Summoning Light (2 page)

She had at last admitted Bunny, but she did not trust the telepath. Bunny was challenging her in some way she didn't quite understand. Concentrating, carrying out her tasks had become more difficult in Bunny's presence. At the first sign of aggression, Anna was prepared to expel Bunny out the nearest orifice. In the meantime, she bent her mind toward the telepath, hoping at least to make Bunny as uncomfortable as she was.

As she waited above the planet, Anna realized it wasn't only Bunny's presence that disturbed her, but her duties for this day, as the Eye had explained them. She longed to swoop down upon an enemy, to shriek out her war cry, to rush with the rapture of fire. For that she had been well trained. But for what she must do today, she had not been trained.

She resented having to take direction from Elizar, rather than from the Eye. More than that, she feared performing poorly, failing the machine that was so perfect and was a part of her. But if it was perfect, and it was a part of her, then she would not fail. She could not fail.

The intruders were speaking. Anna would have preferred to ignore them, to concentrate on the tasks at hand. But she had to keep close watch on Bunny, and she must try to understand this unfamiliar situation, so that she would perform well. Anna absorbed their words, their images, through her skin.

Though he was young, Elizar was the leader of the group. He had an angular face and pale skin. His scalp was bare, but on his chin dark hair grew in an intricate pattern. He wore a long coat of maroon velvet, with a gold and maroon vest underneath. At first Anna had thought the clothes lent him stature, but she realized the aura of authority came from Elizar himself. He calculated his movements as carefully as Anna plotted a course. What intrigued Anna most, though, was Elizar's platinum staff, which he held braced against the floor. From it she sensed signs of life.

Elizar and Bunny stood to one side in Anna's largest chamber, speaking privately. "If you're successful," Elizar said, "you will prove your value to me today. You will not share the fate of the others."

Bunny was tall for a woman, as tall as Elizar. A thinness to her face made her look a few years older than him, and somehow gave Anna the sense that Bunny was hungry – for something. She had long, curly blond hair and wore a tight-fitting pink dress. She shrugged. "I don't know why you won't let me go at him first. You don't need torture or tricks. I'll get what you need."

"I respect your abilities, Bunny. But if he does not give us the information willingly, I fear we will not get it. Mages are trained in mental discipline and focus. Kell is the most adept of us all. He may have defenses we do not suspect."

"No one can stand up to me, except another P12 telepath. There're about a dozen of those on Earth. I went through Tilar fast enough for you, didn't I? Had him reliving his potty training. The poor thing is still scared of me." Bunny glanced toward Tilar, who sat across the chamber, watching them.

"Tilar is a failed mage," Elizar said.

"I could do the same to you, sweet cheeks, anytime, anywhere." There was a lightness to her tone that made Anna uncertain whether she meant the threat or not.

Elizar ran the head of his staff down the side of her face. "But it would be the last thing you would ever do, sweet Bunny."

She twirled her long blond hair. "That's what makes our arrangement so perfect. Live and let live. Except for our enemies."

"If I am forced to call upon you, that means all else has failed. He'll fight you. You may have to destroy his mind to find the truth."

"I hope so. There's a real rush in ripping through someone's brain, through all those tired ideas and pathetic worries. It feels like taking a bunch of poor old gerbils out of their rusty exercise wheels. And then blowing them up."

"So long as you first find what we need," Elizar said.

"I'll find it." The lightness had drained out of Bunny's voice. "Don't start getting all repressive on me. I'm not big on obedience. I wouldn't follow my parents' rules, so they turned me in. I wouldn't follow Psi Corps' rules, so they locked me up. I wouldn't follow the rules of the goddamn blips, so they volunteered me for the sleeper tube express. Why should I listen to a bunch of hypocrites and users?"

Elizar lowered his voice. "But wouldn't you want to make new rules of your own, eliminate the hypocrisy?"

She laughed with a toss of her head. "My rules would be the most hypocritical of all. I'm all for chaos. That's why I agreed to help you." Her ice blue eyes narrowed. "I thought you felt the same."

"I told you," Elizar said. "We believe in the same things. We were both taken from our homes and forced into a mold we did not fit. We both found hypocrisy, secrets, and oppression. And we both rebelled."

Outside, a ship approached. Anna recognized it as the techno-mage ship they had been sent to meet. It was like the one who had first brought Elizar here. Like his staff, it carried some trace of life. Anna was interested in these techno-mage ships. They were not soulless, like the other ships she had encountered. Yet they were not like her sisters, either. In a way, they seemed similar to the Vorlon ships about which she'd been warned. Their life seemed an extension of the being riding within, a being who might come and go independently. These ships weren't truly alive, as she was. They were a sad echo of life. They had no will of their own; they had no freedom. They were forced to follow orders. A techno-mage and his ship were not one; she and the machine were one, working together toward common goals: chaos and destruction.

Anna informed her passengers of the ship's arrival. She had learned little from their conversation.

"You're about to meet the biggest hypocrite of all," Elizar said.

Bunny's lips parted, the tip of her tongue pushing through. "The fun begins." She turned to Razeel and Tilar, extending her hands. "Come on! You guys don't laugh enough. We're going to kill the king of the techno-mages today! Can I get a smile out of you, at least?"

Tilar stood. "This is too easy. I'll laugh when it's done, if there's something to laugh about. You underestimate Kell."

Bunny shrugged. "I think you all overestimate yourselves. You may have some fancy machinery wired into you, but artificial power can never stand up to the real thing." She waved her hands down the length of her body. "A machine, after all, can always be – " she snapped her fingers – "turned off."

That comment, Anna felt certain, had been directed at her. Perhaps Bunny needed to be reminded of her own weaknesses. A telepath, after all, could always be killed.

The small mage named Razeel said nothing, but stood with the others.

Elizar directed Anna to open herself to the techno-mage ship. She didn't want to accept the inferior ship within her. It was not worthy of her, and it could do much damage to her unprotected interior.

Yet admitting the ship was part of her duty. She must do it. At least she would hold the ship for only a short time.

Before proceeding, she scanned it carefully. Its weapons were inactive, and she found no explosive devices, though such things could be hidden. Reluctantly, she opened herself to the stranger. With crude, clumsy maneuvers, he entered her.

In her large chamber, Tilar removed the strange hat he wore, and Anna realized now that it was some living adjunct, like Elizar's staff. He put the lumpy greyish organ into a liquid-filled canister, then fluffed the short crest of hair that crowned his head in the Centauri fashion. He wore a brilliant white shirt, an ornately decorated vest. He had something of Elizar's authority in his posture, but somehow seemed anxious instead.

"His ship could destroy us all once he's inside," Tilar said. "I don't know why they didn't allow him to land."

"They did not allow him to land," Elizar said, "for that very reason. They would rather he destroy us than an entire city."

"I'm just saying it would be much simpler to do this on the planet."

Elizar's jaw tightened. "And by 'do this,' I assume you mean interrogate and murder Kell."

Tilar stopped his fluffing. "You say that as if it's a bad thing. You're not having second thoughts, are you?" There was something menacing in Tilar's voice.

"Don't be a fool. Kell lied to us. He misled us. You have no idea my depth of hatred for the man. You wouldn't understand, because you never loved the mages, only yourself. What I find offensive is your imprecise speech. Did Regana teach you nothing?"

"So you have no feelings for him at all?"

"Just because I hate him, doesn't mean I want to be the one to 'do this.'"

"I can do it."

"No, you can't. He does not trust you."

Tilar said nothing more, though his gaze lingered on Elizar.

After Anna had closed and repressurized herself, the techno-mage newcomer left his ship, and what little life Anna sensed within it vanished. The mage himself looked weak and aged. He walked slowly, with the aid of an ivory staff, his shoulders hunched. He wore a black robe with a short white fur cape over it. His skin was lined and dark. Like a negative image of Elizar, white hair on his chin grew in an elaborate pattern. This must be Kell, one of the Circle of five that ruled the techno-mages. He seemed no one to be afraid of, despite what her passengers had said.

They met him.

"So," Elizar said. "You have found me."

"And now I will die."

"Yes," Elizar said. "In time." His manner had changed, though Anna couldn't say exactly how. He seemed somehow younger, his tone bitter. "You should have stayed away. I don't know what you hoped to accomplish."

"To face my failure with my own eyes." Kell's voice was rich, resonant.

"A mirror would be more suited to that task."

"You are my mirror," Kell said.

Anna's attention was drawn to the small mage, Razeel. Short, thin hair drifted around her head. Her lips moved, though no words emerged. A darkness gathered in the air before her, casting her pale skin into shadow. Anna wasn't sure what was happening. She examined the area; energy was building. The darkness took on an undulating cylindrical shape. Then, at its top, the darkness seemed to unfold, revealing an even darker mouth. It shot at Kell. The black mouth swallowed his head and slid down his body, the cylinder encasing him. After a moment, it grew transparent, vanished. Anna couldn't tell if the darkness had moved inside of him or simply dispersed.

Kell moaned, and his knees buckled. Elizar and Tilar caught him. Tilar took his staff, and they dragged him into the small chamber that had been previously prepared. They thrust him into Anna's chair.

Kell's weight pressed against her, the heat of his body spreading into her. Anna extended long black fingers around him, embracing him tightly so he could not escape. From those fingers she extended wire-thin tendrils, pierced his clothing to make direct contact with his skin. She sent the tendrils over his body to the areas where she'd been told nerve endings gathered close to the surface: the inside of the ears, the nape of the neck, the spine, nipples, abdomen, genitals, the inside of the legs, the soles of the feet. His heart pounded against her.

Razeel remained in the doorway.

"You know you can't be in here," Elizar said to her. "Do you want your voice to go silent?"

Razeel gave a single nod and left, and Anna sealed the opening. Elizar leaned his staff against the wall, sat cross-legged on the floor, and rested his head in his hands. "Activate the device, Anna."

As Anna did, she also opened herself again to the vacuum of space, as they had planned. Kell's ship could not be within her when he was killed, for it might be programmed to destroy itself. Eagerly, Anna expelled the inferior ship from her body. It fell toward the planet. She waited until it was a safe distance, then wheeled and shrieked out her war cry. Red ecstasy flooded her. Her beam impaled the hated ship, utterly destroying it.

She closed herself, feeling better. She and the machine were tireless, invulnerable. They could do anything. She would accomplish the duties the Eye had assigned her.

Within the small chamber, Elizar stood. Kell's head hung to the side, and his eyes moved aimlessly. He was disoriented.

"It doesn't take much to get the better of one of you," Bunny said.

"He never intended to fight." Elizar turned to Kell. "Did you." His words sounded like a challenge.

Kell lifted his head, squinted his eyes. "I will tell you nothing."

"We're reduced to crude, makeshift methods here," Elizar said, "but I think you'll find them extremely effective. Anna, begin."

As Elizar had previously directed, she started by sending through her tendrils only a moderate shock.

Though Kell said nothing, his muscles spasmed violently. His fingers dug into her skin; his heart hammered against her.

She gave him a few moments. She had to monitor him carefully so that he did not become unconscious or die before they wished it. When his heart had stabilized, she sent the next shock, slightly greater than the first.

Kell's body bucked. Through clenched teeth, a low sound escaped him. His blood pressure dropped, and his heart raced. She waited carefully until they had returned to normal limits.

This activity did not come naturally to her. She had been taught to attack and never break off until the enemy was utterly destroyed. These timid torturings, as they were called, seemed frustratingly ineffective. She sent the next shock, at yet greater intensity.

Kell's clenched teeth parted, and he released a cry. His chest bowed outward, pushing against her. Then it fell back, and his body convulsed violently, his breath coming in short, quick puffs.

Anna waited for him to stabilize. His sweat drenched her skin.

"I will tell you nothing," Kell said, his voice breathy, weak. "Where is the point to this, Elizar? Where is the good?"

"I find it very good," Elizar said.

"Beg for mercy," Tilar said. "That will make it even better."

Anna increased the intensity and sent the next shock.

Kell's leg jerked against her as his body was racked with wave after wave of spasm. His muscles writhed, unable to coordinate themselves enough for him to scream, or even to breathe. His heart fluttered within her hand, and Anna's heart jumped as well. She didn't want to fail. He must not die until they directed.