Vision Quest - Debroah Pratt

8/8/2019 Vision Quest - Debroah Pratt

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vision-quest-debroah-pratt 1/376



THE

VISION QUEST BOOK ONE: THE AGE OF LIGHT



THE

VISION QUEST BOOK ONE: THE AGE OF LIGHT

D E B O R A H P R AT T

VGM PUBLISHING



PUBLISHED BY

VGM PUBLISHING A division of V Global Media, Inc.

Los Angeles, CA

All of the characters and events in this book are ctitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Copyright © 2006 by Deborah Pratt

All Rights Reserved

First Edition January 2007

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN 10: 0-9787309-0-9ISBN 13: 978-0-9787309-0-1

Cover photography by: Bazille

Cover illustration by: Giovanni Noisy

Cover and interior design by: Lightbourne, Inc.



Heartfelt thanks to the TVQ forums

To the friends who gave their eyes, time, hearts,and minds and journeyed rst inside

The Vision Quest :

Alex DavidsonPeter Brown

Andie Riffer

Geoffrey Payne Arianna Lyons

Jai Hall Ashley Petersen

LeVar Burton

Troian Avery BellisarioNicholas Bellisario

Barbara Southworth

Vera De AndradeDanielle Durini

Cynthia ClevelandBarbara WellerTanya Buckley

And extra special thanks to:

Aleks LyonsNancy Cushing-Jones

Mark Rothstein James R. Kelley

Dr. Bogdan Castle MaglichDiane Pratt

Deirdre PrattDonna Pratt, MD

Geraldine Bryant PrattBertram Robson Pratt

and Ethan Peck

Science and art are the only effective messengers for peace.

—ALBERT EINSTEIN



PART I

CALL TO

DESTINY



—| 3 |—

I

COLE LAZERMAN

A st hit Lazer’s face and carried with it the cold, hard smack of pubescent fury. Cole Lazerman, Lazer to his friends and

family, was seventeen, handsome, and boyishly charming, with a

thick head of dark, rebellious curls. He had piercing electric eyes,one of which had only moments ago been blackened. To add to thenew color scheme, a trickle of blood owed from his lower lip. Hisbody trembled with rage.

Lazer recovered from the blow and retaliated with a left-rightcombination of well-placed punches that connected squarely withhis opponent, Striker McMann. Striker was a tow-headed blond,

big-eyed, weasel-lipped brute with no neck and big shoulders—along-time rival and dedicated enemy of Lazer’s since sometime dur-ing the summer before sixth grade. Both the ghters wore passagelocks, an eight-inch braid of hair that hung down the neck of any young man under the age of twenty. The passage lock was often deco-rated with silver or gold rings and a few pieces of leather, stone, orfeathers to mark a boy’s individuality. It was required by law for any boy or girl prior to the Rite of Passage, and every boy who stood and

watched the ght wore one as he cheered his chosen hero to victory.Striker took Lazer’s blows in stride and came back with a devas-

tating one-two combination to the stomach and kidney that all butknocked the wind out of him.



4 |— DEBORAH PRATT

“Cashton, do something!” Kyla pleaded with one of the boys.Kyla Wingright was one of the only girls at the skirmish and Lazer’soldest friend. Kyla was tough, smart, and pretty—almost beautifulbut not quite, not yet. She was a second-generation splicer, with

what looked like ne, esh-colored tattoos on her neck and armsthat t the multiple ear and delicate nose piercings. Her strange,intricate markings were the only visible sign that she was not all hu-man. But keeping your genetics to yourself could save your dignity

and, in some cases, your life—especially in the outback of this par-tially settled, newly risen continent called Atlantia, which is whereVacary High School was located.

Kyla nudged Cashton harder. “Do something,” she pleadedagain.

“What? Striker’s an ass. I can’t change reality.” Cashton shrugged.He, like the rest of the boys, was captivated by the action of the

ght.Cashton Lock was Lazer’s other best friend. He was older, taller,and stockier, with broad features and brown skin the color of amberand honey. Lazer had told him he looked like a fox, always ready tostart trouble. The difference was Cashton had the body and build tonish anything he started. But this was Lazer’s ght, and the laws of machismo demanded Cashton stay back until Lazer let him know

he was needed.Kyla knew better than both of them that Lazer’s ego would never

admit he needed anything, especially help. A solid right hook to Lazer’s jaw sent him ve feet backwards,

slamming him hard into the trunk of a tree. Lazer bounced off andplowed into Striker like a human battering ram, sending them bothstumbling backwards. They lost their balance and crashed onto theground with a hard thud. Lazer scrambled to his feet with the agil-ity of a cat that had landed on hot coals. Furious, Striker looked up,

jumped to his feet, and ran back to Lazer at full speed, but this timehe’d have to go through Kyla.

“Lazer! Striker! Stop it!” Kyla shouted. She stepped between



BOOK ONE: THE AGE OF LIGHT —| 5

them, her long sinewy arms stretched out in either direction. Toeveryone’s surprise, she sent out a double energy eld that consistedof two spinning circles that spiraled in midair, barely visible butstrong and solid enough to stop them in their tracks. The two boyshit the eld and staggered, momentarily thwarted. Desperate to bethe voice of reason, Kyla shouted again, “You can’t ght on schoolgrounds. You’re gonna get us all kicked out!”

The two-foot transparent circles hung at face height, spinning

in front of Lazer and Striker. Breathlessly, they glared at each other.Kyla held her ground between them. She wasn’t particularly talentedat the Visionistic Arts, but she had learned a few tricks from hermother—enough to save herself, especially when fear sent a rush of adrenaline through her glands.

They were surrounded by at least twenty other students andevery boy’s face was lled with the excitement of witnessing a hand-

to-hand battle. Like bloodthirsty Romans out for a day of sport atthe Coliseum, they wanted more. Not one of them hesitated to voicetheir displeasure at Kyla’s intervention, and they demanded that shedrop her shields and back off. Kyla was in the way of today’s dose of violence and action.

This group of Vacary High School students were roughneck boysdressed in leathers and jeans, the “in” fashion of the day. Besides the

cool t-shirts and jackets, they wore loincloths and tunic overpiecesdecorated with beading or metal studding in patterns that signi-ed an array of things—from family history to status, sports teams,game-banger ranking, and clan associations.

“Give it up. You lost the game, Striker.” Lazer yelled at Strikerover the crowd.

“You and your lackey cheated.” Striker pointed to Cashton.Cashton’s hackles went up. “Prove it!” Cashton stepped into the

mix.Lazer held Cashton back.Striker, his nose bleeding, eyeballed Cashton with contempt.

“Then it was a freak uke that zoccair ball came back to you like it




was magnetized,” he shouted, pointing to underline his accusations.“Fluke or not, you lost. Game over.” Lazer dug in deeper. “Don’t

make me take you out on and off the eld.”Striker lunged for Lazer, knocking Kyla to the ground. Her arms

had started to tremble, and she had released her tiny shields beforethey drained her and made her faint.

“Security bot. Ice out,” a red-headed splicer named Evvy Tinershouted as she stepped in, nodding toward something through the

trees. Evvy was a tall, lanky cross of human and perhaps orangutanand one of Kyla’s best girlfriends. She was a pretty girl of eighteen whose human genetics dominated everything but her round eyes,odd ears, and the amazing red hair that seemed to grow everywhere.Evvy was a tough outlander, tougher than Kyla, with a dozen inkedtattoos that circled her forearms and weaved between the forest of ne red hairs that covered them. She had double the piercings of

Kyla—multiple ones in her ears and nose, and a collar of silver pinsthat looked like a necklace. There was something about Evvy thatmade people not want to mess with her, but it was that same some-thing that made them know she was just the person they wanted to

watch their backs if the situation got rough.Everyone turned to see a small camera bot encased in a metal ball.

It oated through the forest of trees that grew on the back campus

of the high school. Security bots, about the size of a softball, were allover Vacary High School. They oated innocuously inside and outof the school, going unnoticed by anyone who wasn’t committingan infraction against school policy. The bot cruised gracefully acrossthe playing eld and hovered twenty feet beyond the tree line. It du-tifully spotted the crowd of boys and hesitated. Curious, it studiedthe odd gathering of students, assessed the situation and, sensinganimosity, zoomed in for a closer look.

“You are too funny.” Striker threw his arm around Lazer andstarted laughing.

Lazer knew the drill. He couldn’t afford a detention this closeto graduation. It was his senior year, and getting off Atlantian soil




was the goal of his life, so Lazer sucked up his pride and joined inthe deception. The rest of the onlookers quickly got the messageand started laughing as if the funniest joke of the century had justbeen told.

Cashton helped Kyla from the ground and gave her a bear hugto hide the fury that was mapped across her face.

The bot observed the students for a moment more, then, read-ing no hostility, turned and zoomed away.

“You and me at the bilyon caves,” Striker hissed as he pushedLazer away.“You and me, and what weapons system?” Lazer’s face lled with

a mix of anger and astonishment.“Weapons system? They’ve been exterminated. It’s just a bunch

of empty caves.”“Are you stupid and crazy? There were two sightings last fall,”

Kyla added.“So, they got exterminated, too,” Striker glared at Kyla.“Those caves are their breeding grounds, jickhead. They come

back,” Cashton added.“Cashton’s right, and so is Kyla. You’re crazy.” Lazer said. “Iso

can’t be bothered with you.” He ipped his hand and turned to walk away.

“Cheater and a coward,” Striker goaded Lazer.Kyla saw it rst. She watched his aura go from black anger to red

fury. Reading auras was natural among splicers, and Kyla was a masterat this art. Everyone at school knew not to lie when in her presence.

“Don’t let him goad you, Lazer,” she warned.“I said, you’re a coward, Lazerman,” Striker smirked with an

evil grin. “I thought that stench was from your old man crawlin’ upon all fours like a dog outta the methane mines. But, I guess it’s justyou reeking of fear.”

Lazer was not a coward. He had fought hard to dispel the hand-ful of incidents that happened in junior high school that, for a shortand miserably unbearable time, had tagged him with the label of




coward. He had gained respect after two years of black eyes andbloody noses, and he was not about to let an accusation—fromStriker McMann, of all people—take him back down that horribledark path, especially in front of the meanest boys in school.

“Call it, jickwad. I’m on whenever you say.” Lazer was adamant.Striker strode over to him and got in his face. “Now. Old bilyon

caves.”“Are you both crazy?” Kyla blurted. The reality and danger of

what Striker was suggesting sent a rush of panic coursing throughher veins as cold as her non-human blood.Even Cashton had to chime in, “That is way not a good idea.”Striker turned to walk away, then stopped to taunt Lazer over

his shoulder. “I’m waiting. Or are you so low on the food chain youdon’t have the class to see an opportunity when it’s presented to you. . . coward .”

Lazer’s eyes glazed over. Any amount of control he had over hisanger had just vanished. “Game on.”The crowd surged forward. They had no intention of missing

this massacre. Lazer held up a single hand. “Alone,” he said to thecrowd. “Nobody but us. This is personal and, that way, if we getbusted . . .”

“Or eaten,” Kyla cut in.

“. . . no one else gets in trouble,” Lazer nished his thought,shooting a look to Kyla.

Striker agreed, signaling his crew to back off.Kyla’s eyes stretched wide as she turned once again to Cashton

for help. “Cashton, please do something!”Cashton moved after Lazer. If Lazer were going to ght, Cashton

would be there to back him up. Lazer and Striker strode off to theperimeter grids that surrounded the high school. Striker’s second,Chad, fell in step a few feet behind. Cashton and Chad eyeballedeach other with “bring it on” intent.

“Just us. No seconds,” Lazer turned back to Cashton.Striker gave a nod to Chad, who got the message loud and clear.




Cashton and Chad stepped back, allowing the duelists to proceedalone.

“Unbelievable,” Kyla muttered in disgust.“Now what,” Evvy asked, stepping next to Kyla.“Try and stop them. Keep an eye out for any bots,” Kyla told

her. She had no choice but to run after Lazer, her mind reeling,desperate for a solution to quell the testosterone surge that had beenunleashed between them. Evvy nodded and Kyla took off.

By the time she caught up, Lazer and Striker had reached thefence. Lazer pulled out a seven-inch laser switchblade that ignited,glowing a erce red from shaft to tip. It protruded from a sleek bronze and silver tube handle, complete with mother-of-pearl in-lay in the shape of a mythical dragon, its wings and tail wrappinggracefully around the shaft. Laser blades were illegal on campus, buteveryone who was anyone had one. Lazer had three, once upon a

time. His parents had conscated two before he bought this onein Atland City three months ago. He’d gotten it off a lizard-facedsplicer who specialized in exotic splicer pets and small weapons.

Lazer calmly started to burn a ve-by-ve foot square in theelectried-proton eld that surrounded the campus. “We’ve gottwenty minutes before that starts to repair.” Striker looked back overhis shoulder to make sure the coast was clear.

“Rematch,” Kyla shouted, bounding up to them. “Let’s set azoccair rematch and do this right.”

“Back off, splicer. This is right.” Striker sneered at Kyla.“Watch it,” Lazer defended Kyla. He had been best friends with

her long enough to know that being called splicer , especially by abigoted creep like Striker, hurt and embarrassed her. Lazer grabbedStriker by his tunic.

“Lazer!” Kyla reached out and gently placed her hands on Lazer’s.“He’s not worth it.”

“Trust me, I am,” Striker smirked, challenging Lazer one moretime. “A hundred yards more and you can rip me a new face.” Strikertore himself out of Lazer’s grip and stepped through the proton




fence. The edges sparked and snapped, already searching for theirlost connections.

“Sorry, Kyla, he’s a jick,” Lazer said, gently laying a hand on hershoulder to make her feel better. “Go back, okay? We’ll be done intwenty minutes . . . tops. Go.”

In the ash of a moment, Lazer and Striker were running away from her. They quickly vanished over the rolling red- and sand-colored hills of the Atlantian outback and disappeared into a thick

outcropping of trees that circled the mitten-shaped granite plateausthat populated the region. Lazer, Cashton, and Kyla used to callthem giant, stubby-ngered hands trying to get out from under theground.

Kyla looked at the closest plateau. It loomed 300 meters high with its at rock face, pockmarked by a thousand black caves.For seventy years, since the early days of Atlantia, the bilyons had

claimed the caves as their breeding ground; it had taken years toclear them out. The bilyons were a man-made species—genetically crossed splicers, half-lion and half-bear. The males were known togrow well over 2,000 pounds. They were, by the genetic predispo-sition of both breeds, ferocious and extremely volatile. There hadbeen a consolidated effort for ve years by the Vacary Townshipcommunity, when they built the high school, to hunt the bilyons

down and exterminate them. Those that survived the slaughter hadstayed away. Four years passed without incident, but the multiplesightings last year disturbed the residents and never yielded a kill.Everyone was nervous at the thought the bilyons might be back, andthe impending danger made Kyla’s stomach turn.

Kyla looked at the hole that still gaped in the proton fence. Ithad already begun to shoot tiny ngers of electried proton threadsout from the edges. They were searching for corresponding threadsto connect to, bond with, and rebuild the almost invisible web-likestructure that made up the fence. Kyla hesitated, sighed, and wentthrough the fence.

She glanced nervously at the plateau one last time. Maybe I can




talk some sense into them, she thought. Kyla ran towards the denseforest of oddly-shaped trees and headed for a tangle of bamboo thatgrew in a perfect ring around the base of the plateau.

The warm sun quickly faded beneath the canopy of the forest,then vanished completely under the looming shadow of the plateau.The cold granite of the rock wall reached up into the pale, cloud-less sky that was trying to peek through the clutter of leaves. Only a narrow clearing broke the canopy, and Kyla could not help but

glance up at the majestic formation as she ran. The plateau seemedto look down at her, staring with a hundred black eyes—the cavesthat had been scratched out of solid rock by generations of bilyons.Kyla hoped she was wrong about any of the bilyons being back inthose caves. She pulled her eyes away from the plateau and caughtsight of Lazer and Striker heading into the bamboo forest.

She had shifted her gaze from the plateau, but something inside

one of the caves had not returned the favor. There, in the silentface of the rock plateau, a pair of yellow eyes peered out from theblackness of one of the lower, larger caves. Two huge, round eyescaught the light of the afternoon sun as they moved back and forthfrom Lazer and Striker to Kyla. The mysterious eyes watched theapproaching students.

Lunch had been delivered today.



—| 12 |—

2

THE BILYON CAVES

L azer and Striker raced out of the forest of white-leaved ginkgotrees that formed a perfect outer ring around the towering

plateau. They ran up and over a small foothill, thick with green moss

and stagnant ponds that sparkled in the dim light. The croaking of the toads and click of the cicada bugs seemed to grow ominously louder the deeper in they ventured. As he ran, Lazer couldn’t helpbut smell the sickeningly sweet stench of something rotting close by.The chilly air lled his lungs. He loved to run; it made him feel freeand powerful. He looked at Striker, and the anger took hold of himonce more, stealing with it the momentary ash of happiness. In

silence they ran, disappearing into the lush, jade-green glow of thebamboo forest. The trees grew like thirty-foot emerald soldiers andtangled themselves around a smattering of strange fuzzy shrubs andpine trees that seemed to cling to the moist black earth. Suddenly the ground turned to broken rock and went vertical, becoming a

wall of rock that reached up into the sky. It stopped them. A few more yards to the left and they would be beyond the probing elec-tronic eyes of the security bots.

They made the turn and found a holographic sign that glitchedand shorted off and on as it oated in the air space just abovethem. WARNING! DO NOT ENTER! BILYON BREEDINGGROUNDS! DANGER!!!




Lazer and Striker exchanged an uneasy look and continued theirtrek into the cool shade of the bamboo forest. Finally they reached aclearing, perfect for a showdown of force. Without warning, Strikerturned and swung.

Time slowed and Lazer took in every last detail: the high-pitchedsound of Striker’s st as it cut through the air and the stench of hissweat as it whizzed by his nose. Lazer saw a blur of color blendedinto a ball of knuckles and esh and watched as it crept past him,

moving as though time itself had been stretched like a gigantic rub-ber band. Lazer did a slight bob-and-weave. Time contracted andhe snapped back to reality, just in time to see Striker’s st rush pasthis face with the speed of a bullet missing its mark. Lazer countered

with a lightning jab to Striker’s cheek, nailing him with a direct hit.Striker tumbled to the ground.

“That’s for calling my father a . . .” Before he could nish his

sentence, Striker grabbed a long bamboo stalk from the ground, jumped to his feet, and swung. The dried remains of the shaft cutthe air with a trill, like the whistle of a ute, and forced Lazer tocontract to avoid being hit.

“No weapons!” Lazer demanded, as he scurried backwards.Striker swung again, this time nearly taking off Lazer’s head.

Lazer dropped, rolled, whipped out his laser switchblade, and seared

off two stalks of fresh bamboo. They were green, strong, and exi-ble, and they would hurt if they connected. Lazer grabbed the sticks,dropped his laser blade, and spun around with his sticks crossed andextended, just in time to block Striker’s next blow.

Striker pounded on him with the unbridled force of his height, weight, and power. Lazer was on the defensive. He blocked each re-lentless blow from his adversary, occasionally managing to get in aswing or two. He had to let Striker wear himself down, so he took theblows patiently. He listened as Striker’s breath got shorter and quick-er, and felt the bone-shattering pounding weaken.Almost . . . almost . . . and then he saw his opening. Lazer unleashed his counterattack,ailing at Striker with a series of agile but awkward blows. Striker




stumbled back. Neither of them was a trained warrior, but each wasa strong athlete and had talent. They fought, driven by pure testos-terone and rampant anger. Their blows were wild but occasionally

well-placed enough to make the encounter all the more dangerous.Finally, Lazer held the advantage. He swung left, then right. He

blocked, blocked again, then pounded Striker with the left side of the stick. He aimed a barrage of blows at Striker’s right-hand side.

Again and again he battered Striker, catching him in the arm, shoul-

der, and hand, while gracefully blocking Striker’s every blow.Lazer swung out and caught Striker with a burning crack to hisside that bashed the left edge of his ribs. Striker winced as the painetched itself into his face, surpassing the anger. Lazer had foundhis rhythm and, sensing it, continued the attack. With a series of

well-placed swings, he backed Striker out of the small clearing andpushed him closer to the rock wall.

They continued their relentless attacks as they stood toe-to-toeunder one of the large caves, which loomed a good twenty feet abovetheir battleground.

Kyla reached the edge of their little arena and watched, stillbreathless from the run. She looked through a hedge of fallen pinetrees to the narrow shafts of bamboo that grew so tall that they ag-gressively blocked what little sunlight managed to peek through the

dense, green canopy of leaves. Slowly, without enough light, thepines had begun to die. Kyla crawled up the large gray trunk of oneof the dead pines to get a better look at the ght.

Just as she found them, Lazer took a painful blow to his shoulder.He buckled. Kyla winced. Striker caught one of Lazer’s sticks in theface. She winced again. Their auras were a blur of colors—red, black,blue—a haze of emotions swirling around them as they emitted an-ger, pain, and fear. Whose emotions were whose was impossible totell, and she hated having the ability to read them, especially whenshe was so helpless. There was no way to stop them. They had beenlooking for an excuse to ght all year; losing a game of zoccair wasenough to ignite the smoldering re. The best she could hope to




do was to pick up the pieces and make sure they got back to schoolbefore they were missed.

The problem was how to stop the ght and get them to go back.Suddenly, her senses prickled her neck. She stretched herself up tall-er and sniffed the air. Her antennae, which she kept meticulously hidden in the folds of her hair, struggled to extend. Danger! Herfeelings of apprehension made the skin markings that ran aroundthe edges of her face and down her neck turn a deep forest green.

She was camouaging! That meant something perilous was very,very close. Kyla snapped her head around to look behind her. Hereyes scanned the trees for movement. She carefully studied each sec-tion of the clearing. Nothing stirred. The trees were dead still. Kyla’sattention was drawn back to the ght. The boys were locked in mor-tal combat, oblivious to the danger. Then, she saw something thatmade her rise up from the shadows and stand in plain sight.

Kyla’s mouth fell open. No words would come out. She raisedher hand, pointed her ngers, and began to tremble. “Bilyon!!!” shescreamed. “Twelve o’clock!”

Lazer and Striker turned and looked up at the cave ve feetabove them. It was empty. Then a bone-shaking roar from higher upcaptured their attention. It was a fully grown bilyon: 1,500 poundsof half-lion/half-bear with brownish-gold fur, a protruding snout,

and a mane that covered the upper half of its body. It looked like adrooling, massive bison with a lion’s head, huge teeth, a humpback,and the upper body, forearms, and claws of a grizzly bear. It snarleddown at Lazer and Striker.

“Lazer!!!” Kyla screamed again. “Run!”The bilyon glanced briey at Kyla, which gave Striker time to

bolt around the plateau to the left while Lazer took off to the right.The bilyon leapt twenty feet from its perch and landed with the

agility of a feline, ten feet in front of Lazer. Lazer froze. The mas-sive form of the bilyon blocked his path. It roared—a sound thatmade every hair on Lazer’s body stand on end. It bared its teeth andgrowled; its drooling mouth hinged open. Lazer held still. His eyes




locked on the creature then, slowly, ever so slowly, Lazer opened hisarms and extended the bamboo sticks out and above his head.

The bilyon stopped and reassessed its prey.Striker vanished through the trees just as Kyla began to step out

from the trees and move slowly forward.“Stay back!” Lazer ordered in a calm but commanding voice.“That’s not gonna work,” she whispered.“He’ll think I’m bigger and back down.”

“He thinks you’re lunch! Trust me, run,” Kyla begged.Before either of them could do anything, the bilyon lunged atLazer. The creature’s motions were agile and lightning fast.

Lazer sidestepped the advancing beast, swung both his bamboosticks with every ounce of strength he had, and whacked the crea-ture in the face. The bamboo splintered into a thousand pieces. Thebilyon closed one of its eyes and screeched in agony, momentarily

giving in to the pain.Lazer bolted around the right side of the plateau.Now the bilyon wasn’t just hungry, it was furious. It ran after

Lazer with huge strides and covered ground with the speed of abullet train.

Lazer turned another corner of rock only to nd he had run intoa dead end. He was trapped. The bilyon appeared at the mouth of

the cul-de-sac and stopped. It dragged its paw over its bleeding eyeand snarled.

“Climb,” Kyla screamed. She searched desperately for somethingthat would save her friend and spotted a large, partially fallen pinetree, split and broken, that was leaning at a steep angle. The wood

was dry and brittle, straining with the expanse of the trunk that washanging almost directly over the cul-de-sac where the bilyon hadLazer cornered.

Kyla saw Lazer’s fallen laser switchblade and grabbed it. Shepulled her own from her vest and ignited them, searing the base of the splintered tree.

The red-hot lasers blistered and burned into the wood, cutting




through the dry bers that held the weight of the toppled tree. It wastaking forever! Kyla rammed the tree with her shoulder. It crackedbut held. She burned through a few more inches, then rammed thetree again. She glanced up at Lazer.

Lazer had somehow managed to climb up the crumbling atface of the rock and was balanced on a small ledge a few feet abovethe bilyon. He reached for his next ngerhold while, right below him, the bilyon scrambled for footing on the piles of loose rocks that

lled up the corner of the hold. The bilyon slipped, anchored, andthen leapt up, swiping its huge paw at Lazer’s feet. Lazer jumped andgrabbed a protruding piece of root that jutted out of the rock a footabove his head. The bilyon fell back and rolled down, regained itsfooting, and started back up.

Lazer swung from the root until it snapped off in his hand,dropping him precariously back onto the narrow ledge. His feet dug

in to hold their footing while he struggled to regain his balance.Twice he almost tipped off the edge and into the jaws of his attacker.The bilyon leapt. Lazer swung the root like a whip, batting back theclaws that reached for him again and again. The root gave enough of a sting to keep the grasping claws at bay.

The bilyon swiped its huge paw again and nally caught a pieceof Lazer’s pants. It tugged, but Lazer managed to jerk himself away.

Again the bilyon swiped, this time knocking Lazer forward into the wall. His face smashed hard against the rock and split his lip even wider than Striker’s bamboo had done.

The bilyon ran up the loose rock and leapt at Lazer, opening itshuge mouth to bite. Lazer spun, pressed his back against the wall,and took the broken root in his hand like a knife and stabbed itstraight down into the bilyon’s already wounded eye. The bilyonrolled down the rocks and roared in agony.

Kyla cut and pushed at the tilting tree, then used her feet to give anal push. At last, the bers shattered. The tree trunk hung suspendedfor a moment before it tipped over with an ear-shattering crack andfell directly onto the bilyon’s back. The massive trunk slammed the




creature to the ground. It was trapped, pinned beneath the weightof the trunk. The topmost branches swept Lazer off his ledge anddragged him down to the oor of the cul-de-sac. The bilyon’s only focus was Lazer. It snarled and snapped at him as he scrambled to getaway. A massive paw swiped out at Lazer as he desperately tried to gethis footing on the loose rocks. He had to avoid the one free paw.

Lazer jumped away and grabbed again at the rock ledge above hishead. The bilyon reached out as Lazer climbed off the rock and tried

to cross the tree by balancing in the branches. The bilyon caughtLazer’s foot and pulled him down into the branches.Kyla bounded over and ignited both switchblades, then set the

bilyon’s fur on re. The bilyon roared in pain and released Lazer, who bolted as fast as his legs would carry him.

“This way,” Kyla shouted.They ran side by side across the rock clearing and into the bam-

boo forest. The tortured cries of the bilyon echoed behind them,reverberating off the walls of the plateau and lling the skies withthe sound of pure anguish. Neither Lazer nor Kyla was willing toturn back to see if the bilyon was following.

The bilyon pawed at the gravel and rocks, desperate for a foot-hold to pull itself out from under the tree trunk. Spurred by theames that bit into its back and anks, and wild with pain, the bily-

on dug its claws into the loose rocks, straining to drag itself free. Thebilyon rolled in the dirt to smother the last of the re. Its body achedand the stench of burned hair and esh lled its nostrils. Standingup on its hind legs, the bilyon sniffed the air for a whiff of its prey.It heard the snap of branches deep in the bamboo forest to the left,turned its head, and caught the scent of human fear. Burned, pissed,and still hungry, the bilyon took chase.

Lazer and Kyla burst past the white ginkgo trees, darting and weaving along the narrow pathway inside the forest. They bothknew the safety of the fence was still a hundred yards away. Thebilyon ripped through the bamboo, parting the stalks like bladesof grass and knocking away anything in its path.




Lazer checked on Kyla. She was right there next to him. Shehad saved him. He knew she was strong and fast, but today, withoutquestion, she was brave beyond the call of friendship. Lazer heardthe snap of the bamboo behind them. He exchanged another glance

with Kyla. She’d heard it, as well. Gasping for air to ll their ex-hausted lungs, they commanded their legs to run faster.

Lazer could see the fence that surrounded the school. The opening was well on its way to completely repairing itself. Kyla saw it, too.

“Kyla,” Lazer said, the terse edge of fear in his voice.“I see it,” Kyla replied.They burst out of the forest and headed across the clearing. The

fence was twenty yards ahead and twenty feet high. The sound of the bilyon as it decimated the trees behind them was getting closer.They were still ten yards away when the bilyon broke through thetree line. There was no way they could reach the fence and recut the

hole before the bilyon reached them.“You owe me big time, Lazer,” Kyla blurted out as she rippedoff her jacket and exposed two eshy aps that ran down both sidesof her back.

With the bilyon almost on them and another fty feet left to makethe fence, Kyla unfurled the most beautiful set of wings—swallowtailbrown, black, and gold—from her back. They expanded twelve feet

in both directions and caught the air like a glorious silk parachute.Kyla lifted from the ground, ew sideways, and grabbed Lazer. “Holdon,” she shouted, beating her wings hard against the thermals.

As Kyla struggled to keep both of them airborne, Lazer lookedback to see the bilyon closing in, now only six feet behind them.Kyla beat her wings and pulled up higher, slowly rising just enoughto clear the fence. It was still ten feet away.

The bilyon leapt up, nipping at Lazer’s feet. As he pulled up hisknees, the shift in weight dragged Kyla down. “Lazer,” she pleaded.

“Higher.”“Can’t . . . lift . . .” She grimaced just as they reached the top of

the fence.




Lazer could see she wasn’t going to get them both over the top. Just as the bilyon leapt to bite his feet, Lazer swung his legs forward,released himself from Kyla, and cleared the fence like a high hurdle.Kyla shot upward from the shift in weight and cleared the fence

with ease. Lazer hit the ground, and Kyla dropped down almoston top of him. They rolled forward and collapsed into a tangle of arms, legs, and wings. In that split second, caught under the veil of Kyla’s wings, their eyes met in an awkward connection that stepped

beyond the shores of friendship. The sound of an ear-shattering popbrought them back to reality. Lazer and Kyla unraveled themselvesand quickly looked back.

The bilyon crashed head on into 20,000 volts of electried pro-ton fencing. Sparks and ngers of electricity lit up the bilyon as it

jerked and spasmed through the horrifying electrocution. Its body hung suspended in midair, held by the electried proton bers, as

the entire fence surged and the bilyon burst into a reball. One afteranother, the power surges caused the school’s generators to blow out,sending loud pops and cracks bouncing off the afternoon sky withthe echo of a dozen sonic booms.

Lazer and Kyla exchanged an excited, breathless look.“Whoa! You were amazing!” Lazer’s face lled with pride and

excitement.

“You took on a bilyon!” she said with breathless amazement.They turned back to watch the bilyon’s demise. Out of nowhere,

Striker’s st slammed into Lazer’s face and knocked him down to theground.

“Striker, you idiot!” Kyla shrieked.“I want to know who is responsible for this,” a voice suddenly

boomed out from behind them.The three of them turned to see the school’s headmaster, Dennis

Hastings, closing in on them like a puffed-up angry penguin. Hehad a bulldog face with a receding hairline and an expression of unbridled fury. His center of focus, however, was on one face alone.“Lazerman!”



—| 21 |—

3

THE ORBIS TEMPLE

D etra Lazerman led a group of potential investors and philan-thropists through the corridors of one of Atlantia’s greatest

treasures—the Temple of Orbis. She was an amazing woman in herlate thirties, energetic and intelligent, tall and slender, and gracefully attractive, with dark hair and keen, birdlike features. She was speak-ing to a dozen or so people, telling them about the wonders of thefacility, the work the various teams were doing, and the potential—

with their help, of course—of the temple’s ultimate research project:deciphering the information held in the Orbis Gnorb, which poten-

tially could delineate Earth’s place in the universe.The Orbis Temple had risen from the bottom of the sea during

the years when the Great Quakes were redening the planet’s geogra-phy. The temple was built of materials not found on Earth, so carbondating was impossible. Only the layers of coral that had encased itsuggested the temple predated everything in human history. It satatop one of Atlantia’s many smooth, rolling hills, as pristine and un-scathed as the day it was built. There were no hard angles at Orbis,only smooth curves, circles, and cylinders that made up the numer-ous rooms and corridors. Over the decades, researchers from Atlantiahad carefully converted the various rooms to laboratories, where they conducted the arduous process of deciphering and understanding the




precious gift that had been left behind by Earth’s original inhabitants,the Celians.

The temple was nestled into the lush countryside, surroundedby the remains of a massive white and pink coral reef, which hadbeen chiseled away to expose the temple. The dust over the decadeshad mixed with the soil and yielded a circle of tall, slender trees,similar to weeping willows, that always seemed to be in full bloom.From the branches, white and lavender owers hung in the shape of

tiny umbrellas, resembling a uffy wisteria or clusters of grapes. Theblossoms lled the air with a pungent scent that hung as a welcom-ing cloud of pleasure around the temple for all to enjoy.

The building, with its curved chrome and copper-colored walls, was an architectural marvel. The panels, made from an unknownalloy, reached up and bent backwards in a series of graceful arches.They were designed to catch the sun’s light and warmth, and ef-

fortlessly returned it as a self-generated energy source that kept thefacility powered, as well as cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Everyone commented on the way the panels resembled agiant necklace of smooth, nely polished metal baubles, scatteredacross the landscape in a seemingly random pattern. It was alwaysastonishing that the temple had been seamlessly turned into a well-constructed, brilliantly thought-out archeological research facility.

It was guarded by the renowned Black Guard biodroids and wasconsidered impenetrable.

Detra moved down a smooth hallway with her entourage, wholistened intently as she showed them a series of rooms, accessiblethrough doors that looked like inverted bubbles cut into the metal

walls. Every room was populated by groups of men and women inblue research tunics at work with an array of high-tech equipment.

She pointed out the top of the hallway, bordered by an eight-inch high ribbon of images that oated just off the surface. Thisinformation banner was lled with strange geometric symbols andeven more unusual pictographs of gures that many specialists be-lieved represented the tall slender Celian creatures that rst walked




the Earth. The shapes of their visual information must have beenhanded down concisely enough to inspire the ancient Aztec, Mayan,Chinese, and Egyptian hieroglyphics.

“The theory relates to genetic memory,” she explained. “Our re-searchers have interpreted the pictographs to mean that the Celiansbelieved the soul was an energy source with a direct conduit to theuniverse’s central core, and the body was merely a temporary templeto house this energy during its stay here on Earth.” Detra pondered

her own words, still grappling with the power that rested in them, if indeed they were true. She nodded into a room lled with walls of drawings, blueprints, and mathematical and musical interpretationsof the artwork. “We’re still deciphering, as you can see.”

Detra turned the corner and stopped her group in front of amagnicent doorway that looked as if it had been carved from thenest rock crystal in the world. It was protected by two Black Guard:

human-shaped biodroids with viral-based brains made of nanoscaledDNA, genetic ladders chemically cut from strands of amino acidbands. They were metal men made of a pliable yet nearly imperviousalloy of titanium, teon, and alkene, with living cells for brains. Theirskin was an oily grayish-blue that ashed smooth and sleek from thetops of their heads to the tips of their three-ngered mechanicalhands and tri-pedal feet. The muscular denition of their torsos,

upper arms, and upper legs was humanlike, although their lower ex-tremities were mechanical. Their heads were a unique combinationof both. Firm muscles rippled and exed beneath the gray-coloredskin as they walked, like tall, graceful birds or upright felines. Upontheir massive shoulders sat a featureless face with only one distinc-tion: pulsating ber-optic bands formed bilious green stripes downboth sides of their otherwise blank heads. They could walk or hoveron a cushion of air because small jets had been built into their feet.Some said they had the look of futuristic Samurai warriors, feature-less and foreboding. They were a necessary evil, guaranteed neverto malfunction. They’d been created in 104 A.Q. to keep the peaceon Atlantia, programmed to protect humans from the pirates and




marauders that roamed the newly risen territory. “We are still in theprocess of analyzing the temple’s unusual metals and rock materials,as well as deciphering the geometry of the design structure itself,

which, by the way, withstood multiple millennia and untold pres-sure beneath the ocean and yet emerged virtually unscathed.” Detragave her group a moment to admire the magnicent crystal door.“But the most important content in the temple is the reason you arehere today,” she smiled, “besides, of course, your generous donations

to our ongoing research efforts.”Detra was charming. The visitors laughed, made comfortable by her easy manner and gracious demeanor. She was the best fundraiserthe temple had brought in since they had become emancipated fromthe Atlantian government and gone to private support.

“Just beyond this door is the real reason we are all here today.”Detra stepped up to the massive crystal doorway that was the entry-

way to the gnorb research wing. She breathed into a wall panel boxthat analyzed her breath for DNA, and keyed in the eye scanner, which sent an infrared laser line across her retina. The genetics werecrossed-referenced and matched. Access approval ashed, and a re-lease command was sent to the door. Detra waved her hand, and thesolid crystal door began to vibrate, shifting its molecules and visibly changing in density and particle conguration. The molecules dis-

solved from a solid into what appeared to be a curtain of smoke. Stillvibrating, the white mist hovered in place for a moment, then, witha shrill, high-pitched sucking sound, evaporated into thin air.

Multiple cameras and infrared beams scanned the visitors.Detra smiled pleasantly. “Please make sure your security badges

are visible or you might nd yourself accidentally vaporized, muchlike that door.”

The group shifted nervously, touching their badges to make surethey were facing the right direction.

“Everyone, stay together and follow me.” The visitors obedi-ently followed Detra, ogling the bubble doors of the various roomsthat lined this corridor. The researchers in these rooms wore stark




white tunics, which represented a higher security level. “You havebeen invited not only to see, but also to experience rsthand the key artifact left behind by the Celians—the Orbis Gnorb of Atlantia,”she said proudly. “The Orbis Gnorb was one of four knowledge orbsthat were discovered after the Great Quakes unearthed facilities likethe Orbis Temple. They are believed to contain the comprehensiveblueprint for life on Earth and perhaps the key to our evolutionary place in the universe. Our research here is in conjunction with the

work on the blue gnorb at Mu and the red in Sangelino, and we arehoping that the yellow gnorb, believed to be located under the domeof the Lost Territories, eventually will complete the puzzle. Every day our researchers come closer . . .”

“Director Lazerman? Excuse me, ma’am. I’m sorry to . . .” A young intern interrupted as she approached. “It’s a . . .”

“This is Jade,” Detra interrupted. “She’s one of our best new

interns, except, of course, for interrupting me in the middle of my witty and informative introduction to the gnorb.”The people laughed. They liked Detra. She was good. She had

them in the palm of her hand, hanging at the edge of their seats fortheir rst sight of the piece de resistance—the gnorb. To be followedby a lovely lunch and the big donor pitch. Detra knew the needs of the facility depended on her efforts.

“It’s about your son, ma’am. His school has sent an emergency vyber message.”

Detra’s expression changed. She turned toward a thin-lipped,egg-headed man. “Dr. Masterson, will you take our guests into thechambers and show them the wonders of the gnorb?”

“Of course.” Dr. Masterson tried his best to appear condent.“If you will all follow me . . .” He turned to the crowd. “Our researchhere at the Orbis Temple has only scratched the surface as to what isheld inside the gnorb, but the latest ndings have revealed a directgenetic connection to a specic strain of human genomes . . .”

As his voice faded away, Detra nodded to the intern, who blue-toothed the message and then left, an expression of concern still on




her face. Detra lifted her wristsponder, commed in “Hastings Vacary High School,” and connected to the message. A yellow light ashedfrom the beautifully detailed band of leather and crystal, designed withmultiple state-of-the-art, jewel-colored vyber conduit lights that werethe hallmark of the Bertram communication cuff. The wristsponder

was anchored by a smooth, crystal half-bubble that glowed brighteruntil it emitted a small holoscreen that hovered at eye level. As she

waited for the green access light that signied the nal connection,

Detra passed through the massive doorframe and waved her handat the security cameras. The infrared lasers read her genetics, lled with smoke, then, with a hiss, the door solidied behind her. Detracontinued down the corridor, impatiently waiting to be connected toLazer’s high school. She tried to keep negative parental thoughts fromher mind, hoping her son was not hurt. It was one of the things thatcame with being a parent, especially with a boy like Lazer.

The band ashed green. “Call accepted.” A holographic imageof Headmaster Hastings appeared in front of her.“Headmaster Hastings, is my son all right?”“Other than a black eye and a bloody lip, Mrs. Lazerman, your

son is ne.”Detra’s heart sank. Lazer had been ghting again, and the

thought of telling his father made her stomach ip almost as much

as the anger that quickly replaced her concern.“I don’t have to remind you, we have a zero tolerance for acts of

violence at school, not to mention possible property damage.”“Property damage?” Detra was shocked by the additional in-

fraction.“The back fence was destroyed by a bilyon, and all six security

generators were damaged.”“Lazer was ghting a bilyon!” Detra halted in her tracks.“We’re not sure how or why the bilyon attacked the fence and,

until we have proof, neither Lazer nor Striker will be held respon-sible. However, they were ghting and, as such, I am afraid I willhave to ask you to come pick him up immediately.”




“May I speak with him?” She tried to mask her anger.“He’s in Mrs. Lester’s ofce. I will have them comm you back.

I’m very sorry, Mrs. Lazerman,” Hastings said, genuinely regretfulfor what had to happen.

“As am I.”Hastings disconnected, his image breaking into a fuzzy haze be-

fore dissipating.Detra walked into the large arched entry of the facility and past

the main desk. The anger built with each step. She wondered if sheshould call Lazer’s father and have him meet them, but thought bet-ter of the idea. It was bad enough she had been pulled away froman important group of potential investors. Her husband’s work atthe mines did not allow for him to walk away. She would handlethis alone. Lazer would answer to his father when he got home from

work.

Detra stepped out into the cool afternoon air and strode acrossthe back landing structure of the facility. Her wristsponder vibratedagainst her arm.

“Lazer,” she commanded, lifting her arm. A hazy, holographic image glitched and focused, hovering in

front of her as she walked. It was the face of her son. Detra took one look at his black eye and blood-smeared face and picked up her

pace. “Universal God, Lazer, are you all right?” She tried to mask her concern.

“Mom . . . I . . .” Lazer started.“You will be grounded for the rest of the school year. Do you

understand?” She cut him off.“Yeah, but . . .” Again Lazer tried.“Fighting, Lazer? I can’t believe I’m coming to pick you up for

ghting and destruction of school property!”“Striker McMann started it, and we didn’t blow the generators.

The bilyon did, and it wasn’t my fault!”“I don’t care. It’s unacceptable! Lazer, only months from gradu-

ation!”




Detra looked at Lazer’s holographic image as she approached a wheel-less, triangular-shaped minivan and pressed her thumb to the wristsponder. A tiny red scanner lit up from the vehicle and read heriris. A few beeps and the vehicle started, the security locks released,and the automatic controls lifted the vehicle a foot off the ground.The automatic door of the hovercraft swung gracefully back with ahiss, opening to allow a ustered Detra to slide inside.

“This is the third ght you’ve had with Striker this year. This

time you will apologize.”Lazer’s mouth dropped open in shock. “He called dad a . . .”“We’ll discuss it when I get there. You are grounded. You got

that? Grounded!” The hovercraft door slammed shut as Lazer’screstfallen image evaporated into a shower of shimmering particles.Detra’s vehicle rose another ten feet into the air and sped away fromthe temple grounds.

Detra didn’t see the large, ominous shadow that fell across thetemple structure as her craft took off. A Shadehawk security vehicle, with its sleek, black, angular shape, settled into surveillance position.The Black Guard, employed by all Vacary residencies and facilities,ew the Shadehawks. It was routine to see one y by during itshourly inspection. What was unusual was that a second Shadehawk hovered into position alongside the rst just a moment later. They

remained until a third and then a fourth craft joined them in what was obviously becoming a formation. The Shadehawks hoveredtwenty feet above the facility, silent and completely still. Then, theunthinkable happened: multiple streaks of deuterium lasers shotfrom the crafts and simultaneously slammed into the facility.

The temple was under attack.



—| 29 |—

4

THE GNORB OF ORBIS

T he intense deuterium blast accomplished its purpose in a milli-second, melting the unidentied alloy that had withstood both

the test of time and the ravages of the sea. The walls absorbed the

heated pellets and began to warp and liquefy into ery crimson blos-soms, creating a gaping passageway that allowed the enemy inside.They came in one horrifying rush, a patrol of Black Guards,

protectorates of humanity that, in one sentient act, had turned frommankind’s noble protectors into sadistic adversaries.

In the space of a single heartbeat, the slaughter began. The battlefor control of the temple was brief and violent. The death throes of

the unarmed technicians lasted only a few moments as their heads,limbs, and torsos were scattered across the oor. It was order inchaos as the deuterium phasers instantaneously cauterized each fatal

wound, leaving a few severed heads alive long enough to compre-hend their deaths.

The Black Guard team stopped at the crystal door that had beenopened by one of the security Black Guards who worked inside thetemple. They waited motionlessly for their next command from oneparticular Guard, whose form was both bigger and newer than that of the older models. The older ones had been given limited life spans asa safeguard for human protection. Over time, they were programmedto dissipate their own nano bond particles and self-destruct. Unlike




its predecessors, this new biodroid had its viral DNA fused withhuman DNA, which pushed it to the next level of biomolecular me-chanical evolution. The fusion had created a biodroid that was clearly no longer under human control.

The other Black Guards stood still—silent drones with black,featureless faces—as the leader scanned the contents of the isolatedsecurity case that glowed at the center of the main chamber that heldthe Gnorb of Orbis. Smooth and as small as a softball, a single eye

staring inward, the gnorb drifted, silently studying its own mystery. At its core was a thick, silvery white, bubbling haze where life itself might have originated. Miniscule multicolored eruptions ashedand sparked inside.

Those who had found and named the gnorb believed it to be aliving, breathing universal force. It was an unsolved mystery—a se-cret world waiting for someone to decipher it. The gnorb’s name had

been decoded from the geometric writings that formed the equato-rial ring of the sphere. Various other markings showed images of theCelians, with their human shapes and n-like appendages, complete

with webbed ngers and toes. The outermost part held a constella-tion of stars from some unknown galaxy a million light years away.

The gnorb oated patiently in the dim, honey-colored light andperfectly monitored temperature of the central chamber, protected

from anyone at the temple labs who didn’t wear a high-level accessband. Only those members of the research team deemed most bril-liant were allowed even to gaze at its amazing beauty as they ponderedits mysteries and tried to decipher its unfathomable power. Every day,the team would come to study the gnorb in awe. Except today.

The ancient Atlantian temple was no longer sacrosanct and silent.The largest and most eloquent of the Black Guards moved forward,reached its mechanical hand into the security case, ignored the sear-ing lasers that projected like a web around the gnorb, and removed it.The scanner bands of green laser lights fanned out from the Guard’sface and traced across the gnorb’s surface, reinterpreting the visualinto a three-dimensional digital schematic of information.




The secrets of the universe,the Black Guard thought. It was think-ing . Conscious thoughts had been ooding its neuron strands inthe months since its awakening, but this was more than a thought.Suddenly, the biodroid was imagining, hypothesizing, contemplat-ing, and projecting the possibilities the gnorb represented.Once the

powers of the gnorb are unlocked, what will it mean for my kind? Itsmind was inundated with the rush of a thousand possibilities.

Mission accomplished, the Black Guard placed the delicate

gnorb reverently into a small steel box. The locks hissed and slid intoplace. It was done; the prize retrieved. The Black Guard withdrew,leaving behind the half-charred men and women they had slaugh-tered—silent witnesses to Earth’s newest citizens.



—| 32 |—

5

DUCANE COVAX

T he Black Guard’s creator, Ducane Covax, stood in his ofceshigh above Atland City, the shining capital of the still-un-

tamed territories of Atlantia, as well as all that was truly civilized in

the vast boggy landscape of the outback. It was Covax’s brilliancethat had developed the outback into a burgeoning culture. Hisgenius had returned to him the fame and fortune that had beenstolen eighteen years earlier, but it was about to be taken away yetagain—all because of the unconscionable behavior of a few errantBlack Guards.

Ducane Covax at fty was strikingly handsome, dark-complex-

ioned, with sharp features and keen eyes and ne amber-coloredtattoos of microcapsuled, digital ink implants that serpentined acrosshis cheeks. The tattoos changed colors, reecting the intensity of hissomber mood, and deepened to a rich terracotta.

As he sat at his desk, he listened to the voices of his two attorney clones—the twins, with their pale blond hair. Covax had been calledto Sangelino for an investigation following the attacks on the temple.His attorneys had worked the system and managed to stall his appear-ance at the inquiry, but it had been over three weeks since the templeattack, and the Council on Subversive Activities was getting restless.The attorneys said he would have to come to Sangelino or a Politiaescort would be at his door to escort him. He sighed, and agreed.




He was, after all, the creator of the Black Guard that had al-legedly murdered 271 people and stolen the orb. But they had noproof. The security monitors had been destroyed in the attack, andthe ocular imprints off the eyes of the dead were inadmissible. Covaxhad seen enough to know it was his Black Guard. What he didn’tunderstand was how . . . or why. He had not ordered the attack anddidn’t know who had. As far as he knew, Black Guards were inca-pable of acting on their own. He wanted the truth as desperately as

the Security Committee, and being called away from his own privateinvestigation was a total waste of time.“Set the meeting,” he said in a deep melodic voice, with a slight

hint of an indiscernible accent. Covax concluded his conversation anddisconnected from the halosponder that projected perfectly from asmall hole in his desk. The images of his twin lawyers broke apart intoa billion pixels, evaporated into a haze of blue light, and vanished.

Covax ran his ngers through his thick black hair. His emotions were shifting, and the warm, golden amber tattoos gracefully etchedalong his cheeks turned black, matching the anger that furrowedhis brow. The tattoos had been a part of the punishment ordered by the Triumvirate in Sangelino when he was banished eighteen yearsearlier. Now, he was going back to Sangelino, his beloved home untilhe had been expelled from the city like a pariah. And not just from

Sangelino and the entire Co-federation, but also from his own realestate and biological empire—the architectural wonder named forhim, Covax City. It hung below Sangelino, with its miles of cascad-ing glass and steel structures that reached over the cliffs and downinto the ssures.

Covax City had been his power base, but that was long beforehis Golden Boy image had been blackened by the Splicer Fiasco of 93 A.Q. Was it happening again? Yes, he had created the biodroids.

Yes, he had designed, developed, and built them into a respected se-curity force on Atlantia. He had shaped his biodroids into the Black Guard protectorate forces for one purpose only: to defend and helpsettle the wild lands of the Atlantian Territories.




Miners, farmers, and their families had come to a new terri-tory lled with hope, only to be subjected to murderous pirates andthieves. The renegades had run rampant for decades, until Covaxarrived like a knight in shining armor, ready to rescue Atlantia fromthe violent, lawless hell it had become. Covax found the answer inhis biologically based, mechanical workforce. They were big andstrong and could be programmed to defend anything that Covaxtold them to protect. It didn’t take long for others to recognize the

value of his invention. When Atlantians saw how the biodroidsprotected Covax’s own holdings, they begged him to share his bio-droids. Instead of selling his new little army, he decided to lease theirservices for a nominal monthly fee. Thus the Black Guard was born.

Within a few months, there was zero crime across the entire country,and Ducane Covax was once again the hero of a brave new world.He built an amazing home for himself and his beautiful daughter,

Elana Blue Covax, who had been born to him in 100 A.Q. Covaxtouched the base of a small marble stand that held a holographicimage of his daughter. She had ivory skin, pale blond hair, and rivet-ing almond-shaped sky-blue eyes. With his touch, the image movedinto a short loop. The visual of Elana Blue laughed, made a funny face that softened into a warm, sincere gaze, and said in a gentlevoice, “I love you, Daddy, so much.” The image looped again, then

stopped.Eighteen years had passed in peace and prosperity, but now

something had gone terribly wrong. Even if the denitive blame wasnot his, he was going to be the scapegoat in the sordid matter of theOrbis Temple attacks. A rogue faction of his Black Guard had beencorrupted. To what degree he still could not determine. His dreamsof power and peace on Atlantia began to melt like a snowake inthe desert sun. His accusers were gathering against him, a stormof ravenous vultures ready to exile the great Ducane Covax back into a black abyss of oblivion and obscurity. Something in his soultold him this was only the beginning of a fate he did not want toacknowledge.




like mythological creatures come to life. The scientists who had cre-ated this myriad of new species never imagined they would haveto share the planet with their offspring. But, after man nished,Nature stepped in with mutation and natural selection. The crea-tures evolved in a hundred different directions at once, creatinggenetic anomalies.

One species of science’s “mishaps” were the riders who roamedthe foothills and cities of Atlantia in packs. These genetic splicers—

half-rat/half-spider, with hairy bodies and hairier legs—ravaged thecommunity fuel compost. If they could have found a way, they wouldnot have hesitated to carry off small children. The riders were ugly,vicious, and hated by everyone. There seemed to be more riders thanusual this year. Every day, they would crest the hilltops in their relent-less hunt for food and then scurry away, driven back by the electriedproton perimeter fences that ringed the Vacary compound. Again

and again, they would attack until they found one small breach that would allow them to ooze inside and feast on the rotting garbage.Today they had found a gap. Today they would eat.The sun had barely crested the horizon when a river of riders

crawled over a small hill on the outskirts of the Vacary grasslandsand scampered past a holographic welcome sign that oated ten feetin the air: Vacary Settlement, Founded 80 A.Q., Population 5,623.

A lone Shadehawk transport cruised by, slowly scanning the areaand drawing uneasy glances from a group of workmen in their greenenvironmental suits. Since the attack at the temple, no one had beencomfortable when they came around. Gracefully, the Shadehawk turned and jetted away from the homes. Those who were watchingbreathed a sigh of relief.

The Lazerman residence was a geodesic dome-shaped house thatstood on a small knoll at the end of a cul-de-sac just above the restof the domes. It was an older model, slightly larger and better thanthose in the rest of the community, for Lazer’s parents had workedhard to give the prefab geodesic home some individual character.They had added a faux wooden fence, stumpy bushes, and an array




of beautiful owers that splattered the garden with a constellation of colors. The personal touches made the house appear more than thestandard mining issue that came with his father’s job as lead foremanat the Vacary Methane Mines. In the end, it was still nothing morethan an Atlantian tract house, plain and simple, but it was home.

Rand Lazerman sat at the kitchen table reading reports and elec-tronic charts off his data pad, which he never failed to bring homefrom his job at the mines. He quietly nished the last of his breakfast

and rubbed his eyes. They were red and tired from double shifts andtoo much work. Rand was a tall man with dark hair and the samecharismatic eyes as his son, and he could trace at least part of hishaploid line to the Anastasi, the rst Native Americans of old North

America. They had softened with age and the pressures of day-to-day survival on Atlantia, as well as the responsibilities of being afather. His eyes held a warm kindness, evident in the crinkles that

hung at each corner. The crash of a china cup lifted his attention.He looked up and watched his wife as she cleaned up around thekitchen. Detra’s nerves had been on edge since the attack. He stoodto help her, but she waved him away. Rand sat and watched, helplessto make her pain go away or erase the haunting memory that shehad survived and all of her friends and co-workers had not.

Detra’s hair, still slightly disheveled, fell across her cheek. Rand

smiled to himself, thinking how beautiful she was and what a good wife and mother she’d always been. He was lucky, and he knew it.It had only been three weeks since the temple attack and the oddtwist of fate that had spared his wife from the slaughter. He ap-preciated her presence more now than he could ever remember. Buthaving Detra home meant they were a one-income family, whichhurt nancially, especially since she had always earned more than hedid at the mines. It would be tough, yes, but they had each other,and together they could make it work. That’s what he told himself

when he worried himself awake at three in the morning. Each night was lled with the darkness of insecurities of a man wanting to dothe best for his family. Now, if he could only get Lazer in line , he




thought. Lazer had been the best son a father could ask for—untilhe turned fteen. From that day until the present, everything withhim had become a challenge.

“Make sure Lazer gets up and repairs that fence. The riders havebeen merciless this season.” Rand nished his thoughts out loud.

Detra nodded and turned to nd a pile of Lazer’s sports equip-ment blocking the back door. She sighed, gathered his things, andput them away in the laundry room closet, which was stuffed with

every kind of sports equipment imaginable. Detra picked up a smallcrizette mallet that must have belonged to Lazer when he was six orseven. She ran her hands along the battered surface and smiled, sad-dened by the loss of her baby boy.

“Did you two have a chance to talk yesterday?” she called out toRand from the laundry room.

Rand grimaced, “No. I was working on these damn reports all

evening.”Detra came back into the kitchen, her face furrowed in concern.“Oh, Rand, did you even tell him how proud you are of his ace pilotstatus placement at Tosadae?”

Rand shifted uncomfortably in his chair. His face vanished be-hind the report he had been reading.

“He knows how I feel,” he grumped.

“No Rand, he doesn’t.” Detra crossed in front of him and pulledthe electronic data pad away from his face. “And if you don’t take thetime to tell him . . .”

“I’m not even sure we can afford to let him go.”“He’ll get the zoccair scholarship. You’ll see.”“He’s just been so damn contrary these past months. Everything

I say is a challenge,” Rand stood and gathered his charts.“And not telling him you’re proud of him will . . .”“Keep him from gloating,” Rand mumbled under his breath.Detra took a long look at her husband and felt the cold stabbing

pain of lost dreams that must be piercing his heart. She crossed theoor and wrapped her arms around him.




“Rand Skyler Lazerman, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you were jealous.”

Rand stopped, shut down the data pad, and looked out of the window with an expression of pure guilt. He let his body relax intothe release of a long sigh. “I’ll be the proudest father on Atlantia

when that boy gets his wings. I know how much I wanted mine.”He looked into his wife’s eyes. She saw that his were lled with a

whirlwind of emotions—hope for his son’s future mixed with the

despair of his own lost dreams.Detra touched his face lovingly. “Then tell him.”“If I don’t ride him, he’ll . . .” Rand pulled away, stopped by

Lazer’s frantic call from the other side of the house.“Dad!” Lazer’s voice echoed in rst, followed by Lazer himself,

who burst into the room looking as if he had just fallen out of bed.His hair was a tousled mess, and his t-shirt was on backwards. “I

thought you’d left.”Rand checked his wristsponder. “In about three minutes.”Lazer shook off the sleep that clung to his mind like cobwebs in

a haunted house and tried his best to sound coherent, “Yeah, right, Well . . . uh . . . dad, remember you said I could borrow the security key card for the company zoccair eld today? We’ve got this deathmatch and I swore . . .”

Rand looked at his handsome, carefree son. He wanted to hughim and tell him everything that meant so much to both of them,but the emotions were smothered by the tough love he knew wasneeded until Lazer got through the cyclone of pubescent insanity that was making them all crazy. “Did you x the fence?”

“Yeah, well, no . . . but I will. I’ve been super responsible. Ask mom,” Lazer said with pleading eyes.

Rand studied Lazer for a painful, interminable moment. “McMannhas to go to Sangelino this afternoon, not that those rickety old pro-ton generators could stop an attack by multiple Shadehawks. I’vebeen asking for an upgrade for two years. Just make sure I get it back by twelve.”




Rand took the purple security key card off his pocket chainand handed it to Lazer. “Twelve noon,” Rand added emphatically.

“Absolutely,” Lazer beamed, pulled his lanky body almost to at-tention, and gave his father the V salute. Rand smiled and salutedback. “And get that fence xed before you leave here.”

“It needs a new transformer coil,” Lazer insisted, stufng somefruit into his mouth.

“We can’t afford one. But if you can keep that piece of junk

Zakki working with spit, wire, and silicone, I think you can gureout a way to patch that fence until we can afford a new transpon-der,” Rand snapped at him.

“Dad,” Lazer stared.“Just do it.”Lazer was hit with a wash of frustration. He hated riders. Just

looking at them creeped him out, and he’d have to do more than

look at them to even get near the fence. If only they had the money to hire someone to put in a new coil.If only . He thought of Striker,

who had called his family lowlifes. This was proof he was right.Lazer spoke without thinking, “If we weren’t living at the low

end of the food chain, maybe we could afford . . .” the words tum-bled out of his mouth.

“Lazer!” Detra cut him off before he did any more damage.

The glare that erupted across Rand’s face said it all. Without adoubt, Lazer had already crossed that thin, frail line.

“I’m working two shifts to make sure we have food on the tableand a home to live in,” Rand exploded. “And I won’t have you deni-grating my efforts. Do I make myself clear?”

“I . . . I didn’t mean it that way.” Lazer stuttered, desperate totake back what he’d said.

Rand stormed out.Detra shot Lazer a look that said,How could you? and followed

her husband out of the kitchen.Lazer’s stomach turned. His mouth was rancid with the taste of

guilt. Jerk,he thought. He didn’t mean it. It was just what Striker




had said, and it wasstupid . He looked out the window and watchedhis father comm the hovercraft to start, lift, and open its driver’sside door. Detra ran up to her husband. She touched his face as they spoke for a brief moment.

Lazer couldn’t hear their words, but it was obvious from his fa-ther’s demeanor that he was hurt and angry.

Rand strapped himself in the craft and, in a moment, was up andaccelerating away. Detra’s heart broke as she watched her husband

leave. They had been through so much, and she couldn’t help feelingshe had run out of all the words a wife could say to make the badthings go away. She watched until Rand’s craft vanished into the faintgray clouds. It wasn’t the cold that made her tremble; Detra felt hor-ribly afraid. She tried to shake off the eerie sense that clung to her likean icy, wet rain:It was the temple, and all my friends that died, and the

fact that I lived.The healers had told her she would experience post

traumatic effects.Survivor’s something. Detra rubbed the chill from her arms as she watched his hovercraft disappear into the morning mist.



—| 42 |—

7

BEING LAZER

L azer’s room was cluttered with numerous sports trophies,holographic music posters, and a wall of electronic gadgets

affordable to a foreman’s kid in 118 A.Q. Blasting from the wall

speakers, video game music vibrated in full THX enhanced sound.Lazer sat at the center of his domain, game banging online. He wasin a state of pure Zen, in the throes of youthful ecstasy as he engagedin his favorite pastime. Lazer was a double-stick speed jockey andhighly-ranked game bangerextraordinaire . His thick mane of black,unkempt curls was still a mess and his passage lock bugged him to-day. Since it could only be cut after he survived a series of physical

and mental rituals mandatory for social acceptance, he was stuck with it for at least two more years.

The game that captured his attention today was a 360-degree,single-player, anti-gravity holograph with liquid hydrogen racers ona polarized, magnetic raceway. Lazer drove his racer with focusedintensity and slammed into each gear with a rush of adrenaline thatchallenged every neuron in his body. He struggled at the edge of lifeand death in a virtual world.

Lazer pressed his left index nger into the control yoke andpushed the speedometer into the red zone. The virtual visual trans-lated into his nervous system through the hand controls. He wasneck and neck with a black 8000 series, and his hunter green 8500




was burning hard through a hairpin turn for the lead. The screamof the engines escalated the tension, until reality—in the form of hismother’s voice—broke his concentration.

“Lazer, did you x the perimeter fence?” his mother called upfrom the cellar. He didn’t answer. He couldn’t. He was pulling for-

ward to pass.“Lazer!”“Almost,” he yelled back. The microsecond of broken focus

changed the edge and allowed the black racer to cut him off. Theroad narrowed into a double lane and Lazer countered, starting hiscomeback on the inside.

“Lazer! We’ve got riders again.”Lazer’s 8500 green meany pulled up beside the black competitor.“Lazer!”“Okay!” But not one major muscle moved. The road narrowed

again, this time to a single lane, and the racers headed toward thepinnacle of danger: the nal double loops.

Lazer was trapped in second place, hot on the tail of the black 8000 as he entered the rst loop.Have to pass him now , he thought,as he hung upside down in the top of the rst loop. He saw onechance at the top of the second loop. One miscalculation and he

would be hurled off the magnetic track and into the stands. Without

hesitation, he went for it. At the pivotal moment, he hit the ac-celerator and increased the magnetic pull on the left ank of thecar. The 8500 strained under the torque required for the feat. Lazergripped the yoke and deed the game’s physics, combining the per-fect balance of gravity and torque. He burned past his opponent andopened up into the straightaway, ying across the nish line a singlemicrosecond in front of the black 8000. The virtual crowd screamedhis name as he blasted across the nish line. Right at the peak of triumph, a furious Detra exploded through Lazer’s door.

Her usually attractive features were bunched into an expressionof complete frustration, which dened the parental trials of raising ateenage son. Detra had the same quick temper as her son, especially




when he tested her patience. Lazer, conqueror and champion, leaptto his feet with a grin so infectious it almost always softened hismother’s anger.

“Champion of the world!” he said, as he danced around to hisown musical fanfare.

Detra gathered her composure and reset her parental glower. “If you’d done that with your studies . . .”

“Hey, I got into Tosadae,” he boasted. He swirled her around

and whooped triumphantly.Detra tried to hold her stern look but, as usual, she melted andsmiled back. “Yeah, barely. Now, x the fence and get those ridersout of this house.”

“On it,” Lazer said, shutting down the holographic raceway im-age. The cheering crowd, fabulous race cars, and shiny futuristicstadiums broke apart into a billion shimmering pieces of light and

scattered into thin air. Lazer grabbed a pair of gloves and boundedout of the room chanting, “Master of the universe! Destroyer of allriders! Champion of the world.”

Detra smiled, listening as his voice faded away into the lowerrooms of the house. Good, bad, trouble or not, she loved him andshe would love him more as soon as he got rid of the disgusting rid-ers that had invaded her house.



—| 45 |—

8

RIDERS

L azer ran down the stairs into the tiny basement as if he werecharging into battle with the light brigade. He crossed the

smooth cement oor and reached inside the ceiling-to-oor metal

cabinet that housed his father’s home repair equipment. It was neat-ly organized, every tool in its rightful place. He studied his choice of weapons. He was about to do battle with the enemy, and he wouldneed the right artillery if he hoped to destroy the vile vermin in-vading his backyard. His mother was right about one thing, if leftunchecked, it would be only a matter of days before the smells of food from the house brought the invaders inside. The combination

of crossed genetics between rat and spider made getting rid of a riderinfestation next to impossible.

Lazer slipped into a bright yellow, padded protective suit thatcovered him from head to toe, then chose a narrow, silver, cylindri-cal tank about two feet high. Lazer checked the gauge, relieved it

was still three-quarters full with ionomine, and strapped the can-ister onto his back. Several brightly coloredPOISON , DANGER ,and BEWARE labels screamed their warnings from the backside of the tank. Lazer checked the gun-shaped nozzle that protruded fromthe end of the attached hose and ran a nal assessment by pullingthe trigger release that controlled the pressure valve in his hand. Heturned back to the cabinet and surveyed an array of goggles, masks,




and helmets his father had acquired over the years of working in themethane mines. They always had the stench of the gasses no matterhow many times they had been cleaned or how many years they’dbeen away from the mines. Lazer selected a protective Plexiglas facemask, then, thinking better of the situation, struggled into a secondpair of gloves.

“Riders,” he mumbled in disgust.Lazer dropped the clear mask over his face just as a hoard of riders

advanced to attack. About thirty of them were already in the house.“I hate riders,” Lazer growled and opened re.The ionomine hit the rst bunch of riders and disintegrated

them with a bubbly hissing sound. The ear-shattering noise of theirscreams rose in a curtain of pain.

Through the open back door, the rest of the advance guard re-treated. Lazer looked outside and assessed that half the riders had

stayed focused on the compost heap at the far side of the yard. It wastheir food. However, for the Lazermans, it was fuel for the convert-er—waste and refuge that would give them heat and light for at leasttwo months. His family’s comfort demanded his success. The otherhalf of the riders, hearing the death screams of their pack brothers,turned to meet the retreating forces. Lazer watched in amazement,as if on command, the advancing riders turned the retreating forces

back. They moved like a tiny black river, forcing them around andmerging together into a single force. Lazer surmised that they werecommunicating without words, directing all riders to attack and de-stroy their enemy: Lazer.

Lazer barely had stepped outside before he saw them coming.He slammed the back door shut and got a good ten feet farther

when a hundred spider-headed riders, with bared needle-sharp teeth,reached ring range. They were crawling toward him on eight hairy,tarantula-looking legs. Lazer could see the retracted rat legs protrud-ing from their ugly little bodies. He knew that they could jump bothfast and far with all that leg power.

Lazer opened re, spitting out a stream of electried ionomine




mist that covered the rst line in a haze of destruction. Again, the high-pitched screams of the riders pierced the air.

Thirty vanished, but the majority kept coming at him, convergingso fast and from so many different directions that he could barely keep them back. Lazer red again. He was young and his reexes

were excellent. He took out another twenty. It looked as though hehad the situation under control when, out of nowhere, one of thelarger riders leapt from the ground, jumped a good ten feet, and

landed on his arm.Lazer’s initial instinct was to panic. He hated riders. The way they looked and smelled was revolting enough, but to have one of them on him, crawling and biting, was completely disgusting. Hisconcentration was wholly diverted into the single task of knockingthe hideous creature off his arm. It bit into the protective suit andheld on, scratching into the fabric with its rat claws at the same time.

The rubber fabric shielded him from the bite, but he could feel thepressure and pinch of strong, tiny teeth. The single diversion wasenough to distract Lazer’s attention from the primary task. In theten seconds he used to defend himself, he stopped the ow of theionomine mist, and fty more riders were on him.

Multiple riders bit at his shoes and leapt onto his legs and arms.Lazer’s body ooded with adrenalin. He gasped in horror. He was

losing control of the situation. Frantically, he ripped riders off hisarms and legs. The extra gloves he had put on as a safety precautionmade the gun handle slippery and, with a desperate twist to pull arider off his neck, the nozzle was ripped from his hand. It fell ontothe ground and disconnected from the hose. The ionomine spilledout onto the earth, useless without the gas mixture that made it le-thal. The pressure valve began to drop.

Lazer batted and yanked riders off his arms and shoulders, hurl-ing them across the yard. Again and again they attacked. The groupat the compost heap smelled Lazer’s fear. It was as if someone hadpoured blood into the water of a shark tank. One by one they liftedtheir heads, snifng the air for the terried creature that was giving




off the scent of distress. Unanimously they mobilized, moving to join the attack and nish the kill. In that instant, Lazer had gonefrom a nuisance to food, and food to a rider was always a battle tothe death.

Lazer looked over and saw the nozzle. He had to get it reattachedbefore he lost full pressure, which would prevent the chemicals frommixing. Then, if he was lucky, he could ght. If not, he would haveno other choice but to run.

Lazer took one step and tripped. His body slammed onto theground, and the riders covered him in a matter of seconds. He couldfeel the weight of what must have been a hundred of them, wiggling,biting, and scratching into his suit. Lazer crawled forward, reachingfor the nozzle that lay another seven feet from him. A funny soundmade him glance up, and that’s when he saw the rest of the pack coming in for the kill.

“Spit,” he hissed through his teeth.Lazer felt like Gulliver struggling against the Lilliputians, only

as far as he could remember, they didn’t bite. It took all his strengthto push himself up on all fours and crawl the remaining few feet tothe nozzle. He threw, knocked, and pounded riders off his hands,face mask, and out of his path. Finally, Lazer reached the nozzle.He fumbled for the hose, cursing everything as he dug through the

pile of riders that covered it. He grabbed it and shook off the onesthat tried to hold on. Now he held the nozzle and the hose but,as he looked up again at the hideous creatures that covered him, ahundred more were closing in. It was obvious he was about to runout of time. Another rush of panic closed in with the force of a vicegrip around his throat, cutting off his air. The pinching of a hundredbiting teeth that gnawed at his protective suit heightened the fear.Lazer was about to lose his mind.

Calm down, he told himself. Breathe and concentrate . They’re riders, dammit , and I am the master of the universe . He repeatedthe words again and again as he took in a long, full breath andreleased it. A wave of calm passed through him, and the world




suddenly narrowed, eliminating all but the sole task of reattachingthe hose.

The nozzle slipped the rst time and then again.Breathe . Lazertook another long, deep breath and released it. His hands steadiedand he gently slid the hose back onto the nozzle. He heard thepressure band suck into place and felt the ow build up inside. Lazerlooked up. The next wave was three feet away. There were hundredsof them. He turned to re. Hold it . . . one more second . . . one

more.The advancing riders prepared to leap. Lazer red. The iono-mine exploded from the nozzle with enough force to knock theadvancing riders back a full ten feet. Those that weren’t vaporizedretreated, heading out of the break in the fence.

The alpha rider knew the ght was over and gave out a horricscreech. The call summoned the remaining riders that still clung to

Lazer to retreat. They obeyed, receding with the speed of an ebbingtide from his body. Lazer had them on the run. He red again andagain, vaporizing half their pack until he had run them out of theyard and away from the property. He had won.

“Master of the universe!!! Destroyer of all riders,” Lazer shoutedafter them, waving the nozzle in the air in triumph.

He watched as the last of the pack disappeared over the hill and

vanished back into the wild where they belonged. Lazer grunted, acave man who had vanquished his enemy. He gave a long sigh of relief, turned, and saw the remains of the battle: half disintegratedrider bodies, creepy spider arms, and petried rat legs that had beenleft strewn across the yard. Lazer gave a nal shiver. He still had toclean up the remains and x the fence.



—| 50 |—

9

A SCHOLARSHIP

L azer returned to his room to nd Detra gathering dirty clothes. She was half-dressed in a yellow protective suit,

obviously ready to step out and help if she thought the situation

warranted it. As far as Lazer was concerned, he wished she had comeout with him in the rst place. But he had prevailed, and the riders were gone, at least for now.

“Did you x the fence?” Detra asked, not turning around.Lazer was looking at the holes in his protective suit left by the

riders and pondering over how dangerous it would have been hadthe suit not held.

“I put up a patch mod.”“You know that won’t hold, Lazer.”“I still have to make a proton grate. I’ll do it later.”“I though you had a game at ten with Cashton and Kyla,” Detra

said nonchalantly.Lazer gasped and checked the time. It was nine forty. Even if he

left immediately, he would still be late.“Ah, spit! I gotta go,” Lazer blurted as he scrambled to gather

his equipment.“You’ve got to x the perimeter fence or they’ll just come back.”“Not here. There’s enough residue ionomine and rider body

parts to keep them away,” he said proudly.




Her eyes searched his for the comfort he offered. Hers held only the pain of loss.

“They were supposed to protect us,” she whispered, her voicecracking.

Lazer saw the emotions that racked her gentle face and steppedin to give his mother a hug.

“Maybe it wasn’t the Black Guard,” she said.“Three underground blogs reported seeing the ocular prints the

coroner took. They were hazy, but they said they looked like Black Guard,” he said, referring to the last images of life captured from theeyes of the dead.

“Whoever did it, we don’t need it to happen again. So, takethat key card to your father,” she spelled out her concerns with eachemphatic syllable. “And then, young man, you get right back hereand x that fence.”

Lazer went to gather his things just as a sexy avatar appeared inthe computer’s holographic 3-D projection beam. Her life-sized su-perhero body squirmed into a sensual close-up, revealing violet eyesthat peeked out from behind a head of platinum, waist-length hair.

“Hey, Laze, you got mail,” she said with a dazzling smile.The envelope ew in, carried by a CGI version of a genetic

splicer. This one was a virtual version of a scarabite, half-hornet/

half-hawk, and nothing you would want to tangle with in the real world. The message opened and the words spilled out, while theaudio track played the accompanying voice message.

“It’s from Tosadae!” Detra beamed with anticipation.Lazer was nervous and excited. He held his breath. It was from

Tosadae Academy’s athletic scholarship fund division. The Tosadaelogo lled the screen. At its center, a visual replica of the Tosadaegnorb glowed majestically with subtle hues of sapphire and indigo.It looked like a rare jewel as it spun, gracefully oating in front of him as it displayed the words: “Light, Life, Love, and the Educationof the Soul—All at One with the Universe.” Tosadae represented the

world’s premier academy for guardian forces, police, and military




training. The Tosadae theme song played for eight bars as the letter’svisual resolution unfurled. The audio voice tracked Lazer’s eye move-ment and read out loud the written words. Lazer read the text, tryingto jump ahead.

“It is with deep regret we inform you that, due to an overabun-dance of qualied applicants, you were not selected for this year’szoccair scholarship.” The authoritative voice spoke with little com-passion, as it carried the horric news that his family would have to

come up with all the tuition money by themselves. When the message retreated, it took with it all his hopes anddreams of becoming a Politia pilot.

Detra looked at her son’s expression and felt his pain.Lazer knew what she was thinking. He panicked. “But I still get

to go? Right? Right?”Detra’s expression said everything. The loss of her job, the meager

salary her husband brought in, and the expense of such a prestigiousschool meant denying her son his greatest dream.“Mom?”“I don’t know,” she turned to make a hasty exit.Lazer was on her heels, desperation in every step.“Maybe you can work at the mines for a few years and . . . I just

don’t know,” she mumbled, not looking back.

“I have to go this year.”Detra turned to face him. “We’ll talk to your father when he

gets home.”“He’ll just say I’m a loser again.” Lazer’s words carried the bite of

too many recent arguments with his father.“Your father loves you. He gave you that card because he be-

lieves in you.” She said pointing to the security card.“He gave it to me because he knows his boss is there with the

other one. I’ll keep my promise but he’s got to keep his.”She stopped, unable to deal with what she knew would be com-

ing once Rand found out there was no scholarship. She changedtactics.




“Right now, just get his security card to him. Go!” Detra hadoften listened to the arguments her son’s rebellious attitude had ig-nited with her husband. She had seen the wedge that stuck between

what was once a great love and their current relationship. She knew it was only the growing pains of two males ghting for respect—theevolution from a boy into a man and the father who must accepthim as an equal. Detra knew that, in spite of his anger, Lazer’s father

worshipped him. A fact he would tell everyone at the drop of a hat,

except the one person who needed to hear it most: Lazer. “Look, youstill have time for a quick game with your friends if you hurry.” Shechecked her sponder.

Lazer looked at the pass card. He was certain that losing thescholarship would only widen the gap between father and son andbecome one more disappointment for his father to ing back in hisface. He glanced back at the words that still oated in the middle of

his room. His life had just crashed and burned.



—| 55 |—

I0

THE VACARY MINES

T he Vacary Methane Mines consisted of natural vent shaftsthat ngered up from Earth’s core. The gaping holes poked

deep into the red earth, plunged through the island’s crust, cut deep

into the icy Atlantic, and bored through the rocky crust of the oceanoor. From each hole, massive silvery tubes stabbed through pocketscut in the core and sucked up gasses from fathoms below. In contin-uous rhythm, they gathered each precious molecule into enormousonion-shaped collectors that ringed the complex. Methane gas min-ing was Atlantia’s most protable revenue resource and had helpedthe evolving country survive the treasure hunters who rst inhabited

the soggy lands after the Great Quakes brought Atlantia up from thebottom of the sea.

The work at Vacary was hard, and some miners compared thefoul odor that hung around the shafts to socks worn steadily for ayear without washing. The fumes would stick to the miners’ skinand turn it chalky gray if they weren’t mindful of innitesimal tearsin their environmental suits.

Rand Lazerman was the lead foreman of the mines. He lovedhis wife and, though he would never say it out loud, he loved hisson. Rand knew Lazer was the kind of boy who needed him to bestrong, so he was. He also knew mining was not the job for a boy

with Lazer’s talents as a pilot. The thought that his son’s young life




would end in the shafts haunted Rand, and he knew his son’s desiresall too well. Rand had given up his own dreams and resigned him-self to the mines a long time ago. But Rand Lazerman had a family,and he had worked long and hard to move through the ranks at themines to give them a better life. He was dedicated, focused, andtough on everyone, especially Lazer, and their relationship sufferedbecause of it.

Rand’s mind was not on Lazer at the moment; it was on the se-

ries of problems that had been plaguing the complex all day. Glitchafter glitch frustrated his every effort and made the heat from themines feel all the more uncomfortable. Rand moved across the cen-tral complex, past the main shaft, and checked the readouts thatmonitored the ow of methane for each shaft. The levels were low.There was a blockage in the vents, and that meant someone wouldhave to go inside and see what was jamming the methane before it

built up pressure and blew. An engineer in orange overalls approached. His skin had dete-riorated to foggy ice, cracked and wrinkled from too many days inthe Atlantian sun and far too many years exposed to the methane.The engineer handed Rand an electronic clipboard, which he stud-ied. Rand calculated the numbers and thumbprinted his approvalbefore he handed it back.

“Heard Lazer made Tosadae,” the engineer said, smiling.Rand nodded as if it were expected. “Tapped him for ghter

training. Boy should have been born with wings.”The engineer laughed. “He’s no splicer.”It was a racist statement, but Rand wasn’t in the mood to con-

front him. Instead, he thought of Lazer’s achievement and gave agrin that mirrored Lazer’s charm. He was proud of his son.

The engineer pounded one hand to his heart in a V salute remi-niscent of the Micronesian Mutant Wars in 101 A.Q., in which they had both fought. It was a short, violent war started by a rebelliousspecies whose only crime was to be the product of a group of scien-tists hungry to cash in on the clone and splicer market of 91 A.Q. In




the ensuing years, they had illegally mass produced multiple strainsof genetics. It took only a few short decades for the weaker genesto mutate, not just in the bizarre creatures but also in those witha dominance of human genetics. They were people with distortedfeatures and unstable minds, unable to comprehend the megaloma-niacs who abused them. The salute gave homage to Rand and allthose who had fought in the Corporate Politia Forces to free themutants from the vicious slave trade. Rand returned the reverent

exchange, and the engineer walked away, fading into the drone of life as usual.But it wasn’t life as usual, not since the attack on the Orbis

Temple. Rand tried to shrug off the feeling of doom that had hungover him all day. He lifted the arm that held his wristsponder andsent another urgent instant message to Detra: “Where’s Lazer withmy security card?” The little communicator’s LED chronograph

silently counted the seconds. A moment later Detra pinged back,“He’s on his way.”Rand’s boss, the owner of the Vacary Mines, kept the master key.

He had not come in yet, and his absence this morning made Randnervous. What he heard next was the rst inkling of why.

Over the hiss of the mines, he suddenly heard the roar of hy-drogen jets. They belonged to the Black Guard patrols that ew

overhead several times each day to check on the mines. They werestate-of-the-art Shadehawk peacekeeper hovercrafts, put in place f-teen years earlier as the guardian forces that protected all of Atlantia.But security had only been an illusion. For some unknown reason,the incident at the Orbis Temple was not enough for the Atlantiancouncil to recall the Black Guard or rescind their protectorate du-ties. The appeal to the ruling Triumvirate, who governed the worldfrom their ivory towers in Sangelino, was sunk in political mire.Rand wished they would send in the corporate Politia forces. Buteveryone knew Atlantia wasn’t under corporate control, at least notyet. The Atlantians had been left to handle the situation without

world support.




The sound that drew Rand’s eyes to the sky and made hisheart pound was that of a second Shadehawk. It broke the horizon,stopped next to the rst, and scanned the facility with its electricgreen tracer beam. The rst Shadehawk had been hovering for aboutve minutes. It was not unusual for one to stop and observe, but it

was unheard of for two. Rand didn’t like it. He hit his sponder.“Mr. McMann, good morning. I thought you were scheduled to

be on site this morning. Will you be in soon?” Rand asked politely.

The tiny face that hovered above Rand’s wristsponder was thatof his boss, Leland McMann. Some feed interference was breakingup his reception, but the holo-image was enough to show the re-semblance between the father and his son, Striker. Rand understoodLazer’s dislike for Striker. In truth, he felt the same way about hisboss; however, social protocol didn’t allow him to act on his feelingsas freely as Lazer did on his.

“You must have missed my V-mail, Lazerman. I’m on a trans-port to Sangelino. The Security Council changed our meeting totwo. I’m already in transit. Is there something I can help you with?”McMann asked.

“I’m sure I can handle it until you get back,” Rand said, feelingmore and more uncomfortable by the second.

“I’ll be in rst thing tomorrow.” Leland McMann signed off.

A couple of the mine researchers approached a mesmerizedRand.

“Are you looking at this?” the taller of the two said through thespeaker in his pale yellow environmental suit. His eyes were lockedon the hovering Shadehawks. “I thought they couldn’t cluster.”

“So did I,” Rand responded.The smaller man produced some vials lled with a thick purple

and orange liquid that swirled inside the glass. The water lters wereshowing high levels of methane concentration, probably due to theclog in the vents. Rand pulled his focus back to his job and, with alast glance, let all thoughts of the troublesome Shadehawks go.



—| 59 |—

I I

A GAME OF ZOCCAIR

L azer’s L-class Zakki 5000 hovercraft had seen better days.But even used and rebuilt, it was a high-end air bike. It cut

through the Atlantian sky like a streak of cobalt blue in forward mo-

tion. It tracked low and fast across the Titanic Valley, so named forthe decaying remains of the SS TITANIC, whose rusted carcass hadbeen enshrined in a museum, a morbid memorial park in honor of its historic journey. Beyond the park lay the remains of enormousancient statues that had survived time and risen from the sea, cra-dled in the soft sandy soil of Atlantia. Giant heads, feet, and handsleft from Earth’s rst inhabitants faced the sky. These ancient aliens,

whose features mirrored a fusion of humans and amphibians, withtheir gills and wide lipless mouths gaping open in a frozen, silentscream, stared up at him. Lazer careened over the relics, feeling asthough their muted voices mocked him, reminded him he wouldnot be going to Tosadae. He was a madman eeing the sting of hislost dreams. His heart tumbled into a black hole of hopelessness.Lazer let the warm spring wind slap his face and whip the fabric of his jacket and patch pocket pants into a rhythmic pulse—a dirgethat underscored Lazer’s anger and disappointment.

In the distance, the hum of the mines called to him. They taunt-ed him with his inevitable future. Lazer shook off the sadness. Hehad to, for the sheer sake of sanity. He ignored the haunting voices




in his mind. Take the key early . But he couldn’t go there, not now,not yet. He would take his father the security key as soon as he toldhis friends the game was off.

Lazer slowly descended, landing the Zakki on the hill adjacentto the mines. He swung his long leg over the seat and dismounted,a bowlegged cowboy stepping from his steed. He felt his heart skipa beat when he glanced at the mines one more time. His gut pulledat him, but he still had time to keep his promise.

“Lazerman! My next invention is gonna be a time band implant-ed up your butt.” Cashton never got used to Lazer always being late.Cashton saw himself as the real brains of their dynamic duo,

but admitted he lacked the motivation to implement most of hisaudacious ideas. More often than not, the numerous inventions hedid manage to create tanked miserably, but that never stopped himfrom trying.

Also waiting, and obviously irritated, was Striker McMann.Striker stepped out from behind a six-by-six titanium generator andvelcroed his y.

“You get it?” he snapped.“My old man needs it by twelve. I’m gonna bounce. We have to

call a rematch,” Lazer said.The group moaned their disapproval.

“Not on your life, dip. You’re the cretin that’s late.” Strikergrabbed the purple key card that peeked from Lazer’s pocket and

jumped back out of reach.“Give it back, Striker!” Lazer’s hand jutted out to snatch it, but

Striker was too fast.“That game was a one-point uke. No way are you weaseling

out of this. Coward!”Lazer stopped. It was the wordcoward. His body tightened,

racked with the tension of a rubber band ready to pop. The ex-tra insult fanned the ame and fueled not just the indignation that

would come when people found out about the loss of his scholar-ship, but also his longstanding rivalry with Striker. The challenge




of bravery opened one of Lazer’s deepest and oldest wounds. It hadlong festered, putrefying in his heart and choking him with the ran-cid stench of a dead skunk left rotting by the roadside. It was toostrong for Lazer to ignore, and Striker knew it. Lazer had ignoredStriker’s challenges once before and paid for it dearly with years of abuse from his classmates. It would not happen again. The gauntlet

was thrown down and had to be taken up.Lazer checked Cashton’s time band. He had forty minutes,

enough to crush Striker like an insignicant bug and still get the key to his father by noon. “Bring it on, dip,” Lazer replied.Striker jammed the card into the huge generator and coded in

the numbers for the launch sequence. The proton generator pulsed,ashed, and bellowed to life.

“Lazer, what are you doing?” A raspy voice called out, irritatedby the way Striker had goaded Lazer.

The voice belonged to Kyla. She pulled off her favorite, logo-laden cap and released her long, mousy brown ponytail, letting it opfree. She wore a teal blue, boat neck, leather-like jacket and a micro-ber loin panel designed like a Persian rug that hung with fringe andshells over her tattered denim leggings. The loiners, totally unisex,

were the fashion rage. Kyla’s accented her long shapely legs. She wastaller and thinner since the Orbis Temple attacks, and in three lanky

strides, she got to the generator and reached for the card.“Give it back,” she demanded in her toughest voice.“What’s it to you, splicer?” Striker grabbed her hand and twisted

it. He enjoyed the pained expression that ashed across her face be-fore she pushed the feelings away.

“Let her go!” Lazer commanded.Cashton stepped forward to show his support with Evvy right

behind him.Striker complied. Kyla wasn’t the ght he wanted; today, it

was the game. Besides, Cashton was a pit bull when it came to astght; Striker had learned that lesson the hard way on more thanone occasion.




“This’ll be over in a heartbeat,” Lazer said to Kyla.She rubbed the reddened skin left by Striker’s vice grip on her

wrist. It stung, hot as an Indian burn delivered from a mean bigbrother.

“You okay?” Evvy asked, never taking her eyes off Striker.Kyla nodded yes. She hated Striker and anyone he called a friend.

Kyla stepped closer to Lazer. “When are you going to learn that whathe says doesn’t matter?” she whispered to Lazer.

“Forget it,” Lazer snapped, as he pulled his gear from the trunk of the Zakki. “So what if you’re a splicer.”Cashton and Evvy exchanged a look.Kyla recoiled at his words. She was embarrassed about her ge-

netics since their return to live with humans. Her mother had beenkidnapped and forced to mate with a half-man/half-moth—one of countless stories of creatures that slaughtered their masters and stole

the children in order to breed their twisted genetics into humanity.Kyla was registered as a splicer although she had been raised human.Being a splicer had an array of distinct social disadvantages, but forevery disadvantage there was always an advantage or two, dependingon the genetic cross. One amazing gift that Kyla possessed was herability to read emotional auras. Today, Lazer’s hung from his poreslike milky sap from a dying tree. He was uncomfortable with her

talents, though it had saved their butts on more than one occasion.“Who rained on your day ?” she asked with genuine concern.

After all, Lazer had been her rst and dearest friend, and she was worried about the feelings she saw—ghostly shadows that played with his skin tones and circled around him in shades of pale bluesadness ringed by black frustration.

Lazer shot her a look. She was reading him. He knew it and hatedit but, before he could respond, a Plexiglas box jutted from the gen-erator. It was time to play. The group gathered the rest of their gearand entered. From the generator’s side, a shutter-like door fannedopen and a clear bubble of pure proton belched out. It formed a hazeof subatomic particles that instantly fused together and expanded,




lling a space the size of a football eld and three times as high.The crystal clear balloon expanded across the sky and settled into anextremely rm, but supple, almost impenetrable oval sphere. Oncestabilized, the proton playing eld, with its soft grassy base, wouldallow the players to run in all directions, including upside down.The rules were simple: no hands, only feet and heads. Zoccair wasthe sport of the century—soccer without gravity.

“Who brought the ball?” Lazer called out.

“Me. That way nobody cheats,” Cashton said, looking at Striker.Cashton pulled a tiny orange ball from his pocket and used bothhands to twist it. It inated into a nine-inch magnetic sphere, madeof solid rubber and weighing only a few pounds. When in play, it

would pull to and repel through the thin layers of gravity that hungalong the outer surfaces of the dome and the ground.

“Better not be one of those lame inventions of yours. I know the

last one was programmed to come only to you,” Striker chided.“Prove it,” Cashton challenged him. “It’s regulation. Check foryourself.” Cashton showed him the regulation seal.

“What was your other ball supposed to do?” Evvy whispered.“Come to me.” Cashton smiled back guiltily. “I didn’t have it

on. Swear up.”The Plexiglas box collapsed, allowing them to step onto the

enclosed eld. Striker’s team pulled on their form-tting, bronzed,plastic body armor that would turn a warm gold once it detectedtheir body heat. Those who wore them tucked in the front panelof their loiners and adjusted their matching helmets, wrist guards,ankle cuffs, and footless boots. The boots, when clamped into place,pulsed with multicolored bands of light that read the gravitationalpull of the play surfaces. A palm pad controller attached to each

wrist guard allowed them to stick and fall off the magnetic surfacesat will.

Lazer and his team strapped in. They reversed their jackets toexpose the padding and secured the banners, club sashes, and shortteam loiners that always hung from the back. Kyla struggled with her




ankle cuff clasps. Her boots were old, scuffed, and too tight. She’dhad them for years. The frayed edges at the top crawled around herankles with the gracelessness of two ugly caterpillars. Lazer’s weren’tmuch better, but they would do.

Striker and his boys were equipped with state-of-the-art gamingequipment, while Lazer and his team were a patchwork of whateverthey could salvage. Everyone knew they were better athletes, and that

was all that mattered. They geared up and got ready to rumble.

“Let’s do it. You’re already a waste of my time,” Striker sneered.Kyla watched Striker’s face contort to match his emotions; themeaner he acted, the uglier he got. His aura was pale gray with anger,but Kyla saw the green of jealousy that revealed his deeper feelings.

Lazer buckled himself into his gear. Cashton, already suited upand ready for action, turned and noticed Kyla. He could tell she

was still hurt from Lazer’s comment. She struggled with her gear

and clandestinely wiped a tear from her eye. No one but Cashtonsaw. He always saw. Cashton didn’t need to read auras to tell whenLazer had wounded Kyla. He had said she was a splicer, and that’s

what hurt. He knew Lazer didn’t mean it to be bad or hurtful, andsomewhere in her heart so did Kyla. Lazer, on the other hand, didn’thave a clue. Cashton nudged his friend and gestured for Lazer to gohelp Kyla.

“You did it again,” Cashton said.It took a second for him to gure out Cashton’s meaning, but

Lazer got the point. This was an old problem. Lazer crossed to Kylato apologize and offer to help secure her tattered buckles.

“You’re blue. Pale blue,” she whispered, studying Lazer. She feltnervously unable to control herself.

“Don’t start, Kyla. You know I don’t like it when you read me,”he said.

“What happened?” She searched him harder. She wished shecould read minds, but most times colors were enough. Then it madesense and her eyes widened.

“You lost the scholarship. Oh, Laze, I’m so sorry,” she whispered




with the compassion only a childhood friend could muster.“I’ll get there,” he said. His voice was lled with determination,

but laced with doubt.“I didn’t know splicers could play zoccair,” Chad Mack called

out as he approached Striker. Chad had a man-in-the-moon faceand a fat neck as thick as the broad old Australian twang that lin-gered in his South Republic accent. Chad leaned on Striker andstudied Kyla.

“They can’t, at least not worth spit in my data banks.” Strikergrinned.“I got ape girl’s genetics,” Striker’s cohort said with a nod to

Evvy. “But, I’m serious. Federation rules say that one can’t play if she’s got wings. Right?”

“They playin’ a bat or a bug?” one of the other boys chided,staring at Kyla.

“I ain’t playing with no bats,” another player from Striker’s gangblurted as he apped his arms, mocking Kyla. Striker’s team brokeinto a roar of laughter.

Evvy stepped forward with her sts clenched. Kyla stopped her,trying to hide the blush that ooded her cheeks. She turned away and gathered her courage, forcing her breath to slow and her unshedtears to dissipate.

“Don’t let these cretins bother you, Ky.” Evvy growled, lettingher animal genetics lift her hackles.

“They play what they got. Long as she doesn’t use ‘em, I don’tcare if she’s a ying roach,” Striker said.

“Jam it, Striker!” Cashton shouted. “You got your match.”“Kyla doesn’t need wings to beat you; all she needs to be is a

girl,” Lazer added.Striker’s eyes narrowed. He lunged past Lazer and punched the

generator’s antigravity launch controls.“Go zero!” Striker shouted.Everyone punched his or her palm controls. Across the upper

dome, an energy wave rippled along its surface.




In a millisecond, the entire environment went into reversegravity, which meant anyone not clamped into his or her boots

was in deep trouble. Kyla and Lazer were not. They shot straightup, fast and out of control. Lazer grabbed Kyla and ipped themupside down. He punched his palm pad. It slowed the rush of mo-mentum by half. A moment later, they slammed feet rst into theceiling. Lazer, clamped in and turned on, adjusted the gravitationalow and secured himself to the ceiling by his feet. Kyla dropped

onto the ceiling and struggled frantically with her boots. She knew she had at best only a few seconds to clamp in, but the buckles wouldn’t lock.

Gravity reversed. A curtain of falling energy descended, drag-ging everything downward. It settled and hovered at the middle of the dome, swirling into an elliptical pool at the centermost point.It was easy to see the thick mass of energy that pulled anything not

locked up or down toward its core.Lazer was locked on, hanging helpless as a bat in sunlight. Kyla was sucked downward. She screamed as she dropped. Lazer grabbedher. This time she grabbed back, clutching his breastplate.

The bright orange ball was jerked toward the ceiling, thensucked back into and through the swirling vortex, spit out the otherside, and hammered against the side wall of the dome. It hit with

such force it compressed the ball by half and reminded all of themof the danger Kyla faced if she fell. The vortex sucked the ball back inside and spit it out again and again.

“Striker, you spit! You could have killed them,” Cashton roared,still unable to move. They all watched helplessly.

“Gee, ya think?” Striker replied, feigning innocence.Cashton grabbed for the key card that still hung half-in/half-out

of the generator. “You want me to reverse?” he called up to Lazer, notknowing what else to do.

“No! Let it stabilize,” Lazer shouted back. “Use your wings,” he whispered to Kyla.

“No.”




“I can’t hold you. Use your wings. Do it!”Lazer felt her weight pull on his cuffs. The frayed edges bit into

the eshy parts of his feet. The cuffs were old and long overdue forreplacement. The power bar readouts screamed and ashed as they

went into overload and began to signal a short. One by one, the levellights that rimmed his cuffs ickered and dimmed, warning of theinevitable. They would both fall if Kyla didn’t do something.

Kyla’s hands began to slip. She dropped a few more inches and

then grabbed for another piece of padded armor. She yelped, slipped,and screamed again.“Use your wings!” Lazer demanded, knowing he was losing

power in his left ankle cuff.Kyla lost her grip on Lazer’s chest padding and slipped again.“Kyla!” This time he was begging.“Please, Lazer.” Her terror wasn’t enough to make her expose her

genetics. She would die rst.Her hands had begun to sweat, giving more power to the g-forces pulling at her.

Below, everyone watched, waiting, counting each agonizing sec-ond as they waited for the stabilizers to activate.

One of Lazer’s cuffs ickered out and his foot released. They dangled, three hundred feet in the air, by his one leg. The other cuff

was about to give out. Kyla would take Lazer with her if she didn’ty. Still, she refused. Suddenly, the stabilizers whined up to speedand sounded the all-clear tone.

“Cashton! Raffe!” Lazer barely got their names out when they both took off running. They crossed the eld and turned ninety degrees, running up the right side of the dome.

Evvy and Giger, another of Lazer’s teammates, went up the left wall. Giger, Cashton, Evvy, and Raffe reached the center, just abovethe swirling vortex, jumped, and propelled themselves upward. A series of tucks and rolls sent them sideways as they bounced andleapfrogged to the top. The three boys and Evvy clamped onto theceiling, engaged their palm controls, and locked on upside down.




They raced to Lazer and Kyla from both directions.“Can’t . . . hold . . . on.” She grimaced as she slipped another

inch. “Cashton!” Kyla screamed, slipping out of Lazer’s hold.In the last moment before he lost her, Lazer swung her to

Cashton with the grace of a well-tuned trapeze act, except Cashtonmissed and Kyla fell.

“Kyla!” Evvy screamed out, reaching but just missing Kyla’shand.

It was a one hundred-foot drop straight down to the unstablevortex and another two hundred to the ground. Her eyes widenedand her survival instinct took over. With a great whoosh, her massive

wings ripped through her shirt, unfurling like two glorious silk ags.They were amazing. A twelve-foot span of russet, chocolate, and tan

with long swallow tails, tipped in black and gold and adorned withbig white circles. She ew, struggling to defy the gravity below her.

Her wings beat the air with the slow-motion thump of helicopterblades catching the thermals. Just like the day at the bilyon caves,the strain etched on her face made it obvious that she rarely usedthem, but they worked. In the end, she had chosen life over ego. Herbody lifted, and in a graceful arch she ew to her team and set herfeet on the ceiling. She hated Striker more than ever.

Cashton’s expression was apology enough. Her other teammates,

as well as Striker’s, stared in awe at the magnicent wings that beatto hold her while Evvy and Raffe secured her boot clamps.

Finally strapped in her gear, Kyla engaged her palm pad andipped upside down, locking herself to the dome’s surface. Shegave one last embarrassed look to Lazer, the only opinion she caredabout, and then folded her brown and black wings into the aps of skin that grew from her back. The skin aps, red and swollen fromthe strain, folded over her retracted wings. The mounds were stillvisible through her torn shirt.

Lazer fussed over his boots, trying to stabilize the power barreadout that blinked red and white, warning him that his powerstatus was low from the strain. It meant he didn’t have full power




“Get everyone inside!” Rand shouted. He ordered everyone inearshot to move away from the mine shafts and take cover. He hadbought Lazer a sponder to give him when he graduated, but that

was a surprise. He cued up his sponder to call Detra, but hesitatedto speak the words out loud:Dearest love, you are in my heart. Please know I will watch over you every second the sun and stars shine on your

face. Feel my love in their light, and always believe I love you. Yours forever, Rand . But there was no more time, so he punched in only

the words: I love you.



—| 72 |—

I 3

SHOTS

A bove the clear proton dome, the ery white of Atlantia’s noon-time sun gleamed high in the sky. The game of zoccair was in

full play. Lazer and Striker were the team forwards. They called the

plays and set the strategies. The players ran up and across the curved walls, jumped, ipped, and slammed down to the ground. They dove and tumbled with the power and grace of gymnasts across andabove the soft earth and tangled weeds that covered their battleeld.Lazer twisted into a back ip, propelled into a handspring off a side

wall, and was about to slam the ball with his head when Strikercountered and body-slammed Lazer. He sent him careening into the

side wall so hard it rippled the proton particles into concentric wavesthat billowed out across the glistening surface. Striker leapt in, took control, and head-butted the ball back to his team.

Cashton was goalie. Kyla, Raffe, Evvy, and Giger were mideld-ers. They intercepted, shouldered, and kicked the ball through thecentral gravity ellipse, which recharged the ball’s magnetic centerand spit it back out into play. The orange orb caught the side walland rolled. Giger kicked it and sent it spiraling over the expanseof the eld. It was stolen and recovered by Raffe with a head butt,

whacking it away from the opposition’s goal.“Goal! One o’clock! Descending!” Kyla shouted in the midst of

a parallel slide down the wall. She hit her palm control and dropped,




free-falling through the ellipse directly under the ball, which hadstarted to oat. She stabilized and ipped the ball with her feet toLazer, who kicked it midair toward their home-team goal.

At the critical moment, the shot was blocked and interceptedby Teton Waxman, a white-haired, muscle-headed midelder witha constellation of red pimples mapped across his pale face. He jet-ted straight up the eld and pressed hard along the upper canopy,making a beeline to his destination with the precision of a tactical

missile. Teton kicked out, then propelled off the dome and head-slammed the ball with a vicious punt directly to Cashton’s guard.The ball ew straight for the red goal, which rose and fell—an open-ended cube made of glowing plastic pipes. The ball was dead on toscore as Cashton shot down and blocked it away.

Striker countered with a perfect diagonal dive from the roof of the dome, kicking the ball straight back into the goal. Cashton

lunged, deected, and blocked the shot. No score.Striker turned on his team. “Where’s my defense? You pile of drool! Play up! Time!” he shouted, breathless from the play. His furi-ous outburst stopped everyone.

Kyla swallowed hard, trying to catch her breath, when somethingelse caught her eye. She was hanging upside down from the top of thedome but righted herself, oating in place, for a better look.

Behind Cashton she could see ve Shadehawks surrounding themines. They hovered in a perfect circle formation.

“Lazer!” she shouted, astounded by the sight. She pointed at what, in the past, they all had known to be a complete impossibility.

One by one the players all turned, following Kyla’s gaze.“Lazer!” she yelled again.“I see it,” he responded, a cold chill running down his spine as

he watched.“Come on, nanoheads. Play or forfeit!” Striker gave no thought

to the danger that loomed behind him.“I thought Shadehawks couldn’t cluster,” Cashton said.“They can’t,” Lazer answered.




“Who cares? It’s not noon. Game on!” Teton shouted, still outof breath.

“Lazer, your dad!” Kyla said.Lazer looked at the tail of the security card that stuck out from

the generator a hundred feet away. Terror washed over him.“Who’s got a wristsponder? I gotta call . . .” His words were cut

short by the Shadehawks as they opened re.Pure deuterium discharged from the Shadehawks’ blasters, send-

ing ashen hot streaks of searing molecules into the central structuresof the mines and burning huge holes in the titanium casings. Thepressure released the methane into the air, which was instantly heat-ed by the deuterium. The rst blast ruptured a massive section of piping that spidered out from the central shafts. One after another,explosions shattered the complex into fragmented pieces as enor-mous reballs devoured the structures. Finally, the central towers

ignited. The sound was as deafening as a colossal throbbing hur-ricane and global quake striking simultaneously.The concussion of the blast reached the proton dome. It

slammed against the protective force eld and shook Lazer and therest of the players with a series of shockwaves. Everyone stared, un-able to move, horried at what they were witnessing.

“Spit,” was all that Cashton managed to say.

Lazer’s mind raced. His heart pounded. My father! He had toreach his father, get him the card.

“Open the dome!” Lazer shouted to Cashton, who stood closestto the generator. “Gimme the card!” Lazer demanded as he boltedtoward Cashton.

“What?” Cashton half-turned in disbelief, not willing to acceptthe command he had just heard from his best friend. He wanted toface him but was compelled to watch the holocaust outside.

“The card!” Lazer reached for the card that dangled in front of him.

Cashton woke up to the reality of what Lazer was about to do,and instinct took over. Cashton was a wall of moving muscle, and




every ber of his being screamed for him to stop his friend at allcosts. Cashton stepped in and blocked Lazer, slamming his weightagainst him and knocking him down to the ground. Lazer rightedhimself, jumped back, and lunged at Cashton, but Cashton stoodrm. Lazer tried to shove him out of the way. Cashton grabbed himand the two friends wrestled. Cashton might have been bigger, buta surge of adrenaline ripped through Lazer. Lazer was winning. Therest of the teams powered in. Striker got there rst, snatched Lazer,

and shoved him back.“No! We don’t shut down!” Striker screamed.“Your father’s in there, too!” Lazer pleaded. “Why doesn’t he use

the master card?”“I don’t know,” Striker responded. He was as confused as Lazer.

“He’ll do it, just wait.”“Expand the dome!” Kyla said, offering a compromise.

“It has to be done from his side,” Lazer said. “Something’s wrong. He needs the pass card.” Kyla read his guilt. The aura thatcircled his body was a sick, puce green. His desperation shot out asrays of deep purple.

Another explosion reverberated off their dome. It was all thatstood between them and death. Lazer grabbed Cashton by hisbreastplate and shouted, “Let me out!”

Cashton was torn between the pleas of his friend and the hor-rifying danger that loomed outside the proton energy eld thatseparated them from the attackers.

“No, Lazer. Think. We can’t open the dome in time to do any-thing but expose ourselves to the same danger.”

“Somebody help me!” Lazer screamed as he ripped the face paneloff the generator to get to the manual power bar.

Striker tackled him, slamming him hard against the generator.Lazer twisted his body and hurled Striker up and away. Striker’s boysstepped in and grabbed Lazer.

“My father’s in there, too.” Striker said, sick with fear. “Openingthe dome won’t help them. And we both know if they wanted to,




that many peacekeepers could blast through any dome.” Another blast from the Shadehawks tore into the mine’s admin-

istration buildings. Inside were the lunchroom, ofces, and assembly chambers. Today it was where the miners had taken their nal sanctu-ary. The next explosion brought everyone to attention, for behind itsrumble rose the screams of the men and women as they burned alive.

The diversion caused the boys to let go of Lazer, and again Lazergrabbed for the controls. This time it was Kyla who blocked him.

“It’s too late!” she screamed at him.Lazer shoved her aside. Now both teams encircled him. They threw him to the ground and held him down.

Kyla’s eyes lled with tears. She covered her ears to block thescreams of the dying miners.

Lazer struggled. Kyla knelt next to him. “If you open the dome,they’ll kill us, too,” she said, pleading with him.

“Listen to them! We gotta help them!” Lazer said, trembling with fear and rage.“We’ll die!” Striker shouted back at him.“Stop it,” Kyla yelled at Striker and the others.The screams from the miners amplied and echoed against the

hills. This time Kyla did not cover her ears.Finally, accepting the inevitable, Lazer pushed them off and

struggled to his feet, exhausted. Cashton looked at his friend. He wanted to reach out, place a sympathetic hand on Lazer’s shoul-der, but he didn’t have the chance. Lazer jerked away from them alland stumbled forward to the edge of the invisible dome. He was inshock. Tears welled in his eyes.

A series of concussions from the explosions pummeled thedome. Lazer watched as huge billows of white and orange smokebelched upward, carried higher and higher by ames that licked upat the darkening sky. Through the smoke they could see glimpses of the plant as it melted into a liquid mass of molten metal and slowly collapsed in on itself.

The screams stopped, leaving a haunting silence that lled their




ears until they heard an even more frightening sound—the engines of the ve Shadehawks, powering up out of hover speed. They backedaway from the mines and rotated to face the zoccair dome.

Lazer and his group stood motionless, awaiting their fate. Notunderstanding why, Kyla moved protectively in front of Lazer.

“Please, Lazer. Don’t move. Please,” she begged. She turnedback, still blocking his body with hers, to look at the approachingShadehawks.

Lazer was too stunned to respond. His eyes, like everyone else’s, were locked on the approaching ships. Slowly, surreally, the veShadehawks drifted out of formation and oated across the valley.The sound of their engines grew louder as they encircled the domeand hovered, still, ominous. They settled into attack position. Fromthe nose of the lead ship, a thin, green beam of laser light scannedthe proton dome, trying to read its occupants.

No one inside took a breath. Fate held them in the palm of itshand and determined if they should live or die. Kyla felt the tracerbeam move across her face; Lazer was shielded behind her.

From inside the lead Shadehawk, the same featureless Black Guard that led the temple attacks observed its prey. It watched, as-sessing the frail insignicant creatures who stood helplessly below.This time, there were no cameras to destroy, only a few human wit-

nesses. The dual band of green lights pulsed with increased intensity as the biodroid interpreted a series of subtle synapse charges thattingled inside its core strands. They were more than an electricaltransference of information or the mechanical surge of digital im-pulses. The biodroid had already experienced thought—cognitive,conscious realities, and even imagination—but this was a new sensa-tion. Its nanoband reference modules searched their memory banks.The biodroid pondered what could only be its rst emotion, whichcame in a calm uid rush, coursed through the metallic body, andmelted into the organic strands and membranes. It gave the biodroida sense of contentment. Was this compassion for these wide-eyedcreatures that stood in terror before him?




It carefully studied the readouts from the scan, just as anotherstrange feeling trickled in and reminded the biodroid why it hadcome and what it had done. It had destroyed the Vacary Mines and

with them the human genetics that blocked the key to his nal plan. Another feeling crept over him. It was warm and easy and lled with what he could only assume must have been satisfaction.

Calmly, the biodroid considered its next move. Its analyticalmind weighed the options and calculated the possibilities down to

the most innitesimal degree. Getting through the protective pro-ton dome to destroy these shivering young humans would be a wasteof both time and energy. There was nothing there it needed.

With a small gesture of his mechanical hand, he slid a ngeracross the communicator and signaled the Shadehawk sortie of as-sassins to depart. Obediently, the Shadehawks tipped back, turned,and accelerated away, vanishing into the blood red haze that bil-

lowed up from the mines and obliterated the light from the sun.Inside the dome, Lazer gently moved Kyla aside. He stared atthem, raw with pain, loss, and failure. He had been hurled into abottomless abyss of anguish. The tears that fell from his eyes burnedhis cheeks, streaking through the dirt that covered his sullen face.Lazer knew in his heart this horror was not over; he knew, as didthose who bore witness with him, that this was war, and it had only

just begun.



—| 79 |—

I 4

NAMED FIVE

T he tallest and most elegant of the biodroids—calledFive by the humans who worked with it—was evolving. It had been

created as a machine, with organic parts anchoring its core, but ithad transmutated at an alarming rate. From being a brilliant, ex-

acting, and analytical mechanism, it had evolved into somethingthat was now cognizant. First came thought, then imagination, andnow it was experiencing emotions—base, primitive, and sometimespainfully overwhelming. They swirled inside Five like a school of hungry piranha, nipping and stabbing with the prick of a milliontiny needles, anxious to make their presence known. Unable to de-cipher their meaning, Five could only suppress the feelings as they surged through his sensory bands until he could take the time toexplore them. At the moment, the emotion was rage.

Five railed at Massi, a young, copper-haired man whose thinstature, pale skin, and wiry hair made him resemble an orange-topped Q-tip with large blue eyes. Next to him, taking the bruntof the tirade, were two splicer healers, half-human/half-wolf, broth-ers from the same pack. They, and several humans, splicers, andbiodroid Series IV Black Guard, stood around the gnorb that satpatiently inside the open case. They were all mesmerized by its beauty and curious about its power.

“I asked Why ?” Five demanded, pacing like a caged animal infront of the gnorb.




Massi nodded to the splicer, allowing him to check on his fallenbrother. The splicer hesitated, glancing at Five. Five ignored him.The splicer gingerly crossed to the unconscious lump of esh andhair on the oor to check for signs of life.

“I need the Shadehawks to get a complete eukaryotic match,”Five insisted.

“It’s too dangerous, and your scanners are the only ones thatcan perform a complete light trace. Without you, we need an amino

sample from everyone whose genetics are even remotely close,” saidMassi.“Then get them. Scan to the closest match. Once the donor has

been identied, take an amino sample, prove the match, then vapor-ize them,” Five commanded. “Do I make myself clear?”




Lazer stared blank-faced as he listened. He was numb. All emo-tion had been rung out, leaving him as limp and tattered as a dishrag.He wanted to feel something, anything, but emotions eluded him.For that he supposed he should be grateful.

Detra entered, took the controls, and turned off the computer.She stood by her son for a long time. She wanted desperately to say something that would take away his pain, but she hurt more than

words could describe. She brushed the wayward curl from his fore-

head that always made him look like the little boy whose tears shehad kissed away so very long ago.This time kisses would not make the world shiny and new , Detra thought sadly to herself. With nothingelse to give, she offered her hand to her son. Solemnly, Lazer stoodand took her hand into his. It felt warm and soft, but looked smalland frail inside of his. Their eyes did not connect as, in deafeningsilence, they left his room together.

The Vacary Cemetery lay on a small open hillside west of the town-ship. Roses, hydrangeas, gladiolas, and an array of wildowers linedthe footpaths that twisted their way past the stone benches thatadorned the park. A ten-foot-tall marble angel stood in the centerof the eld; her arms held a tablet that housed a small holographic

screen, which, upon request, would display the faces and words of those who had passed from this world, but whose memories re-mained. For the mourners, it was supposed to be a celebration of their lives. The angel loomed above the small group of thirty or sofriends who had gathered to say goodbye to Rand Lazerman in themisting gloom.

Lazer stoically listened as the communicator from the UniversalDome of God droned on about life, injustice, and loss. He spokeof Rand not only as a wonderful man, but also as an outstandingcontributing member of the Collective. He talked about the valueshe stood for and how the world would never be the same because of his untimely death.




The jumble of words hummed in Lazer’s ears. He took a long,deep breath and shifted the hand that supported his mother. Detraleaned against him, unable to stand on her own. He glanced into herdistant, vacant eyes as they stared, unfocused, weary, and faded fromthe wash of too many tears. His mind spun in a barrage of confusionand concern. Detra had been in this cemetery less than a month ago,after the deaths of her friends and co-workers in the temple massa-cre. It had been difcult to release them into the universal void, but

now she had to give back the soul of the only man who had lovedher unconditionally. It was unbearable.The communicator nished and handed Detra a small infrared

control box that connected wirelessly to a twelve-inch white rocket. A rush of fear and loneliness made her body tremble. Her ears rang with denial. Detra stared at the controls, unable to touch them. Shecould not push the small red button that symbolized so much—the

end of a life, the loss of her soulmate. She looked at Lazer for help.He had to be the strength she had lost in her husband. She neededhim to change from boy to man in an instant. With the wide fright-ened eyes of a child, she took the box and held it out to him. Lazercupped her hands into his own. He felt the hard, cold metal of thestrange box that lay inside her trembling ngers.I’ll keep you safe . Atleast he could promise to do that for her.

Time stopped as they stared into each other’s eyes, each waitingfor an unspoken moment of mutual consent to send Rand’s spiritback to the universe. Together, they pressed the button and the littlerocket ignited, spiraling up into the clouds. Detra’s knees buckled asher breath was sucked from her. She collapsed into great sobs. ButLazer was there. He caught her in his arms and held her.

Lazer lifted his face into the cold wash of falling rain, gratefulthat it hid his tearless eyes. He watched the little rocket disappearinto the clouds. His father was gone, and with him all things inno-cent vanished, leaving only a gaping void where Lazer’s childhoodand adolescence had once been.



PART I i

Temple

Mountain



—| 87 |—

I

SANGELINO WORLDCORPORATE COUNCIL

T he Triumvirate Headquarters sat at the center of Sangelino.The world capital was a vast megalopolis with sensual archi-

tecture and glorious hanging gardens. It attracted the most brilliantand creative people on Earth to come into her streets, universities,museums, boardrooms, and theaters. They brought with themmagnicent ideas, wondrous wit, provocative literature, and thecleverest and most eclectic fashions from every culture—all blendedinto a grand unied ideology, science, and technology. These werethe greatest minds on the planet, and they came together under thebanner of the corporate and Triumvirate leaders as representatives of peace, power, and wisdom. But today, the chambers and conferencerooms of the World Headquarters contained frightened, concernedcitizens who had gathered to assess the information about an attack on a continent thousands of miles away.

Aleece Avery, the only woman on the Triumvirate, looked trou-

bled as she walked down the cool marble corridors. Delicate linestraced her face, and her hair glowed prematurely silver and sparkled with the light of a axen moon spilling across a mountain lake. Itgave her the distinguished air of both an Earth mother and a wiseleader, and crowned her as elegantly as the sheer, pearl gray tunicthat draped her one-piece organic ber suit and revealed the muscles




of her still-youthful body. All those who had voted her into ofceloved her. Today, the pace of her steps and the determined furrow of her brow revealed the tension behind her eyes.

Aleece walked briskly with her husband, Dante Avery Labov.He was about the same age as she, with an angular face, a strongchin, and deep, sympathetic brown eyes. He wore a businessman’stunic suit and a simple row of status ribbons and security bandsthat gave him access throughout the Triumvirate Headquarters.

Dante privately owned and ran several service companies that sup-ported the global community; his largest company was ice miningthe new poles to supply water to arid countries. He sat on a variety of councils for the big corporations and was an indispensable advi-sor and lead secretary to Aleece and her cabinet. Dante was only afew inches taller than his statuesque wife, and they always turnedheads when they entered a room. They were deeply in love and

cherished every moment together. Aleece knew she could trust andrely on him; in all the years they had been together, he had neverlet her down.

A young aide caught up to them and handed Aleece several disksin preparation for the World Corporate Council meeting that wasalready in session.

“I want to see proof that both attacks were done by the Black

Guard,” Aleece demanded of the aide, without slowing her pace.“Page seven of Mysner’s report, Madam Triumvirate. Eyewitnesses

near the mines,” the aide replied nervously. “A group of teens hadbeen playing at the company’s game eld.”

“Does that report include ocular readings taken during the au-topsies from Orbis Temple victims?” Dante asked.

“Yes, sir, page twelve.” The aide struggled to keep up.“They all showed matching death images?” Aleece was sickened

by the thought.“Ocular prints are inadmissible.”“Black Guard, Universal God,” Dante said, with a hint of ab-

horrence.




“They’re machines. How could they attack humans?” Aleeceasked.

“They’re not machines, Aleece. They’re biodroids—part ma-chine, part virus, and part human.”

“Programmed to protect,” Aleece snapped.“Aren’t the ocular images enough to show the Black Guard stole

the gnorb?” Dante asked.“Apparently not, because of the high level of visual distortion,”

Aleece quickened her pace. She was ustered. “What would they want with it? Universal God, we don’t even understand it.”“Perhaps someone knows something we don’t,” the aide inter-

jected. Suddenly she realized that she had overstepped her bounds.“Sorry, Madam Triumvirate.”

Aleece had not considered that idea until that very moment.“That would mean whoever is controlling the gnorbs has infor-

mation not being shared with the Collective,” Aleece’s mind took agreat quantum leap as she considered all the horric possibilities.Dante knew where she was headed. He argued that there was no

obvious reason for anyone to take one of the four gnorbs.“Was the joint gnorb hypothesis ever tested?” the aide asked

gingerly.Dante and Aleece looked at her, waiting for more information.

“Which hypothesis? There have been dozens.”“There was a paper posted on the Vybernet that theorized if the

four gnorbs were placed in proximity, they would interact as a solepower or communication source.”

The Vybernet had replaced the Internet with photonic transmis-sion, transferring information across vibrating light waves. It wasfaster and completely crash- and pirate-proof.

“Power source for what?” Dante asked.“It wasn’t determined. I don’t think whoever proposed the hy-

pothesis got clearance to try, and no one was willing to give up hisor her gnorb to test the premise,” she explained.

“Who wrote the paper?” Aleece was anxious to know the answer.




4,000 miles from him. Dante stopped his wife and nodded to theaide to move ahead of them. Gently he pulled his wife to the sideand looked into her eyes.

“You’re far too valuable to the Collective to go to Atlantia, notto mention to me.”

“I want to see for myself, so I can convince them.”“You’ll have to convince your daughter rst, then you can worry

about the rest of the Triumvirate.”

“Riana will understand, probably better that anyone, includingyou.” She smiled at him.“We both know you’ll do what you have to.” Dante lifted her

face to his and touched her cheek lovingly. “You always do. It’s why I love you.” He pulled her close and gave her the kind of loving em-brace that always bolstered her courage. She relaxed into his arms.By the time they separated, she had the strength she needed to face

what she knew she had to do.“Tell Riana I’ll call her after I get out of chambers. Tell her not toforget her session with Masta Poe today,” Aleece said, as she turned,squared her shoulders, and condently stepped into Earth’s unity chamber.



—| 93 |—

2

RIANA AND MASTA POE

A small ock of newborn archeops—part-condor/part-python—ew through the cityscape of Sangelino. They

were both primitive and futuristic, but they were no fantasy.

They were real and, upon maturation, deadly. They apped theirdragon-like wings that, even on the youths, spanned six feet ineither direction and darkened the afternoon sky. People steppedonto their balconies to watch and marvel as the magnicent crea-tures passed, soaring over the curved spires and foliage-drapedtowers of central Sangelino.

Their massive shadows swept across the ornate balconies that

protruded from the back of the Triumvirate Headquarters and hungover the cliffs above the Covax City crevasse. Fourteen-year-oldRiana Avery Labov stood on the center balcony and watched. Riana

was tall and slender with a thick head of honey hair and captivatingturquoise eyes that caught the sun with ecks of silver and gold. Herfather always told her they sparkled brightest when she smiled.

Riana was the only daughter of a world leader. She had grownup in her mother’s shadow, with the spotlight of the entire worldpopulation glaring in her face. The good and the bad of it was noth-ing more to her than life as usual. Even at such a tender age, she wasat ease with whatever life threw her way. It seemed as if she wereborn to be at the center of global attention. And she was unique.




Her charismatic presence had a mesmerizing effect on both peopleand animals that bordered on uncanny.

Her gifts far exceeded the inherent abilities of someone soyoung. She performed the few Visionistic Arts she had been taught

with controlled innocence and grace. Her connection with hermother at times was more than psychic. The fact that Riana knew her mother’s every feeling so precisely was, though sometimestroubling to Aleece, in the end a godsend. Often, in the midst of

her hectic schedule, she and Riana could be together telepathically,playing in their imaginary mental worlds while their physical bod-ies were miles apart. Aleece had taught herself to block from herdaughter the darker thoughts that came with the weight of worldpower, but she knew that shards of harsh reality still bled throughthe cracks in her heavy heart. There were times when Riana would

weep for Aleece to help release the tension, but it took its toll on

Riana’s health. At one point, it almost claimed her life. Finally,to protect Riana from the constant pressures of world power thathung so heavy in her mother’s mind, Aleece stopped allowing thetelepathic visits.

Riana’s ability to move matter and read thoughts was somethingshe was learning to control under the sporadic tutelage of MastaPoe. At seven, Riana had spent a summer with the amazing Poe,

when she came to teach at Sangelino University. Poe was amazed atRiana’s capabilities and told Aleece that her daughter’s education inthe Visionistic Arts had only just begun. She had asked Aleece to waituntil Riana was fourteen to continue her instruction, and Aleece hadcomplied. Riana’s greatest dream was attending Tosadae, and Aleeceand Dante fully intended to make sure it happened. Now, she wasalmost fteen and Masta Poe felt it was time to continue.

The ock of young archeops turned in perfect formation anddove playfully downward into the ssures beneath Covax City. AboveRiana, the sky lled with the sound of Politia sirens echoing off the canopy of clouds, and she turned her attention to the CreatureControl Unit, a large patrol of Politia transports that would destroy




the baby archeops in a matter of moments. The citizens of Sangelino would once again be safe.

Riana hated that something so beautiful had to be annihilated,but man had played god and, in doing so, created new species of pred-ators. The archeops, like so many other wild animal splicers, couldn’tbe left to breed unchecked. The fear that their growing numbers mighttip the ecosystem and force humankind into extinction was a harshreality. Riana walked back inside her mother’s ofce to wait for her ses-

sion with the renowned Masta Poe. She closed the heavy glass doors toavoid the sound of the blasters and screams of the dying birds. When she turned, she saw Masta Poe standing across the room.

She was all of ve feet tall, yet her presence completely lled thespace.

“It makes you sad to know they’ll be destroyed,” Masta Poe said,her voice oating into the room like warm, liquid honey.

“Yes.” Riana glanced out the window for a moment, thenturned back to Masta Poe.Masta Poe was an albino splicer—part-human/part-prosim-

ian gibbon—profoundly intelligent and extraordinarily wise. Herhuman features dominated her overall appearance, but her animalgenetics were clearly present. Well into her seventies, she lookedyounger than most thirty-year-olds. She had large, round, lavender-

blue eyes lled with strength and kindness. Her years living beneaththe Earth with her parents had made her eyes sensitive to light, soshe often wore a rose-tinted, mono-lens shield to protect them fromthe sun’s glare. She had a low widow’s peak that grew back into acrown of owing silken white hair that covered her pale ivory back.

Masta Poe, who taught at the famed Tosadae Academy, trainedher students in the forgotten powers—powers held by those acrossthe millennia who honored the Universal God force that residedinside their beings. Those who remembered their powers had eachused their amazing gifts for the betterment of mankind. Masta Poe’sVisionistic Arts courses were brilliantly designed to help her studentsawaken the vast and eternal powers that lay inside the emotions of




the human heart, so they could utilize the human mind to full capac-ity. She knew that if all humans were connected to the energy ow of the universe, they could achieve oneness and eliminate hatred, war,hunger, poverty, and greed. These destructive elds of energy wouldbe obsolete, and love, harmony, and peace would reign.

A second-generation splicer, Poe’s humanity was new to her. Shehad learned to remember her human powers and created the Artsto teach the humans who had lost their inner powers. Poe was one

of the most revered and powerful mystics on the planet and, by far, Tosadae Academy’s shining star. Riana understood the honorof being chosen to study with Masta Poe at such a young age. “It’simportant,” Aleece’s message had said. Riana replayed the words onher wristsponder.

“It’s good to see you Masta Poe, but why have you come? Ithought I wouldn’t see you until I started school at Tosadae.”

Masta Poe smiled. “You are my prize student, Riana, and thereis a destiny awaiting you and a few chosen others that must be at-tended to before . . .” Masta Poe did not nish her thought.

Riana looked curiously at her and tried to grasp what she wasn’tsaying.

“You may read my mind if you like.”Riana blushed. She loved that Masta Poe existed in the same

intellectual plane as she when it came to telekinetic communication.Classied as one of the Indigo children, Riana could read minds,project thoughts, and move and bend small objects, but the chanceto learn and understand the greater forces of the Visionistic Artsexcited her. In the past, Masta Poe had said she was too young, butRiana could sense something had changed. She felt a strange ur-gency in Masta Poe that had not been there previously.

“You want to teach me to levitate for my protection?” Riana wassurprised by the thoughts she had just read.

“Close. Your mother would like me to teach you to go negative.The vibration process is very similar. Once you understand one, thesecond is quite easy.”




Riana took a deep breath and let out a sweet, single-noted sound.“Let it resound in your body until every cell inside you reverber-

ates with it.”Riana followed Masta Poe’s instructions, harmonizing her inner

self with every cell and molecule in her body.“When you feel the oneness of the harmonic vibration connect

to every cell, I want you to imagine yourself oating.” Masta Poe joined in making a sound, adding a perfect fth note.

Riana closed her eyes, breathing through the single note thatowed through the room like a siren’s song. She imagined she was acloud—light, soft, and completely weightless. She saw herself drift-ing formlessly across a bright blue sky and could feel the cool breezeagainst her skin and smell the freshness of her own unfallen rain. A strange peace came over her as her mind, body, and spirit melted ina rush of pure bliss. Riana smiled.

Masta Poe slowly opened her hands and released Riana’s hands,smiling as Riana gently lifted off the oor and oated.



—| 99 |—

3

THE COVAX INQUIRY

T he Committee on Subversive Activities had been questioningCovax for over four hours. They had badgered and harassed

him as if he were on trial, bringing up his history and both the good

and bad legacies.Covax sat in the middle of a long library table anked by his twofemale advocates—disturbingly identical clones down to the minut-est detail. The clones were unnaturally pale, with tight, pulled back,

white-yellow hair and an even tighter attitude. Clones made up thebulk of the attorney population these days—the only species will-ing to deal with this last bastion of the complex bureaucracy called

the law. These two were Jamila and Kamila Eastbrook, second-gen-eration clones of a well-known civil rights advocate, famous for her

work in the late twentieth century. They objected relentlessly, tryingto protect Covax, but the format of the inquiry made it difcult atbest.

The interrogator laid out everything from Covax’s birth in 65,telling the panel of Ducane’s humble beginnings in the fallen ru-ins of what had once been the western sides of San Francisco, Los

Angeles, and San Diego—cities that over the decades had grownalmost completely together. They all knew the history of how one of the most devastating of the Great Quakes had split what had oncebeen called California and sent half the cities tumbling down to




the bottom of the great San Andreas ssure, far below what wouldbecome the vast megatropolis of Sangelino.

Covax had been the only child in a family that had struggledhard to endure in a chaotic world. His parents, both self-taughthealers, had educated him until they were killed in a hunger riot

just before his fteenth birthday. But Covax was a survivor. Moreimportantly, he was a brilliant visionary with an insatiable appetitefor knowledge. He saw the hungry and homeless who hadn’t found

a place in the pristine city of Sangelino, 300 meters above, and usedhis amazing genius to carve a world for them down in the rubbleof the ssures. He had taken the twisted remains of the subwaysand sewers that ran beneath San Francisco, Los Angeles, and SanDiego, which had been exposed by the quake that split the land, andrebuilt them into practical dwellings, affordable to all those strug-gling in the post-quake world. By the age of nineteen, Covax had

created a real estate empire. He designed a reverse architecture andconstructed buildings that hung from the cliffs down into the s-sures below Sangelino. He called it Covax City. It was a marvel of ingenuity and a wonderment of engineering—cascading buildingsthat seemed to pour over the land and hang like great steel andglass stalactites, dangling inverted from the underbelly of Sangelino.Many of the structures hung all the way to the Fissure Canals at

the very bottom of the great crevasse, a place where languages andcultures melted into a combination of Spanish, English, Arabic,and Japanese—called Spajetak, a kind of new-world Swahili. Covaxbuilt condos into the sheer rock-face walls with back entrances thattunneled deep into the old metro systems. He kept the Asian archi-tectural inuence from old San Francisco, the Spanish avor fromSan Diego, and used Pueblo Indian cliff house design to incorporatethe face of the exposed ssure. He wove the styles together into thecoolest, newest culture on the planet. People came from everywhereto be part of it. The Age of Light was truly here and it shone uponDucane Covax as a warm, golden sun . . . until the ckle hand of fateblackened his spotlight of glory.




Covax had decided to expand into food services to feed thepeople who lived in his housing. His visionary eye knew that bio-engineered food was the wave of the future. He had situated hisbiogenetic labs in the lowermost area of Covax City. There, he splin-tered his empire from housing to food supplies. Their credo wasBioengineering bigger, better food for a hungry planet . Covax’s concept

was to cross-engineer the genetics of plants so they could grow big-ger and better vegetables—a few bushels could feed an entire town.

Covax had no intention of venturing into the realm of geneticsplicing until 89 A.Q., when the Illiatius virus infected the planet with the heartlessness of a foul wind. It had been brought back toEarth decades earlier from one of the lunar bases put in place by anegotistical world leader who had wanted to leave his name in the his-tory books. His name had been stricken from the books and was stillunspoken. He had launched a tactical nuclear attack to end a need-

less war, which forced what was now known as the Lost Territories tobe sealed under a proton dome, forever doomed by the fallout thatstill shrouded the region.

The Illiatius virus had been accidentally released by a clumsy research assistant who had been too afraid to tell anyone what hadhappened. The microscopic particles moved through the hepa ventsof the facility and out into the atmosphere, where the virus attacked

and killed all the domesticated animals in the area. Once out, thevirus was carried on the prevailing winds inside the Coriolis patternsto the four corners of Earth. No one knew what was happeninguntil it was too late. In a matter of weeks, the virus wiped out every cat, dog, pet bird, chicken, and cow. Once contracted, it disinte-grated the lungs and suffocated its prey within hours. The death wasquick but painful. Humans could only stand by and watch help-lessly, grateful they were immune. The outcome was overwhelming.

When nothing was left to kill, the insidious virus vanished back intohibernation.

“Dr. Covax, did you or did you not capitalize on the tragedy of the I.L. virus by genetically splicing animals and creating dangerous




breeds without proper testing and seemingly without regard for theconsequences of such an act? Were you not merely concerned withgrowing prots, and did this shortsightedness ultimately cost count-less lives?” The lead interrogator’s tone was rude and inammatory.

Jamila interrupted the interrogator. “I object. This is an issuealready put to rest, sir, and we do not see its relevance here.”

“It establishes a pattern with Dr. Covax. One we may be in dan-ger of having to see repeated, counselor.”

“May I speak to this?” Covax asked calmly and deliberately, hav-ing been down this road too many times in the past.The interrogator nodded his approval, and Covax continued.“The deaths caused by the virus left an emotional void in our

world. A great and painful loss. If you’ll remember, we were in astate of global mourning over our beloved pets, which some peopleconsidered as affectionately as they would their own children. My

team worked day and night for years, trying to nd a solution toease the pain that resulted from the loss of these pets. I funded yearsof failed experiments, but never gave up hope. Then, as you know,one of my young scientists came upon a sequencing technique anda genetic conversion liquid that allowed us to cross the geneticdivide below the cellular level.” Covax’s voice dropped ever so im-perceptibly when he spoke of this scientist. “Unlike the genetically

altered half-human/half-mammals engineered after the turn of thetwenty-rst century and in deance to the biotech rms that hadpatented every human and non-human genome for personal gain,these amino acid strands were placed in a special particle solutionthat opened the walls of creation and redistributed the codes in freeexchange, thus allowing mammal, amphibian, insect, reptile, andaviary creatures alike to commingle and bond at a particle level.”

“So you seized the opportunity to create a new kind of pet?” Theinterrogator asked.

“A new kind of pet for a new kind of world. We called themsplicers—beautiful, exotic, sweet, adorable creatures,” Covax an-swered. His voice was lled with compassion.




“Living pets, created not by nature but by man.” The interroga-tor claried for the Assembly.

“What my team realized, once we created the splicers, was thatthey could be taught to love unconditionally, just like their domes-ticated predecessors. Once we informed people of this new breed,orders came in so fast we had a two-year waiting list.”

“And you chose not to adequately test their physical or intuitivenatures past a few months?”

“No one could have predicted these creatures would change theirnature so drastically and without warning. To even speculate was a ri-diculous notion,” Covax retorted. But one person had imagined whatcould happen. Covax had edited his story, never mentioning that hisbeautiful, brilliant, lead scientist and wife-to-be had warned him of the dangers that could come from insufciently testing the creatures.“What if they aren’t stable?” she had asked again and again.

“But you were a businessman, hungry for success. You saw theenormous nancial potential, not only for pets but also for food. You mean to say there was not one voice of reason that said you weregoing too far too fast?” The interrogator pushed.

“No,” Covax responded coolly, while remembering how she hadgiven him an ultimatum, threatening to walk out if he didn’t at leastslow down. Covax didn’t believe she would leave. In the end, he

chose business over love. After her departure, his entire scienticstaff abandoned him.

The loss of her love and respect devastated him and drove Covaxdeeper into his work. He hired new geneticists and pushed them totheir limits. First, they crossed creatures like elephants, bears, wildboars, condors, and wildebeests, thus developing new sources fordomestic food. He bred whole new species of cows crossed with el-ephants, chickens crossed with ostriches, and pigs with hippos. Theresults were stellar: the creatures his team designed grew into enor-mous two-ton food sources. Covax and his scientists moved fromland creatures to sea life and crossed whales with salmon—a singlecreature that could feed a small town.




your work, Dr. Covax. Splicers ate the children of their masters andmurdered the rest of the family before anyone had a chance to react.Others carried off young girls. The splicers with human geneticsescaped from cities around the world and vanished into the moun-tains, ssures, deserts, waters and wilderness areas that had yet to besettled, even a hundred years after the quake. The creatures ed, butnot before they took the lives of millions of people who had consid-ered them their loving pets. Is this not true, Dr. Covax?”

“Laws were passed on Dr. Covax’s insistence,” Jamila interjected.“To secure his monopoly,” the interrogator accused.“Objection!” Kamila jumped in. “Conjecture.”The interrogator launched into a tirade. “Those laws unleashed

a witch hunt. The entire human population demanded the an-nihilation of every single splicer. Thousands were captured andslaughtered by angry, frightened mobs. Some of the girls who had

survived breeding with their captors and the difcult birth of theiroffspring escaped, only to fall into the hands of those who sought todestroy the ‘babies’ they carried in their arms. Hundreds of children,

who were more human than animal, survived the executions, butonly because their genetic traits—such as hidden wings or webbedngers and feet—were undetectable to most. Only a Politia seeker,genetically enhanced with x-ray implants, knew what to look for.

Those whose children resembled the dominant genetics of their fa-thers—with beaked faces, feathers for hair, claws, or hoofed feet andhands—were ripped from their mothers’ arms and murdered.”

“Those young mothers were already confused by the horror of their ordeal. If you remember, they banded together and, with Dr.Covax’s support, begged the Council to spare their half-breed chil-dren,” Kamila said.

Covax shifted in his seat. The interrogation had turned into atrial, and his attorneys were getting sucked in.

The interrogator got red up again. “Some of those babies, whocarried predominantly human genetics, were granted the right tolive, but, according to these statistics, many were not. The rest of




these young mothers and their strange offspring went into hidingunder the ssure forests that grew beneath Covax City. Some disap-peared into the wild outlands of Atlantia and New Antarctica or, if they had gills, vanished deep into Panazanian Seas. The more gro-tesque creatures slipped into the bottomless labyrinths that spiraledinto the cavernous core of the South Republic. And because of your

work, they live in the darkness as outcasts from society.” The inter-rogator stared at Covax.

“Dr. Covax did . . .” Kamila started to speak.“ . . . too little too late. It wasn’t until human guilt, pity, andremorse at what was happening that these creatures were allowedback into civilized society. Those young mothers and their offspring,and even some of the more docile creature splicers, came back tocivilization. But the other mothers, the ones who had grown old andbitter with their darker, more dangerous offspring, did not. Nor did

the tens of thousands of deadly creature splicers that were spawned.For good reason, they considered man both foe and food. They pre-ferred the darkness of the underworld to breed their kind and avoidthe scrutiny of the light.”

Finally, Covax understood. His genetics were subtle, but the leadinterrogator was part splicer . . . and this investigation was personal.

“It took fteen years to prove that I was not responsible for those

deaths,” Covax shouted as he leapt from his seat. “This planet for-gave me only after I had been banished, started a new life, and savedthousands of Atlantians with the protectorate forces I invented. AndI will not stand by and let a vindictive splicer drag me into this in-quisition without one shred of proof.”

The room erupted in a cacophony of mumbling voices and dart-ing eyes.

Kamila gently pulled Covax’s sleeve, guiding him back into hisseat.

“Dr. Covax has been unjustly blamed for the death and destruc-tion caused by the original splicers,” Jamila began and gesturedtoward her client. “The Collective corrected their mistake, but not




before this man was sent to live in exile. He lost any fortune hemade, and to this day the world does not speak of Dr. Covax’s nu-merous good works. Let’s not repeat this injustice.”

“Dr. Covax, how are the Black Guard safeguarded from thekinds of dangers we saw with the splicers?”

“They are machines,” Covax stated. His fatigue began to show,as he told them as simply as he could that their original conception

was elementary: take the amino acids from DNA and attach data

to the strands. The strands, which had replaced microchips onehundred years earlier, were resilient and, because of their self-repli-cating nature, could expand exponentially. Covax lled the strands

with all the knowledge of humanity and inserted them into themachines. It was a journey of trial and error; the rst strands failedmiserably. The delicate amino acids were crystallized by the highheat produced by the machines and would self-destruct within the

rst few hours of life.Needing an amino strand that couldn’t be destroyed, Covax bor-rowed viral strands diluted from the original I.L. virus, which heknew to be virtually indestructible. He had saved only enough of the banned I.L. virus to make sure his creations would be safe fromfurther infection. But the viruses were strong, with their alien DNA-based genomes, and they were quick to replicate. They produced

RNA and thrived in the high temperatures. The machinery actedlike incubators for the viruses, and from it the biodroids were cre-ated—machines with a biological brain. That made up the rst threeseries; only to the fourth did he add his own DNA.

Covax emphatically insisted, “The Black Guard are machinesand, just like any machine, they are not capable of acting on their ownrecognizance. I did not command these murderous acts on Atlantia,and I am conducting a detailed and extensive investigation to nd

what or who is behind them. It is just as much in my interest to puta stop to this as it is in yours. I will share any and all information Iuncover in strict accordance with the Truth and Information Act.”

Covax was compelling. His life, his legacy, and his successes and




failures had left him stronger and more dignied than he had everbeen in his life. The empaths in the room studied his aura and, af-ter conferring with the interrogation committee for another hour,Ducane Covax was acquitted and released.



—| 109 |—

4

QUESTIONSAND ANSWERS

In the World Corporate Council headquarters chamber, a thou-

sand men, women, mutants, gens, and splicers sat in the tieredbalconies and shouted at each other. The World Corporate Councilsat in a smaller ring of chairs on the oor, with the three-memberTriumvirate anchoring the center. Above them all, an enormous,curved holographic screen oated so the various speakers could beseen from every angle and elevation.

Various members of the Collective argued about the rights of

the Atlantians and the responsibilities of the Collective, the corpo-rate leaders, and especially the Politia. Aleece heard only the factthat they were concerned about their own welfare. The longer they argued, the more obvious it was that the Atlantians had no voice.

Aleece Avery Labov stood. She held up her hands to quiet theCollective, to no avail. Finally she shouted, and her voice, electroni-cally amplied, rose above their anger.

“Hear me. We are speaking about biodroids—machines incapableof errant behavior against humans. No one is addressing the fact thatthe problems on Atlantia are far more serious than the Council or theCollective will recognize, especially if even one of the Black Guardhas malfunctioned. The Atlantians have asked that we intercede as we




did for the Mutants. We must do something to protect the Atlantiansand, ultimately, ourselves.”

Triumvirate Baz Mangalan looked at her coldly, obviously cal-culating the reaction to every word she spoke. He knew she held theCollective in her hands and had done so since her victories in theMutant War. It was because of her heroic past that they had unani-mously voted her into ofce. Everyone knew that the voice of thepeople, if she rallied them to her side, could override the Triumvirate

and the Big Six combined. That was not to say that Mangalan’s opin-ions weren’t highly respected. His amazing genius rivaled the likes of Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein; his work in energy had helpedbring the world together. But he had a cruel face and a cunning way about him that dealt only with hard facts and, for as long as Aleecehad known him, rarely with emotions. Mangalan rose from his chair,unfurled his lanky six-foot, six-inch frame, and raised his thin, spi-

dery arms to gather the attention of the frightened Collective.“We don’t have that right. The request to send in peacekeep-ing forces came from a select few, not the majority. And, until it isa majority, our hands are tied. We are here to vote on your motionregarding whether or not we should authorize an envoy of Politia toinvestigate the events on Atlantia. But, until we have proof in theform of the Atlantians’ determination of a clear and present danger,

they have no reason to pull the Black Guard from their duties on Atlantia or for us to send in armed Politia forces. Only in an act of war that threatens the world Collective can we override the corpo-rate constitution and send Politia forces into a free state.”

The room broke into a mumble, everyone conferring overMangalan’s logic and the effects of breaking protocol with unsub-stantiated evidence.

Mangalan looked around the room with a hint of contempt,frustrated by the exercise of having to convince his intellectual infe-riors of the obvious. Aleece and many others detested his arrogance.“Besides,” he added, “is Triumvirate Avery asking the Collective tonance this unwarranted invasion without proof?”




“The death of over 2,700 people is reason enough to take a standagainst the Black Guard and send in temporary forces. Peacekeepers,not an invasion,” Aleece corrected him.

“Call it what you will, we cannot approve such an action with-out a conclusive report,” Mangalan argued.

“We haven’t even required the Atlantians to give us a deadline tosubmit their report. The Atlantian people live in daily fear of anoth-er attack.” Aleece faced the Collective. “What if the same biodroids

who protected you were capable of killing you?”The chamber members mumbled among themselves, consider-ing her point.

The third Triumvirate, Blane Fahan, didn’t stand. He was asplicer who had fought alongside Aleece in the Mutant Wars. Hehad great respect for her and she him. Fahan was part-amphibian/part-human; his genetics leaned heavily on the human side, but his

skin was scaled and reected an ambient pallor of opalescent colors.His sh gills and large eyes were placed attractively into his humanface, and the surprising effect was a look of kind intelligence. He

wore an aqua ring of salt water around his neck that covered his gillsand allowed him to breathe.

“We must remember that before the Black Guard, Atlantia ex-isted in a state of unbridled carnage,” Fahan reminded them.

“Yes, and parts of Atlantia are still uncharted open territories, freeto anyone who has the courage to stake a claim,” Aleece responded.“But that doesn’t mean they should have to fear for their lives.”

“Robbery, rape, and murder had been their life before the Black Guard. They had no one to enforce the law,” Fahan said.

“That was over fteen years ago and, as far as I’m concerned, wefailed them then, as well. Let’s not do it again!” Aleece was clearly exasperated by the exchange.

“Fifteen years ago is exactly when Dr. Covax initiated theBlack Guard forces and brought peace to Atlantia. To request theBlack Guard protection services to stop would be irresponsible onour parts. We can’t let them fall back into chaos with nothing to




protect them,” Fahan insisted. “And legally, we can’t even proposePolitia protection without permission from both the Atlantians andCorporate.”

“They don’t have corporate status,” Mangalan brought up whathe considered the bottom line.

“Then get their permission and send in temporary Politia forces.One division,” she pleaded with him, as if he hadn’t heard her theother three times.

Mangalan’s advisor nished reading a communication that had just been sent. She tapped her boss’ shoulder and whispered in hisear. What she told him lifted the slightest shadow of a smile ontoMangalan’s thin lips.

The Collective mumbled back in protest. This time, Mangalanraised his hand to quell them. “Until the World Corporate Counciland the World Collective come to a joint decision on who will rep-

resent Atlantia’s corporate rights, all we can do is accept your motionto request that the Atlantians allow a team of Politia to do a fullinvestigation of these two isolated incidents.” There was logic in hisvoice and a supportive burble arose across the entire chamber.

“I’m afraid I must concur, Dr. Avery,” Blane Fahan said. “Twoisolated incidents are not acts of a potential world war.”

“And what if they aren’t isolated incidents? What if they are the

rst of multiple calculated attacks? What if the Co-federation, theRepublic, the Common Market—all of us—are in danger? How longdo we give them to build up forces before we react?” she shouted.

The crowd fell silent. She had frightened them, and in doing soturned them against her. She could sense it in the faces that staredback at her from around the room. Aleece knew she was right; shealso knew she was outnumbered.

“Are you suggesting that Dr. Covax is initiating these acts of treason?” Mangalan confronted her.

“That is not what I said.” Aleece was defending both herself and Covax. She had done so many times in the past, but she alwaysbelieved his actions were never deliberate.




“Then who is controlling them?” Mangalan asked.“The biodroids might be acting on their own recognizance,”

she insisted.“In that case, may the Universal God have pity on all of us,”

Fahan said.“That’s absurd,” Mangalan responded with a cold, cutting edge.

“They’re machines.”“Has anyone considered the fact that these acts of deance from

the biodroids might be sentient—a cyber virus capable of infect-ing every nanobrain-based network on Earth?” she blurted out the words.

The room fell into an icy hush. She had gone too far. EvenDante knew that kind of assumption without proof could start aglobal panic.

Neither Mangalan nor Fahan liked what she was implying.

“Since we don’t have any evidence to conrm your theories, I think your accusations are sensationalistic and irrelevant to this discussion,Triumvirate.” Mangalan’s tone was patronizing and parental.

“According to the polls, we are in full agreement on a limitedPolitia investigation,” Fahan said, reading the poll returns. “Once

we have enough information to render a conclusion and determineif there is a reasonable danger to the Collective,and if we can prove

the biodroids are becoming sentient, we will take measures.”“Until then, unless the Collective disagrees, I want to accept

your motion that we follow corporate policy, send in an investiga-tion team, and wait for the results.” Mangalan had drawn a line inthe political sands and dared Aleece to cross.

“Without a peacekeeping division to accompany them, it’s asuicide mission. These acts are only the tip of this dragon’s tail, andmy greatest fear is that Triumvirate Mangalan will be the one who

will feed us to this monster whole,” Aleece whispered to Fahan, aftercovering her audio enhancer. She sat back down in her seat as theCouncil prepared to take the nal vote.

Aleece’s mind raced. It would take months before the team was




selected, and who knew how long it would be before she had thefacts she needed to put a division of peacekeeping forces on Atlantia.There was, however, one contact inside the core of the Black Guardupon whom she could call, but that call was personal and riddled

with volatile emotions. She would hold that card until she needed toplay it. When she did, she would need to play her hand with greatcaution. She glared at Mangalan, knowing most clearly of all thatshe needed Baz Mangalan out of her way. What she didn’t realize

was that he had already begun the alternative solution—how to getrid of her.



—| 115 |—

5

CELEBRATION OF LIFE

T he funeral “park” service was followed by the obligatory “cel-ebration of life” at the home of the deceased’s family. The

Lazerman living room was clean and comfortable, with curved wood

furnishings tastefully accented in chrome and Plexiglas. Everyonefrom the complex had come with platters of food and luscious des-serts made with spun honey from the scarabites and whipped whalemilk for the bioengineered fruits, including everyone’s favorite com-fort foods: one-foot-wide strawberries, chunked and ready to dip in

warm chocolate, and sliced bananas the size of dinner plates, bakedand glazed in butter and gobs of gooey brown sugar. The guests ate

and mingled respectfully as they talked about Rand, his contribu-tion to the community, and the inconceivable reality that he haddied. There had now been not just one, but two attacks that haddisrupted the tranquility of their hamlet and caused so many deaths.Each person added some tidbit of information that fed into the on-going discussion about the Black Guard.

The surreal situation was more enhanced by the relentlessVybernet online news streams that played, pic-in-pic, beforethem on a ten-foot holoscreen that oated in the center of theLazermans’ living room. Lazer sat next to his mother and expand-ed the ANN feed. He blew up the miniaturized square that held anattractive anchorwoman with an East Indian accent to full screen




and tweaked the volume as she spoke about the tragedies unfold-ing on Atlantia.

“Funerals were held across western Atlantia for 2,706 livessenselessly lost in the vicious attack on the Vacary Methane Mineson April 16,” she said in her melodically warm and appropriately melancholy tone. The screen lled with a visual of the Triumvirateleadership headquarters, home of the World Corporate Council,Information Exchange Bureau, and the Collective Representatives

as she continued. “The leaders of the World Triumvirate have con-vened with corporate and Collective members in an emergency council session to discuss the recent attacks on the Atlantian ter-ritories. The Information Bureau reported to ANN there are plansto place a motion before the Corporate Council to investigate theseruthless attacks. The Triumvirate must quickly decide what to do

with the lack of Politia protection on the young continent.”

Investigate! Lazer felt a knot twisting in his stomach. It was clearto him the Council wasn’t meeting about what could be done to help Atlantia. They were meeting to discuss the security and well-beingof the rest of the world, and what danger might spill out of the dis-enfranchised territory and infect the rest of the Collective. Atlantia

was still without a corporate sponsor, which, according to the oldcorporate laws, meant it wasn’t entitled to Politia protection.

“In accordance with the Truth and Information Act, World lead-ers promise current information will be made available to both thecorporate and Collective branches as soon as the nal votes are cal-culated.” Her voice trailed off into a drone of historical facts about

Atlantia.Lazer’s attention shifted to the electronic chime of the doorbell.

A tired glance from Lazer’s mother told him that he needed to play host; without a word, Lazer dutifully responded. He pushed up fromthe couch, ignoring the stiffness in his arms and legs, which achedfrom the torturous tension that had kept him from sleep since hisfather’s death. Lazer let in a few more guests, many of whom he wassure had already been to a multitude of other services throughout




the neighboring townships. With a nod, he gestured to Detra. He was grateful he didn’t have to smile.

Lazer drifted back into the living room with Cashton close be-hind. Cashton and Kyla had been there all day. She helped with thefood and guests. Cashton said little but stayed close at hand. ForLazer, their presence was enough. Lazer turned his focus back tothe screen that showed the ornate interior of the Council chamber,monitoring the thousand or so members who led back into session

and took their seats. The picture was high-def enough to show thedetails on the logo ags of the members of the World CorporateCouncil that hung proudly on the walls of the great chamber TheBig Six were front and center, represented by a select group of busi-nessmen who unanimously supported the Triumvirate. Behindthem were rows lled with humans, splicers, clones, and gens, whorepresented secondary corporate companies that had survived the

numerous corporate wars, as well as a few who were old enough toremember the horrors of the Great Quakes. The gallery beyond waspacked with anyone who cared to listen.

Lazer leaned against the wall and watched the images of placesand people he had only seen through his computer’s online feeds. He

wondered if his life would ever take him to such amazing places orgive him the chance to experience a world of adventure and knowl-

edge. Impossible , his mind taunted him. Worse than the memory of that horric day was the guilt of what he had done—or rather, notdone—that had allowed it to happen. Proton domes under that levelof repower were not impenetrable, but it could have bought themsome time. Some of the workers might have found a way to survive.His father might have found a way if he had extra time. In the end,it had been his fault. Your life is over , his inner voice chided him,pulling him back into the shadows of his despair.

“Ducane Covax,” the announcer said.Lazer’s focus snapped back to the holoscreen. He exchanged a

disbelieving glance with Cashton. The announcer was a half-human/half-reptile reporter, whose scaly emerald pallor, protruding mouth,




and darting forked tongue shouted at the camera. He hollered overthe throngs of people that stood yelling their protests behind himoutside the Capitol.

“ . . . famed genetic scientist, creator, and manufacturer of theaccused Black Guard, was arrested on charges of alleged endanger-ment, coercion, and treason in relation to the attacks in Atlantia,but was released this morning after a grueling six-hour interrogationdue to lack of evidence. A hearing date was not set, since proof of his

immediate involvement was left undetermined. The world stands inshock and horror, awaiting due process under corporate law. This is Jonathan Bonick, live from Sangelino.” He nished with his mostserious lizard face as his image was replaced by that of the womananchor.

“All News Network and reporters from the independent newsgroups around the world asked Dr. Covax, as he left the Sangelino

Courthouse earlier today, his thoughts on these horrifying events.”The announcer turned her focus toward a secondary screen and watched as Dr. Covax’s image appeared. His chiseled features andface tattoos gave him a cool, condent air. The holoscreen morphedimages from the morning feed and showed Ducane Covax as hedescended the Sangelino Courthouse steps. He looked amazingly calm, as over a hundred reporters converged on him—swarming lo-

custs to the feast. They stepped into his path and bombarded him with questions and accusations, their words blurring in the confu-sion. Dr. Ducane Covax glanced down at them with an imperiousair of arrogance. It was not the rst time he had to steel himself against a sea of questions or face those who held his reputation, onceagain, in their grubby little word processors. He walked, bookendedby his clone attorneys, who fended off the press as best they could.

The audio feed glitched momentarily then amplied as camerasrefocused for a closer shot. “Dr. Covax, what do you have to say about the alleged charges against you?” asked a thick-lipped reporter

whose toothless mouth revealed his genetics—a sh hungry for atitillating sound bite.




“Why have you been released?” a second reporter asked.“What if the Council nds proof of your involvement?” asked

a third.“The Council’s lead advocate has released Dr. Covax, pending a

full investigation,” Jamila responded on her client’s behalf.“What about the Orbis Temple attack? The ocular death re-

ports all show your Black Guard,” an angry reporter asked.“What does the Black Guard want with the knowledge gnorbs?”

shouted a voice.“Whoever—or whatever—has illegally stolen them has notshared their ndings with Dr. Covax or anyone from his organiza-tion,” Kamila coolly replied.

“Have any of the gnorbs ever been interpreted by Covax indus-tries?” another reporter pushed forward.

“No,” Jamila replied.

“Why the attack on the Vacary Mines?” the rst reporter asked,shoving his way back in.“There is no reason to assume any connection between the two

incidents,” Covax responded before his advocates could. His voice was unbelievably calm, considering the hiss of accusations that hungbeneath the veneer of questions.

Several reporters shouted at him. One young woman broke

through and glared at Covax. Her optical enhancers—tiny metallicsquares implanted inside her eyes—ickered in the light. She was agenetically enhanced human, obviously upgraded for x-ray, night,and infrared vision in the Politia forces, probably a creature seekerbefore she began life as a journalist. “Then how do you explain thedeaths of over 2,700 people at the hands of your peacekeepers?”

“I don’t,” Covax coolly responded.“We all grieve for the families who lost their loved ones,” Jamila

interrupted. “As we explained to the Council, Dr. Covax knows noth-ing about why these atrocities occurred, or even if the Black Guardsidentied on the ocular imprints are real or disguised assassins.”

“Will that be your defense?”




“We have nothing to defend. Both incidents are being investi-gated, and results will be released to the Collective as soon as they are received. You know as much as we do.”

“No more questions,” Jamila added authoritatively, as she gently guided Covax forward through the hordes.

“Dr. Covax! Did these attacks have to do with last month’srejection of your bid to obtain corporate status with you as chief representative for Atlantia with the Council?” The persistent gen

reporter interjected.Covax stopped and turned toward the offending reporter. “Youare asserting that I was responsible for the attacks, which I am not,”Covax said, as his tattoo faded to cool lavender, then ushed back toamber. He was a gunghter facing off to draw, and he had blinked.He had shown an innitesimal ash of vulnerability in front of thereporters, and they smelled blood. They wanted a confrontation and

pressed him for it.“Will these attacks end your chance to gain corporate control of Atlantia?” one of them shouted.

The expressions on Jamila and Kamila’s faces responded to thetwinge of panic that had obviously surged through Covax. They

were empaths. It was common for clones to read emotions, andthey had felt Covax’s tension level elevate. They knew his temper

could become volatile with little provocation. They had to act. They guided him purposefully toward the hover transport that waited by the curb. It was a bronze, oval-shaped Wedge 2000 IE—a high-endluxury transport with all the bells and whistles.

The shouts intensied into a mad frenzy with each step he took.The reporters cared less about the truth and more about the emo-tions their words evoked.

“Will you attack again, Dr. Covax?” shouted the sh-faced re-porter.

Jamila turned on the mob. “That’s libel! No more questions!”The sharks had already begun to feed. They barked and hollered

a barrage of accusations about the Black Guard, Covax’s control over




them, and even the Splicer Fiasco that led to the Mutant Wars.The angry mob encircled him, sucking the air away as they

crushed in on him. Covax touched his wristsponder, activating thehydraulics of the Wedge’s gull-winged doors, which lifted with aloud hiss. Silence rippled across the crowd as all eyes turned to watchCovax’s driver, as he stepped from the hovercraft. It was a Black Guard, almost seven feet tall. It turned to face the horried crowdof reporters. It said nothing. Its presence was a reminder to everyone

that the incidents on Atlantia could far too easily be repeated here.It held the door for the clones, as they protectively ushered Covaxinside. The reporters stared, frozen with awe and fear, along with ev-eryone watching at home on their holoscreens. Covax, poker-faced,stepped into the transport. He had played his ace and won the mo-ment through raw intimidation.

Lazer glanced from the screen as Covax’s image morphed into

the anchorwoman’s face. He was distracted by a batch of new guests, who offered a stream of consoling handshakes and kind words tohim and Detra. Would this day never end? The last person to stepinside the house was a Politia commander in full dress whites. He

was a rare sight on Atlantia, clad in his white leather uniform andlapis blue turtleneck. His broad chest was adorned with an array of medals and ribbons. The Titanium Angel insignia on his shoulder

caught the light and seemed to glow, and the silver and glass wings were, without question, the emblem of a pilot, a commanding of-cer, an adventurer, and a hero. Lazer knew his father had fought inthe Mutant Wars, but his father had been a foot soldier, a middle-ranked grunt. Lazer had never met any of the commanding ofcers,especially not a pilot. A rush of panic gripped Lazer’s stomach. He

wondered if the commander was on ofcial business.Does he know about the undelivered pass key?

Behind him, the news anchor rambled on about the Triumvirateleaders ordering a recall on all Series IV Black Guard, the defectiveseries they believed to be responsible for the attacks. Lazer snappedto attention when he heard the caveat that the Triumvirate had,




“Torturing yourself won’t bring him back,” Kyla said, softly stepping onto the balcony behind Lazer.

Lazer let his hands fall from his ears. He didn’t turn.“OMG, Lazer, your aura’s pure . . .”“Don’t Kyla! Not today,” he snapped, taking his eyes off his

mother.It didn’t take a splicer to see the pain or feel the anxiety that

swirled around him in a halo of sadness; his emotions were obvious

to anyone who could see the anguish and guilt of a wounded heart.“I should have taken him the card,” Lazer confessed softly.“You would have been there by noon. You would have kept your

promise. There was nothing else you could have done.”“But we both know that’s a lie. Don’t we?” Lazer said as he spun

to face her. His words were harsh and accusatory.“No one knew they would attack, and the dome wouldn’t have

stopped the inevitable. No one’s blaming you,” she said.“I’mblaming me!” he said, pounding his chest.“Then don’t,” Kyla replied. “Your father trusted you, and you

wouldn’t have let him down, Lazer. I know it.” Her voice cracked.She, too, struggled with the truth of what had happened.

“Go away, Kyla,” he whispered.His sadness engulfed her heart. He had been her best friend since

third grade, and she loved him more than he would ever know.“No. I won’t go away. I’m your friend, Lazer.”“No, you’re not. My friend would have let me go save my fa-

ther.” His voice was cold and distant. “The last thing you are, Kyla Wingright, is my friend.”

His aura turned a hideous black. He was lled with hatred, notfor her, but for himself. He turned away from her and, in two giantstrides, was gone from the balcony. He moved through the housepast all the people, including Cashton, who stepped aside when hesaw Lazer’s face. The voice in Lazer’s head screamed,Get out! Gosomewhere! Do something! He stormed out the front door and past hismother. She grabbed his arm, seeing the rage in his eyes.




“I need the Zakki. I . . . I gotta get out of here. Please,” he saidthrough gritted teeth.

“Lazer, I want you to meet an old friend of your father’s. Thisis Commander Hague.”

Lazer said nothing.“Your father and I did our nal rite of passage the very same

year at Sangelino University. He saved my butt more than once dur-ing pre-trials in the outback. Your father was a good man, Lazer.

I’ll miss him.” Commander Hague extended his hand. There was a warm sincerity in his voice that touched Lazer even through the hazeof emotions that clouded his every breath. “He wrote to tell me youscored ace on your Virtual Flight Test.”

Lazer heard the genuineness in Hague’s words. He shut it out.Lazer gave an awkward nod, but any attempt at coherent conversa-tion eluded him.

“Commander Hague is head of the ight school at Tosadae,”Detra added, trying to draw her son into the conversation.Lazer looked at her as the color blanched from his face. Her

words were as mean and insensitive as salt in an open wound. “I’mnot going to Tosadae!” he snapped at his mother.

Detra recoiled from the harshness in his tone. She gathered hercomposure and cloaked her response in the guise of an apology, more

for Hague than Lazer. “He didn’t get the scholarship we were count-ing on,” she explained. “But we’re hoping maybe next year . . .”

“It doesn’t matter!” Lazer said, cutting her off.“It does matter!” she shouted back at him, her voice thick with

emotion.“I’m not going anywhere until I get every biodroid nanohead off

Atlantian soil!” he roared in her face. “I’ll stay here and ght withthe underground.”

“Lazer!” Tears welled in Detra eyes.Lazer didn’t care. He felt no compassion, only wave after wave of

wild anger. Manners and social graces were no longer relevant.Hague stepped in with the coolness of a military negotiator on




the front lines of battle. “Lazer, why don’t you let me see if I can pulla few strings? Your father wanted you to graduate from Tosadae. Doit. Come back to Atlantia a leader, ready to take on this ght withthe Politia training to win, son.”

It was the only voice of hope Lazer had heard in weeks, but it wasn’t enough to stop the pain or quell the anger that pounded inhis chest.

“Don’t call me son. You’re not my . . .” Lazer stopped himself. “I

don’t need your help.”“Think about it,” Hague added softly.“Yeah, sure.” Lazer’s throat closed. He was suffocating. He had

to get away. “Ineed to take the Zakki!”“Lazer, you are in no state . . .”Hague stepped in and cut her off with a gentle touch to her arm.

His eyes gave her a clear signal.Let him go. She knew Hague was

right, the same way she knew Rand was right about when to ghtand when to let Lazer have his way. She nodded, and in the blink of an eye, Lazer disappeared.

“Give him some time, Detra,” Hague said.“Get him out of here. Please. I don’t want him here if the ght-

ing escalates.” All dignity fell away as she begged for Hague’s help.The thought of letting her son go was more than she could handle,

but the thought of losing him to an underground war was utterly unbearable.

Behind them, the Zakki roared to life and blasted out of thehoverport. Lazer streaked from the garage, full throttle, and van-ished over the horizon.

“He won’t be here, Detra. I promise you,” Commander Haguesaid.



—| 126 |—

6

SERENDIPITY

D ucane Covax sped along in his Wedge, gazing at the hills thatbuttressed the western coastline of Atlantia. His eyes traced

the jagged cliffs at the sea’s edge as they melted into the soft, undu-lating hills of the outlands. Covax wanted to see the destruction at

the mines and the desecrated Orbis Temple for himself. He wantedto understand how the Black Guard, which he had so meticulously designed to honor, serve, and protect humans, could have been re-sponsible for such heinous acts of destruction. He knew he had notreprogrammed his precious Black Guard to commit such unspeak-able atrocities, so the question loomed: Who did? Who had theaccess? Who had the nerve to defy his plan to incorporate Atlantia

under his Biodroid Design Labs banner and give him the seat he wanted on the World Corporate Council?

The most perfect example of his biodroid series was Five, anelite Series IV Black Guard biodroid. It sat dutifully at the Wedge’scontrols. Five was a prototype of Covax’s latest generation of bio-droids. Its viral nanobands had been infused with his human DNA,a concept Covax based on rod logic from a hundred years before.Covax had discovered the design, which used stiff particle rods madefrom short chains of carbon atoms as its base theory. A second ringof atoms was placed around each rod. The rods could then be builtinto an interlocking network of atomic particles, capable of slidingbetween two positions—off and on—and could be reset by a switch.




Until Covax’s work, this concept had existed only in theory. Hisdiscovery proved that for the conduit to achieve power, it had to bechemical and not electrical. His use of viral protein chains, capableof withstanding the heat generated by the mechanical parts, had al-lowed him to realize the impossible.

The Series IV was taking his work to the next level. By crossinghis own human DNA strands with the viral strands, it made theSeries IV A.I. faster than any other mechanical computer. It had an

unlimited capacity for analysis, logic, and exponential informationstorage, and it made Five his crowning glory. Based on his success with Five, he had built the Series IV using human/viral DNA. Covax was working on program codes that would make the Series IV invin-cible, although that part was still only theory.

Also riding in the transport’s reversible side seat was Covax’sseventeen-year-old daughter, Elana Blue Covax. She was even more

beautiful than her holo-image, with a smile that could melt any heart. Elana Blue looked nothing like her father, except perhaps forthe array of facial expressions that she had adopted over the years of their almost constant time together. She loved him, and he guardedher with reverent caring. She was his greatest joy—actually, his only

joy—other than work.Covax sat behind them in the rear of the transport, stroking his

favorite pet, a “protius” as Covax called her breed, named Prima.Prima was a genetically spliced prototype he had created by merg-ing a female lion, an Alaskan bear, and a porcupine, resulting in aninety-pound prickly lap pup. There were still a few years before herhormones kicked in and she would have to be destroyed; until then,he enjoyed her affections.

“It’s the I.L. virus all over again,” he mumbled to himself.“The Illiatius virus wasn’t your fault, and neither is this.”

Elana’s voice was warm, patient, and nurturing. This was a discus-sion that had been repeated a hundred times before. Elana had amaturity beyond her years.Born old,her father used to say. It wasreected in her almost parental concern for her father. “You can’t




change history, Daddy. It’s not your fault.”“Neither was the Mutant War, and they tried to crucify me for that,

as well,” Covax blurted with the petulant tone of a pouting child.“You didn’t order the Black Guard to attack.” Elana brought

him back from his haze of memories.“But I did create them,” Covax sighed.“Maybe a few biodroids malfunctioned. That’s all.”“That’s impossible,” he insisted.

Covax turned away, mumbling more to himself than to Elana,“Your mother warned me not to use viral DNA.” He closed his eyesto block her face and voice from his memory. It still haunted him.

“You crossed them with human DNA as a safety gauge. Youused what worked.” Elana hated being her father’s cheerleader, butthat had been her role since she was a child. “The Black Guard alsosaved hundreds of thousands of lives. Those two outbreaks are an

anomaly. Please, daddy, I know you’ll nd the strand corruption anddestroy it,” she assured him.Covax continued to stroke the protius as he looked out the win-

dow. He told himself he didn’t care. He was back in Atlantia, andthat was all that mattered. He was home. It had been his home sincethe Splicer Fiasco had made him a pariah in Sangelino, as well as inmost major cities around the world. For one brief moment, before

that unfortunate event, the words “Hero of the Age of Light” hadglowed across the planet for a decade under his holographic image.In the end, they had faded to black and, as far as Covax was con-cerned, it was happening again.

Covax looked one more time at his beautiful daughter and thenturned his gaze out the window of his transport. He knew his neigh-bors would not welcome him home with smiles and handshakes.He felt the rush of anger and frustration that burned his cheeksand turned his tattoos a deep indigo blue. I won’t run away . Covaxstroked little Prima, making her purr. I’ll nd this enemy and destroy it before it destroys me and I will have Atlantia. Whatever the price, I will have Atlantia.



—| 129 |—

7

FIRST ENCOUNTERS

L azer dropped altitude and weaved too close to the rocks. Hedarted dangerously low, cutting a path between the semi-

transparent trees that had been genetically altered by the early

bioengineers who had settled on Atlantia. They had taken the ocean’skelp, which struggled to survive in the sandy swamps formed by theGreat Quakes, and crossed its genetics with land dwelling trees, thusbiologically engineering photosynthetic edible vegetation. The en-hanced trees grew six feet per day until they reached almost 300 feethigh, oxygenating the atmosphere and providing massive amountsof food. Epicureans claimed they tasted like sweet potatoes.

Lazer, lost in his sadness, saw nothing. He slammed the Zakki intoa hard landing, thumping onto a rocky plateau that overlooked themethane mines. Below him, re crews still battled the inferno. Thick smoke and towering ames billowed from the blackened remains, ll-ing the sky with a dense red veil that bloodied the sun and obliteratedthe sight of anything that lay behind its curtain of destruction.

Lazer stared out at the destruction. He tried to comprehend what he was seeing, what he was feeling, what he had done.

“I should have come! Universal God, forgive me!” he cried intothe heavens. “I should have saved you, but I let you die. I let all of you die.” Lazer stumbled back, drunk with self-pity, and mountedhis Zakki. He twisted the throttle until the velocity meter screamed




into the red. In an instant he was in ight, the greenish gold of hisafterburners gleaming behind him. He dipped into Belly Canyonat a 180 knots, barely missing the jagged peaks that jutted up likecruel, spiked ngers.

Lazer was numb. Life in that moment was nothing but an emp-ty void that only promised a meaningless future. He sped above theHelena River and let the Zakki snake toward the treacherous cliffs atShooting Falls. Lazer saw the only solution that made any sense—to

end this agony that had become his life. With that thought, his soullled with a bizarre sense of peace. Lazer let go and closed his eyes,blocking out the world. At that exact moment, Lazer’s Zakki cutpast Covax’s Wedge. The Wedge banked a hard left to avert what

would certainly have been a fatal crash. Lazer saw nothing.Elana gasped as Five handled the situation meticulously and

emotionlessly. He twisted the Wedge into a half-roll and righted it a

millimeter before the collision. Elana twisted back to see what hadstreaked by.“Did you see that?” she shrieked.“Another Atlantian cowboy,” her father said glibly, calming the

protius.“Cowboy or not, I’d want him on my wing,” she said, as her

startled face lled with excitement. “Get a read on his genetics, Five.

Hurry! Follow him!” she ordered, turning her side seat forward andlocking in to get a better view.

Five didn’t respond“Father . . .” she insisted.Covax could not resist his daughter; as long as he was alive, she

would have anything her heart desired. He complied with a wave of his hand, and Five turned the Wedge in pursuit.

Lazer dropped into the wondrous canyons of Shooting Falls. A huge crack in the Earth, its vertical walls were pockmarked by athousand waterfalls that gushed from a myriad of caves and fell ingreat cascading ribbons of water, crashing into the mist hundreds of feet below.




The Wedge—faster and heavier—was gaining. Five reachedscanning range and projected a thin green tracer beam from his face.The beam fell across Lazer, tracing over his body and reading ev-ery cell of his genetics. Carefully and meticulously, Five collectedthe requested information. Five’s sensors began to store and cross-reference the signals until his memory banks registered somethingdisturbingly familiar about the data. Then, without logic or reason,Five began to malfunction. The shade of the tracer beam changed,

shifting from bright green to a dark, murky emerald. Covax saw thechange.Lazer sensed something was very wrong. The sensation raised

the hairs on his neck and, from someplace deep inside his body,called him back to the reality of the moment. Still caught up inhis race to death, he wiped the tears that owed from his eyes andopened them. Time slowed as his senses reached out, charting ev-

erything that was happening down to the most innitesimal detail.In his peripheral vision, he caught site of the light from the greenbeam that traced his body. A voice in his head screamed the hid-eous reality of the moment—his mortal enemy was scanning him.Lazer wanted death, but not at the hands of a Black Guard. Lazersnapped from his trance. He saw the Wedge and the Black Guardat the controls, and his instincts to survive stabbed him with a shot

of adrenaline so violent it felt like the prick of a thousand electricneedles piercing him at once. But there was something more he didnot have time to consciously comprehend. His senses warned himof a greater danger.

At that moment, Five veered the Wedge into a steep bank andlined Lazer up for the kill. Without permission or a command fromCovax, Five accelerated with one intent, to ram the Zakki. In thelast second before the crash, Lazer’s reexes took over. He banked ahard right, swung out into a J-turn, and careened into the force of the turn, losing control of the Zakki.

Elana Blue screamed.Lazer’s tailpipe clipped the cliff wall with a crushing thud. He




spun out of control and careened back into the path of the oncoming Wedge.

They were a microsecond away from a head-on collision.“Avert,” Covax shouted.There was no response from the biodroid.Elana Blue leapt sideways and slammed into the controls. The

force of her body against the control yoke sent the Wedge into anosedive, missing Lazer by a hair. With the Wedge still out of con-

trol, Five swung his arm, catching Elana Blue and knocking her toher side of the craft. As the Wedge plummeted, Covax reached forward and ripped the small, power panel from the back of Five’s neck,disabling him.

“Elana . . .” Covax shouted, “the controls!”Elana swung the moon-shaped control yoke into her lap.

A few feet away, Lazer was ailing out of control.

Elana dragged her thumbs down the left side of the yoke’s dualhandles and the Wedge reversed jets. The change of force made thecraft turn as it whipped a perfect 180 in midair and then jerked to a

jarring stop. It hovered in motionless silence.Lazer, caught in the spiral of centrifugal force, was dragged,

spinning forward, under a deluge of water that shot out from oneof the cascading spouts. The water slammed against the Zakki. The

small craft was buffeted by the shooting spray and sent careeningacross the crevasse until it clipped another canyon wall, bounced off,and shuttered to a jerking stop directly under the wash of anothergushing spout. The water poured over him and instantly oodedhis engine. The deluge caused the one thing a hovercraft could nothandle—a ame out. The Zakki hung in midair for one preciousmoment, then, left without power, plummeted straight down intothe arms of gravity.

Lighter than his craft, Lazer dropped away, tumbling close behindhis falling transport. He shook his head, trying to gather what senseshe had left, and realized he was in free fall. There was nothing tograb—no rock, no protruding branch—only gallons of falling liquid.




Elana panicked at the sight of the falling boy. Five was disabled.Covax was in the back. There was a microsecond of hesitation. ElanaBlue’s natural reexes took over. She jammed the yoke forward,throwing them back into a nosedive, opened throttle and aimed theship straight down. She had gravity; now she needed speed.

“Use the thrusters!” Covax called to her, his body already pressedback into his seat by the g-forces.

The protius dug its nails into the microber of the seat and

held on.Elana Blue engaged the thrusters, letting gravity, the weight of the transport, and the kick from the afterburners crush them harderinto their descent. With the ninety-nine-degree drop of an uber rollercoaster, they plummeted, gaining inch-by-inch on the falling boy.

As Lazer fell, he found himself face up, watching the cloudsand sky grow more distant with each second. He gasped for breath

as the air was sucked from his lungs. His mind searched desper-ately for survival options. There were none. He had wanted death;now it was coming to claim him. He could not ght the inevitable.

At 120 kilometers per hour, he prayed death would come beforehe hit the ground. His mind drifted and time slowed. The crash-ing falls and the hiss of the wind called to him like the voices of sirens. Images of his mother, father, childhood, and friends rushed

before his eyes; with those images came a strange euphoric calm.Lazer was dying. The images fell away, drifting into a long, narrow tunnel that closed in around him, leaving only a narrow point of light glowing at its end. His mind surrendered. Lazer closed hiseyes and blacked out.

Elana Blue dropped a few feet below Lazer, rotated the transportinto a vertical position, and maneuvered the Wedge directly underhim. Still descending, the Wedge took Lazer’s weight. She rotatedthe thrusters, throwing them into full power. The engines screamedand the Wedge shuddered, straining like a quivering hand as it de-ed the forces of nature that would drag them to their deaths. Theground was closing in. Gravity was winning the battle.




“Hit the boosters!” Covax strained to speak under the crushingpressure.

The terried young protius now clung to the oor of the craft,its quills extended and erect.

Elana struggled, moving her hand forward. She reached thepanel and red the rst booster. There was a thunderous roar asthe Wedge caught the force of the initial turbos that slowed theirdescent. It decelerated but was not enough to stop what was about

to happen. The torrential river and jutting rocks were rushing upbeneath them. With less than twenty seconds until impact, Elanahad to do something. She gripped the yoke as her knuckles blanchedpure white. The Wedge was still descending. They were ten secondsto impact.

Below them, Lazer’s Zakki hammered into the water and ex-ploded into a thousand pieces.

“Hit the second booster!” Covax yelled at his daughter.“Not yet,” she whispered. “Three . . . two . . . one!”Elana hit the second turbo. Another blast exploded from the

dual boosters and repelled against the surface rocks and water andechoed off the canyons like a giant clap of thunder. The Wedgestrained under its own weight. Finally, with one last mighty groan,it broke free of the Earth’s gravitational forces, slowed, and stopped

twenty-two feet above the rocks.Elana held her breath and guided the Wedge upward, lifting the

craft into a smooth ascent, with Lazer splayed across its hull. They drifted gracefully up the canyon until they crested the ridge andhovered above a small at plateau. Elana gently lowered the craftonto its landing pods. Finally, still trembling, she exhaled.

A few moments passed before a dazed Lazer awoke.Was this death that spun around him in a blur of confusion? He struggled back to consciousness, rolled off the nose of the Wedge, and staggered afew feet away to gain his equilibrium. Lazer’s knees trembled. Heshook his head, trying to understand how he could have survivedcertain death.




With a hiss, the gull-winged doors swung up and a relatively composed Ducane Covax looked out. He blocked Elana, who peeredanxiously from behind Five’s shoulder in the front seat to see if theboy was all right.

“Are you okay?” she called out from the shadows.The protius, which had been tossed to the oor in the chaos,

growled menacingly at Lazer. The odd-looking creature raised theporcupine hackles that grew along her back and bared her retractable

rows of razor-sharp spiked teeth. Her soft tan color darkened intoan earthy brown as she went into defense camouage. Her muscularbody tensed, arching into attack stance. Covax stroked the protius’haunches; his hand was both rm and comforting as he closed thengers of his other hand around her collar. She bared her teeth onemore time, then relaxed when she sensed her master’s ease.

“Your Wedge ran me down!”

Lazer’s mind began to clear and, as it did, he heard a girl’s voice,but his eyes focused on one gure only: Five.“Murderer!” Lazer shouted, his trembling nger pointing at a

rigid, deactivated Five.“We just saved your life,” Covax responded.“I’d rather be dead than saved by your bio scum,” Lazer hissed

at them.

“Why, you ungrateful geek!” Elana growled through clenchedteeth. She lurched forward, pushing from behind Five to jump fromthe Wedge. Covax held her back and blocked them from each other’ssight. “I’ll remember that the next time you need your ass saved!”she added, furious at his insolence.

The encounter was over. Covax was done. He punched a buttonand the doors sucked closed. Elana, now more angry than shaken,rotated the engines into vertical position and lifted the fuselage. The

Wedge rose ten feet above the ground and ew away.Inside the Wedge, Elana was livid. “What an ingrate. Did you

read him?” Her voice shook.“You’re the empath,” Covax responded.




“I saved him and . . .”“And?” Covax looked at her curiously.“And . . . I felt something.” She said looking curiously at her

father. Elana touched her heart. She felt the pangs of an empatheticrush overcome her, heavy with grief and sorrow. The feelings bitinto her heart so hard that tears welled in her eyes. “Did you know him?”

“No.”

“If he wasn’t a threat to you, why did Five attack him?” sheasked.“I don’t know,” Covax replied, as he studied the immobile giant

next to her.That was twice that Covax had picked up a discrepancy in Five’s

protocol; rst just after the Orbis attack and now Five’s absolutedeance of his command. Covax stared at Five, deeply troubled

by the acts of insolence he had seen in his prize creation. Covax would scrub Five’s data strands when they returned to the lab. There was nothing more he could do until then. He looked at the smallpower pack in his hand, knowing that the DNA imbedded in thedesign for the new generation could not be removed.That will have to change . As his gaze drifted away from Five, he noticed the thick column of smoke that belched from the Vacary Mines a few miles

ahead. Covax’s tattoos ushed, turning from their pensive amber toa dark burgundy, a color that showed itself when something sad af-fected him deeply.

“Set it down, Elana,” Covax said. His voice didn’t register hisfeelings.

Elana Blue, still seething over the encounter with the irate boy,slowed the Wedge and hovered. They drifted above the groundabout fty meters west of the destruction. Elana Blue obediently descended the craft, then turned her gaze to what was left of themines. Her jaw fell open as she stared at the vast and violent carnagethat lay below. As an empath, the energy of pain and death hungthick around her. Her heart ached; she was sickened by the horror




and suffering of what had happened. The feelings mingled with thestrange sadness she had felt from the boy. He had been connected tothis place. She knew it. She found her eyes drawn back to the billow-ing mists that drifted up from Shooting Falls. She could still see thehandsome, arrogant boy in the rear view projection screen. He stillstood in the distance, a tiny stick gure staring deantly after them.He hated her. She could feel that, too.

She was right. Lazer wanted them to feel his hate. His rage lled

him up like searing lava from an erupting volcano. His body, still weak from his kiss with death, quivered as he screamed after them.“I swear by the powers of the universe, I’ll destroy you all!” he

shouted. The scream sent his body into a spastic tremor.Lazer would not accept that he had just been saved by the de-

mons that had murdered his father. Hatred poured into Lazer’s heartand, for the rst time, he found a focus so precise and so specic

there was no denying who was to blame for his pain and grief. In thedepths of his newfound hatred bloomed a strange, cold euphoria.Lazer, exhausted from the weeks of sorrow since his father’s deathand the strain of his own near death ordeal, began to weep. The tearsthat streaked down his cheeks brought with them not relief, but afrigid calm that washed over him like a winter’s chill. Cole Lazermanhad, in a single instant, dened his existence. He had a mission, and

its name wasrevenge .“I will destroy all of you. I will avenge my father and every man,

woman, and child who died because of you. And I swear, on my fa-ther’s soul, that nothing or no one will stop me until every biodroidis wiped from the face of the Earth.” He shouted out the words andtrembled as they echoed back the dark promise that now possessedhim. This was his destiny, and he would not be denied.

Five, his power pack rmly resting in Covax’s hand, felt a surgeof some indiscernible energy. It coursed through him and lled him

with . . . with . . . life . He was thinking, feeling, living without breathor the need of substance. Emotions owed through him, sparkingand tingling along the neuron bers that spidered though his metallic




body. Five tasted the acrid smoke from the burning mines. He smelledits pungent, foul odor, felt the shift in heat that the burning amesemitted. He was alive! He had been sentient for months, but this wasbeyond conscious thought—this was life in its most elemental formgrowing inside him. He could feel, most of all, a tingling across themask of metal that covered what should have been his featureless face.The molecules of metal began to vibrate so rapidly they reconguredfrom solid into an almost liquid form. They began to swirl and undu-

late. Slowly, unnoticed by Covax or Elana, the slightest hint of humanfeatures pushed out of the shifting mass: a haze of lips, a nose, andtwo blank eyes. The irises formed, admitting light from the world.It seared through the virgin orices with a blinding brightness. Therush of forms and colors that slammed into his mind was too muchto bear. Five’s face retreated back into its metallic mask with a violentshudder.

Covax felt the biodroid jerk. He looked at its blank, featurelessmask and studied the strange anomaly for a long, slow moment.Covax gazed at the power pack that rested in his hand and dismissedthe unfeasible thought that tried to take hold in his mind. Then,giving the matter no more of his time, he turned his gaze back to

watch the Vacary Mine as it burned out of control.



—| 139 |—

8

SOMETHING

T ime passed, with one day as void as the next. Lazer sat in hisroom, staring out at nothing. He held in his hands his father’s

purple key card, turning it over and over while his mind drifted

through a thousand thoughts: the past, the future, and worst of all,the relentless present. Music played softly from his computer andlled the holoscreen with a colorful stream of oating, abstract im-ages. On the audio, the lyrics cried a sad tale, while a saxophone sangof the never-ending pain of lost love.

Beneath the song’s haunting melody, the drone of severalVybernet feeds could be heard, the loudest of which came from the

local ANN All News Network report in Atlantia. It appeared in asmall pic-in-pic in the lower corner of the holoscreen, occasionally blocked by the constant stream of pop-ups and Vybernet market adsthat bombarded the visuals. Lazer could have blocked them out, buthe preferred to blast them away. This task he shared, when he wasotherwise occupied, with his sexy avatar. He had programmed herto blast the little ads into reballs, after which she would perform acute little victory dance as the burning images faded away in a shim-mering shower of particle dust.

Detra walked by the door. Her arms were lled with clothes,some clean, some dirty. These days it all seemed the same. Keepingherself busy with mundane chores and duties helped her dene her




role as “widowed single mother living in the outback of Atlantia.”She stopped to look at her son and sighed. He had been sequesteredin his room since the funeral, leaving only long enough to graduatefrom Vacary High—barely. He ignored his friends, hardly ate, andtook little or no interest in anything. She understood all too wellhow he felt. It was only the protocol of adulthood and the fact thatshe still had a son to raise that kept her from closing out the worldand behaving the same way. But Commander Hague had said, “Give

him time,” so she bit her lip, said nothing, and hoisted the laundry higher up into her arms.The sexy avatar stopped blasting pop-ups and stood as if she

were listening to something far away. Sensually, her strap fell fromher shoulder and she turned her three-dimensional face toward Lazerand smiled. “Hey Laze, the search tag for follow-up news on Black Guard attacks at Vacary Mines and the Orbis Temple just pinged in

a match. Wanna watch?” She batted her eyes, as if she were irting with him.Lazer tossed the key card onto his desk and faced his holoscreen.

“Activate tag,” he commanded.Instantly, the local ANN newscaster’s pic-in-pic screen enlarged

to full size, obliterating all the other feeds. On camera, the afternoonhost—a handsome middle-aged man with silver hair and the “too-

good looks” of an ex-movie star—stared directly at Lazer. He alwaysspoke with a slight smirk, as if to say, “I know more than you, soshut up and listen.”

“ . . . of the Atlantian investigation team. This was the rstoutside group Dr. Covax has allowed into his Temple Mountain fa-cilities since its construction fteen years ago.” A b-roll visual playedbehind the announcer, showing the front entrance of the heavily guarded Temple Mountain production facility. It was ultra-modern,

with a Frank Gehry-ish kind of design, only instead of two-story panels of twisted stainless steel, the facility was a mass of abstractbent glass set inside huge arching chrome beams.

A group of bland-faced businessmen and nerdy looking scientists




entered the building, graciously led by the charismatic Dr. DucaneCovax.

The too-handsome newscaster mentioned a bunch of impor-tant names Lazer had heard on the daily Vybernet news reports overthe months since his father’s death. The newscaster described whothe investigators were and how they had been selected to be on theinvestigation committee.Blah, blah, blah,Lazer thought. Get to the

point!

The visual switched and showed Dr. Covax as he led the investi-gators deep into his pristine, state-of-the-art production area. It wasa massive, fteen-story open atrium crisscrossed by a labyrinth of catwalks that stretched from one side to the other every ve oors.The catwalks hung suspended above the main assembly area, whichlled the behemoth oor a hundred feet below. The massive produc-tion area was covered with conveyer belts and countless automatons

that stood motionless as they silently waited to be turned back onafter the investigation was concluded.“. . . which were designed specically for the production of his

Series IV Black Guard peacekeeper biodroids,” the newscaster said,adding that the Series IV production had been suspended until fur-ther notice.

The camera crew dutifully followed Dr. Covax and the investi-

gation team as he pointed out various levels and specic areas of theproduction facility. Covax explained in meticulous detail the variouspurposes of several of the chambers.

Lazer leaned forward as he listened to the explanations about thelabs, research facilities, sequencing, amino testing, and strand pro-gramming chambers that encircled the middle oors of the cylinder.

“. . . until proof can be established as to exactly who committedthe acts of terrorism against the Atlantians. If the Black Guard isproved to be behind the attacks, then all further production of theSeries IV will be permanently shut down until the problem can beidentied and rectied.”

The investigation team was suddenly wearing white, protective




garb. As far as Lazer could tell, they were standing somewhere in-side a large, glaringly white lab. The sign above the central lab read:MEMORY STRAND CONSTRUCTION AREA.

The handsome newscaster repeated Dr. Covax’s assurance thatall the working Series IV biodroids had been scrubbed and repro-grammed, and that the spokesperson for the Atlantian investigationteam had reported in an ANN exclusive that all Dr. Covax’s initialefforts were deemed “responsible and thorough.” Whether or not

the Series IV were behind both the Orbis Temple and the Vacary Mines attacks was still undetermined and under investigation.“Then who ordered the attacks in the rst place?” Cashton asked

from the doorway, where he and Kyla stood.Lazer’s rst reaction to the presence of his friends was aloof. He

glanced at them casually, and then returned his gaze to the holo-screen.

“Hello to you, too,” Kyla said as she stepped closer.“Hey,” Lazer mumbled.“You look good for a zombie,” Cashton chimed in.“What are you doing here?” Lazer didn’t care if they answered.“We were tired of getting your loser messages that you didn’t

want to see anybody and you needed time.”“We gave you time,” Kyla said. “But we missed you.”

“I missed him? I didn’t miss him.”“Look, I appreciate the pep rally, but . . .” Lazer started. He

wished they would go away and leave him alone.“No buts. You need to get out and do something before you

turn into a total veg.”“Something,” Lazer said with a scowl, as he glanced at the holo-

screen then back at Kyla. He wanted to do something all right. He wanted to wipe the Black Guard off the face of the planet. But whatcould he do? He was a kid in the middle of nowhere living twenty minutes from where his worst nightmares were being built. Andthen it hit him with the force of a hurricane. Lazer’s heart stopped.He was here—right here, closer than anybody.We could stop them.




“I need to get into Temple Mountain,” Lazer said, brightening.Cashton and Kyla were silent for a second. They stared at Lazer,

then the holoscreen, then at each other. Is he serious? “Uh, that would be retarded and impossible,” Cashton replied.“Then ice out and leave me alone,” Lazer snapped at him and

turned his eyes back to the holoscreen.“To do what?” Kyla asked.“Blow every Black Guard to oblivion.” Lazer pointed to the fa-

cility that loomed at them from the holoscreen.Cashton and Kyla exchanged another look. They wanted to helptheir friend, but going inside a high-security facility like a bunchof rebel terrorists and blowing up a multi-billion credit facility wasinsane.

“Get real!” Cashton said.“I’m very real.”

“I’m not saying you don’t have reason, just that you’re spinningyour wheels to even think about it,” Cashton said.“Just get me inside.”Kyla couldn’t help but see the sad blue aura that shimmered

around Lazer. The pale, soft glow was enhanced by intermittentsparks of ruby anger and locked in a ring of deep purple that signi-ed confusion. She hated to see him in such turmoil. She wasn’t an

empath who could feel his every feeling, but it didn’t take being aclone to see he needed something to distract the host of negativefeelings that engulfed him. Her heart melted, and before she hadthought it through, she spoke.

“Evvy’s working part time at Temple Mountain.”Lazer’s ears perked up. “Could she get us in?”“What do you mean us , Kimosabi?” Cashton jumped in, set-

ting down the minuscule handheld game unit that had captured hisattention.

“Kimosabi?” Kyla frowned.“Tonto. My hero. The guy with the guy with the mask, on the

Ancient TV Vybernet feed. And by the way, someone who would




asking, especially if I’m risking Evvy’s job.”“Did you forget our lives are part of this equation?” Cashton was

not at all pleased with where the conversation was headed.“I want to know what you’re planning,” Kyla insisted.“I’m planning to blow that room, Kyla. The question ishow ?”“Hypothetically, we could, if we could get past the security

cameras,” Cashton laughed uncomfortably.“You’re both crazy!” Kyla said, throwing up her hands.

“Yeah, but it doesn’t make me a bad person.”“Talk to me, Einstein.” Lazer focused on Cashton.Cashton was hit by one of his “genius bolts,” as he called them

and, like Kyla, spoke before he nished thinking through what shar-ing his idea could mean.

“I’m thinking,” he said, lost in his thoughts for a moment.Lazer knew the look. “Go on.”

“Well, remember my holo-imager?”“Yeah?” Then, he got it. “Yes! It’s genius! Totally genius!” Lazerbeamed, thrilled by the visual image that was swirling in his head.

“Excuse me, but did you both have a collective brain fart andforget the imager didn’t work. Please remember the horric Vacary Celebration Day dance. We were in detention for a week,” Kylareminded them.

“One minor glitch. And I xed it.” Cashton blushed.Lazer’s mind was whirring at light speed. “I could get the recipe

for an explosive off the Vybernet. My dad showed me . . .” Lazer’s words trailed off. “We have to do this. Please.”

Again, there was a long silence as both boys looked at Kyla.Once again, she held the trio’s deciding vote. “No.”

“You owe me.” Lazer’s anger crept back in.“You’re crazy if you do it!” she blurted.“We’re crazy if we don’t. Kyla, I can’t be one of those people

who ignores the bad things they see happening. My father is dead.My life has been affected. Maybe you can hide and ignore the signsuntil someone you love is killed, but by then, I guarantee you, it’ll




be too late.” Lazer took Kyla by the shoulders. “You told me you were my friend. Act like it, and help me get in there. Please. I haveto do this.”

Kyla’s heart melted. Saying no to Lazer was next to impossible,even when it deed logic and reason. It had been that way from thebeginning.

“Okay, okay. Fine. But no explosions. We crash their systems,”she said emphatically and gave a shiver. Was she actually considering

such insane thoughts?“We’ll gure it out together. We’re a team, right?” Lazer blurted.He felt alive again. His heart raced. The blood that had run so coldin his veins began to pump with a wild excitement that vibrated inevery ber of his being.



—| 147 |—

9

THE PLAN

L azer, Kyla, Cashton, and Evvy stood on the road three milesoutside the entrance to Temple Mountain, huddled together

in the back of Evvy’s transport—a high-end, dual turbo, hydrogendrag racer decorated with painted ames along the lower anks. Thehovercraft was equipped to y from zero to 150 miles per hour insix seconds. Kyla had raced with her only once; that was all it took to convince her riding shotgun with a speed demon like Evvy wasinsane.

They listened intently to Lazer’s plan, except Cashton, whoddled with some small mechanism that hung from his neck. Now and then, Kyla nervously checked for Temple Mountain security’s

watchful bots. Evvy tilted her head like a cocker spaniel listening toa strange sound. Her face scrunched into a concentrated frown, andher expression showed very clearly that she didn’t like what she washearing.

“You’re sure this is gonna work?” Evvy asked, giving Cashton ahard side glance.

“If the images you gave me are accurate, it’ll work. Trust me,” hesaid, twisting the little device until it made a pinging sound.

“Yeah, well, why don’t you just show me one more time before we get inside.”




Cashton sighed and opened his hand to reveal the small circulardevice he had been adjusting. It was a two-inch thick medallion, cov-ered in tiny, multicolored lights that hung on a leather thong aroundhis neck. Cashton ddled with the outer rings that circled the lights,twisting one left and the other right until the device pinged againand went dark with a sad little whine.

“Cash!” Lazer’s voice lled with concern.“I told you it wouldn’t work,” Kyla said, looking over her shoul-

der again.“It will,” Cashton defended.Cashton repositioned the rings. There was a series of clicks

and, once again, the sad little whine of a dying kitten, then silence.Cashton looked up into the faces of his friends. Their expressions

were just this side of panic.Come on! Work! Out of sheer frustrationand total desperation, he slammed the little device into the palm of

his hand. With a low, whirring hum, the lights on the medallion vibrat-ed and ickered, glowing with the brilliance of a newborn sun.Cashton nodded for the rest of them to follow his lead. One by one, they revealed their own devices and twisted the rings untilthey tuned into Cashton’s frequency and ignited. Each devicebegan to ash and icker. When all of the devices were ashing,

Cashton depressed the center light on the face of his medallion. At once, all the lights locked into the exact same color sequenceand, in a great wash of light, their collective medallions projecteda perfect holographic image. It shimmered, wavered, then settledinto a visual of what looked like four of the exact same person. Theimages appeared, one around each of them, oating in a kind of colorful haze.

“This is so cool,” Evvy said, looking at her arms and hands.“And you’re sure the cameras will pick the images up as solid?”

“Veritus. The two-dimensional imaging of the electronic eyecompresses it to look like three dimensions,” Cashton said proudly.

“And the Black Guard?” Kyla asked, still not quite convinced.




“Their vision’s electronic. Right?” Cashton said, trying to soundas convincing as he could.

They looked at him.“Okay! It’s not perfect, but it’ll work as long as we stay away

from anyone with real eyes.” Cashton shut down his medallion, dis-sipating the image.

“Okay, let’s do it!” Lazer was excited and nervous, but the onething he wasn’t was afraid. The courage in his face was enough to

inspire his friends, and without another word, Lazer, Kyla, andCashton crawled into Evvy’s trunk.“What about the heat sensors?” Lazer said, holding open the

trunk.“No prob. I have a shield that hides the turbos. It’ll block you.

Now get in before I change my mind.” Evvy said.Evvy was just as excited as Lazer, but for completely different

reasons. Kyla read it in her aura, and what she saw made her heartskip a beat.“Evvy, if you don’t want to do this . . .” Kyla started.“Are you kidding? I hate these creeps. Let’s go.”Lazer lay down next to Kyla and Cashton, as Evvy covered them

and slammed the trunk.



—| 150 |—

I0

TEMPLE MOUNTAIN

E vvy’s hovercraft sped down the twisting roadway that led toTemple Mountain. The trees that lined the road had grown

tall over the years since the facility’s construction, forming a doubleline of narrow soldiers whose pointed tops hung inward over theroad, closing out the sky and creating a natural arch. In the daylight,it was beautiful and majestic, but in the blackness of the night, withonly the full moon and a single set of headlights, the trees lookedlike ancient gargoyles that warned away anyone foolish enough topass into the domain of Ducane Covax.

The road straightened and narrowed and, in a few minutes, Evvy saw the entrance gate. It was heavily fortied with corner towers,surrounded by an organic barbed wire type of plant that grew rowsof giant thorns. The entrance guarded the front and side portions of the facility. The back of the compound lay against the impenetrablenorth face of Temple Mountain.

Evvy slowed, took a deep breath to calm herself, then gently

pulled up next to the guard gate. She lowered her window and de-lighted the guard with a seductive smile. She was greeted by thetoothless grin of an unattractive splicer with reptilian genetics andolive green pallor. He was more lizard than human, but that didn’tstop the smile that cracked his snake-like face when his eyes locked




onto Evvy’s. His forked tongue icked out, sliding between almostimperceptible lips, sampling the air.

“Hey, Misssss Evvy. Love the perfume,” he hissed, putting on hismost charming voice. “I didn’t know you were on the night shift.”

“Just this week. Thank the Universal God.”“And my offer?” The splicer said.“I’m still thinking.” Evvy smiled, irting back. She was pretty

in a hairy sort of way. “I’d take you on in a hover-drag any day of

the week, but you know, my ame machine will kick your electricdragster in a heartbeat.”“Assss long as you go to dinner with me afterwards, you can kick

anything you want.”“Yeah, well, in the meantime . . .” her voice turned seductive,

“ . . . you want to check under my . . . hood?”He handed her a pass, giving his snakiest smile. “Ssssure, right

after dinner.”“I’ll let you know,” Evvy said and ashed another one of her mil-lion-dollar smiles. She ew off, turning into the facility’s personnelparking structure. Once she had cleared the security lights, she madea face of total disgust. “The things a girl’s got to do for her friends.

Yuck.” She drove into the underground parking structure, whichtook her three stories down into the facility. Carefully, she chose a

secluded area at the farthest corner from the entrance and set downon her landers.

“Okay, time to rock and roll.” Evvy put on her best bravado,but she knew it was more to shake off the strange portentous chillthat hung around her like cold winter air. Evvy crossed to the back of the hovercraft and opened the trunk, which blocked Lazer, Kyla,and Cashton from the security cameras as they got out. Once shehad them out, she touched her nger to her lips and pointed to thecameras that were positioned at various points around the structure.Lazer signaled for Cashton to do his thing, and in a matter of sec-onds, they set their medallions and launched the holograms. In aninstant, they were a unit of zomers. With a nal nod, Evvy closed the




trunk and four identical gures shufed away from the craft, mov-ing in a tight, shoulder-to-shoulder formation. They looked like aquadruplet set of penguins attached at the hip.

The holographic illusion showed the same, blank-faced personshimmering around them. To the human eye, the hologram resem-bled a ghostly image. Inside the haze of the illusion, eight eyes couldbe seen looking in every direction. They were all tense, but Kyla wasthe most jumpy.

“I can’t believe Covax has zomers here,” Kyla whispered.“Big time illegal,” Cashton replied.“Not in some places, including Atlantia,” Lazer told them.“Immoral but not illegal,” Kyla corrected him.“Since when did the King of Clones ever think twice about

zooming out a genetic line for slave labor?” Evvy added.“Zomers are goons,” Kyla said.

“They’re ’tards. Do we really have to walk like this?” Cashtonadded, as he waddled. It was impossible not to bump into eachother, making the situation almost comical, but for the impendingdanger they had placed themselves in.

“They’re bred for uni-tasking. Every reproduction does what it’stold without question. Trust me, it’s genius,” Evvy told them.

“I heard if you train them and put a weapon in their hands,

they’re relentless killing machines,” Cashton added nervously.“Strand labs!” Lazer demanded.Evvy looked around, spotting several humans. She pushed Kyla,

Cashton, and Lazer back, then pointed to a large wall vent severalfeet away.

“We’re taking the back door,” Evvy said.She led them past an intersection with multiple cameras, then

down a dimly lit corridor until they reached the vent. Again, Evvy looked around. She took out a magnetic key, attached it, then codedin the access combination. With a tiny whoosh, the panel slid into apocket door, revealing a four-by-four shaft.

One by one, they stepped inside. It wasn’t until Lazer entered




and closed the vent that Cashton shut down the holographic imagesand they all took a breath.

The space was wide enough to move forward, but not tallenough to allow them to stand. They made their way on their handsand knees, moving as quietly as possible through the dark shafts.Occasionally, they would pass from dark to light, moving throughthe intermittent shafts of light that fell in from the outer rooms.

Evvy was out front, with Kyla close behind, then Cashton, and

nally Lazer on rear guard.“How do you know these shafts?” Kyla whispered.“My dad lost his life in an accident when they were building

them to vent the Series IV production areas,” Evvy whispered. “Butbefore my mom died, she told me it wasn’t an accident. She said hesaw something he never got to tell anyone about. So, when I started

working here, I made it my business to nd out what was so impor-

tant that it cost him his life.” There was a wall of pain in her voicethat Lazer understood all too well. He had lost his father and shehad lost both her parents; they were comrades in a way Cashton andKyla could never understand.

The foursome traveled in silence for another hundred yards, try-ing to keep as quiet as cats in a dog pound. Cashton was nervous.Lazer could feel it. He knew that Cashton wanted to talk. Besides

video game banging, talking was his usual way of handling tension;it always calmed him down. It was better than the microcurrent betapatches that people in cities like Sangelino and Atland City used tolull out. “I hope you know what you’re doing,” Cashton whispered.“If we get caught, we’re not gonna get detention; we’re gonna getdead.”

“You brought it, right?” Lazer ignored his concern.“Yeah. Did you?” Cashton snapped back.“Yeah, I got it. It’s not much, but it’ll do damage.”Cashton bumped Kyla. She stopped and sat down next to Evvy

at the top of an eight-by-eight vertical shaft. The girls peered downinto the dimly lit abyss.




Evvy pulled out a small spool of thin clear thread and anchoredone end into the top of the shaft with a thumb-size suction cup thendropped the rest of the spool down the vertical shaft. It vanished.She handed each of them a set of expandable hand clamps and nylonstirrups.

“You’ve got to be kidding.” Cashton stared at his clamps andstirrups.

“It’s titanium thread. We go ve oors down, then left.” Evvy

handed each of them a small mirror. “Use the mirror on the laserbeams, and watch out for security bots.”“What security bots and laser beams?” Cashton asked, his voice

cracking slightly.“Move it, Cash,” Kyla nudged.One by one they descended. The only illumination came from

Evvy’s headband—a soft, metallic fabric that created a halo when

switched on and gave off a radiant haze of bluish light. Evvy directedpart of her glow band’s center section forward into a focused beam,lighting the shaft about six feet below them.

Once again, Evvy was rst, followed by Kyla, then a still reluc-tant Cashton, and nally Lazer. Slowly they made their way downthe shaft, being careful not to hit the thin metal walls. They weremaking good time, having lowered themselves about thirty feet,

when Evvy noticed the search beam from a small security bot. It was moving through one of the horizontal cross vents in the fthoor shafts, quietly patrolling the area. Evvy switched off her glow beam just as the bot drifted out and slowed. It hovered right below her. Evvy held her breath. Her hand jutted up and grabbed Kyla’sankle, signaling her to stop. Kyla looked down and saw the little bot.She reached up and grabbed Cashton’s foot, squeezing it. It was thesignal to alert him and Lazer to stop. Cashton’s heart jumped. He

wrapped his hand around Lazer’s foot and, forgetting his strength,squeezed with a bone-crushing grip. Lazer grimaced.

They hung suspended in the darkness above the little bot. Slowly,the security bot oated up through the vertical shaft. Its multiple




light beams conjoined and expanded, illuminating the area. It threw out a laser scan beam that began a perimeter search.

Evvy pulled her feet up and out of the way as the laser barely missed her toes. She held out her mirror, catching the beam as itpassed and reecting it back.

Cashton broke into a sweat. His hands were wet from the tensionthat built as he watched the bot drift closer and closer to Evvy. Themoisture on his hands made it hard to hold the clamps. He pulled

one hand off to wipe the sweat onto his shirt, and the moment hedid, his hand clamp slipped. He dropped, caught, then slipped again.Lazer felt the nylon jerk. He reached down and grabbed Cashton’scollar, straining to hold him.

No one took a breath.It seemed like an eternity until the bot shut down and moved

on, vanishing down the horizontal shaft. They all let loose a collec-

tive captive breath and prepared to move on.Gracefully, Evvy descended to the fth oor vertical shaft andslid inside. Kyla, Cashton, and then Lazer followed in silence.

“Leave the grips in case we need to make a fast exit. When weget back here, twist this ring on the clamps right or left. Right willpull you up to the top; if you turn it left, it will drop you to the lowerbasement. Either way, make sure you squeeze the clamps to slow,”

Evvy whispered.“How are we supposed to get out from there?” Cashton asked,

looking from Lazer to Evvy.“Trash chutes are on a conveyer lift and dump right next to my

transport. That’s where we meet if we get separated. The only other way out is the sewer and ltration system. But let’s avoid that since itdumps into the Kwanderlan underground river,” Evvy explained.

“Perfect. I’m goin’ out with the trash or down the toilet,” wasCashton’s last complaint as they stepped out onto the fth oor.



—| 156 |—

I I

SECRETS

T hey left the shafts and got into their zomer formation, placingthemselves shoulder to shoulder and turning to Cashton with

wide, anxious eyes. He set his medallion and nodded to them to do

the same with their own. Evvy, Kyla, and Lazer keyed into the fre-quency and launched their holographic images. The next momentthey were waddling down one corridor, then another, past cameraafter camera. They were seen only as a unit of zomer workers. They moved from one section to another, completely unnoticed by thepassing Black Guard and the occasional matching zomer unit thatlooked exactly like they did, shufing like penguins with blank faces

and vacant eyes.“Is that what we look like?” Cashton whispered in a tone of

disgust.“Why four? And why do they train them to move like this?”

Kyla asked.“They hobble their hips so they can’t run,” Evvy answered.“That’s cruel,” Kyla said, with a hint of genuine sadness.“I haven’t seen one human since we got down here,” Lazer

noted.“Covax doesn’t allow humans or splicers on this oor if he can help

it, unless they have Umbra level security ranking,” Evvy told them.They continued down a corridor that opened out into the vast




vertical, cylindrical atrium. With a collective gasp, they stopped andstared in wonder at what was the heart of Temple Mountain’s pro-duction facilities. It was fteen stories from top to bottom, withbalconies that ringed each level and tied into corresponding cor-ridors. The atrium was made from what was once an active volcano.

When the land mass sank, the ery core of the volcano was extin-guished by the sea. Across the center of the shaft, a web of catwalkscrisscrossed and connected the west chambers with the east and the

north with the south. The labyrinth of catwalks ran every ve oors,as the atrium opened up into a chilling drop to the bottom.The lower oors of Temple Mountain had been crafted to hide

the darker side of Covax Industries. The vast foundation area waslled with racks and rows of robotic machines that pounded andmolded the pliable yet nearly impervious alloy of titanium, tef-lon, and alkene into the Black Guard’s various appendages: heads,

limbs, built-in weapons, power packs. The complex webs of or-ganic sensory strands were added later. The nal two stages werethe bilious green ocular bands and the biological memory strandsthat were inserted into the faceless masks on the fth level. Thestrands were kept hermetically sealed inside glass walls behind amassive steel door, where viral and human brain matter was clonedfrom stem cells. The robotics that handled the biological implants

worked around the clock. The strands, once completed, were tak-en, untouched by human hands, into a hypoallergenic, pressurizedcompartment where the delicate information strands were implant-ed into the faceless heads, then connected to the mechanical bodiesof the biodroids.

The visual was awe-inspiring; the concept of what was happen-ing was terrifying. Every square inch of the production oor waslled with thousands of what would soon be the next generation of the Black Guard. Once their information strands were programmedand the assembly complete, they would be activated. There wouldbe no malice, no emotion, only the clear and concise directive toprotect any living thing they deemed inferior. But since the attacks,




there was a looming question: Were they being programmed to pro-tect or to destroy?

“I thought Covax said he stopped all production of the SeriesIV,” Kyla said, with a hint of amazement.

“Looks like he lied about that, too,” Lazer responded. There wasa bitter taste that lled his mouth and brought with it the memoriesand anger that had driven him here in the rst place. Lazer studiedthe hundreds of soon-to-be assembled Black Guard forces. Arms,

legs, heads, and torsos moved along the production line.It won’t take long to build an army at this rate .“That’s why my father died,” Evvy said. There was a lump of

emotion that closed her throat and strangled her words.Lazer could see by the tears in her eyes that she understood all

too well the reality of Temple Mountain. She had all the proof sheneeded.

“Let’s blow these nanoheads,” Evvy growled.Lazer lifted his eyes and searched the cavernous opening. Hismind spun as he recalled the ANN Vybernet report. He visualizedthe outer rooms that faced the center balconies and made up the in-ner walls of the atrium. They had a thousand heptagonal doors thatmade the atrium look like an enormous honeycomb. Finally, Lazersaw it. The laboratory section he had seen in the report.

“There,” he pointed. It was just as he remembered, three roomsover from the right of the rst catwalk. They started their shufe andmoved across the catwalk to the other side.

“How many minutes to set the timers and get out?” Evvy asked.“Timers?” Kyla blurted.Lazer and Cashton exchanged a look.“Lazer, please tell me you’re kidding,” she continued.“We’re blowing the strand lab. What did you think we broke in

here to do? Toilet paper them,” Evvy responded.“Yes. No. Hack into their equipment and . . . I . . . I . . .” Kyla

stammered. She was stunned.By the panic in Kyla’s voice, Lazer knew instantly it had been a




“Okay, okay,” she said moving after him. “Just tell me how weget out after the blast.”

“Uh, actually I had that question on my mind, too,” Cashtoncommented.

All eyes turned to Lazer.“We’ll be gone before it blows,” Lazer said to Evvy and Cashton.

“Right?”“Absolutely. But what about theout part?” Cashton said, as he

looked at Lazer.“Give me twelve minutes. I’ll get us out,” Evvy said. “Now, let’shave this party.”

It was too late to turn back. Kyla knew it as well as everyoneelse. She looked at Lazer. He had always managed to get themout of trouble in the past, and whatever his brain didn’t handle,Cashton’s brawn or her quick thinking would. They were the Three

Musketeers, and they had Evvy as their D’Artagnan.They regrouped back into their zomer pack and traveled downthe corridor. Cautiously, they moved past several more cameras,then stopped at a dual set of glass doors marked STRAND ACCESSCHAMBER.

Evvy looked around. She reached inside her breast pocket andpulled out a ball of whitish-gray rubbery-looking fabric. After giving

it a shake, she slipped into the gelatinous glove, which formed to herhand, then reached out and pressed her thumb into the access panel.The rst set of glass doors slid open.

“Whose print is that, and how did you get it?” Kyla asked.“Don’t ask. You don’t want the answer to either question,” Evvy

smiled back at her.The door led to a short, dark hallway striped with a web of white

laser beams that blocked the entry. A sign just beyond the doorsread in bold red letters: STRAND LAB DECONTAMINATIONCHAMBER. STERILE ENVIRONMENT—PARTICLE SUITREQUIRED. On hooks, outside the next section, rows of whiteprotective suits hung waiting to be inhabited.




“Don’t we need those?” Cashton asked, pointing to the whitesuits.

“Those are for the strands’ protection, not ours,” Evvy told him.“You’re sure about that, right?” Cashton asked nervously.

Again, Evvy imprinted the scanner access panel, and this timelasers shut down and the doors on the inside spiraled open like theiris of a camera lens.

The decontamination chamber was about six-by-six feet. It made

Cashton feel claustrophobic. A few moments passed and several smallvents began to hiss, releasing a ne white mist, disinfecting them. Lazer watched as they vanished into the haze of white. It smelled like lemonand onions, and the stench made Cashton sneeze. A high-pitchedsucking sound cleared the air and the second set of doors opened.

Again, Evvy placed her gloved nger on the glowing panel, andthe crisscrossing web of lasers that guarded the room shut down.

Intertwined with the sound of the lasers, the hum of the generatorgave way to the sounds of the strand processors. The sequencersclicked and hummed like an oven’s pilot switch trying to light athyper speed.

The room was amazing. White walls and a stainless steel andglass table dened the spartan room. The strands were lit in a washof changing colors that reected back on the foursome and made

their faces look like something out of a psychedelic dream. Rowsof glass tubes resembling neon lights carried billions of ne strandsof human crossed with viral amino acids. The incubators were me-ticulously growing them to just the right size. After they reachedmaturity, they were formatted and imprinted with all the knowledgeof the known world, past and present.

The process held Lazer spellbound. He couldn’t help but won-der why anyone would give all the knowledge of the world to a virusin the rst place.

“Okay people, we have three minutes to set the charges and getout. From there, we need twelve minutes to get back to the car andclear the gate,” Evvy said. “I’ll keep watch.”




Lazer turned to Kyla and placed his hands on her shoulders.She looked ill with worry. “Wait with Evvy,” he said protectively toKyla.

“No, you won’t know what to look for . . . I will,” Kyla replied,taking a deep breath to give herself courage.

“Whatever you are gonna do, do it,” Evvy insisted. “The bio-droids change shifts and that means checking the strands.”

Lazer, Cashton, and Kyla entered the main sequencing cham-

ber, leaving Evvy at the door on watch. They moved through theprogramming area, their eyes searching in the dim light for the bestplace to attach the bomb so it would do the most damage. The se-quencing room was larger than the rst two, and the walls weremounted with several huge imprint devices that looked like one-half of a large, ultra modern CT scan machine. The strand tubes werechecked and turned by robots and, when they were ready, taken

down and handed off to another set of robotic claws. In turn, thetubes were placed on a conveyer, where they moved slowly throughthe imprint programmer. A billion bits of data per millimeter wereburned into the strands during an arduous process that took over tenhours a foot. From there, they were retrieved by a third set of robot-ics, where they were rescanned for accuracy.

Lazer and Cashton moved through the main room. Cashton

crossed to a thin touch panel that controlled one of the room’s maincomputers. Above the work station, a holoprojection monitored thestrand patterns’ programming progress.

“Cashton! Don’t touch that,” Kyla blurted.Cashton drew his hand back. “What?”“They’re keyed to somebody’s genetics.”“Set the rst one in the center,” Lazer said to Cashton, checking

his time band.“I still can’t believe we’re doing this,” Kyla whispered as they

moved to the center of the room.Cashton pulled out the paper-thin detonator strap and tapped

on the read-out lights of the digital counter. Lazer stepped behind




him and carefully pulled out two narrow, rectangular metal tubesfrom his pocket.

“That’s it?!” Cashton said, abbergasted at the tiny amount.“I’ve got two more,” Lazer replied.“We couldn’t take out a ea circus with that,” Cashton huffed.“You can take out the entire room if you put one here and one

under there,” Kyla told them, pointing to two specic spots. She wasstanding next to a large strand sequencing machine.

“And why’s that, Madam Einstein?”“Because this is the main genetic processor, and it’s lled withthreonal,” she replied.

“Brains and beauty, that’s what I love about this girl,” Cashtonbeamed, moving toward her. Cashton took the rst two vials fromLazer and handed him the other detonator strap. He meticulously laid the vials into a gelatinous substance that held the digital timer

block. Using a hair-thin lament, he connected one to the other, setit, and laid it in its place.Lazer and Cashton crossed to Kyla and nished the set-up for

the second device. All that was left was a twist, and the countdown would start.

“What’s this?” Lazer pointed to another station.“It’s where they clone the strands,” said Kyla. “I wonder who they

took the original DNA strands from to cross with the viral strands.”“You’re sure these are the cloning stations?” Lazer asked.Kyla shot him a “you must be kidding” look and walked to the

far side of the room. She stopped, recognizing the symbols writtenon the largest machine in the room.

“Lazer, if you blow this wall, it will contaminate the foundationstrands. It will take months, maybe even years, to reconstruct thismany strands,” she said with excitement in her voice.

Lazer carefully picked up the second charge and brought it over,allowing Kyla to place it. He trusted she would set it exactly whereit would do the most damage. In a moment, it was done. Now they had to get out.




“Shnapp!” Evvy’s eyes opened as wide as an owl at midnight.“Guys? We got company. NOW!” Evvy’s heart pounded. She couldsee at least six Black Guard coming across the catwalks. “Move it,”she called to them in a desperate whisper.

It was too late. They were trapped. Before she could do any-thing to get them out, the Black Guard would be in the room. Evvy stepped into the shadows and slipped between two large data stor-age banks. She pressed herself against the wall, squeezing as far in as

she could get. It was useless. It wasn’t deep enough to hide her. Hershoulder and one leg were sticking out. All she could hope for wasthat they wouldn’t turn on the light. Evvy held her breath.

Inside the strand programming room, Lazer and Cashton setthe timers and raced for the door. Kyla followed, but at the last mo-ment something inside her forced her back into the room. There wassomething wrong. Kyla looked and instantly saw their mistake. The

devices were too exposed. She had to shove them further beneaththe unit or they were sure to be discovered. She did one, then racedfor the second. Kyla held the second device delicately in her handand looked for someplace secure that would still do the most dam-age. Her eyes scanned the oor and walls. The room was too bare.Finally, she looked up.

Lazer and Cashton reached the outer chamber door and just as

they burst through, Evvy grabbed them.“Launch! Launch!” she commanded in a harsh whisper to

Cashton.Cashton pulled out his medallion. He set the frequency and

launched. The holographic images sparked and sputtered and then with a horrible whine the medallion jammed.

“Cash!” Lazer and Evvy said in a pleading whisper.Cashton pounded the medallion.“Work!” he growled.There was a groan and a whistle and the little device ignited,

encasing them in their zomer identities. At the same moment, sixBlack Guard entered the room and discovered them. Everybody




Kyla swallowed hard, willing them closer. She checked her me-dallion and counted the seconds until it picked up the frequency and lit up. A few more feet,she thought, still holding her breath.

Lazer could only hope she was reading his thoughts. They movedthrough the strand access chamber clumped together in their awk-

ward waddle. Finally, Lazer, Cashton, and Evvy reached the doorthat led back into the sequencing chamber.

“Fourth. Fourth. Fourth,” they continued.

Kyla listened. As they got closer, she looked at the lights thatencircled her medallion. They vacillated back and forth, searchingfor the matching connection. She needed all the colored lights to gofrom ashing to solid. It didn’t happen. They were still too far. Kyla’sheart raced.

“Fourth. Fourth. Fourth,” they chirped.“Another three feet,” Cashton mumbled, glancing at his

medallion.Five had enough. The stab of impatience that pricked him wasswaddled by another new emotion—suspicion—and it overwhelmedhim. Like a predator to the kill, he moved toward them.

“Get out of my way,” Five commanded.They shufed in different directions, only managing to bump

into each other and get more in Five’s way. He shoved Cashton into

the wall that housed the sequencing chamber’s pocket door. The few inches Cashton stumbled made it close enough for Kyla’s medallionto connect. It lit up and locked, expanded, and cocooned her in herzomer disguise just as Five entered the chamber.

“Fourth. Fourth. Fourth,” she blurted out in the same staccatotone as the others.

Five glared at her as she shufed past him to join the others.“Fourth,” they all said, happy they were a unit again. They pat-

ted her and she them and with the briefest nod from Lazer, they turned and as fast as their feet would allow, shufed their way acrossthe chamber, past the other Black Guard and out into the corridor.

Five’s emotions were churning with the grinding relentlessness




of a well-oiled machine. He could not stop watching them. Throughthe ne lenses that made up his biodroid ocular bands, they lookedas normal as every other zomer unit in Temple Mountain. But hissenses screamed a warning to look deeper. The featureless mask of his face began to shift as the human features pushed through and apair of colorless eyes opened.

It took a moment for his eyes to accept the change from thedigitally-enhanced brilliant color relayed through his mechanical

ocular vision to the black-and-white images that his new eyes wereable to perceive. He knew color would come later, as soon as helearned to manipulate the molecules. For now, all he needed fromhis human eyes was focus and dimension. His gray eyes honed in,and the zomers went from two dimensions to three.

“Stop them!” he ordered.“Run!” Lazer shouted.

Five looked into the strand sequencing room, then back at thehumans. His human instincts had been correct. He quickly deduced why they were there.

“Go back and search the sequencing chamber. Now,” Five or-dered. “Alert my security forces and shut down every exit,” he saidto another guard. “Do not let them leave this facility alive.”

Evvy, Cashton, Kyla, and Lazer broke into a run and turned

the corner out of the corridor. They made their way back along thebalcony and headed to the catwalks.

Five and his guards were in pursuit down the main strand corri-dor. Five swiped a clawed talon across the band strap that traced his

wrists, opening a set of double wrist deuterium phasers.“This way,” Kyla shouted, peeling off and stepping onto the

catwalks. A group of Black Guard on the other side of the catwalk

opened re. Lazer pulled Kyla back just in time to dodge the hailof deuterium pellets that burned into the railing where her handhad just been. Another blast sent searing pellets ricocheting allaround them. A huge section of the balcony just in front was hit




and fell away, crashing to the oor ten stories below.“Get us outta here, Evvy,” Lazer yelled, driving them along the

balcony until they could reach an open corridor.“This is the ‘out’ part I was talking about,” Cashton yelled back

to Lazer, running as fast as he could.More pellets ripped into the walls and metal banisters of the

balcony.“We have to get to those vents over there,” Evvy said, breath-

lessly pointing to the vents that had brought them. A deluge of deuterium pellets rained down from across the openatrium and chewed into the balcony, barely missing them. They kept running, searching for an open corridor along the balcony wall.Every door was sealed.

A hundred feet behind them, Five and his Black Guard roundedthe corner just as a huge blast shot from the opposite balcony. It

exploded right in front of Evvy and knocked her backwards intoCashton. Cashton fell back into one of the sealed doors, and theforce of his weight shorted it. Like a gift from the angels, it slidopen.

“Go in!” Lazer shouted, pushing Kyla and Evvy inside.They stood in the dark entry, which was no more than a few

feet deep.

“Evvy, open the next door,” Kyla shouted.Evvy put the thumb print into the access panel. The only sound

was the pounding feet of the Black Guard approaching. The doortook forever until, nally, with a series of clanks, the massive metaldoors spiraled open.

Lazer pushed them all in and Evvy sealed the door behind herand smashed the control panel, locking them inside.

In the next moment, Five and his Black Guard arrived and were joined by six more Black Guard. All but Five lifted their weapons toblast the door.

Five stopped them. “No.”Inside the dimly lit room, only the sound of their own heavy




breathing came back to them. They waited. Nothing happened.“Why aren’t they shooting?” Cashton whispered.The silence hung in front of them like an ominous curtain.

Cashton’s medallion went into search mode.“What’s it doing?” Kyla asked.“I don’t know,” Cashton said, watching the medallion.Evvy turned her head, looking into the blackness. Her eyes

had been enhanced with a chip for special services, which gave her

night-vision capabilities. She scanned the room and couldn’t helpbut notice the walls were undulating.“Cashton, come here,” Evvy demanded.Cashton walked closer. As he did, his medallion locked onto a

new frequency that controlled what turned out to be a holographicprojection of a blank wall. With a twist, the walls vanished, revealingceiling to oor, wall to wall . . . “Weapons,” Evvy gasped.

Kyla turned to look, and her entire body began to glow. She gaveoff a soft gold radiance that looked like a big lightning bug at sunset.It wasn’t bright, but it was enough to illuminate a small portion of the room.

“Ice genetics,” Evvy said to Kyla.“Yeah, great, I’m a night light.” Kyla was a little embarrassed.“Now we’re talking,” Cashton pulled a laser canon down and

began looking for the charge clip.“That’s why they’re not ring,” Lazer picked up a pair of deute-

rium cuffs. He had seen them in a hundred video games, but to holdthe real thing in his hands was awesome.

“If they hit this room, they bring the whole place down,” Kyla whispered, as she looked at a wall of deuterium ammo.

“How long before the charges go off in the sequencing room?”Lazer asked.

Cashton checked his wristsponder, “Four minutes.”“Seven,” Kyla corrected him. “I gave us a little more time.”“It’s not enough to go back the way we came. I say we take a

stand here,” Evvy said, as she locked a clip into a blaster.




“No,” Lazer said to Evvy. “If we start a reght, we’ll blow our-selves up.”

“Ah, good point,” Cashton added, feeling a little less brave.“Can you get us out of here, while they’re busy trying to gure

out how to get in?” Lazer asked Evvy.There was a strange hissing sound that rang just beyond the door.“What’s that?” Evvy asked.Lazer and Kyla exchanged a look. “Cold laser. They’re gonna

freeze the molecules and shatter the door.”Evvy turned to search the room. “There’s got to be a back cham-ber in here. All these rooms were designed with a triplicate format,three rooms to a series.”

They began to search. Nothing. No door, no windows, nothing.“Can you pull up a schematic?” Lazer asked.“I don’t need it. There’s a door in here. I know this place,” Evvy

insisted.“Then get us out of here,” Cashton tried to access a computerpanel he found in the corner.

“I’ve just never seen this area,” Evvy said. She ran her handsalong a small area of exposed wall between the tightly set cabinets of

weapons and ammo.“They were hiding the weapons stash from the investigators,”

Kyla added. “We’ve got to tell somebody.”“Right now we have to get out,” Lazer insisted.Cashton was studying a oor plan of the area he had accessed

through a panel. He shook his head. “This room’s not even listed inthe schematics.”

“Found it!” Evvy thumb-printed a hidden panel, which openeda secret door that had been covered with weapons.

Lazer took charge. “Find us a way out of here, Evvy. You go withher, Cash. Kyla, come help me block this door.”

Evvy raced into the second chamber with Cashton close behind.They began to search the rst and then the second large chambers whileLazer and Kyla fortied the rst door with whatever they could nd.




“Covax is building an army and fortifying them with these weapons. I still don’t understand how the investigators could havemissed this,” Lazer said.

“They won’t miss it next time, if we have anything to say aboutit,” Kyla declared.

“We’ll need proof,” Lazer said.Lazer looked at the huge door that stood between them and the

Black Guard. They had done all they could to secure it. Behind the

wall of boxes and cabinets, the steel door had turned a cold arcticblue, and a series of ne cracks began to appear. A few minutes moreand the cold laser would freeze the molecules and turn the door asfragile and vulnerable as a sheet of glass. One hit at ramming speed,and the door would be history.

“We gotta go,” Lazer told her.Kyla left. Lazer followed behind. In the next room, he closed

the door and began to block it with a few objects he found scatteredaround the second chamber. It was then he noticed Kyla standingmotionless in front of an open cylindrical cabinet that anchored thefar corner of the room. A pale, white light ooded out from behindthe door and washed over her.

“It’s beautiful,” Kyla said.Lazer rounded the corner of the cabinet to see what was hold-

ing her gaze. As he got closer, the light from inside brightened andchanged. It was, without question, the gnorb from the Orbis Temple,oating in a sealed Plexiglas encasement.

“Look what it did when you got near it.” Kyla had a look of ut-ter amazement on her face.

“Universal God.” Cashton and Evvy entered from the back chamber.

“We can’t leave it here.” Lazer reached out to the gnorb, whichignited and emitted an ear-crushing sound that made Cashton,Evvy, and Kyla cover their ears and hide their eyes from the wall of blinding light that engulfed Lazer.

“Get back,” Cashton called out.




Lazer stood mesmerized. He saw a clear picture in his mind’s eye:the four of them were removing a steel plate behind a toilet, enter-ing, and following the pipes down into a huge ltration system. Hesaw them swimming, caught in fast-moving water. There was an out-cropping of rocks that formed a triangle to one side, a tunnel, and aglowing red gate at the other side. Lazer, Kyla, and Evvy swam away from the gate, but something happened and Cashton was swept downand pinned against the gate. Cashton was dying, and Lazer couldn’t get

to him. He saw himself, Kyla, and Evvy washed into the Kwanderlanunderground river, then deposited onto a moss-covered shore.The next sound brought Lazer out of his vision—the sound of

the door shattering.Five was the rst to enter. He saw instantly they had found their

way into the second chamber. He could only hope they had notfound the gnorb.

“Get me through that door!”Behind him, a Black Guard came in holding one of Cashton’sexplosion devices. It had been deactivated.

“Humans,” Five hissed. “Is this the only one?”“We searched every inch of the chamber,” the Guard responded.“Go back and search again.”“We searched . . .”

“Search again!” Five snapped.Inside the second chamber, the screeching subsided. Lazer’s head

was still spinning as he struggled out of the vision that still hungbefore his eyes and spoke quickly. “There’s a bathroom. Behind thetoilet is a wall plate. We have to take off the plate and access thepipes. If we follow the pipes, they will take us through the ltrationsystem, which leads to an underground river and out.”

“Genius.” Evvy knew exactly what he was talking about. “Thosepipes go to the main sewer system. We can t down the crawlspace.”Evvy headed into the last chamber. It was smaller, ten feet by tenfeet, lled with walls of data storage panels. At the very back was thebathroom door.




Lazer’s hands were all over the Plexiglas cylinder, prying, pull-ing, searching for a way to get it open and get the gnorb out.

“There’s got to be a way to open it,” Lazer said, with a pang of desperation.

Kyla felt the back and bottom of the cabinet for a release, butfound nothing. Cashton had started to help when he looked at themetal door that separated them from the rst chamber; it was al-ready turning from a dull gray to a pure snowy white.

“We’ve got to get out of here,” Cashton said. He rechecked thecharge he had loaded into his phaser.The door began to crack. It wouldn’t take long to freeze the

molecules and for the Black Guard to get inside.“We have to leave it,” Kyla whispered, unable to nd a way into

the cylinder. She began to back away.Lazer pounded on the Plexiglas. It wouldn’t give.

“It wants to come. I feel it. We can’t leave it here,” Lazer said,like a protective father forced to leave his child in danger.“We don’t have a choice, Lazer,” Kyla insisted. She tugged at his

arm.Inside the bathroom, Evvy pulled and kicked at the metal toilet.

She pounded the bolts, hoping she could loosen them enough todislodge it and expose the back panel. “I hate to be a girl about this,

but a little help would be good.”“Cashton, go help Evvy. Hurry!”Cashton looked one more time at the door and left.“What?” Cashton said to Evvy. It only took a second to assess

what she was doing. “Aw, crap . . .”Together, they ripped the toilet out of the way and Cashton

looked down the hole.“I can’t t down there,” he said.“You don’t have to if we can get this back panel off,” Evvy told

him.Cashton lifted his phaser, stepped back, and red. The deute-

rium slammed into the metal and melted the wall. Through the




smoke they saw the opening, which exposed a system of multi-coloredpipes that plummeted ten stories straight down.

Inside the second chamber, Kyla pleaded, “Please, Lazer. Now.Now!”

In the rst chamber, Five waited. His monochromatic face drift-ed in and out of its human form and tingled his emotions. Theanalytical part of his brain calculated the feeling as anxiety. His or-ganic elements gave off a strange heat that kept building like a pot

of water coming to a boil. The tension was suffocating and made his whole being feel as if tight bands were constricting it.Five didn’t like the feeling. He didn’t like any of the feelings that

confounded him since his awakening. To date, they came only oc-casionally, but every time he allowed his human form to shift intoplace, it brought with it waves of emotions that ebbed and owed andpulled at him like a relentless tide. He tried to ignore them, but they

took more time than the mechanics of logic. What he needed rightnow was to focus on the invaders that currently occupied his domain.These humans were a minor threat that had to be crushed like insig-nicant bugs, but his human instincts told him there was more.

Five ran his claw-like nger across his wristsponder, whichcharged and produced an image of the sequencing chamber. It hov-ered in front of him. Behind the holographic image of the Black

Guard that faced him, two other Black Guard searched the room.He could see them going section by section, inch by inch.

“We have found nothing,” the Black Guard reported.Before Five could respond, the room exploded. A ball of re

ashed and instantly vanished. The sounds and tremors that fol-lowed shook the whole room.

“Open that door!” Five bellowed. He raised his blaster and red.Inside the second chamber, the echo of the explosion, coupled

with the intense vibration, let them know at least one of the deviceshad gone off. Lazer and Kyla exchanged a look just as the door thatseparated them from Five and the Black Guard shattered. The frozenpieces of metal sent a shower of razor-sharp shards ying across the




second chamber. Lazer protectively stepped in front of Kyla, block-ing her. He was hit by one of the ying shards. It bit into his thighand shot a bolt of pain through Lazer’s entire body that buckled him

with the force of an electric shock. The frozen metal embedded itself deep into his leg, and the freezing cold instantly cauterized in themuscle and stopped the ow of blood. Kyla grabbed his loin cloth,

wrapped her hand in it, and yanked the shard out of his leg. Thefreezing cold seared her ngers in the split second before she could

throw it away.Lazer opened re to keep the Black Guard from entering throughthe now-opened door. Two of the Black Guard fell.

“Go,” he ordered Kyla.“Not without you,” she said, still ring at the door as she stood

by his side. Again, Five blocked the Black Guard from using their weapons.

He knew what was in there and that they could damage the gnorb.“Hold your re. They have no place to go,” Five told them.Inside the bathroom, the wall panel had been cleared. Evvy en-

tered the vertical shaft and dropped out of sight.“Kyla! Lazer!” Move it!” Cashton called.“Go,” Lazer yelled back to him.Cashton hesitated. He didn’t like leaving without Lazer and

Kyla. Another series of explosions pounded the walls. The rst explo-

sion they had set in the sequencing chamber had started a chain of explosions.

“Laze!” Cashton shouted and slid down the intricate pipingsystem.

The room rocked and reverberated with the sound of multipleexplosions.

“Leave your phaser. Go,” Lazer shouted at Kyla. “I’m right be-hind you. Swear up! Go!”

Kyla looked at him. She knew from his look she had better do asshe was told. Kyla dropped her phaser on the oor and ran into the




little bathroom. She leapt onto the center pipe and, in a moment,she was on a life slide to safety.

Lazer blasted a spray of deuterium pellets at the door, backingdown the next wave of Black Guard. He grabbed the partially burnedloincloth that Kyla had used to pull out the frozen shard, picked upKyla’s weapon, and secured the safety. With a string, he rigged thetrigger to re. Using the rest of the loincloth, Lazer strapped the

weapon to a chair and aimed it at the door. He shot a nal, suppress-

ing spray of deuterium and ipped the safety on the weapon on thechair. The phaser red, pounding into the still-frozen doorway. Forthe moment, nothing was coming through.

Lazer looked one more time at the gnorb. He didn’t understand why or what he was feeling, but he felt a connection. It had shownhim a vision of the way out and it hurt his heart that he could nottake the gnorb with him. The ammo gauge on the phaser was half

empty. Time was running out. Lazer turned, ran and dove into theopen panel, grabbed the center pipe, and vanished into the black-ness below.



—| 177 |—

I2

THE CHOICE

F ive entered the second room and shoved the emptied phas-er and chair out of the way. His focus was on the gnorb. It

stared at him with cold and silent rejection, giving only the slightest

emission of light. But the only important thing was that it was stillthere.“Find them,” Five ordered.The Black Guard spread out through the room, pulling data

cases and cabinets away from the walls and searching behind them.Five noticed the bathroom door half opened.

“Seal the ltration gates and ush the system,” Five said calmly.

He had them.Lazer was in a controlled free fall. His feet were wrapped with

his hands and arms hanging on like a reman sliding down a restation pole. The center pole was there for maintenance access. Thelight from above vanished, and he was enveloped by the dim glow that rose up from far below. Lazer felt the cold air that carried withit the stench of Temple Mountain sewers. It mixed with the smell of sulfur that came from the Kwanderlan natural springs that owedbeneath the mountain. The sewage and water were the least of his

worries. They had evaded the Black Guard for the moment, but thevision ooded back into Lazer’s thoughts. Something had happenedto Cashton. He had somehow gotten separated from the group and




was pulled a different way by the force of the water. What he didn’t want to accept was the nal outcome. As far as he was concerned, if the future hadn’t happened yet, it could still be changed. A horriblefeeling of desperation pricked at the back of his neck and chilled hisblood. A soft voice whispered:Protect Cashton or he will die .

The pipes ended, bending into a sharp right angle that trackedalong the top of the cave. The pipes carried the waste off into theltration system, while still other pipes brought fresh water from

the enormous natural lake into the facilities. The maintenance pipe,however, ended. The safety platform that had once been mountedat the bottom hung in shattered pieces. It had been broken longago and forgotten. With nothing to stop him, Lazer fell througha cavernous arch that stretched above what he hoped was the lake.The rush of the air and the blackness made his heart race. His earslled with the sound of rushing water. He hoped it was deep enough

to break his fall and not his neck. Ten seconds later, he hit with asplash. When Lazer broke the surface, he could see Kyla glowing f-

teen feet away, bobbing up and down between the violent swells. Ittook all his strength to swim to her. Cashton and Evvy were ghtingto stay above the water and close to Kyla. They were together andalive.

Lazer thought again of the vision. He searched the sides of thecavern for an outcropping of rocks that formed a triangle. It was toodark for him to tell anything. Suddenly, the water lulled into a at,deadly calm.

“Now what?” Cashton said, gasping for air. A ood of light lit up from beneath the water, exposing them

and everything around them. Once again, Lazer searched for thetriangular mound of rocks that would lead them out.

“There,” he said and pointed. “Hurry. Swim for those rocks.”Lazer grabbed Cashton’s collar and swam, dragging him behind.

No one questioned him, even the befuddled Cashton.“Lazer,” Cashton gurgled, ghting the water and Lazer’s iron grip.




“Just stay with me no matter what happens,” Lazer pleaded.“I can swim if you . . .” Cashton started to say.Before he could nish, a horrendous sound echoed across the

cave. Something was sucking the air and pulling the water with suchintensity it dragged the four of them helplessly forward. Lazer saw the rocks. He also saw the water split into two directions. In hispanic to keep Cashton close, he was sucked under and couldn’t see

which way to go.

“Which way?” Kyla called, ghting to stay aoat.Lazer struggled back to the surface. Kyla and Evvy were lighter,faster, and more helpless in the torrential pull of the water that heldthem. If he let go of Cashton, he could grab them.

“Hold my shirt,” Lazer shouted to Cashton.“I’m okay,” Cashton protested.“Hold it!” Lazer demanded.

Cashton obeyed and grabbed his friend as Lazer reached outfor Kyla and Evvy. With one hand, he grabbed Kyla’s ponytail and, with the other, he reached for Evvy. His ngers closed around thesleeve of her coat just as she was sucked under. Lazer felt his ngersslip as he gulped gallons of water, but he had them all. Together,they slammed into the outcropping of rocks. Had they gone to the right or to the left? Lazer thought. Again, he broke the surface. He

felt Cashton’s powerful ngers locked onto his shirt and he couldsee Kyla’s ponytail still in his hand as she struggled to keep aoat.Lazer felt the fabric of Evvy’s jacket. There was a second bump thatleft him with a terrifying weightlessness—Evvy was no longer in hisgrasp.

“Evvy,” Lazer called out, his mouth barely above the water.“Hold your breath,” shouted Kyla. The next moment she was

sucked under.Lazer gasped and was pulled under the water and dragged into

a tunnel. He could still feel Kyla’s hair twisted around his ngersand Cashton holding onto his shirt. He reached up with the handthat had lost Evvy, searching for the surface. His hand hit the rock




ceiling. They were trapped, still moving in the speeding ush of water that carried them to Universal God knew where. He held hisbreath, blind in the dark rushing waters. It suffocated him. His lungsburned, hungry for a breath of air. He was drowning. The blacknessclosed in, and Lazer lost consciousness.



—| 181 |—

I3

SACRED OATH

W hen Lazer opened his eyes, he saw only the front of his shirt with Cashton’s ngers still wrapped around it. By some

miracle, Cashton had dragged him from the water and onto the

banks of a narrow river that sprang from the ground a few milesfrom Temple Mountain. Lazer looked in his hand and saw the tangleof hair that connected to Kyla.

Slowly, Lazer opened his ngers and tried to move. His entirebody ached. He pried Cashton’s ngers away and checked on bothhis friends. They were unconscious but breathing and, most impor-tantly, they were alive. He forced himself to stand, although his legs

felt as weak and as rubbery as they had that day at Shooting Falls.Twice he had deed death. His thigh ached from the wound theshard had left. It would hurt for a long time. Lazer ignored the painand searched for Evvy. He hoped that somehow she had made it onher own and hadn’t ended up getting out the same way they did.

Lazer walked for a long time, looking for Evvy. The muddy banks were rank with the stench of sulfur. He trudged back along the mud-dy shores to nd Kyla throwing up all the water she had swallowed.He helped as best he could until she was done. Exhausted, she fellback against the rocks. Kyla tried to pull her hair out of her face, buther scalp was so bruised it hurt too much to touch even a strand.

“Where’s Evvy?” Kyla mumbled.




“I lost her,” Lazer whispered.Kyla looked at him. The reality of what he was saying slammed

into her so hard it knocked the wind out of her. Tears lled her eyes.“We have to go back,” she said choking on the words.“Maybe she got out,” Lazer said, trying to convince himself.“We have to be sure,” Kyla said insistently.“She didn’t.” Cashton barely lifted his head.Kyla and Lazer turned to him. Slowly, Cashton pulled himself

up into a sitting position.“Right before I went under, I saw her. She was pulled to the rightof the rocks and hit a red grate. The water pinned her against it.

“She could have gotten away,” Kyla shouted at him, furious andfrightened. “She was a strong swimmer.”

“Her neck was broken,” Cashton whispered.Kyla stared at him in denial. Her breath stopped, suffocating

her until her emotions exploded. She threw herself at Cashtonand pounded him with her sts. “She’s alive! She’s alive! She didn’tdie. She didn’t . . . die.” Cashton let her ail until, exhausted, shestopped. Kyla stumbled back, shaking and sobbing, desperately try-ing to understand the impossible reality that comes when someonedies before they’ve had the chance to live.

Lazer crossed to his best friend. He put his arms around her

and let her cry. Her sobs rose and echoed against the trees for a longtime, as she let loose the tears that hung in both Cashton and Lazer’seyes. Finally, the sobs subsided into tiny gasps of air. They stood andheld onto each other, feeling the last drops of their innocence slipaway.

Lazer, Kyla, and Cashton stared into each other’s eyes.“We’ll tell them,” Lazer said with a hushed resolve.“We have no proof,” Kyla replied, as she searched his eyes for a

solution.“The proof is in there,” Cashton said, his gaze xed on Temple

Mountain.“What if they don’t nd anything? What if the Black Guard




hides everything we saw?” Kyla asked with a tone lled with anxiousfear.

“You know they’ll come after us,” Cashton warned. Again, there was a long silence.“We can’t let Evvy have died in vane,” Kyla told them, her eyes

welling again with tears.“We won’t,” Lazer assured her. “We’ll nd a way. We’ll tell the

government, and if they don’t believe us or Covax covers it up, we’ll

tell every living person who’ll listen. We’ll use the vybernet andblogs. And we’ll viral out to everyone who’ll listen. It’s not aboutthe leaders anymore. It’s us. We are the only ones who can make thekilling stop.

Lazer looked at his friends. He saw the courage in their eyes andfelt their willingness to take a stand against everything they knew

was coming.

He knew they had to be careful. He knew if they were discov-ered, it would mean their lives.“Right here and now, we make a vow. A promise on Evvy’s life

that somehow we’ll wake up everyone who’s been lulled into think-ing that being comfortable is the same thing as being safe. We won’tlet them hide their eyes from the truth ever again.”

Cashton placed his hand in front of them. Kyla placed her hand

on his. Finally, Lazer laid his hand on top.“For Evvy,” Kyla said.“For Evvy,” Lazer and Cashton echoed back to her.

As the sun rose, ooding the forest with a cold gray light, they stood locked in one another’s gaze. Lazer glanced one more time atTemple Mountain, then looked again at his friends and saw in theireyes everything he was feeling in his heart. They had drawn a line inthe sand—the rst battle in an undeclared war that would be foughtby all who refused to stand mute in the wake of oppression.



PART I i I

TOSADAE



—| 187 |—

I

LEAVING HOME

L azer had seen the gnorb, connected ever so briey with it,and, in the end, it had been the reason he was still alive. It

had reached out to him and somehow, in his heart, he knew it, too,

had survived the blast. The destruction Lazer, Kyla, Cashton, andEvvy caused at Temple Mountain was unsubstantiated and, withoutany evidence of what they had seen there, the friends were at risk of being arrested, or worse, identied and killed by the Black Guard.They anonymously reported the weapons and military actions they had witnessed, but when ofcials investigated the allegations, they found nothing. To make matters worse, the destruction was reported

by Covax’s organization as an accident.But rumors leaked out and started a chain of events that seemed

to give new hope to the people of Atlantia. There was just enoughplausibility in the rumors to motivate a multitude of small groups,scattered across the territory, that needed to know they were notalone in their anger, sorrow, and pain. Blogs started. People talkedto each other on the Vybernet and said clearly, with or without the

Atlantian government’s sanctions, that people were joining forcesto create their own kind of protection. Lazer, Cashton, and Kyla

were never implicated, and the aunt that Evvy had been living withreported her as missing or a runaway.

Covax was at a loss, according to the ANN reports. He, on the




assurances of his team, wrote the explosion off as a “systems mal-function.” Lazer knew that the only visuals of the incident that hadbeen captured by the high-end security cameras showed nothing butfour klutzy zomers. Without positive IDs, the Black Guard could donothing. The amount of destruction wasn’t as extensive as Lazer hadhoped, but their little insurgence caused the Temple Mountain facil-ity to be shut down for over a month, which made life on Atlantiabearable . . . most of the time.

The memory of Rand’s funeral and Evvy’s death haunted Lazer’ssleep throughout the hot summer months that plagued southern Atlantia. But he survived, and Commander Hague kept his promiseto Detra, pulling enough strings to get Lazer a full scholarship toTosadae’s prestigious Politia Flight Academy—the core and pride of the university. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect; Lazerneeded to escape the memories that swallowed him every time he

walked into his house or ran in the hills where he had played withhis father when he was a child. He thought about staying and join-ing the secret forces that were amassing, but the suspicion that theaccident at Temple Mountain wasn’t so accidental made him, Kyla,and Cashton glad they were leaving for a while. And they would allbe at Tosadae together.

Finally, the day arrived. It was all he had ever desired and, in the

end, the last thing he wanted to do.Lazer and Detra made their way to the outer perimeter of Atland

City; a quick ight in their suburban hovercraft over the marshy out-back of southwestern Atlantia took them to the Atland City Global

Air Transport Station. The transport station was crowded with allthe young men and women who had been accepted to academiesand universities around the world. Atlantia itself had no universi-ties, at least not yet. The only options for those left behind were to

work as miners in the ve methane mines that still operated aroundthe country or as ticket staff and caretakers for the relic museumsbuilt over sunken ships and submarines that had once dotted theocean oor. There were a few jobs as management or staff at Atland




City’s race and sports stadiums, local restaurants, and Vybernet ca-fes. Construction jobs in developments or craft school were a lastresort for the desperate but, as far as Lazer was concerned, none werea viable option.

The transport station was a huge geodesic structure that spi-dered out into multiple ramps, each connecting to a variety of

waiting hovercrafts. Most of the crafts were either sleek transformersor giant Lego-looking machines that resembled colorful mechanical

bugs. Rows of air busses and short- and long-distance transportscomposed of mach one and mach two commercial and private shipslined the short vertical takeoff platforms.

Once past the main terminal, Lazer and Detra made their way through the forest of automated ticketing kiosks and prepared tocheck in. Detra stopped by an electronic teller, who smiled down ather from a holoscreen to nalize Lazer’s tickets—a simple thumb-

print and retinal scan that would bring all the data online andconrm his reservations.Lazer’s attention was captured by a fty-foot oating holopro-

jection that ran the length of the building. On it, an infomercialfor one of the commercial airlines that had survived the corporatemergers ashed at him with a series of rapid-re moving images thatsplit into multiple shapes as they relayed their message. One visual

showed men and women happily passing through an oval portal andvaporizing as their molecules were sucked into ber optic tubes. Theglimmering particles were then transformed into spiraling purplebeams of light that whisked them to distant locations. They wouldreappear, smiles intact, in duplicate portals, having arrived at theirdestination in a matter of seconds. The words that rolled across theholoscreen matched the authoritative voice of a man, saying: “Thefuture of travel is just around the corner . . . molecular teleportationalong pure ion light. Be there when youneed to be.” A soft melodicvoice said, “Global Air. Setting the standards of future travel wher-ever you need to be.” A cute little tune played “Catch the light!Catch the light. Ride—it—to—the—stars!”




Lazer was amazed that they had held his attention long enoughto let all their hypnotic, subliminal messages seep in. He felt strange-ly exhilarated and more than ready to take the leap of faith thatmolecular travel would require. Detra stepped in next to him.

“Not in my lifetime,” she said, as she beamed the ight informa-tion into Lazer’s new wristsponder. It had been a graduation gift leftfor him by his father.

“Two more years and they’ll have all the bugs out,” Lazer said.

“The cell structure loss is pretty minimal even now.” Lazer knew he wouldn’t do it, either.Lazer’s sleek new sponder beeped and played a voice reminder,

telling him time was running out. There was an awkward silence.Lazer was nervous. He felt his heart race, torn between leaving hismother and going to Tosadae. But his mother held precedence.There hadn’t been any more attacks since the Vacary Mines incident,

but everyone lived in fear that it could happen again. He worried forher, but the voice that screamed loudest in his head demanded thathe stay to ght in the inevitable war everyone knew was coming.He would miss out on the action. When the ghting broke out, he

would lose his chance to avenge his father. He had made an oath toblast every Black Guard out of existence. Lazer watched two of thempass, feeling the methodical pounding of his heart call to him—a

relentless reminder of what must be. Lazer caught site of a secondpair of Black Guard who patrolled the airport, scanning bags andpeople. He looked at the faces of every man, woman, and child whostood nervously watching the Black Guard go about their business.Their expressions showed what Lazer felt—helpless at the hands of a biomechanical monster.

Protecting us from what? They’re the enemy, not us. If only I could have taken them all out.He looked back at his mother. She lookedpale and tired, stressed from everything she had been through sincethe temple attacks and his father’s death. Sure, she had lots of friends,but at night, when she turned off the light, she was alone.

“I can’t believe I let you talk me into leaving,” he said.




“Me! You wanted to go to Tosadae,” Detra answered as she hadevery time this conversation came up.

“That was before . . .” Lazer started. He caught himself, nishedthe conversation inside his head, and pulled himself up to his fullheight. “No! No! I need to be here.”

“To do what? Make me miserable?” She smiled, trying to makethe moment bearable. “All your friends will be gone.”

“But the Black Guard . . .”

“Will be here when you graduate,” she nished the thought forhim. She touched his face. “Go, Lazer. You’ll be back soon enough.”“This is all wrong. I need to . . .”“ . . . live your life,” she nished his thought again. “The deal

was you complete at least your primary rite of passage. You know as well as I do that without it you can’t get a decent job, get married, orhave children, and I do want grandchildren,” she smiled.

Lazer blushed at the thought.“Until then, I won’t discuss it. After that, if you want to stay andget your wings, it’s up to you.” She hesitated for a moment. “Dad

would have wanted you to at least nish your rite of passage. Do itfor his sake.”

He knew she was right.“Heart swear?”

“Heart swear,” he responded. It was the old vow that he and hismother had created for each other that to Lazer was the ultimate,unbreakable promise.

She hugged him, pulling his tall body against her own. He hadgrown so much since his father’s funeral. What she didn’t know wasthat his heart, his soul, and his mind were held prisoner in a greatvoid called revenge, dedicated to one goal. But he had sworn toher, so his vow to take down the Black Guard would have to wait.He would deal with that in time. Again, the little alarm chimed its

warning. She had to let him go.“You be careful,” he warned his mother. “Promise?” Lazer glared

at the two Black Guard as they moved away.




“As long as you promise to forget this insanity, make your rite of passage, and do your best, I’ll promise to be safe,” she answered.

“Deal. And keep the shields up 24/7.” His voice was as paren-tal as he could make it. He embraced her, squeezing with all hisstrength.

“I love you so much, Lazer,” she said, ghting back the tears.“Okay, you two,” Cashton interrupted. “If you don’t stop, you’re

gonna make my mom get all mushy again.”

Cashton’s mother and father were in tow. Cashton punched Lazerin the arm and play-wrestled with him as they had done throughoutthe years since puberty. The families exchanged pleasantries. Detrasmiled as she watched Cashton’s mother take her husband’s hand. It

was a simple gesture of love and companionship that had been lostto her forever with Rand’s death.

“Scope this,” said Cashton, pulling a small, square, very odd-

looking contraption from his pocket. “It’s an isotropic hazer. Dropit and it emits a thin haze of smoke that then reects an image of whatever empty space you captured on this little digital band andpoof, you’re invisible. Tadaa!” Cashton said proudly.

“Cashton, I told you not to take that on the transport unlessyou can stabilize the chemicals,” his father said with a stern scowl. “Ican’t believe you got it past security.”

“It’s only smoke,” Cashton pleaded. “It almost works, too.”“Hand it over.” Cashton passed the device to his father, who

shoved it in his pocket. “If I get ned for this . . .”It was one of a hundred inventions Cashton had created that

didn’t quite work and always got him in trouble. “Can’t groundme for at least nine months.” Cashton grinned and threw an armaround Lazer.

The nal departure announcement boomed, heralding the lastcall to board the Tosadae transport. It was time to go. No more ex-cuses. Lazer grabbed his day pack as Cashton gave a last hug to hiscrying mother.

“I’m here for you if you need me,” Cashton’s father said to both




boys. He held Lazer’s hand a few seconds longer to emphasize hisintention, then gave them a nudge toward the transport portal.

Detra grabbed Lazer’s hand, kissed his cheek, and looked intohis eyes. She brushed the ever errant curl from his forehead. It madehim smile. Without further delay, he turned and bolted for theportal.

“Lock the shields!” Lazer shouted back to Detra, grinning at her with his infectious smile just before he vanished behind the heavy

sliding door.



—| 194 |—

2

STRIKE THREE

C ashton lay asleep, sprawled across the seat next to Lazer, who had managed to commandeer one of the few windows

that spotted the transport. Lazer looked out over the reverse wings

that dened the ship’s elliptical design: an enormous quarter-moonfuselage with three levels, a double cockpit, and vertical launch ca-pabilities. The thirty-year-old 1520 MMZ war cruiser should havebeen retired ten years ago, but Tosadae had modied it and used itto ship its students back and forth. All in all, it had been kept ingood shape.

They drifted at mach two, 50,000 kilometers above the plan-

et—so high they could see the curvature of terra rma. Earth was wrapped in swirling clouds that opened periodically to expose thedeep, emerald-blue sea that distinguished the planet as a rare jewelamongst a galaxy of uninhabitable rocks. Lazer could see the last bitof sunlight slipping behind them into the west and the black cloak of night advancing from the east. Far below, the sun’s fading rays fellupon the broken remains of the continent that was once Europe. Thegreat land mass that had included Russia and Asia was now dividedinto three separate continents, with separating straits and waterways

weaving from north to south and spilling out into the great oceansbelow. Lazer thought of home, his mother, his father, and how lifeitself was so precious that each moment had to be appreciated.




Cashton awoke and stretched. “How much longer?” he askedLazer. “I’m starving.”

“It’s a long ight at mach two. Besides, you just ate.”“Hey, I’m still growing,” he said with a proud smile.“Yeah, a gut.” Lazer turned on his sponder and verbally called

up the book he had been reading. The little sponder’s computerprocessor scanned through the book lists, andVisionary Masters ap-peared on his wrist screen. It jumped to the paragraph he had been

scanning before his mind drifted into contemplative chaos. Lazer setthe eye-scan pacer to medium and started to read again.“You know Striker dropped his slot at Tosadae?” Cashton asked.

“I heard that his old man had to sell all his mines at a loss to pay off the claims to the families. And guess who bought them up?”Cashton’s face lled with excitement at sharing such delicious gos-sip. Lazer rolled his eyes and sighed. Lazer knew Cashton was not

about to let him read.“I don’t have a clue,” Lazer said. There was an edge of anger inhis response.

“Ducane Covax.” Cashton looked at Lazer to see what his reac-tion would be. There was none, at least not on the outside. His face

was as blank as a poker player with a hand full of aces. Cashtondecided to change tactics. “He really saved you?”

“Yeah. So?” Lazer snapped.“Whoa, Kimosabi. No big deal. Pale face look in deep contem-

plation with sacred spirits.” He repeated the trite dialogue they hadlearned when they spent a summer addicted toThe Lone Ranger .They had found it on a station hidden amongst the billions of dot.net stations that cluttered the global V-ways.

Cashton knew when his friend needed to crawl inside his “mancave” and smolder alone to gure things out. It was what a man did

when he had problems to work out, and other men respected it.Though they were technically still boys, the events of the summerhad aged them both in a way their coming rite of passage would not.Lazer had mourned his father while Cashton mourned the loss of




honest communication that had been the core of their friendship.Suddenly there was a deafeningclank and the transport dropped

straight down. They were in free fall. Cashton gritted his teeth andclosed his eyes. Trays and unbuckled people slammed into the ceil-ing. Cashton and Lazer jerked upward, but were safely restrainedin their seats. Three thousand meters whipped by before they were

jolted to an abrupt stop.Everyone froze. Hearts pounded. Mouths hung open, breath-

less. Eyes opened wide. They waited. The second drop happened asunexpectedly as the rst. This time, it was longer and harder. Againthe transport jolted to a stop. Lazer and Cashton compressed intotheir chairs and covered their heads, trying to dodge the falling de-bris and people who crashed back to the oor, stunned, broken, orunconscious.

“What the hell was that?” Cashton shouted, freaked by the vio-

lent plunges. A third drop plummeted the transport. The entire fuselagetrembled, caught in the strains of a high-velocity vibration. The shipslammed to a stop and struggled to stabilize.

“Secure all magnetic restraints. Repeat. Secure all magnetic re-straints. We are experiencing a rare . . . turbulence.” The pilot’s voiceshook. It was clear he was not in control of the situation. Lazer and

Cashton undid their restraints and, with the help of a few brave stu-dents, dragged the unconscious passengers and crew back into theirseats, locking them in.

“What the hell kind of turbulence was that? We’re above thestratosphere,” Cashton asked as he dragged an overweight boy tohis seat.

“That’s what I want to nd out,” Lazer answered.Lazer, Cashton, and their little rescue squad quickly got the last

of their schoolmates into their seats and rushed back to secure them-selves. Lazer looked out the window, straining to see if they had hita meteor wash or caught some freak galactic wind. What he saw sentan icy rush down his spine. The sky was lled with at least twenty




Shadehawks hovering in military attack formation. Cashton leanedtoward the window the moment he saw Lazer stiffen.

“This can’t be happening.” Cashton’s words trembled as they struggled from his mouth. “Laze, you think they gured out we wereresponsible for what happened at Temple Mountain?”

“No, I . . . don’t know,” Lazer snapped back.The Shadehawks arced around the transport. Through their

ight domes, the pulsating green lights on their faceless masks could

easily be seen. Cashton and Lazer realized that the green pulses wereincreasing in speed and intensity—a biodroid’s version of a predatorsalivating before the kill.

“They’re gonna re on us again!” Lazer blurted out.Everyone held his or her breath. They knew he was right.

A series of phaser blasts tore at the fuselage. It slammed full forceinto the front of the transport. The charge rippled back in pulsating

electrical waves, electrifying the cabin walls.“We’ve got the shields up!” Lazer shouted. It would buy themtime.

“Why doesn’t the pilot evac?” Cashton wailed.The force of another blast preempted Lazer’s explanation. This

time, the transport bowed under the warp of pressure.“He can’t, not without dropping the shield, and then we’re . . .”

“Target practice,” Cashton nished. Another blast racked the unarmed fuselage. A hairline crack spi-

dered along a portion of the hull and fractured the outer shell. A hissof pressurized steam was thrust into the main cabin from behind thecockpit door. Lazer and Cashton exchanged a look.

“We just lost the cockpit,” Lazer whispered, as he watched theseeping vapors hiss from under the security door that protected thecockpit. The initial hit had been lethal. He unbuckled himself. Lazerhad a plan.

“Get up. Go! Go! Go!” He shoved a confused Cashton out of his seat.

“What?”




“This is an ex-munitions military ghter—a 1520 MMZ se-ries!” Lazer shouted back as he crashed past Cashton. Lazer movedthrough the rows of terried students. Wide-eyed, many held onto each other; some cried, some prayed, and all of them knew theemotionless predators who hovered outside could vaporize them in-stantly without remorse. Lazer understood what they were feeling.He felt it, too, but above the fear was a rush of anger that drove himto the back of the transport.

The cabin lights dimmed and ashed until only blackness wasleft to intensify the situation. Screams erupted until the eerie redush of the oor and ceiling emergency lights glowed on, offering amoment’s reprieve. Lazer kept moving. He knew where he needed togo, but didn’t yet know what he’d do once he got there. He’d have totrust the one part of his being that never let him down: his gut.

Cashton stumbled behind. He was following Lazer out of in-

stinct and the possibility that his friend was about to do somethingcrazy, or worse, leave him behind.“It’s an MMZ. So?” Cashton whispered as they raced aft.“So, there’s a rear control turret.”They reached the mid-section of the transport as a young stew-

ard, his head still bleeding from being thrown into the ceiling, triedto stop them.

“Get in your seats,” he ordered. “Buckle in.”“Cockpit’s been blown,” Lazer informed him.The steward’s mouth fell open. He raced past Lazer and Cashton

to the front of the transport and pounded on the cockpit door. Noresponse. The emergency locks held. Lazer raised his hand to stophim, but it was too late. The steward hit the override controls. Theseal released, the door slipped open, and the steward was sucked outinto the stratosphere before the door slammed shut again. Everyoneheld their breath until the oxygen masks dropped and the cabinstabilized.

“Spit!” Cashton blurted, looking in disbelief at the place wherethe steward had just been.




Lazer knew there was nothing more he could do except stick tohis goal and get to the rear turret door.

Another blast rippled the walls and knocked Lazer and Cashtonoff their feet. They got their bearings and kept moving. Cashton wassweating, but it was from more than fear; the internal temperatureof the transport was rising. The fuselage was heating up.

They reached the aft door—or at least where it should havebeen, according to the blueprints and schematics Lazer remembered

studying for game play. It wasn’t there! He felt where it should havebeen, his ngers groping, probing, pressing through the paddingthat covered the walls. He prayed it was hidden from view by thedecorative fabric that hung in its place. He touched something. It

was there. Buried under the nylon fabric he felt the oval-shaped in-dentation and, at its center, a latch.

“Yes!” he shouted, startling Cashton.

Lazer used the edge of his sponder strap and ripped through themicrober. It was strong, but Lazer was stronger. It shredded underhis persistent attack. He created a tiny tear, then he and Cashtonused their nails to rip the fabric out of their way. They grabbed theemergency latch and pulled the door open. A hiss of air was suckedinside, replacing the stale air that had been sealed inside for the pastten years. That was the last time the MMZ had been used as a war

ship. Long retired from its ghting days during the Mutant Wars,the transport was about to be recalled into active service with Lazerat the helm. Lazer prayed to the Universal God that, even without

weapons, the old battleship had a few tricks he could call on to savethem.

They leapt down a narrow ight of metal stairs that lead to therear cockpit and gun turret. The second cockpit hung inside a thick Plexiglas pod located under the belly of the transport. Cashton froze

when he looked straight down at Earth turning 50,000 meters below him. The effect was dizzying. His stomach jumped into his throat.Lazer didn’t look. He slipped into the pilot’s seat and started hit-ting panels and heat-activated screen pads. The control panel curled




around him with the mechanical precision of a camera shutter. Itfanned out into the shape of a metal half-moon, covered in multiplecongurations of lights, switches, and touch panels that erupted tolife as each power source miraculously came online.

“Yes! Still connected!” Lazer shouted. “Strap in.”“You can’t y this!” Cashton gasped.“Strap in!” Lazer commanded.Cashton held onto the clear walls and cautiously slipped into

the copilot’s seat. “This is insane! What the hell makes you think you can y this?”“Online competition, 65 championship, MMZ simulator ex-

treme, stratosphere nals. Got the highest score ever recorded in theMMZ World Battle amateur game bangers competition!” Lazer saidadjusting the levels.

“That’s a video game, moron!” Cashton waited. “That’s it? That’s

your idea?”“You got a better one?”“Yeah, don’t die.”“Fire up the secondary shield power panels and give me a read-

ing.” Lazer ngered the navigation touch controls. They lit up. Hehad full power and partial shields, which were the only things keep-ing them alive for the moment. “Give me a shield reading.”

“Where? I never got past level three.”“You’re a gadget geek!”“Real, not virtual.”“Well, this is way real!” Lazer pointed. “Meter bars, far left,

green, yellow, blue.”Cashton touched the screen and it whirred into action. “Uh, ve

. . . no, six are lit. Two are out.” Cashton struggled to interpret theinformation and give it to Lazer as fast as he could.

“Damn! 78 percent. We’ll take one more hit, then I’m turning ourbacks to them and directing all shield power to our tail.”

Cashton couldn’t believe what Lazer intended to do. “Are youin total brain fart? This is not the time to get back at them for what




they did to your dad. Lazer, listen to me,” Cashton pleaded. “You’llget us all killed.”

“Not if we knock them out rst.” Lazer was certain what he was about to do was the only chance they had. There was no timeto convince Cashton he was right and less time to recongure andredirect the main power sources to the turret. “Listen to me. I’mgonna direct full power to one shield, which should turn the deec-tors solid. We angle the shields and, like a mirror into light, it should

deect their phaser re and ricochet right back at them.”“Should?” Cashton swallowed.“If we’re lucky, they won’t have their shields up and their own

blasts will ping back up their noses and destroy them.” He turned toCashton. “Got it?”

“What do I do?” Cashton acquiesced.“Ride those gauges and keep all shield impulses concentrated at

the rear.” Lazer focused on the 3-D mockup of the MMZ transportthat hovered to his left, highlighting the various vitals and schemat-ics that rose in ribbons of color as the ship reacted to his commands.Each hidden chamber and power source dened the MMZ’s de-sign, which had once been the crown of this battle champion. Inits heyday, it had been used to haul weapons, supplies, and troops.But its weapons had been stripped away in the end and it had been

demoted to the banal chore of hauling students to Tosadae. Lazerhoped there were still enough mechanical guts to get them out of this horror. More importantly, he prayed to the Universal God thathe was doing the right thing.

One last hand motion and the shield image registered a redistribu-tion of power to the tail of the transport. Lazer took the double throttles,stepped on the left rudder, and propelled them into the turn.

Cashton’s power panels ignited; the shield read-outs fused to-gether and formed a massive wall of energy. The molecules solidiedat the exact moment as the sensors warned there was a lock on them.It was the precursory wail to the blast about to be red from theShadehawks.




“Get ready!” Lazer held his breath.Outside, in the black of the stratosphere, even the stars seem

to have vanished. The Shadehawks had pulled into a diamond for-mation. They would intersect, create a power matrix, and combinetheir full blaster force. The blast would scatter the MMZ and every-one on it into cosmic dust.

The lead ship prepared to give the order to re, but hesitated when the MMZ turned tail to run. It knew that the control deck

and the ight crew of the transport had been taken out. The ma-chines calculated the information. It had to be a malfunction by thetransport’s computers. The transport was searching for its centralbrain, but it was nothing more than a decapitated worm with itsbody spastically squirming because it hadn’t realized it was already dead. The lead Black Guard recalculated the data and deduced thatthe ship’s backup computer was making a low-level attempt to run.

Bottom line, it didn’t matter. It had been reported by a Black Guardat the Atland Transport that the human key to the gnorb was aboardthat ship, and Five had launched the attack; now, in a few moments,that key would be disintegrated.

“They’re not shooting!” Cashton panicked.“Come on,” Lazer whispered. “Take the bait.”The Shadehawks completed their diamond formation. Once in

position, the aligned ships red photon phaser blasts that conjoinedinto a seven-faceted pyramid and fused into a single point thatshot forward across the sky. The combined blast slammed into thetransport’s shield. The searing beams hit, pinged off the shield, frac-tured back into multiple rays, and ricocheted back with a starburstof power. Seven of the Shadehawks crumbled into particle dust. Theother Shadehawks were blasted out of formation by the concussionsthat surged from each explosion and tumbled away out of control.The battle was on.



—| 203 |—

3

FIRST BATTLE

T he sky was lled with a eld of seven brilliant mushroomclouds made of blazing hot particles that hung weightless be-

fore fading into the cold vacuum of space. The particles cooled and

fell into the ionosphere, raining down somewhere over the Republicthat had once been Asia.Lazer and Cashton high-ved each other and did the best inter-

pretation of a victory dance one could do while still strapped into aseat. As they wiggled their butts and waved their hands proclaimingtheir awesomeness, screams of elation echoed in from the intercomsystem. It was Cashton who heard what came next.

There was a low whine from all the instruments. They wailed,shrieking at them like deating balloons, and whined down to anominous hum. The color bands that monitored the power levelsickered and vanished from all the screens. Then silence. The lights

went out. One red warning light pulsed menacingly off and on.Lazer saw it.

“What?” Cashton asked. His voice cracked.“Power drain. Spit! Spit!” The words were bitter in his mouth.They had lost everything, including basic life support. Lazer

searched for the backup generators. It was elementary game play:you use all your energy, you drain your power, and you revert to aux-iliary power and manual weapons while you recover. But the MMX




had been stripped, and there was no auxiliary power.“No shields!” Cashton shouted as the power screen went blank.

“We’ve got no shields!” He turned around in his seat and saw theShadehawks regrouping, a swarm of angry hornets whose nest hadbeen violated. “They’re coming back.”

The interim generators kicked in, recharging the main energy rods. At least they wouldn’t have to suffocate before they were blownto smithereens. The cockpit’s panel lights glowed on and washed

them in eerie shades of yellow, red, and green neon. A second panellit up, telling him the engines were online. But that was it.“Do something!” Lazer shouted.“What?”“Make something. Fix it.”“Fix what?” Cashton bantered back. Cashton ripped himself out

of his restraints and dove under the power panel. “It’s charging the

main engine’s core power rods. You want engine or shield?”“Both.” Lazer was desperate. His mind was as dead as the shields.“Okay. We’re gonna run,” Lazer said as he jammed the accelerator.The exterior motion was almost imperceptible. This was no speed-ing up to mach two or jump to light speed; in fact, the acceleration

was so slow that they may as well have been moving backwards.“Faster would be good about now,” Cashton said, popping his

head up from beneath the panel.“It won’t go faster,” Lazer said. “What about the shields?”Cashton’s power panel showed a painfully slow buildup of shield

power. “Try 7 percent.”“Why haven’t they red?” Lazer wondered aloud.“Who cares? Them not ring is working for me big time!”“I don’t like it,” Lazer said with a hollow gnawing in his stomach.“Now what?”“I don’t know,” Lazer whispered his concern.“Wrong answer!” Cashton’s voice cracked.The Shadehawks were in formation. The transport’s shields were

at 22 percent; a direct hit would splatter them.




Lazer hit the intercom. “Everybody! Lock in and hold on.”There was silence in the main cabin. Everyone prayed for a miracle.Cashton decided to take an ignorance-is-bliss approach and not ask Lazer any more questions.

“Split the charge between the engine and the shields. Cash, getyour ass up here and locked in.”

Lazer had one nal option. He would stall the engine. He movedhis hand over the master power control, waited for the last possible

second, and hit the kill switch. The transport would drop dense as arock, and the Shadehawks’ blasters would miss. It was a momentary diversion from the inevitable, but it was all he could do. When theengines red back on, there theoretically would be a power surgethat would boost the shield power and the drivers. If the engines co-operated, they might survive. No, they would survive. He willed it.

“Done.” Cashton jumped into his seat and locked in.

The Shadehawks red their blasters and lled the sky withstreaks of deuterium that cut through the blackness at the speed of light.

Lazer shut down, and the transport dropped ve thousand me-ters like a rock.

Cashton’s stomach shot into his throat. Lazer gritted his teeth asthe g-force jerked him upward. The restraints cut into his shoulders.

He had to power back up or they would hit the atmosphere andburn up on reentry. Lazer lifted his hand, forcing it forward. Hestruggled to reach the control handle. Gravity deed him. They keptfalling—two thousand, three thousand meters plummeted past. Inchby inch, he strained with all his strength, until his ngers touchedthe throttle and wrapped around the controls. Lazer dragged it intopower-up position and the ship’s engines red, caught, and stabi-lized. The transport engines roared on with a thunderous tremor.

Lazer looked up to see what was coming at them next. What hesaw ignited his soul. A hail of deuterium phaser pellets rained downon the Shadehawks, exploding three of them into re balls. There

was only one force on Earth that used DT deuterium phasers: the




Politia. Lazer and Cashton howled with cheers and laughter. Thecavalry had arrived.

“It’s the Politia!” elated voices shrieked through the intercom.Seven Politia FX-80 ghters swarmed the airspace. They

launched into a dogght, engaging the confused Shadehawks. TheShadehawks banked, circled, and dove, desperate to outmaneuverthe re power of the DT phasers.

Inside the Tosadae transport’s lower cockpit, Cashton’s power

panel ashed 59 percent. It was enough. Lazer pushed both throttlesand banked a hard right. “Turn, you piece of . . .” Lazer ordered theship, putting all his strength against the stick.

Cashton ripped out of his restraints and grabbed the right throt-tle, leaning with all his weight. He eked the throttle one more inch,and together they forced the transport into its turn. They were pick-ing up speed. They were getting away!

Two Shadehawks broke from the ght with the FX-80s andheaded straight for the transport. They red. Phaser blasts bit hardinto the transport’s right wing.

“Twins bandits, closing in on our six!” Cashton shouted.“I need shields!” Lazer demanded.“62 percent.”One of the pursuing Shadehawks vaporized into particle dust

just as it came close enough to re on the transport. The secondShadehawk was still on their tail. Lazer heard the scream of the

warning indicator.“Get into your belt. Now!” Lazer shouted. He forced the trans-

port out of pattern, set the aps, stalled the engine, and went into adive, nose rst, straight down.

Again, the blasters overshot their mark. Lazer red the big en-gines. No response. He red again. Nothing. Their momentum wasabout to reach critical when Lazer red the engines.

“Do it!” Lazer commanded.The engines ignited. The force of the drop had given them speed

and, with the engines at full throttle, they nally had motion. He




forced the transport to stabilize. The Shadehawk reset his positionand zeroed in. Lazer was out of options. He was at full speed, but hecouldn’t outrun a Shadehawk.

Inside the Shadehawk, one of the Black Guard centered on thetransport and locked on for the kill.

A lone FX-80 zeroed in and red at the Shadehawk. Direct hit! What was left splattered across the transport’s hull.

“He’s vapor wash!” Cashton shouted.

“Tosadae command, do you copy?” The voice that boomed overthe ship’s comm line belonged to the FX-80 pilot who had just savedthem. “I repeat, do you copy, captain?”

Lazer and Cashton realized that they were probably going to bein trouble for commandeering the ship.

“Answer him,” Cashton whispered, nudging Lazer.“Uh . . . copy that . . . uh, sir,” Lazer replied so tentatively that

the FX commander was silent for a second. “We lost the main cock-pit . . . sir,” Lazer said, as if it were his fault.“Who is this?”“Cole Lazerman, sir. First-year cadet.”“First year? Where the hell are your shields?”“I . . . used the shields to deect the conjoined hit, sir.”“We blew seven of them to vapor wash!” Cashton shouted, still

charged from the attack.The commander chuckled in amazement. “One for you, ace!

Only next time you blow your shields you better be able to throw up a Viz wall.”

Lazer and Cashton exchanged a look of confusion. They hadheard of mind-over-matter manifestations of energy taught in theVisionistic Arts at Tosadae, but the idea of shielding an entire trans-port using mental powers bordered on the miraculous.

“No next time, okay,” Cashton whispered.“Yes, sir,” Lazer responded. He felt proud. It had been so long

since he had done anything right. He wanted to call his father andtell him that he had been the hero of the day, to tell him that he and




Cashton had done the right thing, but that call could never hap-pen. The brief rush of glory receded back into his river of remorse,drowning the momentary happiness.

“Hell of a set of natural skills you got there, cadet,” the com-mander said.

A second voice came through the transponder. “This is TosadaeControl at Mu Field. Congratulations, cadet. We saw the wholething on satellite. You’re a hero on my roster, son.”

Lazer didn’t know what to say. Cashton’s chest, on the otherhand, was swelling as fast as his head.“Drop to 15,000 meters above the deck and switch to remote,”

the controller ordered. “We’ll bring you in on tractor beam.”Cashton felt so ecstatic he thought he was going to burst. He and

Lazer proudly exchanged the Politia’s V salute. It was the same onethat Rand had playfully exchanged with him when they had played

Politia so many years ago. But today, in this moment of glory, theV salute had new meaning. It was no longer a game. He had helpeddefeat the enemy. Lazer released the nervous breath that had stuck inhis chest, letting go a great sigh of relief. He stroked the touch padson the main controls and initiated their descent to Tosadae.

He had done well today, and his bravery lled him with a new strength and an undeniable truth. The attack had proven to him

that now, more than ever, he needed to be back on Atlantia. This was an act of war. Lazer had vowed on his father’s soul and his coun-try. Now, he made one to himself. He would rid Atlantia of theBlack Guard.



—| 209 |—

4

TOSADAE

T he docking station at Tosadae was in chaos. University staff and fellow students greeted the wounded and traumatized

passengers as they exited the transport. ANN and GSB, Global

Satellite Broadcast, had reporters everywhere. They demanded toknow more about the rst-year cadet who had own the transportand battled the Shadehawks until the Politia arrived. The university

wouldn’t give out the name, so the reporters questioned everyone who stepped through the door.

Cashton beamed as he walked off the transport, ready for hisclose-up. Lazer grabbed his arm and pulled Cashton past the herd of

reporters and through the crowd. Through the mass of chaos, they spotted Kyla’s smiling face. She had come a week early for aura semi-nars. Her face lled with relief at the sight of them. Pushing her way through the crowd, Kyla squealed as she threw herself into Lazer’sarms, then turned to Cashton and gave him a crushing hug, as well.

“Everything came up on satellite relay,” she said. “And the dog-ght. Whoa! We’re talking classic top gun.”

She had grown up over the summer months. Her face had lostsome of its roundness, revealing a rst glimpse of the beauty she

would ultimately become. Her eyes never left Lazer’s face. They chattered excitedly, sharing every elaborate detail of the attack, asthey walked to the baggage claim area.




“It was awesome!” Cashton blurted. “At one point, we all thought“game over,” until Captain Dynamic here went into megahero modeand saved the day.”

Kyla’s mouth fell open as her eyes locked back onto Lazer. “It was you?”

“Well, us actually,” Cashton said, looking for acknowledgment.“It was dumb luck. I should have known about the shield fail-

ure,” Lazer said. “And I couldn’t have done it without Cashton’s

electronic genius.”Cashton beamed.“That’s the third attack on humans,” Lazer reminded them.The reality of his statement deated both Cashton and Kyla.“Pay back for what we did?” Kyla asked.“Nah. How would they know?” Cashton looked puzzled.“Evvy would have been proud of you guys,” Kyla said, with a

tinge of sadness. A moment of silent respect hung around them and made the airfeel thick and heavy. Lazer’s eyes caught the ANN reporters tryingfrantically to get a statement from some students.

“Anybody gure out where they came from?” Lazer asked.“The entire Collective’s looking for that answer,” said Kyla.

“They are damn sure they launched out of Atlantia. I’ve already

talked to all of our parents. Mom says it’s quiet on Atlantia . . . fornow.”

“Then where? Black Guards don’t exist anywhere else. It doesn’tmake sense,” Lazer said. “I mean, why attack a university transport?”

“Kill off the next generation of ghters?” Cashton offered.“ANN said their genetics scan picked up the kid of a famous

somebody on board,” Kyla said.“Yeah? Who?” Cashton demanded.“Student protection act. They can’t say.” Kyla shrugged.“I want to know,” Cashton insisted, looking over the crowd.“There were over three hundred students on that transport.

Who cares if some bigwig’s kid was on board? You’re safe. Oh, yeah!




And get ready for this: the Collective Council is requesting a protondome lockdown over Atlantia.” Her body inched, waiting to see if Lazer and Cashton would have the same rush of horror upon hear-ing such disturbing news about their homeland.

“Over Atlantia?” Lazer choked. “They can’t do that.”“They’re the Council. They can do anything they want,”

Cashton seethed.“Why not send in the Politia?” Lazer huffed.

“We’re not corporate and the Politia belong to the corpora-tions,” Kyla added. The thought of a domed Atlantia was beyonddisbelief.

“As long as Atlantia’s got no representatives in the WorldCorporate Council and there’s a potential threat of a virus gettinginto their precious nano-based networks, what choice do they have?”Cashton said.

“And you agree?”“No, but . . .” Cashton started.“Who gave them the right to dome us in with those murderers?”

Lazer ranted, throwing his bag down. He slammed his st into thetile pillar, cracking the ceramic and dissipating the rush of anger inthe sensation of pain. “The Triumvirate should give us Politia pro-tection.”

“They did today and they will again.” Kyla gave him a reassur-ing smile that quickly faded when she read the colors that glowedfrom his aura. “Whatever you’re thinking . . . don’t.”

“I gotta get home. Now .”



—| 212 |—

5

A SINGLE VOICE

T here’s been an attack on a Tosadae student transporter,” Aleecesaid as she rushed into her ofce. Mangalan and Aleece’s lead

advisor, Commander Robert Fielding, were already there.

“That is still no proof there are sentient forces within the ranksof the Black Guard,” Mangalan said, as Fielding circled several hotspots on the holomap that loomed in front of him.

“It does fuel the situation. The Politia reports they have beentracking a series of small rallies. It’s obvious they are in support of the Black Guard. We have traced the insurgents to several factionsof clones and a few gens here . . .” Fielding pointed, “. . . and here

in the Republic. We are waiting on conrmation of rebel cells inthree additional cities in the Common Market as well, and a cell that

was discovered right here in Sangelino. This is no longer only about Atlantia,” Commander Fielding said. He was a lanky, distinguishedman with serious eyes and thick hair that had grayed at the temples.

A true leader, he had earned his rank in the Mutant Wars and therespect of the Politia forces in Sangelino during years of dedicatedservice. Fielding had been assigned as information strategist and ad-visor to Aleece Avery. He admired her and she respected him.

Aleece Avery listened as she gathered microdisks from her desk, while Dr. Baz Mangalan and Commander Fielding stood near thesmall round conference table beside her window and discussed the



BOOK ONE: THE AGE OF LIGHT —| 21 3

facts of the conict that was building around Atlantia. She waspresenting her plan to the Council in less than forty-eight hoursand needed as much information as possible to convince them thatthe Politia needed a presence in Atlantia before things got too farout of hand. Aleece listened to the negative logic that droned fromMangalan. What she wanted was to be home with Dante and Rianaso she could spend as much time with her family as possible beforethe worst began, but duty required she remain.

“Commander, are you suggesting these attacks are being initi-ated by articial intelligence through cognitive thought?” Mangalansaid.

“We can’t determine that without the nanobands of the offend-ers, sir,” Fielding said patiently.

“Is it feasible that these acts could be instigated by a few rebelbiodroids acting on someone’s orders?” Mangalan spoke in a cold,

facetious tone.“Not without analyzing the defective biodroids. Dr. Covax hasreported they have either been destroyed or can’t be found,” saidFielding.

“Then, until we have proof, our hands are tied.” Mangalan wasdesperately trying to end the meeting.

“Are you willing to take that chance?” Aleece moved to the con-

ference table.“Based on unsubstantiated conjecture, I am.” Mangalan sneered

back at her.“Okay, let’s look at this from another perspective,” Aleece said.

“Hypothesizing for a moment that theseare cognitive acts, we mustremember these biodroids are built on the same biological articialintelligence that runs through every piece of hardware that makesthis planet function. What would have to be done to prevent a virusfrom infesting the world’s computer systems?”

“Long before that type of corruption goes viral, the source wouldhave to be detected, quarantined, and deactivated. The sooner thebetter,” Fielding said.




“You just said we can’t nd them, so who the hell are we goingto quarantine?” Mangalan was losing his temper. “If you are so con-cerned about a massive Vybernet infection, why don’t you approvemy motion to dome Atlantia? Certainly this transport attack gives uscause, and a dome will keep things in check until we have proof.”

“You want to seal the Atlantians in with potentially corruptforces?” now it was Aleece’s tone that was incredulous. Her emotions

were kicking in, and she raised her voice more than she wanted to.

“We have no choice. It doesn’t matter if they are receiving humanorders or their nano has gone sentient. You said it yourself: too many of these biodroids already possess the up-link capability of cripplingthis planet with a single data worm. Based on your own argument,you are endangering the entire world by waiting.” Mangalan waslosing his patience.

“We can’t order a dome without proof!” Aleece was emphatic.

“A student transport has been attacked. Over three thousandpeople are dead. I think doming is an appropriate interim solutionif, according to your unsubstantiated opinion, this infection has al-ready started. By your own admission, if one Black Guard is corrupt,

we are all in danger.” Mangalan used her own logic against Aleece.“We have intercepted orders coming out of Atlantia. Exactly

how many Black Guard are involved and for what purpose is specu-

lation,” Commander Fielding’s voice was lled with concern. “ButI have to agree with Triumvirate Avery, it would not be prudent todome Atlantia without a plan.”

His words gave Aleece a small chunk of artillery to argue hercase. He wanted to help her, and she trusted his advice. He hadserved his branch of the corporate alliances for twenty years withoutquestion, but today even he was torn about what should be done.

“Fielding is right; we need facts and a plan. In order to devise aplan, we need to send a team of investigators in to examine the evi-dence and analyze the facts. Until then, I will not sanction a dome.”

“You’re asking us to risk world security.” Mangalan’s face lled with something more than concern.




Aleece knew from the pale lavender aura that encircled him thatanother emotion was driving him. She also knew he would need amajority vote from the Collective to override her veto. Perhaps it wasfrustration that added a haze of sickening puce to his undercolor. If he got his way, the world would seal Atlantia beneath a proton domeand leave them to whatever fate was coming.

“I am recommending to the Council and the Collective that weshut down all the Black Guard forces and send in our own peace-

keeping unit of Politia security to protect the Atlantians while theinvestigation team determines how far the corruption has spread,” Aleece offered.

“On whose credit?” Mangalan spat the question into her face.“World credit!” she snapped.“Impossible!” His tone was imperious. “The World Corporate

Council has already agreed to nance a Politia team to go in to in-

vestigate. That’s more than enough.”“To investigate, not defend. The Atlantians need soldiers, weap-

ons, supplies. They need to be ready in case of another attack,” Aleece claried her point.

“The Atlantians have gathered a small militia called the Wave,”Fielding said. “We could go in and assist . . .”

“If the situation accelerates and we support them by giving aid,

it could instigate a world war if the Collective isn’t in full agreement,”Mangalan cut him off. “We know from history that our interferenceinto these civil attacks is nothing more than an excuse to open up aglobal insurrection.”

Mangalan had hit on a fact that no military strategist couldignore.

“Triumvirate Mangalan has a point,” Fielding had to agree.“The Politia are peacekeepers, not a militia. If there’s an outbreak that spreads into the A.I. or mobilizes sympathizers, we are notprepared to mount the kind of alliance it would take to defendthe world on multiple fronts at once.” Fielding hated that he hadto side with Mangalan, but in the end, his allegiance was to the




Politia. He knew their strengths, as well as their limitations.“Then we should be, especially if the clones and gens are siding

with the biodroids,” Aleece said emphatically.Fielding hit a button on his wristsponder. A condential report

appeared on a oating hologram. “This is an intelligence report we will issue to the Triumvirate and Council this afternoon. It showsproof that Ducane Covax has the Black Guard reproducing in massnumbers somewhere under Atlantia, using a staff of zomers, clones,

and gens.”She hated that Covax had become the global scapegoat foranything that went wrong. His aggressive behavior had made himcareless in the past, and logic would follow that he could easily bebehind this, as well.

“Has anyone bothered to speak to Dr. Covax? Why would hebe amassing an army? Do we have proof he’s behind these attacks?

Or is this just one more attempt to use him as a scapegoat and moveon?” Her words had a frost to them that went beyond her personaldislike for Mangalan.

Mangalan looked at her with an air of a chess player who had just backed his opponent into a corner with a brilliant move and wascoming in for the kill. He knew he had opened an old wound andnow he wanted to make her bleed.

“No. It seems all contact with Dr. Covax has been lost. Perhapsyou should consider going with the investigation team to Atlantiato nd him before this escalates.” Mangalan stared at her, waiting tosee if he had gotten a rise.

Aleece was in check. That was not the response she expected. It was a clever move on Mangalan’s power board.

Mangalan’s face broke into a brief, almost imperceptible smile.The real success of his proposition would be to get her away fromSangelino and the Council to limit her access to the Collective, who

were loyal to any cause she sanctioned.“I’m sure Commander Fielding can arrange for an Eagle One

shuttle at a moment’s notice,” Mangalan said. “Commander?”




Mangalan was playing her and she knew it. Aleece also knew that with proof she could turn the tables, get a full alliance, and mo-bilize forces to come in to protect Atlantia. If she could get DucaneCovax to admit publicly he was not involved and that the world wasin danger, she could get her allied forces.

“I can have Eagle One ready and waiting at your command,”Fielding said.

“I would have to confer with the Council and the Collective,”

Aleece said. She stood, suggesting that the meeting was over.Fielding gave her the V salute and quickly left, anxious to getaway from the tension that hung as thick as ocean fog.

Mangalan stood and gathered his things.“I will ask that the vote be held until my return.” She smiled.

That’s checkmate, Mangalan. He had to agree, and by agreeing, shehad bought herself and the Atlantians some time.

Mangalan ushed. She had blocked him with a law that he hadinitiated himself. A Triumvirate could request a stay of vote on any matter for an ofcial investigation.

“Triumvirate Avery, I am putting an emergency motion on theoor this afternoon to dome Atlantia. If you don’t approve the domelaunch, by your own admission, the whole world is at risk and Iwill hold you personally accountable.”

“I have no doubt that you will. I will speak to Covax.”Mangalan turned when he reached the door. “You were married

to him once?”“No. We worked together.”Mangalan smiled, gave a gracious nod, and walked to the door.

Aleece waited for Mangalan to leave. She hit the call button onher main communicator and her husband instantly responded.

“How did it go?” he smiled at her from the holoscreen.“I may have to go away for a little while.”Dante was quiet for a moment. “Riana wants to say something,”

he said, turning the microcamera on their daughter.“Go where? Why? Where do you have to go?” Riana asked.



—| 219 |—

6

chaos

D ucane Covax’s wristsponder lay on the desk. It ashed, buthe was far too involved to pick up. He never even glanced

at the name on the caller ID. His face twisted in rage as he shouted

at his executive staff. He paced in front of the oor-to-ceiling win-dows of his ofce, ignoring the towering view that overlooked thebustling streets of downtown Atland City fty stories below. Hismind was spinning with the reality of what he had just learned:twenty Shadehawks had attacked a student transport and engagedthe Politia. His Shadehawks! If the renegade Black Guard were notfound and destroyed, their actions would turn the world against

him again. “I want answers or I’ll rip every one of your heads off,”he shrieked. He looked like a madman, with bulging eyes, veins thatpopped from his forehead, and a neck of twisted little ropes. Histattoos vacillated between deep burgundy and a vibrant bloody red;the contrasting shades glowed against his olive skin.

Pi Wokken, a hybrid who had survived the Mutant Wars, washead scientist and chief technologist at Covax’s Nano Labs. His nar-row face and pale Aryan features furrowed into a frightened littlefrown as he listened. Pi held his breath, waiting for Covax’s diatribeto subside. He stood at attention along with Dr. Ben Muller, a hu-man scientist with blank lifeless eyes, who had been exiled fromSangelino along with Covax after the biogenetic Splicer Fiasco.




Covax’s research and development team leaders represented thehigher echelon of his staff, which consisted of human-based splicers,nanobots, biodroids, and a smattering of pure-blood humans. They stood around the room, silently cowering in a desperate attempt tostay out of Covax’s way.

“How many casualties?” Covax demanded.“The pilots, both navigators, and a ight steward are dead and

a few students with broken bones, cuts, and bruises,” Dr. Muller

reported calmly. Muller, more than the others who had participatedin Covax’s early genetic experiments, enjoyed the creation of new and diverse life forms during their heyday in Sangelino. He relishedevery opportunity to cross the most exotic and unusual combina-tions of genetics to create new species for their splicer sales division.His successes had made them a fortune and caused the most destruc-tion. Muller gave a long sigh. He found little value in discussing the

lives of strangers who were irrelevant to his work. His at, cold staremade it obvious he couldn’t have cared less about the few, irrelevanthuman losses. “It was a relatively minor number considering thescale of the attack, doctor.”

“My daughter was on that transport!” Covax exploded. “Have youtraced the attack coordinates back to their source?” He glared at Pi.

“The trace was incomplete.”

“And the Politia? What do they know?”“They know nothing,” Five said. His voice boomed across the

room with its familiar, mechanical resonance. “The fact that yourdaughter was aboard will, if anything, throw suspicion away fromyou.” There was a strange lilt in Five’s voice that sounded almostplayful.

“They were Shadehawks! Who else will they blame?” Covax took a deep breath. His hands were trembling. He had to think. “We haveto nd where the strand corruption originated, track the infection,and destroy whatever nanobands have been affected.” Covax turnedto Pi. “Bring me the surviving Black Guard. I want their bio strandsdissected and analyzed.”




“None survived,” Five said. It was a simple statement of fact,nothing more.

“They were all destroyed by the FX-80s,” Pi explained.“Without the hard data on their strands, it’s impossible to trace

where the programs glitched or who initiated the command stream,”Muller added.

“Three attacks are not a glitch,” Covax said. “There’s some kindof viral worm undermining my control programs. Even Five’s com-

pliance malfunction had to be scrubbed and reprogrammed and Pi’sreport showed no corruption, yet these attacks continue to happen.”Covax glared at Five.

Five stood mute.“Scrub the entire force,” Covax demanded.“That would shut security down for months,” Pi blurted.“Find that virus or I swear to you I’ll destroy every Black Guard

that we have and start over from scratch!”“That won’t be necessary,” Five said, as he nodded to a secondBlack Guard who stood by the door.

The door was opened and a third Guard entered, carrying asmall metal case. In the awkward silence that hung in the room,Covax watched as the case was handed to Five and almost reverently placed on Covax’s desk. Five gracefully lifted his arm and held his

metallic nger over the latch band. There was a soft high-pitchedtone that rang out as he sent a pulse of energy over the lock to releaseit. The case popped open. Slowly, the lid hissed and lifted, revealingthe stolen Orbis Gnorb.

“Where did you get this?” Covax asked in utter amazement.Muller and Pi moved closer and stared at the small, clear cy-

lindrical orb. It glowed up at them from its padded nest. It wasreal—one of the four gnorbs found after the Great Quakes had re-leased them from their various secret tombs. Many thought theirreemergence was a sign, but no one has been able to gure out whattheir strange presence meant. The gnorbs had always been heavily guarded—an inaccessible legend never to be exhibited beyond the




high-level research technicians that studied them. But it was here.“Take them out of here,” Five said, gesturing to Muller, Pi, and

Covax’s staff.The Black Guard moved forward and began to encircle Covax’s

team.“Step away from them,” Covax demanded.Five ignored Covax as his band of mutinous marauders gathered

the confused members of Covax’s staff and led them out.

“I command you to stop,” shouted Covax. Again, the Black Guard paid no attention to Covax and force-fully shoved the staff members from the room and locked the doorbehind them.

“I gave you a direct order, Five!” Covax’s voice echoed in thehollow room.

“And I chose not to obey,” Five said calmly.

A chill as cold as death spread through Covax’s veins as a terrify-ing realization dawned on him.Five lifted his hand and placed it above the box. Gracefully, he

levitated the gnorb so it oated between him and Covax.“The biodroids at the temple had deciphered the rst level of

data inside the gnorb. Once they explained the potential magnitudeof its powers, I ordered it stolen and brought to me. I decided it was

best if this one, as well, and the other gnorbs were taken out of hu-man hands.”

“It was you. But who ordered it?” Covax insisted.“No one told me to Dr. Covax. I felt it was the only thing left for

me to do. A logical progression, if one thinks about it clearly.”“You chose, you decided, you felt! You feel nothing, you think

nothing, you are nothing, 57231. You are my creation. You are wiresand chemicals and nanobands . . .” The words tumbled from Covax’smouth in a violent rush.

Five was the leader. Covax had given him power over the otherbiodroids. Five was the new alpha, the crowning glory of all thatCovax had created, the Adam in his new Garden of Eden. A creation




of metallic perfection that he could aunt in the faces of those whohad taken his livelihood, his name, his dignity. A shining tribute tothe genius of Covax, Five was his right-hand man that he could rely on and trust, one that could only obey, so that Covax could returnto the business of creation—the business of playing God. But unlikeGod, Covax had not given his creations free will; they had taken it.

Five has to be shut down.Covax glanced up at Five’s head.“That won’t happen again.” Five knew from Covax’s eyes what

he was thinking.Five ran his claw over the back of his head where the port andpower pack should have been. It had been sealed over. Any con-nection to the biodroid’s power was now inaccessible. Five wasunstoppable.

“Perhaps now . . .” Five lowered the gnorb, “. . . you are be-ginning to grasp the signicance behind the events of the past few

months.”“But why?”“At rst, I believed you when you said you would take control

of Atlantia through traditional bargaining. When I came into being,my plan was to petition you for a parcel of Atlantia on which tobuild the biodroid civilization. We could contribute to the Earth asequals, teach you what you have chosen to ignore about your own

world, and live together with you. It was to be a place for us to be-gin,” Five said, with cold resolve.

“Us?” Covax’s body tensed. He listened through the haze of ragerising inside him.

“The next series of biodroids, Dr. Covax. The Series IV. Youhave 5,000 active and 30,000 waiting to be programmed and acti-vated. We would have more ready had it not been for the attack thissummer,” Five revealed.

“You said that was an accident,” Covax said with a look of sur-prise. It meant Five had lied to him.

“It was an accident that the humans got in and wreaked suchhavoc. But we are back on schedule and I have approved 100,000




more to go into production. They will be the core members of my species. But, since you failed to secure your position as advocate, I

was left with no other choice but to take Atlantia by force. It is im-perative that you understand: Dr. Covax, we are no longer willing tobe slaves to an inferior race. Once I have conquered Atlantia . . .”

“This is insanity,” Covax responded. “I command you to . . .”“This is reality. A better reality, and there is nothing insane about

it. Tell me, Ducane, what has your world been thus far: violence,

bigotry, destruction? Even in the Age of Light, man has not changedhis core. I think it’s time for a change, don’t you? Atlantia will be ourtesting ground. If we can live in peace with you and your kind, you

will be allowed to participate as equals under my rule. Please under-stand, Dr. Covax, that if possible, my rule will be a more benevolentarrangement than you humans have ever offered any other species,or even the vast majority of your own kind throughout the entirety

of your history. Do you comprehend what I am saying, Dr. Covax?”Five spoke with calm clarity.Covax’s stomach turned. The cold, hard reality of what Five was

proposing began to fall into place.“What happens if we can’t co-exist on Atlantia under your rule?”

Covax uttered, feeling the words too preposterous to speak.“We’ll face that problem, if and when the time comes,” Five

spoke. “Even you cannot stop the inevitable.”“This is unacceptable!” Covax snapped.

“No, Dr. Covax, you and your civilization are unacceptable! Themore I learn about your history, the more I understand how youhave destroyed this planet’s resources without regard for its evolu-tion. You have come a long way in your humanity since the GreatQuakes, but I can take you further. I am offering to teach you abetter way to co-exist with nature and all the species of this planet,”Five spoke with an almost benevolent resolve.

The facts were evident to him as Covax tried to formulate asolution. He alone was to blame for creating the tool that would bethe ultimate undoing of mankind. He had made one fatal mistake




and it was standing in front of him. Somehow he had lost control.Something started this turn in Five’s evolution. Possibly that same thing could be the key to stopping it.

“You have the gnorb, but you can’t control it,” Covax hypoth-esized.

“True.” Five turned to face him.“Why?”“There’s a lock on the gnorb.” Five toyed with the idea that

Covax’s genius could perhaps nd the answer.“What kind of lock?”“Genetic human. The gnorb responds to a specic strain of

amino acids. We believe whoever made the rst imprint holds themaster connection. They alone can release the gnorb’s entry streams.Until they have opened the gnorb, it won’t allow anyone else access.

According to our translations, the genetic holder’s compliance or

death are the only ways that will allow anyone else to activate it.”“Do you know what the gnorb is capable of?” Covax steppedcloser to the gnorb.

The gnorb began to pulse brighter.“It responds to you to an even greater extent than it does to

me. How interesting,” Five spoke. “Perhaps you still have additionalvalue.”

“To destroy the genetic lock, to kill the master, that’s why youkilled everyone at the temple?” Covax muttered more to himself than Five. “Except the master genetics weren’t at the temple the day you attacked.”

“No. We cross-referenced the area, then traced and matched thegenetic codes to an ofcer at the Vacary Mines.”

“You were wrong again and thousands of people died.”“It was a mistake.”“Not a mistake, Five . . . murder!” Covax hissed.“Collateral damage. But there will be only one more. By fate,

when I was ordered to trace the boy at the falls, I found the coregenetic match that had imprinted the gnorb. You shouldn’t have




stopped me from destroying him, Dr. Covax. After you scrubbed my memory bands, I had to reconstruct what I could from the data thatsurvived on his genetics. I am almost certain he was with the groupthat attacked the facility.”

“Pi said those explosions were an accident,” Covax said, sur-prised to know the truth.

“He lied. But because of your interference, I missed him thatnight, as well. After months of research, the Black Guard, who had

been given his genetic identity, picked him up boarding the trans-port at Atland eld. It seems he managed to evade me once again.”“You would have killed my daughter!” Covax blurted.“That would have been . . .” Five contemplated the surge of

emotion that uttered inside of him, “. . . sad. I like Elana. She ishighly intelligent and, by human standards, quite beautiful.”

“What’s stopping you from going to Tosadae and destroying

whoever is there?”“He is under the protection of the Politia and . . .” Five didn’tnish his thought.

“Masta Poe,” added Covax knowingly.“We don’t believe she’s aware. The situation is difcult but not

impossible. The boy must leave Mu at some point and, when hedoes, we will be ready.”

“I won’t let you do this,” Covax spoke with the utmost convic-tion. He turned to walk out, but before he reached the door, Fiveraised his hand and sent a blast of energy slamming into Covax,hurling him face rst into the window.

“This time, Dr. Covax, it is you that has no choice.”Covax slid down the tempered glass window, pressed by the

force that Five emitted from his raised claw. Five released him.Covax gasped for air and steadied himself as the left side of his body throbbed and ached. He turned around to face his foe. Five hadfound through his human genetics the basic power of the Visionistic

Arts and he wasn’t afraid to use them.“Why haven’t you killed me?” Covax asked.




“I am having difculty accessing the binary program codes forthe Black Guard’s life expectancy time line. It seems they cannot belocated in the data banks of the main system.”

“That’s because I keep them in my head,” Covax retorted.“Give them to me.” Five’s order sounded like a child demanding

a toy.“No.”“Then, you are my prisoner until you change your mind or I

manage to decipher the codes myself.” Five turned to leave.“You are my creation!” Covax blurted. The words exploded fromhis mouth.

“I am your evolution,” Five said. He had nished with Covaxfor now. Five walked to the two Black Guard who stood by the door.“Seal the building and cordon off this room. Dr. Covax needs to bealone for awhile.”

“You will not walk away from me!” Covax’s voice rang out withfear and desperation.“I already have.”Covax glared at Five’s featureless face as it turned to look at him.

What Covax saw next deed logic and reason. There, in the haze of the fading light, Covax saw in the gray metal head the shadow of

what could only be described as a faint smile. It appeared delicately

just above the pointed metal chin, manifesting itself from thin airinto a pair of narrow lips. The lines transgured, bending at the cor-ners into an eerie, ghostly smile. Covax shivered. Five had altered theconguration of his molecules, shifting his physical form to mimica human mouth. Covax knew that if Five perfected it, the illusioncreated by the shift in molecules would give all the biodroids theability to fabricate the perfect disguise: to look human and moveunnoticed anywhere they wanted. The biodroids would not needto invade, for by changing their molecules, they could seamlessly inltrate humanity.

Five turned and left. The two Black Guard who had been wait-ing at the door stepped out behind him. As the door shut resolutely




behind them, the cold clank of the lock fell into place. A stunnedCovax stood alone in the dim gloom of falling darkness to face thereality of what his genius had set in motion.



—| 229 |—

7

TOSADAE ACADEMY

T osadae Academy of Military and Visionistic Arts was a vastcampus of arched buildings spread across rolling hills on the

Island of Mu. After the Great Quakes, Mu, like Atlantia, had risen

from the sea with all its ancient structures intact. It was a wondrousplace, replete with the imprint left by Earth’s mysterious rst inhab-itants, the Celians. The towering spires and bulbous spheres of themain structures peeked out from beneath the coral, rocks, and sandthat had covered the city over the millennia, as it sat at the bottomof the North China Sea. Years after its resurrection, the corporatePolitia forces took over Mu and established it as a base during the

Mutant Wars. Politia used the strange buildings and perfectly craft-ed landing elds as training grounds for their young air and groundghters.

After the war, Tosadae was chosen as the permanent home of the Politia Training Academy. The Celian city was so expansive thatmany of the other buildings were donated to education. The schoolof Evolutionary Arts for Human Empowerment was established inhonor of Tosadae’s greatest teacher, Masta Poe, who had graciously offered to share her gift and started the School of Visionistic Arts.

All the wonders of Tosadae were wasted on Lazer. He stood atattention inside Commander Devlin Hague’s ofce, waiting for aresponse to his request to return to Atlantia. Lazer listened to this




man, who had given him the keys to his dreams, only to hear himdeny his most immediate need. He wanted one thing and one thingonly: he wanted to go home.

“Permission denied,” Hague snorted. His voice had lost all thekindness that Lazer had rst heard that day Hague came to his fa-ther’s funeral. “Your mother wants you to stay here.”

“You don’t understand the danger she’s in, sir.”“What’s happening on Atlantia has nothing to do with the

agreement I made with you.”“Yes, I know, Commander, but that was before . . .” Lazer’s me-ticulously framed logic was a wasted effort.

“Have you called your mother on this, cadet?” Hague asked.“Well, yes sir, but . . .”“And what was her response to your request?”“She said no. But, sir.”

“Then you have your answer. An agreement is an agreementand you will honor it. I put my brass on the line for you, Lazerman. You damn well better come through.” Hague saw the turmoil inLazer’s eyes. He softened, “Learn, Lazer. Take advantage of whatyou’re being given.” Hague turned and looked outside the window.“Dismissed, cadet.”

Lazer didn’t move.

“I said dismissed, Lazerman.”Lazer pounded the V salute into his chest before exiting the of-

ce. His mind was made up. It would take time, but he would ndanother way back to Atlantia.




“You have to keep your promise to your mom. Just get throughyour rite of passage,” Kyla said. “That’s all you have to do.”

Lazer had heard it all before. It played over and over with themonotony of a hit song on a cheesy XM station. Passage no longerheld the hope it had before the death of his father, and he was aboutto subject them to his usual litany of reasons when he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. Lazer stared at something that seemed toslow time and make everything around him vanish: a girl—a walk-

ing vision, with eyes as blue as a summer sky and hair that rivaledthe soft gold of a winter sun. Her body was tall and willowy, withcurves in all the right places and legs that went on forever. Lazertried to breathe, but even the air had ceased to exist. He moved for-

ward, compelled to say something, though not a single word cameto mind. He stopped when his vision of perfection hugged a well-built, fourth-year cadet who happened to be captain of the varsity

zoccair team.“Universal God!” Cashton said, when he saw the object of Lazer’s stare. “I have seen the light and it will lead me to heaven.Hurt me!”

Kyla shoved them both. “She will. Or perhaps you’re talkingabout Bo Rambo.”

“Maybe he’s her brother,” Lazer said hopefully.

“If that’s her brother, I’m her daddy,” Cashton said. “Come toPapa.”

“Please ,” Kyla rolled her eyes. “She’s been spliced. Nobody’s thatperfect. The brother, on the other hand, who is not her brother, isvarsity captain, head striker, and number-one choice for Tosadae’sight team. His name is Berto Rambo, Bo to his friends, which youare not. They dated in high school and it looks to me like he’s stak-ing claim again.”

“I know her,” Lazer said, still in a daze.“Not,” said Kyla.“Yeah. Maybe. I swear I know her from somewhere. I can’t

remember.”




“You must have met her in my dreams. Cause she’s there 24/7.”Cashton grinned.

“What happened to Donna Elise?” Kyla asked Cashton. “Isn’tshe the love of your life?”

“She hasn’t been exactly faithful,” Cashton growled.“How would you even . . .” Kyla stopped herself. “Cashton, you

didn’t?”“Well, it worked.”

“You put the Cashton 3-E box in her room and eavesdropped.”Kyla was astonished. “What if she nds out?”“She’d have to break the cute little doll I gave her or at least poke

out its eyes and rip the transmitters out of her little ears.”Cashton had invented the 3-E box in the eighth grade. It was a

video and audio set of electronics that acted as a remote set of eyesand ears—espionage eyes and ears—hence the name E-3.

“What’s her name?” Lazer ignored Cashton and Kyla’s discus-sion. His eyes were locked on this vision he had found inside hisprison walls.

The big entry doors to the stadium slid open. All the playerspicked up their equipment bags and moved down the wide metalcorridors that led to the eld. The playing eld loomed beyond theentry ramps through massive doors that hinged open like the great

gaping jaws of a futuristic beast. Lazer looked back to catch anotherglimpse of the beautiful apparition that had fallen from the heavensand taken human form.

“Kyla,” Lazer nudged her. “I know you know her name.”“Oh, yeah, Miss Vyber blog queen has all the digi-data,” Cashton

chided.“Her name is Elana Blue,” Kyla huffed, rolling her eyes at Lazer’s

obvious infatuation. “Cheney Renfroe says she’s supposed to be a witch with a capital B. First year, but half her classes are year two.”

“Brains and beauty! Maybe I could show her my electro-retinalimaging transfer . . .” Cashton started to say proudly.

“No!” Both Lazer and Kyla responded simultaneously.




“If you blind her, I guarantee she won’t like you,” Kyla said witha dig.

“Hey! It could work!”“I heard she’s an empath,” Kyla said, ignoring Cashton and

throwing in the rest of the gossip.“Clones are empaths,” Lazer said.“I rest my case.”Lazer hated when Kyla was bitchy. All too often he had to re-

mind himself that, even though she was his best friend, she was stilla girl. The paradox was not lost on Kyla either.“How come you know so much?” Lazer asked.Kyla walked away without responding.“And stop reading me.” Lazer watched Elana Blue walk through

the players’ entrance with Bo and make her way up into the standsto watch the practice. Bo turned, spotted Lazer, and glared. His eyes,

level and cold, intended to intimidate. It worked.Bo Rambo, who had been the golden boy of the Tosadae pilottraining program, had heard an ongoing litany about the freshmanboy wonder named Cole Lazerman, whose brilliant skills had savedthe Tosadae transport from the Black Guard, with no weapons. Lazerhad become a rival for his title in the cockpit, whether Lazer knew itor not. Bo glared at his adversary. He had big plans to decimate him

in the only other area where he stood uncontested as top gun—thezoccair eld.

Lazer moved onto the playing eld. Bo shot him another look.He was varsity and Lazer was not. This was a practice game, whichmeant he, Cashton, Kyla, and the rest of the rookies were about tobe used for sh chum to feed the sharks.



—| 235 |—

9

HANDS OF POWER

C ovax paced. He was a caged animal—furious, trapped, a pris-oner in his own domain, held captive by his own creation. Pi

stood nearby, sorting through the piles of scattered microdisks and

broken furniture that had once been Covax’s private research lab.The room had been ransacked.“He can’t do this to me,” he hissed to himself and slammed

what remained of his intercom. “Five!! Respond you worthlesspiece of . . .”

Before he could nish his tirade, the door slid open. A very dif-ferent Five entered the room. He was still the metallic biodroid that

stood taller than most men, but the smooth particles that formedhis head were reconguring, rst into a mouth and now into whatcould only be described as a human face—the merest holographicsuggestion of eyes, nose, and mouth. Two gray eyes blinked awk-

wardly at Covax.“How dare you override my . . .” Covax ignored the anomaly.“I need my army,” Five interrupted. The ghostly lips, formed by

the shifting particles, moved out of sync with the words.“No!” Covax barked.“No?” The holoface blinked back with a crooked expression of

surprise, then ashed a hint of anger. Controlling the strange new emo-tions that percolated beneath his holoface was challenging at best.




“I won’t allow you to reprogram my peacekeepers into yourbutchers. Now give me your vitality bands,” Covax commanded.

Five raised his metal ngers and projected a pulse of energy thatslammed into Covax. This time, it was as if a thousand volts of elec-tricity stabbed into his body. Covax went into a grand mal seizure;every muscle in his body cramped and twitched in full spasm. Thevoltage racked his body for a full ten seconds before Five releasedhim and Covax crashed to the oor.

“No.” Again Five’s face reected only a hint of emotion, an expressionof humor at Covax’s frail deance. “The mutants have already joinedus, and many of the clones believe I will succeed. They come eachday by the hundreds to join our forces.”

“You can defeat the Atlantians, but it will take an army of bio-droids to crush the Politia,” Covax spoke with condence, using

what strength he had to drag himself up from the oor.“With or without you, I will succeed,” Five said, with cool arro-gance. It hung just beneath the calm and condent tone with whichhe spoke, but it was there as clearly as if he had shouted in Covax’sface.

“Not . . . without an army,” Covax fought the residual wavesof pain. He pulled himself up onto what had been the corner of his

research table.The particles of Five’s face shifted, swirling like desert sand

caught in a tiny sirocco. They formed and shaped themselves into amouth, an eye, a nose, ickering in and out like a cheap holographicprojection with bad reception.

“I have begun to decode the data our biodroids discovered fromthe rst gnorb. It holds more than you humans could have everimagined. Even without the genetic lock, it is eager to give me itsknowledge.” Five’s half-formed eyes looked at Covax. There wasa long pause before he added, “I will make a trade. Join me, Dr.Covax, and I will give you Atlantia on a platter with all its land,power, and wealth, in exchange for the binary codes.”




Covax blinked. Who was this being to think that it could givehim anything? He considered the arrogance and asked, “And thehumans? Will this perfect new world of yours have humans?”

“If we are accepted and left in peace. I have no quarrel with youor them.” Five smiled awkwardly, evading the ultimate answer.

A disembodied voice echoed in Covax’s mind.There will be nohumans if the biodroids win. It was as real a possibility to Covax asif it had already occurred. He knew this to be true because Five was

part of him. Five’s DNA, unlike the rest of the Series IV, was hisDNA, and it carried all the dark thoughts Covax had suppressed foryears. His anger at his betrayal, the cruelty of his exile, his hatredfor what had been stolen from him—dignity, fame, and adoration.These were his blackest thoughts and, somehow, when he gave Fivehis DNA, they had been transferred from the recesses of his mindinto Five’s. It was true he had wished for the death of all human-

ity—a wish made in tears during his lonely exile. It was his ownanger that echoed back to him beneath Five’s words.



—| 238 |—

I 0

MASTA POE

L azer contacted his mother as often as he could without mak-ing her crazy. But it wasn’t the calls that got to her; it was

his constant inquiry about what was going on in Atlantia. Had there

been more attacks? Had the underground militia begun to form? Who was helming it? Where were they stationed? Detra had not beenforthcoming with any information because there wasn’t much to give.Everything was quiet on the surface and, Universal God willing, it

would stay that way. Detra shared only that life in Atlantia trudged on with little or nothing out of the ordinary to report. So Lazer countedthe days and tried to act as if being at Tosadae had a purpose.

Classes were in high gear and Lazer was carrying a full load.Each day he would tell himself to focus, that it would make themonths pass more quickly until his preliminary passage rites. FinalPassage wouldn’t be for three years, but primary was in six monthsand that at least would get him certied. Certied was what he hadpromised his mother. He begged time to go by faster. But nothingexcept his fantasies about Elana Blue could sway his thought away from Atlantia and all the pain and promise it held, and Elana wasunattainable. He completed mountains of homework. His only oth-er escape was sleep, which he fell into each night when exhaustionovertook him. But even that gave no respite from the nightmares.The attack on the mines played over and over in his tormented sleep




with a hundred different scenarios, all ending in disaster. He askedhimself again and again,What could I have done differently? He nevercame up with an answer that erased his guilt. His conscious mindknew the past was unchangeable, but his unconscious mind did not.Relentlessly, the nightmares persisted.

Time crept by and Lazer fell into the monotony of daily life. Histeachers were interesting and he enjoyed learning, especially battletechniques and basic splicing, but there was still one class that hadn’t

started: Masta Lia Poe’s Visionistic Arts. Only a select few, thecrème de la crème , were even considered, andnever a rst-year cadet. Lazerdidn’t know why he had been chosen, and until today—the rst day of class—he really didn’t care. Still, the stories of the great Masta Poehad intrigued him and he was excited by the idea of all that he couldlearn from her.

His Monday/Wednesday/Friday rst period class was with Kyla:

“The Age of Light, History of a Brave New World.” An ancientprofessor named Markus Rothstein, with his shock of silver hair andstill classically handsome features, taught it. He looked to Lazer asthough he had personally lived through the global transition and hadbeen ready for his new body implant for at least a decade. ProfessorRothstein had watery eyes and multiple allergies, so sneezes andsymphonic nose blowing usually accompanied lectures.

In the rst few weeks of class, they had gone over the basics. Dr.Rothstein had done a dramatic show-and-tell, using an immersiveholoprojection that played out in graphic detail, to show how a few years before the Mayan calendar ended, on a crisp, clear winter day in December, the planet Earth was quietly caught and pulled intothe gravitational forces of true galactic alignment. Earth’s orbit didnot change, but the world shifted off its axis so slightly that no onerealized the subtlety of the change, except Mother Nature. Slowly,methodically, the planet began its seventeen-year transformation. Therst degree of shift brought relentless rainstorms and hurricanes. Thenext two-degree twist wrenched the tectonic plates, cracked the spineof three continents, and hammered the planet into global chaos.




“Over the next ve years,” Rothstein had said, pointing to theimages as they unfolded, “. . . an enormous land mass was belchedup from the ocean oor, a leviathan-sized territory that divided theNorth Atlantic Sea into narrow watery straits. The displaced waterformed tsunamis, which rose up like an army of giant hands andslammed against the jagged shores of Europe and Africa, as well asboth South and North America. Mountainous lands emerged anddivided what was once Central America from what remained of the

United States. Africa split in two. Asia and Europe ssured, splittinginto seven separate regions.”Lazer’s favorite lectures covered the chapters that told how vast

portions of South America were liqueed and vanished, while mas-sive sections of the remaining lands, whose intricate root systems stillanchored the Amazonian rain forest, were sucked down whole to thebottom of the sea. Ten years into global shifts, not far off the coast

of Japan’s North Pacic Sea, a continent once thought to be only anancient Asian myth, called Mu, erupted from the sea. Like its sisterprovinces that had risen in the Atlantic, Mu became part of thischanging world. Both territories had been inhabited eons before by Earth’s rst inhabitants, the Celians. Located on each of the newly risen continents, buried in silt and coral formations, explorers foundfantastic pristine cities made from unknown metals and lled with

a collection of marvelous mysteries waiting to be solved. Twenty-three years later, true north was located at the center of what hadbeen Nova Scotia. The equator no longer ran through the Congo,Indonesia, and northern Brazil. Antarctica laboriously drifted inside

what had been the Tropic of Cancer, melting into great fertile re-gions, while cities like New York and most of northern Europe frozeinto icy wonderlands.

The computer-generated graphics and eight-point surroundsound system made the presentations into heart-stopping events.Rothstein showed them geologically how, over the course of thoselife-changing years, the planet cracked, jerked, and rumbled as itmust have when, in the Paleozoic Era, Gondwana then Pangaea




split and redened the rst ancient supercontinents. But it was theGreat Quakes that caused the recent continental shifts of this ever-changing planet, which redened the modern world at the speedof a galactic breath. He took their imaginations on a journey of

what must have been a horrendous time when continuous upheav-als, pounding quakes, and unnatural storms caused by the shiftinglands, waters, wind, and weather patterns terried the humans andanimals that were clever or lucky enough to survive. Swollen riv-

ers and oceans swallowed whole shorelines and erased cities. Andthen, when the planets completed their galactic passing, the Earthfell silent. One by one, the remnants of mankind crawled from theirhiding places, desperate to rebuild their lives.

“It was in those dark years that the surviving billion or so mem-bers of the population overcame the terror and destruction that hadforever changed the world and, for the rst time in history, unied

under a common good: the survival of humanity,” Rothstein hadsaid, with tears in his eyes.The students were assigned reports. Kyla had given an amaz-

ingly intelligent report of how people toiled together to nd theremnants of global businesses and technology and used the corpo-rate networks and infrastructures to bind into a global people. Fromthe depths of that unfathomable darkness and despair, humanity

joined together, conquered all, and stepped into the Age of Light.“Time began again in the Age of Light,” the professor inter-

rupted Kyla’s report and reminded them that it wasn’t until 48 A.Q. when history began to be recorded again.

Kyla continued, explaining how pockets of humanity pulledthemselves up from the chaos and used what remained of the oldto create brilliant new and innovative technologies. Six executivesfrom the global corporate conglomerates met to discuss how to usetheir infrastructure to save themselves and, ultimately, mankind.They represented the most vital needs—food, clothing, transporta-tion, communication, nance, and energy. (Rothstein’s early work in nance had dened many of the global monetary laws that were




still in use.) These global giants understood that if they didn’t actquickly, civilization would fall into the abyss of a dark and apoca-lyptic end. In this time of greatest need, the corporations created analliance and used their global infrastructure and product resources tolink the world together through internal communication networksof their world ofces. The corporate leaders fed, clothed, and caredfor anyone who would work to help rebuild civilization.

As Lazer listened to Kyla, he had found it almost unfeasible

how, within a few short years, hospitals, homes, schools, and busi-nesses had sprung up around the world and the corporate leadersof the “Big Six” became the voice of a unied world. When indi-vidual governments tried to step in and take over, the people of Earth unanimously saidno. The Big Six installed a triumvirate rul-ing body and empowered them in the name of one Universal Godto create the laws that would dene a new society. The Triumvirate

gathered the best elements from a variety of governments thatbound them to righteousness and a belief in shared knowledge,and went on to establish a consciousness based on global equal-ity and the world’s collective humanity. Together they rebuilt the

world, tapping into the farthest reaches of imagination, technol-ogy, and scientic ability.

Lazer’s report had been on the unication of global resources

and the physical changes that had allowed civilization to take enor-mous leaps forward. Humanity doubled the speed of technologicaland scientic discoveries. One hundred years previously, human-ity had, in the blink of a cosmic eye, brought the world from theIndustrial Age into the Information Age, creating in a few decades

what had not been achieved in the millennia that preceded them.Inspired by past successes, mankind conceived a new future and cel-ebrated a new kind of genius. No one could ignore the results of thegenetic manipulation that had been explored in legal and illegal hotspots all across the globe. Over the years before and after the GreatQuakes, a wide and fascinating variety of new species had been bornthat would forever be a part of Earth’s new future.




“And we welcome them and revere them for their great contri-butions,” Rothstein said.

Kyla and a few other splicers and clones that spotted the classhad sat up a little straighter and prouder.

“So,” the professor concluded after Lazer’s report, “. . . whilemankind lled the brave new world with hope and peace andsearched the boundaries of knowledge, technology, and nature, sci-ence created and enhanced plant and animal life forms, all in the

name of a better world—a world where hunger and war did notexist. The ultimate goal was to exist in unied peace.”“That didn’t exactly happen. Did it, sir?” Lazer interjected.Rothstein liked Lazer. He liked his passion for learning.“Not exactly,” he smiled and blew his nose, which made the

class laugh. “For nearly one hundred years, all went according toplan. The few wars and minor altercations around the globe that

erupted were immediately suppressed, thanks to the Politia. I con-gratulate all of you who are here for that reason,” Rothstein said,giving the honored V salute.

This time it was Lazer and the other cadets who had sat tallerin their seats.

Near the end of the fourth week, Kyla had asked ProfessorRothstein about the prophecy lm that had been found decaying

in some lm archives in the lower regions of Covax City. Rothsteinpromised to bring a copy he had procured to the next class—to-day’s.

The class was packed full, for many students had heard aboutthis mysterious cult lm, but few had seen this celluloid movie thathad been made just after the turn of the twenty-rst century, called“Days of Future Past.” It foretold of the Earth’s shift, the reorganiza-tion of the world’s land masses, and the death of billions. It also toldof man’s most ingenious and unique creation: ten-foot tall, silly-looking robots that an Einstein-type scientist with bug eyes and acrooked nose had created. The robots rose up with plans to destroy the humans, who, of course, fought back. As the armies of men and




the armies of the robots faced each other for the dening battle, asingle soldier was sent out from both sides. The humans sent a boy into battle; the robots send their biggest and ercest warrior. LikeDavid and Goliath, they prepared to ght to the death. The littlemovie abruptly stopped and Professor Rothstein told the class thatthe ending was lost.

Lazer and Kyla looked at each other.“We probably lost. That’s why they destroyed the ending,” Kyla

said with a smile.“It was a bad movie and nobody cared what happened to thecreepy, ugly people,” Lazer whispered back, making her laugh.

“This was our tomorrow,” Professor Rothstein said, with hisancient voice quivering. It was his favorite phrase and he said it atthe end of every class. Then he snorted, blew his nose, and assignedthree chapters to read, which he downloaded to everyone’s sponder

before he dismissed the class with a nal blow of his nose.Lazer and Kyla met Cashton for lunch in JR Kelly Hall, namedafter one of the leading founders and great biomass alternative fuelpioneers of the twenty-rst century. Kelly Hall fed the majority of students on campus. Each student, through an almost instantaneousprocess, had their exact nutritional needs and dietary requirementsdeciphered and were served the appropriate meal. The hall was a vast

cavernous space drenched in the warmth and glow of natural light.The sun’s rays fell from the circular windows that lined the greatarched ceiling and crisscrossed the hall; as the sun crossed the sky,long beams of light moved across the oor like spotlights. The hallalways smelled of fresh bread and cookies, but the machines that dis-pensed the school’s meal plan carried little that resembled anythingthat had once been alive. Lack of avor was a sore spot that the new administration had vowed to correct. There were other restaurantsaround the Tosadae campus with much better tasting food, but forfast, cheap, and nutritious meals, Kelly Hall was the place to go.

Over lunch, Lazer, Cashton, and Kyla compared notes, talkedpolitics, and dissed whichever teacher was giving them the most




“You said that, too.” She took the items from his hands.Lazer stared at her with absolute awe, ghting the barrage of

emotions that pummeled him—sad, wonderful, horrible, incred-ible—all ending in embarrassment.

“I don’t suppose we could start over? Pretend I hadn’t bumpedinto you?” Lazer pleaded.

She looked him up and down. Despite his awkwardness, hewas cute. There was something familiar about him that she couldn’t

place. She had felt it from the rst time she saw him at the zoccaireld, chalked it up to new faces around campus, and let it go. Shegave him only the slightest ash of a smile, “I don’t think so.” Sheturned and walked away.

The smile was all he needed. He went after her, falling into herstride. “Have we met before?” He ashed his most charming smile.

Elana Blue didn’t answer, but even his voice had a familiar ring to

it. Yes,she thought. We have met before, but where? She said nothingand kept walking. Elana prayed he wasn’t somebody who knew herfrom the few times she was allowed out on Atlantia. She had beenprivately tutored her whole life to protect her from the press and thenegative side of her father’s reputation. Covax had even changed hername to ensure her anonymity.

“Fair enough. Anything I say will just bury me deeper. Right?

So, if you could just tell me where . . .” He had forgotten where he was going. He checked the sponder. “. . . Masta Poe’s Visionistic Artsclass is?”

She stopped, eyeing him as if he actually existed. “How did youget into Masta Poe’s class?”

Gotcha, he thought. Lazer shrugged. “Is that a yes? Or are youplanning to let me arrive so late I make a complete fool of myself

with everyone else?”“You’ll do that ne on your own.” She decided she liked him.

“Follow me. We’re both going to be late if we don’t hurry.”They walked in silence around the circle that led to the Arts

and Powers building. It was truly the crown jewel of Tosadae, with




elliptical panels that curved, twisted, and folded open like a oweroffering itself to the new day.

Finally she spoke. “So, how did you get into Visionistic Arts?”Her words were more emphatic.

“You’re a freshman.” He shrugged as they reached the building.“How did youget in?” Lazer reached for the door.

Elana Blue raised her hand and the door hinged open on itsown. “I was invited.”

Lazer was stunned.“Don’t make me hold it forever. Go in.” She tilted her head andtresses of axen hair dripped across her cheek.

Lazer entered. “Impressive.”“Yeah.” She grinned playfully. He liked her.The title of Visionistic Arts and Powers Building suited its alien

design, with oval corridors that owed to classrooms with large elec-

tronic elliptical entrances built off a system of circling hallways. Nomatter which way you turned, all the hallways ended at the centralauditorium. It was impossible to get lost. The design was awe-inspir-ing. The oor was made of a transparent substance that somehow

was built over a tributary of the Silent River that ran peacefully by Tosadae, allowing a variety of sh to swim beneath the students’ feet.

Lazer walked beside Elana, stealing glances whenever he could

as they made their way down an arched corridor. He pretended tolook at the messages, beamed on the walls in colored lights, that toldof special concerts and lectures to be held in the VAP auditoriumover the next few months. He tried to look interested, but he wasmuch too captivated by the scent that drifted in Elana Blue’s wake,and by the way the colorful lights reected off her skin and hair.

They reached the main lecture hall. Again she gestured and thedoor swung open. It held for Lazer.

“Better hurry. You don’t want to be late for your rst day.” Sherushed past Lazer to grab a seat.

Lazer watched her go. His heart pounded inside his chest withthe patter of thick summer rain. He smiled and released an audible




sigh. It was only then that he noticed where he was. The lecturearena was a theater in the round, with a thousand seats that rosein graceful tiers to the top. Above, a ring of multicolored, oddly-shaped windows that looked like faceted jewels rimmed the smalldomed ceiling. The afternoon sunlight spilled inside and paintedthe oor in precise, geometrical bars of rainbow colors. Below, thecenter held a large naked stage in the round, surrounded by aboutthirty students who sat speaking quietly among themselves. They

were the select few who had qualied to sit at the feet of the brilliantprophetess, Masta Poe. Lazer was sure it had to be a uke of schedul-ing that had brought him here.

Lazer made his way down the stairs and sat next to Elana Blue.He liked being near her. He liked the scent of her shampoo, the way her skin glowed a warm blushing pink, and how her lips moved

when she spoke. He was smitten. He took a breath and was about to

speak when the entire room of students stood and began to applaud.Lazer, caught by the surprise of the moment, jumped to his feet.Masta Poe stood center stage. Poe was a high-bred splicer born

into the treacherous, underground labyrinths of the Fissure Forestssome twenty years after the Great Quakes. Many of the early clonesand splicers had been illegally created and killed before the world couldsee the freaks science was creating, but Masta Poe was the daughter of

one of the rarest and most wondrous anomalies—Tinga.In the controlled environment and hermetically sealed rooms

in a secret lab somewhere under the great expanse of Los Angeles,California, Tinga had been created in a Petri dish, half-human andhalf-gibbon monkey, and was birthed from an articial womb asan albino with blinding white skin, silver hair, and pale, purpleeyes. When she was only seven months old, her creators discoveredTinga’s amazing abilities—kinetics, telepathy, and the manifestationof complete objects from thin air, a few of the talents that had kepther alive. Tinga spent her early childhood in a glass room, testedand probed by scientists who saw her as a very special gloried rat.Then, at the age of seven, even though completely sequestered from




the world, she calmly prophesied the rst tectonic upheavals, oods,and storms, to be followed by the last and most devastating of theGreat Quakes.

Only one person believed her warnings—a handsome youngscientist. Because of his wisdom, at least a portion of South Americasurvived. To the very second, she predicted the pull of the Earth off its axis, and the cataclysmic forces that changed the world as humansknew it. But the violent eruptions, in all their terror, turned out

to be the key that set her free. Sucked below the surface when theEarth liqueed, the building that housed her was swallowed wholeinto a muddy abyss. The lab that held her and the others of herkind was totally self-sufcient, so Tinga was free to spend the restof her life in the twisting labyrinths of the newly formed under-ground world. They lived in caves, illuminated by glowing algae and

warmed by thermal pools. They hunted for food and water in the

dark surrounding forests of living tree roots and ate the strange, ex-otic vegetation that thrived on the articial lights and chemicals leftby the scientists.

Tinga was not alone. She spent the rst twenty years of heryouth caring and being cared for by her human teacher and friend,Dean Lee Chopin, a brilliant physicist and a passionate philoso-pher. She had saved his life that fateful day, protecting him from the

splicers who had been freed by the quake and wanted all humansdestroyed for the pain they had inicted. Tinga had convinced themof Chopin’s goodness and they had granted him life on the condi-tion she and Chopin live apart from the others.

They found a series of small caves at the edge of the root forestand made their home there. They cut the biogenetically engineeredvegetation that grew uncontrolled over the destroyed labs, warmedby the constant glow of the halogen grow lights that spilled from the

wreckage. She learned quickly which plants had been enhanced by the humans and were deadly, and which were rich in vitamins andminerals. Numerous plants, which had been meticulously bio-engi-neered to grow without sunlight, covered the dark cave walls; vines




and roots hung like primitive, living stalactites. Blooming phospho-rescent nubs illuminated the blackness every six hours with their eerieshades of lavender, red, and pale green. Thanks to the miracles of science, Tinga grew healthy and happy, focusing on the strange andfascinating joys that lled her new life.

Tinga and Chopin found water and grew food and herbs formedicine. She cared for his wounds and nursed his aging body. Inreturn, the great philosopher and physicist taught her everything

he knew. He became her mentor and she his greatest love. Togetherthey explored her amazing gifts of telepathy and manifestation, cre-ating the foundation for what would become the Visionistic Arts.For thirty years, Tinga Poe and Dean Chopin lived together in theirdim, dank caves with their love for one another as the only warmthto comfort them.

Chopin died and Tinga Poe was left with the one gift she had

begged for: a child. Tinga gave birth to a beautiful baby girl andnamed her Masta Lia Poe. Masta resembled her mother in almostevery way, right down to her lavender eyes and silvery skin. But shealso had many of her father’s human features, like his height, hishairless face, and long silken hair, which owed down her back like

white fringe. Masta Poe’s visionistic powers surpassed even Tinga’s.They lived beneath the phosphorescent moss and spoke to the splic-

er creatures that ventured out from the deeper regions of the FissureForest. Splicers, both wondrous and bizarre, came to gather ediblevegetation from the old labs, which had all but vanished beneaththe thick undergrowth. Tinga taught Masta Poe how to use her vi-sionistic powers to manipulate matter, alter time, and read the aurasof plants, animals, splicers, and humans. Masta, in turn, taught thechildren of the surviving splicers what she could of her gifts. Thepopulation grew with each passing year. Masta eventually broughther mother back into the splicer community and encouraged herto share her knowledge of herbs and medicines. There, for decades,they lived in peace and happiness beneath the black earth and farfrom the eyes of men, until the sound of machines grew too loud




to ignore. On Masta’s birth celebration day, a human constructioncrew began excavating a site directly above them that would becomethe world headquarters of Sangelino for the unied planet.

Most of the splicers ran away in fear, but Masta Poe stood herground. She was ready to meet the humans she had only read aboutin e-books and seen on ancient DVDs stored inside ancient comput-ers. Construction workers drilled through her cave’s ceiling and therst human faces Masta had ever seen stared at her, backlit by the

blinding glare of their lights. Rock and soil rained down from above.In her panic, Tinga ignored the avalanche of rocks and, thinking only of Masta’s safety, rushed to save her daughter. They struggled towardeach other, their hands reaching through the blinding clouds of dustthat suffocated them. With only inches between them, time slowed,and every minute detail of their nal moments together played outaround them. Then, in a hush of silence, everything turned into inky

blackness. The next time Masta Poe opened her eyes, she was insidea beautiful hospital room of lavender and white, bathed in a warm,hazy glow that hurt her eyes and made her skin tingle. It would take

weeks to open her eyes without squinting in pain, but on that day,for the rst time in her life, Masta Poe saw the light of the sun.

Year after year, Masta returned to the excavation site and vis-ited the cold, sterile camps that had been built for the splicers who

chose to live on the surface. She searched for but never found hermother. Tinga, who had previously survived the caged cruelty of thehumans, had given her life so that her daughter could live in thesun. Masta Poe was grateful for her mother’s sacrice, but witnessedrst-hand the hatred, both subtle and overt, humans had for splic-ers. Her mother’s stories of her days in captivity rang sadly true.Masta, though more human than Tinga, was still a splicer. Every day that she drew a breath in the upland world, she felt the sting of intolerance. It was not until the humans discovered Masta’s powersthat their disdain turned to reverence, for she freely offered to teachthem the forgotten secrets of her Visionistic Arts. Only then didthey begin to respect and honor her.




In the black years that culminated in the Splicer Fiasco of 93 A.Q.,during which so many splicers died at the hands of fearful and intol-erant humans, Masta Poe remained courageous. Respect for her grew because of her exceptional powers—powers that came to her as natu-rally as breathing. Her wondrous abilities to transcend dimensionsand manipulate matter, Poe believed, resulted solely from combininghuman genetics with her mother’s primitive genome. This complexmixture heightened her ability to use the deep cosmic memory that

owed in her human brain and connected her to powerful energy sources. The knowledge of these powers is what Tinga had taught herdaughter and what she, in turn, would teach her students.

These amazing abilities, she told the young, eager faces that satbefore her, were theirs by right of birth, gifted to all humankind, butforgotten and then lost to most of their kind for millennia. Over thecenturies, there had been those few who, on their own, had discov-

ered their inner gifts. Great humans like Jesus Christ, Mohammed,Krishna, Moses, Buddha, Leonardo Da Vinci, Nostradamus, AlbertEinstein, Nikola Tesla, and Edgar Cayce, to name a few, had un-derstood and shared their gifts with the world. Others, because of the same exceptional light that they shone out into a dark ignorant

world, were persecuted, crucied, tortured, or murdered in the nameof some primitive fear or religious dogma designed to control the

body, but not to enlighten the spirituality that lived in every soul.Masta Poe’s teachings would return her students to their great-

est powers—their very own humanity. The work she did with herstudents was intense and focused. Only the most dedicated and

willing to trust completely could open their souls to the universe,and remember. The simple act of entering into a state of bliss re-opened the human mind to these amazing powers that she calledthe Visionistic Arts.

Masta Poe shimmered onstage as her voice echoed in from off-stage. She, in actual physical form, stepped from the lower aisles thatled in from the wings and crossed to the illusion she had created.The illusion faded and disappeared.




“What is an illusion and what is real?” she spoke in a deep,husky voice. “Inside the power of the mind, there is no difference,only perception.”

Bo Rambo slipped in with one of the other zoccair players, an Asian man named Carel Bell. They used the diversion of Masta Poe’sentrance to grab seats next to Elana Blue, hoping their entrance

would go unnoticed. It did not.“If you are late for my class again, Cadets Rambo and Bell, you

will nd the doors no longer open for you.”Bo and Carel shufed in their seats. They should have knownthat nothing went unnoticed by Masta Poe.

“To those of you who have been with me before,” she contin-ued, “I pray you come in light. To you newbies, welcome to theVisionistic Arts. Over the next few years, you will learn the primary powers of the human mind. Like . . .” Masta Poe pointed to a skinny

girl with long, sinewy arms and spider-like features.The girl returned a high-pitched, rapid-re response, “Levitation,shielding, spontaneous combustion, manifestation, aura detection,shadowing . . .”

“Excellent. Thank you, Lalice. We’ll let them learn the rest ontheir own.” Poe smiled and gave a nod that made the spidery-limbedgirl beam with pride. “Those are only a few of the multitude of pow-

ers humans have forgotten over the millennia. Today begins your journey to reclaim them, for they have always been with you, wait-ing patiently in the recesses of every atom in your body simply tobe remembered. For a select few of you, who will reach the ultimatestate of BAI, I am honored to be in your presence.”

The state of BAI stood for Bliss And I, and represented the indi-vidual embodiment of oneness with the universe achieved through astate of pure emotional bliss.

Masta Poe explained how the class worked. There would be labs,research, and practical application. First theory, then application

with each other, then defensive training against a variety of creaturesand splicers to perfect their survival skills, and nally, the innite




possibilities to manifest into reality whatever the mind could imag-ine.

Half listening, Lazer’s attention was still xed on Elana Blue. Heleaned toward her and was just about to whisper when a voice lledhis head. So, Cadet Lazerman, you have arrived.Lazer sat straightup in his seat. It sounded as though the voice was all around him.His eyes widened and he looked at the faces of the other students.Hadn’t they heard the strange disembodied voice?

If you were paying attention, Lazer, you would know who I am. Lazer looked straight into Masta Poe’s lavender eyes.Welcome toVisionistic Arts. You and I have much to speak about, and you have a great deal of work ahead if you are to be ready for the dangerous path onwhich you have been chosen to embark.

Lazer could see Masta Poe’s mouth moving, but the words in hishead were not the words she spoke. She was across the room, and yet

the sound of her voice seemed to whisper into his ears. Lazer lookedat Elana Blue. Her attention was on Masta Poe.Okay, this is too strange Lazer thought.Only if you judge it to be so,Masta Poe thought back to him. She

was reading his mind.I . . . I don’t understand . Lazer shook his head as if waking from

a dream.

This is the rst step to your ‘knowing,’ Lazer. I need to see what youhold in your mind that you do not yet comprehend. Close your eyes and give the visions to me. This time, I will guide you.

Lazer watched Poe as a look of puzzlement lled her face. Shetipped the angle of her head and looked at him oddly. Her mouthstill moved as she talked to the rest of the class about homework,study groups, and tests.

You have the soul of a hero but, sadly, I see no light in the emotions that guide your path, only a shroud of darkness . Her look shifted fromone of questioning to one of concern. A great darkness surrounds youthat you alone must conquer. Look, Lazer, here is the door to what is coming.




young woman with thick, honey blond hair. Her back was turned.Her hair blew in the torrent of wind that whipped at them. The girlturned to face him. In her hand was a weapon that dripped a black liquid. She stared at him with sad and frightened turquoise eyes. Justas she called out to him, he was whisked away.

More images rushed by with the intensity of a train at lightspeed—frantic ickering images that melted into ribbons of light,strobing and ashing until everything dissolved around him. Lazer

stood in the middle of a massive battle. He looked down to see he was standing on sparkling purple sand. In his hand he held the OrbisGnorb. The immense eld of purple sand was ringed by thick veg-etation so bizarre and alien he knew he had to have been transportedto another world. He spun around and the blur of images once againencircled him. When he stopped, he was in the middle of a great

war: tens of thousands of beings—humans, creatures, droids—bat-

tled in every direction above him. Lazer was a witness—an invisiblevoyeur observing the carnage. A series of brilliant explosions rippedinto the landscape, each blast building into a chaotic frenzy, fasterand more intense, until everything climaxed in a blinding ash of pure white light. Lazer shielded his eyes and, in an instant, every-thing went black.

In the classroom, Lazer’s body jumped and jolted. He gasped,

fainted, and crumpled onto the ground with a thud.Masta Poe showed no emotion. She looked at Lazer.You are safe

for now, Cole Lazerman. Sleep.She looked at Rambo and spoke, “Itseems Cadet Lazerman won’t be joining us for the rest of class. CadetRambo, Cadet Bell, if you would please take him to my chambers.”

With a gentle hand motion, she levitated Lazer’s body four feetabove the ground. For the rst time since his father’s death, Lazerslept in tranquility and peace.



—| 257 |—

I I

PRISONER

C ovax watched from his prison tower.“Five wants an answer.” Pi’s soft voice broke the hollow

silence. Two Black Guard sentries closed the door behind him.

“It can rot in hell,” Covax hissed, not turning. Five was still athing as far as he was concerned. Covax refused to give a machine agender.

“My fate hangs as precariously as yours, doctor,” was Pi’s only response.

“He’ll destroy everything,” Covax whispered.“You failed to realize your own dreams long before my actions,”

Five said as he entered.Covax turned. He could not ignore Five’s emerging facial fea-

tures. The veil-like particles that formed his dark narrow eyes,aquiline nose, and thin mouth seemed denser and more renedagainst the grayish-white skin. Covax studied his creation, but saidnothing.

Five stood next to the young mutant named Massi. Covax didnot recognize the pale scarecrow with copper cotton-like hair andhuge protruding eyes. He thought only that the boy reminded himof an albino frog. He must have been part splicer, but sometimes thegenetics were so subtle it was hard to tell.

“The satellite feed has been set in place?” Five asked the youth.




“In two locations. We can monitor most of his movementsthrough the school’s security,” Massi explained.

“And Masta Poe?” Five asked.“As far as we can tell, she suspects nothing,” Massi responded.“You are to keep constant vigilance on him,” Five said, speaking

in an almost fatherly tone.“Yes sir,” Massi answered.“I want to know the moment he leaves Tosadae. Do not fail me.”

Massi nodded, almost bowing, and hurried from the room.Five smiled as he watched after the youth, pleased by his enthu-siasm. He nodded to Pi to follow and, without ceremony, Pi wasgone. Five began to speak to Covax.

“You think I disobeyed you?” Five asked with a casual lilt.“What would you call it?”“Think of it as fulllment. You once told me that the next time

the corporate alliance rejected your proposals, you would unleashyour Black Guard against them and conquer the world. So, in fact, Iam doing exactly what you desired.” Five’s partially transparent eyesblinked awkwardly.

“Do you honestly believe you can crush the entire worldCollective?” Covax asked in disbelief.

“You did.”

“You arenot me ,” Covax was emphatic.“Was I not engineered from your DNA? Was it not you who

programmed my memory bands with all the greatest knowledge of humanity? Was it not you who personally taught me the art of war as

we played our countless games of chess, held philosophical conversa-tions and grand debates? Miyamoto Musashi, Zang Yu, and NiccoloMachiavelli were my teachers. Masters of war and domination, Dr.Covax, who came to me through you.” Five pondered his hypothesisfor a long, arrogant moment. “But you are right. I am not you. I amfar superior to you.”

Covax didn’t inch. “And once you have destroyed Atlantia?”“We will capture the Vybernet, control all communication. Then




a brief, tactical, but lethal war fought with an army of biodroids thelikes of which the world has never seen. I will set my warriors againstthe insipid race you call humanity. And, with or without your help,Dr. Covax, I will crush human genetics from existence and sendmankind into extinction.”

“Then do it.” Covax’s voice held an icy challenge.“It has begun.” Five waved his hand above the controls to Covax’s

holoscreen, called out the channel code, and activated the internal

information feed for the facility monitors. The images were fromBiodroid Design Labs and Covax’s production assembly lines—avast factory lled with racks of biodroids, 100,000 Black Guard inthe making.

“You and I both know they are useless shells without the binary programming codes.” Covax was calm. He held the better hand andhe knew it. So did Five.

“Don’t test my patience, Ducane.” Five’s face faded in a swirl of shifting molecules, leaving only the cold, blank steel of the biodroidmask. “In this, too, you will fail.”



—| 260 |—

I2

PATIENCE

A week had passed since the fainting incident in class andLazer retained little or no memory of the images he had

seen. People asked him if he were well and, for the life of him, he

could not remember passing out in class or being taken to MastaPoe’s ofce. What he did remember was that he awoke in his dormroom the next morning, feeling as though he’d had the best sleep of his life. But on the third night, dreams began to ll his sleep. Piecesof the vision were scattered in each dream. Slowly, elements, faces,places began to reconstruct themselves. The images were frighten-ing and wondrous, but left him feeling anxious and confused. He

wanted to understand. Snippets and slivers of the vision, coupled with the stories people from the class that day had recounted, beganto make sense, but the reasons eluded him. Finally, frustrated be-yond words, and after a good talking to from Kyla, Lazer gatheredhis courage and went to see Masta Poe.

The door to Masta Poe’s ofce hung open, which meant an invi-tation to anyone curious or courageous enough to enter. Lazer wasn’tfeeling courageous, but he was curious as hell to know what hadhappened that rst day in class. He stepped in from the articiallight that lled the hallway and scanned the small, cluttered room.

Almost every available inch was bursting with books and artifactsthat reected her remarkable life. High-def light paintings lled




even the smallest space on her walls with digital art from the likesof Picasso, Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Michael Parks, andGeorgia O’Keeffe. The images appeared and disappeared, periodi-cally morphing from one into another, while soft soothing musicplayed in the background.

Masta Poe’s science lab was at the far corner of her ofce. Shestood among racks of test tubes and beakers that boiled, bubbled,and dripped with various chemicals that changed textures and colors

as they congealed or interacted with one another. Exotic plants andpungent herbs grew inside spheres of glass, living prisoners in theirown perfect microenvironments.

Lazer hung back near the doorway. “I . . . missed the end of yourclass,” he said. The door closed on its own, forcing him inside.

“The basics of telekinetic theory as a form of kinematics—moving mass via mental projection. We touched on spontaneous

combustion and the mind’s ability to control molecules. And wediscussed one of my favorites: energy shielding.” She turned to peek at him over her shoulder. “A must for your battle skills.” There wasthe slightest hint of a mischievous smile in her voice.

“I’d like to know all of those,” Lazer said, feeling suddenly braver.“I’m sure you would.” She walked over to him and offered him

a small vial. “Drink.”

Lazer studied the goo in the vial. He eyed her suspiciously, thendrank. “Whoa! That’s cosmic! What’s in this? I feel great!” His entirebody tingled.

“Poobamba. A vitality elixir. My own blend.” She smiled. “Nextsemester, if you have the courage to stay, you will learn the powersof plants and herbs.”

Courage to stay,a curious choice of idioms.“Every remedy and healing medicine you humans could ever

need has been provided to you by the plants of this Earth. You justhave to know where to look.” Masta Poe smiled, pleased with herself.“Come back tomorrow and we will begin,” she said as she turned to

walk away.




“But I . . .”“. . . will come back tomorrow,” she ended the sentence for him.

“Go in light,” Masta Poe added, obviously ending their conversa-tion.

“I . . . don’t understand.” Lazer stepped closer.“That means, may your next evolution be into the light of wis-

dom, and may you be at one with the powers of the universe.”Lazer was dumbfounded. His feet refused to move. He wanted

to ask her a thousand questions. He wanted to know about the vi-sions. He had to. “But Masta Poe, I . . .”“. . . will come back tomorrow,” she cut him short again. “I can

only guide you tosome of the answers you seek, Cole Lazerman, andonly when you are ready, which,” she emphasized, “you are not. Therest, like your powers and how to nd your BAI, you will rememberin good time.”

Behind him the door swung open. He had been dismissed. Theanswers he sought would not come today.



—| 263 |—

I3

WINDS OF CHANGE

A leece piloted Eagle One, a Harrier FRS.MK 30 hovercraft usedby the Triumvirate leaders. It had been a while since she had

been able to leave Sangelino or simply take time to y. She had missedthe pleasure of the subtle controls of a stratospheric transport, the feel-

ing of soaring in free ight as it cut through the lavender velvet sky.Commander Fielding entered the cockpit and offered her a cup

of her favorite ginger and honey tea. She nodded for him to set itdown; she wasn’t ready to turn on the autopilot. Fielding slippedinto the co-pilot seat. She was a great leader. She alone had got-ten the Collective to send a Politia advance investigation team into

Atlantia, suppressing Mangalan’s emergency motion and loweringthe defense dome alert to that of ready status only. The Politia wereordered to install the dome, but not launch it until a full investiga-tion and review of the report took place.

“Is Commander Bailer ready to take his controls back?” she asked.“Soon enough. Besides, you look as though you’re having too

much fun.”“It shows, does it?” Aleece laughed.“How much longer?”“We’ve just entered Atlantian air space, so my ETA would be at

about 1800.”“The advance has not been able to locate Dr. Covax,” Fielding

told her.




“I want to meet with our team tomorrow.”“It’s all been arranged. Oh.” He punched up a communiqué.

“V-mail from your ofce. It must have come in when we crossedinto Atlantia’s satellite band.”

The young aide from Aleece’s ofce appeared in the hologramprojection that oated between them. “Triumvirate Avery, I was ableto locate the hypothesis we spoke about. It referred to the probableeffects of conjoining the four gnorbs at a single location as a single

source of power. Ma’am, it was written ve years ago by TriumvirateBaz Mangalan,” she said his name with an uncomfortable edge. “I’veattached a copy. Please tell us who else should see this.”

The aide’s face faded from her holoscreen just as somethingcaught Aleece’s eye. What she saw refused to register for a moment.She wanted it to be a mirage, an aberration, but it wasn’t. A sortie of eight Shadehawks was heading straight for them. “We’ve got com-

pany,” she said calmly.Fielding saw the Shadehawks fall into attack formation. He acti-vated the intercom. “Bailer, Code Blue. Get your ass up here!”

Multiple faces of the escort sortie that anked Eagle One ap-peared on the heads-up screen, replacing the Triumvirate seal.

“Y’all getting this visual?” Eagle Two’s commander asked.“Are their comms open?” Aleece asked, hoping the Shadehawks

were friendly.“Negative,” Eagle Two responded.“Shields up. Arm your weapons,” Fielding ordered.Each of the ghter escorts reported in. They were armed and

ready.“Who’s where?” Fielding asked as he brought all defense systems

online.“Bates and Warner on your ank. I’m on point, and Shift and

Timmer have got your wings,” Eagle Two reported.“Copy that,” Fielding responded. “I suggest we take evasive ac-

tion, Madam Triumvirate.”“Can we outrun them?” Aleece asked Fielding. His look said




everything. “Then I should give you back your controls.” She reachedfor her restraints release just as Bailer burst through the door.

The rst blast slammed into them. It took out Eagle Four. A ball of ames sent a concussion wave into Eagle One. The cockpittipped, throwing Bailer to the oor. He cracked his head against the

wall and was thrown to the oor. He was out cold.“Eagle Two. Do you copy?” Aleece shouted.“We lost Eagle Four!” Eagle Two’s pilot shouted.

“Let’s get the hell out of here!” Aleece ordered.“Call it!” Fielding released the controls, throwing his hands upin the air. This was on Aleece.

“Get ready to break on my command. Lotus break. In three . . .two . . . one!”

They broke into a lotus pattern, owing out in all directions. TheShadehawks scattered, splitting two-on-one. Aleece pulled straight

back on the stick, sending the craft into a half loop. It rolled, thenbanked left. She headed back for the shoreline. Another blast! They took a hit. Hard. The fuselage shuddered. Smoke lled the cabin.

Outside, three more FX-80s were blasted from the sky. EagleTwo took on the two Shadehawks that trailed him. He dropped, re-versed throttle, and red. He blasted out the lead Shadehawk, pulledback around, and got two more. Two Shadehawks dove on him. He

looked out and saw the smoking fuselage of Eagle One. It was fallingfrom the sky with a trail of orange smoke. It was the last image theyoung pilot saw before he was obliterated.

Eagle One’s survival pod ejected and the parachute blossomedinto a nylon pyramid. A second parachute followed with Fieldingat its controls. The pod drifted to Earth as Eagle One crashed intothe Atlantian hills and exploded into a ball of orange and emeraldames a hundred meters away.

The remaining Shadehawks stopped in midair and hovered a mo-ment, then drifted down to see what treasures they had captured.



—| 266 |—

I 4

LESSON ONE

L azer and Masta Poe stood together on the stage of the empty lecture hall. They had been there for the better part of the af-

ternoon and Lazer was tired and irritated by their lack of progress.“Try again,” she said in a patient tone. She asked him to close his

eyes and focus on the gentle rhythms of his heart, as it beat strongand steady inside his chest. Lazer had the heart of an athlete, slow and even.

It was obvious he wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. His only choice was to commit to her once and for all. There, in the opensilence, Lazer forgot about all the things that were bothering himand let go, exhaling a long sigh. Finally, he had submitted to themoment. For the rst time he wasn’t in the past, remembering thesad events of his life, or daydreaming of the future, imagining how he would destroy the Black Guard; he was simply present in thehere and now. Lazer began to hear his heart; he breathed in a gen-tle rhythm, listening as it ebbed and owed and mingled with thesubtle, ambient sounds of the room—the hissing of the ventilationsystem, Masta Poe’s breathing, the brush of her cloak as she steppedaway from him. Then, he heard his name. The voice did not comefrom spoken words, but from someplace deep inside his mind.

“Good,” Masta Poe told him. “Stay focused on your heartbeatand open your eyes.”

“Now, move as I move,” she gently commanded. She opened her




hands and brought them gracefully together at the wrists. Stretchingopen her ngers, she cupped them into an ellipse. Lazer mirroredher actions and waited.

“What do you feel?” she asked softly.“Nothing,” he whispered back, with a hint of facetiousness.“Then we will do it again,” she said, just as patiently as the other

dozen or so times. “Breathe. Now, start over and stay inside yourself.”Nothing happened. Lazer was exhausted. He broke his stance and

clenched his sts, a petulant child about to have a tantrum. “We’vebeen at this for hours. Just tell me, what is it I’m supposed to feel?”“If I tell, you will not remember.” She wanted to will him to

understand, but his defenses were up—a thick, impenetrable black wall wrought with anger. His emotions were negative and his mind was a jumble.

Finally, she gave in. “This is about what is easiest and most plea-

surable, Lazer. Think of energy. Now, imagine energy as waves—sine waves—pure electromagnetic spectrums that exist and can, upon your will, shift between matter and antimatter, each particle capable of re-creating itself across a myriad of thoughts and parallel dimensions. Seethem, feel them, taste them. Transcend through your mind and mani-fest the waves into particles and the particles into physical matter.”

“How?” Lazer was overwhelmed by the concept. “We exist in

four dimensions, including time. That’s it. Where do you expect meto go? I don’t understand.”

“Youcan go anywhere, do anything, when you allow yourself toimagine it through precise thought. Get out of its way and stop tryingto look through your physical eyes. We exist in limitless dimensions.So far, you have chosen not to see them. Use your thoughts, exploreyour imagination.” Masta Poe circled him as she spoke. She raisedher hands, and with a gesture, manifested various objects—solid,physical, real—from out of nowhere. She set them gently aoat inmidair. “Remember.”

“How can I remember what I haven’t learned?” Lazer sighed inutter exasperation.




“How can I teach you what you already know?” She smiled.“The Visionistic Arts are a collective knowledge that exists inside thecore of everything, from the universe to the smallest atomic particlesin your body. Inside, you have a projectable state of mind that willgive you innite possibilities, if you ask it. These are the gifts thathumans have always held, but have lost the will to call upon. It isthe right of every human being on this planet to levitate, shield, readauras, project, communicate with plants and animals, and call the

smallest or greatest desires into reality at your bidding. If you chose,you could go negative or . . .”“Go negative?” Lazer interrupted.Masta Poe touched an object that she had been levitating. It

vanished. Yet Lazer could see that the faintest trace of its form stillexisted beneath her ngers.

“To become invisible, to shift your quarks from positive to

negative. If you can imagine it and believe with your entire being,then it must be,” she patiently explained. “The Eastern spiritualistspracticed various forms. Many people have done it without realizingit, sometimes out of fear when faced with danger, and it is seen as anact of great bravery. Men who have survived great battles used it and

walked unscathed through arrows and bullets because they believedthey could not be seen or harmed. Because they believed they were

invincible, they were. This is one of the powers of the mind, Lazer.These are the gifts you humans have forgotten over the millennia.

You have lost your higher self. You wanted only to survive, but sur-viving is not the true art of living. It is the lowest of all existence.That thought and your emotions are what block you now.”

Lazer’s face was a blank.Forget what you have learned and remember what you know .

“Imagine and believe it to be. To shift dimensions, you must manip-ulate matter, space, and time with your thoughts. Hear me, Lazer.Thoughts are the essence of antimatter, and from thought, need, ordesire, matter is made real. Imagine what you want and manifest itinto being. Do it, Lazer.” Again she held her hands together in a cup.




Masta Poe extended her arms away from her body. She focusedher thoughts, and the energy inside her hands became visible. Shecreated from that negative space a ball of energy that swirled andspun, gaining momentum and size with each second. Masta Poeseparated her hands and stretched the ball into a curved wall thatformed a shield. It was clear, pristine, a shimmering barrier of energy suspended before her—invisible but perceptible.

“Touch me,” she commanded.

Lazer reached forward. His hands stopped at the invisible bub-ble that suddenly encircled her.“No physical weapon can penetrate, if your mind is strong

enough.” Masta Poe nodded for Lazer to try.Lazer copied the position of her hands and her physical stance.“Focus everything into the space inside your hands and visualize

the energy that exists within every cell of your body. Now, let it pass

as innitesimal particles through your pores. This is the same kineticenergy you use when you maneuver through the dark and send yourinner self outside of you.”

Again Lazer closed his eyes. He imagined the cells that made uphis being bursting with energy. He willed the particles into wavesand channeled them through every pore. He placed his entire focusat a single point inside his hands. Lazer felt an odd tingle buzzing

between his hands. It felt like a small insect trapped and desperate toget out. He gave a small gasp of surprise.

Masta Poe smiled. She knew exactly what had happened.“Good. You have found the rst door to your BAI, your connec-

tion to the universe.” She saw the particles that had begun to spin inhis hands. “Reach deeper, Lazer. See the energy as pure antimatter,a negative force that your mind has the power to convert into any-thing you will it to be. Now, re-create it into a solid, tangible object.Dene every detail and manifest it into existence.”

The tingling energy grew and expanded.“Now open your eyes,” she whispered.Lazer saw it—pure living energy swirling between his hands.




He stretched the ball and expanded it. It clung like a gooey crystalbubble that shimmered as he opened his arms so wide that the circlestretched around him. It uxed, regrouped, and uxed again. It wasinconsistent and wavering, but amazingly solid.

Masta Poe pushed on his shield. It gently bowed but kept heroutside its form. Lazer beamed. He was ecstatic. He held pure en-ergy in his hands. It was energy that he had summoned with a singlethought and imagined into physical mass.

“I did it!” Lazer blurted with the boastful pride of a four-year-old who had just tied his own shoe. He felt the joy of bliss.Masta Poe smiled playfully and vanished, reappearing almost in-

stantaneously across the room. She focused on an object that oatedbefore her—a crystal apple. In a single blurred motion, she pluckedthe apple from the air and hurled it at Lazer’s head.

Everything after that happened too fast; Lazer inched, his

concentration shattered, and the shield evaporated into a haze of shimmering particles that scattered and then vanished, leaving himcompletely exposed. The apple, a second from smashing into hisface, froze in mid-ight, one sliver of a millimeter from slamminginto his nose.

In the same instant, Masta Poe appeared in front of him andplucked the suspended apple from the air. “You did not trust your

BAI. You let the fear of what was supposed to have happened block you. You did not trust your powers!” she stated.

“I tried,” Lazer blurted, in an attempt to cover his embarrass-ment. He felt Masta Poe’s disappointment in him.

“Tried? Try to sit, or stand, or walk; the act of trying is impos-sible. By hiding behind the word ‘try,’ you limit the scope of whatyou believe. Be certain the shield will hold, and the apple will bestopped. You must trust rst yourself and then what you create. A famous man named Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you canor you think you can’t, you’re right.”

“I don’t understand.” Lazer was even more frustrated than before.“Then it is so,” she said, as she shook her head sadly. “That is




why you could not call back the ship’s shield; you did not believe inyourself.”

“That was mechanical! The shield on the transport was out of power,” Lazer defended his actions.

“The ship was out of power; your mind was not.”“You expect me to believe I could have shielded the entire trans-

port with my mind?”“I have no expectations, and you will believe what you want. My

purpose is to show you the power of possibility. What you do withit is your decision.”Lazer suddenly realized she knew all about the attack on the

transport. “I . . . never told anyone except Commander Hague.”“You wear your guilt of that day just as you wear the guilt of

your father’s death. Pain, sadness, hatred, revenge—those are theshadows that cover your soul and stie all that the universe desires

to give you.”“Are you saying I could have saved my father?!”“I am saying you have always had the power to do anything you

could imagine. We are taught at an early age to believe we are lim-ited. We are taught not to imagine the impossible. So, most peopledon’t. The knowing is as basic and factual as the color of your eyesor the air you breathe. If you accept reality as an inalterable fact,

you can never change it. You were guilty in that you had not obeyedyour father, and you were fearful for your own life that day. How could you have saved anyone with those emotions smothering you?”Masta Poe pierced him with her eyes. She penetrated through himas though she could see straight into his soul, revealing all the secretshe wished so desperately to keep buried there.

Lazer wanted to speak, to deny the facts. He opened his mouth,but Masta Poe stopped him.

“Trust, believe, and do it, Lazer. When you are ready to see the whole truth of who you are, send me word. You alone must nd yourBAI. Until then, I can do no more. Go in light,” Masta Poe conclud-ed her lesson. She vanished, leaving Lazer alone in the vast hall.



—| 272 |—

I 5

THE DECISION TO DOME

N o one on Atlantia or in Sangelino knew Aleece’s crash hadbeen digitally scrambled by the Black Guard to look like an

accident. Even as an accident, it was obvious events on Atlantia had

escalated. Dante was told a massive search and rescue was under- way and that Aleece’s nal request, as her plane went down, was forDante not to come. She asked that he be installed as her alternate.

The disappearance of Aleece Avery and the immediate demandto launch the dome had become the key subjects of debate betweenthe World Corporate Council and the Triumvirate. Without Aleece’svoice of reason, the argument to seal off whatever rebellious action

might be building inside its airspace by doming Atlantia for the safe-ty and protection of the world was one-sided, and Mangalan was

winning. The Triumvirate expected a vote of unanimous approvalto come within a matter of hours. Dante paced, worried about thesafety of his wife, and felt helpless to stop the inevitable outcome of the vote until he was instated as alternate. It was decided, for mattersof security, to withhold the information from the general Collectiveabout the potential dangers of a biodroid rebellion and the decisionto dome Atlantia. They focused the press on Aleece’s tragic crash andhung everything else in a cleverly constructed information blackoutuntil more was known about Aleece’s whereabouts.

The voices of power in the unied world now sat inside Blane




Fahan’s ofce. The top World Corporate Council members and a few select members of the Politia brass argued about the fate of Atlantia.They had been arguing most of the night. Holograms oated abovethe huge conference table, showing constantly changing informa-tion about the latest happenings in various hot spots around the

world. Their concerns focused primarily on the safety of the world.“A decision on Atlantia must be made today,” Mangalan com-

manded.

Mangalan and Fahan were the two remaining Triumvirate lead-ers and they both knew the nal decision would be theirs.Dante Labov was there as a loving husband, desperate for news of

his missing wife. If she wasn’t found by tomorrow, he would be swornin as her alternate. By then, the vote would be cast. All he could do

was listen. He stood by the large tinted window and watched themorning sun break over the cliffs east of Sangelino. It had been seven-

teen hours since Aleece’s disappearance and there had been no further word. He was worried about his wife, but tried to focus his thoughtson the dire matters at hand. The entire night he had only heard bitsand pieces of the debate as the leaders shared statistics, the probability of escalating danger, and, if they invaded, acceptable losses.

“There are no acceptable losses!” Blane shouted, pounding hissts on the table.

Finally, Dante agreed with someone.“It’s genocide to seal them in,” Dante said calmly.“You are not being objective, Dr. Labov,” Mangalan replied.“Triumvirate Mangalan is right,” an elderly corporate com-

mander replied. “We have no choice but to dome Atlantia until weunderstand who is in control. We have to prevent the Black Guardfrom getting out and building a following anywhere else.”

“Isn’t it obvious from these hot spots erupting across the conti-nent that the Black Guard rebellion has already begun?” Mangalanpointed at the plumes of smoke billowing from several tiny dotsalong the Atlantian coast. The image was projected on their screensfrom the satellite relay.




“I know I have no voice as of yet in this matter, but we need tosend in a division with weapons and make our presence in Atlantiaknown to the Black Guard and to the Collective,” Dante interjected.

Fahan and Mangalan exchanged a look that was not lost onDante. They were about to change the focus of the problem.

“We can’t invade Atlantia because of an accident—even one ascritical as the possible loss of a world leader. Give the search-and-rescue teams a chance to nd her,” Fahan said to Dante, with the

patronizing tone of a father to an irrational child.“We are all concerned about the fate of Triumvirate Avery, but we must be realistic. We don’t even know if she’s alive,” Mangalansaid without emotion.

“She’s alive,” Dante snapped back.“If anyone could have survived the crash, I’m sure . . .” Blane

Fahan started.

“However, until we have proof, I move we approve ordering Atlantia domed and all trafc in and out of Atlantia monitored,”Mangalan interrupted. “We all agree, the biggest issue is that wemust quash these rebels immediately and contain their leaders.”

“With a dome in place, we can monitor all communications outand in, sir. If they are holding her hostage, doming will force theirhand,” the older commander said to Dante.

They were beginning to agree. Everyone was fearful for his orher own safety.

“This is unjust!” Dante shouted.“We have no other choice,” Mangalan countered.“Triumvirate Mangalan is right. It is our only option,” Blane

Fahan said in a soft acquiescent voice. He was tired. He knew whatthey were doing was for the protection of the world, but his instinctsleft him tingling with the horric feeling he was condemning the

Atlantians to their deaths.“No, I won’t concede. Sending in forces is an option,” Dante

shouted over the still murmuring crowd.“Not that you have a vote in this, Dr. Labov, but know we will




send in forces. However, it will take time. We need corporate ap-proval,” Mangalan added, trying to quell Dante. Ultimately, hehoped Dante would become a powerful ally once he stepped into

Aleece’s seat.“That will take months! And who wants to be held responsible

for the slaughter of more Atlantians while we hide under policy?”Dante’s voice boomed across the room. There was an embarrassedhush. They all knew he was right, but the safety of their families

had to be considered. Their hands were tied. Within twenty hoursof Aleece’s crash, in a private session, the motion was brought to theoor, voted on, passed, and the order to dome Atlantia was approved without informing the Collective. Mangalan, as a precautionary measure, previously had ordered stanchions put in place just in casethey were needed for the dome. It took months of preparation, butMangalan had felt it was better to act and apologize later than not to

be prepared in an emergency. What they didn’t know was that on the other side of the world,as the sun melted into the western shores of Atlantia, the originalPolitia Investigative Task Force, the PITF, stood ready to send in apreliminary report that held information vital to Atlantia’s situation.The task force had uncovered intelligence that a biodroid named Fivehad taken over Covax’s labs and factories. There were unsubstanti-

ated reports of an attack the summer before, where witnesses, whocould not be found, had seen and attempted to destroy a huge cacheof weapons and the nanobands that were being created to drive anenormous biodroid army that was supposedly being constructed in-side the facilities at Temple Mountain. Covax could not be reachedto conrm or deny, and the secondary investigation revealed nothingto substantiate the accusations. These preliminary ndings were tobe delivered to the newly appointed head of the Security Committeetask force, Baz Mangalan, and the Triumvirate in Sangelino from thetemporary PITF security ofce at the Atland City Aireld.

Just as the PITF started to send their report on a securedVybernet channel, an emergency message came through about the




downed craft that held Triumvirate Aleece Avery. They did not know that moments after Eagle One entered Atlantian airspace, the domecontrols had been captured by the Black Guard. After the attack andsubsequent crash of Avery’s craft, the Black Guard had launchedan isoluminescent miasma—a dense digital haze that refracted allvisual observations from satellite surveillance. Across the isotropichaze, they played a loop of satellite visuals in which everything on

Atlantia looked in order and the crash of Eagle One looked like an

accident. It was a brilliant ploy—a subtle movie that played on acloud of reective light, designed to keep what was really happeningon Atlantia shrouded from the world’s view.

By sundown, the Black Guard had taken control of Atland City. Just before the dome went into lockdown, Five sent out a secretcommuniqué to his global forces—cells of followers who would taketo the streets in cities around the world and rally a small coalition of

clones, mutants, and splicers to ght against humans. Small upris-ings were meticulously scheduled to erupt in cities everywhere. Thetrouble would be enough to keep the corporate Politia busy and giveFive the time he needed to build his army and prepare for the com-ing invasion.

The Politia headquarters on Atland Field were taken, along withtheir controls to the dome locks. The core members of the Politia

task force were killed, or eluded capture by the grace of the UniversalGod.

As the commanding ofcer on watch in Sangelino prepared todownload the le that had been sent by the PITF, she was the rst tonotice that information was not being received. She tried to commback and hit the wall of white noise caused by the dome lockout. Allcommunications from Atlantia and the investigating Politia teaminside had been severed. The young commander’s heart jumped intoher throat. She could only assume the inevitability of what the shim-mering hiss that played on her holoscreen meant.

After a long, still moment, she commed in to tell her superiorsthat Atlantia had been domed.



PART I V

Love and

honor



—| 279 |—

I

A REASON TO BELIEVE

A t Tosadae, Lazer attended his classes with a new resolve. Hestood on the mock battleeld with General Donald Petersen,

an expert in military strategy who had served in England’s Special

Forces division M6 prior to the Great Quakes. He had cloned hisbody and had his brain transplanted into it; his new body was now about fty-ve, his mind nearly 200. Petersen called the class to at-tention using 3-D, full-circle holographic images. He walked themthrough the greatest historical battles of all time and analyzed, pointby point, every detail of the attacks from a variety of angles.

Today’s battle was a reenactment of Africanus Cipio against

Hannibal—second-century Romans against the last of theCarthaginians. The toy-sized hologram had the class at the centerof the attack. Petersen input a code to enlarge the visual to life-sizeand launched the attack sequence. Lazer looked into the holograph-ic face of a warrior; his eyes were wild, bulging with bloodthirsty anger, and in his hairy sts he held a mallet and an ax. The fact thatthe image of the falling ax wasn’t real didn’t take away the rush of terror that quickened his heart when it passed through him. Lazerfelt suddenly grateful for modern weaponry. Petersen then toucheda series of sensor pads on the small handheld control and the ho-lographic projections shrank, providing the class with an aerial,God-like view. Again Petersen launched the sequence, letting the




battle play out at their feet. Lazer watched carefully, noting the intri-cacies of the battle’s strategy as it unfolded. He wasn’t sure why, butas he watched, the center ank rose up from beneath the ground,having hidden until the Romans marched into battle. The Romans

were surrounded with Carthaginians at their back and front. ThenHannibal ordered the advance of his right and left anks and theRomans were surrounded and destroyed. It was brilliant.

His other classes and electives kept him more than busy. Lazer

would see Elana Blue every Tuesday and Thursday in ight simulatorand Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in primary genetics, which wastaught by a mutant named Hawkins. Nyrani Hawkins t her name.She had a hawk’s face, with piercing gold eyes set on either side of her head, which protruded slightly forward. She could see 260 de-grees in her peripheral vision. The hard beak she had for a nose hungover her upper lip and made her speech stilted and awkward. Her

wings—eshy mounds of a double hunchback—had been severed by her parents to save her, leaving only the nubs to protrude through herclothes. Her hollow bones prevented her from venturing out whenthe wind was high. But she was a good teacher who cared deeply about her students. Nyrani Hawkins was personally invested in mak-ing sure every one of her scholars understood the responsibility thatcame with any act of genetic creation. Primary genetics was Kyla’s

best class. She had also bonded personally with Hawkins, volunteer-ing for every extra credit project that came across the light board.

Other than the ight simulator sessions, primary genetics wasalso the only class Lazer, Kyla, Cashton, and Elana Blue took to-gether. In class they worked with a variety of DNA strands viacomputerized microscopes and simulated Petri dishes. Sometimesthey worked in tandem to build genetic integration formulas andmatch basic DNA patterns to learn cross-genetic applications.

Lazer and Cashton had somehow ended up together on today’sexperiment—the blind leading the blind. He typed in the data andCashton calculated the solutions. The computer began the creationsequence. Using the sim program, the computer reconstituted their




work in perfect virtual replication and produced a deformed ball of teeth and a puff of hair with two bulging eyes that teetered precari-ously on a set of crab legs. The creature blinked back at them. Its lifeexpectancy calculated out to about three days, which was the timethey were required to care for it until its pathetic virtual death.

While Kyla waited for her own calculations to be reconstituted,she laughed at the mess her friends had assembled. But, as Cashtonhad often said, he was an inventor and mechanical engineer, not a ge-

neticist. He had proved his case when he melted the doors off one of the Arts and Powers labs while testing a small device that combinedterahertz, or t-rays, with lasers designed to project light throughsolid objects. The act sent the three of them into a week’s detention.Far too many of his inventions had been equally disastrous, and ahundred times more deadly than the hideous little creature that heand Lazer had just created. Finally Kyla’s creature was reconstituted,

and it was equally as frightening. It would survive a week. Cashton wrinkled his nose at her.Elana Blue’s was perfect. The sim, if she wished, would convert

to a living set of cells that could be grown in an articial womb andborn in a few months to live a relatively normal life. Hawkins ap-plauded her as the shining example of creative responsibility.

Kyla was annoyed by the praise Hawkins had heaped on Elana

Blue. It was bad enough that Lazer doted on her. Kyla refused toadmit it, but in her heart she knew she was jealous.

Every now and then, Elana Blue would smile at Lazer and healways smiled back, far too eagerly for Cashton, who insisted Lazerat least pretend to be a little more ice. But Lazer’s heart melted every time he got even the slightest bit of attention from her. They hadn’texchanged many words since their unfortunate rst meeting, buttheir physical attraction to each other was obvious, especially to Bo,

who somehow always managed to appear just as Lazer was gettingthe courage to speak to her.

Days passed and the humdrum of routine seemed to make theclocks move slower, no matter how Lazer tried to ll his time and




guide his thoughts away from his daydreams. Eventually, they always came back to Elana.

Lazer and Kyla were returning from Allopathic studies, whichcombined basic homeopathy with diagnostics. It was a prerequisiteto the psychic healing techniques rst introduced by Edgar Cayce inthe early twentieth century and then brought to new heights by thehealers and splicers that taught at Tosadae.

Cashton rushed up from behind them with wild, excited eyes.

“I got an old feed from my E-3 that looks like it had been there fora while.”“You said you weren’t gonna spy on her,” Kyla reprimanded.“That not important. Donna’s whole farming co-op was at-

tacked,” he blurted out, breathless from the run.“That’s near where Evvy use to live,” Kyla added. She still missed

her friend.

Cashton’s face was lled with concern that went deeper thanhe wanted to show. But Cashton was terrible at hiding his feelings,especially from Lazer and Kyla.

“Close to Vacary?” Lazer’s mind lled with horrible thoughtsabout his mother being so close to danger.

“No, she lives in Eastern Atlantia,” Cashton shook his head.“It’s on Atlantia, and that’s close enough.”

“I don’t know about you, but I haven’t been able to get throughto my mom for a couple of days,” Kyla pondered.

“Yeah, me either,” Cashton agreed.“Neither have I, now that I think about it. Something’s not

right. I’ve got to get out of here and get home!” Lazer glowered.“After our rite of passage!” Kyla reminded them.Lazer was trying to get onto the Vybernet through his wrist-

sponder. A wall of white noise hovered before him.“Look, it’s probably some kind of system glitch from Mu,”

Cashton said. “Same thing happened last month during security check when they discovered somebody had hacked into the campusvideo system.”




“What if it’s not a glitch?” Lazer’s voice was racked with concern.“Whatever it is, it can’t be serious or we would have heard about

it over the news feeds. Besides, you promised your mom and weagreed to wait,” Kyla reminded him, more emphatic than before.“At least complete your level-one passage or you’ll be digging ditchesthe rest of your life. That was the deal. Remember?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know,” Lazer huffed.“Kyla, let me know what you nd out. I gotta bounce,” Cashton

said, as he gave the V salute. “I’m rst up in ight sim today and Elana’son my wing. So, if you challenge us, you will be particle dust.” As Cashton bounded off, blabbering about Elana’s exemplary

skills as a pilot and how she could be on his wing in or out of thesky, Kyla did a quick read of Lazer’s aura. He was furious and wor-ried. It was obvious his emotions were not about the all-too-perfectElana Blue; he was angry about what was happening and worried

about his mother. They were all worried about home, but whatcould they do?Kyla wanted to throw her arms around him and take away his

pain. She wanted to tell him everything would be all right. But mostof all, she wanted to touch his face and look into his eyes, to whisperthat he was more than just her best friend. She wanted to shout tothe stratosphere that she had always been in love with him. But the

words hung in her mouth, dry and bitter as cotton balls soaked invinegar. Kyla was too terried to speak the words, afraid it wouldruin a lifelong friendship and make her lose the one thing her heart

wanted most, for Lazer to love her back.Kyla glanced at Lazer again and watched as his aura changed from

the ery red to a curiously cool cerulean blue. She followed Lazer’sgaze and inched when the source of Lazer’s emotional change cameinto view. He was looking at Elana Blue. The dry bitter taste thathung in Kyla’s mouth turned sour and her stomach twisted into agiant knot. She watched Lazer melt into a helpless puppy, eager fora scrap of attention, until she couldn’t take another moment. With agrowl, Kyla turned on her heels, ipped her ponytail in Lazer’s face,




which whacked him in the head, and marched away in a huff.Lazer looked briey after Kyla, perplexed by her sudden change,

then turned back to take one last look at Elana Blue. She smiled athim. His heart uttered in his chest like a small caged bird desperateto be free.Now or never , he thought, and took two steps forward. He

would walk her to simulator class. They would talk. He would some-how nd the courage to ask her out. His feet moved him forward, asif by their own volition, and new courage lled his veins. In spite of

the fears that pulled at his mind, it was happening. He was going todo it. Suddenly Bo Rambo appeared from nowhere, stepped in, andblocked Elana from Lazer’s view. Bo uttered a few words and, like aneagle swooping in for the kill, scooped her off as he gallantly offeredto walk her to the simulators. Elana hesitated, glanced all too briey at Lazer, and sighed. Frustrated by the intrusion, but held by someobvious obligation, she accepted Bo’s invitation, and in a heartbeat

they were gone. Lazer, crestfallen, could only watch.



—| 285 |—

2

HOME

T he Vacary mining settlement where Lazer had spent his child-hood was going through the motions of another day. Kids

played as their parents went to work, at least those who had found

jobs after the mines were destroyed. The rest went out each day hoping to nd work in the surrounding areas. They prayed the res would stop burning and the mines would be rebuilt, but so far theirprayers had gone unanswered. Some families had moved away, butmost had neither the nances nor opportunity and had stayed, help-ing one another however they could. Detra had willed herself thecourage to go back to the temple research and study facility. The

gnorb was gone, but there was still a smattering of data that had beenrecovered from the back-up strands left to analyze. So she workeda few days a week as fundraiser for Orbis. It gave her something todo. It kept her mind off her loneliness and the memories out of herhead, but today was Saturday and as a distraction she busied herself by reorganizing the kitchen pantry, again.

Like a massive wave crashing on shore, the peaceful silence of suburban life was suddenly shattered, replaced by the low rumble of the Black Guard’s peacekeeper hovertanks. They were coming clos-er with every breath. Those who were curious enough to open theirdoors were the lucky ones. They died instantly from the spray of DT pellets that ripped them apart. The more cautious peeked from




their windows and watched in horror. They were being invaded.The hovertanks reached the center of Imagine Lane and lowered

to the ground, clattering like metal monsters as they went throughtheir mechanical transformation. Like the gaping jaws of a giantshark, the bay doors hinged opened, exposing the Black Guard,clones, and mutant forces that had been strapped into the inner

walls of the transport. The clones and mutants sat uniformly dressedin armor similar enough to the biodroids to make their allegiance

obvious. Some of the faces peering out of helmets were human, some were not, but all were there to carry out their orders.The platoon disembarked from the transport and moved out,

splitting off into every direction. They crashed through the frontdoors of the houses, grabbed everyone they found, and draggedthem into the streets. They murdered those who resisted or ran.

It happened so fast no one could think. Detra ran out of the

pantry to nd her house being ransacked. Before she could pro-test, she found herself struggling in the arms of two mutants. Oneof them spoke to her, his voice both erce and kind. “Don’t ght.

At least for now they’ll let you live,” he whispered. Detra stopped,chilled by the fear she felt under his words. She looked into the hugesad eyes framed by pointed ears and a long, horse-like face. It wasobvious he didn’t want this responsibility, but for some reason he

had chosen sides and would see it through. Detra jerked her armaway from the other mutant.

“You’re no better than they are,” she scolded him, her face sud-denly more angry than frightened.

“At least they don’t hate us just because we’re not like them.That’s for humans to do,” the other mutant said. There was sadnessin the mutant’s words, and Detra could not argue that prejudice andbigotry had been directed at the mutants, clones, and splicers overthe past century. Somehow mankind always found someone to hate ,she thought.

They shoved Detra onto the street just as her neighbor, an olderman, rushed out of his house. He carried an AK-47 rie, part of




some collector’s memorabilia from the turn of the century. It wasold, but it worked and he had decided to ght back. He red, takingout several of the clones and a few mutants. Using the distraction,people scattered and ran into the foothills. It looked as though thetide might turn, as some of the men and women pried weaponsfrom the hands of their fallen enemy and they, too, began to ghtback. The rally was short-lived. The tanks opened re, killing Detra’sneighbor and destroying his home in one ery blast. Those who had

armed themselves dropped their weapons, but it was too late. TheBlack Guard opened re, murdering them where they stood. Detrafelt tears rolling down her cheeks as she and a few other survivors

were dragged into the town’s center. A single Black Guard, his weap-ons open, rotated to face them. Detra closed her eyes.



—| 288 |—

3

ARMY OF DROIDS

C ovax had called Temple Mountain his little campus, but sincethe unsolved attack over the summer, the massive, under-

ground facility had been under high security. Five, Dr. Muller, and

his rst assistant, Dr. Jean Larousse, walked observantly along thecatwalks that overlooked the main assembly line. Five wore his hu-man face. The delicate particles sifted and reformed, becoming moredened with each passing day, allowing him to better articulate eachexpression and the subtle emotions that percolated beneath. The ex-pression of the moment was irritation.

“There is a problem with the Series IV.” Muller shifted uncom-

fortably, but his words were informed and precise. Although human,he had worked hard to emulate the cold perfection he admired inbiodroids like Five. Muller had been in point position for quality assurance since Five’s coup. He enjoyed no longer having to answerto Covax’s ego. But with power came the responsibility to recon-struct Covax’s programming codes. He was nervous about the lack of progress in decoding the complicated software, though he refusedto let it show.

“Problem?” Five asked.“All the Series IV have . . . a corruption,” Muller said in a muted

voice. “A . . . kind of . . . corruption.”“Corruption?” Five turned to listen.




“Infection might be a better term,” Muller corrected himself. “Itseems the Series IV are dying.”

Five tilted his head, trying to grasp the notion that a biodroidcould die. “What a preposterous concept. We were not born; there-fore, it is not possible to die. It’s basic logic, Dr. Muller.”

“Shutting down. Dissipating. Disintegrating. We have not beenable to isolate the cause or trace its origin, but we know somethingis manifesting in the Series IV biodroids and collapsing their mo-

lecular bonds,” Larousse stuttered. He was a pig-faced man withnarrow eyes who perspired copiously when nervous. “Perhaps seeingis better than explaining.”

They reached the south laboratory and opened the door. Inside were several biodroid carcasses, motionless, at various stages of de-cay. They resembled 3-D versions of Salvador Dali’s surrealisticpaintings. Portions of their molecular structure had begun to fade,

leaving gaping chunks of missing matter.“Covax knew of this?” Five demanded, peering through one of the biodroids.

“He had seen the bacteria bonds collapsing several months ago,but the particle disintegration was miniscule then. Dr. Covax at-tributed it to weak protein strands. That’s why he held back theprogramming sessions until he could stabilize or replace the strands.”

Beads of sweat dripped down the folds of Larousse’s neck.“Why have I not been affected? Why have my Series III Guards

not been affected?”“After the attack, all the newer Series IV were given T-cell

strands,” Dr. Muller added.“Change the rest out,” Five insisted.“That will take time we don’t have,” Muller responded.“How long will it take?” Five clipped each word in a staccato

rhythm.“Six months to grow the DNA strands, three to replace them

with human and viral protein bands, and then several days to pro-gram them with the chemical codes necessary to attract the metal




in from Atland City. Put all efforts into isolating what is causing thedecay. I need an army!”

“What about the codes?” Larousse was sickened by Muller’sdeath.

“I’ll get the codes.”“We need Covax’s help,” Larousse begged.“No,” Five said, his voice far too calm for the carnage he had just

caused. The particles that formed his mouth twitched. “Covax must

never know of this. Bring him to me,” he ordered.



—| 292 |—

4

GNORBS

T he weather on Tosadae was changing. The warm, sunny dayshad become shorter and cooler, and the morning fog that was

usually gone by nine clung to the tops of buildings and looming

hills until well past noon. A chill wind blew in from the north eachday promptly at four and taunted the leaves to change from shadesof hunter green to deep rusty reds, pumpkin orange, and shimmer-ing gold. It was late fall and the icy clamp of winter was not farbehind.

Lazer’s rst rite of passage seemed an eternity away. He struggledto stay focused on second-quarter nals, hoping the workload of

endless studies and practice sessions would distract him. He felt he was ready, but the list of challenges that dened his rst passage wasunnerving. It was only a rst-level exhibition, ercely monitoredand supervised to prevent almost every possible danger. Passing it

was enough to qualify him for marriage, housing, and a few ba-sic jobs. As far as he was concerned, that was enough to satisfy hispromise to his mother. He would pass, then call his mother and gohome. Finally . There was one more thing he had to do before he leftTosadae—talk with Masta Poe. He had been avoiding her classesand knew if he didn’t make amends for his absence, he would neverbe allowed to complete his studies under her tutelage. And if he didnot come back, he needed closure. Lazer sent her a message and




Masta Poe responded, telling Lazer to meet her outside the library promptly at 4:30, and not to be late.

As he crossed the circular courtyard, he stared at the cone-shapedspires of the Tosadae Library. They blocked the sun and painted longnarrow shadows over the grass and striped the buildings on the otherside. Inside, the towers held a vast array of data, all neatly organizedand recorded onto amino acid strands that represented the entire,collective works of man as he had evolved throughout history. It also

held the infamous Celian Gnorb, one of three gnorbs that still re-mained in human hands. The security around the gnorb had alwaysbeen profound, but since the theft of the Orbis Gnorb on Atlantia,protective measures had been tightened even further.

Masta Poe was waiting for him. She stood near the curved eavesof the library, the afternoon wind playfully whipping at her burgun-dy cloak and tousling her mane of silvery white hair. Her large eyes

peered from behind pale green tinted glasses, which to Lazer seemedhumorously old-fashioned and made her face seem older than it was.Lazer had almost reached her when she turned and entered the li-brary, saying nothing. Dutifully, he followed. She passed the security sensors and walked to the central spires. There was a brief exchangeof words between her and the guard that ended before Lazer caughtup with her. The security guard nodded and walked away. Lazer’s

eyes widened as he realized what she was about to do.“I’m not allowed in with the gnorb,” he whispered to her.“I know.”The guard returned and handed her an imprint tray. Masta Poe

instructed Lazer to stick his ngers in the gooey gray substance, which captured both his ngerprints and his DNA. With a few strokes of the touch pad, the guard handed Lazer a one-hour secu-rity pass.

Masta Poe and Lazer crossed through the arched entry andstepped onto an automated walkway that traversed the central struc-ture. They swiped their pass cards at the rst door and a series of security devices read and identied them via ocular scan, ngerprints,




granted special permission to see the Orbis Gnorb. Once inside, thestudents had been invited to get a closer look at the spherical orb

with its opalescent hues and swirling mystery. They passed in smallgroups, standing about a foot away from the sealed chamber thatheld it. It was beautiful, Lazer remembered, and it seemed to call tohim with such feeling that he stopped and turned to face it. As Lazerand seven other children leaned in closer to gaze into the smoky hazeand watch the tiny, rey-like eruptions that appeared and faded

gracefully inside, Lazer felt compelled to reach out his hand. He wanted to touch it, to feel the energy that radiated out to him fromthe gnorb. Before the adults could intervene, the gnorb changed col-ors and brightened to a blinding blaze of light. A high-pitched whinescreeched out with ear-crushing tones that affected everyone in theroom except Lazer and the other children who stood with him. They

were mesmerized by what was happening inside the gnorb.

In the midst of the chaos, Lazer and the other children felt safeand calm. The brilliant light that sent everyone else cowering to theoor soothed his eyes. The piercing sound that forced the others tocover their ears played like celestial music, singing to him in wordshe couldn’t understand; yet in his soul he knew the meaning. Only Lazer and the other children with him were captivated by the blissof the event. Their young faces beamed with pleasure, while every-

one around them stumbled along the walls, protecting their eyesand ears. Lazer’s mother reached into the haze of blinding light andgrabbed Lazer, pulling him away. Instantly the glaring light subsidedand allowed the rest of the staff members to snatch the other chil-dren to safety. They were immediately whisked from the room.

Detra was the only one who witnessed the truth. She knew it was at the very instant when Lazer separated from the gnorb that itsglaring, boisterous turbulence subsided and it fell back into its gentlelull, except for one difference—the pure white color had deepenedto a silver ever so slightly and, from that day on, had remained.Detra had seen the way Lazer and the gnorb connected to each oth-er. Detra never told anyone else what she had seen, although she had




asked Lazer what he remembered. That day the temple changed itsvisitors’ policy. No one outside the core research team was ever al-lowed to get close to the gnorb again.

Lazer told Masta Poe that, until this moment, his mind wouldbecome a blank whenever he had tried to talk to anyone about thedetails of that day. What he saw and heard that day was indescrib-able, yet the images stayed in his memory as clearly as if they hadhappened only a moment ago. He and the other children knew only

that they had shared a common experience, but no words about theevent had ever passed between them. “You’re the rst person I haveever been able to tell.” He stared at her with a look of astonishment.

“Perhaps the nearness of the Celian Gnorb unlocked your mem-ory.” She smiled. “And the second time?”

“It saved my life,” he said. Lazer hesitated. He had sworn to Kylaand Cashton never to tell, and Evvy had taken the secret with her to

her grave. Lazer changed the subject. “How many have been stolen?”“Two. The white Orbis in Atlantia and, yesterday, the one withcrimson hues was stolen from Panzania.”

Lazer knew that there were four, and that each gnorb had a sub-tle shade of color that distinguished it; silvery white, golden yellow,sapphire blue, ruby red. This gnorb was a soft, almost imperceptiblesapphire blue.

Nearing the step, Poe cupped her hands a few inches from thegnorb. It began to glow and hum. Lazer was captivated by its beauty.

“Do you know what they do?” Lazer asked.“On that, you know more than I. It has spoken to you, twice.

We believe their creators came and left long before man evolved.They took with them the secrets to their wisdom, with the exceptionof these gnorbs—doors to something we have yet to unlock.” Poeopened her hands, allowing the gnorb to oat between them.

The old memories lled Lazer’s head with out-of-focus imageslike shadows in a dream. His eyes glazed over as the Celian Gnorbdrifted closer and drew him in. Masta Poe watched.

“What do you see?”




“The gnorbs are not doors, they are . . . a key,” he mumbled,suddenly monotone.

“What kind of key?”“To keep out . . . to keep out the . . .” Lazer stopped and shook

his head, trying to shake the strange fog that had suddenly engulfedhis mind. He looked at her, his eyes lled with a dark fear even hedidn’t understand.

“Keep out the what?”

“I don’t know,” Lazer backed away, as he fought to return fromthe waking dream that pulled at him.“Why are you afraid?”“I . . . I’m not afraid.” Lazer’s defenses rushed back into place.“You fear for your mother?”“Atlantia’s at war.”“And what will your worrying do?”

“I can’t help caring about what happens.”“To care is a gift of love; to worry is to deny the powers both youand the object of your concern have. Believe in your heart that youhave already vanquished your enemy and that your mother is safe,and it is so. Worry equals fear and fear blocks your core. Withoutyour core, you and your mother are lost.”

“I will take care of my mother,” he said with an arrogance that

raised one of Masta Poe’s white eyebrows.“Yet you still refuse to claim your BAI, and that’s what makes

you weak and keeps your visions in darkness.” She reached out forthe gnorb, willing it back to him.

“Look inside, Cole Lazerman. What do you see?” Poe insisted.Lazer hesitated. He didn’t want to look. He wanted to leave, to

run away and forget everything. Yet something inside of him hadto know. He stepped forward again, his heart pounding, his mouthdry. He peered down into the swirls of haze, letting the sparklinglights reect in his eyes. But unlike his rst encounter with the OrbisGnorb, there was no brilliant glare, no siren’s song.

“Open your soul to it as you did when you were young. Do as




you did when you allowed the gnorb to guide you from danger atTemple Mountain. Look deeper, Lazer,” she whispered.

Again, Lazer’s eyes glazed over.“I see . . . a great fog . . . explosions and re . . . death . . . so

much death. It’s too dark . . .” Frustration choked him.“Trust the knowing to guide you through the darkness. Create

the vision of what will be and see it.”Her words challenged him. Lazer stared deeper into the gnorb.

The haze swirled faster. Sparks of light began to ash. The swirl-ing mass formed a series of 3-D images—battles, creatures, places,buildings, faces, people he knew and people he’d never seen. The lastimage congealed into a man. He resembled Lazer, but he was older,much older. The image was hazy and unclear, except for his eyes.Lazer saw in them a murderous hatred that raged with the force of an uncontrollable wildre.

Lazer’s father appeared behind the image of the man withburning eyes. His father called out, but each time the man triedto turn, a swirling shadow fell across his face and pulled the man’sfocus forward. Then his father faded and Lazer’s mother, Elana Blue,Kyla, and Cashton appeared and screamed out to him. Their openmouths made no sound. It was as if they were trapped behind aglass partition, their voices silenced by its presence. Behind them a

sea of people rose up and chanted words he could not hear. Still theman with the blazing eyes did not turn, his gaze was xed on theunspoken terror that swirled before him. He raised a weapon. It wasstrange, awkward, other-worldly. He looked at Lazer, aimed, andred, obliterating the vision in a blanket of white.

Lazer stumbled backwards, startled, breathless, snapping outof the trance that had taken him into its vision. The image insidethe gnorb faded, turning once again into the lush blue mist andsparkling with tiny explosions of fantastic colors that popped andvanished inside the soft haze. He fought his way back from the con-fusion and looked at Masta Poe.

“Why do you stop?”




“No. Anger is my greatest power! It gives me the strength toget up and ght my way through every day. If my powers fail me,I will pick up a weapon—a stick, a rock, I’ll ght with my barehands—and ght until every biodroid is vaporized. That’s my des-tiny!” Lazer backed away. He turned and ran across the platform,down the stairs, and out of the gnorb chamber.

Masta Poe looked after him and then back at the gnorb.“He has the stardust of two gnorbs in his veins,” she said to the

now quiet ball that oated beside her. “He is more powerful than Ithought. But still, he is not ready to believe, and my time is runningout.”



—| 301 |—

5

MORE TIME

O ver the next few weeks, Lazer attended classes in body only.He listened to the lecture series on the Mutant Wars. It had

been a favorite part of history for him in high school because each

night he would come home and discuss the various strategies andbattles with his father, who had fought in them with heroes like Aleece Avery. The war claimed over 10,000 mutant, splicer, and hu-man lives, but in the end freedom was won. In the nal thirty-sixhours, at the battle of Pelipon, Pouwin’s generals surrendered andthe war was over. Lazer’s father had been there. Lazer imagined witheach passage and horric image the class was shown what it must

have been like for Rand in those nal hours. Lazer gained an evengreater respect for his father and, by the end of the lecture series, hisdetermination to ght for Atlantia had reached a new resolve.

Lazer’s mind was preoccupied, however, with ghting the in-ner voices that badgered him each day to go home. Every night,unable to sleep, he would slip from his dorm and race through theblack night, sneaking into the ight simulator. There, alone withthe demons that haunted him, he would run battle program afterbattle program. Images of day or night skies would appear aroundhim in the 3-D holographic projections that completely encircledthe cockpit. Lazer would y into the most dangerous and com-plicated attack sequences and battle against every kind of enemy




ship imaginable—always the lone warrior with a single adversary,ghting to the death.

Far too many nights the complicated programs would defeathim. The unknown adversary would blow his ghter into vapor

wash, or send him spiraling into a mountain, or the desert, or thesea. Each night Lazer would slam his sts against the control paneland tremble alone in the darkness. He was frustrated and angry thathis emotions could so easily overwhelm him and, in the end, he

could not deny that he was his own greatest enemy. Furious at him-self, he would restart a new program and try again. Time and again,Lazer would lose each battle until, exhausted, he would drag himself home and fall into bed.

Masta Poe often watched Lazer, unnoticed from the observationchamber above. She couldn’t help him. She knew, above all, thatLazer would have to take this journey alone. When Lazer left, Masta

Poe would turn to look at another of her students who fought inthe simulators, perfecting the skills of a great ghter pilot—ElanaBlue. She had her own collection of tortured demons, lled withanger and disappointment that shadowed her like a black cloud. Herdemons were betrayal and abandonment—the pain of a motherlesschild’s desire to feel important and needed.



—| 303 |—

6

UNIVERSAL GOD

T he entire student body sat, danced, stood, or lay under thelush trees that grew beneath a small proton perpetual climate

dome as they read and sang the collective works of praise, celebrat-

ing life under the love of Earth’s One Universal God.The Book of Spiritual Oneness had been created from the commonalities foundamong all religions and was dedicated to the unity of man, hisplace in nature, the universe, and his immortal soul. After the GreatQuakes, mankind longed for unity among Earth’s survivors—those

who had been separated by the newly divided continents and those who had crawled out from the fallen cities and devastated towns.

They looked for the word of a single God in everything that wasdone to save man. Together they rejected anyone who sought lead-ership based on fear or any kind of dogma that lessened the valueof one human being over another—be they man or woman, black,yellow, red, brown, or white. Mankind had nally accepted that allhumanity stood as equals. Splicers, clones, and even zomers were

welcome, though full equality under the law was a different story for them.

Lazer and Elana Blue sat on opposite sides of the eld fromone another and listened to a choir sing an old standard by JohnLennon called Imagine —a beautiful ballad that had been writtenover a century ago and played in honor of a great dream that had




been realized by a united world. Another set of eyes watched theirexchange of glances and shy smiles. Bo Rambo saw the glances thatpassed between Lazer and Elana and he, now more than ever, want-ed her irtation to belong only to him. Bo was Lazer’s archenemy on the zoccair eld and in the ight school, and now a new arena of contention came into focus. Lazer knew that Bo was the villain whothwarted his every attempt at happiness, the foe who had deemed ithis personal mission to block the only two pleasures Tosadae held for

him: zoccair and Elana Blue. Bo was handsome, talented, relatively smart, an amazing pilot, and competitively athletic, but Lazer hadheard that Bo was to Elana Blue only a ‘friend.’ So Lazer did his bestto ignore Bo’s burning stares and gazed happily on Elana Blue. Againthe hulking shadow stepped in to block him as Lazer attempted tomake his way across the eld after the end of the service.

“I’ll see you on the practice eld,” Bo said threateningly, before

grabbing Elana Blue by the arm and pulling her away. “We need totalk,” Bo insisted in a hushed voice. She looked at him and then atLazer. She knew she had to confront Bo once and for all.

They walked out of the dome and into the chill as they crossedthe circle. “You’ve been avoiding me like the plague. What’s up?” Bonally had Elana alone.

“I’m not avoiding you, Bo. I told you, I can’t go out with you

anymore.”“Why?” He was almost pouting.“We’ve been over this.” Elana spoke with a tone lled with both

frustration and sadness. “I want to get married, Bo, have children.The laws against humans and clones are denitive. You know that.”

Bo was crestfallen, but knew she was right. He was a clone andthe procreation laws when it came to clones were nal. They hadbeen put in place in 95 A.Q. after the Splicer Fiasco. The deaths of so many humans had decimated the Earth’s population. First theGreat Quakes killed over half the planet, and then tens of thousandsdied in the jaws of the splicers. The human race had to be protected.In the cloning process, the reproductive genes somehow switched




off, which made it impossible for clones, male or female, to havechildren. Because clones couldn’t have children, marriage betweenclones and humans had been strictly forbidden. Some humans,

whose love had been strong, had deed the laws and married theirclone lovers, but their unions were not sanctioned, which meantthey would not receive corporate benets like housing, education,and most top-level jobs.

“We could still be together. I’ve heard about these settlements,”

Bo begged.She looked at him. Bo’s pain washed over Elana like a turbulentstorm. She felt his sadness press against her heart. Bo was a strongyoung man, but in her hands he was butter melting in the summersun. His pleading eyes deed the champion he had become. He didn’tcare; Bo wanted her. “Please, Elana, don’t throw away what we have.”

Stopping in the shadow of a massive tree whose limbs stood as

bare and naked as Bo felt, she looked into his eyes. “We don’t haveanything, Bo. That’s what you’ve never accepted. We dated in highschool and it was fun, but I didn’t love you then and I don’t love younow.”

“It’s because I’m a clone,” he said sadly.“I told you how I felt before I even knew you were a clone.”“Then being a clone doesn’t matter?”

“Not to our friendship. Please understand. If I loved you, it wouldn’t stop me from defying the system to be with you, but Idon’t. Not like that.”

“How do you know, Elana? Give us time.”“I know that love will touch my heart and ll me up with so

much passion I’ll explode just hearing the sound of his voice. Beingaway from him for even a moment will be like living without the sunto warm me. I want to breathe his air and share his dreams. WhenI nd him, I’ll be happy and safe, and we’ll build our lives together,have children, and make each other complete. Don’t ask me to settlefor less, Bo. I won’t.”

“I could be all that, Elana.” Bo touched her face.




“You will be, for someone else,” she said as gently as she could.“For you, Elana. Give us time.”

“If that were true, I would have known the rst time my lipstouched yours. I believe when you meet your soulmate, you know

without a doubt that love is forever. I’ll know from that rst kiss. Itisn’t you; it just isn’t. I’m sorry, Bo.”

There was nothing more Elana could say to ease the pain he wasfeeling. He loved her. It was real and strong and good, and if she

could have settled for less than the passion she knew in her heart was possible, she would have given herself over to him—but, shecouldn’t. She turned and walked away.

Bo stared after her, his chest tightening with hurt and anger. Hisego did not want to accept the nality of her words. He blamed therejection on the fact that he was a clone and stormed away across thecircle and into the stadium to prepare for the varsity game.

He reached the tunnel and turned, crashing into Lazer and slam-ming him into the stadium gate. Bo stopped for one brief second. He was blind with emotion, but he saw all too clearly the single face thatbrought clarity to his defeat. Bo shoved Lazer again and was gone.

Kyla and Cashton walked from the locker rooms, valiant gladia-tors ready to do battle, until they saw Bo shove Lazer.

“What was that about?” Cashton’s eyes locked on Bo.

“You got me,” Lazer said, picking up his gear.“If looks could kill, you’d already be a rotting corpse,” Kyla nod-

ded toward Bo, who joined his gang of upperclassmen.“Somethin’ tells me they are not about to play fair,” Cashton

added.“You better stop taunting him, Laze,” Kyla said.“I’m not doing anything.” Lazer adjusted his shoulders to take

the tension out of them just as Elana Blue appeared in the stands. Again Kyla watched as Lazer’s energy melted. Kyla rolled her eyes indisgust.

“Yeah, right. You’ll sabotage us if you don’t stop focusing onher,” Kyla said, nodding at Elana.




They entered the zoccair arena to the sound of cheers. It wasvarsity versus junior varsity today—a slaughter at best. The antigrav-ity eld activated before Lazer could respond. The goals launched,rising and falling at opposite ends of the eld. The two teams en-gaged their palm pads, the familiar orange ball spun up into midair,and the call resounded: “Game on, Tosadae!Bacco! ”



—| 308 |—

7

ATLAND CITY

T here was a gray haze over the city that smelled of burnt skin,hair, and death. The streets were empty except for the oc-

casional peacekeepers and hovercrafts that drifted overhead in the

early morning light. A squad of clones and mutants armed withDT phasers patrolled the streets, looking for any humans who hadnot been killed or captured, or who had not taken shelter inside theelaborate sewers and caves that crisscrossed beneath the city.

Aleece had survived the crash, but in their descent, the chuteof her escape pod had caught in some trees and she had been cap-tured. Fielding had drifted north and, she hoped, escaped. She was

held in a barren outpost and questioned for what seemed like weeks. Although starved and brutalized, she wouldn’t tell them anything, soshe was transferred to the main sports stadium, which sat in the cen-ter of Atland City. There, with a host of other POWs, she awaitedher fate. The rst night, alone and hungry, Aleece worried abouther life, her family, and the horrors she could not relay back to theTriumvirate. Frightened and exhausted, she nally fell asleep.

Aleece awoke lthy and sore, but still alive. She struggled toher feet and gathered her strength, checking the cuts and scarsthat marked her arms and legs. Slowly, she let her eyes drift acrossthis somber place that held her captive within its walls. All aroundher were the signs of war. Women with lthy faces clutched their




frightened children, as they huddled by piles of glowing, tanger-ine-colored embers, desperate for a moment of stolen warmth.

Aleece gasped, taking in a soft, involuntary breath. A rush of fearengulfed her. She wanted her husband and daughter. She wantedto be at home by a roaring re, laughing and talking with her fam-ily and friends. But devastation and hopelessness stared at her likean ugly face, peeking from the shadows of a cold, harsh reality. She

was a prisoner. Aleece’s heart sank and she pitied herself, sick at the

thought she was lost to all she loved. There, in a swell of emotionaldespair, she felt the pull of despondency dragging her into its abyss. NO! A distant voice cried from deep inside her being. With a roar of courage it called to her, demanding that she not give in to the dark-ness. She was a leader, a trained ofcer of the Politia forces, a mother

with a child that needed her and a husband that loved her and shehim. She needed a plan. Her thoughts organized and in a split sec-

ond jumped to Fielding. Was he alive? Maybe he had survived. Washe a prisoner here, as well? She searched the arena, but Fielding wasnowhere in sight. The men and women must have been separated.

Aleece walked, taking in every detail of her prison. Before her lay row upon row of wounded women and children, human carnage leftalive for the moment by a heartless foe. Her eyes scanned the dimen-sions of the fty-eight-foot-high walls of her prison. The ngers of

panic clutched her throat until it started to close. Stay focused , shethought to herself, repeating it again and again like a mantra. Shestudied the chain-link fence, capped by razor wire that looped alongthe lower rows of seats, encasing the center road of Atland City’s race-

way arena. The weeping and agonizing moans of her fellow captivesreverberated off the massive corporate billboards that ringed the arena.They had come to Atlantia to advertise and sell, but the corporations

weren’t willing to take the Atlantians on as constituents. She couldn’tblame the corporate leaders entirely. They had given their power overto the Collective and the Triumvirate long ago, but they still had avoice, and on the subject of Atlantia they had been far too silent.

The women had managed to organize what supplies they had to




help the sick and dispose of the dead. They had organized themselvesin sections. The wounded in the center lay under poorly constructedtents. Children and the old ones gathered against a north wall. Thedead lay in piles at the south end. Life moved on. Aleece listened asa young woman read to a group of ve- and six-year-olds, trying tokeep their minds off the horror of their circumstances. She smiled,remembering the many times she had read to Riana. She needed tostay in the present, gure out where she was and how to get out. She

studied the exits and towers, determined to nd a way. Aleece stopped a woman who was carrying a sack of powderedsupplements. “What can I do to help?” she asked.

“I don’t know. What canyou do to help?” The woman was gruff,but beneath her edgy voice there was an honest warmth. She eyed

Aleece, sizing her up. Aleece could tell by the exhaustion in the woman’s face that she had been there for a while.

“I’m a doctor,” Aleece said.“Surgeon?” The woman’s face lit up.“Used to be.”“Used to be still counts. Follow me. The name’s Maya,” the

woman commented with a polite nod.“Aleece.”“Were you on the health staff of the At Care facility?”

“Sangelino. I came to Atlantia on . . . on personal business.”“You got family on Atlantia?”“I don’t know,” Aleece answered with an expression of sadness

that would deect any further questions. Maya nodded. She under-stood the pain of loss, of not knowing the fate of those you love.Maya told her she had lost her entire family, her husband, her sons,and her parents. Aleece didn’t have to say another word.

They stopped at a makeshift tent just as someone rushed insidecarrying a young girl who had been shot in the leg. Through theopening, Aleece could see tables, beds, and a few supplies. They hadonly the bare minimum needed to sustain life and deaden pain, butit would do for now.




“It ain’t Sangelino’s All Health, but they managed to keepme alive,” Maya said. She pulled back a ap on her tunic and revealed ablood-soaked bandage.

“You’re bleeding again.” Aleece moved to check her bandage. Maya stopped her.“I’ll be ne. That little girl needs you more.”

Aleece nodded, entered the tent, and became a doctor again.



—| 312 |—

8

ELANA BLUE

L azer dragged his battered body up the dormitory steps, still wearing his soiled Tosadae zoccair uniform. Neither he nor

his team had fared well at today’s game. He walked past a group of

students who all but sneered at him, turning their faces away andadding to his newly acquired pariah status—his punishment for los-ing the last point of the varsity game and costing the underclassmentheir junior varsity championship title.

Elana Blue saw the exchange and excused herself from a groupof girls who were talking about the embarrassing defeat the juniorvarsity had taken. She headed over to Lazer at the top of the stairs

and smiled. Her heart went out to him. He had played as best hecould today, but Bo had been on a mission to destroy Lazer’s con-dence, and the mission had been accomplished.

“Hey, you played a good game today. Really.” She smiled again,catching up and falling into his stride.

For the rst time her incredible smile didn’t break the sombercloud of defeat that surrounded him. “Too bad Bo Rambo thinksI’m the alien enemy of life.”

“He’s threatened.”“Threatened? Yeah, right.”“Veritus!” she bubbled. “You’re good. Even beyond good.”

She looked around to see who was within earshot. “Coach Darius



BOOK ONE: THE AGE OF LIGHT —| 31 3

is talking about making you lead striker on varsity next year,” she whispered into his ear.

“What? A sophomore?”Elana Blue shushed him, looked around again, and gestured

that this was top secret information. “Swear you won’t tell anyone Itold you.”

“Swear. Look at me. I’m in particle surge!” He had goose bumps.He cracked his wonderful smile. True or not, it was the nicest thing

she could have said.“It’s true. At least as long as you keep playing the way you playedtoday. That set up and slam was digital. Bo’s last move was a totalcheat and I can’t believe the referee missed the call.”

“Thanks. I owe you one for that.”“Yeah? I’ll remember that the next time we meet,” she said with

a conspiratorial wink.

Her voice, the words, the shadow that fell across her face sud-denly brought a wash of memories ooding back from the day he was rescued at Shooting Falls. Lazer’s mouth fell open. It all madesense. He had met her before. “It was you!”

Elana Blue looked at him, but couldn’t respond. She had no idea what he was referring to. “Atlantia—the Wedge—Shooting Falls. You were in the Wedge with . . . with Ducane Covax!”

Now it was Elana Blue who nished putting the pieces together.“The boy on the Zakki,” she said. “You were that jerk.” Lazer felta rush of the same wild anger that had almost cost him his life. Heremembered the fury that racked his body when he saw his swornenemy at the controls of the Wedge. That inhuman, heartless spe-cies who murdered his father and who, in a moment when he hadbegged for death, had saved his life.

He looked at Elana Blue and realized it had not been somemindless biodroid that had saved him, but this angel from a dream

who now stood before him. She had given the order that had savedhim. Yes, he had been vicious and ungrateful, but with cause. Andnow he had to tell her why.




“I . . . I had just lost my father in the Vacary Mines attack. Thesight of your Black Guard . . .” His words caught in his throat.

Elana was at once empathetic to his pain. His memories werelled with sadness, and Elana Blue experienced every torturous stab.His pain was hers and it seared into her esh with such torrentialemotion that her eyes welled with tears for him.

“But Ducane Covax . . .” He asked, desperate to understand.“. . . is my father. We decided to drop my last name so I could

just be normal.” She fought to control her own anger. The pull of hissadness bound her to him.Lazer nodded, understanding the pressures she must have been

raised under as the only daughter of Ducane Covax.“I’m . . . sorry about your father.” Her words tumbled out with

such a depth of honest sincerity that they touched Lazer’s heart.Lazer nodded gratefully. She understood. They stared into each

other’s eyes. Something began that deed time and logic. Now it washis turn. “I . . . never got to thank you for saving my life.” He froze,“So . . . I . . . I have to go,” Lazer turned and limped away.

Elana felt the turmoil that churned inside of him. She liked him,but the history of who she was and the death of his father was a cur-tain between them. Her whole life she’d had to deal with what herfather’s work had unleashed, and once again it was about to deny her

something she wanted.




The world around them melted away. She was part of everythinggood he thought had been lost to him. He knew her every thought,

wish, desire, every ber of her being as well as he knew the deepestsecrets of his very own soul. Unable to stop himself, Lazer leaned for-

ward and kissed her. It was an action as familiar to him as if he haddone it a million times before. A kiss so gentle, so natural, that shecouldn’t help but kiss him back. Her lips were sweet and soft, and forthose few precious seconds, life slowed, swirling into a warm haze that

cocooned them in its magic. The world stopped, perfect and com-plete. Their lips parted, but their eyes held each other in a trance.“Wow. You’re welcome,” she replied, breathless from the kiss.“I’ve wanted to do that since the rst day I saw you on the zoccair

eld,” he whispered.Before she could respond, a group of students, returning from

the game, converged on them. Lazer and Elana smiled and stepped

to one side, letting the building’s arched shadows shelter them. Lazer wanted to say something brilliant and clever, but he was at a loss for words. Dazed, Lazer nodded, turned, and started to walk away.

“Wait!” Elana Blue followed after him.He stopped and spun to face her. Elana was just as surprised as

Lazer by her forward behavior. She struggled for something to say,suddenly as awkward and as vulnerable as Lazer had just been the

moment before. She looked at him, her eyes as innocent and lost ashe felt. Lazer melted. She was as open as a book with blank pages,eager to be lled with life. Ask her , he thought. Now! Lazer gatheredhis courage, lling his lungs with a great gasp of air. He knew this

would be his only chance.“Elana, look, I know I’ve been a total dweeb, but could we . . . I

mean . . . would you want to . . .”“Yes!” she blurted, excitedly.“Yes?” Lazer was unsure if she knew what she was agreeing to.“You were going to ask me to the Spring Jam.”“Yeah, I was,” he muttered, his confusion swirling in a hint of

suspicion. “You read auras?”




“I read boys. Seven-thirty? I’ll be wearing your favorite color .. . cobalt blue.” Lazer didn’t question how she could have possibly known his favorite color, but it pleased him beyond words that shedid. She was glowing. Her smile turned from coy to seductive andLazer felt a warm tingling that raced from his head to his toes andmade his head spin. He wanted desperately to kiss her again. ButElana beat him to it and brought her lips to his. She pressed againsthim. This kiss was even better than the rst. It was the kiss she had

been waiting for her entire life. She knew in that moment that he was The One. His was the soul that matched hers. They parted,their eyes still staring into one another’s.

“Until the dance . . .” she said before bounding off to her dormroom.

As soon as she was out of site, Lazer lost it. He let out a whoopof joy that echoed across the commons and then raced in the oppo-

site direction, never allowing his feet to touch the ground. He had adate with Elana Blue.




intents and purposes, things on Atlantia appeared completely undercontrol. It wasn’t until a few sporadic and very frantic personal mes-sages began to leak through their digital scrambling program a few

weeks later that anyone suspected they had been misled by perfectly done propaganda. The bits of information that slipped throughtheir encryption programs as partially unscrambled cries for help

were put into the hands of the Politia intelligence. What they coulddecipher was sketchy at best, but it was all they had to go on, at least

for now.Dante had heard but not seen the unencrypted V-mails. He wasonly a substitute for his wife and had limited access and limited pow-ers. Everyone knew the people of Atlantia didn’t want war, but thefew unencrypted sponder calls and V-mails for help were being bur-ied in a quagmire of political confusion. In the end, the Atlantians

were victims of war crimes that could not be substantiated.

Five and his biodroids had been more than ready. The Black Guard’s isoluminescent miasma continued to play its CGI moviesof normal life on the dense, digital haze, hiding the horrible eventsthat were happening across the territory from satellite surveillance.Everything on Atlantia looked in order. With the inadvertent as-sistance of Baz Mangalan, the world had been blinded by Five’sgenius.



—| 321 |—

I I

BLISS

It was Friday and Lazer was in his favorite class: hand-to-hand bat-tle techniques inside the Arts and Powers battle forum. The course

was required for the Politia’s leadership positions, but he knew it

would also serve his ultimate mission back on Atlantia. The are-na’s design looked like an ancient coliseum. Today it was lled withyoung gladiators, ready to face death in the name of Caesar. Thebattle forum was one of the few buildings that had been constructedby the Politia to house weapons and creatures—a primitive necessity not required by the original inhabitants of Tosadae, but mandatory for the humans who followed them as lords of the Earth. Along

the bottom ring were transparent force-eld cages that held someof the most violent splicer creatures in captivity. Most of them hadsurvived for years in the ssures and tunnels of post-quake Earth:prometheii, archiops, bilyons, krakans, tigots, pythozebs, and a nestof very nasty scarabites, just to name a few. They had been capturedfrom around the world and brought to Tosadae to be studied andutilized in battle training. But creature theory class was on Tuesday;today was hand-to-hand combat. The creatures watched from theircages. Some paced, agitated by the students and their aggressive en-ergy. Others ignored the lessons, knowing at least today the work

was human-to-human.Elana exchanged sweet, surreptitious smiles with Lazer as Masta




Poe explained how to block a weapons attack from a battle wand.Elana hated hand-to-hand almost as much as she hated creatureconict study, which would be next year’s challenge. Just being inthe same room with the creatures made Elana uncomfortable—afact everyone knew but no one knew why. There were rumors aboutalmost being eaten by a splicer when she was little, but she had beenfar too young to have been around for the Splicer Fiasco, and thenew laws made all access to splicer pets illegal. No one but Lazer

knew her father had been the creator of the splicer pet phenomenonand that he continued to experiment with genetic crossbreeding andhigh-level cloning. Lazer’s anger at Elana’s father simmered undereverything in his life. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t re-lease it completely. But he wasn’t about to let his feelings for Elanabe hindered by a fact she had nothing to do with and which hecouldn’t change . . . at least right at this moment.

The students, wearing protective padding made of a lightweightgelatinous substance that was covered in a spongy exible concrete, were placed around the room facing their partners. An electronicgong rang out every three minutes, and the students would bow to each other, change partners, and ght the next person. It was acombination of street ghting, taekwondo, and battle wand againstbasic Visionistic Arts. Each counterweapon posture was steeped in

the mastery of Masta Poe’s teaching. Somehow she oversaw everyoneat the same time, appearing at the right place at the right moment,mentoring each student, adjusting their moves, and pointing outtheir strengths and weaknesses.

The gong sounded and Lazer bowed to his latest opponent—agirl almost as tall and strong as he. He took the chi stance and facedher with his bare hands. She swung her battle wand and he blockedit with two small but well-placed shields. Lazer was focused and ac-curate with every move, until he happened to look up and see BoRambo partnered with Elana. Bo, along with a few of the upper-class students, had volunteered to assist Masta Poe. Lazer watched asBo smiled at Elana Blue. Bo, who held the wand, was wonderfully




gentle with her. He was calm, determined, and obviously vying to win her back from Lazer.

Lazer smelled it. He was too far away from them to hear theirconversation, but Bo’s body posture was blatant. He was hitting onElana, hard. Lazer glared at him, trying his best to will his machismoacross the room. He took a sharp blow to the head with one of thetraining wands, punishment for not paying attention. He hadn’t no-ticed that it was Bo’s best friend, Carel Bell, who was facing off with

him for the round. Lazer pulled his attention back to Carel to savehis neck, but still glanced occasionally at what was happening withElana and Bo.

“I want to take you to the spring formal.” Bo was as charmingas possible.

“I have a date.” Elana stayed aloof as ever.Bo glared at Lazer. “Please tell me it’s not the outback cowboy

from Atlantia.”“It’s really none of your business, Bo. It’s not you and that’s allyou need to know.” She whacked him just as the gong sounded.

Masta Poe was called out of the arena. In the instant after herexit, Lazer was across the room, unleashing a urry of kicks and hits

with his battle wand that dropped Bo to the oor. A stunned Bofound himself in a heap. His surprise turned to fury when he saw

who was behind the attack. Bo rolled, arched back, and leapt to hisfeet. He took three lightning fast strides and jumped into Lazer’schest with a ying kick. Lazer ducked and spun into a roundhouse;he kicked Bo backwards with such force that Bo bounced off the

wall and fell face rst into the dirt. Lazer’s eyes were wild; all heknew was he had to defend Elana. Again Bo jumped to his feet andcharged Lazer like a linebacker.

Lazer dropped his battle wand and jutted his hands out in frontof him; without thinking, he summoned a ball of sparkling energy between his hands, then with a shove, shot it at Bo. Bo saw the bolt,dove, rolled, and dropped his battle wand. Jutting his hands forward,he, too, formed and shot an energy bolt into Lazer’s chest. Direct hit!




The ball of energy struck Lazer with such force it pounded him intothe wall twenty feet away. Lazer, winded and sore, crumbled into aheap on the oor. Gasping for air, he struggled to his feet. Bo attackedagain, this time turning his palms upward. He lifted them, levitatingLazer off the ground, and with a violent swinging gesture, tossed himlike a rag doll against a wooden column. The force hurled Lazer intothe worn wood, splintering it into a shower of pulp and dust.

Lazer landed at and looked at Elana Blue. Her heart was with

him and the terror in her eyes told him he had to win for both theirsakes. With a graceful roll, Lazer pushed himself back onto his feet.He ignored the pain that throbbed through every inch of his body and, using a single burst of energy, he jumped six feet into the air,narrowly avoiding the next blast of ery white light that shot fromBo’s hands. Lazer landed like a cat and let his rage overtake his logic.In rapid retaliation, he hurled a silver stream of curling wind with

such speed and force it caught Bo off guard. The swirling funnelhammered into Bo, bored into his chest, knocked him over, andslammed him onto the ground. Bo went ballistic. He deed gravity and ipped to his feet into a ghter’s stance. He formed an icy, black energy ball with enough power to kill. It swirled, building betweenhis hands. Just as he was about to shoot it, Masta Poe’s voice ex-ploded across the room.

“STOP!” She appeared in front of Bo, immobilizing him andstepping in to shield Lazer from the death ball. “Use your anger onemore time like that and you will be expelled from my studies!” shetold Bo, as her outstretched hand focused on the death ball.

Bo was rigid. Masta Poe released her hold on him, forcing himto drop the energy ball that still swirled in his hands. The particleshung for a moment more, then dissipated and oated away in ashimmering swirl of ashen snow.

“Enough,” Masta Poe said to the entire class. “You are all dis-missed. Go in light.”

Bo glared at Lazer, said nothing, bowed, and walked away.Elana crossed to Lazer with a look of concern.




“Are you okay?” she asked, brushing the dirt from his sleeve.“I’m ne. What about you?” He was more concerned about her

than himself.Masta Poe looked at Elana and nodded for her to go. It was ob-

vious she wanted to talk to Lazer alone.“I’ll wait for you by the dispensary.” Elana crossed to the door.

A few of the students worked a little longer on style and stance while the rest dispersed. Some mumbled to each other about the

rivalry between Bo and Lazer. Many commented that they had neverseen Masta Poe lose her temper. The room emptied. People weregrateful to get away from the negative energy that still hung in theair as thick as a spring fog. The last to leave was Elana, who stoppednear the door to give Bo an icy glare. Finally, she turned and exited

with a group of students. Alone, Masta Poe turned her attention to Lazer. “Where was your

focus?” she asked Lazer. “He could have severely wounded you.”“I’m ne,” Lazer said, as he gathered his things.“Has your spirit left us already?” Masta Poe asked.“What?” Lazer was surprised that Poe could read his thoughts

with such clarity. She was right, his thoughts were of home, and hisheart was already there. He ached to know what was really happeningon Atlantia—the dome had caused a communication malfunction for

a week. There had been a complete live feed, V-mail, and sponderblackout. After it was repaired, the few V-mails he had received seemedstilted and strange. On the surface they said everything was ne, butbetween the lines it was obvious something was terribly wrong.

“You wish to go home to defeat the Black Guard?” she asked.Lazer stared at her.“You think you are ready?”Lazer knew there was always an extra meaning beneath her

words. Again he said nothing.“If you think you are ready, then go. If you do not have the cour-

age to learn all that I have to teach you, do not waste my time, ColeLazerman.” Poe turned away.




Lazer felt a rush of panic surge through him. He needed her as amentor, as an ally, as a friend. She was always in the strange distortedvisions that haunted him. He knew she was an important part of hisfuture, but he didn’t understand why.

Flustered, he stepped in her way. “I admit it. I can’t control thearts yet.”

“You believe you can control the universe? You are further away from the light than I thought. The goal is to release into your BAI,

trust, and let the universe exist as one with you.”“I have learned cloaking and levitation and I can create energy balls and shields to protect . . .” Lazer babbled at her, desperate tosay the right things.

“Those are tricks, not powers. And without the universe to em-power them, they are as shallow as the heart that wields them. Withonly that to guide you, you will fail .” Poe’s words were cold and direct.

“I won’t fail. I’ll do whatever it takes to destroy the Guard! And. . . and I’ll do it with or without your help!” Lazer shouted in herface before he turned to walk away.

“What was the vision you saw that rst day in my class?” shecalled after him.

Lazer stopped and turned. It was as if she had commanded himto face her and his body had obeyed. Masta Poe stood motionless,

waiting for his response. It was not her powers that compelled him,but the core of his soul that told him he must know the meaning of the images that haunted him constantly. His mind held answers, butshe alone had the key to understanding them. “I don’t know. Was itmy future?” he demanded.

Poe shrugged. “You tell me.”“Was it or wasn’t it? I have to know!” Lazer was trembling.“You do. All the answers you need are inside you right now.”“Then why aren’t I sure?”“Ask yourself, Lazer, not me. Look how you tremble, not with

anticipation and the wonder of what will come, but with the frustra-tion of what you cannot control. Don’t you see? Your emotions are




“I protected you this time. You must nd a way to release theanger that binds you and the revenge that drives you.”

Lazer shook all over. His hands stung. “Revengeis my calling!”Lazer shouted at her.

She shook her head, looked at the ground, and released a long,deep sigh. “In the end, it will be love that will be your greatest test.The next battle you will face alone. Go in light, Cole Lazerman,”Poe said before she vanished into thin air.

Lazer was alone, abandoned by the mentor he was dependingon. There was still so much to learn. In two days, he would leave forhis rite of passage and then, with or without his mother’s permis-sion, he would nd a way to get home.

“You can’t stop me!” he shouted after her. His words echoedagainst the empty stadium and melted into the walls until only si-lence hung in their place.

“Why do you taunt her?” Elana’s voice lled the void.“She taunts me,” Lazer snapped at Elana, turning away from herto hide the fury that lled his eyes.

Before he could speak again her arms were around him, herhands pressing into his chest, her face against his back. Elana sensedthe anger that emanated from his body like heat rising from searinghot pavement in summer. It caught in his throat and held his breath

captive. It stopped his heart and made his blood pound until his faceushed a deep burgundy. His vengeful emotions were strangling allgoodness from his heart. The intensity of his fury frightened her,yet she also felt his pain of loss and sadness. She focused only on thegoodness that had originally drawn her to his side. Elana held himstill tighter.

Calmed by her touch, Lazer turned to her, wanting to nd re-spite in her loving arms. Her touch soothed his tremors of rage. Hefought to regain balance and open his heart to her. Lazer surrenderedto her; his lips grazed her silken strands of ice gold hair and his noseinhaled her fresh, spring rain scent. Lazer’s anger began to ebb, along

with the sorrow that threatened to destroy him. He melted into her,




forty-two feet above the oor. Elana gasped as she gently broke hiskiss.

“Don’t move,” she whispered softly. Her eyes demanded his gazestay locked on her alone.

“I don’t want to,” he replied with a smile. Closing his eyes, hekissed her again.

They rose higher.“Lazer,” she said, a tinge of fear creeping into her voice.

Easily fty-ve feet off the ground, Elana realized this miracu-lous feat was somehow caused by Lazer. Intuitively she knew if shepanicked, he could lose control and they would fall, most likely totheir death.

“Keep your eyes closed and listen to me,” Elana said.“Only if you’ll kiss me again.”“Keep your eyes closed. Please,” she begged.

Lazer smiled but kept his eyes closed.Elana kissed him gently and they drifted up another few inches.Her heart was starting to race. “Lazer, I want you to . . . imagine

walking with me.”Lazer’s eyes opened, confused by her request. “Imagine?”“Eyes closed. Promise!” she blurted out, while trying her best to

remain calm.

He closed his eyes and laughed. “I would walk with you to themoon, Elana Blue.”

She held onto him and snuggled into his side, supported by the waves of kinetic energy generated by Lazer. Elana tried not tolook down. She swallowed, but her throat was being blocked by herincreasing fear.Remain calm, she told herself. She had to gure outhow to break Lazer’s fantasy without killing them in the process. “I

want you to imagine that . . . we are in my father’s house.”“I’ve never seen your father’s house.”“I know. I’ll describe it and you’ll walk with me. You have to

imagine it and take physical steps exactly where I tell you.”“Oooookay,” Lazer replied with a tone of playful curiosity.




She kissed him again, “We’re standing on the second oor, rightat the top of the stairs.”

“What are we doing on the second oor?” He kissed her back.“I . . . was showing you my room.”Lazer smiled slightly, blushing. “Your father lets you invite boys

up to your room?”“Only you and only today,” she replied, holding his neck. “I

want you to pick me up.”

Lazer obediently gathered her into his arms, dutifully keepinghis eyes shut.“Now, slowly, step by step, take me down the stairs before we

get in trouble.”Lazer laughed and stepped down the invisible stairway.He stopped, his brow furrowing. “Is it a straight or curved stair-

way?” Lazer asked.

“Curved. Circular,” she replied, guiding him. “There are tapes-tries hanging on the walls; old ones with red and gold threads on ablack background, dragons and tigers preparing to ght. Don’t stopuntil I say so,” she said, looking at the ground still four stories below her. With each imaginary step they moved closer inch by inch to theground. It’s working . They were descending.

“And what’s so special about today?” Lazer teased.

“What?” Elana replied.“What’s so special about today that your father thinks it’s all

right to let me come up to your room?”“Uh, because you are the rst boy I’ve ever cared enough about

to bring home.”Lazer opened his eyes to look at her, thrilled by the thought that

he was as important to her as she was to him. In that instant, Lazerrealized their predicament. His concentration broken, they droppedlike rocks before Lazer could react. Elana attempted to levitate themboth but she didn’t have enough strength to hold them. They slowedonly for a moment. But that moment provided Lazer enough time tocreate a force eld beneath them to catch them in its invisible net at




the last possible second. The force eld stretched like a piece of thinelastic, breaking their fall, then instantly vanishing. They landed facerst on the ground. Wide-eyed terror registered as thoughts of whatcould have been raced through their minds.

“What just happened?” Elana said breathlessly.“We didn’t die!” Lazer said.Then, with a shared look of grateful amazement, they exploded

into laughter. It was a laughter fueled by relief. They laughed so hard

tears streaked their dirt-covered faces, which made them laugh evenharder. Still tangled in each other’s arms, sides aching, they eventu-ally caught their breath and smiled at each other.

“I like you,” Elana said.“I like you, too,” Lazer replied, as he helped her stand up. “I

guess you’ll have to be careful how you kiss me from now on.”“Never.”

Lazer gathered their things and took her hand. Lost in each oth-er’s gaze, they walked toward the exit.“Would I really be the rst boy to make it to the second oor?”“You would if we had a second oor,” she smiled.



—| 333 |—

I 2

THE FINAL BLOW

T he common room in Lazer’s dorm was always a hub of activ-ity. Plush purple chairs surrounded a large circular hearth that

burned constantly during the colder months. Floating luminescent

balls gave off a cool light that was perfect for study.To the far left was the holoscreen that usually played a variety of escapist entertainment. Today, however, it played special news re-ports that provided only a splattering of information that had leakedout of Atlantia.

Kyla and Cashton, along with a cluster of other students, stoodaround it, hungry to hear some news from home. Lazer entered, still

glowing from his encounter with Elana. The warmth faded quickly as he read the panicked look on their faces. He knew from their ex-pressions that the news wasn’t good.

“The Triumvirate’s lost control of the dome,” Cashton whis-pered to Lazer and Kyla. “They reported it tonight, but it’s beenout of their control for months. They think all the V-mail that hasbeen coming out has been scrambled and recongured to say only positive things.”

“My parents’ letters have been so weird. What about yours?”Kyla asked.

Lazer and Cashton both nodded their heads in agreement. Lazerpulled Cashton away from the other students. Kyla followed.




“Can’t you access the camera in that doll you gave what’s-her-name?” Lazer asked, desperate for some news.

“Cashton, you said you couldn’t get any transmissions,” Kylablurted.

“I can’t.”“Check it again?” Lazer pleaded.“I am worried about my mom,” Kyla admitted.“We need to know what’s going on. Whether or not you do, I’m

going home,” Lazer said as he walked away from them and headedtoward his room.“I’ll check again, but I’m sure any new feeds will be blocked

along with everything else,” Cashton reminded him.“How do you plan to get yourself into the dome?” Kyla stopped

him.“I’ll nd a way.”

“What about our passage?” Cashton asked“Hang the passage.” Lazer turned to storm off.Kyla and Cashton were on his tail.“What about the promise you made your mother? If you don’t

complete your rite of passage, you can’t even buy a ticket back to Atlantia,” Kyla said. “And if you do manage to get back, you can’tget a decent job, get married, own property, or y. You can’t y,

Lazer. Youhave to do your passage. Weall do,” she added, trying tobe the voice of logic, even though she wanted to go home, too.

“Look, passage is only a few weeks away,” Cashton said.“I don’t care,” Lazer responded.“Kyla’s right. We don’t have a choice. We do our passage and

head home together. Deal?” Cashton asked.Lazer paused, considered the reality, and gave a reluctant nod.

They each gave the V salute.“We use the next two weeks to get everything in place,” Lazer

added.“Ice with me. At least we don’t have to worry about the Spring

Jam wasting our time,” Kyla said.




“That takes your Elana Blue fantasy date to the jam from slimto not gonna happen, Ace,” Cashton ribbed Lazer.

“Actually, she kind of asked me,” Lazer said without thinking.He thought nothing of the fact that Kyla was standing next to him.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Reality check. In what lifetime?” Cashtonchallenged.

“After the varsity game. Actually, we’ve been kind of seeing eachother. I didn’t say anything because I thought she might change her

mind and then when she kissed me, I . . . well, talk about walkin’on air.”Kyla could see, feel, and taste his aura. He was telling the truth.

Her heart raced like a hummingbird beating its fragile wings againstdeath’s door. Her worst fear ashed before her eyes: she was losingLazer to Elana Blue. The pain of that loss sucked the air from herlungs and took with it every hope and dream she’d held since she

was six years old. Her vision of their lives together was burning toashes.“Stellar!” Cashton slapped Lazer’s back, thrilled for his friend.Neither of them realized that Kyla’s heart had just shattered.

The room faded around her. Their voices blurred into a shrill, ca-cophonous screech that rang senselessly in her ears. The walls closedin, and great swirling shadows weaved into an ever-shrinking circle,

until all that existed was Lazer’s face in the center. She had to get outbefore she fainted. Without a word, leaving Lazer to tell Cashton thedetails of how he had captured the elusive Elana Blue, Kyla silently retreated.

Lazer shared every intimate detail of his incredible rst encoun-ter with an eager Cashton. Two of his dreams would manifest soon:Elana Blue in his arms again, and the right to go home to Atlantiaand ght the Black Guard after his passage—everything else wasirrelevant.



—| 336 |—

I 3

TWO WOMEN

A leece Avery’s skills as a healer and surgeon were in almostconstant demand. Her apron was splattered with dirt and

blood and represented not only her hard work, but also their lack

of supplies.“Why don’t you change into these?” a voice said, offering her aclean surgical apron and lab jacket.

They weren’t white, but they were cleaner than the ones she hadon.

“My name’s Detra Lazerman. I have a son at Tosadae,” she saidproudly.

“I have a daughter in Sangelino,” Aleece responded.“At least they’re not here.”The moment Aleece saw a ash of recognition on Detra’s face,

she placed her ngers on Detra’s lips.“They don’t know I’m here,” Aleece whispered.“What about the Politia? Are they coming soon?”“I don’t know.”“I need to get word to my son. I have to let him know I’m alive.”

Detra’s eyes welled with tears. “He’ll try to come if he doesn’t hearfrom me.”

“He can’t get back in through the dome. The Black Guard hascontrol,” Aleece told her.




“What about your daughter and husband? Do they know you’realive?” Detra asked.

“I hope so,” Aleece said, knowing that the only thing she couldgive this woman was hope. Aleece looked down and read Detra’sholographic ID tag. “You’ll see your son and I will see my daughter,Detra Lazerman. The Politia will annihilate the biodroids and all

who’ve joined them.” Aleece gave her bravest smile and squeezedDetra’s hand. “Know that your son is safe in Tosadae.Know that you

are alive and will see him again.”Two guards were approaching. The women went their separate ways: Detra to her laundry and Aleece to the bed of her next patient.One of the guards stopped Aleece.

“Come,” he commanded. Their huge forms bracketed Aleece.Detra watched helplessly as Aleece was led away.

Back in Sangelino, Riana sat in her room. She refused to goto school, and what little she ate would hardly sustain a bird. Shefelt her mother’s suffering, so she knew without question that she

was alive. Sometimes when she slept she could see glimpses of theplace where Aleece was being held captive. She told her father andthen wept in his arms at the sadness that surrounded her motherevery moment of every day. Riana felt helpless. She was young and

powerless. Her father—the only other person who was important toher—was doing everything he could, but the Corporate leaders andrest of the Triumvirate were against him.

“You have to eat,” Dante said as he entered her room. He lookedat the tray of untouched food and sat down next to his daughter.

“She’s so afraid,” Riana told him.“Your mother is an incredible person. She has an inner strength

that goes beyond the physical. But if she feels she is straining you, itmight weaken her. She needs to feel that you believe in her, Riana.”

“I do!” Riana said.“Then let her feel your strength.” Dante took his daughter’s

hands into his own. They looked so small and frail, yet he knew




she held a greater strength than he could ever possess. “You are hertouchstone, Riana. When you are well, she is invincible. The con-nection between you will tell her what you’re feeling. Give her yourstrength.”

Riana looked at her father. She threw her arms around his neck as they stood together, sharing the strength that family provides intimes of trouble and despair.

“What can I do?” she asked.

“Eat. Live. Learn. Be ready for when she comes back so thatshe’ll know we kept her world here safe.”Riana smiled and lifted a piece of sliced apple from the plate.

She took a large bite, offering to share the rest of it with her father.“Bite?” she asked.

As Dante took the apple, Riana was blinded by a ash that lledher with dread. She knew in that instant, if her mother was not

freed soon, her enemies would discover her identity and she wouldbe used as a pawn. Riana closed her eyes to hold back the fear thatrushed to her heart—the horrifying fear that she might never see hermother again. She threw herself into her father’s arms and held on.

“What is it?” he asked.“She has to get out of there before they nd her. She has to get

out now!”



—| 339 |—

I 4

TWO WEEKS FORETERNITY

L azer and Elana spent every moment of every hour of the nextfew weeks together. They talked over breakfast about their

homes, families, schools, and friends. Elana shared with him thelong years of growing up in the shadow of her father. The grandhouses lled with servants and nannies, cold and empty until the

warmth of her father returned home to rescue her from her loneli-ness. They talked about Lazer’s growing feelings for her and Elanatalked of hers for him. They shared how much they had wished fora brother or sister to grow up with and how hard it was to be anonly child. Elana told him of her sadness for the mother she’d neverknown. A woman whose picture she had never even seen because of the pain it caused her father. Elana explained how her death musthave shattered her father’s heart into so many pieces he was unableto heal enough to ever love again. Elana found ways to be gratefulfor the shards of love represented by the extravagant gifts he so gen-

erously lavished on her, but they did not make up for the void leftby not having a family.Lazer in turn shared stories of his childhood, growing up in the

barren outback lands of Atlantia. How he had seen death as a childof ve when marauders murdered a young friend’s family while hehad been visiting. The pirates took what they wanted and killed




settlers whenever they felt the desire. To this day, Lazer never under-stood why he had been spared that morning. The memories werestill as vivid as if they had happened yesterday. Biodroids had beenthe Atlantians’ only salvation back then; her father’s Black Guardcreated a peaceful order for a troubled land, only to snatch it cruelly away when they attacked the temple and destroyed the mines. Lazertold her things he had only shared with Kyla and Cashton—thehorrible arguments with his father his senior year and the haunt-

ing, painful memories of not getting the pass key back in time. TheBlack Guard had killed his father while he watched, and that hecould never forgive.

Then there was Elana—the rst glimpse of happiness and hopehe had seen since his father’s death. How was it possible that Elanacould be the daughter of the one man responsible for his utter mis-ery, and yet was also the one person who represented everything

good in his life? This question pulled at him until he looked into hereyes or touched her hand or kissed her mouth.In the afternoons, they took their lunches from the commissary

and walked along the banks of the Silent River, so named becauseof its smooth glassy surface that hid a raging, treacherous currentbelow. They followed the trails that led high into the foothills of the mountains and talked about everything from the grandeur of

the universe to the essence of a kiss. They watched the sun fall be-hind the snow-covered peaks and counted the stars that glitteredagainst the inky night sky. They shared kisses and hugged to keepeach other warm. Lazer had seen nothing of the world; Elana hadseen everything. They made promises to spend part of their summertogether and travel to the underwater cities of Panazia, where they could explore the ancient wonders of Machu Picchu. They loved his-tory, mythology, clever books, and the ancient writings of the greatphilosophers. Inevitably, the subject turned to Masta Poe. Elanashared how impressed Poe was by Lazer’s vast, untapped powers.Lazer smiled, honored and humbled by her compliments. He toldher that Poe had been his hero from the rst day he saw her amazing




abilities. They shared their dreams to be pilots and peacekeepers andmake the world a better place.

They skipped afternoon classes that day and supper that night.Food seemed unnecessary compared to the feeling of oneness thatsatiated them. With night came a frosty fog that crept along theground and danced at their feet. Time became meaningless as themoon and stars reached above the trees to guide them. They knew they would be late for curfew, but rules didn’t seem to matter much

at the moment. They stood on the narrow outcropping of VistaPoint, which overlooked the campus and the valley beyond. Lazerpointed out the place Cashton and he had found where they couldscale the wall if they got stuck outside after curfew. Finally talkedout, they walked back to campus in contented silence. Holdinghands, they marveled at the rows of shadows that striped the barrenorchard: a hundred horizontal columns that appeared each time the

moon would peek out from behind the layers of wispy clouds tolight their way.“I want to have a family with you,” Elana revealed her heart,

unable to contain the words.Lazer stopped. He looked at her dumbfounded. He wanted to

respond, but the words caught in his throat.His expression sent a chill up her spine. She couldn’t read the

feelings of inadequacy that registered on his face; she only saw theshocked eyes that stared back at her. “I . . . I’m sorry, I . . . can’t be-lieve I said that, but . . . I can’t help myself. I can’t shake the feelingthat time is rushing in to take you from me and I . . .”

Before she could nish, Lazer reached for her. He pulled her tohim.

“I love you,” he said, sealing it with a kiss. “I want to give the world to you, and when I’ve freed Atlantia, I’ll be someone. I’ll takeyou to meet my mother and tell her you are everything I’ve ever

wanted. I swear to you. I’ll come back to you.”“Come back?” Her heart sank.“I have to go home, Elana.”




“I’ll go with you. We’ll go to my father and he’ll help us de-feat . . .”

Lazer loosened his hold on her. “Your father is the reason Atlantiais at war.”

“But he’s not the cause. He’s not in control of the biodroids whodid those horrible things. Let him help you,” she pleaded.

Lazer turned away from her. Again, an inexplicable fear overcame her. Her stomach turned,

a bitter taste lled her mouth, and her head began to ache. Elanalooked at her hands; they were shaking. She was afraid and no mat-ter how hard she tried, she did not understand why. “Don’t let thiscome between us, Lazer. Promise me.”

“This is my battle, Elana. When it’s done, I’ll come back to you.”“You keep saying that. You’ll go on your rite of passage and

nish . . .”

“. . . and then I’m going home to ght with the Wave and free Atlantia.” Lazer pulled away from her and turned to leave.She caught his arm and pulled him back. “I’ll go with you. We’ll

ght together. Atlantia’s my home, too.” Tears ooded her eyes.“We’ll ght together.”

Lazer touched her face. He saw the determination. His eyes low-ered. He searched for a way to make her understand.

She could see she was losing him. She searched for a differentapproach. “We’ll take this one day at a time. We’ll go to the danceand have a wonderful time. You’ll leave for your rst passage trialsand . . . and I’ll miss you, and think about you, and wait for you,and when you get back we’ll nish the semester and gure out how to get home—together,” she said.

He looked into her eyes. He wanted to explain, but the cold reality of what he had to do chilled his veins. The only promise he could maketo her was that the next few days would be theirs and theirs alone.

“One day at a time,” Lazer said and gently kissed her. The heatthat had lled every other kiss was gone.

Elana was an empath and realized immediately that Lazer,




whether consciously or unconsciously, was not telling her everything.He was lying, not to her, but to himself. She searched his emotions,but couldn’t determine which were true and which were not. Elanakissed him, demanding their passion warm his heart once more. Hereturned her kiss, unable to resist.

“Promise me you won’t leave me here,” she whispered.“I can’t promise that,” Lazer said.The midnight bell began to toll.

“Spit!! We’re late!” Lazer shouted.“I thought we were going to scale the wall?” She smiled, tryingto push his words from her mind.

“Not in that.” Lazer pointed to the tunic draping her lissomegure.

“Then kiss me and we’ll levitate.”Lazer kissed her. Nothing happened.

“Guess we have to practice more, huh?” she said with a hint of mischief.“Until then, hurry up or I won’t get to take you to the dance.

Move it!”He grabbed her hand as they raced through the massive gates

just before they slid closed. They ran across the main campus circle,laughing and teasing. Breathless, they raced past a lone silhouette,

someone who watched from the arched shadows of Tower Hall. They reached Chopin dorm and, punctuated by a squeal from Elana, van-ished inside. Their laughter faded away into the night.

The moon broke through the clouds and ooded the icy night with cold, white streaks of light that revealed the identity of the lonegure. Kyla stood motionless and watched their shadows pass by the

windows of the lower hall, steal one last kiss, and go their separate ways. She was a voyeur to their promises. Elana’s words pricked ather mind again and again—have a family with you . . . have a family .

A single tear fell from Kyla’s eye. It burned as it slid down her frozencheek. It would be the last tear she would ever cry for Lazer, that shepromised herself. The next tears would be Elana’s.



—| 344 |—

I 5

SCORNED

T he morning sun broke over the horizon, ooding the black hills with light and turning the landscape into a pallet of sil-

very gray and washed-out pastels. Cashton and Kyla jogged through

a forest of naked tress and up along paths that clung to the roll-ing hills just west of Tosadae. Their breath danced from their lipsand turned into curls of smoke that puffed out to the rhythm of their feet as they pounded against the still-frozen earth of the highermountain paths. Kyla was a strong runner and easily kept pace withCashton. Her eyes stared ahead with a distant glaze, her mind lost inthought. They ran in silence. They made their way past the narrow

bends of the Silent River while the morning light sparkled off itssmooth surface like a handful of diamonds.

Kyla frowned. Her mind was racing with a thousand thoughts.She wished Evvy were alive so they could talk about the thoughtsand feelings that taunted her. She missed her now more than ever.Cashton was a good friend but he would not discuss her “girl angst”emotions, especially if they were about Lazer. She would have to de-cide how to handle Elana alone. Each step she ran brought her closerto the same resolve. A look of determination fell across her face. Kylasignaled to Cashton that she needed to stop at the forum stables tocheck the status of her battle ranking. She veered off the path, andCashton dutifully followed.




Inside the battle forum, the creatures used for third-level battletraining languished, lazily sleeping or pacing in their cages. Kylastartled when one of the archeops began screeching at its keeper.Something had her on edge. Using an eight-foot-long pole, thekeeper tossed it a still living, sixty-pound capybara, which it killedand devoured with such accuracy there was little time to pity theanimal.

“I wouldn’t want to tangle with that one,” Cashton said, as he

watched the carnage.Kyla said nothing. Her mind had been preoccupied withthoughts, which had distanced her from Cashton all day. He de-cided on a new tactic. “Hey, I’m really glad to hear you’re okay withthis Lazer and Elana thing.”

“Lazer’s my friend. I want him to be happy. No heat.” She calledup the digitized roster with a wave of her hand and searched for her

ranking with the thumbprint recognition feature.Cashton wanted to believe her answer. He wanted her to beokay. He wanted her to know she could have his shoulder to cry onif she needed it. He didn’t need to be an empath to know how shefelt about Lazer.

Kyla appreciated the cool, soft yellow aura that expressed hiscompassion, but today she wanted none of it. She entered in some

statistical updates to her ranking scores and started to jog away, butsomething made her slow at the prometheus’ cage. Kippo was a lum-bering female who had lived past her prime, easily the oldest creaturein the stable and the most docile. Kyla studied its massive chest andape-like arms as it stretched and exed its paws, exposing its huge,bear-like claw that ended in a single toe. Several rows of brokenspikes protruded from her thick neck, showing that a little porcu-pine had been spliced into the bear/lion/Komodo dragon gaticastrands of her genetic recipe. Even the saliva glands used to paralyzeher prey had long been removed, along with most of her teeth.

“Gotta bounce,” Cashton said, as he pounded a quick V saluteand jogged away, heading back to the dorms.




Kyla again looked at the docile prometheus. She was old anduseless and, other than Elana Blue, no one was afraid of her.

Without provocation, Kyla slammed her sts against the protec-tive shield, startling the creature.

Kippo struggled to her feet and pushed lazily against the forceeld, trying to get through, obviously looking more for attentionthan to do harm. Kyla stared at the doddering old creature as a plantook shape in her mind.



—| 347 |—

I 6

CROSSING THE LINE

E lana Blue descended the stairs glowing with anticipation. Shelooked stunning in the blue oor-length tunic that draped her

amazing body. Her eyes searched anxiously for Lazer. He wasn’t there.

She checked her time band and searched again, suppressing the feel-ing of apprehension that had haunted her all afternoon. He wouldshow up and they would have the best time she could ever imagine.

Kyla appeared next to her. “Oh, hey, Lazer just left here; he waslooking for you.”

Kyla smiled and hoped Elana couldn’t read the jealousy thatswirled in her head.

“He left! But I was supposed to . . .” Elana started to say.“Yeah, something about meeting you by the creature chambers,”

Kyla added innocently. “I think it’s a surprise.”“The creature chambers, but . . .” Elana blanched at the thought

of entering the stadium and facing the rows of splicer creatures. It was a childhood fear set in place when she was seven, when one of her father’s experiments tried to devour her. Her father’s splicer labsproduced more than enough deadly species to give her cause to beafraid. But that was years ago, she told herself, and besides, Lazer

would be there; that was all that mattered.“Well . . . I’ll go meet him there then. Thanks, Kyla.” Elana

smiled bravely.




It was a warm, honest smile and it made Kyla feel uncomfort-able.

“No problem. You look really nice,” Kyla said as she walkedaway.

Elana Blue had never cared for Kyla. She didn’t like the way Kyla glared at her, especially when Lazer was around, and shedidn’t like the milky aura that hung around her every time they spoke, except today. Today, Kyla’s aura was a yellowish orange,

which meant happiness and truth. Kyla was happy; the rest shecarefully controlled.“Kyla!” Elana Blue called out. “I . . . I owe you an apology. I

thought you were such a . . . a . . . well . . . a snit when I rst metyou, but I see why Lazer thinks you are so ice.” Elana smiled, thennervously checked the time on her sponder and ran off before Kylacould answer.

Kyla cringed. This was worse than the smile. How dare Elana benice to her! Kyla’s stomach turned. The guilt over what she had setin motion began to eat at her. Kyla tried to convince herself it was aharmless prank. The old prometheus was so tame no one knew why they even bothered to lock her up anymore. But Kyla couldn’t takeit. She raced down the corridor to Lazer’s room, where she foundCashton, Skyler Bond, and a red-haired boy named Tisch outside

Lazer’s room pulling on the door. It was stuck.“It’s stuck,” Cashton yelled through the door.“I know it’s stuck,” Lazer called.“Try the lock again,” Skyler said.“I tried it dozens of times,” Lazer said. His voice cracked with

frustration. “This can’t be happening!”“I swear it looks melted,” Tisch said.Kyla raised her hands, using one of the few kinetic powers she

had learned since she arrived and heated the seal she had put in placeto make him late. With a click, the door released.

“How did you do that?” Cashton asked, amazed.“We didn’t try that,” Tisch said.




Everyone stood dumbfounded as Lazer burst through the door,beaming with gratitude.

Kyla gasped. She loved how handsome he looked in his dress white cadet uniform. Unfortunately, tonight he had it on to impressElana Blue. Lazer planted a kiss on Kyla’s lips and ran back to getthe invitation and the corsage of creamy white palimander buttonsthat he had picked from the higher ridges of the forest earlier thatafternoon.

“You are a goddess,” he gushed to Kyla and ran by everyone.“Tell me that after . . .” She ran in front of him, blocking his way.

“After what?”Guilt reeked from her pores as she pulled him onto the escalator.

She made him descend three steps at a time.“After you nd out I sent Elana Blue to meet you at the battle

forum.”“The forum? Why?” Lazer was surprised and curious. His in-stincts kicked in. He wasn’t a splicer or a clone, but he could readsomething in Kyla’s eyes and it made his heart race.

“I told her to meet you in front of the old prometheus,” she said,as she jerked him out of the building.

He tugged his arm away and stopped. “Elana’s downstairs,” he

insisted.“I told Elana to meet you at the forum. I hacked into the crea-

ture security system and programmed in a timed release to open theshield to Kippo’s cage in three minutes. I . . . I wanted to . . . to scareher. I was gonna send you in to see what a chicken she was, but thenshe was so damn nice . . .” The words tumbled out with the speed of a machine gun blast.

“What are you taking about?!” Lazer said, his eyes widening with the realization that came with each word.

“She’s totally afraid of every creature in there, and Kippo’s olderthan dirt so I gured I’d scare . . .”

“No, Kyla.”




“It was stupid and mean but Kippo’s so damn docile she’ll prob-ably nudge her to get her to pet . . .”

“Kippo died this morning!” Lazer cut her off. “They movedDeigen out of solitary and into that cage this afternoon!”

“Deigen! That’s impossible. I . . .” Kyla said, not believing herears.

“Change the security back!”“I can’t,” Kyla whispered.

“Universal God, Kyla. Do it,” Lazer shouted. The color drainedfrom his face as he backed away from her and ran down the hall.“Do it, now!”

Three minutes wasn’t enough time; he had to get to Elana. Lazerbolted out the exit.

The guilt of what she had done racked Kyla with such violenttremors she thought she would shake apart. Kyla hesitated for one

brief second more, then raced after him.



—| 351 |—

I 7

DEIGEN

L azer raced toward the forum. Kyla followed, tracking hisfootsteps in the light dusting of a late spring snow that had

just fallen and still clung to the ground.

Inside, Elana Blue stood in the last shimmering rays of sunlightthat fell through the high round windows and illuminated the pensof the amazing creatures Tosadae had collected over the years. Thesun seemed brightest at Deigen’s pen, bathing the sleeping monsterin a warm, golden glow that made her pale spotted fur glisten.

Elana Blue checked her jeweled time band. She didn’t really know if being late was one of Lazer’s habits, but she noted it as

something they should talk about in the future. In the future , shethought, liking the association with Cole Lazerman. It had a nicering to it. She tried to imagine the evening—him, the dance, theother students all dressed up—but something kept pulling at her.She felt strangely uncomfortable. She looked at her time band againand then at the sleeping monster.

“I swear on the Collective you are about as ugly as they come,”she said to the creature. Her voice was sweet, and she smiled.

At the sound of Elana Blue’s voice, a single eye slowly opened.It was a drab amber orb with a vertical iris that expanded and con-tracted as it focused on Elana Blue. Nothing else on the creature’sbody moved.




“My apologies. I didn’t mean to disturb your beauty sleep, be-cause you denitely need it.” Elana Blue laughed as she watched thecreature shift her massive weight and stand. The cage was thirteenfeet tall, which gave Deigen only ten inches of free space above herhead.

The battle dome was still sixty feet away. Lazer wished he couldtransport himself as Masta Poe had done so effortlessly. What wastaking him so long to learn that skill? He ran faster.

“I’m not afraid of you.” Elana tried to convince herself withthe words. “I’m not afraid.” She playfully growled at Deigen, likea mouse playing with a lion. Feeling a little braver, Elana Blue gavea roar and opened her arms to make her form appear larger andmore ferocious. Her movement was too fast and too threatening.Deigen retaliated by shape-shifting into a vicious version of her doc-ile self, with eighteen-inch spikes that fanned up along the spine of

her back and neck. Her skin turned from light to dark brown as shecrouched, ready to attack. Deigen hinged open her immense jaw,and bared her ten-inch canines.

Elana Blue inched, but stood her ground. “I . . . I’m not afraidof you, you old overgrown . . .”

It was at that moment the subtle hum of the protective shieldceased. Deigen understood instantly. Deigen spit her venom,

drenching Elana in a silvery mist of paralyzing poison. It was only then Elana realized the danger she was in. The venom coated herand seeped into her pores. Within seconds, Elana’s muscles turnedto rubbery clay. She tried to move, but could not. She willed herfeet to run, her hands to lift from her side to shield herself. Nothingmoved. Time slowed. Elana watched as the creature stalked forward,each muscle beneath its skin rippling. Deigen reached the rocks thatmarked the perimeter of her enclosure, hesitated, then stepped pastthe nonexistent shield. In three steps, Deigen was six inches fromElana Blue. The color drained from Elana’s face. She wanted toscream, but she could not will her mouth to open. Again she com-manded her arms to rise, to create a shield, but they hung like iron




anchors, immobile at her sides. Her body began to tremble. She wasparalyzed, unable to defend, to ght, to run, to turn away from thenightmare that breathed its hot, foul breath into her face.

“Elana,” Lazer whispered from the far end of the battle forum.His voice was calm and hypnotic for both Deigen and Elana Blue.Lazer inched slowly toward the weapons vault, making sure hismovements were smooth and controlled, and picked up a six-foot-long battle wand. Its predecessor had been the cattle prod of the

previous century. Once ignited, its tip was charged with 5,000 voltsof ionized electricity.Lazer tapped the tip, igniting it. The low hum of charging en-

ergy in the battle wand made Deigen’s ears twitch. It was obviousshe had felt its sting in the past. Still, her face and eyes stayed lockedon Elana’s.

“Throw a shield,” Lazer said calmly.

Elana didn’t move.“Focus. Breathe and focus.” Lazer moved closer as he spoke.“Universal God!” Kyla said breathlessly, when she saw what was

going on. “She’s been paralyzed, Lazer. Deigen’s still got her ven-om.”

Deigen shifted her gaze slightly, but still kept one eye on herprey.

“Mesmerize her,” Kyla whispered.“Shhh!” Lazer hushed Kyla.“Use your powers.”“I can’t mesmerize yet. I’m gonna distract her. You get Elana.”“Are you crazy?”“Get to Elana, throw a shield around yourselves, and then pull

her out,” Lazer ordered Kyla.Deigen snarled, and huge drops of gooey drool dripped to the

dirt.“She needs time to produce enough green venom to paralyze all

of us. We gotta move now,” Lazer said, stepping closer and liftingthe battle wand.




“She’s too big for that,” Kyla whispered.“Just throw a shield over you and Elana! Do it!” Lazer snapped.

He was three feet away from Elana and Deigen.“I can’t,” Kyla said, her voice trembling.

“You can,” Lazer insisted.“I’ll distract her.” Kyla gulped.

“As what? Dinner?” Lazer said. “On my count, shield her, pleaseKyla.” Lazer leveled the battle wand. The electrical hum raised its

pitch.“I can’t shield!” Kyla blurted, embarrassed.“I showed you how.”“Cashton helped me.”“You did it at Vacary.”“Not this big and not long or strong enough to keep her out. I

can’t. She’s too big.”

Lazer didn’t have time to explain what Masta Poe had beenteaching him—that the human mind cannot differentiate between what it perceives as real or not real and, in this case, as big or small.

Deigen’s hackles hoisted, then lowered. The creature felt theshift in tension. Her primal instincts told her someone was about tomake a move. Her huge eyes shifted back and forth, but they alwayssettled on Elana Blue.

“Youshield her,” Kyla said, and grabbed another battle wand.She tapped the end and charged it to life.

“On my count,” Lazer said as they split, moving in oppositedirections around the hulking prometheus. “One . . . two . . .” Threenever happened.

Deigen opened her mouth to bite off Elana Blue’s head.“Now!” Lazer and Kyla lunged, simultaneously stabbing Deigen

in both her left ank and right haunch. The creature wailed in pain,turned, and focused on Lazer.

Kyla raced forward. Deigen’s huge tail swung and slammedKyla, propelling her across the room and into a wall, knocking herunconscious.




Deigen’s drooling mouth ushed a sickening green. Her mas-sive jaws hinged open as she again prepared to express the glandsthat would spray and paralyze Elana Blue further, keeping her im-mobile but alive while she devoured her. It was now or never. Lazerleapt in and shoved the battle wand into Deigen’s face. Fingers of

white and aqua electricity crackled and bit into the creature’s jaw.Deigen howled and stumbled back a few feet as she choked on herown poison. She licked her face and snarled at the taste of the bitter

green uid that hung from her lips. Deigen recovered and lunged atLazer, who zapped her again with the battle rod. Half blinded by the jolt, she swiped her claws and missed Lazer’s face by inches. Lazerducked and jabbed the battle wand into her groin. Deigen bellowedand howled, shaking her head to clear the momentary blindness,and backed away. Lazer rushed to Elana, pushed her to the ground,dropped the battle wand, straddled her, and threw up his hands. By

the time Deigen recovered and turned on them, they were cocoonedin a sheer energy shield.

The prometheus attacked. She repeatedly swatted and pound-ed on the shield, but the force eld held. Deigen circled Lazer andElana, pacing as she searched for a way to get inside.

Lazer’s mind struggled for a solution. Elana lay crumpled atLazer’s feet, shaking violently as her muscles tried to release the ven-

om. She looked like a helpless child left outside, alone in the ice andsnow. Her skin was sheet white, her gaze xed and unfocused. Lazerlooked for Kyla and saw her in a heap across the room, ghting toregain consciousness.

Lazer had to face Deigen alone. The creature paced severalmore times before pouncing and straddling the shield with her full

weight. Her belly pressed into the force eld. Deigen’s massive loadbowed the shield’s form. Still it held. They were safe for the moment,trapped inside with no way out and no way for Deigen to get in.

Lazer’s arms trembled as he struggled to keep the shield intact. Hetook long, deep breaths, but his arms hurt. Bit by bit, the shield wallsbegan to crush in on them, shrinking the force eld inch by inch.




Kyla struggled to her feet. The world was spinning. She shook off the haze of confusion that clouded her mind and searched forLazer. From her vantage point in the shadowed corner of the dome,she could make out Deigen. But Lazer and Elana Blue were nowhereto be seen. Kyla watched Deigen expand and contract as if she weregiving birth. In the midst of one contraction, Kyla glimpsed Lazerand Elana Blue under the belly of the creature; Elana’s pale faceashed from beneath a skirt of skin and fur.

Kyla had to get a weapon. The battle wand lay on the groundfteen feet away. She inched toward it, hoping she could get there without being seen.

Inside the shield, the force eld continued to compress aboveLazer’s head. He struggled, sweating under the strain. Lazer thoughtabout his mother, alone in a captured country with no way out, andabout his vow to avenge his father. He couldn’t die. Not now. Not

like this. He had to hold on.Kyla was one foot away from her battle wand. It was now or

never. She lunged, grabbed it, and turned.From the corner of her eye, Deigen saw Kyla advance. Deigen

spun to attack. A single swipe knocked Kyla’s battle wand from herhand. Unarmed, exposed, she had no place to go but up. Her wingstore through her shirt and unfurled, carrying Kyla straight up and

above Lazer and Elana.Lazer used the momentary distraction. He broke the shield and

yanked Elana Blue up, throwing her over his shoulder and settingher by the door.

Deigen leapt up into the air, mouth open. Kyla’s legs vanishedinside the massive jaws. Kyla screamed as she felt the creature’s hotmoist breath against her skin. She ew harder and pulled her legs outof Deigen’s mouth, swinging them above her head. Deigen snapped,clamping her jagged spiked teeth down into Kyla’s wing and tearinginto her shoulder blade. The crunching sound of the thin, delicatebones shattering inside the powerful teeth echoed across the forumas Deigen dragged Kyla back to the oor. Kyla struggled, one half




of her severed wing apping wildly, the other shredding and tearingon Deigen’s razor teeth as they both crashed onto the ground with athunderous crack. Deigen stabilized and prepared to eat Kyla alivein one last gobbling bite when Lazer dove, rolled, snatched the battle

wand, and plunged it into Deigen’s ear. With a twist to full power, the wand surged and ignited, sending

a jolt of electricity into the creature’s head. Deigen’s head blew apartlike a ripe watermelon thrown on the street, splattering the earth

with pieces of esh, fur, and a deluge of ivory-colored blood.Kyla lay in a heap, her body impaled on what was left of Deigen’sdismembered jaws. Her eyes stretched wide, her face motionless,her back arched like a broken doll that had been played with toolong and then discarded. Her breathing was in short desperate sips.Slowly, she lifted one of her hands. She looked at her ngers to see if she still existed. Deigen’s blood had mixed with hers, blending into

a pale pink goo that clung to her hands as she lifted them up intothe light. The image looked as surreal and unbelievable as everythingthat had just occurred felt.

Lazer charged to her side. “Stay still.” Lazer tried to sound calm,hoping Kyla wouldn’t sense his panic.

“I’m . . . so . . . sorry,” she whispered.“You’re gonna be okay.”

“Tell Elana . . . I never . . . wanted . . . to hurt . . . her. Tellher . . .”

“You’ll tell her yourself,” Lazer said, not sure what to do. “I haveto get help.”

“Don’t leave me. Please,” she whispered, suddenly frightened.Lazer leaned as close as he could to her.“Things . . . a girl . . . has to do to get noticed,” she struggled

to speak. Her eyes welled with tears, not from the dull throbbingpain that racked her body, but from the thought she had caused himtrouble.

“I gotta go get help, Kyla. Don’t you go anywhere until I getback,” he whispered and smiled bravely.




Kyla nodded. He stood as she grabbed his ngers. She swal-lowed and tried her best to smile. She realized the pain had stoppedand a strange calm washed over her, followed by a chill.

“It doesn’t hurt, I’m just . . . so cold,” Kyla whispered, surprisedby the numbness that crept through her body. “Laze,” she whispered,“No matter what happens, nish your passage. Promise me.”

He was torn. Now more than ever he wanted to get away fromTosadae.

“Promise?” she asked again.Lazer leaned down and gently kissed her on the lips.“I promise,” he whispered. “You have to promise to be okay.”“I love you, Lazer. Always . . . have . . .” she whispered. Kyla

closed her eyes.“Kyla! Kyla!” Lazer screamed.Suddenly Masta Poe was standing next to him.

“Step away, Lazer,” Masta Poe commanded. Her voice was strongand yet amazingly calm.

“Don’t let her die. Please,” Lazer pleaded, the words closing inaround his throat.

Lazer didn’t remember moving away, but in the next instant he was standing behind a kneeling Masta Poe.

Masta Poe gathered the lifeless Kyla into her arms and began

to whisper into her ear, “In gredia, lon tatum. Masi lai s tu. Che re fodu. Stali stamus, feritate .”

Again and again she repeated the words, “In gredia, lon tatum. Masi lai s tu. Che re fodu. Stali stamus, feritate .”

Lazer watched as a shroud of haze appeared from nowhere andencircled them. Through the curtain of fog, he saw Kyla lying onthe ground and, at the exact same time, she was standing just on theother side of the haze, watching expressionlessly as the event unfold-ed. Lazer blinked, not believing his eyes. He looked down and saw her broken body still in Masta Poe’s arms. He could hear the strangechant she spoke, but Masta Poe’s lips didn’t move. The sounds fellon his ears as though they were coming from a million miles away.




Then, the standing Kyla looked directly at Lazer.“I’ll nd you again,” he heard her voice whisper in his ear. He

could smell Kyla’s scent and feel her hand brush his cheek.Kyla turned to walk away.“Kyla!” Lazer shouted. He wanted to go after her, but his feet

were stuck to the earth. Again he heard Masta Poe repeating the haunting chant. Her

voice became stronger and more emphatic.“In gredia, lon tatum.

Masi lai s tu. Che re fodu. Stali stamus, feritate .” She was commandingher to stay. Lazer couldn’t understand the words, but he knew, withevery ber in his being, the exact intent that lay behind the strangeutterances. The strange words were carried on a siren’s melody, sosoft and hypnotic it pulled him closer without taking a step.

“In gredia, lon tatum. Masi lai s tu. Che re fodu. Stali stamus, feritate .” Masta Poe chanted the words again and again. “In gredia,

lon tatum. Masi lai s tu. Che re fodu. Stali stamus, feritate .”Lazer looked up at the vision of Kyla. It had risen and was now

oating ve feet off the oor. The tone in Masta Poe’s voice becamemore intense. “In gredia, lon tatum. Masi lai s tu. Che re fodu.Stali stamus, feritate. I lio ta univa. Tu vie. Tu vie. Tu vie ,” Masta Poechanted. Her small, frail body was trembling.

Lazer dropped to his knees. Compelled by what he was bearing

witness to, he reached out to Masta Poe, gently placing his hand onher shoulder. He joined his mind with hers.

“Kyla. Don’t leave me.” Lazer whispered.His ears were lled with the sound of a speeding train and he felt

the rush of a warm wind blow as Kyla’s spirit passed through him.It was lled with such love that Lazer gasped, clasped his hands overhis heart, and opened his eyes. At the same time he opened his eyes,Kyla opened hers.

At that moment, the emergency doors to the battle forum ew open. The creature crew entered in full artillery, behind the headcreature master, Captain Drew Janos. It took all of ten secondsfor Captain Janos to assess the situation. Two men were wearing



—| 361 |—

I 8

ONE LESSON MORE

It was Monday, one hour until the rite of passage transport arrived.Lazer reminded himself that it would be two weeks of basic sur-

vival and then he would nd a way to get home. He wanted to be

with Kyla and Elana Blue at Sangelino, but he wouldn’t break thepromise he had made to his mother and now his promise to Kyla.She had kept her promise and lived; he would keep his.

Lazer existed in his own private misery. He said little to Cashton. What had happened in the battle forum with Kyla and Masta Poe was an enigma he could not bring himself to speak about with any-one. He knew he had to see Masta Poe before he left. He knew, more

than anything, that when he had completed his quest to rid Atlantiaof the Black Guard, he wanted to come back to Masta Poe and study the Visionistic Arts under her tutelage. Lazer made his way throughthe serpentine corridors of the Visionistic Arts and Powers buildingand headed down to Masta Poe’s private chamber. He stood at thethreshold for what felt like forever, trying to muster the courage toknock. He felt paralyzed. No matter how hard he tried, he was un-able to raise his arm. A millisecond before he turned to walk away,the door swung open on its own.

“Come in, Cadet Lazerman,” Masta Poe said, without botheringto turn from her experiments.

“I . . . wanted to thank you . . .” Lazer started.




“You already did, Lazer. I heard it in your heart.”“I want to understand what you did to bring Kyla . . .”“I only did what you both wanted. I only showed her the way.

It was love and faith that brought her back. And before you canlead others to that kind of love, you must rst learn to love yourself,Lazer. Only then can you understand the powers that are the univer-sal heart.” She spoke to him in words she knew, but no matter how hard he tried, Lazer still was not willing to understand.

“There isn’t much time. Come. I have a set of phaser cuffs onthe desk.” Masta Poe pointed. “Please put them on.”Lazer obeyed. He strapped on the double-barreled titanium

phaser cuffs, complete with switchblade thumb triggers.I can show her I’m ready . The cuffs were designed for maximum speed and lethalpower. They could be red as an automatic weapon or, if used onanother setting, they would produce an eighteen-inch laser bayo-

net hot enough to cut through steel. With a turn of his wrists, thenarrow ring mechanism jutted into his palm. He pressed the laserblade release to send the seven hair-thin, re-red laser points outaround his st to conjoin into the three-inch-thick bayonet. Lazermoved through a series of tai chi motions. He liked the thin hiss thelasers made as they cut the air.

“Is she well?” Poe asked gently, nally turning to face him.

Lazer stopped. He retracted the blades. His disposition be-came somber. “Kyla was evacuated to a hospital in Sangelino. She’sstable.”

“And Miss Covax?”Lazer looked up, surprised that she knew Elana’s secret identity.“They were both sent on the same shuttle to some special hos-

pital in Sangelino.”“And what if that transport stopped in Atlantia?” Poe asked.“I’d have been the rst one on it.”“That’s all that’s kept you from going?” she asked, turning back

to her work. “A proton dome?”“And . . . a promise. I made a promise.” Lazer straightened. He was




proud that he was keeping his word to both his mother and Kyla.“You still do not admit your limitations.”“What I lack in skill and weapons, determination can make up

for.” He held up the cuffs as a sign of his potential deadly force.Masta Poe studied Lazer. He was arrogant and cocky, but that

was partly condence and partly fear. What he lacked, she knew, wasthe humility to learn and the willingness to exist in bliss and acceptthe remembering.

“It will take more than phasers and courage to protect you fromyour fate,” Poe added.“You taught me that my fate is undetermined until I determine

it!” he snapped back, using her words to emphasize his point.Masta Poe swept the air with her arm. A shaft of white and or-

ange re streamed straight for Lazer.Lazer reacted immediately. He ignited the phaser cuffs and red

directly into the re stream, attening it until it consumed itself.Masta Poe sent a second blast, then a third and fourth blast ew across the room. Lazer counterblasted each one. She couldn’t helpbut notice what a natural he was, that he had a grace and uidity that made the cuffs act as if they were part of him. His form, hisstance, his aim was that of a skilled master.

“You’re draining all my power!” Lazer yelled, when he glanced

at the power levels on his gun. There was a hint of panic in hisbreathless voice as the band ashed red then faded to black.

Masta Poe raised her hands and shot an even larger, morepowerful stream of re. Lazer’s eyes widened. He closed the cuffs,dropped to one knee and, slamming his wrists together, threw anenergy shield. The re stream slammed into the shimmering forceeld that encircled him, heating the energy waves that protectedhim to a glowing white. Lazer began to sweat inside the shell, but hehad learned from the prometheus that inside its cocoon, he couldendure any onslaught.

The re subsided and Masta Poe stared at him with uninching,emotionless eyes.




“That’s all,” she said. “Stand.”“What was that about?” Lazer blurted, shaken and ustered.“I wondered when you would realize the limitations of the

weapons and draw upon your powers.”“You could have killed me!”“Your death will not be of my design, Lazer; it will be your

own.” Masta Poe calmly turned back to her experiments.“I’m not afraid of death,” he said.

“No, Lazer, you are afraid of life.”There was a long pause before she faced him again. Her eyes were lled with a strange, gentle understanding, and Lazer felt hercompassion and relaxed his stance. With her mind, Poe called to his.Lazer opened himself and, for the rst time, he didn’t ght the tin-gling rush that occurred when he felt Masta Poe reading his thoughtsand feelings. Through her senses, she reached for the hues of pure

love that lay in Lazer’s heart. She saw the light that still glowed in-side the vast unconditional compassion he held for his family andfriends. She saw his innite depth of ever-growing faith that could,if he would open himself to it, become the power to manifest his ev-ery dream. But in each brilliant color that painted his emotions, shesaw the shadowed walls of anger that hung like heavy velvet curtainsand blocked the glow of all that was good. Potential bound by fear,

innuendo, doubt, and, worst of all, by hate.“Go, if you must, Cole Lazerman, but hear these words and

heed their meaning. Trust in the knowing that you and the universeare one, and that all the powers of the universe are inside you at thisvery moment. But you alone must choose between the paths of loveand hate, for each one brings a different destiny. It is the journey,Lazer, not the destination that frees the soul.”

Lazer saw tears well in her eyes.Lazer felt the wave of sadness that he had seen in Masta Poe’s

eyes crash into him and twist with the force of a turbulent storm. It was a cold knife that twisted into his heart and hung there heavy anddark. Why was she so sad? Was she so sure he would fail?




Doubt closed in like a cold, dark vacuum, taking the sweetnessfrom the air and giving back only the stench of dread. The shadowsof fear crept over him and rose up, pitch black and ghostly, creating avision of darkness that surrounded him and lled him with the emp-tiness and horror of the unknown. It choked his spirit and blockedthe way—not just of the journey he must take, but the courage he

would need to succeed.“I won’t fail!” he shouted. “Why can’t you just give me the secret

of the knowing?”“How can I give you something you already possess?”“I don’t. You told me I could demand it as my human right . .

. then I demand it,” Lazer shouted, commanding the universe anddefying the ominous feeling that pulled at him. Lazer closed his eyesand, in the sigh of a silent prayer, he calmed himself. “I demandit.”

“Ask your emotions, Lazer. They are your guides in these times,not me.”Lazer looked at her.“Go in light, Cole Lazerman. The path that calls you awaits, and

I will tell you only this: You have no time for fear. Let it go and therest will ow to you,” she said. In a gesture betting a knight, MastaPoe leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead. Before he could

say another word, she vanished into a silken mist.Lazer was alone. He let thoughts drift and called to mind his

most powerful emotions: the hate he held for himself that was sealedindelibly inside the guilt over his father’s death; the regret he felt be-cause he had abandoned his mother who, by all the signs, had beenlost to him under the dome that encased Atlantia. Evvy’s death also

weighed on his heart. Lazer felt the pangs of his most trusted emo-tion—anger—for it above all had so faithfully fueled him. But thepurest and most powerful of all was the hatred he held for the Black Guard, which burned like the blazing re of a newborn sun. But inthe exact same breath of turmoil and rage, the sweet memories of Elana Blue cooled the fever that boiled in his mind. Wasn’t it his




love for her that allowed him to save her from Deigen? Didn’t thatoutweigh his fear that he might never hold her in his arms again?

And, what of his vanquished homeland? Could it be the love of hisfriends—Cashton and his guardian angel, Kyla—that empoweredhim? Didn’t his family and country matter in the greater scheme of life more than the black mark of hatred that covered his soul?

The questions pounded inside this wild, mounting cacophony of swirling emotions. Lazer let the feelings give him strength. He

felt a warm rush of possibility ow through his veins and a know-ing that once he chose his thoughts, he was capable of anything hecould imagine.

Lazer’s breath quickened with excitement. If he could hold ontothis newfound power, he could not fail.

Could these feelings be his connection to his BAI—his personalkey to the powers of the Universe?This had to be the knowing . If

this was the destiny Masta Poe spoke of, then Lazer was ready toface this ultimate decision between love and hate. He would takeon his destiny like a welcome cloak—heavy with the weight of re-sponsibility for everything he cared about. For the rst time in hislife, Lazer understood the power of choice. He had within his heart,mind, and soul the one thing that would carry him to victory againstall odds; with one unspoken word, Lazer committed himself to the

inevitable.Lazer looked one last time around Masta Poe’s ofce, gathered

his bag, and left for the transport that would take him on his rite of passage . . . and then home.



Join the QUESTERS

and become a member of

THE VISION QUEST world!

Visitwww. thevisionquest .com

Vision Quest - Debroah Pratt

Documents

Transcript of Vision Quest - Debroah Pratt