OGENUS EARTH 🌎 🌊 {Dystopian Sci-Fi Adventure}

Shape Shifter

"What are we going to tell them?" Lauren's question was the first words spoken for several minutes.

Sandra glanced around at the battered faces of her colleagues, assessing her next move. She couldn't trust anyone right now, but having Arturo would mean she had a confirmed ally. However, Sandra had no idea how she would separate him from the group to explain the situation.

Undoubtedly the rest of the survivors would look to Arturo for guidance, and he had no idea that he could be working with a possible co-conspirator. Already the group had shown cracks in their loyalties, as they were about to put the codes to access Coeuss up to a vote.

"We let him help us," Sandra answered simply. "If you are innocent in this attack on humanity, then you will not be punished."

"If?" Bethany squawked. "We've followed emergency protocol and secured Arc City Two. We carried out your orders, how could you still suspect that one of us is involved?"

"It doesn't matter what she suspects." Gayle laughed to herself at her own joke. "It's going to matter what Arturo thinks."

Sandra bristled at the honesty in this offhanded statement. "Precisely." She nodded to the rest of the women huddled together.

"What if they're bringing Legionnaires?" Lauren asked the worry etched in lines around her eyes.

"You have me," Gayle responded, puffing out her chest. "If they are coming to seize us for questioning, I can protect you."

"Seize us?" Bethany asked, her eyes widening.

"Say they do have a few trained Legionnaires stashed on that ship to round us up." Gayle teased the information with a hint of satisfaction. She might be considered a lowly soldier, but not even the best and brightest minds the Arcs had to offer, could think tactically. "They couldn't send enough to best me in a gunfight, and once the seismic cannons go back up, they're trapped."

A few heads seemed to tilt with understanding. To hear the Legionnaire tell it, they had the advantage here.

"They have to listen to you." Gayle continued. "You are the only witnesses to the attack."

Slowly, the others came to life, shuffling around with looks of bleak anticipation. Sandra raked a hand through her snarled hair but was unable to make it through from all the dried blood and gore.

"Look, none of us are cleaned up, and Arturo will see that something dire has happened," Sandra told them, trying to keep her voice even. "We must be honest and tell him what we know so he can communicate it back to the other city's Quorums. We should be grateful to have his help."

"Agreed," Sarah replied, her cool tone startling the others. "We need to assure Arturo that we have handled things and tell him the truth as we know it."

"Lauren, can you open the hatch to allow our visitors inside?" Sandra asked, knowing that assigning people jobs was the only way to get them to move. "Marina, can you prepare a room for us to welcome our guests? We'll need monitors to show Arturo video feed from the events of the attack."

Marina and the Architects glanced amongst each other with tense expressions, but Sandra didn't have time to coddle them.

"Gayle, I'd like to have two plasma guns ready for any potential surprises." Sandra kept going. "Sarah, Bethany, can you come with us?"

"What about the rest of us?" Nina, a short Architect standing behind Lauren asked.

"Help Marina." Sandra snapped on her way out.