What of Breeze and Nina? Achilles asked.
They will have to take matters into their own hands, Raven replied.
Achilles spotted a break in the shoreline and recognized it from memory as the channel that led into the bay. It banked hard to change course and headed for it.
As it skimmed over the ocean with the Elephim writhing in its hands, Achilles could see the glittering spires of Perihelion emerge from the horizon. The sight of them triggered the robot to swivel its head rapidly as memories long buried were dredged up from the deepest recesses of its cerebral matrix and overwhelm its processors as images from the past flashed before it.
Achilles heard Raven shouting from a distance, but could not understand what he was saying as a stream of images began playing out like a grand theater with multiple stages. On one stage was a hardened combat robot, a veteran of many campaigns that fought on behalf of a government that had fallen long ago, leading a brigade of fellow Robot Fighters towards what was certain destruction.
On another stage it drifted helplessly above a planet with blood-red skies as it watched starships enveloped in flames battling with dreadnoughts from rebel colonies.
The stages then merged into one, and Achilles saw itself hiding behind a pillar to spy upon Bram, who stood amidst a crowd of admiring women while staring wistfully at Oslo and Raza as they danced in the courtyard under the moonlight.
Achilles turned away from the stream of images when it heard a pleading for help. It was coming from deep below the Science and Engineering Building. It was a familiar voice from long ago.
Achilles swiveled its head violently as a sense of dread began to fill it. It had never experienced an emotion before.
Forgive me Achilles, Raven said as he stepped into view and dismissed the stream of images with a wave of a hand. These surges of memories are of my doing, and I have caused you to become distracted.
Achilles tried to respond when it slammed into the beach creating a plume of sand and debris that rose high into the air. The impact allowed the Elephim to break free and kick the robot hard in the chest which sent it hurtling into the palm forest. The palms bent and gave way as it careened through the forest, but came to an abrupt halt when the palms wrapped their fronds around the robot and arrested it, and then lowered it to the forest floor.
Achilles staggered to its feet and attempted to recalibrate its sensors, when it whirled around at the sound of tree trunks snapping and was slammed into ground by the diamond Elephim. He pinned the robot with one foot to its chest, then grabbed its head with both hands and pulled with all his might.
Deep within the cerebral matrix, Raven and Achilles looked at one another in panic.
Raven spoke first. The situation is grim. This Elephim must not be allowed to destroy us. We have drained ourselves of energy over the years as we have tried to remain separate entities. Now, more than ever, we must come together to survive.
Achilles agreed. There is not sufficient power in the fuel cell to keep the memory banks alive if the head is removed. We cannot afford to lose the knowledge we have accumulated over time. We must merge and become one.
They reached out and shook hands.
Nina saw the ridges of coral spread across the seafloor below and knew she was fast approaching the shoreline. She hurled herself with the ship in tow to the surface in a high arc, then slammed onto the beach where the bubble collapsed, sending the battered scout ship skidding with sand flying into the air until it rammed against a seawall.
Nina lay on the beach exhausted and drained. She closed her eyes and thought of Breeze when an image of him being stalked by an Elephim appeared in her mind. She knew he would need her help.
Her eyes fluttered open upon hearing the whine of a turbine as a hover arrived.
Raza leapt out of it and swept her daughter into her arms with a cry of joy as Excort rushed to the ship and surveyed it. It was hissing loudly from severed pneumatic lines while hydraulic fluid and water gushed from the belly of the craft and mixed, forming an oil slick around the ship.
The battered rear cargo door began to lower, and then stopped midway. Ray climbed out from the narrow opening and dropped to the sand. Excort ran over and helped him to his feet.
“Are you okay?” the dwarf asked.
Ray nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. The others are right behind me.”
Sally and Oslo appeared. Excort and Ray forced the cargo door down to the sand, and then helped them out of the ship.
Raza ran over and came to a halt upon seeing Oslo.
He stared at her with weary eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, but couldn’t.
Raza put her hands to her face and trembled.
Oslo then stepped toward her and she rushed to collapse in his arms. He held her tightly as she sobbed. Nina rushed to join them and they gladly swept her into their arms. They were reunited at last, a family once more.
Excort stood and watched them with a lump in his throat. He didn’t notice Ray and Sally were standing at a respectful distance from the reunion.
Oslo stepped over to Excort, with Raza and Nina at either side to keep him steady. He surveyed his surroundings, then looked down at the dwarf and smiled. “I see you still haven’t finished sprucing up the campus.”
Excort stood rock still for a moment, then bear hugged him as Raza smiled and Nina giggled.
Oslo was stunned by the outburst of emotion from his otherwise stoic friend as he patted him on the back. “All right, old boy. All right.”
Excort stepped away and regained his composure. “You don’t understand Oslo, this may be the last time we see Perihelion. Look above you.”
Oslo feebly leaned back and looked up at the glowing fireball descending from high above. He shook his head and muttered. “Why Bram? Why do you do this to us? How did I fail you?”
Excort’s eyes widened. “Bram? What does he have to do with all of this?”
Oslo briefly summarized their encounter with Bram on the platform.
Excort stood dumfounded. “He’s the one behind this? He told you to re-open Perihelion, then captured you and held you hostage? For what purpose?” He shook his head slowly. “This whole time we thought his soul was lost to the stars while his body remained here on the island, and now you’re telling me he found a way back without our help?”
Oslo nodded solemnly. “He has...turned. His soul is blackened. Whatever he encountered in the depths of space has twisted his heart and mind. He says he has returned to search for his wife. And son.” He sighed. “No matter, let us seek shelter. Deep below Perihelion are networks of tunnels that can harbor us if the shield should fail.”
Sally and Ray had kept their distance as they watched and listened to Oslo and Excort formulate a plan. Ray tried holding her hand but she was oblivious to his attempts as she stepped away from him and toward Raza.
“Sally! Goodness, are you all right?” Raza pulled her close and planted a kiss on her forehead.
Sally nodded. She was beginning to realize how much she missed her family.
The reunion was broken up by the hiss of static as Achilles, entangled in a struggle with an Elephim, burst out of the palm forest and hurtled toward them.
Raza threw her hands up and suspended them in mid-air. Both robot and Elephim floated in an energy field that distorted the light around it.
Achilles managed to wrench itself free from the Elephim’s grip and kicked him hard in the chest, propelling them both out of the suspension field. As Achilles crashed into the sand, its head tumbled from its shoulders upon impact.
Ray saw the damage to Achilles as it scrambled to recover its head by pulling on the mechanical spinal cord attached to it. The sight of it all made him flash with rage as he faced the Elephim who was staggering to his feet.
The Elephim stared at Ray with pinpoint
s of light flashing across his face, and then lunged to grab him.
Ray roared with a battle cry as he blasted the charging Elephim and drove him into the ground with a barrage of energy. The Elephim twisted and thrashed about as he tried to escape, only to sink deeper into the pit that Ray’s energy blast was carving out.
Ray ceased his assault and breathed heavily while the Elephim lay sprawled out at the bottom of the smoldering pit and groaning in pain. The sides and bottom of the pit were smooth as glass and reflected distorted images of the Elephim like a funhouse mirror.
Ray stood along the edge and stared sullenly at the limp body of the Elephim when close to the pit, Achilles sat up. It was a tangled mess of wires and dented armor as it held its head with one hand, while attempting to feed the spine back into its neck cavity.
Excort ran over to help. He grabbed the head and tried fitting it into place. “We’ll put you back together,” he assured it.
“Of this, I possess not a doubt. I do believe there are quite a number of my brethren on Perihelion that could provide the spare parts if they were inclined to do so,” Achilles chuckled as it eyes glowed. “I was always aware I would lose my mind eventually. Not in this manner of course.”
Nina ran up to Excort. She patted his shoulder urgently and pointed up at the sky. The fireball was rapidly approaching.
Excort nodded as he received another comm from Xenthan confirming his worst fears. The platform was on a direct collision course for Perihelion, and the generators were still offline.
“Gods,” he murmured, “we won’t survive this.”
Nina ran away and dove into the water.
Raza cried out to her, but it was of no use. She was gone.
The red striped Elephim held Breeze by his foot as they spun in a whirlwind. From a distance, they appeared as a pinwheel shooting off streaks of light in every direction. The centrifugal force was intense and Breeze had long blacked out from its effects.
In his comatose state, he could sense his soul separate from his body, making him feel light as a feather, as if his flesh and bones were nothing more than lead weight that had burdened him his whole life.
Spread out before him was an unfathomable darkness that felt strangely inviting. The urge to surrender to it was overwhelming, as if it were a realm where he could free himself of his fears.
He drifted into the darkness with a sense of tranquility, when voices began calling out to him to come back. The voices grew stronger as a constellation of brightly lit orbs surrounded him. Each and every orb felt familiar to him, as if he had known all of them across the ages, and like moths to a flame, they drew closer.
He spoke to them in a soothing voice. “Never surrender to the darkness.”
He immediately recoiled at his own words. How could I say such a thing when I was about to give up myself?
Faces began to emerge from each orb. They were the faces of children.
“Don‘t be afraid,” he said as they gathered before him.
They reached out and he felt their energy flow through him as their minds became one. “I always thought I was alone,” he said.
“You never were,” a familiar voice called out to him. He tried to find the source amidst the crowd that hovered around him.
It was Nina. She reached out from the sea of faces and grasped his hands. “We have always been here. You were the one who brought us all together.”
They embraced as the constellation of light grew and pushed back the looming darkness.
“Why do I feel like I have known them all of my life?” he said.
“Because we are all alike. We are the children of this Earth. We are the paranormal who have been hunted down and destroyed by a malevolence that does not wish for us to rise and reclaim our rightful place on this world. We all see you as the one bright light in a sea of infinite darkness that gives us the hope we need to reach the distant shore.”
“You have always been in my dreams Nina, I know this now. That’s why you always felt so familiar to me,” he said.
She smiled. “I needed to find someone who could lead us all. I cannot leave the island without putting my life in danger. But not you, you can go anywhere and do anything. You can help us all. You can make this world a better place. We know this to be true, that’s why we have waited so long for you to arrive. But for now Breeze, you need to focus on the present. Remember: don’t push, just move.”
Nina, the voices and the lights faded away as he poured back into his body. His eyes snapped open and he came face to face with the Elephim.
Nina’s words echoed in his mind as he counteracted the spin he was being subjected to by letting his body flow in the opposite direction of it. He could feel himself being stretched thin, yet felt no pain. Time slowed to a crawl as he calmly observed the shocked expression of the Elephim. Far off in the distance he saw a cylindrical platform engulfed in flames as it fell toward Perihelion.
He casually leaned over and grabbed the hand that was gripping his leg. The Elephim shrieked as Breeze flung him away effortlessly. The sound of static subsided as the Elephim fell to the ocean and disappeared beneath the waves.
He then sensed a presence from below. He looked down as Nina rose up to him on a column of water. She pointed at the falling platform and shouted. “There isn’t much time, Breeze!”
He grunted in response and raced to intercept it.
The platform was immense as it descended in a ball of fire. Breeze suppressed his fear as the platform loomed above him with an incredible roar that overwhelmed his senses. He felt like an ant underneath the foot of a giant.
He took a deep breath and felt the energy in his body swell. He channeled it into his shield and expanded it to an extent far greater than he had ever attempted, and then hurled himself at the platform.
He felt the impact reverberate through his body as he rammed it and knocked it off course from its collision course with the island.
The burning platform fell into the ocean in an immense eruption of water and steam that filled the sky with a gigantic cloud, and then rained back down in a deluge. When the sky cleared, Breeze could see the surging wave the platform’s impact into the ocean had created as it radiated in all directions. Perihelion lay in its path.
“Breeze, Perihelion is still exposed! The shields are not up!” Nina cried. She was struggling to maintain altitude with her water column as she surfed atop it.
He barreled down and plucked her off the water column, then accelerated rapidly as they rushed toward Perihelion. She buried her head in his chest and he held her tight.
Breeze raced well ahead of the wave and reached the island before it could crest on the shore. He landed in a lush valley with a waterfall that cascaded down from a rocky mountain. He quickly recognized it from his first day when Excort drove him through here on their way to the dormitory, and remembered flying through the mountain thinking his was going to die.
Breeze closed his eyes and focused. He then expanded his shield, never once trying to force it, but letting it flow out of him naturally, like a sapling sprouting into a mighty oak that could touch the clouds.
The wave hit the eastern coast of Perihelion and crested over. The sheer wall of water was immense as it reared up and loomed over the island, plunging everything into darkness. His legs buckled as the wave slammed onto his shield.
Nina leaned up to kiss him. “Don’t give in,” she said.
He held her close as the shield rose higher to form a dome that capped the island.
They never broke their embrace as the deluge engulfed the shield and blocked out the sun, drowning them into pure darkness.
They found Breeze and Nina holding each other tightly hours later. The water had long receded and the island was once again basking under the sun as mountainous white clouds floated above.
Excort’s sons had managed to get the generators back up and running and with power restored, the fog was active as it blanketed the island and hid it from prying eyes above. They immediately organized a sweep of the island, along with several RF they recruited for the mission, but they never found the saboteurs responsible for the damage.
Excort then gathered his sons and along with Ray, Oslo, and the others, formed a search party to locate Breeze and Nina after unsuccessful attempts to reach them on the comms. Hours later, they found them in the valley of the waterfall.
Breeze still had his shield raised, oblivious that the danger to Perihelion had long passed. His shield had regressed over time until it reduced itself to a mere fraction of its former size.
Excort shouted at them to get their attention, but the shield blocked out the sound of his voice. Raza placed a hand on Sally’s shoulder and nodded. Sally sighed, and then closed her eyes as she projected toward them. She slipped through the shield and called out to Breeze several times before he responded.
He pulled back from his embrace of Nina and looked at Sally in a daze. After a moment of silence, he spoke. “Are we safe?”
“Yes. Thanks to you, as always,” she said with hint of a smile that faded upon seeing Nina gazing up at him with awe.
He took in his surroundings. The sun was setting in the west as it lit up the clouds with streaks of orange and pink.
Oslo and Raza stood outside the shield. Oslo had his arm around his wife as she steadied him. Ray stood off to the side and Achilles was nowhere to be found. A group of RF who had joined in the search was aimlessly wandering about.
He dropped his shield and Nina rushed to her parents. She bounded into their waiting arms and they held her tight.
Sally retracted to her body as Ray reached for her hand. She took it and together they stood quietly.
Excort approached Breeze. “Well, young man, you did it. I didn’t think you had it in you.”
Breeze nodded as he looked around. “Where’s Achilles?”
Breeze Corinth (Book 1): Sky Shatter Page 67
