Roen realized then that Tao was right. Jacob didn’t blab unless he was pushing the pace. Unfortunately, he pushed the pace and blabbed quite a bit. Roen was slowly getting beaten to a pulp.
“I’m down on points, Tao, going into the championship rounds. What do I do?”
He is as good with his legs as with his hands. Crowd him and put him on his back.
Jacob shuffled forward and attacked, throwing three straight blinding punches and following up with a chambered side kick. Roen was able to dodge and block the trio of punches but took the side kick full in his mid-section, right where his ribs were cracked. He blacked out from the pain while flying backwards from the impact. The saving grace was that he was already unconscious when his body broke through the window and flew out onto the bridge deck. Roen slid across the deck until he slammed into the railing, which briefly brought him back to consciousness. He looked down at the drop into the ocean below. Then everything darkened once more. He woke to more slaps on the face.
Stay with me, Roen!
“Can’t have you unconscious when you die, Mr Tan,” Jacob sneered.
“First of all,” Roen mumbled, “stop slapping me. It’s not manly. Second of all, you can call me Roen, you little psychopath.”
Jacob grabbed him by the side of the face and slammed his head against the metal railing. “As you wish, Roen.” He pulled Roen in close. “This is for Grandfather, you evil Prophus bastard.” And then he threw Roen over the side down toward the deck, four stories below.
Just as Roen went over, he reached out and grabbed at the railing. Grabbed at anything, really. An image of Jacob’s face and collar popped into his mind and instead of grabbing the bar, Roen got his hand on Jacob’s shirt at the collar right at the base of the neck. The kid fell forward and nearly decapitated himself on the metal railing. He saved himself by pushing his hands against the bar at the last moment. And there Roen dangled, with only his tenuous hold on Jacob’s shirt keeping him alive. He reached up with his other hand. Jacob’s face was turning purple as he tried to hold up Roen’s weight with his arms and neck.
See, I told you I would figure something out.
“Your dumb luck strategy has succeeded, great Napoleon.”
No need to antagonize me at a time like this.
Roen looked down at the deck as several cargo containers made a slow slide into the water, sinking into the black depths. Then he saw Dylan and two other figures he couldn’t make out run onto the deck. At least some of his guys were still alive.
Another explosion in the back of the ship shot a plume of fire up into the air. Imelda’s Song was singing her swan song, pun intended. Roen tried to will his arms to pull himself up, but it was all they could do to hang onto Jacob’s collar.
“Hey Tao, at least you got one of your wishes. We’ll fall into the ocean. You can find a new host then.”
Roen, listen carefully, if you swing to your right, you can try to land on the lower platform.
“Fat chance, Tao. My tank is on empty.”
“Mr Tan,” Jacob growled, obviously choking. He pulled Roen’s up enough to grab Roen’s wrist and tear his grip away from the shirt. “It seems your friends are down there, which mean I no longer have the luxury of killing you slowly. Why don’t you do them a favor and join them below?”
Jacob let go and all Roen could feel was the sensation of weightlessness before everything went black.
FORTY-FIVE
EPILOGUE
Roen, my friend, I have told you all of our history so that you can know and understand. The real reason I tell you this, though, is so that maybe you can hear me. I do not know if you are still here, but I pray that I am not alone in your body. You are my friend and always will be. In case you do not survive, you will live forever through me.
Tao
Enzo was in a hurry. He had been gone for nearly a month, but with the recent birth of new Quasing and the beginning of Quasiform, this was not the time to keep his eyes from the prize. With Phase III officially under way, his true life’s work was about to begin. The sideshow in Tibet was just that, a minor distraction that had to be taken care of. Some on the Council might call the encounter a loss, with the Prophus freeing the majority of the prisoners, but Enzo saw it differently. The delivery of test subjects was uninterrupted. That was the important thing. Add the fact that their overall strength had been diminished by that encounter was just an added bonus. In a game where pawns were exchanged, the side with superior numbers always came out ahead. With the death of their Field Marshal, his victory in Tibet was near-total. Stephen was just under the Keeper on the priority list, and it was Enzo who killed him. He had cut off the head of the snake, and now the body of the enemy was writhing aimlessly.
A momentary victory is not to be savored. Only the conclusion is worth noting.
Enzo jumped out of the helicopter before it touched down on the ground. He sped directly toward the research wing. While the reports from Chow had been glowing, Enzo knew better than to believe everything at face value without seeing it with his own eyes first. Immediately, the entourage that had been waiting on the platform organized around him as if an honor guard. Within moments, he had received a data dump of the events of the twenty-four hours since his last briefing.
“The Council is requesting a meeting at your convenience.”
Requesting.
“At my convenience? Interesting,” Enzo said, amused.
“The earliest possible, Father.”
Be wary of their reaction. Your victory in Tibet was not absolute. They might seize the advantage.
“The rest of the Council might still try to take Quasiform from me?”
Possibly.
“Still, their tone has changed.”
“Arrange it,” Enzo said. It would be interesting to see how they treated him now. They must feel threatened by his success. After all, he had accomplished more in a few short months than what most of them had in decades. Regardless of how they would try to spin it, they could not take away his accomplishments.
“General Marec, head of port operations, has reported an incident.”
“With the catalyst prototypes?”
“Among others.” Amanda clicked on her tablet. “Port security has concerns about the trade hub in Taiwan. There was a security breach and he believes it is a vulnerable single point of failure in this hemisphere’s operations. The Americas are still in turmoil.”
“Once our legislators assume full control of the States, that port will no longer be important,” Enzo said. He was at the cusp of a new era on this planet and all Amanda could do was ply him with silly logistics.
Supply lines must be maintained until that change takes place.
“Of course, Holy One.”
Enzo reached the research building, walking at a pace his aides found difficult to keep up with. He could feel Zoras’ anticipation as they reached the lab. This was an exciting time. Under Zoras’ direction, the future of humanity and this planet would bend to his will. He was truly blessed by the Holy Ones.
He bounded into the main lab with his entourage close behind. Chow was giving orders to the two dozen or so scientists in the lab. Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and bowed. Enzo ignored them. He ignored everything but the glass vat and the swirling liquid inside. Except now, the red liquid was filled with thousands of small bursts of white light, as if there was a bubble universe right within the confines of the container.
“Praise to the Holy Ones. What is that?”