Like communication.
Exactly. It might even link into our military network.
That was a disturbing thought, but it was our only lead.
"Follow me," I said to Julie. "We're going to see if we can contact someone another way."
"Right above you," Julie replied.
Zoe guided me through the maze of tunnels until we appeared in front of another faceless gray-metal wall marked with the outlines of a large door.
This one.
"I'll go in first," I said to Julie.
I Phase Shifted and crossed the door. Inside was dark, but there was a faint glow from the command console's screen. I unmelded and approached it.
Bright yellow light suddenly flooded the training room. I froze and looked around, but no one was there. The debris from Garvek's broken old body was still lying in the corner of the room.
I crept toward the command console and tapped the screen. The interface was exactly identical to what we had used in the Academy, with only minor differences.
I navigated the menus and found the communication interface. The Academy was grayed out, though.
Try the one labeled Emergency Response Team.
Okay.
There was a simple text interface, no option for video or voice calling. I typed a short message.
DUSTIN HUNTER, MIA KIM, JULIE RICHARDS. ALIVE IN ENEMY CUSTODY. NEED IMMEDIATE AERIAL TRANSPORT.
I paused. I had no idea where we were.
Send the last known coordinates. Or mention Drake.
I finished the message.
LAST KNOWN LOCATION WITH DRAKE EMBER.
I hit the send button. I hoped someone was listening on the other side. I turned away from the command console and froze.
The head on Garvek's broken body swiveled and looked at me.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Garvek's remains said to me. "I was curious what you would do. It doesn't matter. I'll kill whoever comes." He made a laughing noise, a low, sinister sound. "If we hurry, we can do it together. It'll be our first time together, with me in charge…"
I didn't bother listening to Garvek continue. I melded and Phase Shifted through the training room's door.
On the other side stood an intact Garvek. His chest was open again, but this time there was a second girl adjacent to Mia. It was Julie, still in her combat uniform. She struggled against her bonds.
"Run, Dustin! Leave us!" Julie shouted as Garvek's chest closed on her.
"A pity," Garvek said. "Another run-of-the-mill Beastmaster. Not quite as interesting as you." He rapped his knuckles on the front of his chest, and Julie's muffled shouting abruptly stopped.
"Let them go," I said, baring my teeth. I could dismember his limbs, then pry his torso open.
"No, no, no." Garvek wagged a thick finger at me. "We need to get you ready to meet your incoming friends. You'll have plenty of time for death and destruction once our bonding is complete." He turned and beckoned for me to follow. "To the lab!"
Should I attack?
It's too risky. We need to run, regroup. If Garvek's right, there are reinforcements on the way—
Something barreled into me from behind. I somersaulted across the tunnel, landing a few feet in front of Garvek. Two of the flying Mekanics from before, twin angels of death, landed on either side of me.
"You made me do this!" Garvek screamed. "You made me!"
The hell?
I rose to my feet, but the Mekanics on either side converged, opening fire on me.
Dustin!
Everything went black.
CHAPTER 21
I woke up on some kind of table. I tried to move my limbs, but they didn't respond. There were cuffs around my wrists and ankles.
I tried to meld, but nothing happened. Right. I had probably zeroed.
Zoe? I expected her to be knocked out with the collar as usual.
Something rattled in the corner of my left eye. A cage, like the ones they had used at the Academy. Had the Mekanics secretly supplied the designs for those, too?
I couldn't reach Zoe with my mind, and I couldn't meld.
And what the hell was wrong with my right eye? It itched, and the colors were slightly off. I tried blinking.
Something was wrong. I twisted my head until I could see my reflection off a shiny stand to my side.
There was metal on the right side of my face. I strained for a better look.
My right eye was gone. In its place was a metal eye.
"Fuck!" I screamed. "Garvek! What'd you do to me?"
"Hmm?" Garvek's metal head, with its single black eye, appeared in my vision. "You look wonderful, don't you agree?"
"Fuck you! What is this?"
Garvek's eye pulsed red. "Oh, just a little something that should help with the bonding. Last time, there was nothing but a crude organic brain to hold my magnificent mind. We know how that worked." Garvek sighed.
Garvek pointed at my right eye with a finger. "This should help. A physical vessel and modulator, with direct, high bandwidth access via the optical nerve." I tried to flinch away, but he seized my head, then poked me in my metal eye. There was a clink.
"Stay the fuck out of my head!"
"Ah, but you won't have a say in the matter. There is still the issue of gender polarity. Oh well. What's good for the goose is good for the gander."
Shit, shit. I was going to be mind-raped by a psycho robot. I had to do something. "What about…free will? You can't do this to me without my permission."
Garvek turned away, doing something I couldn't see. "An obsolete mode of thought."
"No, you can't! Your own daughter, Vikki, thinks it's wrong." I desperately glanced around, looking for something, anything I could use to escape.
Garvek loomed over me again. "Unlike your species, we Mekanics no longer reproduce. Do you know what that means?"
"That you're all batshit crazy?"
"It means we can't evolve. No sexual selection. The only thing we can change is our minds. Free will is a relic of the past. Once I show the others what's possible, they'll—"
The clattering of footsteps interrupted Garvek. I couldn't see who it was, but I recognized the voice. Vikki.
"Father! Please, you can't force him! You said we would talk about it."
"We're having a nice chit-chat, right now," Garvek said. "Oh, hello, Staccato."
Staccato? He was here? Fuck.
"What's going on?" Staccato pushed forward to peer at me. He turned to Garvek. "And Cody's dead. What the hell happened?"
Vikki leaned over me, holding my hand. "I…I didn't know what to do. I brought your friend."
"He's not my—" I stopped. I didn't have anywhere else to turn.
"Staccato," I said. "I saw what they did to Cody. What they did to you. He…he begged me to kill him."
Staccato whirled. "What? Did he unmeld?"
"Yeah," I croaked.
"Fuck!" Staccato kicked Garvek's leg. "You said you would save him!"
"You were there after the procedure," Garvek said. "When I told him that he could never unmeld again."
I wasn't about to admit that I had zeroed Cody.
Zoe! Shit! What do I say?
The cage rattled, but I couldn't hear anything from Zoe. I would have to do this on my own.
"Staccato, please. You have to help. Garvek's trying to force himself into my mind, like he did to you."
Staccato screamed in my face. "I don't have to do anything!" He stood up, panting hard. Then, he turned to Garvek. "Is it true? You're going to bond with him?"
Garvek nodded. "Yes! I can't wait!" He stepped toward me but Staccato held a hand up to the ten-foot-tall robot's chest.
"I think you can wait. What about me and the Second Strain? You promised us both Chimeria and Earth."
Earth? They were already calling dibs on planets? This was the first we had heard about the Second Strain in a while.
"Well, yes, as I was telling your pupil here, minds change."