“How do they work?” Magnus asked, already trying to put it on.
Our suits had the mini-thrusters Mae and I had used to tether the vessels heading toward the sun almost two years ago. Two years.
“Boss, are you with us?” Slate asked, concern on his gaunt face.
“I’m here. Wearing down, and my mind is drifting. Go ahead.”
Slate showed us how he thought they worked, and we had nothing to lose. If we flew up to our approaching ships, they would blast us away. We needed to have some stealth.
“Will they show up on the sensors?” I asked Magnus.
He shook his head. “The sensors are for ship drives and radiation, mainly. Whatever’s fueling these will be so minuscule compared to their search parameters, we’ll be able to slip by with no problem.” He looked to me and shrugged. “I hope.”
That didn’t give me full confidence, but we had no choice.
“I can go instead of you, boss.” Slate looked ready to take my place.
“If you haven’t noticed, I barely fit into this suit. And even though I’m tired, I haven’t been in a cell for months at the hands of an evil alien race.”
“Godspeed,” he said, clapping me on the back, then Magnus. “Make sure you stay out of their range.” With that, Slate left us in an airlock, sealed it, and we opened the doors to dark space.
The jetpack was heavy on the ship, but out here, it didn’t matter. My stomach lurched at being out here again, untethered this time. The huge ships from outside New Spero loomed in the distance, and we had some distance to travel to get there. Our suits were made for this, but I still worried something would happen.
“Let’s test this out,” Magnus said through my helmet’s earpiece. He hit the handheld controls and one thruster fired up, sending him into a slow spin. “Damn it,” he said, adjusting and getting both going. Soon he’d stabilized himself, and he called instructions to me. After a shaky start, we were both close to competent with the packs, and we started toward our target.
“I think they’re moving,” I said, thinking they were getting closer to us faster than our packs were taking us.
“You’re right. Stay the course.”
“What happens if they’re going too fast when we cross paths?”
Magnus laughed uneasily, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear his answer to that. “I have a plan for that.”
I really didn’t like the sound of that.
We moved this way for almost an hour, the ships getting closer each minute. In the distance, there was nothing but the expanse of space, and my mind drifted to the countless worlds out there we could now access with the portals. What was out there for us to discover? I put the thoughts on the backburner as the half dozen warships grew, until we couldn’t ignore them coming toward us any longer.
“There’s not going to be anywhere to grab a foothold on them. We have to beam into them.” Magnus said this like it was no big deal. Go for a beer, walk your dog… beam into a warship while traveling in the opposite direction in an EVA suit, with a jetpack thrusting you toward it.
“Is there no other option?” I asked, hoping for a miracle.
“Come in, NS-1007. This is your general. Stop where you are. The war is over. I repeat, slow your thrusters and cease your pursuit.” He waited and said it again, but still received no reply.
The lead ship was beautiful. The sleek exterior was rounded, giving way from the boxy design of the Bhlat ships or the cube vessels of the Kraski. Our people had found a way to incorporate the size of the vessels but mix them with the slim and smooth smaller ships. They were a testament to how far our race had come in a short period of time. And if we weren’t careful, we were about to be smashed like bugs on the warship’s windshield.
The ship grew as we slowed our thrusters.
“Crap. They’re powering up the cannons.” Magnus pointed toward the bottom edges of the ship, where a red light started to glow. “They’re going to fire at the retreating Bhlat.”
“You sure this is going to work? We won’t end up in a wall or out the other end?” I’d used the beam pins on our suit enough times, but not on a target moving so fast.
“The ship’s big. We’ll be fine.” He said it with confidence, but as we got closer to each other, I could see the dread in his eyes.
We were close enough to the lead vessel to see the rough edges that made up the exterior. From a distance, they looked smooth, but up close, they were anything but.
My heart raced as we floated there, waiting for the ship to come close enough to beam into it.
“You’re a good friend. Let’s get this over with and have a Scotch on your deck,” I said, hoping they weren’t my last words.
“Deal. Dean, those years we thought you were dead… were the hardest of my life.” He looked over at me, and I smiled at his unusual emotional talk. “Enough about that. See you in a minute.”
I watched him press the small pin on his EVA collar, and he was covered in green light, the ship now only yards away from us. We couldn’t see inside the ship, but I imagined the looks on a helmsman’s face when they saw two floating Earth Defense suits outside their cameras.
I pressed my pin, feeling the familiar thrum of the beam’s energy. With a deep breath, I blinked as I entered the warship. This time, I opened them sooner and spotted Magnus coming out of the beam, turning solid and rolling to the floor. I joined him, my momentum keeping me moving. I hit the hard floor and flopped forward, hitting the wall with a thud.
“You okay?” he asked, holding his left elbow.
My back was tender and my right knee howled at me, but as I rolled over and tried to stand, I found I wasn’t too bad off.
“I think so.” I took my helmet off and tossed it to the ground. Magnus did the same. “Where are we?”
“Damn it. In a storage room. They’re locked from the outside.”
“We don’t have a lot of time.” I found my pulse rifle on the ground and picked it up, motioning Magnus back. The red beams smashed the door, sending shards outward, opening a hole large enough for us to crawl through.
“Subtle,” Magnus said as we emerged in the hall.
“Stop! Drop the weapon!” a female voice boomed from behind us.
“Gladly.” I dropped the gun, glad to be away from the enemy and on our own people’s ship.
“Turn slowly,” the woman said.
When she saw Magnus’ face, she did a double take and saluted him. “I’m sorry, sir.”
“Just call the bridge. Tell them to turn the cannons off. Our mission has changed.”
____________
“You did what?” Naidoo stalked angrily around the room, and I didn’t blame her. I’d essentially given our world away. It was far better than the alternative.
“I know you don’t like me, but what choice did we have?” I was getting irritated with her but didn’t want my heart to talk over my head. I lowered my voice and calmed the erratic timbre. “You tried to make a deal with them, right?”
She stopped in her tracks, turning slowly to look at me. The room in Cape Town was full of dignitaries from around the world, as well as our group. When we’d arrived, the nations were in widespread panic. An alert had gone out over all remaining media that an announcement was coming, and for everyone to gather their belongings and loved ones.
That set off more fear, but after all these people had been through, they were getting used to it. We heard stories trickling in about groups working together, and leaders of communities taking charge, directing people to gather in town halls or city parks.
The air was thin; conditions were far from ideal. Oxygen tanks and respiratory centers were being erected around the world for anyone with pulmonary issues. I was proud of the people of Earth.
“They were coming anyway,” was her defense.
“Then you did what you thought best, and they decided to steal our water with us still on the planet.”
“How are we going to get everyone off Earth? And wh
ere are we going to put them all?” a mature red-haired woman asked. She looked at Mary and me with thoughtful eyes, concern etched on her face.
Magnus took this one. “Our warships have space to transport a large group of people. We’ll have to bring more supplies to feed them on the two-month journey, but it can be done.”
“And the rest of us?” she asked.
Magnus’ eyes roamed toward me, and the whole room set their gaze in my direction.
I looked around the room: tall ceilings. Mahogany wood beams ran across them. Large windows allowed the midday light to cascade down on us at the central table, where we sat at the south end. It would have been intimidating sitting there with all of these people looking to me for answers in my previous life. Now, I was ready for it.
“We walk to New Spero,” I said, waiting for a response.
I was about to continue when almost everyone in the room began speaking at the same time.
“Trust me. We have a way to transport ourselves from Egypt to New Spero. We’ll send a team there first, tell them what’s transpired, and they’ll begin to accommodate for the new influx of people.” I expected more questions, but that seemed to quiet them.
“How?”
“I’ll show you.”
THIRTY
“You need to sleep,” Mary said as we sat down outside the Giza pyramid.
“I’ll sleep when we’re home.”
We ate sandwiches while watching the procession of people heading into the pyramid, down toward the portal. Clare and Nick were running the trips now, and we’d let the powers that be organize the logistics of getting people from Earth to the warships in orbit, and the rest to Egypt.
The dirt layer separating the bottom of the pyramid from the portal halls had been excavated. It felt wrong to destroy something the Theos had built so long ago, but we had to live another day, and this was the only way.
“What happens after this?” Mary asked, leaning her head on my shoulder as she chewed the last of her roast beef.
I watched the lines of people walking into the Giza pyramid, and spotted a young family with two small children. The mother held her small son in her arms, and the dad held his daughter’s hand, leading them to an uncertain future. Life as they knew it was over, for everyone.
“Dean?”
“After this?” I smiled at her. “We help build a new future for everyone.”
Leonard came out of a tent set up with food, carrying a sandwich and a bottle of water. “Mind if I join you?” he asked.
“Not at all,” Mary said, patting the unused pyramid stone beside her.
“How are you hanging in there, Leonard?” I asked, seriously concerned about my new young friend. We’d been through a crazy adventure together, one where he’d been forced to kill, and be part of something that turned our people’s future forever. His eyes had deep purple bags under them, evidence of the last day’s trials.
“You had to do it,” I said, knowing he’d understand what I referred to.
“Dean’s told me all about you, Leonard,” Mary said. “We’re both very proud of you.”
The man I’d met a couple days ago would have blushed at that, but the new version wasn’t the same youth any longer. “I think I’m done with comics.”
“You don’t mean that. People will want to know what happened.” I surprised myself by saying that.
“Really?” he asked, looking at me with tear-filled eyes.
“Really. You’re a great guy to have by my side. You’ll always have a place on my crew.”
His posture straightened up, and he looked up to the sky, the clouds breaking for a moment so the sun beat down on his face.
We sat there in silence, enjoying each other’s company in near silence as countless people moved from Earth to our new world. Each one of them with a story: a tale about their pre-Event lives, how they survived the Event, why they elected to stay on Earth rather than travel to New Spero, where fate was bringing them after all.
I wondered where their tales would lead them. For that matter, I didn’t know where mine was headed. I sat my hand on Mary’s thigh and gave her a light squeeze. She smiled at me, her hair in a loose ponytail, and a few strands broke free, covering her face. She blew at them, and I loved her more at that moment than ever before.
My future wasn’t set, but my fate was now intertwined with hers. We were partners in whatever was to come.
Magnus approached as the sun went down, followed by Clare and Nick when they swapped out with a duo Magnus trusted to make the portal journeys with the people. The room held four hundred at a time, and they could make the trip every five minutes; the people from Earth arrived at the caves near Terran Five on New Spero.
The warships were able to take a quarter of the Earth’s population, and because of the distance to the pyramids, the Western hemisphere was being brought to the ships rather than to the portal. All in all, almost everyone would be off Earth in five days or less.
Camps were set up, and all Terran cities were pitching in, taking in refugees and donating food, clothing, and shelter where needed. My sister and her husband James were leading the charge at Terran Five, and I couldn’t have been prouder of them.
Slate was the last of my old crew to arrive, and he brought something brown in a clear bottle.
“Where’d you get that?” Magnus asked, taking the bottle and sniffing the contents. He shrugged and grabbed some empty water bottles from around us, filling each with two fingers’ worth.
“What are we toasting to?” Nick asked, looking as exhausted as I felt.
“To surviving.” I raised my plastic bottle in the air, and everyone joined in. “To surviving.” We tapped our drinks and downed some of the liquid.
With that one done, Mary had one more. “To Patrice Dalhousie. One of the strongest and most visionary people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting.”
“To Patty,” we chorused, and drank the last, Magnus pouring a splash onto the dusty ground.
____________
Mary raced across Africa in the old-style Kraski ship. It had been only six days since we’d made the deal with the Empress, but it felt like weeks.
“Looks clear.” Mary lifted up, taking us higher.
“One more pass?” I asked her.
“Dean, we can’t save them all. If they didn’t make it by now, we can’t do anything.”
Slate made a tapping motion on his wrist, telling me time was up. “You have a last job to do, and so do I.”
Mary nodded and gave the controls over to him.
“Slate, we’ll see you in a couple of months. Don’t worry, we won’t do anything crazy without you,” I said, getting an eye roll from him.
“Like you didn’t do anything crazy the last time I left you?” He laughed.
We neared the pyramids. After days of commotion there, they seemed eerily quiet and serene on the viewscreen. Nothing was left but some tents and millions of footprints from around the world.
“It’s always more fun exploring ancient alien planets with you, buddy. You know that.”
He lowered us, and we headed to the ramp in the middle of the ship, opening it to a brisk midnight desert breeze. “You have everything you need?” he asked, passing me a heavy pack.
Mary swung on a winter jacket and tossed me mine, which I caught with my free hand. “I think so. Sad to think this is the last time we’ll see Earth.”
“You never know,” Slate said back. “Especially with you, boss.”
Mary hugged our big friend. “Zeke Campbell, you’re one in a million. I can’t wait to see you back home. Thanks for keeping Clare and Nick safe up there.” She kissed his cheek, and I hugged him too.
“I couldn’t keep us all safe,” he said somberly.
“You couldn’t help that,” Mary said.
“I guess so. I wish I could just leave this ship behind and come with you, but Magnus is probably right. Every asset should be saved.”
“See you soon.” I saluted h
im, and we walked down and toward the pyramid. Slate lifted off and headed upward toward the last warship, waiting for the remaining Kraski ships to join them for the journey home.
We watched him leave, looking at the starlit sky. This was it. No more Earth. I thought about my farm back home, my parents now both gone. With a glance over at Mary, I knew she was thinking about it all too, and a single tear rolled down her cheek.
I stretched out my hand, grabbing hers. “New Spero will be our new home. A fresh start for everyone.”
“I’ll miss what we had.”
“Me too.”
We stared into the sky for a while longer before shaking it off and heading toward the pyramid.
“After you,” I said, waving Mary into the entrance. We walked along the pathways in silence; recently installed battery-powered LEDs lit our path. The walkway slanted down the whole time, and soon we were at the floor built to separate our people from the portal.
Crude stairs had been dug into it during the excavation process, and we carefully stepped down them, aware of how many feet had walked down them over the last week.
It looked far different than the portal we’d emerged from not long ago. Now the walls had lights mounted on them, and the halls had been widened to fit more people through at once. The entrance to the portal room was there, the round stone door open just enough to allow us to slip through.
I lowered the heavy pack to the dirt floor, thankful for the reprieve from its weight.
“Let’s set them down the hall a way too,” I said. Mary grabbed a few of the small bombs from the pack and lined the hall with them, one every three yards. They each packed a punch, but we wanted to make sure the portal was gone for good.
Once we emptied the bag of them, Mary took the detonator and slid it into her breast pocket. I tried to roll the door closed, but it didn’t matter. None of it would survive the coming explosion.
“What about everyone we didn’t remove?” I asked, feeling the guilt weigh heavily on me.
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