by C. C. Ekeke
Tyris, V’Korram, Khal, and Liliana all moved toward their field commander, needing no explanation.
“Nwosu?” Fiyan demanded over the comms. “Is this Ghuj’aega?”
The Ttaunz were less polite. “What have you done to our ships, human? Release—”
Habraum switched off the comms to address Marguliese directly, “How long can you hold them?”
Marguliese’s glare was glued to the interceptors. Every so often, a faint grimace rippled across her golden face. “Three ships are more challenging with no direct contact to any,” she admitted. “By accessing one ship to override its network to the others, I paralyze all three for sufficient intervals.”
Habraum stared. “Meaning ‘long enough.’ Let’s finish this.” He turned to the approaching Brigadiers. “Crescendo?” Cortes advanced on Ghuj’aega’s left, still wobbly. Regardless, she pointed her clasped fingers like a gun. Habraum, standing on the Ghebrekh’s opposing side, aimed his fist again—just as the terrorist slid off Marguliese’s blade and slumped to the ground.
Habraum froze, hazel-gold eyes wide. Ghuj’aega flipped onto his back abruptly and quickly.
“DOWN!” Habraum barked, ducking. The other Brigadiers did as told.
Marguliese, however, stood too close as the Ghebrekh slammed his hands together. She moved quick, bridging backwards at the last instant.
Jagged black lightning zigzagged through the air right over the Cybernarr’s belly—impaling the nearest interceptor ship.
Habraum recoiled. “Fekt.”
Marguliese reared up with a sharp roundhouse kick to Ghuj’aega’s jaw. The terrorist flopped onto his side where Liliana crouched and drilled Ghuj’aega’s chest with her signature ring-like soundwaves. The Ghebrekh twisted on the ground with a horrible screech.
Girl’s got great aim, Habraum mused. Something behind him sent a shiver of goosebumps across his skin. A new energy signature? Habraum bucked his teeth and wheeled about, only seeing the interceptor struck by Ghuj’aega vibrating back and forth. Soon, large dents appeared all over the ship’s surface, followed by the wings and nose crumpling in on themselves like tin foil with loud crunches.
In moments, the ship had entirely collapsed into a crumpled ball and disappeared—just like Khrome. Only this time, the implosion left a cavernous churning hole.
“Reign,” Marguliese said, her eyes now fixed on the jet-black nothingness of the hole’s center, “Ghuj’aega just generated a micro-black hole that is increasing in potency.”
The Cerc gaped at the singularity then back to her. “Great.”
Habraum felt a tug on his armor…followed by a sharper pull…then a vicious yank that sent him stumbling toward the black hole. The yanking didn’t stop.
“MOVE!” Habraum darted away from the singularity’s gravity well. Marguliese, Tyris, and V’Korram needed little motivation to run. Liliana had to cut off her sonic attack on Ghuj’aega, now clinging onto moored rocks for dear life. Behind the micro singularity, the skies throbbed blood red. The Cerc stole a glance at the Ttaunz ships, his heart skipping a beat. “Maggie—”
“I released them already!” the Cybernarr replied before he could finish.
No sooner had Marguliese uttered this fact, the remaining two interceptor ships pulled up to a safer distance away from the singularity’s locus. Habraum reopened the comm channel, only to hear the Ttaunz screaming bloody murder. “Fiyan, Vaas, find cover and hang on!” he ordered over them.
“Copy that!” replied Specialist Vaas. “What is happening?!”
“Well,” Habraum replied after running behind larger boulders jutting out of the earth. “Seems like Ghuj’aega created a mini-black hole of sorts.” In short order, anything not moored down—rock debris, water, corpses of Ghebrekh—got hungrily sucked into the singularity without prejudice.
Khal stood too close for Habraum’s liking, but either by sheer will or his telekinesis had remained anchored to the earth. The same could not be said for Zojje, Taorr, or Mhir’ujiid, all being dragged out even further by the singularity’s consuming pull.
Seeing this, Khal reached both hands for them and telekinetically pulled the trio back. All three got jerked through the air, only to tumble safely behind another lump of moored rock debris. However, instead of moving for safety, Khal stayed back between his team and the vortex to serve as a telekinetic buffer.
Faroor’s sky throbbed, a deep bloody spiral of light and cloud, cancelling out Qos’s glow altogether. But Habraum knew without fail that the moon…or the Zenith Point…was connected to the events of today and Ghuj’aega’s powers. Gushes of hot geyser water streamed sideways into the vortex ceaselessly, spattering the Cerc in the face.
As chaotic as everything had become, Habraum kept Ghuj’aega in his sights. Crawling near the rim wall, the Ghebrekh struggled to his feet. He faded out of sight and then reappeared instantly afterward. This occurred four times in a row before the Ghebrekh sank to his knees, drained.
Ghuj’aega couldn’t transmat away, Habraum realized. That meant his chest wound and Liliana’s attack had taken their toll. Habraum had to take advantage. Safely behind a chunk of rock, he took aim again, his fist glowing bright red. The Cerc had a clean shot—
But Liliana’s sudden shriek stole his attention. Habraum turned, and his jaw dropped.
The doctor had been pulled even further out than Zojje, Taorr, or Mhir’ujiid, far too close to the vortex. She clung to the cracked earth for dear life, her long legs dangling up in the air.
Habraum could tell she wouldn’t last long. “Crescendo, hang on—”
“Reign!” Khal yelled over the comms. “The singularity’s too strong! Can’t hold on to her!”
Habraum turned back to Ghuj’aega, unaffected by the vortex. One clean kill shot should end this...
Too late. The Cerc caught a jerking movement at the corner of his eye. Liliana’s tenuous hold slipped. The doctor shrieked. Her flailing body was yanked off the ground, slurped up into the singularity’s glittering eye.
V’Korram roared out her codename.
The Cerc never heard the Kintarian, not over his own anguish. “Liliana, NO!” Uyull, then Khrome...now Cortes. The realization ripped Habraum’s heart apart, old wounds from almost two years ago supposedly healed forcibly reopened. This was the Beridas mission all over again...
Not Cortes. She was good and innocent. Before even realizing it, Habraum was on his feet and racing.
“Reign? What are you doing?!” he heard Tyris cry. “REIGN!”
Liliana didn’t deserve this fate. Have to save her.
“Nwosu, get back here!” Fiyan’s words blared over the comms.
Habraum ran as fast as his legs and the terrain allowed.
“Captain!” V’Korram roared. The Cerc quickened his pace, ignoring everything around him. The singularity’s unrelenting pull intensified.
He was almost gliding across the cracked ground as he heard Marguliese. “Habraum!” Confusion colored her detached tone. “Vertex, seize him!”
“What the— Trying!” was Khal’s answer.
A gaping hole of nothingness swirled before him. Habraum didn’t care. Can’t lose Cortes. He dove into the singularity’s heart. Its gravity vacuum did the rest, pulling every atom in the Cerc inside out.
A ghastly scream filled Habraum’s ears, which he first thought was Liliana from within the singularity. A moment passed before he grasped that it was his own. And instantly, the Cerc regretted his recklessness. Had he considered Jeremy? CT-1? The mission? Samantha? …before jumping into a micro-black hole half-crazed?
The unbearable pull from every angle felt like the vortex grew worse than earlier. This time, however, his screams were muted. The sole noise: the wail of the all-consuming singularity vacuum.
Habraum twisted and tumbled through a roiling threshold, seeing light, then dark, then light again.
Then Captain Habraum Nwosu saw and heard no more.
Chapter 64
“Ho-lee SHIT!!
” pretty much summarized Khal’s reaction after witnessing a micro black hole consume two more teammates. Moments before, his attention had been elsewhere.
Khal’s head was pounding, his telekinesis just to stay anchored taking its toll. But he had enough reserves to execute Sam’s orders. “Your main duty is protecting your CT,” she had said seemingly ages ago. “If you see the opportunity to do that, take it.” He saw Marguliese, statuesque and regally poised among the chaos engulfing them. No advanced telekinesis techniques were needed, or any of Sam’s elaborate snares.
One good TK shove would be enough.
No one would know. Khal lifted a hand to do his duty.
Then the vortex yanked poor Liliana off the ground, sucking her inside.
Khal’s jaw dropped. “No!” First Khrome, now Lily?! I should have caught her.
“Vertex, seize him!” Khal heard his codename and turned his head, seeing Nwosu dash for the singularity. “What the— Trying!” He did try, pulling for Nwosu with all the strength he had left. But between Nwosu’s distance and trying to not get sucked in the vortex, Khal could not grab hold of his distraught field commander. Then the Cerc leaped in after Cortes. His scream was stomach churning, worse than Khrome’s. Now Ghuj’aega had taken three of Khal’s teammates. He was left processing the guilt of not being able to save them…and the horror of possibly being next.
Khal could not handle those emotions now—not when it felt like every cell in his body was getting tugged and pulled toward the churning singularity behind him. Then there were the jagged debris chunks Khal had to keep deflecting. If he missed one piece of debris—he would be finished.
His knees trembling from growing exhaustion, Khal dared a look at Tyris and V’Korram clinging to rock nubs for dear life. Zojje, Taorr, and Mhir’ujiid were cowering behind some larger debris.
No sign of Fiyan or Vaas—which he hoped was a good sign. For now, they were safe.
“Habraum!” A digital tone, ragged with concern, caused Khal to look left. The Cybernarr strode toward the singularity, her long hair whipping about in wild, wraith-like red waves.
Khal instinctively reached for her. With some effort, she came sliding telekinetically toward him. When he caught the Cybernarr around her waist, Marguliese stiffened. The cold hatred in her blue eyes and that stupidly beautiful face sent fear shuddering through Khal’s spine. Did she know? he fretted.
“Let go of me. Now.” Even over the roar of the vortex, her threat was flat and petrifying.
“Or WHAT?!” Khal shot back, despite his bowels liquefying. Honestly, she looked and sounded terrifyingly inhuman. Letting Marguliese go and letting the vortex do the rest would be so easy. Maybe even the right thing to do. But after losing half his CT-1, the thought sickened Khal. “No more teammates are dying!”
“Reign and Crescendo could still be alive!” she pleaded. Marguliese never pleaded. “I can decipher the energy pattern of—”
“They’re gone!” Khal tightened his telekinetic hold on her. As if a switch flicked, Marguliese’s face emptied and she offered no other protests. For all her cold-blooded stoicism, Nwosu clearly meant more to Marguliese than she was telling. Thank God! Khal did not have the energy to fight her if she ran.
This whole time, Ghuj’aega had been kneeling, eyes closed, hands clasped—as if in prayer. The singularity’s increasing suction had no effect on him, and Khal knew he was not imagining that the once gaping wound where Marguliese had impaled him was actually shrinking.
“That piece of tattshi’s healing!” Khal lifted his arm to strike the terrorist telekinetically. A dizzying fatigue hit Khal almost instantly, and his moored feet began sliding back toward the vortex. Any other focus besides keeping Marguliese and himself anchored was too taxing.
Ghuj’aega met his gaze with a cruel smile, knowing Khal was in no position to attack. Khal’s heart skipped, knowing he was right.
Chapter 65
>>Estimated Time of Arrival: ten macroms after initial disappearance.
Khrome finally reached Akkabe Plateau after shaking off the TDF tail, blasting across fissured plains dotted by numerous cone geysers. The fog was denser than before, but the sky regained its cherry glow.
>>Energy Analysis: Exotic signature of target increased by 7.5 times original expenditure.
Ghuj’aega lay straight ahead in the basin surrounded by cone geysers, disbursing ridiculous amounts of energy. Khrome heard a baying cacophony, no single sound distinguishable from the next.
The Thulican’s advanced vision allowed him to keep one eye on real-time view while a smaller window appeared in his line of sight zooming in on the plateau far ahead.
>>Target Analysis: Subject Ghuj’aega located.
He was kneeling, hands clasped together as if in prayer. On the opposing side—Khrome could not believe his eyes. “By the Spheres!”
>>Warning: Micro-singularity. Energy outflow incalculable.
>>Warning: Spatial Disruption In Progress.
A pitch-black singularity was in constant spiral, sucking up everything not rooted down. Ghuj’aega’s doing, of course, Khrome decided, explaining why the Ghebrekh did not seem affected by its gravity well.
If skyquakes occurred whenever Ghuj’aega transmatted, the Thulican got a hollow pit inside discerning the impact this was causing.
Khrome spied two ships hovering far above the singularity—TDF air-raid interceptors.
“They’re not here for me,” he realized, watching the front ends of both ships light up and spit out white-hot salvos of photon blasts on Ghuj’aega.
Each blast tore up jets of muddy earth around the Ghebrekh. Yet Ghuj’aega was phasing through. Just like in Inorskii Fields. “Those idiots were told to stay away!” Khrome hissed. Where was Star Brigade?
Something caught Khrome’s attention in his zoomed-in view, a being on the far end of the rim wall losing its balance…and paid the price. In a flash, the being was yanked into the singularity.
>>Analysis: Designate Vaas Byzlar.
Khrome, still too far out, gaped in horrified recognition. Poor kid! Racing through jets of water and debris, he spied Taorr, Zojje, and Mhir’ujiid—safe behind several large rocks.
>>Warning: Collision imminent!
Khrome jerked up, just avoiding a crash with more tightly packed cone geysers, and hurtled forward.
That was when he found CT-1. Khal remained upright by means of telekinesis, holding Marguliese as if it were his job. That must make his day, the Thulican seethed.
To the left V’Korram howled, digging his claws into solid rock to pull himself away from the singularity bit by bit.
>>Analysis: No sign of designates Reign or Crescendo.
They couldn’t have been pulled into the vortex. The Thulican closed in on the basin, ETA less than two macroms. Then he spotted Tyris, his once chiseled, lanky frame looking so melted from the heat. Even with two hands clinging to the ground, the Thulican could tell his friend was on fumes.
Khrome pushed himself faster. Not Tyris, on Faroor of all worlds.
>>Warning: Mach 13.05 speed at Limit before systems failure.
A horrifying reality hit the Thulican then, not reaching his team in time.
V’Korram went limp, allowing the mini-black hole to drag him closer. “NO!” Khrome screamed.
At the last instant, V’Korram reached out and clawed into cracked earth, catching Tyris by the waist with his other arm—barely. That bought Khrome time to zip over a tight cluster of cone geysers, dodging their hot spurts, to reach them.
V’Korram and Tyris were too close, scarcely hanging on. The Kintarian tried pulling forward with one arm, but couldn’t overcome the singularity’s vacuum. His claws slipped further…
The Thulican zoomed over the rim wall with a wide berth between himself and the singularity, just as V’Korram’s strength failed him. For a heartbeat, Khrome’s world froze.
>>Current Velocity: Mach 13.10 and climbing…
>>Warning: Current speed unsupported
for normal functions.
V’Korram flailed; Tyris was limp as a rag doll. The Brigadiers were sucked toward the singularity’s gaping maw…
…as Khrome swooped in low and blasted up with cargo.
>>Current Velocity: Mach 1.3 and decelerating…
“Need to work on that grip of yours, Jakadda!” Khrome quipped, but felt sick with relief. The short-lived pull of the singularity had actually kept Khrome from ramming his teammates.
V’Korram gawked at the Thulican. “Khrome?” he snarled in disbelief.
“You’re…alive!” Tyris whispered in identical surprise.
“Of course I am, icicle.” Khrome eyed his best friend in confusion. “All this geyser heat’s affected your brain.” Keep it light, offhand, he told himself.
“Get ready to tuck and roll. I’m bashing that two-bit fanatic into next year!”
Khrome dove low, dropping off V’Korram and Tyris behind jutting spiked rocks without pause, barreling straight for Ghuj’aega.
>>Current Velocity: Mach 3.7 and climbing…
Ghuj’aega spread his hands and slammed them back together.
Khrome felt the air crackle; an energy spike registered in a pop-up window on the bottom of his vision.
>>Warning: Exotic-energy release imminent!
“Uh-oh!” He glanced upward… Black lightning, forking down.
Chapter 66
“Can’t…hold on…much…longer,” Khal gasped. He was beyond spent, and slipping closer to the singularity despite his efforts to stay telekinetically anchored. And the singularity’s pull had no mercy or fatigue.
Marguliese clung to Khal, facing the other direction. The Ttaunz interceptors floating above peppered Ghuj’aega with brilliant photonic bursts, all which passed through him. Not an encouraging sight. The Ghebrekh banged his hands together again, and Khal heard a fresh crackle of lightning behind him.
“Those ships… Can’t you control…them again…to move?” Khal whispered. Even as torrents of water pounded them, her body had no warmth.