Innocence Lost

by O. J. Lowe

  “So why didn’t they?” Wade hadn’t come here expecting a history lesson, but he was interested despite the circumstances.

  “In-fighting mainly. The great leaders might have been great, but they were still human. The flesh is fragile, no matter how skilled you might be. And the thing to remember about humans, is we die very easily. It’s a sad fact of life but true regardless. And when the great leaders died, those they left behind broke up everything trying to claim it themselves. There’s a moral to that story somewhere, I think. No matter how much power you have, it can’t survive a dozen people all pulling in opposite directions.”

  She paused. “Sometimes I think that was where the old order of Vedo went wrong. A dream changes, good intentions don’t stand up to the people who try to carry them out.”

  That made Wade stand up straight. “What?”

  “Baxter never told you the full story about what happened to them?” she asked. She sounded surprised. “I thought the two of you were friends.”

  “He told you?”

  “For a long time, they hid away in their hole, the bulk of them cut off from society,” she said, not really answering the question. “Dozens upon dozens of Vedo all keeping to themselves. They had knowledge, they had secrets that could have changed the course of the kingdoms if they’d wanted to share. But they didn’t. They didn’t want to interfere. That was what they said anyway. I always thought it was because they were too afraid of the power. That or they didn’t trust the kingdoms with what they had. Or that once they shared their secrets, they wouldn’t have anything that made them special anymore. One of those.”

  “Must have had a reason for it,” Wade said. He didn’t sound like he believed it. In truth, he didn’t know what to think.

  “But of course, you can’t indoctrinate everyone. Sooner or later someone will start to question the way of things. That person is a negative influence. Your only option is to deal with them or let the insolence grow. There’s no middle ground. And you know who the worst of them all was in the old order?”

  He had a feeling of the answer, but it was still a surprise to hear the nonchalance with which she said, “It was your old friend Ruud Baxter. He wanted change. I suppose you have to give him kudos for that, if nothing else. He advocated it. The old masters did everything they could to try and bring him round to their way of thinking. Eventually they almost gave up on him, sent him out with an apprentice in truth they didn’t want either. She was the daughter of one of the masters, I think.”

  “What?! They didn’t want Arventino?” That he’d known about. In the recent months since Sharon Arventino had been killed, the rumours had abounded that she’d been something special. The way Baxter had mourned her with the rest of the Vedo had been touching. He’d suspected there was something in it. At the time, before he’d known, he’d wondered if it’d been love. Now, he thought otherwise.

  “Wasn’t that talented all things considered. They thought Baxter would fail with her and then they had an excuse to cast him away.” Pree smiled a little, a not wholly pleasant gesture across her face. Again, he wondered how she knew this. Baxter had to have told her, he guessed. “But against all odds, he managed to coax the embers of talent into a roaring fire. Hence the conundrum.”

  She paused, cocked her head up. “Someone’s coming.”

  Wade silently cursed the oncoming man. He’d been enjoying hearing her speak. All of this stuff had been going on when Baxter and he had been close friends. They’d travelled together, they’d shared a lot of stuff. Apparently one of them had been freer with sharing than the other. It was insight into his friend that unsettled him, worrying that Prideaux Khan whom he’d never suspected knew Baxter that well, knew more than she should have.

  The man that approached them looked every inch the uneasy informant, his head bobbing back and forth uneasily in search of an attack that might never come. He was in his forties, the harsh glow of the lights reflecting off his balding head. His paunch wobbled as he lumbered towards them. His eyes were watery, and he looked haggard, his clothes creased and travel-worn, stained with the efforts of his exertions. Whatever else he looked, it wasn’t like a native of Burykia.

  “You…” He sounded out of breath, his chest pumping, his skin slick with sweat. “… You both Unisco, yeah?”

  Premesoiran, Wade would have said if he’d have to guess. Pree stepped forward, all business-like and professional in her demeanour.

  “Correct,” she said. “And you are…?”

  “Davis Teela,” he said. “Don’t shoot me but I used to work for Claudia Coppinger.”

  Wade coughed, managed to hide the smile. He’d partly been expecting that. Given the extent of the companies across the five kingdoms, a lot of people had worked for Claudia Coppinger at one point or another in their lives. Most of them hadn’t know a damn thing about it. Only now were the extent of her business practices over the last twenty years starting to come out. She’d been infinitely wealthier than any of them had ever imagined. No wonder she’d been able to finance a war.

  “Go on,” Pree said. “What do you have for us?”

  Teela cleared his throat with a squelching hack. He spat it on the ground. “She’s got something planned. Look, you got to get me away from her. She’s going to kill millions with her new weapon. I want away.”

  “A new weapon?” That was intriguing. Wade and Pree looked at each other. Though their faces might have been distorted to Teela, they could read each other’s expression perfectly. Pree shrugged, just a fraction. Their companion might not have picked up on it, Wade did. “What sort of weapon?”

  “Later, later,” Teela almost shouted. “Just take me out, get me away from her. I ran but she’ll chase me. You don’t know what she has!”

  “Start with it, Teela,” Pree said, her voice steady. There was more than a hint of steel in it. “Who are you and how do you know this?”

  “I worked for her in her labs. Helped develop it. Oh Divines, what did I do? Gilgarus forgive me. I made a stupid mistake. Shouldn’t have listened to her.”

  “You know where her labs are?” Wade asked. Even if he was exaggerating the threat, not really something they could discount given what they’d already seen of Coppinger’s resources, that information was worth its weight in platinum.

  “Some,” Teela shrugged. He was starting to regain some composure now. “Not all. Nobody knows all. Except maybe her. And the big guy. Oh Divines, save me from him!” He was starting to panic again, Pree stepped forward, both hands up in reassurance.

  “Relax,” she said. “We got you. She’s not going to get you. Calm down, we’ll get out of here, Mr Teela.”

  “Professor,” he added smoothly. The composure as he said that came and went in a heartbeat, drained out of him and suddenly he was a wreck again. He was sincere, some of it might have been false in its sentiments, but Wade didn’t doubt he genuinely believed he was in danger.

  “Orders are to get him to a safe location as swiftly as possible,” Control said. That almost startled him. He didn’t know the controller on duty today, the voice genderless and electronic. The days when it might have been Okocha were gone. He’d moved onto bigger and better things. Truth being told, he didn’t begrudge Okocha it, but he’d be missed on the other end of the line. There’d been few with the same level of calm and composure in a crisis.

  “Copy that,” Pree said. “Extracting now.” She looked down at Teela. “Come on. Hope you’ve got it in you to run some more.” She held out a hand, he took it and Wade turned towards the exit.

  There was someone waiting for them.

  He was sure he’d seen her before somewhere, he couldn’t place where. All he knew immediately was that she felt wrong. Pree stiffened up like she’d been zapped, Teela let out a yell.

  “Oh Divines, not her!” he whimpered. “We’re dead. We’re all dead.”

  “Ma’am!” Wade said, one hand dropping to his pocket where the blaster was hidden. “I’m going to have to ask yo
u to move aside. Official Unisco business.”

  The skin was alabaster white, not a hint of colour beyond the extraordinarily blue eyes, her lips little more than a colourless slash in her face. The hair was the darkest shade of black he’d ever seen, the areas under those eyes dark and gaunt. She wore a thick black coat despite the heat of the Burykian night outside, one where a weapon could easily be concealed.

  “Shoot her!” Teela said, almost frantic. “Shootshootshootshoother!”

  The woman took a step forward; Wade went for his weapon. Pree was faster, her X7 out and he heard three blasts streak past him, hit the woman in the chest. Part of him knew something bad was going to happen immediately, he was glad that Pree had been the one to pull the trigger not him.

  The blasts sizzled against the coat, the material aflame as they scorched through, revealing blackened skin underneath where they’d landed. Beyond that, nothing.

  “Oh crap!” Control said. If they’d sounded human, there might have been panic there. As it was, the speaker sounded flatly emotionless. “We’ve got another Domis!”

  This time they both fired, both emptying their weapons into her in the faint hope that it might slow her down. The second Pree’s weapon clicked empty, she grabbed Teela’s hand again and turned to run, Teela taking rapid steps behind her that belied his great bulk, his breath exploding out of him in ragged gasps. Wade didn’t need too much of an invitation to follow.

  Behind them, he heard the footsteps. Soon she was going to be running too. He dropped the power pack from his weapon, slid in his spare and hoped like hells that they didn’t end up going through the civilian areas. This could turn very bad very quickly.

  He hated that he’d been proved right on that count. Normally he might have said so, yet it wasn’t the time or the place to crow. Neither Pree nor Teela were lingering, the two of them already well away from him. He needed to catch up. Except…

  Wade drew his summoner, slid in a crystal. He hit the activation button, watched as Bakaru appeared between him and the woman. He still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was familiar about her. Not that it mattered. If a laser shot didn’t slow her down, then it was time to think bigger. A lot bigger.

  Normally, he might have wondered if Bakaru unleashing the uniblast against her was overkill. The powerful burst of energy screeched from the dragon’s jaws, blazed across the short distance and hit her hard in the chest. Her eyes widened, he saw that just before the force of the blast continued its momentum, pushing her back and back away from him. She opened her mouth to scream, Wade heard no sound over the roar that still filled his ears. The blast faded away, he brought Bakaru back and turned to run. He’d heard the stories about Domis and didn’t want to see how much they compared with this woman.

  It didn’t take long to catch up with Pree and Teela, the heavy man looking like his heart was ready to give out. Wade gave him a reassuring slap on the back.

  “She’s down,” he said. “For how long, I don’t know.” He took a long look at Teela. “Who or what the hells is she? Talk now and fast!”

  Teela straightened himself up, tried to find some composure. “One of Mistress Coppinger’s projects. Wanted to see if they could build another Domis.” He still trotted along at a decent speed as he spoke. “Think they had moderate success if I’m honest. I wouldn’t want to get into a fight with her.”

  “If she can build one, then they can build more,” Pree said thoughtfully. “This isn’t good.”

  “Thanks for that understatement,” Wade said. They were approaching the civilian areas now and he slid his blaster under his coat. His summoner still hung around his neck. “Think I lost her. Had to uniblast her.”

  Pree gave him a scathing look. “Ouch. No such thing as half measures, then?”

  “Well we don’t know the full measure. A lot’s better than a little in this case,” he said defensively. “No point taking any… Down!”

  She’d came out a side door and was suddenly in front of him, hand shaped into a point as she slashed at Teela. Wade yanked the heavy man back, almost threw out his shoulder under his weight. Pree snapped a kick into the dark-haired woman’s side, he heard the thump and saw the look of irritation on her face. If Pree had kicked the broad side of a hunk of meat in a butcher’s freezer, the meat might have shown more of a reaction.

  “Aww crap!” Pree barely had time to say before the woman grabbed at her, both hands arched into claws, aiming for her throat.

  Wade didn’t entirely see what happened next, Pree’s body blocking his line of sight. All he heard was a violent snap and crackle of electricity, pale blue light bathing the two women for a moment. Pree’s hair rose on end and then the woman was recoiling, a deep black burn opened across her front. A look of shock swept across her face before Pree’s boot met it square on and staggered her.

  She didn’t stay to press the advantage, jumped back away from a swinging fist that cracked a fire extinguisher. Vapour started to fill the hallway, hissing angrily out the ruined casing.

  “Run!” Pree said calmly. He had to admire her cool under pressure. “We can’t win this fight!”

  With that, she turned and between them they managed to hustle Teela away through the fog, every footstep sounding thunderous in the quiet hall. Wade was sure he could hear the mysterious woman behind them, hunting them, searching through the vapour. Somehow, she never caught them, though he didn’t dare look back. He glanced sideways at Pree, could only see a faint outline. Something about her felt off, like she was bursting with anger at the way things had gone down. Still she didn’t say anything, just kept Teela moving on her side. Wade could feel the portly man’s heart pounding against his arm.

  It hadn’t been a great time for any of them. Not a stretch to say that he and Pree could have screwed this one up badly. There was still a chance they could do yet.

  Teela’s breathing was starting to grow even more laboured, Wade didn’t even know where they were at this point. He’d lost track of their position amidst it all, just needed to keep going on and hope for the best. There had to be an exit around here somewhere.

  The outside air as they hit a fire door had never felt so sweet, cool air hitting the damp on their skin from the vapour. The alarm trilled out above them, Wade cursed the sound of it, slammed the door shut behind them, cutting it off. The bang as it locked into place reinforced the feeling that maybe they’d just gotten away with it.

  They’d parked across the square, as close to the stadium as they could, a rented speeder that had been picked because of its inability to draw attention. It had been a good spot by Pree in the sole lot in Ryoti, Wade had missed it. She hadn’t, had declared it perfect for the job, a nice little four-seater just for this circumstance.

  “Can’t go back,” Teela moaned. “She saw me, she knows, I’m a dead man. If I wasn’t before, they know what I’ve done now.”

  There’d never been any way they were going to let him go. Not if he knew as much as he’d hinted at. Whatever else he might have been, Teela wasn’t being subtle. He wanted away from it. He could have played coy and mysterious as much as he wanted, and it might not have gotten him anywhere. If that woman hadn’t shown up…

  They might not have taken him as seriously. Nothing like a female version of the infamous Domis Di Carmine to raise the severity of a situation.

  That sole thought screamed at him, and it was like an iron grip across his chest. He took a step back, suddenly aware of cold sweat across his face, swallowed a lump in his throat he hadn’t known was there. He pushed Teela back against the speeder, drew his X7.

  “What do you know?” he demanded. “What’s going on here? How did she find you so easily?!”

  “Wade?!” Pree started to say, just as he pointed the blaster at Teela’s face. “What the hells do you…?”

  He glared at her, she shut up. “This whole thing stinks! It’s too convenient. Talk! Now, or I leave you for her!”

  “Okay, okay,” Teela said, the colour comp
letely gone from his face. “Okay, I’ll do it, I’ll talk. It’s not as simple as you think. Coppinger hates you all!”

  “I’m not hearing anything I don’t already know,” Wade said angrily. “Come on, or I blow out one of your kneecaps. They can rebuild it, but it hurts like a bitch! Your choice!”

  “Wade!” Pree said once again, before her voice took on a hard tone. “If he doesn’t talk, hurt him!” He found it hard to say who was more surprised, Teela looking at her with horror, Wade with shock.

  “You’re right,” she added simply. “He knows something. This whole thing feels wrong. Why stop at one kneecap. Blow them both out and leave him for that woman. She’ll find him eventually, and we all knock the price of failure, don’t we?”

  Teela gulped several times, looked like he wanted to let out a few indignant sounds. Nothing came. Wade lowered the blaster, pointed it at his feet. “Don’t even try to deny it, Professor Teela. Don’t try to lie to me.”

  “If you do, we’ll know,” Pree said. She gave Wade a knowing look. “Won’t we?” He nodded. “What does Coppinger have planned? What’s she up to?”

  “Look, like I said, all I know is what I’ve seen. She’s building new weapons. New ways to devastate the kingdoms. More efficient ways. Taking it over the way she did Vazara, she’s not sure she’ll be able to do that across all five. Sooner or later, you’ll all gang up on her and…”

  “And her little insurrection is over,” Wade said. “Where are her weapons labs? What’s she going for? Chemical? More biological weapons?”

  “She’s going to make the sky shake,” Teela said. “The weapon is almost perfected and it’s going to be glorious. I designed it all you know. Concept to execution. Nearly finished as well. Even without me, it’s a case of when, not if they finish it.”

  “So why dangle you out here?” Pree said, before the look of comprehension dawned on her. “Ah. Now you’re expendable. You built the bomb and she doesn’t need you anymore.”