Thrilled to Death

by James Byron Huggins

  Light!

  Whiteness streamed past them like flowing, glowing fog.

  Beth staggered, almost feeling the invisible wind rushing over her and she realized that they had entered the light cylinder, speeding toward the Logic Core.

  Like a human torpedo the scientist streamed forward, narrowly avoiding the slashing, flashing beams that blazed at him from the sides. Beth shouted in alarm at the simultaneous attacks, knowing somehow that Frank could not hear her but shouting anyway as she extended her fists to send a blast of light out from herself toward the flare.

  But she was too slow, her blast wide, and Frank somehow defeated the attack himself, twisting violently down and upward again like a jet diving under incoming missiles. Then as he rose he gathered speed, threading a frantic path through a sea of gathering, spiraling tentacle-flame.

  Descending in a bolt of black lightning the scientist flew forward, deeper and deeper into the converging conscious world of man-of-machine where science verged with life. Then from both sides of the cylinder, in a coordinated and simultaneous attack, two streaks of phosphorescence came together, joining in a solid wall of white to block Frank’s headlong plunge. The scientist wildly threw out his arms, angling desperately to readjust his descent, but there was no room to escape. He spun out of control, hurtling into an amazing holocaust of artificial fire.

  Shouting explosively Beth threw out both fists, clenching tight and screaming still as whiteness erupted out from her, smashing through the flame to create a spiraling nova of strobe before...

  Endless expanse ...

  Arms pin wheeling wildly, trying to recover from the blast, Frank careened through the obliterated wall like a ship hurled through fog, slowly gathering control. When he had passed through the shattered whiteness he put his arms to his sides once more, leaning forward, gathering speed.

  Beth released a tight breath.

  That was close, too close.

  But she was too frantic with the speed of the attack and her own speed to be relieved. She crouched as she felt herself flying wildly forward beside the scientist, feeling more a part of the unreal than the real.

  Streaming forward, Frank plummeted to the depths of the heart of the artificial mind known as GEO. And, trembling and blinking sweat, Beth kept her hands high to fire again and again, sighting and spinning, lashing out left and right to desperately clear a narrow path through the flaring flame.

  ***

  Connor glared left and right and saw no escape.

  Jordan cried out, hysterical with a sight he would never forget for the rest of his life. And Connor grimaced, angrily centering the grenade launcher on the chest of the beast. His finger curled around the trigger.

  Leviathan lowered its head, jaws unhinging.

  Connor’s face twisted in rage.

  “Eat this!” he shouted, and pulled the trigger.

  The explosion struck Leviathan full in the chest, making it stagger. Its neck stretched up, burning with flame and Connor snatched Jordan from the ground, instantly running. He heard a roaring behind him, a bellowing and vengeful wrath that conquered the cavern like a thunderclap, shattering stalactites on the far side. Dust cascaded from the roof, dust and dark rain.

  Gotta find a way out, a way out ...

  Connor breathlessly rounded a full-red corner of limestone searching for anything—a cave, hole, or an overturned stone or whatever would provide some small measure of escape from the beast so that—

  A mushrooming white explosion set the entire cavern roof aglow, and Connor instinctively ducked, not even understanding. Then the cave thundered with the howl of a wounded beast and Connor saw Leviathan rolling past him, slamming itself against the ground, shattering stone and stalactites into flaming shards.

  It was bathed in white flames.

  Connor didn’t ask any questions, didn’t understand. He picked up Jordan in one arm and ran back toward the exit, carefully avoiding a section of the cavern floor that glowed with unexplainable fire. He took a half-dozen strides before he saw the two images standing angrily in the doorway, one red-bearded figure and holding a smoking M-79.

  Thor sighted him almost immediately.

  “Connor!” he bellowed, waving excitedly. He quickly broke open his weapon, inserting another grenade before snapping the weapon shut. “Hurry!”

  Then Barley cut loose with a grenade, striking an area far to the rear and Connor felt the terrific mushrooming blast that lit the room like a lightning bolt.

  Leviathan screamed but Connor didn’t turn to see it. With Jordan tight in his arms he ran with all his remaining strength, crossing the two hundred yards with slowing, slowing strides. The entrance seemed infinitely far, so far that his strength could never carry him past the portal. And Connor knew, knew in a hate-filled, staggering fatigue that he would never make it.

  And then Thor was running forward, his M-79 slung around a shoulder and his arms spread wide. In seconds he met Connor in the middle of the cavern floor, lifting a protesting Jordan from his arms. Instantly Connor felt lighter, stronger.

  He made it to the door.

  “This way!” Barley screamed, running, and Connor followed him through the doorway in the very shadow of the beast. As he went through the portal he realized with a sense of doom that the corridor was easily large enough for Leviathan’s continued pursuit.

  No good ...

  Blindly Connor followed Barley and Thor as they ran down the tunnel, fleeing for the slightly raised vault at the end. Although Connor managed to match them stride for stride, his mind was quickly fading under the overcoming power of infinite fatigue.

  So weary ...

  The opened exit was almost a quarter mile away and Connor realized with a sense of doom that the chase was almost finished. They could never make it, and even if they did, they couldn’t continue. But without thought he hurled himself forward, hearing Leviathan strike the vault behind them with fresh rage, pounding again and again, somehow seeming strengthened even more by its wounds.

  Against his will Connor spun in stride, turning to see the Dragon on fire, savagely shattering the exit, coming, always coming. It was covered with white flowing flame, flame that rose almost to the ceiling of the tunnel. But it was still chasing them, ignoring the injury and pain, determined to finish the kill. And Connor knew somehow that it was motivated by far more than food.

  Roaring, the beast tore through the vault, landing on its feet as they finally reached the exit. Then Barley slid beneath the titanium portal, dragging Jordan behind him. Connor was last to the vault, slamming himself against the cold niobium-titanium in the throes of ultimate exhaustion. He could not stand, but fell to the ground, sweating and breathless.

  “We can’t – ” he gasped, “outrun it.”

  Thor seemed to sense the Dragon’s approach and turned, glaring angrily. And for a brief, flashing moment Connor caught something in his gigantic friend’s face that he never imagined he would see.

  Fear.

  Chapter 30

  Connor saw it as purely as he felt it.

  Thor was afraid.

  Hand tight on the battle-ax, Thor hurled a curse at the Dragon before he bent to effortlessly shove Connor beneath the vault. Barley lifted Connor from the other side, holding him in a strong arm. But Connor was wasted, passing out, his head faint and light. His vision was blurring, dimming, and in an unfocused daze he staggered across the cavern, recognizing vaguely ... Matrix ... they were back in ... the Matrix.

  But it meant nothing to him. He was lost in the fatigue and confusion and pain as he stumbled to the opposite door, yes, yet another door where the vault still stood. And as they reached the vault together the Dragon beat a path into the cavern, pursuing, pursuing ...

  Staggering, Connor saw Leviathan in the doorway, glaring.

  It smoldered with flames.

  Blinking sweat
, clutching his heart, Connor felt an exhausted groan of deathlike pain escape him and he knew with terrible certainty that it was over. Grimacing painfully, Connor lowered his head and closed his eyes to pray that their deaths would be quick, for Jordan’s sake. Then Barley went under the vault with a soldier’s skill, carrying the child.

  Light-headed, collapsing, Connor fell at the door, too tired, too fatally exhausted from the long run to go another step. And he felt himself lifted once again, sensed Thor’s giant presence beside him as he was carried the last few strides.

  Then the floor shook and Connor somehow found himself at the door, rolling out the other side. Faint and shocked, he turned to see Thor glaring coldly at the beast.

  Leviathan stood fifty feet away.

  Savoring the kill.

  Grim and enraged, Thor glared at the Dragon as if he knew further retreat was futile. He turned back to Connor, his ice-green eyes solemn and sad and resigned.

  He did not move.

  With a shock Connor realized what Thor was about to do.

  Connor tried to rise, to leap forward to grab his friend and drag him back beneath the door but Thor had already unslung the grenade launcher from his chest to toss it beneath the fire wall. Connor saw his face darken with fear and regret and love and every other emotion that could cause pain.

  Connor gasped, staggering.

  “No ... Thor ... Don’t—”

  “Go!” Thor shouted, dropping to a knee. His voice was choked with fear. “I will hold it long enough!”

  Barley heard and whirled, shouting.

  “Nooooo!” Connor shouted as he gained his feet.

  “GO!” Thor roared. “I will hold it long enough!”

  Thor’s blazing eyes met Connor’s for one flashing, immortal instant as Thor lifted the battle-ax wide to the side, sharing all the pain and memory and love that could be shared by any brother who had chosen to sacrifice his life for the other. Then the battle-ax flashed between them, swung by Thor’s massive arm to solidly strike the steel cord that held the vault open.

  At the sharp impact the cord was severed.

  The vault descended.

  ***

  “Five minutes until detonation ...”

  Aflame from a violent viral attack, Frank plummeted wildly through a white haze, losing direction for a fantastic, flashing moment. He spun uncontrollably through a wall of fire and saw another killing light beam slicing through space from his far right, a scintillating blaze that was almost instantly destroyed by a fiber-optic laser.

  By an effort of will Frank shed the flames, speeding forward. He didn’t have time for relief.

  Bending forward, he hurtled deeper into the light tube, arms over his face, regaining control as he moved farther and farther into the heart of the cylinder. Somehow, in the distance, he thought that he could see the Logic Core, a dark red planet-shape suspended by an electromagnetic field in the center of the cylinder. He knew that if he could only make it to the interior of the Core, he would be safe from further viral attacks.

  With a violent twist he angled down and away to avoid another sudden light blast from the side. He pitched and rose, leveling with an effort, maintaining as much momentum as he could.

  He sped forward ...

  Speed, speed ...

  It was everything now—speed, speed ...

  He saw another white wall of fiber-optic fire rise before him, watched nervously as Beth’s laser blast destroyed it. In his frantic, chaotic descent he saw the phosphorescent haze disintegrate, neutralized by the fiber-optic flame hurled from her hand. In a swirling fog it disintegrated and he torpedoed through it.

  With a renewed effort Frank rocketed into the heart of the cylinder, watching with painful anticipation as the Logic Core drew nearer, nearer, maddeningly near. He was forced to twist desperately, angling downward to avoid a vicious tentacle that exploded from the side.

  It missed.

  And for a moment, spiraling out of control through space, Frank was genuinely amazed that he was still alive. He turned in the infinite whiteness and realigned his direction, spearing himself through the furnace.

  A dark red-black space rose before him, the Logic Core coming up like a planet, and he sped toward it, raising his arms and lowering his head to plummet through the exterior surface of the Core to enter the Synapse System.

  Instantly his arm lashed out and connected to a thread, his thought moving from mind to hand to computer at the speed of light and he had already disoriented the logic-math, sending GEO into a self-diagnostic check. Frank sensed Rachel’s immediate presence and almost instantly realized that she had been thrown into the self-diagnostic mode as well.

  Yes!

  He beat her!

  Frank kept contact as he spiraled toward the center of the Logic Core. A small center of electric threads loomed beneath him and he slowed, slowing even more to land lightly, no longer concerned about the viral defense system. He was past that now, he knew. With Beth’s help he had overcome the frontline defenses.

  Deep inside the Core, Frank felt Rachel close to him.

  He closed his eyes, concentrating as the synapses shot through the Core, shifting and progressing through algebraic symbols of logic. The thoughts were blindingly fast, quad-dual processed with almost incomprehensible speed, and Frank began changing them, rewriting the formulas. And quickly, far, far too quickly, he knew he was approaching a dangerous void where he was altering the essence of the machine.

  Too fast ...

  It’s moving too fast …

  ***

  “Get Jordan out of here!” Connor shouted, slinging the M-79 over his shoulder. He was still exhausted and in shock but Thor’s dramatic move had galvanized him into a death-instinct strength.

  Staggering in fatigue, Barley lifted the four-year-old.

  “What are you going to do?” he gasped.

  Connor began climbing wire and piping toward the ventilation shaft. He heard a fiendish roar on the other side of the wall and he froze, his skin crawling with terror. He couldn’t even imagine what Thor was facing, couldn’t even believe this was happening. Then he sensed that Barley was hesitating and he turned, shouting angrily.

  “Barley! Get Jordan to the Computer Cavern as fast as you can! Take him to Beth! I’ll meet you there!”

  “But what are you—”

  “Just do it!” Connor roared, turning to rip the ventilation shaft cover from the wall. He lifted a leg inside as Barley began shouting, backing up and motioning frantically.

  “Hey, Connor, wait, wait...”

  Connor leaned into the shaft.

  “Connor!”

  Enraged, Connor brought his head out of the shaft.

  “What!”

  The big man tossed up a grenade belt with three grenades. Connor caught it without thought, immediately looping it over his shoulder.

  “Those are phosphorous!” Barley shouted hoarsely. “They’re liquid fire! And you’ll have to have at least a hundred feet when you shoot one! Everything inside that is going to be on fire!”

  Connor stared down, frozen in place. Something had struck him with Barley’s words, but he didn’t have time to figure it out. With a quick nod he turned, crawling forward as fast as he could, holding the grenade launcher like a cannon.

  Chapter 31

  Sweating hand locked like iron on the battle-ax, Thor slowly turned, staring at the Dragon. His face was grim and dark.

  “Come, beast,” he growled. “Come! Embrace me! Let this battle end with the two of us.”

  Thor stood before it, those he loved at his back.

  And Leviathan stood before him, growling, its eyes glowing like coals, its breath smoldering. Thor felt the atmosphere growing hotter by the moment. The air itself seemed to boil at the thin vapors rising from the beast’s armor.

  Clenc
hing his teeth, Thor laughed.

  “Let God decide this battle!” he roared, crouching and raising the battle-ax. “Yes! The God you fear!”

  A strange twist of its dragon-head and Leviathan loosed a hideous roar, a grating, snarling, threatening sound that came from deep beneath it, from the rock and stone, not the creature.

  Thor laughed, moving to the side.

  His smile was savage.

  “Will you wait all day!” he roared. “Come to me!”

  And Leviathan came – came so quickly that Thor felt the black claws before he saw them and he twisted before a collision he didn’t understand, whirling the battle-ax, the steel sweeping with unbelievable power through the red gloom as he came around and the dragon-head was there with fangs gaping and Thor roared to turn violently through the blow.

  With a thudding impact the gigantic ax split the armor beneath the wicked jaws in a haze of black blood and Thor had no time to contemplate how such a thing could be as the hating fangs struck.

  Thor howled, hurled back by the impact but he slashed wildly down, solidly hitting the serpentine head. The battle-ax sliced a narrow plate from green-black brow and Thor smashed his hand against the fanged upper side of the mouth, pushing against the jaws with all his strength.

  Rage to rage they surged and Thor staggered, bent back. Then Leviathan swept forward to slam Thor against a wall, the jaws unhinging farther to close on him but Thor pushed with titanic strength, wrestling against the beast’s upper jaw as if he were grappling with a crocodile.

  Pushing the head to the side, Thor twisted and desperately grabbed the ax with both hands and swung with primal force, coming off his feet to hurl his full four hundred fifty pounds into the blow.

  The battle-ax struck the beast solidly in the head, colliding like thunder.

  Leviathan turned away from the wounding blow and Thor shouted, leaping forward, pursuing, changing the game. With a volcanic twist he whirled back again and the ax thundered through a murderous backhand slash that tore off a slice of armor. Then Thor lashed a herculean arm around the superheated neck, pulling himself flesh to flesh with the boiling, burning gout of blood that lanced the air from the monster’s wound.