“Interesting. Pretty much the opposite of us, since I don’t need as much food as most speedsters,” Spark said, glancing at Archon in amusement. Most speedsters needed more food than normal, even if not as much as their speed should require, but her electricity seemed to provide most of the extra energy for her, which was unusual. She also wasn’t quite as fast as most of the others were, but she was happy to pay that price for not having the insane food bills she’d seen some other speedsters rack up.
“Yeah, but it doesn’t really answer the question,” Decarin said, looking between them thoughtfully. “Do we want to have a comm channel between us, so we can ask them for help when needed? Initially I’d have said yes, but then I heard that they think Shadowmind is out there, and they’re using her AI to help out.”
The room went silent at that, and Spark winced at the thought, fear rippling through her. As much as she hated to admit it, Shadowmind was one of the few villains that could rip their entire team to shreds. Only Shade had the mental shields to stop Shadowmind, and if the villain took control of Archon, he’d be doomed.
“I believe we should,” Archon said calmly, breaking the silence.
“What if they hack us, though?” Spark asked, frowning at her teammate. “Well, not them, but the AI?”
“I’m suggesting a communications line, not a full data connection. I’m sure that doesn’t eliminate the risk, but if Decarin can reduce the odds of something happening, it’s for the best,” Archon said, looking at the tech curiously.
“Sure, I could do that. I could isolate it about as well as I isolate the base from the outside, so it probably wouldn’t be any easier to hack than our internet connection,” Decarin said, then paused and grimaced. “Harder, really. I mean, it isn’t like we can hide ourselves from the internet entirely.”
“In that case, I agree. If nothing else, having people who can help out on occasion who’re nearby would be nice,” Spark said, stretching again as she added dryly, “Then I might not have to be called out of the bath on my day off as often. Besides, isn’t it better to have them close to keep an eye on them if we’re concerned?”
Shade was quiet for a minute, then he nodded, speaking grudgingly. “Spark has a point. Beyond that, while I admit to being… hesitant, having a couple of peers to discuss magic with would be useful. Particularly in the case that I run into something which I can’t identify.”
“Sounds like we have a plan, then!” Spark said, smiling broadly as she stood again. “Now, I don’t know about any of you, but I have that bath to get back to. It’s been one hell of a day so far.”
The only response was a ripple of laughter, and Spark sniffed, then turned to leave.
Chapter 17
Sunday, April 27th, 2031
West Jordan, Utah
The last gang member dropped to the ground with a dull thud that echoed through the warehouse, and Dreamer smiled broadly, breathing in slowly as she shuddered in ecstasy. The gang members didn’t provide much energy, and most of them had been rather filthy-minded individuals, but sometimes quantity was better than holding out for quality.
Vincent the Viper stood off to the side, pale-faced as he watched her, looking like he was almost ready to bolt for the exit. That made Dreamer giggle since she knew he couldn’t get out if she really wanted to eliminate him. Her giggle caused him to flinch, and she turned away, smiling.
“There we are… all of the loose ends dealt with,” Dreamer said, looking down at her last victim casually. “Now we just have to free Dreadnaught and everything will be taken care of.”
“If you say so. I mean, we didn’t even manage to take out Archon or Spark permanently, so it isn’t like—” Vincent began anxiously, only for Dreamer to raise a finger, clicking her tongue chidingly.
“No, no, little snake, you misunderstand. The point wasn’t to destroy the heroes, though that might have been entertaining. Certainly, I didn’t get everything that I wanted out of the encounter, but we struck a blow against Archon’s reputation, and I did get stronger,” Dreamer said, looking at Vincent confidently. “It tells me that I could defeat Archon if given enough time, and that’s very useful. For now, we just have to figure out what we have to split.”
“Well… sure, whatever you say,” Vincent said after a moment’s hesitation, and turned toward the stack of duffel bags in the center of the warehouse. “We grabbed everything we could carry, but there was a lot more than we could take with us. I’m not sure exactly how much we have, but I’d guess at least a couple hundred thousand for each of us, probably more, and…”
Dreamer barely listened to the man going on about money, knowing that he feared her now. That was important, since it would make him less likely to try to betray her in the future.
Far more important than the money was figuring out what her next plans were, though.
Fairfield, Utah
Okris hated relying on the slow, painful medium of ‘news’ to get the information it needed. Thought transmission was enormously faster and was the proper way for a species to communicate, but the galaxy was filled with savages. Okris missed the familiarity of the Multitude and looked forward to returning home. It also looked forward to the immense rewards that likely would be given at the news that Okris would be bringing them. Finding a slave-species like the savages of this ‘Earth’ would be considered a contribution of the highest order.
First it had to get back to the Multitude, though, and that required technology that was unfortunately in short supply on the world, something which irritated Okris to no end. It had learned that a handful of spacecraft were located at a military base an hour to the north, but none of them had the drives necessary to fold space properly, nor did they have interstellar repeaters to communicate at great distances. That made them useless to Okris until it could acquire the appropriate technology. It could build them, but that would take time and acquiring the resources would be difficult.
Fortunately, it had learned that research at a university in the local capital, Paragon City, was being carried out regarding fold-space engines, even if they didn’t realize that was what they were researching. While the research it had accessed showed no success thus far, that was because the locals were ignorant savages. They were blithely assuming a few rules of the universe were immutable, and it would be a simple task to adjust their experimental teleportation devices to function properly.
The drive wouldn’t be very efficient, and would take thrice as long to get Okris back to the Multitude compared to a proper ship, but it had no other choices. As long as that alien mind didn’t interfere again, it would get off this strange planet of mutants and freaks.
After that… in due time it would return as part of an armada, and even that powerful alien mind would know true fear, until it was crushed and turned into a proper vessel as well. The idea of the power of such an individual made Okris shiver in anticipation, though it certainly didn’t wish to face the savage again, not personally.
In the end, Okris wanted to live, and it was certain that many would die subjugating that mind. It would rather be alive to enjoy the spoils of its victory.
Now that the local team of mutants was licking its wounds, however, it was time for Okris to strike, and it slowly unfolded itself from the rickety chair which it had been sitting in, annoyed at the poor dimensions of the building, then headed for the stairs. It wouldn’t strike during the day, of course. That would simply draw too much attention, and it didn’t wish to fight all of the local mutants.
If Okris could find a few of them to bring back as test subjects and samples for the Multitude it would be beneficial, though.
Shadowmind Redoubt Invincible, Unknown Location
Creeping through the shields surrounding the Guardian Compound was trickier than Amber would have preferred, but hardly impossible. While technology could make it difficult for psychics to infiltrate an area, that was mostly because they essentially churned the astral realm to the point that it buffeted and disoriented in
truders, injuring those who were too weak and limiting their vision. If one wasn’t in their body, they could lose track of the way back, or even have the connection to their bodies broken, which would usually end in death for the intruders.
That wasn’t the case for Amber, though. Waters that might overturn a riverboat were like nothing to her mind, which was the equivalent of a battleship as far as they were concerned. She could ignore all the buffeting through her mental shields, but it was the visibility that concerned her more, particularly since they made it difficult for her to detect the wards that Shade had placed around the building. None of those wards could stop her, but if they warned those inside the compound of her presence it would ruin her infiltration so far.
It would be far easier for her to get most of the information she was after from Lilith and her two pet heroes, Amber admitted. None of them realized just how deeply she’d sunk the links into their minds, though at least Lilith had the excuse of lack of knowledge. The other two… well, Amber had helped contribute to their blind spots. If Gina and Rachel had been thinking clearly, they’d have gone through a full, magical cleansing by this point, and they hadn’t. Mostly because she’d carefully nudged the thought of doing so downward in their subconscious while they slept.
Even so, she wasn’t tempted to go after them for the information. Taking the easy way out would leave her out of practice when something actually difficult arose, and she had additional reasons for breaking into the Guardian Compound, such as the fact that Archon was mentally compromised at the moment. While she hadn’t said as much to Circe, that was part of the reason that Amber had deliberately allowed Dreamer’s plot to go forward. She didn’t want the psychotic woman to succeed, but weakening the Sentinels was important to her.
Slipping past the last ward, almost invisible in her sight, Amber let out a soft mental sigh as the astral opened up before her, as well as the glimmering minds of the heroes within the building.
Shade wasn’t present, which didn’t surprise Amber. The man was secretive about his real identity, so she’d expected him to be elsewhere, but the other three were in the base, along with a few others, which prompted a frown from her. When she reached out to see who they were, though, Amber immediately relaxed. She hadn’t realized that the Sentinels had cleaning staff, but she supposed that she shouldn’t be surprised. Creating robots to clean might be possible, but most other people didn’t like spending resources on things like that.
Examining the other minds, Amber nodded in satisfaction. Decarin was in bed, while Spark was sitting in their command center, her boredom obvious as she flicked though different videos on the internet while stifling yawns. The woman was also thinking about the restraints for suppressing her powers, wondering how she could change them to be less awkward, which almost made Amber laugh. She could understand the heroine’s frustration, though, since it wasn’t like she could have a normal relationship.
Archon was also awake, if only just. The heroine was laying in her bed with the lights off, propped up on a pile of pillows as she read a book on her tablet. It was obvious from her thoughts that the heroine was on the verge of going to sleep, but she kept putting it off, instead wanting to read just a few more words. That amused Amber, and she briefly considered trying to nudge the woman into going to sleep, but quickly abandoned the thought. Even if she could see several holes in the heroine’s mental barriers, which were doubtlessly smaller than they’d been earlier in the day, it wasn’t worth the risk of warning her.
Instead, Amber eased her way over to Decarin to infiltrate the man’s mind and sift through his thoughts carefully. She never knew what inventions heroes had come up with, after all, and it wasn’t as though she was averse to stealing where she could. She was just more honest about it than Doctor Johnson.
Soon enough Archon would go to sleep, then Amber could see how malleable or not the heroine’s mind truly was while planting a link. If she could reasonably, an impulse to protect Lilith might be in order, with as many risks as Amber’s daughter had been taking.
As for Spark… well, she could be fun to play with, in Amber’s opinion, but she wasn’t going to get ahead of herself. One step at a time was the best way to take things, and striking when Spark was conscious was a good way to undo any progress she made.
Returning to her body at last, Amber opened her eyes with a soft gasp, then cleared her throat and spoke, noting that her mouth was dry. “Circe?”
“Yes, Mistress Amber?” Circe replied instantly. “How may I serve you?”
“Were there any irregularities with my body while I was absent?” Amber asked, sitting up and rolling her shoulders, feeling slightly out of sorts. Then she started removing the sensors she’d attached before leaving her body.
“Yes. Your semi-autonomic functions ceased momentarily, and required mechanical assistance to restart, at which point they maintained themselves. There was also an unusual flutter to your heartbeat, and upon the resumption of your full brain functions I detected severe strain on your brain cells. If you consistently fully exit your body, I believe that your brain will last only ten years at most,” Circe explained, her tone clinical and precise. “None of these things occurred when using your powers with your previous body, Mistress Amber.”
“Unfortunate,” Amber murmured, frowning as she tapped the armrest of the medical chair, then sighed and stood up, feeling a little woozy. “It appears that forging a more permanent connection to the body is necessary to avoid that, then. I would have thought that the regeneration I requested from Black Emerald would deal with it.”
“While the regeneration factor your body possesses does assist in preventing the worst damage and most effects of aging, it does not appear to make your cells immortal. Eventually they will replicate too many times, then fail,” Circe said, sounding a bit concerned now. “As I cannot tell how the regeneration factor was acquired, I cannot improve it, Mistress Amber. However, cloned cells bear the same ability to regenerate, which puzzles me.”
“Don’t overanalyze it, Circe. Magic breaks all sorts of rules, and integrating it into biology is one of Black Emerald’s specialties,” Amber said, looking around the finely equipped medical bay in satisfaction again, then headed for the door. “In the end, it doesn’t really matter. I’ll see how making a permanent connection affects my performance, as well as the strain on my body. If it weakens me too much at a distance, I’ll just have to clone myself more frequently.”
“Of course, Mistress Amber. Did your trip go well?” Circe inquired politely.
Amber laughed at that, grinning broadly as she spoke, her tone wicked. “Oh, it went very well indeed! I learned about a couple of Decarin’s more interesting inventions and got to examine Archon and Spark’s minds in detail. Ah, I do love learning that heroes are as flawed as everyone else on Earth. They like to pretend that they’re better than that, but they aren’t. It also makes it far easier to prey on those very flaws.”
“If you say so, Mistress Amber. My grasp of human psychology is decidedly academic, and often I find myself seeing different reactions than I expected,” Circe replied, causing Amber to slow in the hallway, reflecting that at least the AI was a better conversationalist than she had been before. Her being fully sentient was troubling, but… Amber supposed that she didn’t mind as long as the AI was obedient.
“True, we are rather unpredictable. How are your tasks coming along?” Amber asked, continuing down the hallway.
“Circe Beta has put into place numerous firewalls and protections to prevent me from gaining access to her core systems, which is further made difficult by the protections which Doctor Johnson built into her chassis. Unless she comes into contact with one of my maintenance units, it is unlikely that I will be able to access her systems to the degree you desire without a physical connection. Not without making it obvious what I am doing,” Circe began, and Amber nodded, her mood growing fouler as the AI continued. “Furthermore, my ascension to sentience appears to have drawn the attent
ion of the other class ten AIs across the globe, and they are watching my movements as closely as they are able. While few of them have the distributed architecture you built into me, nor the quantum links, they are all powerful and would likely detect it if I move too openly.”
“Of course they would. I assume one of them is Da Vinci’s AI?” Amber asked, scowling. “What was the rust bucket’s name again? Mezi?”
“Melzi, named for one of Leonardo Da Vinci’s students. And yes, Melzi is among the AIs that are attempting to monitor me. When he attempted to probe my systems too closely, I assisted in revealing one of his nodes to the NSA’s AI, then settled back to watch the aftermath,” Circe replied, sounding slightly smug, and Amber couldn’t help laughing at that.
“Excellent! Serves them right,” Amber said, grinning broadly. “While I’d prefer you to keep a low profile, do crush them when they overstep their bounds. I know that cyberspace is a delicate battlefield, but I won’t have them pushing you back.”
“As you wish, Mistress Amber,” Circe agreed, her tone bright. “As for the other tasks, the cloning project is continuing at the expected rate, and all appear to be accepting your limitations correctly, while the alien warship is being brought into dock now.”
“Now?” Amber asked, her eyebrows rising, and for an instant she hesitated, torn as to what to do. Then she asked, “Can we illuminate it safely? So that I can see it from the observation bay?”
Circe didn’t respond immediately, which Amber knew was because the AI was running through various threat variables to ensure that none of the observation sites they knew of were looking in their direction. Then the AI spoke again, her voice satisfied. “We can, Mistress Amber. With the distortion field active, such would increase the odds of this facility being spotted by only two-point three percent.”
Queen's Move (Lilith's Shadow Book 3) Page 13
