I pressed my pin, feeling the familiar thrum of the beam’s energy. With a deep breath, I blinked as I entered the warship. This time, I opened them sooner and spotted Magnus coming out of the beam, turning solid and rolling to the floor. I joined him, my momentum keeping me moving. I hit the hard floor and flopped forward, hitting the wall with a thud.
“You okay?” he asked, holding his left elbow.
My back was tender and my right knee howled at me, but as I rolled over and tried to stand, I found I wasn’t too bad off.
“I think so.” I took my helmet off and tossed it to the ground. Magnus did the same. “Where are we?”
“Damn it. In a storage room. They’re locked from the outside.”
“We don’t have a lot of time.” I found my pulse rifle on the ground and picked it up, motioning Magnus back. The red beams smashed the door, sending shards outward, opening a hole large enough for us to crawl through.
“Subtle,” Magnus said as we emerged in the hall.
“Stop! Drop the weapon!” a female voice boomed from behind us.
“Gladly.” I dropped the gun, glad to be away from the enemy and on our own people’s ship.
“Turn slowly,” the woman said.
When she saw Magnus’ face, she did a double take and saluted him. “I’m sorry, sir.”
“Just call the bridge. Tell them to turn the cannons off. Our mission has changed.”
____________
“You did what?” Naidoo stalked angrily around the room, and I didn’t blame her. I’d essentially given our world away. It was far better than the alternative.
“I know you don’t like me, but what choice did we have?” I was getting irritated with her but didn’t want my heart to talk over my head. I lowered my voice and calmed the erratic timbre. “You tried to make a deal with them, right?”
She stopped in her tracks, turning slowly to look at me. The room in Cape Town was full of dignitaries from around the world, as well as our group. When we’d arrived, the nations were in widespread panic. An alert had gone out over all remaining media that an announcement was coming, and for everyone to gather their belongings and loved ones.
That set off more fear, but after all these people had been through, they were getting used to it. We heard stories trickling in about groups working together, and leaders of communities taking charge, directing people to gather in town halls or city parks.
The air was thin; conditions were far from ideal. Oxygen tanks and respiratory centers were being erected around the world for anyone with pulmonary issues. I was proud of the people of Earth.
“They were coming anyway,” was her defense.
“Then you did what you thought best, and they decided to steal our water with us still on the planet.”
“How are we going to get everyone off Earth? And where are we going to put them all?” a mature red-haired woman asked. She looked at Mary and me with thoughtful eyes, concern etched on her face.
Magnus took this one. “Our warships have space to transport a large group of people. We’ll have to bring more supplies to feed them on the two-month journey, but it can be done.”
“And the rest of us?” she asked.
Magnus’ eyes roamed toward me, and the whole room set their gaze in my direction.
I looked around the room: tall ceilings. Mahogany wood beams ran across them. Large windows allowed the midday light to cascade down on us at the central table, where we sat at the south end. It would have been intimidating sitting there with all of these people looking to me for answers in my previous life. Now, I was ready for it.
“We walk to New Spero,” I said, waiting for a response.
I was about to continue when almost everyone in the room began speaking at the same time.
“Trust me. We have a way to transport ourselves from Egypt to New Spero. We’ll send a team there first, tell them what’s transpired, and they’ll begin to accommodate for the new influx of people.” I expected more questions, but that seemed to quiet them.
“How?”
“I’ll show you.”
THIRTY
“You need to sleep,” Mary said as we sat down outside the Giza pyramid.
“I’ll sleep when we’re home.”
We ate sandwiches while watching the procession of people heading into the pyramid, down toward the portal. Clare and Nick were running the trips now, and we’d let the powers that be organize the logistics of getting people from Earth to the warships in orbit, and the rest to Egypt.
The dirt layer separating the bottom of the pyramid from the portal halls had been excavated. It felt wrong to destroy something the Theos had built so long ago, but we had to live another day, and this was the only way.
“What happens after this?” Mary asked, leaning her head on my shoulder as she chewed the last of her roast beef.
I watched the lines of people walking into the Giza pyramid, and spotted a young family with two small children. The mother held her small son in her arms, and the dad held his daughter’s hand, leading them to an uncertain future. Life as they knew it was over, for everyone.
“Dean?”
“After this?” I smiled at her. “We help build a new future for everyone.”
Leonard came out of a tent set up with food, carrying a sandwich and a bottle of water. “Mind if I join you?” he asked.
“Not at all,” Mary said, patting the unused pyramid stone beside her.
“How are you hanging in there, Leonard?” I asked, seriously concerned about my new young friend. We’d been through a crazy adventure together, one where he’d been forced to kill, and be part of something that turned our people’s future forever. His eyes had deep purple bags under them, evidence of the last day’s trials.
“You had to do it,” I said, knowing he’d understand what I referred to.
“Dean’s told me all about you, Leonard,” Mary said. “We’re both very proud of you.”
The man I’d met a couple days ago would have blushed at that, but the new version wasn’t the same youth any longer. “I think I’m done with comics.”
“You don’t mean that. People will want to know what happened.” I surprised myself by saying that.
“Really?” he asked, looking at me with tear-filled eyes.
“Really. You’re a great guy to have by my side. You’ll always have a place on my crew.”
His posture straightened up, and he looked up to the sky, the clouds breaking for a moment so the sun beat down on his face.
We sat there in silence, enjoying each other’s company in near silence as countless people moved from Earth to our new world. Each one of them with a story: a tale about their pre-Event lives, how they survived the Event, why they elected to stay on Earth rather than travel to New Spero, where fate was bringing them after all.
I wondered where their tales would lead them. For that matter, I didn’t know where mine was headed. I sat my hand on Mary’s thigh and gave her a light squeeze. She smiled at me, her hair in a loose ponytail, and a few strands broke free, covering her face. She blew at them, and I loved her more at that moment than ever before.
My future wasn’t set, but my fate was now intertwined with hers. We were partners in whatever was to come.
Magnus approached as the sun went down, followed by Clare and Nick when they swapped out with a duo Magnus trusted to make the portal journeys with the people. The room held four hundred at a time, and they could make the trip every five minutes; the people from Earth arrived at the caves near Terran Five on New Spero.
The warships were able to take a quarter of the Earth’s population, and because of the distance to the pyramids, the Western hemisphere was being brought to the ships rather than to the portal. All in all, almost everyone would be off Earth in five days or less.
Camps were set up, and all Terran cities were pitching in, taking in refugees and donating food, clothing, and shelter where needed. My sister and her husband James were leading the charge at Terran
Five, and I couldn’t have been prouder of them.
Slate was the last of my old crew to arrive, and he brought something brown in a clear bottle.
“Where’d you get that?” Magnus asked, taking the bottle and sniffing the contents. He shrugged and grabbed some empty water bottles from around us, filling each with two fingers’ worth.
“What are we toasting to?” Nick asked, looking as exhausted as I felt.
“To surviving.” I raised my plastic bottle in the air, and everyone joined in. “To surviving.” We tapped our drinks and downed some of the liquid.
With that one done, Mary had one more. “To Patrice Dalhousie. One of the strongest and most visionary people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting.”
“To Patty,” we chorused, and drank the last, Magnus pouring a splash onto the dusty ground.
____________
Mary raced across Africa in the old-style Kraski ship. It had been only six days since we’d made the deal with the Empress, but it felt like weeks.
“Looks clear.” Mary lifted up, taking us higher.
“One more pass?” I asked her.
“Dean, we can’t save them all. If they didn’t make it by now, we can’t do anything.”
Slate made a tapping motion on his wrist, telling me time was up. “You have a last job to do, and so do I.”
Mary nodded and gave the controls over to him.
“Slate, we’ll see you in a couple of months. Don’t worry, we won’t do anything crazy without you,” I said, getting an eye roll from him.
“Like you didn’t do anything crazy the last time I left you?” He laughed.
We neared the pyramids. After days of commotion there, they seemed eerily quiet and serene on the viewscreen. Nothing was left but some tents and millions of footprints from around the world.
“It’s always more fun exploring ancient alien planets with you, buddy. You know that.”
He lowered us, and we headed to the ramp in the middle of the ship, opening it to a brisk midnight desert breeze. “You have everything you need?” he asked, passing me a heavy pack.
Mary swung on a winter jacket and tossed me mine, which I caught with my free hand. “I think so. Sad to think this is the last time we’ll see Earth.”
“You never know,” Slate said back. “Especially with you, boss.”
Mary hugged our big friend. “Zeke Campbell, you’re one in a million. I can’t wait to see you back home. Thanks for keeping Clare and Nick safe up there.” She kissed his cheek, and I hugged him too.
“I couldn’t keep us all safe,” he said somberly.
“You couldn’t help that,” Mary said.
“I guess so. I wish I could just leave this ship behind and come with you, but Magnus is probably right. Every asset should be saved.”
“See you soon.” I saluted him, and we walked down and toward the pyramid. Slate lifted off and headed upward toward the last warship, waiting for the remaining Kraski ships to join them for the journey home.
We watched him leave, looking at the starlit sky. This was it. No more Earth. I thought about my farm back home, my parents now both gone. With a glance over at Mary, I knew she was thinking about it all too, and a single tear rolled down her cheek.
I stretched out my hand, grabbing hers. “New Spero will be our new home. A fresh start for everyone.”
“I’ll miss what we had.”
“Me too.”
We stared into the sky for a while longer before shaking it off and heading toward the pyramid.
“After you,” I said, waving Mary into the entrance. We walked along the pathways in silence; recently installed battery-powered LEDs lit our path. The walkway slanted down the whole time, and soon we were at the floor built to separate our people from the portal.
Crude stairs had been dug into it during the excavation process, and we carefully stepped down them, aware of how many feet had walked down them over the last week.
It looked far different than the portal we’d emerged from not long ago. Now the walls had lights mounted on them, and the halls had been widened to fit more people through at once. The entrance to the portal room was there, the round stone door open just enough to allow us to slip through.
I lowered the heavy pack to the dirt floor, thankful for the reprieve from its weight.
“Let’s set them down the hall a way too,” I said. Mary grabbed a few of the small bombs from the pack and lined the hall with them, one every three yards. They each packed a punch, but we wanted to make sure the portal was gone for good.
Once we emptied the bag of them, Mary took the detonator and slid it into her breast pocket. I tried to roll the door closed, but it didn’t matter. None of it would survive the coming explosion.
“What about everyone we didn’t remove?” I asked, feeling the guilt weigh heavily on me.
“We don’t have the time or resources.”
I nodded and moved to the center of the room where the table sat, its gemstone glowing now. We’d run this portal ragged, but it didn’t seem to have any limitations. That was good to know for other planets. I’d have to fill Sarlun in on my findings. He’d be saddened to hear we’d destroyed one of them, but I hoped he’d understand why.
With the icon loaded for New Spero, Mary slipped the detonator out.
I grabbed the communicator that was linked to the one we’d left behind on the Bhlat ship housing the Empress and tapped it.
“Empress,” I said into it.
“Dean Parker.” Her voice sounded stronger than the last time we’d spoken.
“It’s done. Earth is yours.”
“Thank you.”
“Remember our deal. Our conflict is over. When the dust settles, I’ll contact you with the locations I promised you.” I held my breath, half-expecting a retort.
“Our conflict is over.”
With the communicator back in my pack, Mary set the detonator timer to twenty seconds.
“Goodbye, Earth,” she said quietly.
I pressed the icon, and everything went white.
THIRTY-ONE
“I do,” Mary said through a beautiful smile.
“I now pronounce you man and wife.” The officiant clapped her hands together.
I leaned in, taking Mary’s hands in mine, and I heard the words “you may kiss the bride” after we were already deep into our first kiss as a married couple.
Our friends cheered us on. After a few seconds, I pulled back, not wanting to overdo it.
Mary was so gorgeous, wearing a contemporary wedding dress, her hair in an updo I hadn’t seen before. I wore a tuxedo, the dark pink accents matching her flowers, but it all felt a little out of place on our acreage on New Spero. We’d discussed swaying from tradition, but in the end, elected to follow the old ways from Earth. We couldn’t lose those types of conventions, not with the loss of our home so fresh in everyone’s minds.
We turned to the crowd. I spotted almost everyone we knew, and then some. The day was warm, the planet’s summer season in full effect, and some of the guests were using handmade fans to cool themselves.
Natalia stood beside Mary, acting as her maid of honor, with Magnus at my side as my best man. I glanced and smiled at the front rows, spotting Slate sitting with Clare and Nick, all of them smiling widely. I waved and got a thumbs-up from Slate.
“Time to party!” Mary yelled, getting another cheer. Music came on the speakers, and we walked through the crowd again, stopping to chat here and there. I saw Isabelle and James talking with Leonard, who looked great in his new suit.
Suma and her Gatekeeper father Sarlun were there too, beside Leslie and Terrance. They’d all traveled here for the event via the portals.
“I’m really happy for you two lovebirds,” Magnus said, wrapping his big arm around my shoulder. “I knew we’d make an honest man out of you.”
Natalia was fixing something in Mary’s hair, and little Dean ran up to his dad; Magnus scooped him up in his arms.
I felt
something on the back of my leg. I turned to see Carey, holding a toy and pushing it against my calf. I knelt down, so happy to see the aging dog still with so much energy. He accepted my incessant petting and eventually rolled over to let me rub his stomach.
The younger pups found their way over when they saw this, and soon I was playing with them all, tossing a ball while they ran after it. After a few throws, Carey slumped his butt down on my shoe, and watched the more exuberant dogs keep chasing the object.
I loved that dog so much, and he knew it. I could feel Magnus’ gaze on me.
“I’ll be fine. He’s your dog. I only selfishly wish that had worked out differently,” I said.
Maggie trotted over, and Magnus’s son handed me a small bag. I opened it and found a leash, a dog dish, and some food.
“What’s this, Dean?” I asked the boy.
“Maggie’s going to live with you, buddy,” Magnus said, while his little boy shyly hid behind his dad’s leg.
“You don’t have to do that,” I said, looking at the cute dog rolling in the grass.
“Believe me, we have enough going on, and she’s never happier than when she’s over here with you. Don’t say no. You need it as much as she does.”
I didn’t argue. I just picked up Maggie and got a faceful of licks for my trouble.
As I looked around, surrounded by so many familiar faces, I struggled to remember the man I’d been before the Event.
Magnus set up, chasing Dean and the dogs, and everything felt right.
“We did it,” Mary said in my ear as she wrapped her arms around me from behind.
I spun around and kissed her again, this time not caring about first-kiss protocol. I heard James yell, “Get a room.”
He had the right idea, but we had the reception to get through first.
____________
The night wore on, and soon there were only a handful of us left outside our house. Isabelle and James had gone to our guest room, staying with us while they visited from Terran Five.
The Survivors: Books 1-6 Page 64
