by Kir Lukovkin
Rick was injected with some sort of vaccine and his foot was fixed in place with a bandage. The boot had to be sliced open to take out his foot, but the pain went away after several minutes and he managed to somehow put another boot back on and stand up straight.
Vasilevs nodded with satisfaction and he waved at the soldiers to move through the square towards the tower. Rick walked by his side, with the soldiers surrounding them in a ring. Circles swam before his eyes from the drug, but he breathed easily and even seemed refreshed. Rick knew that this was a temporary narcotic effect which would soon make him feel sick. The image of Olivia as she died and her last words appeared in his mind. What could those words have meant?
Rick followed Vasilevs, thinking awhile and then told him, “Only the underground sector remains. If it is empty, we are done for.”
Vasilevs turned around and looked at Rick questioningly.
“We must descend and explore the underground floors of the Citadel,” Rick explained. “I think that is where the main secret if hidden.”
“Excellent,” Vasilevs replied with a predatory smile. “Let it be so.”
“Aren't you afraid of possession?”
“What about you? Aren't you afraid?”
Rick only chuckled in reply and shook his head.
“See? The main thing is to believe in yourself. By the way, what is it they were mumbling at you?”
“Formulae,” Rick did not look at Vasilevs as he answered automatically, deep in thought. “Formulae and poetry.”
“What? Poetry? But why?”
“I have no answer,” Rick shrugged. “I wonder, how did they retain this ancient knowledge? And why did the possessed start to talk anyway?”
They walked through the square, which had groups of possessed at its edge. They had assembled a cross from steel girders, upon which they tied a dead soldier with his eyes torn out.
They saw a square granite monument that was along their way with a madman by its side, who had drawn a woman in a toga on the stone with a torch in one hand and a tablet in the other. The woman had a sharp pointed wreath upon her head. The drawing was very realistic and it was painted in blood. The madman was adding the finishing touches, wetting his finger in an open would on his own wrist.
One of the soldiers surrounding Vasilevs quickly raised his blaster to shoot the unfortunate artists, but the Landmaster forbid him to do so. Rick nodded approvingly — they did not need any extra noise right now as there were several of the possessed off to the side of the monument who circled in a silent dance, holding each other's hands. They were howling and growling a simple three note melody and were quite successful at that.
They came across several other groups of possessed on their way to the tower, but none of them paid any attention to the quietly advancing soldiers. Finally, Rick and Vasilevs were by the cabin on the inclined rail that led to the clear terrace at the base of the tower.
“Symbols,” Vasilevs suddenly said, pointing at the pictograms on the control panel of the elevator. “They are on every device here. My scientists spent a long time trying to decipher them. They tried many different methods, but their efforts were in vain until Paul showed them how to open the airlock using the medallion. His medallion was what we had to start with. We actually had several of them. I used to think that it was some sort of decoration, a useless bauble, but it turned out that it was a most valuable object.”
Vasilevs grinned and activated the panel to open the doors and Rick and the rest of their group entered the cabin.
“We started to try out the medallions on the ancient machines,” Vasilevs continued. “Sometimes they would work and sometimes they wouldn't. We understood that a medallion has a set of standard codes. For instance, it would open the doors to any maintenance room. However, there were mechanisms that Paul's medallion did not work on, but ours suddenly activated. It then became clear that each medallion was tied to a particular city segment. Medallions from other segments were brought to me. We managed to gather several dozen of them in total, but this was enough to get us into places, which people had never reached before. We descended below the ground and found whole floors and roads, streets and city quarters all dark and dead. There are gigantic mechanisms there below the surface of the city. Machines that occupy gigantic spaces. We found warehouses full of clothing, supplies, weapons and unusual devices. We managed to launch some of them, understand their purpose and the way they were controlled. We also found fragments of information about super-weapons in the archives and...”
“You wanted to get into the core,” Rick said sadly.
“And we did it!” Vasilevs exclaimed. “Of course, we had to go through some trouble, but we managed. I was only mistaken about one thing as I never knew that the Division will get infected during the attack. But we are by the tower and we will soon see what's going on. Isn't that right?”
“I guess so,” Rick replied, even though he was rather doubtful.
At least he knew the reason that the soldiers were killing each other now. They became possessed like Gareth did up top and attacked normal humans in their pain, anger and hunger, only the animal instincts that tore their minds apart.
The cabin delivered them to the terrace and Rick showed where they had to go.
“We have practically won.” Vasilevs' eyes glinted with excitement. “All of these savages have lost their minds and they are incapable of anything. We will reach the super-weapons and the defensive systems of the citadel and easily destroy all of these madmen.” They entered the hall with the glowing Chorda. “We will cleanse them from the city, restart the ancient machines and restore order. The main thing is...”
His speech was interrupted by a scream of pain. Rick and Vasilevs looked around. The soldiers that were escorting them stepped away from one of their number who was on his knees, hitting his head upon the floor.
Rick flinched when he heard the report of a blaster by his side.
“We shouldn't delay,” Vasilevs said as he put the weapon away in the holster on his hip.
He turned around and strode off towards the Chorda. Rick and the rest of the soldiers spent a while looking at the Landmaster's retreating back, but then followed him.
“What sort of place is this?” Vasilevs asked as if nothing had happened.
“The first sector,” Rick responded. “Its central part, to be more precise.”
“Excellent!” Vasilevs stopped two paces away from the Chorda then turned to Rick and nodded. “Go for it.”
“What do you want?”
“Start up the ancient machines,” Vasilevs raised his hands turning around. “Close all of the entrances. Turn on the generators and the protective force field Make this city come to life.”
“I'm afraid that is beyond my powers. First of all, I don't have the key for segment A,” Rick replied, hoping that this would be where it ended.
“Do you mean this key?” Vasilevs took a medallion from an inside pocket.
Rick did not show his surprise and continues, “Secondly, the machine will only obey the person with the correct genetic code.”
“What does that mean?”
“The machine recognizes who belongs to the generation of citizens that lived in the city before their birth.” Rick did not mention the descendants of Spanidis, such as himself. “I am an outsider for it. You and the soldiers are not. Why don't you do it all yourself?”
Vasilevs jutted his jaw and told him through gritted teeth, “I can't. You must help me. Come on!”
Rick fell silent for a while and suddenly understood that Vasilevs was too stupid to solve a simple problem. He found it funny that this man managed to get thousands of people together, arm them and get them to follow him. Rick was about to say something, but the soldiers suddenly exclaimed as one, as if they were terrified and started to back away towards the exit from the hall, staring at Vasilevs in horror.
Rick turned to the Landmaster, who growled, “What's going on here?”
“A mo
nster...”
“A monster...” the soldiers kept repeating.
“A monster!”
The faces of the soldiers showed a genuine and honest terror, as if they had seen something for the first time in their lives that was so terrifying that it made them forget about their strength and skills. The soldiers turned and ran, as if they were issued an order.
“Halt!” Vasilevs shouted at their backs, pulling out his blaster.
He managed to gun down two of them before the others disappeared in the tower.
“Disgusting vermin!” Vasilevs shouted, spittle flying from his mouth. “Pathetic cowards! I will kill you all!”
His lips trembled and his hands shook from the stress as his wild eyes flitted around the hall.
“So that's it,” Rick calmly declared. “You don't have an army anymore.”
Vasilevs turned to him sharply.
“How...” he hissed, “...how can we protect ourselves from this evil? Why are people losing their minds?”
“I don't know,” shrugged Rick.
“What a strange disease. It affected people a long time ago, when everyone lived in peace and harmony.”
“I never believed in the supernatural, but I'm ready to do it now, if only to escape this fate.”
“It won't help,” came from the darkness of the hall.
Vasilevs raised his hand with the blaster again and Rick turned towards the voice. Paul stood in front of them, with Lucio and Black Ant standing to his side, with the other soldiers from their group nowhere to be seen. Rick worked out what happened to them. They became sick. Paul and Lucio's clothing, and even that of Black Ant was spattered with blood and their faces were tired but firm. They managed to survive and come down and looked at Rick as if they had seen a ghost.
“My commander?” Lucio finally ventured, after carefully examining the Landmaster.
“Yes,” Vasilevs replied with irritation. “It's me. I see that you lost a lot of your men. Report. Should I go up top?”
“No, my commander!” Rick automatically stood to attention, but could not resist and stared at Rick again.
“This is not a ghost, this is Rick from Omicron and he is alive,” Vasilevs addressed their concerns. He turned to Paul.
“Where were you off to?”
“The lower levels.”
Vasilevs nodded with satisfaction, glancing over at Rick.
“Onwards then, my warriors.”
No one got the chance to make a move. A growing clamor came from the tunnels into the hall. Everyone exchanged anxious glances.
“What now?” Vasilevs shook his head questioningly.
“Run!” Paul and Rick exclaimed simultaneously.
They headed to the nearest elevator.
The sound coming from the tunnels kept growing — it was the stamp of a thousand possessed feet and the roar of a myriad voices.
Rick was the first to run into the cabin and he looked back. Paul, Black Ant and Vasilevs followed, with Lucio bringing up the rear. Lucio tripped by the doors and fell inside, sliding along the floor on his belly. Rick activated the panel and the closing door cut them off from the hall which had filled with the possessed in a few moments. Rick was genuinely scared. For some reason he knew that had they not managed to get out of there they would have been torn to pieces without the strange speeches that he got to hear before.
The cabin slowly crept downwards and Rick wanted the descent to last as long as possible. He was overcome by a feeling of emptiness and any desire to discover the secret of the city disappeared. All efforts were in vain when madness was all around.
The noise of the maddened crowd kept coming down form above as the cabin descended but eventually started to get quieter.
“They will get through,” Paul confidently declared.
“They will,” Rick nodded, sitting down on the floor and scowling from the pain in his foot. “But not immediately. We have some time to spare.”
Black Ant sat down near Rick and smiled. Rick smiled back, patting the boy on the shoulder.
“Everything will be all right.”
Black Ant nodded.
The lamp flickering under the ceiling buzzed, burning brighter for a moment and abruptly went out.
“Switch on your torches,” Vasilevs ordered.
“Wait,” Rick leaned on Black Ant's shoulder as he rose to his feet.
“He's right,” Paul agreed. “There could be others around. The main thing is not to hurry or make too much noise.”
Vasilevs was about to disagree, but suddenly noticed the Chorda flickering orange behind the wall.
“This is an energy line,” Rick explained. “It pierces the whole citadel. If the line is charged there is enough light. You just need to get used to it.”
They passed and empty level and were now descending through a space illuminated with light coming from below. It turned out that the Chorda began in a pool filled with a jelly that shone orange. The elevator took them onto a maintenance catwalk and stopped. Rick opened the door and stepped outside, with everyone following him in silence.
“What is this place?” Lucio whispered.
“My citadel had a launch panel here,” Rick replied. “The units of a spaceship launch device are above us.”
“Space... what?” Lucio could not repeat his words.
“It doesn't matter.” Rick looked around and understood that everything was arranged differently in this citadel. The maintenance catwalk circled the level above the pool. “We are not quite in the place we should be in.”
“What's wrong?” Vasilevs asked warily.
“The command center is somewhere off to the side. That's because when the engines start up, the incandescent gases will burn everything alive on the levels below. They will even melt metal and rock.”
“So where should we go?” Vasilevs and the rest watched Rick patiently.
“We must examine the exits from the balcony. Paul, look for signs and inscriptions that show the direction of the command center. Anything that is related to controlling sector A.”
They split up. Vasilevs went with Rick, while Paul and Lucio who deliberately took Black Ant with them went in the opposite direction.
Rick limped along, reading the writing on the walls, but it was all just minor things they did not need, with the exits leading to all sorts of laboratories, maintenance rooms and reservoirs. They had walked along half of the circumference of the sector border in this way, when Rick stood stock still, not believing his eyes. “Portal to the Center of Directory A” was written on the sign. He re-read it and carefully examined the opening that had some barely noticeable feeder lines on the sides and whispered happily, “I think we found it.”
“Are you sure?” Vasilevs asked.
“Yeah.”
Vasilevs called the others, who were on their way along the catwalk on the other side and stepped into the corridor.
Blinding light burst from the floor of the corridor behind him. Rick shut his eyes, backing away inadvertently and saw that Vasilevs was already gone and only a shining curtain of light blocked the opening. Paul and Lucio were rubbing at their eyes as they tried to restore their eyesight from being temporarily blinded. Black Ant kept fearfully trying to get close to Rick, who heard a familiar humming noise and the crackle of electrical charges through the irritated cries of his companions.
“Mother Darkness,” Rick whispered when he understood what was going on.
The whole catwalk was filled with rollers that had appeared from the side passages.
V
RICK TRIED TO STEP through the curtain of shining light, but ran into a solid barrier. He hit it with his fist, making it ripple with light, but could not make it do anything else.
It was a force field — the technology of the ancients in action. But why did the field prevent a descendant of Spanidis from entering the corridor?
He heard the report of blasters behind his back. Rick turned around and stood still, almost without breathing an
d covered Black Ant with his body. What could they do and where should they run?
Paul and Lucio poured blaster charges at the silvery spheres. However, the defensive fields of the rollers reflected the shots, which did not stop Lucio from another attempt when it was time to reload his battery. Paul stepped behind his back and looked down over the railing, hoping to find an exit and save himself. No, jumping would be a bad choice as it was too high up and they would fall to their deaths.
Rick felt Black Ant pulling him by the hand. He turned around to see the boy pointing at the shining shield and the receding silhouette of Vasilevs behind it.
“Over there?” Rick asked in surprise. “But it doesn't let me through!”
Black Ant poked himself in the chest with his fingers and put his hand into the opening, easily going through the energy curtain.
“You can go through?”
Black Ant nodded and stepped into the corridor, turned around and brushed his curly hair back from his temple.
“Now that's a surprise”, Rick thought as he looked through the green shine of the force field. The boy had a socket in his head just like Book of Faces. What was he planning?
Black Ant started to make shapes with his hands, trying to explain something, but Rick could not understand anything. The boy then just waved his hand, turned around and disappeared in the darkness of the corridor. Rick did not even have time to call out to him.
Well, at least someone had saved himself. He felt a little sorry that Vasilevs managed to get away, but now he had to think about himself and decide what to do.
“Rick!” Paul stepped up to him. “Where did the boy and the Landmaster go?”
Rick had no time to answer as Lucio let out a wild scream — lightning arced towards him, his hair standing on end and his eyes shining with a white glow, as smoke poured out of his mouth and ears. Lucio shook for a while, as branching electrical charges danced all over his body and then suddenly stopped as he fell to the floor, charred like an ember from head to foot.
The spheres slowly rolled towards Rick and Paul. One of them sped up and cut them off from the opening where Vasilevs and Black Ant had gone.