by S. J. Ryan
She had listened silently. Her first words now were, “Geth shouldn't have come back.”
“What did you expect? He's your father, Carrot.”
Silence. “How long have you known?”
“Ivan's been collecting and correlating DNA samples of everyone I've met, right from the start.”
“You are so intrusive, Matt. You even put a computer inside my head without my consent.”
“Would you have consented?”
“Probably no. But it is not something you should do unless a person's life is in grave danger.”
“I felt that the moment we entered the palace.”
“I am not mad at you. I am . . . very grateful.” And briefly she told him of Pandora, and what had happened. “She would deny it, but I think what she really wants is to kill every human on the planet, as violently as possible. Valarion is an innocent child in comparison. I've never been so frightened, Matt. I felt as if she almost robbed my soul."
Ivan Lite was simulating the cracking in her voice.
“Describe where you are now.”
“In a large room underground. It is divided into many cells, and I am in one. There are too many guards here, Matt. I don't think I could fight my way out even if I were free now.”
“We'll figure something – “
The rickshaw jerked to a stop. The doors were thrown open and Matt was ejected. The Coliseum's stack of arched towers loomed overhead, taking half the sky. The crowd on the other side roared, echoing against the buildings on the street. Matt was escorted by guards through a ring of more guards, through an entry that descended below ground. Matt smelled earth, sewage, and sweat. Somewhere ahead, an unidentified animal snarled.
The tunnel leveled out and they entered a large poorly-lit room subdivided into cells made entirely of iron bars that stretched from floor to ceiling. The soldiers threw Matt into a cell and locked the door. Carrot was two cells over. Just then, to Matt's eyes, she didn't look like the ultimate warrior. She was still in her ripped party dress, her beehive hair unraveled, and looked like an ordinary frightened, helpless girl.
She tried to rise, but the mass of her chains was too much. She collapsed to the floor again and gazed at him and shook her head. “Oh Matt, you shouldn't have come here.”
Matt didn't know how to answer, so he subvocaled, “Ivan, can Herman give me a sky view?”
"No, Matt. Hermanrise is in forty-five minutes."
He checked the time. “It'll be over by then.”
Too late, he realized from her expression that Carrot was listening even to his subvocalizations.
At the end of a ramp at the far end of the room, barn-class doors were flung open and the light of Delta Pavonis overpowered the torches. The crowd's roar came through like a sonic boom. The thousands of feet in the bleachers then began to stamp in unison. The floor trembled and plaster dust rained from the ceiling.
Throngs of soldiers arrived and opened the cells and pulled him out and Matt lost sight of Carrot in the crush of bodies. Ivan Lite's transponder provided both direction and distance indication at this short range, and Matt found himself following several meters behind her, up the ramp onto the open field. The crowd roared ever louder with their emergence into daylight.
Beneath the fluttering banners Matt saw rows and tiers of spectators, and Ivan counted their number at 43,415. A fifth of the city, Matt thought. Impressive even if admission was free.
They were all looking at him, and they were booing.
Ivan said, "Matt, your heartbeat and respiration are – "
"Yes, adjust them!"
Matt was led across the arena floor and compared his visuals with Ivan's photos of the plans. The ovoid was aligned so that the long axis ran east-west, and the emperor's balcony was on the short axis, in the south. The 'acts' – be they gladiators or beasts or the condemned for execution – were brought in from a north tunnel on the short axis. And that was how Matt and Carrot had entered the arena. The entrance to the reservoir room at the west end looked farther away than it had in the architectural plans that Ivan had photographically archived.
Matt contemplated the dusty expanse of over a hundred meters, and then he looked at the soldiers armed with crossbows lining the edge of the arena.
The soldiers brought him to an elevated wooden platform. They ascended the steps and chained him to a post. The crowd grew quiet as they withdrew. Matt looked to his right and saw Carrot on an identical platform, where she was even more heavily chained. Her expression was blank and hollow.
Carrot looked back at him, then nodded southward.
“She's here.”
Matt turned to where Carrot had indicated. Upon the Emperor's Balcony, Valarion was seated in a well-cushioned chair beneath a canopy and wore a gleaming white robe with gold and purple stripes. Upon his head he wore a laurel made of gold.
Seated next to him was Inoldia. While Valarion waved to the crowd, Inoldia smiled fixedly at Carrot. Matt thought that if cats could smile at mice, it would look like that.
“Carrot,” Matt said. “Do you see the exit to the west?”
“The big one?”
“Yes.”
“That is a long way to run while archers are shooting at us. And then – she – will chase us as well.”
“We're not going to run across the field if we can help it. We'll go for the nearest tunnel and once we're inside the Coliseum passages, it'll be like a maze.”
“What is a 'maze?'”
You've learned the Periodic Table of Elements, Matt thought, but not what a maze is.
“We're not running across open field, so don't worry about it. That's what I'm saying.”
We won't unless we have to, Matt thought. He wondered if they would even have a chance to choose. He looked at the Emperor, sitting cross-legged and smiling care-freely, and remembered the promised fight with the Witch of Britan. Valarion was no fool, so he had to have something to neutralize Carrot's mutant advantage. But what?
Valarion arose and raised his arms. The babble of the crowd subsided. The Emperor descended from the balcony to the arena floor. He was without escort as he walked between the prisoners.
Carrot struggled vainly against her chains.
Valarion stopped in the center of the field, facing the tunnel in the north. The gate rolled aside and a line of soldiers marched out. Next came horse-drawn carts, piled high with logs. In front of the Emperor, soldiers stacked the logs in ascending squares.
"What is this about?" Carrot asked.
"I have no idea,” Matt replied.
With the structure chest high, the soldiers splashed pails of a dark liquid over the logs. Matt caught a whiff that smelled like turpentine. The soldiers and carts returned to the tunnel and musicians emerged, playing a dirge on drums and horns. Then from the vicinity of the Emperor's balcony, scores of men in purple-fringed robes descended to the arena floor and stood behind Valarion.
A military guard emerged from the tunnel, slowly marching as they bore a flat litter upon which lay a body draped by a simple white sheet.
Oh, thought Matt.
The body was placed atop the wood pile. A soldier marched out of the tunnel, bearing a flaming torch, which he presented to Valarion. Valarion returned the bow. He stood silently. The arena was silent as well.
Valarion stepped forward and lit the pyre. With a whoosh, a mushroom of flame ascended to the sky. In emulation of many an emperor before him, Valarion bowed and stood in pious devotion before the burning corpse of the man whose murder he had crafted.
The crowd roared as the fire intensified and consumed the body. Valarion handed off the torch and returned to his chair. He remained standing, faced the crowd, gestured to the prisoners and spoke:
"We have here – the conspirators from Britan – the assassins of our father – Hadron the Great!"
He paused for each phrase, waiting for the men designated as repeaters who were stationed at each section to shout his words around the perimeter of the stad
ium.
Valarion glared down at Carrot and said:
"This woman – is a witch! With her inhuman strength – she overpowered an old and helpless man – Our Father Hadron – and brutally murdered him! Arcadia of Britan! You have been accused – tried and found guilty – of high crime – against the Imperium! "
"I was never tried!" Carrot shouted. "There was no trial! There was no trial!"
But her words were not repeated, and were drowned by the crowd's roar of anger. Valarion waved for silence. Then he spoke again toward Carrot:
"In our leniency – we will grant – your freedom – if you win – two challenges – of combat. In the first – you will fight – three of our best – gladiators. In the second – you will fight – me. Arcadia of Britan – if you accept – raise your arms!"
"Carrot," Matt said. "It's a trick!"
"What choice is there?"
She raised her arms. Soldiers marched out to her platform and unchained her and led her to the center of the arena floor. Rounded by a score of crossbows at short range, she did not fight as the chains were removed. She was presented with helmet, shield, and short sword. As she buckled helmet and sword sheath, the soldiers filed out – a little too quickly, Matt thought.
Alongside the smoldering pyre, Carrot finished adjusting the fit of her garments and waited.
"Ivan," Matt said. "Bring up the key."
Coordinating the contraction of muscles, Ivan worked the master key from Matt's stomach through Matt's esophagus. Matt opened his mouth and let the key drop into his palm.
Then he heard another loud roar, but this one was not from the crowd. It came from a tunnel behind him. The gate was rolled back, and out came three carts, each bearing a man-sized box that shook violently.
Soldiers, with shields clutched and swords drawn, attached ropes to pegs on the boxes and stretched the ropes back to the tunnel entrance. They yanked the ropes and the pegs popped out. The fronts of the boxes simultaneously flopped open as the soldiers sprinted to the tunnel and the gate slammed shut.
Carrot unsheathed her sword.
“MATT,” Ivan said. “WARNING! YOU ARE IN EXTREME DANGER! LEAVE THIS AREA IMMEDIATELY!”
The creatures that loped out of each box were as big as a man and stood erect. They had long necks and whip tails that twitched. Their bodies were covered with scales and their mouths bristled with needle-like teeth and were big enough to chop a human neck in half.
Carrot's voice croaked: “Matt, are those – dinosaurs?”
“Velociraptors,” Matt said. He'd once seen specimens resurrected by genetic engineering in prehistoric wilderness preserves. That time, he had watched them at prey, and knew that Carrot too was in extreme danger. “Carrot, be careful! They're pack hunters, they coordinate their attacks!”
The lizards blinked their saucer eyes in the mid-day sun. They raised their snouts and sniffed the air. As one, they turned toward Carrot.
“A soldier splashed something onto me,” she said. “I am reeking of what I suspect is a meat they prefer to eat.”
The lizards trotted toward her, stooped, sniffed, and split so that one remained in front of her while the other two flanked behind her shoulders.
Carrot turned and shouted aloud, “Matt, if you can get away, do so now!”
Matt clutched the key in his hand, knowing that he would be useless in this fight but unwilling to abandon her.
The crowd abruptly roared and the lizards, distracted, raised their heads and snarled. The crowd's noisemaking was cut short, as each individual spectator came to the realization that the arena walls weren't all that high. Matt had long since realized that he would be an even easier meal to reach.
The lizards circled their prey, slowly at first, but then faster as they closed in. Carrot slashed with the sword. The lizards dodged. Matt sized up the claws against her armorless body.
"Carrot! Your left!"
The lizard had lunged, jaws parted wide. Carrot whirled at the sound of Matt's warning. She blocked the bite with her shield. The creature's open jaw glanced against the metal and hurled past. For a moment, Matt thought she had escaped unhurt. But her thigh bore a deep scratch mark and her face gleamed with a green spittle.
“I can't see!” Carrot cried. “It spat something into my eyes!”
Matt felt his heart sink, but then he had an idea.
“Ivan, we have to warn her faster. As soon as you see a lizard starting to attack, warn Carrot.”
Overhearing, Carrot said, “I need to know the direction of the attack as well!”
“Right! Carrot, picture a clock face with you standing in the middle and wherever you look, you're always facing twelve. When a lizard attacks, Ivan will tell you the clock number and that will tell you the direction the attack is coming from. Ivan, you can do that, right?”
“I understand,” Ivan said. “Four.”
Carrot instantly whirled to her right, her sword hacking at the lunging mouth. Caught by surprise, the raptor failed to dodge the blade which slashed deep into its mouth. It staggered, righted itself, and swung around to face her.
“Six and Twelve,” Ivan said.
Carrot ducked in time. The lizards collided in mid-air while Carrot rolled safely away.
“Three.”
The first lizard jumped over its brothers and dove toward her. Carrot sidestepped and slashed. Bloodied a second time, it stood unsteadily, squaring off while the others pranced to positions behind each of Carrot's shoulders.
“Foureighteleven.”
They came at once in synchronized leaping bounds, but Carrot leaped too – past the lizard that had come in at her four. She shoved the blade in the general direction and this time luck was with her and it penetrated deep into the creature's throat. Carrot held onto the sword and the creature thrashed, tossing sword and Carrot across the dust.
The wounded lizard crouched and pounced. “Above.” Carrot thrust her sword to the sky. The raptor's belly met and absorbed the blade to the hilt. Carrot disappeared beneath the mass of the body and Matt feared that she was being mauled, but then she shoved off the inert carcass and arose no bloodier than before.
Deprived of numerical advantage and the ability to surprise, the remaining two were quickly dispatched, eyes glazed and limbs twitching while blood oozed from the cuts that Carrot's wild slashing and hacking had inflicted. Meanwhile, the crowd had stopped jeering and had gone silent.
Carrot slowly turned, clutching her sword. “I still can't see well. What's happening?”
“You're okay,” Matt said. “You got them all.”
Carrot took a deep breath and slumped. It was then that Matt noticed for the first time that her hair color was noticeably lighter. As it shimmered into a flaming, iridescent orange, the crowd noticed too, and roared and stamped and the arena shook more than ever.
But then the crowd fell silent again. Matt looked around, puzzled, and then faced the balcony and saw that Valarion had stood. Turning to a soldier in waiting, Valarion shed his purple robe and laurel and buckled a sword to his waist. Taking helmet and shield, he headed toward the steps.
“The Emperor is coming down to fight you,” Matt said.
“Yes, I can see a little now.”
“After watching what you just did, he's got to be crazy to think he can beat you.”
“Do you – do you think he is a mutant too?”
Matt considered, waiting for Ivan to offer an opinion. Finally, Matt said, “I don't know. You didn't detect anything unusual about his scent last night?”
“Inoldia smells like a normal person when she is untransformed, so there is no way for me to tell if a mutant in human form is a mutant, unless it is not their natural form. I'm sorry, did that make sense?”
“Yes.”
“Oh Matt, I am so tired! I didn't sleep at all last night, and Pandora made me feel so weak, and after fighting those creatures – perhaps now I am not a match for him.”
“Don't talk that way.” He squeezed the key.
Suddenly she slapped her neck. Then she slapped her knee. The she slapped her arm. The third time, she plucked away something tiny and held it to her eye.
“What is this thing?” she asked.
“Zoom on her hand,” Matt said to Ivan, having the sinking feeling again.
Pinched in her fingers was a dark sliver, feathered on one end, needle thin and sharp on the other.
“Poison dart!” Matt said.
“I am immune to poison,” she said.
Carrot drooped her sword and staggered.
“Matt, I don't feel well.”
Then a voice like Ivan's spoke, “Carrot, this is Ivan Lite. Your body has been invaded by a virus which is rapidly multiplying and is altering your cellular DNA.”
Staring dully ahead, Carrot blinked. “What is it – what is it doing to me?”
“I am transmitting data to Ivan at this time. He will provide analysis.”
The Emperor was waving his sword high, but the response of the crowd was mixed. They had seen Carrot in action and did not know the trial she was going through at the moment, and to them it may have seemed as if they might get an even newer emperor before the day was out.
“Ivan,” Matt said. “Video replay of just before the dart hit her. Reverse slow motion."
The trajectory traced to a blowgun of a hooded figure on the rail near the Emperor's balcony. Ivan zoomed in on the face beneath the hood and enhanced the imagery. A middle-aged twin of Inoldia was puffing on the straw.
“Carrot, I think the virus is artificial. The darts came from one of the Sisters. It could be designed to edit your DNA to make you feel weaker.”
“Matt, when I was in the presence of Pandora, I was completely paralyzed. Is this what she did to me then as well?”
“I don't know. It might be something synthesized to help Valarion handle you. But if it came from Pandora, it could do almost anything. Ivan, do you have an analysis yet?”
“Preliminary analysis summary,” Ivan said. “The identified virus appears to uniquely match the location of mutant genes present in Carrot's DNA. It then – “
“– Neutralizes the mutant genes,” Matt said.