Ocean in the Sea Read online

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  “HELP!” screamed Perillia. With her hands under Valruun’s arms, she dragged him backward up the stairs. “HELP!” she screamed again. The little man wasn’t moving. She got him to the hall when Shanzea appeared.

  “What happened!?”

  The two of them hauled Valruun outside where Beloris and Senjiita waited.

  Perillia’s voice was filled with worry. ““Valruun shot,” she groaned. “Dear God, he ain’t gonna live. Senjiita?”

  The thin man leaned over Valruun and shook his head. “He is still alive, but not for long. I doubt this simulation’s technology can save him. He will have to jump.”

  “No,” rumbled Beloris. “He is holding the conduits. We will lose Tanandor.”

  “Then we lose Tanandor.” Senjiita shook his head. “We cannot lose Valruun. He is our only conduit manipulator. Better to jump with him and try for Tanandor later.”

  “You’re both idiots,” snarled Shanzea. Focusing on Valruun, she activated her interface and bricked him. He froze in place, not cold, but solid as a rock. “There. Now he’s stable. He won’t lose any blood while he’s bricked. Where is the jumper, Perillia?”

  “I sent him to the dump.”

  Beloris raised an eyebrow. “Where is dump?”

  “It out in New Mexico. Smack in the middle of nowhere.”

  Shanzea bit her lip and spoke quickly. “We split up. Perillia sends me and Valruun to a hospital. I’ll make sure he gets help. Maybe they can stabilize him. We just need to keep him alive until we find Tanandor. Senjiita, Perillia will send you and Beloris to this dump in New Mexico. Take the newbie down without killing him and use the sat phone to call Randuu so she can get some transport to you.”

  “Your plan is acceptable,” stated Senjiita. “Assuming Perillia can target the locations correctly?”

  “Shit.” The colored woman rolled her eyes. “You know it a risk, Senjita. I’m gonna have’ta drop you a bit, or you gonna end up with ankles in the ground.”

  “I can tolerate a fall,” said Beloris. “I cannot say the same for Senjiita.”

  “I will manage,” rasped the thin man.

  Perillia nodded and stepped back. “And you?” she asked Shanzea.

  “Valruun’s bricked, so it won’t matter to him. Just try not to drop us too far. I don’t need a broken leg. I’m still sore from getting hit by that damn cop car.”

  Taking a deep breath, Perillia concentrated and held her hands out toward Shanzea and Valruun. A few seconds later, they vanished and she exhaled. Turning to Senjiita and Beloris she repeated the process, concentrating. After they were gone, she grabbed the keys and moved toward the van. It was best to get out of here before honkies started showing up to challenge her presence. Once on the road, she found the second sat-phone and called Randuu.

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  Inside her isolation tank, Randuu received a phone connection from Riom France at 02:32 local time. It was not a good connection, which wasn’t unusual considering the encryption and monitoring in place over the Atlantic cables. The static-filled voice on the other end was not recognizable, but the words identified the woman as one of them.

  “Et’chna aer ekvar ol emnae,” said a female voice. The language did not exist on Earth, nor in any portion of this partition. It was known only to the disciples of Tanandor, and Randuu’s suspicions were confirmed as the caller continued in their ancient tongue. “This is Heticus. Tanandor has jumped. Have you detected his arrival?”

  “We detected one arrival around 40 hours ago, but it was only a messenger. He appears to be new. We have not detected Tanandor.”

  “The messenger may be a distraction,” said Heticus. “Or he may be something else. I found their bodies before I jumped. They may have jumped together.”

  “Do you know his name and what interface Tanandor gave him?”

  “His name is Lewis Herman. I have no idea what blessing Tanandor has granted. Can Valruun detect a double jump into the same body?”

  “I don’t think that’s possible.”

  “Tanandor has surprised us before, and we don’t know the rules. He jumped into multiple hosts on Kagura Nothmar, and he jumped into a machine intellect on Agroth. I would not put it past him to tag a host and maintain his position in the system buffer. We must expect the unexpected.”

  “I agree with your last statement.” Randuu thought of the examples. “I have a team going after the messenger now. I expect them to contact me shortly. Are you alright?”

  “My host is a crippled slut with no useful skills. I’m dressed in a ridiculous nurse’s outfit, I’m surrounded by armored vehicles, and I’ve just devastated half of some Nazi-occupied French city. Oh, and the toxins in the air are slowly killing me. Otherwise, I’m fine, thank you.”

  “I sent Xanatos to France several hours ago. If you surrender to the authorities, he can extract you when he arrives.”

  “If I surrender to the authorities, they’ll have me drugged and in a research lab within the hour. Xanatos may not be able to find me. Send Senjiita. He can finish my work and we can leave in comfort.”

  Inside the isolation tank, Randuu mentally sighed and reached her mind into several standby computers, instructing search algorithms to scan for system anomalies. Data scrolled over her mind’s eye. As expected, forces were already in motion. The system didn’t like messes, and Heticus was always too careless. “This partition’s jump clock is 72 hours,” she warned, “and you’ve already flagged reconciliation. Senjiita has been cordial up until now, and we’ve managed to avoid any widespread disruption of the plot. Thanks to you, that’s over. If you play nice, I expect we can manage a clean extraction. If you continue to obliterate Reqs and Perts, you may be deleted.” And, she neglected to add, they were not interested in being deleted along with him.

  “I am aware of the jump clock. What concerns me is our bargain. I have fulfilled my end. You must fulfill yours. Capture Tanandor and share his information. If you do not, then I will pursue you and your little cult to the end of time.”

  “So you don’t need any help then?” Her voice dripped with sarcasm. She’d forgotten what an absolute prick Heticus could be. It was now coming back to her.

  “I don’t require any aid that involves my surrender to the ignorant simulants infesting this... one moment please.” Several explosions came across the connection. Screaming voices echoed in the distance and Heticus continued. “If you would have Senjiita kill everyone in France, I would be appreciated.”

  Finally managing to decrypt a Nazi drone connection, Randuu took control over its cameras and scanned the city from a height of twelve hundred meters. Crumbling buildings came into camera view, partially ripped apart from the front. Fire ravaged a downtown apartment complex. A fire truck and several police cars jutted from the burning façade. Bodies littered the foggy green landscape. It was easy to see the path Heticus had taken. It was as if tornado had swept down the main street leading directly to a large concrete structure ripped open and exposed to the toxic mist.

  “I’m not unleashing Senjiita on a city full of people. You’re bad enough.”

  “They’re barely self-aware, Randuu. Do we need to have this argument again? It is not murder. It is a return to storage.”

  “Tell that to their relatives.” She was about to continue when the noticed the cameras outside the house in Gresham. It was Perillia, but she was by herself. She got in the van, and drove off alone. Something was wrong. “I’ve no more time for you, Heticus. Thanks for the call. If we find Tananador, I’ll let you know. Of course, if you’ve been deleted, that may be difficult, so try and stay alive. Hard to say when the reconciliation will take effect.” Without letting him reply, she terminated the connection and dialed Senjiita’s sat-phone.

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  Groaning, Lewis rolled off the car he’d landed on and teetered on his legs. His back hurt. Broken ribs, he suspected from th
e look of the huge indentation he’d made in the black and white SUV. Other vehicles lay nearby, all damaged and most with flat tires as if they’d fallen out of the air from a nice long drop. Parts of a crane rose to his right, surrounded by a fire engine and a couple of armored response vehicles. To his left, the crumpled remains of an entire water tower dripped liquid into the sand. Grass and wild flowers grew around it.

  But it wasn’t all vehicles. There were bodies too, dozens of them scattered all over in the dust. Some wore badges and police uniforms. Some were military and some were special weapons and tactics teams. Desiccated and partially mummified, scavengers had picked them over. This was no junkyard. It was a graveyard.

  Lewis took a whiff of the cold night air and felt his sinuses recoil at the lack of humidity. In the distance, probably dozens of miles away, the spine of a long desolate mountain ridge formed the edge of a starry horizon.

  Where the Hell was he?

  The black woman must have sent him here. That must be her power – her interface. She could move shit – teleport it – but how’d they get to him in the first place? He’d pushed the Attistar to keep him safe for the night. Maybe he’d used the wrong words. It hurt to think about it. His brain pulsed like the dying coals of a fraternity bonfire, and his ribs flashed with agony at the slightest movement. Tired, so tired. He’d hit his head pretty hard. Could be a concussion. What he wouldn’t give for a chance to sleep.

  “No,” he croaked. He couldn’t sleep, he’d go back to the dream, straight to the train tracks. “Can’t sleep.” God, he could never sleep again. How realistic was that? He’d have to sleep sometime, but not now. They were coming. They’d dumped him in this kill-zone intentionally. This was enemy terrain, and one did not fight the enemy on their own turf without an edge. “Get an edge,” he muttered. They had all the cards. He needed help fast, medical attention, pain killers and stimulants. He could do that, but what to push for? “LythoCAP,” he groaned. YES! The magazine had said that LythoCAP provided increased cardiovascular strength, lack of fear, hyper-aggression, the ability to go without sleep, and immunity to pain.

  Pinching his eyes closed, he asked the question. What if one of these vehicles contained a military medical kit loaded with LythoCAP? What if it was this vehicle?” He pushed the odds to one and felt the flush of energy. Grunting, he opened the car door and grabbed a silver metal case from the front passenger seat. Good thing he hadn’t looked inside or it might not have been there.

  Dropping to his knees, he fumbled getting the case open. Twelve blue vials beckoned with the promise of salvation, and he licked his lips, picking up the needle. “Power to the people,” he whispered. Directed by an urge he couldn’t identify, he loaded the injector and put its nozzle to his neck. It so felt natural. He didn’t even need to look for the artery. The sound of the hiss was like an old friend opening the door home.

  “Mrow?”

  “Hello, Dez,” he managed to gasp. Motes of light swirled around the edge of his vision, but they didn’t last long. Emotionally vacant, he felt relieved of a great burden, and the pain faded rapidly from his back. His mind cleared.

  The mystery of the cat could wait for a moment. He was not in a good position, and he was not well armed. What if there were a truck loaded with guns, ammunition, and armor located over there by the crane? He pushed the odds to one and got to his feet. “C’mon, kitty. We got work to do.” His voice sounded strange. Moreover, his thoughts were not quite his, but this was not the time for self-analysis either. He took several vials out of the case and shoved them into his pocket along with the injector. He wanted the LythoCAP close.

  The remains of the collapsed armored vehicle contained exactly what he’d pushed for, and he pulled off the cardigan, strapping a flak vest over his undershirt. The broken weapons rack held shotguns and assault rifles. He should have been more specific. These would do, but they weren’t the best. He took the rifle with a night scope and loaded a magazine. Strapping on an ammo belt, he moved to the back of the armored vehicle. It would make good cover.

  Two objects hit the ground not far away. The cat rubbed her face against his leg. “Shh,” he whispered. Purring, the feline wandered off into the twisted wreck of a crane behind them and vanished. Lewis held his breath and popped the lensguards off the scope. Hitting the power button, he moved it slowly back the way he’d come. In the greenish light two men rose from the dirt. He was about to take them down when a thought occurred to him. Intel – he needed intel. A soundless voice advised him to kill one and wound the other. Pick the targets. One was large, the other thin and wiry. The large one was the biggest threat. He focused his sights and fired center mass, feeling the joyful sensation of recoil against his shoulder. The bullet’s impact threw the big man backward. As expected, the report was loud, giving away Lewis’s position. Should have asked for a silencer. He moved the sights to the thin man, intending to take his legs out, but he wasn’t there. “Quick little bastard.” He must have ducked behind the car. As Lewis searched, he heard a loud beeping chime from the thin man’s suspected position behind the black and white SUV. The man’s voice spoke and Lewis listened.

  “Bad timing, Randuu,” said the man. “He did?” And then, “Valruun has been shot. Shanzea took him to a hospital. No, I will call you back. Good. Excellent. We have him right here. It will not be a problem.”

  If he means me, thought Lewis, then there was definitely going to be a problem. Grinning viciously, he kept his sights on the vehicle when something moved. The big man he’d shot climbed to his feet. Armored, thought Lewis. Crap.

  “You want to shoot Beloris?” the man shouted in a Russian accent. “Go ahead then, Michael Garibaldi. Shoot Beloris again.”

  Happy to oblige, Lewis pulled the trigger three more times, knocking the big man back with each shot. This time the Russian remained on his feet.

  “You have nothing more? Small arms fire will not help you my friend.”

  “His name is Herman,” called Senjiita. “Lewis Herman.”

  Lewis felt a chill go down his back. How the fuck did they know his name?

  “Okay, Lewis Herman,” called the big man. “I am Beloris. We want only to talk, but if you keep shooting, I will take measures, Da?”

  “Stay where you are,” shouted Lewis. He looked back at the crane behind him. It didn’t have enough reach, but if Beloris came closer, he could bring it down on him. “Tell that other fucker to come out where I can see him.”

  “Senjiita does not have same immunity to bullets,” chuckled Beloris. “I think he will not come out.”

  Immunity to bullets. Shit. Must be his interface. Was he immune to fire? Lewis thought of the armored vehicle. There could easily be WP grenades in there. In fact, he could make sure of it, and with a push, he did so. Now he had to get them. Beloris didn’t seem armed. He could run to the vehicle, it would be safe inside, but no. Bad move. He might get trapped in there.

  “We have got off on wrong foot, Lewis Herman. We are not enemies.”

  “You tried to kill me,” shouted Lewis. “Twice.”

  “Nyet. We have not tried to kill you even once. Shanzea was only trying to bring you in where we could talk safely. Valruun the same, but you shot him. Why did you shoot Valruun? The man cannot hurt a fly.”

  “The short man?”

  “Yes! The short man. He is harmless. That is why he went in. Arsus thought you would be inclined lesser to attack someone who is so harmless. Big mistake, but I think, maybe you are messed up in the head a little, yes? It can be confusing, this jumping about between simulations, and maybe your host was a little dingy to start with? You know about host memories?”

  “No,” he lied. “Tell me about them.”

  “You are not really here.” Beloris spoke slowly. “Your mind is in Attistar personality matrix for this partition. When you jump in, the Attistar locates host. It is usually someone who is dead, or someone who won’t matter. This is all a big experiment, you see. So when you are thinking your tho
ughts, they are being sent to host’s mind. But the host is still there.” He tapped his head. “Two minds in same body. Very confusing. You have to know, who is Lewis? Who is Garibaldi? Sometimes what Garibaldi wants becomes what Lewis wants. You have visions?”

  Lewis shuddered. The forest attack. Gunning down civilians. Calling for fire. The plasma detonation. Yes, he’d had visions. “What about them?”

  “That is when your host remembers. It is trying to speak with you, but it cannot speak in words. The mind has different way of thinking. For humans, you see and hear and smell. Is sensory.”

  “For humans,” clarified Lewis. “What about for you?”

  “Da, is same for Paradisian as for Human. Maybe easier for us. I cannot say. But if you are not used to it, then maybe host mind starts to come forward. Lewis must keep track of who Lewis is. Are you Lewis now, or are you Garibaldi?

  “I…” Lewis paused. He wasn’t actually sure. “I think I might be a little of both,” he admitted. He looked down at the sites of the rifle. He didn’t know how to use a weapon. He didn’t know how the scope worked. And yet he did. That knowledge was not his own. Killzone. That’s how he’d thought of this place when he’d arrived. The word was entirely unfamiliar. “So what happens,” he shouted, “if the minds get mixed together? What then?”

  “Other than confusion?” Beloris shrugged. “You take baggage when you jump. Sometimes baggage change you. When you know what it is you are doing, you are taking the language, the skills, the knowledge, but not so much the emotion. Understand?”

  “Time for a trade,” shouted Senjiita. “Beloris has answered your question. Now you answer one of ours. The man who trained you, did he jump with you?”

  Lewis blinked. He had no idea. “I don’t know.”

  Beloris shook his head. “You do not remember?”

  “No. I was shot with a dart. I woke up here. Since then, I’ve had… dreams.”

  “Dreams about what?” called Senjiita.

  “Being… locked in a chair. Tortured. Being forced to remember events I don’t want to remember.”