Resolution (100 page)

Tom tried.

The carls mass into a defensive circle, but Enemy forces are everywhere and in seconds they fall upon the outnumbered warriors. Every roaring berserker takes at least one Enemy soldier down with him.

But still the carls fall.

Shift.

Half the arachnasprites are riderless now, scuttling mindlessly away from the battle.

Shift.

Dark Fire rolls in black sheets across the magma, forcing the lava-dwellers back into their own domain.

Shift.

The armoured battalions fall back through the caverns as steel-blue metallic beings bigger than arachnargoi manifest themselves at the vanguard of the Anomalous forces.

Shift.

Enemy fighters converge upon the free forces’ suborbitals and blow them from the sky.

Back in the chamber:

Eemur? Are things as bad in your half of the world?

You know they are.

Tom stared at the displays, seeing only defeat. Against the bulkhead, the young soldier looked frozen, his grasp tightening around the weapon he probably would not get a chance to use.

Hey, Tom? You know I’m no Oracle
...

Right.

..
. but I always knew this would not end well.

Tom knew that was no joke.

Switch.

Armed arachnargoi spit fire while the smaller arachnabugs dart in and out, striking the advancing forces in vulnerable spots: hitting soldiers on foot behind the ponderous shielded lev-cars and aiming for the smaller non-human creatures, rather than the steel behemoths whose numbers keep increasing.

Metre by metre, the free forces fall back before the Anomaly.

Shift.

In the shuttle, Avernon sits on the deck, knees up against his chin and arms clasped around his shins: rocking, rocking, like an autistic child.

The pilot has left the controls, allowing the craft to drift through the spinpoint field whose continued existence is stark evidence of humanity’s failure.

Shift.

Torn corpses strewn across the Benbow Caverns.

Shift.

Dead piled high in Palace Darinia.

Shift.

In the Grand’aume Core, nothing moves.

Shift.

A dead child’s outstretched hand.

Tom leaned back against the chamber’s hard wall.

‘It stinks of defeat.’

‘My Lord?’

‘The whole world reeks of it. Defeat.’

‘Um ... Yes, sir.’ The young soldier bobs his head.

There’s nothing I can do.

There was a distant thud.

Just let things take their course.

A louder bang, and the whole chamber shook.

‘What the Fate—?’

It was Axolon’s voice booming throughout the sphere.

‘They’re here, Warlord.’

Tom shook his head. He was stunned by his ongoing effort, by the inevitability of failure.

‘
Who’s
here?’

‘The Enemy.’ The young soldier looked up as the terraformer shook once more, and yells echoed from the command centre overhead. ‘They’re inside.’

‘Oh, Fate. Not now.’

Anomaly. You‘ve come for me.

It was the end.

~ * ~

58

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The young soldier looked scared. As the chamber rocked once more, Tom grabbed hold of the doorway.

‘What’s your name, soldier?’

‘Er, Vize, sir. Pentor Vize.’

‘You know how to operate external comms, Pentor?’

‘Yes, Warlord.’

Someone screamed as they died outside.

‘Get me in contact with Lord Avernon. Talk to the shuttle pilot. Tell I him to do whatever’s necessary. He can kick a member of the nobility in the balls if that’s what it takes. Just get Avernon online, Pentor.’

‘I’ll do it, sir.’ Pentor Vize struggled across to the holos. ‘I’m not—’

Tom’s thumb ring sparked.

‘You’re authorized now.’ The doorshimmer opened, and Tom swung through to the corridor. ‘Fate be with you ... And throw me that crystal, would you?’

It arced through the air and Tom caught it.

Muscular carls were kneeling on the other side, facing both ways down the corridor, each with a heavy graser in one fist, a short wide morphblade in the other.

‘Axolon? Where is the Enemy?’

‘No.’

I
will not let this happen.

‘Come on.’

Tom vaulted straight over the carls, headed for the golden helical stairs and hit them running, and sprinted up. Behind him, the carls moved very fast, shifting their muscular bulk to follow Tom as wild berserker rage lit up their eyes.

‘Blood and Death!’

Just for a moment, Tom Saw:

Three black angular craft hover outside Axolon Array. They are similar to the vessel Tom boarded on Siganth: the Enemy. Even though the Anomaly has its own forces already on board the terraformer, the lead craft turns to bring its major weapons to bear.

The terraformer itself revolves on its vertical axis, until the face of Axolon regards the vessels with his own microfaceted eyes. Axolon’s voice is like rumbling thunder.