by L B Garrison
Rin vanished.
Thoughts moved and itched, like squirming worms in Mandy’s head.
The tires squealed around another turn.
Alex glanced into the back seat. “The city’s survivors are meeting at the Biblioteca. We’ll have a better chance in a larger group.”
“Captain Hajjar will be there,” Bailey said through clenched teeth.
Cisco strained against his seatbelt to reach in the back to start printing a pistol and a larger weapon from the cargo compartment’s floor. “Mandy, you’d better strap in.”
When they moved onto a straight patch of road, Mandy turned around, clicked the belt and stared at the floorboard. The attack she expected from Rin never came. What was she up to?
The road straightened out and Alex let go of the wheel. The T30 took over the driving. She swiveled the seat around to face Cisco. “What happened in the drain line after we lost contact?”
Cisco glanced at Mandy. “Children knocked out the relays and attacked us on the ladder.”
Bailey peaked over the edge of her seat. “Children?”
Mandy shivered. “It was awful. I could hear them in the dark. Climbing the walls and ceiling. And they were wrong—inside. Like they were brain dead or something.”
Alex settled back in her seat. “In theory nanomechs could be used to rewire a human mind. Even in the Succession Wars, they never did it.”
Mandy tried not to imagine hordes of zombies. “It wasn’t just the kids, but the weavers too. We also saw them tearing apart the city’s supports and causing the quakes.”
“Whoever is controlling them, they are quite good,” Bailey said. “Not a trace remains of the weavers in the system. There simply isn’t a way to wrest control back. All this random destruction is so daft.”
A building rose above the trees, like a multi-tiered wedding cake made of marble and stained glass.
Mandy leaned forward, straining against the seatbelt to see the top of the building through the windshield. “Is that the Biblioteca?”
Bailey watched the towering building too. “Yah, it’s fashioned after a cliché Tower of Babel.”
The trees opened into an onyx parking lot with rows of tall lamp posts topped with globe lights. The rain smeared the glow of the lamps into a blue-white haze. Mandy pressed against the door, tense and jittery. No sign of zombie-children among the trees or in the parking lot. At least they were near the edge of the city and the cloud lay ten miles or so away.
Three T30s sat next to the building with their doors and back hatches open. About a dozen people in gray uniforms hurried to load white cubes and cloth bundles into the waiting vehicles. They stopped when the glare of headlights swept over them.
The T30 parked. An occasional raindrop thumped against the roof.
Cisco holstered his freshly-minted pistol and hefted the new rifle.
While the other strangers returned to their work, a lanky man with bushy black hair broke away from the rest and approached the T30.
Mandy’s breath fogged the window. Why build a machine that could do that? She wiped the haze from the glass with her sleeve. “Shouldn’t we meet him halfway?”
Alex took her rifle from its resting place in the bracket and opened her door. “Captain Hajjar can be charming—or less so, depending on his mood. Let me do the talking.”
Mandy stepped into the sporadic rain with the others.
The dark-haired man stopped in front of Alex with his hands clasped. Water trickled down his greasy black curls. “Lieutenant Arden?”
Alex slung her rifle. “Yes. I’m Arden. You’re Sergeant Lewis?”
Lewis’ eyes kept drifting to Mandy. “Yes, that’s right. We spoke through the little hacker.”
He had a creepy vibe that made Mandy want to take a shower. “Her name is Bailey.”
“Address her as Cadet Timesmith, Sergeant,” Alex said. “Where is Captain Hajjar? I expected you to be ready to leave.”
“Yes, ma’am. We hit a snag removing the encoding on the quantum lattice. The captain is working on it.”
Rin stood near the parking lot’s edge. Her emotions stirred Mandy’s stomach, but Rin didn’t feel afraid or anxious. Those were Mandy’s contribution to the emotional cocktail. Rin radiated something different. Remorse, maybe?
“I’ve not encountered many locks I can’t break,” Bailey said. “I could give it a go.”
“I’m sure the captain would welcome the help,” Lewis said, pointing to the double doors at the top of the steps. “He’s in the central reading area. I’ll take you to him.”
Alex didn’t wait for Lewis. She led the way to the Biblioteca. “If we can’t remove it, we’ll have to destroy the lattice. That might allow the enemy to recover a few comm channels, but that’s preferable to waiting too long and letting them have them all. We need to be gone in twenty minutes, max.”
Mandy splashed through the puddles as she hurried to catch up. They approached the T30s. Rain darkened the soldiers’ uniforms and their hair dripped water, as if they had been standing in the mist. So few people left and they were all military. No families.
Cisco walked between the soldiers and Mandy. Bailey took up a position on Mandy’s other side, shivering with her arms crossed and back hunched to the wind. Mandy wished she had a coat to give Bailey. Strange how the skinny girl brought out Mandy’s protective side. Rin had disappeared again. Where was she when Mandy couldn’t see her?
“The decision to destroy it would be up to the Captain,” Lewis said, nodding to a red haired woman as they walked by. “Ryoko, we’ll be with the Captain. Print a couple of A19 charges, just for giggles, and meet us inside as soon as we’re loaded.”
“A19. Got it,” she responded.
The soldiers watched as they passed, giving as much attention to Mandy as to the parcels they loaded.
“Did you say anything to them about me?” Mandy whispered to Bailey.
Bailey glanced around at the soldiers. “Only that we were meeting two people at the train station. You do seem to be garnering attention. Likely because of your clothes. Civilians aren’t seen walking about the forest of Demeter and dark green camo is gauche.”
Mandy bumped her shoulder against Bailey. “It’s always gauche, until it’s a trend.”
Bailey smiled. “So, you’re just ahead of your time?”
“Yeah, by about a thousand years.”
The heavy door had a blue stained-glass inlay. It made an echoing thud as it closed, sealing the noise of the wind and rain outside. The arched hall swallowed the sound of their footsteps and muffled the thunder. The swinging shadows of trees chased them down the hallway. At least they were out of the wind.
“I heard you and the captain used to be a couple,” Lewis said.
“Thought so,” Bailey whispered to Mandy.
Alex had been irritable since they arrived. Perhaps it wasn’t just the danger.
“That is not an appropriate subject, Sergeant,” Alex said.
“No?” Lewis stared blankly. “I’ll make a note of that. And here we are.”
They walked past bookshelves and through a second door. The main room was a maze of oak bookshelves arranged in concentric circles. The scent of new books tickled Mandy’s nose. Lightning cast flickering silhouettes through the domed blue stained-glass ceiling. A gray dawn was coming.
Lewis led them into an open area filled with books and study tables. Mandy stayed by the shelves, while the others moved further into the room. The open area seemed vulnerable. Was that Rin’s influence?
A man in a gray uniform worked beside a floating cylinder of black crystal. Its facets sparkled in the low light.
“Captain,” Lewis said.
The captain stood. He must have been well over six feet tall and buff as a comic book hero. He had graying hair and a hawkish nose. “Al? Great to see you again. Had me a little worried.”
Mandy leaned against the shelf and settled in to watch the reunion. Alex crossed her arms. She definitely didn�
��t want to see him. What could have happened between them? Mandy glanced at Cisco.
The captain walked to Alex with his arms opened wide. “How long, now? Four years?”
Alex twisted her body sideways to Hajjar as he drew near. “Five. How close are you to unlocking the lattice?”
Hajjar dropped his arms to his side. “Sergeant Lewis, complete the preparations.”
“Yes. Sir.” Lewis hurried out.
Hajjar returned to his work with the crystal. “Wow. That’s the way it is. You could at least salute, Lieutenant.”
“How close are you to unlocking the lattice?” Alex repeated.
Hajjar looked up from the crystal. “I’ve been at this for a spell. I can’t tell you how much longer it might be.”
Alex nodded towards Bailey. “See what you can do.”
“Any help would be appreciated,” Hajjar mumbled.
Bailey knelt on the far side of the humming crystal. She rubbed her hands together and blew a glittering puff of silver dust across its black surface. Lines and circles glowed across the crystal and faded. She closed her eyes and wrinkled her brow. “I’ll have this sorted in a moment.”
Cisco stayed by the crystal and Bailey. Hajjar was an unknown, physically imposing and armed. Cisco would have picked up on Alex’s reaction and he wasn’t about to let Hajjar hang around Bailey without an escort. Mandy was glad of that.
Alex kept her attention firmly on Hajjar too. “The construction site is very impressive. I understand there are over two thousand workers stationed here, plus their families. Where are the rest?”
“Dead.” Hajjar smiled, but his eyes didn’t, as if he was out of practice.
Rin leaned against a bookshelf across from Mandy. “Succinct, for a human.”
Maybe, but not the way a person should speak to an audience he wanted to influence. Or didn’t he care what they thought? Mandy took a step back.
Mandy’s movement drew Hajjar’s attention. “It’s true. Burning debris rained down on the city. Took out buildings. Awful mess. Crews I sent in to handle the fires and assess the damage didn’t come out. Then the comm lines went dead. Everybody stopped talking.”
Feet shuffled against the carpet. Mandy spun around to face Ryoko, the redhead from the parking lot. More of the gray-clad soldiers filed in behind her, like silent ghosts. They spread out in the aisle between the shelves, blocking the way. The air seemed suddenly thin.
Ryoko offered a black plastic box. “A19s.”
Hajjar brushed by Mandy and took the box from Ryoko. “What is this?”
“If we can’t free the lattice soon, we need to destroy it,” Alex said.
Hajjar placed the box on a reading table. He drew his fingers across the dark surface. “Could be. If your hacker can’t break the locks. You’re always so impatient, Al. A mite rude too. You haven’t introduced your gang and this is my house.”
Alex took a moment to answer. “This is Cisco De La Rosa and Bailey Timesmith,” Alex said indicating each in turn.
“And who’s the stray out of uniform?” Hajjar asked, without lifting his gaze from the box.
“Mandy is a civilian,” Alex said, casting a questioning glance at Mandy. “Uh, actually I don’t know your last name.”
Hajjar smiled, for real this time. “Mandy.”
“Clementine,” the soldiers whispered.
A chill slithered down Mandy’s spine. Darkness shifted between the shelves, but Mandy couldn’t look away from Hajjar. “You couldn’t know my last name. I haven’t told anyone.”
Bailey stumbled back. “Alex, it’s a forgery!”
The black crystal crumbled.
“Run,” Rin yelled.
Dark threads swam within Hajjar’s eyes. He grabbed a fist full of Mandy’s shirt and yanked her off the floor. “Ain’t that something? All that prep work, playing multiple roles and it wasn’t needed. You had a schism didn’t you Rin? And Mandy ended up on top.”
Alex aimed her rifle at Hajjar’s head. “Let her go.”
Cisco moved around the other side.
“Stand down, Cisco,” Alex ordered. “Don’t get in my way.”
Mandy’s pulse drummed in her ears. The fabric of her shirt cut into her neck and her feet dangled above the floor. With everything else happening, a little piece of her brain felt embarrassed that her shirt was riding up, exposing most of her front and her bra to Cisco. Stupid.
“How could you know about the schism?” Mandy gasp.
Hajjar tightened his grip. “Razor knows all about you. Your memory talked to her as a child. You’re going to see that everything is connected.”
Mandy wasn’t sure how strong she was now, but she pushed against his chest. Hajjar’s grip was like stone. She couldn’t move him.
Bailey pulled a brown tube from her pocket.
Alex’s eyes’ flickered from Bailey to the motionless soldiers blocking the aisle. She thumbed the safety off her rifle. “We’re leaving. You and the other survivors will have to find your own way. Let her go. This is your last warning, Herbert.”
A clattering, like a heavy rain echoed from above. The light grayed as millions of weavers swarmed over the glass roof.
Hajjar laughed. “Oh, Al, there were no survivors, but if it’s any consolation, he was sorry about the affair.”
Rin stood behind Hajjar. “It’s the Kinderen. This thing killed six of our sisters. Hit it!”
Mandy slammed both palms into Hajjar’s chest. He took a step back, but his grip stayed firm.
“Now,” Alex said.
Bailey tossed the wiggling brown cylinder at the crowd of gray uniforms.
Alex fired.
Hajjar’s shoulder exploded, spraying Mandy with hot gore and bits of meat. She screamed and yanked against his hold.
The cylinder popped like a balloon, spraying a twisted web of gummy threads across the room, striking shelves, floors and even the high ceiling with multiple wet smacks. The gooey fibers filled the space, ensnaring the soldiers. Only the areas around Cisco, Bailey and Alex remained clear. That seemed to be by design.
Web fibers stuck to Hajjar’s back. Bits of the captain’s shoulder slithered together and healed. “Listen Mandy, all I want is Rin’s Mark II Jinx engine and I don’t much care how we do this. I’m willing to let Alex go, for old time’s sake. The others too. But if you resist, I will gut them.”
Lightning cast flickering shadows.
“Sorry. I promised Mom, no more deals with the devil.” Mandy kicked against Hajjar, ripping free from his grip. She hit the floor. Hajjar went flying into the tangled soldiers and stuck to the web.
Thunder rattled the glass ceiling.
Mandy’s face itched. She wiped her hand across her cheek. Blood droplets crawled over her fingers and leaped to the floor.
Cisco took Mandy’s arm and pulled her up. “Are you all right?”
The blood drops trickled their way to Hajjar and his crew. Rin said she was immune to the nanomechs, but this was still beyond creepy.
“Mandy, are you all right?” Cisco repeated.
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay.”
Bodies thrashed in the tangled web of gummy threads, making the shelves quiver.
Mandy put her hands on her hips and glared at Bailey. “That brown goo was for me, wasn’t it?”
Bailey looked down. “It’s jumble-weave. You wouldn’t have been harmed and I wouldn’t have used it unless you misbehaved.”
In the tangled web, faces smeared as the bodies blended together in a swirling vortex. The viscous twister rose to tower six feet above Mandy. It flowed around the jumble-weave filaments like a liquid. The pinks and bruised hues of flesh turned a pale shade of bone. It smelled of death, like a dirty butcher’s shop.
Cisco reached for Mandy’s arm, but she grabbed his instead and pulled him back. “Come on.”
Alex herded Bailey towards a gap between the shelves. “We’re going around.”
High above the ceiling cracked, like breaking ice. Weavers and bro
ken glass fell.
Rin blocked Mandy’s path. “All this is a distraction to keep you here until the cloud arrives. Leave them. They’re too slow.”
The liquid column twisted, opening like a flower and spinning like a pinwheel. Mandy shoved Cisco aside. Whirling tentacles shattered bookshelves and slammed into Mandy. The room tumbled in a blur of shadow and furniture. She struck a bookshelf on the far side with explosive force, driving the breath out of her. A hail of books thumped across the tables, loose pages fluttered. The wreckage of wood and torn books collapsed on her.
Mandy took a shaky breath. Her whole body ached. No fair. Distractions shouldn’t hit so hard.
The alien goo splashed through the reading desks like a viscous flood, crossing the room faster than Mandy could run.
Time slowed. Shards of glass tumbled, sparkling in the low light. Rain drops floated down like beads of glass. Alex shielded Bailey and fired at the liquid menace, sending lazy ripples across its surface. In the back of the Biblioteca a sluggish tide of weavers poured from a wide breach in the dome. Cisco was out of sight. Maybe hurt.
Mandy had to get out of the way. Had to find Cisco and help the others. Her body trembled. Every clumsy movement took concentration. Her muscles didn’t work right. What the hell?
Rin stood with her arms crossed and her back to Mandy. “It’s too soon, you understand. I’m not ready for this, but you have forced me to take the body for safekeeping.”
Mandy collapsed. A puppet with her strings cut. She managed to squirm and roll over. Books dug into her back. Dawn sparkled along the cracks in the domed ceiling. Rin was close by, her presence nibbling at the edges of Mandy’s mind. The burn of fire, the smell of blood and taste of ash.
An electric chill gushed through Mandy. Rin’s calm washed over her like frigid water. Two hearts beat in her chest, one racing, the other steady. They thudded back and forth out of sequence, until the cadences merged. The room spun. Sight, sounds and textures blended in a stomach-turning mess.
They had changed places. Rin sat in her uniform on the smoldering books while Mandy stood across from her. How did that happen? Mandy reached out. Her hand passed through Rin. “Oh my God, you took the body. How?”