ordinary people-yesterday's accountants and shop clerks-and infected them with a blood lust, turned them into killers.
Imagine what I could do with a whole world listening. My gift to humanity, turning people into warriors.
The clouds that had rolled in earlier completed their job in blocking the sun from the afternoon sky. The temperature dropped and the wind carried hints of cold rain.
'So you figure, bring this successful Trevor Stone over and maybe he can energize things, huh? Maybe you can still win this.'
'Survive this, you mean.'
He nodded, 'Yeah, I suppose so. Survive.'
'But this was personal for you, wasn’t it?'
She did not answer for a long while. He decided not to push…not yet. They walked together in silence for a minute while their boots crunched in the surface of the soft road top and as drizzle turned to an honest rain.
'So you bring me over, hope I can turn the military tide of things, and have enough people in on it so you can hide the truth for a while. All the time the best you’re hoping for is, what, I off the Committee and take over. At that point you had to figure I’d find out that this wasn’t your planet; that you are the bad guys here.'
Trevor felt a tremble in his arms, his hands flexed, and an angry shout grew in his throat…then faded as he calmed himself with a deep breath.
When he felt he could control his voice, he said, 'So you’ve been playing mind games with me all the time. Using…playing games to distract me. To-what? — get me hooked on you? Get me hooked on all the crazy things you and the old Trevor used to do.'
She jumped in, maybe to try and head off nastier words.
'Yes, that’s right. If my Trevor…if he wanted those things then I figured you would, too. And you know what? You did. No one forced you. I just gave you want you wanted. All the fantasies. Everything he craved, everything he made me do.'
Her tone was not confrontational. No, it sounded more dejected.
He stopped walking. She sensed it and stopped, too. He stared at her through the curtain of cold rain and saw fear in her eyes. Her posture slumped, as if ready to cower on command.
His head tilted and he stared off toward the leafless trees surrounding the road.
'You're right. That’s scary, you know. It’s scary that it almost worked.'
Trevor saw himself slamming a junior officer against a wall and shooting Chaktaw prisoners and leading a bloody coup d'etat. He recalled the feeling of invincibility that had come with the daring-if-foolish victory over the Geryon Reich. He remembered the sex with the Major, especially the first time. Angry. Mean. Love had been a world away.
Almost worked. Oh no, Trevor. It worked. It was all on display right there for everyone to see. No where to hide, Trev. You did the killing and you enjoyed it.
'And was that what your Trevor was like? Quick to kill? No mercy. Vicious?'
'Trevor and I…we…I loved him. After he was gone, maybe I wanted to have him back. Maybe I did this, you know, for personal reasons, too.'
Nina avoided looking at his eyes and instead gazed at the road ahead.
'One more thing. You said you had help in getting me. Who?'
She fidgeted and her lips pressed tight together like a bank vault shutting. He saw her cheeks blush. At first he thought she might be getting sick, but then he realized that the girl was terrified of answering his question.
'Tell me, Nina. You didn't find and know how to use The Nyx's nest on your own.'
After taking a deep breath, she turned, looked at him, and answered, 'I told you that Trevor knew stuff. He knew about what was going on, a lot more than he ever told me. Snowe knew some things too, partly from people back home, partly from things Trevor filled him in on over here. Going to get you wasn't an idea original to Snowe or me.'
'Go on.'
A chilly wind whipped the rain along the road.
'When you first got here, you told me that there was, like, one big bad guy on your world that you thought was behind-'
He grabbed her shoulders. She cringed and her voice morphed into a frightened cry, 'Something called Voggoth!'
'Voggoth? Of course. I should have guessed! I should have guessed!'
'But Trevor, listen,' she confessed. 'It wasn't just getting you here. Jakob cut a deal. As long as you were over here helping us, well…'
'Tell me!' He nearly spat in her face.
'As long as you were here they'd help us with the Chaktaw. Remember their outpost? Voggoth hit them first, knocked them down so our attack was easy.'
'But not the Duass? He wouldn't help us against the Duass! That's why Snowe wanted me to leave them alone. Voggoth doesn't want you fighting each other, only the Chaktaw!'
He released her and stepped away. His head cocked to one side and a big, sardonic smile that did not have an ounce of good feelings in it grew from ear to ear.
'Oh, sure, kill two worlds with one Stone.'
'What? Trevor, I don’t understand.'
'Don’t you see? Don’t you see?'
'What?'
'On my Earth, we’re doing pretty good. We survived the first years of the invasion. We haven’t been beaten down. Just like the Chaktaw here, they’re holding on pretty good, right?'
She nodded.
'Voggoth convinces you to get me, probably hoping that everything would fall apart for man on my Earth. He brings me here thinking maybe I can help wipe out the Chaktaw!'
Trevor pinched his nose and shut his eyes. The scope of his failure caused a pounding ache in his temples. He had left behind his world, putting everything gained there in jeopardy, and come here to aid Voggoth unwittingly as well as whomever else choreographed Armageddon.
'One other thing, Trevor. Part of the deal…you're not supposed to go home. Voggoth was going to help us as long as you're here fighting for Thebes. Snowe told me that, um, that…'
His eyes opened. 'That you're supposed to kill me if I find a way back, right? So what of it, Nina? I might have a way home. Are you going to try and stop me?'
The question nearly sounded funny. Despite her combat skills and despite the rifle and pistols she carried, Major Nina Forest was fully defeated. She existed now only in his shadow. She could no more shoot him than grow wings and fly away. He saw this clearly and despite his anger for what she had done, the idea of such a strong person being so completely beaten down did conjure a pang of pity in his heart.
He said, 'Voggoth behind it all. Pulling the strings. Manipulating the whole thing. So tell me, your army of misfits and mercenaries marched through your gateway and came here, right?'
'For the most part everyone stayed together and in formation, but there were reports that the gateway sort of misfired, sending some troops and equipment to completely different places on the planet. We found out the tech didn't work as perfectly as advertised. Still, most of us hit the ground here, marching through the gate or appearing near to it.'
'Okay, but you also brought animals through. I’ve seen them. I figured they were indigenous here, but I was wrong. I saw wolves and deer and pigeons. They came with you.'
She answered, 'There’s another gateway from our home world that sends over animals. All part of terra- forming this planet into something like we knew. I never could figure out exactly why, it doesn't make a lot of sense. Seems like the idea of the invasion is more than just grabbing land, kind of like erasing the Chaktaw's entire civilization. I don’t know where that other gate is, if that’s what you’re asking.'
'All the higher life forms plus an army. So tell me, Nina, how many civilizations are involved in this? Do you know? Tell you what; I’m going to guess that there are seven others. Seven others including the Chaktaw plus mankind, that equals eight.'
Trevor felt satisfaction at figuring out something the Old Man would never have admitted, but Nina
