“That is a derivative of Gelan, right?”
“Yes. My parents were believers.”
“I am sorry. I do not know what that means.”
“Gelan taught us our history and guides us. We have your jacket too.”
“Thanks,” Frank said as he put on the glasses. “Gelan speaks the truth.”
“Our steward said you would be coming and I must admit I had my doubts. But the bug-men had been coming for so long so I had to try.”
“Relax, Geln. You are doing fine.”
“I am officially the first believer to reach this rank. But I will tell you Raul is also a believer. I do not think he would mind me saying.”
“I am not here to solve some crisis in your belief system, Geln. I will restore the power and then be on my way.”
“Your very presence solves the crisis. The opposition says other human worlds are a myth.”
“I really do not have time for all of this. I do not mean to offend.”
Geln whistled and a runner came forward carrying Frank's hoodie.
Frank looked down at himself as he retrieved the garment. He was once again covered in blood. He shrugged and put it on anyway.
“Which way is the fog dome from here?” he asked.
“The main power facility?” Geln asked as he shot a glance at the runner.
“Take the river road,” the runner offered. “It is a fairly fast route and you avoid the main city.”
“I take it the city is hostile?” Frank asked.
“Give me a few moments to issue orders,” Geln said. “We will escort you to the power facility and I can explain everything on the way.”
* * *
“What is it, sister?” Brogue asked as the door closed behind him.
“I need you to see the Sessik that is in the Mother's chamber.”
Brogue looked at the screen. “I...I do not have the words.”
“Who has the capability to create such a being?” Gladys asked.
“Other than you, I have no idea.”
“Wouldn't you say he looks familiar?”
“That makes no sense, Gladosanthos. I was expecting to see Wold in the chamber.”
“Look.” She spun the remote around to show the projection of Wold. He was standing before the Mother delivering a drawn out monologue.
“Diabolical,” Brogue said. “The coward isn't even there in person. Where did he get that thing?”
“Look around, brother. The range of his Reverence is vast.”
“Well, he looks enormous on screen. That wingspan. His field is obviously much stronger, if it works like that.”
“It absolutely works like that. That puts us in a bad position with our plan.”
“You're going to have to try to talk to him. Convince him to leave.” Brogue looked around. “What can I do to help?”
“You can sit over there and monitor traffic. Keep an eye on Wold's Main Ship.”
He quickly made his way over and sat in the high-backed chair.
“Connie, what's your status?”
“The package is nearly ready.” Her voice came from everywhere.
Brogue looked over but didn't say anything.
“Stand by please. I am going to speak to them and try to convince that thing to leave the chamber.”
“I'm plugged in and the signal is strong. I can take the helm.”
“Thank you, Connie.” Gladys stood up and walked over to the spot where she did most of her projections. She didn't bother with paint or wardrobe. She touched a few spots on a data pad and a projection of the Mother's chamber formed before her.
“...and you will never know when.” Wold had been going on for some time.
“Wold! Explain yourself.” Gladys tried to sound stern. It wasn't a good role for her.
“Ah, yes. I was wondering when you would arrive.” Wold was as smug as he's ever been.
Gladys turned to the Centurion. “You need to leave. Your presence is causing the Mother great discomfort.”
The Centurion answered with a smile and kept his wings extended.
“He wouldn't answer to you, Gladosanthos,” Wold said.
“Then you tell him. This will not end well for either of you.”
“Your threats are hollow and you don't even know it. Look at the Centurion. He's glorious, isn't he? This is what you should have created. Not even your Monster compares. And here you are, without your wings, issuing threats.”
Gladys was more than a little bit confused. The last time she saw Wold he was lagging. She couldn't figure out how he got to this point, and how he became associated with this new creation.
“You seem a bit overwhelmed, Gladosanthos.” His grin was insulting.
“You surely don't expect this abomination to stand there indefinitely,” she replied.
“He will be relieved after certain tasks have been completed.”
“What tasks?” Gladys asked.
“You know, Gladosanthos, if I could see your Main Ship on my scanner, I might answer that question.”
“You want me to drop my cloak so the Ekokes will destroy me?”
“You may as well terminate. Your Monster obviously isn't here or we would have seen him by now. He is most likely dead. You've been replaced by a scientist who actually has vision. There's a new Sessik home world that won't welcome you.”
“A coward like you could never kill Frank Ford. He merely toyed with you last time.”
Wold's grin grew more devious. “I've been assured that he will die. If he isn't already dead, he soon will be.”
Gladys tried not to show panic. Frank was late. “Who is the scientist?” she asked.
“You really don't know?” Wold replied. “Uncloak and I will tell you.”
It was nearly impossible to hide her emotions. Gladys shifted her gaze from the projection of Wold to the Centurion. And then she saw her. Nera was crawling forward, pushing herself through the Reverence. She was trying to get closer to the Centurion.
Muting the audio to her projection, Gladys asked, “Connie, are you seeing this?”
“Yes,” Constanthos replied. “I've asked the Ekokes to clear the area.”
“But what of Nera?” Gladys asked.
“I gave her exploders. There is no arguing with her.”
“I know.” Gladys was forced to gather her emotions once again before reengaging the audio. “Wold, I am giving you a final chance to end this.”
“If you somehow attack the Centurion, he will order the death of the Mother. If you attack me, he will do the same.”
Nera was slowly forcing herself to her feet. Everything about it was painful to watch. She reached into the lone pouch and pulled out a shuriken. But she was standing dangerously close to her target.
“Goodbye, Wold.” Gladys chose to face him as the Centurion exploded where he stood. Wold's eyes grew large in disbelief before his projection terminated.
Gladys pressed the spot to end the projection and darted to her chair. Uncloaking the remote, she guided it over to Nera. The cloak of her suit had failed when the blast hit her. The Nuunian was flat on her back and unresponsive.
“Gladosanthos?” the Mother called out. “Where are you?”
“I'm over here.” She was focusing her attention on Nera and didn't see the Breets angrily rising to attention. But their chirping soon caught her attention and before she knew it, they were amassed around Nera.
“You saved us.” The Mother was clearly in distress herself. Bugs began scurrying around in every direction.
“No, she saved you. Please remove her face-plate. Yes. Just set it on her torso.” The Breets were remarkably gentle with the small human.
“Will she live?” the Mother asked. “Please, tell me she will live.”
“I need to get her into stasis so that I may work on her.”
“Boys, get her outside.”
The Breets moved as one, lifting her slightly as one of the bugs slid its back under Nera. It took off with two more o
n each side of it, holding the human down.
“Who is she?” the Mother asked.
Gladys stood from her chair to walk over and activate her projection. “She is Nera Bunto, of Nuun.”
“I know that name. She is the human who was assaulted.”
“Yes, Mother.”
The Mother looked out over the representatives from Sungara and Lioven, and a few others. There was even a Gurdik in attendance. They were all regaining their bearing after being subjected to such powerful Reverence.
“This gathering...” The Mother paused for an unusually long time. “This gathering hasn't gone as intended. I won't apologize since...it's not my fucking fault. But I'll have you all know, from here on out...if anyone messes with Nuun, it will be considered an act of war on the Rhoshe.”
“We have all been attacked, Your Highness,” the Li representative said. “We are all in the debt of the human.” The others nodded their agreement.
“It pleases me greatly to hear your agreement,” Gladys said. “I know the Custodian was to be a main topic for these talks...”
“I just wanted to meet him,” Winz Prime interjected.
Gladys gave the Prime a nod before continuing. “Let it be known he holds no grudges against the Li Empire in whatever form it holds. I also hold no grudge as I know it was a small subset of your people who were responsible.”
“Your words give us great relief, Mistress.” The Li offered a deep bow.
“We can do all of this some other time, Mistress Suercey,” Winz Prime said. “Your former Chairman mentioned something about an Earth falling.”
“Oh?” Gladys asked. She was glancing at her other panels to make sure Nera was secured. “Yes, I must go. This was an act of war in itself. I admit I am at a loss for words. Someone of my species is...”
“There is no need to go there,” the Mother said.
“But we are there. I will transmit instructions for detecting cloaked ships before we go retrieve Frank.”
“And where is Frank?” the Mother asked.
“He is saving Mertia.”
“That makes no sense at all...”
28.
“And so we really don't know what to think of our creators.”
Frank barely heard Geln's words. He was too busy trying to process everything he had seen. The knowledge was there already. But seeing it for himself had hurt. While Geln seemed to be oblivious, the runner felt it. The bellows of Gelan in the distance let him know they felt it too.
“The history of it all is not important right now,” Frank replied. “Just promise me you will kill every Gote.” He made a mental note to kill Ottwan and Jack if they ever crossed his path again.
“If you can get the power on, that will not be an issue.”
Frank caught himself wanting to kill Geln just to shut him up. He instantly felt bad and realized it was due to his growth. Geln seemed like a good enough guy. He was just a nervous talker.
“So no one has seen the defenses?” Frank asked.
“We have never had a good look. There have been flashes of something mechanical but whatever it is moves fast.” Geln motioned for Frank to stop, as he had been signaled by the runner.
“The facility is around the bend,” the runner said. “We have been going through there to avoid detection.” He pointed at a well worn path that led through a wooded area.
Frank was fighting the urge to charge in. “Is there an encampment?”
“We have a rotation going to keep watch on it. Too many soldiers died trying to take it down so we just observe in case it spreads.”
Frank followed the runner into the woods. The contrast between Geln and the runner was interesting. The underling was so much like some of the more ambitious construction workers Frank knew on Earth. Geln would be more at home behind a desk.
“Give me a moment, please,” Geln said as the reached the two soldiers who were present. The camp was rough and it was clear they had been sleeping on the ground with only scarce supplies. Geln walked forward to get a report.
“He is very popular with the soldiers,” the runner said.
“Geln seems like a good man,” Frank replied.
“Look at him. He actually cares. Most of the leadership abandoned us but he stayed on.”
Frank felt doubly bad for his murderous thoughts. But at the same time, he didn't have time to make friends. He spent the time waiting looking at the ground before him. The scenery no longer held any meaning.
“Frank,” Geln started as he walked back over, “Some of the invaders made their way toward the facility and seemed to have met their death.”
“Gotes are not typically very smart.” Frank walked to where he could get a clear view of the fog dome. “This dome has been up the whole time, right?”
“Yes, and any living thing that approaches dies.”
“There has to be some way it is getting power,” Frank said. He started taking off his pants.
“I, um... What are you doing, Frank?” Geln asked.
“With that fog dome, the defenses are obviously keying in on body heat. This black suit I am wearing will block their sensors.” He folded his pants and sat them down before unzipping his hoodie.
“Would not that work even under your clothing?” Geln asked.
“Do you know how hard it is to find clothing in my size?” Frank replied as he pulled his face-plate from his shoulder. Having affixed it to his face, he adjusted his shuriken belt and picked up his sword to march off out of the trees and into the clearing where the fog dome loomed.
Frank didn't have any way to gauge the size of the dome. It seemed to be on the smaller end of medium. It was smaller than most of those he encountered in New York City but larger than the one in Florida. An odd buzzing sound filled his ears as he approached. This odd pairing of Li and Gurdik technology wasn't silent.
The buzzing grew in intensity as he walked through the tall grass. He realized the motion of the grass was being picked up somehow. His adrenaline spiked as he decided to take off in a sprint. As he sped along, following the arc of the dome, a remote darted from the fog and came toward him. He dropped as it passed by and quickly looked up to see that it was a mess of blades.
“Oh, you are so dead, Ottwan,” he said to himself in English as he waited for the drone to reenter the fog.
After a few moments, he stood up to have a look around. The grass was very tall and he was having a hard time seeing anything that might hold a clue. So he focused on pressing downward. His shield lifted him about four feet into the air. He saw a spot in the distance and lowered himself down.
“Those fucks probably saw that,” Frank said again to himself as he sped toward the small clearing. Another buzzing grew near and he dropped once again to let a bladed remote pass. After the sound died down a bit, he stood back up. There was still a short distance to cross.
“Fuck this.”
Frank started toward the clearing but this time when the buzzing grew near, he drew his sword and struck the remote. He was lucky. His weapon had pierced the body of the remote but the blades themselves were a match for his own.
“Same metal,” he said as he formed an angry smile. “I'll just take out your power source and you're screwed.” He made a shield-assisted leap and landed in the clearing. Upon landing, his feet struck something metallic. He found himself standing on a collector. It was a Li solar panel. Heavy cables carried its power into the dome. He considered dropping an exploder onto the panel but decided it would cause the grass to catch on fire. Cutting the cable with his sword would hurt too much as he'd learned in New York City so he drew a regular shuriken.
Stepping off the pad and into the grass, Frank raised his arm high and flung the shuriken down with such power that it severed the cable. Sparks flew as an arc of electricity formed between the ends. He kicked the lose end away and quickly stomped out the flames.
“Shit,” he said out loud as he saw that the dome still stood. And there was the growing din of the remot
es. “Batteries.”
He hit the turf again as dozens of remotes began to swarm in and out of the dome. This was certainly a nasty bit of technology that he wasn't expecting. He rolled over onto his back and watched the drones swarming above him, their movements clearly random as he watched them bumping each other as they sought out something to kill.
Searching his memories, Frank tried to estimate how long the power would hold out. He realized there was no way to really know. The generator in Florida was just sitting on the ground with nothing seeming to power it. And these drones might be charging up just being out in the hot sunlight.
He had two options. He could lay there and wait or go in the dome and take it out. He's never been good at waiting. So he rolled back over and located the cable and decided to follow it.
Crossing into the fog dome, Frank found himself suddenly fearful. He kept a hand on the cable and lifted the other to within inches of his face. It was barely visible. The din was nearly deafening as he tried to center himself. A thought of Mondor came to him. Frank never really thought about how blindness would effect a person before now. But the Steward had adapted.
So he pressed on, crawling as he felt his way along the path of the cable. The tall grass was gone. This area hadn't seen direct sunlight in years. He realized he was crawling over the remains of something. The smell of old decay hit his nose even through the face-plate. But he pressed on, determined to complete the mission so he could try to forget everything he had seen.
Time lost all meaning as he crawled, only stopping as Ottwan's death machines grew near. He'd dropped himself flat on the ground several times only to return to the cable. The Li had been killed several times in his thoughts before he finally found the dome generator. The ruins of life had been well behind him at that point so he chanced standing on his knees to feel around the alien device. He held his head in close to try to see the much smaller apparatus sitting on top of the generator. It didn't fit what he'd considered to be an elegant Li design.
“Gotcha.”
He started scooting himself back, carefully trying to measure the distance. A few moments later, he drew an exploder and let it fly. His shield hardened as the shock of the invisible explosion hit him. He sank down onto his back and watched as the breeze slowly carried away the fog.
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