Deathstalker 08 - Deathstalker Coda

be!”
    “Of course it’s a trap,” said Douglas, his voice dangerously calm. “Finn always did know how to yank my chains. It doesn’t matter. I can outthink Finn.”
    “And get to Anne, despite all the obstacles and booby traps he’ll put in your path?” said Stuart.
    “Of course.”
    “Why?” said Stuart, not bothering to hide his exasperation. “What makes her so important? She betrayed Lewis and Jesamine, and you, and Finn’s finally admitted she murdered Emma Steel!”
    “She was Finn’s bitch,” said Nina. “And now that he doesn’t need her, he’s thrown her to the wolves, and I say good riddance to bad rubbish.”
    “You never knew her before,” said Douglas. “She was splendid, in her time. And she was my friend. Friends don’t stop being friends just because they’ve done bad things. And I think . . . perhaps we all betrayed her, long before she betrayed us.”
    “Douglas, she hasn’t been your friend in a long time,” said Stuart.
    “That’s why I need to be her friend,” said Douglas. “One last time.”

    He swore them both to silence, and left the Rookery alone, traveling secret paths he remembered from his time as a Paragon. He went alone and in disguise, because he knew the rest of his people would have tried to stop him if they’d known—and he wasn’t going to be stopped. He slipped silently over the border and into the dark empty streets of the Parade of the Endless, keeping to the shadows to avoid the peacekeepers, hidden from the ELFs by the old Paragon esp-blocker on his belt. He headed for the palace, and no one saw him coming.
    He had to do this. Perhaps because Anne was the very last piece of his old life that he might still be able to rescue and redeem. Everything else was changed or lost or gone, including him. He had to salvage something.
    The only person who might have stopped him was Diana Vertue. So he made a point of searching her out before he left, telling her what he was going to do, and asked her to run interference to cover his leaving. Diana agreed. She understood all about necessary emotional gestures, and even more about self-sacrifice.
    And if I don’t come back . . .
    You will be avenged, said Jenny Psycho.

    Finn Durandal sat on a comfortable chair in Dr. Happy’s laboratory, and watched what was left of the good doctor ricochet around the room. He’d had to bring his own comfortable chair; Dr. Happy had moved far beyond such everyday comforts. All his skin was gray and rotting now, with deep dark holes in the exposed red meat of his body, some of it tinted here and there with the purples and greens of gangrene. Sharp-edged support tech protruded all over his body, blocky and functional. And ever since he’d dosed himself with the new Boost (he couldn’t resist, he just had to know ), his mental deterioration seemed to have accelerated to catch up with his supercharged metabolism. He darted back and forth across his laboratory, unable to settle anywhere for more than a moment, bouncing off the hardier pieces of equipment, giggling and barking and singing scraps of songs.
    “Dr. Happy,” Finn said firmly. “Try and land somewhere near my reality, and talk to me. Have you programmed Anne’s computer implants as I instructed you?”
    Dr. Happy spun to a halt in front of Finn, gurgled a few times, and studied him for a long moment, as though trying to remember where he’d seen him before. He clutched his broken hands together over his sunken chest, and nodded so rapidly that Finn was genuinely worried the man’s head would fall off.
    “All done! All done! Oh yes. I programmed her brain. Her new computer brain, sunk deep into the medulla oblongata, and the old reptile brain stem itself. Our instructions now have the force of instinct. So she will do the right thing, whether she wants to or not. Or at least, I think I did that. My time sense is so advanced now, I can remember things before I do them. So many worlds to see, so little time! Yes! I’m wearing out, you know. Running down. Won’t be long now. Ah, death—the final high . . .”
    “Will Anne do what I need her to do?” Finn said patiently. You couldn’t bully or threaten someone who was actually looking forward to dying.
    “Oh, yes. I did it. If her nerve should fail, the tech will see her through. I was very careful. She doesn’t even remember my programming her.”
    “Good. Douglas will be here soon. I know it. Try and keep out of the way once he gets here,