But the B-suit that he wore remained too damaged to respond...
Fell.
And so he dropped, like a stone, trailing red blood like a stream of ruby crystals...
Fell.
And then plunged into the maw of Pazuzu as he flew up towards the portal. The massive demon lord’s mouth closed with a resounding srunch .
The Talon-9 lifted upwards.
Peeled away.
Dragged the ropes up. The cargo hold slammed shut and Merton sprawled backwards against Gunner and Julia. Julia, her voice thick, her eyes brimming, gasped: “Y-You take way more damage from lasers, sorry!”
Merton...simply laughed. Hysterically. He sprawled back and wheezed out: “Should have named him Toothless!”
Underneath the Talon-9 , the warsphere collapsed down to a single point of shimmering red light, the portal that had been sustained by the recursive feedback of the hellcannon rippling. Pazuzu massive arm reached out, groping around wildly for the ship that had killed his favorite hellhound. Then the portal started to close and he withdrew his arm in a hurry – yanking it back before the portal slammed shut with a reverberating boom that could be heard on Earth.
And across the Earth, crowds that had gathered to pray, to hold one another for the last time, to run for shelter...begin to cheer.
The day was saved.
Epilogue
“He gets a FUCKING TALK SHOW?!”
“Honey,” Relix said, putting her hands on her hips as Merton slammed the news paper shut. “You need to keep calm. Humans take forever to regrow limbs. Doubly so when they take that much hard radiation.”
“Sorry, but, I’m with Merton on this one,” Julia said.
Merton tossed the newspaper into the trash can – the headline EX-PRESIDENT NEW SHOW TO AIR ON FOX - visible from the can and laid back in his hospital bed. The window of his room looked out on the vast blue-white swath of the Pacific Ocean, shimmering as druidic magic on a scale the galaxy hadn’t seen for centuries was worked by xenodruids from the depths of House Rengario’s jungle planets struggled to save the Great Barrier Reef. The hospital ship – the USNS Comfort - was, even weeks after the battle, still filled with priests of various faiths and the mineral wealth of several African nations. Most of the bodies out there were being raised, if possible.
Not everyone could be. Not every soul called out to be returned to their mortal coil. Not every priest could find them out there. But the death toll of the battle was still ticking downward – though its rate of reduction would level off then cease as the last bodies became too desiccated in space. It was harder to find all of them than you might expect.
The door clunked as someone knocked politely. Relix scowled, but stepped aside as the door opened and the President of the United States came into the room. He looked drawn and worn down, but that was usually what Presidents looked like so Merton wasn’t about to complain.
“Well, uh,” he said, nodding to Merton. “I cannot overstate what you’ve done, Mr. Miles.”
Relix bristled. “I helped!”
“You kidnapped a sovereign citizen of the United States,” President Miller said, frowning. “Multiple times!”
“Pff!” Relix scoffed.
“Honey...” Merton said, chuckling as he sat up, wincing as the regrowth enchanted cast around his stump shifted. The pain that tingled from where his foot was regrowing made him wince every few hours, and sometimes woke him up from his sleep in a cold sweat. Worth it, though. Having a foot again beat the fuck out of the alternatives.
Relix shrugged. “Anyway, you can take your Medal of Honor-”
“That’s reserved for members of the military,” President Miller said, his voice dry.
“-and shove it. Merton has been given the Prismatic Talon and honorary dragonhood.” She petted his head gently. Brash crawled out from underneath the pillow at that moment, yawning. He blinked as he saw the President, then waved excitedly.
“Hi!”
President Miller looked as if he was getting a great big throbbing headache. This, also, was pretty normal for Presidents. “Overlooking the kidnapping-”
“Oh!” Brash gasped. “You can’t spell kidnap without nap !”
President Miller’s brow furrowed. “I don’t see how that applies...” he said, frowning.
“It doesn’t not apply!” Brash said, fanning out his wings excitedly.
“No it does not!” The President snapped, his temple clearly throbbing.
“Double negatives make twice positive, and then the two pairs pair off and kiss!” Brash said, curling his tail around his legs as he sat back like a cat.
“Brash, you can stop helping now,” Merton whispered while Julia giggled from the corner of the room.
“Because I won!” Brash exclaimed.
“We need someone to be the United Nations’ diplomat to the Metallic Empire. Earth is in a tenuous position – the Chromatic Dominion, according to our metallic friends, has been severely weakened, but several of the Chromatic houses have chosen to fortify their territory. They can send more fleets after us.” The President frowned. “We need allies.”
Merton slowly leaned back. “And you want me and Relix to ensure we have them?”
The President sighed. “Yes.”
“You call it an Empire,” Relix said. “But...that’s overstating it slightly. Yes, several close allies of House Castrovel are helping. But there are other metallic houses that have formed their own kingdoms. Then there are secessionists – drow, dwarvish, orcish. It’s a mess .”
“All the more need for a skilled...party...” President Miller. “Like you and anyone else you want to hire on.”
Merton smiled, slowly. He leaned back in his seat. “So, when does it stop being the United Nations and become the Earth Alliance? Or Systems Alliance? Or United States of Earth?”
President Miller chuckled. It was a dry chuckle. But his eyes gleamed with the avid excitement of someone who knew that the future held as much promise as it held danger. “We shall see, Mr. Miles.” He inclined his head. “We expect you to recover fast.”
Once the President left, Relix grinned down at Merton. “It’ll be quite an adventure. Disparate houses to reunite, secessionists to talk to our side. And let’s not even get into the insanity you’re pushing for...” She said, reaching out to caress Merton’s chin.
“What insanity?” Julia asked. “I wasn’t informed of insan...” She paused. “You knew he’d ask?”
Merton smiled, clasping his hands on his belly. “I suspected...” he said, smiling slightly. “And I discussed possibilities with Relix.”
Relix scowled. “I still tell you, no one will go for it.”
“Go for what?” Julia asked, excitedly. She started to bounce in the seat.
Merton smiled. “A little thing called representational democracy.”
“Ohhhhh myyyy gawwwwwwwd yaaaaaaaaaaas!” Julia thrust her fists into the air. “Lets Hamilton this fucking galaxy up, WHAT WHAT !” She leaped to her feet. “I’m young, scrappy and hungry, and I’m not throwing away my...shot!” She danced.
Merton laughed – then winced, then cried out as Relix and Julia chose that moment to pounce onto the bed. And the ship continued to orbit as below them the Earth spun and accepted new refugees and new settlers and new merchants and new ideas. And as people went to work on building the new defense ships or civilian spelljammers for booming space exploration and space exploitation industries, and as pundits jawed and twitters tweeted and trolls flamed and people were people in the great, complex, beautiful mosaic that was humanity...each of them looked up.
At the stars.
Glittering like the scales of a dragon – waiting to be conquered.
THE END
Scales Like Stars (Dragons...in...SPACE! Book 1) Page 34