Technomancer

by B. V. Larson

“Well, it might only be someone with engine trouble, but I’m going to see who that is. If it is the Gray Men, we are as ready for them now as we’re ever going to be.”

  “Madness,” Gilling said. “Why invite trouble? We are quite close to the planned point of departure. Let’s cross over into the world of the Gray Men right now.”

  “I can’t ignore this. What if we could establish some kind of dialogue?”

  “Who is leading this expedition?” Gilling asked.

  “I’m combat, you’re support, remember? So start supporting me.”

  I left the road and rolled into the desert. At that moment, the people in the backseat became alarmed.

  “Where the hell are you going?” Souza asked.

  “As close as I can figure, this is the spot,” I said. “Whoever is out there seems to agree with me.”

  “Let’s just stop and form the rip if this is close enough,” suggested Rheinman.

  “I want to see who is signaling and why,” I said.

  “What if it’s the Gray Men?”

  “Then they are smarter than I thought.”

  “All right, but we’re off-roading,” Rheinman said in my ear. “What if you run into a rock or fly into a gully and flip us over? At least slow down.”

  I had to admit he had a point. I slowed down and everyone seemed relieved, with the possible exception of Fiona. She was impatient to get closer to anyone she could legitimately slice up with her knife.

  I gently rolled toward the light, which flashed three times, disappeared, then flashed three more times. I eased back on the accelerator, as the terrain was getting rougher. Desert plants scraped the bottom of the SUV and cut lines in the paint of our fenders. I slowed down further, bouncing over rocks and scrubby brush.

  As we drew near, the flashing signals ceased. I wondered what we’d been led into. Looking around at the pitch-dark desert surrounding us, I had to admit it was a perfect spot for a private massacre.

  We were all worried by the time we were close to the area where the flashing signals had come from before they’d stopped. I kept looking for a building, a car, or even a man standing out there. But there was nothing.

  I finally hit the brakes and we stopped with a long squeal. The engine thrummed and we all stared through the dusty windshield.

  “We’ve got a few bags of fuel in the back,” Gilling said. “This is as good a spot as any to make our rip and finish this.”

  I shook my head. “Someone is out here. We have to know who. Souza, Rheinman, I want you two to walk on patrol along on either side of the truck while we creep forward.”

  Souza climbed out with his rifle in his hand, but Rheinman hesitated. “Why are you driving while I walk?”

  Fiona made a disgusted sound in her throat and unbuckled herself. “Chicken,” she said. “I’ll do it.”

  “All right,” Rheinman grumbled. “I’m going.”

  I rolled the truck forward slowly. On either side, my two patrolling men looked everywhere at once, nervously. Finally, I saw the flashing again. Three quick flashes. They seemed impatient. I turned the wheel and came to the top of a low rise. Down below was a shallow depression surrounded by large rocks. Out of the hollowed-out area rose a vapor of some kind.

  “Is that smoke?” asked Fiona, rolling down her window and leaning outside.

  “I’m not sure,” I said.

  “It might be steam,” Gilling said. “Maybe a vehicle has overheated out here and needs help.”

  I nodded. We all climbed out of the truck. There were a dozen boulders clustered around the spot. In the middle of them was a scorched area. Had there been a fire? I didn’t see much out here that could burn.

  A voice spoke up from the shadows surrounding one of the largest rocks. “You took your sweet time getting here,” it complained.

  We all aimed our weapons at the stranger. He was tall, with a long face and close-together eyes. Walking in a crouch, I saw Souza and Rheinman circling around behind him. I could have called them off, but I didn’t. I didn’t like running into a stranger by surprise out here any more than they did.

  “You’ve got some explaining to do, Robert,” Gilling said.

  I glanced at Gilling sharply, then back to the man he’d called Robert. I remembered the wedding pictures Jenna had shown me once. Yes, this could be the man. I felt an odd mixture of emotions—but mostly, I was angry.

  “You are Robert Townsend?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “To some parties, yes.”

  “You ditched Jenna on purpose, then, didn’t you?”

  “Regrettable,” Robert said. He sounded bored. He walked forward into the glare of the SUV headlights. Moths had gathered in the blue-white cones of light, circling and tapping at the lenses. We all had weapons, but Robert appeared unconcerned.

  “So, you’ve thrown in with these cultists, have you, Draith?” he asked. “Not the safest move.”

  “We’ve decided to do something about the Gray Men,” I said.

  “Yeah, about that—”

  I shook my head. “Don’t even try to get in our way, Robert, or whoever you are. Go home and tell your masters we’re tired of being hunted by aliens.”

  “Being hunted is one thing, getting yourself slaughtered is another.”

  I looked him up and down now that I could see him clearly. I frowned at his legs, which looked like they were both in white plaster casts. The bottom region of each cast was scorched black and brown. My eyes flicked back to the blackened area in the center of the stones.

  “You’ve been somewhere hot, haven’t you?” I asked.

  Robert gestured to his makeshift boots. “Asbestos,” he said. “Nothing works better.”

  I licked my lips. I didn’t like this at all. His presence indicated others knew we were out here and probably what we were up to. Could they have alerted the Gray Men? A terrible thought occurred to me. What if the Gray Men were working with the Community to clean out the riffraff rogues such as myself?

  I put away my pistol and waved for the others, who now surrounded him, to do the same. We needed answers more than we needed blood. Fiona was the last to lower her knife. Her eyes were big—and hungry.

  “We should kill this one,” Gilling said, speaking up at last. “He’s a traitor.”

  “Yeah,” said Fiona. “No one will know. Time to die.”

  Robert tried to look unconcerned. “Don’t you people even want to know why I came out to this rock pile?”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “To stop you from making a big mistake. You must stay away from the Gray Men. Abort your juvenile mission.”

  “You made the mistake by showing up again,” Fiona said. “He used to be one of us, Quentin. But he took off with a good object.” She had her knife out now. I saw her raise it with a mischievous smile. She made a tiny sawing motion on the air.

  Robert threw his hand to his cheek. It came away running with blood. “Keep these freaks off me, Draith,” he said.

  “Tell me things,” I said, waving for Fiona to knock it off. “I don’t understand how we’re making a mistake. Explain it to me.”

  Robert wiped away more blood as it oozed from his cheek. “Step down into this crater with me. I’ve got something to show you.”

  None of us moved. Instead of following him to the center, we clustered close to the various boulders. They were the only cover out here. I looked around the dark desert. We were all expecting there might be others lurking nearby. Perhaps gunmen.

  “You need to speak clearly,” Gilling said softly. “My companions are liable to become nervous and kill you, Robert.”

  “We know you are out here to agitate the Gray Men,” he said.

  “We?” I asked.

  “The Community,” Robert replied.

  I nodded. “Who among them sent you?”

  Robert’s eyes flicked over us.

  Fiona held up her knife again. “Can I?”

  I held up a flat hand to stop her. “Who sent you?” I asked ag
ain.

  “Every time, Draith,” Robert said, shaking his head. “Every time there is a shit storm, I can bet my bottom dollar you are in the middle of it, can’t I?”

  “I’ve never met you before,” I said.

  Robert laughed. “Did Meng scrub your brain clean again? We’ve met many times. We’ve worked together. Trust me.”

  Fiona apparently didn’t find his response helpful. She gave him a tiny little jab this time. He made a sound like a dog that had been kicked and reached for his right thigh. Fiona giggled.

  “Stop that, you little witch!” he shouted.

  “He’s avoiding the question,” she said to me.

  I nodded. “Who sent you?”

  “Rostok sent me,” Robert said, rubbing at his leg and glaring toward Fiona.

  “How’d you get here?” I asked.

  Robert waved at the smoldering spot in the midst of the boulders. “How do you think? I had to walk past fifty lava pits full of slugs to get here and pop into this forgotten hole.”

  “How the hell could anyone know we would be at this precise spot?”

  Robert rolled his eyes at me. “You haven’t seen many of the big powers yet, have you, Draith? Don’t be a fool. You are just a small-time wizard in this game. Think big.”

  “Help me out,” I said.

  “Think time distortion. Think clairvoyance. Think rips that are instant and invisible. I don’t know. I don’t understand everything the Community can do.”

  I nodded. I glanced at Gilling. He shrugged back. I took this to mean he didn’t know what they were capable of either. I marked this experience down on my long list of reasons to be cautious with the Community.

  “You are an agent of the Community,” I said. “I get that. But why did you leave your ring with Jenna?”

  “Objects are trouble. The more you have the more you get.”

  I had to agree with him on that point. “So, Jenna was safekeeping for the ring, is that it? You figured you could always go back and take it from her?”

  Robert shrugged. “The ring is small time. It wasn’t worth the trouble it brought.”

  I thought about that. I didn’t believe he would leave the ring with Jenna forever. Maybe he would go back for it later and take it from her. Of course, he wouldn’t want to tell me that now. Whatever his intentions were concerning Jenna’s ring, he clearly had another object. Something that allowed him to travel out here. Was it the asbestos booties? I doubted it. They looked damaged and makeshift.

  Robert was looking at each of us, as if gauging our positions. Did he think he could take us all? His attitude worried me. He was concerned, but not terrified. I decided to keep asking questions. If there was going to be a fight, I might as well get everything out of him that I could, first.

  “Let’s forget about Jenna and the ring,” I said. “Tell me about Bernie from the Lucky Seven, and my house. Both were burned by lava slugs.”

  “Bernard was my doing,” he admitted. “But your house was an accident. Sometimes when you step in and out, things follow you.”

  “What about Tony Montoro and the others? Who has been killing these people?”

  “The Gray Men have been behind most of the attacks.”

  “Exactly,” I said. “That’s why we are planning to hit the Gray Men at their base.”

  “Right. Total insanity.”

  “Why?”

  “Because they will slaughter you, for one thing. And even if they don’t, they will take your action as a formal declaration of war. It may be too late already, due to your prior actions.”

  I frowned at him.

  Gilling spoke up suddenly, angrily. “I think I understand,” he said. “Only we rogues are suffering, so screw us? Is that it? We are beetles in the dirt as far as your masters are concerned. Well, we’re not interested in dying for the comfort of the Gray Men or the Community any longer.”

  I glanced at Gilling in surprise. Robert’s warning had put steel in his spine. At the same time Robert was getting through to me. I hated to admit it, but he was right about one thing. I had no real idea what I was getting myself into by attacking the Gray Men openly.

  “Do you understand we have a cold war here, Draith?” Robert asked.

  “I’ve heard that.”

  “It’s a delicate balance of power. But, have you considered the possibility that the balance isn’t in our favor? What if they are stronger than we are? Wouldn’t it be a bad idea to piss them off in that case?”

  “You’re saying we could touch off a war that our world would lose.”

  “I’m saying you are a know-nothing vigilante. A terrorist. An assassin who might ignite an interworld war.”

  “You don’t even know what we are trying to do,” I said.

  Robert gave an ugly laugh. “Of course I do. You want revenge. You want blood. You want bodies, because they’ve killed your kind. Maybe you think you can burn down a stack of their cubes or at least gun down a busload of civilians.”

  I shook my head and walked up to him. “How little you think of us,” I said. “We aren’t fools. We want to strike a strategic blow.”

  “What are you after, then?”

  “Their machine,” I said. “We mean to destroy the system that allows them to walk on our soil.”

  Robert looked thoughtful.

  “You see the possibilities, don’t you?”

  “How do you know they don’t have a thousand machines?”

  “Because they only seem to come through about once a day at most. I think they have a device, and it is in the cubes very near here. I think it takes a lot of preparation or power, and it doesn’t work perfectly. If we take that machine out, we can set them back.”

  “OK,” he said, “I’ll admit, that doesn’t sound as crazy as I thought your plan would be. Ballsy, but rational. But I still can’t allow it.”

  “Allow it?” I asked. “Why not?”

  “We all have our masters, Draith,” he said. His eyes were almost apologetic.

  Alarmed, I raised my pistol. I shouted a warning to everyone, but it was too late. I heard someone scream nearby. The scream turned into a hissing, gargling sound. It was Souza.

  The light was bad and the scene was horrific. My mind couldn’t quite grasp what my eyes were seeing at first. Then I realized what it had to be. One of the boulders we’d all been maneuvering around was—eating Souza. It had already rolled over his feet and now slid upward to complete the process by slowly consuming his legs. I knew it would soon burn his whole body to ash.

  Souza was still conscious, still game. He held his dolly up and I felt a gush of heat wash all around me. The heat wave rolled outward in every direction. One of the SUV’s tires popped and the headlights dimmed. Fiona fell, howling, beating at her clothes. Here and there in the desert, dry brush sparked and bloomed into flame.

  “So warm,” said a familiar, alien voice. “But Ezzie is still cold. Do it again!”

  I realized two things at that moment. First off, all the boulders were moving around us, advancing on my cultist allies. Second, Robert was gone, having run off into the dark desert in the confusion. I would deal with Robert, but first I had to help my friends.

  We had one critical advantage over Ezzie and her creeping brethren: we were faster. Souza wasn’t able to escape, however. I grabbed his arms, and with Rheinman’s help tried to drag him away from the moving boulders. The sifting sands helped. If the ground had been a hard surface, I don’t think we could have pulled him free; Ezzie was too heavy. As it was, there was blood everywhere. The sands were black with it, and his legs didn’t look good. His clothes were smoldering, having gotten some of the backlash of heat when he’d unleashed his object at Ezzie. He still had the rag doll in his hand, his fingers squeezing in a death grip.

  We dragged him out into the desert behind the SUV. Rheinman was beating at the stone slugs from a distance with his hammer. Each strike caused a spark and a ringing report from the stone surface of the target. Tiny fountains of du
st and rock chips flew where he struck them. Ezzie and her siblings finally retreated, complaining bitterly about the abuse.

  Fiona, Gilling, and I tried to tie tourniquets just above the knee on both of Souza’s ruined legs. He was losing a lot of blood. Before we could finish, he went limp and stopped breathing.

  Robert was going to pay for this. “Rheinman, keep the stones away from the SUV,” I said. “Fiona, you come with me. Gilling—stay here and help the others. I’ll be back.”

  Gilling nodded and I headed out into the desert with the bloodthirsty girl at my side. We had a flashlight and found tracks to follow, but they were sketchy. I wasn’t even sure they were Robert’s. A hundred yards out, I stopped. We’d lost him.

  “There,” Fiona said, panting.

  I followed her gesture. Something glimmered and twisted nearby. I ran to it, seeing a figure standing in front of a rip as it opened up. It was a small, dim whirlwind. But I was sure it led to another place.

  “Stick him,” I told Fiona. “Aim for his legs. We need to slow him down.”

  With an infernal grin on her face, she did as I asked. I heard a shout echo back to us. Then Robert stepped out. I ran faster. The rip, unlike those I’d seen Gilling or the Gray Men create, faded quickly. I ran to the spot and stepped out of my existence, blindly walking into another place.

  Fiona hadn’t followed me. I figured she hadn’t been able to run fast enough. I was alone in a new place.

  Crossing into another existence didn’t happen all at once. It was rather like tuning in an old analog radio signal. It didn’t come in without some fine-tuning. At first, some elements were hazy while others sharpened. As I stepped out of the dying rip into this new place, the first thing I noticed was the ground. It wasn’t sand and spiky plants. Instead, it was comprised of hot, shifting mounds of slag and ash.

  Heat. That was the next sensation I felt. All the sweat on my brow began to evaporate. It was dark, just as it had been back home, but there was a dim red glow coming from the ground here and there. I looked at the hottest spots and my mind knew what they had to be: lakes of lava.

  My mind panicked for a second. I had fully expected, for some silly reason, to step into the place of the Gray Men. Compared to this strange environment, stacks of alien cubes and multiple moons would have been comforting.