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Interphase

Page 34

by Kira Wilson


  "I'm so sorry," Analara said when they were back on the public side of the barricade. "I should have kept quiet."

  David put an arm around her shoulders and kissed her. "Actually, I was proud of you. Not many people have the courage to throw Donovan's ego back in his face."

  Thomas drew alongside David. "It sounded like you worked something out near the end of that conversation," he said.

  "Yeah." David frowned deeply. "I really hope I'm wrong."

  He explained his theory: Totarakh had brought a trap through the gateway and planted it underground, and was now leading Dr. Bell and his archeological team to uncover it.

  David frowned. "I have to hope that it's not some kind of viral weapon. Given what he's become, the thought is almost too terrifying to imagine."

  Thomas clenched his fists. A zealot, a maniac, and a cunning schemer. Totarakh was an extremely dangerous enemy. He cast a glance back at the excavation camp, as if staring at it long enough would help him pierce the mystery lying before them.

  The morning had almost passed, and the heat was growing by the minute. They retreated into the shade of the transport station and waited for the next ride to arrive. Analara looked nearly wilted, and she rested her head on David's shoulder.

  "You seem tense, Lancelot."

  Thomas dragged his gaze away from the dry hills and found Clyde studying him. He sighed and crossed his arms. "I don't like the feeling of an unknown enemy at my back."

  Clyde shrugged. "We've beaten Totarakh's ass plenty of times. What's there to worry about?"

  "All of our previous battles have taken place within V-Net. We were evenly matched there. But out here—"

  "Out here? Exactly what can Totarakh do 'out here'? Even if David is right and we start seeing Anrathian soldiers in reality, they won't stand a chance against VERA's army. No, I think he's just buried in the system. Hell, so far he's only shown up to mess around with your head lately. Dunno why he'd want to, the inside of your head doesn't seem like it'd be all that interesting."

  Thomas caught the friendly note in Clyde's voice, and laughed. "All right, you've made your point."

  From a distance, they could see the transport heading their way.

  "Good. Now I think it's time to ruin someone's day. Mr. Bigshot Professor may think he's running the show, but while our first visit was unsanctioned, the second will most definitely be otherwise. VERA is sending some large, armed, metallic friends to remind him who his boss is." He stretched his arms above his head, grinning evilly. "I must say, being on the right side of authority does have its advantages."

  A deafening crack, like a massive boulder shattering, split the parched air just as the next transport hummed up in front of them. Thomas looked back towards the dig site. Clouds of dust swirled up in the distance, and he could hear shouts over the din.

  "Oh hell," David whispered.

  "Time to go," Clyde shouted.

  They clambered into the transport and ordered the pilot drone to make for the city at top speed. The transport kicked forward and sped away from the dig site.

  Thomas glanced behind. The hills above the excavation were collapsing, as if shaken by a monstrous hand. People fled wildly from the chasm. For an instant he thought he caught a glimpse of Dr. Bell, and then the ground exploded around the escaping figures.

  A dark mass pushed up from beneath the earth. An armored head rose above the edge of the hole. A clawed hand reached out to dig into the ground, lifting long, jointed arms, enormous shoulders and a thick body clear of the dig.

  It was not the only one. A new mountain formed, and then another figure burst up, heavily armed and armored.

  The nearest machine raised one arm, and suddenly the sky went red. The transport shook from the tremendous shockwave, pitching its nose into the sand and nearly flipping. Thomas was hurled against his restraints, the safety straps preventing any of them from being thrown clear of the vehicle. The transport sputtered and crashed into a sandy hillside.

  David unstrapped himself and vaulted out of the wind dome. "Thomas, help me!"

  Thomas jumped down next to him. They pulled on the transport, trying to free it from the hill. Clyde, Lucas and Analara pushed from the other side.

  Another shockwave knocked them to the ground, but the transport was dislodged. Hopping back in, they stared in dismay at the broken pilot drone.

  "Let's go, everyone!" Thomas wrenched the inert piece of machinery from its moorings as sparks from crushed circuitry fizzled in the air.

  "You can drive?" Clyde demanded.

  "We're about to find out."

  Thomas pressed a button. The transport shuddered forward, building up speed. Grabbing at a pair of levers that he guessed to be the controls, he steered around some low mounds, gaining more confidence.

  "Holy shit," Lucas shouted.

  "What's wrong?" Thomas replied. An instant later the ground exploded behind them. He fought to steady the transport and risked a glance behind. A blackened crater yawned, and the shadow on the horizon readied another discharge. "Why are they shooting at us?"

  "You wanna turn around and ask?" Clyde yelled. "Get us the hell out of here, Lancelot."

  Gritting his teeth, Thomas increased their speed to maximum. The hills rushed by dizzyingly fast. He clung to the controls and fought to keep them from crashing, expecting any second to feel the heat of the explosion that would end them.

  "If we survive this, Clyde," Thomas growled, "remind me to tell you exactly what can happen 'out here'."

  An explosion to their right rocked the transport, pelting the wind dome with debris. For a terrifying instant Thomas slid out of the driver's seat, and the transport veered. Scrambling back to his position, he righted the controls and sped on.

  More weapons fire echoed through the air, but this time the sound came from in front. Several hundred figures marched toward the two gigantic war mechs, firing ion-charged rail guns. Their bodies were humanlike, but metal, their faces devoid of features.

  Talan assault soldiers. VERA's robotic army.

  Chapter 38

  The transport failed just outside of New Mercury. Analara leapt out with the rest of the group and ran toward the nearest city gate. She could still feel tremors shaking the ground here, and colored flashes lit up the noon sky behind them.

  They entered the city, and David looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings. "Clyde, we've got to get into V-Net as quickly as possible. Where is the closest access point?" he asked.

  Closing his eyes, Clyde pointed in the direction of a tall, dome-shaped building. "It's a public access point, but it should have enough chairs for all of us."

  They dashed to the building and hurried inside, each sitting down in a free link chair. Analara's heart thudded heavily in her chest, but she forced herself to calm down as her mind opened to the embrace of the network.

  Analara blinked and found herself in VERA's white walled palace. One by one her companions joined her, each bearing a grim or worried expression.

  "Okay." Clyde nervously ran both hands through his hair. "Anyone want to take a stab at explaining just what the hell happened out there?"

  "You mean, besides giant robots bursting up from the ground and annihilating everything?" Lucas responded.

  "It appears that David's theory was correct," Thomas added gravely. "Those titans must have been the doom that Totarakh sent us digging toward."

  David frowned. "Where could he have gotten them? I've never seen anything on Analath remotely near that level of technology. Have you, Analara?"

  A memory tickled at the back of Analara's mind. "I've never seen anything like that either, but I recall hearing stories from the Artisan of Lost Times. Long ago, it is said that the people of my world walked about as giants and made war on each other."

  "As giants?" David creased his brow. "Is it possible that Totarakh discovered some ancient Anrathian weapons and smuggled them here?"

  "We can ponder where they came from later," Thomas said. "Right now,
our primary task is to stop them."

  Analara blanched at the thought. Those monsters were nothing short of invincible, capable of squashing them all with a single stomp. They would have been hard pressed to defeat just one of them inside V-Net, with full access to their talents and abilities. But on Phoenix, as mortals…

  A thoughtful sound from Clyde drew her attention. His gaze was distant again, and when he spoke his tone was quite serious. "The Talan soldiers are still engaged. Exchanging heavy fire. The enemy behemoths are coordinated, choosing priority targets and covering each other. Someone has to be controlling—" Clyde suddenly blinked and turned around.

  A shimmer of blue flickered in the air, and VERA appeared before them. She was openly angry. The sight frightened Analara.

  "Those monstrosities are adept killing machines," she fumed. "The New Mercury dig site has been completely decimated!"

  "Dr. Bell?" David asked.

  Solemnly, VERA shook her head. "My Talans are holding the line, and I am bringing up every spare troop I have, but it will be close. The invaders must not reach New Mercury. We have to find a way to shut them down before they reach their full power."

  Lucas paled. "You mean they're getting stronger?"

  "Yes. My scans indicate that they are currently at 12% power output and growing. For the time being, their primary weapon systems remain offline. There is some good news, however. I discovered a signal linking both machines to a command source."

  Clyde closed his eyes. "Show me?" A faint blue glow flowed from VERA to Clyde, and he frowned. "That almost looks like…"

  "Yes," VERA acknowledged. "Code strings from the Analath gateway. They're coming from within V-Net and hijacking our equipment to broadcast to the robots."

  Analara felt her breath come up short. "Totarakh. He must be controlling these things. This was his trap all along."

  "So in order to stop the big, nasty robots," Lucas said, "we've got to find that asshole again?"

  "Thankfully, the old bastard left us some breadcrumbs." Clyde opened his eyes. "The signals trace directly into the V-Net command level. He's running the show from the site of the last invasion."

  VERA made a gesture, and a doorway opened behind them. She turned to Clyde, grasping his hand, and it seemed to Analara that she forgot the rest of them were there. "That level is still heavily damaged. Please be careful."

  Clyde touched her cheek then tapped his forehead. "You'll know if something goes wrong. Now go show those invaders how we do things on Phoenix."

  Nodding, VERA let go of his hand and faded away.

  David's fingers slipped into Analara's, and she gave them a squeeze. Staying close together, they moved through the doorway.

  What little remained within the enormous chamber still bore testimony to the battle that had taken place. The far terminal lay broken upon the floor; the walls were burnt and cracked. However, there was no sign of Totarakh. Analara gazed at the spot where the original gateway had stood. Something moved in the air just above the platform, and she squinted, trying to make it out. "David? What is that?"

  They gathered around it. Analara could scarcely believe her eyes, but there it was: a dim, wavering outline of a midnight gateway.

  "The dark portal," Clyde muttered. "How many gateways did he open?"

  David stepped forward, and his image shimmered. He tipped a strange, broad-brimmed hat back on his head and knelt in front of the portal. He activated his wrist instrument and waited several seconds. Frowning, he tapped his chin. "This scenario is familiar. I can tell it leads somewhere, but couldn't tell you exactly where."

  "Move aside." Clyde stepped forward, waved his fingers, and a screen similar to David's appeared in mid-air.

  "That's a neat trick," David said enviously.

  "Gift from the lady. Apparently the Architect gets to play with the really cool toys." He keyed in a series of commands, and Analara quickly lost interest. She turned to the gateway itself, watching the ripples of half-light that flowed across its surface. It reminded her of a spring bubbling up from below the ground.

  "Ouch," Clyde exclaimed. "This thing's got some major protection on it. The code barriers are so thick, I can't slip a single probe through. The readouts show that this is the source of the signal though. Totarakh may be inside."

  The waves continued to play over the sealed gate, never shifting in their paths, not even in response to Clyde's fiddling. They seemed almost alive. Analara reached up and traced her fingers along the path of an energy ripple. She felt a weak pressure against her skin, like a piece of sheer fabric wrapped over her fingertip, and a track of color appeared where she had touched. She pulled back, startled.

  "Whoa, Annie! How did you do that?" Lucas asked.

  "I don't…" Analara stared at her hand.

  "Try it again," Thomas urged. She reached up and pressed her palm against the gateway this time. Light flared and spread across a large area, and she thought she could see something beyond. She glanced at David over her shoulder. He nodded encouragingly.

  With both hands, Analara opened the dark portal and stepped through.

  ***

  Clyde gaped in awe of the scene in front of him. He and his friends stood on a glass floor hanging over a sea of pale green light. The floor extended up in a gentle arc, leading toward a large suspended platform. There were no walls or roof to be seen, just light suffusing everything with a verdant glow. Though he'd been certain Totarakh would be inside, their nemesis was nowhere to be seen.

  "VERA… are you seeing this?" Clyde whispered to her.

  "Yes. It is beautiful," she responded.

  The others seemed similarly dumbstruck, except Analara. She squinted at their surroundings, as if trying to pierce through the shadows to what lay beyond.

  Clyde caught David's glance, and they nodded to each other. They led the way up the glass arch.

  When they reached the platform, Clyde saw that it was ringed by banks of terminals. Empty monitors stood above row after row of controls, and a strange pointed device hung over a raised central dais. He stared at the controls with a hunger in his eyes.

  Displays. Monitoring. Projection. Clyde could infer the purpose of many of the machines, but the text was completely unreadable. "VERA, can you run a translation program through our link?" he asked. "The normal V-Net interpreter doesn't appear to be functioning here."

  "Executing now. It will take a few minutes for it to become fully effective," she replied.

  "This… this can't be on Analath," Lucas murmured. "Can it?"

  "This is where the control signal is coming from," David replied. "It would have to be."

  "The source of the signal?" Analara began, then stopped. She frowned. "Then where is Totarakh?"

  Clyde waved his hands through the air, trying to call up his display, but nothing happened. He tried again, with the same result. Something wasn't right. He looked over at David and noticed for the first time that the hat and trench coat were gone. "My interface program isn't loading. Are any of yours working?"

  David reached for his coat pocket, a surprised look coming over his face when he realized that it was no longer there. "No. We've all reverted to our natural personas. Whatever this place is, it's highly protected."

  Glancing over at Analara, Clyde noted that she still looked like her original self; she hadn't shifted back into Jessica's appearance. He looked at the nearest terminal, then back at her. "Dave, is it just me, or is the system treating Analara differently from the rest of us?"

  David blinked and pursed his lips in thought. "I think you may be onto something."

  "Analara, you got us here. Try using one of the consoles. Maybe you can get it to work," Clyde said.

  Analara looked dubious, but she stepped forward. Experimentally she tapped at a few keys. A musical chime sounded, and a gentle voice spoke in a foreign language. All around the platform, consoles and monitors lit up.

  The translator program wasn't operational yet, so Clyde had to ask. "Did you unders
tand any of that?"

  Nodding hesitantly, Analara looked at the keyboard with confusion. "It said that my… bio-coding? That it was a match."

  Clyde nodded. "There's our answer. This system is definitely in Analath. It's probably keyed to be usable by Anrathians. I wond—"

  "While this is all really cool, we've gotta find a way to jack up those mechs," Lucas interrupted.

  Clyde glared at him. "I was getting to that, sweet cheeks. Now, at the moment, we don't have access to any translation code. VERA is running an interpreter program through our link, but it hasn't finished loading through this system's barrier. This means that you, Analara, are going to operate the controls for us."

  Analara backed away from the console. "I don't know how to use any of this. What if I mess something up?"

  Laying his hand on her shoulder, David spoke in a calm voice, "Clyde and I will walk you through it. There's nothing to be afraid of. Right now, you're the only one who can understand or use the system. If we're going to have any hope of saving Phoenix, it has to be you."

  "I-I will try." Analara swallowed hard.

  Clyde stepped closer to a console, motioning for her to join him. He pointed at a line of symbols near the top of the screen. "What does that say?"

  Analara mouthed the words to herself, as if mulling them over. "Environmental System… Control."

  "Okay. Find the key that opens a command menu."

  "Command menu?" Analara's gaze roamed across the keys, searching for the right match. Her finger moved above a large key. "I think this is it."

  "Hit it."

  Tentatively, Analara pressed the key. A warning tone sounded, and a message flashed onto the screen.

  "What does it say?" Clyde demanded.

  "Controls sealed by command user override."

  Clyde swore. "Someone has locked the system down already. Totarakh must have figured out how to use it when he was moving the robots to our world."

  Concern flashed in David's eyes. "What does that mean?"

  "It means we may be screwed. I can't hack a system without any bloody tools." Clyde pressed his hand to his forehead, his mind racing. "All right. Everyone spread out, try using each of the consoles. I don't care which buttons you press, let's just see if we can find one that hasn't been locked down and go from there."

 

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