by Dan Abnett
In another chamber, an oval dish with tessellated tiles and a strangely warm atmosphere, living saruthi milled aimlessly in their hundreds. Some had lost stilts and were limping, others lay in trembling masses, their skulls flopped back on their bodies. The smell of liquorice, or whatever it was, reeked here. As we watched, white slave-things lumbered into the chamber through another tetragate and began to twist apart and maul the saruthi, one by one, with the calm, methodical motions of insects. The saruthi offered no resistance.
This story was repeated in other chambers and curving halls, saruthi lay dead or meandering without purpose, freed slaves finding them by touch and dismembering them.
I wonder, even now, as to the meaning of these alien scenes. Had the saruthi given up, resigned to their doom, or had some other circumstance stolen their will to live and resist? Not even the tech-priests or the xenobi-ologists could provide an answer. There is, ultimately, only the fact of their alien nature; abstract, inscrutable and beyond the capacity of the human mind to fathom.
When we found the archpriest Dazzo, he was close to death.
A battle of titanic proportions had taken place in the tetrascape where he lay. Thousands of dead lay on the tiled floor: Mirepoix infantry and heretic troops alike. Two Children of the Emperor and three Deathwatch were among the fallen. The tetrascape, by far the largest of any we had seen in the edifice, reached away beyond the curve of all human dimensions, and the jumbled corpses covered the endless floor into infinity.
Dazzo lay at the foot of an asymmetrical block that rose from the tiles like a standing stone. His body was torn by gunshot wounds. Heldane sat nearby, his back to the great block, guarding the archpriest with an autopis-tol. Heldane's torso was smirched in blood and his breathing was laboured.
He saw us approach through the tetragate and lowered the gun weakly.
'What happened here, Heldane?'
A battle/ he said, wheezing. 4Ve came upon it as it was raging. When Inquisitor Endor saw this wretch, he drove us into the fight to reach him. It was a blur after that.'
Where's Endor?' I asked, looking around, hoping I would not see his corpse among the dead.
'Gone… gone after Locke.'
'Which way?'
He pointed weakly to a tetragate on the far side of the sea of bodies.
'Does Locke have the Necroteuch? The saruthi Necroteuch, I mean?'
'No/ Heldane said. 'But he has the primer/
The what?'
'Dazzo got it out of this thing somehow/ he said, slapping the stone block that supported him. A language primer. A translation tool. Without it, the saruthi version of the text is unreadable to us/
'How in the Emperor's name did he do that?' Guilar asked.
'With his mind/ Heldane said. 'Can't you feel that after-burn of the psychic effort?'
I found that I could. The mental taste of a mind almost burned out. The raised block was clearly another part of the saruthi's mysterious technology, perhaps the equivalent of an Imperial cogitator, perhaps something more sentient, even something alive. Dazzo, whose psychic abilities I already knew to be monstrous, had identified it and psychically assaulted it, forcing it to give up its secrets. An extraordinary feat of the mind, a triumph of will.
A polyhedron/ Heldane added. 'Irregular, small, made of pearl, it seemed to me. It just came out of the block into his hands. Materialised. I saw it happening as I fought my way to them. But the effort destroyed his mind. Endor cut him down. He hadn't the strength to resist/
'How do you know it was this… primer?' asked Bequin.
'I read it in his dying mind. Like I said, there is no resistance left there. See for yourself/
I crossed over to Dazzo and knelt next to him. Ragged breathing sucked in and out of his bloody mouth. I drove my mind into his, pushing aside pathetic strands of denial, and confirmed Heldane's story. With inhuman willpower, Dazzo had wrenched the language primer from the saruthi technology, and with it the whereabouts of the xenos Necroteuch. Dying, he had passed both to Locke to finish the task.
'Gregor!' Midas hissed. I turned. Far away, across the curve of the tetrascape, heretic troops were advancing through the dead. They began firing at us.
Guilar and the Gudrunites fired back, taking what cover they could to resist.
'Brother Guilar, I need you to hold these bastards at bay/
Where are you going, inquisitor?' he asked, sliding a fresh clip into his storm bolter.
After Locke and Endor, to do what I can/
TWENTY-FIVE
Xenos Necroteuch.
Endgame. The blank-eyedman.
We left the firefight behind us and plunged through the tetragate. Bequin, Midas and I, racing as fast as we could through the disorienting spirals and imbricating segments of the dying saruthi edifice.
As we ran, I reported the situation to fleet command, but had no reply or way of knowing if they'd understood me. Then I tried Titus Endor, but the vox was dead.
Moving at speed, the place became even more of a four-dimensional maze, but I had in my mind now the engram I had taken from Dazzo, the memory trace of the route to the xenos Necroteuch he had ripped from the block.
By my estimation – and it could hardly be trusted – we were approaching the heart of the edifice. Perhaps not the physical or geographic heart, but that part of the dimensional construct buried most deeply in the interlocking lamina of warped space and time.
There were more saruthi here, skittering and clicking around on their silver limb-braces without purpose or response. The smell of liquorice filled the warm, glowing tunnels and tiled chambers.
We heard screaming ahead of us, and the thump of gunfire.
Titus? Titus! It's Eisenhorn! Do you read?'
The vox coughed into life. 'Gregor! For the love of the Emperor! I need-'
It broke again. More shots.
We hurried through a tetragate and almost at once had to dive for cover as las-fire flurried around us. The chamber we had entered was by no means the largest we had found in the place, but it was singular. Dark, and gloomy, it lacked the radiance that shone from the walls and floors elsewhere. The lustrous material that composed the rest of the edifice was here grey and dissected, as if dead.
Another block, like the one Heldane had been propped up against but many times the size, rose from the ashy floor, streaked with oily, greenish matter that ran down its flanks and pooled at the base. An asymmetrical shelf jutted from it, just above the height of an average human, and a blue octahedron sat upon it, glowing internally.
The xenos Necroteuch. Dazzo's engram immediately confirmed it.
The chamber stank with its evil, the liquorice smell, so rich and cloying it made us gag. Behind and above the main pillar, warped sculptures of metal, bone and other organic materials grew from the walls and curving roof. Vicious hooks on filthy chains dangled from these outgrowths. This was not saruthi handiwork but a touch of pure Chaos, spawned by the Necroteuch, infecting the xenos fabric of its sanctum.
Smaller pillars, irregular and unmatched, dotted the floor around the main block. In between them, a gunfight was raging. The three of us ran from the exposure of the lit tetragate and found shelter behind the nearest of the smaller blocks. Las-shots wove in and out of the stone shapes, ricocheting and rebounding.
Titus!'
'Gregor!' He was twenty metres away, a third of the way into the chamber, huddled behind a block and firing his laspistol at figures closer to the Necroteuch's resting place.
I glimpsed Locke, and eight or nine heretic troopers.
I looked to either side of me at Bequin and Midas. 'Choose your targets/ I told them. We began to fire in support of Endor, dropping at least one of the heretics. As they reeled from the salvo, Endor leapt up and ran forward. A las-shot clipped him and blew him back against a stone upright.
I ran forward myself, firing my bolt pistol which I had braced in both hands. I blew chunks from the blocks ahead of me, and hit at least one of the enemy gunners
. I reached Endor.
He was wounded in the chest. It would be fatal if we couldn't get him clear quickly. I pulled him into cover, and waited while Bequin ran up through the rows to my side.
'Pressure, here!' I said, showing her, my hands wet with my old friend's blood. She did as she was told.
I became aware of thunderous noises from beyond the chamber. The place shook. More thunder rolled and a section of the curved ceiling suddenly splintered and collapsed, cascading wreckage down, allowing cold exterior light to shaft in. A second later, three more holes ruptured and burst through the roof, and from outside I could hear the muffled hammering of bombardment.
'Midas!'
He was already moving up to my left, ditching his needle rifle for the pistols in the tight confines. Lethal Glavian needles hissed through the air. The ground continued to shake. A further section of roof came down.
Leaving Endor with Bequin, I ducked from pillar to pillar, braving the deluge of shots. Midas and I switched to our earpiece links and Glossia.
'Thorn ushers Aegis, a tempest sinister/
Aegis attending, tempest in three.'
I counted the three beats and ran forward as Midas hurled his frag grenade to my left before opening fire with both pistols.
The flash and bang of the blast obscured the bombardment outside for a moment. A heretic was flung upwards, limbs flailing, and glanced brokenly off a pillar before hitting the ground.
Midas's 'tempest' of covering confusion had allowed me to get within ten metres of Locke. I could no longer see him, however. Keeping my grip on my bolt pistol, I drew my power sword in my left hand and came around the block.
Locke and one of his men had chosen the exact same moment to plough forward into me. We broke from cover and came face to face in the narrow gap between pillars. My pistol's first shot missed the lunging Locke and tore the left arm off his accomplice. Before the wailing man had even hit the ground, Locke's laspistol had put a round through the meat of my right arm. A long-bladed dagger flashed forward in his other hand. We slammed into each other. I tried to sweep my power sword around, but it struck something and Locke side-stepped. The basket hilt of his dagger smashed into my face and knocked me over onto my back. With a grin that he knew 1 could never copy, he raised his laspistol to fire down into my brain.
Two tonnes of xenos-quarried stone pillar, sliced through at hip-height by my power blade, crushed him into the flaking ground.
I rose.
Gorgone Locke was still alive. His belly and pelvis were smashed under the fallen pillar and his arms were pinned. He gazed up at me through blinking, bewildered eyes.
'Gorgone Locke, in the eyes of the Holy Inquisition, you are thrice damned by action, association and belief/ I said, beginning the catechism of abolition.
'N-no…' he whispered.
As I completed the exclamation, I cut the mark of heresy into the flesh of his brow with the tip of my sword. By the time I had finished, he was dead from his crush injuries.
The shattering chamber still shook. On their long chains, the hooks swung. Dust and fragments dribbled down from the tears in the roof, falling through the bars of cold light. I reached down and found the pearl polyhedron in Locke's blood-soaked coat. The primer. 1 slipped it into my pocket and turned to see Midas approaching.
The last of his rats have fled/ he said, holstering his pistols. He looked down at the dead ship master. 'So perish all heretics, eh?'
I reached up with on hand to take the xenos Necroteuch from its shelf – and found myself unable to move. Some enormous psychic force froze me rigid.
'So perish all heretics indeed/ said a voice. 'Turn him so he can see me/
Involuntarily, I swung round, my hand still raised in the act of reaching out. I saw Midas, also paralysed and rigid, his dark features locked in a rictus of dismay.
Konrad Molitor, my brother inquisitor, was standing before me, smiling. His three hooded servants were at his side.
'Such valour, Gregor. Such dedication. I thought you'd be the one to find the prize/
I tried to answer, but my mouth refused to obey me. Spittle bubbled between my clenched teeth.
Molitor looked around at his cowled companions. 'Let him speak/ he said.
The psychic constraints on my voice slackened. Speech was still an effort. W-what are you d-doing, Molitor?'
'Recovering the priceless Necroteuch, of course. We really, really can't have you destroying another copy now, can we?'
'W-we?'
There are many who believe mankind will benefit more from the study of this artefact than from its destruction. I have come to safeguard those interests/
'R-rorken will n-never allow… y-you will b-burn for-'
'My estimable Lord Brother Rorken will never know. Feel how this place quakes. See how the roof splinters and collapses? Ten minutes ago, I signalled to the fleet that the primary objective was achieved. I gave the code for Sanction Extremis. They believe the Necroteuch had been found and safely disposed of. Our forces are withdrawing, with all haste. The batteries of the fleet have begun to level these xenos places. No one will know that the divine Necroteuch has been carried off safely. Not a shred of evidence will survive the bombardment. Not a shred of evidence… nor any voice of dissent/
His yellow-pupilled eyes regarded me. 'How brave of you to give your life in the assault on 56-Izar. Your name will be remembered on the roll of honour. I assure you, I'll see to that myself/
'B-b-b-bastard…' I fought with my mind to break free, but it was impossible. This was not Molitor's hold on me. One of his retainers, or all three in concert, supremely powerful.
'Fetch it for me/ Molitor said to one of his men, gesturing to the Necroteuch with a wave of his checked sleeve. We would be well to leave promptly/
The hammering bombardment was now a perpetual shaking roar. The robed figure slid forward and took down the blue octahedron, cupping it
in elegant, long-nailed fingers. He seemed to study it, and looked round at Molitor.
'It is useless/ he said.
'What?'
'Unreadable. Locked within an impenetrable xenos language code.'
Molitor stammered. 'No! Impossible! Break the code!'
'Would that I could. It is beyond even my ability'
'There must be a means of translation!'
The hooded man holding the Necroteuch looked round at me.
'He has a primer. The only primer. He's trying not to think about it, but I can see it in his mind. Look in his coat pocket.'
The smile returned to Molitor's face. He came close to me, reaching out a hand towards my coat. 'Devious to the last, Gregor. You whoreson wretch.'
A las-round blew his hand off at the wrist.
Molitor screamed and stumbled back, clutching his smoking stump.
Bequin, her face pursed grimly, her las-carbine at her shoulder and aimed at his heart, appeared beside me.
'Kill them! Kill them!' Molitor screamed. I felt the immediate pressure of the psychic vice tightening to finish me. Then I reeled away, freed. The psychic blank of Bequin's untouchable nature shielded me now she was at my side. The servant holding the Necroteuch took a step backwards in surprise.
Molitor, frantic with pain and anger, saw that his powerful psychic was thwarted somehow and yelled 'Albaara! T'harth!'
Code words. Trigger words. The pair of servants who had remained by his side sprang forward, their robes shredding away.
Arco-flagellants. Heretics reprogrammed and rebuilt with augmetics and bionics to serve as murderous slaves. The trigger words woke them from their calming states of bliss and plunged them into maniacal rages.
Out of their robes, they were foul, hunched things, encrusted with crude surgical implants and sacred charms. Their hands were lashing clutches of electrowhips, their eyes dull, bulbous orbits under the rims of the tarnished pacifier helmets bolted to their skulls.
Midas, Bequin and I fired our weapons together, raking them with punishment as the
y charged forward. The damage they suffered was immense, but still they came on, their bodies pumped with intoxicating adrenal fluid, pain-blockers and frenzy-inducing chemical stimulants. They didn't feel what we were doing to them.
One was just an arm's length from me when my desperate rain of bolts finally defeated it. A shot exploded the armoured matrix of chemical dispensers on its shoulder, spraying fluid into the air. In a second, it fell convulsing to the ground at our feet as the damage robbed it of its drug-source and left nothing but agony behind.
The other barely felt the punctures of Midas's too subtle needles. Frantically, we split to either side, out of its path. Braying and thrashing its
whip-limbs, it pounded after Midas, who ducked left and right between pillars, trying to evade it. Only his Glavian-bred grace and speed kept him out of its inexorably advancing grip.
He knew he had seconds left. Bequin and I were moving, but there was precious little we could do.
Midas pulled off his pouch of grenades, priming one as he twisted and side-stepped between the pillars, scarcely avoiding a withering lash of flexible metal whips that scored gouges in the stone.
Midas feinted left and then threw himself directly at the beast, snagging the strap of his pouch around its neck as he vaulted over its shoulder head first.
The grenades detonated in one stunning flash and atomised the ravening man-beast. Caught in the Shockwave, Midas was thrown into a pillar and dropped unconscious.
'Eisenhorn! Eisenhorn!' Molitor was wailing as he and his remaining servant hunted for me. His voice was cracking with pain and fury.
'Stay at my side,' I told Bequin as we ran deeper into the chamber. That psychic can't touch me while I'm close to you.'
Half the ceiling and a significant part of the wall blew in. For a second the air was solid with billowing orange fire.
Deafened, our skins scorched by the blast, Bequin and I were back on our feet in a moment. The chamber was open to the sky now, and cold white light poured in, heavy with smoke.
'Come on!' Together we scrambled towards the blast-damaged wall, picking our way up the smouldering slope of broken stone and whatever material the saruthi used for construction. This material was fused and bubbling, like plastic or flesh.