Deathstalker 01 - Deathstalker

thinking, and then turned to Pindar. "Can you contact her, mind to mind? Is she still open to us?"
    "I don't see why not," said the telepath. "In fact, at this range I should be able to manage full contact."
    He stared blankly ahead, reaching out with his mind, and his face brightened as he made contact. "Jenny, this is the underground. We're here to rescue you."
    And then Jenny Psycho came fully awake for the first time, and everything changed again. Her mind ignited like a flare, bright and blinding, almost too painful to look at. The espers in the corridor clapped their hands uselessly to their ears as her voice shook like thunder in their minds. Even Finlay and Evangeline could hear her as though she was right there in the corridor with
    them.
    I remember, I remember who and what I am. Go to Wormboy. Destroy him, I will free the prisoners.
    The godlike voice was suddenly gone from their heads, and the espers slowly lowered their hands from their ears, looking at each other in shock.
    Telepathically deafened for the moment, they babbled at each other aloud. Finlay tried to make sense of it, but all he could make out was a name, repeated over and over. Mater Mundi. Mother of the World. Once again, Finlay turned to Pindar and Evangeline.
    "All right, what the hell was that? This is something else you haven't got around to telling me about, isn't it? Who is she? Somebody talk to me!"
    "Our Mother of All Souls," said Pindar, just a bit breathlessly. The most powerful telepath ever created. She founded the underground. No wonder no one was allowed to know who Jenny Psycho really was, not even her. If the Iron Bitch knew she was here, she'd nuke the whole city, just on the chance of getting her.
    If the Mother wants us to go after Wormboy, we are going after Wormboy. You don't argue with God when she speaks to you directly. Not unless you want to be turned into a burning bush."
    "You think she's God?" said Finlay.
    "Nearest local equivalent," said Evangeline. "My head feels like it's been scoured out with steel wool. She's not just a telepath, Finlay, more like a force of nature. Let's go find Wormboy. Which turning do we take?"
    "Left," said Stevie Three.
    It didn't take them long to get there, with the map burning in their brains like a grail. The corridors were eerily empty. There was no trace of the other battle
    espers anywhere, nor of any of the armed guards. The only sound in Silo Nine was their own boots thudding on the metal floors. Finlay didn't like the silence at all, and gripped his sword and his gun so tightly his hands ached. If all the other espers were being set free, the place ought to be full of the sound of it.
    The floor they were moving along seemed to be mainly bureaucratic: rows upon rows of abandoned offices. The cells were much lower. The surveillance cameras still moved to follow them as they passed. Finlay had stopped the Stevie Blues blowing them up with their fire. He had a strong feeling they were going to need all the strength they could find once they reached Wormboy's lair. The cameras still annoyed him, though. What the hell had happened to the cyberats? They were supposed to be running interference and playing hell with the security systems.
    They shouldn't have been affected by any of the ambushes.
    "Try and contact the cyberats again," he said to Evangeline.
    "I've tried and tried, Finlay. There's no response."
    "Well, try again."
    Evangeline glared at him, but didn't have the strength to be really annoyed.
    "What did your last slave die of, Campbell?"
    "Not making contact when I asked him. Get on with it."
    She sighed and tuned her comm implant again to the cyberat's special channel.
    "Evangeline to the rats. Talk to me, people. What's happening?"
    The voice was suddenly babbling in all their ears, almost incoherent in its haste.
    "It's a trap! It's a trap! They were waiting for us in the systems, Empire AIs, huge and powerful, blazing like suns. We went blind, staring into the light. We can't find most of our people. Some are dead. We can't help you anymore. We can't help ourselves. You're on your own."

    Thanks a whole bunch, thought Finlay as the voice fell silent. He looked at Evangeline. "That bastard Hood didn't just betray us, he set up a really thorough trap as well. I think we have to assume that the other esper groups are either dead or taken prisoner. We're all there is."
    "No," said Evangeline. "The Mater Mundi is with us. She's all we need. You have to have faith,