Fall of Angels

by Matt Larkin

  She ran from the bridge, sealing corridors behind her as she went with psychic locks. No one was taking this ship. On and on she pushed, heart racing. In her mind’s eye, she saw David engaging the Sentinels.

  David raced forward, leading a squad of Rephaim super soldiers, all bristling with implants and cybernetic limbs. He leapt to the side, dodging pulse rounds, then swept a Sentinel’s feet from beneath him. David caught the falling man and slammed an elbow into his chest. A crack echoed through the deck as the Sentinel’s suit fractured and his chest caved in. David flung the dead man into one of the other Sentinels.

  David advanced, moving nearly as fast as Knight. His fist shattered a Sentinel’s faceplate. The Sentinels might have held against the Rephaim alone, but with David … with his training, her people were being torn apart. Rachel pushed harder. She had to reach him.

  David grabbed a man, hefted him up, and slammed him down over his knee. Rachel cringed at the sound of the man’s spine snapping.

  The Ark sensed Raziel’s ship approaching, preparing to dock. But the Sentinels couldn’t afford to wait for Knight. Rachel raced around the corner to see David snap a man’s arm and toss him aside like an old shirt.

  “David!” she rushed toward him. “David, stop!”

  A Sentinel’s pulse shot took down a Rephaim near David. Rachel’s husband leapt into the air, covering almost five meters, then landed with a descending punch that crushed the attacking Sentinel.

  Rachel raised her own pistol. David had to know her. He had to know she wouldn’t hurt him.

  David spun on her and advanced at a steady stride. His faceplate was open, his blue eyes narrowed. “Surrender this ship.”

  “No!”

  He continued forward, menace in his steps.

  Shit. He wasn’t going to listen. Rachel backed away, slowly pointing her pulse pistol at his chest. “David … don’t make me.”

  His pace increased, brows drawn, teeth gritted. He knew her—she could see the recognition in his eyes—but he wasn’t in control.

  Out of nowhere, a shadow flew through the air, kicked off the wall, and slammed into David. Knight grabbed him, rolled, and flung, sending David soaring several meters. Her husband collided with a wall, hit the ground, and immediately jumped back to his feet.

  “Run!” Knight shouted at her.

  “No!” She wasn’t leaving David.

  Never again. Never.

  David rushed Knight. Knight fell into a crouch and tried to evade the attack. Rachel felt Knight’s surprise as David moved much faster than ever before and caught Knight’s arm. Knight spun, twisted, and tried to break free. But David’s cybernetics made him a match for Knight at long last. They traded blows faster than she could see. Blocking and swinging fists and feet.

  David jabbed at Knight, who ducked. The punch slammed into the wall and dented it. Steam rushed out of the cracks, and the Ark recoiled in her mind from the sudden injury. More Asheran cruisers were trying to draw in, reinforce the Rephaim. That was not happening. Rachel split her mind, focusing the Wrath on the advancing ships, while continuing to draw a bead on David.

  And if she got a clear shot? There was still no way she could harm him. Instead, she shot down a Rephaim advancing on a Sentinel. Her crew had brought down several others, but it didn’t look good.

  David caught Knight’s arm and flung him into the wall. Knight spun in midair, kicked off it, and flipped, pulling his sword. It expanded as he landed, becoming a full katana.

  God, he’d kill David. “Knight, no!”

  “I don’t have a choice.”

  David leapt forward again, swinging another downward blow. Knight rolled to the side, and David’s punch ripped a hole in the deck. Knight swung his sword as he came up, opening a light gash in David’s back. He could have severed the spine … Knight was trying to hold back, thank God.

  “Just subdue him!” Rachel shouted.

  “I’m trying—”

  David twisted, spinning as though the cut didn’t even faze him. His elbow slammed into Knight’s ribs, and the crack echoed through the hall. Knight crumpled backward, clutching his side. For a heartbeat, Rachel felt Knight trying to block the pain.

  Then David grabbed him and flung him to the ground. Knight jerked from the impact. David kicked his prone form, sending him flying through the air. Knight collided with an atmosphere tank. It crunched under the impact, folding nearly in two.

  Knight lay still on the floor.

  David advanced on her.

  Holy shit.

  Rachel leveled her pulse pistol at him. “Please don’t make me do this.”

  He ran toward her.

  He was going to kill her.

  But still she couldn’t shoot him. Not him. Not David. It was her fault all this had happened. If he killed her, it was justice.

  Rachel let the weapon fall from her grasp and clatter to the deck. “David …”

  He raised a fist as he approached and grabbed her by the shoulder. He roared, his fist trembling. But the blow didn’t land. David groaned, spittle seeping from his mouth. “Rachel …”

  Her heart raced. He was still in there. She gingerly reached up to brush his cheek. The metal implant there was cold, hard. So alien.

  But she could reach him. Rachel sent wave after wave of empathic energy at David. She flooded him with every erotic memory of them she had, with every romantic moment they’d shared. In an instant, they relived a lifetime together.

  This is you, she thought, certain her silent words carried into David’s mind. This is us. Remember us. Remember yourself.

  David’s fist fell. He stared into her eyes, the recognition softening with love before growing cold with horror. He slumped forward with a groan. Rachel stepped in and wrapped her arms around her husband, catching him. “Shhh. You’re safe now, my love.”

  He shuddered in her grasp, then sank to his knees.

  43

  “Subject is male, 37, geshur. Asheran cybernetics have grafted themselves to key neural pathways. Due to the extensive use of organic compounds in the Asheran devices and the cellular bonding at work, the dividing line between man and machine is, at best, indistinct. While certain aspects of the subject’s biology clearly fall into natural or man-made, the point at which the two separate cannot be determined with certainty. Given that, my recommendation would be not to pursue surgical removal. The risk would be too great.”

  Dr. Leah Suzuki, report on patient David MacGregor

  PHOENIX DWARF GALAXY

  The Sephirot’s med bay was better equipped than the Ark’s, so Rachel had brought David there. He lay on a table, bound by multiple mag restraints, though he seemed lucid at the moment. Rachel sat by his bedside, stroking his head. Never had she allowed herself to dare dream he lived. But this horror … what had they done to him?

  David had been a symbol of the NER. By taking him to their side, maybe Asherah had hoped to break the spirit of the Republic. They must have used some kind of holograms to fake his death, just as the Serpent had tried to evade capture in the Expanse. Apollyon was a master of such things—he must have given Asherah the tech.

  And so Rachel had never even looked for him. She’d left David to rot, tortured and altered in a sick cybernetic laboratory. She sighed and laid her head on his chest.

  In a nearby bed, Knight sat up, clutching his side with a grimace. Leah said his natural cellular regeneration had already begun, but she injected him with nanobots anyway. According to her, Knight would be fine in hours. Which didn’t stop Phoebe from fawning over him. Not that Rachel would be doing any different in her place.

  “That mean old smogger hurt you, big guy?” Phoebe said.

  Okay—maybe Rachel would handle it a little differently.

  “Yeah, well. Kind of hard when I had to hold back.”

  “Yup, I’m sure, baby. Don’t worry. I’ll protect you from now on. Now you’re on my ship.”

  David coughed. “I thought this was my ship, lass?” The mag restra
ints prevented him from turning his head, but Rachel supposed he’d heard the whole conversation.

  “Nope. You were dead, Captain. Plus, you hit my mate.”

  “Sorry … I …” David grunted. The Beast was still trying to take him. A torrent of conflicting emotions roiled within him, leaving Rachel nauseated.

  Leah walked back over, a different scanner in her hand. “Phoebe, you can take him back to your quarters now.”

  “Uh,” Phoebe said, “I think we’d better keep him restrained for now.”

  The rahab quirked an eyebrow. “Not Mac. Knight.”

  Phoebe shrugged. “I could restrain him too.”

  Knight slipped off the table and stalked to the door, shaking his head.

  “Ohhh,” Phoebe said. “You mean you want some private time. Right. M’kay. I’ll just, you know, be around. Commanding my ship and stuff.” She jerked her thumb at the door, then followed Knight out.

  David snorted. “Glad some things haven’t changed around here.”

  Leah gently pushed Rachel aside, then ran the scanner over David. After a minute or so, the rahab sighed. “Rachel … can I talk to you alone for a moment?”

  “Hey,” David said. “Come on now. Whatever you have to say, I’ve got a right to know too.”

  Leah looked to Rachel, who nodded. David was right. Whatever they’d done to him, he would have to face it.

  “All right … the cybernetic implants are significant. And I’m not an expert on the subject, obviously. They appear to have grafted in synthetic muscles, plated his bones with mahtium, and put numerous chips in his brain. His knuckles also have mahtium reinforcements.” That would explain him punching through her deck. “I’m not even certain what those things on his cheeks and temples are meant to do, but gathering sensory input would be my guess.”

  “One is an internal Mazzaroth relay,” David said.

  A what? “You can access the Mazzaroth inside your head?”

  “Aye.”

  Well, damn.

  “And I know one feeds holo imaging to my cerebral cortex. I can see a layout of most structures in my mind.”

  Helpful, but again, she thought it would be a bit much for her. “Look, I don’t care what they do. Get them out of him. Everything.”

  “I … I’m not sure I can. Not without causing serious harm to David. I’m not a cyberneticist, Rachel, and these things are wired directly into his nervous system. Did you understand when I said he’s had mechanical muscle grafted onto his existing tissue? It’s not like I can just program nanobots to cut them out.”

  David grunted.

  Rachel ran a hand through her hair. So he was stuck like this? Fighting against the Beast every minute? She slipped her hand into David’s, and he squeezed it. His face gave no hint, but she could taste the fear he tried to bury. And pain, constant torment from the Adversary. Trying to lure him back. The same Raziel and the other angels had faced … and Raziel had withstood it. Maybe David could too.

  Or … “We do have a cyberneticist on board, though.”

  Leah nodded, and for a brief instant, Rachel shared her sudden surge of hope. Caleb might have the answers they needed. Maybe Rachel wouldn’t even have to delve the Ark again …

  “All right,” Leah said. “I’ll have Caleb brought up here, then.”

  Rachel clutched her husband’s hand. “It’ll be all right.”

  “I was going to say the same to you, lass.”

  A few minutes later, a Sentinel escorted Caleb Gavet to the med bay. He and Leah spoke softly, going over the data from her scans. They disappeared into her office, leaving Rachel alone with David.

  “If they can’t take these things out …” Rachel said.

  “I won’t let it take me again. You brought me back, Rach. I’m not … going anywhere. If that bam pot Caleb can fight this, so can I.”

  That was all she needed to hear. Rachel released the mag restraints.

  44

  “The Codex may forbid tampering with the human genome, but it doesn’t say anything about using the knowledge of that genome to craft perfect nutrient-rich foods.”

  Varda Bello, Manna Products CEO

  MAY 26, 3097 EY — PHOENIX DWARF GALAXY

  The voice strengthened or weakened over time. Sometimes it was a whisper on the edge of his mind, lulling him into false respite. Sometimes it sounded like a clarion, ringing through his ears and demanding submission. But the Adversary never left David. Maybe it never would.

  With Caleb’s help, Leah had removed several implants, including the one granting Mazzaroth access. Caleb said anything that plugged directly into his brain would be the greatest risk. The man should know, David supposed.

  Legs folded beneath him, David sat in his quarters, trying to still the tremble in his hands. Hands that now had the power to punch through walls but not the strength to control it. More surgeries would follow, Leah promised him. But he might never be free.

  David ground his teeth. Never, unless they stopped the Adversary. He curled his hands into fists.

  He would. He would storm the gates of hell itself if he had to.

  That was what a Sentinel did. They were the guardians against the darkness. They had been formed to face threats like the Adversary, to stop what happened on Eden from ever happening again. And Apollyon had played them well, weakening them through civil war and struggle with first the Conglomerate, then Asherah.

  But the Sentinels would not be broken. They were not just people—they were an idea. A calling to watch over humanity. They stood between mankind and the coming night of oblivion. Only Sentinels could fight Armageddon and hope to win.

  It knew his thoughts.

  A vision of that hellish universe raced through his mind. Vortices of seemingly infinite size tore through red space. Lightning coruscated around the columns as they drifted around nebulous galaxies. Each vortex watched him, like eyes of an angry universe.

  “You won’t win.”

  We always win. While angels sealed this universe and cowered in fear, tens of thousands of other universes fell before us. All filled with ships. All coming for you. There is no other way.

  “There’s always another way.”

  Nothing can stop us, mortal.

  “God will stop you.”

  We are God.

  David laughed. “Aye, thanks. I needed a good jibe to lift my spirits.” He rose from the floor, then had to shut his eyes from the sudden psychic onslaught. Obviously, he’d gotten to them. They didn’t like being mocked.

  He tapped his comm. “MacGregor to Dana. Call everyone to the war room. I’ve got an announcement to make.”

  It was time to change strategies. If humanity wanted to survive, they had to band together. The angels were gone. Many were frozen in the Ark once again, recovering from Knight’s QEMP. The rest had fled the Local Group. Maybe they would flee this universe. If so, he pitied them. They would be running forever, always in fear of their terrible creation.

  Ten minutes later, his inner circle sat gathered around the table. David scratched his head, then stood, placing his hands on the table.

  “All right, look at this. Things have all gone to shite. Mizraim is gone, the Sentinels are fractured, and the Conglomerate is a mess. All we’ve got left is the NER and the new Synod, and the Adversary knows it. They are systematically wiping out our support.”

  Knight folded his arms and leaned back, glowering at David. Not likely to forgive the pain he’d caused any time soon, but there was nothing David could do about that. And Knight had brought much of this on them, releasing the Adversary. The Gehennan was a fool, but he remained one of their greatest weapons.

  “Here’s the thing,” David said. “We Sentinels were created for this day. Somewhere along the road, we lost that. We got so caught up in politics, we forgot what these triangles on our uniforms mean. Honor, duty, justice.” He tapped his suit. “Aye? Well, our numbers are too few now. But where did we come from in the first place? From people who survived the
Exodus. People who bound together to say, ‘never again.’ From times like these. So I’m going to put out a call to all of humanity. I’m going to form new Sentinels, this time under the command of the Synod.”

  “Uh,” Phoebe said. “It kind of takes years of training to get to where we are, David. I mean, no one really gets to where I am, but, you know, close ...”

  “Does it? Rachel doesn’t have years of training. She has what she’s learned on the job. But she put on the uniform, and she’s fought for mankind. And she’s made a difference, hasn’t she?”

  His wife smiled and stared at the table. He’d swear she was blushing.

  “How will we know we can trust the people who join?” Leah asked.

  It was a question he’d been struggling with all day. He’d like to believe no one would willingly serve hell. He’d like to say anyone without cybernetic implants could be trusted. But he couldn’t believe that for certain. Men would be tempted, thinking they could bargain or barter for their lives. For those they cared about.

  “We have telepaths in uniform already. I guess we’ll have to make delving part of basic training, not just command promotions.”

  Leah glowered, and Phoebe snorted. No one would like it, but he saw no other choice. They needed all the help they could get.

  “What about the Gibborim?” Knight said. “Some of them are cybered, but it might be reversible. And they already have training not so very different from Sentinels.”

  “Except for major problems with authority,” Phoebe said.

  “Which is different from you how?” Knight asked.

  “It’s a thought,” David said. “We’ll look into it. And … and there are many people out there who know how to fight. I put many of them away. Pirates, smugglers, Redeemers. Humanity has to be united in this. I’m going to offer a general pardon to anyone who wants to sign up.”

  “Whoa,” Phoebe said. “You’re going to empty the prison planets? You think we can trust them in Sentinel uniforms?”