Vance stood a few feet away, wiping Rav's blood from his hands onto his jumpsuit. "What's our next move, then? We can't sit here. You'll bleed out and get so weak that we can't move. We have to keep going."
Rav took his revolver from his leather jacket pocket and held it up in the light. "I don't know where to go. Maybe we are trapped."
"My alien eye glows in the back of this warehouse. There could be something back there that's giving off that radiation. It's worth looking into, don't you think?"
"Maybe I should just give up. I'll do whatever Brooke wants. I'll let them take control. Fighting only gets people hurt."
Vance threw the spork at the wall where it bounced off and landed back at his feet. "Peace at all costs, mate. We will fight for peace, no matter what we have to do."
"No. That's the same thinking that got the real Vance in trouble. It caused him to lose his mind. The Elysian government is kidnapping children and sending them to the front lines where they aren't even given weapons because they get killed so easily. But they claim they're doing it for peace. They blow up planets, slaughtering millions of innocents, and claim peace. They take shortcuts on safety and allow gunners to be unprotected during dogfights without even a way to eject from planes because they claim the need the funding for other areas . . . all for peace. They were exploiting my son, making him act through incredibly inappropriate things so they could make propaganda films. And of course, they claim it's for peace. Maybe peace for all is not peace for every person. It seems kind of pointless, doesn't it? To have to fight for peace? What's the point of having peace if you have to die and take everyone else with you?"
"What about Nemo?" Vance asked.
"Like you said, he's probably dead. I'm going to turn myself over to the authorities."
"You can't. I won't let you. I'm going to check this radiation out and-" Vance screamed as he grabbed his hair and doubled over. He dropped to his knees then began flickering.
"Vance? Vance, what's going on? Is something wrong with your programming?"
"I think so. Oh space! Ah!" His voice became altered as a familiar female voice replaced his. "Rav? Are you there? Can you hear me? This is Leah Morgan."
"Leah? Yes, yes, I hear you. Where are you?"
"I'm on Sandra Noriega's ship with our allies."
"Who? Who's still alive?" Rav asked, the desperation reflected in his voice. "I thought you were dead."
"I don't have time to explain. We have to get you out of there. I finally took over Vance's functions, so this is me directly controlling his data. You are twenty feet away from a security access point for the encrypted hard drive. Can you hack into it?"
"I'm not a hacker, Leah. I'm not good with coding and software. That was always Vance's department. Why do you think we were assigned to be partners at work? I handled the hardware and he did the programming. It was all I could do to program what I did on Nemo. I mean, I know the basics, but nothing like Vance."
"I can hand control back over to the program Vance if you think he will be useful. He can do more than I can as well. I've been trying to get past the encryption on this program, but it's no use. I only have four more attempts to bypass the security system before the firewall shuts everything down. After that, I won't be able to communicate with you or help you in any way. Tell Vance to do anything he has to do, but to be careful. If you can get past the security measures, I think I can insert this override program that will cause the one you're in to glitch out. I'll be able to shut it down, sending you back into reality . . . I hope."
"You hope or you know?" Rav asked. "How will my consciousness be put back into a body?"
"That is the step I'm not sure about. Your mind may be intact and already in a body, but there's no way to know."
"And what happens if it's not?"
Leah made a slight sighing sound. "I don't know."
"Perfect. Okay, Leah. Bring Vance back and I'll get to work."
"How is your shoulder?"
"Bad." Rav touched his left arm and his hand came back covered in sticky blood. "It's actually pretty bad, but I'll deal with it."
"I'm bringing Vance back now. Good luck, Rav."
"Leah? Leah, I love you. If I get out of this alive, I'm going to make you my wife."
"Then you'd better do the best you can. I'll be eagerly waiting for you."
Vance twitched again then blinked and stood up straight. His voice was his again. "What was that, mate? Ugh, I don't feel very good."
"It's okay. It was my girlfriend. She is helping us out." Rav stood to his feet and clutched his shoulder. "The radiation is coming from an access point for the hard drive security. You need to hack into it and bypass the security measures. We only have four attempts left."
"I'm on it."
Rav hobbled along behind his friend towards the back of the warehouse where a small control panel glowed behind a wooden crate on the wall. The violet glow from Vance's alien eye filled the area as he knelt down and began typing frantically. Rav's breathing was growing labored from his pain and the lost blood that was now flowing at a slow rate down his back, but he tried to hide it to keep Vance and Leah from growing more concerned than they already were.
"Damn it." Vance spit onto his hands and rubbed them together before returning to his work. "This is some tough stuff, mate. I haven't encountered this level of encryption since I hacked into the Cyrino family's bank accounts. Oh, ha ha. Your family's bank accounts."
"Don't feel bad. You should have taken everything from them. They owe you for the beatings."
"What beatings?"
"The real Vance was beaten within inches of his life for being gay. The soldiers brutalized him without stop then left him there with a live landmine by his face to kill him if he moved. It was televised across the city."
"Oh. You knew about that? Forget it." Vance's expression hardened as he continued typing. "Shit. I can't get through this, mate. I have two tries left, but I'm getting nowhere. These figures aren't normal letters."
"Olonictic. They're probably Olonictic."
"Do you have a translator?"
"I do on my communicator." Rav handed him his communicator, but froze. "Wait. Don't turn that on. We can't use it. Brooke will be able to trace the signal and come find us."
"Then what am I supposed to do?" Vance wiped away the sweat from under his blond bangs. "Without the base factors being known, I can't decode this."
"Leah. Leah, if you can hear me, I need you to somehow send us a copy of the Olonictic alphabet. Leah?"
"She's not there, Rav. I'll do what I can. Find me something to write with."
"Use my blood and write on the floor." He sat next to Vance and pulled apart the fabric over his wound. "There's plenty of it."
"Ugh . . ."
"Just do it, Vance."
"Okay, mate. Hold still."
Rav watched out of the corner of his eye while Vance dipped his fingers into the bright blood seeping from the gunshot wound and used it to draw the twisting alphabet on the floor. As he figured out the corresponding letters, the cipher slowly became filled in. The longer he sat there, the weaker Rav became. His thoughts blended together as confusion set in and he let himself drift into borderline unconsciousness.
"Rav! Rav, get up. Come on, mate. You have to wake up. They're here. They found us."
He was shaken back into the present to hear the shouting outside the doors of the warehouse. "I'm so tired."
"No. There's no time for that. Get up." Vance put his arm around Rav's back and stood him to his feet. "I have one try left to bypass this security program. I'm eighty percent sure I can get it this time. All I need you to do is distract the soldiers."
"Distract them? How am I supposed to do that? They shot me the last time they saw me."
"Well, they're obviously here for you, so go talk to them or something. Pretend that you're surrendering."
The crashing of glass echoed through the warehouse where a silver canister flew through the nearest win
dow. A cloud of white gas began spewing from the end and filling the air.
"Get that. Throw it back at them. Go!"
Despite his weakness, Rav rushed to the canister and tossed it back through the window. The soldiers shouted more as it exploded on impact on the other side of the brick wall. A symphony of gunfire responded, the bullets sending up dust from the bricks where they collided. He ducked down and covered his head with his arms. "I don't think they're playing around, Vance. They're just shooting without waiting to see who it is. I can't go out there."
"Then hide. They're going to be rushing in here any minute." Vance typed as he studied the figures drawn on the floor in Rav's blood. "I'm almost done. Almost . . . there . . . just . . . a bit more."
"Vance!"
"What? Shut up and let me work."
Rav paced back and forth behind him, not wanting to look at the blood that was squishing below the soles of his work boots. He jumped, startled, when the front doors of the warehouse were forced open. He dove down behind the wooden crate as the quiet night erupted in thunderous waves of gunfire. "Vance!"
"I know! I'm typing as quickly as I can."
He felt the crate being ripped apart with every flurry of bullets. Then the whistling whine of laser fire shrieked around him, the red and green lights streaking past his shoulders and colliding with the wall. The beams spread out upon impact, leaving black burn marks and small holes in the bricks. "Vance!"
"Hold on. Just one more minute."
"I don't have a minute!" Rav pulled his legs up to his chest to avoid the ricocheting bullets flying around the room. A blazing heat from a laser beam ate through the wood and singed his back. "Ah! For space's sake, Vance, do something!"
"I'm . . . oh no."
"No, you don't get to say that. You can't say that!"
"Rav . . ." Vance sat back from the screen and held his face in his hands. "I failed."
"No, you didn't. Try again."
"Rav, I failed. I'm locked out."
"Use it again. You have four tries."
"I used all four. I messed up."
Like icy water, the news stunned him and sent a cold dampening over his soul. Despite the lead and lasers turning the crate to shreds behind him and the tear gas filling the air, Rav only stayed there, looking in disbelief at Vance. This was his one way out, his one escape. Now that was gone. The best hacker he had ever known was incapable of getting through the security measures.
"There's a door to your left. It leads out into the city."
"What are you saying?" Rav shouted at him. "It's over, Vance. They've cornered us."
"No. You run. Get down to the sludge pits. If they wanted to put an escape hatch somewhere in this thing, they would have put it in the one place you hated the most. Get down there and search for it. They won't follow you there."
"I can't leave you."
"I said go, mate." Vance stood and pried a chunk of wood loose from the corner of the crate. He slapped it on his palm then nodded. "Run. Get back to Nemo. Get back to your life. I'll hold these guys off."
"They will kill you."
"You're worth more than me. Just know that you owe me one. You'll understand that later. Ask real Vance." Vance gave him a sly grin like he was hiding something. "Now, go!"
Rav's eyes narrowed as he studied the man in front of him. "It's you, isn't it? The real Vance? You got in here somehow, didn't you?"
"You don't have time for this." He covered his mouth and coughed violently as the tear gas billowed back towards them. "Go, Rav. Go save our son."
With an appreciative smile to the man he both loved and hated more than anyone else in the universe, Rav nodded his head and raced out the thin wooden door to the back alley. He paused momentarily and turned around to see Vance rush at the soldiers, but the makeshift wooden weapon fell and hit the back wall along with a splattering of dark blood. Rav held onto his wounded shoulder as he took off running. He wouldn't let that sacrifice be in vain.
Chapter 11
Vance slumped back against the sewer wall as he ended the program and closed the laptop. The light vanished, leaving him in total darkness. He removed the microphone from his ear before crumpling up the notebook paper he had been using to decode the Olonictic figures on. That was one tough security program. His virtual character had died, but at least he was able to communicate with Rav directly before that, despite Leah's attempts to take over everything. Rav finally figured it out. It was Vance's only way to apologize to him. But now he was on his own.
Wiping away the tears that had gathered in the corners of his eyes, Vance stood and grabbed at the sore places where he could have sworn bullets collided with his flesh in real life. But it was all from being so involved in the simulation. He meant every word, he felt every emotion, and he would have died over and over again for Rav. Here in the sobering darkness of the sewers, Vance looked back on the events that took place on Dualictum and the way he had betrayed his best friend. The monster he was back there . . . it was not him. Not really. He was playing the game, following the rules of the game master.
But now, it was Vance's turn to take control. With Rav on the run and out of harm's way for the direct future and with Ben in the safety of Sandra's ship, he had a chance to focus on his own problems. It was his time to make things right, once and for all. This was Vance's fight, his blood right, his debt to pay.
He left the computer and his supplies in the sewer. He went to the ladder on the wall nearby, feeling around in the blackness for the metal rungs. Before climbing, he pulled the hood of his jacket over his head to hide his identity then checked to make sure his boomerang was still securely attached to his metal left arm. He would be needing it shortly. Vance climbed up the rungs until he stopped below the manhole cover and cautiously pushed it up to look out into the street where most of the spectators were already dispersing from attending his own funeral.
The cool breeze caught in his hair, sending slight shivers down his spine as he crawled out into the night. He had scouted out the entire area to make sure he chose the correct manhole, the one nearest the palace. Sticking to the shadows, Vance darted through the interior streets of the Star-World, keeping his eyes scanning the area for any signs of warbringers or anyone who could recognize him. It was a short run to the palace where he would do the one thing that no one else had the right or the guts to do. He would find Tirlmayn and kill him once and for all.
* * *
"Hey."
Kalimis sat up in his bed to look over at the doorway where the slender hornless Azimandian with the feathered black hair stood, clutching his bandaged side. "Slayven . . . you're all right."
"More or less. I tried to find a good knife to kill you with, but all I could find was this stupid butter knife. It's dull, so it will hurt you a lot more than I was originally planning on. You get to choose, though, where you want me to start. I think your neck will be good and fast, but I could stab you in your heart. Which one do you want?"
"Is neither a viable option?"
"Maybe. I could let you do it."
"Do you hate me that much?"
Slayven shrugged his shoulders and sat on the edge of the bed. "Yes. Maybe. Probably not."
Kalimis chuckled and put his arm around Slayven's waist, pulling him closer to kiss him. "I love you."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. We're a mess, Kalimis. I mean, you tried to kill me, but all I see when I look at you is happiness. How twisted is that?"
"I don't think it's twisted at all." Kalimis ran his hands over his orange horns. "You've always seen what you wanted to see in people."
"And what about you? What do you see in people? What do you see in me?"
"In you? I see the man I love."
"What about Jezzi?" Slayven asked, letting the knife drop from his fingers. "You loved her. She was supposed to be your mate. She hates me for breaking you two up."
"That wasn't your fault. If anything, that blame falls on Visht's shoulders."
"But all that asid
e, we never talked about what I did to your mother. Kalimis, I killed her. She was asleep, and I killed her."
"Because she had hurt you. I never held that against you. You reached a snapping point. Everyone has their limits, Slayven. Besides, if you hadn't killed her, I would have done what she wanted and married Jezzien. I wouldn't have kept seeing you. I wouldn't have left to protect you. We wouldn't be where we are now."
"Do you actually love me, or is it lust?" Slayven asked.
"I love you. What about you?"
It was time to tell the truth he had been battling with for years. "I've never loved you, Kalimis. I've never been attracted to men. I'm not the person you think I am. Being away from you and with my uncle, I realized that. I have been living a lie, all to make you happy. More than that, I didn't know I had another option. I stayed by your side because I was afraid to go my own way. I didn't know I had my own way. Now I have the opportunity to rule my own life and do what I want to do."
"Then do it. I'll miss what we had, but I'm not going to force you to stay. I just have one thing to say to you, starshine. I'm sorry."
"You couldn't help it. You did what you had been trained and brainwashed to do. You hurt me, but you didn't have a way out. You didn't have a way to know that what you were doing to me for all those years was actually abuse. I don't blame you, Kalimis. I don't blame Vance for what he's done, either. Tirlmayn has a way of manipulating people into doing what he wants. The Kalimis who hurt me wasn't the Kalimis I consider a friend, just like the Vance who tried to kill Rav was not the Vance we know."
"Vance didn't kill him?" Kalimis asked.
"No. Rav's alive. I've been spying on what Leah's doing in that computer room of hers. Rav is trapped in some kind of virtual reality program and she's trying to get him out of it."
"Olonictic technology, no doubt. Tell her to talk to Derek, the cyborg, about all that. While you're out there, tell Sandra I need more morphine."
"What happened to you down there? I mean, I know you were being tortured every day in front of the warbringers, but-"
The Genesis Sequence Books 6-10 Page 35