"What the hell?"
Michael yelled behind him.
* * *
"Eat something," Justin said.
Anna was in a different room now, this one larger, with tan, paneled walls. Instead of machinery, it contained furniture: a couch that faced three armchairs, with a low table in between, and to one side, a larger table surrounded by more simple, rigid chairs. These furnishings were lifeless, unlike the ones she generated within the machine. Even so, she knew she was still within the Eye; that great machine encompassed the entire planet.
Anna was sitting on the couch, technicians on either side of her. They trimmed away the long, horny extrusions on each of her small appendages. Justin sat opposite her. She studied the tray of food on the table, an odd assortment of various colors and shapes that meant nothing to her.
The technician to her right released her limb, and she reached down, grasped one of the shapes, and deposited it in her orifice, as Justin had shown her before. She chewed, swallowed, old reflexes guiding her actions. It was a primitive system, the sensations weak and uninspiring beside the exhilarating leap to hyperspace, the joy of the war cry.
"Good," Justin said in his quavering voice.
"Now tell me the very earliest memory you have."
Anna glanced at Bunny, who stood to one side with Elizar. Anna did not want Bunny in her mind again, pushing at that brilliant, burning barrier, "helping" her to remember whatever it was they wanted her to remember.
Justin waited for an answer.
"I remember the liberators;" Anna said, "instructing me in obedience."
Justin let out a heavy breath.
"I want you to tell me a memory of yourself in this body" – he pointed to her – "without the ship. The earliest memory you have."
Anna searched her mind.
"I was in a tunnel underground. I sensed a machine to control. He resembled a Human, but he was only partly Human. His name was Galen. I seized his hand..."
She looked down at her grasping mechanism, troubled by its resemblance to a Human hand.
"I joined with him."
Justin's exhalation was harsher this time, and he stood. A door opened, and two Drakh entered, eyes glowing red, jagged white exoskeletons covering most of their heads. Anna had carried Drakh of this type several times; they were menial soldiers. They wore black body armor and carried primitive weapons over their shoulders. Justin made a sharp motion toward Bunny, and his voice was hard.
"Get her out of here. She's useless."
Bunny backed away.
"I told you I couldn't break through without killing her."
"I thought you might have stimulated at least a few memories. But not even that. They've been patient with you, Bunny, but you just haven't been pulling your weight. There's a capacity in which you could be much more productive."
"I did my best. You wouldn't even know who she was if it wasn't for me."
Bunny backed into the wall, straightening with a start.
"They blocked the memories themselves, with their conditioning. You can't blame me for that. They turned her into a machine, and there's just no way to turn that thing" – she jerked her chin toward Anna – "back into a Human being."
Anna had no idea what Bunny was talking about, but she sensed that Justin had at last realized Bunny was no friend, and that something very bad was about to happen to the telepath. She watched avidly.
One of the Drakh reached for Bunny, and her eyes narrowed on him. The Drakh stumbled back, knocking his companion aside. His body trembling, he took his weapon in both hands, turned it so that the muzzle pointed to one of his glowing red eyes, and fired. Fragments of white exoskeleton sprayed out the back of his head. He fell at Elizar's feet.
The second Drakh lunged at Bunny, but no sooner had he seized her than she turned her narrowed eyes on him. He released her as if she were burning hot. Then he too took his weapon, aimed it at himself.
"I don't want to kill anyone," Bunny yelled, her eyes fixed on the Drakh.
"But you're not wiring me into one of those ships! Just let me go. Elizar can take me. I won't tell anybody anything."
Anna pulled her hands away from the technicians and stood, carefully balancing on her two lower extremities. Bunny was talking again of ships. What could Bunny mean? Elizar stepped over the fallen Drakh, his black velvet coat brushing the body.
"Let her go, Justin," he said in his skillfully modulated voice.
"She has served well. I can take her to a planet without space trade; she will do no harm to us."
The curious pattern of hair on his chin shifted as he smiled at Bunny.
"They can be assured that, wherever I leave her, she'll cause plenty of chaos."
While keeping her eyes on the Drakh, Bunny also smiled. Elizar extended his hand, and Bunny took it. He guided her toward the door. But after a few steps she stopped, jerked away from him. She held her palm up to her face, as if she had never seen it before. Something was affixed there, a small white disk. She scratched clumsily at it, but was unable to remove it. Her gaze traveled slowly up to Elizar.
"You bastard."
She staggered, and the Drakh, released from her control, grabbed her.
"You – promised."
She collapsed.
"Thank you, Elizar," Justin said.
Elizar nodded.
"Take her for processing," Justin said to the Drakh.
"They want that ship back in service as soon as possible."
Anna didn't understand – she must be mistaken – but Justin's words filled her with a horrible sense of dread.
"Are you joining her with my machine?" Justin's face twitched.
"Yes, Anna. We need you elsewhere. You are critical to our victory, and we need you in this form."
The Drakh dragged Bunny toward the door. It couldn't be. Bunny was going to get everything Anna desired – the thrill of battle, the red rapture of the war cry. Anna moved her weak body, blocking their way.
"How can that happen?" she asked.
"How can Bunny do what I do?"
Justin frowned.
"I'm not sure what you mean, Anna."
Anna's outrage built. "She is not what I am."
"What are you, Anna?"
"A great engine of..." No, that was no longer true. "The heart and brain of a machine."
"You are Human, Anna. Just as Bunny is? How could he say that?
"No I'm not" Anna's heart pounded. "No I'm not."
The idea was absurd.
Elizar raised his hand in a precise movement, and an image appeared in the air before her, an image as large as her, of a Human female in a knee-length wraparound robe, with long, tangled hair and hollow eyes. Anna extended her grasping mechanism toward the thin figure, and the woman in the image raised her hand toward Anna, until, at last, their fingertips met. Identical.
"No," Anna said, and the woman echoed her word. With a shriek Anna threw herself at the woman just as the woman threw herself at Anna. But the woman had no substance. Anna passed through her, head ramming into the side of the couch, and fell to the floor. As she struggled to coordinate her limbs, the Drakh quickly dragged Bunny from the room. Justin crouched in front of her.
"Stop, Anna! Stop! The liberators expect better from you. Have you forgotten everything they taught you?"
Anna pushed herself up with weak limbs, onto the hands and knees of her pathetic Human body. How could she be Human? Humans were weak, small, vulnerable.
They were not parts of machines. They did not join with machines. She did not want to be Human.
"The liberators gave you everything. They made you what you were. And they have made you what you are now. They want to release your full potential, to make you even greater than you were. Have you forgotten the First Principles?"
To make her greater? How could they make her greater?
"Chaos through warfare. Evolution through bloodshed. Perfection through victory."
"You have done the first two very well. Now you will help us to attain complete victory. And you will be perfected."
She could not stand to be a Human. She needed to be rejoined to a machine. That was who she was; that was her purpose. Three of the liberators entered, their tapered legs moving gracefully. Their brilliant pinpoint eyes studied her.
"Come and sit down, Anna," Justin said, "and I will explain everything, as best I can."
Justin extended a hand in a gesture she didn't recognize. She climbed to her feet. He had said she would be perfected. What could that mean? He and Elizar sat, and as she stood before them, the answer came to her. He could mean nothing else. Excitement stirred her pathetic body. The liberators were truly great.
"You will join me with the Eye and give me control of it," Anna said, finding it difficult, for some reason, to catch her breath. "That is how I will be perfected."
Justin's bushy eyebrows contracted, and he looked toward the liberators. After a moment, he returned her gaze.
"Just so, Anna. Just so. We hadn't planned on telling you until later, but you've figured it out. Very good. But first you must help us attain victory. That's how you'll prove yourself worthy. Once we are victorious, then you and the Eye will be one."
She would be perfected, joined with the greatest machine she had ever sensed. Anna sat.
"Tell me what to do."
C
HAPTER 12
"He could have killed me a thousand times over and danced a jig on my decaying remains before you and your incompetent security force arrived," Londo raved.
"We had an extended conversation. He had time to ruin my entire living quarters. To torture me. Another few seconds, and I would have been dead!"
He sat sprawled on his couch, his crest blown flat against his head, his starburst brooch hanging from his jacket by a thread. Michael stood over him.
"Gee, that's too bad. Zack, make a note. We should wait another minute or two next time we get an alarm from the ambassador's quarters."
Watching through the probe on Michael's hand, Galen crawled into the narrow air shaft, pulled the vent closed behind him. Even lying prone, he barely fit. His heart pounded from the adrenaline still racing through him, the pounding echoed back by the tech.
"Take care, Mr. Garibaldi. I don't think your captain will appreciate your turning this into a diplomatic incident. We maintain our presence here in the understanding that we will be protected."
"It's just hard to keep track of all your enemies, Ambassador. Now which one was this, again?"
"Great Maker! I told you. A mad techno-mage. Totally and completely insane. Out for revenge for all those who were killed when they visited here."
"Did you get a name?"
"A name? Yes, right after we shared the hands of friendship."
"What about a description?"
"Are you hard of hearing? He looked like a techno-mage. Black robe, bald head – he should stand out fairly well around here. I would think even your people could find him."
"Human?"
"Yes, yes – at least I think so. Young, I believe. He said his teacher was Elric, the leader of the techno-mages. I had some dealings with Elric when he was here. A very short temper – just like his student."
"And he claimed you had killed the techno-mages."
Londo waved the thought away.
"His accusations totally baseless, of course. They died in an accident; I'm sure you recall it. The freighter belonged to a Centauri company. It was old, poorly maintained. The techno-mages tricked me into gambling with them. When I lost, they demanded I arrange passage for them on the ship. This was all investigated before. It was just a tragic accident."
"As I remember, you wanted something from them, and they refused. No hard feelings about that?"
"You want to put this on me? Do you realize that I was very nearly killed? And that techno-mage will be back. He's not going to be satisfied until I'm dead."
"You do tend to have that effect on people."
"Do your job, Mr. Garibaldi. This insane techno-mage must be tracked down at once. Until he's captured, I demand protection. Six of your best – if such a word can be used. They must be available to me at all times."
"You may not have heard, there is a war on. We're short staffed as it is."
Michael preempted Londo's protest.
"But for someone of your importance, I will requisition three of my best... Narn... guards."
"Narns?" Londo's expression darkened. "Your sense of humor is not what it used to be."
Michael's tone remained mild. "I can't give you your choice of any security staff you want. Our cooperation can only go so far, Ambassador."
"I might as well stick my head in the station's fusion reactor. It would be quicker."
Londo stood, began pacing nervously through the ruins of his room.
"Sheridan will hear about this. And my government may well take action."
He ran into Zack, who was examining the golden statue Londo had been holding earlier. Londo snatched the figure back.
"Get out of here! You're useless."
"Are you rejecting our protection?" Michael asked.
"Protection? I'd be safer with Vir as my security. Yes, I'm rejecting it. I'm rejecting you. Get out. Get out."
Londo drove them from his quarters. Galen switched to one of the probes he had left on Londo's wall. The ambassador stood alone in the center of his once luxurious sitting room, the statue hanging at his side.
"Vir... always off on some ridiculous errand when I need you."
A trinket on his desk dropped to the floor, and at the sound, Londo jumped, raising the statue like a club. He turned, looking anxiously around the room.
"Madman. I refuse to die for this. Not now. It wasn't my fault."
He raised his voice.
"It wasn't my fault!"
With an anxious gulp, he rushed from the room, the statue clutched in both hands.
Galen continued his mind-focusing exercise as Londo rushed past the place where he lay hidden. Everything was going according to plan. He must simply retain control, do what needed to be done and no more. He conjured a platform beneath himself, and with an equation of motion sent his prone body gliding silently through the narrow shaft. Ahead, weak patches of light filtered in through the vents, interspersing light with the darkness.