“You want me to do what, now?” Lance asked incredulously.
Bethany Anne smiled. “Come on, Dad. You know I hate repeating myself.”
Lance’s face was set in concerned lines. “I heard you, but I didn’t quite believe it. I thought you wanted to keep it a secret until there was no choice but to reveal we still have it.”
Bethany Anne lifted her hands, then folded them in her lap. “The time has come. Tell Dan to prepare the ArchAngel for a trip. There was a reason I had her upgraded within an inch of her life, and it wasn’t so she and Dan could play Texas Rangers out of sight for the next hundred years.”
Izanami appeared on the other side of the holoscreen. “My Queen, another anomaly. This one definitely came from the Etheric.”
“Something I should be concerned about?” Lance inquired.
Bethany Anne frowned. “I’m not sure. The Etheric has been behaving like Bobcat after a hard day’s drinking; it keeps hiccupping.”
“Are you sure now is a good time to leave the Interdiction?” Lance pressed. “I can get you some time if you need it.”
She waved a hand at her father’s concerned look. “Izanami will monitor the situation. My concern is about the meeting at Red Rock. Those who think I’m just a figurehead who can be manipulated for political gain need to be taught the error of their ways. I’m not being left with much choice, and you know damn well that I’m not going to just accept it with a smile. The Seven want to push me? I’ll grind them to dust under my heels. If the Federation council decides not to play nice? Well, you get my point. I will not stand by while everything I have bled to build is torn asunder. Make it happen, Dad. Or they’re going to have a nasty shock when I turn up with my war face on.”
The Etheric
Gödel pulled back into the Etheric a bare second before the AI detected her presence. That had been too close for comfort. The last thing she wanted was to give the humans any inkling she was there, but the check had been necessary to ensure the fleet was on course.
Soon, she would reveal herself in a blaze of fiery glory that wiped humanity from the part of space known as the Interdiction. Then the Federation would crumble in her fist.
A traitor thought lodged itself in her mind. She had not bested Death since that first encounter. Dismissing the seed of doubt that had taken root, she made the necessary adjustments to the fleet’s heading and left the bridge for the transfer bay with her Chosen in tow.
Her adepts were waiting. Her Chosen took guard positions around the exits. Powerful, and loyal to the point of death, she would not waste them on her endeavor.
The adepts, however, were a different matter. They still had much to prove. The seven would-be Chosen dropped to the floor and prostrated themselves in front of her.
Gödel recognized the female who had taken over from the abomination who had chosen pleasure over devotion to her and their cause. “Rise,” she ordered, lifting her hands to emphasize her command. “Rejoice in this day, when we will finally be free of Death, and the freedom to remake the universe will be ours.”
The adepts’ lips moved in silent supplication as Gödel mounted the platform in the center of the transfer bay.
“Prepare yourselves,” she told them. “We are on final approach. Open yourselves to me.”
The adepts formed a circle around the platform and raised their arms, lost in their devotion to Gödel and the Ascension path.
Gödel checked that the fleet was in position, knowing that just one ship out of place would ruin the assault. Satisfied that none were going to get caught in the planet’s defenses, she reached for the adepts’ minds and wrapped them around her consciousness.
It was a simple thing to protect herself with their willing psyches. She didn’t expect any of them to survive the formation of the rift. Their purpose was to shield her from the mental kickback the Etheric would deal out when she punched a hole in it.
While Death was occupied with preventing her planet from being ripped apart at the core, Gödel could retrieve her library, and deal a severe blow to the humans’ numbers.
She saw a question on the female adept’s face. “What is it?”
The adept bowed low. “Your Holiness. What if we took some of the humans and used their genetic material to make more soldiers? Surely they would be the deadliest batch yet.”
Gödel did not punish the adept. She had thought along similar lines before entering the psyche of Death. “Because,” she explained patiently, “my creations can never be given the ability to think for themselves. Humans are willful, stubborn, and genetically programmed to fight against being controlled. Any trace of human DNA increases the risk of the soldiers developing minds of their own.”
The adept lowered her head in respect. “Your wisdom benefits us all, my goddess.”
Gödel hesitated to waste this adept’s bright mind on the rift, but only for a second. Thinkers were likely to be competitors farther down the line. She silenced the adepts’ prayers by raising her hands once more.
“We begin.”
13
Devon, The Hexagon, Eve’s Lab
Bethany Anne watched from one of the holoscreens floating around the lab as William loaded the locked crystal into the latest version of his reader.
William nodded as the tray closed. “This is going to be the one. I know it.”
Michael cursed when the reader emitted a puff of smoke, making it the third failed attempt since he’d gotten there. “Just how far out can the firewall go?” he asked William.
“That’s not how it works,” William told him regretfully. “The crystals have some serious protection. All we can do is keep attacking the problem from different angles until we find a weak point in the crystal’s defenses, then we create a ‘door’ TOM can get into and feed the information into the sandbox right…here.” He flicked a finger at the holodisplay to show Michael the empty window representing the isolated space he had created to examine the crystal’s contents once they’d hacked into it. “We could have ADAM and Tabitha working on it, and—”
“Tabitha!” Bethany Anne interrupted. “She can force the crystal to open.”
TOM interrupted, the concern in his voice magnified by the speaker system. “There’s a huge disturbance in the Etheric. Inside the Hexagon!”
Michael felt it at the same time, as did Bethany Anne.
Michael immediately thought of the children. “The vault.”
Bethany Anne vanished from the screen and appeared by Michael’s side. “Let’s go.” She took him by the wrist and they both vanished, leaving William staring at the empty space Michael had occupied the second before.
“What the hell?”
William headed for the door. “Think they’re gonna attack us in our own home?” he muttered to nobody but himself. He grabbed his jacket and turned into the corridor, heading for the armory Eve kept near the elevator. “We’ll damn well see about that.”
He ignored the racks of rifles, blades, and other general weaponry and went straight for the obsidian box mounted on the wall. He pressed his hand to the box and hissed when the box took its skin sample to identify that the person opening it had the authority to do so. “Damn, Jean,” he muttered. “That hurts like a sonofabitch.”
He shook the hand to ease the sting as the box opened and ejected the twin Jean Dukes Specials inside. “Whoever is messing in with us is gonna get a sting of their own right in their furry asses. All I’ve got to do is work out where the fuckers have gotten in.”
I don’t know if rushing to fight is wise, TOM told him, using William’s neural chip to connect to the lone engineer.
“Yeah, well, any threat to Alexis and Gabriel is a personal slight as far as I’m concerned.” William held the pistols like he knew them intimately. “You could help me here. Where was the disturbance located?”
TOM paused before replying. If you’re set on getting involved, who am I to tell you differently? Head for the elevators. John is there with Tabitha and Eve’s
staff.
“Thatta-alien.” William exited the armory and headed for the source of the Etheric disturbance under TOM’s guidance.
He ran into John and Tabitha just outside the Collectives’ habitat.
John took in William’s tight grimace and the pistols he was carrying and held up a hand to stall his progress. “You can’t be here, William. You’ll get your ass killed, or worse.”
William had no intention of getting killed. “I know what I’m doing. Who are we fighting? Ookens?”
“Yeah,” Tabitha told him with venom dripping from her voice. “But there are too many unenhanced technicians down here. Someone needs to protect them while we wipe the Ookens out.” She ran for the disturbance, leaving William and John in the corridor.
That gave William pause. “Shit. I didn’t think.” He turned to look at the group of frightened lab workers being herded toward the emergency exit by Eve and Tina. “I’d better help them.”
John clapped him on the back before setting off after Tabitha. “Good call. Wait until I send the all-clear, then make sure everyone gets to the surface without being torn to pieces.”
Down on the vault level, Bethany Anne and Michael arrived to find everything was as it should be.
Bethany Anne opened a link to Eve as they got back into the elevator. “Extend the nanocurtain to cover the entire level. Make sure nothing and nobody gets down here.”
“I can’t see that being a problem,” Eve replied. “One moment.”
The skin on their arms broke out in goosebumps as the energy level in the corridor shifted and expanded. “We good?” Bethany Anne asked.
Eve’s reply was terse. “You will be as soon as you get off that level so I can extend the curtain to cover the elevator as well. Just make sure nobody goes down there until I reset it. I’ve removed the instructions to allow human DNA past in case the Ookens try pulling the same trick you did in the factory.”
Bethany Anne raised an eyebrow. “Good thinking. We don’t know how they’re programmed, so they could be capable of sneaky shit we don’t know about.”
They went back up to the lab level, where Eve was waiting for them with Tina, William, and Eve’s staff.
The technicians all relaxed when Bethany Anne’s footsteps caused them to note just who was among them.
“Don’t be complacent,” Bethany Anne warned them. “We’re under attack, and the Ookens don’t care that you’re non-combatants.”
“I’ve got them,” William assured Bethany Anne. “Go.” He shooed her away. “Take care of the invaders.”
Bethany Anne opened her mouth to reply when another massive energy surge hit her. She knew that signature all too well. “Fuckdammit! I have to go.”
Michael felt the rift opening some way from the planet. “Go. I’ll take care of things here.”
Bethany Anne nodded. “Be safe.” She kissed him and was gone.
“Is Bethany Anne going to be okay?” William asked Michael. “She didn’t have the easiest time with the rift over Qu’Baka, by all accounts.”
Michael turned to leave. “We’d better hope she is. I can’t see how we can evacuate this planet like we did Qu’Baka. There’s no way we can move three million people to safety in time if the rift destabilizes Devon’s core.”
“There’s a big difference in planetary structure,” William mollified. “Qu’Baka was relatively young and geologically active, whereas Devon is old enough to have mostly settled. The chance of the planet being torn apart is lower.” He looked around when he heard a deep thrum.
“I hope.”
Tabitha and John ran into Sabine, Demon, and her mate—and the Ookens spilling out of the Etheric.
Demon and her mate went straight onto the attack as the first to enter the Hexagon turned on the cats with its tentacles splayed.
“Demon, no!” Sabine screamed. Her Jean Dukes Specials were in her hands without her consciously drawing them. She shot the tentacle whipping toward Demon’s body as she vaulted the male to stand between the cats and their attackers. “Get to your room,” she ordered the cats. “No fighting when you’ve got babies to protect.”
John didn’t hesitate. He hadn’t trained with his new ability yet, but he gave less than a fuck about his own safety when the cats and the women were in danger. “How does BA do this?” he muttered darkly as he tore tentacles from the Ookens’ bodies.
“Do what?” Tabitha called, engaged in pushing the Ookens back the way they’d come.
“Get into the hive mind,” John clarified as he shot an Ooken point-blank. “I can shut them off if I can figure this shit out.”
The Ooken got up, the hole in its face healing in a few heartbeats. It screeched, drawing the other Ookens to its location.
Tabitha snarled. “I dunno. Just reach out and shut them down before they get past us.”
Twin bolts of lightning announced the arrival of Michael and Darryl, followed by Scott’s burst of flames.
The lab was filled with the stench of burnt rubbery flesh and hair as Scott laid down sheets of flames in all directions. “How the fuck are they getting in?” he yelled over the furious screeching of the burned Ookens.
Tabitha pointed at the Ookens’ ingress. “The Etheric is open there.”
Michael sprinted toward the opening, using the Ooken as stepping stones to his goal. He dived through it, Mysting as he did so.
“Well, that’s just great!” Tabitha bitched. “Darryl, more lightning.”
Darryl complied, switching the polarity of his shots to keep the Ooken from resisting the electricity he sent coursing through their bodies.
Tabitha looked at the army of Ookens coming through the Etheric, shrugged at the guys, and dived through after Michael.
Carnage ensued as the Ookens kept coming despite their losses.
Scott narrowly avoided hitting Sabine and the cats as he shot a gout of white-hot fire at the Ookens blocking their escape from the lab. “Sorry!”
“Watch it!” Sabine hissed, patting her singed hair. She twisted just in time to pump six rapid shots into the Ooken falling from the ceiling toward them.
It fell to the floor, twitching as its healing process kicked in.
Scott blasted it with flames and it turned to ashes, putting an end to its recovery. “Just get out of here!” he shouted to her, turning as he did to point at other enemies. “Get the cats to safety.”
John fought the masses of tentacles attacking him, slipping the teeth easily since they couldn’t gain purchase on his toughened skin. Still, he felt the pain of being beaten and constricted, and he couldn’t work out how to get into the hive mind to shut them down.
He tore the Ooken from his body and slammed it into the floor. The permacrete cracked under the impact, as did the Ooken’s skull. John got to his feet and wiped the brain matter off his hands with a grimace. “Where’s Michael gotten to?” he wondered aloud.
The door to the Etheric was still open, but the flow of Ookens had dropped off considerably. John took another Ooken out, his mind working furiously to recapture the sensation of connectedness he’d felt after getting out of the Vid-doc. “Damn bastards. Why can’t you all just DIE?” he screamed in frustration.
The Ookens around him dropped to the floor, lifeless.
“What the fuck?” John did a double-take, glancing around in surprise. “All I had to do was want it?”
Darryl paused in his attack on the Ookens still coming through. “Sweet! Get that working over here. I could use some space.”
John couldn’t figure out how he’d done it, but he wasn’t going to pass up the chance to end this. He gathered his will and sucked in a breath to yell. “All you tentacled motherfuckers need to die!”
Wherever he walked, the Ookens dropped. Darryl and Scott made sure they weren’t going to come back to life with generous applications of fire and lightning.
Scott waved at the opening. The Ookens were still coming through, although sporadically now. “You reckon we go in?”
John was saved from the decision by the return of Michael and Tabitha.
They stumbled out, and Michael closed the lab off with a wave of his hand. He paused, breathing heavily. “There’s more than just Ookens behind there,” he told the others. “Ships. Impossible ships. This isn’t just an attack.”
“It’s a full-on invasion,” Tabitha finished.
The Etheric
Bethany Anne fought to gain control of the rift before it opened wide enough to cause gravitational fluctuations and destroy Devon.
The rift sat fully a hundred thousand kilometers from the third ring of defenses around the planet, but she knew that none of her defenses could change the physics of the universe.
Bethany Anne, this rift is no accident. The Hexagon is under attack by the Ookens.
I know, she told him. Michael has it under control.
Um, what about the ships?
Bethany Anne ground her teeth as the strain of spooling the rift energy through her body took its toll. What fucking ships?
Look outside of the rift, TOM told her. They’re coming out of the Etheric.
Bethany Anne saw the ships and almost lost her grip on the rift’s energy. Not possible. You must be mistaken. There’s no way to get that much metal into the Etheric, and even if there was, no one could move it.
Impossible or not, it’s happening, TOM insisted.
Let the BYPS take care of them, she decided. Does Tim know what’s going on?
It was a moment before TOM replied, CEREBRO has already activated the outer ring of defenses. The Guardian is on red alert.
Bethany Anne felt relief that her preparations had paid off. She gathered her will and drew in the surrounding energy. Then I need to concentrate on this.
The Etheric
Gödel smiled as she opened more doors onto Devon and sent her creations through to wreak havoc.
Death’s minions could not be everywhere at once, and her plan to spread them out was working perfectly. The screams filtering through from the planet’s surface were music to her ears. She knew the attack on the planet’s outer defenses was going to end in a draw at best. The important thing was that Death was caught up in closing the rift, taking her out of the picture.
The Valkyrie Returns (The Kurtherian Endgame Book 7) Page 13