by Mark Lingane
He threw back the sticky black liquid. He handed the cup back.
Mary raised her arms and started her chant. It sat above the others as a counter melody and wound its way into the listening world.
Gilly closed his eyes and followed the music in his mind. Then the pain gripped him. The darkness came and tore at his body, ripping the flesh from his bones and his very self out of his mind. He screamed at the pain as it threw his body against the barriers of reality. He collapsed to the ground in a combination of trance and fit.
“You should try childbirth,” Mary muttered. “Twice.”
Gilly found himself standing on a dark, gently curving plain. Behind him was a large ravine. To the side was a small hill, and ahead were two pools of water. He shifted from foot to foot, finding his balance on the soft surface.
“I can see you,” he said, although his mouth didn’t move. He twisted his feet into the surface and prepared to run.
The plain started shifting. The geographic features twisted and contorted, sliding up into the black sky and shrinking down in size. The world he had been standing on dissolved into a huge ancient face towering above him. And he fell into the void below. He fell for an eternity before slowing but gently landing back where he had started.
An old lady hobbled out of the shadows. She was wrapped in rags and bent over by age. Her dark skin was withered and wrinkled by the unrelenting forces of the eons. She had an old shawl wrapped around her head, keeping her long curly hair back from her eyes, which were pitch-black.
“Are we both standing on your face?”
“Of course,” replied the old lady.
“No tricks. Can we agree?”
She whispered over his shoulder from behind him. “We cannot agree. It’s all part of the price.”
He turned around to face her. “We need help with the white fella. He’s not gonna make it.”
“That’s your problem.”
“If he doesn’t make it then it’s all our problem.”
“Because of the boy? Does he know the link?”
“I don’t think so. I couldn’t see it in his eyes. Not like with his mother.”
“What about your mother?” The old lady dissolved into the wind and blew over him. Then she rose up out of the sand next to him.
“You know we pay,” he said. “We’re good for it.”
“As we get closer, you still prepare? You don’t want to hide?”
“It’s our responsibility. We promised.”
“But it was so long ago. People, you, can change their minds.”
“We promised to you.”
The old lady vanished. “You promised to yourselves,” came the words on the wind.
“It’s always been the same thing.”
Silence fell over the land. Gilly waited. There was no voice. He was alone.
“Well?” he shouted. His voice disappeared into the great void.
“You need to ask nicely.” Dust blew in on strong eddies, forming briefly as the old lady hung suspended in front of him. She smiled a toothless smile then dissolved again on the wind.
“Will you come, please? We need you,” he pleaded. He found himself forced to his knees. He started to fade from the scene. The world turned dark and the dream drifted away.
Her words caressed his body as they vanished. “No,” she whispered.
Gilly opened his eyes.
Mary was staring down at him. He could see in her eyes she knew. “Drink,” she commanded.
Gilly took the thin white liquid from the black cup, then convulsed uncontrollably for the next hour.
The sun slowly caressed the horizon as the night seeped into the oasis. The circle chanted quietly, the participants finding the balance between the worlds. The stars began to sparkle in the navy sky.
Nikola’s breath was shallow and fading.
Aaron turned to Gilly. “This is it. Do you want to do the heaven chant?”
Nikola stopped breathing.
Gilly nodded. Aaron drew the sheet up over the still form of the great warrior. Gilly sat down, crossing his legs and closed his eyes. He started his chant but was interrupted by a bump from behind.
He opened his eyes. “You said you wouldn’t come.”
“I changed my mind,” replied the old woman.
“What do you chose to give?”
“I will take the poison from him, and give him part of the truth. That’s all I can do. The rest will be his own decision. You all live or die based on his resurrection.”
“No pressure, then?” He gave the old woman a toothy smile.
“I must go, someone calls.”
“Who?” He looked around over his shoulder.
“You, from the future. The last time we meet.” She smiled. “Just before you die.” And she was gone.
60
MELANIE STALKED DOWN the corridor. Gavin stayed close behind her, defending their flanks, on the lookout for any potential threat. He pointed the pistol down each corridor they passed. Several quick turns later and the footsteps had become distant. However, they were lost.
Gavin made a couple of suggestions using his tesla senses, but they were pushing into new territory. The floor had changed from solid white to metal sheeting full of tiny holes. They came into a vast cavern, an eternity of unfathomable darkness beneath them. The spindly handrails offered no resistance or safety.
The darkness intensified as they moved forward. Ahead a dim light appeared, so low it failed to illuminate more than a few feet. As they approached, something became visible in the light. It was a head. They were only a dozen yards away when the head coughed. To Melanie it looked vaguely familiar.
The person turned. The dark hair fell around the familiar face, now enhanced by a cyborg eye. Under the light she could see the shoulders, also mechanical.
The figure smiled at her. “I’m glad you found your way here.”
“Oh, Oliver, they got to you.”
“Oh, no. I got to them.”
“Huh? But you’re the traitor.”
“Traitor is such a defamatory word, and it assumes I was once on your side.” He gave her a thin and leery smile. “I’ve been promised much for the information I could gather. The gifts have been outstanding.”
“But you had no knowledge. You weren’t part of any military meetings.”
“I had an insider.” He turned and pulled a slender young girl out of the shadows. She had her hands tied behind her back and a gag around her head. Tears had reddened her eyes.
“Bindi,” Melanie said. “But she hardly knew anything. She’s nothing more than a pretty plaything.”
“True. But there was also someone else.” He looked back at Melanie.
“Don’t you dare look at me.”
“I wasn’t.”
Gavin stepped out from behind her and went over to stand by Oliver.
“No.” Melanie’s legs shook and she collapsed onto one knee as the blood drained from her face. Her voice danced barely above a whisper. “Please say it wasn’t all just an act. Gavin, tell me you felt something, at some time.”
Gavin shrugged. “We do what we need to do. Look in the mirror and ask yourself, honestly, what I would find to like about you.”
Tears welled in her eyes. “No, this is a lie. You … we … I let you …” Her composure broke and her voice cracked. Tears started to flow down her face and her vision blurred. She didn’t see him raise the finely crafted cyborg weapon.
He fired.
Bindi screamed through her gag, bending over with the effort.
Melanie stood there, stunned, and stepped back, her mouth an oh of horror. She released her weapon and it clattered to the floor. She held her hand to her stomach then brought it up to her face. It was covered in blood. The world slipped sideways and she staggered backward. The room spun and darkness crept in from all sides.
Bindi stood there sobbing uncontrollably.
“It hurts so much,” Melanie whispered and fell back onto the floor. Her h
ead rolled to the side and stared blankly at the wall. One final tear rolled down her face and hung on her chin before letting go and falling into the depths. It fell through the holes in the flooring, and continued on into the darkness below.
Oliver and Gavin watched her collapse.
“We have work to do,” said Oliver.
Sebastian and @summer slowed as they entered the dark cavern. The white floor had given way to metal sheeting full of holes. The walls had fallen away into an open expanse of a cavern and been replaced by the most insubstantial of handrails, nothing more than a metal rope.
“Where are we?” Sebastian whispered. “Did we take a wrong turn?”
“No. The directions must have been wrong. But it’s not possible. We’ve been directed here.”
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
“There’s something below us. Something powerful.” @summer glanced over the edge of the walkway into the impossible depths. “It should be the power grid. But the directions were inaccurate.” She sighed. “I have insufficient information.”
They crept forward, feeling out each step as the darkness wrapped around them.
“There’s a light ahead,” @summer said.
They peered into the darkness until their eyes hurt.
“I think I can see someone,” Sebastian said.
With a destination in sight they increased their pace until they were close enough to confirm the outline. The temperature started to drop. Their breath billowed out in clouds of condensation. @summer shivered.
Now they could see the figure clearly, and a second one behind it.
“Sebastian, welcome home,” said Oliver. “Your family welcomes you.”
“Oliver, what have they done to you?”
“This is my own choosing. I now control the power you can only dream of.” He raised his hands. Electricity was jumping between his metal hands.
“I will retaliate,” Sebastian said.
“We all know your powers are useless here. You’ve been such a disappointment.”
Sebastian could feel the power below. But it was dirty. He could feel the pain already rising in his head, creeping into the rest of his body. “Who is behind you?”
“The bait that would draw you to me.” Oliver brought Bindi forward. She was still tied and barely conscious. “It was a long shot, but I knew if you had any kind of conscience she would be the one who could draw you out.”
“Er, I wasn’t actually here for her. In fact, I didn’t even know she was missing.”
Oliver laughed. “Oh. Well, I didn’t believe I could think any less of you. Today we all learn something new. She has outlived her purpose. She gave us all the information we needed.”
“Bindi was feeding it to you?” His heart sank. He had accused Isaac of leaking the information, but it had been Bindi all along.
“It’s surprising how much information a resourceful young girl can obtain when she thinks she’s in love.”
“You used her.”
“It was for the greater good.”
“Good? You’re killing people everywhere.”
“We’re saving the planet. You’re destroying it. Do you even understand how the Omega twins work? We’re going resolve the conflict and save the planet.”
“At the cost of everyone?”
“No, only you. We’re preparing the way for what’s to come.”
Sebastian looked sideways at @summer. There was a long pause. “Okay, what is to come?”
“The future.”
Sebastian sighed. “Not wanting to get philosophical or anything, but won’t that turn up anyway? See, just like then, when it turned up. Then again right then.”
Oliver put his hands on his hips, threw his head back and laughed.
“What are you,” Sebastian said, “some pantomime villain?”
“We are the heroes.”
“We’ll see about that. It’s been … interesting, but I’m going to save my mother.”
“With your girlfriend?”
“She’s, er, well, er, I’m …”
“Ah, the innocence of the young.” He looked at @summer. “You know she’ll turn. She’ll reconnect to the server and kill you. It’s deep in their programming.”
“Okay, I didn’t understand any of that. But @summer would never hurt me.”
Oliver laughed. “You don’t know much about the fairer sex, do you? They’re born to hurt you. You pour out your heart and they stab you in it. Even your own mother laughed at me.”
“I’m sure she didn’t mean it. It wouldn’t have been personal. She was sick, and when she got better she was a different person. It was so sudden. I never got to say goodbye to her. She was standing right in front of me and she wasn’t the same person. But I’m going to bring her back. We can all be saved.”
“Saved. These are the only ones who can save us. Here there is trust and friendship. They’re not mean to each other, calling each other nasty names. There’s fairness here. The society cares for itself. We just chew others up and spit them out when we’re bored.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way, but how is this going to help?”
“You’ll learn. The sullivans are here.”
“Seen them. Beaten them. They came to the city and we made an easy fight of them.”
“Those weren’t sullivans. They were merely templates, a prototype hardly worthy of the name. This is a sullivan.”
61
OLIVER PRESSED A small black device. There was a loud beep. Then came the sound of footsteps, so heavy that the whole walkway shook, sending a huge knocking vibration. Something huge came forward, blocking out the low light.
Sebastian and @summer looked up, and then up further.
“That’s not good,” Sebastian said. “I admit it’s big, but what’s it going to do on its own?”
“Do you think there’s only one?”
“There’s only one in front of us, and that’s all that matters.”
Sebastian opened his mind and felt the power. It was going to hurt. He drew up the power, held it in his mind then released the electron flow. The power grid below erupted as the electrons flooded up toward him. The power flowed through him and he unleashed it at the huge beast.
A dirty yellow lightning, the thickness of a tree, leapt from his hands and into the body of the sullivan. It writhed in pain. The light became blinding as he poured energy into the beast. He felt the dirty energy ripping at him, clawing at his cells deep within his body. He focused and stepped forward, toward the flailing creature. It convulsed then exploded, leaving only the legs, which fell into the abyss below.
Oliver ran from the power as the cavern fell into darkness.
“Oh @summer, I feel …” Sebastian staggered back and dropped to his knees. “The pain,” he whispered.
“Sebastian,” she held him and shook him. “Please stay with me. We’re in trouble.trouble.”
His vision swam. He felt like blood was pouring out of every part of him. He wiped his hand across his eyes. There was blood on his hands. He collapsed onto his hands and knees. He struggled to stand up, but could only slump back down.
“Sebastian,” @summer repeated. “They’ve come for us.”
He struggled to his feet, breathing heavily, blood dripping from his hands. He shook his hair and blood flew over the plate flooring. @summer grabbed his hand and dragged him back toward the far corridor. The sound of heavy feet boomed behind them.
Sebastian pulled away, signaling that he could run no farther. His head spun and he staggered backward. He turned around to face the huge and heavily modified cyborgs.
“Come and get it,” he croaked.
“You have been apprehended.” A large claw-like hand landed on his shoulder and squeezed. The pain made him cry out and brought him to his knees.
@summer screamed and jumped at the large cyborg. A thunderous arm swung around and knocked her sideways. She fell against the wall like a discarded ragdoll, her eyes closed, her arms an
d legs sprawled.
The cyborg’s dead eyes watched her fall, and he let out a low, dim chuckle. He kicked her unconscious form and noted no reaction. He turned his attention back to Sebastian, who was on his knees with the pain. The cyborg swung him around and leaned forward so they were face to face.
The cyborg wore dark blue armor, with white stripes around his arms. A long series of small plates rolled off the cyborg’s back. He reached around and grabbed the end, and held it in front of him. They clicked into place and formed a long dark blade.
Sebastian fought through the pain and concentrated on what was concealed in his belt. He reached around with his free hand, slowly withdrew the blade, and with what remained of his strength plunged the knife into the soft, unprotected inner thigh of the cyborg. The cyborg let out a high, ear-busting screech. He released his grip on Sebastian’s shoulder and clutched at his injured leg.
Sebastian took his moment. Relief swept through his body and buoyed him for his attack. He twisted around, drove the knife into the gap between the side plates and then kicked around, driving his foot into the back of the cyborg’s knee, which crumpled forward. The cyborg lost balance and toppled over with an almost comical lethargy. The crash echoed down the corridor.
The giant blade clattered across the floor. Sebastian lunged after it and picked it up in one smooth motion, spearing it straight through his attacker’s stomach. The metal went straight through and into the metal of the flooring beneath. A loud alarm emanated from the cyborg as it twitched.
Sebastian ran over to @summer and tried to pick her up, but she was a dead weight. He hauled her up and carried her as best he could. Then came a sound that terrified him—the scraping of metal.
He looked back over his shoulder. The cyborg had ripped the blade partially out through his own body, enough so he could move, and was crawling toward them. His eyes glowed red as he approached. Blood was spraying over the floor and walls.
Sebastian wrestled with @summer, trying to get her over his shoulder. All the while the thunk-scrape-thunk of the cyborg echoed in his head and got closer and closer.
