by Scott Baron
They bounded up the short flight of stairs and stepped into the corridor that looped around to the command center access door. Had they come from the other side, they’d have just taken the lift straight to that hallway’s landing, but Eddie’s sense of direction was either off, or he just didn’t care.
Charlie greeted Rika with a warm hug, though it still felt a tiny bit odd. She had been trying to kill him just a few weeks prior, after all. But with her mind her own once again, she and Charlie had struck up a renewed friendship.
To Rika’s surprise, Leila stepped in and hugged her as well. It wasn’t a particularly warm embrace, but she appreciated the effort all the same.
Bawb, on the other hand, merely nodded his greeting, while Ripley bounced over to one of the low couches and flopped into its plush embrace.
“Hey, Uncle Cal. What’s the word?” Ripley asked.
“Hello, Ripley. Thank you for ferrying the others here on such short notice.”
“No worries.”
“Well, let’s get right to it, then. Several hours ago, an unidentified object appeared just at the edge of Earth’s atmosphere and began a rapid re-entry. We dispatched a ship to obtain visual confirmation and engage if necessary. What the pilot saw was an ancient craft, apparently flying with no visible source of power.”
“Hang on, are you saying it was gliding in? We tried that once, and tore up the belly of the ship when we landed as a result. She’s not really designed for it.”
“And with that, we get to the unusual part of the incident.”
“Wait. The Asbrú showing up out of nowhere isn’t the unusual part?” Rika said.
“Normally, it would be. However, when our ship approached it, the Asbrú changed course.”
“So someone was performing evasive maneuvers,” Rika noted. “Pretty standard procedure, really.”
“But the engines were still cold. In fact, they were not once engaged during the entire descent, including both instances of directional change, as well as the landing, which, admittedly, was a bit rough.”
Charlie and Rika shared a look. If the ship wasn’t flying under its own power, then there was only one thing that could be at play.
“Shit. They magicked our ship,” Charlie said. “There’s not much of a way to fly it like that, but I suppose maybe fail-safe spells used to help ease down a crashing ship could have done the trick. But shit, this is magic. And on an old Earth ship. We need to get there, ASAP.”
“Agreed,” Bawb said. “If we have magic-wielding opposition, time is of the essence.”
“A small team was dispatched to maintain a perimeter a short while ago, and I’m confident––”
A blinding, green flash filled the room as the Magus stone hanging from Leila’s neck blasted forth its emerald light.
“What just happened?” Ripley gasped, rubbing her eyes.
“Yeah, what was that, Leila?”
“I don’t know why it did that,” was all she could manage as the pendant returned to its normal, dormant state.
“Oh, no,” the AI said.
“What is it, Cal?” Rika asked.
“Vic, my counterpart AI in London, has lost contact with his team. Stand by.”
A long silence hung in the air. AIs could, when not slowing things down to talk to humans, communicate and transfer huge amounts of data in nanoseconds. And still, the silence continued.
“This is not good,” Ripley said, rising from the couch. “Uncle Cal? What’s going on?”
“What exactly was aboard your ship, Charlie?” Cal finally asked. “Any experimental devices we don’t know about from the historical records?”
“Why?”
“Because the fools in Wales boarded it, despite my express orders to the contrary. A drone just transmitted the recordings from the event.”
“What event?”
“A few moments after they entered the ship, there was a flash, causing them all to freeze in place.”
An alarmed look flashed on Bawb’s normally placid face. “Likely a version of a verata spell,” he said. “A magical booby trap. This does not bode well.”
“I’m afraid it gets worse. Far, far worse.”
“What do you mean, Cal?”
“It wasn’t just the team at the Asbrú who were frozen in place. The same thing happened globally.”
“What do you mean? I don’t understand,” Ripley said.
“All global AIs just conducted an emergency survey. Every living thing, and even many lesser machines, have frozen in place. It would appear the occupants of this room are the only people on the planet who escaped its effect.”
Chapter Six
It was a shitshow.
Leila had been in a state of utter shock as she and the others rushed outside. And Bawb was the closest Charlie had ever seen to outright losing it, which in his case meant calm, and quiet, with a buzzing air of danger around him. But also a barely restrained tension that was almost tangible.
“I must get to Hunze,” he said, the muscles in his jaw flexing slightly.
“I know, man. Just give us a minute to––”
“Now, Charlie,” the Wampeh said, the pain in his eyes clear to his friend no matter how he tried to conceal it.
“Okay. We’ll be in the air in a minute.” He turned to their stunned teenage pilot. “Rip, when we get on board, have Eddie tie us in to Cal remotely as we fly.”
They hurried from the command center, Bawb a blur of crackling anxiety as he raced ahead. The five of them quickly retraced their path to where the ship was waiting to whisk them away, passing the work crew on their way. It was the first proof that what Cal had said was true. All of them were frozen in place. All but the cyborg, who was desperately looking around, confused. Charlie would have explained to the poor tin man, but there wasn’t time.
“Ara, can you hear me?” Charlie silently reached out for his friend.
“Yes. I assume you’ve seen what just happened.”
“Yeah, and it’s global.”
“How did you escape the spell?” the dragon asked.
“Leila. Her Magus stone gave off some sort of massive, glowing light. Everyone in the room was spared.”
“Then that particular Magus stone is far more powerful than any of us would have imagined. Only a handful have been rumored to that capacity, which makes me wonder, who exactly was Leila’s mother? From what family might she have been forced into slavery?”
“Good question. But we’ve got bigger problems at the moment.”
“Indeed. But at least you’re all safe, correct?”
“No. Hunze wasn’t with us. And Baloo was out doing his thing when we were called in, so we left him to it. We’re rushing back to Bawb’s place right now.”
“Then two of our number have almost certainly fallen victim as well.”
“I know. But I think he’s holding out some hope that the Magus stone protected her too.”
“Not from that distance,” Ara said with a sigh. “And I’m sure he knows that.”
“I know. But he’s in love. For the Geist, that’s really saying something, ya know?”
“I do.”
“This all started at the Asbrú.”
“Your ship? But it was a wreck in the Balamar Wastelands. I saw it with my own eyes. And that was some time ago.”
“I know, Ara. But someone salvaged it and sent it here. That’s what triggered this spell.”
She was silent a long moment. “The sheer amount of power required to cast a spell of this magnitude, it’s staggering, Charlie, let alone the power to somehow jump it between galaxies. And if whoever did this had possession of your ship, that makes this a targeted attack.”
“I know. And it looks like it’s from your part of the universe, no less,” Charlie said. “Look, I hate to ask you to do this, but you can get there faster than us. Will you keep an eye on the Asbrú until we get there?”
“Of course. And you needn’t feel awkward asking me to do this.”
“Yeah, well, there’s one catch.”
“Oh? What could possibly––”
“The ship landed in Wales.”
Ara fell silent in his mind, but he could feel the surge of emotions through their bond. She had been trapped in Wales. Thousands of years in a cave, on the verge of insanity by the time she was finally freed. And now he was asking her to return there.
“Look, if there was any other way––”
“No, do not worry about me. I need to revisit the area eventually. To come to terms with what was done to me. While I would have perhaps preferred waiting a bit longer, this is inevitable. I will head there now. When I reach those shores, I will be able to smell the magic. It shouldn’t be hard to pinpoint the ship’s location.”
“Thank you, Ara. This means a lot to me.”
“The whole planet is frozen, Charlie. I think it means a lot to everyone.”
Charlie and his friends burst through the exit to the surface, rushing through Eddie’s door, already open and waiting for them.
“Get us home, Eddie!” Ripley blurted, jumping into her seat.
“Hang on to your bootstraps. We’re gonna fly!” the ship replied, blasting into the air.
The distance was too short to get anywhere near Eddie’s top speed, but he did manage to accelerate so hard that he broke the sound barrier with a loud boom before rapidly decelerating and dropping down outside of Ripley’s sprawling home. The teen was out the door as soon as it opened.
“Get me home, ship,” Bawb said through clenched teeth.
“You’re next, man. But Rip’s my girl. She’ll always take priority,” Eddie replied, quickly hopping the short distance to the Wampeh’s home.
Bawb managed to clear the door before it was even fully open, dashing into his home in a frantic rush. Charlie, Leila, and Rika stepped out and waited for him. They knew what he would find inside, and there was no need to intrude in what had to be a difficult moment for the man.
It would be the same for Ripley. For everyone. Their loved ones, anyone not protected by the Magus stone’s protective glow, would be frozen. Even Baloo, wherever that rambunctious fur ball was, would also be motionless.
The one positive was the spell itself. Bawb had recognized it. Part of it, anyway. It was magic from his galaxy, as Charlie had feared. But while massively powerful, and of a particular variety none of them had ever seen, it wasn’t a killing spell. It was merely a stasis one. As such, those trapped by it would not age, nor would they wither. They were simply frozen in time. Hunze would simply remain sleeping in her bed, unaware anything had happened.
Charlie doubted that made his friend feel any better.
“I don’t get it,” Leila said. “The last time we had enemies anywhere was hundreds of years ago, and that was before we were thrown backward into your past.”
“I know.” He turned to Rika. “You have any theories?”
“Hey, I may have worked for the bad guys, but I wasn’t one. I hope you know that.”
“Of course we do. But you might have insight into this that we lack.”
She shrugged. “Sorry, but this is way outside of my wheelhouse.”
They stood silently a while, wrapped up in their own thoughts, until Bawb finally stepped out of the house. The look on his face, hidden as it was, made it clear what he had found. Charlie noted he was now also very well armed.
“We need to pick up Ripley,” he said, his voice tight with emotion. “Then we must go to the scene of the crime, immediately.”
“I agree, but we need to gear up too,” Charlie noted.
“Do as you must,” Bawb replied, his face once again unreadable.
He boarded the ship and took a seat without another word and didn’t speak again until they were well underway to the distant shores of Wales.
Chapter Seven
Charlie, Rika, and Leila loaded their gear aboard the young AI ship, carefully stowing everything extra securely, just in case Eddie decided to make any more of his sudden maneuvers without warning. He flew well, no doubt, but his youthful exuberance sometimes got the better of him. Then again, they had to remind themselves that despite seeming to be fully grown, the ship had really only been “born” a month or so prior.
Rip had been uncharacteristically quiet since they took off, and all had thought it best to give her a little space to process the sight of her parents frozen in place. Despite her seemingly unshakable take-on-the-world demeanor, even Ripley would be viscerally hit by something like that. They were her parents, after all, and for all her mock whining and eye rolling at her dad’s jokes, they were a very close family.
Eddie took the most direct route, bursting through the atmosphere, flying high and fast, like a passenger-carrying ICBM. With the trajectory he was on, they’d be at their destination across the globe in less than a half hour.
Everyone had questions, and he was, technically, a supercomputer. But the young ship was new to all of this, and thus wisely opted to let the big-brain AIs handle the analysis of what had happened. Routing the comms to the cabin, Cal was able to update the shell-shocked passengers as they flew.
“We have confirmed, this is a global phenomenon,” he informed the group. “There were minimal casualties, thank goodness, but some people were in precarious positions when the event occurred.”
“You can just call it a spell, Cal,” Charlie said. “The sooner you come to grips with magic, the better.”
“Yes, of course. We have assessed the data, and this magic is indeed a verifiable phenomenon far outside our normal scanning parameters. And the fallout of this spell was, quite unfortunately, not limited to people on the ground.”
Rika, being a pilot, was the first to realize the implications. “Oh, shit. How many crashed?”
“As most of the AI ships are involved in the extra-solar survey, the majority of transit is currently being handled by human and Chithiid pilots. When the spell hit, we lost forty-seven craft. Another thirty-five were able to auto-land, thanks to their safety system backups. Naturally, many terrestrial incidents occurred as well.”
“But you said this affected animals as well as people, right?” Ripley asked.
“Yes, Ripley. All animal life is frozen. Vegetation, however, seems unaffected.”
“So, Baloo––”
“Undoubtedly frozen. Only Ara was able to withstand the event. I posit it was the sheer potency of her inherent magical properties protecting her without requiring conscious effort, much like Leila’s unusual pendant did.”
“It’s called a Magus stone,” Leila said, quietly, absentmindedly stroking the green gemstone. “So Baloo is okay, just frozen.”
“He’ll be fine,” Charlie said, putting his arm around her. “It sucks he’s not with us, but at least there’s one positive of animals being indiscriminately included in this spell.”
“Which is?”
“Think about it. If predators weren’t frozen in place, all of those people would basically be a giant buffet for the taking.”
Leila cracked a tiny hint of a smile, despite her distress, and Charlie’s stress ball in his stomach relaxed slightly. He knew she would be okay.
“It is worth noting, all AI, not being flesh minds, were unaffected. However, many basic mechanical systems seem to have fallen victim, though we still do not understand why.”
“I can help with that,” Bawb said, breaking his icy silence. “If this was a modification of a verata spell that incorporated elements of some of the more historically military applications of the spell, then it is highly likely a form of vessel immobilization was woven into it.”
“But we’re not a magical planet,” Charlie said.
“No, but enough basic mechanical parts, such as hinges, or levers, could have been stricken. That alone could cause failure in any number of devices,” the Wampeh noted. “It was likely unintentional, judging by what we’ve observed so far.”
“Or it was a crude attempt to disable our defenses by an enemy who doesn
’t fully understand how tech works.”
Bawb was silent a moment as he considered the possibility. “Given that they used your ship as the delivery mechanism, that is a reasonable assumption.”
“And let’s not forget, we’re in our own future now. The Asbrú was built hundreds of years before current levels of technology. If it was an attack based on that knowledge, or lack thereof, it’s only logical that whatever spell they cooked up wouldn’t work on newer tech.”
“Then this was an attempt against more than just the human population.”
“It would seem possible, though how they would know what to target is a mystery,” Bawb said, a distrusting look flashing Rika’s way, but gone before she could see it. She was Charlie’s friend, and part of the team, but it had not been very long at all since she had been fighting for the enemy, and it would take more than her fellow humans vouching for her before he would trust her completely.
Charlie craned his neck, peering at the monitors as they began their descent. “Eddie, can you zoom in on those fires?”
The displays flicked to a tighter frame. They were looking at the rebuilt city of London, and parts of the city were burning.
“Cal, you said it landed in Wales. What’s going on down there?”
“Vic has informed me that several craft crashed into the city proper. Automated fire-suppression systems knocked down most of the blazes, but not all. Unfortunately, the fire-fighting crews in that city were largely human and Chithiid. He is gathering cyborgs to step in to fill those roles as rapidly as he is able, but there was not a terribly robust population of mechanicals in that city. It will take time, but we can rebuild whatever is damaged.”
“And the people in those buildings?” Leila asked.
A long silence hung in the air.
“Unfortunately, there will be casualties.”
They sat quietly for the remainder of the flight. The situation was worse than they’d originally feared, and they had every reason to expect it would only deteriorate further.
