A fountain of blood gushed from Terrence's mouth, and he fell silent, still fixed in place by the piercing metal.
The fair-haired Technician whirled around, and Armitage looked on in renewed panic as the man spiralled to the floor, a dagger sprouting from his right eye. After a couple of twitches, he lay still, as the black-clad elven thief stepped into view.
The lifeless form of Terrence angled forward and fell to the deck as the albino, Tordun, withdrew his blade, wiping the blood from it on the fallen tech's clothes.
"Did you forget us, Armitage?" Tordun growled, whose massive, muscular bulk seemed to fill the vacant doorway. "A reckoning is due, and we are here to collect payment. If the two mages are dead, you will pay double, I assure you; they owe me payment for my participation in their Quest."
Crest knelt to the motionless figure of Grimm, and Tordun tended to Xylox, each of the warriors keeping a wary eye on the Administrator.
Armitage stepped forward, his hands outstretched in supplication. "Listen, fellows, I…"
His voice faltered to a halt as he saw the huge swordsman stepping towards him, his blade raised in a threatening manner.
"Shut up, Armitage," Tordun said. "You are not going to wriggle out of this; you are going to die. That is all there is to it. The only question is just how painful that has to be. It is up to you, my friend."
Technician Deeks heard alarms sounding in the distance, and he guessed the cause. This, he thought, is the time to act, while those bloated fools, Armitage and Terrence, are occupied with trying to defeat the two magic-users.
Deeks made his way from his hiding place to Lab Three, where they were holding the girl, Drexelica.
He hoped the two Questors would not make Armitage's demise an easy one. Deeks had been brought up under the thumb of the hated Administrator, and every aspect of his life had been mapped out for him since his birth, with no room for negotiation or free choice. At the age of fourteen, he had been assigned the post of Junior Computer Technician in the Behavioural Sciences department, despite his singular lack of interest or desire in that vocation. On many occasions, he had made his objections clear and unequivocal, always stopping short of outright mutiny, but to no effect.
More than once, Terrence had threatened his rebellious underling with full Pacification, the implanting of a neurotransmitter control transducer in his brain, and Deeks had seen the effects of these devices in other nonconformists; the conversion of an intelligent, feeling human into a happy, compliant zombie. They were not going to do that to him; he would kill himself before he would allow them to cut open his skull and tamper with his very personality. Deeks hoped the thaumaturges would leave Terrence alive: he wanted to oversee the painful demise of the Senior Technician himself.
He felt confident he would now be able to foment an uprising within Haven. The grey imp had given him all the ammunition he needed. Throughout the complex, Deeks knew many people who shared his views, but who had not been subjected to the full Pacification treatment because of special skills that might be lost to the treatment. Deeks knew only his facility with the computers and other lab equipment had spared him from this fate. He had undergone occasional drug treatment, but frequent applications had rendered him all but immune to the drugs' effects.
The tiny monster had wanted Deeks to transmit its message to Test Lab Six; instead, he had broadcast it throughout the entire complex, freeing many grateful slaves who must be now only too keen to join the Technician in the establishment of a new order, with their saviour, Deeks, as its head. With his hands on all the controls, the Tech would have no problem in diverting the loyalties of even the Stage Three converts to his own purposes.
Deeks took care to keep his head down as he passed the numerous security cameras, consulting a clipboard as if deep in analysis, and he reached Lab Three without incident. To be sure, alarm bells were ringing throughout the complex, and he saw groups of armed security guards stationed at several intersections, but he was sure that nobody was concerned with the whereabouts of the lowly, insignificant Technician Deeks at this perilous time.
The Tech swept his security pass through the card slot on the lab door, but he was greeted by a dull buzz, and a flashing red light told him his access had been denied. Frowning, he studied the card, wiped the magnetic strip on his white coat and tried again, with the same outcome.
So that bastard, Terrence, locked me out, did he? Deeks thought. Is he ever going to be surprised when he finds out I know some access codes that he doesn't even know exist!
He had not made a complete waste of his life as a Technician, and he had spent a lot of time delving into mysteries of the security systems.
Still, that was not going to get him through this door, so he pressed the 'Attention' button by the card slot. After a few moments, the door opened, and he felt pleased to see the familiar Technician Redmond standing in the opening. This should make things a little easier.
"Hey, Deeks, what's going on here?" Redmond asked. "First, we had that message over the PA, and now there are all these alarms. What's up?"
"Oh, you know; the usual security SNAFU, Redders," Deeks lied with a fluency born of years of practice. "Pacification didn't take on those two wizards, and they're on the warpath. As far as I know, it's a bit messy, and Terrence wants me to take this girl back to the Security block until things blow over."
Deeks glanced over Redmond's shoulder, and he saw the girl sitting, passive, dull-eyed and beautiful, in the corner of the room. Her long hair flowed in gleaming cascades over her back, and she wore a seductive, clinging dress that left little to the imagination. To the unwillingly celibate Deeks, she represented amatory prospects beyond his most lustful dreams.
Redmond folded his arms across his chest. "Why didn't you just swipe in?" he asked, with a trace of suspicion.
"Ah, you know, Redders. I left my card in this coat when it went for washing," replied Deeks. "Bloody thing doesn't work worth a damn now."
Redmond frowned. "I can't let you take her without written authorisation from Terrence or Armitage," he said. "You know the rules as well as I do, Deeky: if it ain't in writing, it ain't worth a damn."
"Oh, come on Redmond, all hell could be breaking loose out there," the portly Technician whined. "Cut me some bloody slack, won't you? The situation isn't exactly what you might call nominal right now. Believe me, I'd rather be in my bed right now, but I have my orders.
"All I know is that Terrence told me to take the girl. You can check with him if you want."
Deeks gambled that Redmond would not go that far: although a loyal Haven man, he would surely not want to risk the Senior Technician's wrath by interrupting him during a possible emergency situation.
At last, Redmond stepped aside. "Okay, Deeky, take her, then," he said shaking his head in apparent resignation. "To tell you the truth, this little bitch has been more trouble than she's worth; she tried to take my eyes out with a bloody metal comb before the drugs took hold. She bites, too. I had to use a double dose, so you shouldn't have too much trouble with her."
That's just what I wanted to hear, Deeks thought.
He would hack into the central control system and give himself sysop privileges, erasing all traces of his actions from the database; then, he could find himself a nice little love-nest until everything had resolved itself. Sated and satisfied, he would be in good shape to take command when the people of Haven cried out for a new leader.
"Oh, just one last thing, Redders," he said. "Better give me a few ampoules of those meds. I don't want her turning nasty on me."
"Sure thing, Deeks; all I can say is, you're welcome to her," Redmond said.
Deeks suppressed a smile as he led the docile, bleary-eyed girl out of the lab: this was going to be good.
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