"No," my tacmod replied calmly. Again, I was speechless.
"My tacmod is defective," I said hopelessly.
"Hey, Prophet," Ice said, "I just told my tacmod to max the cooling and she turned up the heat. Now she's not speaking to me."
"Another enraging female tactic," Saka said.
"What's happening, Prophet?" the Prof asked.
"Our tacmods are going haywire," I replied.
"I'd like to hear about the antimat, please."
"Yes. We're almost finished. The charge is all set; it's the activation unit that's giving us grief."
"Prophet," Bees said. "There's something wrong here."
"I know that, Bees."
"No. I mean…something else. Can't you feel it? It's…oppressive."
"It's heat. Could you please be quiet while I work?"
Another blast vibrated through the tower. The engineers were busy digging their pit.
"Let me do it," Saka said.
"Get your hands off! I'll do it." It was hot as hell.
"I can hardly breathe," Ice said.
"Why don’t you two hopeless clowns move aside, and I will do it," Bees said.
"Shut down, Bees," Saka said.
"I am having trouble breathing," Ice said again.
"Let me do it!" Bees insisted.
"You just want to get all the credit," Ice said.
"What?" Bees sounded like she was stunned.
"What, are you deaf? You just want to get all the credit. Little Miss Knight. God's chosen representative. The Prof's star student. I can't even breathe, and you're not even listening. You never liked me!"
"What did you say?"
"Deaf! She's deaf! You never liked me! You just wanted to hang with somebody attractive. You hate me, don't you?"
"Why you nasty bitch! After all this, after all our time together…you can say that?"
"After all your lies! You ugly black bitch! Well, you know what? I hate you, too!"
I listened to this unbelievable exchange with my jaw dangling, the antimat forgotten. Ice and Bees were the closest of friends, so close they were almost like lovers, they were almost like one person.
"Black bitch," Bees repeated calmly. "I see. Now it all comes out. You're jealous. You wanted Scout, but he scorned you and chose me. So you had to settle for less, and married that slick Assidic creep."
"Your timeline is screwed up," Ice replied. "Nobody wanted you! You were an old maid, and Scout was hard up and took pity on you. You're a pitiful fool!"
Bees snatched at her E, brought the stock to her shoulder and fired point-blank on Ice. The xmax shot was deafening in the little chamber. Shrapnel ricocheted everywhere.
ATTENTION! YOU HAVE FIRED AT A FRIENDLY UNIT! ROUND HAS BEEN DEFLECTED! CEASE FIRE, CEASE FIRE AT ONCE! The autowarning rang out boldly.
I landed on Bees hard, pushing her E aside. Bees fought like a wildcat, squirming in my arms. Ice was screaming hysterically.
"Deadman! Saka, help me with these two!" I cried out.
"Prophet, what the hell is happening?" Prof asked in astonishment on the net.
'You want to shoot me?" Ice shouted. "I'll kill you!"
"Saka, disarm Ice!" I demanded. The Prof landed at the foot of the stairs as I dragged Bees over there. Saka and Ice were struggling with each other and Ice's E went clattering to the deck.
"Doggie, we need the security team here at once!" Prof demanded.
"Your ancestry is showing. Bees!" Ice exclaimed. "You're a primitive, violent Cyrillian subhuman!"
"Why you worthless creepy washed-out inbred mutant outie loser slut!" Bees replied. "Why don't you just commit suicide? It would be a genetic plus for humanity!"
"Ice, Bees, you are both under arrest," the Prof said. "Doggie, take custody of these two and keep them separated and under restraint until we can evac back to the Vampire. Sedate them if necessary."
We handed them both over to Doggie and his team. Scout was there – I knew he'd watch over Bees. And Ice, too. We'd all take care of them. I didn't know what the hell was happening, but I knew we'd get through it – somehow.
"Prophet, Saka, get back to the antimat." The Prof stayed with us after the girls were taken away by Doggie and his crew. It wasn't long before we heard from them.
"What the hell was that?" It was Arie's voice.
"It was right over there!" Scout said.
"Well, shoot it!" Doggie ordered. A burst of xmax echoed through the tower.
"Doggie, Prof. Report, report!"
"Something's in here, Prof. We don't know what it is yet."
"I'm coming! Prophet, Saka, get that antimat set up – now!" The rest of you, go to cloaking." The Prof disappeared abruptly as he shot up the stairs to the next level.
"Prophet, let's get this done and done right. Press where it says APPLY."
"We did that before."
"Let's do it again." I pressed APPLY.
CONFIRM APPLY, the screen read.
"It didn't do that before." I said. A ragged burst of xmax sounded off. I pressed CONFIRM APPLY.
WARNING: ACTIVATING ACTIVATE WILL ACTIVATE UNIT.
"That's nice," I whimpered. What crap! I was ready to give up. Yes, we'd like to activate. That's the whole idea. How do we do it?
"Bottom left, damn it, bottom left," Saka said. I looked bottom left screen. There was a tiny little tab marked ACTIVATE.
"Press the son of a bitch!" Saka said. I pressed it.
WARNING: UNIT IS ACTIVATED. CONFIRM ACTIVATION. Another burst of xmax echoed through the tower. A tab on the screen read CONFIRM. I pressed it.
ACTIVATION CONFIRMED. UNIT IS LIVE.
"All right, Saka," I said. "Go to cloaking and let's get up there and see what the hell is happening."
Δ
They were three levels up, cloaked, huddled against the walls, guns up, scanning the ceiling, walls, deck, everywhere. Bees and Ice were separated, unarmed and restrained, hands cuffed together in front, presumably so they could climb up the ladders. Saka and I crept in cautiously, E's raised, safeties off.
"What is it?" I whispered.
"They’re here," Bees said. "All around us." It was stifling inside my A-suit, baking hot, oppressive and stuffy and hard to breathe. Something dark rushed overhead, then was gone. A potent mixture of adrenalin and fear shot through my veins.
"Did you see that?"
"No."
"Prophet, Saka, look at your tacmap," the Prof said. "Set it for D2 – Dimension Two."
"Honey, please set the tacmap for D2," I requested. I was half expecting her to refuse, but she did it. The tacmap immediately clouded over and revealed bursts of energy shooting all around us, rolling along just under the ceiling, floating down to the deck, dissipating, then reforming on the other side of the tower.
"They’re forming up on the other side – let's get 'em," Doggie said.
"What are those things?" Saka asked.
"They're from Dimension Two – which our dead inhabit," Prof replied. I remembered now – D2 was another entire dimension within our universe, full of spirits, ghosts and some malevolent demons. But these were not the same Demons we'd been fighting side by side with the Brights. The D's were flesh and blood creatures, but what the hell were these?
"Here they come again!" Smiley warned.
"Xmax won't hurt them – try vac," Scout said.
A giant blob of energy came shooting at us on our tacmaps. I looked out my faceplate and it was a rapidly darkening…something, vague and shifting. Then I was firing vac, we all were, and it was on us, a bolt of terror, snarling and barking, dark leathery skin, tearing at my helmet, writhing on my chestplate, red eyes burning into mine, filthy broken yellow teeth slashing at my face. Then a whoosh of air and it was gone.
A piercing scream echoed through the tacnet. "Get it off! Get it off me!" Bees was down, thrashing around on the deck, a whirling tornado of dark debris was on her and then Ice threw herself at Bees, landing right on top of her, battering her with her cuffed fists and the wi
nd creature wrapped itself around Ice as well, carrying them both up to the ceiling, a terrifying ride, then smashing them both against a wall and dropping them and shooting away into the dark.
Scout and Arie were assisting Bees and Ice as the rest of us prepared for another attack.
"Did the vac do any good?" Doggie asked.
"Don't know," Smiley said.
"Tacstar low power," Prof ordered.
"They're coming at us again," Doggie said. Smiley fired his Manlink and the round circled around the tower corridor to the other side. The tacstar erupted, micronuke, presumably taking out whatever was over there and surely blowing a hole in the tower as well. Dazzling white hot contrails ripped along the corridor into our position.
"We're going to kill you," someone said in an evil, guttural whisper. D9, the tacnet revealed. It was Bees.
The creatures were on us again, a rush of dirty wind, then a burst of plasma, A horrific blinding sizzling tsunami of plasma, an irresistible wave of plasma, deck to ceiling, knocking us all to the deck and skidding us along like loose debris, the plasma blazing in my faceplate. I was inside the plasma burst with nowhere to run!
WARNING! PLASMA ATTACK! YOUR ARMOR IS REACHING CRITICAL TEMPERATURE, FAILURE EXPECTED SOON! SEEK SHELTER FROM PLASMA IMMEDIATELY. UP THE LADDERS, PROPHET! Honey was back with me and friendly as well – great! But I had no idea where the next staircase was. I scrambled to my feet and the plasma burst settled in, swirling around my knees, then ankles, sizzling along the decks. The entire level was smoking, scorched black. Delta survivors staggered along in red-hot A-suits.
"How the hell can they do that?" I asked. "They're not material, how can they do that?"
"They've evidently had some help," the Prof said. "Retreat to the next level up, now." I knew the Legion had never tangled with inhabitants of D2 before. Our A-suits had been fitted to scan D2 as a prudent precaution, but until now the capability had never been of importance.
"Guess they didn't like the nuke," Smiley said, as we hustled to the stairs. An evil black spirit creature hit me hard, snarling and gibbering, wrapping itself around me like a demonic lover, showing me its terrifyingly ugly face opening its dark maw, flaming eyes again. It had scarred leathery arms and long ragged claws. I screamed and fell to the deck, struggling to get it off.
"I'm not afraid of you, you filthy shit-creature!" someone shrieked. The net showed it was D4 – Ice. I was not the only one being attacked. Our column was staggering as the spirits attacked us individually. "Go back to hell, you'll not possess me!" Ice continued. "I'll carve a cross right into your ugly face! I can beat the crap out of you with both hands tied! Begone, you nasty coward!"
Her fearless attitude gave me courage and I got to my feet, still in the grip of the spirit, and let off a burst of vac along the ceiling. Ice was absolutely right. Who were these ghostly freaks, to think they could take on a Legion squad? "Get off me, you dirty creep," I said. "Go scare some children! We'll cook you for breakfast, you hear me? YOU HEAR ME?" The spirit that had chosen me suddenly faded away.
"They can’t hurt us!" I announced. "They're just ghosts! Don't fear them! All right, up the stairs!"
Δ
By the time we fled the tower it appeared we were spirit-free. We boarded the Mary and made our way to our seats in a tangle of weapons and equipment. We separated Bees and Ice, who still had their wrists secured. The Prof had recovered their E's. The assault doors snapped shut and we shot away from the site.
"All right, hover here," Prof ordered. Bird steadied the phantom. Looking out I saw in amazement that the engineers' new plasma deflector tower was already in place, on the horizon, growing out of the dusty ground like some kind of titanic new stalagmite, colored a pleasing grey and topped by a blinking red strobe.
"Big Boy, Bad Kid," the Prof called in. "Is your unit active yet?"
"That's a ten, Bad Kid. It is live and all systems are green and we can trigger the plasma pulse flow and the guidance controls at your order."
"Thank you, Big Boy. Let's get rid of the old one first. Saka, would you like to do the honors?"
"With pleasure, sir!" It had been Saka's vision so he was the man to do this all right. The Prof handed him the antimat trigger device.
"I hope the instructions for this device are clearer than the activation instructions," Saka commented.
"There is a slot that moves between OFF and ON," the Prof said. "When you move it to ON, the process begins. If you have any doubts thereafter you can move it back to OFF if you do it within ten fracs."
"That's not going to happen," Saka said, removing the safety and snapping the trigger to ON.
We waited for ten, then the tower shuddered. The antimat blast was well below ground. The tower shot upwards a bit, then crumbled, falling down slowly in that light gravity, shedding huge sections that crashed down into the dusty surface and bounced away. A huge cloud of powdery rock dust arose from the site.
"Hope we killed those spirits as well," Scout said.
"Done," Prof said. "Big Boy, activate your plasma flow."
"Bad Kid, Big Boy. Unit is now active, plasma appears to be working fine. This deflector will soon edge Pacifica away from Terra." We noted a faint glow issuing from the top of the new tower.
"Excellent. Thank you, Big Boy."
"You're all going to die!" A hissing croak. D9, on the net. Bees. The Prof ignored her. He pulled a portable Q-link from his ratpack and activated it. "Delta Research calling Director. Come in, Director."
"This is the Director's office," a youthful voice answered.
"This is Delta Research's field commander, warname Professor, calling the Director-General. Please inform the DG that Delta Research has destroyed the former deflector tower on the asteroid Pacifica and installed a new one. The new deflector tower is now active and is guiding Pacifica away from Earth. The Pacifica mission is successful. Further details will be provided as soon as possible. Please confirm."
The youthful voice repeated the information accurately and thanked the Prof, then signed off.
"Done," the Prof said. "All done. Now let's see about Bees and Ice."
Chapter 13
Bond of Blood
Back on Quaba, I did a lot of thinking. Mission successful, huh? I didn't think so. True, we had survived without any intervention by the Brights, which I considered a minor miracle, but the reasons for that were very murky. Things happen for a reason, and things don't happen for a reason. Where were the Brights? Who the hell were these malevolent spirits from D2 who were evidently guarding the original Pacifica deflector? And why were they doing so? The Brights certainly didn't need any help from them.
Pacifica continued towards Earth. Our new deflector was slowly nudging it onto a new course, and, barring further intervention, it would shoot past Earth with plenty of room to spare.
I didn't give a damn about that. I was focused one hundred percent on our casualties – Bees and Ice. They were down and out. And it was like two bleeding scars on my heart. They were ours – Delta troopers, Delta souls, Delta hearts – and they were under attack by the enemy.
On the star run home, Ice and Bees were both cuffed, and held in separate cells in the brig. We spent a lot of time observing them and questioning them. It was clear that something was seriously wrong, and that the girls were not quite themselves. Brainscans only confused matters further.
When we finally arrived home at Delta Research, our pet wolf Blackie greeted us joyfully with tail wagging, then screeched to a halt and went crazy barking and snarling at both Bees and Ice. He was clearly warning us these were enemies. He did not attack them but circled them warily, bristling and howling and barking and snapping at them. He was enraged.
Δ
Two days later Ice was still possessed, but was fighting. We had strapped her into a brainscan couch in an isolation room, fully restrained. The brainscans revealed only chaos within, but we kept her there as we worked on her. Doctor Dorak was now our best hope. I shuddered at that
. Dorak was a young, intense ghost enthusiast who was perhaps the galaxy's foremost specialist on Dimension Two. He had originally been a consultant to us on other dimensions, but had been let go when his talents did not appear relevant to our task of chronological viewing. And also because he was exceptionally ding-a-ling.
"This is wonderful," he said enthusiastically, his face twitching in excitement. Dorak was a pale, slight young man with long scraggly hair and a formal tie half open around his neck. "She is under attack by a malevolent spirit from D2. But she's fighting hard. She must be very strong! This is an intruding psychic parasite that has no intention of leaving. It feasts on the mental energy of its victims, spreading like cancer and ultimately taking total possession of mind and body."
We were standing around Ice, the Prof and Ice's husband Kwan and me and Dorak. Ice strained at her restraints. She was pale and her brow was beaded with sweat.
"As a reminder, Doctor," the Prof said. "The reason you are here is to ensure that doesn't happen." I knew the Prof had his own doubts about Dorak.
"Oh, it's not going to happen, Professor. You hear that, parasite? This is Doctor Dorak. You know me, don't you, you creepy little worm? We're going to burn you right out of your host. And you're going to run back to hell like a coward, shrieking like a girl, aren't you? Yes, we know you're a coward, a dead coward, hiding inside a real person because you're just a fraud, no brain, no body, a failed, dead soul, just hatred and hunger. Answer me, you piece of mental shit! Answer me!"
Ice shrieked, face contorted, twisting in her restraints, rising partially off the couch, spraying sweat. "I am here!" A hoarse, cracked voice. "She's mine! Die, Dorak! Your heart burns and stops!" Ice snarled and showed bloody teeth.
"You bastard!" Kwan exclaimed. "You coward! Come out of there and face us! Leave her alone!"
Dorak was hunched over, clutching at his chest. Then he slowly straightened up, twitching and sweating. "You think your pitiful mind tricks work on me?" he asked. "You're a worm! Taste God!" He made a quick gesture and a burst of liquid splattered over Ice. Ice let out a blood-curdling shriek, an agonized, wild howl from the depths, and frantically struggled with her restraints. Her skin hissed smoke everywhere the droplets hit. Blood appeared as the restraints cut into her skin.
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