"I just want to know what to expect," said Gillian.
Harrison touched Gillian's arm to get her attention and shook his head. Obviously, Deegan wasn't going to tell them more. Continuing to ask him would just drive a wedge between them. They needed Deegan if they were ever going to get back home. Harrison needed him to help; he needed to know that his world was safe.
"How close are we?" Gillian asked.
"Close," he replied. "It looks like we take a left at the next junction, and then forward until we reach the door to the inner sanctum."
They walked on in silence, listening to the distant fighting. The corridor they took ended in a blank wall.
"That's weird," Harrison said. "I'm sure this is it."
"Maybe you're reading it wrong," Deegan suggested.
"He's not," Geoffrey said from near the wall. "The door is here. It's just covered by an illusion of some kind. My suit sensors can detect it, even if I can't see it."
"So how we get through it?"
"Well, when in doubt..." He raised his rifle and fired at the wall.
Whatever kind of gun that was, it wasn't loud, but it was highly effective. A dark bolt of something hit the wall, and then there wasn't a wall or a door, just a jagged hole into the space beyond. Harrison followed Geoffrey through the hole.
The others fanned out around them.
The center of the room was dominated by a huge tank filled with a faintly luminescent blue fluid. Suspended in the fluid was what looked like a giant brain. The brain was over a meter long. Tubes and wires led from it and up through the ceiling. The brain appeared diseased. Large sores covered the surface, reminding Harrison of a picture he'd seen in basic when they were warning the troops about syphilis. Streamers of darker matter floated around it in the tank. Whatever it had once been, it was obviously sick now, maybe even dying. There was a feeling of immense age to the thing.
"Is this it?" Harrison asked, breaking the silence. It looked as if someone had gone for an organic computer to run the installation. He hoped his people never did anything like this. It was... an abomination.
Deegan shook himself. "I think so. There is an air of great power and darkness around it. I'm guessing it may be insane."
"You are one to speak, fallen one." The voice came from all around them, and yet it was clear that it belonged to the brain in the tank. The voice was like a child's – an exceedingly evil child's. It sent shivers down Harrison's spine. "Have you come here to join me? To replace those soldiers of mine that you have slain?"
"We are here to destroy you, abomination," Deegan answered.
"Is this what it really looks like?" asked Harrison. "Or is this some trick? You said they can look like whatever they want."
"This is what it really looks like," Deegan said. He sounded as if he was in pain.
Harrison suddenly realized that none of them had moved since entering the room. It wasn't that he was being held or anything; he'd just been loath to do so. He knew somehow that the thing in the tank was responsible.
"Geoffrey," Deegan said through gritted teeth, "I'm bound. Kill it."
Geoffrey raised his rifle and fired, but the dark bolt of energy from the rifle dissipated a meter from the tank as though it had splashed off a shield of some kind. Geoffrey cried out and staggered just after that.
"You think you can hurt me with your toys, boy?" the voice said. "I've killed more than one of your kind, but I think perhaps it would be more fun to make you mine." That voice made Harrison feel like a schoolchild who had displeased the teacher. A part of him wanted to make the others stop.
White flames rolled off Deegan, who now bore feathered wings, and flashed toward the thing in the tank, but the flames, too, splashed harmlessly away. A part of Harrison couldn't decide if Deegan had always looked like that; it seemed right, somehow. He couldn't remember. He was having trouble thinking.
The sinister voice laughed. "I have lived for such eons that man would call me immortal. I am shielded from all of your puny energies. I will have you all in the end. I've taken many others. Many with stronger minds than yours. Even now, you are all joining with me. You can feel it, the tendrils of my thoughts becoming yours. You will all be mine, and I will send you to destroy the worlds from whence you came."
There's something there, Harrison thought dully. A weakness. If it could have killed them, it would have – he knew that. What was it?
Harrison could feel it in his mind, as it had said. But it wasn't as strong as it thought it was. It didn't control him. He knew it was able to completely stop only one of them at a time, and it held Geoffrey still, as it had held Deegan before him. When Geoffrey had broken free and attacked, it had shifted its attention to him, and that had freed Deegan to act. That meant Harrison wasn't being held, just encouraged not to act. He hurriedly raised his SCAR rifle and held down the trigger. The heavy 7.62mm bullets smashed the clear tank and blasted pieces out of the thing inside it. He was surprised it had worked, but he'd gotten the idea when the thing said it was immune to their energies.
The thing in the tank screamed, the cry long and drawn out and filled with more anguish than Harrison had ever thought possible. The sudden cessation of the lethargy was the most shocking. He stood there holding his finger down on the rifle's trigger long after the magazine was empty.
Chapter Sixty-two
Gillian's hand on his arm snapped him out of it.
"It's over," she said gently.
He swallowed and looked away from the dead thing in the broken tank. It was beginning to rot, and the stench was like nothing he'd smelled before. "Are we sure that thing was the only one?"
"I'm sure," Deegan said. He looked normal again, and Harrison couldn't decide if he'd really had wings, or if he'd hallucinated that. Somehow, he didn't care which it was.
Harrison suddenly sat down hard on the floor, his back against the wall. "Everyone okay?'
Raven laughed nervously. "I'm glad you could shoot it. I wanted to, but I couldn't move. Its voice was in my head."
"They have that effect sometimes," said Deegan.
"'They'?"
Deegan only shook his head.
Geoffrey walked over and examined the tank. "This tech reminds me of Firster tech I saw back in the Concord. It certainly doesn't match the tech level of the rest of this place."
"I think you may be correct," Deegan replied, with a sharp look toward Harrison and Gillian. "I don't think we should discuss it at this time, though."
Harrison didn't care what it was, as long as the thing was really dead. He was so tired; he just wanted to go back home and walk in the woods behind his cabin. He wanted all of this business with monsters to go away, but he suspected that now that he had involved himself, it was going to be a part of his life. He patted the SCAR. He'd always liked that rifle, and doubly so now.
"What now?" Gillian asked him as she sat down.
He didn't know. They'd certainly held their end of the bargain. It was time for Deegan to send him home. What troubled him was that he wasn't so sure he really wanted to go. Not to stay, anyway. He needed to go back to reassure himself that his world was safe, but he knew it would never be safe as long as things like what had lurked in that tank existed. If there was one place like this, there were probably others. Could he live with himself, knowing that an enemy could come to his world and just wipe it all away?
He put his arm around Gillian. She felt good against him. He knew without asking that she would be willing to follow him to his world, but he also knew that she would never be happy there. She was a free spirit. She traveled the worlds, and eventually she would leave him, no matter how happy they were. The only real choice he had was to go with her.
"I'm going to go check on the Marines," said Geoffrey. "The lieutenant just reported that the last of the JRC forces have surrendered. They've been moving them to the Door rooms. We need to clear them out, relocate them, before we can do anything else."
"Do anything else?" Deegan said.
"We need to
investigate the technology here."
"I thought I made it clear that this installation was going to be under the control of the Auroran Circle."
"Sure," said Geoffrey. "And my commander made it clear to me that we are to salvage some of the technology. We're at war, remember?"
Deegan sighed. "There are probably things here that the Concord shouldn't mess with."
"Too late for that," Geoffrey said, and left.
"So what now?" Harrison asked Deegan.
"I'm not sure. My inclination is to use this facility to do what Raven thought he was doing all along. I'd like to get teams in here to use the Door technology to fight the enemy."
"You keep talking about the enemy," said Gillian. "Can you tell us anything about them?"
Deegan looked troubled. "They are... like the thing in the tank. Many of them are worse. My people are at war with them. So are the people in the Concord. Many people in many universes are fighting them. Even your people."
"Look," Harrison said, "I don't know anything about fighting things like that, but I can tell you many worlds seem to be threatened. My own world was invaded by a people much like us. I've seen many worlds that were under attack from other universes. If my world is ever going to be safe, I need to make sure nothing can get there. Is there a way to block a world from invasion?"
"If there is, I don't know how to do it. I think the technology existed once, but I don't know who would have it now. It might not even exist anymore."
"Then what do I need to do to keep my world safe?"
"As I said, I want to run teams from here. That was the mandate the Plaza gave me. I'm sure both the Concord and my own people would lend support to the project. I think you'd be a great asset," Deegan added. "Both of you would."
Harrison met Gillian's eyes. "Well?"
"I'm with you, whatever you decide."
"We're with you, too," Raven said. "Simone, Anton, and I discussed this before I left. I think we'd like a chance to make up for any harm we may have caused when we operated from here before."
"I'll need to go home first," said Harrison. "I need to make sure everything is all right there."
"You may have been gone for some time," Deegan said.
"I'm aware of that, but I need to go back anyway."
"I'm sure we could use a Door to get you home."
Gillian helped Harrison stand. "You know, it might not be a good idea for all of you to come with me," Harrison said.
"Regretting your offer?" asked Gillian. "You're not getting rid of me that easily."
"Not at all. I just think I should return first and assess the situation before I take strangers and aliens into a secure military installation. I'm not even sure how long I've been gone, but I know how they'd react if you all showed up with me, and it wouldn't be good."
"What do you want to do?" Deegan said.
"I'll head home and give them this." Harrison pulled his wrist device out his pocket. "I'll need to show something for the time I've been gone.
Deegan took it from him and studied it. "Where did you get this? It looks like it taps into a broadcast universal code signal, but I don't know from where. I've never seen anything quite like this technology."
"I took it off a cyborg that was attacking some of the people who had invaded my home. Long story. However, it should be a plausible explanation of how I got home. If not, I'll make something up on the fly."
"So what is the plan?" asked Raven.
"Well, assuming Deegan can get me back home..."
"As I said, it won't be a problem," Deegan replied.
"Cool. I'll go back to the portal room at my JMC, if I can. I imagine they're going to have a lot of questions for me. I don't foresee too much of a problem, though. I've operated for long periods behind enemy lines in the past; this isn't so different. I'm probably just considered MIA at the moment. They'll run a few tests and ask questions, and then they'll let me go. I'll have a lot of paperwork to sign and reports to write. It might take a week or two, at most."
"How are you planning to get back?"
"Well, I was hoping one of you would come get me. I have a cabin in the woods in Tennessee. I'd like to get a few things together, and then I'll go wherever you want."
"It won't be a problem," said Deegan. "You have a very clear sense of the location of that place in your mind. I can easily set a Door to open there."
"What if they keep you longer?" Gillian asked. "Don't let you go?"
"Well, then, you'll just have to come and get me. You aren't getting rid of me that easily."
Chapter Sixty-Three
Harrison wasn't sure he was in the right place at first when he arrived back on his Earth. The portal room was filled with unfamiliar equipment, and he didn't recognize the frightened lab technician who ran from the room with a yell. An alarm sounded a minute later, and Harrison kept his hands up and tried to look non-threatening.
Soldiers in blue bio-containment suits burst into the room through the plastic airlock, keeping Harrison covered with their M4s.
"Who are you, and how did you get in here?"
"Major John Michael Harrison, and if you don't know how I got in here, I'm not sure I should tell you. Please inform Colonel Jackson that I'm here. You should bring Dr. Dixon as well."
"Place your weapons on the floor – slowly."
Harrison sighed and complied with the order; it took a minute.
Col. Jackson's voice boomed over the loudspeaker. "Major Harrison is MIA. Explain yourself."
"Hello, colonel. It's good to be home. I'd like to report the success of my mission. I destroyed the enemy base. Unfortunately, their portal device was damaged, and I wasn't sent back here. I've spent the last few weeks trying to get home."
"We're going to have to verify your story."
"I understand, sir. Check my RF chip and the radioactive isotope."
"Well, at least you're close enough to our Harrison to know about that. We'll send someone in. Don't try anything stupid."
"I wouldn't dream of it, sir."
The soldiers looked nervous.
"Would you guys mind if I lowered my arms?"
They looked at each other, and one shrugged. "Step back away from the weapons and don't make any sudden moves, but yes, you may lower your arms."
It took about half an hour to get a technician in to check him with a radiation detector.
"Well?" asked the colonel over the speaker.
"Isotope decay rate is consistent with being gone only a few weeks, sir. The chip also matches the code. This is our Major Harrison."
"Stand down," the colonel ordered the soldiers as he entered the room. He looked older, worn. New lines etched his face. The soldiers filed out behind him. "Well, major, I have to say I never expected to see you again."
"Colonel?" Harrison saluted. "It's only been a few weeks. I've been gone longer than that on an op."
"It's been just over two years, major."
"Sir?"
"Two years," he repeated. "The attacks stopped, so we knew you'd been successful. When you didn't return, we assumed that you'd been killed."
"So what now, sir?"
"Well, first we get you to Medical. Then I imagine you'll want a shower and a shave, and some clean clothes. I'll have someone pull your gear out of storage. Then we'll debrief. I imagine we have a lot to talk about."
"Yes, sir."
Medical took blood samples for analysis and then sent Harrison on his way. After a quick shave, he just stood in the shower and luxuriated in the warm water flowing over him. It had been too long, and he'd almost forgotten how good it felt to be truly clean. He changed into clean clothes, thinking he needed to cut his hair.
The guard outside his door led him to Colonel Jackson's office. The colonel and Dr. Dixon were talking when he entered. Harrison didn't recognize the president's picture on the wall next to the flag. The colonel waved Harrison to a chair and offered him a cup of coffee, which he gratefully accepted. It had been too long since
he'd had that, too.
"It'd good to see you alive, major," Dixon said.
"It's good to be home and alive, doctor."
"Let's begin with you telling about what happened after you left here, major," the colonel said.
"Yes, sir. I was discovered moments after translating over to their base. I fought my way into the bunker with the enemy portal device. I set the nuke and used their portal device to try to return home. Obviously, I didn't make it back. I think maybe their device lost calibration during the gunfight in the lab."
"That would do it," Dixon added quietly.
"I arrived on an alien battlefield where the cyborgs were fighting forces similar to the ones who invaded us. I'm not sure, but I think they were the same troops. I hid during the battle. I spend two weeks there, just trying to survive. Finally I was able to ambush a cyborg patrol and steal a wrist device to try to get back home."
"We experimented with those," said Dixon. "We weren't able to get a lock onto our base code."
So they knew about that, he thought. "That is correct, doctor. I couldn't get back home with it, either, although I tried. I bounced around through quite a few places before I finally ended up in an alternate version of this complex. It was abandoned, but the portal device there was still operational. It seemed like the base has been vacated recently."
"You used the device to return here?"
"I still had the code you'd given me, doctor."
Col. Jackson nodded. "So you used the device to come home?"
"Yes, sir."
"We didn't detect a portal opening."
"I don't know what to say, sir. It didn't seem quite the same. There was this white doorway instead of a black hole, but otherwise it worked the same. It got me home."
"Dr. Dixon, can you explain the difference in time?"
Dixon shrugged. "We knew time might pass at different rates in different places. The cyborg battlefield must have been much slower than here. Did you notice any strange gravitational effects, major?"
"No, doctor, but I wasn't looking for any."
Col. Jackson sighed. "Well, you've had quite a journey, major. I'll expect a full report from you on this, and this wrist device..."
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