“Why did you collapse?” the Prime asked.
“I didn’t mean to,” she said in a quiet voice.
“Do not evade the question.”
“I’m sorry. My head hurts. I don’t know why I fainted. I don’t even remember doing that.”
The big triangles faded away. New smaller ones appeared.
Finally, the Prime spoke. “Your body functions prove your statement. It is good for you that you’re not telling lies.”
Darcy debated telling it she was too in awe of him to lie. Some interior warning kept her from opening her mouth.
Jick died—or ceased being human—because he spoke too much. I have to remember that.
“It is time for you to make a decision,” the Prime said.
Darcy’s stomach tightened. I hate this. I’m too tired. My head hurts. I don’t know what to do.
“You worked for the Kresh. Are you surprised I know their race name?”
“Your breadth of knowledge awes me,” Darcy said carefully.
“Yes. That is the problem with such superiority as mine. We Primes are beyond anything in the universe. I combine hundreds of human brains with AI computer circuitry. My speed of thought is matched only by my reasoning power. It is why I control the Conquest Fleet.”
Darcy kept reverently silent. She was beginning to think most of the brain donors must have been men. The Prime had a gigantic ego, something one would expect from merging so many male brains together.
“Because you continue to speak the truth as you know it,” the Prime said, “I will continue the analysis. I believe this star system holds hidden enemies. These hidden ones are the true danger, not the paltry fleets I see gathering to meet us.
“Ah,” the Prime said, “you remain quiet, perhaps even confused. You are a worker for the Kresh. We have captured several of them before, Kresh, I mean. They proved an interesting species. The Prime of Kal has suggested we integrate Kresh brain tissues into us. I and others vetoed the idea. We are distinctly human cyborgs, and we shall remain so for quite some time. I suspect dangerous crosscurrents of thought would occur if we attempted to merge alien and human minds into one.”
The Prime fell silent. Darcy waited. The air was too cold in here and she detected a faint odor, a cross between old meats and burnt electrical wires. She pushed the smell aside. Well, she tried and failed. Finally, she raised her right hand, rubbing her nose, smelling herself.
“You grow agitated in the silence,” the Prime said.
He surprised her by speaking again, and she gasped aloud.
“You are easily frightened,” the Prime said.
Darcy nodded.
“Clearly, you lack my perfect composure. I must remember that as I deal with you. I have been replaying files of Jick to myself just now. During our conversations, he annoyed me. In fact, I have halted his conversion into a model 6 cyborg. It will be my pleasure to torment the bothersome creature as he is. The coming days of battle may prove stressful. I will relieve those stresses by toying with him. Does that surprise you?”
“W-What part?” Darcy whispered.
“Excuse me. Are you claiming I lack clarity? Is that why you don’t know what I mean?”
“N-No,” she stammered.
“Then you admit to lacking wit?”
A gut feeling warned Darcy. “Neither of those things, Great Prime,” she said. “To answer your original question, I touched the alien ship. I remember that much. Something struck me then. It has left me dazed, maybe somewhat confused.”
“Oh. Let me recheck the file. Yes, I’m replaying it to myself now. Ah. It is just as I suspected. Nothing visible struck you.”
“No?”
“You simply slumped. Right! That is how I deduced the hidden one. No. Let me rephrase. One approached the Conquest Fleet several jumps ago. We had a short dialogue before he escaped. The identity possessed mental powers. One with such abilities must have struck you before the alien ship. I correlated the two incidents and realize now the original must have come from this star system. That would also explain why the aliens of this star system have gathered their fleets in battle readiness. After our first meeting, the mental alien returned here to warn them. In their distress—realizing the extent of cyborg might—the two alien species have grouped together to face us. I wonder if the hidden one is their ultimate ruler.”
What two groups?
“Your facial patterns are open to me, Senior Darcy Foxe. I analyzed them earlier and now understand your interior thoughts much better than you realize. You are confused. It may be that as a worker in the far asteroids you are unaware of the inner system maneuvers. I will show you and you will comment to me.”
The triangles disappeared. In their place, the world of Heenhiss appeared on the wall. Darcy recognized some of the continents.
“I use long-scan teleoptics,” the Prime said. “It is a passive system, using ambient light. Notice the destroyed space habitats. I find that odd. I can only conclude certain elements in the Kresh culture refused to side with the others. Yes. I notice the difference of craft. They are substantially diverse, indicting a dissimilar thought process. Do you understand me so far?”
“I do,” Darcy said. The Chirr must have launched an annihilating fleet. They had destroyed the Kresh habs around Heenhiss. That was amazing. It was awful. In the past, she’d watched many programs about the war in the tunnels against the bugs. Why did the Prime think Chirr and Kresh worked together? It was an odd idea.
“The hidden one probed our fleet,” the Prime said. “I spoke to him—by his thought patterns I deduced him to be male. He used psionic abilities similar to our shift mechanisms, our star-drive. I imagine his information about our fleet devastated the rulers of this star system. It has brought great upheaval. Yet in the end, the others and the Kresh united. Notice how the others travel with speed to the third planet. There, they will join forces to face the cyborg juggernaut.”
The wall showed the others—the Chirr fleet—accelerating for Glegan.
They’re not going to join forces, Darcy thought. The bugs mean to wipe out more Kresh. Should I tell the Prime that? Might I gain my freedom that way?
“You sit enraptured at the sight,” the Prime said. “Ah, Senior Darcy Foxe, you give away so much by doing that. I understand you have a glimmer of hope. It is the worst aspect of the human condition. I will use Jick’s hopes against him, providing myself with much amusement as I ready the Conquest Fleet to jump into battle.”
If I tell him the truth, Darcy thought, the Prime will make wiser plans. Can I do that to humanity? I’m probably going to die or lose my humanity one way or another. Maybe I can buy myself a few more hours of life. But if I tell the Prime the truth, the thing that is going to torment me will have gained an advantage from me. Jick would speak. I have to be better than Jick. Otherwise, I’m the same as a rapist.
“The pitiful creatures of this star system don’t understand my capabilities,” the Prime said. “I recognize their strategy. It is elementary. They seek to combine their ships into one super fleet. It is the correct tactic. But it will fail. Do you know why it will fail, Senior Darcy Foxe?”
She shook her head.
“I believe you when you indicate that you don’t know. Good. It will come as a surprise to you as much as to them. Now, we will begin a different line of inquiry.”
The wall image of the bug fleet vanished. In its place was an image of the silver ship in the cyborg hangar bay.
“You touched the skin of the ship with your bare hand,” the Prime said. “What compelled you to throw off your glove to do that?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Senior Darcy Foxe, we are about to enter a new phase of our relationship. So far, I have refrained from the regular methods of persuasion. Do you know why I’ve done this?”
She shook her head, too afrai
d to speak.
“Your form pleases me. It is that simple.”
Darcy realized then the Prime definitely was made only of male brains. Did the cyborgs construct their Primes out of all male or female brains? In a sense then, a crowd of men interrogated her. A crowd of men stared at her nude form.
She wanted to hide, or at least to cover herself. You have to think, Darcy. You have to use what you have.
Suiting thought to action, she cupped one of her breasts, fondling it, flicking the nipple.
“Do you itch, Senior Darcy Foxe?” the Prime asked.
“I do,” she said in as sexy a voice as she could muster.
“Scratch your other breast next,” the Prime said.
She did so, and she arched her back.
“Yes,” the Prime said. “You please me. I will reserve you for the breeding herd. In time, you will bear the cyborgs many babies. Does that gratify your female nature?”
“Yes,” she said. Somehow, I don’t know how or when, I’m going to help to destroy you. It was such a breathtaking thought, that goose bumps appeared.
“Indeed, indeed,” the Prime said. “You are breeding herd material. Look at your skin. This is simply marvelous.”
I suppose it is.
“Yet let us return to our discussion of the alien vessel,” the Prime said. “Why did you want to touch it?”
Frowning, Darcy tried to remember walking into the hangar bay. The silver ship had stood there, gleaming. Then an atmosphere had hissed around her. Toll Three told her she could remove her helmet. Darcy had dropped it onto the floor. Mesmerized, she’d approached the craft. It had seemed to call to her with a siren song in her mind. Hardly realizing it, she had removed a gauntlet and touched the vessel. Delightful shocks had run down her arm. Then . . .
She frowned.
“What are you thinking?” the Prime asked.
“Someone spoke to me,” she said.
“In your mind?” the Prime asked.
Darcy rubbed her forehead. “Yes. In my mind.”
“Where did the other mind originate?”
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“The question is basic enough. What was the origin point of the hidden mind?”
Darcy scowled, rubbing her head harder. She might have—she looked up.
“What have you remembered?” the Prime asked.
“The other mind.”
“Yes?”
“It originated on Earth.”
“What?” the Prime asked. “That is preposterous. Earth doesn’t possess a star-drive. You are lying to me, Senior Darcy Foxe.”
“No. I’m telling you the truth.”
“You have made me very angry,” the Prime said. “I am rescinding my order. You will not go into the breeding herd. I will turn you into a model 6 cyborg. Toll Three, take her to the conversion chamber at once. Prepare her.”
“I’m telling you the truth!” Darcy shouted. “Please, don’t turn me into a cyborg.”
“You insist on your lies. Now, you will suffer the consequences.”
Before Darcy could say more, Toll Three wrapped his steel arms around her, lifting her off the floor and heading for the hatch.
25
Deep within his own mind, in the altered areas, Cyrus and the one who called himself Braunt slunk through a forest of towering cactus plants. Purple lizards froze whenever they passed. The tiny creatures flicked red forked tongues and watched them with eyes like burning coals. Braunt slew several and they roasted them, using dried-out cactuses for fuel.
Eventually they entered an ominous land of crusted fire pits and lava that occasionally bubbled in a spreading pool. The cooled areas of porous rock crunched underfoot and too often gave way like ice. Cyrus would have plunged into one breakage, but Braunt grabbed his arm and dragged him out of danger. For an instant, Cyrus glimpsed a red lava river fifty feet below his hole. The lava churned and bubbled with brimstone fumes.
Later as they moved through the altered areas of Cyrus’s mind, they trudged along a high rocky shelf near a raging sea of fire. Instead of waves, giant flames shot up. They flickered, sometimes reaching forty feet. Less frequently, molten balls catapulted out of the inferno, whooshing in gigantic arcs before exploding back into the sea of fire. Yellow gases billowed. The stench brought tears to their eyes and made them cough.
“How much longer until we reach the barrier?” Cyrus shouted. The sea’s constant roar forced them to yell. He had no idea what this signified in his mind. Maybe these were memories the psi-parasite had brought with him.
Braunt bit his lip with indecision.
The mannerism startled Cyrus. Klane used to bite his lip like that. There was something else. Cyrus could have sworn Braunt had been shorter before, the man’s shoulders broader. Now, the seeker’s shoulders were the same width as his, and the man was almost his height.
Can Braunt be . . . changing?
“I should warn you,” Braunt shouted. “Many of the creatures beyond the lake of fire are huge beyond belief.”
A large molten ball flew out of the raging flames. It whooshed so close to them that Cyrus felt its crackling heat.
“We cannot rest here,” Braunt shouted.
Cyrus nodded, increasing his pace, following the man. As he did, he studied Braunt. Yes, the man was taller than before. The man was growing.
Into what? Cyrus wondered. Is this some sort of metamorphosis? What is that supposed to signify? Maybe I’m supposed to change.
With an explosive impact, another molten ball struck the sea of flames much too near them. Cyrus flinched at the sound. A billowing cloud mushroomed upward from the sea.
Braunt began to run. Cyrus ran after him. He’d be glad once they left the lake of fire far behind.
They slept in a cave, the sea of flames some distance away. Cyrus wondered why he needed to sleep in his altered mind. This was a mental journey. These things didn’t exist as reality, but as concepts in his mind. Maybe because they seemed real, he slept in imitation of reality.
I should simply refuse to sleep. I don’t have time to waste.
He turned to Braunt. Cyrus’s head swayed in shock.
“Trouble?” Braunt asked.
There was, but Cyrus didn’t know what to say. Braunt’s skin wasn’t as red as before. It was lighter tinted. He opened his mouth to ask the man about that. Then he hesitated.
Before when I asked him his name, he said to call him Braunt. He didn’t say that his name was Braunt. Was that an important distinction?
“No problem,” Cyrus said, deciding to let it go for now. He set the pace, traveling briskly, ignoring the need for sleep.
What seemed like hours later, he scrambled up a rocky incline. Braunt waited for him up there. On the ledge, the seeker oiled his saber. The man held the curved blade up to his eye lengthwise. With his oiled rag, he flicked a spot before sheathing the gleaming weapon.
In the distance towered gutted hulks of buildings. It was another ancient city, but of greater extent than anything Cyrus had seen so far. With a start, he realized something moved among the wrecks.
Cyrus gasped. The mechanism was huge, although the gutted buildings dwarfed it. The thing moved on treads that plowed over rocks and glittering chunks of glass. It gleamed metallically like Braunt’s saber, had a tubular body and a multitude of metal appendages. Some ended in scoops, others in points that glowed red. The rest had pincers.
“The metal warrior is ten meters tall,” Braunt said. “It crushed a friend of mine and sliced two others. Afterward, it carried the bloody remains to the sea of flames and with its scoop flung them in one at a time.”
“A hunter-seeker,” Cyrus whispered.
“You have heard of such metal warriors before?”
Cyrus wondered what the thing symbolized. Thinking about it, a new thou
ght struck. This was an alien situation. He believed, then, it was a memory of a far planet the psi-parasite had been to in the past. Just how old was the Eich? He was beginning to think hundreds, possibly thousands of years. What had the Eich seen in that time?
“Come,” Braunt said, “we must hurry. The metal warrior travels in rounds. Now is our chance to reach the ruins without being seen.”
How can all this be in my mind? Cyrus thought. I’ve never thought such things. I know this is the Eich’s memories. He must be overlaying them into the altered part of my mind. Cyrus blinked rapidly. These strange realms and creatures must mean the Eich was spreading out through his subconscious. If he didn’t move fast enough to stop the Eich, he might wake up and find himself a prisoner in his own body. Cyrus shuddered. That was an awful concept.
They descended the rocky expanse and hurried across a plain of brittle grass. The wrecks of gargantuan buildings slowly drew closer like a mountain range. Halfway there, Cyrus recognized the extraterrestrial quality of the architecture.
That both excited and repelled him. He didn’t need to travel to other star systems to find differences. He could travel his own altered mind and see what the other star systems held, or had held. Unfortunately, seeing all this had to mean that less of his mind belonged to him, Cyrus Gant of Earth.
Cyrus bared his lips, more determined than ever to find and defeat the psi-parasite.
The alienness of the city became even more apparent when they reached the outer edge of the ruins and walked through streets that seemed to stretch forever. Cyrus arched his neck. The gutted buildings soared higher than the Kresh towers he’d seen in the city on Jassac. Entire walls had slid away, exposing the levels. Other structures were mere metallic frames now. Glass shards, rubble, and swirling dust littered the streets. Old cables snaked here and there. Holes in the stone-hard streets showed cavernous areas that seemed to stretch to the world’s core.
Eventually, they entered a different area. Here stood crumbling pyramids, broken plinths, and grotesque idols. They passed plazas cobbled with shimmering bricks. They walked past spike-filled holes and pits full of bones. They clambered over blocks twenty, thirty, maybe even sixty tons in weight.
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