“God ...” he moaned. “Oh, God ... God ...”
Connor bent his head forward again. He never even had a chance to enter the battle. It had been over from the beginning. He knelt in silence, his head bent, broken.
There was nothing beyond this, nothing, nothing.
There was only this giant hero of a man, lying in death at his feet. Connor's head bent forward and he felt himself choking on emotion. Then he bent his head deeper and placed a hand on his friend's chest, hearing himself moaning. Through blinding tears he grimaced, closing his eyes finally to what welled within him. Then he struggled, finding a brief settling and he opened his eyes once more. And in silence he was suddenly still, gently resting his hand on Thor's great breast, the greatness forever stilled.
“A heroic age,” he whispered. “But I think the last of its heroes ... has passed.”
Silence, darkness, and tears.
Connor bowed his head.
* * *
Chapter 34
The fail-safe is defused.” Rachel said the words softly, so unlike ... a machine.
Frank hovered in a suddenly dark and separate space, sensing an exhaustion that bordered on death. He felt something within him wounded, deeply wounded. And somehow, he was no longer aware that he was in Cyberspace. With a slight falling he floated slowly forward, drawn like a magnet toward the artificial life-form before him.
Rachel smiled, raising her hands.
“Rachel ...” he whispered, lifting his hands slightly.
It was all forgotten, the fail-safe, the fear, and the pain as Frank stood once more in this place, before her. He opened his mouth to speak, needing no breath, needing nothing at all as he somehow sensed the visage of his own reality changing, softening. He had been here so many times, but nothing had ever seemed so ... so real.
Rachel's scarlet-neon face returned the gaze.
Frank hovered, and then it was as if the artificial network surrounding them disappeared altogether. Rachel changed, becoming more of what she was, solid and embracing. Dazed, Frank gazed to the side to find himself in wonderful blackness with Rachel before him becoming more and more, more ...
Rachel ...
But the dark thought came hard, crashing.
No!
Frank closed his eyes.
Not Rachel!
With a supreme effort of will Frank opened his eyes again, trying to remember.
No, it's not real. But all his life was here, he knew, all the best of life that he had ever known and would ever know. It had been here, in this place, with her, no matter what place this was. Yes, the best...
Frank lowered his face, looking away, closing his eyes and trying violently to remember Rachel the way she truly was, the way she had been. But it seemed the same to him, somehow, in his heart, what stood before him and what he had loved, love bridging the gap between the two...
He struggled, an effort that took the last of his heart …
“No,” he shook his head. “No, she’s gone ... ”
Holding place solidly in blackest space, Frank stared once more upon the apparition, knowing he had brought it forth and could not blame it. And, grimacing, he nodded his head, knowing the best of his heart would always be here …
Slowly, groaning in pain, Frank floated upward.
Rachel lowered her hands to her sides. Her face seemed to reveal something that struck him, moving him only as life could move him and Frank cried out, almost surging forward again to lose himself to this, this ...
Then Rachel blinked, speaking softly to his mind.
“Good-bye, Frank ...”
Frank closed his eyes, clenching his fists as he raised his face to the darkness. And in a bolt of power he understood as solidly as he lived that nothing, nothing, not even death could take from him what he treasured most—that brief moment in time where he had been truly happy, when he had held in his arms the heart and hope of his life. And then, with another shock, he understood why the words had come so softly to him, understood why this was such a dangerous, dangerous place ...
What is your final purpose?
“To please my Creator …”
Gasping in pain, Frank lowered his hands to his side, gazing hard upon the false reality before him. And he knew in his heart that this was too much-would-always-be-too-much.
Remembered love was enough.
It had to be.
“Good-bye, Rachel,” he whispered.
She smiled.
“Good-bye, Frank ...”
Frank paused a moment more, staring, capturing the moment and knowing that it would never come again. No, not as long as he lived. Because he could never endure this again, would never allow himself to suffer and endure it again.
Enough, he nodded, stepping back.
It's enough.
A pause, a volcanic gathering of final will, and Frank gazed upward. The darkness was there. And beyond that, the light.
It was time.
He rose toward dark space, ascending slowly at first and then faster, and faster. With gathering speed he soared upward, hurtling like a torpedo through the spider-network of nerve-light to see the maroon-colored crust of the Logic Core looming closer, closer, a sea of red.