But as he stood there, staring at his handiwork, trying to think of a way out, unexpectedly he became aware of the presence of three people with bioseines outside in the hallway.
This was his chance.
Using the miasma channel he closed his eyes and sent his thoughts towards one of them. After a brief moment of fuzziness, he found himself staring through the man’s eyes down the hallway outside his room. He was still some distance from the door, but he wasn’t moving, and neither were the two assessors behind him.
Gavin scrambled to check the security directives which had been issued to the assessors. They had been sent to investigate the presence of foreign entities accessing devices on the Manx Core esolace. They had engaged them briefly on the bridge in the somatarch lab and even made visual contact with one of them, but there were at least two involved and they suspected the other was using a pallium generator to mask his presence.
The assessors were waiting for clearance to do a deep scan, which would involve disconnecting from Com and using unguided visuals to get around the generator. No sooner had Gavin accessed this information than the permission was granted and the hallway shifted focus and Gavin saw things through the man’s natural vision.
Two figures blinked into view in front of the Repository door. Both were wearing desert gear. One was of average height and build and the other short and squat. Gavin recognized them at once. One of them was Nox, the Wayman who had killed Will—and the other was Adan. Gavin’s surge of joy at seeing his friend disappeared the next moment when a contingency trigger on the wall above the door fired and both of them dropped to the floor.
As the other two assessors moved past Gavin’s host, he searched the man’s mind to discover what sorts of weapons he had. Since he was merely a facility guard, all he possessed was a static neutralizer, but that would do. He caught up to the one trailing behind and grabbed him by the shoulder. A short burst from the neutralizer on his wrist shocked the assessor into submission. Before the first man hit the floor, Gavin’s assessor was reaching out towards the second. The man flinched and recoiled, but he was too late. Another quick burst caught him and he went down as well.
Gavin’s host sprinted over towards Adan, arriving just in time to see his eyes flutter open, a look of alarm registering on his face.
“Relax, Adan,” said his assessor, stepping over Nox’s body. “It’s me, Gavin.”
He was surprised to find Adan already up, but he could see the confusion etched on his face. He didn’t understand what was going on.
The assessor sent a reverse field static burst into Nox’s body. “You see,” he said. “I’m on your side.”
He reached down to pull Adan up, but before he could grab his hand, someone landed a vicious blow to the back of the assessor’s head from behind. He collapsed unconscious to the ground, expelling Gavin from his mind.
Thirty-One
Calculated Risks
Adan watched the assessor fall, revealing the figure of Nox standing behind him.
“Nox!” Adan shouted through clenched teeth, “You shouldn’t have done that. That was Gavin.”
“The friend you’re looking for?” Nox asked, dumbfounded. “You could have fooled me. He looked like one of those gray shims that was chasing us just now.”
“Well, he was, but—actually, never mind. Just—don’t attack anybody else unless I tell you to, all right?”
Nox shrugged lightly. “Well, I can’t promise anything. It’s second nature.” Then he started off towards the other two fallen assessors.
“Nox,” Adan called after him. “What are you doing?”
“Don’t boil your kern, I’m just checking,” Nox said. “No harm in being prepared. Don’t tell me these two are friends of yours as well?”
“No, but don’t kill them.”
As Nox walked away, Gavin’s thoughts flashed into Adan’s. “You’re here! How did you find me?”
“With the chronotrace—and some help from some people I met. I’m so glad you’re alive, Gavin.” Through their mental connection he sensed Gavin’s location inside the room. “We need to get through this door and get you out of there.”
“But what about Nox? Is he with you?”
“Yes. Sort of.”
“Okay, well just make sure to keep your distance from him for now. Did you know he’s using a pallium generator? It interferes with certain bioseine connections.”
“Ah, his relic—that’s why I couldn’t sense you before.”
Gavin’s mind whirred for a moment, calculating. “I think I can open the door if I take control of one of these assessors. But you’ll have to use one of their neutralizers to wake them up first.”
“No problem,” Adan answered. “I’ve already got one.”
He hurried over to the closest assessor and told Nox to stand aside. After a brief protest he left off, shuffling towards the other one.
Keeping his distance from Nox, Adan used the neutralizer to jolt the assessor awake.
“What are you doing?” Nox rushed back, in a rage. “Those are our enemies!”
The Wayman flew at the assessor before Adan could react. The assessor flung up his hands in defense.
“Don’t attack, Nox,” the assessor said. At the mention of his name, Nox hesitated. “I’m on your side. I’m here to help you and Adan.”
“Right, and I’m a Welkin’s whistle,” Nox said. He raised a hand to strike the assessor.
“Nox, wait!” Adan yelled.
But Nox swung anyway. Adan’s words must have distracted him, though, because he only landed a glancing blow.
When Gavin’s assessor didn’t fight back, but kept insisting he was a friend, Nox eyed him warily, but allowed him to rise to his feet.
“Now let’s get Gavin out of this room,” Adan said, pointing towards the Repository door.
“What in the Vast are you talking about?” Nox asked, throwing his hands in the air. “I thought he was right here.” He pointed at the assessor.
“No, I’m still inside. I’m just using this man to open the door,” Gavin’s assessor said. “Beware—there are two somatarchs in the room which I have no control over.”
“What language are you speaking?” Nox asked. “If you’re really on our side, could you use words that all of us can understand?”
“What he means is that there are two guards holding Gavin prisoner inside,” Adan explained. “We have to find a way to defeat them.”
“Fighting. Now that I can understand.” Nox scratched his chin. “Hmm, will this help?” he asked, digging around in his garrick until he produced a small black disc.
“A contingency trigger? That’s perfect,” Gavin’s assessor said. “That’s extremely advanced technology for a Wayman.”
“So?” Nox said. “You can use it, right?”
The assessor nodded.
“Are you sure you trust him?” Gavin’s thoughts came back into Adan’s mind.
“No,” Adan answered. “He’s been sent here to kill Malthus. I don’t think he’ll hurt us though unless we get in his way.”
“All right,” Gavin replied, his thoughts moving quickly, “I have an idea, then.” He sent the details of his plan to Adan in a swift deluge of information.
“It seems a bit risky, don’t you think?” Adan asked once the exchange was complete.
“Yes, but we have to hurry or they may send in reinforcements before I can get free.”
“Okay, Nox, you’ll have to give him the trigger,” Adan said.
Nox raised an eyebrow. “You’re sure this will help us get to Malthus?”
“Without me, you have no hope of finding him,” the assessor stated flatly. Nox glanced back and forth between Adan and the assessor several times before handing over the disc.
“You have to attack the guards when we go in,” Adan told Nox as the two of them hung back.
Gavin’s assessor went up to the front door. His eyes went glassy as he accessed it on the quorum channel.
&n
bsp; “The guards will be wearing white robes,” Adan said, moving to the side of the door and motioning for Nox to move to the opposite side.
“Ghosts, eh?” Nox cracked his knuckles. “Been wondering when I’d get another crack at them. You’re sure it will be okay to attack this time? None of them will be your friends in disguise?”
“No,” Adan said. “The ghosts are what you need to focus on. Be careful, though. You’ve fought them before. You know what they are capable of.”
Nox chuckled. “Flesh and blood, fast or slow, it all dies the same.”
Adan took a deep breath, wondering whether even Nox could be so dense as to believe that. Maybe it was just false bravado. Whatever the case, he hoped the Wayman’s recklessness and apparent fearlessness would work to their advantage.
The door opened and Gavin’s gray-robed assessor walked in. Through Adan’s connection to Gavin, he could see what was happening in the room, though he remained hidden around the doorway.
The assessor approached the somatarchs, halting a few steps outside the locus cube. The somatarchs failed to acknowledge his presence in any way.
Beyond them, inside shimmering walls of blue light, Gavin stood in front of a large, dark cylinder and a metallic sphere. He was as motionless and as glassy eyed as the somatarchs.
“I’ve come to move the prisoner,” Gavin’s assessor said. There was a long pause.
“You do not have the authority to override the Assessor Primary’s directives. You may gain this access by utilizing the proper Core protocols,” answered one of the somatarchs, still staring blankly at the wall.
“I see,” the assessor said. “Well, I do know what the protocol requires if I do this—” With that he launched the contingency trigger across the floor towards Gavin. The moment it came into contact with the energy field, a white flash engulfed the room and the locus cube vanished.
“Now, Adan!” Gavin shot him the mental command.
Adan rushed forward, Nox close on his heels. As they ran, Gavin’s assessor dove towards one of the somatarchs. The creature reacted in time to avoid the lumbering attack, but the assessor’s hand managed to get close enough for the white burst from his neutralizer to connect. The shock of the blast rippled through the creature’s body and it staggered to the side. It was not enough to knock it out, but the blast dazed it long enough to allow the assessor to leap on top of it and bring it to the ground.
Whatever slight advantage Gavin’s assessor had gained was erased the next moment when the other somatarch rushed in to help. It grabbed the metal band around the assessor’s wrist before he could raise it for another blast and snapped it clean off.
The neutralizer may have been next to useless, but Gavin’s host had managed to snatch the somatarch’s zoelith. He thrust it towards his prone enemy, but again, the other somatarch reacted too quickly. It pinned the assessor’s arm to the floor with its foot before Gavin’s man could lift it, drawing its own zoelith at the same time.
Gavin’s assessor tried to wriggle his trapped hand loose, but he was not strong enough to overcome the full weight of the somatarch pressing down on it. A moment later, the somatarch’s zoelith slammed into his temple, incapacitating the assessor.
That same moment Nox unslung one of his pinions and hurled it at the white-robed creature with a guttural shout. His cry must have alerted it, or perhaps the creature was just that quick. It ducked and the streaking shaft clanged off the celerium core.
The somatarch on the ground sprang to its feet. Though Nox charged forward with an even more riotous shout, the two creatures appeared not to notice him.
Adan lagged behind. In the aftermath of the Wayman’s cry, he sensed several people with bioseines coming down the hallway outside, but he maintained his focus on Gavin, waiting for his moment.
No longer inside the assessor’s mind, the real Gavin rushed at the somatarchs from behind as Nox charged from the front. The savage Wayman came growling and snorting like he meant to paralyze them with the sheer clamor of his assault.
For a moment it looked as if Nox’s attack would connect. The somatarchs never bothered looking his way, but at the last moment, the one in front tumbled to the side and rose up behind the startled Wayman like it really was a ghost, materializing out of nowhere. The creature delivered a blow between Nox’s shoulder blades, dropping him to the floor.
While the creatures were focused on Nox, Gavin raced towards the contingency trigger near one of their feet. Once again, the somatarch reacted too quickly, tripping him up and knocking him to the ground. It followed this up by plunging its zoelith at Gavin’s forehead. He only just managed to duck in time.
As Gavin fought off the somatarch bearing down on him, he kicked the trigger towards Adan. It skated across the floor where Adan stopped it with his foot.
Though Nox had gone down, he was still conscious and fighting for his life. The somatarch which had struck him had pinned him face down to the floor and was raining down blow after blow upon his back.
Gavin strained to keep the somatarch’s zoelith at bay, but his arms crumpled and the device crashed through his defenses, slamming into his forehead. He toppled to the floor beside the fallen assessor. A moment later, the somatarch attacking Nox landed a blow to his head that knocked him out as well.
A group of five assessors came rushing through the door as Adan picked up the trigger. His fingers jittered across the surface of the black disk as pulses of light appeared beneath them. It only took a moment for him to drag them into the pattern he needed and then the lights faded.
He tossed the disc onto the floor so that it landed in between the two somatarchs. A crackling sound erupted around them and a flash of light engulfed the two creatures, blanketing Nox and Gavin as well.
Thirty-Two
Specks of Debris
Adan did not wait to see if the somatarchs went down. The first of the assessors was only a few steps away. He closed his eyes and reached out towards the man’s mind. It was his first time connecting to someone else’s thoughts using the miasma channel. Gavin had shared the knowledge of how to use it with him in their exchange in the corridor.
Unlike the other times when Adan had attempted to seize control of someone else’s mind, there was only a brief period of disorientation. And instead of chaos and a confused, unfamiliar mental landscape, everything inside the assessor’s mind was perfectly still. His thoughts were frozen, even the subconscious ones. The assessor could not resist Adan or even think at all while Adan was there. In fact, if Adan did not re-engage the assessor’s other bodily systems, the man would soon die. The world for him, both internally and externally, had stopped, and it would not start up again until Adan allowed it to.
Adan was terrified by the absolute power he held over this man and quickly restarted the normal operation of his body. He had little difficulty in controlling his host’s movements. He raised the man’s arm and, with two quick bursts from the neutralizer on his wrist, caught the other four bunched up assessors by surprise and sent them the floor. Adan turned the neutralizer on his host, lancing him in the leg with a static blast. This thrust Adan back inside his own body.
He hurriedly scooped up a zoelith and used it to deactivate the somatarchs. He then pressed the device’s silvery disc onto Gavin’s forehead and waited for it to take effect. Since Nox was close by, he flicked the wrist of his free hand and revived the Wayman with a neutralizer blast.
Nox gave a groan and began to stir. He rolled over on his back, cradling his head like it was a delicate vessel that would shatter to pieces if he dropped it.
“Are you okay?” Adan asked.
“Sharp as a Reeve’s blade,” Nox said, wincing as he wobbled to his feet. Pulling one of his hands from the back of his head, he stared at the blood coating his palms and fingers. “Ah, my favorite color,” he snickered, but the laughter seemed strained even for him. He thrust the same hand into a pouch on his belt and came out with a small metal tin. Flipping the lid, he took out a daub of
greenish almamenth paste and smeared it into his neck.
Still grimacing, he wandered over to one of the fallen men and began rifling through his belongings. He shuffled around, examining each of them in turn and growing more flustered with each search.
“Why don’t these shims carry any weapons? Welkin children are better equipped than these empty shafts.”
“The leaders of this place don’t trust them,” Adan said, “There have been…uprisings in the past.” Though he hadn’t realized it at the time, Adan had absorbed this bit of information from the assessor he had taken control of, and a great deal more besides.
“Well, no wonder we defeated them. An unarmed warrior is like a storm without wind.”
“And yet, they would have beaten us if Gavin had not been here.”
Nox glanced at Gavin’s unconscious figure. “Him? All he did was take a nap. Didn’t even put up much of a fight from the looks of it.”
Adan shook his head. He was about to respond when the floor quivered slightly. Glancing up, he saw the ceiling panels shift like something was crawling beneath the surface. Just as suddenly as it came, the tremor passed.
“Curse Nolan for sending me down here,” Nox exclaimed, “We’ve got to get out—now.”
Adan stared at the zoelith, as if doing so would somehow speed up the process of reviving Gavin, but he just lay there, as immobile as ever.
Another tremor shook the lab. This time, the floor rocked up and down. A few of the ceiling panels came loose and crashed to the floor. Half a dozen cabinets shook open, sending memory arrays and vials of remin fluid tumbling and shattering across the room. Adan cringed, wondering if any of those memories belong to him or Gavin. Would their even be time to search for them once Gavin came to?
The ground heaved upwards and cracked beneath Nox’s feet. It was not a very wide crack, about a finger’s width, but the Wayman scrambled away from it, screaming.
“If we don’t get up to the surface, it won’t matter if that lazy dreamer wakes up or not,” Nox shouted, panic etched across his face.
The Chronotrace Sequence- The Complete Box Set Page 62
