by JM Guillen
Eventually they clarified.
I am confused, Anya linked.
Typically, room images appeared from a ceiling-level perspective, as if one peeped out from a security camera. Each scene appeared to be located within a Facility Laboratory, complete with sterile, white walls and shining chrome appliances.
And mutilated corpses.
In some of the scenes, they simply lay where they had fallen, surrounded by pools of crimson. In one case, a brilliant orange fluid leaked from a man’s skull.
Something from within the Crown, I felt certain.
“Oh, God.” Rachel pushed herself back in her seat, her hands over her mouth.
When I glanced at her, I realized she hadn’t even seen the one I had.
The others were far worse.
In one, a Designate sat in a chair, cordage coiled around his naked body. The cords had sliced into his flesh, and his blood ran onto the floor. His eyes had been clawed out, leaving two gaping holes.
He trembled, violently—more violently than the human form should have been able to accommodate, even with a packet like the Adept.
He vibrated, not like a human, but like a machine about to explode.
In another image, I saw a Designate hunker on a desk, naked. The man appeared more like a gaunt predator than any human I’d ever seen. As I watched, he peeled strips of flesh from his own body, while he muttered and giggled.
“Inside.” He smiled. “The gifts she gave us remain inside.”
There were more, so many more.
Hyper-Rationality emanations are strong at Facility Prime, just as they are at certain other locations. Be that as it may, Relic # 0918 shattered the consciousness of every Designate and Asset who studied it. It re—ined inert when exposed to Hyper-Rationality and was unable to be destroyed.
“Unable?” Wyatt let out a slow whistle.
“I burst it apart with one disruptor shot.” I muttered. Something didn’t seem right about that.
Of the limited data that co—d be recovered from the relic, few conclusions could be agreed upon. Among these, the most important seems to be a theme regard—ng the nature of temporal axioms— specifically, time more than space. The relic discusses the nature of certain vitally important moments of time, and the actions that must be attended to at these times.
“Like ninth January?” Delacruz wondered.
“Fuck ninth January.” Wyatt chewed his own lip. “Think about eighteenth September.”
All Designates were immediately requisitioned to handle this dilemma. From across the g—obe, every Designate came to Facility Prime.
“Who—?” Anya started to actually speak, but stopped.
I glanced at her, and she blushed a touch.
Who do you suppose requisitions a Designate? she asked.
Reptilians, Wyatt answered. Maybe gray aliens.
This, then, is the cause behind my absence during your initial mission. Facility Prime has been compromised. The forces at work behave as a cascading error within the Facility system. Some Designates remain compromised, and, more importantly, are currently location unknown.
“Horseshit!” Wyatt exclaimed. “They know where we are down to the centimeter. How can they lose entire Designates?”
“It’s awful.” Rachel hadn’t taken her hands from over her face. “Compromised? What could that even mean?”
This highly sensitive intel is being shared with Citadel Assets because these —atters correlate with your current dossier. So far, you have performed quite admirably in dealing with the Darkened Road.
That’s me they’re admiring, I linked to Wyatt alone.
Yet we now feel it possi—hat their machinations go further than previously suspected.
“You think?” I huffed.
Currently we are uncer—n how many Designates have been compromised. Estimations place their numbers low. Still, any Designate bears a wealth of Facility intelligence, even if driven mad by an Irrational relic.
“How could this have happened?” Rachel turned to Delacruz. “Compromised Designates? At Facility Prime?”
“[I just don’t know.]” Delacruz shook her head.
Regardless of their numbers, these Designates have been affected by a relic holy to the Darkened R—ad. Irrational Relic 0918, as well as other key relics and pieces of technology have been removed from Facility Prime.
I stared at the flickering image, my eyes wide.
As you are currently on a dossier regarding this group, you may encounter Facility Designates broken by Irrationality. It is unknown if exposure to R—lic 0918 will cause these Designates to seek the cabal.
“What?” Wyatt barked. I thought he might stand up and yell at the recording that wasn’t actually there. “How are we supposed to adjust to that? What’s official protocol for incursions against a Designate?”
Making a dangerous situation even more impossible, Hyper-Rationality resonators experienced a terminal fracture less than two hours ago, followed by ano—er. While not nearly as sensitive as the long-range telemetry coils, these fractures indicate the presence of anti-Rational forces or emanations. This data was confirmed by th— telemetry relays placed within Rome by Demetrius Stone. There is no doubt. She paused. An active Variance within Rationality has been confirmed.
The image flickered for a long moment, and the transmission seemed to hang on her image. For an indeterminable infinity, I thought the transmission might be over.
“Okay. Everything’s awful,” Wyatt grumbled and turned to me. “What do you think we should do?”
I started to answer, but the transmission initialized again. For a moment, it moved quite quickly and then slowed to normal.
Obviously, an act-act-ive Variance in Rationality represents the utmost danger. Its existence places extreme strain on the Hyper-Rationality resonators, which causes terminal fractures. One or two fractures will not harm the w—rldwide network, yet such things tend to echo across the Lat—ice. Should we lose a major resonator, such as the Spire or the Dakota Monolith, the effects would be cata-cata-cata-trophic.
“I don’t understand everything she’s saying.” I pointed at Wyatt “You’d better be taking notes.”
“Like I understand?” he muttered.
This is your primary object-object-object-tive. Aside from the events at Facility Prim— and the machinations of the Darkened Road, there is a Variance in play. It must be terminated.
The image went completely dark for just a moment. Then it flickered back on.
You are to ignore al—al—— other goals except those which lead to this end. This will likely be you—you—your last Designate communication for several hours, therefore di—vering your own means of intelligence is critical.
It is suggested that you at—attempt to take possession of one of their main operatives in this—is—is pursuit. This is the only way can you learn enough about the Variance to destroy it.
“They aren’t coming.” Rachel seemed stunned. “A Designate onsite is always assigned when a Variance is in play.”
“Not this time.” I scowled.
Regardless of what you may learn about any Irrationals i-i-in play, you are to seek the Variance in Rationality. Sovereign prerogative alpha-nine has b-en-be-en—engaged.
Again, playback halted. The image shifted rapidly between two frames, as if trying to reengage.
“Find and destroy the Variance.” I couldn’t help but gape any more than I could help the tiny horrified shake of my head.
Was that even possible without a Designate?
In doing this, you m—— encounter corrupted Designates. You also may ha-ha-ha-ha-ve the opportunity to capture Irrational 3302 or re—over Relic 0918. Your primary conc—rn, in every way, is eliminating the Variance in Rationality.
Her words warbled, bent.
“Are we supposed to just slaughter a corrupted Designate if we find one?” Wyatt continued to mutter something beneath his breath after this, but I couldn’t hear what.
I
f I have the capabi—ity, I’ll b—— in touch again. Hopefully the next time we commun—cate a live link w—ll be possible.
She paused, and for once it wasn’t the system. For the first time in my career, I saw one of the Designates appear nervous, uncertain.
This is yo-yo-yo-ur mission, Cadre of the Citadel. We’re counting on you. She gave a small smile, something I almost never saw from one of the Designates.
As always, we wish you we-we-we-we-weeeeeeeee—————e
The image flickered violently, and then vanished.
We sat there, dumbfounded, and stared at nothingness.
3
In my entire life, I’d never thought I would miss the cheesy signoff the Designates gave when they released us to a mission. I’d made fun of the words over a thousand times, mocked the sincerity of the sentiment. Yet in that moment, I wanted my Designate to patch directly into my Crown, even if just to hear those words.
Wyatt stretched and cracked his knuckles over his head. He gazed at me a long time before he glanced at the rest of the cadre. “I’m starting to think that dumb-ass here might have been the smart one.” Wyatt stared directly at me.
“Yeah?” I waited for the jibe. “How so?”
“You said Amir was a genius. You told us this was all some kind of ploy.”
“I wouldn’t say he’s a genius,” I hedged. “He’s brilliant. He’s a meticulous planner. You’re a genius. Anya is a genius.”
“He’s the kind of man who knows where all his dominoes go before he plays them.” Wyatt nodded. “That’s what I’m saying. And you knew that. You knew something was up, knew we were being jerked around.”
“Every time I faced him, it seemed as if he had the upper hand.” I shook my head. “No, that’s not right. We’ve surprised him on more than one occasion. It’s just that…” I trailed off, uncertain of what to say.
The data on 3302 indicates you are correct, Michael, Anya pointed out. He is a meticulous planner. Even on those occasions where you have surprised him, it seems as if he always had a means of escape.
“I don’t know that he’s particularly intelligent.” I leaned forward, placed my elbows on my knees, and glanced up at them. “But he thinks things through. He’s not someone who simply makes a plan; he makes a plan for what to do when that plan fails. He makes a plan for every contingency he can think of and therefore never seems to be caught off guard.”
“Sounds exhausting.” Sofia pushed her hair out of her face.
“He’s been off the radar for five years,” I reminded her. “That’s a lot of time to plan.”
“Let me ask you something?” Wyatt fiddled with the long white strings that hung from the bottom of where his overalls used to be. “When ya’ll did business with this joker in the Yucatán, did they have access to all of this Facility mojo?” He waved one hand at me.
“I don’t follow.”
“Amir. These Zealators or what the hell ever you call them. In the Yucatán, did they wave their hands at you to turn off your Facility packets?”
“No.” I cocked my head and thought. “And that’s weird. They were quite eager to end every last one of us.”
“You’d think they would have used every tool at their disposal.” Sofia raised one eyebrow at me.
“So let me recap.” Wyatt stopped fiddling with his ruined pants and affixed me with his one good eye. “Years ago, you pissed off these assholes. You stopped them from some kind of Irrational bullshit.”
“You barely make it out alive,” Sofia added, as if she saw where Wyatt was going.
“Right.” I nodded. “On all counts.”
“So only you and Gideon come out good. These assholes disappear, and the two of you occasionally find traces that they’re up to something over the years but never enough for a full dossier.”
“Gideon did more of that.” I vacillated one hand. “He would tell me about it, tell me he thought he’d found the Darkened Road in some place or another. It was a pretty big deal, because they were led by an extremely powerful Irrat.”
No, Michael. Anya interjected. Not simply an Irrat. They were led by Diego Juarez, a being who appeared to be a child, but in fact proved to be a Variance in Rationality.
“That’s what you meant.” Sofia narrowed her eyes in thought. “When you said you’d met one other Variance in your career.”
“Correct.” I jerked my chin at her.
“So you meet one of these motherfuckers again, five years later.” Wyatt spoke methodically, as if he tried to work something out.
“Someone I’d already killed, by the way.” I turned to Rachel. “I would appreciate it if my Caduceus could provide research on more permanent forms of death.”
“On it, Alpha,” she chuckled.
“But you weren’t trying to find him. You were on a completely different dossier, and it was just you and Gideon.”
“The two people who escaped from the Yucatán,” Sofia said as if to cue me in on their realization. “The two who survived ruining Amir’s day.”
“Right.” Wyatt pointed at me. “Also, two people who would crawl through shit and fire to get a piece of Amir Cadavas.”
“I don’t know that I need the full recap.” I raised one hand at Wyatt. “If you have a point, I’d love to hear it.”
“They killed Gideon DuMarque.” Wyatt said this softly. “But not you. Instead, you are provided with the opportunity to recover one of the Facility’s most desired Irrational relics. You’re able to almost destroy it with the disruptor, but later the Facility claims the thing is indestructible.”
“You think…” I let the words drop, stunned. “They intended for me to find it.” I blinked at the obviousness of it. “You think they wanted me to carry it back to the Designates.”
“I don’t know, you tell me.” Wyatt held his hands out, palms up. “Back when you requisitioned 0918, did it seem like the Irrats you pursued had any understanding of Facility technology? Could they have created something to specifically fuck us over?”
“Fuck me,” I swore.
Your conjecture’s not possible. Anya fixed Wyatt with a skeptical eye. It assumes that the Darkened Road possesses intimate knowledge of Facility technics. That they hold the capability to assault Facility Prime and purposefully compromise Designates.
“So it was on accident?” Wyatt tilted his head. “Amir Cadavas, the man who Fishy-suit here claims is a meticulous planner, accidentally allows Bishop to present the Designates with an Irrational relic? One that will eventually drive several of them mad? Cause them to go on a rampage through Facility Prime?”
“If it’s a coincidence, it’s an amazing one,” Delacruz mused.
“It’s not a coincidence.” I stared up at Wyatt and scowled. “I absolutely hate to admit it, but there’s no way all of this could be a coincidence.”
“So here’s my point.” He leveled one finger at me, yet faced the rest of our cadre. “No matter how much fun I like to make of ’im, our boy fish-sticks here is actually no dummy.” He gave me a wide sarcastic smile.
“I get it.” I threw one hand up. “I need a new suit.”
“He’s been dealing with these assholes for half a decade. He’s lost friends.” He paused, and when he spoke again he spoke softer. “He lost Gideon.”
We all lost Gideon DuMarque. Anya eyed him. All of us.
“And that’s a fact.” He bobbed his head in her direction. “But our boy here knows exactly what to expect from these fuckos. On the other hand, this is our first rodeo. We’re babes in the woods.”
“Fair enough?” Rachel obviously didn’t see where Wyatt was going, and to be honest, neither did I.
“Back in the necropolis, I might’ve been a little bit of a shitface regarding your call, Alpha. You said we should chase down dickhead, and I argued that we needed to go and shut the door on Toady. I don’t think that worked out.”
“I don’t know that you were wrong.” I raised both hands in placation.
“Not
the point. You’re the Alpha, Bishop.” He nodded at me. “I don’t know jack about these assholes, not really. And based upon what Sexy Designate said, we’re not a position to quibble and bicker about what we’re going to do.”
“Sexy Designate?” Sofia shook her head.
“It’s not like they have names,” Wyatt explained. “I just name them in my head. Sexy Designate, Buff Designate, Grumpy Designate, Designate-I-Wouldn’t-Kick-Out-Of-Bed…”
“You are a pig, Wyatt Guthrie.” Sofia shook her head and tried not to laugh.
“It’s like he thinks they’re dwarfs or something.” Rachel held her head in her hands.
“That’s my piece.” Wyatt rubbed the side of his face. “Everything is falling apart. We’re entirely alone, and have no Designate support. Long range telemetry is down, and horrific aberrations walk the earth.” He turned to me, and in his eye I saw something I’d never seen before.
“Yeah?” I leaned forward, my elbows on my knees. “What about it?”
“Well, what’s our play, Alpha?” He nodded at me. “You know these guys. You’re officially the expert. Make the call.”
I blinked, uncertain of what to say.
“It’s your ballgame.” Wyatt shrugged. “I dunno if you know it, but I’ll follow you straight into hell, man.”
I—
I couldn’t breathe.
All of the light drained out of the realmship. I felt my stomach lurch up to my throat, and even as my friend gazed at me, I heard Rachel’s voice in my memory: you’d have followed him straight into hell. Right?”
It was what I always said about Gideon. No matter what we got into or how bad things became, I always said I would follow that man straight into hell.
I noticed the rest of my cadre looking at me.
To me.
“I’m not ready,” I whispered and fought the burn in my eyes and the lump in my throat. “Not really. For any of this.”
“So what?” Wyatt winked. “Don’ matter, Hoss.”
“I don’t think—” I choked off the rest of whatever I’d been about to say. “I mean… I can’t…”
Michael, we can. Anya’s link, soft and slightly bent with her Russian accent, rang with a truth that broke my heart.