World Killers Read online

  Another troubling factor was Burak. The Perytonian had conceived a sort of jealousy toward Jack and Gnea-a proprietary air concerning Tesla. He was also acting more and more messianic, as if Tesla was contagious.

  But there was no derailing Tesla's plan now. The leadership had agreed on it and the Spherisians were demanding that it at least be tried, in the hope that it would prevent needless carnage and damage on their world.

  Much disagreement had arisen as to how Tesla should actually make his appearance on Spheris. Combat drops and commando insertions would produce the wrong effect, he

  insisted. In the end, Veidt took him down in one of the cone-shape Haydonite fliers, with Burak, Jack, and Gnea acting as retinue and security.

  At Lisa's insistence, Tesla's jeweled bib had been wired up with explosives again, to prevent any double-crosses. Jack Baker carried one firing switch, and there was another on the bridge of the Ark Angel, which still lay hidden from enemy detection.

  On the approach, Tesla considered putting Veidt under his mental control, too. But the Haydonite's mind powers were strong, and Tesla would need all available power to take over the garrison below. He therefore settled for masking his dominance over Baker and the others.

  As the flier descended, the thin atmosphere began to buffet it slightly. Spheris lay like an imperial orb, heavy with gems and wrapped in the cotton of clouds, below. The dazzle of it was intense; Human, Praxian, and Perytonian were wearing wraparound sun visors, as most of the Sentinels would have to do on Spheris during daylight hours.

  The passengers shifted their feet on the thick, resilient padding that carpeted the passenger compartment. "What if they fire?" Veidt wondered calmly.

  "They will not fire," Tesla parried. "I have willed it so." Jack and Gnea smiled at one another conspiratorially. Burak glowered at them.

  The surface drew near. A shining city appeared below, like a masterpiece of Venetian glass. Tesla, looming over the others, commanded that communications links be established, and Veidt's apparatus did it instantly.

  "Loyal hordes of the Invid race! Hear my voice, a voice you know!" Many figures in the city seemed to freeze, looking up. Jack could spy Inorganics, Enforcers, and Hellcats.

  As Tesla ordered, Veidt brought the flier down by a landing platform near the garrison's main hive, a megastructure out of place amid the delicate beauty of the city. Tesla emerged radiating a rainbow aura, and the Invid there stood transfixed.

  "I come to save you from the aimless strife and the privation of your long exile. Too long have the Invid fought wars for no reason; too long have you wandered in search of a new Garden of the Flower of Life. I come to lead you-"

  He spread his arms wide, as tall as a tree, gorgeous in his robes and glimmering collar. "-to Paradise!"

  The city seemed to ring with a wordless, reverent sound the Invid made in unison. Mecha bowed their heads or dropped to one knee, holding fists and weapons aloft to salute him. Hellcats roared their worship, touching foreheads to the high-gloss pavement.

  It was as Tesla had foreseen. The brain that controlled the planet's garrison was of lesser power and he had managed to subvert its authority through his evolved mental force. He broadcast a thought-impulse, voicing it aloud as well.

  "Come to me, my children! Gather and do homage, that I may see you and you may heed my commands, to prepare for your joyous new life on a new Optera!"

  The things began making their way toward him from the hive and from all over the city. "As soon as we have secured the city," Tesla said, "we will proceed to the Protoculture orchid in the hive and secure the local Fruit of the Flower."

  The Invid were already gathering below the landing platform, a swelling lake of them promising to become an ocean. They looked unusual in that they were armed not with the usual Protoculture weapons, but rather with projectile and chemical devices. The Invid, too, valued Spheris-primarily for its production of unequaled nutrient fluid-and had no wish to inflict unnecessary damage to it.

  Veidt objected. "There was nothing in the plan about you ingesting Fruit of the Flower. Keep to the agreed-upon timetable, or I notify the Sentinels!"

  Tesla didn't respond, busy basking in the glory as the Invid mob began hailing him with un-Human sounds. Veidt turned to Gnea. "Stop him! He's betraying us, I can sense it now!"

  But she spared him only a sinister smile. Veidt turned to the control panels of his flier, sending out mental signals. A communication device lit up, preparing to send Veidt's warning to the Ark Angel.

  Gnea turned her Badger assault pistol on it and blasted the apparatus; explosive bullets were about as good as Protoculture bolts for a job like that. Then she shot up the rest of the controls, disabling the craft. Jack and Burak did not seem to notice, showing the same adoration for Tesla that the Inorganics did.

  Tesla was radiant in his triumph, but the moment was short-lived. A Terror ship threw its shadow across the scene. Tesla howled a curse; the Brain wasn't so feeble that it couldn't exert influence of its own.

  The dropship landed nearby and its landing ramps descended. Officers emerged by the dozen, leading troops whose loyalty Tesla couldn't bend to his will. He was already extended to his limits with the many he had taken over, and in addition found that the more highly evolved Officers put up too much resistance to the subjugated.

  Since Gnea had destroyed the flier, his path of retreat was cut off, but that mattered little.

  Tesla hadn't come to Spheris to retreat or be beaten. He still had most of the city's garrison-a major part of the entire planet's complement of Invid-under his sway. He sent out the order to his loyal host, "Slay the unfaithful! Cut them down! In the name-of Tesla!"

  They turned to do just that, the two waves of mecha closing with each other. Tesla spared a moment to snap, "Baker! Burak! Go, and fetch me the Fruit at once! Gnea, keep watch on Veidt!"

  The two males dashed away, on a roundabout path, guided by his unspoken directions. Veidt looked at Gnea and knew it was no use trying to reason with her. As for Tesla, the scientist's now-uncloaked powers were astounding, strong enough to resist anything Veidt could muster against it.

  Helpless, Veidt watched with Tesla and Gnea as Invid closed in mortal combat with Invid.

  "There's fighting below on a large scale, Captain," a bridge crewmember told Lisa. "It's some kind of Invid civil war, apparently."

  Lisa had more than half hoped it would be some sign of treachery by Tesla, especially after contact with Veidt's flier was lost. That would give her all the justification she needed to throw the switch and trigger the charge in Tesla's collar and blow his damned head away.

  "I guess Tesla can't fool all of the Invid all of the time," Rick mused. "I'll say this for him, though: he's created a diversion."

  "But we don't know how long it'll last," Bela said, fists planted on girded hips. "The time to move is now!"

  The leadership came to a quick decision; Rick could see that his once-cautious wife was in accord with the amazon way of thinking now. Orders went out for the combat drop operations to begin.

  Perhaps the conventional weapons with which the Inorganics on Spheris had been armed couldn't produce the planet-rending effects Protoculture firearms did, but the ruin they spread in the gorgeous capital city of Beroth was appalling enough. Explosive shells, armor-piercing rockets, and the mecha's own brute strength shattered buildings and sculptures, stately columns and illumination pylons. The Inorganics pounded and shot and dismembered one another throughout the city.

  Jack and Burak found that the combatants were totally uninterested in them, but that didn't mean they were safe. A Scrim's stray shot or a wrestling Odeon's foot would kill them just

  as dead as a well-aimed missile. Following Tesla's silent guidance, they picked their way through the madness toward the hive. They had no idea how to distinguish between the local Brain's loyalists and Tesla's faction, but obviously the Inorganics did.

  At one point they were nea
rly cut to ribbons by a shattered wall that fell like a waterfall of needles and razors, knives and guillotine blades. Seconds later, they just reached cover before a thermal warhead went off in the midst of a cluster of Crann. Two Hellcats, trying to tear each other apart, rolled from a higher esplanade and nearly crushed them.

  But they ran on without pause and in perfect cooperation, because that was Tesla's will. At the entrance to the hive, Burak led the way, being more familiar with the layout of such places.

  There, too, the Invid seemed to be distracted to the point of utter carelessness-at least where non-Invid interlopers were concerned. The pair made their way through the shadows, as reinforcements went pounding up and down the corridors. Navigated by Tesla's hold on them, they came at last to the place where the Flower of Life had brought forth its burden.

  Here, too, the Fruit had only appeared recently, so much so that it wasn't quite ripe yet. Therefore, it hadn't been harvested yet for shipment to Optera. Tesla took that as another sign that he, not the Regent, was destined to rule his species and the universe.

  "The Invid are fighting it out sure enough, sir," Karen reported back to Rick over the command net, "but there's no way to tell who's who!"

  She completed her close pass in the Fighter-mode Logan VT, weaving among stray shots and deliberate ones, missiles and autocannon both, that drew lines through the sky around her.

  "Suggest you delay drop, I say again, delay drop, until we can figure out what's going on."

  "Understood." In the Ark Angel's tactical information center, Rick switched to his link with Lisa up on the bridge. "Did you get that?"

  "Acknowledged." She swept the ship around into a holding pattern, as it was jarred by the atmosphere. In the mustering points, hundreds of troops cussed at the delay and wondered what was wrong; the waiting, the veterans knew, could sometimes be the worst part of all.

  Karen brought her VT about and went to Guardian configuration for another pass. She finally spotted her objective. "I've got Tesla sighted! Gnea and Veidt, too, but I don't see Burak or Jack!" She felt her heart sink within her.

  Just then Gnea's voice came over the net. "Attention, Karen! Jack and Burak are inside the Invid hive, stealing a, um, special weapon that Tesla says can win the battle. Make the pickup on them at the main intersection south of the hive; Jack will have his comset keyed for a homing signal.

  "Also be advised: Tesla will instruct his troops to emit blinking signals with their optical sensors. I say again, troops with blinking signals are friendlies."

  "Roger that," Karen said. She relayed the information to Lisa even as her VT leapt away through the sky, thrusters bellowing, to make the pickup on Jack and Burak.

  Below her, Tesla took his concentration from the battle for an instant to tell Gnea, "Well done."

  The faster the Fruit was brought to him, the better. And, having a Veritech at his disposal would enhance his situation, too.

  This time, the Fruit was as yellow as a sunflower and grew in a shape that was nearly a perfect pyramid.

  Jack and Burak had bundled up as many as they could in their jackets, and crept out of the hive once more, like raiding mice among the hurrying giant Inorganics.

  At one point, they felt disoriented as Tesla wondered if it wouldn't be worthwhile to send them on a suicide attack to the Brain. But the moment passed as the scientist realized that the Brain would be far too well guarded for two lightly armed humanoids to tackle. Besides, he must have the Fruit, before something happened to it.

  When they reached the intersection, Jack, by Tesla's decree, keyed the homing signal. He and Burak got ready to put the rest of the plan into effect.

  Zooming down in a wash of thruster fire, Karen could see no sign of either Jack or Burak. And yet, she was getting a strong signal from the comset.

  The only building still standing in the area was a sturdy-looking structure suggesting a bunker of polished opal. Karen checked her instruments; the signal was coming from there. Its entrances were far too small for a Battloid.

  Jack's voice came up on the net. "Karen, get in here and help me with Burak; he took a bad hit."

  The fighting had moved from the area, but she still considered Jack's proposal dubious. "Can't you get him to the entry? I can pick him up with the Battloid's hand."

  Jack sounded weak and weary. "Goddamn you, it's all I can do to keep him from coming apart in pieces! And I caught a hit or two myself."

  Karen imaged the mechamorphosis, and the VT, back in Guardian shape, knelt with its radome almost touching the ground. She was out of the cockpit and running in another second or two, sidearm drawn. She passed into the dark interior, calling his name.

  Something hit her from behind, and the next thing she knew, Jack and Burak were standing over her with drawn guns.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  I've been accused of over-romanticizing certain aspects of the events that day. Maybe so, and if that's the kind of thing that irks you, then don't read on.

  What you should do to keep yourself busy, though, is make sure you try the glass slipper on every appropriate foot that comes your way. You might change your mind-or your luck. Jack Baker, Upwardly Mobile

  Glowing disembodied along the crystal highways, Baldan II implored his people.

  "We know which media we must strike at now! Tesla's troops and even the Sentinels may not be enough! We must help them!"

  But everywhere it was the same. "We are safe here in the bosom of Spheris. Let the outworlders fight their own battles!"

  The heart he had put into them was gone again, now that someone seemed ready to hand the Spherisians peace and freedom on a platter. Baldan brooded, and wondered if such a gift could ever be trusted, and how much harm it would do Spheris in the long run.

  Teal spoke across the mineral medium to him. "What shall we do? Baldan, if you want to fight, I am with you."

  "There is one thing we might do," he said. Reorienting his mind-spirit along new vectors, he headed toward Beroth. Teal rose after.

  Karen knew her flight helmet had saved her from being killed; from the positions of the two as they stood looking down at her, she presumed Burak had struck the blow.

  She tried to move and realized she was trussed up with her own flight harness and their uniform harnesses.

  Burak was tucking her dropped pistol in his gunbelt. "I'll get the Fruit. Make sure she's secure. And don't forget to bring her helmet."

  Jack removed the helmet, but then stood looking down at her uncertainly, weighing his Badger. "Jack, Tesla's making you do this, isn't he? Jack, don't listen to him! Stop and think what you're doing, before-"

  "Silence!" Burak was back. "Be grateful that Omnipotent Tesla directs us to spare you, or-"

  Then his expression became a little vague, as did Jack's, as they both listened to something she couldn't hear. Burak glanced down at her with a devilish grin, his horns silhouetted against the entrance.

  "It seems you're not indispensable after all, Penn." He turned to Jack. "Finish her, while I load the Fruit." Burak had no compunctions about killing Karen-not under Tesla's coercion. But he was much more concerned that the Fruit stay in his possession, giving him some minimal leverage with the Invid.

  "Jack, don't do this," she whispered.

  He bolstered his gun like a man in a trance. His forehead was covered with rivulets of sweat. Hooking his hands in her bonds, he began pulling her up. A part of him felt that he couldn't simply leave her body there; that he must move it further into the darkness to hide his terrible crime. Another part simply wanted to lift her up and bear her away-away from the danger.

  Her infighting moves were severely limited: ankles and knees were strapped together, her hands bound behind her at elbows and wrists. But as he lifted her up, she made her play; it had nothing to do with knocking him unconscious.

  Lurching against him, she pinned him between the wall and herself, putting her mouth to his. The zombielike dullness sli
pped from him, and after a surprised instant, he kissed her back, arms going around her, supporting her. He buried his fingers in her hair and hugged her tight. Time stopped for both of them.

  "What are you doing?" Burak's footsteps clicked on the floor.

  Jack could only release her and turn to go for his gun in a desperate contest. Karen tucked her chin in and managed to avoid having her head cracked open as she toppled over backward in a painful fall.

  Jack didn't have time to unholster his pistol, because Burak was practically on top of him, though one of the man's groping hands blundered open the retaining strap that held his comset in its pouch. But he managed to grab Burak's wrist and give it a practiced twist, sending the Perytonian's handgun bouncing across the floor. Then Jack hit him with a right cross, sending him staggering into the wall.