Armageddon (47 page)

O
mnius saw it all play out in the blink of an eye. His awareness returned as the message from the rebels’
human
leader played through the minds of each and every one of his people. He saw their initial reactions to that message, the state of the battle, the locations of enemy forces… he even learned the nature of the jamming field; it was generated by a device called the
Eclipser.

The jamming was deactivated for all of a minute, most of which Omnius spent fending off a cyber-attack. Even so he had more than enough time to send orders to his drones. First he ordered the fighters aboard the Icosahedron to launch, giving them basic orders to seek and destroy; then he sent updated nav data for his Facets to finish docking without further collisions. Finally, he worked on narrowing down the location of the quantum jammer.

It seemed that one of the rebel generals, Atta Heston of all people, had given the order for it to be disabled. Omnius didn’t understand how Atta could be in two places at once, but he didn’t have time to figure it out. Strategian Galan Rovik had witnessed her give the order to disable the jamming field. Omnius instructed Rovik to find the device and take it out.

The jamming field came back online and his awareness collapsed once more, leaving him with just his human brain and senses to rely on.

Therius!
Omnius fumed, recalling the name of the Union leader. Omnius had killed him and turned him into a drone a long time ago. Yet here he was, claiming to have
escaped
Avilon!

Something didn’t add up. Maybe this Therius was an impostor… but if he was, then that didn’t explain how he knew what he did about Avilon. Even his vocal inflections and the words he used were familiar. This man was either Therius, or someone who’d known him very well.

But besides that mystery and the mystery of two Atta’s, was the mystery of Origin, where Therius claimed to have come from. Was that the uncharted planet he’d found them orbiting just before the attack? He would have to go back there and investigate once the battle was over.

He couldn’t believe that the planet had actually been found. He hadn’t even really believed that it existed, but even
he
recognized it from the holo recordings in Therius’s message, and that was the most curious part of all. How could he recognize a place that he’d never been to?

Omnius paced the deck, anxious for his awareness to return so he could begin solving those mysteries. Rovik would find and disable the Eclipser. He would just have to be patient until then.

* * *

Atton saw Therius’s message, and he finally realized that Omnius’s absence wasn’t some kind of test, or even a trap to lure the invaders into a false sense of security.

Yet even before Therius had finished speaking, Omnius sent Atton a message of his own, proving that he was back—

Don’t be a fool, Atton. I have Avilon surrounded. My drones outnumber the enemy a million to one. I will regain control of the planet soon, and when I do, you don’t want to find yourself on the losing side of this war. Don’t forget, I’m the only one who can bring Ceyla back. Bring Valari to the Icosahedron and meet me there. I’ll be waiting.

After both Omnius’s message and Therius’s vision ended, Atton found himself lying on the floor, staring up at the ceiling of Valari’s penthouse. The drink he’d been carrying lay overturned on the carpet beside him. He must have fallen over at some point during the transmission.

Omnius?
he tried.

No answer.

He tested his mental connection to the Omninet, but it was down, too. Omnius had only come back online for a moment. Atton sat up to see his father staring at him. Ethan’s features were slack with shock.

The sound of high heels striking the floor at a hurried pace drew their attention and they turned to see Valari striding into the living room.

“We need to go,” she said. “Omnius is waiting for us in orbit.”

“What are you talking about?” Ethan demanded, jumping to his feet. “We’re the Resistance! We need to fight Omnius, not help him!”

Valari planted her hands on her hips and regarded him with a condescending look. “You can’t be that naive. A few million rebels can’t possibly defeat Omnius.”

“They disabled him.”

“Temporarily.”

Atton saw Ethan’s eyes narrow, but his father said nothing.

“Think about it. Omnius created the Sythians. That must have taken considerable infrastructure, somewhere far from Avilon. That infrastructure is called
New Avilon,
an artificial planet many times the size of this one. It’s so vast and so powerful that there’s no way this rebellion can succeed.”

Ethan looked skeptical. “If that’s true, then I’m going to find my family and get away from this frekking planet once and for all. If you really love me, Valari, you’ll let me go.”

Valari’s expression darkened. “Fine,” she said. “Go.”

Ethan turned to leave, and Atton saw the metallic glint of a palm-sized weapon drop from a voluminous sleeve into Valari’s hand. Her arm came up—

And suddenly everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. “Dad!” Atton screamed as he lunged toward her. Ethan turned just in time for Valari to pull the trigger. There came a sharp
snap!
and a bright red needle of light burned a smoking hole in Ethan’s chest. He fell over, his eyes wide and staring fixedly at the ceiling.

Atton reached Valari a split second later and gave her a violent shove. She went sprawling, and he followed her down, raining blows on her face. Valari fired at him, shooting straight through one of his hands. Atton screamed as his palm erupted with a searing, debilitating pain. That moment of distraction was all it took for Valari to shove him off and regain her footing.

“Enough!” she screamed, wiping a split and bleeding lip on her sleeve.

Atton sat clutching his injured hand and glaring up at her, his chest heaving with fury. “Go ahead, shoot me, too!”

“That would be too kind.”

“You dumb sclut, you killed him!”

“Watch how you speak to me. And no, I didn’t kill him. Haven’t you learned? No one ever dies here. I’ll have Omnius resurrect Ethan after this is all over, but right now we don’t need him getting in our way.”

“He’ll never forgive you for making him a clone. He barely forgave me for becoming one.”

Valari laughed. “He was
already
a clone.”

Atton did a double take and turned to look at his father’s body. Ethan looked the same as ever—fifty-something years old, not twenty-one as he should have been if he were a clone. Atton turned back to her and shook his head. “He’s too old to be a clone.”

“Omnius aged him so that he wouldn’t figure it out. I knew there was a chance he’d kill himself after I tricked him into sleeping with me, and that’s exactly what he did. We had to bring him back the next day and invite you over to keep him from doing anything stupid.”

Atton shook his head, sickened by Valari’s machinations. “What guarantee do I have that Ethan will be brought back?”

“Do you really think I’d go to all of this trouble to get him just to throw him away?”

Atton stumbled to his feet and glared at her, his hand still stinging fiercely. He recalled Omnius’s plan to kill Valari, and he willed himself to be patient. All he had to do was get her to the Icosahedron and Omnius would do the rest. “We need to go,” he said. “It’s not safe on Avilon.”

“Agreed.”

“First, I’m going to find the rest of my family.”

“And do what?”

“Convince them to go with us.”

Valari’s expression softened. “I’ll go with you.”

“I’m going alone.”

Valari hesitated. “Of course. Take one of my couriers.”

Atton was about to object, but Valari was already heading to her hangar. He followed her out and up to the pilot’s side of a shiny black air car. Valari waved open the door and Atton jumped in.

“Be careful,” she said. “The streets will be more dangerous than ever right now.”

Atton nodded. “I’ll see you on the Icosahedron.” He shut the door in Valari’s face and dialed up the grav lifts to hover off the deck. Rotating the car to face the shielded entrance of the hangar, Atton gunned the thrusters and raced out into the Null Zone.

Atton set course for Hoff’s apartment, and began taking the most direct path there. As he dove down into the lower levels, Atton saw that Valari was right about the streets being dangerous.

Cars crisscrossed between buildings in every possible angle and direction, except for the legal ones, making flying more hazardous than ever. But the pedestrian streets looked even worse. Racing shadows darted into stores and darted back, their arms fully-laden with stolen goods. Atton could actually hear the security alarms screaming as his car roared by.

By the time Atton arrived at Hoff’s apartment, his hands were shaking from the adrenaline of near misses with other cars. Atton rode up the lift tube from the building’s guest parking, straight to Hoff’s apartment on level twenty. He ran out of the lift and down the hall. Rounding the corner to Hoff’s apartment, he found the door wide open. Fearing the worst, Atton slowed to a fast walk and drew his sidearm.

When he reached the open doorway, his eyes widened with horror and his aim faltered. To one side of the living room lay the charred and smoking skeleton of a Null guardian drone. To the other side lay Hoff with two EMTs attending him, and both Atton’s mother and half-sister crowding around.

Hoff was the first one to notice him standing there. He sat up and said, “Hello, Atton.”

Atton felt relieved to see him sit up. “Hoff, we have to…” He trailed off as he heard something—the
clanking
footfalls of drones. His heart suddenly pounding, Atton spun around just in time to see Valari come racing down the hallway toward him, leading a squad of drones.

He blinked, shocked and angry to see her. She’d followed him here! Valari brushed by him in the doorway.

“Valari?” Hoff asked.

“What are you doing here?” Atton gritted out.

“Keeping you safe. It’s a war zone out there,” Valari replied. Then, to Hoff she said, “We need to get away from Avilon right now.”

“You’ve turned against Omnius?” Hoff asked, his eyebrows arching.

Valari snorted. “What are you talking about? We need to leave Avilon because it’s about to go up in smoke, and we don’t want to get caught in the blaze. Are you coming with us or not?”

“With you where?”

“To New Avilon. It’s already in orbit. We’ll be safe there.”

“Go frek yourself, Valari,” Hoff replied.

Guardian drones came
clanking
into position to either side of Atton, occupying all the space in his peripheral vision.

Feeling suddenly apprehensive, Atton turned to his stepfather with an imploring look. “You can’t win,” he said.

“We can’t take Omnius’s side,” Destra said.

Atta shook her head. “Atton, didn’t you see the Union’s transmission? Omnius is evil. Now we have proof. This is our only chance to defeat him—or at least escape!”

By now the EMTs had stopped working to listen to the exchange. They eyed the drones and each other nervously.

Hoff smiled and jerked his chin toward the drones. “Are these my executioners?”

Atton swallowed thickly. He felt like he was going to be sick. This was spiraling out of control. “No, Hoff, listen—”

“Save your breath. I’d rather die than serve Omnius again.”

“That can be arranged,” Valari said.

“Wait!” Atton said.

Valari pointed to Hoff with one arm raised, her thumb pointing down. The drones recognized her unspoken command, and mechanical
clicking
sounds filled the air as weapons slid out of armored compartments. The EMTs dove for cover, and Hoff spread his arms wide, welcoming the end.

“No!” Atton roared.

“Dad!” Atta said.

Then came a crackling roar and a blinding tirade of laser fire. Hoff’s body jittered and convulsed under fire; then he fell over backward, his clothes smoking. A noxious smell of burned meat and synthetic fibers drifted through the room. Destra threw herself over Hoff’s body, sobbing, while Atta stood up and took aim with a weapon Atton hadn’t realized she was holding.

Atton tried to shout a warning, but the drones shot her first. Her shot went wide, slashing a dark furrow in the ceiling above Valari’s head, and then Atta hit the floor with a solid
thud.

Destra belatedly noticed what had caused the sound. Then she screamed and cursed at them as she rushed to Atta’s side. Valari pointed at her next, thumb turned down, and another barrage struck her down.

It all happened in a matter of seconds. Atton gaped at the scene before him. The EMTs fled, not even bothering to gather their equipment. This was all his fault. His entire family was dead, struck down in seconds. He never should have come.

Blood raged in Atton’s veins, demanding justice, but a cooler, calmer side of him warned him not to do anything rash. Omnius had already promised Valari would die. He just had to be patient.

Atton turned to Valari, his eyes cold and dark with fury. “You didn’t have to kill them,” he said quietly. “My mother wasn’t even resisting.”

Valari frowned. “Don’t be so dramatic. I didn’t kill them. They’re just sleeping. They won’t be the only ones Omnius has to bring back when all of this is over. And they were already clones, so what’s the big deal?”

What’s the big deal?

Atton turned back to look at them all lying there, smoke rising from their clothes.

The big deal is that they’re my family.

Chapter 43