Last Stand of the DNA Cowboys

Billy sighed. 'And we're right in the middle of it.'

Reave nodded. 'Ain't that the story of our lives?'

'Ain't it just.'

Baptiste's deadline came and went, and to everyone's surprise, absolutely nothing happened. The Minstrel Boy was deeply suspicious.

'You don't think Baptiste gave them more time, do you?'

'It hardly seems possible.'

'Some kind of deal's been done.'

Reave turned to Billy and nodded at the multiplex. 'How much juice you got left in that thing?'

Billy pulled a wry face. 'Running on dry. Two smartbombs, half a clip of spreaders; after that it's down to particle and focused heat until the power base runs down. Why? Are you thinking of making a fight of it?'

'I'm still hoping that pyramid will open up and let us in.'

'It ain't done it yet.'

The Minstrel Boy noticed something at the other end of the boulevard. 'Now, what in hell is this?'

A single rider had come out from one of the gate towers and was racing hell for leather for the pyramid.

'That's Zeum's horse.'

'That'sRenatta.'

'Huh?'

'I guess we'll find out.'

Renatta did not slacken her pace as she reached the steps that: led up to the plaza, and the charger almost stumbled. At the top of the steps she swung down from the saddle, gasping for breath.

'You know what. . those assholes. . have done?'

The Minstrel Boy grabbed her and hugged her with open admiration. 'You stole Zeum's fucking horse!'

'Never mind that. The beloved Master just gave the city to Baptiste.'

'He really doesn't have any choice.'

Renatta shook her head. 'No, no, you don't understand He's about to open the gates, and he wants the whole city to pledge loyalty to Baptiste. They're running on high-test panic, trying to save their skins at any price. The beloved Master is going to make an announcement. The raiders will come in unopposed and take the metaphysicians out of the pyramid. I came to warn you. We have to get inside the pyramid right now and hope that Showcross Gee has this mysterious escape route on-line.'

Reave gestured to the sealed entrance. 'There's a slight problem about that.'

Renatta's face fell. 'Oh, shit.'

There was a loud electronic crackle from speakers all over the city. Renatta gripped the Minstrel Boy's arm. 'Listen, listen, the little bastard is going to make the announcement.'

Parshew-a-Thar's high nervous voice was relayed across all of Palanaque.

'My children. .' The pause seemed to go on forever. 'Evil days have come to test our loyalty. Evil men are among us. Necromancers and heretics are conjuring abominations in the most sacred places of our Great Pyi-amid. Their mercenaries wait without with their instruments of death.'

Billy looked outraged. 'He's talking about us.'

'But although the storm is in our midst, fear not. A savior is at hand. The warrior Baptiste waits outside our gates.'

'What?'

'How does he get around the fact that the savior wiped out his army as lately as this morning?'

'Vlad Baptiste has come with fire and a sword and has demonstrated the ways in which we have fallen into error. We must heed his words and prostrate ourselves before him. He will enter the city and free us from the abominations.'

Billy was shaking his head, looking bemused. 'I can't believe. .'

Reave glared at him. 'Sure you can.'

'We command you, my children, when the warrior Baptiste rides through the city, you will come out, you will leave yourhomes and come into the streets and, on your knees, make the fullest obeisance to this our deliverer.'

The Minstrel Boy let the AK slide from his shoulder. He felt its weight with his hands as though he needed the touch of something hard and tangible. 'I think that's the sickest joke I ever heard.'

Renatta pointed. 'The gates are opening.'

The quartet at the foot of the pyramid had expected that Baptiste, in the new and absurd role of savior, would come through first, riding on the turret of his armored car, grim-faced, goggles pushed back, and scarf flapping in the breeze. To their surprise, nothing of the sort happened — indeed, absolutely nothing prepared them for the first sight that did come marching out of the shadows of the gatehouse and down the boulevard.

'It's Stent!'

'Stent's changed ssdes?'

'It's not possible.'

Renatta quickly put them straight. 'It's not Stent.'

'It sure looks like Stent.'

'It's the same model armor, give or take a couple of decades, but it's not Stent. You can see that this one's much more corroded and scarred than Stent.'

'Where did it come from?'

'Baptiste must have been holding it in reserve. It only appeared after he issued the ultimatum.'

'Wherever it came from, it seems to be coming for us.'

The metal man was advancing on them at a rapid pace. The main body of raiders had started to emerge from the gatehouse, but they were coming on slowly, giving the metal man plenty of room. As the lizards plodded down the boulevard, it seemed that the entire population of Palanaque was coming out. On both sides of the boulevard they silently fell to their knees, prostrate as commanded, foreheads pressed to the ground and arms outstretched. The Minstrel Boy watched with a horror that, although different, quite matched the horror of the earlier slaughter. The shards of the Damaged World decayed in different ways. The Palanaquii had surrendered all will to a spurious, divine order, and they had all but ceased to think. It was the psychosis of slaves. In their craving for the comfort of a god they had refined abasement to a surreal art. Now, on a single command of their idiot master, they were changing gods. Maybe Baptiste would spare the Palanaquii and develop a taste for being worshiped. It would undoubtedly be an era of refined evil for as long as it lasted. The Minstrel Boy abandoned the speculation with an angry shake of the head. He did not want to think of what Vlad Baptiste might come up with as a divine being, and in any case, the metal man was getting close.

Reave looked back at the pyramid. There was still no sign of it opening. He beckoned to the others. 'We'll pull back to the entrance and hope that Showcross Gee pulls us out in the nick of time.'

Billy thumbed the ready on the multiplex. 'You want me to try a smartbomb on him?'

Reave shrugged. 'I doubt it will do much damage to that armor, but you can try.'

The amplified voice from behind took all four of them completely by surprise. 'Hold the bomb, Billy Oblivion. This traitor is mine!'

The entrance to the interior of the pyramid had silently opened. Lister Stent was coming down the stepped side of the giant structure. Clay Blaisdell was slightly behind him.

Reave yelled to the others. 'Okay, let's go. Let's get up those steps and inside.'

But Stent held up a hand. 'Wait! There's something that I have to settle.'

He marched past Reave. The other metal man had halted. Stent pointed an accusing arm at him 'You are a traitor. More Mornon. You have allied yourself with our enemy, and in so doing you have betrayed our kind and you have betrayed your host city.'

'Krystaleit is no more, and I am a free agent. I am ronin.'

'We are never ronin. You should have died with the contractor. The very fact that you are here is proof enough. You committed your act of treachery before the destruction of the city.'

'I am a free agent, Lister Stent.'

Stent crossed the plaza with fast, power-assisted strides and halted at the top of the steps that led down to the boulevard. Mornon waited at the bottom.