Project Stellar
by Roman Prokofiev
Book 2: The Enchanter
Release - July 8, 2020
Pre-order here - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0859JH5TJ
Activation No ---
“WELL, HI THERE... Angel.”
The bloody haze
before my eyes gradually began to clear, allowing me to make out two human
figures standing in front of me.
One was a man; the
other a woman wrapped in a tattered dark-blue cape, her hand resting on the
neck of an enormous cyberwarg.
“I can see that you
can hear me,” the man said smugly.
I struggled to move
my lips. A blob of bloody saliva had formed in my mouth. My whole body hurt
like hell; my heartbeat reverberated in my temples. The earlier drop from the
sky had cost me dearly. I seemed to be in a bad way - but how bad exactly,
remained to be seen.
Miko was silent
which didn’t bode well, either. My interface was gone. Without it, the world
around me felt unusually empty and bland.
The man watched me
intently, his whole body concealed by the folds of his long dark-blue
headdress. His gaze, steady and sinister, sent frozen shivers down my spine.
Now I remembered
where I’d seen him before. He’d been in that group of people in the vox footage
which showed the Rogues’ negotiations with Rat King. Which meant that this was—
“I don’t think this
is Angel,” the woman said. Her voice was husky and low with disturbing
undertones reminiscent of growling. “He doesn’t look like him, Ice. It’s either
someone else, or the animafication process has only just started. Having said
that...”
“That was a joke,”
the man said sharply. His icy fingers dug into my chin, turning my head this
way and that. “He simply can’t be, can he? I know it for a fact. What’s with
the brain scan, Evilynn?”
“My interferometer
shows no trace of symbiotic activity. His reactions are within the norm, and so
is his magnetic aura. His brain hasn’t been tampered with. No presence of new
organs or Azuric mutations detected in his body.”
“That’s funny,”
murmured the man whose name was apparently Ice. “So it’s either he’s disabled
both his cogitor and his interface - which would have been sheer suicide -
or... or he’s not an Inca? What do you think?”
“I can’t see any
traces of genetic modifications,” the woman repeated in her low and slightly
annoyed voice. “This is just an ordinary human. That’s all he is. Either that,
or this is a brand new body. You know very well that any genetic modifications
made before a subject’s first Evolution don’t really manifest themselves. You
would need a full DNA test in order to detect them.”
“Maybe. One thing’s
for sure: this particular human isn’t as ordinary as we think, babe.”
The blade of Fang
glinted before my face. Completely unperturbed, the stranger held the clan’s
heirloom dagger with his bare hands, studying the engraving on the blue steel.
He then laid the dagger back onto a table nearby, next to my cryptor, ID card
and my other possessions.
“Blue steel marked
with the sign of Fenrir,” he said pensively. “Here, of all places. I wonder
why?”
“Ice, he’s got the
Wolves’ tattoo, their dagger and their cryptor,” the woman said.
“You think I’m
blind? I was right, wasn’t I? He’s not Angel; he’s not from the fort at all. A
Fenrir cub! He’s got their genotype written all over him. Can you feel the
sheer power of his Source? I’m surprised humans can still have them.”
“Ice, look! He’s
got the City’s mark on his face, too! One of those seven-city toadies, whatcha
call them...”
The man nodded.
“Tributes. Blank bodies the Legion uses to build fake Incarnators. Now I know
how he managed to reactivate the wingsuit. That’s part of their training,
controlling bionic exosuits. But how did he end up here? I’m sure it must be
one hell of a story. Hey, you! Mind telling us?”
One glance at the
man sent my alarm bells clanging. His eyes... they weren’t human, even though
they did appear perfectly normal. I’d seen this kind of look before: the alien
Darkness lurking deep within human eye pupils, the very substance which had
chased after me in the A-zone, having snatched the bodies of the two dead
Legionnaires.
“Who are... you?” I
struggled out a hoarse barely audible whisper.
“Who, me?” his
voice betrayed a smirk. “I have lots of names, boy. But you can call me
Iceberg.”
Iceberg? I
remembered the old tales Tara had told me. The radio frequency tags on the
implants she’d looted off the dead Rogues were marked with Iceberg’s symbol.
What was it the old Enchanter had said the guy’s name was now? “It’s Gnarl.
Iceberg is dead.”
So it looked like I
was facing one of the Possessed - the very one who was behind the Rogues’
attack on Fort Angelo. He was our mysterious enemy. The enemy who had Tara
Jessica Lee’s blood on his hands. She’d
died because of him, as had lots and lots of other good honest people.
A hot surge of
anger rose from deep within me, effacing all other feelings.
I spat the blood
blob in his face. Straining every sinew, I attempted to break free from my
bonds. Pointless. All I’d achieved was another bout of sharp teeth-grinding
pain.
Gnarl dodged the
spittle, his movement so lightning-fast it appeared blurred. Immediately he
punched me hard, burying his fist in my guts. I thought he must have
eviscerated me alive. I heard the nauseating sound of snapping bones; my body
convulsed in a paroxysm of unbearable pain. I arched in my bonds, shuddering,
my spasming chest failing to retrieve the wind he’d knocked out of me.
“Hey hey hey! Easy!
You’re gonna kill him!” the woman hissed behind his back.
“It doesn’t matter,
does it?” the Technomancer said, squinting at me. “He’s as good as dead,
anyway. After everything this snotnose has done...”
I suddenly sensed
the fury he emitted. It felt cold as ice but it didn’t make it any less
frightening. And still, I felt no fear - if anything, I had the satisfaction of
knowing that my enemy was on the wrong track. So they’d failed to recognize the
Incarnator within me? They thought I was just a Legion tribute with a naturally
strong Source? Very well.
“You’re good at
fighting helpless prisoners,” I spat out blood and lifted my head, locking my
stare with his. “Untie my hands... then we can talk.”
“Man to man? This
might be quite funny, actually,” he muttered pensively. His face - the face of
the first Incarnator I’d ever met - lit up with a predatory grin. “Very well.
That’ll give us a chance to check my theory. Set him free!”
More people came.
They twisted my arms behind my back and dragged me outside, taking me somewhere
else. The crimson rays of the setting sun assaulted my eyes. We were right in
the midst of the Rogues’ camp, surrounded by all sorts of vehicles, tents and
canopies stretched from one truck to the next. The bearded tawny-skinned techno
nomads sat by the fires, looking grim. Some were wounded, their tattooed bodies
covered in bloodied bandages. Many of the heavy vehicles were still smoking,
sporting gaping holes in their bodywork.
Had I done all
this? Well, in that case, Angel’s last flight must have really put a lid on
their ambitious plans. They must have failed to take the fort. Because if they
had, they wouldn’t be questioning me here. They’d have taken me to the fort,
probably to Angel’s statue in the main square.
Lots of curious
onlookers trailed after us until finally I was forced to a halt next to a large
armored vehicle - one of the Rogues’ own concoctions with looked like a cross
between a tortoise and a walking tank.
On top of it, I saw
several criss-crossed planks fastened over the rusty armor plates. People hung
from them, crucified. They’d been flayed, looking like crimson chunks of raw
meat. And the most horrible thing was, they seemed to be still alive.
Hard fingers turned
my head.
“See this?” Gnarl
whispered. “This is how these people kill their enemies. First they pump them
with snuff until they zone out, then they flay them and nail them to this
cross. After a few hours, the drug starts to wear off... Release him!”
Once freed, I
scrambled back to my feet and looked around me at the crowd forming around us.
I was limping; any sharp movement echoed in my spine and my gut. Still, my arms
and legs seemed to obey me. With every passing second, I seemed to regain
control over my body. Which meant I probably had no fatal injuries, most likely
thanks to my initial bone tissue reinforcement.
I kneaded my numb
wrists, watching the other Incarnator from under my frowned eyebrows. He
stepped back. My blue knife dropped at my feet.
“Okay, Fenrir cub,
pick up your Fang,” Gnarl said, spreading his arms wide. “I have no weapons on
me. Show me what they teach you in the Legion these days. If you manage to
defeat me, you’ll live. If you lose, you’ll end up up there,” he nodded at the
victims pinned to the crosses like some bleeding blossoms.
A duel? He wanted
to turn this into a gladiatorial fight for the crowd’s entertainment? Refusing
it would be pointless; I really should try and kill him.
The knife’s rough
hilt in my hand suddenly gave me some strength, filling me with energy. I had
Blue Steel on my side, capable of killing even a creature of Azure. My chances
were quite reasonable; he had no idea of what I was capable of. I should really
play this card. Also, I had my Fiend - just in case.
The fight’s outcome
became pretty clear after the first twenty seconds. I’d been badly wrong. My
chances were zero. I had no hope in hell. It was like pitting a newborn puppy
against a seasoned fighting dog. And it wasn’t even because of my inadequate
physical state. No idea how many upgrades and Evolutions this Technomancer had
had, but he was infinitely more superior to me than I was superior to a regular
human being. His movements were impossible to trace. Even though I could move
and hit really fast, that meant nothing to him.
My next swing with
the knife met thin air. Gnarl grabbed my wrist and twisted it until the bones
snapped. An agonizing pain shot up my arm. Trying to free myself from his grip,
I hit him twice, first with my fist, then with my elbow. Both blows connected,
each of them strong enough to kill a regular human, but this time it felt like
I was fighting a stone monster. He showed no reaction whatsoever. My smashed
knuckles exploded in pain.
Gnarl nonchalantly
flung me aside. My nose plowed through the gray dust which stank of blood.
I just didn’t have
enough body reserves. In order to tackle an opponent like this, you had to have
at least one Evolution under your belt, allowing you to go beyond the
boundaries of a regular human body. Alternatively, one could use one’s Azuric
abilities - but my damned interface was down!
It had to be the
Fiend. I had to release the Azuric creature trapped within my knife. I had no
other option. At the moment, Gnarl was just playing with me like a well-fed cat
with a baby mouse, but still his every blow could become my last.
I drew the knife
across my palm, leaving a trail of blood on the blade. Old Rico the Enchanter
had been right in assessing its properties.
Fenrir’s seal
erupted in a flurry of blue sparks. A red-hot dot dropped off the knife’s
blade, immediately turning into a fiery wolf.
The phantom froze
between me and Gnarl, looking slowly around.
The rogues shrank back, apparently scared by this arrival of a creature
of Azure.
Gnarl hadn’t budged
though. On the contrary, he stepped forward. His skinny outline blurred,
enveloped in a pale purple glow. The already-familiar energy lasso grew out of
his right hand, swirling.
“Bad try,” my
enemy’s voice rang with contempt. “He recognizes me.”
My wolf shrank,
raising his hackles and visibly growing smaller. I’d never seen anything like
it! The Fiend seemed to be afraid of a motionless stranger who fixed him with
his stare. Growling and dripping sparks, he suddenly dashed back toward the
knife, turning into a fiery spark which disappeared within the blue blade.
He got scared. He’d
scarpered back to safety.
I looked around me
desperately, trying to come up with something that could help me but finding
nothing. By now, my right hand didn’t obey me. Mustering every ounce of
willpower to block out the paralyzing pain, I switched the Fang to my left
hand.
Faking desperation,
I lunged at Gnarl head on. He met me with an almighty whack on the head,
sending iridescent circles swarming before my eyes. I must have passed out for
a second. When I’d come round, I was lying on my back.
“Not bad for a mock
Incarnator,” a jeering voice said above me. “You gonna get up or what?”
I staggered back to
my feet. My head was swimming. My knife, where was it? Everything blurred
before my eyes.
“Right, time to
wrap up this show,” Gnarl said wearily.
His voice seemed to
reach me from deep underwater. I realized I was staggering. The world was
spinning fast around me, the immobile Gnarl and the distorted faces of
hollering Rogues swirling in a crazy whirligig.
Gnarl walked over
to me. His next blow was so sharp I went literally blind with the racking pain
that exploded in my leg. I dropped down and screamed, reeling, unable to
suppress the cries of pain. Now I was unable to get back to my feet.
“It hurts, I know,”
Gnarl said. “I broke your knee. You disappointed me. With a Source that
powerful, you could have thought of something better than brandishing your
knife, of all things. Never mind. Goodbye, you ridiculous excuse for an
Enchanter. Tell Fenrir Iceberg says hello!”
A purple glow
formed around his raised fist, making it clear he was about to deal the final
blow.
Chapter 1
“ICE, WAIT.”
The woman in the
blue cape fearlessly stepped between us. She grabbed Gnarl’s wrist, stopping
the blow. Giant dark shadows of cyberwargs flanked her petite frame.
“You keep out of
this, Evilynn!” Gnarl hissed, shaking his hand free of her grip. “And take your
mutts away!”
“But we haven’t
even questioned him properly yet! If you kill him now, we’ll never know the
City’s part in all this! Also, this body... don’t you think we can use it?”
She uttered the
last words under her breath, standing very close to Gnarl. That was something
not meant for prying ears.
For a while, Gnarl
remained silent as if overtaken by doubt. Then the purple glow around his fist
expired. He lowered his hand.
“You have a point.
Emotions got the better of me,” he said quietly. “I got wound up and very
nearly granted this snotnose an easy death. Take him if you wish. See if you
can squeeze him dry.”
He turned back to
me. His next blow felt like he’d struck my head off my shoulders, sending it
bouncing over the ground. As I slipped into oblivion, I heard his cold
non-committal voice,
“Once you’re
finished with him, we’ll make him into a ‘red flower’ and nail him right in
front of the fort’s gates. Let them see their Angel.”
* * *
I resurfaced after a while. No idea how
much time I’d spent slipping in and out of consciousness, my slumber punctuated
with flashes of bloody crimson.
I felt awful. My
swollen tongue could barely move in my mouth, feeling for the remaining stumps
of teeth. I was queasy, my head was splitting, my knee throbbing with
excruciating pain. The moment I tried to breathe, my ribs felt pierced by
red-hot needles. It must have taken me several minutes to finally come round,
struggling to float out of the haze between swoon and awareness.
The first thing I
saw when I could finally focus was a ribbed ceiling and the blinding white
lamps trained on me. The place was quiet; the only thing I could hear was the
soft rumbling of an engine somewhere below.
I lay sprawled,
clipped to what resembled an operating table. A robotic arm overhung me, fitted
with a clutch of medical tools whose purpose was a mystery to me: probably an
auto surgeon or some such.
My very first attempt to move turned into agony
as pain shot through my body, blinding me like a flash of light, echoing in my
leg, my spine, my head.
I let out a muffled
groan, unable to suppress it. Things started to come back, floating out of the
haze: my flight, my drop, my fight with Gnarl... and this unexpected delay of
my death sentence.
I struggled to cast
a look around. I was in a large square room with steel walls. It bounced
occasionally as if moving along a bad road. It looked like I was inside one of
the trailers I’d glimpsed when I’d banked the last turn over the Rogues’ camp:
enormous monstrosities, long and painted silvery white, that had been lined up
in their second line of defense, looking dramatically different from their
usual jumble of jury-rigged vehicles. What a shame I hadn’t smashed them to smithereens
while I still could...
This particular
trailer must have been turned into some semblance of a high tech lab. It was
lined with control consoles and virtual screens, and set up with tables and
shelves holding all kinds of mysterious equipment. Everything was in pristine
order, the shiny surgical tools arranged methodically on the shelves. One wall
was lined with the white sarcophagi of medipods; another one with tall glass
pillars which looked like giant translucent test tubes filled with thick yellowish
green smoke which swirled, hinting at movement inside.
Angel’s wingsuit
caught my eye. It lay in a heap in the corner, its wings seemingly broken, its
silvery armor plates charred and deformed. On a shelf next to it I saw my stuff
in a transparent container: my Fox suit ripped to bits, my dagger and my
cryptor.
Several cages lined
the far wall: some of them empty, others had garms sleeping inside. My
Binocular Vision helpfully added more detail: almost all of the monstrous feral
dogs wore bandages in the exact places where the steel of their newly grafted
cyber reinforcements fused with flesh.
The biggest cage
stood on a small pedestal slightly aside from the rest and was covered with
thick tent fabric. Bundles of cables snaked along the floor, disappearing under
it.
Wait a sec. My
Binocular Vision seemed to work, which meant that the abilities I’d received
from Ptar’s Genome were perfectly active. What was wrong with my interface,
then?
The moment I
thought about it, the familiar little augmented-reality icons reappeared in my
mental view. Active again, finally...
The Transformation
tab was blinking with numerous red dots, pinpointing my many injuries.
Fractured kneecap; moderately severe concussion; fractured wrist; numerous
facial bone fractures; cracked third rib; not to mention all the numerous
bruises, grazes and damage to soft tissues. Not the best diagnostic in my short
life. Doubtful I could even get to my feet without help.
The pain kept
abating only to come back with a vengeance, unwilling to release my broken
body.
Status...
Transformation... Abilities... Miko, where was she now?
I opened her tab
and saw the gray outline of a generic headshot crossed out in intense red.
Your cogitor has
been force-disabled
Wake up, Miko, I mouthed the password with unyielding lips as I
typed it into the activation box. Come on now, what’s wrong with you...
After a brief lag,
my neural network appeared, holding one hand to her throat and coughing like a
trooper. Her cute virtual face was screwed into the expression of dramatic
suffering.
“Miko?”
“A- a- ahem! Hi
there, Incarnator...”
“Where the hell
have you disappeared to?”
“Gray, we were
attacked by the Lash of Void! A Gold-class Azuric ability! A blow like that can
easily kill even an Incarnator. Your wingsuit saved your life, absorbing most
of the damage. But we still got our fair share. Your Source went into a
temporary shutdown. You blanked out. The enemies were getting close. Thanks to
the data I’d downloaded from Stellar’s Archives, I was able to ID them as
Possessed. A quick extrapolation suggested that if they recognized an
Incarnator in you, we’d be toast. So I made a decision to temporarily disable
the interface and go into sleep mode. That was the only slim chance of survival
we had. As far as I can see, my prognosis proved correct.”
“But... how come
they didn’t see it?”
“Didn’t see what?
That you’re an Incarnator? Well, the Possessed Ones are denied access to
Stellar, aren’t they? Their interfaces are disabled. Your body is now virtually
indistinguishable from that of a regular human. They could only identify you
through indirect evidence such as your ability to reincarnate, your genomods,
your superpowers. A brain scan could have betrayed an active cogitor’s
presence. It’s either that, or a full DNA test including a complete DNA
breakdown.”
“But I managed to
activate Angel’s suit, didn’t I? I thought that only Incarnators...”
“Not necessarily.
In theory, any A-man with a fully formed Source can control bionic appliances.
The degree of synchronization would be a different story, of course. But that’s
not what we should be talking about now! We don’t have the time! Where are we?
Try to remember as much as you can. I need information in order to assess our
situation.”
Of course. She
didn’t know anything about whatever had happened after she’d deactivated
herself.
I focused, trying
to remember everything I could about everything that had happened after that.
Gnarl... our duel... the crucified people... the last words of that woman in
blue...
“That’s enough,
Incarnator. We were lucky. The probability of our survival was vanishingly
small. Still, we didn’t have any other options. This was the only route we
could take. The only reason they didn’t kill you outright was because they
believed you to be a City tribute.”
That’s right.
That’s exactly why I was still alive. Plus the information they hoped to glean
from me, of course. The Possessed would have loved to know how the heir of
Fenrir had ended up in Fort Angelo and whether it might have something to do
with the City scheming against them. They wanted to know how I’d managed to
activate Angel’s ancient wingsuit, as well as lots of other things. And once
they’d “squeezed me dry”, as Gnarl had put it, I was facing a long excruciating
death.
A weak source of
Azure radiation detected.
Current absorption
rate: 1 Azure per minute
Total Azure count:
7840/14300
“Danger! Watch out,
Incarnator! I’ll-“
Her icon promptly
closed and disappeared as she disabled herself and escaped back to sleep mode,
leaving me on my own.
With a soft
creaking sound, the door opened, letting in the woman in the blue hooded cape.
What was her name now? - that’s right, Evilynn. She’d managed to talk Gnarl
into keeping me alive for the time being.
An enormous
cyberwarg trotted in her wake, a seasoned beast with a long mane of matted
hair. Like a loyal bodyguard, he followed in her footsteps, his trustful stare
never leaving his mistress. Obeying her sign, he slumped on the floor by the
entrance, lazily baring his teeth at his caged brethren who began to whine at
the sight of him. His fangs were as long as my finger, the smallest of his
teeth the size of a grown man’s phalanx.
The woman removed
her cape and hung it by the door, staying in a hugging protection suit. As she
began to readjust it, she half-turned to me.
The sight made me
shudder.
She wasn’t human
anymore.
Her long triangular
face gave her a likeness to a she-wolf. The yellow eyes of a wild beast. The
tough matted strands of black hair and the pointy tips of her ears peeking from
it, studded with ring-shaped gold piercings.
Her skin was dark
gray veined with the familiar pale-blue web of Azuric patterns. Identical to
what I’d seen on the fragment of the Black Moon. Identical to those that had
covered Flector’s shell.
Her jumpsuit had
slits made on its shoulders, elbows and knees, with some weird black growths
showing beneath. Not growths, no. If my eyes didn’t deceive me, she’d actually
had herself implanted with several fragments of the Black Moon, grafting them
to her own flesh. It was they that emitted the glowing pattern on her skin. She
was a walking Azure generator, a mini A-zone. How much A-energy must she have
consumed? How many Evolutions had she undergone? What kinds of abilities had
she acquired?
At the same time, I
had to admit that she moved with effortless grace. Despite all the horrid
modifications, her body still preserved its feminine shape, attracting my
stare.
Unexpectedly for
me, my interface outlined the woman in red and offered a desctiption:
Evilynn “Evil”
Mail.
Provenance of the
data: Stellar’s Archives, 91.7% match.
A-woman
Incarnator
Possessed
Evidence of
infection detected. Progress: unknown.
Evidence of
unidentified genetic, myoelectric and Azuric modifications detected.
Source type:
unknown
Warning level: Red
(lethal)
It suddenly dawned
on me that the only reason my interface had managed to identify the enemy was
thanks to the available Stellar’s archives that the curious Miko had so
conveniently downloaded back at the Monolith.
The caged garms
climbed to their feet, whining miserably and poking their bandaged heads
between the bars. Evil crouched next to the cages, speaking to them in a soft,
gentle voice. I couldn’t believe my eyes seeing the influence the Possessed
woman had on those vicious mutated beasts: they yelped happily, clinging to
their beloved mistress.
Having fed them,
Evil walked over to the large cage that stood apart from the rest and
cautiously lifted the corner of the fabric.
A girl hunkered
inside. She was completely naked, her long blonde hair her only protection. She
was hugging her knees with her strong bronze arms. Her large, glowing green
eyes were the biggest thing I’d ever seen on a human face.
The girl curled her
upper lip like a wild beast and growled softly, baring two rows of perfect
white teeth.
Evil brought her
face close to the bars, gave the girl a long look and emitted a low throaty
laugh.
“So, sweetheart?”
she asked, producing a thin steel rod. “Won’t you share your treasure with us?”
The telescopic rod
extended, releasing a sharp probe which resembled a thick needle with a slanted
tip. Evil carefully slid it between bars.
“Quiet, baby, be
quiet,” Evil cooed as she brought the probe’s sharp tip closer to the girl.
“Hush, hush! Be good, sweetheart... I’m a little kitty, and you’re a little
vixen...”
The girl’s soft
growl rose to a warning hiss, then exploded in the fierce howl of a wounded
beast. The rod flew aside, knocked out of Evil’s hands. There was no girl in
the cage anymore - instead, a wild animal raged inside. It resembled a giant
cat - a lynx maybe, but it could indeed have been a fox.
But that’s where
the semblance ended. These kinds of feline foxes simply didn’t exist - not with
these markings and definitely not with these kinds of fangs and claws. This was
a Bina-class morph, a Terran animal which had been altered by Azure. My
interface ID’d it as an “Allys, a quasi-feline A-morph. Warning level:
Yellow”.
Oh yes, now I
recognized the cat girl. This was the werebeast that the Rattuses had sold to
the Rogues. Did that mean that the Possessed wanted her for their experiments?
What exactly did they want to do with her? What exactly did Evil hope to get
from her?
Having turned into
a cat, the girl had become so huge she didn’t fit in the cage anymore. And the
bars must have been live because every time she brushed against them, they
erupted in cascades of blue sparks. The werebeast howled and contorted inside,
trying to evade them, but to no avail: some part of her body always ended up
touching the bars.
Evil snorted. She
stepped away from the monster and stood next to the cage, arms akimbo. The two
seemed to have a fleeting resemblance in their beastlike yet feminine grace.
“You shouldn’t have
done it, sweetheart,” Evil said in a pedantic tone. “What are you trying to
achieve? Why are you so stubborn? Think for yourself, little vixen: another
couple of transformations, and what will you become next? You don’t even know.
You have very little time left. I only want to help. I could help you - and you
could help us too.”
Vicious hissing was
her answer. The girl had already regained her human shape; she huddled up at
the center of the cage without a sound, writhing with pain. Her tawny body was
welted and covered in nasty crimson spots as if she’d just been flogged.
Evil picked up the
probe. Shaking a disapproving head, she tried to repeat what she’d started. I
had no idea what she was up to - but the werebeast’s fragility turned out to be
a ruse.
Her movements were
so swift they didn’t register. The creature somehow managed to grab the end of
Evil’s rod. After a brief struggle, the probe fell apart, leaving a few sharp
fragments in the werebeast’s hands. She made full use of them; all I could make
of her blurred movements was that she must have flung them at the woman.
The sheer power and
speed of the creature’s attack were terrifying. I realized it when one of the
fragments hit the trailer’s wall just above me, leaving an impressive dent in
the ribbed metal. They failed to harm Evil though, ricocheting from the hemispherical
power shield which snapped open around her, saving her from the sudden attack.
I used to have something like that in Angel’s wingsuit.
She was a
Technomancer, wasn’t she? Apparently, her ability to control technical
appliances far exceeded that of regular humans. You just couldn’t catch her
unawares or kill her with such primitive means.
Still, Evil was
furious.
“Bad little vixen!
Bad fox!” she growled in a low voice, flipping a switch on a device attached to
the cage.
More blue sparks
flew from the bars, turning into little forking bolts of lightning which
started hitting the Allys creature. She howled and wailed with pain, once again
transforming into the enormous shapeshifting beast, rapidly changing guises.
After a short while, she was shrieking rather than wailing, squirming in agony.
The stench of burnt flesh spread over the lab.
The punishment
lasted several minutes. Only when the girl had stopped moving, her body black
and crimson with the burns, did Evil seem pleased with the result.
The creature
couldn’t scream anymore: she wheezed and croaked, gasping for air. At first I
thought that she hadn’t survived the torture but her body kept shivering. The
life potential in this beast was truly incredible: a regular human would have
been dead a long time ago.
With an annoyed
shudder of shoulders, Evil stopped the execution. She reached for a new probe
and inserted it into the huddled creature’s body, meeting no resistance this
time. The werefox jerked in pain as Evil performed strange manipulations.
Finally, a little
green light started flashing at the probe’s other end.
“That’s it,
sweetheart,” Evil said with a happy squint. “Wasn’t so bad, was it? You think I
enjoy hurting you? I don’t. You need to behave, baby, and everything will be
just fine...” she turned round and walked over to me with a graceful
hip-swaying swagger.
Her unkind stare
and shark-like grin sent shivers down my spine.
“Our hero is awake,
I can see,” she sniffed. “So, honey? Let’s get started, shall we?”
Chapter 2
“CAN YOU HEAR ME?”
I didn't reply. I
just concentrated on studying her.
A-woman. Class:
Possessed. Glyph: Incarnator.
As a recruit, I
didn't have access to all the other tabs containing her detailed stats and bio.
There was one thing that stung me unpleasantly though: the very fact that
“Incarnator” was just a glyph, meaning that Stellar didn’t view us as human
beings. In its classification, we were grouped with A-morphs and Azuric
entities from over the Edge.
This realization
triggered a chain of very unpleasant speculations... but this wasn’t the right
moment to start pondering over them.
Evidence of
infection detected. What exactly did
that mean? That black substance I’d seen - Darkness, wasn’t it? According to
Miko, it was some sort of xeno virus which had come from the Black Moon. Could
the Possessed have contracted it up there? Having said that, both Gnarl and
Evil looked perfectly human, nothing like those two poor bastards whom Darkness
had risen from the dead after it had poured out of the Black Sarcophagus.
Evil stepped close.
Her cold disinterested stare made me uncomfortable. This is how you look at a
lab rat you’re about to vivisect. Considering she hadn’t hesitated to do all
these things to her own body, what kind of things could she inflict on somebody
else’s? In any scenario, I was facing an excruciating interrogation session and
the consequent study of my genetic material, followed by a slow and horrid
death. Dying at Gnarl’s hands would probably have been a better option than
being sent to Evilynn Mail’s lab.
“Good boy, so nice
and quiet,” Evil purred in a low voice which sent shivers down my spine. “You
don’t seem to be afraid, do you? That’s good. Let’s have a little talk, shall
we? What’s your name?”
I kept silent while
rummaging desperately for available options. They thought I was a clan tribute,
a regular human with a powerful Source - which was the exact reason I was still
alive. The moment they realized I was an Incarnator, the situation would change
because they’d start to employ the means capable of defeating one. And that
would be the end. An open confrontation with the Possessed left me zero
chances. Which meant I had to suffer in silence, playing along with their
theory while biding for time looking for an opportunity to escape. So I had to
do my best to convince Evil I was just an ordinary tribute.
Talking to her made
sense in only one case: if I wanted to play for time and pull the wool over her
eyes. But she didn’t look stupid; doubtful I’d be able to pull her leg for very
long. What would a regular tribute do in my case, a proud heir of Fenrir
clan? Most likely, he’d preserve a dignified silence. Very well. Let’s start by
playing the unbending hero. That should look believable enough.
Evil breathed a
languid sigh. “You don’t want to talk. It’s so boring. I’ve seen it so many
times before. Look, I’ll tell you now what’s gonna happen next. You think you
have a will of steel and the balls to match. Well, you don’t. Breaking a man is
the easiest thing in the world. Do you know how much time it’ll take you to
start singing? A couple of minutes, if that. Then you’ll be begging me to
stop.”
I had no doubt she
was telling the truth. She must have had lots of experience. What other options
did I have, then? The most obvious was attacking her with a Flash while I still
had enough Azure. Even if the energy of Ra didn’t kill her outright, it would
definitely deal her some heavy injuries and stun her to boot. That would give
me some grace time - hopefully enough to break free from my bonds and finish
her off.
Which was exactly where the problem was. My
duel with Gnarl had rendered me more or less disabled - doubtful I’d even be
able to get back to my feet without help. My sprawled arms and legs were secured
with steel clasps which made an integral part of the operating table. I had no
doubt that Evil had had enough practice dealing with patients who’d needed to
be securely immobilized.
Besides... the
Flash could also hurt the werefox trapped in the cage. Not that I was so
concerned about her - but at the moment, I viewed the creature as a potential
ally. Both of us were prisoners of one and the same enemy. Also, her phenomenal
agility and reactions had left a lasting impression on me. If I managed to get
her out of the cage, she could create a lot of problems for the Possessed.
“Pretty boy...
handsome body. Would be a shame to damage it, wouldn’t it?” Evil ran a
thoughtful hand down my torso. Her touch would have been almost gentle had it
not been for the five bleeding lines left by her sharp dark-blue nails.
“I don’t enjoy
hurting people,” she continued, then giggled and added with a crooked grin,
“Well, maybe just a little bit.”
Her fanged grin and
the weird glint in her eyes were a clear indication of her hovering on the edge
of insanity. You can’t preserve the clarity of mind when trapped in an inhuman
body constantly altering with the effects of A-energy. It did leave its stamp
on you. Miko had been right warning me against the consequences of implanting myself
with incompatible genomes.
She pressed
something, causing the table to slowly rise to the vertical position. Once it
reached the seventy-degree angle or so, it stopped, leaving me lying on a
slanted surface.
The change had
caused an excruciating pain in my broken wrist and kneecap. I let out a loud
groan, unable to suppress it.
“Here we are
singing already,” Evil commented. “So what’s your name now?”
I didn’t reply. She
pensively rummaged through a small steel toolbox filled with all kinds of
surgical tools. Scalpels of every possible shape and size; bone files; needles,
scissors and tongs...
“The areas that
guarantee the best results are eyeballs, dental pulp, fingers, eyelids and the
crotch area,” she said confidentially. “The latter is especially popular with
the Rogues. Those guys have some imagination! What would you prefer,
sweetheart?”
She finally made
her choice. Smiling, she showed me a pair of curved nippers. Their serrated
edges glistened ominously.
“If you don’t have
any personal preferences, I think we’ll start with your fingers.”
I closed my eyes
and tried to relax and distance myself from what was about to happen. This was
only my body. This was only pain - a body’s reaction to physical damage. I
wasn’t Sven Greyholm. I was Grey, an Incarnator, an incorporeal entity which
could change its hosts at its first whim.
Still, my sangfroid
didn’t help me much. As soon as Evil began her manipulations, an all-consuming
pain shot through my body, snatching me out of my stupor and reminding me that
these were my fingers, my hand, forcing me to scream and groan as I convulsed in my bonds trying to escape the
agony.
“Shame about your
hand, don’t you think? I know it’s only the left one...”
She’d been right.
I’d only lasted a few minutes. I could think of myself as an unbending hero all
I wanted but the reality was, an unbearable pain quickly reduces you to a
shrieking cornered animal which would do anything at all just to stop the
torture.
“Sorry, I didn’t
hear you,” my executioner drawled. “Come again? What did you say?”
That bitch! Now I
really hated her with pure unadulterated hatred. I hated all of them - the
Possessed, the Rogues, everyone! If only I could, I would have killed them in a
dozen various ways.
Still, she was
stronger. All I could do was whine in pain, spitting blood. “Sven... Sven...
Greyholm!”
She bared her teeth
in a grin. “Good. Very good, Sven. Good boy! The first words are the most
important. Are you from the City? How did you end up in Fort Angelo?”
“Legion’s...
raid... I was... the only... survivor...”
“How interesting,”
she drawled. “Mind telling me more about it? Your destination? The name of your
leader? Which cohort were you? How many Warriors and Enchanters did you have?”
“I... I can’t...
remember...”
“I’m afraid you’ll
have to, sweetheart. You’ll absolutely have to,” she almost sang, once again
raising her instrument of torture.
It suddenly
occurred to me that this might have been the exact reason why the old “me” had
wiped his own memory clean. He must have expected something like this to
happen. You can’t be tortured into revealing something you don’t know. He was
trying to protect some vital information, the key to which was hidden in that
Tower of Void back in the city, inside the mirror which was behind the heron...
I had to keep his
secret, whatever the cost. “I really... can’t remember!”
“You still have
four more fingers, sweetheart. Please try to make an effort.”
Pain comes in
plenty of shades. It can be slow and nagging; it can pierce you like a sharp
needle or sever you like a serrated blade. That day, I learned all about its
many varieties. I couldn’t think straight. A panic seized me. I just couldn’t
see a way out of this.
While she was
trying to extract information from me, I feverishly opened the Status tab and
skimmed through the list of my abilities.
STATUS: Incarnator
Project Stellar
Name: Grey
Rank: Recruit
(commendations: 2)
Total Azure count:
7850/14300
Source: Energy Type
Ra
Special
Abilities : Speck of Light (1), Reinforcements with Light (1), Flash of
Light (3)
Physical
modifications: Source Upgrade (5); Bone Structure Upgrade (1), Muscle Tissue
Upgrade (1), Metabolic Upgrade (2), Nervous System Upgrade (2)
Genetic
Modifications: Binocular Vision (Ptar Genome)
Available
Neurospheres : 1
Available
Genomes : Hydra Genome, Bottom Crab Genome, Rattus Genome
What of this could
save my bacon? Hydra Genome wasn’t available yet. Ditto for Crab: all I could
implant straight away was Impermeability to Radiation which was pretty
irrelevant at the moment. The Rattus Genome I’d received while fighting rats in
Fort Angelo’s underground tunnels didn’t offer anything of particular value,
either.
Warning! The
integrity of your host’s body has been compromised! Current integrity: 98.2%
The drop in
Integrity below 30% will render your host’s body unfit for any further
incarnations.
Evil seemed to be
finally getting fatigued. She turned to the garms in their cages and hurled
them the bloodied scraps which had only recently been my fingers. Whining, the
monsters greedily attacked the treats.
Evil watched them
with a smile. “These babies are constantly hungry,” she explained. “It breaks
my heart to look into their begging eyes...”
I’ll kill her. Hatred throbbed in my skull. Viscous blood dripped
to the floor from my mangled hand. The giant cyberwarg - her bodyguard - walked
over to us and licked the floor greedily. I could hear his bloodthirsty
grunting below, right next to my feet.
Bastards. Scumbags.
Fucking Shivas.
What else could I
use? The Reinforcements with Light were still too weak. Should I invest my only
neurosphere into a muscle tissue upgrade and try to force my way free?
And then what? She
was still stronger than I was.
That left Flash of
Light.
“I don’t like the
fluctuations in your background Azure levels,” Evil suddenly said. “What do
they teach you at Timus these days? Do they help you develop your clans’
techniques? Summon fire and wind? Stop your own heartbeat? You need to know
that these tricks aren’t worth jack against an authentic Incarnator. Never
mind. Let’s see what you’ve got in there.”
She laid the
bloodied nippers aside and produced the same fat rod of silvery steel which
she’d used to torture the shapeshifter girl with.
“Keep still,” she
warned me. “Otherwise it will hurt.”
The sharp probe
with a slanted tip snapped out, sinking into my neck. I hissed with a new bout
of pain.
Azure extraction
process initiated
Azure lost: 380...
Azure lost: 450...
Azure lost...
The pale blue
A-energy bar in my interface began to shrink in leaps and bounds.
That witch was
somehow syphoning my Azure! That’s what that thing was for!
Seething with fury,
I jerked my head, trying to pull the needle out, but Evil’s dark blue nails dug
into my face with inhuman force, immobilizing me.
“Keep still, I
said!” she hissed.
After about half a
minute, she pulled the needle out herself. I watched her snort in surprise,
staring at a steady blue light which had replaced the blinking green one at the
rod’s other end.
You’ve lost 3456
Azure
Total Azure count:
4394/14300
“That’s some
healthy Azure content you’ve got, honey,” her voice rang with surprise. “The
battery’s fully charged! You must have a very powerful Source.”
Finally, my
interface highlighted the rod in her hands, supplying information:
Universal
telescopic Azure extractor
An Azure Artifact
???
The extractor’s
back end opened up. Evil reached inside, producing the already-familiar Azure
capacitor made of beryllium bronze and altered
glass. According to my interface, it contained 5000 Azure. It was identical to
the ones I’d received from Stellar for completing my missions. My heirloom
cryptor had a whole slotful of them albeit empty ones.
So that’s how you
charged them, restocking the supply of the Incarnators’ universal currency?
“How very
interesting,” Evil muttered as she walked off and nonchalantly set the glowing
battery on one of the shelves. “What a powerful Source. An incredible amount of
Azure for a regular human. I bet you have more where this came from. Fancy
sharing it with me?”
That’s when I
realized I couldn’t wait any longer. Another extraction would bring my Azure
stocks down to zero, rendering me unable to reincarnate or activate an ability.
Which would be the end of me.
You could see Evil
was a professional. She would indeed squeeze me dry and unravel my story thread
by torturous thread. Very soon she’d know everything about my memory loss, my
true nature and the secret stash somewhere in the City. I shouldn’t be too
optimistic: Incarnators weren’t immortal, after all, and I was pretty sure that
the Possessed had the means of capturing and eliminating even the likes of
myself.
A new empty battery
clicked into the extractor’s handle. A flashing red light came on.
“Keep still,
sweetheart,” Evil cajoled me while bringing the sharp needle to my neck.
I drew a deep breath,
relaxing every muscle. Once she got really close, I went for it.
Chapter 3
Speck of Light!
THE LITTLE TONGUE of flame flickered on, swirling in the air just next to my mangled hand.
Evil startled. Too
late: the little spark had already slid into the little space between us - then
unfurled in an all-consuming explosion of Flash of Light.
A wave of scalding
heat surged over me, blinding my eyes behind my tightly squeezed eyelids with
its raging white flame. Luckily, the solar flare of Ra couldn’t hurt its own
creator; all I could feel was a powerful gust of hot wind.
The fire hissed and
roared; I heard some high-pitched sounds followed by popping and cracking. Evil
must have been instantly swept aside, away from me.
In an instant
between two heartbeats, not waiting for my eyesight to restore, I summoned my
cogitor:
Wake up, Miko!
Almost
simultaneously, I activated my only neurosphere, selecting Muscle Tissue
Upgrade (2). According to its description, it improved both my muscles’
strength and conditioning. I just hoped it was enough to help me break free
from my fetters. A shitty plan, I know, but it was the
only one I had!
I had to give Miko
justice: she jumped straight in. Now that I’d betrayed my true nature by openly
confronting my torturess, we couldn’t stop halfway: we had to employ all
of our reserves.
As if reading my
thoughts, Miko instantly took stock of the situation and did a quick
calculation.
“Grey, the muscle
upgrade isn’t enough! You need to release one hand, at least! Do it! Just rip
it!”
She instantly
conjured up a quick 3D picture, showing me what I had to do. By mauling my
hand, Evil had in fact helped me: with enough effort, I could squeeze the
long-suffering stump of my hand through the steel bracelet. That’s what
desperate animals do when they’re caught in a steel trap: they chew their
trapped limb off.
I was an Incarnator.
My body was only a tool. My spirit was stronger than my body’s animal instincts.
“Grey, NOW!”
Mustering up all of
my willpower, I yanked my hand as hard as I could, ripping skin to the bone. A
mind-boggling pain pierced my body but I had no choice. It was do or die.
I screamed my head
off. The pain blinded me for several seconds. Then I felt unexpectedly light
when my bloodied stump had finally broken free.
“You did it! Well
done! Prepare to reincarnate! I’m stopping your heart!”
Repairing the damage to your host’s internal
systems...
Success!
Incarnation complete!
Current Azure
count: 2794/14300
I opened my new
eyes.
Evil’s lab was
consumed by fire. The lighting had gone off; all I could see was clouds of
smoke wafting in semi-darkness. Sparks flew from machines and severed cables;
the electromagnetic impulse had disabled all the electronic equipment.
Everything within several paces was scorched; the flames licked greedily
everything that could burn. The garms thrashed about in their cages, ablaze.
I discovered Evil
within a few feet from me. Her charred mummy lay on the floor unmoving. Her
split blackened skin smoldered; her hi tech suit surged with blue sparks of
electric charges.
“Grey, she’s not
dead! You need to finish her off, quick, while she’s still in shock!”
My left hand was
free. I wriggled my perfectly good fingers. The rest of the damage to my body
was gone too. I had a brand new body which didn’t hurt one bit! Now I had to
somehow free myself. I still had three steel bracelets to tackle.
Using my free hand,
I tried to bend or break the one on my right hand but the metal was too strong.
“Use a lever!”
I arched my body,
trying to reach for Evil’s toolbox, and managed to grab something that looked
like a long steel chisel. I slid it into the bracelet’s eyeloop and invested
all my strength into prizing it free from the table. Screeching and caving in,
the bracelet finally jumped free from its base.
“Now leg it!!!
Quick! She can come round any moment!”
I arched my back
like a professional gymnast and forced my legs free from their bonds with the
help of my makeshift lever. Free at last! I slid out of my fetters, grabbed the
Azure battery which Evil had so imprudently left within reach, and dashed
toward the shelves with my stuff. Regular weapons couldn’t kill a Possessed
one... but my Blue Steel could give me some advantage.
“Grey, to your
left!!!”
The smoke parted,
releasing the silent figure of the giant cyberwarg - Evil’s bodyguard. Leaving
a comet-like smoky trail in his wake, he went for me. I was saved by the fact
that he was blinded and probably also stunned. The electromagnetic impulse must
have damaged his implants and cyber reinforcements; he limped, shook all over
and his reactions were slow.
I dodged his attack
and lunged on top of him before he could get his act together. Grabbing the
chisel with both hands, I buried it deep into the back of his head. His thick
skull crunched with the impact. The chisel became well and truly lodged in the
bone. There was no way I could pull it out.
But even after
that, the cyberwarg kept snapping his teeth trying to get to me, dropping froth
everywhere. Come on, you bastard, die now!
You’ve received 730
Azure
Total Azure count:
3524/14300
Miko kept urging me
to hurry. Her voice rang with anxiety. Seconds elapsed; Evil could come round
any moment.
I dashed toward the
shelves with my stuff. It hadn’t been clever of you guys, leaving a prisoner’s
possessions in the same room, had it?
The Fox suit’s
zipper zinged shut; the heirloom cryptor ring slipped onto my finger; the Fang
slid out of its sheath - I needed to finish Evil off pronto!
“Grey, aim it here!
This is the only place where you can hit an Incarnator’s ethereal body!”
She placed a bright
red marker right at the center of Evil’s chest, exactly where the Source was
supposed to be: the receptacle of the ethereal matter which animaturges call
“anima” and ordinary people know as “soul”.
So that’s how you
could kill an Incarnator for good, then? By hitting him or her right in the
Source while the Incarnator’s bodyless spirit was inside their host’s body?
“Yes, yes, but you
need to do it with an Azuric weapon! Stab her, QUICK!”
I lunged at Evil,
raising my dagger.
A powerful blow met
me, almost knocking me out, as Evil jumped to her feet and gave me an almighty
whack with her clawed hand, sending me flying across the room. My back hit the
opposite wall, very nearly knocking the dagger from my hand again.
I hadn’t made it.
She must have come round a split second before my attack. A pale-blue glow
enveloped her body as she activated Reincarnation, just like I’d just done.
Once again she was in mint condition, not a burned wound in sight. Her high
tech suit kept sparking though from my EMP attack.
She hadn’t said a
word. The bluish-black plates of a new protection suit closed over her body
like fish scales, as if growing from her skin, creating an impenetrable armor
veined with the familiar pale-blue pattern of Azure.
“This is
Azure-resistant armor, Incarnator! It’s one of her Azuric modifications! Now
you can’t hurt her with a Flash!”
Evil growled: a perfectly
natural beastly growl. A helmet very similar to an Anubis mask closed over her
face. Its eye slits lit up crimson. Her suit’s left forearm released the triple
blades of curved steel claws; the round barrel of a pulse gun clicked out of
her right one. She seemed to have transformed to her combat form - a creature
in scaly armor which bore only a fleeting resemblance to a human being.
The red dot of her
target finder focused on me. The black muzzle of her gun glowed with the
pale-blue light of an upcoming energy pulse. Angel’s wingsuit used to have it
too, albeit a bigger caliber.
“Grey, follow my
instructions!”
Evil began to fire.
Now I could
appreciate the true purpose of these cogitor things. Had it not been for Miko,
I’d have been dead within the first ten seconds. But my sweet neural network
had already mapped out the entire room, overlaying it with augmented-reality
diagrams and highlighting potential projectile paths, working out optimal
escape routes and cover positions. All I had to do was follow her guidance and
repeat every movement of my 3D copy as it threaded its way amid the red lines
of new assaults. It was a game against time, a mad dance which demanded all the
resources of my modified body.
Luckily, a pulse
gun - even a weak one like hers - couldn’t fire non-stop. The brief two to
three-second pauses was all I needed to change my position and escape the fire
arc. Still, even though her first projectiles had missed the mark, I knew my
luck couldn’t last forever: she must have already called in reinforcements. I
needed to do something to disrupt her plans, but how could I do that?
“According to my
estimate, we have zero chances in open combat, Incarnator. She’s several times
stronger than we are now. I’m now assessing all probabilities...”
I leapt behind the
cage with the werefox, using it as cover. The blue pulses hit its bars, melting
and mangling the metal. The girl was still alive albeit in a bad way. Covered
in terrifying blue and red burn marks, she thrashed about the cage, expertly
dodging the energy pulses.
“I suggest we use
the surprise effect and leg it, Incarnator. Here’s the scheme of the trailer.
Here’s the vehicle’s cab. We could set up an accident! Can you see that air
duct over there?”
I realized what she
was driving at. The air duct’s path was highlighted red on the truck’s virtual
profile. Easy. If only I could get a moment’s breather! I kept leaping,
rolling, somersaulting and squirming like a professional tightrope artist,
trying to evade death.
“Ice was right, we
should have killed you there and then!” Evil growled. “You think you know what
pain is? Oh no! I’ll make sure you die slowly... like a slaughtered pig...”
She laughed
triumphantly, seeing me release a new Speck of Light. She must have thought I
was trying to attack her again.
Not really. Obeying
my mental control, the little flickering flame slid past her and headed for the
air duct grill, right into the duct’s round pipe, reemerging from its other end
into the vehicle’s cab.
I had no idea who
was driving it. It was irrelevant, anyway: a new Flash was going to kill
everyone inside the cab and disable all the complex electronic equipment. The
truck might go out of control, hopefully changing the situation in my favor.
Activation!
A surge of blinding
light escaped the air duct like the beam of a searchlight. The truck’s cab must
have turned into a ball of white fire.
My ears were
assaulted by the deafening screech of the brakes. The trailer turned its
direction and speed, listing to one side as if skidding round a bend.
After a few
seconds, the truck was shuddered by a terrible blow which threw both Evil and
myself to the floor. The truck had rammed into something, bowled over, then
skidded for another fifty yards or so, apparently pulled by the momentum of its
long trailer.
The lab’s entire
contents showered upon us in a deadly downpour of shattered debris; its walls,
the floor and the ceiling changed places several times as the trailer kept
tumbling over.
Finally, it ground
to a halt after bumping into something one last time so badly that the impact
crumbled the ribbed metal of the walls, folding them on themselves.
I struggled back to
my feet, brushing my suit off from all the broken bits. I was alive and not
even wounded, if you didn’t count a few bruises.
Where was Evil?
I scanned the
trailer but couldn’t detect her. But the big cage had wrought itself off its
pedestal, hit the opposite wall and tumbled over before coming to a halt just
next to me. All the high tech equipment that had been attached to it had been
ripped off its mountings; the fat bundles of cables were severed, the cage’s
double bars deformed by the pulse gun’s charges.
All of a sudden,
the werefox girl was very close to me. Despite all the wounds she’d received,
she was still breathing, reaching out to me through the bars which weren’t live
anymore.
Her pleading gaze
was on me. No, not on me - on the fully charged Azure battery that I was still
clutching. The creature’s enormous eyes, green as forest leaves, were focused
on its pale-blue glow. My interface still refused to ID her.
An unidentified
A-creature
Type: ???
Warning level: ???
She pleaded for
this Azure... and I knew I had very little left myself but...
But I went with my
gut feeling. A hunch, if you wish. The expression in the weregirl’s eyes
betrayed intelligence, and I was desperate for some allies. If she managed to
get out of her deformed cage...
Ignoring Miko’s
indignant protest, I lobbed the battery into the cage.
The girl caught it
in mid-air. For a brief while, she seemed to stare at it in disbelief. Then the
battery lost its blue glow as the girl must have absorbed its contents. Five
thousand Azure for a creature who’d just been bled dry by Evil’s extractor - to
the girl, it must have been like a drink of water to someone dying of thirst in
a desert.
Slowly she rose to
her full height, her head almost touching the cage’s ceiling. She seemed to be
perfectly comfortable with her own nudity. The empty A-battery dropped to her
feet. Her eyes were firmly fixed on me - but I couldn’t for the life of me work
out the meaning of her slightly deranged gaze.
Then she spat on
her hand and ran it over her body. Her gesture left clean skin in its wake as
all the burns and terrible wounds disappeared as if erased. She had one hell of
a regeneration!
After a few brief
seconds, she stepped toward the bars and grabbed them with both hands.
“Grey, this
creature... this is some genetic modification. She’s capable of using Azure
artifacts! She is sentient. I’m running a quick identity assessment... Here’re
the top results: she’s most likely to be an A-human belonging to the following
glyphs: Shiva, Lilith or Incarnator.”
Mangled out of
shape by the pulse gun impacts, the cage bars groaned their protest in her
hands. She was incredibly powerful, whoever she was! Transfixed, I awoke to
Miko’s desperate scream,
“Above you!”
Like a giant
spider, Evil was clinging to the ceiling - or rather, to what used to be the
lab’s floor. She was trying to sneak up on me to get a clean blow.
Her lithe black figure
dropped down. Her sharpened curved claws glistened in the dark. Had it not been
for Miko’s warning, she would have indeed ripped me open like a slaughtered
pig. As it was, I managed to parry her attack - only to be thrown back like the
first time, very nearly dropping the knife.
She pointed her
pulse gun at me and shot me point blank. There was no way I could dodge it this
time. The direct hit singed me; I saw Evil protract her predatory claws as she
dashed toward me.
She didn't make it.
The furious weregirl stepped in her way, transforming into a giant lithe beast.
She’d managed to escape from her cage!
The girl lunged at
Evil. The two rolled on the floor, entangled in an angry growling ball which
swept everything out of its path.
Miko didn't let me see
the end of their combat, mercifully shutting down my mind to blank out my death
throes.
Activation No 14
Repairing the
damage to your host’s internal systems...
Success!
Incarnation complete!
Current Azure
count: 1194/14300
By now, I was
completely disoriented by all the screaming, roaring, hissing, the glinting of
steel and the crunching of smashed equipment. Evil’s pulse gun flashed blue;
the shapeshifter’s claws struck sparks from her enemy’s armor as the girl -
who’d once again transformed into a giant Allys - was busy ripping Evil
apart, making sure to repay her blow for a blow. The two moved so fast that I
could only glimpse fragments of their movements.
I jumped at my
chance. Leaping to my feet, I activated my cryptor. Its contents were all present
and correct: apparently, the two Technomancers had failed to hack it open.
The Smasher felt
comfortably heavy in my hand. With a soothing click, a new clip slotted in.
Azure-modified
armor, you say? Let’s see how it likes a large caliber!
“Hold her! Keep her
still!” I shouted to the weregirl who’d already pinned Evil to the floor and
was apparently trying to bite her head off. With all the chaos around us, I was
afraid of hitting my new ally.
“Keep out of the
line of fire, Incarnator, will you?”
Finally Evil seemed
to have got her act together. Her scaly armor was covered in deep whitish
scratch marks. The weregirl was stronger and faster - but she only had her own
body reserves to rely on. But Evil still had a few high tech surprises up her
sleeve. Although my EMI attack must have disabled most of them, the few that
were still left were plenty.
The eyeslits of her
elongated visor lit up with a bright red glow, releasing thin threads of laser
beams which hit the shapeshifter’s gnarling muzzle. The claws on Evil’s right
forearm retracted, transforming imperceptibly into another tool: a buzzing
circular saw which immediately sank into the weregirl’s flank. Howling and
growling, the Allys leapt aside, abandoning her nearly defeated prey.
Now I had a clean
shot. Miko calmly pointed a red marker at Evil’s helmet, then corrected my aim
with the help of an augmented-reality profile.
Nine rounds boomed
as one, throwing Evil several paces back. She dropped to the floor, rolled
over, tried to get up, then collapsed back down. Finally, she scrambled to all
fours and shook a disoriented, confused head.
I kept firing
non-stop until I emptied the clip, hoping that the Crasher just might smash her
head to bits. But all I’d achieved was several well-grouped whitish dents on
her helmet and a light stun.
Without pausing, I
conjured up another Speck of Light and sent it down my dagger’s blade which
immediately began to glow. Investing all my strength into the blow, I hit the
damaged part of Evil’s helmet as hard as I could.
I knew straight
away that I wasn’t strong enough. It was like trying to stab a slab of rock.
Evil must have upgraded her skeleton so many times that her bones had become
harder than granite.
I groaned with the
effort, desperate as I realized my inadequacy against her. Even when stunned,
finishing her off wasn’t an easy task!
A heavy weight
pressed me down. The wounded Allys had already transformed back into the girl
who was bleeding profusely - and still she’d hurried to my aid. Her small hand
pressed hard against the dagger’s pommel. Immediately her hand began to smolder
- the Fang did burn strangers, didn't it? Still, she kept on pressing. I could
see that she had much more strength in that body than I could possibly muster.
Fang’s blade kept
sinking in reluctantly as if it were hardwood. Evil began thrashing in our
grip, apparently coming round, then emitted a blood-curdling high-pitched
shriek.
Bang! Struggling,
she hit me hard with her helmeted forehead, her Anubis mask smashing my face. I
saw stars. Evil’s next blow sent the weregirl flying.
She rose to her
feet. Just like that, with Fang still sticking out of her helmet, one third of
its blade buried in her skull. She had no intention of dying whatsoever.
Her pulse gun
pointed at me again. A blue flash glinted down its barrel.
Too late. I
focused, sending the Speck of Light toward the tip of the dagger. That was the
whole idea: I wanted to pierce her damage-deflecting armor and explode the
Flash inside her.
Evil jerked like a
puppet pulled by all of its strings. Her shot missed me entirely. She dropped
to the floor, flailing her arms and legs, as an unbearable white light poured
out of her eye sockets, her mouth and the breach in her helmet. The Flash was
scorching Evil from the inside.
It didn't last
long. The scaly shell of her body armor dissolved, melting. In only a few
seconds, everything that was left of her was the charred carcass of an
unidentifiable creature burned to the bone, which had very little in common
with a human being.
This was a biotechnological
nightmare of synthetic muscles, cyber parts and artificial organs grafted to
her natural ones. Now I could see why she’d been so reluctant to die: Evilynn
Mail was at least 50% cyborg.
“We have little
time! Collect her Azure!”
I gingerly pulled
Fang out of her skull. Immediately my interface exploded with an avalanche of
messages.
You’ve eliminated a
dangerous criminal!
Judge: mission
updated (1/10)
You’ve received
43200 Azure!
Neurosphere
complete!
Neurosphere
complete!
Total Azure count:
13594/16500
You’ve received a
Genome of Ice Anubis!
You’ve received the
phenotype of Evilynn Mail!
You’ve received ???
“Excellent,
Incarnator! Can’t get much better! Now go and retrieve the fragments of the
Black Moon... oh no!! Back off! Go back! GO BACK!!!”
Miko’s voice rose
to a desperate high-pitched command which meant the highest degree of
danger. Instinctively I backed off.
Only now did I
notice a small puddle of black liquid forming under the body, viscous and
unable to reflect light.
I’d seen it before,
escaping that black sarcophagus.
Darkness.
Release - July 8, 2020
Pre-order here - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0859JH5TJ
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