Royce Read online

  "You have maybe one minute of life left. The poison is aggressive."

  Think, dammit. There are always options.

  "Is the poison elf-specific?"

  "Yes, it is attacking..." she stopped as I went human. I immediately felt better as my blood chemistry shifted.

  "Sir, that was close. Do not return to elf mode until we can get you on a dialysis machine to flush out the poison."

  "Parker, slap me the next time I say a job is going to be easy-peasy."

  "Gladly, sir. Now, sit up and I'll walk you through bandaging your wound." With Dreya's help, I got upright before binding my wound.

  Half an hour later, we were looking at the entrance to the building. I got off Dreya, removed the saddle, and set it down on the ground. I got her food and water before walking up to the entrance. I toyed with the idea of taking the bow, but in my present state, I doubt I could draw it back, so I left it. To0 bad. It was a kick-ass bow.

  "Not much of an entrance," I said. The doors looked like the ones which led into the Commissary at the Cube.

  "Sir, this looks to be a typical industrial building. No alarms. No locks. I detect energy signatures inside. We may have company waiting."

  "And I doubt they have trays of cookies and tea."

  "No, sir. Probably not."

  I looked down and saw human hands, which meant I was at a distinct disadvantage going into a fight. Even though I train regularly in this form and fly only in this form, I am still shorter, lighter, and have less strength than when I'm in my elf form. Oh, and no prehensile tail with bone spike. But, as my sensei once said: it isn't the size of the sword, but the skill with which it is wielded. I pulled the door open and walked inside.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  I stood just inside the entrance and surveyed my surroundings. It smelled old, dusty, as if no one had been in this room in centuries. Light from skylights revealed a large open area with a pylon at the center. Walking up to the pylon, I saw the top had a hemispherical depression about four inches in diameter. In a wall niche was a glowing, red, crystalline sphere. As I stared at the object, a voice rang out in the emptiness.

  "I've been waiting for you."

  I turned around, and saw a tall figure a few feet away. It was wearing a black executioners robe complete with hood. Even though its head was concealed, I could tell it was an elf—the claws and tail were a dead giveaway.

  "So, Assassin, we finally meet. Damn, I felt sure you'd be taller."

  "Funny. Now that your sister and father are dead, I just need to kill you, and I'll be finished."

  Whoa! Halt. Stop the presses. Father isn't dead. I get News of the Realm on my RealmComm device and Father is alive and well the last time I looked. Just a few days ago, he was photographed at a Butterfly Ranch dedication. He looked entirely not dead in those photos. He was opening a hospital on one of the colony planets just the other day. "Parker, what's going on?" I asked using the SAC.

  "Sir, Parker Prime knitted together a false set of memories with which to imprison the Assassin. It thinks the king and Gloria are dead."

  I watched the assassin circle. Its movements were familiar. "What about Mother?"

  "It doesn't know you have a mother. It thinks she died during childbirth."

  I was starting to get a headache, hopefully from the bullshit that had been revealed. Who the hell thinks this stuff up?

  My thoughts were interrupted by the assassin lunging at me. I parried and danced back out of the way of its sword. It was powerful and much larger than me, but I had the advantage of speed. The problem was I couldn't keep this up for long. I needed to kill it quickly.

  "Assassin, since I will never make it back to League space, may I ask a favor of you?"

  "If you are going to plead for mercy, I'm sorry but I’m fresh out."

  "No, no mercy, just a single question."

  "Maybe. Ask."

  "Who ordered my father killed?" It was a long shot. Perhaps the assassin had a penchant for gloating.

  "What good would that information do you? You will be dead soon," it said as it lunged again. This time I parried, but with an added feint to its belly which caused it to pull away. It was slow in retreat, favoring its left leg.

  "No good, Assassin. Let's just say I would rather not leave this life with a question on my lips. Anyway, what harm would it do to tell me?”

  Another stab and another parry.

  "Fine. I feel generous today," it said as it pointed to a spot on the floor about twenty feet away. A figure appeared. It was Chancellor Lhoris. He stood there unmoving, a lifeless simulacrum of the powerful elf.

  "Why?" I asked out of curiosity. "Ambition? Greed?"

  "A little of both. Mostly he felt it was time to end the Aymar reign and start a new dynasty with his family at the helm. Such a pitiful creature he is. I find the thought of him being the reason for my existence sickening."

  "You're not alone. Father trusted him. Assassin, thank you for your kindness. I feel it's time to end this," I said as I stopped and raised my sword in a high on guard position. "Parker, did you get all that?"

  "Yes, sir. It has been recorded, stored in my structure, and copied into your emergency locater beacon where it will be broadcast the moment any receiver is in range."

  "Parker...Disconnect. I don't want you to die with me if it comes to that. Jump into the building's system and hide there until someone comes to retrieve my body. Parker, did you hear me?"

  "Yes, sir, I heard you clearly, but I'm not leaving you. I suggest you kill this thing for I am growing weary of listening to its incessant blathering."

  I looked at the assassin and smiled as I screamed and rushed in. Not knowing who or what I was fighting I fell back on my training, attacked, and parried while keeping close. My much larger opponent was having a hard time swinging its blade this close in, while I landed blow after blow.

  Then it happened, I slipped on the dust covering the floor and the assassin hit me in the ribs, cracking several. I swung and hit it in the left leg, snapping it. It didn't seem to notice, while I could barely breathe due to the pain. It swung again and sent my sword sliding across the floor. I knelt there, weaponless and barely able to breathe as I held my side with my left hand. That's when I remembered my knife. It was in its sheath, its hilt brushing the outside of my hand.

  "Yield!" It screamed as it limped over to stand over me.

  I had one chance.

  "Not today, thing. I will only surrender to a living being, not some freak grown in a test tube. Get back to me when you have a soul."

  It screamed and swung its weapon with enough force to cut me in half. It was also trying to keep pressure off its left leg, so I kicked its right leg out from underneath it, causing the sword to miss while exposing its hooded head. I obliged it by grabbing my knife and plunging it into the thing's skull, killing it instantly. It lay there dead, while the chancellor stood off to the side as if he were watching a movie.

  I stood up.

  "Sir, you should remain still. You may have a punctured lung."

  "Doesn't matter, Parker. I've got something I really need to do before I pass out," I said as I stumbled over to the niche and retrieved the glowing red crystal sphere. As the light in the room faded, I walked over to the Pylon and placed the sphere gently in the depression. The last thing I saw, as I passed out, was the walls lighting up like the video arcade back at the Aerie.

  Once more, the universe winked out as my face hit the cold, hard, stone floor.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Ariel walked into the guards' guest quarters. "Eldar! Front and center!"

  Eldar jumped up and ran over to stand at attention in front of his leader before slapping his right fist to his left chest plate. "Lieutenant!"

  She returned the salute and said, "Eldar, you're taking a ride with me. The rest of you are to stay here and guard the king."

  "Leader!" the others said as they saluted her.

  Eldar grabbed his gear and followed Ariel out
the door. Once they were out of earshot of their compatriots, Eldar turned to Ariel and whispered, "What's the plan, boss?"

  "I'm sorry to report the rescue team was killed, and we're the only survivors. Despite our best efforts, the prince was the first to die. During the fight, our shuttle's engines were damaged, forcing us to eject the drive core. It exploded, sealing the rift behind us. So sad."

  Eldar stopped and grabbed her arm, spinning her around to face him. He looked down and saw the tip of her knife pointing at his midsection. "What, Eldar?" she asked in a calm voice.

  "Are you sure this plan will only seal the rift and not blow this sector into the Great Beyond?"

  "Sort of sure," she replied as she put the knife back in its sheath. "If the plan goes to shit, it'll happen so fast you'll never know what hit you. Now shut up and follow my lead," she said as she turned and headed to the shuttle bay with Eldar close behind.

  Once the two Elves arrived and stowed their gear, the crew finished loading the shuttle. A total of eight people boarded the shuttle—pilot, copilot, four medics, and two elves. When the rescue ship was ready to leave, Ciara and the king boarded to give the team a final briefing.

  "Searcher will arrive at the rift ten minutes before it opens," Ciara explained. "When cleared, you will proceed to the planet and head to Royce's last known location. Once in position, you will drop the hawkbots and ratbots then proceed to the central building where we hope you will find Royce. If not, we fall back on the bots finding him. Your mission is to locate him and get him back here ASAP. We don't know how long the rift will remain open, so speed is of the essence. Any questions?" There was none.

  The king took the two elf guards aside and said, "Find him and keep him safe. Understand me?"

  "Yes, sire," they said as they snapped to attention.

  Soon, old elf, you won't be issuing any more orders, Ariel thought as she strapped into her seat.

  Ciara turned the floor over to the king. "I just wanted to say all of you have the undying gratitude of a father and a king. Your efforts will not be forgotten. Thank you," he said with a bow.

  When they finished, Ciara gave the flight crew a thumbs-up as they left the shuttle. The hatch was sealed, and they took off.

  "Godspeed," Ciara said as the shuttle cleared the atmo field. "My King, shall we join the queen and Chancellor in Mission Control Room Three?"

  "Yes, thank you," he replied as he took one last look at the departing shuttle, wishing it, and its crew, the best of luck in finding his son.

  ###

  Aboard the Searcher, the rescue team settled in for the trip to the planet. While the others checked gear, Ariel and Eldar sat next to a bright green packing crate, out of earshot of the other passengers, and made final plans.

  "We wait until they find Royce, then we make sure he's dead before we kill the others," Ariel said. "Be careful. Several of them told me all Cube personnel receive advanced combat training, so don't leave anything to chance. Kill them all once the prince is out of the way."

  "Copy that," Eldar replied as he checked his weapon. "Boss, why do you hate the king so much? What the hell did he do to you, other than make you the leader of his honor guard?"

  "He shouldn't be king. That right belongs to Lhoris, the greatest elf of our time!" she said as her eyes glazed over in adoration.

  Eldar had seen this before, and it never turned out pretty. Usually it ended up with a lot of dead people, not that he minded killing anyone as long as he wasn't the one getting killed. He looked at the Lieutenant and still saw the eye glow of adoration. "You got the hots for the Black Elf, don't you sir?" He stopped talking when he felt the point of her blade in the flesh directly above his heart.

  "Never refer to him that way again, understand me, Corporal?" Ariel hissed under her breath so that the others didn't hear her.

  "Yes, sir. Perfectly," he said not daring to take a deep breath for fear of being punctured.

  "Good,” Ariel said as she withdrew her blade and placed it back in its sheath. She leaned back in her seat and watched the rest of the crew prepare for landing.

  I’m definitely going to transfer out of this circus when I get back to the home world, Eldar thought as he put a seat between himself and Ariel. This chick is whacked in the worst possible way.

  ###

  The trip out to the rift was uneventful. Once in position, the shuttle waited for the "Go" command as everyone watched out the view ports for any sign of the rift to appear. The pilot and copilot monitored their scanners while the ship's autopilot maintained position relative to a marker buoy which had been placed to mark the rift's position. At the appointed time, the rift opened, giving them a view of the target planet. Mission control gave the go-ahead, and the Searcher proceeded into the Large Magellanic Cloud.

  There was no transition. Unlike dropping into other-space, there was no feeling of the Universe winking. This was like walking from the dining room to the kitchen in an open-concept house. One second you were in the Milky Way, the next you were moving through a nearby galaxy.

  "Welcome to the Large Magellanic Cloud, folks. The target planet is dead ahead. We hit atmo in twenty minutes, so please fasten your seat belts and bring your seats and tray tables to their full upright positions," the copilot said as they grew steadily closer to the planet.

  When they hit the edge of the atmosphere, the pilot initiated a re-entry burn of the main engines using their reversers. The ship, protected by its heat shields, lost speed by turning it into heat and bleeding that heat into the surrounding air.

  "Got some turbulence ahead," the pilot warned as the air around them got denser. The shuttle bumped and rocked as the pilot and copilot adjusted the shape of the shields. Soon the ride smoothed out as they hit the lower atmosphere.

  "We have drop-off point dead ahead. ETA three minutes,” the pilot said to warn the team to arm the bots.

  "Got it, Dr. Sorenson said as she got out of her seat and headed to the back of the ship to a control panel across from where Ariel and Eldar were sitting.

  "Doctor, how many of these bots are we dropping?" Ariel asked.

  "Half a ton, say five hundred, total," she explained as she flipped a number of toggle switches to their vertical positions. Once finished, she hit the intercom button. "This is Sorenson. We are go for release."

  "Roger that, Doc," the pilot replied.

  Sorenson turned back to the Elves. "These bots were designed by the Biocybernetics Group for use in rescue operations. Each bot interfaces with a data collection system tied into the shuttle's main computer. The ratbots will swarm outward from the drop-site and scan for life-signs—in this case elf—both below and at ground level while the Hawkbots scan from ground level to their programmed flight level of one hundred feet. If there is a living elf within one hundred miles of the drop-zone, we'll find them." She got up and returned to her seat.

  "Hey boss, do we really have to kill them?" Eldar asked suddenly taking a liking to these scientists.

  "Quiet! Or I'll leave you here with them!" she hissed.

  In moments, the shuttle was flying over the forested terrain on a heading which would take them to the last know position of Royce Aymar. They arrived and found the gate along with a containment field covering the area beyond the gate like an invisible dome. "Doc McAdams, can the bots penetrate the force dome?" the pilot asked over the intercom.

  Gretchen McAdams, MD, Ph.D. checked the scans. "Not a problem. Mission profile remains unchanged. Drop them and proceed to center building."

  The copilot pressed a switch and several hundred robots dropped out of the belly of the shuttle to either land and search, or fly, in preprogrammed search patterns, as they searched for Royce. Once free of its load, the shuttle headed to its primary destination.

  "ETA one minute," the pilot announced. "Something is happening down there," he said as the building came into view. Out the window they could see the dome arcing and flashing before disappearing altogether as they prepared to land.

&n
bsp; "Field has collapsed and energy readings are off the scale," Doc McAdams said. "We better hurry."

  The pilot landed the ship on what looked like the building’s front lawn. Nearby, a large creature quietly grazed, oblivious to the ship landing and the collapse of the dome. "Got something," McAdams said as she panned her scanner around while the copilot opened the door and stepped outside. "Life signs, similar to Gloria's, inside the building. They're faint. There is an energy dampening field still in effect which means the blasters probably won't work, so be careful."

  Everyone filed out, including the flight crew. Once outside, they headed to the building while ignoring the beast and the saddle sitting nearby, focusing on getting to the life signs inside. Soon the silence returned except for the sound of the beast eating and the crackle of static as power flowed around the building.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Mission control was a hotbed of activity when Ciara and the king arrived. Spying the queen and chancellor, the king walked over to join them, while Ciara made a beeline to John who was sitting at a control console. "Status?" she asked quietly.

  "They're through the rift and heading down to the planet's surface. First stop is Royce's last known position where they'll release the hawkbots and the ratbots. The bots from the first visit confirm Gloria's observations of a typical Class-M planet with pre-industrial society. I wouldn't mind opening up a bakery down there.”

  "You are such a romantic," she said as she placed her hands on his shoulders.

  He patted one of them and noticed her trembling. "You okay?" he asked.

  "Worried. Worried about the team. Worried about Royce. Worried about Gloria and how this will affect her, especially if something happens to Royce. We know very little about elf physiology, and I'm afraid to broach the subject with the king."

  John looked around the room. "Speaking of Gloria, where is she? I thought she'd be in here by now."

  Frowning, Ciara pressed the intercom button on John's console. "Computer, locate Gloria Aymar."

  "Working... Gloria Aymar is no longer aboard the station."