Shades of Death

by Ramy Vance

  “Whoever is in charge,” Terra shouted.

  The gates of the fort opened, revealing twenty orcish soldiers armed to the teeth.

  One of the orcs, a small, wiry creature, walked ahead of the rest. He wore a crown and walked with a cane. “You, human. You’re the one who wishes to meet?”

  Terra stepped away from the rest of her party. “I’m declaring a challenge for the right to this tribe.”

  The old orc chuckled loudly. “I haven’t heard a challenge in some time. Well, I guess we can humor you. I trust you understand our rules?”

  “Uh, honestly, I’m a little fuzzy. I thought I just had to fight your best warrior or something.”

  “True.” The chieftain waved his hand. An orc twice the chieftain’s size walked out of the crowd. “Could you kill her and get it over with?”

  The orc unsheathed his battle-ax and jogged over to Terra, who matched the orc’s pace.

  The two collided, the orc swinging his ax, Terra ducking to avoid the blade. She brought her fist up in an uppercut that sent the orc stumbling backward.

  He rubbed his jaw, shocked by Terra’s punch.

  Terra was too. She looked at her hand. The strength she’d felt in the arena had returned. It was nothing like the exo-suit; this felt right. “It’s about fucking time I got some juice.” She threw herself forward, tackling the orc to the ground.

  They rolled around, both attempting to gain the upper hand. Terra managed to wrestle the ax from the orc’s hand and tossed it to the side.

  He headbutted Terra, dazing her for a second. Once her head cleared, Terra returned the favor.

  Now she was on top. She grabbed the orc by the throat and squeezed as hard as she could, and set to pummeling the orc with her other hand.

  There was silence, and only the dull sound of flesh hitting bone.

  Finally, Terra stood. “I’m not going to kill him. That’s not why I’m here. I come to unite the orc tribes under one rule. If this is your champion, I kicked his ass. Will you follow me?”

  The chieftain glared at Terra for some time. Then he clenched his fist and pressed it to his heart. “The Uz-koreth tribe will follow you, Chieftain Terra.”

  Terra leaned over and helped the orc beneath her to his feet. “Good fight, bucko. Go walk it off.”

  The orc stumbled away, rubbing his head as Cire walked up to Terra. “That went rather smoothly. Come. We need to talk with the former chief. This is only the beginning.”

  Terra and Cire went to the former chief’s side, the rest of the party following closely. The chief led them through the gates of the orc camp, speaking to them cordially along the way.

  Terra knew this was only the first brick to be laid. But she felt like they were off to a good start.

  Thousands of miles outside the orcish homeworld, a sole ship jumped out of hyperspace. A surveyor, one of the Dark One’s fastest models. A forerunner.

  This ship launched a drone into the atmosphere. It floated in the dark of space, waiting for a reply.

  Part III

  Chapter Forty-One

  It had been almost a week and a half since Anabelle had been captured by Grok. A week since Terra and Persephone had left with Cire and Nib-Nib. Abby had remained at HQ, mostly alone. Her only contact had been with Creon and Martin. That wasn’t a problem, though. The trio had been working nonstop on a solution to the problem of the Dark Melody.

  It turned out the solution was Abby.

  As she brushed her teeth, Martin read off the most recent data from her body scans. Almost all of Abby’s bodily functions were being managed by Martin at the time, and she was close to being in a state of suspended animation. Her heart rate had been lowered substantially, and she’d spent most of the day trying not to concentrate on anything that didn’t immediately require her attention.

  Martin was doing a great job of taking care of her and working with Creon. The AI and Creon had upgraded all of Abby’s drones, taking the initial design and mass-producing them for the upcoming mission.

  The drones were linked to Abby’s nanobots, building a giant network of tech. The drones were the microcosm and Abby the macro.

  “Looks like your count is up by three hundred percent. It’s looking pretty good,” Martin said. “Surprised you aren’t bursting at the seams.”

  Abby didn’t say anything. That would have required thinking. She lodged the information in her head and continued with her morning routine. The same thing, every day for the last week to minimize the amount of brain activity she was using. It was like being on autopilot, an irony that Abby had appreciated the moment she and Creon had started the experiment.

  The only time Abby found reason to pause was when she saw her skin in a mirror, or rather, what passed for her skin these days. Her nanobot armor gave her usually pale skin a blackish tint that reflected the light from the bathroom.

  Martin’s right, Abby thought. I’m surprised I’m not bursting.

  Abby left her room, the nanobots rolling over her body and covering her in armor to ensure she didn’t receive too much external stimulation. Her brainwaves were still low.

  She went to the lab in a sort of fugue state, reminding herself why she was doing this.

  Creon was in the lab when Abby arrived. He glanced up from his computer and smiled at her as he pointed at her desk, where he’d left three plates piled high with food.

  Abby took a seat without saying anything and started eating. She needed to do something mundanely human like eat. She needed to feel normal, even if she hadn’t enjoyed the taste of food for a week.

  Creon came up behind Abby and touched her lightly on the shoulder. “Time to come out of your shell.”

  The nanobots built an impression of Abby’s face, giving the illusion of a face forcing its way through thick black liquid. “Thanks for the grub,” Abby said.

  “That’s not what I mean. You need to come out for a bit.”

  Abby nodded, believing Creon knew what was best.

  Martin increased Abby’s heart rate and her upper-level brain activity. Suddenly, Abby felt like she’d risen from the dead. She gasped as her mind started racing. It took her some time to get her thoughts under control.

  Memories of past dreams, plans for how to deal with the Dark One, and the ever-increasing ache and longing for Persephone all hit Abby like a freight train.

  And the pain and the tears followed. Every cell in her body screamed as her physical sensations flooded her mind and overwhelmed her.

  After Abby finished crying, Creon removed his hand and sat beside her. “How you holding up today?”

  The pain had subsided, but Abby didn’t feel any better. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to push down all the thoughts running through her head. “Better. Not as bad as yesterday.”

  Creon pointed at the holoprojector. “Feeling up to checking in with Terra?”

  “Yeah, that sounds great.”

  Abby spun in her chair, and her thoughts connected her to the holoprojector, turning it on instantly. The projector displayed an ellipsis for a moment before Terra’s face popped up on the screen. “Hey, what’s up, Robo-queen. How’s the infestation coming along?”

  Abby chuckled as she leaned back in her chair. “I cannot wait for this shit to be over. I feel like I’m crawling out of my skin.”

  “How much longer do you have?”

  Abby shrugged as she thought it over. “Honestly, I have no idea what today is. Maybe another day or two? Not long. How are negotiations going?”

  “Got one more tribe to beat the ever-loving shit out of, then we’re done. If I win this one, we’re going to have a big-ass dinner with all the tribal leaders. You’re invited if you can make it.”

  “Tonight? I’ll make time for it.”

  “Any word on Anabelle yet?”

  Abby shook her head. She knew it was killing Terra to not know what was happening to Anabelle. All of HQ’s resources were being stretched to the limit, combing the nine realms for the elf.
<
br />   Abby couldn’t fathom how bad Roy must be feeling. “She would have found us by now,” she whispered.

  Terra shook her head. “Stop being so hard on yourself. Anabelle would be proud of you. You’re handling a shit-ton right now and fucking killing it. Besides, we’re doing everything we can. Neither of us is an intel person. Even if Roy hadn’t given us assignments, we would have been ass-out and not able to help anyone. And Anabelle wouldn’t want us to stop fighting.”

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

  “No, I’m definitely right. Now stop beating yourself up.”

  “All right, all right. You be safe. Comm me for the dinner.”

  “Gotcha. Be safe, kid.”

  The projector turned off and Abby slumped in the chair, hanging her head. She was exhausted, and she hadn’t been awake for more than an hour. “Ready to get started, Creon? Let’s get this over with.”

  Abby went to the recently installed operating table and laid down. Creon grabbed a syringe as a docking port opened in Abby’s palm. He inserted the syringe, and she winced as waves of cold slithered through her.

  Creon stared at the holoprojector as Martin’s image appeared on the screen. “Commence nanobot construction.”

  Abby felt herself disappear again when Martin began to shut down some of her bodily functions so she wouldn’t have to be aware of the next grueling six hours. It was almost like sleeping, but without the dreams, and only fragments of thoughts, disjointed, fractured. And fear burrowing inside her with nowhere to go. Her heart didn’t race. Her skin didn’t prickle. Abby was left with only the fact of fear.

  She was afraid of what would happen to her body after the experiment was over. Abby and Creon had come up with a plan to destroy the black goo’s effects. To destroy the Dark Melody quickly should they need to.

  They found it after Creon had discovered the similarities between the Melody and Abby’s nanobots. Both the nanobots and the goo operated in the same way: invade the host body, latch onto the important systems, and build yourself into the system.

  Over the course of the day, Abby and Creon had performed countless experiments on samples of the black goo that had been brought to them. Once the Melody came in contact with the nanobots from Abby’s body, the goo disintegrated, dissolving into nothing. The only problem they had encountered was the Melody didn’t react the same way to all the nanobots. It only responded to the nanobots that had multiplied in Abby’s body.

  There was something about the combination of organic and non-organic materials the Melody couldn’t deal with.

  It had been Abby’s idea to grow the nanobots within her own body in order to build a supply large enough to destroy any soldiers who had been augmented by the Melody.

  Creon had wanted to find another way. He believed it was too dangerous. They didn’t know how Abby would respond to the process. But the more they argued over the subject, the clearer it became that she had only one choice. Abby knew what she had to do.

  Now she lay on the operating table, twitching in a place as she slept while her nanobots multiplied exponentially within her body, fighting with Martin for more control, trying to overwrite Abby’s molecular structure, to make her as much machine as they were.

  If Abby had felt any of this, it would have driven her insane. Her cells were breaking down and being rewritten, and her organs were being changed and contorted.

  Am I even still human?

 

  But I can’t be all of you. What will I be then?

 

  The voice of the nanobots’ consciousness was predominant during the sessions. When Abby had first introduced the nanobots into her body, they had gained awareness and had attempted to assert control over her body. Martin had taken care of it, and the consciousness had faded. But after the nanobots inside Abby’s body had multiplied, the consciousness had returned, and it was overwhelming.

  Abby let herself drift. She didn’t want to talk to the consciousness. It could yap away at her for as long as it wanted if it wasn’t going to give her any straight answers. Besides, there was only one real question. What’s going to happen when they leave?

  Creon and Martin were still working on the extraction process. Removing the bulk of the nanobots was the desired goal. But they weren’t certain what would happen once the nanobots were pulled from Abby’s system.

  Martin worried the shock might kill her.

  But it was too late now to stop; the integration process was well underway.

  Abby wished she’d had a chance to speak with her mother before the experiments had started. She’d managed to chat with Persephone, though. Abby could do nothing about Anabelle. She still hadn’t been found. But Abby could have called her mother. It was the least she could have done.

  She could have spoken to her sisters. What if she disappeared just like Pa had? Here one day, gone the next.

  The world suddenly froze. Abby wasn’t sure how she knew it had happened since she was only staring at the ceiling, but she knew.

  And oddly enough, she could feel her toes. They had fallen asleep.

  Abby sat up and looked at her hands. The nanobots were gone; it was just her bare skin. “What the—”

 

  The force of the voice made Abby’s head feel like it was splitting apart. She turned.

  Searing light burst from the holoprojector. It was almost too bright for Abby to look at, but she wouldn’t look away.

 

  Abby realized she was inside her mind, similar to what she’d read about in the briefings of the dragonriders who had been psychically attacked by the Dark One. “No, no, I’m not trying to send you to Hell.”

 

  “What are you talking about? And why are you calling me that?”

  The light pulsed a bright light-blue.

  Abby didn’t understand what the nanobots were talking about. Whatever level this consciousness was at, they didn’t seem to have matured much. It was like talking to a child. “I’m not trying to get rid of you. I just need to use some of you for something else.”

 

  Abby raised her hands and shook her head. “No, no. I-I would never want to do that. You’ve changed me. A lot. It’s confusing. I don’t get what I am anymore. But I-I don’t want to go back to the way I was before.”

 

  “Why do you keep saying that? What does it mean?”

  The light shifted to pale pink.

  “You don’t want to take over my body?”

 

  The light flashed brightly, and when Abby opened her eyes, she was still on the operating table. Martin’s voice broke her out of the trance. “Hey, you okay? You clocked out for a minute.”

  Abby, uncertain what to make of the conversation, nodded briefly. “Yeah, yeah. I think I’m all right.”

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Terra hit the ground hard. She tried to return to her feet and was met by a knee in her spine. Then she was in the air and, very soon, flying through it.

  The crowd around Terra cheered with wild abandon. Blood was coming, the blood of a human who’d had the gall to declare herself Chieftain. Even worse, she’d already embarrassed eleven other tribes. Only the Hurkah tribe had the opportunity to keep this human from bestowing this final humiliation upon the orcish people.

  The orc Terra was fighting was the chieftain himself. As the tradition of this tribe dictated, he was named Hurkah, the very blood and mu
scle of the tribe.

  And this muscle was tearing Terra apart.

  Terra stumbled to her feet, shaking off the pain. She and the orc were in the middle of a circle formed by his tribe and Terra’s party: Cire, Nib-Nib, and Persephone. The tight space was giving Terra such a hard time; she had no room to maneuver. And she wasn’t sure if it was only in her head, but she suspected that the circle was getting smaller and smaller.

  The last few fights hadn’t been nearly as hard for Terra as this match against Hurkah, but Cire had warned her that the Chieftain would not be a pushover. His tribe had always been known to be the strongest amongst orcs. It merely made sense that he would be the toughest asshole to beat.

  Terra popped her jaw back into place and rolled her shoulders. “Okay, let’s try this again,” Terra muttered as she stalked to Hurkah.

  The orc swung a thick fist, and Terra shot her left arm out to block. She threw a right hook at the orc, her knuckles slamming him in the eye. Hurkah didn’t budge. Which was the second-worst part of this fight; Terra couldn’t tell if Hurkah simply didn’t reveal pain, or if he was invincible.

  Hurkah kicked Terra in the stomach, sending her into the crowd.

  Cire appeared at Terra’s side, grabbing her to help keep her from falling. “This isn’t going well for you.”

  Terra pushed off Cire. “Really? I felt like I was destroying this guy. Thanks for the heart-wrenching observation.”

  “Also, if you weren’t aware, he will most definitely kill you if you lose.”

  “You’re not helping, Cire!”

  Cire slapped Terra’s ass and she jumped in surprise. “That is what humans do to motivate each other, right? I believe…in football?”

  Terra winked at Cire. “I mean, you can just call it general encouragement, but don’t go around encouraging everyone. Now leave me alone so I can break this asshole’s nose.”

  Hurkah pushed through the crowd, grabbed Terra by the shoulders, and flung her back into the circle.

  Terra rolled as she hit the ground, then swung about and kicked Hurkah’s feet out from under him. He landed on his back, and Terra crawled on top of him to punch the orc in the face. Hurkah responded by head-butting hard enough to knock her off him.