I’m faster. Another IP blast takes the closest one down before he can fire. The other two open fire. Green beams slice through the air where I was a second before, leaving scorch marks on the wall behind me. Another IP cannon blast takes down the third one.
The ceiling is fifteen feet high; not enough room for the last one to fly, if he could, but plenty for me—and he won’t shoot any more servers trying to hit me.
Except he’s not shooting at me, he’s lumbering toward a large red button on the wall. Well, I don’t have to be a genius to figure out what that means.
I fire off a full power IP cannon at him. The energy slams him square in the back flattening his face against the metal floors.
“Epic, which one?”
A glowing arrow appears on my HUD over the far server. I jet over and drop to the floor in a shower of sparks as I skid to a halt in front of it. The magnetic induction works just fine as my hand comes into contact with the metal housing of the server. Epic throws a countdown on the screen as he searches their database. It’s ticking down from thirty seconds; this is going better than I thought.
“Is that how long until you find Kate?”
Negative. It is how long until the seven-mile section of shaft crashes into the building.
The counter hits twenty and I start sweating. Beads form on my temple, working their way down my chin.
“Uh, Epic? Can you find her before we get squashed?”
He doesn’t answer. The whole building shakes and dust rains from the ceiling as sections of the roof shift, rending huge cracks through the structure. Light streams through one. The wall on the far side splinters as fragments explode outward.
Ten seconds.
“Epic…”
Five seconds.
A roaring sound echoes down from above. The lights flicker and die. My HUD instantly switches to starlight, letting me see with very little ambient light but casting a green hue over the room.
Three seconds.
Located. Go right. Fifty feet straight ahead.
I don’t hesitate. The wall to my right is only twenty feet away and I slam into it going a hundred miles an hour with my kinetic shields on full power. Already weakened by the shaking we blast through it with explosive force. The other side is a cafeteria of some kind but I don’t have time to sightsee as Epic’s counter hits zero.
I can only imagine how awesome this would look from the outside. Inside, not so much. Walls, floors, and ceiling vaporize in an instant from the near nuclear shockwave as hundreds of thousands of pounds of alien metal slams into the planet at terminal velocity.
The blast catches me as I crash through the window to the outside. The solid wall of air hits my kinetic shields and throws me through the air like a wave pushing a boat.
The sudden acceleration to near supersonic speeds has my alarms screaming at me as system after system loses power in order to keep the kinetic shields in place. The blast wave passes after a few seconds, leaving me breathless and falling more than flying.
Rebooting main systems. Please standby.
“Easy for you to say,” I groan. We’re falling. I’m too tired to care how far. The HUD vanishes for a moment then comes back on with a scrolling list of damaged systems. The Emdrive whines to life and I pull out of the fall.
“Tell me you got her location?”
Affirmative. But we need to hurry. They are trying to move her off-planet.
Adrenaline banishes my aches and pains, chasing my exhaustion away. “The hell they are. Show me the path!”
The familiar yellow line appears on my HUD.
Amelia, the space elevator is breaking up in orbit, showering this planet with massive fragments. No place will be safe from their devastation.
“Then we hurry. Epic, I feel the need for speed. Punch it!” All four Emdrives come online, flinging me across the planet’s surface at many times the speed of sound.
117
Kate’s location is five hundred and seventy miles due East from here. At our current speed, we will arrive in just under six minutes. According to the data files she is being held at the same facility as the quantum singularity power station. Amelia, if at all possible we need to link to their data files and download their research into quantum singularities.
“You’re telling me, buddy.” That’s the Holy Grail of stellar astrophysics right there. I’ll worry about it when she’s safe, though. My heart bangs away in my chest as I watch the miles melt from our mad dash to save her. I crack my neck in a vain attempt to relieve some of the tension. I can feel a headache forming behind my eyes. Too many hours in the suit.
I don’t even want to know what I smell like.
Epic has us flying nape-of-the-earth style to avoid detection just a hundred feet from the ground. If letting them think I died in the space elevator collapse buys us even a second, it’s worth the stress of flying this low. At this speed I can’t really control the suit, Epic has to. Not only would I break in half trying to turn, but I also can’t think fast enough to avoid obstacles.
Reverse thrust in three… two…
The g’s slam me in the gut and compress my whole body as we slow. Blackness creeps in from the periphery of my vision but I manage to hold it back by clenching all the muscles in my body. The g’s slack off and I grunt from the lack of pressure.
We fly over a ridge and a valley of rivers and trees comes into view. A small complex of white painted buildings spans the river, connected by small bridges and skyways. Off to the far end is an elevated landing pad with a small craft parked on it. It’s triangular, with a single engine mounted on the tail. I have no idea what it is made for, but it looks fast.
Massive conduits the size of semi-trucks connect to each building. I have no idea where they go as they are buried heading east from the complex. I count six at least.
Debris is heading our way. Less than thirty minutes.
“What building is she in?”
The one on the far-left highlights. I floor it. The air vibrates around me as I shoot toward the front doors like a rocket. I slam the ground on the walkway, leaving cracks from where I hit. The double doors are nothing more than glass and whatever passes for aluminum on this planet. I slam a fist through one and rip the thing right off the rails.
The insides of these buildings are different than the space elevator and the ships; more like a hospital and less like a military installation. Gleaming white walls, lots of lighting, even a few potted plants.
Two Th’un inside look at me with their flat faces and weird eyes before barking at me like dogs. I blast them both with the IP cannon on rapid fire sending them sprawling and spazzing to the ground. It’s nice to face people who aren’t wearing armor that deflects or absorbs my IP cannon.
They have a local wireless network. I am accessing it now.
“Good, keep me going in the right direction.” The path leads me through another door which is easy enough to pull open. Having this much raw strength in the armor sure is enjoyable. Even with my kinetic shields I really couldn’t do stuff like this before.
“Are we closing in?”
There is a security door up on the left. She is in a lab on the far side.
It is less of a door and more of an airlock. I pull up my EW suite and scan it… EM radiation surges from behind me. I spin around half expecting to see a gun pointed at me. Nope. Opposite Kate’s room is the quantum singularity lab…
“Epic, time to impact?”
Twenty-seven minutes.
Time for research once I have Kate. I place my hand on the pad next to the door and wait for Epic to do his thang. Lights flicker on the pad and the door flows apart. As I step through, mist sprays down on me, dripping off the armor as the liquid pools and flows off.
“Epic?”
Decontamination protocol… I think.
This lab is clearly a medical chamber. Vials of blood are in a see-through refrigerator in the corner. Medical beds with machines posed above them like vultures. A lum
p goes down my throat when I see one of the devices has an articulating arm with an attached saw mounted. I swear, if they killed her, I’m going to kill every Th’un on this planet.
I make it to the far door and trigger the release. Taking a deep breath, I step through. My helmet folds back and I say, “Kate Petrenelli, I’m Amelia Lockheart I’m here to—”
The words die in my mouth, along with my heart.
A shorter than average Th’un in white gown and mask stands next to her. Kate is strung up on the wall, held in place by some kind of energy field. Tubes feed in and out of her flesh. They shaved her body, hanging her naked on the wall like a trophy.
My vision dims. I can’t seem to see past my rage. Her right arm is missing. Removed at the shoulder.
“You sonofabitch!” I yell. The sword leaps out of my hand as I charge toward him.
He throws his hands up, spouting some gibberish. I don’t care. I slice the blade down lopping off one of his arms. He screams as thick blood spurts out where his missing limb used to be. I kick him hard in the chest. I feel his bones collapse under my boot as he flies to the wall and sinks down in a heap.
I only wish there were more here to kill.
“Oh Kate, what have they done to you?”
She’s alive. They have her in some sort of medically induced coma. Amelia… they have operated on her extensively. Accessing the computer. Please place your hand on the unit she is connected to.
I can’t move. My beautiful Kate. This is all my fault. I should have come right here; damn Luxilla and her people. I should have bee-lined for this solar system and found her first.
Amelia. Your hand, please.
I look down at my arm then the console. Rage swells within me, replacing the anguish. “Right,” I say through clenched teeth.
I know what Kate means to you, Amelia. She is alive, is that not good news?
“Look what they did to her, Epic. I am going to make them pay. They are never going to do this to anyone, ever again!”
She is alive Amelia, hold on to that. Prepping her for transport.
The wall separates as machinery whirs to life. Some of the tubes leave her as the bed she is in rotates until it aligns horizontally. They have some kind of anti-grav tech that allows it to hover.
“Don’t wake her up if you can help it.”
I will not. I do not think the shock would be good for her. She is ready for transport.
“Scan that ship outside, does it have a QGD?”
Yes.
“Can you lock down the other buildings? Trap whoever is here inside?”
Yes.
“Do it.”
I take the handle on Kate’s bed and drag her behind me as I go back out. The hallway is clear so no one else tries to stop me. I don’t know if I’m happy or sad about it.
I stop in the hall to clear it and make sure Kate is still okay. Her vitals look strong. I move around behind her to push and I see the other lab they have here.
The quantum singularity lab. My eyes narrow as an idea forms in my head.
“Epic, I think I know a way to end this war.”
I hurry Kate out to the small craft, pulling the anti-grav bed as fast as it will let me. A Th’un comes out of the ship as I approach, a rifle shouldered and aiming at me. I leap up and bring my sword down on the weapon, slicing it in half. He skitters back and I run him through the chest. He collapses on the gangplank and I drag him off and toss him over the side.
I glance at Kate. I need to clear the ship, but I don’t want to leave her here. Decision made, I grab her bed and pull her up on the ship before letting her go and looking around. It’s tiny; smaller than Lux’s scout ship. Once I’m sure no one is here I pull her into the one room that isn’t the cockpit or the engine compartment.
Accessing the ship's computer. Preparing for lift off.
The hum of the single-engine vibrates the hull.
“Not this time, buddy. Program the autopilot to take her home. But don’t launch. I certainly want to be on board.”
Roger. Amelia, what are you planning?
“I’m going to do to the Th’un what the Emperor wanted to do to Arrakis.”
Are you joking?
“No,” I say quietly. My anger and rage have passed. I’m not acting out of revenge or spite, merely a desire to end their ability to make war.
Autopilot programmed. It will take her right to the HQ. Just in case, I added a message for Milton on how to take care of her.
“Good.”
I lean down and place a kiss on her cheek. “Sleep well.” I will my helmet back on and run down the ramp to the facility, back over the shattered glass and down the hall. I blast two Th’un with bolts from the IP cannon. The door I want has all kinds of warning and access controls. Nothing Epic can’t override. I put my hand on the panel and nothing happens.
Amelia… I cannot… I do not want you to do this.
“Epic, you saw what they did to Kate? What they’ve done to Luxilla, what they want to do to Earth?”
Yes. But… Amelia, you will never forgive yourself for this. You are not only ending the war, but you are also wiping out an entire species.
“Yes. I am. Now open the door.” I don’t mean to be irritated—he’s trying to protect me. I get it. “Epic, if there’s another way, I’m all ears.”
I wait for him to tell me he has a plan, some way to end this without doing what I’m about to do.
“But this is here, right now. How much worse will I feel if I don’t? If we get back to Earth, and they’ve deployed those massive harvesters… and I could’ve stopped it?”
Amelia, you do not know the effect this will have on you. I do not want to lose you. Please.
My heart aches and my throat closes tight. “I don’t want to lose you too, buddy. Sometimes, to do what is right, we have to be steady, to sacrifice the things we want… even ourselves if need be. I don’t want to die, Epic, and I don’t want to commit genocide. If there were another way… but there isn’t. Open the door. Now please.”
The door slides open.
For the record, I agree with you. I just do not want to.
“I know. I know,” I whisper to him.
The reactor room is much smaller than I imagined. Within moments we’re hacked into their panels and going over the data they’ve collected.
“How long to impact?” I ask Epic as we look at the numbers.
Ten minutes. I do not think we have enough time. This code is dense, far denser than what the Th’un have used previously. I also do not think they created it.
“Explain?”
All of their tech is based on one or two advancements. The ZPFM, Animetal, chemical lasers, etc. Nothing in their research indicates they would be capable of harnessing a quantum singularity as a power source.
He’s right. I flash through a couple of other screens and something gnaws at me. Something I’m missing or can’t quite see. I don’t have time to be dense.
“Epic, neural safety interlocks off.”
Adrenaline floods through me as our networks link and Epic’s processing power boosts my own thought speed. The suit’s external nervous system is twenty percent faster than my own. Synapses fire and my brain rushes to catch up.
“It’s alien,” I say as another screen flashes by.
Yes, it is Th’un.
“No, I mean it is another alien species, not Th’un or the Lux but someone else, someone far more advanced than the Th’un. Look at these containment requirements. The Th’un’s ZPFMs aren’t as efficient as mine. Which makes sense since they used one the size of a car battery to power Portland.”
I see it. This is an order of magnitude more power than we could generate. They must have five—no, six building-sized ZPFMs, with another two dozen as backups to contain the potential here. Why are they not tapping the power of the singularity itself?
I pull up the schematics in their system and overlay them on my vision, using my hands to navigate, zoom in and out, and
really examine them.
Eight minutes.
“This is why.” I point at their power conduits. “They are at the limit of their superconductivity. It’s why they need bigger ZPFMs. Those giant conduits outside are to connect multiple cables.” I shake my head. “I used my kinetic manipulators to compress hydrogen three sulfide into a near zero resistance state.”
I try to suppress the euphoric state encroaching on me; I don’t have time to feel invincible.
“They have more traditional superconductors. They require massive thick cables just to…”
You have an idea do you not?
“Yes, I do.” My enthusiasm for solving the problem crashes down on me as I realize exactly what I need to do… and the cost.
“Epic, I don’t think… I don’t think we get to go home, buddy.”
I understand. Initiating autopilot. Seven minutes to debris touchdown.
“Link their console to the suit please.”
Link initiated.
Much the way Epic can breeze through conventional computer systems, we work together to circumvent their safety protocols. After all, it’s one thing to access a network, something else entirely to make it do something it was explicitly designed to stop.
“I don’t think they realize what they have here, or they never would have put it on a planet.”
If they knew what they had, they would not have it in their solar system. Kate has broken orbit. Her ship is on course for Earth.
I smile at that. “Well, now they know, and knowing is half the battle. Not that it will do them any good. Cable one, override complete. Shutting it down.” The lights in the lab flicker as the containment system loses one-sixth of its power.
Six minutes.
Alarms wail and emergency protocols slam into place as the next conduit goes down. Red lights flash from the floor and klaxons sound. A Th’un recording starts barking in harsh tones loud enough to cause deafness.
The computer system is trying to restore power. They do have sophisticated hardwired safety measures. Not unlike the ship.
“We overrode those, we can override these.” I keep tapping away, moving code and bypassing systems until I find the one I want. My brain races with possibilities. Each one forms fully into my mind and I explore it effortlessly down to its logical conclusion then pick the right move to make what I want, happen. Sweat beads on my forehead and drips down, stinging my eyes. I resist the urge to wipe it away as I keep working.
Full Metal Superhero Box Set [Books 1-6] Page 64
