Carmody and the Electric Dragon

10th District Junior High School, Pan City

Tuesday October 30th 2046

Sarah waited at the usual corner for Carmody, huddling under her umbrella as a light morning rain fell, turning the concrete pavement into an impromptu ice-rink for the unwary. She had already seen two adults slip over after leaving the cafe she was leaning against, hot drinks in their hands, juggling their umbrellas and briefcases as they suddenly went for a spill. It had been hard not to laugh and she had helped them both to their feet afterwards.

At least it made the wait for a late-running Carmody more interesting.

Once again she wished her phone was not completely cooked by Achmed’s EMP burst. Her parents had gone nuts last night when she finally admitted it was broken. Not just broken she amended to herself, completely unrepairable. Achmed could really pump out the electromagnetism when he needed to.

Her mom was going to organise a new phone for her today, using up the next twelve months worth of pocket money in advance. Sarah idly wondered if she could get AURA to pay for it, since technically it had been killed in the line of duty. She remembered they had the secure headsets that Eric had given them all, but after a couple of poorly judged incidents with those he kept them under lock and key at the Guard Post. They would only be issued when needed for a mission.

So for now, she had no way to check where Carmody was and no way for the other girl to reach her. Checking the time she was about to leave the limited shelter of the cafe when a sleek black electric sedan pulled up in front of her. The rear window wound down to reveal a grimmer looking Eric than usual.

“Hi Sarah, you may as well catch a ride with me. Carmody’s mum says she won’t be going to school today”

Sarah looked at the glum faced boy as she walked up next to the vehicle.

“What did you do?” she said accusingly.

“Can you please get in the car and I will tell you what I know” he replied, refusing to meet her eyes. With a final glare, she opened the door and clambered inside, shaking the rain from her umbrella before folding it down. Eric had shifted to the other side of the car and did up the seat belt. Sarah did the same then turned in her seat to look directly at him.

“So? I know Carmody went to see you last night about Angelina. What did you say to her?”

“Why do you automatically assume I did something wrong?” he asked her defensively, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“Because you are a boy. You always get things wrong, it is a well known fact” Sarah told him.

“Sometimes I wish Two had cloned me into a female body. It might have made understanding you girls a lot easier!” he grumbled. Eric saw the angry look he was getting from Sarah and realised it was time to come clean, before she took a swing at him in the back seat of the car.

“Okay, Carmody asked me about bringing Angelina into the team. I told her no”

“What, just a flat out no?” Sarah said in disbelief. “You do realise they have gotten really close these past couple of weeks, don’t you? Plus, we hang out all the time at lunch and at the Testing Centre. She is not the old Angelina, this is a whole new person you can actually like!”

“Personality changes aside, she is not someone I can trust with the secrets the team has already, nor the secrets yet to come. She is a security risk, that is the heart of the problem”

“What are you talking about, Eric!” Sarah shouted, earning a nervous glance from the driver. “We are twelve years old. We are all a security risk!”

“That is not the point” Eric answered her, reverting to his usual calm manner. “Angelina’s family control a major underworld faction here in the Zone. Her parents may dote on their only daughter, but they are as ruthless and deadly as any creature of the Abyss”

Sarah was incensed by these words and angrily kicked the seat in front of her.

“How dare you judge Angelina by her family! What if we judged you by yours, the Jericho Avatars and Archimedes itself! What if we treated you as someone as dangerous as those people?”

“That is just my point. I am as dangerous as the rest of my family” Eric said coldly. He locked his flat eyes with hers and Sarah remembered again how scary he had been when she first met him. How inhuman, so cold and emotionless he had been.

“Don’t be like this Eric!” she begged him, feeling tears form in her eyes. “Don’t go back to being a machine”

“Why do girls always cry when I tell them the truth?” he muttered. He looked away from Sarah as the driver pulled into the kerb outside the school gates, fixing his gaze on the distant rainclouds.

“We are here. You need to get out now” Eric told her without emotion. He heard her open the door and step out onto the wet pavement.

“Aren’t you coming to school today?” she asked, her throat tight with her feelings.

“Not today, Sarah. I have business with my brother”

He heard the door close and he told the driver to move off. Despite his intentions, he glanced over his shoulder as the car pulled out into the traffic, catching a glimpse of a tear-streaked face on the girl before she was lost from sight.

If he was a machine, why did this hurt so much?

=====

The drone drifted over the school grounds, following the path of the girl Sarah Evermore. It observed her depart the vehicle with Eric Hargreaves inside and move to the central school courtyard. Her appearance was noted as being distraught.

It spent some minutes recording her speak with her fellow students identified as Achmed Leroi, Lilly Sommers and Angelina Brackenridge. There was an attempt at consoling Sarah Evermore by the other three students before they all headed into the main school building. The phrase “stupid boys” was recorded as used a number of times.

Details of the preparations being made in the school grounds for the event known as Halloween Festival were also recorded. Particular attention was paid to the playing fields at the rear of the school, where large marquees, stages and booths were being constructed.

Satisfied that all the useful data had been collected the drone buzzed away, descending to the ground some short distance from the school. The operator reviewed the recordings taken and stowed the unit away until it was next needed.

=====

The Fortress, Pan City Harbour

“Another day off school, Eric?” asked his brother Jericho-Two as he entered the spacious office. He had agreed to the meeting in the middle of his tightly packed schedule for the day, high atop the Fortress.

It had taken Eric over an hour to be driven to the nearest VTOL pad, board one of the flying craft and be transported over the harbour to the massive bulk of the Fortress. He had then waited a further two and a half hours for his older brother to arrive for the meeting.

“I can afford to miss a couple of days” Eric replied. “It is not like my grades will suffer”

“Indeed, when you can access the entire online knowledge of the world instantly, dealing with Year Seven schoolwork is hardly a challenge” agreed Two. He regarded his younger sibling with interest as he settled himself at his office desk. Eric was still gazing out of the armoured windows at the view towards Archimedes Tower at the heart of Pan City.

“Do you find the view satisfactory?” Two enquired. Eric nodded, watching the sailing boats and massive cargo ships weave a complicated dance around the harbour, all of them overshadowed by the bulk of the Fortress.

“It always astounds me they built the Fortress here in the entrance to the harbour. The ships have to constantly navigate around it” pondered Eric.

Two left his desk and stood beside the boy, looking at the same view.

“The original Board of Governors had many reasons for how they built this city. For a start, a lot of earth was excavated from the city’s foundations plus material dredged to deepen the harbour. All of that formed the base for the Fortress to be built”

“Then there was the symbolic side to it. Archimedes and the Governors all sit in that beautiful tower rising so majestically into the heavens, like gods lifted into the sky. But the other power of this city comes from the Guard and their advanced technology, based here at the Fortress. A squat, ugly toad of a structure to remind them all that the source of power is not pretty and graceful”

“So here the two buildings sit, one at the heart to guide the city and one at the mouth, to keep it safe, watching each other across the water and land”

“Very poetic, brother” Eric said. “Is any of it actually true?”

“Probably not, although I stole most of what I said from the brochure they give students who come here on field trips” admitted Two. He laid a hand on his younger self’s shoulder, which in its own way surprised them both. “Why are you here, Eric?”

“Have you wondered why we were made the way we are?” asked Eric. “If all Archimedes needed was a physical body to be his intermediary with humans, why not use one of those lifelike androids? We didn’t need to be made of flesh and blood”

“Would you rather you were completely made of machinery, a mechanical man like the Sentinels?”

“No, that is not what I want” Eric said softly.”It is being half of one and half of the other that is so hard. Sometimes I wish I had none of the implants at all, that I was just a regular human being”

“Let me tell you a secret, Eric. A secret your brothers One, Three and myself realised long ago. Archimedes had us made exactly like this so we would be half machine and half human. He wanted us to have his powers but tempered by the limitations of a flesh and blood body. It makes us into the tools he needs us to be, for the plans he has for the future”

“So I am destined to be just a tool for Archimedes to use as he sees fit. I can’t have any life or future of my own?”

“Perhaps, or maybe you will be part of the future he has planned, the one that your older brothers will help bring about but won’t be part of” Two said solemnly.

“Anyway, you are the first of us to try and live a life within the human world. It is not easy for the regular humans, so it was always going to be hard for half a human. All I can suggest is let go of some of your inhibitions, find a path that makes you and the ones you care about happy”

Eric laughed suddenly and Two looked enquiringly at him.

“Brother, I had heard from One and Three that you were the most boring and stable of all the Avatars. Yet here you are telling me to be wild and carefree, making the people I love happy!”

Two frowned at this, making Eric laugh even harder.

“I think you are over-exaggerating what I said” Two answered flatly.

=====

Brentwood Apartment, 10th District, Pan City

Carmody was lying on her bed, listening to her father yell at Vance about something in the living room. Mum was already at work for the evening, leaving poor dad to deal with her brother and herself. It was barely after Seven PM and she was in her pajamas, hair washed and combed and teeth brushed, like she was a kid again.

Her phone rang on the bedside table so she picked it up and glanced at the Caller ID. It said number unknown and she was about to ignore it when some sixth sense made her answer it. Or she was just naturally nosy.

“Hello?” she said cautiously.

“Hi Carmody, it’s me, Sarah” a familiar voice answered her. “I finally got my new phone so I am ringing everyone to give them my new number”

“Oh, great. But why didn’t you just keep the old number?”

“Mom said the phone company sales guy told her it had been de-listed or something. Sounded odd to me too, but at least I got a new phone. It has all kinds of features and stuff, wait until you see it!. Achmed is going to show me how to use them all tomorrow at lunch”

“That’s cool. He’s a good friend” Carmody answered softly.

“Yeah, well since he killed my first phone he should be nice to me” Sarah replied. “Hey, speaking of lunch, we missed you at school today. Are you feeling better?”

“I’m Okay. The last few days were kind of hard and I just couldn’t face school today”

“But you’ll be there tomorrow right? It’s the Halloween Festival and it won’t be the same without our Dragon Slayer!”

“I think I’ll be there, but can you do me a favour? Can you stop calling me a Dragon Slayer?”

“Okay, if that is what you want” agreed Sarah. “Will you tell me why, though? It was the Dracoris Abyssal that gave you the name, not us”

Carmody lay back on her bed, her phone cradled against the pillow as she spoke.

“I have not killed any Dragons” she said. “The Black Dragon was killed by Stanley and the Guard clones. All you and I did was tell them where to attack. They were the Dragon Slayers, not me”

“Fair enough” Sarah said to her. “What about you and your mighty weapon, Excalibur? You have kicked some serious butt with that in your hands. That makes you some kind of mighty warrior doesn’t it?”

Carmody laughed a little at her friend’s enthusiasm.

“No, it just makes me a crazy girl with a cricket bat and the Kinetic Enhancer ability. I am not anything special”

Sarah fell silent for a moment on her end of the call. Then she spoke with sudden energy.

“You are special to me, to all of us. It doesn’t matter what you are called or what your abilities are, you are my friend. Just remember, when we first became friends we were both NOMAs. Being friends is what matters, not what we can do”

“I guess you are right” Carmody agreed, smiling a little to herself.

“I am always right, even when I am wrong” Sarah said with conviction and Carmody knew she probably meant it.

“So, was that all you called me about tonight?” Carmody asked her friend.

“Nope, of course not. I really called to tell you I told Eric off today for rejecting Angelina from the Project. That stupid boy makes me so mad sometimes!”

“Me too” agreed Carmody. She paused and fiddled with her pillow case, twisting her fingers in the colourful fabric. “Hey Sarah, do you like Eric?”

“What, you mean ‘like’ like? As in boyfriend material?”

“Yeah”

“Hell no! Right now I want to smack his face so hard he cries! What about you, Carmody?”

“Same here. I want to hit him with Excalibur until he stops being so stubborn”

“Sounds like we want the same thing then!” Sarah crowed over the phone line.

“Yes, we do want the same thing, don’t we?” Carmody agreed.

The two girls chatted some more, about the festival and what they were going to wear, those kinds of things. At the end, Carmody promised Sarah once more that she would be at school tomorrow so they could attend the Halloween Festival together.

Her ear was quite hot after talking for so long so she laid her phone back on the table. She found a cool section of her pillow and laid her ear against it, soothing her burning skin. Carmody thought over her conversation with Sarah and realised the hard truth.

They both wanted the same thing. An emotionless, hard headed boy who was not even fully human. She lay there for a long time until her dad told her it was time for lights out. He flicked the lights off and Carmody took a long time to fall asleep yet eventually the night claimed her.

Her dreams were formless, with Eric appearing and disappearing, forever seeming to slip out of reach. She called to him, over and over, yet he did not seem to hear her weak, childish voice.

She chased her dream Eric down tunnels in her mind, deeper and deeper they went, the light getting weaker and weaker. Finally he vanished from her sight completely, leaving only darkness all around her. Carmody stumbled onwards, tripping over unseen things in the dark that squirmed and writhed beneath her feet. Then the darkness spoke to her, a voice of oily blackness she thought she had forgotten.

“I can make him love you” the darkness said. “I can make you strong and tall, fit and beautiful. I can grant your every desire”

“Go away, leave me alone!” she screamed at the void. She felt tears running down her face and when she wiped those dream tears away, they were slick black oil, staining her hands and arms.

A dark shape rose before her, formed of the same blackness. It was a Dracoris Abyssal, as big as a tower, bigger than anything she could imagine. The beast filled her mind and the Abyss spoke to her.

“Accept me child, it is your fate to become part of me”

Dream Carmody was numb with terror, her heart pumping wildly, her feet trying to run but she was trapped by the thick black tentacles of the Emissary.

“You can’t escape me” whispered the Abyss. “I am inside of you”

Carmody screamed like an animal in torment and flung her hands wide, searching for a handhold, some way to pull herself out of this nightmare. Then her questing hands fell upon a glowing blue sword, power shining from it and driving back the darkness.

She lifted the sword and the light filled the world, the mighty Dracoris Abyssal cowering before its glow. Carmody yelled in triumph and swung the sword at the dragon, sending it flying from her in terror!

“Carmody, wake up” shouted her dad. “You are going to break something with that bloody bat!”

“Huh” muttered the girl and realised she was all twisted up in her blankets. Her cricket bat was in both her hands and she could see she had already knocked some stuffed toys off her bedside shelves.

“Are you Okay, kiddo?” asked her dad, sitting on her bed once she stopped waving Excalibur around.

“Sure, dad” she said and wiped her eyes with one hand. She examined it by the light coming in from the open door and it was just perfectly normal salty tears.

“It’s been a few weeks since you had those nightmares. Are you going to be alright?” he asked her, worry etched into his face.

“I’ll be fine dad. I am just a little stressed about the festival tomorrow”

“It will be fun, you’ll see” her dad assured her. “I’ll bring Vance along and we’ll all have a great time. You might even get to see that boy you like at the dance near the end of the night”

“I don’t like any boys” blushed Carmody as her dad settled her under the blankets once more.

“Of course you don’t, kiddo” her dad told her and they both knew he was lying.

She slept soundly after that, her cricket bat tucked tightly in her arms.