“Cursed relics!” Nox muttered under his breath.
“Forget about them,” Adan said, “The taline—do you have any left?”
Nox nodded, “Sure, sure, sure—here,” he jabbered, thrusting the pouch into Adan’s hands.
The pouch was awfully light. Adan doubted it had enough taline left to get them through, but he had to try. This was the last door. If they could get in and free Gavin, hopefully he would know how to deal with these assessors. They were still some distance behind. In fact, it looked like the leading assessor had actually stopped to wait for the others to catch up.
Why weren’t they moving any faster?
Out of the corner of his eye, Adan saw Nox pull out another pinion to throw, but for the first time, he hesitated.
Adan searched the room mentally for signs of anyone with a bioseine, but nothing came back. Was Gavin even inside?
He stepped towards the door and heard a click. He looked up just in time to see a small contingency trigger pop out of a panel in the ceiling. White light streaked in every direction and both of them slumped to the floor.
Twenty-Nine
Second Thoughts
Dane walked towards the elevator, measuring each step, trying to compose in his head exactly what he would say to his father. He had arranged the meeting yesterday; it was one of the rare times they would both be off duty at the same time.
As expected, his father was waiting for him. He rose to meet Dane as he entered the room, wrapping him in a warm embrace.
“Greetings, Father,” Dane said.
The dark haired man studied him for a moment. Dane knew those lines in his father’s face better than the lines in his own hands. They were full of worry, and regret.
“You’re troubled,” Malthus said. “I thought as much when I received your message, but I see it’s worse than I imagined.”
“I could open my thoughts and just share them with you directly,” Dane offered.
Malthus waved his hand dismissively. “You know what I think of thought transfer. The only reason I’m part of the Collective is for you, Dane. I have no interest in sophisticated tricks when simple words will do. Besides, you think I don’t know my own son? I know you better than you know yourself, young man.”
Dane nodded, though he knew it wasn’t true. He could read his father well enough to see he had no idea what was going on with him. Dane had changed, but his father refused to see it. He wasn’t the same person he had been growing up, or even the soldier who had fought under his father’s command in the Delegation’s wars. He just didn’t know how to tell him that in a way that would make him understand.
“But there are all these new things—things that don’t make sense…I feel like something’s wrong with me,” Dane said.
Malthus rubbed his chin the way he often did when he was upset. “What has Darius been telling you?”
Dane did not want to upset his father, nor did he want to increase the rift he sensed developing between them, but he had to get this resolved before he went mad or did something he’d regret.
“It’s not what he’s been telling me. It’s the memorant abilities,” Dane said. His father’s jaw stiffened at the mention of the word ‘memorant’, but he went on. “I don’t feel like I should even have them. It doesn’t feel right.”
“I agree,” Malthus snapped. “You shouldn’t have them. But you do. And since Darius thinks we need mind melters to keep the Collective in line, we don’t have much choice. You’ll just have to do what he says.”
“I feel like I’m seeing too much. And I don’t like what I see.”
Malthus shot him an accusatory glance. “Like what?”
“I don’t know if I should really be saying this, actually—”
“You are my son.” Malthus threw his hands up. “We do not keep secrets in this family.”
Dane caught one of his father’s thoughts as it flashed through his mind. I knew this wouldn’t work. I’m losing him all over again.
“You’re not losing me, Father,” Dane said reflexively, giving away the fact that he’d been reading Malthus’ thoughts. He could have pushed further to see what his father meant by the idea of losing him “again”, but he held back. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
Malthus’ eyes widened. “I told you never to read my thoughts,” he bellowed, taking his son by the shoulders.
“I’m sorry, father,” Dane said. “I can’t help it. That’s why I’m so worried. I thought I caught a glimpse of Darius’ thoughts yesterday. When he looked at me the name ‘Nolan’ flashed through his mind. For just a moment, it seemed like that’s who he thought I was. But then the thought vanished and we went on with our lesson. I felt like he was suspicious of me for some reason during the whole time after that, though, like he knew what I had seen.”
Malthus turned his back to his son. His fists clenched and he cursed under his breath. Dane had witnessed his father’s fits of anger before. He knew it was best not to say anything when he got like this. He just had to let the storm blow over.
After a long silence, it looked like the winds had finally died down. Malthus turned back around.
“Everything is going to be all right, Dane. You know that the memorant abilities don’t always show you the truth. I’ll schedule an appointment for you with Cyrith’s staff. They’ll have a look at you and we’ll sort this out.”
And I’ll have a word with Darius, Malthus added privately to himself, though Dane caught that as well.
Dane was about to caution his father not to be too hard with Darius, but he checked himself. He had provoked his father’s wrath once already through the display of his memorant abilities.
At that moment, Darius walked into the room. He was glaring at the two of them with a cold smile, though neither of the two men acknowledged his presence.
“I don’t want to cause any trouble,” Dane went on talking to Malthus as if Darius wasn’t there.
Then, though Malthus’ lips did not move, his voice echoed across the projection from the chronotrace, reverberating in all directions. “Stop the trace,” he ordered. “Darius was never there. Something must have gone wrong.”
The trace of Dane’s conversation disappeared and the Repository returned to normal.
“It must have malfunctioned,” Malthus said. “Perhaps you let it run too long.”
Gavin heard him, but he didn’t answer. His mind was still lost in the chronotrace, trying to determine if indeed there had been a malfunction. He stood in front of the massive sphere he had built next to the celerium core. It was almost a full body-length in diameter and was still spinning. The golden light from the ring between the two halves flooded the room so the locus cube imprisoning Gavin could barely be seen.
Malthus paced outside the cube, walking back and forth between the two somatarchs standing guard there. He had been pacing back and forth between them with the regularity of a metronome throughout the last portion of the trace.
“This is taking far too long,” he muttered under his breath, stamping his foot as he pivoted and marched back towards the other somatarch. The strange shimmering light surrounding him rippled briefly and then faded, like a tiny pebble plopping into still water.
At a gesture from him the two creatures sprang forward, passing through the cube and laying hold of Gavin, whose eyes shot towards Malthus. “How am I supposed to work like this?”
The light from the chronotrace faded and the spinning of the sphere died down.
“I may be a vacant when it comes to technology,” Malthus said, “But I’ve been around mind melters long enough to know when one is trying to deceive me.” The distracting shimmer glinted again.
“Connect to my mind, then. See if I’ve been doing anything beyond what you’ve asked.”
“Bah!” Malthus set his jaw at a stubborn angle. “I don’t need to resort to that worthless mind linking to see you’re stalling. That trace didn’t go back nearly far enough. I need Dane’s memories before they became
corrupted.”
“You saw the trace—” Gavin tried to explain.
“And it failed. The conversation with Dane was accurate up until that part where Darius came in. But that was wrong. He was never there. I am absolutely certain about that.”
“I would caution you when thinking you know exactly what Darius did and did not do,” Gavin said, but then he caught himself. He doubted Malthus knew about the miasma channel, and if he didn’t, it was best not to mention it. Though Malthus was not a memorant, just knowing about the channel could do a great deal of harm.
Malthus searched Gavin’s face. For a moment Gavin feared he might press him on the subject.
“I know Darius was using us,” Malthus said at length. Gavin folded his arms, bracing himself for what would come next. “But this is not about Darius, it’s about the chronotrace. Don’t try and distract me from the fact that it has failed again by changing the subject.”
The tension in Gavin’s shoulders eased. He gave Malthus a deferential nod, as if acknowledging he’d been caught in the sort of subterfuge Malthus was accusing him of.
Malthus placed his hands behind his back imperiously, locking eye on Gavin.
“You only have ten slices left to resolve the issue,” Malthus reminded him. “Even if the device did not malfunction, you could clearly see that Dane’s psyche had already been corrupted with the influx of Nolan’s thoughts at that point. You have to go further back.”
Even with all the improvements he had made, and even with the almost limitless power offered by the celerium core, that what Malthus was asking was impossible. The further back the device went the longer the trace took. It would take at least two more days, most likely three or four, to get back as far as Malthus wanted, but he could not let Malthus know that.
“Of course,” Gavin said, not daring to say more for fear of giving himself away.
“If it were up to me, I would give you all the time in the world,” Malthus said, his voice shifting to a friendly tone. “But this complex is going to be shutting down soon. Things are moving much faster than expected. I’m afraid this is out of my hands now.”
“I understand.”
“You always were a reasonable man.” Malthus opened his mouth to say something more, but stopped. The easy-going expression on his face vanished, replaced by one of concern. His eyes glazed over and Gavin sensed he was connected to whatever system the Developers used to control Manx Core. The shimmering barrier kept Gavin from reading his thoughts, but Malthus’ expression shifted to one of alarm.
He said nothing and Gavin dared not inquire what was happening, but he was certain that the Assessor Primary must be attending to some important matter which required his attention. He often did so during his visits with Gavin.
When at last Malthus came out of his trance, he addressed Gavin once more. “Finish the trace. I’ll be back shortly.” With a stern look, he turned on his heel and walked briskly towards the exit. The alloyed door slid away and Malthus paused at the threshold. “Remember what will happen if you fail, Gavin. I would hate to have to punish the andros for your incompetence.”
He turned and disappeared into the hallway.
Gavin knew he could never make Malthus’ deadline, but with the unexpected appearance of Darius in the trace, perhaps he might not have to.
Thirty
Lessons of a Mentor
The chronotrace spun back to life. The effusive glow gave off no heat, but seeing it warmed Gavin’s heart. There was much that he had to do and little time in which to do it, but for the first time since he had arrived at Manx Core, circumstances seemed to be shifting in his favor.
Gavin glanced at the somatarchs to either side of him. He still was not sure how he was going to deal with them, but he would have to figure that out later. He had to work quickly before Malthus returned.
He closed his eyes and connected to the chronotrace. The somatarchs, along with the rest of the laboratory, melted away, replaced by the scene he had just finished watching. Dane, Malthus, and Darius stood frozen in time. Gavin resumed the trace and the conversation between the father and son resumed. Darius continued to stand, unnoticed, observing them.
Gavin wasn’t interested in what Malthus and Dane had to say anymore. All of his attention was focused on his former mentor: Darius. Gavin had only just gotten the thought-mapping algorithm working yesterday, but he had not had time to use it unsupervised until now.
Focusing in on Darius’ thoughts he saw that he was merely biding his time, watching the two men before him, vaguely amused at their struggles to resolve Dane’s worries and concerns.
This has been an interesting social experiment, Darius mused, but it is clear these sorts of relational structures can only harm the efficiency of the Collective. Malthus’ performance has been slipping due to his constant worries about his son. It may have been a necessary consolation to get him to join us, but the time has come to end this.
Using the miasma channel, Darius took over both their minds at once. The two men froze where they stood, Dane’s mouth agape in mid-sentence. A thrill shot through Gavin’s weary frame. This was what he had been waiting for. He shadowed Darius’ thoughts, studying the means which he used to ransack the minds of Dane and Malthus, absorbing everything his mentor did.
With Malthus, Darius inserted a memory that Nolan had discovered his true identity and rejected that of Dane. It would have happened eventually anyway; Darius was merely accelerating the process. He would have liked to have erased the man’s memory of Dane altogether, but he had learned from experience that slow changes were the ones that took hold best. It might take several iterations to restructure Malthus’ thoughts in the proper manner and he was too valuable to risk destabilizing with a sudden change. He may have been a sentimental old fool when it came to his son, but he was the most brilliant military mind in the Collective.
When it came to Nolan, Darius had no intention of letting him keep anything, not the memories from Dane, and certainly not what he had learned from his time as a Developer. They would have to do a complete mind wipe. As a memorant, Nolan’s mind was much stronger and could withstand the mental trauma better, but this also meant that he would be more difficult to break down. It would require several days of intensive work. Darius briefly entertained the idea of simply killing him, since he had proven so difficult to control, but he quickly rejected it. Killing memorants was inefficient. They were far too valuable a resource, and far too rare. He would just have to work harder at keeping his former mentor under control. He could not afford to allow Nolan’s true personality to resurface.
Darius was not able to expunge Dane’s memories then and there. That would require a remap, and he had several post-flatline Collectives he had to process at that moment. He certainly could not entrust the task to the other memorants. Nolan’s reaping would have to wait for a day or two. For the time being, he walked up to the two men and deactivated them with his zoelith. Then he used the esolace to send for a pair of somatarchs and chromium carts. After giving them their instructions, he walked out of the room, ordering the somatarchs to take Malthus to his quarters where he would awake to grief over the death of his son for the second time in his life. Darius decided it would be best to also erase Dane’s memories from the Repository, lest Malthus stumble upon them at some point and attempt to revisit this failed experiment.
Darius had Dane’s body sent off to the vault. He shuffled down the Annex hallway, barely making a sound, satisfied with what he had accomplished. Being the guardian of humanity was tiresome, thankless work, but he preferred survival to oblivion.
As Darius finished his work, so too did Gavin. By the time the trace ended he had gained the advantage he was looking for. He once again had access to the miasma channel.
Gavin turned to face the somatarchs. The miasma channel allowed him full access to any human mind he could connect to, but it was useless against these vacant creatures. Both of them had zoeliths a their belts, but no other visible weap
ons. Still, he was no match for them physically, he would have to find some other way to get past them. But first he had to escape the locus field surrounding him.
“I’ve found what Malthus is looking for,” he announced, “but I’d like to make a backup of what I recorded first.”
He had no idea just how autonomous this version of somatarch was. When Malthus had been there, he had ordered them to bring Gavin whatever supplies he needed and they had readily complied. Out from under the Assessor Prime’s supervision, Gavin was unsure whether or not they would be quite so helpful.
The somatarchs remained silent.
“If something happens to the chronotrace, we’ll lose all of this information and I don’t think Malthus would appreciate—”
“We cannot help you,” one of them interrupted, its lips barely moving.
Gavin sighed. “Well, couldn’t you at least relay my request to someone in this building who could? All I need is a memory array. There are dozens of them right over there.”
Once again, the somatarchs gave no response.
“What about that assessor who delivered those zoetic isolators two days ago? Could you relay the message to him and see what he says?”
He waited a long time for another response, but never got one. The longer he waited, the more his thoughts turned to what would happen when Malthus came back.
He wondered if even the miasma channel would be able to break through the mysterious shield which seemed to guard Malthus’ thoughts. Gavin had not been able to read them during any of their encounters thus far. He walked over and ran his hands along the top of the chronotrace. For all his abilities as a scientist, and for all the enhancements he had incorporated into his device over the last few days, none of that offered a way out of his prison.
The Chronotrace Sequence- The Complete Box Set Page 61
