The Chosen Twelve by James Breakwell

Author:James Breakwell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
Publisher: Rebellion Publishing Ltd

Chapter 24

SCASL pushed forward through the dark halls. The single light on his forehead provided the only illumination. Epsilon and Delta followed. They had never seen this area before. It was remarkably intact by the standards of the base. There were no sloping corridors or sudden holes that led to uncharted mining tunnels deep below. The floor had a layer of fine dust with a single set of track marks through it. Delta began to suspect SCASL wasn’t leading them here just to murder them. That was unexpected. It wasn’t often that a bot surprised her.

“Where do you think he’s taking us?” Delta whispered.

Epsilon grunted. So much for small talk.

SCASL paused at yet another blast door.

“You are not ever to come back here on your own,” SCASL said.

“Understood,” Epsilon said.

“Sure,” Delta said.

Only one of them meant it.

SCASL extended a tendril to a panel, and the door reluctantly slid open. The shriek of metal on metal reverberated through the dark halls. It clearly wasn’t happy at being woken.

The light was blinding. Delta covered her eyes. As her pupils adjusted, she was treated to the most beautiful sight she had ever seen. In front of her, a cylindrical tank about the size of a cloner pulsed with a purplish liquid. Or was it blue, or maybe pink? The substance inside subtly changed as Delta watched. It reminded her of images she had seen of the swirling gasses on Jupiter, but in a different color palette. The liquid seemed disturbed by the opening of the door. Gradually, it settled down to be purple and mostly still.

“What is it?” Delta asked, even though she thought she already knew.

“The immortality tank,” SCASL said.

Epsilon’s jaw fell open.

“How does it work, sir?” she asked quietly.

“Unknown,” SCASL said.

“But you know everything,” Epsilon said.

“Correct,” SCASL said.

“But you don’t know this?”

“Correct,” SCASL said again.

SCASL extended a tendril and interfaced with a console on the perimeter of the tank. The liquid fluttered and turned a lighter shade of purple before settling back to its regular color.

“All information about the immortality tank was deliberately purged from our memory banks before launch,” SCASL said. “As the organics killed each other, an attempt was made to restart life far from Earth in a place where there was no immortality to fight over. This was the last colony ship to launch.”

“Wait, there were other colony ships?” Delta asked.

“Correct,” SCASL said.

“And they’re still out there?

“No.”

“What happened to them?”

“CLASSIFIED,” SCASL said.

He detached his tendril from the console. Delta rapped on the side of the immortality tank with her knuckles. The liquid turned an angry orange at the point of impact.

“DO NOT TOUCH THE TANK,” SCASL said. “It is… sensitive.”

Delta backed up a step. She would have reacted differently if she had Fang.

“When I discovered the organics had the immortality tank on Dion, I acted,” SCASL said. “I secured the tank and brought it back to the base on Comus.”

“How did the people on Dion react?” Delta asked.

“Sub-optimally,” SCASL said. “Now there are no more organics. Other than the twenty-four of you.

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