popped the bubble. Rainbow fell to the ground. Disengaging the webbing carefully, I rolled out beside her. The police megaphone blared once more as a cruiser floated down toward us. Rainbow groaned.
Another lazegun blast ripped into my skull; had I been a mortal man, I would have died then. I grabbed Rainbow and dragged her over my shoulders, covering myself with her body.
The police cruiser split open with a roar and crashed to the ground. Looking to my left I saw Glitter descending nearby. Several rocks and trees disappeared as Glitter eliminated hidden marksmen.
My arm hurt. I took a moment to get calm, to achieve some autohypnotic anesthesia. The trance level wasn't adequate to eliminate the pain, but I felt better.
With a deep breath, I crept from underneath the cycle and hurried toward my ship, still carrying Rainbow on my back. Another marksman opened up, cutting out my left leg. As I spun to the ground, another marksman, presumably one who had had a line on me before the first one hit, fired. I felt Rainbow's body change shape as heat seared a line across my back. I didn't have to look to see what had happened.
Rainbow had been sliced in two.
Glitter picked off the marksmen who had fired. I pulled myself with my one good arm toward the ship. "Glitter, better send out a robot to collect me," I ordered. An airlock opened.
Wendy came running out.
"Get back!" I yelled, too late. There was another marksman. She fell.
I reached her seconds later. "You beautiful fool," I whispered. "I wasn't worth risking your life for." My eyes blurred. "I wasn't even in danger." I had lost Rainbow my love, and Wendy my friend, and somehow the loss of Wendy hurt more. In all my lifetimes no one had ever lost her life to save mine.
One last marksman sneaked into range before Glitter's robots could get me inside. He put a bolt through one lung and both ventricles of my heart. Had I been a mortal man, again I would have died.
But though I was mortal, I was a mortal god, one who granted life and enforced death.
Frontier mindshifters lived in a universe crowded with rich and powerful men—men who, despite all their power, were doomed to die without our special friendship.
We did not befriend them all. And too often, they believed that if they couldn't live forever, neither should anyone else. We were their targets, first for bribery, then for blackmail.
So virtually all the Frontier mindshifters took extraordinary precautions. From first Transfer, mindshifters endowed one another with enhancements, enhancements to protect the brain—for that was the part of the body that had to survive. A typical mindshifter had a skull of tungstalloy composite, with a tiny ten-minute oxygenating pump at its base. In many circumstances, that pump was enough to keep the mindshifter alive until he could get into surgery.
I was also lucky that lazeguns made lousy weapons: unlike the bullets of earlier centuries that made goo of all the organs they touched, a lazegun bolt produced a self-cauterizing, clean incision.
So Safire and Glitter were able to save my life. With stitches and glue they knit together enough of my system so that I could heal. It would be months before the injuries disappeared, but I could breath and move normally, if not swiftly. While lying quiet, I planned, ever more feverishly, my revenge against the Playmaster.
Glitter lay in shallow water off the coast of Flame. Flame was the city of Summerform closest to the Eye, at the tip of a peninsula. I was ready to begin my search in earnest.
Somewhere on Forma was a Playmaster, and as I thought about him my bones chilled. The enemy had been too good . He must have lived multiple lives, as I had.
But up to now, the Master had been hidden, almost unsuspected. He had played games with the lives of first lifers with ease. I would not be so simple an opponent.
He had arranged Sharyn's death, I knew it.
He was also responsible for Keara's death, and for Rainbow's. How could the
Another lazegun blast ripped into my skull; had I been a mortal man, I would have died then. I grabbed Rainbow and dragged her over my shoulders, covering myself with her body.
The police cruiser split open with a roar and crashed to the ground. Looking to my left I saw Glitter descending nearby. Several rocks and trees disappeared as Glitter eliminated hidden marksmen.
My arm hurt. I took a moment to get calm, to achieve some autohypnotic anesthesia. The trance level wasn't adequate to eliminate the pain, but I felt better.
With a deep breath, I crept from underneath the cycle and hurried toward my ship, still carrying Rainbow on my back. Another marksman opened up, cutting out my left leg. As I spun to the ground, another marksman, presumably one who had had a line on me before the first one hit, fired. I felt Rainbow's body change shape as heat seared a line across my back. I didn't have to look to see what had happened.
Rainbow had been sliced in two.
Glitter picked off the marksmen who had fired. I pulled myself with my one good arm toward the ship. "Glitter, better send out a robot to collect me," I ordered. An airlock opened.
Wendy came running out.
"Get back!" I yelled, too late. There was another marksman. She fell.
I reached her seconds later. "You beautiful fool," I whispered. "I wasn't worth risking your life for." My eyes blurred. "I wasn't even in danger." I had lost Rainbow my love, and Wendy my friend, and somehow the loss of Wendy hurt more. In all my lifetimes no one had ever lost her life to save mine.
One last marksman sneaked into range before Glitter's robots could get me inside. He put a bolt through one lung and both ventricles of my heart. Had I been a mortal man, again I would have died.
But though I was mortal, I was a mortal god, one who granted life and enforced death.
Frontier mindshifters lived in a universe crowded with rich and powerful men—men who, despite all their power, were doomed to die without our special friendship.
We did not befriend them all. And too often, they believed that if they couldn't live forever, neither should anyone else. We were their targets, first for bribery, then for blackmail.
So virtually all the Frontier mindshifters took extraordinary precautions. From first Transfer, mindshifters endowed one another with enhancements, enhancements to protect the brain—for that was the part of the body that had to survive. A typical mindshifter had a skull of tungstalloy composite, with a tiny ten-minute oxygenating pump at its base. In many circumstances, that pump was enough to keep the mindshifter alive until he could get into surgery.
I was also lucky that lazeguns made lousy weapons: unlike the bullets of earlier centuries that made goo of all the organs they touched, a lazegun bolt produced a self-cauterizing, clean incision.
So Safire and Glitter were able to save my life. With stitches and glue they knit together enough of my system so that I could heal. It would be months before the injuries disappeared, but I could breath and move normally, if not swiftly. While lying quiet, I planned, ever more feverishly, my revenge against the Playmaster.
Glitter lay in shallow water off the coast of Flame. Flame was the city of Summerform closest to the Eye, at the tip of a peninsula. I was ready to begin my search in earnest.
Somewhere on Forma was a Playmaster, and as I thought about him my bones chilled. The enemy had been too good . He must have lived multiple lives, as I had.
But up to now, the Master had been hidden, almost unsuspected. He had played games with the lives of first lifers with ease. I would not be so simple an opponent.
He had arranged Sharyn's death, I knew it.
He was also responsible for Keara's death, and for Rainbow's. How could the
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