War Games (19 page)

I shrugged. I could make her talk, or extract the information from her mind. But why be crude and brutal? Why not do it the easy way?

Suddenly we were in a bedchamber, lying naked on wombskin.

“That’s better,” Nels said. Her lips began moving down my body. Her hands stroked life into my penis. “You don’t know how long it’s been since I had a man. A woman needs a man to love her. That’s all I ever wanted. And I had one, before I found the stone.” She took my penis in her mouth, sliding it in and out. Her muscles were quivering. I smoothed them with my hands, quieting the fasciculations. She swung a leg over me, slipping my penis into her, and rocked up and down. I massaged her breasts with my hands. She closed her eyes. Fine teeth bit her lower lip. “Make it last a long time,” she said. “Make it last almost forever. Then I’ll tell you the story.”

I let my penis expand to fill her vault more tightly. Breath whistled from her nostrils.

What the Frisco, an Interrogator has many techniques.

Later, she lay next to me. To her, it seemed we had made love for a week. Her finger made circles in the sweat on my chest.

It was time to get down to business. The fun was over.

She sighed, knowing her delaying tactics were as exhausted as my member. “Do you want to hear it all?” she asked.

“Why not? We have all the time in the world.”

“I found the stone here in Chronus. In the Underground. I was reworking some of the old mines. I found a vein in a rib that had either been overlooked or purposely sandbagged and then forgotten. I drilled it out. It contained some nice stones. Eventually the vein led to the timestone. I cut it myself. During the cutting process I chipped the stone. I made the mistake of giving the chip to my lover. No doubt you got the chip from Mikal Gy. He’s dead, now?”

“Yes, to both.”

“What happened to the chip?”

“It got destroyed accidentally.”

“Don’t be too sure of that.”

“What do you mean by that?” But I knew. I’d guessed the truth myself.

“Haven’t you noticed that nothing happens by chance around a timestone? Do you think it was chance that brought you and Mikal together so you could obtain that timestone? Was it chance that brought you to Titan looking for me? I doubt it. If your timestone got destroyed, it wanted to be destroyed.”

“A radianuclear crystal can’t want things.”

“Don’t bet on it. You’re here because the stone wants you to be. I thought at first the timestone was just a monitor showing what events would happen in the time matrix. But now I think it manipulates them. It can change them. It can change things to suit its fancy.”

“Why should it do that? It’s not alive.”

“I wonder. Ever hear of entropy? That’s the only purpose to life—to use up entropy faster than nonlife. Well, that’s what a timestone does also—its organization means more disorder has occurred elsewhere. Lots of disorder. It lives quite well.”

“So what? I intend to use it to my advantage, alive or dead. I can control it.”

“No, you can’t. I thought I could, too. Now look where I am. The stone tried to kill me. Entropy must be conserved. Death is a great conserver of entropy. The second law of thermodynamics requires the timestone to be a killer. It did kill me once—my body, anyway. Now I have only borrowed bodies. It killed my lover. But I’m safe now. It can’t find me now. I change bodies too frequently for it to know who I really am.”

“Where did you hide it?”

“I’m not sure I want to tell you. Or that I should.”

“I can get the information, anyway.” I sharpened knives in her brain.

She shuddered. “I guess you can. Then you’ll also know if I lie. I may as well tell you.” She showed me the hiding place in her mind. She laughed. “No harm in letting you know. You’ll never find it. Not in the Ice Mountains of Iapetus. I can’t find it myself. Why do you think I chose such a place? I knew I’d be tempted to try to go back to the stone one day.” She laughed again. “Besides, you won’t even be able to leave Chronus.” She started giggling at her own private joke.

I peeped into her mind, carefully, so she wouldn’t notice. All the information I needed was there. I hope you don’t think badly of me. But I couldn’t let her go. Kramr might be able to get her to talk. Then he’d beat me to the stone. He could get to Iapetus a lot quicker than I could. I had to make sure Nels wasn’t ever going to talk to anyone else. I could do that. But it doesn’t make me a monster.

I kissed her.

Her body responded against mine.

I stroked her back and thighs, letting the suction pads pull gently on tender skin, in a way she remembered.

She opened her eyes.

I stared back at her. My image was reflected in her eyes: bald head with a scalp convoluted into ridges, monomer sweat gleaming from my face, eyes with silver monocles, an earring in my left ear.

“Mikal! Is it really you?”

“Yes,” I said in a voice she remembered. “It’s really me. I have a two-week furlough. Let’s make the most of it.”

She stared at me.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I just had the strangest dream. I must have dozed off just now, after we made love. We did make love?”

“Of course.” I laughed. “Lots of times. Forget your dream. Let’s find some good times, We have all the time in the world.”

The sun set behind Ascaris Mons, visible through our hotel window. Ice storms danced in the upper air, catching sunlight in blue swirls.

“Are we on Mars?”

“Where else do lovers go on holiday?”

She smiled brightly. “Oh, Mikal. I’m so happy. Tell me you love me.”

“Of course I love you.”

“And that you’ll never leave me.”

“I’ll never leave you.”

We made love again, beneath the cobalt skies of a Mars I’d never seen.

A billion miles away, the real me opened my eyes. Jain Maure removed an E-helmet from my head. The other handlers did the same to their players. But one body did not sit up. One body was Iimp and flaccid. One mind had not made it back.

You know whose mind that was. You know who left her behind, caught up in a game of his own creation. But I had no choice. She might have told someone else what she’d told me. I couldn’t take that chance.

Besides, it was better for her, too. She’d escaped a pathetic existence. I had established an elaborate pattern. I’d even left behind a persona of myself, disguised as her lover. She’d never detect the difference. They’d both be happy. And for a long time. Time was compressed within cortical crystal. The patterns of a dreamgame might only last a few minutes in real time, but it would seem forever for her. An eternity of happiness. Who could ask for anything more?

Still, I felt uncomfortable playing God. But I suppose I was going to have to get used to it, especially after I recovered the timestone. But no more dreamgames for me.

I was finished with games.

AS WE FLOATED
up
the liftube out of the Underground, Jain held a chain fastened to the sonic collar around my neck. I ignored it. She’d pay for that little indignity, and soon. But not right now. I might still need her.

By hiding the timestone on Iapetus, Nels had caused a slight problem. I’d been hoping it would be hidden on Titan, preferably in Chronus. So much easier to found an empire here. But if I had to go to Iapetus, so be it. All that meant was that I had to get out of Chronus first. I’d planned for that eventuality. But how to get to Iapetus? The siege had spacecraft bottled up. There must be another way. There was. I knew what I was going to have to do.

My musings were interrupted by our arrival at the portal.

We stepped out of the Iiftube. Outside, a crowd of ghost dancers jammed the street, chanting dirges in unison to the beat of a pulsar barrage.

Jain was ahead, leading. She glanced back. Her eyes shone copper. She pulled on the chain, leading me through the crowd.

Overhead, elf-fire burned noisily. A beam stabbed down, ripping into a nearby building. Molten steel and permaplastic showered down. The ghost dancers loved it. They leaped and pirouetted. Their bodies surged around mine—fingers plucked at my clothing. The chain tightened around my neck, then pulled free. I retrieved it and wound it around my torso. I saw Jain being carried away from me by the crowd. She called back once. I did not answer.

My clothes had come off. Naked bodies rubbed against mine. A woman put her arms around me, pulling me tight against her. We coupled. Sweating bodies pushed from all sides. I was penetrated from behind. We rose and fell with the undulations of the crowd. The force-field above us drummed like rain on a tin roof. Sometimes beams made it through and struck close. Debris rained down on us: slag, hot globs of plastic and glass, drops of blood, fragments of shattered flesh. But still we copulated. Other orifices were offered and taken. My voice chanted a death song.

Then the sickness began: cramps knotted my bowels, rigors shook my limbs and set my teeth chattering. Cold sweat mingled with hot sweat. I withdrew my penis into its pouch and closed my other sphincters. I pushed my way through the crowd, flinging ghost dancers to both sides. Hands reached for me; I pushed them aside. Orifices were offered—I ignored them. Finally I broke out of the throng of ghost dancers.

Rats began chewing on my insides again. I had to find Jain Maure. Her house was visible atop Mt. Erubus. She’d be there, waiting.

I started walking, doubled over with cramps. My gait was a stagger. But I kept going. There was nothing else to do.

I passed buildings burning from pulsar hits. Smoke hung close to the ground. Acrid fumes made my throat raw and set my lungs coughing. I stumbled on rubble littering the street. Small animals scurried into shadows as I approached, then watched me pass with bright eyes. Soon they would be bolder. Maybe they would join their brothers in my guts.

Laughter came from intact buildings. Mnemone fumes wafted from open windows. Tendrils of optical music swirled out of doorways. My feet became tangled in musical filaments—the strands broke as I walked, enveloping me in a discordant clamor. Voices called, inviting me to join their gaiety. Pathics sat in the balconies of cribhouses. Mental whispers promised obscene delight.

I trudged on, closing my mind.

I passed elegant estates. Naked bodies splashed in swimming pools. Laughing guests stood in groups on patios. Fluttering wings rose from concealed cages; the retort of sporting guns was lost to the louder din of artillery. Dogs bayed. A pack chased something. A woman ran before them. Sharp teeth ripped tatters from her clothing—bloody bits of skin clung to the pieces of fabric. She tried to climb a tree. The dogs tore at her legs, dragging her down. She disappeared amid snapping jaws and thrashing tails. But her screams seemed to last a long time.

I walked through the park below Jain’s house. Peptide vials glittered. Heads were bowed. CSF studs shone. I was tempted to get my medicine by force, but I resisted the urge. I was already too weak for that. Peppers went armed. I was too slow now to disarm one.

Love groups lay together. Elf-fire gleamed from oiled skin. Bodies undulated to detonations. Low moans escaped their lips. I left them behind.

I climbed the switchbacks leading up the mountain. Each step was agony. I shook with rigors; ague settled into my joints. I began vomiting. But I kept climbing. I used my hands to help. Soon I was crawling on all fours.

The house was just a little farther. I kept crawling, despite the cramps that caused me to stop and retch every few meters. At first green bile came up, sour and bitter. Before long, there was blood.

I pulled myself up the porch and through the doorfield, then collapsed on the floor and lay on my back.

Jain Maure got up from a couch. She was naked except for a vial hanging from a chain around her neck. Elf-fire shone from her skin.

“Poor baby! Where have you been?” She came to me. “I’ve been waiting for such a long time.” She kneeled over me and unscrewed the cap of a vial. She dipped her tongue in it, then bent down. Stroboscopic flashes glittered from emerald eyes. Her tongue touched my head, spreading warmth.

Somewhere far away was a tremendous explosion. A thunderclap echoed from inside the dome. Sirens wailed. A hoverbus whined overhead.

Fire flowed inside me. Quivering muscles stopped their fasciculations. Cramps relaxed. Gooseflesh smoothed out. My stomach stopped trying to turn itself inside out. I sat up.

Jain smiled, “Is my little man feeling better now that he’s had his medicine? Tell me all about your busy day.” She kissed my lips. Something bothered me.

Then I heard faintly a sound I could never forget—the crack of light autopulsars. I got up
and went out to the balcony. A rope had been tied across the gap in the railing. The eastern edge of the dome was illuminated with flashes of yellow and red—the colors of elven and combrid light weapons. That meant troops were fighting. Which meant the walls had been breached. The Fall of Chronus was near.

Jain came to stand beside me. Far below a skimmer climbed the road to the house. I turned my head to kiss Jain on the lips. Green fire sparked from her eyes.

Something was wrong. But I couldn’t remember what.

Jain held me close, pressing her breasts against my back. Her hands found their way to my penis. It remained limp to their strokings. Her tongue licked my head. More endorphine warmed me, buzzing in my mind.

“Tell me,” Jain said. “What did Nels have to say?”

Why should she ask that? I’d never told her about Nels. Then I remembered the voice in my dreams. I knew whose voice it was.

A skimmer parked in front of the house.

“Where did Nels hide the timestone?” She leaned her elbows on my back. The lid to a vial screaked as it was turned. “Do you need more medicine to help you talk?”

Footsteps sounded outside.

She leaned forward to touch my head with her tongue; something pressed between my buttocks. Something warm and firm.

I pushed away from the railing, giving her a shove with my hip as I turned. She went sprawling.

I didn’t need to see the erect penis between her legs to know who she was. Green eyes glared angrily. It was all in the eyes.

I ran into the house.

Another Jain walked in through the doorfield. The Jain with copper eyes. The original Jain Maure. Not a chameleon. I knew who wanted to know all about Nels and the timestone. Someone who could be either a man or a woman. Or both.

I brushed past copper-Jain and went outside. Her skimmer was parked on its pad. I hopped in and wound the turbines tight, kicking dust up as I took off.

I’d finally figured out what I had to do.

I had to get the L.A. out of Chronus, that was certain. I also had to get off-moon. There was only one way I could think of to do both.

It was a wild ride to Old Town. Combrids jetted across town on thruster tubes, to join the firefight on the eastern side. Gunships made pass after pass, trying to seal the breach in the dome. Hydrocarbon fog poured in, shrouding the buildings in clinging mists. I half expected to get shot down myself. Fortunately, both combrids and elves ignored a naked civilian in a stolen skimmer. But artillery beams blasted down all over. Several times the concussion waves almost overturned the skimmer. Globs of molten permaplastic splattered on the windscreen. Chunks of masonry ricocheted from the hull. Fires raged in every sector. Fireballs exploded when hydrocarbon and air encountered a spark. Smoke hung close to the ground.

Ghost dancers jammed the area around the portal to the Underground. Other people were trying to flee to the safety of the tunnels. Their clothes were plucked from them as they tried to force their way through the dancers. They were made to dance also. Their orifices were taken. Few made it through.

I was one who did. I could push ghost dancers aside—my arms were still combrid arms and somehow I had found a reserve of strength. I reached the portal and jumped into the down tube. I got off at a lower level and easily found my way through a maze of twisting tunnels to the old apartments that once housed miners. Grychn’s directions in her mind had been good. My combrid orientation sense had been infallible.

I kicked down the door of an apartment.

Two people lay naked in a peptide embrace: Grychn and her handler, Jry. The handler reached for his gun, which lay beside the bed. Before he could swing it to bear, I had crossed the room and kicked him in the side of the neck. I both felt and heard vertebrae snap. He fell back and lay still. His neck was broken. I was rather disappointed. I would have been able to decapitate him, had I been at full strength.

I picked up his gun.

Grychn was half unconscious from peptide. If she even noticed what had happened, she’d not likely remember it. I slapped her face. Her eyes remained dazed.

I thought of a little detail that needed taking care of. I held the pulsar muzzle close to her neck and fired. Her collar fell off. I did the same to mine, burning the skin a little by accident. It was worth it, to be free of that fetter.

I waited, making plans in my mind. There was still a lot to do.

* * *

Grychn woke up.

“Marc,” she said. “What are you doing here? Jry will kill you . . .” She saw the handler’s cooling body. She looked back to me. “I wanted to do that myself.”

“Look closer.”

She did. She saw his flesh rearranging itself to its true form. Ever see a can of worms? That was a nice way to describe the process.

“A spook!” She hid her face in her hands. “Then I never escaped. They had me all the time. Why?”

“To help them keep tabs on me.”

She figured it out on her own. “The timestone. The spooks want the timestone.”

“You guessed it.” But the explanation was too simple, too pat. Life is always more complicated than that. I should have known better. I guess I didn’t want to know the truth. I took her hand and pulled her to her feet. “It’s time to go now.”

“Let me get dressed.”

“There’s no time for that.”

We ran naked along the tunnels of the Underground. No one even noticed. They had their own perversions to worry about. I held Grychn’s hand in one hand, a pulsar pistol in the other.

I led. I didn’t need her help to find the old air lock. I’d been there once before. First we went down a side tunnel. I pulled out the two cases I’d buried earlier. I tossed her a set of combat armor and began pulling on my own.
“Now
we get dressed,” I said.

Combat armor, battle packs complete with thrusters, a survival tent, catalytic O
2
generators, and enough ration concentrates to last a month had cost me a fortune on the black market. Two autopulsars were another fortune in themselves. But I figured I’d be needing them all. Don’t ask me how I knew I’d need two sets of everything but the tent. I don’t like to think about that.

The armor was loose and baggy on Grychn’s wasted body. It looked the same on me. I remembered how dashing I used to look in my armor. I also remembered how someone else looked. I pushed those memories away.

“Where are we going?” Grychn asked.

“You said you had a gravship. Think you can find it?”

“I think so. If we can reach it. But we’ll never make it. Not before withdrawal starts. Have you forgotten about that?”

“No, I haven’t forgotten. Lead the way.”

She looked at me with a funny expression. Then she shrugged her shoulders. I opened the air lock and we stepped into it. An emergency gong sounded. I hoped the garrison’s combrids would be too busy to investigate. Air sucked out. Cold hydrocarbon fog swirled in, frosting on the inside surfaces. The outer door opened.

We stepped out into another tunnel. A short walk took us to the tunnel’s mouth, covered with underbrush. We wriggled our way through the debris until we stood on the ground. A kilometer away was the dome of Chronus. EIven pulsar beams still bombarded it.

Crystal forest lay in the other direction. We walked toward it, warm in combat armor.

Before entering the trees, I turned back once. A pulsar quantum exploded against the dome, opening a brief window in the force-field. I turned my helmet sensors to max gain.