by L. J. Suarez
Mace reached out his hand. “Give me the trigger, and let’s put an end to this war for good.”
Reed studied the trigger he had wrapped around his other hand, then turned to Mace. His grin was gone, replaced with fire in his eyes. “After you killed my son? You’ll burn with the rest of them.” He whipped around toward the railing and hopped over it.
“No!” Mace yelled out as he rushed for Reed with his arm extended. It was too late. Hanging his head over the railing, he watched as Reed’s body plummeted down the long abyss and disappeared through the steam.
Chapter 42
Any hope of deactivating the B83 was lost the moment Reed leapt to his death, taking the trigger for the warhead with him.
There had to be another way to stop the bomb from going off, and Mace needed to find out real quick. He dashed back to where Ionne and Ava were at. They hovered over Aaron’s body, accompanied by a few of the complex’s technicians.
Ava’s eyes gleamed when she saw Mace, then she looked around as if there was someone missing. “Where’s Reed and Bishop?”
Mace shook his head. “Bishop’s dead. Couldn’t get to Reed in time before he took a dive off the catwalk. The trigger’s gone.”
“What?!” Ava said. Panic grew within her voice. “How are we supposed to stop the bomb without the trigger?”
It was a good question, to which Mace had no answer. He turned to Ionne for any shred of hope. “Please tell me you have a way of stopping this thing from blowing us all up.”
Mace could tell by Ionne’s expression that he wasn’t going to like what she had to say. “I do not know the functionality of this device. It would take at least an hour to properly diagnose the weapon to ascertain what the disarmament sequence is without setting it off. There are only twenty minutes left before detonation.”
“There’s gotta be some kind of kill switch on this thing,” Mace insisted.
“Possibly. However, based on how the bomb is configured, any attempt to manually disarm it without running a proper diagnostic could inadvertently trigger the weapon.”
“We don’t have that kind of time, Ionne!” Mace said urgently.
“Can’t you surround the bomb with one of those blue bubble force fields to contain the blast?” Ava said.
Ionne shook her head. “From what I know of this device, it has the capacity to produce the same energy as a star. An emergency force field could not possibly hold an explosion of that magnitude.”
“God damnit!” Mace yelled in frustration. He scanned the room as if looking for answers as he heard the digital timer on the bomb continue its countdown.
Then a thought came to him.
“The airship!” he said. “We can fly the bomb out of here on the airship we came on. Get as much distance between the bomb and Empyreum.”
Ava stared at Mace in disbelief. “What are you talking about? That’s a stupid idea.”
“If you’ve got any other better ones, I’m all ears.”
Ionne entered the conversation. “I should be the one to do it, since I am the only one qualified to operate the ship.”
“No,” Mace said. “I’m responsible for everything that’s happened here. I’ll do it.”
“Without an NI, you would have to pilot the ship manually,” Ionne warned.
“Can’t be too hard. Just show me which buttons to press.”
“There’s got to be better way,” Ava said. “You don’t have to do this.”
“I wish there were. But we don’t have the time. I gotta make this right.”
Ava gazed into Mace’s eyes, pleading with him to reconsider his decision, even though she knew there wasn’t any other choice.
* * *
Ten minutes were left on the warhead’s timer before detonation.
We’re cutting it real close, Mace thought. The B83 was already secured aboard Ionne’s airship with the help of the technicians. Mace was seated at the pilot’s seat, while Ionne gave a quick rundown of the holographic flight controls that were all in Monad.
“First, press the yellow button to activate the ion engines,” Ionne explained. “Then press the blue triangular button for the thrusters, which will levitate the craft upward.” She motioned with her hand next to a digital lever that looked to be the throttle. “Finally, pull the accelerator downward to make the ship move forward, like this. All you would need to do is keep the craft steady from there. From the little we have gathered, the bomb has the capacity to release an enormous amount of thermal radiation. Based on the yield of the weapon and the altitude you will be traveling at, my summation is that you would need to travel at least twenty miles from Empyreum at maximum velocity for us to be safely clear of the blast radius.”
Mace nodded, trying hard not to look too overwhelmed. “Got it.” He scanned through the controls, hovering over the console one more time when Ava entered the cockpit. Mace rose to his feet while Ionne placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Good luck, Mace,” she said in a somber tone.
“Thanks, Ionne.”
Ionne’s eyes were filling with tears as she made her way down the ramp.
When they were alone, Ava said, “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”
“Hell no.” Mace swallowed hard. “But somebody’s gotta do it, right?”
Ava moved closer to Mace and placed her hands on his injured chest. “I’ll be sure to drop ya a line from time to time.” He said.
A tear rolled down Ava’s cheek. “You better.”
Mace brought Ava’s face closer to his and planted a long kiss on her lips. He looked into Ava’s eyes and wiped the tear from her cheek. “Do me a favor. Get my dad to the Science Institute and make sure he gets the medical attention he needs. Also tell him…that I’m sorry.”
Ava gave a slow nod, turned and then exited the ship without looking back. Sitting back down at the pilot’s chair, Mace heard the ramp closing behind him. The ticking of the B83’s timer chimed menacingly while sealed instead the case.
Hovering his fingers over the digital controls, Mace pressed the yellow button to ignite the ship’s ion engines. The deck plate beneath him rumbled as the main engines came to life. Next, he pressed the blue triangular button pointed upward to get him off the ground, but the ship didn’t move. Instead, the nose of the air ship tilted forward before Mace realized what he was doing.
“Shit!” He quickly pressed the other button below it, and the ship suddenly accelerated upward. “Easy, girl!” Mace managed to stabilize the airship, and was now at a stationary hover above the landing platform. He felt as though he was a teenager learning how to ride a leeback for the first time. “Keep it together, Mace.”
Turning to the side window, he spotted Ava and the Monad technicians standing on the pad looking up toward him, except for Ionne, who was nowhere in sight. He moved his hand over to the accelerator. “Here we go.” Gently pulling on the digital lever, the ship moved away from the power grid and was now flying high in between Empyreum’s skyscrapers. The ship really moved at just the slightest touch on the controls.
Mace pulled the lever farther back to gain more speed. “Easy,” he said to the ship, the sheer power the engines possessed making him quiver in his seat. He looked around at the massive towers zooming past on either side of the cockpit, as well as the other flying airships. This would be the last time he would ever see this place again. The realization hit him like a ton of bricks. He pulled the accelerator all the way back. The airship soared over the Capital’s glass walls and was now over the Outlands. The snow-peaked mountain ranges populated the horizon ahead with the sun gleaming over them. The vibration of his seat and the deck plate beneath his feet intensified as the ship was pushed to its very limit.
He looked back at the bomb sitting inside the compartment. Five minutes or so were left, by his guess. Turning back to the cockpit’s forward view, Mace was left with only his thoughts now as he gazed toward the horizon. He had heard before that a person’s life would flash before their eyes when they were close
to the end of the line. He was starting to see that what he’d heard was true. In his mind’s eye, Mace saw himself as that twelve-year-old kid in old Lazarus, playing catch with Finn at one of Empyreum’s local parks. He saw flashes of his mother’s face, and of Kora’s. Perhaps he would see them all again on the other side.
That wouldn’t be bad at all, Mace thought. An unexpected calmness he had never experienced before came over him like a warm blanket. He no longer feared what would happen next. He actually welcomed it. It was a strange sensation. But he needed to right the wrongs he had contributed to. As he breathed in deeply, Mace heard a beeping sound come over the controls, breaking his euphoric trance. The ship’s digital map materialized over the console, showing Mace a second ship closing in fast from behind.
“What the…”
Before he could finish, a familiar voice came over the com channel.
“Mace, this is Ionne. Do you read?”
Mace pressed a button on the console. “Ionne, what the hell are you doing here?’
Ionne simply replied, “Keeping a promise.”
Chapter 43
Mace knew this would be a one-way trip the moment he set foot on the airship he’d borrowed from Ionne.
He had made his peace with it. After everything that had transpired leading up to the devastating war he’d allowed his people to get sucked into, this was the only way to undo his mistakes. Even if it meant giving up his own life.
Ionne had caught up with Mace on another airship she commandeered. This complicated matters further. Coming up along the portside, Mace caught a glimpse of Ionne at the controls of smaller, one-seater airship with rotatable engines on either side of its wings, and a thin red line across its bow.
“Have you lost your mind, Ionne? Get out of here.”
“Not without you.”
“It’s too late for that. Now turn around while you can still clear the blast zone.”
“I will not leave!” Ionne said more firmly this time. “When I saw your father at the settlement while he laid unconscious, I made a promise to him that I would look after you during these trying days, and keep you safe to the best of my ability. I have every intention of fulfilling that promise. You do not need to die out here in vain. Allow me to help you.”
Mace hesitated. He quickly scanned the inside of the airship as if looking for an answer. “How am I even supposed to get to you?”
“There should be a rectangular red button at the top left of the console. Do you see it?”
Mace spotted the button where Ionne said it would be. “Yes.”
“When you press the button, a top hatch located above the ceiling at the back compartment will open. First, you must reduce thrust and drop to an altitude of at least 25,000.”
Mace scanned through the controls again in a panic. “Ah, ok. How?”
Ionne said in a calming voice, “We will do this together. First, move the accelerator forward until I tell you to stop. I will monitor your progress from here when you have reached nominal speed.”
Mace wasted no time in moving the holographic throttle forward, and felt the ship’s speed decreasing.
“Stop,” Ionne said. “Good. Now to reduce altitude, find the dial just below the accelerator. Do you see it?”
Mace immediately spotted the rounded button on the console. “I see it.”
“Turn it now. Counter-clockwise.”
As Mace twisted the dial counter-clockwise, he felt the craft drop lower toward the surface.
“That is fine there. Well done, Mace. Empyreum is clear of the blast radius at our position. There are less than five minutes until detonation. We must move quickly. I shall maneuver my ship over to yours and extend the ladder. Activate the autopilot using the blue hexagonal button, and open the top hatch.”
After activating the autopilot and opening the top hatch, the roaring sound of the outside air flooded throughout the compartment behind him. He climbed out of his seat in the cockpit and grabbed onto the ladder, which lowered the moment the top hatch opened. He took one last look at the warhead ticking away its final minutes before ascending up the ladder toward the top of the airship.
The wind was relentless, smashing against Mace’s face to the point that he could barely keep his eyes open. Ionne’s airship moved into position and hovered several feet over his head. After both ships were aligned, the bottom hatch of Ionne’s craft opened, and a second ladder extended all the way down until it was at arm’s length away from Mace.
The wind shear generated from the velocity of his ship and Ionne’s confiscated craft above proved challenging for Mace to maintain his balance. After making a few attempts, he finally grabbed hold of the ladder and pulled himself up until both his feet touched the bottom steps. The airship below him vanished, replaced by green foliage.
Ionne wasted no time getting as much distance from the bomb as possible. Mace climbed up toward the bottom hatch until a sudden gust of wind forced him to lose his grip on the ladder. He free-fell for half a second before latching onto the last step of the ladder. His heart stopped for the briefest of moments, and he tried to collect himself as he wrapped one arm around the step. It would have been a long way down.
Once he realized he hadn’t soiled himself, Mace continued the rest of the way toward the bottom hatch until he was safely inside the main cabin. Once the hatched was sealed, Mace joined Ionne at the controls as she piloted the ship. Ionne pulled the digital lever all the way back to gain as much distance as possible from the inevitable. Mace held onto the back of Ionne’s seat as the cabin began to rock from the rising acceleration.
On a digital map hovering over the console, a blue dot representing their ship was shown quickly moving away in the opposite direction from a yellow one, which was carrying the warhead.
“Have we cleared the blast radius?” Mace asked.
“In another twenty-five seconds.”
“Can this thing go any faster?”
“This craft has reached its top speed. Brace yourself. Detonation is…”
A brilliant white flash suddenly engulfed the entire cabin. Mace and Ionne covered their eyes with their arms. A vicious rumble billowed throughout the entire ship. Mace held onto an overhead railing, as it seemed the ship was about to fly apart from the uncontrollable force.
A powerful jolt caused Mace to lose his grip and drop onto the floor, the back of his head hitting the hard steel surface. His world spun, and he fought to stay conscious. Though his body was cemented to the floor by the g-force, he managed to inch his head forward enough to see that the light had finally dissipated, but the ship was losing altitude fast.
With quick moments of her fingers across the control console, Ionne attempted to regain control of the airship, whose nose was pointed at the surface. With a whining pitch of the engines struggling to stay afloat, the ship’s forward section started to tilt upward until the gray skies returned to the window.
As the ship gained normal altitude, Mace pulled himself off the floor and stood next to Ionne as she wiped sweat from her forehead. They both exchanged glances. Though they hadn’t said a word to each other, Mace guessed that Ionne was also thinking they had just avoided annihilation. A new holo-screen appeared over the center console. It was the aft view of a mushroom-shaped cloud mixed with an orange fireball rising toward the sky in the distance. All Ionne could do was stare at the bizarre sight that the warhead had just produced.
“I can’t believe we just survived that,” Mace mumbled.
“Barely,” Ionne said. “Your ancestors were more powerful than we could ever have predicted, to create something this destructive.”
“Not sure if this is something to be proud of. I can’t believe we hauled something across the Outlands that can do…that.” Mace chuckled. “I kind of hoped the thing wouldn’t had worked. So much for that.”
Ionne looked up toward Mace. “Thank you.”
“What for?”
“For sacrificing your own life to save our city. For co
ming to your senses when it counted the most. Your father would be proud.”
Mace stayed silent as he breathed in the cabin’s sterile air and gazed at the strange cloud for a bit longer.
“We should return to Empyreum,” Ionne said. “There is much work to be done, and people who need medical attention.”
“Good idea,” Mace said.
The aft screen disappeared as Ionne plotted a course back to the Capital.
Mace stared at the twinkling lights of Empyreum coming into view as the airship sailed above the Outlands’ wilds. Ionne was right about the work that lay ahead—for Monads and humans alike. What lay ahead would be a time of healing old wounds that both races had carried for far too long.
Chapter 44
Soft yet firm white sand lay underneath Aaron’s bare feet.
He dug his toes farther into the silky soft powder; the sensation ran from the soles of his feet all the way up to his brain. Taking a breath in, Aaron closed his eyes and allowed himself to enjoy the moment as a gentle breeze came in from the calm sea. He could stay here for the remainder of his days. His eyes shot open, and he realized that something wasn’t quite right. He looked around the deserted beach.
Where the hell am I? The last thing he remembered was being at the Gray Zone border. Mace was with him, and so was Ionne. It was all coming back to him now. They were delivering the Monad survivors of the transport crash back to Ionne and her people. Then something happened. An explosion of some kind, mud and smoke everywhere. Then, somehow, he ended up on this remote beach. There was something familiar about this place.
Aaron spotted a figure walking down the shoreline toward him. Whoever it was, they were shorter than a Monad, so it must be a human. It appeared to be a woman judging by the curves. She wore a white gown that almost matched the sand she walked on. He couldn’t bring himself to walk toward her, as if his feet were bonded with the sand below him. The woman’s face came into view, and Aaron’s jaw dropped.
“Sarah?!”
