Judas Unchained

The generator was a large cluster of metal and plastic shapes laid out along the floor, as big as a house. White and red light took turns to fluoresce the composite arching overhead. The stentorian roaring was muted inside. He identified the power injection points, and put his hand down to his holster.

“Shit!” The shock stabbed through him as his fingers closed on empty leather. There was no pistol; it must have dropped out when he fell. “Oh, fuck. Fuck!” He stared helplessly at the bulky generator. He had no idea where the control console was—that’s if there even was a control console. His head twisted from side to side, searching for something he could use to smash a section of casing. That would be as much use as screaming at it to switch off, he decided. There was nothing else for it; he’d have to go back for the ion pistol.

The interior of the hall flared with blue-white light. An ion pulse ripped through the air, and struck the generator casing. A dazzling purple discharge seethed down the dark metallic composite, partially obscured by a fountain of smoldering plastic droplets.

A second ion pulse hit a power injector, exactly where the Paris experts had told Edmund to aim. It was suddenly very quiet. The alternating red and white light outside had stopped.

Very slowly, Edmund Li turned around to face the person who was shooting, knowing what he’d see. Tarlo was standing to one side of the open door, his arm outstretched, holding an ion pistol.

“Why?” Edmund asked.

Tarlo simply smiled as he swung the pistol around to point at Edmund Li’s head. He fired again.

Adam was sweating inside his armor. He’d calculated the firepower of the atom lasers himself. It should have been enough to break the force field, especially with the dump-web stressing it. Instead he was watching the awesome energy blasts ricochet dangerously.

The force field vanished. “Dreaming heavens,” Adam grunted. “Your inside man did it.”

“What do you know,” Alic said. “Edmund came through.”

Adam moved the Ables ND47 forward cautiously. Radar scanned ahead, showing him the tracks were broken less than a kilometer in front of them. “We’re not going to get much farther in this,” he told the teams back in the wagons. The sensors showed him the phalanx of vehicles around the gateway that led to Half Way. He launched another zone killer. The triangular shape streaked away from its launcher on top of the engine, curving in a short ballistic arc. It detonated in a cascade of green scintillations that sank toward the ground in a display of perverse splendor. Harsh orange fireballs spoiled the beauty as the vehicles and their munitions exploded.

The train braked again, grinding over the last few meters of track before coming to a halt in front of the shallow blast crater that had destroyed the rails. “End of the line,” Adam said. He unlocked the wagons.

“I’m staying here,” Vic announced as Kieran gunned the armored car down the ramp.

There were eight of them crammed inside, Vic, Alic, Wilson, Anna, Bradley Johansson, Jamas, Ayub, and Kieran up in the driver’s seat. All of them wore armor suits of various marques, though externally there was little difference: stone black figures that outlined a rough human shape. Additional weapons packs distorted their basic humanity.

“I understand,” Bradley said

“No you don’t. He’s still here.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I can feel it. Getting in was too easy. Tarlo’s a smart bastard. He doesn’t play a straight game.”

“Then you should stay inside this armored car,” Bradley said. “It is extremely well protected.”

“No. I’ll find him out there. Hey, I’ll be covering your ass. He’ll have something planned for you.”

“My team has planned for most eventualities.”

Vic stood up. “But not all of them.”

“As you wish,” Bradley said.

The side door slid open. It was dim outside, the air layered with smoke from the ruined vehicles.

“You coming, Boss?” Vic asked.

“We know the Starflyer’s real,” Alic said. “It’s just on the other side of that gateway. That’s my priority. Jim, Matthew, if you want to go with Vic, that’s fine by me.”

“I’ll stick with you, Boss,” Jim said.

“Sorry, Vic,” Matthew said, “but this is bigger.”

“That’s okay.” The big man stooped to get through the door. “I want this for myself. And Gwyneth.”

“Good luck,” Alic said.