Cypher: Lord of the Fallen by John French

Author:John French
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Black Library
Published: 2023-04-24T00:00:00+00:00

ELEVEN

Northern Zone Communication Hub

Everyone expects someone who is hunted to run. That is the story we all know - the fugitive lucky enough to get free runs across the land, the hounds at their heels, panic in their breath, fear in their eyes as they look behind. That is the way most hunts play out. And the end, well, we know that, too, don't we? The prey brought down, torn apart, left as bloody tatters on the ground. We know that part of the story; we expect it, and know that's always how it goes. That is why we like the idea of the other story, the one that never happens - the fugitive who through guile and strength and persistence not only eludes their hunters, but finds forgiveness for their crimes. As a species we like that story. We like its impossible promise of hope.

Is this that type of story? I think it unlikely, don't you? Apart from anything else, I am not running. I am going into the teeth of the hounds. And I am not without teeth of my own.

A streak of plasma burns across the cavern space, and hits a fuel transit node. A ball of red-orange flame punches into the air, folding over itself as it washes across the vaulted roof. Beneath its glow the communication knave gleams with blood and metal. Screams and smoke boil through the air.

This is the main communication hub for this level of the Palace. Messages pass through here in an endless flow of runners, scroll tubes, data-conduits and code crystals. Banks of desks and equipment sit in deep rows. A menagerie of creatures and humans dwell here, feeding off the circulation of data. Messengers trained in coded memory techniques wait in pens, their feet replaced by sprung augmetics, their mouths sipping nutrient paste from tubes so that they' can run the hundreds of miles from one part of the Palace to another. Cyber-ibis wait in cages to fly free with data-capsules slotted into their skulls. Even with the Palace locked down and on a war footing, it is a place of constant activity'. At least seven hundred souls are present beneath its roof at any time.

We hit it without warning and without mercy. A rolling wall of explosions and gunfire announces our presence. A wall in the main section of the vaulted chamber blows in. We come out of the breach and begin killing. Eight of us. Only eight. There are hundreds in the chamber. It will not take us long to make it none.

A platoon of Solar Hoplites guard the chamber's doors: fifty' soldiers in gilded copper, with high-crested helmets and wide-barrelled blast-lasers. Not a small force, but we are legionaries, and we have been exercising the craft of war for as long as this Palace has stood. Fifty against eight, five hundred against eight, five thousand against eight: it does not matter. They do not stand a chance.

We are here for two reasons. The first is tactical. This is a main node of communication in this pan of the Palace.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.