X-Calibur: The Trial (18 page)

She was still impressed with the quality of the simulation, but as she descended she tried to focus more on the code and infrastructure upon which the simulation was built. Using the processing power of her capsule, Triltan was able to see the city for what it was; an ever-changing stream of computer code, complex mathematical equations which directed the illusion of walls and mud, rain and sky. As she looked around her, she was able to see trickles of code as it moved back and forth between the minds of the people in the birthing pods and the mainframe itself, but the bulk of the data pulsed within the large building at the centre of the city.

That's looks like the primary hub for the simulation
, she thought as she watched the terabytes of data stream back and forth.
If I could disable that, the entire system would crash
.

As her feet touched down in a muddy puddle, the world before her reverted back to the simulation and she felt the cold wind once more blowing against her exposed arms. Triltan looked down at the ragged cloth sack she wore, using her capsule to isolate the portion of code which related to it. Visualising her armour, she overlaid that image upon the isolated portion of code and watched in delight as the clothes she wore were replaced with the bright white armour she was used to. She moved her arms and flexed her fingers, noticing too that once covered her arms no longer felt the cold wind upon them.

I hope whoever's controlling the simulation didn't notice
, she thought nervously, but a quick check on the streams of data circling around her was reassuring. Her clothes were just a miniscule portion of the whole, and unless someone was actively looking for such a change it shouldn't have been noticeable.

The surrounding street was empty, no doubt because the cold and wet had driven people indoors. She had no idea where to start looking for Arthur and the others, but she was soon able to isolate the signal between Arthur's pod and his position within the simulation. She set off at a sprint, her capsule projecting a map in the top-right corner of her vision.

Her journey took her past the large central building, a stone keep of some kind. The very sight of it was imposing, terrifying. It looked out over the rest of the city, intimidating and defiant. It was supposed to look impregnable and it was doing a good job of it, though Triltan wondered how many in the city knew why it was positioned where it was. If she was going to crash the mainframe she would need to get inside it somehow, but that was a problem for later. First she had to find Arthur and the others and make sure they were safe.

Her path took her past a noisy, brightly lit building which she ducked past unseen before heading down the narrow alleyway beyond it. A door at the end hung half off its hinges and a dim light and voices could be heard coming from inside. Her map informed her that Arthur was inside, but she couldn't tell initially if he was alone. She crept closer, peering around the door into the room beyond.

“For as long as you choose to be Arthur,” Merlin said. “I will be Merlin at your side. You, me, Gwen and Lance, the four of us together-”

“Make that five,” Triltan said as she stepped confidently through the door.

*****

“Triltan!” Gwen exclaimed, rushing from her seat and picking the small Teleri up in her arms. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to rescue you,” Triltan replied, smiling as the air was squeezed from her.

“But you're trapped in here with us?” Merlin asked. “Your father and the Ardent Dawn?”

“On their way,” Triltan explained. “There's a lot I need to tell you, but it's going to be okay. I used my capsule to access the simulation, I can come and go as I please.”

Arthur looked shocked and then smiled before putting a finger to his mouth. Triltan looked at him with confusion.
We don't know if Mor-Dred can hear what we say
, Arthur said via his capsule.

Oh, I'm sorry
, Triltan replied.
I didn't realise
.

We don't think he knows about the capsules, or at least can't listen in
, Arthur continued.

“Triltan, it's so good to see you,” Arthur said aloud. “But Merlin's right, you're trapped in here with us.”

Triltan nodded, playing along. “It doesn't matter,” she said. “I couldn't wait out there any longer, just waiting for my father to arrive.”

“Where is he?” Merlin asked. “We've been in here for almost ten days.”

“No, that's one of the things I've got to tell you,” Triltan told them. “It feels like days to you, but outside it's only been hours. The Ardent Dawn is still over twenty jumps away.”

“That's not possible,” Arthur insisted. “We'd know it, be able to feel it.”

“Not necessarily,” Triltan explained. “Think about it like this. Wait, do humans dream?”

“Of course,” Gwen said.

“I'm sorry,” Triltan continued. “I didn't know if it was something unique to the Teleri. But anyway, think back to dreams you've had, ones that seem to last hours or even days. They seem real whilst you're having them, correct? But when you wake, only a short time has passed.”

“She's right,” Merlin said. “Surely I've used the phrase 'time flies when you're having fun'? The passage of time and the perception of it don't always match.”

Arthur was still confused, but he no reason to suspect Triltan was lying to him. The more he thought about it, the more sense it made. It had seemed to take ages for Triltan's message to reach him on the Isle of Corbenic, and then there was Mor-Dred's promise of centuries of torment ahead of them.

“So how do we know Mor-Dred isn't constantly changing how much time passes while we're in here?” Arthur asked.

“Mor-Dred isn't changing time itself, just our perception of it,” Merlin corrected. “But you're right, in a way. We don't know, there's no way for us to tell. I suspect there's an upper limit to how much data an organic brain can process, but as to what that limit is? I wouldn't like to guess. We could spend years in here, waiting for the Ardent Dawn to arrive.”

Arthur looked over at Lance, his pale blue body unmoving beneath the thin blanket. They didn't have years, none of them. Even if Triltan really could come and go from the simulation, the others were still trapped inside, their survival at the whim of an insane artificial intelligence. Waiting wasn't an option, not anymore.

“Merlin,” Arthur said, drawing the older man's attention. “I still can't get my head around all this, I think I'm too tired. Gwen and Triltan, come get some rest and we can talk more about this in the morning. Merlin, do you mind if we go get some rest,
together
?”

All the while he was speaking, Arthur had been slowly tapping at the patch of skin behind his ear where his capsule sat in his real body. He hoped Merlin would get the message.

“Good idea,” Merlin replied with a knowing wink. “Some sleep will do you all good.”

Arthur walked wearily to the floor in front of the fire, lying down and resting his head on his arm. Gwen lay next to him while Triltan sat opposite, cross-legged on the floor. Arthur closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.

We can't spend years in here
, he said to Gwen and Triltan via their capsules.
Lance doesn't have that long, none of us do
.

What happened to him?
Triltan asked, upset with herself for not thinking of him earlier. She looked over at him, just his head visible above the blanket. He looked pale and clammy, his chest barely moving with each breath.

He's been the play-thing of a sadistic Mori jailer
, Gwen said angrily.
I've done everything I can for him in here
.

We need to get out
, Arthur said.
All of us at once, or Mor-Dred will punish anyone left behind.

I have some ideas about that
, Triltan said.
But it won't be easy. If I can get into the central keep, I should be able to crash the entire simulation. That will let everyone out, return them all to their real bodies.

Why the keep?
Arthur asked.
Can't you do it from here or from the outside?

The keep is where the primary processing hub is housed,
Triltan explained.
It might be possible from somewhere else but it would take a lot longer.

Wouldn't Mor-Dred just stop you?
Gwen asked.
Even from inside the hub, he could make corrections faster than you could change anything.

You're right,
Triltan agreed.
He'd need to be so focussed elsewhere he didn't notice what I was doing.

It's just not possible,
Arthur said.
There's no way past his guards. They're constructs, like him, and they're invincible. We wouldn't get past the front door, and Merlin and I searched for hours for another way in. There has to be another way.

The guards, they're code?
Triltan asked, looking down at her armour.
That's something I might be able to help with.

Chapter 11

There Is No Spoon

Earth Year 6239

They talked well into the night, discussing options and deciding on their plan. Arthur wished that Merlin could join them, but as Triltan explained, he was entirely made of code and therefore transparent to the mainframe. She didn't think that Mor-Dred could listen in on their capsule communications, but anything within the simulation itself was open to whoever had control.

Arthur finally felt his weariness return a little after midnight, and telling his body that only minutes had passed didn't do anything to keep him awake. He suggested that the others get some rest too, but Triltan insisted she didn't need it and offered to watch over Lance instead. While Arthur and Gwen curled up beside the fire, Triltan joined Merlin at Lance's bedside.

“It's good to see you,” Merlin said with a smile. “How was your
rest
?”

“Very productive,” Triltan replied, looking down at Lance. He seemed so much smaller than she remembered, lost beneath the thin blanket which covered him “How is he?”

Merlin's face became solemn. “Much the same,” he said. “Gwen and I, we've done everything we can for him here.”

“Gwen told me what happened,” Triltan continued absently, stroking Lance's face. Seeing him like that disturbed her more than she expected. She'd known something had happened, she had seen the readouts in the birthing chamber, but to see him so near death upset her deeply.

He was always so full of life
, she realised.
What if he doesn't make it?

Triltan thought back to times they had spent together, deep beneath the frozen planet and during their journey on the Vanguard. He was always so excited to see her and made sure he had something funny or interesting to say. She knew what Gwen thought, that he was developing feelings for her, but she hadn't considered the possibility that she was beginning to care for him too.

Not until she was forced to imagine a life without him in it.

He felt so cold to her touch, so still. The torture he had endured at the hands of the jailer had damaged him so deeply his mind had shut down. That's what the readings had shown her, what she was so powerless to prevent. While he was still inside the simulation there was nothing any of them could do; only Lance to pull himself back from the pain and return to them. Outside, with the equipment on the Vanguard, perhaps they could help him.

“Just wake up,” Triltan muttered to herself. “If you don't wake up soon you're going to miss everything. I know how much you'd hate that.”

The door opened at the far end of the room, a sudden blast of cold air flowing through it. Triltan and Merlin looked up in surprise while Arthur jumped nimbly to his feet, body taking a combat stance. “What are you doing here?” Ari-Dun demanded from the doorway, his frail, stooped figure not as intimidating as it had once been. “What are you doing in my home?”

Arthur rushed forward and grasped the old Mori's clothes, lifting him off his feet. “We should kill you now,” Arthur said angrily. “Your betrayal-”

“I had to,” Ari-Dun pleaded. “He would have killed me if I hadn't told him what you planned!”

Arthur let him go, Ari-Dun falling to the floor in a heap. Arthur's body tensed and he looked ready to take out all of his anger and frustration on the crumpled figure at his feet, at least until Gwen placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Look at him,” she said soothingly. “If you kill him now, it would likely be a blessing.”

“I don't have to kill him,” Arthur replied, but his body was already relaxing. He knew it wouldn't make him feel any better in the long run, but he just wanted to lash out, make someone pay for all they'd endured. Ari-Dun wasn't responsible for everything, but he'd played his part. He didn't deserve to get away with it.

We can still use him
, Gwen said through her capsule.
You know he'll run back to Mor-Dred and tell him anything he can. Let's use that against him.

Arthur nodded, turning away from the doorway. “We're staying,” he said. “Go tell your King where we are, I don't care. It's warm and it's dry and it's all we've got.”

Ari-Dun stood slowly, shaking the rain from his cloak. “Yes, well,” he stammered. “You're welcome to stay, for now, but you'll need to find somewhere else, soon.”

“In a day or two it won't matter,” Arthur replied, acting on what Gwen had suggested. “I'm going to face your King and end this, once and for all.”

Ari-Dun held his mouth open in surprise as Arthur laid back down before the fire.

*****

When Arthur woke, the sun was already shining through the partially closed door. Gwen was tending to a pot of boiling water over a roaring fire. “Good morning,” she said with a loving smile. “You've been out for hours.”

“Lance?” he asked groggily as he sat up.

“Still the same,” Gwen said sombrely.

“And Ari-Dun?” Arthur continued.

“Still here,” Ari-Dun said from behind him. “It is my house.”

“Merlin and Triltan kept watch on him all night,” Gwen said. “He didn't go anywhere.”

Gwen took the pot of water off the fire, putting it to one side to cool. She had also found some clean dressings, Arthur noticed, and seemed a little more like her usual self. Arthur stood, stretching, and joined Ari-Dun at the table.

“You're going to help me today,” Arthur said, fixing Ari-Dun with a determined stare.

“I think not,” Ari-Dun replied, but he was already looking nervous.

“I wasn't asking,” Arthur continued. “You're going to gather anyone of importance and bring them to the tavern where I found you before. I've seen the way they're treated, and whatever you might think about me, I'm the best hope they've got of getting out.

“Merlin, Gwen and I, we're going to follow you. You won't always see us but we'll be there, and if you go anywhere near the castle I'll make sure you regret it. Are we clear on that point?”

“Yes, most clear,” Ari-Dun replied, eyes lowered under Arthur's steely gaze.

Be careful,
Gwen said, speaking through his capsule.
We do actually want him to go to the castle at some point!

He's already working out how to sneak away,
Arthur replied.
Whatever I threaten him with, he knows it would be nothing compared to what Mor-Dred would do to him. He'll run back to his master soon enough.

I hope you're right,
Gwen continued.

I'll back off a little, just in case,
Arthur said.

“Well?” Arthur said, addressing Ari-Dun. “What are you waiting for?” Ari-Dun got quickly to his feet and scurried towards the door.

Arthur kept his word and followed Ari-Dun from a distance, watching as he went in and out of various buildings in the city. As instructed, Ari-Dun kept well away from the castle, but Arthur suspected that was only because Ari-Dun didn't want to inform on them until he had all the information. He hoped he was right. He'd never tried to be scary or intimidating before, but Ari-Dun had certainly seemed to fear him.

Who knew I'd be so good at being bad
, Arthur thought with a grin.

By the time night fell, Ari-Dun had been to more than fifty buildings by Arthur's count and was moving towards the tavern. Arthur caught up to him just before he opened the door.

“You think many will come?” Arthur asked, startling the elderly Mori.

“Not if they know what's good for them,” Ari-Dun replied harshly.

Arthur opened the tavern door, beckoning Ari-Dun to enter first. The inside of the tavern was warm and bright, and though busier than the last time he had been inside, it was far from packed. The room, however, fell silent as he entered.

All eyes were on him, eight for every person scrutinising him as the door creaked closed. Arthur felt his heart beat faster and his mouth dry as he pulled a chair over to him, standing upon it.

“Thank you all for coming to hear what I have to say,” Arthur began. “For those of you who don't know me-”

“You're the slave who condemned us to this nightmare!” someone yelled from the back of the room.

“That was never my intent,” Arthur continued. “Yes, I lead the slave rebellion on the hive, but I never meant for any of this to happen. Mor-Dred, the one who controls this place, he's the enemy, not me.”

“So what?” another voice asked. “You're trapped in here like the rest of us. You know how powerful he is.”

“He may be powerful,” Arthur replied, “but you also know what I can do. Gar-Wan told me that, before me, there had never been a successful slave rebellion on any hive ship. If anyone can defeat Mor-Dred and free you from this nightmare, I can. I just can't do it without your help.”

Arthur felt uncomfortable boasting about himself and his abilities, but he needed to sell the plan to Ari-Dun and the others. If they believed him to be more arrogant that brave, they were more likely to accept that he really did believe what he was saying.

“What do you expect us to do?” the voice from the crowd asked.

“I want you to join me and fight for your freedom,” Arthur said earnestly. “Tomorrow I'll wait for you on the Fields of Camlann, just outside the city. We'll march together on the castle and make Mor-Dred release us. If we stand together, we
can
defeat him.”

“We'll die!” another voiced yelled.

“Then we'll die,” Arthur agreed. “Better that than spend another day trapped in here!”

There was a general murmur from the crowd as they considered what Arthur had said. They had been trapped inside the simulation for more than a year, every day the same as the last, but were they really willing to accept death as an alternative? He didn't think so, but he still hoped some of them would have the courage to stand with him.

One of the patrons pointed at him, muttering, “The slave certainly seems to believe what he's saying, but that's not the same as being able to deliver on his promises.”

Arthur understood their apprehension. His plan was reckless, born out of the need to act quickly rather than waiting for Caran Doc and the Ardent Dawn to arrive. It was just as likely to fail as succeed, but he hadn't been left with much of a choice. He didn't need them to fight with him, it wasn't essential to the plan, but it would make the battle a lot easier if they did.

Arthur waited, taking it all in. The crowd looked far from happy, but the occasional glance of agreement raised his spirits. After a while the room gradually grew quiet, eyes turning back towards him expectantly. “Tomorrow, at dawn,” Arthur said, stepping from the chair and heading towards the door. “Join me on the Fields of Camlann and we'll take back our freedom, together!”

*****

Ari-Dun sat at the table, pretending to sleep. Everything was moving so quickly and he had to tell his master what he had learned. If Mor-Dred thought that he might be involved, even for a minute, Ari-Dun didn't want to imagine what new torment his master might bestow upon him.

Arthur and Gwen were curled up together on the floor before the dying embers of the fire while Merlin and Triltan dozed beside the bed. Lance lay in the bed, silent and unmoving. Ari-Dun sat up slowly, watching to see if any of them stirred. Arthur breathed deeply and laid his arm lazily across Gwen, but otherwise they all seemed the same.

Sliding his chair back as quietly as he was able, Ari-Dun stood and crept towards the door. He turned back frequently, his eight eyes checking and double checking that he was unobserved, but he reached the door without incident. He pulled it open a crack, muscles tensing as the single remaining hinge creaked, and slipped out into the night.

It was raining again and he was soaked by the time he'd reached the entrance to the castle. The four guards let him through without question and a moment later Ari-Dun was in the throne room, rushing towards the throne itself.

“Jester!” Mor-Dred said happily, feigning surprise. “How unexpected. What are you doing out at this late hour?”

“Master, I'm sorry to disturb you,” Ari-Dun began, dropping painfully to one knee before the dais. “I bring word of the false King and his plans.”

We know
, the fragment whispered.
We always know!

“Ah, you mean his plans to raise the people against me on the Fields of Camlann?” Mor-Dred asked with a mocking smile. Ari-Dun looked surprised and then fearful as Mor-Dred stood.

“Of course I know all about it,” Mor-Dred continued. “This is my domain, and you would do well to remember that, Jester. Your drunken complaints in the tavern? Not as secret as you might think, but I let them pass. I like you, Jester, doesn't it show?” Ari-Dun said nothing, his heart heavy as he struggled to recall all the times had had complained about his mistreatment.

He didn't answer!
the fragment hissed.

“That wasn't rhetorical!” Mor-Dred snapped suddenly.

“Yes, yes, master,” Ari-Dun stammered. “Every day I am grateful for the compassion you show me.”