“How so?” Christine had always wondered if there was more to the universe than what could be viewed through a telescope. Discovering there were other dimensions, entire other hidden worlds, had piqued her curiosity.
“Quester Stones are powerful artifacts. Even the weakest ones can mess your day up if you aren’t careful. They are selfish and always looking to increase their power, by any means. They also steal humans away from Earth, either as their Quester or they just kill them and absorb their Quester energy. Those are the ones we stop.”
Christine frowned. “Do you kill them, or what?”
“In the past, the Keepers tried removing the Stones by sending them and their Questers to other dimensions, but it didn’t work. They kept showing back up with new Questers and causing more problems. But now, as long as a Stone is not trying to take over the world or kill a bunch of people, we have a talk with its Quester and then leave it alone.”
“What about you? Aren’t you a Quester?” The fact that Raptor had the abilities of a Quester and a Keeper made Christine trust her less.
“Yes, and so are some of the other Keepers. They are weak Stones, so Earth tolerates them because we’re Keepers first. Earth is using these Stones through us.”
The door opened as Andrew interrupted their conversation. He glanced at Christine, his eyes fixed on the pizza she was eating. He smacked his lips and made his way to the refrigerator, opening it. A long pause ensued as Andrew stood staring at the contents, but he eventually grabbed a sandwich and made his way over to the table.
“Christine,” Raptor said, pointing to the paper under her hand. Her eyes slid over to Andrew.
Christine jumped, sitting up straighter, and pushed the paper over to him. “That’s everyone hurt or missing. The last two names, they died.”
A frown crossed Andrew’s lips as he sank down into the chair. He munched on his sandwich while he read.
Raptor tilted her head to the side. “We’re looking for the monster. Once it turns up, we’re going to go after it.”
“Good.” Andrew pushed the sheet of paper away, leaving it in the center of the table.
“Do you deal with aliens too?” Christine asked.
“Sometimes,” Raptor said, leaning back in the chair, a slight smile on her lips. “We try to keep the peace in our local region of space. If a fight breaks out somewhere between two space-faring races, or even between two Questers in different dimensions, then their war could spill over to Earth—prevention rather than reaction.”
“You’re like the intergalactic police!” Christine leaned forward, her elbows on the table. She had finished eating her pizza and found herself intrigued by the Quester Stones.
With a humming note, Raptor said, “Nothing that sophisticated. We do what we can, but it mostly is just a loose peace between everyone. We can’t really punish troublemakers, but we can at least keep them off Earth.”
“Then why live out in space at all?”
“We’d be discovered if we stayed on Earth. Could you imagine what would happen if humans found out that not only were there aliens, but that they could become immensely powerful through controlling small artifacts? Oh and by the way, there’s a bunch of superhuman people who Earth talks to?”
“Chaos,” Andrew said through a mouthful of food. His breath smelled faintly of peanut butter.
“And then some.” Raptor made a slight gesture around the base. “Was much easier to build ships, fly here, and build a base under the ice.”
“Isn’t NASA or someone watching you?” Christine asked.
“The last probe to photograph Europa in detail was about ten years ago—well before we got here. There’s a probe sailing around Jupiter right now, but we’re too small for anyone to see. As long as they don’t send rovers to this location, we won’t be found.”
For the first time, she found herself not hating being in the Keepers’ base, as she listened to Raptor. “If the Keepers protect Earth, then why can’t anyone become one?”
“Well, that’s something of a long story,” Raptor responded. “The short version is that Earth can only create so many Keepers, and it picks who becomes one.” She stood up from the table. “But we need to get going. We’ve got a lot to do.”
Chapter Eleven
Andrew had to take a few leaping steps to catch up with Raptor and Christine as they headed around a corner. Examining the stark white walls, Andrew almost felt like he walked through a hospital, albeit without the smell of antiseptic and cleaning chemicals saturating the air.
They made their way past a pair of double doors that were six feet across and made of heavy steel. Raptor turned another corner before heading into the main control room.
Andrew and Christine gawked at the enormous computer towering in the middle of the room. Mouse sat at the computer in a swivel chair. He swept both hands up the side of his head, sticking his faux-hawk up straighter.
A large monitor in front of him displayed an intricate three-dimensional grid. It rotated now and again and then highlighted an intersection point. Along the side ran a list of code. Andrew did not understand it, but Mouse did. He would scan the lines, and then he would type, changing something in the code.
At the computer next to Mouse sat Walker. Godlin stood stiffly beside her. On the screen in front of them, they scrolled through a page of text written in the Keeper language. Andrew tried to read it, but unlike the spoken language, he could not instantly understand it. He gave up trying to sound it out to himself after a moment.
Behind the page laid a map of the world. White clouds swirled across the blue and green planet. Displayed across the bottom of the screen were clips of the world news. The sounds from the news reports played at a low volume, their voices mashed into a confusing garble. Walker and Godlin watched the news clips.
Raptor took a few steps and leaned down to Mouse. “Hey, Mouse,” she said in a bright, chipper tone.
Startled, Mouse spun around in his chair to face her. “Er, Rap,” he said, his eyes shifting off to the side.
“How’s that message interception going? Do you know where it’s headed?”
Godlin looked over to the conversation, listening. Walker turned her chair toward them, but she kept her eyes glued to the monitor in front of her.
Mouse shook his head. “Not yet. I won’t know where it’s going until it either gets there or gets a lot farther out. Either way, I’ve only got an hour. After that, it’ll be too far away for any fix to reach it before it infects everything.”
“Tran said the code changed. Is there a hacker?” Raptor asked.
Mouse tugged on the lobe of his ear, appearing uncertain. “Maybe, I don’t know. It’s responding much faster than a person could manage, but at the same time, there was this long delay between the original virus and the new one. I just happened to check some things I’d already fixed and found it worming its way through the system, all stealth-like. It tried to trick me, but I caught it.” He beamed a smile up at Raptor, tapping his chest with a finger.
“What about our other systems?” Raptor prodded, seemingly not impressed with Mouse’s pride.
“Clean.” Turning back to the computer, Mouse started to type. “It’s not going after anything else.”
“Any word from Gadget and Selena?”
“I can’t get word to them. I’m sorry. Our deep space communication systems are a mess.”
Resting a hand on his shoulder, Raptor said, “Keep trying. Do you at least know where the virus came from?”
“This whole thing with Venom sending us letters and portaling you here, it made me look around at our systems. You know, just to be sure. That’s when I found the virus. Almost like it waited for me to find it before it started running off all over the place, corrupting files and disrupting our systems.”
“Who built it?” Raptor leaned forward, studying the code on his computer screen.
“I don’t know, but whoever it was, they are good, like really good. Venom maybe sent it, but thi
s is definitely beyond his capabilities to build.”
“Better than you?”
Mouse scoffed at her words, making a sour face. “No!” He shifted in his chair. “They just got ahead of me. I’ll catch up—hopefully before it reaches its destination.”
Raptor gave a thoughtful humming sound. “Track them down.”
“It’ll have to be later. I’m devoting all of my energy to keeping up. Speaking of, I’m draining a lot of the base’s energy sending out this information to all the systems at once. Rap, I’m worried about a power failure. The new code going out takes time to send, and if it gets interrupted and I have to start over, then I know we’ll never get ahead of it.”
“If Venom is responsible, then it’s up to no good. I want it stopped—power or not.”
“I’ll keep trying.” Mouse gave her a weak smile, his lips twitching.
“Thank you.”
Mouse bowed his head. Focusing on the computer, his expression became more serious and intense. It surprised Andrew how confident Mouse was when working on the computer compared to talking to people. He wondered if Mouse only got nervous around people rather than having a nervous disposition in general.
Raptor turned her attention to Godlin and Walker. “What Stones do you plan to go get next?”
“I meant to consult you.” Walker motioned toward a small table just across the room. Sitting on top of it was a clear, square box. “The Stones we have are Ice, Future, Fire, and Past.”
Raptor glanced at the boxes. “Richard always was strangely cooperative. I suppose being able to see into the future does that.”
Curious, Andrew made his way over to the table with Christine.
“Look.” Christine peered down into the top of the box. The box held nine smaller compartments, each with its own door. Andrew noted the lids were labeled in black magic marker with the names of each Stone. Resting under the word “Ice” laid a large diamond the size of his fist, cut in the shape of a tear. In another box, right below the first, was a half-moon gemstone, deep blue, almost purple in color—the word “Future” scrawled on top.
Andrew also noticed the Stone of Fire, resting inside the third box, opposite the other two. He pointed to the center box, labeled “Past,” that was currently empty. “Aren’t you going to add yours, Raptor?”
Raptor snorted a laugh as her eyes cut over to him. “No.”
Walker spoke in a soft voice. “Tran told me you planned to go get the Stone of Fear and the Stone of Life?”
If they could collect those two Stones, then they would only have three more to find: Malice, Friendship, and Daring.
“I plan to leave shortly. It shouldn’t take me too long to retrieve them,” Raptor replied.
Walker tilted her head to the side. “Neither of those Questers will cooperate.”
“I know. I will have to convince them.” She clenched her hand into a fist and then stuck her open palm with it.
“I don’t approve, but I see no other way. We need these Stones, quickly.”
“Out of all of us, I can get in and out with the least amount of bloodshed.”
Lowering her gaze, Walker replied, “True.”
“When I get back, we can see about getting the last ones. I don’t know what to do about the Stone of Friendship. We may have to make do without it.”
“That’ll be risky,” Walker stated softly. “The situation is worse than I thought. We may need all the Stones to ensure our success.”
“What’s going on?” Andrew asked as he listened.
Walker paused at the question with a brief glance at Andrew before she turned away.
Godlin answered instead. “We’re not sure. The dimensions should be shifting around some, but they are just sitting there—frozen.”
“Ugh. This is bad.” Raptor rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Can we get by with just eight? Or maybe find another way to stop this impending disaster?”
Walker found her voice again. “We can manage, but there’ll be some damage. There’s no longer a choice about the Stone of Power; we need it.”
“And Venom has that, but we don’t know where he is. We stick to the plan for now: focus on the other Stones.”
“I’m helping,” Andrew declared.
With a gleam in her eyes, Raptor said, “Very well.”
Andrew thought he was going to have to argue with her. Then he remembered her comment from before, about how he was to start his training. Maybe she meant to throw him in headlong to see what he was capable of. His shoulders tensed as he considered fighting more monsters.
He tossed a glance at Christine, hoping for her approval too, but her expression was the opposite. She stood silently, glowering at him.
“Raptor,” Walker said in a concerned voice.
Everyone turned toward her monitor. In one of the news broadcasts the crystalline creature oozed around in front of the Eiffel Tower. The nighttime city lights provided enough illumination to see by. A pulsing blue light flashed from a police van parked along the road.
Walker turned up the volume and expanded the video so it took up the entire monitor.
The creature lashed out at people, trying to ensnare them. Most of them escaped into the surrounding foliage. The crystalline mass turned its attention to the Tower. It heaved itself off the ground and wrapped itself around the Tower’s leg.
“That’s the creature!” Andrew said. “What’s it doing there?”
“Killing more Questers and getting itself on national television,” Raptor said with a sneer.
The reporter in front of the camera pointed to the creature as he spoke in French, motioning franticly with his hands. The camera zoomed in and focused on the creature.
“Idiot,” Raptor muttered.
The crystalline creature engulfed a leg of the Tower. Lights burst all over the structure as electricity surged across it. The entire area plunged into darkness.
“That’s going to get some attention. It won’t be long before their cavalry arrives and gets itself killed. You sure you want to come?” Raptor cut her eyes over to Andrew.
“I’m sure.” Resolve took over, and he felt ready for action.
“Police are already there,” Godlin said.
“I’ll try to get them to leave—redirect them to blocking off streets and clearing people out of the way because the air force is coming to shoot it.” He started typing. “It’s not a complete lie, so it should hold for a little while,” Mouse said.
Raptor narrowed her eyes as she watched the monitor. The reporter quivered in the light of the camera and reached out to the camera operator. The crystalline creature came up behind him without warning and grabbed both the reporter and the camera operator, ingesting them. They floated inside the creature for a moment, but then vanished. Nothing of them remained.
A flash of white and then static—the news switched to another reporter sitting behind a desk with her mouth hanging open, stunned speechless.
Chapter Twelve
Two more people were dead, just like that. Andrew put a hand over his mouth, shaking his head slowly. Christine reached over and grabbed his hand, her face pale.
“I think I saw something,” Mouse said. The news report appeared on his screen as he typed. He pushed another button, and it started to rewind.
Mouse paused the footage just as the crystal creature grabbed the two people. He advanced through the frames in rapid succession. The news camera fell toward the translucent skin of the creature, and the people disappeared.
“That looked like a teleport,” Walker said. “Where did they go?”
“Probably nowhere good,” Raptor muttered.
For a moment, Andrew felt his concerns lighten, knowing the people might still be alive, even if they had been abducted.
“There’s something more.” Mouse continued to advance through the frames.
The camera oozed into the colorful, Jell-O flesh of the crystalline creature and sank down deeper. A bright blue and white light saturated the
next few frames. The last frame showed nothing but darkness.
Raptor leaned over Mouse’s shoulder. “What was that?”
“I think that the creature pulled the electricity out of the camera and fried it. It dies before it hits the ground, but after it gets swallowed. Would explain why the creature went after the Tower before the people. Since it feeds on electricity, I think an E.M.P. burst will stop it, or at least mess it up enough so you could deal with it,” Mouse said, peering up at Raptor.
Raptor patted the back of Mouse’s chair. “Send Tech to the hangar. Then tell Aerion to get three planes ready, all with E.M.P. missiles.” She turned to Christine. “Stay with Godlin, he’ll protect you.”
“Wait, can’t I at least have my phone back?” Christine asked. “I’m a little bored.”
“I destroyed them,” Godlin said, folding his arms over his chest.
Andrew frowned. That had been his last tie to his friends and family on Earth. “Why?”
Godlin grunted. “They take pictures.”
Mouse snickered softly, hiding his mouth behind a hand.
Letting out a long sigh, Andrew turned to Christine. “Sorry.”
Christine flicked a dismissive hand at him. “Go and help them, if that’s what you’re doing.”
Andrew shuffled his feet, uncertain what to say to her. He felt bad for leaving her.
Raptor touched Andrew on the shoulder. “Come on,” she said and headed out of the room.
With a jump, Andrew spun around to follow her. He glanced over his shoulder back at Christine. “Bye!” He waved, hoping for some positive response.
Christine smiled a bit, but then turned away.
Hoping that meant she approved, Andrew tried to give her a larger smile in return, but Raptor already had gotten ahead of him. He darted out of the room, quickening his pace to catch up to her. “There’s no way at all to call home? I know you said it would take a while, but just to see if everyone is okay?”
Raptor set a brisk pace as they walked together. “We can’t. It will draw attention to you. Godlin checked on your families. They’re fine. With that creature appearing on TV, people will descend on your town and start investigating. I’m sorry, Andrew, but you have to vanish.”
Stone of Power (Keepers of Earth Book 1) Page 15
