Empire State (46 page)

  There was a flash, blinding blue. Rad felt himself sliding back, the rough concrete biting through his suit and into the fat of his buttocks and legs as he was pushed backwards by a colossal gust of wind. The Fissure crackled and buckled, and someone cried out. Shielding his eyes against the flare, he saw the three struggling figures silhouetted against the portal, now a brilliant white. Then more movement as the Fissure flickered. Two shadows appeared, solidifying until they became opaque, moving shapes, gradually increasing in size until they resolved.

  Two figures. Their black outlines easily distinguished – hats, flapping trench coats. Weird gas masks with soup-can respirators bouncing.

  Agents Grieves and Jones ran out of the Fissure at a sprint. They collided with the Science Pirate, one on each side, collected her by the arms and carried her forward as they shot out of the Fissure and onto the concrete disc. The Science Pirate screamed and struggled, but Grieves and Jones had her firmly. They slid to a halt and turned, holding the squirming Science Pirate between them.

  Kane and Rex stopped fighting, just for a moment, and looked out into the Pocket. The white light flared around them, blinding Rad and melting their silhouettes into indistinct shapes. Then the white light flickered, changing to a deep orange.

  Kane made his move, dropping his fist and instead kicking Rex's feet out from under him. Rex cried out and began to fall backwards, and Kane raised his leg and again and pushed with his foot, sending the gangster tumbling backwards, down the short stairs and onto the concrete.

  The Fissure growled, and licked at Kane with a tongue of electric blue light. Still balancing on one leg, Kane wobbled. The energy played around him, regaining its grip. Kane's eyes were wide as he tried to rotate his arms to get his balance. He was going to fall.

  Rad didn't think, he just acted. He got up and ran in one clean and fast movement, fuelled by adrenaline and chaos and desperation. He practically jumped two stairs to the top of the dais, and pushed forwards through the storm of energy with Kane at the centre. The Fissure spat and fizzed and Rad felt his goatee prickle and get hot. He ignored it, and ignored the sharp tug on his unbuttoned trench coat as the Fissure reached for it and pulled the flapping ends towards the portal like the Skyguard's cloak.

  "Kane!" Rad reached out, fingers stretched wide, grasping for something –
anything –
on the Skyguard's suit to grab hold of. His fingers skidded across Kane's chest until he made another step forward, enough to get both hands on a bicep. He hung on and pulled backwards with all his weight, attempting to arrest Kane's slow-motion fall into the void.

  Kane screamed something Rad couldn't make out, and with a colossal effort dragged his head around. Kane's face was wild, his eyes wide and mouth pulled into nasty, tooth-filled crescent.

  "Get off of me!"

  Rad ducked as Kane dragged his free arm out of the Fissure's suck and swung it in an attempt to clip Rad's head. The movement loosened Rad's grip on Kane's arm; sensing this, Kane flicked it outwards with a yell, throwing Rad off and backwards.

  "You don't deserve to go home. We tried to help you, and you fought us!" Kane yelled, spit collecting at the corners of his mouth.

  "I'm not Rex, you lug! It's me, Rad!"

  Kane snarled and kicked out, his boot touching Rad's shoulder enough for the detective to instinctively jerk even further away.

  The beeping from Kane's wrist finally became a single tone. Rad could hear something else too. The Captain, shouting something from behind him. But behind the curtain of energy pushed out by the Fissure, Carson may as well have been shouting in New York.

  Rad got to his feet, teeth gritted in effort.

  "Kane!" he spat, and reached out once more. "It's me. I'm trying to help."

  Kane's expression collapsed. Rad didn't look behind him, but wasn't sure whether his former friend was able to see past the pyrotechnics and out into the hangar. He hoped he'd seen Rex lying on the ground near Carson.

  "Rad?" Kane reached out with one arm.

  "The world's greatest detective, here to help." The recognition was all the motivation Rad needed. He moved forward easily, and grabbed the offered hand. At his touch, Kane's fingers hugged Rad's forearm below the elbow, and Rad pulled. As Rad rotated his arm to get a better grip, his fingers nudged the half-open panel. Something inside the gauntlet felt hot.

  Kane's hand slipped and suddenly their hold was precarious. The Fissure was alive and jealous, greedily drinking the energy leaking from the Skyguard's suit, grabbing and grasping at its prize, unwilling to surrender it so easily. Kane's body moved back another half-foot. Rad managed to crawl his hand up Kane's wrist a little more, but he realised this tug-of-war could not be won.

  "Kill it, Rad!" Kane turned his hand a little and jerked his head towards the gauntlet panel. There was the flashing blue light, in a nest of cables. Neatly done, but not perfect.

  Rad understood. He ground his teeth and pulled on the arm, succeeding only in dragging himself closer to the Fissure rather than Kane away from it, but that was his intention. Holding Kane's forearm so hard his fingers felt like they would snap like dry twigs, Rad grabbed at the cabling with his free hand and pulled. Some gave, the blue blinking light went out, and the whining stopped instantly.

  Rad's loosened his grip. He wasn't sure what to expect, but the Fissure's hold on Kane seemed to slacken.

  Then the portal convulsed. It was a liquid, organic motion, as the glowing, fizzing ellipse turned inside-out for a fraction of second, then rebounded. The wind buffeted and the buzzing in his head was agony. The whole world was a nauseating mix of blue light, orange fog, and sound. Rad squinted, trying to see more clearly, but was lifted off the platform entirely. He caught himself on his hands and rocked forward onto his knees.

  The Fissure had stabilised, back to the vertical ellipse, faintly glowing blue. The air felt lighter, somehow, and Rad sucked on his tongue as his mouth was filled with the sharp tang of vinegar.

  "Rad?"

  Kane stood in the centre of the Fissure. His cloak was slack and its torn edges dangled gently around his ankles. He looked exhausted and as Rad stood and stepped forward, Kane's eyes unfocussed and he fell backwards into the blackness. In a second, he was gone.

  "Kane!" Rad stumbled forward, but there was a weight on his shoulder. He pushed against it, not knowing or caring what it was, but it pushed back, and he fell sideways onto the concrete.

  "The son of a
bitch
!" It was Rex. The gangster was on his feet and running towards the Fissure even as Rad recovered his footing to follow.

  "You ain't cutting on me like this, you bastard," Rex yelled and, without pause, ran directly into the Fissure. There was a faint buzzing, and he was gone.

  Rad spat onto the ground, but his teeth hurt and his head was on fire. The Fissure's glow filled his vision.

  Somewhere, a long, long way away, a woman screamed obscenities and an old man shouted something. Someone called Rex's name, or it might have been Rad's, or it might have been Kane's.

  Rad closed his eyes and let blue-white light consume the world.

 

 
 

 
 

WHEN HE OPENED HIS EYES, Rad noted that for the second time in one night he was flat on his back on hard concrete. This time the back of his head didn't hurt and it occurred to him that perhaps he'd landed on something else for a change. For this he was thankful. It was dark, although when he blinked, he saw stars.

  No, when he blinked, he saw darkness. When his eyes were open, he saw stars. There was a hole blown clean through the hangar roof, and through the ragged gap the night sky was dotted with lights, just a few, but they were there. The clouds were patchy and still covered most of the sky, but they were clearing.

  He sat up. His head still buzzed, until he realised he was sitting very near to the pile of equipment that Carson and the Science Pirate had been fiddling with earlier. To his left there was something like a large junction box, dark green with pipes and grilles. It hummed like an angry wasp. Rad backed away as he stood up. It looked like he shouldn't be near it.

  Ten yards away stood the Fissure. It was a faint blue outline, curling at the edges to reveal a brighter border around a black centre. It was quiet, and stable.

  "Well done, that man!" Captain Carson walked over to Rad, and reached down to help him up. Rad hesitated, trying to remember what had happened and who was who, then accepted the offer. However, as soon as he was upright, he shook the arm off. The Captain said nothing, just let go and stood back, smiling. Rad glanced past him, and saw Grieves and Jones standing nearby. Lisa Saturn was on her knees, hands clasped to the top of her head. Jones held the fat-barrelled gun to her temple.

  Rad rubbed his scalp, then gingerly touched the back of his head. His fingers stuck to something tacky, and he winced. The headache was already beginning. He had landed on his head after all.

  "Where're Kane and Rex?"

  Carson turned to Grieves, who just shrugged.

  Grieves said, "Nobody came through the other side, according to Nimrod. Looks like the Fissure wasn't completely stable when they crossed over. What happened to those two, I have no clue. You're the expert, Captain."

  Rad looked at him. The Captain opened his mouth, but Rad started speaking first.

  "Nice trick there, old man. Plans fall through, eh?"

  "My dear detective, I don't like your tone."

  "Oh, really?" said Rad, lowering his voice as his head thumped. He looked at Grieves, but could see nothing behind the dark glass of the mask goggles. Rad turned to Captain Carson, his voice a low whisper.

  "You were going to go to New York, and let the Fissure close, and damn the consequences."

  The Captain's laugh barked out. Rad shook his head, but Carson laid a hand on his shoulder.

  "Me, leave the Empire State? You misunderstand. We have a city here of several million people.
Real
people, detective. A real city. And now that Wartime no longer applies, and the Chairman is no longer in charge, this city can breathe easy. The Pocket may be small, but don't underestimate it, dear boy. It's my home, and yours. Forgive my trick, but I realised we could turn the situation to our favour, and
strengthen
the link between the Pocket and the Origin. For that to happen, I had to… ah,
deceive
, as it were. Only temporarily, of course." Carson chuckled.

  Rad frowned. "And Kane? Expendable? The ends justified the means?"

  The Captain's laugh stopped and he looked away. "Not at all. Once the Skyguard's powerpack was drained, that should have been that." He looked at Lisa. "But interference was inevitable, I suppose. I'm sorry." He stood silently for a while, eyes fixed on the Science Pirate. Grieves and Rad exchanged a look.

  "Nimrod was watching?" asked Rad.

  Grieves nodded. "Pulled us out of the Pocket when we fell from the airship. Took us a while to recalibrate and come back through, looks like we arrived just in time." He flicked a button open on his trench coat and reached inside. His hand reappeared holding something white and cylindrical, which he offered to Rad. Rad took it and smiled.

  "Much obliged," he said, unfurling his fedora and carefully putting it in its rightful place. "Mine?"

  Grieves nodded. "It was cluttering the office."

  "Impeccable skill, your Captain Nimrod," said Carson. He turned back to the pair and smiled, but this time it was tight and sad.

  Rad looked around the Battery. The orange fog had gone, revealing the empty hangar.

  "So the Empire State is safe? I thought it had been wiped out for a second, believe you me."

  "I will admit there was a risk involved," said Carson. He pointed at the junction box. "The Pocket is supported by the connection with the Origin. Crater knew this, and used the power of the Fissure to build the city. Or rather, to help crystallise the natural reflection of New York. For the Fissure to absorb the energy from the Skyguard's suit, it had to be destabilised manually, as it were. Unfortunately I needed this unlovely lady's help with that. But now the Fissure is reconnected and the Pocket more stable than ever." Carson gestured to the junction box, and Rad saw that the fat cable was back in its port. "There may be some damage to the outer reaches of the Empire State. We shall have to see."

  "We?" said Rad.

  The Captain puffed up his chest.

  "Well, I say we, I suppose I really mean me. I will assume control, I presume, in the absence of a Chairman. There will be a lot to do. Informing the populace of the end of Wartime, obviously. Lift Prohibition." He tapped Rad on the chest with the flat of his hand. "Not a bad idea, eh?"

  "What about the people? The Pastor's crowd went zip, gone. Hell, the whole city did for a while."

  Carson tapped his lip. "With a stronger connection to the Origin, I think the Pocket will have returned to the status quo, reset, as it were. We can but hope."

  Rad looked over at Jones, holding the Science Pirate.

  "What about her?"

  Grieves walked towards their prisoner. "She doesn't belong here. We'll take her back to New York." He turned to her. "You're in for a shock, miss. You've been away nearly twenty years."

  "And the Fissure?" Rad asked.

  "Well," said Carson. "Nimrod and I have much to discuss. I hope we can share much knowledge about it, and the Pocket. The Empire State needs it, but then so does New York City."

  The Captain laughed again.

  "Come on, detective. Allow me to buy you a drink – the first legal one of the new age, my friend! Agents?"