Interphase (23 page)

Cursing to himself, Clyde dodged another bolt and ran to the door, casting one final gaze at the energy stream.

***

"Okay, Lucas, try it now?"

Lucas pushed against the invisible barrier blocking the gateway. Beyond, the wilderness scene distorted, as if an unknown force opposed their entry. Inexorably the field snapped back into place, flinging Lucas away.

"Damn it!" David slammed his fist against the computer terminal and fought back the panic rising in his throat. He could almost feel the seconds ticking fatally away. "I can't wait any longer. I'll have to go back alone." He started toward the doorway, only to have Jessica seize him by the arm.

"And do what?" she demanded. "All you've said is that Analara is in trouble. What is going on?"

David squeezed his eyes shut in anguish, trying to pull himself away. "There was some kind of accident, or attack, or something. I have to go before they kill her!"

"What?" Thomas started, and Jessica dropped her hand in pure shock.

"David, you can't kill someone in V-Net."

He didn't get a chance to reply. The air within the chamber hummed, and a flash of light threw their shadows against the wall. David heard Thomas and Lucas draw their blades behind him and turned. A thin blue line appeared in mid-air, then split to either side, forming a gate. It looked like a direct network transfer. David thought he heard the sound of thunder echoing from the door, then a figure stepped through just before it closed.

David blinked. "Clyde?"

The rumpled figure straightened, staring at David in total bewilderment. Clyde looked at the others one at a time, and his expression hardened. "Your friends need you," he said as he rolled his eyes. "Right."

Thomas narrowed his eyes. "I recognize you."

"Yeah, nice to see you too, Lancelot."

"Clyde, what on Phoenix happened to you yesterday?" David said. "And where did you just come from?"

"Don't even go there. You do
not
want the gory details." Clyde crossed his arms. "What's with all the people? You leading a sight-seeing tour or something?"

David ground his teeth. He was not in the mood for Clyde's sarcasm. "Or something," he snapped back. "I should make you fix the blasted gateway. You're the one who opened it in the first place, and now it won't let anyone else through."

"What, you broke it already?" Clyde walked over to the computer terminal.

"David," said Jessica, casting a wary eye at Clyde. "Who is this exactly?"

David blinked. "Oh, right. You never formally met. You probably remember hearing about Clyde during my suspension?"

Jessica's brow furrowed, but she said nothing.

Lucas stepped forward, faint recognition in his eyes. "Wait a minute, bro. This is the guy that got you in trouble with Dad—"

"How is the old man these days, sweet cheeks? Still running around V-Net trying to catch VERA's most wanted?" Clyde looked up from the terminal screen and sneered at Lucas. "Funny, I don't recall Captain Smith having a daughter."

A blush covered Lucas's cheeks. He advanced toward Clyde, but David restrained him. "Cool it! We need his help."

Clyde groaned. "You know, I'm really getting tired of hearing that, Harris. Last time I 'helped' you, I got my ass blasted by lightning."

David rounded on him, anger flaring in his eyes. "Right now, Clyde, that gate is infinitely more important than your ass. If it isn't fully open soon, someone will
die
. You want that on your conscience?"

"What makes you think I have a conscience?" Clyde muttered to himself, but he avoided David's gaze. He frowned at the computer terminal, his fingers dancing over the controls with frantic speed. "Harris, none of this makes sense," he growled. "According to these readings, there's a physical barrier blocking the gate. I can't find any sort of location traces leading around it. You were the one studying the bloody—"

"Poor little hacker met his match?" Lucas catcalled.

"Will everyone just shut up?" David shouted. All eyes turned toward him at the outburst. He drew in a quivering breath and faced Clyde first. "You aren't going to find any location traces to V-Net. Because the gate doesn't lead to anywhere
in
V-Net."

A palpable hush fell over the chamber. "David, what are you talking about?" Jessica asked.

David's gaze never left Clyde. "Check your tracers. Tell me I'm wrong. It's not inside the system, is it?"

Clyde glared at the screen, launching program after program into the void. "That's… that's not—"

"Possible?" David finished. "Wrong. The proof stands twenty feet and a billion miles away from you. That gateway leads to a different planet."

"How can that be?" Thomas asked in an awed voice.

David shrugged. "I don't know. But it's real. I've been there. Now…" He took a ragged breath. "Something really bad is about to happen. Analara's been imprisoned for sharing my company. Her people somehow think humanity is responsible for an attack on their world, and they've condemned her. She is going to be executed tonight! I'm not asking any of you to come, but believe me when I say this is important. I have to do this."

Everyone was silent, their expressions a mix of shock and disbelief. David continued, "I'm sorry. I know this is too much to take in all at once, but I can't wait any longer. Analara needs me."

David felt a hand on his shoulder, and he turned. A scanning probe flashed light into his eyes. Clyde made a thoughtful grunt and walked back to the terminal. "Give me five minutes. Tops."

"What are you doing, Clyde?"

"Analyzing your V-Net data structure, trying to see why you can pass through the gate when no one else can. Once I find the anomaly and interlace the barrier, problem solved."

It was David's turn to stare. "Why?"

Clyde rolled his eyes. "You honestly think you can drop a bomb like that on me and expect me to kick on home? Screw that. I'm going to another planet."

"Yeah!" Lucas chimed in.

David spun around. "This is not some game. This is reality! If something goes wrong in there, any one of us could
die
."

"So will she, unless we come to her aid." Thomas stepped forward, pinning David with a level gaze. "While I have every confidence in you, my friend, I do not believe that you would turn down aid if you truly cared for her. Is that not why you asked us to come in the first place?"

"Just try and stop us, David," Jessica warned. She crossed her arms. "We're going. All of us."

Chapter 20

Rupu returned to the grove a minute after David's party had arrived. Panting heavily, he squeezed his words out between breaths. "I am sorry for the delay, David, but I had to return to Ilinar to find out what was happening." He drew a deep breath and looked directly into David's eyes. "Totarakh knows that I escaped from my internment. He believes that I will try to rescue Analara, so he has violated our laws and ordered that she be executed within the hour. She is being held in the cells near the Temple. Also, I think the High Priest means to trap you, David. He knows about your bond with Analara."

"Bond?" Clyde asked, in a tone that made David blush. "Didn't know you moved that fast, Harris."

"This is not a laughing matter," Thomas snapped.

"Cool off, Lancelot, it was a joke."

Jessica sighed and shook her head. "How do we get Analara out of the cells?"

Rupu pursed his lips in thought. "Two of you will come with me into the city. The rest will make a distraction to draw the Siathrak warriors away from the cell. If we can do that, we stand a chance against Ilinar's guards. They are not as well trained or as vicious as the holy warriors."

Clyde activated his wrist-computer. "Leave the distraction to me."

"You won't be able to load much," David warned him. His friends had discovered quickly that inside Analath they reverted to their real personas, their powers and weapons gone. Clyde punched a few buttons, and several plasma charges materialized in his open hand.

Clyde smirked at David. "With a little recoding, the gateway can project small items a short distance into Analath. I don't need much, just something to scare these primitive screw heads."

Seeing Rupu's frown, David put a hand on his shoulder. "You can trust him. He may be crude, but he'll get the job done."

"So, you and me going into the city, bro?" Lucas asked.

David shook his head. He hadn't seen his brother's real form in some time. Lucas was a bit overweight and took after their mother with his short height. "If it comes to a real fight, I think Thomas would have a serious advantage."

Lucas sighed in disappointment. "What do you want Jess and me to do then?"

Waving them over, Clyde gave Jessica and Lucas several charges, loading more as his pile diminished. "You two are with me."

David looked over at Rupu. "Our communicators won't work here, so we'll need to plan this in advance. How long will it take us to reach Analara?"

Rupu tapped his chin thoughtfully. "To reach the cells once we are at the walls will take about fifteen minutes."

Pinning Clyde with a stern gaze, David nodded. "That's when we'll need the distraction to start. Don't be late." David looked back at Rupu and noticed that his wound from before was gone.

Rupu caught his gaze and looked alarmed. "I, ah, found some herbs to help heal the cut." Blushing, he turned quickly and led the group out of the grove.

They moved at a steady clip across the grasslands. Lucas seemed winded, but he kept pace without complaint. Everyone knew what was at stake. As their surroundings passed by, David lamented to himself that they didn't have a chance to marvel at the world around them. Someday, they'd be back in a time of peace. Rupu gestured for them to halt, snapping David out of his thoughts. The walls of Ilinar loomed ahead of them.

Rupu turned aside to a nearby copse of trees. Under their shade, a large piece of stone, overgrown with weeds, rested against one of the trunks. He cleared a space around it and dug his fingers into the grass. Straining, he pulled up a hatchway hidden beneath a layer of soil.

Out of the corner of his eye, David saw Thomas take Jessica's hand. They whispered something to each other before Thomas followed Rupu into the hole. David caught Jessica's eye, and she smiled at him encouragingly.

"Fifteen minutes," he reminded Clyde, then walked into the darkness beneath the earth. The hatch slipped shut, enclosing them in blackness. There was a pop, and David turned to see a burning torch in Rupu's hand. The tunnel was small and cramped, and the flame lit no more than a few feet ahead.

"Hurry," Rupu whispered. David and Thomas stayed close to the light. The tunnel was straight and slightly damp. Roots poked through the dirt above them. "Varlath built this after the Betrayal. The elders of the family all know its location. I 'happened' across the knowledge."

"The Betrayal?" Thomas inquired. The question jogged David's memory; his vision of Shalaron in the woods had mentioned the Betrayal. He had meant to ask Analara about it, but had forgotten.

"After Shalaron ascended as Sage, the previous ruler attacked the city with an army from the broken tribes. No one living in Ilinar today did not lose a family member before it was over. Varlath's sons were all killed in the fighting."

"You lost someone as well?" The question was out before David could stop himself.

"My father. I was five at the time. Analara lost both of her parents. She was only four months old."

The conversation faded as they reached the tunnel's end. Rupu quenched the torch in a corner, underneath a rope ladder. He pushed open a hatch above, and light flooded into the tunnel. David followed Rupu up into some kind of storeroom.

Varlath was waiting for them. He approached David and grasped his hand. A large bruise glowered on one side of his forehead, and his eyes were filled with tears. "Forgive me, lad. This is my doing. My blind devotion to Siath overshadowed my good judgment, and now my child is paying the price for my failure. Forgive me."

David stood there, dumbfounded. His heart went out to the old man, and he patted Varlath's shoulder. "There's nothing to forgive."

Rupu shook Varlath gently. "There is no time for this. We must get to Analara."

With a shuddering breath, Varlath composed himself. He picked up some clothes from a pile in the corner. Assessing Thomas, he paused in thought. "Big lad. Good." He shoved several pieces of clothing into Thomas's arms. Thomas took the garments with a nod of thanks.

They dressed quickly. When they were done, there was nothing to differentiate them from the men of Ilinar except their short hair. Rupu led them out of the house and down several winding avenues. The city seemed largely deserted, the welcoming and open air that David remembered gone. They emerged near a building that looked like a barracks of some kind. Pairs of white-garbed warriors sparred in front, paying them no attention. Silently, they slipped behind the building next to the city wall.

David looked at each of his companions as they waited. "Any minute now."

The sound of explosions tore across the quiet city. Clouds of thick smoke rose above sections of the far wall. A wild cry went up, and an officer barked orders at the soldiers. Several more men poured from the barracks as the company ran for the wall.