The Phoenix Fallacy_Book II_Norm

by Jon Sourbeer,

  “Ramirez will meet us in the Praetor’s briefing room. Assuming you can make it for another few minutes without medical attention, follow me,” Hawkes growled as Janus hopped out. Janus looked grimly at his team, but Celes, Marcus, and Lyn nodded. Hawkes marched away, and the four fell into line behind him.

  “Any word from Wouris?” Janus asked.

  Hawkes shook his head and continued marching.

  A row of longboats waited in the back of the Voyages bay, worked on by the most skilled mechanics, or mechs, in Valhalla. Valers, drenched in sweat and wearing one of the mechs’ uniforms – with a green stripe for engineering, and decked in tools – was wiping his hands free of grime.

  “Valers,” Marcus called, “what’re you doing here?”

  Valers hustled over, slowing to a walk beside the four, “Armory rotation. Just started, Wouris recommended me,” he smiled. “I watched you guys fly in, figured you wouldn’t mind a friendly face,” he smiled at Hawkes, who scowled. “Was the mission successful?”

  “Well—” Marcus said.

  “You will get the debriefing when everyone else does – after the command staff,” Hawkes interrupted, giving Valers a harrowing look, “Don’t you have duties to perform?”

  Valers did an about face and ran back to the waiting longboats, calling out, “I’ll be sure to go find some, sir.”

  The Praetor, Keats, Northcott, and another Adept waited for the team in the briefing room. Col. Keats wore a smile, but the Praetor and Major Northcott were more reserved. Light filtered through the thick dome skylights, and the bustle of Valhalla’s command deck faded as the door shut.

  “We are glad all of you made it back in one piece,” Keats said. “You can head to the infirmary after the debriefing.”

  “We will try to make this as quick and painless as possible,” the Praetor said. “Please have a seat.”

  Ramirez jogged into the room at that moment, saluting in respect.

  The Praetor nodded back, “Welcome back, Adept Ramirez.”

  The Praetor sat down at the round table, Keats on his left, Northcott on his right. Hawkes sat next to Keats. The unnamed Adept remained standing.

  Major Northcott leaned forward, “Perhaps you would like to begin with Sergeant Wouris…”

  Janus shook his head, “I’m afraid I don’t know where she is, sir.” Northcott shook his head.

  Janus gazed around the room, “But nothing would lead me to believe she is in direct danger. Why?”

  “She wasn’t at the rendezvous point,” Northcott said pointedly.

  “What?” Marcus nearly leapt from his seat.

  Janus looked uncertainly down at the table, “But, when we separated, she was in no immediate danger – as far as I know. There shouldn’t be any reason that—”

  “Then perhaps you should start from the beginning,” Keats said calmly.

  Janus focused his breathing, closing his eyes, and counted down slowly in his head. The memory of the day flooded back into his mind, and he slowly recounted what had happened. Speeding through the marsh and some of the close calls at the base, he stopped only to explain the painting in more detail, and to explain to everyone regarding Norm.

  “And who is this Norm?” Keats asked.

  “An old man, who lives in the Cerberus slums. He has known my mother and me for many years, although I only became more familiar with him just before I came here.”

  “And you’re confident it was him in this painting?” Northcott asked.

  “Yes – I recognized the face. The features were identical.”

  “He’s that recognizable?” Hawkes said.

  “Well, yes,” Janus said, scrunching his face in thought. “It isn’t that he looks strange – it’s more like, his age has made him tired. He certainly looks older – in fact, I don’t know anyone in the slums as old as him,” Janus added, deep in thought.

  “And what was this painting? Could you describe it?” Hawkes asked.

  Janus glanced at the others nervously, Marcus was lost in thought. Lyn’s face reflected a combination of fear and excitement. Ramirez simply nodded in support, while Celes smiled at him.

  “Well,” Janus cleared his throat, “it was a battle scene. There were hundreds of Security Troopers celebrating a great victory over a fleeing enemy. They were all Phoenix troopers.”

  The Praetor sat forward intently.

  “There were two figures featured in the middle and front of the scene – two overlords, dressed in red and gold. They were both smiling, like they had been the victors. One was Norm, and the other…” Janus hesitated, thinking of Delacroix.

  “—someone who looked like Janus,” Celes finished. Janus gulped.

  The Praetor narrowed his eyes, “How much like Janus?”

  “Related features, just a few slight differences, hair and eye color, mostly,” Marcus said.

  The officers murmured to each other around the oak table.

  “It couldn’t be…” the Praetor mused, holding his chin. He stared at Janus, and shook his head, “It couldn’t be.”

  Janus glanced up anxiously. The Praetor waved a hand in apology, as if regretting his outburst, “Please continue.”

  Janus took another moment to regain his composure. He swiftly recounted the events after they found the painting, the discovery of the secret base, and the team’s harrowing escape.

  “Did anyone get a look at Delacroix’s face? After your encounter with the Titan Executor down in Phoenix, it would be nice if we had a better picture of who we are up against.” Keats interrupted.

  Janus paused, struggling not to shift in his seat. He was about to speak when he noticed the others shaking their heads. “He stood too close to Janus, and we couldn’t move much without attracting attention,” Marcus said. Janus nodded.

  “Understandable,” the Praetor leaned forward, “but as you described him prior – he has white hair?”

  All five nodded.

  A distant look came over Jennings’ face, and he glanced at Janus again.

  Janus cleared his throat, “This, sir, is the isotope drive I pulled from the cryochamber.” He handed the Praetor the translucent blue-green drive, “Hopefully, it will contain something more.”

  “Well done,” Northcott said, “it appears our concerns about you and your team were unfounded.” He studied the four around Janus, “And your willingness to follow Janus without hesitation speaks well of your team.”

  Celes and Lyn beamed at Janus. Even Ramirez had a slight grin on his hard jaw. Marcus simply inclined his head.

  “You’ve given us a quite a few clues, to start,” the Praetor added, “Cryochambers – surely it couldn’t mean effective cryogenics?”

  “Cryogenics, sir?” Lyn asked, the confusion stamped upon her face.

  The Praetor nodded, “The study and implementation of preserving life through carefully calibrated freezing.” He stood up, looking troubled, and placed the drive carefully upon the table. “It is an ancient, rather unsuccessful science. I understand even ODIN attempted it at one point. All we ended up with was a bunch of frozen rats.”

  “ODIN has tried to create cryogenic chambers?” Celes looked skeptical, “But why?”

  “Every Corporation and Adept legion has tried to make it work,” the Praetor said knowingly. “Cryogenics is one of those technologies associated with the fountain of youth. It is a crude method, one that only buys time, but Executors seem hardly willing to pass such opportunities up. ODIN’s primary interest in cryogenics, however, was for battlefield medicine. If we can slow down or stop the biological processes enough on the battlefield, we could always get an injured Adept back in enough time for an effective Nanyte treatment. If we could succeed with Cryogenics, barring catastrophic head trauma, every Adept on the battlefield could be saved.

  “But it has always seemed a fool’s dream,” the Praetor sighed. “Anyway, every few years, someone else will attempt it, but inevitably fail. We usually learn about it through our contacts or by Corporati
ons attempting to sell their research to us. The reason is always the same: expensive, impractical, ineffective.”

  “Especially if it requires so much Immutium,” Marcus added. “But how do we know that Titan has made it work?”

  “The Corporations aren’t stupid. If Titan has put so many people into storage at such a high cost, you can bet it works,” Northcott said.

  “But why the secrecy? It is certainly noteworthy, and undoubtedly useful, and if Titan has developed it, why risk exposure by working with Cerberus?” Keats mused.

  “And more importantly, why are this Titan Executor Delacroix and Cerberus Overlord Middleton working together?” Hawkes growled, “I don’t like having my enemies working together.”

  “It has to be a power play of some sort,” Northcott added. “Corporations only invest in their own power bases and they certainly never work together.”

  “As far as we know,” Keats said. ‘We should consider alerting the other Adept legions about this information—”

  “Only after we have taken a look at this isotope drive,” the Praetor interrupted. “We may have a great deal of valuable information to offer, but it is only valuable if the other Adept legions see it that way. The legions are no more allied now than they were before the Phoenix Corporation attack on SHADE.”

  The others on the command staff nodded with grim looks. Janus knew he was out of an important loop, but judging from his team’s faces, he wasn’t alone.

  The Praetor addressed the unnamed Adept, who had been standing at attention for the duration, holding up the translucent sheet, “Sergeant Oleri, take this to Sergeant Chiles and Sergeant Graham for analysis. Let me know as soon as they have something.”

  “Yes, sir,” Oleri carefully took hold of the drive and left the room.

  “Now,” the Praetor said, returning his gaze to Janus and the rest of the team, “I want all of you to report to the infirmary and get prepped to head back out. As soon as we can move into position, I want you to be ready to deploy to Cerberus.”

  Keats looked at the Praetor skeptically, “Now?”

  Janus sat bolt upright in his seat.

  “You heard me, Colonel. Something critical is happening – I can sense it, and we can’t afford to be caught flat-footed.”

  “Are you sure about this?” Hawkes asked.

  “Cerberus is the next logical step. Middleton is there, and so is this man named Norm. It appears he may know far more than you realized, Janus.”

  “And what about Wouris?” Northcott asked irritably.

  The Praetor gave a hard glance to Northcott, “Sergeant Wouris no doubt has her own situation fully in control. We will leave behind a longboat and a couple of Adepts in case she attempts to make contact.” Northcott relaxed visibly. “I am sure we will have no shortage of volunteers,” the Praetor added. “Wouris has encountered far worse than this; I am not overly concerned as of yet.”

  “It’s unfortunate that Janus and his team were unable to recover Alastor’s body, it might have proved useful to present to the Corporations,” Northcott added.

  “Well, there is hardly anything we can do about it now. Judging from his report, it seems that he acted appropriately by retreating when he did,” Keats said.

  “No sense getting killed over a dead body, eh?” Hawkes added with a lopsided grin.

  The Praetor chuckled, but Janus, Celes, Marcus, Lyn, and Ramirez all stared at Hawkes with a mixture of disbelief and surprise.

  Hawkes took offense at their stares and snapped, “What? Never heard a joke before?” He settled back into his seat, his grin replaced with an angry frown.

  Keats patted him affectionately on the shoulder, soothing him.

  The Praetor spoke up, “Major Northcott, I want you to put Valhalla on high alert. Any teams not already on missions or scheduled for missions are to double their combat drills.”

  Northcott nodded, “I’ll do it right now.” He quickly left the briefing room, heading into Valhalla’s command center.

  Celes directed a question at the Praetor, “Sir, how will we get into Cerberus? Corporations only let their people fly in, and we won’t have any clearance.”

  “I suggest you ask Janus about that,” the Praetor smiled, “You may find that his background serves him well here. But first, all of you should head to the medical branch. I have already arranged for Nanyte injections from Major Yalla. Get some rest, and then get ready to head back out.”

  “Yes, sir,” all five saluted.

  Janus’s arm still ached horribly, but he could feel it being mended by the Nanytes. It was an odd sensation, as his arm seemed to waver back and forth between the extremes of pain and feeling better as the nerves in his arm were repaired. Celes was forced to continue limping, although she was much improved. Lyn clutched her side in continuous pain and Marcus still looked as though he had mistakenly cornered both a rabid lion and a wolverine.

  When the group finally made its way out of the hospital section, they could do little more than look annoyed as Ramirez laughed heartily at the group. Soon, however, as they took a good look at one another, they broke down. There was something truly funny about how pathetic they all looked; certainly far from heroic.

  “We all made it!” Celes said, with a great big smile on her face.

  Her smile was refreshing and for the first time in a long while, Janus laughed. They had survived, intact, and completed the mission successfully. Something inseparable now bound them.

  A sobering thought hit him, But what about Wouris? Janus looked at the group of four around him, still laughing at their absurdity, and realized that if he could get back with his team intact, he had no reason to be concerned about Wouris.

  He chuckled to himself, Wouris’s probably already at Cerberus.

  Chapter 19: Cryochambers

  It would take some time to decipher the information that was on the recovered isotope drive. The team discussed the issue during morning mess.

  “Well, it either means that there was more than we realized, or what is on it is very interesting,” Marcus said between bites of a Passer that had the consistency and flavor of oatmeal.

  “Hopefully it gives some explanation as to the nature of those chambers. It would be nice ta have some questions answered before new ones arise,” Lyn said.

  Ramirez took a huge bite of his ‘eggs’ and grunted, “Too much ta hope for…”

  Lyn nodded, “You’re probably right, we can’t just expect all of Middleton’s and Delacroix’s plans ta be conveniently on one isotope drive.”

  “No hope for ‘SECRETS HERE’?” Marcus asked with a smirk. Lyn stuck her tongue out at him.

  “It would be too easy that way,” Celes said with a smile.

  Marcus sighed, poking his food, “You’re probably right, but as they say, hope springs eternal,” he gave Celes a surreptitious glance. “Frankly, I’m not too keen about the idea of breaking into Cerberus.”

  “Ya’ telling me! An outpost is one thing, but a corporation. Phah! Lightemann’s will have been a cakewalk. They don’t mess around with security and now we don’t have the advantage of the S.T.s thinking no one even knows they’re there,” Lyn said.

  “Which reminds me: Janus,” Celes said, “how does the Praetor think you are going to get us in…?” She trailed off.

  Janus stared at his plate, head down.

  “Janus?”

  Janus had been lost in thought. The question was one that had been on his mind consistently the past several days, but he had quickly realized a solution. He just hadn’t wanted to admit it – he thought it might bring up unwanted questions.

  “What?” He looked up, “Sorry. Actually, if Cerberus is anything like the others, then they aren’t very secure at all. Anyone can walk into the slums, but no rational person would want to – why bother to guard it? The Corporations only guard the things they know deserve it. But the slums – what do they care?’

  ‘And the slums is where Norm will be. Who knows what he can tell us
about Middleton? As for Middleton herself, I already know exactly where she lives - the main issue will be getting there. If we can get past the lifts, we should be able to make it to her estate. If Middleton is hiding secrets from Cerberus, that will make our job easier. Cerberus will not guard something it doesn’t know it has – and that means we only have to deal with whatever Middleton has in place to protect herself.”

  “And what about that?” Lyn asked.

  Celes nodded to Janus, “Well, if Middleton wants to avoid attracting attention to herself, she can’t afford to have the tightest defense around it. She has to hide it, and that means all we have to do—”

  Lyn spoke up, “…is find it.”

  Janus smiled, “Exactly.”

  The announcement came in suddenly the next day while the team was in the Beacon of Need, where the chamber was mimicking the narrow halls and rooms of an Overlord’s villa. Holloway, clad in a full suit of S.T. armor, struggled to lift his head from where the suit had awkwardly splayed him when he was disabled by a shot from Celes. “Does this mean we’re done?” he asked with relief.

  “Ya,” Lyn said, “keep practicing.” She motioned with her head to Valers, Jones, and Kirsten, “You guys need it.”

  Ramirez shook his head at the four, hoisting up Jones as he walked past.

  “Yeah,” Marcus said, kicking the release on Holloway’s armor and freeing him from his plight, “you four aren’t supposed to be as bad as real S.T.s.”

  “Thanks, Marcus. We’ll keep that in mind,” Valers said ruefully.

  Marcus shrugged, “Just a suggestion. What about you, Janus – any words of wisdom?”

  “All right, keep moving,” Celes interjected, “The officers are waiting for us.”

  Janus just smiled and shook his head.

  Col. Keats awaited the team in the briefing room. “Good, I am glad to see you came so quickly.”

  Janus looked around, surprised that only Keats was present.

  “The Praetor has more to do than constantly brief your team, Janus,” Keats said seriously.