The Circuit: The Complete Saga

by Bruno, Rhett C.

  For the first time since becoming an executor, she was finishing a mission for herself.

  10

  Chapter Ten—Talon

  Sage used the wrist-blade built into her artificial arm to saw through the fins of an exhaust vent on the exterior of the Ascendant. Talon watched anxiously.

  “I’ve gotten in this way before,” she said over their comm-link. “They repaired it, but it should only take a few more seconds.”

  Talon took those seconds to study his surroundings. Transport ships were rising from the shaft-hangars of the settlement carved into Fortuna, likely responding to the ADIM-led attack already underway. Sage and Tarsis were perched on the hull of the Ascendant. Nearby, hundreds of androids followed them.

  He’d rarely seen their kind doing anything but standing like tin cans in front of shops and bars on Ceres, repeating the same phrases every time somebody passed by, as if on a loop. Sometimes they acted as muscle, carrying guns and unloading mags toward motion as directed. Nothing effective beyond Morastus intimidation tactics.

  Presently, their pale eye-lenses seemed to be growing a little brighter, and they were crawling across the ship to breach on the opposite side of the hangar with the kind of dexterity he’d only seen in ADIM. Talon was happy they were on his side.

  “Off,” Sage said.

  Talon turned his head and saw the exhaust vent drifting out into space. Sage wasted no time pulling her weightless body inside. He looked to Tarsis. The Vergent’s nostrils were flaring, and against the blackness of space, his veins were as bright as Neptune. They exchanged a nod and then followed Sage onto one of the three most heavily defended ships in the Circuit.

  Talon was glad for all the missions he’d undergone for both Zargo and Zaimur Morastus. His experience with deadly assignments was helping him keep his nerves at bay, though he could still feel his pulse thumping away in his ears.

  “Crawl quickly,” Sage said as she shimmied through the shaft. “This vent is only used in atmosphere. We’ll be let out right in the main hangar.”

  At first it was easy for Talon to follow, but as they got further, the ship’s powerful gravity generators affected them. His limbs grew heavy and sore, but he gritted his teeth and continued pushing.

  Nothing was going to stop him. Not an army of Tribunals, and definitely not the blue death. Tarsis was behind him, groaning with every motion, suit making a racket, but unable to slow down with the androids pushing at his feet.

  Sage turned a corner up ahead. Then she stopped.

  “What’s wrong?” Talon asked, squeezing up for a peek.

  She stared forward, at a suit of white nano-armor that was half-hidden in a gash cut into the side of the shaft adjacent to a grille. Talon had seen her in it enough times to know the gorgeous set belonged to her.

  She’s not lying, Talon realized. There was no reason for her to ever have been in the vent before unless she really was sneaking onto the Ascendant. And as far as he knew, there was no reason for an executor to have to sneak onto a New Earth cruiser like a fugitive unless she was one.

  “You really have been in here before,” Talon stated.

  “I have,” Sage answered.

  “We’ll come back for it.”

  The corners of Sage’s mouth lifted as if she were considering a smile. She didn’t allow it to fully form. “No, we won’t. I can’t wear it anymore,” she decided. “Switch off oxygen now and conserve your supplies. Let’s go get her, Talon.”

  Sage’s metal fingers wrapped around the vent grille, and she heaved herself forward. Talon heard gunshots going off through his helmet. He pushed off with his feet to follow her. When he emerged, she knelt over a patrol of at least six Tribunals, all incapacitated.

  Beyond them, the Ascendant’s main hangar was filled with Tribunal fighters and small transports being refueled and repaired. A line of vacant combat mechs ran down the long wall, cartridges for their rail guns lying on the floor. Talon counted an unexpectedly low number of soldiers. Only a few squads were spread throughout. The rest, Talon assumed, had either been dispatched to defend against ADIM after he’d infiltrated one of the aft galleys, or were still on Fortuna getting some leave time. Enjoying some Ceresian “depraved” luxuries and pretending they hated it.

  Cassius was right. They had been caught completely off guard.

  The soldiers who were present opened fire. Pilots rushed to load into mechs and arm themselves. Sage was able to leap behind the empty chassis of one before she was hit. Talon yanked Tarsis out of the vent and dragged him along behind Sage. The Vergent and his clunky exo-suit moved slower than ever.

  The androids had their own strategy. Under ADIM’s control, they burst into the other end of the hangar like a swarm of locusts on ancient Earth. The first wave absorbed the brunt of the Tribunal defenses; then the second used them as shields. Bullets from their pulse-rifles lashed across the room, bright lines of fire that would’ve left Talon deaf if not for his helmet. Tribunals were cut down by the handful. Alarms blared throughout the hangar.

  The raid had begun. More Tribunal defenders flooded in from every adjacent room to do battle with abominations they’d always assumed were useless.

  How I’d love to see the look on Benjar’s face now, Talon thought.

  “This unit has reached the lower level and is encountering heavy resistance,” ADIM said over the comm-link.

  There was no time for Talon to revel in the bewilderment of his enemies. The inner seal of the main hangar’s airlock was opening for transport ships arriving from Fortuna. Soon, the hangar would be teeming with Tribunals. The androids would have to handle them until they returned with Elisha.

  “Lead the way, Sage,” Talon said.

  They sprinted down the corridors of the Ascendant. Sage was so fast that he and Tarsis could barely keep up. She bolted from corner to corner, shooting anyone in their way with unwavering precision. Talon didn’t even have to keep his rifle aimed. Anyone who she couldn’t knock unconscious with a blow from her artificial arm got a bullet through weak spots in their limbs so they couldn’t walk or shoot—she was extremely efficient.

  Talon would prefer she kill the stuck-up Tribunal pricks, but he wasn’t about to slow her down.

  They reached a stairwell. Talon and Tarsis took the steps, but Sage leapt between the railings. She ducked to avoid bullets that zipped by her head, and jumped when they came near her feet. Talon weaved his way around corpses until he reached the bottom.

  Sage awaited him there, having hardly broken a sweat. Tarsis, on the other hand, struggled to keep up. He held his chest, which was heaving so much it was visible even through his suit.

  “You okay, Tarsis?” Talon asked.

  “Fine…” he wheezed. “Just… tell her to slow down.”

  “Cassius’ android should be on this level,” Sage said. “We’ll proceed with caution now.”

  She took a step into the adjoining corridor. Talon saw a muzzle out of the corner of his eye. He yanked her backward. A bullet screamed by where she’d been, embedding itself into the wall.

  Talon swept around the corner low. The Tribunal reacted fast, bashing his sights down so he only got a shot off at the man’s knee. He dropped his weapon and fell, but grasped Talon’s rifle on the way down.

  They grappled, wrestling over it. The Tribunal was strong, not sick for one, and wearing far more advanced armor that enhanced his muscles. Talon caught a knee to the chest, and the man pushed his gun down so Talon whacked himself in the visor.

  His fingers stretched, losing their grip. But the moment before he was disarmed, a bullet slashed through the Tribunal’s visor, and he collapsed to the side.

  Talon rolled free of the body. “With caution…” He half-chuckled, half-huffed for air. Sage’s artificial arm lifted him to his feet like he weighed nothing. Her eyes were spread wider than he’d ever seen them, gaping at the Tribunal body.

  “About time I get a chance to save you. Let’s move.” Talon patted her shoulder and signa
led ahead. Sage stared a few moments longer as the blood pooled in the Tribunal’s helmet before she finally nodded. Killing one of your own was never easy. Talon knew. He’d done it for Zargo plenty of times. He just had to hope that part of executor training was developing a short memory.

  This time as they pressed onward, they all worked together. Tarsis watched their backs while Sage and Talon exchanged turns checking corners. The passages they traversed were mostly vacant, though they could hear the echoes of firefights elsewhere on the ship caused by the androids.

  “The android is drawing attention away from the brig,” Sage said, her voice as resolute as ever now. She stopped a few feet away from a sealed door. “It’s buried on the inside of this level, behind this door.”

  “The other units have begun pushing back towards the hangar,” ADIM replied over comms. The door obstructing them whooshed open, and ADIM’s red eyes glowed behind it. “The child is in here.”

  Talon tore off his helmet and sprinted forward. The wide corridor he entered had familiar cells along the walls, their entrances sealed by the orangey shimmer of plasmatic shields. The bodies of the Tribunal guards were already strewn across the floor, dead by ADIM’s hand.

  “Elisha!” he called out. “Elisha!”

  Gaunt Ceresians sat in each cell. They jumped to their feet as they noticed intruders, begging for help. Talon ignored them. He knew whom he was searching for.

  “She is here, Talon Rayne,” ADIM said out loud.

  Talon froze.

  “Allow me,” Sage said. She stepped in front of him, extending her artificial arm. The blade built into the wrist slid out with a rasp.

  ADIM extended his hand to stop her. “That is unnecessary.”

  He placed his palm on top of the control panel outside the cell. The tiny lights around his eyes began to spin, and the lights throughout the entire brig flickered. In a few seconds, the cell’s shield powered down, allowing Talon to peer inside.

  Elisha sat against the far wall, her untidy hair bunched up over her eyes. Her arms were so skinny that her elbows bulged, and her skin was stretched tight against her cheekbones. She looked up languidly, and Talon saw her eyes. They were sunken, the youthful glee he’d always seen in them nowhere to be found.

  Talon couldn’t breathe. He tossed his gun aside, ran in, and threw his arms around her. Tears streamed down his face. He pulled her head to his chest and kissed it over and over.

  “You’re… alive…” he stuttered. “By the Ancients, you’re alive!” He extended his arms to get a look at her face. Her lips trembled, but she didn’t say a word. She just continued staring blankly at him. “It’s okay. You don’t need to say anything.”

  “Talon,” Tarsis said. He shook Talon’s shoulder. “Talon, we need to get out of here.”

  “This unit is registering a battalion of Tribunal soldiers approaching our position,” ADIM announced. “The creator has been informed of your need for retrieval. You must leave now.”

  Sage extended her artificial arm. “I can carry her for you, Talon.”

  Talon turned to her. She wasn’t lying, he repeated inwardly over and over. She’d really done all of this just to save his daughter.

  “It’s okay, Sage,” he whispered. “I’ve got her.” It didn’t matter how sore his arms were. He never wanted to let go.

  “What about the others?” Tarsis stepped out of the cell.

  Talon had completely forgotten about them. They were never part of the plan. Cassius’ creation answered the question for them.

  “This unit has calculated the odds of survival,” the android said. “You will need their assistance. The exit is blocked.”

  Again, the lights in the brig blinked before ADIM caused every cell’s shield to power down. Confused prisoners came stumbling out, their legs weakened by atrophy.

  “You were on Eureka, weren’t you?” one of the prisoners asked Talon, his voice hoarse. “You switched off the generator and got my brother off alive.”

  “He was,” Tarsis said when Talon delayed responding. “We can get you all off, but we’ve got to go now.”

  “Don’t need to ask me twice.” The man bent over to pick up one of the loose weapons lying on the floor. “You want to die here, boys, or bring the fight to these Tribunal bastards?”

  “For Lutetia!” the rest of them hollered in response. They followed in the first prisoner’s footsteps, snatching up whatever weapons they could find.

  Talon tried to thank them, but he could only manage to mouth the words. Sage checked the magazine on her gun.

  “This unit must continue carrying out the Creator’s will and commandeer the prototype weapon used against Kalliope,” ADIM said.

  He turned and walked in the opposite direction. Then he stopped next to Talon and touched Elisha’s cheek. “Goodbye, human child Elisha,” he said to her. Talon quickly pulled her away, but ADIM didn’t flinch. “May you prove worthy of the Creator.” In the next instant, the android leapt up into the ship’s air-dispersion system and was gone.

  “Leave him,” Tarsis said. “C’mon, Talon, there’s no time.”

  He handed Talon his helmet, and they exchanged a nod before following Sage and the rest of the prisoners. The door they’d entered the brig through was now closed, and Sage ran up for cover in one of the cells closest to it. Talon and Tarsis followed her in. The rest of the prisoners crowded into other nearby cells. Everyone with a gun poked around the corner.

  “The battalion is waiting through there,” Sage raised her visor and said so that everybody could hear.

  “Is there another way?” Tarsis asked.

  “This is the fastest—” Sage was cut off by a familiar voice announcing through the ship’s speakers.

  “Well done, Sage Volus,” Hand Yavortha said. Just hearing the man caused her cheeks to go pale. “I knew you’d come for the girl eventually, but this? You were trained well. Too bad you’ll never get off this ship. Who would’ve thought you were truly in league with the traitor Cassius and the very abomination that helped him rob our Tribunal freighters, ravage Titan, capture a solar-ark, and murder Her Eminence Nora Gressler! I knew he couldn’t possibly be dead. A shame, I was hoping this was the doing of the Ceresians so I’d have an excuse not to show them mercy.”

  Rob freighters? Talon thought. He realized that he never had found out who was really behind the freighter attacks until then. If Cassius was behind it, then he was the one who got Talon into this entire mess in the first place, and ADIM was there every step of the way.

  Ravage Titan, take down a solar-ark, and kill a Tribune, Talon considered further. How could ADIM be in so many places at once?

  “Like the mercy you showed on Eureka, or to this girl?” Sage snapped in response toward the ceiling. “Like the mercy I hear you showed the innocent mining colony on Kalliope?”

  “We had nothing to do with Kalliope,” Yavortha said, apparently able to hear her through some sort of surveillance. “But I’ll happily clean up the mess your master made. How long will you continue to listen to that man’s lies? I suppose not much longer. It’s time to die, Sage Volus. The Tribune is grateful for your service.”

  The entrance to the brig slid open, and a barrage of pulse-rifle fire accompanied it. Talon jumped behind Sage and wrapped his free arm around Elisha’s head to cover her small ears. It was at that moment he realized the only possible truth. His heart skipped a beat.

  Even now Yavortha denies any responsibility for Kalliope when he should be boasting. And if they had the bomb and were willing to use it, why didn’t they bomb Eureka when we were all inside? End the war in one move?

  It was so obvious that Talon thought he was going to be sick. The reason ADIM saved Elisha was to have proof that his creator couldn’t have possibly been behind Kalliope. It was just like in a game of cards. ADIM was the hand on primary display, drawing everyone’s gaze while Cassius pulled strings from under the table. Exactly like how he faked his death.

  They’d been told ADIM
was on the Ascendant to retrieve a weapon, but it was a weapon that only Cassius would create. No other faction would dare waste gravitum on a bomb meant to destroy a working settlement from the inside out. He had it the whole time. Sleight of hand.

  Cassius had stolen Tribunal freighters first and let Ceres take the blame, and then a solar-ark to punish the Tribune for what happened to Kalliope. All those ships were filled with gravitum. Tons of it.

  The Tribune didn’t start this war, Talon thought. He did. Cassius Vale destroyed Kalliope. Cassius Vale killed Julius.

  11

  Chapter Eleven—Adim

  With the human child sprung from her cell, ADIM had other matters to attend to. His Creator wanted the Ascendant crippled, and that was exactly what he planned to do. He’d uploaded the schematics of the ship when he’d synced himself with the controls of the brig. Unfortunately, the New Earth cruiser was run by multiple split systems, so he couldn’t perform his task unless he accessed the central computer located on the command deck. There wasn’t much time either.

  With Tribunal reinforcements from Fortuna arriving, the android army he controlled in the main hangar was being repelled. It didn’t help that he’d had to divert a segment of them to provide aid for Sage and the others in the brig. He knew Cassius wanted her to get out alive, even if ADIM himself wasn’t sure that was wise.

  While operating the other androids, his main body headed back to the breach in the aft hull of the ship. He heaved himself out of the shredded maw into space. The Shadow Chariot clung to the side of the Ascendant just outside.

  Traveling through the ship was a shorter distance, but he’d estimated that the number of defenders between himself and his destination would slow him down more. So he magnetized his chassis and started clambering along the ship’s smooth hull. There was one-point-three kilometers between him and the viewport of the Ascendant’s command deck. A long enough trek for him to shift ninety percent of his processing power over to the androids so that they might last longer.