Hyperspeed Dreams by Anna Carven
Prologue
“The one they’ve sent you to kill this time… I know her well. Don’t be so hasty. She can help you. I know you can disobey their orders if you want. I’ve seen you do it before.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I actually have a conscience.”
* * *
Tasha pulled her arm tighter around the woman’s neck. Her target squirmed, desperately clawing at Tasha’s arms, but it was futile.
Tasha was just too strong. Her body had been taken apart and put back together; spliced with the toughest metal known to man and enhanced with drugs and genetic treatments.
No normal humancould overpower her.
And this woman knew what she was.
Why was she still fighting?
Tasha squeezed harder and felt the subtle give of the woman’s trachea against her forearm. “Don’t. It’s pointless. You already know that.”
The woman went still. The heavy rasp of her breathing punctuated the silence. Down here in the cool, concrete-walled corridor that ran beneath Styx, an exclusive club in the Eko Atlantic City district of Lagos, nobody would hear her scream.
Tasha had followed her through the frenzied crowd upstairs; through the heavy, pounding bass and the lurid holographic light show.
The woman had just stepped off stage after a wild DJ set.
Crazy.Tasha didn’t understand the club scene. She didn’t understand how people could enjoy moving their bodies to music—this ridiculous dancing.
She didn’t understand how one of the most wanted people on Earth could hide out in plain sight—as the Styx’s resident DJ.
But thanks to a tip off from Praetorian HQ, she’d finally found her.
Lara Oni.
The one they called The Scientist.
Well, she was a scientist, once upon a time. Her specialty was bio-modification, and she’d written the blueprint for advanced metas like Tasha.
Oni was the only person that had ever defected from Praetorian—the biggest and most powerful mercenary group on Earth—and survived.
For now.
Tasha kind of envied her.
But she also despised her, because she remembered her from the cold, windowless labs in Praetorian HQ, where they’d turned her into the perfect obedient killing machine.
Then one day, The Scientist simply wasn’t there anymore.
She’d been replaced by an asshole called Gage Alexander.
“Y-you’re a Helborg,” Lara whispered fearfully. “AE-5. I… I know you. I’d know those interface seams anywhere.”
“And you’re Lara Oni,” Tasha said quietly. “Praetorian’s been looking for you for a very long time. What is it now, ten years since you disappeared from HQ? Considering how clever you are, I’m not surprised. Still…” She took in Lara’s outfit; a ridiculous green silk jumpsuit over which she’d layered several shimmering, snakelike gold necklaces. A strange headdress of long green feathers adorned her dark, coiled hair, which was styled in braids spliced with silver thread. “A DJ? Seriously? You engineered me, did you not? You could have sold your skills to any private merc outfit and made a fortune.”
Lara shook her head. “I’m not doing that again.” She took a deep, shuddering breath. “If they sent you to find me, then why am I still alive?”
“You’re supposed to be dead.” Tasha resisted the urge to give in to the killing reflex; the muscle memory that was programmed into her bionic limbs. All it took was a slight twist of her arms. She could so easily snap this woman’s neck. “My orders were to make you disappear. They’re afraid of you, you know.”
Lara lifted her trembling hand and placed it on Tasha’s wrist. Tasha permitted it—for now. Her warm, clammy fingers felt strange against Tasha’s bare skin.
She wasn’t used to any sort of human touch.
It felt weird and uncomfortable.
“Believe it or not, you were part of the reason I left in the first place.” Lara’s fingers danced across the thin lines of Tasha’s interface seams—as if she were searching for something. “What the hell is going on? You’re not supposed to be so…”
“Independent?” Tasha raised an eyebrow sardonically. “The conditioning never fully worked on me.” And I’m very good at hiding it from my superiors.
“Well, that’s just wonderful,” Lara said weakly, her voice containing a strange mixture of sarcasm and fear. “One of the most lethal killers we ever created has discovered critical thinking.”
“It’s the only reason you’re still alive. You should be overjoyed. If you want to stay alive, then you’ll do exactly as I tell you.”
“W-what do you want?”
“You know there’s an implant in my body that allows them to track my precise location at all times. I need you to—”
“Deactivate it?” Lara blurted. She gave Tasha a strange look—as if she were some rare and exotic species. “Oh. Wow. You’re trying to get out, huh?”
Tasha ignored the question. “After that, you will tell me how to get off Ambrosia.”
Ambrosiawas the most addictive substance known to man. As far as Tasha knew, only Praetorian knew how to make it.
Tasha had been hooked on it since she was ten years old. They’d held her down and forcibly injected it into her veins.
When her handlers wanted to punish her, they would withhold her next dose and send her into withdrawal. They would monitor her behind darkened glass, watching her squirm in her cell as the rigors grew worse and the pain became unbearable; as she lay on the floor covered in her own sweat and piss and vomit, struck by seizure after seizure.
If she didn’t get another shot in four and a half hours, the tremors would start again.
Nobody had ever gone cold turkey on Ambrosia and survived.
“Ambrosia?” Lara stiffened.
“You know how to get someone off it, don’t you?” Desperation crept into Tasha’s voice.
This had to work.
This was her only chance to break free of Praetorian’s control. After the last punishment they’d inflicted on her, her fear had finally turned into blinding hatred.
They’d gone too far.
They’d killed her sister, Alexis.
For years, Tasha’s handlers had let her observe Alexis from a distance—to remind her of what they could destroy if she didn’t obey. She’d watched in secret as Alexis graduated from the Academy and joined Federation Enforcement, quickly working her way up to the rank of Detective.
Then one day, something crazy happened.
People started trying to kill Alexis. The attempts on her life came thick and fast, and Tasha would find herself begging Gage for updates; for reassurance that Alexis was still alive, because it was clear that someone very powerful wanted her dead. She must’ve stumbled across some terrible and dangerous secret in her detective work.
Tasha even managed to thwart several attempts herself.
Then she’d learned that Alexis had killed a Kordolian trafficker.
There was a big fat bounty on her head.
Kordolianswere behind this, pulling the strings from another galaxy. They wanted revenge, and nobody could stop them, not even The Praetorian.
It was Gage who came to Tasha with a solution. It was Gage who helped her anonymously arrange that impossible-to-get ticket for the offworld passenger transport Malachi, which was bound for the new colony planet, Miridian-8.
She should have suspected it back then.
Gage never did anything without a reason.
Alexis got on that flight… and then the Malachi disappeared in space, only its disappearance was no accident.
It was all Tasha’s fault.
She’d fucked up.
In a moment of weakness, she’d disobeyed their orders. For the first time in her life, she’d done the unthinkable—she’d refused to kill her target.
And in retaliation, her Praetorian controllers had used it as an opportunity to show her what they were truly capable of.
They’d destroyed the Malachi.
The asteroid storm wasn’t really an asteroid storm—it was an attack by a mercenary ship in The Praetorian’s network.
They’d forced her to listen to the recording of the black box feed. Tasha had heard the screams as the ship’s hull tore apart; as its passengers were sucked into zero gravity, zero oxygen.
Into death.
It was another one of their manipulations; their fucked-up psycho-tortures.
It had nearly broken her.
It had killed Alexis.
She couldn’t let it happen again, ever.
A cold knot formed in her chest. “Don’t tell me what I don’t want to hear. You will fix me, and you will do it now.Do not waste my time.”
There were three people left on this planet that she had to protect. Her MamaVirginie—the sweet woman who had rescued her from the orphanage when she was only two years old—and her foster brothers, Felix and Kylian.
She hadn’t seen them since she was nine—when she’d been abducted from her idyllic existence on Reunion Island.
She had no memory of her biological parents, who were killed in a hovercar accident when she was just six months old. She’d been in the back seat in her safety capsule, which had closed protectively around her as the car’s autopilot failed, causing it to smash into an oncoming freighter drone.
Orphanmakers, they called those things.
The Scientist stiffened and made a faint choking sound, and Tasha realized she’d been squeezing a little too hard. She relented, lowering her arm.
Lara coughed and spluttered. A fearful whimper escaped her lips.
“Easy,” Tasha said softly. She tended to have that effect on people, especially when she was the last thing they ever saw. She released the trembling woman and moved in front of Lara so they were face to face.
Lara took several deep, shuddering breaths. Then something strange happened. She stopped trembling. Her gaze hardened. She lifted her head a little higher.
She looked Tasha straight in the eye.
Every last trace of her fear disappeared.
What the hell?
“All right. Let’s do a deal, Helborg. I’ll deactivate the implant for you. Then you will get the hell out of here before your minders figure out that you’ve gone AWOL. But…”
“There is a catch, isn’t there?” Tasha said dryly.
“I can’t help you with your Ambrosia problem. I’m a bio-mod specialist, not a pharmacologist. And that drug isn’t like anything else. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear it originated off-planet. No human knows how to make it, nobody else has supply, and nobody knows how to cure the withdrawals. Once they kick in, you’ll have about 48 hours to—”
Live. “I know,” Tasha said curtly, surprised by Lara’s honest answer. How the hell had this woman suddenly become so fearless?
That’s when she felt it.
An unpleasant tingle at the back of her neck.
Somebody else was here.
She glanced over her shoulder, in the direction of Lara’s gaze.
What the hell is that?
A shadow?
No, not a shadow.
Wings.
Massive black feathered wings, tucked behind powerful shoulders—shoulders that were too broad to be human.
She breathed in sharply.
What the hell?
An alien!
The figure took a step forward, sending an ominous draft down the corridor as his wings unfurled. Tasha took in the male’s big, muscular form. He stood a head and a half taller than her, his body ripped and humanoid and covered in shimmering form-fitting armor that shifted color under the harsh lights, deceiving her eyes.
The alien’s face was utterly striking. Deep gunmetal grey skin accentuated features so sharp they looked like they could cut through diamonds. The eyes were too angled, the nose too straight and prominent, the cheekbones too razor-like to ever pass for human.
Cerulean eyes stared back at her, mirroring her curiosity with icy coldness. His irises were so intense they seemed to glow. His pupils were narrow reptilian slits.
In his hand was a long metal spear with a vicious barbed tip. It emitted a faint hum.
There was no mistaking it; this guy was fucking dangerous.
“Avein,” Tasha growled. “What the hell is an Avein doing here?”
“You think I could have survived this long without allies?” Now Lara was completely calm. She said something to the Avein in a language Tasha had never heard before.
Tasha’s hand slipped toward the fluoro pink pouch at her waist, which was actually a holster in disguise. In a blur of motion, she raised her gun and pointed it at the alien’s face.
The Avein’s eyes widened. A low hiss escaped his lips.
“How the hell did you get that past the scanners?” Oni demanded.
“It isn’t ordinary metal,” Tasha said calmly. Her fingers closed around the smooth black grip of the plasma gun, feeling the strange Kordolian-made weapon, which was neither cool nor warm; neither hard nor soft. It was as if it had been harvested from some living alien organism.
She’d first laid eyes on it just weeks ago.
Somehow, Praetorian had managed to do a deal with the Kordolians and secure a supply of plasma guns.
A group of Praetorian execs had wanted a demonstration, and Tasha had been ordered to show off the destructive power of Kordolian plasma. After all, she was one of the few that could handle the insane recoil without getting floored.
She’d vaporized those targets.
She’d never encountered that kind of power before.
It was intoxicating.
“That is Kordolian metal,” hissed the Avein. “Cursed metal. Your kind should not possess such things.”
Tasha shrugged. “Says who? If you know what it is, then you know what’s going to happen if I shoot you in the face with it. So don’t do anything stupid.”
The Avein’s eyes narrowed. “If your people have Callidum plasma weapons, then it means you either stole them from Kordolians, or you made a bargain with them. Either way, it will end badly for you. Nothing good ever comes of dealing with cursed ones.”
Lara frowned. “I’ve heard you call them lots of things, but not cursed. What does that mean?”
The alien’s expression turned to stone. He pulled his wings taut against his back as if they were some sort of protective carapace. “Humans still have much to learn about the Universe.”
“I don’t really care about Kordolians right now. I just need you to fix me.”
“I can deactivate the monitoring implant. That’s easy,” Lara said. “But the Ambrosia… you’re on your own with that. I’m sorry. To be honest, if I were you, I’d be looking for someone who has advanced medical tech.”
Tasha arched an eyebrow. “And who would that be? Old crow over here?”
The Avein glared at her with the venom of a thousand vipers.
Lara shook her head. “They have some amazing spacecraft, but Avein medical tech isn’t nearly as advanced as you might think, especially when it comes to humans. No, the only species I’m thinking of that could possibly help you are the…”
Tasha’s heart stopped cold.
She already knew the answer.
“…Kordolians.”
No way.
She would not offer herself as a helpless specimen to the most dangerous species in the Nine Galaxies.
The ones that were behind Alexis’s death.
The ones that were supplying plasma weapons to Praetorian.
The species that had dominated the Nine Galaxies and ruthlessly conquered entire planets, murdering, colonizing, taking slaves…
Death would be preferable.
If she had only 48 hours to make sure her people were safe, then so be it. Whatever happened after that…
She didn’t care anymore.
Tasha didn’t believe in things like karma, but maybe this was hers.
For failing to protect her dear sister.
For being too much of a coward to seek death, even when she knew how much of an abomination she’d become.
“Follow me,” The Scientist said quietly, a hint of steel in her voice. “And put that horrible weapon away. If you do anything to harm either of us, you’ll have an entire Avein hunting flock out for your blood, and they will chase you and yours to the ends of the Universe.”
Tasha’s gaze flicked toward the winged warrior, who just stood there silently, his sharp alien features cold and impassive.
He didn’t say a word.
Tasha lowered the gun.
Lara turned and made her way down the concrete-walled corridor, her heeled boots echoing loudly in the cold, silent space.
Tasha had no choice but to follow. The winged alien stalked behind her, his footsteps perfectly silent—just like her own.
They entered a fire escape, descending several flights of stairs until they reached the basement. Oni pushed open a heavy steel door and led them into a harshly lit space.
All of a sudden, they were surrounded by dozens of holo-consoles, each staffed by a human wearing earpods. Hands flew through the air, swiftly manipulating data.
What the hell were these people doing?
None of the humans paid any attention to Lara, Tasha or the fucking Avein.
“In here,” The Scientist said nonchalantly as she led them into a bunker-like room bathed in warm artificial light.
It was cold down here. In her thigh-skimming white dress—deliberately chosen to make her look as harmless as possible—even Tasha, whose temperature receptors were dulled, felt a little chilly.
She’d always despised the cold. Spending one’s childhood on a tropical island tended to have that effect, but the brutal training she’d been put through by Praetorian had almost erased those memories.
Almost, but nothing could take those fragments of sunshine from her. There was a warm place she went to in her mind; a memory of lying on the soft golden sand beside Alexis, her sister.
Her best friend.
They’d just returned from a swim in the crystal clear ocean.
The sun was shining down on their bare, sand-encrusted skin, bathing them in warmth. Pale wisps of cloud drifted across the perfect blue sky, caressed by the gentle breeze.
The sound of the ocean was in her dreams, reminding her of a life she’d almost lived.
“Sit down.” The Scientist led her to a nondescript metal chair.
The Avein remained in the doorway, quietly watchful, his wings slightly outstretched, blocking her exit.
He reminded her of a gargoyle.
Tasha gave the Avein a distrustful look and sat down, ready to reach for her plasma at any moment.
The room was strangely cave-like, with walls that appeared to be hewn from subterranean rock. Modern autostorage modules lined the walls. In the center of the room was a workbench laden with tools and metal parts and strange half-assembled pieces of tech.
“Where is that damn thing?” Lara muttered as she waved her hand at one of the autostorers. It slid open, revealing an array of equipment. She selected a long dull grey metal rod-looking thing from the mess and pointed it at Tasha. “This should work.”
Tasha’s hand instinctively flew to her weapon.
The Avein moved in close, pointing the tip of his spear at Tasha’s skull.
“Don’t panic,” Lara said absently as she glanced at the plasma gun in Tasha’s hand. “Lay that down on the floor in front of you.”
“I’m not losing the gun,” Tasha growled.
“Do you really want to break free of what you’ve become? Then you’ll do it. Because there’s no way I’m discharging this thing while you have live plasma in your hand. The deactivation will be short and sharp, and it will hurt. I’m just warning you. Now it’s up to you to decide whether you have it in yourself to trust me… or anyone, for that matter.”
Tasha closed her eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath. She felt the smooth alien metal beneath her fingertips—Kordolian metal.
Could she trust this woman? “Why would you do this… if you already know what I am?”
“Other than the fact that you’d blow my head off?” Something close to regret crossed Lara’s face. “I’ve never really believed in fate, but it’s just so uncanny that you were the one to seek me out. You were one of the reasons I left. I could never forget that look in your eyes. You were just a kid. Small for your age; delicate compared to all the others. That’s why they chose you for the program. Nobody would suspect you of being so dangerous.” She shook her head. “How could we have done that to you?”
“People can be cruel,” Tasha murmured, thinking of the blood on her own hands. A strange current of emotion passed between them as she met Lara’s gaze.
As if in a trance, she lowered her weapon, placing it on the cold concrete floor. “If you neutralize this implant and allow me to leave, then I’ll consider it a favor owed.”
“Huh. Are you actually honorable when you’re not taking orders from sociopathic assholes?”
“Honestly, I have no idea.” Tasha’s fingers started to tremble. It was so subtle that only she noticed, but it was enough to bother her.
A tendril of terrible craving coiled around her enhanced heart, threatening to drag her under.
Her body longed for it… the euphoria.
Fucking Ambrosia.
“This is going to hurt.”
“Of course it is,” Tasha said wryly. “A word of warning. They know my location. They’ll send mercs to destroy this place once they realize what’s happened.”
“We’ll be long gone before then.” Lara didn’t sound the slightest bit worried. “And the geolocation isn’t as foolproof as they want you to think. I have my ways of messing with it. There are EMP disruptors all over the place. Don’t worry, you’re not visible on their systems right now. Are you ready?”
Steeling herself, Tasha nodded.
Lara pointed the device at Tasha’s head and pressed a button.
Oof.
The pain hit Tasha like a thousand acid-tipped needles smashing into her skull all at once. She screamed and dropped to her knees. Strong hands—the alien?—restrained her until the pain subsided; until she felt so drained that all she could do was drop to the floor and lie flat on her back, gasping for air.
“Easy,” said Lara, her voice detached and distant. “That’s a completely normal reaction. It’ll pass in a few seconds.”
Tasha let out a soft whimper. She stared up at the rough stone ceiling, at the golden lights that shone down mockingly in a pale imitation of sunlight.
For a moment, she imagined that she was lying in the pure, brilliant sunshine of her tropical island home.
I’ll go back and find my people. Make sure they’re safe.
After that…
She didn’t know what the hell she would do.
“Oh, and that favor you seem to think you owe me?” Lara’s voice was distant, floating on the periphery of her consciousness. “Well, if you ever manage to find your way onto one of their ships and live to tell the tale, you’ll tell me all about it. And I’m taking that plasma gun they gave you. For research purposes, of course.”
Tasha could barely lift a finger to protest.
Kordolians?
Pfft.Ridiculous.