The creature strained against the huge chains that shackled it to the gate. Then it drew back, gathered itself, and flung itself forward, slamming the chains taught and belching a stream of searing white-blue flame, scything it across the blackened land between itself and the village. It threw back its head and roared, the sound rolling across the landscape.
A label popped up simultaneously on all their overlays: Latanian mesomorph, Level 50. The guardian of the First Circle gate.
Neb just glanced at the description and dismissed it. How could there possibly be a way past this thing? The sheer size of it was clouding his mind, his brain trying to process that something so large could exist.
‘Well,’ said Gray, breaking the silence. ‘There’s some good news, at least -- when that notification triggered, a safehouse became visible on the map.’
‘Not just that,’ Mallory said. His eyes were unfocused as he used the overlay. ‘Near the edge of the map, back towards the mountain… Another military base.’
His words seemed to hang in the air before dissipating. Neb looked over at Buzz. The commander was standing ramrod straight, eyes gleaming. It wasn’t hard to put his train of thought together: A fusion weapon. A new base. A big fucking target.
‘Okay,’ Buzz said. ‘It’s getting dark. There’s nothing else for us here. Let’s get to that safehouse.’
They hustled back to the road and retraced their steps two kilometers or so. They didn’t speak much. Seeing the gate guardian was a lot to process. It was easy to find the safehouse because a dim glow came from a cave not far off the road. In a strange way, Neb thought, it was both welcoming and dreadful. They approached cautiously, but saw no-one.
The safehouse door was an ornate wooden affair with inset metals in tight, careful designs. Buzz opened it to see the same hotel lobby as before. Through the high windows of the reception it was night, and in the sky outside were bright unfamiliar stars. Milletson smiled at them politely, somehow supercilious and subservient at the same time. Ver had been waiting on one of the reception chairs with a book, and as he snapped it shut Neb got a glimpse of the title: The System of Objects. Ver smiled -- warmly, by his standards -- and Neb felt a strange kind of affection for him. The hotel clock appeared on their overlays and started counting down from eight hours. The Game clock was at 27h 42m.
‘Welcome back,’ Ver said.
Milletson came out from behind his desk and half-bowed to them. ‘It’s an honor to have you stay with us again.’
‘Room,’ Buzz snapped at him. ‘Now.’
‘Of course, sir. Please follow me.’
It was not the same suite as last time. Milletson led them to a large elevator and they crowded into it. Neb noticed for the first time how bad they smelled, but Milletson gave no hint that he detected it. The door opened with a gentle bing directly into a large, high circular space. The walls were of bare sandstone finished to a smooth sheen. There were high windows looking out in every direction. A set of tall doors stood open and led to a broad balcony beyond. The night air was cool and clear and delicious. Neb felt how tired he was, how much he longed for sleep.
Around the edges of the room were couches that matched the curve of the walls. At the center was a large oak dining table. Comfortable chairs and low tables were scattered about, and an open fire was burning. The conical ceiling reached a sharp point high above them; they were at the very tip of a circular tower. A chandelier hung from the point on a long straight chain, casting a gentle, soothing light.
‘Your rooms are downstairs,’ Milletson said, half-bowing towards the top of a broad spiral staircase. ‘Dinner will be served at your convenience, just ring when you’re ready.’ He went back into the elevator and the doors slid closed.
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‘Thirty minutes,’ Buzz said to the team. ‘Get cleaned up, then chow and debrief.’
They shuffled downstairs in a tired, filthy wave, found their names on the doors as before, and disappeared into the rooms. Neb glanced at Anna’s room but she was already closing the door. He heard a bolt slide home. He went into his own room. Hanging up as before was a perfect, fresh uniform, with new boots. It even had a new shield belt, though this one too was uncharged. There was a long mirror, and the person looking back out was a stranger -- bloodstained, battered, filthy, lean, a sword on his back, a pistol on his hip. A dangerous person, Neb thought. And there was so much more in the eyes than there used to be. Not all of it good.
The bathroom was as luxurious as the previous one. He stood in the shower and let the water roll over him, so hot he could just about bear it, and a torrent of filth and dirt and muck and blood rolled off him, pooling obscenely on the stone floor. He did not cry this time. He washed and re-washed his hair and then cut the water and just stood there in the steam, feeling the warm air against his body, letting himself sink into the moment of just being clean, letting that be enough.
When he opened his eyes Anna was standing there, wearing only a towel, her hair still wet.
A long moment passed. Then he said: ‘Can you pass me a towel?’
‘You won’t need it,’ she said.
When they were finished he lay naked on his back with his heart still pounding and exhaled slowly, trying to bring himself back under control.
‘I’m pretty sure I had locked that door,’ he said.
‘Those locks are really more of a polite deterrent,’ she said.
They did not speak for long quiet moments. Then Anna asked: ‘What did Gray tell you about me? Back in the house, before the scorps.’
He sighed deeply, conscious of the rise and fall of his chest, the feeling of the sheets on his body.
‘How did you know about that?’
‘I heard her talking to you. Couldn’t quite catch all the words.’
He thought of trying to make something up, but he was just too tired to think of anything. And he found he didn’t really want to anyway.
‘That you’re cold,’ he said. ‘That you were with Mallory. That I should ask you about a place you once were.’
She was silent. Then she said: ‘Gray cares for you. As a brother soldier, I mean. Or maybe a little more.’ Anna ran the flat of her hand over his stomach, making him tense up. ‘I didn’t expect you to become so strong when we first met, you know.’
‘If that’s what you want, maybe you’re better off with Mallory,’ Neb answered. It had been intended to be flippant, but it didn’t come out that way.
She sighed, smiled. ‘You and Mallory are playing in entirely orthogonal spaces. You know that, right? And anyway, we agreed -- we’re just two people in a very strange and fucked up situation. There’s no confusion here.’
Neb didn’t answer. Anna crossed one long leg over the other, extending it high into the air, a gesture that may or may not have been unconscious.
‘You’re an interesting guy, Doc, maybe more than you know. Mallory admires you, I think,’ she continued. ‘Now that he’s seen you in action, I mean. For a long time he thought you were a waste of a slot.’
‘I think he still does,’ Neb said quietly.
‘He hasn’t approached me since he found out we had been together,’ she said. ‘Personally, I mean. That’s a mark of deep respect for a man like Mallory.’
Neb thought about that. ‘I don’t expect you to…’ he began. ‘You can do whatever you want. Like you said.’
‘I know I can,’ she said with her perfect smile, and he closed his eyes in irritation at himself.
‘You know what I mean,’ Neb said, with some irritation. ‘I’m trying to be open with you. I’m not used to… people like you, I guess.’
‘And who are people like me?’ She was teasing him again, and she let her hand drift down his stomach, slipping it under the sheets. He reacted at once, arching against her.
‘The beautiful people,’ he whispered. ‘Must be a different world.’
‘Beauty can be a tool,’ she whispered back. She kissed him on the lips, her hand still under the sheets. ‘But you have to use it fast, because it doesn’t last long.’
She slid over on top of him, straddling him, kissing his neck, letting him feel the open warmth of her body. ‘Wait,’ he said, ‘I want to talk about…’
But she didn’t wait. Couldn’t, maybe. Probably she’d never had to wait for anyone. He let himself be lost in her strong demanding body and searching hands, building and building in intensity until he was completely lost and they were far from the Game and all its horrors.