The Primal Connection (36 page)

Abshrd tried desperately to get the wheel free but strapped in as she was, Dr. Broche couldn’t reach the broom. Abshrd slammed the cart back and forth to try to dislodge it, but it was too late as Terry reached the cart and jumped onto the rear. Now, well within the Taser’s range, he pointed at the woman’s chest and fired.

The woman tensed as the current surged through her. Her eyes bulged as she suddenly screamed.

Terry had no idea how long it had been since she had initiated any sound on her own. He held the trigger down and let the battery drain into her. She jerked and spasmed against the belt that held her in the chair.

Inside her, there was more activity. Drawn in by the voltage, Abshrd and all his cronies lost their hold on her bio-fields as the current neutralized the attraction they used to stay there. They were then sucked into the flow and into the wire itself. Since they essentially had no mass, they all fit handily. Once inside it, they shot out of her body for the first time in nearly a year. Then, they slammed into the silver disc on the Taser.

The impact was jarring on a level none of them had ever experienced. It was like hitting a wall at the speed of light. Had they had anything resembling a physical body, it would have been smashed to bits by the collision. But that was just the beginning. Then came the terrible feeling for them of being alone and naked. And deprived of a ready energy source, they began to deteriorate immediately.

Charlie shouted into Terry’s mind,
“You did it! You got him! Terry? Terry!”

Terry had fallen to one knee and dropped his head. His breathing was ragged and labored. He had taxed his body beyond any limit he had ever established, and now, he was paying for it. The building looked as if it was swimming away from him and even the ground seemed to shimmer in his vision. He had to stay still for a few seconds just to get everything back in focus.

“Are you all right?”
Charlie was concerned. He could read his fields but that was only the physical side.

Terry smiled, saying, “I will be. We gotta check out the Doc!”

With that, Terry lurched forward. His legs had resumed their shaking, but he forced himself to go to the woman and rip the electrodes out of her arms. He checked to see if she was breathing, but his own condition made the task beyond him.

In his mind, he shouted,
“Charlie, is she okay?”

Even as he asked, the woman opened her eyes and stared wildly about. Finally fixing on Terry, she opened her mouth to speak, failed and tried again. It took three tries before she could even get anything out, her mouth working to make any sound.

Finally, she managed to croak out in a voice that sounded like she hadn’t used it in a thousand years, “Th-they’re-they’re gone! They’re
gone
!” Then, in what sounded like an avalanche of relief, she added, “I’m free! I’m free!”

Terry felt his eyes mist over as he cradled the woman in his arms and looked around. The copter continued to run up as if nothing had happened. He wondered if the pilot knew what had happened. Then, the thought occurred to him that
he
really didn’t know what had happened.

“Charlie, is it over? Did we get the bastard?”

For a moment, Terry could feel the tension as Charlie scanned the area for a sign of his people. Terry found himself holding his breath as he did. The scene carried on for several seconds before Charlie replied, anger edging into his voice,
“No. No, we did not! Look!”

Terry felt his neck twitch as Charlie stimulated the muscles and turned his head to look at the copter. Even in his weakened condition, Charlie amplified his vision enough that he could clearly see the pilot. The sight was enough to cause Terry’s mouth to drop open as he said dazedly, “Carter?”

Terry finished unbuckling the woman and pulled her out of the cart she had been a prisoner of for so long. She weighted next to nothing and her skin sagged like a loose-fitting dress, but she grabbed his neck with a strength that belied her condition. Whatever else happened, Terry realized, she was no longer a prisoner of Abshrd or that chair and for that alone she was happy.

Terry, though, was still astounded by the fact that the one they had come out here to find was now apparently the new host of their enemy. He was still coming to grips with it when Charlie exclaimed,
“Idiot!”

“What the hell are you talking about?”
Terry asked in mind speak.

“The cart! That lab tech told us that the copter was a small four seater! That cart would have never fit in it! This was his plan all along! Probably figured to dump the doctor and leave her here to starve if the separation didn’t kill her, not that it made a damn to him either way!”

Charlie’s anger was now etching itself across Terry’s mind as well. He understood his frustration on more than just the one level. Now, armed with whatever he got from Dr. Broche, Traci and even himself, Abshrd had all the fixings for an army of supermen. And he would be one of the first targets of it.

And right now, there was nothing he could do about it.

But then, as he realized suddenly, he was not alone.

* * * *

The copter began to rise slowly. Terry could see the man behind the controls smiling in the same fashion as Dr. Broche had, with a major difference. This one’s eyes added to the cruelness of it. Whatever else he was, clearly this Carter was enjoying not only the thought of what Abshrd could do with him, but the action of it as well.

But as the copter rose, Terry’s eyes fixed on the building in front of it. At the top, a door had opened and framed in the light streaming out stood the silhouette of a giant.

Decker!

Instantly, Terry’s mind went to the worst-case scenario. If Abshrd could send some of his lackeys out to infiltrate Decker, he could turn him into another version of Dr. Broche. That the big man would fight was without question, but if Abshrd knew how to take him over, it was the end for Terry, and he knew it. Decker would be a good fight normally, but enhanced by a Chrliti, let alone several of them, Terry knew he had no chance.

What is Decker doing?
Mir had to have explained all this to him after they left.
Why would he risk it? And where was Traci?

As the copter lifted, the wind from the blades kicked up a dirt storm that Terry had to shield his eyes from for a moment. When it cleared somewhat a moment later, he saw Decker had not come unprepared. In his arms, he cradled a confiscated AK. The pilot of the helicopter was still focused on Terry and, as such, had no idea Decker was even there.

Now, as he saw Terry’s eyes centered on the building in front of him, he focused his eyes on it as well, just in time to see Decker raise the weapon.

Even from where he was, Terry could read the man’s lips as he shouted, “Occupy this you son of a bitch!”

Instantly, over the sound of the whirring blades again came the sound of automatic gunfire, as the bullets tore into the front of the cockpit.

The heavy plastic was designed to withstand bird hits and flying stones without injury, but it was not bulletproof. It shattered after the first few rounds, sending shards and chips raining over the pilot. Then, once it was out of the way, the bullets themselves tore into the pilot, smashing bones and pulverizing organs the way they were intended to do.

The man was dying in less than a second.

Abshrd surveyed the situation. Decker was close enough for him to reach if he made the leap now. His fellow Chrliti however, could not. They had been too eager to draw on the new source of energy they had assimilated, and in a rare moment of compassion, Abshrd had allowed them to. As a result, they were too deeply entwined to jump as quickly as they needed to. Abshrd
could
have helped them, but it would have reduced his chances of success. And it was always, for him, survival of the fittest. They had not yet even noticed the death of their host as his fields had yet to deteriorate. He still had time to try.

It is a well-known myth of Hollywood that a bullet hitting a gas tank will cause an explosion. It will not. But the fuel in the copter, pressurized as it was, came pouring out of several holes as the bullets tore into the tanks. In seconds, the entire side of the little airship was engulfed in flames as the fuel hit the wind from the blades and was driven onto the hot exhaust.

Abshrd took his cue from that, ripping himself out of his new home and launching himself across the void, leaving his comrades to their fates. Some of them would be hard to replace. Some for skills and some for temperament, but none were impossible. Especially given what he had to entice new recruits.

Transformed to a bolt of energy, he leaped through the destroyed windscreen and oriented on his new target, Decker. Behind him, he could hear the mind-screams of his former conglomerate, but he knew it was too late. They had committed too much to consuming energy from their new host and were now trapped in the death throes with him.

If he could have, he might have felt sorry for them, but that was not his way. Now, he had to use what he knew to convince Decker to join him. And failing that, he had a few other persuasions he had learned over the years. If nothing else, he decided, it would make an interesting challenge.

Now away from the falling copter and closing on his target, he could get a good look at the man. And at the fields he would soon be exploiting. But there was something wrong. He couldn’t read anything. He was blocked in a way he suddenly recognized and he realized that he had been duped. He whirled around the big man like a sprite of old legend hunting a way into a house sealed against it. It was no use.

Suddenly, behind him, he saw Traci. She was not as prime a target, but she would serve. His energies waning, he dove toward her. Then, at the last second, he found himself smashed by a psi blast of the same type that he used. Weaker than he himself had been able to generate, it was, nonetheless, more than he could fight now. He spun his senses out and made contact.
Mir!

Suddenly, in his dying mind, he heard the voice of his foe, as it rendered a satisfied laugh. “
I imagine you will get to the afterlife first after all! Do try not to screw it up too badly for the rest of us, will you?
”

Abshrd wanted to curse him one last time but found he had neither the strength nor the substance. All he could do was issue forth one last scream that Mir found satisfying on a level he thought he had evolved beyond.

He realized that he had never felt so good about being wrong.

Terry struggled with the woman’s weight. Slight though she was, in his condition, it was an Olympian task to carry her into the building. Once inside, he surveyed the burning wreckage for any sign of life. He doubted anyone could have survived that, but these were Chrliti. Even Charlie wasn’t sure about their capabilities.

Then, there was the matter of Decker. He queried Charlie on that.

“
Charlie, did he get Decker?”

Charlie had been quiet since the crash, doing his own scan of the area.

“I detect no life in the wreckage, human or otherwise.”

Terry shouted exasperatedly, “What about Decker? Did Abshrd get to him?”

Charlie was doing a mental headshake.
“I cannot be certain at this distance. His fields are nearly as strong as yours, but I can’t read a thing. Perhaps it is because of the distance, but it doesn’t have the right feel to it. It’s like he’s blocked me out somehow. This is a new one on me. If Abshrd is behind this, it is the first time he’s used it.”

“Maybe it’s something he picked up from the strength of Decker’s fields?”

“No idea. I am sorry, but I have no answers.”

They had reached the control room where Abshrd had pinned Terry behind the table. Now that he had time to look, the room looked spartan at best. It took Terry a minute to realize the reason was that there were no chairs, just the console in the middle of the room. He looked around for anything that he could use as a weapon. He was in a closet when he heard feet in the hallway outside.

Grabbing a mop, he unscrewed the handle as quickly as possible. Dr. Broche sat on the floor propped up against the back of the console while Terry slipped up behind the door. If he had any shot, it would have to be first. And fatal.

The feet drew closer, scurrying as it were from room to room, as if checking for an occupant. Terry felt his hand tightening on the handle. He went over the move in his mind several times, outlining his attack over and over to be sure. He had no other option.

The feet got closer, but then, Terry noticed something. The padding wasn’t consistent with the way Decker walked or even with what he had been wearing. These feet were bare and their owner was tiny.

It hit him then.
Traci!
She must be searching for him. He stepped around the door. If it was a trap, he couldn’t ignore this one. Peering into the hall, he saw Traci looking in the room on the other side.

She looked around quickly and then spun around to check the next room only to run face to face into Terry, standing behind her with a finger to his lips. Her eyes went wide as he grabbed her and pulled her into the room.

She pulled away as soon as she was inside, saying, “Terry, are you all right? Mir was saying that Charlie couldn’t keep you up for that long without damage. He said—”

Terry looked through a crack in the door. “Abshrd might have Decker! If he did, I’m not sure if I can stop him! I need some kind of—”

“Whoa, whoa,” Traci said, grabbing him and pulling him close for a kiss.

Terry went with it gladly but quickly came back to reality.

“Look, you don’t understand! If Abshrd has Decker, we don’t have a chance unless I—”

“Unless you what?”

Terry spun around, cursing his inattention. He should have remembered that Charlie couldn’t read Decker any more than he had been able to read Abshrd. He brought up the mop handle, but it meant nothing as Decker still had the AK. It looked like Abshrd had won.