What could that gorgeous man be thinking about? Sue thought as she slipped into a sweet fantasy. In it, he was thinking about her.
Another, far larger, form came over to D, shattering Sue’s fantasy. It was the count.
Sue stepped away from the window—her mother hadn’t raised her to eavesdrop on other people’s conversations. Still, the pounding in her chest didn’t subside. She thought she had a good understanding of her situation, yet she was happy to embrace these thoughts that made her heart grow feverish.
There’s no difference between humans and Nobles, is there?
That remark sliced right through her.
“At any rate, there are no foes in the skies,” the count said to D. “I’ve dispatched recon planes to check a sixty-mile radius. We’ll have to assume they’ve already landed somewhere.”
“Some assassins still remain,” D replied.
The count nodded at this. Of the pair that attacked D, Courbet was probably finished, but the chances that Callas survived were quite high. Though she’d taken one of D’s needles through the throat, she was still an assassin who’d earned a place as one of Valcua’s seven. And they hadn’t yet confirmed the death of the water witch, who’d been impaled by the count.
“But not even he can get into Lamoa Fortress. Sensors utilizing the very best of the Sacred Ancestor’s technology monitor everything for six miles around the area, on the surface, in the air, and even underground, every second of the day. Not even a suspicious cloud of gas could slip by them.”
“Do you mean to tell me Valcua never had anything to do with the Sacred Ancestor’s technology?”
“Of course not. It was the Sacred Ancestor’s technology that allowed us to maintain our way of life as the Nobility. And Grand Duke Valcua—the Ultimate Noble—was no exception. However, the instant the fruits of the technology he was given incurred the Sacred Ancestor’s wrath, they were rendered inoperative. If he came back to life a hundred times, he’d still never be able to do anything against this fortress. What do you say to leaving the children here while the two of us go off to slay Valcua?”
“Fine,” D said.
“Excellent!” the count exclaimed, his gigantic face beaming with delight.
Even a Greater Noble like him found this young man, who was so exquisite he made the moon seem dull by comparison, to be an awfully enigmatic being. Over the span of five millennia, the count had fought more than a few Hunters, easily dispatching all of them. Some of them had even been dhampirs. However, he would go so far as to describe this young man as some highly evolved freak of that species. First, there was his beauty. Next, there was the air that hung about him and frightened even the count—his unearthly aura, as it were. For a fleeting moment, he was gripped by a certain question. The count knew of only one person with an air anywhere near it. But that was impossible. To be honest, in the days that had passed since he first met D, this question and its dismissal had been replayed thousands, if not tens of thousands, of times.
The count gazed at D, who kept his eyes focused on the darkness. The Nobleman then rather uncharacteristically took a deep breath, firming his resolve.
“There’s something I’d like to ask you.”
D didn’t move a muscle. He acted as if he didn’t have the slightest bit of interest.
Regardless, the count said to him, “Are you the Sacred Ancestor’s—”
The last word was drowned out by a warning klaxon.
Focusing on a point in the air, the count asked, “What is it?”
A machine’s voice rang through his head, saying, “A flying object is approaching from the west. Altitude of fifty thousand feet, speed of one hundred twenty-five miles per hour. It’s believed to be a dirigible.” “It’ll get here in thirty minutes, then. Shoot it down!” he commanded. “I suppose that would be the assassins from the sky that you mentioned. Well, just watch. I’ll take them down with one missile,” he then told D with complete confidence.
But it seemed Count Braujou was too quick in making his assertion.
The missile was launched. It scored a direct hit. Far in the darkness, a flower of blue fire blossomed. The dirigible didn’t come down, but rather kept closing at the same determined pace. Crimson beams of light ripped through the night sky to strike the airship—a mad dance of laser beams and particle beams. Not even blasts of energy that could penetrate three hundred feet of solid rock in an instant could impede the dirigible’s advance.
Each and every successive tack he took proved ineffective, and despite the somber face the count wore as he stared at the monitors in the combat-operations center in the top floor of the fortress, his target was still ready to enter the fortress’s air space.
“Given the circumstances, I’ll have to board that ship," the count said, swinging the long spear he held.
But behind him, D said, “Let them do as they like.”
Not knowing the Hunter had arrived, the Nobleman spun around. “The opposition is using the Sacred Ancestor’s technology too,” D continued. “Instead of keeping up these useless attacks, it would be better to finish them off inside.”
“You intend to let the enemy enter this fortress? If I were to put the barriers up, no one could ever get in!”
“And in return, we’d have a hard time getting out. If you let things continue this way, Valcua himself might step in. You can’t expose those two kids to unnecessary danger.”
“You have a point there,” the count conceded, folding his arms and nodding his head. “The interior of the fortress is fully prepared to meet any attack. There’s no need to rely on any machines. I’ll run every last one of them through with my spear.”
D’s eyes ran across the figures that surrounded them. They were all colossal androids.
“The enemy should come after us, as well. I think I’ll give them a taste of their own medicine.”
Sharp fangs poked from Braujou’s grinning lips. He was truly a Noble.
On reaching the center of the fortress’s property, the dirigible rapidly began to shrink as its gas was let out. Losing its shape, the three -hundred-foot dirigible resembled a weird, flying creature as it became a mess of wrinkles and slowly came down from the sky.
“What silly bastards—imagine letting all the air out to make your descent. As soon as I find them, I shall strike them dead.”
The remains of the dirigible were in front of a shrine—barely touching the great staircase as it lay on the ground—and on verifying its arrival, the count headed to the operations center with long spear in hand. As he walked down the corridor toward the elevator, the count realized that D wasn’t in the operations center.
“Our opponent’s probably that preacher man,” the Hunter’s left hand said, its voice flowing in the wind.
D was moving down a long corridor. Though to all appearances it was made of stone, the floor raced along at considerable speed.
If someone wished to go in a different direction, he could get on a strip running that way at an intersection in the corridors.
“That guy can even get computers to follow his sermons. That’d turn a human into an assassin with a single word. Plus, we have cause for concern that he’s got a Sigma terminal in him. If things keep going this way, he could take over the whole fortress without spilling a drop of blood. Next thing you know, everybody around you could be the enemy. You’re all set with your earplugs, right?”
The plugs in D’s ears had apparently proved effective against Callas’s song and Courbet’s words. They’d probably work against Curio’s sermons as well. However, Curio was possessed by Sigma’s “terminal.” A pair of earplugs might not do much against something with the power to raise the dead.
“If it splits from Curio, we’ll be facing two foes. Hmph! That sure doesn’t sound like fun.”
D didn’t reply.
A dozen minutes had already passed since he’d left the combat-operations center. Where was he headed?
After another five minutes or so, his des
tination became clear. The moving corridor halted in front of a massive doorway. Though the surface of the doors had the smooth sheen of obsidian, the wall around them was carved to depict bizarre creatures and worlds, which only served to emphasize the inorganic nature of the doorway and the weirdness of whatever lay beyond it.
“What are you doing?” Count Braujou inquired, his voice falling from the ceiling. “That’s the heart of the fortress. It’s the room for the antiproton computer. Not even you can get in there.”
“Then open it for me,” D replied curtly.
“Regretfully, that’s not something I can do alone. The three of us who constructed this fortress must use three keys simultaneously; otherwise, those doors won’t open. Gaskell has been destroyed, and Miranda’s whereabouts are unknown. I’m afraid I can’t do anything for you.”
“You’re completely useless,” the Hunter’s left hand cursed.
“Did you say something?”
Without answering the count, D stepped forward.
“Don’t!” Braujou shouted, his tone laced with obvious fear.
His words were overlaid with the synthesized voice of a machine that said, “Three keys are required to pass through this gate. Please present them. If you advance without presenting them, you will be deemed an intruder and eliminated.”
Undoubtedly there were already unseen weapons taking aim at D.
A cry of surprise rang out. D had moved in front of the doors without incident.
“Those defensive systems incorporate the Sacred Ancestor’s technology. It’s impossible to shut them down. D, who in the world are you?”
Of course, there was no reply.
D put his left hand against the surface of the doors.
The eyes of the unseen count were focused on the black-garbed, beautiful figure.
Ten seconds...
Twenty seconds .. .
“W-what in the world?” the Greater Noble exclaimed in unmistakable astonishment.
Look. The huge doors safeguarded by the power of the Sacred Ancestor had begun to swing open to either side without a sound.
III
Shoulders squared, Count Braujou advanced down the spacious corridor. Waves of anger swept across his face. Not only had the dirigible been allowed to invade the fortress’s air space, but its crew had also snuck into the structure—even though sensors near the landing point and android sentries testified to seeing no one at all. On checking their memory banks, he’d found data on the trespasser. An intruder in a long, vermilion robe had descended alone from
the dirigible when it invaded their air space. On one side of the square, a flight belt with an invisibility device had also been discovered.
The way things were going, it was quite possible every machine in the fortress might be turned against them. The fortress made use of the very best technology, but its greatest strength now posed the biggest threat to those it was intended to protect.
Up ahead in the deserted corridor, a turn came into view. From the left side a figure stepped out—one of the android sentries. Its chest and each arm were equipped with heat cannons. While it verified the count's identity, a light on its chest blinked for a second, but apparently the check revealed nothing out of the ordinary and the sentry passed by the Nobleman’s side.
Several seconds later, every inch of the count was subjected to a six-hundred-thousand-degree shower. Without time to cry out, the count was reduced to ash that spread across the floor.
Behind him, the same android sentry he’d passed lowered the heat cannons on both arms. Had it heard one of Curio’s sermons, been possessed by Sigma’s terminal, or both? Its electronic brain already under the enemy’s sway, the android had reduced the Greater Noble to ash with mind-boggling ease.
Once its chest sensors had confirmed the count’s destruction, the android quietly changed direction. Up ahead of it stood a tremendous figure. The sentry’s enslaved electronic brain gave rise to a faint pulse of surprise. Faster than it could trigger its heat cannons, it found its chest pierced by a long spear, and sparks shot from the machine in its death throes.
“What a waste,” the count muttered. The android he’d incinerated had been a carbon copy of him, covered in artificial skin, with inner workings that duplicated his internal organs. Even if the security android’s sensors had scanned the inside of the body, it couldn’t have told the difference between the count and one of its fellow androids. The waste to which the count referred was the enormous cost involved in developing such androids.
Staring intently at the android sentry that now lay on the ground with black smoke pouring out, the count brought one hand to his chin and arched his heavy eyebrows.
“For every one you find, there could be a hundred more. How far has the contamination spread? It looks like D had the right idea.”
A chime sounded. It echoed in Sue’s ear like the peals of a golden bell.
Going over to the door, she asked, “Who is it?”
Sue knew nothing of the deadly conflict beyond her door.
“It’s me,” came the reply in Count Braujou’s voice.
Undoing the lock, Sue opened the door. The huge count ducked his head to enter.
“There’s been a bit of trouble,” he said. “I’m sorry, but would you please come with me? I’ll transfer you to D’s location.”
“Oh?” Sue exclaimed. Her expression was one of joy rather than terror.
As the giant looked at her rather intently, a smile came to his lips. “We must leave right away.”
“Okay.”
First the count and then Sue stepped through the doorway. Matthew was waiting outside.
“Both of you, stay together. Come with me.”
D was standing in a white light. Both hands were busily pounding the surface of a white, crystal-like device that jutted from the floor. The device was a control panel, and its controls also resembled crystals—probably due to the tastes of its designer.
D had already been working on the panel for more than thirty minutes. There was no sign of a computer before him. All that filled this room of unknown vastness was countless lights—a collection of glowing points. All told, there must’ve been more than a trillion of them. The glowing points were visible, but if someone were to measure their speed, she would’ve found them to be traveling in excess of two hundred miles per second. Here was a substance faster than light.
The closer an object came to the speed of light, the more its mass increased, becoming nearly infinite as it approached the speed of light. It was for this reason that objects didn’t exceed the speed of light, but the transmission medium this antiproton computer currently used was similar to tachyons, with their negative mass.
“Its computational speeds are even faster than Sigma’s. As a result, it should be able to give itself the order to self-destruct before it could be told to deny access, destroy, or eliminate anything. That Sigma sure is a tricky one. The protection is nearly perfect. Can’t tachyons break through it?” the left hand said, its tone hard.
“There are two terminals sent by Sigma,” D said. “One is in another location.”
“Hmm.”
“The other is close by.”
“I see—what?” D’s nonchalant tone left the hoarse voice badly rattled. “W-where is it?”
“Right there,” D said, looking over his shoulder.
The entrance was out there somewhere among the lights. In the spot where he thought it’d been, there stood a gigantic figure.
“That’s the count.”
“Did you let him in?” D inquired without turning all the way around. Both his hands played busily across the crystals.
“What do you want?”
“What are you doing?” asked the count.
“Searching for the invaders. I found one of them.”
“Really?”
“Sigma has come after this computer, in a way that didn’t require any keys to get in.”
Two wills intent on dealing death barr
eled forward. The count's long spear pierced D through the back and out again through the chest, but then the Hunter suddenly vanished, and the Nobleman realized it’d only been an afterimage. D charged in for a backhanded slash of his blade—cutting the count open from the crotch to just below the right nipple with a single stroke.
Tinged by blue sparks and electromagnetic waves, the giant collapsed. His whole body shuddered in a death rattle most unbecoming a machine. A split second before the light faded from his eyes, a blinding sphere appeared at the edge of the electromagnetic waves, bouncing off the floor and walls repeatedly before disappearing.
D turned around.
The long spear was sticking out of the control panel.
“Can you fix it?” the Hunter asked.
“I don’t know—but I’ll give it a shot. Hurry up and get going.” Now that the androids that looked like the count were under the enemy’s control, D and Braujou should have been worried about Sue and Matthew. As simple country folk, the siblings wouldn’t have suspected their rescuer was an impostor.
Grabbing the long spear and pulling it out in a single, fluid motion, D stuck out his left hand. There was a gleam of white light, and then the Hunter’s left hand flew toward the control panel as if it possessed a will of its own. Now it would be the one to challenge Sigma.
After going outside, D immediately shut his eyes. He seemed to be focusing his consciousness. In less than a second, his eyes opened again and he said, “Put me through to Sue and Matthew’s rooms.” Immediately a reply rang out in his brain.
“They’re not in.”
“Where are they?”
“That’s not clear.”
“Someone took them out of there—find out who.”
“It was Count Braujou.”
Without warning, a powerful voice interrupted. It was imbued with such strength that it probably would’ve seared the average human brain. “I most certainly did not take them anywhere!”
Nothing from the Hunter.
“I don’t think it’s Curio. He’d probably kill them right away. D, did you suspect as much when you wanted to let the crew of the dirigible inside?”
Vampire Hunter D 16: Tyrant's Stars Page 25