Kalkin had his opponent in a bear hug and, though the Gun Golem was wasting away, it was taking longer than he expected. Had he used the Fuhai Hadou, he would have been useless if another Gun Golem showed up. Direct contact was slow, but didn’t require as much energy.
As the Gun Golem was dropping from Kalkin’s arms in wet clumps of putrefaction, a bright shaft of white light screamed through him, consuming all but his left arm, shoulder, and half of his head.
Jav gawked at what was left of his friend. Still holding his stomach, but his armor unbreached, Vays stood and stepped closer as if a second look would change what he had just observed.
“Look out!” Jav shouted.
Vays turned and took a second pistol shot in his left shoulder. He cried out in outrage and his armor expanded with an explosive hiss of steam.
Jav saw now how the facets of Vays’s sharp, angular armor shifted and slid to reveal normally hidden vents at nearly every pronounced edge. Vays charged the Gun Golem and with vengeful doggedness hacked at the gun arm until great, welling cuts turned the shoulder into what looked like a collection of axe heads. With one final swing, the arm fell clattering to the rocky ground. Vays collapsed to one knee, supporting himself on his sword. Deprived of its pistol, the Gun Golem showered Vays with its face gun, but those projectiles were as effective as rice plunking against his armor. He began to laugh the laugh of exhaustion and didn’t flinch when Jav used his Kaiser Kick a second time on the Gun Golem’s head.
More cracks, but still intact. “We’re not finished yet, Vays.”
“I know,” Vays sighed, standing again.
The female Gun Golem was coming towards them. Four of its six wings had been destroyed, either from Vays’s initial attack or from its fall. Jav remembered Director Scanlan mentioning the purpose of the wings and he hoped that the loss of so many of them had increased the charging time of the Gun Golem’s cannon. As Kalkin’s remains suggested, the output was still deadly enough, and he didn’t know when it would be able to fire again, but maybe time would be their ally in this fight.
The other Gun Golem had casually taken its pistol up in its left hand and had become dangerous again.
Vays sighed tiredly.
Fierce lights shone in the pits of Jav’s black eye sockets. A high-pitched, nearly inaudible whine began to permeate everything. Both Gun Golems looked around, confused, as if unable to determine a target; then their face guns shot out, making random sweeps at nothing at all.
“Rise!” Jav cried.
From the ground, bone fingers clawed through the rock and soil. At Jav’s command, skeletons were rising everywhere from their interminable slumber. Those closest to the Gun Golems were splintered by the face guns, but more and more were spilling up from the ground.
“You work on him,” Jav said. “I’ll take her.”
Vays nodded.
Jav wove through his army of yellowed, dirt-caked troops, bounding in an angular, indirect course towards the female Gun Golem. When he got close enough, he gave the silent command to move aside and skeletons parted like retreating breakers leaving a channel for the Kaiser Kick. He supposed other targets on other opponents might be sufficient, but for Gun Golems, the head appeared to be the starting point. He struck her behind where her right ear would have been, sending her crashing through a forest of bones.
Vays had calmed down. With all the skeletons keeping the Gun Golem occupied, he had the time to compose himself. He remembered the words of his father, that anger had its place, but that it worked against the principles of the Single Element Ghost Sword. Drawing in his passions and quelling them, he walked through the crowd of skeletons in a slow, tightening circle around the Gun Golem. He could feel the skeletons now; the cold mass of the planet; the hard steel of the two remaining Gun Golems; and something else, something alien which he had never before encountered, but this, too, he absorbed and added to his blade. With his knuckles, he knocked the base of the blade and set his sword ringing like a misshapen bell. Stopping in the midst of the skeletons directly before the Gun Golem, Vays held his sword before his chest, then, taking it in both hands, he held it at an angle to his right with the blade pointing down and slightly behind him. He leaned forward to take a step and became a streak of motion. Skeletons who happened to be in his way were shattered and driven to one side; anything touching his blade was neatly cleaved.
“Union Blade!” he shouted.
The blade rose diagonally to the left, circled down and back up to the right, and circled down and back up to the left a second time where it remained. For a moment the infinity symbol was etched into the ether with the two circles joined at the Gun Golem’s throat. Relaxing, Vays stood straight and returned his sword to its place in his helmet. As he turned his back on the Gun Golem, its head bobbed and toppled from its shoulders.
Jav had used his Kaiser Kick again, and, though it was working, it would take too long to end the fight. He needed something more and he knew what it must be. He charged the female Gun Golem head-on and found that her face gun couldn’t penetrate the Kaiser Bones themselves and that even the spaces between would admit no mortal wounds. He framed her head in the Dragon’s Head Claw. Up close, her face gun could hit nothing but the white of the Bones, so he pushed forward with the technique he had used to save Mai Pardine’s life; the technique he had perfected with Laedra Hol’s guidance; the technique which from here on would be known as the Kaiser Claw.
In an instant of visualized infinity, Jav’s clutching fingers approached ever closer to the Gun Golem’s head, and space began to wail in protest of its misuse. Within his hands, the head was being crushed by immeasurable forces and was already noticeably reduced, its surface ravaged with cracks and releasing chips and fragments like dirt shaken from a root. The face gun ceased and the Gun Golem, not yet beaten, did the unexpected: she slapped her hands on either side of Jav’s head and exerted fantastic pressure. More than the pressure, though, Jav could feel the energy coursing through, across, and about her arms. It was preparing its weapon and at this range, Jav wondered how long would be necessary for enough of a shot to take his head off. This was little more than a passing thought. He had already begun the next and final set of calculations. In a climactic jerk, he twisted his hands in perfect synchronization, transposing them at a speed many, many times greater than that of sound, and tore the Gun Golem’s head off.
The energy build up stopped immediately, but the Gun Golem remained fixed in the position it had been in at the moment of its “death”: Jav’s head was still stuck in the vice grip of its hands. With no force motivating the Gun Golem, though, it didn’t require too much time or effort to wrestle free.
Jav released his control over the skeletons and those that were able returned to their graves.
Vays rose from where he had sat down and was just about to join Jav when a column of white light flashed down, catching him in its fringe. Making contact with the ground, the light caused a near nuclear reaction and blew a wide crater into the rocky terrain. Vays was hurled away bodily, until bouncing in diminishing arcs to a stop.
Jav shot a glance to the sky, but the Gun Golems were still too far away for him to see. He ran to Vays and helped him up.
“You okay?” Jav asked.
“Yes, but I don’t think we can keep doing what we barely managed to do once,” Vays said.
“Agreed. You get back to the jump ship and power it up for launch.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Just go!”
Vays started reluctantly for the ship while Jav recalled the skeletons. Once again, from the ground they rose in legions, but now, too, they clambered from the wreckage of the still smoking facility. Presently, the ground was blanketed with skeletons and every one of them registered the same as a Shade to the Gun Golems.
Jav would not leave Kalkin, or what was left of him, behind. He ran to where his friend had fallen and found the remains as expected. Had Kalkin’s head survived the blast? Jav thought
he had seen half of his head disintegrate, but maybe he was wrong. He gathered up what was left—the remains retaining a strange cohesion though nearly liquefied—trying to think that this was Lor Kalkin, and not be disgusted by what he felt and saw. As he bolted for the ship, silvery white light fell from the sky and erased a thousand skeletons. Though the blast had come close, Jav was relieved, sure that he had enough time to reach the jump ship and get off the ground before a third shot could threaten any of them.
And he wasn’t wrong. He boarded the ship with Kalkin barely contained in his arms, and Vays took off before the hatch was even closed. That they would be pursued was a given. Neither Jav nor Vays liked the idea of leading the Gun Golems back to the Root Palace, but it couldn’t be helped, and whether they did or not, the Gun Golems seemed able enough on their own to find their way there.
With the power of four resonant drive engines behind them, they easily outpaced their pursuers. When it felt like they had a few moments to relax, Vays turned to Jav—both were too on edge to revert to normal—and said, “You went back for that?”
Jav didn’t like the superiority in Vays’s voice. “I wasn’t going to leave him there.”
“Him?! I think we can safely refer to him as an ‘it’, don’t you?”
“I think he may still be alive.”
Vays shook his head in disbelief and resumed his concentration on the controls.
They passed through the wormhole without incident, arrived at the nearby jump deck, and were soon safely back at the Root Palace.
While Vays reported what they had found on Secrei to Witchlan, Barson, and Abanastar, Jav brought Kalkin to the hospital. Though visibly much unchanged, Kalkin had grown markedly heavier during the short trip back. Once he was out of Jav’s arms and into a recuperation tank, Jav finally relaxed and let the Kaiser Bones recede into his body, out of sight. As Kalkin’s weight had increased, Jav had begun to worry less about his friend’s condition and more about the possibility of being infected with Kalkin’s special brand of rot. Luckily, no such thing happened. He hurried to join Vays in the debriefing, but as there was little to tell, arrived only in time to be invited to a limited ceremony which was already in progress.
7. EMERGENCY MEASURES
10,688.051.2000
Witchlan led Jav, Vays, Barson, and Abanastar onto a wide balcony that spanned fifty meters out in a rough half-circle. Jav could see the lips and overhangs of other balconies and access bays above, but except for themselves, the image of the Emperor, and the other three already present, the Root Palace seemed empty and abandoned, like a leftover relic of the dead civilization that had long ago thrived on this planet. Everyone was ready, waiting for the inevitable second attack.
The Emperor’s image was opposite the Vine, floating in the empty space above the balcony rail, addressing the three who knelt below. Jav recognized Ren Fauer and Gast Froster, but not the third person. All he could tell was that she was petite and that black seemed to suit her.
Witchlan stopped and explained quietly that the two second-place fighters from the final competition and the graduate with the second highest marks were to be awarded Artifacts.
“Gast Froster,” the Emperor said, “I bestow upon you the Particle Distributor. Take your prize and be transformed.”
“Yes, Lord Emperor.” Gast Froster stepped forward and took the Particle Distributor which was a knot of twisted brass tubes, some open ended, some stopped with filters of fine mesh. He held it to his breast and merged with it. After the light of his initial transformation died, Froster examined himself. He was encased in a shell of pale, pastel blue steel and his head was a great sharp triangle with eyes, also blue, but darker and shining. His head was, in general outline, a Raven’s, and though it was in many ways unnatural, there was something primal, timeless, and animal about it.
“You have the power of stealth and limited omnipresence,” the Emperor said. “Show me the Scavenger Cloud.”
Froster spread his arms and he began to come apart, first looking like an apparition, then losing all definition until he was a white mist tinged very subtly with blue.
“You will find that in this state you are proof against nearly all forms of attack with the exception of powerful incendiaries. You will also find that while your body is intangible, you are free to act against any who intrude into the Cloud.”
The mist that Froster had become—the Scavenger Cloud—now seemed to billow and move with directed intelligence. It rose from the balcony and spread out into the thin atmosphere beyond the controlled environmental conditions imposed by the Root Palace. Silver highlights flashed like lightning and were accompanied by the unmistakable whoosh of Froster’s twin sickles.
The Emperor’s carved features turned to the man next to where Froster had stood. “Ren Fauer, I bestow upon you the Riot Knives. Take your prize and be transformed.”
“Yes, Lord Emperor.” Ren took the bundle of blades gingerly in his hands and without fear he embraced them. Countless points and edges pierced his chest and arms bloodlessly, disappearing finally in a blinding flash.
Ren was just as the name of his Artifact implied: a riot of knives. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of fifteen-centimeter blades issued from a dark man-shape, but beyond the blades no features could be discerned.
“This is the Riot Coat,” the Emperor said. “Though your blades may break off in the course of combat, more will always replace them. Now, rise.”
Snaking lines of blades began to move like isolated currents, cycling around parts of Ren’s body until all the blades were moving, marching in perfect harmony in various directions in a symphony of deadly motion. Air whirled and rushed from around him as his body fanned it furiously, and he did as bidden, rising from the balcony. Employing AI, he found that he was capable of making short, straight-line flights of ten to twenty meters almost instantly and indeed, many of those watching were reminded of Jav’s defensive teleport technique.
To the young woman remaining, the Emperor said, “Brin Karvasti, I bestow upon you the Dharma Engine. Take your prize and be transformed.”
“Yes, Lord Emperor,” she said. She grasped a device, which looked both like a black skeletal flower and an elaborate clock with all its gears and moving parts exposed. She folded her arms around it, hugging it to herself, and joined with it. From between her shoulder blades sprung a finely wrought lotus, the petals black and made of intricate and delicate-seeming filigree. The petals spread behind her like a wheel of wings, each stretching out to about one meter, and undulated in a manner that didn’t register clearly on the senses. Light came and went through the petals and the spaces between them in a dangerously hypnotic manner.
After a moment the Emperor said, “You have the power to crucify your opponents upon the Dharma Clock, where they will be judged according to whatever criteria you deem appropriate. This crucifixion will inevitably result in destruction, both physical and spiritual, but you must first know your opponent better than he knows himself.”
Now addressing all three, the Emperor continued as Froster and Ren dropped back down to their places. “These Artifacts should supplement or augment your existing powers. Gast Froster, you have full dominion over the kingdom of your Scavenger Cloud. Ren Fauer, your body has been made into a weapon, leaving your mind free to concentrate on the fabulous motion it can produce. Brin Karvasti, your power of suggestion, of unlocking the mind and insinuating yourself without a trace therein, has been increased and made into a formidable weapon.
“Your transformation into Shades today is in response to the current crisis, and though you are made in a time of emergency, you will be no less than your fellow Shades for it. You hold the official rank of Specialist, equal to General, beholden only to the Minister of Affairs and to myself. All Shades hold equal rank. There is, however, an order in all things. You will be subordinate to those who have come before you. Retirees may offer you advice and you may wish to consider any such, but you are under no obligation to turn that cons
ideration into action. In this regard, I urge you to be thoughtful in your decision-making.
“I offer you my congratulations as well as my sympathy. By giving you great power to defend the Empire I have made targets of you. You must do your best, make your teachers proud, and with the rest of the Shades be models of perseverance and excellence to the people of Viscain.”
“Yes, Lord Emperor,” the three shouted.
The image of the Emperor winked out. Witchlan stepped out onto the balcony, leading those he brought with him towards the three new Shades.
“Congratulations,” he said, and each thanked him in turn. “I think everyone here knows someone so I’ll let you get a little better acquainted yourselves. Mr. Fauer, Mr. Froster, you are assigned to the Death Squad. Miss Karvasti, once she has been released from the hospital, Miss Winn, or I myself will be in contact with you later to discuss your permanent work assignment. You are all on alert, of course, but based on our data, we estimate that we have twenty-four to forty-eight hours before the closest Gun Golems will arrive at the Root Palace. All any of you can do is be ready, so we suggest getting some rest while you know it can be had. That is all.” Witchlan turned with a sweep of his robe and reentered the Root Palace.
Barson and Abanastar congratulated the new Shades. When finished, Barson addressed everyone, “We have a twenty-four to forty-eight-hour window, but I want everyone to report to the war room in ten hours to discuss strategy. You’re free until then, but as Minister Witchlan said, everyone should get some rest.”
The Gun Golems (Approaching Infinity Book 2) Page 6
