Walker

by Michael Langlois

  He needed a way to get down to the cells without being recognized, and the best way to do that would be to overpower a guard and take his uniform and helmet. Overpower a highly trained, Veil potent, machine gun toting guard and take his helmet.

  Okay, no problem. Amp up as much as possible, and hit him hard, muttered Daniel to himself. The guard should have very few options at that point, since Keldon would have made sure that nobody used lethal force on him, lest he lose his ticket to worlds unknown.

  Daniel tiptoed out of his bedroom and into the living room. He placed one ear against his door listened intently for sounds of a guard detail posted outside—and completely missed the sound of Gray stepping out of the kitchen and touching the back of his neck with a restraint.

  The feedback band surged to life, shocking him to his knees. Even with warning he wouldn’t have managed any resistance under that onslaught. Caught unawares, he was completely disoriented. Gray had plenty of time to take Daniel’s arm and slip the thin band around one wrist, and a fresh Arc around the other. The cold metal squeezed his arm and frosted over.

  “I guess the only way you made it this far was to have your friends do your thinking for you. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that you’d come back here and make a rescue attempt.” Gray made a tsking sound. “All that genius with the Veil, wasted on someone like you.”

  He rapped on the door with a gloved hand to summon the guards outside.

  “Take him downstairs and get that Arc off of him before he dies, and make sure that the tech adds another restraint band. We don’t want a repeat of this afternoon’s disaster.”

  Daniel remembered nothing about the trip down to the cells, other than the image of the two stringy ropes of blood that dangled out of his nose as the guards literally ran with him down the endless corridors, holding him up by his arms with his head hanging down.

  By the time the Arc was removed, he was nearly unconscious. The front of his shirt was covered with blood, as were his mouth and chin. The sweet, sudden release from pain was almost more than he could bear.

  After removing the Arc, another band was put around his wrist. Pain returned, but vastly diminished. After the ordeal of the full feedback effect, it was almost pleasant.

  He was led out of the room and into a nearby cellblock. Everything was painted white, even the bars. His guards, still half supporting him, sat him roughly down on his new bunk and left. Slowly, he came out of his shell-shocked daze enough to raise a hand to his face. A pair of beautifully crafted loafers entered his view of the floor.

  “Here, let me help you with that.”

  Francis Keldon squatted down on his haunches and wiped Daniel’s face with a rough wet cloth, removing the worst of the blood.

  “Sorry about that business with the Arc feedback, but you backed me into a corner with that disappearing trick of yours.”

  Keldon handed the bloody cloth to one of the guards, who took it away. He then stood up and put his hands in his pockets. Daniel leaned back against the wall so he could see the man’s face. He looked relaxed and comfortable.

  “My men assure me that putting two of these on you will keep you here until we can reach an agreement. If you access the Veil in any way they will both begin to feed back on you, and each other. I’m told that the end result will be the same, if not worse, than what you just experienced.”

  Keldon raised his eyebrows at Daniel. “Please, Daniel, don’t test it. I’m no more eager to lose you than you are to die.”

  Daniel nodded his head gingerly and croaked out, “Sure, no problem.”

  “Thank you.” Keldon turned to the remaining guard and asked him to leave. He began to pace as he spoke.

  “You’ll be interested to hear that with the missing Scinte and the arrests, the council’s vote has been postponed.”

  “Yeah, that’s fascinating. Now you can show up with me and the drugs in tow and keep your chair. Congratulations.”

  “True, I could bring you before the council, under heavy guard and disabled by restraints. But what would that get me? If I keep you restrained, you can’t open the way for me, and if I release you, you’ll just vanish to where I can’t reach you. That’s not very helpful. And if I can’t be helpful to the council, not only won’t I be keeping my position, but I’ll likely face some unpleasant reprisals for my part in intercepting the Scinte. Not to mention the fact that bringing you to Buellere resulted in the loss of the only Illahi specimen we have.”

  “Then it sounds like you’re fucked. I hope you shrivel up and die without any more Scinte.” Daniel’s head hurt too much to add a smirk to this bit of bravado.

  Keldon sighed and put on a pained expression. “I understand that you’re angry, and rightfully so. All I ask is that you hear me out. Fair?”

  “Will you stop? All this pretend man-to-man sincerity is bullshit and we both know it. What you did to my mother? Feeding her to the Illahi as soon as you could get your hands on her, and then keeping it a secret so that you could use her as a hostage for years to come? That’s who you really are. No humanity, no compassion, no regret. Nothing but what you want and the quickest way to extract it. Don’t insult me by pretending you give a rat’s ass about me or getting my consent.”

  Daniel’s skin crawled as Keldon’s look of concern vanished, replaced instantly by a relaxed smile. “All right, cards on the table. You’re a more valuable asset if you help me willingly. Coercion works, but at a cost. I’ll only be able to use you in situations I can control, and I lose access to any innovations or discoveries that you manage to keep secret. It’s wasteful.” He chuckled. “Don’t get wrong, I’ll take it if it’s my only choice, but I’m serious about trying to come to an agreement first. I want your free cooperation, not your submission. And I can offer you some things that I think you’ll appreciate.”

  “I doubt that.”

  “Oh really? How about a seat on the council, starting today. You’ll have wealth to rival the richest industrialists on Earth. Billions at your disposal. And more power than all of them put together. Nine people rule humanity, Daniel. You could be one of them. You can have anything. Do anything. Hell, even set your friends free if that’s what you want.”

  “Rule the world, huh?”

  “It’s no joke. Anything you can imagine will be in within your reach.”

  “Let me ask you something. How exactly do nine people control the world? You barely have a hundred Walkers at your command, right? Maybe twice that many Channelers? How do you control billions of people?”

  Keldon shrugged. “Easy enough. We have access to the ruling class on every world. Place a few Wayguides as aides, maintenance staff, even advisors, and no amount of security can stop a Walker from reaching them. Once they realize that they can never be safe, it’s just a matter of nudging them to make the right decisions when the time comes.”

  Daniel shook his head. “That’s not enough, though, is it? When Saul first told me that the council ruled all of the worlds, it got me thinking. I don’t know about the rest of the worlds out there, but Earth is a real mess. Two wars in the Middle East, Africa is a meat grinder, civil war in Russia, and nuclear threats from more nations every year. And those are just the highlights. If you controlled all of the governments, why would there be so much fighting? Wouldn’t they ultimately all be on the same side? All that conflict is just wasting resources that could be going to the Guild, after all.”

  Keldon spread his hands. “People are vicious savages, what can I say?’

  “No. It’s happening because you want it to happen. As long as people are afraid, they’ll give over any amount of power to their leaders in return for the promise of safety. That’s why your puppet leaders can keep squeezing the people year after year. And what better way to extract large amounts of money from an economy than to claim to be spending it on defending the people? Even better, nobody even knows what you’re taking, right? You can have everything classified as part of the war effort.”

  Keldon sa
id, “I’ll admit that we do need a certain amount of conflict to keep things running smoothly, but it’s not as if world peace would suddenly break out if we left. And you’re missing the most important part of the equation. As long as we have control, we can limit the amount bloodshed. We have border conflicts instead of genocide, and occupations instead of outright war. For the first time in humanity’s history, we can keep the killing to a controllable minimum. Is it ethically repugnant? Perhaps. But it works.”

  Daniel pointed a finger at Keldon. “Yeah, as long as you accept that there can never be a chance for peace. You perpetuate hatred on a global scale and prevent any real reconciliation between factions. Endless, artificially created conflict. Vincent was right. You are a monster.”

  Keldon made an angry slashing gesture. “Low level conflict is better than another world war breaking out! Be realistic! If we sacrifice some of the population to keep the status quo, keep governments balanced against each other, then what of it? With or without us, there will be suffering and war. At least now it serves a greater purpose! Why are you determined to see that as evil?”

  “Because without you, things can change. Fighting can end. Hatred can die out. Civilization can grow. You’re not protecting people. You just like being on top. At least before the Guild took over, people had a chance, however small, of leading themselves out of darkness. Now they’ll never know peace, and worse, they’ll never know why. I’m not joining that.”

  “Humanity has never had peace, Daniel. Across all the worlds, since the dawn of time, people have been killing each other without a single extended break in any of their recorded histories. There has never even been the potential for peace, only the potential for self-annihilation.”

  “I said no. I won’t be part of it.”

  All expression left Francis’s face. “Yes, you will.”

  He walked out and locked the cell door behind him.

  27

  They left Daniel alone for hours. He assumed it was night outside by now, but it was hard to tell through the constant agony generated by the restraints. His head was a sack full of broken glass, stabbing him every time he moved. His wrists burned. For a long time he sat perfectly, gingerly still, trying to keep the pain in his head to a minimum, but eventually he gave it up and started pacing.

  The movement and the pain were making him nauseous, but he couldn’t stop. He kept thinking about what Francis had said, putting himself in charge of an imaginary Guild and finding himself faced with ugly choices and uglier responsibilities. He hated it.

  His train of thought was broken by the sound of the door opening. He looked up to see Mr. Gray setting a tray of food down on the floor next to his bunk.

  “Mr. Keldon sent this down for you.”

  “Great, how about taking off one of these fucking bracelets so I can look at it without throwing up?”

  “You think it would bother me to see you starve to death?”

  “Right, good point.”

  “I’ll tell you what does bother me, though. The idea that a spoiled, ignorant asshole like you might be the end of the greatest institution mankind has ever built. That some punk who’s never suffered a day in his life can sit there and pass judgment on those who have worked since before he was born to bring order to all of humanity’s worlds. Well I have news for you, Daniel. The council has authorized me to be more direct in seeking your cooperation, seeing as how you’ve probably already screwed us all.”

  Daniel looked him in the eye. “Meaning?”

  “Every time I think I’ve figured out just how stupid you are, you surprise me. Let me spell it out for you. What gives the Guild power? Immunity from retaliation. We can reach all of the worlds, but they can’t reach us. You catching on yet? Now suddenly there’s a world out there that we can’t get to, but thanks to you, may now know about us. A world that can hit us and vanish, just like that.”

  “Sounds like poetic justice to me.”

  “I’m sure it does, since you have no concept of responsibility. We protect mankind from itself and ensure the peace. Who knows what the people of this new world would do if they manage to take Olympus. They’ll have everything, access to everyone. We are all that stand between them and every world out there.”

  “Are you kidding me? Is that what’s got your panties in a wad? Listen to me when I tell you that there is no enemy on Autumn. They don’t have a government, or an army, or any other fucking thing you would recognize. It’s not like any place you’ve ever been. In fact, I’m not even sure it qualifies as a place at all.”

  “Autumn, eh? So I suppose that answers the question of whether there really is a new world. Why do they call it that?”

  “They don’t, it’s just a name I use for it. I doubt they call it anything, they’re not exactly talkative.”

  Gray balled up his fists. “You can sit here and tell me that these people are impossible to communicate with and that they have a society that’s beyond understanding, and you can’t see the threat in that?” he shouted.

  Gray stopped himself and deliberately unclenched his fists. “That’s fine. You can’t see anything beyond your own self-interest, so other people will have to look out for the good of humanity. As usual. Mr. Keldon was trying to give you a choice, to persuade you to do the right thing. However, I recognize that you have no more concept of right than a child, and that this is too important to risk on your feeble judgment.”

  He leaned close to Daniel, nearly nose to nose.

  “You will help us. You will help humanity survive this threat and you will do it tonight. You will bring Wayguides and Tac-Ops teams to this Autumn and allow us to establish a front. Whether you must be forced to do the right thing or not, you will serve mankind, Daniel.”

  “Or what?”

  “Keep an eye on the cell next door, you’ll figure it out.”

  He left Daniel with a sick feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach. It was one thing to spout off to Keldon that killing his friends would do no good, but it was another thing entirely to look at the empty space on the other side of those pristine white bars and imagine somebody dying in it.

  The cell was identical to Daniel’s own, painted walls and one metal bunk, but now it suddenly seemed like a maw, waiting to be fed. He knew that he would give in to save his friends. High ideals are easier to cling to if you can’t hear the screaming.

  He called to the guard that he knew was at the end of the hallway. A few seconds later, a huge man in the standard issue black fatigues was peering at him suspiciously through the bars. The guards that worked the detention blocks didn’t wear the full riot gear that the exterior guards did, which meant that Daniel could see his face. The man looked flatly hostile, which Daniel could understand if any of his friends had died in the processing room earlier. He had a patch on his chest that read, “Metzger.”

  “What?” Metzger had powerful voice and he managed to pack a whole lot of hostility into that one syllable. Great.

  “You win. Tell Mr. Keldon that I agree to his terms.”

  Metzger’s lips twitched, like he wanted to spit.

  “Mr. Gray told the captain that you’d say that. Try and worm your way into the council. That sure would make it easier for your people to take us over, wouldn’t it?”

  “My people? The only people I can lay claim to are down here under lock, key, and torture bracelet.”

  “You might as well quit pretending, everybody already knows that you’re a spy from another world, here to infiltrate the council and take over. If Mr. Gray hadn’t found you out, we’d probably already be dead. You just be glad we’re professionals down here, or you might have already had a terrible accident, if you know what I mean. There’s plenty of good folks here with families that would love to have a crack at you. If it was up to me, I’d have killed you already just to be on the safe side. I got a wife and kids at home myself, and I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let you kill ‘em trying to take over.”

  Daniel was stunned. Whether
it was just the rumor mill working overtime, or Gray’s carefully planted propaganda, there really wasn’t much he could do about it, but he couldn’t stop himself from trying.

  “Listen to me! That is complete, paranoid bullshit! There’s no enemy army and no secret plot to take over Olympus, okay? Nothing. Nada.”

  “Whatever. I can tell you this, you guys really screwed up with this sneaky shit. I mean, you can obviously Walk here anytime you want, you should have just hit us full out with troops before we even knew you existed. Not too bright, and now you’re gonna pay for it.”

  With an amused snort, the guard walked off, probably to tell his buddies how he’d taken the spy down a peg or two. It was absolutely insane. Why were people so hot to believe the most convoluted conspiracy theories, and so skeptical of any simpler explanation?

  Daniel paced his cell, desperation making him feel crowded. Tentatively, he opened himself to the Veil the tiniest bit. He knew that for most people, accessing the Veil was an all or nothing proposition, but he had discovered back in the Scinte factory that he could squeeze it down to almost nothing with enough focus.

  After a long moment, he could feel the Veil around him as faint wisps of current, like the air suddenly carried an extra texture. Surprisingly, this only doubled the throbbing in his head. It was painful, but manageable. Encouraged, he opened up a little more. He could just make out the faintest patterns and swirls around him. Colorless, they were more like retinal afterimages or impressions than actual Veil sight.

  His headache became blinding and his wrists began to sting sharply, like having a burn rubbed with sandpaper. He lost his concentration and sat down on the floor heavily, full of despair. To be beaten at such a tiny amount of access was devastating.

  It would take a full on current to bust out of here, and he could barely manage to perceive the Veil, much less draw on it. He moved to his bunk and waited for his head to ache less or explode. Either one would be fine.