by Jacob Whaler
It’s quickly turning into the same tired conversation, and it’s time for Matt to end it.
“Look at you. You have power, more than any other human in the history of the earth. But you live in fear. Fear of me. Fear of all that you stand to lose. Just like Jhata.” Matt thinks about sending an energy pulse through his feet that will turn the building to a pile of ash. But there are too many others here, people misled by Ryzaard, who will be killed while the old man remains unharmed.
“The end of all fear is coming soon.” Ryzaard relaxes his fists.
Matt slowly shakes his head. “Those who reign through power always live in fear.” A sphere of boiling blue fire peels off the tip of his Stone and rises above his head. It flattens into a disc between them.
“Those who reign through power have nothing to fear from the weak.” Another sphere of boiling energy extrudes itself from the Stones on Ryzaard’s chest, shoots out and engulfs Matt’s disc. A grin stretches out his thin lips.
Matt’s disc explodes out in all directions, disintegrating Ryzaard’s ball of energy and leaving a crisp blue line on the walls of the floor at eye level. Everything above that line, every window and beam, every work of art, the roof, all of it collapses into gray sand and leaves Matt and Ryzaard standing in the open air.
Matt turns and runs off the edge of the building.
Ryzaard sinks back down onto his meditation cushion and closes his eyes.
CHAPTER 112
Matt suddenly appears inside the ship and sprints three steps to the cockpit.
A scream jumps out of Jessica’s mouth, and she runs out of Miyazawa’s room. “Matt, where have you—”
“He knows.” Pulling the jax from his pocket, he presses his thumb down on the end. After a faint whistling sound, a green slit glows along its full length. “Good. All tracking signals disabled. This ship just disappeared from Ryzaard’s radar.” He reaches down and brushes the bluescreen on the com. It lights up. “Ship, can you take verbal commands?”
“Affirmative.” A soothing female voice oozes out of the transparent walls.
“Set a new course.” Matt swings his head from side to side, trying to decide where to go. “The Galapagos Islands.”
Jessica grabs his shoulder and spins him around. “What’s going on?”
“Confirmed.” The female voice intones through the ship. “Setting course for the Galapagos Islands with the usual protocols.”
The transport turns. Matt and Jessica lose their balance and lurch against one of the clear outer walls, dropping to the floor together.
“No time to explain.” Matt gets to his feet and pulls Jessica up. “Did she come back?” He runs into Miyazawa’s room.
“Yarah?” Jessica says. “Yes, but she’s disoriented. Something about Ryzaard and running free in the Mesh.”
When he gets into Miyazawa’s room, Yarah is on the floor squirming and crying. Matt kneels by her and lifts her up firmly by the shoulders. “Yarah, I need your help.”
“He’s coming, searching, staring,” she screams. “He knows where I am. He’ll find me. Hurt me. Kill me.” She looks through Matt. “Please, you have to help.”
Matt turns to Jessica, the desperation clear in his face. “Find some straps or rope. Anything you can use to tie Miyazawa to his bed so he can’t move.”
“But why—”
“Do it!” Matt yells and grips his Stone as it burns white hot. His voice drops to a whisper. “Before it’s too late.” Turning back to Yarah, he holds her close as her arms and legs flail. “Please, Yarah. I can’t do this alone.” Pulling a long breath in until it fills his chest, he slowly exhales. As the little girl screams and beats him with her fists, he closes his eyes and drops into her mind.
Ryzaard might have hurt Yarah. There’s only one way to find out. No doubt it will be dangerous in her current condition.
At first, he only senses darkness and the feeling of being held inside a closed box. Then he feels the cold hardness of a Stone in his fingers and brings it close to his face. A tiny glow gathers in its center and spreads out until it lights up a dense jungle of twisting branches and massive dark leaves. He hears the growling of beasts a few meters away.
The ground shifts under his feet. Sparks and lines of purple light burst out of the tip of the Stone. Matt swings it in a narrow circle in front, instantly turning the jungle into smoke and burnt green wood. When the smoke clears, a tunnel opens up in the wall of vegetation.
He bends low to the ground and rushes through as it starts to fill back in behind him. Breaking out into a clearing, he stands in a dark arena walled in by the jungle on every side. Two beasts as large as school buses, each resembling a gigantic praying mantis, charge at each other from opposite ends. Massive compound eyes bulge out on the elongated heads. External ribs run across their abdomens. The thorax is covered with flexible plate armor. When they meet in the middle, the ground shakes and dinosaur rage rends the air. Forearms with scissor-like claws shoot out, tearing skin and cracking bone. Green slime leaks out from the wounds.
It must be some kind of a nightmare Yarah is having.
Matt moves with the Stone poised in his left hand. The two creatures stop and release each other. As their heads swivel on razor thin necks, their insect eyes move through the color spectrum until stopping somewhere between red and orange. Front mandibles opening wide, they turn and charge on parallel paths at Matt.
He stands his ground and raises his hands in a beckoning motion. As they draw close, he crouches in a tight ball. Their clicking jaws pass only inches over his head. For a time, they gaze around in confusion.
“Right here.” Matt stands to his full height. “Come and get me.”
Long rat tails shoot out of their backs and whip the air. Matt tries to move, but they catch him just below the knees and drop him to the ground. Surprisingly nimble, the beasts turn and charge again. Too late getting to his feet, Matt stumbles as the massive jaws brush against his skin. Forelimbs come down hard on his legs, pinning them to the soft mud of the arena floor. Massive eyes flash like reflective mirrors, running through the light spectrum to violet, and the creatures bend close.
The Stone rolls out of Matt’s fingers and goes dark.
“Yarah!” Matt yells. “Don’t do this to me.”
The beasts stare at him for a split second before lunging down, their heads together. Shark-like teeth pierce through his shoulders and upper arms. Pain shoots down his spine like a piston, exploding at the bottom into stinging barbs of torment. His legs go numb. Blackness fills his eyes as one of the creatures draws its claw down the middle of his chest and belly and rips away a large flap of skin.
Without warning, all of it vanishes, leaving Matt on a parched and cracked plain. Sensing warmth pooling under him, he lifts his head.
Blood pours out of an open wound just below his sternum onto the dry dirt.
The Stone lies a few inches from his open palm. He pushes through the searing pain and, with a final effort, stretches out his fingers to grasp it and jumps up out of Yarah’s mind.
“Are you all right?” Jessica is kneeling and cradling Yarah in her arms. The girl breathes easy and nestles her head against Jessica’s body. “I finally got her to settle down and wake up.”
“Thanks, Jess.” Matt leans back against Miyazawa’s bed, breathing hard, and checks his chest. The gashes are gone. “I think Yarah’s OK. And you just saved my life.”
Yarah turns to look at him. “Sorry.”
As Matt rests on the floor, a nagging feeling that he is forgetting something gnaws at his gut.
Then Jessica’s eyes go up to Miyazawa. “I didn’t have time to tie him down.”
It hits Matt with full force. He jumps up and looks at the priest resting on the bed.
Miyazawa’s fingers slowly curl into fists and his eyes flips open. “I’m back.” The priest bounds off the bed and runs for the cockpit.
CHAPTER 113
Matt sprints after Miyazawa and tackles him jus
t before the priest reaches the pilot’s chair. “Help me, Yarah!” They struggle together on the transparent floor.
Jessica runs into the main room. “What’s going on?”
“It’s the implant.” Matt holds onto the Miyazawa’s legs as he fights to get free. “Ryzaard’s taken over his mind.”
Miyazawa manages to turn over so he is facing the ceiling. “Ship!” he yells. “Prepare to—”
“Don’t let him talk!” Matt claws at Miyazawa’s face. “He’ll crash the ship.” Matt’s hand finds Miyazawa’s mouth, forces his fingers between the lips and tries to pull the jaw down so it can’t move.
Turning to the wall, Jessica grabs her pulse rifle and points the barrel squarely down at Miyazawa’s eyes.
Staring up, Miyazawa laughs with Matt’s hand in his mouth. He bites down on the fingers, gets his own hands under Matt and throws him off. Then the priest jumps up, turns and sinks into the pilot’s seat.
“Ship.” Miyazawa touches the bluescreen on the com. “Go to full manual override of all onboard systems.”
“Voiceprint confirmed.” The woman’s soothing voice casts a chill over the transport. “Standing by for instructions.”
Matt rips off his shirt, lunges at Miyazawa from behind and puts the cloth between Miyazawa’s teeth, pulling hard.
The priest’s head snaps back against the headrest.
“How can I help?” Yarah stands on trembling legs behind Matt.
Still pulling on the shirt with both hands, he turns to her. “Ryzaard’s using the implant to control him. We have to get it off.”
Miyazawa’s arms and legs flail in the cockpit seat. For an instant, his body goes limp, and then he reaches up to his mouth, works his fingers under the rag and pulls it away onto his chin.
“Execute kuchinuki maneuver.” Miyazawa yells.
Matt jerks the rag down over the priest’s chin and onto his throat. “Cancel operation!” He pulls the rag back, cutting off Miyazawa’s air supply.
“Conflicting orders invalid.” The woman’s voice is clipped and cold. “Executing maneuver.”
The nose of the ship leans forward and accelerates straight down into a corkscrew dive.
On the ship’s bluescreen, the words Terminate Manual Override—Touch Here scream out at them in large red block letters.
As the priest’s body sinks deep into the cockpit chair from the acceleration, Matt, Jessica and Yarah are thrown across the open room and pinned against the large glass panel at the back. A sickening crunch echoes in Matt’s head as it makes contact. Seconds later, a ringing in his ears pushes the world away. Nausea floods his gut. Inky blackness spreads out behind his eyes. The soothing tones of the ship’s voice filter down through his consciousness like water dripping from a broken faucet in an empty room.
“Terminal impact in ten seconds.”
He tries to reach out to his Stone, but it’s cold and distant.
Next to him, Jessica moves. The barrel of her pulse rifle scrapes against his head. Her elbows gouge him in the ribs just as he hears the crisp sound of the gun pumping. A second later, its discharge makes a distant pop. His next sensation is of crashing to the floor. Then a confusion of loud voices and six more pops of the gun.
He wakes in a haze to Miyazawa’s screaming.
The ship hovers twenty feet from the ocean surface. The priest lies on the floor, his arms and legs motionless but the rest of his body squirming like a headless snake. Blood soaks through neat red holes in his white pajamas above the kneecaps, the biceps and the shoulders. A gag is tied between his teeth and around the back of his head.
“What happened?” Matt rubs his eyes and focuses on Jessica’s face.
“I terminated the manual override.” Jessica points at the bluescreen with the barrel of the pulse rifle. A neat hole pierces its glass surface where the words had appeared just moments ago. “Then I disabled Mr. Ryzaard/Miyazawa.”
The priest turns his head and stares at Matt with dilated eyes, mumbling unintelligible gibberish.
“What did he say?” Matt looks at Yarah.
“I think it was I know where you are.”
“Not for long.” Matt grabs the priest by the ankles and drags him into the adjoining room next to the bed. He looks up at Jessica. “Help me get him onto the bed.”
Jessica picks up his wrists while Matt lifts his legs. The priest twists wildly, but they manage to get him on the bed. Matt flips Miyazawa over onto his stomach. Grabbing some rope, he pulls the arms back and ties them at the wrist. Then he lashes the legs together at the ankles, knees and thighs as the priest screams in agony. They turn him back over. Jessica bends down, rips open his shirt and slaps three fresh derms onto the priest’s chest.
“Now what?” she says.
“Stop the bleeding.” Matt bends down and touches the skin behind Miyazawa’s right ear. “I’m going to remove the implant.”
“Is that really possible?”
Miyazawa roars and shakes his head.
“I don’t know. But we have to try.”
Matt motions to Yarah to come closer and kneels to her level. “Ryzaard may try to kill Miyazawa. Your job is to keep him alive.”
She nods and stands on the left side of the priest with her hands on his neck.
The priest’s body goes into convulsions.
“His heart has stopped.” Jessica stares up at a flat line on the bluescreen. “Blood pressure is plummeting. Oxygen levels are dropping. Vitals are shutting down.”
“No!” Yarah closes her eyes and presses her palms harder against the priest’s neck. “Give him back to me!” She grits her teeth. Her whole body goes rigid with straining muscles.
The blue screen beeps.
“Heart is beating, barely,” Jessica says.
Matt looks down at Yarah. “Good girl. Keep it up. I’m going after the implant.” He takes a deep inhale and touches the tip of his fingers to the blue jewel. Reaching out for his Stone, he finds it, and relaxes into its power. It immediately pulls him into the world behind his eyes.
Yarah hovers there, suspended in dark space, over the body of Miyazawa, her palms on his chest and a look of pain on her face. “I can feel Ryzaard,” she says. “Like a constant pressure. He’s pushing back, trying to kill Miyazawa. If I let go, he’ll die.”
The implant glows like a neon bear claw just behind Miyazawa’s ear. Matt moves closer and presses his fingers against it, feels a sharp pain, and draws back, not sure whether it’s burning hot or icy cold.
“Ryzaard knows what you’re trying to do. I can feel his anger.” Yarah looks up and swallows. “He’s pushing so hard. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to hold on.”
“Just a few more seconds.” Matt says. “It shouldn’t take much to get this out.” He stares at the implant and tries to drop down into its center. Nothing happens. He tries again with the same result. There isn’t time to keep trying, so he drops down into Miyazawa’s flesh a few millimeters away from the implant and looks up at it from below.
What Matt sees surprises him.
It’s like a spider with a large central mass and thousands of long, thin legs spreading out into delicate tendrils, entwining around nerve tissue into the brain and down the spine. As he stares at it, he sees it gradually growing and extending its reach like filaments of black cancer.
He studies one of the branches. It’s composed of the same dark material as the implant itself. He tries to move it, but touching any part of it, no matter how small, results in the same jolts of pain. Floating above one of the tendrils, he follows it along its full length into the center of Miyazawa’s brain. As he reaches the end, its fragile structure is only a few molecules thick. Along the way, it’s become one with the neural network of cells in the brain.
“I can’t hold it much longer.” Yarah’s voice floats down from above through layers of tissue.
Gripping the Stone in one hand, Matt selects a small area and creates a thin energy field around the implant material, ho
ping to find a way to separate it. When he pulls it away, the surrounding tissue collapses into disorganized pulp.
Matt tries it again and again.
Jarred out of his panic by the sound of Yarah’s screaming voice, Matt pulls back out of Miyazawa’s body into floating space next to the little girl.
She looks up in pain. “I can’t stop it. Ryzaard is going to kill him.”
“Yarah, pull back.” Matt slowly raises her hands off the priest. “It’s my turn. You need to rest.” As his hands drop down onto Miyazawa’s chest, he sees blackness around the heart, like a cloud, and tries to push it away. But the blackness stands like a concrete wall that refuses to budge.
A faint laughing sound echoes behind him. “Now, when you need it most, do you understand the meaning of power?”
Yarah appears on the other side of the priest’s body, panic in her voice. “Attack ships. Everywhere.”
Matt’s eyes go to Miyazawa, still floating in a peaceful horizontal position in the darkness of deep space. “I am sorry, friend.” Nodding to Yarah, he releases his hold on the Stone and shoots to the surface, where he finds himself still sitting in a lotus position breathing hard.
Thump, thump, thump.
Jumping to his feet, Matt glances at the bluescreen on the wall above Miyazawa’s bed where a thick flat line appears at the top of a string of vital signs. “Yarah, take a look at the implant. See if you can figure out how to remove it.”
She nods and drops her face to the priest.
“Where are the attack ships?” Matt turns to Jessica.
“Take a look.” Jessica has a white knuckle grip on her pulse rifle.
Matt walks out of the Miyazawa’s room into the center of the open cabin and scans the sky with his eyes, quickly counting ten wasp-like silhouettes. Others are coming into view. Flashes of light break from the black shapes. Half a second later, the transport is rocked by columns of foaming white water rising up from the ocean surface just a few meters below them.
“Better do something quick,” Jessica says. “They’re shooting at us.”
