Berserker (Messenger Book 2) Page 41

  “It's over,” she said. “But I can never be forgiven for what I've done.”

  Her staff fell from her hand and clattered at her feet, then her legs gave out and she collapsed in a heap. Vic and Astral scrambled to her side.

  “She's still breathing,” Vic said in relief. “You did it, Astral. You saved her. And with her, you saved us all.”

  Astral shook her head. “I provided a little help, but she really saved herself. The crushing will of the evil that was brought to bear on her... No one could ever understand the strength that it took to cast that off.”

  “Vic,” a woman's voice called from the edge of the chamber. “Astral! What's going on?”

  They looked up and saw Celeste running toward them with her handgun drawn.

  “You can put your weapon away,” Vic told her. “There's no need for it anymore.”

  Celeste holstered her pistol and came closer to inspect the crumpled form of Janice. She saw the third eye on Janice's forehead and gaped in shock.

  “Who is that?” she exclaimed.

  “A true Messenger,” Vic said. “Perhaps now the Voice she hears will be one of compassion, like Astral's.” He stood up and helped Astral to her feet, then picked up Janice's unconscious body.

  “The capsule launch threat has been neutralized,” he said. “Can you go outside and tell the others? We need to put out the all clear signal before the Hydra gets nervous and nukes us all into oblivion.”

  *

  “Now beginning our third pass over Halispont,” Ensign Ferrari reported.

  “Bring it up on screen,” Wyburn ordered.

  An overhead view of the area around the Halispont processor appeared on the main viewscreen. Wyburn noted the damaged Skyfish floating in a lake to the south, giant craters pockmarking the landscape, the massive wreckage of the Yotun to the east.

  “It looks like they've secured the exterior,” he noted. “But the question is whether they've managed to cancel the launch procedure.”

  “There!” Ferrari pointed to a hill near the processor. “I see green smoke.”

  “Magnify,” Wyburn ordered.

  Ferrari zoomed in on the image. Sure enough, the coalition force had deployed a green smoke capsule. They were gathered in a large group around the capsule, looking up and waving at the Hydra, which they could see as a point of light passing overhead.

  “Cancel the bombardment,” Wyburn said. “And drop a message capsule for our friends on the ground.”

  “Aye aye, Captain,” Ferrari chirped. “What are the contents?”

  “Get your damned superior's ranks right,” Wyburn growled.

  Ferrari looked over her shoulder at Wyburn in confusion. “But sir, I don't see what that has to do with...” Then her cheeks flushed, her eyes grew wide, and she turned back to her instrument panel.

  “Are you ready for the real message now?” Wyburn asked.

  “Yes sir,” Ferrari said in a barely audible voice. “Admiral.”

  “The message is this,” Wyburn said. “'Good work saving Chalice. Now hurry up and get your new government off the ground so I can have my cabinet position.'”

  Thirty-fourth Escalation

  This crying voice is to

  Janice sat alone inside one of the Esperanza's tilted brig cells, wearing a simple shirt and pants that had been provided to her in place of her Xenolist combat gear. She was also wearing a bandanna around her head to conceal her third eye—apparently SLIC didn't want the existence of Synegers to become common knowledge among their troops. They had taken her MIND staff from her, but she didn't mind that. The Voice had been silent ever since she woke up, and she wanted it to stay that way.

  She looked up at the sound of many approaching footsteps. Moments later, a group gathered outside her cell, consisting of the companions who had escaped with her from Luot Lengs Prison, minus Hector and Young. In their place was the three-eyed girl who had come to her aid inside Halispont.

  “It's been a while, Janice,” Tinubu said. “I'm sorry to keep you locked up like this, but under the circumstances...”

  “I understand,” Janice said.

  Tinubu unlocked the door, and the group filed into Janice's cell.

  “It seems like you've been through a lot,” Vic said. “I'm sorry we couldn't stop the Xenolists from capturing you.”

  “You're apologizing to me,” Janice said in disbelief. “You'd almost think I hadn't tried to kill everyone on Chalice.”

  “That wasn't of your own will though, was it,” the three-eyed girl said. “You were in the grip of a nightmare called Scathe. The last person to be infected by it was utterly consumed. It was only your strength that let you come back from the brink.”

  Janice looked at her. “What's your name?” she asked.

  “Astral.”

  “Thanks, Astral,” Janice said. “And you, too, Vic. You both saved me.”

  “We didn't really do much,” Astral said.

  “Janice, we've come to ask you some questions,” Tinubu broke in. “Even if it was under Scathe's influence, you have a lot to answer for. You can start to make up for it by telling us what you know.”

  Janice spread her arms. “Ask away. I'll tell you anything.”

  “Good,” Tinubu said. “For starters, do the Xenolists have any Synegers besides you and the one Vic shot down over Halispont?”

  “That was Wizard,” Janice said. “There's one other. Her name is Regina.”

  “Regina? Is she the leader?”

  “Leadership was shared among the Regents—the Synegers. She's the last one.”

  “Where is she now?”

  “The Temple.”

  “The Temple?” Tinubu frowned. “Is that the Xenolists' headquarters?”

  Janice nodded.

  “Can you tell us where it is?”

  “I can.” Janice stared hard at Tinubu. “Are you planning to take it out? If so, you should know that it's protected by the Royal Guard. They're the Xenolists' most elite unit, though they're small in number. But it's Regina herself that you really need to watch out for. She's different from me or Wizard.”

  “Different how?” Tinubu asked.

  “A different type,” Janice clarified. “Wizard was an Observer. His strength was precognition and reading the thoughts of others.”

  “Like me,” Astral said.

  “I'm a Berserker,” Janice continued. “A warrior type. I release concentrated repil radiation as a weapon.”

  “And Regina?” Tinubu asked.

  “She's a Controller,” Janice said. “Mostly she influences people's minds, but she can also control unintelligent beasts and even things with no minds, like machines.”

  Vic's eyes flashed in understanding. “Like Falsrain.”

  “Three expressions of the Xenowave,” Astral said. “Observe, control, destroy.”

  “Or any intelligent life, really,” Vic said. “You could just as easily call it observe, guide, protect. It's all in how you use the power.”

  Tinubu broke in again, “You're right, Janice. We're planning to crush the Xenolists by smashing their headquarters and eliminating their leadership. Astral says we can trust you now. After reading the report of your capabilities, I think we'd have an easier time with your help.”

  Janice cast her gaze down and squeezed her hands together. “Astral is wrong,” she said. “You can't trust me.”

  “Pardon?”

  “The Voice,” Janice said. “It drives me to madness. I can't use my powers again. If I did, I could lose control like before.”

  “Not anymore,” Astral said. “You've thrown off Scathe's influence. You can choose to wield your powers however you wish now.”

  “No!” Janice shook her head and clamped her hands over her ears. “That power is evil. Please, don't make me use it again.”

  There was a pause.

  “She might be right,” Cena said. “After what's happened, the best thing might be for her to seal her powers away for a while.”

 
; “All right,” Tinubu conceded. “Janice, if you promise not to cause any problems, I'll have you released and assigned a stateroom. But first, can you tell us where the Xenolist headquarters is located?”

  “Sure,” Janice agreed. “That much, I'd be glad to do.”

  *

  After leaving Janice's cell, Vic and the others moved to Tinubu's office for a conference. After the operation, Tinubu had been promoted to major, made acting commander of Aqualung until a suitable replacement could be found, and given Amos' office. Given how it had come about, Tinubu took no joy in his new authority.

  “Well,” he said as he sat behind Amos' desk, feeling deeply melancholy, “we've got the Xenolists cornered now. I can request an orbital nuclear strike from the Hydra. I doubt Admiral Wyburn would turn me down. Thoughts?”

  “That would be the safest course,” Vic said. “But are we prepared to inflict that much environmental destruction? Nuking it would also eliminate any chance of gathering intelligence from the base.”

  “Their defenses don't sound like anything we can't handle,” Cena said. “I vote we soften it up with conventional weapons and then storm the place.”

  “What worries me is this Regina,” Tinubu said. “If she's like Falsrain, she might turn the entire attacking force into her puppets.”

  “I won't let that happen,” Astral said. “I can block her powers, just like I countered Falsrain's.”

  Tinubu sighed. “I suppose you're right. In that case, we'll strike as soon as repairs on the Skyfish are complete. I'll have our analysts start drawing up a plan for a raid.” He activated his console and typed some notes. “In the meantime, we have other matters to deal with. Like Pierson.”

  “I can probe his mind,” Astral said. “I'm ready anytime.”

  “Let's get it over with, then.” Tinubu stood up. “I hope for his sake he's got a damn good excuse for going turncoat, otherwise I'm going to bring the iron hammer of pain down on his traitor ass.”

  *

  Pierson dropped to his hands and knees on the floor of his cell, gasping. He looked up and saw the faces of all his comrades from DEEN Station staring down at him: Vic, Cena, Tinubu, Celeste, Esther. And, of course, Astral, her damaged MINDs floating at her sides and her third eye glowing from probing his mind.

  “Well?” Esther prompted.

  “There was a parasite implanted in his mind,” Astral answered. “I suppose you could call it a larva. I've exorcised it. It was very subtle. It exploited his natural impulses to bend his desires and flooded him with unnatural calm when its control pushed his actions too far from his true will.”

  “That sounds a lot like what Falsrain did to his victims,” Vic observed.

  “It's similar,” Astral said. “But Falsrain's control was brutish and corrosive. It ultimately led to his puppets' destruction. This was done with much more finesse. It allowed Pierson's superiors to control him while maintaining his personality, without infecting him with Messenger syndrome like Falsrain's victims.”

  “Then he really wasn't fighting us willingly.” Cena came forward and offered her hand to Pierson. “I'm sorry I doubted you, Pierson. I ought to have known better than to doubt SLIC's greatest hero.”

  “No, I'm the one who should apologize.” Pierson accepted Cena's hand. As soon as he regained his feet, he collapsed back into the chair behind him, reeling from exhaustion.

  “I was a fool.” He raised one hand to cover his eyes. “I was too disillusioned by the Concord's brutality. I couldn't accept that all my sacrifices had wrought such a twisted outcome. I began to think that studying the Xenowave was the only way to change the bloody course of human history. I grew frustrated with our lack of progress researching it. That's why, when I heard of the Xenolists, I tried to infiltrate their organization. I dared to hope that they might have the answers that everyone else was lacking.”

  “But you refused to become their pawn,” Tinubu said. “That's why they had to impose their control on you.”

  Pierson let his hand drop from his eyes to stare blankly at the ceiling. “To an extent, yes. As I drew deeper into the organization, and saw the militant aims that lurked behind the propaganda, I realized that placing my hopes in them had been a mistake. I made plans to escape, but I was too late. I was taken before the Regents, and they asserted their control over me.”

  “You shouldn't blame yourself for that,” Cena said. “It could have happened to any of us. You were the only one who showed enough courage and initiative to try infiltrating them in the first place.”

  Pierson shook his head. “No, you're wrong. I'm the only one who could have fallen victim to this. The Regents' subtle form of mind control only works on those who are already sympathetic to their ideals. None of you could have been dominated so easily. It was my own weakness that led to this.

  “But I've learned my lesson.” For the first time, he looked his companions squarely in the eyes. “Now I know the folly of placing our trust in the Xenowave. That entity is pure evil. If we're going to better our lot, it will have to be by our own hands.”

  Astral looked saddened by Pierson's words. “That's not true,” she said. “The Xenowave isn't just evil. It reflects what's in us.”

  “All the more reason to sever all contact with it,” Pierson said. He paused to look around his cell. “What of Aksinya?”

  “She was probably a victim of their mind control too,” Astral said. “I haven't excised it yet, but now that I know what to look for, it won't be difficult.”

  “And Nhean?”

  Astral shook her head. “I looked into his mind before, and I didn't see any sign of tampering. With his blind devotion, I don't think they had any need to impose more control on him.”

  “I see,” Pierson said. “I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.”

  “We're going to launch an attack on the Xenolist headquarters,” Tinubu said. “To cut off the head of the snake. Interested in joining us?”

  Pierson paused to consider this. “Yes,” he said, his eyes narrowing. “What more fitting punishment than to have their throats ripped out by their own attack dog?”

  Final Escalation

  lament my fading light

  The repaired Skyfish glided through the depths of Chalice's ocean. It was fast drawing upon its target. The Plain of the Unknown Statues was not the only place on Chalice with inexplicable geological formations. Here, at the bottom of the sea, a gigantic earthen sphere protruded from the ocean bed, supported on enormous stone tendrils, with tunnels and chambers woven throughout its interior. It had lain buried in the ice for millions of years, undiscovered by the first colonial surveys. Only when the terraforming raised Chalice's temperature and melted the seas of ice, opening the oceans to exploration, was the bizarre formation discovered.

  The sphere had immediately incited theories of an alien civilization, and an army of researchers had descended upon it; but as with the Unknown Statues, their investigation had proven inconclusive. In the end, all but a team of hardcore believers had abandoned the site, and the Hollow Sphere faded from public consciousness as anything but an occult curiosity. Then came the chaos of the Insurrection, and even the small team of die-hards withdrew from the Sphere, leaving it deserted.

  Until the Xenolists took it.

  On the bridge of the Skyfish, the sensor operator reported, “Just pinged two small craft on active sonar.”

  “They're not responding to hails,” the comm reported. “Invalid response from I.F.F.”

  “Arm torpedoes,” the captain ordered. “Designate the unidentified craft as hostiles.”

  “Aye, skipper.”

  The enormous technological gap between the Skyfish and the Xenolists' submarines made for a quick fight. The Skyfish's first volley of torpedoes eliminated both vessels, then another ping on active sonar revealed no further craft in the area.

  The captain turned to Tinubu. “Major, the area around the Sphere is secure.”

  “Fire torpedoes at the shell,” Tinubu responde
d.

  The Skyfish unleashed another volley of torpedoes armed with penetrating warheads designed for piercing thick armor plating. The ensuing explosions carved numerous cracks and holes in the Sphere's thick shell. Tinubu's hope was that flooding the base would drown all the defenders, enabling the attack force to move in and secure the interior unopposed. It was a brutal tactic, but after they had tried to spread Messenger spores across Chalice, the consensus among the SLIC members was that the Xenolists had forfeited the right to any mercy.

  Having unleashed its bombardment, the Skyfish took up a stationary position near one of the holes it had blasted in the Sphere. Tinubu went down to the hangar and joined the rest of the infiltration team, which included Aqualung's most elite divers as well as Vic, Cena, Celeste, Astral, and even Esther for her technical expertise. The team also included Pierson and Aksinya, both of whom had been approved by Astral and were eager to deal some payback for being controlled by the Xenolists.

  “It's time to finish this, people,” Tinubu said. “Let's suit up.”

  The team donned toad-like atmospheric diving suits. They would have preferred their Rusalkas, but Pierson and Aksinya had informed them that the Temple's passages were too small for the bulky exosuits. Once they were suited up, the hangar was flooded with water and the main hatch opened, permitting egress into the ocean depths.

  The infiltration team departed the hangar and swam through the hole in the Sphere's outer shell. The flooding of the Sphere had shorted out its electricity, so once inside the structure and out of view of the Skyfish's running lights, the infiltration team had only the flashlights on their A.D.S.s to stab wavering beams of light through the black depths, as well as their active sonar suites to create maps of their surroundings. They had only these instruments to navigate their way through the eerie blackness, swimming through labyrinthine tunnels choked with free-floating equipment and the bodies of drowned guards.