Rebel Sword

by Peter Bostrom

  “It appears as though you can make force fields now,” Rand said, interrupting my thoughts.

  “Yeah, I guess I can,” I said. “And you didn’t see it, but I can Force push!”

  “Excuse me?” Rand asked.

  “Force push,” I said, still buzzing over my success. “You know, like when a space warrior . . .”

  Rand looked at me blankly. “Space warrior? Are you referring to an individual who consolidates storage units for a living?”

  Lopez pushed aside her pain long enough to let a grin tug at her mouth. I was hoping it was because she was impressed with me, but with Lopez, I couldn’t be sure.

  After hurrying down another couple of alleys, we came out onto another major street. This one ran in front of the city’s central mining facility. However, this street wasn’t empty like so many of the others—there were rows of heavy-duty mining transports that had been left along the road.

  We ran in short bursts from transport to transport on the far side of the street from the mining facility until we neared its entrance.

  “Wait a minute,” Kovac grumbled as he poked his head around a very large fender.

  The rest of us peeked around the vehicle and saw that the entrance to the mining facility was heavily guarded by Dominion troopers.

  “Why are there so goddamn many of them?” Lopez said. “It’s just a stupid run-down mining facility.”

  “Let’s look around,” Kovac said.

  “No,” I said. “We don’t know how much time we have before Craniax does whatever the Resistance warrior warned us about— ‘anchoring’ or something. Let’s go.”

  We used the abandoned transports for cover until we came to a clearing. Above us, a relatively thin, white building rose high into the air, topped by a silver domed roof. We’d finally made it to the capitol building.

  In front of us lay the capitol’s public courtyard—an open area with large clusters of green artificial hedges about three meters high and holographic water fountains spread about twenty meters apart. We ran into the center of the nearest circle of hedges to catch our breath.

  I was exhausted from using the purple gem’s power to make the force field, so I pulled out a package of Twizzle Stix and tore it open.

  “Okay,” I said through a mouth full of delicious sugary goodness. “Here’s the plan. I’ll clear the way. Lopez will access the vid feeds to help us avoid Dominion patrols. Once we get to the president’s office on the top floor, Kovac and Rand will provide cover, and I’ll then defeat Craniax. Sound good?”

  “Please,” Lopez said, holding her side. “You have no idea who Craniax is or how powerful he is. He’ll probably wipe the floor with your dead body.”

  “Not very absorbent,” Kovac said earnestly.

  Lopez rolled her eyes. “Anyway, what makes you so sure you can do anything against him?”

  I swallowed, which wasn’t easy with an esophagus coated in sugar. “I’ve already taken out Monstros and Sinistra, and they weren’t all that difficult. I don’t see how Craniax would be that much harder. And besides—I’ve got twice as many stones as before.”

  Lopez looked to Rand, who shrugged. “I can’t argue with the accuracy of his calculations.”

  Kovac grunted in agreement.

  “Fine,” Lopez said. “I guess if I’m accessing the vid feeds remotely, I’ll have a front row seat to your ass-kicking and I’ll have plenty of time to get the hell out.”

  There was another one of her faint smiles. Just in case she was making fun of me, I emptied another packet of Twizzle Stix into my mouth without breaking eye contact with her. She blinked, then turned away.

  We saw an occasional handful of troopers patrolling the courtyard, but were able to avoid being seen by moving between clusters of hedges and slipping into their center, where we waited for them to pass.

  Finally, we were within sight of the capitol building’s entrance—a set of large steel doors engraved with the image of a large, evil-looking man on one door, and on the other, a very sad-looking woman holding a pomegranate. And in front of these double doors, about twenty troopers stood at attention.

  “See,” I whispered loudly to my crew. “Piece of moon pie. I’ll just Force push them out of the way, you’ll take up firing positions behind that holofountain to pick off any stragglers, and we’ll be inside. No problem.”

  A low growling noise came from somewhere to the side of the entrance. Slowly, an enormous orange creature strode in front of the soldiers, hiding them from view as it passed them and impatiently swished its tail.

  “Though that giant cat,” I said, “could be a problem.”

  25

  THE MORE I stared at the giant cat-like thing, the more I was convinced it wasn’t a “normal” creature. Aside from the obvious fact that it was at least as tall as me, its features were too angular and its steps were a bit stiff—maybe even mechanical. But it looked like it was on the prowl and incredibly dangerous, so I wasn’t sure I could take on the giant cat and the troopers standing guard at the entrance to the capitol building at the same time. We needed another plan.

  “I’ll distract it,” Kovac said.

  “I’m not certain that’s a wise strategy,” Rand said.

  Kovac shook his head and pointed to the troopers. “You handle them. Then help me.”

  Before anyone could argue, Kovac was off and running. I saw glimpses of his bulky frame appearing and disappearing behind large hedges until he finally emerged on the opposite side of the gate from where the rest of us hid.

  He waved at us and we shook our heads and waved our arms to get him to stop, but he just gave us a big thumbs up and stepped out into the open. He yelled something—which I’m sure was only three words long—and began firing his plasma rifle at the giant cat.

  The orange creature’s furry head pricked up at the sound and snarled when the first plasma slugs seared its hindquarters. It bounded over to Kovac, who was now retreating back into the hedges. He fired several shots off behind him as he ran, which the cat gracefully dodged. It leapt to one side and drew Kovac’s fire there before quickly jumping in the opposite direction and landing near Kovac.

  The cat swiped at him with a massive paw, and I could see its metal claws glinting in the city’s brightening artificial light. Kovac dropped to the ground and rolled away, barely avoiding the razor sharp claws. The hedge next to Kovac wasn’t so lucky—its top half slid diagonally toward the ground and landed with a crash.

  Kovac was back on his feet, but he no longer had a hedge to hide behind. So he wound his way between the maze-like patches of hedges—which reminded me of this game I used to play with my dad where I was a large yellow ball who ran away from ghosts and liked fruit—which were falling left and right as the cat sliced them in two, chasing Kovac.

  Through the slashed hedges we saw Kovac trip over a severed artificial branch and roll on the ground until he ran into the base of a holofountain. The cat stalked toward the stunned Kovac, stopped, crouched, as if it was about to pounce.

  I wasn’t about to let another good soldier die.

  So I summoned the orange stone’s drum and electric guitar music, focused on Kovac’s large body, and stretched out my now faintly-glowing hand. As the cat leapt, I pulled Kovac toward me.

  The cat crashed into the fountain’s base, turning it into a pile of rubble. Kovac’s semi-limp body flew toward me, just centimeters above the ground. I’d done it!

  What I hadn’t done was put much thought into Kovac’s trajectory when I’d snatched him away from danger. A loud crack rang out when his body hit the base of another fountain, and Kovac dropped to the ground, dazed. Oops.

  I breathed a sigh of relief when, after a tense moment, he staggered to his feet and started running toward us. That sigh quickly turned into a gasp, though, when I saw one of the troopers follow Kovac’s wobbly path with his crossbow until he spotted us half-sticking out of a cluster of bushes and waving Kovac run toward us. He pressed the side of his helmet, and
, almost immediately, each of the troopers was now aiming a crossbow at us, ready to fire. And if that wasn’t bad enough, a moment later the orange cat leapt into view and landed next to the troopers in front of the capitol’s double doors.

  If ever there was a time for some serious hero-ing, it was now. As Kovac neared our hiding place, I set down my crossbow. I reached behind me, unsheathed my rod-sword, and stepped out into the open.

  My yellow sword flared to life and my black cape billowed as Kovac ran past me. He frowned, but I just said, “They’ll take care of you,” and started walking toward the troopers and menacing, giant cat.

  The creature bounded toward me and leapt through the air in a blaze of bright orange, its shining metal claws extended. At the last second, I raised my right hand and sent up a large purple force field, stopping the cat abruptly and sending it flying backward. It hit the ground and rolled several times before coming to a stop.

  When its legs buckled after attempting to stand, I knew I had at least a few seconds to handle the armored troopers. With my sword still glowing beside me, I dropped the force field and, raising my free hand toward the troopers, I imagined several blue fireballs shooting toward them.

  Each of the troopers jerked backward upon impact and most of them fell to the ground. That’s when I decided to experiment a bit with what the purple stone could do. I knew I could push things away from me, but could I also use the stone to push two different objects away from each other?

  Two of the guards were still standing unsteadily, so I took a chance.

  In the space between the two, I pictured a large, scaly dragon standing with its wings curled around itself. I suddenly raised the volume of the heroic trumpet and trombone music that was playing in my mind, and the dragon’s wings shot out to the side, hit the two soldiers, and sent them flying violently in opposite directions. One was stopped abruptly when he struck a decorative statue of the pomegranate girl, and the other when he smacked solidly into a metal park bench.

  By now, the other troopers were getting to their feet and leveling their crossbows at me. So I Force pushed—no, Force blasted—them all so hard that I could hear the crunch of their armor as it cracked against the metal double doors they were guarding.

  The cat was now back on its feet and steadily loping toward me. I shoved my hand toward it and fired a series of imaginary blue fireballs, but it ducked and dodged them—with cat-like reflexes, I guess.

  My breath caught in my throat. I was pretty sure all the force pushing and blasting and whatnot was invisible to everyone else, but if that was the case, how did this giant cat move around them so easily? Was it sensing their energy or something?

  I fired off more fireballs, but the cat kept moving, and with each leap it came closer and closer to me until it was just meters away. This was going to have to be it.

  I summoned a partial force field in front of me with my free hand (I was getting good at this), and the cat stopped in its tracks. Then, unbelievably, it began to fight against the field and, digging its claws into the ground, and pushed itself closer and closer to me.

  I strained against the cat’s resistance, but it kept coming.

  I held the force field as long as I could, but when I just couldn’t hold its shape in my mind anymore, I relaxed my imagination and let go.

  At same time, I swung my rod-sword forward with both hands. Its glowing yellow blade sliced down the center of the cat’s face as the creature struggled toward me.

  The small red dots in the center of the cat’s ink-black irises stared me in the eye and kept pushing forward, even though my sword was halfway through its head.

  “DIE, GARFIELD!” I shouted through clenched teeth.

  I quickly raised a hand, and with a burst of the purple jewel’s energy, I pried the two halves of the cat’s head away from each other.

  A green liquid spat out of flailing tubes inside as it collapsed with a thud to the ground.

  I stumbled forward in exhaustion and braced myself from falling with my rod-sword, which I had just extinguished. Craning my neck behind me, I saw my crew staring, wide-eyed. I shrugged and reached casually into one of my pockets and pulled out a packet of Planetoid-Sized Twizzle Stix, devouring them as I turned back around—unable to suppress a planetoid-sized grin—and staggered toward the capitol building’s imposing double doors.

  My energy level picked back up quickly and I quickened my pace. By this point, I had figured out that these stones somehow fed off of whatever energy I had in my body, so as long as I kept stuffing my face, I’d be in good shape. I sheathed my sword behind my back, and as I strode forward, cape flowing, I flung my arms out to the side and cleared away the fallen troopers from the ground in front of the doors.

  By then, my crew had caught up to me. Lopez’s eyes were still wide, Kovac’s mouth was hanging open—even more than usual—and Rand just grinned.

  “I think I’m ready for whatever’s inside,” I said.

  Just then, the faint sound of boots striking pavement began to sound in the distance.

  “Okay, Lopez,” I said, looking toward the direction of the boot noises. “Work your magic.”

  She stepped forward and ran her hand along the wall just to the right of the double doors. “Um . . .” Lopez said.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Just a minute.”

  She hurried to the wall on the other side of the doors and moved her hand quickly along its surface.

  “You seem to be experiencing a problem,” Rand said.

  The sound of boots was growing louder. Now was not the time for a problem.

  Lopez had moved to the center of the metal double doors and was sliding her hands frantically over their surfaces.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  Lopez spun around and looked at us, wild-eyed.

  “I’d love to open the door,” she said, “but there’s no access panel, keypad, or even an old-fashioned lock. Nothing.”

  “So, what does that mean?” I asked.

  “It means . . . there’s nothing for me to hack.”

  26

  SO THERE WE were—stuck at the entrance of the Dominion’s stronghold on Pluto with what sounded like several phalanx of heavily-armed troopers racing toward us.

  Lopez was staring at the doors and blinking rapidly. Well, there might not have been something to hack, but there was definitely something I could break.

  I cleared my throat. “Everyone—stand back,” I said.

  I shook out my arms, bowed my head, and thought of the purple stone’s slow music. I looked up at the images on the double doors—the god Hades on the left, the mortal Persephone on the right. These two definitely needed to separate, and because there weren’t any gods or Greek heroes around to do it for us, it was up to me.

  Summoning my my purple stone’s music, I brought my hands forward, palms facing away from each other, and curved my fingers as if I was reaching into the crack between the doors—it was all I could think of to do. Then, I pulled.

  But, man, these were some serious doors. I’m guessing they were made from some super-dense synthetic substance and weighed as much as all of Nix Station combined.

  The doors made a low groaning noise as I tried to pry them apart. I was just about to give up when a higher-pitched screeching noise sounded. But instead of the two massive doors swinging open on their hinges like I expected, the seam between the two doors began to bend and expand until there was a space wide enough for one person to go through.

  My shoulders went slack. I panted, and stepped forward to peek through the crack. There were no troopers in sight, so I took a step back to join my crew.

  “Get in!” I yelled as I pushed Rand toward the hole. He tossed his duffel bag through and followed quickly after.

  Lopez slipped in next. Kovac tried squeezing through sideways, but his barrel chest was a bit too barrel-y, and he got stuck. That’s when the first glowing arrow bounced off the door, high and to my right. I turned around to see a wal
l of Eggheads running toward me, crossbows drawn.

  They were still about forty meters or more away, but I didn’t want to take any chances, so I summoned a force field around Kovac, the crack, and me. I put my shoulder to his waist and pushed as hard as I could. He moved a little, but just enough to get him completely stuck.

  “Aw, hell,” I said. “Hold on, Kovac. I’m going to try something.”

  I kept the image of the force field in my mind and held up one hand in the direction of the troopers to keep part of my focus there. Then I imagined my other arm was made of black steel and was in the shape of a wolf—like a badass battering ram. When I began pressing on Kovac with this arm, he moved quickly through the opening and popped out on the other side of the doors.

  By this point, I was exhausted from all the energy I’d been using. The troopers behind me were now only twenty or so meters away, so I dropped the force field and quickly squeezed through the widened crack between the doors, pulling my cape close behind me.

  When I came out the other side, I quickly wished I hadn’t. There was a long, thick metal table that Kovac must have turned on its side to create a barrier against the handful of troopers inside the building who were firing at us. Unfortunately, there were also a lot more troopers on the other side of the door who were also trying to kill us.

  So, summoning the orange gem’s drum and electric guitar music and gritting my teeth, I pulled the edges of the crack back together. It wasn’t exactly a tidy job, but it was close enough to keep the arrows on the outside from making it inside.

  As soon as I’d mostly re-sealed the doors, I fell to the ground on all fours, exhausted, my cape spread out around me.

  “Walker, it would be tremendously helpful if you were able to perform more of your feats of psychokinetic strength and rid us of these nuisances,” Rand said loudly over the sound of plasma blasts.

  I tried reaching for one of my pockets, but my arm wouldn’t cooperate—my energy was totally spent. It took everything I had not to curl up in a ball and go to sleep right then and there.