The Forever Gate Ultimate Edition

by Isaac Hooke

  "Hey!" she said. She wasn't sure how far her voice carried beyond the helmet, but apparently it was far enough, because the iron golem pivoted toward her.

  "Ari don't—" Tanner said.

  She swung the leg like a bat and smashed the three disks that served as the golem's eyes. Glass fragments sprayed from the sword hilt that was its head.

  The iron golem froze. The small red light above the damaged disks flashed on and off.

  She waited a moment, poised to swing the leg again, but the golem made no further movement.

  Ari helped Tanner down from the desk, not taking her eyes from the golem. The two of them backed away from the monster, and she kept the desk leg pointed at it. Not that the leg would be of much use if the golem came back to life.

  "Thanks Ari," Tanner said, panting.

  She felt her old anger flare. "I thought you said none of the golems would ever come here. That this isn't a critical section. Repair units won't swing by for a long time, you said."

  "I did say that." Tanner touched the top of his helmet. If the glass wasn't there she thought he'd be rubbing his forehead right now. "But that unit was sent for a reason other than repair, I think."

  "And that reason is...?"

  Tanner smiled grimly. "To kill us."

  "What? How? Why?"

  "The Dwarf must have relayed our coordinates to its higher-ups before I collared it. You told the Dwarf about the pinger as part of the message to Hoodwink. Maybe Seven used that to track us down somehow. Or it could be that the A.I.s detected us the moment I turned the pinger on."

  "Then we have to shut the pinger down," Ari said. "And find another way to alert the children about our little situation."

  Tanner was silent for a moment. "There is another way, but I'm not sure shutting down the pinger will help. If the A.I.s used it to track us down, they already know where we are."

  Ari closed her eyes a moment. "Okay. Fine. But first of all, tell me. What's the other way to communicate with the children?"

  "By using the Control Room."

  She smiled wanly. "Ah. It always comes back to the Control Room, doesn't it?"

  "Yes."

  Something occurred to her, and Ari frowned. "Okay. You say they want to kill us. I still don't understand why. They're just devices. Things of iron and glass. Why should they care about us?"

  "Why else? We're a glitch in the program. We shouldn't be out. No one's allowed out until the machines say so. I'm convinced it was one of the A.I.s that sucked us Inside. Must have been monitoring us. Maybe it knew about the trap and wanted us dead. Or maybe the point was to distract us, while it dispatched this one to finish the job. This is why we have to change the iron golems. They'll keep trying to kill us until we get the Control Room and change that."

  "All right, fine. But we can't go back Inside, not while that thing's still in here. And not while others might come." She glanced at the silent figure of steel and shattered glass. "How did it get in here anyway?"

  Tanner's gaze went to the window. "Those arms can bend at some really odd angles, I tell you. Wouldn't be a stretch for the golem to pull itself up and swing onto those smashed desks."

  "Okay." She took a deep breath. Had to think this through. "Okay. So. First things first, shut off the pinger."

  Tanner touched the pad on the desk beside her, and entered some commands. "Done."

  "Now, we still have to move to a different room." She glanced at the desolate landscape beyond the broken window.

  "I think I can set the pinger so that it looks like it's coming from a different room. Make the A.I.s think we've moved. It's called ghosting."

  "I'm not sure I like the idea. Won't the golems just check here when they don't find us? I say we move for real."

  "Ari, we can't go out there. There's iron golems everywhere outside, repairing the hull. We're safer in here believe me. Just let me ghost the pinger." He entered more commands into the pad. "There, that should do it."

  "Should? I'm supposed to put my life in your hands based on a should?" She hated it when her voice sounded whiny like that but there was nothing for it. Tanner needed to be sure, dammit.

  "Ari, I'm positive that will do it." He rested a gloved hand on her suit just above the shoulder. "We'll be fine." For a moment she wished the suit weren't there, and that his real hand was touching her shoulder. There was something to be said about human-to-human contact. Especially from him. But it was a fleeting wish. One that she wouldn't have allowed, anyway.

  "Here," Tanner said. "Tell you what. I can link the room's motion detectors with the terminal. Have it pull us out if there's any movement on the Outside, in this room. Will that satisfy you?"

  She looked at him incredulously. "Why didn't you set that up in the first place? Would have saved us a bit of trouble back there, don't you think?"

  "Honestly it hadn't even crossed my mind," Tanner said. "A golem coming in here. Although I suppose it should have." He returned his attention to the terminal.

  "And you're supposed to be the smart one?"

  He looked at her rather sheepishly. "Ari, I didn't think we'd need it. I'm sorry."

  "You didn't think is right," she said.

  His face darkened, but he didn't answer.

  It felt like she'd crossed some line with him. That acid tongue of hers again. "I take that back," Ari said. "I can be a bit harsh sometimes. You know that by now. My inner bitch acting up."

  "Don't worry about it." He entered a few more commands. "Done. Anything moves in here while we're under, we'll be out in no time, Teach."

  "Don't call me that." She tapped her gloved fingers on the glass plate of her helmet, near the chin. "Can we set a timer too? Say, have the system pull us out after ten minutes? Rather than having to use the mirrors to disbelieve the world?"

  Tanner pondered that a moment. "There's probably a way, but I don't know it. None of the children ever mentioned anything like that. Here, I'll check the archives." He flicked the pad a few times. "Hmm. A bunch of search results on timer, but none what we want. Well, for now I'll have to say no."

  She shrugged, though Tanner wouldn't have seen the gesture, buried as she was within the suit. "Okay, so the pinger has been ghosted. And the motion detectors set up. So we're almost good to go, though I wish we could have that timer. But—and here's the key part—what about that thing?" She nodded at the damaged golem. "I'm not going Inside while it's on the loose in here."

  He glanced at the golem and then gave her an exasperated look. She raised her eyebrows twice and smiled stubbornly.

  "Give it over." He motioned to the desk leg she held. She handed it to him.

  Tanner crossed to the iron golem.

  "What, are you going to smash it to bits with that toothpick?" she said.

  "Let me know if it makes a move would you?" He bent low and wedged the leg into one of the treads. Ari expected the golem to attack at any moment. It didn't.

  Tanner pressed his weight onto the lever of the desk leg, and eventually the black material around the tread lifted. "This one's got rubber treads. The ones that go out on the moon usually do. Gives them better traction in the dust or something. The ones inside the ship are more like tanks though, with steel plates for treads, or rubber reinforced with steel wires, so I wouldn't be able to do this."

  "Tanks?" she said. "What's a tank?"

  "Never mind." Tanner forced free the long, grooved loop that made up the tread. He took the loop, clambered onto the desk, and slid the rubber down over the golem's body. With some effort, he managed to hook the far end over a corner of the desk. The fit was close, and the loop reminded Ari of a giant elastic stretched to near breaking. But the golem was wrapped tight to the desk.

  Still, Ari wasn't completely satisfied. "What if the rubber snaps?"

  Tanner shot up his arms in frustration. "What do you want me to do then?"

  She frowned. "Can't you break its head off or something?"

  "With this?" He stalked over and offered her the stick.
"You try! You're the one that called it a toothpick."

  She looked from the stick to his face. Covered in sweat like that, there was a certain rawness about him that she kind of liked. Not that she'd ever tell him.

  She gazed across the room at the iron golem. The red light was still blinking. The thing seemed somehow even more malevolent with those glass disks smashed. She had the strangest feeling that it was still watching her, even without eyes. It made her skin crawl.

  Tanner lowered his voice. "I've set up the motion detectors, remember." He was trying to sound reassuring. "We'll wake up if it moves, Ari. Okay? Ari?"

  She sighed, not answering.

  Tanner grabbed the cord that was her link to the terminal, and offered it to her. "Once more unto the breach?"

  She nodded slowly. But as she reached for the tether, something gave her pause. "What about you?" She glanced at the smashed remnants of his desk. His control pad had gone dark.

  Tanner followed her gaze. "Oh yeah."

  Ari set the tether aside. "I can't do this alone."

  He raised a finger as if to say just a second. He started checking the compartments of her desk. When he didn't find what he was looking for he waded over to his own desk and, keeping a watchful eye on the iron golem, he searched those drawers that weren't locked or sealed shut from the damage.

  He shook his head. "Damn."

  "What is it?" Ari said.

  He went over to the pile of crumpled metal beneath the window, and began searching the debris. "I'm looking for..." He opened a drawer that was still intact, then another. He shoved a piece of metal aside and found a previously hidden compartment. He opened it.

  "Aha!" He pulled out a strange metallic clamp, one that had small blue and green lights flashing along the surface. Hoodwink had carried one of those when she'd first met him in this world—he'd called it a wireless access port.

  Tanner returned. "You won't have to do it alone. But before we go, there's something I need to show you. Something that will shatter all you know about the world."

  51

  Brute traveled between the lattice points of the marble hall. The red and gold rug crunched underfoot, and Brute's weight left deep imprints. The marble ceiling scraped Brute's forehead. Most ceilings did. Brute was not small.

  Brute ducked inside a white archway carved with long-tentacled octopi, and entered a cubic chamber whose lofty ceiling allowed for Brute's full height.

  "Ah Brute, my favorite Direwalker!" Jeremy-krub turned from the reflective surface beside the dual-piled mattress. "How are you this fine afternoon? In the mood for some killing yet?"

  Option A—ignore. Option B—turn around and leave. Option C—tear off Jeremy-krub's limbs. Option D—

  "State your command, krub!" Brute lifted its four arms. Social pattern—threatening.

  "Easy, big boy." Jeremy-krub took a step back and raised his hands. Social pattern—placation. Facial expression—comfort, ease. Deception detected. Cues—dilated pupils, raised eyebrows, licking of the lips, microscopic beads of sweat. Interpretation—fear.

  "Easy," Jeremy-krub said. "The task I have for you is rather small for one of your prodigious size and abilities, I do daresay." He retrieved a small disk from the stand beside him, and pinched it between his thumb and forefinger. Jeremy-krub held the disk away from his body. Far away. "Take it. Quickly!"

  Urgent tone. Slightly higher pitch.

  Brute snatched the disk. Surface—planar. Composition—iron and carbon. Weight—two point seven grams. Diameter—three point four centimeters. Thickness—one millimeter. Anomalous emissions detected—high frequency radio waves.

  A smile formed on the lips of Jeremy-krub. Social pattern—malicious. "You are to hunt down Ari Flanners, leader of the New Users. Touch this to her forehead and you will kill her instantly. When you have done this, return here with the disk, and with it we will track down the remainder of her associates. Start by posting watchers around all the places she might visit. The houses of family. Friends. Known New Users."

  Ari Flanners. Accessing remote records—formerly Yolinda Cooper. Daughter of Hoodwink Cooper. Accessing local memory—Ari Flanners, the krub-gol with the fire sword who had defied Brute outside Jeremy-krub's mansion. Emotion triggered—outrage.

  "What do you wish done with the body?" Brute said.

  "I don't care." Jeremy-krub curled back his lips. Social pattern—snarl. "Tear her body apart. Suck it dry. Feed it to your brethren. It doesn't matter. Once the disk touches her forehead, she's gone. The disk will kill her in all worlds. At the same time."

  Brute glanced at the disk and smiled.

  52

  The first thing Ari noticed was the snow.

  Or rather, the lack thereof. Beneath her feet, the cobble was joined together into one long, smooth path of snowless stone. The air was warm. Clouds streaked the heavens, and sandwiched between two of those wispy veins was the sun. A tall building of glass blotted out a portion of the sky, and it reflected the sun into her eyes.

  Around her, people in thin, embroidered silks passed among shops. The aroma of food tickled Ari's belly, and her stomach growled for the hundredth time today.

  "Where are we?" she said. "Is this the utopia Hoodwink talked about?"

  "No," Tanner said. "It's Earth. Before the end. A different simulation than the one you're used to. Drawn from the ship's archives. The A.I.s were able to reconstruct all this from the last transmissions received from Earth."

  Then she noticed it—there was a tension in these people. She could see it in the set of their shoulders, the grim faces, the quickness of their strides. The stalls that sold wares or hot food were nearly empty. The biggest line-ups were for the kiosks that sold canned foods and dried goods. Tempers flared in those line-ups, and people shouted at one another. She half-expected someone to take out a sword and start cutting people down.

  This was no utopia.

  Still, it was life—beside her, a tall tree grew beside one of the kiosks. A living and breathing tree, covered in leaves. Plants looked so different when they weren't dead.

  She went to the tree, and tried to caress one of those heart-shaped leaves. She was surprised when her hand passed right through it.

  "We're in observational mode only," Tanner said. "You'll understand why in a second."

  She shielded her eyes against the sun, and looked up. The air was full of floating objects. Wedge-shaped, they flew to and fro in orderly lines, following thin rails laid across the sky. In the distance, azure beams shot upward, carrying more of those wedge-shaped objects—some went up beyond the roof of the world, others came down.

  "What's going on there?" She pointed at the azure beams.

  "The flyers going up are full of people. The ones going down are empty. It's bringing them to a larger ship in orbit. Our ship. The one that was going to take a hundred thousand of us to a new world."

  Those flyers kept coming and going in ceaseless flow. Ari was awed by the immensity of it all. "It must have taken years to construct something big enough to hold so many people."

  "It did. Just be glad that our ancestors had advanced warning of the calamity. They detected the Enemy when it breached the Termination Shock at the fringes of our solar system. Hundreds of small objects. We thought they were extrasolar asteroids at first. Five years passed. The objects reached Jupiter. Not asteroids, but pods of some kind. Not long after that, new objects were detected entering the outskirts of the solar system. Objects far larger than the precursors. All the standard communication protocols were followed. Neither the precursors nor the more distant newcomers answered.

  "The precursors were headed on a collision course with Earth. We launched preemptive strikes, but there were just too many. The precursors penetrated the atmosphere and crashed into the oceans. Poisoned the seas. The shores were lined with the dead bodies of whales, dolphins, sharks, squids. And our technology could do nothing to reverse it. Though we tried, I'm sure. We thought we were so powerful. That technology wou
ld save us. Still, we should thank the Enemy I suppose, for warning us of their intentions. Because the real invasion force was still five years away."

  Ahead, people lined up beside a gate for entry into a fenced off area. Beyond the fence, a diamond-shaped object towered skyward. It was iridescent, and mirrored the sun so that Ari had to squint to observe it. Four long, metallic lattice masts held the giant diamond in place.

  Ari nodded toward it. "And what's that?"

  "A smaller escape ship, independently built by those who lost the lottery. There's hundreds like it around the world."

  "So everyone just gave up and left?"

  Tanner sighed. "No. Some stayed to fight. As you'll soon see. The ship in orbit, our ship, well, it was always thought of as a backup plan. A backup fast-tracked by the threat of invasion. Humanity had been wanting to colonize the stars for years before then. The coalition government had picked out suitable planets, put together blueprints and whatnot. They'd even started building, but the costs were just too prohibitive. And they never had a real motivation to actually finish the thing. The Enemy finally gave them the kick in the backsides they needed. The governments cut a whole lot of corners finishing that ship, and it ended up being only half the planned size. But no one ever thought we'd actually have to use it. No one ever thought we'd actually have to leave."

  Ari regarded him in a new light. "You learned all that from the archives?"

  "That and more. Watch."

  She saw it then. In the sky, long streams of smoke arced down from the heavens, smoke that expanded and writhed, looking a little like molten slag from the blacksmith's shop. People paused what they were doing to look up and watch.

  Without warning, the air cracked with a sound that was ten times louder than a thunderclap, and Ari felt her chest vibrate. Glass windows shattered on the building beside her, and people screamed as the shards rained into the street. More smoke plumes ripped up the sky, followed by more earsplitting thunderclaps.