Cyberdrome (19 page)

“First, we need
to find a way out of this mess you put us in. If your Tracer can’t reconfigure
itself for Recon mode, then there’s no way we can get past those Raptors. If we
can’t meet with the KaNanee, then we need to get the hell out of this sector.”
He boosted his scanners to full and saw a border up ahead. “What’s in the next
sector?” he asked.

“We cannot go
there,” Javid said flatly. “All Circuit gates into that sector are offline. I
suspect they were damaged by the shock wave produced by the deletion of the
Intruder.”

“Is that where
the attack occurred?” Alek asked, feeling a little strange being so close to
where it all started.

“That is
correct,” Javid said.

Alek knew there
was no way they would be able to reach another border before the Raptors caught
them. “You told me that the border wasn’t a physical barrier. Maybe we can
cross into it to hide from the raptors until your ship repairs itself.”

“That is
unwise.”

Alek looked back
down at his scanner. The Raptors were getting closer. They were quickly running
out of time.

“We don’t seem
to have a lot of choices here,” Alek said. “I think we should try it.”

“You do not
understand, Alek,” Javid said. “Borders were designed to prevent programs from
crossing sectors. Scanners do not work inside and there are other means by
which it will confuse any program trying to cross it.”

“Which makes it
a great place to hide,” Alek said. “The Raptors would be crazy to follow us
in.”

Javid shook his
head. “I was inside that sector during the initial attack on Cyberdrome. After
the blast nearly destroyed my ship, I could find no active Circuit Gates
anywhere inside the sector. Having no other options, I risked a direct border
crossing. I spent many days in the darkness trying to find my way back into
normal memory, and it was only random chance that I managed to escape. I have
no wish to repeat the experience.”

Alek looked at
the blue face in his display. Javid was there when it all happened. What would
he think if he knew that the Intruder was Alek’s own creation? “We don’t seem
to have any other options.”

“I am opposed,”
Javid repeated, “unless your mission requires it.”

He thought back
to Cloudhopper’s briefing. “My mission involves locating something called
‘control nodes.’ Do you know what, or where, those are?”

Javid sighed.
“Very well, we will attempt to cross the border, but let us proceed cautiously.”

“Wait a minute,”
Alek said. “I said we should hide inside until your Tracer repairs itself. I
didn’t say anything about trying to cross it.” He also wasn’t too crazy about
entering the sector where his Cyberphage was destroyed either. 

“One of the
System Control Nodes you are looking for is located inside that sector. I suspect
that it may have been what the Intruder was after.”

Alek bit his
lip, then looked down at his scanner again. The Raptors were almost on top of
them. “All right, let’s do it.”

The border
looked like the others—a black wall stretching from horizon to horizon. As they
approached, he saw that the surface itself seemed to be boiling, almost like a
wall of storm clouds. He began to have second thoughts about driving into it,
but the approaching Raptors pushed him on.

As their Tracers
crossed the boundary, Alek’s view out of his windows went black. All scanners
went offline as well. A few minutes into the darkness, his ship struck
something hard, and he came to a sudden stop.

“Javid, do you
read me,” Alek whispered. “I ran into something. Probably just a memory block,
but I can’t see it. Where are you?”

“I am right
behind you. I will pull up on your right side.”

Alek saw the
glowing panels of Javid’s Tracer come into view out his side window. With the extra
light from Javid’s ship, Alek was barely able to make out the memory block in
front of him. Together they slid around the block and faced the darkness again.

“Well, we
obviously can’t just drive across blindly,” Alek said. “However, I can see the
lights of your Tracer, which means that it’s just dark here, no fog, or
anything blocking our view. Maybe we can use that to get across.”

“Explain,” Javid
said.

“Our Tracers
have a number of ESD weapons. Can they be programmed to be launched without detonating?”

“Yes,” Javid
replied. “There is a menu option when you prepare an ESD for launching.”

“All right, let
me try something,” Alek said. It took him a few seconds to prepare one of the
ESDs, and then launch it. A glowing ball of light dropped out of his forward
weapons bay and began moving forward. Alek could see a short distance all
around the ESD.

“Another clever
idea, Alek,” Javid said.

Alek set his
Tracer to stay up with the ESD. “If we follow these, we can use them to light
our way across this zone.”

“It is a waste
of resources,” Javid said, “But I have no wish to stay here.”

A few minutes
later, the ESD ran out of energy and disappeared. Alek launched another. Just
then, a light appeared off to their left. The light grew brighter, and before
he realized what it was, it hit. His cockpit shook as his shields absorbed the
blast.

“Someone’s
firing at us,” Alek yelled. He checked his display—his shields were down to
eighty percent.

Another light
appeared. Alek switched on his pulsars and fired at the light. It exploded a
few meters from his ship. He saw beams firing near him, and realized they were
shooting at Javid as well. Another one appeared to his left, and then two on
his right. He destroyed two of them and then tried to dodge the third, but
ended up backing right into Javid’s Tracer. The energy charge hit and knocked
both ships sideways.

“I am unable to
fight what I cannot see,” Javid said.

“Maybe we’ll get
lucky,” Alek said as he pivoted his Tracer to the right and fired his pulsars
several times into the darkness. He watched the beams disappear without hitting
anything.

“It is
statistically impossible for you to hit an invisible target by firing randomly.
You are wasting your resources.”

“If you’ve got a
better idea, I would love to hear it,” Alek said. Just then, two-dozen lights appeared
in all directions and began closing in. There was no way to destroy them all.

Just as the
energy charges were about to hit, Alek suddenly felt weightless and realized
that his ship was falling. Before he could react, his weight returned.

“What the hell?”
he yelled. “Javid, did you feel that?”

Although he
heard nothing, he thought he saw something move in the darkness off to his
right. He pressed his face up against his side window to get a better view.

A green light
appeared near his ship. Then another. He saw that he was no longer on the
surface; but inside what looked like a large cave.
It must be another one of
the Mole tunnels
, he realized. As more lights appeared, he saw that several
dozen people filled the cave.

A strange,
somewhat feminine, voice said, “CeeAut requires a speaking with Gray Sentinel.”
The voice came from his internal speakers.

“Javid, are you
getting this?” Alek asked.

“Blue Sentinel
does not hear CeeAut speaking,” the voice said. “The Blue Sentinel aids
KaNanee. KaNanee attack CeeAut. Blue Sentinel does not hear CeeAut speaking.”

These were
obviously the CeeAuts that Javid had mentioned. Their English sounded primitive,
which probably meant that his Avatar’s built-in translator was having
difficulty converting their native tongue into something he could understand.

“Does Gray
Sentinel accept a speaking?” the voice asked.

What was Javid
doing right now? Should he try to make contact with him? After all, Javid
seemed to know more about these CeeAut creatures than he did.

“Does Gray
Sentinel accept a speaking?” the voice repeated.

“Sure, I’ll
speak with you.” He sat there for a moment, and then realized what they wanted.
He slid open his canopy and stood in his chair.

The CeeAuts
began closing in on his ship. Some of them crept up on the ground, while others
seemed to crawl toward him along the cave’s walls and ceiling. How they were
holding onto the smooth surface, he couldn’t tell. In the dim glow of the
lights they carried, he could see that they were all short, thin, and pale—the
exact opposite of the KaNanee.

As they
approached his ship from all sides, he realized that their bodies moved as if
they were made of rubber. Several of the CeeAut were doing cartwheels toward
him, while others were walking on their hands. It was like watching a group of
acrobats, or contortionists, performing. It was both disturbing and at the same
time, oddly sensual.

Two of them
approached within a meter of his Tracer. In the glow from his ship’s lights, he
could see them much better. They were both wearing some sort of bodysuits in
various dark shades of red, blue, and violet. They both had pale faces and
short black hair, and although their faces appeared somewhat androgynous, the
curves under their skin-tight bodysuits told him they were both females.

“This one is
called Alpris,” the nearest one said.

“This one is
called Persis,” the other one said.

“I understand,”
Alek said. “You’re the leaders of your people.” The nearest one, Persis, was
close enough to see that her eyes were much larger than normal. They glowed
slightly green in the dark, which meant that they were adapted to low-light
conditions. In the darkness of the tunnel, he was probably quite visible to
her. “So tell me, why did you bring me here?”

“Sentinels
travel through Circuit Gates,” Alpris said. “KaNanee not travel through Circuit
Gates.”

“Ah, now I get
it. You’re bothered that we have brought the KaNanee here to your sector. Well,
don’t worry. We will be leaving as soon as we can, and we will take the KaNanee
back with us.”

“KaNanee not
leave,” Persis said, moving slightly closer to him. She was actually quite
attractive, he realized, but in an exotic—almost alien—sort of way.

“Sure they
will,” he said.

“KaNanee not
leave,” Persis repeated, again moving subtly closer. Close up he could see that
her face was delicate, but covered with smudges of sweat and filth. It was as
if he was staring at a living fairy-princess—but one who had been forced to
live on the streets for a month. No matter the external condition, her inner
beauty was able to shine through the grime.

“Blue Sentinel
lets them stay,” Alpris said, pulling her partner back and breaking the mood.
“Blue Sentinel gives KaNanee weapons to destroy CeeAut.”

He rubbed his
eyes to clear his mind, and suddenly it was obvious. The KaNanee would use the
Tracers Javid had promised them to hunt down the CeeAut in this sector. He
looked up at Persis and realized that he couldn’t allow the KaNanee to hurt
her.

“What can I do
to help you?” he asked her, then looked at Alpris and added, “All of you.”

Persis and
Alpris fell to their knees. Then the entire group suddenly dropped from the
walls and ceiling and fell to their knees as well. Alek thought for a moment
that something had happened to them, but then realized that they were bowing to
him. They were thanking him.

“Gray Sentinel
helps CeeAut,” Alpris said. “Give CeeAut the Sentinel Tracers.”

Alek thought for
a moment. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll find a way to get you one of the ships,
which should help balance the power between you and the KaNanee.”

Persis stood and
said, “CeeAut can ask no more.”

“We return you
now,” Alpris said as she and the others stood back up.

“Wait,” Alek
said. “Can you help us get out of this border area? We are surrounded by things
that we can’t see.”

Persis stepped
forward and gently touched her hand to his cheek. Then she whispered, “Use the
darkness.”

He started to
ask what she meant, but the lights suddenly went out and she and the others disappeared
from view. He then felt his Tracer begin to rise and realized that he was
returning to the surface. He touched his cheek, then reluctantly ducked his
head back inside his ship, pulled back the canopy, and sealed it.

“Alek, respond.”
Javid’s voice said.

“I’m all right,”
Alek said. “How long have I been gone?”

“I have been
attempting to restore communications since the blast. I counted eleven energy
charges and they all detonated before impacting our Tracers. We were fortunate.
Did one of them damage your Tracer?”

“Yes,” Alek
lied. “My communications system was knocked out and I just now fixed it.” If
the Sentinel hadn’t realized that he was gone, all the better.

Just then, another
volley of energy charges appeared all around them. “Use the darkness,” Alek
said aloud.

“Repeat, Alek,”

The energy
charges were closing in, and this time, no one would step in to save them.
“Listen, Javid. Power down your ship. Turn every system off. I think whatever’s
out there is using the darkness to locate us. I don’t think they can see in
here any better than we can. It’s our Tracers—the shield and weapons pads are
glowing. That’s how they are locating us.”