There were many ways to transfer a person from one Incarnated space to another. I usually closed my eyes tightly, concentrated on my destination, and opened them. This method was simple and efficient. It also mitigated Shifted Perception Syndrome, more often called the Shifts. Being thrown through a window was not a pleasant way to facilitate transfer. I would rate it among the worst ways now that I had experienced it for the first time. I suppose that was Pritch getting back at me for everything.

  I landed flat on my back, expecting to be in great pain. However, a cushioning and pliant surface softened my impact on the floor. I soon realized that pain was not going to be my primary concern. I had a severe case of the Shifts. My consciousness was scrambling my senses, which caused me to experience synesthesia. The Incarnated space around me took on a strange new depth as my senses blended together. I could taste the darkness of the new room as I looked at it. It was tart, sweet, and felt like velour on my tongue.

  “I guess you win, Livia. Throwing him through the window felt pretty damned good,” said a woman. I could smell the sound of her voice while listening to her. It reminded me of warm, candied nuts.

  “Now imagine how good it would have felt to put him through our real window.” Pritch cooed. She sounded like she was standing somewhere close. It was impossible to tell with my ever-shifting senses.

  “That’s not funny,” the woman scolded mildly.

  “You’re right, it’s not funny. It’s fucking hilarious,” Pritch said. I could hear her grinning.

  “Just help him up already. He’s probably shifted half to death,” the woman instructed.

  “Ugh, fine. Come on, Elias, get up.” Pritch said.

  Pritch leaned over me again, looking very full of herself. She gently lifted me off the floor, brought me to my feet, and let me lean into her for support. Her touch was tender and sounded like low, thrumming notes of music.

  “Hold on, Elias. I’ll stabilize you in just a moment,” the woman said. I still couldn’t orient myself enough to look around and see her. I stared at Pritch instead, struggling to speak.

  “Where are we?” I mustered.

  “Our control node. We need to show you something.” Pritch answered.

  “W-we?” I stuttered. “Who else is here?”

  Pritch started to help me walk, bringing me out of the darkness and toward an orchid-colored glow.

  “Oh, come on, Elias. You’re too smart to be this dumb,” Pritch said. “Take a wild guess.”

  My senses were beginning to fall back into place, slowly. I considered Pritch’s words and all I had heard from the other woman. The realization struck me like a shot to the gut.

  “Your Substratum,” I ventured cautiously. I hoped I was wrong. I couldn’t imagine being so close to the woman behind Livia Pritch’s creation.

  “Ooh, clever boy. First try and everything,” Pritch confirmed.

  I felt a knot twist itself tight in my stomach. Fear rose at the back of my throat like bile.

  “Why did you bring me here?” I asked. “We’re too close! Too exposed!”

  “What did you think, Elias?” The woman behind the orchid glow asked. “You could do all of this without meeting me?”

  “No I…I just didn’t think I would be so entangled in you,” I admitted.

  As the last of the Shifts subsided, my vision cleared. I saw where the orchid glow was coming from: a massive set of holographic displays. In front of it, a woman sat in a hollow, floating orb that was turned to face me.

  “It must be hard, being face to face with your mistakes,” She muttered sullenly. The woman stared at me from behind a pair of rimless glasses. She resembled Pritch in some vague, altered sense. She had a delicate nature to her looks that Pritch lacked. Her looks didn’t scream to be noticed like Pritch’s, but she was still pleasant to my eyes. Her long auburn hair was kept in a low fishtail braid that hung over her shoulder.

  “I’m sorry we had to meet like this,” I said. I thought I knew how guilty I felt for what I had done to Pritch. Nothing could have prepared me for standing in front of her wounded soul.

  “Me too,” She said, standing up from her seat within the floating orb and walking toward me. She stopped just short of me and held out her hand. “I’m Amersyn Canedo.”

  I looked at her hand like it was a loaded slugger. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

  “You owe me this and more for intruding into my mind,” She said, determined.

  “I do, I know, and I promise I will make it up to you. Right now, we have to wake you both up. We need Pritch’s Incarnum moving again if we’re going to get out of the building,” I explained.

  She dropped her hand and looked back toward the display screens. “Elias. We’re not going to be able to use our Incarnum. That Impulsate shattered our spine. Without repairs, the Incarnum is useless.”

  “What?! No!” I nearly shouted, walking past Amersyn to examine the screen myself. “You don’t have any backups? Redundant systems?”

  “They were damaged as well. It’s a miracle we even survived at all,” Amersyn said.

  “Fuck!” I couldn’t keep myself from shouting.

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  “I know this isn’t what you wanted to hear, but you’re going to reach the same conclusion I have. It’s over,” Amersyn said.

  “No. There has to be some way. There has to be something I can do!” I exclaimed.

  “I’m open to suggestions,” Amersyn said, stepping beside me.

  My mind began to race as I searched for a solution to the problem. Heat and tension grew within me as each new approach ended with the same conclusion. I pushed further, stressing every thought and capability I had in pursuit of a solution. I felt something warm trickle down my lips. I raised my hand to my mouth, and my fingers came away stained in red. My consciousness was bleeding.

  “Elias, please, stop. There’s no sense in burning out your synapses for an answer that isn’t there,” Amersyn insisted.

  “I am not going to leave you,” I said.

  “I didn’t say you had to,” Amersyn replied, her tone softening.

  “This isn’t over. I promise you this isn’t over,” I said.

  “Don’t make promises you can’t possibly keep,” Amersyn said.

  I wiped the last of the blood from my lip and looked between Amersyn and Pritch. “I give you my word. I will get you both out of here, even if it’s the last thing I ever do.”

  I was resolute; I could feel it in my soul. Amersyn and Pritch still looked unsure, but I didn’t blame them. I hadn’t ever done anything to make them believe in me. Why would they trust the man who had betrayed them out of cowardice?

  Elias, get out here! We’ve got company headed our way! Isbrand’s voice boomed in my mind.

  More Orgiastics? I asked, keeping the question within my own mental space. There was no need to scare Amersyn and Pritch.

  No, J-readings are still dead. Someone is coming straight for us, but I’m not getting anything from the Dice network. Isbrand explained.

  That didn’t make any sense. If it were a Dice team, they would broadcast the appropriate identifying signals to show their position on our scanned maps.

  “I’ve got to go back out. Isbrand is telling me something is happening. Can you at least connect to your Incarnum to keep in touch?” I asked urgently.

  “We’ll only have mental communication,” Amersyn warned, sitting back down in the orb and manipulating the display screens.

  “That’s all we’ll need. Push me out.” I assured her.

  “Do not do anything reckless on my behalf, Elias,” Amersyn said, turning back to me.

  “I thought you told me not to make promises I couldn’t keep?” I asked.

  “You heard me, damn it,” Amersyn said, sounding flustered.

  I felt a hand on my shoulder. Pritch was standing beside me again.

  “You aren’t allowed to die before you pay me back for all the shit you’ve pulled,” Pritch warned me while smiling. “Now get the fuck out of our head.”

  Suddenly, I was sinking. The world rose around me as my body dissolved into the floor. I felt the familiar onset of Incarnated travel. I closed my eyes and surrendered to the force pulling me away.

  “It’s about time you got here!” Isbrand said. My eyes shot open to see him standing nearby. I was back in the control node of Isbrand’s Incarnum.

  “How close are they?” I asked, bringing up a display from Isbrand’s sensors.

  “Nearly on top of us. We’re back at the chamber’s entrance. They should be coming from the tunnel we first arrived from,” Isbrand explained.

  “Alright. I’m shifting to the OVM,” I said, closing my eyes and slipping back into the egg. I appeared over Isbrand’s shoulder, looking down at his crawling form. He had managed to drag us much further than I’d thought possible, but we were nowhere near safety. I saw a light flood down from the tunnel ahead of us. That was no Orgiastic, but I remained cautious.

  “Who the fuck is that?! Identify yourself before you catch a slug!” Isbrand shouted down the tunnel.

  “Whoa, whoa! Stand down, Caldburn! It’s me! Sergeant Hayward!” I heard a familiar voice call to us.

  “Hayward? What the fuck are you doing down here?!” Isbrand asked. “Why aren’t you on the Dice network?”

  “Because I’m not here on Dice payroll right now! You want to keep questioning me, or do you want my help?!” Hayward shouted back.

  Whatever this is, we don’t have another option: stand down. I thought to Isbrand.

  Just keep your guard up! Isbrand warned.

  “We could use your help, Sergeant. We’re just a bit thrown off by your arrival like this,” I answered Hayward.

  “I’ll say. You both look like shit, even from here,” Hayward said, drawing closer. “Just hang tight; I’ve got a ROVER to get you out of here.”

  I could hardly believe what I was hearing. Dice worked with ROVER units whenever they needed to extract people or valuable equipment from unstable urban environments. ROVER stood for ‘rescue operation verticle egress robot’.

  “What did you mean about not being on Dice payroll right now?” I asked, remembering Isbrand’s warning.

  “I’m being generously compensated to ignore protocol and save your ass; you’re welcome, Caldburn,” Hayward said, finally reaching us. He looked somewhat harried himself, his journey through the bacchanal couldn’t have been an easy one.

  “Fine. We can discuss the particulars later. Take Pritch out first; she’s in worse condition than I am,” I explained.

  Hayward nodded and removed the ROVER unit from his back. When not in use, it looked like an oversized backpack. He briefly ran back down the tunnel, kneeling and interfacing with the unit. When he had finished, he left the ROVER on the ground and returned to us. The machine came to life, morphing before our eyes. It grew into a large, square platform that clamped metal spikes into the ground beneath it as an anchor. Four pillars shot into the tunnel’s ceiling, one from each platform corner. A lattice of glowing wires grew between each pillar and spun upwards, carving through the ceiling quickly. Debris fell in a pile around the platform as the pillars extended up, cutting through everything in their way.

  “Express exit to the main floor. I’ll never get tired of Dice equipment,” Hayward mused.

  “I’m inclined to agree at this moment, Sergeant,” I said. I was starting to hope we might be saved.

  Amersyn, Pritch, we’re in contact with a Dice agent now. They’ve got a ROVER for us. I’m sending you out first. I extended my thoughts to Pritch’s Incarnum.

  Seriously?! That’s fucking great! I could kiss that son-of-a-bitch! Pritch thought loudly.

  The ROVER is being deployed now. You’ll be on your way to the surface soon. I explained.

  I guess you will get the opportunity to make amends, Elias. Amersyn thought. She sounded relieved.

  I hoped this would be enough to— my thoughts were cut short when a warning message scrolled across my vision.

  The J-readings were spiking. I scrambled to scan for the source. It was coming from the chamber behind us. I couldn’t fathom how, but the Harlot Queen’s corpse gave off new joy.

  “Hayward, we’re in trouble. Something is still alive in the chamber. Take Pritch and get the fuck out of here!” I shouted, holding Pritch’s body out to him.

  “What the fuck do you mean?! I thought you killed everything!” Hayward exclaimed.

  “So did I!” I shot back. “Just take her and go!”

  “What about you?! I only get paid if both Dealers make it back!” Hayward protested.

  “Send the ROVER back down when you can, but Pritch goes first!” I insisted.

  “Shit! Fine! I’m sending it back down as soon as we’re clear. Be ready!” Hayward said, taking Pritch in his arms. He started toward the ROVER platform.

  A guttural scream echoed out from within the brood chamber. Isbrand shifted his hulking frame to guard the tunnel entrance.

  “I don’t understand. How could she still be alive? I felt her mind die!” I said.

  “The core! What about the Impulsate core?” Isbrand asked.

  “Oh no…” I muttered. Dread crept over me. “We didn’t destroy it, but surely it’s not enough to resurrect her. It should just wither away!”

  “I don’t think that’s the Queen screaming…” Isbrand said. “I think it’s the last thing she gave birth to.”

  At that moment, I was struck by a memory: the chanting of the Orgiastics after we had killed their champion.

  They had promised he would be reborn.

  The screaming thing in the chamber was not the Harlot Queen.

  It was the Seneschal, risen anew.

  Odarask, ascendant.