Crossover Earth '98
THE OPENING BRACELET
Christopher Shea
The ancient temple was lit by torchlight, the vital glow giving the rock-cut walls a softer, warmer look. The walls were carved with long friezes depicting scenes from the life of the Buddha, with strings of sutras inscribed above and below them. At one end was an altar of the same stone as the cavern, on which reposed a centuries-old Buddha of jade and a copper bracelet. Eight niches along the walls held gaily painted porcelain statues of the Eight Immortals, each with a chest before it. The three Chinese men seated before the altar, each in full lotus, had their heads bowed and eyes closed. An observer might have thought them sleeping if it were not for the air of fierce concentration around them.
There was a faint whoosh of displaced air, and all three men immediately leaped to their feet. One, however, was only halfway up when a needlelike length of shining metal pierced his throat. He tumbled back to the floor, blood leaking through his fingers as he clutched at the wound. His killer, a man in gray with a silver broken-chain design on the chest, smirked at the other two.
"Wing's students really suck thesedays," Dennis Marquand -- Wayward -- announced. "I've killed three of you so far, and none of them have given me any trouble. You guys going to make it interesting?"
They did their best. They were two, he was one, and they had given their lives to training in the martial arts. But so had he, and he had the glittering dimension lance, as well as a way of vanishing from the path of a fist -- or simply letting it pass through him. When they did hit him, he laughed and hit back just as hard. The fighting forms of the three men made a bizarre shadow-play on the cave walls, overlaying the peaceful story of the Buddha with an even more elemental story, one of flashing fists, flying feet, blows blocked or dodged or endured. And, in the end, a story of death, as one of the students was thrown against the wall and received the dimension lance through his heart a second later. He slumped to the floor, leaving his blood smeared over the grinning image of the demon Mara. His companion broke and ran for the cave entrance, but a kick from behind snapped his spine. He barely had enough time to register the injury before the dimension lance pierced his skull.
Breathing heavily, Dennis looked down at the two bodies. "Yeah, not bad. Not good enough, though." He laughed. "Too bad Wing wasn't here. That might have been fun. Wonderwhat he'll do when he comes here next?" Grunting and rubbing his chest, where he'd taken a particularly vicious kick during the fight, he squatted to open the chests. As he had been told, each held offerings and valuables, particularly fine little carvings and pieces of jewelry. He filled the sack he was carrying with the largest and best-looking he could find -- especially the ones with rubies on them. Chicks dug rubies, and so did fences. When he was sure he'd collected all he could carry, he finally turned his attention to the bracelet on the altar.
Old Wing wasn't the type to protect his goodies with burglar alarms and traps, but Dennis didn't feel like taking a chance. Rather than touch the altar directly, he snagged the bracelet with the tip of the dimension lance. Tilting it upward, he let the bracelet slide down the length of the slender weapon and fall into his palm. It was of copper, hinged in the middle, and carved with symbols that Dennisdidn't recognize. Not that he really cared, because the thing practically smelled of power. He remembered the way Chung Ku's eyes had shone when he had spoken of it. But Chung had also warned him not to wear it himself --without getting too specific in his warnings. The message had been clear to Dennis: I don't want you to know what this is because you might decide to keep it for yourself. Well, if he was holding the fast track to the power he'd come to China for, it'd be weapons-grade stupid of him to just hand it over. Especially if Chung took it and sent him off on another pointless errand like this. Dennis snapped the bracelet shut on his wrist and waited.
For a moment, nothing happened, and Dennis was beginning to wonder if this had been a giant con -- and then he realized that he was seeing through the walls of the cave to the rolling hills beyond. He was used to being able to see all around him, but now his vision was stretching for miles, unblocked by anything solid. And somehow he could process it all, aware of everything in that expanse. "Cool," Dennis started to say, and then realized his vision was still expanding.
He could see every street in Shanghai's maze, and every car that clogged them. He could see Premier Zhu Rongjiat his desk, frowning into a black folder. He could see a pod of right whales swimming north in the middle of the Pacific. He could see a mugging victim bleeding to death in a Marseilles back alley. He could see a shoemaker opening his shop in Marrakesh. He could see Armature stalking across the Great Plains, the moon glinting off him and Zephyr blazing ahead of him like a herald. He could see a wild party crammed into a warehouse in New York City, and see the faces of everyone there at once. He could see dark spacecraft ringing the Earth, and the strange creatures that filled them, and he could see one of them shout and point at a flashing light on its console. He could see dust clouds raking down the sides of Olympus Mons.He could see all of Jupiter.
He could see the scarred, glazed plains of Pluto, and what was etched there. He could see it all, and then he saw nothing.
Dennis regained consciousness slowly. The first thing he realized was that the bracelet was no longer on his wrist. Looking around in a sudden burst of alarm, he spotted it on the floor of the cave a few feet away. It was still closed. He must have teleported out of it. He had a headache, and the memories of his vision of everything were rapidly fading. Picking up the bracelet, he weighed it in his hand. Chung hadn't lied about its power, but it wasn't something Dennis wanted. He had been hoping for something more physical, more direct. This was anything but. Still, as long as he could barter it for the kind of power he wanted... Slipping it into his back pocket, he made his way out of the cave.
Stepping out into open air, he blinked, trying to accustom his eyes to the dazzling late afternoon sun. Then he gathered his power and teleported, two long hops, to the grove of trees where he'd concealed the car he drove from Hong Kong. Standing next to the car was an older Chinese man, and Dennis reacted instinctively, raising the dimension lance -- then lowering it as he realized that it was Chung Ku himself, in the same archaic mandarin's robe as always. How the hell had he gotten out here? Was the car bugged? Chung smiled slightly and opened his mouth -- and then night fell. Both men looked up to see one of the circular alien spacecraft hovering directly over them.
What the hell--? Looking back at Chung, Dennis saw that he was equally astonished. Just to annoy him, Dennis put on a casual smile and tossed him the bracelet. "Hey, thanks for saving me a trip," he said, as if the thing overhead were merely a mirage. Chung caught the bracelet by instinct, and in the same instant was outlined in a beam of light from the bottom of the ship. His feet left the turf, and he rose into the air. He reacted quickly, putting the bracelet on his wrist before Dennis could yell a warning, and promptly went limp, his head lolling back.
Well, that helped. Dennis looked up at the rapidly receding form of his patron. I'm no superhero, let him save himself was his first impulse, but it was immediately trumped by If they take him away, I don't have anything to show for this trip beyond some crap I could get in any jewelry shop back home. Barely had the thought been completed when he focused, folded space, and relocated himself straight upward, grabbing onto Chung Ku as the beam drew the both of them toward the ship. This is stupid, he thought, but also It's worth a try -- if not, I can just pop back out. The beam drew them up into the belly of the ship and then cut off, dropping them onto a metal plate that rolled out smoothly to seal off the opening. Chung landed heavily, still in the grip of the bracelet, but Dennis landed on his feet, looking around.They were in a high, bare metal-walled room. Seven aliens stared at them from a short distance away. Six of them were heavyset, reptilian things, all scales and fangs, with uniforms liberally decorated with shiny metal ornaments. They held unfamiliar weapons and looked at Dennis with flat-eyed disinterest. The seventh was of a different species, spindly and pale and obviously in charge. It waved at the two humans, and two of the lizard goons started toward Chung's form.
Dennis was there before them, by virtue of teleportation. He grabbed the bracelet off Chung's wrist. Straightening, he made a sharp gesture toward the grunts with the dimension lance. Violence was a universal language, and one Dennis spoke very well. The grunts hesitated, turning back to look at the skinny one, who punched buttons on the wall and started talking excitedly into a small grille. As he did so, Chung rolled over, groaned, and then sprang to his feet, taking in the scene. His eyes finally fastened on the bracelet, but he said nothing.
A decision seemed to have been reached, and the skinny alien barked orders. The two grunts advanced on Dennis and Chung again -- and were met by a kick from Chung that would have taken off a human's head. The grunt he'd hit staggered back, only to receive a spinning kick on the side of the head that drove it sprawling to the deck. Dennis was at Chung"s side a heartbeat later, hitting the second grunt with a straight-armed jab that rocked it back on its heels, and then the fight was joined in earnest. And it quickly became obvious that for all their bulk and numbers, the grunts were no match for the two humans.
The thin alien made a yelping noise and jabbed at the panel on the wall. Clouds of pale orange stuff began to billow into the room from vents set high in the walls. The grunts barked to each other in apparent alarm but kept fighting. Dennis sized up the situation quickly. Chung could take care of himself, at least until the gas got him. And if he couldn't -- well, no big deal. He ducked under a grunt's swing, opened him up from groin to throat with the dimension lance, and darted past the collapsing body toward the door. A couple of the other grunts shot at him, but he had already decided to not be quite there, and the blasts passed through him harmlessly, scorching the walls. The door proved no greater obstacle, and the hall outside was deserted. He reversed himself, flicked back into full existence, and punched a button beside the door. It slid up into the ceiling, and Chung ran out, bent over, as Dennis closed the door again.
"I suppose you have a plan?" Chung asked.
Dennis shrugged. "Give 'em a few minutes and let's see if we can get back in and work that beam ourselves."
Chung raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Dennis scowled -- You got a better idea? And how about a "Hey, thanks for saving my worthless ass" while you're at it? -- but returned the silence and turned away to watch the corridor. Seconds ticked by at a glacial rate, until Dennis could stand waiting no longer and hit the door control again. Gas poured out into the corridor, and through the orange mists they could see a squad of grunts in glass helmets entering the room through one of the other doors. Dennis quickly closed the door, and they headed off down the corridor.
"Any other ideas?" Chung asked, his tone adding Because that last one was a total dud.
"Life pods," Dennis said, trying not to show his irritation.
"Life pods?"
"Yeah. Haven't you seen Star Wars? Ship like this has to have life pods. We just need to find some."
The beam had drawn them into the center of the ship, so as long as they kept to one direction, they would reach the edge, where any exit from the ship would likely be found. They moved swiftly, but it seemed that whatever alert the spindly alien had set off had not spread far; the only opposition that came their way was a few surprised aliens, who were quickly dispatched. It seemed there were several different species on the ship, besides the skinny ones and the grunts, but Dennis wasn't really interested in making a survey. They popped up, they got knocked down, on to the next.
Finally, the corridor led them into the life-pod bay they sought.
Unfortunately, six grunts were already there. Whether they were waiting for the prisoners, or whether they were planning to make an escape of their own, they reacted swiftly enough, bringing their guns to bear. Dennis went one way, Chung the other, a fusillade of blasts carving up the air between them. The onslaught lasted only the second it took Dennis to pop behind one of the grunts and drive the point of the dimension lance down through the crown of its head. The others turned in confusion, a fatal mistake -- once the fire let up, Chung burst into the room, sending a grunt sprawling to the floor with a stiff-fingered jab to one temple. The grunts proved ineffective at close-up fighting, making awkward swipes and getting in each other's way. The ninjas Dennis had killed a couple months ago had been more of a challenge. In short order, the six --broken, pierced, and battered -- were strewn around the bay.
The controls for the pods, fortunately, turned out to be extremely simple, with pictogram signs by each pod entrance explaining their operation: get in, close this harness, push these two buttons, hold on to these handles. Dennis climbed into one of the pods, fitting himself uncomfortably into one of the ill-fitting harnesses, then realized Chung hadn't followed him. A moment later, he heard a hollow, rattling boom, and then several more in quick succession. Then Chung slid into the pod, wrapping the other harness around himself. At Dennis's quizzical look, he said, "I released the other pods. Misdirection is often key to avoiding pursuit."
"Yeah, whatever," Dennis said, trying for what seemed like the hundredth time to ignore Chung's superior tone. "Let's go." He hit the two buttons, and with a boom and a burst of acceleration that shoved them both back, the pod blasted free of the craft. The pod had no windows, so Dennis could only guess where they were going. Probably not far, since the alien ship hadn't been that high. The pod vibrated like an unbalanced washing machine, and they could hear the high shrieking of the wind its passage made all around them. Dennis could feel every tilt and swerve the pod made in his stomach...and then it stopped with an almighty thump that jerked him forward against the harness, several parts that were incompatible with human anatomy jabbing him painfully. He cursed, while beside him Chung remained stony-faced.
Undoing the straps, Dennis pulled himself up to the hatch, punched it open, and climbed out to look around. The craft was half-buried in a rice paddy, mud streaking its sides. There was no one in sight, though a few discarded tools lying in the mud suggested that the workers had deserted the field in haste. An ox stared at the life pod incuriously, its jaws working, and swished its tail as it let a turd fall. Dennis teleported to dry ground just beyond the field. One of the rammed-earth roadways through the field was close enough to the pod for Chung to jump to it, to Dennis's disappointment -- he would have liked to see Chung wading through the mud for a bit.
Chung approached Dennis, holding out a hand. "The bracelet, please. When we are safely away, I will continue my study of it." He paused and then added as if in an afterthought, "And your training."
"You mean you can do more with it than get knocked on your ass?" Dennis said in his most sneering tone, holding up the bracelet. "And I'm not hearing a lot of gratitude here. 'Hey, thanks for not letting me get taken away by a bunch of weird aliens with anal probes' would do for a start."
Chung's forehead creased. At last he said, "The study of the bracelet will take some time, but I expect to learn to transcend time and space. Much like the abilities you possess, but magnified a thousand-fold."
"Yeah? Sounds cool. And what can you do for me that this can't?" Dennis inquired casually. He'd already decided not to keep the bracelet, but it would be nice to see Chung laying some cards on the table for a change.
Chung picked up a flat rock about a foot across and tossed it into the air. His hand knifed through the air so close to the rock Dennis was surprised not to hear nails scrape against the surface. The rock fell to the ground. Chung reached down and picks up the rock again, showing that it was in two pieces, neatly severed as if by a precision saw.
"Until you have the discipline to do that, and much more, the secrets of the artifact will remain out of your reach."
Dennis raised his eyebrows. "If you say so." He handed the bracelet to Chung. "So let's get started."
"We cannot linger here," Chung said, putting the bracelet inside his robe. "Nor do I wish to return to Hong Kong until the alien craft is gone from over there. Where do you suggest?"
Dennis looked east. "Shanghai," he suggested. "We can jump a ship there and get out to Japan."