The IX (61 page)

“All vessels possessing rip-space drives must be destroyed, and every reference to the technology wiped from the archives. Those engines transmute biological matter. A Pandora’s Box that should never have been opened. If you continue to operate the ships as they are, you will suffer the same fate, and the infection may spread among the stars.

“Of course . . . if you
do
manage to remove the threat, the more enlightened of the Kresh seek to attempt a re-genesis of our kind.”

“A re-genesis?”

“That is correct. Ever since the Cryptogen came among us, some think it is now possible to reverse the effects of the mutation.”

Remembering his vision, Mac made an intuitive connection. Pointing at Heaven’s-Claw, he said, “The tomahawk? That’s what you’re referring to, isn’t it?”

“Quite right. For it is only by employing the unique attributes of its matrix that this mockery of nature may be undone.”

“But how? How can simple metal be used to undo such a monumental perversion?”

Houston shrugged. “That, we do not know. Only one who walks the Ix can show the way.”

“Walk the Ix? What the hell does that mean?”

“Dream-walking!” a voice cut in.

All heads turned to Stained-With-Blood.

“Can’t you see?” the elderly shaman said. “He’s referring to the spirit realm.” Stained-With-Blood looked at Ayria. “Napioa’s vision becomes clear now. The star metal must be used by one guided by the Creator. Only then can his lost children be saved.”

“Yes, but
how
do we do that?” Mac repeated. “Does anyone have the faintest idea as to how we actually go about the process?”

A familiar chill swept through the room.

“That remains to be seen,” Houston announced, “and will no doubt require the insight of both races. In any event, it is fortuitous I am here, for I can act as intermediary between those factions seeking a more amicable resolution.” He glanced about, as if suddenly unsure of his surroundings.

Mac caught the inference. “I take it not everyone among the Kresh is happy at the thought of returning to normal?”
We’ve got an incoming vortex.

He made eye contact with Ayria and Stained-With-Blood. His gaze conveyed a sense of foreboding, for they quickly moved toward the interior of the suite and huddled together, next to Houston.

Raum reacted to Mac’s warning. Reaching for her crown, she summoned her strength and intensified the halo about her head. The violet and topaz stars brightened into a gleaming argent nimbus. Gaining power, it flared once, then died away. Her task complete, she lumbered toward the door.

Mac went ahead of her, weapon at the ready, and scanned the interior of the ward.

He didn’t have to wait long.

With majestic grace, a quintuple helix of gray and black foreboding bloomed into view. No sooner had it stabilized than five huge beasts stepped out. One in particular blazed brighter than the others. Wreathed in a corona of silver and purple, it carried what appeared to be a scepter of light in its claws.

Furniture and equipment burst into flames as the ogres spread out. They blocked the exit. Mac raised his gun. “I take it these are the ones who don’t want an amicable solution?”

Raum moved forward and delivered a stinging, backhanded slap to Mac’s shoulder. He was thrown to one side, and bounced off the wall. As he hit the deck, Mac rolled and came to his feet.

A blinding flare numbed him to everything else. When it cleared and he could see again, Mac was stunned to find the colossal bulk of a thirteen foot leviathan occupying the space where he had just been standing.

Screw me blind! There was absolutely no warning of his approach.

The Titan turned to address Mac and Raum:
Stand back and protect the Star Child.
I will ensure the Cryptogen does not fall into the wrong hands.

My God! I recognize that voice. He’s the one . . . Angule?

Angule paused.
Fear not, human. I am Prime Catalyct of the Unium Tier. They will not find me an easy adversary to vanquish.
Angule flexed the width of his huge talons, and flaming golden swords appeared within each paw.

“I know they won’t.” Stepping forward, Mac fired a double burst of mini micro-mines at the nearest ogres. “Because you won’t be fighting them alone.”

*

Annoyed by the intervention, Angule was forced to wait while the quantum weapons did their work. Slamming his heaviest shield into place, he braced himself for the blast.

He called to Raum:
Protect the humans
.
The confines of this facility will exacerbate the backlash considerably.

Reality warped in four distinct areas, bending inward as if dark matter had suddenly been dropped onto the mundane fabric of existence. Under the influence of immeasurable density, Geryan and Foroon lost purchase. Falling forward, their extremities elongated, stretching in multiple directions at once.

Behind them, Vetis and Zuul backed hurriedly away. Throwing up the strongest combined shield they could muster, they stabilized it by anchoring the defense in place with Vetis’s mace.

Beyond their sphere of influence, Set bounded off to one side.

Loose furniture flew through the air, their flames quenched by the growing maelstrom. Careening into Geryan and Foroon, the substance of those items blended to that of each ogre. Panicking, they responded by spinning their own portals in a vain attempt to flee.

An unwise choice
, Angule thought to himself,
and something I specifically warned them not to do in the presence of such intense fluctuation.

He watched impassively as the integrity of the unfortunate Lega’trexii frayed. They howled, a terrible keening resounding through the room. Their essences continued to rupture. Sucked toward the constricting maws, they revolved like miniature plasma tornados. The screeching reached a terrifying crescendo.

The edges of each vortex stuttered and fluxed together into one larger asperity. Heavier items were torn free from their fittings. Submitting to increased gravity, they bounced and banged along the walls and ceiling until they too were swallowed.

The compression reached its peak. With a final shriek, Geryan and Foroon were crushed into nothing.

Everything condensed into a single point, then erupted outward in a blaze of incandescent light.

Angule lowered his shield and surveyed the scene.

Mac had squeezed behind the remains of a wall crenellation. The blood on the human’s fingertips gave evidence of the efforts he had made to resist the gravity-well. Angule noticed Mac’s weapons had been torn from his grasp.

Good. At least I won’t be disturbed now.

He registered movement. Somehow, Set had avoided being consumed.

Raum!
If you please? Teach this upstart the meaning of power and true equilibrium.

Gnashing her fangs and scraping her talons one against the other, Raum surged forward to engage her fellow Tribunus.

Ignoring the sounds of combat, Angule turned his attention toward Vetis and Zuul. They still cowered behind their protective barrier.
Come then, Imperator and Grand Vizage
, he teased.
Surely together you are more than enough? Or does your cowardice rob you of the capacity to express your rage?

The bubble darkened. Angule could taste the fey energies cascading into its fashioning. The shell turned opaque.

Are they trying to escape? We shall see . . .

Raising both swords, Angule summoned the vast reservoir of his own legacy. He knew such a contrivance could not be easily breached, for his opponents were two of the most powerful Kresh to ever exist.

But then again, so am I.

He inhaled.

Arcane puissance flooded his core with divine potency.

Exhaling, he unleashed a stream of venom that burst windows, incinerated doors, and gouged furrows through the granite walls and floors.

The room bucked, and the protective barrier distorted. It became encompassed within a sizzling skein of might that burned its way through layer after layer of vitality.

The shield abruptly burst.

Angule was shocked to discover the ruined shell contained only one occupant: Vetis.

Where . . . ?
A momentary ripple in the vext gave him scant warning.

Zuul crashed down onto him.

Forced to drop one of his weapons, Angule turned and smashed his assailant away. Charging after him, he channeled a reserve of power into his left hand. Angule’s talons glowed. As he reached Zuul, Angule struck first with his sword, then used his augmented fist to punch through the tarnished area of his opponent’s shield.

Zuul slumped backward. As Angule closed the gap, he felt another aura bearing down on him from behind.
Vetis! As cowardly as ever, he seeks advantage from my distraction.

An unexpected yell surprised him.

Angule glanced aside in time to see Mac flying toward them. Without a weapon, he had retrieved the first thing he could lay his hands on. The Cryptogen. Angule could see where the human warrior had used the remains of a cabinet to launch himself into the air in another vain attempt to come to his aid.

No!

Angule’s warning was too late. Summoning his strength, Angule phased himself to the other side of the room.

Mac descended. The terrible blade flashed down.

If there was any doubt in Angule’s mind that this was truly the device by which both races could be saved, it vanished.

The axe cut through Zuul’s barrier as if it didn’t exist. It pierced the Vocalator’s threshold and ruptured the heart of his codex. A rabid wind rushed into the void, only to explode outward as the sum of Zuul’s essence combusted.

So powerful was the resultant discharge that Mac became a blur, an insect, smeared across Angule’s vision as he was swatted away. Smashing through the partition into the next room, his scorched body came to rest amid a jumble of broken equipment.

Instinctively, Angule fed on Zuul’s remains. Beside him, Raum followed suit, employing the additional strength it provided to overcome and drain her opponent. Discarding Set’s evaporating husk, she paused as if such things were an everyday occurrence, and looked to Angule for guidance.

Stay here.
Prevent anyone else from interfering.

With no time to spare on unnecessary concerns, Angule dismissed Mac from his mind and turned toward Vetis.

There’s nowhere left to run . . . my King. Will you face me as befits one of your station, or will you continue to demonstrate to my protégé and these humans how craven you really are?

Vetis stared back. Hatred darkened the vestiges of his flaming features.

Come then,
Vetis retorted.
Let us see if you can withstand the might of your rightful sovereign.

They advanced toward one another.

With every step, Angule could sense his opponent’s tightening fury. He used those feelings to feed his own battle ardor. The building vibrated around them as the potential for ultimate expression blossomed.

Vetis burst into action. Raising his scepter high, he poured all his strength into the rod and delivered a double-handed, overhead blow that left a seething flash of light in its wake.

Shifting to one side, Angule raised his sword to block the challenge. The ether throbbed to the power of conflicting energies.

Both ogres sprang apart, circled, and smashed together again. A flurry of blows followed, etching the air in ribbons of plasma and concussive tremors.

Conscious of the fact that he couldn’t allow his antagonist to establish a rhythm, Angule adjusted the speed and strength of his attack. The tempo of the conflict staggered, oscillating between blinding strikes and graceful ripostes. Back and forth they raged. Thrusting and smashing. Driving and slashing. As time passed, a maddening sense of ferocity and frustration congealed out of the whirlwind of chaos about them. So enraged did it become that eventually, neither bothered to defend anymore.

The conflict remained at stalemate until the unexpected moment when both Masters stepped in to deliver simultaneous blows designed to take the other’s head clean off. They clashed together. Neither disengaged. Remaining corps-a-corps, they chose instead to pour ever increasing amounts of power into their weapons.

Bloated with energy, the atmosphere ionized, and a frenzied discord distorted their surroundings. Ramping exponentially, it could only end one way.

Booooom!

A thunderous report flung them apart, and a series of stunning aftershocks shook the building to its foundations. Struggling to clear his senses, Angule registered the fact that his sword had been destroyed.

Alarmed, he glanced toward Vetis, relieved to discover the Imperator’s staff had likewise been obliterated.

The Titans stood. Maintaining eye contact, Angule seized the opportunity to refresh his matrix with raw essence from the ether.

Spotting the maneuver, Vetis made haste to do the same.

Let us end this,
Angule rumbled.
Only one of us will leave this place alive.

Flexing his will, Angule extended his claws and fangs to their full, impressive length. His entire form burst into lurid gold and purple flame. He advanced once more.

Time to die.

Both monsters phased, coming together again in a cyclone of violence that made their earlier efforts seem like child’s play. Using tusks and talons, they bit and gouged, slashed and clubbed, tore and ravaged each other with such abandon they were soon covered in steaming rents and welts.

A sulfurous stench filled the room with an oozing malevolence of brimstone and shadows.

Disturbed by the volume of wounds he had received, Vetis panicked.

Encouraged, Angule changed tactics and pressed a purely physical attack. He stamped down with a massive, horned foot. A shockwave that split the floor in two radiated outward, right through to the next level. He stomped again, and the crack grew wider, splintering off into a myriad fissures that ran the length of the ward.