Envoy

by Tobias S. Buckell

  Rojka looked around for his sword, but turning caused him to ache despite himself. A broken left arm and several cracked ribs were bad enough, but something inside him hurt enough to leave him breathless. Hekabe was not the only one dying, Rojka realized with painful insight. The Sharquoi had dealt Rojka too many punishing hits.

  The mostly blind Hekabe heard Rojka’s cry and lashed out from his stupor to strike with his gravity hammer. The blow to the chest shattered Rojka’s harness. He flew back, landing hard against the base of the nearest tower.

  Spitting blood, Rojka stood again, shaking himself back to consciousness amid the sound of Sharquoi thudding about and someone screaming angrily. Now the human governor had stepped forward, just outside Hekabe’s reach.

  Her eyes blazed with a hatred that, Rojka suddenly realized, was aimed not just at Hekabe but at himself.

  He thought about the immense losses her people had taken in this pointless war that Thars started. Thought about Melody Azikiwe’s words: My nightmares look just like you . . .

  “Governor?” Rojka rasped. “What are your intentions with that machine?” It would be easy for her to take revenge, wouldn’t it? To give in to fury and anger. To try and wipe this world clean of any threats to her city. Including Rojka, and all his kind. “Governor?”

  A large, clawed Sharquoi hand forced him down to his knees and pinned him to the ground. Rojka saw the Demon Three surrounded by Sharquoi as well. A single creature held on to each Spartans, forcing them into a defenseless position. He wondered how many Sharquoi had died to capture them while he’d lain against the base of the tower, shaking himself back to consciousness.

  “Would you like to try and kill me?” Ellis intoned, still standing beyond Hekabe’s reach and ignoring Rojka.

  The Jiralhanae, still free but unable to see out of his ruined face, spun around in the direction of Ellis’s voice, following the sound. Then he raised the massive hammer and blindly lunged forward.

  Humans! Hekabe thought, though his mind reeled and struggled to deal with all that had just taken place. He knew he wasn’t whole. He knew he was a blade’s edge away from death. He knew it was something to do with his head and his eye. He was missing so many things: memories, thoughts, even feeling in his body. Physically he was completely insensate. But he was familiar with the emotion he felt upon hearing these creatures.

  Rage.

  He was consumed with it. They had wronged him. And now they threatened everything, all that he had labored years for.

  He desired only one thing: to utterly annihilate this human right where she stood. Hekabe could feel Oath of Fury high in the air over him, faithful and ready to do his bidding. His back muscles strained to hold it and then bring it swinging down toward her head.

  Within a split second, he would have safety. Everything would be made whole again.

  The gravity hammer struck something and stopped halfway down. Struggling to see through the blood and flesh that covered his one good eye, Hekabe looked up to find a giant gray fist above him, holding the hammer’s head like a small trinket. A Sharquoi had stopped the weapon in place just centimeters over the human’s head. She had not even bothered to move out of its way.

  Hekabe let go of the hammer and reached for the human’s neck, but the Sharquoi grabbed his wrist with its other hand. Another Sharquoi swiftly moved in and took hold of his other arm. Hekabe’s chest stretched and strained against the impossible tension threatening to rip him apart.

  He bellowed, spitting blood and defiance at the human in front of him, the one who dared to ursurp his power over these creatures.

  Then two massive claws ripped through his chest, punching holes through his body that could never be repaired.

  He looked down at them in confusion. Blood dripped from their tips onto the ground. His blood.

  Hekabe tried to scream his anger again, but all that came out was a burbling froth of red.

  The claws moved, taking him with them. They pulled him away from the human and lifted him into the air. Hekabe writhed, trying to pull himself free and continue his attack. It was all that was left in his brain, the last piece of a mental command that his body worked to fulfill.

  Get the vertex once more, and all of this could be mended.

  But the Sharquoi that speared Hekabe on its claws threw the Jiralhanae out and away from the citadel, over the ledge and down into the pit below.

  Everything, Hekabe thought, had been within my grasp.

  Now everything fell away from him as the world grew brighter and infinitely hotter.

  CHAPTER 26

  * * *

  * * *

  The person who used to be Ellis Gass watched Hekabe fall through the eyes of a dozen Sharquoi. The small form struck the lava far below and something like a surge of satisfaction rolled through her.

  She could feel herself expanding out further through this new space. It was deep and rich, and it flooded her with new energy.

  This victory had been a close thing. Even as Hekabe attempted to kill her, she’d been struggling to figure out how to control the swirling pieces of the storm that whipped past her. But the storm had spoken.

  Calm yourself. Relax, don’t fight, it whispered.

  And Ellis, who hadn’t slept in well more than five days, who was beginning to see the edges of her vision melt and blur, fell toward the reassuring embrace of near omniscience with relief. She’d been so tired, so ineffably tired.

  Now, as Hekabe’s threat faded completely away, Ellis began to percolate her attention through the Sharquoi and back to the spot that her body swayed upon.

  She knew she might collapse soon. It should have happened already, but her body was riddled with chemicals abusing her adrenal functions and resetting her neurochemistry. Fleeing out into this larger consciousness was like waking up after running on the edge for so long.

  Ellis noticed Melody Azikiwe slowly pick up a battle rifle. “Don’t do that, Envoy,” she said through the Sharquoi that surrounded Azikiwe. “Or I will be forced to neutralize you.”

  The envoy is ONI, Ellis thought. She should have had a Sharquoi do that from the start.

  She was only just now learning how to wield this power, still.

  Azikiwe dropped the rifle to the ground by her feet and raised her hands. The other dangers—the Spartans—were held in their place by many Sharquoi. The creatures also now gripped the Sangheili kaidon, tightening their fists as he struggled in place.

  The threats to her had been negated. She could relax now.

  Relax.

  Rojka ‘Kasaan stared at her. “You planned this,” the Sangheili said. For some reason, she could understand his alien language now, through the senses of the Sharquoi.

  “No.” Ellis looked at Rojka through sonar, his body a set of shifting audio reflections. The moment she had seen Hekabe on his hands and knees with the Sharquoi milling about in confusion, she had known exactly what had to happen. Although she had previously wanted to secure it for Suraka and stop the menace, it was only at the end that she could bring herself to do what truly needed to be done: take the machine for herself.

  There was no other choice.

  “It was the only way to make us safe,” Ellis told them.

  “Then why are you holding us?” Jai called out.

  Ellis shifted her attention to the captives just outside the Forerunner walls. With a single thought, the Sharquoi dragged the Spartans back toward the base of the bridge, and she used another Sharquoi to nudge the envoy along. Another Sharquoi hoisted up Rojka, who still bucked under its iron grip, and followed the others. Ellis joined them, using her own shaky human legs, and stopped by the ruined pulse cannon. She used her own tired, human eyes to look at the Havok nuke was buried in the depths of the wires.

  “I don’t trust you,” Ellis said. “The Sangheili warred against Suraka. The Spartans are tools of ONI, created to attack people who want to govern themselves without interference from Earth’s government. You are all threats . . . bu
t I now have the power to protect this world.”

  Rojka glared at her. “You sound like Hekabe,” he hissed.

  “I AM NOT HEKABE!” Ellis screamed from hundreds of mouths, the sound echoing all throughout the cavern.

  Rojka pulled against the Sharquoi, still trying to break free. “And what does this new world look like? Will my people still live here?”

  Hundreds of Sharquoi appeared at the far side of the bridge. They marched in lines back toward the Forerunner towers.

  The moment the machine had burrowed into her skull, Ellis had begun calling all of the Sharquoi back to her. All throughout Suraka, the creatures were doing everything within their power to return to the Forerunner structure. Many of them dragged Jiralhanae that they had captured, despite the fact that a mulititude of the defeated Brutes had been trying desperately to hide, cowering away in the dark.

  As the Sharquoi returned, they threw screaming Jiralhanae down into the lava below.

  “The Jiralhanae, at least, are not welcome here,” Ellis said softly. “Understand that this is my world. I will not let anyone harm it any longer.”

  Jai’s joint popped loudly in his ears as his right shoulder nearly separated. Only the Mjolnir armor prevented it from being completely ripped out of its socket by the Sharquoi who held him. Alarms and his heads-up display told him the armor had been pushed far beyond tolerance levels. Any more pressure from the Sharquoi and he would literally be torn limb from limb.

  The searing pain would have left any normal creature unable to even think. But Jai dug deep, breathing slowly. “The UNSC will not allow this to stand. You’ll bring far more destruction upon yourself than you’ve seen so far.”

  “Ah, Earth. Always threatening us as well. You kept this a secret from us, and we paid for that instead of you.” Ellis reached down through the cannon’s wires, accessing the Havok core’s readout pane. She tapped the display. “There’s a voice in here with me. It’s telling me I shouldn’t be doing this. But I know what has to be done. I have to make a hard choice. I’m pulling all the Sharquoi back in here right now—all of them. I’m going to end this.”

  Jai was beginning to suspect that they had an entirely new problem on their hands.

  “Governor? What hard choice?” he shouted. “What are you doing with the nuke?”

  A gray wall of Sharquoi moved forward, forcing Melody further back onto the bridge. The Sharquoi holding the Spartans tossed them next to her with less care. They tumbled to a stop, with Rojka joining them a moment later.

  “There won’t be much time,” the governor said through the mouths of all the Sharquoi around them. “I have already reopened the facility to let the remaining Sharquoi back in. The Havok’s timer is set for ten minutes.”

  Jai, flexing his abused shoulder, glanced over at Rojka, who looked like he was in much worse shape.

  “But there are wisps of other things here with me,” the Sharquoi around them all said together. “Memories of others. They’re . . . very strong. They do not want me to do this, but it must happen. Or everyone will keep trying to gain this power for themselves. The voices here, they’ll try to stop me before long, so you should leave now. I might have to trigger this manually before the countdown. This is the only way to stop others from using this machine. It’s the only way to protect Carrow. So run for your lives, right now. This world will be safe. It will be free.”

  “Ellis!” Melody called out. “We can’t leave you!”

  “I said RUN!” the Sharquoi all boomed at once.

  Gray Team fled. Mike hefted Melody and Rojka limped behind, his legs too damaged to keep up. They passed hordes of Sharquoi who moved across the bridge slowly and without direction.

  “The nuke will take out part of the city! There’s no way we can get clear!” Melody shouted as they reached the bottom of the main shaft and began the race to the top.

  “I’m calling a Pelican,” Mike said. “Comms are spotty, we’re so deep down here. We’ll need to get higher to be sure they’re hearing us.”

  “Can we trust her? The governor?” Jai asked Melody.

  “She was overusing stimulants. She was in a bad place to begin with. But I think she loves this city, so that’s why she’s doing this.”

  The Sharquoi lining the sides of the ramps began to roar. They looked as though they were awaking from a slumber. The running Spartans climbed closer to the top with Rojka trailing behind. But it was a long way to the top via the spiraling ramps around the shaft’s walls.

  “I’m feeling naked without a weapon here,” Adriana said, wary of the Sharquoi’s new behavior.

  It now seemed like Ellis was struggling to control the Sharquoi. Some of them lunged at the Spartans. Clearly a great internal battle was raging inside the governor’s mind.

  “I don’t think we’re going to make it,” Melody said, looking up toward the sky at the top of the shaft. If Ellis made good on her promise, the nuke would go off in only a few minutes, and they still had a long way to go to the surface.

  CHAPTER 27

  * * *

  * * *

  Ellis wobbled and nearly fell. As her consciousness faded, the Sharquoi stepped back from her. She was losing her footing, both physically and mentally.

  No! She needed to hold.

  Where are the Spartans? She cast around inside the whirlwind and found them only halfway up the winding ramps leading to the crater.

  She wasn’t going to hold it together long enough. And as her mind dissolved, the winds that dwelled inside fought to survive. Yes, she could still control the Sharquoi. But the machine’s nature had been stained with traces of consciousness before hers, and these traces were fighting to live.

  Even a shadow of Hekabe swam somewhere around here in the deep.

  Ellis skipped from mind to mind in the network of Sharquoi that hadn’t made it back to the underground structure—until she found what she needed.

  She stood outside now. The militia had seen the Sharquoi turn around, give up the fight, and start moving back to the installation. The Sharquoi had formed lines and scrambled across the Uldt, through the city streets, out of buildings—all to get to where Ellis had summoned them.

  One of the Sharquoi turned back to the cautious militia shadowing them. They raised their weapons ready to fire.

  “This is Governor Ellis Gass. The Jiralhanae are no longer in control.” The words came out muddled—she had to hope they could be understood. “I need you to do something very important.”

  As a part of her spoke to the militia, another part of her saw the last of Hekabe’s pilots aboard the command bridges of Sangheili ships—the same vessels that had attacked her people only days ago.

  The Jiralhanae intended to use these warships to assault the Sangheili keeps. They’d already made several passes, destroying buildings from above with plasma fire. If she did nothing, within moments they would continue to rain fire down on the Sangheili. They would never recover. Humanity would reign over Suraka, supreme and unchallenged. Ellis could take vengeance for the attack on her own city. Eye for an eye. Blood for blood.

  Make them pay, a voice whispered to her. Ensure Suraka’s safety.

  Ellis balled her hands into fists and dug deep. Past her desire for revenge and through the pain. Sharquoi charged past the Jiralhanae and began battering against the ships’ controls and displays until something critical was damaged. The Jiralhanae on each ship attempted to fight back, but it was too late. The ships plummeted toward the Uldt’s desert floor. Nothing would survive impact. Connections to the Sharquoi fell away, one by one, as each alien vessel crashed into the ground.

  Ellis was trying to clean the entire mess—a war that spread out across Carrow.

  And all the while, she was slipping away herself, like dust in the wind.

  Jai stopped in the middle of the ramp and looked up at the shaft. They had several hundred meters to go. “We have four minutes,” he said. “We can’t make it to the top by then. Mike?”

  “St
ill no comm, maybe if we went a little higher . . .” He didn’t sound confident, Melody thought.

  Melody’s heart raced. These were going to be her last few minutes alive, then.

  Noise thundered down the central shaft. This is it! she thought.

  One of the Sharquoi leapt down from the mouth of the hole high above, dropping down to their level.

  “Go!” it shouted.

  “We can’t make it!” Melody said. “Ellis, there has to be another way.”

  The Sharquoi looked up into the sky and then, without further explanation, launched down into the darkness below.

  A single Pelican dropped carefully down through opening, the roar of its engines echoing all throughout the core shaft. The large rugged shape obscured any sunlight from above.

  Melody moved closer to the edge and waved her hands, Gray Team and Rojka quickly joining her.

  With a blast of hot air, the Pelican dropped level with them and spun about, wobbling as it backed the bay’s ramp as close to them as the pilot could manage.

  Jai grabbed Melody by the waist and made the long leap first. Adriana and Mike came next. Rojka, though severely injured, refused assistance. He hobbled into a run and launched into the back of the Pelican, then clattered across the floor toward the front of the aircraft. He lay where he slid to a stop, unable to move any further. Jai crouched by him. “He’s badly injured, more than he’ll let on. He’s unresponsive. He needs medical help.”

  “The governor sent us,” the pilot interrupted. “Should I drop lower to get her as well?”

  “No,” Melody said. “Get us out of here. As soon as possible.”

  The ramp closed and the Pelican awkwardly rose, climbing up with increasing speed. Jai stood up and stepped over Rojka’s slumped form. “There’s a Havok down there about to blow. Aim for the sky and punch it.”