Broken Worlds- The Complete Series

by Jasper T. Scott

  “Are you lost?” a voice asked from somewhere behind her.

  That voice was familiar.

  Cassandra spun around to see a man in a dark cloak standing behind her, blocking the only way out. Only his eyes were visible—yellow-green eyes, glowing faintly in the dark. A red neon sign portraying a woman in a suggestive pose flickered on and off beside him, illuminating his silhouette with a crimson glow, but not his face, which remained shadowed by the hood of his cloak.

  “Imagine meeting you here,” the voice went on. Now Cassandra was certain she recognized it.

  “Tanik?” she whispered, taking a guess at who it must be.

  The hood came down, and Tanik’s bald head gleamed red in the light of that flickering sign. “Hello, Cassandra.”

  She began backing away slowly and reaching for her sword. She drew it with a metallic shriek and aimed it at his chest.

  “Stay away from me!” She summoned a shield and a pale white light pooled in the alley around her.

  Tanik made no move to follow her. “I’m not the enemy, Cass,” he said, holding up his hands.

  “Yes, you are!” she screamed. “You lied to me, and you used me to blackmail my father!”

  “I saved your life,” Tanik replied, finally taking a step toward her. “And I kept you away from him for a good reason. You’ve seen what he’s become. He just threw you against a wall. He could have killed you.”

  That comment sliced straight through to Cassandra’s heart. She felt her throat closing up again, and fresh tears leaked from her eyes, making them ache.

  Tanik took a long step toward her. “You’ve seen what he’s become. But he’s your father, so you want to believe that he’s the good guy.”

  “You held a knife to my throat!”

  Tanik accepted that with a nod. “Yes. We were in a delicate situation. I had to use whatever feelings Darius had left for you in order to save my wife and what was left of her people, the Keth.”

  “You manipulated us into starting a war with the Cygnians,” Cassandra insisted, reaching desperately for some other reason not to trust Tanik. Her world felt like it had turned on its side, and everything she’d ever known and trusted was now sliding off into an uncertain abyss.

  “If that’s true, then why did he go on to finish that war?” Tanik asked, taking yet another step toward her.

  “Stay where you are!” Cassandra shouted, but her voice sounded small and frightened to her ears.

  Tanik held up his hands in surrender. “Okay, you win. I’ll leave you alone.” He turned and started walking away, leaving her feeling more frightened than ever. A cold, fetid breeze blew through the alley, and a loud bang sounded, followed by low growls and wet, tearing sounds. Cassandra’s eyes darted about, trying to find the source of the noises. Remembering to use her awareness, she reached out and found five luminous presences down at the end of the street, hunched over something—tearing into it with their hands and teeth.

  Cassandra shivered and looked away, back to Tanik’s retreating form. His words echoed through her head, his arguments starting to make sense. What if her dad really was the bad guy? After all, he was the one who had gone to Ouroboros to attack Tanik, not the other way around. Even after more than two months had passed, Tanik and the Keth still hadn’t tried to get revenge for that attack. And now Tanik had found her, but rather than try to capture her and use her to threaten her father again, Tanik had only tried to reason with her.

  A sudden scrabbling of feet sounded from the end of the alley, followed by ragged panting sounds, drawing near—

  She stole one glance behind her and then ran at top speed to catch up with Tanik. “Something’s coming!” she breathed, and grabbed his arm in a fierce grip.

  Tanik turned around and thrust a hand toward the darkness. A violent gust of wind whipped down the alley and unseen creatures screeched in protest, their claws skittering as they fled.

  “You’re safe now,” Tanik assured her, as those sounds retreated into the distance.

  Cassandra peered into the darkness for a few seconds longer before sheathing her sword.

  Tanik favored her with a reassuring smile. Now that his face wasn’t lit red by that flickering sign, he looked less frightening—even the lumpy scars running down the side of his face inspired pity more than fear.

  “My dad wasn’t always like this,” Cassandra said. “There has to be a way to get him back.”

  “It’s not his fault,” Tanik said, nodding. “I warned him that he needed to stop using the Sprites, but he wouldn’t listen, and Admiral Ventaris urged him to continue. The feeling of power and euphoria they induce makes them as addictive as any drug. Before long he couldn’t resist using them. But they do more than manipulate their hosts’ by stimulating opioid receptors. They also change brain chemistry, and make a person crave power.”

  “How do we undo all of that now?”

  “I think I might know a way,” Tanik replied.

  Cassandra’s heart leapt with eager anticipation. “How?” Her eyes darted back and forth, searching his.

  Tanik wrapped an arm around her shoulders, gently turning her and walking with her back the way she’d come. “Let’s go meet my team.”

  “Your team?” A flicker of suspicion crawled through Cassandra’s gut. “Are they Keth?”

  “No, not Keth. A human and a Togran—he’s cute. You’ll like him. And there’s someone else. Someone you should recognize.”

  Her suspicion gave way to curiosity. “Who’s that?”

  “Gatticus Thedroux.”

  Cassandra stopped walking suddenly, and Tanik’s arm slid off her shoulders. “No way! How did you find him?”

  Tanik turned to her with a grin and shrugged. “Mysteries of the universe. He won’t remember you, though, I’m afraid. He had an unfortunate accident.”

  Suspicion returned with a cold rush, and Cassandra’s eyes narrowed. “My dad said you were that accident.”

  “Yes. I admit it,” Tanik said. “He tried to stop me from going to rescue you and the others from the Crucible, and I overreacted.”

  “He tried to stop you? Why would he do that?”

  “Because he was an Executor in the Union, and I was commandeering a Union Carrier to go rescue conscripts from their secret war with the Keth. We were on opposite sides of an old conflict.”

  “And now?”

  “Now, we’re good friends, but—” Tanik held a finger to his lips. “He doesn’t know that I was the one who sent him away, and if you don’t mind, I’d like to keep it that way. We need his help to get your father back to his old self.”

  Cassandra didn’t like being forced to keep secrets, but she couldn’t afford to alienate Gatticus if he was the key to getting her father back. “How is he going to help me get my dad back?”

  “By re-engineering Cygnian nanites as a virus to target the Sprites in people’s bloodstreams.”

  “Could that work?” Cassandra asked, hope soaring in her chest.

  “Oh yes, I’m certain that it will,” Tanik replied. “We’d better go join the others before your father comes looking for you. We don’t want him to find out about our little project before we can use it to help him.”

  Cassandra nodded quickly. “Let’s go.”

  Chapter 29

  Commander Kanos of the Marine battalion stopped at the foot of Darius’s throne and saluted. “We’ve searched the entire city, sir. It’s possible your daughter found a way to reach one of the surrounding settlements.”

  Darius leaned forward and glowered at the man. “On foot?”

  “She may have found transport with one of the locals. Or stolen a vehicle. We have also been unable to sense her in the zero-point field. It is possible that she does not want to be found.”

  “She’s a child. This isn’t about what she does or doesn’t want. Find her, Commander, or I will hold you personally responsible for her disappearance and anything that happens to her while she’s gone, do you understand me?”


  “Yes, sir,” Commander Kanos replied. He clicked his heels together and saluted once more.

  “Dismissed,” Darius said, and waved him away.

  The commander and his soldiers made a hasty retreat. The giant doors at the end of the throne room shut behind the Marines with a resounding boom as they left. The morning sun painted golden squares on the marble floors, window frames tracing dark squares of shadow between them. Darius rotated his throne to look out through the floor-to-ceiling windows beside him. The sun was just now peeking over the tops of the nearest buildings. Cassandra had been missing all night. At first, he’d thought she’d return after a few hours, once she calmed down and realized what a brat she’d been. But that hadn’t happened, and she was still actively hiding her presence from him, making it difficult to find her. Darius scowled. Cassandra was going to be in a lot of trouble when his troops finally found her.

  The doors at the end of the throne room burst open, drawing his attention to the fore. Dyara came striding in and stopped at the foot of his throne. She stared up at him.

  “She’s still not back, is she?” Dyara asked.

  Darius scowled. “Who let you in here?”

  “Forget about that and listen.”

  Darius could tell this was going to be a tiresome conversation. Reaching over to a compartment in the side of his throne, he withdrew a flask of living water and took a long sip. The Sprites tingled on his tongue and in the back of his throat, clearing his mind and sharpening his thoughts. Much better, he thought, his eyes half-closing with bliss.

  “Look at you!” Dyara said. “You can’t even function without them, can you? You’ve driven your own daughter away, I can’t stand to be around you—who’s next?”

  Darius waved a hand at her, and she braced herself with the ZPF for a kinetic attack. He arched an eyebrow at her and a wan smile curved his lips. “Someone’s jumpy,” he remarked.

  “Can you blame me? The last time you waved your hand like that, you threw your daughter into a wall.”

  A flash of anger tore through Darius with her accusation. “That was an accident.”

  “An accident?” Dyara blurted. “If that’s so, then why did you justify it afterward? And why was I the first to check on her? Face it, you’ve lost all control over yourself. The Sprites are controlling you now.”

  Darius took another sip from his flask but said nothing.

  Dyara saw that and went on through gritted teeth, “If you don’t wake up and do something now, it’ll be too late. Fight back! You’re not completely gone yet. I know you’re still in there somewhere.”

  Darius gave her a stony look. “Are you done?”

  Dyara gaped at him. “Don’t you have anything to say for yourself? Your daughter is gone! She’s out there somewhere.” Dyara gestured to the walls of windows flanking the long hall-shaped throne room. “She’s lost in an unknown city, on an unknown world. She could be in trouble, or hurt, or abducted by a gang of criminals. The Darius I know would have been out there looking for her all night, but instead, you’re in here brooding and drinking that.”

  “She’s actively hiding her presence from me and the other Revenants,” Darius replied. “If she were in trouble, she’d let us find her.”

  “Not if she’s dead,” Dyara replied.

  “She’s not dead.”

  “How do you know? Or maybe you just don’t care.”

  Darius pointed at the doors. “Get out.”

  “Fine, I’ll go,” Dyara replied, nodding slowly, “but I’m not coming back.”

  Darius shrugged. “Good.”

  Dyara fixed him with an incredulous look. “One day you’re going to wake up and realize that you’ve driven everyone away and you’re all alone. I just hope by then it’s not too late for you to do something about it.”

  Darius watched as she turned and walked away. He took another sip from his flask to clear his head and cool his temper. The doors to the throne room banged shut in Dyara’s wake.

  She was a fool. If she’d stood by him, he would have made her the governor of her own star system—maybe even more than one star system—but now she’d have nothing. Without him, she was a worthless nobody. Hopefully, Cass would learn from her example when his Marines finally found her and brought her back to the palace.

  Chapter 30

  —TWO DAYS LATER—

  A loud knock sounded on the rusted metal door of the warehouse, and all eyes turned to Tanik.

  “You’d better answer that,” Gatticus said.

  “It’s probably another patrol,” Trista added.

  Tanik looked to Cassandra. “Go to the basement, just in case.”

  Cass got up from the aging brown couch where she’d slept for the past three nights. She knew the routine.

  Tanik walked back through the abandoned warehouse to the front door. When they’d first found the place, it hadn’t even had a door. They’d had to fashion one from some old metal sheets that they’d found lying around. They’d had to improvise and scrounge all of their amenities. Trista remained thoroughly unimpressed, calling it a kakhole, but so far they’d managed to elude discovery by Darius’s soldiers. The trouble was that the patrols kept coming, either having forgotten that they’d already checked this warehouse, or having been ordered to search the same places repeatedly.

  More knocking sounded on the door just as Tanik reached it. “We can detect your heat signatures!” a muffled voice said. “Open the door, or we’ll cut it open!”

  Tanik lifted the metal latch on the inside and pulled the door open to a width of a few feet, revealing a full squad of Revenants outside, all of them wearing glossy black plates of armor, but no helmets.

  “You live here?” the squad leader asked. He was a gray-furred Korothian with sharp green eyes.

  Tanik nodded slowly, making his own eyes wide and frightened. He held his hands up, revealing ragged holes in his baggy shirt. He’d found a change of clothes in the warehouse. They smelled like sour milk, but they made him look the part of a homeless drifter. The others had refused to trade their clothes for smelly rags, but it didn’t matter. Only Tanik needed to look the part. No one was actually going to search inside the warehouse. “The moon is falling!” he said in a sudden shout. “It’s falling!”

  The soldier’s hand dropped to the hilt of his sword, and he tried to peer around Tanik. “Is there anyone else in there with you?” he asked.

  Tanik nodded gravely. “The Phantoms.”

  The soldiers looked suddenly alarmed. “There’s Cygnians hiding here with you?”

  “There goes one!” Tanik said, pointing to a giant insect crawling through the dust at the man’s feet. “It’s a baby.”

  “He’s crazy!” one of the other soldiers said, shaking his head.

  “We’re going to have to search the whole place,” another added. “I can detect at least one other person in there.”

  “Probably just another homeless wretch,” said the first.

  The leader glanced back at his squad. “We have our orders.” He turned back to Tanik and nodded. “Step aside.”

  Tanik smiled and shook his head. “Not safe. Phantoms will eat you.”

  “Dumb goff,” the man muttered. “I said step aside!” He drew his sword, and both he and the blade began radiating the pale white glow of a shield.

  Tanik reached into the ZPF and took hold of their minds. In the next instant, they all wore vacant expressions with hollow eyes. He planted a false memory in their heads of having searched the warehouse and found nothing but poor, crazy bums living in squalor, just as they were expecting.

  Before he released their minds, Tanik backed away and shut the door, so that when they came back to their senses they wouldn’t remember him standing there, barring the entrance.

  By the time Tanik returned to the others in the abandoned offices where they’d set up their research and living facilities, Tanik could already sense that the soldiers had moved on. He dropped down onto the brown couch where Cassandra
had been sitting earlier and reached out to her telepathically, telling her that it was safe to come back upstairs.

  “That’s three patrols in as many nights,” Trista said, shaking her head. “They’re not going to give up looking.”

  “Eventually they will,” Tanik replied. “Darius isn’t your average concerned parent.” Cassandra arrived at just that moment, making what Tanik had been about to say awkward, but he went on anyway. She couldn’t afford to be naive if she was going to play her part in Darius’s downfall. “He’s only looking for her because she’s making him look bad by eluding capture, and because it annoys him to be thwarted.”

  Cassandra was leaning against the wall, looking at her feet and picking at her finger nails, as if she hadn’t heard what he’d said.

  “Cass, come sit down,” Tanik said to her. He patted an empty cushion beside him with the stuffing bleeding out of it. “It’s safe now. I sent them away.”

  “I don’t know why you make me go downstairs every time if they never even come inside,” Cassandra complained as she flopped down on the couch beside him.

  Tanik gave her a long-suffering smile. “Because I like to be careful. Some Revenants are stronger than others, and planting false memories is delicate work. I can’t be certain that I’ll always get it right.”

  “I still say we should leave. Look at this place!” Trista threw up her hands in disgust. She was sitting on a rusty, unpadded chair at a lop-sided table that they’d propped up with a loose brick. The walls of the office were badly cracked, paint peeling away in big papery sheets. The overhead lights and equipment were all patched into a solar-charged emergency power cell that Tanik had found in the basement, and the bathroom facilities were buckets. Food and water had to be sourced outside by creative means, all the while dodging Revenant patrols.

  “I’m sure we can do better than this,” Trista went on. “Maybe you can use that mind control power of yours to convince a real laboratory to let us use their facilities. I bet it would make the work go a lot quicker, too. What do you think, Gatticus?” She glanced over her shoulder to where he sat statuesque in front of a glowing black and white holoscreen.