A midnight blue-tinted sky darkened to black in the east. A hot wind, stirred up by the helicopter blades, stung Ryan's skin as he climbed back inside the hovering Hughes Airstar. He was tired and in pain from the fight with Burnout, but he couldn't stop yet. He had to get the Dragon Heart back. Pain shot in bolts up his legs as he sat next to Nadja. He clenched his teeth against the pain, too fatigued to use magic to channel it away.
A calm sense of purpose filled Ryan. An almost surreal understanding of who he was and what he must do. His indecision gone. Dissipated into the night. "Dhin," Ryan said. "Take us down to the bottom."
"Now?"
"Now! And power up a search light so we can see." "Jane?" came the ork's voice over the speakers, "do I trust him?"
It was Nadja who answered. "Yes," she said. "Do it."
Dhin complied a few seconds later, sending the 'copter into a plunge. "Got the spotlight on," he said, "but can't see him."
Ryan stood and looked out the side door. The Snake River was about ten meters across at the bottom, flowing slowly, a black-glass surface in the darkness. The canyon walls rose precipitously from the surface of the water, no ledges or outcroppings in sight. But the spotlight could illuminate only a tiny circle, and Burnout could have fallen anywhere. He could be under water; he could have been swept downstream.
Ryan shifted his focus into the astral. The river lit up with life, algae and fish and bottom plants. But he could see no sign of the cyberzombie. If he had come this way, Ryan
should be able to see a slight shift in the astral, a trail of pollution like a bad odor left by Burnout's passing. He should also be able to sense the Dragon Heart if it was close. And where was the spirit, Lethe?
Ryan saw no astral trail. He felt no Heart, and Lethe was nowhere to be seen. Ryan sensed nothing.
After an hour of searching, Dhin called back, "We're running low on fuel."
"Thanks, Dhin," Ryan said. "Take us back up. We'll try again in the light."
As Dhin brought the machine up the canyon and over the rim to the compound, Jane's voice came over Ryan's wrist-phone. "Can I talk to you?" she said.
"Hoi, Jane. Sorry about whatever I said to you back there."
"It's blank memory," she said. "Forgotten."
"Thanks," Ryan said. "So what do you want to chat about?"
"I need a favor."
"Name it."
"It requires that you enter the Matrix and meet a friend of mine. Alice." "Oh?"
"You can use the 'trode rig that Axler has," she said. "I'll explain everything after you're in."
Ryan wondered just what Jane was scheming, but decided not to question her now. "Will it take long?" he asked. "I'm beat."
"Not long," Jane said. "And I promise you'll like what Alice has planned." Then Jane's voice cut off.
Dhin set the helicopter down, giving wide berth to the ruined hull of Nadja's jet, which still burned on the end of the airstrip. Axler and Grind stood near it, checking the fallen security guards for signs of life. Ryan felt a wave of sadness as he watched. It was his fault that those people had died. Because of my weakness, he thought.
Because I lacked the strength to heat Roxborough, Burnout killed those people and took the Dragon Heart.
Ryan had failed, but not completely. He had beaten Burnout. He had overcome Roxborough. But all that seemed empty without the Dragon Heart. Until he got it back, he
would feel like he was letting Dunkelzahn down. Like he was letting himself down.
That was why he wouldn't rest until his mission was complete.