by P. S. Power
He looked at Blue directly, smiling and seeming a little too pleased, given everything.
"No. I think it's time for me to leave instead. Thanks for all the help, Cynthia, but all good things, and all that." Hefting the tiny card he waved it a bit. "This is a bioactive film covered high yield explosive. If I drop this, or die while holding it, it will create a blast so large that none of you will survive it. Not even with your rather brilliant shields." Then he winked once. "Or you might, but-"
He froze, the decently good looking mouth suddenly hanging open, as Smith turned on his heel, and ran away.
Chapter thirteen
Sam followed, and after about three heartbeats, never even bothering to look surprised by the turn of events, Doris did too. That was the plan after all. If it looked like they were losing, those three were to run away and the rest of them were to stay and buy them time. To that end, Tiera carefully moved in front of the still open doorway.
"Cynthia, can you open the doors for my craft?" She managed to sound like she wasn't about to die, which was a good thing. She did sound a bit like she was going to rip Cordes a new hole, somewhere in his body, but the situation was tense and that, anger, even rage, was her main fallback position in life.
Changes aside, you had to go with what you knew, didn't you?
"Open the bay doors, seal after three pass. Then lock the facility. Cordes may not leave." That seemed to mean something to the bomb holding Blue.
At least she made a sound that seemed like she was gargling for a half moment.
"Do you think that matters? If I die, another will take my place. A thousand more at need. You can't stop me. It's too late for that. All you can do is die. The only choice you have is to go gracefully, or screaming against it." Then she sneered, derisively, which was the wrong thing to do, to Tiera's way of thinking.
She attacked. It was an very different thing than anyone would have expected from her, no doubt, since she leaped on the woman and grabbed her arm, pulling not on the metallic looking crystal, in it's very shiny silver color, but on her thumb, breaking it almost instantly.
No one else moved to help, but after staring for a second Havar pulled something from his jacket and closed with them.
"We can take her arm with a cutter and not kill her, can't we? Then heal her?"
Tiera didn't really know, but grunted a single word anyway as the Blue started to fight back, slapping at her shield and almost getting away several times. It seemed that she didn't want that to happen at any rate.
"Now." If she were wrong, they had to hope the others could get the word out and not die in the blast. The Baron didn't hesitate, taking her hand instead of the whole thing.
Tiera was holding it and it still tried to move, clutching at the device, but not with any strength at all. After she pried the explosive free, she tossed the thing across the room, only to see that Karen was already healing the woman. Cordes.
With the hand off.
That made sense, if they were going to end up killing her anyway. She was very tempted to do all the limbs, but they needed to have her cooperation at some point, and doing that would make it a little hard to get. At least Tiera wouldn't have told someone anything if they'd done that to her, so had to figure Cordes wouldn't either.
She pulled out her Truth amulet and put it around Cynthia Blue's neck first. After all, if she were guilty, they had to know about it fast.
"What did you know about this? Be detailed and do not lie."
The cream and yellow glow surrounded her perfectly, and the woman spoke without hesitation.
"Over two thousand-five hundred years ago, Cordes came and asked me to help him store his memories, fearing that he might be of diminishing capacity mentally. That turned out to be the case. I first created the copy, as requested, then developed a technique to implant large Rhetistical sets in place, in a young mind. That hadn't been feasible before, but utilizing several disparate technologies, I can now manage. Occasionally I would add these sets to individuals as they were born in different locations around the world. Normally those in impoverished conditions, so that the Cordes mentality could improve the lot of those around them. It was as he requested."
The story was a very long one, but the underpinnings were clear. The man had set Blue up, knowing what to say and do so that she'd thought he was being selfless, and that the project had both merit and value to the world. It was kept secret as well, but that wasn't hard, since, as she clearly stated, until recently, most of the others hadn't been communicating regularly.
Cordes Blue made a face and glanced at her healed stump.
"And then eighty years ago a little clone was hatched right here, and mommy put my big bad brain, right in her little darling, never giving her a chance to be anything else. Then I used every opportunity I could find to spread myself far and wide. I made an agreement with Gray long ago, and we've worked closely, having similar goals now. It doesn't matter what you know, because you can't find us all. You can't stop us." There was a wink that seemed smarmy and nearly got the woman punched by Tiera then, and did have Blue Two take a single step forward.
She wasn't angry, but had something in her hand anyway. A needle.
"You used our facilities for your plan? You used us in an attempt to destroy humanity? That cannot be allowed." She walked to him and gave the Blue in front of her the shot, her eyes misting a bit as she did.
Tiera was a bit amazed by it. She knew it wasn't a thing to make Cordes talk, since she already was, or do anything good in particular, because what would that be? Pain medication? No, this was either something that killed, or that would really hurt.
It was the tears, from Cynthia, Two and Four. Tiera had actually thought they didn't have that kind of emotion at all, but it seemed they could show grief.
Cordes smiled and shook her head.
"You think this means anything? Weren't you listening? Nothing you do-" Then, instantly, she fell to the left and stopped doing anything at all. No talking, or breathing, not even a twitch was left. She fell from her blue chair, in the blue room, having never really been Blue at all.
Orange made a face, but at the fallen form, not the others.
"Too bad, we might have gotten a bit more from her. Well, let's see to this then, and connect with the ship. We aren't done. We came to find Julie, and if the rest of you can function, we could use help with that. Then... We need a plan. A very good one, because I fear that Cordes there was right and we are at a very serious disadvantage here. The best we may manage is to take everyone out, leaving nothing for our enemies." She sounded dark about it, and as if that actually made sense.
Tiera felt it, sure, but she knew it was wrong. It was better to have some kind of world left than nothing, even if they weren't in it. She didn't say that, because she was more than willing to change her mind and being willing to do that might be all they had as leverage against the others.
Four stood, tears still streaming down her pale cheeks for her now dead sister, but she nodded at Alice and left the room at a jog. That probably meant something, but it could have simply been that she needed to be sick. It wasn't that, since she returned a few minutes later, holding a small screen that had a white blinking light on it. One that showed a position, overlaid on a map.
"She remains in Soam, in her main city there. Maya. This will lead you to her, or at least to the bio-signs that match hers. I shall begin a cataloging and tracking of the historical data on the rest of the immortal population."
Tiera nodded, then gave the woman a hug, after she passed the pad off.
"Right after you and Two are cleared."
They weren't, thankfully, part of it at all. Two had more information than Four did, but it wasn't anything important, just observations that seemed different about Cordes, now that she knew that there was something going on. Trips that had made sense at the time, but could have been more complicated, things like that.
They were all very sad, Tiera realized, but they didn't let t
heir loss paralyze them, working through it instead, trying to make up for whatever they saw as their part in the whole mess. It was touching, but Tiera had to make herself be sensitive to their feelings, not really caring at the moment. That was wrong of her, she knew.
Tor was exactly the same as Cordes Blue. Less controlled by the Ancient King, perhaps, but more dangerous, if he was handled wrong. Like the others, she didn't really think they could do anything to stop him at all. Much less save him. They hadn't been able to safely remove Rhetistics at all yet. Not ever. Those that had tried, always perished in the attempt.
Alice filled them in on that as they stood in the blue room, trying to figure out what to do next.
Karen sighed and shook her head.
"We need to talk to everyone and make sure they aren't part of this. If we find those that are... We kill them. We need to be better about getting information from them too, even if it is just ranting and lording their victories over us. Anything we can find out might make a difference. I... How can we fight the Ancients? How can we win? Can we at all?"
Cynthia looked at Karen and then spoke with no inflection or facial expression.
"Yes. This is a clever operation, but so far you've encountered two versions of the man, and defeated him both times. They are not without flaws. We all have them. The important thing now is for each of us to stay on plan and not deviate, unless required by new circumstances." There was no hedging to the words, even though there was no real plan yet. What could they do?
Alice looked at Havar directly.
"Black next then. My brother. He respects men more than women, so it will be most effective for you and Sam to approach him. The women may go, but I think that will work better than Tiera speaking." She looked at the younger woman and blinked very slowly, as if it had meaning. She didn't really get it, but tried to pay attention to her field, reading her as she finished the statement. She tapped along as she did it, as if agitated.
"Listen Tiera, I want you to go and watch them, but not speak, unless spoken too. He might remember you from before, or he may not, either way..."
The field said something very different though. Listen, I want you to remember.
Like she didn't always?
Then, as if things were simply done, they left, flying out in Tiera's other Fast Craft. It was her Timon one, so slower, but larger, which was good, since it was going to be a long trip.
Alice surprised them all then.
"Back to Noram first. We need Green and then Brown first. They might be used in this, but won't mean to be. Like Blue. Then Lyn Red, I think."
Karen didn't make a face but did look a bit less than perfectly with the program.
"Why tell Blue that we were going to Tellerand then? She was cleared..."
Tiera answered, knowing that one herself. Green had told her.
"We need supplies, and to regroup. Black is probably with us as well, but he still needs to be handled carefully, from what I've seen. This is very dangerous and every single place we go, we're being watched. Perhaps all of us. I don't know if the sensors can hear us inside here, I don't think so, but outside, anywhere, even in a house... We have to just figure that's going to be heard."
The nifty thing about growing up a noble that both Karen and Havar had that Tiera had totally missed out on, was the natural and pervasive knowledge that there were spies everywhere. Both of them simply understood it the second the words where said and stopped talking, just in case.
That wouldn't work either, but it was a real start.
Alice agreed, and then sat back, reclining her seat to take a nap, since it was going to be twelve hours or more from where they were, given everything.
"That, plus I need to check on my crew and make certain they aren't readying for war without me. It wouldn't do to simply leave them at loose ends, being as new as they all are. I haven't even gotten the people from Austra yet."
Those were all good points, weren't they? Besides, Tiera really had to find a way to do something about Tor, and the current plan gave her more time for that. So far there was nothing at all that she could think of, but maybe Timon, or one of the others, would be able to?
If nothing else it was a chance for him. She wasn't just going to let them kill him, unless there was no other way. If that happened, well, then she'd have to do it herself, most likely. Tiera was the only one that could get close enough. Maybe at least. She'd failed Regina, and that was partly his fault, but not totally. Especially not if Cordes had made it happen, trying to weaken her.
Had he been responsible for the changes made to Timon too?
She didn't know. But she had to find out.
Then, really, she knew, the whole thing suddenly coming very clear to her, she didn't, did she? What she needed was a way to save Tor, and the rest... well, that would have to wait. She could save him, and then blame him for the rest of his life, if it turned out to all be him.
Of course that all meant she had to survive. That... Well, with something to do like save the world, she was a bit more interested in that, for the time being. It may not last, and she was ready to go out in a blaze of heroic glory, of course, but for now it was enough to keep her interest.
"Can we stop by the Capital first? I need to let Timon know about all this, or..."
Alice shook her head, emphatically, then relented a little.
"Sorry, he's a bit too good looking for me to trust, young or not. I suppose, but when we fill people in, from now on, or talk about things, we do it in orbit. Understood? Don't even trust to magic for this. We take no risks we don't have to. Anything less will probably get us killed."
Tiera shrugged with one shoulder, not caring if anyone saw it.
"Agreed. We'll probably all die anyway, but hey, what is life for? The hard part will be making sure that Tor doesn't find out."
That got agreement too.
Then they didn't speak until they got back to Noram, no one wanting to make the mistake that cost them everything.
Tiera made plans, some of which were going to be very, very hard. She'd need to learn to control her mind like Doris did, and do it fast, or Tor would figure it all out instantly.
Timon... Well, he was upset with Tor anyway, so it might work for them to just not talk, but it would be better if he got further away. He'd been supposed to attend the Printer school in the fall, but hadn't. He could do it now though, Tiera bet. She'd get with Countess Printer and use a little leverage and a bribe or two to make that happen. Trice would be the hard part. She and most of Tor's close friends. They'd give things away, thinking about it, if they knew, which meant...
They'd have to lie. Keep things secret and do their work as far away from Lairdgren as possible. While she stayed there and pretended that everything was perfectly all right.
On top of that, she'd have to go and confront her mother, which was a thing that she'd been avoiding. If she was Gray... Well, it was easy to say that she'd stop her, but could she? That would have to be very soon, she realized, hoping that something would come up to let her avoid it altogether.
It was an almost impossible plan, but when nothing else was available, you did whatever you could.
No matter how much it hurt.
Then, not waiting, still piloting her Fast Craft, Tiera held her mind as silent as possible, and didn't think at all, for a very long time.
Doing nothing but her task and feeling the growing silence within.
Other Books
By
P.S. Power
Young Ancients:
(Tor)
The Builder
Knight Esquire
Knight of the Realm
Ambassador
Counselor
Slave Line
Ancient Kings
(Timon)
The Dark Half of the Sun
Lord of the Sky
(Tiera)
A Simple Darkness
The Infected:
Proxy
Gabriel
Cast Iron
Proxy: Reunions
Cellophane
Dead End:
A Very Good Man
A Very Good Neighbor
A Very Good Thing
A Very Dark Place
Gwen Farris:
Abominations
Monsters
Strangers and Lies
Keeley Thomson:
Demon Girl
Keelzebub
Mistress of Souls
Demon Trap
Related works:
Christmas of the Vampire
Other Places:
Shortcuts
The Lament:
Without Rhythm
Stand Alone Novels:
Crayons
An Unrelenting Terror