The Ascension: A Super Human Clash

by Michael Carroll

  Josh contained his laughter long enough to say, “We used the teleporter. That…” Josh pointed to the enormous rock. “That’s an asteroid.”

  CHAPTER 34

  JAMES DRIFTED ALONG the corridor, floating a few inches off the ground so that he didn’t have to put any weight on his broken leg.

  He found the small office and saw Lance sitting back in the swivel chair with his hands laced behind his head. Remington was standing next to Lance, looking nervous.

  “Saved the day again,” Lance said.

  James laughed. “You dropped an asteroid on him.”

  “Yep.”

  “An asteroid.”

  Lance grinned. “Sure did.”

  “But…” James shook his head. “Man, you’re something else.”

  “Yep.”

  “He’s not dead,” Remington said. “He can’t be killed.”

  “I know,” Lance said. “But that’ll keep him busy for a long time. He’s strong, but it’ll take him years and years to pound his way out through a half-mile-wide asteroid.” He straightened up and pointed to the screen. “Look, we picked a heavy one too. It has a nickel-iron core. Probably worth a few bucks.” He turned away from the screen. “You look like you lost a fight with…well, everyone.”

  “It’s been a crazy couple of days, that’s for sure.”

  “I hear your real name is James.”

  James glanced at Remington. “Oh great. Tell everybody.”

  “And I notice that your legs no longer go all the way to the ground.”

  “Yeah. Broke my leg when Brawn threw me. But I can fly now, which is handy. So. Slaughter was here. That must have been weird for you.”

  Lance stood up. “She…What do you mean ‘was’? Don’t tell me she escaped!”

  “She’s dead, Lance. He killed her. In the end, one punch was all it took. Same for Daedalus. Krodin was toying with them the whole time.”

  “Oh man…She didn’t deserve that. She wasn’t Slaughter, you know. Not here. When I first saw her…You heard about my folks?”

  “Yeah. But they’re alive in this reality, right?”

  “They are. And I’m probably grounded again.”

  “Who isn’t?”

  Lance beckoned to Remington. “Follow.”

  They left the office and soon found the others in the corridor.

  They were all covered in dust and grime, scratches and bruises. Brawn was crouched next to Max Dalton, his massive blue hand holding Max upright. “He’s broken a few ribs,” Brawn said, “but, sadly, he’s going to make it.”

  James turned to Remington. “I remember you. In our reality you were a soldier. You practically tortured me and Lance. Try anything and you’ll spend the rest of your life believing that you’re falling. Understand?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. Look, I was only following orders! I had to—”

  James threw a cocoon of silence around him. “I don’t think we need to hear his excuses.”

  “Thunder, what about the fleet?” Roz asked.

  “They’re panicking,” James said. “They’re not sure what’s going on. They’ve been called back. Unity’s sending a bunch of bigwigs in to talk to whoever’s in charge.” He looked around. “Um…Which one of us is in charge?”

  Lance raised his hand. “Oh! Oh! Me! I’d be brilliant at being in charge!”

  “Not a chance,” Max began. “I…” He stopped when he saw that everyone was glaring at him.

  “Looks like it’s you, Thunder,” Cord said. “Because there’s no way I’m doing it.” He turned to Lance. “An asteroid.” He raised his eyes. “Man, that’s going to take some explaining.”

  “To whom?” James asked. “With Krodin gone the country’s power structure has been completely wiped out. It’ll be years before everything’s back to normal.”

  His voice weak, Max Dalton said, “We need an interim government. We can’t just dismantle everything at once—the country would fall into chaos. I hate to say it, but for now it might be best to leave the Praetorians in power. Just until we can reestablish the democratic process.”

  Lance said, “Tch! Politics is so boring!” and walked away.

  Abby limped after him. “Wait up!”

  James felt a slight twinge in his chest as he watched Abby put her arm around Lance’s shoulders. Doesn’t mean anything, he tried to reassure himself. He’s just holding her up.

  Cord said, “Krodin will get out from under that asteroid. And it won’t take long. He’ll dig. It might only be a matter of months. We need to set up something to monitor his progress. And we need a plan. A way to get rid of him once and for all. Anyone got any ideas?”

  They looked around at each other.

  After a long moment, James said, “So it’s not over? We’re going to be fighting Krodin again and again? I can’t accept that. There has to be a solution.”

  Lance lowered Abby into the chair in the small office. “So that’s it? That’s your big secret?”

  “Well, yeah.”

  “It’s not a big deal. I’m cool with it.” He leaned back against the desk. “Listen, I…I have an idea for getting rid of Krodin. It’ll work—it should work—but…There’s a price, and I’m not sure I’m willing to pay it.”

  “What is it?”

  He shook his head. “No, I’m not going to tell you. You might try to talk me out of it. But you trust me, don’t you?”

  “Of course.”

  Lance felt tears welling up in his eyes and angrily brushed them away. “OK then. Go…” He sniffed. “Go back out into the corridor and wait with the others, OK? And send Remington in. I need him.”

  “Lance…What are you planning?”

  “It really is better if you don’t know.” He helped her out of the seat and led her to the door.

  Then he sat down again and started typing on the keyboard.

  Remington came in a moment later. “You lied—you’re not Pyrokine!”

  “I know. Sit down. Help me with this. You know everything about Krodin, right?”

  He told Remington what he wanted to do. It took them almost fifteen minutes to set it all up.

  “It’ll work. When you’re ready, hit the Execute key,” Remington said. He stood up, and clapped Lance on the shoulder. “If the situation was reversed…I don’t know if I could do it. You’re a braver man than me, McKendrick.”

  “Thanks. Close the door, huh?”

  Remington pulled the door shut behind him, and Lance reached for the telephone. He dialed a number from memory, and the call was answered after three rings.

  “Hello?”

  “Hi, Mom.”

  “Lance?”

  “Yeah, it’s me. I’m sorry, Mom. It’s my fault that you got killed. If I hadn’t gotten involved…she never would have come for you.”

  “You’re not making any sense, Lance! Where are you? The TV said the country’s been invaded!”

  His tears were spilling freely now, but he didn’t care. “Mom, I…I love you, Mom. I’m going to miss you. All of you. I’ll be thinking of you every day, forever.”

  “Lance, what are you talking about? You’re not coming home?”

  “No, Mom. I can never go home again.” He reached his hand out to the keyboard, his index finger hovering over the Execute key. “Good-bye.”

  He hit the button.

  Everything changed.

  Roz was suddenly knee-deep in the swamp. “What…?”

  Abby and James were beside her. Cord, Max, and Brawn were nearby. They all looked as confused as she felt.

  “What happened to the base?” Brawn asked. “And the Unity fleet?”

  Lance’s voice came from twenty yards away. “There is no base. There never was.” He started to wade toward them. “And there’s no Unity either.”

  “What did you do?” Cord asked.

  “The teleporter. I used it on Krodin.”

  Roz whirled around. “Where’s Josh? Can anyone see him?”

  Lance said, “Roz, he�
��s OK. He’s probably wherever he’s supposed to be. And I’m sure that Slaughter is wherever she’s supposed to be. And still alive, unfortunately. Actually, I’m a bit surprised that we’re still here, and aware of what happened.”

  Max said, “Lance, the teleporter doesn’t work on Krodin. He’s immune to it.” He frowned. “Oh. I see. That…That was the right thing to do.”

  Cord said, “We can’t all read minds, Lance.”

  “Krodin’s people tested the teleporter out on him, which meant that it’d never work on him again. I found a way past that.” He looked around. “Anyone got any clue which way is home?”

  James said, “I’ll check.” He rose into the air, and a moment later they heard his voice all around them. “I see what could be a road. A few miles to the north. Follow me.”

  Brawn grabbed Abby around the waist and lifted her onto his shoulder. “No sense in everyone having to walk, kiddo.”

  “Thanks.”

  As Brawn passed Max Dalton, he pushed him over into the swamp, facedown.

  Max started to get up, but Brawn put his massive foot on his back. “Give me one good reason not to do it, Dalton. Come on. One good reason.”

  Roz rushed over. “What are you doing!? After he saved your life!”

  “You nuts or something?” Brawn asked. “This guy put me and James in front of a firing squad! He sold us all out to Krodin!”

  “He was controlling me!” Max said. “You weren’t conscious, Brawn—but the others were there. They remember it!”

  “It’s true,” Roz said. “Max didn’t have any choice. Let him go, Brawn.”

  The giant reached down and pulled Max free of the mud. “Sorry, dude. No one told me.”

  Max wiped the mud out of his eyes. “It’s OK. After what we’ve been through, getting wet and mucky doesn’t seem such a big deal.”

  “By the way, thanks for the save back there,” Lance said to Max.

  Max smiled. “You’re welcome.”

  Cord said, “Yeah, that goes for me too. If it hadn’t been for you…” He slapped Max on the shoulder. “You always come through for us, Max.”

  As they trudged on through the swamp, Roz moved close to Lance. “What did you do, exactly?”

  “The teleporter could take anything from anywhere and send it anywhere else. I sent Krodin away.”

  “But how, if he’s immune?”

  “He only became immune to its effects after the first time. But they got the idea of the teleporter from the way Pyrokine pulled Krodin out of the past, right? So I pointed it at somewhere I knew Krodin was before the teleporter was tested on him. Almost six years ago, in Windfield. Right after the battle with us when Pyrokine accidentally sent him back there. Remington knew the exact moment Krodin arrived in the past. I took him from there and sent him away.” He looked back for a moment. “This is why the base and everyone on it disappeared—Krodin never came to power. We’re back in our own reality. No Krodin, no Praetorians, no Citadel in Central Park. I don’t know why we’re all here, though. Maybe there’s a connection with whatever it was that brought us to Krodin’s reality in the first place.”

  “So everything’s back to normal?” Roz asked.

  Lance nodded. “Back to the way it was for us yesterday morning. Except that we’re all in a swamp in Louisiana and we can remember a world that never existed for anyone else.”

  Softly, Roz said, “Then in this world Victoria and her family are still alive.”

  “Who’s Victoria?”

  Roz smiled. “Never mind. You did a good thing, Lance.” Then her face fell. “But…your parents and your brother…”

  “Yeah. That…That wasn’t easy. But there was no other way. Krodin would have gotten free and we’d have had to fight him all over again.”

  Behind him, Solomon Cord said, “Lance…where did you send him?”

  “Somewhere far away. Trust me. He won’t be coming back.”

  SIX YEARS earlier…

  Krodin had never been so cold, in so much pain. The darkness pressed around him, blacker than any night he had ever seen.

  But he knew he would not die. Not here in this cold and dusty land, wherever it might be.

  The burning boy had attacked him, seared his skin, and then died in a blinding flash. For a brief moment Krodin had found himself in an empty field, the damp grass cool on his scorched body. Then, just as suddenly, he was here.

  Already the wounds from the burning boy’s attack were healing—soon his skin would be as flawless as ever—but the pains in his chest and throat were taking longer to subside.

  What did those children do to me? What arcane power have they used against me?

  He looked around the vast desert landscape, and vowed that—somehow—he would find a way back, even if it took him a thousand years.

  He would have revenge.

  An excerpt from Modern Science magazine:

  Analysis of the unusual energy flare has so far proved fruitless. Initial speculation that it was nothing more than a minor meteorite strike was almost immediately dismissed. According to Anita Cairnduff, spokesperson for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, “A collision would have left detectable traces—residual heat, a dust cloud—but our instruments have not yet picked up anything of that nature.”

  The true cause of the energy flare seems likely to remain a mystery for some time. Ms. Cairnduff has denied the rumors that the planned course of the next probe will be diverted to pass within range of Amazonis Planitia: “The flare is not on our list of priorities. There are far more interesting and challenging sites for us to explore, other secrets to uncover.”

  So it seems that this particular secret is one that Mars will be holding on to for a long time to come.