Earth Eternal (Earthrise Book 9)

by Daniel Arenson

  We cannot win, Lailani knew, gazing across the city. There were more grays here than they had bullets. But we can go down fighting.

  She fought on.

  For Earth.

  For her friends.

  For the scared, angry girl she had been, and for the woman she had become.

  For humanity.

  For Marco and for Addy.

  "So, de la Rosa!" Elvis shouted over the roar of battle. "Next time you find a time machine, take us to a nice, friendly place, will ya? Elvis's 1973 Hawaiian concert would be a good choice."

  She nodded. "Next time I find a time machine, you got it."

  They kept firing as their friends fell around them. The dead slid down the hill. The grays were marching up toward them. Elvis and Lailani stood side by side, rifles in hand, facing the fall of their world.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  They languished in the dungeon, beaten, chained, waiting for the torture.

  "Let us out of here!" Addy pounded on the door. "Let us out, you fucking sons of whores! I'll kill the lot of you! Let us out!" She drove her shoulder into the iron again and again. "Cowards! Fucking cowards!"

  Sitting on the cold stone floor, Marco blinked and groaned. "Addy. I'm trying to think here."

  She spun toward him, face red. "How can you think at a time like this? We're locked in a dungeon, about to be tortured to death. Less thinking, more fighting!"

  Marco sighed. "Yes, because fighting that door is going so well for you."

  Addy growled, leaped toward him, and grabbed him by the collar. "Maybe if you helped, you lazy fuck, instead of sitting here thinking, we'd—"

  "Lay off him!" Tomiko rose to her feet. "Marco's coming up with a plan. Let him think."

  Addy spun toward Tomiko, eyebrows rising. "Coming up with a plan? Coming up with a plan? The last time Poet planned something, it was to save your skinny little ass, which landed us all in this place. So go back to sitting in the shadows, toots, and let me beat the shit out of Marco."

  Tomiko glared at the taller woman, then sniffed and retreated into the shadows.

  "Toots?" Marco said to Addy. "I can't believe you actually said the word toots. What are you, a 1920s gangster?"

  Addy groaned. "Look who's talking, Mister 'I reckon this, I reckon that.'"

  Marco rose to his feet. "So, toots, what say you and I blow this joint, head over to the local speakeasy? Bust out of the cooler. Meet some broads. Duck soup!"

  Addy rolled her eyes. "Great. He's joking. We're about to be tortured to death, Earth is about to be destroyed, and the poet is joking."

  "He's not—" Tomiko began.

  "You—shush," Addy said. She returned to the door and resumed slamming herself against it. "Open up, you fucking cowards! I'll kill you all! Fight me, damn it! Cowards!"

  Marco sighed and moved closer to Tomiko. The prison cell was small and dusty. A flickering light bulb shone on the ceiling. Marco grimaced. Every movement ached. The grays had stripped off his armored spacesuit, leaving him in his underclothes. Bruises and cuts coated his body, and after so long in the wilderness, he was thin, pale, sickly. Every breath rattled through his lungs.

  He sat beside Tomiko. She leaned against him. She placed a hand on his knee.

  "Thank you, Marco," she said. "For saving me."

  "I'm not sure that I did," Marco said.

  Tomiko bit her lip. "I suppose you didn't." She patted his knee. "But you tried." She sighed. "What is this place? Not just this dungeon—this whole terrifying hell. Who are these grays? What's going on?"

  Marco spent a while telling her the tale. About how Ben-Ari had marooned a group of nefarious monks on a planet named Isfet, where they evolved over a million years into the grays. How the grays had eventually returned to Earth, found it polluted and destroyed, and rebuilt their pyramid over the ruins of Jerusalem. How the grays were now flying back to Old Earth, the Earth where Marco and Tomiko were from, to conquer and settle it. And he spoke too of his journey with Addy across the badlands, how they had to reach the pyramid, to kill the Oracle inside, the creature that controlled time.

  "We came so close," Marco said. "Only a few steps away from the pyramid."

  Tomiko lowered her head. "And I ruined it."

  "No." Marco shook his head. "It's not your fault. You were a trap. You were meant to pull me off course. I reckon the Tick-Tock King knew we were coming. That he sent his minions to kidnap you. To lure us off track. You were bait."

  Tomiko smiled. "Addy is right. You do say 'I reckon' too much."

  Marco stared at her. Then he laughed. "I reckon that I do."

  Tomiko laughed too, then sighed. She spent a while telling Marco of her own recent life. She had remarried. She had been living with her new husband in the Greek house. But she was unhappy, she claimed. Her new husband was not wealthy like he had claimed. They fought a lot over money.

  "I missed you, Marco," she said. "I'm sorry for what I did."

  Marco lowered his head. Even here, facing death, the old betrayal stung. Tomiko leaving him for another man. Tomiko lying to him.

  "Your real name isn't even Tomiko," he whispered. "You lied to me."

  Tears flowed down her cheeks. "I was born Kiko. But I wanted a new name when I fled the ruins of Japan. And I found your books. And Addy told me about your unpublished book, about the heroine named Tomiko. And I wanted to be that sort of heroine. Strong. Brave. So I gave myself that name. It was similar to my name. I thought it was meant to be. When I told you my name is Tomiko, I lied to you. I'm sorry. But in a way, I was also telling you the truth." She gazed at him with damp eyes. "It was my real name. The name I gave myself. The name of a new heroine in a new world."

  Marco nodded, head lowered. "And I'm sorry too. For neglecting you. For driving you away. After our divorce, I left Earth for a long time. I sought peace on another planet. I studied Deep Being and learned to be a better man. I know I wasn't a good husband."

  Tomiko's eyes were damp. "We were cruel to each other. We were so cruel." She touched his cheek. "Before we die, I'm sorry, Marco."

  He held her hand. "And I'm sorry, Tomiko."

  Addy knelt before them. "And I'm sorry too."

  Marco and Tomiko looked at her.

  "You are?" Marco said.

  Addy lowered her head. "I am." She looked up, voice growing louder with every word. "I'm sorry that you two lazy pieces of shit aren't helping me break that door!" She grabbed them and yanked them up. "Come on! Pull your weight, assholes!"

  She shoved them toward the heavy iron door.

  And the door swung open.

  They all stepped back, gasping.

  Grays stood at the doorway. The wrinkly creatures stretched their claws toward the humans.

  "Get your stinkin' claws off me!" Addy shouted, swatting them aside.

  The grays raised batons. Electrical bolts slammed into Addy. She fell, screaming.

  "Stop it!" Marco shouted.

  He raced toward the grays, only to get hit too. Bolts knocked him down. One bolt hit Tomiko, and she fell with a cry.

  The grays grabbed them. Without weapons, the prisoners didn't stand a chance. The grays were taller, stronger, and armed. They manhandled the three humans out of the prison cell. A tunnel awaited them, branching in two.

  A female gray stood there, clad in golden armor. Oily wings grew from her back, and an ankh made from finger bones hung around her neck. Marco recognized her. She had commanded the raid on the brothel. He remembered her name—Isis.

  Addy screamed and lunged herself toward the winged gray, only for the guards to beat her back.

  "Excellent," Isis said, smiling, revealing long fangs. She stepped toward Tomiko and stroked her cheek. The claws drew blood. "The bait worked perfectly. Tomiko drew in the two captains like a worm drawing in the fish."

  "This fish is a piranha that'll bite your ass!" Addy shouted, and the grays punched her in the stomach. She doubled over. Marco screamed and tried to run to her, but the grays held him back
.

  "Good," Isis said, looking down at the fallen Addy. "You are feisty. You will put on a good show for the crowd." She turned toward her guards. She still spoke in English, perhaps intending to terrify her captives. "Take Tomiko back to her own timeline. Her task here is done. Nefitis awaits her on Old Earth. The girl will make a good slave for the goddess."

  The gray soldiers bowed. "Yes, Mistress Isis."

  They began dragging Tomiko down one of the corridors.

  "Tomiko!" Marco shouted, trying to reach her. But the grays tightened their grips. They delivered punches to his stomach, to his face. He cried out, thrashing, reaching out. "Tomiko!"

  But the grays pulled her into the shadows. Tomiko gave a last, wordless cry, then vanished into the darkness.

  "You fucking bastards!" Marco shouted, turning toward Isis. "Don't you fucking hurt her! It's me you want!"

  Isis smiled. She leaned closer and stroked Marco's cheek, cutting him with her claws. Her breath smelled of lilac and blood.

  "And we have you, dear human. Put on a good show for me. Scream a lot as you die." She turned toward her guards. "Take them to the Tarasque!"

  They dragged Marco and Addy down the second tunnel. Whenever they resisted, the grays electrocuted, punched, or cut them.

  Stay strong, Tomiko, Marco thought as the grays manhandled him and Addy forward. I'm going to find a way to kill that Oracle. I'm going to end this nightmare. I'm going to save you. Stay strong.

  "So, guys, you can just drop us off at the nearest time portal," Addy said, twisting in the grays' grip. "We'd love money for a cab. We're a bit short. Especially Marco."

  Marco rolled his eyes. "We're the same height!"

  As the grays dragged them along the tunnel, Marco heard a low rumble ahead. With every step, it grew louder. Soon the tunnel was vibrating with the sound. At first Marco thought it some great engine, but then he realized: it was a crowd. It was thousands of voices chanting.

  They reached a door at the end of the tunnel. The chants were deafening. The ground shook.

  "Poet?" Addy said.

  "Yes, Addy?"

  "Next time, let's go on vacation to Cancun. Black Earth sucks."

  "Agreed," he said.

  The grays opened the door and shoved Marco and Addy through it.

  They stumbled into a sandy arena. Concrete tiers rose around them in rings, a great amphitheater. Countless grays filled the seats, roaring and jeering. Addy had once dragged Marco to a hockey game, and he had suffered silently in the arena among fifty thousand drunken, screaming fans. That place seemed serene in comparison.

  Addy spun back toward the tunnel.

  "I changed my mind. I want back into the cell."

  But the grays slammed the door shut, blocking her path. Marco and Addy remained in the arena, the crowd spinning around them. Marco nearly fainted. He was already weak from his long days in the desolation. His new wounds and the crowd made him sway.

  What torture do they have ready for us here? he thought.

  Addy's eyes widened.

  "Poet, look! Weapons!"

  She darted toward the middle of the arena. She lifted a sword from the sand. Marco joined her. There was a second weapon waiting—a war hammer. As he lifted the hammer, the crowd cheered louder. Marco recognized these weapons—miniature versions of the weapons the mechas had carried.

  "I'm not sure I want to play their game," Marco said.

  "I'm a simple woman," Addy said. "I see a weapon, I take it. They want us to die as gladiators? Better than torture."

  Marco looked into her eyes. "What if they want us to fight each other?"

  Addy paled. "Fuck." She dropped her sword. "I'm not doing that."

  Marco nodded. "Me neither." He tossed his hammer down.

  The crowd booed. They pelted the arena with filth.

  Suddenly trumpets blared. Lights flashed. Floodlights filled the arena, blinding. The ground trembled, and a massive trapdoor slid open, revealing a gaping pit.

  From the underground, a creature emerged.

  The crowd cheered. "Tarasque! Tarasque!"

  The beast was massive, as large as a whale, with eight thick legs, crimson claws, and jaws filled with fangs. Warts covered its gray skin, and spikes sprouted from its body, each one impaling a human head. Those severed heads were still living, crying out silently, faces twisting in anguish.

  The Tarasque's own head was bloated and pale, its eyes oval and black. It was the head of a gray but many times larger, deformed. Perhaps this creature was the product of genetic engineering, a gray grown to grotesque size and twisted into a beast. The monster opened a mouth the size of a garage and howled. Its breath slammed against Addy and Marco like a storm, scented of rot. Human limbs were stuck between its back teeth.

  "Changed my mind," Addy said. "I want the weapons!"

  She grabbed the sword. Marco hurried to reclaim his war hammer.

  The Tarasque leaped toward them.

  The crowd cheered.

  Marco and Addy scattered. The jaws snapped shut between them. Addy screamed and thrust her sword, but her blade bounced off the monster's hard skin. Marco shouted, swung his hammer, and cried as pain reverberated up his arms. It was like trying to crush an anvil.

  The Tarasque lunged toward Marco, jaws snapping. He leaped back. The crowd roared. Marco swung his hammer, a useless gesture. The jaws snapped shut again, missing him by centimeters. Marco retreated until his back hit the wall. The lowest tier of seats rose just above his head, and the audience roared, the grays crying out in their guttural language. The monster howled, opening its jaws to swallow Marco.

  "For Earth!" Addy cried. She ran, leaped onto the creature, and grabbed the spikes on its body. She pulled herself onto its back, raced onto its head, and drove down her sword.

  The Tarasque bellowed.

  Marco ran, fleeing the jaws.

  Addy slammed her sword down again, and the blade finally cracked the skin, sinking a few centimeters into the flesh.

  The creature roared. It shook madly like a wet dog, scattering severed heads. Addy flew off its back and hit the ground.

  "Addy!" Marco rushed to help her up. "Addy, together! We flank it and try to hit the eyes."

  She nodded. "Let's kill that son of a—"

  The monster's tail swung and slammed into them.

  Marco and Addy flew.

  Addy slammed into the arena wall. Marco landed on the first row of seats, right among the audience. For a terrifying moment the grays were clawing him, biting him, laughing, drooling, before they finally shoved him down onto the sand. He lay in a daze, bleeding, breathing raggedly.

  It was all too horrible. A living nightmare. This place so far from home. These creatures around him. Tomiko—led off to torture. How could this be real? How could such terror exist?

  The Tarasque's claws slammed down.

  Marco rolled aside, and the claws hit the dirt.

  He swung his hammer, hitting the leg. He might as well have axed solid iron.

  He struggled to his feet. Addy was circling the monster, sword raised.

  "Marco, charge!" she shouted.

  They ran toward the beast, weapons raised.

  Marco took a gamble. He spun like an Olympic discus thrower and tossed his hammer.

  It flew into the air toward the Tarasque's eye.

  And he missed.

  The Tarasque caught the hammer in its mouth, then spat it out, hurling the weapon into the crowd. The hammer caved in a gray's head. The rest of the audience howled with laughter.

  Addy screamed and charged. She tried to climb onto the monster again, to reach an eye. The creature shook her off, snapped its jaws, and tore the sword from her hand. As Addy screamed, the beast spat her blade aside, then knocked Addy down.

  Marco ran toward her. The beast snarled, spewing smoke. Marco and Addy retreated until they hit the wall. Weaponless, they reached out and held hands.

  The Tarasque stepped closer. Its claws dug deep grooves in the earth.
It roared, spraying saliva, blowing back Marco and Addy's hair. They stood against the wall, ready to die.

  But then Marco noticed something for the first time.

  The Tarasque was scarred.

  There were manacles around its ankles, the metal rings nailed into the flesh. There were the stripes of electric whips on its back. A shock collar dug into its neck. Perhaps this creature was not inherently cruel. Perhaps others had been cruel to it.

  "Addy," Marco whispered. "Loving-kindness meditation. Now."

  The monster scratched the earth and opened its jaws wide, ready to feed.

  "What the fuck are you talking about, Poet?" Addy whispered, eyes feverish.

  "Loving-kindness!" he said. "Like the guru taught us. It's the only meditation we kept failing. Do it! Now!"

  The grays chanted all around them, pounding their chests. Marco couldn't understand their language, but he could imagine what they were chanting. Feed! Feed! Feed!

  "The monster won't even understand us!" Addy said.

  "Most communication is nonverbal. Tone. Body language. Now!" He turned toward the roaring monster and raised his open palms. He spoke to the Tarasque, his voice shaky, trying to sound calm and soothing. "May you be safe and free of suffering. May you know peace. May you have ease of being."

  Addy stared at Marco as if he were insane. And yet the monster narrowed its eyes, closed its mouth, and sniffed.

  "Do it with me, Ads," Marco whispered.

  She sighed. She nodded. They faced the monster. They spoke together, palms open in a gesture of peace, voices soothing.

  "May you be safe and free of suffering. May you know peace. May you have ease of being."

  The Tarasque stared, confused, then roared, exposing a quivering red gullet. Saliva sprayed. The stench nearly made Marco fall. He and Addy kept talking, keeping calm.

  "May you be safe and free of suffering."

  Marco hesitated, then placed his hand on the monster.

  "May you know peace."

  Addy added her hand, stroking the beast.