The Hate Parallax

by Allan Cole

The Hamilton and Rubin were doing some first-class lurking as the strange ship approached the Centaur. It was a smaller version of the vessel Lawson had seized, but reeked of the same ancient sorcery.

  The name painted on its side— The Hesperos— matched the ID engraved on all the main engine parts, plus it coincided with the mag-computer-driven messages the ship was beaming out to the Centaur, notifying Lawson of its approach.

  Moon and Rhodes carefully scanned the Hesperos with the powerful null-magic devices their stealth ships carried and noted that so far the Council Of Eight was keeping its side of the bargain.

  Rhodes and Moon conferred, then shot a chaos-frequency message to Tanya, who had a duplicate non magical com system which they’d installed on the Centaur:

  The approaching ship was as advertised: it contained a powerful planet-busting mag bomb; plus— and this was the main thing— there were no lurking spirit-world soldiers on board— not even an Engine Devil.

  The Hesperos was programmed to meet the Centaur at the mutually agreed upon coordinates without mortal assistance.

  Tanya received the message and turned to Davyd and Vlad.

  “We’re on,” she announced.

  Then she signaled Scratch and Billy and the odd team lashed a magical tractor beam onto the Hesperos and took full control.

  Down in the engine room Billy hooted in glee. “Now, we get to run two ships Scratchy!” he chortled. “Two, count ’em, two, to ram down that Planetar Demon’s filthy throat!”

  Old Scratch didn’t answer. He was too busy sending a stream of mentos commands to his fiendish crews. But he did share the boy’s delight. This was going to be something he could boast about at the “Hanged Monks” for many and many a day.

  Assuming they lived to see that day. But he shut down that bit of pessimism and directed the boy in his copilot’s work.

  Meanwhile, Tanya gave Moon and Rhodes some commands of her own. Quickly, they ducked their two stealth vessels into the magical shadow of the two great ships.

  And some minutes later the mini-fleet shot through a worm hole and bored toward its destination.

  * * *

  When he got the first warning of the approaching enemy, the Planetar Demon was nursing the wounds of his humiliation and drawing in as much as power as he could to recharge his badly depleted energies.

  His first reaction was amazement— and just a bit of panic. How had he been tracked to his lair, deep, deep in Uttermost Space?

  The answer quickly came back to him as he sucked in a small fiery swarm of free electrons— much like a great whale scooping up plankton in the frigid polar seas on Earth.

  There were millions upon millions of little “pops!”— like dying bubbles in a gigantic champagne glass— as he devoured the electrons. And as the electrons ceased to be, what remained were the empty places they’d formerly occupied.

  The Planetar Demon understood his problem when he saw the many pinpricks in the magical and physical fabric of space left by the consumed electrons.

  Tiny holes that amounted to nothing when considered individually. But a great shining trail with other dimensions glaring through the pinpricks when considered in such numbers.

  Now that he’d been found he didn’t bother trying to correct the problem and cover his tracks.

  Instead, he immediately sucked up an enormous quantity of light beams, gravitational waves, doppler shifts in color, old acts of sorcery gone wild in space— anything that would feed his most urgent hunger for power.

  As he digested, he studied the coming enemy. Two warships from the Council Of Eight. Aboard them: Lawson and the two assassins.

  Oh, yes, and the Engine Devil and boy he’d sought.

  Not only that, there was also an enormous arsenal of deadly things aboard those two ships that was clearly meant to destroy him.

  He thought of flight— playing for time as he replenished his powers, then turning on his hunters and attacking them.

  But he quickly dismissed that plan. Chances were they’d be able to follow close to his heels, harrying him as he drained himself of still more energy in his attempts to escape.

  Undoubtedly, they’d attack him each time he stopped to feed. And retreat every time he tried to strike back.

  Eventually, he’d be so weak and helpless that they’d be able to kill him at their leisure.

  The Planetar Demon considered other options. Swiftly running all the progs on each idea that came to mind.

  Then, to his intense and angry delight, he saw the best solution. Not only to these creatures who were bedeviling him, but to all that kept him from his final purpose.

  There was just enough magical power contained in the two ships to bring him up to minimum strength.

  Not only that— and this was the deciding factor in his equation— if he added the agonies he could cause Lawson and her lovers while killing them, he’d get a tremendous boost when he devoured their souls.

  He sent out sensory feelers to examine the individuals in question more closely. And came back with still one more potential bonus:

  Davyd and Vlad’s tormented confusion. Hate and love and betrayal. All mixed up into a delicious tonic.

  More testing of the ethereal atmospheres brought in Scratch and Billy as well. Their hopes so high. Against the backdrop of injuries so deep. All their powers and emotional baggage directed against him.

  If he destroyed them he could feed on all those things and fill himself with so much power that he could attack the Council Of Eight full force.

  True, it would be one against many.

  But the many would have no hope against the one.

  How could the Council Of Eight and these softskins have been so foolish that they’d dare bring such a bounty to his table?

  The Planetar Demon boomed forward.

  Eager to fight.

  His passions and hate so intense that unbeknownst to him they flared out like the trail of a null-worm suddenly appearing to bore a new hole in Uttermost Space.

  When he made his decision to attack the Planetar Demon made two mistakes. Not necessarily fatal, but they were rather large mistakes.

  The first thing he didn’t count on was the heightened combat awareness of Davyd and Vlad.

  The second involved the two stealth ships— the Hamilton and Rubin— which hovered just out of his magical view.

  Waiting for him to take Tanya’s bait.

  * * *

  The Planetar Demon’s initial attack nearly ended the deadly game.

  Long before he physically reached the sensors that tripped the ships’ alarms, his awful presence was upon them.

  A sudden feeling of cold, cold dread afflicted every being aboard the little fleet.

  Navigation Spirits, Control Brownies and Fueling Goblins shrieked in terror, abandoning their duties to flee in every direction.

  Scratch and Billy froze in their positions, every thought wiped away by the bitter, probing eye that examined them.

  Read them through and through.

  It was the HolidayOne all over again. Ever muscle, every sinew, every nerve cell shivering in helpless fear.

  A tremendous feeling of fatalism drowning their will to fight and live.

  Up on the command deck, Tanya, Davyd and Vlad were reduced to frail butterflies, quivering and flapping weakly on the points of a collector’s pins.

  Resigned to their coming deaths.

  So powerful was the Planetar Demon’s bow wave of hate that even the captains and crews of the Hamilton and Rubin were affected. Although their presence still hadn’t been noted by the attacking fiend.

  Rhodes and Moon moaned in agony as ice needles penetrated the hulls of the ships; then their flesh; then their bones; then their very souls.

  All around them their crew shouted in terror as the unseen enemy powered onward, blasting everything in his path with an ice storm of will-freezing magic.

  If it wasn’t for Billy Ivanov, they all would have died in the Planetar Demon’s first rush.
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br />   The battle lost before it had even begun.

  CHAPTER-FIFTY TWO

  Billy was back on board the HolidayOne. He was asleep in his bunk, dreaming dreams of the beautiful Lupe. And, just as before, those dreams turned grim and he was uneasy.

  Then a sudden sense of cruelty roughed his senses and he shot up in bed.

  The beast was rushing down on him with slavering jaws. Instinct took over and as he threw up his hands he hurled a hard spell!

  And then… boom!

  Billy closed his eyes. Fire scorching and hammering all around. But this time he didn’t flee the ship. And he didn’t shout Lupe’s name.

  Instead he shouted defiance, “Come on, you … you … bastard! This time I’m gonna get you! Just you wait and see!”

  At the sound of his young’s friend’s frantic voice, Scratch shook off the Planetar Demon’s spell and roused himself into action.

  Unleashing a red hot lava of fierce oaths, he halted the Brownies and Gremlins in their tracks and forced them back to work.

  Trembling— now more in fear of Scratchy than the Planetar Demon— the fiendish crew rushed into action, hurling up the ship’s defensive shields.

  Old Scratch’s mentos commands were so fierce they rattled Tanya’s teeth, like a spacequake thundering through the material world when a star goes nova.

  Instantly, she threw up her own shields, crying out to Davyd and Vlad at the same time.

  The two warriors leaped to their feet, combat systems exploding into life just as the Planetar Demon let loose with a barrage of thousands of fierce DeathSpirits.

  Flaming swords appeared in their hands as the first wave of DeathSpirits— the shock troops— pierced the ship’s hull and raged toward them.

  Tanya slammed her fist against the com button, setting off shrieking alarms aboard the Hamilton and Rubin.

  Attack signals shrilled in the ears of Moon and Rhodes, who fought off the Demon’s spell, then harangued their crews into motion.

  The two stealth ships shot out from under the protective shadows of the Centaur and Hesperos, separating to take on the Planetar Demon from two different sides.

  Their chain guns roared, hammering the Planetar Demon with hundreds of collapsed anti-matter bullets.

  The Demon howled in pain and fury. He tried to absorb the energy of the bullets and use it against his attackers. But they were dead things and could not be digested.

  Blindly, he lashed out at the little ships, but Moon and Rhodes deftly maneuvered out of his reach— pouring on more fire. Tanya’s voice urging them on through the com lines.

  To Tanya’s dismay, the shields dissolved like butter exposed to flame. Giving way to the Planetar Demon’s minions.

  Vlad and Davyd waded into them, laying waste right and left. Slashing at the creatures with their fiery swords. Ripping them apart with every blow they struck.

  The command deck quickly became was a welter of green, luminescent gore. But the DeathSpirits kept coming, never letting up.

  Slowly, Davyd and Vlad were backed against the raised platform of command central where Tanya rushed along the bank of controls. Slapping buttons, hissing commands. Shifting resources here and there.

  Conducting the battle as if she were the leader of a ghastly orchestra that dealt out death instead of music.

  The two men took their stand at that point, protecting her from the onslaught.

  Tanya shot a quick glance over her shoulder and what she saw made her heart beat triple time. Both men were visibly tiring. And every blow they struck weakened them more.

  To her it seemed as if they could hardly hold the magical sword blades at waist height. She even heard Vlad groan as he lifted his sword to fight off a DeathSpirit.

  Although the two men had rested after the great duel they’d fought, they hadn’t had enough time to recover fully. And now they were paying for it— maybe even fatally— as the Demon’s hordes hammered at them.

  Cracking against their shields and sniping from every side.

  But there wasn’t anything she could do to help them. What David and Vlad were facing was only the Planetar Demon’s initial strike force. Meant to soften his enemies for the final, killing blow that was sure to follow.

  And at this precise moment it was all Tanya could do to ward off that attack.

  This isn’t working, she thought. This isn’t how I planned it!

  She struggled to regain calm control. Leaching fearful thoughts from her system as quickly as they arose.

  Tanya steadied her self. Returned to her role of the cool observer.

  The Planetar Demon was on her center screen. A great beastly face the size of Jupiter. So angry that his color spectrums swiftly ran up and down an unimaginable scale that ranged from the blindingly white hot visible to a cold, black nothingness that sucked the mind from its rational bearings.

  Tanya fought that defeatist thinking off. Returned to her most rational, observing mind. Weighing the complications. And how she should deal with them.

  It was easy to note that at least one part of her plan was working.

  The only things keeping the Planetar Demon from unleashing its murderous best— which would send a thousand times more DeathSpirits against the Centaur— were Moon and Rhodes’ tiny stealth ships.

  As the men who loved her fought to keep her from harm, Tanya pressed the attack.

  Directed by Tanya, the two stealth ships ripped at the Planetar Demon like hungry sharks. Sending stream after blazing stream of collapsed anti-matter bullets into his thick hide.

  But she quickly realized that Moon and Rhodes couldn’t keep up the pressure much longer. Just like Davyd and Vlad, they were losing the advantage of surprise as their energies were diminished.

  Already the Planetar Demon was starting to get the range of the stealth ships, pouring on all the magical weapons he had at his disposal.

  And now, instead of flailing wildly about, he was firing off enormous magical spears that exploded with space warping strength. Blistering the skin of the two stealth ships. Flipping them over with the force of the blasts.

  Then coming in to strike at their exposed bellies with the next blows.

  Tanya knew this battle would eventually be a losing one. In a little while, the Planetar Demon would get Moon and Rhodes in his sights and blast them into perdition.

  Then he’d turn on the Centaur and kill her and all she loved.

  Tanya called on all her powers to regain her confidence. Reminding herself that she’d never intended this fight to be anything more than a diversion.

  The crucial blow— her true attack— was yet to come. Patience, she urged herself. And courage. Damn it woman, you need more courage than you’ve ever had before.

  At that moment Davyd’s sword was ripped away by a shrieking DeathSpirit. Kells grabbed the creature by the throat, sorcerous fire shooting up his arms. Bubbling and boiling and eating away at his skin.

  The pain was so intense he could barely keep his grip. But he persisted, squeezing with all his might.

  Then the fiend’s neck snapped under his curling fingers and he hurled its lifeless body into the face of another attacker.

  Meanwhile, Vlad was having troubles of his own.

  Three DeathSpirits were howling and gnashing at him. Dodging this way and that as he struck out at them with his blade.

  Swooping in at every opportunity to ravage him with their fangs. Blood dripped from bite wounds in his chest and shoulders.

  He reached deep inside for the last reserves of strength. Then, bellowing like an enraged bull, he charged forward.

  At the last instant, he vaulted over the DeathSpirits, then reversed course and came at them from behind.

  He slew them before they had time to whirl around and defend themselves.

  Panting and dazed, he looked around to see where the next enemy might come from. Holding his sword up to fend off a surprise blow.

  And then he saw Davyd slay the last fiend and kick its body aside.

>   Davyd looked up at Vlad, grinning at him through bloody teeth.

  “In our next lives,” he said, “maybe we ought to think about becoming accountants. Business consultants … whatever.”

  Vlad grinned back. “Mathematics,” he said, “was never one of my best subjects.”

  Davyd laughed. “Me either,” he said. “But at least they don’t kill you if you fuck up!”

  “An excellent point,” Vlad agreed. “Business consultant it is, then. Let’s get together on this. We’ll call it Projogin & Kells Inc. Murder and taxes are our business.”

  Davyd laughed, feeling a little giddy. “You’re on, buddy,” he said. “You can even put your name first. For when the cops come to arrest us.”

  Tanya broke in. “It’s not over, yet,” she snapped. “Jesus Christ, this is definitely not the damned time for male bonding!

  “Look at what this son of a bitch is doing now!”

  They looked up and saw that the huge vid-screen image of the Planetar Demon had changed. He was opening his mouth … and it kept opening … and opening … until he became an enormous maw.

  Nuclear explosions bloomed to make the teeth. White hot particles of burning plasma formed the lips.

  And at that moment an enormous wave of sorcerous energy blasted outward, grabbing the Centaur by its roots and hurling it away.

  Davyd and Vlad were thrown violently against the ship’s walls. They slammed against plas-metal, then slid to the floor, stunned.

  To their amazement, they heard Tanya calmly announce: “Moon and Rhodes got away just in time. At least they’re goddamned safe!”

  From their prone positions they saw the enormous mouth that was the Planetar Demon powering straight toward them. Millions upon millions of DeathSpirits pouring out to consume them.

  “This is where it gets tricky,” Tanya said.

  And as they pondered those words, she slammed her palm down onto a switch, signaling Scratch and Billy …

  …In the engine chamber, the boy and his fiendish friend heard the howl of Tanya’s command.

  “Now, Scratchy, now!” Billy shouted.

  On his own vidscreen he could see the enormous maw that was the Planetar Demon speeding toward them. The fiery lights of shrieking DeathSpirits pouring out to overwhelm them.