+What do I say to ‘em? They weren’t even interested at all; they just wanted to get away.+

  *Tell them this: Across distances I’ve led you—with valor, strength and victory I’ve fed you. All the evil of the world will dread you.*

  +What is that?+

  *The Valkyrie pledge. Every member of the Guard knows it. In fact it was so volatile that when Lebabolis disbanded the Guard and sent me for Realignment that code was rendered illegal. If they hear someone speak it, that should give them enough of a push.*

  +So you worked with Baudricort. My father?+

  There was a pause. *Yes, I knew him very well. He can help you.*

  +I’m afraid not. He’s dead.+

  The voice gasped and shuddered. When she spoke again, her voice was stained with emotion. *How did it happen?*

  +It’s still a mystery. He was killed by a bomb at one of our bases, but we never found who did it.+

  Her voice trembled more. *He believed in what I did, what I still do, with every breath I have in my body, in this mechanical shell they’ve locked me in. Without safety and strength, evil will win. Find the Guard, Ana. Repeat what I said.*

  +But their deal to cure Varrick and the rest depends on me finding Cataclysm.+

  *You made a promise with someone incapable of doing so, I’m afraid.*

  +But they cured Varrick! I saw him.+

  *Be careful. I’m an expert on dealing with Charista, and look where it’s gotten me. Just remember, things aren’t always what they seem.*

  +I had no choice.+

  *I know. But now you do. If you don’t stop Charista, there won’t be much of anything or anyone else left to save, my dear. Be careful. Charista has eyes everywhere, and don’t think she’s not trying to get into your mind via the Link.*

  +And the Omegans? Can we stop them at all?+

  *They want something, plain and simple. Find Cataclysm, and you’ll have what they and everyone else who wants power desires.*

  +Power?+

  *Control, but power too. And the Guard will give you the edge to find it and defend it if they get the chance, if you show them they can strike back over what was taken from them.*

  +Even if I do this, and they go along and we somehow manage to turn back the Omegans, what about Charista? She’ll still be in power, she’ll still have the ability to develop, and she’ll come up with something else before long.+

  *First stop the immediate threat. The Omegans will drain the world for resources before they leave. There’ll be no stopping them just yet either. If they do, this planet will no longer be habitable. Ana, your list of enemies is growing, you better add to your collection of friends. If you get to Cataclysm first, Baudricort has something there for you.*

  +Oh?+

  *Yes, but you must get to the device to see it. Just don’t let other people know about me and our Link at the Capital. They don’t like those who are different, and you don’t want Charista to get any more plans for you than she already has.*

  Chapter 15 (Nelson)

  A fter a blistering flight across miles and miles of jagged terrain, over and around mountains like some sort of extended rugged machine test, we arrived at the location for Cataclysm. The mountains stared back at us like an angry pack of lions. We glided past a collection of boulders, scattered around like pieces of popcorn spilled on a floor. Our ship weaved slow and steady toward the taller mountains, where my Pull was so strong that I shook.

  I clutched the armrests of my seat and took several deep breaths. I hoped getting Cataclysm also meant these feelings would finally stop.

  We topped a few more grassy hills and saw a flatland, still with random boulders and rocks, but a level path that slowly arched up to the mountains appeared in front of us. I felt this tug in one direction. It wasn’t super strong, but it was enough that if we moved a different way I felt unbelievably nauseous. I noticed a reach of boulders and some reddish soil, and I felt the direction was the right one to go, so I pointed Zengus to where my “feeling” showed me.

  Reilly rode next to me in the comm seat. He was pretty brawny, and among Norg and Zengus, that really said something. He’d been part of the group with Kaitlinn that was supposed to haul us back with her in force. Once Zengus explained things about our situation better though, Reilly went along. His glasses lay across his nose, and he looked on me with a smirk that he held for most people. He was in maintenance, but it was pretty clear if things got physical, Reilly was one of the guys who’d be throwing down early.

  We touched down near a cave that jutted out from the side of one mountain like a hungry mouth. The air right inside the entrance was damp. I wiped the moisture that collected on my forehead. Kado ran a scan for signs from any other forces but found nothing. We unloaded, grabbed torches and weapons and headed inside. A dank moist air greeted us on the way in, with a rotting smell of a place that had no ventilation ever. A snake slithered past us into the darkness.

  “You never mentioned snakes,” Kado muttered.

  I shot him a glare. “What am I, a tour guide?”

  “Given everything that’s happened, I’d expect you know a lot about this place, more than you may even realize.”

  “You should know by now, it doesn’t work like that for me.”

  The ground was rocky and slippery, and more than a few times one of us slid to the ground in the near darkness. We took slow steps on the soft ground.

  “Still got those feelings, Nelson?” asked Norg.

  “Stronger than ever. Ready for this to be over. It’s weird but I’m walking right where I’m pulled, if that makes any sense.”

  “As much as anything. I posted Reilly by the entrance of the cave for a sentry. Let’s keep an eye out; I don’t want us wandering off where we might get stuck.”

  “Of course.”

  Zengus lifted his light above and lit up the ceiling, and its jagged slopes of rock pressed into each other in crooked and broken arches.

  Zengus pointed at the fractured rocks. “Looks like there’s been a few cave-ins here over time. We used to look around in caves like this back at my Sector. Watch your surroundings, case we need to bail fast. Everybody remember your bearings and the way out. It’s real easy to get spun around in here if you’re not careful.”

  “Eyes out,” Kado murmured as he tapped away on his P-LAD. “I’m scanning the area. Let’s go slow here; we got a big prize to haul in. Don’t want to waste time looking where we shouldn’t.”

  The cave was filled with silence other than the small sounds we made as we talked on occasion and padded our feet over the unstable ground. I remembered my trip with Ana out of Sector Five in the beginning of all this, when she saved me from having my mind altered and destroyed. I felt another Pull but kept it in check, even though it still shot up to the surface now and then.

  The deeper we went, the moister the air got. The Pull got even stronger too, so I knew we were right on target. I walked through a wall of cold air. The chill it sent up the back of my neck stopped me quick. The Pull moved to my throat, and I managed a startled cough.

  “You alright?” Zengus asked.

  “We’re close. Real close. We should even stop and check here; this may be it.”

  The path widened, and a ledge formed out of the rock off to our right. We fanned out and looked around. The dim light from our torches threw a lot of shadows around, and showed just piles of rock and dirt, with a makeshift path through it all. I scanned my eyes and strained for any more details than my eyes gave me right then. My view settled on one section of rubble and passed over it before I felt myself pulled back there.

  I looked off somewhere else again, but my head jerked back as if invisible hands directed it back to the same place. Before long I pointed right at the spot. “There it is.”

  A smooth ledge jutted out from the floor of the cave up four feet, a wall of rock that flowed up to a platform. Loose boulders were placed all around to make it semi-visible to anyone who wasn’t looking right at it.

  Norg and Zengus snaked from behind me and stood, their thighs pressed against the ledge. They slid rocks and other rubble away from the spot until they revealed a large crate. I shone my torch on it. The case was covered with black soot and grime, but the light found a few glimmers of metal. It had some markings I didn’t recognize; there was too much grime on it. The center of the top part had a larger reflective surface, and I made out the crossed blade and bolt of the Valkyrie.

  “Paydirt,” Norg muttered.

  I grasped the P-LAD in the darkness and activated it. I pulled the notes up on the screen. The letters stared at me in their original state, and after a few minutes they rearranged to form letters and words I understood. Diagrams amid the notes explained how to open the crate, so I directed the others on unlocking it.

  I watched and called out details that flowed from my uncomprehending eyes to my brain and out through my mouth. Part of my mind watched the whole scene as if it were some kind of movie. After a few minutes the case was open. For all I’d heard about this device, it looked average to me. I don’t know what I’d expected; anything more elaborate than this. Several circuit boards and a swirl of wires with switches. The whole thing emitted a bluish glow. It looked old, even by this time’s standards. I wondered if it even worked anymore. It was a lot smaller than I’d thought, for a machine that caused so much destruction.

  Norg grunted. “So now what?”

  “What do you mean?” asked Kado.

  “Let me tell you now what.” Zengus’ pulse rifle activated and made me jump; it was the only sound we heard in the cave. “I suggest you get to hauling that thing out and hand it over to me good and fast.”

  “What’re you doing, man?” Norg’s face was twisted in confusion.

  I traded confused glances with Kado. He reached a hand toward Zengus and flinched when Zengus swung his rifle to Kado in response.

  “Um, Zengus, what’s going on?”

  “All that needs to be, Intellectual Product. All you need to know is I made my own deal out of this whole situation. See, you’re going at this the wrong way, searching and gunning and fighting for what? Stopping the Omegans? Still think they’re out to get us? Why don’t you consider just how easy it’s been for them, and then let me tell you why. You’ve got the wrong information on them. We’re not their enemies. We’re their slaves.”

  “What?”

  “You heard me.”

  “Zengus, what makes you even think that?”

  “I got a good dosage on one of my raids I flew up in Jason’s regiment. They’ve been pulling more of us out to help with the Omegan gathering humans up.”

  “Gathering humans?” Kado waved his arms about. “Zengus, this is ridiculous. You know Charista’s been sending suggestions through the Link for years now. I think your imagination has just gotten away from you.”

  Zengus sneered. “Wrong again, brain child. You’ve been fed the same story like most people, even Baudricort. Poor bastard never even realized he’d been helping keep this little scenario going, all those years working on the Link and programming us like the onboard systems of a Hell Hawk.”

  I asked, “But the way you say it, not just the Omegans were in on this. If they’re pulling people to help as you say, someone else in Lebabolis knew.”

  “Charista.” Zengus scoffed as if the effort of saying her name was beneath him, like it was some secret we were all supposed to know.

  I felt my knees wobble beneath me, and I steadied myself against the wall of the cave.

  Zengus laughed and shook his head in pity toward us. “Y’all still thinking I’m crazy; well, let me just explain it better. We’re generations into a gigantic farming experiment.”

  “Farming for what, Valentium?”

  “Us, fool. Us. We’re the crop.”

  “What?”

  “You heard me. Centuries ago, the human race were reduced to a stash of embryonic cells in storage. Seems the powers that were back then made arrangements in case the shit royally hit the fan. And when it did, they had their backup plan. Only they didn’t realize just how bad shit would get, so thousands of these embryonic hosts sat and stayed. Until another race came along, the Omegans. They weren’t even looking for us. They stopped over to drain this planet and thought we’d make good helpers for that before they turned this whole place into dust.”

  “You’re telling me that they reconstituted an entire race? Why?”

  “That ain’t for me to even begin to determine, brain child. How’s about you, Mr. Author? You got any ideas why this all happened?”

  The idea of the Omegans and what they did hadn’t entered my mind one bit. “No. I’m at a loss. I always figured we’d be wiped out in a nuclear war. But I’ve no other idea.”

  “So we’ll just have to wait for the book, I suppose. If you live long enough to finish it.” Zengus sneered.

  Sloshing footsteps grew louder in the corridor behind Zengus until Reilly’s face was framed in the dim light, his pulse rifle pointed, the tip glowing and ready. I watched how he regarded Zengus, and it told me whose side he was on.

  Zengus nodded, then pointed to the case. “So let’s move this thing on out.”

  “I ain’t moving jack nowhere,” Norg muttered. “You better shoot me now and save us all the trouble.”

  “Norg, what would we do without that badass mean you pull off so well?” Zengus nodded to Reilly, who jammed a metallic claw in Norg’s arm. The claw came to life with a shrill tone and the sound of metallic gears clinking. “Gotta hand it to those Omegans, they brought all this kind of tech to us for their experiment. We’ve added tweaks, but I bet it’s nothing like theirs.”

  Norg’s body shook in violent convulsions. He took labored breaths as saliva shot from his mouth. This went on for a few minutes, and his eyes shut tight. When he opened them they emitted a pale blue glow.

  “And now we have our own drone product.” Zengus admired their handiwork for a few moments. There was Norg, in body anyway. But it was pretty clear from his face that he wasn’t there. Even the crinkled lines on his brow from his frowns were gone, and his eyes were blank aside from their new hue.

  “What the hell did you do to him?” I asked.

  “Oh, just a little temporary sedative to make him less interested in being an asshole. Should keep him docile til we can make it permanent back at the Capital. Now, Nelson, Kado, put those puny ass arms to use and help Norg carry this thing out.”

  I folded my arms. “Why the hell should I listen to you, traitor?”

  Zengus laughed as Reilly readied another claw device. “Xander, much as I’d like to kill you, there are plenty of people on the Omegan side as well who’d just love to get a closer look at you. Think I’d deprive them of the pleasure? Hell, no!”

  “Save your mind, Nelson. There are other alternatives here. Let’s wait it out,” Kado whispered.

  Norg’s body twisted like a piece of machinery and he grasped the handles on the edge of the box and lifted. Once Kado and I grasped and pulled the box came free. My arms got sore in a few minutes.

  We slowly walked back down the path way with Zengus and Reilly behind us.

  “So the package we’d been talking about and wondering what it was. All this time, it’s us. We’re not joining up to fight the Omegans; we’re being handed over to them.”

  “How did I let this go this far this long?” Kado’s voice was as broken as the expression on his face.

  I said, “It’s ok, don’t beat yourself up. At least Ana wasn’t here for this.”

  Kado eyed me. “She’s probably dead, you know.”

  “No, Kado. I feel it,” I said.

  “How can you even—wait, you feel it? Like the Pull?”

  “Yep.” I nodded and smiled at Kado.

  Kado asked, “What about the Pull for Cataclysm?”

  “That’s settled for now,” I said.

  Kado watched me for a moment then said, “So Zengus, since you have us cornered and will be delivering your package soon, why not tell us more?”

  Zengus scoffed. “In case you get free? Hah, not gonna happen. I’ve contacted an Omegan regiment, and they’ll be here within the hour. Your days of running and planning all over this place are over, Xander.”

  I asked, “Then how about you tell me what I’ve got in store? Least you can do for me leading you here to begin with.”

  Zengus said, “As soon as our other inside person is in position, you’ll be brought over to the Omegans for processing. They’re interested in collecting their experiment and reining it back in. They wanted humans as a worker force, but they also gave them some of their tools and tech, showed them how it worked. And we learned fast, learned how to make a lot of weapons that destroyed things. They kept us going for a long time doing that. But something happened they never expected. Humans developed. We organized and created a society. We were self-aware, and not just these obedient workers anymore. We thought for ourselves and wanted more than they wanted us to have. All the skills left in the species when it was dormant came back to life. The Omegans who were watching over the Colony were way outnumbered.”

  Kado asked, “So they managed to form Lebabolis the country?”

  Zengus said, “Yeah, did plenty. The Valentium they were mining for, they kept on doing that. They made their deliveries to the Omegans. They made a peaceful offer. But things developed and got more involved. Then Lebabolis determined it wasn’t ready to keep delivering to their masters. They wanted their own and so they shut the Omegans off and, well, it didn’t go so well.”

  “So all this time, Charista has been part of this experiment too?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Zengus said.

  “And she’s never said anything about it?” I asked.

 

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