“We did not mean to startle you, Master,” said Logan. “But we have brought one of the Dreamers for your pleasure. We mean no disrespect by our intrusion.” Logan kept his face expressionless, spacing his words in a flat, mind-drugged monotone.
Behind Jessica, masked by her body, Logan saw Francis slip the burnweapon under his tunic. Had Sturdivent seen the gun?
No—he was totally intent on Jessica, devouring her beauty with his dark eyes. Now he swung his gaze to Logan. “A noise.. .I heard a loud noise from the corridor.”
“The woman is still in partial Dreamstate,” said Logan. “She stumbled and fell.”
“We trust we have not disturbed you, Master,” said Francis abjectly. “It is our intent only to further your pleasure.”
And Logan followed up smoothly: “The only way we knew to express our gratitude for your generosity toward us. As Elite Gods, we used our authority with the robots to bring you this special gift. Were we wrong in doing so, Master? Are you angry with us?”
Their act was ‘working. Sturdivent relaxed, slipping the gun into a pocket of his robe. His eyes were again on Jessica. “This female…is extraordinary,” he declared softly, “I am pleased that you have brought her.”
Sturdivent approached Jess, pulled her body close to his, running his hands over her full breasts beneath the loverobe. He tipped her chin up, kissed her deeply, his tongue probing her open mouth. She submitted numbly, mechanically, eyes clouded as Sturdivent began peeling the robe from her shoulders.
“You may go now,” he said, without taking his eyes from Jessica. Behind him, at a signal, Francis passed his burngun to Logan.
Aware of their silence, Sturdivent turned to them, anger flaring in his voice: “You heard me! Do as, I say!”
In one short, lunging step, Logan reached Sturdivent, jabbing the heatgun hard into the flesh of his throat. “No! You do as we say, you slimy sonofabitch!”
Francis plunged his right hand into Sturdivent’s robe, pulling the burnweapon from his pocket. Jessica watched all this with empty, dreaming eyes.
“All right now, Master…” and Logan used the word with bitter contempt, “you take us exactly where we tell you.”
“And you take us now,” added Francis.
Sturdivent was flushed with shock and anger; his face muscles worked spasmodically as his pale hands clenched and unclenched. He knew he could do nothing. They’d burn him down if he resisted. The hate in Logan’s eyes told him that.
Francis turned on Jessica, leveling the burngun at her. “Time to die, runner!” He grinned at Logan. “And this time she won’t vanish!”
“Wait,” ordered Logan, stepping between them. “I want her alive…for now.”
“But why?”
“To testify at DS. Against Sturdivent.”
“We can do that. She’s no good to us now.”
“She’s my responsibility,” said Logan, keeping Sturdivent within gunrange as he spoke. “I say she goes with us.”
Francis scowled. “I don’t like it.”
“There’s no time to argue this,” snapped Logan. “We know what we have to do. Let’s do it.”
Francis sighed, moved to Sturdivent, nudged him with the gun. “All right, let’s move.”
With a beamgun tight against his ribs, Sturdivent took them down a snaking series of corridors and work tunnels to their predetermined destination: the Central Power Control Unit.
All guards and technicians were dismissed without explanation. No one in Nirvana dared question the Master’s direct order.
Logan slidelocked the chamber door, turning to face Sturdivent. The area crackled with harnessed energy; its main control board flickered and sizzled with electronic life. Logan could sense the heartbeat of the vast city within this humming room.
“You know what we want,” he said.
“But I’m not a control tech,” objected Sturdivent. “I can’t do it.”
“He’s lying,” said Francis. “He helped design this unit.”
Logan placed the barrel of his weapon against Sturdivent’s forehead. His tone was ice: “If you don’t do as we say, you know I’ll kill you.”
Sturdivent’s face was fear-beaded; his lower lip trembled. In resignation, he took over the primary control seat and began togging switches.
“Tell us exactly what you’re doing,” said Logan.
“I’m doing what you asked bringing it to manual,” explained Sturdivent. “Then I’ll reverse the gravity drive and take the city down under personal control. It’s not programmed for automatic descent.”
“All right,” said Logan.
“This is precise work…I’ll need some help.”
Francis took over the second control chair. “Tell me what to do,” he said.
Sturdivent gave him detailed instructions, while Logan hovered at his shoulder, eyes intent on the descent dial. The city was now lowering toward Earth, dropping down through its artificial cloud cover, descending steadily toward the Valley of Kings.
Behind them, unobserved, Jessica was slowly backing toward the door. She had reached a mental anxiety state; her machine-dazed mind was telling her that something was wrong. I must help the Master! These men are trying to harm him. They must be stopped.
She edged back another foot, reached the door, released the slidelock—just as Logan pivoted toward her, shouting words she didn’t understand. Jessica slipped through the door, crying out for the robot guards.
“Damn you, Logan! I warned you about her!” shouted Francis, twisting to fire at an advancing robot. The machine exploded under the heatcharge—as two more guards rushed forward.
Logan triggered the burner, bringing both of them down in ruin, but another robot was firing from the open doorway—and a laser charge sliced past Logan’s head into the main control bank, setting off warning lights and alarms.
Francis managed to slidelock the door again, and now rushed to Sturdivent, who was fighting to maintain a stable altitude.
“How bad?” asked Francis.
“I think I can hold it,” said Sturdivent.. “The gravity unit is still intact.”
For Logan, it was over. He’d lost. No way to escape now, even if they got down safely. Whole city on alert. No way out. No way to save Jess. Robots at the door with beamers, cutting their way inside. Time running out.
Can’t get back home. My Earth lost to me forever. Jaq lost. Never see Jess again. Mission a failure. Death waiting.
He could do one thing. He could see to it that this foul kingdom died with him; he could destroy the evil it represented, the perversion and power.
This one final thing he could do.
“Collision course!” he shouted, gun on Sturdivent. “Set it!”
“What?” Sturdivent swung away from the controls. “You can’t—”
“I said kill it!” ordered Logan. “Crash the city!”
Francis looked stunned. “Logan, what are you—”
Logan didn’t wait. He threw his body across the power deck, jamming the grav-control bar full forward.
The room tipped crazily. Sirens and alarms shrieked at them. The three men were spill-tumbled into the forward end of the room like broken dolls…
An immense, wounded sky beast, the city angled sharply earthward. Shearing off the great head of the Sphinx as it scythed down, it slammed into the desert floor in a gigantic eruption of exploding buildings, flying metal, and sharded glass; towers collapsed; streets heaved upward, splitting and rupturing; mile-high sunshields folded into themselves, cracking and shuddering.as the giant skycity convulsed and died.
* * *
SURPRISE AND TREACHERY
Dawn.
A slow-rising wind. The Egyptian sun, tilting above the horizon in the Valley of Kings, striking fire reflections from the shattered sky ruin spread across the face of the desert.
No sound. No movement.
Sturdivent: dead, crushed by the city he ruled.
Logan: badly wounded, weakened by blood loss.
Jessica: unconscious, half-buried, lying on her back in the mounded sand next to a broken-bodied robot guard.
Logan staggered to her, cradling her head, smoothing sand from her cheek. Her eyes opened, and she knew him, sobbed his name, reached out to touch, gently, his blood-mapped face.The effects of the machine were gone; she was mentally strong once again.
“Logan!”
The word was a shout, a hard, angry sound. A voice Logan instantly recognized Francis.
He moved away from Jess to face this gaunt-bodied killer, this man who would surely now, take his life, burn it away in the heatcharge from the leveled gun.
“It’s ended, Francis…Sturdivent’s dead. And the computers died with the city. DS can’t exist without them. The system will disintegrate. It will die as the city died. It’s all over.”
Francis smiled. His clothing was torn; his skin was bruised; a slight cut bled along his left leg, but he was basically unmarked by the crash.
He was calm, certain of his moves, as Logan swayed in the rising heat, his blood pulsing black and steady into the sand.
“I don’t care about the death of this system,” Francis said. “No, Logan—it’s your death I care about. They sent me to kill you and now I will.”
“I don’t—” Logan blinked at him. “Who sent you?”
“Them,” said Francis softly. “The same ones—from the ship. I’ve been one step ahead of you all the way.” He smiled. “How do you think I knew so much about the city…the Dreamers…the Central Power Unit…? They told me; they knew all about Sturdivent, from beginning.”
“And…the drug…how you resisted it…”
“With their shielding—just as you did.”
Logan stared at him. “Are you…from this planet?”
“No. Another Earth. A third parallel world. The aliens took me, gave me a mission, set me against you. Once you’re dead, they’ll take me back. They promised that. They’ll come for me. At your death, I’m free!”
He raised the beamgun. And died.
Burned where he stood by the robot guard’s weapon in Jessica’s hand.
Logan turned to her, trying to speak. His throat muscles moved convulsively. A blood film of weakness hazed his eyes. He stumbled toward Jess, a leg collapsing beneath him. He sprawled into the sand.
She reached out to touch him. “You’ve won, Logan. The aliens will come for you now. You did what they asked you to do.”
He shook his head weakly. “Can’t…can’t leave…without you…love…you.”
“I know,” she said softly, holding him. “I know you love me—as I love you but you also love the other me as much or more. And she will bear your child.You must go back to her.”
“Can’t…leave you…to die.”
“I won’t die now. What you said about the system is true. It’s finished…I’ll survive.” She kissed him, touching his fevered lips with hers. “But I’ll never forget you. I’ll always love you…always!”
“Jess…Jess…”
They embraced—but even as she held him he was changing, dissolving in her arms, losing his physical form.
They were taking him.
Jessica stepped back, tears in her eyes, speaking his name.
He was gone.
Only the blooded sand remained to mark his passage.
He became aware of light: concentrated, all-encompassing, as if the inside of his skull generated its own painfully sharp illumination.
Logan opened his eyes, blinked rapidly, squinting against the radiance.
The resilient surface under his body: medtable.
The subtly curving silver walls rising around him: starship.
The source of light, sunlike and intense: aliens.
We have brought you back, Logan. We have honored our agreement.
Logan sat up, slid from the table to stand facing them. Behind the shielding crystal, the three alien light-forms flickered and coalesced.
His wounds were healed, the clothes he wore, his own. He drew slow fingers across his face. Restored, they told him. You are exactly as you were when you left your Earth.
“And…the other Logan?”
Thanks to you, he has been returned to his home planet. He retains life through your success.
“What about Jessica: I didn’t want to leave her there…will she survive?”
We cannot read futures. But she lives now. And she is strong, resourceful. You need not concern yourself about her.
Anger began building within Logan; his sense of personal betrayal asserted itself. He had been lied to, cruelly tricked.
“You knew about Godbirth from the start—about Sturdivent, the city, all of it!” +
Yes. We had that knowledge.
“And about the female runners—where they were taken and what was done to them.”
We knew.
Logan’s face tightened. His voice was bitter with accusation: “You sent Francis to kill me!”
Of course. We do not deny this.
“Why did he wait? He could have killed me long before he tried.”
That was part of our agreement with him. He was forbidden to kill you until the Godbirth process was completed, and until you were free of the city.
“That explains why he was so anxious to guide me through the ritual and then have me leave with him.”
Precisely. In killing you, Francis would have achieved his mission. He would then have been safely returned to his world.
“You were monitoring three Earths, not two, and he came from this third Earth?”
Yes.
“And the other Francis?”
Dead, naturally. We destroyed him—just as we would have destroyed your duplicate had you failed.
Logan paced the chamber, trying to control his rising anger. He turned back toward the tri-blazed light: “And Phedra?”
We arranged for her to betray you in Arcade.
“Kirov…Monte Carlo?”
We planted the desire for a Sandman’s Gun in Kirov’s mind. In order to make things a bit more difficult for you.
“When you warned me to stay away from Jessica—you actually wanted me to see her, fall in love with her!”
True. The interaction between you generated pleasure for us.
Logan was trying to understand it all. Now he hesitated, confused. “But you weren’t there. How could anything I did on Earth afford you pleasure here?”
We were there, Logan. When we altered your body we implanted certain highly sensitive monitoring devices beneath your skin surface. Thus, we were able to see through your body, to experience fear, anger, passion—just as you experienced them.
A pause. Then: We particularly enjoyed your encounter with the barracuda. Really quite stimulating.
Logan fought back the revulsion welling up in his mind. He felt totally betrayed; he had been grossly manipulated.
“My mission—whether or not I destroyed Sturdivent’s grip on Earth—that never really mattered to you, did it?”
How one small planet is controlled, and by whom, is of no concern to us. In presenting your mission, we simply utilized your limited sense of human morality.
“If all this is so unimportant to you, why did you bother to bring me back!”
We had agreed to do so. And we keep our agreements.
The light-forms were fading; the crystal lost its radiance, began to break apart. Logan ran forward to the dissolving crystal, suddenly desperate. “You can’t go now! You can’t leave me here—in this ship!”
To have done all this, to have fought his way clear of Earth, and to end up here, on this starcraft, drifting the stars forever, was too horrible to contemplate! Surely, they were not this cruel, this indifferent to all that he had done.
The crystal was gone.
The aliens were gone.
Logan was alone.
Then, to calm him, to ease his darkest fears, their voice flowed into his mind: We keep our agreements. And he, too, began to change…to dissolve…
>
Home!
His world…his Earth!
On the lawn of his house near Maincamp. Sitting at the controls of the silent paravane, the food crates beside him, with all of it done—the honor of the Jamaican deeps.the fall from the cliffs at Monte Carlo.the entrapment inside the cave at Kilimanjaro.the drugged nightmares.the death of the skycity.the terrors and the hunts and the killing.the struggle to survive—all of it, over and done, with him here, safe, back home at last with.
Jess!
She was walking toward him from the house.
Walking? Why isn’t she running? Why is she so calm, so unemotional?
He was back from the dead, wasn’t he?…home again after an impossible journey across space and time!
He jumped down from the control pod, taking her into his arms, heart racing, eyes blurred with tears. He couldn’t speak; the words of joy were locked in his throat.
She looked at him oddly, head canted. “Why are you back so soon?”
“Soon? But I was—”
“You just took off and now you’re back,” she said. “I didn’t even hear you land.”
He stared at her, suddenly aware of the final irony—that time, as it is measured in one universe, does not exist in the next; that here, on this Earth, his whole incredible adventure had taken place in nontime!
“Why did you come back?” Jess asked, with a puzzled frown.
“For you.” He smiled. “For you, and Jaq. I want you with me. Will you come with me?”
She smiled back at him. “All right.I’ll make the flight to Chicago. I’ll go with you.” She looked down, placed a hand at her rising stomach. “We’ll go with you.” There was puzzlement in her eyes…”But are you sure there’s nothing wrong?”
“No,” he said, smiling foolishly. “Nothing’s wrong. Not now!”
And Logan held her…them…Jessica and Jaq…close against his fast-beating heart.
Logan: A Trilogy Page 40