Pain cut like a knife across my abdomen. I wanted to disconnect, but I was too far out on the LINK for that move to be safe. Curling around my stomach, I gasped in pain. I tried to stay focused on my body, to think about breathing, the baby, but the pain centers the LINK-Michael manipulated were part of me as well.
Switching tactics, I tried sending another message to the Malachim on broadband.
No one hears you, the LINK-Michael informed me. I can block your pathetic attempts at communication.
The page is headed toward the hub, Mouse, my avatar hissed through clenched teeth. In real time air escaped in bubbles between clenched teeth. We're going to pull your plug. Expose you like Oz behind the curtain.
Bullshit, Mouse spit, cramping the muscles across my back.
I cried out in pain, shinnying along the floor like a crab. You think he won't betray you? I sputtered, You ... you should have told him about the Pope.
Mouse hesitated. I sensed other ears listening intently; the octopus tentacles of LINK-Michael projected our conversation into the minds of the others he possessed.
Using the angel technology to kill the Pope was a stroke of genius, Mouse. Proto-Michael possessed Daniel, didn't he? Feeding his anger ... moving his body like a puppet. Did you attack me just to see if it could be done – directed at a specific person ... ?
My accusations stopped. Prone, I could feel the weight of my back pressing down on lungs that suddenly stopped working. I no longer took in air on my own. Mouse had upped the ante, and I was out of chips.
I'd always hoped to think of something clever at moments like this, but all I could think was: Fuck. Breathe, damn it, breathe. Despite my pleading, my lungs refused to obey my commands. My muscles spasmed as I tried to flop onto my back to relieve some of the pressure. Veins stood out on my neck, tight with lack of oxygen. My head felt light.
My eyes opened, and I saw flames licking at my flesh. The tongues danced along the material of my trench coat, but there was no pain. I smelled the spicy scent of crushed bay leaves, and I knew I was dying. My mind whispered a prayer, my first in years, Let Rebeckah or Dancer get my message.
A year ago, the idea of dying would have frightened me, but Morningstar had kindled the ember of faith left in my heart. I felt myself moving upward, floating toward the surface. The sun-speckled surface of the water Michael's archer shot through glowed above. The dark haze that shrouded the LINK lifted, and glittering stars shone in the sky. Tentacles receded, and I surrendered.
Your faith is admirable, Deidre, but this is an exceedingly bad time to die, a warm, familiar voice said.
Michael? Then, I asked, Morningstar?
The voice didn't answer. I felt something akin to a push, and then I buoyed upward toward ... Consciousness. A harsh gulp of air brought the pain back to my body. My lungs heaved with the effort to make up for lost breath.
I opened my eyes, surprised to be alive. I lay facedown on the polished wood stage. Though the stage lights shone in my eyes, I could see the gathered crowd. They continued to push against the security guards, and in a moment they would overwhelm them. Lifting my head, I could see the angels standing in a tight guard around Rabbi Grey. By nearly dying, I had escaped the LINK-Michael, but, from the blank looks on the faces of the angry mob, he was not gone from the LINK.
I'd escaped, but my plan had failed. I struggled to my feet, just as a collective roar came from the crowd. I ran toward Rabbi Grey and the angels, just as the mob broke over the security guards like a flood over a dike.
"Get him out of here! To the trade tunnels!" I shouted, but I doubted I could be heard over the din. As I was swept up in the flow of bodies, I opened my LINK connection. I wasn't sure what I'd do, but I hoped to reason with the crowd. Before I could hail a broadband channel, an incoming message icon filled my vision.
Who could possibly get through all this noise, I asked, as I flipped the go-ahead. I wondered if someone, some angel, had answered my prayers with a miracle.
It's us. A double vision of Rebeckah and the page filled my screen. We got your message and are in position, Rebeckah's avatar said.
We'll do it for chocolate, piped in Dancer and a frightening multiple image of a gaggle of Gorgons.
Do it now! I told Rebeckah and the page.
Around me the crowd pressed to where the angels guarded Rabbi Grey. I could hear a rain of fists and the tearing of clothes, as the crowd pummeled the angelic defenses. Though they were angels, their flesh was real here on Earth, I reminded myself. They couldn't hold off the crowd forever.
Then, through my LINK connection, I felt a popping sensation. It shook the foundation of the LINK. High-pitched sproings, like suspension-bridge cables giving way, ricocheted through all the channels of the LINK. I felt my feet begin to drop out from under me.
Before my eyes, the LINK-angel crumbled to dust.
PolLINK feed, back on-line.
"MOUSE" ARRESTED
In a scandal that nearly brought down the LINK, the hacker known only as "Mouse" was arrested today for impersonating political candidate Etienne Letourneau.
Mouse will be transported to the New Jersey State Penitentiary while awaiting trial. He has already made claims of diplomatic immunity. The United Nations, however, in light of current events, has disbarred mouse.net from its customary status as a sovereign "nation." Russia, whose entire network operates via mouse.net, has petitioned for Mouse's release. [Hot-link here for more on that political debate.] "You won't keep me behind bars," Mouse shouted as he was taken away from Carnegie Hall late yesterday evening.
"Even if he's not guilty of perpetrating the myth of Letourneau and the LINK-angels, Mouse is certainly responsible for the LINK-outage that happened during the prime-time debates," alleged Captain Allaire Morgan of the New York Police Department. "We can keep him locked up for a while for that."
It is unknown, at this point, whether or not Letourneau ever was a real person, but sources believe it is highly unlikely. More likely, Mouse managed to create the entire persona of Letourneau electronically.
"What is most disturbing," says congressional colleague Pastor-Senator Dwayne Smith, "is that I feel like I knew the guy. He attended several of my online parties, and, well, I'd thought we were friends. Now I find he's completely constructed. It's unreal."
Smith's reaction is not uncommon in the Senate and elsewhere. Many people still don't believe that Letourneau may have never existed in real time. Neighbors of the Colorado ranch where Letourneau supposedly lived said, "I still say he was a good neighbor – real or not. I guess I just figured the man was a recluse. Ain't nothing wrong with that."
"In a way," said one friend who wished to remain anonymous, "he was as real as he needed to be. I had more meaningful interactions with him than I do with friends I know exist in real time. Honestly, I'm going to miss him. I intend to have a funeral in his honor."
A "funeral" for Letourneau will be held in his hometown at the church where he preached. When asked how they felt to discover their reverend might be a construct, one member of the congregation had this to say. "I think he was a fine preacher, and I still say he might have been a messenger from God about the Second Coming. Angels are supernatural, which means they don't exist in nature yet good Christians believe in them, don't they? So, there's no reason to discount what Letourneau said just because he's not real in our usual definition of that term."