Battle Cruiser (30 page)

-41-

House Astra appeared in the dark forest under our air car. We landed, and I found myself greeted in an utterly different manner than I had been the first time I’d arrived here.

Instead of a group of servants attempting to direct us to the tradesman’s entrance at the back of the building, we were greeted by an anxious squadron of people in uniform. They wore the livery of House Astra, blue on black, and many of them were security agents.

This time, rather than attempting to assault me, they flanked Zye and me and led the way to the front entrance. We mounted the laser-carved steps in grand style.

The doors swung open silently to allow us entry. There, off to one side, stood the same elderly doorman who’d greeted me previously in a dismissive manner. Tonight was very different.

“This way, Servant Sparhawk,” he said, bowing low.

I was surprised his back didn’t creak when he leaned forward so far, but obviously he’d partaken of treatments to keep his flexibility despite his age. We followed the man into the grand foyer and then into the parlors beyond.

He paused at a large locker. “Please leave your pistols here.”

Reluctantly, Zye and I put our primary weapons into the locker. I felt fortunate to still be able to carry a blade in House Astra. Many people considered any kind of sword or knife to be harmless—but they were wrong.

In the next parlor, Chloe greeted me in person. She was smiling broadly, and I couldn’t help but return the expression. Zye looked on, as if studying a mysterious ritual—one that she definitely didn’t approve of.

Chloe turned to Zye and gave her a courteous nod, of which Zye made no acknowledgement.

“I know you two met at the dinner,” I said, clearing my throat. “But I don’t think you were able to become acquainted. Lady Astra, this is Zye, my crewman and confidant.”

“I’m in your debt, Zye,” Chloe said. “All of House Astra owes you our thanks. We’ve reviewed every recording. You may have saved the life of my mother, and anyone else that might have been injured if that Stroj creature had survived a moment longer.”

“Yes,” Zye said. “Your analysis is correct. The Stroj are at their most dangerous in their final moments when they deem their primary task to be complete.”

I frowned at that, not fully understanding her meaning. But I was too fascinated by Chloe to ponder it further. I felt as if our evening had been rudely interrupted hours ago, and I wished to pick up where we’d left off.

“Chloe, perhaps you can show us to our quarters for the night,” I suggested.

“You’ll be staying?”

“I think so. Zye is sure to be fatigued after her long day.”

Zye looked at me, startled, but she didn’t object. Chloe smoothly led us upstairs to show us where we could spend the night. She first stopped at a suite fit for a queen.

“Here’s what I have for you, Zye. I hope it will be acceptable.”

Zye ran her eyes over the vast, sumptuous room in bewilderment. “I’ll be lost in here. Where’s the bed?”

Uttering the word “bed” caused a couch to transform itself into a sleeping platform. Sheets rustled as they unfurled themselves. In a few moments, they were spread perfectly—wrinkle-free and taut.

“Will this do?” Chloe asked.

Zye looked at us. We were standing out in the hallway. Zye was in the room. She frowned.

“Are you sure you’ll be all right?” she asked me.

“Yes, of course. Don’t worry. You can retire for the evening. Food will be brought up. There are a dozen genetically bred security agents between us and any threat.”

Reluctantly, Zye retreated and closed the door. The last thing I saw as the door closed was her watchful, suspicious left eye.

Chloe made a face the second the thick door shut. She beckoned me to follow. Her manner had changed immediately to a playful one.

I followed, smiling.

“Is she always like that?” Chloe asked.

“Protective? Yes.”

“It’s like having a hulking agent following you around. A female one—but you probably like that, don’t you?”

Bemused by her attitude, I didn’t answer. She led me to another room on the next floor up. This one was even more sumptuous than the one she’d put Zye into. I looked around, impressed. The chamber was done in gentle umber, a purple so deep that it resembled shadows in a forest.

There were sky vanes overhead, showing the heavens. It was impossible to tell if the scene depicted was real or not, such was the resolution of the effect.

“Is that the actual sky?” I asked.

“Of course not,” she said, amused. “It would rain right into our faces at night!”

That was the moment when I realized what was going on. This wasn’t another guest room. It was Chloe’s personal room.

I looked at her in surprise. “Where am I to sleep?” I asked.

She moved closer to me and looked into my eyes. “Where do you
wish
to sleep?”

That was enough teasing for me. I took her in my arms. She melted, and I realized that I hadn’t wanted anything more than this—not since I’d first laid eyes upon her.

I did my best to play the part of the gentleman, but it was difficult. I’d not been with many women. My work in the Guard took me off-world for months at a time. Relationships with female members of my crew were either frowned upon or outright forbidden, depending on their rank.

On Earth, I’d met and enjoyed the company of several women, but they’d never managed to wait for me to return from space. By the time I came home and looked them up again, they’d always moved on.

Chloe was different on so many levels. She was my peer—literally. For this single night, under the perfect projection of a thousand stars, we were able to make love as two adults. Technically, we were two recently-elevated officers of government. No one could tell us we were making a mistake, or causing a political problem. Our lives were our own.

We ate food brought up by servants and bathed ourselves in scented waters. We were able to abandon our worries for a time, feeling it was likely our parents would recover. Nano surgery could do amazing things. We trusted our doctors, they were the best Earth had to offer.

When our parents regained their strength, however, we expected they would retake the reins of power from our youthful hands. Knowing that didn’t make my time with Chloe any less savory, but it did make matters seem more urgent.

We made love repeatedly, gently at first, then wantonly as dawn approached. I slept in fits, but I didn’t seem to feel tired when the sunrise pinked the skies outside.

A thumping sound came at our door as we lounged and yawned awake in the mid-morning sun.

Chloe got up, wrapping a sheet around herself. It snaked up over her shoulders, so she didn’t have to hold it there. Before she could open the door, the thumping came again, louder this time.

Concerned, I got up and put my hands on her shoulders. She looked up at me worriedly.

“Does that sound like one of your servants?” I asked.

She shook her head. Her eyes were big, but they weren’t yet frightened.

I drew my saber and stepped to the door. She watched in concern, but she didn’t protest. So much had happened lately that hadn’t seemed possible. We could no longer sneer at the idea of taking precautions.

Opening the door a crack, I saw it was none other than my driver, Miles Tannish. I lowered my blade.

“Servant Sparhawk, sir?” he asked. “Will you be needing my services any longer? I spent half the night in the car…”

His eyes angled past mine, toward the Lady Astra, who stepped quickly away and out of his sight. I saw his tongue flash out as if to lick his lips, but then he let it retreat.

“No, Miles,” I said. “You can go. I’ll get a ride in one of the Astra cars.”

“I see,” Miles said. “May I have a word, sir?”

I scowled lightly, certain I was about to be scolded for my actions, however gently.

Sighing, I stepped outside the room. It was then that I saw something very unexpected.

The elderly doorman, Tobias lay on the floor. His throat had been slashed open. His haunted eyes stared upward, dead but filled with horror. Why wouldn’t Tannish have mentioned this detail?

Just then, I whirled toward Miles, who had stepped behind me. He was now armed with a stiletto. The narrow blade gave off a strange, gleaming light.

-42-

I lifted the tip of my saber just in time to catch his thrust. I deflected it and reached my free hand up to the clasp at my throat—but my cloak wasn’t there. I had no personal shield this time.

Miles made another attack, lightning quick. I caught his wrist and twisted, but he kept hold of his weapon. We were in a clinch for a moment, struggling.

He seemed alarmingly strong. He’d always been smaller than I, and though I’d assumed he was fit, I was surprised at his physical power.

He threw me backward. I instantly upgraded my estimation of his strength—it was phenomenal. I was dashed against the wall.

I regained my feet and managed to get my blade between us again. He dared not rush in as I would have skewered him. He advanced with caution instead. Putting my back to the stairway, I let him come on.

He slashed methodically as he followed me down the steps. Now and then, I gave him stop-thrusts and hacking counters toward the head, which he ducked with agility.

Continuing to retreat, I led him away from Chloe’s door. I wanted to get him as far from there as I could. I waited calling for the Astra agents—I wanted him away from Chloe first. If she heard me and came out now, he might take her hostage. Things would become infinitely more complex at that point.

“Miles,” I said calmly, “you fight moderately well. Where did you learn to spar this way?”

He showed me his teeth. His demeanor wasn’t entirely sane. He wasn’t behaving like the Miles I knew at all.

He came on harder. I was truly impressed. I’d been taught how to handle myself with a great variety of weapons all my life, but I’d always preferred swords and pistols. With a saber in my hand, I felt confident I could best any man who wielded a knife—but Miles was surprising me. He caught my blade with his, despite my great advantage in reach. He ducked, whirled, and came back in, slashing after beating my longer weapon aside.

Despite the natural advantages a sword has over a shorter blade, I found myself on the defensive most of the time. The vibrant glow of his weapon worried me too. I dared not let him touch me with it. I thought it likely that even the slightest tap might turn out to be fatal.

He wasn’t so cautious, however. As I retreated to the bottom of a sweeping staircase, I decided to put his carelessness to good use.

Disengaging our two blades with a twist, I managed to cut him. It was little more than a gash a few centimeters long in his right bicep. Blood ran, thick and red. He seemed not to notice.

Growing bold, I stopped retreating, feinted in
quatre
and thrust. He took a stab in the thigh that time—but still, he kept coming. He showed no sign of pain, no hint of fear.

Finally, the true nature of the situation dawned on me.

“Stroj…” I said, naming him. “You’re not human at all.”

“Not true, Earthling Basic,” he said, drawing back for a moment and grinning at me. “See the floor? I bleed, the same as you do.”

“No,” I said with utter certainty. “You’re a soulless construct. A being without conscience. Your kind isn’t human anymore.”

For some reason, my words upset him. I hadn’t known that Stroj could become angry. The first one I’d seen had moved like a robot. The second—well, Zye had finished the creature off so quickly I hadn’t been able to talk to it. But I’d been in the company of these beings before.

“You merely fear that which you don’t understand,” he said. “Don’t worry, I’ll educate you.”

“You bleed,” I said quickly, before he could attack again, “but that’s just dead flesh wrapped around an artificial frame. It’s like clothing, merely a vanity. Why don’t you creatures shed your flesh entirely? Why not stand naked, all whirring gears and buzzing belts?”

“You’ve been listening to the Beta, haven’t you?” he asked. “We’re not all like that. We vary. Some, like me, have an organic brain still. I can no more shed my flesh than—”

I used the Stroj’s moment of distraction to strike. As quickly as I could, I thrust for the head. His dagger came up—but he was a fraction too late. I laid open his scalp to the bone. Blood ran over his left eye, blinding it. Still, he stared at me. There was no pain in his expression, nor fear—but there was now rage. Perhaps he was more human than I’d thought.

“You can’t penetrate my skull with a sword, fool,” he said. “It’s a poly alloy, harder than steel or stone.”

I frowned. “It was worth a try.”

We sparred another dozen steps. I was still retreating. At last, I passed the door I’d been looking for. Zye’s door. With a quick motion, I rapped the pommel of my sword on the wall.

Miles—or the creature that had been posing as Miles—cocked its gory head. It was an almost human gesture. He was puzzling out why I’d rapped on the wall.

The door popped open behind him a moment later. Zye’s massive hands reached for Miles. Her arms seemed impossibly long. They couldn’t be stopped.

The Stroj ducked low, bending over backward, so that his legs were almost flat. The stiletto flashed at Zye’s unprotected leg.

“No!” I roared.

But it was too late. Zye took the blade in her thigh.

That didn’t stop her, however. She grabbed his neck, and she wrung it, like the neck of a fowl. The spine snapped, and the thing that had been both Miles and a Stroj to me flopped on the floor, sputtering.

Zye stumbled back, stricken. I rushed to her side. The Stroj, for its part, watched from the floor. Its eyes rolled around in its head, but it seemed to be paralyzed.

“Zye,” I said. “I’m so sorry.”

“The lamp,” she said, croaking. “Don’t let them spread.”

For a moment, I didn’t know what she was talking about. Then I laid eyes on an antique floor lamp that sat nearby. Knowing what she wanted, I grabbed the lamp in one hand, cut the cord with my saber, and ripped the two live copper filaments apart.

“Show me the wound,” I said.

Zye gripped her pants and ripped them apart. Two lengths of smart cloth flapped hopelessly, trying to repair the damage made by the ripping.

Without thinking about it, I applied the exposed copper to her person, attempting to place each pole on either side of the wound in her thigh.

There was a snapping sound and a tiny flash. Zye stiffened, gasped, and almost fell to the floor.

“Take a seat,” I said. “He’s not going anywhere.”

Mile’s eyes rolled around watching the two of us with interest. His mouth worked, but he could not speak. His throat had been crushed. How he was still operating at all was a mystery to me.

“Again, quickly,” Zye said.

“Are you sure—”

“Immediately! I can feel the nanites entering my bloodstream. Already they—”

Snap!

I’d applied the cord again. She stopped talking, and a wisp of hot steam rose from her wound. I was effectively cauterizing it. The acrid smell of seared flesh filled the hallway.

“Good,” Zye gasped several seconds later. She struggled to her feet. “We must take him to Lady Astra now.”

I glanced at Miles. His eyes were like two bloody marbles. The lids no longer bothered keeping up with the pretense of needing to blink. His orbs rolled and stared alertly, following our actions.

“I will carry him,” Zye said. “You follow. Do not stray!”

Baffled and beginning to wonder if Zye were in shock, I did as she asked. She picked up the bloody mess that was Miles and began to walk stiff-leggedly down the hall with him.

“This isn’t the way—” I began.

“Lady Astra is
this
way!” Zye boomed. “We will meet her shortly. Follow me. Do not stray.”

Frowning, I followed along. A hundred steps passed, and Zye managed to make them all without collapsing. We approached the end of a long hallway, which terminated in a window and a balcony.

“Where—?” I began.

“The Lady contacted me. She’s on that balcony ahead. She wishes to examine this creature in person.”

I caught sight of Miles’ eyes then. They seemed excited. They strained, rolling to the limits of their range of motion, almost as if he wished to look through the back of his own skull.

We stepped out onto the balcony. A drop of a thousand feet was revealed. House Astra clutched a mountaintop, and the morning view might have been lovely under different circumstances.

“Lady Astra, are you here?” Zye asked loudly. She kept walking toward the balcony’s edge.

A gust of wind blew up into our faces. Zye’s long black hair formed a wild, flying mass.

I stopped walking, and I shook my head. “Clearly, you’re in some kind of shock, Zye. I don’t think—”

Zye ignored me. She walked to the carved stone railing and without any warning or ceremony dropped Miles over the edge.

I caught one last surprised roll of his eyes—then he was gone.

“What in the holy—”

Boom!

A flash rolled up from over the railing. Zye and I were staggered, but uninjured.

“What was that?” I demanded. “What’s wrong with you?”

Zye turned to me pridefully.

“I told you,” she said. “I am a rogue. A master of deceit.”

I looked over the edge while Zye shuffled painfully back into the house. The cliff face was scorched and decorated with shreds of flesh.

“Miles blew himself up?” I demanded, still confused.

“Of course. The Stroj often do so as a final act, when they calculate they can’t cause more damage any other way. I had to fool him. I indicated falsely that we would take him to Lady Astra.”

“Ah…” I said, catching on. “You wanted me to stay close, so Miles would imagine he could take all of us out at the same time.”

“Exactly. Were you impressed?”

I blinked at her for a second, then I recovered. “Oh yes, of course. Very much so. That was excellent trickery, Zye. I was totally taken in.”

She nodded, clearly very pleased with herself, and continued limping away.

Shaking my head, I followed her into the mansion.