An instant later, the other Lucifers disintegrated in exactly the same way. Black grains flew past my face and robes ripped to tatters in front of me… but every ruptured particle missed me by a hair's breadth, as if a bacteria-thin barrier had sprung up to shield me from the blast.
Thank you, nanites. Thank you, Sebastian.
No sooner had the enemy been dispersed into individual cellules than they began to be gathered again: piece by piece, grain by grain, the cellules were lifted off the ground and swept toward the center of the laser cage-like errant goats being herded back into a pen. I could picture teams of nanotech goatherds entrapping each fragment, levitating it, fetching each cellule back to its designated prison.
Annah laid her hand on my arm. "Time for us to move."
We were still in the cage ourselves, both of us on the floor; as we got to our feet, Impervia joined us. Sweat beaded her face, but she looked happy-not in her usual grudging way, but with a genuine smile. "I'm not quite sure what's happening," she said, "but I think we won."
"Sebastian won," I told her. "But you helped hold out till he got reinforcements."
"Good enough. Where's the Caryatid?"
Annah was the one to answer. "The Caryatid is dead… but she died well. If there is such a thing as dying well." She paused. "We thought you were dead too."
"Don't be ridiculous," Impervia said, her face shifting from that rare smile into a more typical look of disapproval. "I admit I got shot, but it was just a graze. I blacked out briefly, but I'm perfectly fine now."
I looked at the shirt of her habit. "Perfectly fine, are you?" Now that she wasn't a blur of motion, I could see there was a bullet hole straight through the cloth. I pointed it out to her. "What do you think caused that? Moths?"
She dropped her head to look at the hole. In surprise, she pulled out her collar and looked down inside her shirt. "There's a wound," she said slowly, "but it's completely healed. Nothing but a scar. Bullet-sized." She lifted her eyes in wonderment… then sudden disgust crossed her face. "It's not a miracle. It must be Sebastian's work."
I thought about that. When Impervia got shot, a geyser of blood had come fountaining out of her; then it stopped abruptly, as if cut off. I'd thought the stoppage was due to her heart giving out… but Sebastian had still been awake at the time, in full command of his powers. He'd also just realized this was the real Impervia, a flesh-and-blood woman who bled when she cut her arm.
Sebastian must have told his nanite friends, "Heal her." Immediately nano-surgeons flocked in to seal her wounds, repair the damage, set things right-and while she lay there healing, she'd looked so much like a corpse that neither I nor the Lucifer had bothered to check whether she was really dead.
I turned toward Sebastian to ask if that's how it happened; but the boy was englobed in a dim golden shell, an egg-shaped container of light that pulsed like a heartbeat. Inside the shell his eyes were closed with a look of deep concentration. I could imagine him giving telepathic commands to the nanotech world… or perhaps just communing with some nano overmind, not handing out orders but amiably discussing what should happen next.
Smash the dam. Restart the generators. Mend the cables. Restore the laser cage.
And was he asking for more? I didn't know. Would Sebastian ask his friends to bring Rosalind back to life? Or create a being from nano who looked and acted like Rosalind? Could he do the same for the rest of the dead: raise up doppelgängers of Myoko, Pelinor, the Caryatid? And if that were possible, would I want it? Would I accept artificial stand-ins for my friends, even if the replacements were perfect copies? Would Sebastian accept a replica Rosalind?
Annah nudged me. "We have to get out of the cage; the lasers might start any second." I nodded and let her lead me off… but as I did, I couldn't help gazing at her in doubt. Was she real? Did the original Annah truly ‹BINK› to safety in time? Or did the League create a duplicate to smile and greet me once I reached the moon? And what about Impervia? Did she really survive or was she some League simulacrum, sent to buy time for Sebastian?
Ridiculous things to think about. If the League wanted Annah and Impervia to survive, the universe would oblige. Annah would have an escape route, and she'd use it with milliseconds to spare. Impervia's wounds would heal at exactly the right speed for her to recover and charge in like an avenging angel. There'd be no need for artificial replacements.
And yet…
I looked at Annah again. She smiled back, but there was questioning in her eyes, as if she wondered why I was staring at her so oddly. "It's nothing," I said. "It's nothing."
With a crackle and hum, the lasers pulsed on. Sebastian remained in the cage, still surrounded by his shell of golden light. Several seconds passed, then ‹BINK›… and suddenly, there were twice as many cellules within the prison cube. The saintly Lucifer had returned from the moon. With no visible hesitation, all the black grains flowed together into a single heap-the formerly evil cellules instantly converted by the force of the angel's mind.
"And there we go," I said. "Mission accomplished."
"Quest accomplished," Impervia corrected. "But there'll be more quests to come."
"Why do you say that?"
She nodded toward the mouth of the cavern. Two figures had appeared in the entrance, lit by lamps left behind by the Lucifer-Keepers. One of them wore green plastic armor, similar in style to Dreamsinger's but not endowed with female appurtenances; it had to be Science-Lord Rashid, the Spark who'd passed me by in college. The other person was more familiar: Opal Quintelle, Chancellor of Feliss Academy. When she caught sight of us, she whispered to Rashid-probably telling him who we were. Then she hurried forward to greet us.
Rashid stayed behind… maybe getting ready to shoot us if we turned out to be Lucifers in teachers' clothing.
"Sorry we didn't get here sooner," Opal said. "The High Lord decreed that Dreamsinger had to handle this mess on her own. I think he was following a request from… higher up. Anyway, we had to wait till it was over." She smiled apologetically. "But you're alive. That's wonderful."
"We're alive," Impervia answered. "The others weren't so blessed."
Opal dropped her gaze. She had the good sense not to recite that inane phrase of hers about being expendable-Impervia might have punched her. After a moment, Opal lifted her eyes again. "What about Dreamsinger?"
"We haven't checked on her yet," I said. "Last I saw, the evil Lucifer was still trying to smother her. I suppose that's a good sign-if the Lucifer had actually killed Dreamsinger, it would have gone on to other things."
"Where is she?"
I gestured to the rear of the laser cage. From where we were standing near the chamber entrance, I couldn't see the Sorcery-Lord's unconscious form. Opal couldn't see either; she tried for a moment, then waved to Lord Rashid. "Your sister is around at the back. They think she might be alive."
Rashid nodded but didn't move. He was still staring at us; I suspect he was scanning us with devices in his armor, making sure we were actually human.