by David Beers
Alistair snapped off the restraints and stood up. “Not completely sure.” He reached for Obs and took his off next. The drathe snarled at him, obviously more than a little angry at what was going on.
The vibrations increased as the rest of his crew stood up.
“Release in five seconds,” Jeeves said in his ear.
“Are we alo—“ He’d wanted to finish the sentence with “alone,” but the floor opened beneath him, and he fell.
Alistair had his MechSuit on, and the helmet rolled over his head as he unleashed his Whip, ready for whatever was to come.
He hit a glass floor, landing for a brief second on one knee before bouncing up and rushing forward. His body automatically reacted as if enemies were there.
He spun the Whip in a tight circle around his left shoulder, then his right, but it cut only through the air.
They were alone.
“Did everyone make it?” Jeeves asked.
Alistair turned around. “Including me, we got five people plus a drathe,” he said. “The tunnels appear to be empty.”
“They won’t be for long,” Jeeves said. “Get moving.”
As Hector had readied himself, he’d been in contact with Jovan, the Primus. He’d convinced the man to send a small group after the Titan, no more than twenty. More than that, and it would fill the tunnels with unnecessary bodies.
Petra was with him as the group of fifteen hopped onto the train that would take them to the other side of the planet. Kane had been smart about where he landed; it was well away from the majority of the Commonwealth’s forces. It’d take an hour for them to get there, and while Hector had tried to convince Jovan to remove their forces on that side of the planet, he hadn’t been able to.
Hector thought there would be quite a few bodies lining the tunnels by the time they arrived.
Jovan was in his ear as the train took off. “We’ve got a problem, Hector.”
“What’s that?”
“We’ve lost track of the pod. It’s not registering in any of the tunnels. They might not have made it. We’ve got scout teams scouring the area on that side, but so far, there’s nothing.”
Hector was quiet for a moment. He knew the Titan wasn’t dead. The pod had gotten too close to the planet for the defense system to take it out, and the atmospheric flames clearly weren’t going to do it.
“He’s alive, sir,” Hector said. “We’re moving forward with the expedition.”
“I’ll keep you up to date with anything that comes through,” the Primus responded. “Good luck.”
Kane was alive.
Now Hector was going to hunt him.
Chapter Twenty
In another part of the universe, Ares and Veena were about to come face to face with someone they’d thought was a myth for much of their life. The story of the first Imperial Ascendant’s twins had for the most part been just that, a story. It was a myth that those inside the Commonwealth grew up hearing but never speaking about or giving it much credence.
Who could live that long? It was impossible.
Until it wasn’t.
Ares looked at the planet beneath them as he stood next to Victor. He and Veena both had their hands clipped now, though these restraints were different from the clips he’d used on Earth. These could restrict or remove movement in certain places at the Superior’s will. Right now, only their arms were disabled, so if they’d wanted to run, it was possible.
Except there wasn’t anywhere to run.
They’d ended up using a portal to get here, though it looked to have been made by the AllSeer as opposed to the Commonwealth or other natural humans. Ares didn’t ask any questions about it, and Victor didn’t volunteer any answers. The closer they’d gotten to this planet, the quieter their captor became. No longer chatty, it was as if he’d taken on the personality of his master.
“Are you scared of him?” Ares asked out of earshot of anyone but the Superior and Veena.
Victor turned away from the screen. “I respect the master, but it would be detrimental not to fear him as well. He’s the most powerful being in this universe, and when you see what he’s done, you will plead for your life. You’re not Superior, and he owes you nothing.”
So, he takes this pretty seriously, Ares thought.
As they watched the planet grow bigger in front of them, their ships nearing the atmosphere, he was beginning to see manmade—or Superior-made—shapes. Not just long walls, but buildings that stretched for kilometers in every direction. Things even Earth hadn’t considered doing.
Veena was quiet, and Ares didn’t know if that was due to her mental issues or the awe-inspiring planet they were about to land on. Ares didn’t ask. Outside of that one question, he kept his mouth shut too.
The ship touched down, and Ares found that the clip on his wrists was now affecting his legs. He couldn’t move them at will anymore, but only when someone else allowed him to. He didn’t know if it was Victor or another low-level Superior or all of them. His jaw and voice still worked, though he kept quiet.
The dreadnought was emptying from different hatches, and he still saw no sign of Monk. No one paid him any mind but appeared to each have something that urgently needed doing. Ares wondered if there was some kind of hive-mind going on here, though not seriously because he knew verbal communication existed between them.
Suddenly, his and Veena’s legs were moving them toward an exit hatch. Victor was in front of him, and others that came and went didn’t so much as look at his prisoners.
Monk joined them as they reached the exit bay. Ares thought about speaking to him, but the droid’s quietness showed that might not be the best idea. Perhaps Monk couldn’t speak.
As they left the ship, Ares found himself in a building constructed of material that was different from the ship’s. Where the ship had some give to it, not squishy but close, this was pure metal. The black color stretched around the entire docking bay, not allowing Ares to see anything else of the planet.
His eyes come to rest on the only other person not running to and fro across the docking bay.
Ares had seen giants—true giants, the gigantes—but nothing prepared him for this person. Even a beast such as Victor looked like a cheap knockoff of what stood in front of Ares now.
He’d been a Titan, a warrior bred to fight, yet as Ares peered at the creature, he understood there would be no chance to kill him. There would be no chance to fight him. There would be no chance at anything. This creature would annihilate him with the flick of his wrist, breaking every bone in Ares’ body, probably without feeling it.
If there were gods, this creature had spawned from the dark ones—their direct progeny.
He stood perhaps four meters tall, and beneath the black cloak he wore, muscle bulged.
His face was human-like but different, too. It held the same toughness Victor’s had but was darker. The lines in it were from both scars and time. His brows were heavy over his eyes, which appeared black to Ares, though he couldn’t be sure in this light.
This was the rumor, the myth, the thing that the Commonwealth had tried to keep from the populace. There was only one lineage of the Ascendancy, and the rest were lies or impostors. That was the story they’d put out for a thousand years, but Ares now knew for certain that had been the lie.
Alexander de Finita, the first of his name, lived.
The AllSeer stood in front of him.
The huge creature stepped over to Veena, who stood on Victor’s other side. He bent down so that their faces were close.
“You did well, Victor.” He cocked his head to the side as he stared into Veena’s eyes. “It’s in there, isn’t it? The algorithm they held onto for so long. It’s in your beautiful mind now, yes, Veena de Ragnimus?”
The AllSeer straightened and walked over to the other side of Victor, to Ares. He bent over so that once again, he could look a normal-sized person in the eyes. Ares saw that they were black. Completely so—no pupil, no whites, just a black orb
inside his head. “Romulus de Livius. It’s inside you as well. Do you truly know what you are carrying?”
Ares found he could speak, though when his voice came out, it was a whisper. “We do.”
The AllSeer smiled, and as he pulled back his lips, his teeth and gums were black too. Rotten or simply made from different materials, Ares couldn’t tell.
“You know nothing about what’s in your head, nor about the powers that it holds. If you did, you would never have gone to that planet. You would have stayed further away from it than Veena does the memory of her parents. If you had any clue, you’d know that when you went there, you didn’t sign the warrant for your death, but for your soul.”
The AllSeer straightened and turned his attention to Monk. The robot was behind the group, but the AllSeer could easily see over them. “The last machine of the machine world. Did you really think that you’d keep it from me forever? Did you think that by giving it to these two, I wouldn’t get to it? Out of everything in this universe, it’s you machines I understand the least. For now, at least. Since I have you, I believe that’s going to change.”
Lastly, the AllSeer went to Victor. He placed a gorilla-sized hand on the Superior’s shoulder. “You did well, my son. Go, rest, soon we leave this planet and head home.”
Victor didn’t show surprise, but he did ask, “Earth?”
The AllSeer nodded. “Earth.”
Victor smiled and walked away from their group, Monk following him without saying a word. Ares saw no clip on him, but it was clear the machine was under Victor’s control.
That left the AllSeer and the former Primuses. He stepped back so he could fully view them both. “You two are out of options. You’ll never leave here. You’ll die in my power, one way or another. About the only choice left to either of you is whether you want to continue living after I’m done with you or not. Until then, you don’t even have that choice since I’ll make sure you remain alive until I’m finished.”
He turned his back on them and started walking. Ares and Veena began following about five paces behind, their legs tied to his will. Ares looked at Veena, but she didn’t turn to him. She was either scared nearly to death, which Ares thought somewhat possible given the creature in front of them, or she was lost in her own head.
The AllSeer led them out of the landing bay into a tunnel that had obviously been built for his massive size. It was as black as the AllSeer’s eyes and as silent as space. There was no one running around as there’d been in the bay—it was just the three of them.
The AllSeer took a left, then a right, and still Ares saw no one else.
At last, they entered a large dome that was the same color as everything else had been. Without any doubt, black was the AllSeer’s favorite color—that or Ares thought he was colorblind.
The AllSeer walked to the other side of the room while Ares and Veena stopped where they were, still unable to direct their own muscles. When he reached the far wall, he turned around, and an orb appeared in the center of the room between the two groups. To Ares, it didn’t appear to be a holovid, but it also didn’t look physical. Ares wasn’t sure what the thing was made of.
“That,” the AllSeer said, “will be the end of my use of you. On Earth, an orb very similar to that one resides. It’s where I would now reside if I’d done as my father wanted. It’s the AI the algorithm now in your heads created. The most powerful intelligence ever made, and one that hasn’t been replicated.”
The AllSeer started circling it, looking at the orb instead of them. “We are going to Earth, and I’ll insert the algorithm in your minds into it.” As he reached the side of the orb they stood on, he turned to face them. “You two have just entered the greatest game ever played in human history, and you’re going to see fate’s final twist.”
It was at that point Ares finally realized the man was insane. He opened his mouth to say something but found he couldn’t. The orb disappeared behind the AllSeer, the room empty and black again. “Romulus, you’ll remain here until it is time to leave. I don’t think I’ll have much use for you until we reach Earth.” He turned his attention to Veena. “Come. I may yet have a use for you.”
The AllSeer and Veena left the room. Ares wasn’t able to move any part of his body or see if Veena looked at him as she left. He could only stand straight and listen as the doors closed behind him.
Chapter Twenty-One
Obs rushed through the tunnel, looking for the first exit leading into the ground. Alistair shot a quick look at the pod they’d taken. He was able to see that Jeeves had landed them as well as he could, but then something must have hit them. He could see the scratches and superficial cracks on the outer tunnel wall from where they’d tumbled across it.
Jeeves had managed to right it and the pod had drilled through the glass, creating a vacuum seal before dumping them into the tunnel.
Alistair had been right; the Commonwealth wasn’t aware of the tunnels, or at least they hadn’t been. He wasn’t sure how long that would remain the case now that they were here.
Obs found the exit pretty quickly. The drathe had puke in his fur from Aspen’s vomit and seemed very pissed about that. He’d have to get over it quickly, though, because Alistair had plans for him.
The group rushed to where Obs stood. The tunnel went on across the planet’s ground level, but at this point, the floor was made of a different material. It would usually take Terram permission for this floor to move one way or another, but Alistair didn’t think he’d find anyone guarding beneath. If there were any Terram alive, they were far from this place.
“Everyone step back,” Alistair said.
He didn’t know if the four newcomers had ever seen this side of him, but he didn’t have time to consider it. He closed his eyes, and in the blackness of his mind, he saw the floor. He searched further, finding the mechanical pieces that would move it, then he pushed on those.
He didn’t open his eyes as he heard the screeching and mechanical noises of metal that didn’t want to move but was being forced to. Inside the darkness, Alistair watched the plate shift beneath the ground and create a space for them to enter the planet.
When he opened his eyes, Aspen and two of his warriors were staring at him. The other was looking at the new hole in the ground.
Relm slapped Aspen’s back. “You’ll get used to it. Make haste, not waste. Let’s go.”
He stepped toward the hole and hopped inside, his pulse immediately coming up and sweeping the tunnel for enemies. “Clear!”
“I’ll take the rear,” Alistair told the other four.
Obs walked over to his side and the two watched as the first three warriors went down, leaving Aspen.
“I’m assuming you’ve got a plan for me? I’m not what my sister was with the gloves, and I’m not sure why I’m here. Those three would have listened to you as well as me.”
Alistair knew he was referring to the gloves that had nearly killed him during his battle with the Ice Queen. They were to the Monaham people what Whips were to Titans.
“I’ve got a plan for you,” Alistair affirmed. “Now go on down there. I imagine they’re already sending men our way.”
Aspen nodded, then dropped through the hole.
Alistair knelt next to Obs and put his head close to the animal. “You make sure Aspen stays safe at all costs, okay?”
Obs nuzzled his master.
“Go on, now,” Alistair whispered.
The animal bounded to the other side.
Alistair peeled his helmet back and glanced at Relm, who was staring up at him. The man gave him a thumbs-up, and Alistair nodded in response.
He hopped over the opening and continued down the tunnel.
The door to the tunnel closed behind him, separating him from those he’d come with.
The plan was in action.
“What’s he doing?” Aspen shouted as the tunnel’s opening closed.
Prometheus had hopped over it and was now walking on top of the planet
while everyone he’d brought with him was beneath it.
“Our part here is different than his,” Relm said. He saw the other three warriors were looking up too, not to mention Obs. Pro hadn’t lied to him; he was the only one who knew the plan. Relm thought it was insane and that they were all going to die, but this wasn’t the first time he’d thought that about Pro’s ideas, and here they were, still alive.
“What’s our part?” Aspen snapped.
Obs let out a low growl.
“Not to stand here and bicker,” Relm said. “That’s part one, and he was very insistent on it, Aspen. If I remember correctly, he said, ‘Once we get there, don’t argue about shit that doesn’t matter because it’ll get you all killed.’ So, that’s the first part. Think you can manage that?”
Aspen was quiet, taking the slight tongue-lashing, and Relm was glad he had. He’d have hated to stroke him with the butt of the pulse to shut him up.
“Good.” Relm stepped forward in the tunnel and listened. He didn’t hear anyone yet, which meant they had time. The Terram had done a good job of hiding these above-ground things, and maybe that’d been for a reason—so Prometheus would have a way to get in. Or maybe it was an accident, Relm didn’t know, and it didn’t really matter. “The Terram aren’t stupid. In fact, they’re probably smarter than both of our ancestors combined if you look at what they built here. They’re engineering geniuses, and Pro knows that.”
Obs was pacing beneath the opening, angry about having been left by his master.
Relm couldn’t do anything about that right now. He knew the drathe was listening, and the only hope they had of reuniting was to follow Pro’s plan.
“We know the Terram were defeated, but Pro thinks they are being kept in a few different places. One of them is where they kept us when we showed up. That’s ten kilometers away from where we’re standing right now, just farther down. The other two are on the other side of the planet. They only have three of these caverns big enough to house people. That puts the majority of their guards on the other side.”
