Chapter 3

Citizen Hill

"Brother Bless." Master Dunlam's shoulders relaxed. Head raised, he locked eyes with her target. "This is Citizen, the one whom we spoke about." The priest extended an arm toward her.

Julian Bless, or Snowball, in her view, hung his crimson-colored robe on a hook. Under the thick garment, he had concealed a black, Kevlar-threaded sleeveless shirt that clung to his chest and showed slender but toned arms. He ran his hands over his thick black hair. The hood left it sticking out in all directions like a lion's mane.

Perhaps his self-grooming habits make it worse, she thought to herself, then noticed the soft shade of green encompassing his irises.

He stared at her. His shoulders squared. The visual outline of his face lit up in a red line in her Graphic User Interface vision. His file photo came up on the right side.

Hundred percent match. Julian Bless,it read below.

"Sister Citizen." His voice was low and gentle. "Welcome. Please, have a seat." He moved over to a desk.

She gathered the torn poncho in front of her and took the nearest chair. It looked the strongest of the three options, but that wasn't saying much. She hoped her weight didn't collapse the piece of furniture. Her reinforced cybernetic body made her several dozen kilos heavier than her skinny frame looked.

A 1580 Canine-Bot sat motionless next to the desk. It had the blue and white markings of the Federation Patrol and a stenciled number fifteen in blue on its shoulder.

It must've been from the 3rd Battalion,she mused over the information.I haven't seen this model for a while.

The dog replica robot stared straight at Citizen as if looking through her. It was the size of a typical German Shepherd, only twice as mean and twenty times lethal.

"Don't worry." Bless stood in the open, crumbling doorway. "I broke the code on this one. He's on our side."

"Well, I don't trust the Federation Patrol." Citizen pulled the poncho around her upper body. "Or any of their bots."

"You shouldn't." Bless toyed with something in his left front pocket. "But this is no ordinary patrol Canine-Bot."

From the looks of it, the sleek object was a control device, or possibly a memory stick. She wasn't sure which, and her ocular implant couldn't scan through the Kavaler threads of his overlapping shirt.

"If you say so." She took a sample of his voice to start a base reading.

The target walked over and set his hand on the bot's head. "This is Sid." The robotic dog's head turned to look at its owner, the sound of gears buzzing in its neck.

Citizen's proximity scanner was reading for any Federation codes emitted from the bot.

No traces. This knowledge intrigued her.Maybe this Bless guy really broke its code.

"How does one break a Federation code?" Citizen scanned the room, recording the scene for evaluation playback during the mission debriefing once the job was done.

Julian Bless smiled. "Well, we were all given different talents, that's for sure. And mine is hacking. It took me three tries. The first two bots we captured didn't work out too well."

"What ifthis onedoesn't do too well?" She took in Snowball's pale completion. Her eyes zeroed in on his hair, which offered a sharp contrast to his skin.

"It's not an issue. Sid here has a completely new CPU and no Federation chips of any kind." He held her gaze, and it was as if his green eyes could see through the ocular implants into the circuits that made up her soul. Well, that was, if she had one. "Master Dunlam tells me you are new to our tribe."

"Yes, I've been in search of refuge for a long time." She wondered why his skin stayed so fair in the sun - why he didn't tan.

His smile stretched from ear to ear. "I'm sorry for your struggles out there. We're glad to have you among us." He looked just like his image, and his voice sounded like what she had predicted from knowing the rest of his physiology. His eyes were different, though. They were softer than she had imagined.

He unbuckled the sword belt around his waist without looking and laid it on the desk next to his datapad. "I assume Master Dunlam has shown you the barracks and the commissary?"

"Yes, he has been rather helpful." She gave a curt nod.

"And how long have you been out in the Autonomous Zone?" Bless sat on a chair.

"About two weeks, I think." Citizen chewed on the inside of her lip, simulating a touch of nervousness. "The Federation was going to arrest me."

"For what?"

"S-stealing." She bowed her head, breaking eye contact to simulate a hit of nerves.

"For whom? Yourself?"

She shot a glance his way but remained silent.

Bless nodded. He had not taken his eyes off her. "It is tragic, yet heroic, what we will do to help others."

Citizen tilted her head. "How do you know I was stealing for others? I could've been doing it for myself."

"Maybe." Bless grinned. "But we Elysium naturally have empathy for each other. It's a human survival instinct. I believe you're a person who would risk life and limb to help others because you're a kind and compassionate person. And Ibelieveyou coming into our fold isn't mere chance. No. I'm sure you're one of us." Bless leaned forward and stared. "I can see it in your eyes. You are human."

If only he knew how ironic that statement truly came across. She resisted the urge to smirk, then reprocessed the last couple of sentences he spoke.

What did Snowball see?

"What do you mean . . . human? Of course, I'm human." An alert warning went off in her head. "I'm as human as you."

"Exactly. You're alive, like us. You're not an empty shell or a blind Federation follower."

A notification appeared in her GUI vision. She opened it.

The current conversation prompted a human philosophical phrase to pop up: I think, therefore I am.

She had programmed relevant historical and philosophical phrases to alert her if she fell into any complex human content that her CPU would have trouble explaining.

"I think, therefore I am." She held Snowball's inquisitive eyes.

Bless nodded. "Exactly."

He's so inviting. Why am I drawn to this man?

"May I ask" - Citizen scooted forward in her chair -"What is the meaning behind the ritual of each person touching the red stone?"

"Ah, yes." A small chuckle passed his lips. "The ceremony can often confuse new members. It is our Earth Dedication."

"Earth Dedication?"

"Yes." Bless paused, perhaps for effect. "The Life Stone is rare. It comes from a specific type of rock formed underneath the earth's crust. It was taken from the location Elysium was born."

"Born?" Citizen probed her memory archives.

"Yes. The ideology of Elysium started with only two people - me and Master Clark, our eldest member, whom you have not met yet. He's one of the seniors. As Elysium grows, so too does our territory. Each time we establish a new permanent settlement, we place the Life Stone on the altar, and each member, or part of Elysium, touches the stone and dedicates his or her life to defending and growing the new territory."

"I see." Citizen documented the information, dated it, and then filed it away.

"The stone is made from the earth." Bless motioned with both arms as if talking to a large crowd. "Like us." He tapped his chest and continued talking with his hands. "We are human. We are natural. We're not made of metal or plastic, or dura-glass. We're not formed from the institutions of the Federation like some datapad put together in a factory. We are alive." He clenched his fists and raised them above his head to emphasize the last word, "alive."

Citizen didn't understand completely. She knew humans over time favored rituals that included specific motor skills and sacred objects. She would have to learn more to understand fully, but she had to make Bless believe she was following him.

She nodded slowly and stared into his green eyes. "Yes, I see."

"Touching the Life Stone helps remind us of this," said Bless. "No matter what happens in the wasteland,Ó he pointed out the window, "We mustn't lose touch of our humanity. You are welcome to touch the stone anytime, even if it's before the next ceremony. It's packed away with the altar, but we can unpack it at any time."

"I will consider it," replied Citizen.

Bless' eyes narrowed. "I don't believe you came to us by mere chance. I believe you've seen the light. I believe you're here for a reason."

"And why doyoubelieve so much about me?" Citizen scanned his frame but was unable to obtain a complete reading of his vitals.

"It is what I do." Bless sat back. "In Elysium, we not only care for one another, we know one another. You don't become one with a group by being an individual."

There was something about his tone that mesmerized her. She could see how normal humans would blindly follow him. "Master Dunlam gave me the impression each person is free in Elysium."

The smile returned to his lips. "Of course, we are free. But no one is in Elysium," he said, drawing out the words. "Everyone . . . is . . . Elysium."

Another philosophical phrase popped up: Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.

Not sure what that one meant - the words left her needing input. She would have to ask about that when the time was right.

Citizen nodded. There was something mysterious in his voice. She was intrigued. This terminology matched what the records had said. However, there was still something in his tone that didn't register. She knew this had to be something related to the human emotions.

Her internal RAM scanned through thousands of lines of code, trying to locate an intel match of his vocal inflection.

Why did he say I was human?It was the first time a human had told her that.

"I'm sorry, but I don't fully understand. If you could explain-"

"Julian," a voice shouted from behind her.

Bless looked over her shoulder, and she turned.

"Gollum attack, Sector 4, it's bad!" The man's face was red, sweating, and showed clear signs of distress.

"How many?" Bless stood and reached for his belt.

"We don't know," the man said, "but it's a lot."

Sid's robotic eyes glowed as ruddy-red as the end of a blowtorch. The bot rose, then sprinted out the door.

Bless, Master Dunlam, and the messenger hurried out of the room.

They must have forgotten about Citizen, which was fine with her. In an instant, she was up, activating her proximity scan. The scan was already linking to the datapad on his desk. Just a few more seconds to establish a link, then she could begin hacking.

"Sister Citizen." Master Dunlam's voice startled her.

"Yes?" She turned to see he had come back.

"It's not safe here. Come with us."

"Sure." Falling in stride, she ran behind Bless.

The human was fast on his feet, and he had already drawn his katana. Not knowing where they were going or where Sector 4 was, she stayed behind them. Although Bless was fast for a human, she could easily outrun him with her carbon-fiber muscles. She intentionally kept her pace slow enough to look human.

Once down the stairs, Bless joined three others who were also running through the rubble-filled streets. One had a sword, and the other two had long staffs. They already left Master Dunlam.

She wasn't surprised. He wasn't the fighting type.

Citizen didn't want to reveal her two multi-bladed trench daggers concealed on her back in their custom upside-down sheaths.

Others joined them, weapons in hand.

She was impressed to see how quickly Elysium turned from silent monks into warriors.

"Breach on the north wall," someone shouted ahead of them.

"How many?" Bless yelled.

"More than ten," the same voice called back.

Citizen stopped mid-stride, stooped, and picked up a small piece of metal. It must have been part of a sign or something. Its jagged edge would work, but it wasn't long enough. But it would have to do for now. Not that she would need a whole lot more against Gollums.

Were there scabbies too?

Cries of humans and roars of Gollums could be heard. They were getting close.

She rounded a corner. There, in between the crumbling structures of an old city street, Citizen paused.

Her optic blinked on the figures.

She was expecting Gollums. But these weren't Gollums.

These were huge, hulking figures.

"Hostiles of unknown origins" blinked in her vision. She began calculating the speed of these things by their steps.

The message read: Extreme Mass. Intelligence level unknown. Engage at a distance.

Whatever they were, they were unknown. They had the same skin color as Gollums, but they were larger than any Gollum she had ever seen. These creatures were twice the size of a human.

She watched as one monster picked one of the Elysium guards off his feet by the neck.

The monster roared and punched the man in the face. His limbs went still. The beast then threw the limp body onto the asphalt.

Citizen wondered if the pause experienced in her read-out was similar to the shock or fear that humans experienced. She threw off her poncho.

"Gollum herd over here." It was Bless' voice, but he was lost in a sea of bodies.

She zeroed in on his location and ran to him. At first, she was going to protect him. But now, it looked like she was going to have to join in the fighting.

Sid jumped and latched onto a Gollum's arm with his metal jaws. The canine bot shook its head so violently the giant Gollum stumbled, then stepped off balance. That same move would have taken a regular man clean to the ground.

A Gollum roared from around a corner and went towards Bless. The beast's massive arms reached up before swinging down.

Bless dropped to his knees and used his katana to slice the monster's leg as he slid by.

The monster's cry went from an angry attack to a roar of agonizing pain. It spun around to grab Bless, but he was already on his feet swinging in anticipation of the monster's arms.

The blade cut into the monster's hands, and it jerked away.

Bless was already running. A second man cut the creature in the back, and it roared in pain again. They must be used to fighting these beasts already. These people were quick and worked well together.

It's impressive for a bunch of snowballs without a chance in hell of getting their way, or so the Federation has stated on numerous occasions.

Citizen leaped onto a pile of rubble and launched herself off of one foot toward the Gollum. She stuck her makeshift weapon into the base of the creature's skull with a crunch of bone and a slurp of flesh. The beast crumpled underneath her.

Bless and another were already engaged with a second beast. These things were everywhere.

Katana in hand, Bless had already made one good slash to the Gollum's arm, but the beast disregarded it. Bless crouched and slowly side-stepped, holding his sword with both hands.

His partner swung a long piece of chain over his head, keeping the monster at bay.

Citizen calculated the time it would take for the next closest Gollums to reach them - thirty-one seconds max. Two attacking them at once would be too much. The man with the chain whipped his weapon at the creature's head.

The Gollum caught it with his good hand and pulled the chain. The man on the other end flew toward him. The beast grabbed the human by the arms, opened his mouth wide, and bit into the man's neck.

The man screamed in pain, but there was no saving him. Bright red blood spurted into the air.

Bless was moving in. As the creature went in for another bite, Bless ducked and sliced his katana up and into the monster's armpit, releasing a stream of the monster's green blood.

The Gollum backhanded a fist at Bless, but he was already out of the way.

Citizen adjusted her gait. She would have to engage her flexor cables to reach her target quickly enough. Bless would see the non-human jump, but she had no choice.

Her flexor cables, which replaced her normal human hamstrings, engaged, and she shot into the air. Her weapon landed home just as the monster turned its head, leaving the piece of metal stuck in its eye.

She landed in a crouch. He was still alive, but not for long.

The Gollum desperately tried to pull the metal out.

Citizen grabbed the chain. As she pulled it free, she saw it was modified with a sharpened piece of rebar on the end.

A very effective weapon. Elysium kept impressing her.They are fighters.

Bless made a jumping slash. His blade cut the monster's hand off at the wrist. The beast's other fist connected and knocked Bless to the ground.

Citizen swung the chain over her head and stepped back to the perfect distance. She let the end go, and the sharp point cut into his other eye.

The beast roared and tripped backward. That would have to do for now. Bless was still getting to his feet when the second Gollum closed in on him.

Citizen sprung off both feet, flew in the air over Bless, and then landed with a run - the chain weapon still swinging.

The Gollum hesitated.

Running, Citizen let loose the chain at the monster's face.

He reached up and blocked it with a hand. The end of the chain wrapped around his wrist, and he clutched it, staring at what he caught.

Citizen kept running full speed and slid feet-first between the Gollum's legs. As she passed underneath its crotch, she dug her heels in and stood up, giving the chain a strong pull.

That tugged the monster's hand down in between its legs, almost tripping the beast.

She ran to the side and wrapped the chain against its leg. Two of the monster's limbs were now tied, and it was too confused to do anything.

She examined the creature's movements.

They're smart. But they aren't strategists.

Citizen jumped sideways with all her weight.

The chain pulled its leg out from under it, and the beast went down with a crash.

A third Gollum was going to be in range within seconds.

She dropped the tangled chain, jumped, and unsheathed her double blades from their holsters in the air. She landed, straddling the Gollum's head, and buried a dagger buried into each side of its skull.

The beast jerked and went silent.

Nearby, Bless was on his feet, finishing off another creature.

Two more beasts ran at Citizen. They were too close, and they moved faster than she had expected.

She sliced with her dagger, and the blade caught one of the creature's arms. She ducked and rolled, then she came up ready to swing. But the other monster was already behind her and grabbed her wrist.

He pulled her off her feet and bit into her arm.

His mouth was so large it engulfed her forearm.

She felt her organic skin break, but her reinforced bone casing held. With quick precision, she stabbed her other dagger at the beast's neck, but it immediately let go, and her blade touched nothing but air.

She landed in a two-footed squat.

The beast jumped back with his hands on his mouth. A grotesque expression of confusion emerged on his face. It opened its jaw, then looked at her arm.

Citizen stood there, taking in the scene.What's going on here?

The monster backed away. It roared and held out its hand, palm up in a stopping gesture to the other beast that had started closing in.

The beast's posture slacked, and its shoulders dropped. They exchanged a few growls.

Wait. They are communicating with each other.

The one who had tried to bite her pointed to his mouth, then to Citizen's arm. Simultaneously, they dropped to their knees and raised their palms to her. They both let out a light growl and closed their eyes.

"Watch out," shouted Bless. "Behind you."

Turning around, she saw a third one ready to confront her. She bent her knees in attack position.

Then one of the crouching brutes roared, and the newest beast stopped. The newcomer's eyes shifted back and forth between his companions and Citizen.

Her non-verbal behavioral software reported they were scared of her but expressed joy at the same time. For a creature to exhibit these two emotions at the same time was unique. They were clearly communicating to each other she was not to be harmed, but why?

"What are they doing?" Bless asked.

"I don't know." They were obviously not going to kill her.

Citizen took their lapse in tactics and used it against them just as she was programmed. She ran up to the first two and sliced their throats with ease. She turned to do the same to the third one, but it was already running away with a screaming roar.

Another one attacked her from the left. She ducked its punch, spun backward, then swung the daggers in her hands into a reverse grip. She sunk both blades into the back of the creature's knees.

Planting her feet, she engaged her flexor cables, then used all her strength to yank the monster's leg out from under him. The beast landed with a thud.

Citizen pulled the daggers out and jumped into another somersault, landing next to its head, and then sunk one dagger into its neck.

She looked up. Bless stood there, motionless, jaw open. He was amazed at what he had just witnessed. But his human amazement was going to get him killed. Another Gollum was approaching from behind him.

"Get down." She swung the other dagger back behind her head for a throw. "Get out of the way," she shouted, then threw the weapon.

Bless saw what she was doing and ducked. The dagger landed in the Gollum's neck, stopping the monster in his tracks. Its beefy arms clutched his throat. Blood gurgled out his mouth, and seconds later, he stumbled forward. With his last step and one final cry, its body slumped and fell back.

Bless stared at the beast that almost killed him.

"Stop gawking." Citizen pulled her first dagger free and walked over to the other creature. "And help me make sure they're dead."

She reached down, pulled her second dagger out of the creature's throat, then wiped the blood off on the sides of the dead Gollum's arm.

On edge, she scanned the area.

Two Gollums squirmed on the ground but were being finished off by the rest of Elysium.

Threats extinguished, her display read.

Looking up, she saw Bless staring at her. She flicked hair out of her eyes with a jerk of her head, then used the tail of her shirt to clean the blood out of the skull-shaped design of the dagger's hilt. With casual ease, she re-holstered the blades into her back sheath.

"Why did those three stop attacking you?" Bless approached.

"I don't know," said Citizen, with a layer of honesty. "The one bit my arm, then stopped."

Sid's gears buzzed and whirled in her ears. Without turning around, she knew the bot was trotting over to their position. The mechanical canine rubbed against Bless' leg affectionately, which confused Citizen.

Bots don't show emotions, at least not any that I've seen.

"That's gross," said Bless.

The bot's head was covered in green Gollum blood, and now, so was Bless' pant leg.

If the bot could smile, it would - she was sure of it.

The canine unit looked at Bless, awaiting his command.

As she moved, she knew Bless watched her, studied her. By this time, he would notice she wasn't sweating or breathing hard.

"I could have handled them myself." Bless' keen eyes continued to rake over her frame.

"Yeah, sure, maybe one, but you had a snowball's chance in hell of taking them both down."

"So, you say." He continued to study her. "Either way, thanks for saving me."

"You're welcome," said Citizen.

"You're quite the fighter." Bless wiped the blood off of his katana. "You're so good. You're almost supernatural."

She looked at him, and they locked eyes.

Yep. It's official,she thought. He knows something but isn't going to say anything.She didn't understand why.Maybe he's being deceitful.At this point, she didn't know if she could trust him yet.

"Are you guys all right?" One of the members ran up.

"Yes, we're fine," said Bless.

"What were these things?" Citizen knelt next to her last kill.

Bless kicked the leg of the closest one. "Some people call them Trolls. They're mutated Gollums. We started seeing them about a year ago. But lately, we've seen them in larger numbers. Their herds are growing." He used the tip of his sword to move one of the dead Troll's arms.

Citizen knelt next to the mass of crumpled, grayish-green muscle. She picked at one of the open cuts, examining the green blood on the tip of her finger. To the humans, it appeared she was looking at it. But internally, she was letting the blood secrete over the nano-receptors on the tip of her finger. Her CPU would analyze the cellular structure and bio-info. It would take several minutes.

"They strike strategically." Citizen rose, continuing to survey the area. "They hit from different angles, then wait to attack when your back is turned."

"They're smarter and more strategic than we have ever seen a Gollum be. And they are bigger, stronger, faster, and more aggressive," confirmed Bless.

"They don't appear to be mindless hordes." Citizen dropped her hand to make them think she was done with the blood, but she didn't wipe it off. She just let her nan-receptors process the material. She moved over to the creature's head to study its face. In a crouched position, she pulled up a dead eyelid and examined its eyeball.

Her T-581 ocular implant recorded the blood-shot iris and the shape of the eye. It recorded thermal imaging and infrared, as well as mapping the vein structure and nerve endings. She then moved down the arm and held its hand. It was heavy, and twice the mass of hers. She flattened the oversized digits with both of her hands and scanned the bone structure of the fingers.

"Is there more you can tell me about them?" She shot a glance his way.

Bless nodded and knelt to her level. "They seem to have a heightened olfactory system. They smell human flesh and devour it when they find it. We believe they have more advanced intelligence."

"How intelligent?" She examined the ear structure.

"They're smart enough to work together," said Bless. "Smart enough to create diversions on our perimeters." He studied her face. "You don't show much emotion, do you?"

"And hearing?" There was a good chance he knew for sure.

"Yeah, that's enhanced, as well."

Citizen looked back at him just as the initial results from the blood scan popped up.

Trace amounts of Gollum DNA. Normal Human Levels. No match in the existing database. Further testing recommended. The report replayed twice.

"I bet they are the product of Gollum inbreeding."

Bless nodded. "I've been thinking that too. But we just need to get some blood samples to a lab - a real lab, that is - to confirm." He said it in a way that made Citizen suspect he knew what she did. "Although, if that's true, they're reproducing at an alarming rate."

"Do you have samples? Or do we need to collect some now?" Citizen called his bluff.

"We already have samples." Bless rose. "But the only facility that has tech like that is in New Therian."

"What were they doing when they stopped attacking me and fell to their knees?" She replayed the moment in her thoughts.

"I don't know," said Bless. "We've - I've never seen that before."

"Sir," the other man said, "we need to go."

"Collect all the weapons you can," Bless called out to the others, who were already moving. "How many did we lose?"

"Eight dead, two wounded." The other man cast his gaze at the ground.

"Damn it." Bless let out a heavy sign. "Take their gear. We won't have time for a burning. We move out in three minutes." He sheathed his sword and walked away.

He's more like a military commander than a cult leader. And he's an impeccable swordsman.

Citizen kept her eyes on him and followed his every move.