The Chronotrace Sequence- The Complete Box Set

by D J Edwardson

  Twenty-Nine

  A Silent Conversation

  After the meeting they wound their way through the camp, led by Sparc’s guards. They had been assigned their own private tent, or azanya, and once they arrived there the Waymen departed and left them to themselves. Adan plopped down on some rugs in front of an unlit metal brazier in the center of the room, trying to sort through all he had just heard.

  “These people are not like the Welkin,” Adan thought.

  “Yes, they’re very different.” Will’s mind remained distracted by whatever it was he was still trying to process from the remin fluid, but it opened enough to let a few thoughts through. “But they did save us from the somatarchs. If not, we’d be back at the Institute right now.”

  “That is true, but how safe are we here? Won’t more somatarchs be coming after us?”

  “I doubt the Devs will be able to find us again that quickly. Besides, we’ll be leaving this place tomorrow. And we’ll have the Waymen to protect us from now on.”

  “But who’s going to protect us from the Waymen?” Adan asked, thinking back to their wild cries in the desert and the bloody battle.

  “It will all work out in the end.” Will’s reply came across as a half truth. Adan could sense he was worried about them too.

  Adan took off his garrick, glad to finally be free of it. “Are you sure they won’t just kill us once they’ve got what they want?”

  “You’re right to be afraid of them. They are dangerous. But we can’t take Oasis without them.”

  Will’s thoughts blurred again.

  “So what are we supposed to do next?” Adan asked, groping through the mental fog. He thought the remin fluid was supposed to give them answers, but he had more questions than ever.

  The haze in Will’s mind passed and his thoughts came back into focus.

  “The plan is basically the same one I shared with the Waymen.”

  “You mean all that talk about demons and magic? You’re saying that was real?”

  “To the Waymen, technology is a mystery, a kind of magic. Of course there aren’t any real demons or magic, but that’s the only way their superstitious minds are able to process what they’re going up against. I let my bioseine choose the words that would make it easiest for them to grasp what they’ll be up against,” Will explained.

  “So what about that army you talked about? Who are they?”

  “Somatarchs. Once we get close enough to Oasis, the Devs will send out a contingent of them to deal with us. At least that’s what their security protocol dictates will be the most likely response.”

  “And that’s why we need the Waymen, to fight the somatarchs?”

  “Yes, but as I said in Sparc’s tent, it won’t be easy. The somatarchs in Oasis will be carrying oscillathes. With those weapons, they’ll be virtually unstoppable, no matter how many desert warriors Sparc has recruited. We won’t be able to defeat them until we use the ‘poison’ I mentioned. That is the real key to our plan.”

  The word ‘poison’ reminded Adan that he still had not recovered from his run across the desert. His bioseine sent him an accompanying warning, but he decided to put it off until Will had finished his explanation.

  “So what’s this poison?”

  “It’s a system virus. We’ll distribute it using the viand stream. Since the somatarchs aren’t connected to the stream it won’t affect them, but it will affect the Collective and the Developers. And once they’re gone, the somatarchs won’t be able to act on their own, at least not very intelligently. They’ll eventually stop attacking and we should be able to finish them off or just bypass them altogether.”

  A virus. Adan’s thoughts swirled. His bioseine had no information about any specific viruses, but he grasped enough from Will’s thoughts to understand what one was.

  “And the virus—how does that work? How do we get it into the viand stream?”

  Will hesitated, his thoughts growing dark again. At length they came back, albeit faintly. “You’re not going to like this part. To be honest, I don’t like it either,” he confessed.

  “Tell me.”

  “You’re the one who has to deliver the virus.” Will’s thoughts hovered near the brink, between darkness and light.

  “What? Why?” Adan asked.

  “To deliver the virus you have to get into the Annex. That’s where the Devs control the esolace from. It’s the only place where you’ll have access to the viand stream. And to get you inside there we’ll have to go through the Institute.”

  This thought rippled through Adan’s mind like a fading echo. Just when he thought he was starting to understand what he was supposed to do, the truth eluded him.

  “You’re not going with me?”

  “I can’t. You’re the only one who can make it into the Annex undetected.” Anxiety, mixed with regret, colored Will’s thoughts.

  “Why? Can’t you get in, too? You got me out of the Institute.”

  “Yes, I got you out, but they still knew I was there. I didn’t think they could detect me since I had Developer level privileges, but they did.”

  “I remember—right before I blacked out. Those red dots—the assessors—they were coming after me.”

  Adan tensed, re-living the memory of his escape from Oasis. He could see his room back at the Institute, the arrival of the handler, the hallway bobbing up and down as his paralyzed body dragged itself forward, the gray-robed assessors as they brushed past him. It all came back to him in vivid detail.

  His bioseine flashed another warning into his mind. If he didn’t do something soon, it would be forced to start shutting down his bodily systems.

  “How did you get us out?” Adan asked, looking about the room for some sort of food or medicine that might help his condition, but the dark corners were empty.

  “I was actually with you in the hallway. You couldn't see me because I was controlling you through the extractor. Then for some reason, right before they got to us, they just pulled out. I don’t know why, but I think they let us go on purpose.”

  Adan’s bioseine flashed another warning. He could no longer ignore it. He had to do something quick.

  “That doesn’t make any sense.” Adan picked up the garrick he’d been wearing, digging through the pockets for anything that might help him. Nothing.

  “Whatever happened, it wasn’t you they could see, it was me. And I’m going to get you back in the same way I got you out—in spectrum mode. Since andros aren’t initialized for the esolace, that’s what the scientists use to control them and run their tests. They don’t want anyone knowing about their experiments, so when you’re in spectrum mode you’re basically invisible to anyone on the esolace.”

  Losing control of his body again was not something he was looking forward to.

  “But can’t you use it? You’re a remap, too.”

  A timer appeared in the air in front of Adan with bright red digits. His bioseine was projecting it directly into his vision. Wherever he looked he saw it. It started out at 1:00 and began descending.

  “No. I had my bioseine initialized before I left. When they do that, they disable the ability for you to use spectrum mode. That’s why I had to get you out before they initialized you.”

  “So that’s it? That’s all I have to do, deliver this virus?”

  The numbers flipped to 0:45. He was going to have to tell Will what was going on with his bioseine.

  “There’s more.” Will continued. “We’ll be going in during a flat-line. That’s a maintenance period where the Devs do their equalizing and run checks on their core systems. It’s the only time the virus will work. But if you go inside the Institute during a flat-line without authorization, they’ll detect you before I can enable spectrum mode. The safest way for you to get in is to let yourself be captured by the assessors and go in blank.”

  Adan didn’t know how to sort through what he was being told, but somehow none of it mattered at the moment. The timer was down to 0:30. His bioseine
sent information streaming into his thoughts.

  Electrolyte depletion in effect, muscle cramping imminent, vision malfunction imminent, blood pressure dropping. Immediate hydration required.

  Water. He needed water.

  “I’ll wake you up remotely once you get inside,” Will went on, oblivious to what was going on with Adan. “Spectrum mode only works inside the Institute, but that building adjoins the Annex. I can get you to just outside the Annex. From there you’ll have a set of mental instructions to follow that will tell you what you need to do to insert the virus into the viand stream.”

  The information barely registered in the face of the red numbers flashing in front of his eyes. 0:20.

  “Will, I’m in trouble—” Adan finally began. But as he spoke, another voice sounded outside the tent.

  “Seer, I beg your mercy to enter and attend you. I have brought food for you and your companion.”

  “You may enter,” Will said.

  “Will,” Adan grabbed his arm, but Will was too distracted by the man coming inside. He carried a dented gray disc with what looked like small scraps of tent fabric on top of it. He bowed low before Will and set it at their feet.

  “A plate of our finest kern,” the man said proudly as he rose back up, staring at Will in wide-eyed fascination.

  Just in time, Adan thought, devouring the food with his eyes.

  “Please express to the Reeve our gratitude for his thousand displays of hospitality,” Will said.

  The timer went to 0:12…0:11…0:10. Adan reached out and stuffed some of the strips in his mouth. They were hard to chew and, because of his deadened senses, tasteless. For all he knew they really were tent scraps, but he didn’t care; he had to get something inside him.

  The man gave Adan a curious look, then answered, “I am bid tell you also that the Reeve has commanded your presence once you have finished, great seer. The leaders of the other thrals have gathered in his azanya and are eager to make the acquaintance of the man who will lead them to the eternal city.”

  “Very well. Tell him that once I have had the pleasure of tasting his excellent offerings, I will join him immediately,” Will said.

  The man bowed low several times as he backed out of the tent, never taking his eyes off Will until he was gone.

  The timer flashed 0:05.

  “Something is wrong with me,” Adan’s message blared into Will’s mind and at last he took notice.

  “Let me see.” Will went deep into his mind where the physical and the mental became one and he could get a look at the inner workings of the bioseine itself. He saw the same warnings Adan was seeing.

  0:03…0:02.

  Will’s mind flashed in anger, “Curse the sand! Why didn’t you tell me what was going on? You’re going to need something stronger than kern or even almamenth. I had the Waymen keep some supplies for me in addition to the remin. I have something in there that will help, but I’ll need to go get it.”

  At 0:00 Adan’s knees gave and he sank to the floor. The message, bioseine override engaged, came rushing into his mind.

  Will was at his side in an instant, stuffing another piece of kern into his mouth. “I’ll be right back. Or, if I can’t get away from the Reeves, I’ll send someone with the treatment.” He disappeared through the tent flaps.

  Adan still had some strength left. He fumbled for another scrap of food from the plate, but ended up dumping most of it onto the floor.

  The room began to spin. The corners shifted and moved. The interior no longer looked square. It morphed into a big circular container. He felt like a drink sloshing around inside it. His stomach moved to the rhythm of the tent’s gyrations.

  Black spots popped up in front of him, followed by bright ones and streaks of light. The room went completely black. Then it came back.

  A fresh gust of wind brushed across his face and he thought he heard footsteps.

  “Will?” Adan mumbled.

  A dark figure appeared seemingly out of nowhere. His features were those of a Wayman. He was short and wore a burgundy sash wrapped around the top of his head, but it didn’t cover his face like a kaff.

  “Forgive me for not requesting permission to enter,” the stranger said, “but the seer sent me to tend to you. He said it was an emergency.”

  The man gave a quick bow and set down the bundle he was carrying. Then he set to work unwrapping it without waiting for a reply.

  “What’s that?” Adan asked, his vision blurring again. It looked like the stranger was flickering around the room, jumping from one place to another.

  “It is called solec. It is some of the seer’s healing magic—one of his many wonders. I am one of the few who does not fear to use it. Do not worry. It will soon make you strong again.”

  “Ah…” Adan said, drifting off. He wanted to see what the medicine looked like, but he could no longer keep his eyes open. Something warm oozed over his arm and spread across his skin. This unexpected sensation caused unconsciousness to rush upon him all the more quickly. The warnings from the bioseine were still echoing through his thoughts when exhaustion finally overtook him.

  Thirty

  A Gathering of Thrals

  By the time Adan awoke, night had descended upon the camp. Inside, the brazier let off a dim glow which revealed little more than the rough dimensions of the tent.

  Remembering the medicine and the danger he had been in, Adan connected to his bioseine and found that, not only had the danger passed, but he was in even better condition than when he had started the run through the desert.

  Since it was now safe to do so, he shut off the pain suppression. A welcome stiffness crept back into his limbs. Normally, he might not have even noticed it, but having been numb for so long, every little sensation leapt out at him. The rise and fall of his chest with each breath, the feel of his tongue on his lips—everything was new again. And, most undeniable of all, smoke so pervaded the tent that he could taste it.

  He decided to unwrap his wrist. It was no longer in any pain, but even so, he was astonished to find that the cut from the shiv had disappeared completely. He stared at it for several moments in disbelief, expecting it to reappear somehow, but his wrist looked perfectly normal. He checked the sores on his skin from where the sack had rubbed against the somatarch’s shoulders and saw that they were gone as well.

  Adan was glad to see there was a fresh set of desert gear laid out for him. After he got dressed, he found a new plate of kern and tore through the hardened strips as fast as he could. With his senses fully returned, he found the powerful, spicy taste a bit overwhelming, but not altogether unpleasant.

  Not long after he finished the kern, several figures bearing torches appeared in front of the tent. The flap flew open and Will stepped inside.

  Adan smiled, grateful to see his friend once again.

  “How are you feeling?” Will asked in the Wayman tongue. His eyes looked like he hadn’t gotten much sleep, but he managed a weak smile.

  “Much better.” Adan’s mind vibrated with newfound energy. “That solec does wonders. But I’ve been thinking about your plan. What happens after I deliver the virus?”

  “I’ll have to tell you about that later. We can’t use thought-speech right now. There are several Waymen waiting outside to take us to the gathering of thrals. They’ll think it odd if they don’t hear us talking.”

  Adan nodded. “Okay,” he said, clearing his throat and raising his voice. “Thank you for the medicine.”

  “I could half use some of it myself,” Will said.

  “So…are we going somewhere, then?” Adan asked, feeling awkward knowing that his words were not meant just for Will, but also for the people standing outside.

  “To the great gathering. Sparc, The All-powerful Reeve of Gyre, has honored you by requesting you stand with me at his side as he addresses the throngs.”

  Will pulled back the tent flap and the two of them walked out into the midst of half a dozen Waymen in full desert gear. Each h
ad several pinions strapped to their backs. Three of them held torches as well. At a nod from Will, they started out through the hushed camp. All the tents had gone dark, giving Adan an ominous feeling, like something terrible had happened or was about to.

  Reaching the edge of the camp, they made their way up a long, sandy slope. As they passed over the crest, the terrain below swelled with Waymen spilling out across the desert. Adan had never seen—never even imagined so many people in one place before. There must have been thousands. The crowd completely filled the depression below. Most of those gathered wore their kaffs unfurled about the neck. The light from scattered torches waved in the night winds, casting harsh shadows on their faces.

  Adan’s group made its way towards the center of the gathering. A subdued murmur ran through the host. They passed through the heart of the mob and the men parted before them, but remained packed in close. They bowed low as Will drew near. Wild-eyed expectation gripped their faces. The Vast was usually neither warm nor cold, even at night, but the wall of bodies, combined with the heat of the torches, made the desert air stifling.

  When at last they reached a small clearing in the midst of the throng, Adan felt he could finally breathe freely again. Sparc and Durm stood there with four other Waymen holding pinions. Adan found Durm’s painted face and closed eyes even more unsettling in the flickering torchlight. He and Sparc waited near a large, flat rock.

  As they approached, Sparc raised his three-bladed pole and the crowd went silent.

  “Mighty Reeves and gathered throngs,” Sparc cried out. “The time of the Waymen has finally come!”

  Cheers broke the silence of the night, but Sparc raised his hands for quiet and they quickly died away. He gestured towards Will, “This is the one spoken of in the legends, the one destined to lead us to Tasada.”

  Sparc smiled at the roar of the crowd which followed. He stepped up onto the rock as two of the guards hoisted a large metal cylinder and held it near his mouth. He launched his voice into it with such force that Adan took a few steps back to protect his ears.