Interphase

by Kira Wilson

  "BOB, get out of here. If a bolt strikes you, you're dead."

  BOB-27 swiveled away from the terminal and simulated a headshake. "Negative: I am a part of the VERAsign Offices module. I am incapable of leaving."

  The first bolt ripped through a nearby window, shattering an office chair with terrible force. Small sparks of electricity seemed to creep from the strike toward the hovering drone. David knew that his supervisor would act like a lightning rod for the Storm.

  He shut his eyes and bit down on his bottom lip. "Do I have your permission to do something really, really stupid?"

  "Confusion: what—"

  Another blade of lightning speared through the office ceiling, opening the room to the digital sky. David ran forward and wrapped his arms around the small drone. Pulling the floating program out of the air, he hunkered down beside the terminal.

  Through the driving fury, David forced his eyes open. The clouds roiled overhead, screaming at him in wordless rage. A tone indicated the new energy configuration for the imager was complete, and his program activated. Outside, the massive control arms pivoted, pointing their energy generators at the sky. Wide blue beams fired upwards and lit the entire area with a brilliant light. The clouds quieted, almost dissipating as his algorithm counteracted the Storm's code, but soon darkness began to grow above.

  At a massive crack of thunder, David stared up into a Storm system that was now twice its original size. Lightning lashed out as if angered by the assault. A searing line of pain sliced along his hip, another strike barely missing his head. Through the pain he could imagine a voice in the clouds laughing at his feeble attempts to stop the destruction.

  The Crash Storm rolled through the module, blasting its way farther into V-Net. The office was a charred, warped mess. David released BOB-27 and lay on his uninjured side, alternating each breath between a groan and a curse.

  "Directive: I must begin repairs on the module," BOB-27 told him, floating away. It paused near the exit. "David Harris… BOB thanks you."

  David stared in amazement, barely managing a nod before the drone moved out of sight.

  Wincing as he rose, David looked out at the path of destruction. He clenched his jaw and opened a tell-channel, hoping the system was still operational. =Clyde, I know you're on. I need help right now.=

  For a second silence was the only reply, then he heard a muffled curse. =Wow, Harris, you really know how to break a guy's concentration.=

  =Bill me later. Listen, there's a major Crash Storm moving through V-Net. I need you to track it and tell me where it's going.=

  =Are you fused? You can't track Crash Storms.=

  =You can now. Do a search through general network functions.= David took a step forward, testing his weight on his left hip. Sharp pain lanced up his leg, but he managed to keep his balance. He could find a first aid station later. =Do you see it yet?=

  =Whoa, that's kinda cool. Your handiwork?=

  =Flattery later, just tell me where the Storm is.=

  Clyde thought a few unsavory words but filtered them out of the channel before David could discern what they were. =All right, I see it. It looks like it's heading for the Titans' arena. I think they're doing some sort of training camp.=

  The bottom dropped out of David's stomach. =Thomas is a member of the Titans, he'll be at the arena.=

  =Since when do you make friends with jocks?=

  =Quiet, I need to think!= David's gaze traveled around the broken module and landed on the remains of the imager. =Okay. I need you to pull a file from my home system. Then you're going to meet me at the arena.=

  =I'm what?= Clyde scoffed.

  David's nostrils flared. =Clyde, I don't have time to argue about this. That Crash Storm is at least twice as strong as any we've seen before. This thing is strong enough to physically kill someone. I can't stop it by myself, I need you there!=

  Clyde sighed down the channel. =You're serious about staring this thing down?=

  =It's partly code-based, and it's inside the system. Come on, wonder boy, show me how good you really are.=

  =All right. But you try to turn me into a hero, and I'll kick your ass.=

  ***

  Clyde sliced a gate open into the exterior of the Titans' arena module with his full arsenal equipped and ready. Thunder resonated in his bones, and he saw the black mass of the Crash Storm looming above, ready to strike the facility with full fury. =Harris, I'm inside. Where are you?=

  =Southeast entrance,= David responded. =Hurry, this thing will be on top of us in seconds!=

  Light flashed just behind Clyde. He whipped around and saw a wide crater smoking only a few feet away from where he stood. "Damn!" Hoisting his rocket-launcher on his shoulder, he ran toward the rendezvous point.

  Clyde found David waiting for him, decked out as a space marine. "Think that suit will offer any protection?"

  "Not really," David said. "A word of warning: getting hit by Crash Storm lightning really hurts. I don't think even your code shield is powerful enough to block it." He pointed to the horizon with his rifle. "Here it comes."

  A sound like a hammer hitting steel rang out, and the ground shook. Clyde turned and saw the Storm racing over the virtual horizon, a billow of black clouds spitting lightning. Hefting his weapon, he launched a pair of resonance-decoder probes straight into the clouds. They burst in green flashes. He activated his wrist-computer and watched the holo-screen fill with lines of gibberish. Slowly the random images were replaced by readable text. "We're in business! The data's getting filtered by your code."

  "Can you decipher it?" David shouted over the roar of the thunder.

  "Just give me a sec—" A flash lit the sky over their heads, followed by a deafening peal. David pushed Clyde off his feet and dove away as huge blackened chunks of the arena wall came hurtling down where they had been standing. The formless lumps hit the ground and started to move. Over a dozen fragments sprouted clawed arms and distended jaws. Skin shimmered over them, stretching like rubber between knots of rocklike muscle. The creatures lifted themselves upright on tentacled legs and oriented on the two humans.

  "Oh hell, the Storm can animate lifeless matter now." David raised his rifle over Clyde's shoulder and fired a volley into the group of monsters. Half of them exploded in a shower of black goo. The others crept forward, slow at first, but faster as they grew accustomed to their bodies. David fired again as lightning rained down, blasting the floor and walls and spawning new groups of twisted creatures.

  "We have to move!" David hauled Clyde to his feet and shoved him toward one of the arena entrances.

  "What the hell are these things, Harris?" Clyde lifted his launcher, coding in new ammunition as he backpedaled.

  "I don't know."

  "What do you mean, you don't know?"

  "I knew that Crash Storm lightning could mutate existing V-Net agents, but I've never seen it create them from inanimate code pieces!"

  Something heavy landed on Clyde's shoulder. He stumbled and heard something snarl beside his ear. Claws dug into his shoulder. With a growl he turned and slammed his fist into what passed for the creature's face. Grunting in pain, it fell to the ground.

  "Get inside. Hurry," David shouted.

  Still firing, the pair made it through the side entrance and slammed the security door shut behind them. The sounds of scrabbling and growling faded as they stepped away from the door. Clyde glared at his wrist computer. His decoders were still transmitting raw data, and David's interface was deciphering it as fast as it could, but even then it wasn't much to go on. "Damn, this stuff is a mess. Who wrote this crap?"

  "Can you find a way to control it?"

  "Are you serious? I can't even understand it!" Clyde rerouted the data feed to a secure server and loaded a different application. His expression hardened. "Understanding isn't necessary in order to stop it. Just get me into the practice arena."

  "What are you going to do?"

  "I'm going to set a trap for it."

 
The floor trembled from a fresh lightning barrage outside. The snarls behind the door grew louder.

  "You can't trap a Crash Storm, Clyde!"

  "Wanna bet?"

  "This is insane. You are going to get us both—"

  Clyde pinned David with an angry glare. "Listen, you called for my help. You want this thing stopped? Do it my way!" He inclined his head toward the door as the hinges began to buckle. "We don't have time to argue about this, Harris."

  David clenched his jaw, sighed, and raised his rifle. "I'm going to get struck by lightning again," he muttered.

  Clyde took the lead. They ran, and he heard the security doors burst open behind them, the hallway echoing with shrieks and growls. Rounding a corner he found a flight of stairs winding upwards. He activated a setting on his wrist computer and began to climb. "This way!"

  They emerged in the lower rows of the arena, exposed to the blackened sky. Clyde turned to assist David with defending the stairwell, amping his weapon to full strength. A single blast from the launcher obliterated the creatures climbing from below. A second wave of monsters rushed at them from the right. David pivoted and fired a blazing stream of plasma, melting the attackers into piles of goop.

  Glancing at his wrist, Clyde grabbed David's shoulder. "We need to go higher."

  Pandemonium reigned in the upper wings. Entire seat rows had been vaporized by lightning strikes, and creatures prowled everywhere. Though the cacophony, more bolts continued to fall. As the pair fought their way higher, Clyde heard a loud shout. He turned, and his mouth fell open. "Tell me that's not a guy in a suit of plate armor fighting up there."

  "Told you he'd be here." David fired several shots at a pocket of creatures surrounding the knight. Clyde saw the figure turn to look at them. "Thomas," David yelled across the field. "What the hell are you doing? I told you to get everyone out of here."

  "I did. But I wasn't about to leave you to face this thing alone."

  David clapped his free hand over his mouth. From the muffled sounds, he was holding back several choice curses. After he finished, he shook his fist at the foolhardy warrior. "Hang on. We're coming to you."

  Taking point, David cleared their path while Clyde defended their flanks. As they moved, a massive lightning strike tore through the row between them. Clyde leaped out of the bolt's path. A blackened mass inside the burning crater began to shift, sprouting a monstrous head and muscular arms. The abomination spotted Clyde and grabbed at him. He ducked underneath its arm and ran, only to have a bulbous hand smash into his back, sending him sprawling.

  An agonized screech rang out. Clyde shook his head to clear his vision and saw a gaping hole in the creature's midsection. David ran over and hauled him to his feet as the slain monster collapsed in on itself. They dodged more arcs of lightning and sprinted the rest of the distance toward the knight. Thomas had finished off the last of his foes. "We have to leave now, David," he shouted. "If we aren't overwhelmed by the monsters, the lightning will finish us for certain."

  "We can't. The Crash Storm will keep moving through V-Net unless we stop it here."

  "You have a plan then?"

  In reply, David looked at Clyde, who nodded grimly. "I've already programmed a vortex trap into the module. It should divert the Storm. But I can't spring it until the eye is directly over us. Think you and Lancelot can keep me clear until then?"

  David snorted and moved into a defensive position. Thomas raised an eyebrow at the quip, but said nothing, moving next to David. Crouching down behind the arena seats to avoid any stray lightning bolts, Clyde got to work.

  The Crash Storm increased in fury as the eye drew closer. Thunder bombarded Clyde's ears with a wild, possessed rhythm, and he moved to it, racing on adrenaline and a twist of pure fear. It was a rush like nothing he had ever experienced. Lightning struck mere feet away, exploding seats and ground into blobs of putty that grew immediately. He ignored them, only dimly aware of David and Thomas's shouts as they fended the twisted monstrosities off. They stemmed the tide, while he battled the flood itself.

  Links formed, pathways opened, and at the center of the arena, a cloud of black emptiness billowed and spread. The air became eerily calm, like the pause of a great battle between assaults. Lightning danced at the inner edge of the Storm and leapt for the vortex. The sound of thunder vanished. It was working!

  "Harris," Clyde shouted as he stood. "You and Lancelot get out of here."

  He felt the air burn a split second before the strike. A wave of blinding agony tore through him, and he was thrown forward. His vision blurred as the darkness rose to embrace him. For an instant the only sound he heard was the frantic hammering of his own heart, before silence engulfed him.

  Chapter 18

  Horror. Unspeakable horror. Villains. Invaders! They were marching on his home, tearing down his fortresses and sacred places…

  Totarakh thrashed upon the forest floor like a man in the grip of fever. He clawed at the air, struggling to keep the approaching armies in his mind at bay, and lurched into full wakefulness. The night sky spread above him like a blanket of soothing blackness. He lifted a hand to his head and wiped his sweat-drenched brow.

  The invaders were preparing, even now. In the realm of darkness, a strange glowing panel had opened a mystic window. When Totarakh had drawn near to it, it had shifted and changed as if his presence distorted it somehow. He had touched it, and nearly fainted as his hand slid into another realm.

  Totarakh had seen their massing armies, their machines of war and death. Strange devices that defied natural order, powers beyond the reach of the most accomplished sages. They must have stretched forth their vile might to strike down the Holy City from afar. A burning vengeance awoke in his heart, and he pulled himself off the ground, shaking the dirt from his once opulent robes.

  "By Siath, this will not be allowed," Totarakh whispered grimly. "I am still the High Priest of the Siathrak, and all of Analath shall rise to my call."

  Lifting his gaze to the sky, Totarakh studied the stars. It did not take him long to recover his bearings; he was in a grove near Ilinar.

  "Ilinar. Here is where the corruption began. Here is where it shall be stopped!" Totarakh drew his tattered cloak around his shoulders and marched onward.

  The gates of the city were closed, and the city patrols appeared vigilant. Apparently the Siathrak presence had inspired some focus in them. Totarakh narrowed his eyes against the glare of their torches and walked toward the entrance. One of the guards stopped him. "State your name, stranger."

  Totarakh drew himself up. "You are a lax, unfaithful fool to not recognize the High Priest of the Siathrak," he declared in a voice that echoed throughout the fields. The guard stumbled back a step, his determined expression crumpling into uncertainty. "In Siath's name, I command these gates to be opened!"

  "Ah, m-my lord? W-we have orders to—"

  "To do what?" Totarakh demanded. "Stand about and gape in the face of the only soul that can save you from imminent damnation?" Drawing a deep breath, the high priest crossed his arms. A cold light burned in his eyes. "Our world can not suffer the delay you cause. Stand aside or be judged by Siath!"

  "Open the gates," the guard frantically called to the door-warden on the wall.

  "Send for Halathas," Totarakh ordered above the din of the creaking gates. "Gather all of the citizens of Ilinar to the Temple." He strode through the open arch, a pair of worried guards trailing him. He turned to one of them. "There is a young woman imprisoned within the house of Varlath. Have her brought before me, bound and under guard."

  The villagers gathered slowly, quiet murmurs spreading through the growing crowd. They stood as far from the temple as possible, casting curious glances at Totarakh, who stood on the temple stairs. Halathas approached him and bowed stiffly. "Holiness, why have you come before us in this fashion? Where are your soldiers?"

  In the flickering torchlight, Totarakh surveyed the growing throng. "My soldiers are dead." Though the words were not shou
ted, they carried to the assemblage. "The Holy City has been destroyed."

  "How can that be?" Halathas asked above the crowd's shocked gasps.

  "I beheld the destruction with my own eyes. I watched the Holy City burn, consumed by a spirit of death. I watched as our most valiant soldiers gave their lives to defend the heart of our world!" Totarakh stepped higher so that all could behold him. "You ask how this could be? The sorrows you have borne these past weeks are but a taste of the evil that has gripped our world. I alone escaped the flames of destruction, and I alone have seen the terrible truth!"

  Totarakh took a deep breath and closed his eyes, hearing nothing but the flicker of torches as the people awaited his words. "Our lands have been invaded! Dark creatures have massed to ravage our cities and destroy our people. They take shapes similar to ours, but their hearts are black and vile. Ilinar suffered the misfortune of being their first target. I have passed into their hidden fortress and seen these things with my own eyes."

  The city's fear was palpable. Questions were shouted into the night.

  "With the Holy Army destroyed, who will protect us?"

  "Has Siath withdrawn his blessing?"

  "How could this have come to pass?"

  Halathas stepped forward with raised hands. "People, please. Be calm!" He turned to Totarakh, his expression blank, but his eyes blazed in the torchlight. "Holiness, your words are terrifying. The news of the Holy City's destruction is devastating. But how could such armies have amassed here without attracting notice?"

  Totarakh narrowed his eyes. "The signs have been present for weeks. The Siathrak saw them, and the Holy Army marched to your defense. Where is your Sage? What has he done to stop the advance of the enemy?" Voices could be heard shouting in agreement. Halathas clenched his fists, but said nothing. "Is it not true that you harbored a stranger from the wilderness?" he challenged the citizens. "Was it not then that the troubles began?"