“Gonna need help with that,” Jaysin noted.
“But there are only a handful of us,” CiCi said.
“We’ll figure something out,” Darying said. “You all go activate the thrusters. I’ll head down to the cannon and get it ready.”
The others nodded. They had a plan, and they would execute it or (most likely) die trying.
Chapter XV
Daryn and the male crew member—whose name was Larz—arrived at the main cannon. The thing was a mile-long cylindrical shaft constructed out of a sickly orange metal. A melted blast door partially obstructed their view.
“Wow,” Daryn said when he saw it. Perhaps the shaft had looked good once, but now it was a hideous monstrosity. The walls had warped into almost stalactites and now resembled a charred cavern. Entire sections of the walls here and there had been blown out, blocking the path of the cannon’s massive beam, and exposed wiring hung from numerous places. The shaft was still smoking, filling the air with an acrid scent. Daryn felt the lingering heat from the blast which wrecked the place.
They made their way to a control booth built into the side of the wall in front of the blast door. “Be careful,” Larz said. “Not everyone here will be willing to help you. Some people loyal to Zeus may try to stop us.”
“I’ll handle anyone who tries,” Daryn reassured him.
A middle-aged man emerged from the control booth. “Who the yur are you?”
Daryn simply punched him out. “Like I said.”
They stepped over the fallen idiot and headed into the booth. Larz pushed a button on the panel next to the booth’s entrance.
They then climbed over the melted blast door and emerged into the shaft proper. “Where does the beam originate from?” Daryn asked. “I didn’t see anything that could produce it.”
Larz motioned to the shaft itself. “There are thousands of generators built into the walls. Each of them produces a small portion of the beam and hurls it down the shaft at the speed of light. The whole thing’s basically a modified particle accelerator mixed with a gauss rifle.”
Daryn stopped to examine one of the generators. It resembled a ball-point pen with its top on. “I can see why it wouldn’t work now. Most of these things are twisted at every conceivable angle.”
“Yes,” Larz said. “But they can still fire. The Titan simply won’t survive the process.”
Daryn nodded. “Well, let’s get this over with.” Larz looked away just as he had done on the bridge, refusing to meet his gaze. “What?”
“You remember… I told you you wouldn’t like this?”
“Yes. Because of the risk involved.”
Larz shook his head. “‘Risk’ involves a chance of it going either way. There’s no uncertainty here.”
Daryn had a sinking feeling his day was about to get a lot worse. “What do you mean?”
Larz told him. Daryn sighed. “Swell.”
* * *
Outside the Titan, high up in the atmosphere, Maya, Jaysin, CiCi and Priscilia spread out across the massive thruster protruding from the side of the spherical ship, in order to distribute their strength equally so they didn’t damage the thing while pushing it. The wind battered them, preventing vocal communication.
The female crew member—named Mindie—kept in contact via telepathy from the Titan’s core. Maya, come in. Do you read me?
I read you, Mindie. Are we ready?
Yes. You just need to push the thruster down ninety degrees. In other words, make sure it’s pointed at the ground.
Got it.
And be careful to avoid the exhaust when we turn it on. It’ll cook even you.
Good to know, Maya said with a certain amount of grim resolve. She then dialed into CiCi and Jaysin’s frequencies. Is everyone ready?
Ready, Jaysin replied.
Ready, Priscilia said.
Ready! CiCi cheerfully declared.
All right, Maya said. Let’s do it. On the count of three. One… two… three!
As one, they began pushing the thruster downwards. At first there was no give, and Maya was afraid they would break it while trying to force it into position. She cautiously instructed them to apply a little more pressure.
Then, as if the magic word had been said, the colossal structure began to obey, angling ever so slightly downwards. This continued for several minutes while they positioned it as needed.
Eventually, they succeeded and the thruster locked into position, pointed directly at Seraphim City (but high enough above the city that it would not harm it).
However…
Maya looked down at the scene of devastation unfolding below. The Titan continued to pummel the city, heedless of the innocent lives it was snuffing out. She remembered one time, before the deaths of her parents, seeing a picture of the aftermath of a catastrophic earthquake in some city she couldn’t remember. Ruined buildings; fires everywhere; water spraying up from ruptured lines like a macabre reverse waterfall; people crying out for someone to come and make sense of it all. She remembered hoping she would never live to see such a thing with her own eyes. Well, so much for that wish, she thought.
After they did the same for the other thruster, Maya contacted Mindie. We’re all ready down here. Fire up the thrusters.
You got it. Get clear now!
The four students flew away from the thruster. Within moments, a thunderous roar sounded, and a brilliant blue flame erupted. Maya felt the searing heat and instinctively threw up her hands to block it.
However, the ship remained in position. It’s no good, Mindie said. Without the secondary thrusters, Titan doesn’t have enough lift.
“But we don’t have enough time to reorient them,” Maya protested.
Against her better judgment, she stole another look at Seraphim City below. By the time they reoriented the secondary thrusters, there would be nothing left of it.
But suddenly an unfamiliar voice called out, “Maybe we can help!”
Maya looked up. A swarm of mysterious figures descended from the sky above Titan. There had to be a least a hundred of them. “Who are you?”
A woman she took to be their representative approached her and explained, “We’re friends of Ev. I’m Minerva. Sorry we’re late. It took a while to break out of Olympus and get all the way down here.”
Maya was taken aback by this, but knew better to badger her with questions. Instead, she just asked one. “Can you guys reorient the secondary thrusters? They need to be pointing down.”
“No problem,” Minerva said. “We owe Ev that much.”
The new arrivals scattered to all parts of Titan’s hull. Within minutes they had gotten all thrusters in position. Mindie then contacted her. All thrusters reoriented! Now commencing full ignition.
With a revitalized roar, Titan became a fiery orange ball. They watched as it rose steadily higher into the atmosphere, eventually breaking through and entering space. The lesser cannons continued to rain down lasers, but they fizzled out before reaching the surface.
I issued the evacuation order, Mindie said. Everyone should be gone now. Everyone sane, anyway. Give me about fifteen minutes to evacuate myself and then tell Daryn and Larz to blow this bastard.
Will do.
After the allotted time had passed, Maya contacted Daryn to tell him to fire the main cannon and then get the hell out of there.
But…
Change of plans, he said.
What do you mean?
Larz explained it to me. This thing fires at the speed of light. I’m fast, but no one’s that fast. As soon as I hit the switch, this whole place is going to blow. I sent Larz away, so it’s just me now.
Her heart sank. What are you saying?
There was silence. Then he said, I’m not going to make it.
No! she yelled. You have to make it! We’re all going home together.
You have to go home without me. I’m sorry.
She violently shook her head as if that would fix things. It’s not fair! I s
crewed you over, and now you’re telling me you have to die? You deserve better than that! What about Joss?
Don’t blame yourself. I forgive you for what you did to me. There’s no point in being angry anymore.
How can you be so calm about this?
I was raised in a military family. Ever since joining the Academy, I’ve considered myself its soldier. This is my duty. Besides, if I don’t, Joss could die.
There has to be another way! Like, I don’t know, a remote detonation or something.
There isn’t. And even if there was, we don’t have time to find it. This ship will soon return to Fake Zeus’ control. We have to destroy it now.
She fought back the tears. She never expected to shed them for Daryn Anders, the man who up until recently had hated her more than he’d ever hated anything in his life. But now, as the reality of his imminent death set in, she found she couldn’t stop them. OK. But before you go… Thank you, for everything.
Don’t mention it. And tell everyone how much I appreciate their friendship. Never in my life have I had friends such as these. Oh, and if you see Joss, tell him I love him.
She sniffed, her emotional control failing. I will. Goodbye, Daryn.
Goodbye, Maya.
* * *
What Maya didn’t realize was the fact Daryn was shedding his own tears. As he looked at the open panel in front of him, as he stared at the override relay and its accompanying switch, he tried not to think about the fact his life was about to end.
It was ironic, really. He believed in all manner of gods, but no afterlife. Sure, there were rumors of an afterlife in the previous universe, but not this one. As far as he was concerned, not just his life, but his existence was about to end. The thought terrified him and threatened to drive him to insanity. That was the real terror of death; not the pain, but the conclusion. Never seeing Joss again. But to keep his soulmate safe, he would do this.
In that moment, he made the decision to quit prolonging his agony. He flipped the switch and the shaft began to glow around him.
Goodbye, Joss.
* * *
Even from hundreds of miles below, the explosion was magnificent, a luminescent fireball which crackled with a billion points of light and uncountable pieces of debris. The Titan was quickly consumed by the energy Daryn had just unleashed. Countless pieces of metal fell to Narska as shooting stars. Thankfully, the biggest pieces had already been incinerated.
The collective attention of mankind was directed to the shimmering rainbow of energy which enveloped the planet from the exploding Ultimus Point. A more beautiful sight had never been seen before in the history of the world. It was a global aurora borealis.
Maya, watching below, finally allowed herself to cry. She had only recently begun to think of Daryn as a friend. And now she would never see him again. Fate was too cruel.
Jaysin, CiCi and Priscilia flew over to join her. “It’s done,” Jaysin said.
Unable to speak, Maya simply nodded.
“What’s wrong?” CiCi asked.
“And where’s the ginger?” Priscilia said with her typical lack of tact. Maya wanted to hit her, but she knew the haughty girl didn’t mean anything by it, didn’t know what had just transpired.
Maya put her hands to her face to hide the tears. She didn’t want anyone to see this. But they had already noticed. CiCi immediately closed the distance between them and embraced her friend.
“I see,” Jaysin said.
For a few minutes, no one said anything. They merely stood by Maya, offering unspoken emotional support.
Eventually, Jaysin said, “We should go find Ev.”
That instantly snapped Maya back to attention. “Ev! We have to make sure he’s OK. Yeah. Let’s go.”
“Good idea,” Minerva said. She and all her friends had gathered around while Maya was lamenting Daryn’s fate.
* * *
They flew over to the Murnau Islands where Ev and Zeus were last seen. The Titan’s main cannon had decimated a massive section of the islands, so they weren’t certain where to start. However, they decided to just follow the path of destruction. They ultimately discovered Zeus’ body lying in the middle of a smoking jungle or forest (they couldn’t tell with all the devastation). They grimaced at the sight the king of the gods offered. His entire back side had been burned away, leaving only a skeleton. The front, on the other hand, was still largely intact and still had its clothing.
They looked around. “I don’t see Ev,” Maya said.
“Help me move this big guy,” Jaysin said.
They each grabbed a different part of Zeus while trying to avoid touching his exposed bones. Within moments they heaved him aside.
“Ev!” Maya said. Ev lay imprinted in the ground by Zeus’ massive form. His clothes were trashed and there were burn marks all over his body.
Figuring he had suffered smoke inhalation, she knelt down and placed her mouth on his. She began lending her breath to him. Even though he was unconscious, the act still felt good, and she realized even this much was therapeutic.
Within minutes, he began coughing and opened his eyes. “What happened?”
“You got smooshed by the king of the gods,” Jaysin said jokingly. “Be glad you got smooshed by the part that still has clothes.”
Ev was soon able to stand again, wherein he took stock of the situation. “What happened to the Titan?”
“We destroyed it,” Maya said.
A big smile stretched across his face. “Then it’s over.”
“Looks like it,” Priscilia said. She was clearly relieved she wouldn’t be losing her powers.
“Good job, Ev!” Minerva said.
Ev gaped at her. “Minerva! When did you guys get here?”
“Just in time to help out,” she grinned.
The biggest of them, whom Maya understood to be Hercules, knelt beside the corpse of Zeus. “I wish it didn’t have to be this way, Father. But your ambition knew no bounds. It is sad but could not be avoided.” So, Zeus was Hercules’ father. She felt bad for him having to see a family member—even a monster like this one—in such a gruesome state.
They observed a moment of silence for Hercules’ loss.
“Wait,” Ev said when it was over. “Where’s Daryn?”
Everyone was silent. No one wanted to say it. Finally Maya decided she would have to do it. “Daryn… sacrificed himself to destroy the Titan.”
Ev’s eyes went wide. Shock registered on his face. “What?”
“It’s true, mate.”
Ev slumped to the ground. “H… How did it happen?”
Maya relayed everything that happened after he and Zeus left the Titan. When she was done, she said, “I’m sorry. I wish there was something else we could have done.”
“Don’t blame yourself,” Ev said, getting back to his feet. “You all did what you had to do.
“I know. I just can’t help but wonder if there was some way we could have saved him.”
Ev shook his head. “Don’t. I do that all the time with my mom now. It doesn’t help. All you can do is let it out and try to move on.”
“Does it work?” she asked.
“Not always. But it helps.”
“It’s funny,” she said. “I was never consumed with trying to think of a way I might have saved my own parents. Back then, I thought of it more as a force of nature. You know, like a hurricane, something that just happens and you can’t stop it. But now that I’m an adult, the responsibility is heavy.”
Ev nodded. “I know. All we can do is carry it the best we can.”
A flicker of a smile returned to her lips. “You’re right. And I think I know how to do that.”
“How?” CiCi asked.
“Let’s head over to Seraphim City. There are a lot of people who need our help right now.”
* * *
Marli Drezowicz, along with her nine-year-old daughter Neena, was pinned down by what had once been the ceiling of her apartment in Seraphim City. Nei
ther could move more than an inch. Marli had thrown herself on top of her geemam when the thing in the sky began raining down death and destruction. Now she had brick and mortar wedged into her back and was in a significant amount of pain.
“Are we going to be OK?” Neena asked.
“Yes, geemam. Bethos will save us. He did once before and he’ll do it again.”
“Will he send Ev Banner again?”
Where Gods Dare (Divine Protector Book 4) Page 17
