‘Okay, but I can’t see it and improvise a version of Magic Burst which will fire into the Q-field. Hence, I’d be shooting blind. If I’m there with it, I can just use my usual spell, right?’
‘Making a number of assumptions about the way it works, yes. I believe that, with some further research, I could define the parameters of the proposed spell to transition someone into the Q-field. The author called it “Ascend.” It would be useful if Lambert could provide his expertise to the process. We could then explain it to you.’
‘How long?’
‘Defining a spell which could have fatal results needs to be done carefully,’ Lambert said. ‘You won’t be able to do much to the Harbinger if the spell kills you.’
‘Fine,’ Nava said, ‘take all the time you think you need. Just remember that that thing is out there, right now, selecting its next victims. I think we’ll be really lucky to stop it from finishing what it does a third time. While we’re planning, it’s killing someone.’
235/5/23.
‘Okay, here’s what we have,’ Courtney said. ‘Two students have been declared missing. I had the administration put in some stricter rules regarding students missing classes, and these two are the only ones today who haven’t given some form of excuse.’
‘It’s lunchtime,’ Nava said. Despite being shorter than both Courtney and Kyle, she seemed to be keeping up with them perfectly well as the trio marched toward one of the missing students’ apartments. ‘We could have been doing this hours ago.’
‘Yeah. I had words about more prompt alerts. They said they wanted to be sure these two wouldn’t call in sick.’
‘If Petra Faulkner is dead,’ Kyle said, ‘they’re going to be really regretting that decision.’
‘Let’s just hope it hasn’t had time to get that far,’ Courtney replied.
Petra Faulkner Fosse was a first year on the support stream. She was not from a wealthy family, so she was living in one of the capsule blocks not that far from the one where Nava and Melissa lived. Her apartment was on the second floor and, as the trio approached the door, Nava started having second thoughts.
‘They’re not going to be here,’ she said.
‘What?’ Courtney responded. ‘Why?’
‘I live in one of these apartments. There’s not enough room to swing a cat, never mind torture someone to death.’
‘I’m not sure that really requires space,’ Kyle said.
‘They’re not here. But since we are…’ Nava waved at the lock panel, suggesting that the SSF members do their stuff.
Courtney unlocked the door using her ketcom and SSF authority, and silence greeted them as the door slid aside. Kyle was through the door first. Nava went in behind him and immediately opened the bathroom door. It took very little time to determine the situation.
‘She was right,’ Kyle said. ‘No one’s home.’
‘Not even a Petra Faulkner too sick to call the office,’ Courtney agreed. ‘It must have taken her to Anton Landon’s place. Let’s move.’
~~~
By contrast, Anton Landon Corley came from a fairly well-off family and had better accommodation. In fact, he lived in the same apartment block as Courtney.
‘It didn’t go far after it missed me,’ Courtney commented. ‘Down two floors.’
‘And to the other end of the building,’ Nava said. ‘Maybe I should’ve wandered around after I stopped it.’
‘Second-guessing your actions isn’t going to help. You had me and Kyle to deal with.’
‘I’m aware.’
They stopped outside a standard door on a standard residential corridor. There were no sounds coming from within the apartment, but then the soundproofing was pretty good, the bedroom was at the back of the apartment, and it was likely that Petra had been gagged.
‘If it turns out they’re having sex,’ Kyle said, ‘this is going to be embarrassing.’
‘Serves them right for skipping classes,’ Courtney replied, and then she unlocked the door.
The apartment within appeared to be undisturbed. There was not a single thing out of place. The sofa was clean and there was a coffee table on which a stack of magazines had been carefully arranged in a neat, vertical pile. Someone’s ketcom sat on the arm of the sofa. There was a large entertainment screen on one wall, a bookcase against another wall, and there was a desk beside the bookcase with an integrated terminal which looked like it had another ketcom plugged into it.
‘It’s here,’ Nava said, her voice low. ‘I can feel it. It’s here somewhere.’
Kyle headed for the kitchen door while Nava and Courtney started for the bedroom. They had almost got there when Kyle spoke. ‘This is not the apartment of a bachelor fourth year.’
Both women stopped to look at him. ‘What?’ Courtney asked.
‘You’ve seen my place. It’s smaller than this and I still can’t keep it this tidy. There’s something wrong…’ Stepping back into the lounge, he walked over to the desk.
Nava turned back to the bedroom door and moved forward, reaching for the handle. She pushed it open, ready for whatever might be waiting on the other side, and stopped. Anton Landon was lying on his bed, but he was not having sex with Petra Faulkner. He had been tied down with what looked like torn-up bed sheets in a crucifix posture. He had been fairly good-looking in the ID picture Courtney had showed to Nava, but you could barely tell he was human now. There was blood everywhere, coming from numerous cuts marking his limbs and torso. His face was now a ruin; someone had taken a heavy object and smashed it down repeatedly until the bones had collapsed under the impacts.
‘These books,’ Kyle said. ‘There aren’t any titles on the–’
He was cut off by a shriek. An arm emerged from the bookcase. It was covered in blood and holding a kitchen knife, and Kyle reared back from it. The blade slashed down past his chest in a stabbing motion and a woman emerged from inside the bookcase, coming after him. She was basically unrecognisable as Petra Faulkner: her hair should have been blonde and now it was red and
