Deathstalker 03 - Deathstalker War

plummeted down into the earth. Jenny leading the way as though born to it. Thousands of miles flashed by in a moment as they descended through the many layers of the planet, heading for the bomb at the heart of the world. It was well protected, but nothing could defy them now.
    They deactivated it with a thought, checked around to be sure there weren't any other nasty surprises, and then turned their back on the harmless device and surged up through the earth and back into Lionstone's Court.
    "Wow," said Ruby. "Some trip."
    "Sorry to disappoint you," Random said cheerfully to Lionstone, "but we just defused your bomb. All part of the service."
    "You cheats!" Lionstone screamed, after she sent the activation codes and nothing happened. She rose up to stand on her Throne, and threw aside her battle armor, revealing her bare arms. Hidden disrupter implants suddenly rose up through the skin of her arms, and opened fire on the rebels. They threw themselves in all directions as energy beams flashed through the space where they'd been standing. More energy weapons emerged from Lionstone's body, poking their metal snouts out of her shoulders and rib cage. Long steel blades with serrated edges slid out of the backs of her hands. Of course she'd have implants, Owen thought as he hit the floor rolling. A paranoid like her would want to be prepared for anything. And she could afford the best.
    He reached out with his mind to the others, and together they raised a force shield between them and the Throne. They'd done it once before, on the Wolfling World, and that shield had stood off the combined firepower of an Imperial pinnace at point-blank range. And so they stood their ground, unharmed, as
    Lionstone's weapons exhausted themselves against the force shield, and she had nothing left to throw at them. She screamed with rage and jumped down from her Throne. Owen reached out with the group's mind and psychokinetically seized all of Lionstone's implants and ripped them out of her body. She screamed again as her flesh tore open, and her implants burrowed up out through her skin and fell bloodily to the floor. Lionstone fell to the floor as well, eyes wild and staring, and clung desperately to the side of her Throne. She was panting heavily, only shock shielding her from what had been done to her. Owen dropped the force shield, and the group mind fell apart. He walked slowly forward to stand over Lionstone. She snarled up at him, mortally hurt and cornered, but still refusing to be beaten.
    "You can't kill me, Deathstalker. I'm your Empress."
    "I want to kill you, Lionstone," Owen said slowly. "You don't know how much I want to. For all the things you did to me, and to your people. For all the dead of Virimonde, and for all who lived in fear and pain because of you. But I won't kill you. That's your way. You're going to stand trial, Lionstone. Let the people judge you. It's their right, as your victims."
    "Well done, Owen," said Hazel, as she came up beside him. "You finally got it right."
    And then the floating viewscreens suddenly reappeared on the air around them, and turned themselves on. Young Jack Random's face appeared on every screen, smiling easily. Being dead didn't seem to have bothered him at all. "Hello, everyone," he said calmly. "We're using this face as you're familiar with it.
    For those of you who haven't been keeping up, I speak for the AIs of Shub. It's time for you to hear some of the truths we've been hiding from you. Shub owns the computer Matrix of Golgotha. We infiltrated it long ago, making contact with
    the AIs that were spontaneously generating in the Matrix, and used them to take control of the larger business entities as they evolved. All part of our plan to control Humanity through its own tech.
    "Not only did we thus have access to all of Humanity's business information, which we manipulated to our own ends and for our own amusement, but we have also been destroying human minds as they entered the Matrix, occupying their empty bodies and sending them forth as spies. Even better and more undetectable than Furies. How does it feel, knowing we walk among you, unsuspected? People you'd know, too. We're everywhere. You can't trust anyone, these days. Still, I'm not here to chat. Dear Lionstone, you've looked better. But we can still save you from your enemies. You have a home with us on Shub, if you wish. You'll have to leave your body behind, but it's such a limited thing anyway. Open your mind to us,