"Do you want to tell him yourself, Vance?" Ben asked. "Or do I have to do even this for you?"
"I'll do it. In private. We need to get moving now, though. We're still out in the open. I will talk to you later, Ben. Keep in touch."
"Do the right thing, Vance. I love you."
"I love you too. Bye." Vance slipped the communicator back into his pocket then took off running across the shadow-veiled field towards the palace. "Come on, Rav."
Grumbling under his breath at his question not being answered, Rav held the carrier tightly to his back as he rushed from fence to fence, avoiding the patrols of warbringers. They slid past a few carts that were stacked high with goods and spices to start down a dark side alley that ran around the outskirts of the royal palace.
"This way." Vance pushed through a row of manicured hedges then stopped to slide an outside wall open. "Ta-da! I had this installed secretly for me."
"Really?"
"Well, yeah. I knew I'd be coming back, so I figured why not make it easier on myself? Slide on in and we'll get moving down the back hallways. There is an access point terminal in one of the rooms of the royal bedchamber where we can swap the detonation signal over to your communicator like Ben told us. Then we'll be good to go with those bombs like you wanted. Though, I think we should make a quick stop in the throne room. We can take out Trilx personally to make sure he truly is gone and doesn't get the chance to escape."
As soon as his sneakers hit the polished marble floors of the candle-lit hallway, Rav spun around, grabbed onto the collar of Vance's leather coat, then slammed him against the filigree-covered wall. "Midnight. What happens at midnight? Tell me!"
Vance squirmed under Rav's grasp. "Ouch. You don't have to be so rough, mate. Nemo already told you back on the Galaxy Glider. You're the one who chose not to listen to him. Rav, I die at midnight."
"What? That's crazy. You're . . . you're not serious. You can't be serious."
"Believe me if you want. Or don't. I don't care. I made a deal with the Hive Queen. I secured an alliance with Olonictu in exchange for sacrificing my life to protect you. I don't know what's going to happen in here, but apparently you will be in danger and I will step in to save you. At that point, I will die."
Rav's heart sank. "No. I won't let that happen. We're Rav and Vance. We're inseparable. We don't die here. We have lives to live after this. You have Ben to get home to. You have fifteen children who need to meet you. You don't get to die today. Do you hear me? You're not dying."
"Rav, the Hive Queen-"
"I don't give a damn about the Hive Queen. There's no way to know what's going to happen. She can't know. She's lying to you."
Vance shook his head as he pulled away from him. "You sound like you're trying to convince yourself about this, not me. Denial is the first step in the grieving process, mate. It's okay. I've accepted my fate. Let me do this for you."
"No. It's not grieving because I haven't lost anything yet. I haven't lost you and I won't lose you. Period. Nemo needs both of his fathers. I started the process of giving you partial parental rights back."
Vance's jaw tensed. His lips quivered as he whispered. "Rav, you didn't have to. I . . ."
"Don't cry on me now. You're getting out of this alive. We both are. Then you are going to be in Nemo's life like you should have been since the beginning. You need that and he needs that. So, stop with the talk of dying, because no one's dying. You'll be there to watch Nemo grow up. You'll watch him graduate from school, get his first job, get married. You'll be there with me. We'll help him grow up to be a good man, even if we have to erase his memories. We'll be there. Both of us. I don't care if I have to personally steal a ship and fly out to hunt down this Hive Queen and kill her with my bare hands. I will not let her take you away from me and Nemo."
"Rav-"
Rav took Vance's face in his hands and looked into his mismatched eyes. "I'm not losing you. We've come so far, gone through so much together. I can't lose you now."
"We should go, mate. We need to get moving."
"Right. Let's go."
* * *
The alarms sounded and the red lights continued flashing, making Lucas's headache grow. Even through his pain and the fading nervousness, he grabbed onto the red round wheel that controlled the intake valves for the coolant of Reactor One. After a complete breakdown, he was focused once again on the mission at hand. After all, there was no way out now, so he might as well go down swinging. "Tell me when you're ready for this, Dallis."
"Listen up, you two. Derek and Lucas, you two have been incredible men. You're brave, you're heroic, you're selfless beyond belief. I am more than honored to be facing eternity at your sides. Biromians have an ancient saying that is loosely translated from early tribal Biromian. Dying together in life, living together in death. We will be together again. Don't you worry. We may not believe in the same gods or the same ideals of an afterlife, but Biromians have their own ideas of heaven. Tonight, we make our ancestors proud. Tonight, we end this war. On the count of three, Lucas. You will turn that wheel and we will crawl through the ventilation shafts to get up to Reactor Two. Are you ready?"
"Yes, sir."
"One . . . two . . . three! Now, Lucas."
With a surge of artificial strength from the powered exosuit, Lucas forced the wheel to turn to the left, the rusted metal creaking from centuries of not being used. A rush of pressure passed through the pipes below their feet and rumbled deep within the inner square containment vessel. Instantly, another alarm, more high-pitched and urgent, began screeching through the darkness. The crackling of Lucas's Geiger counter intensified and became more rapid. Valves along the sides of the concrete walls opened, spilling hundreds of gallons of nearly frozen water into the area.
Dallis yelped as he ran towards the other side of the room where Derek was removing the screws that were holding the grate over the ventilation shaft. "Come on, Derek. This water is filled with ice and I'm not half metal or in an exosuit. Hurry it up."
Lucas stepped away from the controls, his metal-clad boots sloshing in the rising water. "It's flooding."
"It's supposed to flood. It's to cool the reactors, but it won't work 'cause we've overloaded them too far. This just buys some time. Come on! We have to get moving to the next one."
With one glance at the plasma-filled cooling rods that began to glow bright red inside the reactor, Lucas gritted his teeth and followed his friends into the compact square darkness. It was a slippery climb at first, but he pushed through the burning in his legs, which had not been worked like that in months. Despite being paralyzed, he could still feel the soreness spreading into his hips from the movements of the exosuit that forced his muscles to contract.
"You okay back there, pet?"
"I'll be fine." Against his better judgment, Lucas glanced back behind him at the gurgling sound that echoed against the metal walls. Water bubbled up below his feet, filling the area. "The shaft is flooding behind us."
"The water is rising much faster than it was supposed to. Just keep moving forward." Dallis stopped and kicked out the next grate, leading into another room where red lights were flashing. "Here we are. Reactor Two. Get in, get out."
When Lucas dropped down into the containment room of Reactor Two, dirty brown water splashed up over the ankle joints of his exosuit. Steam rose from the lake that was steadily rising from the pipes on the walls and bubbling up around the vents on the floor from the lower level. The heat was already soaring, making Lucas sweat inside his exosuit, even with the coolant kicking on to help regulate his body temperature.
"All right, men. We need to move quickly here. Lucas, get on the controls. Derek, I need you to start prying the grate from the opening of the ventilation shaft. We don't have much time for this one. Get moving."
Like he had done just minutes before, Lucas grabbed onto the red wheel against the control panel. After typing in the override code on the ancient console, he spun the wheel to the side. A burst of w
hite steam sprayed out from the pipes, clouding the air. Lucas withdrew his hands and grabbed at the melted metal gauntlet of his exosuit. "Ah!"
"Lucas? What happened?"
He held his arm against his body where the bits of melted metal dripped into the water. Blackened skin and raw muscle showed through. "It burned me through my exosuit."
"Holy shit. That's hot. I'll help. Get back here."
As Lucas struggled to turn the red wheel control with Dallis's help, he noticed the sound of lapping water. He looked down to see it rising above his hips. "We're gonna drown. It's getting higher."
"Calm down. Focus on turning this." The Biromian shoved his weight against it, forcing it to break free from the rust that had taken over the connectors. "There. Run, Lucas!"
Lucas rushed through the water as quickly as he could. He leapt up to land on the ledge then held out his hand to pull Derek up with him. Once they were both inside, he continued the climb. His progress was halted when an explosion shook the area and flames leapt up through the bottom of the shaft. "Dallis? Derek, where's Dallis? He was still in there, wasn't he?"
The cyborg nodded his head.
"Dallis! Dallis, no!" Lucas slid back down the slick metal ventilation shaft and into the chest-high water around him. Pushing his way through the water, he made it back to the Biromian who was floating face-down on the surface. Blood spread out from him like an oil slick where a twisted bar of metal had been embedded in his neck. Lucas grabbed Dallis's back and tried to pull him along, to shake him awake, to bring him back into reality, but he remained motionless. "No! No, no, no, no, no. Dallis, no. You can't leave me. I can't do this without you. Dallis, wake up. Wake up."
He looked up with tears splattering on the inside of the visor of his helmet when a hand touched the shoulder of his exosuit. Derek was standing there, water up to his shoulders, but still as calm as ever. The cyborg patted his back through the metal. Blue lights moved down his face plates like simulated tears, but he nodded his head slowly as he guided Lucas away from the body and back towards the ventilation shaft.
Despite his grief, Lucas took a deep breath and followed the cyborg into the metal tunnel.
Chapter 13
Vance pulled the cable out of the terminal on the desk in the burgundy-decorated bedroom then handed the silver communicator back to Rav. "There. All done. Now, you should be able to detonate the bombs under this palace with just the press of a button. Don't do it right now, of course, but when we're all good and ready. Let's get to that throne room, shall we?"
"Look, Vance. It's after eleven and you're still alive. See? Nothing bad is going to happen to you. We've come too far for you to fail now."
"It's not midnight yet, mate."
Vance took Rav's hand and lead him back through the door and down the long hallway that was strangely unoccupied, even for this time of night. There was no music playing, no drunken laughter coming from the dining rooms, no debates in the war room. It felt more like a tomb than a palace. Pushing open the large golden doors, Vance barged straight into his throne room with the air of a warlord draped over him. He stood tall and proud, ready to cut down the traitor who had dared to challenge him.
But instead of a warbringer playing with power, he found something much worse.
A familiar man in a long white robe stood alone in front of the golden throne with his hands perched cockily on his hips. His blond hair hung around his shoulders and a red mask covered his face. He chuckled darkly as they came to a stop on the glistening floors.
Vance swallowed hard. "Red Mask? Where's Trilx?"
"Hello, Vance. Trilx will be joining us shortly. He is currently planning your funeral. Come on out, brothers. It's time we finally get our revenge for being constantly beaten down and made less than this original."
Ten identical men, all clones of Vance, filed out from the side rooms. They lined up behind Red Mask with laser pistols in their hands and cold expressions resting on their hardened faces. They were robotic in their nature, their mismatched eyes fixed on him and their every movement perfected as if they had been rehearsing this day for years.
"Vance, I thought they were all gone."
"I thought so too."
Red Mask stepped forward, the toes of his boots balanced on the edge of the first velvet-covered step. He pointed a finger at Vance. "You and your boyfriend stop here."
"He's not my boyfriend."
Rav crossed his arms. "Yeah, I'm not his boyfriend."
Taking control of the conversation, Vance confronted the man behind the crimson mask. "I thought you were all killed off."
"Does it look like we're dead?" Red Mask chuckled, motioning to the row of clones behind him. "Does it look like you're going to win this, Vance? Does it look like you can barge in here with your boyfriend and a brain-dead kid, outnumbered, and already defeated, take down all of us and our allies, then rush off and proclaim a mock victory? No. This war is far from over, mate. Nothing you can do at this point will stop Trilx. It won't stop Elysia. It won't stop Valmoro. This fighting that has been going on around the Star-World for the past few days, your fighters and planes streaking across the atmosphere and causing all sorts of ruckus, and the killing of both sides? You think this will work out?"
"Hold on a minute. Allies? Stop bluffing. You have no allies. You're just a bunch of dumb clones who don't even know how to use those guns you're toting."
Red Mask clapped his hands together twice. The rows of doors along the sides of the room swung open as hoards of warbringers and gurgling Valmorons marched inside. They piled together and lined up down the sides of the throne room with weapons in their hands and their razor claws glinting in the overhead lights. Hundreds of them readied their guns and bared their pointed fangs. Some of them licked their lips and sniffed the air, their bloodlust manifesting itself in their voracious eyes.
"Oh, hell."
"You like our force we have here?" Red Mask mocked him. "Quite eclectic, don't you think? Now, stand down. Surrender to Warlord Trilx, call off these petty attacks by your Red Sand Rebels, then help us fight off Elysia. This war is far from being over, Vance. You and Rav are valuable assets to any military force. With Rav's flying skills and your mercenary abilities coupled with a mastermind for planning, we can use you both to bring the universe into a new era."
Vance steeled his heart. "I will not surrender to you. I surrender to no one. The only way to bring this universe into a better era is to end this war once and for all. If this killing continues, there will be no one left. Biromians have been devastated to near extinction. Humans are nearing dangerously low population levels as well, with their children being rounded up and slaughtered like sacrificial lambs on the battlefields. Even Valmoro and Azimandia have suffered high numbers of casualties. It's time to put an end to this. It's time for peace."
"So you refuse to join us?"
Vance turned to Rav. "Go, Rav. Get back to the ship. Take Nemo and run. Don't stop running until you're safe."
"What about you? I'm not going to leave you here."
"It's fate, mate. It's nearly midnight."
With tears filling his blue eyes, Rav forced a tiny smile. "I owe you."
"Then pay up now." Vance took Rav by the nape of his neck, drew him up against his body, then kissed him. For a minute, they stayed there, locked together by their lips and pounding hearts, until Vance broke it off and threw his leather coat to Rav. He drew his plasma-edged boomerang from his metal arm and pointed towards the front doors of the palace. "Now, go. Run, Rav. Take that coat to Ben. Tell him I love him. Go!"
As soon as Rav had left the building, Vance spun back around to face the rows of enemies. He cleared his throat before speaking to them. "You can beat me. You can torture me. You can lock me away for years. But I'll tell you something right here, right now. I will never stop fighting against you. I will never stop fighting to free the children of all races. They don't deserve this. They didn't ask to be born into a universe of dying, killing, and hatred.
The actions of the Red Sand Rebels have not been to promote war. We are fighting against injustice. We are doing all we can for the preservation of the innocent and the helpless ones who cannot fight their battles on their own. We fight not for the wars waged on battlefields, but for the struggles raging in the hearts of the lost. That pervading grief, that inconsolable terror, that inescapable hopelessness. That is what I fight to eliminate from any child who is born into this cruel universe. They need someone to stand up for them. The governments sure as hell aren't going to do that, so I will."
"Surrender now, or we will be forced to eliminate you, Vance Trainor."
Vance closed his eyes as he pressed the buttons on the control panel of his boomerang, sending the glowing purple plasma to life along the edge. With a deep breath, he opened his mismatched eyes to stare into the eyes of every single person in front of him. He saw the gun barrels, the hatred on their faces, the twisted wickedness of their souls. With one last glance at his communicator, he saw the time displayed prominently like words on a tombstone.
11:50. Ten minutes until midnight.
A frigid chill spread down his spine as he spoke what he knew would be his final words to them. "I will never surrender, but I will not go down without a fight. Bring it on."
* * *
By the time Lucas had closed off the valves for the cooling rods of Reactor Three, the water had already risen up from the bottom floors and was lapping at the chest of his exosuit. He clambered up the ventilation shaft, doing his best to drown out the warning sirens and the high temperatures. He closed off the emotions that threatened to eat away at his soul. He ignored it all and focused instead on the mission. That was all he had to live for, even if he would not be living for much longer.
One more. One more reactor and it was all over.
Lucas dropped down into the ankle-deep water in Reactor Four then headed directly to the control panel on the far wall. Cracks were starting to spread up the corners of the containment box and the air wavered with heatwaves, glittering with danger. He could barely draw a full breath, even through the filtration of his suit. The crackling of the Geiger counter had grown so loud and so quick that it all blended together into one continuous buzzing noise.
The Genesis Sequence Books 6-10 Page 63