“Delaney, I wouldn’t push it,” Martingale said softly. “Doesn’t the potential of a timestream split disturb you?” Andre said.
Darkness gave her an annoyed look. “Very little disturbs me,” he said. “I think a timestream split would be quite interesting. It would make a good opportunity for study. However, I’m in no great hurry to conduct that sort of research at the moment. I’m still working on perfecting my teleportation process. Oh, and speaking of perfecting things, I think I’ve finally ironed out the bugs in the disruptors.”
“You think?” said Finn.
Darkness fixed him with a baleful glare. “You are starting to irritate me, young man. If you were better at doing your job, I wouldn’t have to waste my valuable time with this nonsense. Come here.”
“Don’t get too close,” Martingale whispered.
“Are you serious?” said Finn. “This guy looks about as dangerous as my Aunt Martha.”
He approached Darkness, who stood motionless by the fireplace. The moment he was within reach, Darkness swung his walking stick and it connected with the side of Finn’s head with a sharp crack.
“That’s for your impertinence,” he said.
“You son of a-” Finn swung a hard right at his jaw and almost lost his balance when his fist passed right through him. “What the…?”
“I warned you,” Martingale said.
“Here, take this,” said Darkness, disregarding the attempted punch. He handed Finn a weapon. Gingerly, Delaney reached out and took it. It was solid. He looked totally confused.
The weapon looked like a small flamethrower without a fuel pack attached. It had a knurled metal pistol grip and a peculiar-looking barrel.
“Its method of operation should be simple enough even for a mind like yours to grasp,” said Darkness. “The rest of you come here and watch; I’m not going to repeat this.”
They gathered around and Darkness pointed out the features of the disruptor.
“It’s activated by this control,” he said, pointing. “Activating the disruptor allows a small portion of a very powerful magnetic field tapped through an ERG to enter the weapon. The magnetic field forms a sort of invisible cone around the muzzle of the disruptor, shaping the energy flow. It allows you to fire either a stream of neutrons on a tight beam or a spray of neutrons on a wide sweep. It’s really quite uncomplicated. You
turn the field adjuster, here, to select the firing mode. Turn it to the left and you get a tight beam about one inch in diameter. Turn it to the right and you have a spray. There isn’t any recoil, naturally. It’s just like holding a water hose, only there isn’t any sensation of pressure. Try it out.”
“On what?” said Finn, still dazed.
“God in heaven, man, you needed a weapon, I designed you a weapon. Now you want me to tell you what to shoot with it? What in hell do I care? Try it on yourself, that ought to be amusing.”
Finn walked over to an open window and sighted at a palm tree. He turned the magnetic field adjuster to spray and carefully squeezed the trigger. There was a brief flash of barely discernible blue mist, Cerenkov Radiation, and the palm tree disappeared as if it had never been there in the first place.
“Shit,” said Finn.
“Such eloquence,” said Darkness. “Now give it back, please.”
Finn carefully handed the warp gun back to him.
“You think you can remember how it works?” said Darkness, dryly.
“I’ll manage,” Finn said.
“Good. They will be delivered to you at the proper time.”
“When?”
Darkness sighed. “When the signal for attack is given. All the soldiers of the First Division have been recalled and they are on standby alert, awaiting your signal. Try not to screw it up. Now, are there any more foolish questions? No? Fine. Good-bye.”
Suddenly, he simply wasn’t there anymore.
“How does he do that?” Andre said. “He was solid one second and then when Finn tried to hit him…”
“Tachyons,” said Lucas. “Amazing. He’s faster than the speed of light. Or can be when he wants to.”