Spires of Infinity (38 page)

“I like your hair unbraided,” Gabriel said. “It’s pretty. Makes you look older.”

“Does it,” Sam shifted to look at him, fingering the half-healed scar on her cheek.

Her curiosity melted into a scowl. “Hey! Don’t change the subject!”

“Allie says only one person can go. And I don’t want you to get hurt. When the Children of the Chosen took you . . . well, you may think I’m patronizing you or something, but I don’t think I could deal with losing you again. I’d rather you stayed behind where I know you’ll be safe.”

“Safe,” Sam cried, pushing away from him and sitting up. “There’s an
army
on the way! How is that
safe
?”

“Saf
er
,” Gabriel amended. “And Allie is right. One person sneaks better than two.”

“Allie,” Sam sniffed sharply, straightening her clothes as she stood. “She seems to take orders from
you
! Just tell her I’m going with you and that will be that! You need someone to watch your back. Aren’t we a good team, Gabriel? Don’t you want me anymore?”

“God, Sam. Why do women
always
try to tie completely unrelated things together like that? This has nothing to do with whether or not I want to be with you.”

Giving him a blank stare, Sam’s odd, golden eyes bored into him. Then Gabriel understood. Everyone important had abandoned her, and now he was leaving too. She thought he was never coming back, just like her mother.

“Sam. I know you want to help. But you can’t. I don’t want to do this. I wish you could come with me. I’m not a hero. But when it comes down to it, I’m the only one that can go.”

“Why just you?”

“Because I’m the only one with these,” Gabriel showed her the implant in the

back of his left hand.

Sighing deeply, Sam slumped a bit. “I’ll never see you again. Even if we die together in the past, I want to be with you. I finally found someone worth being with and you’re leaving me behind to do something you may never come back from.”

“This has to be done, Sam, or your world and everyone on it will be dead in fifty years. If I don’t go, their lives are on my hands. I can’t live with that. But I swear to you that I will return. You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved, and I will
not
let anything stand in my way back to you. Understand? I
will
come back to you. You remember the last time I promised you something impossible?”

“Yes,” Sam nodded reluctantly. “You promised to rescue me from the Children

of the Chosen.”

“Did I break that promise?”

“No.”

“And I’m not going to break this one.”

There was a tone from the console next to the bed and Allie’s voice sounded over a small speaker.

“The Imperial Army will arrive in approximately ten minutes. Following the

yellow arrow outside will lead you to the control room for your Sa’Dhi, and then to the gate.”

Gabriel looked at Sam. Her eyes were pinched and she looked like she was

sucking on something sour. She was obviously terrified for him, and about the thought that he might never come back, but there was something else in her face.

“You’re feeling left out,” Gabriel accused, “aren’t you?”

“Wouldn’t you be,” Sam cried, her tail lashing as she stomped her foot. “You get to go have the most amazing adventure I’ve ever heard of, and I gotta stay behind! That is
so
unfair! I wanna see my world before it got blown to hell like this!”

Gabriel wasn’t able to keep from laughing out loud at her reaction. She scowled at him, but her heart wasn’t in it. Her eyes brightened slightly and the corner of her mouth lifted in a smile.

“Promise you’ll tell me all about it,” she asked.

“Every single detail,” Gabriel stood, offering her his arm. “And for what it’s worth, I’d take you if I could be sure we’d be able to slip through security together. Care to join me meeting the army?”

“If I have to,” Sam shrugged, her tail swishing in something like indifference.

*****

Following Gabriel through the office-like hallways, Sam had grown thoroughly

annoyed with her hair being loose and was busily rebraiding it, into a single braid this time rather than her customary two.

“I’ve calculated a Gate Jump to the day that this facility was activated,” Allie said in his ear, sounding as clear as if she was standing beside him. The only indication he had that she was even in his head at all was a dull pressure behind his eyes that hadn’t been there before. It was strange to think that she was actually using part of his brain to run herself. He felt somewhat like the Master Chief in Halo.

Though she seemed oblivious to his thoughts, Gabriel wondered if she would hear a direct thought to her.

How are things in there
?

“Oh wow,” Allie sounded girlishly excited. “I totally heard that! I have some diminished computing and speed capacities, and everything is all squishy. I find it adequate to my needs. I had almost forgotten what a human body was like.”

What do you mean
?

“You’ll see soon enough. Take a left here.”

Turning, Gabriel found himself in a hallway he recognized, not far from the

courtyard.

Can you link up with the other Allie?

“At the moment we have synced using the wireless connection capabilities of the Sa’Dhi.”

Where is this gate we’ll be jumping through, and when can we go through?

“The Gate can be created at any point within the walls of the facility using any console with a direct link to the mainframe. Due to the increased power demands, I have raised power levels to ten percent of maximum in order to build a large enough charge in the main batteries. A Gate Jump will be possible in just under fourteen minutes.”

Wondering why Allie didn’t just throw the switch up to full power rather than

one-tenth maximum capacity, Gabriel realized that he could feel a thrumming vibration through the floor that hadn’t been there before. There was an almost imperceptible whine in the air as the Spires of Infinity powered up.

Stepping into the courtyard, Gabriel and Sam found Kari and the twins already

waiting near the huge gate, which was already standing wide open. As he joined them, Sam sighed reluctantly before following. She didn’t want other women getting hooks into him, but why didn’t she like the twins? Dislike by association?

Flashing a triumphant grin at Kari as she looped her arm around his, Sam

practically oozed smugness. He supposed it was her way driving home the point that he was spoken for, but Gabriel felt somewhat annoyed over being treated like an object rather than a person. It had to be universal payback for all of the women he’d treated the same way earlier in his life.

Looking through the open gate expectantly, Allie appeared amongst them.

“Any minute now,” she nodded.

Looking toward the approaching cloud of dust, Gabriel could just make out the

forerunners. The head of the pack was a big man without many years behind his belt, sporting cat ears and tail. He carried the wildly flapping Imperial Standard in one arm like a lance, with the butt of the staff grounded in his right stirrup. As he drew closer Gabriel recognized him as captain Maxen, the officer he and Sam had spoken to the last time they’d encountered Imperial soldiers. What were the odds of that?

Gabriel estimated that there were about five hundred men left of the thousands that they’d seen riding to the Quarantine Zone. Most of them appeared injured, wearing bloodied bandages, with arms in slings and some even missing limbs. Many of them did not appear armed.

Captain Maxen pulled back on his reins, halting his cathor’s frantic gallop and raising his free hand to signal that the others behind him do the same. Trotting his mount through the gate, he came to a stop before the small group waiting for him.

“I thought you were headed north, Lawman,” he eyed Gabriel up and down.

“This is not Bremain.”

“I noticed,” Gabriel shrugged. “Figured I’d lend a hand while I was in the

neighborhood.”

“An extra set of the Emperor’s elite hands are always welcome. Captain Alain

Maxen of his imperial highness’ cavalry. Might I ask who is in charge here?”

Turning to Allie, Gabriel found her, and everyone else for that matter, pointing at him.

“What?
Me
! You’ve got to be kidding me! Why me?”

“Your Imperial ID gives you the highest stated rank,” Allie shrugged. “Therefore you have command until another of higher rank is sent to replace you. I was

programmed to follow strict chains of command. However, if this Captain has official orders to take command then his claim takes precedence over yours. Captain?”

Shaking his head, Captain Maxen started as he really looked at Allie for the first time, swaying as though he might faint before recovering himself. Semi-transparent, two-dimensional people were obviously not an everyday sight for him.

“There’s an incoming army of mutants escaped from the Quarantine Zone,” Alain

said, reining his cathor around to look back to the east. “They’ll be here in minutes.

Reinforcements are on the way, but they won’t reach us for two days. I don’t know what their goal is, but we must not let the mutants take control of the Spires of Infinity. If they dig into a place as well fortified as this we’ll never flush them out again. I place my men at your command to help defend the walls as you please.”

Nodding, Gabriel gestured toward the courtyard. “Get them inside so we can

close the gate.”

Turning to his command, Alain began shouting orders, gesturing wildly with a

baton that he pulled from behind his belt, tossing the banner to one of his officers. The soldiers filed into the courtyard and arranged themselves in ranks. They were a sorry lot, downtrodden and exhausted.

When all of the soldiers had come through the gate it closed behind them with an ominous clang.

“Excuse me,” Alain said, looking between Gabriel and Allie, not sure which one of them to address. Dismounting, he seemed to decide on Allie. “There are stories that this place has a weapons stockpile?”

“I wish,” Allie threw back her head and laughed. “This is a scientific outpost, not a military facility. The only weapons I have are defensive. Robot sentries, wall guns, and my energy shield, not much more than that. I suppose that you might be able to find some fire axes and other such cutting tools that could be improvise as weapons, but that is about it.”

Slumping in his saddle, Alain seemed to realize that his men were watching him.

Drawing himself up he took a deep breath and began bellowing orders

“Those too wounded to fight, gather in the north end of the courtyard. Everyone with a firearm, up on the walls. Everyone else form up at the gates and prepare to repel anything that gets through! If you’re too wounded to fight, give your weapons to someone that’s not!”

“Nothing will get through my energy shield,” Allie laughed. “We can sit in here safe and snug until your reinforcements arrive. The only thing that can take the shield down is activation of the Gate, power depletion, or a systemic failure. I appreciate the help manning the walls, but that is all I will need, a few more spotters to help me aim the particle cannons.”

Particle cannons
, Gabriel thought at Allie.

“High powered lasers based on gamma radiation particles,” Allie replied in his ear. “They are attuned to the frequency of the energy shield so they can fire right through it like it is not there at all. They basically cause all organic matter to come apart at the figurative seams.”

“Sergeant Connely,” Alain shouted at one of the men setting up at the gate.

“You’re in charge down here. Take command if I fall!”

“Yes sir,” the sergeant gave a snappy salute.

“Is there anything you would like to add,” Alain asked Gabriel as men began

filing up several staircases around the inside of the wall leading up to the top.

“I’m about to leave. You’ve got things well in hand.”

“Leave,” Alain cried. “But, the Apostle! The army of mutants! You can’t just
leave
!”

“I have a vital mission to complete.”

Looking up at the dark sky, Gabriel could see the sun’s corona around the edges of the planet Altima.

“What sort of mission takes precedence over protecting the greatest Imperial asset against the greatest Imperial enemy,” the young captain asked.

“Why do you think he’s here,” Sam stepped in. “Do you really think he was just headed to Bremain? He couldn’t tell you his true orders. They’re secret.”

Eyeing Sam up and down, Alain made no attempt to hide the fact that he was

having fond fantasies of diving into her cleavage. Despite the fact that she was flaunting it for everyone to see, Gabriel still felt jealous anger bubbling up inside of him. The Captain’s eyes came to rest on the pistol at Sam’s hip, and his mouth twisted in something that might have been a combination of revulsion and understanding. Sam, for her part, seemed completely oblivious to the man’s attentions.

“Very well,” Alain said reluctantly. “You will have all of the support and

protection we can give you, up to sending men outside the walls. They’ve been kicked in the teeth enough and I’ll not order them to suicide.”

“No need,” Gabriel said. “Allie. How’s the charging?”

“Less than a minute before we can send you on your way,” the hologram replied.

There was a sense of frustration from the copy in his head, as if she’d been trying to answer but the original had gotten to it first. It was a surprisingly human emotion, something he would not have expected from a computer, even one as sophisticated as Allie.

“Good,” Gabriel said. “Where’s the nearest console connected to the

mainframe?”

Allie pointed to a small workstation just outside of the door leading into the black fang of the control tower. Gabriel thought it might have once served as a security checkpoint on those entering the tower.

“Great. What do I have to do?”