In a blink, we’re back in the ether between worlds, but just beyond the veil of Dimension Zero. It’s like we’ve got a no-clip cheat code running, allowing us to move through the level, unhindered by walls and enemies. Mephos guides us to another clearing, this one surrounded by ten towers. Bright blue electric bolts crack between them. A small device at the center of it all glows with energy.
It’s small, no bigger than an iMac.
What the hell is that thing for? I wonder, and then we wink back into reality beside it. This is all that’s containing the black hole? I look around at the massive towers at the core of the immense base. It’s not just this small container, it’s the whole facility.
“What now?” I ask. “We can’t just destroy a black hole, and I don’t think moving it to the MirrorWorld will do any good.”
“You’re right,” Mephos says. “And I’m sorry.”
The words, ‘for what’ flit through my head, but when I remember who it is apologizing, it’s already too late. Mephos strikes Crazy first, knocking the strongest of us back and away.
Cowboy reaches out for the Bell, but Mephos catches him with his prehensile tail, yanking him off his feet and tossing him atop Crazy.
I draw my sidearm, but don’t fire. Mephos has one hand on the Bell, and the other on the black hole.
“What are you doing?”
“You understand sacrifice better than most, Jon,” Mephos says. “But I wasn’t sure if you would be able to make this sacrifice.”
“This was a suicide mission from the start,” I say.
He nods.
I lower my gun. “I kinda figured.”
With something like pride in his eyes, he says, “You are everything we hoped you would be.” He gives me a nod, like he’s freakin’ Santa Claus, and then disappears with the Bell, and the black hole.
We’re stranded.
In Dimension Zero.
In Antarctica.
And on the far side of the planet is a white hole, which is something I hadn’t even heard of until today. From what I remember, it’s basically the opposite of a black hole, expanding out rather than getting sucked in. And, best guess, that means this Earth is about to get blasted to bits and shot into space, and there is no frequency of reality that Crazy can hide us in to avoid that fate.
Good times.
The crackling electricity surrounding us fades, as the purpose for this megastructure is removed. Silence settles over us. And then the sound of opening doors. Fifty foot tall doors.
A group of Aeros step into the clearing, dressed for war, but too late. Of course, that doesn’t mean they can’t vent their galactic frustrations on us.
I turn to Cowboy and Crazy, but neither of them are looking at the Aeros rushing toward us from all sides. Their eyes are on the horizon.
When I look, I forget the Aeros, too.
The world is coming undone.
We’re on the far side of the planet from the white hole, which has apparently been unleashed, perhaps caused by the removal of the black hole. I imagine it as an ever-expanding explosion, pushing out, crushing the planet as it grows larger. An aurora of green energy warbles in the sky, as Earth’s magnetic field comes undone. Chunks of earth, perhaps entire countries and oceans, spray into the sky, which is already darkening as the atmosphere fades. I didn’t think it was possible, but the air starts growing colder. And thinner.
I turn to Crazy and offer my hand. “Couldn’t have done it without you.”
He shakes my hand and smiles, not a worry in the world.
“Cowboy,” I say, shaking his hand next. “You saved the world.”
“Infinite worlds,” he corrects me with a grin. “Is best death one could ask for.”
I can’t help but smile at these two men. They are brave in a way that most people can only fantasize about. And I wish I could be like them, but I can’t, because of the people I’m leaving behind. Collins. Maigo. Lilly. Hawkins. Joliet. Cooper. Watson. Spunky. Woodstock. They’re my family, damnit, and I don’t want to leave them.
But the Earth is coming undone, and the Aeros are nearly upon us. Crazy could hide us from the Aeros in the MirrorWorld, but what’s the point? Death has come for us, and what the Grim Reaper wants, the Grim Reaper—
“Am I too late?”
The voice startles me.
Spins me around so fast that I nearly fall over.
Solomon, the King of Antarktos, stands just ten feet away, with a Bell. It’s half the size of Cowboy’s Bell, but I’m pretty sure that when it comes to interdimensional travel, size doesn’t matter. Like I always tell Collins, if it gets the job done, who cares?
“Fuck you, Grim Reaper!” I shout, and I run for the Bell.
Solomon sees the incoming horde of Aeros, nearly within striking distance. He reaches out with his hands, and a savage wind drops down from the sky, expanding out around us and tossing the Aeros away in a way that would make Gandalf envious.
Then I stumble and fall, as the Earth beneath my feet crumbles and rises.
“It’s coming apart!” I shout, looking up at Crazy and Cowboy, already at the Bell. “Just go!”
“This is still Antarktos,” Solomon says. “And it is still mine to command.”
Wielding some kind of supernatural power, the likes of which I’ve never seen and will likely never understand, Solomon summons the earth and air around us to remain intact, while the entire planet comes apart around us. The land, the massive base and all the Aeros around us are catapulted into the blackness of space. Above our sphere of life, the sky is full of stars. Below us glows a brightness I find hard to describe, and it’s pushing Solomon to his limits.
For one staggering moment, I stand still, witnessing the death of planet Earth. In a strange kind of way, it’s breathtaking. We’re witnessing powers of the cosmos in a way no person ever has before.
And it’s about to kill us.
I dive for the Bell, and as soon as I make contact, we disappear to the safety of the ether, where we watch Dimension Zero’s Earth come undone.
We did it, I think. Holy shit, we did it.
I’m pretty sure the Bell is being guided by Cowboy, rather than by Solomon, because I can now see my Earth. The Aeros mothership is riddled with explosions and appears to be headed toward the sun. I can only assume that’s thanks to Maigo, Lilly and Freeman. I catch glimpses of sites around the world and see several GUSs under attack. The world’s air forces are severing the dangling lower halves and setting the tops free to deflate in the atmosphere.
Hope swells, as our journey brings us back to New Hampshire, and then the White Mountains. But then it all disappears in a single moment of horror.
Karkinos, Scylla, Typhon and Scrion all lie in bloody heaps, shredded and very dead. Only Nemesis and Hyperion remain, but there’s no way they can survive what’s about to happen. Ashtaroth has been savaged. It’s missing an arm and appears to have shed its skin, like Nemesis, but its body is covered in orange membranes, and it’s about to unleash them all at once.
Nemesis must see this, because she starts running away.
No, I realize, not away.
There’s a small group of people standing atop a mountain.
Collins.
It has to be.
High above in the sky, a shimmering shape emerges as it shoots down toward the mountaintop. Future Betty, returning from space, racing to rescue the others.
I want to shout at Crazy, to get us down there, to take action, but I can’t. I have no voice in this place. But I am in contact with the Bell, and that means I can take control.
So I do.
In a blink, we’re back in the real world, standing atop a mountain, fifty feet from the others and a few hundred yards from Nemesis, who is charging right for us. When I see a bright red head of hair, I shout, “Collins!”
Covered in black goo, she turns and looks more afraid than happy to see me.
“Get away!” she shouts.
“Not without you!�
�
She starts running. Rook, Fiona, Watson and Hawkins run, too, each in various states of health, but still alive.
Future Betty descends a little too fast, and a lot too recklessly, identifying the pilot as Lilly, but it lands just a few feet from us. The back hatch opens and Maigo bounds out. “Dad!”
I’m thrilled to see her alive, but petrified by the look on her face.
“Can you feel it?” she asks.
“Feel what?” I ask.
She stops beside me. Collins is just a few steps away. Behind her, Nemesis shifts to the side a bit, and I see Ashtaroth yank its tentacles away from its body. The orange fluid inside doesn’t just spray out of the holes. It’s launched, propelled by the deflating gas bags on its side. The creature’s self-immolation attack isn’t just bigger, it’s also supercharged.
“It’s Nemesis,” Maigo says, and then she takes my hand. “She’s—”
Her voice is drowned out by the explosive boom. Knowing the shockwave is next, I brace myself. But I don’t feel it nearly as much as I should. When I open my eyes, I see Nemesis again. She’s crouched down, creating a massive shield out of her body, which is being blown apart from behind. Chunks of black flesh peel away from her body on all sides. Fire consumes her, blasting around her blackening form. Fiona creates stone walls on both sides, keeping the swirling flames at bay, but Nemesis is still bearing the brunt of the blast on her own.
She roars in agony, and the sound breaks my heart.
“Hudson!” someone shouts, but I don’t look. As Nemesis nearly falls, Hyperion teleports into view, propping Nemesis up, adding its body to the shield. The flames immediately engulf the massive robot, peeling away its metallic body just as easily as it does Nemesis’s.
“Go!” Hyperion shouts, voice strained as it experiences pain for the first time in its short existence. “Hurry!”
Gleaming white flesh exposed, Nemesis’s brilliant wings snap open, deflecting the light and heat completely. And in that brief reprieve, she looks down and makes eye contact. As the glistening panels that make up Nemesis’s wings burst apart, so does my view of the world.
43
Christmas morning.
I’m in my pajamas. Bing Crosby is crooning from the record player. The tree glistens. Presents are wrapped in Frosty, Santa Claus and Rudolph patterns. I smell wood burning in the fireplace. Hot chocolate brewing in the kitchen.
It’s a perfect moment. Always has been. And I’ve only shared it with a few people, both of whom are here with me now.
Maigo is beside me, adorable in her pink footie pajamas, hair cut in a bob.
Standing across from us is Endo, dressed in Godzilla pajamas with bold Japanese text.
“You’re an asshole,” I tell him. “Bringing us here? Now? Are you trying to make me cry?”
He smiles. “It was not me.”
We both turn to Maigo. “Not saying goodbye leaves wounds that don’t ever heal.”
She doesn’t need to explain. We both know she’s talking about her mother.
And she’s right.
I offer my hand to young Katsu Endo and he takes it.
“Thank you,” I tell him. “I still hate you. But thank you.”
He bows, long and deep, a sign of respect. “Thank you, my friend.”
And that’s when I do cry. Son of a bitch.
Maigo hugs Katsu, saying, “You have done a better job than I ever could have.”
“It would not have been possible without you,” he says. “The part of her that allowed me to stand in harm’s way came from you.” Then he turns to me and says, “She is here with us, through me.” He looks at Maigo, tears in his eyes now. “She wants to thank you both. For understanding her when no one else would.”
We’re all crying now. A real blubbering mess.
“Nemesis,” I say, and I stop when Endo’s face scrunches up in pain. He grits his teeth and looks me in the eyes. But the brown eyes staring back at me are not Endo’s, they are Nemesis’s. “Thank you for saving us.”
The sides of the house peel away and turn to ash. The room is crumbling, burning apart. As is Endo. He smiles through it, reciting, “Nemesis, winged tilter of scales and lives, Justice-spawned Goddess with sinister eyes! Thou bridlest evil men who roil in vain...”
He’s coming apart, unable to speak. Unable to finish.
So I do it for him. “Against Thy harsh adamantine rein.”
The last I see of Endo is a smile.
Then he’s gone.
And so is the vision.
We’re in the ether.
All of us.
Maigo, Collins, Watson, Hawkins, Cowboy, Crazy, Fiona, Rook, Lilly, Freeman, Woodstock and Solomon. All of them alive.
Because of Endo.
Because of Nemesis. And Hyperion.
The vision ended in time for me to see the burning fires of Ashtaroth’s final gambit consume our kaiju and robotic protectors.
I want to cry out.
To scream.
But here in the space between worlds, all I can do is watch.
When the flames fade, nothing remains. Just scorched earth and barren, smoldering mountains.
And Ashtaroth.
Its white body is charred black, but still upright.
Rot, you bastard, I think.
And then it defies my command. The ash cracks, revealing a lightning bolt of white. The crack spreads. Layers of it fall away as the flesh beneath moves.
Ashtaroth lives.
Still in contact with the Bell, I will us back into reality, taking control away from whoever pulled us into the ether—most likely Cowboy. The land stinks of sulfur and ash. The air is nearly too hot to breathe.
But I need to see this with my own eyes. Need to know our fight isn’t yet over.
“That’s big,” Solomon says, stepping up next to me, his blond hair whipping in the wind.
“Any bright ideas?” I ask, as tentacles sprout from Ashtaroth’s severed shoulders and the ash covering its giant head crumbles away. Black skin starts to grow over the white. Orange fluid starts pumping out from the creature’s interior, refilling veins and membranes.
Solomon looks around. “This isn’t Antarctica.”
“No? Really?” I can’t help but ooze sarcasm.
“But,” he says, immune to the sting of my words. He turns to Cowboy. “The Bell. It moves between dimensions, but can it create an Einstein-Rosen bridge?”
“A what now?” Lilly asks.
“A shortcut between two separate points in space-time,” Solomon says.
“Is talking about wormhole,” Cowboy adds.
“Wormhole,” I tell Solomon. “That’s all you had to say.”
“And no.” Cowboy shakes his head. “Have never tried.”
Solomon walks back to the Bell and places his hand on the side. He turns back and says, “You might want to get out of the way.”
I scurry away from the Bell along with the others. I have no idea what he’s attempting, but there’s a good chance it’s not safe—especially if he thinks it can defeat something the size of Ashtaroth.
Solomon closes his eyes.
The Bell hums. And then buzzes. The air around it crackles, and then peels apart. He’s opened a portal—an actual portal between worlds. On one side is our Earth and on the other is a lush tropical land that I suspect is Antarktos. But then something changes. It’s like seeing two overlapping images of the same mountainous scenery, but one is mostly green and blue, while the other is white and blue.
“Is opening overlapping wormholes,” Cowboys says. “To multiple Antarcticas.”
Solomon’s powers are connected to the continent of Antarctica. Don’t ask me how or why, but that’s his deal. By opening a portal to Antarktos, he’s gained access to his formidable abilities. But can he really increase his power by opening wormholes to more than one Antarctica? Could he be connected to all of them?
The view through the portal becomes blurred. It’s a shimmering white, blue
and green mash of color.
“How many Antarcticas are you accessing?” I ask.
Solomon smiles and opens his eyes. “All of them.”
He turns toward Ashtaroth, one hand still on the Bell, and whispers, “Go.”
The power of an infinite number of Antarcticas blasts out of the wormhole, somehow surging past Solomon without knocking him over. A blizzard of ice shards propelled by an impossible wind launches at Ashtaroth.
There’s a momentary look of shock in the behemoth’s small eyes, and then pain. Despite being comprised of trillions of tiny ice particles, the torrent strikes with such speed and force that it punches clean through the beast’s chest, exiting out the back. The ice then breaks into several smaller streaks, curving back around to punch through the creature again, all the while, even more of it roars from the portal at Solomon’s back.
A cyclone of razor ice whips around the giant kaiju, tearing it apart. Orange membranes shatter and explode, but are contained by Solomon’s raw power. Bit by bit, Ashtaroth is dismantled. The last vestige of the Aeros assault on infinite Earths wails in pain, but the attack does not relent until the kaiju is reduced to dust. Then Solomon sends the churning cloud of ice high up into the sky where it bursts in every direction.
The portals snap closed, all at once, and the Bell goes quiet. Solomon removes his hand from its surface. He stood at the center of a storm that tore Ashtaroth apart, wearing only a glorified skirt, and he’s not even nipped out. And unlike Fiona, who is exhausted by her power, he seems almost energized by what he has just done.
“Holy crap-balls, that was awesome.” Rook has his hands on his head and a smile on his face. He’s covered in black gore, courtesy of Scrion, whose body, like all of the other kaiju, including Nemesis and Hyperion, have been vaporized. And while Rook is a little more excited than I feel, I share his sentiment.
That was awesome.
I head for Collins, and despite her being covered in her own layer of black sludge, I wrap her in a hug. Maigo joins us, and as we look over the destroyed landscape, I feel grateful that Earth has been spared, but even more so that my family is intact.
Project Legion (Nemesis Saga Book 5) Page 27