The excruciating sensations made it difficult to concentrate, but she needed to think clearly. She must. Diati or no, she was still an elasson-Praesidis Inquisitor.
She forced herself to evaluate the situation objectively. The prisoner was gone from the cell, and she was prone on the floor. Her left leg was fractured, and her left shoulder dislocated and likely broken as well. She’d suffered a concussion at a minimum, with the possibility of brain and spinal injury. Six minutes and twenty-one seconds had passed while she’d lain unconscious.
She struggled up onto her right elbow and accessed the facility’s security channel. “Security breach. Prisoner #HP-MW26-6143.015-6 has escaped from Level 6, Wing C.” He’d go for his partner, and he would not have reached her yet. “Initiate station alert level Red and direct the bulk of forces to Levels 4 through 6.”
Next she sent an urgent message to the Administrator of Exobiology Lab #4.
Logiel, do not kill the Katasketousya yet. They have more to answer for.
Finally, she initiated a link with one of the other elasson-rank Inquisitors and opened her mind to him until he knew what she knew.
Go to the lab, Ziton. Find out what perversions they’ve been creating out of our DNA.
The act of forming and relaying concise thoughts had exhausted her, but she nevertheless began dragging herself across the floor using a forearm and her functioning leg. Her goal was the hallway, where she could grab a hold of something. She needed to stand.
53
HELIX RETENTION FACILITY
MILKY WAY SECTOR 7
* * *
CALEB EXITED THE TRANSIT TUBE on Level 4 and ran headlong into a Praesidis guard. The man leveled a weapon—an actual weapon—at Caleb’s chest.
He grabbed the man’s wrist, wrenched the arm around and fired the weapon point-blank at the man’s heart. The rush of new diati flowing to him as the man fell was noticeable, though far less than the surfeit he’d received from the Inquisitor.
He encountered two more such guards before reaching Wing D, and by the time he found Alex’s cell he was so dizzy he could hardly stay on his feet, yet he somehow felt stronger than ever. Time was assuredly growing short before the hammer of station security descended upon him, so he acknowledged the incongruity, focused on the strength, and ran.
A drone hovered in front of her cell, and it rotated toward him as he sprinted down the hallway. “Halt or be—”
“Pacified, yeah. I don’t think so.” He’d only meant to slam the drone to the ground hard enough to disable it, but the diati he engaged to surround it crushed the orb into a heap of ruined metal.
The energized barrier put forth no resistance as he entered the cell. A familiar restraining field held her aloft; her chin rested on her chest, and she hadn’t reacted to his presence. “Alex?”
Her head jerked up so hard it ricocheted off the field. Her eyes were bloodshot, highlighting dark shadows beneath them. Twin trails of blood had dried and crusted beneath her nostrils, and companion stains decorated her lips and chin. “Caleb!”
He waved away the restraining field and caught her as she fell. Her legs failed to support her, and she sagged in his arms. He held her gingerly, worried about broken bones and internal injuries. “Are you all right? Did they hurt you?”
She peered up at him drowsily, licked her lips and managed a slurred response. “Didn’t feel a thing…body doesn’t seem to be…working right, though….”
Her eVi must have shut off her pain receptors, but it wouldn’t have been able to do much to mitigate the damage from repeated electric shocks. “You’ll be good in no time. Valkyrie?”
She shook her head. “Nothing.” After a ponderous breath she tried again to stand. This time her legs didn’t fold, but she leaned heavily on him. “No running just yet, I think. Soon, maybe.”
“We can work with walking.” He started to guide her toward the force field, but stopped as dread washed over him.
Tick, tock, time running out.
“I don’t know how to get you through the field.”
“Well…what if you wrapped us both in diati, the way you did my hand in the Oneiroi Nebula? ’Cause that was nifty.”
He so wanted to indulge her levity, but he had a serious problem. “I’m, uh…” he blinked his vision clear, but it didn’t stay that way for long “…I’m kind of overdosing on it right now and…I don’t think I can control this much of it. I’m afraid of what might happen to you if I can’t keep the protection in place.”
She peered at him. “You are sort of glowing.”
“Terrific.” He fixated on the mangled drone outside the cell, trying to float it up to hover in the air. Instead it went careening down the hall, banging into one wall then the other. “Shit. Um…” he guided her over to the cell wall “…stay here and let me see if I can disable the force field.”
She reached for the wall then clung to it like it was a life raft in the eye of a typhoon.
He rushed through the field and found the panel controlling it. Navigation was the same as before: prisoner ID, notations lacking obvious meaning…security. He pressed the big red symbol indicating the field was on.
Nothing happened.
Tick.
He swiped across it. Nothing.
Tock.
It wasn’t asking for a passcode or authorization, so the authority must come in tandem with the user.
He glanced at and dismissed the broken remains of the drone. Useless. He could return to his cell and get the Inquisitor, drag her here…but there was no guarantee the authorization didn’t require affirmative intent, and even if the Inquisitor were conscious he doubted she’d give it—
A thud reverberated from the cell as Alex collapsed to the floor. He hurried back inside and crouched beside her, grasping her shoulders so she stayed upright. “Jesus, baby….”
“I’m…I’m…chyertu. Stupid legs won’t do as they’re told.”
“Okay. We’ve got to get you out of here. Hold on to me.” He wrapped his arms more fully around her and helped her stand.
TickTock.
He wasn’t going to be able to deactivate the field, which meant there was only one choice.
He’d realized early on that his arcane, profoundly alien passenger came with a cost, possibly one too high to pay and make it out the other side free and clear. He’d pay it nonetheless and without complaint if the diati would only come through for him now.
Caleb closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. Listened for her heartbeat resonating against his chest. Imagined it merging with his, imagined them becoming one entity to beat in harmony, inseparable and whole.
He took a step forward, then another.
A third, and he hardly noticed the fourth.
“We’re through, priyazn. You did it.”
When he reopened his eyes, they stood in the hallway. The coiled knot of power surrendered to an avalanche of relief, and for a second she was holding him up.
He gathered his wits together yet again, for they had no time to revel. “We need to try to reach the hangar bay and steal a ship. According to the panels, it’s three levels down on the main wing. If we take the far transit tube maybe we can avoid security most of the way.” He shifted them to face the direction of their first goal. “Are you ready?”
She nodded gamely, but tension hardened her expression when she began trying to walk. He supported her weight so she could concentrate on moving her legs.
Their progress was slow. Too slow. Frustration roiled off Alex in waves, and he doubted anyone in the universe wanted to run so much as she did at this moment…
TickTockTickTock
…but they weren’t going to make it. Even if they were running, even if they’d never stopped running, too few seconds remained before security engulfed them.
He kept moving anyway, because not escaping wasn’t an option he was prepared to accept.
Three meters from the transit tube, Alex pulled up hard.
“What’s wron
g?”
“I think I….” Her brow furrowed, and she twisted around to look behind them.
He did the same in time to see a whirl of lights, and suddenly Eren asi-Idoni stood there while a Kat dispersed into the hall.
“Did someone need a ride?”
Alex laughed wildly. “It is damn good to see you—alive, but more importantly, here. Glad you could drop by.”
“No offense, but I’m not. Though I am glad you two are alive.”
Caleb grunted; Alex had the full right of it, but they needed to stay on track. “We can celebrate once we’re on the Siyane. What’s the plan? You are here with the Siyane, aren’t you?”
Eren held up a small, unmarked canister. “Yes. The facility is shielded by a solid wall of diati, which is why Mesme here didn’t swirl in and swoop you away before now. This little toy is a gift from the anarch powers-that-be. It contains the tiniest iota of diati, enough to pass small objects—in this case, Mesme and I—through the barrier.”
He gazed askance at Caleb. “It’s only strong enough to ferry one Anaden-sized body and Mesme at a time, so we’ll have to make several trips out of here…unless you can get yourself back to the ship?”
Caleb shook his head tersely. Mesme insisted he should be capable of teleporting himself to a known location, but damned if he could figure out how to accomplish it. Regardless, in his current state he didn’t trust himself to teleport his shoe.
Eren shrugged. “Understood. We’ll go one at a time—”
“Alex, you’re first.” Her mouth opened, but Caleb cut her off. “You’re injured. No arguing.” He took the canister from Eren, wrapped Alex’s hand around it and gently nudged her toward Mesme. “Go.”
Mesme didn’t hesitate, surrounding her in light as she struggled to stay on her feet unaided. They vanished.
It got easier to breathe then. She would be safe.
Alarms erupted to peal through the hallway. He grabbed Eren by the arm and yanked him flush against the wall. “When Mesme gets back, you go next. I can hold them off.”
The Anaden frowned. “No, I can—”
“Do what? Scowl them to death?”
He patted his belt. “I brought a parting gift for your captors.”
A Watchman sprinted around the corner nearest them. Caleb spun, arm outstretched. The guard’s neck had snapped before he finished the motion, and a rush of diati leapt across the open space like a spear blasting directly into his head.
He blinked, dizzy again. And worse. The modest dose was the drop to send the dam brimming over. Too much too much.
Eren gaped at him, vivid golden eyes wide. “Well, that explains that.”
Caleb leaned on the wall and pressed his fingertips to his temples in an attempt to regain equilibrium.
Breathe in. Out. “Does it?”
“No. Not at all. By Hades, Caleb!”
A series of pounding, quick thuds approaching garnered their full attention. The next second a heavy mech rounded the corner.
Four arms consisting entirely of plasma cannons aimed at them and launched their barrage.
Caleb flung both arms forward. His skin ignited, and he became the fire.
The energy from the cannons slammed into a solid barrier of diati. As the mech continued its barrage, the barrier advanced until it enveloped the walking weapon. The deadly arms crumpled. The hulking torso crumpled, too, followed by the multi-jointed metal legs.
Cracks materialized in the walls to splinter down the hall as plaster fragments rained from the ceiling and the jagged, twisted remains of the heavy mech toppled to the floor.
Caleb stumbled as the diati rushed back into him. His hand found a brace, and he stared at an equally stunned and now dust-coated Eren.
Mesme reappeared before either of them spoke, essence empty save for the small canister spinning at the center.
Eren grabbed the canister and thrust it against Caleb’s chest. “Whatever this black magic you’ve got going on is, you’re a bloody wreck right now, and if you try to hold off what’s coming, you’ll destroy the station and yourself with it. Get out of here, and leave the station destroying to me. I will see you again.”
Before Caleb could protest, Eren sprinted down the hall and disappeared around the corner.
We must make haste. Mesme surrounded him, and he was too rattled to move or protest or do anything other than allow himself to be carried away. The hall and cells of the facility faded in a shimmering haze of light.
An instant later they were replaced by the cabin of the Siyane. Home.
Alex had gotten herself to the cockpit and into her chair. He rushed to join her, then knelt and hugged her close, belatedly hoping he didn’t burn her.
She gave him a wan but unsinged grimace and tapped her temple, an indication Valkyrie was giving her an earful.
He chuckled unevenly, trying to find the headspace where they were free and safe and he could be at peace.
She checked over his shoulder. “Mesme, why are you still here? Go get Eren!”
Caleb sighed. “He’s not coming.”
“What? Why—”
The viewport lit up as an explosion rocked the facility. The left wing of the facility ruptured and broke off to tumble into the void as cascading blasts tore through the heart of the structure.
“Oh. But…he’ll be all right.”
“I assume so.” He offered her a weak smile. His body was crashing, though the rampant buzzing in his head suggested the diati wasn’t of the same inclination.
‘We should take advantage of the diversion and escape.’
Alex nodded. “Go, Valkyrie. Anywhere.”
Mesme churned in perversely increasing distress about the cabin as they accelerated away.
It had already been such an absurd day, and Caleb’s mind was reeling so outrageously, it really wasn’t that much of a surprise when a shadow cast by nothing drew up beside Mesme and spoke.
“It is good you have escaped intact. But I am afraid you now have a far larger problem.”
54
SIYANE
MILKY WAY SECTOR 7
* * *
“EBANATYI PIDARAZ!” Alex squirmed in agitation, complicating Caleb’s efforts to administer even the most minimal of first aid and clean the dried blood off her face, never mind determine if she’d suffered any internal injuries. “Valkyrie, get to a portal, now!”
‘We are already in transit.’
Do you not want to traverse the primary Provision Network Gateway? It is the destination of the Machim fleet.
“Exactly—and thus the one place we don’t want to be right now. We need to sneak into the Mosaic. Valkyrie, let’s ready a message to broadcast the instant we’re through. ‘Red alert. Anaden military forces en route to portal network in order to destroy it and everything in it. This means you, so get your zadnitza here with every ship you have. Time’s up.’ ”
He chuckled. Her mental faculties appeared to have bounced back just fine. “I’m guessing this message will be sent to your mother?”
“And whoever else is listening.” She winced as he tightened the medwrap around her wrist and secured it. “But yes, she’s the intended audience. Who else can mobilize tens of thousands of ships in a matter of hours?”
“Good point.” He gave up on the first aid for now and leaned against the data table beside her. Concentrating on tending to her had helped quiet the buzzing in his ears, but now it returned in spades.
He glanced down at his hand. The trembling was almost imperceptible, but he felt as if he’d overdosed on synthetic adrenaline, and there was no nanobot mixture to counteract this overdose.
He needed to focus on something else. Conveniently, an apocalyptic crisis loomed a few short hours away. It would do.
Mesme’s ‘acquaintance,’ the ominous shadow creature who claimed to go by the name ‘Miaon,’ had departed, but only after a hushed conference with Mesme. So Caleb figured Mesme knew more than it had shared. “How did they find out about the Mos
aic?”
There has been the confluence of a number of factors, but the critical information was provided by a Katasketousya subjected to torture and threatened with death.
Alex frowned. “One of your own sold you out? Shouldn’t it have taken one for the team?”
How many times must I impart to you the concept that we are not fighters? Subterfuge and science are our ways, and we are not brave.
She dropped her head back to contemplate the ceiling, then grimaced and brought her hand to her neck. “That’s not true. You’re brave, Mesme.”
No.
“Yes, you are. You’ve risked everything you value—first to defy the Idryma and help us defeat their AI armada, then to protect us from the other Kats who continued to fear us. You did it again to sneak us into Amaranthe, teach us what we needed to know and get us the tools to act. You exposed yourself to help us retrieve the Machim data, and again to rescue us today. You’re one of the bravest beings I’ve ever met.”
Mesme quivered in the face of her words. She winked at Caleb, but he had heard the sincerity in her voice. She could never have forced herself to say it if she didn’t believe it. Still, it was an act of supreme kindness on her part, and he loved her all the more for it.
I…thank you, Alexis Solovy. I have only acted in furtherance of what I believed to be right. I do not feel brave, merely driven and desperate. But I will accept your reckoning on the matter.
Caleb laughed. “As we all do before the end, Mesme.” He started checking her over anew, in part because it calmed him to do so.
Other than her wrist, no bones were broken, though several tendons and ligaments were stressed. She’d suffered moderate nerve damage, which was why she’d had trouble walking, but her eVi was busily shepherding therapeutic measures to address the damage. Her neck had a sprain, but he’d sneaked in a muscle relaxer injection while she was talking to Mesme.
She’d be sore and weak for a couple of days, but she was healing remarkably fast. Between her top-shelf cybernetics, boosted as they were by recent ware upgrades, Valkyrie’s integration into her nervous system and the regenerative traces of Akeso left behind from when it healed her infection, she would probably never stay injured for any appreciable length of time.
Relativity: Aurora Resonant Book One (Aurora Rhapsody 7) Page 33