The Bright Image: Clean Book 3

by Tim Niederriter

  "You're almost there," said Rain. "This is the final layer."

  Rebecca pressed forward, tearing at the material with her bare mentality. No drone or program could help her here. The wall was hers alone to destroy.

  At last, her mind half-way numb, she opened the gap. Everything changed at once. In one moment she was Rebecca alone, the woman who had spared Sudhatho's life despite all her instincts. In the next Rain rejoined to Rebecca. Memories of blood on her hands came with her. Everything filled back in, experiences rising like the brackish flood water, cold and agonizing.

  She remembered Tohamaya's face, oddly serene in her final moments. Along with that memory came the sensation of sickening dread, the knowledge that Yashelia had no more use for her. Even Rain would be suppressed, hidden in a clean body, helpless.

  Rebecca shuddered, both physically and mentally. Cold pavement met her knees in the physical world. She opened her eyes and found the sight before her no better than her memories.

  Three wild stars and the aeon Jeth had mentioned to her, Bayaluggia, advanced along the street toward her, Jeth, and Jeanine.

  A gunshot ran out. One of the wild star women shook as Jeanine's bullet tore through her, but otherwise gave not inconvenienced at all by the shot. Rebecca picked herself up.

  She knew how to stop Fiusontha but for that, she would need to kill her. Tears filled Rebecca's eyes. She did not want to kill again.

  Jeth glanced at her, fear in his big, kind eyes. For a moment he looked like the young boy he had been when her father first pressured him to lead them into his town in the Green Valley. After all these years, he hadn't really changed.

  Rain had killed Tohamaya, but taking a life would be different for Rebecca. The pain she had just felt would be worse, and it would not end.

  She clenched her hands into fists. There must be a better way. Either way, she wouldn't let these monsters hurt her friends. Now, she knew she could stop them.

  I threw myself behind a support column by the gate. One of the wild stars chased me around the corner, leaving Jeanine for her two compatriots. I stumbled backward as Rebecca started toward me and the monster who picked me as prey.

  I shouted at her to stay back for what good it did. The aeon whose fist narrowly missed my skull as I ducked, would be too strong. The wild star hissed and swiped at my collar. She could have taken my head off with that cutting blow if she had closed the distance. As it was, her fingernails tore my shirt but didn't get to the skin beneath.

  Gunshots rang out from Jeanine, quickly joined by another set from behind me, further into the energy farm. Natalie walked forward, an auto-loading pistol in one hand.

  She shot the wild star in front of me twice, spattering me with ichor. The wild star shrieked and hurled herself back, getting into cover behind the fence. The male wild star retreated, but the other wild woman held Jeanine pinned against the fence, pointing her pistol's barrel straight up.

  Rebecca's flying knee sent the aeon crashing to the pavement, Rebecca on top of her. I glanced at Natalie and Harvey as they passed me.

  "Thanks for the save."

  Natalie grimaced.

  "We won't surprise them again. Get somewhere safe."

  She walked to where Rebecca struggled with the writhing wild star. As soon as the aeon hurled Rebecca back, Natalie shot the aeon twice in the chest. The wild star pitched back to the ground, with a scream of pain.

  Harvey raised a pistol of his own and twisted to check the corners of the gate. The aeon who had attacked me retreated further, as did the male one.

  Bayaluggia had not moved in as quickly as the others. I went to Jeanine, who had fallen into a crouch, clutching her throat, beside the fence. She glanced at me.

  "I'll be alright," she rasped.

  I nodded. She got unsteadily back to her full height. I admired her grit. Rebecca joined us, massaging one shoulder.

  "Be careful. They could come back at us any time."

  "Do we have any way to put them down permanently?"

  It took me a second to realize it was Natalie projecting her voice into our audio processors.

  "I think we do," Rebecca answered through the same means Natalie had used. "Get them to the energy hearts. Overload them and they'll burn."

  "Risky, letting them inside," muttered Harvey.

  "What chance do we have otherwise?" I sent to the others. "They'll kill us and take what they want if we can't stop them one way or another."

  I felt halfway to being sick. We'd have to kill them if they pushed us too far. I didn't feel as conflicted as I may once have, being they would destroy the city if we let them.

  I turned to Bayaluggia and the wild stars who retreated to join her behind the corner of an abandoned bus stop with metal walls. The one Natalie had shot stayed down but glared at us with evil, slitted eyes.

  "Bayaluggia!" I called. "I don't know what you want, but you won't find it here."

  "Don't press me, Gall. You're using this crisis as a stepping stone, just like Yashelia and Sudhatho. I'm tired of humans pushing to topple aeons."

  I scowled toward the three aeons.

  "You don't know anything."

  "And you know less," she said.

  "Clever," said Natalie, "but pointless." She raised her pistol while Harvey trained his weapon on the wounded aeon on the ground. "But you won't win. You really ought to have listened to him."

  Bayaluggia barked a laugh. She stepped out from the bus stop and walked into the street.

  "Listen to my counter offer. Step away, and we'll let you run for now."

  "Tempting," said Natalie.

  "Nat, don't push it," said Harvey under his breath.

  "I'll count to three. Then, anyone who isn't running is going to wish they were."

  I glanced at Rebecca. She nodded to me, lips forming a single line. Jeanine raised her gun alongside Natalie. Bayaluggia smiled.

  "Three."

  A feral roar came from behind us. Rebecca and I whirled as the thump of a body hitting the ground sounded before me. The aeon tender struggled to get up from the bloody concrete where she had fallen. A dozen hunched shapes, humanoid with teeth bared and hands formed into talons, prowled closer from high and low where I could see them within far.

  Traces of different animalistic features marked them as beasts, humans overdosed on ichor. Obviously, their savage expressions reinforced their nature. Minds replaced by the savage urge to kill, beasts made obvious foot soldiers for wild stars.

  Bayaluggia snapped her fingers. The beasts charged from one side. The wild stars raced in from the other.

  Unregistered Memory, Thomas Fenstein, The Refugee District

  Balancar's light ship lurched to one side. Thomas stumbled against Celsa. Both of them barely kept their feet.

  "We just lost a third of our stabilizers," said Balancar. "I will compensate."

  The ship shuddered but remained on course toward the energy farm.

  "We're nearly there," said Celsa.

  "Good, 'cause we might not get much further with Fiusontha ripping us apart in-flight," Thomas said.

  A stream of light gouted from the top of the ship, bathing everyone in the cabin in intense blue light.

  "Power source failing," said Balancar. "I'll take us lower."

  He dropped them ten meters at stomach-clenching speed to skim over the rooftops. Thomas held onto Celsa and stared at the lights of the energy farm up ahead. Fiusontha's hand punched through the metal of the roof.

  "Thomas!" Celsa tugged him with her as she crouched low. They raced over the fence surrounding the energy farm.

  A wrenching sound cracked the air. Raindrops began to speckle the inside of the cabin, accompanied by splashes of black fluid that ate through the paneled floor and the cushioned the seats. The sound of howling wind filled the interior of the ship.

  Celsa and Thomas raced to one side, pressed tight together. Her hand shot out and grabbed a railing.

  "Power source gone," said Balancar, far too serene
in the midst of the maelstrom.

  Fiusontha crowed in triumph.

  Internal pressure failed completely with the sound of tearing metal from above. Celsa and Thomas held onto the railing on their side of the cabin as the wind threatened to pull them out.

  They spiraled downward into the energy farm. Thomas glanced at the controls. Balancar threw himself straight at Fiusontha, tackling her off the light ship. The ship glided downward without Balancar’s control.

  "Hang onto me," Celsa said. "Trust me."

  "I trust you."

  She nodded to him, then let go of the railing. They sailed free of the light vessel's battered remains. While the ship curved around the field that contained an energy heart and disappeared behind the massive red sphere, Celsa and Thomas glided on the wind.

  He held on as tight as he could, feeling like a dead weight, dragging at her. Still, she kept him close. They glided between two power conduits. Red hearts on either side of them cast both him and her in twin bright glares. He closed his eyes against the blaze of light. Solid ground greeted their feet gently.

  Unregistered Memory, Rebecca Waters, The Energy Farm

  A crippled light ship sped past overhead as the beasts leapt at her and Jeth and the others. Loud gunshots, snarls, and cries of pain filled the air. Blood and ichor, a mixture of sweet and metallic, cloyed in her nose. Rebecca darted away from one beast and shoved Jeth out of the path of a second. Natalie tossed a sheathed knife to her. She caught it in one hand, then drew the blade with the other.

  The weapon felt right in her hands, and at last, she knew why. Rain and Rebecca together had practiced with weapons of every kind in and out of the mental space for two actual years and an equal amount in accelerated mental worlds.

  She slashed one beast, drawing a red line across the feral man’s chest. He stumbled back, and spat on the ground, apparently ignoring the pain but still with enough sense to treat the knife with care.

  The beast circled, making threatening noises deep in his throat. Blood oozed from the cut she'd given him and ran down to his navel. Before he could choose another opportunity to strike, Rebecca darted forward, stabbing the knife into his knee. He went down, howling. His arms lashed at her legs, but she was already dancing back out of reach. The only problem was losing the knife, still stuck in the beast's knee.

  She retreated to join Jeth. The two of them pressed shoulder to shoulder as Natalie, Jeanine, and Harvey retreated to form a circle. The beast's seemed wary now. Good, Rebecca thought. Blood felt sticky on the hand that once held the knife. She doubted she would be quick enough against all of them.

  "Can anyone hear me?" a voice said in her mind.

  Thomas.

  "I'm here," she replied through an auditory link. "We're at the front gate. Fighting."

  "Celsa and I just crashed in the middle. We're alright," he said. "I take it you guys could use our help?"

  "Yeah." Rebecca's gaze moved from beast to beast. They shrank back rather than meet her eyes.

  An involuntary smile, probably as savage as any of the faces before her, spread on Rebecca's face. She hated that she felt such satisfaction at their fear. At least scaring them was useful. The beasts scattered, fleeing from her and the group.

  "I'm not that scary, am I?" she said under her breath.

  Jeth glanced at her, one eyebrow arched.

  "Rebecca?" he said.

  "People," said Natalie, sounding nervous. "We have company."

  A black-clad aeon glided to a landing atop a power conductor attached via glowing conduits to the foremost energy heart, a massive blue sphere of pulsing light. Natalie twisted to aim her pistol at him.

  Rebecca recognized Balancar from the information Ryan had sent her the previous night. What was he doing here? Balancar held both hands out to the energy heart. Light flared toward him, pulled from the heart like ejecta from a star or volcano, but under the aeon's command.

  "Take cover," said Balancar.

  The group split. Jeanine, Rebecca, and Jeth went to one side. Harvey and Natalie went to the other. Even before they were fully clear, Balancar turned the energy stream under his control to flow through the gate. Hot energy hit one wild star, inciting a terrible scream as it burned her to the ground. Bayaluggia and the other two wild stars ran for cover.

  Rebecca watched, blinking to maintain vision against the violently bright light of the energy stream. Steam rose from the street where there had been puddles. The heat left black spots on the pavement. Steam flowed like a river from the energy torrent, filling the gate with lethal flame.

  Rebecca called to Natalie.

  "Find a way around. We're moving."

  "Right. Just wish I had known he was on her side."

  Jeth and Jeanine both looked at Rebecca. She took a deep breath.

  "Come on. I think Thomas might be able to help us if we can find him."

  They retreated into the energy farm. Seconds later, Balancar abandoned the energy stream. The bright stream began to fade almost at once. As soon as the heat failed, the rogue stars would be after them. Rebecca wanted to be ready when they did.

  I backpedaled from the inferno Balancar had unleashed at the farm's front gate. Rebecca went ahead, while Jeanine watched behind us, gun readied. She wore a grimace that told me she didn't like needing to be rescued earlier.

  The rogue stars hadn't braved the flames to follow us yet, regardless. I turned from the diminishing fire to follow Rebecca. Jeanine backed along behind us. Rebecca rounded an energy heart's semi-transparent containment field and stopped.

  "Jeth, you need to see this."

  "What is it?" I asked, hustling forward to join her.

  She pointed at the burnt shell of a small light ship just ahead of us.

  "Thomas brought experimental weapons he's been having his people design. I think they're in that wreckage."

  "Let's hope they survived the crash," I said.

  "They'd better. We might not have any other chance."

  Jeanine caught up with us.

  "Don't say that. I'm not helpless."

  "I know," said Rebecca, "but without the right tools we won't have much chance against aeons, especially not in a place like this with all the available power sources."

  Aeons shape light and power. As Balancar had just demonstrated before our eyes, they could use enough energy as a weapon. I had no idea how it worked, but then again, aeons kept a lot of secrets from us.

  I approached the wreck and was pleased to find that despite it being rent apart and melted by black fluid in places, it wasn't so hot as to be impassible. I picked my way through the remains of the bridge to the controls where a crate labeled in the secret language the aeon's use for their names lay on its side. It was still closed. I tested the lid without flipping it over. The crate opened, to reveal four padded quarters, divided equally by interior walls.

  Rebecca knelt down and tugged the contents of one quarter out of the case. It was a set of five holders for metal flasks, one small one missing, but the rest sloshing with liquid. She frowned down at them.

  "Thomas, we've found the weapons you brought. How do we use them?" I sent the audio so hurriedly I spoke out loud by mistake.

  "The larger flasks contain something Onogottos worked up called Soma. Think of it as ichor, but for more than your mind."

  "What do you mean?" I asked over the link.

  "You'll be like an aeon for about ten minutes, give or take. Strong, fast. Can't promise you'll be a lot tougher, but muscular strain shouldn't be a problem, according to Ono."

  "Shouldn't be?"

  "Ono hasn't tested it extensively, but this was an emergency."

  "Damn," I muttered, not even bothering to transmit the lone word.

  Rebecca handed me one flask and gave Jeanine another. She broke the seal on a third, which she kept for herself. Jeanine frowned at me.

  "You sure about this?"

  "Bottoms up," Rebecca said.

  Behind me, the sounds of multiple sets of footst
eps told me either beasts or aeons were on our trail, and not far behind. I broke the seal on my flask.

  "Make a toast," said Rebecca.

  "To staying alive," I said, raising the flask.

  Jeanine nodded emphatically. We all drank. The liquid tasted sweet like ichor but burned like whiskey. The effects on my senses were instantaneous, widening my perspective and making me acutely aware of the network and its streams of information as they flowed through even this quieter part of the city.

  I picked up on the power and variety of the energy hearts around us too. Red ones had more long-term power, but blue offered greater intensity. Funny how the whole place had seemed so strange before I could reach out and analyze them with these new senses.

  Five beasts and the male wild star from the gateway rounded the corner. The three of us turned to face them.

  The aeon barreled straight at me. I wound up. He closed the distance, hand snaking out to grab my throat. I slugged him right across the jaw as hard as I could.

  The blow sent him not staggering but flying backward off his feet. My knuckles were raw and bloody, a shell of pain, but I threw myself after the star.

  A beast got in my way. I slammed him with my shoulder. The impact dazed me, sending an ache from collar to spine, but the beast skidded back, then crashed into the fence and fell in a heap. Rebecca and Jeanine went after the other beasts.

  In seconds two more went down from Rebecca's blows. Jeanine dropped a fourth. The last fled rather take his own beating. Adrenaline pumping, I actually thought I could get used to all this power. The wild star picked himself up, wiping yellowish ichor from his split lips.

  "What happened to all of you?" he snarled.

  Before I could answer, Bayaluggia's voice cut in.

  "Parlor tricks," she said, "Pathetic."

  She stalked toward us, leading another cluster of beasts and the other remaining wild star.

  "Take care, cousin," said the male aeon. "Don't underestimate them."

  I glared at Bayaluggia.

  "These wild ones, I almost understand. But you? You're not insane, so why turn on the city."