by J M Guillen
All I could do was tremble and stare into the eyes of a madman. Upon his brow, a diadem of darkling horror burned, a dark song of emptiness, loss, and despair.
He did. For a woman trapped in venomous resin, Anya seemed remarkably stoic.
“[Damnit].” Sofia spoke softly from behind me. I heard her move, footsteps gathering speed, and—
She sprinted past me, fired a quarrel into the ceiling above the pool, and tossed the gatekeeper on the ground. Then she dove into the center of the cerulean madness.
Sofia Delacruz is tech adrift, Alpha, the system prompt repeated. If this Asset does not reconnect to the Lattice, then Asset will be presumed lost.
Michael! Anya’s link wound through my mind, yet I couldn’t respond. I felt her panic as if she’d just come to the realization that I’d been trapped by Irrational depravity.
My thoughts burned with hateful violet fire and shards of wickedness burrowed into my body.
I trembled, helpless.
“Do you know how they shall honor me?” the man whispered and sauntered closer to the pool. His smile stretched into an inhuman leer. “When I tell them how I made a Silent One suffer, I shall be exalted. I shall be made one of the immortal.”
Gunfire sounded behind me, impossibly far away.
A rose of crimson blossomed in the center of the Zealator’s forehead. He gaped at me, as if he couldn’t quite grasp what’d happened.
He fell to the ground.
Unexalted.
A pane of glass shattered in my mind, and the agony vanished, like smoke on the wind. I shook my head and tried not to fall over.
“Anya, Wyatt?” I turned to Anya and tried to piece together what had happened.
Asset Delacruz pursued him.
I turned to face her fully.
She stood, both legs trapped in the amber sludge. Behind her, big enough to fill the entire hallway, a scarlet aperture burned and sang a soft, dangerous song.
There were too many of the aberrations, she explained. Asset Delacruz blocked the hallway with a large aperture.
Where does it open? I pushed myself to my feet.
I have no idea. The creatures cannot pass, however.
I turned back toward the pool and tried to peer into its depths. The angry sapphire of its surface burned and boiled with madness.
They’ve been gone too long. I glanced back toward Anya and ground my teeth. I have to go in after them.
Anya couldn’t even link before the aperture behind her flickered and fell silent. With a sudden little pop, it faded into nothingness, revealing the hallway beyond.
Where the aperture had burned, several of the monstrous amphibians squatted.
Clawed hands held mangled limbs and chunks of flesh—their fallen. Blood drooled down their warty faces and gleaming teeth.
They held choice portions of their fellows to their mouths and ate.
When the aperture fell, they turned as one to stare at us.
The creature closest to us opened its wide mouth to hiss, and its dead eyes stared through me.
“That’s a problem.” I reached down and picked up my guns where I’d dropped them. My mind raced frantically. Why had Delacruz’s aperture failed? Had she drowned? Could the system not keep the aperture open because she was adrift?
As if they didn’t concern themselves with my questions at all, the amphibious horrors slowly waddled toward us.
Anya didn’t waste any time. A SIG in either hand, she fired down the hallway, shot after shot.
I saw one fall and then another, but I noticed something that concerned me.
Her sluggish, almost drunken movements.
One shot, which she should have made, went wide. It seemed as if she weren’t able to fully focus.
I’m right beside you, Anya. I crept closer and toggled the focus on my weapons wide. I knew if I kept it tight I could kill the frog-kin with a single shot, but that created another problem. Every time one of them died, their young went mad seeking a host.
The parasites were the true danger, I felt.
Always beside… She shook her head. Always.
I’ve got them. Don’t worry.
Miiiiiichael, I am… malfunctioning.
My heart raced at the oddly slurred link.
Anya turned her head to me, her blue eyes brilliant and confused.
Take it easy, Anya. I stepped up next to her and held my weapons out. Just rest. I’ve got you.
She closed her eyes.
I began to fire.
I couldn’t count how many of them there were. Anya and Delacruz had tried to tell me while I was in the grips of the Zealator’s violet flame, but I truly hadn’t been able to follow what they said.
It didn’t matter. I struck the creatures with shot after shot. I’d thumbed the focus wide, and each blast hurled down the passageway like a runaway truck.
Behind me, the violent ignition song of an aperture burst into crackling existence.
Two huge impacts struck the water like a depth-charge.
Immediately, cursing erupted.
“—ucking damn it!” Wyatt groaned and coughed before he became violently ill.
Just get out. Delacruz’s link seemed strong enough, but I felt her through it. Nausea roiled in her stomach. Get out of the water so we can close it.
Sofia Delacruz is no longer tech adrift, Alpha.
Wyatt Guthrie is no longer tech adrift, Alpha.
We’re mostly clear here. I fired again, even as I linked, There’s a few frogfaces over here, but I can keep them back a while longer.
Goddamn, Hoss. I felt the churning sickness in Wyatt’s link as he slogged toward dry land. This is awful. You’re gonna to have to give us a second.
Understood.
It took them longer to pull themselves out of the pool than I might’ve thought. Fortunately, our amphibious friends didn’t seem to have any more of their kind lurking in the waves.
A few shots drove the froggy menace back considerably further, and as soon as Delacruz had her legs, she reignited the aperture in front of me.
Once again, the passage was blocked against amphibious invasion. Only then could I give my full attention to my cadre.
Okay. Wyatt struggled to his feet, resembling that time he’d been on a three-day bender at Mardi Gras. This is gonna take a few minutes. Rosie’s capacitors are probably flooded.
I’ll pretend I know what that means. I nodded at him. Take your time, Mr. Guthrie. Do what you gotta do.
Sofia glanced up at me from the side of the catacomb wall. She opened her mouth as if to say something but then doubled over.
I thought she’d vomit. With one hand on her shoulder, I asked, “You gonna be okay?”
“If I hadn’t had line of sight on that quarrel, we would’ve drowned.” She leaned against the wall.
“But you did.” I paused and didn’t quite know what to say. “Because you are amazing. Leaving one behind saved your ass, probably saved all of us.”
“Oh God, Mike.” Delacruz choked as she rested her head against the cool stone, one hand on her stomach. “Remind me to not make fun of you again for the time you threw up all over that Irrat.”
“I have some injectors?” I opened my belt bag and pawed through them. “Not that I know which ones might help with nausea.”
“It’s another topia in there.” She turned to gaze at me, and I practically saw a green tinge to her skin. “I didn’t think about it when I fired that quarrel.”
“Right.” I hadn’t thought about it either. “And on top of the aberrant vectors…”
“Yeah. The moment I realized what I had to do… Well, it was either that or drown.”
“You made it home.” I gave her a weak smile. “That was pure Facility-grade genius.”
Sofia responded by vomiting on the floor.
“I’ll…” I patted her on the back. “I’ll let you get back to it.”
“This is gonna be tricky.” Wyatt unscrewed the bulb off the bottom of the T
angler pack he wore, and water poured out of the device.
“You think the Tangler will still function?”
“Hard to say.” He burped, obviously doing what he could to hold down his lunch. “I’ve used a waterlogged Tangler before. Most of it’ll dry out easily enough. It’s the input function that don’t care much for water.”
“The keyboard?”
“Right.” He went back to loosening a panel on the device. “It becomes a bit more difficult to modulate the algorithms. It’s not a devastating drawback, but it can add a bit more randomness to the spikes.”
“Jesus.” I shook my head. “The idea of you being more random during combat is terrifying.”
“Here in a moment, I’ll try and free Twitchy over there. After I do, you can give her some of my stims.”
“I might have some type III’s as well.” I shook my head and realized talking probably just distracted him. “Just take your time. We’ll get Anya free, close this rift, and move onto the next one. Easy peasy.”
“That’s it?” Wyatt bent down and scratched the reddened the area of his thigh where frog juice had almost cost him a leg. “Seriously? That’s all we have to do?” He chuckled. “I imagine there’ll be another big fucking fight there, Hoss.”
I smiled at him, chuckled, and shook my head. However in my heart I knew the truth.
Wyatt was absolutely right.
That worried me. We still hadn’t heard anything regarding Rachel’s prognosis, much less had contact from the Designates. Other than bringing in Amir, we really didn’t have a specific purpose.
Hell, even if we caught him, all we could do would be escort him back to the Citadel. Without Designate authorization and conduits, we couldn’t even get the man to Facility Prime.
We needed a plan.
It would be simple to get back to the Corvus to scheme things out, even go all the way back to the Citadel.
But that would take time.
I checked my interface, and sure enough, Amir remained marked. He wasn’t anywhere close to us, not just now, but the fact that he remained onsite troubled me.
This simply wasn’t his nature. He knew Assets were on the ground, so he should have bugged out like he always did.
The fact that he hadn’t meant something. I just couldn’t figure out what.
“Okay, assuming the resonant frequency is the same, I can break out our Preceptor.” Wyatt cleared his throat and spat, as if trying to get the fishy taste out of his mouth.
“Handle it.” I nodded at him. “I’m trying to brood over here.”
“Got it.”
As Wyatt set his spike and prepared to free Anya, I wandered over to the pool. For appearance’s sake, I did the intelligent thing: I watched the water. We needed a lookout to make certain we wouldn’t be ambushed as we got back on our feet. But watching was only an excuse.
Dark thoughts troubled me, and I needed to figure out the best way forward.
If I didn’t, I might just get us killed.
4
Soon, Anya had regained her feet, though she teetered and listed.
The crimson glow of Delacruz’s aperture reflected within the silvery shine of Wyatt’s field as it lit the passageway.
The rift had been closed.
If any aberrant toads or copper masked goons lurked about, they didn’t pop out of the shadows.
I am somewhat surprised the aberration’s spawn did not infect you, Asset Guthrie. Anya leaned against the wall and tried to regain her bearings. Last I saw of you, a swarm of them pursued you into the pool.
“That’s a hell of a story.” Wyatt sat cross-legged on the floor with the Tangler housing opened, parts spread before him as he tinkered. The device had worked well enough to block the rift and free our Preceptor, but he wasn’t quite satisfied with its performance.
“We might have to wait for a bit on awesome stories.” I held up one hand. “I have some concerns.”
“We never have to wait for your stories,” Wyatt muttered.
“If anyone gets to tell it, it’ll be Sofia.” I gave the Gatekeeper a broad smile. “I’d say jumping after him like that was at least a hundred twenty-five milli-Bishops.”
“Thanks?” Delacruz wrinkled her nose. “I think?”
What are your thoughts, Michael? Anya leaned back against the wall.
“There’re a couple kinks we need to work out in the plan.”
“I thought we had everything handled.” Sofia shrugged. Close one more rift, then go after the asshole before he gets away. She put one hand on her hip and cocked her head at me. Do the impossible, right?
We are relatively safe for the moment, Anya linked. If we need to have a discussion, now might be the time.
“Our safety is part of what concerns me. I really expected the Irrats to try some other fuckery by now.” I rubbed the back of my neck in thought.
“I have the next aperture ready to link, Alpha.” Delacruz reached behind her head and tapped the Temporal Corona. “Just say the word.”
“I know we can go at any time.” I ground my teeth. “I just feel like perhaps we should think about things for a second. So far, we’ve just reacted to things they’ve done.”
“I am tired of being surprised.” Wyatt spat on to the floor.
“I don’t like that Amir is still onsite.” I shook my head. “Every time that asshole has been in play, he removes himself from the board as quickly as possible.”
“Maybe he can’t.” Wyatt sat up straight and rolled his head, stretching his thick neck. “Maybe there’s something he still has to do.”
“Maybe he’s leading us where he wants us to go.” I met each pair of eyes, then stared at the ground. “This fucker is smart.”
“We haven’t even seen him.” Delacruz shook her head as she tried to make sense of my words. “How could he have led us anywhere?”
“The same way he led Gideon and I to Istanbul.” I held up my hand. “Let’s review how this all played out.”
“Okay, Sun Tzu.” Wyatt popped the back panel off his Tangler. “Tell us.”
“When we arrived, our first encounter happened to be Froggy the Aberration. Horrid critter.”
“That’s a fact.” Wyatt shuddered.
“Shortly after that, our Preceptor informed us more portals had been opened. The simple conclusion was that we’d deal with more of those plague monsters, and they happened to be beneath Rome.”
“Which is one of the crossroads of the world,” Sofia mused.
“So the moment we show up, we have two potential choices.” I held up two fingers. “One, we could go straight for Amir. We have him on telemetry, after all.”
“But he couldn’t know that.” Delacruz turned from me to Anya. “Right? He didn’t know we followed him?”
“See, it’s obvious to think so,” I acknowledged, pointing at her. “But he wanted us to follow him to Istanbul. If we show up in Rome as well, isn’t it logical to assume we’ve followed him here?”
“Okay,” Wyatt drawled slowly. “So?”
“So my point is that Amir would believe he knows the choices we would make. Even though he is a highly undesirable reality terrorist, given this specific situation, Amir fucking knew we would chase after the toads and not him.”
Why do you assume that, Michael?
“The Facility is specific in its nature. Our dossiers are primarily oriented toward the protection of mundane humanity. Amir had to assume that our first goal would be to stop Hoppy the Pestilence Frog.” I paused. “I’ve seen this cult make the same kind of play before. They let us chase after their minions while the main assholes get away.”
“That makes sense, but what’s got you so worried?” Wyatt toyed with his beard.
“He’s not running.” I shook my head and tried to explain something that felt more like instinct than logic. “You remember when we had the discussion back at the Corvus? I wanted to chase him first.”
“I thought you would chase him first.” Wyatt shrugged.
“Surprised me.”
“Honestly, I expected him to bug out by now. It’s why I came back talking all ‘Mission Impossible.’ I figured accomplishing all the goals was a bit of a stretch.”
Anya linked, Yet he remains. Therefore, this choice may benefit us.
“Or not.” I raised one eyebrow at her. “Not if we’re doing exactly what the enemy thinks we should. Not if we’re dancing to their tune.”
“How exactly do you think we’re being manipulated?” Sofia seemed unconvinced.
“Why did the fourth rift open?” I gestured behind us at Wyatt’s stasis field. “It didn’t happen until we were here, quite close. Besides thunder-toad and his harem back there, most all of the bad guys have cleared out.” I ground my teeth. “Except one Zealator. One Irrational guy, with a couple goons.”
“Huh.” Wyatt frowned. “So you wanna know…?”
“Why leave just one Zealator behind to break amphorae? He’s the one who did it, obviously. The only conclusion I can come up with is that they are wasting our time.”
“Huh.” Wyatt stopped fiddling with his equipment.
“Yeah.” I met each gaze. “Two of you have a genius IQ. The third is the only Asset in the history of the Facility to master the Unseen Gate.” I gave a small shrug. “I challenge you to find any other solution. Any logical reason, aside from them just toying with us.”
“You think 3302 needed time to set something up, maybe.” Wyatt nodded slowly.
“Maybe.” I threw a hand up, a hopeless gesture. “I’m not certain the reason, but I do think we’ve been stalled here.”
“But not stopped here,” Wyatt mused. “It’s possible that more crazy cultists or amphibious assholes lurk hereabout.”
We could have been delayed here longer than we were, Anya agreed.
“We should have been here longer. It’s almost as if we moved too quickly, so they opened an extra rift.”
“The toadies weren’t meant to kill us, just fight enough to slow us down.” Delacruz made a fist with one hand and then tightened it with conviction.
“I’m not saying I understand it. I’m saying something’s up.”
“We’re walking right into a trap?” Guthrie groaned. “Okay, Hoss. You sold me.”