The Antithesis- The Complete Pentalogy

by Terra Whiteman

  Our craft was skirting another tundra, its lights sweeping across glacial terrain. The ice wasn’t white, but blue. Sky blue, like we were flying over an endless bed of broken glass. We slowed at a giant crater and hovered over the mouth. Slowly, we descended.

  Absolute darkness.

  The craft groaned again.

  “Pressure reduced to fifty.”

  I felt like vomiting.

  “Suit up,” ordered Lucifer. “We’re ten minutes out.”

  Leid should have been here in my place. She’d have appreciated it way more than me.

  We all changed into our thermal suits—skin-tight gray, supposedly flexible but really as stiff as rubber, and then an angel scientist had to help me with the headpiece. I still couldn’t figure out its programming.

  The craft wound through tunnels of blue crystal, tiny flecks of sparkling dust illuminating our windshield, casting out the darkness. It looked surreal; another world below the tundra. Still cold, but at least I could see now.

  There was a mic and tiny speaker embedded into the headpieces of our suits, and Raith, Yahweh and the other scientists all chatted about procedural stuff. Another group was rolling the giant drill toward the ramp. Meanwhile I stared out the window, marveling at how my visor made our scenery crisp and freakishly clear, like I’d suddenly grown a set of high-res cameras for eyes.

  The craft came to a stop when the cavern opened into a network of tunnels. There were four other crafts parked off to the side, their passengers suited and already outside. Field study machinery was scattered all over the place—wires and probes and strange geographic thermometer looking things. A group of suited angels were hammering something into the north-side wall. It was square and flashed data on a tiny screen.

  The ramp lowered and we exited down it, followed by the group pushing the drill. Another group came to meet us, placing their hands to their chests in a salute to their Commander.

  “Sir,” the one in the center said.

  “What have you got so far?” asked Raith.

  “The light is photoelectric, but it’s not radioactive. The cavern’s temperature is negative four quasens. That’s a ninety-eight quasen difference from topside.”

  “It gives off quite a bit of heat then.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Where is it?” asked Yahweh.

  The scientist pointed down a narrow tunnel leading south. “Come, I’ll show you the way.”

  Yahweh waved at the poor assholes lugging the drill to follow us.

  The heat was prevalent before the phenomenon. Our suits recorded a spike in temperature—now almost survivable—and then a soft blue light filled the passage. It flashed in intervals, some kind of unspoken code, and each time the light came with a strange chime, like the soft jingle of bells.

  The passage opened into yet another network of tunnels. It seemed very easy to get lost down here. The left wall was shimmering blue. The light faded, and then the right wall shimmered blue. Then the north, then the south.

  We circled in place, watching.

  Yahweh was the first to reach out and touch the wall’s surface, tilting his head as it illuminated his glove. “It seems they’re communicating.”

  I arched a brow, even though no one could see it. “The walls?”

  “Whatever is inside the walls. This isn’t an inorganic phenomenon. I’m thinking microorganisms, bacteria.”

  “Yes, we all heard you. A dozen times.”

  “Could bacteria communicate with each other like that? I’ve never seen it,” commented one of the scientists.

  “True, but then again this is a different world than the one we’re familiar with,” said Yahweh.

  I’d grown brave enough to approach the wall, too. When it flashed, I caught a glimpse of how thin it really was. No denser than a sheet of glass. It flashed again, and this time I saw through it. Another tunnel.

  “Hey,” I called, “look.”

  The others huddled around me.

  Lucifer stepped aside and pointed at the wall. “Drill.”

  “We’re sure there’s no radiation?” Yahweh asked.

  “We’re sure. We did the readings this morning,” confirmed the scientist.

  We all stepped back as the assistants pushed the drill up to the wall. It was the size of a cannon. Overkill much?

  It whirred and screeched until a perfect circle was carved and fell to the ground. Yahweh bent over and picked it up, holding it to his visor. Behind him the wall glowed again, but this time the entire hidden passage was filled with soft blue light.

  “It’s not in the ice,” said Yahweh, disappointed. “Something else is making that light.” He held out the piece to one of his drill jockeys. “Can you take a reading of this? I want to know if there are any microorganisms in it.”

  The scientist took the piece and sauntered off, and then we all stood there, looking down the passage. Everyone kept glancing at each other, as if saying, “You first.”

  I stepped through. Might as well do my part.

  As we slowly crept through the tunnel, I turned to Raith. “Remind me why I’m here again?”

  “Energy.”

  “What?”

  “If we can find the source of that light, we might be able to harvest it.”

  “Instead of nuclear power,” I said, finally catching his drift.

  “Exactly. Can you imagine the money and energy we could save if we found a natural way to generate heat and light?”

  “No, but I definitely want to.”

  He laughed and hit me on the back. That caught me by surprise; he’d never touched me before. “You’ve got a bit of angel in you after all.”

  I was about to heatedly object but another ray of light swept across the tunnel, blinding us. The warmth that came with it spiked the temperature gauges on the lower right side of our visors.

  “We’re close,” Yahweh announced, speeding up.

  “Slow down,” I said, grabbing his shoulder. “Stay behind us.”

  “Why?”

  “It could be dangerous.”

  “Stop treating me like a child, Qaira.”

  “Says the child.”

  Yahweh huffed.

  “Relax. I’m trying to protect you.”

  “Yes, I know,” he muttered. “Thank you kindly for your concern.”

  The end of the passage was up ahead, blue light filtering through it in an endless stream, veil-like. I slowed in response, not entirely sure that I wanted to be the first to take that leap. The others slowed as well. We stood at the mouth, unable to see through it. Whatever lay beyond the passage was a foggy haze.

  “Still no radiation,” offered Yahweh, but he didn’t budge.

  “Hmm,” pondered Lucifer.

  When no one said anything else, I sighed and stuck my arm through the opening. Nothing happened. “Well, it won’t kill us.”

  Together, we stepped out.

  Tides.

  We were on a shore. The shore. The fog was fumes of gas that seeped from the cloudy blue water, so blue that it shined. That was what we’d been seeing all along. The shore wasn’t sand but mounds of fine crystal grains, violet in hue that glittered like stardust.

  My people had always known there was an ocean at the heart of The Atrium, but no one had ever seen it until now. It was what had inspired the mythos of Maghir. Everyone was going to be extremely disappointed to hear that there weren’t any black, festering waters filled with carrion. What would our priests do then?

  As I stood there worrying about the religious/political inflections of our discovery, Yahweh inspected the passage mouth. He kept looking back and forth between the shore and the cave. Lucifer and his scientists were collecting some of the gaseous ocean water at the shoreline, being careful not to get any of it on their suits.

  “Bioluminescence,” he said aloud.

  Everyone looked at him.

  “Yahweh was right. They’re extremobacteria.” He held up the jar, shaking it. The intensity of the li
ght grew two-fold. “They live in this ocean and their light generates heat. This is ground-breaking. If we could culture them, then—”

  “How is this cave system here?” Yahweh interrupted, not even noticing that Lucifer had just given him all the credit.

  “What?” I asked.

  “This cave system. How is it here? If there are no microorganisms in the ice, how was it carved?”

  “Heat?” said Lucifer.

  Yahweh shook his head. “Can’t be. Look at the mouth; it’s a perfect semi-circle.”

  As revelation slowly crept in, the tides were broken by the sounds of splashes. Little ones at first, but then big ones that made us all turn toward the shore. We were just in time to watch a group of sticks break the ocean’s surface—eight of them, arranged in a triangle.

  No, not sticks. Tails.

  They swayed and snapped, their tips as sharp as spears. None of us knew what to do, torn between running for our lives or watching what would happen next.

  As they headed for the shoreline, Lucifer and the scientists backed away. More tails emerged behind them, now numbering twelve in total. Each was sectioned, dark blue and crystalline-looking. Every sway brought chimes.

  Chimes. The sound we’d heard in the cavern.

  The first line came ashore. Tails attached to six pincer-like legs, a body bearing some resemblance to a scorpion, and a bulbous head that flickered blue light. Each was as big as our craft.

  Yahweh had received his answer. The cavern was a hive.

  And then we were sprinting up the shore and through the passage, the sounds of skittering feet close on our heels. We would have been much faster by flight, but here our wings would freeze the moment we released them. Our suits did not make for easy running, either.

  The kid wasn’t nearly as quick as the rest of us, so I snatched him up and slung him over my shoulder. He was given an excellent view of our pursuers and started to scream.

  Lucifer shouted orders over the radio to his awaiting team. Prepare for immediate departure. Gather everything you can. Arm yourselves.

  None of us had expected this, therefore none of us were armed. Not even me. The one time that I decide to forego a weapon, we get hunted by monsters. Go figure.

  “Let me take this opportunity to thank you for bringing me along!” I exclaimed, to which Lucifer didn’t respond.

  It was a two mile hike back to where we’d parked, and I was beginning to feel the effects of a decade-long desk job. My legs were aching and I couldn’t catch my breath. Not even adrenaline was keeping up my stamina. Carrying Yahweh wasn’t helping matters any.

  Cracks erupted behind us like thunder. Pieces of the cave wall fell away as more creatures joined the hunt. The tunnels flashed blue, and now we knew what that phenomenon really was. Monsters lurking in the walls, talking to each other, studying us. Apparently they’d decided we were edible. At any second I was expecting them to surround us, but we were able to zip by quickly enough before that happened.

  We exploded through the fork, the rumble of engines and glare of headlights flooded the passage. Scientists and guards alike stood in front of our crafts in rows, clutching temperature-resistant pulsar rifles. Those weapons could collapse the entire cave system, but being buried alive trumped being lunch.

  Our group split to either side of the tunnel walls, out of their direct line of fire. The monsters erupted into the fork behind us, a raging tsunami of black and blue phosphorescence. There were dozens of them now.

  That sight took our team by surprise. Only a few opened fire, the others—mostly scientists—watched, completely stunned. The ramp lowered and I tossed Yahweh (who was still screaming) to Raith. As our engineers prepared for departure, I cast a guilty look out the windshield as our team blasted away at the monsters, yet to no avail. They wouldn’t last another minute. My guards were out there, too.

  And I wasn’t about to run off and let anyone die for me. That was never my style.

  I swiped a rifle from the rack and flipped the CHARGE PRISM switch, ordering the angels to open the doors.

  Lucifer didn’t like my idea. “Qaira, no. You’re the Regent of Sanctum!”

  “Maybe you should have thought about that in the first place!” I snapped. “You want to run off and leave your people here to die, go ahead. I won’t, so you better open that fucking door!”

  I’d done two things just then. First, I made it known that even though I was Nehelian, I was still willing to protect angels. Second, I made Lucifer look like a coward.

  After a second of heavy reflection, Raith grabbed a rifle as well. “Open that door.”

  ***

  “Come to the mines, he said. It’ll be sooo rewarding, he said.”

  “I don’t need your commentary.”

  “Sanctum will want a claim in this, he said.”

  We were en route back to Sanctum, ascending through the third layer, covered in scorpion guts. The larger part of our return flight was spent in the sanitization chamber, and now we were gingerly removing our suits, careful not to get any of that acrid-smelling crap on our clothes.

  Yahweh had returned to the rolling chair, watching footage of our attack. Lucifer and I secluded ourselves at the back of the cabin, sorting out our shit. We had lost a craft, ten scientists, five guards and some really expensive equipment.

  “Look at that,” Yahweh said, pointing at the screen. “They’re retreating together, displaying a kind of hive-intellect. The way in which they communicate is so puzzling.”

  We ignored him.

  Lucifer reclined on the bench across from mine, his face creased with worry and fatigue. That fight hadn’t been an easy one, and I was still a little surprised that we had even made it out alive.

  “What are you going to tell your people?” I asked.

  “The truth.”

  “That the mines we’d thought were so promising turned out to be a nest of deadly scorpion-ants?”

  Lucifer tied back his matted, sweat-drenched hair. “I guess so. But it wasn’t all for nothing, Qaira.”

  “No?”

  “The extremobacteria could prove invaluable.”

  “How exactly are we supposed to get any?”

  Raith’s eyes left mine, and he frowned out the window. “I’ll dispatch a team of seasoned soldiers to clean out that hive.”

  “We don’t know if there are any more hives,” interjected Yahweh.

  Lucifer glanced at him. “And?”

  “We could be killing off the only sub-layer multicellular species there is. When we came here, we all made a promise not to treat this planet like Felor.”

  He hesitated, thinking heavily on that. “You’re right. We’ll find another way, then. Maybe there’s another route to the ocean.”

  Yahweh nodded, satisfied with that answer, and returned his attention to the video footage. “Although I wouldn’t be opposed to collecting a live sample of one of those creatures. For phylogenetic purposes, of course.”

  Lucifer laughed softly, and I blinked.

  “What did he just say?”

  “Nothing, don’t worry. I think he’s trying to tell me that he wants a pet.”

  The subsequent minutes swept past in silence. I spent the time studying the angels’ mini-pulsar cannons, marveling at the way the gas-core cylindrical chamber filled with smoke and blue lightning every time it charged. We had learned so much in the short decade that they’d been here. Our city was on the technological rise, all thanks to Heaven and the Plexus.

  But there was still something gnawing away at me.

  “What happened to Felor?” I asked. That question was one I’d always wanted to ask, but could never find the right time.

  And it seemed that Lucifer was anticipating it. His face grew sullen, and it was a long while before he replied, “Her people were careless, drunk with prosperity. We didn’t see the damage until it was too late.”

  Yahweh listened to our conversation, saying nothing.

  “We sucked her resources dry
, and even tore a hole in her sky. The old Commander, Raziel Denzas, ordered us to investigate quantum mechanics. Teleportation, to be exact. He had… become obsessed with trying to figure out how the Vel’Haru did things.”

  “Vel’Haru?” I repeated.

  “Yes. He contracted a scholar to teach us the ways of quantum leap, but our request was denied. The Court of Enigmus said we weren’t ready to tackle something like that. And they were right.

  “But Raziel didn’t take no for an answer, and instead sought the information elsewhere. Hasty, sloppy decisions were made. We ended up ruining our magnetic and gravitational fields. Felor was knocked out of her axial rotation and…”

  Lucifer trailed off, but he didn’t need to say anymore.

  “Raziel was impeached and forced to go down with his ship. I rose to power and we left Felor on the Ark with as many angels as it could carry. And now here we are.”

  “You sound guilty.”

  “I am guilty.”

  “It wasn’t you who ordered your world’s destruction.”

  “No, but I was Raziel’s first general. I had the power to stop it, and I didn’t.”

  I shrugged and looked away, having no counterargument. Yahweh was pretending to watch the video again, but his gaze was empty, faraway. Felor was a sore topic, undeniably.

  “Thank you for coming today,” said Raith, smiling, or at least trying to. “Our discovery might have taken a turn for the worse without you.”

  He held out his hand, and I took it. It was the first time that we’d ever shaken hands. As we did, my gaze lowered to the metal prosthetic that had taken residence atop his right wrist. The memory of our near-fatal altercation on the Ark flickered through my mind, and for the first time—this was a moment for many firsts, apparently—I felt guilty for maiming him. Yahweh had been right. I hadn’t known him. I hadn’t let myself know him.

  A light flashed and we both turned, startled.

  Yahweh held a camera, beaming. “Sorry, had to. I doubt that will ever happen again.”

  VIII

  PENANCE

  MY SISTER AND I WERE JOGGING THROUGH the Eroqam Medical Facility port.