by Isaac Hooke
Two dark, fiery globes floated above and in front of him, visible to his own eyes only. He had those reserve spots filled with Fingers of Ruin works. He wore the Finger of Malevolence and other rings underneath his gauntlets, which were at their full thickness, like his armored robe. Fully expanded, those gauntlets had seemed bulky and unwieldy at first, but after playing with the built-in electroactuators they responded like a second skin.
As he continued to survey that park, and the skies above, he felt strangely at peace. And he couldn’t blame the calmness on the Umbra this time. It was strange. The last time he had waited for a battle to start in his own universe, he had been inside a shuttle, preparing to board an alien ship to search for Sinive. He had been extremely nervous back then, but this time not so much. He found that a little worrying.
Then again, when he had faced an entire alien fleet afterward, he had experienced the same calm he felt now.
Maybe I’ve been through enough battles now that I don’t fear them anymore?
He wiped the sweat from his brow.
But if I’m so calm, why am I sweating so much? And it’s not just because of the heat.
Gia shared a canteen around.
Tane accepted, took a sip. His hand shook as he drank, clattering the canteen against his teeth. He lowered his hand, hoping neither Sinive nor Gia had seen, and quickly returned the canteen.
Yes, not so calm as he thought… there was definitely an indeterminable knot of dread in the pit of his stomach. Maybe he only felt it now because he was thinking of the coming fight. Maybe the secret was simply not to think about it.
He tried, but the knot wouldn’t go away, and he had difficultly stopping the shaking in his hands. He knew it would end when the time came for action. At least, he hoped it would.
But until then, he would simply have to endure it.
He heard a sonic boom and glanced upward. A shadow covered the sun as a starship descended into view.
It had to be the TSN. They were the only ones who could get clearance to land in a city park without attracting law enforcement.
The latter thought reminded him that when the Mosaic came, it would likely bring with it a whole slew of police robots. That could be both good and bad, depending on how the police reacted to the fighting that would no doubt be taking place in the park by then.
The incoming craft was about the size of a small stadium. It looked like a stadium, too, with that wide oval shape and flat bottom meant for landing.
Tane ran an ID on the vessel.
Ship: Gravity Grasshopper
Class: Cricket Military Transport I.
Offensive Weapons: None
Point Defense Weapons: 4x Lite Rail Thrower, 360-degree coverage.
Shielding system: Energy.
Crew complement: 10 (currently 10)
Troop capacity (current/maximum): 100/100.
The transport landed on the northeast side of the park, near the treeline, so that the tall trunks bordered it on the north and east flanks. Interesting choice. He supposed the TSN was worried about sniper fire, and by placing the vessel so close to the trees, it meant only two sides of the ship were exposed.
Another starship landed a moment later, some distance west of it, bordering the northern treeline. Tane recognized the familiar back-to-back horseshoe shapes and long nose of a Rapier class vessel. He ID’d it as the Red Grizzly. The vessel was supposed to be AI-operated, according to the deal Jed had struck with the TSN. That matched the current crew complement and passenger capacity listed on his ID—one and one, respectively. No doubt that was Positron and Laser Bait.
Motion drew his eye to the transport vessel. A ramp had lowered. Fifteen robot troops dashed out, led by a human in glowing power armor. They formed an elliptical formation at the base of the ramp and crouched, holding their rifles to eye level as they scanned their surroundings.
Sixteen troops in total. That was the number Jed had agreed would be allowed to be present when the swap took place, excluding Nelson and Xescartes. If more showed themselves, Tane was supposed to refuse to make the exchange. It was a good sign that the TSN was listening to their demands, at least for now.
Tane ID’d the robots, which were all the same class and level:
Race: Robot.
Model: Scepter combat droid VIII-2 Rev a.
Level: 12
Class: Mobile Infantry
Weaponry:
1x M24 Multifunction Plasma and Laser Rifle.
4x P3 Smart Targeting Energy Grenades
Shielding: Energy. (25/25)
Base Armor rating: 35
Total armor rating (including shielding): 60
The man in power armor gestured, and some of the robots broke formation, moving to the four sides of the starship to stand watch.
A moment later two individuals descended the ramp, one dressed in fatigues of blue and gray digital, the other wearing an armored robe that glowed with the yellow halo of Essence enhancement. A medical robot on treads accompanied them.
The pair stepped down onto the grass of the park, while the medical robot remained on the ramp. Tane zoomed in on the two men: it was Nelson and Xescartes.
“I hate that bastard,” Sinive said softly.
Using the Galnet, Tane promptly sent a call request to the agreed upon ID.
Nelson picked up, voice only, and said: “Where are you?”
“Where are Lyra and Nebb?” Tane asked in return.
“We’ll produce them when you’re in our custody,” Nelson replied.
“Not good enough,” Tane said. “I want to see them now.”
Nelson stared out across the park and lifted his gaze to survey the surrounding buildings as if trying to locate Tane. Finally his lips moved as he said something Tane couldn’t hear—he’d obviously muted the connection—and a moment later Lyra and Nebb walked down the ramp to join him. That the pair had no escort told Tane they were still chipped. They otherwise seemed in good health.
“Satisfied?” Nelson said.
“I want them to remain outside the transport at all times,” Tane said.
“As you wish,” Nelson said. “Can we proceed with the trade?”
“I’m coming,” Tane said. He disconnected.
He surveyed the ship one last time. He noted the entire bottom quarter was covered in thick heat tiles, which meant he wouldn’t be able to touch the Chrysalium hull underneath, at least not from the ground. He wondered if they had chosen this particular transport for that very reason.
Do they really fear me that much?
He smiled grimly. Yes, they had good reason to fear him. If he could find a way to get on top of that ship, then the massive amount of Essence the hull provided would be available to him. Unfortunately, he couldn’t just take Gia’s shuttle to the ship. The transport would take to the skies before the shuttle even got close, and the TSN would call off the deal.
What if the shuttle came in from the treeline?
But then their LIDAR would still detect it, or perhaps other ships hidden in orbit would raise the alarm.
Besides, that wasn’t the plan.
He realized he was simply stalling. Trying to avoid the inevitable.
“So?” Gia said.
With a sigh, Tane backed away from the rooftop edge at a crouch.
“Be careful,” Sinive told him.
Tane nodded. In a few moments he was entering the stairwell shed and descending to the first floor.
He paused before the glass panes in the double doors that led out the rear of the building, and gazed over the courtyard fence into the park beyond. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
I can do this.
He opened his eyes and began the Dark and White work. The timing had to be perfect. He stepped from the building and activated his shield generator, just in case a rogue dweller faction had sent some alien sniper to take him out while he tried to surrender. It was possible they had intercepted his communications with the TSN. After all, the dweller
s had beat the TSN to his hydroponics farm and almost taken him before he even knew what he was. Yes, there could certainly be aliens lurking somewhere out there.
He activated the autogating feature of his shield. He had finally experimented with it earlier: autogate allowed him to define the trigger speed of any incoming objects. By setting that speed high, he could duck behind trees and other objects for cover, and the portions of the shield that touched those objects would autogate off instead of taking damage; of course, it also meant he’d be exposed to an attack from slower hand-to-hand weapons, like energy daggers, so he’d have to switch back to standard mode if it came to that. Either way, the shield would still be useless against weapons composed of the Essence.
He crossed the rear courtyard, passed through the gap in the small fence there, and entered the park. He made a quick calculation based on the transport’s current location, and updated his pace accordingly.
He weaved between the trees, and the fountains, and walked by the monument at the center of the park as he headed toward the northeast corner. None of the robots arrayed at the base of the ship had trained their weapons on him, but instead continued to survey the outlying areas, as if expecting an ambush.
Not a bad move, on their part.
Tane’s D18, beam hilt, and grenades were stowed in the storage pouch hanging from his utility belt beside the shield generator, as appropriate for one who was pretending to surrender.
“The navy man and the Volur just stepped out of sight,” Gia said. “I’m going to reposition.”
Nelson and Xescartes had retreated to stand halfway up the ramp, along with the medical robot, so that only their legs were visible from Tane’s current location. That insured they would be out of view of any snipers watching from the rooftops of the surrounding buildings.
Smart.
Meanwhile, Lyra and Nebb continued to stand on the grass, just inside the ring of troops.
Tane approached the man in power armor who stood at the head of the formation, and ran a quick ID on him.
Name: Bo “Animal” Mobatu
Race: Human
Level: 16
Class: First Lieutenant, 2nd Assault Battalion, 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, Thorran Marine Corps, Thorran Star Navy
Weaponry:
1x M16 Multifunction Plasma and Laser Rifle.
4x P3 Smart Targeting Energy Grenades
4x G22 Incendiary Grenades
Shielding: Energy. (35/35)
Base Armor rating: 50
Total armor rating (including shielding): 85
When he was a meter away, the two scepter robots on either side of the first lieutenant trained their rifles on Tane.
“That’s close enough!” one of the robots said.
Bo stood from his crouch, and lowered his rifle, letting it hang from the shoulder strap.
“Turn off your shield,” the first lieutenant said. “And hand it to me, along with your storage pouch. Nice and easy.”
Tane glanced at Lyra and Nebb, who continued to stand on the grass next to the transport, behind the ring of robots. There was sadness in Lyra’s eyes, and Nebb was shaking his head.
Tane had to make a choice. He was almost done with Repel Nanotech. He could make his move now, but because the work required physical contact with his subject, he’d have to fight his way to Lyra’s side to free her from Nelson’s influence.
He was also too far to properly deal with Xescartes. That Essenceworker was the most dangerous one among the troops, and had to fall at the beginning of the attack. If Tane released any works against the man now, Xescartes would likely Deflect them. And Tane wasn’t sure bringing Lyra to his side would be enough to defeat the Volur once he lost the advantage of surprise.
Then again, Lyra would probably join the fight against him as well before he could reach her, and she would be just as deadly a foe as Xescartes.
He made his choice.
Tane deactivated his shield and removed both the generator and the storage pouch. He offered them to the first lieutenant.
Bo accepted and promptly produced a Restrainer.
Tane finished Repel Nanotech just in time and released it, allowing the work to settle on his own forehead. Then he started up a counter on his HUD.
Bo held the Restrainer to Tane’s bare forehead and it attached like a magnet.
Tane slumped under the sudden fatigue that filled him, feeling suddenly too weary to step into either Essence.
The two reserve globes remained intact, he noticed. He couldn’t help but smile inwardly at that. The TSN wouldn’t know, of course, since they obviously tested the Restrainers mostly upon those who used the White Essence.
Bo gestured and the robot troops immediately surrounded Tane. The scepters that had been dispatched to the four sides of the transport returned, and joined the escort, leading Tane toward the transport.
“Don’t you want to exchange any last words with the two you traded yourself for?” Nelson asked from the ramp.
Tane looked at Lyra and Nebb.
“I’m not who you think I am,” Tane called to her as he walked. “None of us are.”
She didn’t reply, but her sadness only seemed to deepen.
The robot escort guided Tane onto the ramp.
As his boots clanged on the metallic surface, he glanced at the hull overhead, the part that bordered the opening made by the ramp. The exterior was covered in thick heat tiles. And near the top, where the ramp met the ship proper, there was no Chrysalium bared along the interior surfaces either. Too bad.
The scepters in the forefront of his escort parted, so that Nelson, Xescartes and the medical robot stood before him.
As Tane approached, the medical robot extended its telescoping limb in anticipation. They were going to chip Tane immediately, not wanting to take any chances—just as he had expected them to do. That robot approached, cutting in front of Xescartes, who was still too far away for Tane to attack.
“How did you find someone to remove your chip?” Nelson asked. Of course he knew that Tane no longer had a control chip, because Nelson would have taken over by now.
“It was difficult,” Tane replied.
Nelson gave him a suspicious look. “I suppose you’ll be telling me everything I want to know shortly.”
“That and more,” Tane agreed.
Nelson seemed momentarily confused by his brashness, but then he glanced at the medical robot. “Chip him.”
Bo handed Tane’s shield generator and storage pouch to Nelson as the ramp began to close.
Meanwhile the medical robot extended a limb, wrapping a vise around Tane’s neck. Two lenses telescoped toward his face, and a bright light flashed, taking a brain scan.
Then he felt a sonic injection on the side of his neck, which was exposed above the armored robe.
“We’ve made changes to the formula this time,” Nelson said smugly. “You won’t be able to access the Dark like you did before.”
The counter on Tane’s HUD reached the sixty second mark. Repel Nanotech would only last for a minute at his current level in the work. Was it too late?
He waited for the overwhelming sense that he was going to black out. Waited to feel like he was an observer inside of his own body. Waited for his body to stop responding to his commands.
But the feeling never came.
Once more the robot’s bright scanning light filled his vision.
Conveniently, Xescartes approached.
“Has the chip taken?” the Volur asked.
“Strange,” the medical robot said. “I’m not reading any indications that the nanotech is inside his system whatsoever.”
Tane released both reserves of Fingers of Ruin. The two works were level three, thanks to the Feral Necklace, meaning that six smears of unreality in total were created. He directed one of the smears into the robot claw that was wrapped around his neck like a vise, and the other five at Xescartes.
Veins spread across the Volur’s armor, and it cracked open.
Xescartes screamed.
The robot’s claw also fragmented and Tane fell away.
“Don’t fire!” Nelson shouted as the ring of scepters spun their weapons toward Tane.
Tane swatted the Restrainer from his forehead and it landed bouncing on the ramp. Stamina instantly returned; he stepped into the White and released an Essence Missile at the first lieutenant while launching himself at Nelson. Tane struck the stunned navy man, who was in the process of opening his storage device to deposit Tane’s pouch and shield generator inside. Tane easily wrenched the latter two items from his grasp, and then rolled away onto the ramp.
A scepter tried to grab him, but Tane punched at it with his free hand, coating his fist with Light Glove before he struck. His curled fingers impacted and passed right through its body, breaking the robot in half.
He turned toward the edge of the ramp, slammed another Essence Missile into a robot that was blocking his path, and dove toward that edge. He slid off before the ramp closed entirely and plunged to the grass below, hitting hard. It knocked the wind out of him.
He reattached the shield generator and pouch to his belt. He then activated the shield.
The ramp began to open again above him.
He turned toward Lyra and Nebb. The smuggler had drawn a pistol and had it trained directly at him. Tane began the planned Dark and White work.
“Can’t let you do this, kid,” Nebb said.
A large airborne delivery drone plowed into Nebb’s arm and he dropped the pistol. “Gah! What are you trying to do, break my arm?”
Lyra drew a beam hilt from the storage device hanging from her belt. Her eyes seemed cloudy.
Tane reached inside his pouch and retrieved his own beam hilt. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I don’t want to harm you either,” Lyra said. The subtle yellow halo around her armored dress increased in intensity, becoming a bright glow.
