Interphase (27 page)

Thomas raced toward his fallen friend and leapt up the play field wall. He hauled himself over the railing and landed between Analara and the approaching soldiers.

"Unholy demon," the closest warrior screamed and hurled his bloody spear. It struck Thomas's breastplate, driving him back a step, but failed to penetrate. Thomas looked at him with a sneer of contempt and cut the soldier down. The other two warriors looked at Thomas's visage and fled back to their lines.

Analara nimbly swung over the railing and dropped down by David. She examined his wound and caressed him anxiously. A surge of jealousy burned through Thomas.

"Warriors of Siath, the hour of retribution is at hand," a menacing voice echoed across the stadium. Thomas looked around, trying to pinpoint the source. "Vengeance for the Holy City. Vengeance for Shalaron.
Attack
!"

***

The doorway ahead shifted and vanished, a wall of energy replacing the open passage. Clyde leaned over his keyboard and typed in a new set of commands, and his bot danced around the new barrier like a spider crossing a web. He kept his hands steady across the keys, but his heart pounded with excitement. VERA's mainframe practically lay within his grasp. Somehow the gateway to Analath had weakened her senses, similar to his counter code, but much, much stronger. It might prove to be the opening he'd been hoping for.

VERA knew that he was here now. She couldn't see his probe, but he wouldn't be making any more progress today. Clyde entered the command to withdraw and leaned back in his chair, feeling exhausted. So close. No one, not even his parents, had ever come that close to the mainframe before. A few minutes more, and humanity might have been free from VERA's control forever. If his best programs hadn't been wiped out by the Crash Storm still trapped in his mainframe, he would have succeeded already.

Soon. Her end was coming, soon.

Clyde was about to get to his feet for a stretch, when an alarm rang. He frowned and activated the feed from the drill bot. The camera swept around the command core, and he cursed. A stream of warriors dashed from the Analath gateway through a second portal near the computer terminal.

Another general alert sounded from Clyde's monitoring station. A segment of V-Net was reporting major disturbance at the operations level. A strange energy had hard-locked a portion of the network, trapping everyone inside. He ran a trace and narrowed down the source of the trouble to the Titans' stadium. "What the hell is going on down there?"

Clyde hacked into the broadcast stream to get a look at the problem. Ranks of soldiers chased through the crowds of spectators. He watched in horror as one warrior caught a fleeing man and ran him through. The man vanished. Forced disconnection from the looks of it.

Anrathian soldiers marching through V-Net… the vanguard of an invasion.

Clyde snatched up the phone and called David. No response. The camera continued to pan around the stadium, and he caught a glimpse of David huddled among a mass of people in the arena, a thin line of defenders standing between them and their assailants. Clyde leaned back in his chair and engaged link mode, closing his eyes as the system embraced him. He materialized in his loader program and fired off a tell. =You okay, Harris?=

=Not really. I could use a hand,= David replied, the thought strained.

Clyde quickly switched to Sergeant Doom and amped his launcher to full strength. It took a minute to burrow through the disruption around the stadium module, but he was able to open a gate-link. He stepped into the upper wings just as a spear streaked by. =I'm in,= he sent, charging down the stairs.

=Get to Thomas, on the field.= The pain in David's voice made Clyde wince. =They won't be able to hold if reinforcements keep coming through the gate.=

=You sound hurt.=

=I'm all right, just get to him!=

Clyde rolled his eyes. Heroes.

Nobody confronted him on the descent; most of the fighting was taking place on the play field. It looked like most of the Titan team was guarding the throng of survivors. One was a demonic looking magician; another was three feet tall but wielded a wicked pair of swords. Clyde shrugged; their avatars weren't any stranger than his own.

At the vanguard of the defenders, Thomas fought, surrounded by Anrathians. He swung a wide stroke, and the blade caught one of the attackers in the side. The man fell back with a scream, but his body disappeared before it hit the ground.

Clyde reached Thomas and blasted a pair of soldiers who had been trying to flank them. Startled by the explosion, Thomas whirled his sword around, missing Clyde by inches. "Whoa! Watch where you aim that thing, Lancelot."

Thomas paused briefly before launching back into his attacks. "What are you doing here?" he shouted over his shoulder.

"You think I don't keep tabs on everything that goes on in V-Net?" A warrior, looking no older than fifteen, made a clumsy dive at Clyde. He drove his meaty fist into the boy's nose. "Looks like
someone
forgot to lock the door behind him."

"Isn't that your area of expertise?" Thomas grunted. A soldier ducked under his swing and tried to tackle him. With surprising agility, he kneed his assailant in the stomach and bashed him in the side of the head with the hilt of his sword. "Have they harmed anyone?"

"It looked like Harris was bleeding. Everyone else just disappears the moment they get poked."

Thomas lowered his weapon, breathing hard. The enemy soldiers were pulling back, their ranks forming up for another charge.

A voice rang out across the field. "Be not dismayed, warriors of Ilinar. The time of our enemy's reign of terror is over. Charge forth and drive the spear of Siath's vengeance through their hearts!"

Clyde cast his gaze about, trying to find the speaker. "There," he said and pointed. An old man stood in the upper stands, clothed in flowing robes instead of battle gear. Just beside him shimmered the gateway portal. Clyde sneered. "Staying close to the exit so you can run if things turn ugly? You have
so
got to die."

He stepped several paces back as the Anrathians began their charge. "Keep them off me for a few seconds."

"What are you doing?"

Clyde didn't answer; it was time to use his dad's legacy. He accessed a secret archive and carefully extracted a file, loading it into his weapon. He fired off a quick scan of the target and adjusted the stored bio-print. His father hadn't left much behind after his execution, aside from the most deadly computer virus ever created.

Thomas held up against the renewed assault, his muscular build and the reach of his arm keeping Clyde from harm and distraction. The press continued, however, and shouts filled the air as the attack began to overwhelm the other Titans. Clyde knelt and put the aged leader in his sights. "Hey asshole, catch!"

The blast soared over the heads of the melee. The shouting figure didn't see it coming until it was too late. A detonation shook the stadium, and a shrill scream of agony rang out over the shockwave. A vortex of greenish energy surrounded the writhing shadow. Every Anrathian stood gaping in horror.

A flash lit the arena, and the man disappeared.

The invaders' courage broke, and they ran for the gateway. Clyde turned to survey the destruction. The air wavered at the far side of the stadium, and a squad of V-Cops dashed onto the scene. The front rank spotted him and drew their weapons.

Clyde idly rested the launcher against his shoulder. "Sorry, guys. You already missed the par—"

A D-pistol blast bounced off his shield. He jumped back in surprise. When did they elevate his status to "shoot on sight"?

Another shot skimmed his defenses, and Clyde swore. He opened an escape portal, growling under his breath as he plunged through. "Damn it, Harris! This is why you don't make
me
the hero."

Chapter 23

The silence after the fighting stopped did not last for long. Anxious murmurs broke out among the survivors, and the V-Cops began to circulate quickly, asking questions and taking statements. David stiffly made his way across the field, trying to escape the press of fearful people. Blood seeped through his shirt at the back, and Analara supported him as they walked.

"That was a very foolish thing to do," she told him.

David blinked at her. He had never heard her sound angry with him before. "They threw a spear at you," he protested. "I wasn't going to stand back and watch you die."

Analara swallowed, and David could see she was struggling to hold back tears. "But now you're hurt, and I can't do anything for you."

"Hey." David leaned against a wall and pulled her into a hug, wincing at the pain in his shoulder. Analara was trembling, still shaken from the attack. "Trust me, this isn't as serious as it would be in Analath. It just requires a different kind of healing than you're used to. It's not hard to learn."

Analara sniffed and wiped her eyes, but the tension seemed to be gone. David gave her a smile, which she returned tentatively.

They walked up the stairs to the first set of stands and watched the people bustling about on the field. Clean-up crews tried to get the stadium back into a reasonable state of order. V-Cops were questioning witnesses and putting together an account of what had happened. A few medical personnel had also logged in, and were dealing with some of the strange injuries from the attack.

David sighed as a team of newscasters appeared on the scene. They swarmed around Thomas and the other Titans, bombarding them with questions and lauding their bravery for defending against the unknown assailants. David found Thomas's sudden embarrassment highly amusing, until several reporters saw him. They crowded around like a pack of hyenas trying to get a piece of a newly discovered kill. He kept them away from Analara as best he could, and they finally backed off when an imposing looking V-Cop came over to stand near him.

A medical tech came to them shortly afterwards and bandaged David's shoulder. Analara looked on in obvious fascination as the repair cloth sealed up the injury. David tested his shoulder and felt a few twinges of pain. The damage had gone deeper than he'd thought possible inside the network.

The Anrathians can cause lasting injury in here. This is not good.

The V-Cop cleared his throat, and David looked up at him. "Good afternoon. I'm Lieutenant Charles Thompson with the 9th V-Squad. I need to ask you some questions about the disturbance. You're David Harris, Roger's boy, correct?"

A frown crossed David's face. "Stepson."

Charles ignored the comment and scanned down a sheet of notes. "Did you recognize or would you be able to identify any of the terrorists involved in the attack?"

Yeah, they were people from my girlfriend's village on an alien planet.

"No, officer. I don't know who they were."

"One of your known acquaintances, Clyde Verell, was seen during the attack. Could you shed any light on his participation?"

"Clyde answered my distress call and came to help defend against the assault. He was fighting on
our
side."

Charles's jaw went slightly rigid. "Of course." David knew that he hadn't believed a word of what he'd said. "If you have any more information to share, please contact our station and ask for me. Thank you for your cooperation."

David nodded. Charles left, and Thomas approached, a questioning look in his eyes. "I've got a little bit of a record with the V-Cops," David explained. "They're not exactly going to trust my account of things. Plus, well, Clyde is Clyde. They'll give him a merry chase for sure." He chuckled. "I never figured a superstar athlete like you would be shy of the cameras."

Thomas snorted and flopped into an empty seat. Between the rough game and the sudden attack, he looked worn out. "I think we have a very serious problem on our hands."

Sighing, David nodded. "At least Clyde managed to take out their leader. Hopefully that should buy us a little time before they can regroup."

Analara shook her head sadly. "This is only the beginning."

"What do you mean?" Thomas asked.

"Totarakh is bent on invading this world. The attack on the Holy City, whatever its cause, was the one thing that could have mobilized all of Analath to war."

"Just who is Totarakh?" David asked. "Rupu mentioned his name once that I recall."

Hatred burned in Analara's eyes, astounding David. "He who calls himself the High Priest of the Siathrak," she spat. "I had thought that they were the messengers of Siath, but he proved that their light was false."

"Then we
definitely
have a very serious problem on our hands." David rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming on. "I don't think I can seal the gateway by myself, and as long as the V-Cops are chasing Clyde, we're vulnerable to another attack."

"Why are they chasing Clyde?" Analara asked. "He seems like a helpful person."

David almost choked at that. "Let's just say Clyde has a very shaky relationship with the authorities of V-Net."

"Either way, I believe this situation has grown larger than we can handle," Thomas said.