The Gun Golems (Approaching Infinity Book 2) Read online

  “May I?” Jav took the pole sword from Rommel. “This is not the weapon Grummel used.”

  “Sir?”

  “The pole sword that made your existence possible,” Jav said.

  “No, sir. This weapon was created from elements taken from the soil.”

  “What happened to the other pole sword?”

  “That item has been transformed and absorbed into the Kaiser Bones as a progressive pattern and is expressed in the bones before you: me, sir, Rommel.” Rommel paused and looked extraordinarily human in a moment of consideration. “It is possible for me to adopt that shape, should you require a pole sword of superior quality. Shall I?”

  “That won’t be necessary. Tell me, Rommel, how did you decide your name?”

  The skeleton tilted his head, considering once again. “I do not know, sir.”

  Scanlan looked up from his work, suddenly interested in this line of questioning.

  “Do you know Salavar Grummel?” Jav continued.

  “No, sir. Except that you have mentioned one of those names in connection with my origin.”

  “Your skill is his skill. All that you know of Secret Track comes from Salavar Grummel. You will most certainly outlive him. You may outlive all human exponents of Secret Track, so you must take pride in your role as the perfect, animate record of that style. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Good.” Jav turned an inquisitive look towards Scanlan and received an affirmative nod. “Okay, Rommel. I kind of hate to do this to you.”

  “What are your orders, sir?”

  “Sleep,” Jav said.

  Rommel climbed back into the container, and so strangely full of life one moment, collapsed into a rain of ivory shapes the next. At the same time the pole sword burst into a hissing cloud of falling sand.

  “Looks like we both got something pretty incredible out of this, Director. I’m not quite sure how to thank you.”

  Scanlan shook his head and smiled. “The real test will be planetside, but I have no doubts in our new friend. Interesting choice of names, though.”

  “Kind of creepy,” Jav said with the hint of a grimace.

  Scanlan cocked an incredulous eyebrow. “With all the Kaiser Bones can do, you find that creepy?”

  Jav shrugged and smiled. “Thanks again, Director.” He motioned for Karza, and the two took their leave.

  • • •

  In the corridor Jav and Karza walked side by side. Jav was staring at Karza, waiting. “Well? What did you think?”

  Karza looked at him with a furrowed brow, folded her arms tightly and looked away, huffing like a pouting child.

  “What’s the matter?” Jav said.

  “You don’t need me anymore,” she said almost inaudibly. “And you picked that pole sword,” she spat.

  Jav rolled his eyes. “You’re not being replaced. No one else can do what Rommel can, Karza, but you’re not being replaced.”

  She mumbled something about her chain guillotine and Jav, guessing her meaning, took a deep breath. “Karza, can you imagine twenty thousand chain guillotines flying around and not getting tangled in under thirty seconds? I can’t. You’re guillotine isn’t suited to infantry soldiers. Your F-Gene gives you a degree of control that my troops can never hope to match. My choice wasn’t an indictment of you or your style any more than it was of me or my own. In this case I thought simple was best. Besides, since I have the real you, what would I want with twenty thousand inferior versions that are harder to look at?

  “You haven’t been fired, and you’re not going to be fired. Nothing has changed. But things will change if you keep on like this. From the moment I mentioned this little surprise, you’ve been out of sorts. I’ll always be straight with you, Karza. We’re friends, aren’t we? I’ve told you before, you don’t have to be so formal all the time, and you certainly can’t expect me to be. Now, quit sulking. And tell me what you think of my new jacket.”

  She had already been shamed into acquiescence when this last, unexpected change of subject struck her dumb.

  He continued in spite of her silence, “Um hmm, um hmm. So you like it? It’s really nice, isn’t it? Real leather from Planet 1105. You know, they’re famous for their leather there.”

  She simply nodded, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, not at all sure how to respond to him.

  He looked at her and realized she either couldn’t or wouldn’t share his levity. “Okay, back to business. I have a project for you.”

  She nodded again.

  “On Planet 1043 the Eight Elbows fighters have a really tricky way to train. I want you to find out who designed the interior of their school and see if we can’t put something together here. Might be impossible until after planetfall, but I want to know that, too. With Vays doing his own thing and us with our own training space now, I want to get moving on this as soon as possible while we still have time before the communications blackout.

  “I’ve got an appointment with Ren. You see what you can find out, and I’ll meet you later for lunch. How’s that sound?”

  Having finally composed herself, Karza said, “Yes, sir.”

  “Jav,” Jav said patiently.

  “Okay, Jav,” she smiled, finally softening.

  • • •

  Ren sat in a high-backed chair behind a desk that separated him from Jav.

  “This is pretty impressive, Ren.”

  “That’s right. This is your first time here, isn’t it?”

  “Well, there were a few times I probably should have been hauled in, but yeah, it’s my first time. I wish we had offices.”

  “You don’t need offices,” Ren said, smiling. “All an office means is paperwork and tedium.”

  “Do you regret the move?”

  “Not a bit. I feel at home here.”

  “You look pretty menacing in that long black coat.”

  “That’s the idea. Speaking of coats, you look pretty casual in yours. Did you pick it up while you were away?”

  Jav nodded. “It was a gift from Salavar Grummel.”

  “Salavar Grummel? That was Jaim’s teacher.”

  “Yeah. Let me tell you what I’ve been up to this last week.” And he did, brining Ren up to date with the just-completed experiment.

  “I can’t wait to see it,” Ren said.

  “Me neither. Twenty thousand troops in perfect synchronization: we could sell tickets!”

  Ren laughed and folded his arms. Doing so brought into view a blocky instrument fixed to his left wrist that Jav hadn’t noticed previously.

  “What’s that?” Jav asked.

  “This?” Ren said, twisting it to give Jav a better look. “It’s a psi blocker. Part of the uniform. Even with an Artifact, I’m no psychic. It wouldn’t do to have us be at the mercy of a rogue psychic or even. . .” Ren suddenly became self-conscious and took a deep breath, “. . .the butt of a bad joke. This is standard issue. Oppositely, the psychics we employ here are required to wear monitors at all times. Abuse is not tolerated.”

  “Sounds like a good system,” Jav said.

  Ren was quiet. His self-consciousness was threatening to swallow him as he fingered the psi blocker with his right hand.

  “Hey, that wasn’t some sideways criticism. I meant it.”

  “I know you did. I’m sorry. I just can’t help feel like I’m hiding sometimes.”

  “I’m the one who suggested you move, remember? I don’t think you have anything to feel small about.

  “Look, Ren, you’re not hiding. You’re doing your job. You’d be trying way too hard if you refused to wear the thing. If I were you, Imperial Police or not, I’d insist on wearing one of those and that she be fixed with a permanent monitor. And then—and then—I would run screaming at the first sight of her.”

  Ren was smiling and started to laugh. “You’d run screaming, huh?”

  “At all possible speed and volume,” Jav said with a straight face.

  “Thanks, Jav.”

&
nbsp; “Come on. You said your schedule loosened up. Let’s go relieve some stress on the gravity block before lunch.”

  “Okay.”

  17. IMPOSSIBLE CRIME

  10,688.237.1045

  By now, all of the new Shades had been outfitted with their own training facilities. The modifications Jav had Karza inquire about had been fairly easy to implement and were completed by 10688.203. Besides the optical effects projected by the myriad columns, Jav had additional gravity trainers installed in the walls and the ceiling so that the direction of the pull could be altered and randomized. As had been their habit every day for over a month, today Jav and Karza pursued each other through the network of columns and the illusory gnashing gears. Jav wore a white T-shirt, loose black pants gathered at the ankles, white socks, and simple black cloth shoes. Karza wore dark gray shorts and a white vest lined with thick salt-and-pepper fur that spilled out at the neck and shoulders. Recently she had taken to going barefoot at all times wherever she went and for whatever she did. Her riotous black hair, bound in two jagged pigtails, completed the image of a wild animal that her girlish face could never quite counter for too long.

  Karza continued to improve, but her goal of beating Jav on skill alone was proving to be unreachable. Her guillotine turned right angles with precision and ease, losing no momentum, following after Jav, and keeping him always on the move. Jav was impressed with Karza’s growth, but for every step she took, he saw a way to outdo her. A strange sense of guilt had begun to take hold of him. He thought it may have started some time ago, but it was only within the last month that he had become clearly aware of it. They were both benefiting from training, and though he tried not to believe it, he was starting to feel as though she never would be able to surpass him. This bothered him only because he knew how much she wanted to. He tried to put the thought out of his mind this morning and give her the benefit of his full concentration, but both were surprised by an unexpected visit.

  Kalkin, Vays, and Elza stood just outside the training block. After a shout of warning, Kalkin shut down the gravity generators.

  “Sorry to interrupt, but we’ve got business, Jav,” Kalkin said.

  Jav and Karza stepped from between two pillars and jumped down from the block.

  “What’s going on?” Jav said.

  “I don’t have all the details, but we’ve been summoned to Imperial Police Headquarters. A Shade has been killed.”

  Jav’s eyes went wide.

  Vays gawked at Kalkin. “You didn’t say anything about that.”

  Kalkin shrugged. “Come on Jav. Karza, please wait here. You’ll be briefed later.”

  “Yes, sir,” Karza said, snapping to attention.

  Without a word, Jav grabbed his black leather coat, zipped it on, and joined the rest of the Death Squad on their way.

  In the corridor, leading them all, Vays was filled with an inordinate and inappropriate sense of curiosity. “Who was it? A Shade, really? Here at the Palace? Was it an accident? No one can get in except by jump deck, right? And all that activity is being strictly monitored.”

  “We’ll find out when everyone else does, Vays,” Kalkin said. “In the meantime, try to reign in your enthusiasm, okay?”

  “I’m just surprised. Don’t you think it’s funny? The most logical victim is the guy who called us. No offense, Jav, but if one of us were to go, it’d have to be Fauer.”

  Jav’s eyes narrowed on Vays.

  “Don’t look at me like that,” Vays said, laughing. “Come on Holson, I’m just being honest.”

  “That’s enough, Vays. I’ve told you before,” Kalkin said sharply.

  Vays half turned, holding his hands out placatingly. “I’m not trying to pick a fight. I’m just saying that for a Shade, Fauer has. . . limitations. The competition proved that. That’s what it was for. So did the fight with the Gun Golems.”

  Kalkin squeezed his hands into tight, white-knuckled fists, but Jav began to spit acid. “If we’re being honest—and let’s, shall we?—the frailest of us is one Miss Brin Karvasti, who, oh yes, that’s right, was not the top student at the Locsard Psychic Academy. She was. . . What was it? Second best?”

  Vays took a breath and straightened somewhat. “No one can touch her. Anyway, what I said is still true. Facts are facts.”

  “Facts?” Jav snorted in disbelief.

  “Jav, be quiet,” Kalkin said. “You’re finished, Vays. This topic is done, do you understand me?”

  “Okay, okay. All I was doing was stating the obvious, anyway. The Artifact Competition was the clearest indicator. I mean look at Froster—”

  Jav turned towards Vays, fury exploding within him and coloring everything blood red, but Kalkin had already gripped Vays firmly by the neck from behind.

  “Jav, you and Elza go on ahead. Mr. Vays and I will be along shortly. Or at least one of us will.”

  Jav had never heard this tone of deadly calm from Kalkin before.

  “Sir?” Vays said, finding Kalkin’s grip unbelievably strong and impossible to escape.

  Jav glowered at Vays, but he and Elza together said, “Yes, sir.” Elza gently ushered Jav forward and they continued.

  • • •

  Kalkin pushed Vays by the neck into an empty conference room off the corridor. Once inside, Kalkin released his grip and Vays stumbled into the middle of the room, turning to face his superior.

  “What did I tell you about your mouth, Vays?”

  “I’m sorry, sir. It won’t happen again,” Vays said.

  Kalkin bowed and shook his head, a tired, mirthless smile on his face. “You’re right, it won’t.” He looked up, his eyes hard, his smile gone. “Because I’m going to purge you of that dirty little habit right now. I suggest you defend yourself.”

  “W-What?” Vays was laughing nervously, but a big purplish paw of a fist struck him suddenly across the face and sent him crashing into the wall.

  Rubbing his jaw, Vays straightened and was shocked out his indignation to see the walls melting so that a viscous layer of resin, suddenly set to wet putrefaction, poured down over the exit, sealing it off. Vays’s eyes went wide as the accompanying rank odor assailed his nostrils and threatened to dig at his stomach. He summoned the power of the Titan Star and was instantly covered in its gleaming shell.

  Vays wanted to protest, but something about Kalkin’s manner made doing so seem a futile prospect. And as he was considering this, he realized that he was wasting precious time: the Fuhai Hadou was coming towards him, fouling the air and distorting everything in its path. Vays jumped straight up, drawing the Titan Saber from his helmet. If Kalkin was to take such measures, then he must also.

  “Don’t blame me for what happens, sir!” Vays cried with savage confidence.

  Kalkin said nothing as the Titan Saber cleaved his shoulder and sank a third of the way down his thick, oversized torso where it became stuck.

  Vays struggled vainly to free his blade. All sign of damage done by his attack was gone; the sick bruised flesh was completely mended. With a final, wrenching tug, Vays managed to pull his blade free, but there was no blade left beyond up to where it had stuck within Kalkin. A dark streamer clung to one corner of the square remnant of the blade and drooped like saliva from a retreating kiss. The sword was smoking along its entire remaining length now. Messy, wet blisters of foul color rose and popped audibly in succession, releasing a terrific stench.

  Vays regarded the ruined weapon and cast it away in disgust, but it was too late. He, too, had been infected with Kalkin’s rot. His fingers had begun to smoke and he cried out in fear as he tried to keep his own hand away from himself.

  Kalkin struck Vays, knocking him down. Vays looked back at his assailant, an action characterized by something Vays had never experienced before: panic. Rather than incapacitate him, however, this new sensation drove him to action. He scrambled to his feet and leapt for desperate escape, though where he could ultimately find it, he did not know. Nor did it matter. The Fuhai Hadou struck
him in mid air and blasted the surface of his armor, eradicating every corner and angle, but more than that, it had penetrated the armor or at least the odor had and that was sufficient. Vays finished his arc through the air and clanged to the floor in a crumpled heap. His armor was boiling putrefaction all around him.

  Kalkin stood over him, watching him suffer. Vays’s helmet had been eaten away, exposing a soup of vomit coating his now visible face. Vays gripped his guts with one hand and clutched at his nose with the other as he convulsed over and over again, heaving out all he had in his stomach and then still more until finally he passed out.

  After a time, Kalkin slapped him awake. “Sit up!”

  Vays struggled to raise his back up against the closest wall, his eyes glassy, his front caked and saturated with his own sickness.

  No longer Dark now, Kalkin was stiff with his arms folded tightly across his chest. “I don’t want to hear you bad mouth anyone ever again. Do you understand me? I just kicked your ass in less than three minutes, but you won’t hear me gloating about it. You won’t hear me taking shots at you for being second best—or even for being an asshole.

  “I don’t care who your father was or how improbable your birth was. I don’t care what your credentials are. You are a Shade of the Viscain Empire and while you are under my command you will act like one. Go get yourself cleaned up.”

  Vays was panting and making pained faces, but managed a nod through heaving breaths. Kalkin turned away and strode out of the room through the slightly less than true doorway. Vays got to his feet and rested his hands upon his unsteady knees. He couldn’t bring himself to move from that position thereafter, and his labored breaths came more and more like rueful sobs.

  • • •

  At Imperial Police Headquarters Ren was playing host to all the current Shades. Wheeler Barson and Mefis Abanastar were engaged in some discussion regarding the Nine Order Fist while Tia Winn and Brin Karvasti stood a ways off, together but silent. Ren stood behind a broad, shiny black table straightening some notes. From within his long, black coat he produced a small box, finely wrought and of sturdy construction, and placed it with unsteady fingers upon the table. He was just getting ready to begin when Kalkin entered.