As the pieces of the shattered drone pelted down, Luna charged out from behind the flaming Highlander with arms held high. Beams of light slashed up from her fingertips and struck a second drone; it wobbled as she boosted its weight, working to drag it down.
Then, a spear of hardened sand from Mojave punched into her gut, sending her reeling. Mojave and his partners were back in the game.
The weight-shifting ended as Luna took the blow, and the cloud-shrouded drone turned its fiery maw in her direction. The maw glowed brighter, about to fire...
And a jet of water from Mahoney’s hands stabbed into it, extinguishing the flame before it could spew out at us.
Duke and I ran to help Luna, even as Mount St. Helens burned the green mass off her face with superheated fingertips. With a bellow of rage, she rose higher and glowed brighter, pulsing red and gold.
Everyone and everything we faced opened fire on us at the same time. St. Helens let loose with a volley of fireballs, and Mojave fired fused-sand blades. Mississippi churned out a high-velocity waterspout, and the two remaining drones rained down rivers of fire.
With a desperate act of will, I managed to dredge up a huge sheet of granite from underground and drape it over most of us just in time. Minthe, Nephelae, Duke, Luna, and I huddled under that curtain of stone as the flame, fireballs, blades, and waterspout splashed over it in a punishing wave.
Peering around the edge of the shield, I saw Mahoney was still taking a pounding on his own, holding back the worst of the onslaught—just barely—with a barrier of river rock he’d erected.
More tongues of fire lashed down from the drones, and more balls of flaming lava smashed into my granite shield. If the barrage continued for much longer, I wasn’t sure we could hold out against it, let alone win the fight.
As if to reinforce my thinking, my control of the shield slipped, and it slumped toward us. Gritting my teeth, I clawed for my link to the Earth, hooking it like a fish trying to wriggle away. Fresh energy sizzled through the connection, and I channeled it into the shield, shoring it up just in time for another assault.
When that latest bombardment ceased, I popped up from behind the granite for a look at the full extent of the battlefield. Glancing up the street, I saw Phaola trading energy blasts with two male Terralyzers, even as Briar and Roy, in their diamond armor, fired guns at a third who had them pinned down behind a truck. Down the street, I saw Ashanti struggling hand-to-hand with another Terralyzer lit by a flaring nimbus of golden energy. Even as they tumbled through the sky, Deputy Withers and Rusty fired rifles at two other energized enemies marching inexorably toward them.
My gut churned as I ducked back down behind the barrier, just missing a strike by an incoming salvo of deadly force. Everyone was fully engaged, and our side wasn’t winning. It was then I realized the time had come for the strategy I’d been keeping to myself.
“Luna!” I grabbed her by the shoulder. “You’re in charge! Whatever you do, hold the line!”
“Why?” She looked confused. “Where are you going?”
“I have to step away,” I said. “Hopefully not for long.”
“We need you here,” said Duke. “We need all hands on deck!”
“You’ll have to manage without me.” Even as I said it, I was getting ready to leave, feeling around underfoot for the ley line network that ran through the skin of the Earth. “I know you can do it.”
“Earth Angel, no!” shouted Duke.
But I was already gone before he could say another word, my body slumping to the pavement as my mind dove into the ley lines of crackling geologic energy.
32
The ley line network was as old as the world itself, and I knew it well. I could use it to travel from place to place, investigate trouble spots, repair damage...and, in this case, track the forces of darkness to their source.
Diving into the system, I spotted signs of the Terralyzers right away—roiling balls of disruption among the shimmering tendrils threaded through my town. Wasting no time, I zipped toward the closest one and threw myself into orbit around it like a planet around a blazing sun.
I could have done some damage from there, but that wasn’t my goal. Instead, I continued to circle, feeling around for the one thing I’d deserted my body to find.
And there it was. A single slender strand of incandescent white light ran from the belly of the pulsating yellow sphere and shot off through the glowing web of the network.
As soon as I saw that white strand, I knew it was exactly what I wanted—a trail to follow. I shot over and raced along it as fast as I could go, skimming the radiant beam like a surfer riding a wave.
As I went, I saw other strands of the same size and whiteness, branches leading to other Terralyzers in the conflict. I flew past them, staying fixed on the branch I was riding.
They all led to the same main conduit, though—a thicker, brighter strand from which they all got their power. I rode my own branch to the intersection point and shunted onto it, then took off like a bullet from a gun, propelled by the conduit’s higher energy.
I picked up speed the further I got from the battle, rocketing through the glowing network. The sparks of other minds and phenomena flared around me, riding other lines and leaping between them.
At first, I had a vague sense of where I might be, what topography sprawled above—but it faded as my speed picked up. Soon, I lost all track of where I was or how far I’d gone; it could as easily have been ten miles from home as a thousand, five minutes away as fifty hours.
It’s possible to get lost inside yourself, especially when you’re a planet. Down in the darkness among the glowing strands, everything looks the same. You start to wonder if you’ll ever find your way out.
After a while, though, the darkness brightened, and the conduit heated and swelled. I had the feeling it was taking me somewhere important—not home, but somewhere I badly needed to be.
Then, suddenly, the conduit carried me up to a dazzling white orb that was spinning fast within a gleaming crimson shell. It was there that the conduit ended, piercing the side of the orb so it flared with blinding white light. I could feel the energy racing up the line and into the orb, burning hot as it entered the furnace.
Scrambling off the line before I got cooked, I found myself afloat, drifting around the pulsating orb. It wasn’t until it spoke to me, however, that I knew for sure I’d come to the right place—the source of the power controlling Landkind.
Thank you for coming. The orb’s voice sounded male and deep. By leaving your body, you have saved me the trouble of hollowing you out.
A wave of panic shot through me. I’d expected to be the one doing the surprising.
It never occurred to me until just then that my own plan had led me into a trap.
That’s right, said the mind inside the orb. I wanted you here for my own purposes. My own satisfaction. That has always been my only goal.
Focusing my thoughts, I beamed them across the space around the orb. I thought your goal was to serve the United States military. To put the soul of the world under their control.
I was buffeted by rippling waves of energy as the orb laughed. They have been serving me! And I serve only myself!
Confused, I struggled to understand. Who are you? What are you talking about?
Don’t you remember me? Again, the orb laughed. Well, you should. You and I go waaay back.
How far back? I asked.
Sixty-six million years back! roared the orb. Does that ring any bells?
I dug deep into my memory, tunneling back as far as I could—and found myself wishing I’d spent more time studying my own history. Beyond a certain point, the past became a blur, a muddle of sensory input mashed together.
I don’t know, I said. I don’t remember.
You have to! snapped the orb. It was the biggest and most destructive event in your history! It was the thing that hurt you more than anything before or since!
I still don’t know, I said.
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With a cry of enraged frustration, he beamed a stream of images and sensations into my mind. It was too much for me at first, and I recoiled—but then, with a monumental effort, I dug in and stood my ground.
The download washed over me with agonizing vividness—the massive rock plunging from the sky, crashing into the Earth with devastating force. Solid rock rippling like water from the impact, shooting walls of fiery pellets like hails of bullets in all directions. Firestorms surging out in rings from the impact zone, cooking every living thing instantaneously. The shrieks of the dying drowned out by the roar of the storms and aftershocks, the thunderous crash of waves massive enough to flood entire continents.
The screams of the world itself as it wobbled in its orbit, rocked to the core by the pulverizing blow. My screams, resounding across millions of years with the pain and terror of a planet torn asunder.
Hearing them echo in my mind, it all came back to me. I remembered...and immediately wished I had not.
The asteroid! said the orb. The one that made the Gulf of Mexico and wiped out nearly every living thing! I am that asteroid’s life force, dredged up from the Chixculub crater by offshore drillers, reawakened to finish my mission after all these millions of years.
What mission is that? I asked.
Complete takeover of your world from the inside out, said the orb. Annihilation of all lifeforms and replacement with those grown from the seeds I brought with me from my distant launch point. I will remake your world, said the orb, and you can’t do a thing to stop me!
33
You had a mission? Even among the myriad memories I’d retrieved, this jumped out at me. It was a complete surprise, something I’d never considered in 66 million years.
It cast the long-ago disaster of Chixculub in a terrible new light. If that asteroid collision in ancient times was intentional, not an accident, then the whole thing had been an attack. An invasion.
And according to the orb, the threat was not only real, it was resurgent. It had been at the heart of the Terralyze menace all along.
Given that, it didn’t take much to piece together other facts, too.
The minds implanted in the hollowed-out Landkind, I said. They don’t belong to human soldiers at all, do they?
Of course not, said the orb. Those minds are all pieces of me. Fragments of the Allself sent to reshape and rule this world as the paradise it was always meant to be—which to you and yours will seem an endless nightmare.
But you failed before, I said.
A slight miscalculation in my angle of approach, said the orb, the Allself. I never meant to hit so hard or bury myself so deep. But my millions of years of waiting and planning were well spent, and I will not fail again.
Even as he spoke, I drifted around him, picking my moment. One of us had to make the first move, and I thought I’d stand the best chance if it was me.
Still, I knew the risk would be great. Going into battle without knowing the enemy’s full capabilities could be a recipe for disaster.
But I’d come here—wherever “here” was—to do a job, and that job was more important than ever. I wasn’t just facing off with a government project hoping to install a puppet in the driver’s seat of the Earth. I was confronting a truly alien force with the goal of remaking the world in the image of an alien nightmare-scape.
By far, it was the biggest fight of my life...and I had no one to back me up or ease my burden. Every last bit of it was on my shoulders.
And time was running out. He was telling me so.
By the way, your friends are almost beaten, said the Allself. I see their struggles through the eyes of my shock troops, and they cannot win. They won’t last much longer.
You’re wrong. I kept circling him, gathering my strength and will for what was about to happen. They’re tougher than you can imagine.
Waves of laughter rippled out from the Allself. You’re a funny little planet-soul, you know that? I almost hate to execute you.
I looped around him again and again, building up steam and courage. I felt so vulnerable in my non-corporeal form, little more than a spark of energy—though, in truth, that spark was just a focal point, and the vast reaches of my full potential lay far beyond the limited space in which I floated.
The thing is, you’ve been doing a shitty job as a world, said the Allself. And we both know it. You ought to be relieved that I’m taking the place off your hands.
It was then that I finally let loose, blasting away with everything I had. Because I knew he was telling the truth, at least a little.
That was why I unleashed such a punishing bombardment of raw energy, channeled directly from my distant, molten core. I shot it right into the heart of the Allself’s orb, blitzing its consciousness with seething, scalding power.
Subjected to this barrage of pure force, the orb flared and spun, recoiling from the attack. Where was its sarcasm now? What happened to its predictions of my defeat and execution?
The orb contracted, tightening its circumference under the blistering assault. I kept it up, intensifying the burn with every intention of wiping him out.
Then, suddenly, the orb expanded violently, ejecting a concussive wave that hurled me across the crimson shell. More waves followed, pinning me to the gleaming curve of the shell, hammering me as I stuck there.
Not enough, little pinprick, roared the Allself. You took your best shot, but it wasn’t enough. And now you are depleted and at the mercy of your replacement!
The pressure of his grip increased. I strained to break free but could not.
That was when I realized he was going to stay true to his promise. He was going to kill and replace me, and there was nothing I could do about it.
34
Die, little world-gnat! howled the Allself as he pummeled me with one blow after another. Your time has passed! Your people are doomed! Let the void take you and be done with it!
I felt myself weakening. His power was just too great to resist—too alien. Every time I gathered strength and pushed back, he adapted, changing the wavelengths and other properties of his unique energy to scramble my own resistance.
Surrender now, and I promise not to slaughter your friends...too painfully. He laughed and hammered away with ever-stronger bursts of energy, keeping me on the ropes.
I suddenly realized that I might be about to die. Though I’d come here full of confidence and ferocity, I’d underestimated the enemy. I hadn’t expected to find some ancient alien force that had brutalized me in the distant past, some vengeful monster that had spent the past 66 million years planning and powering up to destroy me.
Now there I was, suffering under an onslaught I couldn’t deflect, my spark growing dimmer with each fresh blast.
It feels good to finish old business, said the Allself as he lashed out again and again. To finally put the past behind me. To finally put you behind me.
I cringed as bolts of agony shot through me like blazing hot shrapnel through flesh. I couldn’t imagine withstanding this kind of relentless assault for much longer.
The truth is, part of me wanted to surrender and let the Allself destroy me. I’d been careless and selfish, putting off delving into my legacy as Mother Earth in favor of staying in my safe little world with Briar, Duke, and the rest. I’d done some good and saved some lives, but I’d turned my back on most of my responsibilities and hadn’t kept watch over my friends the way I should have.
Maybe, if I’d been paying attention and really standing guard, Phaola and the others wouldn’t have been victimized. Maybe I could have stopped the Allself’s scheme before it got as far as it did.
Maybe now, with the fate of the world teetering into darkness, though I once could have stopped it, I deserved everything I got.
So this is how it feels to murder a world, said the Allself. This is how it feels to do what I was born to do.
I got in some shots of my own, knocking him off balance, but only briefly. He came back stronger than ever, jackhammering my
consciousness with a flurry of strikes that left me dazed and vulnerable.
I’m almost sorry it’s over, he said. This is by far the most satisfying experience I’ve ever had.
Another blow sailed in, and another. The agony intensified to the point of being unbearable.
And then he made it worse.
Before you die, here’s a little gift to send you off. He laughed, shaping another charge from the churn of his bodiless energy form. Enjoy this peek at what’s happening back home. One last glimpse of your precious loved ones so you’ll perish with their suffering faces in your mind.
He hurled the charge, sending it careening like ball lightning across the gap between us. As soon as it struck me, my mind’s eye was flooded with images of Confluence.
Bodies were scattered in the street—some still, some struggling in vain to get up and continue the fight. Every one of them was one of my people—Phaola, Luna, Minthe, Nephelae, Mahoney, Roy, Rusty…Briar. As I watched, Ashanti joined them, hurled to the pavement by blasts of energy from all directions. That left the Terralyzers on their feet and hovering over the battlefield, grinning at the decisive victory they’d achieved.
Only one man stood to oppose them. Duke stepped out from behind the twisted wreckage of a pickup truck, head held high and shoulders squared. He walked toward them, yanking live grenades from the earthen matter of his belly. He pulled the pins with his teeth and wound his arms back to pitch, even as the drones and vicious enforcers converged around him, ready to pounce.
It was the moment before his death—his second death—and I knew it. That was when the view of Confluence winked out. My mind’s eye was cut off from the scene.
Don’t worry, said the Allself. You’ll all be together again very soon, reunited in death. You see? I’m doing you a favor.
I seethed against the smooth crimson curve of the shell, remembering every detail of the vision he’d shown me. The sight of my friends’ defeat and impending annihilation was burned forever into my mind, spawning storms of rage and hatred swirling within me.
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