by Blake Vanier
Other friendly Erohsians quickly converge on the hallway and their strict training brings the firefight to an end after another few minutes.
Isis gathers the Erohsians with her once again, running back to the stairwell with more caution. Once in, all she hears is the patter of footsteps from below.
She checks the location of the Human children on her wrist computer and sees they are a few stories down. “They’ve passed us,” she says to the Erohsians following her. “Catch them!”
She begins to descend, stiff from her freshly healed injuries. The light infantry soldiers quickly pass her. Just a floor down, she runs into a group of Erohsians in the middle of the stairwell, rubbing their heads and blinking at each other.
“What are you doing?” Isis asks. “You were supposed to stop the children.”
One of the soldiers looks at her. “We ran into them, but they stunned us. We weren’t expecting it.”
“How could you let a bunch of Human children stun you?” she asks incredulously.
“I’m sorry, Ma’am.”
“Just get moving! We can still catch them.”
Isis pushes through.
She opens a channel to the security officer, bounding down the steps as best she can. “The Humans got past us. They’re heading down. Send up as many as you can, and we'll trap them between us. Have anyone else available converge on the stairwell.”
The officer acknowledges her, and Isis closes the channel to focus on running. The swarm of Erohsians in the stairwell slowly builds. More appear at every floor.
“We're coming up on them now, should make contact in a matter of seconds,” an Erohsian soldier says over the channel. “We see them. They're exiting the stairwell at the fortieth floor.” Isis continues to jump down, several stairs at a time, and hears an Aether weapon fire. “We got one, Ma’am.” More weapons fire.
“I'll be there soon,” Isis says. “What about the others?”
“We’re still chasing the others, but they have nowhere to go on this floor. We’ll cover all―” Static cuts him off.
“What was that?” The static continues. “Repeat. You’re breaking up.” What is going on?
Isis looks at her wrist computer. The holographic screen is flickering. She jumps down another few stairs, past the forty-third floor, just as a wall of Moltrik Aether expands upward from below. She clenches her teeth an instant before the Aether hits her.
*****
“Ma'am. Are you all right? Can you hear me?”
Isis’s vision clears, and she finds herself looking at the light-infantry soldier bent over her. The lights in the stairwell are flickering.
Isis props herself up against the wall, holding her head; the helmet she was wearing is lying off to the side. “What happened?”
“We’re not sure. Some sort of Moltrik Aether surge.” The soldier offers her his hand.
Isis takes it and lets him pull her up. “What’s the damage?”
He shakes his head. “No idea, Ma'am. I've just been working my way down and checking the injured.”
“Carry on, then.” Isis wobbles for a second as she reaches for the hand railing. “How long ago did it happen?”
“About thirty minutes ago.”
Wow… She descends, one step at a time. The soldier watches her for a moment before moving to others.
Erohsians are scattered around the stairwell in varying degrees of consciousness. Several fresh soldiers run from one fallen body to the next, assessing for critical injuries. Isis arrives at the fortieth floor.
The Erohsian security officer is issuing orders to anyone capable. He sees Isis and approaches her. “Ma'am. I'm glad you're on your feet. I wasn't sure where you ended up.”
“What are you doing up here?”
“After the event, all of the electronics were fried from floor thirty-six to forty-four. My position at the security center was useless, so I had someone cover my station and hurried here to assist however I could.”
“How bad is it looking?” Isis asks hiding her concern.
“Actually, there don’t appear to be any life-threatening injuries.”
Isis lets out a breath. “That's good news. What happened?”
“I'm not entirely sure. We caught the boy from the ceremony on this floor, like you heard over the channel. Suddenly, the video cameras died, and the sensors on the floor started to fluctuate. The event occurred shortly after.”
“The boy from the ceremony? He was measured with no Aether. Are you sure it was him?”
“The computers modeled the event. They pinpointed his location as ground zero, rating the event as a minimum of a four on the Boltz scale.”
“A four in a single event?” Isis says, incredulous. “That can’t be correct.”
The officer shakes his head. “I have someone picking through the data, but it's a mess piecing it all together. We have to use the data from several floors away. It's too hard to say at the moment. We’ll confirm with the soldiers closest to the event when they regain consciousness.”
“What happened to the boy?”
“We're not sure. When I arrived, he wasn't here.”
“How about the others? Are you still tracking them?” Isis asks.
“I'm sorry, Ma'am. They got away.”
“What!? How’s that possible?”
“There were other Humans who set up a zip line from this floor to one of the adjacent buildings. They were using fake IDs as well. As soon as we discovered it, we sent people to secure the building, but they had already escaped through the basement using some of the old Human tunnels.”
“Damn those tunnels. They should’ve been cleared out a hundred years ago. Did you figure out how the other children got in?”
“Reviewing the security tape, we established they sneaked in as extra servants for the Borukin ceremony.”
“And have you found out how they fooled our sensors?”
“No, Ma'am. It's something that masked their biometric and Aethiometric signal. The terrorists are getting smart.”
“I wouldn't go that far. They're Humans, after all. Did you try to track them before the banquet? That should give us a hint about their current destination.”
“We tracked them all the way back to where the Borukin and the Erohsian escort picked them up. But, again, the sensors failed for some reason.”
“Did you talk with the Borukin and escort?”
“No chance. The Borukin royalty is extremely angry. They won’t communicate with us. They think a group of anti-Borukin Erohsians was responsible. We did talk with the escort. He said that nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The escort did comment that the Borukin was overall harmless, and very nervous about being late for the Princess.”
Could the Princess be involved? But why would she be part of an attack on her own people? She is friends with the boy… but I can’t imagine she’d go that far to save him. “Any information on the Erohsians attacking us?”
“Nothing much. I checked their backgrounds, and they’re all Erohsian military. I don’t know how they hid this from the mind sweeps.”
Isis shakes her head. “Their tactics were sloppy. Just because they’re traitors doesn’t mean they’d lose all their training.”
“A puppeteer, then?”
“It seems unlikely, just because of the number of puppets.” It also doesn’t explain why their Aether levels were elevated. “How’d they get in?”
“It looks like some of them worked themselves in through normal security access. The first group disrupted the roof security equipment, and the rest parachuted in with supplies. The Humans who set up the zipline came in first. They sneaked down using the same fake ID technology the children had. I believe the attack on the banquet was supposed to be a distraction for the boy’s escape.”
“All of this for one boy?” They were all working together… but why such a big distraction when they could sneak around so effectively? Something’s not quite right. “Continue with what you’re doing and
let me know if you find out anything more.”
“Yes, Ma'am.” The officer starts to walk away.
Isis clicks on her wrist computer, but it does not respond. That's great. “Hey, do you have a com I can use? Mine is fried.”
The officer pulls a small grey rectangular object out of his pocket. “I brought a few just for the occasion.” He tosses her the communication device and continues his duties.
Isis places her thumb in the center of the screen. A welcome message with her name appears. “Call General Lark,” she says, holding it up to her ear.
“Isis, I've been searching for you. Come up to my office. We need to talk.”
“Yes, sir. I'll be right there.”
Isis walks up a few floors to an elevator with a working panel and takes a ride almost to the very top of the building. She enters the general’s office and surveys the glowing horizon. It ends sharply at the plains, as though Sunta is an island of light in the dead of space.
He closes the holographic screen on his computer, signaling for her to sit. “I'm glad you made it unscathed.”
“What did you want me up here for?” she asks.
“I'm not sure if you’re aware, but your target escaped.”
“I'm aware of that. Along with all the children rescuing him.”
“No, designation Uniform-Alpha.”
Isis’s heart skips a beat. “What? What do you mean he escaped? I thought he was dead.”
“He was, but as soon as the spooks got hold of him, they saw an opportunity for a new weapon and started his heart so they could study him. His body is impressively resilient.”
“But how did he escape? After the trouble we went through to take him down, they can't possibly be that stupid.”
“They said he was almost completely brain dead. They didn't think he would ever recover. They wanted to probe his mind to see if they could learn something… The cells in the probing room were up to the necessary security level, and they kept him under watch and heavily sedated just in case.”
“What kind of watch?”
“Three light-infantry soldiers and an additional two were watching the ancient artifact you recovered a year ago.”
“What was that doing in the extraction room?”
“They were going to use it to speed up the probing process on the Human child.”
“Tell me that's at least safe.”
Lark shakes his head. “I have no good news for you today.”
Isis let’s her head fall back. “So these children somehow managed to take out the soldiers, free the boy, take the artifact, and set free one of our worst nightmares?”
“Unfortunately, that's not the end of it.”
“How could it get any worse?”
“The surge of Aether that destroyed the security door of the probing room was recognized by the sensors.” He eyes her, taking a breath.
Isis throws up her hands and lets them fall. “Oh, just tell me.”
“The Murderess.”
“Impossible.”
Lark shrugs.
Isis runs through her memory. “The last person who had any info on her was a Borukin hunter. He claimed she was dealt with permanently. That was over ten years ago.”
“I thought the same.”
“Was she behind the Moltrik event?”
“No. I had someone look into it. The signatures were different.”
“Well, then, who was the target?” Isis asks. “I'm guessing one of the Borukin royalty. Revenge perhaps?”
“Actually, the Borukins were unharmed, and there was no word of one of her tokens. You know how much of a fuss they make. Perhaps she didn’t have a target.”
“She always has a target. How can you be certain it was her? Could it be an imitator?”
“Maybe, but other than the door getting blown off its hinges, there was no sign of her on any of the sensors. The only thing capable of that is her suit.”
“So it was either her, or someone with her suit… Fantastic.” Isis runs her thumb over the edge of her ear and looks at Lark. “Have you talked with the Borukin royalty?”
“With difficultly. They’re enraged and will be heading home immediately. Luckily, no one was killed or injured too badly in this fiasco. It'll take some time to get things back to where they were. Unfortunately, we aren't going to have a treaty anytime soon.”
“That’s it!” The general looks at Isis and she continues. “The attack on the banquet wasn’t a distraction. Catalyst just wanted to frame us and hurt our treaty with the Borukins; a treaty would make their efforts more difficult. They must have had other motivations for rescuing the boy, and then somehow gotten the support of the Borukin Princess… They also must have a new way for controlling individuals. I’ll have to review the data to see if there are any hints, so we can avoid this in the future.” Isis lets out a breath. “This is their biggest offensive yet. Catalyst is getting bolder.”
“As the new Brigadier General of Security for the city center, I hope you have a good plan to counter them.”
Isis lifts herself up. Suddenly, her pains are nothing. “Thank you, Richard. I’ll get on it right away.”
The general smiles. “No, you won’t. We have everyone available hunting for the Humans and Uniform-Alpha. Not even you could provide additional help right now. I order you to get yourself looked at and catch some rest. It sure looks like you could use it.”
Isis glares at him. “Yes, sir.”
Isis’s small communicator beeps as she enters the elevator. Seeing an incoming call from General Belshiv, she puts the communicator back in her pocket and leans against the elevator wall. I'll deal with that later. I have Humans to hunt.
Epilogue
Days later…
“Are you sure this is the right decision?” Saraf asks.
Sosimo pulls a toothpick from his container. “We don’t have much choice. Kiats isn’t safe for them.”
“But with the rebels?”
“I know. It’s not ideal. But they will be safe there… for now.”
“And what of Nero?”
Sosimo sighs, putting the toothpick in his mouth. “He’ll stay with me for a few more days, then he has to go as well.”
“Will that be enough time?”
“He’s coming back to his old self. I think it’ll be enough… It will have to be.”
Nero pokes his bleary-eyed head around the corner. “Sosimo?”
Sosimo briefly covers the phone. “One second Nero. Alright, Saraf, I have to go. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“He should come back to Kiats so we can figure out what’s happening to him.”
“And keep him locked up all by himself?” Sosimo says, hushed. “He needs his family. We’ll talk more tomorrow.”
“Yeah, fine. Give him my best.”
Sosimo hangs the phone up, walking over to Nero and kneeling. “What can I do for you, Nero?”
“Am I a bad person?”
Sosimo frowns. “What? No. Of course, not. Why would you say that?”
“I had a dream I hurt people.”
“It was just a dream.”
“But it felt so real.”
“Would you like to talk about it?”
Nero shakes his head.
“Okay then. Would you like to help me with some Artifacts?”
“Yes, please.”
“Great. I could use your eye on something.” Sosimo leads Nero up a floor to his Artifact workshop. “It’s a new shield project. I think you’ll find it interesting.”
The Story Continues in:
Catalyst
Thank You!
I really appreciate your interest in my work. I have a great story arc for these characters planned. Your support makes it all worthwhile.
Upcoming works:
Catalyst
Nero and his family have found a sanctuary where they can thrive, but a corruption that reaches into their core will jeopardize all that they have built.
Coming 2020
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The Tenebrous Miasma
When Iona is forced to travel to the edge of the known world, hints to her legacy suggest her growing powers are still in their infancy. In order to bring her family home, she’ll have to muster everything she can manage… and more.
Malatras
In the aftermath of betrayal, an old relationship takes on a new facet as they piece together their shattered world.
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my wife, Heather Passe, for pushing me to rewrite the whole thing and to allow me to bounce things off her. When I’m straying, she is instrumental to keeping my characters on their path.
Kate Klein was the first person to read it from beginning to end, which was huge. She helped me add more layers to my characters.
When I received the professional edits from Clara Cuthbert, it looked like she had used a dagger for how much red was on the page. It was tough to look at, but in the end, resulted in another rewrite which improved it greatly.
Terri Hofer, Laura Passe, and Allison Youngblood had great comments and edits.
Abdulaziz AlObaid has been a great support and incredibly encouraging.
So many others have helped me in one way or another. James Mason, Stéphane Béland, Barry Solway, Sam Mesker, Nick Derimow, Tim Plummer, Cove Sturtevant, Seth Wilberger, Rachel Ross, Lauren Brenkle, John Graham, Barrett Sleeper, and Francisco Gonzales.
Thank you everyone. Writing can be brutal. You all helped me make this better than I could have on my own.
Glossary
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