Immortal (16 page)

“It’s Lily and Alonzo.” She said. “Let’s go
say hi.” He followed as she walked around the couples ahead of
them, careful to dodge their glasses as they swayed, and sloshed
sparkle water as they went.

“Vanessa! A beauty, as always.” Alonzo said,
as he bent to kiss her hand.

“Oh Alonzo, always such the romantic.”
Vanessa exclaimed. Lily wrapped herself provocatively around Jonah,
and kissed him on the cheek. Awkwardly, he held his hands at his
side, and looked to Vanessa for help. “Easy girl. He’s an honoree
tonight. You don’t want to get him flustered on his big night.”
Vanessa said. Lily unwrapped herself, and then warmly embraced
her.

“Oh, Nessa. Relax!” She said, as she kissed
both of her cheeks. “Just a little hello, between friends.” She
said, and turned and winked back at Jonah.

Suddenly the low hum of music from the other
room ceased. Jonah looked from Lily to the shimmering curtain of
air that separated the main hall as it disappeared. He could see
that the light show had ended, and the video walls had all changed
to show a muted and ever changing series of patterns.

“Ladies, and Gentleman.” A voice boomed and
echoed throughout, as the crowd went silent. Pomp and circumstance
like music, like multiple brass horns blaring, played briefly.
“Presenting, your Lordship!” Again the music sounded. “The Master
of these ceremonies.” Again the music sounded. “Your beloved,
Premier!” The music sounded again, as heavy drum beats joined in.
The lights went completely out. Then a single pinpoint of light
from the center of the vaulted ceiling pierced the darkness, and
illuminated a robed figure high in the balcony. The video walls
suddenly changed to show larger than life images of the illuminated
figure. His crown sparkled in the spotlight. His face was a
landscape of composure. The music ended, and for a few seconds,
there was absolute silence.

“Gentle peoples of New Sebastian.” Roger
began. Though he spoke softly, his voice could be heard clearly and
seemed to come from everywhere in the great hall. “Today we
celebrate life.” He began to glance around the great hall slowly.
“We celebrate our continued existence in peace and harmony. We come
together again this year to be thankful for all that we have, and
all that we can have, and all that we will have in the coming year,
and years after that.” He grasped the balcony railing with one
hand, and raised his other above his head. “Today!” He spoke
louder, as his voice now resonated. “Today, we rejoice!” The crowd
cheered. “We rejoice in life!” The crowd cheered again. “We rejoice
in rejuvenation!” He exclaimed, as the crowd cheered again. “We
embrace renewed life!” Again they cheered. “We embrace our right!”
They cheered. “To be born again!” He boomed, and the crowd cheered
louder than before. Continuously the waves of cheers reverberated
around the room.

Some of the video walls began to show
glimpses of the attendees as they cheered. The images only paused
for a few seconds before they switched to other parts of the crowd.
Roger’s expression went from serious to elated, as a large smile
formed. He raised his other hand, both high above his head.

“The Accession Ball is begun!” He bellowed,
and the crowd made even more noise than before. The lights began to
pulse once again. The spotlight on Roger faded, as did his image on
the video walls. The music began again, and the crowd began to
dance again. And the shimmering curtain of air once again appeared,
and suddenly muted the sounds from the great hall.

“Quite the showman.” Vanessa said, turned
back to Jonah.

“That he is. That he is.” Jonah replied.

“You may wish to head backstage, Jonah.”
Alonzo said. “Being an honoree, and all.”

“Yes dear. You should go.” Vanessa
agreed.

“Maybe I’ll go with him.” Lily said with a
devilish grin, and reached towards Jonah.

“Oh no you won’t, my little nymph. You’ll
stay right here with your Alonzo.” Alonzo said, as he wrapped his
arm around her waist, and pulled her back towards him.

“Mmm.” She said as he kissed her. “Maybe I
will.” She said, as she looked into Alonzo’s eyes, and softly
touched his cheek with her hand. Jonah hugged then kissed Vanessa,
and lingered as he took one last look at her.

“You’ll be grand, darling.” She said, and
kissed him back. “Now go. Hurry!” She said as she made a shooing
motion, and smiled as he turned and walked away. She turned back to
Lily. “A little frisky tonight, my dear?” She asked, a smile on her
face, though her eyes did not carry the same easiness that her
voice did. Lily and Alonzo laughed.

“A little libido upgrade.” She said, and gave
Vanessa a wink.

“She’s killing me.” Alonzo said, laughingly.
“But I love it!” He said, as he bent and kissed Lily passionately.
Vanessa nodded, as she still smiled, turned back to the great room,
and took a long sip from her glass.

Jericho brought his hand slowly to her face.
His finger tips shook as he did so. The heartache nearly
overwhelmed him, as his skin made contact with her hair. The tears
that filled his eyes made it difficult to see clearly, but he had
to see. He gently brushed her hair away from her face. He blinked,
and tried to clear his eyes enough to see. He quickly rose up, and
brushed the rest of her hair away from her face. He took a step
back as the realization overtook him. This was not Gabrielle. He
stared in disbelief. He turned back towards the open doorway. He
knew she must still be here somewhere, and he had to find her. Find
her before one of these mechanical monstrosities could hurt her.
Deftly he grabbed the control stick from the floor, and lunged
through the doorway. He looked both ways for Guardians, but the
hallway was still clear. Then he cautiously approached the doorway
across the hall, that the Guardian had entered only moments before.
That door also still stood open. He peered around the edge of the
doorway, and his heart began to race.

There she was. Her eyes were closed, with her
head turned towards the door. Above her a Guardian loomed, as it
attached a series of straps that held her down. The Guardian’s back
was to Jericho, and he slowly and carefully entered the room. Two
steps in, the machine at the head of the bed came to life. Metallic
arms suddenly flew up into the air, and positioned themselves over
Gabrielle’s unconscious body.

“No!” Jericho yelled as he leaped forward
towards the Guardian, which spun in place and brought its arm down
and knocked the control stick out of Jericho’s hand. Jericho
whirled to the side, as he heard the control stick bang harmlessly
across the floor. The Guardian’s other arm flew at him, and as he
sensed this, he dropped to the floor. The arm barely grazed his
back. He somersaulted away from the Guardian as it whirled towards
him, control stick now visible in its hand. He rolled under the bed
as the control stick stabbed down. The tip bounced harmlessly off
of the floor.

He emerged from the other side, and came up
quickly in a crouch, just as the control stick swung over his head
and made contact with one of the metallic arms that descended
towards Gabrielle. Sparks erupted, and the whirring sounds from the
machine came to a stop. The Guardian paused, as if in thought. As
if unsure of what had just happened. Then suddenly it moved into
action again and jabbed the control stick towards Jericho through
the now immobile metallic arms. Again the tip touched one of the
arms, and sparks flew, but there was no hesitation from the
Guardian now. Jericho began to step to the side. He moved closer,
and then lunged back, and dodged his head to and fro. The Guardian
withdrew the stick and stabbed again and again through the metallic
arms, repeatedly it struck metal, and caused even more sparks to
fly.

Gabrielle’s eyelids began to flutter, as she
slowly began to regain consciousness, but still unaware of the
battle that raged just inches over her. Jericho stepped closer to
the bed, and the Guardian jabbed the control stick deftly between
two frozen metal arms. As the control stick came through, Jericho
could see its movement as if it was in slow motion. He shifted his
body to the side, and turned as he went. He raised his arms in
perfect timing, as the control stick reached its maximum distance.
The Guardian’s arm jammed in between the looming metallic arms with
a dull clank. Jericho’s left hand now firmly gripped one of the
metallic arms near the head of the bed. His right hand continued
its upward arc and wrapped around the tip of the control stick.
Instantly he could feel the voltage surge through his body. Up his
right arm, through his chest, and back down his left arm into the
metal of the thing attached to the bed. Sparks flew from the
Guardian’s arm where it was jammed, as its body began to vibrate
spasmodically. Smoke and flames began to erupt from the Guardian,
as Jericho released the tip of the control stick.

“Jericho!” Gabrielle screamed. Her eyes were
wide with terror. He ran to the other side of the bed, and wrapped
his arms around the still smoking Guardian, and heaved it to the
side, away from the bed. “Get me out of here!” She yelled, as she
struggled with her bindings and he began to free them one by one.
“What happened?” She asked, as he continued to undo the straps.

“Not now.” He responded breathlessly. “We
have to get out of here.” He said, as he released the final strap,
and gently helped her off of the bed. He did his best not to notice
her nakedness. She reached down and snatched the sheet from the
bed, and quickly improvised a tunic again, as he carefully
extracted the control stick from the metallic arms above, and then
grabbed the one from the floor over against the wall. “Are you
okay?” He asked. Eyes still wide, she nodded. He handed one of the
control sticks to her, as they approached the doorway. “Just touch
them with this if they get in your way.” He said, as he showed her
how to hold it.

“The Guardians?” She asked, and he nodded his
reply, then looked into her eyes. He kissed her. Shocked at first,
she instinctively pulled back, but stopped herself and kissed him
back. They pulled apart, but their eyes were still locked. Jericho
took a deep breath, she followed suit, and then they turned to the
doorway. He peeked outside, and saw nothing. They left the room.
Jericho led the way back down the hall. He intentionally did not
hesitate or draw attention to the open doorway where the ruined
body of the other girl lay. He did not want Gabrielle to have to
see what he had seen. They ran down the corridor, and he slowed at
the first turn to peek around the corner. The corridor was full of
Guardians, as far back as he could see, and they all walked towards
them. He quickly pulled his head back, and threw his back against
the wall.

“Run.” He whispered.

“What?” She asked. He grabbed her shoulder
and turned her back around towards the way they had just come.

“Run.” He said with urgency, but still tried
to remain as quiet as possible. She ran back up the corridor, with
him right behind her. He quickly passed her as she had stopped and
dug through a bin next to the wall. Assorted grey clothing hung in
her hands. “What are you doing?” Jericho asked, as he looked
back.

“I am not wearing this sheet any longer.” She
said and ran after him as she carried the clothing with her. They
came to a turn just past the room she had been in. He did not slow,
or pause to look around the corner. He continued to run, and
grabbed her hand as he went by, to make sure that she stayed with
him. They continued to run past a series of connecting hallways,
closed doors, and intersections, before they finally reached a dead
end. Here stood a door larger than the others that he had seen, but
he quickly noticed the now familiar keypad beside the door. He
quickly entered the same combination from before, and the door slid
open, and revealed steps that led down into a large dark open
room.

“Inside!” He yelled, and pushed her ahead. He
stopped as he crossed the threshold, and looked around the interior
of the doorway for another access panel to allow him to shut the
door, and then saw it not next to the door, but on the adjacent
wall. The panel was larger than the others he had seen, with many
different keys than just the ones he had seen before. He tried to
use the same pattern as before. But nothing happened. He tried
again, and again nothing happened. He realized a different sequence
might be needed, as he held his palm over the pad, and began to
force himself to relax. As he did so, he saw out of the corner of
his eye that Gabrielle had dropped the sheet that she wore, and had
began to put on the clothes that she had brought with her from the
bin. He did his best to focus on the keypad, but try as he might,
he could not help but glance at her beautiful silhouette.

“Hey!” She yelled at him. “No Peeking!” He
blushed, and looked back at the panel. Suddenly he could see one
key brighter than the rest and touched it. A light far inside the
large room came on. He calmly relaxed again, and another key seemed
to call to him. He touched it and more lights flickered on.

“Just relax.” He said to himself, as he took
a deep breath. He slowly exhaled, and he began to see an entire
series of key strokes. He implemented these one by one. After more
lights came on, the sound of machinery began to hum. One light went
back out, and then he finally hit upon the correct sequence. The
door slid shut.

“What are we running from?” Gabrielle asked,
as she stepped down from the stairs to the main floor of the vast
room, some twenty feet below.

“Guardians.” He said, as he followed her down
the stairs. “There were so many I couldn’t count them.” She
nodded.

“What is this place?” She asked, as much to
herself as to him. Now at floor level he began to really look
around the vast room and noticed the row after row of shelving and
scaffolding. Each shelf held a vat of varying sizes, with tubes and
wires coming out of it, then neatly arranged and attached to the
support structure, where they disappeared into the floor. They
walked further into the room and passed row upon row of the high
shelving. They did not see a single empty shelf. The sounds of
whirring machines and running pumps could be heard from everywhere.
Suddenly, a rectangular box shaped machine zoomed out of one of the
aisles ahead and disappeared into the aisle across from it. Jericho
quickly jogged up to the aisle and peered around the corner. The
control stick was in his hand, ready for action. As he watched, the
machine stopped halfway down the aisle, and suddenly the top part
rose up into the air twenty feet. As it came to a stop, metallic
grapples came out of its top section, and reached out and grabbed a
vat from shelf, and set it onto its top. Then as suddenly as it had
risen, the top came back down and settled into its body, and
without hesitation, it shot back up the aisle towards them.