"What happened to our drones?" Gayle asked, her eyes crazed.
Four of her sister Sirens were dead, struck down by Arturo's group. They had found Olivia knocked out cold in an Architect's office just in time, which barely brought their numbers up.
After their hostages escaped, they fled the shipping bay by the skin of their teeth. Unfortunately, precious hours had to be wasted to seal off as much of negative-seventeen as possible. Now that Gayle was able to reach Coeuss the bots could do most of the work, but that didn't make up for lost time.
They were huddled together in the control room with a projected hologram of Arc City Two in the middle. Gayle flicked her wrist to spin the three-D image like a carousel. Any area flashing red indicated that it had been sealed off while Coeuss worked to repair the damage done. It looked like the bottom half of Arc City Two had been dipped in glowing blood.
"We lost connection with them, just as Coeuss predicted." Lauren smiled, looking up from her tablet. "Which means the Seafarers came to meet their ship, and they have made it back to Arc City One. They are probably conferring with the Quorum as we speak."
"On schedule." Gayle nodded, willing herself not to celebrate just yet. "How's Olivia recovering?"
"She has a mild concussion," Bethany told her, poking her head around the projection to make eye contact with Gayle. "She's being held by bots in the medical bay until you're ready to talk to her."
"Should we watch the footage of Olivia's last minutes alone with the prisoner?" Lauren suggested. "I can have Coeuss bring that up now."
"Coeuss will evaluate the situation." Gayle cut her off to remind Lauren of their place in this operation. "He will give us his judgment when he is ready."
The others did their best to keep their eyes from wandering too far from Gayle's as they did not want to be associated with having their own opinions about this new pecking order. Technically, Coeuss had passed judgment on the men (and women) on the Arc City already, and the Sirens had been fine with that assessment.
However, this was the first time one of Coeuss' decisions was directed at one of their own, and that was hard to swallow.
'But if it will make all of you feel better, I will go and talk to her now." Gayle told them, taking the temperature of the room. "You stay here and monitor Coeuss' progress."
Gayle stalked out of the room, her boots clomping through the fresh trail of blood she'd tracked along the way. She wasn't happy about having to coddle her fellow Sirens. Couldn't Coeuss have prepared them better for the spoils of war? She thought to herself.
The medical bay on negative-six was small and smeared with body matter from the previous outbreak of violence. There on a low table that doubled as a bed, sat Olivia holding an ice pack on her head. Even bruised, she was a breathtaking woman.
"Am I going to be held like some sort of criminal for handing you your win?" Olivia sniffed as soon as their eyes met.
"That depends," Gayle responded, sizing her up.
"On?" Olivia pressed.
"On you," Gayle told her as a vile smile folded her features. "You seem to forget you're also the reason we lost our hostages in the first place."
"What does it matter?" Olivia questioned. "You were just going to kill them as soon as you got the override code."
"It matters because you triggered a different scenario." Gayle snapped, her patience wearing thin. "Coeuss told us that if we get Arturo here and killed him, we would have our victory. Now, thanks to you, we're taking on water and Coeuss is running probabilities on new scenarios."
"I thought all his scenarios resulted in our victory?" Olivia's bottom lip trembled, showing a weakness that Gayle could seize.
"All but one, yes," Gayle replied equably. "But approximately two hundred thousand situations could result in your death now, thanks to you."
Gayle waited while her threatening words sank in and Olivia's eyes popped. "Including this scenario?" Olivia's dread-soaked voice was barely above a whisper.
"That's up to you," Gayle said cryptically. "The odds aren't great. Now, we got the override code regardless. So, you should feel proud. Even if Coeuss determines that you're too much of a threat to keep alive, you did your part, sister."
Gayle's emphasis on the familial word turned Olivia's stomach as she rested a surprisingly strong arm on Olivia's shoulder. A thin veil of panic cloaked Olivia's perception of the gesture, and she intuitively brought her hand up to caress Gayle's.
"I was stupid." Olivia began, keeping her tone low enough to sound repentant. "I let my feelings for that man cloud my judgment. If Couess finds me guilty, I will accept the decision."
Of all the possible responses, Gayle wasn't expecting this. She stepped away from Olivia to look at her. She'd read the Architect's exemplary file and communicated with her on multiple occasions through Caitlyn. Never had this woman shown an ounce of humility, and yet she seemed resolved to her leader's verdict. Gayle's memory snapped painfully back to her lover, Caitlin. The agony she'd been pushing away threatened her better judgment.
"We all have to accept the losses to come sister." Gayle choked through her scratchy throat. "We knew the consequences of these actions."
"Did we?" Olivia challenged, forcing real tears to pool in her eyes.
Olivia knew very well the ramifications of what they still had to do. In fact, she'd long ago made peace with the demise of every male of the species and wasn't at all affected by the casualties of the women who were foolish enough to follow them. Olivia had even managed to compartmentalize the wasted lives of children to get what she wanted. She too had gotten to know Gayle this past year, and she knew exactly which buttons to push.
Gayle's resolve crumbled at the sight of Olivia's crocodile tears. "Yes." She murmured. "Caitlyn knew the probability of her survival was low. She sacrificed herself for our cause, now we must be ready to do the same."
"And, I am," Olivia promised, her most winning performance yet. "I don't have anyone back home to mourn, so I do not understand the pain you're going through, but I can listen if you need me to."
Gayle hadn't taken time to grieve her loss. She'd loved Caitlyn (she was still in love with Caitlyn if she was being honest), and when Sandra had delivered the news of her death, it was a blow. The past thirteen months had been torment. Having to stage their separation was the most awful ask Coeuss could have made, but she was loyal to their cause and Gayle had persisted. Now, she would never be able to hold the love of her life again.
She wasn't always homicidal. In fact, neither she nor Caitlyn would have ever turned to something so desperate, but they had been backed into a corner. When they'd found out that they weren't chosen for procreation, their dreams of motherhood were crushed. That verdict had been handed down from a man's arbitrary rules born out of a broken patriarchal system.
Who were they to decide whether she and Caitlyn could provide a loving and supportive home for a child? To discriminate against them because both parents weren't high-ranking members of the community, felt criminal.
When Caitlyn showed Gayle the records of Arturo's future prediction protocols, which ran millions of scenarios in order for Coeuss to evolve their environment over time and keep them safe, she understood what they had to do. Arturo had clearly buried the program to hide the grim truth. There was no future for mankind.
Probability dictated that the Arc Cities would fall as a democratic republic in a revolution fueled by poisonous men focused on their own benefits. Millions of scenarios all pointed to the same destiny, regardless of the party or their ideals. However, if a woman led the revolution, there was a chance for survival, albeit small.
They knew that there would be sacrifices along the way and the journey would not be an easy one to tread, but either way, it seemed that Gayle and Caitlyn were doomed to a life of forfeiture.
She didn't allow any of these thoughts to mangle her countenance while she deliberated. On one hand, Coeuss had not yet determined that it was safe to trust this woman, on the other, they were down in numbers and could use the help. She hadn't been in power long, but already Gayle could tell it was going to be a juggling act.
"Coeuss will make his determination soon," Gayle assured her. "And if what you're saying is true, then you should have nothing to worry about. Let's go back to the control room, our sisters need us."
"Our sisters?" Olivia repeated, her eyes cautious.
"Until we have his decision, you are still a Siren," Gayle confirmed with a nod and grabbing a tissue for Olivia to mop up her face. "C'mon."
Gayle did not leave Olivia's side as they made their way back to the control room. Dozens of bots flowed through the halls, chirping to each other on their errands.
"We sustained a lot of damage in the escape." Gayle told her as they sped along. "Most of the flooding should be contained, but it has affected the timeline."
"Understood," Olivia said, scanning the hallway. She knew that Gayle would be her constant companion up until the moment Coeuss told her what to do. That could prove problematic for Olivia if she was to escape this with her life.
"That Tinker seemed intent on causing the most destruction possible." Gayle spat. "I wish we could have at least apprehended that one. I would have delighted in torturing a deaf girl."
An involuntary shiver ran up Olivia's spine at this. The Sirens eyed Olivia, some of their faces twisting in confusion.
"Did Coeuss determine..?" Lauren trailed off, not sure if it was polite to ask about someone's execution right in front of them.
"Not yet," Gayle answered. "But until then, we need the help."
The rest of the women nodded, some with more certainty than others.
"So, now what?" Lauren asked, hoping to sidestep this conversation and steer them back to the task at hand.
A ping from the tablet Gayle was holding stole her attention for a brief moment. When she looked up again, her eyes shone. "Now, we need to begin phase two."
Hell Awesome Adventurers!
I forgot to include Marcus in my character art (derp!), so I thought I'd treat you to a look at the meathead's mien.
I'm also going to leave a NEW character who is about to be introduced, Justin. Justin is a seafarer (a group of people who are rarely seen on the Arc Cities because they patrol the water.) Now that the team is back on Arc City One, there are going to be some huge revelations and some even bigger explosions coupled with a gnarly beasty who could foil their survival. But for now, I'm going to leave you with the image of Justin: