I couldn’t have done it. I couldn’t have.
And yet, she knew it was entirely possible that she had been instrumental in the attack.
She shook her head.
Don’t dwell upon the unthinkable.
She was starting to understand what Will had been trying to tell her all along: it was probably for the best that her mind was wiped. The past was often best forgotten.
She had to wonder if she was the one who had ordered the mind wipe: after all, if it was true what she’d done, she didn’t think she would be able to live with the pain of killing all those people.
Imagine that, I wiped my mind to forget, yet accidentally left myself enough clues to remember what I’d done, if I followed the trail obsessively enough. Next time I’ll have to be more thorough and order the technician to wipe everything, to prevent even those last clues from remaining. This means clearing out my language abilities, my muscle memory. Everything.
She considered what would be left of her if she did that. She’d probably be reduced to the state of a slobbering infant.
Several flashes of blue light came from her right, from somewhere across the square.
Rhea dropped instantly, or rather as fast as the lesser gravity allowed, and ducked behind the closest pile of rubble. Will joined her. The two of them immediately deactivated their headlamps, so as not to give away their positions, and drew the pistols from their holsters.
A fragment broke away from the building behind her and landed on the ground. She glanced up at the building, and saw a deep borehole carved into the surface where she had been standing only a moment before.
She glanced to her right, toward her remaining companions.
The two combat robots were reduced to smoldering piles of slag. Their weapons had been rendered useless, having melted to their frames along with the spacesuits.
Horatio, meanwhile, had dived behind the wreckage of a vehicle in time. He, too, had turned off his headlamp.
More plasma fire erupted, traveling upward. Rhea realized their attacker was chasing off the shuttle.
Sure enough, on the overhead map the shuttle’s icon ripped westward until it froze, indicating the craft had passed beyond communications range.
“We got a sniper,” Will announced needlessly.
9
Rhea ducked lower and glanced at Will.
“At least our friend hasn’t ID’d you,” he said. “Otherwise, you would have been the first to go down.”
“Don’t be so sure,” Rhea said. “Some assassins like to toy with their prey.” She thought of the Scorpion, and how he wanted to make sure Rhea knew who it was who had come to kill her.
“You think it’s the Scorpion?” he asked, reading her mind.
“Could be,” she replied.
“I think our attacker targeted the robots simply because they were the most obviously armed,” Horatio said. “Think about it. If you were a sniper, scanning for your target, and couldn’t make an ID, wouldn’t you destroy the two biggest threats to you first?”
“Do we have a location?” Rhea said.
“I’m reviewing the footage of the attack, and the follow-up against the shuttle, now,” Horatio said. “There. I’ve got him.”
Rhea received a share request. When she accepted, a flashing waypoint appeared on her overhead map. She glanced toward the building indicated by the waypoint. It was mostly concealed by the debris, but according to the flashing icon that overlaid her vision, their attacker resided inside a window close to the upper levels.
“You think he’s still in that same spot?” Rhea asked.
“Why would he move?” Will said. “He has us pinned.”
“Someone’s got to get up there,” Rhea said. “Flush him out.”
“Cover me,” Horatio said.
Rhea glanced at Will, and the man nodded behind his faceplate.
She partially arose and swung her pistol toward the waypoint indicated on the upper window. She zoomed in slightly and spotted the gray silhouette of what could have been a head.
She opened fire. Will released plasma bolts from his pistol as well.
The gray form ducked from view.
At the same time Horatio got up and dashed to the row of buildings immediately behind. “I’m headed for the rooftops. Shutting down comms to reduce the chance of discovery.”
The robot ducked inside one of the open doors.
Rhea continued to fire at the same spot with Will; as she did so, she spotted very subtle motion in the adjacent window, two meters from her target. Seeing that motion saved her.
“He’s moved!” She ducked as she said the words, and a plasma bolt tore through the air just above her.
She quickly relocated, crawling to another section of the rubble, which was piled higher; meanwhile more plasma bolts ripped into the debris behind her. Will also changed positions, and momentarily peered past his own cover to return fire.
Rhea joined in.
What followed was a tense standoff with both parties switching positions after every volley, and neither side gaining the upper hand. But the point was merely to distract their enemy and buy Horatio time.
The assassin must have been wondering where the third surviving member of the group lurked and would be on the lookout for an attack from behind. It was Will and Rhea’s job to keep their enemy distracted long enough for Horatio to effect that rearward strike.
And then, finally, plasma fire appeared from the current window that housed their attacker. It didn’t target Will and Rhea, but instead traveled horizontally across the plaza, striking the opposite building.
A large form leaped from that same window and vanished from view, landing somewhere in the dim square below. Horatio appeared in the broken window frame. He was firing downward, activating the plasma rifles built into his forearms and shooting right through the fabric of his suit.
The robot reactivated his communications and rejoined the comm channel.
“I’ve got him pinned next to the fountain,” Horatio said. “I’d suggest splitting up and coming at him from the left and right flanks.”
“Any idea who he is?” Rhea asked.
“I believe it’s the Scorpion,” Horatio replied. “But he’s been augmented since our last
