“I acted as I thought Beloved Leader would want,” I say. “But I regretfully let the Loric scum escape. Our Skimmers lost their ship somewhere over Texas.” My eyes fall to the floor. “I understand this failure is unforgivable. If it warrants an end to my life, I will offer my neck to your blade willingly.”
Krah grunts.
“You’ve always been a good soldier, Dun-Ra. Even when you fail, your loyalty never wavers. You were right to bring Beloved Leader here, long may he reign. If you die because of your actions, it will be by his hands, not by mine.”
I nod, a small wave of relief rushing over me.
“Sir.” One of the officers-in-training stands, removing his headphones. “Several of our warships are still asking about the Loric ship the Anubis was chasing. I believe many of the captains would like to engage it if possible.”
“Of course they would,” Krah says. He glances at me. “I know you were hoping to head the bastards off, but you’ve made our entire North American fleet restless.”
“How should we respond?” the young trueborn asks.
“That they’re to remain put,” Krah says. “That Beloved Leader will tell them when they have new orders.” He raises his chin a little. “And that our invasion of Earth is going just as he designed.”
CHAPTER FOUR
KRAH FILLS ME IN ON THE STATE OF OUR CAMPAIGN. For now we’re in a holding pattern. The Anubis’s unexpected flight to the Sanctuary changed our timeline. Once Beloved Leader awakens, his plans will resume, but for now the warships wait in silence. The only anomaly has been the humans who’ve suddenly begun to display Garde-like powers. But according to Krah, they’re more of a curiosity than a threat at the moment. The affected humans appear to all be little more than children, untrained and incapable of using their newfound abilities in any way that might harm our cause. In fact, it’s believed they may prove to be useful in other ways.
I get more of a sense of this when I visit Zakos in the afternoon.
There are five metal slabs that serve as beds lining the walls of his laboratory. Three are empty. One is covered in blood and what looks like chunks of human flesh. One has an unconscious human girl with short, red hair strapped down to it. Zakos is bent over her, prodding her with some sort of baton wired to an electronic tablet in his hands.
“Doctor,” I say.
“Ah, Phiri.” He drops the tablet on the girl’s stomach. She doesn’t react. “I was just about to send for you.”
“Who is this child?” I ask. “I thought we’d learned everything to know about human anatomy.”
His eyes light up a bit at this. “So had I. And yet this girl has exhibited signs of Loric power. Telekinesis, to be specific. We have reports that other Legacies have been displayed by these newly powered humans as well.”
“Which is why you have her drugged, I’m guessing.”
“That’s right,” he says.
“And that one?” I point to the slab where blood is congealing.
“An unfortunate blunder on my part. It won’t happen again. I tried to use the same techniques as my predecessor, Dr. Anu, to isolate Legacies. Unfortunately, his methods apparently only worked on Loric physiology. I’ve made some adjustments to his methods. As you can see, this specimen is still alive. And if she does die, well, several of our warships have teams devoted to collecting new samples for me. I don’t think I’ll have any problem finding more subjects.”
I step closer to the sleeping girl and take a better look at her. Slender metal probes stick out of her chest and arms. Her eyes move back and forth beneath thin lids.
“How did they get these powers?” I ask.
Zakos dismisses the question with a wave of his hand as he moves to a computer terminal.
“I’m not concerned about the how so much as what we can do with them. The how we’ll figure out later. The how I might be able to reverse engineer. Or, more likely, Beloved Leader will be able to explain.”
“How is he?” I ask.
“See for yourself.”
I follow him through a door in the back of his lab and out into a huge open area. The place smells like sulfur, and there are big black rectangles spotting the metal floor, pits full of the dark sludge that gets pumped into augmented soldiers, and that incubates the vatborn.
These are the healing vats.
“He rests below us,” Zakos says. “Already he has begun to recover. It won’t be long before he walks among us again.”
“So quickly?” I ask.
“Yes,” he says, sounding a little annoyed. “He designed this system when he brought us the vatborn and the Great Book of Mogadorian Progress. You must trust in his knowledge, Phiri.”
I grit my teeth at the implication that I don’t and manage to keep myself from clawing at the doctor’s face. Meanwhile, he’s taken an interest in my bandaged palms.
“May I?” he asks.
I begrudgingly offer him my hands. He takes off one of the bandages.
“Burns,” he says. “Energy based, but not blaster fire. You should have told me about them sooner.”
“They’re from some sort of force field I encountered at the Loric Sanctuary,” I say. “I don’t need them healed. They’re a good reminder of what happens when I am less than Beloved Leader would like me to be.”
“He would like you at your full potential.” Zakos drops my hands and points to one of the dark rectangles in the floor. “I’ll get you some clean bandages. If you’ll spread a little bit of the vat liquid on your palms, they’ll be healed in no time.”
I walk over to the vat and stare down into the slick darkness. A few seconds pass before I stick two fingers into the black sludge. It’s viscous and warm, but when I spread it over my wounds, it starts to tingle, turning cold.
I let out a sharp breath.
“Yes,” Zakos says, coming up from behind me. “It can be quite jarring.”
He takes my hands again, cleaning off the excess ooze with a towel before starting to rewrap them in clean, white bandages. He’s finishing up my first hand when he speaks again.
“You are a strong soldier, Phiri Dun-Ra.”
I don’t respond.
“I need strong soldiers.”
“For what?” I ask. “To retrieve more subjects for you? I’m not a delivery service.”
“Of course not,” he says with a slight smirk. He starts on my other hand. “I misspoke. He needs you. I’m working on something for Beloved Leader—a project he is most interested in. A new way to arm our troops.”
“He’s developed new augmentations?” I ask.
“Something like that. But only the strongest among us will be able to wield his new weapons. Not just trueborn, but those with physical and mental strength. Endurance. And loyalty.”
He looks me in the eyes.
“That’s you, Phiri,” he says. “Before he flew to the Sanctuary, Beloved Leader left me with very specific plans and goals concerning the future of Mogadorian Progress, and I know that nothing would make him happier than to emerge from the vats with a new force to command. Will you serve our glorious commander and ascend to the level he requires of you?”