by Skyler Grant
I chose one of the unripened fruit that adorned the branches. It was about the size of a large apple with a thick fibrous exterior. When I brushed against one of the branches I ran into an issue. The tree pulsed with a ripple of energy that tossed the drone through the air as a loud keening sound filled the air.
The tree had an alarm I’d call that terribly unnecessary—except it obviously was.
There was little point in further stealth now. I had the drone sever the fruit with a laser cutter and catch it as it fell.
Overhead the sky pulsed and night turned to day.
There went our anonymity. I jumped out as soon as the drone was secured. This was the second anthill we’d kicked over, it was time to return to the city and make sure our defenses were in order.
177
Three hours after the airship returned to Aefwal we came under attack. It started with a thick fog billowing in. By this point I’d done proper tests on the river and its amnesia-inducing properties didn’t survive the water being taken from the river itself. The fog wouldn’t be making my people forget, but it had other issues.
The instant it came into contact with the outer city sensors the electronic elements began to shut down. As the fog billowed closer to the city core that effect persisted. I jumped the airship out of range.
My own core systems were biological now so I shouldn’t be directly impacted, but a lot of our defenses used electrical systems. Shield projects, beam cannons, even a lot of the tracking routines for the kinetic weapons.
While I still could, I used the comm to call my council and the District Lords.
“This isn’t natural,” Anna said.
“I can burn it off a small area,” Hot Stuff said.
“And I can project it away from another,” Jade said.
They were both viewing the fog as the enemy to be faced, I suspected that wasn’t so.
“While your desire to go to war with the weather is inspirational, I do think we have other enemies that are likely to need your attention more. Crystal, my sensors are going down. Do you have anything?” I asked.
“I have sent some swarms. We’ll lose communications soon though,” Crystal said.
I’d already thought of that.
“I have humanoid drones heading to each of you. They won’t let you communicate with each other, but you’ll be able to coordinate through me,” I said.
Insects were flying and crawling through the city. Crystal had continued to grow her swarms.
“Oh, you’ll love this,” Crystal said.
“I doubt that. What have you got?” I asked.
“Elemental cores. Water coming in from the southeast, lightning from the north, earth from the west,” Crystal said.
The fog must be some sort of combined effect from them. They were used to working together. That was ominous.
The fog swept over the central comm and the network went down. I’d already gotten my drones in place.
“I’ve had some experience fighting other elementals. Water is going to be a shifty fucker, earth can take their punches, and lightning pack the hardest punch,” Hot Stuff said.
“And here I thought most of your experiences before hooking up with me were purely sexual,” I said.
“Sometimes folks would rather fight than screw. Seems stupid to me. I’m heading for Earth, have Crash and Professor join me. They’ll be smart enough to figure out how to hurt them if my flames don’t do the trick,” Hot Stuff said.
I thought she might be giving a bit too much credence to Crash’s intelligence, but his ability to disrupt systems had seriously weakened Sylax once upon a time.
I said, “What about the lightning user? They could be the most important. The fog may be serving as a carrier for their ability and dampening our electricity.”
“Then let’s dampen them right back. Blank is going to ruin their whole day. Ophelia too, just in case they still have their bite. Zora needs to go somewhere,” Hot Stuff said.
I had to admit that her skills as a commander were growing.
“That leaves Jade, Flicker, and Crystal to take on their water user,” I said.
“Jade and her telekinetic fields should be able to make things miserable for them. Flicker is just weird and Crystal has fought everything.”
I sent instructions to the others. None of them were alone, of course. The fog had disabled the juggernaut class units, I wouldn’t be deploying any Valkyries, Asps, or Gunslingers, and beam rifles were out as well—but I still had my biological drones, body armor, as well as traditional firearms and acid sprayers.
My drones were finally catching sight of what Crystal had seen with her insects.
The Earth user was a literal giant. He stood nearly four meters in height, body rippling with muscle. The water user was a woman whose flesh seemed quite natural except for the strange undulations it made as if it were the surface of a pond. Lightning was represented by a man in armor and sporting an enormously large hammer—Mechos would be delighted.
They hadn’t come with any lieutenants. That was bold, and stupid. However powerful, they should have realized how powerful this city was in turn.
The three walked up to the very edges of the city district, evenly spaced around the perimeterand somehow managing to surround us, and stood waiting.
“We’re here to talk,” said the water woman. The fog vibrated with her words and sent them echoing throughout the whole of the city.
Crystal stepped forward. She’d brought Sylax and her students who stood ready behind her.
“Then perhaps you shouldn’t have disabled our communication systems,” Crystal said.
“You’ve made a habit of launching unprovoked attacks,” the woman said.
“So you decided to launch one of your own? An interesting tactic to be sure and one I’m positive has made you many friends. If you wish to speak, withdraw this fog,” Crystal said.
The watery woman gave a tiny shake of her head. “You may call me Ash, Goddess of the Ocean and the waves. I’m accompanied by Atlas and Thor.”
“You realize your band of reality doesn’t actually have an ocean,” I said from a nearby drone.
“Don’t help, Emma,” Crystal said. “I’m Crystal, Diplomat of the city of Aefwal, which is under the rule of Queen Anna Berasi.”
“We know who you are. We know you killed Ares and Bast, and that you have allied yourself with Minerva. We’re prepared to offer you what you seek should you agree to leave these lands forever,” Ash said.
They’d come to surrender? In a sense. That was a surprise.
“We decline,” Crystal said.
“Just like that? No questions? No discussion?” Ash said.
“None at all,” Crystal said.
I’d made a fine choice for diplomat.
Ash didn’t look displeased. “Then we’ll see if you’re strong enough for such confidence.”
178
The three obviously had some way to coordinate and communicate, because it was as one they stepped forward into the city proper.
Hot Stuff was the first to respond, her flames growing in intensity as she moved toward Atlas and threw a fit at his midsection. His flesh transformed into stone. Flame met stone and he glowed. I’d seen Hot Stuff melt through thick layers of steel, but she didn’t melt through him.
“Pretty girl, a bit of heat. I like this,” Atlas said.
“Big and hard. I’m a fan too,” Hot Stuff said, flinging more punches that did little more than the first. “What are you made of?”
“Is this really the time to be flirting?” Crash asked as he gestured in the air. “I’m crap at this without a computer.”
The Professor, riding a triceratops again, smashed into Atlas from behind. The impact didn’t even cause the man to stumble and he looked over his shoulder.
“Big lizards, big cats. Why do people not just make themselves large? Saves time, yes?” Atlas asked.
Hot Stuff had turned the ground molten beneath her and Atlas as
she continued to flail away at him. “Failure of imagination. I’m not going to be able to melt you am I?”
“Nothing but my heart,” Atlas said.
That fight was going nowhere.
On the other side of the city Blank had moved to confront Thor. Electricity arcing and sparking around his hammer faded and throughout the city there was a dim flicker of lights attempting to restore their power.
“I don’t think so. Your batteries are drained,” Blank said.
“A Righteous! I mean like, literally. Been forever since I ran into one of you. You’re all strong too,” Thor said, in a voice a bit too high-pitched for his rugged appearance.
“He’s lame. Why is everyone so lame?” Ophelia said.
“Give me a chance little miss emo,” Thor said.
Zora tried to shoot him in the head. Bolts of lightning erupted from his body and flung the bullets to the side.
Thor raised his hammer and the air trembled as the lights in the city went fully dark again. “See? For smart people, you guys are really stupid right? Nobody ever stops to ask, gee, why did all the lights in the world go out? Maybe it’s because their crystals have something to do with electricity.”
Blank had the strangest look on her face, as if reality had just stopped making sense to her. “You’re dampening my power.”
Thor hit Blank with an underhanded swing of his hammer that sent her soaring backwards, lightning crackling around her body. Ophelia didn’t waste a moment as she moved to her side, keeping Blank in range of her healing aura.
Zora snapped her fingers and Thor howled in agony, dropping to one knee. It was the first time I’d seen her use her ability, and I still didn’t know what it was.
A bolt of lightning erupted from the handle of the hammer and sent her flying backward to collide with Ophelia.
The fight against Ash was going no better. Telekinesis, extra-dimensional shifts, whatever they threw she deftly dodged and always had a countering blow. None were finishers, but she was clearly winning and grinding my people down.
I had more I could throw at them, but I wasn’t sure what good it would do. They weren’t even teaming up to make this a real fight and they were still withstanding the forces of this city.
“Enough,” Ash called, stepping back. Her voice again echoed throughout the city.
Thor and Atlas also took a step back.
“Was there a point to all of this?” Crystal asked, a good bit more breathless than earlier.
“We’re strong little ones and we protect this place. We were prepared to welcome you into our home. New blood has its place and a spirit of a city might have made a fine Athena. We know what Ares and Bast did and planned, and did not approve. Killing them we allowed,” Ash said.
“You were waiting to see what we did next,” Crystal said.
“And you waged more attacks on those who have done you no harm. Brought war where there was none. Stole what belonged to others,” Ash said.
I had sensors coming back online. Only a few and all in the central core, it was Anna’s doing. It appeared that she had rigged a liquid fuel supply into the emergency fire suppression system and was busy dousing some of my most sensitive equipment in flames. It was also fully vaporizing the fog and burning it off.
I opened up a comm.
“Petty vandalism instead of joining the fight? I really shouldn’t be surprised. Do you know Crystal is out there declaring war in your name?” I said.
“Good. I’m the Queen of the whole damned world and they need to figure that out. I should have burned off enough of the fog around the sun shield projector,” Anna said.
I’d already figured out why, of course, I’m smarter than she is. The sun shield had provided us light and climate control when the city was underground. By default it was disabled now that we were above ground, but triggering it should clear the fog.
“It still leaves us with the three of them,” I said.
“They disabled our guns for a reason,” Anna said.
She was right. Because of Ash most likely, I thought the other two could probably handle anything we might throw at them, but with tracking sensors fully enabled and given her nature the beam cannons could likely hurt Ash, perhaps even kill her.
I activated the sun shield. The sky blazed brilliantly for an instant and just like that the fog was gone. Two dozen beam cannons swiveled to point at Ash.
“Unexpected,” Ash said. “Not quite enough. Are you going to try?”
“Do we have to?” Crystal asked.
Ash gave a tiny smile and swiveled. Atlas and Thor did the same and in unison the three walked away from the city.
We hadn’t defeated them, we hadn’t even truly held our own. We needed more power.
179
I had to find what we’d come here for. There were various leads I might follow. I’d destroyed Ares’ base, but it might still harbor some secrets. Minerva or the other Divine might have information they could share. The more I thought of it however, the more I thought that I probably already knew the location of what Vattier had hidden.
I was looking for something of immense power that was well concealed and I’d already found a place that fit both those criteria. The tree was my best lead, but I didn’t think that was my target. Aefwal had been in a vast underground cavern, my original complex had been underground—when you wished to hide something away you put it underground.
And when you really wished to hide something you put another well-guarded secret on top of it.
My sensors hadn’t detected a cavern, but I wondered if the same technique that created the invisibility effect on the surface could serve to blind electronic sensors from detecting what was below.
If I was right, I knew how to get where we needed to go. The original jump coordinates through the satellite left an arc of possible destinations. We’d landed on one of them, the one most suitable for a city of Aefwal’s size, but there were other places we could have appeared—and one was deep beneath the tree.
Anna was less than enthused about me risking our sole, fully functional airship on the endeavor, but I had a solution for that too. Jump engines were tricky to build, but in an effort to give Hot Stuff the air force she kept requesting I’d been working on it—the first of a new prototype. Cultivating the hull of small ship in the growth vats took the better part of two days, but I had a scout vessel.
In addition to Hot Stuff wanting an air force I’d wanted some smaller ships of my own for research purposes. Craft loaded with sensors that could better survey terrain. I did have some mechanical research drones, but these were without the range a jump drive would allow.
There were steps I could have taken to try to confirm there was actually somewhere to go. Crash had subverted the masking effect once and could probably do so again. I was wary however about approaching the tree again. They were likely to be on alert next time and the city didn’t need another visit.
There was a fair chance of losing the ship and crew, so I wouldn’t send anyone I couldn’t replace. At least initially I’d need to just send drones I’d grown in my growth vats. In the event they fell I could always grow them again based off their last recorded pattern.
If they found something, I could have the vessel return to get others if needed.
A plan made, I gathered a crew and initiated the jump.
I knew within nanoseconds it had been a success. My connection to my drones didn’t fade, but all my readouts from the ship sensors went instantly dead. Through my drone’s eyes I could see the cavern was vast, as large as the one that held Aefwal, and the walls had been coated with what looked to be a layer of crystal dust.
The middle of the space was a shielded force bubble.
Here I thought Vattier was clever, and at the same time a shielded force bubble in a deep underground cavern was starting to seem quaint.
I had my drones take sweeping passes through the cavern. Without the ship’s sensors operational it made everything more difficult. We
were finally able to locate an old landing pad.
All indications were that it was safe. I ordered the vessel to briefly jump home. I collected the keystone that Minerva had provided and made a place for her and Mechos, before returning to the cavern and setting down. Minerva had proved herself to be trustworthy enough so far, and I figured that she even better than Mechos would understand her father.
Thick layers of caked-on crystal dust had to be removed from a central pedestal to reveal a slot where the keystone could fit. It slid in with a click. A dim green luminescence filled the area and a hologram appeared.
It displayed an older-looking gentleman reclined in a chair. He appeared to look over those assembled.
“Claire, Kenneth, I always thought it might be you two to finally find the Sword. If you are here this means Claire has given up the Goddess idiocy and Kenneth has abandoned the goals of the Society, and you’ve both realized you are smarter together than apart. It is about damned time. Still, you know I give nothing to the unworthy and the following puzzles are my greatest yet. The race is on.”
The visual of the old man faded to a series of rapid images. They weren’t puzzles, not exactly. To another mind they might have seemed such, but in that instant I understood something vital. Vattier was completely mad—and Vattier truly understood the difference between SCIENCE and science.
“Well, that was rather embarrassing,” Minerva said.
“Quite, am I mistaken or were those power regulation equations?” Mechos asked.
“I thought I recognized a few related to the curvature of post-Cataclysm dimensional space,” Minerva said.
For humans they really were rather bright.
I said, “Your awkward social graces are proof that you are operating fully within expected parameters. Do stop pretending to be worthy of his pride and contribute to the manual labor you might be useful for and gather dust. There is enough here to keep the teleportation gates operating for quite some time.”