Wesley Chu
The Rebirths of Tao
The third book in the Tao triogly series, 2014
To Amanda, Lee, and Marco
1 Redwood Rush
What is the meaning of this? Do you know who I am? I will have your skulls!
Huchel, Genjix Council – Eastern Hemisphere, when apprehended by Interpol Extraterrestrial Task Force while trying to flee Germany following the Great Betrayal
The problem Vladimir had with this damn country was that everything was too damn big. The cars were too big, the music was too loud, and the ridiculous trees in this forest were too tall. The raggedy group he led detoured around the giant redwood tree blocking his path. Blasted thing was big as a house. And the stupid trees weren’t even red, though in this pitch-black darkness, he could barely see Alex clinging to his hand, let alone determine the color of tree bark. His eyes wandered up to the forest canopy. It was so thick he couldn’t see the stars. That made it nearly impossible to navigate. Where the hell was south?
At least the food portions here were healthy. That was something Vladimir approved of. He’d never had such a large breakfast before, much less in the middle of the night. Who eats burritos with five eggs in the middle of the night, anyway? His little group did, and to be honest, it was pretty good. It was too bad the meal had been two days ago.
“I need to rest,” Sachin said, leaning against the too-damn-tall tree. He propped his rifle against it and slid down to the mossy ground.
Vladimir reminded himself that the seventy year-old Indian man had spent the majority of his life in a classroom at the Institute of Technology, recruiting promising students for the cause. The professor wasn’t used to running around the forest in the middle of the night, fleeing armed assailants. Vladimir looked down at his daughter and gave her a gentle nudge. She pulled out a canteen and walked over to Sachin, who drank his fill, pouring water down his chin and neck, letting it dribble down his shirt. Alex took out a rag and wiped the old man’s brow. Vladimir shook his head. She was a good girl, so much potential. She deserved better than this.
Somewhere in the distance, the barking of dogs in pursuit pierced the otherwise quiet night. Vladimir closed his eyes and listened. Twenty, maybe thirty minutes behind. His gaze moved from his daughter and Sachin to the other refugees: Petr, a Russian colonel he had had dealings with in the past, Rin, the Japanese nuclear physicist, Marsuka, her research assistant, Ohr, the former South Korean Senator, and the remaining survivors of the Siberian Epsilon Shock team.
He grimaced. His entire life had collapsed in the blink of an eye. His fortune confiscated, his wife murdered, and now he was nothing more than a destitute refugee with a teenage daughter in a land unfriendly to his kind, a far cry from the affluent businessman and power broker he had been just a few weeks earlier. He looked back at Alex, still helping the old professor. Well, at least part of his wife escaped. Tabs would continue living in his daughter.
Move. Every second of delay is costly.
“Yes, Ladm.”
“Break is over,” he barked. “We go. Now.”
He walked over, hooked an arm under Sachin’s armpit, and lifted him to his feet. “Let’s go, old man. You can rest when you’re safe. Or dead.” He looked over at his daughter standing on the other side of the elderly professor. “Alex, help him walk.”
The small group continued south, following the twisting and winding paths when they could, and making new ones when they had to. Vladimir was sure they had missed the rendezvous. The coded message at the diner back in Portland had said to hit 42°, -123° and follow the river. However, they had gotten picked up by a Penetra net and had had to deviate from their course. The scanners the Quasing invented to detect others of their kind residing within a living creature were now used by the humans to hunt them down.
Now, nine hours later, the federals were closing in, and the group was completely lost. They passed another giant tree, this time so big Vladimir couldn’t see its edge in the predawn darkness. The dogs’ barking was getting louder and louder.
This group would be a prize capture. None of them would allow their Quasing to be taken, though. Vladimir looked down at his beautiful daughter. All except for Alexandra. Vladimir didn’t care about sacrificing himself for Ladm, but no one was going to hurt his little girl, Quasing or no Quasing. There had to be a way out for her.
Do not forget your place, Vladimir.
They picked up their pace and for a while, it seemed to keep their pursuers at bay, but soon enough, the exhausted group began to lag again, Sachin most of all. As the first rays of light peeked through the forest canopy, Sachin broke. By then, he was stumbling badly. He fell to his knees and rolled onto his back. He shooed Alex away when she tried to help him up. Instead, he leaned against a tree trunk and looked up at the lush leaves overhead, and then at the greenery of the forest. He closed his eyes and shook his head.
“Come on, Sachin,” Rin urged.
He waved her off and kept his eyes closed. After a few seconds, his pained face changed. He nodded and looked at the rest of the group. “This place is beautiful and peaceful, like a painting. The air is clean and there is abundant life. Mawl would find serenity here.”
“Shut up, old fool, we’re all in this together,” Vladimir growled. “We’re not leaving you in the wild.”
Sachin struggled to his feet and slung his rifle around his shoulder. “It’s already settled. Mawl is at peace with this and by Brahman, I look forward to it. There are worse places to meet my maker, and for him to live free. Get moving. Go. I’ll buy you time.”
Vladimir moved to grab him. “I said we’re not leaving…”
Sachin spun around and aimed his rifle at Vladimir, then slowly lowered it to point at Alex. “I mean what I said, you stubborn Russian. You have your little girl to think about. Now get out of here before what time I buy you doesn’t amount to anything.”
Do it. I have only known Mawl a short while on this planet when we fought together against the Bolsheviks. He will be remembered. I will return one day to find him.
Vladimir bit his lip. “Crazy fool.” He walked forward and embraced Sachin roughly. “Until the Eternal Sea, my friend. Mawl, stay out of sight of humans. Your part in this is over for now. Ladm will return for you one day, if not this lifetime, in the next.”
“Mrithyur maa amritham gamaya, my friend,” Sachin said, then turned around and limped in the direction of the sounds of the pursuing dogs.
Alex took a few steps after the professor and made the traditional Hindu sign of peace. “Phir milenge, Mr Sachin. Goodbye, Mawl. Tabs says she’ll see you in the Eternal Sea.”
The sounds of humans shouting added to the increasingly loud barking of the dogs. By Vladimir’s estimate, they were probably no more than a few minutes behind them now. He put his arms around his daughter’s waist and hurried her along. “No time for sentiments. Let’s go!”
Vladimir sprinted into the darkness, pushing Alex ahead of him. The others would keep up with him, or maybe they wouldn’t. He had survived with them for weeks now, sharing food, sleeping in the same beds, fighting alongside them. But now that things were looking their worst, and the group was about to be captured, it was every man for himself.
All he cared about was getting his daughter to safety, even at the cost of his own life, or those of his companions, if necessary. Maybe if he outran the rest of the group, they would buy him some time to escape their accursed pursuers. Vladimir felt ashamed for thinking this, but when it came to Alexandra, nothing else mattered.