Demonworld (8 page)

Peter laughed, and for one second, and one second only, a wave of pure hatred flashed through Iduna’s face. None saw it but Wodi.

“
We have to move,” said Marlon, tossing a stack of empty packets on the ground.

“
Further up the stream,” said Iduna, “there’s a place where we might stay the night.”

“
Fine, fine, let’s go.”

As they turned to leave, Wodi felt naked. Unwilling to enter the black forest empty-handed, he looked about the area for a weapon. By some strange and meaningful accident, the white spear of the torturer had washed up on the bank and was pointed directly at Wodi, and none other, as if it was ready to be taken up by its master once again. Wodi retrieved the weapon and held it aloft. He watched water streaming from the thing and he imagined that it was blood.

A Human Sacrifice

Sevrik entered the apartment and saw Professor Korliss Matri smoking near the balcony. Only a single light shone from the kitchen so that Korliss’s eyes were covered in darkness. He was tall and thin, his long black hair was tied in a bun, and he wore dark clothes. He seemed worn and hollow. His mouth was wide, his lips almost effeminate, but there was something sharp and militant on the other side of his soft features. Sevrik knew that in many ways, he and Korliss were opposites.

“
Were you followed?” said Korliss.

Sevrik found a chair and sat down heavily. “I’ve got three aides waiting in the car and a guard detail of half a dozen men, one of which is waiting just outside the door. You don’t often see Guardians in their armor this close to the University, so every kid on the block is sitting at his window right now wondering what exactly is going on. Yes, I was followed.” Korliss moved but Sevrik stopped him with a dismissive wave. “It’s too late for caution. Too late, old friend.”

Korliss burned his eyes into Sevrik, then jerked his head upward – and expression that no doubt meant “Out with it!”

“
Listen, Korliss,” said Sevrik. “It’s not just our Project that’s missing. I think there may be at least
seven
Havenders missing.”

Korliss’s face froze as if dead, then he sighed and stumbled to a chair near Sevrik. “Who?” he whispered.

“
A young Guardian. A judge. A University professor, a doctor, two students… a laborer. In total, three youths, four adults. And those are just the ones that we know about. Who knows how many more will prove to be missing tomorrow?”

Korliss ignored the question, so Sevrik plowed ahead, saying, “Korliss, how did you know that our Project was missing in the first place? After you contacted me, I went to Didi. He already knew as well. I had to wait until reports came in for missing persons before I could officially make any moves - and even then it made things very difficult for me, Korliss. Imagine my morning! Imagine the Head of Guard of Haven trying to explain to his soldiers that three or four people missing from work for a handful of hours constitutes reason to sound the alarm and scour the entire island!”

Korliss turned slowly to Sevrik and said, “So Didi hasn’t shown you his NeuSen Array?” Sevrik said nothing, only glared. Korliss smiled cynically, then said, “The Neuron Sensor Array. Take a look, friend – it’s really something!”

Korliss punched in the keypad near his chair and a black table nearby crackled to life. Blurred images played on the surface as Korliss navigated through various programs, then a holographic image unfolded above the table. In the darkness of the living room, Sevrik was bathed in the light of an image of a glowing human brain. Green folds twisted like a labyrinth inside of which thoughts whirled as bright orange fireflies, a visual representation of synapses firing.

“
It’s… beautiful,” said Sevrik.

“
It’s Project,” said Korliss. “This is the mind of our
ultimate weapon
.”

Sevrik tore his eyes away, then said, “But Korliss, we made a conscious decision to never track our Project! He was to remain free,
always
free, so that –”

“
Oh, Sevrik, you know Didi. All that he tells us and all that he shows us are nothing compared to the secrets he keeps. I’ve no doubt he’s ashamed of the NeuSen; he never made it, he found it. It’s Ancient technology.”

Sevrik leaned back, overwhelmed by the notion. People rarely spoke of it, but it was no secret that humans once covered the earth. The Ancients lived in great cities of stone and glass built so high that they blotted out the stars in the sky, they consumed forests and gutted mountains the likes of which no longer existed anymore, and their sciences bordered on something like magic. No one knew for sure what happened to them; the only truth now was that demons ruled and the remnants of mankind lived in the shadow of the demon.

“
The NeuSen Array,” said Korliss, “was keyed to resonate with the mind of our Project and with the minds of a few dozen random citizens of Haven. Didi was able to figure out
that
much of the strange device. Apparently the process can be done by touch alone, so Didi probably used scientists that he works with –”

“
So he could have projections of their minds as well?” Sevrik interrupted. “Why bother?”

“
Because the NeuSen can’t track the location of a mind. It lacks the proper points of reference. But if you key a mind and place it within the web of other living minds that are keyed into the system…”

“
Then you can tell when one mind has left the web of reference,” said Sevrik. “So we know Project has gone from Haven, and is still alive, but we just don’t know where.”

“
Exactly. But there’s one more thing: Anything that leaves the web of reference has a three day shelf life. Once it stays outside the web that long, the NeuSen assumes the information is irrelevant and… discards it.”

The two sat in silence. Sevrik watched the lights play upon Korliss’s lean features as he lit another cigarette. “Three days,” said Sevrik. “So we have three days to find Project… or else we practically never will. It’s now the end of the first day, and I have no clues whatsoever.”

“
Clues,” said Professor Korliss. “Let’s think on that for a moment. Citizens usually don’t go missing from Haven. If only Project was missing, we might be able visit the morgue, make an examination of the bodies, and assume that one of them was our Project. Because multiple people are missing, we can assume that there is a conspiracy. What would be the point of such a conspiracy?”

“
Let’s look at those who are missing,” said Sevrik, nodding to the table computer.

Korliss already had image files and rough biographies open for the seven victims. “Marlon Ziello, young Guardian,” Sevrik muttered, scanning the files. “I know the boy. Saul Hargis, young student, outstanding record. Romana W. Kyner, young student… police record, expunged. Mercule Hermann, doctor, Iduna Deira, professor, writer… both politically left-leaning. Salem Jules, laborer… in bad health, police record, list of jobs held goes on and on…”

“
And Peter Remus,” said Korliss. “A Judge and former Guardian with an unimpressive record.”

“
I know him,” said Sevrik.

“
Look here. This is where things get interesting.” He brought up a short article on the datanet. There was a photograph of Peter Remus shaking hands with a heavy man in a fine suit. “A few months ago, the conservative Stone Warren party named him as their running man in the next election.”

“
So, we have three youths whose political opinions are still unformed,” said Sevrik, “and one old man who seems to be wholly apolitical. However, we also have two people, a doctor and a University professor, who are politically active –”

“
Iduna Deira may be left-leaning,” said Korliss, “but she’s written opinion pieces against the current administration, too. She is, at heart, a political radical.”

“
Most importantly,” said Sevrik, “among all those who disappeared, the most politically important one is Peter Remus – a staunch conservative who could jeopardize the position of the current Prime Minister.”

Korliss tapped his controls idly, then said, “You think this conspiracy is political in nature? Why kidnap two liberals and a conservative, then?”

Sevrik stood and circled the room suddenly, saying, “Korliss, I know you see the Stone Warren Party as a backwards, repressive clan of religious nuts who want to stifle our society, and I know you see the Running Wind Party as the only progressive force that has any chance of shaping Haven into some kind of enlightened society of education and equality –”

“
That’s not really the truth of the matter,” Professor Korliss interjected loudly.

“
Fine, fine, I may have spoken too broadly, but Korliss, I work with these people. I deal with them every day. Believe me, those issues that the common citizen worries about and debates over… those issues have nothing to do with the everyday reality of the political elite. What matters to them – is power. Stone Warren, Running Wind, minority party… it doesn’t matter. They bicker during the day, shake hands and eat with one another in the evening, then they plot against one another over drinks before bedtime.”

“
So you believe this conspiracy is political in nature,” Korliss repeated.

“
Seven people have disappeared, and we have no witnesses. Who else could pull this off?” Sevrik stopped his pacing, then said, “But what I don’t understand is… why were the three youths taken as well?”

Korliss stood as well, cracked his neck loudly, then said, “As long as we’re looking for patterns, think on this: Those three youths have nothing in common except for the fact that they are from the same generation. They’re quite close in age, actually. Now, there is only one Project, Sevrik, only one in all of Haven… and our enemy, whoever he is, was able to pluck him out of the entire population and make him
disappear
.”

“
You think the chances of Project disappearing from a random sampling of the population are…”

“
Next to zero, yes.”

“
Then Project is gone,” said Sevrik, chewing on the words, “because he
is
our special Project.”

Korliss nodded slowly. “Someone knows about us, friend,” said Korliss. “Someone knows what we did twenty years ago. Someone very powerful removed a possible threat to their power.”

The two stood in silence, feeling like hunted animals. They went and stood at the balcony and saw people in the streets of Haven below. Low gray buildings lined the avenue, speckled and rough. Korliss lived on the edge of the student neighborhoods – the tightly packed “learning slums” – and an affluent neighborhood full of green-veined granite houses. They saw students bent under the weight of stress weaving around older couples dressed in fine linens, tall hats and flowered dresses. A Guardian in full armor stared up at the pair; he saw Sevrik’s white uniform gleaming in the moonlight and Korliss, lean and angular, covered in black and wreathed in the smoke of his cigarette.

Both stared across the University grounds to the great structures of Central Haven, the oldest buildings in Haven, the seat of power and order, the ultimate flowering of the dreams of the Founding Fathers.

“
You, me, and Didi,” said Korliss, “we three made a pact, and took action, because we were the only three men in Haven who understood that humanity is at war with a monstrous race. We knew that the Founders didn’t come here to create an island resort. They came here to gain a foothold, to devise a strategy, to…”

Korliss stopped. “I hear guilt in your tone,” said Sevrik.

“
We sacrificed someone,” said Korliss. “We… we killed someone, Sev. We erased their life.”

“
We killed no one. We gave someone the potential to –”

“
And what do you think Didi will do?” Korliss spat. “When those three days are up, when we can no longer be sure that our Project’s genetic potential hasn’t been stolen by the demons to use against us, what do you think Didi will do with his Killswitch?” Sevrik fell silent. “He’ll kill him, Sevrik. He’ll do it. You know what Didi is capable of.”

Sevrik turned away. After a moment he nodded to the dome of the Prime Minister’s mansion in Central Haven. “It’s unrealistic for me to send patrols outside of Haven to find Project or the other missing persons. What I can do is intensify my investigation and increase my patrols here. I can flush out our enemy.”

“
Prime Minister Vachs will become suspicious. Questions will be asked.”