“They died like heroes,” Raphael added.
“It won’t make our tribe in any way stronger,” Wanna replied. “But… it’s war. I suppose lives are lost in the fight to take our planet back from Ta’Zan.”
“We’ll do our best not to let this happen again,” Elonora said. “We were overwhelmed back there. With Nevis, Raphael, and me gone, Kale and the others were outnumbered.”
Taeral scratched the back of his head, and frowned as he looked up at the darkening sky. He pressed a finger to his earpiece, then scoffed. “So, you met this Cassiel, huh?”
“Yeah, that was weird and great at the same time, until he vanished,” Varga replied. “I don’t know why. I only remember that one minute he was there, right after the Perfects were killed… and then, poof, gone.”
“Then, if the comms blockers are disabled, how come these don’t work?” Avril asked, pointing at her earpiece. “Telluris is still down, too.”
Raphael shrugged. “I don’t know how long till comms come back on, like I said to Lenny. I’m not an expert. I just know enough to get around. The only reason I knew how to disable them in the first place was because I was there when they put them up.”
I sighed, then moved my head around to release some of the tension that had been gathering in my neck muscles. Serena gripped my nape and gently massaged it, forcing a lazy smile out of me. I could feel her love flowing through me, warming me up like a summer morning.
“Despite our losses, we’ve done well,” I said. “The comms blockers are down, and, most importantly, Ta’Zan’s flight plans have been delayed. Once we’re able to reach out to Calliope again, we’ll liaise with them and discuss the next steps we need to take in order to bring Ta’Zan down, altogether.”
Elonora nodded, then gave Marku and his Faulty engineers a polite nod. “Couldn’t have done it without Marku, here. Oh, and here’s the kicker. Marku is Isda’s partner,” she replied, smiling at him. “We met her on the way out, so to speak. I gave her an extra earpiece, wirelessly connected to our comms system—once it’s back on, anyway. She’ll pass it on to Grandma Claudia and the others, so we can have a live line of communication with them, not just the Telluris connection between Varga and the other fleet survivors.”
Lumi chuckled lightly. “I still can’t believe Cassiel went against Ta’Zan,” she murmured. “This really throws a massive wrench into Ta’Zan’s entire plan, because if he makes more like Cassiel, chances are they, too, will rebel, simply because of their advanced intelligence. Logic functions differently when you’re on a superior level,” she added, then gave Kallisto and the other Faulties an apologetic smile. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that you guys aren’t brilliant. You are!”
“I know,” Kallisto said with a grin. “But I do understand your reasoning, and it makes sense. Look at Raphael, too. Once Ta’Zan’s brightest and strongest. There’s an obvious pattern here. It took absolute rejection for the likes of me to see the light.”
“Hey, better late than never,” Raphael replied.
“We gathered more weapons and pulverizer pellets,” Heron said, surrounded by seven of his wards. They never strayed too far from him, and I never could take my eyes off them, whenever they were around. The ten brothers and last survivors of House Abraxian, the wards were extraordinary creatures, in my opinion. They’d fused their bodies to a swamp witch spell in order to amplify the Mara Lord’s mind-bending power. Even on their own, they were fearsome predators. They never spoke much, but their presence alone was enough to intimidate. “We’ve replenished some of the shots we fired along the way, I suppose.”
“The medical supplies won’t hurt, either,” Avril added. “Especially with the rough-and-tumbles we get into these days.”
“Speaking of rough-and-tumbles, where are Dmitri and the rest of his crew?” Varga asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked around. His eyes glimmered gold as he grinned. “Ah… speak of the devil.”
We all stood up, enthusiastic about reuniting our already grown cluster of fighters and rebels. Elonora followed Varga’s gaze, then stilled without mirroring her brother’s expression.
“They’re not alone,” she grumbled. “Oh, wow…”
“What?” I asked, unable to see as far as our sentries.
Elonora looked at me, her eyes wide. “They’re not alone.”
“Okay, care to elaborate?” Lumi retorted.
“Faulties. Lots of them,” Varga chimed in. “At least three dozen, from what I can see.”
My heart nearly jumped for joy. Ben and his team had clearly done it, since they were coming back with more Faulties from the wilderness.
When they finally reached the blue rock, we witnessed the full extent of their outreach efforts, as we were introduced to Herakles, the apparent leader of that group of rogue Faulties. Some of the females were practically clinging to his neck, swooning over him as if he were the most precious creature alive.
“I swear, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say this guy is letting off some kind of pheromone to get the ladies hooked like this,” Dmitri muttered.
“That’s exactly what it is,” Douma clarified, smiling. “Herakles is a hybrid of several animals, including a lizard that sweats a concentrated hormone through its scales. It’s how it draws females to mate.”
Herakles chuckled as he shook our hands. I had to admit, he was a pretty impressive specimen, different from most Faulties. The only sign of a hybrid design were the scales on the back of his neck. Other than that, he was simply massive, loaded with muscles and probably enough strength to snap my spine in half within seconds, effortlessly. I didn’t want to get on his bad side.
“Well, your friends here made a compelling case,” Herakles said. “We want a seat at the table, with the Draenir and the Perfects, if they’ll have us. This world should be ours, not Ta’Zan’s.”
Raphael stepped forward. “I’m sure that won’t be a problem, once we rip my kind from his bosom, so to speak.”
“Ew…” Dmitri groaned, rolling his eyes.
“Figure of speech!” Raphael snapped.
We brought each other up to speed, going over the events of the day. Elonora’s team had suffered the biggest loss, but they’d also completed the mission. We’d brought back as many supplies as we could carry, and Ben’s team had returned with a slew of Faulties eager to get involved and rise up against their maker.
Abandonment seemed to have cleared their heads, much like what had happened to Kallisto. We talked about their life outside the colosseums, as they were repeatedly bullied by the expanding Perfects. They’d been denied their place in Ta’Zan’s paradise, and they were determined to make their own. Their self-awareness was beyond impressive, and it gave me peace of mind. They were not going to turn on us. Serena read their emotions carefully, discreetly assuring me that they were genuine in their decision to join our campaign.
“It took a few hours’ worth of talks, but we reached a common ground,” Ben said. “We all want the same thing in the end. Peace, and the freedom to live as we wish, without anyone imposing on our happiness and liberties.”
“And we all agree on one thing,” Herakles replied. “None of us like Ta’Zan.”
The Faulties from his crew burst into laughter. Dmitri and Varga were the first to join in, doubling over as they started cracking Ta’Zan-related jokes.
“Strip him of his lab, and what are you left with?” Dmitri asked.
“A cross between a Draenir and heaven knows what bunch of animals.” Herakles chuckled.
“A Faulty,” Varga interjected, stirring another wave of laughter.
“How is that a bad thing?” Kallisto asked, wearing a playful grin.
Varga returned it twofold. “It’s not bad at all. On the contrary. But, in Ta’Zan’s mind, it would probably be the end of the world for him to be on the same level as the people he considers inferior.”
“What about the devil-vipers?” I asked Ben. “Any luck on that front?”
Ben le
t a deep sigh roll out of his chest. It didn’t sound good. “I’m afraid not.”
“Herakles showed us the conservatory,” Amane said. “It was completely destroyed. I think Ta’Zan had it relocated, possibly somewhere inside a colosseum.”
“Did you see one in Ta’Zan’s?” Ben asked Elonora.
She shook her head. “I don’t remember seeing one, but, to be fair, I wasn’t looking for it. I was more concerned with the shuttles and the prison dome. Speaking of which, I saw our people. They’re okay, for the most part, but that’ll probably be their best condition, given that they’re captives.”
Lumi clicked her teeth, somewhat irritated. “If we can’t find devil-vipers anywhere, we won’t be able to produce more pulverizer pellets. My magic may be strong, but it’s not enough to bring down an entire planet of Perfects. The pulverizer, on the other hand, if unlimited, can cause enough damage to bring the Perfects to their knees.”
Ben crossed his arms, frowning as his gaze dropped to the ground.
“I’m not comfortable with such aggression against the people we’re actually trying to turn against Ta’Zan,” he muttered.
“Yeah, me neither,” Raphael added, then looked at Amane. “You, co-creator of my fabulous self. Talk to me. Any better ideas, besides mass murder via pulverizer pellets?”
Herakles, his Faulties, and the Draenir followed the conversation with great interest. Their eyes were wide and bright, their expressions a cumulation of wonder and curiosity, as they witnessed interactions between multiple creatures of various species coming together for a common goal. That was something they’d never experienced before, after all—unity. Peaceful coexistence.
“I do have an idea, actually,” Amane replied. “It’s nothing certain, though, and I’ll need to get close to my sister for it to maybe work.”
“Well, okay, enlighten us,” Douma interjected. “I may not be my old self anymore, but I’m still not ready to see so many of my kind die, if we can do something better and smarter.”
“Like I’ve said before, it’s just a theory, for the time being,” Amane said. “But I think I could patch into the central memory database, with some help from my sister. I’m smarter when she’s around, quite literally.”
The idea stirred my interest. “What would you do from the database? If I remember correctly, it’s through this database that Ta’Zan can implant old memories back into… cleaned Perfects like Douma, right?”
Amane nodded. “It’s wireless, so to speak. It links directly to their souls, which is why we put the serium blocker on her. If I remove that, her brain will be flooded with old memories, once she’s located. The system doesn’t automatically find her. It takes a while for the search process to do its job. Plus, it depends on the distance from the database, the terrain and weather conditions, and so on. Anyway, that’s not the main point, but rather the fact that I could try to reverse the transmission signal. Instead of shoving memories into a Perfect’s brain, it could delete the existing ones altogether, en masse.”
It sounded bewildering, but also quite possible. If at least the “tech” part of “magi-tech” functioned on the universal principles of mathematics and physics, then the information that could be downloaded wirelessly could also be deleted in the same fashion.
“Again, to reiterate, I’m not sure it would work. But I would like to try it,” Amane added.
“We need to get you back to your sister, huh?” Dmitri asked.
“Your sister has been a bit troublesome, you know,” Marku cut in, his lips thinned into a straight line. “She betrayed the rebels. Monos and the others are dead because of her.”
Amane breathed deeply, then lowered her head. “I’m not surprised. She’s destructively loyal to Ta’Zan.”
As she listened to the ongoing conversation, Elonora kept pressing the small round button on her earpiece, waiting to hear something on the other end. At one point, she froze and stopped testing the button, then caught my attention with the snap of her fingers. Silence immediately settled over our enlarged group.
“Testing, testing. Can anyone hear me?” Elonora said.
Seconds went by in painful silence, as Elonora blinked several times. Curious to see if I could pick up anything on the comms channel, I pressed my earpiece button. The sound of static came through, but fractured, as if it was trying to pick up on something.
One by one, the other GASP crew members reactivated their earpieces—this time, unlike previous attempts, a sound was coming through, even though it was just this ragged static hiss. To me, it was the sound of hope.
“This is Elonora, can anyone hear me?” Elonora tried again.
Varga grinned. “I can. Loud and clear.”
Both their voices echoed in my ear. My heart began performing wide somersaults, battling the confines of my ribcage as sheer joy flooded every inch of my being.
“We can all hear you, I think,” Serena replied, beaming at us.
“Oh, this is amazing,” Elonora exclaimed. “It means the comms are back on. Is anyone else on the line? Rose? Grandma? Derek? Anybody?”
Time seemed to slow down as we all shut up, waiting for someone to pick up.
It felt like forever until a familiar female voice broke through.
“Lenny? Is that you, baby?” Claudia asked.
In an instant, Elonora’s eyes were glazed with tears, which then proceeded to roll down her pale cheeks. She covered her mouth to stop herself from screaming with joy. Varga was equally delighted.
“Grandma, it’s Varga. Can you hear us?” he replied.
“Yes! Yes, I can! Thank the stars, you’re okay! Are you with Lenny, darling?” Claudia managed.
“Yeah, we found each other. Oh, man, Grandma, it is so good to hear your voice!” Varga said, then hugged Elonora. They both held each other tight and jumped around as if they’d just won the lottery.
“Is everybody okay?” Claudia asked. “Ben? Rose? Kailani? Talk to me!”
“We’re okay, Grandma,” Elonora croaked, wiping her tears. “We made a mess back at the colosseum, in case you didn’t hear it.”
Claudia squealed and laughed like an evil witch from old human movies—a cackle that both amused me and creeped me out. “That was you?! Jeez, honey, you really caused a ruckus down here!”
“I know, I know,” Elonora replied. “But we destroyed Ta’Zan’s starships. He was days from sending them out. We knocked down the comms blockers, too. That’s why our comms didn’t work, from the very beginning! The Draenir put them up when the plague broke out, to prevent anyone from communicating with an infected Strava. Ta’Zan had them guarded by Perfects, but we took them down anyway!”
“That’s my girl!” Claudia cheered. “So, everyone is okay?”
“We’re making progress, Grandma,” Varga replied. “We’re giving Ta’Zan one hell of a headache!”
Another voice came through, one that made my smile widen even more.
“Lenny? Claudia?” Caleb joined the comms channel.
Our group burst into a raucous cheer. We now had a live link back on with Calliope, too. Had it not been for the hostile environment, we would’ve thrown one hell of a party for this accomplishment.
“Caleb!” Claudia replied. “Darling, it’s so good to hear your voice!”
“Hah, you’re now in touch with Calliope! This is so cool!” Phoenix jumped in from afar, prompting Serena to gasp.
“Amazing! Phoenix, Harper, can you hear us all?” Serena interjected.
“Loud and clear, Sis, loud and clear!” Harper replied.
“What about Ben? Rose?” Caleb asked.
“Ben is here with us,” I said.
I heard a crackle on the line, followed by Derek’s voice. Claudia had handed him the one earpiece they had. “Draven? Elonora? Caleb? Is everyone okay?” he asked.
Ben chuckled, his eyes glassy with tears. “Hey, Dad! Funny how you’re the prisoner, yet you worry more about us, still.”
Derek’s voice softened. “Be
n, my son… please, tell me you’re all good.”
“Yes, Dad, we made it this far, haven’t we?” Ben replied. “We’ve done some damage. We had to split up in teams, and we’re headed back to Rose and Bogdana now. Good grief, there’s so much we have to talk about.”
“Why isn’t Rose on the line?” Caleb cut in, the concern in his voice now obvious.
“You’re not with Grandma?” Phoenix added to the pile.
“No. We left her with Bogdana and Rakkhan, two of Heron’s wards, and the other Draenir back at the camp,” I said. “We’re due back now. We finished what we came out here to do.”
“But she should have her own earpiece. Plus, Telluris,” Caleb muttered. “She’s not responding via either. If the comms are back on, she should have access to this line, at least, right?”
“Technically speaking, yes,” Elonora replied. “Rose? Can you hear me? Can you hear any of us?”
No answer. A few seconds flowed by as we all waited, hoping she’d say something.
“Guys, I hate to say this, but what if something happened to the camp?” Dmitri blurted, scratching the back of his neck. “Maybe there’s a dire situation, a solid reason for Rose not to pick up.”
As soon as we looked at each other, our group seemed to land on the same page as Dmitri, and none of us liked the prospect. If Rose was in trouble of any kind, then we all needed to get there as quickly as possible.
“Guys, you have to do something,” Caleb said. “I need to hear Rose… I need to know she’s okay!”
“Don’t worry, Caleb, we’ll get to the bottom of it,” Ben replied, then gave me a firm nod. “We need to move, and we need to move fast.”
Ridan cleared his throat, demanding our full attention. “Not to brag or anything, but I’m big and sturdy enough to carry all of us back to the camp,” he said. “And completely undetectable if I swallow some of that invisibility paste once I go full dragon. Everyone on me will be cloaked, too, if I’m not mistaken.”
“Turns out you’re more useful than I gave you credit for, after all, dragon!” Raphael laughed, then gave him a friendly slap on the back.
A Shade of Vampire 65: A Plague of Deceit Page 23
