Before the reality of what had just happened had settled in on anyone, another guard stepped forward, leveling his blaster at the head of Nataylia Evenstar…
…and pulling the trigger.
“MOTHER!!!” Kimlee shrieked, dropping her datapad, her eyes wide with terror and disbelief.
Jack turned, just as another guard was stepping up behind a mortified Amadeus, who couldn’t seem to take his eyes away from the sight of his parents’ lifeless bodies.
“Get down!” cried Jack as he grabbed Amadeus, pushing him aside just as the guard leveled his gun.
Jack hopped forward and grabbed the blaster, pulling the guard’s aim away from Amadeus as he loosed a plasma bolt.
“Protect the children!” Kalpryn yelled, his men all drawing their weapons.
Dorshyre and his compatriots all began firing at Kalpryn’s group, a full-fledged firefight erupting. Kimlee screamed and dropped to the floor, covering her head as plasma blasts streaked by everywhere.
The guard Jack was struggling with backhanded him hard across the face, sending him stumbling to the ground, his head spinning. Amadeus looked up helplessly as the guard took aim but was saved when Sergeant Kalpryn blasted the assailant in the head. Jack heard the worm cry out pitifully as the guard’s body fell to the floor.
Jack turned and saw Kimlee cowering against the windowed wall, screaming hysterically as she lay crouched, her arms covering her head. He saw another worm-infected guard heading toward her, taking aim with his pistol.
“Stop him!” Jack yelled at Kalpryn. “He’s going after Kimlee!”
Kalpryn turned and saw the guard getting ready to shoot Kimlee. He wasted no time in firing, taking the man down.
Jack looked around. The guards who were still standing were all struggling with one another. Some were shooting, while others were locked in hand-to-hand combat. He saw Kalprin rush forward against the streaks of plasma bolts and tackle Dorshyre.
“TRAITOR!” Kalpryn yelled as he vigorously beat in Dorshyre’s face.
Jack looked over at Amadeus, who was still on the ground. Amadeus’s expression was drawn tightly in anguish, tears streaking down his cheeks as he continued to gaze at Eudox’s still, lifeless body. “Father…” Jack heard him squeak.
Jack looked around as one wormed guard after another fell to Kalpryn’s men. But despite the fact that they were winning, something was buzzing in Jack’s mind. Something that told him the danger was not over.
Kalpryn wrapped his hand around Dorshyre’s neck, the man’s half-conscious eyes gazing up at him. “Why?” Kalpryn demanded. “You served as Lord Evenstar’s personal guard for a decade! Why betray him now???”
Dorshyre smiled weakly. “It is all part of his plan…” he rasped.
“Whose plan?” shouted Kalpryn. “Who do you work for?”
Jack and Amadeus got to their feet, guards rushing to their sides. Jack saw Kimlee huddled against the wall, crying uncontrollably. Amadeus had a blank look on his face, as though he were not even conscious of what was going on around him. Jack stepped forward, looking at Dorshyre’s bloody and swollen face, the sense of impending danger Jack was experiencing growing greater with each passing moment.
“You’ll never know the answer to that question,” Dorshyre replied.
“We’ll see,” growled Kalpryn. “I’m not going to kill you. Not until I interrogate every last bit of information from you. And by then, you’ll be wishing for death!”
“You still don’t get it, do you?” Dorshyre said, coughing. His eyes suddenly turned pure white, and the worm in his neck went ridged, the man’s voice taking on a deeper, more sinister tone.
“No one is making it out of here alive.”
Dorshyre began to laugh. Then, it felt as though the whole room were vibrating. An uncomfortable feeling of bass pressure assaulted Jack. He looked up at the windowed wall before him just as a spacecraft lowered into view, hovering mere feet from the outside of the tower. The ship looked like a vulture, preparing to swoop down to devour its prey. Two massive Gatling plasma cannons descended from beneath its wings, their barrels starting to spin as they warmed up.
“Oh… crap!” breathed Jack.
Jack turned and rushed toward Amadeus, grabbing him and tackling him to the ground behind a couch just as the spaceship hovering outside opened fire.
Plasma bolts ripped through the windowed wall in rapid succession, tearing through anything in their path. Some guards dove for cover, but others were not fast enough, their bodies disintegrating under the blinding heat of the plasma spraying all around them.
Sergeant Kalpryn did not even have time to realize what was happening before the spaceship adjusted it’s angle, the blasts from its repeating cannons cutting right through him. The rapid-fire plasma bolts instantly destroyed furniture, robo-servants, and anything else in their path.
Jack heard Kimlee scream. He was flat on the floor next to Amadeus, who had his hands over his ears, as the couch in front of them caught on fire from plasma bolts that seared through it. Jack turned his head and saw Kimlee curled in a ball, dangerously exposed as she huddled against the glass wall opposite the ship.
Suddenly, the windowed wall facing the starship gave way, and there was a burst of depressurization as the air was sucked out of the apartment. Jack cried out as he and Amadeus were pulled toward the opening, the couch before them flying out with violent force. Some of the guards had been sucked out, as well, screaming as they fell through the air to their deaths far, far below.
Jack grabbed Amadeus’s arm and pawed at the floor as they skidded across it. A hand reached out and grabbed Jack’s wrist, stopping them just before they hit the edge. Jack looked up at a guard who was hanging onto a heavy artistic sculpture that had decorated the room. He pulled Jack and Amadeus away from the ledge.
Jack looked up and saw the spaceship veer off to the side, having stopped firing. It appeared to be flying away.
“Lord Evenstar,” the guard said. “Lord Evenstar, are you injured?” Amadeus looked at the guard, as though he didn’t recognize what he was saying. “We must get you to safety, sir!” the guard insisted. “Can you walk?”
“Yes,” Amadeus croaked. “Yes, I can walk…”
“We gotta hurry before that thing comes back!” Jack said, his skin still crawling with the sense of danger he’d been experiencing, enough to know they were nowhere close to being safe yet.
Jack and the guard helped Amadeus up and began ushering him back toward the exit. The guard called out to one of his surviving compatriots, who was clamoring to his feet.
“Get Lady Evenstar!” the guard ordered. “Hurry!”
Jack watched as the other guard ran toward Kimlee. Jack couldn’t help but stop to see if she was okay. She’d wedged herself in the far corner of the dwelling to prevent being sucked out the window. Her cheeks were stained with tears and her whole body was shaking.
Jack turned and saw the spaceship in the distance as it circled around, coming back at a trajectory that brought it directly in-line with the apartment. Jack could see two missiles fire from beneath its wings, the cylindrical javelins of death heading right for them.
Oh no, he thought, looking at where Kimlee was as the guard dragged her to her feet. They’re not going to make it!
“No, don’t!” yelled Jack in warning, but it was too late. The guard was already rushing Kimlee across the room, trying to get her to the exit.
They hadn’t even begun to close the distance before the missiles hit.
WHA-BOOM!
Jack could feel the force of the explosion as the missiles impacted the side of the tower. The entire far side of the room shuddered and disintegrated as the shockwave from the blasts raced forth like ripples in a pond, blazing hot flames screaming forward in its wake. Jack stumbled and fell to his knees, his ears ringing from the deafening sound of the explosion.
Jack looked up, just in time to see the blast hit Kimlee. The windowed wall behind her shattered, splintering int
o millions of tiny shards, the glass raining down outside like glittering snowflakes. The guard who was with her shielded her with his body, crying out as the flames hit him full on, charring his skin and thrusting him backwards. His body impacted Kimlee, knocking her back.
“KIMLEE!!!” Jack heard Amadeus scream.
No, thought Jack.
Suddenly, time slowed to a crawl.
Jack could feel all sensation disappear from his body. His mind was clear. His pulse was steady. His ears were no longer ringing. He looked up at the scene before him with such picture-perfect clarity, it was as though he could feel his pupils contracting as he focused his vision.
Kimlee was in the air, pushed back both by the force of the explosion and the impact of her guard. Her hair swirled around her face as her mouth opened in a scream, flames performing a slow, beautiful, deadly dance all around her. She was falling through the tiny shards of glass, which tinkled as melodically as wind chimes while they fell. She was already halfway out the window, suspended in the air, her hand reaching out desperately toward her brother, as though he were the only lifeline she had left to grab onto.
Though Jack couldn’t see him, he somehow knew Amadeus was watching, frozen, his face locked in a look of horror as his sister fell out of the tower. Jack could sense the remaining guards – wounded, burned, some of them dying, and none of them able to do anything to save Kimlee.
No, Jack thought. This will not happen.
Jack could feel a spark ignite in his chest. A strange sensation of energy that seemed to course through his veins, a queer sense of power surging through him. He gazed at the scene before him, the smoke and flames and shrapnel from the explosion all swirling through the room like a tempest born of destruction and death. He could see how it moved, and he could see Kimlee slowly falling out of sight beyond it.
Jack’s body was in motion before he even realized it. His legs tensed, springing him up from the ground and carrying him forward with purpose and efficiency. He could feel his heart beat in his chest, steady as a metronome, as he pumped his arms, running forward as fast as he could. He felt no fear. He felt no hesitation. He felt no pain.
He simply knew what he had to do.
He could feel himself passing through the remnants of the explosion, the smoke parting around him as though it were afraid of his presence. The shattered wall loomed before him, jagged shards of glass still clinging to its frame like the teeth of some terrible beast waiting to swallow him whole. But this beast did not faze Jack. He had seen Eudox Evenstar die. He had seen Nataylia Evenstar die.
He was determined not to see the same thing happen to Kimlee.
Jack neared the opening, his feet pounding the floor with urgency as he rushed forward. He gritted his teeth, reaching out with his mind to call the one thing he knew would be able to save him and Kimlee both. He could only pray it would get there in time.
Kimlee’s screams could be heard emanating from the opening as she fell. There was no time to waste. Jack steeled himself, and with an unshakable resolve coursing through him as he reached the edge…
Jack leapt out into the void after her.
Chapter 34
“Sir, please, I must advise against this course of action,” said Green as Armonto led his team of slicer specialists onto the bridge of the Earthship. “If anything, your attempts to hack into the Earthship’s systems will only cause it to work harder to keep you out.”
“Have you so little faith, Professor?” Armonto said, motioning for his men to begin accessing the ship’s electronics. “I was hacking military grade encryption before I could fully walk.”
“I don’t mean this as an indictment of your skills, sir,” Green replied nervously. “The Deathlords attempted something similar in their efforts to study the Earthship, and they were not able to succeed either.”
“In case it was not obvious, Professor, I am not a Deathlord,” Armonto replied flatly. “I am, however, the leading scientist in the entire Empire. I can assure you, if there is a way to crack this egg open, I will find it.”
“Please,” Green begged, “just give me a little bit more time. This is not the way to unlock this ship’s secrets.”
“Do not presume to lecture me on how to unlock the secrets of Ancient technology,” Armonto said sharply. “That is what the Maguffyn Corporation does, and there are none better at it. So unless you have some magical way of suddenly getting this ship to start operating so we can gather data on how it works, stand aside and let me do what I do best.”
Just then, the bridge came to life, every single console and monitor in the room activating and busily processing information. Armonto and Green both looked around at the sudden onslaught of activity, genuinely surprised.
“All systems are operational, sir!” said technician Rolo as she monitored her console. “Schematics are showing full return of all ship machinery!”
Armonto smirked at Green smugly. “Well now,” he said. “I guess we just needed to put a little fear into—”
Suddenly, the ship jerked as its engines engaged and began speeding forward out of its hangar. Green and Armonto looked up at the viewscreen, both somewhat startled that the ship was now rapidly flying away from the spaceport. “What’s going on?” Armonto demanded. “Who’s piloting this ship?”
“No one, sir!” Rolo responded. “Thrusters have been turned to full, course coordinates have been set… but no one is actually flying it!”
“Blast it, the ship can’t be flying itself!” Armonto said.
“Actually, it can,” piped in Green.
Armonto briefly glared at Green with annoyance before stepping forward to the center of the command level of the bridge. “Navigation, report,” commanded Armonto. “Where is the ship headed?”
“The course laid in is plotted toward… the Redwater supertower, sir,” responded the technician at the navigation consol.
“Look!” exclaimed Rolo as her attention locked onto the viewscreen.
Green saw the top corner of the Redwater tower smoking in the distance. “Great Scott!” he said. “Has there been some type of fire?”
“Long range scanners,” Armonto ordered.
One of the Maguffyn technicians hurriedly called up the scanner readings. The ship’s holographic display brought up an image of the charred and burning side of the top of the tower. “Sir!” the sensor technician cried. “I’m picking up two lifeforms… on the outside of the tower!”
“On screen,” said Armonto.
The image changed, and Green gasped as he saw the two falling lifeforms the ship had picked up on. “Oh dear,” he breathed. “Jack!” Green immediately rushed to Rolo’s station. “Quickly!” he said. “As soon as we’re in range, teleport them onto the ship!”
“The ship has the Earthman tagged, we could teleport him onboard now,” Rolo replied, frantically trying to engage the ship’s teleporter. “But it won’t let me!”
“Why not?” asked Armonto, his voice more curious than concerned.
“Because… because I don’t think the Earthman wants to be teleported just yet…” Rolo replied. “Every time I try to engage the teleporter, I’m overridden.”
“Oh dear,” Green said. “The other one, the girl who’s falling – she’s moving too quickly to get a teleportation lock on her. Jack’s trying to reach her so the ship can lock onto him and teleport them both to safety before they hit the ground!”
Armonto took out his datapad, tapping on its screen rapidly, his lips pursing as he looked at the result of his calculations. “Judging by the distance to the tower, our current speed, their rate of descent, and the distance to the first stratum beneath them… if the Earthman doesn’t reach this girl in the next 90 seconds, they’re both dead.”
Armonto’s words sent a chill down Green’s spine. “Divert power from all systems! Maximum thrust from the engines!” Green ordered running to the nearest console to assist in executing the commands. “Have the ship lock onto Jack and try to calculate the woma
n’s trajectory! We might be able to do a blind teleport if we can anticipate where they’re going to be the moment we engage it!”
“Belay those orders,” said Armonto.
Everyone on the bridge stopped what they were doing and looked at Armonto in shock.
“This ship has a mind of its own,” Armonto continued. “Let us simply observe just how that mind operates.”
“Sir!” exclaimed Green. “We have to help Jack! We can’t simply do nothing!”
“We can,” said Armonto as he gazed at the readings his datapad was collecting from the Earthship. “And we will. I’m sure a Hero of the Empire doesn’t need our help when he’s got his own psychic spaceship riding to his rescue.”
Green stared at Armonto in disbelief as the man causally crossed his arms and leaned against the railing of the ship, studying the viewscreen carefully. “But, sir,” Green said, “lives are at stake!”
“Come now, Professor,” Armonto replied, his voice even and emotionless. “Where’s your scientific curiosity?”
Wind whipped at Jack’s face as he fell, his clothes rippling all around him as he continued his freefall. His gaze was focused intently on Kimlee, who was frantically flailing her arms and legs as she plummeted though the air, the stratum far below quickly growing larger and rushing up to meet them both.
Jack could sense his ship in the distance. He knew it couldn’t get a lock on Kimlee while she was falling. He had to reach her, and he had to do it before they hit the ground. A brief image of Mourdock flashed into Jack’s brain. The way he was so cool and confident as they had jumped off the stratum to escape the assassin’s explosion. If he were going to rescue Kimlee, he had to be just like Mourdock.
Jack felt that spark in his chest once more, energizing his entire body and banishing any fear or doubt within him. He straightened himself out, pulling his hands to his sides and angling himself downward, causing him to fall faster, right toward Kimlee.
Come on, come on, come on, Jack thought as he closed the distance. But even though he was travelling faster, it still wasn’t enough.
Earthman Jack vs. The Secret Army (Earthman Jack Space Saga Book 2) Page 38