by Mark Lingane
Melanie wrenched Sebastian into a standing position. “Gavin, you did it,” she cried.
“I said I’d been here before. I remembered the magnetic pattern they used on the locks.”
Melanie handed Sebastian over to Isaac. “You can support him better. You’re the same height.”
Sebastian placed his arm around Isaac’s shoulders and stepped forward uncertainly. Isaac guided him out of the destruction of the room.
“How did you find me?” Sebastian asked Isaac.
“Believe it or not, Isaac did something useful,” Melanie said. “It turns out he can sense you if he’s given enough incentive.”
“His senses work here?”
“Yes. Don’t yours?” She glanced around at the destruction within the room.
“I don’t know. Everything’s really scrambled at the moment. I feel like something’s blocking my senses. Everything’s distant and blurry.”
“Gavin, can you sense the way out?” Melanie said.
“It doesn’t quite work like that,” replied Gavin.
“We have to find my mother. She’s here somewhere,” Sebastian cried out.
Melanie glanced out into the corridor. It curved away, limiting her view.
“Where? We’re only going to get one shot at this.” Alarms were already ringing down the hallway. “And we’re not the fastest moving party on the planet. Hurry!”
They edged out into the corridor. The methodical and uniform stomping of the cyborgs bounced down the hall. Melanie led them along the passageways, trying to create a mental map. Her understanding faltered as they crisscrossed through an increasing number of junctions, being forced into different directions each time cyborgs caught up.
“I can feel … feel something calling.” He slowly faced the door. “It’s the same as the tower in the Steam Academy. But … much … much stronger.”
Sebastian fell forward into Melanie’s arms. Cyborgs opened fire, and she dragged him toward a set of stairs leading up. They sprinted past a long hallway leading away to the right. Sebastian abruptly came to a stop and turned back. At the entrance to the corridor was a long list of faces. His mother’s was toward the bottom. He glanced down the hallway spotting dozens of doors.
“Sebastian, what are you doing? They’re on top of us.”
“She’s just there.”
“And so are about a thousand cyborgs. We’re surrounded. They know we’re here.”
Melanie confronted him, placing a hand on either of his shoulders. She stared deep into his eyes. “Sebastian, you need to let her go. You can’t do everything for her. Not now. Later, yes, but for there to be a later you need to let her go.”
She put her hands in the air. “I won’t stop you, and I’ll run with you charging into them and we’ll die horribly if that’s what you want to do. It is your choice. Or come back when you can blow them into the next universe.” She stepped away from him. “What do you chose to do?”
They could hear the footsteps approaching from all four directions. If they waited too long they’d be dead. Yet she stood there, unflinching, staring at Sebastian, waiting for him to decide. Her hand slipped to the laser.
“All right, we go,” he cried.
Melanie stepped forward and hugged him as he sobbed. She sighed in relief.
“Good choice,” she said. “Good choice.”
“But we’re coming back.”
“I promise. But now we run.”
They sprinted down the passageway as the wave of cyborgs swarmed around the corner.
Gavin kicked into a small panel on the wall. It swung open, revealing a ventilation shaft. “Something else I picked up when I was here.”
Light beams flew past them, forcing them into the opening.
The cameras captured live images from the various cells. The bleak metal rooms had no windows, and only one long strip light set into the ceiling. In some cells men were running at the walls repeatedly. In others, people were huddling in corners. One had a vet with a heavily bandaged leg. But only one had a woman, who was strapped on a metal bench.
On a large monitor on the wall was a digital copy of her face. It captured her every facial move and emotion as images of Sebastian were projected on the ceiling above her. A tear flowed down her face as she fought against the torture.
A large needle extended from a white box mounted on a wall. She struggled, but couldn’t move. The needle punctured her arm and a green liquid was injected. Her pupils dilated. The image of Sebastian changed to Iris, the Supreme Hive Commander. The one everyone loved. She smiled.
Several pieces of technology were on a shelf behind her. A white robotic arm swung around, selecting the pieces one by one, dipping them in a thick green fluid, then placing them back on the shelf. A circular saw folded out of the wall on a long, silver arm. It started to spin as it approached her.
The ventilation system was massive—enough to cool an underground city. They had no difficulty in running side by side. Neither did the cyborgs, whose synchronized steps were soon drowned out by a familiar growl.
“They’re on those powered bicycles. We’ve got no hope with those behind us,” Sebastian said.
“Then we’d better get one for ourselves,” Melanie replied.
They ducked into a side ventilation unit. Melanie crouched and waited. She tensed as the roar increased in volume and then she leaped. She crashed into the driver, knocking the whole vehicle over. The two tumbled to the ground. She stood with blood dripping off of her blade.
They ran over to the vehicle and tipped it up onto its wheels.
“Four wheels. Will that be harder?” Sebastian asked.
“How could it be? It also has a big gun on it,” Melanie said.
“Who wants to shoot the big gun?”
“That’ll be me,” Melanie said, as she pushed the others out of the way.
“Do you think that loud wailing is something bad?” Isaac said.
“Gavin, you steer, I’ll shoot,” Melanie said. “Everyone on and let’s go.”
They piled on and the vehicle tore away. As they barreled along, the distant light grew. Then they were out, flying through the air. The vehicle crunched onto the ground and they powered away from the hive.
Isaac gasped. Melanie started firing.
“What’s going on back there?” Gavin shouted over his shoulder.
“You really don’t want to know what’s behind us,” Isaac said.
Gavin took a quick glance over his shoulder. Cyborgs on vehicles lined the horizon. Above them were over a dozen dragons, plus four super dragons above those. It was ten times the force that had nearly crushed the city earlier.
“That’s not good,” Isaac said. “We’ll never make it back with them behind us.”
“You never know,” replied Gavin. He smiled.
In front of them were twenty Zeppelins, flying in a wide formation. The booming of the first cannons was already reaching them, followed by the whistling overhead of the cannonballs, which landed heavily in the sand, bouncing several times before exploding.
The cyborgs fell by the wayside as the retaliation continued.
Gavin urged on the vehicle, willing it faster.
One Zeppelin broke away from the formation and started to descend. Gavin ran toward it. The dragons swooped in, but the Zeppelins had them in their sights and fired several rounds rapidly, pounding the machines down.
The Zeppelin was only a few feet off the ground as Gavin pulled the vehicle alongside it. The four leaped from the vehicle and fell in through the cargo hold of the Zeppelin. Sebastian was the last. He jumped just as the Zeppelin was taking off, misjudging the distance, and was left hanging from his fingertips.
A large hand came down, grasped his arm and pulled him up.
Nikola gave Sebastian a nod. The turmoil raged above them. “Let’s get you home,” he said.
“How did you find us?”
“Isaac left a note,” Nikola replied. “In the gatehouse.”
He shouted instructions and the Zeppelin wheeled around and started to ascend.
38
THE ZEPPELINS BLASTED with everything they had, driving back the cyborgs, their engines roaring as they fought for height. The slower ones came under ferocious attacks from the dragons, but as the craft increased in speed, they drifted behind.
The destruction transfixed Sebastian as it spread across the sky.
“They are coming. We can’t stop them.”
“It’s a unique sight,” Nikola replied.
A dragon roared past them. Nikola barked an order and thick, steel spears shot out of the side of the Zeppelin into the dragon. It tumbled out of the sky and burst into a fireball as it crashed. And the words from Iris exploded in Sebastian’s head.
I am Iris. I am your creation, and I have waited a millennium for you. Evil lives there.
“What’s on the top of the Potenza tower?”
Nikola didn’t take his eyes off the enemy, but Sebastian saw him tense.
“Nothing. Why do you want to know?”
“Something the cyborgs said. They said it was evil.”
“Do you want to believe them?”
“Would it make a difference?”
“There’s nothing that concerns you,” Nikola replied.
And Sebastian knew he was lying.
“Do you know much about my family, where we came from?”
“We are fighting. Now is not the time.”
Nikola went quiet. A vast black object was slithering out of the north in a direct line with them. They watched it silently as they flew above the machine that looked half-snake and half-insect, but on a scale that dwarfed buildings. And it was heading straight toward the Steam Academy. It would be upon them in a matter of hours.
“So that’s what they were building. That’s not good,” Nikola said. It was all that needed to be said.
The great wall of the Academy came into view. The Zeppelins formed a defensive ring over the rooftops and fired out at the dragons. Then they descended to replenish ammunition and returned to the skies for a new assault on the enemy. Nikola’s craft came down, and he ushered the youngsters off.
“You all need to stay as safe as you can. The enemy force is strong and we are fighting with the last of our men. I don’t know if we’ll survive, but we will not be walked over. I may not see you again.” He pointed to Melanie. “Keep him safe.”
The quartermaster shouted, indicating fresh firepower had been loaded, and the Zeppelin lifted off.
“I’m not hiding,” said Sebastian defiantly, once the ship was out of sight.
“Neither am I,” said Isaac.
“I’ve sworn to protect you,” Melanie said. “He pointed and everything.”
“Well, I’m not going to be the one left out,” Gavin said. “Let’s do something. Anyone have an idea?”
“I do,” Sebastian said. “But I need power.”
He ran to the terrace where he and Melanie had spent so many peaceful nights. The battle raged above and below them. “I need to get out by the hill,” he said pointing to the large, peculiar mound outside the western gate.
“Right in the middle of them? You must be mad,” Melanie said.
“Didn’t you say it was better to live the half-life of a hero than a whole one in a cave waiting for death?”
“Something like that. But that was before I had a life to live, and before I learned that being a hero hurts a lot.” She sighed. “All right. But you owe me big time after this. Definitely a new gown.” She poked him in the chest before staring out at the mayhem on the field. “How do we even get out there?”
“Maybe that’s where I can help you’s.”
Sebastian turned with a huge grin on his face. “Merv! You’re here.”
“Certainly, sport. Cricket season got cancelled due to these blokes, and that’s the kind of thing that can annoy a man. Not as much as ruining the barbie, but still pretty bad. Then Parker turned up. We didn’t even need to vote.”
“We?”
“The entire division decided to come. They’re a good group to have in a scrape.”
“Gavin and Isaac, find a dish that was on one of the tesla towers,” Sebastian said. “Go to the batteries and place the dish in front of them pointing in this direction. It’ll help me concentrate and amplify the power.”
Gavin and Isaac nodded and ran off in search of a dish that had survived.
The team collected around Merv as he planned a defense.
After much debate, Merv faced Sebastian and gave him a nod. “She’ll be right.”
Sebastian smiled. “Let’s do it.”
They charged down the stairs from the terrace, through the streets, and toward the gate. The team rotated through the cyborgs with a combination of old rifles and desert-walker shields. When a cyborg fell they would pick up the new weapon and use that until it died. They whirled through the enemy until Merv, Melanie, and Sebastian burst out toward the mound.
“This is really going to hurt, but,” Sebastian muttered as he readied himself, “now we end it.”
The soldiers tumbled back under the force of the great black monstrosity. The insect-like legs pushed the sleek, black body along the ground, crushing everything underneath its massive weight as it slithered forward. Skynets swept out from both sides of the giant machine, targeting concentrated fire into the city defenses.
The machine came to a halt a dozen feet behind @redFive. The cyborgs formed into uniform rows on either side. @redFive raised his laser and fired into the air.
“Behold the behemoth,” he shouted.
The machine reared up, scrolling its body with the segments clicking into place. A deep foghorn boomed out.
Its jaws opened. The igniters clicked loudly, like machine-gun fire, sparking the fuel that spewed out of its mouth.
A flaming Zeppelin crashed before him, tumbling in a fireball of destruction. A figure leaped from the burning wreckage, rolling clear of the devastation. He raised himself onto one knee, coughing out the black smoke. He looked up at the cyborg standing before him.
Gavin and Isaac ran through the streets to the city center…
“Are you leader?” @redFive said.
“For the moment,” Nikola replied. He stood and hefted the sword onto his shoulder.
“Do you surrender?”
“Not to you.”
“Where is the boy from before? He lose courage?” @redFive said.
“He’s not a warrior.”
“You will lose. The Omega has written it.”
Nikola nodded his head. “Maybe. But not today.”
“You want to challenge.”
“No.”
“Good. Makes it easy.easy.”
Nikola drove his massive sword toward the cyborg before he could react. @redFive’s eyes went wide, and could only reel away as the edge cut all the way up his side and into his neck. Blood and green fluid squirted out and @redFive wheeled away. Nikola drove the pommel of his sword into the back of the cyborg and forced him to the ground. He twisted the sword around and speared the point down. @redFive managed to raise his arm blocking the attack, but the sword cut through the armor and into the flesh beneath.
The cyborg ranks erupted and spiraled out in formation, sweeping over the city forces. Nikola found himself under ferocious attack and was forced back under the protection of his gleaming shield.
@redFive pressed his white button with a red cross, and the tiny square creatures crawled out from the pack on his back. They scuttled over his wounds and stitched them back together. A message flashed on his tinyIris as he rose.
“They steal the water while we die of thirst. Wipe them out. Leave nothing standing,” Iris said.
@redFive raised his hands and signaled for the swirling lines of cyborgs to fall into combat formation. The battle raged on with the Academy forces continually forced back, closer and closer to the city.
Gavin dialed the cogs on the low-set stone building. They impatiently waited f
or the heavy door to swing open …
@redFive directed the behemoth toward the city walls. It smashed open the gates with its great claws. The cyborgs flowed in, and dragons swooped down, setting fire to the fleeing people.
@redFive raised his tinyIris. “We are in.”
Another message arrived from Iris. “Good work. A river runs under the city. Poison it.”
@redFive paused. His face twisted into concern.
“You said no water. Then you said we have water. Now you say no water. But you say destroy water here.”
“FOLLOW YOUR INSTRUCTIONS,” Iris replied.
Inside, Gavin charged down the slippery stairs, with Isaac skidding and fighting for balance behind …
“Stop,” Sebastian shouted as he held up his hand. He was gasping for air. “It’s a lot farther out here than it looks.”
@redFive laughed at the boy standing in his way. “You cannot stop us.”
The behemoth rose up onto its hind legs and smashed into an Academy flank, crushing a dozen men and demolishing more of the great wall.
The ruins of the tunnel to the first turbine lay to the right. Isaac followed Gavin as he took the left and went further into the depths of the mine. They could hear rushing water …
Sebastian hesitated, but he couldn’t sense the power. He glanced around. Melanie was fighting five cyborgs, spinning like a death machine. Merv and his team were forming a defensive row.
The stairs opened out into the huge antechamber, three stories high …
No power.
His heart began to sink. More cyborgs surrounded Melanie and she fell under the weight of numbers. The same was happening with Nikola. The defenses were broken. Merv’s men were holding their places, but the cyborgs were punching through. They were losing everywhere.
No power.
Sebastian lowered his head. A tear rolled down his cheek. How stupid could he have been? He didn’t even have a weapon. @redFive was still aiming the laser at him, but had not fired. He looked up into the cyborg’s eyes.