Jack Blank and the End of Infinity (11 page)

Jack’s infected eye tingled at the mere mention of the Rüstov emperor. He looked up at the Magus and worried that maybe Khalix wasn’t just trying to psyche him out. Everything felt wrong. The mark on Jack’s eye and the ruby-red crystal growing like a tumor in his chest made it painfully clear that Khalix was getting stronger, and then there was the matter of his father. Jack could feel the Magus’s presence up in the gallery lending his son power and support on the operating table. He remembered feeling the Magus’s anger back when he escaped on Roka’s ship. Somehow he had known the Magus’s feelings as well
as he did his own. The Magus shared a powerful connection with his people, and Jack worried about how much stronger Khalix would get once his father returned. What if Khalix was right? What if he couldn’t beat him anymore?

“It’s like Glave said, we’ve already succeeded. You fought well, longer than anybody ever has, but there’s no point in holding out any longer. We’re too strong.”

Jack did his best to sound brave. “Not strong enough to hold me. I escaped.”

Khalix stifled a laugh. “That’s right. I forgot.”

“What’s so funny?”

“Oh, I think you know. Understand this, Jack, you do nothing that we don’t intend. Everything you do from this point on can only serve to weaken the Imagine Nation. You may think you’re going to fight to the bitter end, but you don’t know what you’re going to do when that moment finally comes. I do. You’re our greatest weapon and we’ve got you exactly where we want you. Revile is part of both our futures. It’s fate. You can’t escape destiny.”

“I don’t believe in destiny.”

Khalix laughed out loud. “Oh, Jack. Really . . . you need to wake up.”

9

Fight or Flight

Jack’s eyes shot open and his whole body shook. There was somebody next to him with a hand on his arm. He tried to scurry away but his back was against a wall. There was nowhere to go.

“Jack, it’s okay. It’s okay!” Roka said, grabbing him and holding him steady. “It’s a dream. You’re dreaming.”

“No, it’s . . .” Jack shook his head and blinked his way out of his disoriented state. He was breathing hard. “Right. A dream. I knew that.”

“It’s all right, Jack,” Allegra said. “You’re not there
anymore. The Rüstov don’t have you. You’re safe. You’re here with us.”

Jack took a deep breath and looked around. He knew exactly two things. One, he had no idea where “here” was. Two, he wasn’t safe anywhere. He rubbed his eyes and the world came back into focus. It was nighttime. He, Allegra, Trea, Zhi, Lorem, and Roka were all hiding out somewhere dark, wet, and dirty. “Where are we?”

“Lowest point in Lowtown,” Roka said. “We’re in one of the drainage tunnels under the foundation of the city. Used to hide out here in my younger, troublemaking days. Never really outgrew those, I guess.”

“There aren’t any security cameras this far down,” Lorem said, looking up out of the mouth of the tunnel. “We should be okay here for a little while at least. It’s a lead-lined tunnel, so even if Daddy’s new toys have X-ray vision, they can’t see through it. They’ll make their way down here eventually, though. You can bet he’s got them all out looking for you.”

Jack nodded. Lorem Ipsum had been created by Jonas Smart in a lab experiment and subsequently locked up by
him when she didn’t do as she was told. She knew a thing or two about hiding out from her “father.” Jack reached out with his powers and monitored the police scanners. “He’s looking all right. Everybody’s looking for us.” He could tell Smart’s WarHawks were still scanning the upper levels of Hightown for them. For the time being, they were off the grid. “Does anyone else know about this place?” Jack asked Roka.

“Not anymore,” Roka replied. He looked sad for a moment, but he shook off his brooding expression and quickly put his guard back up. “Don’t worry. No one’s gonna find us down here.”

“Okay,” Jack said, leaning back against the inside of the tunnel. “Let me just catch my breath for a second.” He closed his eyes. He was exhausted after the melee in Hero Square and the chase through Cognito, but he didn’t dare rest. To relax his mind was to open the door for Khalix. His parasite had gained far too much ground on him already. Jack opened his eyes. Everyone was staring at him. They looked nervous. They were trying to hide it, but Jack could still tell.

“Jack, how are you feeling?” Allegra asked.

“Yeah, are you okay?” Lorem asked. “That was some dream.”

“I’m all right. It’s just . . . it’s hard to explain.”

“You don’t have to,” Roka said. “You talk in your sleep.”

Jack froze. Even among friends, he felt naked not knowing exactly what he’d said. “So, you heard . . .”

“Everything,” Trea said.

Jack sighed. On the one hand, he felt betrayed by his own body. On the other, at least he didn’t have to tell his friends what was going on with him. They already knew. “When I sleep, he’s there now. Khalix. He’s stronger than he used to be. I don’t know what they did to me, guys, I . . .” Jack trailed off and pressed a hand to his forehead. There was no point in denying it. He was feeling nervous too.

“Don’t let him psyche you out, Jack,” Zhi said. “You’re stronger than Khalix. You held him off for this long, didn’t you? You escaped.”

Jack snorted. “Not according to Khalix. He says they let me go, and I think he might be telling the truth. It’s harder for me to fight him off now. Khalix draws strength
from the Magus. All the Rüstov do. It’s harder for me to fight him when his father is nearby, and then there’s this.” Jack pulled his shirt open to let everyone get a good look at the mechanical implant in his chest. It was glowing with a red light, just like in his dream.

“Does it hurt?” Trea asked, leaning in to inspect the core.

Jack shook his head. “It doesn’t feel like anything. I know what it is, though. It’s Revile’s regenerative core. This is where he comes from. I really am part machine now. Sure, I’m able to hold Khalix off for the time being, but when the armada gets closer . . . when the Magus gets here? Who knows?”

“What do you mean,
who knows
?” Allegra asked Jack. “You have a plan, right?”

Jack zipped his shirt back up. “A plan? Allegra, I spent the last year in a coma. I’m only here now because they want me here. What kind of a plan would I have?”

“Hey,” Lorem said. “I know you’re upset, but don’t take it out on her. She’s only trying to help.”

Jack looked at Allegra. She was staring at him with her arms folded in front of her body.

Jack let out a sigh and went up to her. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to . . .” He put a hand on her shoulder. “This isn’t your fault. You were there for me when I needed it. You all were. It’s just, I don’t know that you should be anymore. You guys are trusting me when I can’t even trust myself. Zhi, I got one of your dragons killed.”

“No you didn’t,” Zhi said. “He just needs time to heal.”

“Zhi, I watched him evaporate this morning. He’s gone.”

“My dragons are mystical creatures, Jack. The only way to get rid of them would be to sever their connection to this world. To kill
me
.”

That made Jack feel a little better, but only a little. “So we got lucky this time. What about next time?”

“You sound like Skerren,” Trea said.

“Skerren,” Allegra repeated. She said the name like it left a bad taste in her mouth. “He and I had kind of a falling-out this past year. Over you.”

“The way he went after you today, it’s hard to believe you were ever friends,” Zhi said.

“He’s still mad about what went down with the spyware virus,” Allegra explained. “He believes that prophecy about your future without question.”

“The
prophecy
,” Jack said. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m starting to think he might be right.”

Jack’s words took the air out of the tunnel. “I can’t believe you’re saying that either,” Allegra said, breaking the silence. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Look, I know this isn’t what anyone wants to hear, but how I feel is how I feel. At least I’m telling the truth.” Jack looked at the faces of his friends as they digested what he had said. Judging by their expressions, they didn’t have any great appreciation for the truth. This time, it was Roka who broke the silence:

“Kid, I know we just met, but if my opinion counts for anything, I don’t think you mean what you’re saying. Not really.”

“No?”

“No. I think you’re scared, and that’s fine. You should be. But we’ve all got two main instincts that kick in when we find ourselves in situations like yours. Fight or flight. I’ve seen you fight when you needed to fight, and I’ve seen you run when you needed to run. I watched you fly from one end of the galaxy to the other at light speed for crying out loud.”

“What’s your point?”

Roka held up his fingers, counting off Jack’s options. “Fight or flight. They’re both survival instincts. You don’t strike me as the kind of guy who likes to give up.”

Jack nodded slowly as he turned Roka’s words over in his head. He was forced to admit: “No, I’m not.”

“Pretty sharp for a space-pirate,” Lorem Ipsum said.

“He prefers ‘adventurer,’” Allegra said.

“Or entrepreneur,” Roka added. “Thank you, Allegra.” He turned back to Jack. “So if you’re not gonna give up, I guess the question is, what are you going to do?”

Jack ran his hands through his hair. “Whatever it is, I can’t do it alone. This is going to be a hard fight, guys. The odds are against us. Way against us.”

“I once met a woman who dealt with far worse,” Stendeval called out from the end of the tunnel. “She was blind and deaf, but she wasn’t alone. She said walking with a friend in the darkness is better than walking alone in the light.”

“Stendeval!” Jack said as his old teacher stepped into the tunnel. Blue and Midknight, the veteran hero of Hightown, followed him in.

“Whatever the future holds, we’ll face it together, Jack. Our job is not to predict the future, but rather to build it.”

“How did you find us?” Roka asked.

“We had help from an old friend,” Stendeval said, stepping aside to reveal a cloaked figure standing in the tunnel’s entrance. It was a Secreteer.

“I would have found you eventually,” Midknight said. “This is my borough, after all.”

If Roka heard a word Midknight said, it was impossible to tell. He was leaning forward toward the Secreteer in disbelief. “It can’t be . . . ,” he began. “Rasa?”

The Secreteer pulled back her hood to reveal her face. Jack leaned around Roka to get a look at who it was. Hypnova shook her head sadly.

“I’m sorry, no.”

Roka cursed himself under his breath. “Of course you’re not her. How could you be?”

“All these years, and still you remember,” the former Secreteer marveled.

“Like it was yesterday,” Roka said. “Can’t seem to forgive and forget, no matter what you people try to pull.”

For a moment, Jack’s own problems took a backseat
to an intense curiosity. He didn’t know what Roka and Hypnova were talking about, but it was obvious there was no love lost between his newfound friend and the Clandestine Order. Whatever their history was, it didn’t seem personal for Hypnova, but Roka clearly felt otherwise.

“You should know what happened was the matriarch’s decision. I had nothing to do with it. I’m not even part of the order anymore.”

Roka shrugged. “Neither is Rasa. But that doesn’t matter now, does it?”

Hypnova’s eyes widened. “You know what happened to her?”

“Why do you think I spent the last ten years raiding Rüstov ships?” Roka said. “This isn’t my first trip home.”

Hypnova frowned and looked away. Jack was about to ask Jazen if he had any idea what Hypnova and Roka were talking about when he noticed his android friend was missing.

“Hey, where’s Jazen?” Jack asked.

Blue kneeled down next to Jack. “Jazen didn’t make it out, partner.”

“Didn’t make it out?” Jack repeated. “What are you talking about? Where is he?”

Midknight stepped forward. “Smart took Jazen prisoner. He says if you don’t come out of hiding and surrender, he’s going to dismantle Jazen and shred his parts. You’ve got until tomorrow night to turn yourself in.”

10

A Friend in Need

As soon as Jack heard Jazen was in trouble, he immediately changed gears. He had one priority—Jazen Knight. Jack used his powers to grab hold of an advertising holo-screen that was floating around the lower levels of Hightown. He pulled it down toward the tunnel, switched off its regular rotation of commercials, and changed the channel to SmartNews. The picture rolled and Jack saw Drack Hackman, the slick SmartNews anchorman, interviewing Jonas Smart:

“I don’t like this any more than you do,” Smart said. “I
prefer to solve problems peacefully, with ideas that benefit the greater good. Unfortunately, when faced with such obstinate resistance and immediate danger, my hand is forced. I have to think of the people of this city. This city and beyond.”

Hackman waved his hands at Smart. “Please, sir, there’s no need to explain yourself. No one questions your motives. You’ve been the only consistent voice of reason ever since this whole Jack Blank affair began.” Hackman turned toward the camera. “Here at SmartNews, we gave Jazen Knight a chance to appeal to Jack Blank and ask him to do the right thing. I’m afraid we can only show you a portion of his statement.”

An window opened up on the screen with an image of Jazen inside it. He was sitting in a dark room underneath a bright light. His hands were tied behind his back and he was struggling to break free of his restraints. “When I get out of here, I’m going to shove my fist so far up your—”

The window blinked out before Jazen finished. Hackman was shaking his head with a disappointed look. “You see, this is what I’m dealing with,” Smart said.

“Meanwhile, Circlewoman Virtua is no better,” Hackman replied. “We have a statement from her as well.”

Another window opened up on the screen, this time showing Virtua at a lectern, speaking to a group of people.

“Jonas Smart is clearly out of control. His actions on the square today are proof enough of that, but his abduction of Commander Knight is a hostile act against Machina that will not stand. I am demanding his immediate release. If Mr. Smart should choose to ignore me, he does so at his own peril and that of his borough. I will not hesitate to send troops into Hightown to take Commander Knight back.”