ABC - Penance
Chapter 66

Spitfield Public Cemetery, East Park District

12th February V27 (2047)

It had been far too long since I had walked the gravel paths that lead to my daughter’s grave. Papa marched resolutely at my side, carrying a bunch of fresh flowers in one hand and an umbrella in the other. Every so often I saw him look at me from the corners of his eyes, wondering at why I had asked him to accompany me today.

He had begged me to visit so many times before, yet always I had fobbed him off. Sometimes it had been unavoidable, as my work in the Police Auxiliary forced me to break my promises. Other times, it was my own cowardice.

My dear little daughter, Rosa Maria Alvarez, deserved so much better from me. As did my loyal Papa, walking at my side with only my lies to explain why I needed him here.

“I’m sorry, Papa” I spoke quietly, my voice sounding unnatural in my ears. Papa glanced at me and gave a tentative smile.

“It’s Okay, Luisa” he responded, not understanding my words. “Rosa will be glad you came, no matter the circumstances”

I looked down at my own gloved hands, a folded umbrella clasped in my right, the left hanging open. It was hard not to feel disconnected as my feet bore me ever closer to the tiny grave marker. A light rain began to fall, the remnants of the storm that had lashed the Zone for the past two days.

Papa shook out his umbrella, raising it over his head. I left mine in my hand, uncaring of the small drops of water that drifted over me. There was nothing the rain could harm and I needed to keep my vision unobscured.

“Nearly there” Papa announced, his words arriving at almost the same time as Georgia’s in my earpiece.

“Copy that” I replied to both of them.

Her grave was a simple affair, a laser etched marker over the small container of ashes interred beneath. There were older flowers lying forlornly against the headstone, hiding her name from me.

Papa went forwards, ready to clear the old flowers away and lay the fresh ones in their place. I reached out my hand, stopping him. He gave me a confused look, my hand rigid and unyielding on his arm.

“Let me do it, Papa” I asked him, my voice echoing strangely. I took the flowers from him, handing over the unused umbrella. “Please stand over there, on the path” I added, gesturing to a spot some meters distant. He did as I asked, his face a mask of concern.

Once I was satisfied, I knelt in front of Rosa. My hand pushed the wilted stems aside, placing the new ones in their stead.

“Forgive me” I spoke aloud.

Then I felt a powerful impact on the side of my head, hurling me from my feet. The world spun and I could see nothing out of my right eye.

Papa screamed in anguish, his hoarse cries coming to me from so far away. My head was lying against one of the adjoining graves, my left eye fading as I saw my father throw down the umbrellas and rush to my side.

My last words to him were garbled, barely recognisable as a human voice.

“It’s Okay” I tried to say. Then it all went black and silent.

I died for the second time in my life. It didn’t hurt at all.

=====

Police Headquarters, Central District, Spitfield

“Are you going to lie on the floor all day?” Georgia asked me.

I lifted the VR goggles from my eyes and regarded her standing over me. The sensor pads that surrounded me were digging into my sides so I got to my feet, disconnecting the induction leads from the Virtual Reality suit.

“Is my Papa alright?” I asked her, not wanting to meet her eyes.

“Trixie’s got a team moving to his location right now” she answered. “I can show you a drone feed if you’d like?”

“Please” I replied and she activated a holo-screen showing a live stream from one of her palm drones. I could see my Papa, tears running down his face as he cradled the decoy dressed in my clothes and wearing my face. The skull had been ripped open by the assassin’s bullet, showing the mechanical interior.

“I need to go and see him, to apologise for what I have done” I said, my voice betraying the awful pain I was feeling in my heart.

“It’s not a secure site yet” Georgia reminded me. “The shooter is on the move, using the trees as cover”

She switched the screen to another feed, this one coming from the stealthed VTOL high over the cemetery. In one corner of the display I could see Ghost, hanging out of an open side door, attached only by a slender cable to the aircraft. His feet were balanced on the very edge of the hatchway, a long barrelled rifle pointing straight down.

Georgia patched us into his voice feed and he spoke the words I needed to hear.

“Target identified” he declared. “I’m taking the shot”

A muffled report came over the feed as the powerful rifle fired, sending a depleted Uranium round at supersonic velocity into the would-be assassin.

“Shooter is down” Ghost announced. “Send in the recovery team”

“Copy that” Georgia responded. “Good shooting, Ghost”

She regarded me with her moist brown eyes, understanding the emotions I was feeling.

“Your Papa will understand why you did this” she reassured me. “The vision I had of the attack, you replicated it perfectly. There was no other way to have taken out the assassin without you dying for real”

“I know” I answered her.

=====

Spitfield Public Cemetery, East Park District

Boner flew me to the cemetery in Jericho’s own VTOL, the white painted craft racing nimbly across the sky above Spitfield. He didn’t speak to me, knowing all I wanted was to get to my father.

We landed in the carpark, the turbines blasting the pooled water on the tarmac into whirling clouds. The engines had barely begun to spool down before I flung the side hatch open and ran towards the cluster of Police Auxiliary vehicles and ambulances.

“Papa!” I screamed as I ran into the midst of the secured area, pushing my way past the solid Guards on sentry duty. He was seated on the open back of an ambulance, a Paramedic fussing over him while he sipped a hot drink. He looked up sharply at my cry, his eyes widening in relief.

I fell into his arms, sobbing wildly as he struggled to calm me down. My apologies ran together until all I could tell him was that I was sorry, over and over.

“It was one of the hardest things I ever had to witness, to see my daughter killed like that” he told me, his face pressed against mine. “I knew it wasn’t really you, just one of those Police decoys, but seeing it shot like that nearly finished me”

He pulled his head back, searching my wretched face, looking fondly into my teary eyes.

“You were drawing out the assassin, I understand that. But it would have been nice to know what was going to happen!”

I sniffled and gave him a sad grin.

“If I had told you there was a shooter, you would have been looking everywhere for them” I explained. “I needed you to act as naturally as possible, even if I was a robot”

“I thought I did a good job” he sniffed disdainfully. “I called you Luisa and everything”

“You did a great job, Papa” I praised him and I swear he preened a little at my words.

We sat like that for a while, enjoying the sensation of being close, when my partner came over to the ambulance. He was still dressed in his Tactical Armour, his heavy rifle slung over one shoulder.

“Inspector Alvarez” he announced and gave me a snappy salute. “The grounds have been cleared and we are ready to re-open them to the public”

“Thank you, Detective Gaunt” I responded. “All the items have been recovered?”

“On their way to Headquarters” he assured me.

“Any Ident on the shooter?” I asked him, knowing what answer I would get.

“They’re a Null” Ghost said. “No records anywhere. Georgia thinks they were brought in specially for this job. She said she’ll keep digging through international databases and see what turns up”

I stood up, keeping one hand on Papa’s shoulder.

“She won’t replace anything. The Society would have made sure they erased any records before they sent them here. By the way, were they male or female?”

“It was a woman” he answered. “Does that make a difference?”

“No, not really”

I could see Police Auxiliary officers in the distance taking down the barriers to the Cemetery entrance. A small crowd of onlookers were waiting to go in, some to visit departed family and more here to see what we had been up to.

“Papa, would you be willing to go with me one more time?” I asked him. “With the real me this time, not a mechanical”

“Always, Luisa” he answered. He got slowly to his feet, throwing off the thermal blanket he had been wrapped in. He took my hand and together we walked towards the gates, joining the others awaiting entry.

“I’ll see you back at the office” I called to Ghost as we went. He gave me a reply, but when I turned to check on him, he was already gone.

Papa noticed my look and asked me if my partner had returned to work.

“Kind of” I admitted. “He’ll be watching over us, making sure there are no others waiting for me”

“He seems to care about you” Papa asked. “You should invite him over for dinner some time, let me check him out properly”

“I am not sure my heart could handle the stress, Papa, but I’ll ask him”

=====

The flowers had been trampled by many feet, a sorry looking affair of yellows and blues. I picked them up and arranged them as neatly as I could, feeling the comforting presence of my father at my back.

“Hey there, Rosa” I whispered, laying my hands on the small headstone. “It’s me, your Mama”

Raindrops seemed to be falling on her name, salty ones that flowed from my eyes.

“I really miss you, my beautiful daughter” I told her and for once I was telling the truth.