Deathstalker 07 - Deathstalker Return

about the rest of you, but after meeting Tobias Moon in the spooky if not downright unnerving flesh, I'm in even less of a hurry to get to Haden than I was before. We all died in the Maze… Just what I needed to hear."
    "But he did say it was the only place we could find answers," said Lewis from the pilot's seat, frowning thoughtfully.
    "I still say Mistworld," Brett said stubbornly. "You want answers, you can buy them there. You can buy anything on Mistworld. Particularly with the cargo we're carrying."
    "Ah," said the AI Ozymandias. "While you were gone, I took the liberty of exchanging most of the data crystals for food supplies. We were running very short."
    Brett tugged at his hair with both hands. "You swapped a small fortune in alien porn for a bunch of fresh fruit?"
    "Fruit is very good for you," said the AI firmly. "I got you some vegetables too, and some preserves.
    And a case of parsnip wine."
    "Kill me now," said Brett to Rose. "Put me out of everyone's misery."
    "If you don't stop whining, I'll have Saturday do it," growled Lewis.
    Brett looked at the grinning reptiloid, and shut up.
    A blazing light appeared on the bridge like a clap of thunder, and they all cried out in shock. It was too fierce to look at directly, and forced everything else into silhouette. It slowly consolidated, becoming heavier, and there was a growing sense of presence on the bridge, as something from above and beyond the material world drew closer, sinking into the world, becoming solid, becoming real. The light snapped off, and they all stood blinking at a harsh-faced woman with a shock of blond hair.
    "Oh, my God," said Jesamine. "I know you! Lewis, that's Diana Vertue! I saw holos of her when I was researching my part in Deathstalker's Lament, for last year's revival tour!"
    "Jenny Psycho?" said Lewis. "But she's dead!"
    "Now there's a name no one's dared to use to my face in a long time," said Diana. "And yes, Deathstalker, I am dead."
    "Lotof it going around," said Brett, hiding behind Rose.
    Lewis and Jesamine were on their feet, clinging to each other. Even Rose looked distinctly unsettled.
    There was something overpowering about Diana Vertue's presence, as though she was… realer than everyone else. Saturday had retreated to the rear of the bridge, compelled by his instincts into a submissive posture. Diana smiled coldly upon them all.
    "One hundred and eighteen years ago, the Gray Train and the Shatter Freak ambushed and murdered me. I trusted someone I had every reason to believe was my friend, and I walked right into it, alone and far from help. Even so, they were lucky to beat me. I was old and tired, and feeling particularly low that
    day. Perhaps I wanted to die, and just used them as an excuse. It's possible. Anyway, my body died that day, torn apart by psionic razorstorms. I never was a Maze alumni, after all; just an esper who got an unexpected boost. My dying mind was picked up by the oversoul, and made a part of it. I exist now as a thought in the great mass mind of the espers. But sometimes I draw on the energies of the oversoul, and manifest in the real world again, for a time—when I'm needed, and no one else will do."
    "Why are you here?" said Lewis, and took a little pride on how steady his voice was, under the circumstances.
    "The oversoul has been following your progress ever since you left Logres, through Brett Random."
    "Hey!" said Brett, poking his head past Rose's shoulder. "I never joined the oversoul!"
    "You're an esper," said Diana. "We all drink from the same pool." She looked at Rose. "Sometimes we see you there, too. Isn't that interesting?"
    "Fascinating," said Lewis. "To what, exactly, do we owe the unnerving pleasure of your company?"
    "You must go to Shandrakor," Diana said implacably. "To the forsaken world. I crash-landed the old Deathstalker Standing there, after the last battle."
    "Yes," said Lewis. "My father gave me the coordinates."
    "I know. Go there, and in the old castle you will find things you need, and things you need to know. It is your heritage, Deathstalker."
    "Will you be joining us?" said Jesamine, tentatively.
    "No. I don't belong in the waking world anymore. I'm just a dream of who I used to be. I'm here only as a favor to my father, John Silence. We dead people must stick together."
    She smiled for the first time, and then disappeared. They could still feel her presence on the bridge for several seconds, slowly fading away, as she receded in a direction they