The Way of the Ram Read online

  “And no need for birds or dogs,” Healer said.

  “That’s right. Chugg planned to kill them all, hoping to permanently end Optera and Karkus’s interference in Toxid’s reign.”

  “What did Mauler and Durdge have to do with that plan?”

  “Mauler was to be the instigator,” Swill said. “First, Chugg allowed Pincher to lock Mauler up and use him as a bait animal in the HoundBlood tournament, to test his strength. Then we were going to torture Mauler into madness and turn him loose on Fleece City.”

  “I see,” Healer said with a nod. “Manufacture an emergency, creating a pretext to move all those sheep into your blood farm.”

  “But Old-Timer set Mauler free,” Dreamer added. “Then Ponder and Healer got to him. Taught him how to think and speak.”

  “That’s right,” said Swill. “By the time he was finally back in Chugg’s hands, he was useless to us. We knew we could not return him to that raging, animalistic state. So new orders came down from Headquarters. Chugg told us to clone Mauler instead. He had already been promising Durdge a real, organic body. So he wanted to combine the two projects and use Durdge to replace Mauler in the plan.”

  Dreamer looked at the glass tank. “So you made this Hogdogger. A body without a brain. But it doesn’t look like a clone of Mauler.”

  “It’s only partly him. It also contains material from the clone hounds and warthogs, in addition to General Pincher as well as blood from Chugg himself.”

  “But I destroyed Durdge’s brain,” Healer said.

  “Yes. His loss represented the waste of a massive investment. His was the only brain we’d been able to keep alive under those conditions. But, even though we have no brain for the Hogdogger body, my superiors insisted that the project continue. And now it is finished. Perhaps they think I’ll procure a new brain, but I’m not going to do that.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because of you and the friend you so desperately pursue. Render showed mercy.”

  Healer sat back. “I’m not buying it. Something isn’t right, here.”

  “It’s the truth,” Swill replied. “I was sure Render was coming back for me, but it left me and this place intact after I gave it the information it wanted. Even though it didn’t like what it heard, it didn’t take it out on me. And now it hounds the Chugg tower, looking for a way to the top.”

  “Or you misled it to protect yourself and your little pet project here.”

  Swill sighed, his frustration with Healer finally starting to show. “If there were cameras in here I’d be happy to show you the security footage. All you have to go on is my word. You trusted me enough to come down here and now you doubt me. You’re accomplishing nothing but wasting time for all of us.”

  “We’ve got something better than a security camera,” Dreamer cut in.

  Healer, having opened his mouth to argue with Swill, decided to keep quiet.

  “I don’t know if you know about me, Mr. Swill,” Dreamer continued, “but I’ve got a gift too. If you’ll let me, I’ll look into your memory, bringing Healer with me. We would only be able to see whatever you choose to share with us. Then Healer will know if you are being honest with us, and we’ll be able to move past this and figure out what to do next.”

  The little pig gritted his teeth. “Yes, Dreamer, I’m aware of what you can do. Very well. If it will put this to rest and allow us to trust each other,” he added with a pointed look at Healer. The ram still said nothing.

  Dreamer approached. “Mr. Swill, just close your eyes and focus on me,” she said. As her eyes began to glow, the pig did as she asked. “You too, Healer.”

  After a last look at the clone in the glass tank, Healer reluctantly closed his eyes as well.

  Chapter 51

  Hours earlier

  Swill pivoted his chair from side to side, a nervous tic that always happened when on the phone with the boss. “Everything’s on schedule here, sir. The Hogdogger isn’t completed yet, but the growth rate is phenomenal.” It was becoming increasingly difficult to keep lying about the clone, but fear sustained him. “I’ll be sure to get in contact with you as soon as the body is done growing.”

  “That’s good, Mr. Swill,” said the deep, lilting voice on the phone. “Be aware, the intruder is approaching your facility. I expect all necessary measures will be taken to protect our asset.”

  “Of course, Mr. Chugg,” Swill stammered. “What about you? Will you be taking shelter?”

  “No. I’ll be right here in my office.”

  “Why is that, sir?”

  “Bait,” the melodious voice rumbled. “I’m what it’s after. Let it beat itself to death against my defenses.”

  “And if the cannons fail to stop it?”

  “I have a trump card. I have been assured that another champion will arrive at my office before the creature of Karkus and Optera ever gets here. I am in no danger. You just focus on protecting our project.”

  “I understand, sir,” Swill said. “I’ll stay at my post as well.”

  “Good man,” said Chugg. “Bye, now.”

  Swill hung up the phone with a shaking hand and drummed lightly on his keyboard, staring at the clone in the tank.

  Only seconds passed before an alarm sounded off above him. The metal security door to his laboratory slammed shut automatically and a klaxon blared down the hall. Lights and machinery began shutting off all around him until he was left only with the devices plugged into the emergency outlets—his computer, the Hogdogger’s tank, and a few lights. He was alone and sealed in.

  A group of the few remaining cloned dogs ran past the door and toward the stairwell. He realized that Render was on the Chugg company grounds, if not already inside the facility. But he had nowhere to go, no escape route. His only option was to wait and hope for the best.

  Noises up above. A tremendous crash. A loud, repeated whooshing noise, like a huge beast moving in leaps and bounds down the stairwell. Another impact.

  Then it was there, its horrible masked face filling the small meshed glass window in the security door. It backed off, but Swill knew better than to breathe a sigh of relief. He gripped the edges of his desk, planted his feet on the floor, and tried to stop himself from shaking as he looked at certain doom.

  Render slammed into the security door. It rattled, but did not give. With the second hit, the door sagged inward and the glass window fractured. There was a long pause, and Swill realized Render was backing up to gather more momentum. Under the third assault, the door finally gave way, and now there was nothing between him and the invader. Everything in Swill wanted to scream, to dive under the table and pretend it hadn’t seen him. But he gritted his teeth and stayed right where he was.

  The creature approached him, claws outstretched. He did his best to keep his face steady as he looked back at it. He must have been successful, because it stopped. It stood up, withdrew its claws, and looked at him, head tilted in an expression resembling puzzlement.

  “You do not flee,” Render said. “Even your clones fled in the end. There are none left.”

  “I’m not going to run,” Swill said, mustering up as much defiance as he could. “I’ve done terrible things. To you. To other people. Besides, where would I run to? How could I escape you? Just do whatever you’re going to do. I can’t stop you.”

  To Swill’s absolute surprise, Render took a step back. “We sense regret.”

  “Of course I regret what I’ve done. But I can’t take it back. I tried to stop what I was doing. But they’re threatening me. You remember Tuck? My assistant who wanted out? He’s gone. I’ll be gone soon too, either by your hand or by Chugg’s. Just get it over with.”

  Render reached for him, but then stepped back again and shook its head. “Courage. Remorse. He will not be harmed. His punishment is his guilt.” It turned away, and its eyes fell on the tank. It swept over to take a closer look at the contents.

  Swill let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. Render was no
t going to kill him.

  “Hogdogger,” the creature said with something like wonder.

  “Yes. Is that what you’ve come to do? Destroy it? Again, I can’t stop you. Just know that if anything happens to it, they’ll just try to make another. They may have enough data to do it without me next time. So I’m a dead man either way.”

  Render tapped its claws on the glass as if trying to get the inert beast’s attention. Then it laid its forehead against the tank. “Innocent,” it muttered. It turned its back to the tank and returned to Swill’s side.

  “We will stop this at the source,” it said. “We will climb the tower and sever the root from which this evil grows. We will engage it in battle and with our gods behind us we will be victorious.”

  “We?” Swill snorted. “Speak for yourself. I’m not going up there.”

  “Us. Ponder and Mauler. The Render. We will go. You help us here.”

  “Oh… I see. I don’t believe I can help you, but what do you need?”

  “The defenses. Bring them down.”

  Swill gritted his teeth, expecting his answer to enrage the monster. “I can’t.”

  “The whole system of machine cannons is your design, is it not?”

  “No, it is. You’re right. I could control the system from here, even on generator power, but the problem is that any remote control I would have is overridden. There’s a computer that is hard-lined right to the mainframe that runs those cannons. And that computer is right at the top of that tower. In order to shut down the guns, we’d have to reach the office the guns are protecting.”

  “So we have no choice but to fly up there.”

  “Yes, you’re going to have to get up there on your own if you want a shot at him. I’m sorry. I wish I could do more. I’m tired of all this.”

  Render was quiet for a minute. Then, with a nod to Swill, it pushed open the damaged door and made its exit.

  Chapter 52

  Swill opened his eyes, breaking the mental connection. “There,” he said. “Did you learn what you wanted? Are you convinced?”

  Healer did not drop his hard expression. “I owe you an apology,” he said after a few seconds. “You weren’t lying to us after all. I’m sorry I threw you around and refused to trust you. I do appreciate the help you’re giving us.”

  Swill dropped the issue with a wave of his trotter. “As I said, I understand. Let us figure out how we are going to resolve this.”

  “Render spared you because you showed remorse,” Dreamer mused. “And it refused to destroy the Hogdogger because it hadn’t done anything wrong at all.”

  “It couldn’t have known that the Hogdogger is just a body with no brain,” Healer said. “Scurvert failed to mention that they were still planning to use Durdge’s.”

  “Well, now it’s going to keep trying to get to the top of the building. It might not die from the gunshots, but I’m worried it will die of exhaustion,” Dreamer thought out loud. “How do we get it to stop?”

  “There’s only one way. We have to help it.” The ram returned his attention to Swill. “So you told Render that you could shut down the cannons… if the main computer controlling them were to be disabled.”

  “Yes. But that computer is in Chugg’s office.”

  “How can we get there? Those cannons are pretty fast at target acquisition, looks like. There’s no way to outrun them.”

  Swill grinned. “Only if you’re the target. Once we realized what the creature was, we keyed the guns to avoid collateral damage by seeking out Mauler’s DNA signature. They’re only looking for Render.”

  “So I could climb that tower without them shooting me down.”

  “In theory, yes. Nothing stopping you from getting caught in crossfire.”

  Healer was growing more eager with each passing second. “In theory, let’s say I make it to the top and yank the plug on that computer. What’s next?”

  “The program files for those cannons are locked and read-only as long as that computer is up and running. Cut the connection and those files become open for editing by anyone else with sufficient access… namely me, the network administrator. Then I’d be able shut the guns off.”

  Dreamer frowned. “You’d be betraying Chugg. He’d know instantly what you’ve done.”

  “I’d be betting heavily on your success, yes. Are we doing this? Are you going to trust me?”

  Healer reached out his hoof. “Thanks, Swill.”

  The pig took Healer’s hoof and gave it a firm shake. “Get us out of this, Healer. The Chugg Corporation has abused people inside and outside the Megatropolis for far too long.”

  Healer and Dreamer bid Swill goodbye and headed back the way they had come.

  Chapter 53

  Across the lawn, the torn-open entrance of Chugg Headquarters yawned like the mouth of a beast. Healer found himself fighting a sudden and unexpected twinge of fear in his stomach. But he was not sure where it was coming from. Was he afraid for Dreamer?

  “You don’t have to go up there with me,” he said. “You’ve been a huge help. Really. But I don’t want to put you in danger. If you want to start finding a way home, I completely understand. I’ll bring Render back to you however I have to, and then we can get to work on getting our friends back.”

  “No,” Dreamer replied. “I’ll go. I hate this, but it’s better if we stick together. I pray to Arghast that this will be the end.”

  Healer looked away. “Me too.”

  They crossed the lawn, taking a minute to bolt down a few bites of the cool, dewy grass. The sky was beginning to lighten; sunrise was approaching.

  Soon they were stepping over the twisted, broken doors of the headquarters of the Chugg Corporation. Healer pushed through another surge of fear as they crossed the threshold and into the building.

  It was very dark—not only from lack of lighting, but from choice of décor. The floors were polished obsidian tiles, the walls heavily stained panels of oak from the southern forest. The middle of the lobby was dominated by a bronze statue of Charlie Chugg in a cheerful, welcoming pose. Other than the cartoon pig, the place was empty.

  “Healer, look,” Dreamer hissed, tapping his shoulder. To the side of the receptionist’s desk was an elevator. The call light was on.

  “Do you think it still works, or was it damaged when the building got all shot up?” Healer wondered aloud.

  “Only one way to find out. Besides, we can always take the stairs.”

  Healer pushed the button and waited. To their surprise, a pleasant bell announced the arrival of the elevator car. When the doors slid open, the car was untouched. It was not lit, but the other side was glass and so was the shaft beyond, letting in the meager dawn sunlight. Nervously, they stepped in and looked at the buttons.

  “Floor eighty-eight is the highest this will go, looks like,” said Healer.

  “Then that will do.” Dreamer sounded like she was trying to convince herself.

  Healer hit the button again. With another sound of the bell, the elevator doors slid closed and they began their slow ascent.

  Chapter 54

  “Moment of truth,” Healer muttered, eyeing the cannons as the elevator car approached the top of the wall. “I guess we’re going to find out really fast if Swill is betraying us.”

  “Knock it off,” Dreamer said with a little smile. “You’re scaring me.” She tried to play it off, but Healer wasn’t even looking at her.

  They were even with the top of the wall now. The wind rushed through a gaping hole in the glass of the shaft. At this angle, Dreamer could only see the two cannons that stood on either side of the main gate. They did not fire, but continued to search the skies.

  “There,” Dreamer said. “We can trust Swill. You happy?”

  “Sort of,” Healer said. He was still focused on the view. Dreamer joined him. They were high enough now to see over the Megatropolis wall and out into the plains.

  “There’s Fleece City,” Dreamer said. “And University. And Bo
xer’s gym. There’s your clinic. And the building we snuck into when we were getting Mauler into the shrine underground. You remember?”

  “Yeah. Of course I do. There’s the quarry wall and the ravine. Can you see your house?”

  “Not really. I wonder how my dad’s doing.”

  “Me too. And I wonder what Caper is going to do when he arrives at the school and gets your note.”

  “Probably get really mad at us both and call Boxer. And then tell you how disappointed he is. You know he cares about you, right, Healer?”

  “Sure, I know that. He’s looked after me ever since…” Healer trailed off and went quiet. Dreamer chose not to interrupt.

  “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Healer finally said.

  “What is?”

  “Our little piece of the world. It’s really no wonder that so many people have been to war over it. Even after the pigs put up these walls and built these cities, it still looks pretty good. I think it’s worth fighting for.”

  “I agree,” Dreamer said. Her eyes followed the flow of the land’s water, from the top of Ptera Peak down to the river through the plains. “My question is, after we fight for it, will we still be fit to live in it?”

  Healer turned to her. “You share a lot of traits with our land. You’re beautiful and worth fighting for, too.”

  Despite herself, Dreamer blushed. “Even though I give you grief and I’ve been arguing with you since the day we met?”

  His eyes searched her face. “Since my dad died, I haven’t had any direction except for righting that wrong. When I found out what he had done for Ponder and Mauler, I knew in my gut that they were the key to bringing some justice to the world. Taking the pigs down has been my mission since I was a little kid. If this plays out, if Render does what it’s here to do, and then we’re able to restore them to how they were… I won’t have anything left. There will be no more mission. I’ll be a warrior in a time of peace. Completely lost.”