New Elysium: Breakout

Lead On Part 33

Lars shifted his round metallic body as he saluted his Captain. "We're ready when you are, Sir."

Red clasped his hands behind his back and looked down at his shoes. Startled, he took a step back, glancing back up at Lars. Red was still in his prison uniform.  This wasn't a memory but rather a dream.

"What are you doing here?" He found himself whispering, the shock not quite wearing off.

"Captain?" Lars took a step closer. "Are you all right?"

Red lifted a hand through his hair in exasperation, the Mohawk, the piercings, they were all still there. He must be losing it.

"Lars, aren't you dead?" His voice was shaky. He glanced around the room they were in, no windows, nothing to indicate where or when they were.

"I don't know." The AI faced him, the metallic arms hung down at his sides as an orange cat jumped on top of his flat head and lay there. Lars reached up and ran a hand along the spine of the feline, which began to purr loudly. "Was I something that could die in the first place?"

"Yes," Red whispered. Lars had no face, no way of exhibiting a smile, but Red could feel it all the same. The cat on Lars's head purred loudly. 

"You rehomed Amity," Lars continued. 

 Red nodded, he'd gone to Lars' home that he shared with the orange feline and removed the cat, giving it to a family that could take care of it, and who were sympathetic to his plight. None of them were augs in any way, however, no parts and no public sympathies to implicate them. It was an odd thing for him to do, but he couldn't stand the idea of the one thing Lars had openly cared about being left to die. 

"I did."

"Thank you, Sir." Lars' metallic voice lowered an octave. He dropped his arm and simply looked at Red.  "What will you do now?" He asked after a moment of silence.

"I don't know." Red scratched the back of his head. "I'm not sure."

"You're a leader, Red. Lead."

"I used to be better at this, Lars," Red laughed at his former second, not caring if it was a dream. "Some leader, I just beat a guy to death..."

"Because of Ember..."

Red shrugged, again seeing Andrej's face as he went after Ember. "You were way better at leading than I ever was."

"No," said Lars, he pulled Amity off the top of him and set her on the floor. "I encouraged the men and AIs under us. I never had to make the hard choices. That was always you, Sir."

"You encouraged--"

"And you led, Sir. Our squads were the best because of the decisions you made. The risks you took, and the ones you didn't take. You knew when to go and when to hold back. You were also well-liked, it's why they brought you in the way they did."  Lars brought up a hand and saluted. 

"I don't understand. They dropped us both."

"But they didn't kill you. Your men would have come for you. Men on that ship who followed you, not just augs, Captain. If they had known what was about to unfold, there would have been a unit, weapons ready, or they would have mutinied just to keep you. You still have those men, especially since rumors have spread that you are out of Helion 7." Red stared at the AI dumbfounded. His jaw hung open. Slowly, he returned the salute, knowing it was a dream.