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.“I knew you’d say that.”“All right, I vote for fighting, too.” Up until now, Harald had been reserved, but this reaction by Ghost and Milan seemed to have won him over.“Great.Seeing as Anonemuss proposed the idea, that settles it.Sorry, Gunnar, but we are going in.”“I knew it a long time ago.And I can’t stop you here.”“That’s right,” said B.E., lifting his rifle.“.but I can cut off your access to Saga and you can be certain I will do so if there seems to be the slightest risk to our people.”Harald’s trooper shook his head.“You don’t have the authority to do that.”“Oh yes I do.”“Listen, Gunnar, everyone.This is not the time for such an argument.We’ve agreed that we are going in and we’ll do so as soon as Anonemuss is back.That’s the end of the matter for now.” Cindella strode up to the portal, a lithe silhouette against the bright shimmering surface, and Milan’s heart warmed at the determination in Erik’s voice.Chapter 8BOWS AND BULLETSGhost waited impatiently for Anonemuss to return; an airbike driven by one of Athena’s squad was bringing him back as a passenger.As soon as the scout reached the group, Anonemuss leapt off the bike and everyone gathered together to look as he sketched the layout on the other side of the portal.It did not take long to formulate a plan, which essentially consisted of Cindella going in first and relying on her magic items to draw enemy fire away from the portal while everyone else came through, troopers first.“Damn, I wish I was joining you,” muttered Milan as the humans checked their weapons in preparation for their attack.“Really? I would be terrified if this was happening on New Earth and my life was at stake,” Inny replied.“Well yeah, I wish I was joining you and that I could come back to life if it didn’t work out.” He laughed.“I am coming.”Everyone turned to Ghost.“We need you here, though,” said Athena quietly.“It doesn’t make sense,” added Harald.“It doesn’t matter if any of us get killed.But you.well, you are unique.”“As are we all.” Despite her seriousness, Ghost gave a smile.“I know what you mean.But I can’t just stay here in Saga and wait to see what happens.It’s like I’m shackled.I need to stretch myself, to see the rest of the universe, to discover what I’m capable of.To feel myself fully alive.” She looked about the group, hoping they understood her.“There was a time when I thought I would upload myself into a robot in your galaxy and fly to the stars in a spaceship.But this is better; I get to keep my body.And I’ve two other reasons for going that have nothing to do with my own feelings.One is that you’ll need me, assuming my RAL abilities work through there; secondly, if Saga is under threat, it’s my responsibility as queen to defend us.Given that it’s my fault the people of Saga no longer have an army to defend them, the least I can do is go in person and try to avert the danger.”It was unlike Ghost to explain herself at such length, but she was determined to go through the portal with the humans and wanted them to understand her.And her speech had not just been for the benefit of the humans.Although she had addressed Erik’s group, it was Athena’s and Milan’s responses that she was watching for.Athena appeared shocked but Milan gave her a knowing wink.“I understand you, Ghost,” Erik answered.“But all the same, I think you should at least wait here until the initial fighting is over.If we win, come through afterward and see if your powers work.If they don’t apply beyond the portal, you’d be of more use here in Saga, don’t you think?”“Yeah.” She nodded.But at the same time she settled an ammunition belt over her shoulder.“Well then, we’re all set.” Cindella looked from the glistening, pale sheen of the portal back to the group of combatants, then tapped the device fixed to her ear.“Coms on.Let’s do it.”“About time.” B.E.hefted his IVB Pulsar with both hands, cradling it in front of his chest like an infant.“Good luck everyone.” Swords drawn, Cindella dived through the portal on a roll.After a count of twenty, Harald ran in, rifle already raised, ready to fire.Another ten seconds and B.E.moved closer to the shimmering curtain.“Come on, Gunnar.You’re supposed to be next.”“I decline to enter.”“Blood and thunder!” With a cry of exasperation, B.E.dived through, and after him went Inny, the medic for their team.With the exception of Gunnar, whose handsome trooper was stepping away from the portal, the humans were through—and probably in the middle of a furious battle.In the quiet streets of Saga it could hardly have been any more tranquil.Kicking her airboard alive, Ghost accelerated as fast as she could toward the shimmering portal.“I’m going in.”“No!” cried Athena.But Ghost didn’t hesitate.The world beyond the portal was sunny, just as Erik had described it.What he hadn’t managed to convey was the curious impact of the colors.They were subtly different from those of Saga: the green of the trees in the distance was, well, greener; the same was true for the blue of the sky, and even the ocher uniforms of the soldiers.Everything was a little brighter, a little more cartoonlike, than the gritty urban environment that Ghost lived in.No sooner had she absorbed the shock of entering this new world than the first streams of bullets began to search her out.As she threw herself from the airboard and down a grassy bank, Ghost summoned up all her powers of concentration and tried to slow down the passage of time.It worked.The underlying fabric of this new environment was almost identical to that of Saga.It was made up of discrete cycles of processing activity, which felt to Ghost like a pulse: a pulse with more than a thousand beats per second.As a RAL—the last in Saga—Ghost had an innate ability to alter all the environmental variables around her, including this pulse, and she slowed it now as much as she possibly could, bringing the beat of time almost to a stop.Bullets filled the air.Each jerk of the time frame brought a dozen lines of these missiles closer to her body.And crude as they were, if they hit, they’d rip her to pieces.Nevertheless, as her body rolled down the slope, Ghost lifted her own handguns into position to fire back at the enemy soldiers.Near-blinding flashes of energy now joined the lethal display, lurching away from her with every frame, back toward the source of one of the streams of bullets.She could alter the air pressure in her vicinity and did so, making sure that as the arriving bullets reached her they curved away from the straight line they had previously followed, to streak past Ghost’s head with a distortion of the air that would have sounded like a high-pitched scream at normal speeds.As she finished her roll to come up to a kneeling posture, still returning fire, Ghost let out a cry of triumph.To stay alive in the center of this rain of hot metal stretched her to her utter limit, but she could do it.Whoever these people were, they had made a big mistake; a terrible enemy was upon them.Blue and red streaks flashed across the sky, indicating that the human avatars from Saga were in the thick of battle and firing their energy weapons.It was too congested over by the portal to see what was happening.Some distance ahead, however, Ghost caught sight of Cindella, and her heart gave a skip of delight that Erik’s avatar was still alive.The pirate was standing on top of a troop carrier, surrounded by enemy soldiers but sweeping them away with a machine gun she had captured.It looked like the avatar’s magic armor from Epic was effective here, because bullets were hitting the figure but just bouncing off her.As Ghost watched admiringly, a warrior looking like a medieval knight climbed into the vehicle and caught Cindella from behind with a thrust from a sword [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]