Lunarly: A Fire Sale Classic

Jackie - Pulse Bomb

Jackie

"Pulse Bomb"

       Another week had passed, and Jackie had not heard anything from either the Saint or any of the other Angels.  X15 was not much company, she spent most of her time in full repair mode, which turned off all her non-vital functions, such as speech.  When she talked, it was always about soups, the various different kinds of soups, ways to prepare them, ingredients and serving techniques.  Jackie learned more about soups sitting with X15 for an hour then she had her whole life.

       Jackie needed to get out.  Something was happening on the moon, she could feel it.  The presence of the Bergine Squad concerned her.  They had no business being on the moon.  They were known to be the best of the navy, and the most ruthless.  Many were convicts and mercenaries and assassins, looking for steady legitimate work.

       And why was she dark siding to begin with?  This was not her fault.  She had just done the mission as ordered.  Saint must be afraid of another threat finding out about the botched mission.  The cops were a non-issue, no criminal entity on the moon took them seriously, so it had to be someone else.

       Was the Saint afraid of the Bergine Squad finding out and thinking the Angels were weak?  But it wasn't like the mission was a failure, the target was eliminated, and she escaped.  The more Jackie thought about it, the less it made sense.

       On the eighth day after finding X15, the robot woman just took off.

       Jackie was counting ceiling tiles, when X15 jumped up onto her freshly repaired legs, and bolted for the door.  Jackie thought about just letting her go, but she was still hoping to get what the Bergine Squad was after from X15.

       Her cyborg legs were fast, Jackie had to use one of her last two Juices just to keep up.  She was leading them north towards Hontario district, at a two mile-per-minute pace.  The streets were clear until they got out of the Cranoon district, where they slowly got more crowded with hover cars and people.  When they were about halfway through Bert district X15 suddenly stopped at an abandoned apartment building, and leapt the side of it.  Jackie needed to use Anti-Gravity, which was not near as fast as a single jump.

       Didn't matter, though, when Jackie got to roof, X15 was waiting, staring north.

       "X15, what are you doing?"

       The robot woman didn't even move.  Just kept looking north.

       Jackie looked around.  An excellent view up here, she could see the west rim of Hale dome, where the blue glow met the roof tops.  And in the other direction was Moon Bank, a square building made mostly of glass with a blue metal frame, towering over every other building on the moon.  To the south were just rows of metal buildings, and to the north were the navy buildings and the moon government.  The moon government building was easy to spot, at its center was a tall spire with a large silver sphere at the top.

       "X15 waiting for the show," she said suddenly.  "It should be starting soon.  Do you want to know the best way to cook a tomato soup while we wait?  I know a great recipe, but you need tomatoes, which is probably pretty rare here on the moon."

       "What show?"

       X15 pointed to the north.  "The start of Operation Helix."

       "Operation Helix?  Does that mean you have your mission log fixed?"

       "Mission log inaccessible, central comp damaged, repair undetermined," she said, waving a hand over her silver hair.  "X15 just knows."

       "Do you remember anything else about Operation Helix?"

       "Mission log inaccessible, central comp damaged, repair undetermined.  Do you still want to hear that soup recipe?"

       "No, for lunar's sake, I don't need to hear about any more soups!"

       X15 looked down.  "X15 apologizes, did not mean to act inappropriately.  Writing process to prevent future behavior."

       "What?"  The robot woman definitely had some processors knocked loose or something, she never made any sense to Jackie.  "You don't have to write anything, I didn't mean that.  Just a little frustrated is all."

       "Jackie Durang is 'frustrated'.  Why is Jackie Durang 'frustrated'?"

       She shook her head.  "I just want to know what is going on.  Up until two weeks ago, everything made sense, but now, the moon seems about as foreign as when I first got here."

       "Jackie Durang not from moon?"

       "No, my parents and I moved here when I was five."  Jackie did not know why she was telling X15 this, maybe the lack of conversation for the past couple weeks made her willing to talk about anything.  "They were found starting a family, and we lived in Europe where that was punished by exile.  I don't know why they chose the moon, but it was not for them.  They were killed within the year by a homeless man.  That was when the Angels found me."

       "Angels?"

       Jackie realized she had not told X15 who she works for.  Angels were never supposed to say anything about their organization to outsiders.  "Nevermind."

       They stood in silence, X15 still looking north.  "X15 has emotion," she said after a few minutes.

       "Emotion?  What emotion?"

       "X15 has sadness."

       "For what?"

       She pointed at the Hontario district.  Jackie saw that there were tears in the robot woman's eyes.  "Jackie, it's starting, but I don't want it to."

       "What's starting?"

       "Operation Helix.  Look."

       Jackie looked north, and it still looked the same.  "What is-"

       The shockwave knocked Jackie off her feet, and almost sent her back over the side of the building.  When she recovered and looked north, her jaw dropped.  "What in the Gods name. . ."

       It was gone.  The navy base, the moon government building, most of Hontario.  Wiped out in an instant.  Some kind of massive pulse bomb.  There were some fires around the outskirts of the blast, but the center of Hontario was just gone, replaced with a haze of dust.

       "Operation Helix has begun," said X15 as the terrified screams from below reached the roof.

       "What just. . ."  Jackie didn't have the words to express what she was thinking.  "Why, X15?  Why did the Bergine Squad wipe out the navy base and moon government?"

       "They picked the wrong side.  X15 goes now."  She jumped off the roof top without another word.

       Jackie looked at the wreckage that was Hontario.  How many lived there?  How many just died in that moment?  The Bergine Squad wiped out an entire district because the navy base and moon government had picked a wrong side?  She had heard they were ruthless and vile, but this was something worse.

       She followed X15 off the roof.  The robot woman was waiting at the base of the building, amidst the frantic citizens littering the street.  "X15 cannot return to the Bergine Squad.  Where does X15 go?"

       Jackie already knew where they were going next.  And it wasn't the empty warehouse they had been occupying.  "We are going to Frontal.  We are going to Angel headquarters."  She knew that she might be killed for going back there, especially with an outsider.  But she could not abandon X15, not when she might reveal the Bergine Squad's intentions, if only her mission log was repaired.

       The Saint neglected her, so she was heading to him.  She hoped his fury was not as fatal as her fellow Angels whispered.