"No time to explain. Come on!" She tugged Romy. "Beat your wings and fly."
How could Romy see her? Why could Twig touch the demon? Perhaps demons had a strong connection to the astral world, to the realm of spirits and ghosts in the higher plane.
Whatever the case, Romy heard and obeyed. The demon took flight, beating her bat wings. Twig clung to her.
"Fly to the Dragon Huntress, Romy. We have to help Piston fix the ship."
Romy flew, leaving the roof behind.
Shades flowed up toward them, black robes fluttering.
Twig tossed her wrench. The metal flew, slammed into the beasts, cast out lightning, then snapped back into Twig's hand. Romy thrust her pitchfork, shooting flames out from its prongs, knocking the enemy aside. They kept flying.
The Drake stood in the yard, still trapped in the fourth dimension; Twig could see the ship, but it would not be able to ferry her friends. Beside it rose the Dragon Huntress, still in the three-dimensional world. Both starships stood in shadows, all but forgotten. The shades kept their attention on the base, clawing to reach the fleshy prizes within, leaving the starships to rust.
"Into the Dragon!" Twig shouted.
Romy beat her wings. "Okay, friendly little ghost."
They glided down, landed, and raced into the Dragon Huntress's airlock. Twig led the way, dragging Romy down into the engine room.
Piston was bustling through the shadows, grumbling and stumbling over tools, pipes, screws, coils, and a thousand other loose pieces.
Twig stared in horror. The engines were a mess—their pieces scattered across the floor, nowhere near operational.
"Piston!" Riff shouted through the communicator mounted on the wall. "Hurry!"
"I'm trying, Captain!" Piston cried out, eyes damp, lips shaking. He returned to the disassembled engines. "Fingers too thick. Too many parts. I can't do this without Twig, I—" Piston finally noticed Romy and scowled. "Get out, demon! I'm a very busy gruffle. Out!"
Romy wagged her tail. "I'm here to help. Did you know that the engines are all over the floor?"
"Yes!" Piston shook his fist at her. "Now get out and let me fix it. No! Put that down, Romy, stop chewing on the tension coils!"
Romy pouted. "But they're tasty!"
Twig knelt and tried to lift some loose screws, but her fingers passed through them. She was still nothing but a wisp here, invisible to Piston, unable to do her work.
"Romy, can you hear me?" Twig said.
Romy looked down at her. "Yes, little ghost!"
"Good." Twig grabbed the demon. "Let me climb onto your shoulders and guide you."
Romy knelt, and Twig scurried up and straddled the demon's shoulders. Romy's flaming hair rose in a pyre before her, but the flames were soft and warm, not burning like true fire.
"Now, Romy, I need to lift those screws over there." Twig pointed. "No, the ones beside those. And that big, round piece of metal that looks like a hubcap."
"Okay!" Romy lifted the pieces.
"What—put those down!" Piston said.
Twig whispered into Romy's ears, and the demon repeated her words. "But Piston, somebody needs to align the generator rings or the turbines won't reach sufficient velocity to ignite the fuel charges. Can you pass me that three-quarters wrench and some bronze alloy wiring?"
Piston froze and blinked. "What—?"
Romy groaned, still repeating Twig's whispers. "Piston, now! Quickly. And for pity's sake, get back to calibrating the generators. We won't be able to route power to the thruster engines unless you can ensure alternating currents through the circuit panels. Now let me plug in the intake pipes, or the turbines will be banging against iron. Unless you want more fried spark plugs and ripped thruster valves?"
Piston rubbed his eyes. "How do you—?"
Romy placed her hands on her hips, repeating Twig's words. "Oh, and don't forget to turn the turbocharger three times left. Three times! And let's line up that intercooler, but wait till the fuel rails are installed. Then we can install the fan butts."
"Fan belts," Twig whispered into her ear.
"Fan belts." Romy nodded. "Now let's get to work."
Piston shook his head in wonder. "Romy, yesterday you were drinking from the toilet bowl, and thank goodness Riff stopped you before you could foul the water cooler. I have no idea how you know all this, but . . . damn it, yes, let's get to work. Let's get this ship flying!"
They got busy. Twig kept tugging on Romy's arms, directing her hands to the right places. The demon worked in a fury, sometimes pausing to gnaw on a bolt or rod before Twig could knock it free. Piston worked alongside. The pair moved so quickly they appeared almost as ghosts themselves. Bit by bit, the engines came together.
"Piston, I need you!" Riff called through the communicator. "Now, now, now!"
Twig guided Romy's hand, connecting the last valve and snapping the turbines into place.
"Done!" Romy said. "I'm a genius monkey."
"You mean mechanic," Twig said.
Romy pouted. "I'd rather be a monkey."
Piston raced across the engine room, flicking switches. "Damn it! Spark plug's fried. Romy, over here! Stick your head into that engine there."
"No!" Romy gasped. "I'll get soot all over me."
"I need your flaming hair. Go! Now!"
"My hair isn't even that hot, and—"
"Do it!"
Romy wailed but ran forward, knelt, and thrust her head into the engines. Her hair of fire crackled. Twig watched, invisible, holding her breath.
For a long moment—silence.
Then, with a roar, the engines ignited. Great turbines spun. Smoke filled the engine room. Romy wailed and pulled her head out; soot covered her face.
"Uhm, Piston?" Romy said. "Is there anyone on the bridge to actually steer?"
The gruffle froze and his eyes widened. "Romy, go! Fly us!"
The demon nodded and beat her wings. She rose to the ceiling, emerged into the main deck, and ran. Twig ran behind her. They raced down the hall, leaped upstairs, and burst onto the bridge. A plethora of control panels spread ahead. Through the windshield, Twig could see Kaperosa Observatory. The last survivors stood on the roof, swinging their weapons, trying to keep the host of shades at bay. The creatures covered the landscape, thousands of them, a sea of claws and fangs and inky flesh.
"Romy, the joystick!" Twig shouted, still unable to grasp anything.
Romy nodded, leaped forward, and grabbed the reverse throttle. The ship lurched backward, spinning, nearly crashing down.
Twig wailed, leaped onto Romy's back, and yanked her arm downward. "This one!"
Romy nodded, grabbed the right controls, and began to raise the ship. The Dragon Huntress roared, engines spewing fire. Ahead upon the landscape, the shades turned toward the starship, hissing. Several tesseract vessels began to rise.
"Romy, dragonfire!" Twig cried. "The red button!"
Romy's lips trembled. "I don't like this job. Can we play counter-squares instead?"
"Do it! Do it now!"
Romy moaned and pressed the red button.
The Dragon Huntress roared out her dragonfire. The jet of plasma streamed forth, spinning and crackling, and tore into a tesseract ship. It shattered into jagged metallic cubes. Romy tugged the joystick, lowering the Dragon's head. Her fire rained upon the shades climbing the observatory walls.
Twig jumped for joy. "You're doing it, Romy! You're doing it! Now fly over the roof. We have to evacuate everyone."
Romy wagged her tail. "I'm a parrot!"
"Pilot, Romy."
Her wings drooped. "But I want to be a parrot."
Twig wrapped her small hands around Romy's long, clawed fingers, guiding the joystick. The Dragon Huntress flew forward, blasting out flame, and hovered above the last survivors. Above loomed the black hole, its swirling eye gazing down with rage.
* * * * *
Giga stood on the roof, leaping, sliding through the air, somersaulting. Her katana swung so
quickly it appeared like a disk of light. Her feet slammed into one ghost, knocking it down. She flipped backward, kimono fluttering, and thrust her sword into another beast's throat. She leaped ten feet into the air and spun in a ring, legs kicking, knocking the enemy back.
She landed on the ground, stretched out one leg, and spun, knocking creatures down. Her blade flashed, sticky with the black blood of the ghosts. She glanced up to see the Dragon Huntress hovering down, thruster engines blasting. The ship's dragonfire raged, knocking back enemy vessels. The airlock popped open, and Piston stood within, lowering cables.
"Come on, you clods!" the gruffle shouted. "All aboard!"
Giga glanced around her. What had started as a hunt would become a rescue operation—if they were lucky. Thousands of shades were still climbing the walls and bounding across the roof.
We might not all have time to flee, Giga realized.
She let out a shriek, bounded into the air, and swung her katana down into a shade.
"Lenora, into the ship!" Steel shouted. "Climb!"
The scientist shook her head. "Not until the others are safe." Lenora ran toward the cable and began helping one of her men—an old scientist with white hair—climb the cable into the waiting Dragon Huntress.
A scream sounded to Giga's left. She spun to see the ghosts grab another scientist—an elderly woman—and rip into her flesh. The scientist's screams died as the ghosts dragged her corpse away.
Giga leaped into the air and kept fighting.
I learned how to fight when the Singularity possessed me, she thought. I fought my friends then. Now I fight to save them.
She cried out wordlessly, leaped into the air, and kicked. She bounced from ghost to ghost, feet slamming against them, blade cutting through their limbs. She was still an android of three dimensions; there was no parameter for a fourth dimension in her algorithms. She could only see projections of these beings from a higher plane, only their shadows in this world. But it was enough. Enough to kill them. Enough to give the others time.
The last of the surviving scientists climbed the cables. Riff followed.
"Come on, Steel and Giga!" the captain said when he reached the airlock. "Into the ship."
With only Steel and Giga now on the roof, the ghosts swarmed with new vigor. The two fought back to back, swinging their blades in semicircles.
"Climb, my lady," Steel said. "I'll hold back the enemy."
Giga thrust her blade, impaling an alien. She had begun this journey a meek, frightened android, barely capable of more than parroting a few pre-programmed phrases. She had grown. She had fought in battles. She had seen the cosmos. She had become a great warrior, perhaps even deadlier than Steel. But she also knew that he was still a knight at heart, that his honor would not let him climb into the ship before her.
Giga nodded. "Hold them back for me, sir."
She leaped, grabbed the cable, and scurried up to the Dragon Huntress.
Below, Steel stood alone on the roof. Thousands of the enemy spirits surrounded him, a tarry sea. The knight still swung his blade, and Giga frowned. At his side flickered a golden light, a dancing flame shaped like a woman, appearing and vanishing, cracking a whip of lightning. But when Giga blinked, the image was gone.
Steel gave a few last swipes of his blade, then grabbed the cable. The Dragon Huntress began to ascend at once, not even pausing to let Steel climb to the airlock. They rose higher, leaving the observatory below. Steel dangled off the cable, and for an instant, it seemed to Giga that the golden light clung to him, the spirit rising with him.
It's a spirit of goodness, Giga thought. She had no true human emotions, just whatever emotions her algorithms managed to conjure, but she could sense the goodness of that golden light, the blessings it bestowed upon them.
"An angel," Giga whispered.
An enemy tesseract flew toward them, and the Dragon Huntress roared out her fire, breaking the tesseract into cubes. Steel climbed and entered the airlock with Giga, and they pulled the door shut.
"Steel." Giga leaped onto him and embraced him, clinging so tightly she almost dented his armor.
"My lady." He kissed her forehead. "I would have gladly died to save you."
She looked up, tears in her eyes, and caressed his cheek. "Never, Steel. Never die for me. Promise. Promise me that."
"I promise," he whispered, then pulled her back into an embrace. They stood together in the airlock, holding each other close, never wanting to let go.
Below, the observatory grew smaller as the Dragon Huntress rose, and soon the entire planet was but a sphere in the distance, a world they had come to save, a world they had failed.
We leave behind ruins and death, Giga thought, her cheek pressed against Steel's breastplate. We leave behind Nova and Twig.
Her tears streamed down her cheeks, and despair clutched her mechanical heart.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
LOST SOULS
Riff stood on the bridge of the Dragon Huntress, head lowered, eyes stinging.
How do I go on? How do I fly away like this . . . without them?
Steel stood at his side, armor cracked, a bandage wrapped around a gash on his head. Giga sat in one of the bridge's suede seats, head lowered. Scratches covered her synthetic skin, and her kimono hung in tatters. Piston stood in his armor of brown leather and iron bolts, staring from side to side helplessly, and tears ran down his cheeks and into his snowy beard.
"They're gone," the gruffle whispered. "That . . . that pea-brained clod. And that sweet lass with her whip and beautiful eyes." The old engineer pulled out a handkerchief and wept. "I should have died instead. I'm old. I'm old! Why do I linger on while those two precious girls are lost?"
"They're not lost!" Romy said. The demon had changed back into her dinosaur pajamas, and she held her teddy bear. "They're right here, Piston. God! Did you go blind in your old age?"
"Romy!" Riff reeled toward her, glaring at her. "Hush. We must show them respect." A lump grew in Riff's throat. "We'll have a ceremony. We'll . . ."
Romy rolled her eyes. "For pity's sake, sir. Nova and Twig are right here!" She pointed at the hula dancer and bulldog bobblehead on the dashboard. "Can't you see them?"
Piston stopped weeping long enough to roll his eyes. "It's finally happened. The demon's gone mad."
"That happened long ago," Riff muttered.
Giga rose from her seat, gently took Romy's arm, and guided her off the bridge. All the while, the demon kept blabbering. "Right there! Look at them. Look!"
"Hush, sweetness," Giga said, guiding Romy downstairs. "Let's go put you to bed."
"I'm not a baby! I'm five thousand years old. I'm telling you, I saw Nova and Twig!"
Giga patted her head. "I know, sweetness. I know. Let's tuck you in and you can tell me all about it."
The two vanished down into the main deck. Riff closed his eyes. The bridge felt so empty without Nova. A piece seemed to be missing from Riff's heart.
Where are you, Nova? What happened to you?
She was still alive. The ghosts still had her somewhere. Riff was sure of it. He clenched his fists, opened his eyes, and looked out into space. Planet Kaperosa was only a speck in the distance now, and the black hole but a faded patch.
"We retreat today," Riff said. "But we do not give up. We do not forget those we left behind. We'll be back. With more knowledge. With more strength." His lips peeled back in a snarl. "I swear this on my life. I'm coming back for you, Nova and Twig. Wherever you are."
Steel placed a hand on Riff's right shoulder. Piston lolloped up to his left and patted his arm.
"I better return to the engine room, laddie," said the gruffle. "Engines still making a strange sound. Gods of rock and metal know what Romy was doing to them. If she weren't a demon, I'd swear she were possessed. It's as if Twig's voice were speaking through her, and . . . oh that little clod."
Tears filled the engineer's eyes again. Dabbing them with his handkerchief, Piston wobbled off the bridge.
"I need to leave the bridge too," Riff said. "Steel, will you hold down the fort? Lenora and her people need to see I'm here, need to talk to me, to know I'll look after them. They lost people too." Riff's heart gave a twist. "Twenty-three scientists . . . gone."
Steel nodded. "Go, brother. I'll steer us onward."
The knight sat by the controls and stared out into space. The ship turned, leaving Kaperosa far behind.
Riff stepped off the bridge.
The Dragon Huntress was a small starship, not much larger than a suburban home. Even with its old crew of seven Alien Hunters it had been crowded. Now two of those Alien Hunters were gone . . . and fifty refugees of Kaperosa Observatory filled the ship.
As Riff walked down the corridor, he saw them in the ship's chambers. Several of the wounded lay in crew quarters on cots, bandaged. Two scientists lay in Riff's own bedroom. One old man sat in the escape pod, and others huddled in the kitchen over bowls of soup. Riff nodded to every man and woman he passed, speaking comforting words.
Finally he reached the main deck. Scientists filled the place—sitting on the couch, pacing the chamber, staring out the porthole. Lenora stood among them. Blood stained her woolen skirt.
At once everyone crowded him, asking countless questions.
"Why are the engines rattling?"
"Where are we flying to?"
"How long will the life support last?"
"Are we able to fly in hyperspace?"
Riff had to raise his hands and raise his voice. "Everyone! Please rest assured that we're going to get you home safely. We have enough supplies and air to last for days, and—"
"There is no more home!" one man cried out, his hair disheveled. "We all saw the reports from Earth. Those damn shades have been attacking Earth, killing countless of people. Earth might be gone by now."
A woman fell to her knees, tears in her eyes. "My family is on Earth. My husband. My children. My parents . . ."
"Where are you taking us, Starfire?" a man shouted, marched forth, and grabbed Riff. "We could have done some good on Kaperosa. We could have studied these beasts. Now we're floating in this rattling tin can of yours, light-years away from civilization, and—"
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