Deathstalker 03 - Deathstalker War

boundaries of its form. It was becoming something else, something different, no longer bound or dictated by its human half. The slowly changing shape grew more disturbing as it became more distinct, until Owen had to fight not to look away. It was becoming alien, and more than alien. It had width and breadth and depth, and other dimensions, too.
    Owen couldn't see so much as sense them, and they made his head hurt. Hazel fired her disrupter at it, and the energy beam bounced harmlessly away. The energy shape burned horribly brightly, like a hole cut in reality through which some malign god's light was shining. And then it was gone, and the memory of it faded thankfully from Owen's mind like a nightmare best not remembered. Owen let his breath out in a long shuddering sigh, and only then discovered that Hazel was gripping his arm so hard it hurt. She let go as soon as he saw it and pulled her composure briskly about herself again.
    "Well, that was different," she said, just a little breathlessly. "Anyone here have any ideas as to what the hell that was? Or what it was becoming?"

    "A problem for the future," said Owen. "As I have a horrible feeling it'll be back someday, along with the aliens that created it. We may only have traded one threat for another."
    "Let them come," said Giles. "Let them all come. They'll be no match for the Empire we shall create. Now let's go. We don't want to keep the Empress waiting."
    He strode off down the platform, and Owen and Hazel fell in after him. Hazel looked at Owen.
    "I hate it when he gets all confident like that. It's just asking for trouble."
    "I couldn't agree more," said Owen. "But at least as long as he's in front of us, I don't have to worry about what he might be doing."
    "And when the shooting starts, we can hide behind him," said Hazel. "He's wide enough."
    "I can hear every word you're saying," said Giles calmly. "And I don't find it in the least amusing."
    "Tough," said Hazel. "Serves you right for eavesdropping. And get a move on, or I'll kick your ankles."
    "I wonder if it's too late to go back to the rebel leaders, and ask for some new companions," Owen said wistfully.
    They came flying out of the scarlet sun on the early-morning skies, a vast armada of fast-flying gravity sleds. There were thousands of them, blackening the sky, one-man sleds with souped-up engines for more speed, armed to the teeth with bolted-down energy guns and heavy projectile weapons, with long ribbons of bullets. They came in low, well below the usual sensor levels, and were over the Parade of the Endless and heading for the pastel Towers of the Families before
    any of the Clans even knew they were coming. They whipped between the tall buildings of the city, rising and falling on the thermals, flashing by too fast for the automated weapons systems to draw a bead on them. Thousands of sleds shot across the city, manned by rebels, espers, clones, anyone with a raging need for justice in their hearts, and a willingness to fly into Hell itself for a chance at bringing down the Families.
    They swept over the struggling crowds in the streets below, ignoring the fighting. That wasn't their mission. An occasional weapon fired up at them from the heaving masses below, but the sleds were small, evasive targets, hard to hit. The Empire's huge gravity barges tried to block their way, hovering in place like floating battle stations, but there were only a few of them, and the sleds just soared over and around them, come and gone in seconds, too unpredictable for the barges' computerized firing systems. No one had ever thought to use one-man sleds like this before. Until Jack Random did. They filled the skies, thundering along, with the sun at their back, heading for the Towers, an army of retribution flying on wings of fury.
    Jack Random, Ruby Journey, and Alexander Storm led the way, flying side by side.
    They'd lowered the sleds' force shields for more speed, and the wind of their passing whipped at their faces, driving tears from their eyes. The early-morning chill cut right through them, despite the heating units in their outfits, but they ignored it, intent on what was to come. Storm felt it the worst in his old bones, but he just clenched his teeth to keep them from chattering, and concentrated on keeping up with the others. He wasn't going to be left behind.
    Random looked down at the Parade of the Endless flashing by below him, and found it hard to believe that after all the many years and all