The Circuit: The Complete Saga

by Bruno, Rhett C.

  “We should activate shields and prepare a counterattack.”

  Cassius grinned. “Gaia,” he said, “ready all weapons systems and engage our shields.” He keyed buttons on the arm of his chair, signaling the holoscreen beside it to display the locations of the attacking ships.

  “Yes, captain.”

  Faint noises started reverberating from the core of the ship. They grew louder, like a storm brewing beneath their feet. Then there was a high-pitched whine, and ADIM could perceive a glinting orange film form in front of the viewport.

  According to Cassius, the only other ships with access to electromagnetic plasma shielding were the New Earth cruisers. It was the first time it’d ever been switched on outside of testing. The semitransparent shield wrapped around the entirety of White Hand, a shell of plasma clinging to a magnetic field. The ship trembled as the Lakura missiles splashed against it, an arm of bright flame and shrapnel reaching harmlessly across the viewport before the vacuum beyond squelched it.

  “Shields remain at eighty-six percent capacity,” Gaia said.

  “The attackers have shifted into arrow formation and are heading right for us,” ADIM said. He rose so that Cassius could take his place and control the defense. “This unit will engage them with the Shadow Chariot.”

  Cassius shook his head. “You take control of the White Hand,” he ordered. “Defend us, ADIM.”

  “Yes, Creator. Please strap in.”

  ADIM waited until Cassius was safely restrained in a seat behind him; then he analyzed the local scans. He quickly devised an attack strategy and spread his hand out over the control console at his side.

  All his cognitive processing surged out through the tips of his fingers until the entirety of the White Hand’s systems were under his control. He and the ship became one—members of the same network. He’d done the same with the Tribunal freighters, but they were much simpler constructs. Now he had control over weapons, each of them like one of his limbs.

  He monitored the location of the attackers until they were precisely where he wanted them; then he diverted power to the engines. The White Hand jolted forward, and he had to magnetize his chassis in order to not be thrown back by the sudden acceleration.

  The fighters attempted to split formation, caught off guard by the speed of the White Hand. The walls of the ship shuddered as ADIM fired off a round from the light rail. There was a flash of light across the viewport, and a pale white beam traced across the stars. It tore through one of the fighters, releasing a spray of flames and smoke that was quickly swallowed by space.

  The Ceresians attempted to respond to his ambush in kind, but their flak cannon rounds and missiles sailed futilely beneath the White Hand when ADIM altered its trajectory. The stars beyond the viewport spun as he guided the ship into a vertical corkscrew.

  The maneuver made Cassius wince in pain. ADIM reached out to place his free hand over Cassius’ chest and then made the White Hand come out of the roll. He twisted it around so that it came down upon the slower Ceresian ships from above, spraying them with its bow cannons. One round pierced the cockpit of the fighter, slicing the ship in half so cleanly that there was barely an explosion. The body of the pilot vaporized against the White Hand’s plasmatic shield as it plunged through the debris.

  The last Lakura ship didn’t wait long to turn and flee back toward Ceres, which was a fingernail-sized blob in the distance. ADIM flattened the course of the White Hand and slowed down, providing much-needed relief for his Creator. He then unleashed another salvo of light rail. The white beam lashed out like a spear, and the heat signature of the last remaining fighter went black.

  ADIM promptly returned the White Hand to its former trajectory and then lifted his hand. The union between him and the ship evaporated so that he perceived the universe only through his local processors again. He turned to Cassius, who stared at him, half in awe and half smiling.

  “All fighters have been destroyed,” ADIM said. Another transmission came through before Cassius could say anything.

  “White Hand, this is Zaimur Morastus, son of Zargo Morastus,” a composed voice announced. “You’re causing quite a ruckus out there. You must forgive my friends. I intercepted your message to them and was only just able to convince them to back down. I’m guessing it’s too late for their fighters to receive the orders to pull back, but it’s no matter.”

  There was a short pause and some indistinct bickering in the background before Zaimur continued.

  “My ships are being dispatched from Ceres as we speak, and will escort you peacefully to the private Morastus docks. Your request for a hearing will be honored. Welcome to Ceres Prime.”

  15

  Chapter Fifteen—Sage

  The transport set to carry Sage and Elisha up to the Ascendant powered on. Sage sat in its cabin across from Yavortha. Elisha sat at her side, arms folded grumpily. She was as quiet as she had been since surprising Sage. Two other Tribunal soldiers stood up by the cockpit in front of the pilot.

  “You should strap in,” Yavortha advised Sage.

  She nodded and pulled down her restraints. Then she helped Elisha do the same, though the girl didn’t make it easy on her.

  Sage had resolved to do everything that was asked of her without any protest. It was the only way to make sure that her plans of getting Elisha to safety and then returning home would go smoothly. In her mind, she could already see the sun peeking through the glassy ceiling of Upper New Terrene. She could taste crud on her tongue, feel it tumbling down her throat in soggy lumps. It had her salivating in a way she hadn’t in more years than she could remember.

  The transport lifted off and shot out through the open hangar across Titan’s sallow sky, tearing her from her thoughts. The storm had passed, but as Sage looked out through the viewport at the surface of the moon, she couldn’t believe what she saw.

  Towering construction rigs were set up on top of at least five of Edeoria’s shaft colonies. A gaping blackened gash cut across Titan’s surface, stringing them together. Massive fragments of molten slag were scattered haphazardly all around as if they had rained down from the sky. And lastly, sunken into the rim of the Ksa Crater was the New Earth cruiser Calypso, the lower region of its hull completely torn open.

  “Now you understand what your old friend has done,” Yavortha spat. He gestured toward the sky. Sage followed his finger to see the pale silhouette of the conduit station beyond the atmosphere. It was smaller and more jagged than she remembered, as if it had been cut exactly in half. “Who knows if Titan will ever recover completely without a fully operational conduit station.”

  Cassius… what have you done?

  Like the solar-arks, Sage knew the tremendous stations serving as nodes along the Circuit hadn’t been altered in centuries. Nobody had ever dared risk the survival of humanity. Even during the war, they were considered untouchable.

  People she’d overheard in her life from beyond the Tribune had often spoken about how Cassius was a ruthless killer. She never truly believed it until then.

  “What could drive a man to this?” she asked.

  “I was hoping you could tell me that.” The tone of Yavortha’s voice quickly turned accusatory. Before Sage could react, the butt end of a pistol slammed into her head right on top of her scar.

  The restraints on her seat came undone and she fell forward. The whole world spun. The disorientation was so thorough that she couldn’t move for a short period, her body numb and tingling. Even her artificial arm seized as her nervous system reeled. It was ample time for the other soldiers aboard the transport to heave her onto another seat and bind her arms behind her back with a plasmatic cuff.

  “Now, Agent Volus, you will tell me everything!” Yavortha demanded.

  When her vision returned, all Sage could see was his callous expression hovering right above her. One of the soldiers held his hand over Elisha’s mouth, stifling her screams.

  “What are you doing!?” Sage snarled. The sense of vertig
o was wearing off. She kicked her feet and pulled at the restraints with all her might. They dug into her human wrist, the searing pain of the white-hot plasmatic cuff forcing her to squeeze her eyes shut and scream. The more she struggled, the more it burned.

  “I take no pleasure in this,” Yavortha said, wearing a twisted grin that indicated otherwise. “Benjar asked for me to be gentle in your interrogation. For your years of service and all of that. I’ve never had to break an executor before, though, so I’ll start simply.” He leaned down, glare boring through her. “You must tell me everything you know from your time with Cassius Vale.”

  “I don’t know anything worthwhile!” she protested. As soon as the last word escaped her lips, Yavortha’s fist crashed into her cheek. Her head was already throbbing, and the second blow made her heave, all the veins up her neck bulging as she looked up and howled. The impulse made her arms yank at the plasmatic cuff so hard she could smell the stink of burning flesh and melting polymer.

  “Stop lying to me! We know all about your history with him. What a coincidence that the day he arrives on New Terrene, he magically comes to your aid. Then you come here and he blows up a conduit and half of Edeoria!” He grabbed her by the throat, lifted her head, and then punched her in the stomach. “Tell me the truth, Executor!”

  Sage recovered from the blow and squeezed out, “I didn’t know he was on Mars… His Eminence never told me. I thought it was he who helped me!”

  “Yes. His Eminence hoped you’d come clean about your continued relationship with Vale on your own. However, it seems he had already poisoned your mind. Now, the truth. Tribune Vakari sent you here to meet with Cassius for his own reasons, but why did you really come?” He hit her again. “To help Cassius do this? What else is he planning?”

  He punched her again in the jaw. Her ringing head hung slackly, blood dribbling down her chin.

  “I came…” She wheezed. Tears not of her own volition leaked down her cheeks, adding another sting to her body as they ran over the open wound on her cheek. “I came to save him…”

  “Save him how? You helped him elude Tribune Gressler, didn’t you? You helped him murder her!” Yavortha’s face was red with anger. He wound back again and punched her in the side. Her armor softened the impact a little, but he too wore a suit of strength-augmenting nano-armor.

  “No, I didn’t even know she was dead!” Sage cried out. She could barely feel the fingers of her human hand as the plasmatic cuff continued to slowly boil through her flesh. All she could do was wish that she still had her executor implant so the pain would be dulled.

  “Traitor!” Again, Yavortha hit her in the side, causing her to cough up a glob of blood.

  “No… no…” Sage breathed, struggling to stay conscious.

  Yavortha grasped her jaw and leaned down so that the tip of his nose pressed against hers. “Deny it all you want. I can do this for days if I must. I will make you watch as I peel the flesh off this girl’s bones piece by piece.” He reached out and placed his hand on Elisha’s head. “You think I care for the life of one little Ceresian bitch? I know you wouldn’t want anything to hurt her. Or did you think I didn’t see the promise you made to her father?”

  Sage lunged at him as far as she could before the restraints stopped her. She tried to say something, but all that came out was a hiss. There was no doubt about it any longer. The entire time she was on Ceres Prime, they had been looking through her eyes, and they had seen Elisha in them. They knew the promise she had made to Talon—to a Ceresian. Her whole body began to tremble.

  “Mr. Rayne, Cassius—you keep a long list of our enemies to cavort with,” Yavortha said. “With Tribune Gressler murdered by Cassius, I’m next in line to be named a Tribune. Would you really keep secrets from a Tribune for them?” He wrapped his fingers around Sage’s jaw and forced her to stare at his face. “Stop protecting the heretics. Tell me the truth and the girl will remain unharmed. Your life, unfortunately, isn’t mine to give. Perhaps the Spirit will forgive you for what you’ve done and you’ll be allowed to return to it peacefully. Maybe you’ll even be granted the chance to serve as an Earth Whisperer. You made it so easy for Cassius to make you blind to us, after all.”

  “I am…” Every time she attempted to speak, a sharp pain pulled at her side. It took all the energy she could muster. “An executor… of the Tribune.”

  “You were. I must say that I had my doubts about you, even before His Eminence did. He always had a sweet spot for you, but the way you looked at that piece of Ceresian filth changed what I believe.” He shook his head in disgust. “What a disgrace.”

  He motioned for the soldier restraining Elisha to raise her. The Ceresian girl was too exhausted to keep fighting. Yavortha reached down to his belt, pulled out his pulse-pistol, and aimed it at her head. Elisha’s eyes widened in terror.

  “You were supposed to be the executor to surpass the great Cassius Vale,” Yavortha said. “The protector of New Terrene. Turns out you’re no different at all.”

  Sage felt the rage taking her body over, but somehow she willed herself to exhale slowly and try to think clearly. The implant might have helped, but she’d undertaken her training without it. She knew how to focus through pain; she just had to remind herself. All she had to do was ignore the burning sensation in her wrist.

  Her artificial hand flexed into just the right position so that the wrist-blade built into it shot out. It was long enough to cut into the support of the seat she was on and cause it to topple. As her hands smashed into the floor, she was able to jerk the blade to an angle high enough to allow her to slice one end of the plasmatic cuff in half. It burned the entire side of her human hand on the way off, searing through skin.

  Sage sprang up, snarling like a beast of the ancient world. Yavortha’s eyelids went wide in panic as she swiped at him. The blade caught him across his left eye, knocking him off his feet. Blood sprayed out. She then quickly spun out of the way as one of the other soldiers fired his pulse-rifle at her.

  The rounds shattered the transport’s port-side viewport, causing the entire ship to dip from the pressure change before emergency shutters could seal the opening. Ducking down, Sage ignored the pain in her ribs and twisted her body around to lunge ahead and drive her blade through the shooting soldier’s chest.

  As he collapsed, she took a second to assess the situation. Yavortha rolled across the tilting floor, grabbing his bloody face and moaning as he struggled to get cover behind the wall of the transport’s back cabin. The other soldier remaining released Elisha and came at Sage.

  He swung his rifle, but she deflected the blow, knocking him off balance before she swept his feet out from under him. She went to stab down into him, but Yavortha fired a few blind shots in her direction to stop her.

  Sage dove out of the way, sliding across the floor of the cabin until her aching side smashed against the wall. A bright flash of pain made her see spots. She fought through it as she picked up the gun of the incapacitated soldier and fired back at Yavortha. Once he was forced to take cover, she grasped a stunned Elisha and pulled her to safety.

  “Traitor!” Yavortha bellowed as they exchanged some more shots. One of them zipped past Sage and tore through the seat of the cockpit, clipping the pilot’s arm. The ship abruptly banked hard to the right and dipped. Sage fell into the opposite wall, hugging Elisha to shield her from the impact, which caused the transport’s access hatch to slide open.

  Sage was nearly yanked through it by the substantial shift in pressure, but her artificial hand grasped the rim and squeezed. In the chaos, her human hand lost its grip on Elisha, and Yavortha lunged forward to grab her.

  “Let go of me!” Elisha squealed defiantly.

  Sage went to pull herself forward back onto the ship, but by then the pilot had recovered and leveled the ship out. He then turned so sharply that even with her artificial hand, Sage was flung out into the air along with a soldier’s dead body. The last thing she saw before the thick clouds enveloped h
er was Yavortha’s bloody face glaring down at her as he clutched Elisha under one arm.

  Sage plummeted through the glacial air of Titan. She held her breath as she scrambled to switch on her armor’s built-in helmet. Even seconds of being exposed to Titan’s atmosphere would’ve been enough to leave her lungs frozen. By the time the helmet encased her head, her face was already completely numb.

  Her world went silent. She searched for the other body that had been launched out of the transport. It split the clouds nearby. The atmosphere on the moon was thick and the gravity was low, so the fall was slower than expected, making it easier for her to swim through the air to get close enough to grab it.

  Pulling on the body so that it was beneath her, she positioned herself so that her artificial arm would take the brunt of the impact. It wasn’t long before they crashed into the angled lip of the Ksa Crater. A scratching sensation flared up around the already numbed nerve endings of her shoulder as they skidded down the slope, but her arm held up fine.

  The body beneath her wasn’t so lucky. The soldier’s armor was shredded by the rocky surface, and by the time they slid to a halt, the man’s face was a bloody pulp.

  Sage pushed off and rolled onto her side. She swallowed a glob of blood before taking a deep, ragged breath. Her whole world was turned upside down. All she had done was tell the truth, and for it she had lost the trust of all those she’d sworn to serve. Benjar clearly feared that she was a traitor, but after what happened, there would be no further doubts. By striking his Hand, all the forces on Titan would soon be searching for her. The chances of her returning to the simple life she longed for were slipping away.

  Is this how Cassius felt when he claims they betrayed him? she thought before quickly telling herself, No. She could never do what he’d apparently done.