by J M Guillen
The ATV lurched and roared to rumbling life.
I repeated the process with the second one. No sooner did it start than I felt the world around me tremble, the harbinger of Firenzei’s uncanny power.
Michael, he’s on the move.
I bet. I smiled as I turned the throttle on the third ATV. He thinks we’re leaving.
He appeared at the door, his weapons out front and blazing. His face twisted into a mask of elemental hatred.
I’d expected this, but I also expected he might not wish to shoot the canisters of weirding energy. That made them the perfect screen.
With the grace of the Adept trickling through my limbs, I hurled myself sideways, quick as thought. I landed in a crouch and brought my Stilettos up. I fired squarely at him, the siiiiuu siiiiuu of my weapons slicing the air as I clipped him. Force like a cannonball hurled the man backward into the bay.
“Shit! Oh, fuck me!” Firenzei cried.
Hoss, we’re on the move, Wyatt’s link felt urgent. You’ve got another ten guys running up to join Firenzei.
Can you hold them?
Stasis? Sure. I felt his wicked smile. Although I can’t confirm how the ice princess will feel about that.
I will feel happy to survive this encounter, Anya clarified. Even if I dislike the manner in which it is done.
I’ll take that as a ‘go for it.’
No sooner did I receive the link than I heard the keening song of the Tangler, followed by a flurry of WHUFs.
“Oh, God damn it,” Firenzei moaned, just out of my sight. “You Facility piece of shit!”
The men didn’t even have time to cry out before I heard the WHOMP of closing stasis fields.
That stops them, not counting Firenzei, Wyatt reported. I caught a few of them with a single field this time.
Excellent. I peeked around the corner, trying to track where the red-headed shit-eater had gone.
You think so, except I have to keep doing all the mathematicals now. I heard Wyatt grunt. Takes me outta the fight.
We should take ourselves out of the fight. I edged closer. Just get over here. I moved forward again, searching for my new Irrat-of-interest.
No sooner had I sent the link than things began to tremble around me, just the tiniest bit.
Michael, Firenzei’s moving!
I sprinted forward, Stilettos out in front of me. I hadn’t exactly seen where Firenzei landed, but I knew if I could just catch him square with one shot, I could end this.
Yet the tremors came to a stop. Again, I felt that gnashing, tearing sensation somewhere in my skull. It felt as if some part of my very biology rebelled at Firenzei’s talent.
I lost him, Anya reported. He may be beyond my range.
I don’t care what the reason is, I linked as I flicked the Wraith off. I glanced back into the room where I saw my two cadre-members push past several silvery stasis fields. We need to move. Now.
A Body in Motion
As murderous stars gazed down from a crimson sky, I examined the small brass sphere affixed to the ATV. The switch that activated the device had been positioned squarely on top, easy to reach.
However, that didn’t ease my mind.
As Wyatt limped outside, Anya just behind, the barbarian shot me a grin. “Parabola’s rigged to blow. So you figgered these things out, Hoss?”
“It’s the charge I worry about.” I glanced up at him. “Firenzei said they needed to finish their cycle.”
“Right. And our molten ’migo said the Parabola charged them, or some such.”
“You have some concerns regarding their functionality?” Anya pursed her lips for moment, thinking. “We truly have no comprehension of these devices.”
“That’s it.” I pointed at her. “What if they explode if they aren’t charged properly?”
“What if they only take us halfway home?” Wyatt fiddled with his beard, even as his other hand continued to input stasis specifications. “Christ. They might leave us floating somewhere in the Maelstrom.”
“I know I don’t spend my weekends fixing up stock cars or anything,” I teased, “but look at this. The canisters on back of the ATVs have some kind of connector leading to the Radonic Transmitter.”
“I see it. Parallel circuit.” Wyatt nodded. “Maybe they can draw off the canisters, if they need to.”
“I don’t believe we have time to figure out the specifics.” I gazed at both of them. “Firenzei could return any moment. I say we take three of these out into the badlands. Once we’re far enough away from teleporting motherfuckers, we can try to figure out the tech.”
“Can one ever be far enough away from teleporting motherfuckers?” Wyatt mused with a grin.
“I have some concerns,” Anya all but whispered. She stared the ATV, eyes just a bit wide.
“Is it how cool we’re going to look?” I nodded at her as if I understood. “I get it. This is pretty bad ass.”
“I have never driven a vehicle of this specification before.” She blinked up at Wyatt. “I am uncertain how to modulate the craft’s various gears without access to the Lattice.”
“Ain’t no gears, Twitchy.” Wyatt threw one leg over the rumbling four-wheeler on the end. “All push button. All automatic.”
“Perhaps I should ride behind one of you?”
“I don’t think we can, Preceptor.” I winced and gave her an apologetic smile. “When Thorne used her Radonic Transmitter, she took it with her. We might need one apiece.”
“Perhaps the device is geared to whoever was riding upon the vehicle?” She arched one eyebrow.
“Can we risk that if we’re wrong?” Wyatt sighed. “Anya, I’m sorry your upbringing in Sverdlovsk didn’t involve completely awesome four-wheeling. But this is kid stuff. For throttle twist your left grip. Pull the lever over your right grip to brake. Just steer in the direction you want to go. That’s basically it.”
“Understood.” Her tone made it clear Anya felt quite uncomfortable. “But I was not raised in Sverdlovsk.” Despite this, she stepped to one of the idling four wheelers and threw one white-clad leg across it.
She stared at me with wide eyes.
“Normally I would say Wyatt should take point. He has the most experience driving these things and will know what to avoid.” I settled myself onto my own ATV. “But today he has to drive while doing math. So I propose I go first, and Anya hang in the middle.”
Reasonable, Hoss, Wyatt linked as he revved his engine. We doin’ this?
In answer I pushed my throttle and drove off into the crimson night. I heard my cadre’s engines roar as they pulled forward, and we took off.
The sheer power of the ATV thrilled me, jetting into the infinite shadows of that weirding world. As we started up a small rise, I began to see outcrops of dark stone off to our left, along with what appeared to be alien pine scrub.
You good, Preceptor? I linked, attempting to keep it light.
I… am. She wavered just a touch, but I felt her focused intent. It is different than I expected.
I’m surprised at the power these things have, Wyatt linked. I’d a guessed they’d be draggy, bein’ automatics and all.
We should probably stop soon. I glanced over my shoulder. If you’re going to blow the Parabola.
Right. A white marker appeared on my visual array. How ’bout there? On the edge of five-hundred meters.
Copy that.
Wyatt followed Anya and me up the rise, keeping an eye on the rough terrain we’d just covered. After a moment, I found a flat space that held enough room for all three vehicles.
Once I pulled up onto it, I had a view back along the dusty path, down to the open door of the Atrificia.
The structure loomed far larger than I’d believed. An obsidian spire jutted into the sky, stretching distantly into the air. Silvery traces of unknown energy snaked along the surface of that pinnacle and danced there.
“’Purty.” Wyatt pulled up next to me, steering his vehicle with one hand. With the other, he
tapped on keys.
“Driving one handed?”
“Had to.” He shrugged as Anya rolled up. “Remember, the moment I lay off, those stasis fields fall.”
“Right, I know. But it can’t be protocol.” I rubbed my chin.
“Ha!” Wyatt shook his head. “There ain’t no protocol out here.”
“I have a question about that.” Anya brushed red dust from her white field gear. “Regarding the order of operations.”
“Yeah?” Wyatt arched an eyebrow. “You have a protocol question?”
“I imagine you cannot discharge the Parabola.” She nodded at his tapping fingers. “You are currently in mid-algorithm. Certainly you cannot engage the spikes you left around the device.”
“Yeah.” Wyatt glanced back toward the Atrificia. “Right. I’m in the middle of holding the fields.”
“Therefore, you are required to drop the stasis fields before initiating complete demolition.” She cocked her head just a touch.
“That’ll slaughter those idjits,” Wyatt mused.
“Like shooting fish in a barrel.” I ground my teeth. “Don’t get me wrong, those guys weren’t looking out for our best interest or anything.”
“No, but…” Wyatt frowned. “Seems pretty shitty. Blowing the Parabola murders those fuckers. They don’t have a chance.”
“I can’t think of any other possibility. Even if you release the fields, attempt to discharge the Parabola, then reengage the fields, you have no way of knowing if you can hit the mark.”
“Impossible.” Wyatt shook his head. “Doesn’t mean I love it, though.”
“Remember, you’re the one who doesn’t like to fight fair.” I gave him a ghost of a smile with the tease. “Whatever gets you home, right?”
“These targets are enemy combatants.” Anya’s typically soft voice seemed even more reserved. “The Facility would not consider your conduct to be outside regulations, excepting the use of stasis fields.”
“Bad luck for them.” Wyatt turned from Anya to me and removed his fingers from the keyboard. He clenched his fist, then shook his hand. “These guys should have spent their day at The Booby Trap.”
He stretched his fingers for a heartbeat while he read his visual array.
I peered back at the Atrificia, though I saw nothing.
“Stasis released,” he informed us. The large man turned toward the Atrificia. He tapped a few of the targeting keys along the top of his crescent-shaped keyboard and then entered his remaining commands.
White light, as brilliant as the center of the sun, exploded from the Parabola Bay. It flickered, angry tongues of living luminescence lashing out at the landscape beyond before darting back into the structure.
Less than a second later, an atmospheric burst struck us, carrying the grit of this world in a singular burst of wind. The ground beneath our feet trembled, then stilled.
“Initiating optics.” I squinted, performing the tic that allowed me to zoom in. As I examined the Atrificia, I noted the silvery ribbons of energy that had writhed around the top of its spire now flowed smoothly, elegantly. As if the turret somehow gathered radiance from the very sky to channel downward.
“Holy shit,” Wyatt breathed. “There! Right by the bay door!”
I shifted my gaze downward and stopped when I realized what he meant.
“Jesus.” I shook my head. “Guy doesn’t give up.”
There, just outside the bay door, stood Firenzei.
2
White light still flickered from the direction of the Parabola, outlining Firenzei as a stark silhouette. His hair waved in the wind whipping forth from the alien energies in the room.
“He’s checking the ATVs,” Wyatt realized. “Fuck. He’s coming after us.”
“He cannot know where we are,” Anya reasoned. “If he did, he would simply use his Irrationality to reach us.”
“I don’t know that he’s after us.” I tapped the bronze globe mounted on my four-wheeler. “The transmitters are the only way home, after all.”
As we watched, Firenzei hopped onto one of the vehicles, the one parked furthest from the magnesium-white flame. He fiddled with it for a moment and then began to pull forward.
“Okay.” I gazed at my two compatriots. “We’ve blown the Parabola. Check. Done that.”
“Now it remains to determine how the transmitters work,” Anya said.
“Shouldn’t be rocket science,” Wyatt mused. “Thorn triggered hers mid-battle while shot through.”
“The only possibility I have suggests one of us drive a short distance away and attempt to toggle their device.” Anya shifted in her seat, and I thought the idea made her uncomfortable. “Assuming a lack of explosions, the other two will follow.”
“That’s your suggestion?” Wyatt let out a low whistle.
“It is.” She paused. “I do not like this idea.”
“We still have no way to know if it worked,” Wyatt mused.
“No.” Anya levelled her gaze at each of us. “It will be impossible to ascertain. If the device is triggered and the user vanishes, the remaining two have little choice but to follow suit.”
“I’ll do it.” I pushed what I hoped was a jaunty grin past the beginnings of a headache. “Anya is required to read axiomatic statistics. Wyatt can alter those statistics with the Tangler.” I shrugged. “Those two skills are vital for navigating extra-Rational space. I, on the other hand, am geared as a fight-monkey.”
“I prefer to think of you as a suit-ninja,” Wyatt teased.
“Regardless, with time, patience, and the energetic modules from the Raiju drone, you’ll figure out all sorts of crazy shit. Together, the two of you, you stand a better chance of getting home without me.”
“That is not how I would phrase our situation, Michael.” Anya pursed her lips.
“You know what I mean.”
“He ain’t wrong.” Wyatt scowled. “With those Raiju drones, the Tangler can go for years. There’s been plenty of study cases where an Artisan makes tiny changes in ambient Rationality while adrift. Those can, with patience, be used to signal the Facility.”
“Really?” The idea surprised me.
“Yup. Hell, Brooke once figured out a way to signal Substation 42 using tiny changes in magnetism. Preceptors figured out the source of Irrationality was a contained sub-topia and rescued her.”
“Brooke?” I gave him a half-smile.
“Asset Walgrave.” He waved a hand. “Anyway, point is Bishop ain’t just tryin’ to play noble hero.”
“I am aware,” Anya responded.
“We need to act.” I nodded at Wyatt, “Now. I’m doing this. I’ll pull over there, what, about a hundred meters?”
“That’s as good as anything else,” Wyatt grudgingly admitted.
“We did not agree to this scenario as a cadre,” Anya protested. “I only offered it as a possibility. It is conceivable we can discern a less dangerous way to test the equipment.”
“Not before he finds us.” I pointed in Firenzei’s direction. “We only went about half a klick; our tracks will be obvious.”
“The atmospheric disturbance from the explosion likely interrupted those tracks,” Anya countered.
Yet I saw the truth in her eyes. She knew what had to be done.
I nodded at her and twisted the throttle of my ATV. I steered further up the path, aiming squarely for a stone shelf.
There’s a ledge up here; I’m pulling onto it, I informed them. Best part is, if I die in a fiery explosion, the ledge should shelter you guys from some of the fallout.
Always lookin’ on the bright side, Hoss.
I wrestled the ATV around the scree on the shelf to get as far back as possible.
Okay, I’m in position. I let out a long breath. Wish me luck.
Before either of them had the chance to link back, I toggled the switch on the brass globe.
It clicked.
I toggled again.
Nothing.
Good luck, Wy
att linked. After a moment he asked, You there, Hoss? Nothing exploded.
Nothing happened at all, I replied, frowning. It makes a clicking noise. That’s it.
Fuck me. I felt Wyatt’s seething frustration.
Could it need more juice? I toggled the switch again. I mean, we just blew up the power station! We can’t exactly go back and charge them!
Gentlemen, Anya’s calm cool drifted through the link. I have a suggestion.
Oh yeah? Idly, I flipped the switch another time. Again, I failed to burst into a cacophony of fire and death.
I wanted to track our Irrat and his coordinates. It occurred to me that if Michael drifted across the realmwall, then Asset Guthrie and I would be without our… suit ninja. We might wish to know the Irrational’s location.
Yeah? I couldn’t help a smile. Anya had practically made a joke.
Although you cannot see him now, I obtained a brief glimpse of him. He piloted his vehicle in this direction, as if giving chase. However, just after Michael left, I noticed a sharp up spike in axiomatic relativism.
Fucker’s gone. Wyatt sounded a bit stunned. I mean, he was just there.
He initiated his device with his vehicle in motion, Anya clarified. I watched as he pierced the veil.
For a moment, both Wyatt and I sat silent, a rarity.
So we know it works, Wyatt clarified.
Only when it’s in motion? I shrugged. I don’t see any reason why not?
I suspect momentum is a factor, Anya reasoned. Traversing the veil would take less energy if the vehicle is in motion.
I’ll buy that. Let’s haul some ass. From below, I heard one of the ATV engines rev. Hoss, there’s a fairly clear path up this hill. Lead the way, same formation.
I approximate Firenzei had been in motion thirty seconds before he initiated the device. He was travelling fifty kilometers per hour.
Roger that, I confirmed. I backed the four-wheeler to the path I’d driven up and throttled it. With a lurch and a roar, I shot up the hill.
I drove around a large outcrop of stone, noticing some small creature that skittered away from me into the shadows. As soon as I cleared the rock, I saw an uphill straightaway.
We’re with you, Brooks Brothers. I felt the large man smirk. Ready when you are.