“There are many such distribution pools around the city.” Angara’s answer was nearly as soft as Nhan’s. Something about the peaceful air of the place had even affected her. “This is less than a hundredth part of the total water available to the city at any given moment.”
“Enough with the water.” Ve’Yan’s mood had not settled. She pointed with a steady finger down to the left, where a bronze shelf pushed out into the lake. There were lights on the little peninsula, and shapes could be seen moving about. Without any frame of reference it was hard to tell, but it seemed to Marcus that they were quite large shapes.
“I see five.” Angara was squinting, probably calling up some more of her implant abilities, he guessed. “Not too many, if we surprise them.”
“Well, they do not appear to be aware of our presence here.” Nhan turned away from the scene. “But the range is far too great for my staff, I’m afraid. And time is of the essence, as you will recall.”
Angara was looking down at the Ntja detachment hungrily. Marcus heard the slow, ponderous crashing of the mental clock again, and nudged her elbow. “We don’t have enough time, Angara. We need to get back so Justin’s not hanging in the breeze.”
She looked at him, the soft blue glow flashing in her eyes, and then she blinked and nodded. “You’re right.”
They turned away, Nhan seeming to be even more relieved than the others, when they saw that Ve’Yan was moving toward a far doorway, hidden in the shadows to their left.
“Ve’Yan, where are you going?” Nhan’s voice was sharp.
She didn’t even turn around as she disappeared into the darkened hall. “Obligations were made to be broken. I believe that is the essence of today’s lesson?”
Marcus couldn’t believe it. He whirled on the little Thien’ha master. “We don’t have time for this! We need to go!”
Nhan nodded with a jerking motion that set the fine pale green fur fringing his jaw waving. “I will bring her back.”
He jogged into the corridor after his acolyte, but they could hear the slapping of her shoes as she began to run, and he knew there was no way the little creature was going to be able to outrun the bigger, younger Diakk.
“Angara, we need to do something.” He begged her, and watched as her calculating, violet eyes narrowed. She shook her head, white hair waving with her frustration. “We either leave them here, or we help them.” She focused on his face. “It’s up to you, Marcus. You want to leave them here? Or do you want to try to eliminate the five below, and then go back to the docking bay?”
He wanted to leave them. It was almost out of his mouth before he could think about his response. But Khet Nhan and Ve’Yan had been by his side almost constantly since things had turned violent. They had endangered themselves more than once in his defense. And there was something about the little Goagoi that made him loath to leave him behind.
But the weight of their schedule pressed sorely on the back of his mind.
He felt like collapsing as he spat. “We can’t—”
The words were hardly out of his mouth and Angara was running past him, down the darkened corridor and to the shore below. He still wasn’t even sure what he had been about to say. He wanted to ask for a weapon of some kind. He would be less than useless in a fight against the giant dog-faced aliens, especially at any distance.
Still, he couldn’t let these people face such a danger to get him safely out of Penumbra without at least sharing in the risks.
With a muttered curse, he ran down the halls after his three protectors.
The corridor was empty as he ran. Soon he was sucking wind, his lungs burning painfully. Exercise had not been much of a focus since coming here, and he felt it now. He slowed to a jog, and then, sooner than he would have liked to admit, to a cautious, pained walk.
There was no sign of his companions.
The corridor swelled again into a larger chamber, with a wide door at one end, when he heard the first signs that he was catching up. The whirring detonation of Angara’s shoulder weapon, remembered from that Connecticut roadside so long ago, echoed out over the water with a muffled crunching sound. It happened twice more, with the high-pitched blast of Khet Nhan’s staff flaring out beneath it.
Deep screams bellowed over the water, throwing back flat echoes. There was some splashing as several heavy objects fell into the reservoir. That wouldn’t do the water quality any good, he thought with a guilty, grim laugh.
Coming out onto the shelf he saw that three Ntja had abandoned their heavy rifles and were charging up the bronze shelf with their brutal falchions in hand. One seemed to be limping, favoring a squat leg. The two remaining soldiers were missing entirely.
Angara’s weapons had retracted back into her coat, and Nhan’s staff had reshaped itself into a long, glittering spear with a broad cross-piece. He howled with unseemly glee as he lowered the weapon beneath the lead Ntja’s guard and plunged it through his belly. The cross-guard caught the alien and stopped his forward progress. The spear blurred into a wide-bladed ax that erupted from the side of the howling beast. The mystic swung the big weapon over his head and buried it in the soldier’s other side, cutting him nearly in two. The thing slumped to the slick ground without a sound and didn’t move again.
Angara was holding her own against the wounded Ntja, her blades flashing, weaving a fence of glittering steel that defeated the clumsy sword at every attack. As Nhan’s opponent slumped down, Angara’s was distracted by his falling companion and turned in disbelief to the grinning little fur ball now rushing at him with what appeared to be a giant string of metal cylinders, each connected to the next with heavy, bladed chain.
One thin, simple knife slid up behind a metallic bubo on the monster’s neck and into its brain while it was distracted.
It took a moment for Marcus to find Ve’Yan’s place in the battle, as she had allowed her attacker to press her back up against the cavern wall, where the blue light from the tunnel and the overhead telltales was dimmest. At first he was afraid that she had met her match, rushing down here to her death. But soon enough he realized that she was only playing with the soldier. The monster never had a chance.
She did not fight with knives or guns or blades, but rather used her body as a weapon more lethal than any of those. She reminded him of some martial arts expert on a movie or demonstration. Her blows were precise and almost lazy in appearance. She lashed out with bladed hands, booted feet, and once, he swore, with her own forehead. The staggered Ntja reeled from hit to hit, his blocks and parries always a moment too late, and coming slower with each injury.
Marcus was no expert on unarmed combat, but he was certain that she could have ended it several times before she did, finally, bury one stiffened hand up into its neck and set it toppling over backward to slide into the water.
When she turned back to the rest of them, Ve’Yan’s pale face was shining with a childish grin, and the black markings on her skin writhed with barely-suppressed laughter.
Marcus’s feelings for the girl had run the gamut from grateful to frustrated to annoyed since he had met her. He was furious now. “Do you have any idea what you could have cost us, running down here on your own?” He left the shelter of the small chamber and stepped out onto the shelf.
She stood up straighter, her smile unwavering, to meet his charge.
The Ntja that came around the corner caught them all by surprise; not the least Marcus himself. There were three of them, coming out of the shadows behind Ve’Yan at a heavy trot, hefting their cleavers in eager hands.
Marcus tried to shout a warning, but something in his eyes must have conveyed to her the danger before he could draw breath. Ve’Yan whirled, eyes flat, smile gone, and crouched down to face the new threat. A big blade came whistling down in a vicious overhead cut that would have surely dashed her to the metal ground. But her palm struck the sword as it fell, knocking it out of line, and it buried itself in the material of the Relic Core with a dull clang as she moved aside.
Nhan and Angara were upon them before the other two could work their way around the first, and in a moment they were all on the ground, joining the others in death.
The three fighters were panting, looking around them at the carnage they had wrought without satisfaction. Ve’Yan looked angry, Angara tired, and Nhan’s alien face was unreadable in the soft gloom.
“We need to go now!” Marcus waved back toward the door.
Angara nodded, and Khet Nhan as well. He swung his staff in a flat arc down and away from them, and it blurred, shedding blood and brains, and then resolved itself into the short rod that he tucked back into his belt.
Ve’Yan, however, did not move.
Angara and Marcus were halfway to the entrance chamber before they realized that they were alone. Turning back, they saw the small Thien’ha master standing before his student, little hands on hips, head cocked to one side.
Ve’Yan’s eyes flickered to Marcus and then back to her master. “This is wrong, Master.” She jerked her head toward him, and Marcus felt again the anger of being separated out for reasons he did not understand. “I thought we were coming to Penumbra to see the reemergence of Humans. Then you told me you wished to warn them of the cycle. Then you wished to see them safely out of the city.” She shook her head violently. “Each step you have taken has dragged me farther away from the path you had taught me to follow.”
Nhan nodded, but he did not speak. Instead, he turned to look out over the water, his little eyes glittering in the reflected light.
Ve’Yan was not finished, however. “We take no part, you told me. We observe the cycles of the universe. We record those cycles. We study the nature of time and events. But we take no part.” Her voice sounded almost as if it was breaking now, and Marcus could feel his anger ebbing as he realized how wrenching the girl had found this situation. “Do we not follow the Hoabin path of Thien’ha any longer, master?”
Nhan nodded again, but still did not turn. Marcus felt time grinding away beneath them, but could not tear himself away from the scene unfolding on that wide bronze shelf. When he spoke, Marcus had to strain to hear the words.
“You are not wrong, Sihn Ve’Yan. We are no longer on the Hoabin path.” The little shoulders seemed to slump. “I had hoped to witness the remerged of Humanity. I had hoped that this cycle of violence and oppression was giving way to a rebirth—”
“Humans?” It was Angara that spat the word, and caught Marcus completely by surprise. “You thought Humans would break a cycle of violence and oppression?” She looked like she wanted to laugh.
Nhan looked sadly up at the dark-skinned woman and nodded. “We study patterns and repetition, Angara Ksaka. We have recorded enough of the galaxy’s history to set even a Mhatrong to weeping for its ignorance. And we see more than many today will themselves to see. Yes. I had hoped to see Humans break our current cycle.”
Angara shook her head in bewilderment and turned to look Marcus up and down. He didn’t like the dismissive curl to her lip any more than he liked the contemptuous tone of her earlier words.
But his friend, the only other Human in the city, was putting himself in great danger to clear their path to freedom. And that would be all for nothing if they didn’t get back up to the inhabited sections of the city as soon as possible.
“Look, I don’t care what any of you were hoping for, or thinking about, or anything else.” He pointed into the shadowy doorway and the corridor beyond. “We don’t have much time left now before Justin’s going to be on his own up there; throwing God knows what at Taurani’s goons. We have to go.”
Nhan turned back to Ve’Yan, away from Angara and Marcus. His face was hidden, but his voice was clear. “There comes a time in our study when trust is paramount, Ve’Yan. I promise you, the patterns I see forming here are not complete, and we are not nearly so far off our path as it feels. I would have you with me as we complete the journey, but I cannot force you to abandon your conscience now.”
The girl stood still, staring at her teacher long enough that Marcus almost intervened. When she gave a single, violent nod, he didn’t know if he was happier to have her back onboard because of her fighting skill, or because it simply meant they could head back to the Concourse now.
They emerged into the tram tunnels to find them filled with smoke. Alarms were sounding their raucous calls, echoing down the service corridors, and violent screams and shouts, muffled by intervening walls, rumbled in their ears.
Marcus smiled. “Sounds like a distraction to me.”
Chapter 20
The tram deposited them just beneath the lowest level of the Concourse, at the nearest access point to the primary docking bay. The smoke had thickened, but there had been no sign of fire or other imminent dangers as they flew through the tunnels. The sounds of panic above them had intensified as they moved toward their goal. Justin had clearly been thinking big when he planned his distraction.
The corridor outside the access station had been empty when they arrived, cleared by Justin’s efforts. They began to make their way to the docking bay, hugging the walls and keeping away from main thoroughfares, when the slapping of feet brought them all up short. Everyone tensed, weapons rising, when Justin’s slim form came bounding around a corner, pulling up short when he saw them.
“Well, I hope no one objects to my burning down one of my own factories?” His clothing was disheveled and smudged with soot and grease. “It wasn’t making much of a profit anyway.”
Marcus caught a strange look on Angara’s face as Justin came up with them and his eyes narrowed. He looked at his friend and then back to the bodyguard, but either Justin hadn’t noticed, or he was feigning ignorance.
For his own part, he was glad they had made it back from the reservoir in time.
“What took you all so long?” Justin nodded back the way he had come. “Although everyone’s evacuated this part of the Concourse, there are still patrols. More, actually, in the last few minutes. I was hoping you would be a little early, if I’m going to be honest.”
Marcus shot a quick, bitter look at Ve’Yan, but the girl was too wrapped up in her own hostile distaste with Justin for her to notice.
Angara resumed her brisk pace, and the others rushed to catch up.
“It will take me a moment to get the Na’uka ready to depart. We should be able to bar the primary access doors from the inside. That will keep patrols out long enough for us to break free.” She brought them up to the heavy frame of the main entranceway to the docking bay. “It should not take longer than—”
The enormous door slammed shut in front of them with vicious finality. Its echoing boom was deafening, sending them all reeling back, grabbing for their ears.
“I’m sorry.” The voice was tinny, issuing from some small emitter they couldn’t see. But it was unmistakably Taurani’s. “I’m still familiarizing myself with my new toy. However did you accomplish it, Human?”
Marcus bristled, fighting off the rising despair, realizing that they had been caught.
“It was fortuitous timing, actually.” The tone was amused, and made him want to vomit. “I’ve only just regained control of those lower levels. Had you moved just a touch faster, I fear you would have made good your escape.” Even knowing the lipless bastard couldn’t smile, Marcus couldn’t help but hear a vicious grin in the voice.
The tread of many booted feet shook the floor, and they turned to watch a large contingent of Ntja round a corner and advance on them. Their big rifles were strapped to their broad backs, heavy falchions ready in their hands.
Angara jerked, her shoulder cannon rising and taking quick aim. The lights were dim, however, and the weapon spat out a small gout of sparks and smoke, and then fell silent. She cursed.
A sudden detonation set Marcus’s ears ringing violently, as the others clutched at their heads and shrank away from the sound.
An Ntja who had just been struck in the forehead, however, was infinitely more surprised. Briefly, at any ra
te. The dog soldiers froze in their tracks, staring as their companion toppled slowly backward. The aliens behind the victim stepped quickly out of the way, jostling their compatriots as they tried to avoid the falling body. Even on their fat, canine faces, the shock was plain.
Justin, however, was grinning maniacally as he wielded the little black pistol he had brought all the way from Earth in both hands.
“Get the God damned door open!” He fired two more shots, and the Ntja continued to mill about, trying to decide what to do. Clearly, the Human’s weapon was not affected by the suppression field. Perhaps the technology shut down the galactic weapons through some dampening of the energy they used? Maybe good old fashioned gun powder was a little too primitive for the field to address.
Regardless of what made the field ineffectual against Justin’s pistol, two more Ntja were down, one dead and the other writhing on the floor with a bloody gut wound, before the rest decided they were better off charging the Human than standing around, waiting to be shot.
Angara pushed Marcus against the door. “Get it open!” she whirled away and was just in time to stop a descending blade with her own crossed knives. The sword blow would have bisected Justin’s head, and he grinned a quick thanks to her before dancing around behind, taking random shots as they presented themselves.
Marcus turned to the door, looking for the control panel, when he suddenly realized he had no idea how to open it. During his entire tenure as administrator, the doors of Penumbra opened to him at his approach, like tame puppies. He had never had to press a button, utter a command, or even think hard. It just happened.
He turned back to his friends, ready to beg for help. But they were fully occupied with the assaulting soldiers.
Khet Nhan was holding an entire squad at bay with his staff, now in the form of a long pole sporting a fan-like blade that whistled as he flung it back and forth. Angara and Justin made a formidable pair as she fended off direct attacks while he punched shot after close-range shot into their assailants, building up a prestigious pile of bodies before them. While Marcus watched, he saw his friend switch in a fresh clip. His eyes narrowed in fear for his friend. Hadn’t Justin said there were only three of them in his bug out bag?
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