by Lucas Flint
“What should we do about that?” I said.
“We’ll need to get onto the mother ship and activate the worm hole generator from within,” said Nicknacks, “mostly because I sincerely doubt that the Pokacu will activate it for us if we ask them nicely.”
“But if we do that, won’t they notice us?” said Blizzard. “How are we supposed to get onto the mother ship without being seen? As soon as they realize what we’re doing, they’ll just shoot us out of the sky, won’t they?”
“Assuming they see us, yes,” said Nicknacks. “But it is our only realistic option of getting to the Mother World at this point. I am not very excited about the possibility myself due to the risks involved, but either we do that or we give up and wait for the Pokacu to raze the Earth. Neither idea is very encouraging to me.”
I thought about that for a moment and realized that Nick was right. “Then it looks like that’s what we’ll have to do. The only problem is what Blizzard pointed out: The mother ship likely has great security, meaning we might not be able to sneak in without being detected.”
“I agree,” said Nicknacks. “I just don’t know how to get past it, however. I wish I had thought this through, but I was so confident that the individual ships would have worm hole generators that I just didn’t see any point in worrying about the mother ships.”
I put my chin in my hand as I thought over this problem. It wouldn’t be long, I knew, before the Pokacu noticed this ship just hovering here and tried to contact it. Or maybe they would just notice the dead Pokacu lying underneath it and instantly try to blow it up instead. And, of course, there was the ever-present timer that was slowly but surely counting down, counting down to the second when the Pokacu would simply destroy the entire planet.
I scratched my ear, which was starting to itch, but then I felt the earcom that I used to communicate with Valerie. I hadn’t spoken with Valerie in a long time, but then, she unfortunately wasn’t very helpful in our current situation. She might be able to contact the other teams below, but even if we had their help, it might not be enough for us to get onto the mother ship.
But then something clicked in my head. A plan was rapidly forming in my mind, a plan that might just help us get onto the mother ship. It had a lot of risks, true, but it was the only plan that any of us had and at this point I was willing to try anything if if meant saving Mom and the whole world.
So I said, “Nick, Blizzard, I’ve got an idea that might help us get onto the mother ship. But we’ll have to be quick; the clock is ticking and we don’t have any time to waste.”
Chapter Fifteen
Ten minutes later, I stood underneath the hatch to the roof of the ship by myself. Blizzard and Nicknacks were still in the control room, flying the ship to the mother ship, but they had both wished me luck in my mission. We had decided that I was going to be the one to access the mother ship and activate the worm hole generator, because I was incredibly fast, so I would be able to get in and out of the mother ship quickly. Besides, sending more than one person would be far too risky; one person could complete this mission far more quickly and efficiently than two.
But in a way, I wasn’t going to be alone on this mission. I held up my suit-up watch to my mouth and said, “This is Bolt. Is everyone in position?”
“Team A is in position,” came Strike’s voice over my watch’s radio. “We’re at the northern end of the Triangle.”
“Team B is present,” Stinger said, his voice briefly crackling over the radio. “Southeastern corner. Our target is in our sights.”
“Team C ready for duty,” said Volt, one of the Lightning Triplets. “The southwest is our territory and we are ready to hit the target as soon as you say so.”
“Good to hear,” I said. I tapped my earcom and said, “Val, how is your hacking of the mother ship’s systems coming along?”
“Slowly,” said Valerie. “The system is more complex than what I am used to, but the data and schematics from your ship has been helpful in figuring out how to hack the mother ship.”
“Will you have its security systems disabled by the time I land there?” I said.
“Most likely,” said Valerie. “At the very least, the path to the worm hole generator’s room ought to be completely open to you, if nothing else.”
“That’s all I need to hear,” I said. Then I spoke into my watch again. “Everyone, once Nicknacks gives the word, begin attacking the ships forming the Triangle Prison immediately. Don’t hesitate and try to avoid damaging your environs, because if they get damaged, that will make it easier for the powerless gas to get in and de-power you all again.”
“Right,” said Strike. “We’re ready when you are.”
“Gotcha,” said Stinger.
“Just give us the word,” said Volt.
“All right,” I said. “I will contact you all later, if there is a change of plans or we run into some unexpected problems.”
I turned off my watch and looked up at the hatch above me. I estimated we had about five minutes before we began the plan. Coincidentally, that was also the amount of time I thought the plan should take to complete; at least, that was the ideal time, not including any problems we or any of the teams below might run into while trying to complete it.
The plan was somewhat complicated to explain, but would be easy to execute. We were having Valerie, using her experience with hacking Pokacu technology, access the mother ship’s systems and attempt to shut down all of its interior and exterior security systems. That way, I could get into the ship and turn on the worm hole generator without being stopped or delayed, because the Pokacu would most likely be too focused on getting their systems back online to stop me. And by the time they did, we would be on the Mother World far away from that ship.
But there was always the possibility of the other ships coming to the mother ship’s rescue. So, to make sure no one came to the aid of the mother ship, Teams A, B, and C were going to attack the ships that made up the Triangle Prison. The Triangle Prison seemed to be a pretty important part of the Pokacu fleet’s strategy, given that it contained all of the captured members of the NHA and INJ within it, so they would undoubtedly spend a lot of time and resources attempting to defend the ships that created and sustained it. That would mean less soldiers to defend the mother ship from yours truly, which would give me more time to locate and activate the worm hole generator.
It was a good plan, in my opinion, but it required that everyone move fast and not give the Pokacu a chance to recover. If anyone messed up or moved too slowly, then the Pokacu might take advantage of that to hit back. It would be especially bad if they shot down the ship with Nicknacks and Blizzard in it, because if we lacked this ship, then we would never be able to get to the Mother World.
There was also the possibility that the Pokacu might take out the other teams, which would allow them to focus on helping the mother ship. But I trusted the teams to do their job and make sure that the Pokacu didn’t have any help to spare their mother ship. Besides, I would be in and out of the mother ship five minutes, tops, maybe even less depending on how effectively Valerie managed to take down their defenses, so I doubted backup would be a problem.
It did occur to me that Mom might be on the mother ship somewhere, but we had no way of knowing that for sure and I wouldn’t have any time to rescue her even if we did. I did ask Valerie to check the mother ship’s records of prisoners, if possible, but I doubted she’d have any time to do that, and even if she did, that was no guarantee that she’d find anything that might tell us where Mom was. Still, a part of me hoped that I would have time to save Mom and activate the worm hole at the same time, even though I knew how unrealistic that thought was.
I did wonder, though, why Valerie couldn’t activate the worm hole remotely by hacking into the mother ship’s systems. Nicknacks had explained that the worm hole’s own internal security systems were far too complex for your average Earth AI to hack, so it was just easier to deactivate the ship’s other defenses
and have someone go in and manually activate the system from the inside.
Another problem I worried about was getting stuck inside the mother ship. We wouldn’t have a big window in which to escape through the worm hole. I would need to get in, activate the worm hole, get out, get back into this ship, and then have us fly through the worm hole. Even if the Pokacu did not shoot us down, there was always the possibility of them simply deactivating the worm hole generator before we could pass through it.
My thoughts were interrupted when a speaker hanging from the ceiling nearby suddenly crackled, followed by Nicknacks’ voice. “Bolt, Valerie, Teams A, B, and C, this is Nicknacks speaking. We are flying closer to the mother ship. As soon as we are above it, I will give the order to start the plan. Get ready.”
I quickly checked my environ’s settings, ensuring that my suit was functional and would protect me from any powerless gas or any other dangerous toxins I might run into on the mother ship.
Then the speaker crackled again and Nicknacks’ voice came ringing over it. “All right. We are now above the mother ship. Everyone, go!”
Immediately, the hatch above me slid open and the platform I stood on shot up. In an instant, I was standing on top of the ship, which gave me an eagle’s eye view of the entire area.
The Triangle Prison was standing tall around the area, and I could also see the Justice Statue, or what remained of it, anyway. From what I could see, Omega Man still hung from it, though from this distance it was impossible to tell if he was still alive or not. There was also a huge, thick cloud of sick-looking yellow gas covering the ground below, but because we were so high in the sky and wearing my environ, I was safe from the negative effects of the gas.
But I had no time to stand around and look at my surroundings. I jumped off the ship, activating my flight powers and soared over to the top of the mother ship below us. Up close, the mother ship was even more massive than it looked from a distance, easily ten times larger than the ship we had hijacked. It also looked more like a creature wearing armor than a machine, because I could see bits of flesh exposed between the metal plating, another example of the biomechanical nature of Pokacu technology.
I landed on top of the ship, but then heard a huge explosion from the north and looked over my shoulder to see that the northern corner of the Triangle was now smoking. No doubt that was Team A’s work, which seemed to be working, because I spotted a few Pokacu soldiers on the platform in front of the Justice Statue below pointing and shouting at the explosion, which meant they likely didn’t notice me. The Triangle was still holding, however, so Team A still had a lot of work ahead of them in order to take that thing down.
Turning my attention to the ship, I tapped my earcom and said, “Val, how is your hacking going?”
“Well,” said Valerie. “I’ve taken down most of the interior security systems. The Pokacu aboard the ship can’t even see who is in their hallways now, although they’re working hard to bring them back online again and should have them operation again soon.”
“By the time they do, I’ll be out of here,” I said. “Now, how do I get in?”
“According to the maps from the main ship, you are standing directly above one of their hallways,” said Valerie. “If you just give me a second—”
“No time,” I said. “I can get in myself.”
I slammed my foot down on the metal plating as hard as I could, shattering the metal underneath me and causing me to fall into the hallway beneath me. I landed on my feet and instantly looked up and down the hallway, but did not see any Pokacu soldiers at either end.
“Okay, Val, where to now?” I said. “Which direction leads to the worm hole generator?”
“Right,” said Valerie. “As you run, I’ll tell you where to go. You don’t even need to hesitate; none of the ship’s security systems are online, so the chances of you running into a trap are practically nonexistent.”
“Exactly what I wanted to hear,” I said.
I ran down the hallway in the direction Valerie told me to. I used my super speed to give myself a boost, but I didn’t run as fast as I could because I didn’t want to run into a wall accidentally, because I was still unfamiliar with the ship’s layout even with Valerie giving me directions.
“Turn right up ahead,” said Valerie as I ran. “There will be a small staircase, so be sure not to trip on it.”
“Sure thing,” I said as I turned right, finding myself running down another hallway. I jumped down a small staircase and continued running. “How long will it take for me to reach the worm hole generator?”
“Approximately two minutes if you keep taking this path I’ve laid out for you,” said Valerie. “And assuming, of course, that you do not run into any trouble on the way there.”
Just as Valerie said that, a set of doors on the right side of the wall slid open and six Pokacu soldiers ran out from them. They stopped the second they saw me, but instead of standing there looking like idiots, they aimed their arm cannons at me.
But I didn’t give them a chance to hit me. I increased my speed and shot toward them all like a bullet. With a jump, I knocked down the first one with a flying kick, landed, punched out another guy with a fist, grabbed a third guy and slammed him into a fourth, punched the fifth guy so hard that his crash left a crater in the wall’s metal plating, and finally shattered the kneecaps of the sixth and final guy with a couple of well-placed kicks.
I did all of that in less than ten seconds, approximately, and by the end of the conflict they were all lying down on the floor unconscious or in pain. But I didn’t stick around to see if they would recover, because I was now running through the corridors and hallways of the massive mother ship again, following Valerie’s directions as best as I could.
I knew that the Pokacu had ships that were biomechanical, but it was still really weird to see metal plating and organic flesh along the walls. It also felt like I was inside a living thing, too; the flesh pulsed every now and then and the air was hot and sticky. It was kind of like Florida, except without the sunshine, beaches, or hot girls in bikinis.
I half-expected the ship to try to eat me, but nothing like that happened. I just ran through the corridors and hallways for about a minute before I finally reached the worm hole generator room. Or, rather, the door to the worm hole generator room, which was currently locked and closed shut.
Stopping in front of the door, I tapped my earcom and said, “Val, can you hack the door open for me?”
“No,” said Valerie. “It was the one thing I couldn’t hack into, so I am afraid you are on your own here.”
“No problem,” I said. “That’s what super strength is for.”
I grabbed the middle sliding doors and began forcing them open. It was hard at first, even with my super strength, because the doors were closed so tightly, but eventually they began to budge. I heard the sparking of electricity and the squishing of flesh as I pushed the doors open, sounds which made me feel a little sick, but I didn’t allow them to stop me from forcing the doors open.
With a final yell of triumph, I forced the doors open, causing them to smash to the sides. I figured I had probably broken the doors, but because I wasn’t going to have to pay for the damages, I ignored it in favor of jumping into the room and then doing a quick look at my surroundings.
The worm hole generator room was pretty big, but surprisingly devoid of Pokacu soldiers, though I wasn’t complaining, of course. Vents were visible near the ceiling, while a bunch of lights from the ceiling illuminated the room well.
But what really caught my attention was the huge machine at the end of the room. It looked like a giant car engine, except with a weird, alien design that looked like nothing a human would build. It took up the entire wall at the back of the room and looked really expensive. It did not appear to be active, but there was a constant low level hum coming from it at all times, a sound I quickly found annoying for some reason.
“All right,” I said as I walked across the floor
to the worm hole generator. “I’m in.”
“Good,” said Valerie. “Now, according to the schematics Nicknacks gave us, the worm hole generator is currently off. You will need to activate it manually.”
I stopped in front of the generator and noticed a small keypad plus a screen in front of it. Unfortunately, the keys were the same alien letters I saw on all of the Pokacu’s technology, so I couldn’t read it.
“What’s this?” I said. “The keypad to activate it?”
“Yes,” said Valerie. “The worm hole generator has a specific password that you will need to enter in order to turn it on.”
“What?” I said. “A password? How am I supposed to find that?”
“Luckily, while hacking the mother ship’s systems, I managed to find the password on its computers,” said Valerie. “All you need to do is enter the password and the generator will handle the rest.”
“Great,” I said. “What should I do after that? Just leave?”
“Yes,” said Valerie. “Once the generator is activated, you should leave the mother ship as fast as you can get back to the hijacked ship. Due to how much energy the generator uses to construct a worm hole between Earth and the Mother World, it will stay open for about five minutes before shutting down again automatically.”
“Five minutes is plenty of time to get out of here,” I said. “Okay, what’s the password?”
Valerie told me which keys to press in order to type in the password. The keys actually felt like bits of flesh, which was unnerving to the touch, but I hit them anyway without hesitation.
Once the password was entered, I hit the largest key—which Valerie told me acted like the ‘enter’ key on Earth keyboards—and the screen lit up, showing a bunch of complex letters and numbers before the generator itself suddenly started vibrating. The generator was loud and almost sounded like it was about to explode, causing me to step away from it instinctively.
“The generator is now activated,” said Valerie. “The worm hole itself should appear in the sky directly above the mother ship in a few seconds.”
