Mobius (32 page)

“Then we must contact another Impresario to relay this information to Nara-Narayana.”

“We’ll tell everyone.” Stimple gently removed himself from Fandoral’s chest, crossed the room, and climbed up the side of a desk with a small ladder. There, he manipulated a control panel, causing an iris to open at the floor. A translucent orb displaying a face rose out of it.

The One Voice of the Guardian Sphere spoke: “How may I help you, Stimple?”

“Open communication with every Guardian Sphere. I wish to send out a general communication to everyone.”

“I’m sorry, Stimple, but you no longer have permission to utilize the trans-dimensional Guardian network.”

“What do you mean?” replied Stimple.

“All authorizations have been revoked.”

“By who?”

“By the new Impresario of this Sphere.”

“Who’s that?” I asked.

“I believe you were just speaking to him,” said the One Voice of the Sphere.

I lifted my Intersplit gun to the orb and fired, shattering it into pieces.

“This is worse than I thought,” said Stimple. “The Fume has corrupted the One Voice of the Sphere. You’ll have to travel to another Guardian Sphere by means of a transportation archway, and relay your message in person. If you give me a ride on your shoulder, I’ll lead you to the Antechamber, where the restricted dimensional archways are secured.”

“Sounds like a plan,” I said. “But, first, we need to return to Bardio’s bungalow and find out about Allienora. Maybe she escaped the Fume’s beasts. We also need to check on Morion Morpheme. If he’s alive, we can’t abandon him, no matter how intolerable he’s proven to be.”

I flew Fandoral’s air-car through the forest channel, trying to evade detection.

“These black beasts are obviously in close communication with the Fume,” I said. “We can’t be spotted by them.”

Orsteen looked down at the passing landscape. “I haven’t seen one in a while. It’s strange, considering there were thousands roaming the forest channels less than three weeks ago.”

We returned to the swamp and I saw the great tree that housed Bardio’s bungalow. I flew the craft down. As we descended, I saw a figure ten meters from the bungalow, squatting and hunch-backed, hands groping in the soft mud of the swampland. As the craft neared the ground, I could see it was Morion. He’d yet to notice our descent and jerked a clenched fist from the depths of the swamp mud. With a deranged grin of satisfaction, he examined a plump white grub wriggling in his grip. Without hesitation, he stuffed it in his mouth.

With Stimple on my shoulder, I got out of the craft and approached Morion. Morion turned and presented us with two cow-eyes, continuing to chew slowly.

“Where’s Allienora?” I asked, fearing his response.

Morion stopped chewing and blinked. “We depleted our food reserves, and Allienora insisted I was to blame. She said I ate more than I required. She then wanted
me
,
Morion Morpheme, to wander into the pale murk of the swamp and hunt swamp weasels. I informed her I wasn’t bred to perform such drudgery. I recommended Bardio for the task, but he’s as worthless as a pile of entrails. I then recommended that she take on the responsibility. In a brooding silence, she suited up and marched into the swamp. And as you can see, she has yet to return, leaving me no choice but to degrade my dignity and root through the mud for grubs like a mongrel.”

I grabbed Morion by the throat, enraged. “You’ve outdone yourself, Morion Morpheme. You’re a thoughtless coward. How could you let Allienora wander off into the swamp, with the sphere overrun by black beasts?”

Morion squeezed rasping words through his constricted airway: “I’m not her keeper, and she’s not a child.”

I released Morion and he fell into the mud.

“I’m sorry,” I said, offering him a hand. “I’m angry, confused. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

Morion took my hand and I pulled him up.

Orsteen approached. “Have you spotted any beasts lately, Morion? Or heard any noises from the swamp?”

“No beasts,” said Morion, rubbing his neck. “There was a scattering of birds early this morning, but I gave little thought to it. And last night, while I slept, I heard a frightening howl that filled the darkness. It caused me to shrink deep under my covers.”

We searched around the bungalow, looking for any traces of struggle. I called desperately into the swamp, but my words fell flat on the dense vegetation.

After a few hours of searching, Orsteen stopped me. “It’s no use, Theron. She’s gone.”

“She’s smart. She could’ve eluded them. Maybe she’s hiding.” I turned back to the swamp.

“Look at me,” said Orsteen. “You must accept this. We must move forward.”

“Fucking hell!” I chewed on my tongue nervously. I could feel tears welling in my eyes. “Let’s say goodbye to Bardio.”

Bardio sat on a bucket next to his wife’s grave, sipping from a cylinder of Aqua Vita and mumbling. He didn’t seem to notice our approach.

I handed him an Intersplit gun. “Find strength, Bardio. You’ll have to eat.”

“Why? What’s left?”

“Dignity, respect... her memory. Let her live on in you.”

Bardio reluctantly grabbed the weapon from me. “Find your girl, Theron. Don’t ever give up. Happiness is a hard thing to lose.”

I nodded and thought,
I’ve lost it more than once.

As we left, Morion pulled me aside. “I’m sorry about Allienora. I can be selfish now and again, or most of the time, if not all the time. I realize that a selfish man is a lonely man. If you can forgive me, I’ll do my best to change.”

“I forgive you, Morion.” I looked into the far distance. “Hopefully we can all find change very soon.”

QUANTUM

CONTROL PLEXUS

“I’ll drive,”
said Stimple, jumping to the front of the air-car. The controls reconfigured around him, accommodating his small size. The energy shield activated around the craft and we sped out into the forest channel.

I looked back to the swamp, desperate to see Allienora hiding among the trees. She was nowhere in sight.

I turned to Stimple. “Where are we headed?”

“To the forbidden realm of the Guardian Army. There we’ll find the Antechamber, where the restricted dimensional archways are secured.”

To my surprise we returned to Central City. “The realm of the Guardian Army is in Central City?”

“Look closer,” said Stimple.

He manipulated the air-car’s controls and a filter was applied to the front window. A giant floating structure appeared like a ghostly vision. It was out of phase like the Obelisks that landed on Earth. It was huge—its mass enveloped all of Central City.

“You people do things differently,” said Orsteen.

Stimple smiled. “A city beneath a city.”

“How do you do it?” I asked.

“It’s the same technology developed by Sensimion to conceal the Guardian’s dimensional transporters. It’s a matter of transforming a few of the lesser eighteen dimensions into clones of the three prime dimensions.”

Morion leaned forward. “You can get us inside this hidden realm, little man?”

“I may be as useless as a placenta after birth, but I’m older than most in this Guardian Sphere, and I’ve acquired several privileges throughout the millennia.” Stimple yanked open his shirt, exposing his small chest. A glowing ring was embedded in his skin.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“It’s the key to the kingdom,” said Stimple proudly. “Fandoral entrusted me with it a long time ago.”

Stimple ran his finger along the circumference of the glowing ring and something began to materialize in front of the air-car. Before us floated a magnificently crafted portal—a circular dimensional gateway floating in air. At its apex was the body of a majestic bird, its wings drooping down to form the ring of the portal. It gazed forth with frightening intensity. It felt like it was judging me, scrutinizing my worthiness as we prepared to pass into the sanctuary of its sprawled wings.

We flew into the gateway, passing through the wings of the great bird. When we arrived on the other side, the massive floating structure that housed the realm of the Guardian Army was no longer a ghostly vision, it now had substance.

Stimple landed the air-car on a balcony and we proceeded by foot. Stimple rode on my shoulder and guided us into a long corridor lined with towering statues. Each was a humanoid figure distinctly different in physiology from the next, and all held a radiant globe in the hand of an upraised arm. The globes illuminated the corridor with a ghastly effect, splashing long shadows in every direction.

Morion pointed to the five-meter-tall statues as we passed. “They’re breathtaking. Look at the craftsmanship in the faces—chiseled with such detail that you can almost tell what they’re thinking.”

“These are portrayals of the various races throughout the Brahman Sprawl,” said Stimple. “In their hands they hold representations of their home worlds.”

The corridor split in the distance.

“Which way?” I asked.

“We must proceed down the left passage,” directed Stimple. “It’ll lead us to the Antechamber, where we’ll gain access to the restricted dimensional archways.”

“And the passage to the right?” inquired Orsteen.

“It leads to the training facility of the Guardian Army.”

I heard distant footsteps. “Someone approaches from behind us. Take cover.”

We concealed ourselves in the shadows and waited as the rhythm of footsteps grew louder. I peeked out with Stimple on my shoulder. We saw a troop of the Fume’s beasts passing.

Stimple whispered in my ear. “How did they gain access to this realm? Even though the Fume controls the One Voice, they still shouldn’t have been able to gain access. The systems of this realm are independent from the Guardian Sphere.”

I watched as the beasts passed by. They had changed considerably since my previous encounter, and were now of two general forms. The first were of great height, comparable to the statues lining the corridor. They had bulging muscles and a thick, calloused skin that was still ingrained with silver nano-fibers. They lumbered onward at an incline, heads thrust forward, to the effect that they seemed perpetually on the verge of tipping to the ground, only to be propped back up at the last moment by each forward footstep.

The second kind was of slimmer form, at half the height of their fellow beasts, yet still taller than Orsteen. They walked with a more controlled and regal stride. Three of them led a group of twenty of the larger beasts. They seemed more intelligent. I guessed they were the leaders of the Fume’s onslaught.

The larger beasts carried weapons and equipment—cumbersome energy cannons, communication devices, and power cells. A few at the rear dragged bundles of bodies tied together by ropes. I felt ill as I was reminded of the bundles of swamp weasels I had captured with Bardio’s wife. To my horror, I noticed a few of the bodies at the tops of the bundles still squirmed with life.

The beasts moved to a comfortable distance and we relaxed.

“Did you notice the three smaller beasts leading the pack?” said Orsteen. “They wore the armor of the Guardian Army.”

“This situation becomes worse by the moment,” I said. “They’re adapting fast, assimilating the technology of the Guardian Army.”

“We must stop them,” said Stimple.

“This seems unlikely,” I said. “We’re no match for such giants.”

Stimple pointed in the direction of the beasts. “If they gain access to the gates of the Antechamber, all will be lost. They’ll be able to travel to all the Guardian Spheres.”

We quickened our pace, following the troop of beasts, occasionally ducking behind a statue to escape notice. We came to the gates of the Antechamber and realized our worst fears. The gates were open.

We hid behind a statue next to the entrance of the Antechamber and were afforded a view of the interior. The Antechamber itself was an enormous cylindrical chamber. Around the perimeter, a six-meter-wide walkway wound around and up, disappearing into a mist thirty stories above. At shortly spaced intervals along the walkway were the dimensional archways, apparently leading to the other Guardian Spheres. There must have been five hundred archways before the walkway vanished into the mist above.

“We’re too late,” I said.

Within the Antechamber were thousands of black beasts. They walked in a slow procession up the walkway, making their ways through the dimensional archways. Many of the beasts carried Instersplit guns that had been modified for some unknown reason. The whole procession was extremely organized, with the beasts forming into troops of twenty or thirty.

Where the spiral walkway began, a third kind of beast stood at attention, as if on post. It had the typical black, gnarled flesh with ingrained nano-fibers, but was much smaller than the other two types, with a bulbous head and large, glistening eyes. It looked thoughtfully upon a tablet it held, poking it with a long finger. To each troop that passed its post, it would call out a command in a strange language. The troop would then proceed up the spiral walkway and eventually find their way to an archway.

“Allienora!” I called. My heart nearly stopped when I saw her golden hair among the crowd of beasts. “Do you see her? She hangs over the shoulder of a beast, high on the walkway.”

I lunged forward, but came to a halt as Orsteen stopped me with a large hand. “Don’t be a fool, Theron. You can’t rescue her now. You wouldn’t make it a single step through this crowd of monsters.”

I remembered the psychic moment I had shared with Allienora and now gave all my concentration to send out my thoughts.

I’m here, Allienora. Don’t worry. I’ll rescue you if it’s the last thing I do. Do you hear me? I won’t give up.

I waited, but she didn’t reply.

“Why doesn’t she respond? She’s heard my thoughts before.” I watched the beast carry her through an archway. “She’s gone. What do we do? We have to follow her.”

“We’ll find her, Theron.” Orsteen looked through the gathering of beasts. “We must find another way to a different Guardian Sphere. Stimple, do you have any suggestions?”

“The only other way to a Guardian Sphere is to find a Guardian who still lives.”

“Good luck,” said Morion. “The only Guardians we’ve seen are those lying dead in our path.”

“That’s it!” said Orsteen. “We can use one of the dimensional transporters lying around us. Surely the dead Guardians won’t miss them.”

Stimple jumped on Orsteen’s shoulder. “You can’t just strap a dimensional transporter to your back.”

“Then where do the Guardians become equipped with such units?” I asked.

“Of course!” said Stimple. “Just down the other corridor, within the training facility of the Guardian Army.” With the backside of his heel, Stimple gave Orsteen a hard kick. “Forward, big fellow!”

Orsteen returned a cold stare.

“Sorry,” said Stimple. “When I’m not in the abyss of depression, I’m stimulated to the point of insanity.”

Orsteen gave a nod of forgiveness, and then proceeded to follow Stimple’s command.

We evaded two more regiments of black beasts and then entered into an open realm that felt like a university campus. We moved down a central boulevard lined with small buildings constructed with an almost gothic architecture. Each building was labeled with a sign engraved with a strange set of symbols.

Stimple pointed down the boulevard. “It’s this way to the armory.”

Scattered along our path were many half-eaten and decaying Guardian bodies. I felt respect for them.

“It’s utterly noble giving oneself to the welfare of humankind.” I turned to Stimple. “How did these brave souls become Guardians?”

“With great difficulty,” said Stimple. “After an applicant submits their life to the cause of the Guardian Army, they’re thoroughly investigated to ensure their motives are honorable. Then, it’s said that Nara-Narayana herself approves the applicant’s admission. Once admitted, they undergo genetic therapies to alleviate the aging process and to enhance strength, endurance, and mental vigor. They then embark on a painstaking education.” Stimple pointed to each of the buildings we passed. “Brahman Anthropology... Transcendental Theosophy... Temporal and Paradoxical Dynamics... Scientific Verities of the Universe... The Ten Tomes of the Guardian Army... and so on, and so forth. They’re also taught in the use of weapons, hand to hand combat, spacecrafts, technological comprehension and improvisation, and the intricacies of military combat and strategy.”