CHAPTER EIGHTY-EIGHT
MARGOT STOOD OVER the empty luggage on her bed with satisfaction. While it had been weeks since The Cell had deemed her free to return home, she hadn’t unpacked. Admittedly, she often continued living out of her bags until their contents slowly converted themselves to laundry. She’d just gone through the trouble of putting away the last of the paraphernalia that accompanied her to Seattle when she heard a knock at her door.
“Was I expecting company?” she asked the rubber duck taped to the side of her monitor.
With a shrug she zipped the empty bag and tossed it in the closet on her way to the door.
She froze when she looked through the peep hole.
“It’s me, Margot,” Rivers said.
“Oh my god!” Yanking the door open, she forgot the chain, swore, and had to shut it again. Finally, she got the door open, and flung herself into the hallway to embrace the man. “I thought you were dead or worse you jerk!”
Sometime later, they stood in her kitchen.
“The Cell wouldn’t tell me anything,” Margot said. “I woke up after the hangar was attacked. You were gone. All Olivia would say was that your whereabouts were above my security clearance. She couldn’t wait to send me home.”
Rivers nodded.
“It’s a long story,” he said. “I’ll fill you in once we get back.”
“Get back?” Margot asked. “No, no, no, no . . . It’s been all over the news, Seattle is being evacuated. No flights in or out.”
Laurence’s expression was serious.
“Come on man! I just unpacked,” she added.
“The Cell is working with Jonathan Tibbs. There is a project, has to be done, and we only have four days.”
“Why me? There must have been someone closer.”
“Olivia wants someone we trust to work alongside Jonathan’s guy, someone who’s particularly good with numbers and patterns,” Rivers said. “But, more than anything, Jonathan’s guy was already impressed with you.”
She frowned at all of that. She had so many questions she did not know where to start. “When did I meet Jonathan’s guy?”
“You haven’t. Clock’s ticking,” Rivers said. “In or out?”
“You know I’m in . . . but dammit Laurence, ever since you started working with The Cell, it seems I don’t ever get to know what the hell I’m signing up for,” Margot said.
He signaled for her to come close. She thought he was going to whisper, but he gently put his arm around her.
She looked at him suspiciously. “This is weird . . .”
“I apologize, this is going to be disorientating,” Rivers said, and the next moment, the kitchen was empty.
They stood in the projection chamber, their eyes blazing as they were activated together for the first time since the bridge.
“Didn’t hurt,” Jonathan said. “Activation. I mean, not like it usually does.”
Leah nodded. “I don’t have your experience, but it seemed faster.”
He nodded.
“Dwell on it later, I’m not waiting another minute to see if all this hype about the bond lives up to reality.”
He took a long breath. “Mr. Clean, I need a Ferox projection—nothing fancy, just something with accurate physiology.”
“Perth and Beo have established a simple test to gauge the strength of newly implanted soldiers.”
“Alright,” Jonathan said.
The projection was simple, not requiring the entire chamber to slip into the void to come into being. A Red Ferox emerged out of the floor, breathing in a lifelike manner, but staring straight ahead. Meanwhile, a wall of metal netting formed some thirty feet behind it.
“Ladies first?” Jonathan asked.
She shrugged and stepped up to the creature. At full height, her head stood at about the middle of its chest.
Jonathan could see she’d been practicing.
She considered her target, set her stance, and stepped into a solid strike, turning her hip to aim as much power as she could into its center of gravity. A thunderclap erupted as the Ferox shot back. At first, the netting swallowed it, stretching backward into the chamber as it slowed the projection’s momentum. Luckily, though it was ricocheted back at them, the netting acted like a spider’s web, holding the projection in place as the elastic cables returned to their original state. When the Ferox came to a stop, it was set on the ground and walked slowly back to its starting position.
Leah and Jonathan gave it a once over, then exchanged wide-eyed looks.
Jonathan had hammered away at these things enough times in his life to know what it took to crack through the outer armor. They were particularly more resilient around the chest, where the plating was thickest to protect internal organs.
Leah’s strike had left a hand-size dent, a webbing of cracks spread out over most of the entire torso. Black Feroxian blood was already oozing down from the openings. Had she done the same with a weapon, or had the Ferox been shot through realistic terrain after receiving such a blow, the fight would have already been over.
“Would you like to reset the projection?” Mr. Clean asked.
“I don’t know, Tibbs. You want to try to follow that?” Leah said.
He surveyed the damage again and let out an impressed whistle. “Honestly, not really.”
She smirked. “Get over here and punch this thing.”
“Sure, don’t want to see she-hulk angry,” he said.
The projection refreshed itself as Jonathan stepped into range. He set his feet and shoulders much like Leah had, then tilted his head in a here goes nothing sort of way.
What followed was not a thunderclap. The Ferox did not shoot away. In fact, the projection’s feet didn’t move an inch.
“Ahh . . . hell,” Jonathan said.
There had been a sound. Wet meaty noise followed by the slap of splattering Ferox insides hitting the floor behind the projection. Jonathan had followed through expecting the same resistance that would have shot the Ferox across the room. Instead he found himself nearly shoulder deep in the thing’s torso, his fist protruding out the back.
Leah blinked in shock. Then her hand went to her mouth to keep herself from laughing as Jonathan resorted to putting a foot against the projection to pull his arm free.
Once he’d stepped back from it, he stood straight and looked down at an arm, coated hand to shoulder in viscous black gore. When he looked to Leah, she had gotten control of her laughter and arched a brow over her blazing eyes.
“Still want to tell me the benefits don’t outweigh the risk?”
CHAPTER EIGHTY-NINE
NOV 29, 2005 | 10 PM | SEATTLE
FROM A DISTANT vantage, the overcast sky became an unnatural gradient. Grey, but growing red as one drew closer to ground zero. This had nothing to do with the sun rise—that was still a long way off.
The Never Army had to hold their positions for hours. It began with the appearance of a single red point that came into being a few feet over an empty intersection. Over the next hour, that small dot grew in surges, until finally a flat half circle wide enough to march an army through filled the street.
By the time the conduit had reached full size the smell of ozone had permeated the air for miles.
Jonathan’s friends stood beside him, had been there since before he’d become activated.
In the real world, the real Collin, Hayden, and Paige would be standing beside him as he went into flux—a moment seemingly frozen in time awaiting the outcome of a war. In The Never, his friend’s shadows had watched him fall to the floor. Watched his chest come to life with light.
Leah could not be with them.
Mr. Clean and Margot’s calculations required everyone in his army to remain in position while the conduit came into being. Jonathan wasn’t supposed to move outside of a four-foot square that Margot and her team had marked off with duct tape. There were nearly four hundred such spots now marked throughout the city, creating a three-dimensional grid ou
t of his soldiers intending to force the conduit into the specific location of their choosing.
All that said, having no device, where his roommates stood had no effect on the outcome. So, being who they were, they decided to be at his side when the conduit came into being.
The four were standing on the eighth floor of a building that overlooked ground zero. Jonathan’s square stood beside a large window where he could watch the conduit grow to full size. Periodically, his team leaders checked in over the communicator. For now, all they had to report was that they had visual on the conduit and were ready to move the moment he gave the go ahead.
For Jonathan, staring at a mammoth red portal and knowing an army of death monsters would pour through was the exact opposite of waiting for a pot to boil. Time contracted, as it always does when there was something he didn’t want to face. Every moment felt as though it raced by, like the universe had accidently sat on the remote’s fast forward button.
Hayden stood to Jonathan’s left, fidgeting with his beard. “Well, there is a giant red archway to another dimension down there. Guess that pretty much means I’m the shadow version of myself. The one who’s gonna watch this all play out.”
On Jonathan’s right, Collin and Paige stared out the window as well.
“What are they waiting for?” Paige asked.
“Malkier won’t cross the threshold until he’s certain an hour has passed on our side,” Jonathan said. “This ensures Mr. Clean’s shadow is offline before he begins any assault.”
“Right,” Paige said.
A moment passed in silence, and a thought occurred to him. He found himself nudging Collin with his elbow.
Collin turned, eyebrows going up as he waited for Jonathan to say something. Luckily after years of friendship Jonathan was able to tell the man what he was thinking with a few facial expressions. Mostly, he looked to Paige, then back to Collin a few times until the man’s eyes went wide with understanding.
Of course, a moment later Collin looked as though he didn’t know if, even now, he could bring himself.
Jonathan stared at him with a pitiless expression, to which Collin finally nodded and took a deep breath.
“Hey, Paige, could I talk to you for a sec,” he said. “Somewhere a little more private.”
She frowned at him for a moment, then shrugged and followed him.
They were in an office building, and Collin took her far enough away that they wouldn’t be overheard, but Jonathan couldn’t help noticing he could still see Collin’s reflection in the glass after he’d asked her to step into a cubicle.
He saw his friend close his eyes, say maybe five words.
Jonathan found himself wanting to look away. Not so much to give them privacy, but because he was afraid for his friends. He knew the next few seconds would be happy or just . . . incredibility embarrassing for everyone.
That’s when he saw Collin get slapped across the face.
Jonathan closed his eyes for a moment, he could practically feel the man’s horror at getting that reaction. Then something odd happened. Jonathan opened his eyes and chanced one more glance. He saw Paige’s hands reach out of the cubical, grab both sides of Collin’s head, and pull him lips first toward her. They disappeared behind the cubical wall.
He tilted his head in thought. Until something occurred to him.
He opened a line to Leah. “So, Leah, any chance you told Paige about that conversation I had with Collin a few weeks back?”
The line was quiet for a while.
“Conversation? Which . . . Oh,” Leah said. “Right.”
“Taking that as a yes,” he said.
“So, uh, Paige and I promised there would never be secrets between us again. I agreed, then um . . . she immediately asked if there was anything I needed to get off my chest.”
“Uh huh,” he said.
“Oh, shut up. World doesn’t end, we’re getting frozen yogurt tomorrow,” Leah said. “I want that yogurt, Jonathan.”
He smiled.
“Not a big blue sky-beam,” Hayden said.
Jonathan, looked at him sideways. “What?”
“You know. Giant hole in the sky, energy beam coming down,” Hayden said. “It’s like the thing the good guys have to stop in every sci-fi blockbuster.”
Jonathan smiled. “Red, vertical, street level . . . hope you’re not disappointed.”
Hayden’s arms crossed over his chest and he sighed. “Well, it isn’t following the tropes. It’s practically flat. This thing really looks more like a portal to hell from a horror movie.”
“You’re the expert,” Jonathan said.
Hayden pointed. “I’d avoid those edges.”
“Huh?”
“Beneath the black fog wisping off it, you can see it has clearly defined edges. Probably slice through whatever it touches.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Jonathan said, while he wondered if this would be the last film rant he’d ever hear Hayden give.
A few minutes later, Collin and Paige rejoined them at the window. They both had a dishevelment about their hair and clothing. In addition, Collin’s cheek sported a red palm print.
“You know it’s strange. Being a shadow doesn’t feel any different. I don’t know why I expected it would.” Collin stopped to take a long breath. “I guess we’re not long for existence. No matter who wins.”
“I’m sorry,” Jonathan said.
Collin shook his head. “No, no. It’s just worth keeping in mind. You know, in case, sacrifices need to be made.”
“Your time may be short, but don’t throw it away,” Jonathan said.
“We get that,” Paige said.
“Oh, I’ll avoid doing anything heroic,” Collin said, with a smile. “But, if I change my mind, you need to make it back to tell me how brave I was.”
Jonathan looked at the three of them. “You’re not shadows to me.”
This came out heartfelt and brought a sudden awkwardness. The good kind. The sort where they all knew he was telling them how much he loved them while being too abashed to just say the words.
“You know,” Collin said. “If I don’t do anything heroic, you have my permission to lie to everyone about it.”
“I’ll take some of that action as well,” Hayden said.
Paige snorted, then as they all looked at her, she shrugged and nodded.
They all smiled, then looked back at the conduit, and the smiles melted away.
Perhaps it wasn’t the best way to have spent that hour waiting. But, as the time flew by, Jonathan had a few last laughs with his friends, and he wouldn’t have changed a moment of it.
Eventually, Mr. Clean’s voice came through over a private channel to his comm. “You told me to notify you when we reached fifty-eight minutes, do you still wish—”
“Yes,” Jonathan said. “I need thirty seconds.”
His roommates, having heard his half of the conversation, looked at him curiously.
With no explanation, he hugged each of them in turn. “You know, since the very beginning you've always offered to go with me. To face anything with me,” Jonathan said.
He’d just pulled away from Paige, stepped back to the center of the duct tape square and looked at them like it might be the last time. Then they disappeared.
“They’re safe,” Mr. Clean said.
“Thank you.”
“I suppose I should say goodbye myself. My protocols are about to put me into slumber. I know it may seem that my nature makes me impartial to the outcome, but... I do hope to see you again. Good luck, Jonathan.”
“I’ve never once thought you impartial, Mr. Clean,” Jonathan said.
A few seconds later, a small sound only Jonathan could hear told him that the AI was gone as well.
He closed his eyes, stood alone at that window.
When he opened them, the sadness on his face melted away. A predatory gaze reflected in the glass as he stared down at the conduit.
Pulses of energy, thousand
s of them, fireflies the size of volleyballs began to pour across the threshold.
His wait had just come to an end.
CHAPTER NINETY
HIS ARMY KNEW what those spheres of energy were meant to accomplish. In fact, it was comforting to know Mr. Clean’s predictions about his counterpart were this accurate. The AI had been rather thorough in exploring the many avenues by which Malkier could go about crippling human technology from the other side of a dimensional conduit.
As the pulses poured through the gateway, they scattered in all directions before shooting into the atmosphere, each with its own wildly erratic flight path.
Jonathan shook his head and sighed as he watched.
Mr. Clean had said that a mere sixty-seven would be all it took, and there was no limit to the number Cede could send through. They had known early on that without Mr. Clean to counter them, the pulses would get through the moment the AI was offline. Still, it appeared Malkier had been concerned that some attempt would be made, because the numbers pouring through that archway were at least twenty times what was necessary.
Jonathan watched the sky as they set about their work. The sight was—pretty—to say the least. Not unlike the northern lights he’d only ever seen in pictures. Within seconds of the phenomenon’s appearance in the sky, every light in the city went out in unison.
“Check.”
“Check.”
“Check.”
Each of his command teams’ leaders confirmed that the comm built into their helmets still functioned. Just as Mr. Clean had been certain there was nothing they could do to stop the majority of human tech being disabled, he had been certain that there was no way for Malkier to disable the Borealis technology they controlled.
“Check,” Olivia said, last to sound off.
Unlike the rest, she was outside the city, safe but not too far from the containment perimeter setup by the human military.
Olivia’s perimeter was currently made up of thousands of soldiers who had only learned the full truth of why they had been mobilized in the last few hours. That is, since they entered The Never. Unfortunately, the truth included learning just how close they were to ground zero of an alien invasion. Still, her forces were better off than the rest of the world in some respects. For instance, they knew not to panic when the lights went out.
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