by Larkin, Matt
David took in the remaining men with a glance, shook his head, and kept walking.
Behind him he heard whispers of “Sentinel.” There was just no way to disguise Merkabah’s brutal efficiency. Not without failing to use the style to full advantage. And he needed every advantage here.
In the chambers beyond he found a cluster of Emites. It was odd to see the servile Race sentenced to a prison world. They had enhanced strength, making them excellent for hard labor. Angels had created them as workers, but with the modifications making them naturally non-aggressive, criminal Emites were rare. This lot had likely been driven toward criminal behavior by someone else, and gotten an unsympathetic judge.
Not that there was anything David could do for them, either. They watched him with hooded eyes as he passed. Emites had broad shoulders, sloping brows, and no hair, making them recognizable. Outright slavery was illegal, but since the Race was literally bred to serve, few objected to relatively small pay.
He passed others on his way to find the well. Probably all the Races of Man were represented on this planet, but the Icies and Amphies fared the worst. The Icies couldn’t take the heat of the desert, and the Amphies … even a short term here would likely kill one. Some judges took that into account. Some didn’t.
An Icie lay on his stomach, his skin peeling away. Dehydrated, by the look of him, and not long for this life. David started to kneel beside the man, but he could do nothing for him. Could he diminish the heat of the sun? Offer water when he had none?
He had to find the bloody well, or he’d be no better off in a few more hours.
A tunnel led deeper into the structure. A steady flow of people came in and out, so that must be the place. Some of those he passed looked right in his eyes, daring a silent challenge. Most, though, kept their eyes down, trying not to attract attention. The strong survived here, and the rest got by if they remained unnoticed.
Around the bend, a wide room opened up, where people had clustered around a well perhaps five or six meters in diameter. David rushed toward it, then fell to his knees and cupped water in his hands. Tepid, and probably not the cleanest, but it was all that would keep him alive. He sipped it gingerly, aware of others in the room watching him. The newcomer. Word would spread soon about those who had challenged him. With luck, he wouldn’t have to fight to prove himself often.
Without luck, someone would smash his head in while he slept.
Against the wall, some prisoners were looting the body of a recently dead boy, a lad no more than seventeen. They took his boots and his shirt, leaving the body alone, naked and broken.
David rose and walked toward the lad’s corpse.
How many people had he sent to this place? How many of them had died because of it?
The Sentinels used Horesh and a few worlds like it to discourage criminals. God only knew if that worked. But for the first time, David began to wonder if the price was too high, even if it did.
He scooped some water in his hands and carried it back toward the dying Icie as best he was able. By the time he got there, most of the water had dribbled down through his fingers. He spread the moisture over the man’s lips.
The Icie was too far gone, too delirious to know what was going on. David sighed. “All right, lad, let’s go.” He lifted the man, slinging the Icie’s arms over his shoulders, and carried him on his back.
He couldn’t absolve himself of all his sins, but he could get this man to water.
CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
November 25th
I did not want to make an enemy of Mizraim. I am a citizen of the Empire, and I had no wish to betray it. But I have a greater purpose, a higher calling, and I cannot sacrifice that. I will not. Nevertheless, the thought of turning on my own people, of being named a traitor, makes me ill. They would likely throw me in such a world as Horesh for these crimes. A place where I would undoubtedly be murdered or worse within a day or so of arrival. And a place I can never leave David.
Time had blurred around Rachel. Days of hiding in the Conduit had bled her mind dry. Too much flying, too many pathways to choose. When the Ark jumped out the Conduit Gate, she slipped from the command chair.
“Rachel!” Knight shouted.
He was by her side in an instant, lifting her up. Her vision went dark, and she awoke on a cot, with Leah hovering over her.
“Guess I don’t need to say you’re pushing yourself too hard.” Leah ran a scanner over Rachel’s face. “Yeah.”
Rachel started to speak, then Leah pressed something to her temple. She went out again almost immediately.
She woke later, in her own room. Despite the darkness, she felt someone else there. Her empathic sense was fried. She couldn’t tell who it was.
“You should sleep.” Knight. Of course.
“You shouldn’t be in my room.”
A wave of disappointment hit her before he closed off his emotions. She never heard him move, but the door opened. And then she was alone. Alone in darkness.
Like David. One more victim of her crusade. Knight had once asked her how many people had died because of her. Now, she’d have to add Thomas’ name to that list. He was a good man who deserved better. He’d dreamed of seeing Eden, and now he never would.
The best she could do was try to find it for him.
But before that, before anything, there was David. She could never let him become another of her victims. Never.
She felt sleep taking her, and she let it. The Ark sung to her in her dreams.
She rose some hours later and sought out Knight. He was in the dojo, as she’d suspected. Sweat streamed off him, like he’d been going through the motions for hours. Maybe he’d been here since she sent him away. Knight was even more of a tangled mess than she was, but she couldn’t make him her problem right now. Even if the warmth he felt for her was almost intoxicating … Even if …
She hugged herself, trying to still her thoughts. “Knight.”
He continued moving through forms. It looked like a blend of Merkabah and whatever style—or styles—Knight had learned on Gehenna. “You shouldn’t be in this room.”
She sighed. Maybe she deserved that. She’d thrown him out of her bedroom for fear of leading him on. For fear of what she might let herself do with him. But she had hurt him in doing so. She wished she had a way to make it up to him, but she had neither the means nor the time. She sighed. “We have to go after David.”
Knight just continued his training. His movements varied from slow and determined to so fast her eyes couldn’t track them. It was repetition with slight variation. Muscle memory with built in diversity. That was how Knight fought, wasn’t it? Never repeat the same tactics and your foe never knows what to expect.
“He’s been imprisoned because of me, Knight. I can’t allow that.” Damn it, would he just speak to her? Did she owe him more? Maybe she should have let him down more firmly, sooner. She had chosen David. But part of her still almost wanted Knight. She liked to tell herself it was normal to lust after someone like him. He was a predator, and he wanted her. She knew he did and, if she wasn’t careful, she could easily get drunk on his desire.
Fine. She stepped closer to him, so close he could have hit her with his motions. Instead his fist snapped into place centimeters from her face. She jerked despite herself, letting out a yip.
“Please. Help me.” Her heart was pounding a light year a minute.
He paused, dropping his hands and standing right in her face. “That won’t be easy. Sentinels aren’t going to let us just walk in there and take him.”
“We have the Ark.”
“That only matters if you’re willing to use it.”
If she was willing to kill with it, he meant. Was she?
Knight grabbed her arms and squeezed, pulling her to stare right in his face. “The best way to defeat a foe is to destroy them before they know what happened. Are you going to do that? Or are you going to fly us there and then refuse to shoot down the enemy again?”
> “Those people are not—”
“It doesn’t matter who they are. They are going to stop us from saving David. Do you want him back badly enough to kill for it? You killed people on Gehenna to protect yourself, to accomplish your mission to find this damn ship. Do you care about him as much?”
Yes. She nodded. She’d do whatever it took.
Knight released her with a grunt and shut his eyes. “Then I’ll help you.”
“Thanks, Knight.” She’d known he would. And it was time to get this over with. “Get cleaned up and meet me on the bridge in an hour.”
She headed up herself and jumped back into the Conduit, piloting toward Horesh, a planet in the Andromeda I Satellite galaxy. A little hellhole she was about to set ablaze.
Her mind merged with the Ark. And it knew. It knew she wanted to go to war, and it showed her how. The ship had seven ion cannons, more than even a Sentinel warship.
Knight, Phoebe, and Leah all joined her on the bridge.
“Are you ready?” Rachel asked them.
“We have to save him,” Leah said.
Phoebe shifted and Rachel felt the Cold-worlder’s emotions roiling. “Yup, yup. Save the day, commit treason. All in a day’s work.”
She glanced at Knight. He was wearing his long coat buttoned again, as he had on Gehenna, and he was armed with throwing knives on his thighs. He just nodded.
Good.
The Gate was coming. She jumped through it back to normal space.
A trio of Sentinel destroyers—the lightest of their full ships—moved in on the Ark almost immediately.
But Rachel had already made her decision. She unleashed all seven ion cannons, targeting the Sentinel ships. Maybe she could disable them without destroying them. Maybe she couldn’t.
But she was going to get David back.
The Sentinels drew closer. And she opened fire.
An ion stream tore through a Sentinel destroyer, carving it in half like a roast. Some lucky few might have made it to escape pods before the Singularity Drive lost containment. Rachel wished she could do something for them. But she’d already set her course.
Another plasma blast tore through the shields of the next destroyer.
“Come on,” she said through clenched teeth. “Retreat.”
“They won’t,” Phoebe said.
She glanced at the Sentinel. “They have to know they can’t win.”
“They know.”
Well, shit. She launched an ion stream at the third destroyer. Her plasma bolts blasted away the missiles and drones the Sentinels had launched to counterattack. The ships were powerful, but no match for the Ark. Not when Rachel was determined to push forward.
“What is that?” Knight asked, indicating something on the holo display.
Back at the Conduit gate three more ships had arrived. But not Sentinel ships by that profile. She turned a scanner on the newcomers, then redirected her attention to the destroyers.
MAG rounds pelted the Ark’s hull, but now that she knew how to activate kinetic shields they felt like nothing more than bee stings to a bear. Annoyances to be swatted out of the sky.
The screen flashed with an incoming transmission. Galizur Blake.
That was his ship, the Quasar Industries flagship Megiddo, backed by a pair of QI cruisers. Likely no more threat than the Sentinel destroyers.
“Receive call.”
Galizur’s face appeared on the screen. “Ms. Jordan.”
She nodded. “Welcome to Horesh. I’m afraid I’m a little busy to receive you right now.” To emphasize her point she flicked her hand through the hologram, sending a stream of plasma to destroy another wave of Sentinel drones.
“I can see that. However, you uncovered the Ark using my funding and research. It is QI property, therefore, and you must turn it over to us immediately.”
“Yeah, okay. That’s going to happen.” She directed an ion cannon to fire a warning shot off the Megiddo’s bow.
Knight snickered, and Rachel tried not to grin herself.
Galizur’s face faltered for a brief moment, then returned to impassiveness. “You think this a laughing matter, Ms. Jordan? You have no rightful claim to this piece of technology. You uncovered it on our behalf, and by withholding it now, you are, in effect, in possession of stolen goods. Moreover, you claim to want to benefit humanity, while keeping such a ship completely to yourself. Your hypocrisy and pride have gotten the better of you. Surrender the Ark now, and all will be forgiven.”
Who the void did he think he was? She had found the Sefer. She had found the Ark. She had risked her life for this. Except, she’d found both because of him. And she had intended to turn everything over to QI. But somehow, events on Gehenna had made her even more sure that no megacorp could be trusted with such technology, any more than any government could. Besides, she needed the Ark to save David and find Eden.
And she would never let either one go. They needed her.
Did that make her a criminal? Perhaps. Maybe Galizur did have a better claim to the Ark than she did. If so, then her actions could be construed as self-righteousness, as arrogance. But she … She had to do these things.
“Have you ever just known you were meant for something?” she said. “Meant to do something greater?”
“Indeed,” Galizur said. “You were meant to join us, as we agreed. You could go far in this company, Ms. Jordan.”
And if she joined QI, maybe she could even ensure all humanity benefited from the technology. But could she give up the Ark? It was there, in her mind, calling to her. Waiting to show her the way back to Eden. Waiting to let her reunite humanity and break the chains of theocracy that had bound them for more than three thousand years.
“It’s tempting …”
“Wait, you’re shitting me,” Phoebe said. “You refused to turn this ship over to the Sentinels, your own government, but now you’re considering letting QI have it? Get a little dark energy stuck between your ears, girl?”
Rachel ignored her. “The truth is, I do feel a higher calling, Galizur. There is something I’m meant to do for mankind, and I have to do it. With the Ark. I’m going to find Eden.”
Galizur leaned forward, shaking his head. “I warn you, Ms. Jordan. If you take the Ark from here, I will inform the entire Conglomerate of your culpability in these events. You will have every megacorp in the universe after you. Including the Redeemers. I believe you are well acquainted with them.”
A chill ran down her spine. She knew the Redeemers all too well. Half a lifetime under their edicts had almost crushed her soul. Knight had spared her brother’s life, but Jeremiah would likely still want her back, and her father would surely want her captured. All she needed was QI giving the Redeemers permission, or even a request, to bring her down. There would be nowhere safe in this universe. Not from the entire Conglomerate and Mizraim.
Except, perhaps for Eden itself—lost and unknown to the rest of mankind.
If she gave in now, worked with QI, maybe she could still accomplish her goals. Or maybe not. Her mission was too important to risk Galizur interfering if she worked for him. As was David. She was going to save him.
“One last chance, Ms. Jordan,” Galizur said.
Rachel reached into the hologram and flicked a plasma bolt at the Megiddo. The blast impacted the QI ship’s shields, washing over the hull. The screen went dead.
The QI ships neither retreated nor advanced.
Rachel turned her attention to the last Sentinel destroyer, still lobbing MAG rounds at her. “Sons of bitches just won’t learn!” With a wave of her hand she sent an ion stream pounding right through the ship. It ruptured, then imploded.
“Rachel …” Leah said.
The Sentinel destroyer was collapsing into nothingness, a cloud of debris and plasma explosions, vanishing into itself. The singularity was consuming it and would eventually swallow itself. And everyone that had lived and worked aboard it.
She had just killed them all with a wave of her
hand. A simple gesture had … ended all those lives. Men and women with families, dreams … Futures cut short. And she had done it as if on a whim. Rachel suddenly felt dizzy. She was no better than the Redeemers, destroying people. “How …” Her voice wouldn’t work. “How many people on a …”
“A standard destroyer has a crew of 149 Sentinels,” Phoebe said. “Sometimes they carry extra troops for deployment.”
Holy shit. How many people had she killed today? Most of those aboard three destroyers, for certain. And she was doing this for the betterment of mankind. Mass murder of men and women dedicated to protecting the human race.
She felt sick.
“If we’re going to do this, we need to do it now,” Knight said. “But I can’t fly the shuttle myself.”
“Phoebe …” Rachel began.
“That planet is pretty hard on Cold-worlders. I can do it, but God knows how long it will take to find David.”
Sending Phoebe down there would put more lives in jeopardy. Rachel shook her head. No more. “I’ll fly it myself. But I need you to stay here and keep QI at bay. Come over to the console. It’s time you learned to operate the weapons.”
There were few people she could trust to touch the Ark, but she got the feeling Phoebe was one of them. And she had no choice—she had to get David. If she got him back, all of this would mean something.
All of this would be worth … all she’d done. She prayed it would.
CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE
It is so easy to get caught up in a course and have it carry you along. Like the currents of the Conduit, the forces of life take us places we never expected to go. And by the time we realize where we are headed, it is too late to change the course. All we can do is ride it out and try to live with the consequences.
Death and murder were no stranger to Knight. He’d grown up so entangled with the two, he could not separate himself from them. Rachel was different. She’d come to Gehenna halfway near innocent. She’d objected when he’d killed to protect her, killed men who would have tortured her, maybe killed her. And now she’d probably killed almost as many people in a day as he had in a lifetime. Maybe more.