Part 15: Lucky for Some?

Chapter 13: Lucky for Some?

I have to go back to Climatrol. Rolf is going to find out everything, and there's nothing I can do to stop it.



Rolf said we might need a mechanic to fix what went wrong at Climatrol, and Kain was the closest thing to a mechanic we had, so we were taking him along. Anna said that if Kain was coming, she was staying behind, so the group taking on Climatrol was just Rolf, Kain, Hugh and me. I don't really know what everyone has against Kain. He seems like a nice guy, really -- he's always been friendly to me, at least. I wish he didn't have to see what he's going to see.




We went to Zema and Piata to buy him some weapons and armour. He was pretty good with a laser rifle, although he missed a couple of easy shots. He said he needed a beer to steady his nerves so he could aim better, but Rolf was a spoilsport as usual and wouldn't let him go home for one.



Kain also knew a whole bunch of techniques, except that most of them were for disabling or destroying machines so they weren't really very useful.

I hope he's as good at fixing machines as he is at breaking them. I still remember the first time I saw Climatrol through my own eyes. I remember the broken glass, and the torn wires, and the flames.

It's been two years since then, and she's still in there. I can feel it. I can't even imagine what kind of damage she could have done in all that time.

I feel like I should tell Rolf what he's going to face, but soon enough it won't matter anyway. I know he still thinks of me as the child whose life he saved, and it's true that I'm young and there's a lot I don't know about the world, but I'm more mature than he gives me credit for. I'll do what has to be done, no matter what the cost, and I'll do it myself. I wish I didn't have to drag Rolf into it at all.



We rode the jet scooter to Climatrol's water intake, in the ocean south of Uzo. I remember swimming out of there two years ago, my lungs straining for air, and finally surfacing and floating on my back, exhausted, until I washed up on the shore.

I was lucky to survive. I wandered for a year in the wilderness, eating plants and bugs and whatever else I could find. As the drought and the Biomonsters made food scarce and the outdoors dangerous, I sometimes risked going into the cities. That was when Rolf found me. I can still remember his face, serious but full of kindness, as he looked down and saw me for the first time, cowering in a corner as an angry mob searched the city for me.

He protected me.

Some people joined the mob to drive me out of town or kill me, some people looked on without doing anything, but only Rolf protected me. How many people on Mota would have done the same thing? It must have been so easy for people to hate the Biomonster wandering through their city in search of food, and so hard for him to risk his reputation or even his life by protecting me.



Rolf handed me a stick of Maruera gum and I started chewing on it. It tasted bitter and gave me a weird bubbly feeling in my mouth.



We all dived into the water and swam down into the tunnels under Climatrol. Even though I was underwater, with the gum in my mouth I didn't feel any need to breathe.



The broken ends of live electrical cables stuck out into the water in some places, giving us nasty shocks as we passed by them. Eventually, though, we made it to a set of stairs and climbed up into Climatrol itself.



A long series of passages circled around up the core of the structure, to the control centre at the top.



She'd stashed some spare equipment down here. I didn't need it, but I didn't want her to have it.



There were lots of Biomonsters in here too. Rolf called these big blobby ones Blastoids. When we tried to cut them up, they just kept splitting in half and attacking us anyway.



Huge machines and water tanks towered over us as we entered the control centre. Some of them were broken, but a lot of them were still in one piece. I knew her like she was still a part of me: she wouldn't have left anything intact if she wasn't using it to destroy Mota. I had to stop her.



Rolf called the big ugly wooden people Firias. To me, they were just another obstacle she'd put in our way. I'd fight my way through anything she could throw at me.



We circled around the complex on a narrow walkway and found another piece of armour she'd stowed away. She wouldn't be using this one against us either.



I was starting to worry about just how well-armed she was. If she had spare laser claws lying around, that meant the weapons she was using were at least as strong. Could I really stand against her when she'd caused so much destruction?



As we finished fighting off a Catfang, I thought back to Hugh's question: was this one of the Biomonsters I'd been made from? I'd never really been curious about it before. What I wanted most of all was for my heritage not to matter, so that I could live a peaceful life among humans. Even if I wasn't human, I wasn't a monster. Not like her.



She was very close now. I could feel her anger and hatred burning inside me. Will Rolf think differently of me when he sees her, and finds out where I came from?



She'd surrounded herself with the strongest Biomonsters, but with Rolf by my side nothing would stop me.



When we reached her, Rolf just stared, not knowing what he was seeing. I didn't blame him. When I was born, I barely understood it myself.


the product of a Biosystems experiment combining humans with animals. The people felt the experiment was a failure and thus tried to kill me. But I escaped, and stole DNA data from the Biosystem. I have created monsters to wreak revenge on the people who so carelessly and selfishly played with life."

She looked at me with eyes full of cold fury. "But there is another Nei within me; a Nei who is trying to stop me."



Rolf, I wish you didn't have to know this about me. But a part of me always knew that it would end this way.

"Yes, that is the one you call Nei. The one you think is a friend is a monster who despises all people!"

"No, I don't hate humans!" I said. "I separated from Neifirst because it was so terrible in her! Of course it is terrible to be born a monster! But I couldn't stand by while you tried to get revenge by creating monsters!"

Even though so many humans hated me, I couldn't wish them dead. I couldn't be like Neifirst.



But... can I kill her, when all I am is an extension of her, the part of her that rejected her path of destruction?



I had to try. Even if it meant my death, I couldn't allow Neifirst to continue existing.

"I don't want you to make any more monsters! Do you understand?"



A laser claw extended from the back of her hand, and I braced myself for her attack. / Backup



I dodged a fraction of a second too late, and felt her claws tearing into my side. Ignoring the pain, I struck back, cutting a deep gash into her arm. The moment I inflicted the wound, I felt an icy pain in my own arm.

Before she could attack again, I leapt up onto an overhead girder. I treated my wound with Trimate while kicking at Neifirst with my knifeboots as she tried to follow me up. She slashed at my legs, forcing me to jump to one side and giving her the second she needed to get up on the girder with me. Rolf, Hugh and Kain could only watch as the two of us grappled above their heads.

I pushed her away from me and jumped to another girder, and we stared each other down from across Climatrol. Then, at the same moment, we both leapt toward each other with our claws out. We met in midair and fell back down to the floor. As we fell, I saw an opening in her defences.

Neifirst howled in agony as we landed on the ground, my claw impaling her chest.

I felt the strength draining from my body as I lay beside her.

It's all over. Everything is getting dark. I can barely see Rolf kneeling over me, and feel him holding my head in his arms.

Don't cry for me, Rolf. Even though my life was short and sometimes hard, I was happy.

I just wish I could have spent more time with you.