A glimmer of hope from Mary Gold

The night sky was filled with beauty. Stars beyond count sparkled like precious stones in the sky. Despite the anxiety she felt, Susan paused and admired the sky. Thanks to light pollution, even at night most of the horizon would be glowing with thousands of electrical lights from civilization. Leaving most stars hidden or sadly diminished in the sky.

While power still flowed through the world’s various infrastructures, there just wasn’t as much need for it in a world that lost eighty percent of its population. Susan didn’t let that depressing thought distract her admiration, like that wonderful hot chocolate she drank earlier, these little pleasures were now a lot bigger, and she’d take what little joy was offered to sustain herself.

Susan did let the sound of an approaching hovercraft distract her though. The last thing she needed was to be captured. She ran to an abandoned car on the street she had been walking down. The passenger doors were locked, she bent her arm to use her elbow to break the window but saw a bright light farther approaching and growing brighter!

No time! She got on all fours then lay down on the ground, she pushed the brown box she had been carrying under the car then shimmied her way under it as well. Tight and uncomfortable, her breathing thundered in her ears, and she wildly wondered how the Shats couldn’t hear her.

The light grew in intensity, and she knew it was drifting directly overhead. It didn’t slow and continued down the street. Susan heaved a sigh of relief, twisting her neck as much as she could, she watched the light slowly fade. She waited another couple of minutes, catching her breath. Finally, she shimmied out from under the car, pulling the box with her and tucking it under her arm as she stood up.

The road was clear, but she couldn’t be sure the hovercraft would double back or continue its patrol in another direction. She decided to take an alternate route, but when she looked east, she saw the darkness lessen slightly with a predawn glow. Susan cursed aloud, how the hell did it get so late? Well, so early, but seriously, where did the damned time go?

She couldn’t be caught outside, of course, but she wasn’t near the base or any shelters. Susan would have to risk picking a random building. There was a group of houses about a quarter mile down the road, she ran her way towards them. It looked to be one of those middle-class housing areas, complete with a brick wall and a gate. Thanks to someone driving through the gate at some point, she could get through easily enough.

Running towards the center of the group, she picked a house at random and stepped up to the front door. It was unlocked. Why not? There were no bad guys around. Cynically, Susan predicted if the Shats appeared the door would magically lock just to piss her off. She stepped through and took stock of her surroundings. She didn’t need to be as concerned now. just being inside should be safe enough.

Immediately on her right was the kitchen, she went in slowly, trying to make things out in the darkness. She saw the outline of a table and put the brown box down on it. Stepping to the counter, she saw cupboards lining the wall. She opened one next to the sink and smiled as she saw various cups and glasses. Taking a large glass, she tossed up a quick prayer, and turned the knob on the sink. Yes! Water began trickling out!

She turned it a little more and filled the glass with water. She gulped it down quickly, not realizing how thirsty she really was until she started. She also realized there was another need to be taken care of and put the glass down to find the bathroom.

She returned a few moments later and washed her hands in the sink. The kitchen was brighter now, and she could see more clearly. She filled the glass again and pulled out a chair to sit at the kitchen table. She sighed and tried to relax a little. There was still too much pent-up tension from the night's events.

“Quit making excuses.” Susan thought to herself. She was intent on rescuing Lucy, as Lucy had rescued her from one of the Shat’s detention areas. If it weren’t for Lucy, she was certain she would be dead. Lucy had given her life to save Susan and the other prisoners. Somehow those bastards saved her, and then did something unthinkable to her.

Susan’s eyes fell to the box. It had been given to her by a strange woman at Lucy’s abandoned home. The woman was a collaborator of some sort, but she promised whatever was in the box could save Lucy. This collaborator had told her Lucy was the forerunner of a whole breed of hunter/killers meant to finish eliminating humanity.

She didn’t mind admitting she was afraid. When her mission was saving Lucy, the path felt clear, and she was resolute. Then a five-minute meeting changed everything, and if she opened that box, she would accept that it just got a whole lot bigger. For a moment she was resentful, she just wanted Lucy, but if she opened this box, Lucy would become second to the rest of humanity.

Reaching into her shirt, she pulled out the locket and opened it. She looked at Lucy’s face, so young and innocent. “What would you do?” she asked. She waited for an answer she knew would never come because she already knew the answer. “Alright dammit” Susan muttered, reached out and picked up the box.

She ripped off the brown paper and pulled off the top. It looked like a box a store would keep a pair of shoes in. There were no shoes, however. No. There was a metal cylinder and an old school tape recorder, with a cassette tape in it! She picked up the cylinder, it was about a foot long, one end was white. There was a button on the side of the cylinder, and when she rotated it, a logo of a marigold flower was on the other side.

Susan blinked and looked at it again, definitely a marigold, but she was not familiar with the logo. She put the cylinder down, then picked up the tape player. Shrugging to herself, she hit the play button. She heard a woman’s voice, the same voice from Lucy’s house.

“Hello Susan. Forgive my familiarity, but my time is limited. My name is Mary Gold, CEO of the Marigold Corporation. And yes, when I was younger, I thought that was a witty choice when I founded the company. Now I can only hope I can be witty enough to stop the Crishats.”

The woman was speaking in a crisp, business-like tone, but underneath it was tightly controlled terror. The woman continued speaking.

“It is my hope we were able to speak at your friend’s house, so I might be repeating myself. As you know, the Crishat were able to save Lucy from death. They have incredibly advanced technology, and this is not the first world they have invaded. It was simple for them to attune their medical systems to our biology.”

There was a pause, and a deep breath,

“What you may or may not know is that Lucy’s mind has been subjugated and programmed. When the population of a world becomes small enough that the cost of gathering and transporting their food outweighs the gain, they shift to extermination. Rather than do it themselves, they have developed mind control techniques that convert the natives to their cause. My company has been secretly working with our government to research certain uses for biotechnology. The Crishat brought myself and others with my expertise to tailor their program for humans.”

“The program quickly and relentlessly assaults the mind with whatever information the Crishat with the subject receives. The sheer force of programming overwhelms the mind, and never gives the subject’s consciousness a change to recover. The programming invades them, and convinces them that the Crishat are our Gods, and everything they do is in the service of their Gods.”

“The subjects absolutely believe it because the programming does allow room for anything else. The Crishat know that for species with our types of emotions that despair is the key to making the belief permanent. By sending the subject to kill the person they love the most, who is still alive at this late stage, then they will embrace their new programming to escape the horror of what they have done.”

“Lucy is the first. If she fails, there is a good chance they will consider the experiment a failure and abort it. I don’t know what alternative they will select, but we will have a fighting chance.”

There was another pause, and when Mary Gold began again, Susan could hear her crying.

“You will have a fighting chance. I have no intention of surviving this. And I will take as many of these bastards with me. They forced me to help them, promising to release my son if I did! What else could I do?”

A cynical laugh barked from the tape player.

“I should have refused. I should have known! They had already killed him!! The commander was digesting him as he threatened me! He thought it was amusing!”

That last ended in a wail, and I heard more sobbing. From the sounds, she regained control quickly.

“I am not supposed to know that. It gives me a narrow window of opportunity to make amends. Or at least try. Press the white end of the cylinder to her forehead, it will send a signal to disrupt to the programming, giving Lucy an opening to reject it. I am sorry I don’t have a better delivery method, there was no time. Nor can I suggest a way to immobilize her long enough to apply it. The closest thing she has to a weakness is her night vision, sudden bright lights take a moment to adjust to. In that moment of disorientation, you might be able to do something.”

Another pause.

“I hope one day you can forgive me. I do not deserve it, but we must always hope. I wish you luck. If we met, we will not meet again. I can’t say what I will do in case this recording reaches their hands, but you will definitely know it when I do it. Goodbye Susan.”

Susan sat staring at the tape player as the tape reached the end and clicked off. She needed help; she needed a plan. She needed Lucy not to find her before she could implement any plan. She opened the player and took out the tape. Mary was right, the Shats couldn’t get their hands on this. Susan started yanking the tape out of the cassette until it was fully unwound. Then she got up, made her way to the bathroom, and dropped it into the toilet. It even flushed!

Susan went to bedroom and closed the door behind her. She moved a clothes bureau in front of the door. That should wake her if anyone found her. The exhausted woman lay on the bed, covering her eyes. She hoped she could fall asleep; it was better than thinking about this nightmare all day.