by M. R. Forbes
“He can’t have reached Shurrath already,” Grace said, calmer now. “Not unless he has a starship.”
“Not this time.”
“I meant that as a joke. You have a starship?”
“No,” Natalia replied, backtracking. “Please, go on.”
“I never understood it completely until Shurrath captured me and stuck me with a khoron, Keshk. I didn’t know what it was like for my father. I only knew that his actions were only partially his own. It was as though he had been cut into two very different people, and in a way he had. In the beginning, you can fight the khoron. You can resist. But only in the beginning. Their will starts to become your will. Their beliefs start to become your beliefs. It’s so subtle. You can tell it’s happening, but you can’t stop it. You don’t want to stop it.”
“You resisted for me,” Ginny said. “You let me live.”
“It was too much,” Grace replied. “After what my father did. To hurt a child like that. I just couldn’t.” She looked at Natalia. “But given another week or two, I would have. My father resisted Shurrath for almost five years if that tells you how strong-willed he is.”
“It does. Where is your father today?”
“I don’t know. I came out of stasis about ten years ago. Isaac was still there. I couldn’t figure out how to shut down the machine, and I was afraid I’d kill him. So I left him some clues before I left the facility, in the hope he would come after me when he woke. I knew Shurrath had put him in there for a reason, but I didn’t know what the reason was.”
“If Shurrath knew Isaac was different then, why didn’t he make the trade two hundred years ago?”
“Shurrath was weak and alone. He needed time to build up his following. To begin subverting the world. It was only possible because of Valentine. She captured live khoron somewhere. She left them in the lab when her team fled for a ship off-world. That allowed Shurrath to begin reproducing them. But he needed time. For all the work he did in Dugway, he always told me it wasn’t safe there. The Axon could return at any time.”
“What do you mean by return?”
“An Axon followed Shurrath through the portal. That’s how Shurrath learned of Isaac’s immunity. It was chasing Shurrath, but it didn’t know where to find him. It killed everyone who didn’t escape the base except for Cyrus and me, and then it left.”
“Why didn’t it kill you?”
“It thought we were already dead. Shurrath stopped my father’s heart and gave me something that put me in a deep sleep. The Axon was gone when I woke up.”
“Why did he keep you alive?”
“It was my father’s will. I can’t tell you how many times he would go from one personality to the other. One moment crying, the next emotionless and logical. Shurrath had a plan from the beginning, and after all of these years he isn’t in a hurry. Waiting two hundred years for Isaac isn't a difficult stretch for him, especially when he’s been busy. There are khoron across this entire continent, and probably on the others too.”
Natalia glanced back at Doctor Hess. Grace wasn’t sure what it meant, but neither one of them looked pleased.
“But we can’t stop him?” Natalia said, returning her attention to Grace.
“We need to stop him. We can’t kill him. Doing that will only invite another Relyeh to come to Earth with a similar purpose. And for as horrible as Shurrath is, his weakness means he has to be more careful about how he does things. It makes him less dangerous.”
“What was your intention when you went to Dego?”
“I was following one of his trusted followers back to his base of operations, which I believe is somewhere in the south, in what used to be Mexico.”
“What were you planning to do once you got there?”
“Find my father and kill him.”
“Wouldn’t that mean killing Shurrath?”
“No. Shurrath isn’t in my father anymore. I don’t know if he’s taken a new host, or if he still needs a host. But the amount of time he spent bonded to my dad made the bond more permanent, through the Collective. Killing my father will weaken Shurrath.”
“To what end?”
“Hopefully, it will weaken him enough to allow me to capture and imprison him, and begin subverting his followers the way he subverted the people surviving out here. To undo the damage he’s done without alerting the other Relyeh.”
“By yourself?”
“Would anyone else have believed me? Would you have believed me if I just showed up at your door?”
“Point made. Hayden recovered your hard drive from Dego. I’ve been trying to crack the password for almost two weeks, but without any luck. My algorithm has tried over a trillion combinations.”
Grace smiled. “Sorry. You can’t hack it with anything that will support the hardware. The password is three hundred characters long.”
Natalia laughed. “How do you remember it?”
“I can’t ever forget,” Grace said.
“What’s on the drive?”
“All of Doctor Valentine’s research on the Axon and the khoron, among other things. I copied a lot of stuff from the computers there and deleted it off them before my father got to it. Also, locations of Shurrath’s plants across the country, lists of known infected, that sort of thing. I was always hoping I could come up with a way to neutralize the khoron remotely, similar to the Axon’s hallucinogenic signal. Valentine’s team did a lot of work on the subject, but they never got to complete it. I understand the basic theories, but I’m not an engineer.”
Natalia’s face lit up at the statement. “I think maybe Shurrath made a huge mistake letting you fall into our laps.”
“Why is that?”
“It just so happens I’m an engineer. Let’s get you some clothes.”
Chapter 11
Grace finished dressing before meeting Natalia and Ginny outside her hospital room, freshly clothed in a jumpsuit similar to Natalia’s. She had grown accustomed to scavenged clothing over her years wandering the post-invasion landscape, but this was a step above.
“How do you like it?” Natalia asked as she emerged.
Grace smiled. “It’s comfortable. And it’s so much nicer to be clean and khoron free. I can’t remember what happened, though.”
“What’s the last thing you recall?”
“Meeting with Ginny,” Grace said, looking at the girl. “And then heading north to confront Sheriff Duke.” She knelt beside Ginny. “I’m sorry for what I did.”
“You don’t have to apologize,” Ginny replied. “It wasn’t you that killed those people. I saw the real you in Graves’ saloon. You tried to fight Brute and the small guy.” She held out her arms, taking Grace in a firm embrace that nearly made her cry again.
“Thank you,” Grace said, pulling away and standing up. “It helps.” She looked at Natalia. “I was alone for so long. On my own for so long. I couldn’t trust anyone with this. Then Shurrath got to me, and I was in a living hell. He tried to kill Keshk and me for failing him. That only proves he isn’t inside my father anymore. He would never be able to hurt me directly if he were.”
“You’re with friends now,” Ginny said. “The Dukes are good people.”
“What’s going to happen to Isaac?” Natalia asked. “Once Shurrath gets him.”
“It depends,” Grace replied. “He may try to trade him directly, in which case he’ll be taken off-world by another Relyeh ancient. Otherwise, he’ll determine the nature of his immunity and seek to pass it on to the khoron, in the hopes they can alter their hosts to match. Then he’ll trade sample khoron, and probably kill Isaac. I had always hoped I would figure all of this out before Isaac ever woke up.”
“The thing is, we know the nature of his immunity,” Natalia said. “He has a brain tumor. One of Shurrath’s khoron discovered it, but Hayden killed it before it passed the information through the Collective. If it isn’t taken care of, it’ll kill him.”
Grace stared at her. A brain tumor? It was ironic, funny,
and sad, all at the same time. The other Relyeh would never trade for a fatal genetic abnormality. How would Shurrath react to that? He would kill Isaac for certain. But what else?
“Let me take you to my lab,” Natalia said. “If you unlock your drive for me, we can start looking at the research on the khoron. Maybe together we can finish what you started.”
“That sounds like a good plan,” Grace replied.
Natalia led her down a long corridor and into a more open space to a set of elevators, tapping on the pad to summon one.
“Where are we?” Grace asked.
“Sanisco. San Francisco. This building used to be called the Pyramid. It’s the most intact skyscraper in the city and our main base of operations. The population all lives within a two-kilometer radius of here, and all of our most important facilities are headquartered in the building. The hospital, the government, law, comms.”
“Is it safe to have everything so centralized?”
“Safer against trife, yes. It’s easier to fortify a smaller position without losing essentials. Against other people, no. They’re smart enough to target the tower first. We hope the trife are still the biggest threat against us. It doesn’t make sense that people should be fighting one another. Especially in light of the newest revelations. We had a small idea about the Axon. We called them Others. And we were pretty certain the trife hadn’t landed here by accident. We had no idea they’ve been here as long as they have, or that their history with one another and with Earth was so complex.”
“I remember the world the way it was before the trife,” Grace said. “We’ll never get back to that. Even if we defeated the Relyeh tomorrow. Even if the Axon were gone. Humankind has changed, and not for the better.”
“I don’t believe that. Neither does Hayden.”
“Neither do I,” Ginny said. “The Dukes are proof of that.”
“I’ve crossed most of the United States, Governor Duke. I’ve seen the way people live. There are some good ones, yes. But there are a lot more bad ones. I tried to do what I could. It was rarely enough.”
“You’ll have to forgive me if I won’t buy into your despair. No offense.”
Grace nodded. She had tried so hard to believe the way Natalia did, but life had proved her wrong time and again. “None taken. I’m not saying I don’t want to help. Just that I’m not sure what good it will do in the big picture.”
The elevator stopped, the doors opening. Natalia stepped in, hitting the button to go to the parking levels. Grace got in behind she and Ginny.
“I guess we’re going to find out,” Natalia said as they began to descend. “The hospital is on the second floor. Guest apartments are on the third. You’ll be given one as soon as we’re done in the lab. First floor is the lobby and general services. Below that is the motor pool. Then law, then the lab.”
“Are you sure you should be telling me all this?”
“Because I shouldn’t trust you? The khoron is gone. Doctor Hess confirmed its tendrites released and dissolved into your bloodstream. You’ll probably expel them the next time you void.”
“Lovely thought.”
Natalia laughed. “Isaac vouched for you, and I’ve seen the recordings from Dugway.”
“He recovered them?” Grace asked. “I tried to keep him out. I didn’t want him to see what the Axon did.”
“That didn’t work out the way you hoped. In any case, I’m putting my faith in you. We have to have some measure of faith in one another. I hope you can at least agree on that.”
“I can.”
“Good.”
The elevator stopped, the doors opening. Natalia guided Grace out and into the lab. Grace tried to take it all in, amazed at the sheer volume of computers, displays, terminals, and old tech they had salvaged, along with a few newer pieces she didn’t recognize.
“What’s that?” she asked, pointing to a small black cube.
“Can you keep a secret?” Natalia asked.
“As long as I don’t have a khoron in me.”
“It’s a Centurion computer.”
“Centurion?”
“You know the generation ships that were leaving Earth?”
“Yes.”
“They made it to Proxima Centauri and started a colony there.”
“I had heard rumors,” Grace said softly. “I was never sure.”
“The Centurions aren’t that keen on helping us. They have a similar opinion of Earthers as you do. That we’re beyond saving. So we’re going to save ourselves.”
Grace clenched her teeth. She had never considered how her opinion might have passed along to others, and how it would affect the state of the planet today. She remained silent while Natalia brought her to an old, cracked display that had lines of text running along a black background.
“I guess we don’t need to do this anymore,” Natalia said, tapping control+c on the old keyboard. The text stopped immediately, returning the display to the user interface. Natalia tapped on the drive, and the password box opened. “I don’t know how you can type three hundred characters without making a mistake, but it’s all yours.”
Grace looked at the field, and then at the keyboard. She started typing, making sure she hit the right keys the first time. It took nearly five minutes for her to enter the password, but she would only need to do it once.
She tapped the enter key. The box vanished, and all of the folders appeared. She looked up at Natalia, who was smiling like she had just won a prize.
“This is the research on the khoron,” Grace said, clicking on one of the folders. The folder names were nonsensical and would take someone hours to figure out what was what if they didn’t already know. “My notes are in here too.” She turned to look at Natalia. “That’s one thing. What about contacting Sheriff Duke? We need to stop him from killing Shurrath.”
“If we can solve this, we can stop the khoron. Then it won’t matter which Relyeh it is, will it?”
“I wish it were that simple. The research is specific to these creatures. The Relyeh are constantly tinkering with genetics. Not to mention, there are hundreds of other life forms at their disposal. I saw glimpses of them through the Collective. What we’re looking at is the tip of the iceberg.”
Grace watched the color drain from Natalia’s face.
“I’ll get someone on it,” Natalia said. “It seems we might need a different approach.”
“If you don’t mind, I’m still pretty exhausted. You mentioned showing me to a room?”
“I’ll take her,” Ginny said.
“Okay. In the meantime, I’ll see if I can get a squad out to intercept Hayden and start digging into this. Thanks for unlocking it all.”
“Of course,” Grace replied. “Just give me a few hours to rest, and then I’ll assist.”
“Pozz,” Natalia said. “Get some rest.”
“This way,” Ginny said, motioning back toward the elevators.
Grace let the girl lead her, a measure of guilt rising in her chest. Natalia shouldn’t have put so much faith in her.
The Governor was wrong.
She couldn’t be trusted.
Chapter 12
“You’ll like the guest rooms,” Ginny said as the elevator came to a stop. “The beds are extra comfy. So much better than sleeping on the ground or an old blanket.” The doors slid open. “Speaking of which, the blankets are so soft.” Ginny moved to the doors, motioning Grace past her. “Go ahead.”
Grace smiled, still uncomfortable with what she was about to do. It didn’t matter if it bothered her. She didn’t have a choice.
She moved next to Ginny, pausing in the doorway. She looked at the girl. “I’m sorry.”
“I already said you don’t need to—”
Grace grabbed Ginny’s arm, yanking her out of the elevator and shoving her to the floor. She hit the button for the second floor of the parking garage, the one Natalia had indicted was for Law.
“Hey!” Ginny said from her hands and knees, trying to ge
t back to her feet.
“I need to stop Sheriff Duke,” Grace said. “I can’t trust anyone else to do it.”
The doors closed, the cab beginning to descend again. Grace took a few deep breaths to firm up her resolve. She didn’t know how long it would take the girl to set off an alarm. She didn’t intend to be more than a few minutes.
The doors opened again, and she rushed out onto the floor. The garage was relatively open, allowing her to get a good view of her surroundings. There were only three law officers in the area. One sat at a desk near a comm station. One was standing in front of a locked door to a makeshift cage. The third was at a desk off to the side, filling out something on an old tablet. They didn’t look up right away. They were accustomed to people coming out of the lifts.
Grace dashed across the room, making a beeline for the guard near the locked door to the armory cage. She had figured Law would have access to weapons, and of course they wouldn’t leave them all out in the open. She could see the shelves of guns and crates of ammunition through the bars.
“What the—” the guard started to say, noticing Grace coming at him. He reached for his revolver, the maneuver costing him too much time. Grace leaped at him, grabbing his hand and bringing her fist down on his wrist, smacking his nerve and causing him to drop the weapon. She swung around behind him, driving her knee up between his legs. He doubled over in pain, and she grabbed his fallen revolver, hitting him in the back of the head and knocking him cold.
“What are you doing?” the officer with the tablet said. He stood up, revealing the fact that he wasn’t carrying a gun. Grace bent down, shoving her hand into the downed man’s pocket and retrieving the key.
“I don’t want to hurt anyone,” she said. “I just need a couple of guns.”
She put the key in the lock and turned, slipping into the smaller armory. She was surprised to find her bow and quiver there, including the microspear-tipped shafts. She grabbed them, along with a revolver, a shotgun and two boxes of shells, which she dumped into the large pockets of her jumpsuit before retreating from the cell.
