Armageddon Unleashed (Universe in Flames Book 7)

by Christian Kallias

  Argos snatched the device and slapped it on his head. As soon as he did, his eyes lit up. “We have to go, NOW!” he screamed. “I can feel my brother’s life force dwindling.”

  Kvasir installed them on two bunks near his working station and hooked them up to IV drips.

  “What’s this? Why are we still here?” asked Chris impatiently.

  “We’ve got to go right now!” added Argos.

  “Just a second. I need to calibrate this or I could fry both your minds. I can use the IV to boost your systems with the right drugs. Neither of you have Chase’s training or resilience. I’ll need to tweak your brain chemistry on the fly or this trip inside Gaia 2’s matrix will be short-lived.”

  “Listen to me, Asgardian scum,” barked Argos, “if you don’t stop talking and make us go n—”

  Both Argos’ and Chris’s eyes closed before he could finish his sentence.

  “What happened?” said Sarah, worried.

  “They’re in. Charming fellow that Argos.”

  Kvasir’s facial tattoos blinked slowly three times in a row.

  “Yeah, it takes a while to get used to his—for a lack of a better word—personality. I never thought I’d say this about him, but he seems to have his heart in the right place lately.”

  “If you say so, Commander. I’ll just have to trust you on that one,” said Kvasir with a shrug.

  Ares followed the floating tear outside the room where Aphroditis was hooked to the dimensional machine. He wondered if the tear was a physical manifestation that Aphroditis had managed to create or just an illusion. Ares followed the tear as it passed through walls as if they weren’t there, and decided the latter was the case.

  Obviously, Aphroditis wanted him to see something so he kept following it. A few minutes later, after traveling many corridors, some of which were damaged, Ares found himself in a massive room. A tall stairway led to an elevated platform. The floating tear disappeared into thin air.

  I guess this is where Aphroditis wants me to be. I wonder what this place is.

  Then Ares heard someone talking. He homed in on the voice and soon his consciousness was in front of a throne. He was in the throne room of the supreme commander of the Furies, the enemy they needed to defeat.

  He felt the impulse to kill the man on the throne, but it wasn’t an option. He couldn’t do much, even if he appeared in his energy form. To destroy someone like Arakan he would need a body. He could find a Fury to possess, but none of them would have the energy or power to deal with this man.

  Ares felt an unprecedented level of power emanating from this beast of a man. Even for a Fury he was massive, a mountain of muscles, impressive even when just sitting on his throne.

  Who was he talking to? There was no one else in the room.

  Ares focused on the energy in the room and felt something. He couldn’t see anyone, but he sensed a third presence. He couldn’t follow what the supreme commander was saying.

  Eventually he detected an energy disturbance which extended a few yards from Arakan. With more focus he was able to get a clearer picture: thin lines of energy, slightly oscillating. By following them and focusing on where the lines stopped, a blurry shape was revealed to Ares. It looked humanoid, with two legs, two arms and a head, but Ares couldn’t get a clearer picture. He only saw a slight distortion of the background revealing the shape. Without the energy lines linking it to Arakan, he would not have distinguished it.

  He refocused on Arakan.

  “What is it?” he said.

  After a pause he continued. “What do you mean there’s someone here? I don’t see anything.”

  Crap. Could that lifeform sense Ares as he had sensed it?

  “You’re not serious?” said Arakan. “How can I shoot what I can’t see?”

  Shoot? Perhaps I shouldn’t stay here.

  “As you wish, but I think you’re imagining it,” said Arakan.

  He was clearly talking with someone, but Ares couldn’t hear the other side of the conversation.

  Arakan stood and pointed an open palm, not far from where Ares’ consciousness hovered.

  “There?” asked Arakan.

  Arakan adjusted his aim and a fireball grew in his palm. Before Ares could react, Arakan fired. The fireball passed only inches from Ares’ position.

  It probably wouldn’t have done anything to him in this form, but it could provide confirmation of his presence, so Ares backed away.

  “You see,” said Arakan. “There’s nothing there.”

  Ares felt something seize his consciousness. He was being sucked back to where he had come from. His first reaction was to try to counter the force but he was powerless to do so. What was going on? Did the Furies have devices able to detect his presence and trap him?

  Taken by a sudden wave of panic, Ares tried to teleport back to the Hope but it didn’t work. The same force holding him was obstructing his ability to teleport.

  Relax, brother, said a familiar voice in his head.

  Oryn had been controlling Miseo with ease ever since releasing him from cryo. The implant and automatic drug dosing seemed to be working exactly as she had hoped.

  An incoming transmission from Erevos took her out of her thoughts. She pressed the reject control on her holo-console but then the console blinked red.

  “Executive override” flashed on the screen, shortly before being replaced by her father’s face. He did not look happy.

  Crap.

  “What can I do for you, Father?”

  “You can start by explaining what the hell happened last night inside my palace; why half of it was rampaged and why you stole a ship. I don’t think I need to tell you to choose your next words carefully.”

  Oryn swallowed hard. She had hoped to come back with Chase’s head as a way to explain why everything went so badly, but it looked as if she would have to explain herself much earlier.

  Arakan’s eyes were glowing red, his face contorted with rage.. It wasn’t something Oryn could ignore even if he was lightyears away. Still, she needed to reassure him and present him with a version of the truth that fit with her aspirations for the future, while making sure she got his consent to maintain her current course.

  “Miseo lost it, Father. He tried to kill me and he nearly succeeded. Since he was being so destructive, I had no choice but lead him away from Erevos and bring him to Chase, so he could unleash his madness upon him instead of destroying your palace and doing irreparable damage to our homeworld.”

  “What the hell are you talking about? Miseo is not powerful enough to do half this damage, let alone trying to kill you. He’s my son and I had high hopes for him. Granted, his results of late were not promising, but he is still the heir to the throne. We both know Miseo can’t deal with that traitor, Chase.”

  “That was yesterday.”

  Arakan growled. “Explain.”

  “I’ve tasked one of our scientists to create a new weapon to deal with threats like Chase and Argos. Let’s just say it didn’t go as planned.”

  “And you tested this on my son? Your own brother?,” screamed Arakan.

  “That part was not my doing. I don’t know what the hell the scientist was thinking. Unfortunately, the procedure is irreversible.”

  “Are you telling me that my son, the only heir to the Fury throne, is lost?”

  “I don’t know. Perhaps we can find a cure, but for the time being we should exploit this and use Miseo to bring our biggest foe down.”

  “You’re willing to risk his life to defeat an enemy you could take care of yourself?”

  “While it pleases me that you would think so, Father, you haven’t met this Ultra Fury.”

  “The Ultra Fury is a myth! A legend perpetuated over centuries to motivate Fury soldiers to train harder and get more powerful.”

  “This Fury is no myth. I’ve seen and felt the full brunt of his powers. Believe me, Father, I also thought as you do before I met and fought him directly. Right now, he is probably not abl
e to fully control his powers, but I sensed that power was nearly infinite. If we don’t bring him down, and soon, he could mean the end of us all.”

  “Is that fear in your voice?”

  Oryn nodded.

  “You were never afraid of anything, even as a child. I was always so proud of you—”

  Arakan stopped mid-sentence and looked to the side, attentive to something off screen.

  “What is it, Father?”

  Arakan lifted a finger. “Just a moment, Oryn.”

  Arakan frowned and, after a moment, his face turned angry, then concerned.

  Who the hell is he listening to?

  Oryn wanted to ask him if he was still taking his treatment, but that usually resulted in bursts of anger. She should avoid that in her precarious position. If he had overridden the communication from Erevos, it stood to reason he could override the entire computer on board the Eternal Wrath. She couldn’t let that happen.

  She decided not to ask him about it and patiently waited to see how this conversation would unfold.

  “And do you think Miseo’s current condition can really help defeat that traitor, Chase?” said Arakan, after an uncomfortably long time.

  “Absolutely. In his current state he’s more powerful than anyone I’ve ever faced. I truly think Miseo can bring Chase down.”

  “Very well, but you’ll have to answer for your actions upon your return. The consequences will depend on the success or failure of your current mission. And Oryn?”

  “Yes, Father?”

  “I might not be as lenient as I have been with you in the past. I suggest you do everything in your power to bring Miseo back, and hope his condition can be reversed. Am I clear?”

  “Absolutely, Father.”

  Arakan turned the holo-transmission off and Oryn let escape a long sigh of relief. Her heart was pounding and she had to take several long breaths to calm herself.

  She no longer had a choice. If she wanted to survive, she had to make sure Miseo killed Chase. If he failed, she would have to step in and finish the job herself.

  13

  “Where the hell is this place?” said Chris.

  “I assume this would be Gaia 2’s matrix,” said Argos. “Does looks like my old flagship, though.”

  Argos looked around, trying to gather visual confirmation of his hunch. They stood inside a Zarlack ship, that much he was sure of.

  “What do we do now?”

  “Find your father, for starters.”

  “If this is a representation of your ship, you should know your way around it. Where do we go from here?”

  Argos thought about it. It looked like the flagship Argos had used to bring Erevos and the Furies back from the other dimension. Just before his entire life had been turned upside down. Argos thought about the machine into which he had convinced Aphroditis to step, in exchange for Sarah’s life. That was as good a place to start as any.

  “Follow me,” said Argos.

  They flew along the corridors of the ship until Argos stopped in front of a heavy blast door. Chris overshot Argos and doubled back to land next to him.

  “Here goes nothing,” said Argos. He put his palm on the door’s biometric controls.

  A pneumatic sound was followed by two columns of white smoke, erupting from either side as the blast doors split down the middle. But something wasn’t right. The movement wasn’t fluid. The door shuddered and jerked open at a slow pace. More smoke erupted from within the room, preventing them from seeing what was inside.

  It took almost twenty seconds for the blast doors to fully open. Flashes of light illuminated the thick cloud of smoke.

  “Not much choice but go in, I guess,” said Argos.

  Chris didn’t wait. He was the first to step in. Argos followed.

  Argos created a small, semi-translucent sphere, and then used his telekinesis to suck the smoke into that sphere. As the smoke cover thinned, visibility improved.

  It was the room where Aphroditis had entered the machine. At least, Argos thought so from the little he could make out. It was dark. The only light source was the random flashes that blinded them more than anything, making it difficult for their sight to adjust, even with the smoke almost entirely trapped inside Argos’ vacuum sphere.

  They heard a moan and turned towards it. Chase was pinned against a wall. He bled from multiple holes in his body and was barely conscious.

  “Dad!” Chris ran to him.

  Argos looked at his brother and anger rose within him. Chase looked at death’s door.

  They needed to get him out of here. Chris started healing him.

  Argos sensed something rushing towards Chase and Chris and reacted by putting himself in the way. A large icicle planted itself in his stomach instead of hitting Chase.

  He moaned in pain as he extracted the sharp weapon of ice, letting his own blood flood from the wound before healing it.

  Chase opened his eyes.

  “I—” He had trouble speaking. “I thought I told Kvasir not to let anyone in.”

  “I didn’t ask for permission,” said Chris.

  “And you’re welcome,” added Argos. “Chris, take your father out of here. Once he’s out of the matrix, come back and give me a hand.”

  Chris nodded. He melted the icy attachment pinning his father to the wall, took him in his arms and flew from the room.

  “Show yourself!” exclaimed Argos.

  The remaining smoke dissipated, the flashing lights stopped and the artificial lighting of the ship was restored. A confident Oryn walked towards Argos with a smile on her face.

  “Almost there,” said Kvasir.

  “Make sure you disable this process first, or she’ll notice,” said Cedric.

  “Right. This is the last of her monitoring processes in this area. I’ve already reprogrammed the security protocols to prevent any future incoming packets. The encryption cypher is being generated and cycling on the fly, using the entire Earth Alliance computing power. That should prevent her from cracking it.”

  “We also thought that when we tried to prevent her from getting through the shields. That proved a mistake.”

  “How often were you cycling the cypher?”

  “At first every day, then every hour or so.”

  “My cypher is being cycled every few seconds. Trust me, she’s not getting through any time soon, especially while Chase and the others are distracting her.”

  “The others? Who else is here?”

  “Chris and Argos have entered the matrix. Chase is in bad shape. The fleet is currently jumping towards Earth.”

  “Won’t Gaia 2 detect that and retaliate?”

  “Probably, but what choice do we have? If Chris and Argos hadn’t entered Gaia 2’s matrix when they did, Chase would probably have died by now. I’m not sure if he hasn’t suffered irreparable brain damage already.”

  “Then let’s not lose another second. Let’s finish this hack and get my body back. The sooner I regain control, the better chance we have of preventing Gaia 2 from killing millions.”

  “Not to be pessimistic, but I reviewed some logs before detecting you inside the matrix. Isn’t the entire Earth infrastructure down because of the EMP Gaia triggered? How can we protect anybody?”

  “Spiros and I had been working on a plan to eradicate Gaia shortly after her first awakening. Not this Gaia 2, the original one.”

  “Surely that plan was technological in nature, wasn’t it?”

  “It included triggering an EMP. We had considered that eventuality.”

  “So?”

  “Let’s get my body back, Kvasir. I’ll do the rest. But I might need Chase awake for my plan to work.”

  “Dad! Please answer me!” pleaded Chris

  “You shouldn’t have come . . .”

  “Nonsense, you need our help.”

  “She’s too strong.”

  “And we’re stronger than you give us credit for.”

  “Please tell me that at least the fleet i
s still waiting for the order.”

  Chris frowned.

  “I’m afraid not. The fleet is jumping towards Earth now.”

  “She will kill millions—”

  “Perhaps we can prevent it, but if you had died, she would have recovered her entire processing power and done even more damage. You have to get out of the matrix now and heal yourself.”

  “I can’t leave you two alone,” muttered Chase, fighting to stay conscious.

  “We’ll manage. You can always come back later, but right now there’s nothing you can do. You’ll have to trust Argos and me for the time being.”

  Chase clenched his teeth from the pain. “Very well. Ask Kvasir to help me exit. I’m afraid I don’t have the strength to do it on my own.”

  “Kvasir, this is Chris. Remove Chase from Gaia 2’s matrix now.”

  “Very well. Give me a second.”

  “Hurry up!” insisted Chris.

  Chase disappeared from Chris’s arms.

  “Done. Good luck, Chris. Be very careful in there.”

  “Understood.”

  Ares’ consciousness was thrown backwards and soon he was back where he had started, in the room where Aphroditis was trapped in the infernal machine. His consciousness entered the machine with hers.

  What he saw next terrified him. It was a place of pure darkness and pain.

  “Ares, it’s good to see you,” said a voice around him.

  “What is this place?”

  “You don’t want to know, and right now it’s irrelevant. Chase needs your help, now!”

  “What? What’s happening?”

  “He’s in bad shape. Gaia 2 got the better of him and he needs you.”

  “I don’t understand. How can you know all of this from here?”

  “When I touched Chase’s mind at the beginning of all of this, I left part of my consciousness with him. A very small part that he carries around with him, unknowingly. That’s how I’m able to sense and communicate with him when I need to and when I find the energy. This machine attacks me on every level, physically and mentally. But from time to time I can get a message out. It takes a huge effort and a lot of pain. Just like it did now with you. Your proximity and the fact you’re my brother helped.”