Enemy (8 page)

     The explosion of white hell threw the dark interior of the transport into harsh brightness, terrifying everyone within. As the shockwave swept over the line of trucks, a deafening, explosive sound tore through each passenger’s head.

     Robert Hodge groped around the interior of the transport, forever blinded by the initial explosion. His hands found the neck of the GI who had been sitting next to him by the back door.

     “What have you done!? What have you done!?” His grasp on the struggling soldier’s neck tightened.

     Hodge’s blood stippled the face of the soldier as the bullet tore through his head. The commander of the evacuation stood with gun smoking, and he wrestled Rob’s body through the open canvas cover. He watched as the body struck the asphalt of U.S. 41 and rolled.

     Standing in the open back door, thrown into contrast by the hellishly bright mushroom cloud unfolding on the horizon behind them, the commander addressed the shocked passengers of the transport.

     “The next person who speaks joins him.”

     The convoy continued down the highway.

     “Increase speed! We’ll be pulled back in!”

     The B-4 hurtled onward, pressed to the limit. Behind it, the two Spears were caught in the backdraft of the shockwave and ripped effortlessly apart. The debris vaporized instantly in the atomic firestorm.

     The mushroom cloud shrank until it was nothing but a pinpoint of hellfire on the horizon.

     “We’re clear.”

     “That should throw them off our trail for a while. Head west. We’ll try to contact Magdalene as we get closer.”

     They sped into the setting sun.

     Red Room.

     Cervera.

     She did not believe what she had just been told.

     Harkness, Michigan had been nuked.

     How had Jennings done this without Cervera’s knowledge? She knew Jennings was scared, but to order a nuclear strike on his own country? She thought Jennings had only meant to use extreme measures at the Guam site, not on Harkness.

     The lines of communication were shaky at best at the present moment. No one knew for sure what had happened, but one thing was painfully clear: Harkness was no more, and many American soldiers had been killed in the blast.

     War hero or not, Jennings was way out of line.

     Jennings was too paranoid for his own good. The Canadians were in no position to start another war. The Styx had made sure of that. Jennings was jumping at shadows. What had started out as probably a meteor shower had turned into a tragedy because of Jennings and his delusions of grandeur.

     Cervera loaded her handgun and placed it in her holster.

     Jennings had to be stopped.

     The sleek, black B-4 sped through the air on a path into destiny. They had won the race against the setting sun.

     “Captain, linkup successful. You can speak to her now.”

     “Good. Magdalene?”

     static.

     “Maggie?”

     (...yes, reynald?...) The signal was so very weak.

     “We’re on our way.”

     silence.

     “Magdalene, are you still there?”

     (...i feel them coming to me again. more ships, more planes. this time they’ll destroy me...)

     “They’ll try, but you can’t let them succeed.”

     (...jean, my weapons are at twelve percent...)

     “Twelve percent? Did you deplete reserve power?”

     (...i delegated weapons power to the communications array. i located an enemy on purpose transit. i sent a beacon into the stream to summon a strike force to intercept...)

     “Did our forces prevail?”

     hesitation.

     (...no.)

     “Harvest?”

     (...soon.)

     “And you only have twelve percent weapons?”

     (...i won’t survive another attack...)

     “If we travel at maximum speed, can we reach you in time?”

     (...the approaching vessels are closer to my present position than you are. you won’t arrive in time to save me.. it’s too late...)

     “Don’t say that. We’ll find a way to get there before the natives do. Too much is riding on this. We have to alert the fleet of Kilbourne’s plan. We’ll find a way to save your core, at least, and you can be refitted into—”

     (...no, reynald. it’s too late for me. they’re so close.. there’s no time for a shadow core transfer… my pattern’s begun to dissemble. my drives are gone. there’s no escape for me, but it’s not too late for you...)

     “Are there other Judas in-system?”

     (...a force led by judas simon is in transit. his fleet was destroyed at the point, but he’s coming to rescue us. he’ll arrive in several cycles, well after the natives reach me...)

     “So now what do we do?”

     (...i jettisoned the shadow drive and it destroyed the enemy vessel that attacked us in orbit. a piece of debris from the enemy entered the atmosphere and crashed on a small island near my present position. the island is emitting shadow radiation, the only source on this planet at this time. simon will detect the shadow radiation...)

     “Adjusting instrumentation for phase space detection. I see it.”

     (...simon will rendezvous with you when the fleet whendrops. It’s now up to you to alert the others of kilbourne...)

     “We can still try to save you!”

     (...save yourselves...

     “Maggie? What’s wrong?”

     (...fading. power reserve depletion... pattern…

     Reynald was torn. He had never felt so helpless.

     “Kilbourne will pay for this. We’ll never forget your sacrifice, Maggie. Never.”

     (...the purpose...

     “...will be prevented.”

     Simon sensed the beacon, accessed it.

     The coordinates of an island... A Shadow signature? But that would mean...

     No.
     He traced the beacon to its source.

     ((magdalene! maggie, this can’t be true!))

     (...it doesn’t matter any more... you have to save my crew... it’s too late for me...

     ((don’t give up! we’ll increase speed! we’ll rescue you!! just hold on, maggie.))

     (no time…

     ((just hold on! please hold on!))

     (...simon i  love  you

     ((maggie, don’t leave me. i can’t do this without you.))

     (...you  can

     ((I CAN’T LOSE YOU AGAIN!))

     (…love

     ((maggie, i—))

     (…

     ((maggie?))

     …

     ((i love you.))

     She fell silent as her Shadow faded. She fell silent, forever.

     At 09:45 EST, two American Spear warplanes flew over the Mariana Trench near Guam, dropping two hydrogen torpedoes onto the impact site. The Judas Gethsemane Magdalene was no more.

The Enemy tore out of the Whenstream and fell into the gap between the stars.

     VICTORY. THE BLOOD OF JUDAS HAS BEEN SHED.

     satisfaction.

    
PATTERN AUGMENTATION((?))

     THOSE WHO DID NOT SUBMIT WERE DESTROYED.

    
THE PATTERN NEARS COMPLETION. THE PURPOSE NEARS COMPLETION.

     THE BELT VOLATILES HAVE BEEN HARVESTED.

    
JOIN US THEN. PLANET HARVEST ENSUES. LET THE UPLOAD BEGIN. OMEGA’S GLORY BECKONS.

     From the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars, a darkness emerged. The silver Enemy vessel, spidery, black, a cancer of sanity, arose.

     WE ARE COMING.

     the Black closes.

     Simon.

     If a machine could love, Simon had loved Magdalene.

     Emptiness. Heartbreak. Rage. No word could adequately describe what he felt. The sacrifices they had made, the pain they had seen... How could he survive without her?

     What did any of it matter anymore, the war, the Purpose? He had seen his only love die before his eyes a second time. The touch of her mind, the gentle reminder that she was with him always, was painfully absent. She was gone forever.

     He quickened his pace.

     He had received her final transmission, the coordinates to rendezvous with her crew, and then he felt her silent, mechanical scream as her atoms were torn apart. He had uttered a cry of helpless rage as he felt her die.

     A part of him was gone forever, and in its place, something black was born. He would make the Enemy suffer. He would hunt them down to the last traitor.

     Almost there...

     Simon piloted the strike force through the Whenstream, frantically searching for the correct exit point, not wanting to over- or under-shoot Magdalene’s When.

     He sensed her When beacon transmitting in the Stream, a muted, dismal tone in the emptiness between times. Is this really all there is left of her?

     Simon signaled the rest of his fleet. He disengaged the Shadow drive, and felt the winds of timesweep wash over him.

     ((the enemy awaits us.))    

     He began the hibernatory stasis release process to revive his captain.

     With the rage of a human, Simon crashed from the Whenstream into Magdalene’s When, and he began the silent hunt for the damned.

     He would find the Enemy, and he would destroy them. Forever.             

     The moon of Mars. Phobos.

     The two black impossibilities orbited the moon, drew closer, joined in an embrace that was at the same time tender and somehow obscene.

     The Enemy was one again.

     Wind River, D.C.