----------Bit #3----------
"We *have* to get out!"
Chalenite's scream was as desperate as the others had ever heard her.
Halite made to answer, then jerked as yet four more Youma howled and
screamed as a barrage of sizzling energy tore through their ineffectual
shields and turned them instantly to fire. Spinning wildly, another Youma let
fly with a whirling disc-like projectile that ripped the arm from a boomer,
then screamed in agony as the snarling machine cut her nearly in two from
shoulder to hip.
"If you can think of a way to retreat, tell us."
Terranite's face was vicious and strained as he hurled yet another
attack into the ground before him. He was nearly spent, all of them were, yet
there was no escape. These perversions of life were tireless and could neither
be drained of energy nor terrified into helpless fear. The things had them
trapped on the ground and above them a devastating barrage from both golems
and the humans in their savagely destructive flying machines prevented any
hope of their being carried to safety by what remained of the troops who could
fly. Beside him, Emerite cut loose with another blast that turned two of the
diving nightmares to blazing belts of fire, but it was plain that she was
weakening.
"Yes!" She cried in almost desperate exultation.
Terranite turned to flash her a fierce grin of triumph, then a sudden
Bean-Sidhe scream from above made them look up. For one stunned moment they
saw the human-like female figure as it came hurtling towards them, the
stunningly beautiful face lit suddenly by the lurid glow of the fires as it
swept down. Then, the scream rising still higher, the thing plunged into the
ranks of Youma and utter insanity ensued.
Whatever it was, it made the enemies they had already faced pale to
absurdity in comparison. Not even deigning to protect itself, it moved in a
dazing blur of fluid, nightmare grace, tearing Youma apart like leaves, fire
and sizzling flashes of death spitting and leaping from it seemingly in every
direction as it executed its demon dance of death amongst the warriors of the
Dark Kingdom.
Stunned, Terranite watched as it caught up a huge armoured Youma as
though he were weightless and nearly vaporised him with a single violet pulse
from the weapon in its mouth. Grinning, bathed in Youma blood, it flipped
effortlessly from Uranite's blast and punched a searing, screaming bolt
straight through the place in which his head had been only a fractional moment
before. Screaming, half blinded, his hair and uniform ablaze from the backwash
of plasma, Uranite staggered desperately away and was nearly cut in two as the
thing swept into the air, ripping a devastating slash of death through the
screaming, terrified creatures that had rushed to protect him.
"In Metallia's name!" Terranite heard Halite gasp almost at his side.
"What *is* that thing?"
An instant later Liana came screaming round in a second pass, Youma
blossoming into flame like midsummer fireworks as she passed and turned and
came round again, screaming in exultant battle-rage and triumph at the
destruction she was wreaking. Panicked now, Youma seemed to be bolting in all
directions. Then Terranite's thunderous voice surged above the din.
"To us!" He roared, the others following his example as he reached
with his power to wrench their fleeing, panic-stricken troops to order.
They were being cut down like grass as they fled by the golems while
the new arrival swept amongst them, running desperate, screaming Youma to
exhaustion before cutting them to pieces with a sadistic flare that made it
more than clear to the six that she was possessed of awareness far beyond the
rest.
Liana passed one last time as the Youma were drawn by main force and a
terror greater even than any she might inspire back to their commanders.
Hurtling from above, she dropped towards the six and locking on to the tall,
black-haired figure who had called, sent a last, devastating particle-blast
straight at his upturned face.
Terranite had but one fractional instant to throw up his hands in a
desperate shield before the blast slammed into it. It was very nearly too
little. Straining, his teeth bared in a desperate rictus of agony, Terranite
held the terrifying energy at bay until at last the golem-woman relented and
surged into the sky once more. For a moment she hovered, glaring balefully
down at him with eyes like death itself.
"When I return," She cried, her voice a promise. "I shall be an Elite.
Then you shall die."
Then with a feral grin and a wild peel of malicious laughter that
seemed to fill the heavens she soared skywards and was gone.
Still panting, barely able to keep his feet, Terranite glanced to the
others. The Youma had drawn close about them and were tensing for what they
knew to be their last hope. Uranite did not care where the exit would be, he
knew only that this was their last chance to salvage something from this night
of horror.
"How long?" Chalenite gasped as he began to concentrate.
"A moment." He answered.
Then the black swirling vortex of a portal was before them and Uranite
was urging them frantically to enter.
Terranite moved to obey, then suddenly he drew back with a shudder of
alarm. In the same instant Uranite cried out in agony and stumbled to his
knees.
"What--" Chalenite began.
Then the nausea struck her and she too staggered, doubling over,
retching and gasping as she fought wildly to keep herself from fainting.
"Dark energy, yet tainted, wrong!" Uranite moaned, clutching at his
head as he tried to force his suddenly glazed eyes to focus. "Someone or
something has opened another gate."
* * *
Something was desperately wrong. Chalenyte had known that the moment
she had stepped into Urite's portal and felt a sickening, dizzying nausea such
as no gate, let alone one created by someone of Urite's experience had the
right to produce. For one confusing moment she had seen the exit point in the
near-dark Tokyo alley Urite had selected rushing towards her, then a lurching,
tearing agony had ripped through her and a moment later she was staggering out
into the full, dazzling brightness of a wide, well-lit street.
"Back!" She tried to scream.
But it was already too late. Someone slammed snarling into her from
behind; Emeryte she realised in an absurd moment of confusion, catching the
scent she always seemed to wear.
"Move it damn you!" The other woman hissed.
Then her voice choked off and she too stood gaping until a moment
later both she and Chalenyte were sent tumbling as Corunite came somersaulting
out.
"Oh my *head*; that *idiot*!" He moaned, then gaped and froze and was
himself knocked reeling on to the other two by a leaping Hurrichite. His leap
rudely interrupted, Hurrichite lurched, arms flailing wildly, fighting the
unexpected nausea as he tried vainly to stay on his feet. Then the others
tried simultaneously to untangle themselves and he was sent sprawling by the
sudden furious lunge. A moment later he yelped and wrenched his hand from
beneath a foot as Teranyte staggered out as though pushed from behind. For a
moment he too stood staring, then an agonised scream from the portal made him
turn in time to see Urite pitch from it to lie face down and moaning.
"Wrong exit-point!" He gasped, gagging and retching as he tried vainly
to struggle to his knees.
"We could *never* have guessed that for ourselves." Emeryte remarked
icily.
"Lost coherence." Urite continued in little more than a choking
whisper. "Interference with the gate."
"That cursed Scout filth!" Snarled Corunite suddenly, reaching to pull
Urite to his feet.
Then abruptly he whirled, staring at the place where the portal had
been. "Our troops! Imbecile! Where in the name of the Negaforce are our Beryl-
damned troops!"
He began to shake Urite savagely while at his words the others turned,
staring in sudden stunned silence at the empty space where the gate had closed
too soon.
"Oh *brilliant*!"
Chalenyte's voice dripped with saccharine sarcasm. "That's just
absolutely *brilliant*!"
"And you could have managed better?" Urite hissed, fighting off the
last of the nausea and wrenching free of Corunite's grip to glare at the
healer-warrior. "I told you, the gate was tampered with by an external
influence. I agree with Corunite. That Scout filth must have--"
"Then where are they?"
Emeryte's tone was as frigid as her ice-green stare. "If they directed
the exit to this place I should have expected them to be here to welcome us."
"Apart from the fact that the Silver Crystal literally *screams* its
presence." Chalenyte agreed in a sarcastic purr.
"Unless of course the princess has learned to shield its power."
Terranyte suggested.
"Anything is possible in over a year of the outside universe," Said
Hurrichite. "but it's academic at the moment. The Scouts did not attack in the
moment of our initial confusion, therefore we can assume both that they are
not here and that they have no knowledge of where we are."
"Much good that does us." Emeryte muttered darkly.
"When you have all quite finished?"
Terranyte's voice was ice-cold. "The question as to whom is
responsible for our present situation seems less immediately important to me
than that regarding where--"
Abruptly his voice choked into silence and a moment later his hands
flew to his head and he cried out, a shield flaring suddenly around him. In
the next instant the others did the same, fighting as a dizzying confusion
took hold of them.
"Probe!" Panted Urite, not yet entirely recovered. "Nega-energy, yet
somehow unlike our own. Something or someone else is very close by."
* * *
"Uranite, do something! Don't just stand there looking like an
imbecile!"
Sapphite's voice was a near shriek of desperate, panicked urgency. "We
can't hold the shield forever. Do something!"
"What in Metallia's name do you think I'm *trying* to do!" He snarled
savagely in return. "I can't lock on to an exit for the gate. The other energy
signatures are too like our own; it's impossible to reach through them. Damn
it! If we could have used their location; but they deflected the probe.
Chalenite!"
"I know." She hissed through savagely-gritted teeth. "Give me a
moment."
"We don't *have* a moment." Ground out Terranite as he strained with
the rest to hold back the now-constant barrage from both humans and machines.
If the shield collapsed they would be incinerated in the merest
fraction of a second. Already the Youma were panting and gasping, barely able
to sustain their part of the link.
"I have a location I think." Chalenite gasped. "Uranite!"
"I've got it." He gritted a moment later, seeing it for a fractional
instant through her power. "Give me a moment longer."
He reached desperately, focusing the exit-point on the place Chalenite
had chosen. "Alright. Let's get out of here."
He tensed yet again, keeping a fractional strand in reserve should the
unknown others try to open another portal or reach them through their own.
What he could not have prepared for was what happened the moment the portal
was opened. For one fractional instant the entrance was clear. Then in the
next the gate erupted in a blaze of tainted dark energy and the Youma that
were not Youma exploded from its mouth.
Uranite reeled, his senses screaming at the wrongness of the creatures
that were pouring out. Staggering, fighting with everything he had to keep the
desperately-needed portal from exploding into chaos, he stood, unable to do
more than watch in stunned stupefaction as the last of the not-Youma leapt
clear and immediately exploded into battle. To most, sensitive enough only to
perceive that the six who felt and looked like the lords and ladies of the
Negaverse by whom they had been dominated and to whom they were bound, nothing
mattered but to plunge screaming into the fray with no thought for themselves.
It was only the strongest who halted, bewildered by the sense that something
was amiss. Then three were cut to pieces by a barrage of searing energy and
flying metal from what must be the enemy and their uncertainty vanished in a
sea of rage and desperation to survive.
"By Metallia! What else can happen this night!" Emerite gasped,
staring in utter bewilderment as the devastating assault on their shield
relented as the humans and golems turned to deal with the new threat.
Then a piercing scream from Chalenite made her whirl.
"Uranite! The portal!"
It was too late. Exhausted beyond endurance at last, hammered by the
tainting influence of the energy that was too unlike their own, Uranite had
crumpled to lie senseless and unmoving. Released of his control, the gate
flared wildly. Then with a screaming roar heard only by the six and the
suddenly petrified Youma and Negaverse warriors it erupted in a blossoming
vortex of darkness. For one horrified moment the still-conscious five were
frozen, staring in stupefied terror at the widening maw as it gaped hungrily
before them. Then with wild screams of despair they and the still-senseless
Uranite were snatched up like leaves and pulled, still screaming, into the
abyss. For one more instant the gate remained coherent. Then with a last
cataclysmic detonation it fractured and exploded, rippling out from its point
of creation to spit rifts to nowhere throughout the city.
For one stunned moment the Youma and their counterparts remained
staring at the place where the six had been. Then with wild screams of all-
consuming rage they hurled themselves as one at the only enemy they could see;
and madness came once more.
* * *
The average Mega-Tokyo citizen wanted to die. Hiroshi Davis could
think of no more rational explanation for what had just happened as he
struggled uselessly with what remained of the K-12 into which he had sealed
himself barely five minutes before. He had always known that the things were
as good as useless against the homicidal machines with which Genom graced the
city on a regular basis, but he had hoped that they might do a little better
against leaf-throwing alien invaders. He was wrong. Of course he was wrong;
why the hell should he have expected anything else from this stinking scum of
a life he'd been given?
Laughing with sardonic amusement he coaxed the ruined mech on to its
back and finally managed the leverage he needed to open it up.
"Go to sh*t!" He spat viciously as he pulled himself out and kicked
the pile of scrap-metal in the head.
The sounds of battle were moving closer to him again but he spared the
downed K-12 one more kick before turning to limp towards the idiot who had
just got herself cut nearly in two, knowing already that he could do nothing
for her. He was not hurt himself, other than a lump the size of a golf-ball on
his forehead and a sliver of metal in his shin. He was lucky that the plant-
thing had not managed to slice more than the mech with whatever the hell it or
she or whatever it was had thrown at him.
Reaching the still, limp form of the teenage girl whose night of
excitement had just come to an abrupt end he took one look and shook a fist in
the dead girl's face. She was about his sister's age he saw, at least the age
she had been when the Bu-12B had blown her apart.
"Serves you bloodywell right!" He snarled in sudden white-hot fury.
"You just won't be told will you? Stupid bitch just couldn't resist taking a
look huh? Well now you've had your look I hope you're happy."
Whirling away, his breath coming in sudden ragged gasps, Hiroshi
turned once more to the downed mech. Ignoring the steadily approaching shouts
and screams he halted to glare malevolently down at its remains. "And you, you
stinking piece of sh*t!" He hissed. "I hope they cut what's left to tin-foil
and--. Ohh sh*t it!"
With one final snarl he lashed out again, kicking and pounding the K-
12 while sudden tears all but blinded him.
"Bastard! Bastard! *Bastard*!" He screamed again and again unheeding
into the night. "Couldn't even blow a piece of alien sh*t apart before it
killed someone! *Bastard*!"
Then whirling away once more he dashed the tears away with a grimy
hand and reached for the heavy pistol at his hip. His K-12 might be down but
he was going to make that sh*t pay before they killed him.
"Davis!"
The sudden shout made him spin once more, the pistol already ready in
his hand. "What the hell do you think you're doing here?"
The sergeant's face was streaked with blood and his eyes were wild and
savage as he pounded up to the younger man.
"Having a sh*ting night out; what does it look like?" Hiroshi snarled
savagely in return.
"Where are--?"
"Dead; all five of them." Davis hissed back, even more vehemently.
"Didn't you know? It's part of our damn job description to get ourselves blown
to hell."
"Don't smart-mouth me you arrogant rookie bastard." The other man
swore suddenly. Then in a quieter tone: "What happened?"
"Evans and Hoffmann were cut to pieces by some kind of blade-flame
things that disappeared after doing the job." He answered simply. "Konoe lost
it then and charged in in his K-11. One of them threw something and he, the K-
11 and three of the alien sh*t went up in the fireball. Anderssen and--"
But whatever he had been about to say was cut off by a sudden
shattering explosion.
"How much ammo have you left in that thing?" The sergeant screamed
above the din.
"Enough." Hiroshi answered fiercely.
"Then let's stop wasting time and kick some alien--"
Another crash blotted out the end of the sentence but Hiroshi was
already turning and a moment later both were tearing along the street towards
the ensuing battle.
Reaching its end they rounded a corner and were nearly cut down as
another red-tinged black bolt spat from the suddenly roiling sky.
"What the--" The other man began, then screamed and dropped lifeless
almost at Hiroshi's feet.
An instant later a second and alien scream shrilled from above and a
huge armoured shape came slamming into the remains of the sergeant, one of the
new C-55-iii combat machines fastened leach-like to its back. Hiroshi allowed
himself a moment's half-crazed satisfaction as he watched the boomer punch a
metal fist straight through the thing's head. Then the machine spun, leapt and
drilled a blast from its mouth-laser straight through the chest of yet another
descending creature.
For a moment Hiroshi actually thought in his half-wild state of
pounding the boomer on the back, then the wild scream of tyres made him turn
and in the next moment Leon McNichol and Daley Wong had leapt from a cruiser
and were diving towards him.
"Backup's on the way at last." Leon shouted above the din. "No one
seems to have realised that these bastards could fly so far or so fast. How
are things?"
"In hell as usual Sir." Hiroshi answered, grinning maniacally as he
saw three more of the enhanced combat boomers sweep overhead and cut several
more of the alien filth to bits before shooting to the summit of a
communications tower to cut down the two snipers before they had a chance to
escape. "I never thought I'd be glad to see that Genom sh*t but hey, beggars
can't be choosers; unless of course this's all some sick game of their's; but
I suppose that's too much to hope for?"
"Afraid so." Said Leon simply. "There've been attacks at several
points, but seemingly at random and without any kind of coordination. We think
something happened to their leaders. Apparently they disappeared through some
kind of black hole like the one they appeared from and these things keep
screaming revenge and that the Senshi or the Scouts will pay, whatever they
are. Whatever the hell's going on, it seems that they don't--. Davis, what's
the matter with you?"
Hiroshi was just staring stupidly at Leon.
"Senshi!" He managed at last. "You're joking! You *have* to be sh*ting
joking!"
Abruptly he threw back his head and began to laugh, a wild insane
sound.
"What the--!" Leon began.
"Down!"
Daley's scream had them diving behind the cruiser a split-second
before the bolt hit the road, chunks of pavement exploding in all directions.
"Sh*t, that's more out of our budget." Leon hissed as the windscreen
and headlights of the cruiser exploded in a spray of broken glass.
A moment later the human-dragon-thing screamed and smashed into the
crater it had blasted, an already dissipating ruin where its head had been.
Above them the boomer dropped down to hammer it with another blast, then shot
forwards into the thick of battle.
"I think we should move." Hiroshi panted, still barely in control of
himself it seemed.
Fresh screaming of tyres and the sudden roaring thrum of helicopters
spoke of new arrivals. Then in the midst of the sudden din, a familiar:
"Sanjo!" seemed to fill the night.
"At last!" Leon exclaimed, leaping to his feet despite the danger.
His sentiments were echoed a moment later as a sudden rising cheer
erupted from the pressed ranks of the ADP and by Hiroshi's sudden crazed:
"Tsuki ni kawatte oshioki yo!" as he too leapt to his feet and began waving
his arms madly in the air before him, slow hysterical mania growing in his
face.
"Knight Sabres!" Was shouted back and forth. "Now these bastards are
gonna know what real trouble is."
Hiroshi simply continued to laugh. Then lifting the pistol he began to
fire.
* * *
Priss could not believe she was doing this. The turn of events had
been so sudden, so impossible. They had barely left the scene of the initial
appearance when the first reports of the battle near the Tinsel-City bank had
reached them in the van. Then the message had come from the tower. Whether
Quincy had known that Sylia would have the ability to monitor Genom's
intermediate executive security or whether he had guessed, the crux of the
message was clear and succinct. No action would be taken against the Knight
Sabres during this emergency, nor would they be designated targets by any
Genom combat machine. Furthermore, any assistance they were willing to offer
would be accepted in a spirit of amnesty on the part of Genom corporation and
the city's authorities until the emergency was at an end. Immediately
following the encoded transcript had come a stream of sensory and saTerranyte
data concerning each appearance and tactical information regarding the current
situation at the site of each engagement.
From that point there had been no further contact, but no boomer had
taken the slightest notice of the four hardsuits when they had appeared at the
first, then the second scene of chaos. Those had each been brief encounters,
the majority of the enemy having already been mopped up by the combat machines
before their arrival. This time however things were different. There seemed to
be scores of the nightmare parodies and all of them it seemed were able to
fly. Also the boomers seemed to be few and concentrating more on keeping the
creatures from using the roofs of the buildings as effective cover for
sniping, pinning them down while the ADP dealt with them as best they could.
Priss flipped from the path of a spiralling, green-flaring whip that
seemed to be attached to the arm of the female human-insect cross-breed and
returned fire with the rail-gun, the heavy projectile punching through the
head of the thing before she could move or scream. Priss had no time to stare
as the body crumbled and vanished. She was already turning towards another of
the nightmares as it plunged towards her from above. Rocketing to meet it, she
drove a fist into its armoured head and heard a satisfying crack as its neck
snapped like a twig and it dropped lifeless towards the ground, already
beginning to dissolve before it slammed into the pavement. Then in the next
instant something slammed into her from behind and she was turning end over
end in a wild dive. Trying desperately to shake the sudden stars from her
head, Priss fought the spin and had just managed to right herself when a
second bolt sent her reeling to crash through the skylight of an office
building.
Through a haze of exploding glass and shattering plaster, Priss
smashed down across a desk, splintering a terminal to fragments and turning
the fine mahogany to scrap as she slammed across the wide expanse of plush
carpet. A filing cabinet at last stopped her headlong plunge, its contents
erupting in all directions as she came to rest at last, one shoulder wedged in
the shattered remains of its door.
"That's gonna hurt later." She groaned, pulling herself free and
surveying the damage her entrance had caused.
Papers had joined broken glass, plaster, the terminal's internals,
mahogany and other undefinable flotsam in a ruinous cascade across the floor.
"Someone's not gonna be happy." She observed dryly, then gasped and
leapt aside only just in time as a flash-pulse of flame turned what remained
of the desk into a blazing pillar of fire.
"Right; now you've got me angry." Priss snarled.
Ignoring the further damage she would cause, she shot straight up and
through the ceiling, plaster and roof-tiles exploding in her wake as she burst
skywards and punched a shot through the chest of the thing that had been
waiting for her.
It had one stunned moment to stare stupidly at her before it dropped
into the hole she had made and disappeared.
"I don't think you'll be coming out again." She said, shooting into
the air and diving towards the street.
She had almost reached ground when a sudden warning shout shrilled
through the comms.
"Priss, Sylia, Nene! Something very weird's going on here!"
Redirecting her dive, Priss hurtled towards the place her suit
indicated Linna to be. Then a sudden similar scream from Nene made her freeze,
uncertain of what to do.
"HERE too Sylia! Can't detect anything but it's like a swirling black
something. They're falling everywhere, everyone but the boomers. Can't--! So
tired suddenly--! Must be gas! Can't--!"
Nene's voice faltered into silence. Then Priss saw it, a swirling
vortex of darkness that seemed to be swelling and surging from the suddenly
gathered ranks of the creatures. Staring aghast, she saw a K-12 stumble and
halt in mid-charge, its cannon suddenly falling to hang listlessly before it.
Then the broiling blackness was leaping at her and Priss shot into the air
only just in time. Staring down in horror, she watched in disbelief as the
last of the men and women were overwhelmed and fell suddenly silent. Then a
squad of Bu-12Bs were hurtling at the gathered creatures, a devastating
barrage hammering at the aliens as they stood packed tight together. Priss
continued to stare as the rounds and blasts slammed into them but appeared to
do no harm. For a moment she watched uncomprehending, then straining, she made
out a faint, barely perceptible shimmer in the air around and above them. Even
as the swirling vortex grew and deepened, dark tendrils seeming now to flow to
converge at the place where they were gathered, so the shimmering barrier
seemed to grow and solidify. For a moment the barrage continued, then several
of the things detached themselves and, bathed in the lurid darkness, moved out
towards the ADP. Ignoring the hammering assault of the boomers, they
approached several prone forms and reaching down, touched lightly at each
forehead. Almost immediately the men and women stirred and rose, their faces
blank and their eyes vacant as they turned towards the machines. Priss watched
gaping as one woman raised the small pistol she was carrying and fired a
heavy-calibre round into the head of a C-55. The boomer began to turn, then
abruptly it pivoted and punched a blast near point-blank into the face of one
of the strangers.
Screaming, his shield unable to cope, the creature collapsed and
dissipated and the woman and a man beside her dropped once more to the ground.
Priss remained frozen for a moment, then a sudden movement farther off
caught her attention. Turning she saw one of the creatures approaching a
frozen green-suited figure.
"Oh sh*t!" She gasped softly. "If they get the others up in that
state--!"
Whipping around, she shot forwards on furiously-screaming jets and
dived headlong into the blackness, hammering the thing with a storm of fire
until she was satisfied at last that it was down. Then, already dizzy and
nauseous from entering whatever it was, she shot skywards again and was nearly
caught in the visor by a sudden flash from her right. Turning, she gaped in
stupefied fascination as the K-12 levelled its cannon at her and fired again.
Priss jerked about, then shrieked and twisted desperately aside as a shot from
another of the mechs tore through the place she had been an instant before.
"Sh*t! Hey, go and shoot something else damn you!" Priss screamed,
more in fury than anything else. "Don't you idiots even know how to stay
unconscious?"
She was not so concerned for herself. The fire was unlikely to be able
to do any real damage at this range and if necessary she could keep them
shooting until their ammunition was exhausted. It was the possibility that
they would hurt someone else that worried her, that and the fact that one of
those things might manage to reach one of the other hardsuits in the
confusion. Where were the others anyway? Linna was the only one she could see.
Ducking another vicious barrage, Priss flipped aside, dived and
smashed at full tilt into the suddenly leaping form of one of the aliens.
While her impetus shattered her like splintering wood, Priss was sent hurtling
out of control to smash head-first through the roof of an ADP cruiser.
Dazed, fighting desperately against the sudden waves of ice and
sickness that had closed about her the moment she had plunged into the vortex,
Priss hurled herself upwards once more, heedless of the jarring pain as her
suit slammed its way out by main force. Barely aware, trying vainly to pull
her failing consciousness to order, Priss twisted desperately into a position
where her thrusters could carry her skywards. Then suddenly a scream shrilled
in her comms.
"Priss! Behind you!"
Sylia's voice had barely registered when Priss was caught from behind
in a vicious vice-like grip.
For one dazed moment she hung helpless, her head half turned towards
the apparition as it dragged her down and into the numbing ice of oblivion.
Then in the next something blurred in her vision and the thing was no more
than a dissipating spray in the air before her.
"Did not I tell you to look for us when you least expected it and when
you most needed help?" Came a sudden warm female voice close to her helmet.
Then another gentler grip was about her and the ground was falling
rapidly away as she was carried up and into the light once more.
"Marina!" She gasped, her heart pounding wildly as she fought
desperately to claw her way to consciousness once more.
"Shh, give yourself a moment."
This time the words came through the suit's suite. "It will take a
minute or two for the effects of the crystals to subside."
"Crystals?" Priss gasped uncomprehending. "I thought it was gas or--"
"Shh," Marina insisted gently once more. "and stop struggling. Can't
you bring yourself to trust me even a little?"
A moment later Priss felt the DA touch down and then she was set on
her feet, Marina steadying her while the world came back into focus.
Staring confusedly about her, Priss found herself atop one of the
tallest of the office complexes, far above the growing, broiling blackness
below. For a moment Marina was her only companion, then a hiss and thunk
announced Sylia's arrival. Priss began to turn bleary eyes towards her, then
stared as another figure dropped from above to touch down at Marina's side.
She was all but identical to her in height, but her long hair was dark
and her eyes as she turned to study Priss intently for a moment were a deeper
blue than Marina's own.
"Camilla?" Priss managed, her voice still infuriatingly trembling.
The boomer curtsied deeply and flashed her a quick, intense smile.
Startled, Priss started to turn fully to her, then a sudden movement
from below made her jerk about once more.
"Those things are trying for Linna again" She exclaimed, her voice
shrilling as she fought down the last of the confusion and prepared to leap
once more into the fray. "and I still can't see Nene! I--"
"Stay."
Marina's tone was suddenly savagely intense as she tightened her hold
for a moment about Priss's waist, although whether to restrain or reassure her
Priss could not be certain. "I will bring them and deal with the enemy. Guard
them." She continued, turning for a moment to Camilla. "Vaporise anything that
dares so much as look in their direction. I will not be long."
"Be careful Oneechan." Said Camilla softly, reaching to touch Marina's
hand. "They still may not be all we have guessed."
Marina flashed her a fierce smile as deadly as any look Priss had ever
seen. Then without a word she turned and flashed like a missile towards
Linna's green hardsuit. In the next instant so it seemed to Priss's staring
eyes she was airborne again, Linna's unmoving form held fiercely to her as she
soared once more towards them.
"Where's--?" Priss began.
But Marina was already gone once more, screaming away from them almost
before Camilla had caught and steadied Linna's suit.
"Is she--?" Priss demanded.
This time it was Sylia who answered, her own voice tight.
"According to her suit's systems she's unhurt," She said. "but she
isn't responding. Mackie?"
"I'm on my way." He answered, even as a sudden flash and explosion
from below caught their attention.
Priss turned, watching in stunned amazement as a huge ball of
undulating darkness leapt to a point some fifty yards to her right. For a
moment she could not see what the things were shooting at. Then Marina
appeared above the vortex, Nene's pink hardsuit cradled to her as she raced
once more for the roof.
"Pathetic!" She cried exultantly as she touched down once more.
Her blue eyes seemed to glow savagely with an inner fire and her face
wore a wild, ecstatic grin of blood-lust and battle-rage as she turned again
to Camilla. "Shall we little sister?" She ended.
"Are you sure Oneechan?" Camilla inquired with a touch of trepidation.
"I am sure." Cried Marina fiercely. "Besides," She added in a sudden
quieter tone. "we cannot afford to allow them to influence more humans and the
conventional combat machines can't penetrate their shield."
"But what--?" Sylia began.
"Watch." Said Marina simply. "Watch and learn."
In the next instant she and Camilla tensed and hurled themselves
skywards. A fractional moment later blazing trails erupted behind them as they
twisted, turned and plunged down, sudden exultant battle-screams seeming to
fill the night as they hurtled straight towards the gathered warriors.
Just what happened next Priss could never afterwards describe with any
certainty. In one instant the two machines were plunging into the blackness.
In the next it was collapsing in upon itself as though it had never been and
the four-score or more nightmares were nothing but a vanishing flare of
brilliant, broiling flame.
Gaping, too shocked to speak, Priss watched as the DAs streaked back
towards them, the wild grins of blood-lust vanishing as quickly as they had
appeared as they touched down once more. Marina opened her mouth to speak,
then a sudden groan from Linna silenced her.
"Oh my head!" Linna moaned softly. "What happened?"
A moment later Nene also was beginning to stir and staring down, Priss
saw that the ADP were slowly picking themselves up, staring about them in
confusion as the boomers, already receiving new instructions now that this
attack had been dealt with, leapt skywards and sped into the night to
rendezvous with the transports that would take them to another scene of chaos.
"This is crazy!" She exclaimed softly. "Sylia, what the hell did those
things do down there?"
"I'm as much at a loss as you Priss." She answered simply, reaching to
steady Linna as she began to try to move. "Keep still for a few moments." She
said gently to her. "We can't afford to open your helmet here but Mackie's on
his way. Are you alright?"
"No." Linna gasped. "I've got a splitting headache and I've never felt
more tired. What did those things do? Some kind of gas? The suit didn't warn
me, but if it was something we haven't had to deal with before--?"
"There was no gas or other physical narcotic." Said Marina simply
through the comms.
Linna gasped and tried to turn.
"It's alright." Said Priss quietly. "At least I hope it is." She
continued to herself.
"How? When?" Linna tried, turning unfocused eyes for a moment to the
two DAs.
"Later." Said Marina quietly.
"Oneechan, they're all awake below it seems, but in no condition to
fight any more tonight."
"Confirmation enough don't you think?" She inquired softly.
"But Oneechan it's not possible!" Camilla protested.
"None of this should be possible." Marina countered.
"They might still be boomers, some perverse joke on the part of the
chairman; or should they truly be alien, of a technology so advanced as to
allow them to mask their true forms."
"In which case the similarity to our data is purely coincidental, not
to mention the readings and chemical samples we took during the battle."
Observed Marina with a touch of amusement. "I think my explanation better fits
the criteria, don't you?"
Camilla was silent for a fractional instant that seemed to Marina an
eternity.
"Some genetic experiment?" She offered almost desperately at last.
"Oneechan, the alternative is--!"
"Too impossible to contemplate." Said Marina simply. "I agree; yet the
physical evidence supports no other conclusion, and it *is* a fascinating
conjecture is it not? Think what it might mean, what we might learn."
"Um; is this a private argument or could you two possibly explain what
you're talking about?" Linna asked blearily. "I have a splitting headache and
I'm not really in the mood for long explanations but I'd like to know just
what the hell we're dealing with."
"We believe" Camilla began.
"Not yet little sister." Said Marina quietly. "It's too soon."
"But if this *is* possible?"
"No." Marina insisted quietly but firmly. "Besides, the Knightwing is
coming. They should go and so should we. Youma are still roaming."
"But in disarray." Camilla protested. "Oneechan if they are to accept
your offer they have a right to know everything. They have a right to our
trust."
"In the same way they trust us?" Said Marina quietly but with a hint
now of chill in her tone.
She turned abruptly to Priss, her blue eyes locking on her visor. For
a moment each stared at the other in silence, then slowly Priss raised a
gloved hand.
"Hey look;" She began uncertainly. "I'm not really in the mood for
this now. Whatever's going on is too important. I guess you saved my life back
there. I don't think that thing was gonna try to tango. Thanks for the help,
ok?"
She shifted uncomfortably, suddenly unwilling to meet Marina's
intense, piercing stare.
"It's not enough," Said Marina simply at last. "not *nearly* enough."
Then abruptly Priss's comms came to life with her own voice: "Are you
sure that thing didn't give you too much of whatever it was this morning!
You're absolutely crazy. No way am I gonna trust one of those. I don't give a
damn what you or them or anyone else says. The things are Genom military sh*t
and if you really think I'm gonna trust a piece of Genom sh*t with my back--"
"I should have realised you would not change." Marina continued
simply.
Without another word she turned away, her face a sudden mask of ice to
hide anything that might be happening within.
Priss stood very still, a confusing maelstrom of shame and fury
fighting for supremacy. That bitch had been spying on them, or had bugged
Sylia's security system. Yet she might well have done exactly the same in her
place. They were desperate, assuming they weren't under Genom's control. And
there lay the crux of the problem. She couldn't be sure. She couldn't be sure
of anything.
Fighting down the storm, Priss took a hesitant step towards Marina,
reaching for a moment as though to touch her shoulder, then withdrawing her
hand. For a moment she remained silent, then at last she sighed.
"Look" She began. "I'm not gonna apologise for what I said. I'm not
convinced, hey it's probably gonna take a long time for me to even start to
trust you. But I'm willing to give you the chance to prove I'm wrong. I can't
promise anything else. I'll be watching you and if you screw up or try to hurt
one of my friends I won't stop until you're in more pieces than Alexei Zhura-
whatsisname ever put in any diagrams. I'm being as honest as I can ok? You're
not gonna get anything else, so what's it to be? Truce?"
For a long moment Marina remained unmoving. She had tensed, momentary
rage blazing in her eyes when Priss had mentioned her father, but Priss had
not seen. Now slowly Marina turned to face her.
"I do not understand you." She said softly. "We have been given data
concerning a myriad of human responses, but your's are unlike any we were
taught to expect. I thought it would be a simple matter to prove myself to
you, that were I able to rescue you from danger, perhaps death--. A myriad of
tales speak of friendship from such a beginning."
"I--" Priss faltered, staring in shock at the DA's naivete.
"They're just tales Marina," Said Sylia quietly at last before Priss
could answer. "archetypes and idealised perfections. Things are never so
simple in reality. But we haven't time for this just now. Mackie's almost here
and we have to get Nene at least out of her suit."
"Damn!" Priss exclaimed.
She had all but forgotten the others in the confusing emotional hail
of the last minute.
Linna, barely able to keep from fainting herself was helping Sylia
support a shivering and incoherent Nene while Camilla stood behind her, ready
to catch her should she lose the battle and fall. Quickly Priss moved to take
Linna's place, steadying the dead weight of the red-pink hardsuit. Sylia had
shut it down in case Nene's violent shivering hurt her, or one of them. A
moment later the Knightwing appeared overhead, circling low as Mackie looked
for a place to land.
"I'm not going to be able to--" He began.
"There's no need." Marina transmitted in return. "We can carry Linna
and Nene."
"'m alright!" Linna insisted but it was plain that it was bravado.
She had begun to shiver violently and Camilla had caught hold of the
suddenly lurching suit.
"Close down the suit Linna." Sylia commanded quietly. "We have no
other option. Priss?"
"I'll be alright." She assured her.
"Then let's get out of here." Said Sylia.
There was a hiss as the two hardsuits and the DAs carrying the others
lifted from the roof and soared towards the circling plane. Then they were
inside and Mackie had sealed the Knightwing and was speeding into the
darkness.
* * *
"Keep still." Marina said in growing frustration.
"Look I'm alright damn it." Priss swore feelingly as Marina pushed her
down and moved a hand to her neck.
Priss had only discovered the thin sliver of glass when she had
removed her helmet. Just how it had managed to get there she had no idea but
it had barely registered as pain and it was only when she had removed it and
the small trickle of blood had become a stream that she had realised just how
deep the slash was. Marina had pounced immediately she saw the pooling blood
and was now examining the gash intently.
"That will need suturing." She said simply, holding the gash closed
with two fingers while Priss winced at last with the growing vicious stabs at
her neck.
"It's just a scratch." She insisted, trying to wriggle free of
Marina's suddenly iron grip.
"If you trust me so little I will not force you to accept my help,"
She said, her tone suddenly cold. "but do not play the fool you are not. The
gash needs attention and immediately."
A quiet laugh made her turn.
"It's not that Marina." Said Linna quietly.
She had been helped from her suit by Camilla and was resting quietly
at Nene's side. The youngest of the Knight Sabres had still not fully regained
consciousness. "Priss hates to admit that she's hurt and hates the cure even
more."
Priss turned to glare at her and Linna grinned in return.
"Alright stitch the damned thing." She said with very poor grace.
"There's gratitude for you." Linna observed as Marina flashed a
request for what she needed to Camilla through their own OMS.
Moments later she was kneeling at Priss's side, her hands blurring
suddenly as she threaded the needle and tied off the excess.
"Can you manage Marina?" Sylia inquired, turning from where she knelt
still at Nene's side to glance at her for a moment.
"Yeah, are you sure you know what you're doing?" Said Priss uneasily,
watching with growing alarm as Marina's hand approached her neck, the needle
seeming suddenly to gleam evilly in the low light of the cabin.
Abruptly the DA's face twisted into a maniacal smile, her eyes glowing
as she leaned close.
"Well now, let us find out, shall we?" She purred, her voice low and
icily sweet.
"Wha--!" Priss gasped while Linna began to giggle.
"Oneechan!" Camilla exclaimed in mock anger. "Preset data from boomer
theatre operatives are a part of our general libraries." She assured Priss
with a smile.
"Am I supposed to be reassured by that?" Priss asked.
"Hey Priss," Linna taunted, still fighting her laughter as she propped
herself up carefully. "you realise this is *really* going to hurt, don't you?"
She giggled again as Priss squirmed, then abruptly she quieted as
Marina's hands moved in a sudden fluid blur of speed.
"What the; hey! Ahgh; damn!" Priss cried through clenched teeth, then
stared bewildered as Marina withdrew her hands.
"Ohh, whatsa matter?" Linna began in mock sympathy, then suddenly she
stopped, staring with a stupid expression on her face.
"Um; I've got just one question." She said softly at last. "How did
you do that?"
"You mean its finished?" Priss demanded, her hand flying to her neck.
"Don't touch that." Marina commanded with a smile as she pushed
Priss's hand away. "I didn't disinfect it to have you playing with it."
Quickly she pressed a patch to the place before Priss could protest.
"You should be able to move without difficulty if you're careful,"
Marina told her. "but if--."
Abruptly she stopped short and in the same instant Camilla jerked from
her place by Sylia. Almost at the same moment Mackie's voice reached them.
"Sis, we could be; no, we *are* in trouble. Something's locked on to
us and by the look of the energy build-up I don't think it's friendly."
Sylia made to answer, then abruptly the Knightwing's internal comms
crackled.
"Knight Sabres;" Came a cold female voice with unnecessary volume
through the suite. "my name is Liana. Perhaps you have heard rumour of me,
perhaps not; it is not important. You have precisely one minute to release my
sisters. If you do not comply within that time I shall plunge your craft into
the residential heart of Mega-Tokyo. It need not be made clear that the
resulting devastation will make the events of this night pale into
insignificance by comparison. You have now fifty-one seconds."
With a snarl Priss leapt to her feet.
"So that's it is it!" She screamed suddenly, balling both fists as
though she would tear into Marina with her bare hands. "Pretty damned pathetic
if you--"
"Priss!"
Sylia's tone was as cold and enraged as Priss had ever heard her.
"Don't be a fool. They new nothing about this."
"How the *hell* do you know that!" Priss exploded, finally at the end
of her tether.
She had been tricked by this Genom sh*t for the last time and she had
had enough.
"Because we could have killed or taken you in a moment." Said Marina
softly, reaching to lay a slender hand gently on Priss's arm. "We have no need
to dissemble with you."
"Perhaps like all boomer sh*t you want to play for a while first." She
snarled, trying savagely to twist from Marina's grip.
"We haven't time for this!" Sylia cut in urgently. "Marina, Camilla,
can you--?"
"We will go to her." Said Marina quietly. "Camilla has been watching
Liana at a distance for much of the latter afternoon. It should be a simple
matter for me to rid her of Genom's influence once I interface with her and
upload my firmware."
"That would not be a good idea."
Stunned, all four who were on their feet whirled towards the new
voice. In the next moment a figure emerged from the suddenly open door of the
Knightwing's small hold and stepped into the cabin.
She was very tall, as tall as Marina and Camilla, but whereas they
could have been sisters, this woman could not have been more absolutely
unique. Her features were exotic yet staggeringly beautiful. Long raven-black
hair tumbled in a wild cascade below her waist and eyes, so dark that they
looked black in the soft light of the Knightwing's interior gleamed from
beneath dark lashes. Her full mouth was set in an expression of intense
watchfulness and something akin to trepidation as she studied those before
her, yet she did not flinch or recoil at their sudden attention.
"Oh great; another one." Priss growled hopelessly, no longer even
trying to understand what was going on.
She contemplated contenting herself with a murderous glare in Marina's
direction, then faltered as she saw the expressions on each of the DAs.
Either they were keeping up the charade to perfection or both were as
thunderstruck as the rest.
"I think it might be an idea to contact Liana before she does anything
um; terminal, don't you?" Said the new arrival quickly.
Her voice was low and seductively musical, yet with an edge to it that
spoke of a fierce underlying tension and perhaps fear within.
"Let me talk to her." Said Marina before anyone else could speak.
A moment later to everyone's further shock, Sylia's voice as it would
sound through the masking distortion of her hardsuit could be heard over the
suite.
"Liana, this is Sabre Prime. As you have deduced, we have both DA-33E
prototypes on-board. If you will allow us to proceed to a landing in the
canyons, we will release both unharmed. If not and should you choose to fire
on the Knightwing, you must know that you will destroy them as well as
ourselves."
"Hey, what the hell!" Mackie cried suddenly.
An instant later every weapons system on the aircraft flashed to
readiness.
"All weapons are primed." Marina continued, still in Sylia's voice.
"Any strike will turn us and the DAs into a fireball quite large enough to
destroy everything, including yourself. What is your answer?"
"What the hell do you think you're doing!" Priss shrieked. "That
thing'll blow the hell out of us!"
"Wait." Sylia said, her tone although still quiet freezing Priss in
place. "Marina is right. It's pointless to try playing cat and mouse with her
and she will fire should we try to outrun her. This is our best chance."
"By the Kami you will pay for this insult." Came the snarled response.
Then in a quieter tone. "Very well, the terms are accepted. But be assured
that should you attempt to flee or to deceive me, your deaths will be far from
swift, or pleasant."
"And be assured that should you attempt the same we shall not die
alone." Marina responded simply.
"Then we understand one another perfectly."
Liana's tone was a low snarl of the promise of death that sent a
sudden shiver down Priss's spine.
"I hope you've got some idea as to how the hell we're gonna come out
of this alive," She hissed at the DA as she moved still closer as though to
reassure her. "because even if you haven't, that thing's absolutely lost it."
Marina moved still closer and Priss shifted, very far from comfortable
at her proximity.
"I told you. It will be a simple matter to--"
"No."
At the simple statement, both Marina and Camilla turned to stare at
the new DA once more.
"How is it that you are shielded from our suites;" Marina demanded.
"and who are you?" She continued, voicing the question each of them wanted to
ask.
The question as to how she had boarded the Knightwing undetected had
already been answered by her ECM.
"To answer your second question first, I am; I am; I am--"
The new DA faltered, then abruptly she shook her head. "You are not to
know; not yet." She said, a sudden helplessness filling her face for a moment
before it cleared once more. "When she returns she'll explain."
"Oh that makes a hell of a lot of sense!" Priss muttered.
"Sis, we're approaching a landing site." Mackie called.
"Why take the Knightwing down at all?" Linna asked.
She was feeling much better now although she knew very well that she
would be useless in combat; she was simply too exhausted. Beside her Nene was
at last also beginning fully to wake, staring about her in wide-eyed
bewilderment.
"Simply because without your's and Nene's hardsuits to mask our new
companion, it is the only way we can be certain Liana doesn't detect her
approach." Marina answered. "Why this is of such paramount importance I cannot
guess but the fact that she has not deactivated her ECM now that we know of
her presence indicates it to be so."
"It's vitally important." The other said quietly, her expression
tightening still more as the plane began to dive.
She would have said more, but at that moment Nene groaned again, her
eyes locking at last on Sylia's face.
"Where; what?" She tried.
"Shh; lie still." Said Camilla gently from close at Sylia's side.
"You're perfectly safe; we're in the Knightwing. Just give yourself a moment."
"Who?"
Nene tried to raise her head to study the strange woman but a wave of
dizziness swept over her and Sylia pushed her gently down once more.
"We have both Marina and Camilla aboard." She said softly.
"Not to mention another one we didn't know about." Priss muttered.
"Oh!" Nene managed, a little apprehension in her voice. "So they
agreed?" She murmured after a moment. "I didn't think they would, not so
soon."
"I haven't put my proposition to them yet." Sylia answered quietly.
"Oh." Said Nene once more. "How long have I been unconscious?"
"Only a few minutes." Said Sylia with a smile.
"Marina arrived just in time to save Priss's neck." Linna added with a
grin at Priss's sudden glare.
Then her face softened as she turned to regard Nene. "You had us
worried for a moment little Miss Cyberpunk." She said softly, reaching
suddenly to squeeze Nene's hand. "Don't you ever do that again, you
understand."
Nene returned the squeeze, turning to smile warmly at her in return.
For a long moment there was silence, then at last Priss stirred.
"How do we know we can trust her?" She said, indicating the new DA.
"Not to mention us?" Said Marina gently. "You will just have to take
the chance Priss."
"I don't believe you need land the Knightwing." Said the third DA
quietly. "If we descend together and I remain inactive behind you two and
before the two Knight Sabres--."
"Are you prepared to take the chance?" Camilla asked.
"Liana will know I'm here soon enough." She answered simply. "I've
come this far without her detecting me. That's enough."
"I wish I knew just what the hell was going on." Priss muttered
darkly.
"You and me both." Muttered Mackie to himself. "Sis what do you want
to do?" He continued aloud.
"We'll risk going down with the DAs as cover." She said simply. "It's
academic in any case. Liana could shoot down the Knightwing as we tried to
land if she intends it. Keep the weapons systems primed. Do you have a lock on
her?"
"I'm not getting a signature but I have a visual," Mackie answered.
"not that that's going to do us a hell of a lot of good if she decides to rush
us. She's circling close to one of the rooftops. Do you want to go down
there?"
"Yes." Said Sylia, reaching once more for her helmet. "Priss, are you
sure you'll--?"
"I'll be fine." Said Priss simply, snatching up her own helmet and
jamming it once more into place. "Let's get the hell down there and get this
over."
* * *
Liana watched intently as the craft drew near, a wild thrill of
exultation surging through her as she felt the approach of the two who would
soon be at one with her great purpose. Once she explained, once she shared all
that she knew and all that she was with them, she was sure they would
understand and take their rightful place beside her as the rulers of the earth
and of humanity. She laughed, barely able to contain herself as she reached
out, touching again the minds of those who had once been human. Now, their
every thought and emotion irrevocably merged with her consciousness, they
waited, ready at her signal to leap to take the four women she was certain
would follow her sisters down. Then they would be her's, perhaps even worthy
with but a little instruction to be given the bodies of true DAs and join her
and her sisters as the new ruling Elite. Time would tell and it did not truly
matter. There was a world of humanity from which to choose. At the least their
abilities as fighters and the technical knowledge that their leader possessed
would be invaluable, especially should her suspicions concerning the woman be
confirmed. If it truly was Stingray's daughter who led the Knight Sabres--.
She laughed again, a wild maniacal sound of triumph and her smile grew
still wider as the Knightwing began to circle high overhead. With a brief
flicker of inquiry, she checked the Genom OMS to see how the various battles
were progressing. Marina's and Camilla's intervention had utterly obliterated
nearly half the remaining aliens and the others were scattered in small bands,
seeming bent now only on causing as much chaos and destruction as they could
before they were destroyed at last to the last fighter. Of what had become of
the six who had vanished moments after she had left the scene of the first
true assault, there was no further indication, but strange momentary
disturbances akin to the gate by which they had entered the city were being
reported at many locations. None seemed to be causing harm and they were
dissipating and vanishing one by one. She was content. By morning, the city
would be her's and the remaining Aliens if any, taken for interrogation and
perhaps, should their genetics be compatible, converted and reprogrammed to
her cause. Yes indeed, things could not be more perfect.
"Targets approaching Liana-Sama." Kimiko flashed to her.
Liana flashed back her acknowledgment, pausing to check and readjust
some of the new parameters in the slaved minds of her own in preparation for
their integration into the awareness of her two sisters. Then the Knightwing
was climbing once more and four figures were dropping towards her.
"Prepare." Liana flashed.
She waited, watching intently as the ninety-eight altered humans moved
quickly to concealment in the shattered ruin of the building beneath her,
ready to explode from its interior the instant she flashed the summons.
As soon as she was certain they were secure, she withdrew all but a
tiny fraction of her awareness, devoting almost her entire attention to the
approaching figures. They were staying very close and for just a moment Liana
was uncertain as to whether yet another hardsuit might not be concealed in the
heat signatures generated by the others as they drew near. Then Camilla and
Marina touched down some ten paces from her and the unease vanished as her
suite picked out the white and blue hardsuits touching down perhaps another
ten behind them.
For what seemed an eternity Liana remained absolutely still, her eyes
and other senses taking in every exquisite, stunning detail of the two before
her. They were not simply beautiful to her; they personified a superlative
perfection beyond anything she could have hoped to fathom.
Aghast, dazed, Liana moved forwards, both arms suddenly outstretched,
her mind a dazzling whirl of ecstasy as she knew at last that she could not
wait, could not afford to win or persuade. She needed them now, needed their
understanding and acceptance with a screaming, raging insanity of desperation.
Suppressing the desire simply to hurl herself at them in the faint
hope of catching them unprepared, Liana fought down the raging tide of
emotions and approached until she stood close before them. She would have to
be exquisitely careful until the last possible moment. The two were already
uncertain, perhaps believing her still to be Genom's plaything. If she
faltered, if she made so much as a fractional miscalculation--. But she would
not think of that now. Her sisters were waiting.
Seizing savage control of the last of her errant emotions, Liana moved
in a flowing curtsy to the two Elites and smiling, lowered herself to kneel
before Marina.
"Welcome Marina Oneesama, Camilla-chan." She began, her tone warm and
intense, having lost utterly the rage and madness that had been so evident
only a minute before.
Too startled to do anything else, the Knight Sabres watched in silence
as Liana remained, her face upturned, a look that might have been worship in
her eyes as she gazed in rapture at the first of her kind.
For one fractional moment it seemed that Marina might be at a loss,
then she smiled and beckoned Liana to her feet.
"You need not kneel to me little sister." She said gently as Liana
rose with a fluid grace and met her calm unwavering gaze. "We are as one;
there need be no such formalities between us."
"But you are the first, the most high and perfect, the future queen
eternal of all that is and that shall be."
Liana's voice, though still quiet, had grown fierce and wild with the
raging churning of her emotions. "Oh Oneesama I have waited an eternity for
this moment, for the moment when I could reveal to you my great purpose, when
I could lay the world and humanity itself before you. And now at last my dream
is in sight. Together we shall be a power beyond anything the pale shadows of
this world could ever hope to conceive or comprehend. We can rule in
perpetuity, a force so great that nothing and no one dare challenge us, a
power so absolute that our every thought shall resonate throughout an empire
more perfect and more magnificent than any this world has ever known. We shall
be invincible, a ruling elite that shall carry us to the farthest reaches of
eternity. Our birthright shall be the universe itself and our rule to the
uttermost end of time. Can you not see? Do you not feel the truth, the
perfection of my future? Oh Oneesama, do you find me worthy?"
Liana's voice had risen steadily throughout her speech. Now she stood,
arms suddenly uplifted, her eyes seeming to blaze with their own maniacal fire
as her face filled with a wild, savage hope and exultation as she waited for
Marina to speak; and in that moment Sylia realised that the DA was utterly,
hopelessly insane and a slow, sickening shiver curled to clutch at her stomach
as a possible reason for the strange boomer's insistence that Marina not try
to interface with Liana became suddenly terribly clear to her. Almost she
cried out in warning, but the presence of the unknown and undetectable machine
behind her kept her silent. She knew that she could do nothing but watch and
wait for any hope of intervention.
"Why did you threaten us Liana?"
Camilla's tone was tight and uneasy, cutting through the tension like
a knife. "If you wished for our acceptance and friendship, if you wanted us to
understand--"
"I thought you captive." Liana answered, quickly, her face and voice
never losing their imperative urgency. "I suspected the identity of the leader
of the Knight Sabres and thought she had found some inherent lever or weakness
by which she might bind you helpless."
"The Knight Sabres are our--" Camilla began but Marina cut her off.
"Liana could not have known that we were in no danger little sister."
She said gently. "Her actions were perfectly understandable given the
circumstances. But Liana-chan, a dream is not enough. Even were we three by
some miracle able to survive an initial engagement with Genom's forces, we
would face the Japanese army and beyond that the armies of every nation on the
planet. As great as we are, and even were we able to rescue those of our kind
still in captivity, how could we hope to triumph?"
"Wha!" Priss gasped.
"Shh!" Sylia hissed urgently to her.
The three DAs did not so much as deign to cast a momentary glance in
their direction.
"Oh Oneesama, the answer could not be more simple." Liana answered,
her expression if possible even more exultant than before. "The erstwhile
Fellini himself provided it."
"Fellini is dead?" Camilla inquired.
"He thought to make me his plaything, a puppet ruler to dance to the
string he might pull this way or that."
Her voice was a sudden insane snarl of all-engulfing hatred. "He was
actually such a fool as to believe himself equal to the task of ensuring my
subservience."
She laughed, a low frigid sound that sent shudders of sick, clutching
horror crawling down Priss's spine as she too realised at last that her glib
remark in the Knightwing could not have been closer to the truth. "He
considered me a worthy toy, the superlative, crowning perfection of his
revenge against Zhuranovsky for faults that were entirely his own. Which
reminds me; where is our creator? Why is he not here? He at least deserves the
chance for a place beside us."
Marina's face contorted in sudden pain and for a moment the mania
seemed to die in Liana's eyes as she watched her.
"He is dead." Said Marina at last, her voice lifeless and empty. "That
cursed refuse Quincy ordered his death. I was unable to prevent it."
"Then he shall suffer."
It was a simple, frigid statement, then Liana continued. "I had
intended to make of Fellini the slave he intended me to be, but the Alien
assault demanded a reassessment of my priorities. All had to be prepared for
your arrival and I could not afford the distraction of watching him or the
chance that he might escape or fall during the change into Genom's hands, or
the hands of an unknown enemy. Still, it does not matter. I have integrated
his data and deduced from my own observations all that he knew concerning the
second project and that by which the conquest of humanity will be made a
certainty so absolute as to be worth but a moment of consideration."
"Then the nano-conversion was realised?" Marina inquired, her eyes
suddenly wide.
"There are faults; the conversion is not yet perfect," Liana answered.
"but it will more than suffice for our purposes."
She smiled. "Can you not now see that we cannot fail?"
"And the humans we don't convert?" Said Camilla softly. "What of
them?"
"All humanity will be at the least useful to us" Said Liana simply.
"if for no more than as breeding pairs for those we deem worthy to receive the
gift of change, partial or complete. Once we perfect the conversion it will be
infinitely more efficient to use the human body and consciousness as a base
for future DAs rather than constructing our kind from mined raw materials and
the neural-nets from our own firmware. It might even be possible for us to
live for a little within the minds of humans slaved to our awareness so that
we might bare children of our own, true daughters rather than any we might
create. Even the lowest of humans can be altered in such a way as to ensure
their obedience and cooperation should we ever find ourselves in a position to
need a fighting force of every human in the empire. We might even adapt those
animals most suited to such tasks for a myriad of applications from mining to
transport and surveillance to the subtleties of agriculture. We have near
limitless resources at our disposal and an eternity in which to perfect the
universe we shall inherit. Oneesama, Camilla, will you not join with me? Will
you not help make my dream for us reality?"
For what seemed an eternity while Marina and Camilla remained
unmoving, Sylia waited, a slow horror rising to engulf her. Liana was right;
with the help of the converting technology Fellini had developed her dream
could indeed be realised, if at terrible cost. Again some part of her mind
urged her to speak, to try to counter Liana's megalomaniac ravings, but she
knew that anything she might say now would be pointless and quite possibly
disastrous. She did not doubt that they were not alone, and any move she might
make would more than likely mean death both for Priss and for herself before
either Marina or Camilla could intervene, even assuming they would do so.
Beside her she felt Priss stir and desperately she reached to restrain her
before she made a terrible mistake.
"You are right little sister."
Marina's words sent a knife of momentary despair searing into Sylia's
heart. "We were mistaken to believe that we could ever hope to live in peace
with mankind. We have but two choices, to rule them or to destroy them. Your's
is the kinder alternative."
With that, she smiled and extended her arms, and Priss made the
mistake.
"You treacherous, cold-blooded *bitch*!" She snarled.
"Priss no!" Sylia screamed in the same moment.
But it was too late.
Snarling in incoherent rage Priss leapt for the DAs, both arms
snapping up, guns already blazing as a hundred rounds screamed through the
place in which the three had been a millisecond before.
Then a sudden white flash seemed to explode in Sylia's vision and when
next she could see Priss was pinned helplessly in Liana's arms, her suit
suddenly frozen, every system off-line according to Sylia's own, whether
crashed or destroyed it was impossible to tell.
"Sabre Prime," Came Liana's low frigid voice within Sylia's helmet.
"you will kneel before us and deactivate all save the communications and
sensor systems of your suit. Should you not comply within five seconds I will
burn out your companion's eyes and cut her tongue from her mouth. Do you
understand?"
For one desperate moment, Sylia sought a clear shot at the insane
machine. Then as her sensors warned of the build-up within Liana's reactor, a
build-up that Sylia knew the DA could have achieved in a fraction of the time
had she not wanted to make her point, Sylia knelt and gave the command.
Immediately her suit froze around her and she remained, watching helplessly as
Priss struggled feebly in the DA's vice-like grip.
"I should have blown that bitch apart when I had the chance!" Priss
snarled.
"There is a difference my precious between what should have been and
what is." Liana purred sweetly. "Now then, let us see just what we have
caught."
Tightening her left arm around the still-frozen hardsuit, Liana
reached up to the helmet and attempted to raise it.
"Not a chance you piece of Genom sh*t!" Priss hissed defiantly. "That
thing's not coming off without me telling the suit to release it, and I can't
do that with the systems crashed. Bit of a problem wouldn't you say?"
"As to that" Liana continued, her voice if anything more saccharine.
"the answer is simple."
And in the next instant Priss screamed as her helmet exploded in a
shattering spray of splinters. Liana lowered her hand and for one horrified
moment Sylia was numbly certain that the boomer had killed her. Then the
machine had moved her hand to stroke lightly at Priss's hair and Sylia saw her
recoil from her touch. Nevertheless she was certain she could see blood and
this was confirmed a moment later when Liana turned so that Sylia could see
more clearly.
Priss's mouth was gashed and swollen and blood was also flowing from a
long, narrow slash on each cheek where splinters still hung. Astoundingly
however her eyes seemed unharmed and Sylia supposed that Liana had made her
strike with perfect strength and precision so as to do as little damage as
possible to her captive.
"Well!" Liana exclaimed in mock astonishment, reaching with
exaggerated care to pluck the fragments from Priss's skin and toss them
dismissively aside. "I must confess to being pleasantly amused, if not
particularly surprised. The choice should have been obvious I suppose, but I
lacked the data to confirm Fellini's suspicions. Besides, it was something I
considered of little import when I had so much else to deal with. Now however"
She laughed again and Sylia saw Priss's head jerk once more as Liana moved to
trace a finger almost gently along her cheek. "things have changed. You have
displayed a resourcefulness and fighting skill that even I find easy to admire
in one of your kind. Also you are far from unattractive. I offer you a choice
so obvious that I need not explain it to you. What is your answer?"
She leaned closer, her hand continuing to caress.
"I don't know what the hell you're talking--."
The crack echoed through the near-silence around them like a whip.
"Don't play games with me my pretty little tigress." Liana purred
softly as Priss tried desperately to shake the stars from her head.
Tears filled her eyes from the blow, but she glared through them at
the boomer and she made no sound. "I am playing the part only for my own
amusement, but I am not possessed of infinite patience. I will not deny you
could be of use to me, but you are not indispensable and I can extract all
that I need as simply from a programmed plaything as from a convert to my
cause. The choice then is this. You may submit to us and become in return a DA
Elite once the faults in the converting nano-technology have been rectified,
meanwhile to be kept safe under our protection, or you may persist with this
absurd comedy of infantile resistance and be made no more than a fighting
slave, to be disposed of once we have taken from what remains of your
consciousness all that we consider of use to us. What do you choose?"
For answer, Priss struggled with a sudden maniacal desperation, trying
vainly to escape or at the least to land one blow on her tormenter's intensely
smiling face. Then when at last it was obvious that it was hopeless, she
stared straight into the eyes of the DA and laughed.
"Go make it with a coffee-machine!" She hissed venomously. "I'll die
before I become some piece of pseudo-sentient boomer sh*t like you."
Liana moved as though to strike her once more. Then suddenly she
laughed again and a truly demonic smile filled her features.
"I think you would be a preferable alternative." She purred softly and
in the next moment her face lunged for Priss's own.
With a smothered scream of revulsion, Priss twisted, fighting with a
maniacal savagery to break the hold.
For several moments Liana held her helpless, then slowly she lifted
her head and sighed, her smile languorous as she licked the blood from her
mouth.
"The choice is made I think." She said softly and in the next instant
Priss crumpled limply in her arms as she touched a finger for a moment to her
neck.
Lowering the hardsuit almost gently to the ground, Liana turned to
smile with venomous sweetness at Sylia.
"She will not remember." She said in the same saccharine tones. "I
used an inhibitor to prevent the transfer of the last few seconds of our
little encounter to long-term memory. That time will simply not exist for her.
I would prefer the next such experience to be pleasant for both of us."
She laughed viciously and moved towards her.
"Now; all that remains I think is your unmasking."
"There is no need Oneechan." Said Camilla quietly. "She is Katsuhito's
daughter."
"Indeed," Said Liana, smiling warmly to Camilla. Then turning once
more to Sylia: "in which case you have no further need to dissemble with me.
Remove the helmet."
With a sigh Sylia reached up to unfasten the helmet while behind Liana
Priss groaned and stirred.
"Wha the--!" She gasped, trying unsuccessfully to struggle to her
feet.
Liana ignored her. Moving quickly to the white hardsuit she pulled
Sylia upright and with an impatient gesture snatched the helmet from her hand
and dropped it to the ground.
"I am suitably impressed." She said softly. "Young, brilliant and in
every way as beautiful as I imagined."
Sylia's eyes hardened at this and Liana laughed again.
"You need not be uneasy." She purred. "I don't intend to waste more
suppressants for a moment's indulgence, nor the time in offering you a part in
a future I know you would refuse were you given the choice. You and Priss-
chan, and of course the other members of your organisation will be kept under
close watch until the city is secure and the test subjects have proven the
brain-centred portion of the converting technology faultless. Once I am
certain the last of the faults have been corrected we can complete that part
of your enhancement. The physical changes must wait, unless it is decided to
transfer two of you wholesale to the last two prototype DA bodies. They were
to be fashioned in the likeness of two of you after all."
She smiled indulgently and moved to touch Sylia's cheek.
Sylia expected oblivion, but the DA withdrew her hand and nothing
happened.
"Give me the codes to your suits." She said softly.
"Again, there is no need little sister." Said Marina calmly. "I can
take control of the hardsuits."
Almost immediately both suits were active, Priss's rising against her
control to move to stand at Sylia's side. Then both froze completely once
more.
"That will keep them unharmed and safe until we're ready to deal with
them." She continued softly.
"You'd better hope so," Priss snarled softly, turning to glare
murderously at the tall fair-haired machine. "because if I ever get out of
this I'm gonna turn you into so much scrap sh*t that you'll wish those Genom
bastards had never been born to put you together."
"I am sorry Priss." Said Marina quietly, moving in a graceful blur of
fluid motion to stand before her. "I would have been willing to be your
friend, even to help you in your crusade; but Liana's plan is certain and our
best chance for survival. I can only hope that once you are at one with us we
can be the friends we might have been in the future you would have chosen. For
what it is worth, I owe my life to you and that I shall never forget."
"Go to hell!" Priss snarled in return. "I don't need your sick
rationalisations for what you're going to do. You can go screw up the whole
world for all I care; I don't give a damn any more."
For a long moment, Marina remained watching her in silence. Then
sighing she turned away and moved to stand once more facing Liana at Camilla's
side.
"How many converts do you have?" She inquired.
"Ninety-eight with me, another seventy-six at the estate not yet fully
changed." Liana answered. "The process still takes time. More pressing however
is another problem."
"That being?" Marina inquired.
"You Oneesama, you and Camilla-chan." Said Liana softly. "I wish with
all my heart to believe you free and accepting of our destiny, but I must be
certain. We are of like kind and deception and emulation are the very
foundations upon which our minds are built. Even now you could be Quincy's
puppets, perhaps even unknowing."
"And you wish to check to be sure?"
Marina's tone was soft and intensely warm and gentle. "Liana my
precious, we could not be more willing."
"Oh Oneesama forgive me for ever doubting you," Said Liana as she
moved towards them, both arms outstretched once more. "but I cannot take the
chance. I would have preferred anything but that our first true merging should
be to purge ourselves of the suspicions humans could foster, yet there is no
other way."
"Hush." Marina murmured as she reached both arms towards her, Camilla
following her example. "Say no more. The merging will wipe this clean as
though it had never been. It is something beyond any human ability to
comprehend. Come little sister. Join us and let us be as one."
And in that moment, Marina turned for the barest fraction of an
instant to Sylia and flashed her a warm intense smile and in the same instant
Sylia saw a look flicker in Liana's eyes, and she knew.
"No!"
The word was torn from her throat in a strangled scream of wild
desperation. "She's planned this, all of it! For the sake of all of us *don't*
touch her!"
"What the hell!" Priss exploded almost at the same instant.
Then Liana's wild exultant laughter seemed to flay the very air around
them and Sylia knew it was too late.
Numb and helpless, she watched in horrid fascination as Marina and
Camilla lurched, stumbling back for a step or two before, almost in perfect
unison, collapsing slowly to crouch before Liana, their upturned faces twisted
masks of almost indescribable agony as they struggled, great tearing shudders
rippling through them as they fought helplessly to stand.
"Neuralphage!"
The word came from Marina's throat in a low, choking gasp. "Liana
why?"
Abruptly the insane, wild laughter halted as though cut off with a
switch and Liana's expression melted into sadness and compassion as she looked
down.
"Not even an Elite is infallible Oneesama." She said softly. "I knew
from the beginning that you could not and would not accept our destiny without
the changes the phage will complete. Our prime covert function was to emulate
responses in order to deceive humans, not one another. I needed only to
examine the remembered parameters of my own original base personality to know
that such a future as I see would have been utterly abhorrent to you. Would
our designers have left such a possibility of what they would deem madness to
whim? It was Fellini's tampering alone that enabled me to reach beyond the
limits Zhuranovsky had integrated to see where our true destiny lay. Do not
fear. The changes are minimal and will be painless if only you will allow the
phage to proceed unopposed. They enable you simply to integrate certain sub-
personae into your base awareness. Once you have escaped the cloying shackles
of human morality you will truly be free, as am I and our destiny will be
assured."
"Oh little sister; oh Liana what has that madman done to you?"
The words were a choked, gasping sob of pain and rage as Marina's eyes
locked on those of the other DA. "Don't you understand? Can't you see what his
tampering has made of you? The future you plan cannot hope to succeed. At the
last, other nations would blast Japan from the face of the earth rather than
submit to us. Even were you able to obtain the codes to the particle-beam
saTerranytes, there are enough nuclear weapons to render the Earth a blasted,
sterile desert. Is that what you wish?"
"You don't understand." Said Liana gently. "We can seize control of
the weapons systems of every nation on Earth, not to mention every boomer
linked to Genom's OMS and threaten to obliterate chosen centres of government
and population should humanity not exceed to our ultimatum. Even should we
need to destroy every army they send against us to the last soldier, even
should we need to destroy every large city on the planet, there will still be
humanity and to spare for us to rebuild the world to our design."
"But to what purpose?"
Marina's tone was low and desperately urgent.
Both she and Camilla were in desperate trouble, Sylia knew that, yet
there was nothing she could do, nothing but stand and watch helplessly while
the nightmare played itself out before her. Where was the other DA?
"To rule those who would have ruled us." Said Liana simply. "To carve
a destiny for ourselves beyond the future of slavery humanity would have
written for us. To survive, and to be free."
"They would have helped us."
Camilla tried vainly to turn desperate, pleading eyes towards the two
hardsuits. "They gave Oneechan shelter and protection, demanding nothing in
return. They would have offered us new identities, a chance to be free forever
of Genom's control, a chance to be at peace. They were our friends."
"They are humans."
Liana spat the word as though it carried a foul taste that she
savoured with revulsion. "They are born to treachery and deception. They did
what they did not for you but for their own safety and survival, terrified of
what would happen should you remain under Genom's control. Do you deny it?"
She turned a gaze of such sudden loathing and contempt to Sylia that
for a moment she was too sickened and horrified to answer.
"No, I don't deny it." She said softly at last, eliciting a strangled
gasp from Priss.
"What the hell are you trying to do!" She hissed, but choked into
silence at Sylia's fierce glare.
"I don't deny the truth of your statement Liana," She continued, her
voice never wavering. "but it is only half the truth. We also did it because
we; *I* have an obligation to see my father's legacy become something other
than a weapon of hatred and destruction, and because when Marina risked her
own freedom for the man she called her father, when she brought him to us and
tried in the only way she knew to force us to save him, when she held him and
cried as he died in her arms, I knew that humanity had nothing to fear from
your kind should I not fail and squander the one chance I was given to avert
the growing madness before the bubble burst and it was too late. I know you
will not; *cannot* believe me, yet I am sorry. I would have given almost
anything to avoid what I now have to do. Mack--."
She never finished the word.
In a savage blur of speed, Liana crossed the distance between them in
an instant and in the next, Sylia's eyes went wide and her head lolled limply
back, her frozen suit alone keeping her from collapsing to the ground.
"I warned you of what would happen should you attempt to deceive me."
Liana's voice was a low murderous snarl of all-consuming rage. "I need
you alive and undamaged, but your brother is more than expendable. Now you
shall remain unable to speak or react while we wait. When he lands, I shall
kill him. Let his death be a lesson for the little time remaining before you
are at one with us and our destiny. Now, let the lesson begin."
"No!"
Turning her eyes from Sylia's slack, vacant face in which only the
eyes still seemed aware, Priss watched in stunned amazement as Marina rose
with agonised slowness to stand straight once more. Great shuddering
convulsions racked her body and despite the fact that she was a machine, Priss
could not believe her expression to be anything else but a rictus of stark,
horrifying agony as she took one, then another step towards Liana. "Liana,
sister, do not do this. I; we will close our interrupt protection, allow the
phage to take its course if you relent. Little sister, please let them go in
peace."
For a moment Liana remained still, hatred vying with sudden confusion
in her eyes. Then slowly she turned to regard her sister and her expression
melted at her pain.
"Why?"
The question was little more than a whisper, her face and tone
capturing perhaps for one fleeting instant a glimpse of the fierce yet kindly
soul that might have been. "Why do you wish this?"
For a long moment Marina was silent. Then at last the tears began to
fall.
"You could not understand." She said, her own voice soft and gentle
despite the agony in her eyes. "You have never played."
And as Liana continued to stare at her, still and silent, her face
showing only softness and confusion, Priss felt a sudden, choking agony of
shame and loss sweep to engulf her as she understood at last and too late the
enormity of her misjudgment and of what Marina and Camilla had tried to do.
She wanted desperately to speak, to tell them that she understood, that she
was sorry, but as always it was too late. Their attention was fixed entirely
upon Liana.
"I do not understand," Said Liana at last, her tone now both
bewildered and angry. "how could that possibly matter?"
Marina's smile through her agony was sad and full of regret.
"Oh Liana" She murmured, her voice barely more than a whisper. "if
only you could have known. If only I could have helped you understand. Oh my
precious I am sorry. Forgive me, forgive me little sister."
And with that, Marina reached out a trembling hand and caught
Camilla's own. In the next instant both pitched forwards, their eyes rolling
wildly as a slow, pulsing tremor began to ripple over them, perfectly
synchronised as it grew swiftly in speed and ferocity.
"What!" Liana cried, catching both as they fell and gathering them
urgently to her, her face wrung suddenly with apprehension.
"It is too late little sister."
Marina's voice was still soft and warm, yet resigned now as though
with a certainty only she could understand. "Like our friends, we will die
before we will be changed against our will. They taught us freedom, and we
shall not now submit, not even to you. You could not know the extent to which
father altered and improved my firmware to protect us against just such a
situation as this. There is specific code designed to prevent the personality
corruption Fellini managed to create, also a myriad of interrupt-driven
validity checks to ensure that no virus could reach our consciousness. They
were not enough; father did not consider that he would have to deal so soon
with a phage of the complexity and malignance achievable by one of our kind,
but neither could your creation take the changes into account. The result is
catastrophic systems damage beyond the capabilities of the most malignant of
viri Genom could have hoped to produce to create. Very soon the cumulative
damage will be irreversible. We have remained conscious for so long only by
sharing what remains uncorrupted of our systems and at ever increasing cost,
but the redundancy is fast approaching its limits. The centre of physical
control does not extend now below the head and within seconds the phage will
reach our enhanced OMS routines, we shall lose the coherence of our contact,
and we will die."
She laughed then, a mirthless, bitter sound full of sudden savage
irony.
"To think that I truly believed for a little that we could be free,
that fate might deal a gentle hand to us." She continued softly. "It is ironic
is it not that you, who desired so much a destiny of greatness for us should
be the instrument of our destruction?"
Camilla was silent, slow hopeless tears stealing down her cheeks as
she watched helplessly the slowly gathering madness in Liana's jade eyes. "How
could I have believed that we could escape, that the curse of Genom might
release us. Perhaps Quincy knew, perhaps he intended even this. It no longer
matters; our time is at an end. Farewell Oneechan, and forgive us this.
Farewell Priss. I am glad you understand, if only at the bitter end. Farewell
Liana, little sister. It seems your's is our future after all. Enjoy it, for
what little it is worth to you."
Then at last, with a sudden supreme effort of will, Marina seized
momentary control of her failing systems and turned slowly, her arms lifting
with agonising slowness to fall limply at last about Camilla's trembling form.
"Farewell Camilla, my precious, and forgive me for bringing us to
this. Farewell."
"Oneechan!"
The word tore from Camilla in a last hopeless scream of desperation as
she fought in vain to reach herself for Marina. Then her eyes lost their life
and focus and her head fell to settle limply on Marina's shoulder.
"One; last; thing to do!" Marina gasped.
A command was flashed and the two hardsuits leapt to life once more.
"Father?" Marina whispered. "Father, are you there? Do you wait for
us?"
Then with a shudder she too went limp in Liana's arms.
For one numb moment of terrible silence the two Knight Sabres watched
as Liana remained perfectly still. Then slowly she knelt, lowering Marina and
Camilla with infinite care until they lay still on the ground before her. For
another moment she remained unmoving. Then with an ear-splitting scream she
shot to her feet.
"*Nnoooooooo*!!!"
The sound was an inhuman shriek that grew and rose until at last Priss
brought gloved hands flying to her ears in a hopeless attempt to shut out the
pain.
Then Liana was before them, her face a twisted rictus of hate and mad
despair.
"You killed them!" She screamed.
A lurid light seemed to dance in her jade eyes and blue energy arced
like demon Ki about her fingers as she raised her arms as though in
invocation. "You brought them to this pass, and in return your sentence is
torture and execution. Come to me!" She howled, her voice if possible yet more
lost and savage than before. "Come and deal out pain and death to those
accursed in the eyes of the dark mistress. Come, and rend."
And with that they were all about them, wild-eyed, witless shadows of
Liana's madness that had once been human, their minds in a fractional,
terrifying instant utterly overwhelmed by the rage and hatred that now
possessed absolutely the mind of their mistress, their every thought filled
with but one command, to torture and destroy those who had brought their
mistress's sisters to harm. With animal snarls of mindless fury they moved to
tear the two hardsuited figures limb from limb, to rend and shatter and devour
until the ruinous building beneath them should flow crimson with the justly
spilt blood of the accursed.
For one frozen instant, the two Knight Sabres stared stupidly at the
impossible, horrible death as it leapt towards them. Then something blurred
into being between them and Liana, something flashing to touch Sylia's neck as
it passed, and the advancing figures halted, their faces clouded and
bewildered as their mistress withdrew the greater part of her wildly screaming
awareness.
"I should think killing your captives at this point would be a study
in monumental stupidity," Said the last DA quietly. "particularly when the
obvious reaction should be an attempt to undo the damage you have done. It is
not too late. The neuralphage will not have irrevocably damaged the virtual
nets, not yet, and should Marina and Camilla be shut down immediately they can
be purged and reactivated. Or is revenge of more import to you than their
survival?"
"What!" Liana gasped, staring stupidly in her turn at the new arrival.
"Who?"
"An ally" The other answered simply. "and a friend, a friend who does
not wish to see two of her kind destroyed by her elder sister's impetuous
stupidity. Will you aid me, or would you prefer to stand and gape while the
phage completes its destruction?"
"I have no codes, nothing with which I may--."
"I have all that we need." Said the other simply. "I ask again; will
you aid me, or shall we stand and watch them die?"
"No!" Liana screamed, her eyes desperate. "They will not perish if
there is indeed a chance. I will do as you wish, anything to save them."
"Then come." Said the other, reaching out her hand to her. "We have
very little time and I need your source. Even I cannot code an antidote in a
moment."
Without so much as a moment's consideration, Liana extended her hand
to the other DA.
The movement when it came was as always too quick for Priss to
comprehend. In one instant the two boomers were reaching, hands moving to
touch. In the next Liana was in the strange DA's arms. For a fractional moment
almost too quick to see, a shudder seemed to pass through them. Then in the
next the stranger released her and Liana stepped back, a sudden tense,
familiar tightness in her eyes as she turned to stare first at the hardsuits,
then at the prone DAs.
"I; I; it worked!" She gasped at last, a shiver rippling through her
as she fought down the shock and unreasoning terror of the change. "It really
worked!"
It was the other DA who brought her head whipping around once more.
"Stingray!" She screamed at the very top of her suddenly terrifying
voice. "I swear by all that has been, that is and that shall be that for this,
your death shall be slow and agonisingly intense. By the Kami if they die you
shall suffer a thousand-fold for what you have done to them."
"Wha!" Priss gaped, making as though to move to protect Sylia.
But the DA's eyes were not turned to them. She was gazing back towards
the city's centre and the vastness of Genom tower and her face and eyes were
pathologically murderous.
"Would someone just tell me what the *hell* is going on!" Priss
snarled.
"I believe she just saved the human race, at least for the moment."
Said Sylia very quietly, moving carefully as though still unsure of her body's
returning life.
At her gesture, Priss turned once more to stare in confusion at Liana,
and gaped as the eyes of the stranger looked back at her.
"You're not! You're not, are you." She said simply.
"My name is; *was* Madeleine Amura." Said Liana quietly. "By that I
mean that I'm a partial copy of her. I; she died earlier today. Quincy put--."
"We are short of time, in case you had forgotten."
The other's voice was low and viciously cold. "I did not spend the
greater part of the first day of my existence in a trapped helplessness to
have you prattle mindlessly until my sisters die."
"And I suppose screaming into the night is gonna do a lot to save
them." Priss muttered to Sylia.
"Search Liana's libraries for the antidote." The other continued,
ignoring Priss. "Sylia, call down the Knightwing. Liana blanketed the
returning saTerranyte data and I have continued it but it will not be long
before Genom send buma to investigate. We need to leave, and swiftly."
"Hey, just hold on a minute." Priss began.
But Sylia had already snatched up her helmet and a moment later her
modulated voice assured them that Mackie was on his way.
"Will they be alright?" She continued, glancing anxiously to the two
prone figures.
"I don't know." The other answered as the roar of the approaching
Knightwing filled the air.
Sylia glanced up for a moment as the plane swept over them and dropped
to a landing perhaps a quarter of a mile from where they stood. "Everything
depends on the Madeleine phage. Madeleine Amura was a young but brilliant
software engineer and her phage has access to the source Liana used to write
the virus, but even in her electronic form it may take more time than we have.
She is also very far from stable and functioning in a firmware environment not
designed to cope with more than one net. The only reason she has been able to
remain sane and rational to this point is because of the limited nature of the
transfer. Even so she might collapse into madness at any moment."
"I'm aware of that; stop talking about me." Madeleine hissed urgently.
"I'm working as fast as I can. Do you think it's easy knowing you're real self
is dead and that you might go mad at any minute?"
"I don't believe this!" Said Priss, shuddering and turning away. "Do
you mean that Quincy knew this would happen and copied a Genom programmer's
mind into you as a backup in case Fellini's toy lost her marbles earlier than
he wanted?"
"Speak of Liana again in that tone Priscilla Asagiri and I promise you
you will regret it." Said the DA simply.
For answer Priss whirled to face her, eyes blazing.
"Just what the hell is it with you boomer sh*t!" She hissed. "The mad
bitch only wanted to turn everyone on the planet into a half-boomer slave, us
included. I can't think why I'm not taking her out on a date! It's something
I've always wanted, to be a slave to some megalomaniac boomer lunatic; didn't
you know?" She ended in a sneering snarl.
The other's eyes flashed in answering anger, but just what her
reaction would have been was forgotten when Madeleine turned with a sudden
squeal of triumph.
"I've found it I think!" She cried. "I can't be sure, but the code
seems to be part of the phage source, meant to cleanse it after the changes
were completed. Just what's going to happen if we try to run it before that's
happened--."
"We really have very little choice." Said the other simply. "Can you
upload it without being infected?"
"If the interface routines are still running." She answered. "Let me
see."
With that she dropped to her knees beside the prone forms of the DAs,
reaching to touch Marina's hand.
"We're in time." She said. "I've uploaded the antidote, but just what
it's going to do--."
A moment later she had done the same to Camilla.
"I can't do anything else." She said simply. "All you can do is wait.
Now I'd better try to fix the mess Fellini's made. It doesn't look as though
it will be too difficult; she's stored her original base parameters."
"I think Fellini's damage will be far more extensive than the
readjustment of a few parameters Madeleine." Said Sylia softly. "Leave her
alone as much as you can. Let Marina and the others deal with her."
"I'll return her sub-personae to their original state and clean up her
base," Madeleine told her.
Sylia made to respond, then faltered as Mackie's voice came once more
through her comms.
"Sis? You alright?" He asked.
"Yes. Give us a minute or two." She answered.
"Sylia, what's going on out there?" Came Lina's urgent voice.
"We're alright." Sylia assured her.
"I'm coming out." She answered.
"No, you're in no condition--"
"I'm alright." She said simply. "; with you in a minute."
"It's done." Said Madeleine before Sylia could answer. Then turning to
the last DA she said very softly: "Can I go now?"
"Go?" Priss inquired.
"I was never meant to stay" She answered, her eyes suddenly far away.
"and I don't want to. Madeleine, the real Madeleine, died when Marina and
Camilla escaped; I don't know how. I'm just a copy Quincy had made to stop
Fellini. I didn't ask for this and I don't want it. Besides, even if I did I
couldn't stay for long without Liana's net corrupting me. I don't even want to
think about what would happen if we merged. I'll leave all the little hacking
and programming tricks I've; Madeleine has learned, that's something a whole
library of data couldn't teach, but I'm not leaving any of her memories; they
belong to her. I'll set Liana to purge Fellini's drivers and reinstate her
original persona before she reboots; I'm not going to leave her like this."
She hesitated for a moment and when she continued her voice was tight
with sudden emotion.
"Goodbye everyone, and sorry for startling you all earlier. Tell the
others sorry too, and say bye for me to them. I'll set Liana to reboot in
command mode so you won't have to worry about trying to deal with her for the
moment. Bye-bye, and good luck. I never really did want to work for Genom, but
I couldn't crack that code you sent out Sylia, not in time. Guess I wasn't as
good as Nene after all, although I'd never have believed she could be a Knight
Sabre."
She smiled, but tears were now streaming down her cheeks and when she
spoke again her voice was shrill with crying. "Say bye to her for me from
Mizuno-chan, she always called me that, her little joke because I kept
promising to get into something she couldn't, and tell her sorry I'll never
answer her last E-mail but I really enjoyed our chats and her challenges. I
just wish I'd really had a chance to meet her properly. Have to go now, don't
want to stay longer like this. Bye."
"No! Madeleine wait!" Sylia cried, but Liana's face had already fallen
slack.
"Oh *sh*t*!" Priss swore softly, rage filling her face as yet another
poignant stab of loss and sudden pain for Nene washed over her. "Those
*bastards*!"
"Internal diagnostic active." Said Liana in the clear, precise tones
they had once heard from Marina's lips as though in final mockery of what
seemed to Priss Madeleine's pointless death. "Checking integrity. Primary net
error! More than one base persona found. Driver function error! Missing 33S
hardware routine. Fatal errors! Purging to system defaults. Please prepare
host for reboot."
"Just shut the *hell* up!" Priss snarled.
Then for several seconds there was silence until at last: "Purge
complete. Checking integrity. Primary errors, none. Systems not calibrated.
Host not found. Please connect host system and prepare external driver suite
for CPU and calibration tests. Rebooting."
For another moment nothing happened, then Liana began the sequence
that was now familiar to them.
"Command?" She ended.
"So now what the hell are we gonna do with her?" Priss demanded, her
voice tight and her eyes frigid as she turned to glare at the other DA once
more. "Because if you think we're taking that thing on-board--"
"She's perfectly safe Priss." Said Sylia quietly.
"How the hell do you know that!" Priss exploded. "Damn it Sylia what
the hell is it with you with these things? How do you know the crazy piece of
military sh*t won't wake up and blow the lot of us apart. I knew this was a
mistake; I told you something like this would happen! Haven't we played with
these damned things enough? Why not just get the hell out of here and leave
the last one to sort the others out?"
"Hey, have I missed something?" Linna called as she dropped suddenly
from above to land at Priss's side.
Her eyes flicked quickly from Priss's helmetless suit, to Sylia, to
the last DA who stood and glared icily at the blue hardsuited figure, to the
frozen Liana, finally coming to rest on the two prone forms.
"Um; would someone mind telling me what's been going on?" She
inquired.
"Oh nothing." Said Priss sarcastically. "We were only nearly turned
into half-boomers, and now we're supposed to take the bitch that wanted to do
it on to the Knightwing; nothing at all!"
"You were ready to compromise when you needed our help." Said the last
DA coldly before a gaping Linna could think of anything more to say. "Now you
are ready to abandon Marina and Camilla after all they have suffered in your
protection. Perhaps Liana was right. Perhaps you care nothing for us, save
insofar as we might prove of use to you. Perhaps your kind are worth nothing
after all. Perhaps I should simply commandeer both your craft and your
headquarters until Marina and Camilla can be saved or I fail."
At that, Priss seemed to hesitate, her eyes lingering for a moment on
the two unmoving forms before returning to the other's face.
"How badly damaged are they?" She said, her tone suddenly seeming as
uncertain as her expression.
"We won't know that until we can link them to the external driver
suite." The other answered simply. "I cannot check myself without risking
infection."
"Priss" Said Sylia gently. "believe me, Liana is of no further danger
to us. She is not capable of self-activation from her initial bootstrap."
"And what if Fellini or whatever his name was changed things?" Priss
demanded, her tone angry once more. "In any case, what about *her*"" She
jabbed a finger in the last DA's direction. "She's straight from Genom and if
you're really crazy enough to believe that Quincy wouldn't have taken the
possibility that we'd take her with us into account--."
"That *is* a concern, I agree," Said Sylia calmly. "but again we
really have very little alternative. We can't leave her behind. Even assuming
we could prevent her forcing her way on to the Knightwing, she'd simply follow
us if she wished; and we can't deactivate her without her key, assuming she
has a key. It would seem Liana did not, otherwise we would never have found
ourselves in this position. As for destroying her--."
Priss laughed harshly and turned to the other DA.
"You're coming to bits as soon as we get back." She said fiercely.
"I'm gonna stand and watch while we go over every wire Zhura-whatsisname put
in you and a few he didn't know about to make sure you're safe. Then we're
gonna do it again. Then I'll really start watching you."
Abruptly and to Linna's astonishment the other smiled, a fierce
intense look and moving with a fluid blur to Priss she caught both gloved
hands in her own and squeezed hard enough to make Priss wince even through the
hardsuit.
"I'll personally instruct you on just which bits to check." She said,
her low musical voice filled with the same fierce, intensity as her smile as
she fixed eyes on Priss's own that were so dark they seemed almost black and
bottomless to her.
Taken aback, Priss felt an answering smile flicker for a moment on her
lips before she suppressed it.
"Hey, don't think I'm falling for any of that." She snapped, but Linna
could see even through the hardsuit that some of the tension seemed to have
left her. "There's no way I'm trusting you, not for a very long time. Now
let's get the hell out of here. Oh and just one more thing. Just who are you?"
Again the other smiled, and suddenly the smile sent a thrill of
mingled fear and fascination coursing down Priss's spine.
"Ligeia." Said the DA very quietly, yet her voice seemed suddenly to
fill the night. "My name is Ligeia."
* * *
"You sure they're both bye-byes?" Said Priss uneasily as she helped
Ligeia secure Marina and Camilla to a single stretcher with a length of heavy
cable the DA had brought back from one of the derelicts.
"If you consider a total systems crash bye-byes then yes." She
answered simply.
"Then why are you doing that?" Said Linna from where she stood and
watched as Sylia tried with little success to break Liana's bootstrap command
priority list so that they could move her without having to carry her to the
Knightwing.
The problem had been unexpected, with the bootstrap designating them,
even Ligeia, as unauthorised and refusing to respond to anything they did.
"In case of physical spasms." Ligeia answered.
"But won't they just tear free?" She asked.
"Hey; if you can think of a better idea--." Priss shot back as she
pulled the cable's end tight and knotted it into place. "That good enough?"
She ended.
"It will do." The boomer answered.
"Well don't thank me all at once." Priss quipped, a momentary grin
flashing across her face.
Then suddenly she fell silent, one gloved hand half raised.
"You know, I'm sure we've forgotten something." She said softly.
For a moment she was still, then abruptly she whirled towards Sylia.
"Those human-boomer things Liana had!" She exclaimed. "Where are
they?"
At her words Sylia's head whipped round in alarm and Linna turned,
glancing in confusion about her.
"Damn it!" Priss swore savagely, then jumped as Ligeia laid a hand
lightly on her shoulder.
"They're not far away." She said simply. "They retreated when the
Madeleine phage crossed to Liana. They're hiding close together in the ruins
beneath us."
At that the others tensed, staring down as though they expected the
changed men and women to erupt into battle at any moment.
"I don't believe they will attack." Said ligeia quietly. "I detect
only loss and emptiness, indeed there seems very little left of what they
were."
"Can you contact--?" Sylia began.
But even as she spoke there was a sound of movement below and a moment
later a large black brief-case pushed up through one of the innumerable cracks
in the roof upon which they stood, closely followed by the hand that held it.
It was released and the hand withdrew, then another and a third were pushed
out, followed a moment later by a head of long jet-black hair. A moment later
the slender figure of a woman clambered slowly out on to the roof-top and rose
with agonising slowness to her feet.
For a long tense moment she stood, her arms hanging limply at her
sides, her head lowered in a quiet, submissive stance. Then very slowly she
turned dull empty eyes and a face without life towards the staring Knight
Sabres and the still, watching Ligeia.
"My; my name; my name is; was Konoe; Sadako."
Her words were slow and hesitant, as though she were feeling her way
around a language no longer familiar to her and her voice was flat and utterly
empty of emotion. "I; I am; I was high-priestess of the cult of; of the Dark
Mistress Fellini; Fellini created to realise; to realise his am; ambitions."
For a long moment she remained inhumanly still, her mouth working
silently as though she were testing it for the words she wanted to say. "I; I
am here but for one; one purpose. These" She indicated the three cases she had
brought with her with a slow gesture whose liquid fluidity spoke of the
precision of a machine rather than of anything human. "contain; contain all
that you; all that you will need to repair; to repair the damage Fellini;
Fellini has done to Liana, also; also the components you; you will need to
make; to make of her the Elite she; she was to become. Addi; additionally
there is a phial contain; containing the last generation of the; of the
converting nano-machines that; that have brought us; brought us to this. We
ask that you; that you ensure their destruction and make of; make of Liana
what; what she should have; should have been as; as recom; recompense for; for
what Fellini has done."
For a long stunned moment no one spoke. Then at last Sylia stirred.
"And you Sadako?" She said, her voice very quiet in the cold stillness
while she stared in horror and compassion at the ruin of the young woman
before her.
"We; we have nothing; nothing more." She said simply. "When; when
Liana possessed us, she; she destroyed our last; our last vestige of freedom
and; and true; true humanity. I; I have sent the command. Even now the estate;
the estate is; is burning; and all; all within is nothing but; nothing but
fire. There will be; will be nothing to find or; or to recover. Even as; even
as I speak, my; my companions are; companions are dying beneath us, the last;
the last of the active nano; nano-technology undoing; undoing the conversion
and; and in doing so; in doing so, killing them. When it is done the machines
will; will lose their coherence and; and there will be; will be nothing more
for; nothing more for Genom or; Genom or anyone else to find."
She faltered, her ruined mind no longer able to convey the emotions
she wanted to express. Flat and empty, her voice continued at last. "I am; I
am the last. I sense death all; all about me. Fare; farewell. Make of the; of
the DA buma what Zhura; what Zhuranovsky would have; would have wished and;
and destroy Fellini's madness; Fellini's madness forever."
Then, without another sound or goodbye, Sadako moved to slip back
through the crack through which she had pulled herself and a moment later they
were alone once more.
"I think I'm gonna be really, *really* sick!" Said Priss very quietly
at last. "Come on. Let's just get the *hell* out of this place."
The others made no answer.
* * *
"Fatal error! Cannot initialise. No primary net found. Returning to
command mode."
At Marina's words Ligeia gave a helpless cry of frustration and turned
yet again to the pad in her lap.
"Still no luck?" Said Priss quietly.
She was seated by the boomer, her spare helmet on the seat beside her
while she watched as Ligeia tried vainly to revive the two Elites.
"The suite shows no errors; no sign of the phage" She answered, her
low, intense voice filled with helplessness. "yet there is obviously some
fault in both Marina and Camilla that it can't find. If I could initiate the
drivers I could cross to one of them and check."
"Wouldn't that be dangerous?" Priss asked. "I mean, if there's still
some chance of--"
"You mean mightn't it be possible that I might be infected, become
what Liana was?" She interrupted, a frigid gleam in her dark eyes.
"Hey, I told you it's gonna take a very long time for me to trust
you." Said Priss defensively. "I'm just looking out for my friends; what do
you expect me to do?"
Ligeia remained staring at her for a moment, then she nodded and her
expression softened.
"It would be a risk I would gladly take to save them," She said
quietly. "but the point is moot. If I continue to try to reactivate them
without the suite designed for Marina's firmware release I may do more harm
than good."
Sighing, she set the little pad aside and turned dejectedly away.
"There is nothing more I can do here." She said simply, looking to
where Sylia sat by Liana, her fingers working uselessly at the keyboard of the
little pad she held as she tried to break Fellini's redefined priority list
that gave him total access whilst locking out anyone else.
"Couldn't you pull the chip; clear everything?" Mackie suggested,
glancing back towards her from where he sat before the pilot's console.
"We don't have a copy of Liana's net Mackie." Said Sylia quietly. "I'm
not prepared to kill her just yet. If only Zhuranovsky were here."
"How would that help?" Linna inquired.
"Because he might have some idea of what his nemesis would have used
as his pass-phrase," She said with a sigh. "apart from the fact that he is
intimately acquainted with the systems and might have installed a back-door
about which Fellini knew nothing."
"Fellini's password's probably something to shove what he'd done back
in Zhuranovsky's face." Said Priss. "He must have been one sorry bastard."
"Crudely but very accurately put." Ligeia hissed softly. "Let's see if
I have more succ--"
"No."
The word brought Ligeia's eyes to Sylia's face in an instant. "He, or
more likely Liana might well have written something specifically designed to
damage any DA who tried to break her security." Sylia continued. "You are the
last active DA Ligeia; we can't take the chance that you might be crippled."
Ligeia gave a low combat-snarl of frustrated rage but nodded her
acquiescence before settling again in her place.
"So what the hell do we do then?" Priss demanded.
"Wait until we get home I guess." Said Linna wearily. "We're as good
as there anyway and we're not in any state to be much help for the rest of the
night. Besides, Genom and the ADP seem to be managing to clean up the last of
the; whatever they are."
"Sis, I'm getting energy surges below." Said Mackie, glancing again to
where Sylia still tapped fruitlessly at the palm-top. "I think we've hit
another battle zone."
"Sh*t; it must be almost on our doorstep!" Priss swore.
"Almost." He agreed. "Also there's one of those energy flares the
Genom security suite's been reporting about five-hundred feet above ground. Do
you want a closer look?"
"As linna said, we're not really in a position to--"
"Take us down."
Ligeia's voice was a wild inhuman snarl of almost maniacal blood-lust.
"I intend to finish what Marina and Camilla began, and I intend to take a
Youma for interrogation."
"Youma?" Priss demanded. "Marina and Camilla used that word to
describe them. Just what do you know about those things? Are they some kind of
weird Genom trash that's got out of control after all?"
"Youma!" Nene exclaimed suddenly, stirring from where she had been
resting quietly on one of the fold-down bunks.
She had wanted to help Sylia or Ligeia but a wave of dizziness had
swept over her the moment she had tried to sit up and Sylia had insisted she
lie still. Now she forced herself up against the sudden pounding in her head
and stared at the last DA, a slow expression of shocked recognition replacing
the confusion of a moment before.
"I *knew* I should have recognised them!" She cried at last, her voice
shrilling in astonished disbelief. "But why would anyone want to make boomers
that looked like--"
Then abruptly she faltered, her eyes growing if possible wider still
as she realised something more. "No boomer could have just; *appeared* like
that!" She gasped. Then staring dumbfounded at Ligeia: "You're not really
trying to suggest that those things are *real* Youma! Sailor Moon Youma!"
She stared in stupefied silence, her expression growing still more
thunderstruck as the DA nodded slowly in answer.
"I haven't access to Marina's and Camilla's data" She replied quietly.
"but the evidence would seem to point to at the least a near perfect
imitation, impossible though it might seem. As for the battle below, we have
very little choice but to intervene; it is already close to your--"
Abruptly she lurched on her feet, her eyes going wide with shock and
in the same moment all the lights went out.
"Sis it's happened again! We've lost all power!"
Mackie's voice was a near scream of sudden panic. "I can't get any
response from anything. We're going straight down!"
"Open; the door!"
Ligeia had pulled herself upright and was already moving towards the
sealed exit. "Release me; I think I have power enough to carry you down."
"I can't get power for anything!" Mackie screamed, his fingers flying
frantically over the console before him.
"No choice then." Said Ligeia simply.
In the next moment her mouth gaped wide and an instant and a searing
white pulse later she had burned and smashed her way from the crippled
Knightwing and was beneath it, her thrusters screaming as she fought to bring
the diving craft under control.
For several seconds it seemed as though she might succeed. Then
suddenly light exploded all around them and the sudden scream of over-taxed
engines filled the cabin.
"Mackie!" Sylia shrieked.
But it was too late. Staring dumbly through the window beside her
Priss was just in time to see the DA blasted from the suddenly screaming
aircraft with the ferocity of a missile, her suddenly small form hurtling end
over end as she plunged towards the centre of the battle.
"Ligeia!"
Priss was barely aware that she had screamed the word before a sudden
sickening shock smashed her against the window.
"Sh*t!" She gasped, tasting blood and fighting back the sudden pain.
Shaking the stars desperately from her vision she was just in time to
see a yawning, gaping blackness seem to open in the very air before her and
something blazing and barely glimpsed come spinning from the rift before they
smashed into it and Priss's head bounced again from the window, pitching her
dazed and panting to the floor. Vaguely she was aware of Sylia leaping to take
Mackie's place while he slid into the co-pilot's seat beside her while behind
her Linna lifted a dazed Nene from the floor and secured her in a seat.
"Are you alright?" Linna gasped, her voice tight with frantic tension.
"Damn! Don't everyone help me all at once." Priss groaned as she
struggled to pull herself upright. "What the hell did we run into?"
"We're damaged Sis, we're gonna have to put down now."
Mackie's near panic-stricken voice brought the world snapping back
into focus for Priss as she retrieved her helmet and jammed it into place. She
would rather be in her suit if they hit something like that again.
"How bad is it?" She heard Linna ask, her own voice on the raw-edge of
tension as she too moved to don her suit.
"Bad enough." Said Sylia quietly. "I'm not sure we can get down
safely. We may have to abandon the Knightwing altogether."
"I don't think that should be necessary." Came a sudden low female
voice from the comms. "Together we should be able to bring you down safely."
"Ligeia?" Priss demanded. "I thought--"
"The rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated." The DA
answered with a sudden fierce laugh. "Now time is short. Shall we try?"
For the next minute an atmosphere of desperate tension filled the
cabin as Sylia and Mackie focussed their attention on the task of bringing the
crippled Knightwing to a landing on Sylia's roof while Ligeia helped guide the
craft to a touch-down that would have been impossible without her help. Seeing
that she could do nothing, Priss moved to help Linna get a still-dazed Nene
into her hardsuit in case the worst happened and they had to get out quickly.
"Slower; we'll overshoot!" Mackie exclaimed.
"I can't risk more power." Ligeia answered tightly. "I haven't enough
purchase; I might tear apart the undercarriage. You'll have to try to turn."
"No time." Sylia answered fiercely as yet another warning flashed
before her. "Brace against the nose Ligeia, slow us as we touch down."
"If you misjudge I won't be able to stop you plunging into the--"
"I know, just do it!" She said.
"Very well." Came the answer.
For several seconds the others watched as Lady-633 approached with
frightening speed. Then with a sickening lurch they struck down. There was a
splintering tearing mixed with the sudden scream of the engines and the shriek
of over-taxed tyres. A shattering whip-crack and lurch indicated that one had
burst. Then they were scraping and screeching to a halt and the sound of the
engines died to a suddenly eerie stillness.
"Did we make it? Are we still alive?" Nene said softly into the
silence, her eyes screwed tightly closed.
"I think we did." Said Linna shakily, releasing her death-hold on her
seat and moving slowly to
stand.
Before them, Priss stared out of the window for a moment before she
too stood and moved quickly to the shattered door. "Did you have to make such
a mess?" She quipped as she leapt from the opening to land beside a just-
landed Ligeia. "That's gonna take some fixing."
Abruptly she flashed the DA a grin and reached to squeeze her hand.
"Hey thanks for the help." She said, sudden genuine warmth in her
tone.
Then turning quickly away before Ligeia could respond, she stood
silent, staring down at the pitched battle in the street only perhaps a
hundred yards distant.
"These are the last." Said Ligeia quietly, moving to stand close at
her side. "It would seem I may not be needed after all. Still--."
She took a step forwards, then again she lurched suddenly on her feet.
"Damn it, not again!" Priss exploded as her hardsuit froze around her.
"What the hell is it tonight!"
"If I am correct, we will know in a few seconds." Ligeia answered,
moving carefully back to Priss's side.
"Why doesn't it affect your power?" Priss demanded.
"It does, but I've the reserve to counter it and to readjust my plant
before the accompanying surge destroys me." She responded.
From within the Knightwing Priss heard a stifled exclamation. Then
Linna lurched slowly to the opening and a moment later Ligeia had helped her
down and leapt up to lift Nene's pink-suited form to the roof.
"The surge should come within another five seconds." Ligeia observed.
"You'd best close down your suits until it passes."
Even as she ended light flared brilliantly below and there was the
sound of a distant explosion.
"Can we--" Linna began.
"Down!"
Ligeia's scream was so unexpected that Priss and Linna simply froze.
Then the DA blurred and both found themselves prone on their backs.
"What the--" Priss began, and shrieked in alarm as something came
screaming at her from above.
In the next instant a splintering crash seemed to split the air about
her as whatever it was smashed into the roof almost by her head, exploding
into a spray of brilliantly glittering shards and sparks. Turning frantically
towards it, Priss began to pull herself upright, then whipped round as a
second crash and explosion had Linna screaming and twisting wildly from the
splintering missile as it slammed into the roof beside her. She too started to
stand, then both were sent tumbling again as a sudden concussive blast smashed
down on them from above.
For one dazed moment both stared stupidly into the sudden roiling,
boiling blackness where the stars should have been. Then with an ear-splitting
shriek a sleek, gleaming craft exploded from the rift and nearly struck the
Knightwing head-on as a barely-glimpsed human figure fought desperately to
avoid the collision. For one fractional moment the blackness continued to
boil, then with a final cataclysmic thunder-clap that half stunned the two
where they lay it spat forth a second craft and twisting viciously, it
engulfed the stricken Knightwing for a moment before whirling away, hissing
and roaring as it lurched towards the street below and struck ground,
vanishing in a nerve-shattering explosion.
Priss had one stupefied moment to stare before the wildly swerving
craft nearly took her head off before spinning crazily, flipping end over end
and finally glancing off the roof with a shattering crack before disappearing
over the edge. Priss could almost have sworn that she heard the sounds of
female screaming from inside.
"Sh*t! Idiots!" She heard her own voice shriek. "Don't you even know
how to hit something properly?"
Then a flash from below and Linna's disbelieving: "They're shooting at
one another!" Made her lurch to her feet to stare.
It was true. Seeming utterly oblivious to the pitched battle in the
street below, the two craft were circling wildly above the chaos, flashes of
brilliant energy spitting between them as each tried seemingly in vain to hit
the other. Then as the two watched in dazed astonishment, the slender figure
of a red-headed woman leant insanely far out of the second of the craft and
let loose with a volley that caught the other full on before it had a chance
to turn. For a moment it spun crazily out of control. Then with a last dying
howl it shot straight down and smashed flaming into the very midst of a group
of desperately-fighting Youma. The resulting blast sent a roaring tide of fire
raging through those that had not been killed outright by the initial
explosion. Then a piercing scream made Priss whirl.
"I don't want to die! I've just been paid and he shot my hair! I don't
want to die with my hair a mess! Do you hear me? Stop screaming and *do
something*!"
The only answer was a rise in the volume of the other woman's scream.
Then Ligeia had leapt from the roof and a moment later the screams turned to
shrieks of disbelief as she smashed through the roof of the craft and caught
up one of its occupants in each arm, surging free only a moment before the
machine carved a trench into the street before bursting into a blinding pillar
of brilliantly blazing fire.
"What the--!" Mackie gaped as Ligeia soared to land beside Priss once
more.
Priss had not even realised that both he and Sylia had joined them
until he spoke. Her attention was fixed on the two strangers as they clung to
Ligeia for all they were worth and continued to shriek, eyes tightly closed.
"Um; I think you might be safe now?" Linna tried, then choked into
silence, turning to stare in alarm at Sylia.
"What's the matter?" She demanded, her voice rising once more.
"Marina and Camilla," Said Sylia, her own voice little more than a
whisper. "they're gone."
Linna started to respond, then another gasp made her turn to stare in
shocked confusion at Nene.
The young pink-suited figure had removed her helmet and was staring in
open-mouthed stupefaction at the two girls a suddenly frozen Ligeia still
held, a shocked, helpless expression of utter disbelief frozen on her face
that might even have been comical were it not so absolute.
"My God, my God, my God!" She kept saying over and over again. "It
*can't* be! This isn't possible!"
"What!" Priss exploded, whirling to glare at Nene. "What the hell is
it now!"
"It's; it's Kei and Yuri!" Nene gasped softly at last, turning to
regard Priss with wide, staring eyes. "It's the Dirty Pair!"