by Gini Koch
Grabbed 2.0, flung him into the chair Reader indicated, and put another circlet onto his head. “Help James fly this thing. Resist any urges you might have to take over.”
He nodded. “Interesting. I . . . understand how the ship works.”
Put the other circlet I had on my own head because why not?
Why not was expressed in one word. “Whoa!”
CHAPTER 79
TO CALL THE EXPERIENCE mind-expanding was an understatement. I could see everything going on in the solar system, could feel all the billions of minds, could feel all the emotions. The music stopped mid-note. Wasn’t sure if Algar was doing me a solid or if my mind had short-circuited my iPod. I’d find out later if my head didn’t explode.
“Kitty, are you okay?” Reader called.
“How can you fly? How can you concentrate? How can you focus?” With this on my head it was as if I was spinning out of control. Felt someone hold and steady me, and realized it was The Clarence Clone. It didn’t help much, but it helped a bit.
Right before I thought I was going to pass out, I felt something soothing, and the barrage of everything stopped.
Kitty needs to relax.
Recognized the voice in my mind. ACE? ACE is that you?
Yes, Kitty, ACE is here.
What’s going on? What was that? How is it that the Rapacians can deal with that, let alone James and Ronnie?
ACE apologizes. This was the only way ACE could speak with Kitty. Kitty saw things as ACE sees them.
I’d seen things as ACE saw them before, but not like this. This had been far more than I’d experienced before. Maybe I was more ready to handle it now than before.
Yes. Kitty has seen and done many things Kitty had not before.
Right. ACE could “hear” the lower mind thoughts as easily as the upper ones.
The others do not and cannot see in this way, not even Ronaldo. ACE could not reach Kitty until Kitty put on the Rapacians’ Mind Melder.
That’s what this is called?
By the Rapacians, yes. It allows them to communicate with each other.
There was something in how ACE’s voice sounded—I recognized a leading hint from him by now.
Have they always had this capability?
No. ACE sounded pleased. This ability is new. Very new.
Huh. So, were they always this bloodthirsty?
No. That comes with the Mind Melder.
ACE was constrained by what he could or should say to me. Meaning I had to ask the right questions. That was fine, I had several.
Is whoever created the Mind Melder making the Rapacians more savage than normal?
Yes. They must be stopped.
No argument. Does Jamie see things like this, through you?
No. Only if Jamie needs to. As Kitty experienced it can be . . . too much, even for a mind as advanced as Jamie’s.
Well, that’s good. Can the Rapacians talk to all their people at the same time?
No. The Rapacians have to choose the mind they wish to join with. Only a very powerful mind could do what Kitty just described.
Even better. Is one of those powerful minds controlling the Melder Prime right now?
In a way. Now this was the evasive tone ACE used when I had to figure things out on my own. Decided not to push it.
So, how do we use this Mind Melder?
As Kitty would think.
I think I’m not sure how to use it, but I’ll take this to mean we’ll all figure it out. Is Jamie okay? You haven’t talked to me much since you joined with her unless she was asleep.
Jamie is in a controlled sleep. So is Paul.
James saw them in a dream.
James saw a dream that was sent to James to reassure James, and Kitty, that Jamie and Paul were well. But Jamie and Paul will not be well unless Kitty can come to the rescue. ACE needs Kitty to hurry.
This again. And so much for me asking ACE for help. If ACE wanted me to hurry, it indicated things were bad for him, Jamie, and Paul. Pushed the panic aside, there was no time for it now. What do I need to do? Where are you and Jamie and Paul?
We are where we should not be. But Kitty has to save everyone else before she can save Jamie, Paul, and ACE.
It figured. Who has all of you, ACE? Is it the Rapacians?
No. It is someone who wishes to rule the solar system. And wishes to make ACE their slave.
I won’t allow that, ACE, I promise. Who is it? The Z’porrah?
No, they are not here. Yet.
I know they’re coming ACE. And we will stop them. But if not them, who? Do I have to guess?
It is someone Kitty knows. Someone Kitty has forgotten about, because Kitty barely met them before. But it is the one who was behind all before.
Interesting. ACE could be referring to the other superconciousnesses out there, but I doubted it. And he wasn’t talking about the Z’porrah. Meaning that the “before” he was referring to was probably someone we met during Operation Invasion.
Gregory is dead, Uma is dead, King Adolphus is dead, and Lilith is scattered.
Many think Kitty is the one in charge, always. And yet, Kitty answers to someone else.
Jeff. Or Richard. Or Paul. Or the President. A long list sometimes. It’s not Alexander, is it? Or Councilor Leonidas? Alexander’s mother, Victoria? Queen Renata?
No. Kitty’s friends are still Kitty’s friends. But they will not be for much longer.
Because they’re going to switch sides?
Because they are going to be killed.
And with that, felt ACE leave my mind.
CHAPTER 80
HAD TO HAND IT TO HIM, ACE knew how to make both an entrance and an exit.
The Clarence Clone was still holding me up, which was good, because the ship rocked.
“The other ship is attacking,” Reader said, reasonably calmly. “But I don’t think we can blow it out of the air because I’m pretty sure that’s the ship that has the others on it.”
Okay, we had these Mind Melder things. Time to meld minds. Focused and—while the ship tossed and flipped and The Clarence Clone kept us both upright—tried to find Jeff. It was fairly easy, but that was because I could feel that he was being tortured. This was a technique that our enemies liked to use to bring Jamie to them. Maybe it was a good thing our other enemies had her in some sort of Sleeping Beauty trance. This moment’s definition of choosing the lesser of two evils.
Jeff needed adrenaline, and that meant I needed to get to him. But I had no idea where he was. However, unhappy as this made me, we had more pressing matters.
“Clarence and I are going to search this ship and hopefully get the girls inside before you have to take a lot of evasive maneuvers.”
Reader steadied the spaceship. “Do that at hyperspeed, because I don’t know how long our shields are going to hold. Ensure we have control of the ship, and then get the others in here, fast,” he barked.
“Sounds good.” Took The Clone’s hand in mine. “Go as fast as you safely can, we need to search every inch of this ship and get the others inside if we’re able to.” We took off.
As we ran through the ship, I stopped focusing on Jeff and went for Chuckie. Got him on the first try. Realized why—they had him in a circlet, but I could see through his eyes, and he was definitely a prisoner. The horror of what was going on dawned on me. They were using Chuckie’s brain to power the Mind Melders.
In fact, it was a good bet that they were torturing Jeff, and maybe the others, too, in order to get Chuckie to let all of the Rapacians mind meld at the same time. ACE had said the mind would have to be exceptional. That’s why Abigail and 2.0 had reached him so quickly and why he’d tossed them out of his mind even faster.
I could tell the strain was wearing on him. Every mind, even the biggest and strongest, had a breaking point
. And if Chuckie was seeing what I’d seen when ACE was with me, that would be a tremendous barrage that he probably wasn’t prepared for.
Of course, the Rapacians wouldn’t care. If they burned Chuckie out, no worries—they had my little girl and ACE trapped somewhere. All they wanted was to take this world that didn’t belong to them and destroy it.
The rage came and it was, as it always was when the people I loved were threatened, massive. But I controlled it, because the last thing either Jeff or Chuckie would need was feeling my rage emotionally or mentally. However it did mean I was an expert at braining birdbrains, and I was moving as fast as The Clarence Clone with ease.
Chuckie didn’t toss me out—either I’d snuck in well or ACE was giving me some kind of mental invisibility cloak. Meaning I could see that the prisoners weren’t all together. The human and A-C men were all in the room with Jeff and Chuckie, but the Beta Eight natives and the A-C women were missing.
The Clarence Clone and I not only searched the ship, but we gathered up all the Mind Melders. Kept my connection with Chuckie and destroyed one of the jewels by smashing it with my baseball bat. Felt him smile in his mind. Good, he knew I was there and he was encouraging what I’d done.
We didn’t find any of our people, but by the time we’d searched the ship and gotten all the Mind Melders in hand—or rather in arms, since we had them slung onto both our arms and both of our baseball bats like bracelets, there were so many—Fancy and the Venida had managed to get inside with their Matriarchs. And all in under three minutes, go team.
Truly, the princesses and Abigail had earned their God Names, because when I leaned out to take a look, I saw several snakipedes going for the low-hanging fruit and snapping at a large number of falling winged bodies that were not fighting back.
The Clarence Clone pulled me back before I got too enraptured with the view and fell out or dropped the Mind Melders, and closed the hull door.
“You guys were awesome! You’re totally the Venida!”
“Couldn’t have done it without Fancy,” Abigail said with a grin. “She was amazing.”
Fancy bowed. “I have lived my life in the ways of the Venida.”
“It shows,” Rahmi said. “We are proud to call you Warrior Sister.”
Rhee nodded. “There is a ceremony, but it will have to wait until this battle is over.”
Fancy looked like every dream she’d had as a little ferret had come true. “I . . . am honored.”
“Back to fighting first, though.”
“Why are you wearing all those?” Abigail asked.
“Oh, these are Mind Melders, they’re what’s allowing the Rapacians to talk to each other. We need to destroy all of them.”
“But you’re wearing one,” Rhee pointed out.
“Right. I am. And so are James and Ronnie. Um, okay, everyone take one, and then we destroy the rest.”
“Shouldn’t we save some for the others?” Rahmi asked, as she took a Mind Melder and put it on. The others did likewise. Didn’t make much of a dent in what The Clarence Clone and I were carrying.
“No. We’ll get more when we raid the next ship. The Earth males are together. They’re torturing Jeff and they’re doing something equally horrible to Chuckie. No idea what’s happening to the other guys. The Beta Eight natives and the Earth women I haven’t found yet. But none of the prisoners are on this ship.”
“Do we toss all of these,” Fancy indicated the unconscious Rapacians lying on the floor nearby, “to the Horrors, or do we merely kill them here?”
“How you do handle normal prisoners?” This was a test question, because the wrong answer would mean that Fancy wasn’t actually the Ferret for the Job of Planetary Ruler.
“We imprison them,” she replied. “But none of us have ever waged this level of war against another clan. If these awaken, we will be fighting again.”
“Good answer and good point. Which is why we’re going with imprison them. There’s a large room clearly made for prisoner containment. Clarence can lead you to it. Everyone needs to move these bodies in there and get them locked in as fast as possible.”
“I can do most of it, Shealla,” The Clarence Clone said respectfully.
“Okay, then, um, give me the Mind Melders you have.”
“I will carry them,” Fancy offered. The Clarence Clone gave the tonnage on his arms to her, gave her the baseball bat and all the Melders on it, put one onto his head, then he disappeared. Along with all the bodies in the hallway we were in.
“The Venida will assist,” Abigail said with a grim smile. Then she, Rahmi, and Rhee zipped off.
“Works for me. Let’s get back to the command center and let James know he can rock and roll.”
CHAPTER 81
I RAN BACK, jangling like the Queen of the Gypsies, Fancy rode her Matriarch, jangling like the Gypsy Caravan, and the other Matriarchs flew behind. I was too revved up on rage to ride right now.
Dumped the Mind Melders onto the ground and started grinding them under my heel while Fancy smashed hers with her baseball bat. Her mace was resting on her Matriarch’s back.
“What in God’s name are you two doing?” 2.0 asked.
“Getting rid of things that are detrimental to our cause.” Despite looking like diamonds, whatever the jewels were made of crumbled pretty easily. Good. I was still mentally tethered to Chuckie and could tell this was helping him in some way.
“Thank God I chose to switch sides.”
Chose not to grace this with a response. “James,” I said while I crushed at hyperspeed but talked at human, “do whatever you need to from an evasive standpoint. We’re all inside. However, you’re right—at least some of our people are on that other ship. Possibly on both of the ships. The girls and natives aren’t with the guys.”
“Fantastic.”
“I think we should land,” 2.0 said.
Let that sit on the air for a bit. “Um, why?” I asked finally.
“To draw them down. In the air they have an advantage. On the ground, well, this is a world they’re unfamiliar with.”
Fancy nodded. “This is true. And we do have a fighting force inside Haven. And elsewhere, I’m sure. Not all will have run and hidden when they saw the ships and the Horrors in the sky.”
“Only the sane ones.”
“That’s a great plan,” Reader said, ignoring me, as the others joined us in the command center, “but you’re forgetting that they’re cool with just staying in the air and shooting at targets on the ground. That would work if we could really draw them down, but I’m not betting that we can.”
“That means we need to get into the other ships.” Always the way. And I knew who had to do it, too. Oh well, Fancy and I had finished destroying all the Mind Melders. Someone else could do the cleanup. “Fancy, you up for another exciting ride?”
“Absolutely, Shealla.”
“What about the rest of us?” Abigail asked.
“James needs backup. In case the prisoners know how to escape from their holding cell, someone has to cover him and Ronnie while they fly this thing. Draw straws for who gets to clean up the mess we just made.”
This earned me some dirty looks, but the girls all nodded. “Sensible,” Rahmi said, disappointment clear. But she stationed herself between Reader and 2.0.
Rhee went and stood by the door, while Abigail took a point in between the two. “You guys get to have all the fun,” Abigail said with a grin.
“I know, we just hog it all, don’t we?” Turned to the Matriarchs. “You guys in?”
Many antennae waved. A few indicated they were staying on this ship in order to assist Reader and ensure that 2.0 didn’t try anything funny. The rest were in it to win it.
“James, we’ll be back, I hope, or else we’ll be trying to fly the other ships. Ronnie, don’t try anything funny. Clarence, I think we’re
going to need the speedy skills, so are you up for coming along?”
“Yes, Shealla, of course.”
Ginger and Wilbur both whined. “No, you two have to stay here and help James,” I said as I gave them both big hugs. “Kitty won’t be able to fight if she thinks Ginger and Wilbur are in danger.” Plus with the flying we were going to have to do, while the animals could be a huge help once we were inside a ship, outside of it there was just too much risk they’d get hurt, fall off, or limit one of us from fighting.
They heaved dog and cat sighs, but Ginger settled herself next to Rahmi and Wilbur did the same with Rhee.
“Girlfriend, you’re going to have to time when you leave the ship, because the other ships are firing at us, both of them now, and I’m not sure that I can evade that and keep you from getting hit at the same time.”
“I have faith in you, James.”
“I’m touched. I’m also going to run. They’ll probably chase us, but it’ll give us the advantage for a little while and possibly mean that you’re left alone. By the ships. Remember there are still plenty of Horrors out there as well as Rapacians.”
“I’ll try to tell the Horrors to avoid all of you,” 2.0 said. “Not sure how effective I’ll be right now, though. They’re in full bloodlust.”
“We’ll deal with it. How long do you figure you’ll be gone, James?”
“Not sure, but I want to go around this world at least once, more if they’re actually following us. On the plus side, we’ll be able to see if there are other continents we need to be worried about being invaded. And everyone should be able to stay standing, at least for a while.”
“Okay, just come back for us.”
He turned and flashed me the cover boy grin. “Always babe. Can’t leave my girl out here fighting Thanagarians without the rest of the Justice League, now can I?”
“Thank you, Green Lantern.”
He laughed and turned back to the controls and the three of us, accompanied by most of the Matriarchs, left the cockpit and headed again to the hull door.