Wheezing from the effort of will, Selene used her thumb, letting the empty magazine clatter onto the floor. She shoved in another, continuing the grim task.
Many of the operators ran away. It seemed none of them had brought a gun. Mother would have likely forbidden such a thing.
Selene noticed that Mother ran through the interdimensional portal. It was an interesting decision on her part. Mother became blurry. Then, her feet sank onto the green meadow on the other side. Mother had crossed to the beautiful place, likely to get alien help.
Selene whirled around to the control panel. This could actually work. She had to time everything just so. Manipulating controls, she activated the cycler.
The beast raced for the portal. It was closer to Mother than anyone else was. The beast howled its bloodlust. The giant hound leaped, blurring as it passed through the portal. Then its paws sank onto the green substance. After a moment, it looked around, spied Mother and gave chase again. The beast neared its prey. Mother spun around, and there was a gleaming thing in her hand. She wasn’t going to go down easily. Mother aimed the object at the beast—
Marcus sprinted for the portal, blocking the view. He ran with bitter determination. Then, the portal became fuzzy. Would he guess the significance of that? Yes. The soldier slid to a halt. He did not enter the pathway.
Selene believed he would have transferred into oblivion if he had. She had cut the connection between realms, places, planets, however one preferred to say it. Presently, no pathway linked the two different spots.
Marcus looked at Mother’s operators, the majority of whom stared at Selene.
Dr. Khan felt their combined gazes. It was like a weight against her soul. Did they realize the significance of what she had just done? Selene believed they did. Many of them seemed horrified. Unless someone reconnected the pathway, Mother was trapped on the other side, most likely forever. If aliens had easy access to Earth, they would have returned to rule. That meant they could not send Mother back, or if they could, they could not do so easily.
Now came the hard part. Now, Selene had to make sure no one ever reopened the pathway to the meadow world from this side. That meant she had to destroy the underground pyramid, which should destroy humanity’s ability to open a dimensional pathway.
Selene took a deep breath and broke into a sprint for the portal. She had to time this just right with the cycler or none of this was going to work. If she failed, Mother’s children could potentially reactivate the portal.
-94-
CONTROL CHAMBER
UNDERGROUND PYRAMID
Jack had run after Mother. Then, he’d heard gunfire behind him. He’d stopped and seen Selene kill some of Mother’s people. He’d realized that her gun worked, which meant the dampening field must no longer have been on. Agent Elliot had drawn a heater. He’d begun burning those charging Selene, giving her more time to use the controls.
A short time later, Selene dashed for him.
Jack glanced at the large screens. The devastation continued on the Earth. They had to stop the process. They had to turn off the stations spinning the planet’s core faster.
Marcus shouted in dismay.
Jack looked where the soldier pointed. The portal had become fuzzy.
“They’re gone!” Marcus shouted. “Your woman switched dimensions.”
It took Jack a moment to realize what the soldier said. Mother was gone. She was trapped somewhere else with the hound chasing her. She’d turned to face the beast at the last minute. Who would win that battle?
“Get ready!” Selene shouted as she sprinted for the portal.
Get ready for what? Jack wondered. Dr. Khan ran smoothly, her long legs eating up the distance.
Many of Mother’s people had already slipped out of the control chamber. There was more than one exit. Jack was sure they raced to get guns or heaters. They had to get out of here. They would be sitting ducks in the center of the chamber.
“Don’t let anyone reach Frederick’s panel!” Selene shouted. “If they do, Earth loses forever.”
Jack looked over there. He saw people trying to reach it. He beamed two women. With the roaring Knocker, Marcus put down a huge man trying to do the same thing.
“Get ready, Jack,” Selene panted. She was almost to him.
“Get ready for what?” he asked.
“To run through the portal,” Selene yelled. “I set it for Earth. Look! A path is connected again.”
Jack glanced at the portal. He saw sand and palm trees. A camel ran like mad with a turban-wearing man whipping it. What was going on out there? A gust of wind blew sand into the chamber through the portal.
“Go, go, go!” Selene shouted. “Run through the portal. We only have a few seconds if we’re going to do this.”
Jack blinked, trying to figure things out.
Marcus shouted, sprinting for the portal. The soldier seemed to have divined Selene’s plan. That was good enough for Jack. He sprinted after the soldier.
Marcus ran through first. Jack was next. For a moment, it felt as if he ran through jelly. A cold sensation hit him. He staggered a moment later, stumbling across sand. The coolness vanished as heat slammed against him.
Marcus surged across the sand, attempting to gain distance. Was there a reason for that?
“Jack!”
Agent Elliot spun around, catching Selene as she stumbled against him.
“Move to the side of the opening,” she said. “Get out of their line of sight.”
He stared at the opening. It just hung there with nothing supporting it, at least nothing he could see. Through the portal, he saw the underground pyramid’s control chamber. Selene tugged him, pulling him to the side. Farther away, Marcus did likewise.
Seconds later, bullets flashed through the portal, striking sand where they had been. Some of Mother’s children had found weapons to fight back.
The portal began to close in on itself. Suddenly, it closed faster, making a sucking sound. Then it was a pinpoint of color that simply disappeared from existence.
Selene clung to him, laughing wildly as her fingers dug into his flesh.
“Now what?” Jack asked, bewildered. The closing portal had been a weird sight.
“We wait to see if I did it right,” Selene whispered.
“Why did we run away? They’ll take control of the world machine again. They’ll go help Mother against the hound.”
“Maybe not,” Selene said, cryptically.
Marcus crunched across sand as he walked toward them. He seemed like a gorilla wearing clothes and clutching a hand cannon.
Selene checked her watch.
“Are you waiting for something?” Jack asked her.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“We escaped,” Marcus said. “But—”
At that moment, in the far distance, maybe forty miles away, a column blew up into the sky. The column grew and grew before expanding into a vast mushroom cloud.
“Get down,” Jack shouted.
In time, howling winds shrieked over them. Great heat billowed against them and sand blew in heaving gusts. Eventually, the winds died down and it became simply blistering again.
Selene, Jack and Marcus emerged from the sand that had covered them.
“We did it,” Selene said triumphantly, brushing sand out of her hair. “The Earth is safe from Mother and safe from the arrogant aliens she was trying to reach.”
Jack and Marcus glanced at her questioningly.
“Do you know what happened?” the soldier asked.
“I do,” Selene said. “It’s what I planned to do. You see, with the timer and cycler, I reconnected the portal to the lava world. The coordinates were already in place. Frederick had already done all the hard work.”
“I don’t get it,” Jack said.
“You saw what happened when I linked the portal to here. Sand blew into the underground pyramid.”
“Right,” Jack said. “I do remember that.”
“
Well,” Selene said. “Instead of sand blowing through, lava poured into the underground pyramid. The explosion we just witnessed was the result. Gentlemen, I have destroyed the controls to the world machine. Without the controls, the dimensional portal won’t work. That means no one can make a pathway to the alien world where Mother fled.”
“That…that means she’s trapped on the other side,” Jack said.
“Exactly,” Selene said.
“Maybe the experimental hound has already killed her,” Marcus said.
“That’s a possibility too,” Selene said.
“You’ve trapped the hound over there,” Marcus said.
“True,” Selene said. “But that seems like a world the hound would like.”
“I agree,” Jack said. “It’s a better place for the hound than the Sahara Desert.”
“Maybe the aliens will just send Mother back to Earth,” Marcus said.
Selene shook her head. She told them her theory about such travel.
“You call them aliens,” Jack said. “I think they were fallen angels. I think Samson Mark Two was right.”
“Whatever they were or are,” Selene said, “we’ve cut the link between them and us. By destroying the critical underground pyramid, the Earth is rid of Mother for good.”
The three of them grew thoughtful.
“I have a question,” Jack said.
Selene nodded.
“Is the Earth’s core still spinning too fast?” Jack asked. “If it is, how do we slow it down with the control pyramid destroyed?”
Selene nodded. “That is the question, isn’t it? No doubt, it’s going to be a matter of time before we find out about the core.”
Jack blinked several times, as he seemed to mull that over.
Selene thought the agent might actually smile for once. He had been so serious every moment they had been together, which had been good, of course. The world needed saving. Could he relax now that they had—?
Before she could complete the thought, Agent Elliot whirled around to face Marcus, aiming a heater at the soldier.
-95-
LIBYAN DESERT
Jack had felt his nape hairs stir. He had a good idea what that meant. Stepping away from Selene and from Marcus, he drew a heater, pivoted and pointed it at the soldier.
Marcus froze with a hand on the butt of his holstered Knocker. The big man hadn’t drawn the .55 yet. Marcus’s features switched several times. First, he showed shock seeing a heater aimed at him. Then, anger flashed across his face. Finally, the soldier smiled in a good-natured manner. He took his hand from the .55 and spread them both in a gesture of good will.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Marcus asked. “We’re friends, and we’ve just won a great victory. We should be celebrating.”
“I’d like to know what you’re doing, too,” Selene told Jack.
Agent Elliot didn’t say a word. His nostrils flared as he studied Marcus. So much had happened so quickly. Mrs. King was likely dead. Heck, the world as he knew it might have already vanished. Jack recalled the screens, the fantastic disasters everywhere. There had been Tunguska Events all over the planet. Given enough of them, it would be as if the Earth had gone through a nuclear war.
“We have a decision to make,” Jack told Marcus.
“That may be,” the soldier said. “First, I’d like to know why you’re practicing treachery at a time like this.”
“It’s called a first strike attack,” Jack said.
“I fail to understand your meaning.”
“Really?” Jack asked. “Mother’s premier hitman doesn’t understand what I’m driving at.”
Marcus’s eyes burned intently. His neck muscles tightened. A moment later, he turned to Selene. “Perhaps you can reason with your murderous friend. Despite our success, we are still in a grim predicament. I suggest we can still benefit from each other’s help.”
Jack’s thumb almost depressed against the firing switch. He knew the soldier’s kind. He had a good idea Marcus intended to murder them when the soldier felt the time was right. Yet, there was a tiny particle of doubt and Jack’s code of conduct demanded that he be sure when it came to dealing death.
“I have to admit I think Marcus is right,” Selene told Jack. “We—the world has changed. Our sides might not even be there anymore.”
“Whose side do you think he was on this whole time?” Jack asked. “I’ll tell you whose. He was on his own side and no one else’s.”
“My actions prove otherwise,” Marcus said.
Jack snorted with disbelief. “You kidnapped Selene, remember? You did it—”
“If I had not done so,” Marcus said. “Mother would still be in the control chamber, enacting her seven hundred year old plan. We have won. Mother is gone with no way to return. She may even be dead by now. The Earth is safe. Let’s celebrate our great victory by staying united. We’re in the middle of a desert in a blistering heat wave. Our chances of living are slender. Together, we have a much better chance of doing so.”
“We might need Marcus’s help in turning off the stations around the Earth,” Selene added. “What if they’re still working and continuing to spin the Earth’s core, making the magnetic field stronger and stronger?”
Jack nodded slowly. He felt ninety-eight percent certain that he should burn down the soldier. Selene had valid points, though. Even more importantly, Marcus had knowledge D17 needed. Could Selene and he stay alive if the soldier remained?
“Toss your gun onto the sand,” Jack said.
“That is no way to continue our partnership,” Marcus told him.
“You’re right, but staying alive the next few hours is my primary objective. Therefore, toss the gun or I’ll be forced to kill you.”
“Cold-blooded murder?” Marcus asked.
“Yeah,” Jack said. “It’s not my first choice, but neither is dying at your hand. I don’t trust you.”
The soldier smiled coldly, glancing at Selene and raising an eyebrow as if to say, “Are you seeing this? Are you listening?” Then, he lifted the .55 from its holster and tossed it at Jack’s feet.
Jack stepped back from the gun. “Dr. Khan, do you mind carrying it for a time?”
“Please, Jack. I trust your judgment. I want you to keep calling me Selene.”
Jack glanced at her. Her hair was tousled, her face smudged with dirt and her eyes ringed with exhaustion. But she looked like the most beautiful woman in the world just then.
Jack’s lips twitched as the right corner trembled as if using muscles long out of practice. Slowly, the right corner lifted upward in the slightest of grins. It was the most he’d smiled since…
“Selene,” Jack said, with a catch in his throat, “do you mind carrying Marcus’s gun for a while?”
“Not at all,” she said.
“Am I supposed to be your prisoner?” the soldier rumbled.
Jack shook his head. “I’m grateful for your help.”
“This is an odd way of showing it,” Marcus said.
“True, but you’re more dangerous than me. I recognize that, and I know you have ulterior motives.”
“As do you,” Marcus said.
“True,” Jack said. “I want to protect my country. What do you want?”
Marcus turned away, silent for a time. Finally, he said, “I want to know the state of our world, whether we’re going to have one or not. We won’t find out staying here.”
“I’d like to trust you,” Jack told Marcus. “I have to trust my instincts more, though.”
The soldier didn’t reply.
“Let’s get started,” Selene suggested.
Jack agreed.
“Where should we head?” she asked.
“For the coast,” Jack said.
“What direction is that?”
Jack glanced at Marcus. The soldier still wasn’t speaking. “That way,” Agent Elliot said, “north.”
-96-
38 HOURS LATER
LIBYAN COAST<
br />
Alone at night Marcus slipped into a dark coastal village. After secretly slipping away from Jack Elliot, he had left the other two far behind in the desert.
Agent Elliot had proved adept, getting the drop on him and remaining alert every minute afterward. Well, except for the last several minutes that had allowed Marcus to run far enough away so the heater couldn’t reach him. After that, it had simply been a matter of keeping ahead of the weaker couple.
Jack had been so watchful otherwise that the D17 agent had even seemed to sleep while remaining awake. That had been a neat trick, well worth learning someday. Marcus’s subtle efforts to turn Selene against Jack had failed. He’d had two options after that. Attempt to kill Jack Elliot or escape from the man’s vigilance. Remaining with them as second fiddle hadn’t been conceivable to his pride.
A dog snarled in the darkness as Marcus crunched across gravel. He ignored the nervous creature. It would not dare to close with him.
Above, a fantastic Aurora Borealis lit the night sky, making it difficult to see the stars and showing that the Earth’s magnetic field was still many times stronger than before to shine so brightly this far south. In normal times, people would only have seen the so-called Northern Lights up north where they belonged.
No electric lights burned in the homes of this village because likely the long-distance power lines no longer carried electricity. The world had changed and maybe was still changing.
Did any of the underground or underwater stations remain? Did they continue to spin the Earth’s core faster or keep it going at this higher speed? Marcus planned to find out as quickly as possible. He needed to contact whoever remained in Mother’s organization. Then, he would have to answer Jack’s infernal question.
What do I want? That would depend on many things.
Another hound began to howl. That brought a chorus of barking directed at him.
Marcus picked up a stone. He would shut them up.
A moment later, a truck roared into life ahead of him. The headlights snapped on, blinding him with their brightness.
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