He wasn’t sure what that threat was, but he had listened to various theories. The most concerning one was that the tower had begun to destabilize the planet’s rotational axis; it was only by a miniscule amount, but it had happened. That was the moment when mere concern became action, and he and his team had been dispatched to blow the tower to pieces. Only one of the three naval vessels—those that had been dispatched previously with the terribly misguided notion that they would be able to destroy the object without any difficulty—had been salvaged. The remains of the other two were still being located. Ben vowed that no such fate would meet any of his compatriot pilots.
He input a pre-arranged firing sequence and a green button flashed in the corner of his display. Looking out once again at the glinting surface, Ben was astonished to see that the diamond-like reflections had increased in brightness. He frowned as a knot tightened in his stomach. Ignoring it like a pro, he addressed them.
“Fire on my mark. Three. Two—”
A gasp interrupted him, coming over the comms system. He knew it had come from Taurus, and he glanced out the side window to see her staring straight ahead. His finger was hovering over the green button in front of him, and he withdrew it slowly. “Taurus?”
She didn’t respond. He looked ahead but saw nothing new that had entered their vicinity. He was about to address her again, this time in a more commanding tone, when something came into view, drifting downward from above. Ben froze. As the figure descended, he saw that it was young man, directly ahead of them, suspended—levitating—between his own craft and the tower itself, illuminated only by the lights from his jet. The young man, who couldn’t have been older than twenty, stared out at them from eyes that, bizarrely, appeared to glow with blue light.
This can’t be happening, Ben thought as the man stopped at his eyeline and remained there, suspended in midair. The man’s clothes rippled around him in the breeze, and it appeared as though he was suspended in water.
“Sir?” came Taurus’s concerned voice.
Ben calculated the scenario as quickly as he could. Nothing had prepared them for this, and so he decided to press onward. “Ignore him. Proceed as planned. Counting down.”
“But he can’t be older than twenty!”
Ben hesitated.
“Look,” Taurus continued, “I know these craft are psionically shielded, and their design parameters were changed nearly a decade ago—when the Ethereals hit the mainstream—with the idea that something could go very wrong. Something like this… tower. But we’ve never seen an Ethereal levitating before—flying! We don’t know what he’s capable of doing.”
Ben knew she was right, but the young man floating in front of them, motionless and appearing to regard them quietly, was not the point. “Our target is the tower,” Ben responded in a commanding tone.
After a moment of silence, he finally heard Taurus’s reluctant reply. “Understood, sir.”
“Three. Two. One. Fire.”
Ben fired the cannon. The whirring sound inside the vessel increased, and as the weapon armed and the energy built up in its firing chamber, a red light grew at the front of the craft, bathing the cockpit in a crimson hue. The plane vibrated as the laser shot out from the canon at the front. Ben watched as all five fighters fired at exactly the same time. The thick red beams of powerful energy exploded against a surface—but it wasn’t the tower. At first, what appeared in front of Ben was like a jarring start of some bizarre, iridescent light show. The beams scattered over the surface, illuminating it in all directions. Some of the energy simply washed around the sides of the structure and burst into the air in bright streaks of light.
As the first wave of energy cleared, Ben stared in astonishment at the impact points. The blasts of energy were not actually impacting the tower itself; some kind of energy barrier was protecting it, and as it deflected the power from the lasers, it lit up in red around the impact points. Ripples of energy spread along its surface, cascading upward and downward. At the farthest points where the energy dissipated, over a hundred feet away, the color turned to shimmering blue. The shield actually seemed to absorb some of the power from their weapons, as the glinting surface of the tower, where previously Ben had seen the diamond-like reflections, now glowed with the same red color as the lasers.
He checked his readings. “Are we making an impact?” he said, though his voice carried little confidence.
“None, sir,” came Taurus’s quick response. “We’ve already expended an enormous amount of power and we haven’t even penetrated that shield. There’s not enough energy on board to keep firing at this intensity for much longer. They anticipated that this much concentrated fire would penetrate the structure immediately, but clearly, they didn’t foresee a barrier of this magnitude.” She paused. “What are your orders, sir?”
Ben watched as the beams of energy continued to scatter across the shield, which pulsed with luminescence as the lasers crashed against it. Then his gaze drifted to his right, where outside the range of his weapon the young man still hovered, watching Ben. He leaned forward, his mouth gaping open as the young man’s head arched back and stared upward. Flares of blue light exploded from the man’s eyes. Suddenly, ripples of energy enshrouded his body, fluttering away from it in waves.
“Oh no,” Taurus said, her voice filled with dread.
Ben glanced out his side window at her. She was looking at him.
“Sir, I think we should abandon the mission.”
“No. Stay put!” Ben watched as Taurus slowly returned her attention to the tower. As he did the same, he saw that the young man appeared to be taking some kind of action. Whether or not it proved to be offensive, they had yet to find out. Ben guessed the doubt that had previously stirred within him—a feeling that Taurus had echoed—was about to take form.
The young man’s head tilted back down, and again, his gaze locked directly on Ben’s own. Ben gaped as the man reached his arms forward, directing them toward his craft, and the light from his eyes grew brighter. It seemed for a second that Ben could almost hear a distant ringing, and though he knew his craft was psionically shielded, he still winced. He was mesmerized for a moment, not acting within any of the given mission parameters.
“Sir! Get the heck out of there,” Taurus yelled.
The urgency in her voice broke the spell and Ben banked left, though it did no good. His craft jerked violently as the young man turned with him. Ben was caught in the grip of his power. I’ve made a mistake here. This thought entered Ben’s mind and was gone in a flat second as he struggled with the controls. He pushed the engines to full power and continued his turning maneuver, but the Ethereal outside was fighting him every step of the way. The craft was barely moving.
Something exploded behind Ben, rocking the fighter. He ignored it. With one final glance out the front window, he saw the man flick his hand sideways. Ben frowned, for the gesture seemed odd—insipid, even. Then all the world became a blur as Ben’s plane lurched violently and spun out of control. He had been pushing the engines to full, and within seconds, he was caught in a tailspin.
Based on how much thrust he had been using, Ben knew there was no escaping. Outside the cockpit window, the glistening tower spun as Ben’s craft twisted around. He fought to maintain control, but the centrifugal motion made it almost impossible. Finally, as he realized his jet was falling and the light from above was growing more dim with each passing second, he faced reality.
“Initiate ejection system.”
“Ejection system online,” the AI responded.
Ben hesitated for a second, wondering if he could do anything to regain control. Then he caught a quick view of the rapidly approaching surface of the water, and he knew there wasn’t any hope. “Eject,” he said firmly, defeated.
What followed was a number of sounds, sensations, and movements that happened so rapidly, Ben didn’t have time to process them. Before he knew it, the seat had been thrown from the craft a
nd the cold night air was rushing against his body. It felt as though he was flying, but the sea—and the crystal bridge, somewhere off to his right—were rushing at him rapidly. Ben glanced up to see his jet continue spinning out of control. Then it exploded suddenly and spectacularly, becoming a bright ball of twisting flame and a barrage of debris that continued its spinning trajectory, falling into the ocean.
***
Regina watched out the side panel of her fighter as Ben lost control of his craft, which spun downward violently to the left. She waited, grimacing, a silent horror growing within her, as she saw no sign of the ejection seat yet. Seconds later, the craft fell into an even faster spiral that she knew would be impossible to break. Then she breathed a sigh of relief as the roof panel exploded from the top and the ejection seat flew away from the craft. Shortly after that, the jet ignited. She could no longer make out Ben’s individual form in the distance.
“Taurus to Tiger.” No response. “Tiger, are you there?” Still, he did not respond. Now, Regina returned her attention to the tower. The young man was still hovering there, his gaze wandering about as though he was drifting in and out of a daydream. Regina slammed her right fist against the panel and would have screamed if she hadn’t been connected to the others over the comms system. “This is Taurus. I’m taking command. The target has changed. I repeat. The target has changed.” She paused to take a few deep breaths, hoping this would allow her rage to subside. It didn’t. “Target that bastard with the blond hair.”
A series of acknowledgements came over the system, and Regina heard the distant sound of jet engines roar. She watched out the cockpit window as the planes repositioned themselves so that they were within firing range of the young man. With the lure of vengeance too powerful to resist, she wasted no more time.
“Three. Two. One. Fire.”
Regina had the weapon primed and ready. Now she pressed the touchscreen’s controls to initiate the laser. She heard the sound of the canon whir beneath her. Once again, the area in front of her was illuminated by bright red light as the beams exploded from beneath each of the four remaining craft, directed at the man hovering in front of the enormous edifice. The beams struck him and blasts of energy streaked out from where he hovered. The lasers impacted something Regina hadn’t seen before—another shield, which surrounded his body. Now, blue-red wisps of plasma-like energy streamed away from him as the lasers continued the bombardment. After ten seconds, the ball of plasma had expanded, and she knew that soon they would have to readjust their positions to avoid being caught in its expanding field. Behind him the tower, to Regina, became a figment of someone’s imagination: a glistening, glinting jewel twinkling with red and blue light.
Regina saw that the lasers were merely skirting the side of the previously invisible, transparent shield, then ricocheting off the tower behind the man and disappearing. She doubted the weapons were having any effect at all, but she kept firing, and the light show continued. As she watched, at times, behind the blasts of energy, she saw that the young man was still there, floating and unharmed, as though the bombardment from their weapons was of no consequence. Intermittently, his gaze drifted from one plane to the next. Regina took a sharp breath then, realizing he was probably choosing his next target.
“Weapons are heating up,” she heard Micra say. “We can keep firing for only another few—” He stopped talking.
“What is it?” Regina asked, glancing toward his plane for a brief second.
“Something’s incoming.”
“What?” Realizing what he was referring to, she looked down at her sensors.
“I’m reading it too. It’s something small. Could be a supersonic missile,” Omega added.
“That’s not likely, but I see it as well,” Regina said. She frowned as she noticed the target approach from the direction of the city, moving fast. “Macy,” she said, addressing the fighter’s advanced AI system.
“Yes?” the pleasant voice responded.
“What is the object on approach from the west?”
Macy took a few seconds to respond. “Unknown. No aircraft are designated to arrive in the vicinity at this time. Its velocity suggests that it is not a craft.”
“Is it a weapon?”
“Inconclusive, but I think not. I’m reading an immense psionic signature. It’s leaving a wake of psionic energy in its path.”
“It’s another Ethereal,” Regina said, partly admitting this to herself and partly informing the others. Now she glanced up to see the man reach his hands out once again. Regina’s eyes opened wide as, for a moment, a gap in the laser light indicated that he was reaching out to them, this time to Omega’s craft, positioned directly on her left.
At first, nothing happened. Then, slowly, astonishingly, the laser beam from Omega’s craft veered away from the young man floating in front of them. The beam skirted the edge of his shield and curved away, first blasting the side of the tower, then puncturing the night sky behind it, piercing the distant dark and lighting up the clouds far on the horizon.
As the laser continued moving, Regina watched it, too astonished at first to take any action. Then, as she followed the beam’s trajectory, she saw Micra’s craft out of the corner of her eye. Regina knew then what was happening. “Omega! Cut power to your cannon now!” she yelled.
For a moment, there was no response. Then her voice came back, laden with dread. “It’s not responding. The controls—the controls aren’t responding! I can’t switch it off.”
Regina turned toward Micra only to see that the beam was now a mere fifty feet from his craft, having curved to a spectacular degree. “Micra, get out of there!” she shouted, but as she watched, waiting, his plane didn’t move.
“I—I can’t. The controls won’t respond. They’re locked—I’m locked!”
Regina knew what command she had to give, but she didn’t want to. She glared back at the man, who, despite having an immense influence over them and their weapons systems, wasn’t even looking at what he was doing. He was staring right at her, as though he knew she was in command. Without taking her eyes off him, and knowing that Micra had only seconds left, she gave the order. “Eject now. Micra, get out.” The laser beam moved closer, and when it was within ten feet of his fighter, she leaned forward and yelled into her intercom. “Eject. Now!”
The beam reached the plane and cut through the front section. Regina placed a hand over her mouthpiece, trying to conceal the inevitable whelp that arose as she watched the bright red laser slice through the jet. Just as it was about to reach the cockpit, the top compartment exploded upward and the ejection system activated, sending Micra’s seat high into the air and out of harm’s way. One second later, the weapon cut through the central portion of the craft, where it exploded in a bright yellow ball of flame. Regina watched, taking deep breaths, as the shell of the plane, blazing with fire, drifted below them and fell out of their sight.
Once again, the tower was lit up with new light as cascading yellow and orange hues from the fire glinted along its reflective surface. Regina was focused on Micra’s ejection seat, though she knew she couldn’t keep watching it. When she felt confident that he was out of harm’s way, she looked forward again. As her eyes settled on the man in front of her, who was now more visible as less energy was focused on the shield, anger welled up inside her. Once again, Regina’s veins pulsed with the blood of rage.
“I’ve gotten back control of my systems,” Omega said, her voice shaken. “I—I don’t know what happened.”
“Acknowledged. Switch to conventional weapons,” Regina spat, addressing the two remaining fighters.
“What caliber?” Red Eye asked.
Regina’s eyes narrowed as she glanced out the right window toward his jet. “Hit him with everything we’ve got,” she responded, her voice dripping with venom.
“Got it,” Omega replied. “Weapons are armed, ready to fire.”
“Ready,” came Red Eye’s response.
He had maneuvered his plane into position just a hundred feet from Regina’s.
For a moment, Regina and the floating man in front of her shared a glance. It seemed that he knew what she was going to do. She didn’t care. “Fire,” she yelled, her emotions a seething cauldron, a red haze of hatred.
Regina pulled the trigger, and the sky lit up again with new bright light as the thick, yellow-white rounds exploded from the jets. Now all three vessels were firing at the shield in tandem, and Regina delighted as she saw the man reel backward in surprise. The bullets seemed to be doing more damage than the lasers; as each one hit, it created a perturbation in the shield, followed by a ripple that flowed across its surface. Regina could practically feel the cracks they were forming. However, it wasn’t over. The man steadied himself and reached out his hands. This time, instead of destroying another of their jets, ripples of energy spread out from his body and his shield expanded, so that it was a thirty-foot bubble surrounding him.
Regina glared at him, lost in her emotions and still firing as she watched the bubble grow. Frustration overcame her and she slammed down her fist. “Damn it!” she said. Without waiting for the others, she targeted him and fired a missile. She glanced to her right as she heard its propellant ignite.
The projectile departed her ship immediately, shot across the distance, and impacted his shield, exploding. Another ball of fire plumed upward. This time, he was completely enshrouded in the flare. For a moment, she squinted, staring at the rising ball of flame and allowing herself to believe she had actually succeeded.
Then, as the fire cleared, she saw that it was just as before. His shield still glowed, completely intact, but as the flames receded and her unit ceased firing, the shield once again became transparent and disappeared. Behind him, as the lights went out, the tower grew dim. Now, only the light of the moon reflected off its cold surface, creating the appearance that the tower was encrusted with tiny diamonds that glinted in the dim light.
The Crystal Tower Page 32