by Lucas Flint
“His what?” said Bolt, looking at Captain Galaxy in confusion.
Captain Galaxy tapped her forehead. “His brain. You know, that thing that allows living things to think, even if most of them don’t use it?”
“I don’t understand,” said Cadmus Smith, who was dusting off his suit. “If the Dread God died millions of years ago, then his brain should have decomposed along with the rest of his body by now.”
“Not exactly,” said Captain Galaxy. “When the Dread God first died, his body was frozen and preserved in Antarctica. That included his brain, which, due to the Dread God’s unique body, survived by going into a form of deep hibernation.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” said Bolt. He took a step down the hall. “Let’s use that dimension-hopping tech of yours to go to Antarctica now. If we hurry, we might be able to find his brain before Graalix does.”
But Captain Galaxy shook her head. “I forgot to mention an important fact: The Dread God’s brain is in another universe.”
Bolt paused and looked at Captain Galaxy with even greater confusion than before. “What are you talking about? How could the Dread God’s Crown be here, but his brain be in another universe?”
“Let me start from the beginning,” said Captain Galaxy. She glanced at the hole in the ceiling that Bolt had made when he threw Graalix through the floor. “I said that the Dread God’s body was in Antarctica, but what I meant was Antarctica in another universe.”
“An alternate universe,” Bolt repeated. “Like the one where Mastermind came from, right?”
“Similar, but not quite,” said Captain Galaxy. “This other universe isn’t merely an alternate path splitting off from your universe, Bolt. It’s an entire universe in itself, with its own branches and alternate paths created by its inhabitants. They have superheroes and the like just like your universe, but even their superheroes are completely different from yours.”
Bolt frowned. “Meaning there isn’t like an alternate version of me in this universe, for example?”
“Correct,” said Captain Galaxy, nodding. “In this other universe, the Darzens conquered Earth millions of years ago and the Dread God ruled over humanity as a mighty and terrible god. He ruled from that universe’s Antarctica, which, in that universe, was once a powerful civilization in itself, mostly thanks to the Darzens contributing their technology to it.”
“But then the Dread God was killed,” said Bolt. “Right?”
“Right,” said Captain Galaxy. “A hero rose up from the people, who the Darzens call the God Slayer. This hero supposedly wielded a sword given to him by mysterious gods who opposed the Darzens, which he used to slay the Dread God and seal his body in an unbreakable ice block. This inspired the people of Earth, who rallied together and drove the Darzens off using their own technology against them.”
“Who were those mysterious gods who opposed the Darzens?” said Bolt.
“We don’t know,” said Captain Galaxy, shaking her head. “We don’t even know how much of that story is true, because this is just what captured Darzen soldiers have admitted to IEA interrogators. It doesn’t help that all of that stuff happened eons ago, so it’s not easy to verify how much of that story is true and how much is just legend.”
“It still doesn’t explain how the Soul Crown ended up in our universe, though,” said Bolt.
Captain Galaxy folded her arms across her chest. “I’m not done with the story yet. When the hero slew the Dread God, he took the Dread God’s Soul Crown and gave it to these same gods who gave him the sword. The gods then took the Soul Crown to this universe, where it was eventually found by the US government, and, well, you know the rest of the story.”
“Interesting,” said Cadmus. “But irrelevant, given how Graalix managed to escape with the Soul Crown, which I assume means that the Darzens are now one step closer to bringing their god back to life.”
“Not if my partner’s mission was successful,” said Captain Galaxy.
“Your partner?” Bolt repeated. “Do you mean Mr. Space? I remember him from the Venetian incident.”
“Yeah, that’s who I am referring to,” said Captain Galaxy. “Chief Nebula of the IEA—our boss—gave Space and I orders to retrieve both the Soul Crown and the Dread God’s brain, which we call the Rubber Ball, in order to prevent the Darzens from getting them first. I went to this universe to get the Soul Crown, while Space went to the other universe I just told you about in order to get the Rubber Ball.”
“Do you know if Space has completed his mission or not?” said Bolt.
“No, I don’t,” said Captain Galaxy. “I haven’t heard any communications from the Adventure since I got here. But let’s just say that I’m a little cynical about Space’s chances of success, because we were given to understand that the bulk of the Darzens’ efforts were going to be aimed toward retrieving the Rubber Ball.”
“Only way to find out is to head back to your ship and see if he got it,” said Bolt. “Right?”
Captain Galaxy nodded. “Right. Here, let me call the Adventure and see if I can contact Sparky. He should still be on the ship, because we left him behind to man the Adventure while we were on our missions.”
Captain Galaxy tapped the touch screen on her arm a few times and then paused, staring at the screen as it tried to connect to the Adventure. Bolt wished he could read the language on her touch screen, but he was surprised at how easily he understood that it probably said something like ‘dialing’ like his smartphone would.
Then a giant red ‘X’ suddenly appeared on the screen and Captain Galaxy frowned. “Odd. It says it can’t connect to the ship.”
“Your, uh, ‘ship’ isn’t even in the same universe as you,” said Peter with a snort. “Interdimensional communication technology isn’t possible.”
Captain Galaxy rolled her eyes. “I keep forgetting how primitive you natives are. Trust me, interdimensional communication technology, or ICT, is perfectly possible. Indeed, once you understand the principles behind dimension-hopping tech, then ICT becomes very easy to—”
“Yeah, we get it,” Bolt interrupted. “Why can’t you connect with your ship?”
Captain Galaxy tapped her foot on the floor in thought. “There are lots of reasons. Could be something in the Facility is blocking transmissions into and out of here, though given how primitive your technology is, I doubt you have any jammer powerful enough to jam my ICT. Or they might be too far away for my device to connect.”
“You mean you have technology which allows you to communicate with people in other universes, but it still has a range limit?” said Bolt skeptically.
“Yeah, because the multiverse is freaking huge and the laws of physics don’t work the same everywhere,” said Captain Galaxy. “Another possibility is that the Adventure was destroyed and Sparky is dead, but that doesn’t seem likely to me, because Sparky would have sent a distress signal if he was under attack. I think it’s more likely that the Adventure is simply out of range of my device.”
“If that’s the case, then why did it leave you behind like this?” said Bolt. “Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense that Sparky would just abandon you and Space in the middle of your very important missions.”
“I can’t say for sure, but I think it’s likely that something happened back at HQ,” said Captain Galaxy. “It’s the only reason I can think of that would explain why Sparky would just abandon me. An IEA vessel which is summoned directly back to HQ cannot ignore those orders. Commands from HQ, especially from the Chief or one of the Commanders, override the orders of individual Captains like myself.”
“Meaning one of your bosses called Sparky back to base?” said Bolt.
“Most likely,” said Captain Galaxy. “Again, I don’t know why, but maybe some emergency happened that I’m unaware of. In any case, Sparky will probably be back eventually to pick me and Space up, once the emergency is finished and he’s no longer needed at HQ.”
“But Graalix got away with the Soul Crown,�
� said Bolt. He gestured at the spot where Graalix had been standing mere moments before. “We need to chase after him ASAP.”
“I know, but without Sparky and the Adventure, I can’t go after Graalix,” said Captain Galaxy, shaking her head. “I do have a personal dimension-hopping device, but without knowing exactly where he has gone, my device is essentially useless.”
“Where do you think Graalix is likely to take the Soul Crown?” said Bolt. “Perhaps to the Darzens’ home world, wherever that is?”
“That is as likely a location as any,” said Captain Galaxy. “IEA spies say that the Dread God’s reconstructed, lifeless body is being kept safely on the Darzen home world, but … it would be beyond suicidal to go there, even just the two of us.”
“Why?” said Bolt. “Is it because that’s where all of the Darzens are?”
Captain Galaxy shook her head. “That’s hardly the thing that scares me. I’m more afraid of violating Rule Thirty-Seven.”
Bolt frowned. “What’s that?”
“Rule Thirty-Seven is a directive which Chief Nebula issued ten years ago,” said Captain Galaxy, “forbidding any sort of contact with or travel to the Darzen home world. She said it was for our safety, because the Darzens are extremely hostile to intruders and have been known to declare war on the worlds who have sent intruders, long, bloody wars that never end well for their victims.”
“What is the punishment for defying that rule?” said Bolt.
“Death,” Captain Galaxy replied. “IEA agents are not allowed to travel to the Darzen home world unless under orders from the Chief or one of the Commanders. Even then, they can’t stay too long on it and have to avoid interacting with the locals at all.”
“Seems like a harsh punishment,” said Bolt.
“I understand it quite well,” said Cadmus. “The death sentence is an effective way to deter people from doing what you don’t want them to do. I like the way your Chief thinks.”
“Well, it’s an obstacle in our path, because that’s probably where Graalix went with the Soul Crown,” said Bolt. He punched his fist into his other hand. “But we need to head there anyway, Rule or no Rule.”
“Didn’t you just hear what I said?” said Captain Galaxy. She gulped and looked around in fear. “If any of my superiors found out that I broke Rule Thirty-Seven, they’d kill me before I even got back to HQ. It’s not worth the risk.”
“Are you sure?” said Bolt. “Your mission was to retrieve the Soul Crown, wasn’t it? And you haven’t done that yet.”
“Because I failed.”
“Not if you know where the Soul Crown was taken and you’re willing to try to get it back.”
Captain Galaxy shook her head again. “I would like to get it back, but not if that means pissing off my superiors and getting killed. It’s not worth it.”
Bolt sighed in exasperation. “Come on. The fate of the multiverse depends on us retrieving the Soul Crown. If we don’t do it, no one else will.”
“Even if I agreed to go to the Darzen home world with you, we can’t reach it,” said Captain Galaxy. “My dimension-hopping tech isn’t strong enough to take us there by itself.”
Cadmus stepped forward just then. “Who said you needed a technological solution to your problem? The G-Men could help.”
Bolt looked at Cadmus suspiciously. “What are you talking about, Cadmus? The G-Men don’t have dimension-hopping tech or powers or anything like that.”
Cadmus smiled. “Please don’t speak to me so condescendingly, but I understand your skepticism. You are not G-Men, so of course you are unaware of everything we have at our disposal.”
Cadmus then walked past Bolt out of the break room, brushing his shoulder as he passed him. “Follow me. We have no time to lose.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
An uncomfortable silence descended on the room. It was even more uncomfortable for Beams who, having never been to an IEA meeting before, wasn’t sure how he was supposed to behave. Given how ‘natives’ were not even supposed to be in HQ at all, Beams wondered if there were even established procedures for this sort of thing.
Beams looked at Mr. Space. Mr. Space looked every bit as shocked as the Commanders, maybe even more so, by this revelation.
“Commander Nova,” said another man, who seemed to be a light-skinned African-American man, “you don’t seriously believe that any of our brave and honorable agents—each one forced to swear a loyalty oath to the Agency before becoming a member—actually murdered Chief Nebula during the battle, do you?”
“It seems like the most logical explanation to me, Commander Sol,” said Commander Nova. “Our security is top notch. The Darzens are a technologically advanced species, but even they have never been able to successfully breach our security. It also explains why the locks on Chief Nebula’s doors were not broken. Chief Nebula was well-known for being a personable Chief, who often left her door open so visitors could come in and talk to her.”
“But we were in the middle of a battle,” said Commander Luna. “There’s no way Chief Nebula would have just let in anyone to her office during such a dangerous situation. And if she did, wouldn’t she have left a note in her visitor’s log?”
“According to her visitor’s log, her last visitor was Ronald, her assistant, who visited her office approximately three hours before the first Darzen stingers began their assault on the HQ,” said Commander Meteor, who was scrolling through a holographic display in front of him that seemed to display Chief Nebula’s visitor log. “He left about thirty minutes later to file the Chief Engineer’s status reports on HQ’s energy barriers for later study.”
“Ronald told me that Chief Nebula has no planned or scheduled meetings with anyone today,” Commander Nova said. “He told me that Chief Nebula was intending to spend the day finishing up some paperwork she had been putting off, at least before the Darzen attack. That, of course, changed, though she managed to get some paperwork done nonetheless.”
“Meaning the Chief had an unannounced visitor at some point between the beginning and ending of the attack,” said Commander Sol. “But the question is, who?”
“Impossible to say,” said Commander Nova. “But I hope it is clear that we have a traitor within our ranks, likely working with the Darzens to assassinate the Chief when everyone was distracted.”
“That explains why the Darzens retreated so soon,” said Commander Meteor. He pinched his fingers across the hologram and it vanished into thin air. “Yet I still find it troubling to believe that they would unleash such a devastating attack on us merely to serve as a distraction for this assassination.”
“Actually, it’s perfectly consistent with past Darzen war strategy,” said one of the unnamed Commanders, a woman with curly red hair. She seemed to be the youngest Commander, perhaps in her early thirties or so, and she wore a pink bow, of all things, above her chest insignia. “In the old days, it was common for the Darzens to send a massive force against a powerful target with the intention of distracting it long enough for a spy to sneak in and take it down from within. They did this to great effect in the Battle of Zarzu, when a Darzen spy sneaked through the Zarzuns’ nigh-impenetrable wall surrounding their capital city and killed the Zarzun Emperor and his entire court, effectively toppling the entire empire in one day.”
“We should have seen this coming,” said Commander Luna, slamming her fist against the arm of her chair. “By killing Chief Nebula, it’s obvious that they hoped to cripple the Agency from within.”
“Didn’t really work, though, did it?” said another woman whose name Beams did not know, who spoke much more softly than the other Commanders. “All seven of us are still alive. Therefore, we can vote in a new Chief today if we want.”
“An excellent idea, Commander Pulsar,” said Commander Nova. He tapped his fingers on the arms of his chair a couple of times and the hologram of Chief Nebula was replaced by a virtual ballot box. “I say we vote now. The Agency’s Constitution states that the Commanders must vote
in a new Chief as soon as humanly possible. With all of us present, we can easily vote in a new Chief this very second if we so desired.”
“Actually, we’re not all here,” said the red-haired woman from before. She gestured at the empty seat that Beams had noticed when he first entered the room. “Commander Aster isn’t here.”
All faces turned to look at the empty floating chair. Glancing at the different Commanders, Beams saw expressions ranging from annoyance to resignation, which made him wonder if this Aster figure was usually late for meetings.
“Where in the multiverse could he possibly be?” said Commander Nova in exasperation. “Meteor, I thought I saw his flagship working with yours to take down that warship during the battle.”
“The Odyssey did come back with me when we received the news of Chief Nebula’s death,” said Commander Meteor, tapping his chin thoughtfully, “but I don’t remember seeing it dock alongside mine.”
“Of course Aster would be late,” said Luna, glaring at his empty seat. “Thinks he’s so much better than the rest of us because he happens to be an ace pilot. I’d love to slap some humility into that smug face of his.”
“Did someone mention my name?” said a voice behind Beams all of a sudden.
Beams looked over his shoulder to see someone enter the office. He was a young-looking man, maybe in his late twenties at most, with a long mohawk and wearing the same bodysuit that all IEA Commanders wore. He held a half-eaten chocolate bar in his hand, but he tossed it away into a mini-portal that opened right before the chocolate bar hit the floor.
“Sorry I’m late, everyone,” said the young man, waving at the other Commanders as he entered the room. “I just had a bad case of the munchies when we got back from the battle, so I had to stop by the cafeteria to get me something to eat. Almost forgot about the meeting until my deputy reminded me about it. Did I miss anything important?”
Commander Nova sighed heavily. “Somewhat. You missed the part where we deduced that Chief Nebula was murdered by a traitor within the Agency.”
