Chapter 18
The next few days passed with agonizing slowness. If I thought I'd had a hard time before, waiting for the next battle was ten times worse. Last time, I had only worried that the Harley twins might be mistreating Lily; now, though, I was sure they were -- or at least neglecting her -- and I didn't know how long she could survive it. I fervently hoped that the vicious battle we'd had on that mysterious deserted street would not be the last time I ever saw her.
Piano practicing was completely out of the question -- I just couldn't concentrate on it -- and one can work out by oneself or shoot on the shooting range for only so many hours per day. I did some more posing for Trina, and I managed to put together a fairly decent supper one night for the others using one of Shelley's old standby recipes, grilled chicken breasts with tossed salad and pasta. We also had a few head-scratching sessions in the office, trying to figure out just what to do about Lily, and I spent one afternoon in the gym with Trina and Shelley sharpening a few of the skills we thought we might need.
Mostly, though, I just moped around, reliving that last fight with her over and over and kicking myself yet again for each little mistake I made. When Wizzit started ringing the monster alarm a couple of days later, I swear, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. I think they were all as sick of me as I was of myself.
"We're going to Morocco today, kids!" he said happily. "Specifically, to M'Hamid! As before, all the monsters are gathered together in one place."
"Mohammed?" I heard Toby mutter as we gathered together in the common room. For once, we would not be immediately running to our rooms to get dressed for battle. If Lily were out there, there would be no point in all of us going out to get our force shields drained. "Where's that?"
"Not Mohammed. M'Hamid," Wizzit corrected him. "It's a small village in the southern part of the country, right on the border with Algeria. One of the last oases you see before you get into the Sahara."
"What languages do they speak there?" Mike asked. "Arabic, I assume. Anything else?"
Today seemed to be a day of firsts, because Wizzit actually gave Mike a useful answer, rather than the snippy literal-minded one he usually provided. "Your translator for the day should speak French," he said. "It's the third-most-common language in the area, and no one here speaks Arabic or Tamazight."
"Right," he said, looking at the group gathered around him. "Padma and Angela, go get ready."
"Wizzit," I asked as the two of them ran off to get their weapons, "can you tell whether Lily is there?"
"I cannot," he replied. "I would assume she is, since the monsters are gathered together into a relatively compact grouping near one end of the village. The Unity field must be doing some sort of masking, because I do not detect any human life signs in the immediate area. Not just Lily's -- no one's, not even any local villagers."
Trina frowned. "There should be some signs there, unless they have already killed everyone."
"They have not," Wizzit assured her. "I detect life signs elsewhere in the village, just not in the sector closest to the monsters."
Nicolai looked thoughtful. "Would you be able to determine a boundary for this cutoff of the detection of life signals? Perhaps you could use that to extrapolate --"
"Already done," Wizzit interrupted him. "Assuming the edge of the life sign cutoff zone is circular, and assuming that Lily is at the center of it, I have a rough estimate of her present location."
"Only a rough estimate?" Mike sounded disappointed.
"Dude, give me a break! The village is not that heavily populated -- not very many data points."
Trina looked at me and giggled. "That was a very good impression of Trevor."
"Me?" I said incredulously. "It didn't sound anything like me."
"You don't think so?" Toby smirked and shook his head. "'Dude, give me a break!'" Then he laughed.
"We don't want the girls to confront Lily directly," Shelley was saying to Mike.
Mike nodded his agreement. "Wizzit, set them down near the perimeter of the cutoff zone, not in the center."
"Will do."
Padma and Angie entered from the girl's hallway. Padma held her axe; Angie, her Escrima stick. Both were wearing shorts and tee-shirts, as we usually did for battle. "We are all set," Padma said.
"You know what you're supposed to do?" Shelley asked.
"Sure," Angie answered. "We're supposed to run around like chickens with our heads cut off." Padma made a face; maybe the idiom wasn't familiar to her and she thought Angie was being literal.
"That's fairly descriptive," Mike said with a trace of a smile. "Remember, you are not to go after Lily or any of the monsters because your force shields will be turned off. Your weapons will not work and you will not have any special protections or enhancements. We don't want to feed that Unity field she's got.
"Your job will be two-fold: First, to provide data to Wizzit -- readings on the Unity field, and if possible, visuals on Lily and the monsters -- and second, to provide a distraction from what the others will be doing. Padma, go ahead and start yelling our standard everybody-move-away speech in French as soon as you arrive. Angela --"
"Yes?" she said, all eagerness.
Mike chuckled and shook his head. "Just make yourself as conspicuous as possible, love."
Shelley added, "Wizzit will tell you if he needs any particular information from you. If he says to do something, say, run in a certain direction, then do it, and keep doing it until he tells you to stop. Got it?"
"Got it!" the two of them said in unison.
"Right," Mike said. He hesitated for a moment, then said, "I hope it's unnecessary to remind you, Angela, but the highest-ranking Prime on the scene is in charge. If Padma gives you an order, such as teleporting back to HQ for a healing coma, then you had better comply, and no arguments."
Angie colored. "I understand," she replied meekly.
"Good. Off you go, then." And the two of them activated and teleported out.
For a moment after they left, the rest of us just stood and looked at each other. Trina was the one who broke the silence. "I should go get my equipment. Trevor, you should, too."
"You're right." I nodded and started for my room.
That seemed to unfreeze everyone else. Toby and Nicolai headed off for the weapons room. "Wizzit," Mike said, "have you contacted the Emeriti?"
"Affirmative. Teleporting Bill here now. Mayumi will not be available today, but both Cathy and Alvaro have indicated their willingness to help out when we're ready for them."
In my room, I unbuckled and removed my Prime belt. It felt weird to be preparing for battle by removing the main source of my powers, but my primary focus today would be on Lily, not the monsters, and the prime belt wouldn't help me with that. And if I wanted to join the battle once Lily was taken off the board, then I wanted to have a fully-charged belt waiting to power me up.
Opening a drawer in my dresser, I pulled out the device Padma had built for me -- a wide metallic wristband, identical in appearance and function to the ones that Shelley and the other Primes Emeriti wore. Just for today, I was going to be Junior Prime Blue; the bracelet, which contained its own rechargeable power supply, would disguise my voice and features, just like my Prime belt normally did, and if necessary, it would let me use my blaster and vajra as well. The device was too weak, however, to give me a force shield or to provide Lily's Unity field any kind of boost.
"Trevor, Lily has been sighted," came Wizzit's voice from my wristband as I slipped it on. "Patching you into communications now."
"-- is chasing down Violet!" I heard Padma's excited voice say. Then I heard a hissing, crackling sound. "Now it's -- damn! Violet, are you all right?"
"Yeah, I'm okay," Angie said, sounding more than a little out of breath. "The fireball mostly missed me; I'm just a little singed." She gave a shaky laugh. "My hair might be as sho
rt as yours by the time we're done here, though, Indigo."
"Wizzit, do we have the information we need?" Mike asked. He sounded worried, and I wondered whether he was getting a Padma-eye view of the proceedings on the vid screen in the common room.
"Affirmative. I have a definite lock on Lily's position. As soon as Orange, Blue, Blackiron, and Gold are ready, I can send them out."
Mike asked, "Indigo, should I pull you and Violet out of there? Are the two of you in danger?"
"It is crazy out here, Red," she replied. "I . . . I hate to say it, but yes, it would be good to pull us out if you don't need us here. We are in danger. Violet?"
There was a pause. I had never known Angie to back down from a fight before, but eventually she said, "I have to agree with Indigo. We can't stay out here. We're sitting ducks." The reluctance in her voice was painfully obvious.
I had activated while they had been talking; now I said to the others, "I'm ready to go."
After Trina, Bill, and Shelley had said the same, Wizzit teleported the four of us out to the village of M'Hamid. The place was pretty exotic and cool-looking. I was standing in the middle of a large plain of drifted sand. Off to my left was a collection of buildings that looked as though they had been carved out of rock or sandstone or something, and farther off I could see groupings of palm trees -- undoubtedly the oasis.
I could see why Padma and Angie had asked to be pulled out. The monsters of the day all appeared pretty scary and dangerous. They were five of a kind, all of them ten or twelve feet tall, sort of a grayish-black, with claws, wings, and -- you guessed it -- fangs. They were fast, too; one of them went loping after a camel in full flight, caught it, and flung the terrified creature towards the village.
That by itself wouldn't have been too bad, but there were also fires everywhere on the sand, the heat from them blisteringly hot. You couldn't run twenty feet without having to dodge one. At first, I didn't understand what they were doing there, but as I watched, another of these demon-looking things raised its hands over its head as if it were going to do a soccer-style throw-in. A ball of flame appeared between the hands, and it heaved it at a group of villagers, who scattered, yelling.
"I have placed the four of you in a square with Lily in the center," Wizzit was saying calmly. "Blue, I tried to position you within her line of sight."
I tore my eyes from the fire demons and looked towards the figure closer at hand. Lily was less than ten feet away from me, that damn backpack strapped to her shoulders, and she was advancing rapidly. I assumed a fighting stance, my hands raised to defend myself; I wasn't looking forward to fighting her again, but I was the starring distraction here.
"Hello, Lily," I said, trying to sound breezy and confident. "Come and get me."
As she approached, I could see two pairs of footprints tracking alongside her to either side. That would be Trina and Shelley in camouflage mode, and . . . yes, I could make out a slight shimmer attached to each set of prints. Bill, also invisible, would be following in the rear.
Suddenly, I saw a streak of sand appear in place of a footprint, and then it broadened into the outline of a body. Trina had stumbled and fallen; I could hear a faint "Oh!" as she struck the ground and rolled to her feet almost immediately afterward. Lily must have heard it as well, because she stopped and turned in Trina's direction.
Well, I couldn't let Lily go and start picking on Trina, now could I? It was time to pull out the old standby, the one foolproof way I knew of to get Lily's attention while in attacker mode. I started speaking Cantonese. "It's good to see you, pretty one," I called to her. "Why don't you come over to say hello?"
The last time I had done this, in Guangzhou, she had instantly forgotten whomever she was stalking and come at me. This time was no different. She strode rapidly towards me, and then she leaped forward, her arms outstretched in that weird head-first attack she sometimes does. I could have dodged it, or if I had been in a mood to attack her, I could have popped her in the face with a sidekick or something. However, today I wanted neither to dodge nor to attack. I wanted to immobilize her.
I stood my ground, allowing her to strike me in the chest, and then I let myself fall back, absorbing the force of the impact. The second we struck the ground, I felt one of her legs move up, attempting to knee me in the groin. I twisted to one side so that she hit the inside of my thigh instead, and then I wrapped up that leg tightly with both of mine so she couldn't try that trick again.
Lily attempted to raise herself up next, maybe to try a headbutt or something, I don't know, but by then I had my arms around her torso, sliding them between her and the backpack, and was hugging her to me as tightly as I could. She felt like skin and bones in my arms. She fought hard, believe me, but I wasn't letting her have any chance to get away.
I felt a body press against me on either side; on my left, Trina had taken hold of Lily's arm and was using an aikido-style armbar to immobilize it; on my right, Shelley was using some sort of soft-style kung fu move to accomplish the same task.
"Come on, Black!" I grunted through gritted teeth. Lily was struggling pretty hard by now; she was using her only free limb, her left leg, to knee me repeatedly in the thigh. "We can't hold her like this forever!"
"All right, all right," I heard Bill say. "Take care, now, I don't want to cut anybody." I felt someone tugging repeatedly on the backpack, and then it was suddenly pulled away. I could see threads trailing away from where he had sliced through the straps with his knife. "I have it, Wizzit!" he exclaimed. "You can take me away now."
There was a flare of black-tinged light, which was followed almost immediately by a tingle at the base of my skull indicating that Shelley, Trina, Lily, and I were being sent somewhere else as well.
We materialized on a deserted, sandy beach. The sun was low in the sky; I guessed it was early morning wherever we were, although it could have been evening. "Now, Blue," said Wizzit's voice.
"Junior Prime Blue, deactivate!" I shouted. Then, "Lily, stand down!"
It must have taken her a moment to recognize who I was, but after a second or two, I felt her relax in my grip. "Standing down," she murmured.
I let go and collapsed back onto the sand, breathing hard. Beside me, I felt Trina and Shelley let go of Lily's arms, and then their two forms flickered into view as they turned off camouflage mode. "Give us a status, Wizzit," Shelley rapped out.
"I sent Red, Yellow, and Green out to the site as soon as Blackiron teleported away with the Unity field generator," he replied. "Steel and Silver will be following shortly."
"If I am no longer needed here, I will go help them," Trina declared, and Shelley nodded at her. Like me, Trina was using one of the wristbands; she, too, had left her Prime belt back at HQ so that it wouldn't become drained by contact with the Unity field. "Wizzit, to my room, if you please." A second later, she disappeared in a flash of orange light.
"How is Black?" Shelley asked, a trifle anxiously, I thought.
"He is safe. Based on Blue's last experience with Lily, I estimate that, under ideal circumstances, Enclave can determine the backpack's location within eight minutes of its being moved. I will teleport Black and the backpack to a new, random location every four minutes until my analysis is complete. Then I will have Black destroy the backpack."
"Good. Trevor, how are you doing?"
By now, I had untangled myself from Lily, and we had both gotten to our feet. "Fine," I muttered. "I'm going to have bruises all up and down my right thigh, though."
"And how is Lily?"
"I was just about to find out. Lily, self-report."
Lily straightened and clasped her hands behind her back. She said in a monotone, "I am injured. Please have me perform the self-diagnose procedure to determine the extent and nature of my injuries. To do this, say 'self-diagnose'. I am not ill. I do not need to perform any bodily eliminations. I have been awa
ke for seventy-seven hours, twenty-two minutes. I last ate twenty-five hours, seventeen minutes ago. I last drank sixteen hours, fifty-three minutes ago. Overall status: I am injured. I need to heal myself soon. I am extremely hungry and thirsty. I am exhausted. I need to eat and drink and sleep soon. Please have me perform the self-recommend procedure to determine the order in which these various needs should be met. To do this, say 'self-recommend'."
I sighed. It sounded like Lily was going to need lots of TLC. "Lily, self-recommend."
"I am unable to provide any recommendations at this time. Please have me perform the self-diagnose procedure first to determine the extent and nature of my injuries. To do this, say 'self-diagnose'."
I sighed again. I could see why people sometimes became frustrated with computers. "Fine. Lily, self-diagnose."
"Diagnosing . . ." There was a pause for about a minute, and then she said, "I have abrasions on the back of my head. The bridge of my nose is severely bruised. The right side of my jaw is bruised. My right cheek is bruised. Several tendons along the back of my neck are slightly torn. One rib on the left side of my chest is slightly fractured. The left side of my chest is bruised. There is some tendon and joint damage to my right knee. My left knee is sprained. My right ankle is sprained."
She sounded like she was more sore than I was. At least she hadn't mentioned a skull fracture or a concussion, though. Given the way I had cracked her head against the asphalt the other day, that had been my chief worry. Now I repeated, "Lily, self-recommend."
"Composing recommendations . . ." Another pause. "My injuries are painful, but are not severe enough to be crippling. My recommendations are: first, that I immediately be given between one and two quarts of water to drink; second, that I be given between one and two thousand calories of food to eat; third, that I be allowed between six and ten hours of uninterrupted sleep; and fourth, after I have drunk, eaten, and rested, that I be ordered to heal myself of my injuries. To do this, say 'self-heal'."
Yeah, that was pretty much what I would have done anyway. Of course, I still didn't know how to get her to go to sleep, but I would worry about that later. I turned to Shelley. "Do we have any suitable leftovers in the fridge?"
"You'd know that better than I would," she replied, and from the tone of her voice, I could tell she was smiling. "But how's about if I make her one of those protein shakes instead. You know, the ones you guys kept feeding me when I was a prisoner? Are there any of those left?"
I considered the suggestion. The mix we'd used had had lots of vitamins and minerals in addition to the extra protein. We had given it to Shelley to compensate for the protein- and iron-poor diet she had been given during the months the US Army had held her in their secure underground location near Denver. "That's a good idea," I said. "There should still be some in the cabinet next to the cereal. Don't make it with milk, though; remember, she's lactose intolerant. Just use water. And maybe three or four pieces of buttered toast to give her some extra carbs and fat?"
"I'm on it," she said, and Wizzit teleported her away.
I told Lily to make herself comfortable, and as she sat down, I took a position facing her. She looked worse than she had before -- thinner and more tired. Her hair appeared dull and lifeless, and her jumpsuit hung loosely on her now. Tiny glints of gold in her ears reminded me of something I needed to do. "Lily," I said, "remove your earrings and give them to me." As soon as she deposited them in my hand, I flung them far out into the surf. I never wanted to see those damned things again.
And then I thought of something else; we needed to know where JB Swift's hidden lair was, because that was the place we had planned to stash Lily. She was the only one who knew where it was, though. "Lily," I said, "tell me where your new home is." Lily promptly rattled off a set of coordinates. "Wizzit, did you get that?" I asked.
"You betcha. It's somewhere under the Canadian Rockies."
Shelley arrived a few minutes later balancing a quart-sized glass filled with the thick protein drink, another quart-sized glass filled with plain water, and a small plate holding four slices of toast. I jumped up and helped her set them on the sand. "These are for you, Lily," I told her. "Eat and drink as much as you like."
We watched her nibble at a slice of toast and sip at the protein shake for a few minutes, and then I turned to Shelley. "She should be fine for a while. Do you want to stay with her while I go help the others?"
"Do you want to go out?"
I hesitated because I hadn't expected her question. "I . . . well, to be honest, no, not really," I admitted. "I'd rather stay here with Lily, but if the others need my help . . ."
"Wizzit," she said, "how is the battle going?"
"Surprisingly well," he replied. "We've had a bit of luck. Two of the monsters have been destroyed already."
"Wow! So soon? How did that happen?"
"Long story. We'll go over it in the debrief, if that's all right with you. The other monsters seem quite amenable to fighting each other."
"That's good news. Can you ask Red whether Blue needs to come out?"
There was a pause. "Red says that more is always better, but with Indigo and Violet's force shields coming online shortly, it is not crucial to have Blue. At least, not the way things are now."
"Thank you, Wizzit." Shelley turned to me. "It's up to you, Trevor."
I stared down at the sand. "This may sound selfish," I said slowly, "but I've lost Lily too many times already. This time, I want to stay here and make sure she doesn't get away from us."
"I understand. I'll wait here with you. Um . . ." She paused for a minute, thinking. "How badly did she hurt you?"
"I'm a little banged up. Nothing too bad, but I suppose I'll have to heal up eventually."
"Blue's thigh is heavily bruised, and the muscles are starting to stiffen up," Wizzit piped up. "I advise a short healing coma as soon as is practicable."
"Why don't you do it now?" Shelley said to me. I frowned, but she went on, "It'll just take a second for Wizzit to send you back to your room so that you can drop off your bracelet and pick up your Prime belt. Then you can heal up here."
"What, on the beach?"
"Why not? It's a nice place, and there's no one around except the three of us."
"But . . . I mean, what about . . .?"
"Look, if you're worried about babbling," she told me kindly, laying a hand on my shoulder, "then don't be. I remember what healing comas are like, and I promise not to pay attention to anything you might say."
Babbling was indeed what concerned me. But she was right. There really wasn't any point in putting off my healing coma, as long as I didn't have anything else pressing to do. I had to admit that it was probably a good idea to have someone else around while I was healing, and I would rather have Shelley with me than, say, someone like my sister Joy. After all, Shelley had been a Prime -- and doing healing comas -- for longer than anyone else. She would understand, if anyone would.
Too, if someone came prowling around looking to kidnap Lily again, then Wizzit could turn off the healing coma quicker than you could spit, and I'd be battle-ready in seconds. And if it did come to that, it would be better to have my belt than just one of the wristbands.
"All right," I conceded. "Send me back to my room whenever you're ready, Wizzit."
Attack Doll 5: The End of Lily Lee Page 18