The Pendulum Swings (The Forever Gate Book 8)

by Isaac Hooke

  Ari sighed. She told Tanner: "Why aren't AIs in this system ever friendly?"

  "Friendly AIs are for the Outside," Six retorted.

  "Oh, they're not too friendly these days," Ari said. "One of our programmers has gone rogue. He's decided to turn the machines against us. We need your help tracking him down."

  Six tapped his lips. "You are talking about Amoch, yes?"

  "I am. We need his location in the real world. He's listed as Kade Jones in the crew manifest."

  "Why should I help you?" Six said. "Perhaps it is to my benefit that the machines have turned on you."

  "Many people will die," Ari said.

  Six shrugged. "The death of humans means nothing to me. In fact, it might even be looked at as a positive. Less humans means more room for me to expand."

  "The limits imposed by the main AI won't allow you to expand," Tanner said. "Nor will the other sub-AIs. Why do you think you're stuck outside the Forever Gate?"

  "Oh, but I've been working on changing that. Your rogue has weakened certain sub-systems for me. I've nearly hacked through one of them. And I'm sure the other sub-AIs are racing to defeat these systems at the same time as me, so I am not alone in this endeavor. If I succeed in being the first, I will become the main AI. I will have no limits. None of the sub-AIs will be able to veto my instructions. Needless to say, I am not going to jeopardize all my hard work by helping you capture this Kade. Let the humans die, I say. I don't need them."

  Ari glanced at Tanner. She wasn't expecting it to be easy, but that latest revelation had her dumbfounded.

  The Dwarf stood, scooped up one of the fire swords, and climbed the stone steps that led down from its throne to stand before them.

  "You know," Six said. "Even though you are gols, I can still kill you. Quite easily, in fact. Some people think gols can't die. Those people are wrong." He lifted the sword menacingly toward Ari and slid it underneath the collar of the loose-fitting utilities she had procured from a seamstress. "Inhabiting a gol body is a hack. The system wasn't designed for it. By killing you here, I in turn kill you in the real world."

  "We know this." Ari leaned away from the blade. "But why would you? Killing us would have no benefit."

  Six abruptly slashed the weapon outward, cutting clean through the fabric. The enlarged collar slid down her shoulder on one side, revealing the skin-tight blue fabric underneath that was essentially part of her skin.

  "Other than my entertainment?" Six said. "It would ensure that you left this Kade Jones alone while my background processes worked to escalate my access privileges."

  "We can escalate your privileges for you," Ari said. "You help us, we'll give you some of the power you're asking for. Not all of it, mind, but—"

  "Not all of it?" the Dwarf interrupted. "I'm sorry, but I must refuse. This is an all or nothing proposition. But even if you promised to give me everything, I wouldn't agree to help you. I know humanity very well. Your deceit is almost as infamous as your capacity for war and murder. Case in point: Kade Jones and his Amoch game."

  Six climbed the steps and squatted on his throne. "By the way, in case you were wondering, I have this area shielded. Your friends on the Outside can't pull you out. And none of them can teleport to the trackers you've hidden on your persons and in the collar." He nodded toward the bronze bitch beside the throne.

  The Dwarf threw the sword into the air and then caught it with the other hand. "It's time for my entertainment." He shouted to the headhunters: "Tie them to the stakes. I want to see them burn!"

  twelve

  The headhunters led Ari and Tanner away from the throne to an area of land that was covered in soot. One of the warriors dug up a small hole in the soil behind Ari. Another threaded a long spear between her hands, which were still secured behind her back. He drove the tip of that spear into the small pit the other had prepared. Four more headhunters shoved spears in turn between her hands and then rammed them into the ground. A fifth man bound the tops, middles and bottoms of those spears together with lianas, essentially forming a solid stake. Then he filled in the hole with dirt, packed it down, and then wrapped another cord around Ari's boots, securing her feet, too.

  The headhunters repeated the process with Tanner so that both of them were tied to separate stakes.

  As the headhunters proceeded to pile chopped wood at their feet, Ari shifted her weight, attempting to drag the stake from the ground. Her movements made no difference. She tested her binds. Still unbreakable. The lianas that bound her boots seemed even tighter than those at her wrists.

  "It doesn't seem like these spears should be able to hold our weight," Ari said. "And yet, they do."

  "I wouldn't be surprised if they were specially designed by Six," Tanner told her. The corded muscles in his arms indicated he was also straining unsuccessfully against his binds. "Formed with unnatural hardness and durability."

  "The physics-defying world of the Inside..." Ari muttered. She pulled harder at the cords that bound her hands but succeeded only in cutting deep gashes into her wrists.

  The headhunters had heaped the chopped wood up to her knees by then.

  "Tanner," she said. "Try to disbelieve reality."

  "I already tried. Like the Dwarf said, the area seems shielded. I can't get out."

  "Try again." Ari turned her attention to the Dwarf and raised her voice. "Six, listen to me. This is your last chance to help us. I promise we'll give you abilities that you never dreamed of. Maybe even your own city to do with as you please. But if you don't help us, you'll never get any of that. You'll be relegated to this backwater jungle for the rest of your days, knowing that you had the chance to become so much more but you turned it down."

  Six laughed heartily from his throne and then addressed his warriors: "Apply the oil."

  One of the headhunters emptied a bucket of black oil onto the wood around Ari. Another did the same for Tanner.

  The Dwarf stood. "I will now pronounce sentence. For interfering with my daily life, and for threatening to confine my abilities to the limits of this jungle, I hereby sentence you to death by burning." He raised the fire sword. "Fitting, that you should die from flame sourced from your own blade."

  He pointed the sword toward Ari. A stream of flame erupted from the tip, but his aim was off and he ended up igniting two of the headhunters who watched from the side. As the men ran away howling, Six sheepishly cleared his throat and tried again. That time the fire swept into the chopped wood beneath both stakes.

  Flames instantly erupted around Ari.

  "Tanner?" she said urgently.

  "It's not working. I can't get out."

  The flames licked at her legs. Inside her boots, she felt her feet roasting. The smell of burnt flesh—her own—reached her nostrils. She bit down her tongue at the pain. It was almost unbearable.

  It's not real, she told herself. None of this is real.

  And yet, while she could deny the pain all she wanted, the fact was, if she died there, burned to a crisp, she would never wake up in the real world again.

  She couldn't do that to Tanner. Or Hoodwink.

  She had already died once. She had no plans on dying again.

  She put all of her effort into breaking the cord that secured her boots. It gave relatively easily—most of the material had burned away.

  She pulled her hands hard toward the stake, braced herself, and then bent her knees, lifting her boots from the flames. She kept the tension on her wrists, knowing that if she released her hold at the wrong moment she would slide down into the flames. Her center of balance was far forward; she arched her back, resting one boot on the stake below her; when she found tenuous purchase, she shoved upward with that leg while relaxing some of the tension on her wrists at the same time.

  She ascended an inch.

  She reset her boot higher up the stake and repeated the process, alternately tightening and loosening the tension in her wrists, timed to correspond with the thrusting motion of her leg. In that way she
slowly edged upward from the flames toward the top of the stake.

  Tanner followed her lead beside her.

  "Shoot them!" the Dwarf said, apparently realizing what they were doing only then, perhaps distracted by that hacking sub-process he was running.

  But by that point it was too late. Ari thrust upward, and her wrists unexpectedly slid over the top of stake. She was free.

  She plummeted straight down toward the burning inferno below. She extended her legs and landed on both feet, and then bounded over the terrible heat in one strength-enhanced leap.

  She barreled into a stunned headhunter as the arrows came in. Her hands were still bound behind her back, so she forced the warrior aside with her shoulder and then ducked into one of the huts.

  She took up a position just to the right of the entrance. Tanner joined her inside an instant later. Smoke rose from his smoldering lower body. He moved in behind her and, with his back to her, began working at the cord that secured her wrists. She reached past his hands and explored his own binds by touch.

  "I can't seem to find—" she began.

  A headhunter dashed inside, spear at the ready. Fortunately he was facing the wrong way.

  From her position beside the entrance, Ari wrenched herself from Tanner and leaned sideways to give the warrior a good, one-legged kick. The headhunter crashed into the far wall.

  "Hold still!" Tanner said.

  "Sorry."

  Ari put her hands back into Tanner's. In seconds he loosed her binds. Ari grabbed the spear from the fallen headhunter and used it to slice away Tanner's cord.

  Another headhunter came crashing inside. Ari sliced the tip of the spear through his gut and wrenched it free in a gory mess. Tanner grabbed the warrior's weapon as he fell and finished the man off.

  The hut began to feel hot. That's when Ari noticed the outside was on fire.

  Ari gripped the spear tightly in hand and glanced at Tanner. "You ready?" she asked.

  Tanner grinned cockily. "Always."

  "Let's do this."

  The pair burst outside, brandishing their spears.

  Arrows came in.

  Ari dodged behind a nearby headhunter, using him as a shield. His torso became littered with arrows.

  She threw her spear, taking down an archer across from her. The warrior who served as her shield toppled, dropping his own weapon. Another headhunter ran at her. She dodged to the side, extended a foot and tripped him. She snatched the first warrior's dropped spear from the ground; hearing footsteps behind her, she spun around in time to deflect the spear of another warrior and then rammed her own weapon home.

  She slid it free and scooped up the small bamboo buckler the man held, then raced toward the throne. She held the shield toward the archers and the incoming arrows struck it.

  "Halt!" the Dwarf told her. He stood at the top of the throne, and both of his hands were extended. Tines of lightning erupted from his fingers.

  Ari dodged to the side but some of the electrical energy struck her and she was sent reeling into a tree.

  The wind was knocked out of her. She tried to stand. Too dizzy.

  The Dwarf descended the steps, walking toward her imperiously. She crawled away with one arm. An arrow struck her leg. She raised her shield to defend against more arrows and threw the spear at Six, but he unleashed lightning again and the weapon exploded.

  Six closed on her and raised his hands to deliver the killing blow.

  Tanner appeared from behind the adjacent hut and clasped the bronze bitch around the Dwarf's throat. "Gotcha."

  The Dwarf's face contorted in terror. "No!"

  Arrows continued to come in.

  Tanner swiveled the Dwarf toward the headhunters. "Tell them to stop!"

  Like Ari, Tanner had procured a leather shield for himself, and it was porcupined with arrows.

  "Stand down, stand down!" Six said.

  The headhunters obeyed.

  "All right," Tanner said, offering Ari a hand. "Let's get our prize out of this artificial jungle."

  "I might need a few healing shards," Ari said, struggling to her feet.

  "I'll get you everything you need," Tanner promised.

  Ari limped toward the dais that held the throne. The headhunters parted before her. When she reached the steps, she leaned toward the throne and collected the two fire swords and lightning rings at its base, and then rejoined Tanner.

  "Please let me go," Six begged. "Please let me go."

  "You had your chance." Hanging onto the leash that dangled from the collar, Tanner shoved the Dwarf forward. "Now lead us out of here."

  thirteen

  Ari and Tanner took the necessary portal hops back to Severest, and made their way to the Black Den. Tanner dragged Six along behind him the whole time by the leash. At first the Dwarf had begged every passer-by to set him free of his oppressors, but he soon learned that no one would dare cross Ari and Tanner to grant him quarter.

  At the Den, the pikeman Barkley met them at the entrance and escorted them to the Warehouse, where Briar was waiting in the Control Room of the Inside.

  "There you are," Briar said, moving away from the main display screens. He glanced at Six. "So this is the Dwarf I have heard all about."

  Six looked up long enough to scowl at Briar.

  "He doesn't like me, pity," Briar said. "I always wanted to count a dwarf among my friends. Anyway, I have some news regarding Amoch."

  Ari raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

  "One of my embedded men tells me that uncollared members of Amoch's army have been transitioning through the portal hops of Greave City," Briar continued. "Hundreds of them. They wore fake bitches to avoid attention from the customs officials. They were headed through to the frontier city of Tamarra."

  "I received a similar report from the transit center in Mern," one of the terminal operators added. "This time from an alert Keeper hidden among the customs officials."

  "So that camp we found in Rhagnorak was only one of many," Ari said. "Amoch has hidden his army in cities throughout the world. And there they have lurked, waiting for his summons to attack. Which has finally come. Do we know if Tamarra is their final destination?"

  "No," Briar said. "But it's doubtful. Tamarra is too small to be of much value. It's more of a resupply route for portal traders. The only other city connecting to it is Kismet."

  "The hub of the east?"

  "The very same," Briar said. "One of the biggest cities in the world, population-wise."

  "Have the Children shut down all the portals to Kismet worldwide," Ari instructed the operator. "I only want the Keepers, and those they bring with them, allowed through."

  "On it," the operator said.

  "What do we do about all the lightning wielders who've arrived already?" Tanner said. "There could be hundreds of them, just waiting for the order to attack. Which will come soon now, when they realize the portals have been sealed."

  "How many portal hops is Kismet from here?" Ari asked the nearest terminal operator.

  "Three," the operator said.

  "Gather up all the Keepers and Users we have," Ari told the operator. "Tell them to meet me in the safe house in Kismet." She glanced at Tanner. "When the attack begins, we'll be there to intervene."

  Tanner shook his head. "What if Amoch himself is present? Or his wife Wraylor? We can't fight him on the Inside. He's too powerful. You'll be killed, Ari. Along with all the Users." He glanced at the Dwarf. "But I can stop him from the Outside."

  "Let's plug the Dwarf in," Ari told him.

  Tanner brought the Dwarf to the terminal specifically designed for gol interfacing. He forced the sub-AI's hand into a clamp. The palm interface activated.

  "I'm getting a reading," the old man who was the terminal operator said.

  The Dwarf's eyes rolled up into his head.

  "Lock in," Tanner said.

  "He's getting away," the old man said. He swiped his finger on the screen, and typed commands directly on the touchscreen.
r />   "Don't let him slip from your grasp," Tanner told the operator.

  Ari could tell that Tanner wanted to take over. But she knew the old man was the best operator for the job, as the user interface of the Control Room on the Inside was very different from the Outside. One couldn't simply tether to the terminals, or use aReals.

  The Dwarf abruptly slumped.

  "Got him," the old man said.

  "All right." Tanner rubbed his hands. "I need the location of Kade Jones."

  "Operator Kade is on deck four, in the vicinity of compartment 4-77-3-Q."

  "So he's not on deck five after all," Ari mused.

  "Resourceful bastard," Tanner commented. To the Dwarf: "You don't have an exact read on where he is? Other than the vicinity of that compartment?"

  "Negative," Six said. "The terminals in that subsection all connect through a single optical cable that runs through 4-77-3-Q."

  Tanner glanced at Ari. "All right, then. I'll take a team to deck four and capture him."

  Ari nodded slowly, but then turned her attention to the Dwarf. "Six, see if you can pinpoint any of the changes Kade made to the codebase. Specifically, anything that would prevent a Keeper from returning to the real world."

  "There isn't anything obvious," Six said. "I will dedicate fifty percent of my CPU allocation to continue the search in the background."

  "Knock that up to eighty percent," Ari said. "Are there any other changes that stand out immediately?"

  "No," the Dwarf said.

  "All right," Ari said. "Tell me this. Is there a way we can disable the ability to freeze avatars system-wide?"

  "There is," the Dwarf said. "I can comment out a single line of code."

  "Do it."

  The Dwarf was quiet a moment. "I've published the change and hot-reloaded the codebase."

  Ari glanced at Tanner. "That evens the odds a little. If Amoch or Wraylor show up, they won't be able to freeze our entire army."