The Rebirths of Tao

by Wesley Chu

  “How’s our patient?” Roen asked finally, breaking the silence. He could only take so much of his own pity party before he started to annoy even himself.

  “Irritated and demanding we rob a pharmacy for painkillers.”

  “One of his more reasonable moods, then.”

  Marco agreed. “He told me he wants crepes for breakfast.”

  “What are you going to feed him?”

  “I dunno. I told him I was going to check our stock and be right back, and then I came up here and hung out with you.”

  Roen chuckled and they clinked cans again. The mission should be almost over, and he would soon be reunited with his family. That was the right thing to do. He could hang tight a little longer. The Prophus forces would be en route within the next few days. They would attack the catalyst facility in the middle of the night through two identified points of weakness. One was the supply tunnel, and the other was a sewage exhaust that Helen had determined only functioned during daylight hours. It would be an awful mission, and he predicted minimum fifty percent attrition, and at best, a twenty-five percent chance of success, but these were numbers the Keeper was comfortable with.

  “Damn witch,” he muttered. If he were one of those lucky enough to survive the attack, he would finally get to see his family. He finished his can of beer. “I shouldn’t have gone clubbing that night.”

  “Pardon?” Marco asked.

  “It’s nothing. One fateful decision to go out the night I met Tao. I was actually thinking about staying home and watching the unabridged version of Metropolis…”

  “Roen,” Elias called from the first floor. “You there?”

  Roen looked away from the window, feeling a little sheepish that Elias had gotten the jump on both of them. “Up here.”

  “You have a call in the shed.”

  “For the two of us?”

  “Just you.”

  Could it be? Roen forced himself to stay calm, though for a second, he considered diving over the railing and rappelling down the rusty chain hanging from the ceiling. At the very last second, he reconsidered. It would be an awfully embarrassing way to die. He took the extra minute to scramble down the stairs and jogged into the shed, almost tripping and falling down the steep stairs.

  Sheck was fidgeting with the comm station and had pulled up the local news on his computer. The team was huddled around it, watching as the local anchor relayed a breaking story about the arrival of the National Guard and how Ontario was now under martial law. There was now an evening curfew, cars weren’t allowed on the roads after midnight, and all citizens were required to carry identification on them at all times. Anyone caught breaking these stringent rules would be subject to arrest.

  “That IXTF woman really wants you back,” Helen said to Prie as she changed his bandages.

  He shrugged and held his palms up. “I would, too, if I were her and I had lost me. Even unconscious, we Frenchmen are just too irresistible.”

  Helen yanked the bandage off suddenly and Prie howled.

  “Careful,” he snapped. “You are going to rip the stitches and I will bleed out all over you and then one of you undeserving fools will have to take Pri.”

  “Should have left him with the IXTF,” Marco chuckled, following Roen down the stairs.

  “I heard that, Marco,” Prie snapped. “Pri still remembers that time Ahngr left him to die against that horde of Zulu warriors.”

  “Hey,” Roen added. “Ahngr left Tao to die during the Great War.”

  “Once an asshole,” Prie said.

  “Always one,” Roen agreed.

  “Sir,” Sheck interrupted the conversation. “Got someone on channel three who wants to talk to you.”

  Roen pushed his way through the small crowd of people and snatched the headset out of Sheck’s hands, shooing everyone away. He changed the channel to three. “Yes?”

  “Roen! Thank God it’s you.”

  He felt a pain in his chest probably not unlike a heart attack and for a moment, nearly fainted with relief. He began to sniffle in a most unmanly way.

  “Are you all right, honey?” she asked.

  “You’re all right,” he sobbed. “I saw the pictures of the house. You were missing for so long. I wanted to come look for you. I couldn’t, though. They told me you made contact but that was it.”

  “I’m all right. Alive at least.”

  Roen exhaled and tried to keep himself from falling apart. “Where are you? Is Cameron with you?”

  “I’m with Faust’s cell right now. Some of his people picked us up this morning. Roen, I told you to put a crypto key in the submarine.”

  “I forgot,” he said sheepishly. “So you’re all safe? Hang tight at Faust’s base. I’ll have things wrapped up here in a few days, and then after the attack I’m heading straight to you.”

  “Actually,” she said, “I’m not staying.”

  “What do you mean?” he asked.

  Then she told him everything, starting with the attack on the farmhouse to their escape to the submarine. She explained how she had to run their operation from the trailer, and how they decided to stay put until Cameron arrived. She finished with their reunion and Jacob showing up.

  Roen’s blood froze in his veins at the mention of the Adonis Vessel. His heart stopped and his fists tightened at hearing Jacob’s name. His mind turned to rage when he heard about Cameron’s fight with Jacob. “Cam was…” he asked.

  Jill was sniffling by this time too. “He got beaten up a little, but he’ll be all right. It looks much worse than it is. His pride suffered the worst beating. Roen, you should have seen him. He’s grown up so much.”

  “So where are you going now?”

  “We need to get Rin back. I placed a tracking device, the bangle, on her. It went dark somewhere in Northern Canada, then Cameron remembered Alex talking about a loyalty haven. The Keeper moved a satellite to the vicinity, and we picked up the beacon again. I’m taking Faust’s entire team with me. We attack in three days.” There was a long pause. “Roen, Cameron wants to come.”

  “Over my dead body!” Roen thundered.

  “I can’t stop him,” Jill said. “Tao says we need every able body for this mission, and he’s right. The Keeper has already approved it.”

  “Fuck the Keeper!”

  Roen collapsed over the table in despair. She was right. His wife and child were attacking a Genjix base, and here he was on a stupid suicide mission. He buried his face in his hands. He should be with them. He had to be with them. Then, something occurred to him.

  “Hang tight, Jill. Don’t leave until you hear back from me.”

  “Don’t do anything stupid, Roen. You can’t abandon your mission.”

  “I’m not, but just wait. Please.”

  He took the headset off and beckoned to Sheck. “Schedule a call with the Keeper for this evening. All hands.” He looked over at a puzzled Marco. “I’ll be back. There’s going to be a change of plans.”

  Marco frowned. “What do you have in mind?”

  “I’m going to recruit some backup,” Roen said, strapping on his holster and heading back up the stairs.

  It took Roen six hours to find the right moment. He passed the time changing hiding spots – basic surveillance 101: locals tend to get suspicious if someone stays in one place for too long – and pretending to debate Tao on the effects of the Japanese Meiji period on the modern world stage. In the end, Roen basically ended up blaming Commodore Matthew Perry for the United States’ involvement in World War II and eventually the rise of the Communist government. Of course, imaginary Tao was in agreement, mostly because Perry was not a host, so Tao could lay that blame completely at humanity’s feet. Tao was biased that way.

  Roen found the right moment shortly after two in the afternoon. Kallis and four of her team walked into the Woodchuck Chuck for lunch. An hour later, the four guys walked out. Roen waited until they were out of sight before he crossed the street from the parking garage he was lounging
in. He made one circle around the bar, checking the back door to see if it was unlocked – it was – and then he peered through the window. She was facing the west wall, seemingly focused on the tablet in her hands. The burger and fries on her plate were half-eaten, and the glass of beer was mostly empty. From the times he had hung out with her and her team, he knew that Kallis’s people never left beer unfinished.

  He opened the door to the bar as softly as he could, and then sped across the length of the room. The barkeep gave him a puzzled look, but he had seen him around enough over the past week to not give him any trouble. Kallis had her side to him. All she had to do was look to her right, and one of them was dead. Fortunately, whatever was on the tablet was more entertaining than her surroundings. Well, Roen was about to fix that.

  “Hi,” he said, and immediately regretted his opening. There were probably twenty things he could have said to diffuse the situation. Tao probably would have done it right. Oh well, Roen was stuck with Roen, so he was just going to roll with it. “Please don’t reach for your sidearm, Kallis. This is like that Han Solo with Greedo scene.” He tapped his pistol on the underside of the table.

  She froze and slowly placed her hands on the table. “Thanks for removing all doubt, Rayban Ghost.”

  “I kind of figured my cover was blown when you called in the armed forces this morning. I’m still waiting for the paratroopers.”

  “What do you want, Rutherford, if that’s actually your name, or Ralphy, or whatever?”

  Roen shook his head. “Do you know how hellish my childhood would have been if I had been a Rutherford?”

  “Do you know how hellish I’m going to make your life after today? There’s no way I’m letting you out of this town. Dead or alive, you’re mine, Rayban. Your best bet is to just shoot me now. Waller just got out of surgery. We were up all night seeing if he’d pull through.”

  “I hope he’s all right.” Roen remembered Waller. He was the older agent who shared pictures of his four children. Then the guy tried to get him to drink a line of tequila shots. Roen liked him.

  “I’m sure he’ll love to hear that from you in person,” she snapped.

  Roen sighed. This wasn’t going as well as he had hoped, though in truth, what sort of reaction did he expect from her? “Like I said a dozen times before, Special Agent Kallis, we’re the good guys.”

  “Like hell you are. You put half my team in the hospital.”

  “Well, you killed one of mine.”

  Kallis ran her fingers through her hair with her left hand while moving her right toward the edge of the table. “Guess I win the big-dick contest, Rayban. So unless you have something else to say, why don’t we just get on with it now?”

  This approach wasn’t working. Roen had to remind himself that he needed Kallis, probably more than she needed him right now. The problem was, she had every reason not to trust him or the Prophus. After all, he did just jump her guys the other day, not to mention all the lies he had told her over the past week. She must also be kicking herself for hanging out with the same aliens she was trying to catch. Hell, she went on a date with one.

  Roen decided to take a risk, hedging a bet that if he made the first move, she might be decent enough to follow. That, and he gave himself a fifty-fifty chance of beating her to the punch. “Obviously, we have some trust issues to work through.” He looked over at the barkeep. “Hey, Lou, can we get a couple of beers? Whatever is on tap.” Then to her surprise, he slowly raised his hands from underneath the table and placed them flat where she could see them. “No threats. I just want to talk.”

  Roen thought this was a bold gesture, a show of really extending the olive branch. He couldn’t think of anything else to do to sway her opinion. He just hoped that she couldn’t hear the desperation in his voice. However, for some reason, he had a flashback of Sonya shaking her head saying, “Well that was dumb.”

  Kallis stood up and drew her firearm. Roen kneed his side of the table, flipping it toward her and sidestepped as she opened fire, the bullet narrowly missing his chest as it plunked into the wall. The table momentarily distracted her as he lunged forward and tried to knock the gun out of her hand. Unfortunately, she was ready for it and held on. Then, she swung it across his jaw, almost knocking him out.

  Strangely, the Sonya in his thoughts continued to shake her head. “You never learn do you?”

  Roen’s training kicked in, Tao and Master Lin’s words echoing in his head. Combat was like kissing. He moved close into her guard so she couldn’t point her pistol at him. A body should react like sand. He kept his body relaxed as Kallis tried to push him away. She only succeeded in throwing herself off balance. Control is lucid; be even more so. Roen hooked his arms around her wrist, and with a chopping motion, flicked the pistol out of her hand and into his. He bent her over and wrapped his legs around her arm, then he dropped to his knee, trapping her underneath him. He looked up just in time to see Lou standing open-mouthed in the middle of the bar with two glasses of beer in his hands.

  “Thanks, my good man.” Roen pointed the pistol at him and motioned at the table with his head. “Put them right there. And if you would be so good as to close shop for a bit, shut the curtains, and lock the door, I’d appreciate it.”

  Kallis growled and struggled underneath him as Roen kept his pistol trained on the barkeep. When Lou had done as he was ordered, Roen motioned to the table right behind the one they were sitting at. “Now pour yourself a beer and have a seat.” He relaxed his grip on Kallis’s arm and slowly let her up. He took her pistol, pulled the magazine out, and tossed it to the other side of the room.

  “Have a seat.”

  Kallis scowled as she sat back in her original chair. Behind her, Lou, hands shaking, downed his beer.

  “Go help yourself to another one.” Roen waited until Lou returned with a fresh brew before he righted the table. He sat down again and shoved the pistol to the center of the table. “Here’s the deal. There’s one bullet in the chamber. You’re going to listen to what I’m going to say. Afterward, it’s up to you if you want to shoot me or let me go.”

  She looked down at the gun just within reach of her hands. “I can always just –”

  “Sorry, arresting me isn’t an option. Shoot me or let me go. After I say my piece. Deal?”

  Kallis nodded.

  Roen reached into his bag and pulled out a manila envelope. He slid it forward. Her eyes followed his motion, but Kallis didn’t move. “Go ahead, open it.” He watched her face while she pulled out a series of satellite images as well as all the detailed notes that Roen’s scout team had gathered over the past month.

  She looked up. “That’s why your people are here. You guys are planning on attacking it. Why?”

  “It’s not a recycling plant,” Roen said. “That facility is sitting on top of the beginning of a major fault line that spans down to Mexico. The Quasing who built it are planning on using it to detonate a series of cascading explosive effects that will change the entire world.”

  He could read the disbelief in her eyes as she looked at the image again. “How can one building do that?”

  “It’s not one,” he admitted. “They have several all over the world, including at least a couple in the United States.”

  She looked up. “You are part of the Prophus?”

  He nodded.

  “And the ones who own this facility are the Genjix?”

  Roen waited patiently as Kallis continued reading the notes. He saw the blood drain from her face right about the time she got to the part about the nuclear reaction generators, and then even more when she read the summary of their assessment of the facility defenses. Finally, hand trembling, she put all the files back in the envelope and pushed it forward toward him. “Why are you showing this to me?”

  He pushed it back toward her. “Keep it.”

  “Why?”

  “You want to chase and capture bad guy aliens? Well, they’re right there.”

  “How do I kno
w it’s not a trap?”

  “It could be inside,” he admitted. “But I guarantee you’ll find Quasing in there. Just look at the evidence. Check it out, but please be careful and bring bigger guns when you do.”

  He stood up and put a couple of bills on the table. “Drinks are on me.” He leaned forward. “I’m going to walk out the door. This is your chance to shoot me.” He waved at the barkeep. “Sorry for pointing a gun at you, Lou.” The barkeep waved, still stunned and unsure what to do.

  “Wait,” she called after him as he headed toward the door. “What if I have more questions?”

  Roen exhaled. If she was going to shoot him, that would have been the time. He reached the front door and turned back to face her. “Just ask for me. We’re always listening.”

  “Why are you telling me all this, Rutherford?”

  “Because believe it or not, Special Agent Francesca Kallis, we want the same things. My people aren’t strong enough to stop the Genjix from destroying the world, but you are. You’re the only one who can stop them.” He paused and looked back. “Please call off your dogs. I need to get out of here and visit my family.” Then, without looking back, he walked out of the Woodchuck Chuck.

  37

  Moving Pieces

  There is irony at play here. The assassination of Baji’s vessel Franz Ferdinand created a cascading effect of destruction that the world had never seen before. It was soon followed by an even greater war, birthed by the aftershocks of the first. With those conflicts came the advent of the atomic bomb, as well as the foundations of space travel. This is the Conflict Doctrine gloriously at work.

  However, just as Baji’s vessel’s death helped usher the Genjix closer to victory, her current host, Jill Tesser Tan, committed the Great Betrayal, which has brought us closer to defeat.

  Zoras

  * * *

  Enzo turned a slow circle in the center of the pitch dark landing platform. It was so black outside, he couldn’t see the four towers just meters away. He closed his eyes and listened. It was quiet, too, except for the soft whistle of wind and the lazy sounds of waves striking the metal structures. It was cold as well. His exposed hands and face felt the chill seep in almost immediately. He didn’t let it bother him.