A Hundred Lives

I came in the back and squelched my way to my tiny, dingy locker.

The one that had so many names crossed off before it got to mine.

So many on Calthia fought in the arenas. They were a phenomenon across the planet.

Most came to show off their fighting skills, maybe get picked up by an agency and move on to the fame and fortune that came to all of the gladiators. Credits, sex aplenty, a lush life...all possible through the agencies that managed fighters across the many worlds where places like the arenas commanded throngs of high-paying spectators.

Some came for the credits that the fights gave them, having no other way to earn them...or being in so much trouble that this was the only way for them to settle their debts quickly.

I fell into the latter category. I just never told anyone. It wasn’t anyone’s business.

“Good grief, Life! Did you have to bring the entire storm in with you?!” Jade ribbed me.

She was a Duran, and her humor showed it. I was amazed that they let her compete. Her race was stronger than most...which meant that Jade was up against some of the biggest and meanest fighters, even though she would have been a petite 5'2" if she had been human.

The severely uneven odds never bothered her, though. It just meant that she got more credits and standing with every win. And I think she liked the rep more than the credits...although she liked those a lot too.

Jade had been here for over two years, starting in the pits—a stained and rusted cage-like structure where every piece of psycho trash was tossed in there to fight each other mostly to the death. They didn’t discriminate by race or species. It was a horrifying sight to see, and people paid good money for it.

She had moved up to the floor—the large open area that was mostly Keffer sand, softer than most arena floors, but you never quite got it all off of you and would randomly find the bluish-purple stuff where you would least expect it—and held her place through it all.

I half smiled at her, looked back at the lake that trailed up to my locker, and shook my head.

“It’s storming, J. What did you expect?”

“You’re in a lousy mood! And it’s ALWAYS storming on this damned planet!” She rolled her eyes.

It was true. Calthia was a planet of almost continuous storms. It made things interesting.

I pulled out my wraps and began my prep for the fights to come tonight. I hung up my black trench and saw my face in the locker mirror...lines on my face and dark circles that ringed my eyes. They never went away no matter how much sleep I got these days.

And the scar from my first fight that ran down the side of my face. A Sorel had got me with a hidden bone spine. I ended up winning, but it had cost me.

Nothing was off limits in the fights...especially the starter fights. Once you made it to an agency, things got a little better because there was more paperwork per injury, so it was discouraged. And hidden bone spine tactics were not something an agency would ever sign anyway. Too many problems.

I slammed the locker door, turned, and sat on the bench between the locker clusters, wrapping up and calming my mind for the night. I needed to stay focused. The credits weren’t going to make themselves, and I couldn’t make any more if I ended up dead—or worse, permanently damaged.

Jade gave me a probing look and then shook her head.

“Life, you gotta relax! A heart attack is gonna get you before one of these fools does.”

I smirked and nodded.

“Probably. Who’s on the roster tonight?”

She laughed, the chirping sound specific to her people.

“Who else?”

I sighed.

“Wren, Bobbin, Serkav, and Mores...any newbies?”

She shook her head.

“Mores ate through ALL of them last week while you were out. Guy has a thing about newbies. I don’t know why he has such a hard-on for them. We were all newbies...at one point.”

“Maybe he doesn’t want to remember.”

I finished wrapping one hand and started on the other.

She leaned against the locker bank.

“Maybe.”

A thought occurred to me.

“Wait...then who are you fighting?”

She grinned, showing too many teeth.

“Mores.”

My eyebrows crawled into my hair.

“I’m going AFTER you, right...?”

She made that chirping sound again.

“There won’t be anything left AFTER me, baby!”

Then she turned and sauntered off to the floor waiting area, her claws clicking on the grating. It was an eerie sound in the quiet of the locker room.

I heard the group of footsteps all walking at different paces and gaits coming my way, but had no time to avoid the interaction.

“Hey Life, maybe after tonight you change your name to Death, huh?” Mores sniggered.

Wren, Bobbin, and Serkav just shook their heads at me.

“Thought you wised up last week.”

Wren wasn’t the hassling type. He wanted to fight, get the credits, and go home. Locker-room antics weren’t his style. But if he was stopping to run his mouth to me...then it was one of two things. Either he had grown a conscience or he was getting worried that I might overshadow him.

Or he was just trying to rattle me.

It was definitely one of the latter.

“Me too. Guess not,” I laughed.

Serkav growled at me, and Bobbin looked as if I was something that had crawled out from under his feet.

“See you out there, Death!” Mores growled at me, and then tromped off.

They headed to the floor...

“Why do you keep coming here, Life? You’re not the usual type.”

Wren’s mouth was compressed into a thin line.

I shrugged.

“The usual.”

Wren stared at me for a long moment and then headed to the waiting area with a shake of his head.

It unnerved me.

Probably the whole point.

I headed toward the waiting area.

It was a sparse area of steel and concrete, and the ceiling was lit with holo vidscreens that gave the schedules, fight match times, and their combatants.

I sat on a bench to myself.

All of the fighters had benches to themselves tonight. Not that anyone minded.

The lineup was thin, but it was a weeknight, so not many contenders. Couldn’t exactly get beaten to a pulp and then get up in the morning for work the next day.

I was zoned out when the systems started blaring red. I jerked my head up and found that all of the fights tonight had been canceled.

“What the hell is going on?” Jade shouted from three benches down.

I looked around. The system was saying that there was a medical emergency. Everybody was here...

...except for Mores.

The system blared louder and gave instructions to head to the locker rooms. Everyone was leaving tonight and would be notified when they could return.

We all got up and headed to the exit, grousing.

I needed the credits from tonight. I had to have them.

As we headed out, we passed the showers. One stall was cordoned off, but I spied what looked like blood all over the interior.

The others saw it too.

Bobbin seemed especially bothered. Servak just growled and went to his locker. Wren’s mouth compressed down in a worried frown...he knew something, but he wasn’t talking. I could feel it.

We all got to our lockers and started prepping for heading back out into the raging storm.

Jade slipped over to me—her race was so good at stealth it should have been illegal.

“Life, that was too much blood....Mores wasn’t exactly weak. What do you think happened?”

I shook my head.

“Don’t know, J.”

She gave me a look.

“But if I had to guess, I’d say Wren knows something. He was acting off earlier, and when we walked by he didn’t seem surprised...he seemed worried, and I got the impression that he had almost been expecting this. Not wanting it, but worried about it.”

I continued pulling my stuff out to head back.

She nodded and zipped off.

A few moments later I heard Wren yelp.

“You crazy woman! Let go of me!!”

I looked around the corner to find Jade using her lower half’s front legs to pin Wren’s struggling form to the locker room’s dingy plascrete wall. He must have been moving fast, as he was almost out the door with his stuff.

“Tell me what you know,” Jade hissed at him, far too close to his face for comfort. The Duran also had venom...they just rarely used it anymore.

Wren struggled more.

I came over to them.

“Okay, Wren. What do you know?”

I crossed my arms over my chest.

He struggled.

“Nothing. You two are nuts.”

“You were acting odd before, and then you said you thought I’d wised up and left. When we passed the showers you weren’t shocked by all that blood—you anticipated something like this...why?”

He squirmed under my stare.

“I don’t know what you’re—”

he started when the blaring alarms kicked up again.

We were all informed that a second medical emergency had occurred and that we would all be detained for questioning.

Then the entire complex clanked shut.

We were all trapped inside.

He groaned and shoved Jade back. She was almost knocked on her ass.

“It’s happening again! God damn it!”

Wren threw his bag down.

Jade and I looked at each other.

“You two can quit staring at each other like cockapoos! Yes, I’m a lot stronger than I let on, and yes, I have an idea of what’s going on. Bobbin will be dead in the same way as Mores. I’ve seen this happen three times now. It always goes the same—the most challenging one goes first, then the second. That will mean that either Servak or Jade is next. Life, you will probably be last.”

He picked his things up and deposited them in his locker.

“Wait...what?” Jade just stared at him.

“How have you seen this three times before, and if what you say is true...how have you survived?”

I stared at him suspiciously.

Wren pointed to the vents.

“Because I got out! And I didn’t make a fuss about how strong or good I was. I never have. Good luck to both of you...hope you survive this.”

He hauled a bench over and went to pop a vent cover off when Jade’s foreleg slammed him to the floor.

He sat up rubbing his chest.

“Good grief, you really are good with those legs, aren’t you, honey?”

He gave Jade a leer.

She smirked.

“Not that you would ever find out, but yes I am! Now talk!”

He nodded.

“It started before I signed on with the arenas. There were rumors...a ship on a mission out past the void space. When it came back, something else came back with it. The whole crew was dead. Bodies chewed through...like somebody sawed them apart. Blood everywhere.”

“Then it started happening at the arenas...around six years ago. Not every one of them...only on storm worlds. Fighters dying in groups of seven.”

“But we are only six...”

He shook his head.

“The servitor is here this time around. He manages the joint—him and his pet. That’s seven.”

Jade shuddered.

I felt cold.

The servitor was a creepy dude. Tall, thin, gaunt, with almost white skin and jet-black hair that was overdue for a haircut. It was wavy, tousled, and mop-like. Huge round glasses took up most of his face, the mirrored lenses seeming to suck you in and hold you.

I’d only seen him once, and afterward dodged any interaction...as did most of us.

You could always hear his long black coat on the floors...almost a plastic sound...and he always kept it buttoned up to his chin.

He kept a large ginger-colored dog with him at all times. The thing was the size of a bike. Its blue eyes seemed to glow, and it never left his side.

The system alarms blared with yet another medical emergency, and the room was lit red.

We all deflated a bit.

“That will have been Servak,” Wren hung his head.

Jade and I just looked uncomfortable, and I felt the cold in the room.

A slow clapping came from the hall leading into the locker room.

“That would be correct, Mr. Fjordssen. Well done.”

The padding of heavy paws on plascrete and the plasticky drag of the servitor’s coat came closer.

We all looked up in unison.

I wanted to pull away but couldn’t.

This guy was just unnatural.

“Have you puzzled it out yet, Mr. Fjordssen?”

The servitor came and sat on a bench by the wall across from us.

“It’s you, isn’t it?”

Wren stared at him unhappily.

A slow, creepy grin slid over the servitor’s face.

“Well done. But have you worked out WHY?”

“You’re a psychopath!”

He clucked his tongue.

“Ahh, now you can do better than that, Wrenner.”

He crossed his legs at the knee and placed his white-gloved hands on them to rest.

Wren looked visibly shaken.

“Nobody calls me that name...not for a very long time.”

The servitor adjusted his glasses and began to unbutton his coat. Underneath could be seen circuits and lights.

A cyborg.

The servitor was cybernetic?

“Wrenny, you and the crew left me to die out there on the S.S. Keffer.....You knew I had a baby sister that needed me. She would have died without my paycheck. She had Corsai disease. She was six years old when she was diagnosed, seven when our father died working the marches, and half a year later Mom left. All she had was me.”

“You and the others doomed us both that day.”

The servitor shrugged out of his coat. His body was an ugly tapestry of parts and pieces.

The pet barked softly.

He petted it and it calmed.

“Kyle...what happened to you?”

Wren looked horrified and ashamed.

The servitor smiled.

“Been a long time since I’ve heard that name. And what happened...? I put myself back together.”

He trailed a hand over a plate over his heart that read S.S. Kef and then cut off.

“Kyle, I’m so sorry...I didn’t—”

The servitor cut him off.

“You were my best friend and you left me to die. You knew you were killing two, not one. I could have forgiven you for being a coward...but you knew she wouldn’t live without me.”

Wren started to cry.

“I’m sorry. I went to find her...she was already in a coma. They were going to pull the plug. I’m so sorry...please Kyle, I’m so sorry!”

The servitor gave that creepy grin.

“No, Wrenny. Forgiveness isn’t in my nature when it comes to those that I love.”

“I can understand vengeance...but why kill so many? What purpose does it serve?”

I asked in spite of myself, and Jade just stared at me incredulously.

The servitor turned to me.

“A. Life. Another Life...how cute. Well, Ms. Rand...because it takes life to create life.”

“I don’t understand.”

This was confusing. Maybe he was just a madman, but I felt there was more to it.

His face softened.

“As you well know, Ms. Rand...there is a price for keeping someone that you love alive. Your father is lucky to have a daughter like you.”

Jade and Wren both snapped their heads to look at me, understanding dawning on them.

Dad had raised me by himself, taught me to fight. When he got sick, I knew what I had to do.

I was all he had.

“She is smarter than I was. She never told anyone why she was here.”

“...100 crew members left me to die, including my best friend. The first hundred lives changed my sister and her fate. The second hundred brought me back to this state...and the next hundred will bring my sweet sister back to me. We will live out our lives. I will be human again.”

The servitor stroked his pet’s fur.

Wren stared at the dog.

“Wait, Kyle...did Betsy make it?”

He smiled.

“She died trying to save me. When I woke up she was curled around me. She was a good dog...now she is the Keffer’s A.I. made flesh.”

Wren stared at the two of them.

“Kyle...I am so sorry...please...”

He stared at Wren, then looked at Jade and I.

“Ms. Rand, go home to your father. Take your friend with you. This is between my good friend and I.”

Jade and I headed for the exit door.

Wren screamed for us to stay and help him.

Jade pushed me forward with one of her forelegs.

The last thing that I heard was the servitor talking to Wren in a low voice.

“Ready to bring my little sister back to life?”

I left and didn’t look back.

When I got home, I found the credits in my account to pay for all of Dad’s medical treatment, with a note saying:

He is lucky.

I hoped he managed to bring his sister back, and I hoped that he was able to become human again.

I wished him luck as I sent the payment to the hospital and went to see Dad.