by Ramy Vance
Going into the mountain range was an almost guaranteed death trap now. When the drones were just a horde, they would have been easy enough to scatter. Now that they had formed a whole creature, they seemed to have grown bolder and more aggressive.
On top of that issue, if there were any cracks in the mountain range Team Boundless could have exploited, they would be useless now. The drone cobra was too large. It would dominate the space.
Alex couldn’t think of a reasonable course of action, other than linking back up with the rest of the team. So far, Alex’s usual plan was to attack and hope things worked themselves out. This time, it was obvious attacking the techno-cobra was not going to work out.
Alex’s comm started to buzz and she flipped up her HUD to see who it was. Manny’s unhappy eyes met hers. “I do not have time for this right now,” she muttered as she hung up on Manny.
He’s probably just going to tell me in a thousand different ways how I should have stayed at the facility. And I do not have time for that.
The techno-cobra let out a roar that reminded Alex she did not have time to talk to Manny. As she looked over her shoulder, she could see it opening its mouth, a bright red light glowing in the back of its throat. “It’s charging for a blast!” Alex shouted.
Jollies and Alex broke away from each other as a laser blast seared past them, carving a gash into the side of the mountains ahead. “That thing is no joke!” Jollies shouted.
Alex pointed up and started to ascend, heading straight into the clouds. Jollies followed her as she patched into Gill. “Hey! Hypothetically speaking, if there were a giant nanotech snake following us, would you have any idea how to disable it?” she asked.
Gill’s voice crackled over the comm. “Hypothetically speaking, Jim should have an EMP device in his dragon mech that would disable any electronics that aren’t dragon-forged,” he answered.
“Is that true, Jim?”
Jim replied confidently, “Yeah, I have a couple of EMP devices. A bomb, even. The mechs come outfitted with a dozen different EMP weapons.”
“Are you ready to play the hero today?”
“I was born ready.”
Chapter Six
Alex and Jollies rose higher as the cobra followed on their tails. They were biding their time, trying to put some space between themselves and the cobra while Jim told them his coordinates.
Surprisingly, the rest of the team had found an almost invisible cavern in one of the mountains. Brath had had the great idea of hiding there for an ambush.
The only problem was, Jollies and Alex needed enough space between them and the nanotech cobra so they could surprise the machine creature.
A laser blast tore past Alex, who pulled hard to the left on Chine, swinging up higher to avoid the blast. “Are we getting any farther ahead of them?” Alex shouted.
Jollies checked over her shoulder and shook her head. “It looks like it’s gaining on us,” Jollies replied. “Oh, wait! I have an idea. Gill said an EMP would disable them, right? Amber can create her own electromagnetism. Hold on!”
Jollies started to weave back and forth in front of Alex. Every couple of seconds, Amber would drop what looked like a small glowing ball. Every so often, a crack of lightning would snap around the ball—tiny EMP grenades.
As the techno-cobra sped after the dragonriders, it bumped into the first mini-EMP grenade. The grenade went off, sending a chain reaction of exploding EMPs through the sky.
The techno-cobra shrieked in what sounded like pain as its body started to come apart. Drones flew in different directions, confused by the energy coming off the grenades. Their communication was severed. It would take some time to re-establish a link.
Jollies and Alex flew down under the clouds as fast as they could toward the coordinates of the rest of the team. They sped through the mountains until they found the cavern where the team was huddled.
The cave was a huge gash in a slope, with enough space to fit at least two more full-sized dragons. Chine and Amber were easily able to fit into the remaining space. There was even enough room for the riders to walk around beneath their dragons.
As Alex leaped off Chine, Jim’s mechanical mech moved toward the lip of the gash and plopped down. The back opened up, and Jim pulled himself out of the mech. Gill came up and gave Jim a hand climbing down from the mech. “And now for the final touch,” Gill said.
Timber turned around so his tail was facing out toward the other mountains. He spread his wings over the gap, blocking out the light, so only a little bit got through. Then his scales shimmered and changed color and texture to that of the mountain.
Team Boundless was completely camouflaged from the outside. Even to a drone, they would look the same as the mountain’s slopes. Now all they had to do was wait for the drones to come through. “Wait, Jollies and I lost them. How do we know they’re coming?” Alex asked.
Jim jerked his thumb at his mech. “We figured out how they were tracking us,” Jim said. “All mech riders have a transponder on their rig. Mine’s no different. Unfortunately, it isn’t something we’re told. Guess they think we might run off on some stupid mission with them.”
“And they send drones after you to kill you?”
“Probably not. We all saw that facility wasn’t up to snuff. It’s probably a malfunction. Murder seems a little extreme for a joyride. Either way, Gill and Brath helped me cut out the transponder. We’re still leaving it running for a little bit to draw the drones in, then Gill’s got something planned for it.”
Gill had gone to sit down on a rock, folding one leg over the other. He closed his eyes as he meditated. Alex wanted to ask him what he was planning, but once Gill closed his eyes, he was dead to the world until he opened them.
Jollies landed on Alex’s shoulder as she walked over to Brath and took a seat beside him. “How are you holding up?” she asked.
Brath forced a smile from beneath his beard. “It feels weird to be disobeying orders like this,” Brath admitted. “I mean, you’d think they would want us to help them instead of trying to shove us in the barracks.”
Alex shrugged. “They just don’t know what we’re capable of,” she said. “People tend to underestimate me, don’t you think?”
Brath nodded as Alex winked at him and laughed. “Yeah,” the gnome said. “I have firsthand experience of that. So, what, we just wait here forever?”
“Better than being out there, hunted by that freaky cobra thing. Trust me, you’d rather be bored for a little bit than have to deal with that.”
Team Boundless waited, occasionally standing and stretching, walking back and forth to kill time. Gill was the only one who didn’t seem bothered. Everyone else, especially Alex, looked ready to come out of their skin.
Because of Timber’s cloaking, the team wasn’t able to check if the drones were coming. All they could do was look at Jim’s computer system, the blinking green lights in a green graph. Something was coming, at least, but only Jim really knew how far away it was at the moment.
Alex wandered over to where Chine was relaxing, plopped down next to him, and curled up under his wing. I haven’t heard you complain about how bored you are in a whole day, the dragon joked.
Chine’s scales rose and settled back down as Alex nuzzled up closer. I’m trying to get better about that. It makes it harder for everyone else if I’m complaining all the time too. Waiting shouldn’t be torture. I mean, look at Gill.”
The dragon raised his head and looked across the snug hiding spot at Gill, who was now meditating on top of Timber’s head. He chuckled. Patient dragon. That would drive me crazy.
So, does everyone talk to their dragon as much as I talk to you? It’s kinda weird—you know, everyone sitting in a room quietly, having conversations no one can hear.
Chine absentmindedly clawed at the ground underneath him. The older dragons used to speak aloud. Their language was of the elements. That’s all breathing fire is—speaking the old tongue. We young ones, though, haven�
�t mastered the art. For us, speaking could accidentally kill you. Best to err on the side of caution.
Damn, you guys really are that powerful? Gets me thinking again. What the hell could the Dark One have that’s bigger and tougher than you dragons?
I do not know. No doubt, we will find out soon enough.
Alex’s comm went off, beeping loudly, potentially giving away their position. She covered it quickly and answered the call. It was Manny. “What do you want, Manny?” she hissed. “This isn’t the best time for me to talk.”
Before Manny spoke, Alex patched their conversation into the team channel. Gill opened his eyes as Jim, Brath, and Jollies walked over to Alex.
Manny was practically shouting at the top of his lungs. “I know it’s not a good time for you to be talking since I know you have a horde of drones after you! What were you thinking? Do you know how much trouble you’re going—”
“I don’t care how much trouble I’m getting into. Did you hear about Roy and Toppinir? Absolutely no backup, and they aren’t getting any unless we bring it to them.”
Manny sighed loudly, and Alex could imagine the look on his face. She’d seen it enough through Manny’s eyes. “Okay, I know it sounds bad, but they’re figuring something out. I still don’t know what it is, but they’re working on… Oh, I don’t know, Alex,” he admitted.
“I knew it!” Alex exclaimed. “You guys have no idea how to help them.”
“Wait, wait. I’m not the one in charge of planning anything. All I get is the information that‘s passed to me. They may have—”
“Manny, tell me the truth. Are they planning on saving Roy and Toppinir?”
Manny was silent for a long time, much longer than needed. Alex already knew the answer. She just wanted to hear Manny say it. “They aren’t planning on sending any backup,” Manny finally said. “Roy and Toppinir are too far into enemy territory. We’d lose tons of riders getting there.”
Alex crossed her arms, trying to remember she wasn’t angry with Manny. None of this was his fault. He was trying to look out for her and the whole team. His only mistake was caring about Alex. “That’s why we have to do this,” she explained, “I know we can get him out. I recognized where they are. From VR.”
“You have to be kidding me. You think you can save him because you remember an area from VR? Do you know how insane that sounds?”
“Not as insane as letting your two best dragonriders get killed by the Dark One.”
Manny laughed, which surprised Alex. “It’s almost as insane as letting our most promising new recruits throw their lives away on a suicide mission,” he countered.
“Good point. We’re still going. So, either help keep us alive or stop wasting our time.”
Manny sighed again, and Alex could have sworn he was going to hang up on her. “I wish your personality profile had mentioned how stubborn you are. I’ll call you if I find anything out that’ll help you. Be careful, Alex.”
“Thanks, Manny. You too.”
Gill leaped off Timber and joined the rest of the team around Alex. “Sounds straightforward enough.” The drow glowered. “They’re just planning on abandoning them.”
Jollies zipped around, shaking her head. “It’s not that simple. It’s a death mission. Oh, sorry, a suicide mission. You heard what Manny said. They’d lose too many people.”
Brath didn’t seem to care how many people would be lost. He was brooding underneath his beard. “It’s cowardly,” he finally spat. “Those two are practically heroes, and they’re just going to leave them.”
Jim rested his hand on Brath’s shoulder. “Roy’s my captain. Since I became a mech rider, all I’ve heard is how he and Toppinir are unstoppable. Myrddin probably thinks they’re going to pull their asses out of this like they always do.”
Brath pushed off Jim’s hand. “Have they come out of anything this bad before?”
Alex had to interject here. “Honestly, we don’t even know how bad it is,” she admitted. “I mean, we know that they say it’s a suicide mission, but we’re kinda scant on the details. Maybe Manny’s right. We’re flying in the dark here.
There was a loud beep, and Alex checked her HUD—a message from Manny. It read, “Big briefing in a few minutes about Roy and Toppinir. Find out if you can see anything. Be safe.”
Alex could read between the lines. More importantly, Manny thought this was worth supporting. She knew that if Manny didn’t think it was possible, he wouldn’t have bothered sending her this. It was a sign of faith—a pallid sign, but a sign nonetheless.
“Scratch that,” Alex said. “Manny’s with us. What else do you need?”
Jim’s mech started shrieking a beep three times louder than the one that had gone off on Alex’s HUD. “Obviously to pay attention to the swarm of drones heading toward us,” Jim shouted as he ran to his mech.
Jim jumped in and closed the cockpit behind him. The mech rose to its feet and lumbered over to the mouth of the cave. “Gill, I’m going to need a visual from you for when to fire,” he shouted.
Gill climbed onto Timber’s wing and poked his head out of the cave.
The swarm of drones had recombined into the nanotech cobra and it was heading right toward the cave. “Oh, I can see why you said this was a problem,” he murmured before returning to the cave and shouting, “Fire in five!”
Jim flipped through a couple of holographic menus in his mech before finding the manual switch for the EMP bomb. He flipped the switch and positioned his mech so its mouth was facing out of the cave.
As the swarm of drones flew past, Jim pulled the EMP lever and a glowing ball of electromagnetic energy flew out of the mech’s mouth into the middle of the swarm of drones. The bomb detonated instantly, and a pulse of energy rocked the drones.
There was no physical damage, but the drones shook for a second before shutting off and falling out of the sky.
Jim pulled his mech back into the cave. “I’ll now respond to either ‘hero’ or ‘savior of the day,’” he said, smiling as Gill gave him a high five and Brath scowled approvingly. “Whatever makes you feel more comfortable. I prefer ‘savior.’”
Alex punched Jim on the shoulder on her way to Chine. She didn’t want to make his head any bigger, though it was good to see him finally start acting like himself in front of the other riders. He was almost like the Jim she had played with in VR, if a little more serious.
Alex reached out telepathically to Chine. Hey, how strong can you boost my ability to see through someone else’s eyes?
Chine answered, Substantially. But you may not need my help. If you’re trying to reach Manny, you may be able to do it on your own.
How?
As I said, your psychic powers show potential. We should work on honing them. For now, concentrate on Manny. Try to imagine him in your mind’s eye. Once you can see him, focus on seeing through him, then open your eyes. But you must concentrate. Push everything else from your mind.
Alex closed her eyes. She pushed every thought in her head away. Ignored Gill’s cute butt. Tried not to think of Brath’s endless pacing, or whether or if Jollies felt comfortable around her. Forgot about her parents. Myrddin ceased to exist. The only thing in the universe was Manny’s eyes.
When Alex reopened her eyes, they were the foggy green of Manny’s. She watched what Manny watched, trying to memorize everything she saw. She let Manny’s many eyes flood her with information and concentrated on every moving thing. When Manny left the room, Alex closed her eyes and returned to her own sight.
Above, Brath had finally gotten tired of waiting. “All right, we should just go! We have the coordinates,” he complained.
Alex whistled for the attention of the other riders. “Oh, trust me, we’re going. But now I have a plan.”
Chapter Seven
Gill uploaded the coordinates Jollies had stolen from the facilities war room, and Team Boundless was off. Alex still hadn’t explained the plan to the rest of the team, but she knew what had to be d
one. She had seen what kind of fight they were headed toward through Manny’s eyes.
Every second spent talking and explaining was wasting time they needed. Alex just hoped she had the trust of her team. That was the most important thing at the moment. She hadn’t had much time to prove herself to them, but she didn’t think she’d disappointed them so far. Today wasn’t going to be any different.
Alex kept Team Boundless close to the ground as they flew away from the mountains, heading toward a green valley. Beyond the valley was a dying forest, trees gnarled and breaking apart, roots lifted from the ground, fighting for life.
Gill and Brath were having a hard time flying that close to the ground. Their dragon’s claws kept scraping it, slowing them down. Brath was getting audibly more annoyed, grumbling loudly and not bothering to turn his comm down.
Jollies and Jim, on the other hand, weren’t having a problem. Amber was small enough that it didn’t matter what height she was flying at; her speed was not affected. And Jim’s mech seemed to be able to take whatever you threw at it. The thing wasn’t fast, but it was stout.
Alex didn’t mind the closeness to the ground. She hadn’t noticed it, but she often took her flying skills for granted. It hadn’t crossed her mind that the other riders might have trouble staying so low without losing speed. That was something she’d have to keep in mind for the future. What good was trying to lead if you forgot about what everyone needed?
Brath’s voice broke through Alex’s musings. “Okay, I’m just going to say, this is idiotic,” he grumbled. “Why the hell are we staying so low? There’s a whole sky above us. And last time I checked, we were riding dragons, not horses.”
Gill sighed over the intercom. “For once, I am going to have to agree with Brath,” he joined in. “It makes no sense to be this low to the ground. We are moving slower and less efficiently.”
Alex countered, “Not everyone is moving slower. You two just need to concentrate and keep up.”
