by Isaac Hooke
“I’ll help you,” Kade said. “But only because I want to save the ship. I never intended to shut down those external weapons. It was an accident.”
Tanner wasn’t sure he believed him. Whatever the case, the truth would come out at the trial. Assuming Ari gave him the luxury of one.
Kade revealed his access code and Tanner immediately revoked all changes the man had made in the last week. Tanner recompiled the codebase and issued a hot-reload.
“Stanson, try now,” Tanner sent.
A moment later: “That did it. Well done.”
Tanner slumped in relief.
He had Brown give up his own access information and reverted that Child’s changes, too. The older man and woman didn’t have any access privileges in the system, confirming that they were indeed illegally freed.
Tanner attempted to scan the Inside, specifically Obelisk Square in Kismet, where Ari currently fought the remnants of Kade’s army, but that area still seemed shielded.
“How are you shielding Obelisk Square?” he asked Kade. “You’ve placed some object in the simulation world?”
The man smirked at him defiantly.
Tanner shrugged. “I’ll find it eventually. What about what you did to Ari? Where can I find the code for the inventory item that’s trapping her to the Inside?”
Again, merely that defiant smirk.
Tanner considered rolling back all the changes that Kade had ever made, going back six months, but that would reverse some of the helpful changes he had made to the system. He and the other Children would simply have to go through the codebase, ideally with one of the prisoners watching. It was going to be an arduous process—Kade had touched thousands of files while working for them.
Tanner supposed he could threaten Kade again in an attempt to accelerate that process, but he worried the Child would call his bluff: though Tanner acted like he was completely ready to go through with it, he would’ve never been able to fire his blaster into the woman’s boots.
He decided that unraveling the code would simply have to wait. He wanted to get back Inside to help Ari in the battle. Time passed faster within. Who could say what dire straits she might have found herself in since his last appearance?
“I’m turning this place into a makeshift brig,” Tanner told Lana and Craig. “And I’m going back Inside.” He handed his blaster to Craig so that both security personnel were armed. “Watch them.”
A call from Stanson appeared on his aReal.
“What now, Stanson?” Tanner asked after accepting the call.
“One of the Keepers reported in via courier,” Stanson returned. “Looks like there’s someone else aboard you need to track down.”
Tanner crumpled his brow. “What? Who? I need to get back Inside to help Ari.”
“You can’t go in just yet. And you will be helping her.”
“I don’t get it,” Tanner said. “Who am I looking for? Who’s so important I have to stop everything I’m doing to track them down?”
“Tanner, Jeremy has returned.”
Tanner glanced at Craig. “I’m going to need my blaster back.”
four
Ari took a few moments to catch her breath. Briar’s men held the front line just ahead, while his rooftop archers continued to soften up the middle ranks with their explosive arrows.
A colossal flaming hammer appeared above the square. It swiveled toward one of the rooftops and smashed down. Archers screamed as the rooftop collapsed, and the square shook from the impact. The hammer reset, and moved toward the next house. The archers there fled as the massive steel head crashed down.
Ari spotted Amoch and Wraylor standing amid their troops near the ruined obelisk. They were both looking up at the hammer.
“That’s his doing,” Ari said. She glanced at Briar. “It’s time to drive a wedge through to the head of the enemy.”
“Can we kill him?” Renna asked from her side.
“I don’t know,” Ari said. “But we have to try. Or at the very least, distract him.”
Ari wished she still had her bow in that moment. She still had a few explosive arrows left in her quiver, but without the longbow... then she realized she had something just as good.
She extended her arm and hurled her shield into the fray. The thrown object knocked over men like dominos, shooting out electricity from all sides, cutting a trench deep into the enemy ranks.
Ari sprinted forward, following that shield, releasing flames from her sword to enlarge the human trench. Renna was on her left. Briar her right. The men of the Black Den just behind. From them erupted waves of lightning, fire, and steel.
She caught her shield as it returned and the object landed snugly on her forearm, strapping itself into place. She defended a lightning attack with it and then hewed down a man who vaulted at her. She released flames from her blade, flames from her shield, and lightning from her rings, killing the attackers like one born to the work.
She closed to within five paces of Amoch. He was protected by four members of the hunter class. The hunters pivoted their humongous daggers toward her.
She threw her shield. The lead hunter dropped its dagger to catch the object. She unleashed flames at the gol’s face, aiming for the eyes above the mandibles of that helmet. But the hunter turned its head so that the fire caught the side of its helm.
Another hunter struck out at her, extending its telescoping razor weapon. She somersaulted sideways, growing frustrated. She had to get to Amoch and attack before the man killed her and her companions.
In the middle of her somersault, she grabbed one of the arrows from her quiver and hurled it between the two hunters, toward Amoch. The deadly arrow flew at the leader of the army like a dagger.
Incredibly, Amoch caught it. And then his body floated forward. Literally floated—his feet didn’t touch the ground. He forced his way past the hunters, and the parts of their bodies that he touched disintegrated. He halted directly in front of Ari.
He did all of that before she returned to the ground from her somersault.
The air had grown black around Ari. When she landed on her two feet, she and Amoch were isolated from the rest of the army, floating in an island of darkness.
He wrapped an arm around her back, placing his palm at the base of her skull, drawing her in. His other hand held the explosive arrow almost to her lips. Ari tried to move away, but his grip was like a steel vise.
“Did you know,” Amoch said. “Once launched, the tip will detonate immediately upon contact? It doesn’t matter the speed at which the arrow travels.” He moved the steel tip closer.
Ari squirmed, but she couldn’t escape his grip.
“Come Ari, embrace the sweet kiss of death.” Amoch brought the arrow nearer still. “I always wondered if I would have the courage to kill you when the time finally came.”
Ari stared at it, fighting him with all her gol strength, but it was to no avail.
Just when it seemed the tip must touch her lips, he abruptly lowered the arrow. “But I can’t do it.”
Ari slumped in relief.
“You saved me,” Amoch said. “In those dark days when I first emerged. I couldn’t cope. The shock from living so long on the Inside, out of time from everyone else. The separation from my wife. I was lost, and felt that my entire life had been a sham. A waste. Nothing I had done was real. Living further seemed pointless. I was ready to end it all. I had managed to deceive everyone. My relearning specialist. The Children. All except you. You could see the pain inside me. You told me that I had to set my feet firmly on the deck and concentrate on my work. You promised I would eventually forget what happened to me on the Inside, and that I would find purpose. Well you were right. I found purpose. Just not, perhaps, the purpose you envisioned.”
He let go of her and stepped back. “But while I cannot personally kill you, others can. And so—” He abruptly looked up. “What—”
The darkness vanished and she stood in the square once more, in the middle of
the battle. The bodies of the slain hunters lay around her. There was no sign of Amoch or Wraylor.
“Ari!” Renna said. “There you are! We thought we’d lost you!”
“What happened?” Ari said.
“When Amoch reached you, a globe of darkness enveloped the two of you and then you were gone.”
“What about Wraylor?” Ari asked.
Briar was the one who answered. “The she-bitch was fighting here only a moment ago.” He deflected a lightning blow with his shield and launched flames from his sword. “But then she vanished. Good riddance! She was decimating my men!”
Ari scooped her shield from the dead body of the hunter who had stolen it and then scanned the battlefield one last time for signs of Amoch and Wraylor. The pair were completely absent. Either they had teleported somewhere, which was doubtful, or, judging from Amoch’s reaction, someone had pulled them out.
Tanner found Kade, Ari thought. That was the only way to explain their disappearance. We’ve almost won, then.
She noticed that the ground rumbled violently every three seconds and realized that Amoch’s giant hammer still floated in the air above one of the houses. Without its master to steer it, that hammer smashed down into the same rooftop every three seconds, locked in an infinite loop, sending shockwaves across the square.
She was about to rejoin the main fighting when defenders and enemy fighters alike were batted aside before her. Brute burst through the front line and made its way straight toward her.
She remembered Amoch’s words: while I cannot kill you, others can.
Ari hurried to the giant hammer. It continued to smash the collapsed house every three seconds. When the hammer raised, she hurried across the rubble. She stumbled on a pile of broken bricks, but managed to regain her footing in time to clear the ruins. The hammer smashed down behind her as she entered a side street free of fighting. The shockwave nearly sent her reeling.
She rested against the wall of a nearby building and watched Brute approach the demolished house from the other side.
The creature paused at the far edge of the ruins, well away from the falling hammer.
“Come on,” Ari said. “Come get me!”
Brute sneered, but did not move. The hammer smashed down, momentarily hiding the creature from view. When the hammer raised, Brute was no longer standing there.
Movement drew her eye to the adjacent building. Brute was clambering the intact wall.
“Shit.” Ari retreated several paces.
Brute reached the rooftop, crossed to the rear side, and then leaped down, cratering the cobblestone beneath him. The creature approached her, smirking widely.
Brute had conveniently positioned itself between Ari and the moving hammer. If she timed her attack just right...
“Wipe that smirk off your face,” Ari said.
She threw her shield with all her strength and struck Brute squarely in the chest. The creature hurled backward, directly into the path of the giant hammer. It smashed down right when Brute passed underneath.
The hammer lifted and Ari’s shield did not return. Half buried in the debris, Brute struggled to get up, but was too slow, and the hammer struck again.
Ari retreated. She knew the hammer would not kill the beast, but it would at least keep Brute occupied for a while.
Before she could return to the square and the battle fought there, Gemma dropped from a nearby rooftop. The woman wore her dragon mask once more.
“You have to be kidding me,” Ari said. “Look, Gemma—”
The woman closed ranks and attacked.
Ari parried the blade, purposely keeping to the defensive for the moment.
“Gemma, don’t do this,” Ari said. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“But I want to hurt you!” Gemma’s voice sounded muted from behind that mask.
“Your brother is alive.” Ari dodged a stab from that katana. “I swear to you! He told me all about your life on the streets. How you ran away from home. How he raised you.”
Gemma paused in her attack. “He told you this?”
“Yes,” Ari said.
“Did he tell you why we ran away from home?”
“No,” Ari admitted. “Though I can imagine the reasons.”
Gemma pressed the attack.
“This man you follow,” Ari said between blows. “Amoch. Have you listened to any of his sermons? He preaches that none of this is real. That there is another world atop this one. Do you believe him?”
In answer, Gemma sliced at her throat.
Ari deflected the attack. “You must, or you would not follow him. Have you not seen the people he lines up at each of his sermons? People who fall upon their blades so that they may leave this reality and move up to the next?”
Gemma attacked harder.
“You don’t believe it, do you?” Ari said, the realization dawning upon her. “You follow him only out of vengeance.”
Gemma struck so hard that Ari nearly lost her grip on the fire sword.
Ari focused on countering, and she managed to divert those powerful blows. Ari switched to the offensive as Gemma grew tired, and her blade darted through her opponent’s guard a few times, merely to deflect from that curlicued armor.
“I am going to tell you the cold, hard truth,” Ari said. “And you can do with it what you will.”
Gemma weakly parried Ari’s latest attack. She had obviously exhausted herself.
“Amoch speaks rightly,” Ari stated. “There is indeed a world that sits atop this one. And I am its leader.”
Ari waited a moment for her words to sink in. Gemma responded with a half-hearted stab.
Ari easily parried the blow and continued. “Do you hear me? The leader. And I chose Zak. Chose him. I wanted to awaken him from this world myself. I saw potential in him. A man who could make a difference. And he is doing that at this very moment. Fighting for us. Leading an attack against an Enemy even more powerful than Amoch. One among you is from that very Enemy. Jeremy.”
Gemma finally stepped back and ceased the attack. She kept her sword raised and at the ready, however. “You can bring me to my brother?”
Ari felt her expression soften. She lowered her blade slightly. “I could. But it is against the rules we have laid down. Even I, as the leader, cannot violate these rules. It would set a bad precedent. Without these rules, there would be chaos in both worlds. Besides, to do so, I would have to end your life here.”
“So if I end your life,” Gemma said. “You will simply return to this upper world of yours?”
“Not precisely,” Ari said. “If I die here, I die for real. It has to do with the way I’m connected to this world.”
Gemma lifted her mask, revealing her face. She seemed torn by indecision. She pursed her lips. “Who is Amoch in the real world?”
“He used to be one of my top programmers. A man named Kade. But something happened to him. I don’t know what, but he changed. Or maybe he remained the same the whole time and simply shielded his true intentions from the rest of us. Whatever the case, he betrayed us all.”
Gemma’s eyes momentarily flicked to her own blade, as if she were trying to decide whether to use the weapon or sheathe it. “Jeremy is part of this Enemy who attacks us? This Enemy my brother is helping to destroy?”
Ari nodded. “He is.”
“The man in the suit and tie?” Gemma asked.
“That’s him.”
Gemma turned toward the square. “If he is my brother’s enemy, then he is mine. Come then, gol Nine, let us finish this.”
“You can call me Ari,” she told her.
Wary of a trick, at first Ari allowed Gemma to lead the way. But as the woman attacked the enemy fighters and it became obvious that she had switched allegiances, Ari fought directly at her side and trusted her to guard her flank.
“Thank you for believing me,” Ari told her.
Gemma nodded curtly.
Ari and Gemma cut their way through the defenders until t
hey reached Briar and Renna.
“Who’s the fine lass?” Briar said, eying Gemma up and down.
“She’s with me,” Ari said.
Renna raised her shield to deflect an incoming blow of fire, then nodded at Gemma. “Welcome to the party.”
Ari continued the fight. She had hoped the enemy soldiers would flee the square at some point after Amoch and Wraylor vanished, but apparently she had been wrong. Perhaps the members of the opposing army hadn’t yet realized their leaders were gone?
“Your masters are dead!” Ari shouted into the attacking ranks. “The fight has ended!”
In answer, a lightning wielder launched a stream of electricity at her. Briar moved forward and deflected the blow with his shield.
“Clear from my path!” someone shouted. “Clear away!”
A corridor formed among the enemy ranks. Jeremy stood at the end of it in his suit and tie.
“Ari dearest,” Jeremy said. “The fight is far from ended.”
The head of the giant hammer, which continued to pound into the battered house beside the square, abruptly broke away from the handle and crashed to one side. Above it, the damaged handle continued to feebly move up and down.
Brute stood to its feet amid the debris, extended its four arms out to the side, and roared. It withdrew its scimitars—one of them was broken, so the beast discarded it—and then stepped into the square. Soldiers on both sides gave it a wide berth.
Jeremy grinned as the creature approached. “Two’s company. Shall we, Brute?”
“She’s mine,” a muted voice hissed.
And then, before Ari could react, a blade penetrated her from behind, stabbing clean through her armor to emerge from underneath her diaphragm.
A mortal wound. Every breath she took burned.
Ari stared at the square-tipped blade in shock for a moment and then fell to her knees.
“Ari!” Briar said.
She jerked in pain as the blade withdrew, and then glanced over her shoulder.
Gemma stood there, katana covered in fresh blood. The mask covered her face once more, obscuring her features. Ari could almost imagine her snarling victoriously beneath that gaping grin.
