by J. N. Chaney
“Take cover,” Magnus ordered. “We wait for the towers to go down.”
“Copy.”
The two fire teams ducked behind Basket Case as the three airborne skiffs continued to drill the tower bases. Concrete bits rained into the street, followed by billowing clouds of dust. Then, with a loud tearing crack, the first guardhouse tilted sideways and toppled into the courtyard inside the wall. The skiffs moved to the second tower, but to Magnus’s astonishment, the Jujari snipers climbed through the floor and vanished.
“They’ve retreated!” Magnus yelled. “Snipers have retreated! Let’s move, move, move!” He stepped around the skiff’s front spikes and rushed forward, heading straight for the main gate. The fire teams stacked up on either side, and Rix called up one of his men. The short Marauder withdrew a breaching charge, ripped a plastic strip off the bottom, and slammed the rectangular explosive in the middle of the double doors. Then the man returned to his place in line, holding a small remote.
“Clear!” Rix yelled.
“Fire in the hole!” the breacher replied.
The ground lurched as the doors splintered inward. Magnus’s ears popped under the wave of pressure, and more pain squeezed his head. His vision swam, followed by an intense ringing in his ears. He heard muffled voices yelling around him but couldn’t make out anything they said.
Then a hand tapped his shoulder, and Magnus snapped back to reality.
“You green, LT?” Dutch asked.
Magnus gave a thumbs-up and grabbed his MAR30. He looked to Rix. “Fraggers. One second.”
Rix nodded. The two men pulled grenades from their armored chests and tossed them inside on one-second delays. Near-simultaneous double bangs detonated on the other side of the wall. The two men followed that with blaster fire as they spun into the gateway and advanced.
Magnus aimed at a Jujari to the left side of the main compound, using the building’s corner as cover. He squeezed and landed a tight grouping on the combatant’s wide neck, severing most of its throat tissue. The Jujari’s head flopped over and seemed to pull the rest of its large body to the ground.
Blaster fire came at them from behind a small palm bush. Magnus swung to his left and drilled the combatant in the chest and leg. The Jujari buckled into the shrub, his hand still squeezing off rounds into the nearby wall.
Rix took out two Jujari who lay prone on the second-story balcony. One’s face caved in under a stream of fire from the infantryman’s MC90, while the other took the rounds in the shoulder then rolled wildly until the enemy body spun off the platform. A third combatant leaned out the balcony door to aim at Magnus, but Rix drove the Jujari back with several hits to center mass.
The two men took cover behind columns that, along with tall palm trees, lined either side of a center aisle. They continued to fire on numerous Selskrit positions as the remainder of their fire teams peeled into the courtyard and looked for cover.
Dutch wielded an XM31 Type-R she’d found in Abimbola’s armory. For a gun lover like her, it was a dream come true. She took a knee beside a palm three meters ahead of Magnus and sighted in on a Jujari who crouched just inside the front door. The Selskrit’s body was mostly hidden behind the wall, and Magnus second-guessed Dutch’s target choice. Dutch squeezed the trigger, and a supersonic blast spat from the muzzle, boring straight through the wall and knocking the Jujari on his back.
“Not bad,” Magnus said over comms. He doubted anyone heard him. The blaster fire was deafening.
Dutch continued to select targets and dispense lethal levels of fire upon each one. One enemy sniper on the rooftop appeared only long enough to fire single rounds and then vanish. Dutch counted the seconds and learned the combatant’s pattern. On the sniper’s fourth appearance, Dutch shot another blat at him, snapping his head back before his finger had even squeezed the trigger. She was an artist with that weapon.
“Covering fire!” Magnus yelled. “Covering fire!” Then he looked at Rix and motioned him toward the front doors.
Rix and his fire team charged ahead, gaining positions behind some palms, while Magnus’s fire team purchased critical seconds with overwhelming fire superiority. Once hidden, his fire team let up, at which point the Jujari emerged and shredded the palms and columns with withering blaster fire.
Magnus looked at the rooftops outside the compound and spotted Simone. She was busy tapping targets across the plaza, her long-barreled blaster methodically pulsing in a steady rhythm.
“Your turn!” Rix yelled then rolled out with his blaster on full auto. The rest of his fire team joined him, each spraying the compound balconies, windows, and terrace tops with suppressive fire. Magnus surged forward with Dutch in tow. Haney and Gilder found cover behind a column, firing at several Selskrit near the front door.
Meanwhile, Magnus and Dutch took cover behind a half wall with some shrubs, not five meters from the front steps. A Jujari saw them and charged, pulling his curved sword and waving it over his head. Magnus pushed Dutch’s head down as the blade swept along the top of the wall, sparks erupting from the wicked swing.
Magnus seized the opportunity and let his MAR30 bark, blaster bolts entering the combatant’s exposed side point-blank. The dog dropped his sword, grabbed his side, and glared at Magnus then lunged, maw gaping. But Dutch shot straight up from her lower position, a stream of fire catching the Jujari under his chin and exploding out the top of his muzzle. The body slammed into Magnus and knocked him sideways. Fortunately, he was able to twist away and roll behind a column as Dutch finished off the assailant with a short burst to the brain stem.
“Thanks!” he hollered.
“Same,” she replied then returned to address the front of the house.
Magnus took a breath and noticed his heart rate had spiked. Breathe, Magnus. Slow it down. He looked back through the breached door and noticed skiffs moving past. “How’s the street looking, Bimby?”
“Boring enough that if you call me that one more time, I am going to have to—hold on.”
Magnus heard the full-power ka-boom! of the M109 rocking a building to the west. The face of the structure imploded, catching the round like a slow-motion punch to the gut before reflexively exploding in a spray of sandstone and metal from a secondary explosion. Magnus covered his head as shrapnel rained on him.
“Show-off,” Magnus said.
“Now you are just trying to talk your way out of being in trouble with me. Are you inside yet?”
“On our way.”
“Well, hurry it up! We do not have all day, buckethead!”
“Copy.” Magnus looked to Rix. “Ready?”
The burly man nodded.
“Front of the house, light it up!” Magnus yelled.
Every weapon from the two fire teams shot at anything that moved, blaster bolts lighting up the building’s face with neon colors. Any Jujari who did not succumb took cover, providing the perfect opportunity for the assault team to charge the front door. They raced forward and stacked up on either side of the opening. Again, Magnus and Rix reached for their chest plates, this time removing a VOD and setting it to Flash-Bang at Magnus’s instruction. He nodded at Rix, and the two devices went live, tumbling into the first room and detonating. Even with ears and eyes covered, Magnus heard the powerful double bang-bang.
Magnus worked his jaw and blinked to shake off the concussion. Then he raised his MAR30 and stepped through the doorway. The interior was spartan and devoid of Jujari. The rest of his and Rix’s teams filed in, clearing the room and stacking up on the next-closest doorways, one to the left and one to the right. A third door was ahead.
Dutch fired on something to the left, spraying the room with her XM31 like it was a water hose. To the right, Rix’s fire team made short work of two Jujari who attempted to rush them.
Magnus approached the door straight ahead with caution. As he neared, he saw that it opened to a large interior square exposed to the sky. He’d no sooner peeked in than blaster fire from the opposing corners zipped
by his ears and tore away the wooden crossbeam overhead. Splinters sprinkled down as Magnus ducked and rolled against the side wall.
“What ya got for us, Marine-Boss?” Rix yelled, running to Magnus’s aid.
“Danger zone. Got ourselves a kill box, emplacements kitty-corner.” Magnus chanced one more look. Instantly, blaster bolts slammed into the doorframe, wood and plaster filling the air. “Two at each turret. Too far for the MAR’s distortion setting. Gotta try to find a way to flank them.”
“Copy.”
“Dutch, see if the room you were firing into leads anywhere. But watch for trip wires, you got it?”
“Copy that, LT.”
“Rix, same for you. I’ll stay here and do a dance or two.”
“Kill them with those hips, LT,” Dutch said.
“Somebody’s got to.”
Dutch and Rix broke off into their opposing rooms, disappearing out of sight. Magnus held his MAR30 close and checked its charge level. Thirty percent. Time to swap out. He dropped his backpack, fished for a fresh energy mag, and ejected the near-empty one. He slammed the new one home and slung the pack over his shoulders again.
“How we looking?” he asked.
“Brick and mortar here,” said Dutch.
“Same,” Rix said.
“Can you take it down?”
“Setting a breach charge now,” Rix said.
“We’d need a charge for ours,” Dutch replied.
“Back to me, Dutch. Rix, take it whenever you’re ready.”
“Copy.”
As soon as Magnus heard the breach charge detonate, he hit the open square with a wild spray of fire. The Jujari answered with constant fire at the doorway, chewing a hole in the wall. Hopefully, it was enough of a distraction for Rix to climb through wherever the hole led to.
After lots of coughing, Rix spoke over comms. “We’ve got a problem, Marine-Boss.”
“What’s that?”
“It wasn’t just one wall. It’s like… oh, I don’t know, maybe five or six?”
“Five or six?”
“They really don’t want anyone coming in here.”
“Splick.” Magnus took a deep breath. The two cardinal rules of warfare were, first, that nothing was ever easy in combat and, second, that no plan ever survived contact with the enemy. Magnus never ceased to be amazed when these rules turned out to be true. “How many breach charges you have left?”
“That was our last one.”
“I need more options!” Magnus yelled, a demand met with more blaster fire from the emplacements across the plaza.
“I might have an idea,” Dutch said. “But I don’t think Abimbola is going to like it, LT.”
20
“Well done,” TO-96 said from beside her. “The Novia are impressed by your skill.”
“Thanks.” Awen tucked some strands of hair behind her ear. While the praise from the alien singularity felt good, something else felt even better: self-confidence. Awen had impressed herself. “What’s next?”
“First, we must open a new portal beyond Ithnor Ithelia’s gravity well.”
“The existing one won’t do?” Ezo asked.
“Negative, sir. First of all, the unidentified ship will most likely be monitoring near-planet space. Avoiding detection will be paramount to ensuring your safe and swift return to the protoverse. Secondly, the existing quantum tunnel leads back to the point at which you entered it.”
“And that’s a problem?” Ezo asked.
“If it is far from whatever you would like your next destination to be, then yes, it is a problem.”
Awen looked at TO-96, careful to not move too quickly and risk knocking herself from her dual state. “You mean, we can go anywhere we want?”
“Correct.”
Awen’s heart leapt at the possibilities. She’d never had such power before. No Luma had—at least to her knowledge. “I can’t believe this.”
“Me neither,” Ezo and Sootriman said in unison.
Awen looked between them, her voice trembling with excitement. “Where do we want to go? I mean… where do you all think we should go? This is… unheard of.”
They had been so focused on finding a way home—a hope that had died a little more each day—that they never discussed where they should head upon their return. Dreaming too far in advance brought on waves of despair that none of them cared to carry. Instead, they’d turned to immediate needs and left dreaming for another day. But now that the time for travel was upon them, Awen was at a loss for what to do next.
“I mean, we can’t go to Worru,” Awen stated. “At least not yet.”
“You can say that again.” Ezo looked at Awen, one eyebrow raised. She suspected he was recalling their harrowing retreat after her encounter with So-Elku. “We weren’t exactly given a warm departure.”
“No, we weren’t.” Awen bit her lower lip. “We could go to Capriana.”
“No way,” Ezo replied. “Sootriman and I are… well, let’s just say it’s not a place we’d enjoy for more than five or six minutes.”
“Gotcha. I suppose we could go back to Elonia.”
“Why don’t we just head to Ki Nar Four,” Sootriman offered. “No one will be looking for us there, and—no offense to your homeworld, Awen—we have all the resources and connections to lay low and build a strategy for whatever awaits us next.”
“You sound as if you’re in this for the long haul,” Awen said, surprised by the care the woman had put into the question of where they would go.
“Truthfully, this is the most excitement I’ve had in years. Up until you all showed up on my doorstep, things had been pretty boring. Now… I don’t know… I have a purpose beyond just managing a rogue planet.” Sootriman looked at Ezo, blinking her large dark eyes.
“Oh, no you don’t.” Ezo protested with waves of his hands. “No, no, no. After this, I’m heading off into the sunset. I want Geronimo back, and then TO-96 and I are gone. You two can do whatever you want, but count us out.”
“I beg your pardon, sir, but I am not sure why you are including me in your plans.”
Ezo looked at the robot. “What do you mean, ’Six? I thought you said you’re coming with us.”
“I am, assuming that us is representative of Awen’s wishes to serve our home galaxy and defeat whatever evils await us.”
Ezo threw his hands up in the air. “I can’t believe what I’m hearing right now. Ezo’s robot gets a dose of the moral high ground, and suddenly he’s a vigilante or something.”
“Maybe you should follow suit,” Sootriman said.
“I should what?”
“It wouldn’t hurt. Atone for some of your past mistakes and all. Give us a chance to make up for lost time.”
“Atone for past mistakes? Is that what this is for you?”
“Maybe,” Sootriman said. “At least it’s better than smuggling for the galaxy’s lowlifes.”
“Easy there.” Ezo straightened his jacket. “I’ve done pretty well for myself doing that. And as I recall, so have you, Miss I-Own-a-Starship-With-a-Modulator-On-It.”
“A starship that got destroyed on your watch.”
“Hey, I wasn’t the one who offered it for some crazy mission to another universe!”
“The enemy ship’s shuttle has just landed on the east side of the city,” TO-96 interjected.
Ezo and Sootriman looked at him. “Fine,” Ezo said. “Ki Nar Four it is. But after that, I’m on my own.”
“Fine,” Sootriman said.
“Fine.”
* * *
Awen followed TO-96’s instructions and focused on the side of Ithnor Ithelia that opposed the enemy ship’s synchronous orbit. The QTG displayed a dotted line some several thousand kilometers from the planet where the gravity well had dispersed enough to open a tunnel.
“Set a marker with your mind, then use the designation panel at the top of your main screen to isolate the exact coordinates you’d like for the tunnel’s opening,” the bot sai
d.
“Got it.” Awen stretched out inside the Unity and located as good a place as any to open a tunnel. Since this was all new to her, the only thing that seemed to make any sense was keeping it as far away from the orbiting ship as possible. After that, everything was arbitrary.
A small red indicator appeared in the orb on the planet’s far side, denoting the place Awen had specified. Then, on the top of the screen, new integers appeared in Novia script.
“Any chance you can translate that for me, Ninety-Six?”
“Yes, of course, Awen.” The script changed shape and appeared in Galactic common as a string of numbers and letters, each line designating the tunnel’s exact point in galactic space. “Now, where do you wish to travel?”
“Ki Nar Four.”
“The holo-display on your left represents the library of all known galaxies in the multiverse. Select it from there.”
A thought struck Awen, making her gasp. “Wait. How many ’verses are there, Ninety-Six?”
“I am not sure I follow.”
“You said the multiverse. Up until now, this has only been theoretical for me—for all of us. Now that it’s real, I have so many questions. No one has ever had access to anything like this before. I’m just curious, then, as to how many different universes there are.”
“An infinite number.”
Awen froze. “Infinite?”
“Indeed, Awen, with more being created from every decision you make.”
“But that… that’s…”
“That is what you might call mind-numbing, unbelievable, or insane.”
“Yeah, all of those,” Awen said.
“It is why, for all of the Novia’s vast ability, they have only ever mapped a limited selection of the ever-expanding multiverse. Doing so for only a scant few taxes even their sizable resources.”
“And by a scant few, you mean…”
“Four million, eight hundred twenty-three thousand, one hundred twenty-six, as of a picosecond ago.”
Awen found herself slack-jawed. She closed her mouth and wiped the corner with the back of her hand. She didn’t know which was more marvelous—that so many universes actually existed or that a technologically advanced species had mapped such an unprecedented amount of the void. Voids, she corrected herself.
