Nilologue - Part 5

It takes a certain kind of person to kick in a sliding door.

Not attempt, but to fully batter through something that would just as gladly move aside. She came into our lives through the door that led out into the dark hallways, like an express train through a skipped station. All of us, bar Hugo and Simon, were having lunch. Simon was out - in fact, Simon was just now returned, clutching at her wrist and forearm while she dragged him in by the hair. In her other hand was a squat rectangle of metal and tubes, with two blue prongs at one end that clearly meant bad business. She panned it across the room in two easy movements, swinging Simon around to follow.

Her left leg was encased in some kind of thick black armour, a section of smashed door panel was draped over a huge boot. Her left arm was equally protected, ending in a huge gauntlet that held Simon like a vice. The left side of her face was covered by a rounded mask of the black metal, inset with a trio of evenly spaced cameras.

"Nobody fucking move or shorty here gets it!" she snarled, and of course Jack vaulted a table towards her. Gen shrieked something unprintable, and the intruder smiled. Only half her face moved. The thick rubber seal on the edge of her mask formed a border down the centre of her face, from the hairline, over the bridge of her nose, and turned to reach her neck under her left ear. One camera was pointed at Jack, one at Gen, and one square on my forehead.

Her uncovered right eye was truly feral, bloodshot and twitching a little. I wasn't sure which side of her face I preferred.

She held Simon aloft with one arm, and bowled him into Jack at chest height. Stepping over the pair of groaning boys, she advanced on Gen, every second footstep a clang of metal on metal.

"No, no, no, no, no" was all Gen could get out, taking little mincing steps backwards until she bumped up against a table.

"Gotcha! Hold still will you."

The gauntlet closed around Gen's upper arm, turning the protest into a cry of surprised pain. "Never fails," she said, pointing the weapon directly at Gen's head. "You there! Short stuff!" she called to Simon on the floor. "I've got your lover right here, so get up. And stop whinging, or I'll give you something to really complain about. I want the rest of these schmucks in line, or you'll see some blonde hair fly."

I realised two new things while Simon was pulling himself to his feet. The first thing was fresh and clear in my mind's eye, it felt like I was remembering something that had been explained to me only a few minutes ago. The piece of dangerous-looking hardware in the new girl's grip was in fact the barrel of a much larger weapon. Just the barrel, on its own, posed about as much danger as a hefty club.

The other thing I realised, was that I wasn't feeling scared in the slightest, just stabs of seething green-eyed jealousy. Which... well.

I was stood and speaking while Simon was still levering himself off the floor. "What's your name." I called across the mess hall.

"What's it to you?" she said, twisting to face me, dragging Gen along as well. Gen was pale, her mouth a thin line, taking little steps to try and keep the weight off her shoulder.

"I just want to talk, alright? What's your name." I said, hands out by my sides.

"... Annie."

"Alright, ok." I said. "Fuck off, Annie."

Annie frowned, then laughed. She did her best at both. The mask over her face seemed to bind up underneath, twisting her mouth into a sneer in either direction. But the laughter came through all the same, from somewhere deep inside. Gen tried to pull free, and got a shake for her trouble.

"Enough of that. Ha! Funny though. You," she waved the inert gun barrel at me "go help shorty up. He's your squad leader, so I want your passwords, I want any keys, I want, hm, a drink of water. Yeah. Nobody has to get hurt."

Gen let out another whimper, and earned herself another shake.

Simon eventually managed to heave himself upright, swaying gently, a livid mark across one cheek. Jack still hadn't gotten up.

"Come on, out with it," said Annie, trying to snap her fingers while still holding the 'gun'.

"I don't - I have no idea what you are talking about." said Simon slowly, while not looking at Gen. Just Annie. He definitely was not looking at Gen.

"Come on... just tell me what you know, and I'll leave all you freaks in peace." Annie said. She suddenly sounded very tired.

"I just," Simon ran both hands through his hair. "Passwords? For the pods?"

"Oh don't be daft, nobody has admin passwords." Annie scoffed, swinging the gun barrel around the room to point at things "I mean for the food, medbay, security feeds, whatever you've got."

"... we don't have any of those."

Annie blinked. Then twice more. She turned to look at me, to see if there was some joke or trick she was missing. Then she sat down in an abandoned chair. Gen was dragged into a half crouch, Annie looked almost surprised to see her stooped beside her. Annie's gauntlet slipped open, and Gen pulled away, dodging around Ingrid and stumbling in the direction of the showers.

"None. Nothing at all. Really? Shit, now I just feel bad." said Annie. She transferred her 'weapon' to the empty gauntlet and ran bare pale fingers through jet black curls. Her right arm only seemed small in comparison to that massive sleeve of black armour, Annie had bigger biceps than Simon. Her grey uniform was the same as mine, and it stretched around those muscles. She flicked sweat drops away from the ends of each finger, then quickly moved the gun barrel back to her uncovered right-hand. "Alright. Alright. Sure, just, get me a drink and I'll be on my way."

"Get it yourself," I said, kicking a chair aside and moving towards her. Simon hissed something at me, but I kept walking towards Annie. Even sitting down, she was still almost the same height as me. Maybe that's why I had this overwhelming jealousy coiling around my ribs. Right. Because she was tall...?

"Ok fuzzball, why don't we just cool it?" said Annie, swinging the gun barrel around to point at me. "You're funny, so you get a second chance. Back to your seat."

"Or what." I didn't let my eyes drop away from her face. Her unmasked eye was interlaced with mine, along with two of her three cameras. The third was jumping from Simon to Ingrid and back again.

"Or..." her glare dropped to the 'gun' in her hand, then back to me. I took another step closer. Her finger slowly tightened around a loop of metal that looked like a trigger, if that is what you expected it to be, but there wasn't actually anything there. Vague recollections of weapon specs came back to me, I'd seen the gun it was originally part of, a great big death machine that fired five hundred rounds per minute. Or... five per minute? Five thousand? Five-something. Right now, zilch.

My mouth twitched. I know, that you know, that you are holding a glorified doorstop right now. But do you know, that I know...? My heart was thudding behind my eyes. Who did she think she was, swanning in here with that big mouth and those big arms and that weird black armour that looked oddly familiar at this range. Maybe I'd ask her, once I reached out and snatched the gun barrel away from her. All it would take would be a-

A few things happened very quickly. I took a final, extra long step forwards, until the gun barrel was pressed right up against my sternum. I swung one arm around until it landed on Annie's wrist, then my other arm came around and grabbed the back of her hand. Her skin was burning hot, feverish. Then I did something else, some move that I wasn't quite aware that I was capable of doing, but had vivid memories of performing at least ten thousand times. Annie let out a cough of surprise, and dropped the gun barrel from a spasming hand into my waiting grasp. I was just as surprised as she was, and didn't really know what to do next. Traditionally, now would be the moment to point the gun at my previous assailant and turn the tables. But this was just a bit of scrap metal. Annie's boot caught me at ankle-height and swept both of my legs, and over I went like a bowling pin.

"Give that back you little brat!" she hissed, the cameras of her mask whirring frantically. As she stood up, she briefly blotted out the harsh ceiling lights, casting her face into darkness and turning her dark hair into a halo. I could see three tiny red lights in each of the cameras on her mask, as well as Jack standing on the table right behind her. Annie reached out the massive gauntlet towards my face, no, towards the gun barrel I had clutched to my chest. Jack let out a little huff of effort as he leapt, and Annie turned just in time to catch his knee directly to the head. She came down, he came down, and I ended up under the pile of metal and flesh. Lucky me.

I managed to crawl my way out of the tangle before Simon and Ingrid piled on as well. Eventually, Annie was on the ground, on her front, with Simon's boot on her head, Jack standing on her legs, and Ingrid sitting on the black arm. She swore, several times, twisting and turning, trying to get some kind of leverage, but she couldn't flail her right arm anywhere near the three of us pinning her down.

"... Whatever." She said. "What now? You gonna kill me?" I felt my stomach turn at the thought.

"We should, we should take off her armour first. Then she'll be less dangerous." I said. "What? Why are you all looking at me like that? I'm not being weird, we'd put her clothes back on afterwards. What? What did I say?"

Annie coughed a few times, then laughed again. "Oh honey. You pop out of a pod yesterday or something?" She couldn't move her head, but a camera twisted to look at me. "Huh! You actually did pop out of a pod yesterday!" The camera flicked back and forth. "And shorty, you didn't feel like telling her?"

Simon had his mouth pressed into a thin line.

"Then I will." continued Annie. "What's your name, sweetheart?"

"Bec. Rebecca."

"Alright Becca. Let me tell you what these schmucks didn't. This thing on my head? That ain't shorty's shoe. And these little gizmos." She wriggled the cameras on her mask in three different directions. "These don't come off. At least, they would only come off once. You get it?"

I found myself touching my nose. Annie nodded, or at least tired to. "You get it. You got lucky, Becs. You came out of your pod with all your bits. Shorty would've been a lot shorter without those shiny boots! And I haven't met anyone missing more than two limbs. Probably they get flushed."

"That's... that's horrible!"

"Which part?" she snapped back. My mouth flapped open and shut. I didn't know. Annie wriggled some more, trying to get uncomfortable. "So what'll it be? Gonna sit on me til you get hungry? Cut my throat and finish the job? Make up your minds."

"I figure we're all even now." said Jack eventually. "If we let you up, will you leave us in peace?"

"Sure."

"How are we supposed to believe her?" snapped Ingrid. "She'll just come back and do this all again."

"I guess you can either trust me, or kill me." said Annie. "And if you want to keep me locked up, you will absolutely have to kill me."

"We can trust her." I said quietly. Ingrid ran her eyes between me, and Annie, and back again.

"You're taking her side?"

I shook my head. "No. It's like... we're already all on the same side. Or something? I don't know."

The room was quiet for a moment. Then Simon leant back, taking the weight of his black metal boot - his foot, off Annie's head. "But we're keeping the gun." said Ingrid, sounding a little petulant.

"Sure," Annie shrugged. "Enjoy. You've earned it."

I shook my head again. "It's nothing. It's a prop. Look." I pointed it at Jack and pulled the 'trigger' a few times. He leapt back, stung by nothing. Annie laughed again. Having her laugh at someone that wasn't me was, well, it made me feel something in my guts. "I'm guessing Annie goes around threatening people. And if she doesn't have this, she'll have to rough 'em up properly. And we aren't going to kill her. So she may as well have something to scare people, instead of really hurting them."

Annie's eyes had gradually narrowed as I laid out my reasons. My heart was beating faster and faster, and I bore down to keep my speech measured and even. "Well then." she growled. "I'll be having that back then."

I smiled. "Sure. I'll trade you something for it. Maybe... for a password?"

"Oh for the love of- fine. Sure. Whatever. What do you want."

I tapped the end of the fake gun against my chin. Thinking... thinking...

"What was... the most recent password you learned. I want that one."

"Uh. Alright, deal. I got a new one three days ago. That for the gun. Twitchy will have to get off my arm first."

"Why?" Ingrid was immediately suspicious.

"Because that's where I store them."

"Oh." Ingrid shuffled a bit, then sprang off, moving quickly out of grabbing range. Annie spun her metallic right arm a full one hundred and eighty degrees at the shoulder joint, until her elbow was pointing towards her head. I felt faint. A small hatch opened in the back of her elbow, and a thin strip of fuzzy glass slid out.

"Let's see, let's see... latest password, here we go. And we're in the right room, perfect. Alpha. Slapdash. Engine. Worm. Eleven."

Annie swung her metal arm back into place with a flourish. Then frowned. "That should've-"

From the ceiling, there was a dull thump. The lights flickered. Annie's eyebrows shot up. "Um. That doesn't normally happen. Could someone, well, could someone tap the ceiling a bit. With like, a chair? I think it's- yup, you see that panel with the dent in it? Just give it a quick tap. And don't stand under it!"

Jack grabbed a chair, climbed up on a table again, and gingerly poked the ceiling. Once, twice, and then the entire ceiling panel fell down with a terrific crash. From the panel descended a long metal arm, ending in a wide black sheet of lightly scratched glass. "Perfect." said Annie. "Exactly as I'd planned. I'll be having my gun now." she sat up, folding her metal arm back into the normal configuration, and reaching out her other arm towards me. I leaned back.

"What is it?"

"It's a video display. Fine, I'll show you." Annie stood up in one motion, without using either hand. "Button on the underside. Yep, working fine." The display went form dark black to a slightly lighter shade of black, and a rotating square icon started slowly moving across it. When it reached the edge of the display, it bounced, and continued travelling. "If there are surveillance feeds active nearby, you'll be able to hook into those. Or if you have any movies, or whatever."

"We... Simon, do we have any of those?" I asked. He shook his head. I rounded on Annie. "You- you tricked me! This is useless!" Annie just shrugged, and snapped her fingers towards me.

"To be honest, I didn't even think of that." she said. "I'll be having my gun now. Or do I need to come and get it?"

"Give her the gun, Bec." said Jack. "It's not worth it."

I wavered, and slowly held it out towards Annie. She stepped forwards, grabbing my wrist in one hand, and the gun in the other. She moved away as quickly as she'd arrived, and I flinched back. "Pleasure doing business with you schmucks." she said, looking the gun barrel up and down. "Or something like that. I'm gone."

And then she was gone.

Simon stood, staring at the broken exterior door for a long time after Annie had passed through it. Jack put the knocked-over chairs back upright. Ingrid helped, then stared at the mostly blank display screen. Eventually, it was just Simon and I, staring at the door.

"I should, go check on Gen. Make sure she's alright." I said.

"I lied. To her." said Simon.

"What? To Gen?"

"No." he shook his head slowly. "To Annie. I lied to her, when she wanted the passwords. And I didn't even realise."

"Oh. Oh? So we do have some?"

"Just the one." he said, turned to face me. "I only figured it out now. Remember Your Training."

I shivered at the words, but they had no further effect. "And that's supposed to... reveal something?"

Simon nodded. "The way I see it, we knew these skills before we went into the pods, and that password opens up those memories. You and Ingrid have had the strongest reactions so far. Jack and Gen both felt something, but nothing really happened. But-" he turned back to face the door. "How did I know that password in the first place?"

I turned to face the external door with Simon. There was the subtlest breeze as the pressure pushed through the smashed panel. Someone would have to duct tape that back shut. I wouldn't be able to sleep, knowing the darkness around me extended all the way out - there. And then, every time the door opened and closed, tiny fragments of the tape would be sheared off and end up in the mechanism. And eventually, the door panel would break loose, and probably jam the door permanently. It was just one more thing that would inevitably break. One more thing that was coming apart at the seams.