He ran down the steps with Sally over his shoulder, then ducked around the corner of the cabin and hugged the side of it until he found the steps that led to the cellar and clambered down. Relief swept over him as he twisted the doorknob. It was open.
He stepped inside and quickly closed the door behind him. It was pitch black inside. He held up a hand and it glowed, pushing away the darkness to reveal more details of the room.
It had a low ceiling, and he had to duck his head to avoid hitting it. There were a few extra cots along with a work bench and cabinets filled with dry goods.
He gently placed Sally onto one of the cots, and then looked to see what he could use to barricade the door when he heard heavy footsteps from the floor above. He froze in place and tried not to breathe hard when Sally groaned loudly as she began to stir.
Oslo knelt down inside the air bubble Nina had created for him and steadied himself by placing his hands against the sides.
He looked back, and his heart pounded as he watched one of the Elephim gain on them. It was closing the gap and almost touched the bubble when Nina gave a sudden burst of acceleration and left it behind in a trail of bubbles.
Oslo looked up through the clear blue water and saw a dark shadow trailing them from above the surface.
Classic hunter/killer strategy, he thought to himself. One is the spotter overhead as the other moves in for the kill.
He strained to see Nina up ahead. She was barely visible despite the clarity of the water. Her body seemed translucent as it mimicked the color and hues of the ocean.
He was suddenly thrown headfirst to the front of the bubble then bounced back to the center. He groaned and turned to look. The Elephim were ramming him.
Nina felt the attack. Her face twisted in fury as she squinted her eyes, thrust her hands forward and accelerated.
She managed to put a considerable distance between them and the Elephim, but was beginning to tire. She wasn’t accustomed to towing anything behind her at such high speeds and over a great distance, yet she knew she had to get to the outer perimeter of the fog and slip past it without the Elephim seeing her do it.
There was a splash from above and Nina looked up to see the sole Elephim that was trailing them from the surface had pierced the ocean like an arrow and was heading straight for them.
Panic set in as she realized the gravity of the situation. She just wanted to say goodbye to her father and maybe try to convince him to stay. Instead, she found herself in a turn of events that had both of their lives in jeopardy.
She let out a scream which amplified quickly into a sonic blast that reverberated throughout the ocean. Both Elephim giving chase were flung back as they covered their ears and howled.
Nina screamed again as she raced through the ocean, determined more than ever to get to the outer perimeter of the fog.
The Elephim recovered and gave chase. They split apart and flanked them as they both emitted a powerful static that was overwhelming. Oslo covered his ears as Nina arched her back and aimed for the depths.
As they plunged into the deep blue depths, the light from the sun grew fainter and soon they were in pitch black darkness. But there was no silence, for the ocean is always filled with a cacophony of sound. The chatter of millions upon millions of plankton swarming the world’s oceans created a symphony of sound that reverberated throughout the globe. Nina plunged even deeper into the abyss, using the sound of the plankton for guidance knowing she was now heading into the territory of the deep ocean whales.
Here in the depths of infinite blackness is where the whale speaks to others of its kind no matter how far separated they may be. In these depths, all sound was compressed due to the coldness of the water, which allowed their voices to be broadcasted from one ocean to the next.
Nina came to a halt and hovered for a moment, listening to see if the Elephim had followed them. She could sense them several hundred feet above, desperately pinging the ocean depths in their attempts to find them. She had eluded them, for now. Yet her instincts knew they had plenty of experience traversing the depths of space and they would eventually adapt to the watery environment and find them.
She saw a glowing eye appear before her, followed by another as she felt the water sway her gently as if a giant fish had flicked its tail. More glowing eyes began to appear and soon they were bathed in soft light. She turned and saw her father watching in wide eyed wonder at the several whales that had surrounded them. She knew these whales, having made friends with them long ago. They taught her how to dive into the extreme depths, and the use of whale song to communicate with others across vast stretches of ocean. They also showed her how they used sound to compress water behind them, allowing them to accelerate at a moment’s notice.
These whales were also the guardians of a secret entrance into Perihelion. Off the eastern shores of the island lay an abyss that the naval personnel who had charted it named “The Tongue of the Ocean,” as it dropped off the outer shelf of the island and plunged for miles before touching bottom. Nina knew how to slip past the fog through a narrow channel that led to the abyss. It was here that the whales guarded the hidden entrance for centuries, never relieving themselves of their long forgotten duty.
The whales tipped themselves forward so their heads were pointing down and tails toward the surface. Nina mimicked them and together they glowed with a blue green aura.
The whale closest to them opened its cavernous mouth wide and emitted a low, guttural sound. The bass note was deep and profound as the others harmonized into a low, rumbling frequency. The water began to bubble and froth as the blue green aura glowed with intensity.
The sound was overwhelming, and Oslo put his hands over his ears and cried out as he felt his body shudder and twist. A searing white light enveloped and blinded him as he heard voices over a growing static hiss. He swore for a moment he heard Raza cry out in pain as an image of her beautiful face twisted in anguish flashed within his mind.
Dear wife, why did I abandon you?
The world around him exploded into pure white, then silence.
He blinked his eyes and tried to focus as the sounds of the ocean filled his ears. He looked up when he felt drops of water on his face and saw he was still in the bubble. Soon, water was pouring in from fissures across its surface and drenching him.
He watched as Nina furiously tried to maintain speed as they propelled the last few hundred feet to the marina, then he was flung back as she angled up and raced to the surface. Bursting into the air, they smashed onto the docks, bursting the bubble and sending him tumbling onto the hard stone surface of the marina.
Oslo groaned as he laid still and gathered his wits, then rolled over and saw Nina sprawled face down and breathing heavily. He crawled over and held her in his arms. “Good girl, good girl,” he kept repeating as he stroked her hair and fought back the stabs of guilt. He had put his only child in danger as she risked her life to save him.
He looked up at the sky with a tormented heart. All he wanted to do was to reopen Perihelion and gather the children of the paranormal to rekindle the civilization he once knew. Instead, he was putting lives in danger as the Elephim were now raining destruction across the planet because of his actions. Excort was right; he had stirred the hornet’s nest.
He flinched when he felt a soft and delicate hand caress his face. He looked down and Nina was smiling as she pulled a wrist band from her pocket and handed it to him. It was his wrist console that he threw into the water earlier. He stared at it with astonishment.
She smiled and nodded.
Remorse over his willingness to give up on his mission swept over him. “You never lost your faith in me?” he said to her.
She shook her head. “No father, I know you are a good man, but like mother, you must hide your feelings for me. The Elephim see it as a sign of weakness and would use it to get
to me. Suppressing your emotions is how you have been able to protect me for so long.”
Oslo slumped forward as he fought back the crushing anguish that threatened to consume him. “Smart girl, you are. So frail, yet so strong.”
Nina nestled her head into his chest. “I know about the Elephim. I also know why you and mother had to separate from each other and sacrifice so much to protect me from them. I know everything, Father, and that is why you must bring the others back. Your cause is a noble one; you are on the right path.” She shivered and coughed; her face grew pale. “They need you, Father, now more than ever as their lives are in danger. As we speak, they are hovering close to death.” She trembled in his arms.
Oslo touched her face. It was ice cold.
“Ray and Sally are being hunted. Ray is doing his best to fend off the Elephim that give chase, but he is close to defeat. And Breeze,” her eyes widened when she spoke his name, “is being protected by a solitary Elephim who is undermining its own kind to help him.” She looked at her father with pleading eyes. “Rescue him, Father. Please bring him back for he is the answer to your troubles. This much I know.”
Oslo nodded. “I will, child. I will.” He held her tight. “I’m sorry for all the times I left you. And I never told you how much I—”
She put her hand to his lips. “That day will arrive. You must go now, Father, for the shepherd must tend to his flock.” She pushed him away and crawled to the edge of the pier. “Go now, before it is too late.” She rolled off and into the water. Not a splash was heard.
Oslo leaned against a piling, looked up at the darkening sky and wept. Tears rolled down his face as his body shuddered.
He abruptly stood up and straightened out his jacket as he tried to compose himself. He looked down at the wrist console Nina had recovered for him. He strapped it on and activated the comms.
“I’m back,” he spoke into it as he walked toward the campus.
He climbed up the steps that scaled the hillside. At the top, Excort was there to greet him.
The dwarf stared him down. “Couldn’t stay away, just had to come back?”
Oslo smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I won’t do that again. You have my word.”
Excort grunted. “Fine. So what now? All the birds have flown.”
Oslo nodded gravely. “Yes, and they must be recovered. What is the flight status of the transports in the hangar? Have the RF finished with the repairs on any of them?”
Excort nodded. “Yes, we have two online ready to go plus a scout ship. Which should I prep?”
“The transports,” Oslo said, “but we must act with haste, for there is very little time.”
Breeze lay on the canyon floor. Night had settled in as a frigid wind blew and swirled through the mountains.
He didn’t feel a thing because he was cocooned in a cloud of warm air as he laid in a fetal position inside his shield. It was the first time it raised itself when he wasn’t in flight, and he found it comforting to think of it as body armor that would appear when he needed it most.
He could still hear the gusting wind and the rustling of every animal that crept by. He even heard the sounds of the stars. It sounded like static combined with the powerful roar of a waterfall, but it was all too much for him to handle. He concentrated and filtered out the static until it faded away, and that’s when he heard it.
It was faint at first, like a musical instrument that was being plucked one string at a time, and then it built up until it sounded as if all the strings were being strummed simultaneously.
The chords reverberated in his mind. He saw stars and planets with streams of plasma between them while he weaved through an asteroid field and dodged giant boulders and debris with ease. It all felt as if he had done this many times before.
He burst out of the asteroid field and turned to look back, but it faded away as he was plunged into darkness. Panic set in as a sense of desperate loneliness consumed him.
Then, a whisper in his ear. It was the soft and delicate voice of a young woman.
“They will come for you. Have no fear for you are not alone.”
“Nina?”
“Yes. I will always be here for you. No matter what, I will wait for you as I always have, for I can never truly leave the island. It is a part of me as I’m a part of it.”
The wind speed increased, kicking up sand and rocks into a whirlwind. Breeze could feel the pressure change as his shield flexed.
“Always remember Breeze. Never force anything, just move.”
He opened his eyes and was greeted by a blinding light as he was lifted into the air. He could see the outlines of a ship as it drew closer.
A pair of RF reached out from the lowered cargo ramp to grab him but couldn’t get a grip as his shield repelled any attempt to touch its outer skin. Eventually the robots pushed against the shield and shoved it into the cargo hold of the ship.
A RF leaned over to peer through his shield. It had a streak of orange across its breast plate.
Breeze recognized it. It was one of the mechanics he often saw in the hangar.
It turned and nodded at its companion, then back to Breeze and winked an eye at him.
Breeze smiled, then closed his eyes and slept.
Ray rushed over to Sally and placed a hand over her mouth.
Her eyes flew open in surprise as he placed a finger to his lips, and then pointed up at the ceiling.
Dribbles of dirt rained down on them from the ceiling as the intruder on the floor above slowly stepped about.
Ray and Sally tracked its movements, looking at each other now and then with fear streaked across their faces.
The footsteps stopped, followed by an agonizing silence.
The wooden floor above shattered into thousands of splinters as a black boot smashed its way through. The boot dangled for a moment before it withdrew and was replaced in a flash by the head and shoulders of an Elephim thrusting through to glare at them. Pinpoints of light swirled across its face as the sound of static filled the room.
Sally screamed as it dropped down and landed on its feet. Ray jumped in front of her and unleashed a blast of energy, hurling the black clad figure back as more debris rained down upon them.
He looked at his hands in amazement. How did that happen? I was too weak to fire before.
The force of the blast collapsed the ceiling, sending it crashing down onto them. Sally cowered into a fetal position as Ray threw himself on top of her.
As the cloud of dust settled, two Elephim emerged from it and stood before them. They sound of static reached a fearsome crescendo as their faces swirled with pinpoints of light.
Ray gritted his teeth and trembled as he reached deep inside to find all the rage he could muster. His eyes glowed a brilliant white, and then faded into red. He raised his hands and fired.
The explosion that followed could be seen and heard for miles.
Miles away, a transport ship with Perihelion markings on its hull approached the base of the mountain and the RF piloting the ship used the explosion to zero in on Ray and Sally’s location. The robots would later find the two huddled together at the bottom of a crater in a coma with smoldering debris sizzling all around them.
They gathered them and placed them in the ship, then lifted off and arced toward the coast.
THIRTEEN
BREEZE FLOATED IN AND out of consciousness. Every breath he took felt like an ocean was flowing in and out of his lungs while he floated in a warm bath that invigorated him. He could feel his skin tingle with pinpricks of electricity as he drifted in a state of suspended animation.
Faces drifted in and out before him as he recognized some while others were complete strangers. Voices whispered in his ear but only a portion of what they said he understood as most of it sounded like gi
bberish.
“When all is in doubt, come back to the White Mountain.” One of the voices whispered in his ear.
His eyes fluttered open, and everything he saw was a blur as he floated up. He broke through to the surface and treaded water inside a pool with a deep green hue that coursed through it. Above was a domed ceiling with a crystalline surface.
He swam to the edge where he crawled out and sprawled onto the stone floor. He was surprised at how warm it felt when he felt the vibration of footsteps and looked up to see a diminutive figure approach. He thought it was Excort at first until Mila, his wife, came into view. Behind her stood a RF that was colored head to toe in white. On its breast plate, he saw an insignia of a snake wrapped around a staff.
She wrapped his body in blankets as a floating gurney appeared. It lowered to the ground, and she motioned to the RF to lift him onto it. It floated up as his eyes fluttered to a close.
He woke up in the Medical Wing. The room was spartan except for a cluster of machines that stood by his bedside monitoring his vital signs.
He sat up and tried to get out of bed just as the white RF he saw by the pool stepped in and wagged a finger at him.
“Forbidden,” the robot said.
Breeze was stunned. He tried in vain for the longest time to interact with the RF in the hangar, but it was futile. At best they would tilt their heads at him, and then walk away.
Now, in the unlikeliest of places, he had one actually speaking to him.
“What do you—”, he hacked and coughed violently, it was the first time he had spoken in a while, and his throat was clogged and dry.
The RF handed him a glass of water, and he was surprised that it was able to hold the cup without breaking it. Because it was formerly a combat robot, he found it unnerving that it was now reprogrammed for nursing duty. He took the water and drank it in gulps while tasting effervescence in his mouth as the water slid down his throat.
“What do you mean forbidden?” he challenged.
“Mistress has strict instructions,” the robot said as it took the empty glass from him.
Breeze Corinth (Book 1): Sky Shatter Page 29
