Mephos’s face ripples, but doesn’t change, a visual reminder that Zach Cole is not his true form.
“How soon can you be here?” I ask.
His face loosens, shifts around and reforms as Alessi. The familiar feminine face smiles at me. There’s a knock at the door.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Collins says, whipping open the door. Mephos stands there, in Alessi’s body, smiling like an asshole dipped in chocolate sauce. “I’ve been here the whole time. Your request, however, can be picked up en route.”
“Take off that face,” I tell it, fists clenched.
To my surprise, it acquiesces and shifts into a new feminine form. Muscles stretch, joints pop and the body is reformed into one that I vaguely recognize. “Henley Harrison. I work in the Command Center.”
“Well now I know why everyone around the water cooler says you’re a self-righteous prick.” I point up and down at his new body, which is taller than Alessi’s, but still much smaller than Zach Cole and his true Ferox form. “Where do you put it all? Your...body.”
“It’s compressed,” it says. “I’m very heavy.” Mephos motions to the door. “If you’re done with your pre-mission stroll, there are things that need doing.”
“Elegant,” I say, stepping past him and into the hallway. “I expected more from an ancient alien.”
“I could recite you a speech from my past,” Mephos says, falling in line behind me. Collins stays at the back, keeping an eye on our most hated ally. “Something stirring about freedom from oppression. The words of William Wallace, perhaps? Or the Gettysburg—”
“Stop,” I say. “Just… No. If honest Abe was one of you, I’m just going to throw in the towel now. Let’s save the world, and then you can ruin it for me. How ’bout that?”
Mephos steps around me, heading for the Command Center. It knows the way there, after all. “If we ‘save the world’ and survive, you will thank me when I reveal who we have been.”
Collins steps up beside me, taking my hand again. She gives it a squeeze and says nothing. But I feel the messages in the strength of her grip. I love you, and goodbye.
I squeeze back.
31
After a quick update on phase two of the plan and introducing Mephos in its new form, our team breaks into its various elements. Cooper will be coordinating the defense of the Mountain’s interior, while Collins spearheads the exterior kaiju-sized response team, including Rook as Scrion, Hyperion, Nemesis, and Fiona. Collins will be reprising her role as the much less attractive Karkinos, and Hawkins says he will be returning, but we haven’t seen him yet. Filling my shoes in Scylla is Watson. He’s had some combat training. His physical fitness level doesn’t matter inside the kaiju. And in his own words, stolen from James Brown, “I don’t know karate, but I know ka-razy.” Cooper was vehemently opposed when he volunteered, but she couldn’t stop him, and I wasn’t about to prevent a man from fighting for his family.
Team Space Cadet, who will be dealing with the mothership threat, is led by Maigo. Not only is she the strongest of them, but I trust her not to hesitate when the time comes. She’ll be joined by two more heavy hitters, Freeman and Lilly. Woodstock will get them there and hopefully back using Future Betty, and a contingent of Ferox will provide a distraction. Whatever that means. Mephos was vague about how that would be accomplished.
I’m heading up team Intergalactic Planetary. Cowboy is going to take me, Crazy and Mephos to what we’re calling Dimension Zero—the Aeros beachhead, where some kind of super weapon is being prepped in the Arctic and Antarctic. We don’t know when it will be ready to activate, but Mephos insists that time is short. They wouldn’t be sending Ashtaroth if there was time to kill. Among the Aeros’s admirable qualities, efficiency is near the top of the list.
“So, should we do the hands in, rah, rah, rah, go team, thing?” I ask, putting my hand out.
The smiles I get from my three team leaders show sadness more than humor. I open my arms. “Group hug, then?”
Maigo is the first to respond, slipping into my embrace. Then Collins. When Cooper responds, stepping into my still open arm for what I’m pretty sure is our first hug, I nearly lose it. I love these people with every fiber of my being, and I pray to God I will see them all again.
I clear my throat when we separate, say quick goodbyes and head to my group on the far side of the hangar. Cowboy, Crazy and Mephos wait by the Rift Engine. Mephos rolls its now feminine eyes at me. “What, Ferox don’t have family?”
“Procreation builds armies, not families,” it says.
I’m tempted to crack wise, but I keep my mouth shut. Not only do I want Mephos fully on my side, but I’m also starting to feel a little bad for him. The Ferox know nothing but war. Their sole purpose on Earth has been to corrupt the human spirit, teach us how to wage war and to manipulate us into cherishing freedom above all else. They succeeded in most of that, to a point, but they have yet to weed out things like compassion, forgiveness, mercy and love. As long as we’re also fighting for the existence of those things in the universe, I’m happy to fight dirty alongside the Ferox.
But when this is over... I’m going to make it damn clear that Mephos and his ilk, and their influence, are no longer welcome on Earth. Then humanity can truly discover what we’re capable of. I’m thinking Star Trek. Next Gen. And with the tech we have, maybe reverse engineering that future won’t be too hard. It’s the changes to the human spirit that will take longer.
“Hands on,” Cowboy says.
“Hello again, Jindřiška.” I place my hand on the Bell and turn slowly toward Cowboy and Crazy, who are chuckling. “What?”
“We made bet,” Cowboy says, as Crazy fishes in his pocket. “One hundred dollars if you said ‘Jindřiška.’” Cowboy barks a laugh. “Is not my mother’s name.”
“Aww, aren’t you two a barrel of laughs? I’ll be sure to tell Elena when I see her tonight.”
Cowboy’s smile fades.
Crazy notices. “Who is Elena?”
“Is mother,” Cowboy says. “He knew.”
“Rabbit knows all. Rabbit sees all,” I tell them.
Crazy slips the money back in his pocket.
I motion to the Bell and smile at the pair. “Shall we?”
With all hands on the Bell, I take a last look back at the hangar. Woodstock, Maigo, Lilly and Freeman are boarding Future Betty. Collins, Rook, Watson and Fiona head for a stairwell that will take them to the surface, where the kaiju await. Hyperion has cleared the area, so it should be safe.
Speaking of the big robot... “Hyperion, if you can hear me, connect to my comm.”
“I’m here, Da...Hudson.” I can tell by the facial expressions of my team that no one else can hear his reply.
“Do me a favor,” I say. “Keep Collins safe.”
“I will,” is the immediate and unflinching response. I’m not sure if it’s because he thinks of Collins as his mother, the same way Maigo’s psyche imprinted me on the robot as his father, but I believe him, even before he says, “I promise.”
And then, the world around me disappears. I no longer feel concrete beneath my feet, or even the tug of gravity. There is nothing, and everything all at once. I see flashes of worlds and people. Events throughout time and space, though according to Cowboy, only the present is reachable without David. I see a future where children fight kaiju using robots far sleeker than Hyperion. There’s a man dressed in a hoodie, standing at a computer, typing. I see the screen for a moment, reading the words, ‘There’s a man dressed in a hoodie...’ before I realize he’s turned toward me, looking me in the eyes for just a brief moment. We flash past another world, where a sea creature swallows a young girl, and then another dimension features an Earth facing its own apocalypse, as a living machine wanders around the globe.
And then nothing.
We arrive in a stark, barren place of stone and wind.
I can’t feel any of it. We’re still in the ether between worlds, but I can see it
, and the Aeros stronghold containing the device. Given that the Aeros are forty feet tall, the size of it is not surprising, but it is still daunting. Though not quite as daunting as the twelve Lovecrafts standing guard.
Good thing we have the Bell to get us inside, I think, and then, in a blink, we emerge from the ether and into Dimension Zero. The problem is that we’re a mile outside the Aeros citadel. I look at Cowboy, as the Antarctic chill starts seeping through my combat gear. “I thought the plan was to jump inside, find the device, and jump back out?”
“Was blocked,” Cowboy says. “Is close as I could get.”
“Dimensional shielding,” Mephos says, its body contorting. It falls forward onto its hands and knees, body expanding, turning gray and revealing a mane of hair along its back. When it speaks again, it’s through the large, sharp teeth of its true Ferox form.
All the better to eat you with, I think.
“The Aeros might not be expecting an attack in this dimension, but they are well versed in interdimensional combat. They would not leave themselves undefended. We will have to infiltrate the base on foot.” Mephos seems almost eager to try it.
I rub my arms with my hands. “If we don’t freeze first.”
“I believe,” Crazy says, “this is why I’m here.”
I don’t like it, but he’s right. “So new plan. We sneak in via the MirrorWorld, find whatever controls the dimensional shielding, take that out, and then Cowboy uses the Bell to pick us up and snatch the world-destroying whatever-they’ve-got in there.”
“It’s a black hole,” Mephos says. “About the size of a softball. On the far side of the planet, in the Arctic, is a white hole. Once released, they will create a temporal pulsar that will not only consume, digest and regurgitate this solar system, but every version of it in every dimension.”
“I thought you didn’t know how they were going to attack,” I say.
“I didn’t,” it says, “But this technology, I recognize.”
“They have other ways to destroy reality?” Crazy asks.
“Several,” Mephos says, “Though this is the most brutal. As each dimension is pulled into the singularity, the agony of death will last for infinity. They have literally brought hell to Earth.”
That Mephos sounds afraid both bothers me and makes me feel a little less like a wuss, because I’m damn near to pissing myself. “So, we snatch the black hole, which I’m just going to assume is somehow contained at the moment, and then what?”
“The white hole destroys this world and solar system, which is already barren,” Mephos explains. “And the black hole destroys the world where we leave it. One without the other is still lethal, but the multiverse will survive.”
“Good times,” I say, rubbing the stinging chill out of my arms. “Good times. Cowboy, wait in the ether. When the shield drops, come find us.”
Cowboy nods, says, “Good luck,” and then he winks away with the Bell.
“All right, gents,” I say, reaching out for Crazy. “Let’s man up and hold hands.” Mephos doesn’t budge, so Crazy places a hand on the shark-like skin covering the alien’s back. And then Dimension Zero becomes Dimension Zero: MirrorWorld Edition.
But even Crazy seems surprised by what we find there, saying, “That’s not good,” while Mephos wretches into the two foot deep swamp waters surrounding us.
32
MAIGO
Maigo could hear her father’s voice in her head. He’d winked out of existence again, shifting into another world with Cowboy, so she couldn’t actually hear him now. But if he had been present, she knew what he would say.
Space. The final frontier.
And then probably something about his mission, which would no doubt include Shahna the Drill Thrall, or some other equally obscure Star Trek alien babe.
She wished he was on board the ship with her, not just because she missed his physical presence, or mental connection, but because he would be in charge. And she wouldn’t be.
The view through Future Betty’s cockpit was a clear blue sky, shifting to purple and darkening by the second.
We’re really doing it, Maigo thought. We’re going to fly in space. And infiltrate an alien mothership. And I’m in charge.
While she had no problem bossing Lilly around, or even Woodstock, the man named Freeman was something different. Not only was he a total stranger, with speed and strength to match Lilly and Crazy, but he was also really smart. Like stupid smart. He wasn’t just a genius, he was like Hyperion. A world of knowledge was at his beck and call. Unlike Hyperion, who accessed that knowledge by connecting to the world’s networks, Freeman had it all in his head. His intellect was intimidating to say the least, and it made her wonder if he shouldn’t be in charge.
She’d said as much to Hudson, but he’d quickly dismissed it. For all of Freeman’s intelligence, strength and potential for great violence, he might also hesitate to use the weapon Maigo had hidden in her combat armor. Freeman would help them get the job done, but when the time came, he might not be able to pull the trigger, so to speak. If it came to that, and Maigo had no doubt it would.
As they passed through the deep purple upper layers of the stratosphere and entered the mesosphere with an ease that would make every astronaut in the history of NASA jealous, Maigo temporarily forgot all her concerns. The blackness of space laid ahead. After a momentary turbulence, they slipped into the thermosphere, sixty miles above the Earth. Stars winked to life ahead of them, no longer blocked by the daytime atmosphere. She had never seen a night sky so vivid. So heartbreakingly beautiful.
At one hundred miles up, they passed the realm of satellites, space shuttles and space stations.
“We’ve entered the exosphere,” Freeman said, his voice reflecting all the wonder and excitement of a child. “We’ve left the planet behind.”
Dad was right, Maigo thought. Freeman is too kind a soul to carry out the plan.
“The only people to have traveled this far are those whose destination was the moon.” Freeman peers at the cargo bay door, which is projecting an image of the planet they were leaving behind. “Beautiful.” He turned forward, looking Maigo in the eyes, as she looked back. “A good reminder of what we’re fighting for.”
She nodded. He was right.
Lilly rolled her eyes, trying to look unimpressed by it all, but Maigo knew better. Lilly was her best friend, and while her thick black fur hid her emotions from most people, Maigo could see past it. Lilly was nervous. She wouldn’t hesitate in a fight, or even back down from something kaiju-sized, but space, like water, was not a cat’s natural element. However, a nervous Lilly was easier to direct than a gung-ho Lilly.
“Ain’t it something?” Woodstock said. The old vet had been through the rigors of human war, and had done his time fighting the monstrous aberrations the FC-P dealt with. He was a little crazy, but his willingness to fly into any shitstorm they faced was as bold as the thick white mustache perched over his lips like a bald eagle.
“Yeah,” Maigo said, assuming Woodstock was looking through the back with the rest of them, admiring the world they were trying to defend.
“Not that,” he said, placing his hand atop Maigo’s head, and turning her forward. “That.”
Maigo’s body tensed. Her breath lodged in her throat. “Oh...that.”
The object of Woodstock’s admiration wasn’t the planet or the outer reaches of space beyond it. He was looking at their target, the Aeros mothership. It had taken up a stationary orbit centered over the Mountain, leaving no doubt about its purpose. No one knew when or how, but the ship would eventually attack. Its vast size stretched out over most of New Hampshire and Vermont, cutting into portions of Massachusetts and upstate New York. And it wasn’t just broad; it was tall. From the side, the jet black spacecraft looked almost like a city, with spires stretching hundreds of miles up, the tallest near the center. It looked like an evil city of Oz.
As they flew closer, Maigo could see squares of light covering the tall
towers. She wondered why the exterior would be lit at all, but then she realized she was seeing windows. They couldn’t serve a strategic purpose she could think of, so she decided they were simply for looking at the stars. Which bothered her. That their enemies might have an appreciation of the universe’s beauty humanized them. And to carry out her mission, she needed them to stay monsters.
Woodstock had flown south into the skies above Virginia, before turning their course toward space and punching through the atmosphere. Future Betty’s cloaking ability made them invisible to the naked eye, but that didn’t mean the Aeros wouldn’t have a way to detect them. So far, they remained unscathed, approaching the mothership from the side.
“Slow down,” Maigo said. In a few seconds, the massive ship would fill up most of their view. “We’re getting too close.
“We’re still a good two hundred miles away,” Woodstock said.
Maigo’s eyes widened, as the mother ship’s true scale made her feel numb.
“And we need to be in place when Mephos’s distraction kicks off.” Woodstock swerved around a satellite and resumed his course, taking them straight toward the massive craft. They weren’t aiming for any particular part of the ship, just a quiet nook where they could punch a hole through the hull and get inside. There wasn’t a single part of the plan that wasn’t insane, but if they could pull this part off, she knew the whole plan would work.
But will it make me a monster? During the past few years, as Maigo became part of a family, found love and embraced her humanity, her greatest fear was becoming a monster again. Screw it, she thought. If I can save the people I love by embracing my monstrous side, I’ll do it.
“There they are,” Lilly said, pointing through a clear panel on Future Betty’s side. “Well, that’s more than I expected.”
A fleet of small fighter craft rose up through Earth’s atmosphere, approaching the mothership’s underside. There were hundreds of them. Thousands. How did the Ferox keep them hidden? Maigo wondered, but didn’t continue the line of thought. The Ferox shaped humanity from their earliest days. Many of them were key figures on present day Earth, and throughout history. Hiding a fleet of spaceships wouldn’t have been hard for them. But the sheer number of Ferox fighters being sent to provide the distraction was impressive, especially given the fact that it was basically a suicide mission.
Project Legion (Nemesis Saga Book 5) Page 20
