Deathstalker Rebellion (26 page)

“I’ll try,” said Skye. “But they’re not really espers anymore. They’ve moved beyond that.”

He reached out with his esp, but it was like looking at flaring lights in the night, all color and brightness and fury, without meaning or content. If they had thoughts, he couldn’t understand them. All he could share was the rage and horror and suffering that filled their lives. So he did the only thing he could. He gathered up the fury in their minds, threw it back at them, and made each of them think it came from the others around them. The monsters screamed and fell upon each other, rending and tearing, and blood that was not always red flew on the air. Esp clashed with esp till the air shimmered and sparkled and the steel walls ran like water from the strength of it. Skye stepped backward, his hands to his head, trying to block it out. Finlay holstered his gun and dragged him away from the carnage in the corridor.

“Don’t lose it, Skye! There must be another way out of here. We’ll find it!”

They ran down the corridor together, Skye shaking his head over and over again. He tried to say something to Finlay, but couldn’t get it out. Finlay understood. Some of the monsters could have been people the esper knew before they ended up in Silo Nine. Some might even have been friends. There but for the grace of God and the underground… . And then they rounded a corner, and Finlay jerked them both to a halt. A full company of guards was blocking the way ahead. They raised their guns to fire, and Finlay dragged Skye back around the corner just in time. A few energy bolts
flashed past them, but most of the guards had enough sense not to fire blindly. Using a disrupter in a confined space was always risky. You never knew when the beam might ricochet right back at you. Finlay pulled the mindbomb out of his pocket, but Skye put a restraining hand on his arm.

“Not a good idea. Use the mindbomb, and there’s no telling what it might do to the monsters. It might snap them out of the confusion I put them in and bring them down on us again. And even if it doesn’t, do you really want to send that many armed men insane at such close quarters?”

“You have a point,” Finlay said reluctantly. “Monsters behind, guards ahead. Damned if we do, damned if we don’t.” He put the mindbomb away. “Looks like we’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way. Don’t worry. I’m the best there ever was with a sword, and this is where I get to prove it.”

Skye looked at him. “There are too many of them, and they’ve all got guns. Disrupters don’t care how good a swordsman you are.”

“If I can get into the middle of them fast enough, they won’t dare use their guns for fear of shooting each other. Sure the odds aren’t good, but when have they ever been? The important thing is to fight, and if need be, go down fighting. As long as there’s still a chance, however slim, we fight on. That’s what the underground is all about. Who knows? Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

“You could surrender,” said Skye. “They really only want me.”

“That is not an option,” said Finlay. “I said I’d get you out or die trying, and I will. Now, be quiet and let me concentrate. There’s a way out of this, if only I can see it. There’s always a way out.”

“No,” said Skye. “Sometimes there isn’t. We’ve armed guards ahead and monsters behind, and nowhere else to go. It was a nice try, Finlay, but it’s over.”

“Then, we take as many of them with us as we can,” said Finlay. “Because as long as we’re still fighting, they haven’t really beaten us.”

Skye smiled suddenly. “Thanks for coming after me. I never really expected anyone like you. At least this way I get to die on my feet.”

“Don’t give up yet,” said Finlay. “We could still get lucky.”

And that was when the roof fell in. The floor buckled and
rose up under their feet, and the walls split apart with screams of rending steel. The guards were yelling in confusion, and alarm sirens blared deafeningly from all directions. Skye and Finlay clung to each other for support, Finlay trying to shield the fragile esper with his own body. There was a constant rumbling roar of shifting metal and concrete as the building rocked slowly around them. The lights snapped out, and for a long moment there was only darkness before the dull red glow of emergency lighting returned. In the distance there were sudden, sharp explosions, and from everywhere came the sound of screaming. Some of it didn’t sound human. The floor bulged upward slowly and then settled, and the rumbling died away. Everything was still. People were shouting orders or screaming for help. It all sounded a long way off. Finlay straightened up, still supporting the esper with one arm. Blood was flowing down his face from a long gash on his temple, but he ignored it. He could hear the crackling of fires and smell the beginnings of smoke in the air.

“What the hell was
that?
” said Skye, staring blearily about him into the crimson light. “Could it have been an earthquake?”

“That was a miracle,” said Finlay. “And since they tend to be few and far between, I suggest we get the hell out of here before the authorities get their act together, and we need another miracle.”

He led the way over the uneven floor, with Skye sticking close behind him. Around the corner, the guards were all dead. The ceiling had caved in on them. Finlay stepped carefully over and around the great slabs of concrete, avoiding the occasional sharp edges of ruptured steel. A guard stirred as he passed, and Finlay paused just long enough to cut the man’s throat before moving on.

“Was that really necessary?” said Skye.

“Yes,” said Finlay, not looking back. “Now he can’t tell anyone which way we went. Never allow the enemy anything they can use against you.”

Skye shook his head admiringly. “You’re a real fighter, my friend. I haven’t seen anyone like you since my brother Auric.”

“What does he do?”

“He doesn’t. He died in the Arena, butchered by the Masked Gladiator, may his soul rot in hell.”

Finlay Campbell, who had once been known as the Masked Gladiator, said nothing. Together he and Julian Skye made their way through the devastated corridors of the interrogation center, and nobody stopped or challenged them. When they finally walked out the front door and saw what had happened to the surrounding city, they knew why.

They made their way through the ruins of the starport with no more trouble than anyone else. The streets might be blocked with debris from toppled buildings, but security was a joke. The authorities had their own problems to worry about. Skye found a way down into the largely untouched maintenance tunnels down below, and from there it was a relatively easy trip back to the underground center. Only to find that everyone was far too busy to talk to them. The main meeting chamber was a mass of confusion, swamped with people rushing this way and that, shouting orders and information to people who weren’t listening. Finlay finally grabbed the nearest person, slammed him up against the nearest wall, stuck his face in close, and demanded to know what was going on. His victim glared at him incredulously.

“Where the hell have you been? Golgotha’s been attacked by an alien starship! Completely unknown, like nothing anyone’s ever seen before. It trashed most of the starport before it was finally driven off.”

Finlay scowled. “What happened to the defense systems?”

“They’re still down from the new rebels’ attack on the Tax HQ! When the alien ship arrived, there was nothing left to stop it. The deaths and damage in the city have been horrific. We rode out most of it down here, but up above everything’s gone to hell in a handcart, for us and the Empire. Most of our above ground agents are either dead or scattered. Communication chains have been shattered.”

He was starting to babble, and Finlay shook him hard to get his attention back. “What’s the underground doing to take advantage of the situation?”

“God only knows. Everyone’s got a different idea or plan for saving the moment, or at least for providing damage limitation, but no one’s listening to anyone else. I’ve heard everything suggested, from launching attacks on Empire installations while they’re still vulnerable, to taking all the underground even deeper into the subsystems in order to avoid the inevitable backlash when Golgotha’s population
discovers the alien’s attack was made possible only because the new rebels lowered the planetary defenses. Can I go now, please? I was on my way to the toilet, and if anything, my need is even worse now than it was.”

Finlay let him go and led Skye through the crowd, listening to as many voices as he could. The only thing everyone seemed to agree on was that the whole mess was the fault of the new rebels. People had a lot of ideas about what should be done about them, with drawing and quartering coming a close second to very slow impalement.

And then the three esper leaders suddenly manifested in the center of the chamber, silencing the chaos with a telepathic bellow so loud that even Finlay heard it. Everyone subsided, holding their heads and wincing. Mr. Perfect, the mandala, and the dragon in its tree glared around them, and only a few people, including Finlay, were able to look back.

“If you’ve all quite finished running around like a chicken that’s just had its nuts chopped off,” said Mr. Perfect icily, “perhaps we could discuss the situation in a calm, intelligent, and above all quiet manner. First off, things are not as bad as they seem. Most of us came through the attack alive, thanks to how far we live beneath the surface. Our cells above can be rebuilt, and communications reestablished.

“However, we are in no condition to mount attacks against anybody, let alone Empire installations we have no way of even getting to through the current chaos. In addition, Finlay Campbell has returned safely with Julian Skye, against all the odds, rescued before he could be made to talk. So we need no longer worry about having to scatter again. Feel free to applaud, but keep the noise down. We’ve got a headache.”

There was scattered applause, but the crowd remained restive and uncertain. Some parts seemed actually mutinous. Skye looked a little put out at the muted reaction to his safe return, but Finlay didn’t give a damn. He hadn’t done it for the applause. He looked around for Evangeline, or even Adrienne, but the crowd was too big. Mr. Perfect began speaking again, a frown marring his classical features, like graffiti on a famous portrait.

“It is imperative we establish proper contact with the new rebels as soon as possible. We sent Alexander Storm and the Stevie Blues to join the raiding party and return with them, but it’s clear we’re going to need a cooler, more politically
minded envoy to represent our views in the future. We need an ambassador to link both of us together. It is vital that future raids or attacks be decided by both of us, in advance, precisely to prevent this kind of destruction happening again. What little good will the underground had among the general population vanished with the alien ship’s first strafing run. The council has discussed this, and we have a volunteer to be our ambassador. Evangeline Shreck.”

Finlay mouthed the word
no
, but his reaction was lost in the applause from the crowd, which this time seemed louder and more genuine. Evangeline was suddenly standing before the esper leaders, head respectfully bowed. She turned around to acknowledge the applause from the crowd, and her eyes met Finlay’s as though she’d expected him to be right where he was. She looked away, but there was no guilt or weakness in her cold, composed face. Finlay started to push his way forward through the crowd. Skye tried to follow him, but lacked the strength to force his way past the people packed together before him. He called the Campbell’s name, but if Finlay heard, he paid it no attention, and Skye was quickly left behind.

Finlay burst through the final few ranks, not caring if he hurt or affronted anyone. No one objected. Finlay’s reputation as a swordsman and a crazy bastard was well-known throughout the underground. He stood face-to-face with Evangeline, and she met his gaze unflinchingly. Finlay took her by the arm and pulled her a little away from the esper leaders. She went with him unresistingly, but her face never changed.

“Why are you doing this, Evie?” he said finally. “Why are you going away and leaving me?”

“I’m not leaving you,” Evangeline said calmly. “I’m just going on a mission. I’ll be back before the year’s out. My position as ambassador is only temporary, until the council can decide which of them will replace me.”

“Why did they choose you?”

“Because I asked them. I wanted to go. I need to get away from things for a while. I’ve done too much, been involved in too much. I owe too many commitments to too many people, and I can’t keep them straight in my head anymore. Leaving Golgotha will give me time to think. It’s been a long time since I could just be myself, with no responsibilities to anyone but myself.”

“You don’t have to go do that. We can leave the underground, be together, just the two of us. I’m here only because you are.”

“That might have been true once, but not anymore. You said yourself, you need the action, the blood and slaughter of the missions they give you.”

“None of that means more to me than you. You’re the heart that beats in my breast, the air in my mouth. I can’t live without you.”

“Yes you can. For a while. I need this, Finlay. I need … I don’t know what I need, but it isn’t here. Adrienne helped me to see that.”

Finlay nodded grimly. “I might have known she’d be at the back of this. She’s never happy unless she’s screwing up my life.”

“No, Finlay. This was my decision. I need to get away from the subsystems, my father …”

“And me?”

“That, too. Nothing’s really going to change. We hardly ever see each other anyway. I have my duties, and you’re always off on one of your missions …”

“That can change. I can change. What do you want from me?”

“Your understanding. I still love you, Finlay. I’ll always love you, no matter where I am or you are. But I can’t go on like this. It’s tearing me apart, and I can’t stand it anymore. I have to take some control of my life. Don’t fight me on this, Finlay. It’s important to me.”

He took a deep breath and nodded abruptly. “Then it’s important to me, too. Go. I’ll manage.” He opened his arms to her, and she came into them, and for a long time they stood together, blind to the outside world. Finlay held her close, like a drowning man, and if his strength hurt her, she never said. He could feel tears prickling his eyes, but he wouldn’t let them out. “What am I going to do without you, Evie?”