A Sense of Unity by Guy Haley

Who are the Prax?

Whomever they choose to be.

How do we treat the Prax?

With the greatest of respect.

How should we think of the Prax?

We do not think of them.

What is the appropriate response to the Prax?

The appropriate response is caution.

- Elementary Asterian Mantra, inculcated into all juveniles at the dawning of the Seventh Spring of life.

***

Kol Ho Min was in absolute accord with his surroundings when the Grand Kaidan Hai Xen came to shake his world.

At the centre of seventeen hundred square hu-bards of manicured perfection was the platform. At the centre of the platform was Kol Ho Min. All flowed out from him, and all was reflected back into him. At one with the universe, but apart, as it should be.

He let out a tremulous breath at the pleasure of unity, the only sign to any observer that he was alive at all.

Not that any did observe him. The gentle rhythms of the temple went on around him, disturbing him no more than wavelets lapping disturb the imperturbable rocks of the ocean. The monks and their acolytes knew better than to disturb such as Kol Ho Min at meditation. He was regarded with awe and a little terror.

Kol Ho Min was a master, a Fifth Hai-San of the Emerald Level, Cypher Squad Prime without compare. The many times he had turned down the honours of higher command had been taken without complaint; the Asterians believed that all things had a use they were best fit for, and who knew better than the object in question what use it suited? A hammer never desires to be a saw, was a common saying.

A hammer Kol Ho Min remained. He was the best of the Cypher Primes, and tutor to many lesser warriors of his rank, and so he was allowed to remain Hai-San and progressed no further through the ranks of the Asterian military command, although his grade of mastery brought much respect. Thus all was right with the universe.

As there were heroes of ancient days that were revered and looked up to, so Kol Ho Min was looked up to, and would doubtless be one day revered, when the time for his passing eventually came.

Kol Ho Min was the master of his body and soul. He was in complete control of his being, from the lowest vibrations of his elemental constituents, to the deep thought waves that came from the universal heart and into him and thence back out again, making of him one part of the whole but apart from the whole. A necessity in his line of work, for without such a high degree of unity, the meshing of spirit the Cypher riders underwent with their avatars would be unsure and prone to malfunction.

Such grace Kol Ho Min had, such unity. He was loved and envied in equal measure, a warrior without peer in his field.

Yet even Kol Ho Min knew fear when the Grand Kaidan Karoo Xen came to him in the garden of Yesterdays Temple and told him that the Prax would speak with him that afternoon.

***

Do not approach the Prax, Hai-San, do not anger him. Do not insult nor belittle him, whether by intention or by mistake. Do not

Kol Ho Min held up a gloved fist, silencing the Grand Kaidan. Please, great master, I am aware of the geas involved. I am aware of what must be done and what should not be done. I will not bring trouble upon the Tesseract through ignorance.

The Grand Kaidan bowed three times in quick succession, Kol Ho Min heard it in the rustle of his robes and the shift in his shuffling feet.

Very well, Hai-San. Very well.

Kol Ho Min wore his fine robes, yet not too fine. A high collared long shirt of dark grey, a metallic blue tabard over it. His supple limbs, slender to human eyes yet possessed of iron strength, were wrapped in prayer-bandages of second grade silk. One did not approach the Prax in first grade silks for risk of offending them with ostentation. Many other details of his garments were likewise ritually prescribed, from his heeled boots of scarlet to the dangling silver armlets clasped around his biceps. All was according to custom laid down in ages past, and Kol Ho Min had done it all correctly.

The two Asterians reached a long line of High Guard, their spears rising to the vertical with a whisper of silk and steel. Down the gleaming avenue of their yari blades went Kol Ho Min and Karoo Xen, coming finally to the slender arch of a bridge that connected the convoluted body of Jensing station with the Orb of Audience. Fretwork barriers guarded the edge, not detracting from the views of space above, below and all around them. The world of Elif, where Yesterdays Temple was situated, lay at Kol Ho Mins feet, a gleaming orb whose artful geoengineering was especially pleasing viewed from high orbit.

They reached the end of the bridge. The great doors, guarded by two pairs of semi-active proto-golems, slid aside.

Beyond the doors was the Orb of Audience. Within the Orb of Audience, was the Prax, which was as it should be. But the Prax was not at one with his surroundings as the Asterians were. He stood out, a blood flower in a field of dry grass. The Prax never had, nor ever would, find unity. The sensation of its individuality was as offensive to Kol Ho Min as the stink of rotting meat. The Prax knew this was how Kol Ho Min felt. Kol Ho Min knew the Prax knew he felt that way, but he did not allow it to show in his expression. And so the deadly charade began, the essential fear the Asterians had for the Prax buried under layers of ritual and custom.

One did not offend the Prax by showing fear. One did not offend the Prax at all.

The Prax could and did appear however they wished to be seen. The Prax was dressed today as an Asterian, lithe and tall, a face of beauteous symmetry, crimson eyes and long platinum hair tied up in the latest of the grander fashions.

Kol Ho Min began the fourteen passes of ritual approach, but the Prax stopped him halfway through the second. Do stop that, it is an enormous waste of time, and although I have time to spare, I think you do not. He smiled wolfishly. His movements were hyper-energised. No Asterian moved so. The Praxs true appearance was a mystery as deep as time, but they could never hide what they were, not truly.

Until that moment, Kol Ho Min did not know which Prax awaited him. Now he did. The Prax before him was simply known as the Poet. There were twenty-three Prax known to the Asterians. Each was different from the other in temperament and disposition, though all were mercurial and deadly. They were older than the Asterians by far, those who called themselves old.

One did not underestimate The Prax.

The Poet was among the worst of them; devious, his manipulations stretching across the galaxy and down the generations, sometimes seeming benevolent, sometimes anything but. He had interfered often with the Asterians, not always to good effect.

I greet you, Poet, said Kol Ho Min simply. You summoned me.

The Prax waved a jewelled hand at a chair. It took one opposite, avoiding the throne provided by the Asterians for visiting Prax. Come sit with me. I have a favour to ask.

Kol Ho Min raised an eyebrow.

Oh, dont look at me like that. I can ask a favour, cant I, as one sentient to another? You people really need to lighten up a little. We watched you crawl out of your caves and set upon the road to the stars. Always so serious, so guarded. You ought to take a leaf out of the humans book.

Kol Ho Min sat down. A servant rushed forward with a decanter of fine wine. They both took a glass. The humans are vermin, said Kol Ho Min. Destructive. It has been noted that they interest you more than we do in this era.

The Prax pursed his lips and nodded, waggling his head from side to side. No Asterian was ever so physically expressive. Mmm, yes. They are destructive. He broke into another wide smile. But they do know how to enjoy themselves. He flapped a hand. Anyway, its about them, in a roundabout way, that I have come to you today.

For a favour.

For a favour, repeated the Prax. It drained its goblet in one and motioned for more, a draught of wine worth a kings ransom. Not bad, it said. Not bad at all. He nodded at the servant, encouraging him to fill the goblet to the brim. When the servant withdrew, the Prax continued. The Great Scourge is back.

I have heard, said Kol Ho Min. Grave news.

Yes, well. Grave. Wed all rather it werent. Those greedy fools in the human government have blundered right into the Death Arc, releasing the damn stuff straight into the galaxy. One of my siblings did try to warn them about it, but they never listen about the really important stuff.

So much for them being able to enjoy themselves, said Kol Ho Min. Karoo Xen drew in a sharp breath through his teeth. Kol Ho Min paid it no heed. This was the Poet. One needed to give as well as take or he would destroy you. Each Prax demanded its own response.

Quite, said The Poet. There has been another outbreak. As usual, the Galactic Co-Prosperity Sphere Government has locked the planet down, shut everyone out He rolled the glass between hands that Kol Ho Min was sure had rolled suns. For reasons of my own, let us say, I would rather that the information regarding this particular outbreak were public knowledge.

I see, said Kol Ho Min. And what would you have me do?

Whenever the Corporation provoke an outbreak, they quarantine the planet, and shut off their communications nexus the NaviCorp, they call it removing it instantly from the Corporations cartographical and mercantile net. If youre aware of how human starcraft operate, youll know that this lack of beacon makes it rather difficult for their super-luminal craft to reach the world in question. I want you to turn it back on again.

Kol Ho Min had taken the barest sip of his wine. He put the goblet down upon the table between himself and the Poet. Why?

Something ancient and dangerous flashed in the Praxs borrowed eyes. He leaned forward. Lets let me worry about that, shall we? he sat back suddenly, spilling some of his wine. If you wish to send in further Cypher teams to destroy the artefact and those afflicted, go ahead. But it is imperative that the NaviCorp is reactivated. It is in your best interests. I am very fond of the Asterians. Id hate to see anything terrible happen to you.

Whether a warning or a threat was immaterial.

One did not refuse a direct request from the Prax.

***

The Gulfen Hang ghosted into the Nexus Psi system, passing easily between a pair of Enforcer cruisers. The humans primitive technology did not detect them, nor would it. The Gulfen Hang took up a geostationary orbit in the lower reaches of space, close to the edge of the atmosphere. There it would stay throughout the operation, not that the duration of its stay mattered in regards to its detection, it would not be seen if it were there for a year.

Kol Ho Min finished his inspection of the Cyphers within their cryo-tanks. Twice as tall and bulky as an Asterian, the bio-mechanical avatar forms had no minds of their own. Each was a blend of organic parts grown from its Asterian pilots own gene-coding, spliced into a toughened combat chassis. As always Kol Ho Min shivered slightly as he looked into the cold, featureless face of his proxy behind the glass.

Squad prepare! he said. Three triads of his best were to accompany him. A full squad, ten Cyphers in all, including him. An expensive mission, this quest at the behest of a Prax. It angered him that they should kowtow to such monsters.

Each of his men buckled themselves into the projection rig next to their Cyphers hibernation pod, their support technicians checking over the complex equipment and calibrating the soul circuits for most effective unity. Kol Ho Min clambered into his own last, when his men were already plugged in. The connections were not physical, but for proper meshing, the technology embedded into the flesh of the Asterian pilots had to be as close as possible to the pick-ups. A second level of remote operation was available with the pilots away from the projection units but this distance increased the risk of fatal disassociation should the Cypher be slain.

Cypher units awakening, Hai-San, said the lead technician.

Engage interface. Initiate projection, Kol Ho Min ordered.

The lid of his projection unit slid down, encasing Kol Ho Min in a plastic womb. A jolt of pain in his lower back started the process. The world beyond the clear window of the projection unit narrowed to a circle and diminished, as if he were falling down a hole.

When sight returned, he was looking out of other eyes.

His Cypher felt groggy with long sleep, while he was groggy with the projection. He ignored his twitching true-body beneath its sarcophagus lid and went into his exercises, engaging his being fully with his towering war-body. Kol Ho Min was well practised, and the feelings of sickness retreated rapidly. As his men emerged from the capsules and commenced their own rituals of centring, he armed and armoured himself, more technicians aiding him in donning his complex stealth armour and preparing his noh-energy gun. Heavy plates encased his Cyphers limbs, a swept back crownpiece covered in communications spines was fixed into place on its head. Wings housing the suits stealth systems were fastened into place at the shoulders. Seven brief elrons later, and he was climbing into another tube; this time an orbital insertion pod. Riding a Cypher was to undergo several births, one after the other, each time the cybernetic facsimile was mounted. When all members of the three triads were each sealed into similar pods, he gave the order for the drop.

They shot out smoothly from the underside of the Gulfen Hang, the ship as invisible to them as it was to the human blockade. Their pods were likewise cloaked, and passed unobserved.

Through mind link, Kol Ho Min watched the surface of Nexus Psi rush at him. He saw thick banks of cloud swathing continents covered in dark green vegetation. Then he was into the atmosphere, energy sheaths working to smooth his progress and prevent friction overheating his insertion pod. The cloud whisked past. A sky roofed over with dull grey weather covered his world, green forests blanketed the ground below him.

His pod decelerated smoothly, gravity impellers slowing it comfortably yet rapidly. There was a brief thrash of branches against its sides as it passed the tree tops. It touched down perfectly, and the door sprang open.

Kol Ho Mins Cypher was out instantly, weapon in hand. His men followed. The trees presented a continuous canopy over them, the forest floor was dark.

This way, he said, motioning with his rifle. He was a ripple on the air, hidden from all detection, but his men could see him. The outpost we seek lies 2.7 heb-bards west.

Silently, the Cypher team ran through the forest, their passing unnoticed.

***

The Human city was ugly. Prefabricated sections bolted together with no thought at all to form, and from what Kol Ho Min could discern, barely more thought given for purpose. The despoilation of the forest around the settlement was shocking, wide scars of clear felling, dumps of trash that would never degrade, machinery made of inadvisable alloys, already rusting in the heat and rain.

To call the settlement a city was an exaggeration. Kol Ho Min estimated a maximum of three thousand humans dwelled in its cramped precincts. Upon the side of each dirty yellow building was stencilled in orange human letters, already streaked with oxidisation, G-37. Lesser numerical designations marked each intersection. Someone had scrawled what he guessed to be unofficial street names beneath these. Now blood vied with green pleurococci and rust to obscure them. Bodies lay half-buried in the mud of the streets. Many showed signs of having been devoured. The

linked senses of his Cypher and its warsuit spared him none of the miasma of death that choked the place. This was a common sign in outbreaks of the Scourge. Kol Ho Min had witnessed it many times before, and would not have been shocked by it even if he could summon up some empathy for those who had died here.

Go lightly, my warriors, said Kol Ho Min, directing them toward the centre of the settlement, where the top of the building housing the NaviCorp towered over the surrounding edifices. The third and second triads broke from the squad, fanning out into standard fire cover patterns, the three Cyphers of Kol Ho Mins primary triad covering his back. None of them needed instruction from him. They jogged down a wide boulevard, past three smashed ground vehicles and a large logging transport, its cab burned out and cargo reduced to wet ash.

The violence here occurred some time ago, he said. This is the mindless violence of those afflicted by the Scourge. Be wary, my warriors. There is the chance of conflict with the diseased and those who would cleanse them.

Sure enough, it was not long before the crack of laser fire reached their Cyphers hyper-acute senses. Inhuman sounds came with it.

On the Cyphers visor display, a map blinked, showing the layout of the crude city to Kol Ho Min. The sophisticated technologies of the avatars suit and interface used the sound to pinpoint the disturbance, showing its probable location as a series of red dots. Within a few elrons, the sophisticated demi-mind of the helmet had communicated with the Gulfen Hang and refined the data to show the total number of combatants. Overhead imagery came directly into his true-mind aboard the ship, and was simultaneously pasted into his helmet for his Cypher self to see. This led to the peculiar layering effect Cypher wear sometimes induced. It was a strange sensation, but another he was well used to.

Seven of them, human warriors. Enforcer designation. Tackling a crowd of the afflicted.

Should we aid them when our mission is done? asked Hai-Ken So-So Lan, Cypher Secondary and leader of the second triad. They destroy the afflicted, and it is our duty to destroy the afflicted also. We have common cause.

Not at this time. The humans would not appreciate our aid, he said. So-So Lan had a better impression of the humans than Kol Ho Min, entirely erroneously, in Kol Ho Mins wiser opinion. We move on. We are fortunate that they are so engaged. They draw the afflicted from our target and do the duty of the Cypher teams that will follow us. Our duties today are otherwise.

Yes Hai-San, Cypher Prime, his secondaries chimed.

The NaviCorp was housed in an administrative building which, if no more attractive than the ugly structures around it, was at least more imposing. Several storeys higher than the next tallest building, it was impressive close to, but much damaged. Its mirrored sides were shattered and blackened all around the base, the damage stretching as high as two storeys up in places. Blackened bodies, twisted by more than the agonies of immolation, lay all around it.

Fire is always the first and last recourse of those trapped by the afflicted, said Kol Ho Min. I command you to high alert.

The triads slowed, bunching closer, each taking turns to cover the alleyways that divided each building from its neighbour as they advanced down the street. They came to the square the administrative building dominated, and paused while a scan was undertaken.

No signs of life, afflicted, artificial or otherwise, Hai-San Cypher Prime, reported Hai-Ken Joshen Go, Secondary Cypher of the Third Triad.

The building and its weapons?

Inactive, Hai-San, Cypher Prime.

Then let us go within.

Stealthily, they crossed the street and entered the soot-streaked foyer of the building, the sounds of battle rattling in the distance.

His men took up station around the foyer, covering the twin staircases and bank of elevators that led to the upper levels. Behind a long marble reception desk, the word Reiker was spelled out in metal letters in an ostentatious version of the human script. A large blood splatter marred the sign. A glance behind the desk showed Kol Ho Min whose blood it was.

A signal went up from the third triad. The Cyphers stopped, the layered ripples their camouflage made on the background freezing in place.

What is it? Kol Ho Min asked.

Nothing. I thought I heard something. Now all I hear is the drip of water and the creak of a dead building, said Joshen Go.

No warning should go unheeded. Kol Ho Min looked around, the sensors of his avatar taking in and processing the smell of rotting fabrics, old blood, and the tang of greenery beyond the city limits; a sharp, eager scent the trees and plants were poised to retake what had been taken from them. I doubt we are alone. This mission has proceeded too well.

The staircases wound squarely round one another in the centre of the building up a wide open atrium, broad landings leading off at each level. No doubt the humans were trying to create a sense of space, but it was poorly done, and left the Cyphers with little cover. One by one, the triads of Cyphers advanced in fluid, bounding overwatch.

Shh! A raised fist from the lead Asterian. Movement!

Kol Ho Min sent his second triad to join the first. The three of his triad acted as rearguard, while Kol Ho Min sprang up the stairs. Rifles pointed down the corridor leading off from the open atrium.

A bang. A desolate moan.

The Afflicted. They will not sense us. Stay still, let them pass, and we will continue on our way, said Kol Ho Min.

It was not to be. A dozen twisted humans, mutated into creatures of the second stage of suffering, occupied the corridor. If he had not known what they had once been, Kol Ho Min would have struggled to guess at their original form. Their bodies were swollen with infection, skin bulging with retained fluids, hanging down in rippled folds over hands and feet. Their bones had grown, pushing out in jagged spines from suppurating wounds, or grown broad into armoured plates covering back and thorax. Such second-stage creatures could move exceedingly quickly, their infected bites passing on the Scourge to those they did not devour the creatures were ravenous for flesh, needing the material to fuel their own transformation. Whatever simple human minds had once occupied the bodies had fled. These creatures were animals now, reprogrammed to do one thing and one thing alone spread the Scourge, or the Plague, as the humans called it.

Unable to see the Cyphers, they paced, aimless and restless.

With luck, they will pass, he said.

Hai-San, Cypher Prime! Above!

Kol Ho Min glanced up the stairs. More of the creatures came into view on the next landing.

Shall we fall back?

No, said Kol Ho Min. We must be steadfast and then we must be quick. We are close to our objective.

The first triad soundlessly redeployed, moving up the stairs from the level below to cover the landing above Kol Ho Min and the second and third triads.

He had his men hold until it was apparent the creatures on their level were coming right for them. Reluctantly, he gave the order.

Fire, he said calmly.

Bright bolts of white noh-energy blazed across the room, impacting with the pulpy flesh of the monsters. Those that did not fall instantly reacted, leaping forward toward the source of the weapons fire with no thought for their own survival. A bloodcurdling roar came from above. There was the sound of rapid scrambling, and a tide of diseased flesh came pouring down the stairs.

The Cyphers guns were practically silent, but the noise of the battle filled the open atrium like a thunderstorm. Bloated bodies exploded messily, spraying contaminated fluids all over the squad. Plexglass panels shattered, crashing to the ground. The air hissed as noh-energy undid its atomic bonds. The creatures roared, cut down in mid-air as they leapt at the Cypher team, slamming into the lobby floor below. One made it through the wall of fire, bowling over Ujin Kar, second tertiary of the first triad. The rotting tips of the creatures hands, distal phalanges gleaming through ripe flesh, ripped off the faceplate of the Cypher and plunged razor sharp claws into the organic components beneath before they gunned it down.

The gunfire stopped, the afflicted were all destroyed. The last death echoed around the buildings hollow centre. Tense silence descended. No more came.

Joshen Go knelt by the Cypher of Ujin Kar. Dead, he said simply, confirming what the Cyphers armour had already told them.

How fares Ujin Kar? Kol Ho Min made the effort to speak with his true-mouth. The Cypher signals were carried on brief pulses of seemingly random EM that should be dismissed by the humans. Still, every extra iota of information brought with it the risk of discovery, and Kol Ho Min wished to avoid that if at all possible. He felt his mind retreat from the Cypher a little as he spoke aboard the Gulfen Hang. A muffled voice replied, heard through the ears of his true-body.

He lives, Hai-San, Cypher prime, although it is too early to see what damage may have been caused by the disassociation, if any.

Kol Ho Min retreated from his true-body, back into the Cypher, a wave of nausea afflicting him in reaction to the brief moment of duality. He steadied himself, seeking unity. We must make haste. We have undoubtedly been detected. The NaviCorp is on the sixth level. Go!

Joshen Go activated the dissipater of Ujin Kars Cypher. The armoured form smoked briefly, before collapsing into a fine, undifferentiated white ash.

A waste. It would take many moons for Ujin Kar to bond as well with a new Cypher.

They clattered on, stealth abandoned, racing for their prize.

***

Five elrons later they had located the NaviCorp suite. Irfen Kan Udaj, their technical specialist, entered with Kol Ho Min. The suite occupied a large room at the very summit of the building. Windowless, powerless, and totally black. The advanced sensors of their Cyphers picked out the details of primitive computers and communications relays in the unnatural dark.

They have not destroyed it, this is good, said Irfen Kan Udaj. My work will be more difficult if we do not deploy our own device, he tapped a box attached to one leg, housing a much smaller, more powerful Asterian version of the NaviCorp. But if we can restore their own equipment, there is a better chance of our role here going unnoticed.

How long to activate?

Two to seven elrons. GCPS superluminal communications technology is dependent on quantum entanglement.

Primitive, said Kol Ho Min reflexively.

If the particles have remained aligned, maybe less time, but if not, I must recalibrate them.

You have the coding?

The message has been written to resemble a GCPS standard intelligence missive. The revelation of this Deadzone to the wider galaxy will look like a mistake on the part of the local commander.

Five elrons of transmission is all we require, said Kol Ho Min. That is all the Prax wished for, and that is all it will receive.

Then we must hold here for twelve elrons in total, at the outside. I work swiftly, Hai-San, Cypher Prime. Udaj bowed.

Kol Ho Min nodded curtly and joined the other seven Cyphers outside, the three members of first triad falling in behind him.

He directed his men to cover. The rest of the floor was filled entirely by a gallery of floor to ceiling windows that went around the central atrium and the NaviCorp suite. The triads took up position at three of the four corners, two of them covering the stairwell.

From above, the settlement looked uglier than at ground level, the contrast between forest and human outpost stark and unlovely. Fires burned in the southwest district, sending thick columns of black smoke skyward.

They waited in silence for seven elrons. Suddenly, a loud and unsubtle transmission blared in Kol Ho Mins Cyphers ears, the chitter of high-bandwidth data on repeat. Kol Ho Min reduced the volume as Udaj came hurrying back.

It is done.

We must wait until the signal has played out for five elrons, said Kol Ho Min, then we shall be away for extraction.

Hai-San, Cypher Prime! Human enforcers approach!

Coming in, folding petal. Beware.

Red dots sprang up on Kol Ho Mins map display. Four enemy entering the building from below.

Eyes skywards! They swoop as eagles! he ordered tersely.

The remaining three enforcers came up in the air, jump jets blazing. They took up a hover in front of the south gallery. Ruby light beams stabbed from their guns, smashing the windows along that wall. Still unable to detect the Cyphers, they jetted into the building.

The heavily armoured human warriors landed with a crunch of plexglass, the blue-white of their jets cutting out. They looked up and down the corridor carefully, still not seeing the Asterian Cypher team. The triads trained their guns on the humans.

Two elrons, Hai-San, Cypher Prime, said Udaj.

Kol Ho Min curled his lip. The lead enforcer was making for the NaviCorp room. He will have to die. Kill them all.

Noh energy blazed from cloaked weapons. The enforcer heading for the NaviCorp suite danced under the impact of the exotic matter coming at him from two sides. His armour came apart, the flesh underneath it running red as it was dissipated. He was dead in a moment.

The leftmost of the enforcers remaining was hit square in the chest. His jump jets malfunctioned, sending him hurtling out of control into the city streets, his scream loud over the radio.

The third however, did not die. Somehow, he managed to dodge the incoming energy blasts, some superior human technology guiding him, or perhaps gene-enhanced reflexes. He opened up with his laser rifle, the feared Genling, cutting down two of the three members of the third triad, Joshen Gos Cypher one of them.

Kol Ho Min raised his gun and finished him himself.

Hai-San, Cypher Prime, the rest are coming!

A staccato clatter came from the stairs as the remaining enforcers fired upwards from the atrium. Kol Ho Min recognised the sound of this heavier weaponry high-energy pulse guns, Forge Father tech.

0.45 elrons, Hai-San, Cypher Prime! called Udaj.

The seven surviving Cyphers redeployed, two taking up station in the doorway to the NaviCorp suite, looking outward to guard against further aerial attack, the other five running to cover the top of the twin staircases. The lack of cover now worked in the Cyphers favour, and the enforcers could not advance without entering a storm of fire. They shot up the stairs, laying down disciplined fire patterns of their own as they attempted to advance. QuiAn of Kol Ho Mins triad executed a perfect somersault, tossing a grenade down the stairwell, but was caught in the leg by a lucky round. His stealth field collapsed, and before he hit the floor he was riddled with laser bolts. There were six of them left. Kol Ho Min had no time to check on how the true-bodies of his men had taken these brutal disassociations.

The enforcers responded with grenades of their own, driving the Cypher team back. An ugly, armoured helmet appeared. Kol Ho Min hit it square on, but the noh-energy flared from its faceplate with no effect, and a returning burst of laser fire sent Kol Ho Min leaping away.

We are clear! The signal is sent, five elrons. Our mission is complete!

Withdraw! ordered Kol Ho Min. Second triad, covering fire!

Pulses sent to the fallen Cyphers caused instant dissipation. Noh-energy belted across the top of the stairs. The enforcers looked to be contained until a blaze of ruby laser light felled one of the Cyphers in the NaviCorp suite. The enforcers had done well, drawing all their fire on the nearside stairhead, while a pair of them had made it up the far side.

Another two jetted suddenly out of the stairwell, right into the storm of noh-energy. One died, the other, protected by his armour, opened up, moving forward implacably.

Now! shouted Kol Ho Min.

He threw himself at the window, his warriors following. He fired into it as he charged, sending armoured plexglass exploding outward. He flipped over the enforcers laser beams, out into clear air, a twisting glimmer the only glimpse they had of him as his stealth field shorted out. Bolts of laser light chased him down, the ground came at him with sickening speed. He dove at it fearlessly, the gravity chute built into his Cyphers armour slowing him to a dead stop a micro-elron before he impacted. Then he was down and running, his remaining Cyphers with him, firing backward as they ran.

Cease fire! he ordered. Reactivate stealth fields. Resume radio silence. Split up. They will not find us.

Laser fire stabbed down all over the street, none of it finding its mark. Kol Ho Min and his warriors melted back into the city. The thumping, inelegant song of the human NaviCorp blared loudly for twelve entire elrons before the enforcers had the presence of mind to shut it off.

Their mission was accomplished.

***

Back at the dropzone, Kol Ho Min counted the cost of victory. Only four of his ten Cyphers had returned, another was severely damaged. Joshen Go had perished through the shock of disassociation. Preliminary reports suggested two others might never be fit for Cypher work again.

A high cost, thought Kol Ho Min. He watched the doors of the six empty Cypher pods slide closed, and their gravity bursters sent them shooting back upwards. A high cost for questionable reasons.

But one did not disobey the Prax. Not if one valued anything at all.