The Marriage of the Living Dark

Her fingers ceased their soothing motioa ‘Tes, my love”

“That part in your book about historical cycles and recurrence. What did you mean by that?”

She laughed. Had ever any of her lovers asked her such a question? No. At best it was “Was I good?” or “Can I see you again?” Never such interest in her work, her essential self.

“Just that there are recognisable patterns in history, and sometimes - just sometimes - it is as if all past history had not happened, and men were doomed to live through the same events again.”

“How do you mean?”

She traced the shape of his jaw with her fingers, remembering as she did how he had kissed her in the darkness that first time. “Well, take the First Emperor, for instance.” “Ch’in Shih Huang Ti?”

“Yes.” She smiled, pleased by his quickness. “One might say that he was a great man, yet he was also an ogre, an absolute tyrant, who made the lives of those beneath him utterly unbearable. Many millions died simply to glorify his ego, in the fulfilment of his schemes and in the building of his palaces and tomb. In his reign we can identify a number of dominant features: the drive to unify the world he knew - ancient China; the less admirable and yet no weaker drive to burn the history books and rewrite history, again to his own self-glorification. Further, we might note how, in his reign, ego came to outweigh wisdom, such that the man finally thought himself a god and sought to make himself immortal. In doing so he undid much of the good work he had brought about” “And?” Daniel turned, snuggling into her, his cheek nuzzling against her breast, against the sensitive bud of her nipple, making her almost want to forget the history lesson and make love to him again. But this was important As important as anything she might teach him.

‘Two thousand years later, another great man arose in China. His name was Mao Tse Tung. He ruled a land much greater than his predecessor, the First Emperor; a land with maybe ten times the population. Unlike Ch’in Shih Huang Ti, Mao spurned personal adornment He built no great palaces and tombs in his own honour. And yet the pattern of his days was much in accord with those of the Prince of Ch’in, for like the First Emperor, Mao let ego outweigh common sense. He thought himself a kind of god and one day decreed that men could grow five times the crop that they had previously grown on their land. They warned him, but he would not listen. In a single season he overthrew the wisdom of two thousand years. And, of course, disaster followed. Twenty million died of starvation.” Daniel looked up, intrigued. “Was Mao a Tang?” Hannah shook her head and smiled. “No, Daniel. Mao Tse Tung was Ko Ming. A rebel.” “A rebel?” Daniel laughed with disbelief.

“Oh yes,” she said, serious now. “Perhaps the greatest rebel the world has ever known. Yet, just like the First Emperor, he sought to burn the books, to bury alive those scholars that opposed him and rewrite history to suit his purposes. Yes, and so in love was he with revolution that he even set his people against one another, to keep rebellion alive. He destroyed the people’s love of knowledge and again millions died. And for what? To feed a vain man’s ego!” “And is that the pattern of history?”

She sighed. “It is. The greater the man, the greater the damage he can do. The finer his purpose - and what finer drive is there than to unify a people and give them stable laws? - the more chance there is of him falling into the pit of hell and taking all with him. So it was with the great Tyrant, Tsao Ch’un.” Of Tsao Ch’un even Daniel knew, for Tsao Ch’un had built Chung Kuo from the ruins of the old world. Had unified that world. “And DeVore ... is he another of this kind?”

“Far from it. DeVore is something new. DeVore is a breaking of that chain. Ch’in Shih Huang Ti, Mao Tse Tung and Tsao Ch’un ... they are like spans in a great bridge that crosses time, but DeVore ... with DeVore there is a gap. A breach. Why, I suspect that he isn’t even human!”

Daniel sat up, then wriggled round to face her.

“Not a man? Then what is he?”

She reached out to trace the shape of his face with the fingers of her right hand. Her nipples were hard now and looking at the beauty of him she wanted him again. “I do not know, Daniel. Yet I know he is the end of history. With him the story finally ends.”

For a moment he stared back at her, his eyes on hers, then, noticing her arousal for the first tine, he laughed.

“We should not be talking. Not if time is ending.”

“No,” she said softly. “No, my love. We should not.”

Da-neel pushed Lin Lao over, then, taking the butt of his rifle, smashed Lao’s right leg just below the knee.

“Da-neel?”

He met Emtu’s eyes and grinned. “I want him to limp. If s better if he limps.”

She gave a small “ah” of understanding, then looked back at the slope facing them. For all she knew they were already being watched, but Da-neel said no. From what Lin Lao had spilled to DeVore under torture, the rebels didn’t work that way. The faint glow of infrared from camera eyes could be seen from above, so the rebels didn’t use them. No, they used camouflage and sophisticated entry gates underground.

Finding a gate was hard. But not so hard as using one. Which was why they’d brought Lin Lao. His retinal print would be their key. Using him, they would walk straight into the heart of the rebel headquarters. Or so they hoped. Da-neel hauled Lin Lao to his feet again and had him walk backwards and forwards a moment, then nodded, satisfied. “Okay,” he said, “this is what you say. Tm hurt. Let me in.’ You’ve got that? Nothing more. Tm hurt. Let me in.’ And you keep saying it, like you’re exhausted and if s the only thing that’s in your mind. Right?” Against his will, Lin Lao nodded. “Okay,” Da-neel said. “Let me hear it” Lin Lao’s mouth opened silently, then, a moment later. “I hurr ... Lehr mee i.” “Again.”

“I hurr. Lehr mee i.”

Emtu laughed coldly. “You think they’ll understand that?” Da-neel looked to her. ‘If 11 have to do. Besides, if s the retinal pattern that’ll convince them. This is Mamma’s boy and she wants him back. She’ll let him in, don’t fear.” “And then?” Da-neel grinned. “And then mayhem.”

“I hurr. Lehr mee i.”

Mo Teng looked away from the screen, facing his fellow guard, then shook his head. “I don’t like it, Hun. Something’s wrong.” “But the print matches.”

“Sure, the print matches. But there’s something about him. His face. That look in his eyes.”

Hun made a noise of exasperation. “Yes, because he’s hurt! Like he says. Look at him. The poor boy’s barely holding himself together!” Mo Teng looked back and shrugged. “Maybe. But I’d be happier if Emily made this call.”

“Aiyal” Hun shook his head. “And have him bleed to death?”

“I don’t see any blood. Do you?”

“No, but...”

Outside the gate, Lin Lao seemed to shudder, then he fell head first “Oh, shit!” Mo Heng leaned across and placed his hand on the release pad. Hun smiled and slapped his own, then stood.

“Come on. Lef s give Lao a hand!”

“Not very original,” Emtu said, lowering her lens and looking to Da-neel.

“No, but it works.”

She watched him lift his gun and, as the first of the two figures emerged, fire the bolt It flew straight and true into the dark mouth of the gate, trailing the super-fine ice-wire thread that would cut in two anything that crossed its path, be it rock or flesh.

There was a cry from within the gate. The second man was hit Throwing aside the thread-gun, Da-neel lifted his rifle and, taking only a moment to aim, picked off the other guard.

He stood, turning to Emtu with a smile. “Come. If s open.”

There were gunshots, explosions. Daniel sat bolt upright, then slipped out from beneath the sheets and crossed the room, quickly stepping into his fatigues. He buckled on his gunbelt then straightened up, listening to the distant noises, trying to make out what part of the great underground warren they were coming from.

“Daniel?”

Picking up his gun, he turned, looking across at her.

“Something’s happening ...”

“I know. Should I come with you?”

“No. No, I...”

Daniel realised suddenly that it could all be over soon. That in a while he might easily be dead and that would be it Putting his gun down again, he went across and sat beside her, holding her to him, kissing her and stroking her hair, afraid suddenly to leave her. What if someone came while he was gone? He took a handgun from his belt and, quickly checking it was fully loaded, handed it to her.

“In case.”

She nodded. Then, with a final kiss, she pushed him from her. “Go on, Daniel. Emily will need you.” He grimaced. “Yes.” Then, “I love you, you know that?” Hannah smiled. “I know. Now go. And take care. Take good care, neh?”

Emily stopped and crouched, sniffing the air. The tunnel up ahead of her was dark. The lights had either failed or been shot out From what she could make out there were only a handful of DeVore’s men at most, but they were good. They had to be to survive more than ten minutes in this deadly warren.

The air blew cold from the darkness up ahead. Cold but not pure, for there was the stench of cordite and burned flesh.

So at last he’s found us, she thought The hour she’d feared was finally upon her. Now it was simple. Kill or be killed. Survive or die. The most brutal of equations. No love in it, and no compassion. And no deals. At last, no deals. She crept forward, listening for any sound, wishing now that she had remembered her helmet, knowing that if DeVore’s men had infrared they would be able to pick her off like a walking neon sign.

Careless. How unlike her to be so careless.

She stopped. Was that a noise, or had she imagined it? Silence. A long silence, and then... yes, a faint shuffling, as if someone were crawling forward on their knees and elbows. The sound of cloth on stone. Emily raised her gun, meaning to fire, yet even as she did there was a gunshot A bullet whistled past her ear.

She threw herself flat

Silence. Once more, a long silence. But now she knew there was someone there.

She let out a long, shivering breath, then spoke into the darkness.

“You missed.”

There was laughter; curiously familiar laughter, though she could not make out why.

“You have a sense of humour.”

Emily blinked, trying to make out where she’d heard that voice before. “You think this is funny, then?”

“Hilarious. You see, he doesn’t want you dead. But I do.”

The knowledge of who it was went through Emily like a shock. It was her double. Her other self, grown from her severed finger just as Eve was supposedly grown from Adam’s rib. DeVore’s plaything. His “woman”. “You’re not jealous, surely?”

“What do you think? He made me so he could have you. Or someone who looked like you. Do you know what that does to a woman? Why, he even aged me so I’d look haggard like you.”

“Haggard?” Emily laughed. “Well, looks don’t matter much in the dark do they, my pretty? And a corpse looks like a corpse, however much rouge you apply.” “Do you think thaf s what I am?”

Emily’s voice was cold now, hard. This thing was what she could have become.

What DeVore had wanted her to be.

“Why? What do you think you are? Alive? You were never that. Nothing he makes is truly alive.”

Two shots rang out, one high, one low. Both missed. Emily smiled. She hadn’t been sure at first, but now she was. It was even between them. They were both blind.

Emily closed her eyes, concentrating, preparing herself, then, steadying herself on one elbow, raised her gun and aimed.

There was another shot, but this time no bullet whistled past her.

There was a groan; a deep, anguished noise, tinged with pain. There were booted footsteps on the stone, and then the distinctive click of a gun-hammer being drawn back into the firing position.

The second shot was muffled; a wet, spattering sound.

Even in the darkness she could imagine it

Emily swallowed. “Who’s there?”

Two steps, then. “If s okay. She’s dead.”

“Daniel?” Relief flooded her. Clambering up, she took two steps towards him, then stopped. “Daniel?’

The dart hit her right shoulder and knocked her backwards, her gun spinning away from her in the dark.

Booted footsteps, and then someone leaned over her, his breath warm on her face.

“Almost right”

DeVore had landed cruisers on the northern slopes and flooded the entrance tunnels with his men. Now Daniel and a handful of survivors crouched in the trees below the western gate, waiting to see if anyone else would come out A huge pall of black smoke filled the sky above the mountain. A great roiling mass that threw its shadow over everything. The great roof of the rebel headquarters had buckled in that savage conflagration and caved in. Now only a massive blackened hole existed where their living quarters had once been.

The sight of it plunged Daniel into despair.

Emily was dead. He knew it for a certainty. And Hannah too. And soon he also would be dead, for there was no way they could defeat DeVore. Not now. But he would not go easy into the darkness. And if DeVore dared show himself - to gloat or simply to claim victory - he would have him. He looked about him. There were only fourteen of them left, himself included, and three of those were wounded badly. But they were well-armed and determined. They might yet prove a thorn in DeVore’s side.

“Okay,” he said. “Ifs time to hit back. We have two advantages. First, we know the tunnels better than they do. Second, they think they’ve won. They think they’ve only mopping up to do. They’ve relaxed. If we do this right, we could be in among them before they know what’s going on.” He saw one or two of them look down and frowned. “What is it?”

“They’re boys,” one of them mumbled. “They’re only boys.” “Boys with guns,” he answered. “Boys trained to hate. To kill.” “Yes, but...” “But nothing,” he said, more harshly than he’d meant Then, relenting, “Look. I know if s hard. I know if s against your instincts. But we can’t simply lie down and let them bury us. Not now. Not ever. We have to fight” “I don’t know,” the first of them said, shaking his head despairingly. “We’ve lost What point is there? They’ve taken Emily.” The words jolted Daniel. “They’ve what?” “They’ve taken her. Ho Jen and I saw it They must have drugged her. But we saw them carry her onto one of their cruisers.”

Daniel closed his eyes. Dead was bearable, but taken. He did not want to imagine what DeVore would do with Emily. “Did it leave? Did the cruiser go?” The man nodded. “Aiya...”

Then DeVore had her.

Grimacing, Daniel tore the rifle from his shoulder and began to load it “So what are we going to do?”

He turned to stare at the man. “We’re going to do exactly what I said. We’re going to go in there and kill as many of the little fuckers as we can.” “But why? It’s over. He’s won.”

Daniel swallowed bile. It was true. He even knew it was true. But the anger he felt would not be assuaged until...

“Daniel! Look!”

He glanced up, then turned, looking to where one of the men was pointing.

“What in the gods’ names ...?”

To the north-west three peaks dominated the skyline. Between the first and second of them the sky was slowly turning black.

A swarm. He’d swear it was some kind of swarm. Then he understood. Cruisers.

Hundreds upon hundreds of cruisers.

Daniel felt his heart sink. He threw the gun down, then sat, watching them come

on, the drone of their engines growing by

the moment

As the first wave roared overhead, he looked down, thinking of Hannah, hoping she had not suffered. Not that it mattered now. Not that anything mattered.

There was the sound of rapid gunfire, of rockets exploding. The ground trembled

beneath him. Frowning, Daniel looked

up.

“What the ...?”

Immediately in front of Mm, on his eyeline and barely five hundred metres away, three cruisers now hovered. Daniel swallowed, then stood again, his hands on his hips, facing them.

“Come on, then,” he said quietly. “Come on you bastards...” Behind him the mayhem went on; explosion after explosion. “Well?” he yelled, his voice echoing across the slope. “Don’t you want me?”

The central cruiser detached itself and drifted slowly towards him. Stooping, Daniel picked up his gun then straightened again. DeVore. It had to be DeVore. Well, let the bastard show himself.

A hundred metres off, the cruiser began to settle, turning slightly to the side as it touched down on level ground. The engines died, whining down into silence. Daniel smiled. If he’d only had a rocket-launcher. The other two cruisers still hovered there, their wing-mounted guns covering him, but Daniel was barely aware of them. His eyes were fixed upon the hatch, even as it hissed and fell open.

He raised the rifle to his shoulder and looked through the sight, taking aim.

One shot, that was all it would take.

If they let him.

But he doubted that they’d let him.

Daniel tensed, waiting.

The rounded rectangle of the hatch was dark, no shadows in it For a long, long

time nothing happened, and then someone stepped out, their shaven head emerging

into the light

Daniel narrowed his eyes, surprised.

Not DeVore ... Then who?

Golden robes. Flowing golden robes patterned with blood-red dragons. Beautiful Chinese dragons that floated on the golden silk like living creatures. The man walked towards him, then stopped, a faint smile on his oriental features, his open palms spread, his golden eyes burning like suns. “Daniel? It is the real Daniel, isn’t it?”

Daniel blinked. The man was unarmed. Completely unarmed “Who are you?”

The Han grinned. “Me? I’m King of America. Or so they tell me. And now I’m King of Europe, too. And King of the Wilds, come to that. But enough of me. Ifs you I’m interested in.”

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t shoot you?” “Hmmm...” The Han scratched his chin, then. “Well, for a start it might annoy your mother.”

“My mother?” Daniel shook his head. “My mother’s taken. DeVore has her.” “DeVore had her. But now I do. She’s inside.” The Han half turned, indicating the cruiser. “She’s a little groggy, I’m afraid, but she’ll be okay. Once the drugs have worn off.”

Daniel swallowed, steeling himself against believing it. He knew the tricks such

people played. To give you hope and then snatch it away. To break you with

despair. It was pure

Sun Tzu.

“I don’t believe you.”

“No?” The Han shrugged, then sadly. “Well, I guess I might be cautious, too, if I were you. But I’m not lying to you, Daniel, I swear. This is no time for lies.”

“I don’t...”

Daniel stopped. Behind the strangely-dressed Han, someone had stepped out from the hatch and onto the top of the ramp. Daniel blinked, then shook his head. Was it her, or was it just the copy?

Noticing his gaze, the Han turned and smiled. “Ah ... Mu Ch’in Ascher. You should not be up.”

She hobbled across, clearly in pain, her shoulder tightly bandaged.

“Daniel? Daniel... put down the gun.”

Despite himself, the sight of her filled him with joy. He wanted it to be her.

Wanted it desperately.

But what if this were some final little torment? Some subtle, nasty twist?

Games. The Man loves games ...

Though it ached now, he kept the gun steady at his shoulder. He saw how she shook her head with exasperation. So familiar that gesture. But what it really hers?

“Come now, Daniel. Either shoot us or throw the gun down.

Which is it to be?” He nudged the rifle barrel slightly to the side, gesturing

at

the Han. “Who is he?”

“You mean you don’t know?’

“Should P”

Her eyes were suddenly strange. She turned, looking at the Han as if seeing him anew, then smiled. “This, Daniel, is Li Yuan, Son of Li Shai Tung. I fought him once. But now ...”

“Li Yuan?” Daniel gave a laugh of disbelief. ‘The Tang?”

Li Yuan gave the slightest bow of his head. “The same.”

“But you ...”

“Were dead? No. Were exiled? Yes. Were wrong? Often. But now I’m back, Daniel, and I want you to come with me. Now do as your adopted mother says and choose, for I for one am growing cold and would as soon be dead as stand here on this mountainside in my silks!”

They rounded up all of their captives in one of the lower meadows, then sent a messenger up the mountain to let Li Yuan know.

He came down, still dressed in his golden silks, and stood before that silent, bare-headed host Beside him, Daniel looked on, impressed despite himself by the demeanour of the man who had once been ruler of Chung Kuo, and who now, at the end of that world’s days, was once again at the centre of it all. There were morphs here - the last of DeVore’s once great army of 40,000 creatures - and men, but mainly there were boys. Boys from the camps. Boys who, like Daniel, had never known anything but brutality. From their eyes Daniel could tell that they expected nothing now but death. Li Yuan went among them fearlessly, a piece of plain white chalk in his hand, meeting the eyes of each of them in turn, chalking the men and morphs, ignoring most of the boys.

When he was done, he looked to his General - a tall, stern-looking American with white hair and a neatly-trimmed goatee beard - and smiled humourlessly. “Those I’ve chalked die,” he said quietly. “The rest you release.” The man nodded and gestured to his waiting lieutenants, who at once turned away, to begin the work of separating the living from the dead. “Is that it?” Daniel asked. “Are we finished now?” Li Yuan looked to him. “Far from it There is one final battle to be waged before we go.”

“Go?”

“Didn’t she tell you?” Li Yuan smiled. “I guess it must have slipped her mind.