Aurora Resonant: The Complete Collection (Amaranthe Collections Book 3)

by G. S. Jennsen

  ‘WHA-A-A OLIV—KILL ALL—NOSTOPNOT—’

  Devon, we should leave, or we risk becoming trapped here when the framework collapses.

  In the distance, upon the dismal horizon, orbs began to blink out and go dark. He propelled himself backwards, toward the exit, as the encroaching darkness devoured all in its path, the spreading gloom broken only by flashes as orbs spun out of control and crashed into one another.

  “Impressive job on the virus, though. Enjoy your handiwork in the last few seconds you have remaining.”

  ‘N-N-N-N-N—’

  “When you get to where you’re headed—is there a Hell for Artificials? Interesting question—say hello to Olivia.”

  Hurry, Devon. A lightning storm increasingly consumed the space all around him as jagged fractures split apart the landscape.

  He reluctantly turned away, abandoning his taunting of the dying Artificial to rush through the gate and twist around on the other side to close it behind him so corrupted data couldn’t escape into the exanet. With the I/O stream down for the count, he had to propel himself manually down the final path back to the access node.

  He spared a last glance behind him at the crumpling fabric of the Artificial’s quantum mind then dove through the access node into the exanet.

  The opening vanished behind him.

  Devon opened his eyes. “Did it work?”

  A tech hovering over him motioned to someone outside his field of vision, and Richard appeared beside the chair. “Do you feel all right?”

  “Fabulous—like I just slew a monster. Did I?”

  “See for yourself.” Richard opened up an aural. Sat cam footage showed flames pouring out of a large building. Sparks flew around the perimeter as electrical fires spread to adjacent structures.

  He looked up in question. “Zelones headquarters?”

  “It seems the Artificial shorted out all the systems and set the building on fire on the way to self-destructing. Great work, Devon. Are you sure you feel well?”

  He fumbled around trying to yank all the sensors off him. “Positive—ow!” He shot a glare at the medical tech as he stood, then clasped Richard briefly on the shoulder. “You can take it from here. I’ve got somewhere to be.”

  AMARANTHE

  52

  SIYANE

  MILKY WAY SECTOR 7

  * * *

  WHEN THE HELIX RETENTION FACILITY MATERIALIZED as a red dot on the Siyane’s scanners, Valkyrie slowed to hover five megameters away so they could make final preparations.

  Mesme vanished for several seconds without fanfare or warning, then returned in a dramatic whoosh of light.

  I have confirmed the facility continues to be surrounded entirely by a barrier of diati. I cannot penetrate it.

  ‘Why not? You have evaded many force fields in the past.’

  We suspect diati exists across all dimensions, thus there are no dimensions I might use to maneuver past it.

  Eren nodded in confirmation. “Which is why it’s fortunate I brought this.”

  What is it?

  He depressed the hidden, seamless trigger—he’d been a good anarch agent and read the instructions—and a faint field of crimson sparks expanded to surround him. He hurriedly let go of the trigger; it was a finite resource, and he couldn’t say how finite. “This will encase us in enough diati to get through the barrier.”

  Like welcomes like. It should permit us to pass.

  “That’s the theory. I have Alex and Caleb’s locator signals, so as soon as we get inside of the barrier we should be able to pinpoint their locations and can teleport directly to them.”

  ‘What about internal security barriers? The diati will not be the facility’s only protection.’

  “Mesme’s going to finagle us around most of those, and I brought a customized hacking routine to disable any remaining barriers. We’ll figure out how to tackle any other complications when we run into them.”

  ‘You don’t have a plan, Eren?’

  “I always have a plan, Valkyrie. I also know my plan always goes to the Styx twenty seconds in, at which point improvisation becomes the plan. Mesme?”

  The Kat pulsated around the cabin in evident agitation. Before we depart, I wish to convey a piece of knowledge to you, Eren asi-Idoni.

  This was new. He fastened the belt and very full pack over his hazard suit and started double-checking his gear. “Be my guest, but make it quick.”

  They call themselves Faneros, and some yet live.

  Eren frowned in confusion. “What are you talking about? Who lives?”

  Members of the species you encountered in the event which ultimately led you to shed the Idoni integral. The Directorate does not apprehend this, but its Eradication of the Faneros was not total.

  Memories flashed through his mind—hazy, hypnol-addled and acutely vivid. He rubbed at his temples. “How…how do you know this?”

  Now is not the time to divulge those secrets. But you have shown your mettle, and your regret and shame appeared genuine when you relayed your tale, thus I thought to ease it somewhat.

  His darker nature bristled defensively at the words ‘regret’ and ‘shame,’ but he bit back an impulsive retort. He hadn’t realized the Kat had been present when he’d told the story, though thinking back he didn’t remember it ever leaving that night, either. And at the moment, he honestly didn’t care.

  His pulse pounded in his ears in a vastly disproportionate reaction to the news. “I don’t…how many survived? Will you tell me that much?”

  Several tens of thousands.

  “And they’re safe?”

  Mesme’s hesitation manifested in an unusual stillness to its form. They have enjoyed peace and security this last century. Their future is now in some degree of peril, as is the future of many species.

  “What does that mean? What peril?”

  The peril that will mature into certainty if we do not retrieve Alexis and Caleb. Focus on this goal, for their fate is as inexorably linked to the fate of the Faneros and countless others as it is to the fate of the anarchs.

  Damn the Kat and its inscrutable, sibylline double-speak. He struggled to wrangle the memories back under control and tuck them away. He could not dwell on this right now, dammit.

  “Your timing sucks, Mesme, because we really do have to go. If I die, I’m hunting you down just to make you give up the rest of the story.”

  Acknowledged. I am ready to depart. But we will need to make an interim stop outside the perimeter, at a point from where you can use your device. I cannot guarantee how long the oxygen-rich air I carry with us will last if we are forced to linger there for any length of time.

  “Thanks for mentioning that detail.” Eren rummaged through his kit, found and put on the breather skin, and secured the diati canister on his belt. “All right, problem solved. I’m ready, too.”

  ‘I am seeing indications the facility has activated a higher alert status.’

  “Then we were out of time ten seconds ago. Let’s move, Mesme.”

  HELIX RETENTION FACILITY

  Hollow. Empty.

  Diminished.

  Nyx forced her eyes open.

  The floor stared back at her, centimeters away; everything else was blurred into indistinction. There was a low, rumbling sound…it took her several breaths to recognize she was moaning. Her head throbbed against her skull, but the rhythmic pulses of agony seemed to originate from a sharp, biting pain at the base of her neck.

  She blinked, trying to work past the mental and physical shock to understand the unfamiliar sensations. Nothing made sense. Gods, she wanted to rip her own head off, if only to make the throbbing stop.

  Eventually, in the lull between surges of agony, it occurred to her she was injured. But she’d never been injured for more than seconds in her life. She’d never felt pain in any real sense.

  Why wasn’t her diati healing her? She reached for it…and nothing responded.

  It was gone. She instantly perceived the
truth of it deep inside, for this was the source of the hollowness which echoed in her soul.

  The possibility of such an event coming to pass had never arisen in her mind, and she reeled in the face of it. Doubt, confusion…these were emotions she had no greater experience with than pain.

  The diati had deserted her, leaving her body broken. Weak.

  The excruciating sensations made it difficult to concentrate, but she needed to think clearly. She must. Diati or no, she was still an elasson-Praesidis Inquisitor.

  She forced herself to evaluate the situation objectively. The prisoner was gone from the cell, and she was prone on the floor. Her left leg was fractured, and her left shoulder dislocated and likely broken as well. She’d suffered a concussion at a minimum, with the possibility of brain and spinal injury. Six minutes and twenty-one seconds had passed while she’d lain unconscious.

  She struggled up onto her right elbow and accessed the facility’s security channel. “Security breach. Prisoner #HP-MW26-6143.015-6 has escaped from Level 6, Wing C.” He’d go for his partner, and he would not have reached her yet. “Initiate station alert level Red and direct the bulk of forces to Levels 4 through 6.”

  Next she sent an urgent message to the Administrator of Exobiology Lab #4.

  Logiel, do not kill the Katasketousya yet. They have more to answer for.

  Finally, she initiated a link with one of the other elasson-rank Inquisitors and opened her mind to him until he knew what she knew.

  Go to the lab, Ziton. Find out what perversions they’ve been creating out of our DNA.

  The act of forming and relaying concise thoughts had exhausted her, but she nevertheless began dragging herself across the floor using a forearm and her functioning leg. Her goal was the hallway, where she could grab a hold of something. She needed to stand.

  53

  HELIX RETENTION FACILITY

  MILKY WAY SECTOR 7

  * * *

  CALEB EXITED THE TRANSIT TUBE on Level 4 and ran headlong into a Praesidis guard. The man leveled a weapon—an actual weapon—at Caleb’s chest.

  He grabbed the man’s wrist, wrenched the arm around and fired the weapon point-blank at the man’s heart. The rush of new diati flowing to him as the man fell was noticeable, though far less than the surfeit he’d received from the Inquisitor.

  He encountered two more such guards before reaching Wing D, and by the time he found Alex’s cell he was so dizzy he could hardly stay on his feet, yet he somehow felt stronger than ever. Time was assuredly growing short before the hammer of station security descended upon him, so he acknowledged the incongruity, focused on the strength, and ran.

  A drone hovered in front of her cell, and it rotated toward him as he sprinted down the hallway. “Halt or be—”

  “Pacified, yeah. I don’t think so.” He’d only meant to slam the drone to the ground hard enough to disable it, but the diati he engaged to surround it crushed the orb into a heap of ruined metal.

  The energized barrier put forth no resistance as he entered the cell. A familiar restraining field held her aloft; her chin rested on her chest, and she hadn’t reacted to his presence. “Alex?”

  Her head jerked up so hard it ricocheted off the field. Her eyes were bloodshot, highlighting dark shadows beneath them. Twin trails of blood had dried and crusted beneath her nostrils, and companion stains decorated her lips and chin. “Caleb!”

  He waved away the restraining field and caught her as she fell. Her legs failed to support her, and she sagged in his arms. He held her gingerly, worried about broken bones and internal injuries. “Are you all right? Did they hurt you?”

  She peered up at him drowsily, licked her lips and managed a slurred response. “Didn’t feel a thing…body doesn’t seem to be…working right, though….”

  Her eVi must have shut off her pain receptors, but it wouldn’t have been able to do much to mitigate the damage from repeated electric shocks. “You’ll be good in no time. Valkyrie?”

  She shook her head. “Nothing.” After a ponderous breath she tried again to stand. This time her legs didn’t fold, but she leaned heavily on him. “No running just yet, I think. Soon, maybe.”

  “We can work with walking.” He started to guide her toward the force field, but stopped as dread washed over him.

  Tick, tock, time running out.

  “I don’t know how to get you through the field.”

  “Well…what if you wrapped us both in diati, the way you did my hand in the Oneiroi Nebula? ’Cause that was nifty.”

  He so wanted to indulge her levity, but he had a serious problem. “I’m, uh…” he blinked his vision clear, but it didn’t stay that way for long “…I’m kind of overdosing on it right now and…I don’t think I can control this much of it. I’m afraid of what might happen to you if I can’t keep the protection in place.”

  She peered at him. “You are sort of glowing.”

  “Terrific.” He fixated on the mangled drone outside the cell, trying to float it up to hover in the air. Instead it went careening down the hall, banging into one wall then the other. “Shit. Um…” he guided her over to the cell wall “…stay here and let me see if I can disable the force field.”

  She reached for the wall then clung to it like it was a life raft in the eye of a typhoon.

  He rushed through the field and found the panel controlling it. Navigation was the same as before: prisoner ID, notations lacking obvious meaning…security. He pressed the big red symbol indicating the field was on.

  Nothing happened.

  Tick.

  He swiped across it. Nothing.

  Tock.

  It wasn’t asking for a passcode or authorization, so the authority must come in tandem with the user.

  He glanced at and dismissed the broken remains of the drone. Useless. He could return to his cell and get the Inquisitor, drag her here…but there was no guarantee the authorization didn’t require affirmative intent, and even if the Inquisitor were conscious he doubted she’d give it—

  A thud reverberated from the cell as Alex collapsed to the floor. He hurried back inside and crouched beside her, grasping her shoulders so she stayed upright. “Jesus, baby….”

  “I’m…I’m…chyertu. Stupid legs won’t do as they’re told.”

  “Okay. We’ve got to get you out of here. Hold on to me.” He wrapped his arms more fully around her and helped her stand.

  TickTock.

  He wasn’t going to be able to deactivate the field, which meant there was only one choice.

  He’d realized early on that his arcane, profoundly alien passenger came with a cost, possibly one too high to pay and make it out the other side free and clear. He’d pay it nonetheless and without complaint if the diati would only come through for him now.

  Caleb closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. Listened for her heartbeat resonating against his chest. Imagined it merging with his, imagined them becoming one entity to beat in harmony, inseparable and whole.

  He took a step forward, then another.

  A third, and he hardly noticed the fourth.

  “We’re through, priyazn. You did it.”

  When he reopened his eyes, they stood in the hallway. The coiled knot of power surrendered to an avalanche of relief, and for a second she was holding him up.

  He gathered his wits together yet again, for they had no time to revel. “We need to try to reach the hangar bay and steal a ship. According to the panels, it’s three levels down on the main wing. If we take the far transit tube maybe we can avoid security most of the way.” He shifted them to face the direction of their first goal. “Are you ready?”

  She nodded gamely, but tension hardened her expression when she began trying to walk. He supported her weight so she could concentrate on moving her legs.

  Their progress was slow. Too slow. Frustration roiled off Alex in waves, and he doubted anyone in the universe wanted to run so much as she did at this moment…

  TickTockTickTock

&nb
sp; …but they weren’t going to make it. Even if they were running, even if they’d never stopped running, too few seconds remained before security engulfed them.

  He kept moving anyway, because not escaping wasn’t an option he was prepared to accept.

  Three meters from the transit tube, Alex pulled up hard.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I think I….” Her brow furrowed, and she twisted around to look behind them.

  He did the same in time to see a whirl of lights, and suddenly Eren asi-Idoni stood there while a Kat dispersed into the hall.

  “Did someone need a ride?”

  Alex laughed wildly. “It is damn good to see you—alive, but more importantly, here. Glad you could drop by.”

  “No offense, but I’m not. Though I am glad you two are alive.”

  Caleb grunted; Alex had the full right of it, but they needed to stay on track. “We can celebrate once we’re on the Siyane. What’s the plan? You are here with the Siyane, aren’t you?”

  Eren held up a small, unmarked canister. “Yes. The facility is shielded by a solid wall of diati, which is why Mesme here didn’t swirl in and swoop you away before now. This little toy is a gift from the anarch powers-that-be. It contains the tiniest iota of diati, enough to pass small objects—in this case, Mesme and I—through the barrier.”

  He gazed askance at Caleb. “It’s only strong enough to ferry one Anaden-sized body and Mesme at a time, so we’ll have to make several trips out of here…unless you can get yourself back to the ship?”

  Caleb shook his head tersely. Mesme insisted he should be capable of teleporting himself to a known location, but damned if he could figure out how to accomplish it. Regardless, in his current state he didn’t trust himself to teleport his shoe.

  Eren shrugged. “Understood. We’ll go one at a time—”