A/N Will tries to enlist the help of Hollow Earth. Helen and Nikola put their heads together. And John meets our Shadowy assailant...
FOURTEEN
When the Big Guy entered the sick room to bring the next round of medication drips for Ylerin he was hit by the scent of death. It clung to the curtains, it circled heavy in the air and it framed her face even as she sat up in bed to greet him. His people had always been superior healers for their reverence and connection to all life, and he recognized a dying thing when he saw one.
She seemed to sense his hesitation even though he showed no outward sign of it, and smiled wanly as he changed her drip feeds.
"From what I have come to understand of humans, they are ruled by this fear of death," she remarked casually as he checked her pulse. "We merely view it was a passage to a greater time."
He grunted softly. "My people call it the Next Journey."
Her eyelids grew heavy as the painkillers entered freshly into her system. "Do your people have something similar to our goddess?"
"He who walks through the silent forest. The old father."
She blinked slowly, struggling with the overwhelming urge to sleep. "I am old. Worn. Like a leaking sieve, I can feed and fill myself over and over again but I am slowly trickling away. Soon it won't be worth the effort it will take to sustain myself." She smiled to herself, as if chancing upon a happy recollection. "The humans … they are so quaint, aren't they? They are only here for such a short time that they never really get to do or finish anything. They build great monuments in the hopes their legacy will be remembered once they pass. Even the blood demon hasn't gotten over that conceit."
The Big Guy grunted. "Conceit's the word for him, alright."
She gave a soft laugh, sinking further into the bed. "Yes. But I guess it would be a pity for beings to live only so long and have the majority of their time plagued by misery and a shadow war."
The Big Guy understood the knowing look she gave him and tucked her arm under her blanket so she wouldn't catch a chill. "I won't let Doctor Magnus know. In your own time."
"My thanks, son of the old father." She finally let her eyes close and fell into a light sleep, conserving her energy. She didn't hear as the Big Guy slipped out of the room and turned out the lights.
"I'm afraid Dr. Zimmerman that I simply can't allow that kind of information to be free domain to whoever asks. You know as well as I the right to confidentiality that carries from Hollow Earth to the surface. Hollow Earth will not be breaking that understanding."
Oh, Hollow Earth. Will had to fight down the urge to kick over his desk, especially with the impassive Ranna watching from the other end of the video feed. Uptight, all of them. He had never had to deal with so much red tape before.
"Have you had dealings with anyone on the surface who isn't connected to the Sanctuary network?"
She looked rather offended and her smile became more plastic and icy. He could feel the biting rebuke in her tone. "Dr. Zimmerman, we have no obligations to deal with the Sanctuary exclusively or for you to make such demands, so I would keep the accusatory tone of your voice in check. We also have no obligation to impart that kind of information, but to set your mind at ease – no, Hollow Earth in an effort to preserve a secure level of discretion has only dealt with Sanctuary operatives."
Will was mildly ashamed that he had come to this, but he began pleading with the video screen. "Ranna, I'm not asking for anything that would require a security clearance. This wouldn't jeopardize you or Hollow Earth – but it will help us clear Magnus' name. Please."
Ranna stiffened. "I'm afraid what your thoughts are in terms of security clearances doesn't inform our policies. Now if you'd excuse me, I have another appointment."
The screen went blank and Will let his head fall to his desk. A bust. Damnit. He was about to cut the video feed when Aurelian stayed his hand.
"Wait."
A few seconds later and the video feed terminated from Hollow Earth's end. "What is it?"
Aurelian nodded towards the video screen. "She is clever at hiding her true thoughts, but I believe I saw something contrary to her words. A desire to help you … a need for secrecy … but to do so would be improper? Something she had to do quietly."
Will thought on that for a moment and then radioed for Henry. "Hank, I need you to go over this copy of the video conference I just had. It might be in the last few seconds of transmission. A hidden file, some compressed data – anything. We'll have to hunt for it."
If Ranna had sent them something then Henry would be able to find it. Will looked up at Aurelian with a half-hearted grin. "I just want to see the look on Magnus' face when we beat her to punch while she's holidaying in England. It'll kill her."
Aurelian blinked. "Your sense of competition is confusing and mildly disturbing, William."
Helen stirred slightly, slipping slowly back into wakefulness. She felt soft sheets … she was still wearing her clothes … not her own bed, then. The room was dark but there was the ghost of illumination coming from the distance.
She opened her eyes and absently curled her fingers around the hotel blanket. She was still shaking off the warm, soft cocoon of sleep. What time was it? How long had she been sleeping?
Nikola was at the small table at the other end of the hotel room, sparks flying from a small acetylene torch he held in his hand. He shot over his shoulder, "You snore."
Helen blinked, as if to see if she were still dreaming, and dryly remarked, "Nikola, you'll burn down the hotel doing that. Can't you wait until you have a proper workstation?"
He snorted. "How long was I at the Waldorf? I never burned down my room there."
Helen shook the pleasant heaviness from her limbs and walked over to where he was working. It appeared to be a small generator of some kind. "That's the bait?"
"It is indeed," he murmured as he soldered a small plate back into place. Tapping his finger lightly against the rapidly cooling metal, he held it up so she could have a better look. "All I have to do now is calibrate it so it projects an energy signature identical to one of John's zorts."
Helen pulled a face. "Zort?"
"Yeah, you know…" Nikola made a flapping motion with his hands. "…when he teleports."
"You really are horrible at naming things."
He glared at her and set the delicate instrument down. She saw now it was a small, beautiful sphere of glass, metal and wires. She picked it up and saw a small groove in the surface, and Nikola noted, "That would be the on switch."
"You're positive it will work?"
"Oh, don't insult me with your doubt. It will work beautifully. The question is … what the hell do we do once we get it to chase after us?"
Helen passed the sphere back to Nikola. "I have been thinking of that. The elemental entered John when he first started teleporting and it managed to become part of him during transit when he became converted into energy. We need to find a way to trick it, to keep it in a permanent state of transit or mid-conversion as it were."
"To prevent it from ever finalizing the process…" Nikola frowned. "That's like keeping a time bomb. In a crystal box. There are so many things that could happen, an unwanted power surge, a structural flaw, a depleted power source – all it takes is a nanosecond and the elemental is free again."
"An EM shield doesn't have the possibility of a structural flaw."
"It also doesn't have a perpetual power source." Nikola sighed, rubbing his face tiredly as he held the small sphere up.
"Well, there are certain organic materials that block electro-magnetic transmissions. It would keep the elemental from ever finishing transit. Stick it in there."
"For an earthquake to come around, break the structure and set it loose again."
Helen clasped Nikola's hand and spoke to him mock-sternly. "Pessimist. We can't solve it all in one night. At least we find it temporary housing until we find a better solution or find a way to neutralize it completely." She quirked a smile at him. "I never thought you would run yourself in circles to help John."
Nikola looked disgusted. "It's an intellectual puzzle I have to solve or I'll go mad. And you know it. Don't pervert it into some misguided sense of duty."
"Nikola the Noble. Defender of the weak." Helen laughed at the pained expression on his face.
"Now, when you're quite done making fun of me, send these to your wolf boy." Nikola handed her a small data card he had modified to fit into her phone. "It's all the plans I need to reconstruct my second prototype of the Wardenclyffe tower … the transmission system we'll use to broadcast John's zort signal."
Helen took the card and her face darkened as she was struck by a thought. "Nikola … all that energy … yes it might be initially attracted to the energy signature but once it arrives – you're a veritable feeding ground for it. What will you do to protect yourself?"
Nikola shrugged. "I'll figure that out on the flight." He saw the scandalized look on her face and shooed her away. "Plans – wolf mutt – now."
Helen inserted the card into her phone and began messaging Henry, trying to keep her anxiety at bay.
"Has he responded at all?"
"No, sir. We haven't managed to get any sort of reaction from him, but his main systems are beginning to fail."
The man with gray hair looked over at the computer screen with a grim look on his face, his meek attendant standing nervously by. He gave a surreptitious nod to John Druitt as he inspected the findings. John felt his hackles rise at the sight of the man, but kept a calm exterior. He could sense another predator and this man reeked of it.
Whatever the results stated, the man gave away nothing in his face. He calmly walked over to John with a pleasant, benign smile on his face. John looked up through hooded eyes, the blue energy crackling around him.
"Well, Mr. Druitt you've been inside our sphere now for forty-eight hours longer than is quite safe for a normal human being. But you … you're more special than that, aren't you? Nevertheless, still so very human. The rate of your decline will increase exponentially over the next thirty-six hours. You are going to die, Mr. Druitt. You will hang there suspended as your lungs fail, your liver bleeds, and your immune system begins to cannibalize itself."
John gave a hollow laugh that rumbled deeply in his chest, but gave an unfortunate burble. The man continued to smile pleasantly at him.
"We wanted to help you, John – may I call you John? But perhaps you feel as if the elemental inside you makes you special. Makes you more than human. You're wrong. You are no more special than the other billions of people who walk this earth and rule and destroy it as they see fit. You don't even have the distinction of living as a good man. Frankly, it'll be a blessing once you die and finally your blood-soaked legacy ends with you."
To John's dismay he couldn't stop the wet cough that had birthed with his laugh, it tickled inside his chest and finally squirmed its way up his throat. His lips were speckled with his own blood as he coughed into his collar, angry that he had shown any sign of weakness to this gray-haired man.
The man's eyes flashed at him, a sense of vindication, and John noticed the man's pupils were slit like a cat's. The man was an abnormal.
"You're a perversion of nature … only abnormal because you stole the powers of another being by injecting yourself with its blood. A mutation. An aberration. A freak. Same with everyone in the Five, including the precious Doctor Magnus. Trying to play God without ever thinking of the consequences."
John knew he had to keep his temper in check, that the energy cage wouldn't allow him to cross its barrier, but he wanted so very much to grab the man by the neck and show him exactly what an "aberration" could do.
"I wonder if you're still human enough to feel fear…" The man whispered, and then turned away from him and walked out of the room.
John lowered his head, licking the blood from his lips and trying to breathe calmly and evenly so he wouldn't cough up anymore. He was afraid, but not for himself, and he knew that was the strength he had to hold onto.