Gareth’s response was immediate. Nothing as yet. Still working on the box.
Hickory sucked in her breath. Batting zero. Making my way forward to the bridge.
#
The corridors were strangely quiet. Only on two occasions did Hickory need to duck back and wait at a junction until a Bikashi crew member passed. She saw no signs of any security details. Either the forcefield protecting the battlecruiser made standard precautions inside this ship of war redundant, or Kabutai was running it with a skeleton crew. Perhaps both. It would be easy for her to locate Kabutai with her empathic sense, but it would alert him to her presence. Instead, she accessed a terminal to find the bridge. She was about to head there when something odd caught her eye. The schematics indicated a large blanked out area on the middle deck of the battlecruiser, between the bridge and engineering. Kabutai’s location! As was his habit, the Warlord preferred to be isolated from his commanders. The Sword will have amplified this character trait.
#
The door to Kabutai’s control center slid open silently at her approach. The Warlord’s back was to her. He sat on an ornate chair looking through the forward viewscreen at the destruction below. Neutrino bombs had minimized the damage to property and maximized human casualties, but inevitably some of London’s famous landmarks had crumpled. The Eye tilted at a crazy angle, half-submerged in the Thames, Tower Bridge had collapsed, and the Houses of Parliament had been flattened, but Big Ben still stood in solitary splendor amid the rubble.
Hickory glanced around the room. Rows of monitors gave Kabutai access to every part of the ship. He may be isolated, but he’s controlling everything.
The Warlord’s ear twitched as Hickory came through the door behind him. He half turned toward her. “Commander, I was just contemplating the dreadful necessity of destroying such magnificent historical buildings. Then again, London is filled with such gems. I am sure it won’t miss a few. And the British people. What a glorious warrior race, sadly now in decline because of the stubbornness of your government.” He leaned forward, pointing. “And yet, even now, you can see them crawling from their burrows, firing their popguns at the sky. Most of their ordinance will fall short, and the Sword will take care of the rest. Still, I can’t help admiring their tenacity.” He laughed, a mocking human-like parody. “Are you an emissary, have you come to beg me to stop?”
Hickory wondered if the Warlord was losing his grip on reality. The Sword changed those who held it, she knew. It had altered Vogel’s physical appearance, adding muscle and sinew to his already strong physique, and turning the Bikashi into a hulking brute. The Warlord would inevitably follow him down that path. His affected manner and use of irony were signs of how much his brain had changed. She said, “There’s one thing I don’t understand. Why did you persist with building such a brutal regime on Auriga if you’re so keen on Earth customs?”
“I envy much about you humans, but sometimes your naivete astounds me. The Bikashi way of life has not changed in a millennium. It is not something one person or a dozen could seek to challenge.” His shoulders heaved with mirth. “Although some thought differently.”
Hickory wondered again about the fate of the resistance on Auriga. Were they delayed in their goal of unseating the Bikashi hierarchy, or perhaps destroyed? No, if Sikona had failed, the Warlord would taunt her with it. She glanced around the command center.
The Bikashi sensed what she was doing. “You seek the Sword?” There was a note of mild surprise in his voice. “You cannot have it; indeed, you could not take it even if I wished it.”
The Warlord rose from his seat and turned to face her.
Hickory’s heart leaped. Kabutai was unrecognizable. Seven foot six inches tall, his skin was metallic blue-green and glistened with perspiration, his cheekbones were hollowed out, and his nose had shrunk. He was bigger but less Bikashi looking, more monstrous than she remembered. A loose-fitting tunic, woven of many colors gaped open at his chest and was gathered at the waist by a golden belt fashioned from entwined serpents.
Hickory couldn’t take her eyes from Kabutai’s chest. Suppurating sores and pustules covered his torso, and the subcutaneous tissue under his skin writhed as though he was infested with maggots. The blade of the Sword was embedded in the flesh while the hilt and handguard remained visible at his esophagus. It was becoming part of him. She took a step back.
The Bikashi uttered a guttural laugh. “I tasked my scientists, led by that fool Jolphyr, with finding out how to harness the Sword’s faster than light capabilities.”
“I told you only the Segniori were able to do that.”
Kabutai glared at her. “Why would I believe you, Earth woman? You would say anything to prevent the Bikashi from gaining an advantage over your planet.” He sighed. “Although, I fear you were correct in your assessment. Jolphyr claimed that by linking the Sword and I electronically, it would allow me to harness its full powers. I should have realized it was one more scheme to dethrone me.” He took a step toward her, then faltered, grimacing with pain. “He will not make a similar mistake again. His head has become a comfortable nest for the vermin in my garden.”
Hickory nodded. Jolphyr had played out his role to the end. “Bikashi scientists are not well known for their patience.” She recalled how Vogel and his scientists had almost brought Gareth to madness by trying to extract information from his memory. “They caused the Sword great confusion, I assume.”
“Perhaps that is so. Instead of linking my mind to it, the Sword reacted by fusing itself to my body. It clung to me like an electromagnetic force. It has proved impossible to remove.”
“It is doing what it was programmed to.” In a way, that was how the Sword activated the Ark when the Teacher took it into space.
The Warlord gripped the edge of his work desk, and his eyes narrowed in pain. “Yes, and although I am feeble and somewhat repulsive to look upon, the sword has given me the means to achieve my goal.”
“You realize eventually, perhaps quite soon now, the Sword will kill you. It is not possible for it to integrate with your Aurigan physiology, but it will keep trying until you are dead.”
“By then, I will have my legacy. The Earth will belong to me and so will begin a new era for the Bikashi Empire.”
Hickory considered trying to plead with the Warlord, but that would achieve nothing. Kabutai’s mind was as firmly in the grip of the Sword as was his body. One thing remained for him now, and that was to conquer humanity.
One thing remained for her: to kill him before he could complete his plans.
CHAPTER 32
Temporal Anomaly
Kabutai sank back into his chair. Breathing heavily, he gripped the armrests. His metamorphosis was almost complete. He and the Sword of Connat would be one, but any semblance of control would disappear. Although his flesh would remain animated, he would be dead, and it would be too late to stop the destruction of Earth. The Sword would continue to broadcast his orders, and the Warlord’s lieutenants would ensure those instructions were carried out to the letter until the last vestiges of Kabutai’s flesh had rotted away.
Gareth’s excited voice came through her SIM. Cap, can you hear me? We’ve done it! The box is in place.
She breathed a sigh of relief. The boy genius had come through. Great Gareth, how do I switch it on?
I’ve made a few refinements after analyzing your test run. I can initiate an ionic transfer from here to your location. Your sparks should home in on the transmission automatically. The combination of your SIM and the mutation in your amygdala should allow you better control over the intensity and direction of whichever function you select.
Sounds good; have you identified any specific universes I should look at?
Sorry, still not a hundred percent sure on that. There are an infinite number of axes in time and space.
Hickory sighed, but there was no point in chastising Gareth. He had done brilliantly to get this far; the rest was up to her. Any word from Jess?
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She’s on her way. Should be entering the solar system as we speak.
Okay, activate the transfer.
She signed off, then felt her whole body tingle as sparks covered her skin. Her arms and hands glowed, and she prepared to activate her neoteric sense by recalling her childhood mantra.
Kabutai cackled then coughed violently. “No, you are too late, and you will not stop me. There is someone here you will want you to see.” He waved his hand at the controls, and a door to his sanctum slid open.
Aslexis stood there, his statuesque figure limned in the light from the corridor outside.
Hickory clutched her emerald crucifix, stunned. The sight of him was like a jolt of electricity to her heart. “Aslexis…?” Her mind ran wild. Every relationship she’d ever had with a man had ended in disappointment or betrayal. The thought Aslexis might submit himself to the Warlord was crushing. Aslexis… no, please, not him.
Aslexis stumbled into the room. Hickory saw his hands were tied together and he was tethered like a dog. He jerked against his captor, a furious look on his face. Four security guards followed him into the room.
Waves of relief, joy, and concern for her lover flooded through Hickory.
“Draw your swords, guardsmen, and prepare to slay this one when I tell you.” He coughed and spat blood onto the floor. “Choose now, Hickory Lace. Abandon your mission, join with me, and you and your paramour will live to enjoy the benefits; otherwise, I will slay this one where he stands, and you will be chained in solitary confinement to regret your decision for the rest of your life.”
It wasn’t a choice, thought Hickory. She’d already made her decision before she boarded the battlecruiser. Two people’s happiness, two people’s lives counted as nothing against the greater tragedy.
I am calm and peaceful like the boundless ocean. I am open-hearted and free as the wind. Hickory pushed to one side the gamma-blocks in her cerebellum. She brought to mind the Teacher’s lessons and delved deep until the emotional energy crackled inside her head.
White flashes of power increased in intensity behind her eyes until she thought her mind would burst. At that moment, the sparks made contact with the black box outside the force field. It was as though she stood inside her own mind. She saw the electrical impulses, the billions of neurons, and the trillions of connections all linked by the energy sparks and enhanced by the Ark’s black box.
Under the sparks’ influence, she became aware of thousands of different planes of matter, space, and time. The processing capacity of her brain couldn’t cope with the massive data input, so her SIM compensated by providing her with a less complicated mental image.
She stood on the surface of a planet at the junction of space and time. An array of three-dimension geometric figures rotated at varying speeds in a kaleidoscope of iridescent color in the sky above. Tentatively, she extended her arm and prodded at the face of the simplest shape she could see. The four-sided tetrahedron gave way before her. When she withdrew her virtual probe, it resumed its previous configuration in the heavens.
Kabutai’s last words echoed. “…you will be chained in solitary confinement to regret your decision for the rest of your life.”
Hickory realized time had momentarily been displaced in the region of her personal space. No time had passed. Aslexis still lived surrounded by guards.
The Warlord looked at her round-eyed. “You…what have you done?”
She pushed both her virtual hands into the mass of neuron-spark couplets and watched them form rings about her wrists, fingers, and thumbs.
#
The room faded to a gray, smoke-filled shadowland. The Warlord, Aslexis and six guards stood unmoving in the now, the standard space-time dimension, the place representing home, where all things followed the known laws of nature. But it was an illusion, Hickory now realized. Gareth was right. There’s no such thing as standard space-time; an infinite variety of universes exists, each one in harmony with a ‘normal’ set of laws unique to them.
In the corners of her eyes, Hickory glimpsed ghostly figures passing through the battlecruiser then disappearing, unaware of the existence of alternate selves in different time zones.
Hickory saw them all because of her symbiosis with the golden sparks. She withdrew inside her mind to the junction of space and time and selected a sphere. Here goes nothing. She pushed at one axis of the spherical shape until it became an ellipsoid. Abruptly, the ellipsoid collapsed then reformed into an eight-sided octahedron.
Instantly, Hickory was transported to a unique plane of the universe, part of which was the world she knew, and part a world of dreams and nightmare.
She could still see Kabutai as a monochromatic shadow. His hand grasped the hilt of the Sword, and his lips quivered. He remained fixed in the act of ordering his guards to kill Aslexis. His eyes swiveled toward Hickory. They darkened as he glimpsed his adversary.
He can see me!
A shadow formed in a corner and writhed into life.
Violator! Hickory’s eyes grew wide as the beast paced around the room, mewling. Kabutai had transported the animal into her domain. It seemed confused by the unfamiliar surroundings and swung its head from side to side, seeking anything recognizable.
Kabutai’s voice droned, slowed to one-tenth of normal speed. “Attack.” The beast responded by snarling at the source. It swung a paw at Kabutai but met no resistance. It flung itself at Aslexis and his guards to similar effect. The creature retreated, spitting and hissing until it reached a solid wall. It was frightened, seeking to escape from this strange habitat. It padded toward the only other being in the room, its claws extended, and saliva flecking from its giant maw.
Hickory had seconds to act. Kabutai had snatched the violator from the now and dragged it into this universe. The beast was flesh and blood and unconstrained in its movements. She brought an image of Bonni to mind and located a nearby dimension where her canine friend still lived. “Bonni, round him up.” The Kelpie-Blue Heeler cross apparated between her and the violator, its hackles raised and head low to the ground.
Kabutai’s smile grew grotesquely wider, and his lips moved silently invoking another adversary.
“Your dog will not save you.” Vogel strode into view dressed in full battle armor. He halted three yards from Hickory and took up a fighting stance, his sword pointed at Hickory’s chest. “Earthling! The Bikashi has suffered for the Aligned Planets’ treachery for decades, now is the time for justice.” He faltered and seemed for a moment to lose his purpose. He glanced around at his strange surroundings, then focused on Hickory’s familiar figure. “I do what I do to help my people…I will take no pleasure from killing you…but it is necessary.”
Hickory’s mind whirled. Bonni stood toe to toe with the violator, but they had receded into the distance. A stand-off. Kabutai has given up on the violator. She glanced at the Warlord. His sneering face confirmed what she’d already guessed. He was responsible for these incarnations of her enemies. Some manifestation of the Sword’s power allowed him to perceive and interact with the multi-dimensions of space-time in the same way she could.
In the now, Vogel had been killed by his lieutenant, Thurle. This version was from an earlier time and very much alive.
Hickory shook a shower of sparks from her finger and projected them towards Vogel.
We are Charakai. We come. A hundred screeching reptiles extended their necks and talons and plunged down toward the Bikashi commander.
Vogel adjusted his stance and swung his sword upward. He caught a few of the dinosaurs in flight but was overwhelmed by sheer numbers. “Sequana,” he screamed, calling upon his accomplice in the attempted coup of Prosperine. “Where are you, shrelek! You will not abandon me. We need each other. The future of the Bikashi race and of Avanaux depends on it.”
The Warlord’s head slumped forward, his eyes closed and his focus on Hickory faded. Vogel and the Charakai disappeared into the mist.
His strength is almost gone. Only the Swo
rd is keeping him alive while at the same time the wound it inflicted is killing him.
The Warlord shook his head to clear it, and Hickory prepared herself to meet a new threat.
Sequana materialized almost reluctantly, his gaze flicking from side to side in terror. “Barbish, why did you bring me here, old friend. This is a place of nightmare.”
He speaks to a phantom. Only he can see the priest he murdered. Hickory watched the Pharlaxian fundamentalist and leader of Prosperine’s rebel forces, fascinated. Kabutai had plucked Sequana from a place and time where his mind had already slipped into madness.
Sequana perceived the faint image of Kabutai with the Sword of Connat projecting from his torso, and he squealed. His hand trembled as it reached towards the weapon. He jerked it back. “No, never again.” When he saw Hickory, he screamed. “It is the she-devil come to haunt me. Tèkan, Tèkan, bring Sasha, hurry!”
Kabutai caused the torturer and her pet to appear, and Hickory took an involuntary step backward. Kabutai jeered at her hesitation. Sequana’s minions, Tèkan and Sasha, had been two of Hickory’s most frightening opponents. When nearing the time to give birth, the diminutive Sasha would eat its way through living flesh to escape. Hickory shivered at the memory of the iron mask she’d been forced to wear and the frantic scratching and biting of the small creature. Only Kar had been powerful enough to clear her mind of the fear the two had created.
No! She resisted the temptation to call on the Teacher. Her previous attempt in the test run had ended badly. She didn’t want the Riv-Amok following her here. I am strong enough. Isn’t this the reason I decided to come here on my own? I need to face this menace by myself.
She projected an image where she bit Sasha’s head from its shoulders, just as she’d dreamed when imprisoned in Sequana’s rebel stronghold. Tèkan screamed, pulled her decapitated pet to her chest and held its still pulsating body to her, then vanished.
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