The Deep Link (The Ascendancy Trilogy Book 1) (30 page)

I head back toward our apartment as fast as I can. I have
to find someone,
anyone
, and warn them about the impending dome drop.

People are running from fires, jumping out of buildings,
screaming at each other. Hisses and whistles and the rapid pummel of bullets
combine into a frightening cacophony. The Syndicate has squeezed the trigger
and now the city bleeds, and the Trust is quicker and fiercer to retaliate than
I ever imagined. There's no victory in sight, for anyone. People are just
dying. Bodies lie crushed under fallen walls, heads shattered to pieces, limbs
shredded, and faces eaten by fire.

A group of people huddles behind a toppled passage,
shooting and throwing flash grenades into the street. They've got plasma guns
and automatic rifles, submachine guns and electro-net casters, and even knives
and broken pipes. I slide along the wall and crouch behind a dumpster, looking
for a way around them.

I'm halfway past when the alley next to them bursts open like
a ruptured vein. Half a dozen Razers come bleeding out in a volley of bullets,
and batters them all into the ground. Every last one of them. The Razers march
off in sync like a deadly cybernetic centipede. I run the other way.

The streets are littered with wreckage and the air is
filled with smoke. I stop to catch my breath beside the remainder of a water
storage tank, sore and shaken out of my mind. A man lies against a wall across
from me, breathing hard. He's cuddling something in his lap, his sleeves
completely drenched in blood.

"Are you okay?" I crawl toward him. "Do you
need help?" His breathing breaks into a rapid sputter and he shakes
violently. His hands work hastily before him. I get closer to see what he's
holding, and realize it's his own guts. He's trying to stuff them back into his
body. I jerk backwards. "I'm sorry," I choke, and swallow my own
bile. "So sorry..."

I scramble back to my feet and take off as fast as I can.

I break into our old housing building, bump along the
corridors and hallways, down the emergency stairs, and find the door of our
apartment wide open.

A couple of ceiling panels crash before my feet as the
building is shaken by a nearby explosion. I step over them and enter. Conduits
have exploded in the ceiling and sparks rain down from above. I tread carefully
from room to room, a hand pressed over my nose and mouth. Then I see her, and
my heart stops.

An orange-haired girl lies on the floor, her overall
splattered with blood, her face dull and livid. Denise's head is turned to the
side, her green eyes glazed over and unfocused. And with a painful start, I
realize she's dead.

I run out of the building, eyes webbed with tears, and
bump into someone's shoulder. He grabs me and crushes me in a desperate hug.
"Bug-Nut, you're alive! Thought I'd never see you again. We gotta get to
safety. The Ticks deployed the Razers, and some of our units retreated to
the—"

"They're all gonna die."

"What?"

"Everyone's gonna die." I stare at him, longing
desperately to find comfort in his face. "The TMC's gonna drop the dome."

"Oh fuck..."

"We have to prevent the drop at any cost," I
say, and grab Jade's arm. "We have to get to Hades."

"
What
?"

"We can't do anything from here. We have to break out
and fly to Hades."

"We can't! They'll shoot us out of the sky. If we get
off the ground in the first place."

I grab his other arm as well. "Jade, I know what I'm
asking of you. I know this is probably going to kill us. I wouldn't even think
of it if there were any other way, but there isn't. We have to do this—'cause
if the dome falls and everyone dies, it will be on
our
hands, Jade, and
you know it."

He stares at me, thin-lipped and drawn. Then his eyes
widen. "I remember Preston saying something about a Dart he's got ready
somewhere near the Rebreather, just in case."

"Why doesn't that surprise me," I mumble, my
hatred flaring back up.

"We have to hurry." He drags me out of the
apartment and up the fire escape. "We'll have to hack it, and it won't be
easy. Preston's a paranoid prick. That Dart's probably rigged to Kingdom
come."

"Let me worry about that."

As soon as we're out on the street again we take off for
the Rebreather. We keep out of sight as much as we can. Fallen buildings block
most of the streets and alleys along the way, and the Razers are always just
half a step behind us.

The entrance into the maintenance shaft of the damaged
Rebreather is unguarded. Jade smashes the com unit, picks the lock, and
shoulders the door off its hinge. The elevator isn't working, so we take the
stairs. Climbing the twenty stories to the Rebreather's shuttle dock seems to
take forever, and we're both panting hard by the time we're done. We exit the
narrow, circular staircase with the Rebreather's deafening machinery roaring
above us, and emerge onto a double-decked platform.

We're immediately swallowed by thick black smoke. I bite
into my sleeve, clinging to Jade. We trudge through the fumes, checking the
first deck, then climb up to the second. Two Darts are parked there. Their name
does them justice; they look like rockets or some sort of missile.

"Which one is it?" I ask.

"What?" Jade yells over the cacophony.

"WHICH ONE?"

He shrugs, wipes his face, and picks the left one. He
tries to open the small hatch, but his code isn't accepted. He moves over to
the other one and cracks the lock. I climb into one of the two strap-chairs.
Jade joins me and closes the hatch, shutting out the noise. The silence presses
heavily against my skull.

"Shit, this thing's tiny."

"When we go up in flames like a freaking moth,"
Jade says, strapping himself in, "remember
you
talked me into
it."

"I didn't force you."

"As if I could say no," Jade mumbles.

"Look Jade, I'm sorry about—"

He peers at me and smiles. "Shut up. Just make it
worthwhile." I nod. "I hope there's some truth to those hacking
skills you've been bragging about, Bug-Nut."

I grin and crack my knuckles.

Bray stands in the rubble, looking down at Denise's mangled
body. A shudder runs through him. His hands feel swollen and heavy, hanging
limply against his dirty overall. He catches movement behind him and snaps
around.

Preston stands in the entrance. His beard is singed on the
left side, and his burnt ear is smeared with grease that's dripped on his
shoulder into long, smudgy stains.

"Bray. Here you are," Preston says hoarsely.
"Where's Franky?" He looks down at Denise, and sighs. "Damn it.
Are
you
okay?"

"I'm perfect," Bray says. He turns slowly, boots
scraping against the rubble, and looks at the old doc. "What happened to
your face?"

"Missile missed me by a couple meters. Five of our
men got killed, right next to me."

"Toils of war, eh? All these deaths..."

"Sunk costs." Preston's growing impatient.
"Let's go, Bray. There's still a great deal to do."

"No." Preston glares at him, taken aback. Bray
smiles briefly. "You knew the war would escalate quickly. That things
would get out of hand. You planned this from the beginning."

Preston looks back at him, impassively. "We're
wasting time here. Come."

"You don't give a shit about the thousands of
civilians who're dying because of you?"

"What do you want to hear, Bray? That I hoped we'd
take out the TMC clean? That I regret my choices?" Preston snorts.
"The
result
is all that matters. It's tragic, but their deaths
serve a greater goal. Martyrs, all of them. Heroes."

"You call others dying
for you
heroic?"
Bray's hands are cold. The rest of him numb. "I'm done. You'll never order
me around again."

"Finally found your backbone, did you? Well it's too
late, Bray. No getting out of this now."

"
Taryn
got out. She slipped right through your
fingers."

Preston laughs, catching Bray off guard. "You think
I'd let her off easy? She's doing exactly what she's supposed to."

Bray's pulse picks up speed. "What?"

"Oh Bray. Always slower than you look. She's on her
way to Hades even as we speak—a bull's-eye about to paint herself all over our
enemy's back."

"I don't... understand."

"You don't need to. Now let's
go
."

In Bray's mind, the thread that's been spun ever since he
escaped Nugh back on Bessel's Eye unfurls in a hundred strands, each pulled by
someone else. His whole life—pulled apart by other people—all in a second of
horrible realization. He steps toward Preston, jaw clenched.

Preston turns toward the door, misunderstanding. "We
meet up with Costa's cell in ten minutes. He'll take us to the next—"

"I'm not going." Bray lays a hand on Preston's
shoulder, earning a startled look. "And neither are you."

He grabs Preston's head and cracks it against the
doorframe.

Preston staggers, and drops to his knees. Blood gushes
down his face and trickles onto his shoulder. He touches his open skull with a
shaking hand, and stares at the blood pooled on his fingers.

Bray crouches next to him. Whispers: "You know... I
was afraid to defy you. Was always ashamed of owing you my freedom. Like I
didn't deserve it. I wanted so much to believe that if I worked hard enough,
you'd be proud of me. That you'd
care
about me—about all of us—deep
inside that icy heart of yours. That one day, you'd see me as an equal. I'm
tired of waiting, doc."

Bray grabs the old man's head with both hands, and rams it
into the edge of the doorframe. Then again. And again. Until Preston's skull is
just pulped bone and brain.

His body slumps to the ground and Bray studies what's left
of the old man's face.

He stoops and kneels in the rubble. His fingers trail over
the remains of Preston's skull, digging through the warm mush of tenderized
neural tissue until he finds what he's looking for. He pulls it out slowly,
squinting at it in the flickering light.

"Thanks, doc." He stands back up. "You've
been a great teacher."

He pockets Preston's synet and walks out, stepping over
the old man's body.

My consciousness melts into the Dart's systems as I become
accustomed to its functions. I get us off the Rebreather docking platform and
fly up toward the dome. With each second, I gain more control, my senses
replaced by the Dart's sensor and navigational inputs. I still feel my own
body, strapped into the Dart's chair. Hear Jade breathing next to me in the
tiny cockpit. But I'm focused on what's happening outside as I rise above the
burning, roaring city.

I am the Dart now. Its hull is my skin, its sensors are my
eyes and ears, its powerful engines my muscles.

The CIS has turned the dome into an impervious shield. The
closer I get to it, the fiercer its plasma filaments burn in my awareness. I
must
change our shielding to match the dome's energy field. I
have
to get us
through.

I don't understand what needs to be done, but something
inside me—something inside
Amharr
knows exactly what to do. My spine begins
to tingle. The nerves in my arms burn. The Dart's electromagnetic shielding
sizzles and bursts into light. A deep shudder runs over the Dart and my
skin—like diving into ice-cold water.

And then we're out. Flying away from the smoke-filled
bubble, away from the planet into the void of space.

"I can't believe it." Jade laughs in relief.
"You fucking did it!"

But we have no time to celebrate. Dozens of warships fan
out before us. Jade calls my name in panic. I hear him but I can't respond. I
focus on the swarms of sparks making up the ships in my altered vision, coming
closer, growing rapidly like blossoming explosions.

The space between us is streaked with vibrant
electromagnetic waves. I see them as whips of indigo smoke. I navigate the Dart
between them, looking for just the right angle and speed, the perfect
combination of charge and density.

There!

The Dart speeds up, surpasses its maximum speed and jets
between the warships, spinning wildly like a drill. I zigzag up and down,
underneath a warship and past another, between a dozen missiles and right
toward Hades.

Jade yells something. I can't speak back. I'm wrapped in
threads of eerie electricity, chasing through a space that's neither void nor
matter, every nerve in my body ablaze, orchestrating the Dart's incredible
flight. My steering is more precise now, and the Dart flies faster and faster,
its agility amplified with every wave it takes.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Jade's yell
pierces my awareness.

"Find... port..."

"You want to
land
this thing? At this
speed?"

"No time—" I gasp, "—to land."

The warships have adapted to my maneuvers, spewing laser
beams around us, grazing the Dart. I feel as if my own side was torn open, and
grunt in pain.

They're gaining on us. But Hades is getting closer too.

The Dart creaks, and my breath stops painfully in my
chest. The un-domed military base is now a mound of sparks and
lightning-tongues squirming right beneath me—dead ahead.

Jade screams.

The Dart's hull screeches as we graze a roof, and I
finally yell "Brace!"

-

My head is turned sideways, facing the ground. I hang in
the harness of my chair, the straps cutting into my muscles with a dull,
throbbing pain. A drop of blood drips from the tip of my nose and lands in a
small splash on a piece of metal. Another drop follows. And another.

Slowly, the hiss and groan of the Dart's death throes
enter my awareness. I'm hanging sideways in my seat, and my seat is hanging
sideways in a smoldering pile of debris.

Fuck
. Where's Jade? Did we make it?

My whole body is a human-sized sore. Every movement aches,
and my head pounds sharply.

I have to get out of here, fast.

I tug and twist and manage to unlock my harness. I drop
out of the seat and tumble through the rubble. A jagged sliver of the Dart's
hull digs into my calf. I groan and yank my leg free without thinking. Then
double over from the stabbing pain, clutching helplessly at the bleeding wound.
I press my hand against it, looking for something to tie my leg up with. A
piece of cloth sticks out of the wreckage. I reach for it, grab and pull, and
realize it's a piece of Jade's sleeve. It's covered in blood—and he's still in
it.

He twitches and tries to squirm out of the wreck. I let go
of my leg—the wound already closing—and help him out.

"Anything broken?"

"Don't think so." He winces. "You?"

"I'm fine."

He slowly gets on all fours, then sits on his heels.
"Think I sprained half my body and smashed the rest.
Fuck
it
hurts." He rubs his face.

We're inside the ruins of a building, between crushed
walls and panels and burnt circuit boards. Maybe a maintenance room, or a
server farm. Doesn't matter, the crash wrecked it all. As I look around for
working connection, forcing my vision to flicker between mine and Amharr's
scanning skills, I see that every single device is burnt or currently
smoldering. I look for a way out between the rubble, but find none. We're
trapped.

"What time is it?" I ask.

"What?"

"How long do we have to prevent the drop?"

Jade's nacom is shattered and his wrist is swollen.
"I'm not sure." He runs his hand through his hair and winces. It
comes away full of blood.

Noises get louder nearby; voices and mechanical groans,
hissing hydraulics and clanking tools. The sharp pitch of an angle grinder sets
my teeth on edge.

We start looking frantically for an escape. We crawl
around a torn piece of the Dart, feeling our way through the debris. I see what
might be a door beneath a pile of thruster fuselage and carbonized lattices.
The renewed shriek of
several
grinders makes me start.

"They're getting closer," Jade says anxiously.
"What do we do?"

"Hurry." I start digging into the debris.

We uncover as much of the door as we can, and I pull the
handle. It doesn't budge. I kick at it, harder and harder, but the damn thing
just won't open.

"Fuck," Jade says. "It's melted shut."

The Ticks are breaking through the crumbled walls, tearing
through concrete and metal sheaths one by one. "They're almost
through." He pants and slumps down, clutching at his bleeding head.

I scrape along the doorframe with a shard of metal. It comes
loose along an edge and I manage to yank a piece of the frame away. But barely
enough to stick an arm through. The cutters are getting closer. I can feel the
wreckage shear and give way as they tear it apart.

A loud bang—followed by rapid, high-pitched hammering.

"They've got a freaking Razer!" Jade gasps in
panic. I jab my hands into the torn doorframe and pull as hard as I can. He
helps me, groaning as blood gushes out around his crushed nacom. Together, we
rip a piece of door open creating a gap.

I can already smell the hot metal coming from the
grinders. A loud crack—a hiss—and they're in.

The gap isn't big enough to fit through. Jade starts
hyperventilating. I clench my teeth, stick a leg in through the cracked door
and wriggle through, shearing my suit and skin.

Steps crunch the rubble just meters behind us. I hear
hydraulics press heavy limbs, grinders slow down, weapons power up. Jade
mutters something, slipping out of consciousness. I'm stuck in the cracked
door, fighting to push it open just a bit more. Jade gasps for air.

A volley riddles him on the spot.

He topples forward.

Falls.

Lands in a bleeding mound beside my boot.

The universe goes quiet around me, muted by shock.

Jade
.

I look into his old, familiar eyes, and mouth his name.
The Razor's flashlights fall on us. An armored man grabs Jade and pulls him up,
another sprays something in my face. Gloved hands yank me out and drag me away.