Deadly Ghosts, page 26
“That statement is incorrect,” the doctor said without any change in his intonation. “My work is not experimentation.”
We had kept him talking long enough, and I saw the air shimmer behind him. The blue blade appeared out of nothingness and swung toward his head, but before he could make contact, one of the tubular arms from the ceiling swung down and blocked the blow all on its own. It was short and a vibrant green, and when they met, sparks rained onto the floor.
At the same moment, more of the tubes swung down and began slicing at Louise and me. The old woman jumped out of the way, and I sidestepped one of the tubes that was coming at me with a massive syringe.
Landing just clear, I raised the gun again, but when I did, another of the tubes sliced my hand with the back of a bone saw. I pulled my hand away bleeding but at least it wasn’t the serrated side, or I wouldn’t have even been left with half a hand.
Imogen was now more awake and saw her opening. She reached up and grabbed his arm and wrist with both her hands. She pinned the knife against her chest and began to pull downward until her elbow was low enough to swing back and hit him in the groin.
The sound that emanated from his noise box felt as though it was going to burst my eardrums from the piercing shriek. But I didn’t have time to react since the bone saw was swinging back down to me a second time.
I leaned so far backward that I nearly fell to the ground, the blade passing just in front of my face. I reached down, grabbed the spear and activated both the telescoping shaft and the blade at the same time.
A moment later, I was standing with the weapon in hand and sliced through the tube as one came for me again. Lara was going blow for blow with the other blade, and Imogen was pinned to the ground by a series of scalpels protruding from the tip of another one of the tubes. Louise was trying to line up a shot while staying clear of all the attacking machinery, and the doctor staggered to his feet.
He pulled out a weapon that I didn’t recognize from his scrubs. But it was in the general shape of a handgun. He leveled it at Lara.
I wanted to throw my spear, but the syringe came swinging down at me, and I had to use it to block my neck.
Cleverly, Imogen grabbed hold of the tube that was attacking her in the way a snake handler might protect themselves from a bite and reached up with her other hand, then used all her strength to hoist herself up and throw herself toward the back of the doctor.
She slammed into his back, and the weapon discharged, sending a massive energy pulse up into the ceiling, tearing a huge hole in the salvaged metal as the two clattered to the ground. The tubes must have been synced to the man’s mind because they all swung wildly for a moment.
Lara realized what had just happened and took the opportunity to strike out at the doctor on the ground, but before she could clear the distance, the tube slashed back down, and she was forced to stop and block the attack.
Louise was making her way toward the doctor and Imogen, taking potshots at the swinging metallic appendages as they attacked.
The doctor was staggering to his feet, and I ran toward him, jumping over the table while swinging the spear above me to keep the tubes at bay. I landed on the other side beside Lara, but as soon as I did, the green glowing weapon that had been focused on Lara made its way to me as well.
The two of us worked in tandem, making our way toward the doctor. He was backing away, obviously using some of his strength to focus on the attacking devices. Imogen pushed herself to her knees, then Louise came up behind her and pulled her to her feet. When the two women locked eyes, they hugged for just a moment.
The doctor raised his gun.
Lara and I battled forward as best we could, the tube striking my blade and then hers with a proficiency only the greatest human swordsman could hope to achieve.
The pulse weapon was pointed directly at Imogen’s spine and Louise’s eyes opened just in time. There was no decision, no moment of thought or clarity. It was pure familial instinct that overtook the woman.
Gripping her niece even tighter, she spun in the split second before the doctor pulled the trigger.
The pulse ripped through the room and blasted against Louise’s back shredding through armor, skin, muscle and bone.
The children in the cages shrieked as they watched the crimson spray. Imogen was knocked back to the floor with her aunt still hugging her tight.
Lara, whose life had been saved by Imogen only a moment earlier, roared in a rage and battled forward, swinging her blade again and again and again to hold the attention of the tube. As she did, I remembered her teachings and planted my back foot to strike out with the spear.
As the tip blade sparked against Lara’s again and again, I plunged forward and pierced the shaft, then yanked it toward me and sheared through metal and wires. The doctor pointed the pulse weapon at us and pulled the trigger, but a light on the side flashed.
“Used it too many times in a row, Doc,” I said, beginning to stalk forward. “Weapons like that need a long time to recharge.”
Despite my words, he pointed it at my chest and clicked again, causing the light to flash a few more times. He continued to back away from us, the remaining tubes swinging in our direction, but we were too far.
I held the spear up and pointed the tip directly at his black heart as I inched forward.
After having watched him kill Louise right in front of Imogen, I was more than happy to plunge the spear into his body.
But I didn’t get the chance.
As soon as he was within grabbing distance little robotic arms, hooks and end affixers that were still healing at their fusion points reached out and grabbed at him.
He turned and screamed a horrible, unnatural sound from the speaker box in his face.
The metal pieces tugged and pulled him back, tearing at his clothes and then his skin. He continued to wail and shriek as they ripped wires out of his skin and pulled augments off of the natural flesh. Blood seeped into the crimson scrubs as more and more pieces of him fell away.
Lara went over and flicked her sword once more to ensure that it was done, and I rushed over to Imogen, who was still trapped under her aunt in a final embrace. Her eyes were vacant, staring at the ceiling. She had lost one of the only people in this world who was there for her. Who had the opportunity to be there for Imogen one more time, as she had hoped.
I pulled Louise off of the young woman whose gaze was still completely empty.
As I reached out a hand to help her to her feet, the building shook violently, the sound of an explosion from above ripping through our ears.
31
“It… it happened again,” Imogen murmured, her face splattered with her aunt’s blood.
I helped her to her feet. “No,” I said, locking eyes. “Louise told me she wanted nothing more than to be here for you now, and she was. You found Extinction, and we can help these kids. Bad people won’t prevail today.”
Her eyes fluttered and then turned to meet mine.
“Don’t be so sure,” Ned warned, and I turned to look at the screen in the corner.
My heart sank when I saw the action unfolding in the yard. In addition to the Cultists and my friends, there were now other ships passing overhead, blasting the facility and the people in the yard.
The Mortal Coil swooped in toward the camera, a flash of light preceding the feed going dead. The Inquisition had arrived.
“Shit!” I said, but when I turned back to Imogen, the fire in her eyes had returned.
“We have to get these kids out of here,” she said and rushed to Lara’s side, telling her to back away. The redhead moved along the wall and flipped a series of operators that looked like little more than white light switches. But one by one, the cage doors opened, and the kids began to rush out and gather around the former Inquisitorial Acolyte.
“Your parents sent us. We will get you to safety,” she assured them, her voice hard and determined, sounding just like her aunt had a moment earlier. After picking up and sheathing my spear, I couldn’t help but steal one more glance at Louise. She had a hint of a smile frozen on her face.
In that moment, I decided that, if possible, I would see her buried according to her wishes, so I ran over, picked up the bloody mess of her body, and slung it over my shoulder.
I wanted to apologize to her, to tell her that we would take care of Imogen now, but there was nothing to be done in the heat of the moment.
“Follow me!” Lara said, completely deactivating her stealth suit.
The children looked terrified and many of those who had been augmented seemed lost and dazed. I wanted to go over to them and ensure that they hadn’t been psychically poisoned yet, but I was carrying a body, and it seemed wise not to traumatize them any further. Plus, it was safe to assume that if their minds had been altered already, they would have been sent to attack us.
The tower rumbled again, the Inquisitorial ships continuing their bombardment. I didn’t know how many attackers there were, but it seemed to be enough to take this building down.
“Move, move, move!” Lara ordered, moving out in front of the blob of terrified kids and ushering them out the door where she stopped and scooped up the one who had attacked us. Imogen stayed at the back, holding the hand of the youngest one and helping the kids move forward.
I stayed in the middle, giving the kids a little bit of space and hoping that they wouldn’t notice me too much except when I helped them stay together.
The lights flickered and the structure groaned under its own weight as it was hit with another shelling. I had no idea how much more damage it could take and found myself hoping that this ingenious design of a computer could hold together.
We all kept running, hurrying through the labyrinthine tunnels in a direction that I trusted was actually toward the exit. The children whimpered and whined but I was really impressed with their resolve. For the most part, they stayed in a group and rushed along with us. Every now and again, I would glance down and see those few who had been altered against their will. Their lives would never be the same after what had happened, and they would never be safe anywhere in the universe unless we convinced the Consortium to change.
If we couldn’t, if Vince didn’t hold up his end of the bargain, or if we weren’t able to find Extinction, these children would be hunted down and killed by the Inquisition for no reason other than that they were at the wrong place at the wrong time.
They could be killed for being victims.
It solidified the importance of everything we were doing. It was a stark reminder of what was at stake and what might happen if we didn’t change things. But it also spoke to Twain’s potential threat. By augmenting these children, even if he didn’t corrupt their minds, he made them enemies of the Consortium forever.
There would be no place safe for them except on his side or with the Peacers if they could find them. As Louise had said, there was a lot more to be fixed in this universe than could be with battles.
Though some things did need to be fixed with weapons.
As we rounded another corner, one more of what I had come to think of as the facility security blocked our path. Their body looked to have been made more recently, the metal glinting in the dim light of the snaking tunnel.
Lara pulled out her sword but this time, before she could even dash forward, I unholstered my energy weapon and pointed it at the head of the Cultist.
The memory of Louise’s final moment flashed in my mind, and I pulled the trigger again and again until the battery overheated and the trigger clicked quietly. The beams that tore through the hall split the attacker, puncturing holes in his head and chest and dropping him to the ground instantly.
“Nice work, Indy,” Ned said in my ear, and I had almost forgotten that he was there.
“How are things going outside?” I demanded.
He answered immediately. “Twenty-nine of the forty-eight Peacers deployed are dead or injured, Alek and the main fighting force have been pushed back. Inquisition attack ships have destroyed most of the aerial defense arrays and continue to shell our men on the ground as well as the Cultists.”
“So, things are going great,” I said, and in the distance, I saw the faint light of the outside world.
“I can’t tell definitively from all the huffing and puffing, but I’m going to assume that comment was meant sarcastically,” Ned said.
“It was,” I assured him. “Be ready to bring the Buzzard around and get us the hell out of here.”
“Affirmative.”
When he finished speaking, I noticed some eyes looking up at me out of peripheral, and I gazed down to see several of the children staring up at me.
“I’m just getting it right out here,” I told them, sidestepping as far as I could as though it would somehow hide the body slung over my shoulder.
One of the kids, obviously not fully appreciating the moment we were in, smiled up at me. “You said a swear.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at that. “I did.”
Even with everything going on, the children hadn’t completely lost themselves and were still just kids. Once they were reunited with their parents, they would hopefully be able to put this entire ordeal behind them. Or, as behind them as possible, anyway.
Seeing the light encouraged us all to move faster and even the children picked up the pace, rushing forward. But as the opening got bigger, I realized Lara had made a mistake. Rather than leading us toward the side we had come from, she had guided us in the direction of the battle.
“Stop!” I shouted but my words were muffled by another rocking explosion that caused the kids to shriek in panic. Behind us, parts of the tunnel began to cave in and I realized there was no going back.
With Louise on one shoulder, I raised my weapon in my other hand and surged forward toward the front of the line.
Lara and I were the first out the door, faced with the backs of several Cultists exchanging gunfire with our friends. Bodies littered the space, and the flaming ruins of vehicles were all around us. Smoke filled the sky, and through it could be seen the Inquisitorial ships streaking around and blasting the tower.
It was chaos, and the moment one of the children squeaked at the sight of it, the Cultists turned to face us. We were without cover, but so were they, and Lara darted forward, swinging her blade through and slicing one of the Cultists hip to shoulder. I opened fire on the remaining five, taking wild shots but trying to force them back.
The weapon overheated quickly, and I dropped it, then swung my hand around to pull out my stomper. The Cultists were taken by surprise, and most reacted by leaping back over their dropshields. When they did, the Peacers pushed forward, leaning out from behind whatever cover they had found, and opened fire.
Two more of the Cultists were felled, and another two returned fire, keeping my allies back where they were. The remaining one popped out from behind his shield and opened fire on me. My new armor did its job and took most of the hits that would likely have killed me, while Louise’s body absorbed a few others, but one passed through a gap, and I saw white for a moment as the bullet entered my shoulder. It nearly caused me to drop the body, but I was resolved.
I blasted him with my stomper, bullets slamming against the back of the dropshield but at the very least keeping him pinned. While I didn’t want to get shot again, I would have preferred that to the innocent children taking a bullet.
Focused on that as I was, I nearly missed the thundering sound of an Inquisition starship screaming down at us. Micro Missiles were small when talking about starships, but they caused sizable explosions when you were on the ground beside their detonations.
Asphalt ripped through the air, and flames licked all around us. Instinctively, I turned and used my body to shield as many of the kids as I could from the debris raining down.
I heard a shout from the far side of the plaza, though I couldn’t see through the smoke, and the Cultists turned just in time to see a massive form appear through the wafting gray. Alec charged in, slammed his body against one of the Cultists, and smashed him between ceremonial armor and a dropshield.
“Bringing the Buzzard around,” Ned informed me, and I saw the ship pass overhead, chasing down one of the Inquisition Phoenixes.
The suppressing fire from the Peacers had stopped when the courtyard was divided by the micro missile barrage and now the Cultists were raising their weapons at us again. Alec pulled the rifle off one of them, but they didn’t let go so he threw both through the smoke in the direction of our allies. Gunfire followed immediately.
Another lashed out at him with a retractable whip arm, wrapping around his hand and pulling it forward but Lara was on him quickly, striking out with the sword and slicing through the arm. She then leapt forward, burying the sword in the Cultist’s chest.
The final Cultist raised an assault rifle in the direction of Alec and Lara, and I pointed my stomper directly at her head. When I pulled the trigger, I expected to send her flying back, but the bullet slammed against a metal cranium under a brown wig. She answered with a volley of her own, opening fire in Lara’s direction, but Alek moved his massive form in front, allowing his armor to take the hits.
A few made it through though.
Before I could react again, the Cultist was devastated by a pulse. She was thrown to the side, muscle and machinery spraying.
I turned to see Imogen drop the gun that the doctor had used to kill her aunt, her face a blank canvass. Whatever was happening in her mind, it wasn’t reflected in her expression.
“Come on,” I shouted to the kids, waving my arms for them to start following us through the clearing smoke. The ground was ripped apart and we had to help them around and through craters. Lara and Alek jumped across the holes while Imogen and I stayed on the near side, holding hands or simply lifting the little ones over.
It was slow going and I kept looking up for the Inquisition ship’s return or down to the cracking facility.
Credit where credit is due, the kids were brave and worked with us as we ushered them across and toward the remaining Peacers. Seeing the bodies of many dead Cultists, several of whom had obviously been smashed by Alek, I understood how tired he must be. Even as he lifted the kids, I could hear the ragged, exhausted snorts.
