Reality's Plaything 4: Savants Ascendant Read online

  The roaring monster on the other side of barrier swallowed its bellow, leaning back with wide eyes and an ‘oh spit’ expression just as the first shots began tearing into it.

  The floor of the balcony hummed and Bannor clutched his ears against the deafening chatter as Yamah’s guns bombarded everything on the balcony. The dreadnaughts continued to rage and thrash under that intolerable onslaught, the blasts caroming around their bodies as though they were wading against a current. The air grew hot and Bannor pulled Daena up to her feet to stand beside a wincing Eclipse. Yamah bent forward driving her two swords into the metal decking and the booming of her weapons increased even further as she literally sprayed the dreadnaughts off the balcony one at a time.

  As the last creature dropped out of sight, the mecha leaned back and her smoking weapons spun down with a tired moan. Dislodging her swords from the metal deck she straightened up and sheathed them with a clank. The mecha turned to Tal. “Thank you.”

  Tal wiggled a pinky in his ear, still wincing. “Hey, no problem. Good job.”

  Eclipse stood slack jawed. The normally impassive creature staggered back a step. “That was—insane.” He blinked and blew out his cheeks. “Yamah, how many times did you score on the lead creature?”

  “Over fourteen thousand direct hits center mass at nominal output,” Yamah reported. “Eleven hundred scores at fifty percent over nominal.”

  Eclipse shook his head in a totally uncharacteristic loss of composure. “Dark, it didn’t even have screens. A salvo like that would have holed a battleship. Those things were organic for lights sake.” He thumbed the comms. **Aarlen, Dulcere, regroup is imperative. Forget the Daedalus and Phalanx units. These dreads are the real threat.**

  “Impressed ya did they?” Tal rumbled with a smile. “Felt kinda the same after I got my head punched in.”

  “I am surprised you lived.”

  The big man laughed. “Fortunately, I have a hard head…” He stopped and turned his head. “You hear that?”

  Eclipse frowned. “I hear nothing.”

  “That’s the point.”

  Tal was right. The constant battering of explosions had stopped. The tower had gone silent except for the humming of artifices.

  **Eclipse, the Baronians are breaking off.** Dulcere reported. **Returning as requested.**

  Eclipse touched the comm. **Acknowledged.** The Kriar shook his head. “I wish I could view this as good omen.”

  Tal frowned. “I sure can’t.”

  The big man echoed Bannor’s sentiments. Those creatures would be back and next time there would be more of them. The thought made him grow cold inside.

  “Lord Falor,” Daena asked. “What is that you put over the entrance?”

  Tal glanced back. “The best shield money can’t buy—a gate.” He touched hilt of the sword over his shoulder. “A single sided one so Yamah could shoot through. I made the exit point face downward about fifty leagues away. The bugger that went through will have a long swim to get back.”

  Yamah whirred and turned to Eclipse. “Eh’San, permission to refit. My guns are close to failing. I recommend fitting the mark sixteen rail variant. I believe my mounts and power supply are compatible.”

  “Permission granted,” the Kriar officer answered with a nod. “Refit your power supply as well with the new xps high output prototype, white seal authorization gamma delta epsilon. Have Ghirard and Wyrah refit the same way. Order some engineers up to transfer Hiram to a new frame. Inform cyber-authority—” The Kriar glanced at Tal. “—that he gets his choice of frame for his next commission.”

  Yamah bowed. “Eh’san. Thank you, Eh’San.” The big mecha strode out of the room.

  Tal raised an eyebrow. “Was that just for my benefit?”

  Eclipse shook his head. “They are alive as you said, but there are few ways to reward exemplary behavior. Reward is key to reinforcing excellence.”

  Daena was staring at Hiram’s destroyed body. “So, he’s not dead?”

  Eclipse shrugged. “Technically, that shell was never alive. It has been eons since the core personalities of our servitors were actually housed in their frame interface. Losing that body while painful is like a lizard losing its tail. Hiram’s actual host form is somewhere deep in the basement of this citadel. He simply has no body and senses to interact with us until he can be joined with a new frame.”

  Daena’s green eyes widened. “Whoa, that’s wizard.”

  “Not to me,” Tal grumbled. “It’s creepy.”

  “Knock, knock!” Aarlen called from the balcony standing well clear of Tal’s gate. The rest of the assault team were gathered behind her. They looked battered and ragged. It was probably fortunate that the Baronians had retreated.

  Tal turned. “Make sure that balcony is clear. I ain’t dropping that gate and lettin that stealthed dread in here.”

  Ziedra settled down by Aarlen. “It’s clear.”

  Tal pulled out his Shaladen and touched the shimmering surface which winked out. “In—fast.”

  Aarlen, Dulcere and their teams rushed in. The instant the last person crossed the threshold Tal drew another gate across the opening. He put his arm around Terra who wrapped herself on him with a sigh. She looked tired.

  Marna settled on the floor next to Tal looking around at the carnage of the destroyed chamber. “Were these the same kind of dread we saw on Karanganoi Homeworld?”

  The big man shrugged. “New and improved—if ya can swallow that.” He indicated the mangled form of Hiram. “Fifteen thousand mark XIV shots at close range and all it did was tick them off.”

  Dulcere thought in an incredulous tone.

  “It’s magic,” Aarlen said. “High order invulnerability spells imbued by an elder coven.” She looked around. “How many were there?”

  “Four that we saw,” Bannor answered. “And one can stealth itself.”

  “Grrreat,” Algernon rumbled. He looked to Tal. “We talking about the same thing, those big bruisers that kicked our arses?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Spit.” The ranger’s brow furrowed. “How’d you get rid of them?”

  “One of Quasar’s combat frames blew ‘em off the balcony.”

  Dulcere determined.

  “Real unlikely,” Tal answered with a frown.

  “I did not know about this weapon,” Quasar said with a frown. “They played this well. Spread us out thin so they could get one of these ‘dreads’ in the complex. No doubt everything else was merely a screen to accomplish that. When we turned away their second stepped up attempt, they pulled back to formulate a new strategy.”

  “If I understand how they think,” Bannor told the group. “They’re just figuring out how to get as many of those things up here at one time as they can.”

  “Having seen the power of this weapon, I would agree with that assessment,” Eclipse determined.

  “How many of these dreads might they have?” Idun asked. “They sound like something of a challenge.” She laced her fingers and cracked her knuckles. “These other creatures are merely annoying, I relish coming to grips with something more substantial.”

  “Lady, you’ll get yer wish, that’s certain,” Algernon said with a shake of his head. He touched the shaladen on his shoulder. “Granted I couldn’t access all of Warstar’s power, but I pushed as far as I have ever gone. Them things flat beat the spit out of me and Tal. I hit one straight on five or six times with this.” He pulled out the massive blade sheathed at his shoulder. The shaladen was tremendously thick and wide, more like a sharpened anvil than a sword. Bannor guessed it probably weighed three or four stone, yet the powerful warrior held it lightly in his fist as if it were a butter knife. The magic in the thing was uncanny in its potency—no human creation could withstand it for more than a few instants. “The damn thing sniffed off my shots l
ike I was swinging a bouquet of flowers. I was wearin’ full Kriar battle dress and thing put dents in me like you wouldn’t believe—right through fully powered screens.” He blew out his cheeks. “Damn. Just crazy stuff.”

  The tired members of the assault team simply stared at him with wide eyes. Bannor saw Euriel, Vanidaar, and Wren looking around the room again. Ziedra pulled her husband close.

  “The law of conservation says that such a creation must trade something for its power,” Loric said. “As described, these things cannot be easily made. They would be inordinately hard to control. It would take a coven of fifty or so to imbue just one, and the coven would have to stay convened in order to direct the creature because a community union like that would be quite unstable.”

  “Tying up a hundred elites is nothing to these guys,” Tal reminded. “We’re guessing they have two hundred thousand elites and better than a third of them is mages. They could run hundreds of them dreads.”

  “Hundreds?” Radian echoed, rubbing his gold face.

  “The resources of these brutes is truly staggering,” Damay remarked.

  “They’ll just keep hitting us with them until they break through,” Terra said.

  Bannor clapped his hands and straightened up. “Let them! That’s it!”

  Everyone stared at him.

  “Loric are you sure this coven you speak of would have to be controlling these things?”

  The elder mage’s brow furrowed. “Fairly certain.”

  Bannor made a fist. “That’s their weakness—the weapon itself can’t be destroyed—but the coven is vulnerable! I can follow those threads back to the controllers. Linked like we are now… any of us could do it!”

  Aarlen snapped her fingers and nodded. “Brilliant!”

  “Brilliant maybe,” Dominique said. “But risky. You know those controls will be stealthed so even with these enhanced senses we’ll need to be right on top of them to track it. They aren’t foolish enough to have all those covens in the same place.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Quasar growled. “Each one of these dreads is like a link to the main body of their forces. It gives us a target. Let them use these creatures, we can make them pay for it.”

  “How can we withstand that kind of pounding long enough to dish anything back?” Desiray asked, gripping her white hair. “And how? The covens are probably on ships. It’s not like you can just smack down fifty elites all at once.”

  “Ships are the likely location,” Aarlen agreed. “Because they are both mobile and have screens against Kriar warp science. I’m certain that factors into their confidence in not being traced.”

  Quasar pressed her hands together in front of her nose and mouth, the jewels on her face gleaming as she bowed her head in thought.

  “We need to come up with something fast,” Daena said. “It won’t take them long to gather up a dozen of those things and throw them at us.”

  “The gryphon class ultra-heavy frames are no good against them,” Eclipse mused. “They’re too fast. I don’t think the standard combat frames even with the weapons upgrade I ordered can do much.”

  Wren snorted and shook her head. “If Damay and I had first one bodies, we could keep them occupied. They could pound on us all they’d like we’d just turn the power against them.”

  “What difference does the body make?” Bannor asked.

  “We savants have an automatic limiter built into us. We can’t use all our powers unless our tao is in a form that can handle it.” She let out a breath and glanced around the room. “The body would have to be sturdy anyways, to take hits like that you still have to be able to store the energy long enough to dissipate or use it.”

  “What about me?” Daena said. “Could you merge with me?”

  Wren’s brow furrowed. “I can merge with a beta because spirits and taos can sorta coexist. Your tao already has an affinity for your body—I don’t think it would let me share—even if you wanted to.”

  Bannor rubbed the back of his head. “You know, I noticed something strange. I thought savants could only bond with betas or somebody with close heredity, but when Ziedra and I linked with Marna…” He focused on the Vatraena. “I nearly merged with her… If I hadn’t resisted I would have been pulled right in.”

  Wren straightened up. “Really?”

  “I felt it as well,” Ziedra agreed, straightening up. “Perhaps it is something peculiar to the Kriar.”

  Damay looked around at the gold aliens. “Their bodies are certainly more resilient than ours, but they would not be sufficient to the task we are describing.”

  Marna rubbed her hands together. “If my physiology is compatible with this bonding process you describe, then a stronger one could be made.”

  “Hey, yeah…” Wren’s voice trailed off. She pointed a finger at Aarlen. “You even offered that to me once, because we knew Desiray had been synchronized with me and we could use her as a template. That would work for me or Damay.”

  The elder woman looked dubious. “We have neither the time or the materials.”

  “Actually,” Marna said. “We, or actually I, have both…”

  * * *

  Chapter Nine

  Waiting For Ascension

  « ^ »

  I hovered there in that room in my astral form. Across the way, I saw my daughter, her mentor, my son, and three of her best friends… all adrift like ghosts. It struck me then, even harder than usual, how strange and wondrous my family has truly become…

  —Vanidaar Kergatha,

  Regent High Baron of Cosmodarus

  Bannor felt his stomach twist, not from apprehension but from an instinct that told him something very important was about to happen. His sense of the destroyed room with its smashed furniture and pitted floor seemed to sharpen, he felt the cooled and purified air hissing from openings overhead, and detected the sodden-earth smell that clung to people fresh from a battle. Perhaps it was survival, perhaps it was something else, but Marna’s words and her confidence made something ring in him. A sense in the back of his head said that he should support her even though the whole idea of switching bodies made him queasy inside. The one time he switched bodies with Wren had been a less than comfortable experience.

  “Truly you can do this, Lady Marna?” he asked.

  Others around their small conference circle, blonde Wren, her lanky brother, and Ziedra were all staring at the ancient Kriar woman.

  “Indeed,” the Vatraena answered. “The same type of equipment we used to heal Ziedra can do this, and quite quickly. With some tricks, I can make the needed arrangements in a very short amount of time.”

  “So, lemme get this straight,” Tal said. “She makes some kind of special body and you can just take it over?”

  “Pretty much,” Wren said.

  “And suddenly you can take on one of these things?” Algernon scoffed.

  “Nothing’s guaranteed, but it’s worth a try,” Wren answered.

  “I don’t like it,” Wren’s mother Euriel growled. “It puts too much on you.”

  “I would be there to assist,” Damay said.

  “I will be at her shoulder as well,” Idun said. “These brutes do not frighten me.”

  “It beat the doo out of me,” Daena said. “But I know better now. If we fight out in the open I can keep them off us.”

  “Count me in for chance in one of those cool bodies,” Ziedra said. “My thing is magic, in a strong enough body I might be able to disrupt this invulnerability spell they’re using.”

  “Zee?” Radian said with a frown. “No…”

  “Oh hush,” the girl said with a scowl. “We all knew the risk. We all have to carry our weight.”

  Quasar raised her head. The jewels down her face flickered and sparkled. “If you can tie them up, I believe I have a way to locate and deal with the covens.”

  “Sounds like we have a plan,” Eclipse said. “I will make sure that you have plenty of frames for support.”

  Bannor bli
nked. “What about me? Could I do something?”

  Marna turned her head. “You are doing something. Your senses have made the whole battle possible.”

  “I mean could I do more in this body thing that Wren is talking about? They shouldn’t be out there alone. I should help—but—” He held up his hands. “I’m just—I’m just flesh and blood.”

  Wren shook her head. “Brother, the stuff you do with that flesh and blood astounds me.” She shrugged. “You’ve got a pretty good handle on your powers—there hasn’t been a calamity in more than a scoreday. If you’re willing to take the risk… I don’t see how it could hurt.”

  He nodded. “I’ll do it. It feels weird, but I have a feeling it’s what I need to do.”

  “Well then,” Marna said. “I know what I need to do.” She turned to her daughter. “ ‘Cere perhaps you can be persuaded to assist?”

  Dulcere nodded. Dominique swayed over and stood with the Kriar matriarch obviously intending to go with them.

  Marna stopped in the archway. “Wren, I’ll call for you and the others shortly.”

  Wren nodded.

  The three of them disappeared down the hall.

  “Quasar, we should look in on the prisoner.” Loric said. “You are sure you still have him, correct?”

  “Positive, but if you wish to see him, that is permissible.”

  “I’m on that action,” Tal said.

  “Me too,” Algernon added.

  The three men, Desiray and Terra followed Quasar as she headed out.

  Bannor looked around. “Isn’t anyone worried that the Baronians will be back?”

  “They’ll come when they come,” Aarlen said. “Best to take the opportunity to rest.” She looked around with a frown. “However, it appears your fight has effectively removed any chance of that happening in this room. Let us all retire to someplace less damaged.”

  Bannor nodded in response to the sense of that. He followed as Aarlen exited through the single doorway. The others trailed along in his wake.

  It required only a few moments of exploration to find a suitable place. A short distance down the hall was doorway that opened into what looked like a large viewing area. The rectangular chamber was easily fifty paces wide and close to twenty deep with a window that ran the length of the room, providing a panorama of sparkling waterfalls pouring down into the valley. The room had no furniture in it and was instead simply built in a series of three wide tiers with a slanted ramp down the middle. A soft spongy substance covered the surface of the lower areas.