Husher narrowed his eyes. “Are you…you’re a clone, then? Have the Progenitors been cloning humans?”
Another laugh from Sato, louder this time. “You truly don’t get it, do you, Captain? Let me spell it out for you. I’m not just another creation of the Progenitors, like the Ixa. I am a Progenitor.”
Husher fell silent, and Sato’s face blurred as he unfocused his eyes, attempting to process what she’d just told him. “I don’t understand.”
“I can see that, and it’s really no surprise to me. You were expecting the species that’s inflicted such suffering on yours would be some unknowable monster, yes? Some contorted beast, unrecognizable to such an upstanding human as yourself. Wrong, Captain. Wrong. The Progenitors are human. The Progenitors are you.”
Husher could hear his own breathing, now—could feel it as it rasped against his throat. Otherwise, total silence filled the spaces between Sato’s words.
“Just as I’m Sato’s double, and she’s mine, you have a double too,” the Progenitor continued. “And what a bastard he is, Captain. You’ve been wondering where your good friend Fesky is, I’m sure, so let me dispel that mystery for you. By now, she’s no doubt been apprehended and is undergoing an interrogation the likes of which you don’t have the balls to put me through, not to mention the imagination. Would you like to know who will be administering that interrogation? You will, Captain. Where I come from, you’re every bit as renowned for your ability to inflict agony as you are for your battlespace prowess.
“Whether your friend has broken or not—my bet is that she has—her captors know by virtue of her very presence that the IU now has the ability to reach our home dimension. That will make them abandon their subtle efforts to engineer the collapse of your society, and their scalpel-like attacks will come to an end. Now, the invasion will truly begin, using the thousands of ships they’ve held in reserve. They’ve kept those ships back because they hoped to make you destroy yourself, so that they would have the resources needed to attack the next galactic cluster right away. But your bird’s appearance represents an existential threat, and now they will throw everything they have at you.”
At last, Husher found his voice. “Why are you telling me this?” he asked. “Why are you so willing to speak?”
“Because I believe in evolution, Captain Husher, and I believe it operates at the level of societies. I believe the Interstellar Union was always destined to be the weak thing it has become, cowering as it waits for a better society to arrive and devour it. What I tell you or don’t tell you makes no difference at all. You’re about to witness natural selection, at a universal scale.”
Chapter 13
Bargaining Chips
Ash wasn’t in the crew’s mess, and when Jake checked the Oneiri bunkroom, she wasn’t there, either. He searched for another forty-five minutes, pushing the walker Bancroft had begrudgingly given him around the Vesta.
At last, he found her sitting in a bunkroom that wasn’t currently in use, on a bunk whose sheets were rumpled beneath her.
“Knock, knock,” he said.
She looked up, and he suppressed a cringe at the levity he’d spoken with. Tears streaked Ash’s face, and her eyes were bloodshot. “What?” she said.
He crossed the room from the hatch and sat beside her. Ash didn’t react, except to pull away almost imperceptibly.
“Remember when we first met during training, back on Valhalla Station?”
A sniff. “Sure.”
“Did you know that, back then, I thought we might end up together?” He chuckled. “I was pretty wrong about that one.”
The anecdote had been intended to cheer Ash, but she continued to stonewall his efforts.
So he dropped the attempt, letting his head droop toward the ground. I’m bad at this, anyway.
“I’m really sorry about Beth. I know saying that makes no difference, and I’m not sure I have the right words to make a difference, if there are any words that would. Probably there aren’t.” He glanced at her. Her face was still sullen and drawn. “I feel like I can relate, though, on some level. When Lisa came back from the Progenitor ship acting so differently—when she went with Andy, of all people, and later tried to kill me—I felt like I lost—”
“This is nothing like that, Jake,” Ash hissed, though she sounded like she might start crying again. “Never compare Beth to Sato. I should have killed that monster.”
Jake sighed. “I’m sorry. I know this is a horrible day for you—I can’t even imagine how horrible. This is going to sound harsh, but I need you to bounce back from it, Ash. I need you to continue being an active member of Oneiri. We’re in the middle of a war for survival, and you need to find a way to pick up the pieces and move forward.”
“Oneiri Team’s dead,” Ash spat, which felt like a vat of ice water thrown in Jake’s face. “Marco’s dead, Beth’s dead, that bastard Andy is dead. Lisa’s a traitor. All that’s left is Odell, Rug, me, and you. And you can’t even control your own mech.”
Jake drew a ragged breath. He’d heard the words Ash hadn’t spoken: that if he’d been able to pilot his mech properly, Beth would almost certainly still be alive.
He pressed on: “Oneiri’s not dead. We still have Lisa’s and Beth’s mechs, and we can find—”
“Just go, Jake,” Ash said. “I want you gone!”
“All right,” he said softly. He rose to his feet, and with a last glance at Ash’s scowling face, he left the bunkroom.
For the next ten minutes, he paced some of the Vesta’s most underused corridors, walker scraping along the deck as he tried to calm down. His com buzzed, and when he told his implant to display the message, he found an order from Husher to come to his office.
I need to relax. If he carried this temper into the captain’s office, there’d be trouble, and he didn’t need to make today any worse.
Husher opened the hatch remotely as soon as Jake knocked. He shuffled in, then managed to come to attention and snap off a salute without the help of his walker.
“At ease, Seaman,” Husher said as the hatch closed automatically. “Take a seat.”
Jake lowered himself to the chair with one hand gripping the walker. He still felt raw from his conversation with Ash, but he struggled to keep himself in check.
The captain didn’t seem to notice. “How’s your recovery going?”
“As quickly as I can push it. I plan to be rid of this thing as soon as possible.” He nodded at the walker.
“Glad to hear it.” Husher cleared his throat. “I just finished interrogating Sato.”
“Did you learn anything?”
“You could say that. She didn’t seem at all concerned with holding anything back.”
“Why did she try to kill me? What made her betray us?”
“That’s the thing,” Husher said, folding his hands atop his desk. “Technically, Sato didn’t betray us, because she was never on our side to begin with.”
Jake frowned, narrowing his eyes. “I’ve been friends with her since we were kids, sir. I don’t think it gets any more treacherous than this.”
“Your childhood friend isn’t the one who betrayed you. There are two people named Lisa Sato, and it turns out there are two Vin Hushers, for that matter.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Neither did I. Probably I still don’t. Not completely. But the Sato I interrogated told me the truth about the Progenitors—who they actually are. She said they aren’t an alien species at all, but a parallel version of humanity. When the Sato you knew was taken, they replaced her with the Progenitor Sato.”
It took a few moments for that to sink in, and the implications took longer. At last, Jake said, “Does that mean the real Lisa might still be alive?”
“It’s possible. The Sato I interrogated doesn’t know for sure, but when I try to think from the Progenitors’ perspective, it makes sense. We know they like to maximize the number of levers they can use against us, and they’ve likely kept alive w
hatever prisoners they’ve taken, in case they’re ever needed as bargaining chips.”
Jake noticed his own breathing getting heavier. Ever since fleeing the Steele System, he’d been trying to come to terms with Lisa choosing Andy over him—and since waking in the Vesta’s sick bay and remembering her attempt to kill him, he’d been filled with hatred for her.
This threw everything out of whack. It left him with the last several months to rethink, and once he did that, he needed to sort out his own conflicted feelings about Lisa.
“I debated with myself about whether I should tell you,” Husher said. “Part of me thought it might prove distracting to you. But in the end, I decided you deserved to know, given your feelings for Sato.”
Jake almost winced. He’d forgotten about telling the captain that.
It doesn’t matter how I feel about Lisa. I know what I have to do. “I’m going to get her back,” he said. “I don’t know how, but I’m not going to stop until I do.”
Husher nodded. “I intend to help you.”
Chapter 14
At Least One Version of Me
Ever since the entire universe had collapsed down to just the Sol System, Husher had had access to less and less intel. The fact that he’d never even met Teth before was a testament to that.
With what he was learning from interrogating the winged rat, that made more sense, now. His double and Teth had been bitter enemies for twenty years. Letting him and Teth intermingle definitely posed a risk to them both, not to mention to the overall military picture.
The fact he was finally being allowed to meet the Ixan proved Darkstream was feeling the pressure. They were taking the bird’s appearance in this universe very seriously. Good.
Husher waited in a luxurious leather recliner, and when the hatch opened, he rose to his feet, crossing to greet Teth and holding out a hand in friendship.
“Command Leader,” he said as he approached. “I’m a great admirer of your work, and I think we have a lot to learn from each other.”
The hulking Ixan came to an abrupt halt, staring at Husher’s hand as though it was also a predatory reptile. Then, his cat-like eyes lifted to meet Husher’s, and he hissed, his forked tongue protruding between his teeth.
Husher stood his ground, staring up to meet the genetically enhanced alien’s eyes. “All right, then,” he said, and returned to his seat.
“You should kill that,” Teth said, gesturing toward the window that dominated the bulkhead opposite the hatch. It overlooked the Cavern from the rear, and Husher had turned the Winger’s chair around so she could watch their meeting unfold. He’d stapled her eyelids open to ensure that she did. What was said would be lost to her, but he expected seeing Teth in repose would unsettle her greatly. She clearly thought of him as a brutal foe.
Except, Teth wasn’t in repose. He refused to join Husher in sitting, instead standing stiffly in the chamber’s center, as though barely able to restrain an impulse to go for the kill.
“Why do you say I should kill the Winger?” Husher asked mildly.
“Mercy. That creature is inferior, pitiful. Euthanize it.”
“I believe she’s much more valuable alive.” And I’m close to breaking her. I have to be. That should be true, especially if she was as pitiful as Teth claimed. She should have broken long ago.
“Your double is also pitiful,” Teth said. “They tell me you, however, are competent. If that’s true, then you’ll have figured out already that I despise you.”
“It isn’t me you despise, Teth. Surely you’re capable of making the distinction.”
“When I look at you, I see the human who killed my father. If I had my way, your face would be pulped and then erased from the multiverse. I would hunt down every version of you, no matter how innumerable, and exterminate them.”
“This is quite a first impression.”
The Ixan shifted toward him, so fast it was difficult to track his movements. He stopped himself just a foot away from Husher.
“Get out of my face,” Husher snapped. “You’re boring me, a lot. We both know you wouldn’t dare attack me, and you’re not going to get anywhere with trying to intimidate me, so why don’t you drop the act and sit down to discuss how we can exterminate at least one version of me. Hmm?”
Husher maintained steady eye contact while he spoke, and he saw how Teth’s body trembled with rage.
At last, the Ixan stepped back and lowered himself into the other chair.
“That’s good,” Husher said. “If you can believe it, I think we’ve already made a lot of progress. We’ve established that you hate me as much as it’s possible for one being to hate another, for all intents and purposes. We can use that. We can channel it in order to win.”
“You’re saying my desire to rip out your throat with my fangs is productive,” Teth said softly.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Husher said, maintaining eye contact with the reptilian.
“My desire to revel in the lovely sound of cracking bones and ripping flesh. To tear off your jaw and break both your arms in half.”
“I already mentioned you can’t intimidate me.”
“I’m not trying to intimidate you,” Teth said, smiling. “I’m telling you the truth about what’s inside. I want to do those things, not just to you, but to everyone.”
“But you mostly want to do it to me.”
“Don’t underestimate my desire to harm everyone. I see it as mercy. Truly. When I’m finally finished my work, I’ll grant myself the same mercy.”
“Well, again, I call it good.” He’d also call it insane. I had no idea Teth was deteriorating like this. He sniffed. No matter. “It means you’ll do what needs doing with perfect enthusiasm. You’ll hit Husher where he’s weakest, with maximum vigor.”
“Yes.”
“I can help you. I am Husher, and I know him well. Better than anyone else. You need to exploit the tension inside him, the tension between saving the galaxy and saving those dear to him.”
“Tell me how.”
“Happily. But first, I want intel from you. I want to determine what Steele still isn’t telling me, if anything. And I want to know things from your perspective—from the commander in the field.”
Teth’s grin widened. “Very well.”
“I also want you to hear my advice, and heed it, in spite of your pride and hatred. Steele has counseled you to stop your measured, incisive attacks—to ramp up the invasion straight away. I think that, instead, you should triple down on those attacks. Hit them where they’re weakest, again and again, with increasing tempo. Drive them like lambs to the slaughter. And once the entire galaxy is huddled together, as though for warmth…then, let the hammer fall.”
Chapter 15
Just One Lifetime
Since the Progenitor was being so forthcoming, Husher saw no need for any theatrics designed to intimidate. He sat in the interrogation room as he waited for his marines to bring her, and when they did, he regarded her impassively while they bound her to the other chair.
“I have more questions,” Husher said once they were alone.
“I’ll give you answers,” Sato said, and grew a sly smile. “Though I still haven’t seen the promised improvement in my treatment, Captain. Everyone tells me you’re a man of your word, but there’s been no three-course dinner, no mani pedi.”
“I meant that perhaps you’ll be sentenced to just one lifetime in prison instead of two.”
Sato laughed. “Ask me anything, Captain.”
Husher frowned as he realized he wasn’t particularly eager to proceed, despite the success of the interrogations so far. What she’d told him hadn’t done much to inspire optimism in him over the fate of the galaxy.
“Why don’t the Progenitors just conquer their own universe?” Husher said. “Why do they want ours? Surely one universe is enough.”
“Ours isn’t enough,” Sato said, shaking her head. “Not anymore.”
“Anymore?”
> “In this dimension, you destroyed Darkstream. A long, clumsy process, but you managed it in the end. In our dimension, Darkstream seized power and kept it. The corporation absorbed the government into itself, and no one had the means to stop it from continuing to abuse dark tech.”
“They destabilized the universe.”
“Yes. So much that it began to collapse. We had enough time to throw all our resources at engineering forcefield tech, which you saw Teth use in the Concord System. That was enough to save the Sol System. The rest of the universe tore itself apart.”
“Something’s not adding up,” Husher said, searching Sato’s face for signs of deceit. “You created the Ixa, and the Ixa gave us dark tech. How did you get it, if there were never any Ixa in your universe to begin with?”
She shrugged. “We invented it ourselves, just as you would have, given enough time.”
“All right,” Husher said slowly. “So you lost your entire universe, thanks to Darkstream. Are they still in power?”
“Very much so.”
“Does that bother you?”
“Not at all. The only thing that matters to me is that we survived. That’s the measure of a truly strong society. For a universe to collapse and not kill us sort of proves that, doesn’t it? Besides, only Darkstream would have had the wherewithal to invent interdimensional travel and inject self-improving AIs into your universe.”
“Why did Darkstream hold onto power in your universe and not in ours?” Husher thought he might know why: without the Ixa, the Progenitors never had to contend with another species that exhibited their own worst qualities, and so they’d never had the same reasons for self-examination.
But Sato had a different answer. “I think we have you to thank for that, Captain.”
Ixan Legacy Box Set Page 54