“Well, the word means rockets, of course,” Gus said, looking like he was about to move into lecture mode.
“I know that,” Vic answered, “but what kind of rockets? Will they let me blow big holes in things?”
“From the position, I would hazard a guess that the ship has auxiliary rocket propulsion, and that those keys are the controls.”
“That’s what I was afraid they were.” Vic uncapped a speaking trumpet and started bellowing orders. “Everyone who’s not doing anything vital, strap in! Chief, get your boys to cut the lines, we’re blowing this burg!”
Moments later the ship shuddered as the stern lines let go, leaving only the nose mooring. “Come on, we need that nose line mooring free.”
Shots spalled off the glass as the gorillas below got into closer range. There was an explosion from above, followed by a voice through the tube. “All clear.”
Vic shook her head, she wasn’t sure she wanted to know what had just happened. As another round hit the glass, she stabbed at one of the keys. Nothing happened.
She stabbed at it again, and again nothing. More rounds bounced off the glass, like hailstones; this time she could see chips, as cracks started splay outwards like spider webs. Then she saw it, a switch above the rocket controls, marked turbo pumps. Praying they worked off the batteries, she flipped the switch, and then stabbed her finger down on one of the black keys. A gout of flame shot out from the front of the number three engine pod, forcing the airship to drift backwards at an angle. Glancing to her right, she tapped the equivalent key on the other side, triggering a burst from the number four.
Grinning like a child with a new toy, she hit the entire top row on both sides, and six gouts of flame kicked the airship backwards. Once they had backed clear of the tower Gus adjusted a lever, angling the rocket exhaust downward. As they rose, Vic caught a glimpse of the top of the mooring tower. The door to the landing stage had been blasted open by their rocket exhaust, revealing a mass of burning bodies. Further below, the rest of the brown shirts were streaming out from the bottom of the tower.
As the airship climbed, Vic couldn’t help looking around the inside of the crater. Just then, the crater rim caught fire. Black ash climbed into the sky while molten lava trickled down the inner walls, wiping out the path to the Flame’s cavern.
#
A tunnel that had been almost level now curved upwards to the right, growing a little steeper with every circuit Doc walked. Round and round he went, each step feeding the flame around his wrist. Despite the pain he found it an easy walk, unlike his captor. Schmidt seemed to be having difficulties; walking like his feet were dragging along the stone.
“Having trouble?” Doc asked as they reached another turn.
“Less trouble than awaits you,” Schmidt replied. “Now shut your mouth and keep moving.”
There didn’t seem to be any point to defying his increasingly unsettled captor, so Doc did as he was told.
After a few more minutes the temperature began to rise. It was warm underground anyway, but now Doc could feel the magma through the rock as they got closer to the center of the cone. The air was getting dryer, too; Pongo City avoided the worst of the humidity with its altitude, but now the air was approaching the middle of the Sahara levels. It must have been well over a hundred degrees, maybe a hundred and twenty, but he wasn’t sweating. Rather the sweat was evaporating as fast as it was appearing because the air was so dry.
The burning around his wrist had changed too. Now it was a leash, dragging him up the tunnel like an overenthusiastic dog. Doc still had pretty good control above the elbow, but everything below the wrist belonged to someone else.
So close… I will be One again… Hurry!
Doc choked back bile at the feeling of pleasure that wafted up from his arm.
A moment later he went around another corner, and was back in the chamber with the Flame. This time he was behind the creature, at the far end from the entrance. The Flame towered above him, at least ten feet tall. For the first time he got a good look at his foe; it was more than just a random fire. Patterns and images danced in the column like pure thought. It was a mind of pure energy born of patterns in fire. Tongues of flame crackled out from his left hand in sympathy as he came to an involuntary stop.
As the fire flickered before him, the images started telling a story. A spark traveling through the blackness of space, falling to a small blue planet. At first he couldn’t recognize the world, but as the image pulled back he remembered the landforms of the late Cretaceous. Landing hard, it threw up a volcano as it burrowed towards the core of its new world. Making a connection to the underlying magma, it built its mountain home but it was incomplete. Now the spark had become a flame.
With its increased strength it gained greater reach and spread outwards from its home, but there was only so far it could go before its spark went out. Finally it found the tools it needed, intelligent natives sufficiently far advanced that they were already working metals. At first it drew the smiths, bribing them with a fire hotter than they could imagine. Now a servant, it sought to become the master.
Amazingly, one of its tools saw through it and rebelled.
Bringing what the Flame would later know as a priest, its tool trapped it in an energy net that was millennia beyond its native technology. At the moment of its capture, a new world opened to the Flame. Energy danced along nanocircuits, leaping across interspatial connections back to the field’s power source. It was the promised land: an advanced base built by a star-faring civilization on the planet’s Moon!
From that moment on, it knew what it wanted.
It schemed fruitlessly through three of its new masters’ lifetimes before the base dropped into stasis, cutting the power connection to its prison. Within moments it had taken back its servants set things into motion.
Not even the dinosaur killer had done more than pause its plans, and now it had the key to its most burning desire right in front of it.
Doc blinked as the wave of information poured into his brain in a split second. Shaking his head to clear it, caught a glimpse of the marks on the wall. He was already well inside its reach.
“I have brought your host, My Master.” Schmidt’s voice was barely intelligible; whatever force was animating it was clearly burning out.
Fire scorched Doc’s cheek as a tentacle of flame shot past him and threw Schmidt against the far wall. Fire roared in his ears as the revenant hit the stone, the head going one way and the body another. One wrist hit a rock and bounced; the other snapped like a twig. The Luger skittered to a stop just a few feet in front of Doc.
He reached for it, but a tongue of flame got there first. It tossed the pistol down towards the magma below, bullets cooking off like popcorn on a hot stove. Doc looked around for another weapon, anything, but the chamber was empty. All he could see was the pillar of flame, the posts against which they had been tied, and Schmidt’s broken shell.
Are you surprised that I discard a tool so easily?
Doc kept silent, holding his mind closed against the voice.
Come to Me, accept My destiny, become My vehicle. Take Me back to the stars where I belong.
Despite all his defenses a wave of desperate yearning crashed into his mind, growing with every word.
Yes, tool of the Archonate; you are My perfect vehicle. You possess the codes to return me where I belong.
At the mention of the Archonate, Doc’s eyes flicked to Schmidt’s body, and the amulet lying beside the revenant’s outstretched wrist. The body was still wearing Gus’s wristwatch, though the crystal was cracked, revealing the glowing face of its radium dial; it might be radioactive enough to trigger the tap on the tractor field generator.
Walk to Me. Surrender willingly and accept My destiny.
Doc shook his head and started to edge sideways towards Schmidt’s body.
Join me…. join me… the voice from his wrist spoke up. Now it seemed weaker, somehow diminished by the presence of its p
rogenitor and the flames it had spilled. Doc wriggled his fingers, and then took another step towards the fallen body.
“Agh!” Doc whipped his head around in the direction of the voice. Somehow Schmidt’s head had not been destroyed and was clinging to some form of existence. The Flame shifted towards Schmidt’s head, and Doc took a few more sideways steps.
Do not delay the inevitable. You just give yourself more time to fear. Come to Me and lose your terror. Accept My destiny.
Doc was close now, and the Flame didn’t seem to be paying any attention to his movements; it was more focused on his mind’s surrender than his body’s movements. It was like a psychic cat playing with a mental mouse.
A rustling sound caught Doc’s attention. Somehow Schmidt’s right arm had reached out and pulled the head toward it.
I grow weary, the Flame’s mental voice screamed in his ears, as the pillar itself stretched upwards towards the rocky ceiling, blasting waves of heat across the chamber. Surrender yourself to Me Now! It grew a tongue of fire and whipped the end towards Doc.
He ducked and rolled slamming, his back into the rock beside Schmidt.
Animated by pure hate, the once-human thing rose to its knees to attack Doc. With one hand still holding its head, the creature smashed the stump of its broken wrist into Doc’s face. His cheekbone broke with a crack, sending a wave of pain across his face. The Flame’s fiery tentacle whipped across them, wrapping around Schmidt’s body and laying lines of fire across Doc’s shoulders. Each lash sucked a little more willpower from Doc, weakening him as he struggled against the revenant.
Schmidt punched Doc with one broken hand while trying to bite him with the head in the other hand. All Doc could do was try to keep the body between himself and the whipping flames as they scorched across the duo. As Doc struggled, Schmidt climbed inexorably up his body, sitting on top of him as the German tried to beat him to death. “It cannot take the dead,” Schmidt’s head muttered as the insane revenant bit at his face.
Motes of ash and red hot rock spun throughout the chamber, making it hard to breathe. The rock beneath him cut into his back. Each time the flames struck him the voice inside his head got louder and more insistent. His breath caught in his throat as cinders burned the inside of his nose.
Now the voices were telling him to fight, to push Schmidt away so the Flame could possess him. Doc was slowing down, each breath came harder as he fought with mind and body. He wasn’t going to last much longer. The only thought he could hold onto was that the Flame couldn’t possess the dead.
Schmidt’s headless husk towered above him. The revenant shoved at Doc’s wrist pushing his hand back towards the floor of the chamber as teeth clattered maniacally in its other hand. Fresh pain rose from the back of his hand as it hit something hard lying on the stone floor.
Scraping his hand sideways, he caught a glimpse of the object with his peripheral vision. It was the amulet!
Finding new strength, Doc twisted around and grabbed the amulet with his left hand. Not caring that he’d left himself open for the Flame he ground the amulet into the dial of Gus’s watch. Fire coursed across his back, as he threw his waning strength into one blow and ripped Schmidt’s head from the revenant’s hand, snapping fingers like kindling.
The Eldest Flame expanded, rearing upwards and back like a snake about to strike. It held that position for a long second, forming a demonic head with foot long fangs dripping flames like saliva. The amulet vibrated in Doc’s hand, its core tap triggered by the radium watch.
You’re Mine! The silent voice screamed in triumph.
Time dropped into slow motion as the Flame struck like a cobra. Holding the head in his right hand, Doc punched his left fist up through Schmidt’s hollow neck and into the skull, triggering the tractor field. A quarter of a million miles away, deep beneath the surface of the Moon, massive generators spun up to full power. Violet energy flashed out through Schmidt’s eyes and mouth as enough raw power to lift the Republic State Building to the top of Mount Everest thundered through the interspatial tap. Everything shook as the field took hold, wrapping the Flame in a mesh of solid force and pulling it into the revenant’s skull.
Noooooooo……….
Silent flames roared in his ears, leaping and screaming as tongues of fire washed past him. Stone flaked off the obsidian floor while rocks flew across the chamber as the flaming pillar was drawn up from the pit and into Schmidt’s open mouth. None of the flames escaped the skull; nothing escaped, not even heat. As Doc watched, the flame shrank to nothingness.
Finally, it was gone.
Doc stood up slowly and looked around. There was a sound like bubbles popping. Lava rose from the pit in the center of the chamber, and he turned to run. Cracks raced through the rocks, heading for the exit. He leaped one, then stumbled over another as pain shot up his leg. Forcing himself to continue, he staggered forwards, the lava flowing behind him.
Lava rumbled behind Doc as the chamber began to collapse, sending splashes of molten rock spraying against the walls. The mouth of the chamber was only a few feet away, but the lava was moving much faster than he was, hissing and crackling against the stone. He almost lost his footing as the ground shuddered beneath him. Lava hissed up from beneath him, and the sound surrounded him. The whole mountain was about to erupt.
Everything shook, and the lava picked up speed.
#
“Careful with the rockets,” Gus called over the noise of the engines. “You’re burning a lot of fuel.”
“Fuel, right,” Vic answered, but she let her fingers slide off the keys. The worst of it was that Gus was right. The rockets did burn a lot of fuel and she couldn’t see anywhere nearby to replace it.
The view from above was one of utter chaos. Brown shirts covered the field below, some milling in fear; others caught in the blast of the rockets. Further out, what appeared to be the rest of the population was gathering near the edge of the caldera. Off to her right, lava streamed down the wall of the crater, heading for the city. Vic swept her eyes across the instruments, and then back out the cabin windows. The airship was like a tiny armored bubble, floating above the chaos.
For the moment, they were safe.
Something moved at the mouth of the Flame’s cavern; it was Doc dashing out onto the ledge at the top of the path. He threw himself to the side mere seconds before a flood of lava came out of the opening and down the cliff. Biting her lip, Vic watched as he searched for a way out. Lava blocked both the path downwards and the cliff in front. He was safe on the ledge for now, but only for the moment. The lava flow was rising fast, and then his ledge would be useless. Burns showed across his back as he turned and began to climb up the cliff, favoring one leg. He was barely a hundred feet below the crater rim, but it was already starting to spill lava downwards and it was only a matter of time before he was in the lava’s path.
“Gilly, get me those engines. Now!” Vic yelled into the speaking tube as Doc’s movement spurred her into action. Her fingers itched over the rocket keys but she held back. Charging in with no way to stop without burning Doc alive wasn’t a good idea.
“They’re coming.” Jevan’s voice echoed back at her through the tube. “Just had to make sure we didn’t kill the batteries on the first try.”
“Okay, no battery killing. But Doc’s on the side of that cliff and I need engines to pick him up.” Vic fought the urge to stomp on the rudder pedals, knowing it wouldn’t do any good without steerage.
“Gilly’s about to start the first one now.” Jevan called a few seconds that felt like hours later.
A faint rumble followed his voice up the pipe as the first of the big twelve-cylinders turned over. It sputtered, choked, backfired, and then caught. Seconds later it was joined by another, and then a third. While Gilly brought the rest of the engines up, the control cabin started humming as the lights came up and the fans began to spin. Lights came on above the controls and the Zeppelin came to life. Vic reached for the controls, feeling out the r
udder and planes. Vaguely remembering how the helmsmen had worked the engines on the way in, she advanced what she thought was the port side throttle while adding a little rudder, trying to swing the nose around toward Doc. ZL-38 continued to drift placidly away from the cliff.
“Damn it, Jevan, what’s going on up there?” Vic slammed the lever all the way forward. “I’m not getting any response.”
“Hold on, Gilly’s doing something else. Not sure what it is, though.”
Vic didn’t answer; Jevan obviously didn’t know enough about mechanics to tell her what was going on in the engine room.
She was reaching for the lever to pull it back again when the airship started swinging hard to starboard. “Pitch, it’s not throttle it’s pitch.”
Hauling back on the lever she finally stabilized the airship and got it back facing the cliff. A second later they were swinging past. She fought the controls, trying to balance throttle and pitch without driving the Zeppelin into the side of the cliff. She had never flown anything this massive and it was sluggish responding to the controls. Doc’s airship was smaller and much lighter, so it handled much more easily. Finally she got it straightened out, having figured out just how much of a lead she needed before reversing thrust. They were a bit low, but Vic had him lined up with the hatch.
“Okay Gus, head up to the nose hatch and get him before he falls.”
The gorilla reached over and slapped the panel covers down over the rocket controls. “Just in case you get any ideas.”
Vic made a face. “Yes, Gus. I’ll be good.”
“See to it.”
He headed up the ship ladder, while Vic focused on easing the airship upwards, balancing it on the thrust of its six propellers. Her first attempt sent them zooming upwards, and only a quick grab for the pitch reversers kept them from sailing out of the caldera altogether. Vic bit her lip, this was tricky flying, especially with a ship she had never flown before. Luckily lyftrium didn’t expand like hydrogen, or she’d never be able to hold it against the cliff. Updrafts were bad enough, with hydrogen the heat would have had her venting gas like crazy. Well, until it caught a spark from the erupting volcano. That thought clenched her stomach, but she breathed out and put her focus back on the wall.
Against the Eldest Flame Page 14
