“That’s because you’re not a biochemist. Ever heard of gene expression? Remember what animafication does to a host body?”
Gnarl nodded. “It alters the host’s physical properties to match the data contained in the anima. Gradually, the host’s appearance begins to change until he or she becomes the exact copy of that particular Incarnator’s original body. But this kind of gene expression takes years, decades even, and can be thrown off track by Evolutions or by the discrepancies in the two persons’ genomods.”
Arachne nodded. “Normally, yeah. But here we were dealing with a brand new, clean host body. That was perfect. After I took the samples, Cherub and I went to the lab and worked on building a Virtual Clone, then used it to check Grey’s gene expression by accelerating all of his processes.”
“A Virtual Clone?” Evyl asked greedily. “How did you do that? Where did you find the right materials?”
“Cherub had been working on it for ages. We used some Umbra and some of the Brahma particles kept on Avenger,” Arachne replied reluctantly.
“You don’t mean you used the samples from Gloom’s own collection? You didn’t break into the container left from Project Aurora, did you? Are you mad, woman? Those technologies are irreplaceable!”
“That’s what Zac told me to do!” Arachne replied brazenly without lowering her blue eyes. “He wanted to make sure! That meant a lot to him!”
“Okay, okay,” Gnarl replied, trying to collect himself. “An ingenious solution. A Virtual Clone, oh well.... So what were the results of this experiment? If I understand it correctly, you used the golem to model all the potential developments in order to see what Grey’s body would look like at the final stage of his animafication?”
“Exactly. We wanted to see what he might have looked like during his last incarnation. Then I used our copy of Stellar’s old database to search for any matches. The result wasn’t very accurate though. Sixty percent match. But it’s still something.”
“So who was he?” Evyl asked impatiently.
“Sorry, I can’t tell you,” Arachne replied coldly. “The information’s too sensitive. Ice is the only person I can share it with.”
“Very well,” Gnarl replied. “Just tell me.”
Evyl cringed. “Can’t you see this slut is playing games? She’s up to something, I can see that!”
“We’re four hundred years old, babe, for crissakes,” Gnarl said softly. “Of course she’s playing games. Will you just stop worrying?”
“First, I’d like to discuss my personal safety,” Arachne said. “If, at some point, you decide to kill me – to prevent the information from spreading or for any other reason – the message containing all the evidence regarding Zac, Cherub, Grey, and all that shit will automatically be delivered to all of our mutual friends. You know who I’m talking about, don’t you? Secondly, I’d like to leave both Avenger and your group.”
“Playing it safe, are you?” Gnarl chuckled. “Please. Where do you think you can go? Who’s gonna take you? You won’t last long. Either the Legion, the Hunters, or the A-monsters will make quick work of you.”
“Wait till you see the results of our little experiment,” Arachne replied. “Okay, I’ve had enough of this bullshit. You take a look at this – and then it’s up to you what to do with this kind of knowledge.”
Both fell silent.
Evyl knew that her mentor was now busy watching the footage Arachne was feeding him, replaying it at breakneck speed in one of his mind’s channels.
“That’s – not – possible,” he finally said in a clear, snappy voice.
Then he cussed like a trooper.
Evyl shuddered. Her mentor virtually never cussed. It had to be something extraordinary to extract a dirty word from him. The last time it had happened was when they’d heard the rumbling of the Legion’s heliplanes just before the clan settlement on Kratos was consumed by the mushroom cloud of a thermonuclear explosion.
With a crooked smile, Arachne tousled her snow-white crew cut. She was very good-looking, Evyl had to give her that, with her refined German manners, groomed to within an inch of her life. Evyl sensed a surge of hatred rising within her to this manipulative bitch who was so obviously playing her own game.
“You can’t be right,” Gnarl’s voice broke, betraying his emotions. “I don’t believe you.”
“Now you know why I want to jump ship, don’t you?” Arachne said in a sweet singsong. “You sort this shit out yourselves, without me. Can I go now?”
“Sure,” Gnarl unexpectedly said. “Bye.”
Evyl watched in disbelief as the force field around Arachne’s confinement zone disappeared. The sealed hatch of her cell hissed open, letting her out. The information that bitch had confided in him must have been truly important for him to make this kind of decision. It had to be something truly game-changing.
“Listen, babe,” Gnarl said slowly. “We need to get hold of the guy ASAP. And we need him alive.”
“But Ice, who is he?”
Her mentor swung around to face her. Evyl shuddered when his icy-cold fingers dug into her chin, his eyes locked with hers.
“You wanna live, don’t you?” he asked in a voice pregnant with emotion.
“Yes, teacher,” Evyl lowered her eyes, unable to hold his prickly dead stare.
“Then you shouldn’t ask. I think I know what Lydia must have felt.”
“Yes, I understand. What do you suggest?”
“I’ve just told you. We need to get hold of him.”
“What about the Legion?”
“They’ll get what’s coming to them. But this is more pressing. Much more pressing.”
“D’you want him dead or alive?” Evyl said with a nasty smile.
“You do what you want with the other two, I don’t care. But him — I want him alive. I think I’m gonna come with you guys this time. Just to make sure you don’t mess up again.”
“But what about the ship? How are you gonna control it? You think your duplication system can manage without you?” Evyl nodded at Gnarl’s copies busy in the crew’s seats. “Controlling them will take up a lot of your energy.”
“It still should be enough,” Gnarl murmured. “He can’t have reached his full potential yet. We have no choice, don’t you understand? Either we get hold of him now, or...”
“Or what?”
Gnarl didn’t reply.
Chapter 29
WHEN THE FAMILIAR bright-blue beam over the Monolith reappeared on the horizon, I felt a strangely warm, almost fuzzy feeling. I hadn’t felt anything like it before. That’s probably what a traveler must feel seeing their home town loom out of the morning mist before them. Or a sailor peering at the horizon until his eyes sting, desperate to sight the familiar port. The black obelisk with its vast empty halls; our voices bringing them back to life; even Kate 7’s translucent silhouette rippling with interference...
We were coming home.
The evening twilight thickened as night was about to fall. When we were already within a stone’s throw from the Monolith, Alice said reluctantly, casting wary glances at the hemisphere of the Black Moon rising over the horizon,
“Me not going. Not there. Me stays here. For tonight.”
I immediately knew what she meant. “Is it the beast?”
Alice nodded.
Gingerly I touched her mind, sensing her struggle as she tried to counter the hungry urge of the Beast awakening within her. She had been getting the upper hand until now – but once the Black Moon had fully risen, he would take over her body. I didn’t have any more of that Cherub’s stuff on me, which left me with only two options: either set her loose or try Lion Face’s amplifier on her. I was leaning toward the second option and was actually going to discuss it with her – but...
At that particular moment, we were walking along the old road threading through the ancient ruins which encircled the Monolith. When the black silhouettes of the collapsed houses lit up with the bright flares of gunshots
, we were caught completely unawares.
Later, I would spend a lot of time wondering if we could have avoided the trap that the Possessed had set for us. Could we have escaped it, had we chosen a different route or by checking the area more thoroughly? But no matter how much time I’d spend second-guessing all the potential options, I knew we couldn’t have. They’d set up the ambush by the book, employing all of their vast military experience. They’d been stalking us all along, waiting patiently to make sure that nothing set our alarm bells ringing.
I died instantly. I just turned deaf and blind, caught at the epicenter of dazzling light. At first, I didn’t even realize what had happened. Although my Lorica suit had withstood the impacts, the enemy gunmen were sharpshooters confidently aiming for my head and other vulnerable spots.
Activation No 28
This sudden attack had completely put us off our stride. The moment I came back to life, I instantly lowered my helmet’s visor – but by then, none of my suit’s systems worked, including communications. The thunder of non-stop shooting and explosions stunned and disoriented me. Who was it firing? Where were they? We weren’t given the slightest chance to find our bearings: they just gunned us down at point blank.
Miko spoke in a hasty, alarmed voice, reporting the number of the enemy positions, her every prognosis more negative than the one before it. The ambush had been set up by professionals. She estimated our chances as “low to non-existent”.
I hurt badly. My interface kept flashing with the crimson dots of incoming damage. The enemy didn’t ease up for one second; torrents of lead pummeled our collapsed bodies, beating them into the ground.
Our enemies must have known they were dealing with Incarnators, at least I couldn’t find another explanation for this barrage of interlocking fire. They just had to keep killing a constantly resurrecting enemy.
The attack had thrown Kai backward to the ground – but even despite that, he’d managed to react remarkably promptly. He activated the hemispheric power shield and even fired his ginormous pulse gun a couple of times in the direction of the ruins. All I’d done before dying again was hurl a Flash at the nearest attackers. My interface kept flashing with new incoming damage as the enemy doused us with lead and pelted us with grenades making sure we couldn’t get back to our feet. Kai squirmed and rolled on the ground trying to take cover but the merciless hail of bullets and grenade explosions kept knocking him down every time.
For a split second, panic paralyzed me. We were cornered. The only potential solution, according to Miko, was if Kai and I used our paranormal abilities in unison. But how were we supposed to do that if the enemy wouldn’t let us as much as raise our heads above the ground?
And what was this shit now? As the enemy kept us engaged, black nets began dropping from the sky, their wire mesh studded with a great many sharp hooks. They enveloped us instantly, restricting our motions. Trying to struggle free, I heard a distant growling. Packs of canine monsters were running toward us down the slope.
Those were garms – or rather, their modified versions, the cyberwargs! Their task must have been to engage us in a hand-to-hand and wrestle us to the ground until the human hunters arrived. I could see them coming already, hurrying toward us from the ruins while loosing off selective shots. Miko confidently ID’d them as the Rogues’ special force similar to the ones who’d driven us into the A-zone.
The only team member who’d survived the first blow had been Alice. Her incredible regeneration coupled with the Blizzard suit had allowed her to withstand the attack and go on the offensive the moment the shooters eased off their fire.
I’d had plenty of chance to see her fight – but only now could I truly appreciate the sheer power of a professional Warrior in possession of quality gear. It was both beautiful and lethal. Having shapeshifted into her Allys form, she darted through the garms’ ranks, ripping them apart and scattering them like a tiger would a pack of feral dogs. In a wondrously regal leap she closed the gap, then swung round in a barely perceptible motion, bared her Frost and lunged at the shooters lurking in the ruins.
A panic ensued. They tried to switch fire to her, but to no avail: virtually invulnerable in Gerda’s guyver suit, Alice just kept taking them out one by one. Wherever she turned, a fierce blizzard would pelt her opponents with handfuls of prickly snow, stunning and disorienting them.
Kai and I jumped at our chance. We resurrected almost in unison, ripping the nets apart: he by slicing through them with his laser glare and I, by casting Reinforcements with Light on Fang’s fiery blade, then hacking through the wiry tenets.
Cyberwargs came for us from every direction, growling and trying to sink their teeth into our throats, forcing us to the ground. Twice I managed to empty my Rat’s clip into the nearest ones, its expanding bullets stopping the giant wolves in mid-leap and killing them on the spot. I met yet another beast with my Fang, ripping through his belly while Kai next to me fought them off with his humongous pulse gun, the blue tracers of its charges piercing the raging cyber animals right through.
But still they were too numerous: growling, leaping onto our shoulders, sinking their teeth into our legs trying to rip us apart. Our armor served us well against their teeth, but the moment we lost our footing, the pack would just tear us to pieces.
Seeing more of them coming, I activated a Flash. It worked very well in a dogfight like this when your enemies tried to crush you with sheer numbers – especially seeing as both Alice and Kai had optical protection in their helmet visors.
The fiery light of the solar explosion stunned the wargs momentarily. Blinded and singed, their skin smoking, they whined with pain as they crawled away. Still, despite Alice’s best efforts, the enemy still had more men to spare – and those had come prepared, judging by their helmets and massive protective goggles.
Still, regular humans or even regular morphs are no match against Incarnators. Alice had already ripped apart a good half of the attackers’ flanks. Kai and I too had gotten our act together, shed the nets and pushed the wargs back. The reluctant balance began to shift in our favor as our enemies sustained heavy losses. I could sense their lack of confidence and their fear of these unkillable opponents arising time and time again the moment you gunned them down.
All we needed was a tiny bit more effort! Just a little bit in order to fight through. Unhesitantly I drew Fang’s blade across the flat of my hand, summoning the fiery wolf. He leapt off the dagger and lunged at our enemies, obeying my order. If he managed to take care of the ambush’s other flank, he’d give us enough time to get to them – and then we’d see!
Still, it didn’t work out quite like that. Because apparently today human beings were the least of our problems.
The fiery wolf froze in his tracks, paralyzed by fear, then darted back toward me, turning into a glowing spark which disappeared inside Fang’s blade.
Everything that followed happened so quickly that a person with regular eyesight wouldn’t have been able to see any of it. My Incarnator abilities and super-fast reaction times only allowed me to glimpse some of it.
A familiar figure in a long blue headdress materialized amid the ruins, surrounded by the lacy swirls of the pelting blizzard. As I recognized it, a spasm of icy terror shook my whole body.
It was Gnarl walking toward us. Gnarl, once known as Ice.
Alice wasn’t afraid of him. Completely covered in blood, she looked terrifying – and now she darted forward to intercept him, about to give him the taste of her rapier at full tilt. Had it been someone else, I’m sure she might have succeeded – but Gnarl’s reactions were just as fast as her own.
He didn’t try to block or parry her swing. He simply caught the rapier blade with his bare hand. Immediately a thick crust of ice ran up it, freezing his arm – but this momentary halt was enough for him to punch her with his left hand enveloped in the pale-blue glow of Azure.
Alice flew back a good fifty feet, hitting the ruins with a hearty thump. Dust and stone fragments fle
w everywhere as if it were a cannonball and not a human body. Any other warrior would have died on the spot from the sheer amount of broken bones – but not Alice. Consumed by a cloud of dust, she sank to the ground – but a few moments later, she was already back to her feet, ready to keep fighting.
Unfortunately, no one gave us such a chance.
A purple lasso extended from Gnarl’s hand. The forking charge of energy wrapped around Alice’s body, entangling her in sparking discharges so powerful that her body rose several feet into the air, enveloped in a shimmering cocoon.
How she screamed! It made my blood curdle. Then she dropped down: a smoking chunk of meat rather than a human being. Once again the Possessed had attacked us with their Lash of Void: the Azuric weapon which had destroyed Angel’s wingsuit and killed both Cherub and Arachne back on board Avenger. And now my own team member had fallen prey to it.
The Enchanter (Project Stellar Book 2): LitRPG Series Page 35
