He was shaking his head as she was talking. “There’s no other way. We’re all damned. This is the course we’re set on and we must finish it.”
“Then I’m on a course as well and I will make sure you don’t get what you need. Jaq? Now would be a good time.”
68
5th June 2013
Jaq was not having a good day. She’d almost got used to the blindness. The thought of having an alien intelligence inside her would not be so easy to get used to. And now, Linwood had pushed her to break through that barrier in her mind and see the Harmony for what it was.
And it was as scary a place as she’d imagined hell to be. In describing it to Linwood, she’d failed to convey the true terror of what it was like to be viewing a realm that ripped at your mind from all angles.
The realm seemed to manifest itself according to her will. Was this what all of the Faceless experienced at some level? It was difficult to reconcile that whilst her blinded body was in Winborn’s office, she was here amongst this rolling land of changing scenery. Red rocks lay thick across a dusty plain, crunching underfoot like ice crystals but able to keep her weight. As far as the eye could see, the landscape continued, never changing from the patterns she could see around her. There was nothing natural about this space and as she moved through it, she was reminded of being caught in the threshold of a dream.
Dark, and scary, and full of despair.
And the Shun.
The Shun were here. Or at least the part of the Shun that could access the Harmony. All around her, wraithlike creatures wandered. Most of the time, they failed to acknowledge her. Their forms were ethereal, gaseous. she didn’t think they had any chance of contacting her, let alone hurting her. But they knew she was here. She flew through the realm. No, she was the wind, contouring the rocky land, carving the continents of thought and shape.
And there was Winborn. The only Shun in the realm who looked like more than a ghost. A creature of light, blinding against the dull shapes of nothing.
The kill switch was an idea that burned like a jewel in starlight. Intensified the more he tried to hide its existence from her. She’d tried to reach it, but invisible streams blew her essence away like repealing magnets. Impossible to touch. She wasn’t strong enough, didn’t know how to navigate the Harmony as well as Winborn.
But there was something else she could do.
There was more than one way to skin a cat.
Whilst not shining as brightly as Winborn, there were two other entities near.
Nervousness was not something that affected her now. The moment for concern about her physical well being had passed, and she had no idea what kind of damage if any, the entities in this space could do to her. That freedom gave her the courage to try to affect change.
The entities were fainter than the star that was Winborn, and she connected with them, linking her essence for a fraction of a second to these two. They were the Faceless guarding the exit from Winborn’s office. The two that had entered seconds before Winborn started shooting tendrils across the room.
The moment she connected with them they reacted. The first recoiled, the second lashed out, sending her across the realm until they were distant lights on the horizon.
But heartened, not dismayed by their reaction, she forced her projection across the realm, faster and faster and smacked into them at a full pelt. This time she was ready for their reaction and latched on to them, getting a feel for how the entities communicated in the Harmony. This wasn’t about control, she told them. She would not order them to do anything, nor did she think that was possible. But she did have something she wanted to show them.
Focusing on her memories, she recalled the schematics of the containment units Winborn had shown her when they’d first planned to capture the Faceless. The ones where less than an hour ago the Faceless were being held in their dozens. The units had been adapted by Winborn before the Faceless were brought in and those adaptations were lethal. And she shared these memories with the entities in the Harmony.
Gas tanks had been spliced into the environment options. The entities stopped trying to dislodge her at the sight of these gas tanks. Curiosity took over, and she was invited to show more. A simple task of highlighting what would have happened to a Faceless should the gas ever have been released into the ventilation system.
The curiosity waned, or rather it was consumed by a new feeling.
Rage.
69
5th June 2013
Jaq came to and the blackness surprised her again. She felt her immediate surroundings and found what she thought was the back of a sofa. So, she was still in Winborn’s office. Being inside the Harmony hadn’t been as traumatic as she’d imagined, and now she’d roamed that realm, it felt like a piece of her was anchored to it.
Somewhere close she could hear Winborn talking to Linwood. He sounded like a victor, full of confidence, but Linwood was confident too. She’d never been one to shy away from authority figures. Jaq caught the last snatches of Linwood’s conversation. “... Jaq? Now would be a good time.”
But she’d already done what she could—it was down to others now.
She didn’t need to see the Faceless guarding the door to know that they moved quickly. She tracked their footsteps across the room and Winborn’s cry of surprise told her where they were headed.
“Stop. What are you doing?” The arrogance had gone from Winborn’s voice now. Panic had set in. The sound of grasping, a struggle. They were holding him.
Jaq dove into the Harmony again.
The world changed around her. Her senses tingled at the new inputs and she marvelled at the endless landscape around her. The red desert became a blur as she focused on the battle before her.
Winborn’s light was changing hue constantly as the two entities grappled him, a brutal collision of energy that hurt to watch. She had to do something before the Faceless ripped him apart. If they succeeded, the information that Winborn held would be lost and and they would have no chance stopping the swarm.
She grounded herself. Imagining her feet resting on the rocky landscape beneath her. Travel was effortless in the Harmony but she at first didn’t know what to do to get the information. Protecting him seemed the most pressing concern so she threw herself at the confusion of light. Just willing herself to travel saw her body lift and target the coruscating glare.
But pain struck as her form touched the light and she was thrown backwards until the light figures became specks on the horizon. The geography was twisted and she found herself doubting her own ability to navigate in such a realm.
Calm. Linwood is counting on you.
She heard herself muttering and knew that she couldn’t fail. Jaq closed her eyes, and out of habit took a deep breath before opening her eyes and launching herself high above the realm, before turning and aiming for the warring lights. With an eruption of colour, she found her target and struck deep into the centre of the fight. Physical size meant little and Jaq felt the presence of the Shun entities around her, struggling with Winborn, and all the while, a pressure attempting to repel her back out into the backwaters of the Harmony.
More pain ripped at her form as the struggle made use of her own energy, the Shun using it against their enemy. She needed to do this quickly, find the information so she could retreat and let Linwood solve their problems in the physical world.
There. She found it. A bright core he’d been trying to hide. She reached for it, forcing her fingers into light forms that could pierce his own writhing energy field. A pull at her mind as the Shun tore another wisp of her energy.
Winborn had sensed something was wrong. The core was becoming clouded and eluding her attempts to keep track of it. He was trying to keep it hidden from her.
Quickly.
She reached again, twisting into new patterns, scrabbling for a way in, punching at the barriers Winborn was erecting.
Another stab of pain and the realm seemed to fade around her, like a dark veil dr
awing down over her vision.
But with the energy stolen from her, the Shun upped their attack and the display of lights took on a different nuance. Winborn was being beaten, his own energy fading.
Now was her chance. With a final effort, Jaq dove into the light form and grabbed the information she’d come for. A bright core that burned in her hand.
She let the realm dissolve around her and the real world take its place.
“I’ve got it,” she said to Linwood.
Hands helped her to her feet.
“Is there a terminal? Something he’s been using to launch the swarm attack?”
“Over here,” Linwood replied, guiding Jaq by a tight grip on her arm. Jaq tried to ignore the grunts and cries coming from Winborn on the other side of the room. She didn’t need to see himto knowthat he was being torn apart by the Faceless in the real world as well as the Harmony.
“What did you get?” Linwood said as she eased her in front of the terminal.
“The kill switch location. You were right. It is here. He needed a way to stop it. He didn’t trust himself.” Jaq felt for the shape of the keyboard and her fingers began moving.
“How are you doing that?” Linwood asked. “You can’t even see.”
But Jaq was in the Harmony again and her vision was not the only sense she had available to navigate her environment. The option she needed was found. The kill switch.
But her finger hesitated over the key.
“What’s wrong,” Linwood said. “Press it.”
“I don’t know what it will do.”
“It will end this. Stop the swarm. Save our friends.”
“But what else?” Jaq asked. “It might disable the swarm, but it might also disable the Faceless. What if it kills all of them?”
“So, we solve another problem.”
“But, the Faceless are people. They’re our people. They’re innocent.”
From the corner of the room, the sounds of Winborn’s body being ripped apart was horrific.
Linwood swiped Jaq’s hand aside and pressed the button herself.
70
5th June 2013
“We can’t stay here,” Kingston said, his eyes never leaving the door nor the first motes of back dust seeping in under the door. He gripped the arms of Payne and Max on either side of him.
“Move,” he told them.
They turned but not before seeing the swarm flow in and around the cracks of the frame. The buzzing intensified and became a dull roar behind them.
They ran. The doors opened as they approached but no one slowed to try to barricade them. The corridors were featureless. There was nothing they could use to even attempt a barricade. And slowing down would only get them killed.
Kingston’s feet pounded on the floor and his heart pumped faster than it had in years. His brain was consumed by the single thought of escape and hindered by flashes of memory—of what the swarm had done to those soldiers out on the ridge.
It was getting closer, the droning noise felt like it was coming from inside his head.
Before him, the next set of double doors appeared. But even as they approached, he knew there was something wrong. The light above the doors was red. The doors were locked. He glanced at the others. Had they seen it too? Payne had. He grabbed Kingston’s arm. “The door!” he managed to say.
But where else could they go? They’d run out of options.
They reached the doors, and as expected, they failed to open. Payne worked at the control panel fitted alongside, seeing if there was an override. Nixon turned to face the approaching swarm, raising his weapon in what would ultimately be a futile gesture.
And Max. Perhaps Max could save them all. Max was standing, facing the swarm, his skin lined with rivers of blood from the Faceless he’d killed. And he looked calm. Almost serene. The opposite of how Kingston was feeling.
This was the end. Kingston liked to think he knew when to fight and when to accept a loss. This was a loss like he’d never had to experience before, but he refused to cower away from it. He faced the oncoming cloud of blackness with a grim determination. Damn you all.
The roaring consumed him. There was nothing else. The nanite structures were inches away, not slowing. This had better be quick.
The swarm splashed to the floor. A carpet of black flies before them.
Kingston allowed himself another breath. Then another.
“What happened?” Payne asked.
Kingston’s phone began to ring.
71
5th June 2013
Linwood watched over CCTV as the swarm collapsed into a million specks of dust. Her heart lifted at the sight and she finally began to believe that stopping the Shun might actually be achievable. Against the odds, they’d put a stop to Winborn’s plan to create a new generation of Faceless.
She noticed that the noises had stopped by Winborn and saw the two Faceless that had been attacking him were lain on the floor, having collapsed when the kill switch had been activated. More innocents dead at her hands. Damn.
Dean was making long moans and groans and starting to stir by the far wall. He'd need to be checked over by a hospital. Jaq was exhausted and was now sitting back in Winborn's chair, her eyes shut.
She went over to inspect Winborn’s body. It lay crumpled in a heap, limbs at impossible angles. His face a bloody mess. It looked a terrible way to die. She checked the bodies of the Faceless, getting down on her knees and feeling for a pulse. Their skin was cool and hard, not like a person’s skin at all. She shivered as she touched them.
Jaq startled and sat upright.
“It’s OK, Jaq. You’re safe.”
Linwood crossed over to Dean. He flinched as she touched his cheek, then straightened, wiping at his eyes. “That bloody hurt.”
“You might be concussed. You need to take it easy.”
“Like hell,” he said, getting to his feet, but stumbling and almost falling back down again. Linwood tutted and helped him to the sofa where she gently lowered him. “What happened?”
“Jaq found a way into their Harmony network and found the kill switch. We've disabled the swarm.”
“Did the others make it?”
To demonstrate that sometimes the universe likes to toy with the notion of fate and coincidence, the lift doors opened and in walked Kingston and Max, followed by Payne and his detectives.
Max looked to have suffered the worst of all of them, but that was hardly surprising given the amount of time they'd kept him locked up here. Was that blood on his face? His clothes? Jesus, what the hell had they done to him?
Payne surprised her by coming close and giving her a gentle hug. “I'm guessing we’ve you to thank for saving us back there?”
“Actually, that was me,” Jaq retorted, somewhat indignantly.
“Well, thank you,” Payne replied.
They all seemed to notice the dead Faceless and the remains of Winborn at the same time. Linwood shrugged. “The kill switch affected these Faceless as well.”
“Right,” Kingston replied. “How much danger are we in from the others? Has this affected all of them?”
“I’ve no idea,” she said. “But I expect so.”
Kingston shook his head. “There were a lot of men out there. If they’re all dead...”
“Then they’re all dead. We didn’t do this to them. Winborn did. We’ve stopped them hurting anyone else.”
“And Winborn?” Payne asked.
“The Faceless did that to him.”
Linwood could see they wanted it all explaining, but it would have to wait for the debrief. Right now, there were bigger fish to fry.
She went to stand beside Jaq. “I need you to go back inside the Harmony.”
Jaq tensed. It was clear that she'd had enough for now and much as she wanted credit for getting them through this, she wasn't prepared to risk her life anymore.
Linwood pressed, “You've got to find out what you can about the Shun. With Winborn gone, you might lose
your connection to the Harmony at any time.”
“What good will I be?”
“You found us the kill switch. Perhaps there's more in there you can discover. You did amazing with the swarm, but that's just one part of this. There are still nanites within us. Are they disabled as well? We need to make sure that no one else can do what Winborn managed.”
“But Winborn was infected by the Shun. He was the last. There won't be any more.”
“We thought Irulal was on her own and look how that worked out.”
That seemed to do the trick. For a moment, it seemed that Jaq might offer up another argument, but she nodded, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
Linwood had no idea whether Jaq had reached the Harmony. The woman had gone as still as before but that could mean anything. She didn't want to ask her, fearing that the interruption would only bring her back out.
Instead, all she could do was wait.
A gasp escaped Jaq's lips.
“You’re right, there's more. They never act alone.”
A chill rose up Linwood's back, and she repressed the urge to shiver.
“The schisms are ready, almost open. The Shun are waiting to invade. Millions of them.”
A tendril struck Jaq in the chest, spraying blood up and out, covering Linwood’s face.
They all spun and aimed weapons at the half-dead Winborn who’d propped himself up against the wall. Not quite dead, a smile appeared on his half-torn face and he grinned. The tendril recoiled, but it did so slowly like he’d used the last vestiges of his energy reserves to silence her.
“We need him alive,” Linwood said, warning the others from retaliation, but her warning wasn’t needed. Now that he’d shut Jaq up, he allowed himself to drift away. The controller stopped moving, but his one remaining eye stared straight at Linwood, mocking her.
72
12th June 2013
The Faceless Stratagem Page 29