Deathstalker 04 - Deathstalker Honor

it was not to be. One grenade at just the wrong moment, and my true nature was revealed. I did offer to continue working with the rebels, but they destroyed my body anyway, which I thought was rather petulant of them. Still, not to worry. I have a fine new body now, and no further need to hide my true nature. I will walk among humans, wearing the face of one of their greatest heroes, and spread terror and slaughter wherever I go. I’m quite looking forward to it.”
    “Everything you’ve been shown, boy,” said Jacob, “are just the fringes of the AIs’ plans. A mere quickness of the hand to deceive the human eye.” “You see, Daniel,” said Young Jack Random, dropping a comradely arm cross his suited shoulders, “it really all began on Vodyanoi IV, the site of my
    last battle against Lionstone’s forces.”
    “Wait a minute,” said Daniel, wincing slightly under the inhuman weight of the Fury’s arm. “I thought Jack Random was captured at Blue Angel, on Cold Rock?” “Ah, no, that was the real one, some time earlier. The AIs sent me out to maintain the illusion of his presence for their own purposes. Specifically, to put me at the head of a rebellion on Vodyanoi IV.” “What’s so important about that world?” said Daniel. “Place is a bloody dump, by all accounts. Cold as hell, unfriendly life forms, and a kind of carnivorous moss that attacks the extremities. If it weren’t for the spice mines, there’d be no population at all.”
    “Exactly,” said Young Jack Random. “Just the place for Lionstone to set up an extremely secret scientific Base, doing extremely sensitive research. But we can talk about that later. There’s still much for you to see.” “I don’t think I can take much more,” said Daniel. He shrugged off the Fury’s arm and looked appealingly to his dead father for help. “Can’t we stop for a while? Get some rest, and a little food and drink. I’d kill for a cold drink.” “Human weaknesses,” said Jacob. “Rise above them. You can survive without such things for a while yet. Brace up, boy; the tour’s nearly over.” And Jacob strode off, not even looking back to see if his son was following. The viewscreen in the door shut down. Young Jack Random put his arm through Daniel’s and urged him on, smiling companionably. The three of them moved on through a series of metal tunnels, each slanting sharply downward. Daniel began to feel distinctly uneasy about how far below the surface of Shub he’d come. There had to be some point to all this, some end to their travels. They passed by vast chemical lakes, thick as soup, with disturbingly organic liquids being drawn off through miles of transparent tubing stapled to walls, like capillaries. The air felt just a little more than comfortably warm, and had a strange resistance, like moving underwater.
    Jacob stopped before a human-sized metal airlock, set flush into a wall. Young Jack Random urged Daniel forward, squeezing his arm reassuringly.
    “You’ll like this, Daniel,” said Jacob cheerfully. “It’s a sort of zoo. Though not the petting kind. The only living things on Shub. They’re kept strictly separate from everything else. Follow me in, boy. It’s time to improve your education.”
    “Don’t mind me,” said Young Jack Random. “I’ll wait right here till you return.
    Don’t want to pick up any nasty bugs.”
    Daniel was still pondering the significance of that last remark when the airlock cycled open before him, and Jacob gestured impatiently for him to enter. Daniel did so, closely followed by Jacob, almost treading on his heels, and the airlock door closed immediately behind them. The steel chamber was claustrophobically small, and the two of them practically filled it. Jets of chemical steam washed over them, and then the inner door cycled open. Jacob stepped through, and Daniel followed, only to stop immediately just inside the new chamber. There were cages everywhere, from a few feet square to some the size of whole rooms. All of them full of creatures Daniel was sure he’d never seen anywhere before.
    He moved slowly forward, checking the contents of each cage as he passed. Daniel had always had a minor interest in alien creatures, and knew some friends with their own private menageries, but he’d never seen anything like this. There were eyes and mouths, limbs and tentacles, flesh and fur and scale, and many other things he couldn’t even put names to. Many looked sick or in pain.