5th Column Comics: Gaia #6
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Fear is a perfectly natural emotion, one that aids the preservation of the species, so why is it when I look at the two monstrosities standing before me that I feel contempt, amusement and superiority? Maybe it’s something in my English breeding, the British have good reason to have a superiority complex, and the country did control a quarter of the world from a miserable island in the North Atlantic for over a century.
”Start talking.” Siwang hisses as she points a modern looking compound bow at me, the arrow tip gleaming as if hit by the rays of a noon day sun. I take a moment and analyse, it doesn’t take long before I realise that an embellished truth will save the day and bring two additional bonuses; disruption to the enemy and proxies to use and abuse however I like.
“Do you know about Upsilon Carriers?” I ask knowing all too well that Wrong Legs and Siwang are learned enough to know about what I’m saying. “A company called Xiphos has made the genetic break through to mass produce them. And now that they can, they want to own the monopoly on such things; they are willing to burn everyone to get what they want.”
“Still doesn’t explain the touching!” Wrong Legs hisses as a massive glob of formic acid drips onto the table and sears through it to the floor beneath.
“That anti-carrier solution or whatever it is could save this city if mass produced.” I plead in my most sincere voice, I almost sound genuine, almost but not enough.
“No!” Wrong Legs hisses as he holds the solution close to him. “No it’s mine and my daughters, no-one else’s.” And while that’s not the result I’m hoping for it’s still too easy to manipulate.
“So your going to let everyone burn. What about after that, when you’re the last man standing, when they drag your daughter away and experiment on her!” I snap, my voice throwing some genuine anger in there with my faux fury. That catches both of them off guard and I can sense that they are beginning to doubt their first assumptions although it is not enough. “Fine be selfish, I’m sure that someone else can help me.” I say as I look towards the door.
“No wait!” Siwang barks. “Stay, Clive,” She says softly as she turns to Daddy Wrong Legs, “This will help the weighting of my soul.” She announces as she puts the bow down on the table. “And she’s smart, maybe smart enough to help Sarah.” She adds before putting a hand on his thorax plates. “Please don’t make me walk the fire strewn road, not when I could bring balance to my own soul.” Clive groans and nods before putting the case of syringes down before advancing towards me, his insectile form towering over me.
“You’d better keep your word!” He snarls before pushing past me.
”Of Course.” I reply, genuine sincerity leaving my lips, the words surprising me as I close my eyes and think about what to do next. I’d done the impossible and got what I needed, now all I had to do was use it.”
**
Bell-Cyclone Communications Tower, Maintenance Deck, Indigo City - A few Hours Later
IndigoCity is a metropolis of spires and towers, and the Bell-CycloneTower is just one of them. It was also a great vantage for those wishing to see their work unfold as the populous swarms below them like ants. So it was only a surprise to my allies that there was a microwave bomb squatting there like some tick on the towers red and white flanks. Bending down I notice that there are two red arrows pointing away from the centre and a big 6 etched onto the devices casing, great its part of a domino system and that means I have to estimate when to start activation of the inhibitors.
“Forty minutes till detonation.” I tell Siwang and Wrong Legs as they look over my shoulders. “Enough time to start dispersal.”
“There are ten bombs in total.” Siwang whispers as she runs her hand along where the device is clamped onto the steel of the tower, “All on high rise structures such as this one.”
“How could you know that?” I ask, genuine curiosity drifting on my words.
”I sense voids and tears in the world around me.” Siwang answers. “It allows me to see past scars and future conflicts, and then exploit them by tearing them apart or by healing the wounds. You are surprising, almost like a snake its old skin shed to reveal glistening unscarred scales underneath.”
“Fascinating, any idea when the first one is ready to detonate?” I ask, crossing my fingers as I await an answer that will never come. Siwang shakes her head which is all the answer I need. “Fine then let’s get this started.” I order as Siwang removes her bow and notches an arrow, its tip covered with inhibitors before releasing it skywards. As it reaches the clouds the tip explodes, ripped apart by its firers powers, the cargo it was carrying dissertating into the air.
“Ready another, this time fire it westwards.” I tell her. The process we are attempting is simple enough, and with some help has the ability to canvas a large area. The science states that heavy clouds drop rain, the rain can contain thousands of nano-generators that will quickly be dispersed, eventually reaching any Carriers caught in the downpour. The only problem with this cloud feeding is if it’ll act fast enough to save enough of the population for them to spite my former employers.
Twenty minutes later and one hundred kilos of nano-generators later and the sky still remains grey, the clouds threatening to burst but unable to do so.
”Where is that Wind Dancer guy when you need him?” Daddy Wrong Legs hisses as the three of us watch chaos down on the street as explosions rock the Police Station only a few blocks away.
“We don’t need him; we just need for it to rain!” I snarl as I look up at the clouds, there swollen bellies mocking me as they drift overhead. “It will rain, it has too.”
“Could disarm the bomb?” Maya asks as the timer drops to nineteen minutes.
“Yes and No.” I answer. “We could take this bomb out of the sequence and stop the others set to detonate after it but Xiphos would know something disrupted it, they would try again. It needs to look like a failure with the tracer isotope delivery system and not sabotage.”
“So if it does blow which way does the weighting of your soul tilt?” Siwang asks as she walks over to me and sits down, her legs dangling over the edge of the tower.
“There’s nothing after this life.” I answer quite certain that my belief is superior to hers, that science will back my knowledge up.
“Before I met Clive, before I became a healer I was an assassin.” Siwang tells me as the clouds get darker. “It was easy, to rip apart peoples scars; both the internal and external ones. To see everyone as a breach to rip apart, to tear the very wounds of the Earth open, to be a goddess. I know that those four months will dam me no matter the amount of good I do. My afterlife is forfeit but this life…if I can help as much as I hurt maybe this life will be worth something.”
”Well I see this life the way Darwin intended us to see it. The strong taking from the weak, which in turn rise up and become strong themselves or perish. The nature of humanity may be buried under culture, religion and politics but in the end it always shines through and reveals our true faces.” I answer a grimace on my face. “If I had the power of a goddess I would make sure everyone knew how strong I was.”
“It’s not having the power; it’s what you do with it.” Siwang tells me. “With the way I see the world it’s so easy to dehumanize everyone.”
“If I had power,” I state softly before getting to my feet anger rising in my voice, “I’d make it rain!!” Today will be a Gaia day no matter what every other force in the universe wants it to be, and as if on cue, the clouds burst and the rain falls hard and heavy. Opening my arms I feel the first cool drops on my skin and twirl round once as a massive storm descends on the entire city.
”It seems to be working.” Daddy Wrong Legs states and I turn to see Clive looking back at me in his human form, a quizzical look on his face.
”Just in time.” Siwang adds as she points to a tower at the edge of the city, a red energy field lighting up the top of the building before collapsing in on itself. Turning I look at the nearest bomb and see the timer click over to twelve minutes.
“Elouise you just lost the opening round.” I whisper as the rain intensifies and a second explosion lights up another roof top. Today is not just a Gaia day it’s my rebirth; Elouise, Terra both of those names are shackles to the days when I was part of the system, but now, now I’m free, a goddess unchained and ready for vengeance.
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