Earthshaker

by Robert T. Jeschonek

  My eyes shot open, and I saw a familiar face looking in at me. Bright honey-gold eyes flecked with green. Long blonde hair with ice-blue highlights.

  Phaola.

  Had she come to taunt me? To narrate the coming destruction? To remind me how much better off the world would be without humanity?

  None of the above.

  "Hold your breath!" she said, knocking on the capsule again. "Deep, deep breath!"

  "Why?" I said, but she was already flying away from me. "What now?"

  Phaola stopped about twenty yards away, whipped around, and raised her arms. Aimed her fingers in my direction and narrowed her eyes in concentration. And I quickly realized why she'd told me to hold my breath.

  Phaola was a Hyade, a mistress of rain. That was the weapon she fired at me—a torrent of rain rushing out of thin air, slashing down to batter the prison in which I was encased.

  The torrent blasted against my capsule, growing ever stronger. Pushing the capsule back, slamming it against the wall of the cavern and pinning it there.

  The gusher intensified as Phaola closed in. Water penetrated the seals of the capsule and spurted in at me from all sides. I sucked in a massive breath just as the spray hit me in the face.

  Still, Phaola kept turning up the storm surge. The capsule quickly filled with water, like a balloon hooked to a garden hose.

  The pressure inside the capsule increased, and I closed my eyes. My lungs hurt as the breath I'd taken began to run out.

  And then, suddenly, the capsule exploded. Pieces flew everywhere in a burst of water and metal...but not everything came apart. I was still strapped to the intact metal table, which dropped like a brick from the center of the blast.

  At least until a waterspout caught it from below.

  As the table bobbed on the spout, I saw Phaola gliding toward me. Even as she undid the straps holding me down, I almost couldn't believe she was really there.

  "Phaola, how..." My thoughts were scattered. "Aren't you with Groundswell?"

  Phaola's face was grim as she unbuckled the last strap. "Not since they killed Laurel." She slid her arms under my back and knees and lifted me off the table. "I'm just sorry I didn't see the whole picture sooner." With that, she shut off the spout, and the table plunged to the ground below.

  The mountain heaved around us, about to break free. I was out of the capsule, but so what? "There's no way we can stop this," I said.

  "You can be such a downer sometimes." Phaola winked. "Once in a while, the glass is half full, you know."

  With that, she turned and tipped so the floor of the cavern came into view. What I saw there made the hairs on the back of my neck rise. Made me shiver with hope and wonder.

  National Guard troops were storming through the doorway, a river of camouflage pouring into the mountain. Crossbreeds on the ground lumbered toward them with weapons raised, and the Guardsmen opened fire.

  As the troops pushed in and went to work, a squadron of quads roared up behind them. Six quads barreled in and fanned out, led by two painted with a logo that read "R&R Quadmania." In other words, Roy and Rusty were leading the pack.

  Next through the door rushed a wave of heavily armed state and local cops...and in among them, I saw two faces that literally made my heart skip a beat. Two faces I'd once dared to think, in the heat of my new life at Parapets, I'd never need to see again. Two faces I couldn't have been more wrong about.

  "Take me down there," I told Phaola. "Right there." I pointed.

  Phaola soared down and landed like a feather. The second she let go of me, I ran to them, calling their names.

  And then I threw my arms around them, hugging them both at once. Holding on to them like nothing else mattered. My beloved Duke and Briar.

  *****

  "You came!" I crushed Duke and Briar together, shoulder to shoulder. "Thank God!"

  "Thank Laurel," said Duke. "I got her message."

  "And he called me in." Briar hiked a thumb at Duke.

  "With reinforcements," said Duke.

  "It took every favor I had left in the world," said Briar. "Cavalry don't come cheap."

  The mountain heaved violently, and I let go of Duke and Briar. The battle on the ground intensified as more cubes landed and turned loose Groundswell troops to reinforce the Crossbreeds. Phaola was back in the air but drastically outnumbered by enemy nymphs. All Hell was ever closer to breaking loose.

  Gunfire whizzed past us and hit the wall. It snapped me out of my state of delirious relief, crashed me back into the present with all its immediate dangers and responsibilities. Time to quit fucking around.

  The three of us ducked as another barrage of shots flew past. "The shooter's over there!" Briar pointed at a rank of Crossbreeds firing from halfway across the cave. "Can you take them out, Gaia?"

  I reached for my power. Now that I was unhooked from the siphon in the capsule, the power was flowing back to me...but I was still nowhere near up to speed.

  I took a deep breath, pulling myself together. Laurel's death had shaken me to the core, but I'd have to mourn later. I had to do my part, especially if I was who and what Laurel had said I was.

  "Gimme." I grabbed a rifle from Briar's hands and swung it around. Took aim at the Crossbreed sniper and pulled the trigger as he was sizing us up for his next round.

  I watched through the rifle sight as the eye on the Crossbreed's human side exploded, and he dropped. I'd put a bullet right in his head. I wasn't proud of it, he wasn't in control of himself...but I'd stopped a threat. I was back in the game.

  "Nice shot." Briar swung another rifle from his back and cracked off the safety. "I was expecting an avalanche of rocks, but nice shot."

  "I was trained by the best." Briar knew what I meant; he'd taught me everything I knew about guns. "Avalanches coming right up, I hope. The assholes who killed Laurel pretty much drained me dry."

  "Okay then." Briar raised his rifle. "Start shootin'!" He fired three rounds, dropping two Crossbreeds like shooting gallery ducks.

  I joined him, knocking down a Crossbreed, then winging a nymph who was whaling on Phaola. The two of us advanced behind the ranks of state and local cops, shooting shoulder-to-shoulder as the mountain quaked and bucked around us.

  "By the way," Briar said as he reloaded. "What's this bunch of terrorists planning to accomplish? Attacking Washington, D.C.?"

  "They want to wipe out humankind." I squeezed off two shots at an oncoming Crossbreed, punching a pair of holes through the human half of his head.

  "No shit." Briar finished reloading and nailed a Groundswell soldier. "You mean like the end of the world?"

  "Not the world," I said. "Just the people."

  Briar shook his head. "I've gotta say, I take offense to that plan. Think we can put a stop to it?"

  I stole a glance at him as he focused on the targets in front of him, aiming and pulling the trigger with practiced ease. So sweet and supportive in so many ways, so funny, so warm...yet capable also of controlled carnage in the face of danger. A real hero, rushing to my rescue though I'd shoved him away, calling in the cavalry in my hour of need. The kind of man who takes it in stride when you tell him he's one of a handful standing between all humanity and extinction.

  I wanted to fold him in my arms and kiss him right then and there. I wanted to make love to him with the fire of that moment still blazing in my veins. I wanted to tell him all the unspoken things I'd kept hidden away in my heart all those years, hidden even from myself.

  I wanted him.

  "Think we can put a stop to it?" he'd said.

  "I do now," I said, and then I pulled the trigger.

  *****

  Chapter 58

  The mountain lurched with such sudden force, it knocked me off my feet. It did the same to Briar and threw down Guardsmen, cops, and Crossbreeds, too. Dozens toppled like bowling pins, crashing to the dirt floor...and then the mountain lurched again, even harder, and took down more. The gunfire that had been raging all but stopped, rep
laced by shouts and the sounds of fighters scrambling to grab up dropped weapons.

  I could sense the mountain was about to break free. After that, all bets would be off. Once the Parapets juggernaut took flight, mass destruction would be assured—either from weapons fire or a crash landing in a populated area.

  "What are they doing to the mountain?" said Duke.

  "They've turned it into a weapons platform." I struggled to my feet and helped him up. "They're launching it as we speak."

  "Any ideas on stopping the launch?" said Duke.

  Instinctively, I looked toward the middle of the chamber. Toward the shaft of light and the pit in the floor. "Maybe."

  Duke followed my gaze. "What is that thing, Earth Angel?"

  "Groundswell's god-king," I said. "Atlantis. The one they sacrificed Laurel to."

  "Atlantis?" Duke frowned. "As in the mythical lost continent? Said to have sunk beneath the sea in a terrible cataclysm?"

  I shrugged. "Who knows? They didn't exactly give me a lot of details."

  "If we stop Atlantis, we stop Groundswell," said Duke. "Is that what you're thinking?"

  "It might be the only way," I said. "Go for the root of the problem."

  "Great idea," said Briar. "But who's going to do it? Not you, that's for sure. Not in your current condition."

  "I'm getting my strength back." That part was true. "I'm practically at full power right now." That was false, but I needed them to believe it. I knew I had to be the one to go in after Atlantis. For one thing, no one else on our side had anywhere near the power—potential power, at least—to take on a god-king in his lair. For another thing, I had a strong feeling I'd find some kind of answers in the pit.

  Plus which, I was receiving a convincing invitation from a source I couldn't ignore. A diaphanous figure with flowing brown hair, wrapped in a shimmering white robe, smiling serenely in the heart of the shaft of light. A ghost of a good friend I'd lost. The Lady of the Alleghenies.

  It was Laurel, and she was staring right at me. Gesturing for me to enter the pit.

  "I can do it." I said it as much for the ghost's benefit as Duke and Briar's. "I'm ready." I didn't feel ready at all, but I was willing to try. I was willing to do anything to save humankind. I was willing to do anything to make up for not saving Laurel. And I had reason to believe, based on what she'd told me, that I might have a chance.

  According to Laurel, I was the world made flesh, the planet Earth in human form. If Atlantis was "the soul at the heart of the world," as Solomon had said, maybe we were connected. Maybe I was the only one who could take him down.

  "So you want to go in after him?" said Duke. "Sounds like a foolhardy undertaking."

  "I can handle it." I stood straight and planted my hands on my hips just as the shooting started up again. Bullets zipped past, and I ducked.

  Briar cranked off a few shots. "It's a long way over there, Gaia. Right through the middle of a firefight."

  My eyes were glued to the rippling image of Laurel in the shaft of light. She was still summoning me, calling me toward her like a siren beckoning Odysseus toward the rocks. Beckoning me toward great danger, too, in the form of the god-king Atlantis. But I couldn't resist.

  "I'll get there fine." Flexing my internal network, I found sparks of recharged power, felt the flames banking in the furnace at the heart of me. I singled out a Crossbreed that Briar had in his sights and opened a small crack in the earth under him, knocking him down and taking three other Crossbreeds with him. "See what I mean?"

  "Nice shot." Briar nodded. "But you're still not walking through no-man's-land." Grimly, he hoisted a walkie-talkie from his belt and spoke into the mike. "Roy! Rusty! We need a limo back here, over."

  "Roger that." It was Roy's voice, distorted by the walkie's speaker. "One limo, coming right up."

  Moments later, one of the quads roared up through a hail of gunfire and spun out in front of us. When the rider flipped up her helmet visor, I saw Rusty grinning back at me. "How's it hangin', big G?"

  Suddenly, bullets pinged off the front fender of the quad, and Rusty spun toward the shots. In a flash, she swung around an assault rifle and ripped a million rounds at the Crossbreed shooter. I saw him drop hard along with two of his buddies.

  "Don't just stand there!" Rusty smacked the seat behind her. "Meter's running, lady!"

  The mountain shook, and I stumbled...then swung myself onto the quad. Wrapped an arm around Rusty, keeping Briar's rifle at the ready in my free hand.

  "Be careful, Earth Angel!" Duke shouted over the gunfire, mountain rumbling, and roaring of the engine as Rusty gunned it. "Good luck, my Satin Doll!"

  "Where to?" said Rusty. "Hairdresser? Mani-pedi? Shopping at the mall?"

  I pointed with the barrel of the rifle. "See that big shaft of light over there?"

  "You mean the giant phallic symbol? Got it." Rusty flipped down the visor on her helmet.

  Just then, I felt a hand grab my elbow. I turned to see Briar looking at me with grim intensity. "No pressure," he said. "Put yourself in the zone and let it happen, right?"

  "You're so Zen." I reached out and stroked the side of his face. Soaked up the touch of his skin, the look in his hazel eyes, for the rough road ahead.

  Bullets flew past, and the mountain heaved. Briar reached up to stroke my face, and I relished the warmth of his hand. Turned to kiss the red tiger's-eye ring I'd made for him, the one-of-a-kind oval stone I'd created with my powers.

  We two floated in that moment of stolen time, saying everything without saying a word. Finally melting together after being frozen apart for so long. Coming to an unspoken agreement. If we lived through this, we would be together.

  Suddenly, Rusty broke the moment. "Hands inside the vehicle! Don't feed the animals! No horseplay or back-sass!"

  The instant Briar and I let go of each other, Rusty took off, launching the quad into the heart of the battle.

  *****

  Chapter 59

  If Rusty had driven like any less of a maniac, we never would have made it across the cavern. Also if she'd been any less of a crack shot.

  She raced that quad through the fighting like a whirling dervish, charging and swerving around and over obstacles with dizzying recklessness. One minute, we were running a serpentine between Guardsmen and Crossbreeds, dodging fire from both sides. The next minute, we were looping behind Groundswell troops, zipping along close enough to touch them.

  Hardly saying a word, Rusty flew like a fighter pilot, hurtling through super-tight maneuvers with gun blazing. Picking off enemy soldiers and using their bodies as jumps. Doing her best to help the good guys along the way.

  I did my best, too, firing shots from the rifle on the fly. Also working my power, hurling rocks and dirt and opening up cracks under the enemy's feet. Just enough to test my limits, see how far I'd come back. See if I was ready to take on the god-king.

  Not that it mattered if I was ready. If I survived the trip across the cavern, I was going in, period. No one else present could save humanity. The National Guard and cops were bravely holding their own, but they were outnumbered, and they wouldn't stand a chance against a god-king. Wouldn't even know where to start.

  Not that I was in a much better position. But the fight, for me, was personal. As we got closer to the shaft of light, I felt the same Presence that had called out to me at Aggie's apartment, at Divinities, and at Cousin Canyon. It had hidden from me before, when I'd searched for it from the surface of Parapets, outside the mountain...but now it reached for me, daring me to come closer, wanting me to approach.

  Its hunger scared me. I remembered Solomon saying, "Everything you've done has been because he wanted it."

  "He's been leading you by the nose ever since you lost your friend." That was what Cassandra had told me. So what if, by heading for the heart of the god-king's power, I was doing what he'd wanted all along? What if I was racing toward my own death? What if I was helping to speed up humanity's demise instead of stopping it?


  Either way, my sense of the Presence grew stronger the closer we got to the god-king's beacon. Stronger than I'd ever felt it before, and more familiar. Familiar in ways that had nothing to do with coming across it since Aggie's disappearance. Familiar in ways that reached deep and defied memory...at least the memory I had access to.

  By the time we reached the beacon, it was almost too much for me. My head pounded as the force of the Presence pressed in upon it. My heart hammered, half with fear, half with hate and a thirst for revenge. I suddenly felt dizzy and sick and almost fell off the quad.

  Rusty slid to a stop in a cloud of dust at the rim of the pit. Strafed in all directions with her assault rifle, backing off nearby troops, then popped her visor. "This is where you get off."

  I gazed up at the vast shaft of light blazing above us, writhing and roaring like a distended sun. Laurel's ghost was gone from its blinding heart.

  "Thanks." I slid off the back seat of the quad, shouldered Briar's rifle, and stepped forward.

  "Want me to wait?" Rusty had to raise her voice over the roar of the beacon. "I'll keep the motor running. And the meter."

  I shook my head. "Can you get Briar and Duke to safety if things go south? Can you do that for me?"

  Rusty sneered. "What do I look like, lady? Some kinda' charity outfit?" But then she winked as she gunned the engine and took off.

  Leaving me and the beacon. Like a moth drawn to the flame that is fated to kill it, I marched toward it.

  *****

  Chapter 60

  I was having enough trouble walking up to the pit, staggering under the crushing pressure of the Presence. Then, the mountain lurched violently, and I almost took a header. Barely managed to stay on my feet as the lurching got worse, shifting one way and then the other.