Lazarus Rising

1.25 Jörmungandr

They sat in a close circle as the last of the light shrank around them. Above, a great bolt of indigo fabric chased away the orange flare of the setting sun over the horizon turning the sky emerald blue for a few brief minutes. Reflected into this pool of polished radiance stood the monolithic blackness of the crumbling archaic edifice of the fortress of Noctus Labyrinthus.

"Ten minutes rest, then we must push on. When it's dark, we will have less chance of being seen," Jamek's voice was dull, his voice muted by the strange creature he had wrapped over his face. He settled himself down and stretched his bulky frame across the sand in front of Cheyenne. They had been walking in the deep trench cut by the debris of the ship they were headed for, the deep wound in the surface afforded them some protection from the streams of blinding sand racing across the desert.

Lazarus sat crossed legged, resting his back against the crab like section of the wreckage of the ship they were sheltering under, reflectively pouring streams of fine sand from one hand to the other.

"It will be dark soon." Jamek watched the needle arcs of the lights of the searching aeros sweeping to and fro around the base of the citadel."You'd better tell me what happened."

As Cheyenne spoke she could feel the silky tube in her mouth tremble as if it had been awoken by her speech. "How long do we have to keep these on?"

"Until we get to the rendezvous, then hopefully we will be safe."

"Who's meeting us?"

"I think you know." Jamek nodded back the way they had come. "What happened, with Urbaine?"

By the time Cheyenne had told her story and Lazarus, his eyes churning with an inner luminosity that bit into the darkness, relayed his story of their brief interrogation by Urbaine and their subsequent imprisonment in the labyrinth, the tumbling white moon of Phobos had appeared above them. Like an ivory die thrown by a celestial hand it processed its way from low over the horizon toward the heights of the citadel.

Cheyenne wondered if, behind one of the tiny lights thrown out by the thousands of windows in the cliff, the man in the mask was looking out unseeing over the labyrinth while Urbaine raged at his knights at their escape. As the sand still gave off the comforting heat of the sun she lay her aching body across the surface to soak up the last of the remaining warmth.

"Mars has changed since I was last here." said Jamek distantly, as if recalling an earlier time. "Through Urbaine, it has become a corrupted version of its former self. Steeped in men's greed and their lust for power. Appropriating colonist's possessions has become a sport. The old Zig captains turned Archons, corrupted by wealth and greed have now formed into an alliance led by the all-powerful Sempter."

"But Sempter Urbaine is Sector19's man." Chimed Lazarus, throwing a fist of sand away into the breeze.

"Was. Not anymore. Sempter has changed. I didn't know him back then. But he was head of the Corpus Christi Mono here. The Mono was established on Mars to help the colonists adapt to the difficult conditions here. They had hospitals, wealth and a well organised administrate structure. With the approval of the Codex, the Mono was set up here and in return they promised they would keep Sector19 informed of any issues on the planet."

"Urbaine despises Sector19, the Codex and all they stand for. He wants to prevent more colonists coming here as they will increase the chances of a serious infection breaking out in the Bios. And he is determined to irradiate the Riser programs. He sees them as degenerate." Cheyenne recalled Urbaine's bile when he had spoken to her.

"The Risers are the very ones who helped the colonist get here in the first place. To stop the Riser programme would be crazy."

"I don't think he just wants to stop it, Lazarus. I think he wants to seek the total annihilation of the total Riser population on Earth."