Mane-of-Night And The Wayward Child - Chapter 9

Fortain's World - Las Vegas...

"So, let me get this straight..."

None of this was going as Lee had expected. He had finally completed his trek across an increasingly screwed-up country to meet the mysterious "BertLV", only to find a half-finished hotel, housing a small population of the lost, the abandoned and the unfortunate, under the apparent leadership of a man who seemed unnervingly unwilling to show his face, and hardly gave Lee the impression of being even computer-literate, let alone having the smarts to devise a code system involving that web-site about insects...

"...these 'zombies' are actually artificial beings?", continued Bert, who hardly seemed to be the wellspring of truth Lee had been expecting.

"Yes", Croxley replied.

"And they were placed here by this 'Durash Fortain' character?"

"Correct."

"'Here' being not the real Earth, but some kind of duplicate, a replica?"

"Sounds crazy", said Lee, "but that's the way it is."

Bert paused for breath to mark the end of his summary. Now came the conclusion, and given Lee's story, it was hardly unexpected. "And I'm supposed to believe all this?"

"I wouldn't have come all this way, on the basis of a buncha e-mails, just to spin some crazy tales", answered Lee. "What I just told you isn't half of what I've seen, but you have to trust me on this. The Zeta-Men are coming - you heard it yourself - and we don't have time to discuss the truth to your satisfaction. I trusted you enough to come here, all the way from New York..."

"What you've told me does explain some of what we're going through", accepted Bert, "not that your version is the only possible explanation. We can reach consensus on that another time - let's deal with the matter at hand first."

Inside, Lee sighed, relieved that they weren't going to be "fiddling" while their particular Rome burned. Instead, they edged towards the glass outer walls of the lobby, to see what was happening outside, and the view was not encouraging. The Air Force had established a perimeter of vehicles and armed men outside, and several ranks of Zeta-Men were now mirroring their positions - several dozens of Fortain's minions, with more arriving every minute, and Lee had a nagging suspicion that he knew the reason why.

The reason was Lee Croxley. There couldn't be any other explanation. Fortain had left him alone because he didn't pose a threat on his own, but if he started getting organised, establishing some kind of resistance, then his status would very quickly be upgraded to "threat", and the time for that appeared to have come.

"I... I shouldn't be here", he murmured, backing away from the window. "I'm putting you all in danger..."

"Maybe", said Bert, thoughtfully, "but maybe not. Let's see how these Zeta-Men react to Captain Brenner and Lieutenant Salieri..."

Bert appeared unduly interested in the Zeta-Men, almost as though he had never encountered one before, but Lee wasn't about to advise caution, for he, too, was interested to see whether the Air Force officers could make meaningful contact, and perhaps go some way towards explaining just what Durash Fortain hoped to achieve by turning the Zeta-Men loose like this.

After a few moments' discussion with Salieri and several of the more senior of the armed personnel, the Captain stepped out into the open with a loud-hailer, on a strap over his shoulder, the microphone in his hand. "I am Captain Brenner, of the United States Air Force", his amplified voice called out across the growing crowd of Zeta-Men. "It is our duty to protect the people of this country, and the world, and if you pose a threat to them, we will do all in our power to achieve that aim. We do not wish to do you any harm, unless you give us no choice..."

"Typical military", sighed Bert. "Always force first, think second..."

"If at all", volunteered Croxley, and Bert nodded thoughtfully, his eyes never shifting from the military effort.

The Zeta-Men showed no sign of having even heard the Captain, two more silently joining their ranks while he spoke, but before Brenner could do anything rash, Lieutenant Salieri took over on the microphone. "I am Lieutenant Salieri, United States Air Force Intelligence, Special Contingency Division", she announced. "Numerous attempts have been made to make contact with you, and you have either chosen to ignore us intentionally, or consider us too insignificant to communicate with - but the fact that you are now gathering around this building suggests our people are of some importance to you. Is it not time for us to talk? Instead of groping around in the dark for whatever it is that you seek, maybe we can help you...?"

Brenner looked alarmed, and seemed about to intervene, but a stern look from Salieri made him keep his concerns, and his hands, to himself. "Rank doesn't always have its privileges", Lee murmured. "Special Contingency Division clearly trumps the rank-and-file every time..."

"You're a smart fellow, Mister Croxley", Bert whispered across to him. "I... I get the strangest feeling I used to work with people just like you..."

And you're not the first person to call me "Mister Croxley", though Lee. How I'm wishing he was here right now.

"We are prepared to talk - we want to talk", continued the Lieutenant. "You outnumber us two to one, and I am sure it is only a matter of time before someone in power on our side counts that as a severe threat to their control over their particular territory - we're actually quite surprised that hasn't already happened. It's a sign of the restraint we can exercise, but restraint frequently requires some degree of understanding, and whilst we don't need to know everything about your activities, some exchange of information would be advantageous to both sides. Surely you can see that."

All the Zeta-Men approaching the hotel stopped in their tracks. After several tense seconds, a single individual separated from the crowd, and took three steps towards the Air Force line of defence - outwardly, a young woman, with tightly-curled shoulder length hair, perhaps a student, but all pretence of humanity vanished when one looked into those pools of slowly-swirling oily green she had in place of eyes. "Request for communication has been received, and agreement has been made", she said, in eerie tones that suggested that hundreds of different voices were all trying to speak through her mouth at once. "Speak..."

Lee tensed, getting ready to run. The Lieutenant was going to ask them what they wanted, and he was already dreading the answer he knew they were going to give...

Onboard The Endless Sunrise...

I've seen, and been through more than my fair share of portals, magical and technological, but I've never seen one turned into a permanent "pipeline" for matter and energy, let alone dozens linked together for that purpose, and the prospect of actually flying down one is rather daunting. Instead of trying to hold on to a console or supporting strut, I enclose myself and Irinati in a telekinetic force bubble, wedging us into the gap between two of the control panels as we get ready to "ride out the storm".

The Endless Sunrise pitches and shakes, but The Traveller keeps his post throughout, in total and unfaltering command. He tries to keep us constantly informed, but his commentary is fragmentary at best, one or two words at a time reaching us through the shrieks and howls of the energy stream outside, raging against the vessel's fragile-looking outer hull - I could make telepathic contact, and allow him to keep me continually and fully updated on our situation, but such an intrusion could distract him at just the wrong moment, putting us all in danger. I remind myself that he's managed to survive for a thousand years, and that with me on board, he's going to try that little bit harder to ensure we reach our destination intact. I couldn't possibly ask for more.

I am, however, in constant telepathic contact with Irinati, and she seems unusually placid for someone who's just regained her independence after spending who knows how long under the influence of a "shard" of the mental essence of Jaceel, daughter of The Goddess and the now-deceased Overlord Guixander. The girl I briefly encountered during the Captain Dominion incident was barely aware of her surroundings, and there are times when Irinati seems to revert to that condition, when one would expect heightened anxiety, if not sheer terror - she clearly needs help reconnecting with who she was originally. Another task on my list, it seems...

The shuddering and roaring outside start to subside. The Traveller relaxes, no longer having to brace himself against the turbulence like a surfer leaning into the waves. Irinati "awakens", shrugging off her earlier torpor... all seems well, and we appear to have reached our destination in one piece.

"End of the line", reports The Traveller, standing back from the control console, and looking up at the main screen. "Welcome to Fortain's World..."

We emerge from our sanctuary, Irinati "swimming" free of my telekinetic bubble before I can properly dismiss it - an interesting talent I'm not entirely sure she realises she has - and as I look up too, I recognise the planet from The Traveller's descriptions, but nothing can prepare even me for the sight of this half-finished world. We are in close orbit around the incoming matter-energy stream, at an altitude that puts us just above what should be the surface of the Pacific Ocean, only the ocean simply isn't there, nor is the sea-bed - it's impossible to see a coastline, the dark walls of the massive pit merging with the night sky, and miles below us, all we can see is a faint, orange glow; maybe the core of the planet, open and exposed...

"This is wrong", gasps Irinati. "So awfully, utterly... wrong..."

"It's certainly not a common practice for any being to build planets", observes The Traveller, "but if you're going to do it, and you're not in a hurry, this would be the way. Accretion of particulate matter, just like the natural process."

"To me, it's more like taking a photograph of a planet, then reproducing it pixel by pixel, painting each one in turn", I respond. "At a distance, they look the same - close up, it's an entirely different story."

"Interesting", muses The Traveller. "A quite elegant description of the situation..."

"Not that such an analysis helps us", I intervene. "We're here - now let's do what we came here to do."

"Indeed", says The Traveller. "So, let's see what we can see..."

The Traveller shifts over to another control console, the several large display panels suggesting it is a sensor or science station. His fingers dance over the controls with an effortless agility, born of centuries of practice, and images of the incomplete Earth appear before him, tinged various shifting colours, in a variety of patterns.

"Ah - yes", he murmurs. "There's that energy field we detected last time, generated by and shielding the planet from the energy fountain - although it is elevated somewhat..."

He pauses, shifting to another display panel: "...but this is new. Looks like a coherent field of anti-psions in the low atmosphere..."

"I can feel it - or more properly, I can't feel it", I report, after tentatively extending my thoughts beyond our vessel. "Damn it - I'm going to have to employ a good deal of power to overcome it."

"And that means a very genuine danger of being detected", warns The Traveller. "However, there are other options - let's see what we can find out by listening in on their local communications. This girl you're looking for was from the east coast of North America, and if she's been sent home, that'd be a good place to start."

We watch only a few minutes of American news reports, but that's all we need to learn a very disturbing truth. "The Zeta-Men are acting openly, in large numbers", says The Traveller anxiously. "All over the world - but why would Fortain let this happen? This world was his masterpiece, the Zeta-Men actors to bulk out the population of humans he'd been able to collect - this just tramples over all that!"

"He's insane", I suggest. "If lives are at stake, we take him out. If you have any objections, I'll do it myself..."

"No, that may not be necessary", says our pilot. "Desirable, maybe, but not necessary. That anti-psion field... it has an underlying carrier signal, and there's a definite 'theme' to it. A Zeta-Man theme."

"Which means?", I ask him.

"Which means that Fortain has nothing to do with this - not any more", comes the reply. "The disruptions caused by Reignstorm may have had an unexpected effect, namely interfering with his control over the Zeta-Men. This changes everything."

"Everything except my reason for being here", I tell him. "I have to find Mariella -- and if that means I have to go down there, and do burst-scans to find her, then so be it."

"I'd advise against rash action", warns The Traveller. "If you're going into the field, then at least make use of all the resources available - I just happen to have an ally down there. Or at least, I hope I still do, and all this hasn't put him off technology, or made him 'run silent'..."

The Traveller tries to tap into the planet's personal communications networks, but with each attempt, he becomes even more frustrated. "They're allowing person-to-person communications", he mutters, "but there's a whole spectrum of Zeta-Men traffic overlaid on top of the system! I can't lock down his..."

"There."

The interruption comes from Irinati. She's watching one of the news broadcasts, coming from Las Vegas. One of the local networks has a camera-crew in the air, and they are currently hovering over the grounds of what may one day be a rather lavish hotel, if anyone gets to finish its construction - that seems unlikely to happen any time soon, given events as they are developing.

"We seem to have a situation developing at the as-yet unopened Olympus Springs Hotel", reports one of the crew of the news-station air-cruiser. "Air Force troops from Nellis are stationed outside, as are a considerable number of the 'zombies'..."

"Are you sure?", The Traveller asks Irinati. "You sense something?"

"...we've never seen them do anything like this before", continues the reporter. "It looks as though the Air Force personnel are trying to talk to them, but as far as we're aware, this has never succeeded before..."

"There", insists Irinati. "I - I know..."

I look into her eyes, and beyond - and there is a great deal of beyond to look into. Far more than I expected, for Irinati's mental essence appears to have merged with the psychic plane, perhaps a side-effect of her prolonged contact with her shard of Jaceel, possibly a necessary side-effect that plays a part in the task she's chosen to undertake - the retrieval of the other shards. From what I've been told, she simply needs to touch a shard, and it is returned to Jaceel, so maybe she needs to "think outside the box" of normal space to achieve that, just as she appears to be doing right now.

"...one of the 'zombies' is coming forward", says the reporter, "and I think an Air Force officer is actually speaking with it..."

"Get me down there", I tell The Traveller. "Whatever Irinati has sensed, it has to be investigated, and quickly, before this turns bad - as it inevitably will."

"Not the most ringing endorsement of humanity I've ever heard", The Traveller begins, then he reconsiders a path that will only earn him my displeasure. "Calculating an insertion vector, but it's not easy - those energy-fields are making an exact lock-on rather difficult. I'll get us as close as I can."

"That will suffice", I tell him. "Leave the rest to me."

"Rash action?", queries the adventurer.

I don't have an immediate answer for him. My armour may be out of operation - I pushed it too far on Asor's world to have it repaired in time - but I have a fully functioning energy whip... and something else that, for now, I'll keep tucked away in the top of one of my boots. I'm not expecting things to get that rough just yet...

...I fully intend to be gone before then.

"What do you want...?"

"Non-local technology has been detected in this area", the "zombie" told Lt Salieri. "Information received indicates that this structure has the highest probability of being the technology's present location. The technology will be surrendered to us."

"What technology do you mean?", asked the lieutenant. "This is just a temporary sanctuary for innocent people, caught up in the chaos generated by your appearance..."

"The technology was detected at St Clair Community Hospital, Las Vegas", interrupted the zombie "spokeswoman". "Information collected at that location identifies this structure as the potential location of this technology. The technology is from an outside source. It will be surrendered to us."

"St Clair Community...", murmured Bert, from his vantage point behind a column in the hotel lobby. "Oh no - not Mariella...?"

"Mariella who?", asked Lee.

"I believe I mentioned her to you", said Bert, sounding strangely uneasy. "She's... unusual. According to all records, she's dead..."

"We are unaware of anything out of the ordinary anywhere in the city, except, of course, for you". Lt Salieri responded to the interruption. "We will, in the interests of public security and safety, carry out a thorough search of the building..."

"Insufficient", declared the representative of the Zeta-Men. "Bio-probes will enter and scan the building. All occupants must submit themselves for scanning and cataloguing..."

"That's it", said Croxley, moving away from the window. "I'm leaving!"

Bert went to stop him - and within seconds, an already tense situation deteriorated into anarchy. Neither of the men heard it all, but the representative of the Zeta-Men started shouting out something about a "rogue element", and how "the anomaly must be purged", and in response, Captain Brenner snatched back the microphone, and ordered the artificial beings to hold their position or be fired upon. Within five seconds, the shooting started, a stream of automatic gunfire like a hailstorm hammering down on a tin roof...

Bert grabbed Croxley by the arm, and hauled him away into the "back-stage" corridors of the hotel. "Hurry now, Mister Croxley", said the hooded man. "We must not be found, not when we are so close to success!"

The voice was not Bert's - the strange man was now speaking with the smooth, calculating voice of Durash Fortain..

Lee ground to a stop, and tried to twist out of Bert's grasp. "What the hell...?", exclaimed the young man. "I'm not going a step further until you tell me what the heck is going on?"

Bert's grip was superhuman, and remained unbroken. "We really do not have time", sighed the voice of Fortain. "Suffice to say, I no longer have control over the bio-probes. I am their prisoner. This whole world is their prisoner. I wish to be free. Your people wish to be free, too, I'm sure. We can achieve both - but you must trust me, and we must leave immediately!"

There had to be no greater motivator for any living being than the desire to be free, Lee wasn't about to dispute it, and if there was a chance that humanity's freedom could be secured by going with this increasingly strange man, Lee had to take it.

"Let's go", said Croxley, and the two men disappeared into the darkness, with gunfire ringing in their ears.

...to be continued...

Posted at 16:50 on 04.11.2009


~ o O o ~


Previously...
Interlude: Another Mosaic Of Soon-To-Be... - 15.11.2009
Mane-of-Night And The Wayward Child - Chapter 13 - 12.11.2009
Mane-of-Night And The Wayward Child - Chapter 12 - 10.11.2009
Mane-of-Night And The Wayward Child - Chapter 11 - 08.11.2009
Mane-of-Night And The Wayward Child - Chapter 10 - 06.11.2009