She had failed to beat Snowe to Security Control, but might yet reach Trevor first.
– Trevor’s feet clanged and clunked as he jogged along the metal framed corridor. Tiny bulbs offered alternating patches of light and dark. The air grew warmer the closer he came to the center of the complex. Beads of sweat peppered his forehead and soaked his arms beneath the sleeves of the battle suit. He felt a sort of electricity in the air, although he could not discern if this feeling came from the actual environment or his imagination.
Voices came to his ear, a mix of harsh commands and forlorn cries but he could not make out the exact words.
Trevor's jog threatened to turn into a sprint.
Come see…
The corridor emptied onto a catwalk above a long chamber. Below him, the source of those commands and cries.
"Move it you dumb ass!"
"Get over here! Yeah, you!"
The sharp snap of a cracking whip; a howl of agony.
Trevor slowed to a walk, his eyes fixed on the scenes of brutality playing below. Human guards wielding whips and clubs to beat and motivate Chaktaw prisoners.
From what he could see, at one end of the long room entered a line of Chaktaw though a large archway. They carried boxes and packages of varying sizes. The prisoners then sorted the incoming supplies and placed them on larger palates that, no doubt, would eventually find their way to the loading docs, to the supply trucks, and to the people and soldiers of Thebes.
Trevor did not know how to react. He had slaughtered an untold number of aliens over the years and sentenced some to dissection at Red Rock. But to use them like this, to torture them under whips and hold them in chains…this did not sit well in his belly.
Perhaps this was why Nina and Snowe kept him sheltered from the supply side of the war; they feared he would not approve of slavery.
However, he understood. Humanity lacked manpower and therefore required a work force to handle this type of-no, no this is not right. I shall put a stop to this.
He resolved to have a chat with Director Snowe and Major Forest, one that involved the end of any secrets. Thebes belonged to him now, and he would know every inch of it.
Trevor observed the prisoners carrying boxes into the chamber below. They resembled a line of ants carrying the spoils of a raided picnic. He traced the line in the opposite direction, toward the point of origin and realized that the catwalk followed the same line from above.
Trevor walked in that direction, approaching a ramp that ascended toward a large opening.
– Nina emerged onto one of the walkways circling the massive center of Building One Dash One. Below her ran row upon row of arcane vents and flaps releasing steam and exhaust, descending in tiered rings toward another walkway.
The Major planned to climb down to that passageway and intercept Trevor somewhere near the slave pens. If he saw only the workers, she could explain that away. But, if he makes it to the core; if he sees…
Spurred on, Nina threw her feet over the safety railing and jumped a few feet to one of those rings of vents. Her balance wobbled for a moment. A vent near her boots sprung open, released a stream of hot exhaust, and then snapped shut again.
She moved on, jumping down to the next ring, then the next, and the next…
– Trevor walked up the ramp. Ahead of him stretched a wide open area with a domed roof giving him the initial impression of some gigantic, indoor sports stadium, this one filled with energy and a low rumble.
The shadows of the cramped passage faded behind and he crossed a wide, flat walkway moving toward a safety railing overlooking the huge area. He did not see Major Forest behind and above him, jumping down from row to row.
She saw him and accelerated her descent with an irrational hope that if she could reach him she could find a way to avert his eyes.
Trevor walked forward…slowly…then reached out to grasp the rail.
Nina jumped the final two rows and landed hard behind him, falling to a knee and steadying herself with hand to the floor.
Too late.
Trevor stood at the precipice and gazed into the heart of Thebes.
He had been right all along; there were answers on this Earth.
Nina slowly walked to his side. He sensed her presence but it made no difference.
The entire complex served this centerpiece. In fact, in an almost literal sense, the city had grown from here.
His eyes built the puzzle one piece at a time, first seeing a big yellow and orange arch fifty feet tall and crackling with energy very much like flashes of lightning.
Heat lightning.
He saw piston-like machinery at work in the middle of the thing, but the space in and around the arch was sheathed in a shimmering distortion.
A pair of conveyor belts extended out from that distortion carrying crates, bags, and barrels of supplies that traveled across the void of space to arrive here, on this parallel Earth. Chaktaw prisoners retrieved those supplies, working under the whip of humanalien — guards.
Around everything, a sound like a million buzzing bees punctuated by sharp cracks of electricity and a smell that mimicked burning circuitry.
Trevor stared at the sight below him and the truth it brought. A series of mental locks and dams tried in vain to slow the flood of understanding.
In the tone of a confused child he said, "That’s…that’s a gateway."
She answered, "Yes."
His head tilted. "Your gateway."
"Yes."
His hands trembled. He retreated a step from the railing but the gorgon would not release his eyes; would not allow him to look away.
"This isn’t…this isn’t your Earth?"
The flood smashed the dams and broke open the locks protecting his sanity. Everything fell to pieces. Shattered.
"Here…here you… here you are invaders…"
Neither of them saw the soldier-the friend of Jakob Snowe-running across a walkway on the far side of the chamber and taking aim with his rifle.
Trevor’s hands rose to his temples as he staggered further away from the railing; away from the truth.
This is my world now. I own it.
"What…what have I done? Oh God forgive me, what have I become?"
"Trevor…wait…listen to me…"
She was not even there. She was a universe away.
"What…what have I become?"
He clutched his head and closed his eyes and hunched over as if slammed in the stomach by a hammer. Everything he had done here, everything in the name of yet another glorious cause. All of it…murder. Invasion. Conquest.
Trevor Stone cursed himself, "WHAT HAVE I BECOME?"
Gun shots flared off the railing like fireworks. Nina pulled her pistols and returned fire.
"What have I become? What have I done?"
He screamed the words over and over again as loud as he could to drown out the laughter.
The laughter of the universe.
25. Insurrection
What have I become?
Trevor Stone had faced and survived all manner of nightmare creatures in the course of his life; in the course of his reign. At last Armageddon conjured a monster that sapped his will, boggled his mind, and pushed him to the brink of insanity. That monster was himself.
What have I done?
He switched off sensory input, tuning out the buzz of the galactic gateway that had brought Nina’s humans to this Earth. He shut out the cries of the tortured slaves forced to do the bidding of extraterrestrial masters. He ignored the sound of the Major shooting her pistols.
Trevor retreated into his mind but instead of finding sanctuary, he found a prison built from the truth of what he had done on this parallel world.
The gateway was the nucleus of Thebes. Thebes was the last city of mankind on this Earth. It had also been the first city.
A distant shout tried to break through to him, "Trevor…we…have…to…go…"