on a cot, worn and broken down by life, wearing a janitor's uniform. "They broke me. Go look somewhere else for your savior or leader." Then he was gone, and Owen took his place, bleeding from a dozen wounds, sword held out to ward off an unseen enemy. "When you see the opening, run, Hazel. I'll keep them occupied." A mob of shadows surged forward from all sides, and he disappeared beneath them, still swinging his sword. They blinked out, replaced by a grinning Ruby Journey. "I'm just in it for the loot." Silver tried to reach out to Hazel again, but couldn't get near her. Her memories had the force of reality.
Ruby was replaced by a tall, furred, and lupine figure that Silver realized with
a jolt had to be a legendary Wolfling. The huge figure looked right at Silver, and said, "It is a sad and bitter honor to be the last of one's kind." He disappeared, replaced by a Hadenman with glowing golden eyes. Behind him towered a vast honeycomb of gold and silver, thickly encrusted with ice. The long-lost Tomb of the Hadenmen. The augmented man called Tobias Moon stared at Silver, and said in his buzzing inhuman voice, "All we ever wanted was our freedom." And then the ice melted, and strange colors came and went on the air, and the Hadenmen emerged from their Tomb, great and glorious and perfect beyond hope.
And then there was only Owen again, staring sadly into Hazel's eyes. "You can't fight evil by becoming evil."
Hazel turned away from him, and Owen disappeared as she looked at Silver. Their eyes met, and new visions appeared. Silver, making deals with crooks and scum, to keep the peace in Mistport's streets. Silver, paying off legbreakers like Marcus Rhine, so they wouldn't interfere with his Blood distribution network.
Silver, looking the other way, as rivals were eased out or shut down the hard way. The visions faded away, and Hazel looked at Silver with new, cold eyes.
"Just a few drops, now and then, for you and a few special friends? Bullshit.
You've been running your own distribution network for the drug, all over the city. How many new plasma babies are there out there now, John? How many Blood junkies lying stiff and cold in empty rooms because they couldn't afford your prices?"
"I don't know," said Silver. "I try not to think about it. I'm just… getting by, like everyone else in Mistport. Inflation's gone crazy since the esper plague.
Money's not worth half what it was. What savings I had were wiped out. If I wasn't doing it, someone else would. You know that. I never meant to hurt
anybody, but…"
"Yes," said Hazel. "But. There's always a but, isn't there?"
Silver stepped forward, one hand reaching out to her. She grabbed it with her own, and he winced at the harsh, unforgiving strength in her. She smiled at him coldly. "The show's not over yet, John. You've seen the past and the present.
Now here comes the future. Whether we're ready or not."
Her hand clamped down hard, and Silver cried out as the room disappeared around them and chaos took its place. People were running screaming in the streets of Mistport. Buildings were burning. Attack sleds filled the skies above. Energy beams stabbed down through billowing clouds of black smoke. The dead lay everywhere. War machines smashed through the city walls. Burning barges floated down a River Autumn thick with blood and choked with corpses. And above it all, a never-ending scream that had nothing of Humanity in it. Hazel released Silver's hand and reality crashed back as the small cramped room reappeared around them. Silver fell back a step, shaking and shuddering, his head still full of the stench of spilled blood and burning bodies, the hideous unending scream still ringing his ears. Hazel stood and looked at him, cold and unforgiving as any oracle.
"That's the future, John. Your future and mine. And you helped bring it about.
Something Bad is coming to Mistworld, Something Very Bad. And it will be here soon."
And then suddenly she was just Hazel again,
Ruby was replaced by a tall, furred, and lupine figure that Silver realized with
a jolt had to be a legendary Wolfling. The huge figure looked right at Silver, and said, "It is a sad and bitter honor to be the last of one's kind." He disappeared, replaced by a Hadenman with glowing golden eyes. Behind him towered a vast honeycomb of gold and silver, thickly encrusted with ice. The long-lost Tomb of the Hadenmen. The augmented man called Tobias Moon stared at Silver, and said in his buzzing inhuman voice, "All we ever wanted was our freedom." And then the ice melted, and strange colors came and went on the air, and the Hadenmen emerged from their Tomb, great and glorious and perfect beyond hope.
And then there was only Owen again, staring sadly into Hazel's eyes. "You can't fight evil by becoming evil."
Hazel turned away from him, and Owen disappeared as she looked at Silver. Their eyes met, and new visions appeared. Silver, making deals with crooks and scum, to keep the peace in Mistport's streets. Silver, paying off legbreakers like Marcus Rhine, so they wouldn't interfere with his Blood distribution network.
Silver, looking the other way, as rivals were eased out or shut down the hard way. The visions faded away, and Hazel looked at Silver with new, cold eyes.
"Just a few drops, now and then, for you and a few special friends? Bullshit.
You've been running your own distribution network for the drug, all over the city. How many new plasma babies are there out there now, John? How many Blood junkies lying stiff and cold in empty rooms because they couldn't afford your prices?"
"I don't know," said Silver. "I try not to think about it. I'm just… getting by, like everyone else in Mistport. Inflation's gone crazy since the esper plague.
Money's not worth half what it was. What savings I had were wiped out. If I wasn't doing it, someone else would. You know that. I never meant to hurt
anybody, but…"
"Yes," said Hazel. "But. There's always a but, isn't there?"
Silver stepped forward, one hand reaching out to her. She grabbed it with her own, and he winced at the harsh, unforgiving strength in her. She smiled at him coldly. "The show's not over yet, John. You've seen the past and the present.
Now here comes the future. Whether we're ready or not."
Her hand clamped down hard, and Silver cried out as the room disappeared around them and chaos took its place. People were running screaming in the streets of Mistport. Buildings were burning. Attack sleds filled the skies above. Energy beams stabbed down through billowing clouds of black smoke. The dead lay everywhere. War machines smashed through the city walls. Burning barges floated down a River Autumn thick with blood and choked with corpses. And above it all, a never-ending scream that had nothing of Humanity in it. Hazel released Silver's hand and reality crashed back as the small cramped room reappeared around them. Silver fell back a step, shaking and shuddering, his head still full of the stench of spilled blood and burning bodies, the hideous unending scream still ringing his ears. Hazel stood and looked at him, cold and unforgiving as any oracle.
"That's the future, John. Your future and mine. And you helped bring it about.
Something Bad is coming to Mistworld, Something Very Bad. And it will be here soon."
And then suddenly she was just Hazel again,
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