“Wonderful,” Eleanor said under her breath. She wanted to get the mission over with and get out of there. The Needle was one giant death trap. Every which way they turned, a new threat arose.
Slowly advancing, they passed another alcove with another statue of Thanatos.
Eleanor shivered.
“The laboratory we want is farther down,” A.l.v.i.s. informed them.
Keeping one eye on the hall behind them, Eleanor held Wrathbringer ready to swing. Intent on their surroundings, she didn’t realize someone had slowed as she could catch up to him.
“This doesn’t fit,” Sherlock said, keeping his voice low. He had his cane in one hand and his BXP in the other.
“I don’t understand,” Eleanor said. staying alert. To let herself be distracted was an invitation to an early grave.
“This empty corridor,” Sherlock said. “Thanatos has to know exactly where we are.”
“Maybe he doesn’t,” Eleanor said. “We should count our blessings we’re not being attacked.”
“But we should have been,” Sherlock said. “Reinforcements should be pouring in.”
“Maybe Thanatos doesn’t want to lose any more of his minions,” Eleanor said.
“I would imagine that the Dark Lord doesn’t give a good damn about those under him.” Sherlock shook his head. “No. This is something else. He‘s changed his tactics for some reason.”
“Lucky us,” Eleanor said.
“Luck is often the residue of design.” Sherlock leaned toward her. “Be extra vigilant. I wouldn’t want any harm to come to you.” He paused. “Or to any of the others.” Smiling, he moved ahead.
Eleanor nearly broke stride. He’d made a deliberate effort to warn her. Why? Because she was bringing up the rear, and vulnerable? Or did he perhaps....care...more than she imagined? No, she thought, and shook her own head. She would not permit herself to go there. The very idea was preposterous. He was all logic. He lived by his mind. He wouldn’t grow attracted to her. Would he?
Up front, A.l.v.i.s chirped, “This is it. Lab 1014.”
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi put his ear to the closed door. Crom flanked him on the other side while Kanto took up a position close to the opposite wall to protect his back.
Eleanor moved in closer to guard Rikki’s near flank.
“What can we expect in there?” Rikki whispered to A.l.v.i.s.
“Impossible to say,” the synthezoid said. “My Master does not think in normal channels of human thought. He used to boast that the only altar he would ever worship at was that of Lord Chaos.”
“Were those his exact words?” Sherlock said.
“Verbatim, yes.”
“Curious,” Sherlock said.
A.l.v.i.s wasn’t done. “Thanatos believed that to be predictable was indicative of mental illness. He claimed most human minds are trapped in a matrix of conditioning that prevents them from thinking clearly and originally. He said in my presence that if he ever thought for a moment that he was becoming predictable, he would take drastic steps to remedy the condition.”
“What a weirdo,” Crom said.
Sherlock turned to Rikki. “Thanatos’s unpredictability was to a limited degree itself predictable. But now I have to wonder if we’re not being played on a whole new level.”
“Huh?” Kanto said.
“I swear,” Crom said. “If brainy boy ever talks like the rest of us, the shock will kill me.”
“Enough, both of you,” Rikki said to them. To Sherlock he said, “What do you expect when we open this door?”
“At this point?” Sherlock said, and gave the lab a speculative look, “I have absolutely no idea.”
“Let’s find out,” Rikki said. Working the handle, he shoved.
Eleanor tensed, dreading the worst, but the ominous silence continued. She anxiously waited as A.l.v.i.s, Rikki, Kanto and Sherlock filed in.
“After you,” Crom said with a flourish.
“Be careful,” Eleanor teased. “You’re behaving like a gentleman.” Grinning, she slipped by him.
“Damn. I just did, didn’t I?” Crom said. “I won’t make that mistake again.” He closed the door behind them.
Eleanor drew up short. The sheer expanse of the lab, and the many scientific wonders it contained, dazzled her. Equipment and machines the likes of which she couldn’t begin to conceive their purpose. From huge contraptions with a multitude of gauges to small gadgets with knobs and dials and meters.
“I have died and gone to heaven,” Sherlock said He stepped to a device that looked to Eleanor to be a large microscope with extra tubes and a box-like affair attached.
“Where is the cure we’re after?” Rikki demanded of A.l.v.i.s.
“This way.”
The synthezoid led them toward the back. Cabinets and cases lined the wall. Shelves were filled with hundreds upon hundreds of beakers, flasks, tubes, and vials, all neatly arranged, each appropriately labelled.
Eleanor peered at one of the labels and couldn’t make sense of it. The writing was so much Greek to her.
Sherlock was scanning the cases, his face lit with rapture. “Fascinating!” he exclaimed. Another time it was,“Marvelous!” Then, “Superb!” Once he stopped and placed his face flush to a glass cabinet and declared, “Incredible!”
“Marry the place, why don’t you?” Crom said.
“The cure,” Rikki-Tikki-Tavi said to A.l.v.i.s.
“Certainly, sir.”
The synthezoid floated along the wall to a high cabinet and hovered. “How odd. I saw my Master place the serum on this very shelf. But it’s not here. My memory must be faulty.”
“Impossible,” Sherlock said. “You told me yourself that you were programmed for total recall.”
“Which is why I suspect my Master has moved it,” A.l.v.i.s said. The synthezoid moved to the next case, and then a third, and suddenly stopped. “I was right. He did move it. Here it is. The green beaker on the second shelf from the top, ninth from the left. The remedy for the stasis affliction.”
Forgetting themselves, they all crowded close.
To Eleanor, the beaker wasn’t any different than the scores of others. The label contained chemical jargon she couldn’t begin to comprehend.
“The cure for Blade, Hickok and Yama,” Rikki-Tikki-Tavi said in great relief. “The prize we have come so far to find.”
“Why are we just standing here looking at it?” Crom said.
“Good point,” Rikki-Tikki-Tavi said, and tried the latch. It wouldn’t turn. He tried harder, rattling the glass door. “Locked.”
“I’ll smash it,” Crom said, raising his war axe.
“And risk breaking the beaker?” Kanto said. “Please. Allow me.” He flicked his right wrist and a stiletto slid into his hand. Inserting the tip into a thin gap between the lock cylinder and the plunger pin, he jimmied and pried until there was a slight rasp and the door came open. Smiling, he bowed and said, “A stiletto is good for more than slitting throats.”
“Do you use it to cut your toenails?” Crom said.
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi yanked the door wide and reverently took the beaker down. Holding it carefully in both hands, he declared, “We can’t let anything happen to this. The lives of those we care for depend on it.”
“Hope we can get it there without breaking it,” Kanto said.
Eleanor shared his qualm. They still had to escape from the Needle and reach the SEAL. To say nothing of the long ride to the Home, with all its attendant dangers.
“A.l.v.i.s,” Sherlock said. “Surely there is something we can put it in to safeguard it?”
“Follow me, if you would, sir,” A.l.v.i.s said.
The synthezoid headed up a different aisle, passing bench after bench covered with apparatus.
Eleanor crinkled her nose at the odors wafting from some of them. She grimaced as they passed a vat containing a darksome fluid in which body parts floated. Among them was a human hand. “The Spirit preserve us,” she breathed.
; “Hear, hear,” Kanto said.
Hovering beside a large cabinet, A.l.v.i.s said, “Inside you should find the answer to your request.”
Sherlock quickly located a metal case that, when opened, contained soft foam inserts. Taking the beaker from Rikki, he gently nestled it snugly into the foam, then slowly shut the case and flipped a pair of fasteners. “There,” he said happily. “This should keep it safe.”
“You hold onto it,” Rikki instructed. “Protect that thing no matter what.” He gestured at Eleanor. “Take point. We’re heading for the surface.”
“Yes, sir,” Eleanor said, pleased to be called on. She hastened to the front and was making for the door when without warning it was opened from the other side and a tall being filled the doorway. She remembered the statues, and stark horror filled every pore.
A.l.v.i.s confirmed the worst with a loud squeal. “Thanatos!”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi felt a rush of adrenaline so potent, his every nerve seemed to explode with vitality and awareness. He had never encountered the Dark Lord personally. Which was probably just as well, because according to Blade, Thanatos was the single-most formidable enemy the Warriors ever went up against. And now, seeing him standing there, Rikki felt a certain intimidating presence, a vague but definite ‘something’ beyond the range of his ordinary senses.
“If you could only see your expressions,” the ruler of the Valley of Shadow said, and laughed. His voice was an eerie combination of human and otherwise. Unique, deep, and powerful.
Crom swept his war axe on high and took a step, only to be brought up short when Sherlock thrust out an arm, stopping him.
“No,” Sherlock said.
“Get out of my way,” Crom growled.
Thanatos took a step into the lab. The head under the brown hood shifted and a long artificial finger pointed at Crom. “Listen to your companion, boy. From observing you, I gather that you respect strength above all else. Given your youth and your musculature, that is understandable. But I tell you in all honesty that if you presume to attack me, I will lift you over my head with one hand and shatter every bone in your body when I throw you to the floor.”
“Big talk,” Crom said, and tried to push Sherlock’s arm away.
“Stand down,” Rikki intervened. He moved past them and adopted the chudan no kamae stance. As their leader, he should bear the brunt of Thanatos’s onslaught.
“Ah, yes,” Thanatos said. “The martial artist. Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, is it not? An amusing choice in names. I presume you loved the Kipling tale? And as the mongoose protected its family in the story, you protect the Family, yes?”
This wasn’t what Rikki expected. “Yes,” he conceded. “I loved it as a boy.”
That same long finger pointed at his katana. “Your weapon, I believe, was fashioned in Japan centuries before the Big Blast. An interesting culture, the Japanese. They appreciated the importance of duty more than most.”
“You talk too much,” Crom said.
Rikki didn’t take his eyes off Thanatos as he gruffly declared, “When I told you to stand down, Crom, I meant it. We need to find out what is going on here.”
“Intelligent of you,” Thanatos said. “To provoke me without cause is the height of arrogance.”
“Without cause?” Eleanor said. “You’ve been trying to kill us ever since we left the Home!”
“Are you still breathing, young woman?” Thanatos said.
“What?” Eleanor blinked. “Yes, of course. Or we wouldn’t be talking.”
“Then I suggest I wasn’t trying as hard as you seem to believe,” Thanatos said.
“You expect us to accept that?” Kanto said.
Thanatos shifted his fiery eyes to Sherlock. “How about you, silent one? Have you nothing to say? Of the five of you, you are the only one to impress me with your intellect.”
“Should I be flattered?” Sherlock said.
“Sarcasm? Really?” Thanatos said.
Rikki was becoming more confused by the moment. He couldn’t understand what Thanatos was up to. Why talk to them when he should be trying to wipe them out?
“My apologies,” Sherlock was saying. “But you must admit. Your behavior is most unexpected.”
“To ants our own behavior must be inexplicable,” Thanatos said.
“I concede you possess an intriguing mind,” Sherlock said. “Your genius is undeniable. A pity you devoted it to conquest.”
Thanatos came nearer. He was clearly relaxed, almost casual in his movements. “Have you seen the state of the world these days? Thanks to you humans, savagery claims much of the globe. The very environment has been deranged beyond repair. Should I be faulted for wanting to restore some sense of order to our poor planet?”
“With you as its ruler.”
“Someone has to oversee affairs. It might as well be someone of superior capacity.”
“Genius does not give you that right,” Sherlock said.
“What does? Being human?” Thanatos countered. “What did humankind’s mediocrity bestow on the world? Armageddon. Before that ultimate folly, they spent their days squabbling over which of them should control the rest, and kept the general populace in a perpetual state of stupidity.”
Rikki couldn’t believe what he was hearing. They were debating politics, of all things! He reminded himself yet again that every minute they delayed increased the likelihood they would reach the Home too late. “‘We didn’t come here to talk about your genius or the sorry state of the world. We came to save our friends. And we’re leaving, now, whether you like it or not.”
Thanatos sighed. “I’ll overlook your threat. Just this once. But only for the greater good.”
Crom snorted. “What do you know about good?”
“Children,” Thanatos said wearily. “The Family sends children to oppose me! I should be insulted, but what else can be expected of mere humans?” He moved to one side and folded his arms across his chest. “I weary of this nonsense. You are free to leave.”
“What?” Rikki said.
“Are you hard of hearing?” Thanatos replied. “I give you my consent to take your children, and the serum, and depart. Neither I nor any of my creations will seek to stop you.”
“Just like that?” Rikki said, incredulous. “After all you’ve put us through?”
“Whose fault was that?” Thanatos said. “If you’ll recall, I sent Rilletta to escort you in safety into my presence. Instead, you chose to strike off on your own. It’s a wonder any of you reached this lab alive.”
“Hold on, gruesome,” Kanto said. “You’re saying you didn’t want to wipe us out?”
Rikki had the impression that the Dark Lord grew somehow in stature as his voice became rife with menace.
“You are fortunate, boy. Under normal circumstances I would terminate you for the effrontery of addressing me in an insulting tone. I very much admire an old human saying that applied to infants like yourself. Speak when spoken to.” Thanatos raked all of them with a glare. “None of you have the slightest conception of the game of life and death you and your precious Family are involved in. You think you know what you are doing but you don’t. You are pawns, all of you. Unwitting dupes, pathetically easy to manipulate.”
“Now who is being insulting?” Eleanor said. “You don’t know us.”
“On the contrary, girl,” Thanatos said. “I’ve monitored your little group since you left the Home. At times I have listened to your conversations, boring as they were. I know all that is pertinent about each of you.”
“Listened?” Rikki said.
“Through my Artificial Living Veraform Intelligence System,” the Dark Lord said, with a nod toward A.l.v.i.s, hovering silently to one side.
“I suspected as much,” Sherlock said.
“I know,” Thanatos said. “But lest you judge A.l.v.i.s too harshly, it truly believed me to be destroyed. It doesn’t know my secret of secrets, and never will.”
“Secret?”
Rikki prompted, but Thanatos ignored him.
“I am able to take control of A.l.v.i.s without it being aware. I hear what it hears. I see what it sees. I can even control its actions. Which is why I let Blade and the others take A.l.v.i.s to your Home. He became my unwitting spy in your very midst. And through him I was able to help you in your feeble attempt to oppose the Lords of Kismet.”
“Help us?” Rikki said skeptically.
“Listen closely, martial artist. Heed my words.” Thanatos straightened. “As Blade discovered, the so-called Lords of Kismet are Reptilians. A species as old as time. Their goal is to subjugate this planet. To lord it over everyone. Including myself.”
Rikki’s every instinct told him that Thantos was telling the truth. “But if that’s the case.....”
Thanatos held up a hand. “I’m not done. The Reptilians have tried a number of times to eradicate me, and failed. I struck back, but I am greatly outnumbered, and their technology and scientific acumen is the equal of my own. Plus, they are shapeshifters, Currently we are at a stalemate. A situation I loathe. I refuse to have their constant threat hanging over my head. I need allies. But they have decimated the so-called Freedom Federation. Of that alliance, only your Family survives. Only the Family stopped the Reptilian sent to destroy all of you. Only your Family has proven worthy of my consideration.”
“I see where this is leading,” Sherlock said. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
“Exactly,” Thanatos said. “But I couldn’t very well show up at the Home and offer my hand in friendship. None of you would have believed me. So when Blade came here seeking the device he took to be a time machine—-,” Thanatos stopped and laughed, “—-in order that he could take the fight to the Reptilians in Asia, I decided to work behind the scenes, as it were, to facilitate his effort and thus prove I am sincere.”
“Wait a minute,” Eleanor broke in. “You knew how your infernal device would affect anyone who used it. Blade, Hickok and Yama are at death’s door because of you.”
“I didn’t force them to use it,” Thanatos said. “They brought it on themselves. And it was I who had A.l.v.i.s inform you of the serum, knowing that would bring some of you here. Thus enabling me to demonstrate my good will by giving you the serum personally. But you thwarted my plan by going off on your own. And now here we are.” Thanatos gestured. “You have what you need. Return to the Home and inform the Warriors that I desire to work together against the Reptilians.”
Synthezoids Endworld 30 Page 17
