The overlay said that the reactor room lay that way. Down in the dark, something had made its home next to a cracked casing leaking rads. His vision frosted with static for a second, and he debated about whether he should go down that tunnel. Find what was waiting down there.
Fuck that noise. It was time to get the hell out of here. He looked at the ladder against the wall of the shaft, set his hand against it and started to climb. Mason’s link turned off the pain in his leg, but it still wouldn’t hold his weight. His whole side was going to bruise, the fall —
Tumbling in the dark, something screaming and clawing at his face. He knocked against the shaft wall, the jerk tossing him in another direction, the wind rushing past as he spun. The sound of the taser firing was almost constant, until he slammed into the ground, something in his leg giving way.
— Well. The fall had been a long way, hadn’t it?
The ladder under his hand groaned, the old metal complaining under his glove. He saw it start to bend, the metal pulling away like taffy, before it gave way in his hand and he dropped to the bottom of the shaft again. He covered his head with his hands as pieces of metal rained down.
Silence. Mason looked back up the shaft, the metal ladder gone from just above his head to a good three or four stories above him. He sighed, then looked back at the tunnel running away from the shaft. Into the dark. To the reactor casing, and a family of monsters who’d made it their home. Maybe to another way out.
“This day just keeps getting better,” he said aloud. Mason squared his shoulders. The mission, Floyd. He still had a job to do.
⚔ ⚛ ⚔
The tunnel was newer than the facility, clawed through the raw rock. It didn’t go very far before opening out into a chamber, the roof lost in the dark above him.
The chamber was empty. No reactor housing, no construction, just an empty room. The overlay hissed, his vision scattering, and the lattice bunched and moved.
There’s a lot of rads in here, but where are they coming from? Mason looked up at the roof, the room standing out as he switched his optics to low light. It was clear there was no containment breach, because there wasn’t a reactor here. Not anymore.
Also, he was still alive. The protection in his skin was enough to keep the rads outside, and no way he’d be able to stand next to a breached reactor. No tech could do that, not yet. The overlay hissed again, his vision flickering and rolling.
Mason walked to the middle of the chamber, turning around. Now he was here, he could see it — the floor was curved. He turned around, looking at the walls, the indentation. A sphere, pushed in here from somewhere, punching the raw rock aside. Wherever it had opened to, well, they’d got a reactor in the face. The thing was just gone.
Mason looked up at the roof above him. There was something high up there, a block of black metal wedged into the concrete. “I’d bet,” he said to the darkness, “that’s giving off a lot of rads.” Someone had left a weapon spitting out radiation behind, something designed to look at first glance like a leaking reactor, after they’d taken the reactor away. Someone in Federate armor. And they’d wiped all memory of it away, made a whole town vanish.
Something hissed in the darkness, and he turned, bringing the suit’s beams up higher. A man, freakish and twisted, held its hand in front of its eyes against the light, and hissed again. Ragged clothing whirled as he turned and ran from Mason down a tunnel. A tunnel leading somewhere. Maybe out.
“Yeah,” said Mason. “Good idea.” It was time to leave, to reach the light, and away from the dirty bomb wedged in the roof.
Away from the Apsel accident, the missing reactor, the sphere pushing the walls of the containment chamber aside. He’d seen something that made spheres in the air before. People had come through it. Made sense you could send things the other way. Like a reactor.
Mason jogged off after the thing into the tunnel, his gait lopsided against the break in his leg. The lattice worked hard to keep him steady, the pain locked off in a corner of his mind.
He didn’t have time for mysteries. That was someone else’s mission.
⚔ ⚛ ⚔
Moving through the tunnel felt oppressive, moisture seeping through the walls. The suit’s lights pushed the shadows away, but he could hear movement ahead.
And movement behind.
Mason reached into the suit’s pouch, pulling out the Tenko-Senshin. The little weapon hard linked through the glove, it’s tiny AI babbling at him. He held it up in front of him as he jogged through the dark, the lattice making his footing sure even against the uneven surface of the tunnel.
This one was hand-carved, just like the last, the irregular surface of the raw rock looking like it had been pulled out of the ground with bare hands.
He saw the side tunnel ahead, his overlay mapping it in his vision. Mason slowed, turning to face down the —
The thing leapt out of the tunnel at him, clawed hands reaching for his face. The Tenko-Senshin screamed, flechettes ripping through the thing’s body, the air sparking with the heat. Mason held the trigger down, a part of the thing’s body tearing away, flames licking at the flesh before it hit the ground.
He stopped firing, the air filled with the hum of the reactor at his back. Mason coughed at the smoke coming from the burning body. There wasn’t other movement, the sounds behind him gone. Keep moving.
Turning back to the main tunnel, he started jogging again, then paused after a few meters. He could taste the change in the air, the movement, smell the rain in the air. Mason switched off the suit lights, and his optics picked it out — light from ahead, delicate, faint like morning mist. He broke back into a jog, favoring his leg, and rounded out into the air.
Mason closed his eyes, breathing deep. Free. Safe. Outside. The rain washed over him, not burning, pure and clean.
He heard the crack of a weapon, and his eyes snapped open. The town lay blurred by the rain, but he’d swear that was the sound of the rifle he’d left with…
“Sadie.” Something pulled in his gut, something almost like fear. “Jesus.” It was then that he noticed the ground outside the tunnel was trampled, the mud churned by the passing of feet. A lot of feet.
He started to run back to the place he’d left them, the lattice shrieking and shuddering against the break in his leg. Misshapen forms loped alongside him through the rain, and his skin could taste the sting of the rain now. Something huge roared at him, and he raised the Tenko-Senshin, but it was gone, lost as the rain howled and surged around him.
The mission.
Mason pushed himself faster.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Whatever it was, it was huge, over two meters tall. The rain splattered against it, matting hair along its skull. The club it carried looked like a piece of a signpost, and it held it light and easy.
It held it like a flyswatter.
Sadie raised the rifle again, pulling the trigger. The weapon clicked, then beeped three times, short and insistent.
The thing roared, rushing at their small shelter. Haraway raised her sub, firing wild, and Sadie couldn’t tell if any of the shots hit or were wasted, rounds tossed careless and free into the rain.
The thing slammed into the wall of their shelter, the old brick cracking. Dust fell from the ceiling, and Laia screamed. Sadie turned, caught a glimpse as the girl dashed away and outside. Sadie tried to grab at her, but her fingers closed on the empty air. “Laia!”
But the girl was gone, running out past the thing and into the rain. It grinned at Sadie, looking down, rotted teeth crooked in a mouth made like wet clay, and reached a hand towards her.
“Yeah?” she said, and tossed the rifle in the air. Grabbing the barrel, she swung it like a bat, connecting with the creature’s hand. It roared at her, taking a step back, then looked back out into the rain. It walked off, steps churning the dirt and mud in the street outside. Laia. It was following the easier, smaller prey.
Sadie looked at Haraway, then out into the rain. “We have t
o help her.”
“Probably,” said Haraway. “How?”
“Fuck,” said Sadie. “I play guitar. How should I know?” But she was already running out into the rain, the water slicking her hair down. She squinted her eyes against the water, picking out something huge and shambling. She ran towards it.
Other things chittered and called to each other at the edges of her vision. Sadie could feel her breath coming ragged in her chest, the panic starting to rise, but she pushed it down.
There. Through the rain, she could see light, something bobbing towards her, the light casting someone small — Laia! — into contrast. The creature between Laia and Sadie paused, then its shoulders bunched and it tipped it’s head back and roared.
The light slowed, stopped its crazy bobbing. Sadie slowed too, realized she still held the empty rifle, dropped it into the muddy street at her feet. For just a moment, the rain squall stopped, and Sadie could see Mason pushing Laia behind him. His face looked pale, drawn tight over his skull.
The creature ahead of her hefted the pole like a club. It charged at Mason, lumbering strides closing the distance quick.
Sadie watched —
Dodge, get out of the way.
But if he does that, Laia…
Run, girl!
— the club swung down, and she saw Mason get under it, his arm coming up. There was a crack, the wood splintering, shards spraying through the air to be lost in the rain. Mason had sagged to one knee, but had raised something small and black.
The sound hit Sadie, a metallic roar like a chainsaw. Light sparked, the rain hissing and coiling. The creature in front of Mason twitched and buckled, and — impossible! — caught fire in the rain.
It screamed, parts of it falling away, then it fell.
Sadie watched as Mason turned to Laia, saying something, the girl answering with a nod, their words torn away by the wind. She started to walk towards them, then something howled to her right. A creature that might have been as large as a man scampered through the mud, but on all fours like a dog.
Mason tried to twist aside, but his foot slipped in the mid. Sadie watched as he went down, the weapon he’d been holding spinning from his grip and falling out into the rain. The smaller creature chittered at Mason, and he slammed a fist into it. There was a flash, something bright sparking as he struck, and the creature twitched and dropped.
“Are you—” said Sadie, then stopped at the look on Mason’s face. She turned to follow his eyes, saw another creature had picked up the little gun that had been dropped in the rain. It was fumbling with the weapon, turning it this way and that, then pointed it at Mason.
“That’s not going end well for you,” said Mason, and then the thing pulled the trigger.
Lightning arced, stretching from the creature to crackle through the air. The thing exploded into a mist, red mixing with the rain that lashed around them.
Mason limped back towards Laia, and Sadie moved through the rain to pick up the weapon. It was black, a snub-nosed thing, and a red light blinked faint and slow on the side of it. She looked down at the ground, a circle of charred dirt and flaked asphalt where the creature had stood. Sadie looked at the weapon again, the letters etched on the grip. Tiny letters, Tenko-Senshin Intelligence Systems, and a number — 12.
She’d never heard of Tenko-Senshin, and wondered which one of the fascist syndicates had erased them from existence.
Sadie started to walk back towards Mason, but stopped dead in her tracks. Two creatures stood in the rain in front of her. Sadie swallowed, then said, “Mason?”
He turned, took it in with a glance, then stepped forward. She could tell something was wrong in his gait, the way he stepped and moved was wrong, but she didn’t have time —
One of the things leapt at her, and she tried to bring the weapon up to —
Don’t shoot it. God, don’t shoot it. You saw. You saw what happened to the other one.
— pistol whip it. She saw the other one closing on Mason, the man swatting it aside, and then she was on the ground, rain in her eyes, something screaming and clawing at her. Sadie swung the weapon again, but the angle was wrong and she couldn’t connect.
Jaws gnashed, snapping in front of her face, and she tried to get an elbow up between her. She could see the hunger in its eyes as it snapped jaws at her face —
The weight left her, light bright white blue above her. Mason lifted the thing from her, and scrambled back as it thrashed in his grip. He held it in one arm, bringing the other around to hit it.
Something leapt on him from behind, the other creature latching on to his back. Sadie was still trying to get clear as Mason dropped to one knee in the muck, struggling against the creatures on him. He threw one away, then grabbed the one on his back, flipping it over his shoulder.
The one he’d thrown scampered back up, feeling through the mud for something — Sadie saw it had come up with the remains of the signpost the larger creature had held. She saw the nails at the end of it, watched in horror as it ran at Mason, swinging —
“Mason!” she screamed.
He turned, but not fast enough, the nails slamming into the skin of his neck. He coughed, blood coming form his mouth, then ripped the wood free, nails coming out of his neck. He hefted the post, then smashed it against the creature, knocking it back. The wood splintered in his hand, falling apart onto the muddy road.
She started to take a step towards him, a hand held out in front of her. He looked at her, then smiled, teeth bloody. “I’m sorry, Sadie.” He took a step towards her.
The creature jumped back on him, knocking him to the ground. She had pulled the little gun up before she was thinking clearly, holding the trigger down, and her vision filled with flames, the heat burning against her arms. The creature on Mason ignited, parts flying off to hiss and sputter in the rain.
I’m alive. There wasn’t any lightning.
She looked at the weapon in her hand, then back at Mason. The man was trying to get back up, then coughed, bloody fluid coming from his mouth. He fell back forward, one hand in front of him, crouched on the ground.
The last creature leapt at him from the rain, screaming. It grabbed at him, claws scrabbling at the armor he wore, then it sank it’s teeth into his neck. He cried out, an arm trying to push it off, but —
Sadie heard Laia scream, and the girl ran at the creature. It was an animal sound, anger and fear twisting her face. When she hit the creature the thing jerked away from Mason, teeth bloody, and then…
Red mist exploded out the back of it, and it fell to the ground like a dropped toy, arms and legs bouncing as it it. All the blood that had been inside it floated free to be lost in the rain.
Sadie looked at the fallen creatures, then at Mason’s body, then at Laia. Holy shit. Holy shit. She shuffled forward to put an arm around Laia. The girl was sobbing, and Sadie hugged her close. “It’s ok. It’s—”
“No,” said Laia. “They’ve killed him. They’ve killed the angel.”
Holy fucking shit.
Sadie stepped away from Laia, walking over to Mason’s body. She nudged him with a foot. The armor he was wearing pulsed with light, then red dropped in over the white, a cross etching itself on the chest plate. A woman’s voice spoke from it. “A medical emergency has been noted. Please stand clear.”
“Who’s that?” said Laia.
“Someone we should listen to,” said Sadie. She pulled Laia by the shoulders.
“Please stand back,” said the woman’s voice again. “Subject is coding. Conductive environment noted. Please stand clear or risk immediate death by electrocution.”
The girl twisted away, turning to face her. “We can’t just leave him.”
“We’re not.”
“We’re not?”
“No.” Sadie wiped rain out of her face. “You think this is Heaven?”
“Not anymore,” said Laia.
“Have a little faith, kid, and step the fuck back.”
Laia frowned, bu
t backed away from Mason. The armor flashed twice, the woman’s voice — soft, calm, probably recorded in a nice dry studio — said, “Thank you. Administering epinephrine. Encouraging implant systems to produce plasma. Defibrillation in 3, 2, 1…”
There was a sudden hum, and Mason’s body stiffened.
“Cycling,” said the woman’s voice. The hum sounded again, and Sadie could taste something metal in the air. Mason’s body thrashed.
“What is it doing?” said Laia, her voice grating, harsh, fear and hope mixed together in a heady mix.
“Cycling,” said the woman’s voice from the armor. Again, the hum. This time, smoke curled out from the joints in the armor, beaten back and down by the rain.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Mason woke to a flickering light and the smell of woodsmoke. He hurt everywhere, the lattice shaking and grumbling under his skin.
“You look pretty good for a dead guy,” said Sadie.
He tried to say something but the words wouldn’t come. She handed him a tin cup, and he gulped down the water. It tasted of metal and dirt and being alive.
Laia came over to him, raising a tentative hand to touch his face, and he pulled his head away.
“You were dead,” she said.
“No,” said Mason. “Not quite.”
“Yes,” said Haraway, from the fire. “All the way dead.”
“You really are an angel,” said the girl, “to rise from the dead.”
Mason looked over at Haraway. “Really?”
Haraway shrugged. “You seem to have come back online ok.”
“I feel like shit.”
“Ever been dead before?”
“No,” he said.
“Exactly,” she said.
Mason sat up, then flexed his shoulder. His neck felt sore, and he used his fingers to probe the injury. It had already healed over, the overlay spooling up reports of where he’d been hit, when he’d… died.
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