by M. R. Forbes
Nathan didn’t look to see who had saved Isaac. He turned back toward the Intellect, swinging his rifle into position.
The Intellect dropped a small disc onto the ground between them. A blue light rose from it, spreading out and up. Nathan started shooting, his rounds captured by the light, which sparked and flared the way the Skin’s shields did.
Lucius tried shooting through the barrier too, the APC’s heavy cannon producing a deafening roar in the space. Large rounds smashed into the energy field, collapsing to the ground in front of it with large thunks.
“Hold your fire!” Nathan yelled.
The Intellect climbed into the car and closed the door. The vehicle hummed to life, its electric motor whining as it began to pull away.
The blur that had tackled Isaac raced across the garage, angling for the other side of the barrier and giving Nathan a better look.
Hayden. The real Hayden.
He was almost moving faster than Nathan could track. He ducked behind the energy shield, coming to a stop beside one of the motorcycles as the modbox—and interlink—started up the ramp to the outside.
“Hayden,” Nathan said, trying to get his attention.
Hayden glanced up at him as he mounted the bike. The look in the Sheriff’s eyes caused Nathan to flinch. It was almost as inhuman as the Intellect’s lack of definition.
He started the bike, the gas engine roaring to life. Kicking the stand up, he hit the throttle, the back wheel spinning for a second before gaining traction and sending him rocketing after the Intellect.
“General,” Isaac said, getting back to his feet. “We’ve got survivors on the way up.”
Nathan walked over to the Axon’s shield. He leaned over and reached for the generator on the ground. Electricity arced from the base to his gloved hand, causing him to jump back as an overload warning flashed across his HUD.
“We need to get them out of here alive,” Nathan said.
“What about Sheriff Duke?” Isaac asked.
Nathan looked back to the exit ramp, shivering again when he remembered the look in Hayden’s eyes. It was a look he knew a little too well.
He’d had the same one when his wife was murdered.
“If he can’t catch up to that thing, nobody can.”
19
Hayden
Hayden twisted the throttle, hitting the clutch and launching up the ramp as the modbox made a left turn into the street ahead. He braked hard when he reached the street, downshifting quickly and planting his foot on the cracked pavement to help turn the heavy motorcycle in the right direction. A xaxkluth was in the street right in front of him, and it rose on its tentacles to let the modbox pass beneath.
It had taken Hayden a few minutes to reason things out. To think things through and to realize the bastard Intellect that killed his family was still in the building. As painful as it all was, as sick to his stomach as he felt, and as much as he wanted to lie down and die, that wasn’t an option right now. He and Natalia had made a pact to see this thing through for as long as they were alive. It was a deal they had made and accepted when they decided to stay on Earth, knowing full well the odds of them both dying together of old age were damn slim.
That didn’t mean he hadn’t hoped for it. Losing Ginny—and especially Hallia—was an added blow that he could barely keep his mind from touching upon. He had to stay away from those thoughts or he would become too furious to fight. Too angry to care about any outcome other than the death of everything that had led to this moment and this devastating loss.
The xaxkluth groaned, swinging its tentacles toward Hayden. He jerked the bike to the side as he punched the throttle, the machine responding quickly and pulling him away. A second tentacle tried to drop in front of him, and he swerved the other way, barely slipping past it before it tried to grab him.
He let go of the handlebars with his right hand, drawing his revolver as he passed under the xaxkluth. It shifted its weight, trying to crush him, but he had already guessed it would make a move, and he swerved back to the left, nearly losing control of the bike as he emptied the gun point-blank into the bottom of the creature’s central mass. It groaned as the .50 caliber rounds of the Smith and Wesson punched all the way through and spilling out ichor, blood and guts from top and bottom. It collapsed in the street as Hayden raced around it, holstering the gun and grabbing the handlebars again.
He leaned forward, turning the throttle to top speed. He could still see the Intellect ahead, the creature having gained a little on Hayden while he dealt with the xaxkluth. It steered the modbox with expert precision, slowing and throwing it around the corner in a perfect drift despite its size and weight.
Hayden slowed again to make the turn, cutting the corner tight and bouncing up and over the sidewalks. He lowered his head and lifted his hand to protect his face as debris flew back at him, thrown back by the modbox as it smashed through rubble left behind by the xaxkluth. His augment deflected the worst of it, the stone ricocheting harmlessly off his hand and forearm.
He nearly wiped out anyway, forced to swerve at the last second as a body became visible in the debris ahead. He skidded sideways, lowering his arm and catching the ground, using the strength of the augment to push himself back up. The bike wobbled before he regained control, still falling further behind.
“Come on,” Hayden growled, intensifying his focus. He sped up again, hitting a slope of rubble and jumping another corpse. He slid around more damage and finally began gaining on the modbox. It took another corner, tracking south across the city, heading for the perimeter.
Hayden made the corner, cutting it more tightly this time. The effort carried him right into the first of an approaching horde of smaller xaxkluth that had left the pyramid to cut him off. He slammed into it, this time letting himself lose control.
He went with the momentum, sliding off the back of the motorcycle as it careened forward and slammed into a pair of xaxkluth, impaling them on the bike’s spikes. He hit the ground hard on his rear, momentum carrying him into a forward roll. He braced himself with his augments, skidding and flipping forward into the scrum.
He slowed to a stop, flipping over onto his knees and grabbing his empty revolver. He dumped the spent shells, replacing them from a speed loader before pulling the second gun. A xaxkluth leaped at him from the left, and he fired into its face, blowing it to pieces. A second grabbed at his leg, its small mouth biting into his bodysuit. He shot that one too, moving to where the bike lay on its side, remarkably still running.
The xaxkluth moved with him. He shot three more before he was overtaken, a pair of them getting on his back and digging into his bodysuit. Two more leaped at him from the left, and a whole group of little ones grabbed him from the right, wrapping themselves around his augments. He growled loudly as he tried to bend his arms to aim his guns, only to have another pair grab his legs and pull them back, sending him face down into the pavement.
He heard his nose break on the asphalt, the pain shooting up from it. He could feel the tentacles all over him, the small mouths biting at the bodysuit, trying to get through it to his flesh. A xaxkluth came up beside his face, central mouth reaching for his ear.
A flash of light and it exploded beside him, its blood and guts spraying the side of his face. Another flash hit one on his arm, then the other, then the ones on his back. The flashes continued, over and over in rapid-fire.
Hayden shoved himself up again. He didn’t look for the source of his sudden freedom. He stumbled toward the motorcycle, fresh desperation driving him forward. He quickly reloaded both revolvers, shoving them into their holsters before easily pulling the bike upright.
“It is gone,” his savior said from behind him. “You can’t catch it. Not today. Hahaha. Haha. Let us try to save your people.”
20
Hayden
“You!” Hayden roared, whirling around and pointing his revolver at the speaker. “Where the hell have you been?”
The Intellect raised hi
s hands, even though there was no danger that Hayden might harm him if he opened fire. “You don’t know what I’ve been through, Sheriff.”
“You?” Hayden screamed. “What you’ve been through? Two months, Max. You’ve been gone for two damned months, while we’ve been waiting for you to come back with a decision from your damned council, or whatever the hell they’re called. Natalia is dead, Max! My whole family is dead! And one of you killed them!”
Max had no face and couldn’t make any expressions. The artificial intelligence didn’t feel anything, anyway. “It wasn’t my choice to make, Sheriff. The Council doesn’t make decisions on human time, and my return was little more than a curiosity to them.”
“A curiosity?” Hayden growled. “I’m curious about something, Max. I’m curious about why I gave you Shurrath to take to your people, and now I’ve got Relyeh and Axon working together. Take a look around, damn you. My city is rubble. My family is dead. And you should have been here!”
Hayden stumbled forward, the anger fueling him giving way to the truth. He landed on his knees, leaning over, dropping his guns, and burying his head in his hands. He screamed as loud as he could, trying to drive the pain out as quickly as possible. He didn’t have time to mourn or feel sorry for himself. He and Natalia had a pact. He wasn’t going to dishonor her by letting weakness prevent him from keeping it.
“Sheriff, the xaxkluth are attracted to noise. Hahaha. Haha.”
Hayden sat up again, staring at the Intellect. “All of the damned Relyeh are attracted to noise. How do you know what those things are?”
“I have them in my datastores, including a complete genetic breakdown. The Forge updated my cortex while I was gone.”
“The Forge?”
“Where all of the Intellects go for repairs and upgrades.”
“Did they upgrade you?”
“Other than my cortex, no. My energy stores are fully recharged, as is my Skin.”
“And you came back here with help? Reinforcements? Shields? Advanced Axon tech? Something?”
“No.”
Hayden jumped to his feet, approaching Max. The Intellect still had his hands up. “That’s it? Just no?”
“We have much to discuss, Sheriff.”
“I’m a little busy.”
“I saved your life.”
“No,” Hayden said, reaching out and putting his hand around Max’s neck. Max still didn’t move. “You didn’t save me. You can’t save me. Your kind just killed my family. And you did nothing to stop it.”
“Sheriff, your people are leaving. The xaxkluth won’t take the bait. They can smell living flesh. They know the bulk of the survivors are bringing up the rear. We need to warn them.”
“So warn them, you can hack into their comms.” Hayden let go of Max’s neck, heading for the downed motorcycle. He scooped up his revolvers as he passed.
“Where are you going?” Max asked.
“To find the thing that killed my family,” Hayden replied.
“It’s gone, Sheriff. You won’t catch it.”
Hayden lifted the bike. “I might have if I hadn’t let you distract me. Wherever it’s going, I’ll find it.”
“Alone?”
“Alone. I need to make sure I’m the one that puts the bullet through its cortex.”
“It isn’t an Intellect,” Max said.
Hayden froze again, dropping the motorcycle and whirling around. “What?”
“It isn’t an Intellect. Hahaha. Haha.”
“They upgraded your cortex, but they didn’t fix that stupid laugh?”
“The damage done by the Proxima scientists remains. It couldn’t be repaired without a complete reset, which I refused.”
“You’re allowed to refuse?”
“Technically, no. Hahaha. Haha.”
“Back up a step. What do you mean it isn’t an Intellect?”
“The Axon you are chasing isn’t a machine. It’s a true Axon.”
“An organic, original Axon?”
“Pozz.”
“What the hell is it doing here?”
“Sheriff, I’d like to answer all of your questions. We’re friends, and that’s what friends do for one another. But right now, your people are in trouble.”
“I told you, hack their comms.”
“I can’t. The system they’re using has different encryption than standard units. It would take more time than we’ve already wasted.”
Hayden grabbed the bike again, lifting it up. A part of him didn’t want to care about the people of Sanisco. Not anymore. He wanted vengeance now, damn it. Nothing but vengeance.
His face burned at the thought. Natalia would be ashamed of him.
He straddled the bike, revving it out of gear and then letting it idle as he looked back at Max. “Well? Are you coming?”
Max finally lowered his hands, running over to the motorcycle and jumping on behind Hayden, who put the bike in motion. He rode it to the end of the street and made a left, circling back toward the pyramid. The sharp crackling of the APC’s cannon suddenly echoed across the city, and a noise above drew Hayden’s attention to the Parabellum as it swooped down toward the fighting. It was followed by the booming report of the tank’s main turret launching an explosive shell, and then the roar of the explosion and the groaning of the xaxkluth.
“They don’t sound like they need our help,” Hayden shouted over his shoulder.
“Trust me, Sheriff,” Max replied. “They will.”
21
Caleb
“Sergeant Caleb Card,” Riley Valentine said, her eyes as condescending as ever. Only Caleb knew this wasn’t the real Valentine. The Axon had chosen a face he would recognize, but not necessarily one he liked, to interact with him. “Welcome to the Q-net.”
“Q-net?” Caleb replied. “Quantum Network?”
“It’s still in its infancy, but we’re making good progress. In another en or two, we’ll have complete access throughout the universe, the same as the Relyeh do today.”
“You’re building a Collective for Axon?”
“Not exactly. This is war, Card. You know that.”
“You’re planning to attack the Collective,” Caleb said. “To shut it down?”
“To control it. To use it. The lesser Relyeh receive their marching orders through the Collective. What if we can intercept those orders and change them? The war would be over tomorrow.”
“And the Axon would win.”
“I would win,” Valentine corrected.
Caleb raised an eyebrow at the comment. His understanding of the Axon was that they had evolved beyond things such as war. It was the reason they had created the Intellects. To do the dirty work for them.
“Who are you?” Caleb asked.
“We are Vyte,” Valentine replied.
“You said I, and then you said we. Which one is it?”
“I am one and many,” Valentine said. Her shape changed, morphing into a more alien form.
Its head was more of an oval shape that tapered and flattened in the back. Its eyes were large and purple, its nose small, its mouth lipless and toothless. Its skin was light brown and covered in short, thick hairs that resembled spines. It had long, narrow limbs that ended in three-fingered hands with opposable thumbs. It wore a simple brown robe cinched at the waist with a dark metal belt and a dark hooded cloak pulled back from its head.
“You’ve never seen a true Axon before, have you?” Vyte asked.
“No,” Caleb admitted.
“There are few of us remaining. The Relyeh have slaughtered so many.” He shook his head. “We were like you once, Caleb. Like humans. Many, many ens ago. Our focus was on the discovery and understanding of the universe. We traveled the stars, searching for items to catalog and observe. Our purpose was to be the stewards of life across the galaxy. Like shepherds to a flock, to use one of your terms. But then we made the discovery that changed everything.”
“The Hunger,” Caleb said.
“Yes. Ou
r scouts discovered the Hunger. They observed their endless conquest. Watched them topple civilizations and feed on the remains before moving on. We observed and calculated their pattern of expansion, and once we understood when they would reach our worlds, we started to prepare.
“Those preparations were for nothing. For all of our efforts to defend our outer worlds, the Relyeh continued to advance. They’re too numerous to contain. Too numerous to destroy. Our worlds began to fall.”
“You’re losing the war,” Caleb said.
“We were losing the war,” Vyte rectified. “Because too few of us were willing to do what was necessary. Despite all of our learning and technology, we placed limits on ourselves. Logical rules intended to defend our civilization without losing everything we had gained. Without losing our identity. Rules that would have cost us everything if one of us didn’t have the strength to break them.”
“You mean you?”
“I went on the offensive. I unlocked the potential of our knowledge to use for our survival. I found a means to fight back against the Hunger. I captured their Queen!” He shouted at that, voice furious. “And for that, they branded me a traitor. They called me a savage for refusing to accept our end. They cast me out.”
“You have Nyarlath?”
“I do.”
“Her creatures are attacking Earth.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
“Because the Relyeh aren’t the problem. They’re part of the solution.”
Caleb had a feeling he was going to regret asking, but he did it anyway. “What solution is that?”
“The Axon and Relyeh are the two most successful races in the universe. By bringing them together under one patriarch, I can ensure the survival of all of those who accept my rule.”
“So why attack Earth?” Caleb asked. “There must be more important planets out there.”
“Earth is the fulcrum, strategically positioned between the Axon and Relyeh. The single most valuable world in the universe.”
