The Negator, page 11
I stood watching, torn between two impulses.
Part of me—the part that remembered being helpless while Axion hijacked my ship, stole my ring, and threatened my crew—wanted to grab some popcorn and enjoy the show. Axion had it coming. The bastard had manipulated me, used me, and left us stranded in space while he went after the weapon. Seeing him like this… I loved it.
But the other part knew I still needed him, as only Axion knew where the weapon vault was.
I watched another soldier zap him.
Axion’s left arm jerked and sparked, servos whining as if in protest.
“The metal creature grows weak,” Red Sash said. “Perhaps now it will be more cooperative.”
Axion used the High Polarion singsong voice that had shut down the quarantine ships, but the soldiers just laughed at him.
“Your demon words have no power here,” one of them said. “Our ears are protected by the ancestors’ blessing.”
I noticed small metal plugs in their ears. Someone had learned from previous android encounters.
Another shock rod crackled, this one catching Axion across the back. He went down on one knee, optical sensors dimming.
I made my decision.
I drew the flintlock pistol I’d taken from the centurion, checking to make sure it was still primed and loaded. Then I pulled out my blaster with my other hand. The weapon felt warm against my palm—not the burning heat from before, but definitely warmer than it should be. I hoped it wouldn’t pick this moment to crap out on me.
I stepped into the chamber.
“We’re going to mix this up a little,” I said.
The soldiers turned and stared at me, no doubt trying to figure out if I was friend or foe. Most of them appeared to have left their cutlasses and flintlocks elsewhere. They’d only brought the two-handed shock rods needed to subdue Axion.
Red Sash broke the standoff by charging me, roaring a battle cry.
I fired the flintlock at center mass, noting the time difference from pulling the trigger to the hammer hitting and creating the needed spark. Then the black powder weapon boomed, and the shot punched through his armor, dropping him hard. He might live, but he was out of the fight for now.
The other soldiers started to advance, shock rods crackling.
I raised my blaster and fired it into the stone floor between us.
The energy beam hit the ancient stone and exploded it into molten fragments. Superheated rock sprayed across the chamber as my blaster sizzled and let out a high-pitched whine, though the weapon was clearly malfunctioning. But the demonstration had the desired effect.
The soldiers stopped, staring at the smoking crater where solid stone had been moments ago.
“Anyone else want to test this thing?” I asked, waving the malfunctioning blaster. “Because I’ve got plenty of charge left.”
It was a bluff. The weapon felt like it was about to die. But they didn’t know that.
The soldiers looked at each other, then at their shock rods, then at the melted stone. Several of them started backing away.
“Smart choice,” I said. “Axion, get over here. Now.”
The android limped toward me, his optical sensors flickering as his systems seemed to recover from the electrical assault.
“Move!” I told him, gesturing toward the chamber exit.
We backed out of the chamber together, me keeping the blaster trained on the soldiers.
Once we were in the corridor and the door slammed shut, I aimed the blaster at the heavy thing and held down the trigger. The weapon shrieked in protest, getting so hot I could barely hold it, but it poured energy into the doorframe like a welding torch. Ancient metal melted and fused, sealing the entrance.
“Your weapon is malfunctioning,” Axion said.
I turned and aimed the blaster at him, holding out my other hand, palm up.
“My ring,” I said. “Give it.”
Axion studied me. I could practically hear the calculations running through his android brain.
“You need me to locate the vault,” he said.
“And you need me to open it,” I said. “Give me my ring, Axion. I’m not asking again.”
He reached into a hidden compartment in his leg and pulled out the High Circle Polarion ring, dropping it into my palm.
I slipped it onto my finger, feeling the subtle tingle as it interfaced with my partial Polarion genetics. Just having it back made me feel more complete, more in control.
“Does this make us partners?” Axion said.
“Temporary allies,” I said. “The moment I think you’re planning to screw me over, I’ll put a blaster bolt through your head and figure out the vault location myself.”
“How delightfully direct you are,” he said. “Temporary allies it is. Though I should warn you, the water race who stole the Negator are not going to hand it over. We’ll need their submarine technology to reach the vault, and they’re rather protective of both their vessels and their secrets.”
“Then we’d better get moving then,” I said. “Because I’m not leaving the planet without the weapon.”
Axion nodded, his damaged systems making small whirring sounds as he tested his mobility.
“Indeed. And fortunately, I may have already set certain events in motion that will provide us with the transportation we require.”
“What kind of events?” I said.
“The water race should be launching an assault on the Beach Temple very soon,” Axion said.
I stared at him, trying to reason out his thinking.
“You son of a bitch,” I said. “You told them about me. You made sure they’d come after me.”
“I may have provided them with intelligence about a sky demon who possessed advanced weapons technology,” Axion said. “They are eager to capture you for interrogation. Their scientific curiosity about beings who fall from the heavens is extensive.”
“We better get moving then,” I said.
Axion nodded. “Shall we use the teleporter to return to the Beach Temple? I believe we have a battle to join.”
I looked at Axion, weighing my options. Was this just another layer of manipulation? He was right about one thing: we needed a Sea Peoples submarine to reach their underwater stronghold… if that was really where the vault was.
“Let’s go,” I said. “You first.”
As we headed for the teleport chamber, I kept the blaster ready and my eyes on Axion. The ring felt good on my finger, but it didn’t change the fundamental equation: I was working with someone who’d already betrayed me and would certainly do it again the moment it suited his purposes.
The question was whether I could outmaneuver him when that moment came.
-28-
The teleport controls at the Mountain Temple were identical to those at the Beach Temple, which made sense if they were all built by the same ancient civilization. I stepped onto the platform with Axion, still not trusting him but needing him alive for now.
The golden light dissolved reality around us, and moments later, we materialized in the Beach Temple’s teleport chamber. The familiar stone walls and incense-heavy air greeted us.
“Do you hear that?” I asked.
Axion tilted his head. “Sounds like an energy-weapon discharge and screams.”
We left the chamber and headed into the main corridors, but instead of the usual peaceful temple, we heard shouts and the crack of flintlocks, as if soldiers were inside. Wasn’t the temple forbidden to men? Smoke drifted through the corridors, and I could smell burning flesh mixed with the acrid electrical stench of beam weapons.
“The temple must be under attack as you planned,” I said.
“Agreed,” he said.
Yet that struck me as bizarre. Nothing like this had been happening before I left. Had there been a greater time delay, perhaps with the teleportor? I didn’t see how, but then, I didn’t understand the science behind them.
“How long does teleportation take?” I asked Axion.
The android looked at me.
Then a soldier ran past us, blood streaming from a gash in his scalp. His armor was scorched by beam fire, and his eyes had the wild look of someone who’d seen friends die.
“The Sea Peoples!” he gasped when he saw us. “They burst out of the forest like demons! They’re trying to storm the temple! We had to enter to try to save it.”
That ended my thoughts about time delays and teleportation. Did it matter how this had happened? The more important point was that it was happening.
Axion and I moved toward the sounds of battle, passing wounded priestesses and soldiers, some on stretchers.
A massive explosion shook the nearby walls, followed by the crash of falling masonry.
“They must be targeting the gun positions,” Axion said.
We climbed stairs and reached a window that looked out over the temple’s main approach. In the courtyard, a battle raged. Sea Peoples in their bulky astronaut suits and bubble helmets were advancing on the temple entrance. They carried big, boxlike beam projectors strapped to their chests. When they fired, the weapons lit up the night.
Had some of the enemy already gotten into the temple, perhaps from a different entrance than the main doors?
Whatever the case, soldiers fired down at them from the temple, their flintlocks cracking in volleys. Unfortunately for the humans, the Sea Peoples’ suits were like armor, protecting them from the shots. On the flips side, the beam weapons were cutting through stone and flesh alike.
“There,” I said, pointing toward a group of aliens who had flanked around to the east wall. “They’re setting up what looks like a larger beam projector, probably meant to punch through the stone.”
“I estimate sixty attackers,” Axion said. “That would be three submarines’ worth, about what I expected.”
I drew and checked my blaster. The weapon was warmer than it should be, but it seemed functional, at least for now.
“Come on,” I said.
“Surely you jest,” Axion said. “We’re far too valuable to enter the fray directly. Those beam projectors are no joke even for me.”
“Are you looking down there?” I said. “The aliens are slaughtering the humans. If we’re going to hijack a sub, we’re going to have to even the odds, and fast.”
“Kane, you look down there. This is serious. Do you want to die for these dimwits?”
“Of course not,” I said. “But if the aliens win, we’ll never get a submarine.”
Axion reexamined the battle. “This is actually surprising. You have a point. Still, I am disinclined to enter the fray directly. I’m too obvious a target.”
The seven-foot android with his metallic sheen did stand out.
Then I saw an alien beam cutting a soldier in half. It was brutal and ugly, with no real defense against the projector. Maybe hiding would be smartest, but sometimes you had to count the cost and then throw yourself into the mess to try to solve it. Otherwise, you lost anyway. This seemed like one of those times. Why had I come down in the gravity sled if not to go balls to the firewall to win this?
“Do what you want,” I said. “I’m helping them.”
“Kane, wait—” Axion said.
I was already heading for the stairs.
“You’re not any good to me dead,” Axion shouted.
“Then keep me safe,” I said. “Be my bodyguard.”
Axion lagged behind for a time, but then sped up as I made my way down and through corridors, some filled with wounded defenders.
In a huge hall, we found High Priestess Serena rallying her forces. She’d lost her golden mask, and I could see her face again.
“Sky demon,” she said when she saw me. “Your timing is—”
A heavy beam punched through a wall, sending stone fragments flying everywhere. She ducked one.
“The east wall is failing!” a soldier shouted. “They’ll be through in minutes.”
“Pull everyone to the upper levels,” Serena shouted. “Make the Sea Peoples fight for every room.”
As we followed orders, I heard a familiar voice shouting commands.
I ran down a hall and found the purple-sashed centurion—the squinty-eyed bastard who reminded me of the fat bully from my childhood. He had a bloody cloth tied around his head, and thus didn’t have a helmet. He readied his soldiers for what seemed like a suicidal counterattack.
“They’re coming in through the north corridor!” he shouted. “We cannot let them reach the third landing!”
I watched a dozen soldiers racing after him as they headed for the aliens.
He and I had dueled in the forest not that long ago. How had he gotten back so fast, and recovered from the head slash I’d given him? He must really be a tough guy.
This also added credence to my theory that I’d been gone longer from here than I’d first thought. I’d have to figure out how that worked, but would have to do it later.
I watched the centurion, admiring his courage.
It was weird. We’d tried to kill each other, but now… I don’t know. There’d been a few times in my life when I’d slugged toe-to-toe with my enemy, and after the fight, we’d become friends. Not with gangbangers piling against me with numbers, but after fighting a guy man to man.
You know what? I respected the centurion.
I glanced at Axion. “This is your fault. You did this to them by contacting the aliens.”
“Actually, if we’re going back to first causes,” Axion said, “this is your fault.”
“How do you figure that?”
“You rebelled against my superior leadership on the Theron,” Axion said. “Now, I have been forced to improvise. Thus, if you’re searching for blame, go look in a mirror.”
“Screw you!” I said.
I ran toward the sound of fighting, my warm blaster in hand.
It was bad, as the aliens had set up a defensive perimeter at one end, their beam weapons cutting down those who charged their position. Bodies of bloody, smoking soldiers littered the floor, their armor no match for the energy weapons.
The surviving centurion and his soldiers were pinned behind a huge overturned stone table, trying to pop up and return fire with their flintlocks. But black powder weapons against beam projectors were like bringing knives to a gunfight.
“Get ready to cover me!” the centurion shouted at his men, no doubt preparing to charge the alien position.
From what I saw on the floor, that would be suicide. The aliens would cut him down before he made it halfway to them.
I couldn’t allow that.
Thus, I leaned out from a doorway and aimed, pulling the trigger. My first shot punched through a bubble helmet, sending the alien freak tumbling backward in a gush of water and alien blood. The second struck a suit, drilling through so the alien screamed in a high-pitched way, collapsing. His projector ceased beaming and crashed to the floor.
I snarled, targeting a third when the blaster whined as it powered up for the next shot. It was already too hot in my hand.
“Kane, duck,” Axion said.
I looked up in time to see aliens shifting their beam projectors. I ducked back as coherent light sizzled through the doorframe and punched through the wall where I was standing.
I’d already thrown myself flat on the floor.
I heard a bellow from the soldiers. They must have been charging, using the distraction to make their assault.
The projector beams quit firing at me.
I scrambled up, shaking my blaster, peering past the hot stone wall by the door.
The centurion led from the front, his cutlass gleaming in the light of the alien weapons. His soldiers followed, straining to reach the enemy.
More of the aliens showed up as reinforcements. They must have had communication devices.
If the centurion was going to do this…
I continued firing, my blaster getting hotter with each shot. Then it started making awful whining sounds that surely meant it was about to fail or explode.
Yikes, it was hot, but I killed aliens who were firing beams at soldiers. One soldier screamed as an alien beam seared off his sword arm.
The centurion with his bloody head bandage was something. He smashed a bubble helmet and fish-head with his cutlass. His men swarmed the alien position, flintlocks and cutlasses against beam projectors at close range.
It was bloody and desperate, but the soldiers had courage to match their desperation. The fish aliens fought back, but there weren’t enough of them to stem the tide.
I targeted again, pulled the trigger and yelped in pain, dropping my fiery-hot weapon. It didn’t fire, although smoke wisped from its barrel.
I drew my flintlock and fired.
Then I squatted and touched the blaster. I waited for it to cool down enough to pick it back up.
By the time I could holster it, the fighting here had ended.
The centurion was leaning against a wall, panting. Blood seeped from his head bandage. I found it amazing he’d done as well as he had.
“Sky demon,” he said, squinting at me. “You saved my men.”
“They’re incredibly brave,” I said. “I couldn’t watch them die.”
He nodded. “Perhaps I was wrong about you.”
“You’re all right yourself,” I said.
The sound of fighting had moved on, maybe even headed toward the temple’s outer areas.
The centurion must have heard the same thing. “The battle turns. We’re driving them out.”
“Kane,” Axion said. “You should see this.”
I nodded to the centurion and followed Axion to a window. Sea Peoples were retreating from the temple courtyard. It looked like they were falling back toward the forest. They weren’t running, though.
“This is a fighting withdrawal,” Axion said. “Notice how teams stop and set up, allowing others to retreat past them and then set up for the forward team. They’re using their beam weapons in an overwatch retreat.”
I heard a commotion to my side and saw the centurion peering out the same window.
“We’ll follow them into the forest,” he said. “There can be no quarter for those who have sacrilegiously entered the temple.”
