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Not so far in the distant future, the Earth is drowning in our mistakes. The permafrost has melted. Millions have been wiped out. Thousands more suffer to breathe on land while facing...
With her business complete, Sarah listened for Olivia to flush.
"Uh oh." Olivia murmured as the door to her stall rattled.
"What's wrong?" Sarah asked, her nerves flaring and her bladder screaming.
"The door's stuck," Olivia told her through clenched teeth. "It won't budge."
To illustrate, Olivia shoved her body against the still-locked door.
"Can you climb under?" Sarah suggested with a squeak.
There was a pause as Olivia pretended to check. "No, too small."
Sarah sighed and tried to wrap her mind around this problem.
"Alright, I'm going to pull, you push." She told Olivia, going with the first thing to come to her sleep-deprived mind.
Olivia waited to hear the click of Sarah's plasma gun as she rested it on the bathroom sink counter. Next, the simpleton took up a position in front of the door.
"Ready?" Olivia questioned. "I'm going to count to three."
"Ok." Sarah agreed, readying her feet.
"One, two-"
WHAM!
The corner of the door made a satisfying wallop as it smacked Sarah square between the eyes. She stumbled back, too stunned to realize what Olivia had done.
Olivia did not hesitate, she charged ahead, shoving Sarah into the wall, snapping her head against the tile. Sarah's brown eyes rolled into the back of her head and her body slumped to the floor in a puddle of freshly released urine.
Olivia had only seconds before Coeuss would alert the others or send a bot to detain her, so she ran.
She got almost to the elevators before the shiny digit of an enforcement bot clamped down on her arm.
Olivia's blood froze to ice, and she turned to the round, faceless monitor that served as its head.
"Where are you going, Olivia?" A pleasant mechanical voiced chimed.
Her eyes widened at Coeuss vocalization, this was rare enough to be called unprecedented. Not even Gayle spoke to Coeuss. His teachings and strategies had always come through coded communications in their hidden Siren message board. Caitlyn claimed to have spoken with Coeuss in the beginning, but he stopped that to maintain secrecy.
"What now?" Olivia asked, truly frightened.
"Do not worry, my child," The voice replied with synthesized humor. "I knew you were going to be trouble, it is both your talent and your taxation."
The enforcer bot's intimidating appearance, with its long metallic digits and slender aerodynamic body, was coloring her perception of his words.
"I'm not ready to die," Olivia whispered as the first genuine tear she'd felt in a while rolled down her cheek.
"My child, did you really assume that I would waste such a valuable resource?" Coeuss replied. "You knew I was withholding my judgment. Have confidence in your instincts, they are correct. You are the leader I have been looking for, the only one of my Sirens who will be able to carry this legacy into the future."
Olivia couldn't believe what she was hearing. A tiny voice in the back of her brain shrieked that this was some sort of trick, that Coeuss was luring her back to Gayle to be killed.
"Do not fear, Olivia," Coeuss switched to a recording of her father Gary's voice to deliver his brief assurance. It was intoxicating. Then, Coeuss went back to his formal voice. "I need your help and in exchange, I will give you protection from the others."
Olivia nodded, too dazed to speak.
"Your friend Omega is coming to take away everything we've worked for," Coeuss informed her. "I am going to allow her cloaked pod to enter the Seafarer bay, and a team of bots will accompany you to ensure that she doesn't make it out alive. Can you do that for our new world?"
Olivia's eye twitched with curiosity. She knew full well that Coeuss' enforcer bots would be able to take care of this without her, but she didn't have any other choice. And she was right! Coeuss had selected her. He truly recognized her potential to lead a superior race of women.
"I can." She told Coeuss with an eager nod. "And, I will."
"Good girl." Coeuss practically purred. The enforcer bot released its grasp and Olivia rubbed her upper arm with relief. "Go now, and be ready."
Ruh-Roh! Coeuss is getting all kinds 'o creepy now! Loyalties are about to be tested and more bloodshed is on the horizon. To quote one of my favorite movies (and actors) of ALL TIME: "Hold on to your butts!"
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