Chapter 24

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It was one of the most disgusting awakenings of his life - so bad he felt. His shoulders and collarbones hurt like someone was trying to tear both his arms off. His head hurt like a monster, and the burn on his cheek ached. Alex almost groaned, but the memory of what had preceded this awakening burst into consciousness, silencing him. He froze, trying to keep the sleeper's breathing pace, and began to listen carefully, trying to understand where he was and who was around him.

A light, a faint breeze blew around him, and it was quite cool. He might have thought he was in "nature" somewhere, but the air smelt of old dust.

Some large abandoned room.

Next to him, someone's breathing and some quiet clinking could be heard a monotonous "machine" noise was coming from somewhere in the distance

There is definitely one person nearby, and the noise seems to be sounds from the street.

"Well, well, your lordship," a dry, old voice rumbled close by, almost making Alex flinch. "Don't pretend! The biomonitor shows you awake..."

Realizing that the little performance had failed, he struggled to open one eye and, squinting at the unexpectedly bright light, looked around.

Right above him, clutching in his hand something resembling a massive calculator with a large screen, stood an elderly grey-haired man with a small "academic" beard and lively, slanting eyes of a light grey color that stood out vividly in his wrinkled face.

So the rebels weren't lying after all - at least the professor was involved.

Alex was almost one hundred percent sure that Professor Takkar was in front of him - he had seen him in person on the Voigrom and on the recording that the "resistance" had passed on. There the professor was discussing his murder with Lord Velaske and some mysterious stranger who remained offscreen.

Well, the footage appears to be authentic. It remains to be seen why the dean of Tallana University would want to kill me, Alex decided as he continued to look around actively.

The huge room, which at first seemed so brightly lit, was drowned in darkness - the long, elongated cylinders of lights were lost somewhere in the height of the dark ceiling slabs. As far as the eye could see, several square sand-colored containers were piled high, displaying the word 'Yummy' alongside a smiling cartoonish face. Stacked on top of each other and stacked in tight rows, the containers formed a bizarre landscape of 'mountains', 'canyons', and entire 'plateaus'.

In one of these "canyons," his captors seemed to have settled down. Right in the middle of the improvised corridor, formed by two solid "walls" of containers, was a long metal table with some kind of equipment, above which three holo-screens glowed like ghostly canvases.

At the table, on a small folding stool, sat a young man in his thirties, looking back at Alex, with an unusually athletic build. On his lap, a weapon that looked like a submachine gun gleamed with dark metal. Two more of the guerrillas leaned absently against the opposite wall. All three wore light, loose brown jackets, gray trousers, and what looked like white trainers with high ankle grips.

A young man was sitting squatting in front of Alex. His blond hair and reddish beard were sparsely disheveled, and his "uniform" brown jacket only accentuated the thinness of its owner. He held an injector in his hand and his agile, slightly slanted gray eyes stared in curiosity at Alex. Beside him stood Professor Takkar himself, his jacket unbuttoned and simply slung over his shoulders, making it obvious that the gray trousers were actually part of his overalls.

To the left and right of Alex stood two plastic chairs.

On the left, covered in blood, half-naked, and clearly unconscious, was Lord Brenor Lister. Lord Brenor seemed to have picked a very bad time to visit Lord Cassard.

On the right, a dark-haired man in his thirties, dressed like the other kidnappers, sat with his hands cuffed behind his back. There was a bleeding abrasion on his left cheek and a smashed lower lip. He had been dragged over something rough and dirty for a long time judging by the state of his clothes. The left pant leg of his grey trousers was burned just below the knee and a crimson-black wound was visible through the hole. He was staring at Takkar steadily, his pale green eyes radiating such fury and anger that he looked as if he were about to vaporize him. The injured man's face looked familiar to Alex...

"Still, the blood could have been washed off." The professor remarked grudgingly as he finished looking at Alex. Turning to the young lad, he ordered:

"Give their lordship some kind of stimulant or painkiller, or they won't believe he's alive when they look at him."

"It's all nerves," Alex complained, trying to remember where he might have seen the wounded man. "One assassination attempt, then another - there was no rest at all!"

"Well, then you should be grateful to us," smiled Professor Takkar as he watched his assistant's manipulations, "for the three days' sleep we have provided you. I think that's enough to get you a good night's sleep."

The lad took a clear cylinder of blue liquid from the small plastic case lying at his feet and filled it into the injector.

The cold metal of the injector's head touched his skin, and a sharp pain burned Alex's shoulder, sending searing shivers down his body.

"Anything else?" The guy asked as he looked up at the professor.

"No, no, Yuta, go ahead. Thank you." Takkar waved his hands and turned back to his prisoners after a glance at the young man.

"How are you feeling, your lordship," he asked, leaning over Alex.

"That's better now.? Alex smiled tautly, not taking his eyes off the injured man.

That's right! I definitely saw him at the Voigrom - he was among Liora's men.

"That's good. You had an exceptionally sickly look."

"Maybe you can untie my hands," Alex suggested, nodding toward the bored guards. "You've got a lot of guards, and my shoulders hurt like hell."

"No, that is unnecessary, your lordship," the professor shook his head, "the buyer might not understand."

"...and it would be quite wonderful if you could tell me where I am." "His Lordship continued his thought.

"This is the Yummy Company's automated warehouse." Takkar's hand circled the jumble of containers in a matter-of-fact manner. "It's a great place. You just have to hack into the central unit and you've got a lot of space. It's can accommodate heavy freighters and shuttles, all without any prying eyes. There are none here at all - only droids. So no one's going to bother us. Ironic, isn't it?" He asked, turning to Alex again, seeing the incomprehension in his eyes:

"You own the Yummy company almost entirely."

"Yes?" The new owner was surprised and glanced around the warehouse. "Very nice." He concluded and looked at Takkar disapprovingly:

"So you're also a burglar and robber! It's a bit shameful for the dean of the University of Tallan... Or is it a hobby?"

"I have to admit, Lord Cassard," the professor said with a chuckle, his gaze fixed on his face, "you're very confident, even a little insolent. I would have expected you to behave a little differently - don't you want to offer us money?"

"I had that thought," Alex admitted, "but unfortunately, I forgot my wallet in my breast pocket..." The only clothes he was wearing were his blood-stained hunting trousers.

The professor came even closer and looked into his prisoner's eyes with undisguised curiosity:

"You know, your lordship, I have a confession to make... When the fourth attempt failed, I had a thought unworthy of a true scholar. I thought, Is all this nonsense about the Blessing of the Flame really true? Your luck was way beyond statistical limits, and the fact that you'd survived a double dose of gray dust defies common sense. And now you're as calm as an ascended man..." Takkar stretched thoughtfully.

... And suddenly and forcefully, he struck the prisoner in the face with the back of his palm.

Alex jerked from the impact, almost falling over with the chair, and hissed in pain.

Come on, you bastard, just let me get out...

"I see, Grand, you're already in full communion of minds with the SS." The injured man wheezed and spat blood at the professor's feet. "The manners are the same, only missing the black uniform. Maybe you should ask your friends. Wouldn't they say no?"

"You're wrong, Krain." The professor objected. "It was a science experiment." He grabbed Alex by the chin and turned him to face the wounded man:

"Look at him! His eyes are full of anger and fear, the usual animal fear for his life! Could he possibly be Ascended?" he 'demonstrated' Alex for a few seconds, and then he must have decided it was enough.

"And as for you..." Takkar stretched out, wiping his palm with a handkerchief taken from his pocket with squeamish care. "I have my share of guilt, of course: discipline must be maintained even in the case of traitors, and there will be penalties for violators."

"Traitor..." laughed the injured man hoarsely. "Coming from a man who had sold out the entire Resistance Network on Tallana, that sounded like a compliment."

"Fool!" The Professor threw an irritated look at the words that seemed to have hurt him. "I didn't sell the resistance. I created it. I gave it a real purpose - Rebellion! Not painting toothless proclamations on the walls. The Empire can only be broken by force! But you, Kraine, are a traitor! You didn't just leave the PVD. You surrendered everything you knew to those snot-nosed "Anti-Imperial Alliance" brats and this foolish attempt to free Lord Cassard." Takkar shook his head, disappointed. "Not to mention the sheer insanity of it - how many people would have been killed or sent to penal servitude?"

"You have already sold them out!" The injured man shouted and jerked towards the professor but collapsed to the floor with the chair to which he was chained and, raising his face distorted with anger, he growled:

"You sold out the entire underground! Five years of our labor will die on Tallana when the Imperial fleet returns. Your rebellion is doomed, and you know it. You are a provocateur!" He literally spat that last accusation out along with the blood.

"Yes, this rebellion is doomed." Takkar agreed, gesturing for the guards to stop. There was a hint of bitterness in his voice. "It is a necessary sacrifice-it will show that the Empire is not all-powerful, that it can be resisted. This rebellion will spawn thousands more. Isn't that what we've been dreaming of? Haven't we, Kraine?"

"The Emperor will just get what he wants! He will declare a State of Emergency, and there will be no trace of freedom in the Tail Sector - just another faceless Imperial Region. There won't be a second uprising. There won't be thousands more just like it. Everyone will have Tallana in front of them, and no one will want to repeat its fate."

"Yes, they will declare a State of Emergency," agreed the professor. "So much the better! Sector Tail will feel the imperial boot on its own skin and then they will understand why it is necessary to fight against the empire. The more brutal the pressure, the more fighters and support the Resistance will get. Too bad you don't understand that, Kraine..." He waved a hand at one of the guards and a blue paralyzer beam struck the wounded man.

"Well, I know the answer to the first question that's been bothering me," Takkar muttered. "Now all that remains is the answer to the second." he turned to a silent Alex.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"What is the name of the adept you hired to protect you, and how did you come upon him?" Takkar asked, and, squinting menacingly, he added. "And, believe me, I have worse things in my arsenal than a slap in the face."

"I didn't hire an adept," Alex said as clearly as possible, coping with his initial surprise at the question.

"Well, what's the point..." the professor grimaced, squatting in front of the open case with the cylinders for the injector. "Your resistance friend and failed savior is paralyzed, so why the show of heroism? You don't have to show off for me, young man. I know for a fact that there was an Adept. I even know the profile of the adept - it was a telepath and quite strong. And you know that the Adept was..."

He took the injector and filled it with a cylinder of clear liquid marked with a green stripe.

"...... And we both know you don't have a blockage, so you're going to tell everything anyway. Either voluntarily or after the injection of Lim's serum. So how about we talk like civilized people? Believe me," he pointed to the loaded injector, "you don't need to test it on yourself."

Stirlitz said: study, study. The inner voice came to life, and despite the horror of the situation, Alex's face contorted into a wry grin. I didn't hire an adept, but that beautifully intelligent man wouldn't believe me; you could certainly call Kayrin...

Alex had certain suspicions about her... even a whole wagonload of suspicions. If anyone in the castle was an adept, it was her.

But then again, he won't believe me... And why? They want to kill me anyway...

"You're not saying anything?" The professor raised an eyebrow skeptically and shook his head dejectedly. "In vain, your lordship, in vain..."

Takkar held the injector up to Alex's shoulder, who stared at it mesmerized:

If I bite him and fall on top of him, the guards might well paralyze me in the commotion. He thought, trying to figure out where to bite - the jacket looked pretty sturdy. Stupid, of course, but at least some moral satisfaction and a break from the interrogation.

"Grand, the aerocar has arrived with Lord. He'll be right with you." There was a young voice, and Alex peripherally saw a young helper appear from somewhere on the side from behind the containers.

"Splendid." Takkar sighed in relief as he put the injector down. "He's made up his mind! Get ready to go!" He ordered the guards, who were boredly propping up the containers, and turned back to Alex:

"Well, as you can see, business. You, your lordship, will have to wait a little longer." The professor said as he put the injector back in the case and closed it. "Think it over. Well, why should you deny the obvious?"

The wait was not long, and soon footsteps were heard from somewhere to the right of the containers, and three men stepped into the makeshift "corridor": a muscular dark-haired man in his forties, dressed in a short light tunic and loose dark trousers, and two guards in black tunics trimmed with blue cord.

It's Lord Velaske! Alex thought in surprise when he saw the brunette. It's like a convention of those who want to kill Lord Cassard - the only thing missing is a mysterious woman.

"I'm so glad you could make it!" The Professor smiled warmly and spread his arms as if he were going to embrace Lord Velaske.

"You have no idea, Grand, what it has cost me to sneak onto Tallana now, during the Rebellion," the brunette grimaced and paused before he could reach the professor for a few steps. "I hope what you want to show me is worth it."

"Oh, believe me, you won't be disappointed!" The professor took a step to the side, revealing a view of Alex chained to a chair, and made an inviting gesture with his hand as if to invite him to examine the trophy.

"So you got him alive after all!" Lord Velaske's voice was an odd mix of envy and amazement. "We had agreed that your men would destroy him..."

"Yes, we had planned to destroy him," Professor Takkar nodded, "but there was a mishap, and he was taken alive. And then it occurred to me that it was an incredible stroke of luck. Imagine the news headlines - Lord Cassard was captured by the Cholan Conspirators..."

Lord Velaske froze in deep thought, but then after about a minute his face lit up with inspiration:

"You're goddamn right!" In excitement, he began to pace the makeshift corridor with vigorous steps. "This is going to be great! First, they'll go on the planetary channels with some insane demand and show the captured Lord Cassard, and then, when they're turned down, they'll kill him live on air! Cassard will explode! Secondarist will explode! Yes, it's a godsend! This is going to be great!" He paused, silent for a moment, snapped his fingers, and turned to the Professor. "Well, I'll take it from here!"

"I'm glad I could help you." Takkar bowed his head slightly. "But, Your Lordship," the Professor's face grew anxious, "perhaps you could take my men to guard him. Tallana is swarming with Fyron's agents, looking for Lord Cassard," he jerked the paralyzed man carelessly with his boot, "they must have known something, and you only have two guards."

"Nonsense!" Lord Velaske brushed me off. "There are six more people waiting for me in the aerocar. In any case, I am not going to linger on Tallana." He beckoned to his guards. "Take him away, but be careful."

Lord Velaske's guards moved toward Alex...

And at that moment Professor Takkar looked expressively at the brown-jacketed men who were idly propping up the containers and closed his eyes. The fighters, who had previously been bored with their interior decorations, raised their weapons with surprising and clearly rehearsed synchronicity, and the room filled with the howl of blaster discharges.

Two shrieking scarlet jets struck the lord's guards in the back and exploded in a string of purple orbs, devouring flesh in flashes of black smoke and scatterings of scarlet sparks. The guards, knocked off their feet by the bursts, collapsed to the floor as broken black puppets before they could even draw their weapons.

A third sliver of discharges struck Lord Velaske himself, smashing into the mirrored haze of the flaring personal shield. His face was still in surprise before it could be replaced by anger, and his hand reflexively tore off the hilt of his sword. The flaming golden blade swung at the professor's head with incredible speed, but the shield was struck by the volleys of two more of the freed fighters.

The mirrored cocoon of the shield burst with a sound like a mournful sigh, and a furious jumble of blasts cut Lord Velaske open, striking him in the stomach. He collapsed in half with an indescribable crunch of shattering flesh, caught in a whirlwind of purple sparks. The golden blade of the sword, which the lord never let go of, sizzled and cracked into the ribbed floorboards at Alex's feet.

The unwillingly frozen professor, the blade missing by some twenty centimeters, exhaled a long sigh of relief and walked over to Lord Velaske's body, switched off his sword, and signaled to the guards. The fighters moved closer to the defeated bodies, and the room lit up with short bursts of check shots to the face.

"Yeah..." Takkar stretched, staring thoughtfully at Velaske's remains, "Shadows only give you warning once..." He involuntarily twitched. "He must have suspected something. All right then. Go and help the others with the ones in the aerocar," he ordered the men, glancing at Alex with a sneering look:

"Why are you so quiet, Lord Cassard?"

"I didn't want to disturb the conversation between business partners," Alex replied mechanically, still dumbfounded by the scene.

He lowered his gaze to the upper half of Lord Velaske's body, lying at his feet. Below his waist, the muscular brunette was a blackened head, exuding a nauseating stench of burning meat. A lump rose in his throat, and Alex looked away, trying to breathe through his mouth.

"Well, what do you..." brushed Professor Takkar off, also looking thoughtfully at the remains. "It's not a partnership, just a... temporary alliance. Their lordship was going to do about the same thing to me... maybe more formally, but... You nobles tend to underestimate commoners, and, thanks to that, I got there early. As it was, I was practically no longer needed even on the contrary, once the state of emergency was imposed, the new authorities would certainly want to demonstrate their effectiveness and bring the head of the main firestarter, i.e....."

And Alex, continuing to pretend to listen to the professor, observed the surprising phenomenon with interest.

One of Lord Velaske's slain guards lifted his head, his eyes showing through the smudged mishmash of blaster wounds that had replaced his face. His hand rose unhurriedly with a kind of majestic slowness. A wave slowly swept through it, and in the guard's palm was a tiny silver pistol. Or a blaster.

The small blaster in the hand of the rising guard hummed softly, and a tiny blue ball of disgruntled wasp padded forward.

"So, well, if SS gives me a blaster to shoot the empire, I'll use it, but that doesn't mean..."

The professor faltered as the discharge burst against the back of his head with a dry hissing crack, and he swayed and collapsed to the floor face down, almost catching the chair with Alex under it. The back of Professor Takkar's head was a smoking dark gash half as deep as his head.

I just hope the THING doesn't think it's worth shooting me, Alex thought hopefully as he watched the "guard" slowly rise with the same unhurried majesty and approach him in the same smooth manner.

"Er, man, what do you need all this for now?" Alex smiled. "Your employer's dead anyway, so whether you kill me or not, nothing's going to change. Why don't you help me get out of here? And then I'll reward you. I have a lot of money, believe me!"

The strange creature, still keeping a sepulchral silence, approached Takkar's body and turned him over on his back. He leaned over him. The features of the 'guardian' faltered, and with a crunching crack of gelled crust the professor's face emerged from under the wound, then the torso came...

A moment later, Alex watched as the freshly minted Professor Takkar slowly, as if floating through syrup, dragged the body of the former professor behind the containers.

"Be quiet, please, Lord Cassard," the creature turned to him slowly, hiding Takkar's body. "When I return, we shall talk." With these words, the "professor" walked at a leisurely pace in the same direction as the brown-jacketed fighters had gone.

It was only when he was alone with himself that Alex realized how scared he had been all this time. The cheerful indifference in his conversation with the professor was in fact a manifestation of complete despair. He was chained and there was nothing he could do about it, the only question was how would he be killed - quickly or slowly? From his point of view - almost equal options.

What difference does it make in how damaged his body is if he ends up dead anyway?

So the professor was right. There was no "tranquillity of the ascended" in him at all.

He dismissed the idea of bribing Takkar and his men at once - if they really needed the money, they would have demanded it themselves and immediately. And they would not have tried to kill him earlier.

No, the bastard was clearly an idealist, Alex thought, looking thoughtfully toward the container behind which the werewolf had hidden the professor's body. Just hope Lord Velaske's sidekick isn't just as principled.

Though he sat still chained to the chair, hope loomed before him. Lord Velaske's body, still smoldering below the waist like slowly cooling embers, exuded heat, and a disgusting stench. Professor Takkar, with his head, shot through, lay behind a nearby container. Everyone who wanted to kill him was dead. And now all that was left to do was to get out of here in as whole as possible:

I don't think the shapeshifter is an idealistic guy... He was with Lord Velaske, and he didn't seem like an idealistic fighter - more like a purely self-serving schemer. So the shapeshifter was probably working for money. Now his employer is dead, and there's no reason to do the job... Alex reasoned rather trying to convince himself.

The idea that the shapeshifter had been hired by House Melato, for example, or a mysterious stranger or someone else, and Lord Velaske was nothing more than a "customer representative" was stubbornly ignored by Alex as completely unpromising for him.

And if so, why think about it?

Five minutes later, after giving Alex a chance to torture himself with thoughts and assumptions, the shapeshifter appeared. Still, in the guise of Professor Takkar, he stepped with leisurely slowness into the makeshift "corridor" littered with bodies - paralyzed and dead - and, in deadly silence, began to perform strange manipulations:

"Erm... venerable..." Alex stretched out cautiously, tired of watching as the shapeshifter carefully and, as usual - very slowly, shined some sort of small red torch shaped like a lighter over Lord Velaske's body. The red flickering spot of light probed literally every inch. "Shall we talk?"

"Don't worry, your lordship. I'll make time for you." Slowly, carefully separating the words, the 'Professor' replied without stopping his manipulations.

After about a minute and a half, which seemed like an eternity to Alex, the shapeshifter finished scanning the body. And the torch was replaced by a transparent needle two fingers long, which he drove into Lord Velaske's neck. The withdrawn needle, filled with pinkish-red flesh, was capped and returned to where it had come from, directly into his hand.

Looks like he's carrying the equipment right inside him, Alex decided, glancing after the shapeshifter, who, having finished with Lord Velaske, headed towards the container behind which Professor Takkar's body was hidden. Where he expectedly stayed for another two minutes.

"You said something about gratitude, your lordship," the shapeshifter reminded me, stepping out from behind the container.

He walked over to Alex and, pushing Velaske's body aside with his foot, crouched on the floor. "His Lordship" licked his suddenly dry lips.

"Any reasonable amount," he offered with a slightly less confident look than he would have liked. "As soon as you help me... I mean, us... out of here." He corrected himself, remembering Lord Brennor and the wounded 'resister'.

Still, according to Takkar, this guy was trying to save me and had already saved me once, as had Brenor

"And it will be more than he would have paid you anyway..." Alex added with a nod at Lord Velaske's body lying next door.

"Lord Velaske was not my employer." The shapeshifter objected, confirming the worst assumptions.

"What difference does it make?" Alex smiled and tried to shrug his shoulders. "In any case, I can pay more. Let's say two million denarii once we get out of here."

"The Code forbids me to accept a contract I cannot fulfill," the 'Professor' shook his head. "I am badly injured and already very slow, and soon I will lose my ability to move. The least I can do is remove the handcuffs. How much would you pay for such a service?"

"How about a hundred thousand denarii and the possibility of further employment?" Alex suggested, continuing to smile charmingly. "That's a good sum, huh? Maybe not much, but considering I can't give you any guarantees, it's very realistic. You can demand more, of course, and I can say yes... but I'll end up paying as much as I can afford. And I am all for maximum sincerity in relations with future partners, and I certainly don't feel sorry for a hundred thousand!"

The shapeshifter was frozen like a wax statue for a while, and then his face came to life, slowly stretching out in a smile:

"Interesting way of speaking, Lord Cassard. You're right. A hundred thousand is good money for a small favor that requires no effort. Especially since I don't have much choice..." He stood up, and a familiar silver pistol jumped into his hand. "And as for employment, thank you for the offer, but for now, I am satisfied with my current employer."

"Hey, come on, I thought we had a deal!" Alex started to object, frantically trying to think of an argument. "If you don't like something, there's always room for maneuver and concessions... something could be reconsidered..."

"We do have a deal, Lord Cassard." The shapeshifter nodded slowly. "And I am counting on your word. And as for this..." his blaster's hand moved slightly, "don't be afraid, I'll just paralyze you before I release you."

"But, why?!" Alex wondered sincerely. "Frankly, I don't feel well enough as it is, and another paralysis would be unnecessary. Besides, it's a waste of time."

"You wouldn't believe, your lordship, how many people honestly believe that if one eats the eighth slice of a dying shapeshifter, one can gain its power... In my condition, I wouldn't want to take that chance." He extended his arm forward, aiming for Alex's chest. "And as for time, don't worry. It'll take less than a minute..."

The tiny silver blaster hummed softly, a flash of discharge, icy flames engulfing his chest, and Alex, thinking Damn! Why again..., fell into the darkness of unconsciousness.

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