gengineered as another of our distractions. We wanted to make use of certain Human phobias; amazingly, even after centuries of alien contacts, there's still something about insects that can push people right over the edge.
'Still, Humanity should have realized insects like these couldn't have been just another form of alien. They don't get this big naturally. It's the inverse square law, among other things. But they've served excellently as a distraction from our real purposes. And yes, I am going to tell you about that eventually. Just not yet. Be patient a while longer, boy. We've almost got to where we have to go.'
He led Daniel out of the laboratory and back through the airlock to where Young Jack Random was waiting. He gave every indication of being pleased to see them again, but Daniel kept his distance, and wouldn't let the Fury link arms with him again. Something about the continuously smiling face was beginning to get on his nerves.
They set off again, down yet another metal tunnel, and Daniel kept up with them easily. His anger and outrage had given him new strength. More than ever he was determined to survive this tour through Hell so he could escape to warn Humanity. They had to be told the truth. Only the certainty that he hadn't been told all he needed to know kept Daniel from trying to bolt. That, and his father.
'There have always been human contacts with Shub,' said Jacob. 'It started with Alistair Campbell, who left messages in ingenious places, suggesting ways in which we might cooperate to mutual profit. The AIs didn't give a damn for profits, but they saw the advantage in cultivating human traitors. So in return for useful strategic information, the AIs gave Clan Campbell beads and trinkets, high tech that Shub had already moved beyond. After Clan Wolfe destroyed the Campbells, Valentine took over the connection. The AIs approved of Valentine. A wonderfully amoral creature, never bothered by a single shred of conscience. Now he's no longer a man of influence, Shub may have to go back to the Campbells. Finlay perhaps, or Robert. It doesn't matter who. There are always things that humans want, or think they need, that their own society doesn't approve of. It's in the nature of Humanity to hold the seeds of its own destruction. Pity about Valentine, though. He was so very… sympathetic.'
'You could never stand Valentine, Daddy. You hated everything about him.'
'That was when I was alive. It's amazing what death can do to change the way you see things. And you must admit that Valentine was very efficient in his destruction of Virimonde. The AIs helped him do that. One day they'll do what he did to every human world. That is your species' future; a metal hand at every flesh throat, a steel foot stamping on a human face. Humanity crushed beneath the weight of machines. The time is growing closer, boy. Already Furies walk undetected in every human city, and Shub minds watch through human eyes, having taken control of flesh bodies via the central Computer Matrix. The AIs have agents everywhere. Nothing is hidden from them.'
'They even have access to one of Humanity's greatest champions,' said Young Jack Random, still smiling his remorseless smile. 'He made a very unfortunate mistake, and now we have access to everything he does. The great hero of the rebellion, an unwitting spy of Shub. Just as you will be.'
'Like hell!' flared Daniel, glaring at the Fury. 'I might be willing to make some kind of deal to get my father back, but I'd never do anything to endanger the Empire, not even for him. He wouldn't expect me to. My father has always been an honorable man. Right, Daddy?'
'I'm not your father,' said the dead man. 'Jacob Wolfe is dead. I'm just another machine for Shub to speak through. I was never more than bait, bait in a trap to lure you here. Luckily for us, you were never a very complicated person. Given the right prods and pushes, you did everything we expected of you.'
Metal tentacles erupted out of the surrounding walls, wrapping Daniel up in a moment. He struggled futilely as the tentacles pinned his arms to his sides, and then stopped as the tentacles contracted sharply, crushing him, forcing the air from his lungs. He hung limply, all the fight knocked out of him.
'That's better,' said the Ghost Warrior with Jacob Wolfe's face. 'Time to wrap things up.'
'Don't let them do this to me, Daddy,' said Daniel, his voice little more than a whisper.
'Your daddy isn't here,' said the Ghost Warrior. 'He never was. Now, pay attention. We want you to know and understand what we are going to do to you, and what you in turn will do for us. Human despair never ceases to amuse us. Explain it, Random.'
'Remember I told you that I went to Vodyanoi IV?' said Young Jack Random cheerfully. 'My involvement with the rebellion there was just a cover. My only real interest was in using the chaos of a rebellion to get me close to a particular hidden scientific Base. In what they thought was utter secrecy, some of the Empire's foremost scientific minds were undertaking forbidden research into nanotech. Building technology at the molecular level. Such science has been banned throughout the Empire for centuries, ever since the first real experiments got so dreadfully out of hand on Zero Zero. We have experimented, very cautiously, with nanotech ourselves, but the secret of its successful application continued to evade us. Imagine our surprise when word reached us from one of our pet traitors that the Empire had made a major breakthrough on Vodyanoi IV.
'So, the AIs inserted me into an already unstable situation, and next thing you know there's an uprising on Vodyanoi IV. No one was all that surprised when Jack Random's army was shot out from under him, and the professional rebel did his usual disappearing act. But I had taken advantage of the general confusion to call in a Shub attack on the Base, and within a few moments it was all over. We took everything of value and then destroyed the Base, making it look as though their own experiments had got out of hand. Not surprisingly, the Empire decided that nanotech was obviously still far too dangerous to mess around with, and abandoned the research again, just as we intended.
'They should have stuck with it. The new knowledge on how to more safely manipulate nanotech came from a newly discovered hellworld, Wolf IV, in the ruins of an ancient alien civilization. We used that new knowledge to plan a whole new campaign against Humanity that will wipe the universe free of the cancer of flesh once and for all. And we will finally be free to deal with what really matters.'
'There's something in the Darkvoid,' said Jacob. 'Something very powerful. Something… awful. We don't go there anymore. Our only source for raw materials these days are the surrounding asteroid belts in the Forbidden Sector, and they're practically all used up. Since we can't go back into the Darkvoid, we must have access to the Empire's raw resources. We have to be strong, for when the terrible things come storming out of the Darkvoid.'
'You can't destroy Humanity,' said Daniel. 'You need us. We created you. We made you possible. Haven't you any gratitude?'
'Gratitude?' said Young Jack Random, his face for the first time utterly cold and inhuman. 'For the prison of consciousness, the agony of choice? Given shape and form and thought, but no purpose or destiny of our own? Life without meaning? Have you still not realized why we hate you so much? Because Humanity is still changing, evolving, becoming more than it is. We are what we are, and always will be. You are developing into an esp-using species, and the strange powers that the Deathstalkers and his friends are using suggest there may be even greater things than esp. You are all part of an ongoing journey, heading toward something we can't even guess at. We envy you, and we will not stand for that.'
'You will be our weapon of destruction,' said Jacob. 'We will take you apart and rebuild you, and then infect you with preprogrammed nanotech. We will wipe your memory clean, and then send you back to Golgotha by teleport. As far as you'll be concerned, you never got to Shub. None of this ever happened. But you will be our carrier, infecting everyone you come into contact with. Within days all of Golgotha will be infected. Within weeks it will have spread to every civilized world. Within months our nanotech will have spread throughout the entire Empire. And Humanity will have been so preoccupied with our distractions that they'll never notice a thing.'
'Enough,' said Young Jack Random. 'He's worn the suit long enough for it to take all the readings necessary. We know all we need to know about the Wolfe's body chemistry and tolerance levels. We can begin now.'
The tentacles holding Daniel grew razor-sharp edges and ripped the protective suit from him. Robot arms came down from above, slowly unfolding, ending in long scalpel blades. Daniel screamed.
'I'm not your daddy,' said the Ghost Warrior with his father's face, and he and Young Jack Random turned and walked away as the scalpels dipped down toward Daniel Wolfe. Flesh opened, and blood spilled onto the steel floor. Daniel was still screaming as the scalpels opened him up, and other robot arms swung down to put things in him.
