The guards were leaving. ‘If there’s anything else, let us know.’
‘If I could ask you to stand guard by the door, please,’ Gus said. ‘We don’t want any interruptions in the next few hours.’
Evie glanced at the time. There wasn’t much left, but if she moved fast, she’d be all right. She only hoped the others were still there and that they hadn’t abandoned the mission.
The guards acknowledged Gus’s request and left the room. Gus clicked a few buttons by the side of the door to lock and mute it.
‘This is where I need the Starbearer,’ Gus said, extending his palm.
Evie gave him the chip, and he inserted it into what she expected was a high capacity input/output array. ‘So, how does this work?’
‘I’ve set Momentum 6 to take in the Starbearer, but to initiate it, you and your team need to deliver and activate the packages inside the game.’
‘No problem. I’m ready to go.’ She stepped into the chair and grabbed the helmet from its rest, as Gus rolled another presence chair up beside hers. ‘You’re coming with me?’
‘Just to send you off, to make sure you kids know what you’re doing,’ Gus said with a smirk, and took a seat. ‘But after you drop the boxes, I’ll need to sort the transition here.’
‘Good luck,’ said Berossus. ‘I’ll watch over you.’
‘Thanks,’ Evie said, and she got comfortable in the chair, pulling the helmet over her head.
After pressing the start button, she found herself in the Momentum 6 lobby. Her message box flashed with unread priority comms. Just as she opened them, a direct ping came in from Zender.
There you are. We’ve less than twenty minutes to go.
Is everyone at their locations?
Let me confirm. Yes, and hey, just got pinged that Santa5k has logged in.
I know. We’re in the same physical location.
Oh…
Zender was jealous and unable to hide it. He lived for the Momentum 6 universe, the one she and Gus were planning to destroy. Evie found it difficult to reply. She didn’t want to engage with the discussion. She just wanted to get it done. The more she recalled the things they had done together, the more she would doubt what they were doing, and that doubt could be the end of the world, the real world.
She re-spawned on the bridge of her ship, surrounded by her NPC crew. They were still in orbit around Ukuphela, the planet also called ‘The End,’ because it was one of the furthest corners of the active game area.
Everyone in the team appeared on her view, the faces of their avatars hovering as small boxes in the corner of her view. There was Zender, Bibi, Ivano, Wonaic, and Arcelia. Gus, as Santa5k, popped into the last box.
‘Everyone in position?’
Everyone else muttered, grunted and articulated affirmative, but Evie said, ‘Just need to get suited up and go planetside. Shouldn’t take long.’
‘Here’s a timer,’ Gus said, and a string of numbers appeared just below the row of the team’s faces. ‘When it reaches zero, your boxes must be on the designated locations. Good luck.’
Santa5k logged off, flashed on the screen, and his picture disappeared.
‘Where did he go now?’ Bibi asked.
‘Guess he will be back,’ said Evie, knowing Gus had to be outside the game.
‘Anyway, let’s do this,’ said Zender.
Evie gasped with the realisation that she had just ten minutes. She ran to the elevator and went down to the supplies.
She stepped into the indentation on the wall.
‘I want my e-suit.’
The environment suit appeared on her.
She extended her arms, and said, ‘I want the box from Santa5k.’
Almost immediately, the same orange-and-yellow striped box appeared on her hands like magic. She secured it tightly on her hip with the suit’s straps.
Seven minutes.
She ran to the airlock and went through the process.
Six minutes.
She streamed towards the red planet below her. This is it, she thought. This would be the end of life for Zender and so many of her friends. After this mission, they would never see each other again.
Five minutes.
She entered the atmosphere and the mountain grew amidst flat plains. As the atmosphere became thicker, she had to slow down her descent, still going as fast as the suit could take.
Three minutes.
The target on her HUD was on the top of the mountain. From afar, it had seemed like a sharp, pointy edge, but closer there was a small plateau she could land on, and on that plateau, a flat rock by the ledge, marked by the target on her HUD.
Two minutes.
The scenery from the top of the mountain was beautifully desolate. The mountainside merged with the red sandy plains that stretched for kilometres, and where the star shone, the sky was lit with an array of purple above another mountain range. Something reminded her of Runcor; it was similar, but the colours were different, and most importantly of all, none of those people lived here.
She speeded down and landed by the flat rock, but as her boots hit the ground, it gave way under her feet.
She fell and tumbled down the mountainside. The world spun for a moment, and she tried to grab hold of a rock, but her grasp slipped. She grabbed another, but it became loose. She hit a bigger rock with her feet; it began rolling down the mountainside. But it had stopped her from falling further. She wiped the dust off her visor and checked the time.
One minute.
She tapped the box on her hip to confirm she still had the box. Her heart skipped a beat. She checked all around her. The box wasn’t there; only a ripped strap.
XaonJoie, you there yet?
Breathing heavily, she looked around, but found nothing. It should’ve been easy to spot an orange box in this environment, but no. Perhaps she had dropped it earlier.
Panting, she said, Just a moment.
Hurry up, everyone else is ready.
That, and the fact that the seconds were running down in front of her eyes didn’t help. She engaged the thrusters in her suit and blasted up and away from the mountainside. She surveyed the area.
You know it’s less than thirty seconds.
I know!
A tiny sliver of orange caught her eye between a few rocks, and she flew closer.
Yes! It was the box. She grabbed it with one hand while balancing herself in the air, but when she pulled, her grasp slipped.
You got it?
She muttered a curse and as the seconds drained on the screen, placed her foot on the biggest rock and pulled the box with two hands. With a crack, the box came loose, and the rock gave way under her feet. She fell on her backside as the rock rolled down the mountainside.
XaonJoie?
No time! She fired up the thrusters and shot swerving towards the sky.
The clock was down to five seconds.
The flat rock emerged, and she flew on top of it. Holding the box in two hands, steering was difficult, and she struggled to balance herself in the air. She disengaged the thrusters and fell, flailing towards the ground.
Just as the countdown hit zero, she touched the flat stone.
Evie opened her eyes. It was dark, but light bled from the corner of her vision.
‘Are you all right?’ It was Berossus.
She lifted the headpiece. She was back in Gus’s office.
‘What happened?’ she said, wheezing.
Gus tapped away by the screen, his back towards her.
She darted over to him. ‘Did it work?’
Gus turned and smiled.
Naido called out from where he lay, ‘I’d applaud if it didn’t hurt so much. Saw it on the screen here. You’re awesome.’
‘Thanks,’ Evie said, and gave him a smile. ‘So, it worked?’
‘Let’s see it together,’ Gus said, and pressed a few buttons. A bank of screens by the wall lit up.
The screens showed a mix of code and data, without much vi
sualisation. It was the way Gus had always done things. Evie could never work like that, she needed visuals, but to Gus they were only a distraction from the essential.
‘The system is going nuts—it’s a massive surge. All other connections are cut while the servers are loading it in. It will take some time.’
‘I’m just puzzled,’ Berossus said. ‘How’s this whole thing possible? It sounds so unreal.’
Even though Gus had taught her some super-advanced stuff, Evie could’ve asked the same thing.
‘The short explanation,’ Gus said, ‘is that I’ve hijacked both the servers that run the game, and the portals that Nenetl set up, and established a connection between the two.’
‘But how do you make data out of the Remola?’ Evie said.
‘It’s already data,’ Gus said, and, when Evie eyed him in a puzzled manner, continued, ‘You sure you want the long explanation? Or do you want to complete this?’
‘OK, perhaps later.’
‘Good. The Remolan universe is transferring in now.’
Gus ran through a bunch of screens, swiping and tapping away faster than Evie had ever seen him, and even though she tried, she couldn’t follow or make sense of what he was doing. Then he stopped and leaned back on the chair with a smug face.
‘Once the transfer is done, I will delete the instance with the Remolan world and generate garbage data to make sure it won’t come back to haunt us. Because of its gargantuan size, all of this will take a while. But by the time the Momentum Corp realises what has happened, it will be too late, and just like Nenetl, they’ve nothing to trace back.’
Berossus’s face lit up. ‘So, everything’s back to normal?
‘Well, soon. Once the transfer is complete, the world of Momentum 6 will be erased forever,’ Gus said, the smugness now wiped from his face. ‘Also, Nenetl is still free, and she’s got the Ver and the Thaqaran.’
‘And Grangar?’ Evie asked.
‘Oh, that too,’ Gus said, turning to her with an expression that had lost its confidence. ‘Once she finds out what we did, she will destroy Spit City.’
Evie gulped.
Chapter Forty-Six
Henning walked with Sofia through a connecting walkway towards the Spit City spaceport. They had visited the hotel to pick up her luggage, which now rolled along beside her; meanwhile, his status had been cleared and Sofia had received information about their transport back to Dawn Central. Admiral Jett had kept his promises. Henning only hoped he could reach an agreement with him about Avalon, too.
The walkway connected the neighbouring building to the spaceport on a high level, perhaps somewhere around the two-hundredth floor, and with its transparent walls and ceiling, offered marvellous views.
Sofia flinched.
‘What is it?’
She pointed up. ‘That’s not a ship, no?’
Henning saw it too: a round object, like a moon and red in its hue, just like Heeg. ‘Definitely not a ship, but it doesn’t look like Heeg’s other moons either.’
Sofia shrugged, ‘Well, whatever it is, it looks nice.’
‘No,’ Henning said, as the realisation dawned upon him, and his heartbeat picked up the pace. ‘I know what it is—’
Sofia gasped with the sudden appearance of three dark creatures, limping across the corridor. ‘The Ver are still here.’
‘These are not Ver. If I’m not mistaken, they are Thaqaran. Keep still.’
They stayed on the side of the corridor. The three creatures shifted along in the distinct halting way the Thaqaran moved their long slender limbs, and as the light shone over them, the skin revealed it wasn’t black, but dark purple. Henning held his breath, and it seemed Sofia did too. As the creatures passed them, Henning let out a breath in relief. Whatever they were doing, they weren’t after them.
But then the Thaqaran stopped and turned. Henning tensed.
‘You have it,’ one of them spoke. ‘You must be destroyed.’
The Thaqaran lifted their hands up in what Henning knew was them casting a wicked spell that would send them into nothingness on another universe. His healing ability would be useless if that happened.
He had no weapons. His heart thumped hard, and he drew a strained breath.
Suddenly, the three Thaqaran blasted backwards, and through the transparent wall behind them. They fell and disappeared from sight.
It had been Sofia.
She stood behind Henning, palms forward and a determined expression on her face. As she lowered her arms, she glanced at Henning and collapsed.
‘Sofia!’ he shouted, and caught her.
She was breathing and her heart was beating, but she was limp. There was always a cost when E was involved. But this time, if it was nothing other than a short-term black-out, it was worth it. Her ability had saved them.
The station security, three big men with guns, ran to the scene.
Henning’s first reaction was fight or flight, but then he recalled he wasn’t a fugitive anymore.
‘We saw what happened. Are you all right?’
‘I think she’s just passed out.’
Even though she was unconscious, her ability was still remarkable, considering she hadn’t been born with it. No, she wasn’t a failed experiment.
Two of the security personnel went to look at the hole in the wall, and the third one talked with Henning about whether she needed medical attention, and if he knew who the attackers were.
Sofia jolted awake in his arms.
‘It’s all right,’ Henning said. ‘You passed out.’
‘Oh… I did, didn’t I?’
A bunch of repairmen came in and fenced the area with the hole in the wall, then began to work on mending it.
‘Be careful,’ the security personnel said. ‘There are strange creatures about. It’s not the first time, probably not the last.’ He glanced at the robot suitcase beside Sofia. ‘You don’t live in the city, no? Best to stay on monitored walkways. We can escort you to the terminal if that’s where you’re headed.’
Henning glanced at Sofia. She seemed to want to say something.
‘Are you thinking what I’m thinking?’
She nodded. ‘If you think Evie and the others need us, then yes.’
That was it. Avalon didn’t matter if they failed. Nothing mattered if they failed. ‘Thanks, but we’re headed the other way.’
Chapter Forty-Seven
Jill piloted the ship down to Spit City and approached the interstellar spaceport. She requested permission to land and received it; the ship had a working navy transponder.
Nenetl stood behind her, her hands resting on Jill’s shoulders. ‘They think they’re smart, capturing my universe into their databases. They should know better. If something can go in, it can come out, too.’
Nenetl had initiated the transfer of the universes, but apparently someone—Evie Yeoh and August Tierna—had done something to capture it midway and turn the information into fragments in the systems.
‘So, it’s just a short stop?’ Jill asked. ‘I would like to continue where we left off.’
‘Don’t you worry, my dear. Once this little thing is done, you and I will have all the time in the new world.’
With a satisfied feeling running all over her, Jill steered the ship through the force field and into the landing zone.
Nenetl said, ‘I’ll take a direct route. We will meet at the Endee Centre.’
Jill was going to reply, but already Nenetl had turned to a purple stream and flown through the ship’s hull. On the view screen, she soared through the docking area, and disappeared through its wall.
This triggered a warning message: unauthorised energy discharge detected, followed by a welcoming party of twenty guards. It was just the Shade; small wonder they had picked it up. But there was nothing they could touch. She landed on the designated spot and left the cockpit to go out and see the pesky humans trying to keep things as they were, completely oblivious of the change that was about to wash over th
em.
She grabbed a jacket, zipped it up, and went down the ramp. As it opened, she was greeted by a dozen or so guards, pointing their guns at her.
She turned her expression into a flirty smile, and, with light steps, descended the ramp.
One of the guards intercepted her.
‘Ma’am, upon landing, your ship blew an unauthorised discharge.’
‘Oh, I’m so sorry,’ she said, fluttering her eyelids and glancing at the soldiers behind him. ‘Could it be dangerous?’
The man looked serious. ‘Ma’am, we have to inspect your ship.’
She waved her hand. ‘Inspect all you want.’
‘And you’re not allowed to leave the moon before you’re cleared. Do you understand?’
‘Of course,’ she said, stepping right up to him, close enough for him to smell her perfume, and for her to see he was sweating. ‘I’m in no hurry to leave.’
The guard swallowed and nodded. ‘Ma’am.’
She stepped down the ramp as the guards moved in. The port bustled with people from across the galaxy, but for her they were nothing but static. Feeling Nenetl’s overpowering presence, she followed her, as she had told her to do. She strode through the terminal, through the spaceport building, and out onto a high walkway bridge that connected the terminal to the adjacent building.
A group of workmen were mending what seemed to be a hole in the transparent wall of the walkway. They had fenced it with red and yellow barriers with blinking red lights. Above the walkway, through the transparent roof, loomed Grangar. It was Nenetl’s assurance to strike down on Spit City should things fail.
Grangar shone red. The lights on the fences blinked red.
It was the headache again. It struck through her like lightning. She clenched her jaws and tried to remain calm. She wanted to hide her pain from Nenetl.
And just like the previous times it had happened, she remembered now, she experienced the reality for what it was. Nenetl had taken control of her. Everything came back to her in a wave so strong that tears welled up in her eyes.
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