A sound almost too low to hear throbbed within the metal wall. The warrior robot shifted its massive weight. Its armored head extended from its neck; red eyes whirred from side to side.
“Oh, dear. Fido doesn’t like what’s inside,” Rico said.
“Good. He can wait out here,” Griffin said.
“Couldn’t do that. He wants to be close to me.”
Griffin didn’t answer. The wall seemed to slip into itself, as if the metal had melted away. The scent of dust and ozone filled the air. The room was dimly lit, a large half-sphere. Black, opaque plastic covered the large, geometric structures scattered about the floor.
Rico stood perfectly still, his eyes taking in every inch of the room.
“I can’t understand why Fido doesn’t like this place,” he said. “I simply love it here.”
“I’m not surprised,” Griffin said. “Welcome to Janus. You’ve been so anxious to see it, now you’re here.”
“There is a feeling in here. A sense of… a beginning.” Rico closed his eyes. “Can you smell that, Griffin? Yes, of course you can. It’s an awakening, a dawning. The light says that. It’s always dawn down here…”
Rico opened his eyes, suddenly alert. The robot hummed and moved its bulk in Rico’s path.
Rico glared at Griffin. “Who’s in here? Someone is in here.”
“We’re not in combat,” Griffin said irritably. “Tell that toy of yours to stand down!”
Rico looked past Griffin. His pupils swelled and turned gold. The woman stepped out of shadow into sight. She was tall, dressed in something blue that captured a million shards of light. Her mouth was wide and red, her eyes slightly tilted where the dark hair tumbled past her cheeks to her breasts.
“I know you,” Rico whispered. “I remember you…”
“Yes, you do,” the woman said. “You remember me.” Her voice was a breath of chilly air. She rewarded Rico with a smile.
“You’re Ilsa Hayden. The bitch who testified before the Council. You told the Judges I was insane.”
“And therefore innocent of your crimes,” Griffin added.
“I was simply trying to help,” Ilsa said.
Rico’s eyes burned. “You insulted me. You made me look like a—a mental degenerate. I knew exactly what I was doing. I did then, and I do now.”
“Really?” Ilsa took a step toward him. One small motion with more silent meaning, more blatant sensuality than Rico had ever seen.
“You might want to reconsider your… state of mind, friend. You might need to call on my help again.”
Griffin watched them. They stood well apart, but he could feel the struggle between them, the invisible lines of tension, the hunger and the need. He forced himself to repress a smile. Ilsa was the gift he had hoped for, the control he needed to keep Rico stable, to use him, to keep the howling psychopath inside this creature from emerging and destroying them all. Ilsa could do that. The raw, animal smell of this woman could bind him tighter than the strongest chain.
“Miss Hayden has been a loyal supporter of this project for some time,” Griffin said. “She has watched over it, kept it alive for me. I’m certain you’ll find her experience… invaluable, Rico.”
Rico didn’t blink. “I’m most grateful. I’m sure I can use all the help I can get.”
“We have our work cut out for us.” Ilsa swept one hand about the room. “The equipment’s been dormant for some time. It won’t be up and running without a complete retrofit. I’ve made some notations for you. This should give you some idea.”
Ilsa handed him a thin computerpad. Rico nodded, studied the figures quickly. He frowned, then looked up in alarm.
“Are you certain this is entirely correct? Yes, of course you are.” He turned on Griffin like a snake. “Inducers, nitrogen coils, nano-pumps… Hell, is there anything you don’t need? Why don’t we just nuke the place and start over again!”
He looked at Ilsa. “You’ve kept the project alive, have you? With what, glue and tape?”
“With what I had to work with, Rico.” If his words had offended, she didn’t let it show. “There was never any intention of bringing the project up to working status until we were ready. We saw no point in that.” She raised an eyebrow at Griffin. “Perhaps you should explain.”
Griffin nodded. “Ilsa has kept me apprised of her needs all along, Rico. I’ve had the necessary equipment marked for our use. From hospitals, government facilities, research laboratories… everything slated for different destinations, different names. It’s all there, all ready.” He smiled at the two. “If I set things in motion, when can you be on line?”
“If you can really deliver all this,” Rico said, “tomorrow I’ll have the place working.”
“We can begin to think about bringing the project online in a week. No less,” Ilsa broke in.
They looked at each other, neither willing to waver. Griffin read challenge, resentment—and curiosity as well. Together they could do it. Working with each other, in spite of each other. The attraction between them was the heat that would light a fiercely burning fire, a fire that would change the world, mold it the way Griffin knew it had to be.
“On-line won’t mean a damn thing if you can’t get into Central’s Janus files,” Rico said. He flexed his fingers and ran one hand across his jaw. “They’re still security-locked. If we can’t pry the data out of there…”
“Leave Central to me,” Griffin told him. “You have plenty to do until then. None of this, down here, will be effective if you don’t stir up the Citizens in the street. Ilsa has some good suggestions in that area, too. I’m sure she can help.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Rico said. “I don’t need any help.”
“Oh, I see.” Ilsa shook her head, a gesture that tossed a wave of dark hair over one eye. “I thought you said he was the best, Griffin. I’m afraid I overlooked that evaluation somewhere. All I see is a petulant child.”
“Look, you—” Rico’s eyes flashed.
“Please…” Griffin raised a palm in peace. “Let’s not bicker now, all right? We are all committed to the same goal, ending the squalor, the inefficiency of our world. Replacing it with a new, ordered society.”
Rico’s frown faded. He looked at Griffin and laughed. It was a sudden, abrupt sound that shattered the silence of the room.
“You’ll get your New Order, Griffin. We’ll take care of that, won’t we, sweets?” He winked at Ilsa, then turned and whistled at the robot warrior looming dark at his back. “Let’s go, Fido. Daddy’s going to find you something to bite.”
TWENTY-ONE
It sounded like a wind-up bee, a tiny clut-clut-bzzzt! in his ear. Griffin stopped dead, jerked around and stared back down the tunnel. The shadows were empty, no one was there.
Of course there’s no one there, you damn fool. No one but you!
Nerves, he told himself. That maniac and his antique killing machine were enough to give anyone the jumps. Ilsa Hayden was no paragon of mental health, as far as that was concerned, but compared to Rico…
“Yes, Griffin here. What is it?”
He spoke softly, almost a whisper. The micro-circuit in the silver threads of his collar scrambled his words, then released them in the clear, at any destination in the world.
“Captain Aachen, sir. Judge Hunter Search and Abort, Squad Seven. Sir, we’re at a wreck site. Old Ohio Sector—”
“What!” Griffin felt a cold blade twist in his gut. He knew the answer, knew he had to ask. “What wreck are we talking about, Captain? Don’t waste my time, damn you!”