machine; hated her with the blazing intensity of ten thousand dying suns—this Jedi, whose orchid was the linchpin upon which everything would revolve, and whose very presence here would allow him to see the project through to fruition.
And it was
good
to know that hate was there, where he could access it whenever he wanted, like a fine wine to be decanted and sipped sparingly. It would be good to find her and to—
Well, to finish things.
Hestizo Trace would die screaming.
And he would live forever.
Beep!
The one-minute mark. Scabrous flicked his eyes down to the auto-analysis unit. The blue numbers pulsed red. He frowned, just a little. Initial contamination levels were higher than expected: peaks and waves that the system was already rediagnosing, in order to isolate the specific antigen and lay the groundwork for the next step.
He couldn’t afford to wait any longer. The hemodialysis pump was portable by design, a flat shoulder pack that held six liters of fresh blood and a vacuum tube system. Sliding the straps over his shoulders, Scabrous attached the pump to the IV in his right arm and started the first infusion. A steady feeling of warmth crept up through his arm, filling his chest, loosening the tension, allowing him to breathe more deeply. He set the counters. At the current rate, the blood supply would last him six hours—assuming things didn’t change dramatically in the meantime.
Scabrous bypassed the turbolift, crossing directly toward the shattered window, casting his gaze out at the broken, snow-stricken terrain spreading out into the horizon. A feeling of confidence stirred within him, bringing with it a renewed sense of purpose. This was his academy, his planet—nobody knew it as well as he did. There was nowhere that the Jedi could hide that he could not find her.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he sprang forward and jumped out the broken viewport. He cleared it easily, plunging out into the night, knifing downward through the air, using the Force to guide his descent a hundred meters down. At the base of the tower, he hit the ground running. His mind was humming now, his body inhaling doses of fresh blood, sucking it down like pure oxygen, feeding muscle and brain.
Activating his comlink, he brought it to his ear and waited for the voice on the other end to respond.
“Query: Yes, my Lord?” the HK droid asked.
“Activate all outer perimeter barriers in all quadrants,” Scabrous told it. “Target is Hestizo Trace, the Jedi. Scan the lab for DNA and pheromone sample.” He paused, but only for a second, the wind blasting over him. “Use whatever means necessary. But I want her alive.”
16/Convocation
H ESTIZO ?
Zo was still running when the orchid’s voice rang through her head. It was enough of a surprise that she faltered, almost halting in her tracks.
She hadn’t stopped moving since she’d left the tower’s turbolift. Whether that was ten minutes ago or half an hour, she didn’t know. Time had become wildly subjective, a crazed and illogical sprawl, much like the landscape of the academy itself. Sprinting down between the gray, partially collapsed buildings and ruined temples, she’d focused on putting as much distance as possible between herself and the tower, but every time she looked back, the tower seemed to be in a different place.
Her head was swimming. She tried not to think about what had happened up there, but those thoughts kept seeping through her defenses like a cut that wouldn’t stop bleeding. She saw the face of the boy—was it a boy?—as he’d crawled out of the cage and jumped atScabrous, the way he’d smelled, the noise that he’d made. He’d been like an animal, but far worse.
Hestizo
, the orchid’s voice cut in,
stop. Stay. Crouch
.
Zo looked around. She was standing in front of an enormous statue of some ancient Sith Lord that had fallen over on its side, so that the right half of its features had been worn smooth, abraded by decades of
And it was
good
to know that hate was there, where he could access it whenever he wanted, like a fine wine to be decanted and sipped sparingly. It would be good to find her and to—
Well, to finish things.
Hestizo Trace would die screaming.
And he would live forever.
Beep!
The one-minute mark. Scabrous flicked his eyes down to the auto-analysis unit. The blue numbers pulsed red. He frowned, just a little. Initial contamination levels were higher than expected: peaks and waves that the system was already rediagnosing, in order to isolate the specific antigen and lay the groundwork for the next step.
He couldn’t afford to wait any longer. The hemodialysis pump was portable by design, a flat shoulder pack that held six liters of fresh blood and a vacuum tube system. Sliding the straps over his shoulders, Scabrous attached the pump to the IV in his right arm and started the first infusion. A steady feeling of warmth crept up through his arm, filling his chest, loosening the tension, allowing him to breathe more deeply. He set the counters. At the current rate, the blood supply would last him six hours—assuming things didn’t change dramatically in the meantime.
Scabrous bypassed the turbolift, crossing directly toward the shattered window, casting his gaze out at the broken, snow-stricken terrain spreading out into the horizon. A feeling of confidence stirred within him, bringing with it a renewed sense of purpose. This was his academy, his planet—nobody knew it as well as he did. There was nowhere that the Jedi could hide that he could not find her.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he sprang forward and jumped out the broken viewport. He cleared it easily, plunging out into the night, knifing downward through the air, using the Force to guide his descent a hundred meters down. At the base of the tower, he hit the ground running. His mind was humming now, his body inhaling doses of fresh blood, sucking it down like pure oxygen, feeding muscle and brain.
Activating his comlink, he brought it to his ear and waited for the voice on the other end to respond.
“Query: Yes, my Lord?” the HK droid asked.
“Activate all outer perimeter barriers in all quadrants,” Scabrous told it. “Target is Hestizo Trace, the Jedi. Scan the lab for DNA and pheromone sample.” He paused, but only for a second, the wind blasting over him. “Use whatever means necessary. But I want her alive.”
16/Convocation
H ESTIZO ?
Zo was still running when the orchid’s voice rang through her head. It was enough of a surprise that she faltered, almost halting in her tracks.
She hadn’t stopped moving since she’d left the tower’s turbolift. Whether that was ten minutes ago or half an hour, she didn’t know. Time had become wildly subjective, a crazed and illogical sprawl, much like the landscape of the academy itself. Sprinting down between the gray, partially collapsed buildings and ruined temples, she’d focused on putting as much distance as possible between herself and the tower, but every time she looked back, the tower seemed to be in a different place.
Her head was swimming. She tried not to think about what had happened up there, but those thoughts kept seeping through her defenses like a cut that wouldn’t stop bleeding. She saw the face of the boy—was it a boy?—as he’d crawled out of the cage and jumped atScabrous, the way he’d smelled, the noise that he’d made. He’d been like an animal, but far worse.
Hestizo
, the orchid’s voice cut in,
stop. Stay. Crouch
.
Zo looked around. She was standing in front of an enormous statue of some ancient Sith Lord that had fallen over on its side, so that the right half of its features had been worn smooth, abraded by decades of
Similar Books
