by J M Guillen
***
“—have you been?” Elle cried with panic. She ran forward, practically sobbing, but then stopped, stunned. Her hands flew to her mouth.
“Max? What have they done to you?”
Asset 330 shambled forward, his gait broken. When he emerged from the shadows of the passageway, I saw what had horrified Elle. Part of the left side of his head had been completely removed.
“They know what we are, Elle.” He stepped closer, and a patch of light fell directly upon him.
They had removed his hands, I suspected, simply to taunt us. Now they’d sliced into the side of his head as well. Blood flowed down and sinuously slipped around one eye socket. They’d found his Solomon’s Crown and ripped part of it away from the groove within his skull. Wrecked pieces of his Crown hung loosely, dangling from his horrific wound. The glint of metallic vanadium dioxide shone in the dim light.
I saw an orange substance crusted on his dark skin, and a tiny readout light blinked behind his left ear.
“I couldn’t hear you, Elle,” he sobbed and sank to his knees. “Any of you. Everything was empty…”
“Max.” I glanced at the hallway behind us. “We’ve lost track of Gideon and Kat. We brought in a Designate, and they slaughtered him.”
“No…” Max shook his head. “It’s Nothing, Michael. That’s what they are. And this time, it’s only the seventh.”
“What?” I turned back toward him.
“They move in cycles. This one is the Faceless Harvester. But two more cycles, and it will be the Ninth, Michael.” He grasped at me. “They’ve done this elsewhere.”
“The Ninth?” I feared I’d lost him to wild, irrational rambles.
“Nothing is what I thought you are,” he whispered.
We gotta move, I linked to Elle. Get all back together. Do you think you can—”
***
“—find them again?” Gideon spat, his fury laced with terror. “How did you get split up?”
“No idea, Alpha.” I slunk with him through a narrow passageway, on point as always. I peered ahead with narrowed eyes, though I saw nothing I didn’t expect. “There’s something about these caves; they seem to turn about on themselves.”
“Katarina said the same thing. She also thought there might be some property within the stone that stops us from linking.”
“That would make sense.” I nodded in the darkness. “Do you—”
***
“—believe you understand?” the Irrat woman, Isabella Juarez, cackled knowingly. “Look then. See the wonders the Harvester brings to bear upon the world!”
Below us, a man screamed in agony the likes of which I’d never imagined.
Unable to help myself, I stepped to the edge of the precipice and gazed down on the room below.
Horror oozed through the shadowed darkness.
Shafts of light shone in from above, shining through crevices impossibly far overhead. The light speared down into the midnight void, beacons of luminescence. As a result, I could only see portions of the gelatinous creature.
I shifted my optics, and the shapeless amoeba-abomination came into focus.
Bishop! Gideon’s link startled me, and I turned. “Where did she go?” He spun and stared at the place the darkly enticing, ragged woman had just been.
There was only darkness now.
The scream came again, the voice hoarse. It broke and began to fail.
I glanced back.
A portion of the formless organism lay across Max. He struggled weakly.
A long streak of crimson marred the rock below him, marked where the protoplasm touched him.
Digested him.
I shuddered.
“Fuck! Oh, fuck me,” he wailed and tried to crawl forward, dragging himself with arms that held no hands.
To no avail. The large creature sluiced down over him, and he screeched in wordless agony.
“Oh God,” Gideon whispered. “We need to—”
***
“—get out of here!” I screamed at Elle, who had stepped back into the shadows. “If you have an active quarrel, let’s move!”
It ate her, Mike, she linked.
I felt the chaos, the pieces of her sundered mind. A series of images came with the link, a broken patch that said what no words ever could.
Oh.
Katarina had also fallen to the formless amoeba Amir had beckoned.
Elle had watched, helpless, as the ichor-laden thing digested the Preceptor’s face and arms, as it caught and devoured her alive.
That patch held scatters of screams, of weeping, wailing horror. In the end, Kat had howled, had cried. She’d lapsed into Russian and begged for her mother.
Katarina died hard.
“Elle, listen to me.” I glanced over my shoulder, terrified that the formless corporeality might come up behind me. “We’ve got to have an extraction. We—”
***
“—are falling victim to arrogant foolishness,” Amir said, that sickening smile upon his face. “A new Aeon dawns, Asset. It begins here.”
“Maybe. Or maybe we just hand you your ass and leave.”
“No, Michael.” Amir’s satin tone came from behind me, from the darkness. “You will never leave here alive.”
He took three more steps, not realizing how close we stood. After a pause, he took two more and peered into the shadows.
Unbeknownst to Amir, I stood under the Wraith, less than two meters from him.
The moment he came close enough, I struck him squarely in the teeth with my disruptor pistol, punching with all the strength and speed the Adept could grant me.
The cultist screamed and blood blossomed from his mouth.
I rushed forward and used my momentum to shove the pistol deeper into his throat.
He gagged, his hands going around my arms, futile as they pushed against me.
I bore him to the ground and landed on top of him. “One of us won’t leave here alive, motherfucker,” I seethed, as I pressed my weapon deeper. “And maybe both of us are arrogant and foolish.”
I pulled the trigger and screamed as I fired again and again.
The back of his skull shattered, leaving a patina of brain, blood, and bone upon the cold rock.
“Bishop!” Gideon yelled from behind me. “How—”
***
“—could I have not understood?” I whispered as I stared into it.
The Variance had been a child, a Mexican Irrat boy of perhaps ten. However, just as the Facility feared with all Irrats, this boy had unfurled into…
Something more.
Now, he represented the single greatest danger that walked the face of the planet. He radiated madness and broken imaginings. Horrific things that dwelt beyond our world had taken note of him and granted him power unlike any that other Irrats wielded.
Incomprehensible color swirled around the Variance, hues that seemed to drink at memory and sanity. They burned, those colors, and consumed everything I was, everything that made me whole, that made me human.
The shadows cast by that light held more reality than anything I’d ever dreamed possible.
The Variance spoke.
I shattered—
***
“—reality itself,” I gasped. “Crimson that burns.”
I saw them now, the eighty-one. Each a mask, each a shadow. I floated in the space between, stretched thin. I—
***
—screamed. The vastness of it loomed over me, a gigantic predator. Nothing whole or wholesome could be here, and I understood why we had failed—
***
—the world. Everything. These things showed as little more than dreams before it. Dreams that savaged—
***
—everyone. And sorrow. A Crown of thorns within my mind.
I moved, felt as I was lifted—
***
—by Gideon. He grunted and slung me over a shoulder. “Elle! Mark!”
“Cannot feel,” I muttered to him.
&nb
sp; “Hold on, Bishop,” the gruff man muttered. “I’ll get you out. All we have to do is get to Elle’s aperture.”
It isn’t a real one. She burbled in my mind. It’s sharp. We just don’t feel it.
“Just a few more meters—”
***
—Bishop. A man stood over me, a flat device of some kind in his hand. It’s happened again.
Bishop. That single word make no sense, felt like garbled sound in my mind. I blinked against the brilliant white light.
We retrieved more this time. A woman spoke in my mind, a voice I didn’t recognize. More than we did in the last three attempts.
Are you with us, Bishop? The man smiled.
Bishop. That was me. Michael Bishop, Asset 108.
An older man wearing utilitarian blue and white clothing stared down at me. He gave me a kind smile. Asset 108, we need you to confirm you are with us. What is your auth code?
“Authorization code 020798361,” I rattled off. I blinked at the man and glanced blearily around. “Where am I?”
The Darkened Road
6 January, 2001 – Present Day
Istanbul, Turkey
Earth
Amir glanced over his shoulder as he left the alleyway, then increased his pace. He gathered his thick robes about himself, cut across a market street, and peered furtively about.
Current trajectory intersects with Locale One. Anya’s link felt like quicksilver in my mind. This confirms the Designate’s suspicions.
He’s headed to the Vefa Kilise Mosque. Gideon snarled through the link.
Bastard’s nervous. I ghosted down the street to keep him in sight.
Did he make you? Gideon sent abruptly.
No. If he could see past the Wraith, he’d be staring directly at me. But he’s peering all around.
Rationality readings have dropped point four within the past eighty seconds, Anya sent. Perhaps he has detected pursuit but cannot perceive it directly.
I’ll hang back. All Gideon has to do is get in one good shot with the Huntsman, and we can follow his ass anywhere. If we know he’s going to the mosque, we can afford to take care.
Oh, now we’re being careful? Rachel teased.
The Vefa Kilise Mosque nestled into one of the older neighborhoods in Istanbul, on the southern side of the third hill of Constantinople. Constructed in the tenth century, the ancient structure remained an elegant and beautiful house of worship.
As far as most were concerned.
Roughly three hours ago, long-range telemetry had detected several subtle variations in Rationality in the neighborhood and therefore placed the location under surveillance. Quite soon, we detected the presence of Irrational targets. Following that, the Designates confirmed their identity.
El Camino Oscuro. That was what they’d called themselves in Mexico. Here, they were Gizli Yol. It meant the same thing in the end.
The Darkened Road.
I can see the mosque.
The building lounged against the hillside, surrounded by other, smaller structures.
Amir strode confidently toward it, then stopped for a moment to speak to another robed man.
Almost to you. Gideon’s marker showed he stood less than one hundred meters away. I’m engaging the Wraith as well.
Copy that. If the target holds here, I will wait.
Don’t let him out of sight. I can always catch up.
In the middle of Gideon’s link, Amir began to move again. He strode confidently, purposefully, and blended in with the rest of the clerics in his dark robes.
Whisper-quiet, I slinked after him.
Anya, I linked as I passed two men who stepped from a building, can I get real-time Rationality variations on my visual array?
Of course, Michael. Her prompt link contained a touch of warmth. There will be a slight time variance, within the millisecond range. Also remember that this is the cumulative effect of two readings.
Yes, I recall. I smiled at her through the link. That will be fine.
In the upper left corner of my visual, the numerals -4.7 glowed in a soft orange.
The inside of the mosque showed its age artfully. The foyer contained large, arching marble doorways with faded murals stretched all along the walls. Tall candles burned just inside the wooden doors, set in ornate holders.
I’m in. I paused. I still have him.
Amir’s apparent front as a cleric from another mosque served him well as he slipped past the faithful. Tourists, guided by a serious young man, crowded near, and the bearded Irrat stepped past them to duck down a passageway with nary an annoyed glance his way.
I’m just outside, Gideon sent, his reticule a mere ten meters away.
Hurry in. I trotted past the tourists. I’m right down the way.
Amir strode with purpose as he wound his way past tourists and worshipers alike. He got stopped twice by robed clerics, but after a brief word, he strode on.
They know him, Gideon linked. His marker showed him only a few steps behind me, where he remained beneath his own Wraith. He must have been here for some time.
The secondary signature is destabilizing. Anya’s clipped link held more than a trace of warning. It now reads at negative four point eight.
We need to take him down. I ground my teeth. He’s pulling something.
No. Gideon’s link held as much tension as I felt. We follow him. We find out what the assholes are doing. You’ve waited five and a half years, Bishop. He paused. We can wait just a bit longer.
Copy that, Alpha, I sighed.
Your adrenaline levels are going to force my hand here, Bishop, Rachel linked sharply. If you do jump the guy, just a little blood and you might go all bestial on us.
But you can stop it. I felt certain of the answer.
I can. It sucks. She paused. You take those little pills of viral mecha while in torpor, so I know you always have enough of the correct kind but activating them all at once is going to ruin your sleep cycle.
I’ll cool my jets. I knew Rachel could feel my eye roll, but I didn’t care. I hated feeling like I had a nanny.
Amir stepped from the main gallery into a side hallway and nodded at a bearded man.
We slipped after him, less than shadows as our quarry moved past a small statuary and into another side hallway. Less than two minutes of meandering later, we no longer heard the crowds.
More murals lined the arched hallway. Nestled before them, small, recessed niches had been carved into walls older than most countries. Candles flickered in each and cast dancing shadows against the far wall.
Amir knelt before one. He rocked back and forth and muttered to himself.
Here, I linked to Gideon. Get ready for some fuckery.
Mark the target’s current location, Anya.
Will comply, Alpha. As we watched, our Crowns translated the man’s tongue.
“[Father of my fathers, Lord of Hosts, Binder of Light and Heaven, hear me,]” Amir whispered in Turkish and reached beneath his robes. There, he hid a small leather satchel. From within, he produced a book, little more than ancient loose pages roughly bound in leather.
He opened the book with reverent, shaking hands.
There. Gideon’s link held a mix of awe and jubilant triumph. That’s it.
Amir glanced around, as if he’d heard the link. Then, he returned to his prayer. “[You who fashioned the firmaments from the darkness between worlds, hear me. Weaver of thaumaturgy, of secret fire, hear me.]” He reached for the wall and flipped through the pages of his book.
Rationality dipping, Anya warned us.
I watched the numerals in the corner of my vision flip to -5.9.
“[My life is yours, my blood, my will.]” Amir’s voice trembled. “[Show me the hidden road.]” He traced his fingers against the ancient wall, and shadows unfurled around him in dizzying ripples. The man spoke a single word, a sharp syllable I couldn’t hear—
And something answered.
It was no voice, nothing that could have
come from any mortal frame. The sound echoed to my very depths, cried from the dark places of the world.
Space itself bent, sundered.
Negative six! R negative seven point three! Anya’s link to the team carried her urgency but no panic.
Look at that. Gideon felt almost smug.
I’d rather not. The hallway had transformed, twisted inward upon itself in some dizzying fashion I couldn’t comprehend. I had to close my eyes against it as I felt the first hint of nausea trickle through me.
Reality snapped taut. Amir stood in the hallway and peered down into a worn stairwell. Firelight flickered up from below and cast gentle light across his dark features.
He stepped inside.
Follow him, Gideon linked before I could question. If he closes it from within, we’ll lose him.
Asset Guthrie could easily replicate the specific resonances of Irrationality used here, Anya reasoned. If required.
It may be more than simple frequencies, Anya, Gideon replied.
Right, I interjected. Besides, even with his invisibility tent, Wyatt isn’t exactly stealthy. I stepped forward. He can’t gear the Wraith and the Tangler simultaneously, so he’d stick out.
I trotted forward, Gideon just behind me. As I approached the corner, I slipped my hand inside my heavy coat and pulled one of my kinetic disruptor pistols—
—and saw Amir as he stood stock still in the stairwell. His head cocked just a touch, and he seemed thoughtful, as if he faintly heard something.
What’s he doing? Gideon’s link felt genuinely confused.
Amir shouldn’t have been able to hear us walk; the Wraith muffled noise as well as bent light. I leaned forward slightly to get a sense of what had caught the man’s attention.
Nothing.
He listened for a moment longer and placed the book back into his satchel. He rummaged around for a moment, then pulled a second item forth, something that gleamed metallic in the flickering light.
A mask. Gideon realized what it was before I did.