by Mark Lingane
Lights flared with the impact, blinding Sebastian. He didn’t see the second blade coming. Pain burned through him as the short sword sank into his waist. The Master ripped out the sword and stabbed it into him again.
“Another Niels invention,” the Master muttered. “I’ll miss the fool.” He smashed down with the black blade, shattering Sebastian’s sword and spearing into his chest.
Sebastian dropped to his knees as blood flowed from his wounds. The Master raised the sword to finish him.
Memphis screamed again. She jumped onto the Master’s back and wrapped her arms around his neck. He tried to shake her free, but her legs were locked around his waist. He wrenched her feet apart, twisted and grabbed her by the hair, and ripped her off his back. She landed heavily on the ground, winded. He drove the sword through her stomach and then ripped it out again. She screamed in pain.
Sebastian reached for her, but she screamed at him to stay back. She rolled into a ball as the Master raised his sword for the final blow. The explosive she had dropped down the Master’s neck protector detonated. His armor cracked and he was thrown forward. He lay in a crumpled heap.
Sebastian crawled over to Memphis, who had stretched back out and was staring at the sky.
In the temple, a sturdy but charred hand whacked onto the steel bar under the gangway. The body below started to swing.
White king takes queen.
“If you can change the world, if you can save us all, then you have to do it, Sebastian.” Memphis reached up to him with hands that were covered in blood. “The rest of us will watch. Some will make stupid comments in the footnotes of the story, but the rest of us will help you where we can. We know our place in this world is nothing more than a brief respite from an angry civilization. But at least that’s something, isn’t it?”
Sebastian knelt beside her. “It’s more than you can possibly realize.”
“We are what we are. We must be all we can be. That’s what my mother said. I’m sorry I betrayed you. I’m sorry I wasn’t a better person. I’m sorry I didn’t meet you before everything went wrong. I’m so, so sorry.”
She hiccupped, and her breathing became quick and staccato. “Please, hold me,” she managed to say between breaths.
She cried out as he took her into his arms. Blood was pouring out of her stomach. Sweat was streaming off her face. He leaned her forward and rested her head against his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her and she wrapped her arms around his neck. She looked up into his eyes.
“You don’t know how much I’ve wanted to do this. It hurt every time I saw you with @summer. How I wanted to be her. I’m sorry for what I did. Please forgive me. Sebastian, you have to protect @summer. I’ve done something horrible.”
Every time he moved, she winced in pain. White flakes started to fall from the sky and settle around them. She raised her hands and smiled as they drifted over her.
Tears rolled down his face. “I’m sorry, Memphis. You were never meant to be involved. You were never meant to be hurt.”
She lay back, smiling up at the sky, reaching up. “Mom …” she whispered. Her hands fell down and her head rolled to the side. Her eyes stared straight ahead, straight at Sebastian. Her fingers twitched, reaching for him, then were still.
He ran his hand down over her eyes, closing them. There was a moment of peace, and a butterfly floated by, then was lost in the fluttering flakes. Sebastian watched it distractedly as his mind spun with the loss of Memphis.
There was a groan behind him. The Master raised himself up onto his hands and knees, and picked up his sword. His armor had buckled, and electricity crawled over the black and scarred surface. “Will you surrender now,” he said, “or do I have to kill you as well?”
Sebastian stood up. “I told you before.”
He lowered his head and concentrated. His sword glowed as it reformed and then sprang up into his hand. Metal floated up out of the ground and into his wounds. He roared and charged at the Master. The Master parried the blows that rained down on him.
The cannon continued to fire its death beam, booming over the two fighters, obliterating the legions of soldiers and infected, and ripping the dragons apart.
Exhaustion rolled over Sebastian. He fought against the black that rolled in over his vision, but finally succumbed. He dropped his sword and fell to his knees. The black sword refused to break and the Master refused to die.
King takes king. Checkmate.
Sebastian collapsed to his knees with his head bowed. His body swayed, exhausted and battered. The Master raised his sword, staggering back and forth, and held the point of the blade inches from Sebastian’s face.
“It was a good fight, boy, and you could’ve been useful to me, but not in this lifetime.” He shifted his grip for the final killing thrust. He arched his back and raised his arms. The sword dropped from his hands and tumbled to the ground. Nikola thrust harder. He drove the sword through the hole in the Master’s armor, and then collapsed to the ground.
The Master turned and looked down at the now defenseless Nikola. Then he found himself rising from the ground. He twisted in the air and came face to face with Sebastian.
Sebastian threw his hands wide, and electricity sparked over his body. Metal flakes floated up and crawled into him. “On the dark side of being a tesla lives the faraday,” he said. “I’m tired of being merciful to people like you.”
He threw his hands up in the air and glared at the floating figure. His eyes turned white and glowed with a deep intensity. The Master’s armor buckled and twisted. A bright white light emanated out from the joints of the armor. The light grew brighter and more intense until it became a great ball of painful light. Sebastian brought his hands forward. A beam erupted from his palms and smashed into the Master. There was an implosion. All sound was sucked away, and all that was left was an eternity of light and pain. Shards of metal floated down and settled on the ground. They briefly glowed, then vanished.
“And never return.”
Sebastian staggered forward. His head was spinning and his vision was red. He wiped an arm across his eyes. Blood was pouring from them. The wounds in his leg and arm were severe. He tried to walk, but collapsed to the ground.
@summer didn’t know who she was fighting anymore. There were bodies, people, and creatures everywhere. None of it had any meaning. All she knew was that she had to fight. She had to find Sebastian, and anyone who got in her way was an enemy. Her levels dropped lower and lower.
Nikola looked over his shoulder at the roaring lightning storm of the Time Flare.
“We won,” he whispered. “Do you need to go?”
Sebastian nodded. He looked around at the devastation. “There’s not a lot left.”
“But you don’t know what’ll happen.” He reached forward with a trembling hand and touched Sebastian. “Please, don’t go, my so…” Nikola stared ahead into nothing.
Sebastian sat back and stared at the devastation. The ruins of the world were all around him, and all he felt was empty. In a world of darkness, he was the infinite void. Every part of his past was stripped away. He couldn’t see anyone alive. The whole world seemed dead, apart from the occasional thrashing infected.
He staggered to his feet, stumbling several times. He had to find @summer.
84
THE CANNON SWUNG around. The humming fell through the octaves and it fired. The deep red beam hit Sebastian directly in the back. A ball of blue light exploded, and the entire battlefield went white. The ground started to shake even more violently, and the few remaining living struggled to stay on their feet. When normal light returned, the cannon was gone, but a bright loop could be seen in the center of the Time Flare.
“No!” @summer screamed when she saw Sebastian’s body half buried in the mud. She coughed, and blood flowed out of her mouth. She looked down at the knife sticking out of her stomach.
Frank, her attacker from the camp, appeared in front of her. “Faker,” he said.
&nb
sp; She fired. He fired back, and her chest burned as the bullets pierced her. She started to run toward Sebastian. The shaking ground made her steps falter, and Frank tackled her to the ground. She tried to swing a punch, but the suit was too slow to react, and he ducked out of the way easily.
“Putting up a fight to the end. Almost touching.”
Various possibilities flicked through her mind. The medipack on her back buzzed and flickered as it computed her levels.
Frank raised the gun to her head. He pulled back the hammer. “A message to you from my girlfriend.”
The medipack pinged. A needle injected into her neck. She screamed. She stood up, and the exosuit fell to the ground. With lightning reflexes, she pushed the gun up into Frank’s jaw as he fired. His head spread up into the air and his body fell to the ground. The last light on @summer’s back went out.
Her skin was gray. Her cyborg components were leaking a dark red fluid. She saw the beaten and damaged body of Sebastian on the ground. She had come to do one thing, and she’d been unable to do it. Her heart broke with her failure.
She struggled forward. Parts of her whirred and clicked. The light in one eye died, and pain stabbed through her. She fell forward onto one knee in the mud, reaching out to him. Her legs failed. She dragged herself over the broken metal, glass, and blood that covered the ground until she was next to him. She ran a mediscan over him. There was no pulse. No movement. No breath. No life. The medipack died, leaving her alone above the broken man.
She had one power source left. She unclipped her suit, freeing the wiring that held the charger to her heart. She looked into Sebastian’s eyes and kissed him one last time. She gripped the charger in her chest and ripped it out, screaming with pain, spraying blood over him. Her eyes rolled back, and she stabbed the prongs of the charger into Sebastian’s chest. The discharged electricity found its way into his dead heart.
But he did not wake.
She collapsed onto his body. She looked with blank eyes into his face.
The sky growled and the earth shook itself to pieces.
Sebastian gasped for air as his lungs flared. He clutched at his body, rolling in the deepness of the pain, and was confronted by @summer’s mutilated body. He sat up. His hands were shaking, not knowing where to hold her. He rolled her over. Her lips were moving silently.
“Nononono, please no,” he pleaded. “We’re so close. It’s just there.” He pointed to the roaring Time Flare and the ghostly figures hovering within the heavy gravitational field, watching as the universe streamed past at lightning speed. “I can fix everything. But I need you. I need something worth saving.”
@summer’s mind slowed and began to fade. Her world cracked and her heart broke. Inside unrolled the words …
I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed. I have failed …
He pulled the electrical charge from the ground and thrust it into her chest. She arched her back, then flattened herself on the ground, not moving. He pulled the power again and ran it through her. Her back arched again, and for a moment, her eyes flickered with life.
“… you,” she said. Then her eyes went dark.
He sat back, clenched his fists, and roared. The air shimmered around him as the power exploded out. Buildings near him started to crumble, pulled to the ground as their electrons were drained. Reality swirled as he twisted the electromagnetic fields of the earth around him, and the air erupted into flames. His metal arm fell away and his skin started to burn. He sagged forward and rested his head on the lifeless body of @summer.
He wiped the tears from his eyes and looked around. Nothing stood on the eternal plain of desolation except the dancing light of the Time Flare, still roaring and destroying anything that came close. The world lay to waste and ruin.
He stood up. His emptiness was complete. He knew he no longer cared. There was nothing to care for. So there was only one thing left for him to do. It had come down to do or die. Probably both, he thought. He ran into the blaze.
He hit the energy wall and his movements slowed to the speed of treacle. He fought past the decaying gray watchers trapped between death and their own morbid curiosity. He felt the draw from behind him, the crumbling of a universe. It was too great to ignore. He glanced over his shoulder. Less than a few steps behind him stood an old woman.
“I know you,” he said. “The mysterious witch from the desert plains back in Australia. You warned me then. You were also on the death plains, throwing the sand.”
The old woman nodded.
“You wrapped around me when I had to probe the nuclear bomb. You’ve been in so many places in my journey across America. Are you a spirit?”
She shrugged. She lowered her head and placed her hands on her face. She swept them back and the years fell away from her.
Sebastian stared. “It was you. Always.”
“I promised. I said I’d always be one step behind,” she said.
“You came through time for me?”
“No! You’ve been keeping me. That not overly fast but utterly adorable mind of yours has kept the energy following, keeping me half ghost, half infected. Thanks for that.”
Melanie was Melanie, even when she was dead.
“The pain in my head. That was the power draining out to keep you.”
“Didn’t I just mention the bit about you not being overly fast? But it all ends now, Sebastian. You can’t step into the light with me in your head.”
“But who will protect me? You promised.”
She burst out with a sound that was halfway between sob and laugh. “Look at you. You’re the size of a house. That’s a promise you have to make to yourself now. I can’t promise anymore.”
Sebastian looked at his friend, the girl he’d found in a cave with enough rage to power a sun, beautiful and fierce for every single second of her life. She had stayed true to herself, and never more than right now.
He wiped away the tears. “I’m not having a good day. Nothing makes any sense. How is this possible?”
“Your desires are heightened when you’re infected. And there’s no desire stronger or more permanent than love. But it doesn’t matter anymore. To do what you have to do, you must let me go. You can’t give it your full concentration while you’re keeping me.”
“But if I’ve been part of you, then you’ve been part of me. If you go, a part of me will die with you.”
“Welcome to life and love. At least you’ve learned something along the way.” There were tears in her eyes.
Sebastian glanced at the power of the universe roaring behind him. “You said you wanted us to grow old together. Will one hundred billion years do?”
“Barely.” She stepped toward him and reached for his hands.
“But I’m scared,” he said.
“You need to believe, and find what lies beyond.”
He looked at the imploding black hole and said nothing.
“Try and do something right,” she said. “Close your eyes and bel
ieve. It’s an infinite universe. Anything can happen.” She kissed him gently as her body stripped away, as her light turned to shadow, as the sun grew and died, as the stars faded out and darkness claimed existence. And he was left with the burning memory.
“I am the Omega. I am the Alpha. I am Number One.”
He walked toward the light, dragging his feet. He glanced over his shoulder. He imagined that the figure of Melanie lay next to the fallen body of @summer, these two creatures who made up his memories of the past and future, who had guided—or haunted—him through his life. He imagined them standing together and waving goodbye.
He turned back, overwhelmed by his emotion, and understanding there were things he had to do.
He pulled the energy up out of the ground to protect him as he walked on, the ground turning to black dust as the charge was ripped from the atoms of the earth. He stared into the Time Flare, and sent the message back about him and Melanie dying. He sent back the Iris instructions intended to keep him safe.
He felt sorry, because in the time loop of his life, his younger self had a horrible existence to look forward to. He felt the Time Flare try to grip him. He walked past the gray surfers looking out and watching the universe die around them. He kept the power in balance, feeling the electromagnetic waves ripping at him, stripping away the flesh and muscles.
He walked on. He could feel the gravity. He reached out toward the light. He let his mind wander. He only had one chance. He searched for traces of reality reflected in the shadows.
The Time Flare arced around him, forming a cage. He touched the light and stepped into it. He contracted his mind and let go of everything. His body discharged, his essence was ripped apart, and he became one with the light.
The Time Flare twisted and tore itself to pieces. It blinked out of existence and all was quiet. The world crumbled and fell apart. The molecules spiraled off into space, their energy spent, gravity gone. Death rolled out, engulfing the planets, the sun, and everything beyond.
