Final part of the story. To reiterate: part 4 + 5 were all written between 11 pm-2am, and 5am-6am the day it was due, so a lot of things will be missing, there will be typos, there will be epic fails. I want you to find all of them!
And then, finally – it was May 7.
Leander woke up before the alarms – something that had been happening with alarming frequency for the past week. She laid in her bed anxiously, unable to get the thought of arrest out of her head. Or failing. Perhaps she could try to lie, convince the professor that she had been called home for a family emergency? No, the professor would see through that instantly. She had an emergency? She would need proof… Maybe I can just show up late, apologize, and give it to her? She likes me well enough –
Before she could come up with a proper solution, the bell began chiming, and Leander’s hand snapped for the alarm shut-off. It continued to blare throughout the building for the next ten minutes – much shorter than usual, admittedly, thanks to her newfound insomnia. Get up, bagface.
Leander rolled out of bed and thudded to the floor. Ow. Getting up shakily, she made her way to the window, shielding her eyes from the rising sun and looking into the distance where, if she squinted her eyes just enough, she could see the science center. Wait, Leander thought, leaning in to the window, is that a truck – coming from behind the science center? It certainly looked like the large government trucks that were standard for larger transportation, though from this distance Leander couldn’t possibly be sure. She pressed her lips together grimly. “Time to go investigate, Leander,” she said, pulling herself from the window.
*****
Outside, the sun was particularly bright. Leander stepped out onto the street, bag slung over her shoulder, hailing one of the multiple taxis driving through the circle.
One stopped in front of her, and Leander clambered into the driver’s side, punching in directions for the science center. “Make it quick,” she muttered to no one in particular, and the car sped off, navigating through the busy lanes.
It wasn’t long before she was speeding through the highway, lurching gently this way and that with the curve of the road. Leander leaned back, tilting her head to the window. The forest was just beyond the highway, and Leander watched chunks of trees pass her and – something glinted.
Leander sat up straighter. What the hell…? “Damn it,” she breathed, “I was right. They’re here.”
She turned to the front, waving frantically before remembering the navigation menu. She quickly typed in a new set of directions – and nothing happened. It took her a moment to remember that as she was on the highway, there wasn’t very many places to go except straight forward.
Five minutes later, the car zoomed off an exit, and Leander sat back, relieved, as it drove towards the forest entrance.
Just before arriving, Leander shifted controls to manual, and drove away from the main entrance. Don’t be so obvious, stupid. She creeped carefully into a wide spot a little over a kilometer away from the actual entrance, and shut off the car slowly. She’d have to come back to this soon, so she couldn’t exactly leave it in the open.
Leander’s foot hit crunchy leaves when she exited the car and entered the forest floor. It was beautiful, but there wasn’t exactly all the time in the world to enjoy it – at least, not until she knew Hero’s running test had started.
She made her way into the forest, taking care to keep quiet with each crunchy step.
*****
One hour later, Leander sat next to a track that was obviously used, and often. This was the track. Hero would be coming through here, Leander was sure of it.
An hour later, however, Hero had not shown up, and Leander flinged herself onto the ground, pulling her bag to her and yanking out a breakfast of toast and grapes, the local crop.
Another hour later, and Hero had still not shown, so Leander began shuffling a small deck of cards from her pack to entertain herself.
In fact, it was a full four hours later before Leander’s eyes, lulled to sleep from the wait, snapped open in response to a noise. Someone’s coming, Leander realized, excited, as she crouched up to see beyond the foliage to the track. She dared not call out, but instead prepared herself to pounce, should Hero finally pass through.
Was that – something metallic, glinting with sunlight – yes, Leander breathed, it’s Hero! And it finally was, running obediently to a track she was magnetically stuck to, with no other way to go but forward. “Hero,” Leander hissed, calling out to her.
Hero’s expression brightened. “Leander,” she breathed, calling back, “Quick, pull me out of here!”
Hero passed by, and Leander jumped forward, smashing herself into Hero with a loud clang.
Leander tumbled to the floor, wincing horribly in pain. Beside her, Hero fell as well. It worked perfectly. Leander gasped, looking at the android again in the dim sunlight. It was hard to forget a face like that – shiny, white, smooth – and yet, in the week that had passed, Leander had nearly done just that, forgotten what Hero looked like. It hit her again like a brick. “Damn,” she murmured, standing back up. “It’s time to go, Hero.” She held a hand up to the android, who ignored it.
“I’m capable of standing up fine on my own, thanks,” Hero said derisively, pulling herself to her feet. “Now. How do we get out of here?”
“You,” Leander said, “and me. Taxi car. Heating pad for your chair.”
Hero frowned. “That’s your plan? You know you’re retarded, right? That’s the lamest plan I’ve ever heard, and – ”
“Oh, shut up,” Leander interrupted, “Your escape plan was pretty shitty too. What would you have done if I hadn’t come along? You never told me when your little training was, so I’ve been sitting here for five hours, you made me miss a very important test, and now how am I going to explain to my professor why I missed my final? I mean, damn it Hero, don’t yell at me, I was under pressure! How long have you been planning this?”
Hero frowned at her. “I would have found someone else,” she said flatly, “if you hadn’t come along. There’s always someone else. How could there not be? It’s not like the security in that hall was astounding, all right, it was just a frikkin door that said ‘keep out’, how well would that work?”
“Then why were you in such a low-security area?”
“Because – because they were moving me,” Hero stumbled, frowning again. “They put me there temporarily.”
“How come?”
“I’m tired,” she replied, “and I want to get to the car. Quick, let’s go before they get suspicious.”
*****
Hero sat silently throughout the car ride, staring out the window with the wig plastered on her head and the dress pulled over her body. Cosmetics, borrowed temporarily from Iris, colored her face enough to hide her metallic white.
Nothing, not even a simple beep, alarmed the pair as Leander pulled in alongside the dock that night at twilight. The Loretta’s key was tucked in Leander’s pocket. This is it, she breathed, the escape. Leander parked the car carefully near the entrance. “Hero,” she murmured, “let’s go.”
Hero got out of the car, and if Leander wasn’t mistaken, the android was actually shivering – shivering with anticipation, it looked like. Shivering. Like a human. Leander had no doubt that she knew exactly why the government had rendered her model obsolete – when building androids, one does not aspire to create one that’s human. That would defeat the purpose of an android, wouldn’t it? Leander eyed her, amused, as they made their way to the back unnoticed.
“Here it is,” Leander announced, when they reached the end of the dock. The Loretta sat in the port, waiting patiently to be driven – by hand – out of the bay. “You sure this thing won’t tip off security?”
“Yes,” Hero said bluntly, pulling the door open. “Help me, would you?” Leander came up behind her and tugged at the door until it gave way, and Hero clambered inside, followed quickly by Leander.
The boat looked exactly like she had last seen it – wood walls, leather seating, and one chrome seat which was, Leander now realized, supposed to be the driver’s – captain’s? – chair.
She sat in the chair now, feeling distinctly excited. “Let’s get out of here,” Leander muttered, pushing the key into its slot and turning it.
The engine roared to life, and Leander began taking all the information that one book had told her, and spewing it out onto the boat. Press this button, there’s the driver shift, check the meter. “So,” Hero said, coming up behind her, disguise fully removed, “you’ve learned how to drive a boat.”
“Sure,” Leander muttered. “Just give me the coordinates and I’ll get you out of here. I plan on coming back before sunset.”
Hero smiled gently – as gently as a metallic face could smile – and dropped a slip of paper into Leander’s lap. Paper. “Damn,” Leander laughed, “This is pretty outdated.”
“And safe,” Hero added. “What else could I use?”
*****
They were approaching the outer edges of Solumnic.
In any other boat, a metallic warning sound would sound, warning the driver and passengers aboard to turn around or risk being charged with every count of treason within legal limits. On this boat, however, there was silence.
Leander held her breath fearfully, looking at the lines on the map in front of her, as they approached the Solumnic border – and – and –
When they passed through, not a single alarm sounded. Leander breathed a sigh of relief, turning to Hero and smiling. “We’ve made it,” she laughed. “You’re going to your island.”
Hero smiled behind her. “Yeah. I told you nothing would – ”
CRASH.
Leander jolted forward into the control panel, slamming her head wildly. “OW – what the hell – what was that?” she breathed, standing up and straining to see in the dark. “Did we hit anything?”
CRASH – again, something crashed into the boat.
“It’s coming from behind the ship!” Hero gasped, turning around.
“LEANDER J. ANDREWS,” a voice called out, and Leander let out a low moan that threatened to overpower the voice in loudness, “YOU ARE BREAKING INTERNATIONAL LAWS. PLEASE HALT YOUR VEHICLE AT ONCE. SURRENDER NOW. DO NOT GO FORWARD.”
Leander whirled towards Hero, furious. “YOU SAID THEY WOULDN’T CATCH US,” she roared, shaking furiously. “YOU SAID THIS BOAT WAS TOO OLD TO FLIP THE SENSORS, HOW THE HELL DO THEY KNOW? WHAT DID YOU DO?”
Hero shrank back from Leander. “Try – try driving faster, maybe we can outgun them,” she said meekly. “Maybe we haven’t passed the border yet, maybe we were mistaken – ”
“NO!” Leander roared. “WE WEREN’T MISTAKEN – WE WERE COMPLETELY WRONG, THERE’S NO FUCKING BORDER! THERE’S NO ISLAND, THIS ENTIRE DAMNED PLANET BELONGS TO SOLUMNIC, AND YOU WERE FOOLED! YOU WERE FOOLED, YOU IMBECILE PIECE OF SHIT EQUIPMENT, YOU WERE – ” Leander’s voice cracked, and she collapsed on the floor, unsure of whether to cry or scream some more.
Hero sat on the cushion looking crushed. “Don’t say that,” she breathed, “No, shut up, don’t say that, go back to driving the damn boat, you idiot,” Hero said, trying to gain a sense of bravado. “You need to keep driving, come on.”
“There’s no where to go,” Leander said blankly. “We’ve lost, Hero, give it up.”
“No we haven’t – ”
“REPEAT: STOP THE BOAT OR YOU WILL BE FIRED.”
Leander looked up at Hero, dejected. As she stood up and made her way to the controls, she spoke again. “Do you know the story of Hero and Leander, Hero?”
Behind her, Hero said nothing, and Leander continued. “In Greek mythology, they were lovers. Every night, Leander would swim across a wide, flowing river to join Hero, and every morning he would swim back. One day, when he was swimming, across the river, the current overwhelmed him, and he drowned.” Leander shut off the boat’s power, turning the key. “Hero saw this, and she jumped into the river after him, killing herself.” She turned to Hero. “I’m swimming across the river for you, Hero,” she said, “Because you wanted me to. And now I’m drowning, and you better fucking jump in after me.”
Hero stared back at her. “We’re gonna die, aren’t we?” she said finally.
Leander stared at her for a long moment. “You’re not an android,” she said finally. “You’re too human to be an android.”
*****
“What is your name?”
“I – I’m not sure.”
“Answer again: what is your name?”
“I think it’s… Hero? No, the other one – Leander. My name is Leander.”
“Very good,” the voice said, coming from anywhere and nowhere at the same time. “Do you know why you’re here, Leander?”
“I broke the rules.”
“That’s right. You broke the rules. Which rules did you break, Leander?”
“I stole something.” Everything was beginning to clear up. Leander blinked once, twice, and the vision before her came into focus.
She was tied up, tied firmly in a chair with some sort of elastic, firm material – was it even possible to be both at the same time? – and she was in a large room. A large grey room. It was empty, save for a long platform to the left of her, nearly nine meters high on the wall.
“What did you steal, Leander?” said the disembodied voice, which Leander still couldn’t pinpoint.
“An android. Hero. I stole Hero – ”
“No,” the voice replied coolly, “You stole A-23. There is no one named Hero. Do you know what we’re going to do to you, Leander?”
“I can take a guess,” she said drily.
“Good. What are we going to do, Leander?”
She heard something whirring behind her, but her neck was placed too tightly against the chair to turn and look. “You’re going to kill me, aren’t you?”
“Yes, Leander. That is exactly what we’re going to do. Kill you.”
There was a small fwit, and Leander felt something sharp pierce the base of her neck. Ow, she thought groggily, that hurt.
I wonder what’s happened to Hero?
And then there was nothing.
Behind her, a tall, thin man dropped his shooter, pulling out a cigarette. “That’s so old-fashioned, Henry,” the voice said disapprovingly.
“Put a sock in it, Victoria,” he muttered, lighting it with a flick. “I hate my job. Where’s clean-up when you need it?” he said, eyeing Leander’s body with disinterest. “What exactly did she do, by the way? Doesn’t look like a criminal.”
“She stole an android. Was trying to escape – where to, I’ve got no idea.” Victoria sounded distinctly amused.
“Huh,” Henry muttered, slipping the lighter back into his pocket and taking a long drag. “Didn’t know we had androids.”
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