Infinitys end, p.17
Infinity's End, page 17
Evie took a deep breath. As she saw it, she really didn’t have a choice.
26
When Cas and Samiya reached the door to Engineering it was flanked on either side by security personnel. “Do they know you’re out here?” Cas asked.
“No sir,” Crewman Unak said. “The visual feeds from Engineering have been cut off, so we don’t know what’s going on inside.”
“That’s not right,” Samiya said. “There should have been an alert if we lost visual.”
Cas tapped his comm. “Zaal. Check and see why we weren’t notified about the loss of the cameras in Engineering. I want to know if Rutledge did something to them.”
“Checking now, Captain. I’ll comm you back as soon as I have an answer.”
Cas unholstered the boomcannon from under his jacket. Samiya stared at him and he shook his head to say don’t worry, I’ve done this a thousand times before. “Stay out here until you hear from one of us,” Cas whispered. “If he’s in there and he has hostages, there’s no telling what he might do.” Unak nodded. He turned back to Samiya. “You stay out of sight. I want his attention on me.”
“I’m not going to let him hurt anyone on this ship,” she replied.
“Then just make sure you include yourself in those efforts.” Cas double-checked his boomcannon was set to the particle blast setting, then nodded at Unak to open the main door. It rolled away with a rumble and Cas stepped into Engineering, his eyes scanning the large room and all the corners before coming to rest on his quarry.
Above him, Rutledge stood on the second level, facing away from Cas and toward the primary undercurrent conduits. He was working on one of the automated terminals which made traveling through the advanced undercurrent possible without Sesster. Beside him Tyler was on his knees, his head down, though he seemed otherwise unharmed. The rest of the Engineering crew were still at their stations, but all were looking in the direction of Rutledge. Except for Zenfor, whose face was burning with rage as her hands dug into the sides of her own console, crushing the metal.
“I wondered how long it would take you,” Rutledge said, not looking up from the terminal.
Behind Cas the door rolled closed again. Cas pointed his weapon at Rutledge’s back. “Daniel, whatever you’re doing, stop right now.” Faster than his eyes could process, Rutledge had Vrij’s weapon touching the center of Tyler’s skull. What the hell? Cas thought. How could he move so fast?
“I’ll tell you what I told the rest of them,” Rutledge said. “Put down the weapon or lose your engineer. It’s that simple.”
Cas grimaced, not liking his options. Rutledge had planned for this, and it seemed Cas’s appearance in Engineering was little more than a minor inconvenience to the man. Cas stole a glance at Zenfor, who gave a subtle shake of her head. He tossed the boomcannon away, listening to it clatter across the floor.
“Good boy. Looks like you can follow orders after all.”
“What do you want, Daniel? And what does Lieutenant Tyler have to do with it?” Cas called out.
“The Lieutenant was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I needed a hostage, he happened to be close to the access port where I came out. Nothing more. As for what I want, I want to finally be done with all of this. With you especially.”
“At least we can agree on that,” Cas replied.
Rutledge spun around, his eyes burning. “You think this is still all some big joke, don’t you? You think you were so clever in disobeying my orders, that you were the savior of the soul of the Coalition. Let me tell you something, Commander, since you never officially earned your current title. You did far more damage to the Coalition than I ever could have. And the worst part about it was I thought for a while you might have been right. When the weapon didn’t work, and it ended up killing everyone on board the Achlys I thought to myself: ‘Maybe Caspian made the right call all those years ago’. But it turns out there was a third player, someone working against me behind the scenes, and I never saw it coming.”
“Samiya told you,” Cas said. His suspicions had been right.
Rutledge barked a laugh. “Of course, you knew. I’m half surprised you didn’t put her up to it. You know what the saddest part about all of this is? I was willing to help you this time. For a short while, I was on your side. But you’ve ruined all of that now. Just like before.”
Cas furrowed his brow. “What are you talking about my side? You’ve never been on anyone’s side but your own.”
“Wrong. I was on the Coalition’s side. For as long as I could be. Even when they imprisoned me, I still held them close in my heart. I had spent my life loving and wanting to protect the Coalition, even if it betrayed me.” Rutledge raised his weapon into the air and Cas could see the relief spread across Tyler’s face. “But when I was faced with certain death, I had to make a choice.”
Cas glanced at Zenfor and the other Engineering personnel again. Samiya was nowhere to be seen. Maybe if he could keep Rutledge talking it would give her enough time to get the drop on him. He was glad she’d talked him into letting her come. “What choice?”
“Compromise or remain entrenched in my beliefs. And I chose to live.”
“You allied yourself with them.” Cas realized Saturina had been right.
Rutledge scoffed. “It wasn’t easy. They hate us, you know. With a passion. But I managed to convince them that other human settlements would be much more likely to trust me and allow me in than to let the Athru find them. I could be their envoy and help them root out any remaining resistance.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Cas heard one of the engineers say. He turned. It was Lieutenant Denna, her narrowed eyes locked on Rutledge. There were similar sentiments throughout the rest of the crew. Cas glanced at Zenfor; she was practically shaking. If he didn’t know better, he’d say she was close to launching herself from her station up to the second level.
“As horrible as that is,” Cas said, intent on keeping the man talking. “It doesn’t make sense. Because you’re right, they hate us. Why would they work with one of us?”
Rutledge laughed. “You make it sound like I’m the only one. I know of a few others, infiltrators who will seek out the pockets of resistance, and alert the Athru to their presence. There are a lot of humans unaccounted for in this part of the galaxy. Little did I know they were using cloaking technology to shield them from Athru sensors; that is a bit of engineering brilliance I’ll have to relay to Commander Gysan if I ever see her again. But now that I have the specs, it won’t help anyone else.” He tapped the console again and a rumble rolled through the room.
“What are you doing?”
“My job. I’m taking care of the Athru’s problem for them,” he replied.
“He’s set the undercurrent generators to cycle their energy through the ship,” Lieutenant Denna said. “The forces will tear us into molecules!”
“You should have known this was going to be your future, Caspian,” Rutledge said. “The minute you disagreed with me you sealed your fate.”
“That’s what all of this is about, isn’t it?” Cas yelled over the growing din. “The fact your ego can’t deal with the possibility you might have been wrong!”
“I wasn’t wrong!” Rutledge replied. “None of this would have happened if you’d just listened to me. And now, all these deaths are on your head.” Cas caught a glimpse of Samiya standing behind Rutledge. She’d managed to climb up the rear scaffolding, and gotten behind him, crouching low with her eyes locked on him.
“I’ve been accused of that before,” Cas replied. “And given the chance, I’d do it all over again.” He nodded and Rutledge’s eyes went wide a second before he turned to see Samiya barrel into him, knocking him off balance and over the railing on the second level. He fell ten meters down to the floor, landing with a thud. Cas ran over and grabbed his boomcannon, turning back to Samiya. “Good work, Commander.”
Samiya nodded and checked on Tyler, who seemed no worse for wear. She then began the shutdown sequence for the overload Rutledge had initiated. Cas made his way over to where Rutledge had fallen only to stop short. The man—who should have at least been seriously injured, if not killed from a fall like that—stood up like nothing had happened, Vrij’s weapon still in his hand and pointed at Cas’s chest. Cas didn’t even have time to raise his own weapon. “You didn’t really think they’d let me stay a human, did you? As part of the deal I had to undergo certain…modifications so I was no longer like you. So, I was no longer one of their targets.”
“What did they do to you?” Cas asked.
“Modified my genetic code. They’re good at that kind of thing. More strength, better senses, longer life. And then of course there’s this.” He reached up and tapped his artificial eye. It began blinking.
Cas’s comm crackled to life. “Sir, we’ve got an incoming Sargan fleet approaching. At least six hundred ships and they all have weapons armed.”
“You’ve led us to a slaughter,” Cas whispered.
“Maybe things could have been different,” Rutledge admitted. “When I first came to you, I was genuine in my offer to help. Hunting humans becomes tedious after a while. But now I see what the Athru see—humanity is beyond saving. If I can’t even trust my own officers…well. Let’s just say—”
“Enough!” As Rutledge’s finger tightened on the trigger, his attention was torn away by Zenfor, who vaulted over her station and in three long strides, each shaking the ground as she stepped, closed the distance between her and Rutledge. With inhuman speed he swung the gun to the side and fired directly into her chest, but she didn’t even pause as the blast hit her dead center. Zenfor wrapped one hand around his neck and the other around his hand, squeezing both at the same time and lifting him off his feet. “This is for all the lives you’ve destroyed, Sil and human alike,” she said as Cas heard the crunching of bones in his hand and his neck. Rutledge’s eyes rolled in the back of his head and he uttered a small hurk. Zenfor released what remained of his bloody hand, now mashed together with broken pieces of Vrij’s gun. Her other hand continued to squeeze his throat until there was an audible pop and Rutledge’s limp body fell to the ground, spasming, as Zenfor continued to hold up his detached head with one hand, blood dripping from the neck. “Justice,” she said. “Finally.” She winced and his head fell from her hands, striking the ground and rolling a few meters as Zenfor fell to her knees, staring at the black mark in the middle of her chest. She glanced up at Cas before collapsing on the ground herself.
Cas smashed his comm. “Medical emergency! Box, get your ass down to Engineering!”
“On my way, boss,” Box said.
Cas ran over to Zenfor, hoping beyond all hope she hadn’t just sacrificed herself for him. As he held on to her praying for Box to hurry the hell up, all he could think about was how selfless she’d been, and how it might have cost her everything.
27
Evie could feel Dulthar’s stare. As if the man had reached out with his gaze and struck her. He was waiting for an answer, but to her, it was obvious.
“You can try to kill me,” she said. “But I’m pretty sure you’ll fail.”
His eyes flashed, but otherwise his features remained neutral. “Pity,” he said. “We would have welcomed you, even with your abominable heritage. It’s such a waste. But perhaps it is better this way. No human genes left in the galaxy, as it should be.” He nodded to the guards behind her.
Evie closed her eyes, inhaling sharply and settled her focus.
So, the voice in her head said. This is what it’s come to. All that effort.
Leave me alone, I’ve already killed you, Evie replied to the ghost of Daingne. Now let me concentrate. Despite the fact she’d eliminated the sentient part of herself that was Daingne, some of her “essence” remained. Her presence was what made it possible for Evie to speak Athru, because she’d never learned the language. And even though that part of herself was gone, Evie could dig deep and find a silent strength in there. An inner power that was only available to her.
In the half-second all of this went through her mind, Evie felt time slow around her. She curled her hands into fists inside the manacles and smashed them together, the metal shattering as if it were glass, freeing her hands. Opening her eyes, Dulthar’s eyes were wide with panic as he shouted something in slow-motion.
What’s that he’s saying?
He’s scared of you, as he should be, the voice replied.
Evie turned and in one swift move, shoved the palms of her hands into the guards’ faces, feeling the crunch and crack of bones underneath. The guards fell to the ground before they could even react, and Evie returned her attention to Dulthar. He continued to shout and threw up his hands in front of him, backing away, the folds of his robe rising and fluttering in strange and beautiful patterns. She had enough time to appreciate the physics of the robe itself before she reached for him and scratched him across the face with one hand while planting the other directly into the middle of his chest, sending him sailing backward until he struck one of the glass windows. A sizeable crack appeared from the impact, and Dulthar crumpled on the ground.
Time sped back up and Evie dashed from the end of the room, running at full speed back toward the main thoroughfare. It only took seconds to reach but as soon as she did, she realized she had no clue where she was going, or what she needed to do. Getting off the ship was one possibility, but as almost every Athru in the corridor turned to look at her, she realized that wouldn’t be easy. Some of the Athru seemed fearful, but the faces of the rest contorted into snarls. One rushed her and she backhanded him, sending him skidding across the floor. At this, some of the others backed away from her, while more stepped forward, two with large stick-like weapons. She didn’t want to find out what those weapons were capable of, but leaving the ship wasn’t an option either. She was on the Athru mothership and despite all their plans, she’d never get this chance again.
Evie turned and ran for the nearest wall, off to her left where there were few Athru standing. The ones with the sticks and a few others pursued, but as soon as she got to the wall she planted her feet and jumped, landing two and a half meters up, then pushed off again, sailing high above the heads of the Athru until she landed eight meters away near the middle of the thoroughfare. The Athru standing around—she could only assume they were mostly citizens as they didn’t have any weapons, nor did they seem in much of a mood to fight—gaped at her as she sprinted down the hallway through the crowd. As some brave Athru stepped out to stop her she would either run directly into them, knocking them away or jump over them, watching their shocked faces with glee. Never before had she felt so alive and free to move. Only now did she realize she’d been subconsciously holding back her entire life and now that she knew her own capabilities, it felt good to explore them for once.
But she still needed to find a way to use this ship to her advantage. The most obvious choice was to find the bridge and begin firing on all the other Athru ships. If she couldn’t manage that, then a self-destruct. Her mother had said this was the ship that focused the energy of all the other ships, which meant if she could take it out, maybe they couldn’t destroy any more planets or stars. Maybe Cas and the others would have a chance, assuming they had discovered Rutledge’s deception.
But as far as she could see, there was no way to access any other part of the ship other than this ridiculous corridor. Her best bet was to try and get back to the surface ship she’d come in, perhaps overpower the pilots and then take it up to the bridge, which she figured was near the top of the tower somewhere. She wasn’t sure why she thought that was the case, but it seemed to be right in her mind. She had to trust she had innate Athru knowledge she could use to her advantage.
Knocking a few more Athru out of the way, she ran back the way she’d come, cursing herself for not using her abilities in the first place. Maybe if she had, Esterva would still be alive. But she’d been so overwhelmed by the ship and seeing all of these people she’d momentarily forgotten herself. She never should have let them take her and her mother from Claxia Prime. Then again, she was fast, but Evie wasn’t confident she was fast enough to outrun weapons fire.
She barreled back into the room she’d first come through with the guards, only to find a solid wall where the door had once been. She glanced around for a control panel, seeing only Athru writing on the wall. She focused her thoughts and her mind began to wrap around the words, discerning their meaning.
No access without proper authorization. Do not open field before connections are complete. Dem. 5.6372 – AC code 2.17.
She wasn’t sure what the last words and numbers meant, but she needed to get that door opened. There was a small panel on the wall beside where the door had been, and Evie had to reach back into Daingne’s memory to figure out how all this worked. If the memories were accurate, all she needed to do was convince the door she had proper authorization.
“Hey!” Evie turned to see another Athru guard with one of those sticks in his hand. She wasn’t sure if it was one of the same ones from before or not, but she rushed him, plowing him back into the wall. He hit it with an oof and the cracking of bones somewhere, dropping his stick. Evie stepped back, allowing him to fall to the ground, howling in pain. She grabbed him by the wrist, dragged his body over and placed his hand on the panel. A little indicator turned purple. She took that to mean proper authorization. So why wasn’t the door opening?
“Open this,” she said to the guard who clutched his stomach.
“You can’t leave,” he coughed. “There’s nowhere to run.”
