by Skyler Grant
Crystal's snow golem leaned forward. "If we take control, we take control. I will be in charge, not Sylax. Yes, we intend to rescue her, but no, I will not be returning control of the city to her afterward."
This was news to me. It seemed the sort of thing she should have shared with her closest ally, but then Crystal did enjoy keeping her secrets. It was one of her better qualities.
Was it actually possible? I'd seized a District and despite her not being very fond of me, Sylax had in a sense been stuck with me. The city operated by strict rules. I had to conclude that Crystal might just be speaking the truth.
Crash grunted, "She's going to be pissed."
"My problem to deal with and I'll keep the rest of you safe," Crystal said.
"We think you can't even keep yourself safe," Ophelia said.
"I made Sylax. Give me the power of this city and I'll make those who supported me into so much more than they are now."
I rather liked what I was now.
An antiquated-looking telephone on the table rang loudly. Ophelia picked up the handpiece and listened to a few words. "On my way." Setting the phone down she looked around the table. "Wolf just launched an attack on this district. I'm in, if you can defend me."
Wolf was wasting no time.
"What the hell, I'll make five," Crash said.
Five was all we needed. Now all we had to do was keep Ophelia safe and take the Central District. I didn't think Wolf would make either easy.
121
Wolf's tactics seemed flawed to me. Instead of splitting up attacks like this he should have focused on Crystal. Still, with the Professor already fallen perhaps there was something to this. Create such displays of force throughout the other districts that any opposing allies would be too intimidated to assist.
That was going to fail, but the question now became what could be done. Multiple airships were ringing the district and already dropping shuttles full of Werewolves. I'd given Crystal all of my bombs, and my troops could only teleport within my district.
With my clones I fielded the largest contingent of ground forces of anyone present, but I had no way to get them to Ophelia's defense.
"I'm launching a full-out attack on his ships. Their sensors are going to be spotty and they may lose critical systems," Crash said.
Well, he was good for something.
"See. How. Deal." Flicker's Orb said.
That was one of them.
"I only have two dragons still flying. They're modified to bring down shields," Crystal said.
"I have some heavy soldiers on the way, but they are half an hour out," I said.
The Werewolves were of the fiery variety. As they stepped out of the shuttles flaming auras sprang up around them. Crystal's citizens were opening fire, but most of their guns were of an ordinary variety. The bullets partly evaporated by the time they hit Werewolf flesh and then the accelerated healing took over.
Ophelia's people healed nearly as well as she did, and better than the Wolves, but the Wolves were packing far more offensive power. Ophelia and her people were hard to exterminate, but not so difficult to defeat. Then again, Wolf didn't need to exterminate her, because if he defeated her in her core then she would have to answer to his commands.
I sent a message to Jade instructing her to get her people here and provided her instructions on how to deal with them. With their telekinetic powers they would be able to force the air away from the Wolves, extinguishing their flames and ultimately knocking them unconscious. That was a bit speculative, but it was a tactic that had worked on Hot Stuff in the past and her aura was stronger than theirs.
Ophelia was staring off into the distance. "We don't have the time. Our defenses are based around attrition and keeping an enemy neutralized for a long period of time. They are moving too quickly."
I agreed with her.
"Do you have any people that will swear to us?" Crystal asked.
Ophelia studied the woman made of snow for a long moment before giving a tiny nod. Picking up the telephone she spoke quickly. A minute later we were joined by three men and a woman, all wearing office worker clothes.
"Split yourselves into twos. One group swear yourself to Crystal's service and the other to Emma's. It is okay, you won't get sick again," Ophelia said.
Is that how she was recruiting? Offering people a cure to diseases that plagued them?
Then I understood what Crystal was thinking, I wish I'd thought of it myself. If they were our agents we could adapt them, modify them.
The man and woman swore themselves to me and I opened up their menus. She was Evelyn. Until recently she'd suffered from the late stages of cancer. He was Flynn and he'd been paralyzed. They were about to become stronger than they'd ever imagined.
To fully boost the two of them would eat a lot of research points, but my days of having to save to upgrade a single stat point were well behind me.
I moved their physical sliders to the human maximum and they screamed out. Clothing ripped and shredded as muscles bulged. Before they'd both looked rather frail. Now they were specimens of human perfection. I wasn't done.
I gave each telekineses, electrokinesis, resistance to extreme temperatures, pack affinity, and the ability to teleport short distances. I had to give them accelerated healing again as well—when they left Ophelia's service they lost the effects of her crystal in their blood.
This had them screaming again. They weren't alone. Crystal's two were being transformed as well. One now had majestic butterfly wings while the other seemed to have the legs of a goat. What was it with her and the animal hybrids?
When I'd finished the upgrades I gave them the order to go defend this place. As my agents now, I saw through their eyes as they ran towards the door. Crystal's creations were quickly following on their heels.
"Do you think that enough?" Crystal asked.
I didn't. Mine were strong, so very strong compared to the human average, and I suspected more than a match for any individual Werewolf out there. But they were facing far greater numbers.
"We're sending them to die gloriously, not to win," Crystal said, confirming she had the same thought as me. "But we needed you to put up enough of a fight to make Wolf inclined to accept your surrender when you offer it, instead of pressing the attack all the way."
"You wish us to surrender?" Ophelia said, and she didn't sound all that impressed. Neither was I.
"We can't win this fight and if you agree to work with him willingly you won't be under his compulsion," Crystal said.
"Unless your brain has melted, you'll realize that gives him four," I said.
"And with Crash and Flicker we'll have five," Crystal said.
"Uninterested," said the black orb, before vanishing.
"Bitch," Ophelia said. That didn't sound like the new her, and there was a reason for that. She was offering over a small shimmering blue sphere.
"My Source Orb. It can't fall under Wolf's compulsion and he is bastard enough he might push on. You're kind of mean and kind of crazy, but I trust you to be a pain in his ass. Keep it safe," Ophelia said.
I took the orb in my drone's appendages. They had no temperature sensors built in it and it still felt cold. Not just cold, freezing.
Crystal frowned, then said, "Everyone retreat then. Pull back and prepare to hit the Professor."
That was a lie for Crystal's benefit. No more were we out of the room than I was getting a message on a secure line that was a single word. "Flicker."
122
An attack on Flicker was risky in more ways than one. Of all the districts, hers was the one that had been completely untouched so far. This was in no small part due to the fact that nobody could really get to it. Flicker existed only partially in this dimension and the same was true for her district. Occasionally a flickering outline of it could be glimpsed. So attacking it was another matter altogether.
While my drone conveyed the source orb along a maintenance corridor back to my district I opened a line to
Crystal. "I hope you have a plan."
"I have a brilliant researcher as an ally. Figure it out and do it quick," Crystal said.
Well, at least she had an eye for talent.
Any ship’s dimensional drive allowed for transit between dimensions. It seemed that one, in theory, could be modified to get to Flicker's dimension.
"I need something then. Ophelia has a ship in her district, the Graven. Steal it," I said.
"You couldn't decide on this before an army invaded? I'll get it for you, but it will probably be damaged," Crystal said.
That was fine, so long as it flew and the dimensional drive worked.
There was still the matter of how to get it to go where I needed. This was a problem possibly already solved, although in reverse. Flicker interfaced with the city systems, and her sphere allowed her to speak here. I didn't have access to her sphere, but through Mechos I did have some access to the city systems.
I'd put all my minimally useful things together. Magpie and her people, Mechos, and the Gobbles were now housed in one complex.
Since his rescue Mechos had rebuilt his workshop, entered into a polyamorous relationship with two women, and adopted a Gobble. His life was dynamic, at least.
I opened a comm line and filled him in on what I needed.
"A set of dimensional coordinates deciphered from quantum resonance on the city’s systems. You do come to me with fun projects," Mechos said. He had already constructed a console to interact with the city systems, the circuitry lines on his flesh glowing a dull red as he placed his palm on the interface.
"Do you even know their names?" I asked.
"Sparrow and Lark? You're not jealous, are you?" Mechos asked.
He might have been simply throwing out random bird names. It seemed to be the theme of this village of peasants. Anna had once been interested in him, I'd always thought him a poor choice. He only seemed to be proving it.
"Jealous? Of what? The idea’s both disgusting and unfeasible," I said.
"You're biomechanical, I'm biomechanical. We could make it work," Mechos said.
I wondered if keeping him around was really worth it.
"Oh, this is weird," Mechos said.
"How so?" I asked.
"Any set of drive coordinates I've ever known are four figures, a set of ranges outside of which the drive won't lock on a destination. Well, you know all that. The Omega variable here is both way off and also shifts over time. Have a look," Mechos said.
It was. The set of coordinates was one I'd never even try and the drift was something that shouldn't be happening.
Mechos sent me the historical data as well and that confirmed things. It was also enough data for me to pinpoint the current values. I had what I needed.
"Do you want me to come along?" Mechos asked.
The man did have his uses, but being good in a fight wasn't one of them.
"Stay with your songbird collection. Let me know if you discover anything else of use," I said, and ended the conversation.
Just in time, as the Graven was coming in hot. It looked as if Crystal had managed to steal it, but not without being noticed. One of Wolf's airships was in pursuit. Dragons circled the craft.
I hadn't been idle while talking to Mechos. A group of heavy troopers were assembled at a landing field and armed with a mix of energy, kinetic, and acid weapons. I didn't know what might await us in Flicker's district, but it was best to be prepared.
Amid enemy fire the Graven landed and the hatch opened. I rushed my people aboard and they were joined by Crystal. No snow golem this time, she'd come in person.
"You sure about this?" I asked through one of my human drones.
"One of us should be there in person and you can't. I hope you got what you needed," Crystal said.
I did. One of my drones was on the way to the ship’s bridge and another to engineering.
We had to hurry. The Graven was never made to take a lot of hits. The ship was quick and nimble, and heavily armed to take big bites out of an enemy, rather than slug it out. The shields were already weakened and armor plating depleted by the time I finally managed to make the changes needed.
Colors rippled around the Graven and then were bleached away.
The Graven was in a new stretch of sky over Flicker's district, but instead of a hazy outline below us the district stretched physical and solid.
Trapezoids and oblongs met at odd angles. It was as if someone had scattered a set of children’s blocks across the ground and decided to call it part of a city.
"You did it," Crystal said.
I had, but I wasn't sure that was a good thing. The ship's sensors were having a hard time here. The view-screens were adequate for visuals and shapes were rapidly approaching. Tangles of white resembling string, or spaghetti. Weird assemblages, all converging in our direction.
"Can you find her District Core?" Crystal asked.
In that mess below? I couldn't see any pattern to it, but I was picking up a distress signal. A Righteous frequency from a building shaped like a pyramid.
123
My connection to my agents was odd in this dimension, strained. It was not quite so bad as the interaction of light or sound in this place, but it was a struggle. That I was having any success at all was likely because my ability to communicate with my agents was a result of my power crystal, just as this dimensional interference must be a part of Flicker’s powers from hers.
This mattered because I knew the source of that distress call, it was Tara Riel. Tara had sworn herself to Anna's service and thus in a way to mine. Up until now I hadn't really been able to get any read on her. Perhaps it was because I had so many agents now in this space, a cumulative effect, and it boosted the signal.
I didn't know if she was hidden at the core—I didn't keep my prisoners locked in the room with me. But in this place I didn't have anything else to go on and the weird string blobs were closing in. I set a course for the pyramid.
I answered the distress hail and Tara came up on a screen.
Tara wasn't under threat, rather the opposite. Corpses surrounded her.
I said, "You look terrible. I suppose that is to be expected, you weren't kidnapped for the purposes of a makeover."
"Emma? What are you doing here? No, never mind. You have my coordinates?" Tara asked.
"On the way now. I don't suppose in between bouts of indulging your murderous urges you found the District Core?" I asked.
The blobs were faster than the Graven, and more maneuverable. One approached the ship and extended a tendril that sliced through the metal plating as if it were just fabric.
"I'll meet you on the apex, but then we have to get out of here. This is a trap. This whole place is a trap," Tara said.
If it was a trap I should probably get out now. Still, I didn't like leaving people behind if I didn't have to, and Tara had proved herself to be useful. She was also an expert on the source orb in my possession. The Righteous were fascinated with the things.
I opened fire with the beam cannons. A blob dispersed into ash, but others were moving to take its place.
At least they were fragile. With their speed a human gunner would have trouble landing hits, and even the targeting systems of the Graven were struggling. I had more computing power than either.
With a series of quick bursts I incinerated another four blobs, pulled the Graven into place over the pyramid and opened the ramp. Tara was already waiting and she flung herself up towards us.
Then my world dissolved into static.
I couldn't see anything. I was quickly losing access to my systems. It wasn't the first time I'd experienced something like this. Mechos once hit me with an attack that was very similar and it had required a full reboot of my systems to regain operation.
While I still had control of my systems at all I sent a data burst to the panel in his room with what was happening. Then I lost consciousness.
I was being kicked. Literally I was being kicked, the extremely se
nsitive bits of my bioprocessor repeatedly prodded by a leather boot. I regained sensor feeds. It was Mechos doing the kicking, my core had been sliced open and there was rather a lot of conduit fluid staining the floor. I’d lost my connection with my human and drone and everyone in the Graven, snapping back to my core and the district.
I had blood. I had a lot of blood. I also had armor plating and it must have taken Mechos a while to accomplish.
"I'm up," I said through speakers as more of my systems came online. There were fires in most of the buildings of my district. There were no Wolves in the streets—I'd suffered an aerial bombardment.
There were no ships in the sky now. It was something.
"Did you have to go organic? If you were electrical I'd have had you up in minutes," Mechos said.
The damage to my bioprocessor was already starting to heal.
"Situation?" I asked.
"Crash hit our systems and Wolf attacked. Flicker hit Crystal hard and what was left of her district is in ruins. They were both working for Wolf. We managed to convince them you were still online. You had defenders still up and with them Magpie and Lark gave them hell. Jade told us to go screw ourselves," Mechos said.
"I suppose allowing eighty percent of the district to go up in flames is some definition of hell," I said.
Crash had never been on our side and been working with Wolf the whole time. Crystal's district was in ruins. Even if she hadn't been compelled, Wolf still had his five. He'd won.
Without me they hadn't been able to compel Jade's support. I could remedy that now.
I sent a message telling her to send forces to aid in my district’s defense.
That was a short-term measure that might keep me from falling under the sway of compulsion, but it was too little too late.
If Wolf wasn't busy subduing me, what was he doing? I activated my sensors for the rest of the city.
The Central District, of course. They were trying to take Sylax’s castle.
Sylax must have had some formidable automated defenses in place. Blasts of technomagical energy fired up towards the few airships Wolf had remaining, forcing them to keep their distance.