by J M Guillen
I triggered the Magus.
Bishop, Michael. 108. The prompt paused. Mike, you know I’m gonna need that auth code.
Cool, Paige. I rattled off the code in my mind as I aimed at one of the toad-tastic horrors and glanced around for R’tae.
The Screi was nowhere to be seen.
As I peered about, I injected a vial of Type V mecha.
And then a second.
Initiating now, Asset. Again, the soft voice felt smug in my mind, cocky.
The air rippled around me like heat over the desert. Cool wind drifted across my skin, exactly like the Wraith.
Alpha, can we actually afford to remove them from play? Rachel took three steps forward and shot one of the amphibians squarely in the neck.
The aberration fell, gurgling with inhuman emotion as its young poured onto the floor in a semi-liquid mess.
I need you and Anya to take the stairwell up. I’ll take down.
How? How will you do that all by yourself?
That’s right, I forgot. I smiled as I linked her. You weren’t here last time. Before she could answer, a loud crackle filled the room. In three separate locations, several meters apart, the air burst with sharp, amber light. When the brightness cleared, three other Michael Bishops stood within the room.
Now the simulacra seemed considerably rougher than they had previously. Like me, they’d lost their suit jacket, and the rest of their clothes showed they had truly been through some shit. Each moved of his own accord, mimicking movements my Crown had stored within the system.
It looked damned creepy.
Just as before, my Crown easily showed the difference between them and reality. My system readout represented them as simple tokens, the same place markers our phaneric nodes used.
But to the naked eye…
The simulacra appeared far too perfect.
To my left, Fake Bishop raised a firearm toward one of the toads. To my right, Fake Michael moved toward another of the aberrations and drew his own weapon.
Okay, Rachel. Within my Crown I brought up my mecha dialogues. Am I just burning these Type Fives?
Um, yeah. She seemed uncertain.
That’s what we need right? More allies on the field? And If I burn the mecha…
Right. She nodded. Burning mecha will alter more axioms, as the packet dictates. The simulacra will have a stronger physical affect.
That’s what I wanted.
Just remember, it’s a hungry packet. Don’t let it burn all the mecha at once, she warned.
You think this is a mistake?
No. She paused, and I felt her grow more confident. Just access your deck dialogues and apply the burn to the Magus slowly.
Copy that.
The moment I felt the mecha begin their burn…
The simulacra changed.
I couldn’t describe exactly how the simulacra shifted, since I hadn’t stared intently at any of them. Yet something about them solidified in that moment. The shadows around them became crisper; the sounds of their movements echoed just a bit.
The one I’d designated Fake Mike leapt toward a tan-and-green Phothu-nacyi, his weapon drawn. As he fired, the kinetic axioms of reality shifted, just as if an actual disruptor had been fired.
Aberration brains fanned across the floor, and the toad’s body fell. Instantly, a sickening swarm of the parasites burst from the skin of its dead parent.
I watched them swim through the air, mesmerized by their serpentine motion.
They fell upon the simulacra.
And drifted right through it.
Okay, I linked to Rachel. That’s cool.
I turned back toward the upward stairwell. The simulacra could hold our rear, at least for a moment. I needed to make certain—
R’tae swung one clawed hand at my head and his savagely sharp nails raked at my face.
Sharp lines of flame burned across my cheek, and I flew back to land on my ass. One of my disruptors fell from my hand.
“[Little human garbage,]” the Screi said condescendingly. He took a step closer and hurled a powerful kick into my ribs.
I felt them crack and cried out in anguish.
“[You are out of your depth here,]” he sneered. “[Do you know how many of the Phothu-nacyi we can call upon?]”
Second injection required, my packet informed me, in that slightly superior tone. Simulacra integrity will begin to diminish in three minutes.
“[You are like a child.]” A cruel leer twisted R’tae’s face. He raised one leg and kicked me again.
Pain exploded in my side, even as I rolled with the kick. I scrabbled to my feet and drew my katana.
“[Yes,]” R’tae sneered. “[Fight. Learn what it is to be helpless.]”
I threw myself upon him.
On my visual, Rationality statistics flickered as the Screi dodged my first strike.
Now that I gazed directly at him, I saw his form grow shadowed when he shifted into his uncannily fast movement.
I needed to think. I peeked around, looking for any advantage…
There.
“[Every time you have struck me, it has been little more than fortune,]” he mocked. “[Can you feel death’s approach, mammal?]”
As a response, I took one quick step back and brought up my Stiletto. I fired as rapidly as possible and scattered my shots all around him.
Rationality statistics spiked for an instant as he dodged backward and melted into shadow. His movement stunned me, impossible to track with the eye.
“[Is that the best you can do?]” He smirked.
“No.” I grinned. “It’s not.” I took another step forward and fired at his feet.
In instant response, he leapt to his right.
Wyatt’s spike burst with cerulean light as electricity screamed forth and sundered the air between it and R’tae.
The Screi screamed, a wail of anguished fury.
Arc after arc of blindingly bright electricity coursed into the aberration. Its dark robe burned from its body as it thrashed.
“I’d say that’s about the best I can do.” I shielded my eyes from the crackles of searing light.
R’tae’s horrified cries echoed in the hallway, and I smelled burnt flesh.
Rationality spiked, quick as thought.
The Screi burst away from the lightning’s radius, little more than smoke and wind.
This time he didn’t stop but vanished down the hall behind us.
Michael! Anya fired her automatic weapons and drove some of the Phothu-nacyi back. She and Rachel had held the stairs well, supplemented by Wyatt’s stasis fields.
They’d forced the enemy down a narrow path.
Yet now, the creatures pushed through. The uncounted corpses had piled up higher than Wyatt’s wall. And unlike the stasis fields, the corpses weren’t frictionless; the toads had started to climb over them.
“I’m here.” I stepped forward and fired both Stlettos at one of the loathsome toad’s bodies. The force liquefied the wriggling, black parasites and splattered them back against the other Phothu-nacyi.
“Are we clear behind, Alpha?” Rachel crouched and carefully aimed the Stinger before each shot. Regardless of her skill set, the lady was a master with the device. She didn’t miss once, and every foe she struck fell quivering to the ground.
“Not clear per se.” I glanced back over my shoulder.
The simulacra infuriated every Phothu-nacyi they’d stood against. The False Assets couldn’t be struck, no matter how the aberrations tried. However, due to the axioms of force, the strikes on our side remained quite lethal.
“We might be okay.” I nodded. “Although my ribs might be cracked.”
“On it,” Rachel sighed.
Additional injection required, my packet informed me smugly. Simulacra integrity will begin to diminish in one minute.
I toggled the mecha dialogue and burned some more of the Type Fives. Turning, I slipped in next to Anya and Rachel.
All we had to do was
hold.
6
When Wyatt returned with Sofia at his side, he brought more than his requisitioned share of smug certainty.
If I can’t fucking do it, he groused with scorn. Bitch-op, please.
Show me your stuff. I gave him a sharp smile. I mean, if you can.
Delacruz shot a quarrel in the floor, then used the Temporal Corona to create a second aperture just above it.
While she worked, Wyatt began to lay spikes.
“How do ya like me now?” He sang one of his newer favorite country songs.
WHUF! WHUF!
You’re alright. I guess. I’ve decided I fucking hate these guys though. I shot another of the Phothu-nacyi, and it hurled back as if struck by a truck.
Don’t worry, Mikey, Guthrie condescended. Daddy’ll get you out of here.
Delacruz strode around her aperture as her slender fingers tinkered with the Temporal Corona hung behind her head. With just a few alterations, the aperture tilted its orientation to roughly match the angle of the ascending stairwell.
“Ready here, Artisan.” She gave him a crooked smile. “My aperture is, I mean.”
“Let me finish my calibrations.” He frowned as he focused intently. “Don’t get impatient. This’ll take a minute.”
“Hey.” She held up one hand. “Better too slow than too fast.”
After typing furiously for thirty seconds, Wyatt’s spikes pulsed a deep magenta. He struck one final button. “Ready.”
Around them, Rachel, Anya, and I engaged a completely ridiculous number of Phothu-nacyi. Over time, they pressed closer and closer, pinning us in on both sides.
Delacruz stepped to the front of the aperture and peered through it. Even from where I stood, a second aperture provided a clear view all the way up the hallway to the corner.
“Engaging.” Delacruz brought up the gatekeeper crossbow and fired through the lower aperture.
It came out of the upper one at the approximate speed of a jet plane.
After a moment and, I assumed, a warning about PARADOX LOOPING, Sofia killed the upper aperture. The lower one then shifted perspectives to show us the opposite end of the hallway.
It didn’t look good.
While the entire hallway might not have been completely infested with Phothu-nacyi, more than a hundred of the horrific little things lurked in there. They crowded around the silvery domes Wyatt had created, a tide of croaking, gurgling horrors.
If it hadn’t been for those stasis fields, we would have been overrun long before now.
We’ll take a quick precaution. Wyatt leaned toward the aperture and his gear whined. With a rapid series of shots, he lay down spikes behind the horde of Phothu-nacyi, which instantly resolved into a wall of stasis fields.
“We’re ready for extraction, Alpha.” He raised an eyebrow at me. “That is, if you’re ready?”
As it happened, I’d never been more ready.
“Um, yes.” I glanced toward Rachel. “Make it so.”
“No. Jeez.” She shook her head. “This is more of a ‘beam me up’ moment.” She scowled. “Why do you ruin everything?”
We strode through the aperture and left the Phothu-nacyi behind.
At the far end of the hallway, Wyatt’s stasis fields kept them at bay. They couldn’t climb the frictionless surfaces. They had no way to know where we stood.
We were safe.
“Hope we’re not coming back this way,” Rachel muttered.
The chances of that are near zero, Anya informed her.
“Of coming back?” Rachel’s eyes went wide. “How bad is the Variance now?”
“We won’t be coming back this way.” I turned to Rachel. “We’ve got quarrels all over the city.”
“I guess the Gatekeeper better live.” Delacruz gave a sickly smile. “Heh.”
“No one gets to die,” I growled. “I’m placing a moratorium on dying.”
We crept forward through the shadows.
Eldritch Emanations
The hallway ahead turned at a right angle, again. We climbed to the third such turn, and the stairwell continued inexorably upward.
Scarlet flames in hanging braziers lit the entire way. Various furs covered the dark stone, and tapestries lined the walls.
These interested me. I didn’t exactly stop to examine them, but I did give them a glance as we passed. The art told the story of a proud people and an empire built within a jungle.
Hadn’t Amir said something about Antarctica before the cold?
Eventually, Anya stopped and gave her head a tiny shake.
The token over our visuals showed the Variance grew ever larger.
I am removing the token regarding the Variance, Anya explained. We are getting much closer, and the resources required are taxing.
“Just keep us apprised,” I said.
The token vanished, and I felt my Crown… relax, as if it had carried a load I hadn’t noticed.
“I’ll place some quarrels,” Sofia proclaimed. “Also, I’ll delete locations from Rome and the timeshare.”
“We don’t wanna go back to the timeshare?” Wyatt muttered. “I don’t know why not. It’s full of crazy cultists who have sex magic to create cataclysm babies. Should be fun.”
With the knowledge that the way behind us had been blocked, we were able to focus more readily on the Variance and plan our approach.
I spent time considering as we maneuvered through the Dirge and tried to weigh every option.
“So, that guy was a Reptilian.” Wyatt glanced at Delacruz. “Weren’t you telling me Reptilian shapechangers aren’t real?”
“I was telling you the Designates aren’t Reptilian shapeshifters,” she clarified.
Something ahead, Anya linked.
We halted.
I hadn’t seen it and might have walked right into it if Anya hadn’t alerted me. I’d decided not to keep my optics on the entire time to avoid the inevitable headache. As a result, I saw little more than a few meters in front of us in the red light.
Only now we’d come to a gate.
Constructed from a green-black metal, the arched gateway stood at least twelve meters tall. Two gargantuan braziers flanked the large construction, their light silhouetting the lean, emaciated figures milling around.
The gateway stood open. Darkness loomed behind it.
Optics, I linked and toggled mine on.
The room beyond seemed to be every bit as large as the gates that prefaced it, a shadowed darkness. Within, great pillars stretched up out of view, but I had a difficult time seeing deeply into the room.
Space bent within.
Something lurked in that darkness, something that watched me as certainly as I gazed within it. My mind crackled and burned as I gazed into that infinite room.
That space is not Rational. Anya pushed her hair from her eyes as her other hand twitched.
Not another topia. Please. Numbers flickered by on Wyatt’s oculus as he peered forward. So fucking sick of other worlds.
No. Anya’s left hand joined her right, plucking at strings only she could see. It is also not super-Rational or sub-Rational eddies. Axiomatic obduracy is weaker. I almost— Anya stopped midlink as her eyes widened.
“Twitchy?” Wyatt turned from examining the room and his oculus shone.
It is the Variance. Her fingers trembled, and I thought it had nothing to do with the Preceptor interface.
“Just a few moments ago we showed the Variance to be a ways away,” Wyatt complained. “Are you saying it’s in that room?”
No. Anya seemed to consider. I would think if the Variance were in the next room, our Sovereign Prerogatives would ignite. She turned her head to me, and I saw a whisper of fear in her brilliant, blue eyes. But the Variance is close. So close that Rationality is growing unstable.
“Okay.” I swallowed. “We expected this. We know this happens.”
Current readings show the Variance at a deviation of 226.4 from Rationality. Anya shook her head a bit.
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“Rational physics isn’t even real at those numbers,” Delacruz breathed.
“Listen.” I held up my hands and noticed, to my dismay, that it seemed as if my cadre did just that.
Which was just awful. They looked to me as if I knew what the fuck to say.
Gideon would have known what to say.
“We have a job and the job doesn’t change. If we spend our time talking about all the horrific things we might encounter, we become less capable,” I offered.
“Yeah.” Rachel nodded her head. “Of course.”
“This is a complete impossibility. We have no way to plan because we have no idea what we’ll face. All we can do is fall back on the things we do best. Stick with your specialties.” I paused. “And if you get a crazy but effective idea, tell me. Please.”
“But that’s what you do, Hoss.” Wyatt smiled.
“We’re here because we’re the ones the Facility sends. We’re the ones that live through this bullshit while your average Asset is still chasing down poltergeists and circus freaks.”
We are Citadel Assets. Anya gazed around at the group. Specifically chosen.
“Right.” I gestured toward her.
“I still like the Justice League,” Rachel said. “Although I can also accept the A Team.”
“I…” I gazed at them, each focused upon me. For a moment, the butterflies in my stomach threatened to become pterodactyls.
I took a breath.
“I have no idea what’s in there,” I said softly. “You know that, right? I have no idea what we’ll face or what we’ll find.”
“We know, Hoss.” Wyatt toyed with his beard.
“So while I can’t tell you what you find in there or what horrible abominations we may face, I can tell you one thing—what I will do.” I studied each of them. “I will bring us out. I will break every rule, sacrifice everything I have, to make certain I don’t leave a single one of you behind.”
They just stared at me. Rachel’s eyes grew wet.
“Destroy the Variance.” I ticked off one finger. “Stop the frog-pocalypse.” I ticked off a second.
“Kill Amir Cadavas.” Wyatt gave me a canny grin.
“Kill him fucking twice.” I pointed at him.