by A. K. DuBoff
“Do you think this place has any significance?” I asked.
Before anyone could answer, something suddenly grabbed my ankle, stopping me short. I looked down to see black tendrils snaking out from the singed walls to reach for us. Even under the effect of the haste spell, the tendrils were still moving quickly.
“What the…?” I slashed at them with my sword.
“Gah! The ship wants to eat us!” Maris exclaimed, re-upping the protective shell. However, the tendrils pierced right through the barrier, undeterred.
I swiped at the ones reaching out for her legs, and I was able to slice them off at their base along the wall.
“We need to keep moving,” Kaiden urged.
Another one gripped me. “Yeah, and these aren’t making it easy!”
I cut my sword across the new batch, but before I had completed the swing, another set was already forming. “Try scorching them, Kaiden,” I said.
“These walls were already burned. I won’t hold them.”
“We need to try something!” I insisted.
Kaiden set down his staff and pressed his hands together. When he pulled them apart, the surface of his gloved palms was glowing like molten lava.
My jaw dropped. “That’s… new.”
He smoothed his hands down the walls around us, leaving a smooth, glass-like finish from which no new tendrils emerged. “You’re not the only one learning new skills.”
And for that, I was very thankful.
Kaiden quickly dealt with the origin points for the tendrils we had been unable to tame inside the chamber. Finally, the path ahead was clear.
I checked the control display on the wrist readout of my EVA suit: the ship had appeared almost three minutes prior. We were already over our budgeted entry time. “This location will have to be good enough,” I said.
“You’re right.” Kaiden unslung the interface device from around his shoulder. “Confession: I have no idea how this thing works.”
“The interface? Turn it on and start the sync,” Toran said over the comm.
I looked over Kaiden’s shoulder at it. The controls appeared to be straightforward enough, so I left him to it. “Come on, Maris, let’s set this disruptor.” I gestured to a place at the base of the tunnel where there was a soft, fibrous bed surrounded by a cluster of the more solid support beams. We wedged the crate into the nook and flipped open the lid.
“Are you in place?” Brian asked over the comm.
I startled, having forgotten that anyone else was listening in on the channel. “Yes, got it.”
“You see the red switch in the upper right? Flip that,” he instructed.
I hesitated, glancing over my shoulder at Kaiden. “How’s it coming with the interface?”
“The system seems to have linked with something, but I don’t know what,” he reported. “I’m recording, or downloading… I dunno, but it’s doing something.”
I kept an eye on the strange mound in the center of the chamber. The shadows were jumpy under the lights cast from my EVA suit, but it also seemed like the fibers were unfurling.
“Elle, is the disruptor activated?’ Colren asked. “We don’t have a link.”
I didn’t reply at first. Not activating that device was the only thing keeping them from turning it on before we escaped. We’d have to flip the switch before we left, but I had no intention of doing it a nanosecond before we were ready to race back to the shuttle.
My eyes kept darting to the mound. There was no mistaking the movements now. The fibers were pulling back to reveal a pod with interlocking segments forming a seal down its length. The pieces were starting to separate.
“Almost ready,” I said over the comm while giving Kaiden a look that told him to wrap it up fast. I nodded toward the thing in the center of the chamber, and he nodded.
After an awkward five-second pause, Kaiden nodded that whatever the interface device had been doing seemed to be complete. He secured it in its case.
“Okay.” My hand over the red switch. I flipped it. “It’s on.”
We propelled ourselves down the corridor as fast as our arms and legs could carry us. Without the cumbersome disruptor or needing to open the path with flames, we made exceptional time on the way back. However, two dozen meters from the exit, the corridor started to close in, brushing against the edges of the protective shields Maris had placed around us. Worse, I sensed a presence stalking us from behind.
“Need those flames!” I told Kaiden while looking behind me. Something red flashed through the darkness of the corridor, and as it passed, the walls vibrated.
He cast a column of flame forward without hesitation. The opening cleared for a moment, but then began rebuilding itself in double-time.
Maris’ eyes widened with horror as our escape path closed. “What’s it doing?”
“There’s something here,” I murmured, tightening my grip on my sword.
“Maybe an emergency damage control system finally activated,” Kaiden said, casting more flames to keep our path open, but our pace had slowed to a crawl.
“The ship is waking up.” Whatever that thing in the chamber was, it might not be the only one. We needed to get out.
“And it must almost be clear from the anomaly,” Kaiden added. “We’re almost out of time.”
The thick silence on the comm didn’t set me at ease. I knew Colren was aware of what was at stake with this mission.
Kaiden cast more flames, but each spell did less damage than the last; either the influence of the anomaly was waning, or the ship was adapting. “I can’t give it any more,” he admitted. His eyes met mine, pleading. None of us wanted to die here.
“Let me try.” I repositioned in front of him. I’d never tried to cast magic without my palm device, but I’d had to leave that behind when I put on the gloves of the EVA suit. But, if the magic was truly a part of me, that tool was only a way to focus, not the source of my power.
I held out my hand in front of me, concentrating on the almost-filled path ahead. White light shot from my hand, piercing through the dark tunnel. The black tendrils recoiled, and those that didn’t move from its path quickly enough disintegrated.
“Whoa,” Maris gasped behind me. “You…?”
“I’ll explain later.” I dashed ahead, desperate to get back to the shuttle.
“The ship is almost complete,” Colren warned.
“We’re almost out!” I shouted. The end of the tunnel was in sight.
We bolted through the remaining section of the tunnel. I stopped myself short just before reaching the open gap of space between the ship and the waiting shuttle. It was too far to jump.
“Toran, can you get it any closer?” I asked over the comm.
“I’ll try.”
The shuttle neared the alien ship, the side door aligning with the crude entryway we’d made. All the same, it would be a four-meter-long leap. I took a few steps back and got a running start. At the last second, I kicked off the alien ship and flew toward the shuttle’s hatch. The kick at the end set me on a slight spin, but I was able to track my flight lines and grab one of the handholds around the hatch to keep myself from bouncing off my mark.
I swung inside but stayed next to the hatch to help the others inside.
Maris was next to make the leap. She followed my lead to take a running start, but she miss-timed her final steps and didn’t get a good kick off, instead drifting off the alien ship.
“I’ve got you!” I leaned out the hatch to grab her, but my reach came up short.
Maris flailed. “Get something!”
I popped back inside to look for an object to extend my reach. My scabbard might work.
As I looked down to detach it from the waist belt, two forms spiraled through the opening—Kaiden apparently having made the leap and grabbed Maris along his path. They hit the deck hard with their limbs a jumbled mess.
Maris shook her head down near Kaiden’s r
ight knee, climbing off him. “Thanks.”
“Close the hatch,” Toran ordered from the bridge over our helmet comms.
I quickly pressed the emergency seal, and the door snapped shut. The moment it was closed, a vibration surged in the floor as the shuttle accelerated. I checked the timer on my wrist band again. Our five minutes was almost up. A quick check out the side viewport confirmed that the alien ship was almost fully formed. If the weapons activated, the shuttle and the Evangiel would have no means of defense.
With my EVA suit still on, I ran to the bridge. “On our way, Commander.”
I took my seat, and Toran moved aside for Kaiden to take over for the landing. With time short, it would almost certainly be a hard, combat-style landing rather than the methodical autopilot control.
“We did it!” Maris cheered from her seat.
“Yeah, we did.” However, I couldn’t bring myself to celebrate. Though we’d accomplished our objective to plant the disruptor and gather data from the ship, we were far from safe.
The shuttle was accelerating toward the Evangiel, but we didn’t seem to be closing any distance. They were pulling back from the anomaly, even as we tried to reach them.
We weren’t going to make it back in time.
“I’m sorry,” Colren murmured.
With a flash and ripple across the surrounding starscape, the Evangiel disappeared.
25
“They left us?!” Maris exclaimed.
My heart dropped. We were alone in the void within kilometers of where a spatial disruptor was about to detonate. Was this the end?
I shook myself. No, I wasn’t going to give up.
“We have to brace!” I shouted. “Hold back the disruptor wave.”
“Elle, this weapon—” Toran began.
“It breaks apart matter, I know. But we have magic. If the dragons can make sanctuaries outside of normal reality, maybe we can too.”
Maris looked like she was about to object, but she nodded. “It’s that or die.”
“Fight to the end,” Toran agreed.
“Come on.” I rose from my seat and motioned everyone toward the center of the bridge.
Kaiden hurriedly set the shuttle’s autopilot to full throttle along the escape vector and joined us.
“How do we do this?” Maris asked.
I had absolutely no idea. However, I was certain that if anyone could generate a shield to counteract the disruptor wave, it would be us; we were imbued with ancient powers from a past age, representing the disciplines destined to make us heroes. The answer lay somewhere within ourselves… we just had to find it.
“Maris, you need to create a shield around the shuttle,” I instructed. “The rest of us need to feed energy into it. Don’t think about it, feel it.”
“We need a focal point,” Toran suggested. “Something we can all concentrate on to help channel the energy.”
I glanced around the bridge, not seeing anything that seemed fitting. Instead, I unsheathed my sword and held the glowing blade in front of us. “Grab the hilt and focus on the blade,” I said.
Kaiden glanced over with a knowing smile as he wrapped his hands around mine on the hilt, followed by Toran and Maris. We were in a tough spot, but if we didn’t make it, at least it would be over quickly and we’d be with each other.
I remained fixated on the sword’s blade with my friends, as much as I wanted to watch the alien ship coming through the anomaly. Based on my memories, the ship must almost be clear. I wondered if the creature I glimpsed had somehow removed the disruptor, but maybe the Evangiel hadn’t set the detonation before they—
A blinding flash forced me to squeeze my eyes shut and turn away. When I sensed the brightness diminish through my eyelid, I squinted back toward the viewport.
A black, rippling wave was folding the space around the anomaly. The alien ship disintegrated and twisted against the starscape behind it, its ruined fragments disappearing into the wave. As each fragment struck the wave, it illuminated in a pinpoint flash before being snuffed out. The ship was gone, and so was any sign of the anomaly, but the wave was still rushing outward, and it would reach us in moments.
I squeezed my sword hilt, reaching out with my extrasensory abilities to detect Maris’ shield around our shuttle. The barrier didn’t stand a chance against the destructive wave. I needed to make it stronger.
As I reached within myself, I sensed Kaiden and Toran directing their own magical energy toward the shield. Toran’s pure, protective spirit hardened the shell, and Kaiden augmented it with an electrical charge to help deflect the approaching wave. However, even with those enhancements, I knew in my gut it wouldn’t be enough. We needed a different kind of magic, something to manipulate the very underlying forces in our universe.
The disruptor wave ripped apart, but I had the ability to bind.
I tied my sense of self to the shell around the shuttle. I could feel the change in my surroundings as the disruptor wave approached—rending the bonds across spatial planes. My skin tingled with anticipation.
The leading edge of the wave struck the shell, rocking our shuttle to the side. The distance from the epicenter and our forward momentum diminished the blow, but my tether to the shell still made me feel like I was being ripped apart. I struggled to remain on my feet and not lose my concentration.
I focused on the outer shell and holding it together. The bonds threatened to rip apart, but every time they started to fray I pulled them back together. Everything important to me that I had left in the universe was inside that shuttle. I’d do anything to hold onto my friends and keep them safe, even if it meant burning myself up in the process.
The disruptor wave continued to rip into my extended self as the leading edge of the wave passed by our location and we were left in the center of the affected zone. But, the shell held—a tiny sanctuary surrounding by nothingness.
I was slipping. I couldn’t hold it for any longer.
The disruptor wave began to dissipate, a gravity well formed at the detonation site. The shuttle’s engines were ineffective within the shell, and our bubble was yanked toward the black maw that had opened at the epicenter. The shell had proven successful in keeping us safe, but we’d need the ship’s engines if we wanted to avoid getting sucked into the black pit.
“Drop the shield!” I ordered while keeping my own magic active.
“We’ll—”
“Just do it!” I cut Maris off.
The shell collapsed in its previous form, but I redoubled my efforts to maintain the structural integrity of the shuttle.
The backward pull of the shuttle ceased as the engines were freed from the shell. Slowly, we began accelerating away from the detonation site.
Even as we pulled away, the ruins of the alien ship and everything else in the vicinity were condensing onto a singular point. In a sudden burst, a secondary wave fanned out from the epicenter, this one re-condensing rather than breaking apart. I quickly shifted my spell to counteract its effects and keep us from smooshing.
I wasn’t fast enough. The shuttle shook as its frame twisted and cracked. The engines cut out, leaving us traveling forward on inertia at a slow spin.
The remaining disruptor wave collapsed. It was over.
I released the telekinetic shield and dropped to my knees, panting.
“Elle!” Kaiden couched down next to me and placed a hand on my back.
“I’m okay,” I gasped, wishing I could rip off my helmet and get some fresh air. “Just gimme a sec.”
“What was that you did?” Toran asked.
“Elle, maybe it’s time you said something,” Kaiden whispered to me.
“Okay, confession: I have some sort of telekinesis-style magic,” I revealed, slipping my sword into its scabbard.
“That’s…” Maris faded out.
I nodded. “I don’t understand how it works. I just… knew what I had to do.”
Toran and Maris
stared at me with raised eyebrows.
“Well, thank you,” Toran said at last.
I staggered to my feet with Kaiden’s help. By the time I was upright, I realized that the artificial gravity was starting to fail, and I was lifting slightly off the deck. “Unfortunately, now we’re trapped here with no escape.”
“There must be an emergency signal,” Toran stated.
“Right, yes.” Kaiden glided back to the front control panel. Only a handful of items were illuminated on the backup battery power. He activated the emergency transponder.
“The commander wouldn’t have jumped too far away,” I said, hoping that wasn’t just wishful thinking.
Maris wrapped her arms around herself. “How long do we have?”
“We have backup oxygen and power for the suits,” Toran replied. “We’ll be able to make it at least sixteen hours, maybe more.”
I prayed to the stars we wouldn’t have to wait that long.
Despite my best wishes, the hours dragged on. I spent the first two hours telling myself that the Evangiel would be there any second. By the end of the fourth hour, I was beginning to doubt we’d ever be rescued.
“They should have picked up our distress signal by now, right?” Maris asked.
“Yeah, I’d think so,” I agreed.
“Maybe they’re out of range, or…” Kaiden faded out.
“Or what?” I pressed.
“Or they have no intention of returning to this place,” Toran completed for him.
I swallowed. “Why wouldn’t they, though? I mean, we activated the beacon—that means our ship wasn’t destroyed and we made it through.”
“That’s a straightforward explanation, yes,” Toran agreed.
I frowned. “What else would it be?”