by Lucas Flint
“In the long run? I think so,” said Rubberman. “But I’m not entirely sure. Having that piece of the Rubber Ball put inside my body … I’ve never done that before, so I can’t say for sure what the long-term effects will be. But I’m definitely not going to die, at least. That much I know.”
“Whew,” said Bolt. He stood up and glanced over at Sasha, who still lay unconscious on the floor where he had left her. “I don’t think Sasha is going to be getting back up anytime soon.”
Rubberman also rose to his feet, dusting off his pants at the same time. “I agree. She’s out for the count, though once she wakes up, she’s going to be angry beyond belief.”
“Hopefully the police will be here by then to take her to jail,” said Greta. She waved her phone at us. “The wonders of modern technology, eh?”
“Yeah,” said Bolt. “But given how much pull she has in the government—”
“It won’t do her any good,” said Rubberman. “Maybe if the Silent Shadow hadn’t livestreamed her confession to the entire Internet, it would have helped, but that evidence is out there on the Internet now and I have a feeling it will go viral. No one with any sense of self-preservation—which is to say, about ninety-nine point nine percent of all politicians on the planet—will want anything to do with a woman as corrupt as her, not if they want to keep their offices.”
“What about you?” said Bolt, looking at Rubberman. “Won’t you go to jail, too, because you helped her?”
Rubberman shrugged. “I don’t know. If I have to go to jail for helping her, I will, but I’m going to see if I can hire a lawyer who could argue my innocence. Maybe they’ll believe me if I tell them that she manipulated me the entire time and I was forced to do those things against my will.”
“Well, I hope you can,” said Bolt. “A man like you doesn’t deserve to go to jail. You’d better serve Golden City if you didn’t have to wear an orange jumpsuit.”
Rubberman smiled. “Thanks, but I think you’re being too nice. I’m not a good man. Or a brave man, anyway. If I was, I would have stood up to Sasha a long time ago.”
“No,” said Bolt, thinking of Beams, “I think that even the best men can be beaten down sometimes and that they need encouragement just as often as anyone else.”
“True,” said Rubberman with a nod. He frowned. “In any case, what are you and Shade going to do now?”
Bolt looked at Greta. “We have a deal with Greta’s boss to get us a dimensional portal.”
Rubberman blinked several times. “I know that Mr. Monsoon has a reputation for, uh, believing in ‘esoteric’ ideas but don’t tell me you believe he can actually send you to another universe. Or that he believes you two are from another universe.”
“Come on,” said Shade. “After everything you’ve seen, you still think we’re lying about that?”
“Or just crazy,” said Rubberman. He shook his head. “But it doesn’t matter. Interdimensional travel is completely fictional. You might be able to read about it in science fiction novels, but you will never see it in real—”
Rubberman was interrupted when a dimensional portal suddenly exploded into existence in the doorway to the balcony. Bolt, Shade, and Rubberman all turned to face the portal, while Greta shrieked like a mouse and backed away quickly, her blue eyes wide with fear.
As it turned out, however, neither Greta nor anyone else needed to fear the portal, because the woman who stepped out of the portal was someone who Bolt recognized and knew was on their side.
“Galaxy!” said Bolt, waving at Captain Galaxy. “Long time, no see!”
Captain Helena Galaxy smiled. She looked about the same as she did the last time Bolt saw her, though the tips of her hair appeared to be singed for some reason. “I’m glad to see you two again as well. It was hard to pinpoint your location, but the Adventure’s computers were certainly up to the task.”
“What universe were you sent to?” said Shade. “And how did you escape it?”
“Space saved me,” said Galaxy. “As for the universe I was banished to … let’s just say it was not a fun place to be and leave it at that.”
That was when Bolt noticed an odd, long scar running down the side of Galaxy’s neck. It looked like a wound created by a knife to him, but he wasn’t sure where she had gotten that injury from. Maybe she had gotten hurt while she was in whatever dimension the Dread God had banished her to. Bolt made a mental note to ask her about it later, once they were safely back home.
“More importantly, are you two okay?” said Galaxy. “Are you capable of walking on your own?”
“Of course,” said Shade. “We’re ready to go home now. We got a little beat up, but nothing a good night’s sleep can’t fix.”
“I doubt either of you will be getting a good night’s sleep anytime soon,” said Galaxy, shaking her head, “given the way things are progressing, I think none of us will get a good night’s sleep for a while.”
“What do you mean?” said Bolt. “Has something bad happened since the Dread God banished us?”
“You could say that,” said Captain Galaxy. Her eyes darted toward Rubberman and she frowned. “What are you looking at?”
Rubberman was staring, not at Captain Galaxy, but at the dimensional portal right behind her. His jaw hung open, making him look like a big idiot, and his eyes were so wide that they looked like bowling balls. Greta was staring, too, though she was also crouched low as if she was trying to hide from Galaxy.
But when Captain Galaxy addressed him, Rubberman shook his head and said, “Oh, nothing. I’m just coming to terms with the fact that I apparently live in a science fiction novel. That’s all.”
Captain Galaxy raised a questioning eyebrow but then shook her head as if to decide it didn’t matter, and said to Bolt and Shade, “If you guys are done here, then you need to come with me. Space is getting Beams and Hypno and we agreed to meet back on the Adventure as soon as possible. I’ll explain the situation to you guys there, but be warned that things have taken a definite turn for the worst since the Dread God banished us … and if we don’t act now, we can say goodbye to all hope of stopping him for good.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
About an hour later, Beams found himself in the bridge of the Adventure, sitting in one of those odd floating chairs which Space, Galaxy, and Sparky liked to sit in. It was an odd sensation, sitting on a soft and comfortable recliner that wasn’t even touching the floor, but in comparison to the bed he had been lying on a few minutes ago, it was quite comfortable indeed.
The others were also sitting in floating chairs. Shade was sitting with her legs crossed and her hands behind her head, a relaxed expression on her face, while Hypno was pressing random buttons on the arms to test out the various features the chairs came equipped with. One of the buttons caused a holographic cube to appear in front of him, which Hypno immediately began messing with, tearing it apart and rearranging the parts and making his own creations. The holographic cube probably had some kind of practical purpose, but for the life of him Beams could not say what it was, so it looked an awful lot like a toy to him, especially with the way Hypno played with it.
Only Bolt lacked a chair and that was because he could already fly on his own. He hovered near Shade, his arms folded in front of his chest, looking rather impatient as they waited for Space and Galaxy to start the meeting.
The four of them had reunited about an hour ago on the bridge of the Adventure. Beams had been overjoyed to see Bolt and Shade alive again, but the four of them had not been able to talk much because of the meeting that was about to take place. Space and Galaxy, who had left the bridge earlier to check on something, were going to explain what was up with the IEA and what had happened since the Dread God banished them.
Even so, Beams was very eager to know what kind of universe Bolt and Shade had ended up in. The two of them didn’t look very badly wounded, but they still gave off the impression that they had had quite the adventure of their own. Beams figured they probably wante
d to learn about his and Hypno’s adventures as well, but they would have to wait until later to find out about them.
I just hope that the Dissidents do well without our help, Beams thought. They’re good people trying to do good things. Kind of wish I could have stayed a little while longer to see how everything worked out.
Unfortunately, due to the urgency of their situation, Beams and Hypno had been unable to stay behind to help the Dissidents further. Genius hadn’t been offended by that, however. He even gave them the handheld portal generator he had made and insisted they keep it, despite Beams’ best effort to give it back to him. Genius had told them that they would find more use for the generator than he would.
It’s a neat weapon, Beams thought, glancing down at the portal generator in his lap, though given how I’m with Space and Galaxy now, I’m not sure if it’s useful.
Space had said that it was a ‘decent’ portal generator, though not as good as what the IEA offered its agents. Even so, Beams would treasure it always, because it would always be a reminder of that universe and the people who he had helped within it.
His thoughts were interrupted by the doors to the bridge opening and Space and Galaxy entering the room, with Sparky following closely behind. Three more chairs floated down to pick them up and soon Space, Galaxy, and Sparky joined the circle of floating chairs in which everyone else sat.
“Hey, everyone,” said Mr. Space as they joined the circle of floating chairs. “Sorry for the delay. We just needed to make a few adjustments to the Adventure’s security systems to make sure we wouldn’t be interrupted while having this meeting.”
“Interrupted?” said Shade. “By what?”
“Commander Aster,” said Captain Galaxy. She scowled. “Or I should say, Chief Aster, now that he has been elected to the office.”
“Who got elected to what now?” said Bolt, a frown on his face. “If we’re going to start talking about politics, I’m out.”
“Dean Aster,” said Captain Galaxy. She tapped a few buttons on her chair’s arms and a hologram of a young-looking guy with a Mohawk on his head appeared in the center of their circle. “Formerly Captain of the Odyssey, promoted to the Commanderate about ten years ago, and now the current Chief of the IEA.”
“That means he’s the big guy in charge,” Mr. Space explained to a puzzled-looking Bolt, Shade, and Hypno. “The old chief, Amanda Nebula, got assassinated recently by a traitor within the organization.”
Beams nodded. He was familiar with all of this, of course, having been present for the meeting in which he learned of that. But the other three hadn’t, which explained why they were so confused.
“Could you start from the beginning and explain this all to us slowly?” said Hypno. “We’re not entirely sure what is going on here.”
Mr. Space gave a brief but accurate summary of the battle between the IEA and the Darzens, as well as the aftermath. He did not mention how Beams had been briefly possessed by the Dread God and attacked him, which Beams was thankful for, because that was something he was not proud of doing. True, the Dread God had made him do it, but Beams was starting to wonder just how much difference there was, really, between him and the Dread God.
Guess I’ll find out when I go back to my universe to get the God Slayer, Beams thought.
“And so the Commanderate voted Dean Aster to succeed Amanda Nebula as the next Chief,” Mr. Space finished. “Which caused the Captain of Aster’s ship, the Odyssey, to take his position as one of the Commanders. That’s to ensure there are always seven Commanders, per the IEA Constitution.”
Bolt, Hypno, and Shade looked far less confused now, though Hypno did say, “You are going to have to explain the whole command structure for your little organization to us at some point, I think, because it’s rather confusing.”
“Later,” said Beams. He leaned forward in his chair, his eyes locked on Mr. Space. “Space, when you came to pick up me and Hypno, you claimed that the Darzens now control the IEA, but you didn’t elaborate on what you meant by that.”
“Oh, right,” said Mr. Space, nodding. “I was about to get to that. Had to explain everything first so we’re all on the same page, but now that we have the exposition out of the way, it’s time to explain what I meant.”
“Let’s just get straight to the point,” said Captain Galaxy. “We have reason to believe that the traitor within the IEA is none other than Chief Aster.”
“You mean this Aster guy murdered Nebula?” said Bolt. He looked at the hologram of Aster that floated in the middle of their circle. “He doesn’t look like an assassin to me.”
“No, Aster didn’t do it himself,” said Captain Galaxy. “I was able to confirm that Aster was indeed on the Odyssey commanding his forces against the IEA during the battle. But one of his crewmates probably did it. It would have been easy, especially given how Nebula was open to talking to everyone, even the lowest ranked Cadets.”
“But why would Aster do that?” said Beams. “Granted, I don’t know the man all that well, but he didn’t strike me as a very devious fellow.”
“It’s a mask hiding a far more cunning mind,” said Captain Galaxy. “Chief Aster might sometimes appear to be a bit of a ditz, but you don’t rise to Commander on sheer luck alone. We think he probably killed Nebula in order to position himself in the right place to be elected as the next Chief.”
“And why would he do that?” said Shade. “Power?”
“Probably,” said Captain Galaxy. “We don’t know for sure. All we know is that ever since he’s taken office, he’s forced the IEA to be on the defense against the Dread God. He claims it is because the Dread God is too powerful for us to take head-on, but frankly we don’t believe that.”
“Why?” said Bolt. “The Dread God really is powerful, right?”
“Right,” said Captain Galaxy, “but the reason we don’t believe it is because Aster immediately posted bounties for you four as soon as he got into office. Let me show you.”
Captain Galaxy tapped her touch screen again and the hologram of Aster was replaced with four floating holographic wanted posters. Beams instantly recognized himself and the others, whose pictures showed their faces quite clearly. Underneath their pictures were more words and numbers he couldn’t read, though he had a sense that they said something along the lines of ‘wanted, dead or alive.’
“Each one of you is worth fifteen million credits, according to these posters,” said Captain Galaxy.
“Fifteen million credits?” Shade repeated. She frowned. “Um, how much does that translate to in US dollars?”
“There are no exchange rates from US dollars to IEA credits,” said Sparky, “but trust us, very few targets of the IEA ever come even close to having bounties this high. The Chief did this to ensure you four were caught, perhaps killed.”
“That was the biggest tip-off that Aster is compromised,” said Mr. Space. “Why would he tell us to back off on the Dread God and the Darzens and instead refocus all of our efforts on capturing you four? It doesn’t make a lick of sense unless Aster is the traitor.”
“If Aster is the traitor, do the other Commanders know this?” said Hypno.
“We’re not sure,” said Captain Galaxy after exchanging a look with Mr. Space. “It’s possible some of them might be his collaborators, but frankly I think it is more likely that Aster has dirt on some of them and blackmailed them to vote for him. Aster was never really popular with the other Commanders, so it doesn’t make sense that he would somehow manage to convince more than half of them to vote for him. Commander Nova would have made far more sense, especially due to his experience.”
“But we haven’t shared our theory with anyone outside this ship,” said Mr. Space quickly. “Aster is going crazy. He’s monitoring all communications in and out of HQ and, while we don’t think he’s punished anyone for dissent yet, we think he’s heading there.”
“That is why we shut off all communications with HQ while we are away,” said Sparky. “We did not
want HQ to overhear our conversations with you four or to know that we saved you. If they knew that we had found you, they would demand we hand you over to them immediately, likely for immediate execution.”
“Execution?” Hypno repeated. “You mean they won’t hold us prisoner?”
“We don’t know what, exactly, they want to do to you,” said Captain Galaxy, folding her arms in front of her chest. “But given how high your bounties are, I can guess that they aren’t very picky about the condition you are in.”
“Geez,” said Bolt, rubbing his forehead. “We’re away for not even a day and already the Darzens have compromised the IEA. I wonder what other bad news you have for us.”
“The Dread God has disappeared,” said Mr. Space.
“That’s not bad news,” said Beams. He smiled. “Actually, that’s great news, isn’t it?”
“It would be if we had reason to believe that the Dread God had just chosen to run away and never come back,” said Captain Galaxy. “Unfortunately, IEA spies in Jinkopa have reported seeing constant activity on the planet’s surface. It appears that the Darzens are organizing their forces for some kind of invasion, though when or where they will attack, we don’t know.”
“Meaning that the Dread God is still around, then?” said Beams with a gulp.
“He probably is,” said Mr. Space. “The only problem is that we don’t know where he is. Everyone was expecting the Dread God to start conquering the multiverse as soon as he got his new body, but we haven’t even heard a peep from him since his return from the dead.”
“Very odd,” said Hypno. “Perhaps he is waiting for the right moment to strike?”
“Probably,” said Captain Galaxy, “but it’s bad because as long as the Dread God is hidden, that means we won’t know for sure when he will or won’t attack. It’s not a good situation to be in, particularly for someone as powerful and evil as the Dread God.”
“Then let’s head to Jinkopa and start smashing his army into pieces until he comes out and plays,” said Bolt, punching his fist into his other hand. “Or better yet, break through the Layers of the Dread City until we reach that Temple. Gods don’t like it when their temples are desecrated and I bet the Dread God is no different.”
