Boss King and the Blade

Friday, October 2046

The Slippery Sod, en-route to Skyport

Melody-Six

The sun shone from a cloudless sky, beating down with a heat that made the deck plates hot enough to scorch an unprotected foot. The Slippery Sod was sailing almost due north, following the coast to the tip of the peninsular that comprised the bulk of the Zone. Up there lay the harbour of Skyport, home to the space launch facilities for the small nation as well as being a major sea port.

Melody walked across the main cargo deck, her innate sense of balance letting her footsteps fall silently and without stumbling. Boss King was coming towards her from the stern, his face screwed up tight as he tried to keep his lunch where it belonged, stumbling to the left and right as the ship tilted in the swell.

His breakfast had already been hurled over the ship’s side that morning, to a rousing cheer from the crew that saw him. Unlike her, the boy was suffering mightily from seasickness that no medication or sailor’s tricks seemed able to cure. The only suggestion Captain Su-Chan could offer was to ride it out and hope he got used to being at sea.

“You Okay, Taiga?” she enquired with genuine concern. “Do you need anything?”

“Summon the Shadows” he begged her. “Kill me now!”

“You’ll be fine by tomorrow” she assured him. “Su-Chan reckons a day at sea is all it takes”

“Stuff the sea!” he snapped, then clamped a hand over his mouth. He rushed to the forward cabins and the small toilet they shared, which everyone was now calling Boss King’s Cabin. He had spent more time in there than any other part of the ship, including his bunk.

Melody watched him until he vanished into the bow, making sure he didn’t trip or throw himself over the side. Then she smiled and continued to the stern where Trixie and Sunset were lounging under a stretched canvas shelter, drinking Panic Cola and watching the distant shore slide by.

“This almost feels like a holiday rather than an escape” she declared, throwing herself onto the rug spread over the shaded deck plates. The women grunted assent drowsily, or at least Sunset did. Trixie’s eyes never wavered from the distant view, as if she was going to remain on watch at all times.

There was a small cooler beside Sunset so she opened it and found a solitary can of soda.

“Can I have this, please?” she asked the two women. She had never been allowed to drink any soda when she was in the Nest, the Nursemothers declaring it worse than drinking battery acid mixed with sugar. Funnily enough, when she had asked Boss King what Panic Cola tasted like, that was pretty much the description he gave her.

“Knock yourself out, Melody” Sunset finally mumbled and settled herself deeper into the folding lounge chair, one she had borrowed from the crew.

“Thanks” she said happily and opened the can. It bubbled and fizzed in her hand, sending little watery sparks into the air that tickled her nose. She drank deeply and gasped as her tongue exploded with new sensations. The flavour was like caramel mixed with black coffee, intense and sweet in equal measure.

“It’s good, isn’t it” Trixie said at last. “I remember the first time I got to drink a Cola, not long after my Retirement Day. It was the most incredible sensation for me, blowing my mind with the flavour and the fizziness. Jericho-Three gave me the can, telling me it was my first taste of freedom”

Melody took another sip, slower this time and savoured the bubbles on her tongue.

“Is he a good boss, that Jericho-Three?” she asked Trixie. She had already noted the hint of longing in the clone’s voice whenever she spoke about the Avatar. Melody had little experience of love herself, but she could sense the feelings her protector had for the man.

“Nope, he’s an awful boss” Trixie replied. “He sends me on all kinds of dangerous missions, keeps secrets from me that I ought to be told and pays me diddly-squat for my work”

“And yet…” Melody teased her big sister.

“And nothing” she said flatly. “He’s my boss and that’s all there is to it”

=====

In the late afternoon, once the sun had dropped low over the far shore in the west, Melody sauntered over to where three of the crew were playing cards. Technically it was two of the crew and Boris the Cargo Bot, a big humanoid mechanical painted yellow wherever he wasn’t rust coloured instead.

Melody sat on the decking beside the hulking machine, marvelling at how gentle the robot gripped the oversized playing cards. The deck was one of those novelty packs, three times the size of regular cards and barely big enough to be picked up by the mechanical.

The other two players were Rin, a swarthy old sailor from Singapore who claimed not to have walked on land for close to twenty years and his companion Gemma, a squat and dark skinned woman who was born in far off London, the capital of the Re-United Kingdom. She purported to be from a long line of sailing folk all the way back to the Spanish Armada, although she never mentioned which side her family sailed on.

Boris examined his cards carefully, his small sensor head rotating lenses until he was able to focus on them properly. He glanced at Melody and showed her his hand, making sure his opponents couldn’t see.

“WHAT DO THINK, MELODY?” his voice boomed from the vocoder grille in his chest.

“Dump those and draw two, Boris” she stage-whispered to the machine. He nodded agreement and with exaggerated care plucked the cards she had indicated out of his hand, dropping them onto the packing crate they used as a table.

“TWO PLEASE” he asked politely and was duly dealt two new cards by Rin. The dealer took two as well after Gemma threw her whole hand away in disgust and asked for five better cards. She looked only slightly more pleased with her new hand but that could have been a clever bluff instead.

The betting began in earnest now, with Rin and Gemma egging each other on. Boris was more restrained, risking his ceramic coins only after careful consideration. In the end, he won the hand and seemed happy to scoop the collection of one and two Panda coins into his pile.

“YOU ARE GOOD LUCK, MELODY” he declared, which made her feel a warm tingle in her chest. Boris was what they called a ‘Dumb AI’, a machine intelligence used to operate automated vehicles, serve food at restaurants and function as household servants. They had a limited sense of themselves as individuals, yet somehow Boris had transcended such restrictions. He wasn’t smart, not in the sense of knowledge or skills, but the huge machine was beloved by his fellow crew mates.

Unlike the other crew, he did not earn a share of the ship’s earnings. Rather he was given an allowance by the Captain which all of the crew voluntarily contributed to. Whenever they docked at a port, the crew would go and buy whatever Boris wanted to spend his money on.

His favourite thing was stickers, the kind children adorned their books, toys and furniture with. These he attached with glee to his oversized forearm guards, scraping off old and faded ones whenever he had replacements available.

Of all the varied men and women who crewed the Slippery Sod, she found it ironic that her favourite was an AI named Boris.

“MELODY” Boris said to get her attention. His big metal hands pointed to the deck of jumbo playing cards. “SHUFFLE FOR ME PLEASE”

“Sure thing” she said with a smile and deftly shuffled the cards, then dealt out five to each player.

=====

The sun was skimming the horizon, lighting up the clouds that hung low in the sky with red and gold. To the east the sea was already fading into darkness, the first glimmering stars visible close to that dim border between water and heaven. Sailing along the dividing line between light and dark, day and night, the Slippery Sod ploughed onwards.

Melody joined Trixie at the stern, trying to spot whatever had been keeping her big sister’s attention for the past hour or two. She could see a few big cargo ships sailing on parallel courses, mostly further out towards the long reef that protected the coast from the deep ocean. A few ships and a single cruise liner were passing in the opposite direction, headed for the harbour at Port August.

“What can you see, Trixie?” she asked, unable to discern anything out of the ordinary.

“There’s a small ship following our course and speed, about two klicks to the west” she replied. “They came up at a faster speed than we can manage, then matched our pace an hour ago”

Melody looked in the direction Trixie indicated, seeing a hint of white on the water.

“There are other ships out there heading North” Melody said thoughtfully. “They could be heading to Skyport too”

“Maybe” the clone woman answered her. “But why slow down to our speed if you can go faster? This old tub is making her best speed, same as the other ships out there”

Melody regarded the distant ship, trying to detect any hint of her brothers and sisters onboard. There was nothing she could sense, however she had no idea what range this unusual new ability could reach.

“What do we do, Trixie?”

The tall woman laid a warm hand on her shoulder, her mouth set into a tight line.

“We get ready”

=====

It was utterly dark now, only a few running lights at the bow and stern of the Slippery Sod giving any illumination to the waiting crew. Melody crouched near the raised side of the main deck, watching the sea for any hint of the other ship.

“Do you really think they’ll attack us inside the shipping lanes?” Boss King whispered from where he half-stood at her side, his head barely clearing the gunwales. “They would be in range of Border Patrol jets if we sent out an alert”

“Trixie and the Captain are pretty sure that ship is hunting us” Melody answered quietly. “We’ll reach Skyport by morning, so their only chance is an intercept tonight. Anyway, neither ship wants the authorities to intervene. If they come for us, the whole crew are ready to fight”

“I guess so” the boy agreed and turned to put his back against the curving metal of the hull. His machete was at his hip, freshly sharpened and cleaned in preparation for whatever happened this night.

“Hey, at least you got over your seasickness!” Melody replied brightly. “That fish curry we had for supper was really delicious, wasn’t it?”

“Seasickness?” burbled Boss King. “I forgot all about it!” Then Melody dimly saw him clutch a hand to his mouth and rush towards the bow cabins and his personal refuge.

“I probably shouldn’t have reminded him” Melody decided.

=====

The attack came close to midnight, the moon barely cresting the sea from behind a scattering of clouds. First warning came from the Captain, moving sure-footedly along the deck to speak softly with the defenders.

“Radar shows a small vessel closing fast from port side” she told Melody and Boss King. “They aren’t showing any lights, so get ready to fight kids”

Su-Chan moved off, speaking quickly and urgently to the rest of the waiting crew. Melody could see the grim determination on their faces, the steady grip on their knives, hatchets and pistols. The ship had few weapons of any note, relying on staying in the relatively safe waters of the Zone.

Despite that, they had all eagerly accepted the Captain’s orders to prepare for a boarding action. Trixie had handed out what few weapons she had taken from the Police Auxiliary van, keeping the Assault Rifle for her own use. Sunset had a pistol of her own, a slender automatic firing five millimetre rounds, but she had a more formidable weapon at her disposal.

The Aeromancer was braced in the framework of the cargo crane, giving her some cover while allowing her to target the Ability to nearly every point on the ship. Melody had seen the power of her Sonic Blasts a couple of times now and reckoned Sunset was a key element in their defences.

Trixie was on the roof of the ship’s Bridge, crouched below the radar and comms tower. From there her Sniper grade eye would give the ship the best chance of spotting any attackers. It was also an excellent vantage point for her to shoot from, the uncanny accuracy of the ex-Guard another keystone in their plans to defend the ship.

In the middle of the cargo deck stood the patient bulk of Boris, his sensor eyes gleaming alertly as he waited. His orders had been simple and specific – protect Melody, the Captain and the Crew in that sequence of priorities. The giant sized mechanical needed no weapons, wielding arms that could lift a ton without effort and bend steel beams like playdough.

Melody caught his gaze as her eyes roamed the deck and he waved at her in reply, oversized metal hands giving her a happy greeting. She waved back then faced the sea once more, waiting like the rest of them for the battle to begin.

She didn’t have to wait long.

=====

Melody saw the ship loom up out of the dark sea, its pale hull standing in stark contrast to the water that surrounded it. Spray foamed from its pointed bow as the ship came in fast, crashing hard against the mottled hull of the Slippery Sod.

“Contact!” boomed Trixie’s bass notes from the Bridge top, followed by an equally deep roar from Captain Su-Chan: “Prepare to repel boarders! All hands to port!”

Melody stood on her toes, seeing the low, sleek ship hard against the port side. Figures swarmed on the deck, leaping high and fast to grab the gunwale of the taller ship.

“They’re mechanicals!” shouted Rin and Melody realised it was true. The shapes rapidly clambering onto their own ship were like metal skeletons, mechanicals fashioned to work in factories and warehouses to move goods around. Some were armed with blades gripped in metal hands, others wielded wrenches and hammers looted from toolboxes.

The first mechanical boarder reared over the railings, winding back its arm to lash at Gemma. She had barely raised her own knife in defence when Trixie fired the first shot of the engagement. Metal and plastic shattered as the single bullet penetrated its skull, sending the dead machine in a slow arc to splash into the waiting sea.

More machines followed, swarming in a line over the gunwales as they pushed the human defenders back. Melody shouted her battle-cry, “Banzai Butterfly!” and felt the Shadows flow like liquid silk from her right arm. The extended blade sheared one cargo robot in half, the lower torso flopping to the deck with a spray of hydraulic fluids while the top spun out of sight. She sliced sideways, destroying a second machine as its head popped into view.

“No Refunds!” Boss King roared at her side, swinging his machete in a vicious arc at a wrench armed mechanical. It blocked his strike with a shower of sparks, the Bonded Ceramite blade cutting the head from the plain steel tool. It lifted its arm to bludgeon the boy with processor driven speed, but Boss King was fast even by regular human standards.

He stepped into the machine, laying his left hand on the machete hilt as he spun sideways with a flat cut. There was a squeal of tortured metal and he severed the spinal shaft in a mimicry of Melody’s first kill. The machine fell to the deck plates, arms still reaching for the boy until he split its skull with a plunging strike.

All around them were struggling figures, the crew of the Slippery Sod fighting for their lives against the inhuman attackers. Blows rang from blades and tools, grunts of pain and electronic warbles heralding a telling impact on flesh or machine.

In the middle of the deck, Boris stomped and smashed with the intensity of a child playing a game of Tag. Yet every boarder he ‘tagged’ was driven into scrap metal against the deck or flung in a high arc over the gunwales and into the sea.

On the raised forward deck, Sunset screeched like a Banshee from the old tales, her piercing notes pummelling hapless machines into unmoving junk. A few machines were sent to bring her down, climbing with eerie precision to her high perch. Without pausing she drew her gun and shot the first clean through the sensor lenses, sending it lifeless to the base of the crane.

The second reached her before she could react, snaring her foot in its vicelike grip. It yanked at her leg, eliciting a scream of agony from the young woman. Melody heard her cries and was about to charge to the rescue when a single shot sounded from the stern.

Trixie’s bullet severed the clutching arm, releasing Sunset from her torment. The mechanical slipped lower on the crane’s framework, but before it could strike again a second shot rang out. The metal skull disintegrated and the headless body fell to the deck, bounced once and toppled over the side.

“We’re winning!” Melody yelled in relief, then she saw the dark shapes jump up from the starboard side. Two figures clad all in black, one gripping a straight bladed Ninjato in their left hand, leaping with superhuman agility from a second ship.

She felt the power of the Shadows that filled them both, no mere Blades or Agents this time. They were Shadow Blades, yelling their own battle-cries as they flew, summoning forth the deadly Shadows from their flesh.

“You!” roared Captain Su-Chan, her cutlass pointed to the tall male Shadow Blade as he landed. The man looked at the charging Captain and braced himself, his dark blade held forwards while the Ninjato warded his head and body. Melody rushed across the deck, knowing the Captain was outclassed, when the second Shadow Blade landed lightly in front of her, blocking the way.

“Greetings, Melody-Six” said the young woman, her lower face and hair covered by a dark hood. Only her dark eyes were visible, but Melody knew the face was almost exactly the same as her own.

“Hi, whatever your name is” she replied. “If you lead your people away right now, I’m willing to spare them!”

“I’m Melody-Two” she snarled in response. “And no-one on this ship will be spared!” The rival Shadow Blade moved suddenly, stepping towards her with a speed that was blindingly fast. Melody side-stepped her lunging attack with speed of her own, tapping the opposing blade aside with an almost leisurely push of her Shadow Blade.

The instant the dark blades connected, strange power flowed into Melody. She felt like she knew everything about this older sister, from her earliest days in the Nest up to her watching over the fight in Boss King’s home. Her every painful moment of life was opened to her, Melody-Two’s doubts and fears laid bare for her to see.

Melody-Two screamed, a primal scream of anguish and despair, wrenching herself away from Melody with stumbling feet. All grace and poise was lost, the Shadow Blade looking in horror at the fragment of oily darkness still linked to her outstretched arm.

Melody looked at her own blade, seeing the mass of severed darkness coil and twist until it was absorbed into her completely.

“Give it back!” Melody-Two wailed, lashing out a narrow knife blade of Shadows at a stunned Melody. She blocked the strike instinctively, feeling the last of the Shadows within her opponent flow like running water into Melody’s own reservoir. With a final cry of despair, Melody-Two fell unconscious at her feet.

It was a moment of revelation, yet not one she had time to comprehend. From the corner of her eye, she saw Su-Chan lash at the other Shadow Blade. There was no doubt this was the same one who had killed Captain Ferguson, sent to finish the work he had commenced before.

Su-Chan fired her pistol left handed, forcing the Shadow Blade to dodge as she closed in. She swung her cutlass overhand with sheer brute strength, driving the Shadow Blade back a few steps as he parried with the Ninjato. He lashed out in a sideways arc with the dark blade and Su-Chan grunted as her hand was neatly severed.

Her sword dropped to the deck with a barely heard clang, the hand still gripping the hilt. Melody saw the pain etched across her face, the angry defiance keeping her on her feet. The Captain was a dead woman, it showed so clearly in her eyes, yet she thrust her pistol forwards and fired, the bullet nicking the Shadow Blade’s hip and sending bright red blood across the already littered surface.

Beneath his mask, Melody could see the contempt and hatred in her sibling’s eyes. He pushed the Captain backwards, lifting his Shadow Blade high to deliver the finishing blow. Melody tried to intervene when a mechanical slammed into her from behind, sending both of them to the deck plates. She flung it away with a surge of strength, plunging her blade into its chest.

By the time her eyes found the Captain again, it was to see the final act play out.

“NOOO” boomed a voice that belonged to only one crewmate of the Slippery Sod. Boris charged like a Rhinoceros, his big arms reaching for the Shadow Blade, heavy feet rocking the entire ship. The young man paused in his deathblow against the Captain, sending his sword through the right arm joint of the Cargo Bot instead.

The arm fell, a wound that would cripple any living creature. But Boris ran on, slamming into the Shadow Blade with bone-crushing force, his remaining arm locked around the dark clad man. Together they hit the gunwale and toppled over the side, bound with a strength even the Shadows could not overcome.

A tremendous splash sent salty water fountaining up higher than the gunwales, sending a deluge over the Captain and Melody. Melody and Su-Chan staggered to the railing, seeing only the fading bubbles on the surface drifting behind the ship as it sailed onwards. Of the Shadow Blade or Boris there was no sign.