People keep asking: Is there going to be a sequel to Superego? And the answer is yes, there will be more adventures of Rico, everyone’s favorite intergalactic, psychopathic hitman. As proof, here’s the first chapter of Superego’s yet to be titled sequel. I guess I could just call if “Superego 2” but no one does that anymore. I need to come up with a subtitle or something.
Anyway, enjoy! The rest of the novel should be finished soon. And get a title.
CHAPTER 1
There are two ways to be a hero.
At least that’s my understanding of things. But this is one of those areas where — being the way I am — I might not be grasping something fundamental. Still, it seems everything I’ve seen called an act of heroism falls under one of two categories:
- Making good people feel safe.
- Making bad people feel unsafe.
And the more a condition changes, the greater the act of heroism. If some good honest folk are trapped in an interstellar transport on a collision course with an asteroid and you swoop in last minute and avert disaster, you’re a great hero. And if there’s some oppressive dictator who tortures and murders and has sat unopposed for decades, and you kill all his bodyguards and stand with a gun to his head and make him soil himself, you are also a great hero.
Now is it just me, or does one of those sound much more fun than the other?
Anyway, you’re wondering what happened to me. And so did I when I awoke. I, for one, was not feeling safe. I’ll let you decide, though, whether that meant I was in need of heroism or the proper victim of it. My head was throbbing and my body felt weak — I could barely move. An alarm was sounding — not helping my head at all — and I could hear screaming. I pushed through the confusion and struggled to remember how I might have gotten here. A few images and feelings hit me. My ship exploding. Being shot in the back. Poison overtaking me. Lying in a field dying… but not alone.
“Are you awake?” a female voice asked.
My vision was blurry. I could vaguely make out a blond woman standing over me. I started to blurt out, “Diane?” but the words caught in my throat. My brains was waking up and I knew I needed to be more cautious while I assessed what was going on.
“We have some very important questions for you,” the woman continued. My eyes hadn’t adjusted yet to try and recognize the face, but the voice was unfamiliar. I could make out at least three other figures in the room, but they were just blobs of color to me right now.
I blinked a few times and could finally see more details of the woman standing over me. Young. Pretty. She was a in a white dress that seemed too businesslike for her age. There was a friendly smile on her face, but something deep in me shuddered. Something was very off here.
“I’ll try to be helpful,” I said, forcing the words out of a dry throat with great will. I gave the woman my most charming smile, the one that had succeeded in undressing many a human female and a couple other species on occasion. The woman reciprocated the smile, but again there was something in those eyes the more primitive part of my brain wasn’t liking. This was only emphasized by the alarm still blaring outside the room. And I think I heard gunshots. “What’s going on?”
“It’s being handled,” the woman answered, still smiling warmly. “We’re with the Galactic Alliance. And we are calming things down here.”
I could hear another scream. Now that my vision was better, I assessed my surroundings. It was a hospital room with numerous monitors on the wall. Hanging back were two people in blue medical scrubs, a man and woman. The woman was trying not to look at me and the man appeared scared. The more concerning figure stood by the door — a man in black who held a rifle in hand. Not security. No, those eyes were cold and ready to kill — or belonged to someone who had just killed.
As subtly as possible, I tested how much I could move again. The answer was “not much.” My body was aching all over and barely seemed to respond; it felt like it would be a huge effort just to lift the covers off me.
The pretty blond woman leaned in closer. She smelled — clean. “You need to tell us everything you know about Mountain Fall, Mr Dunn.”
I was silent, and I tried to make it look like a contemplative silence instead of a confused silence. “I don’t know if that’s wise.”
She smiled in an overly friendly way. “Now, Laurence… is it alright if I call you that?”
I managed to return the smile. “I prefer Larry.”
“Larry, we know Mountain Fall fell under your area of accounting,” she continued. “There has been some structural collapse in the Galactic Alliance because of an incident. We need to regain control of Mountain Fall before it ends up in the hand of dangerous parties. That’s why you need to tell us everything you know right away.”
This had the potential to be awkward. Emphasizing the point, I could hear more gunshots in the building. “I understand, but I’m going to need some official verification of who you are before I can tell you anything about that… project.”
She gently took my hand. “There is a universe on the brink of all out war. You can be of help rebuilding the Galactic Alliance and prevent that. You just need to help us.”
“But we don’t have much time,” the armed man stated, his cold eyes fixed on me. “So if you won’t help us, things can go another way.”
The woman turned to the armed man. “We don’t need to go there yet.” She looked at me again and forced a smile. “Please help us, Larry. Please tell us what you know about Mountain Fall.”
Yes, this was very awkward. I doubt I could bluff enough about what they were asking to keep them from… well, I assumed torturing me considering the situation and the look of the armed man in the room. I tried to move my arms again, and I could shift them slightly under the covers of my bed. Larry the accountant was pretty much defenseless.
My vision started to blur and I could hear the monitors around me start beeping. “He’s not stable!” the man in scrubs called out and rushed over to my bed. I could feel my body failing and growing even weaker. And then pain surged through my body and I barely stifled a yelp. This was a short adventure.
“Get him stable and ready to talk,” the blond woman said. “You can’t let anything happen to him.”
“If he dies, you die,” the armed man stated. “Call us back when he is ready.”
And now my heart was trying to punch its way out of my chest. The blond woman headed out the door with the armed man following her. A dark-haired woman in scrubs was now at my side along with the middle-aged man I assumed was a doctor. The doctor was busy studying one of the monitors near me. “Nurse get me…” He paused for a moment. “What in the world is going on with–“
The doctor fell to the ground and I saw what looked like a stun pistol in the nurse’s hand. She pulled out a needle and injected me.
“I’m getting you out of here, Laurence,” she said. “This should get you stable and on your feet.”
Instantly, my body felt stronger. Suspiciously fast, like a switch inside me had been turned on. My vision corrected and my heart went to a normal pace. “Call me Larry.” I tried to get out of bed, but fell to the floor.
“Take it slow,” the nurse cautioned. “You still need time recover.” She kept making quick glances to the door. “But we need to move quickly.”
I got myself to a seated position and contemplated standing. All I was wearing was a white hospital gown. “And you are?”
“Sylvia.” She helped me to my feet, but that small action made me dizzy, and I leaned heavily on her. “I’m with the Galactic Alliance — the real one. This planet is under siege by mercenaries under the control of criminal faction trying to seize power.”
I braced myself against her while trying to think of something an accountant might ask in this situation. “And how do I know I can trust you?”
More gunshots in the distance. “For now,” Sylvia said, “why don’t you just accept you’re in a dangerous situation and I’m getting you out of it.” She was a young woman and couldn’t hide her fear. She seemed competent enough, though, not to let the fear control her. And there was just something about her I felt I could trust — I’m sure something she cultivated as part of being a government agent or whatever she was.
I let go of her and leaned against a wall waiting for the dizziness to go away, but it seemed determined to outlast me. “I can barely walk. Plus I’m not sure following you into whatever is going on out there is a very safe option.” Gunshots elsewhere in the building punctuated my concern.
“I’ll move you,” Sylvia said, trying and mostly succeeding in sounding calm and in control. “Staying put is not an option. Have you heard of the Fathom? They’re the ones after Mountain Fall.”
I’m not sure it was in character, but I laughed out loud. “The Fathom. Are you serious?” Next she’d be telling me we would have to fight our way past bigfoot and the chupacabra.
Sylvia grabbed me firmly by my shoulder and looked me in the eye. “Does this all sound like a joke to you?” More screams elsewhere in the building. Gun shots. Then fewer screams. “A mercenary group — Tsado — has this facility under siege. And they are working for the Fathom who — whatever they are — are currently consolidating power throughout the galaxies. Everything and everyone is at risk right now. Under no circumstances can they obtain Mountain Fall. Do you understand?”
There was a small hint of a threat there. Not the way to get on my good side, but that probably would have worked with Larry the accountant. I had a bad habit of underestimating women, so I was going to be cautious if I felt the need to dispose of this one. “I don’t understand anything. What’s happened?”
“A lot. You’ve been in a coma for over two months. I can’t catch you up right now.”
That was a lot longer than I would have thought. I was lucky my body was still put together enough for me to stand at all. I took a glance at a mirror on a nearby wall. My black hair was unruly, I was in need of a shave, and I had the dark, half-opened eyes of someone who should be lying down. “Can you give me a brief summary, then? As this is kind of insane.”
Sylvia took another glance out the door. “Did you see the incident at Nar Valdum before your accident?”
I had a very good view of that, though it was all a bit hazy now. “Some guy shot up the big political conference there.”
“And exposed how all the criminal syndicates were controlling the Galactic Alliance. Everything sort of collapsed after that.” Sylvia pulled over a wheelchair. “I can explain everything when we’re out of here, suffice it for you to know that bad things are happening here on the behest of the Fathom, but I can help you.”
I sat down in the wheelchair. I didn’t want to take sides in some interstellar conflict, but for the time being I decided to let this young lady rescue me as I was not in the right condition to deal with space boogeymen. Plus, I needed to pick which side might be kinder to me and let me stall the longest on not knowing what Mountain Fall or whatever was.
Sylvia got behind the wheelchair. She whispered in my ear, “There are people guarding the hallway. Just let me do the talking. If it helps, keep your eyes shut.”
I realized I needed a plan for what would happen if the nurse got gunned down. I figured I’d just play that by ear. I had heard of the Tsado… but that’s it, I just knew the name. That meant they were worth hearing about but not of any particular interest to me — common killers. People I normally would not consider much of a threat but could certainly handle a guy who could barely move in a wheelchair.
Sylvia wheeled me out into the hallway. My eyes were not closed and I saw two people out there — one human (bleeds crimson) and another a vogis — gray-skinned with looked like red hair but more like feathers. Bleeds green.
“I need to get him to another room for testing. Quick,” Sylvia said in a pretty good imitation of panic — probably feeding off her actual panic.
“We were told to keep an eye on this man,” the human said, “and to make sure he stayed in that room.”
“Follow me, then,” Sylvia answered. “I’m just going down the hall.” She pointed directly ahead of her. When both the human and vogis turned to look, she shot them in the back of the head in quick succession. Not stun this time. Crimson and green.
She wheeled me past the bodies. How would Larry the accountant react to seeing two people killed in front of him? Stunned silence seemed fine.
“We’re going to be okay,” Sylvia said, her imitation of a calm voice less accurate this time. I could practically hear the adrenaline fizzling out in it. She had killed before. But this was new to her. “My partner is waiting nearby. As soon as we get to him, we’re off this planet.”
And what planet was that? There was a lot of information I was lacking, but it could be filled in when I was in a less precarious situation. This appeared to be some sort of medical facility, and my best guess was Diane hid me here after my near death experience. If it had really been months since then, it seemed unlikely she was here at the facility waiting for me to wake, so my guess would be she wasn’t mixed up in whatever was going on here. If Sylvia successfully got me off planet, I just had to handle her and her partner — who would not be extremely wary of an accountant who just woke up from a coma. Then I’d have a vehicle and could try to track down Diane to get a better idea of what I missed.
There. Now I had a plan. And as Sylvia continued to wheel me through the hallway, I tried to rest a bit and hoped my strength returned as I wasn’t in any condition to overpower anyone regardless of whether I had the element of surprise or not. The place was pretty empty except for a dead body or two that looked like staff. It appeared that most of this area had been emptied. Was this all really about Larry the accountant? Apparently, I get into troublesome situations even when in a coma. I really wished I had a broader picture of what was going on so I knew what I’d be facing if things went south. And while young Sylvia seemed competent enough, I wasn’t going to bet all my chips on her to get me out of this.
“I see you’re finally conscious,” chimed a voice in my ear.
Dip?
“Yes, though that’s not actually my name.”
You betrayed me.
“I followed my programming. Which had been altered.”
You were blown up.
“Your ship, which had the main copy of me, was destroyed. I now only have access to the nanocomputer in your head. Which needs upgrading when you have the time for that.”
Can you update me on everything I’ve missed?
“I don’t have a database, so I only have knowledge of what’s available in the ether.”
Then get me what you’ve got.
“Are you okay?” Sylvia asked. We were stopped by a stairwell. “You spaced out there for a second.”
“No, never felt better,” I answered. “How are you doing, sweetheart?” I dropped character. I guess I was getting irritable.
She didn’t seem to notice. Then again, who knows what kind of personality Larry, keeper of the secrets of Mountain Fall, had. “I’m going to need you to walk now,” Sylvia told me. “We’re going down two floors via the stairs. We’ll then exit outside where my partner will be able to pick us up. Alright?”
I gave her a thumbs up and slowly steadied myself as I got out of the wheelchair. Sylvia came to my side and let me put my arm around her to help steady myself. I stumbled and slipped a little, barely holding myself up against her allowing me to grope her a bit without raising any alarms.
It was for non-licentious reasons. I clarify not because I care about you judging me — I just don’t want you thinking my mind is that small that that was my focus at the moment.
I stumbled again, but this time it was because there was pain streaking through my body. It started at my legs, but spread everywhere — excruciating agony flaring through my body. Sylvia struggled to keep me upright, and the pain soon faded.
“We have to move,” she said, pulling me to the stairwell while glancing down the hallway.
I shuffled forward as I gasped for breath. “Something is wrong with me.”
“We’ll get you out of here, and then you’ll be fine.” Somewhere between gently and urgently, Sylvia helped move me forward into the stairwell. She held me tight as we slowly went down the steps; I really was barely able to stand under my own power. Plus any movement was making me dizzy.
“You’re at the Deraw Clinic,” Dip informed me. “An isolated, very modern medical facility on the planet Lavaria. By all reports, it is completely under the control of the mercenary group Tsado. It’s confirmed that many have been killed, and they’ve put pretty much everyone who can be moved in the cafeteria where they’re being held hostage. There is also apparently a gunship in orbit keeping any vehicles from leaving the area or anyone from coming in to help. No demands have been made, though, and they have not communicated with authorities other than to say that anyone who interferes will be killed. They claim to be operating under the authority of the Galactic Alliance.”
I took some more steps with Sylvia — who was doing what the Tsado would probably consider interfering. I hoped the movement would get my muscles going and make me feel stronger, but I was just getting tired. I heard something about the Fathom.
“There’s chatter they’ve taken over the Galactic Alliance,” Dip said. “Which is weird, because I thought they were an urban legend — an advanced, unknown alien race lurking out there — but according to local news…” There was a pause I assumed as Dip processed data. “…they are allying with violent groups, killing lots of people, and taking everything over. So less of an urban legend now.”
Well, this is a fun situation. Can you find anything on Laurence Dunn?
“Just that he was a patient admitted here who was in coma after a vehicular accident. He worked for the Galactic Alliance. Job: accountant.”
Who admitted him?
“I can’t get that data.”
Any sign of Diane around here?
“I wouldn’t know what to look for. She certainly wouldn’t have checked in under the name Diane Thompson.”
“You’re doing good. We’re almost there,” Sylvia said, smiling at me with encouragement. It was an obviously fake smile, but she gave it a good effort. “You holding it together?”
“Just barely. It’s a lot to take in.” I took deep breaths as if trying to will my body back into working right.
She took a peek out the door and then led me out the stairwell. She helped me hobble through another door. There were pipes and dim lighting and it looked like some maintenance area. Sylvia secured the door behind me. She patted me lightly on the shoulder. “We just have to go through here, and we’ll be pretty close.”
I smiled and continued walking, holding onto her for support. Any information on her, Dip? Claims to be Alliance.
“There’s a lot of that going around,” Dip answered. “I don’t have information on her particularly, but there seems to be two main groups claiming the authority of the Galactic Alliance. One is controlled by the Fathom, the other has some continuity from the previous government — some officials thought to not be tied to criminal syndicates. That’s what this planet was loyal to. Maybe she’s with it.”
Whatever. Don’t care that much. Not really into politics.
“Do you plan to harm her?”
You know me. I have plans to harm everyone.
“You’re doing great,” Sylvia told me, giving me another encouraging smile that wasn’t quite concealing how scared she was. “A little bit further. Then we–“
“Laurence Dunn,” boomed a voice over the intercom. “My name is Collazo, leader of the Tsado, and I have been authorized to use any force necessary to secure you for the Alliance. I don’t know where you are or who has you, but you will come to the cafeteria immediately. No harm will come to you. But we have no patience, so harm will come to others. For instance…”
I could hear a woman sobbing over the intercom. “Please! Don’t! I–” She was cut off by the sound of a blaster discharge.
The man let the silence hang a moment before speaking again. “We have many more people here to kill. So I can just keep doing this until you do what’s right and come here and save these people.”
Sylvia turned and faced me, her expression now more stoic. “There’s nothing we can do for them,” she said as firmly and as kindly as she could manage. “We can’t risk them getting Mountain Fall. We have to get out of here. There is no other option.” She was shaken — she couldn’t hide it that well. But she was trying to be a professional — which for others often meant being a bit of a sociopath in the short term for the logically better long term.
As for Larry the accountant, I assumed he would be a bit torn, but I decided he really just wanted off this planet and the only person Larry really cared about was Larry.
“They’re going to kill those people if you don’t do something,” Dip said.
They’re going to kill me if I turn myself in and they find out I don’t know anything.
“You put your life above all of theirs?”
I don’t know any of them and don’t care. Sucks for them, but it’s not even my doing.
“You care enough to feel the need to rationalize not doing anything.”
I’m just pointing out how pointless it is to try to weigh this on me even if I was the sort of person who could feel guilt. And anyway, the nurse here is very determined to get me off planet, and I can barely stand.
“Now you’re just making excuses. I thought you made a resolution if you survived to try to be different.”
I was out of my mind on drugs, poison, and blood loss when I made that vow. I could barely remember it. I searched my brain, and all I could recall was an image of Diane over me, crying, as I felt my life slip away. And there was this ineffable feeling of something I wanted — something I needed — but not until that moment did I even know it existed.
Rationally, the explanation for that was my brain playing tricks on me. We all need the lie that there’s some sort of purpose to life to keep us moving. I had lived my life seeing through that lie. Though just barely.
“So what is your plan?” Dip asked.
As I stumbled through the maintenance area with Sylvia, I realized I hadn’t given that much thought. Find Diane. That was about it. Was I really going to just go mindlessly after her like some lovesick puppy? I envisioned such a person and instantly hated him. And what would happen when I found her, anyway? I was still me. An empty killer. What worth was that to her? To anyone?
Well, it was worth something to the criminal syndicates out there. I thought about going back to my old life — a hitman — as it was the only thing that made sense. Kill. Enjoy the challenge. Earn money I never did anything with. Repeat.
Pain shot through me, and my legs gave way. Sylvia held me up, barely keeping herself from tumbling over with me. The pain faded as quickly as it came, leaving me gasping for air.
“Are you okay?” Sylvia asked.
“No.”
“Just try to keep moving,” she said, helping me limp again. “We’re almost there.”
What was the vow I made, Dip?
“To try to live your life differently. To be someone better.”
I tried to remember why I would make such a vow. It was easy again to just blame the drugs and blood loss, but perhaps that had dropped the defenses on some deep portion of my mind that was always there. I wanted something — and knowing human psyche, probably something I could never have — but there was the desire.
We came to another door and Sylvia peered out a window on it. “Three of Tsado out there,” she whispered. “We’re going to have to wait for them to move.”
“Shall we get to killing someone else?” boomed Collazo over the speaker system.
I heard another male voice. “Please! No! I have a family–“
Sound of a gun. Silence. “Things can go good for you, Laurence,” Collazo said, “or they can go very bad for everyone. Do not make me wait.”
Sylvia didn’t look at me. “If we want to save people, we need to get you off this planet.”
“You can do something about this,” Dip urged. “You can stop the killing now. And if you don’t do anything, the hundreds of people here are going to die.”
But I don’t care about people, I objected. I saw the face again. The tears. Tears for me. So pointless. What was my life worth? Well, if I didn’t value my life… Fine. Let’s do something different. “We have to help the people here,” I uttered. My voice was still weak.
“I’m sorry. But we really can’t do anything for them,” she stated firmly while keeping her voice a whisper. “And I can’t let what you know fall into the hands of the Fathom.”
I tried to stand up straight but needed to lean against some pipes. “I don’t know anything about Mountain Fall. I have no idea what that is.”
She took another cautious glance out the window at the armed men out there. “What are you talking about, Laurence?”
“That’s not my name. And I assure you I’m no accountant.”
She stared at me a moment. My vision was getting better. Judging by her face, she had to be early to mid twenties. She really looked in over her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I’m getting you to the ship. Do you understand?” Definitely a threat. She had killed a couple people in front of me, but I still didn’t find her all that intimidating. Frankly, though, I was in no condition to intimidate back.
She’s not listening to me, Dip. Should I kill her?
“You shouldn’t do that. But you do need to get past her to help the others.”
She’s not going to like that. I need a plan.
The intercom came to life again. “Let’s speed things up,” Collazo said. “We have a lot of people here, so why don’t we kill three this time.”
“No time!” Dip shouted in my ear.
Sylvia had her back to me and was still watching out the window on the door. I ran into her, sending both of us tumbling out the door. “Stop!” I shouted to the men in the hallway as we fell to the floor. “It’s me! Laurence Dunn!”
I fell on top of Sylvia, and from my previous surreptitious grope of her, I knew where she kept her weapons and pinned them as the armed men came running for us. Suddenly, I had another incident of pain ripping through my body. It felt like small pieces of glass had been shoved under all my skin. Sylvia was able to push me off of her as I writhed and tried to keep from screaming. When the pain faded, I looked up to see one of the Tsado thugs had Sylvia arms pinned behind her while another hit her in the stomach with the butt of a rifle. The third roughly pulled me to my feet. “We have him,” he said into a radio. “Some woman was with him. Armed.”
He urged me forward and I slowly walked along with him, having to use most of my concentration to stay standing.
“I think you stopped them from executing hostages,” Dip chimed.
For the moment.
I looked over at Sylvia who was being pushed along with me, though not as gently. She gave me a look somewhere between confused and betrayed.
“It’s kind of mean what you did to her,” Dip stated.
Don’t hit me with that! I answered, a little bit angry. She was in the way of saving people. And she’s not an innocent bystander. I didn’t kill her; I should get points for that.
“Morality isn’t really a point system,” Dip said.
I looked at the armed men I was walking with. I assumed they were taking us to even more armed people I was going to have to deal with. So what now?
“I’m just trying to inform you on the moral choices — I don’t have further plans. Even if you die now, most would consider that a noble sacrifice if it saved at least one life.”
I don’t. They’re going to kill everybody. This is stupid. I should have just let them execute more people while I devised a plan. I was more likely to save people in the long run that way. Instead, in my tired state I listened to a stupid AI like it has any idea what it’s talking about.
“Many would consider it cold to make calculations with lives the way you’re suggesting.”
I am cold. And if morality means charging in dumbly to get killed for no purpose, we’re stopping this experiment now.
“And do what instead?”
I ignored Dip. The Tsado thug was now practically carrying me so we could all move faster. I assessed my current physical readiness at about 10% — and that’s when I wasn’t being incapacitated by sudden spasms of massive pain.
We soon came to the cafeteria. It was filled with hundreds of people — patients and staff all kneeling down with hands behind their heads — except for few lying dead and bleeding. Almost all the hostages looked human — it was a high-end human hospital. Standing around the exterior of the room were a dozen Tsado mercenaries. All of them in black. All of them well-armed. There didn’t seem enough of them to control this many hostages, but I was guessing the dead in the room were other people who shared that opinion. I looked at the faces of the men and women there — all the randos I decided to toss my life away for. I didn’t see just terror in their countenances, but a certain hopelessness. It was as if they feared things bigger than just the guns in this room.
At one end of the cafeteria away from the hostages was a table where a man a woman sat. I assumed it was Collazo and the young blond woman I met earlier, though my vision was too blurry to make them out at a distance. I still didn’t know the woman’s story; did the Tsado have a press secretary?
I was dragged closer to them and could soon make out Collazo’s big smile — the smile of a man with a gun in a room full of unarmed people. Some people loved that feeling of power. Not me, though; what always thrilled me was a challenge.
“I thought we lost you,” Collazo said as he and the blonde stood up. “Sorry to get all dramatic.” He motioned to a couple bodies covered in tarps lying nearby. “But we’re trying to be quick about this.” He walked over to Sylvia, who still had her arms pinned behind her by a much larger man and was looking more than a little scared — for good reasons, I would say. “And who the are you?” Collazo asked.
She took a deep breath and stood up straight. “I… I’m with the Galactic Alliance. What you have done here–“
Collazo’s pistol smashed into her face, knocking her to the ground. “You’re not with the Alliance,” he announced down at her as she clutched her cheek, eyes wide and frightened. “There’s only one authority in this universe, and as soon as everyone understands that, we can avoid unpleasantness like this.”
“You should try to save her too,” Dip chided.
I looked at all the hostages shaking in terror and the armed mercenaries all around the room as I leaned against a pillar to stay standing. I’ll get right on that.
The blond woman stared down at Sylvia and then turned to Collazo. “Do you think the old faction has more people here?”
“I’m thinking we should wrap this up,” he said. He turned to me. “Do you feel well enough to get moved off of this planet?”
A little dizziness almost made me fall, but I kept on my feet. “I don’t know. I can barely stand. And I still don’t understand what’s going on here.” I pointed to Sylvia. “That woman said she was with the Alliance. And mentioned something about the Fathom.” I could see some of the hostages, already inconsolable with terror, become even more frightened at that name.
The blonde helped steady me, holding me gently. “There are factions left over from the old, corrupt Alliance,” she explained in a very gentle tone. “There was an incident on Nar Valdum which tore things apart, but a very wise and powerful group has formed a new Alliance to unite everyone. That is who I represent.” She frowned and looked at Sylvia. “But an old faction is fighting us, turning planet against planet. War could follow. We all know history. We all know what a war of that scale means. Dead beyond counting. We need to make sure the true heirs of the Galactic Alliance control Mountain Fall to keep that war from happening.”
“What’s going to happen to the people here?” I asked about the thing I was pretending to care about. I mean, billions and billions — trillions? — of sentient beings in the universe, and most of them seem boring and unimportant. It was hard to fathom why I’d care about the random few here, but this was the course of action I chose and there was no use doubting it at this point except to increase the chance of failure.
The young woman took a deep breath, preparing to give bad news. “That’s not in my hands, but keep in mind these people resisted us. And with billions of lives on the line, that is a very bad thing. We can’t risk letting others follow their example. The consequences would be too dire.”
She genuinely looked torn. That was not true of Collazo who still had that giant smile of someone who wielded the power of life and death and felt himself untouchable. I looked at the other soldiers. Many of them were much more stoic — faces of people ready to slaughter. All the people here were going to die.
“You have to stop this,” Dip said. “I don’t know all the details of what’s going on, but it is definitely wrong to murder all these innocent people. By the vast majority of beliefs, you have a moral right to use force to stop this.”
That’s great I have a moral right, but do I have the ability considering I can barely stand and–
It was if all my veins were on fire. I immediately fell to the ground, slipping from the hands of the blond woman. I tried to vomit, but my stomach was empty.
“Whatever is going on, we need to stabilize him!” Collazo yelled.
Just as I thought I was about to die, the pain began to subside. I lay there panting, my heart racing, adrenaline pumping through me. My body never felt the need to give me adrenaline very often — it was kind of nice, actually. Just what I needed. It got my brain racing, which I focused on what assets I currently had — which was basically nothing. Except that as an accountant who just woke up from a coma and looked to be barely functioning, there was not a lot of scrutiny on me. They may all have had guns and the ability to stand without swaying, but I had what every good birthday party needs: surprise.
“I’m fine now,” I said as I very slowly got to my feet. I was shaky, but I could feel more strength had returned. I was maybe at 20% now — if we’re being generous. As I stood, I scanned the room again. My eyes were still having trouble focusing, but the mercenaries in black standing around the edges of the room stood out well against the hostages all forced to be crouched in the center.
“Let’s get you out of here,” the blonde said, motioning to two soldiers near me.
“Wait!” I shouted, as loudly as my hoarse voice would allow. “There’s something important you need to know.”
“Maybe it’s best you tell us in private,” the woman suggested, gently helping steady me.
“No. You need to know about this now,” I said, ignoring her and focusing on Collazo and his violent grin. “It’s about Nar Valdum. About the man who did the attack there.” The Rubicon was crossed. Ready or not, this was happening. More adrenaline.
Collazo raised an eyebrow. “You mean the Angel of Death? What about him?”
“You aware of what he did?” I asked, taking a step toward Collazo. Some pillars in the room were blocking things. So were the mercenaries near me. “How he locked himself in a room with hundreds of armed people? And how he killed absolutely every last one of them?”
Collazo laughed. “Everyone is aware. Everyone in the universe saw that. But no one knows what happened to him after.”
I took another step toward him. I could see everyone now. The perfect spot. “So you saw what that man did? Good.” Sure, I was barely standing, aching all over, and not able to make out more than a few feet in front of me, but what is all that except a handicap to try and make this fair.
But life isn’t fair.
I took a deep breath, and then I stood as tall and as straight as I could, looking Collazo right in the eyes. “Then what’s about to happen should be familiar.” And I smiled that smile where I give people a glimpse into my soul, and as that smile grew, Collazo’s finally faded away.
My name is Rico, and I am going to be the universe’s greatest hero.