But there was much more at stake. The mages on Babylon 5 were only a small group. Right now, it seemed, only they were endangered. Could the Shadows suspect the deception? Could Elizar? Certainly he knew how the mages worked.
Galen. Its the only chance to save them.
And how will you know, Galen said, that I have told you the truth?
Elizar dismissed the question with a flourish of his hand. My telepath will scan you to confirm it.
Somehow, Galen sensed that this had been Elizars goal all along. All the truth Elizar had told had been to gain his trust, so he would undergo the scan willingly. When Bunny had attempted to scan Kell, Kell had killed himself. Elizar would not want a repetition of that. He would want to know the mages true plans.
Galen could not allow Bunny to scan him. She was a P12. He might delay her for a few seconds, but that was all. He did not have the skill to induce a heart attack, as Kell had done. Elizar would learn the secret of destruction. He would learn that the gathering on Babylon 5 was a misdirection. The rest of the mages would be endangered. Perhaps it was true that they should never have been created. But he did not want to be the cause of their deaths.
He must get to the gun. Galen removed his hand from his side, straightened. He didnt dare move his leg until he had to. Without the aid of the organelles, the pain had been intensifying steadily the entire time theyd been speaking. And the leg had swollen up even more than before, his pants digging into it.
Galen took a shallow breath, focused. He was a poor liar, but he had to try, at least, to convince Elizar that he was considering the proposition. Youre right that I hate you. But Im not blinded by it. Your plan is our only chance. Yet how do I know that saving the mages is your true goal? Once you learn the hiding place, you can kill me, and you will have the rest of the mages at your mercy. Ive no sensors to tell me whether you speak the truth. You must give me a sign of your good intentions. Restore my tech. Show me your trust, and I will show you mine.
Elizar stood. And how do I know you wont destroy me, as youve destroyed so many in the tunnels? Youve killed many more than I, Galen.
And hed just been getting started.
Elizar brought his hand down sharply. Ive told you more truth than anyone else in your life. Tell me what you know of the mages hiding place. Together we can save them. Together we can gain their freedom. You know thats what I want. And I know its what you want. We once shared noble dreams. Reality has tainted them, but still there are great tasks left for us to accomplish. Show me your goodwill. Then I will restore your tech to you.
Galen looked down, trying to appear uncertain. He needed Elizar to move away from the gurney. He needed Elizar not to see the gun.
Are others here with you and Blaylock? Elizar asked.
Galen met his gaze. No. The rest are on Babylon 5. We came to discover the Shadows plans for them.
And what of the mages hiding place?
Unfortunately, Galen said, the Circles secrecy is not limited to the tech. Only they know the location of the hiding place. They feared that some of our number were agents of the Shadows, so they would tell no others.
Elizar studied him. You know nothing more?
Blaylock knows the hiding place. Galen staggered to his feet. Pain shot up his leg. Rouse him and I will help convince him to tell you. I have no further loyalty to him. He swayed, his vision swarming with grey dots. He focused on his balance. He must reach the gun in one clean movement.
Blaylock will never tell. And you have told me nothing that would convince the Shadows you have turned. Elizar extended a hand, stopped himself before he touched Galen. I dont understand you. This is the only chance the mages have. You must help me. Dont you want to save them?
Galen found his breaths coming faster. He fixed Elizar with his gaze. Restore my power. Let us go. Tell the Shadows we escaped. I will warn the mages. They will elude the trap, and you will have the time you need.
Elizar flung his arms wide, and his voice rose. How do I know you wont kill me? I cant endanger all I have done, let all those who have died be lost in vain. I must know I can trust you. He hesitated. If you know nothing of the hiding place, then explain to me your spell of destruction. It will remain between us.
For Elizar, it always came back to power. I will tell no one that spell. The temptation is too great.
Elizars mouth hung open at a crooked angle. We both want the mages to survive. Dont you find it tragic that we cant trust each other? Its our only chance. Galen, we have only a few minutes before theyre all dead. What can I do, what can I say to gain your trust?
Bring Isabelle back.
Elizars mouth wrinkled shut, and his eyes drifted to the side. I would if it were within my power. Not a night has passed that I havent relived that nightmare. But we must get beyond that. She
There is no getting beyond that.
Elizars gaze returned to Galen, lingered there. At last he shook his head, and his voice was soft. I must have Bunny scan you. She will know your true intentions. If you will leave me unharmed, I will help you and Blaylock to escape.
Once Bunny was inside his mind, she could find out whatever Elizar desired.
Elizar started toward the door, and Galen pushed off with his good leg, lunging for the gun. He lurched into the gurney, his elbows slamming down onto Annas legs, and snatched up the weapon. The gurney began to roll away, and he stumbled to regain his balance, a brilliant pain exploding in his shin. He brought the gun up on Elizar, gasping.
On the floor to one side lay GLeel, her gloved hands open, empty. Galens grip was tight about her gun. She had risked her life to help him, and he had nearly forgotten about her.
A shot to the head or heart could kill Elizar. And in a moment, it would. But he must make sure, first, that he could get GLeel away from this place.
Open the door, he said breathlessly.
Elizar seemed frozen, his eyes wide. His expression was satisfyingly similar to that in Galens fantasy. You would have all the mages die. He fell silent, and after a few moments, his face regained its composure. Youre not the person I knew. It is more important to you to kill me, than to save everything you love.
I love nothing, Galen said, except the thought of killing you.
Elizar glanced toward the door behind him. The passage outside is filled with Drakh. The Shadows wont let you leave this room. They know what you can do, better than you know it. Theyve been especially patient with you, because they wanted you fighting on their side. But theyve made you their last offer. Submit to scanning. Give us what you know.
Something fell behind him with a heavy metallic ring. Galen looked back. The gurney had brought Anna to rest against the far wall. She had pried a panel off it. Within the wall, something soft and black glistened, shot through with veins of silver. She thrust her emaciated hand into it. She had found another machine with which to connect. It was all that mattered to her. She was a slave to the Shadows programming, just as he was. Galen turned back to Elizar.
Open the door.
Elizar pressed several buttons on the doors keypad.
There was no response. Was it some trick? Or could Anna somehow be affecting it?
Open it, Galen said.
Elizar pressed the buttons again. Still the door did not move.
The lights went out, plunging them into darkness. Galen feared he had missed his only chance. Crying out, he fired at the spot where Elizar had stood, filling the area with plasma bolts. Each recoil spiked pain down his leg.
The door opened, and in the dim light of the tunnel he saw the craggy silhouettes of Drakh filling the doorway. He shot at them with the crude weapon.
The Drakh fell back with the impact of his blasts, but their armor, he suspected, protected them from any serious injury. In another second or two, he would surely be shot. He must throw himself at them. If he got out of the room, perhaps his power would be restored. That was his only chance of escape.
Firing, he stumbled toward the doorway. But the shapes
there shifted. The craggy silhouettes parted, and a thinner, softer silhouette came forward between them. The dim light reflected off a curve of yellow hair. Galens arm fell limp; the gun clattered against the floor. Beneath the curve of yellow hair, the face was a pit of pure blackness, and in the moment he saw it he was captured by it, its hunger pulling him toward it, sucking him in. He found his legs had stopped their forward movement, yet his mind was rushing ahead, unable to resist, wrenched from his body into the rich shining blackness.
* * *
chapter 15
The blackness spread over Galens mind, branching into tentacles, burrowing inward. Hed thought at first that hed entered the blackness, but he now realized the blackness had entered him. The tentacles slid deeper, twisting, writhing. Then the end of each sprouted a claw, dug in.
He saw Elizar sitting before him. It all makes sense now, doesnt it ? Then Elric stood before him in a hallway on Selic 4. It is the test of what you are. A techno-mage or a traitor. One who kills, or one who does good. One in control, or one consumed by chaos. One who brings darkness, or one who brings light . Then it was Blaylock, sitting across the table from him on the transport. Elric and the others , Galen said to him. Theyre on Babylon 5 .
Bunny was scanning him. She was going to find out what she must not find out. He desperately visualized a blank screen in his mind, narrowed his attention to it, to the letter A appearing in blazing blue in the upper left-hand corner. It felt strange, doing the exercise without the echo of the tech. Yet he had done it many times before hed received the implants.
It all makes sense now, doesnt it ? Elizar said.
He forced the letter B to appear beside the A .
Then it was A B C in a neat row. Then A B C D . He must hold them all in his mind at once, keep each individual letter clear while the whole also remained clear. He must keep out anything else.
A movement distracted him, and for a moment he was back in the white room. Bunny was smiling, waving off the Drakh, coming toward him. He found his legs stumbling back, away from the door. The tentacles carved paths through his mind, probing for his deepest secrets.
Gowen walked beside him. How could Elizar do such a thing ?
ABCDE.
ABCDEF
ABCDEFG.
He could hold her off for only a few seconds more. He must kill himself before she could find what he knew. But he had no weapon. He added letter after letter at the end of the neat row, more and more to hold in his mind. H. I. J .
The tentacles drove into him, as the spike drove into her. Its no use , she said. This is not a wound you can heal. It is a weapon inside me .
K . The letter took great effort, and he found himself thinking of Babylon 5, of Elric. Bunny was forcing him to. He pushed the thoughts away. He must continue the alphabet, complete it. Dont think of what would come after.
L, M, N . He came up against the wall, the gurney blocking him on his left. He sat in his bedroom on Soom working on his spells, Fa crouched on the table beside his screen. Whats that ? she asked.
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNO.
The lights came back on. Anna looked up at him with dark, hungry eyes. She was controlling the rooms systems. P . Her left arm was coated in the gelatinous black matter, silver threads running through it like veins. Q . With her free hand, Anna seized him about the wrist. Elric seized him in an embrace as he left for Zafran 8.
R . She jerked his hand to the metal device on her head. She would control every machine in the universe, given the chance. He fell through the night, and she screamed with him. Anna. Anna Sheridan.
His father towered over him, dark, enraged. Youre my apprentice. Shes nothing to you ! It was becoming harder and harder to add letters, to hold them all in his mind. He focused. Pushed.
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRS.
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST.
Galens breath deepened as Anna took control of him, and pain stabbed into his side. His heartbeat slowed, falling into pounding synchrony with hers. He searched for control of his hand, was about to pull away from her when he felt the penetrating tentacles of blackness hesitate in their paths.
U . Bunny was uncertain, confused by what she sensed.
Galen slammed his free hand against the fine metalwork on Annas head. Let them fight for control of him. Perhaps it would give him a few more seconds to think. Yet he must focus only on the alphabet, each letter now a monolith of effort.
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUV.
Anna circulated all through him now. Galen could feel her frustration at his techs lack of response. She wanted what she had felt before, when they had connected in the tunnel. She found meaning only as part of the machine, in serving the machine. This machine was not working.
W . She located the problem. A transceiver at the base of his spinal cord was picking up an intense signal in the radio band. The signal overrode the tech, prevented it from acting. Anna searched for the source of the signal, sending herself out through the silver veins, through the machine built into the wall and through all those with which it was connected.
Bunny renewed her assault, claws ripping through Galens mind. As he fiercely visualized the screen with the letters of the alphabet, thoughts and memories flashed in and out, leaking through his defenses.
Elric stood before him. We may alter the particulars of our plan. But the plan has already been put in motion, and we cannot change course now.
X.
The Circle stood on the dais before the mages. Blaylock spoke. We have decided upon a new site at which we can prepare for our exodus . Bunny was searching for the mages plan, zeroing in.
Y . Galen forced his mind away from that room, forced the alphabet to completion.
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ.
But then he was standing before the dais again. Blaylock continued. We cannot allow our gathering place again to be discovered by the Shadows .
Anna traced the nullifying signal to its source. And turned it off.
Power shot through him like a seizure. His body filled with fire, incandescent. Anna reveled in it. She too was programmed for destruction. She wanted her new weapon to work well.
Hed been horrified at what she was, yet they were kin: different systems with different degrees of autonomy, on the same spectrum of chaos and death.
The black claws ripped out of his mind. Bunny had broken off her attack and was pushing her way back through the crowd of Drakh toward the door. She knew what had happened.
Galen yanked his hands from Anna, retaking control of his racing body, struggling to regain his bearings. He didnt believe hed revealed the mages deception, but he couldnt be absolutely certain. He had to kill Bunny.
As the nearest Drakh raised his gun, Galen seized him within a sphere of destruction. Then the next Drakh. And the next. The white walls began to undulate, and time turned sluggish, distorted.
He couldnt see Bunny. He cast the one-term spell again, this time making the sphere large enough to encompass as much as possible of the area between him and the door, while making sure it touched neither GLeel nor Blaylock. The energy came down upon him, shot out of him. Many of the Drakhand parts of a few who stood along the edgeswere encased within the sphere. It began to darken. Galen hoped Bunny was among them.
Now for Elizar. Galen scanned the area in search of mage energy. All he found were his own and Blaylocks. At greater distances, as before, unfamiliar energies overwhelmed any sign of a mage. He realized why those frequencies were so full. The Shadow tech radiated at frequencies similar to the mage tech. They shared a common lineage.
The large sphere began to collapse. It had cut into the wall around the door, turning the opening into a large, curved archway. Through it, in the tunnel, he saw Rabelna. In the fluid spacetime of the spell, her shoulders were stretching out to each side, pulling the plaid pattern of her jacket with them, turning her into a strange, alien scarecrow. Her mouth open in fear, Rabelna aimed her gun at him, the gun that had shot GLeel. With a thought Galen imploded her.
; Behind her were more Drakh, and as his spheres collapsed with deafening cracks, they spilled into the room to fill the emptiness. Galen captured them in clumps.
Movement to his side, and Galen turned, the tech eager, ready for direction. It was Blaylock. He was pushing himself up against the wall, his rippling face ashen, drawn. He must have awakened when his tech was restored.
Blaylock jerked his head toward the door and raised his mangled palms. Arcs of brilliant white electricity jumped between the buttons of his jacket sleeves, raced up his arms, down the front of his jacket. A brilliant flash shot out from his chest. It moved too quickly to see, yet Galen could tell who its target had been.
The white carapace on the Drakhs head had been scorched black, and his armor ran down his body in thick rolls of sludge.
Smoke rose from around him, carrying the smell of charred flesh. The Drakhs arm fell to his side. He had been aiming his weapon at Galen. He collapsed in a smoldering heap.
Galen seized Drakh by the handful, the spells forming effortlessly in a neat column, the energy blazing through him, their bodies crumbling inward to nothingness. He remembered Blaylocks words. What we have been given, Galen, is a mystery beyond our understanding, a true blessing. It taps into the basic force and fabric of the universe, into God, as some call it. Our place is to use that blessing in the best way possible, to be the best agents of the universe that we can. A mage who forms a perfect union with his tech will undergo an enlightenment in which he learns the will of the tech, and the universe. As one, they may carry out that will .
He had learned the will of the tech, and it brought no enlightenment. The tech had nothing to do with God, or the universe. It was programmed to destroy.
Blaylock shrouded the tech in mystery to prevent them from studying it. Galen should kill him for all the lies hed told. But then, they probably had only a few minutes left to live.
Drakh continued to storm the room. They didnt know enough to stop, to withdraw. Eventually his attention would falter, and another one would get past him, and shoot him. Until then, he would kill as many as he could.
Babylon 5 17 - Techno-Mages 02 - Summoning Light (Cavelos, Jeanne) Page 27