The Primary Protocol: A Cyberpunk Espionage Tale of Eldritch Horror (The Dossiers of Asset 108 Book 2)

by JM Guillen

  Yes, Bishop. Gideon knew what I was thinking. Take point. Get up there and see what’s happening.

  Yes, sir. I shot a quarrel into the floor and then opened a pair of apertures. Moments later, I stood another fifty meters ahead of my cadre.

  And within spitting distance of three of the Drażeri.

  Shit! One of them, the closest, looked squarely at me before stepping forward, holding his blade high.

  The sacred will of the elders, their word

  Infidels be slain, painful death conferred.

  The fury in his eyes did not match the soft cadence of the words, but the bloody images of torture did. I threw myself backward, cycling through the Temporal Corona, opening an aperture at the site of the quarrel I had left with my cadre.

  Gideon, incoming, single guest.

  Roger that, Bishop.

  I brought the gatekeeper up and loosed a quarrel into the Drażeri’s midsection. Nanoseconds later, he vanished, transported back to my awaiting cadre.

  That was one.

  With the second dashing toward me and the third not far behind, I placed an aperture about thirty meters in the air, as high as possible inside the temple corridor. Less than a thought later, I’d linked it to the gatekeeper. When the other two bore down on me, I was ready.

  I whirled and fired.

  And I missed.

  “Shit!” I scrambled backward and fired again.

  I may have missed once but not the next two times. The gatekeeper sang as the Drażeri vanished, ported into the darkness above. For a moment, I sprinted forward, terrified they would simply drift down, as the very first one had.

  Then I heard two bodies strike the ground, a wet crunch of bone. I grinned to myself as I ran and placed my next aperture. Moments later, I emerged fifty meters further along the passage.

  I could get used to this.

  Didn’t you say something about conservation of energy? I linked Wyatt as I stepped through the crimson flames. I bring it up because that sounds handy.

  I dunno, Hoss. Usually it’s used to fuck around with momentum. Wyatt sounded reserved. Dangerous stuff.

  Look around you. We’re not exactly watching the circus. As soon as I stepped from the aperture into a lofty chamber, I located the obvious source of the grating sound.

  Wyatt’s words came in a frenzy. Later, we’ve got incoming.

  I’ll extract you ASAP. I knew Wyatt could feel my distraction.

  Ahead of me lay a gigantic gate, solid metal and easily seventy-meters high. Intricate patterns capered across its surface in a brittle script. At the center of the patterns, a brass and silver sun hung in a darkened sky.

  The rays of the stylized sun wriggled in a pattern that looked suspiciously like tentacles. A handful of Drażeri pushed at either side of the gate, closing it.

  Alpha, I’ve found our gate. Problem is, it’s closing time.

  We need through the grand passage, Michael, Anya linked in. It’s the only way to the inner corridors.

  Roger that. I sprinted forward, straight toward the small contingent of Drażeri battle clerics with their familiar iron rods. Several of them saw me, and some leveled their verdant weapons at me.

  “Oh. Fuck, no.” I stopped mid-sprint, even as they raced for me. Trying to ignore their flaming cascades of impending death, I raised the gatekeeper and fired a quarrel through the enormous doors as they closed.

  Perfect. It sailed over the heads of the Drażeri and vanished into the darkness.

  Then I turned tail and ran.

  Rationality is shifting behind you, Michael.

  No time to look, I threw myself to the left. Hateful emerald flame melted the floor where I had just been.

  Comin’ home, Alpha; we clear? I linked as I hit top speed again.

  Come on. We’re hot but ready for you.

  I am neither hot nor ready for you. Wyatt couldn’t resist sending me a private quip. Still, I could feel the tension within it.

  Even as that hateful emerald light flared behind me again, I ignited an aperture and linked it to the quarrel I had left with my cadre. Once through, I terminated all apertures, just to be sure.

  My cadre was truly in the thick of it. Even with four active stasis fields around us, there were too many Drażeri for Wyatt to hold them all. Five of them surrounded Gideon, but he was holding his own with the Seraph. He killed two in the time it took me to get my bearings.

  Behind me, Rachel and Anya stood back to back. Rachel fired from her stinger, again and again, causing the Drażeri to crumple to the ground and scream.

  However, she didn’t see the one slipping up on her left.

  Anya stepped sideways and leveled a wide, sweeping kick. She caught the Drażeri on the side of the face, and he stumbled backward.

  That was amazing! I linked directly to Anya.

  I had enough helplessness on our last dossier, Michael. I could feel that she was pleased.

  Good to see you, Hoss.

  I left a quarrel in the grand passage. If we can get together, I can create an aperture to that marker.

  Did you manage to get inside? Gideon swung at one of the Drażeri, the Seraph’s blade catching him in the neck. With a loud crack, the soldier fell dead.

  Negative. A small battalion stood guard at the gate. I simply shot through.

  Our known data regarding the other side of that gateway is limited. Anya interjected. If you were unable to scout the interior, then we will be using an aperture into unknown territory.

  Let’s try to clear this fir—Gideon’s link cut off as one of the Drażeri stepped up behind him and swung one of the iron rods squarely into his back. He grunted, falling forward to his knees.

  The Drażeri raised the rod a second time.

  The fuck you say. Wyatt turned toward Gideon and shot a spike into the soldier.

  The Drażeri stumbled back, screaming, his eyes smoldering with black smoke.

  I’m fine. Gideon stumbled, struggling to get back to his feet.

  The hell you are! Rachel turned toward him, her fingers flying on her interface. She fired her nanojector at him, striking him with two small darts.

  In the distance, more Drażeri rushed down the corridor. Difficult to see in the lurid darkness, they materialized as black shadows against the dim flickering light of the stones with the current optics settings on my Crown.

  Incoming. I ignited an aperture above us, hanging high in the shadows off to the left. With a thought, I linked it to the gatekeeper.

  Wyatt, Gideon linked along with a haze of pain, secure our six.

  Copy that.

  I heard the WHUF of the tangler as Wyatt went to work.

  Rachel stepped over to Gideon, who actually let her help him up.

  That was troubling.

  I sprinted forward and fired the first of the quarrels before the Drażeri were even fully within range. I simply fired into the mass of them, not even bothering to aim.

  When a Drażeri lay, sprawled lifeless on the floor under my aperture, I knew my first shot had been a success.

  The group stopped, confused by their comrade plummeting to her grisly death. That let me get off a couple more shots, both of which missed. The fourth one hit.

  A far more unlucky shot than the misses.

  The moment the Drażeri fell through, verdant light blossomed from her iron weapon. Yes, she was wounded, but she floated gracefully to the ground, her eyes boring directly into me.

  Foolish wretch, far past the crimson gate

  Agony and suffering shall be your fate.

  The images accompanying her threat were garish and sadistic, involving her teeth and my more tender bits. She swung her weapon toward me.

  I dodged backward, knowing what came next.

  Fuck! We need to move, Alpha. Green fury melted the ground where I had just stood. In the distance, several more of them awakened their weapons, jade hatred in the gloom.

  Confirmed. Gideon stood without help now, which was good to see. Pull us to the g
rand passage, Bishop.

  Averaging the distance between us, I created an aperture behind me. I ignited it, linking it to the quarrel on the far side of the gate.

  It may be just as hot on the other side. Gideon nodded toward Wyatt. Step through with Bishop. If you need to, create another invisible refuge.

  Copy that, Alpha. Wyatt nodded.

  Then we stepped through.

  As always, the aperture felt like wispy strips of flame brushing at my skin. As I stepped through, the sheer darkness on the other side was disconcerting, like a physical shroud.

  Your Crown misfiring, Hoss? Wyatt felt confused. My optics seem off kilter.

  Mine too. I peered into the midnight void punctuated by brilliant columns of fiery light. I don’t think I’m misqueueing.

  Are we clear? Gideon’s link felt a touch frantic.

  Clear, Alpha. Come on through, Wyatt replied.

  Moments later, as I closed the apertures, we all stood in the abysmal night, looking down a vast passage. On each side, several gouts of liquid flame poured from the distant ceiling into pools on the floor. The stone itself gleamed, polished to a sheen so the orange light danced in its own reflection.

  Crown activity near max. Rachel’s link felt confused. But my optics also seem offline.

  It’s the nature of light here. Anya’s tone was a bit distant. This structure isn’t built of simply matter; it also has various types of forces bound in unusual ways.

  I don’t think Wyatt’s invisible blanket is the best play. I shifted the gatekeeper up against my shoulder, trying to glimpse into the distance. If Crown optics are overwhelmed, light may be further Irrational than we can track.

  Let’s push forward. Gideon gestured toward the pillars of flame. Bishop, take point.

  Will comply. I aimed the gatekeeper straight down, leaving a quarrel buried in the stone just in case we needed a retreat point. Then I made another fifty meter leap.

  It’s the cube on the bottom. Wyatt linked to me as if I knew what he meant. I don’t know much about it. Treat it like a dial, rotate clockwise and counterclockwise on the Z-axis.

  What? I remained confused for a moment. Oh. The conservation of energy and momentum thing.

  Yeah. Changes how much momentum you carry through an aperture.

  Right and left, huh? I smirked.

  Of course you can twist it any way you please, I just don’t know what happens when you turn conservation of energy sideways.

  Thanks. I might play around a bit. I cut the link, peering into the darkness around me.

  Nothing. I could feel the heat from the pillars of molten stone, but other than the soft burbling as it fell, there wasn’t a sound. Orange light shone angrily from the magma, and I idly wondered how the Drażeri managed to craft eternally flowing lavafalls.

  I’ve made a single leap, and we’re still clear. I scanned the area around me, trying to will my optics into functioning properly.

  Nothing.

  I created two more apertures.

  I’m taking another. I felt as if eyes scrutinized me from the darkness, waiting.

  Carry on.

  I toyed with my tactile interface just a touch this time, turning the small cube Wyatt and I had discussed. It created an odd sensation as my mind told me I could feel the small interface grow warm even though I knew my fingers touched nothing.

  When I stepped through the aperture, it practically hurled me out the other side. I took an abrupt misstep and stumbled onto the ground.

  You good, Bishop? Rachel’s link held a trace of worry.

  Yeah. I looked back at the aperture, surprised at how far from it I was. I had scarcely turned the cube, yet it was as if I had been shot out of a high-speed waterslide. I’m fine. I picked myself up.

  That could be a handy trick.

  I killed every aperture I had open, not wanting to continually deal with paradox looping as I went forward. I was toggling the Temporal Corona, trying to make certain that I had all my settings back to default when Anya thrust herself into my mind.

  Michael! Her tone held more than typical warning. There are several large shifts in ambient Rationality off to your left.

  Copy that, Anya. I squinted through the darkness.

  Spiking higher. Positive five-R—now six.

  I don’t see anything. But even as I linked, I did see. A faint spot of charred near-black floated within the midnight pitch. It came closer, moving through the gloom above me, and then I noticed the faint orange of the liquid flame as it flickered across alabaster skin.

  Gideon? I sent the link to the entire cadre. I’m going to need backup.

  There are more spikes, Michael. Perhaps—? Anya’s link faded into static noise in my mind.

  Then the horror landed, screaming in my mind. I stumbled from the sheer force of the sound its voice, like a thunderstorm of despair in my heart.

  “No.” I whispered the word, my eyes wide.

  It was truly terrible and great. I knew it could slaughter me where I stood.

  The vulture-winged nightmare stood four meters tall with emaciated arms and legs that ended in talons dripping with gore. Its flesh shone like bone, and truly, mere flesh was too paltry to hold the horrifying grace of it.

  It had no face, no orifices of any kind, just a sloping curve where its face should be with accursed symbols carved into it. They shifted and pulsed with a hateful, maddening light that burned away part of what made me a sane man.

  My name was written there, written in a language that had been forgotten before men walked upright.

  Around the creature, three small stones hovered in the air, orbiting like mad, forgotten stars. They pulsed with the heartbeat of something damned. I found myself entranced by them, caught.

  I hardly realized I was screaming. Screaming and screaming and screaming. My mind crackled and bent, just looking at it.

  It was more than an aberration; it was blasphemy in the flesh.

  It deserved worship.

  One emaciated arm drew back and struck me, knocking me airborne. I flew backward several meters before hitting the ground and flopping like a rag doll. The gatekeeper skittered off into the darkness.

  —bring us to you? The static in my Crown faded for a moment, but it didn’t matter. How could it? There was only darkness here, only the rot that lurked behind all things. Only death.

  The aberration stepped forward, reaching for me. It grasped my arm, wrenching me upward.

  I wailed in agony as my arm popped from its socket. My good arm wheeled as I again soared across the chamber.

  Bishop, I need you to respond! Your holotecture variables are off the charts. It was a woman, but I couldn’t remember her.

  My mind swam in song, ancient paeans of worship and glory for beings that were long forgotten by men.

  We’re on our way, Hoss. The man sounded desperate. Hold your shit together.

  Their words didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. The universe encompassed only blood-red pain and incomprehensible horror. The creature stalked over to where I had fallen, shadowed by darkness and lit by rivers of flame. I stared at it in wide-eyed wonder, unable to look away from the horrifying, beautiful grace of its movement.

  “Oh.” My word was laced with wonder, with terrible madness. “Oh, my God.” Looking past the creature, into the darkness beyond, I witnessed the truth.

  There were more of them.

  20

  WHUF. WHUF. WHUF.

  I had no idea what the sound was, as it only just registered at the edge of my consciousness. Every bit of my attention focused upon the graceful horror stalking toward me. I gaped, rapt with wonder at its beauty.

  It brought down one massive foot on the trinket I had been carrying and I heard the weapon crunch beneath its incredible strength.

  That was good. I had been foolish to bring such a thing into this holy place. Soon, it would be over. There would be no more pain, no more chaos.

  Only peace.

  Bishop! It was a woman screami
ng in my mind. I winced at the grating noise and raised my good arm as if trying to brush away a fly.

  Then, the winged aberration stopped in place, seemingly entrapped. A blossom of silvery light surrounded the same foot that had ground my blasphemous weapon into dust. Once that hemisphere simply appeared around it, the creature’s foot appeared caught in place.

  It pulled at the appendage, irritated.

  “No.” I whispered the word, not even certain what I protested. It just seemed that I was close, so close, to a final, glorious end. In the shadows behind my mind, I could still hear the sweet songs of discordant glory.

  “Bishop, you shit. Can you hear me?” A young, pretty woman sprinted up to me, panic on her face. I felt as if I should know her name, but I did not.

  “It sings.” Those two words explained everything.

  As I watched, several small figures surrounded the winged being. One of them held a blade of some kind, which shone with golden brilliance.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?” The woman tinkered with a device on her arm.

  As I watched, I thought how sad, how pathetic this all was. She seemed to think that she was doing something very important, but she wasn’t.

  Nothing she had ever done truly mattered.

  “Your arm is entirely out of socket.” She held her palm flat against my body, and I heard a small hiss as she dallied with her toy. The red pain in my shoulder almost immediately ceased, and some distant part of my mind registered disappointment.

  “That pain was mine,” I lamented, genuinely distraught. I had expected that pain to be the last thing I ever felt, my last offering to the world. Had she taken that from me?

  No matter, soon, oblivion would come.

  “What?” She looked at me as if I were mad.

  How could I explain?

  Soon, this would be over. There would only be sweet nothing. How could any stand against angelic, terrible creatures such as these? Messengers of the divine, these eternal creatures bore the wrath of forgotten gods.

  They were foreverness. In comparison, our paltry flesh was a shadow.

  “You aren’t receiving our links at all, are you?” She looked at me oddly, as if trying to puzzle something out. Then she moved to my other side and lifted my arm out straight. She placed her foot against my body and pulled.