by Frank Carey
Glean looked down at the floor. "I wish I knew."
Kalana gently placed her hand on his arm. "Glean, I'm a Space Marine captain and a doctor. I despise killing my opponent when non-lethal options exist. We have a way of doing this with the selka, so I am honor-bound to at least try."
"Even if you die trying?"
"Even if my team and I must give up our lives. We were expendable the moment we stepped foot on this rock. We will do everything in our power to protect you. One more thing."
"Shoot."
"If you're the last member of the team standing, please, punch in the correct sequence and send the selka home."
He looked at the door and realized how bad things had gotten. "I will do as you ask. You have my word."
"Captain, a word," Mersa said.
"Excuse me," Kalana said to Glean. "Report, Sergeant."
"We've finished..."
"So, throw the damn switch."
"We tried. The device has two power supplies. The control systems feed off the building's power, but the field generator uses a small thermoelectric generator located near the planet's core. We need to throw a switch in the control room above us."
"Let me guess, it’s a real, physical switch."
"Yes, ma'am. Like right out of an old horror movie."
"Where's the nearest usable stairwell?"
"About a thousand feet down the hallway." Mersa said as Trent joined them.
"A hallway filled with Selka..."
"I'll do it," Trent said.
"Can you pass through the ceiling?" Kalana asked.
"When I was a kid, sure, but I don't have to. That terminal is connected to the building's network. I can use it to travel to the control room and throw the switch."
Kalana nodded as she stared at Nova. "Network..." she said to herself. "Nova?"
"Yes, Captain?"
"Feel like a road trip?"
"What do you have in mind, Captain?"
"I need a report sent to the Barkno. I know this is a long shot, but it's all we've got. I want you to use the building’s network to find a transmitter that can get past the adamantine shield."
"I'll give it a shot, ma'am."
"Murph, go with her."
"Ma'am?"
"Murph, it's imperative we let the fleet know what's going on, and you two can travel the net like Trent, only you can't manifest a corporeal body like he can, so you can't throw the switch. Got it?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Hey, don't I have a say in this?" Glean said. "She is my partner after all."
Nova walked up to him and put her hands on his shoulders. "We will be fine. I'll be back in a jiffy, OK?"
"OK, but I don't like it. I worry about you."
"I know, and I appreciate it." She looked up. "Murph, you ready for a stroll?"
"Yes," Murph replied over the earcomms.
Suddenly, Nova's body sat down and closed her eyes.
"I hate when she does that," Glean said.
"They'll be fine," Kalana said. "Mersa, are you ready?"
"Yes, ma'am," the sergeant replied. "Trent, just call us on the earcomms when you're ready. They work fine in here." She then walked up to the Alue and said quietly. "Then get your gray ass back here in one piece. Got it?"
"The Alue saluted. "Aye, Aye, Sergeant Mersa." He turned into a ball of light before entering the data logging terminal.
"Ma'am!" Marcus yelled from his position near the door, "you need to see this!"
She ran over to the door "What is it, Private?"
He pointed to a glowing spot in the door. "Our friends are cutting through the door!"
"Shit! Marcus, you and Nana set up barricades around the door, then check your weapons. Glean!"
"Yes, Captain?"
"You are going to cover Mersa." She handed him a weapon and spare energy packs. "Mersa!"
"Ma'am!"
"Show him how to activate that thing."
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Now we wait."
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Nova and Murph appeared at a taxi stop in a deserted city. Buildings rose around them, all brightly lit as if waiting for the people to show up. Conveyances, both two and four-wheeled, waited at the curb for drivers who would never come. It reminded Murph of a post-apocalyptic horror movie where the people disappeared, leaving behind their instrumentality.
"I hated this place the first time we were in here," Nova said.
He looked at her and saw a female of his species--tall, statuesque, with skin mottled with all the colors of the rainbow while her hair was waist-length running from pure whit at the roots to jet black at the tips. He looked at a nearby window and saw himself. Except for a few minor tweaks, they could be twins. "You and me both," he replied.
"I was meaning to ask, have they ever seen you in your true form."
"Nope. They think I'm a disembodied elf. What about you?"
"Glean thinks I'm a unicorn. Go figure."
"We're wasting nanoseconds," he said while walking over to a two-wheeled conveyance. "We need to go." Though linked to the corporeal world, they measured time in units of system clock cycles, and this system was hellishly fast.
She mounted another of the two-wheelers and started it. "Where to?"
He pointed to a tall, brightly-lit pinnacle in the distance. "That looks like a network-enabled communications device."
"Either that, or it's an advertisement for light-bulbs."
He gave her a lop-sided smile, then started his bike. "Let's go."
They headed down a main thoroughfare toward the tower. Once clear of the parked vehicles, they opened the throttles.
"This is going to be easy," she said. She saw him looking around. "What's wrong?"
"This is too easy. The hairs on the back of my neck are bristling."
"You've been hanging with Kalana too much. You're going corporeal..." The ground exploded in front of her, throwing her off the bike and into a small grassy area where she lay very still.
Murph hit the brakes and came to an abrupt stop while spinning the vehicle around. He leapt from the seat, landing next to her while forming a pulse blast rifle. Setting it to full power, he aimed it in the direction the shot had come from. Out of the darkness walked the biped love child of a wombat and a mauler power suit. He pulled the trigger and held it down, chewing the thing into tiny pieces. More things came out of the dark to advance on them. He continued to fire, sending a dozen of them to hell.
Something grabbed him and threw him to the ground. One of the things had gotten behind him. It leaned over him, grabbing the gun and throwing it down the block. Using one of its lower arms, it grabbed him around the throat and held him there as it raised a meter-long sword over its head with an upper arm. He watched powerlessly as it smiled before delivering the coup de gras.
Its head exploded sending its spasming body off to the side where it finally died. He looked up and saw Nova standing there, pumping grenades into the darkness. "Fire in the hole!" she yelled as she grabbed him behind the dead thing, using its body to shield them from the blast.
A thousand flashbulbs lit the world for an instant.
Once his sight cleared, Murph looked over the creature’s body and saw a city-block sized hole where a dark park once existed. He looked over at Nova. "Are you OK?"
She nodded. "I hate computer viruses. I am so going to give the IT department a piece of my mind when we get back."
He smiled and helped her up. They walked over and saw her bike was wrecked, so they boarded his and sped off before anything else could attack them.
"I hope you don't mind if I drive," he said.
She laid her head against his back. "Have at it. I missed you, Murph."
"I missed you to, Nova. I hate these long separations."
"It’s the nature of the work. At least now, with the League and Confederation getting together, you and I'll have some down time."
"I'm looking forward to that," he replied.
The rest o
f the journey was uneventful. They arrived at the tower and headed inside, forming weapons just in case. Once inside the control room, Murph activated the transceiver system while Nova watched for visitors. "Barkno actual, this is Familiar. Do you read? Over."
Nova gave him a perplexed look. "Familiar?" she asked.
"A reference to someone who helps a witch. It was either that, or Fabulinus."
"Familiar, this is Barkno actual. Murph! Report!"
Murph dumped all the data he had collected. "Sir, as the captain would say, things are going to hell in a hand basket down here. It is my fervent belief that the only way we are going to diffuse the situation is to send the selka on to the next level of existence."
"I concur. I have Stryker Team Two under command of DCI Adon standing by. Say the word and they will come in with guns blazing."
"Sir, I am not sure if any non-selka can survive the activation of this device. Furthermore, our engagement outside the device core freed dozens of selka consciousnesses to roam the planet looking for bodies."
"What if Kalana fails?"
"I recommend you use a bark borer II missile, sir. The black hole should contain the consciousnesses."
"What about you and Nova, Murph? You could ride the comm beam to safety."
"No, I'm staying." He turned to Nova. "Go, save yourself..."
She put her finger to his lips. "No, Major, I'm staying. Can't save my friends while safely aboard your ship."
"Orders, sir?"
"Return to Team One. Tell Kalana that she has fifteen minutes to diffuse the situation, otherwise we'll unleash a BBII. Good luck and godspeed, Barkno actual standing by."
"We need to get back," he said. They ran out of the building, grabbed their bike, and headed back to the team.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Trent materialized in a darkened room. He panned his rifle-mounted flashlight around the room and found a light switch. Throwing it, he found himself in a room filled with dust-covered equipment. "Mersa, this is Trent. I'm here."
"Good, because our visitors are almost through the door."
"OK, what do I do?"
"Look around for an equipment rack connected to large conduits."
He looked around. "Found it. Rectangular steel box with four pipes coming from the top. They end at a wall."
"Is there a large knife switch anywhere on it?"
"Yeah, four of them,"
"Throw them, then get your gray ass back here."
"Nag, nag, nag..." He walked over and threw three of the switches. He never saw the thing emerge from the darkness between two cabinets. It attacked, tearing his gun from his grip while throwing him into a wall. Stunned and bleeding, he looked up and saw a spider-like robot advancing on him. He looked down and saw a lot of blood pooling around him. Unable to transfer back into the net due to his injuries, he leaned back and waited for the thing to finish him. That's when his hand found a large power cable. Praying to any god that was listening, he waited for the creature to attack. When it leapt at him, he tore the cable from the wall and plunged it into the things tooth-lined maw before throwing it into a corner where it exploded.
"Trent! What the hell's going on?"
"Sorry. One of the selka got fresh with me," he said while reaching up and throwing the final switch before passing out.
###
"Trent! Dammit, Trent, Answer me?" Mersa yelled as the device powered-up. The door exploded inward a split-second later followed by a swarm of synth-clad selka.
"Mersa, activate the system!"
The Basili sergeant slapped the activation button. The device began a buildup to field generation as Mersa and the other members of the team returned fire. "Two minutes!"
"Hold them back, people!" Kalana yelled as she went stryker and let loose with every weapon in her inventory. She saw Nana and Marcus transform and do the same. Selka bodies piled up in front of the barricade as the team fired into the horde. Kalana saw a round take out Mersa, then Glean, but she kept firing. The next to fall was Nana as her bots ran out of energy, causing her to switch back to organic form. She took a round in her chest as she dropped her rifle and fought the surging synths with knife and bare hands. Marcus soon followed suit, leaving Kalana alone to hold off the attacking force. She looked at the device and saw the timer go to zero as she reverted back to elf. A round hit her in the chest just as the device fired...
The universe blinked...
###
Collision alarms sounded in the Barkno as the sensors picked up a massive field pulse shooting toward them from the surface. "Hang on!" Williamson yelled to his people as the ship rocked when the field impacted its massive shields. Quiet quickly followed as the pulse passed by on its way out of the system.
"What the hell just hit us," Hamish asked while helping Marines off the floor.
"Sitrep!" Williamson ordered. The team reported no injuries.
"Major Williamson to the Bridge!" the PA squawked.
"Hamish, Gabe, with me," the major said as he hurried out of the room.
The three entered the Bridge and saw the crew staring at the main view screen. They could see Norash and a large bright disk above it. Streaming up from the planet were thousands of glowing objects, all of which were headed toward the disk. "Science!" the captain yelled. "What the hell are we looking at?"
"Sir! That's an interdimensional portal and those glowing objects are..."
"Spit it out, mister!"
"They read as consciousnesses, sir."
As they watched, more glowing orbs appeared, but they didn't come from the surface.
"And those?" Williamson asked.
"They're dropping from other-space, sir. These readings show the Cube as their point of origin."
More orbs appeared and flew into the disk.
"Captain," Hamish asked, "any word from Stryker Team One?"
"No, but we have their coordinates," he replied while handing the major a datapad.
"Gabe, I want Stryker Team Two down there, now! Hamish, you go with them."
"Aye, sir," Gabe said. He looked at Hamish, but the elf was already running to the shuttle bay.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Kalana awoke to something licking her face. Slowly opening her eyes, she saw an overweight dragon staring at her. Seeing she was awake, the beast trundled off.
"Captain?"
Kalana sat up and saw the rest of her team awakening around her. Trent, Mersa, Nana, Marcus, and Glean, all were staring at her. They were sitting in a forest glade surrounded by wild flowers. She could see a fairy tale castle off in the distance, complete with a fat dragon perched on one of the towers. It waved at her.
"Are we dead?" Mersa asked. Kalana noted that she was wearing jeans and a Hawaiian-print shirt. They all were.
"Where's Nova?" Glean asked
"And Murph?" Kalana added.
Two beings peeked out from behind a large tree. Both were tall, lanky, with white hair and rainbow-mottled skin. They reminded Kalana of meerkats. "Hello?"
They ducked back behind the tree.
"Hey, we're not going to hurt you..."
"We know that, Captain. Just give us a second to compose ourselves," a familiar voice said.
"Murph?" Kalana said in shock as the two aliens emerged from hiding and walked over. They held each other’s hands as if they were scared to death.
"Yes, mistress," the shorter of the two aliens said. Other than the height, they looked identical down to the white robes they were wearing.
"Nova?" Glean asked.
The taller alien smiled. "Hi, Glean. Surprise!"
Kalana slowly walked over to where the two stood. "Ummm, is this your true form?"
"It was," Kalana looked around and saw another alien. This one was a woman with dark hair and piercing eyes. She was wearing a black dress and bitching stiletto shoes.
"Wow. Talk about working the dress. Who the hell are you?"
"Xura, I'm the inspector in charge of your universe."
M
urph and Nova put Kalana and Glean between themselves and the woman in black. "Now, that's not nice. I promise, I won't bite."
The two AIs stepped out from behind their protectors. "Sorry," Murph said.
"Habit," Nova added.
"Enough chitchat," Kalana said softly so as not to startle her friends. "Where are we?"
"Between universes. Think of this as being the Rainbow Bridge or the Bright Light you see when you die."
"We're dead?" Nana asked.
"No. Your bodies are being healed as we speak, and I thought you'd like to see the fruit of your labors." She waved her hand and a planet appeared over the horizon. Above it was a bright disk. Thousands of orbs were leaving the planet and entering the disk while others appeared in the space above the planet. They, too, entered the disk.
"The selka?" Marcus asked.
Xura nodded. "They're heading off to the next step in their evolution. The eight of you did real good today. Congratulations."
"I could have ordered Mersa to input the kill sequence and be done with it."
"But you didn't. All of you knew you would die saving the very people who were trying to kill you. That's very evolved of you. You should be proud."
Kalana raised her eyebrows. "OK, I think." She looked at the AIs. "Is someone going to explain...them?"
"Nope, at least not now. Anyway, you're not going to remember any of this when I send you back."
Nova and Murph smiled. "Thank you," they said in unison.
"Hey, we aim to please." A bell chimed. "Ah, repairs are complete, and just in time. Your friends are here."
The universe winked out once more.
###
Kalana opened her eyes and found a very worried Hamish staring at her. She gently pushed him out of the way as she sat up and looked around. She saw her team scattered about the room, each under the ministrations of a stryker. All of them were awake and looking confused. "Murph, are you still with me?"
"Yes, Captain. What... What happened?"
"I don't know. She looked down at her chest and saw undamaged skin through a hole in her top. She saw similar holes in the others' shirts except for Trent. He had a large hole in the back of his shirt."
