Bender of Worlds

by Isaac Hooke

  The Mosaic came into view, hovering above the park.

  “I’m firing at the Red Grizzly,” Jed said. “Disabling the weapons.”

  Beyond his attackers, Tane saw sparks fly from the hull of the Red Grizzly. He couldn’t actually see the beams of the dragon lasers fired by the Mosaic, but he did see the damage those lasers inflicted.

  The Mosaic turned toward the Mancers lurking next to the Red Grizzly and unleashed a sweeping plasma burst, disintegrating the TSN defenders who were too slow to take cover.

  “Ouch, that’s gotta hurt,” Sinive said.

  After the plasma pass, Mancers emerged from hiding underneath the landing gears and nearby trees, and unleashed Essence Missiles at the ship; those works passed right through the Mosaic’s energy shields but didn’t really cause too much hull damage.

  The Mosaic landed halfway between the Red Grizzly and the TSN transport, in an area clear of trees, and the ramp went down. Jed would have had to lower the shields for the landing, so that Tane and the others could board.

  “Hurry up!” Jed said. “I’ll do my best to issue covering fire with the dragons. Charge is low, though, so any hits won’t cause much damage.”

  Tane, Lyra and G’allanthamas finished off the current wave of Essence warriors on their side, and the enemy distortion tunnel closed. Tane turned toward the Mosaic, and spotted Sinive and Gia breaking cover to make a mad dash for the ship.

  “Gall, get Nebb!” Tane said. He switched to his D18 and laid down covering fire for Sinive and Gia.

  He had already briefed G’allanthamas on what Nebb looked like before the mission, so the dweller knew to pick up the sleeping smuggler. The alien rested the still unconscious Nebb onto the carapace section of his environmental suit and then pressed a tentacle into the body to secure him in place. This despite the fact G’allanthamas hated porting humans: it was considered degrading among his kind.

  “The things I do for you, Doomwielder!” G’allanthamas said over the line.

  “Let’s go!” Tane switched back to his beam hilt and had just started running toward the craft when a blast crater appeared in the Mosaic’s hull.

  At first he thought the Red Grizzly had opened fire, but that part of the Mosaic wasn’t even facing the Rapier class vessel, but rather the TSN transport.

  Another blast crater appeared in the hull.

  The transport itself had to be opening fire. Glancing back, he saw that panels had slid aside near the upper half of the vessel, revealing laser turrets: the TSN had retrofitted the ordinarily weaponless transport with dragons.

  Sneaky bastards.

  “Another betrayal!” Gia said.

  Tane watched as she and Sinive dove for cover up ahead. The Mancers near the Red Grizzly were unleashing small Essence Missiles at her and Sinive in a constant barrage.

  “Gah!” G’allanthamas said.

  Tane glanced at the dweller and saw that his friend was avoiding placing any weight on one foot. Yellow liquid spewed from the suit there, where he had taken a hit. The hole quickly sealed, cutting off the outflow of liquid thankfully.

  Gotta love regenerative armor.

  G’allanthamas dove behind a fountain as laser fire assailed him.

  Tane swung his Essence Sight around and realized many more combat robots had emerged from the transport.

  “Got scepters behind!” Tane said.

  He dodged behind a tree and his shield autogated, allowing him to lean up against it without draining his energy field. Lyra meanwhile ducked behind a park bench.

  A plasma bolt struck the stone rim of the fountain G’allanthamas hid behind, and water poured out through the blast hole.

  “Jed, you’re covering fire is worth crap!” Sinive said.

  “Sorry,” Jed said. “This ship is a bit more limited than I hoped.”

  “That’s right, blame the ship!” Gia said.

  “I’m taking heavy laser fire on the engines,” Jed said. “I’m going to have to take off to activate shields.”

  “Wait!” Tane said.

  If I could just reach that ship… touch that hull…

  “Sorry,” Jed said.

  The Mosaic launched and rose to hover over the park. Convex portions of the now active shield flashed into existence as the vessel took laser impacts from the transport. Jed unleashed the plasma thrower again, this time directing it toward the transport.

  Police drones and shuttles appeared, adding to the bombardment. All of their fire was concentrated on the Mosaic.

  “Taking too much heat!” Jed said. “Can’t stay here. I’m sorry, I have to pull back. I’ll lead the security forces away, and loop around to retrieve you when I can. Hang in there.”

  Tane watched in disappointment as the Mosaic fled the scene. All of the police ships pursued it.

  “Anyone else notice how the police didn’t fire at the TSN?” Gia said. “Or intervene in any way? Despite the fact there’s a major engagement going on down here? Looks to me like the TSN and the Mautauraen have come to some sort of arrangement.”

  “I thought the Mautauraen hated them?” Tane said.

  “Pay enough, and you can negotiate through even hate,” Jed told him over the comm.

  “Gia,” Tane said. “Now it’s more important than ever that you and Sinive join us so we can jump the hell out of here.”

  He needed to take a break from Siphoning the Essence, so he released the ax and hooked the beam hilt to his belt. He retrieved the D18 from his pouch instead. The loss of Endurance from unequipping the hilt was noticeable, but he was still in the fight. His perspective reverted back inside himself as Essence Sight faded.

  “Hey, they don’t want to kill the World Bender, right?” Gia said. “Why don’t you act as a human shield for your two companions, and lead them here?”

  “I’m a bit small to act as a human shield for Gall,” Tane said.

  “Some of them have in fact tried to kill Tane,” Lyra said. “Either out of malice, or by mistake. I’d rather you and the smuggler’s assistant joined us instead. We’ll cover you.”

  “Don’t call me the smuggler’s assistant,” Sinive said. But she emerged from cover and dashed across the grass toward their position.

  Tane aimed his D18 at the enemy, activated smart targeting, and released several shots to keep the Mancers down. Lyra and G’allanthamas meanwhile concentrated on the scepters that were still coming down the transport ramp behind them.

  Sinive ducked behind the thick tree beside Tane, and he crouched low as Essence Missiles erupted from the direction of the Mancers. The bright works slammed into the tree and splinters of wood flew across his face.

  “Yep, those ones might be trying to kill me,” Tane said.

  “Not you, me,” Sinive said from beside him. “You just got in the way.” She smiled wickedly. “But if they do kill you, I’m sure it’ll be by accident. Just like if I do it.”

  “Somehow that’s not so very reassuring,” Tane said.

  She gave him a surprise peck on the lips. “For luck.” Then she leaned around the opposite side of the trunk to open fire.

  Tane shook his head slightly, then held his D18 past his own side and switched to the point of view of the weapon’s scope. He selected the park benches and trees behind which the Mancers were lurking, and marked them for smart-targeting. Then he waited until he saw a smidgen of an armored robe appear from behind one of those shelters, and squeezed the trigger, letting the weapon do the dirty work.

  “Now, Gia!” Tane said.

  She left her shelter, but about five meters before she made it an Essence Missile passed through her shield and she took a hit in the lower leg. She tripped immediately, but her fall abated half a meter from the ground as her energy shield kicked in, flashing repeatedly as it absorbed the impact. She wasn’t using autogating, apparently.

  Gia deactivated the shield and fell the rest of the way to the ground with an audible “oof.” She tried to get up, but crumpled immediately.

  “That
’s not going to work,” Gia said over the comm. “I can’t walk on this leg anymore.”

  “I’m going out to get her,” Sinive said.

  “No,” Gia said. “I got this.”

  Tane peered past the edge of the tree. Gia was dragging herself forward.

  “Cover her,” Tane instructed Sinive. He tilted past the trunk and squeezed the trigger: the smart muzzle shifted its aim between the different areas Tane had marked earlier. Sinive fired her powerful Hunter pistol from the opposite side of the thick bole.

  When Gia was about a meter from the tree, Sinive left cover.

  “Sinive!” Tane said.

  She reached Gia and dragged her the rest of the way, propping her up behind the tree.

  “How bad is it?” Gia asked. “I can’t look. I get hypoglycemic at the sight of blood.”

  “Not sure that’s right term…” Tane said. He lowered his eyes to gaze at her injury.

  Her lower leg was bad. Really bad: it looked like a mangled mess. He saw shredded skin and clothes intermingled with shattered bone. It was almost like her tibia had exploded from the inside. The bloody sight made him a little nauseous himself; in fact, he couldn’t look for more than a few seconds.

  Gia was watching him the whole time. “That bad, huh?”

  Sinive reached into her storage pouch and produced a medkit, then wrapped a tourniquet tightly below Gia’s knee while Tane continued to provide suppressive fire.

  The Mancers hadn’t created any new distortion tunnels, Tane noted. He and his team had probably taken down most of the jumpers, while those that were left had likely exhausted themselves creating the tunnels. At least, that was what he hoped. If they gathered all their Endurance-boosting devices, they might be able to create another tunnel, but it would be a last ditch effort, one that would cripple the remainder of their forces.

  “Gall!” Tane said. “We’re all here! Let’s have that tunnel!”

  No answer.

  “Gall?”

  He looked toward the fountain. Beyond the lip, G’allanthamas lay completely flat on the ground, the legs and tentacles of his environmental suit splayed out lifelessly around him. The unconscious form of Nebb had slid to the ground beside him.

  An Essence warrior stood above the alien, pistol aimed at the glass dome atop the carapace as he prepared to fire the final bolt, execution-style, into G’allanthamas’ head. Two scepter robots crouched beside the warrior, firing at Lyra’s position.

  “No!” Tane said.

  He touched the hilt that hung from his belt and stepped into the Essence through it and all of his Chrysalium accessories at the same time, as well as Siphoning as much of the stellar wind across his bones that he could summon naturally. A terrifyingly large amount of the cold shrieked across the pits and valleys of his being, bursting from his core. He grew the Branchwork from that fluttering, almost uncontrollable ribbon, and created an Essence Missile.

  He launched it at the warrior.

  The Feral Necklace boosted the work, and the blur of light that shot out from Tane was long and blinding, the most powerful Missile he had ever created without touching a larger Chrysalium source. When it faded, the warrior’s entire upper body had disintegrated. The work had been overkill.

  Tane slumped from the sheer exhaustion of creating it and stepped out of the Essence.

  Lyra, crouched behind the park bench, returned fire at the distracted scepters that had escorted the warrior. She used a pistol she had procured, either from her storage pouch, or a dead foe. Obviously she was near exhaustion as well.

  Sinive joined her, and together they shot down the two robots that hovered near G’allanthamas.

  “Gall, are you okay?” Tane scrambled to his feet.

  He approached the fountain at a crouch. As he neared G’allanthamas and the torso-less body of the warrior beside him, he vaguely realized he must have leveled in Essence Missile before releasing that work, because there was no way the missile should have been so big, and so powerful. Essentially level four. However he didn’t have the time, nor the inclination, to check his notifications right now.

  “Gall,” Tane said. He ducked beside the alien and gently shook his carapace. He noticed a hole in the suit on the right side, between two of the legs. The armor closed up as he watched. Underneath were the yellow stains where the inner environment had poured out.

  Tane gazed into the glass dome and realized the hydrocarbon levels had dropped precariously, so much so that the dweller’s head was completely exposed. But now that the hole was sealed, the liquid level had started to rise again.

  Lyra made her way to the fountain, and Sinive dragged Gia there as well. They continued to fire at the enemies that surrounded them.

  “You have to heal him!” Tane told Lyra.

  “I’m too weak,” Lyra said.

  “You have to try,” Tane said. “Link with me.”

  She shook her head. “I’ve never healed a dweller before. Even if we link, I wouldn’t know where to start.”

  “What about me?” Gia said.

  Lyra glanced at Gia, seeming hesitant. “Maybe…” She tightened her grip on the silver staff and straightened slightly. But then she shook her head again. “I’ll still have to link with Tane. If I do that, and heal you now, the three of us will be completely exhausted. It takes too much out of us. We may as well surrender.”

  The liquid reached the top of the dome, but still G’allanthamas didn’t move.

  Tane fired at some robots that were crouched behind a tree to the north. He was going to have to surrender, if it meant he could save his friend.

  But then G’allanthamas finally stirred. “Doomwielder.”

  “Gall!” Tane said. “Are you all right?”

  “No,” the dweller said. “But I’ll live.” His tentacles momentarily flared out and he stood slightly, as if noticing something terrible. And then he slumped once more.

  “What is it?” Tane said.

  “The globe is gone,” G’allanthamas said.

  “What?”

  “The distortion tunnel I had in reserve,” G’allanthamas said. “I lost it.”

  Tane sat back, leaning against the brim of the fountain. “So we’re trapped here.”

  “Isn’t there another fallback point we agreed upon to the north?” Gia asked. “Beyond the treeline? A transport terminal.”

  “Yes,” Tane said. “But how are we supposed to get there, when the way is blocked by robots?”

  “They won’t shoot at you,” Gia said. “As soon as they see it’s you out there, they’ll switch to energy nets. All of their deadly fire has been directed at us. Mostly.”

  “So I lead the way, doing my best to cover the rest of you,” Tane said thoughtfully. He frowned. “You can’t walk. And I doubt Gall is in any condition to make a mad dash out into the open. Especially if he has to carry Nebb on his back.”

  “Leave us, then,” Gia said. “We can stay and cover your retreat. You go to the fallback point.”

  “I can’t leave you,” Tane said.

  “No, she’s right,” Lyra told him. “Once you’re gone, they’ll forget about us entirely. They’ll concentrate their efforts on capturing you. Like she said, they won’t shoot you, unless it’s by accident.”

  “They’ve almost hit me by ‘accident’ several times already, don’t you worry,” Tane said.

  “We can’t let him go alone,” Sinive insisted.

  “Then go with him,” Lyra said.

  “What about you?” Tane asked.

  “I can come, too, if you like,” she said. “But given my reduced strength, I believe I’d be of better service to you if I stayed here, and did what I could to protect these two until Jed’s return.”

  “Use your power to take stamina from me,” Gia said. “Restore your strength, and go with him.”

  Lyra shook her head. “Then you’d be completely helpless.”

  Tane made up his mind. “No, Lyra, you’ll stay here with Gia, Gall, and Nebb. But I wa
nt you to leave as soon as we draw the troops away. I don’t want you to risk capture: I’d hate to have to do this all over again. Jed can pick you up somewhere outside the park.”

  “I’ll leave with the three of them as soon as we’re able,” Lyra agreed.

  “They’ll probably send a force to capture you once we’re gone,” Sinive told the Volur. “This is the TSN we’re talking about, after all. They’re nothing if not thorough.”

  Lyra shrugged. “As I said, most of their effort will be concentrated on you and the World Bender. But I’ll deal with whatever they send.” She turned toward Tane. “If you can make it to that terminal, you’ll have a chance. Assuming the gates are still active.”

  “Won’t matter if they’re not,” Sinive said. “I can hack in, start them up.”

  “Are you certain?” Lyra asked.

  “Positive,” Sinive replied.

  Lyra turned to Tane. “Then go.”

  He rested a hand on her shoulder. “Thank you for everything.”

  “No, thank you,” Lyra said. “You came back for me. All of this, none of it would be happening if you hadn’t come. You risked your life to save me. That’s not something I will forget. Not now. Not ever.”

  “I couldn’t leave you in the hands of the TSN, a shell of your former self,” Tane said.

  She nodded slightly. “You have my eternal gratitude. Now please, you must go.”

  Tane hesitated a moment longer, then he replaced the D18 with his beam hilt, and the white ax exploded into his hands. He Siphoned the Dark as well, funneling some of it into the Fingers of Malevolence ring, but he didn’t otherwise create an active Dark timeline.

  “Sinive,” Tane said. “With me!”

  Tane dashed from cover and Sinive joined him. He ran toward the northern treeline at an angle away from the transport vessel. Robots emerged from cover, firing their energy nets. At least they weren’t shooting to kill anymore now that he was in the open. He still worried that one of them might mow down Sinive, and already he was regretting bringing her along.

  He reminded himself that she was faster now that she had Jed’s weapon, as well as from the servomotor boost provided by her spacesuit. In fact, she was already pulling ahead of him. But then she slowed down to keep pace with him.