Test Subjects

by R S Penney

  Baring his teeth with a hiss, Harry felt spittle flying from his mouth. “You come to my town,” he snarled. “You threaten my family! You desecrate the memory of the woman I loved! No more!”

  Isara didn't give him the chance to attack her again. She didn't try to get up. Instead, invisible hands lifted her off the road. and yanked her up to the roof of a nearby building. Harry spun to track her with one hand extended, ready to let loose with the N'Jal. But she dropped out of his field of vision.

  Shutting his eyes, Harry panted to catch his breath. Cold shivers went through his body. “Calm yourself, Carlson,” he whispered. “You're a cop, not a killer.”

  Police cruisers slowed to a stop in front of him, doors opening to allow men in gray uniforms to get out. There were Justice Keepers as well. A slim young woman with Asian features and black hair that she wore in a braid came toward him. “Mr. Carlson,” she said in a soothing voice. “What happened.”

  “Isara,” he panted.

  He pointed toward the building.

  The young woman looked up in that direction, her mouth tightening, and then she leaped. Bent Gravity propelled her up three stories to land on the rooftop.

  Harry looked at his open palm, watched the N'Jal peel itself off his skin and curl up into a little ball. He slipped it back into his pocket. “I'm sorry,” he said to the officer who approached him. “I couldn't stop him.”

  A punch to the face threw Leo to the ground, and he rolled across the patio, toward the cafe. He pushed himself up, gave Melissa a murderous glare and then spat. “This isn't over, girl.”

  Melissa stood before him in a defensive posture, her face calm, impassive. Let him make his threats; she would be ready. “Stay down,” she told him. “You can't win this. In case you haven't noticed, Isara abandoned you.”

  Leo snarled.

  The man stood up and jumped, somersaulting backwards as he climbed higher and higher. Bent Gravity carried him to the roof of the cafe where he landed in a gymnast's pose, his arms spread wide.

  Then he turned and ran.

  “Oh no you don't!”

  Melissa jumped and called upon Ilia to launch herself upward in pursuit. When she landed on the roof, she was crouched. Leo had already sprinted to the other side. She had a glimpse of him leaping from the ledge.

  Red-cheeked with fury, Melissa shut her eyes and felt sweat on her brow. “Not this time,” she whispered. “You're not escaping again!”

  She was on her feet and chasing after him in an instant, scrambling over the solar panels that were built into the cafe's roof. When she reached the ledge, she saw Leo on top of a small house behind the cafe.

  The tingling in her skin had reached a point where it was just shy if stinging pain. If she pressed on, she risked overusing her powers. But the far greater risk was letting that monster get his hands on a hostage.

  She leaped.

  Another surge of Bent Gravity intensified the tinging sensation so that it now felt like a hundred bees lightly brushing her skin with their stingers. She had to focus, had to play through the pain.

  Melissa landed on the domed roof of the house.

  Leo was already cresting the top and running down the other side. Ignoring the pain and fatigue, she forced herself to get up and chase him. Her feet thumped on duroplastic coated in photo-voltaic paint.

  She ran over the peak of the roof and then down toward the house's front yard. Leo was charging across the lawn, bounding over the sidewalk and crouching in the middle of the street. Next to a manhole cover.

  If only she had a gun.

  Melissa jumped.

  Her legs felt a jolt when she landed in the grass, but a Keeper's natural accelerated healing dealt with that. There was no time to think as she chased Leo. She barely felt the twisting sensation when the man employed Bent Gravity.

  Something ripped the manhole cover off its mountings, driving it downward, into the sewers. Leo followed it without a second's hesitation. She heard a sloppy thunk when he landed.

  Dropping to her knees beside the hole, Melissa struggled to catch her breath. Her eyes were forced shut as she trembled. “Damn it,” she whispered. “You would pull this crap, wouldn't you?”

  A part of her wanted to follow, but the prickles in her skin warned her that she was pushing herself too hard. She wasn't quite at the point of collapse. Ilia could manage two or three more Bendings if it was necessary. She could probably hold a Time Bubble for at least fifteen seconds…But everything that she had read about Leo suggested that he was a cagey opponent. Maybe jumping into the sewer had been a desperate improvisation, but it was also possible that he had ziarogati waiting for her down there.

  Lifting her forearm, she trailed a finger across the screen of her multi-tool and then called HQ. “This is Cadet Melissa Carlson,” she said. “I've pursued the criminal Leo to a location on Traylin Street. But he jumped into the sewers.”

  “Acknowledged, Cadet,” a woman's voice came through her speakers. “I'm sending backup to your location. Do not pursue. I repeat, do not pursue.”

  Melissa sighed. “Yes, ma'am.”

  After giving his statement to the Denabrian PD, Harry made his way over to the small cafe and paused when he saw the shattered front window. Things had gotten rough between Melissa and Leo. His daughter was nowhere in sight, which meant that Leo must have fled, and now Melissa was chasing.

  Harry shoved plastic tables aside to find Sora sitting in the corner with her back pressed to the waist-high wooden fence. She had her legs drawn up against her chest as she gasped for breath.

  Harry closed his eyes, his nostrils flaring as he exhaled. “I am so, so sorry,” he said, crouching down in front of her. “I never should have let you get near any of this.”

  “You don't owe me any apologies, Harry.”

  “Yes, I do.”

  Hugging her knees, Sora shivered and turned her head so that she wouldn't have to look at him. “No, you don't,” she insisted. “I'm the one who owes you an apology. I saw what you did.”

  Harry felt warmth in his face. The sudden urge to count the cracks in the concrete was irresistible. “Yeah, I figured,” he said. “And you've told me a million times that if I keep this up, I'm putting my family in danger. Well, you were-”

  “I was wrong.”

  When he looked up, Sora was watching him with such intensity he almost felt sorry for any student of hers who broke the rules. “Harry, you were amazing,” she said. “When that woman attacked us…I thought I was going to die.”

  “I know. I shouldn't have asked you to meet me-”

  “Will you shut up and let me finish?”

  Harry blinked, instinctively pulling away from her. “Sorry…” His voice wavered. “Go on.”

  A moment of awkward silence passed while she just looked at him. Then she seized two handfuls of his shirt, pulled Harry close and kissed him full on the lips. The shock of it left him breathless, but Harry decided to let himself enjoy it.

  It was only the sound of shouting in the distance that took Harry out of the moment. Breaking the kiss, he looked around.

  Sora was grinning at him, her cheeks stained pink with a blush. “Sorry,” she said. “I really shouldn't have done that.”

  Harry ignored the apology and stood up. Step by step, he cautiously made his way back to the sidewalk. Someone was yelling in Leyrian. A woman's voice – he could tell that much – but not one he had heard before.

  Maneuvering carefully around the back of the bus, he walked out into the middle of the road. Now that he was in the open, he could see all the damage he had caused. Those cracks in the road left him feeling very self-conscious as did the shattered lamp bulbs.

  Melissa had returned from her pursuit of Leo, and now she stood in a small cluster of Justice Keepers. She noticed his presence, glanced in his direction and smiled. “Sorry, sir; I let him go.”

  Jon Andalon stood in that group with a tablet in hand, frowning at Harry's daughter. “I assure you, Cadet,” he b
egan. “You have nothing to apologize for. You're probably the reason why no one died today.”

  Melissa went red, then bowed her head to him. “Thank you, sir.” Without another word, she scooted over to join Harry, wrapping her arm around his shoulders. “You were pretty impressive yourself, Dad.”

  “Thanks.”

  Harry was distracted by the shouting.

  It came from a woman who stood on a bench on the sidewalk across from the cafe. Tall and slim and pale, she wore white shorts and a denim jacket over her top. Her long blonde hair fluttered in the wind. “He stands before you, radiant in his glory!” she cried. “He holds the sunlight in his hand and casts it upon his enemies.”

  Other people on the sidewalk were glancing about with the deeply uncomfortable expressions you saw on guests at a party who were mortified by their one drunk friend. The woman on the bench didn't seem to care.

  “I see him before you!” she screamed, pointing at Harry. “He wields the power of the false gods, and with it, he casts them down!”

  “No, no,” Harry said. “Nope, there will be no casting out false gods!”

  The strange woman hopped down from her curb-side pulpit, took two steps forward and spread her arms wide. “Weep, ye peoples of the world!” she shouted. “Weep for your salvation!”

  “What's she quoting?” Harry whispered.

  “The Covenant of Layat,” Melissa explained. “From the Book of Starlight, Chapter Three, Verse Ten. It speaks of a hero who will free people from the lies of the Overseers.”

  The woman fell to her knees, placed two hands on the ground and knelt prostrate before him. “Weep, ye peoples of the world,” she said. “Weep and kneel.”

  Oh no…

  To Harry's disappointment, some of them did.

  Chapter 27

  Jack walked to the door at the end of the cell-block without waiting to see if Arin and Novol would follow him. Spatial awareness told him that they were both right behind him, flanking him on either side. Novol held that rifle tight. Chances were he would need to use it soon. “Avoid lethal force,” Jack said. “No killing unless they leave you with no other options.”

  “Are you insane?” Arin protested.

  Chewing on his lip, Jack nodded slowly. “Possibly,” he said. “But we're not at war with these people, and I'm not inclined to start one. We get to the shuttle bay and get out with minimal casualties.”

  The door began to slide open.

  Jack ran toward it.

  He jumped and twirled in midair, kicking out behind himself to strike the chest of one of the two men who stood side by side in the opening. A touch of Bent Gravity sent that guy flying back into a group of his peers. They all toppled over like bowling pins.

  Jack landed next to the second guard in the doorway.

  That man tried to swing his rifle around.

  Jack caught the barrel in both hands and yanked the weapon out of the other man's grip. He shoved the stock into the guard's throat, producing a sickening gurgle. A second blow to the face knocked the guy out.

  In his mind, Jack saw four other guards rising in the corridor outside the cell-block. He spun to face them, lifted the rifle he had stolen and fired without hesitation. A bullet grazed one man's thigh, causing him to fall on his ass.

  Another guard was reaching for his sidearm when Jack's next bullet went through his shoulder. The pain brought a shriek to his lips and made him stumble backward into the men who stood behind him.

  Jack rushed the guy.

  He leaped and kicked the guard's chest, throwing him back into the crowd of uniformed men. Once again, they all fell to the floor in the middle of the hallway. Some were coughing, others moaning.

  Dropping the rifle, Jack crouched down in front of the nearest guard and pulled the stun-baton off his belt. He activated it, blue sparks flashing on the tip, and then shoved it right into the man's arm, making him spasm.

  With spatial awareness, he perceived the man with the wounded leg slowly getting to his feet. That guy clapped a hand over his thigh and turned a vicious gaze upon Jack. He reached for his pistol.

  Novol stepped into the doorway with his rifle leveled, the laser sight projecting a thin, red beam onto the enemy guard's chin. “Yiag,” Novol said. “Skagai Enos.”

  Mr. Wounded-Leg raised both hands above his head and slowly dropped down to his knees. Once he offered that surrender, Novol came forward, drew his own stun-baton and drove its flashing tip into the other man's collar bone. Convulsions racked Wounded-Leg's body, and then he slumped over, unconscious. The others all gave up any effort to rise once they realized that Novol could put a bullet through them before they even picked up their weapons.

  A blush warmed Jack's cheeks – he really shouldn't have needed somebody else to watch his back – but he nodded his thanks just the same. “Good job, Novol,” he said. “I knew I could count on you. Now, as for the rest of you fine gentlemen…”

  Jack lifted the crackling baton up in front of his face, his lips parting in a menacing smile. “I think you're all gonna take a nice, long nap.”

  Captain Morris Desarin put on a virtual-reality visor that immediately rendered a full three-dimensional environment. He appeared to be floating in the endless vacuum of space with stars sparkling in all directions.

  The program created a blue wireframe outline of the Endeavour around his body. A sleek, bird-like ship with curving wings and a long beak of a nose, it swooped low over the Ragnosian battlecruiser's dorsal hull.

  Cannons on the other ships backside fired up at him.

  Every one of those green energy bolts struck a flickering force-field that appeared just underneath him. Though space was silent, he imagined that he could hear the crackle of electromagnetic energy. He watched the battlecruiser past beneath him.

  “Adjust vector,” Morris ordered.

  Endeavour pitched its nose downward but continued its forward trajectory. “Fire!” The forward cannon released an orange particle beam that pummeled the battlecruiser's shields and drew a line across them. “Pull up!”

  Stars streaked past in his field of vision. In seconds, he was flying off into the void with the enemy ship behind him. Morris could feel his heart pounding. He could feel the sweat on his palms. There were rumors that some captains relished the thrill of combat, but he was not one of them. “Pitch up, one hundred eighty degrees.”

  Endeavour flipped upside-down, flying backwards. Morris caught a glimpse of the battlecruiser's topside and watched the enemy vessel recede further and further into the distance. “Full power to main batteries! Fire!”

  Another orange particle beam shot out of Endeavour's nose. It struck a force-field that snapped into place at the very last second.

  “Enemy ship undamaged,” Lieutenant Zarese shouted. “Their shields are just too strong, Captain; we have to take out their emitters.”

  Morris nodded.

  The Adasani flew past in front of him, streaking from left to right in his field of vision. It was pursued by half a dozen small fighters that all spat green plasma pulses at its aft section. “Target enemy spacecraft,” he ordered.

  “Target acquired.”

  “Knock 'em out.”

  Orange plasma bolts sped from Endeavour's wings, pounding the fighters as they passed and destroying two of them. He had just ordered the deaths of two people. That didn't sit well with him. “Thanks for the assist,” Captain Tamella's voice came through the speakers.

  The distant battlecruiser was now so far away that it was only a faint gray line to his eyes. They would have to get a lot closer if they wanted to do any significant damage. Of course, Lenai and her team were on that ship; so, destroying it would not be good. Morris just hoped this wasn't all for nothing. “Reverse course, Ensign,” he said. “Take us back into the fray.”

  “Captain!” Zarese bellowed.

  Morris pulled off the VR goggles and spun his chair around to find a woman with a bob of short blonde hair at the back of the bridge. By the express
ion on her face, you might have thought she had seen a ghost. “I'm detecting a ship at warp entering the system,” she said. “By the size of their SlipSpace distortion, I estimate that they're of a similar size and configuration to the Ragnosian cruiser.”

  Morris sighed. “The good admiral called for reinforcements.”

  The SlipGate bubble left its endless dark tunnel and came to a halt in a room that was almost as gloomy. Granted, it was hard to make out anything through the bubble's rippling surface, but Anna didn't exactly feel confident that they had landed somewhere safe. She exhaled.

  She was surrounded by Cassi and six officers in heavy tactical gear who held their assault rifles in a tight grip. Lieutenant Commander Joal Stamon had his visor down as he nodded to her. “We're with you, ma'am.”

  The bubble popped.

  Light through a hole in the ceiling allowed her to make out the square table in what had once been the cabin of a class-2 assault shuttle. The air had a faint odor of scorched circuitry, and there was debris all over the floor. But none of that mattered. She had been right; Jack had given them a way onto the battlecruiser.

  Anna shut her eyes tight, breathing deeply. “Okay,” she whispered. “We're probably in a hangar bay of some kind, which means that there could be enemy troops waiting for us. We'll have to go out through the roof.”

  “The roof?” Stamon hissed.

  “It will take too long to get the airlocks open, and if they detected our arrival, I'd rather not give them a chance to surround the shuttle. If we all stay close together, Cassi and I will be able to Bend gravity enough for you all to make the jump.”

  “Orders, ma'am?”

  Sucking on her lower lip, Anna felt sweat upon her brow. She had been expecting this question, dreading it, really. Jena used to lecture her about making the hard choices; well, now, they would see if Anna could follow-through. “Use stun-rounds if possible,” she said. “But I'm authorizing the use of deadly force if you deem it necessary.”

  Cassi spun around and took a step back, putting herself in front of the group like a disapproving drill sargent. “Our goal is to disrupt the ship's primary systems,” she added. “Propulsion, weapons. Scan for power conduits and place your explosives accordingly. If we disable the ship, that will make it easier for the Endeavour to send boarding parties.”