Armageddon Unleashed (Universe in Flames Book 7)
Page 16
“Can’t I just swap places with you?”
“If you had a body, perhaps. In this form you can’t. But, Ares, go to Chase now. He needs to heal before it’s too late.”
Ares pondered on this. Perhaps he could provide another Olympian body to feed the machine. But who would be crazy enough to step into the machine and seal their fate? At least voluntarily.
“But—”
“Ares! Now!”
Ares’ consciousness was ejected from the machine and back into the room.
Go now, Ares. Stop worrying about me.
Ares knew better than to argue. Last time she had given him a similar message, he had arrived too late and Chase had almost died. He focused on Chase and teleported to his current location.
Inside the StarFury, Chase had lost consciousness and was barely breathing. Ares materialized in energy form, touched Chase and teleported him away.
Oryn checked the progress of her jump. She was still hours away from Earth. She decided against stopping on her way to exit the ship. If she didn’t bring back Chase’s head, it would probably be the end of her, so she would need to stay on board and, if necessary, help fight Chase with her brother.
What was left of him anyway. She needed to use the time to train with the mental control device. It had to become second nature, but she needed to be able to control it while still controlling her own body too.
“Why are you doing this to me?” asked Miseo.
Oryn jumped out of her chair and looked around the bridge. No one was there.
Was she imagining things? It had been a long day. Was she losing her mind?
“Tell me, sister. Why are you doing this to me? Is it out of jealousy?”
“Miseo?” she asked out loud.
“Who else? You’re in my mind. It’s only fair that I can to talk to you as well. What did you do to me?”
“What needed to be done.”
“You keep telling yourself that. But you’ve used me as a guinea pig. I don’t know how or why, but ever since I awoke from the regen tank, I’ve been feeling different. I’ve been full of anger, hatred and killing thoughts.”
“I’ve noticed. You almost killed me.”
“Too bad I failed. You’re a horrible person.”
“Look who’s talking.”
“I haven’t done anything wrong, Oryn, and you know it. I might have failed to eliminate Chase when I had the chance, but I didn’t deserve Father’s wrath for that, and I sure didn’t deserve to become your mind toy.”
Oryn didn’t understand how Miseo could communicate with her, but seeing how badly the tech had been working up until now, she concluded it was one more bug in the system. Perhaps the drugs she was administering to calm him were responsible for this.
“You’re a spoiled brat. You always were,” she said.
“Be that as it may, you’re a terrible sister. But you know that already. I can feel it. Using your own brother as a test subject, willing to sacrifice me to elevate your position. And what’s next? You’ll do to Father what you did to me? We both know that’s the only way you can ever access the throne, via proxy. No Fury will tolerate a female leading our people.”
“That’s none of your concern, brother.”
“I’ve been looking inside your mind. Looks like I could be only your half-brother.”
Oryn didn’t like this one bit. He could sense her thoughts, her fears. If he could do this, what else could he do?
“Don’t worry, I want to die. Living like this, like a puppet on a string, is no life. I’m looking forward to killing Chase, though, and finally correcting the mistake that brought about my downfall. Everything can be traced to that single moment on Droxia. I fucked up when I let Argos take care of Chase; it was a mistake. I should have killed him myself, cut off his head and brought it back to Father. If I had, none of this would have happened.”
“You’re right about this. And I’m glad you agree with my plan.”
“Don’t kid yourself though, Oryn. I hate you more than you can ever fathom.”
“Oh no, believe me, I felt how much you hate me and want to kill me.”
“Once Chase is done, you may want to kill me yourself, because given the chance, I’ll rip your pretty little head off.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t give you that chance. Focus on killing Chase. Do that one last good thing in this life. And, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
“Seeing how you denied responsibility when you talked with Father, I seriously doubt that.”
Oryn winced. The last thing she needed was her brother talking to him. She forced him back into the cryo-unit and activated it from the bridge.
She would have to wing it with the device. No way would she spend hours debating with Miseo. She punched in more commands to make sure the level of the relaxing drug would be halved when he left the cryo-unit. When the time came, she needed a killer, not a sermon.
So long, brother.
When Cedric opened his eyes, he was relieved he was able to move his body.
“It worked! Thanks, Kvasir.”
“I’m glad. Now, let’s get to work. Tell me more about your plan.”
“When Spiros had me working on a way to destroy Gaia, we isolated large numbers of nanites with a minimalistic operating system. We locked them in shielded facilities around the planet, so they would survive the EMP. These were designed to bring the Earth’s main infrastructure network back online if we had to detonate a planetary-wide EMP. I need to get to them and release them from their shielded containment units.”
“An ingenious plan, but how do you propose to get to them?”
Cedric looked around. He was still in the medical facility where he had been converted into a cyborg. The headless body of Spiros lay in a pool of blood.
The view made him sick and he fell on his knees and vomited.
“I’m so sorry,” he said to Spiros’ body.
“What’s happening?” asked Kvasir.
“Never mind. Just some very bad memories. Fortunately, there’s a nanite stockpile not far from here. I’ll release them and reprogram some of them to release others within range. But it will take hours, which I seriously doubt we have. The moment you have news from Chase, put him in contact with me. I could use his teleporting skills right now.”
“Anything else?”
“We need to get to Gaia as well. I don’t like the fact we haven’t heard from her for so long.”
“She might have been detected and neutralized by Gaia 2.”
“We can’t let that happen. Keep up your hacking efforts and try to locate her. You’ll stand a better chance of bringing Gaia 2 down from the inside with her help.”
“Understood.”
“Oh, and Kvasir, make sure you focus your hacking efforts towards preventing Gaia 2 from firing from space. If she targets me . . .”
“I know, this will be over before it started.”
“Exactly, but we can’t let her fire on other targets either. At least, we have to do everything we can to prevent that.”
“You still haven’t told me what bringing some of the planet’s infrastructure back online will achieve.”
“Well, I might not be able to bring it to full power, but the idea is to bring the planetary shield back online. It’s this planet’s last line of defense.”
“Understood. Be careful, Cedric.”
“You too, Kvasir, and thanks again. I never thought I’d get back inside my body.” Cedric looked at his butchered cyborg hands. “What’s left of it anyway.”
“We’ll deal with that too, once this crisis is over.”
“Now go. Find Gaia and let’s finally bring her evil-twin bitch down.”
“Your mind is weak,” said Oryn.
“Hasn’t anyone told you over-confidence is not a good quality?” said Argos.
“And your faith in your feeble abilities is what, exactly?”
“Why don’t you show your real face? Why impersonate someone?”
“It won’t change anything. In this form or another, neither of you is nearly as strong as Chase. I can already feel myself regaining major power cycles since Chase left. I’m afraid your little rescue mission will fail.”
“And I’m willing to bet that I will have your electronic head within the hour.”
“Such defiance, such gusto. I’ll grant you that. You appear very confident for a Fury that has lost it all. His power over the universe, his grand Machiavellian plan to rule this galaxy turned to dust by his own brother. And, to top it all off, you’re now only his pet, a mere shadow of your own self. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.”
Argos felt rage rise from within. With a swift move he launched a powerful fireball towards Gaia 2. It exploded and everything around him changed. He was no longer aboard his old Zarlack flagship, but in a large city.
Chris flew in from the distance and landed next to him.
“What did I miss?”
“Nothing much. How’s Chase?”
“I don’t know, but he’s out of here.”
“Well, that’s all that matters, I guess. Let’s hope it’s not too late. We have to hold the fort. We don’t want Gaia 2 regaining her processing power.”
“She won’t.”
Argos wanted to believe Chris. The fact was that he was mostly trying to pump himself and the boy up in the process. But neither of them was as powerful as Chase. And Gaia 2’s words had shaken him. She had said the exact right things to make him doubt.
“I hope so—”
Chris looked straight at Argos. “You hope so? Let’s make one thing clear, that bitch will use our own fears against us. She will do everything she can to instill terror and doubt in our minds. It doesn’t matter that we’re not as strong as my father in the real world. This is a psychological battle. So in here we’ll be as strong as our thoughts allow us to be. In this world, we can be more powerful than Chase if we’re smart and believe in our abilities.”
Was the boy right? His argument made sense. If they managed to keep their heads clear, their motivation unwavering, then perhaps, here, they could be more powerful than Chase. There was strength in numbers, after all.
“Very well. It’s not like we have any choice if we want to get out of here alive.”
Chris smiled. “That’s the spirit. Now what is this place?” Chris looked at the skyscrapers around them.
Argos sighed. “I believe it’s Tokyo, back on Earth.”
“You know this place?”
“Unfortunately, yes. And I don’t think we’re here by accident.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Gaia 2 is using our fears and doubts against us. This place doesn’t hold the warmest of memories.”
“How’s an Earth city part of your fears? I’m not following.”
“Your father burned me alive and almost killed me here, not so long ago.”
With the help of medbay two’s doctors, Ares put Chase inside a regen chamber the moment they arrived on board the Hope.
“Use the fastest healing cycle. He needs to be conscious again as quickly as possible,” said Ares to the doctor.
“But that’s dangerous!”
“Do as I say and don’t argue. Commander Kepler will confirm the order shortly, but we don’t have time to lose.”
The doctor hesitated. “I’m sorry, I have to ask—”
Before the doc could finish his sentence Ares took control of his body and mind by jumping his consciousness inside the doctor’s body. The sensation wasn’t pleasant since the doctor was still conscious and trying to fight Ares’ control. Ares didn’t have time to lose, so he head-butted the nearest wall with enough force so the doc would lose consciousness. Once that was done he had free reign over the body, with a headache to boot. But that didn’t matter. As soon as he exited the doctor’s body, it would be gone.
He entered the settings on the regen chamber for the fastest cycle possible and exited the unconscious body that fell to the floor with a thump.
“Sorry about that, but I did say it was urgent,” said Ares out loud.
Ares teleported away to the bridge.
“Ares!” Sarah exclaimed as she jumped off the captain’s chair. “Where have you been?”
“Long story. Chase is back on board. I’ve put him in a regen chamber in medbay two.”
Ares could read Sarah’s concern.
“How . . . how is he doing?”
“Not well, but I’m sure he’ll make it. He’s strong.”
Sarah forced herself to nod, but Ares could tell she was just being hopeful. They all were. Chase needed to get better, quickly.
“What’s our next move?” Sarah asked.
“I don’t know. Won’t Gaia 2 recover all her powers now that Chase is out of her matrix?”
“My son and Argos went in.”
“Good, there’s still a chance then. Let’s hope they’re strong enough.”
“Chris is like his father. He won’t allow himself to fail.”
14
Cedric had been running for minutes towards the Earth Alliance facility with the first batch of nanites. He had never run this fast, nor would he have thought his body could maintain such a pace.
There are some advantages to being a cyborg, I guess.
It was taking a lot of mental effort to both use his body, and keep an active part of his mind analyzing Gaia 2’s matrix. He had unrestricted access now, but he still had to proceed carefully.
Out of the blue Cedric heard a deafening noise and was thrown to the ground. When he turned around he saw the Earth Alliance medical facility in flames.
Gaia 2 had detected that she couldn’t control him anymore and fired on the medical center from orbit. If he hadn’t left when he did, he would have been vaporized with whoever was still in there. The entire facility had been leveled with one single plasma shot from orbit.
“Are you alright, Cedric?” said Kvasir over their link.
“Yeah, but Gaia 2 has started her orbital bombing.”
Cedric resumed running.
“Then it might not be wise for you to go to another Earth Alliance location.”
“She has already bombed most of them. The only reason she hadn’t obliterated that one was ’cause I was in it and she enjoyed torturing me. The one I’m going to is deep underground, and hopefully she doesn’t know about it.”
“She might if she got the information from you or from Gaia.”
“Gaia wasn’t aware of these locations. We made sure of that for obvious reasons. If she got that info from me, that’s a risk I’m going to have to take. We either re-activate the planetary shields, even at minimal power, or she we will bomb entire cities and kill millions. How far is the fleet? And how much CPU is she using at the moment?”
“The fleet is a few minutes away from jumping into Earth space, and her CPU is well utilized: over seventy-five percent. Recovering your body as well as the loss of the large CPU node Chase destroyed has really made a difference.”
“How’s your hack progressing?”
“Very well. I only have a couple of functions to deploy and then we can start flooding her systems with data. The sheer number of attacks from all the malware I’ve installed should put her into an even higher state of internal defense, which should help the fleet as well as Chris and Argos.”
Chase’s boy was technically only a few weeks old, even if he looked like a young adult. And he was already risking his life for others. Like father, like son. But that was the price of this intergalactic war. No one was spared, not even children.
“Can you show me some of your hacking code? Just send it to my mental HUD.”
“Are you double-checking on me?”
“No, but perhaps I can add a few of my homebrewed tricks to yours. If there’s one thing I know, it’s code.”
“Very well, I’m sending you the hacking functions now.”
Cedric’s vie
w filled with an overlay of code. Some of that stuff was very advanced and he had to guess their functions. He quickly wrote an on-the-fly macro to take care of his route and running so it would happen on autopilot while he concentrated on Kvasir’s code.
That took but a few seconds, and he had to admit that this part of being a cyborg with enhanced computing capabilities built into his own mind was pretty awesome. Spiros had augmented himself with similar brain enhancing tech and he could see why.
He still couldn’t believe he would never see Spiros again, or argue about how to best implement the next piece of tech they were working on. But it also gave Cedric strength and determination. If only to get revenge on the lives lost, Spiros included, they would bring Gaia 2 down today, or die trying.
A battle bot with aggressive black-and-red painting landed in front of Argos and Chris. Its eyes glowed red. While it looked like the bots both Argos and Chris had fought while training, the paint job and red eyes made it look more menacing.
Argos and Chris exchanged a dubious expression.
“Is that all she’s going to throw at us?” asked Chris.
“I seriously dou—”
Before Argos could finish his sentence, another bot landed next to the first, and then another. In seconds, hundreds of bots encircled them.
“Did I just jinx it?” said Chris.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Get ready for battle, boy.”
Argos and Chris intensified their powers and their respective auras grew. Argos’ crimson aura gave him the familiar sinister look, while Chris’s aura was deep blue.
The battle bots jumped towards them, and both Argos and Chris flew upwards in response. They both unleashed a flurry of fireballs towards where they stood a second ago.
A massive cascade of explosions resulted in multiple shockwaves breaking the windows of the tall skyscrapers around them.
That first wave of attack had destroyed many of the battle bots, but their numbers kept growing. Many flew upwards through the flames at great velocity.