A Despair of Demons (Travelers, Book 1)

by Cassy Campbell

  “How many cartridges did we get from LLNL?” Liv asked.

  The idea of setting off a nuclear charge in the brain had made her realize that the only way to excite the necessary brain molecules was, in fact, with a microburst of radiation. For that, she’d needed to find a radioactive element with a very short half life. Unfortunately, such elements were mostly theoretical and incredibly unstable. She’d settled on ununpentium, with its half-life of only 100 milliseconds, as the best candidate.

  With the help of advanced particle physics research aided in part by otherworld information, she had designed a cartridge that basically held the isotope in suspended animation until the device fired, releasing the element from its stasis and allowing it to decay in a microsecond burst. The Air Force had enlisted Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California to create the ununpentium, at incredible difficulty and expense. She knew she was stuck with however many cartridges they’d sent, without hope of more anytime soon.

  “Twenty-five,” Pete said.

  Liv went numb. She had asked for two hundred cartridges. “How many times did you fire it?”

  “Eight.”

  “Eight? You mean I only have seventeen shots left?”

  “Fifteen, actually, because we also tested it on a lab rat and a rabbit.”

  “Why wasn’t I informed?”

  Trent answered, since her fury had frozen both the R & D guys. “We needed to make sure it worked consistently. Two tests at each setting was the bare minimum. And we needed to make sure it didn’t fry brains. Two tests for that is not enough, but we worked with what we had.”

  She subsided. She’d have to defer to Trent on this one, since her weapons-building expertise was nonexistent.

  General Mace said, “Is it ready for field testing?”

  Sam or Stan looked relieved that Trent had diverted Liv’s fury. “It was built to the required specs, and both test shots at each setting measured the same, to an acceptable degree of error. The animals suffered no ill effects. That’s all we can say for sure right now.”

  General Mace nodded. “You may start the friendly fire test immediately.”

  “Sir, I think that would be a mistake.”

  General Mace gave Liv a sharp look. “Your protocol was to test it on human volunteers and then field test on demons.”

  “Yes, but I thought I’d have two hundred ununpentium cartridges. We won’t get any more. I don’t want to waste any on our people.”

  Trent spoke. “You’d waste more testing on demons. With an uncooperative subject, you’ll get far less information about the actual effects. That means more errors before the correct configuration is found, and more uncertainty about the effects.”

  Damn. He had a point.

  “So we proceed with the original plan,” General Mace said. “One of the jumpers has already volunteered.”

  “Sir, what if it fries his brain? The brain modification device is completely untested.”

  “That’s not true,” Trent protested. “We tested it several times.”

  “Let’s call it the brain ray,” Ben said.

  Liv glared at him. “How is that relevant right now?”

  “‘Brain modification device’ is way too hard to say. Brain ray.”

  She sighed. “Fine.” Turning back to General Mace, she said, “What if the brain ray fries his brain?”

  “It didn’t fry the rat’s or the rabbit’s,” Sam or Stan pointed out.

  Trent said, “We don’t have a choice. We need to know if it works before we test it on demons.”

  General Mace agreed. “Not only for the experimental advantage, but also the military one. You will not go out looking for demons until we know the machine works in the first place. Are we clear, Dr. Greenwood?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “You may start trials immediately.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “Dismissed.”

  Chapter 20

  Liv stood in front of Lieutenant Marcum, holding the brain ray gingerly in both hands. Damn it, now Ben had her thinking of it as a brain ray too.

  The rest of her team stood loosely around her, and the Medical team leaned back against the wall. They were in one of the unused shielded R & D labs for the weapon test.

  Liv dialed the device to will, the setting that should affect Marcum’s ability to Travel. “Okay,” she said to him. “I’ve decided to try to repeat what Elachai did to Jordan and lock you out of Travel. I think it’s the safest thing to start with.”

  “And then free me to Travel again, right?” Marcum looked supremely unconcerned, but he had to be at least a little nervous. It was one thing to potentially jump into a world where the atmosphere would flay your skin off, but entirely another to let someone mess around with your mind. She knew firsthand.

  “Of course, that’s the plan,” she said.

  “General, we’re ready.”

  “All nonessential personnel to the observation room,” General Mace said while motioning everyone out.

  “We’ll be watching on the camera,” Jordan said at the door. Then he was gone and she was alone with Marcum.

  She smiled brightly. “Ready?”

  He grinned in what he probably considered a rakish way. “Yes, ma’am.”

  She rechecked the brain ray’s settings one last time, pointed it at Marcum, and depressed the trigger.

  Nothing happened.

  “That was a little anticlimactic,” Marcum said.

  “It’s working.” The indicator on the side showed that it was finding the requested mix of neurochemicals in his brain. When it hit zero, it beeped, letting her know it had released the microsecond burst of radiation targeting those cells, although it was nothing either of them could feel. “You will not be able to Travel unless I tell you you may.”

  “Whatever you say.”

  “Did you feel anything?” Liv asked.

  “No.”

  The Medicals entered the room and swarmed toward the lieutenant, checking all of his vitals, drawing blood, and generally trying to decide if Liv’s brain ray had done any damage.

  After a minute, one of them turned to her, and she recognized Dr. Brown. “We’re all set here. He looks fine. Are you sure that machine does anything?”

  Liv took a deep breath. “We’re about to find out.”

  The Medicals trooped back outside, and Liv said, “Okay, the real test. Can you Travel?”

  “I dunno.”

  Liv gritted her teeth. She’d always wondered how jumpers did what they did, but in Marcum’s case at least, it was quite clear: he simply wasn’t smart enough to grasp the terrible danger of being the first to a new world. “Try.”

  “Where should I go?”

  “Anywhere!” Check that. “Anywhere already explored.”

  He smiled his rakish smile, then swirled and disappeared.

  Liv’s heart sunk to her shoes. Shit! After all this, it didn’t work!

  Seconds later, Marcum returned. She already knew it was a failure, but she had to follow through, figure out why. “Where did you go?”

  “Blue Beach.” Apparently everybody liked it there.

  “And?”

  “And what?”

  “Was it normal Travel, harder to get there, anything different at all?”

  “No. It was just like always.”

  “All right. Thanks.”

  Her team filed in, General Mace along with them. “What went wrong, Dr. Greenwood?”

  Jordan spoke before she could. “Wait a minute, Liv. Maybe it didn’t go wrong, sir.”

  She didn’t see how he could be right, but she felt a tiny spark of hope. Jordan had that effect. “What are you talking about?”

  “Your wording may have invalidated the experiment.”

  Now she felt a spark of anger. “What are you talking about?”

  “You said he couldn’t Travel unless you told him to, but then you told him to. Maybe it worked and you just reversed it because of the words you used.�
��

  “So what should I say?”

  “I think it would be better if someone else entirely ordered him to Travel.”

  She turned to General Mace. “He has a point, sir.”

  General Mace nodded. “Try it.”

  Jordan turned to Marcum. “Lieutenant. Go back to Blue Beach.”

  “For how long?”

  “The same as before.”

  The infuriating man swirled in a whirlwind of color and disappeared.

  Jordan leaned close. “Do you think jumping makes their brains dull, or is that just the preferred mentality for a jumper to have?”

  She grinned, but didn’t answer since Marcum had reappeared.

  Jordan nodded at her. “Try the gun again.”

  She was loath to waste another shot on the useless test, but it didn’t matter if the stupid gun didn’t work anyway.

  Connor said, “Clear the room again.”

  “Actually,” Jordan said, “I think I should stay.”

  Connor gave him an exasperated look, and he said, “No, listen. If we test this in the field, and find out that it works on everybody in the area, we might not have enough shots to put all of us back right, and we wouldn’t be able to Travel away if Liv stops us. We need to know now.”

  Liv hadn’t thought of that. “He’s right, sir.”

  General Mace said, “All right. On your head be it.”

  Everybody else left and Liv was alone with Jordan and her subject.

  “Is this directional, Liv?” Jordan asked.

  “I really don’t know. I wouldn’t think so, although the back of the discharge module is shielded, so maybe.”

  “Then I should stand in front of it.”

  “No, you should stand back here. I’d rather confirm that I won’t affect what’s behind the shielding than confirm that I can get multiple targets in front of me. We can use the demon trials for that.”

  “Okay.” Jordan remained at her side.

  “All right, same as before.” She lifted the gun, pointed it at Marcum, depressed the trigger, and waited for the beep. Again, nothing seemed to happen. “You will be unable to Travel until I tell you you may.”

  He looked at her, clearly questioning whether it had worked. Again, the Medicals swarmed in, did their exam, pronounced him well, and left. Jordan said, “Okay, Marcum. Travel to Blue Beach again.”

  Marcum nodded, then just stood there.

  “Go ahead,” Jordan said.

  “I’m trying.”

  The expression of intense concentration on his face made him look like he was straining to do something else entirely, which made her laugh. She tried to cover it by turning to Jordan. “It works!”

  Jordan’s grin mirrored hers, but she could tell he knew what she was really laughing at, and that made her laugh harder.

  She had to get a grip. She faced the camera. “Dr. Brown, bring the PET scanner!”

  Her smile died as she looked back at Jordan. She didn’t want to tell him to Travel, but she needed to see if he could. She raised an eyebrow, and he startled. “Right! I’ll try Blue Beach too.”

  He swirled into a multicolored whirlwind that vanished. She didn’t realize she’d been holding her breath until she let it out.

  He reappeared within seconds. “No change for me.”

  Marcum glared. “How nice for you.”

  Dr. Brown bustled in with the scanner, set it up next to Marcum, and attached it to his head. Liv tried to help, but her hands were shaking with excitement. Dr. Brown took one of the fragile leads out of her hands. “Maybe I should just do this.”

  Liv held up her hands and backed away. It worked! They could stop Woolfe!

  Once the PET scan ran, including the part where Marcum tried to Travel, they unhooked the machine. Marcum said, “So you’ll put me back now, right?”

  “Sure. No worries.”

  He looked at her expectantly.

  “Right. You may now Travel at will.”

  He just stared at her.

  “Try it.”

  “I am.”

  “Oh.” Dammit! That meant that she’d have to waste another shot. “I guess the effect is pretty short lived.”

  “It would be nice to know how short,” Jordan said.

  “We don’t have enough shots to find out,” she said. “We’re down to twelve as it is, and we’ve still got to test it on demons. We know it’s at least a couple minutes. That’ll have to do.”

  Marcum cleared his throat. “Still waiting here.”

  “Oh, all right.” She fired the weapon again, wondering if Marcum’s brain was frying yet, although given his depth of intellect, it might be hard to tell. “You may now Travel at will.”

  He immediately disappeared into a whirlwind. Seconds later, he was back, a huge relieved grin on his face. “I’m back, baby!”

  Liv summoned up a smile. “Great. Go get a CT scan and an MRI now, please.”

  Dr. Brown came back in and beckoned, and Marcum followed her out.

  General Mace led her team back in. “That looked like a resounding success,” he said.

  Liv nodded. “So far as a single-test-subject trial can be used to predict the efficacy of a previously nonexistent weapon on the general population.”

  “We have no more subjects to test, and if I remember, you didn’t want to waste the charges.” General Mace stared at her.

  “All true, sir.”

  “So are you ready for demon trials?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Excellent. We’ll meet in the briefing room in one hour. Apparently, Dr. Jameson has some ideas about where you’ll be going tomorrow.”

  General Mace left, and the rest of her team crowded around, slapping her on the back and offering congratulations.

  Ben held up his hand for a high five. “Score one for the brain ray.”

  Liv followed his gaze to the heavy green steel device in her hand. “Yeah. Now if it will just work on demons too.”

  * * *

  Liv and her team trailed through the transformed streets of Demon Rift. Where before there had been only gray dust and damaged buildings, there were now huge refuse piles from whole buildings that had been razed.

  Aside from these reminders of the destruction the demons had caused, much of the city had been cleaned and repaired.

  People were out on the streets, and most nodded and smiled or even waved to the Travelers. Mallet, leading them along the ‘least damaged ways’ as he put it, talked nonstop about their renovations.

  “As you can see, we have done a great deal in the short time since you left us.”

  As he paused to beam at the city around them, Connor finally found an opening to speak. “Have you managed to hunt down all the demons?”

  Mallet’s face darkened instantly. “None, actually. They have left the city and found a cave up in the mountains. There are many of them, and they have guards always on watch. But as they have left us alone, we have left them alone, until such time as they are no longer content to ignore us.”

  “Are you sure that will happen?” Jordan asked.

  Mallet turned to him with a look of incredulity. “They are a greedy, wicked and bloodthirsty race.”

  Jordan stared steadily back. “They might have said the same of you when you opened the Rift.”

  “That is true. But we are not! We have learned the lesson.”

  “Perhaps they have too.”

  “Jordan…” Connor warned.

  “What? I’m just saying.”

  “Well, don’t.”

  They trooped on toward the Institute, where they were told Polly had made her seat. In addition to her scientific duties, the city had elected her as leader to help rebuild.

  When they finally reached the Institute, they were taken to a luxurious meeting room.

  “Why couldn’t there have been computers in this room so we could work here while we fixed the rift?” Gin asked in an undertone.

  Liv shrugged. It would have been a lot more com
fortable, that was for sure.

  Polly bustled through a door at the far end of the room, her teeth very white in her dark face. “Welcome! Sit, sit. We have made marvelous progress, have we not? Other than the few rogue demons, of course.”

  Connor stepped forward. “That’s actually why we’re here. How many of them are left?”

  “We are unsure.”

  “Mallet made it sound like all of them are holed up in a cave outside the city.”

  “We know that several crashed into the ocean many miles from here, and we assume they were killed or lost beneath the waters. But we have been unable to kill any of the remainder.”

  “So, forty or more?”

  “That is likely accurate,” Polly agreed.

  Connor turned to Jordan. “This is beginning to look less and less like the world we should target for testing.”

  “Testing?” Polly was quick to ask.

  Liv said, “We have a device. We’ve developed it to stop the leader of Hell. But we need to make sure it works on demons before we Travel there. The demons here are isolated and won’t be able to warn their leader of our plan. We came to ask permission to test it on your demons.”

  Polly laughed uncomfortably. “They are certainly not our demons. But if you have a device, could you perhaps give us one? Or the plans for one?”

  “Perhaps eventually,” Liv hedged. “But as you know, anything we leave here won’t stay, and I don’t think your particle physics is up to making the necessary component. Do you have particle accelerators?”

  “Particle accelerators?”

  “Miles-long devices to create artificial particles in high speed collisions?”

  Polly looked mystified. “No.”

  “Then I’m afraid it’s probably beyond your capabilities at this point. It’s very dangerous if you don’t know exactly what you’re doing.”

  “I’m sure,” Polly said dubiously.

  “As for the demons?” Connor asked.

  “Oh, certainly. Test your device. Does it kill them?”

  “Not as far as we know,” Liv said. “We hope it will allow us some measure of control.”

  “Then perhaps you could use it to help us! Stop them from raiding our cities.”

  Jordan frowned. “Have they been?”

  “No. But we feel it is only a matter of time.”

  “If they haven’t done anything to you, why would you want us to attack them, maybe provoke them?” Jordan asked.