Page 104 of Shank

“Is this dangerous?” Ace wondered.

“If I knew what he was doing, I could answer that. Or why he is.”

“He’s sleepwalking,” Darby reminded. “He doesn’t knowwhathe’s doing!”

“No, he knows what he’s doing,” Alerik said. “He’s just not aware he’s actually doing it. We should let him finish,” he voted, looking at the other Kings who seemed to agree for lack of other ideas.

“What about the Psych-link?” Feral remembered.

They all hurried down the hall and Nidev entered a code next to a door before rushing in. Ace entered with Darby and Sophie, wow’d with the room that reminded him of 8-Bit’s Hack House only a lot bigger and sterile.

“I found him,” Dalk said at one of the stations.

“What’s he building?” Vex muttered.

“A bridge,” Vale said.

“I know that,” Vex muttered, “but why?”

“It’sjusta bridge,” Feral marveled. “Rather simple for him.”

“Indeed,” Nidev said.”

“What are the quantum signatures?”

“He's laying down a Cognitive Architecture Protocol that's rewriting the rules of how we interact with the Dreamscape,” Feral said. “It's a puzzle wrapped in an enigma, one I have never seen. Perhaps a fingerprint of his soul, for lack of a better term.”

“And he's not just programming,” Alerik mused, astonished. “He's sculpting the very fabric of the Dreamscape. It's as if he's found a way to encode his consciousness into the system, creating pathways we can't even begin to comprehend.”

“Remarkable,” Vex murmured.

“Call the Marsh King leader first thing in the morning,” Nidev said, pacing before the monitor now. “Tell him we’re adding them to our quantum encrypted King’s Guard Network so that we can all speak withoutconstanttravelling.”

“Will do,” King Thakx said.

****

Syphon woke early the next morning and led Jinxx to the cell, wondering how syphoning would work in this situation. He’d have to get the girl near the glass where he could use her eyes since touching was out of the question.

He slowed his steps as he reached the cell, the motion lights flickering on upon his approach. He searched the room and spotted something under the bed as Jinxx lit up the hallway with barking.

“What’s wrong girl?” he muttered, straining to see under the bed as her barking turned high pitched and repetitive. He flipped through his ocular lenses, trying to get a better view in the shadow. He spotted red on the floor right as he recognized Jinxx’s stress signal bark.

“No!” His fingers flew over the keypad on the door and he raced in, lifting the bed off the floor and throwing it aside. He dropped next to the lifeless girl curled up in a pool of blood. He realized the darkness inside her filled the room, escaping from the blood oozing from the gash on her wrist. Jinxx barked for him to help but he only knew how to syphonevilor kill, not save a dying person!

He lifted her in his arms and hurried out, heading for the Voltorium. He had to trysomething. Once in the dome, he lay the girl on a slab of stone and ripped the gates from his eyes as he placed his hand on her chest. She sucked in a huge breath, her eyes wide on terrified as the evil inside her raced into his hand and arm. The spiral began again and the evil saturated Zodak till its lusts filled him to his very core. He opened the lightning gates with a roar and the air filled with shooting sparks.

The malevolence came in barbaric waves then turned its hungry gaze on what it craved. Her. He knew now as the malevolence knew. She’d betrayed them by trying to kill their vessel. Zodak’s hand moved to her throat, and he gave another roar, fighting the force as the lightning increased and lit up his body. He held the terrified gaze of the girl now holding his wrist in her tiny hands, fighting with him.

The evil twisted every which way, ripping at his cells in an attempt to embed in them despite the volts saturating his pores. And then they juststopped. Showers of sparks filled the air while his syphoning powers raged in full force. Nothing stood between her and the evil still filling him and at that moment, he tasted exactly what it wanted. Not to kill her. To punish her then fill her again. They intended to use him. And she wouldnotsurvive.

Please. My Brother. Hear me. You must help me. Give me strength.

Syphon spotted the wall with his titanium dioxide shackles. He needed to get to them.

The girl suddenly gasped beneath his hand and provoked the evil inside him, bringing his roar right to her face. Her eyes held him like chains, turning brighter then white with light. She let out a scream and Zodak was air born for five seconds before he hit the wall.

Instantly the evil revived him and he leapt to his feet, realizing he was mere feet from her salvation. Zodak dove for the wall and latched on to one of the shackles and secured it to his wrist.

The malevolence in him reared and he held the chain with both fists as it tried to rip him from it. A memory flashed across the darkness twisting his mind and he blinked, engaging the emergency shutdown that would signal the Kings.

He realized he wouldn’t last five minutes. Zodak prayed to Seer’s God for strength.Help me fight. Don’t let me hurt her.