He exerted his will upon the rock and it disassembled in his mind and in reality. It moved apart and seemed frozen in a moment of time with even the dust suspended in the air. Wynn was in awe, not at the possibility of performing the task, but in Tiet's quickness to apprehend the concept and be able to apply it so skillfully. He was his father's son indeed. The rock began to ascend upward and reassemble into the places it had previously occupied in the cavernous hole.
Once it was all in place, Tiet held it there but was unsure what to do to keep it all in place. Wynn fused the joints of the rock with his mind and Tiet could feel them supported by it. He released the structure and it held.
'I could sense your power working within the same space as my own and I could sense my susceptibility to your mind. Was that real?'
'It was real but not indefensible. If I were to attack you kinetically, you could shield yourself from the intrusion and prevent such an attack and possibly even counter it if you sensed that I was unprotected in some way.'
His communications link beeped to life on his wrist.
'Daooth here. How are you progressing with the repair?'
'It is already complete my friend.'
'Good. Orin is already en route with the other rail car and the explosives. He should be arriving at your location; within half an hour. I had to leave the station because I realized they are monitoring this place from Nagon-Toth.
'I have been monitoring transmissions from the compound about Baeth Periege. Grod's forces have already penetrated the city and were able to disable part of the city's perimeter shield. The Vorn are attempting to keep them at bay, but from the communications among the Horva they are probably well on their way to entering with their main group of forces.'
'The sooner we send that rail car into the cloning facility the better,' said Wynn.
'I agree. You will need to reenter the rail car. Now that the blockage is cleared, the automated system will take control and position your car safely inside a passing cell in the tunnel wall.'
Tiet followed him back into their rail car. The door closed automatically and an alarm sounded to notify the passengers of an approaching car in transit. The computer began its procedure for clearing the path of the other rail car in the system as a hoist arm moved away from the tunnel wall to magnetically grasp Wynn and Tiet's car; pulling it into the recessed portion of the wall known as a passing cell. The car locked in place as it prepared for the passing of Orin's car; counting down now from twenty two minutes.
IX
ORIN sat uneasily within the second rail car as it made its way down the dim tunnel, traveling at hundreds of miles per hour toward Baeth Periege. The explosives setup, located in the car, was rigged for an explosion upon the car's stopping and Daooth had wired its trigger directly into the auto sensor panel for that purpose.
The computer controls for the magnetic rail system would automatically bring the car into the cloning facility for unloading and stop it at a preordained station within the compound. When the auto sensors signaled a full stop it would detonate the care package. All he had to do was make sure nothing prevented the car on its journey and then escape himself where the system came above ground.
Daooth had sent the car into the blocked tunnel under repair conditions, but with the removal of the tunnel blockage, the automated system had assumed control again. Orin was glad to know that they had been successful in clearing whatever debris had been up ahead.
Now he just had to keep his mind centered on the tunnel up ahead so that he could make sure nothing else happened to prevent the car from reaching its destination. If this was their only shot at stopping General Grod from completing the DNA regeneration of his troops then he had to make sure nothing would trigger the automated system to stop the car.
He could sense the other car up ahead as he projected down the length of the tunnel. It was out of the path of his car and he was approaching their position rapidly. In a few moments he had passed their car tucked away in a recess of the tunnel wall. Orin continued to project his mind up ahead. Nothing appeared to be in the way and within ten more minutes he felt the car and tunnel begin an upward ascent. Daylight came into the car abruptly as it emerged on the surface within the city of Baeth Periege.
He quickly made his way to the front window of the car and could see what must have been the cloning complex in the distance ahead. The speed of the car was rapidly declining as it entered the city. Overhead, he could see the massive magnetic rings that Wynn and Daooth had spoken of.
A barrier came halfway up the height of the rings and stretched between them on either side. He supposed it must have been a preventive measure to keep someone from inadvertently falling or climbing into the path of the rail cars. Otherwise, there was open space between the rings from that height upward and this would be his means of escape.
Orin looked over the bomb mechanism once more, then raised his blade from its scabbard and cut a circle into the roof of the car large enough for him to pass through. He shot up through the hole and came to stand on the roof of the car. He could feel the tingling of the magnetic field around the car and beneath the rings. Several items including his blaster pistol flew off of his person toward the rings as he passed underneath them. Fortunately the adomen that formed his blade was not magnetic.
Around the rail system on either side was a massive open area that separated the main city from the outer perimeter. It was lavish, with decorative pools and gardens of every sort and Orin thought how surprising it was to find such things in the Vorn city.
He had never considered the peaceful or artistic side that the Vorn might possess. They had been the enemy for so long that he had never looked beyond any characteristic that wasn't oppressive or linked with this war.
On the right of the magnetic rail he could see where Grod's army had knocked out a large portion of the defense shield and had secured the area just inside. It appeared they were making a definite effort to push the Vorn away from the cloning facility.
Perhaps Grod had already gotten inside and begun the process to regenerate himself with Tiet's DNA. If any of them were inside, they were about to get a big surprise.
To the left were several ships docked upon a huge landing platform. None of them would have made Orin look twice except one. It was a Barudii ship. A strider. It sat within a number of Vorn military ships, some of which were powering up to escape the onslaught of Grod's army.
He picked his moment and leapt away from the rail car. It continued on without him toward the cloning facility, but he wasn't watching it anymore. He was transfixed upon the Barudii ship. It had been his ship and had been stolen previous to the massacre of his people.
It was nearly five hundred yards away from him and he began to run toward it. He could see it exhausting from the engine's cooling vents. Whoever was inside was planning on leaving very shortly.
Behind him, the rail car came into the station at the cloning facility. Several of Grod's men who were guarding the entrance raised their weapons as they saw the rail car coming into the docking site. The car slowed and the men moved toward it, but they couldn't see anyone through the windows. The car stopped and the doors opened for unloading.
Orin was closing within two hundred yards of the strider. Behind him came a flash of light that cast his shadow upon the ground running in front of him. The sound came less than a second later along with a blast wave that knocked Orin off of his feet. He tumbled and looked back to see the cloning facility blossoming like a flower with petals of debris and flame. The job he came here to do was done, but now there was something more.
Orin quickly got back to his feet and turned back to the landing platform he had been heading for. To his amazement, the gateway was down and someone was walking out to see the devastating explosion. Orin had started to run, but stopped in his tracks when he saw the man standing there. Then the man caught his gaze and they locked together in time.
Each of them recognized the other in a way few could ever understand. Rage flooded every fiber of Orin's
