The Eve of War

by Christopher Hopper

  “Don’t talk, Mr. Lieutenant Magnus, sir. You’re hurt really bad, it looks like.”

  It looks like? Wait, what do I look like? He wanted to open his eyes, but it felt impossible. The pain was far too intense. It felt like he’d been raped in the face by a gravel pit. He tried to say something back to her, tried to ask her if she was okay, but his mouth wouldn’t cooperate. Nothing in his body would. He wanted to shout—tried to shout—but nothing but garbled sounds came from his throat.

  “Easy there, buckethead,” the other voice said. Buckethead. He’d been called that before. The memory was familiar but too far away to catch, like a faded dream or a scene in an old holo-movie that had grown blurry over the years. The man’s name was on the tip of his tongue. “You’d better hang on, or else you’re gonna have one really disappointed little girl on your hands. Plus, I’d be forced to add your helmet to my collection, and we both know how much that would piss you off.”

  Chapter 36

  The plaza lit up as Kane’s troopers started firing on So-Elku and his two elders. Awen ducked instinctively and closed her eyes, forming a one-way barrier between the assault and her team.

  “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” TO-96 said poetically, “but is that still the case here?”

  “I don’t think so!” Awen screamed.

  “Shoot someone!” Ezo yelled at the bot.

  “Very well, sir.”

  Ezo grabbed Awen’s arm and darted for the library doors as TO-96 unleashed a barrage of fire at both forces. His microrockets targeted multiple troopers as his XM31 directed a constant bead of laser fire onto So-Elku’s shields. Awen heard the distinct high-pitched cycle charge of the gauss cannons on the bot’s shoulders and turned to look as twin projectiles zipped across the plaza in rippling sonic waves. The crack made her wince as the kinetic missiles vaporized the torsos of two black-armored troopers. Their heads launched ten meters before bouncing across the moss-covered stone.

  Kane noticed the bot and redirected some of his men to fire on it. Fortunately, Awen’s barrier held up against the first several blaster bolts. The energy slammed into the invisible shield and spread out over it like liquid slapping into a boulder.

  “Let’s move, Ninety-Six!” Ezo called over his shoulder. “Inside, now!”

  TO-96 continued to cover their retreat into the building as Ezo flicked on a flashlight at the end of one of his blasters. Ezo let go of Awen’s arm. She ducked behind a large column and released the barrier she’d formed outside.

  “Come on!” Ezo yelled as he darted down the hallway.

  Awen took a breath and followed him, glancing back to see TO-96 bring up the rear. The hallway was enormous, far larger than Awen had imagined. Dozens of wide columns ran down either side, supporting a ceiling nearly thirty meters above them. She also noticed that there was less foliage in here. Within a few seconds, her boots were clumping along dusty marble floors.

  “She sold me out!” Ezo yelled as they ran. “I can’t believe she actually sold me out!”

  “Sold you out?” Awen replied, her anger burning red hot. She’d figured it was best to overlook his treachery, as it hadn’t really harmed their mission. Until now, that is. “You sold me out, you traitor!”

  “Hey, I was just trying to get us here, okay?”

  “Which led to everyone getting here!” Awen yelled.

  “So it didn’t work out like I thought it would. So shoot me.”

  “Maybe I will!”

  “If I may, sir,” TO-96 interjected, “do you think that your wife is simply upset that she is still your wife?”

  “There is that, yes,” Ezo said.

  “You’re infuriating, Ezo,” Awen said, keenly aware of the firefight that grew behind them. “We’ll discuss this later. For now, we need to find somewhere to hide and make a plan.”

  “Can do, Star Queen,” Ezo said. “Ninety-Six, what do we have for layout?”

  TO-96 brought up the holo-projection again, this time minimizing its luminosity to better conceal their position. But it was enough light for Awen to see by. Suddenly, a doorway ahead of them glowed red.

  “There,” the bot said. “This door leads deeper into the temple.”

  “Perfect,” Ezo said. “Wait—did you say temple?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I thought you said it was a library, Awen.”

  “I did. That’s what it felt like. I don’t know their actual names for things yet!”

  “Wait,” Ezo said, holding up a hand. “Do you hear that?”

  “It would appear the firefight has ceased, sir.”

  “Exactly,” Ezo said.

  As if on cue, several blaster bolts flew down the hallway and exploded in showers over their heads. Ezo yelped, ducked, and then returned fire with one of his blasters. He squeezed the trigger on full auto, illuminating the expanse with a lightning storm of rapid fire. “Go, go, go!” he yelled.

  Awen dashed through the doorway as TO-96 joined Ezo in laying down covering fire. Then Ezo ducked inside, followed by the bot, as more blaster bolts struck the walls around them.

  Once inside, TO-96 resumed the projection and indicated several more doors. “All of these provide access to corridors both above and below us with the least likelihood of entrapment.”

  “Let’s go up,” Ezo said.

  “Up?” Awen asked in surprise. “Why up?”

  “Because we can regain access to the exterior faster and scale down. Get back to the ship. Maybe even sabotage their ships if we’re lucky.”

  “We go down,” Awen countered. “We have more city to hide ourselves in, less exposure. Plus, we don’t have to worry about falling off anything.”

  “But, Star Queen, I think—”

  “My op, Ezo. Mine.”

  Ezo grunted. As if to emphasize her point, a blaster bolt found its way into their chamber and lit the place up in a shower of sparks. “Fine, we go down.”

  “For what it’s worth, Awen,” TO-96 added, “I heartily agree with your logic.” Another blaster shot glanced off a pillar and nearly took off the bot’s head.

  “Come on!” Awen yelled, pulling the bot’s arm toward the first door TO-96 indicated that went down.

  They stepped onto a wide landing and started descending a spiral ramp. It hugged a wall on one side and had a hexagonal latticed handrailing on the other. The floor was covered in a thick layer of dust, but there was no foliage to speak of. It now seemed that the jungle dared not enter this far inside the temple.

  Around and around they went, descending farther into the building. Blaster bolts slapped the railing, spraying Awen’s clothing with molten metal. She brushed the slag off as Ezo leaned out and returned fire straight up.

  “They are gaining on us,” TO-96 noted matter-of-factly.

  “Thanks, Captain Obvious,” Ezo shouted as he dodged some incoming blaster fire. “Hadn’t noticed.” Ezo fired several more bursts as they ran. “Can’t you do something, ’Six?”

  “Like what, sir?”

  “You know, something cool. Something to delay them.”

  “Certainly, sir.” TO-96 activated a hatch under his chest to reveal what Awen thought were bombs or grenades or something. Three slid out, and the bot selected each and threw them at intervals up the spiral ramp. The devices clung to the ramp’s underside and blinked with a bright red light.

  “You should cover your ears, Awen,” TO-96 said as they ran.

  “What about me?” Ezo protested, putting his hands up.

  “Not your op,” the bot replied.

  The trio had run down another story when TO-96 detonated the uppermost device. Even though the blast was at least three stories above them, Awen could feel the concussive force push her into the sidewall. She almost tripped head over heels. Then large chunks of the ramp sailed by, some colliding with the railing beside Awen, showering her with rubble.

  The blaster fire stopped momentarily as the troopers above them hesitated. Awen could hear their footfalls falte
r even as the debris impacted with the floor somewhere below them with a thunderous noise.

  “Don’t slow down,” Ezo said, pushing Awen gently with his elbows, his hands still over his ears.

  “Second detonation,” the bot warned.

  The next blast was closer than the first and caught Awen off guard. The sound rattled her head and made her ears ring even with her hands covering them. But the explosion caught at least two troopers off guard, too, as they whizzed by in midair. One slammed against the railing next to her, his scream audible when his helmet was ripped from his head and his body was sent cartwheeling. The trooper was silenced a beat later when his skull struck the next level down with a wet crack.

  Awen wasn’t stopping now. More rubble careened off the ramp and exploded on the floor far below. She ran for all she was worth, legs pumping, chest burning. She barely heard TO-96 call for the final detonation, then it filled the space above her with fiery light. She stumbled into the wall, tearing her sleeve and scraping her arm. Another trooper sailed beside her and landed somewhere below.

  “Almost there. Keep running.” With the bot directing them, the trio descended farther and farther as blaster shots ricocheted off the railing. They finally neared the bottom level, and TO-96 said, “In there,” pointing to an archway in the wall. Ezo and Awen nodded, wiping dust and debris from their faces.

  Once through the doorway, Ezo swung his flashlight around. TO-96 followed a moment later and lit the remainder of the room with his holo-projection. They were in another cavernous space, this one a rotunda lined with seven doorways. Light filtered down from a panorama of stained glass.

  “Which way?” Awen shouted, her ears still ringing. She’d no sooner spoken than the ramp outside began to shake. She, Ezo, and TO-96 turned in time to see the ramp collapse. Massive blocks caved in and spilled through the opening as a plume of dust shot into the rotunda. Awen covered her face and coughed. It sounded like a mountain had cleaved in two as massive blocks sheared against one another and landed in heaps. The mangled bodies of Kane’s men were mixed among the wreckage, a few of them moaning as death finally overtook them.

  When the cacophony finally dissipated, Awen wiped her eyes and examined the former opening, now sealed shut with broken stone.

  “Well, I think that solves our pursuer problem,” Ezo said.

  “Unless they have heavier ordnance, I agree,” TO-96 said.

  “Why do you always have to be such a downer, Ninety-Six?”

  “A downer? I am unfamiliar with that term, sir.”

  “Everybody be quiet,” Awen ordered, raising her hand. “I hear someone out there.”

  “There’s no way anyone survived that, Awen,” Ezo said.

  She waved him off and addressed the bot. “TO-96, are you sure there are no other ways into this rotunda from out there?”

  “Checking,” the bot replied. “Yes, I am sure. The entrance we are looking at is the only way into this rotunda from the upper section.”

  “Eeezo…” called a muffled voice from the other side of the rubble. The small hairs on the back of Awen’s neck stood up. “Eeezo… I have something for you,” the singsong voice called.

  “Did you hear that?” Ezo asked, suddenly looking pale in TO-96’s holo-projection.

  “Yes, I heard it,” Awen admitted. The voice was so creepy that she hated to acknowledge she’d heard it.

  “Who… who is that?” he asked.

  “Let me check.” Awen closed her eyes and reached out in the Unity. She moved past the rubble and examined the vertical shaft. The walls pulsed an angry red color as if the living energy within them was upset with the destruction. It looked as though a bomb had gone off in the space, ripping the ramp from the walls and bringing down half the structure along with it. Then she reminded herself that a bomb had gone off in it. Three of them, to be exact. She looked around in the Unity and noticed a life-form descending a thin string like a spider crawling down a single strand of webbing. Another chill climbed up her neck.

  “I see someone.” Awen narrowed her focus and looked more carefully, pulse racing. “Wait, no. I see two people.”

  “Who are they?” Ezo asked.

  Awen moved in, trying to clarify the face of the person who spoke to them. “It’s—I think it’s Kane. The bald man from the plaza.” Awen breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps this meant that So-Elku had been killed. Then Awen scolded herself for feeling relieved at the prospect of another person’s death. But hadn’t he just tried to kill her? She’d be justified in hastening his death, wouldn’t she?

  “Eeezo… come out, come out, wherever you are.”

  It was Kane, and he was grinning a horrible, murderous, treacherous grin. Who is he? she wondered, growing more terrified with each passing moment. He dangled from two rappelling lines anchored high above them. Then Awen noticed a second form hanging beside him in another harness.

  “There’s someone else, but I can’t make them out,” Awen said.

  Ezo coughed.

  “Is that you, Eeezo?” Kane asked.

  “What do you want?” Ezo yelled through the stone.

  “What do I want?” Kane replied. “Why, nothing at all. I already have everything I want. Well, most everything I want. Do you? Yes, I do, and stop talking. We’re not alone yet. Yes, we are. You ordered the men back to the ship. That’s right, I did.”

  Ezo looked at TO-96 and then to Awen. “Who’s he talking to?” Ezo asked quietly. “Is there someone else out there?”

  “Yes,” Awen replied. “But the person looks to be unconscious, dangling beside him. They’ve rappelled down together.”

  “Is he crazy?” Ezo asked her.

  “Maybe,” she said, lifting her hands. “How should I know?” But then Awen noticed something about the man’s face. His image in the Unity seemed turbulent, like two faces sliding in and out of one another. It startled her so much that she gasped. Fear like she’d never felt before clamped down on her chest. One face looked human, but the other looked… What?

  Awen stumbled into Ezo.

  “You okay?”

  She managed to stay in the Unity and back away from Kane, her spine tingling. “Something’s very wrong with that man.”

  “I’m picking that up too.” Ezo looked to the blocked entrance and raised his voice again. “I’m not sure we’re really in a place to negotiate.”

  “Negotiate?” Kane laughed. “I don’t want to negotiate. I just want you to have what rightfully belongs to you.”

  “Rightfully belongs—I’m sorry, what? What do you mean, Kane?” Ezo looked to TO-96. “That’s his name, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, I believe so, sir,” replied the bot replied.

  “You don’t have anything that belongs to me,” Ezo continued.

  “Uh, actually,” Awen said, “he kind of does.”

  Kane had awakened the prisoner next to him with a stab of a contact syringe.

  “Say hello to your husband,” Kane said to the woman coming awake beside him.

  “Ezo?” Sootriman said in her unmistakable voice.

  “Love Sauce?” Ezo yelled, his voice tense.

  “Love Sauce?” Awen asked.

  “It is a truly irritating pet name, to be sure,” TO-96 agreed.

  But Ezo wasn’t paying attention. He’d raced forward and was moving rocks by hand. “What have you done to her, Kane?”

  “Oh, nothing. Not yet, anyway. But you will. Yes, of course, I will. Now? No, but soon. ”

  “Who is he talking to?” Ezo asked, looking over his shoulder at Awen.

  “No one else is out there but her,” Awen insisted, but she knew what she’d seen.

  “He’s crazy,” Sootriman cried. “Ezo, he’s completely mad!”

  “I’m not completely mad,” replied Kane. “Well, half of you is sane, at least. That’s true, but the other half? Not so much.”

  “He’s attached a bomb to my line, Ezo!” Sootriman yelled.

  “What?” Ezo asked in shock. “What d
o you mean?”

  Awen steered clear of Kane and whatever haunted him then moved up the second rappelling rope. She saw a device with a blinking light much like the ones TO-96 had used to blow up the ramp, only this one was larger—much larger.

  “You might recognize this device, Awen.” Kane laughed. “Might she? You think so?”

  Awen noticed the second face conversing with the human face in a disjointed spasm. It was truly terrifying. “I don’t recognize it, Kane. Now, let the woman go.”

  “You don’t?” Kane shrieked. “How utterly ironic! You’re looking at it right now, aren’t you?”

  “He’s going to kill me, Ezo!” Sootriman yelled.

  “Baby, hang on! We’ll get you out of there. We’ll figure something out.” Ezo turned to TO-96. “Can you blow this?” he asked, pointing to the rubble that blocked the entrance.

  “Not without placing your wife in significant peril,” the bot replied.

  “It’s the very same kind I used in Oosafar,” Kane continued. “In the mwadim’s palace. Yes, just like the palace.”

  “Wait—what?” Awen asked.

  Kane hesitated. “Do you mean to tell me…? She never saw it! You never saw it, Awen? What a pity. Genius is always wasted, as is irony.”

  “You are the one who sabotaged the meeting?” Awen roared, her anger threatening to pull her from the Unity.

  Kane laughed, throwing his head back and spinning around at the end of his rope like a drunken spider. Awen felt tugged toward her mortal body, but she wanted to see Kane’s face up close, to memorize it, to emblazon it on her mind’s eye for all time.

  I see you, she thought. Kane’s face bubbled and morphed as the other face tried to emerge again. And I will never forget you.

  “I see you too,” Kane said. But it wasn’t Kane; it was someone else—something else. The second face started to emerge, eyes black as pitch, teeth pointed. Its features bunched up in a snarl. Then faster than Awen could react, the apparition leapt at her.

  Awen screamed and fell out of the Unity, panting. She grabbed her chest with both hands. A burning sensation moved up her neck and flooded her face. Dread and… something worse. Emotions boiled in her chest that she’d ever felt before. Her mind felt co-opted by thoughts she’d never imagined, sudden visions of slaying Kane in ways that made her want to vomit.