Scene 30: The Deceiver

The Atlas engine room.

ZAYD-NEIL:  You speak of Samael.

And how is my master?

He is well, I trust?

ERIMENTHA:  Samael is no master

He will never be.

ZAYD-NEIL:  I recognize no other.

ERIMENTHA:  Then you have confirmed 

the evidence all around us.  That you are

a thief and murderer... and alone.

ZAYD-NEIL:  What makes you think

I am alone?  I have you.

Drones march out from just beyond
the shadow of darkness against the walls.

ZAYD-NEIL:  And my companions, of course, also.

ERIMENTHA:  More abominations.

Machines fueled by murdering

the Chosen.

ZAYD-NEIL:  What shall you do, if it is so?

Do you have the strength to stand against me?
Did your Masters gift you with enough?
Is your faith in them secure?
Do be careful to not waste
the blood. And beware
whose you spill.

ERIMENTHA:  Why don't I know you?

ZAYD-NEIL:  That, Perdeus, is the right question.

To which I doubt you will live to find or
understand the answer.  Unless...

ERIMETNHA:  How do you know me?

ZAYD-NEIL:  I am very near to you.
And always have been all the days
of your life in the Order.
In a manner of speaking,
I am responsible for watching
over you more than any other.

AARON:  Are you going to
give a straight answer?

ZAYD-NEIL:  I do not answer to

a mere Touched.  However...

leave me that Untouchable 

and the Shadow's Heart.

And you may go.

He points at Esben.

AARON:  I don't think we'll be giving him to you.

ZAYD-NEIL:  Everything that this ship touches

is already in my possession.  I am Zayd-Neil.

AARON:  Well that's a name, at least.

ZAYD-NEIL:  Corruption of the blood, this one.

ERIMETNHA:  How did you get passed
the Republic's blockade?

ZAYD-NEIL:  I permit their presence.

Do not make too much of them.

I prevent the coming and going

of Janriel.  And I saw you.

RUNE:  We could have flown

right passed you if it wasn't

for our guardian angel here.

ZAYD-NEIL:  You should not show such

insolence to a servant of the Order.

She knew the danger in coming here.

Though, she lacks the wisdom for it.

ERIMENTHA:  How have you

escaped our notice?

ZAYD-NEIL:  Samael created me in 

defiance of the Order.

He sent me here to

wait for you.

ERIMENTHA:  Me?

ZAYD-NEIL:  You are no ordinary, Chosen.

Perdeus, you have the line of the Masters.  

Your blood is your own.  And finally,

you are Samael's child.

ERIMENTHA:  I don't believe you.

ZAYD-NEIL:  Why would I lie?

NICODEMUS:  Ha!  Why wouldn't you?

A Master is someone to farm out

to equip other Chosen for cannon fodder.

ERIMENTHA:  This is not the time for your sacrilege.

NICODEMUS:  There might be a lot of ritual around it
but that's what you do.  And don't let your pride be a way
for him to get in your head. The other Masters would have
never let you come here alone if you were one of them.
Stay focused on the mission.

ZAYD-NEIL:  What mission?  You came looking

for Samael.  And he is not here.
You and I might find him together.
Abandon these violent vagrants.

Everyone has circled up and watch all around themselves, but each mind now drifts to Erimentha's apparent contemplation as silence falls.  And each must resist the urge to look and examine her face for themselves lest an attack should rain down.  

Their muscles tense, the butts of rifles press into shoulders, and Nicodemus prepares to shift his weight at a moment's notice to train his weapon on a new enemy.  She sighs her resolution, which causes the rests' hearts to stop rather than bring relief.

ERIMENTHA:  I am a Chosen.  My family is the Order.
And I might not be alive if it weren't for my friends.
These proofs of courageousness outside the Order.
I do not believe in you.  I am no child of Samael.
But if he has taken a disciple then you must be
stopped from carrying on his teachings.

ZAYD-NEIL:  Come.  And stop me, then.

Aaron blasts the catwalk with one powerful
shot and ejects the spent cartridge from his pistol.

AARON:  Thought you'd never ask.

The black blood surges from the ship's power core, flowing over their heads to where the catwalk was destroyed, and Zayd-Neil rides the energized sludge down in a crashing torrent.  Aaron takes up the long rifle, but amidst the explosions Zayd-Neil disappears into the void as he must have done before.

Everyone is thrown off their feet by the flood and crash into the walls on all sides to end up ensnared in the ink-covered surface.  The floor vanishes beneath the dark shallow sea.  Half-submerged, some lie on their backs or else stand against the wall with only their faces above the surface.  Zaid-Neil looms over Aaron, himself.

ZAYD-NEIL:  You're more trouble 

than you're worth, Touched.

AARON:  Ms. Perdeus?

ERIMENTHA:  Still here.

AARON:  You feeling recovered, yet?

She tries to pull an arm

free and fails to do so.

ERIMENTHA:  Never better.

AARON:  Mr. Clemence.

NICODEMUS:  Yeah?

AARON:  You said we might experience 

some enhanced regeneration?

NICODEMUS:  I said don't find out.

AARON:  We're about to.

Aaron fires the long rifle, which clings to his leg but he had managed to keep a hand around the trigger.  The shot rips his right calf, but also flies on into Zayd-Neil's shins.  The mysterious masked man collapses to his hands and knees.

Nicodemus and Esben begin to successfully strain against and stretch the black blood.  Erimentha envelops herself in a soft glow, which continues to push and contract embattling Zayd-Neil's will.

TULIA:  It's loosening up!

AARON:  Aaaagh!  That's it?

ERIMENTHA:  Do it again!

AARON:  No thanks.  

It's someone else's turn.

The chamber deafens with an incomprehensible sound.  Esben's roar is garbled from his face nearly being covered over.  As much as it tries, the black blood cannot grab him.  But it still can violent push Esben and so has required the most focus from Zayd-Neil to keep up the constant pressure to pin the creature down.

TULIA:  You're the only one with a shot, soldier boy.

Aaron lifts his head and fires again in the midst of tendrils wrestling for the weapon.  Zayd-Neil has the presence of mind to brace with a shield barrier, but meanwhile Esben's nose breaks the surface like in a placid pool.

Esben falls forward and is free and releases his sword from the wall with a slice.  He proceeds to slash at the ground and the black blood retreats before him.  However, the dark matter goes into the various silent sentinels standing watch in the chamber.  External motors spool up to cause local black blood to swirl around them and enter their mechanisms.

The nearest drone casts a pillar of energy, which Esben sidesteps and chops down on.  He waists no time slicing at the wall around Nicodemus.  And though the black blood still tries to keep hold of him, Nicodemus rips free.  Just as Mr. Clemence lands on solid ground Esben is thrown back with a solid hit.  Caught off guard, he drops the sword.

The hairy creature rolls to his hands and knees and roars pitifully at the folly.  Several streams of small tendrils flow toward the blade.  Nicodemus steps on the sword to deny it to them and blisters the drone with a hail of fire.  He then kicks back the weapon so that it skitters and skates across the floor to sail into Esben's fingers.

Nicodemus then turns on Zayd-Neil who encases himself in a thin opaque shell, but flashes a luminous view of the interior with each concussion.  The Prestmoor relentlessly marches forward.

ZAYD-NEIL:  Defend me!

NICODEMUS:  Go for him!

Esben roars, preoccupied with
releasing Tulia, Ross and Rune.

NICODEMUS:  I'm too exposed here!

He flinches at an incoming strike to his
right from one of the drones, but the
attack is stopped by a white barrier.

ERIMENTHA:  I am with you.

She wraps herself in light and times
each barrier to foil a strike on Nicodemus.

As the others are freed they attack the drones
with impunity, largely ignored in favor of
Nicodemus, apart from occasionally
being swatted away.

Tulia dodges a number of such strikes in
drawing attention while she heads for Aaron.

She blazes around him with laser fire
and as the black blood retreats he
cries out in agony.  She sees the leg.

TULIA:  I'll get pressure on it.

AARON:  Just put it back.

Bring the blood back.

TULIA:  You're delirious.

One of Ross's grenades explode on the opposite
side of the room.  A small wave ripples along
the wall and washes over Aaron's face.
She shoots around him to no affect and is caught
by it when she attempts to rip it away with her hands.

TULIA:  Esben!

Her shriek breaks Erimentha's concentration
and Nicodemus receives a small slice to the
shoulder and back.  Esben destroys one of the
last drones and rushes to stab into Zayd-Neil's
besieged dome barrier and hold it there.

TULIA:  I think we're losing him.

Esben shakes his head at himself with a sniff.

Erimentha places her phosphorus fingers
on the dome, standing next to Esben.

ERIMENTHA:  Go help him.

She presses her hands further up to the elbow.
Her arms create two columns of light penetrating
the membrane, but are still held at bay by a great
deal of resistance from the black blood.

Esben carves Aaron from the wall as the blood will not
retreat as it once did before.  Tulia's hands are freed,
but the blood dies and solidifies around Aaron.

He chips away at the stone, but Esben discovers that
the blade does not cut like it once did when the blood
was alive.  He glances at Tulia who shares his concern.
Esben then rises and points the sword straight down.
He stabs and only penetrates with the tip of the blade.

Tulia, Rune and Ross join Esben in grabbing the hilt
and press down.  The sword slips an inch and the rock
cracks along the spine.  They clear away the debris.

They uncover Aaron's face and his eyes are fixed.

TULIA:  Damn it.

RUNE:  Tulia, your hurt.

He takes her hand and shows her a gash on the palm
that she got from the blade when the sword slipped.

TULIA:  We're too late.  

Aaron's dead.

ROSS:  No he's not.

What are you talking about?

To her left she sees Sweets' face.

SWEETS:  (distant voice) Look again.

She glances down to see Aaron's
eyes closed, but still breathing.

TULIA:  But I thought...

RUNE:  We have to get out of here.

Overhead, the core delivers another pillar of black blood to Zayd-Neil.  Erimentha removes one hand from the dome and raises her own barrier to block Zayd-Neil's replenishment.  The driving force of holding the core's power aloft pushes her shoulder deep into the dome barrier.  In a flash, Zayd-Neil reaches up and pulls her the rest of the way in.

ZAYD-NEIL:  Witness a truth.

He places a hand over her eyes and Erimentha sees visions of her training as a child in the Order.
She stands among rows of others on a circle of grass in a walled courtyard performing martial exercises.  Several Masters stand all around so that they might create cascades of light over them.  She giggles at one ribbon that dances around her hands and across her fingers.  Looking into the light she sees a vision of a butterfly at rest gently flapping its wings.

In this way they were anointed as Touched.

MASTER:  Your hands have been blessed.

You are destined to do many good works.

The child smiles up at her teacher.
She looks passed him and sees
Zayd-Neil leaning against the wall.
He claps enthusiastically for her.

ZAYD-NEIL:  Good job!  

Way to go, Ms. Perdeus!

She frowns.

ERIMENTHA:  You don't belong her.

ZAYD-NEIL:  How could I miss your

graduation in the Order?  From here

you will go on to adulthood.

You are a young woman now.

She smiles despite herself.

NICODEMUS:  Ha!

Nicodemus marches from the yard archway and causes
the other children in his path to scatter before him.

NICODEMUS:  Adult?  You're nothing but a child.

ERIMENTHA:  You were never here.

NICODEMUS:  Neither was he.

ZAYD-NEIL:  Remember me, my dear.  

I remember you.  You are special to me.

I never missed one of your celebrations.

NICODEMUS:  He's right.  You should remember.

Every exercise they ever gave you that was supposed 

to make you someone special just made you one of many.  

Fodder for the Order is what you are.  Fodder you will 

become unless you can choose to change course.

ZAYD-NEIL:  I have always been with you.

ERIMENTHA:  His presence is familiar.

You don't believe in me?  Who are you?

NICODEMUS:  You are a child of the Order.  And you have always 

known it thanks to me.  I am your doubt that the Order could never fill.  

You know you have not grown as you should.  That is why you hate me.  

I represent knowledge outside the Order.  I was forbidden to you by 

the walls, but there was always an open gate you.  You chose to stay in.  

Because the Masters promised you power.  And look at what your 

arrogance has wrought.  Erimentha Perdaus, you have led the only 

friends you ever had to their deaths!  Look and see.

ERIMENTHA:  No, it's not true.

Aaron appears slumped at Zayd-Neil's feet.

ZAYD-NEIL:  The Order promised that you would go on 

to do great things.  Join me.  Defeat me.  It doesn't matter.  

I will still love you no matter what you decide.

NICODEMUS:  Is that your sign of greatness?

She looks at Aaron, again.

NICODEMUS:  He believed the most in you.

ZAYD-NEIL:  I believe in you, Erimentha.

Show me your power.

NICODEMUS:  When did he ask for power?

Her child eyes become 

hard at Zayd-Neil.

ERIMENTHA:  I have been a child.

I followed the Masters blindly.

Her child self grows into her true form.

ERIMENTHA:  I will play your game, no longer.

I will save my friends.  I will seek the truth.

Her vision self blasts Zayd-Neil in
the chest with a powerful beam of light.

She approaches him to discover an
exposed chest of damaged mechanism.

ERIMENTHA:  You are only a machine?

ZAYD-NEIL:  I am the way of the universe.

I am inevitable and relentless.  

I promise an age of peace.

ERIMENTHA:  Promise what you like.

And I will not remain ignorant of you.

Her eyes glow beneath Zayd-Neil's fingers.  He holds them there though they begin to burn.
Whereas Erimentha's powers before would manifest in white, now there is a yellow tinge
reminiscent of the sun.  This alteration starts in low, but the chamber stands frozen.

Nicodemus's bullets hang suspended in the air.  The crew are caught in the midst of picking up Aaron to carry.  The white flares of light permeate the dome barrier, but the yellow pierces and causes the black blood to crack.  The silence shatters as if the dome were glass and the yellow light overwhelms the chamber for the briefest moment and recedes to the engine room door where Erimentha stands.

She is flanked by the crew and the black blood
cascades down on Zayd-Neil's unsuspecting head.

ERIMENTHA:  Now's our chance to escape.

NICODEMUS:  What are you thinking?

We almost had him!

ERIMENTHA:  With all the drones gone, even if 

you had destroyed the core, where do you think 

all that power would go?  We have to leave.

RUNE:  Why the change of heart?

ERIMENTHA:  Nothing is how

I thought it would be.

PREVIOUS                                                                                                                                     NEXT