The Last of the Ageless (47 page)

Zen shook his head. “Rafia lived near a hospital on the outskirts of the city. This wasn’t long after the Catastrophe—now all the hospitals are worthless, of course. Rafia kept what she could in working order and cared for the sick, delivered babies, and shared the technology as much as she dared.”

Behind Zen, Azaiah appeared in the doorway. Blood coated the spear in his hand.

“No!” Liang tapped on his wristlet, and the force field in the exterior doorway came down. He immediately regretted it; he’d just given away his plan and used up what little energy the wind turbines had recently generated.

The cyborg whipped around, knocking over the table lamp. “Perhaps he’s worth keeping.” Raising his voice, Zen regarded the Changeling. “This was why Rollick died. His people were loyal to a fault, and while they kept me distracted, he tried to kill me.”

“I—” The force field hummed, fizzled, and failed again. Liang closed his eyes to Azaiah’s betrayed expression. “Don’t kill him, Zen. He’s my best.”

“You were wise to stop him,” Zen said. Addressing Azaiah, he said, “I’m not here to kill your master. Let us talk, and I’ll let you live.”

Liang’s heart thumped, wondering what the cyborg would do next. “Don’t let my misguided followers interrupt what you were saying.”

The moan from outside cut short, leaving him to wonder if Azaiah had ended their misery. Liang remained near the doorway to the back room, clutching the amplifier as though it might somehow save him.

The cyborg’s eyes fell on the amplifier. “What’s that?”

“A K’inTesh device. My people think it’s a magic talisman of some kind. It’s part of the reason they call me the Wizard.” Liang dropped it back into his pocket.

Zen rolled his shoulders back and nodded. “You should be careful nurturing their barbaric beliefs. Rafia let her people believe what they would, and in the end, they killed her for it.”

The cyborg gently gripped the table lamp in his huge silver hand and set it back where it belonged.

“What happened?” Liang wanted to keep Zen talking while the windmills recharged the force fields. His fingers hovered over his wristlet.

The giant drew a shaky breath. “I wasn’t there, so I don’t know exactly. But from what Kaia later told me, a man needed a blood transfusion. My sister persuaded one of his relatives to help. When another Purebreed saw the tubes drawing blood from one man and putting it into another, he thought she was performing some evil magic.”

The weight of anger and misery in Zen’s voice told Liang what had unhinged him. He continued, “Her own people made her stand trial, giving her time to tell Kaia what had happened. Not that Kaia could do anything before they killed Rafia.”

Surely Zen didn’t believe killing other Ageless somehow avenged his sister?

As if reading Liang’s mind, the cyborg’s red eyes bored into him. “We Ageless can live forever… so long as no one kills us. Rafia, Timar, and probably Akihito and the others who died in the early years learned that lesson the hard way.”

He leaned down to Liang’s eye level. “Do you want to join them?”

Liang jerked back, his trembling fingers touching the button on the wristlet. The force field came down between them. Liang found himself reflexively shrinking to a smaller, more agile size.

“I already told you I wasn’t going to kill you!” Zen’s voice sounded wounded. He didn’t touch the force field. “Would you stop being an idiot?”

The back room had no exit. Liang suddenly appreciated how helpless Gryid must have felt, locked back here.

Except that at any minute, the force field would fail again, and Liang would die.

Zen put his hands together in a gesture of supplication. “Don’t you understand? I’m here to
save
you! Just like before! After the Catastrophe, we experimented with various strains of Changeling DNA until we found a way to remake ourselves. The whole point was to avoid dying, remember? Now, we’re Ageless. And yet, our number grows ever smaller. On a long enough timeline, even the Ageless will go extinct.”

Zen paced, his strides cut short by the hut’s confinement. “Unless we find a way to protect ourselves from the unworthy: the Purebreeds, the Changelings, and the hybrids we foolishly constructed to no end. All of them, any of them, will misemploy technology. The Prophet was right about that. Their lifespans aren’t long enough to gain the wisdom we have. We need to take their toys from them like the children they are.”

Liang felt like he’d been drawn into an alternate universe. In Liang’s universe, the cyborg murdered Ageless. But in this universe, Zen saw himself as their redeemer.

“What?” he asked stupidly.

“The Prophet entrusted the technology to us, because of what happened during the Catastrophe. Call me crazy, but I don’t buy his philosophy anymore. But like a good little acolyte, you’ve kept your secrets safe from them, as commanded.”

“We… we’re supposed to keep the knowledge safe. Until they’re ready.” Liang tried to follow Zen’s logic, but found himself drawn into madness.

The force field’s hum paused. When it disappeared, Zen made no move toward him. “Except they’ll never be worthy. And the Prophet was wrong to split us apart. He weakened us, making us more likely to let technology fall into the wrong hands. Some of it… If people discovered it, they wouldn’t know how to use without our help. The advanced weapons are worrisome, but there were plenty of those circulating without our interference anyway.”

“So what are you saying?” What was the proposal that cost Rollick and the others their lives rather than joining him?

Zen’s expression was grim. “Only we Ageless are worthy inheritors of so-called Ancient technology, because we ourselves are all that’s left of the Ancients. But we can’t protect it if we’re all dead, now can we?”

Liang found himself shaking his head like a gullible Purebreed, lapping up the wisdom of his betters. Except he wasn’t a Purebreed; they were equals, and he needed to remind Zen of that. Somehow.

“So I’ve been collecting any working technology I find from the unworthy. Useless crap, mostly. I’d hoped to recruit other Ageless to my cause. So far, no luck. But you,” Zen pointed a giant metallic finger, “you’re different from the others. You have that.”

His eyes slid down, and Liang realized he’d taken his hand out of his pocket. The hand with the amplifier in it. Zen crossed his lab to stare out the exterior doorway. The slanted light cast long shadows across the bodies outside the Wizard’s door.

“Which must mean you’re interested in collecting other technology you find, too. We’ve got all the time in the world. We should
use
it. Combine our knowledge and make ourselves stronger, safer. We could become the immortal guardians that we’re supposed to be—keeping technology away from the descendants of the fools who brought us down in the first place!”

Liang digested all this. “And how many Ageless have you killed in the name of protecting the few of us that remain?”

When Zen faced him, the hut’s shadows hid his expression. His red eyes glowed. “I know my temper gets away from me sometimes. I know I’ve done some terrible things to advance my own knowledge. But that’s no reason for you to follow in the dead’s footsteps. They were going to die sometime; the unworthy would see to that sooner or later. I needed their technology to do what needed to be done.”

Liang imagined Zen’s red orbs could see straight into his soul. They pierced him and held him immobile, his mouth slack.

“Liang, you’re willing to do what needs doing. I know you are. You’ve used your knowledge of force fields to hold a captive here, haven’t you? An
Ageless
captive?”

“How did you—”

“I watched your unworthy followers return him to the ruins of his tribe. I’d been meaning to pay him a visit for a while, but you were a higher priority. So I let him go and followed your people back here.” Zen revealed his confidence in another smug smile.

Liang held up his hands, as if he could show they were clean. “I was only questioning him because I thought he was
you
, the one who’d killed my friend Rollick.”

“And you were wrong. How did that make you feel?”

Liang let out a grim laugh. “What are you, some kind of psychiatrist, now? Whose knowledge did you steal for that?”

Zen gestured, backpedaling. “I know you’re still mourning your friend Rollick. I’m sorry I killed him. I’m sorry I killed any of them. But it was in the name of self-defense. Once they knew what I was planning, do you really think they would have left me alone? I would have spent all my time trying to survive, which is counter-productive to what I’m trying to accomplish.”

“And now what?”

“You have the opportunity not only to live, but to live
well.”
Zen opened his arms as if imagining greatness.
“
Because once you’ve allied yourself with me, then we’ll go on to convince Kaia she should join us. We’ll have our original research center back. And we’ll win over the other Ageless I saw outside. United, with all the pieces of technology the Prophet split, we’ll
all
benefit. You can take whatever cybernetic parts you like and improve upon yourself if you want to.”

As his voice grew more excited, Liang found his spirits lifting. He thought of the implications, reevaluating his place in the Prophet’s plan.

“Gryid once told me what I was looking for didn’t exist,” Liang said. “That no amount of technology could give me peace of mind.”

“I’ll give you a sample.” Zen raised fingers to list off his knowledge. “I already have notes upon notes about agriculture, certain machinery, building construction, cameras and spy equipment, Rollick’s knowledge of batteries—which I see he must have shared with you—projectile weapons and their creation, cellular manipulation of course, and all kinds of other stuff. We could combine our knowledge in useful ways, because we have
forever.
”

Zen smiled, an odd expression on his half-human face. “With
your
knowledge, that adds force fields and wind energy to the repertoire. Together, we Ageless could rebuild and rule over an empire of the unworthy, humans and hybrids alike. All of us living without fear of being killed by them. They already call you the Wizard. We could be worshiped as modern-day gods, if we wanted. What would they call you then?”

Liang stared into space, imagining what Zen’s world would be like. “A century ago,” he said, “my tribe was completely wiped out. I was lucky to survive.”

Zen nodded. “And yet after all this time, you still live in a hovel. Let’s build something better. Let’s take back our research lab.”

Liang smiled. “Rollick was a good friend. He helped me combine my force field technology with wind power to defend myself after what happened. I couldn’t have done all this without his battery technology.” Zen was right. Why should the Ageless remain separated, jealously keeping watch over their assigned technology, when they could combine their knowledge and restart civilization?

“I’m truly sorry he’s dead. I wanted to recruit him to the cause.”

“He always was stubborn,” Liang admitted. “It took me almost dying before he agreed to lend me his knowledge. I realize now... Even after all these centuries, I haven’t been living. I’ve only been surviving.”

“Let’s change that,” Zen’s voice was powerful. “We Ageless can do so much more.”

Liang stepped out of the back room, joining Zen. “Besides wind energy and force fields, I can bring this to the table.” He held up the amplifier. “I didn’t tell you what it could do, earlier. If we can improve upon this and duplicate it, your dream of us Ageless ruling over the unworthy becomes infinitely more feasible.”

Chapter 24

Korreth reined in when he saw Dalan falter. The horse-like creature’s front legs locked, and the large man leaped off his back. He laid a hand on Dalan’s long neck, but jerked away as the golden body quivered and then shrank. The boy let out a terrible groan as his knees popped and reversed direction. His muzzle collapsed into his face and his shoulders pulled back into a more human form.

“You’re missing clothes,” the man gently told Dalan. “Someone get him some water.”

Korreth dismounted and brought the big man a canteen. The Joey held one as well, but lingered when she saw Korreth move. The man put the canteen to the boy’s lips, and his eyelids fluttered. Clothing pushed out of his yellow-hued skin. Jorrim made a sound of disgust.

“Why does he still look so…” Korreth searched for the word, “unfinished?”

“Dalan barely has the strength to do it,” the man explained, as if understanding what he’d meant to ask, “but he’s fighting to stay between melds. It keeps the device inside his body.”

“Smart,” Soledad said, her expression thoughtful.

“Fool.” Nyr dismounted, and Korreth stepped back as she marched over to Dalan. “You should’ve told us to stop sooner—what if we had to fight now? You’d be worthless. We’d be forced to protect your sorry, shifting hide.” Though her words were recriminating, Korreth heard the concern in her voice. They seemed to have gotten past their differences.

“Touched you’d protect me at all, Nyr,” Dalan croaked, blinking up at her.