but those hadn’t survived.

  Jupiter. Same as Mars, the Maraccan boy’s hair was dark and buzzed. But his eyes…those brown eyes questioned everything from underneath their furrowed brow. The boy could read people. Whether it was out of necessity from being a child soldier, or because Mars frightened him, Mercury didn’t know. This kid was sharp. While he was in the DreamTank, he had been in a near-constant state of awareness because the people in the programs had not felt real enough. Unfortunately, that inhibited the download of information slightly, but the data read that he had the makings of another great team player.

  Saturn. Her face was small and round with nervous, dark brown eyes. Her dark brown hair was uneven and jagged, as if it had been sawed off by a dull blade. She was the youngest and also the only one who had not taken the initiative to go with Sol. In every single program that was not specifically designed to make her be alone, her subconscious inserted Mars and Jupiter into the mix. She was terrified of being alone. It did not take a genius to see why. She was young and for a long time Mars and Jupiter had been the only ones keeping her alive. There was strength in that weakness though; she accepted the radical changes in her life up until now because she had no idea what was normal.

  Compared to the rest of them, Mercury almost felt normal himself. How would he lead them when his life before joining Sol had been so relatively easy? Of course, the old him had been burned away. He was an Angel now, through and through. Sol was counting on him, and there was no way in Hel he would let him down.

  “Are you ready to meet your new family?” Sol asked as the elevator they were in reached the first Forging floor.

  “Yes,” Mercury nodded confidently and followed Sol out.

  The elevator opened right into a brightly lit, white room with seven vertical DreamTanks lined along one wall and a single terminal opposite them. These tanks were designed for DeepDive. They fed, exercised and otherwise sustained the user for as long as needed while they ran the tank’s programs. Tactics, strategy, language, military discipline, history, leadership, battle simulations, the DreamTanks taught it all. Sol had put Mercury in for a month of DeepDive when he first became an Angel, but he had not touched it since then. He had a DreamTank in his room for nightly use.

  On the far side of the room was a heavy steel door. On the other side of that door was the first Forging room. A shiver ran up Mercury’s spine. Was that fear he was feeling? If so, revisiting that place with the other kids would be good for him.

  Sol walked over to the terminal and began tapping his fingers on the screen. Mercury heard the sound of the DreamTanks draining and Mercury’s tank opened with a hiss.

  “Am I joining them in the DeepDive?” he asked.

  “Not exactly,” Sol said as he started the wakeup process. “You will see soon enough.”

  At the press of a button, the DreamTanks containing the other five Angels split open with a hiss. IV’s, PulseStims, breath masks and restraints were already disappearing from view and basic undergarments were being stretched around them. With a faint whine the excess tank fluid disappeared from their bodies in an instant. The difference in the kids between now and when Mercury first saw them was like night and day. The tanks could not completely replace physical activity, but anything was better than what they had up until now. They looked stronger, healthier, even taller.

  Earth leapt from his tank. The small boy was looking around with wide eyes, like this blank white room was the most incredible thing he had ever seen. A dark mop of hair swished around as he drank everything in. Blue eyes shone as he smiled from ear to ear and Mercury realized the tank had even straightened the boy’s once crooked teeth. Earth closed his eyes and took a deep breath in through his nose. No surprise there. The air on New Tarence was far cleaner than the slums of Taurus.

  Venus stepped out next, and everything about her was the opposite of Earth. She seemed tall for a girl, and doubly so next to Earth. Her steps were slow and deliberate. Where Earth was full of wonder and energy, she had the determined look of someone on a mission. Her fists were clenched and narrow, pale blue eyes swept the room. Mercury knew from the tank’s data how much she wanted to be like the Balemore. She already seemed to be trying to conquer the room itself by willpower alone.

  When Mars stepped out, it was with the caution of someone on a battlefield. Golden eyes immediately locked onto Sol. The boy watched Sol like the man was an apex predator that had him cornered. Even at this distance, Mercury could see the goosebumps all over Mars’ arms. He was larger than Mercury by far, but still he nodded at Sol in deference before moving towards the other two DreamTanks, never once showing his back. The boy’s eyes remained fixed on Sol the entire time. Mercury noticed a small piece at the top of Mars’ left ear was missing.

  Once Jupiter stepped out, he backed slowly away from Mars and looked nervously around the room. Keen brown eyes looked at each of them in turn. His posture was unassuming and reclusive, bigger than Earth, but nowhere near as big as Mars. Mercury could see the gears turning in his eyes as he took everything in. They flicked to the imperious Venus, then to Mercury. An almost imperceptible nod of understanding and he began inching towards them.

  Saturn crept out of her tank making no more noise than a cat. She immediately moved closer to Mars, staying behind him. She was the same size as Earth, maybe a bit smaller. Her dark brown hair had grown some, but it was still uneven, longer in the front than the back. Her eyes found Venus quickly, but she shrank back behind Mars.

  All this happened in a matter of seconds, and Mercury took note of everything. A part of him questioned whether all of these kids would cut it as Angels, but then he remembered what he had been like before joining Sol.

  “Attention,” Sol commanded. After a moment, they all remembered the lessons in the DreamTank and complied.

  “Listen closely,” Sol continued. “I will only say this once. From this point on until the day you die, you are a new person. Forget your old name. That person is dead. You killed them when you made the choice to become something more. You are all Angels. That is the only identity that matters. Over the next several weeks I will show you exactly what that means. I promise to break you in every possible way. I will eradicate all traces of the person you once were, until you have embraced your new identity body, mind and soul. I will forge you into weapons of war. When I am finished, the six of you will be an invincible force of nature.”

  Mercury saw the five of them all look at each other and shift about in their own way. All except for Venus, she smiled.

  “The six of you gathered here will become closer than family,” Sol went on. “Your loyalty will be to each other first and foremost. If you learn nothing else, learn this.” He looked at Venus, “Alone you will fall, but together you will have no equals. You are bound to each other forever. You are the faceless guardians of all the worlds. All individual needs and desires will be sacrificed for the greater good. Together you will usher in humanity’s Golden Age. This is the unshakeable truth of your universe.”

  None of the Angels seemed to really understand what Sol was saying. Thanks to the DreamTanks’ lessons though, they were paying close attention.

  “I’ll give you a few minutes to stretch and move around before the six of you will be going back into your tanks. I recommend you spend this time to get comfortable with each other, because with the exception of one other person, no one outside this room will recognize you as an individual for the rest of your lives.”

  Non
e of them spoke, instead choosing to stare at each other. Venus took note of Saturn, the only other girl present. Then she turned away. Mars just watched Sol; Mercury doubted the boy had forgotten Sol’s response to the incident on Maracca. Earth looked at the others, and then made eye contact with Mercury. Mercury smiled and nodded. Together they would break the ice.

  “This is going to be great,” Mercury’s enthusiasm was sincere. “I’ve been waiting for you guys to wake up ever since you got here. I’m Mercury in case you forgot.”

  “I didn’t,” Venus said flatly.

  “I’m so excited to be here,” Earth said, helping to diffuse the awkward silence. “This’ll be so much better than Taurus.”

  “That’s right,” Mercury smiled. Earth already had his back. “You went to the same orphanage as Sol, didn’t you?”

  Earth gave a terse nod. “Yep.”

  “Really?” Venus seemed wholly focused on Earth now. “What was it like?”

  “Hey,” Mars called out to Mercury. “The dreams kept mentioning the Forging. What can we expect?”

  Right down to it. “The Forging sucks,” Mercury said lightheartedly. “But it’s totally worth it. You’ll do great.” He was not sure about Saturn though. “It really helped me realize how strong I actually am. Sometimes you have to see yourself at your weakest to know how strong you are, know what I mean?”

  “Yeah,” Mars’ eyes stared off into the distance, cold and blank.

  “Hey Jupiter,” Mercury waved him over. “No need to walk on eggshells; we’re family now.” The boy moved closer. “So how was the DreamTank?” Mercury asked, “Did you understand the programs okay?”

  “Yeah, maybe,” the boy shrugged then shook his head. “No. I don’t think so. I can’t remember much of it.”

  “Don’t worry about that,” Mercury waved his hand. “Your brain’s working hard to sort it all out. It’s been working especially hard the last month. All that stuff will make a lot more sense in a couple days. Your Tarencian is pretty good though, all of yours.”