by Isaac Hooke
"Assuming he's using the same mechanism to freeze avatars," Tanner told her. "Even if it works, it's still too dangerous. You should just let me handle him from the Outside."
"And what if he sets his minions in motion before you reach him?" Ari asked him. "I can't allow Kismet to be burned to the ground. It's too important a city. And given that it's one of the most populous, too, you can understand why I'm reluctant to leave them to their fate." She turned toward the operator: "Keep working with the Dwarf. When the sub-AI pinpoints any changes Kade made to the codebase, transmit the relevant information to the Children for reversal."
"Will do," the operator said.
She turned to Tanner. "You handle Kade on the Outside. Meanwhile, I'll take care of Amoch on the Inside."
"All right," Tanner said. "Fine. I still don't like it."
"I'll have the support of all the Keepers and Users in the world. I'll be fine."
Tanner turned toward Briar. "You should really gather all the men you can from the Black Den and help your niece."
"Er, we're all collared, as per your rules," Briar stammered.
"Then uncollar them," Tanner said. "Or use the lightning rings. And fire swords. I'll instruct the Children to send them to you in profusion."
"But I'm a peaceful man at heart, as are the people of the Black Den. We are but poor thieves and—"
"Don't give me that peaceful man shtick," Tanner said. "Ari's going to need all the help she can get out there if I can't stop Kade in time."
"All right." Briar sighed. "All right. I'll see what I can do. But no promises." He turned to Ari. "Oh, before you go, I have some new toys you might be interested in."
Briar led Ari and Tanner across the room to a storage closet. He opened it, revealing an assortment of medieval-style shields and weapons.
"The Children injected these an hour before you arrived," Briar said. "I sent a courier out to inform you, but apparently you missed him somewhere along the line."
Ari scooped up one of the shields skeptically. Embossed into the front was an open palm deflecting a lightning bolt. "These ones aren't going to vanish after a few hours, are they?"
"The Children assure me they've fixed all the glitches. And they've even improved the things. You can actually throw the shield now and it will mow down anything in its path, shooting out forks of lightning from the sides. When it strikes its target, or reaches a maximum distance based on how hard you throw it, it will return to you. Try it."
Ari slid her arm through the buckles on the inside of the shield and gripped the inner handle. With it secure on her arm, she tested the weight, making a few feints, and then marched to the hallway.
"Come inside for a second," she told the man on guard in the hall. "As you value your life."
The man complied.
"Wait, what—" Briar began.
She aimed down the hall and curled the elbow of her shield arm.
"Wait!" Briar said.
She flung out her arm, letting go of the handle. The shield flew away from her, moving at an incredible speed down the hall. It rotated as it traveled and forks of lightning blasted huge tears into the surrounding wooden wall panels. Some of the electricity struck near her and she was forced to duck inside the room.
She heard a clang, likely from the shield striking the far side of the hallway. She peered out once more: the object was indeed flying directly toward her.
She extended her arm, trusting, hoping, that the thing would safely reattach.
"Ari..." Tanner said.
The shield promptly slid over her arm, the buckles neatly enveloping her skin as it came to an abrupt stop. She wrapped her fingers around the inner handle, lowered the shield, and turned to Briar.
"Very nice," she said. When she saw the dumbfounded, slightly horrified way Briar was looking at her, she added: "You did say try it."
"I meant outside, on a rooftop or something." Briar shoved past her to observe the damage to his chewed-up hallway.
"I'm sure you'll be able to repair your Warehouse easily enough," Ari said. "With all the high-tech gear you have around here."
"You're never going to respect me, are you?" Briar said. "Despite all the things I've done for you."
"I do respect you," Ari said. "Though sometimes you irk me, which makes me do something like this."
"Just as you irk me!" he snapped.
Ari sensed something in the shield, then. "Is that vitra I'm feeling?"
"Yes yes." Briar stomped back inside the Control Room. "Apparently you can also summon fire from the shield, just as you can from the sword. But please don't try it now."
She glanced at Tanner. "Could be useful. Let's see what other treats the Children sent."
Ari and Tanner made their way back to the closet.
Behind them, Briar angrily shoved the guardsman back into the hall. "Resume your post!"
Ari reached the closet and regarded the armaments more closely. There was a full set of plate armor, designed to conform to a female body—probably hers. As for weapons, there were three spears, two swords, and a bow matched to a quiver of arrows.
"Hmm," Ari said. "I don't really see anything that catches my interest."
Briar joined them, scowling, still angry over what she had done in the hall apparently. He scooped up one of the swords in a huff.
"These swords are different than the ones you carry," he explained, his expression all dour. "They cast lightning in addition to flame. As do the spears. And while the fire is still infinite, the lightning needs some time to recharge."
"Oh. I'll take a sword then." She exchanged her blade for the one Briar was holding. On the steel was etched the usual fire-spitting raven, its wings streaming cinders; the only change were the forks of lightning that shot out from its talons.
"I don't suppose I can use the old lightning rod technique with this?" Ari said.
"The Children haven't said anything about that, so I doubt it." Briar nodded urgently toward the weapon. "Please, sheathe it."
Ari shrugged nonchalantly and then complied. She gazed into the closet.
"What about the bow?" Tanner asked.
"I'm not sure I'll be able to hit anything," Ari told him. "I haven't uploaded bow training to my avatar."
"No need, not with these." Briar held up the quiver. "Smart arrows. You aim the bow, highlight a target, and when you release the arrow automatically flies toward the target's center of gravity. Even if the target moves, the arrow will strike true. And upon impact, it causes a small explosion that will obliterate everything in a two meter radius."
"Sort of like smart pipe bombs, then," Ari said.
"I suppose," Briar agreed.
Ari accepted the quiver and attached it to her waist, opposite her sword. Then she grabbed the bow and looped it over her shoulder.
"What about the armor?" Briar said.
"I'll put it on later," she told Briar. "Have the Children eject more of these armaments to the safe house in Kismet. I want my soldiers well-armed. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to spend a few moments alone with Tanner."
She moved to the far corner of the room with Tanner and then wrapped her arms around him. They kissed for a long moment.
He pulled away first. "Good luck, Ari."
She sighed. "You too. Stop Kade by whatever means necessary."
"Are you authorizing deadly force?" Tanner asked.
"I am."
Tanner nodded gravely. "I won't let you down."
Ari smiled weakly. "I know you won't." She turned to go, but paused.
"Wish Hoodwink luck for me, too," Ari said. "I have a feeling we're all going to need it."
fourteen
Tanner opened his eyes in the shuttle launch bay and sat up.
Dressed in helmetless spacesuits, Zak and four other pilots lingered near the shuttles and talked to the engineers. All of their spacesuits had strength-enhancing exoskeletons attached to the outside, not just Zak's. Tanner thought that odd, until he remembered that the ast
ronauts would have to port the bombs onto the enemy ship.
Hoodwink stood above Tanner. The Satori surrogate also wore a spacesuit with an exoskeleton, and carried his helmet tucked under one elbow.
"Well shit in a pickle jar," Hoodwink told Tanner. "We were just about to wake you. We're going to launch, see, and it wouldn't do to evacuate the atmosphere of the bay while you were still in it."
Tanner disconnected the wireless access port and clambered to his feet. "You're making a practice run?"
"No," Hoodwink said. "There are no practice runs, not for this. We've done all our practice in the simulation. This is the real thing."
Tanner stepped forward to grip Hoodwink's glove in a tight handshake. "Good luck, Hood. From me, and from Ari."
His eyes twinkled slightly. "Ari wished me luck?"
"She did," Tanner said.
Hoodwink smiled slightly. "She's a good girl, aye, my daughter is."
"She is." Tanner's voice broke slightly.
Hoodwink blinked rapidly, then abruptly spun. "It's time, lads."
The five pilots donned their helmets, shook hands with the engineers, and loaded into one shuttle each.
"Wait," Tanner said. "You don't want to say goodbye to Ari?"
Hoodwink glanced askance. "I probably should," he said, his words thick with emotion. "But if I go in there now, I know I'll never be able to leave her side again. So no. I'm not saying goodbye. It's too hard. Send her my blessings."
Hoodwink strode purposely toward the shuttle Zak had taken.
"You're not piloting your own shuttle?" Tanner asked him.
Hoodwink had lifted his helmet to put it on, but he paused. "Nope. Once I'm in there, I'll be disbelieving this reality to return to my Satori body. I'm going to lead us in with my alien flyer."
"Nice."
"Oh." He nodded toward a terminal near Tanner. "I left you my pulse gun."
Tanner scooped up the weapon and provided holster. "Don't you need it?"
"Stanson let us have the only two working laser rifles aboard this wreck. Plus a shitload of explosives, and a couple of laser cutters. And remember, we also have a couple of badass bombs. So we're good."
Hoodwink lowered the helmet and his words came from the external speakers. "Now get out of here so we can launch."
Tanner fixed the holster to his belt and followed the engineers out of the bay. Before he left, he glanced one last time at the shuttles.
Don't die out there, Hood.
He shut the hatch and then escorted the engineers through the corridors toward the berthing area. All of them kept an eye out for the robot patrols.
Once Tanner dropped them off, he planned to collect a few security personnel. He had a little visit to make to deck four.
I'm coming for you, Kade.
* * *
Ari waited on the rooftop of the safe house in Kismet. The building was a three-story apothecary that allowed her a good vantage of most of the city. Several blocks away the tallest structure in the city, Kismet Obelisk, towered over the houses: it was a monument to those who had lost their lives in the worldwide fight against the Direwalkers one year ago. The names of every soldier who had died defending Kismet were graven into that stone.
Ari heard the muted noise of a crowd coming from the safe house below her. The Children had augmented the inside of the apothecary so that it was far bigger than it appeared on the outside, containing a veritable auditorium on the second level that was filled with three hundred anxiously waiting Users and sixteen Keepers.
The Children had also spawned a thousand extra gol guards to join the city ranks, and these men patrolled the streets below, waiting for signs of attack. From her vantage point, she saw four to ten guards loitering on every street corner. None of the guards were of the hunter class, of course, as Ari didn't trust that codebase.
Renna was at her side, dressed in her usual skin-tight outfit and cape.
"You know," Renna said. "I remember a time when this city was all I ever knew. I grew up in a fairly well-to-do family, sheltered from the world. I truly didn't understand why there were poor people in the world. I thought the poor were simply lazy, that anyone could get a good job if they merely applied themselves. My mother used to always give me coin whenever I'd leave to go out with my friends. I'd pass by homeless people on the street, and give them nothing. None of my friends did, either.
"Then the Direwalkers came. They murdered my whole family. I escaped to the street, and it was the poor who saved me. They took me in, fed me, sheltered me from the Direwalkers. When our hideout was discovered, I joined the defenders, and fought with a crude mace someone had fashioned for me. I died that day as one of the poor, yet never had I felt so rich. When I woke up in the real world and realized I had been given a second chance, I promised I would do better this time. That I would try to make a difference. I still don't give homeless people coin, but I do buy them a hot meal, when I can."
Ari rested a hand on her palm. "You're making a difference. Trust me."
"I hope so."
The pair continued to scan the streets for several quiet moments.
A boom abruptly assailed their ears and the ground rumbled.
"There," Renna said.
Ari saw it immediately. A plume of smoke rising from Obelisk Square in the distance. The towering monument was no longer present.
"So it's begun," Ari said, feeling a pang of sadness for the lost memorial. She glanced at the streets below, wanting to ensure that the gol guards were racing to that square. The only problem was, all the guards she had seen on the street corners moments ago were completely gone.
"He's removed the guards we spawned," Renna said.
"Damn it." Ari stood. She wore the tight-fitting suit of plate armor that Briar had given her, minus the helm, and the lightning shield that was attached to her back clattered against the back piece. She slid the bow down from her shoulder and retrieved an arrow from the quiver at her waist. "Send out the scouts and gather the troops. We advance."
Renna hurried downstairs to relay the order. Ari leaped onto the balcony below and then nimbly clambered onto the adjacent rooftop. She slid down the sloped tiles to the eave and jumped down to wait on the cobblestone below.
The street filled behind her as that seething mass of over three hundred uncollared fighters flowed from the apothecary. The troops carried shields, lightning rings, bows, and fire swords. The Keepers resided at their forefront.
When the outflow diminished, Ari led the way forward.
A scout returned when she was two blocks from the square, and Ari halted the advance.
"Amoch is there," the scout said, panting from the exertion of jogging in chain mail. "He stands at the forefront of an army of lightning wielders. He's just waiting in the square, like he knows we're coming."
"How many troops does he have?" Ari asked the scout.
"I estimate anywhere between one and three thousand. The lightning wielders crowd out the entire northern half of the square, overflowing into the streets beyond. I don't know where all those men were hiding."
"Probably in a structure not too different from our apothecary," Ari mused.
"One to three thousand?" Renna said. "We're only three hundred."
Ari lowered her voice. "I'm not sure I trust the scout's estimate," she told Renna. "It is easy to exaggerate when the numbers seem overwhelming. Besides, we're better equipped. We have shields, fire swords, exploding arrows."
"But what of Amoch's powers?" Renna said. "Even if he can't freeze our avatars, he can still rain down death and destruction."
"We can't turn back now," Ari said. "The people of Kismet are counting on us. We'll just have to hope that Tanner can remove Kade from the equation."
She continued the advance and soon led the fighters into the square. The towering obelisk had been split in half. The jagged portion that still stood was smoldering at the top, while the other half was a crumbled ruin that sprawled across the square like the shadow of a sundi
al.
She saw Amoch at the forefront of his army near the ruined obelisk. The man readily stood out with his white staff and those black robes. The similarly attired Wraylor lurked at his side. As did the red beast, Brute.
Behind Amoch, lightning wielders were arrayed throughout the entire northern part of the square and bleeding into the streets beyond, just as the scout had said. Perhaps his estimates hadn't been an exaggeration after all. There were at least a thousand men there. In the front ranks were several soldiers from the resource-intensive hunter class, armored in that colorful insect-like plate and carrying those impossibly large daggers and segmented razor weapons.
Ari halted her army roughly forty paces from the front lines of the enemy. At that distance, she noticed that the Dragon Lady also stood beside Amoch in a position of honor, as did another man she didn't recognize, dressed incongruously in a suit and tie.
Both sides were completely silent. It seemed that everyone was motionless, holding their collective breaths. The clink of a sword against armor, a boot shifting on cobblestone, the movement of steel ringlets in a suit of chain mail—those were some of the only sounds she heard.
Ari shouted into the eerie quietude.
"Don't do this, Kade," Ari called. "Let me return to the Outside and we can talk things out. You can tell me what you want. Maybe we can come to some sort of compromise."
"Ah, Ari, you always were somewhat naive," Amoch said. His voice rang through the square, artificially enhanced by some clever programming on his part. "You haven't yet realized that I no longer need you, or anything that you might offer. I'm the one in charge of the ship. And I'm going to set humanity free. Those who wish to live on the Inside may do so, uncollared. Those who wish to live on the Outside may also do so."
"But surely you realize there isn't enough food to support so many active, awake people," Ari shouted. "If you let anyone else out, you doom all of us to death by starvation."
"There is a way to boost food production," Amoch said. "And that is by reactivating the meat grinders."
"You would turn us all into cannibals?"
"I never said freedom would not come at a cost," Amoch countered. "Is it not better to live free, feasting on the discarded bodies one's comrades no longer need, than to live in chains? You are no better than the gols who once ruled us, Ari Flanners. You who would force humanity to be collared on the Inside. You who would deny humanity the choice of the Inside, or the Outside."