Stars Rain Down (39 page)

Every corner presented another set of guards with itchy trigger-fingers; these spent more time firing at their own shadows than at Kai, who blew past like a fierce wind.

He missed the days when he was allowed to kill indiscriminately, though. It made his job a lot easier.

Level by level, he penetrated deeper into the complex, running on walls as often as he did the floor. Each corridor was warmer than the last, and more densely packed with tubes and pipes. That meant he was getting close to his target... as did the slow throbbing of his radiation detector.

***

Two burning blue rounds streaked past Felix, and the tiny flyer juked hard to the side.

"We've got company!" Nikitin shouted.

"Really," Jack said with as much sarcasm as he could pack into one word. "I hadn't noticed, Nik. Maybe I should try to evade them."

Jack and Felix zoomed down toward the hangars and began weaving through streets that were too small for the cuttlefish on their tail. Instead, it stayed above and took pot shots every few seconds.

Nikitin and Ferash opened fire with their rifles, but the rounds plinked off the alien ship's armor without effect.

"Are you planning to shoot any time soon, Dojer?"
Jack asked the alien.

The rhino's deep voice sounded nervous.
"Not a good idea."

"Dojer!"

The Rozom put his autocannon away and brought out his artillery weapon instead, aimed at the cuttlefish and fired. It thumped three times, and the tiny flyer rocked under the vicious recoil, nearly flipping in the process.

Roiling balls of smoke erupted along the cuttlefish's exterior, only to be swept away by the onrushing wind a moment later. The ship's hull was unmarked.

"Told you it wasn't a good idea."

The cuttlefish fired again, this time aiming in front of the smaller Yuon Kwon. The blasts exploded in the thin alleyway ahead of them, and Felix instinctively made a hard kick-turn to avoid the raining debris.

"Smooth," Jack said, and the flyer cooed in response. "I'm all out of ideas, little buddy... so if you've got something, I'd love to see it."

Felix asserted control and came to a halt, then ducked into a deeply shadowed overhang.

"What are we doing?" Lisa asked.

"Not sure," Jack replied, "but for right now, just have a little faith."

And they waited for the tiny flyer to make its move.

***

Armed resistance thickened as Kai approached the reactor. The cunning bastards had figured out his destination, and fell back behind barricades to wait for him. Every new tunnel was a trap filled with hot lead, and those attacks were taking their toll.

Kai had done an admirable job avoiding them, but he could only do so much in tight confines, and now had several bullets lodged in his flesh. His muscles were adaptive, able to reroute around damaged areas and retain functionality, but every bullet also tore swaths out of his uniform, ruining his camouflage. He was becoming an easier target.

Running at maximum output was wearing on him, too. His body temperature hit dangerous levels, and his muscles were cannibalizing themselves for fuel. He was nearing his breaking point, and oddly glad for the challenge.

The deep red lights in this section strobed, while geysers of steam sprayed out from bundles of thick pipes. Kai sprinted down the tunnel, listening to the muffled sound of his feet hitting the floor. A junction loomed up ahead, and his cheerful mission-comp was confident this turn led toward the control room.

"So I should expect another barricade?"

"But of course, Sinit," the computer replied. "How exciting!"

"Yes, terribly," Kai replied. "No easy way past, then."

As he approached, the fingers of both hands keyed command sequences into his palms, then he curled his left hand into a fist. The knuckle-guard crackled with energy, while his camouflage faded and began to glow white, growing stronger until even the walls were almost too bright to look at.

He ran straight by the corridor and stopped out of sight on the other side. The rhythmic bark of automatic weapons started and didn't stop, while shouts of confusion and panic sounded over the roar.

While they reloaded, Kai made his entrance. He jumped up and planted his heels on the wall, then thrust against it, rocketing back down the opposite hall like a missile. Blind fire whizzed by and ricocheted around, but little of it came anywhere near him.

He struck the barricade fist first, and his knuckle-guard discharged into the metal. What was solid before became molten liquid spraying out in every direction. The super-heated steel coated the soldiers, and they screamed as they fell to the ground.

Kai landed on the far side and sprinted on, whispering a silent apology to Jack and his noble cause.

***

The cuttlefish hunted erratically, trying to figure out where its prey had slipped off to. All the while, Felix shadowed its every move, hidden just a few meters behind and below. Felix's cousin had a blind spot, and he knew exactly how to exploit it.

After a few minutes of fruitless searching, the larger Yuon Kwon broke off and headed back toward the center of the city, apparently satisfied that his target had been lost or destroyed. Jack and Felix followed.

"You're much more clever than I suspected," Jack whispered, and Felix purred at his approval.

The fact that the cuttlefish was headed toward the nerve center seemed a little too lucky, though. The last time Jack encountered luck like that, things didn't work out very well, and he wondered what sort of curve ball the universe was about throw him.

The cuttlefish led them right up to the nerve center and then inside, where it finally disappeared into a darkened tunnel while Jack and Felix continued toward the heart. The inside of the nerve bundle was quiet and calm. There was no hint of the distant battle, or buzzing from the Sey Chen as they charmed the miniature stars outside. It was peaceful there, and in the midst of savage conflict, that was even more alien.

They came to the core of the great Yuon Kwon in no time. It was a round chamber shaped like a pumpkin, with bulbous alcoves along the outer wall. At the center was a cradle like those found in every Yuon Kwon, but regal and ornate like a medieval throne. It was set into the floor, and surrounded by a ring of outgrowths shaped like kneeling worshipers.

Felix set down and released his grip on Jack, who stepped out with the others and walked cautiously across the floor.

The silence was deafening.

The others followed as he approached the cradle, step by shaking step. The pilot within was very old, his skin hanging loose and wrinkled, and covered with twisting tattoos and strange writing.

Jack had an awkward feeling like the time he accidentally walked in on his parents; he was somewhere he didn't belong, interrupting something he wasn't supposed to see.

He stepped between the outgrowths in the floor, reached out and placed his hand on the pilot's shoulder. It craned its head back from the cradle and looked at him with it's single monstrous eye. There was no fear in that eye, only hatred.

"Remove yourself or be removed,"
Jack said in their language.

The pilot spat on him. At the same time, the room's defenses moved into position and targeted the group at its center, but Jack raised his .45 and put a round in the pilot's head, and the defenses fell limp.

He didn't relish it, but it had to be done. There were too many lives to save.

The cradle relaxed and the pilot's lifeless body slid free. Dojer dragged the corpse away with a grimace on his face, while Jack stepped forward and prepared to link up.

"Are you sure about this?" Charlie asked.

"Not at all," Jack replied, "but it's a little too late to change my mind."

He wiped the pilots green blood from the cradle, then hunkered down into it and slid his arms into the gaping orifices. The apparatus tightened around him, and his world disappeared.

***

The reactor control room was full of workers when Kai arrived, but the sight of him covered in blood was enough to send them running. He sealed the door behind them and went to work.

He reached behind a terminal and grabbed hold of a shielded cable. He scraped its insulation away to reveal the bare wire within, then lifted a tiny probe from his computer and placed it on the metal.

"Alright, I'm analyzing the network traffic," the mission-comp said. "This will take a moment, Sinit."

"That's fine," he said. "No rush, small friend."

While the AI did its work, Kai slumped down against the wall and tried to catch his breath. His body was on fire and he couldn't focus his eyes.

"Got it. I'm simulating the client interface and probing their network architecture. How interesting. There are nodes here that were definitely not designed by humans. No matter. I've finished mapping the network topology and have acquired root access. Shall I initiate self-destruct, Sinit?"

"Yes," he said. "Set it for twenty minutes, and revoke all client credentials except your own."

Emergency klaxons rang throughout the Ark. The computer went on, "Done and done, Sinit. I feel as though I should mention that I've calculated Jack Hernandez's probability of success, and it is vanishingly small. Yet I notice you're not moving."

Kai laughed. "Good observation," he said.

"The foreign hardware has substantially increased their thermonuclear device's yield. My estimates show that the detonation will annihilate everything inside of this base and for some distance beyond."

"And?"

"Ahem. That includes you, Sinit."

"It does indeed."

"So, you intend to die here?"

"I believe so."

"You swore to fight the Nefrem to the last drop of your blood, did you not?"

"I did, but look where that got me. I'm responsible for the death of eight billion humans. I've done the Nefrem's work for them."

"And I will be destroyed as well. The sum of Somari knowledge will be lost and gone forever. Your people will be dead and forgotten, Kai."

"Maybe it's time."

"Perhaps it is at that," the AI said with resignation. After a pregnant pause, it added, "This has been a very long and strange journey, hasn't it?"

"It has, but don't worry," Kai said to his computer, "it'll be over soon."

With that, Kai closed his eyes and tried to relax while the end approached.

Jack mysteriously found himself alone, standing in a circular room ringed with windows that revealed nothing but whiteness beyond. The floor and ceiling were perfectly reflective, creating a vertical hall of mirrors with Jack trapped in the middle.

He was confused again, and getting a little tired of it.

"Hello," he called out, and his voice echoed back at him. "Is anyone here?"

He walked, but after a few steps was pretty sure he hadn't gone anywhere. He felt like he was moving, but the windows were no closer than before. He ran but with the same result.

He cupped his hands to his mouth and called out, "Hello!?"

There was no response.

His imagination flared. Maybe he never escaped the prison. They'd been inside his head all along, and the past couple weeks were nothing but an illusion. The bastards showed him a door, and he happily led them right back to the Ark.

He needed to get a grip. One way or another, the world he was in had to be an illusion. It was a false veneer, hiding something important. What was it?

He tried to recall the past couple hours, but the memories were slick and difficult to get a hold of. They came apart like over-boiled meat.

If he could only concentrate, he might be able to figure it out. He closed his eyes, metered his breathing and tried to focus on a single point. His inner voice ran non-stop, full of panic and distress, but he focused and tried to let go. Just let it go.

He breathed in and out, and perfect silence came to him for just an instant. There was peace, and he felt the other there with him. The other was massive and powerful beyond belief.

He opened his eyes and the room was gone, replaced by the simultaneous views of ten thousand eyes stitched together into a bewildering panorama. A battle raged all around, and flying objects wove complex patterns through the air. Jack felt and saw them all at once, and it was too much. Pain clawed into his head like a hot dagger.

He screamed.

The circular room with its windows looking out on nothingness returned. It was filled with silence, as a glass overflowing with water. He was alone again, even though he knew the other was there.

He heard another voice in the distance that just barely crept above the silence. "Jack?" the voice said full of worry. "Are you okay?"

"I think so," he said, or maybe he didn't. He was so confused. "I don't know."

He was in some kind of cell, but he wasn't sure whether it was for the other's safety, or his own. Perhaps it was both.

"We don't have much time," the distant voice said.

Images flashed by so quickly he couldn't make them out, like someone fanning a photo album in front of his face. When the images were gone, he was left with a dull, metallic taste in his mouth.

None of it added up.

He closed his eyes and said, "Again."

The images flashed by, still too quickly for him to make sense of.

"Slower," he said. "I can't keep up."

They came again, but this time he caught sight of a few. Vessels like sea-shells were torn apart in space. The images flew through his head again and again, until they finished with a roar that knocked Jack off his feet.

When he opened his eyes, he was still standing. The other had shown him an invasion. It was a war against an unstoppable enemy who ate the dead.

Jack could feel the other's anger. It was all around him, a giant set of jaws that were slowly closing. He was on trial.

He closed his eyes again and concentrated, but this time had a different focus. His thoughts were still slippery, but he reached down into them and dragged out every memory he could find. He brought to mind the face of men, women and children he'd helped during his career with the Corps. Every sad refugee and bleeding wound. It got easier as he went, and soon the images came on their own.