The force of the ship’s sudden liftoff knocked Jack and Roka to the floor. They were in complete darkness, save for a small porthole window on the door. Jack struggled to his feet and looked out as the ship sailed up through the clouds. He could see that the bulk of the Rüstov Armada had gathered around Wrekzaw Isle and the Imagine Nation, completing the enemy’s blockade. It was a scary sight, especially since the wall of ships was made up entirely of Shardwings and midsize fighters. Jack didn’t see a single dreadnought among them, which meant the Rüstov’s real firepower was still being held in reserve. Jack, Stendeval, and Roka were taken up to the very edge of the atmosphere, where the Rüstov dreadnoughts and super-dreadnoughts were all lying in wait.
The higher they climbed into the sky, the more the pain in Jack’s head intensified. Jack put his back to the door and slid down into a seated position, rubbing his temples. He opened his eyes and saw Roka holding on to Stendeval’s unconscious body. “Is he all right?” Jack asked.
Roka shook his head. “He has a concussion. Don’t know how bad.”
Jack leaned over and took Stendeval’s hand. With his other hand he dabbed away some of the blood on Stendeval’s brow using the cuff of his sleeve. Jack’s friend and mentor had taken a bad blow to the head. He had just lost Allegra. He didn’t even want to think about losing Stendeval, too.
“You don’t look so great yourself, kid.” Roka put his hand on Jack’s forehead and grimaced. “You’re burning up.”
Jack winced as a jolt of pain ran through his eye. The machinery in his chest was moving too. It was like someone had just switched it on. Roka banged on the wall. “Hey! Where are you taking us?”
“That should be obvious,” Khalix gloated. Jack’s head throbbed with every syllable.
A set of doors slid open to reveal a Rüstov officer flanked by two imperial guards and the Rüstov Allegra. The only thing stronger than the anguish Jack felt about Allegra’s condition was the anger he felt toward the Rüstov officer beside her.
“Glave.” Jack scowled, recognizing him immediately. He was still using Obscuro’s body as a host, although the Rüstov virus had done it considerable damage over the past year.
Glave puffed up his chest. “It’s General Glave now. The Magus thought the title to be a fitting reward for my service. How are you feeling? Ready to see your father again?”
Jack swallowed hard. Just the thought of the Magus sent another shooting pain through his head. “The Magus isn’t my father,” he said.
“That’s true,” Glave replied. “Your father wants nothing to do with you. You’re an embarrassment to him. A political liability.” He waved a finger at Jack. “Not to worry. That doesn’t matter anymore, as you well know. In a short while, there won’t be any difference between you and Khalix. Soon you’ll have a new father, and he’s very happy with you both. You’ve done well, boys.”
“It’s true, Jack,” Khalix said. “The invasion is nearly ready to begin. The Rüstov will take the Imagine Nation and roll over the Earth without any resistance, all thanks to us.”
“There is no us. Stop saying that,” Jack said. He tried to use his powers to probe Allegra’s infection but couldn’t make contact with her Rüstov components. “Allegra, talk to me. I know you’re still in there. You have to—b-ahh!” Jack screamed as the core in his chest lit up. Circuits continued to slowly worm their way out of it.
“How sad,” Glave said. “Lost your girlfriend, did you? It appears the two of you have something in common, Captain Roka.”
Jack saw a fury in Roka’s eyes he’d never seen before. “You son of a—”
Roka lunged at Glave, but the guards sprang forth with their staves charged at full strength and shocked him back.
“Such grim determination,” Glave said. “I’m curious, do you think Rasa put up this much of a fight?”
Roka propped himself up on the ground. Smoke was rising up off his clothes. “Don’t talk about her. You’re not good enough to even say her name, you piece of rust-covered filth.”
“But I feel like I know her so well.” Glave smiled. “She was a Secreteer, wasn’t she?” Roka’s face gave it away. Glave snickered with sinister glee. “Just like my host,” he said, looking at his withering hands. “I’m going to miss this body when it’s gone. Normally, I wouldn’t go before the Magus in such a deplorable state of decay, but the strategic value of this body has been immeasurable. And the memories? Simply delicious.”
Roka flew at Glave once more. Once more he went down, but he didn’t go easily. He fought hard against repeated prodding until he finally collapsed. Glave shook his head at the space-pirate’s resolve. “Amazing. Some of you simply don’t understand the futility of fighting us. Most of you learn it so well. Let’s see . . .” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, seeming to search his memories for the one that would cause Roka the most pain. “The Clandestine Order forbade you and this Rasa from being together. They tried to make you forget her, but they just couldn’t get through that thick skull of yours, could they?” Glave smiled. “I suppose it didn’t matter in the end. She’s gone now. Became one of us, did she? That’s perfect. Thank you for illustrating my point.”
Stendeval grunted. He was coming around. “What point is that?” he asked.
“That nothing you do matters,” Glave said. “You can’t fight the future.” He snorted out a laugh at Roka. “Don’t despair. If nothing else, you can share her fate.” Glave crouched down next to Jack. “You all will. Check his progress,” he told the Rüstov Allegra. Glave handed her a small metal device no bigger than a stick of gum. She uncapped the device, exposing a sharp needle, and pricked Jack’s arm, drawing a drop of blood. Jack hardly felt the needle, but the dead look he saw in Allegra’s eyes was more painful than anything he had ever experienced. In her, he saw the face of a friend, only with a total absence of everything that she was. She was lost. The Rüstov Allegra handed the device back to Glave, who smiled when he saw the readout on its display. “Very good,” he said, holding the device out for everyone to see. It read, “Infection Level: 37%.”
Stendeval sat up against the wall. “You haven’t won anything yet. He still has a long way to go.”
“Ah, Stendeval. Ever the optimist.” Glave nodded to the guards, and they pressed lightning-tipped staves into Stendeval’s chest, shocking him back into silence. Roka jumped up to defend him and got the same treatment.
“Let me ask you. When you cut down a tree, does the ax need to go all the way through the trunk to bring it down, or does it simply topple over under its own weight once you cut away more than half of the base? We have won,” Glave said as his prisoners nursed their wounds. “It is quite literally a matter of time.” He motioned to Jack. “Look. Revile is being born before our very eyes.” Jack felt at his face. Thin lines of circuitry were rising up beneath his skin. He could feel them growing across his chest and out from his eye. “The future is coming. It’s practically here, and quite frankly, you deserve every second of it. You had years to prepare your defenses, but you chose to fight one another instead of us.” Glave knelt down next to Jack and patted the back of his head. “You were a big part of that in recent years. You’re the key to victory in so many ways.”
“You hear that, Jack?” Khalix asked. “You’re a hero. It’s just like you always wanted.”
Jack would have liked to fire off a fearless comeback at Khalix, but nothing came to mind. His heart just wasn’t in it. The ship shook as a tractor beam locked onto it and brought it in to dock with what Jack knew had to be the Apocalypse. The Magus was getting closer. Jack could feel his influence—the power he lent to Khalix by his very presence. Rüstov components were growing inside of Jack. He was fighting the transformation into Revile, but he could tell he was losing the battle. The ship lurched forward and ground to a halt. The door behind Jack opened up with another metallic shriek. Fresh-faced guards wearing new hosts appeared at the door. Glave waved them in. “Take them to the emperor.”
Jack
fell into a dazed and delirious state as the guards dragged him through the ship. The pain in his head grew increasingly worse until he couldn’t see straight. He felt like he was watching a movie, but with everything out of focus and the audio timing slightly off. Lights glared with bright starbursts, streaking across his line of sight. Voices echoed in his ears, coming through magnified and distorted. Visions of the Rüstov ship hit Jack in unnatural staccato bursts, like a film that kept breaking and jumping to new scenes without any clear transitions.
The guards reached their destination and deposited Jack on the floor. His senses settled down a bit once he finally stopped moving, but he still felt wrong. Everything was wrong. Turning his head too fast brought on a throbbing pain behind his eyes and pulled bright, glowing trails out from all the lights in the room. Jack got up into a crouching position and looked around. Tiny specks of light danced about his head like glowing embers from a fire. As they faded in and out, Jack realized they weren’t really there at all. He was seeing stars but still recognized where he was. He was back in the Magus’s throne room. His memory of this place was fresh and clear, as if he’d just been there yesterday. Did he really remember this, or was it more of Khalix’s memories mixing with his own? Jack tried to get up and nearly fell over. His heartbeat pounded in his ears, and the walls seemed to pulsate in time with each thump. This close to the Magus, the Rüstov infection inside him was spreading faster and faster. Meanwhile, his own strength was dying.
Seated on the large iron throne on the far side of the room was the Magus. The Rüstov emperor’s perfect, unblemished host was in peak physical condition, just like it was the last time Jack stood at his feet. And just like the last time, the imperial guards knocked Jack to his knees, forcing him to bow before the Magus. The guards pushed Stendeval and Roka down as well. Glave stepped forward to make his report:
“Sire,” he said, bowing his head. “I bring you news from the front.”
The Magus motioned with his hands. “Speak.”
Glave lifted his chin and faced the Magus. “Your glorious armada surrounds the island below. Your forces have crippled Empire City’s defenses, and your troops are taking new hosts on the ground, even as we speak. We have reclaimed your former flagship, known here as Wrekzaw Isle, and established your command center there. Your loyal subjects stand ready to fight and die in your name. We await your order to deliver the Imagine Nation’s deathblow.”
Glave bowed his head once more and stepped back, awaiting his master’s response. The Magus applauded Glave, slowly clapping his hands together three or four times, but no more than that. “Very good,” he said. “Very good, indeed.” The Magus stood up and flexed the iron spikes that fanned out of his back like wings. “I see the vessel of our enemy’s destruction has been reclaimed as well.” He walked up to Jack and rested a heavy hand on his shoulder. “It’s almost time, my son.”
Jack was down on all fours, trying to hold the line against the virus that was relentlessly attacking his body. He didn’t have the strength to offer up a defiant retort, and even if he had, he remembered all too well how the Magus made him pay for his back talk last time.
“Who do we have here?” the Magus asked, looking over his other two prisoners.
Glave had the guards prop up Stendeval, who was conscious but badly injured. “My lord, I present to you Stendeval, a most powerful hero. One of the leaders of the Imagine Nation.”
“Yes, the great Stendeval,” the Magus repeated, clearly pleased. “Glave tells me it was you who hid my son from me all these years. You’re going to pay for that.” He took Stendeval by the chin and looked him over. “I’ve heard much of your abilities. I’m going to enjoy using them against you. What do you think of that?”
Stendeval jerked his chin away from the Magus’s grip. “I think that in five hundred years on this Earth, I’ve never met anyone with a more overdeveloped opinion of his own self-worth than you. And I’ve met Jonas Smart.”
The Magus scowled at Stendeval. He balled up his fist, ready to strike him.
“You did ask my opinion,” Stendeval said.
The Magus stared at Stendeval. His expression relaxed and he dropped his hand to his side. “If you were anyone else, you would pay dearly for such impudence.”
Stendeval raised an eyebrow. “But?”
The Magus took Stendeval by the chin and examined his wounds. “You’re already injured. It does me little good to cause you any further damage. Cutting off your nose would only serve to spite my face.”
The Magus turned his eyes to the next prisoner in line. Glave cleared his throat and introduced him. “I believe you will recognize our next prisoner’s name as well. May I present Solomon Roka.”
“Ah,” the Magus said with a grin as he looked Roka over. “An amusing prize, if nothing else. You’ve been a thorn in our side for many years, haven’t you, space-pirate? Raiding my transports . . . disrespecting my authority . . .”
“For the record, I prefer adventurer or entrepreneur. Space-pirate is so . . . Ow!” The guard behind Roka jabbed him in the back with his electro-staff, and then once more for good measure. Roka cried out and fell to the ground. “What was that? I thought it did you little good to cause us any further damage.”
“My standards aren’t as high as the emperor’s,” Glave said. “Hit him again.”
The Rüstov guards jolted Roka with electricity, and the Magus walked over to an observation window beside his throne. “A grand day is at hand,” he announced as he looked out on his armada. “This is the day we shed the defeat and dishonor we’ve been saddled with ever since the last invasion. For fourteen long years, we licked our wounds in that pathetic Calculan star cluster, but now it’s time. Time for revenge. It’s time to finish what we started.”
“I’m ready . . . Father,” Jack said.
The Magus turned in surprise. It was Jack speaking, only it wasn’t Jack. It was Khalix, speaking through him. The voice was strained and weak, but it was more powerful than it had ever been before.
“Your son grows strong, sire,” Glave said.
Jack was horrified. Khalix had just taken control of his body and used him like a puppet. Jack was suffering intense physical pain from being this close to the Magus, but the mental anguish caused by his body surrendering to the Magus’s influence was greater by far. “He’s not strong,” Stendeval said of Khalix. He gave Jack a reassuring look. “Standing on his father’s shoulders won’t make your son tall.” Stendeval looked right at the Magus. “Jack can beat Khalix. And we can beat you.”
Jack was sure the Magus was going to hit Stendeval this time, but the Rüstov emperor just laughed at him instead. “If that’s true, why is there fear in his eyes?”
Jack said nothing. The Magus saw right through him. Jack needed to win the battle of wills with Khalix to be able to use his powers against the Rüstov, but right now, standing next to the Magus, that seemed downright impossible.
“You only think you can win because you have no understanding of war,” the Magus told Stendeval. “My people spend their lives in a state of infinite war. No mercy. No peace. Just a never-ending game of strategy, planning, spycraft, battle, and conquest. Jack has seen it with his own eyes. He knows there’s no hope.” The Magus gave Jack a light tap on his cheek. “You remember what you learned in the Theater of War, don’t you?”
Jack winced as another memory hit him. He was strapped into a chair with his eyes taped open. Rüstov war movies played all around him on a dozen different holo-screens and Jack was unable to look away. Grisly images of death and destruction assaulted him in high-definition 3-D with audio that made him feel like he was living through each battle.
Jack felt the Magus pat his shoulder, and he was jolted out of his flashback and into the real world. “You’ve seen everything we’re capable of. Deep down, you know you can’t win. It’s only a matter of time before my son turns off your heart and Revile is born.”
“You’re wrong, Magus,” Stendeval said. “The
heart of a hero never stops. We will fight you until our dying breaths.”
“Who is this we?” Glave asked. “I hope you’re not still holding out hope that the Calculans will join your cause. They can’t desert you right now because of our blockade, but they will soon, I assure you. Ambassador Equa will make every attempt to escape once the invasion begins.”
“Of course he will,” the Magus replied. “The Calculans understand that this battle has but one possible outcome. All of this is part of a grand design.” The Rüstov emperor nodded toward Jack. “Do you honestly believe that he escaped? That he was able to send out distress signals telling you where to find him?” The Magus stepped up to Roka. “Do you really believe you were able to steal my only son out from under my nose?” The Magus shook his head. “I wanted Jack here, sowing discord and confusion. My son’s host is more than just the perfect vessel for Revile. He is a seed of destruction planted in your hearts and minds. I always intended to complete his transformation here with all of you watching. This is how we break the Imagine Nation’s spirit. The true battle begins long before the first shot is fired. It starts up here.” The Magus tapped his temple. “Once people start thinking about what to do when they lose, they have lost. We always believe we will win, which is why we always do.”
“Why me?” Jack croaked, fighting through the pain. “Why did you have to make me the one to do your dirty work?”
“You think you’re special?” Glave asked. “That you as a person somehow matter? What is happening here is much bigger than you.”
The Magus nodded. “When we invaded Earth fourteen years ago and Revile appeared, we didn’t know what he was. Who he was. We had yet to even imagine developing the technology to create him. It wasn’t until Glave discovered the truth about Revile in your memories . . .” The Magus swelled with pride and patted Jack’s shoulder. “My son . . . not only alive but destined to become something greater than I ever imagined. We know what the future holds. That’s why we’re here. You have already lost. The individual cannot stand against what is meant to be. You cannot stand against fate.”
The End of Infinity (Jack Blank Adventure) Page 14
