that is), as they stepped forth onto the surface of our world. Far more importantly, however, Malinari had sensed their unpreparedness. Oh, they had
weapons as devastating as Nathan's, but for protection as opposed to open aggression. Also, they had little or no idea what to expect in Starside, and to a man their minds were pre-occupied with greed for the heavy, malleable yellow metal that you call gold, which in my world is common.
'They were thirty-two in number, half of them being soldiers who took up positions on the flanks as the rest formed into an unruly, excited, and chattering body. Then they marched for the great pass. Two of the soldiers rode noisy, wheeled engines that cut the darkness with beams of cold white light; they went ahead to pick a route through the many boulders that litter the area. Keeping still and silent in the shadows, we let them pass right through the various groups of our divided party.
'Then it was that Malinari apprised us, 'These men are not like Nathan. They are like infants, with little or no knowledge of what they are about! Those on the outside — the soldiers — they have weapons. When we strike, we take them out first. Kill them with dispatch. They barely outnumber us and shouldn't be a problem; this time the advantage of surprise is on our side. As for the central body: these are the minds behind the muscle… puny things by my reckoning, and not a mentalist among them. So be it; they are weaklings and we must take them alive for questioning. Now make ready — in the next few seconds your destiny may change beyond all recognition!'
'Which of course it did.
'I cannot describe what next took place as 'a battle', nor even a rout, for none of our victims had time to flee! Surprise was indeed on our side, and add to this our flowing, lightning-strike speed, and our vampire strength, equal in each of us to that of four or five strong men… the result was overwhelming. Hell-landers they were, but they had never seen hell such as we delivered that night.
'There was some gunfire, soon silenced. We lost a lieutenant and three thralls. The Hell-landers lost everything — their so-called 'fighting men', anyway. As for the two on their 'motorcycles', when they returned to see what was the trouble, and having seen it didn't stop but headed out onto the barren boulder plains: We picked them off later.
'The freshly dead were carried back to fuel our vats, the living were taken for questioning by Malinari. I can't honestly say which group was least fortunate, the living or the dead… the living, I suspect. In the long run it would make no difference; the one group would join the other.
'What my master learned, however — ah, but that made a big difference! Sufficient to excite Malinari and his Wamphyri colleagues beyond measure. And for me, it was the beginning of the end.. '
Korath had fallen silent for a while. When next he spoke it was similar to a sigh in Jake Cutter's sleeping mind, and deadspeak in the metaphysical Harry Keogh's:
The rest you know. In a while, when Malinari had extracted and assimilated all he could of knowledge from the minds of the 'scientists' and their military leader, it was time to take our leave ofStarside.
Before doing so, The Mind, Vavara, and Szwart made a great many lieutenants; they took them down into undeath, and brought them up again as burgeoning Wamphyri! And they divided between them all the remaining thralls, flyers and waxing warriors, and all territorial holdings, provisions, and so forth.
It was done for spite, out of malice; if the three Great Vampires could not have Sunside/Starsidefor their own, then neither could Nathan and the Lidescis, nor the Szgany as a people — not without they Jightfor it for long and long, and pay for it in blood. And so you may be sure that even now there are new Lords in Starside, while in Sunside the bloodJlows as of yore…
Finally Korath was done, and Harry said, From all you have told us, your lot was not a happy one. And your end was unfair, to say the least. I am glad you finally agree! said the dead vampire. But: —From what you have told us, at least, said Harry. But I am more concerned with what you haven't toM us, which is probably more important than all the rest put together. The Wamphyri have been here in our world for some time, but it would seem they've achieved very little. What are they up to, Korath? What is their plan? You were one of theirs, and so you must know.
Ahhhh! said the other slyly, in a tone that suggested the shake of an incorporeal head. And so to the crux of the matter. But no, what you ask is for me to know and for you to discover, or to guess at for a long, long time, until it is too late. For after all, it is my only remaining bargaining point— the last trick up a poor dead thing's sleeve. And when you have that, I shall have nothing at all
'Bargaining point?' said Jake, just a little surprised by his own voice, after keeping so long silent. 'But you're a dead thing! What can you possibly bargain for — what can we give you — apart from a little companionship, a little cold comfort?'
Well, that might be a start…
But the ex-Necroscope intervened and said: You have already had that, companionship and cold comfort, and probably too much of both. It isn't a healthy thing to spend too much time in the company of vampires. No, there's no bargain you can strike here, Korath Mindsthrall. Also, I sense that your will is strong. You are dead, but your tenacity is very much alive! Jake, it's time we were having.
'I thought you'd never get to it,' Jake answered.
Tm still not a hundred per cent sure I want to,' Jake vacillated.
Well, get sure! said Harry, his fading deadspeak voice frustrated and angry. Your entire world depends upon it. And if you can't remember anything else, do try to remember this:
An incredible wall of numbers — like a computer screen run riot— evolved in the eye of Jake's mind, its symbols and equations marching and mutating until they reached a certain critical point… and formed a door. A Mobius door! And Jake knew without knowing how that all that remained of Harry was passing through it, moving on to another place, perhaps another time.
'I… I'm supposed to remember that?' he said, as the door collapsed and left him on his own in the dank and gurgling sump of the once-Refuge. On his own, but not quite alone. For:
Do not concern yourself, Jake Cutter, Korath MmdsthraU's leering deadspeak voice came to him out of the sudden inky darkness that enveloped him and the sump and everything, a darkness that was prelude to the light of the waking world. No, for I am sure that we'll be able to work something out—
— Er, between us?
Jake made no reply, or if he did it was left behind as he went spiralling up and up to the waiting light…
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR Synchronicity
Liz was leaning over him again. 'Remember what?' she said.
'Eh?' Jake blinked sleep out of his eyes, groped to brush grit from their corners.
'You were rambling on about having to remember something,' she told him. And while he was ordering his thoughts to frame a reply, she quickly went on: 'And before you ask — no, I wasn't snooping on you. I came back here to give you a shake; you were mumbling, and I thought you were speaking to me.' Well, he hadn't been, but he had been speaking to someone. Harry? Korath? But who the hell was Korath? The name, so familiar one minute, was already meaningless, slipping from the edge of his mind. So that now, just a moment later, Jake wasn't sure it meant anything at all.
Well, get sure!… get sure!… get sure! (Like an echo, fading in his memory.) And numbers — a swirl of numbers, equations, symbols, like a mathematician's nightmare — all collapsing to a big Zero, nothing, where before they had meant something.
'Numbers/' Jake croaked, forcing the word out of his dehydrated throat. Liz handed him a can of Coke that she was drinking from, and he sat up and swilled his mouth out, then let the fizzing liquid burn and cool and sting all the way down. 'Numbers?' Liz repeated him. 'What about them?' Awake now, he frowned at her. 'Are you sure you weren't in
there with me?' Then, seeing that look on her face: 'Okay, okay! Just checking.' He took another swig, climbed unsteadily to his feet. 'I think I was dreaming about — hell, I don't know — all sorts of stuff He looked at
