Aces High

Bre

It took a minute to saw through all the tendrils, but even then it still clung to Tachyon. It was then that Bre

"Just pull," Tachyon whispered.

Bre

The doctor finally came free. He collapsed into Bre

"Look out," Fortunato said, "we've got company." Bre

"What do we do now?"

"Punch for an elevator."

The things were twenty feet away when they heard the chime of an arriving elevator.

"Take him," Bre

"Basement, please," he said. The one standing by the panel of buttons punched it automatically as Fortunato stopped the door from closing with his foot. Bre

Bre

Fortunato looked at them. "First time in town?"

"So Lankester had been replaced by one of these newgeneration swarmlings some time ago?" Bre

"Before I ever met him-it. That's why it was pushing for that insane attack plan. It knew we wouldn't be able to really harm the Swarm Mother, yet such an attack would make everyone think something concrete was being done to fight the menace." He paused, took another long pull from the mug. "And there's another thing. The Swarm Mother might want specimens of aces."

Bre

"To take apart and replicate from her own biomass."

"Shit," Fortunato murmured. "It wants to grow its own aces. "

They were in Tachyon's office at the clinic. Tachyon had cleaned up, but was still pale and shaky from the ordeal he had undergone. There was a bandage around his neck where the Swarm creature had attached its suckers.

"What happens now?" Bre

"We attack the Swarm Mother."

"What?" Fortunato said. "That Swarm thing scramble your brains? You just said it was insane to attack the Mother."

"It was. It is. But it's the best option open to us." He looked from Fortunato, who was openly incredulous, to Bre

"If they could replace Lankester," Bre

"Exactly. Whom does it have?" Tachyon shuddered. "The possibilities are mind-boggling. If it could replace enough key perso

"It's obvious that we can't trust anyone from the government to help us attack the Swarm Mother. We have to do it ourselves."

"How do we do that?" Fortunato asked in a tone that indicated he wasn't won over by Tachyon's arguments. "We have the singularity shifter," Tachyon said, his voice rising eagerly. "We need a weapon, though. Takisians have successfully used biological weapons against Swarm Mothers in the past, but your biological sciences aren't sophisticated enough to produce a suitable weapon. Perhaps I can come up with something…"

"There is a weapon," a quiet voice said. The three men turned and looked at Mai, who had been silently listening to their conversation.

Tachyon stared at her, and then sat upright in his chair, sloshing the brandy-laced coffee over the front of his brocaded dressing gown.

"Don't talk nonsense," he said sharply.

Fortunato looked from Tachyon to Mai. "What is this shit?"

"Nothing," Tachyon said. "Mai works with me at the clinic. She's used her power to help some of my patients, but it would be out of the question for her to get involved in this."

"What power?"

Mai lifted her hands, palms facing outward. "I can touch a person's soul," she said. "We become one and I find the sickness in it. I take the sickness to myself and soothe it, smoothing the curves of the life pattern and mending the breaks. We can then both become well again."

"Meaning, in English?" Fortunato asked.

"She manipulates genetic material," Tachyon said with a sigh. "She can mold it in near any way she visualizes. I suppose she could use her power on the Swarm Mother in a reverse ma

"She can give the Mother cancer?" Fortunato asked. "She probably could," Tachyon conceded. "If I allowed her to get involved, which I'm not. It would be insanely dangerous for a woman."

"It's insanely dangerous for anyone," Fortunato said sharply. "If she's the best bet against that Mother and she's willing to try, I say let her do it."

"And I forbid it!" Tachyon said, sloshing coffee from his mug as he slammed it against the arm of his chair.

"It is not for you to forbid," Mai said. "I must do it. It is my karma."

Tachyon turned to Bre

Bre

"That's settled, then," Fortunato said flatly. "We get Mai up to the Swarm Mother and she sticks it with a fatal dose of cancer. I'm going too. I want a piece of that motherfucker myself. "

Tachyon looked from Fortunato to Mai to Bre

"I can, however, ferry a boarding party close to the Swarm Mother in Baby. Fortunato can shift the party inside the Swarm Mother. Speed and stealth will be necessary, but the boarders will need some protection. Modular Man perhaps, or maybe one of Trips's friends.. ."