'I always wanted to die in bed,' said Random, smiling. 'Preferably with a belly full of good brandy and my arm around a beautiful woman. But if I have to go down fighting… I can't think of anyone else I'd rather be with.'
'Oh, Jack, you say the nicest things.'
They kissed once, unhurriedly, and then turned to look out at the enemy forces on the plain one last time. And saw Young Jack Random striding toward them, quite alone, his hands empty of weapons. The rest of the Ghost Warrior army stood still and silent, watching. Random and Ruby looked at each other.
'What the hell does he think he's doing?' said Random. 'Surely he doesn't expect us to surrender?'
'Maybe he wants to surrender,' said Ruby hopefully.
The steel machine in its human covering strode across the plain, smiling his interminable smile, and finally came to a halt a respectful distance away from the two humans guarding the valley entrance. He was still in disrupter range, but Random was pretty sure his Shub double was fast enough to dodge an energy beam if he had to.
'Well, well,' said Young Jack Random pleasantly. 'Here we all are again. Funny how we keep bumping into each other, isn't it? It must be fate. How are you both feeling?'
'Strong enough to kick your metal ass,' growled Ruby.
'What do you want?' said Random.
'To fulfill my mission here,' said Young Jack Random, standing tall and heroic in his silver armor. 'To wipe out every living human on this planet and make it over into a Shub base.'
'I take it your rebel allies don't know that,' said Random.
'Oh, I think they probably do, deep down, but they don't want to admit it. The human talent for self-deception never ceases to amaze me. Still, they and their pitiful army are irrelevant now. While they're keeping your forces occupied, I will take my army to Vidar and destroy it.'
'You have to get past us first,' said Ruby. 'And you've already seen what we can do when we put our minds to it.'
'Yes, and very impressive it was,' said Young Jack Random. 'But not totally unexpected. Our files on you are really quite extensive. We've studied every use of your remarkable powers, on every occasion. And being the great brains that we are, we came up with an answer. You see, you're really talking to the rogue AIs of Shub. We're running all our forces on this miserable planet through this focus. That's why you couldn't kill us on Golgotha. Only a body died there, and we have so many bodies. This one is very special. We built something very powerful into it and then sent it here, knowing your human egos would demand you come to face it.'
'Wait a minute,' said Ruby. 'You mean you staged all this, killed all these people, just to get to us?'
'Now, isn't that just typical of human egos?' said Young Jack Random. 'No, my dear, you're not that important. Loki is a vital staging point in our expansion into Human space. But we did set things up to bring you here too. You Maze people fascinate us. And we are determined to have you in our laboratories so we can learn to do what you do. To that end, a very special device was installed in me. Its function, to suppress your more than human powers and abilities. The most powerful esp-blocker ever built.' His smile widened. 'And yes, it's been operating all the time I've been standing here. You are quite helpless. I advise you to surrender. If not, I will be obliged to hurt you.'
Random and Ruby looked at each other and began to laugh.
Young Jack Random looked from one to the other. 'I really don't see what use hysteria is in this situation…'
'You idiot,' said Random. 'Whatever we may be, we're not espers. We established that long ago.'
And he reached inside himself and pulled up the last few sparks of his power, then surged forward, crossing the space between them with impossible speed. He raised his sword and brought it savagely down toward the Fury's head. Flames flared around the steel blade. Young Jack Random raised a hand as though to block the blow. The blazing sword sheared through the flesh and metal hand, buried itself in Young Jack Random's metal skull, and then continued on down in a shower of sparks, cutting through the steel and flesh body till it erupted out of his groin. The two halves of the Fury fell slowly away from each other, and lay sparking and spitting on the ground. Random stood over them, just a little out of breath.
'That… isn't possible,' said a cold metallic voice from one side of the sundered head.
'It is if I believe it is,' said Random. 'Now shut the hell up and die.'
He stamped on the left half of the metal head, and crushed it flat under his boot. Ruby came over and stamped on the other side of the head, and then they both used their disrupters on the two halves of the body, blowing them apart. And out on the plain, every one of the surviving Ghost Warriors suddenly collapsed and lay still, as though all their strings had been cut.
'Of course,' said Ruby. 'He said he was Shub's focus. With communications being so difficult on Loki, they needed a booster to maintain their control, and that was him. With him gone, they're just so much metal junk. You know what, Jack, I think we just won this war.'
'Of course,' said Random. 'I told you everything would be all right. You should listen to me more.'
Ruby laughed and hugged him. 'We're heroes! We're immortal! We're going to live forever!'
They hugged each other for a long time, and then let go and just stood companionably together, enjoying being alive.
'I'm taking our survival as a sign,' said Random. 'No more pussyfooting. From now on I do what needs to be done, and God help the guilty.'
'Sounds good to me,' said Ruby. 'Did you have anything particular in mind?'
'First we go find the two human armies, or what's left of them, and persuade them that their war is over.'
'And then?'
'And then we go back to Vidar. And clean house.'
Back at the city, the populace went mad with joy over the two legendary heroes who'd saved their city and their planet. So when Jack Random asked them to do something for him, they didn't hesitate. Soon the whole population of Vidar was gathered in the great square before the main gates, watching breathlessly as Vidar's surviving guards fashioned a series of nooses and hung them from the inner wall. To one side knelt Matthew Tallon, once Planetary Controller, and Terrence Jacks, once Mayor of Vidar, and the few dozen rebels who'd survived the last battle. They all had their hands tied behind them. They looked for mercy in the faces of the crowd and saw none. On Random and Ruby's other side knelt de Lisle and Bentley and all their people, down to the lowest bureaucrat, also securely tied.
'You can't do this!' howled de Lisle. 'I was Pardoned! We all were! Parliament put us in charge here! You can't go against the authority of Parliament!'
'Watch me,' said Random. 'You and your people plotted to leach this colony dry and then move on. I call that treason.'
'We have backers!' said de Lisle. 'Powerful backers! I could tell you their names…'
'They'll be in the computers somewhere. We'll find them. There's only one thing I want to know. That man, killed and gutted and placed in two crates. That was your idea, wasn't it?'
'It was Bentley's idea,' de Lisle said quickly. 'We needed something to motivate you, alienate you from the rebels.'
'Who was the man?' said Ruby.
de Lisle shrugged and looked at Bentley, who said nothing. Ruby kicked the security chief in the ribs.
'Nobody,' said Bentley. 'Just someone we used. He wasn't important.'
'Everyone's important,' said Random. 'That's what separates us from Shub.' de Lisle started to splutter some excuse, but Random just looked at him, and he fell silent.
'They deserve to die,' said Tallon. 'But we only ever had the best interests of Loki at heart. We rebelled because we had legitimate grievances. You of all people should be able to understand that.'
'I understand,' said Random. 'But you allied yourself with Shub, the Enemies of Humanity. The end doesn't always justify the means.'
'Jack,' said Ruby quietly, 'I'm really not sure this is a good idea. Hang a few to make a point, sure, but this… de Lisle's right. Parliament is never going to approve this.'
'Then to hell with Parliament,' said Jack Random. He gestured to the guards, survivors of the army he had
