Chapter 437 (2/2)
”Go ahead, sweetie,” Flower Patch said.
”Hello,” the voice said. It was the excited voice of a child eager to please. ”I am Lance Corporal Robert-44824 of the United States Marine Corps. Flower Patch is my new Mommy.”
”It is nice to meet you, Lance Corporal Robert. My name is Herod,” Herod said softly. He couldn't believe what he was hearing, most of all, he couldn't believe how the uplifted canine's voice seemed to reach deep inside of him and touch a spot that had been numb and pained all of his life, soothing a pain that Herod did not even know had been hurting him.
”Mommy says that she needs to talk to you. It was nice to meet you, Herod,” the voice said. There was a second of silence. ”Did I do it right?”
”You did it very well, sweetie,” Flower Patch answered. There was a pause. ”Why did you call, Herod?”
”Is Torturer around?” Herod asked. He looked back at the file and finished putting it together.
”He's right across the room, petting a pregnant cat,” Flower Patch said. ”He's pretty attached to the cat, he named her Floofy.”
”Put him on, please,” Herod said.
”What?” Torturer asked.
”I'm sending you a file. I need you to look it over, tell me if I'm right,” Herod said.
”What is it?” Torturer asked.
”The difference between modern brains and Pre-Glassing brains,” Herod said. ”I need a complete workup, a complete highlight, of the differences in the basic structure.”
”It'll take me a couple of hours,” Torturer said.
”I've got nothing but time,” Herod said. He started to reach for the disconnect icon, but then stopped, a sudden suspicion coming to his mind. ”Hey, the Confed Intelligence Agents in the Black Box, are they showing any signs of instability?”
”What? No. There's one over there petting a cat and staring at me like she's trying to figure out what parts of my core coding she can remove,” Torturer said.
”All right, thanks,” Herod said. He thumbed the off icon.
All of the mechanisms were in place. They all read green.
He thumbed the activation button.
At the phasic arrays the carefully built mechanisms powered up. Based off of the degaussing principle, they began put out a rapidly oscillating phasic charge at the highest range the phasic arrays could detect, store, or had present. It began to lower as Herod looked out at the scene on the other side of the windows.
He'd chosen this point for one particular reason.
The housing area on the other side of the macroplast was full of flickering shades, constantly reliving the last few moments of their lives, even attacking one another at random. The phasic energy was so thick down in the streets that there were odd sparks between two pieces of metal that were close enough to one another and flickers on the holograms and massive LED screens.
He thumbed the other icon.
A massive pulse of artificially generated phasic energy thrummed out, covering the entire layer, every layer of the onion.
Another went off right afterwards, an opposing force. The phasic signature of a Terran biological suppression field generated by a mechanical source.
The whole thing kept oscillating, the charge slowly lowering.
With one final flash, after nearly a full three seconds, the entire system slowly wound down.
Herod could taste blueberries.
He watched out the window, staring at the streets.
They were clear.
He counted to a hundred and not a single phasic impression reformed.
Herod slowly smiled.
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Legion decided he really didn't like the way The Detainee was staring at him. She had leaned forward, her legs slightly open, her hands on her knees, her cigarette held between her teeth, and her eyes narrowed.
”What?” Legion asked.
”You're brain scan. You're closer to me than all of these mewling milk sop gene-jacked morons populating the universe,” she said, her voice a soft, deadly whisper. ”I took a look at that thug Daxin, he's close too.”
”We never went through Overproject Streetlights,” Legion admitted.
”I should reach into the SUDS, find who made that, and crush their skull,” Dee snarled. ”Not in here. Physically bring them back with the mat-trans and push a stilletto heel through their goddamn sphenoid bone nice and slow.”
Legion nodded slowly. He'd been around volatile Immortals long enough to know when someone was showing danger signs.
”Is there anything in particular pissing you off?” Legion asked.
Dee leaned back. ”No.”
”Oh,” Legion looked back over the plain. ”So just my existence is pissing you off right now.”
”Pretty much,” Dee said. She gave a sigh. ”I'm feeling homicidal. I'm frustrated, angry at the blithering idiots who caused this, and I don't have anything to take my mind off of it.”
”I can see where that might cause difficulty for me,” Legion admitted.
”So, you understand I've got a nice cruel streak running through me, right?” Dee said.
The amusement in her tone made Legion itch between his shoulder blades. ”I've come to realize that.”
”Do you remember when they made you into these so-called Immortals?” Dee said.
”Not really,” Legion admitted. ”My memories are mixed up. I remember the Digital Omnimessiah awakening me, I remember traveling with him for nearly thirty years, but at the same time, I remember being an Immortal and fighting against the Mantid.”
The Detainee gave a chuckle, taking a long drag off her cigarette and exhaling a cloud of bluish smoke.
”I've always put it up to fragmented memories,” Legion said, shrugging.
”Uh-uh, wrong,” Dee said. She swirled her finger in the smoke, bringing up an image of Vat Grown Luke next to an image of Legion. ”You were both there at the same time. The Imperium figured out how to trick the system, bypass the interlocks preventing SUDS clones.”
Legion turned and looked at her. ”That's impossible. Everyone knows it's hardwired into the system.”
”Says the guy who can make tens of thousands of copies of himself at once,” Dee snickered.
Legion face palmed.
”I can tell you how they did it. I can tell you why even a SUDS interdiction field doesn't work against you Immortals. I can even tell you why you don't suffer SUDS degridation or need to be washed out,” Dee grinned.
Legion wondered if her mortal body's teeth were that sharp looking. ”All right, impress me.”
She leaned forward, her face suddenly twisting with anger. ”Those assholes used my research. My genius, to create you.”
Clouds rolled in across the plain, thunder rumbling in the clouds as the screams of the damned picked up volume.
”They took my work, and made the flawed copies of my genius, made you,” she stood up and stared down at him. ”They birthed you from my work and tore you away from me.”
She stepped down off the throne, the skulls crunching under her shoes, and Legion got ready to flee.
When she stepped off the skulls and began walking toward Legion, he noticed that her clothing ran down her skin like blood, leaving her completely nude. She held a pack of cigarettes and a mechanical lighter in one hand, her gun-metal eyes hot and angry.
She stopped in front of him and tapped him in the middle of the chest. ”There. Right there. I can sense it. I can hear it.”
”What?” Legion asked.
The Detainee stood on her tiptoes to whisper in Legion's ear.
”A mat-trans beacon.”