If All Else Fails
Page 12
She ignored the engineers and stepped over the edge of the walkway around the core. It was nothing to alter her mass so she could walk on the air. Her heart hammered in her chest as she hovered with the delicate sphere. This was the last point where things could go wrong.
The battle raged behind Alexis, but she wasn’t paying attention. She let out a long breath, then opened the Etheric and thrust her hands inside. She pushed the sphere out of the Etheric and into the reactor core.
“I did it!” she cried, drawing the attention of everyone in the room.
There wasn’t time for anything else. She darted back to solid ground, grabbed K’aia, and flung her into the Etheric. Gabriel and Trey landed in the mist at exactly the same time.
Alexis jumped to her feet and helped K’aia up, then started pulling off the Yollin’s armor. “Drop your armor, Trey. We have a couple of minutes, that’s all.”
Gabriel helped Trey, and the four made the transfer to the bridge of the Gemini.
“I’m glad you all made it back in one piece,” Gemini announced as they tumbled out of the Etheric.
“Get us out of here!” Alexis yelled. “It’s going to blow—”
But there was no explosion, no shockwave to tear the Gemini apart. But the battlestation was gone. In its place was a bright, jagged tear in the void, and even that was gone when it suddenly collapsed in on itself and winked out of existence.
Gabriel looked at the unfolding spectacle with amazement. “So,” he murmured to Alexis. “Do you want to tell Mom she took care of that rift the hard way, or shall we leave it to Dad?”
The bridge faded to black before Alexis could answer.
Epilogue
Devon, The Hexagon, Vid-doc Vault
Bethany Anne paced the space between the Vid-docs with growing impatience. “How long?” she asked Eve for the third time.
“Neural recalibration can’t be rushed,” Eve replied with a hint of annoyance.
Michael had just as little patience, but his was coiled tightly, holding him still by the control panel. “It’s been three hours.”
“Perfectly normal,” Eve assured him. “The process has to be completed, or they won’t retain everything they’ve gained in the system.”
Bethany Anne stopped pacing and stared at Eve. “They could lose their memories?”
“As well as physical abilities,” Eve confirmed.
Only Mahi’ kept her calm. She sat with her hand resting in Fi’Eireie's, watching the replays of the battles with rapt attention and a growing smile.
An alert went off and ceased immediately.
“That will be Tabitha,” Eve informed Bethany Anne and Michael. “Only she can interfere with the system like that.”
“Only me,” Tabitha announced over the speakers, confirming Eve's prediction. “Well, me and a couple others.”
Eve smirked and turned back to the control panel. “I knew it. We’re almost ready here.”
“That’s what you said an hour ago,” Michael reminded her.
“Well, excuse me for thinking an hour wasn’t long in human terms,” Eve shot back.
Bethany Anne raised an eyebrow when the vault door opened to admit Tabitha, Peter, John, Scott, Darryl, and Eric. Gabrielle pushed through the guys and smiled at Bethany Anne. “We didn’t want to miss this.”
“Anyone else want to crash my children’s return?” Bethany Anne asked.
Tabitha grinned. “Oh, hells, yeah. I didn’t think you’d want everyone in the Hexagon down here, though.”
“You thought right,” Michael told her.
“But you are all welcome,” Bethany Anne added. “I can’t think of anyone else I’d like to share this moment with.”
Eve left the console and glided over to the Vid-docs. “Two minutes.”
Bethany Anne forgot her annoyance at the wait when the Vid-docs lit up, signifying that they were about to open.
Inside the Vid-docs, Alexis and Gabriel regained consciousness, followed by K’aia and Trey, who came to a moment later.
All four blinked when the light was restored and they found themselves in the Vid-docs. The lids opened to let them out, and there was a whole crowd waiting to greet them.
Alexis climbed out and darted over to dive into Bethany Anne’s waiting arms. “Mom! I missed you!”
Bethany Anne held Alexis close, only letting go with one arm to include Gabriel in the embrace when he joined them. Her heart was full of the completeness she felt holding them in her arms, leaving her momentarily speechless.
“It’s so good to see you, Mom,” Gabriel murmured into the crook of her neck. “Did you see the end of the scenario?”
They opened their arms again to include Michael, whose voice had a slight quaver when he spoke. “Time is a strange thing,” he told his children. “It feels to me like it went as slowly for us as it did for you two.”
“We’re home,” Alexis announced, letting go of her parents so she could hug the rest of their greeting party. “I’m so happy to be back on Devon!”
Bethany Anne pulled K’aia into a hug. “You don’t get away so easily,” she told her. “You did well in there.”
K’aia was sure she was blushing, whether it showed on her carapace or not. “Just doing my duty.”
Mahi’ gasped when she laid eyes on Trey. “I cannot believe it,” she breathed. “You are magnificent, my son.”
“Kingly,” his father added as the three embraced. “You’re a son to make anyone proud, and a warrior our people will sing of for generations to come.”
Trey was overcome with emotions. “I missed you, Mahi’,” he managed through his tears. “And I’m looking forward to getting to know you, Father.”
Bethany Anne couldn’t stop smiling. “This calls for a celebration.”
Gabriel grinned. “Where did you hide the Cokes? I know you didn’t come down here without any.”
Tabitha lifted the lid of a cooler she spotted and laughed. “I’m guessing you’re right. Here.”
The twins accepted gratefully.
“You know, that’s the one thing we missed in there,” Alexis told everyone. “If you hadn’t stepped down as Empress, Coke wouldn’t have made it out of the Empire.”
Gabriel nodded. “Yeah. ’S good.”
Bethany Anne raised an eyebrow, then dissolved into laughter. “You two are most definitely my children.”
“They most definitely have your caffeine addiction,” Michael added.
Alexis finished her drink and grabbed another from the cooler. “What we have is taste. Now, are we going to just hang around in here all day?”
Bethany Anne rolled her eyes at Alexis’ impatience, so like her own. “Well, no. You completed the process just in time.”
“In time for what?” Gabriel inquired, seeing the seriousness pass over his mother’s face. “Did the Seven attack again?”
“No,” Bethany Anne told him. “You’ve missed a lot while you were in the Vid-docs. We’ll tell you about it on the way to the ship.”
Alexis’ eyes widened as she realized there was a voice missing from her mind. “Gemini!”
“Her ship is berthed on the Baba Yaga,” Michael assured her.
The conversation continued as the group made their way to the surface. By the time they’d reached the Baba Yaga, the twins knew all about Gödel.
Alexis met Gabriel’s gaze with a hard stare. It’s funny. I hadn’t expected to know the name of the Kurtherian we’re going to destroy. They’re usually more…generic. You know?
Michael’s voice cut into their mindspace. You will leave Gödel to us.
The twins whirled on Michael. “But, Dad!” Alexis protested. “She owes us for Aunt Addix!”
“I have another task in mind for your team,” Bethany Anne told them firmly. “Gödel is mine, and mine alone.”
Alexis was about to argue further when Gabriel stayed her with a hand. “What task?”
“You’ll find out,” Bethany Anne promised. “Just as soon as
we arrive at the Meredith Reynolds.”
Author Notes - N.D. Roberts
December 5, 2019
Hello again! Of course, I want to start by thanking you for reading all the way to my waffly wafflings. I don’t know what a creative mind would do without you to demand...I mean, ask ever so nicely for more books... Let’s be honest, demanding is a much more appropriate description with a bunch of book addicts like us—and as an author, I'm all too happy to oblige.
I’m feeling quite introspective as I write these notes, no doubt as a result of it being my last week in the US for this year. Life in the Stiegler household runs on its own time, although I’m anticipating the return to normality when I get back to the UK.
HUGE thanks to Lynne for her beautiful edit, and to the Beta and JIT teams for their effort in making this book all shiny in post-production. I appreciate you all SO much!
While I’m on the subject, I have to thank Marc Stiegler enormously for his insights into how technology works. The final scenes are much richer for our long conversations about how hacking, and his guidance on my research was invaluable. How many authors have access to the fine mind of someone whose life's work helped shape the world as we know it? I’m incredibly blessed to call him family. (Read his Braintrust series if you haven’t already! I promise you won’t be able to put it down!)
This is the conclusion of Out of Time, but you will be able to find my next Kurtherian project, titled Queen of the Mad, very soon. I am determined that the Sarah Jennifer Walton story will be in the store by the end of Spring, 2020. Those who follow my author page on Facebook know that the project has taken a while to get through development, since it has all the answers to the burning questions everyone has about the Age of Madness while wrapping in canon from TKG, the Second Dark Age, the Age of Expansion, and the Age of Magic. Nobody said it would be an easy project, but it’s become the one that speaks most to my heart as an author and I’m writing furiously to get it to you!
And so, I return Alexis and Gabriel to their rightful place by Bethany Anne’s side. It’s been a lot of fun chasing these teenagers into maturity, although I can promise you that their lessons in life are not done with entirely!
I leave you with this poem by another fine mind as a final goodbye for the series.
Kahlil Gibran - 1883-1931
And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, Speak to us of Children.
And he said:
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.
Ad aeternitatem, until we meet again,
Nat
Author Notes - Michael Anderle
December 5, 2019
WOOT! Thank you for reading through both the story and all the way back through the Author Notes.
So, Judith and I were blessed to be hosted at Marc and Lynne’s home on a trip back to Texas (we were selling our house there.)
They live on a quiet piece of property not that far from the freeway in a small town surrounded by mountains. When you head east not that far, you find additional beautiful mountains, and I can understand why they chose the idyllic life they lead.
With many dogs (not understanding that part, but then I’m still too close to empty nest just happening.) (Editor’s note: Only four, Michael. That’s not a lot. Is it? Michael?)
Both of them worked for many, many years with companies (HP / Autodesk, for example) that have changed the world, and through products (instead of actors), I have my own version of six degrees of separation.
I have, for instance, made my livelihood by using an Autodesk product (AutoCAD) and owned HP machines in my life. I never would have thought I’d know people who were instrumental in those companies.
You see, at that time (90s) I lived in Houston, TX, and Compaq Computers (NW of Houston) and Dell (Austin) were the companies I was most familiar with. I had no concept of going to California in my future.
Life has a way of bringing great friends into your orbit.
I can say that Bethany Anne brought the four of us (Lynne / Nat / Marc & me) into orbit, and I’m just amazed how Lynne and Marc have damn near become Nat’s American mom and dad when she is from the UK.
All through the power of books and readers.
So thank you for reading our stories. Because of you, new families are being made worldwide.
Ad Aeternitatem,
Michael Anderle
Obsidian Detective
Available Now at your Favorite e-book retailer
Two Rebels whose Worlds Collide on a Planetary Level.
On the fringes of human space, a murder will light a fuse and send two different people colliding together.
She lives on Earth, where peace among the population is a given. He is on the fringe of society where authority is how much firepower you wield.
She is from the powerful, the elite. He is with the military.
Both want the truth – but is revealing the truth good for society?
---
Two years ago, a small moon in a far off system was set to be the location of the first intergalactic war between humans and an alien race.
It never happened. However, something was found many are willing to kill to keep a secret.
Now, they have killed the wrong people.
How many will need to die to keep the truth hidden?
As many as is needed.
He will have vengeance no matter the cost. She will dig for the truth. No matter how risky the truth is to reveal.
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