The Legion of Nothing

Darkness surrounded me, and I felt myself drop. I knew the feeling from my lessons with Kee and from just a second ago—I was changing universes again.

Except that I then received another communication, this one from Hal.

[That's not where I put you. You're slipping through the multiverse. Please stop.]

A rainbow glow surrounded me again, yanking me somewhere new as the connection with maybe-Govan ended with him saying, "What is this?"

Once again, I reoriented myself in a new place. This one also appeared to have been created from the sands of Mars, but there were no bricks. The walls and floors were made of the same seamless hard substance, possibly hardened sand.

I stood in a room that I could describe as empty, but not really. Now that I could sense it, I could feel Artificer controls around me. All I had to do to know what each one did was to concentrate on it for a moment.

It felt the same as my implant providing information, except that there was no implant involved.

To a normal person's eye, the room was nothing, a cube with windows starting halfway up the wall and running to the ceiling on every side. A more observant normal person might notice that each section of the window showed a different room inside the building and that there was no doorway out.

I knew without asking that this was the control center of the Artificer cache (or trap) that I'd visited 8000 years ago.

The nuke had been a minor inconvenience. The building had removed the radiation and fixed the damage within a day or two.

Hal spoke again.

[You've no doubt recognized the location. I chose it because it's resistant to intrusion even from Artificers. It's quite close to the house of the one you referred to as the Master Martian, except for being in an alternate universe.]

I opened my helmet, having checked whether the control center had directions to include deadly or madness-inducing substances to the atmosphere.

It didn't. In fact, it had standing orders from me to keep the atmosphere inside at an Earth-normal mix.

Stolen novel; please report.

Hal continued.

[Between you and your sister, the traps were disabled thousands of years ago. We use it for meetings now.]

The building's security systems showed me that, and along with it, that we'd long since reverse-engineered all of the technology in the space. The Abominator base now stood in the secured section of a wilderness preserve.

"No kidding," I said. "Was that really the Master Martian that I saw back there?"

[It was. That time stream runs slower than ours, but it's also true that Martians are extremely long-lived. He and his descendants have visited here and assisted us occasionally.]

"Us," I said. "Us, as in, the Heroes' League?"

[Yes. Not all of your friends from your youth survive to the present, but a surprising number do. Thanks to the Abominators, more humans have a connection to Artificers than the small number you're currently aware of. The majority don't have enough to use, but you've created technology that can make up for such deficiencies.]

I wondered if I should ask more questions, but I remembered Lee saying how, after thousands of years of technological growth, humans would be capable of "real power," as he put it.

I knew enough for now. I needed to go. "Hey, I know we're at the beginning of a war that may literally shape the future of the universe and an infinite number of additional universes as a side effect, but I need to get out of here to finish the prequel to the main show. If I can't go to Infinity City, do you know where I can go? If Victor's still around, he can send me back. For that matter, at this point there's got to be an Artificer on our side that has a spare minute or at least a time machine."

A series of booms from outside shook the room visibly. I grabbed the wall. Had that been a direct hit?

[You depowered Victor millennia ago as you promised him. He died a normal man. I'm following your own instructions for how to treat you. You will be sent back soon, but for now, some people want to speak to you.]

One of the walls opened, and a woman in the Bloodmaiden armor stepped through. Still black with a glowing red gem in the chest, combined with red accents on the edges, the armor stayed the same. You could even say the same of the person inside, but not really.

The Bloodmaiden still had red hair and light skin, but a broader face and grey eyes. Amy had to be long dead, a memory advising the current person of the line. Well, unless this was an alternate Bloodmaiden. Then anything could be true.

The Bloodspear hung from a leather cylinder on her back, familiar runes in the gray, pitted metal. If I had to bet, it was still as hungry as I remembered.

She met my eyes, "I'm here to protect you while you're here in our time."

"Okay," I said, "I already feel pretty secure in this place, as much as I can while a potentially universe-ending war starts above me."

She laughed, and for a moment her expression reminded me of Tara and the True. It wasn't impossible. Throw an infinite number of clones into infinite universes, and their genes could get anywhere over time.

"I'm Melisende, the current Bloodmaiden. If you're Nick from 8000 years ago, you haven't changed very much."

"That's good," I said. "Maybe."

Melisende grimaced and shook her head, "Sorry. The Bloodmaiden from your time is getting very annoying. She wants to talk—"

Melisende stopped, but then half-shouted, "Fine. I'll let you use my body, but it better be quick."