by Kir Lukovkin
Paul stepped up to him, saying, “Leopold Vasilevs, permission to report?”
The officer turned his head slightly and nodded. His profile seemed familiar to Rick, but the glare of the sunlight made it hard to make out his features.
“Armed opposition was not encountered in the course of the reconnaissance mission,” Paul continued enthusiastically. “Thirty aborigines and two savages from the outer limits have been apprehended. One is approximately twelve years of age and incapable of speech. The other is... approximately twenty years of age, in possession of his faculties, a deserter.”
“What?”
Paul hesitated and then declared, “He is wearing the uniform of the division, Landmaster!”
The officer turned around slowly and Rick gaped in surprise. “This is the one I was telling you about. Rick from the Omicron sector of the Thermopolis citadel, a man from the outside world. I immediately recognized him,” Paul quickly added,
The officer stepped towards Rick.
“We meet again. Welcome to the core, soldier.”
Rick was facing Platoon Commander Lee.
S
“I SEE THAT YOU seem to be surprised,” Lee-Vasilevs noted. “I agree, it's quite unusual to wear a mask, but the ends justify the means when we want to achieve our goals of being equals with our soldiers and to know the Division inside out as we bring everyone to perfection.”
Lee, who was also Vasilevs, was unusually excited. His eyes glinted feverishly. Paul made a move and the Landmaster told him over his shoulder, “Bring commander Lucio.”
Paul set off to obey the order. Rick glanced after him — it seemed that the lad had a new holy man to follow.
“Now we can talk in peace.” Vasilevs stood at the edge of the balcony, facing the tower again. “Come here.”
Rick stepped up to the balustrade to stand by his side.
“Look,” Vasilevs pointed at the highway, which was filled with human figures and military vehicles which emitted fumes into the sky. “This is my army. What do you think?”
“It's an impressive force,” Rick admitted.
“I gathered everyone here. All five thousand troops plus the mechanized battalion of segment O, with twenty four military vehicles in total.” Vasilevs looked at his creation with pride. “I have spent half my life building a new order and finally, the day has come when we will impose it upon the entire city.”
The noise of engines and the voices of marching soldiers united in song came from the highway.
Vasilevs turned towards Rick and looked at him carefully for a while.
“I know what you're thinking,” Vasilevs bared his even white teeth, “You think we won't manage to do it.”
“The use of force alone is not enough to take over the city,” Rick nodded.
“You're right,” the Landmaster understood Rick's words in his own way. “The machines of the Ancients require knowledge. It will take some time to study them, but I am prepared to wait as long as required. Some time ago, I created a department for the decipherment of ancient glyphs. I was right to do so, as the members of this department found the keys to open the western gates. It was them that managed to switch on the machines and find warehouses full of weapons and supplies on the map.” He nodded at the exit from the balcony. “Your key and your friend Paul helped us in this. He's a talented young man, just like you. I need people like that.”
Vasilevs glanced at Rick.
“That's clear,” Rick answered.
“Excellent. What have you decided?”
Rick looked into the dark, narrow eyes of Vasilevs and remembered a part of human history which he could never forget as it was about a military dictator that thought he was god and decided to rule the world.
“My answer does not mean anything, as I have no choice anyway.”
“You say things the way they are. I like people who are understanding. Yes, you don't get much of a choice. Paul is right — you are a deserter. Which means that I can sentence you right here and now.” Vasilevs put his hand upon his holster and looked at Rick questioningly. “Or...”
Rick looked away.
“Or we can organize an expedition to the Citadel,” Vasilevs nodded in the direction of the tower. “We will send all the best, including yourself. Paul told me something of the outside world, of the other Citadel and your abilities. I guess he only knows a small part of it?”
Rick sighed. If he did not obey, Vasilevs would kill him. Shoot him without any doubt or feeling of guilt like a rat in a drain. Maybe he should not waste his chance to get inside the tower?
“All right,” Rick replied with a chuckle.
Vasilevs grabbed and turned Rick to face him.
“That doesn't sound the way I expected.” He looked into Rick's eyes intently and continued, “There is no place for the weak here. You can stay and reach the rank of commander or even higher. You can have a proud place in my army. Your place is here Rick. You are one of us. Look over there. Look hard. Look at my soldiers, they are happy. Isn't that enough to have the right to power and the imposition of order? Just tell me, don't these people deserve that? Haven't you ever wanted to be part of a great power? Look at them march in step. Power in its purest form. Order and might. No chaos, barbarity, lawlessness, discipline is paramount. Our society will be completely equal. Isn't that something worth fighting for?”
Vasilevs clenched his fist and shook it in the air. The vehicles kept growling on the highway below, as orders and the sound of marching rang out. The sun shone over it all and it was unusually bright today. Rick looked up to the sky. It seemed that a star glinted somewhere high up there. Rick's head spun and he grabbed hold of the balustrade.
“I was once part of a power like this,” he replied calmly, “and I almost lost myself. I have a different goal now.”
Vasilevs stepped back and laid his hand upon the holster again. His cheeks shook with tension. He was about to say something, but a piercing scream suddenly rent the air from below. One of the platoon formations broke up around a man rolling around the floor as if he was having a fit.
The soldier kept screaming. Medics with white armbands ran up to him. The soldier disappeared behind their backs for a moment, but then new screams of pain and terror started to sound. The medics backed away. The maddened soldier had sunk his teeth into one of their neck.
Blaster shots rang out.
The madman shuddered and fell to the floor, followed by the wounded medic. The bodies were immediately dragged to one side and covered with a tarp. Only a few seconds passed, when more screams came from the other end of the army column on the highway. No one tried to help the madman this time. Shots immediately rung out and his cry of pain drowned in the general noise.
The Division continued on its way, but its ordered rhythm had been interrupted. A minute later there was yet another scream of pain over the highway. Rick looked at Vasilevs, who had a stony expression on his face. His dark, narrow eyes stared into the space in front of him intently.
“Landmaster,” a familiar voice sounded behind them. “Commander Lucio reporting, as per your order.”
Rick and Vasilevs turned around. Paul and Lucio, whose right arm was bandaged and hung in a sling, stood in the doorway.
“What happened?” Vasilevs enquired.
“A madman,” Lucio replied readily, trying to stand up even straighter. “It's nothing, my commander. I await your orders.”
Vasilevs looked at the bandaged arm with an empty gaze.
“What's going on with the cordon, where's Commander Fritz?”
“He is establishing positions in the quarters to the east of the tower. He will have the base encircled in around two hours.”
“Good. Any emergencies or conflicts with the locals?”
“No, my commander. The territory is under our control.”
Vasilevs nodded and was about to turn away, but Lucio looked hesitant, like he was struck with indecision, which did not slip the Landmaster's attention.
> “Out with it!” Vasilevs ordered.
“Landmaster... Something is going on.” Lucio sniffed like a soldier who had broken discipline. “Something is wrong with the soldiers.”
Vasilevs was waiting.
“They are going insane,” Lucio finally declared.
“You know what to do,” Vasilevs sneered.
“Yes, we do, but there are more and more of them,” Lucio's eyes flicked to the side nervously, as if he had talked too much.
“It doesn't matter!” Vasilevs cut him off. “Do what you must.”
“Yes, my commander!” Lucio clicked his heels.
More screams came from the street, followed by gunshots, but Vasilevs was not concerned with the issue anymore, so he switched to something else.
“We have a deserter here,” Vasilevs nodded at Rick. “And he is burning with desire to atone for his crimes.”
Lucio stood ramrod straight, with his chin raised.
“This is why he will be included in the team for the expedition to the tower,” Vasilevs ordered. “Lucio, you will go there, as well as Paul and several others from among my best soldiers. You move out within the hour. Your mission is to reconnoiter the inside perimeter of the tower. Rick and Paul know how to read the ancient glyphs and will help you find your bearings on location. Rick will obey your orders. He is to be terminated at the slightest disobedience. You have exactly twenty four hours. If you do not return, I will send out another party.”
“My commander,” Lucio's voice trembled with worry, “this deserted is not going to help us. He is more likely to incite a mutiny and try to run away.”
“I have no doubt,” Vasilevs smirked predatorily. “But he is not going to do that. Do you want to know why? Well, I will tell you. We are now all in the same boat.”
Confusion was written on Paul and Lucio's faces.
“There are reports from the middle ring that the outer ring has been entirely taken over by the possessed. They are already on the wall. They are all the inhabitants of the segments as well as outsiders that keep coming every hour. There are thousands of them. They are coming from the north, south, east and west. I have lost communication with almost every group of lookouts. The city is under siege. We have no way back, only ahead!”
He pointed at the tower.
Rick suddenly realized that he could not hear the noise of the vehicles and the marching soldiers anymore. They could only hear the weak sound of voices from below, as the highway emptied with the main forces of the division occupying positions at the base of the tower.
“Is there something in particular that we need to look for?” Lucio came to his senses first.
“Yes. You must find any ancient high-tech means of defense I am not confident about the perimeter of the core. Any wall can be overcome or the perimeter can be passed under the ground. Isn't that right, Rick from Omicron?”
“This expedition is an act of desperation,” Rick replied.
“We have nothing to lose apart from our lives,” the Landmaster concluded.
Rick did not argue his point.
“The mission is clear, my commander,” Lucio declared.
He did not have time to click his heels as an unfamiliar officer appeared on the balcony and reported, “Landmaster, a man has come to us, saying that he is an envoy.”
“Where is he? What does he look like?”
“He is under guard in the next room. He looks possessed, but he is somehow able to speak clearly. He says that he has a message just for you. We are concerned that his might be some kind of enemy ploy to get to you. This is why...”
“Bring him.”
“Bring in the envoy!”
The officer stepped aside, taking his heavy blaster off his shoulder, moving the safety catch and raised the weapon, ready to fire. Soldiers brought a dark-skinned man wearing long fur-lined rags onto the balcony. He had a shining golden medallion on his neck, hanging on a thick chain which was rusted through with time. He wore worn shoes on his feet. The man moved his head, as if he was trying to find someone with his inner gaze, as his eyes were entirely white. He stopped and turned to Vasilevs.
“Who are you?” the Landmaster asked tensely.
“I am a man.”
“And that's all? Do you have a name?”
“I do not need one. Names mean nothing.”
Vasilevs frowned grimly.
“Do you even understand where you are?”
The envoy suddenly burst out laughing. Rick heard something familiar in that laugh, but he could not quite put his finger on where he had heard it before.
“Of course. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here.”
“And do you know who I am?”
“An outcast, that has imagined himself to be a king.”
Vasilevs' face changed, with fury and panic glinting at his eyes at the same time. His nostrils moved as he breathed heavily.
“And what do you need?”
“I was sent...” the man's face suddenly twisted into a tormented grimace as he forced himself to continue, “Sent to tell you just one thing.”
“Who sent you?”
“They...” the envoy waved behind his back and closed his eyes. “We are telling you to stop. Stop!”
Vasilevs waited, but the envoy stood there with his eyes closed, swaying form side to side and barely moving his lips.
“Anything else?” Vasilevs burst out.
The envoy suddenly opened his eyes, which suddenly had pupils and irises and looked around in surprise.
“I had a dream,” he suddenly told them. “In that dream, I was a priest and I served a pointless god. We held masses, shivered from the cold and believed in a better world. But one day, the god died right in front of my eyes and a man came from the tower and woke me up. Since then, I...” His eyes rolled back in his head and his pupils disappeared as his voice became heavy and drawn out. “We... speak. We say, it is time to awaken.”
“Enough!” Vasilevs decided. “Take him away!”
The escorts took the envoy under the arms, but suddenly, he easily pushed them away and shouted, “Stop, outcast! Stop, before your dream becomes a nightmare!”
Vasilevs snatched his short-barreled blaster out of his pocket and shot three charges in the head and chest of the envoy.
There was a burst of flesh. Rick could not help staggering away, as he covered himself from the pieces of skull. When he turned back, a smoking corpse hit the floor like a stone pillar.
Vasilevs put away his weapon and ordered calmly, “Take this away from hear. And you,” he turned towards Lucio, “must prepare for the expedition. Hurry up, time is not on your side.”
Lucio and Paul clicked their heels.
“Landmaster,” Rick asked, “if we are going to do this, please include Black Ant in the unit as well.”
Vasilevs quizzically raised an eyebrow.
“It's a boy who managed to get here unarmed and by himself from the outer limits and got inside the city without help from anyone.”
“Give me at least one reason for me to agree,” Vasilevs smirked.
“I actually have several.” Rick started to count on his fingers. “He is careful and quick-witted. He cleverer than Lucio thinks and he has a phenomenal memory. He is agile and supple, so he can get into places that even the most experienced fighter can reach.”
“All right,” the Landmaster said after a pause and sent a pointed look Lucio's way.
T
THEY WERE QUICKLY rising up to the base of the tower. Rick activated an elevator on an inclined monorail and now looked at their surroundings through a clear wall. He did not speak to the others almost at all since the beginning of the expedition. Black Ant stayed close, preferring to look at the same things as Rick.
As a result of some sort of malicious intent or perhaps by random chance, they had included Gareth in the group. This could have been the work of Lucio, or Gareth may have volunteered himself. Rick did not want to think about it, as that would not make it any ea
sier.
The cabin shuddered a little as it passed a rusty joint. The fiftieth floor of the base of the tower receded below them. This was no great height for one who had grown up in a citadel, but everyone else apart from Black Ant seemed to think otherwise, judging by their facial expression.
“We will be there soon,” Rick calmed them down.
The cabin slowed and came to a complete halt soon after. The doors hissed as they slid open and everyone quickly got out. A glass-walled terrace that followed the rounded base of the tower stretched out to both sides of the elevator. Rick looked around. There were other exits from the terrace at every hundred paces.
“Go first,” Lucio ordered. “The boy will come with me.”
Rick looked back at them. Lucio pulled Black Ant's sleeve, bringing the boy closer to himself.
“All right.” As Rick expected, the boy was made a hostage.
There was another side to it though — Black Ant managed to survive before so he would manage it again. Rick also knew the plan of the tower in which he was born and bred — he doubted that outsiders would be immediately able to understand its complex architecture without a guide.
They all stood still in silence and waited. Rick slowly tuned around, looking at the familiar shapes of the aeons through the clear ceiling and almost believed that he was back home for a moment.
“Hey, are you going to stand around and gawp for much longer?” Lucio could not contain himself. “Maybe we should move on?”
Rick just nodded and pushed back against the wave of memories as he set off towards a wide stone stairway.
They got to the first aeon without any problems. All that was left was to pass through a wide archway that framed a tunnel with a high ceiling. Rick turned to look back at the city.
“What do you see there?” Lucio asked him, understanding his behavior in his own way. Some sort of trouble?
“No. None yet.”
Lucio did not calm down so easily, so he hid behind Black Ant's back, crouched and raised his heavy army blaster. The others, including Paul, followed his example. Rick and Black Ant had obviously not been issued with weapons.