The System

by Skyler Grant

  We first learned it when the crystal ridges on the skull of one glowed red and a beam took out a section of a wall behind us.

  "I really should give humans integrated beam weaponry," I said.

  "We kill each other just fine without it. Besides, static weaponry like that makes us too easy to predict," Caya said.

  Caya, as usual, had a point.

  My Gunslinger beam rifle had more range than Caya's pistol, and I worked to clear our path from a distance while she handled any threats that got close. We quickly made our way to an exit and Caya threw a grenade to clear the solid wall of zombies that blocked the door.

  "So what are you thinking? I don't buy that you don't want Hex to overhear. You just didn't want to waste time explaining," I said.

  Caya was buried in zombies as soon as she stepped through the door. They were dropping down from a ledge above. It was a strange sight to watch Caya stumble, a constant state of almost falling to the ground except each foot always got placed just right to keep her on her feet. Falling upright, as it were.

  This drone might not have the full mental power of my Network, but it had enough I could do some precision shooting. Six headshots later Caya was cleared of zombies. It also seemed I was wrong. Her armor had several deep gouges.

  I analyzed the corpses. Crystalline claws, power-enhanced with some sort of sharpness attribute.

  They could cleave through our armor. So they could probably cut through a starship hull.

  "We need to keep them at a distance," I said.

  "Obviously," Caya said, tapping a few keys on her armor wristpad. The rents began to seal shut. Self-healing armor and not even of my bioarmor construction. I didn't like that she'd gone and invented her own technological line independent of my own, for all that I admired the skill it took.

  "So ... you were saying?" I said.

  "I wasn't, but the Hall of Dimensions. If Hex is here in person, we need to find a way to deal with her or we'll never get off this planet," Caya said.

  Logical, and the Hall of Dimensions would logically have examples of their extra-dimensional shifting technology. It might offer us a way to contain Hex, or at least make her wary enough to withdraw. For all her talk of loving a fight, bullies often withdrew when they learned you could really hurt them.

  The walkways here were largely free of zombies. Perhaps the Jibali hadn't staffed this area as much, or maybe Hex had relocated the bodies to the main thoroughfares she expected us to use to escape.

  Unfortunately, it soon proved to have another defender.

  The creature that came down a side path was thirteen feet in height, made entirely of rose-tinted crystal, and looked sort of like a large, spiky wolf. Energy sparked along its frame, a constant corona of pink sparks wreathing its body.

  "And here I was thinking Hex was completely incapable of controlling crystal technology," I said.

  "Although she probably can't control it directly, she does seem to be able to control the Jibali. I bet the crystals in them are acting as some sort of bridge to their other technology," Caya said.

  Likely so, and it was bad news. It meant the fleet that the Scythe controlled just doubled in size because they would have control of the crystal ships as well.

  "Wreathed in an energy disruption field. The thing will chew through a shield and fry your armor quick with any contact," I said.

  Contact was just what it tried. The crystal hound leapt at Caya who rolled underneath it and fired her pistol into its underbelly. The energy bolt didn't do any damage, the crystalline hide simply rippling with color.

  "Energy absorbent, probably to redeploy it later. Burn it out?" Caya asked.

  I wished I had access to my full computational power. Caya had a greater crystal, but this thing was a result of advanced crystalline engineering by a far more advanced species. Which was greater?

  No, I had a better idea.

  "Harmonic resonance. You're going to need to be tremendously precise and a bit lucky, but I'm going to amplify your Flawless trait," I said.

  "On it. Analyzing structure," Caya said as she ducked beneath another swipe, this time sheathing the pistol at her hip so she could tap her arm. "Ready."

  That was fast. With this tiny little human-sized brain I couldn't have performed those calculations yet. I focused on Caya and set to amplifying her Flawless ability.

  Caya began to sing. It wasn't a pleasant song, notes shifting as they slid from one scale to another. The hound paused, shaking its head and taking a step backward.

  Caya didn't stop, advancing a step and her voice rising even higher. The crystals that made up the hound’s body began to tremble and shake, forming a counter melody. It stopped all efforts at a fight, but Caya wasn't stopping. Another step forward and crystals began to shatter, the hound tearing itself apart.

  I cut the amplification and Caya slumped, suddenly seeming smaller.

  I had other issues. The ships surrounding the planet were on the move.

  36

  The fleets were moving towards the planet. Perhaps Caya had been sensible in her concern about being overheard, or maybe the simplest way for Hex to win her bet was to burn the planet clean of all life.

  I opened a comm line to Hot Stuff aboard the Flare.

  "If you're quite done hiding from the fight, we have one coming for you up there," I said.

  "You're the one that told me we needed to keep a ship in orbit! I see them, what do you expect me to do? If I cut loose, the Flare is probably a match for one of them, but I'm not fighting a fleet," Hot Stuff said.

  Unfortunately she was right.

  "Cut loose, but throw everything into your shields until I tell you otherwise," I said.

  All of our surprises weren't ready yet and I had to think up an alternate solution. I only had one, and I didn't like it.

  The Juggernauts were useless in this fight. My prized ships just didn't pack enough of a punch to harm the Scythe-controlled council fleet and there wasn't anything I could do to change that. They were expendable, so expending them was just what I'd have to do.

  I'd installed psi-dampeners on two dozen so far and I brought them in close to the planet, and began deploying fighters as soon as they manifested.

  The crystal ships opened fire at once. Where their beam weapons hit, ships burned and pilots died.

  I didn't stop. I think I understood Hex at this point, at least a little bit. If we weren't fighting back she'd be happy to let loose with overwhelming force, but if we were putting up a struggle it would be her inclination to let us die gloriously. I was going to give her what she wanted.

  At least for a time. The crystal ships all seemed to be more or less uniform, but the same was not true for the council fleet.

  The Infinite Zeal was a massive battleship and the cornerstone of the fleet’s offensive capability. Over three hundred heavy, ballistic cannons. Give enough time and enough mass to fuel the guns, that ship alone could wipe out all life on the planet’s surface. If I were going to give Hex pause, taking it out would do the trick.

  It should have been impossible to even ponder hurting it, but unlike the other council ships something was off about it. The aft shields had been vastly weakened. Perhaps the crew had fought the Scythe takeover, maybe they had some psi-resistant soldiers even now fighting a battle within. Whatever the case it presented an opportunity.

  I ordered the Flare into action and it moved into the Infinite Zeal’s line of fire. With Hot Stuff powering the shields the ship was indistinguishable as anything other than a blue ball of flame hurtling through the sky. Cannons tracked it and opened fire, but just like a gun firing on Hot Stuff herself the shields were simply too hot to take damage. The rounds were evaporating before they could reach the hull.

  "I'm strong, Emma, but that is a bit much," Hot Stuff said.

  Each hit she absorbed did draw a bit out of her power and as she said, there were limits.

  "I'm about to boost your abilities," I said.

  "Will my ship
survive that?"

  It was actually a good question, and one I hadn't considered. I'd built the Flare out of the best galactic materials with incredible heat resistance. It held up against her normal burn, with some specialized energy fields assisting, but this was a different level.

  "No, I think once again you are going to wind up burning everything you love. If you survive what I have planned, your momentum will aim you at the planet," I said.

  "A torturous burn through the atmosphere followed by every bone in my body shattering on impact, and the slow and agonizing process of my accelerated healing putting me back together?" Hot Stuff asked.

  "Pretty much. There are also zombies on the surface. They shoot beam weapons and can disembowel you with a single swipe—and your flames may be exhausted for a time," I said.

  "I really hate this friendship of ours sometimes. Do what you have planned," Hot Stuff said.

  I was going to do just that. I boosted her ability.

  The energy output of the Flare doubled, tripled, went off my scale.

  I wasn't sure it was a match for even a weakened Galactic shield, but there was one way to find out. I set the Flare on a collision course with the Infinite Zeal.

  I'd already lost four Juggernauts by that time. My ships were dying valiant deaths, but none were putting on so grand a show.

  Energy rippled out from the point of impact when the Flare rammed into the battleship’s shields, white lightning flickering before with a snap the shields faded and the Flare at full burn drove forward.

  The Flare was already starting to come apart at the seams when it hit the Infinite Zeal, but it didn't matter. The structure of the Flare was still being held together by the aura of Hot Stuff's power.

  I'd seen Hot Stuff herself melt right through an airship before, and on a far larger scale that’s exactly what was happening now.

  Explosions rippled across the length of the Infinite Zeal. Rather than the Flare escaping from the other end of the hull, a lone human figure wreathed in blue flame emerged and was streaking towards with the surface below.

  I killed the boost to Hot Stuff's abilities and the flames died. Suddenly she was just a naked woman about to face-plant into an entire planet.

  I didn't know if she'd make it, but she'd gotten the better of the fight. The Infinite Zeal was dying and the surprise of that fact had given even Hex pause. If she was surprised now, I couldn't wait to show her what I had prepared next.

  37

  Back on the surface we'd reached the Hall of Dimensions. Displays were set up proudly touting the tourism possibilities of specialized realities and dimensional-shift gates allowed quick access. What was wrong with the Jibali? They'd put so much effort into this absurd spectacle. I suppose they viewed a fight with the council as unwinnable and a species will do anything to survive, no matter how ridiculous. Still, with their expertise they could have run and hidden where galactic society could never find them. What a waste.

  Caya made her way between the exhibits, scowling at each after checking the projector and moving on to the next. I kept her covered as she did so, energy rifle at the ready.

  "What are you looking for?" I asked.

  "None of these field projectors are powerful enough," Caya said with a scowl. "Let's look for a demonstration stage. Given the spectacle of this place they must have built one."

  There weren't many zombies in this place. I killed two as we made our way through the hall. At one end there was indeed a stage with seating for a bewildering variety of alien forms. Caya leapt up and tore away a panel to inspect the innards.

  "Make sure I don't get interrupted," Caya said.

  I didn't take orders from her, but there was little point in not defending her. A horde of corpses came into view at the end of the hall. After what had happened in orbit, Hex was bringing out everything she had.

  I switched my rifle to triple charge. The emitter would burn out fast at this setting, but I just became a lot more dangerous. My shot tore holes through several bodies, flaming corpses falling in its wake.

  Caya gave a cry of triumph and leapt down from the stage, a dimensional projector tucked under one arm. In her other hand she held her pistol and she nodded at me before heading towards the exit.

  "I took down a battleship in orbit. Hex isn't happy," I said.

  "Hot Stuff okay?" Caya asked.

  "Falling through the atmosphere without a suit."

  "There is probably a going at it without protection again joke in there somewhere," Caya said.

  "I felt it went without saying," I said.

  "Right," Caya said, ducking to evade a zombie that charged her from a side hall and putting a shot through its throat.

  The Library was housed in a crystalline spire, three tiers of colored rods reaching high into the sky. Anna and Sylax must have made it safely inside because the entire thing was now surrounded by zombies working to claw their way in.

  "Unless your tactical programs are coming up with something I'm not, that is too many to fight our way through," Caya said.

  It was. I had a three more highly charged shots of my rifle left before I destroyed the emitter. It wouldn't be enough to get us through. I'd already used my boost for Caya's ability and it would be some time before I could use it again.

  Fortunately, I'd thought that something like this might happen. I like to prepare ahead.

  "We're a little early. Thirty-seven seconds and we go right down the middle," I said.

  Caya gave me a curious look but nodded. I appreciated the understanding we had of each other’s competence. It would have been a fight with Anna.

  Right on time the expected happened. Hot Stuff hit the ground. Although her flames had still not reignited the force of the impact was enough to send zombies flying in all directions and to smash a deep crater in the ground.

  Caya and I were already charging the doors. I had my drone reach down and grab what looked like a human spine in passing, flesh already trying to knit itself back together. Anna must have been watching. The doors unlocked when we drew near and we passed through, slamming them shut and locking them again.

  "Why aren't they just clawing through the doors?" Caya asked, as she sheathed her pistol.

  I inspected the doors. They had a tell-tale sparkle of crystal latticework. "Made of the same material as their claws I think."

  "Don't know and don't care, as long as it works," Anna said.

  "Congratulations are in order. Again you've surprised me, but you still have no way off this planet," Sylax said, shadows clinging to her form as she walked in.

  No, not Sylax. Hex.

  "I thought a greater crystal would be enough to keep you out," I said.

  "This one is all hollowed out inside and so far down the spiral already it was simple to slip inside her head," Hex said.

  The walls were staring to drip blood, the shadows around the room growing longer.

  "If you think we won't kill her, you are very much mistaken," Anna said.

  Hex laughed at that. "Oh, I don't want her dead. I want to let her greatest nightmare out. I think it is so much more fun if the monster inside the monster kills you all. Don't you?"

  Darkness pulsated around Sylax and she dropped to her knees. I could feel the psionic pressure in the room lessen. Hex had departed, but what she'd started was already underway.

  Sylax threw back her head and screamed as the power pooled around her, an envelope of shadow rippling and forming nearby.

  I tossed the regenerating spine to the ground so I could draw my weapon, aiming it as Anna took a defensive posture.

  The shadows condensed, taking on a physical form—albeit one surrounded in dark mists before they melted away. They left behind a familiar figure.

  Crystal.

  "Huh," Crystal said.

  Crystal had once been Sylax's mentor, and for longer yet under her control. Like me, she possessed an upgrade core which she had used to create whole new races of Powered individuals.

  Sy
lax had hated her, hated her enough to murder her.

  "Is that a 'huh' because you are about to murder us while you’re formed in some nightmarish recreation of a one-time friend, or a ‘huh, I'm back from the dead on an alien planet and very confused about the whole thing’?" Anna asked.

  "The latter, I guess?" Crystal said.

  38

  The Starburn was activating and on the move towards the sun. Being unmanned, Hex didn't have anybody aboard to stop its flight, although it hadn't gone unnoticed. This was going to take everything I had, it was showtime.

  In a shimmer of rainbow light Gh'nazar appeared. Once the great worm sensed all the life signs about, it began ejecting larvae. Then the screaming began

  The fleet under the control of the Scythe and already on the move towards the Starburn scattered, flight paths now erratic. Aboard, the crews would be in agony. Hex wanted them flying the ships now, not killing each other. Gh'nazar just wanted them dead. I expected crews wanted neither, but if so they should have figured out psi-blockers.

  A comm signal came to my Juggernauts, Hex wanted to talk.

  I thought she'd sound in pain, but she didn't. Hex's tone was silken, pleased as she said, "Oh that is good. And you aim to wipe out the star? I won't let you."

  "You don't seem to be doing much to stop me," I said.

  "Really? Let me introduce you to the Teledi," Hex said.

  Ripples of blue and black preceded the singularity portals of arriving ships. They looked like massive metal birds, swept steel wings with glowing plasma reservoirs. The newly arrived ships moved half their number towards Gh'nazar and its larvae, and the other half towards the Starburn. I couldn't complain too much about her bringing in ships from outside the system when I'd already done so.

  This must be a past species that Hex had conquered, tortured, and destroyed their minds into submission. Fortunately they weren't nearly as advanced as the council ships. These were roughly similar to our own, perhaps even a bit more primitive. Hex didn't hunt the strongest species to make her allies, she hunted those still developing.