Rebo, Norr, and Sogol had surfaced by then, and were part of the much-diminished phib force that was about to invade the island. “Tepho survived,” Norr said glumly. “At least that’s what Lysander tells me.”
“And so did Logos,” Sogol added, having wrapped herself around the sensitive’s neck. “And he’s communicating with Socket.”
“Can you stop him?” the runner wanted to know.
“I can interfere with his efforts,” the AI replied. “Just as he can interfere with mine.”
“Then let’s go,” Norr said grimly. “We need to reach Socket before they do.”
The wings put up a fi?ght, but not much of one, as hundreds of phibs marched up out of the light surf. That was partly because the winged warriors were badly outnumbered, partly because they were vulnerable to massed ground fi?re, and partly because their hearts weren’t in it. Given the absence of other leadership, it was the commandant’s duty to lead a single mostly symbolic sortie, which he did. But having lost a quarter of his total force during the fi?rst ten minutes of battle, and with no ground forces to provide support, the old soldier was soon forced to withdraw. That left the way clear for the phibs to claim Buru as their own—and for the off-worlders to invade the jungle. A trip they would have to undertake alone, since the phibs had captured their objective and were still reeling from all the casualties they had suffered.
Rebo had supplemented his pistols with a phib energy rifl?e, along with a bag of grenades. And Norr, who had been reunited with her sword, carried the phib equivalent of a sawed-off shotgun plus a power pistol, which was strapped to her thigh.
With only light packs to burden them, the twosome marched up trail. And it wasn’t very long before Rebo, Norr, and Sogol confi?rmed what they already suspected. Not only had Tepho preceded them, but judging from the deep pod prints, the technologist was behind the controls of his raptor. And, as if that wasn’t disturbing enough, there were plenty of smaller footprints, some of which had been left by metal men.
Truth be told, Rebo might have called it a day right then had the runner been on his own, but Norr wasn’t prepared to give up yet, nor was Sogol. So they continued the march, and thanks to the bushwhacking carried out by those who preceded them, made excellent progress. As if aware of their presence, and holding its breath to see what would happen next, the normally noisy jungle had lapsed into a brooding silence, broken only by the sound of their breathing, the occasional clink of metal, and the intermittent splash of water as they crossed a stream.
It made for a pleasant rhythm. But hours later, as the light began to fade, Sogol became increasingly agitated. Rather than wrap herself around Norr’s biceps, as was her normal practice, the AI began to roam from one place to another. That was annoying enough—but the steady diet of intercepted intelligence was even worse. “Logos is communicating with Socket. . . .” “Two of Tepho’s people have arrived at the transit station. . . .” “The main party is almost there. . . .”
Finally, unable to take any more, Norr ordered Sogol to,
“Shut the hell up,” and threatened to stuff the computer into her backpack. That served to silence the AI for a while, but eventually, as the vegetation-covered butte loomed ahead, Sogol broke her silence. Her snakelike body was wrapped around one of the sensitive’s pack straps by that time—which put her triangular head only inches from Norr’s ear. “Based on their radio traffi?c, it’s clear that Tepho, Logos, and the rest of the party are standing directly outside the transfer station,” the AI announced. “The gate appears to be operational—and they are about to make the jump.”
That brought the sensitive to a momentary halt. And when Rebo heard the news, he said, “Damn!”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Norr added. “So, assuming the gate works, what will happen next?”
“They’ll arrive on Socket,” the AI predicted dispiritedly,
“where they will transport Logos up to level three, where the nexus is located. Once in position, he will begin to reinstall himself.”
“And how long will that take?” Rebo wanted to know.
“There’s no way to know what conditions are like,” Sogol answered. “If they’re good, then the technos could reach nexus within a matter of minutes. But judging from my contacts with Socket, I get the impression that they may encounter problems. As for the second part of the process, well, I can be fairly precise about that. Given the fact that subsystems have to be conditioned while installation takes place, the process will take three hours, twelve minutes, and fortytwo seconds. Give or take half a second.”
The sensitive felt the full impact of Rebo’s personality as his eyes made contact with hers. He was there because of her, because she believed in the star gates, and because he was sworn to protect her. Even if that meant dying for her. Something passed between them at that moment, as a promise made before either one of them had been born was kept and their fates forever joined. “Come on,” Rebo said gruffl?y, as he reached out to take the sensitive’s hand. “We’re almost there.”
The transit station was made of carefully joined blocks of limestone, which had been eroded by the weather and almost entirely hidden by a blanket of green foliage. The raptor, which Tepho had sealed against intruders, crouched off to one side. And right in front of the structure, where a parking lot had existed once, there was a fl?at area. And that was where the assassin stood as she looked out over the verdant jungle to the sparkling sea beyond. Phan had never been one to spend much time looking at nature, but as the light started to fade, and a golden glow settled over the island, even she had to take notice of the beauty that surrounded her. Then, just as quickly as the moment came, it was gone. And when darkness fell, it fell quickly, as if eager to claim its full share of the day. And that was when the assassin was forced to confront the fact that while Tepho, Logos, Shaz, and the rest of the party had been transported to Socket, she along with two metal men, had been left to guard what the combat variant called, “the back door.”
It shouldn’t have mattered, not so long as she was being paid, but it was diffi?cult to ignore the power-core- induced nausea, or the feeling of disappointment that resulted from having participated in a long, diffi?cult journey only to be left behind just short of the fi?nal goal. But such maunderings were unprofessional, not to mention unproductive, and therefore dangerous. With that in mind, Phan forced herself to focus on the task at hand.
Logos claimed that the runner, the sensitive, and the second AI were not only present on the island of Buru, but determined to reach Socket. Having traveled with the humans, the assassin didn’t doubt it. She knew from personal experience that Rebo and Norr were not only tough but tenacious. So they would come. . . . The question was when? Neither one of them liked to travel at night. She knew that, but what if they did? Phan could survive on very little sleep, but she couldn’t go without any at all, and that suggested that some sort of early-warning system was in order. Fortunately, the metal men were perfect for that role, because while the cudgel-toting robots had limited combat capabilities, they could literally see in the dark thanks to their sophisticated sensors. With that in mind, the human led the machines out to positions in front of the transfer station, where their sensors would overlap, thereby establishing an invisible wall between the jungle and herself. Once the machines were properly
