The Dark Imbalance (29 page)

17

JW111101000

955.2.14

1380

Morgan Roche was dreaming.

She had never considered herself a terribly imaginative person. Through most of her life, her dreams had consisted of everyday things and simple imagery, easily interpreted. They reflected the logical and rational person she was, and demonstrated a lack of creativity—something COE Intelligence appreciated in their agents. They wanted them to be reliable and thorough, not innovative.

But in accordance with the dramatic change to her life in recent weeks, her dreams had become much more disturbing and vivid, the symbolism darker and more profound. It had gotten to a point where she almost became reluctant to close her eyes for fear of what images she might meet in her sleep.

More often than not the images fragmented and disappeared soon after she awoke, leaving her with just a vague impression of the emotions that the dream evoked—and even this tended to dissipate as the day progressed. But now and then a dream would be too powerful, too provocative, to ignore and would stay with her long into the waking hours.

Two dreams she’d had in Palasian System alone would stay with her forever: the lizard she had been trying to trap, which had in turn caught her, and the meeting with the twins on the deck of the stone boat. There had been other dreams that had left impressions, but none like these. These were dreams she would simply never forget.

As with the dream she was having now. It hadn’t even finished yet, but she knew it would be a dream she would not be rid of in a hurry. It felt so real, and the fact that she was unable to wake herself up from it disturbed her terribly.

She was standing inside a hollow sphere barely ten meters wide. Gravity pointed outward from the center of the sphere, with no odd tidal effects arising from the height difference between her head and her feet. No matter where she walked, the sphere was the same: white and featureless. Light seemed to emanate from all around her; there was no obvious source.

But something was wrong. She could feel it. Something terrible was happening outside the sphere. Something wanted to get in to where she was. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t see beyond the sphere to make out what was trying to get her, and that just scared her all the more. She didn’t know even vaguely what would happen if
it
penetrated those walls, if it did get inside, but she knew it would be horrible.

The unspecified threat made her cold, and she wrapped her arms about herself. She didn’t know
anything.
All she remembered was being shot in the back and falling, calling for the Box, hearing Maii calling her... and the suited figure that had approached her. There had been something about that figure’s voice. Something familiar. She had heard it before. But where?

She couldn’t remember. It was hard to concentrate while trapped in the bubble, cut off from the rest of the universe with no way out, and something terrible lurking just outside wanting to get in.

“Hello?” she called, for what felt like the thousandth time. Her voice echoed dully in the chamber.

She bent down and touched the floor. It was warm and yielded slightly, like rubber. Underneath it, though, was something firm. She reached into the pockets of her shipsuit in the hope of finding tools of some description, something that might have helped her dig her way out. But her pockets were as empty as the sphere itself. Nothing in them but
her.

As when she had called their names before, there was no reply.

She resumed pacing. There was nothing else for her to do. Eventually something would happen. The bubble would burst and the thing outside would break in, or she would simply wake up.

She wanted the latter more than anything.

Was it possible to sleep within a dream? Possible or not, she woke with a start. Her entire body spasmed, recalling the shot she had taken in the shoulder. And the face leaning over her, the voice speaking to her...

“This isn’t over yet.”

No. Those weren’t the words—but it
was
the same voice.

The words rolled around in her thoughts. She reached for her shoulder, feeling for the wound, but there was nothing there now. She was undamaged; there was no blood whatsoever. All she had were the memories of pain, a pain worse than any she had experienced before; a pain too huge to comprehend. And the tide of darkness which had followed, pulling her into its depths.

A shudder passed through her. She had dreamed during her brief sleep, and it came to her now with a viciousness that stung. She had been lying on a slab somewhere, in a dark space, and someone had been looming over her, hurting her. There was pain all through her body—her left arm, hand, and eye; her right shoulder; her face and throat. And in her mind. Someone was cutting into her, slicing her thoughts open, piercing the inner depths of her psyche—and behind that someone, behind that pain, standing in the shadows, was
Page De Bruyn....

* * *

A door seemed to close in her thoughts; images faded. She found herself on her side in the sphere, mouth slack, nose running. She sat up and wiped her face. Her hands were trembling.

“This isn’t over yet.”
Page De Bruyn, of course: the woman who had betrayed her on Sciacca’s World; the words De Bruyn said to her the last time they’d seen each other...

Outside, the terrible thing was still trying to get in.

She wasn’t so sure she was dreaming anymore.

Her voice shook slightly. order
you to talk to me!>

The sphere seemed to tremble beneath her.

came the reply.

Relief washed through her. Although it was unable to disobey her when she issued a direct order, she’d feared the worst. “Box! I thought you’d abandoned me!”

it said.

Then it was silent again, and she was alone with the echoes. She listened to them uneasily. The Box had sounded weary, strained. She had never heard it like that before.

The sphere was solid as it had ever been. A stab of pain in her left eye reminded her of her dream’s dream, and of De Bruyn....

She wrapped her arms around her legs and waited for the Box to speak again.

* * *

A long time passed before the sphere trembled beneath her again. She woke immediately and looked around.

The light had changed. She had a shadow pooling beneath her now. Above her, in the exact center of the sphere, was a point of light too intense to look at directly. She glanced away, blinking.

she said, rubbing at her stinging eyes.

it said. lives.>

She looked around again at the sphere, avoiding the light. she asked.

you? That’s not possible!>

it said.

She fought an image of two Klein bottles constantly filling and emptying each other. It wasn’t helping.

she said, sitting up.

like
a dream in that it is an unreal construct of your subconscious mind comprised of real images. Its details might be wrong, but it does contain some truth. It would be wrong to dismiss it as a complete fabulation.>

The Box paused for a long moment. When it spoke, its voice was softer than before, almost tentative.

it said. Phlegethon
and ambush you on the way to the
Ana Vereine.
You were shot in the process.>

much I remember.>

she echoed.

She didn’t know what to say at first.

Roche felt something much like sadness welling in her. But she wasn’t sure who it was for: herself or the Box. she asked.

heal.>

She nodded. me
must be taking a large chunk of what’s left—why are you going to such trouble? It’s not just to keep me alive, surely?>

Again the Box hesitated.

Realization dawned. she said.

can
be partially read by a reave, but he simply does not know where to look. That makes all the difference.>

Roche remembered her fuzzy self-image in n-space. you
a reave?>

The Box had said something very much like this before. She still wasn’t sure she believed it, even in the current circumstances. she said,

Her thoughts were reeling, and she found herself wishing this really had been a dream. she said.

Phlegethon
every hour. If someone has followed us here, there may be a chance of rescue.>

She nodded.

<1 can hardly blame you for feeling this way, Morgan, but do try to see why the truth was withheld from you. It was not that you couldn’t be trusted, but that it could have been got at. Had you known prior to your capture what you are about to learn, your torturer would have already extracted it. For that reason, also, I have brought you here, with me. Were we to discuss this in your normal state, your torturer would access those memories instantly.>

She lay back on the curved floor of the sphere, closing her eyes against the Box’s glare. She was tired, apprehensive, even scared. But her curiosity overrode all of these.

the AI said. could
destroy the enemy at any time; they possess the technology to do so with ease. What they lack is the inclination.>

As vindicated as Roche felt to learn that she had seen through at least that part of the conspiracy, the conclusion she had avoided disturbed her deeply.

die
than help us?>