by Jacob Holo
Veketon activated his eyes. He let go and raised his head. Mnemonic forces repaired the dents in his scalp.
“Would they have wanted us to turn away now?” she asked. “Here, at the end of all your plans?”
Veketon shook his head. “No… no, they wouldn’t.”
“Then we must proceed with the plan. We must awaken Lunatic Ziggurat. As long as any of us survive, we must move forward. Is that not what I swore to do?”
“Yes… yes, you are absolutely right.”
“Then what are your orders?”
“Any of us” she says… In that moment Veketon realized the Eleven weren’t defeated. Not completely. Not yet. Two of them still lived.
I am not alone.
Veketon took one last look at Zu’Rashik. “We’re completing the mission. Come!” He turned his back to the dying planet, powered his halo-wings to full and shot towards their escorts. In short order the throne and archangel escorts formed up with them.
Earth loomed ahead, a thick vertical crescent.
“We’re entering range of the EDA.” Quennin highlighted nearby weapon platforms.
“Ignore them. We cut through at full speed. Once we’re on the surface, they’ll have trouble targeting us.”
Veketon prioritized nearby platforms with a threat index. Several turned ponderously, bringing their fusion cannons to align on the formation. Others blew torpedo silos open and readied their payloads for launch.
The Outcast fleet continued to pound Alliance ships aside, making its way slowly towards Earth. Archangel squadrons and sacrificial thrones occupied the bulk of the Alliance’s seraphs. Soon, there’d be a hole in the Earth Defense Array large enough for Outcast warships to pass through.
“When I’m activating the Lunatic Gate, I’ll be temporarily vulnerable,” Veketon said.
“I’ll call in the Glorious Destiny and her escorts,” Quennin said. “They should reach the Lunatic Gate shortly after we do.”
“Yes, that will do.”
Six thrones and sixty archangel headed into the teeth of the Earth Defense Array. One of the many asteroid weapon platforms targeted the lead archangel squadron and opened fire. Nine fusion cannons discharged in unison, arranged in a three by three grid. The focused beams of energy carved through the archangel escorts, obliterating two of them instantly.
Debris spun away. The formation flew on.
“Keep going!” Veketon shouted. “Break through their defenses!”
Beam cannons opened fire from other weapon platforms, slashing through the formation from all directions. The rain of death continued unabated from above, below, and to either side. Plasma streams smashed archangels aside, but the thrones shook off every hit, completely unharmed.
A missile platform released its payload. Three thousand tactical seekers launched from its rocky caverns. The swarm arced through space and zeroed in on his formation. Escort archangels released thick clouds of active jammers and scanner decoys. Alliance seekers tried to guess which targets were real and which were illusions. Most guessed wrong, but enough picked correctly.
Another ten archangels died, their riddled corpses tumbling behind the formation. They sped through the EDA’s boundary, and the Earth Nation’s options began to dwindle. None of their weapons could risk striking Earth’s surface. The formation dove into the planet’s thick atmosphere, causing incoming fire to die to almost nothing.
Veketon spotted a coastline that flowed south to a large peninsula. Morning sunlight broke over it. The coastline led almost straight to the Lunatic Gate’s location, hidden beneath a large gulf south of the North American continent.
Veketon descended to almost ground level and followed the coastline.
“Multiple seraphs launching from ground bases in front and behind us,” Quennin said. “Several groups are also descending from orbit.”
Tall buildings of metal and glass snapped by. The coast seemed like one continuous city that extended out into the ocean, above and below the waterline. To the east, a huge tidal wave had formed and was now approaching the coastal city.
The Alliance attack on Zu’Rashik had not been without consequences. When the beam pierced the planet’s heart, its gravity nullification had failed for a few seconds before backups activated. Earth had been subjected to the gravitational pull of another planet a third as close as its moon. The resulting gravitic shock created powerful tidal waves as Earth’s oceans and atmosphere fought to regain equilibrium.
Let them pay for their short-lived victory, Veketon thought bitterly. He turned his attention to the approaching seraphs.
One squadron approached northeast over the continent and would meet them head on. Veketon broke off an escort throne and twelve archangels to deal with them. Another group came in from orbit. Again, Veketon sent one of his thrones and an archangel squadron to delay them. One by one, Veketon peeled his escorts away to prevent any delay in reaching the Lunatic Gate.
“We’re running out of escorts,” Quennin said.
“I need time to activate the Gate machinery,” Veketon said. “That’s all that matters.”
Another force of EN seraphs approached from inland. Whatever fears they had about facing thrones in battle, they showed none now. They came straight in with woefully insufficient numbers. But this was their home. There was no retreat, no position to fallback to, and Veketon was out of escorts.
Six EN seraphs fired their rail-rifles, sending kinetic bolts skimming over building tops. They sparked against the thrones’ barriers without effect. The EN seraphs tossed their rail-rifles aside and pulled chaos swords free.
They rushed the two thrones.
“Kill them!” Veketon spat. He deflected the first EN seraph’s sword strike and stabbed the portal lance through its torso. The seraph’s yellow shunts died out.
Two seraphs swooped down from either side. Veketon drove the portal lance through the closest, ripped it out the seraph’s side and spun tightly around. The second EN seraph fell away, bleeding green conductor fluid. It crashed into the coastline city, wings cutting ragged grooves through the glass towers.
Another attack came in from his right. Veketon dodged back, grabbed onto the seraph’s forearm, and dug his talons in. Red energized fluid pulsed from the wound. Veketon kicked the seraph away, tearing the arm out of its socket. He swung in with the portal lance and decapitated the seraph.
The sundered machine fell away, splashing into the waters below.
Quennin severed the last seraph’s wings and sent it plummeting into the ocean.
“Come on!” Veketon urged.
They resumed course, cutting across the Florida peninsula, flying over sprawling cities, snaking rivers, and lush parks. The opposite coastline was no different than the first: an immense singular city that stretched out past the water’s edge. The two thrones cleared the peninsula and headed into the large gulf, flying close to the surface. Water sprayed up as they passed.
The portal lance resonated. Veketon felt the Gate’s close presence as a minor divot to its specialized senses, nestled within the planet. He could have made the Gate anchors perfect, but a slow leak had been so much better. Earth had yielded bountiful fruit as the only place in this accursed universe to spawn pilots.
Veketon slowed, coming to a halt above the center of the gulf. He concentrated, probing with the lance, attempting to find the release. It was much harder than it should have been, and he grew nervous. He fumbled about without moving, trying to find purchase on the Gate machinery’s trigger.
“Several squadrons converging on us,” Quennin said urgently. “You don’t have much time.”
Veketon concentrated harder, throne-heart beating faster, snaps of energy cascading over his armored skin.
Why can’t I do this? he thought. If he couldn’t find the Gate release soon, they would have to blast the Gate free. Such a cataclysmic event would destroy Earth. It would be wasteful to throw such a prize away, but still, if it proved necessary—
Ah! There
!
Veketon sent a surge of power through the portal lance. Ancient machinery one thousand kilometers below the Earth’s surface activated. Devices that could not be replicated in this universe powered up and carried out their original programming. A machine leviathan was about to awaken.
A small beam of light punched out of the water next to Veketon’s position, fading to nothing a few hundred meters over the water’s turbulent surface. He quickly put some distance between himself and the beam. It was neither fully energy nor fully matter, and it expanded, growing in diameter. Whatever it touched became entangled by it, slave to the machine below.
The beam widened, its power fed by the feast of matter and energy from the ocean. It grew faster, forcing Veketon and Quennin further back. Finally, the column of neither-matter-nor-energy ceased its expansion and formed a gap in the center. It outlined a tunnel, growing until the beam was a rising ring of light ten kilometers in diameter.
From deep within the Earth, sudden bursts of activity climbed up this new tunnel. Large hexagonal blocks materialized and locked into place, forming and securing the tunnel’s perimeter. The hexagons looked like the finest white stone imaginable, their surfaces ornate and sealed against each other with seams of gold.
Veketon flew out and looked down to the Gate chamber deep within the Earth’s mantle. A small orb of silver floated within the spherical space, ringed by seven sword-like Gate anchors.
“There it is,” Veketon said. “Follow me.”
Veketon and Quennin flew down into the tunnel.
Behind him, the remains of his throne escorts were finally catching up, securing the way for additional forces. The Glorious Destiny lumbered into view along with dozens of Outcast warships and a host of archangels. Those ships proceeded carefully down the tunnel.
Veketon reached out with the portal lance, checking for Gate effect. Good. The machinery is still functioning properly. Gate effect is minimized along the tunnel. Quennin won’t be affected. At least this much of our plan is going right.
Veketon started to think about his colleagues but harshly forced the thought aside. He couldn’t be bothered with that, not right now. He didn’t have time to grieve.
I have to stay focused. I must!
They sped down the tunnel, and finally Veketon and Quennin were within the Gate chamber. It stretched out around them as a vast spherical chamber built from ornate hexagons. They were nothing but specks within the cavernous interior.
Veketon approached the Lunatic Gate, aimed his portal lance, and reached out with its power. He perceived the Gate’s dimensional undulations through the lance, touched and prodded at it here and there. The technique felt unfamiliar when it should have been obvious, and he struggled for a moment.
Finally, Veketon teased the Gate into the proper shape. It expanded outward until it was large enough for the Glorious Destiny to pass through. Its undulating edges touched the seven Gate anchors and they crumpled back like foil. They were no longer needed. With the portal lance, he could control the Gate more precisely than any number of anchors.
Veketon locked the Gate’s new dimensions in. He fumbled with the technique a few times, but the more he worked it, the more his old talent with Gates seemed to return. Still, it was surprising just how difficult the techniques had become.
“Let’s go.” Veketon plunged into the Gate’s liquid silver surface. It bulged for a moment, then flowed around his throne, engulfing him.
Veketon pushed through and emerged within another Gate chamber. It stretched out, just as gigantic as the first chamber but with an entirely different temperament. The surfaces were all harsh black stone, veined with red and gray rock, smooth on the surface and cut at sharp angles. There were no curves to be seen anywhere. The Gate chamber was a globe formed out of many flat planes.
A tunnel led out of the Gate chamber. The mouth was ten kilometers square and ribbed with sharply cut rock.
“Who built this place?” Quennin asked. “The Keepers?”
“No. Perhaps whoever built Lunatic Ziggurat. This long tunnel with the Gate chambers at either end serves as a buffer between our universe and the Lunatic Realm, so it might have been the original Ziggurat builders. The Keepers don’t know about this Gate. Or… at least I didn’t think they knew.”
The Alliance knew we would deploy Zu’Rashik to Earth. But how could they have guessed? Why didn’t they deploy that weapon at the Homeland Gate? Why didn’t we suspect something so desperate? Veketon’s mind worked on the problems as they flew through the angular stone tunnel. Behind them, Outcast ships broke through the Gate surface and followed.
“How are you holding up?” Quennin asked.
Veketon was surprised by how concerned her voice sounded. It was so genuine.
“I’m fine,” he lied.
“No, you’re not.”
“I’ll deal with it later.”
They came to the far end of the tunnel and entered the second Gate chamber. Veketon once again used the portal lance to widen this end of the Gate, and found it was becoming easier. It still took him a few minutes. Outcast ships were queuing behind him when he finished, but he finally locked the Gate at its new diameter and proceeded through.
They reappeared within the final Gate chamber, this one an eye of brass, empty and lidless. Its immense inner surface was strangely gothic, with buttresses running along the chamber’s interior, craning out sometimes in elaborate architectural flourishes.
Veketon lurched downward before he corrected for the local gravity.
Quennin steadied herself next to him. “Okay, I’m showing ten gravities of force, like you said to expect, but where’s the pull coming from? You never mentioned a planet near the Gate.”
“Because there isn’t one. It’s like this everywhere. Gravity is uniform and always in the same direction.”
“That’s not how gravity works.”
“Welcome to the Lunatic Realm. You’re in another universe now.”
Veketon and Quennin flew out of the huge brass eye and into a great churning storm of fire and smoke. The storm raged in all directions, obstructing their view and interfering with scanners. Lightning flashed from one fiery cloud to the next. But even through layers upon layers of storm, he could see Lunatic Ziggurat in the distance.
It rose upward as a gargantuan tower of brass one hundred kilometers thick and infinitely high for all he knew. In all his explorations of this realm, and in all the explorations of his comrades, they had never found the top or bottom of the structure. But then, that was not the strangest thing about the Lunatic Realm.
Smoke and firestorms shrouded it from view but could not hide all its alien architecture. Buttressing spines ran up along it, sprouting outward into wide platforms. Structures blistered from its sides, immense and yet insignificant against the Ziggurat.
“Incredible,” Quennin said. “You told me what to expect, but still… I can’t believe something like this can exist.”
“Believe me, there are far stranger sights in the multiverse.”
Quennin laughed. “Oh, I believe you. Don’t ever question that.”
“Come on. We need to find the entrance. It should be somewhere above our position.”
They closed with the brass tower until it filled the view ahead, its overly-complex architecture now fully apparent. They climbed up alongside it, two small specks rising up through layers of fiery storms.
“Veketon?”
“Go ahead.”
“I’m not sure, but I think there’s something above our position. I’m sending coordinates.”
Veketon checked the coordinates and frowned when he saw what it was.
“I think it’s some sort of creature,” Quennin said.
“It is. We call them chaos fiends. They inhabit this realm. We rarely encountered them. They are extremely dangerous creatures, but it’s heading away from us. Ignore it for now.”
“Chaos fiends? As in chaos energy?”
“Very observant of you. Yes
, there is a connection. We call it chaos energy for a reason. Have you ever wondered which dimension pilots draw their strength from?”
“You mean it’s this realm?”
“Very good, Quennin. Precisely. This infinite storm. This is the source of our strength.” Veketon slowed his ascent, flying closer to Lunatic Ziggurat. “Ah, I think we’ve found it.”
The two approached a small platform jutting out of the Ziggurat’s side. A heavy door barred their way, barely large enough for seraphs or thrones to pass through. It was depressed into the Ziggurat and resembled several oddly shaped slabs fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. There was a small circular contraption set into the wall next to the door.
Veketon landed. He pointed to the contraption beside the door.
“Try opening it, Quennin. The lock should react to your presence.”
Quennin stepped forward and placed her throne’s hand above the lock. Grooves inset into the lock filled instantly with black light. Circular parts jerked, spun, clicked in place, fell back, and counter-spun. Darkness outlined the door, and each jigsaw section glowed with black light. They shuddered, like a machine warming up after a long period of disuse, then slid smoothly away.
Veketon entered the Ziggurat’s dark interior.
Chapter 21
Lunatic Ziggurat
Seth finished climbing into geosync orbit. All around him, the fleet battle raged on. The Outcasts had succeeded in pushing a wedge into the EDA. Worse, they had ships forming a defensive perimeter over the Gulf of Mexico. The Alliance’s options were severely limited that close to Earth’s surface, while the Outcasts could pour fire upward with impunity.
But despite all this, the Outcast attack had faltered. Alliance seraphs and exodrones swarmed over the ruins of Zu’Rashik, bypassing all the elaborate defenses and kill zones by descending through the Mark II’s beam tunnel. It was only a matter of time before the Alliance finally disabled the fortress planet’s remaining combat systems and factories. And with Zu’Rashik went a huge portion of the Eleven’s power.
Some Outcast ships and archangels had pulled away from the main engagement, retreating back to Zu’Rashik to aid in the fortress planet’s defense. Others showed signs of a disrupted command structure, as if they didn’t know where their ships should be, and simply fought whatever was closest. And still more Outcast ships continued to fold in as Alliance reinforcements arrived in spurts from the Homeland Gate.
