"We have to move." David shouted.
*******
The energy above them jerked, as if a bolt of lightning had struck overhead. One they couldn't see, only feel.
"There." Karl said. "Did you feel that?"
“A disruption?" Marcus asked.
Karl nodded. "Has to be. You're up."Marcus stepped around the rock outcropping, gathered Offensive energy Karl couldn't see, and hurled it at the Arachnimen
Karl took in the familiar sight of the army of goons toppling like dominoes as Marcus’s wave rolled over them. Marcus felled every last one.
As soon as the last one crashed to the ground, Marcus fell to his knees.
Karl hurried to his side. Marcus breathed hard and a sheen of sweat covered his skin. "I’ll go get the orb,” Karl said. “Why don’t you stay here with Tenessa —"
"No," Marcus grunted. "I'm coming." Though covered in sweat and trembling slightly, he stumbled to his feet.
Karl turned to look over his shoulder. Tenessa already stood inches behind him. She put a hand on his shoulder. Stomach abruptly twisting into knots, Karl Traveled.
He landed them directly next to the rock table holding the orb. Karl’s senses immediately went into overdrive. He turned in every direction, observing every part of the canyon for threats.
Up close, the white light proved so blinding, it hurt his eyes to even look in its general direction. The Cimerian stood to one side. He looked no different than he always did, with eyes and mouth sewn shut, face utterly still. The dark vapor still hovered around him, but up close, it didn’t look as thick as it had from far away. The creature remained utterly still, making no acknowledgment of their arrival.
Stomach still writhing, Karl prayed this was the disorientation they’d hoped for.
When Marcus stumbled toward the stone table, Karl put himself between Marcus and the Cimerian, just in case. Marcus hesitated a moment before putting both hands on the orb. The white light shone between his fingers like a beacon. He lifted it from the stone table carefully. Almost instantly, steam rose from where’s his hands gripped the orb. Marcus tensed, his face taking on a look of pain. His hands shook the longer he held onto it. Seconds later, he dropped it back onto the stone table with a cry. Steam still rose from his palms, and he shook them as if to cool them down.
"I'll get it, Marcus." Karl said.
Marcus shook his head. "No matter who touches it, it's going to burn."
Tenessa’s voice came unexpectedly from behind them. "Here."
Karl turned to find her squatting in the grass. She picked up something that looked like a black drawstring bag. It glittered strangely in the afternoon light. Karl wondered what it was made of. "What is it?" he asked.
"Something the orb was carried in, perhaps,” Tenessa said. It sounded more a statement than question. Karl wondered if she recognized the material.
Karl opened his mouth to say the orb would probably burn straight through the bag. Before he could, Tenessa’s eyes widened.
"Behind you!" she shrieked.
Karl spun to find the Cimerian standing two feet behind him. Though its artificially closed eyes didn't reveal much, Karl instinctively knew the thing was awake, aware, and staring at him. Could the disorientation have lasted so short a time? Or—he narrowed his eyes at the thing—had it all been a charade?
Before Karl could react, an invisible club slammed into the side of his head. He hit the ground, eyes coming level with Marcus’a brown boots. All the noise around him became muted, and his vision blurred.
The next moment, Marcus dropped to his knees in front of Karl's nose, head in his hands. His face clenched into a grimace of pain. Karl recognized that stance all too well. The Cimerian was attempting to Drill Marcus.
Karl felt anger, but it wasn’t his. It felt like something outside of himself. Before he could do more than register the sensation, a figure vaulted over top of Karl and crashed into the Cimerian. Karl’s breath caught in his throat. Tenessa.
With no weapons, she beat on the dark creature with her fists. Karl knew she didn’t have any Offensive neurochemical abilities. Her talents lay more in what she could perceive. Even her Echo Shield only blocked sound. She had no chance of fighting the Cimerian physically.
Even as Karl watched, the Cimerian took Tenessa firmly by the arms and launched her into the rock wall of the canyon. She might as well have been a rag doll. She hit hard and crumpled to the ground with a thud.
Karl slapped his palms flat against the ground and pushed up to his hands and knees. Already the vertigo from the blow the Cimerian gave him had begun to fade. He needed to get to his feet and Travel the three of them away.
Something stung the side of his neck. He moved to clap his hand over it and hit the Cimerian's forearm. Karl lunged up onto his knees and swung a fist at the creature, but the thing leapt back and Karl’s punch hit only air. His eyes fell, with horror, onto what Cimerian held in his hand. A syringe and needle. Where the hell did that come from? And what did he inject Karl with?
Already suspecting what he would find, but praying he’d be wrong, Karl attempted to gather energy to Travel. He hit a wall. The Cimerian had given him a neurological sedative. He wouldn’t be Traveling again anytime soon.
Registering movement, Karl cut his eyes toward Tenessa. She’d gotten to her feet. Amazingly, she still held the strange black bag. In one quick—albeit jerky—movement, she scooped up the orb and deposited it in the bag. The black material blocked out the orb’s luminescence so effectively, Karl continued to see an afterimage of the white light for several seconds after it disappeared.
The Cimerian took a step toward Tenessa, but froze, making a strange noise. Did the thing just gasp? The Cimerian straightened abruptly and stepped behind an invisible pillar. As suddenly as he’d attacked, he disappeared.
Confused, Karl turned in a full circle. He found nothing to explain the Cimerian’s sudden departure.
Marcus, still on his knees, looked ready to pass out. At least he wasn’t holding his head anymore. “Karl.” It came out slurred. “Look.”
Karl turned in the direction Marcus pointed. A second army of Arachnimen, at least a hundred strong, marched toward them along the canyon floor. The Army would arrive in minutes. Marcus still panted with exhaustion, and Karl couldn't Travel.
Though Tenessa’s face had remained calm and grim since arriving, the somewhat un-Christian thought flitted through Karl’s mind that she might as well start her victory dance now. Marcus and Karl, at least, were about to die.
Chapter 37: Desperation
Beside Maggie, Tristan opened his eyes.
"Tristan," Maggie began. "The disorientation didn't happen—"
"I know," Tristan snapped. "I can hear what's going on around me when I communicate with Doc. I told him interrupting the flow of energy didn't work." He glared at her, as if she’d insulted him.
"Well?" Maggie said. "What does Doc think we should do?"
"He has no idea,” Tristan said dryly.
Maggie opened her mouth angrily. Before she could speak, a column of darkness materialized over Tristan’s shoulder. As she’d seen him do before, the Cimerian, looking like the darkness left behind when a paper doll is punched from the fabric of the sky, stepped out from behind an invisible column.
"Tristan, move!"
Maggie didn't see what happened to Tristan because the next moment, white-hot pokers jammed into her skull, behind her eyes. Her legs gave out. She hit the ground hard. It felt like someone dragged a metal hammer along an anvil between her ears. The Cimerian was trying to Drill her. He pressed his way further and further into her skull, along the tunnel David drilled three days before to save her from this same creature.
White-hot light swallowed everything, and Maggie no longer stood in the meadow.
*******
David and Salla scurried along the lip of the Canyon, crawling over rocks and pushing through thick foliage. Salla had Traveled them fifty feet away to give them a head st
art. She could have Traveled them somewhere else entirely, but David wanted to stay in the same general area. He needed to keep attacking the Council. Yet, the Arachimen were on their tail now. They needed to keep moving.
Every chance he got, David hurled a ball offensive energy into the Canyon. He’d hoped he could at least distract them, even if he couldn't kill them. They didn’t seem to even notice his attacks. The shield kept them safe and focused on their task. Perhaps they registered the explosions, but not any more than a person registers a gnat. Meanwhile, the energies gyrated in the sky. They’d begun to coalesce back into the corridor of energy again.
David could almost feel his short-lived freedom seeping away. Desperation pummeled the inside of his chest, and he wracked his brain for solutions.
By degrees, he became aware of explosions from other places around the canyon. He wasn’t the only one under attack. He felt strange energies, strange emotions he couldn't pin down. He didn’t know what they meant, but the very fact that he couldn’t made him afraid.
He spun toward Salla. "I need to know what's happening with the other groups."
Salla frowned. "What?"
“I need you to Travel first to where Maggie is, and then to my brother. I need to know what's happening with both."
The color drained from Salla’s face and she began to tremble. "I'm not supposed to go by myself."
David wrapped his fingers firmly around both her biceps. "Salla, now is the time to be brave.” He looked grimly into the Canyon. “I need to keep trying to break through that shield. Keep your distance from Maggie and Marcus if you need to. Just get close enough to tell me what's happening."
Salla stared at him with wide, frightened eyes.
"Go," David said firmly. "Go now!"
Salla took a step back from him he disappeared.
David continued to hurl energy at the shield protecting the Council of Six, but to no avail. He couldn’t have been at it for more than five minutes before Salla re-materialized beside him.
She looked utterly shaken.
David ceased his useless attacks and turned his attention to her. "Are they okay?" David asked desperately. Salla merely shook her head.
*******
Doc! The thought came with such startling force that Doc jumped. Several of the people around him on the slopes turned questioning looks on him.
Yes, I’m here, Tristan. What—
She’s being Drilled!
Doc’s heart slammed into marathon mode. Who?
Your incompetent Executioner! She didn’t do a damn thing. Now he’s Drilling her. We’re all about to be—
The thought cut off.
Tristan! “Tristan!” Doc screamed.
The people of Interchron, along with the four newest individuals gathered around him, looking scared.
Taking care not to speak audibly this time, Doc continued to try and get his liaison back. Tristan are you there? Tristan? Answer me, damnit!
Nothing.
Which meant Doc had no insight into events on the battlefield. Only Tristan possessed the ability to communicate with him telepathically. And Doc didn’t have a Traveler at his disposal. Karl, Kristee, and Salla were all in the Canyon. It wasn’t logical to leave any of them with Doc, as he wouldn’t have need of them, or so he thought. The team needed the Travelers in case things turned dangerous.
Of course Doc wanted the team to be safe, but now he wished he’d thought through the implications of trapping himself at Interchron while they were in danger miles away.
Frustrated, Doc paced again, faster, ignoring the concerned looks around him.
Suddenly, just beyond where the farthest resident of Interchron stood, the air shimmered. Doc felt the energy of it, as did everyone else, and they turned as one.
David and Salla appeared as if from thin air.
Doc practically leapt toward them. "What is it?" he demanded. Both David and Salla looked utterly shaken. "What's happening?"
"The Cimerian is hurting Maggie and they’re being attacked by an army of drones,” David said grimly. “Marcus is being exhausted and for some reason Karl can’t Travel. They’re trapped. Everything’s gone to hell."
Fear clawed at the inside of Doc stomach. "Did Karl get the orb?"
David shook his head. "I don’t know. Salla didn’t see it anywhere at all."
Doc took a deep breath, telling himself to be logical, but all thoughts had been driven out of his head. He couldn't begin to know how to react.
David stepped up in front of Doc until they stood almost nose to nose. He put a hand gently on Doc’s shoulder, his eyes boring into Doc’s and his voice rock-hard. "Your team is dying. We need you on the battlefield."
Doc nodded. He turned to Salla. “Take us there.”
*******
"Give me the orb," Karl demanded, hand outstretched. Not only could Karl see no light coming from the bag, but he saw no bulge where the orb should be. He half wondered if Tenessa had hidden the orb somewhere and the bag was actually empty.
She handed it over freely enough and Karl yanked open the drawstrings. White light blinded him from inside. How was it possible?
"Can you Travel, Separatist?" Tenessa asked.
Karl gazed at her for a long moment before slowly shaking his head. “Not until the sedative wears off.”
Tenessa looked grim.
Marcus managed to sit back on his knees. Even coming up from all fours obviously took all his strength. Sweat poured down the sides of his face and his shirt stuck to him. As predicted, he wouldn’t be of any help. “Karl.” It took so much energy for him to form the words, they were almost a gasp. “What do we do?”
Karl shook his head again, the gravity of their situation pressing in on him with claustrophobic urgency. “I’ve no idea.”
Chapter 38: The Pores of a Soul
She found herself in a dark place. Like a black room, except it stretched far into the distance. She saw no lights, yet it looked like a vast parking garage, stretching for miles in every direction. Turning in circles, she peered into the eternal darkness, trying to figure out what was going on. Where was she? She’d been near the Canyon a moment ago.
A noise came from over her shoulder, and Maggie whirled toward it. Far in the distance, she could see a square of light and some sort of movement inside it. She squinted into the eternal darkness, wishing she were closer to the square. As though her thoughts brought about reality, she suddenly stood directly in front of the square of light.
It wasn’t a square at all. Maggie looked through a window that stood much taller than her, into a room, lighted by candles. The same room she’d dropped into the last time someone tried to Drill her. The same room she’d spoken to Clay in. She knew, because she could see him now through the window. He knelt beside the table he’d sat at in that previous vision. In fact, she felt certain he’d been kneeling there with his arms around her when she’d been Drilled. She’d fallen to her knees beside the table, and he’d caught her. She didn’t see herself in the room anymore, which meant she’d just left it. Clay looked on with worry, as though he could see her in the distance.
Not understanding what this was, but wanting answers, Maggie ran forward until her nose pressed against the glass that divided her from Clay. She hit the glass with the flats of her palms, trying to get Clay's attention.
If he heard, he gave no sign. Maggie pulled her hands back and above her shoulders, balling her fists. She needed to hit the glass hard enough to crack it. As soon as both her palms left the glass window, the room and Clay collapsed. The colors and light sunk into the floor like a banner whose string has been cut. Maggie stood alone in the eternal darkness once again.
She listened to her heart pound for what must've been a full minute, telling herself to stay calm, before anything else emerged from the nothingness. This time it was another shape of light, different than the first. This one looked tall and oblong. The light in it was dark blue, only slightly lighter than the eternal darkness around he
r. Having learned from the first time, she willed herself to be near it…and she was. When she stood only feet from it, she found that this, too, was a window into a room, or perhaps a memory. Only this time, its shape was a tall, thin cylinder. A circular room. The light inside could barely be called light. The room was dim, as though its only illumination was light that filtered in from adjacent rooms, though there were none.
In this room Maggie saw her other self standing in front of a strange, shriveled looking old man. Nearly bald with only a few tendrils of dark hair clinging to his scalp, he had a broad forehead. With sunken eyes and skin like crepe paper, Maggie almost didn’t recognize him. But then she did. She’d seen his face before, only it had been much younger, on a newscast in another time.
When David and Lila came to get her and Jonah, they’d leap-frogged through several time periods. In one of them, they’d been taken into a military-like organization and Maggie had watched part of a newscast discussing neurochemical powers.
“This doctor,” the female news anchor continued, “who is responsible for first mapping the human brain, is dissatisfied with the ways in which psychologists are using his findings.”
A man who appeared to be in his mid to late thirties appeared on the screen. Wispy blond hair blustered around his face, setting off pale blue eyes. He must be the doctor the program mentioned, though he looked much younger than Maggie would have expected.
“I mapped the human brain so our society could reach an age of peace and health and enlightenment,” the blond doctor said to the camera, “not so we could use it as an excuse to release criminals. Don’t you see that they’ll only change if they want to change? All we’re doing is giving them an easy way out of the consequences of their actions. They’ll only learn that consequences aren’t so bad, so they might as well re-offend.”
Dark Matter (Interchron Book 3) Page 46