Post by Lex on May 17, 2007 13:58:01 GMT -5
Bright white lights blanched his skin, casting strong shadows from the object in Jack’s hand; a needle almost twelve inches long. A servitor stepped forwards, and sprayed a fog of anti-toxins and anti-viruses onto the area Jack intended to implant the needle.
It then stepped back at a nod from a superior, its white orb eyes glistening with protective liquid from the dangerous catalysts; so lethal to machinery that they could shut a servitor down in moments, should it somehow get in.
Jack gently pressed the needle against his wrist, point towards his chest. He clenched his teeth and pushed, letting loose a gasp as he pushed the entire needle into his arm. In the tube at the end, Jack watched thousands of tiny metallic substances writhe, anticipating the moment.
He looked away, and emptied the tube into his arm.
*
Jack awoke, clutching his arm. He released his shaking hand from his wrist, and stared at the tiny white scar that ran across the skin. He rubbed at it, and then traced the vein up his arm, remembering how it had spread. With a final shiver, he reached his heart.
There was no pulse. A pulse was only necessary is you had blood to pump. Jack Merrick had long since lost his blood, dribbling from the corners of his mouth as the injected substance had taken affect.
He placed his hands on the edges of the small bed, and span on the mattress, further ruffling several sheets he had lain on. His feet reached the floor, and he stood. A sensor strip at this height activated the lights, and Jack had a fleeting memory of the surgical bay he had performed that great act.
The light reflected off an object on the wall, hung by a thin thread to a nail that had been crudely bashed in. It was a data-slate, battered, but advanced for its kind. Jack unhooked the string and held the data-slate in front of his face, letting it catch the light and dance light across the damp walls and rotten floor.
He pressed his fingers against a small pad on its rim, and the slate’s screen flickered on. A small logo appeared in the corner of darkness, a skull half bare, half covered in skin. The icon of the Departmento Biologis, he knew it well.
Various tabs formed around the screens edges, and Jack chose one entitled ‘day’. A small finger print request appeared and Jack activated it. A loading bar, then a long slab of text, absent of paragraphs or spacing. A hum and the data were organised.
Jack read quickly, taking it all in. He reached the final sentence, and bit his lip.
“That wasn’t part of our agreement,” Jack muttered under his breath, rereading the last section, “The deal was that I took you where you wanted, and we cast this place behind.”
His arm flicked out, the scarred wrist facing up. The white scar peeled back the skin, and a small metallic stream coiled from it. Jack looked at it, frowning. It uncoiled, rearing itself to full height.
It seemed to suck in the light of the room for a moment, which Jack ignored, and then it spoke.
“Our agreement was made before, almost a month ago. I made this decision in the daylight three hours ago, while we were in the manufactorum district. This is an update.”
The metallic essence curled around Jack’s arm, vibrating every time it spoke. Jack pulled a shirt on over his pale, bare chest. He took a last deep breath, checked himself over for revealing signs that he was out of the ordinary, and departed for the door.
It hissed open as he drew near, revealing a package left outside the door. Jack held a hand over it, and the coil around his arm extended and pried through the packaging. There was a small hiss, and the coil reformed around Jack’s wrist.
“It was a bomb. It has been disarmed.”
Jack nodded, and unwrapped the package. A small lever clicked ominously, but otherwise the elaborate mechanism was silent. Jack reached in a pulled out a small tube, pulling off the lid and sniffing the substance.
He recognised it instantly.
“Petroleum? So this was an incendiary device.”
The thing on his arm dipped into the liquid, swirling it around a little.
“They were probably intending for the flat to catch fire aswell. This was an inclusive job, which would probably have imploded its own evidence. The question; who sent it?”
Jack tugged at various other parts of the mechanism, prying into the inner workings.
“It’s not from the Mechanicus. It is void of a spirit. Perhaps they don’t know I’m here.”
“Perhaps they do. All the same Jack, we will only remain here for one more night. I have a number of things I need you to do tonight, all of which will make my task easier.”
Jack sealed the tube shut again, placing it back in the package and pocketing the lot in a long pocket in his trousers. He shut the door, and paced down the corridor, listening to the essences plan.
*
“You are sure that this will work Magos Merrick? You will be a great loss if any errors are present.”
The tech-priests office was lined with shelves crammed with thousands of xeno specimens; many still alive. On his desk was an Eldar skull, aquiline and irregularly slender. Jack ignored these, and held up a small tube.
Inside it writhed a strange metallic substance, merged with droplets of blood. As the tech-priest watched, a drop of blood vanished, engulfed by the silvery liquid thing within the tube.
“They are proceeding at a rapid rate to modify my blood into duplicates of themselves. They are currently working around my chest, and progressing down; though I am sure they will soon have to travel up.”
The tech-priest smiled.
“What then, young Magos?”
*
The streets still played host to those inhabitants who dared to linger. Many hurried straight past Jack, wanting only to be locked up at home before the gangs came out for the usual nightly riots.
Hence Jack’s surprise when a woman stopped as she bumped into him, a hint of recognition in her eyes. She was tall, with beautiful brown eyes and hair. She stared at Jack for a moment, but he pushed past her.
The coil on Jack’s arm quivered, and spoke.
“You know who that was. I have read it in your memories.”
No one but Jack could hear it, as it was not really speaking. Instead it was talking through electro pulses in Jack’s head, allowing him privacy in which to send a message back without actually opening his mouth.
“That was my daughter.”
They continued down the street, Jack now ignoring the voice and pressing on ahead. The first place he needed to go was simple enough. He may as well get it over and done with.
The number of people on the street quickly thinned out, and Jack found himself alone as he trod a lonely pathway between two collapsing houses so fallen into disrepair, that they had collapsed into one another and turned the path into a tunnel.
Jack checked no one was watching, and then started to jog. He ran the short distance down the alley with ease. Everything had become no effort since that day, three years ago. That had been the last day he had spoken to his daughter, the last day he had had blood pumping around his body.
The last time his body had been host to only one essence.
His sacrifice had been a breakthrough, which had gone horribly wrong. Jack stopped, breathing slowly, and realised he was there.
Before him, in the cracked plascrete beneath a dark sky, was a metal box. It was sunk into the floor, leaving only a small surface visible. Plastering its surface were purity seals.
How ironic.
Jack knelt down, and mentally braced himself. He had been in this state long enough to understand every aspect of his cursed blessing, and this was the hardest part. The thing on his arm extended forward, and began boring through the metal.
Jack sent out a silent prayer, praying that the box was dead. He knew it couldn’t be, the inanimate were never so daubed with blessings. Sure enough, after a few seconds, the world around him darkened, leaving him in a pool of light in a sea of darkness.
Jack wanted to close his eyes, but knew they had to stay open. Slowly, in the gloom, a light appeared, heading horridly towards him. He held up a hand, warding it away, and it stopped advancing, and began to circle.
There was a small flash and Jack winced. It was testing him, seeing how strong he was. With practiced control, Jack cast the attack aside, and pushed the opponent further back.
“Nearly done Magos.”
Jack gritted his teeth, and deflected another attack. The thing quivered for a moment, stopping its circling. Jack watched with surprise, then horror, as the light split itself into two.
The attacks came at a blinding speed now, hammering at Jack’s will until he thought he would finally succumb. The two split again, creating four, and for a moment Jack’s defence collapsed.
The light reappeared in the world, be it dimly, and the lights vanished. Jack felt the essence withdraw to his arm. Suddenly a force hit him between the eyes and he fell back, tears falling down his cheeks as the pressure increased.
As suddenly as it started, the pain stopped, and the quivering mass on Jack’s arm spat a lump of brazen metal onto the floor. He moved to pick it up, but it was scalding hot.
“Magos, what happened that your defences should fall?”
“The thing split in two.”
The thing on his arm hefted the molten metal, and prised it apart with a sudden spasm. In the core was another metal, yellowish in colour. It was cast aside.
“It appears Magos, which I happened upon two systems while I was down there. This is indeed what I supposed though. The power lines meet at this nexus. I implanted a virus into it, which means that I infected both systems. Which, you will be pleased to know, means you only have two things left to do.”
Jack smiled, lying flat on the floor and regaining his breath. It was an odd sensation, having a war waged within your own head. It was a good thing that the essence had won, or the others would have taken over; the stronger of them taking as much control as it could.
Jack couldn’t allow that to happen.
*
“What then? Machine spirits do not forget! We will learn the secrets once lost!”
“Or we shall lose the only key. Magos, do not consider this an unreasonable statement, but you cannot be trusted to do this alone. I will place you in restrain, and this experiment will succeed.”
Merrick laughed, but there was coldness in that laugh. He beckoned that the tech-priest stand, and then tore off his shirt. Beneath the skin, the veins and arteries had turned to metal, and there was clearly extensive change going on around his rib cage, which displayed a bronze tinge.
“I am one with it priest, I can control it!”
The tech-priest watched as the metallic veins suddenly reverted to their standard colour. Jack smiled, pulling a robe from the back of the chair and slipping into it.
“It is a servant unto my whim. I can control it!”
“But can you control yourself?”
*
Jack dashed back down the alleyway, his feet flying over the ancient plascrete.
“What next?
“The power supply and security systems are both going to be disabled by daylight. All that remains now is ensuring that the facility can’t relay a message once I attack. I cannot be accurate with the strength of reinforcements, and uncertainty is a deadly flaw.”
Jack slowed down as the approached the opposite end of the alley. He stopped, checking who was in the street. His eyes widened and he almost cursed.
A bullet ricocheted off the wall in front of him, and cut a line across his shoulder. A mass of silver congealed there, knitting the skin back together. Jack proceeded crouched, slowly taking steps forward so he could discern the nature of the battle being fought.
“Magos, it is a gang fight.”
“I know that. I’m looking for a way through.”
The spirit within him could heal him, but if his heart was to stop or his brain was to be damaged, then they would perish. Another shot hit nearby, and Jack ducked lower. Almost crawling forwards, he finally got a proper view of the battle.
“Damnation. Magos, this fight is on too grand a scale for us to engage. Allow me to take control for a moment; I can get us out of this.”
Jack could see almost a score of people fighting in this street alone. Planetary forces against a coalition of gangs. If this scale was taking place here, then who knew how large the entire battle was?
Jack considered his options quickly. For a moment he was distracted by a chaingun wielding psychopath with fiery hair, running into the middle of the street and spitting death into her opponents.
A sniper round took her round the neck, and blood poured out. In her last moments her finger tensed, and the bullets flew everywhere as she crumpled writhing to the floor.
A bullet took Jack in the arm and he yelled out. There was a change in the tone of the fight, and the PDF force began to try and sweep to the alley, trying to catch out whatever lone saboteur had snuck so close to them.
Jack’s arm was already healing, but that didn’t matter now. If the spirit possessed him now then it wouldn’t be able to last as long later, but if it didn’t… then chances were high that death would come.
“Spirit, take me. Get me onto the roof above us, and then grant me control again.”
There was no response, only a rush of darkness as Jack’s vision left him.
His eyes closed for a second, and when they opened again, they were silver orbs. Liquid bubbled at Jack’s mouth, spreading and sealing it and Jack’s nose shut. Quickly, Jack’s entire face was masked under a rippling layer.
He leapt up, grabbing an out hanging rock and swinging up. Beneath him, shadows entered, quickly realising that their foray was gone, and relaying this to their comrades.
They departed, moving onwards but leaving one to wait for the saboteur to reappear, and maintain control of the position. He dropped behind the guardsman, who turned and stared at the thing before him.
His last words echoed quietly in the alley, before being lost to the sounds of battle.
“Ein! The spirit of death is among us!”
He broke the guardsman’s neck, leapt back up onto the wall and scaled it, quickly slipping over the end of the alley and up onto the roofs. The metal retracted, and Jack returned, shaking his head to remove the tingling sensation.
He paused for a moment, feeling a different tone to the spirit within him.
“What happened while I was gone?”
The thing within him quivered.
“Nothing. I killed a guardsman.”
“That all? You never seem very concerned about taking life.”
Another change, this time one Jack had never felt before.
“Magos, The man referred to me as Ein.”
Jack smiled.
“The death god? Didn’t know you cared for superstition. The legend of that creature is well known here.”
A pause, something Jack didn’t expect.
“Magos, I would like you to talk to me as Ein.”
Jack stifled a shocked laugh, and began running along the long roof top.
“Ein. Ok… if that’s what you want. Can I ask why?”
“No, you can’t.”
Somehow there was a sarcastic, though contented, feel to Ein. Jack had noticed changes recently, while they had been more active.
The spirit within him was becoming human.
*
He had left in a state of anger, shocked by the tech-priest’s statements. Control him? Control it? What had the priest to mistrust?
In this mood Jack retired to his laboratory, and collapsed into a chair. He clamped a hand over his eyes, blocking out the only stimulus left to distract him. The lab was soundless, and he was numb.
It was then that he had first felt it, the steady darkening which didn’t leave as he removed his hand. He had stood, fighting it but loosing. His hands had swung wildly, tearing the laboratory apart as control dissipated.
His own words rung in his head, so very false;
“I can control it!”
That was the first time the machine-spirit had controlled him. It was a day he would never forget.
*
Jack slid down a pipe, hitting the floor a little harder than he expected and falling to his knees. Ein quivered a little, but he detected no threat.
Jack stood, looking around. The rooftop had allowed him to get behind the fight, but had stolen his bearings. He headed away from the gunfire, hoping that he would soon reach a place he recognised.
It was really dark now, as the pale clouds had blanketed the three red moons that orbited the planet, casting all into near pitch. Ein threw in a helping hand, doing something with Jack’s eyes that allowed him to see everything in greyscale, despite the lack of light.
Jack negotiated towards a square, one which he recognised, and smiled.
“Where now Ein?”
“North. We need to get to the lead works.”
A shout hit Jack in the leg and he grunted, and rolled behind a low wall. He peeked over and spotted a PDF militant levelling a gun at him; he quickly ducked again, and listened.
Footsteps, getting nearer. Jack coiled up, preparing to jump over. He was surprised when he heard the militant call out.
“Are you ok?”
Jack realised that the bullet should have injured him, and let loose a fake sob. He cringed, knowing how poor his acting skills were as the slight rang out.
The man pulled himself over the wall, and stared at Jack. Not a second too soon, Ein retracted the vision. The guardsman looked confused for a moment, then muttered something like ‘d**n obscura’, and held out a hand to help Jack up.
Again, though his talent was little, Jack pretended to be hurt. The guardsman helped him onto the wall, and moved to observe the wound. Jack pushed him away, and the PDF militant fumbled with his fingers for a moment.
“Sorry that… you caught me surprised and all. I didn’t mean shoot at you.”
The man was clearly very stupid. Jack beckoned for him to sit down, and pulled a dagger from the man’s boot. He pressed up an accent which seemed to puzzle the guardsman.
“Don’t worry about it. Though I think I saw someone moving over there.”
Jack pointed, and the guardsman turned. Without a second thought, Jack plunged the blade hilt deep into the man’s back. He let the man fall, knowing that his comrades would blame it on the gangs, and took the guardsman’s lasgun and trousers, neither of which were blooded.
He pulled the man’s security identification as well, knowing that once the PDF knew it was missing, they would trace every attempt to use it. With this in mind and careful not to get blood on his clothes, Jack dragged the body into a corner, and hefted a few rubbish bags from the wall onto it.
The blood trail would be found in the morning, but until then, the security clearance was not a problem. That meant that getting into the lead works would be easy, and could be done quicker. As was often said; the sooner the better.
Jack ran. There was nothing else that needed doing physically. Inside however, he was in turmoil.
“Ein, did you push that blade?”
“No, you did. I don’t kill in cold blood.”
Jack faltered in his pace, but quickly sped up again.
“I killed him?”
“Without a second though Magos. He was an obstacle you eliminated.”
Jack’s thoughts were spinning, and he realised he was veering to the left. He corrected his progress.
“It was as though I didn’t even think, like it was a reaction.”
“Like you weren’t able to control yourself?”
Jack stopped completely.
“I can’t control myself, and I can’t control you. What can I do?”
“Get to the lead works. Let me finish my task, and dispose of the facility. Then we leave the planet, and reach my target. Once we’re there, I will leave you to fight my final battle. It is that simple. Once I am gone, you are back in control.”
“If I kill you now?”
“Then I take you also. I can easily find a new host, but you are the best I have found.”
It then stepped back at a nod from a superior, its white orb eyes glistening with protective liquid from the dangerous catalysts; so lethal to machinery that they could shut a servitor down in moments, should it somehow get in.
Jack gently pressed the needle against his wrist, point towards his chest. He clenched his teeth and pushed, letting loose a gasp as he pushed the entire needle into his arm. In the tube at the end, Jack watched thousands of tiny metallic substances writhe, anticipating the moment.
He looked away, and emptied the tube into his arm.
*
Jack awoke, clutching his arm. He released his shaking hand from his wrist, and stared at the tiny white scar that ran across the skin. He rubbed at it, and then traced the vein up his arm, remembering how it had spread. With a final shiver, he reached his heart.
There was no pulse. A pulse was only necessary is you had blood to pump. Jack Merrick had long since lost his blood, dribbling from the corners of his mouth as the injected substance had taken affect.
He placed his hands on the edges of the small bed, and span on the mattress, further ruffling several sheets he had lain on. His feet reached the floor, and he stood. A sensor strip at this height activated the lights, and Jack had a fleeting memory of the surgical bay he had performed that great act.
The light reflected off an object on the wall, hung by a thin thread to a nail that had been crudely bashed in. It was a data-slate, battered, but advanced for its kind. Jack unhooked the string and held the data-slate in front of his face, letting it catch the light and dance light across the damp walls and rotten floor.
He pressed his fingers against a small pad on its rim, and the slate’s screen flickered on. A small logo appeared in the corner of darkness, a skull half bare, half covered in skin. The icon of the Departmento Biologis, he knew it well.
Various tabs formed around the screens edges, and Jack chose one entitled ‘day’. A small finger print request appeared and Jack activated it. A loading bar, then a long slab of text, absent of paragraphs or spacing. A hum and the data were organised.
Jack read quickly, taking it all in. He reached the final sentence, and bit his lip.
“That wasn’t part of our agreement,” Jack muttered under his breath, rereading the last section, “The deal was that I took you where you wanted, and we cast this place behind.”
His arm flicked out, the scarred wrist facing up. The white scar peeled back the skin, and a small metallic stream coiled from it. Jack looked at it, frowning. It uncoiled, rearing itself to full height.
It seemed to suck in the light of the room for a moment, which Jack ignored, and then it spoke.
“Our agreement was made before, almost a month ago. I made this decision in the daylight three hours ago, while we were in the manufactorum district. This is an update.”
The metallic essence curled around Jack’s arm, vibrating every time it spoke. Jack pulled a shirt on over his pale, bare chest. He took a last deep breath, checked himself over for revealing signs that he was out of the ordinary, and departed for the door.
It hissed open as he drew near, revealing a package left outside the door. Jack held a hand over it, and the coil around his arm extended and pried through the packaging. There was a small hiss, and the coil reformed around Jack’s wrist.
“It was a bomb. It has been disarmed.”
Jack nodded, and unwrapped the package. A small lever clicked ominously, but otherwise the elaborate mechanism was silent. Jack reached in a pulled out a small tube, pulling off the lid and sniffing the substance.
He recognised it instantly.
“Petroleum? So this was an incendiary device.”
The thing on his arm dipped into the liquid, swirling it around a little.
“They were probably intending for the flat to catch fire aswell. This was an inclusive job, which would probably have imploded its own evidence. The question; who sent it?”
Jack tugged at various other parts of the mechanism, prying into the inner workings.
“It’s not from the Mechanicus. It is void of a spirit. Perhaps they don’t know I’m here.”
“Perhaps they do. All the same Jack, we will only remain here for one more night. I have a number of things I need you to do tonight, all of which will make my task easier.”
Jack sealed the tube shut again, placing it back in the package and pocketing the lot in a long pocket in his trousers. He shut the door, and paced down the corridor, listening to the essences plan.
*
“You are sure that this will work Magos Merrick? You will be a great loss if any errors are present.”
The tech-priests office was lined with shelves crammed with thousands of xeno specimens; many still alive. On his desk was an Eldar skull, aquiline and irregularly slender. Jack ignored these, and held up a small tube.
Inside it writhed a strange metallic substance, merged with droplets of blood. As the tech-priest watched, a drop of blood vanished, engulfed by the silvery liquid thing within the tube.
“They are proceeding at a rapid rate to modify my blood into duplicates of themselves. They are currently working around my chest, and progressing down; though I am sure they will soon have to travel up.”
The tech-priest smiled.
“What then, young Magos?”
*
The streets still played host to those inhabitants who dared to linger. Many hurried straight past Jack, wanting only to be locked up at home before the gangs came out for the usual nightly riots.
Hence Jack’s surprise when a woman stopped as she bumped into him, a hint of recognition in her eyes. She was tall, with beautiful brown eyes and hair. She stared at Jack for a moment, but he pushed past her.
The coil on Jack’s arm quivered, and spoke.
“You know who that was. I have read it in your memories.”
No one but Jack could hear it, as it was not really speaking. Instead it was talking through electro pulses in Jack’s head, allowing him privacy in which to send a message back without actually opening his mouth.
“That was my daughter.”
They continued down the street, Jack now ignoring the voice and pressing on ahead. The first place he needed to go was simple enough. He may as well get it over and done with.
The number of people on the street quickly thinned out, and Jack found himself alone as he trod a lonely pathway between two collapsing houses so fallen into disrepair, that they had collapsed into one another and turned the path into a tunnel.
Jack checked no one was watching, and then started to jog. He ran the short distance down the alley with ease. Everything had become no effort since that day, three years ago. That had been the last day he had spoken to his daughter, the last day he had had blood pumping around his body.
The last time his body had been host to only one essence.
His sacrifice had been a breakthrough, which had gone horribly wrong. Jack stopped, breathing slowly, and realised he was there.
Before him, in the cracked plascrete beneath a dark sky, was a metal box. It was sunk into the floor, leaving only a small surface visible. Plastering its surface were purity seals.
How ironic.
Jack knelt down, and mentally braced himself. He had been in this state long enough to understand every aspect of his cursed blessing, and this was the hardest part. The thing on his arm extended forward, and began boring through the metal.
Jack sent out a silent prayer, praying that the box was dead. He knew it couldn’t be, the inanimate were never so daubed with blessings. Sure enough, after a few seconds, the world around him darkened, leaving him in a pool of light in a sea of darkness.
Jack wanted to close his eyes, but knew they had to stay open. Slowly, in the gloom, a light appeared, heading horridly towards him. He held up a hand, warding it away, and it stopped advancing, and began to circle.
There was a small flash and Jack winced. It was testing him, seeing how strong he was. With practiced control, Jack cast the attack aside, and pushed the opponent further back.
“Nearly done Magos.”
Jack gritted his teeth, and deflected another attack. The thing quivered for a moment, stopping its circling. Jack watched with surprise, then horror, as the light split itself into two.
The attacks came at a blinding speed now, hammering at Jack’s will until he thought he would finally succumb. The two split again, creating four, and for a moment Jack’s defence collapsed.
The light reappeared in the world, be it dimly, and the lights vanished. Jack felt the essence withdraw to his arm. Suddenly a force hit him between the eyes and he fell back, tears falling down his cheeks as the pressure increased.
As suddenly as it started, the pain stopped, and the quivering mass on Jack’s arm spat a lump of brazen metal onto the floor. He moved to pick it up, but it was scalding hot.
“Magos, what happened that your defences should fall?”
“The thing split in two.”
The thing on his arm hefted the molten metal, and prised it apart with a sudden spasm. In the core was another metal, yellowish in colour. It was cast aside.
“It appears Magos, which I happened upon two systems while I was down there. This is indeed what I supposed though. The power lines meet at this nexus. I implanted a virus into it, which means that I infected both systems. Which, you will be pleased to know, means you only have two things left to do.”
Jack smiled, lying flat on the floor and regaining his breath. It was an odd sensation, having a war waged within your own head. It was a good thing that the essence had won, or the others would have taken over; the stronger of them taking as much control as it could.
Jack couldn’t allow that to happen.
*
“What then? Machine spirits do not forget! We will learn the secrets once lost!”
“Or we shall lose the only key. Magos, do not consider this an unreasonable statement, but you cannot be trusted to do this alone. I will place you in restrain, and this experiment will succeed.”
Merrick laughed, but there was coldness in that laugh. He beckoned that the tech-priest stand, and then tore off his shirt. Beneath the skin, the veins and arteries had turned to metal, and there was clearly extensive change going on around his rib cage, which displayed a bronze tinge.
“I am one with it priest, I can control it!”
The tech-priest watched as the metallic veins suddenly reverted to their standard colour. Jack smiled, pulling a robe from the back of the chair and slipping into it.
“It is a servant unto my whim. I can control it!”
“But can you control yourself?”
*
Jack dashed back down the alleyway, his feet flying over the ancient plascrete.
“What next?
“The power supply and security systems are both going to be disabled by daylight. All that remains now is ensuring that the facility can’t relay a message once I attack. I cannot be accurate with the strength of reinforcements, and uncertainty is a deadly flaw.”
Jack slowed down as the approached the opposite end of the alley. He stopped, checking who was in the street. His eyes widened and he almost cursed.
A bullet ricocheted off the wall in front of him, and cut a line across his shoulder. A mass of silver congealed there, knitting the skin back together. Jack proceeded crouched, slowly taking steps forward so he could discern the nature of the battle being fought.
“Magos, it is a gang fight.”
“I know that. I’m looking for a way through.”
The spirit within him could heal him, but if his heart was to stop or his brain was to be damaged, then they would perish. Another shot hit nearby, and Jack ducked lower. Almost crawling forwards, he finally got a proper view of the battle.
“Damnation. Magos, this fight is on too grand a scale for us to engage. Allow me to take control for a moment; I can get us out of this.”
Jack could see almost a score of people fighting in this street alone. Planetary forces against a coalition of gangs. If this scale was taking place here, then who knew how large the entire battle was?
Jack considered his options quickly. For a moment he was distracted by a chaingun wielding psychopath with fiery hair, running into the middle of the street and spitting death into her opponents.
A sniper round took her round the neck, and blood poured out. In her last moments her finger tensed, and the bullets flew everywhere as she crumpled writhing to the floor.
A bullet took Jack in the arm and he yelled out. There was a change in the tone of the fight, and the PDF force began to try and sweep to the alley, trying to catch out whatever lone saboteur had snuck so close to them.
Jack’s arm was already healing, but that didn’t matter now. If the spirit possessed him now then it wouldn’t be able to last as long later, but if it didn’t… then chances were high that death would come.
“Spirit, take me. Get me onto the roof above us, and then grant me control again.”
There was no response, only a rush of darkness as Jack’s vision left him.
His eyes closed for a second, and when they opened again, they were silver orbs. Liquid bubbled at Jack’s mouth, spreading and sealing it and Jack’s nose shut. Quickly, Jack’s entire face was masked under a rippling layer.
He leapt up, grabbing an out hanging rock and swinging up. Beneath him, shadows entered, quickly realising that their foray was gone, and relaying this to their comrades.
They departed, moving onwards but leaving one to wait for the saboteur to reappear, and maintain control of the position. He dropped behind the guardsman, who turned and stared at the thing before him.
His last words echoed quietly in the alley, before being lost to the sounds of battle.
“Ein! The spirit of death is among us!”
He broke the guardsman’s neck, leapt back up onto the wall and scaled it, quickly slipping over the end of the alley and up onto the roofs. The metal retracted, and Jack returned, shaking his head to remove the tingling sensation.
He paused for a moment, feeling a different tone to the spirit within him.
“What happened while I was gone?”
The thing within him quivered.
“Nothing. I killed a guardsman.”
“That all? You never seem very concerned about taking life.”
Another change, this time one Jack had never felt before.
“Magos, The man referred to me as Ein.”
Jack smiled.
“The death god? Didn’t know you cared for superstition. The legend of that creature is well known here.”
A pause, something Jack didn’t expect.
“Magos, I would like you to talk to me as Ein.”
Jack stifled a shocked laugh, and began running along the long roof top.
“Ein. Ok… if that’s what you want. Can I ask why?”
“No, you can’t.”
Somehow there was a sarcastic, though contented, feel to Ein. Jack had noticed changes recently, while they had been more active.
The spirit within him was becoming human.
*
He had left in a state of anger, shocked by the tech-priest’s statements. Control him? Control it? What had the priest to mistrust?
In this mood Jack retired to his laboratory, and collapsed into a chair. He clamped a hand over his eyes, blocking out the only stimulus left to distract him. The lab was soundless, and he was numb.
It was then that he had first felt it, the steady darkening which didn’t leave as he removed his hand. He had stood, fighting it but loosing. His hands had swung wildly, tearing the laboratory apart as control dissipated.
His own words rung in his head, so very false;
“I can control it!”
That was the first time the machine-spirit had controlled him. It was a day he would never forget.
*
Jack slid down a pipe, hitting the floor a little harder than he expected and falling to his knees. Ein quivered a little, but he detected no threat.
Jack stood, looking around. The rooftop had allowed him to get behind the fight, but had stolen his bearings. He headed away from the gunfire, hoping that he would soon reach a place he recognised.
It was really dark now, as the pale clouds had blanketed the three red moons that orbited the planet, casting all into near pitch. Ein threw in a helping hand, doing something with Jack’s eyes that allowed him to see everything in greyscale, despite the lack of light.
Jack negotiated towards a square, one which he recognised, and smiled.
“Where now Ein?”
“North. We need to get to the lead works.”
A shout hit Jack in the leg and he grunted, and rolled behind a low wall. He peeked over and spotted a PDF militant levelling a gun at him; he quickly ducked again, and listened.
Footsteps, getting nearer. Jack coiled up, preparing to jump over. He was surprised when he heard the militant call out.
“Are you ok?”
Jack realised that the bullet should have injured him, and let loose a fake sob. He cringed, knowing how poor his acting skills were as the slight rang out.
The man pulled himself over the wall, and stared at Jack. Not a second too soon, Ein retracted the vision. The guardsman looked confused for a moment, then muttered something like ‘d**n obscura’, and held out a hand to help Jack up.
Again, though his talent was little, Jack pretended to be hurt. The guardsman helped him onto the wall, and moved to observe the wound. Jack pushed him away, and the PDF militant fumbled with his fingers for a moment.
“Sorry that… you caught me surprised and all. I didn’t mean shoot at you.”
The man was clearly very stupid. Jack beckoned for him to sit down, and pulled a dagger from the man’s boot. He pressed up an accent which seemed to puzzle the guardsman.
“Don’t worry about it. Though I think I saw someone moving over there.”
Jack pointed, and the guardsman turned. Without a second thought, Jack plunged the blade hilt deep into the man’s back. He let the man fall, knowing that his comrades would blame it on the gangs, and took the guardsman’s lasgun and trousers, neither of which were blooded.
He pulled the man’s security identification as well, knowing that once the PDF knew it was missing, they would trace every attempt to use it. With this in mind and careful not to get blood on his clothes, Jack dragged the body into a corner, and hefted a few rubbish bags from the wall onto it.
The blood trail would be found in the morning, but until then, the security clearance was not a problem. That meant that getting into the lead works would be easy, and could be done quicker. As was often said; the sooner the better.
Jack ran. There was nothing else that needed doing physically. Inside however, he was in turmoil.
“Ein, did you push that blade?”
“No, you did. I don’t kill in cold blood.”
Jack faltered in his pace, but quickly sped up again.
“I killed him?”
“Without a second though Magos. He was an obstacle you eliminated.”
Jack’s thoughts were spinning, and he realised he was veering to the left. He corrected his progress.
“It was as though I didn’t even think, like it was a reaction.”
“Like you weren’t able to control yourself?”
Jack stopped completely.
“I can’t control myself, and I can’t control you. What can I do?”
“Get to the lead works. Let me finish my task, and dispose of the facility. Then we leave the planet, and reach my target. Once we’re there, I will leave you to fight my final battle. It is that simple. Once I am gone, you are back in control.”
“If I kill you now?”
“Then I take you also. I can easily find a new host, but you are the best I have found.”
