“That would take much of the excitement out of life, though.”
“Perhaps, and one day soon I may need some excitement back. In the meantime, I wish you a safe journey locating Apollo.”
* * *
Sarah was looking through the cryostasis pod’s glass at Chase’s wounded face when the medbay doors slid open and Commodore Saroudis came in.
She remembered the vision of the future. Part of her wanted to tell him about it right then, but she feared that if she told him, he might act differently, and in doing so alter the future. Sarah really needed that future to come true. She felt strongly that it was the only way to get out of their current predicament. The lives of trillions in the universe depended on their ability to resist, fight and eventually defeat the Furies. It mattered not how much she respected Saroudis. If his sacrifice would help them achieve that, then she had no right to intervene and try to change that. She also knew that Saroudis would agree with her thinking.
“Hello, Commodore, I’m glad you’re here.” Sarah didn’t turn her gaze away from the cryostasis pod.
“Hello, Sarah . . . I . . . It’s difficult to see Chase in this state. He’s usually so full of life. How are you holding up?”
“I’m okay. Ares went on a mission to look for someone called Asclepios. Apparently he can bring back Chase.”
“I know that name. Our ancient scrolls described him as the god of medicine. Seems fitting. Let’s hope Ares comes back soon. I’m worried after what happened on Droxia that the Furies will want to retaliate.”
“I’m not sure what to think. Sure Chase stopped them, but they still pretty much eradicated Droxia.”
“But they didn’t, not entirely.”
“Still, the Droxians are a beaten people now. They won’t be able to contribute to the war effort as much as before, and we both know they were our strongest ally.”
“They are formidable warriors on the battlefield . . .”
“Why did you stop?”
“In my many years of service, I’ve heard stories and legends about how fierce the Droxian warriors are. And we’ve seen that first hand with Ryonna. To think an entire world of Droxians was nearly wiped out in a matter of hours . . .”
“I know. It feels unreal.”
“It does.”
“Unfortunately the threat is very real. We need to lick our wounds, and we need to fight back.”
Sarah felt Saroudis’ gaze on her for a while. She finally looked into his eyes. “But it’s not all doom and gloom. How’s your family, Commodore?”
“They’re alright. Thanks for asking. It’s strange to have them back. I always assumed they perished with the rest of my homeworld.”
“That’s why it’s better never to assume anything in life.”
“That’s definitely good advice.”
They both stood in front of the cryostasis pod and looked at Chase, wondering what was to come next.
* * *
On Droxia, Ryonna looked at the burning horizon with a heavy heart.
The fighting and killing had finally stopped. After a few hours of looking for a way to communicate with the Alliance, she and Keera had found a deserted military base with a functional subspace communication tower. She managed to contact Sarah who told her what had transpired.
Thank you, Chase.
She ached knowing that her friend was at death’s door, but Sarah sounded hopeful that they would find a way to bring him back to health eventually. That had removed some of the tension she felt. If Sarah could find the strength to see Chase’s current state with optimism, she ought to as well.
“You’re alright? You haven’t said much since you talked with Sarah,” inquired Keera.
“I’m okay, don’t worry. Just thinking about Chase.”
“He’s gonna be fine. He has to be. Without him we’re all fucked anyway.”
Ryonna chuckled.
“What’s so funny?”
“I think we have to stop depending on Chase so much. Don’t get me wrong, we need a Fury to fight the Furies. Today is a very painful reminder of that. If it hadn’t been for Chase my entire world would have been destroyed, and we’d all be dead. So yeah, I have no doubt we need him to win this fight.”
“I sense a but coming . . .”
“But we have to stop depending on him. We need to be better at helping him in the future. He can’t win this fight alone. He tried, and look where it got him. We need to remind him we are here, and that we can help.”
“I wholeheartedly agree. But I’m sure, like me, you must feel overwhelmed by the enormity of it all. Our task, defeating the Furies . . . I mean, how can we ever hope to achieve that?”
Ryonna took a step towards Keera and looked deeply into her eyes. “We will succeed, no matter what. There’s no other way. It doesn’t matter how dire things look at the moment; we’ll fight, never give up and eventually we’ll rid the universe of this scourge.”
“I envy your confidence, especially under the circumstances. What’s our short-term plan?”
“The Destiny and Hope will arrive here in a few hours. In the meantime, I’d like to try to locate my brother-in-law.”
“Sure thing. Where do we begin?”
“I wish I knew. How well versed are you with technology?”
“I’m pretty good. What do you need me to do?”
“Let’s record a message and send it in every possible form and frequency we can think of. If Jonas is still alive he will find a way to let us know.”
C H A P T E R
III
News of the aftermath of the battle had reached Earth in a fleet communication status report.
Spiros let himself fall on his chair upon reading it.
“What is it?” asked Gaia via the comms systems.
“It’s Chase.”
“How is he? Did he succeed in killing both the Furies?”
“No. He killed one, but the second one nearly killed him. He’s in suspended animation inside one of the Hope’s cryostasis chambers at the moment.”
Gaia didn’t answer right away. “What do we do now?”
“We keep making this training facility more evolved for him to train in when he gets better.”
“If he ever does.”
“We have to proceed on the assumption that he will.”
“We also need to see if we can recover my avatar’s black box. It may contain vital information on how to adapt our droids to better fight against the Furies.”
“I’ll ask the Alliance to bring it back with them.”
“We also need to complete a new body for me.”
“One should be ready by the end of the day.”
“Good. What new technologies can we use to make Chase’s training more efficient?”
“I have some ideas, but one in particular I don’t think you’ll like.”
“Tell me anyway.”
“How do you feel about creating an artificial black-hole generator inside the facility?”
“It would make me very uneasy. If something went wrong, we could very well destroy this world.”
“I know, but do you think it’s something we could, in theory, build?”
“Probably. But what about doing this on board a ship instead?”
“Smart. We could have a training ship in high orbit above the planet, with fail-safes in place should the containment field be breached.”
“Yes, that way, if we lose control, we could either destroy the ship or have it jump far away from here.”
“Indeed. We also need to have beaming technology ready for organic matter. We may have to beam him out in a hurry.”
“I’ll start working on schematics for these upgrades right away. You look like hell, Spiros. You should try to get some rest.”
Spiros nodded. “I will, soon. But I’ve also received orders from Earth Alliance headquarters.”
“What orders?”
“The usual. They want to know what my progress is concerning a plan to erad
icate you if needed.”
“Have you been working towards that goal?”
“Not really, no. I trust you. But for the sake of appearances I put Cedric and Yanis on that task a while back.”
Spiros did trust Gaia implicitly now. But as a scientist he knew it never hurt to have a backup plan in place. What if Gaia was to become compromised in ways they simply couldn’t anticipate? What if the Furies hacked her? She could unwillingly turn against this world in a heartbeat.
“I understand. Let me give you my command codes. That way, you can easily shut me down.”
“Why would you do that?”
“What if I was compromised without my knowledge? If that ever happens and I become a threat to the world I’m trying to protect, I want you to shut me down immediately. Will you do that for me?”
“Of course. But I’d prefer not to have to. I’ve grown quite fond of you.”
“That’s sweet. In the meantime, we need to focus on defending ourselves from the Furies. Surely they will come at us eventually.”
“Do you think the planetary shield will hold if they send a fleet of ships our way?”
“I can’t be sure. It’s the most powerful shield technology we can muster with the power we have, but without seeing a Fury destroyer’s weaponry in action, we can’t know for sure.”
“So many variables . . .”
“That’s a very AI thing to say, Spiros. Have you considered the possibility that perhaps you are spending too much time in my company?”
Spiros smiled.
* * *
When Ares arrived at Zeus’ palace, he stayed invisible. He hadn’t stepped inside this place for centuries.
Just being there made him uneasy. Too many bad memories here, too many arguments with his father, which had eventually led to his banishment. Ares knew back then that banishing him had been necessary. He had let power go to his head.
Ares felt uncomfortable thinking about that period of his life. Shame permeated his entire being. But now was not the time to let his internal dialogue with his guilty conscience unfold.
Ares heard steps not far from his position. The sound was unmistakable, no matter how long it had been since Ares heard it. The sound of a man, a god really, whose assurance and charisma could be felt simply by listening to his footsteps.
Father . . .
Zeus passed Ares and stopped. He looked impressive. His long, salt-and-pepper hair and beard gave him a very godly and imposing stature. Zeus turned around and looked towards Ares.
Can he feel or, worse, see me?
Ares pondered whether or not he should appear. Perhaps the easiest way to locate Asclepios was to ask his father directly. But he would not be a welcome guest in his house. More like an intruder, if their last meeting was any indication. Ares had no heart in this form, but the more Zeus gazed at his position, the more he imagined his heart was beating faster. Nonsense! He was just nervous.
Then someone passed through the space that Ares’ invisible form occupied. Of course, he registered no physical contact. But it felt weird nonetheless.
His brother Apollo, the one he came to seek. Apollo shivered after passing through Ares.
“What’s wrong with you?” inquired their father.
“I don’t know. I felt weird for just an instant, like someone walked over my grave.”
“We don’t have graves. You’ve spent too much time with the humans.”
“Look who’s talking.”
Zeus resumed his walk and Apollo followed him into the gardens behind his massive and beautiful temple atop Mount Olympus.
The plant life was simply breathtaking. It was early evening and the luminescent flowers, twinkling and pulsating, gave the place a surreal atmosphere. Water fountains cast reflections from the flowers all around, creating a light show that started from the light, marble pavement and extended to the heavens on a clear evening sky.
“What do you want, Apollo?”
“Surely by now you must have heard the Furies have returned.”
“It has been brought to my attention, yes.”
“What are we going to do about it?”
“Nothing. This is not our war.”
“But we might become entangled in it, and very soon. We’re the ones who trapped them in that dimensional prison. Surely they will seek revenge. In fact, I’m surprised they haven’t attacked us yet.”
“First they would need to find New Olympus, and that could take years.”
“Or not.”
Zeus grimaced. “Even so, we’re not supposed to intervene. After the last Fury war we agreed with the council of ancient races to no longer meddle in the matters of the younger races. And I would ask that you do not have this conversation with your brothers and sisters. Only you and I know that we are the ones who locked that prison.”
“This is all well and good, Father, but this rule of non-interference doesn’t apply anymore. We’ll get caught in the crossfire sooner or later. As for the fact that we didn’t destroy the machine and the Pandora stone, let me remind you that this decision was yours and yours alone. I simply obeyed your orders and created a very secure facility protected by a Titan. You should have heeded my advice and destroyed their means of returning into this dimension.”
“This is not the Olympian way and you know it, son.”
“Perhaps, but is getting wiped out by our former nemesis a better one?”
“We had no way of knowing if destroying the machine might have canceled the dimensional shift. It was too risky. Do I have to remind you that when we finally managed to trap them, we were losing this war?”
“I remember. Still, we should have destroyed the Pandora stone at the very least.”
Zeus didn’t answer.
Ares knew that Zeus had to have been behind the entire plan. It made sense. He wasn’t surprised his father had kept most of the Olympians in the dark, though.
Ares agreed with Apollo. They should have destroyed the Pandora stone, but it was too late now. Zeus would have to face the consequences for his decision, but hopefully that could help him in his quest to reason with his father.
Once he had brought back Chase, their next stop would be to convince Zeus to intervene again and help in the war efforts. While most Olympians didn’t stand a chance fighting Furies in one-on-one combat—except a select few like Zeus himself, Apollo, Artemis, Athena and perhaps a few others—the Olympians still had a technological edge over the younger races and even most of the old ones. The real question was: Were they still around and would they agree once more to form a coalition capable of repelling the Furies? Ares’ train of thought was interrupted when he heard his name.
“What about Ares?”
“What about your banished brother?”
“He and Aphroditis sided with the humans.”
“And look where it got them. Ares is dead. I’m thinking it’s Aphroditis that is powering the machine.”
“We can’t abandon her. We have to mount a rescue mission at least.”
“I disagree. She made her choice and I warned her not to defy me and contact that Fury. She is no longer our responsibility.”
“But Father—”
“Silence! I won’t hear another word about Aphroditis. She should not have acted on her own accord. She violated the treaty of non-interference in doing so, and that’s why the Furies are back now. Whatever happens next is on her.”
“I’m no longer your little boy. You can tell me to shut up all you want, but the facts remain: ignoring problems doesn’t mean they don’t exist.”
Zeus growled and deep, black clouds covered the previously beautiful, starlit sky.
“Striking me down with a thunderbolt won’t change a thing either.”
Ares had to admire his brother’s courage. He knew first-hand how volatile his father’s temper was. One would think the leader of such an advanced civilization would be wiser when it came to admitting his mistakes.
Small bolts of golden lightning flashed
in Zeus’ eyes. He shot an ice-cold look at his favorite son. Then he looked towards Ares again.
Can he see me? Perhaps I should leave before I get involved with Zeus too early.
“Show yourself!” shouted Zeus.
Apollo was startled and looked behind himself, scanning the area with a dubious look.
He turned his gaze back towards his father. “Who are you talking to?”
“I feel a presence.”
Crap!
“Is that you, Ares?” Zeus insisted. “Show yourself!”
“Ares?” inquired Apollo. “Don’t be ridiculous. He’s dead.”
“Since when did that stop an Olympian from staying in this verse?”
“You’re imagining things, Father. Surely he has traveled the Styx by now.”
“I don’t think so. He’s even more stubborn than Aphroditis.”
Apollo waved his arms at his father in frustration and then started levitating.
“Where are you going? I haven’t dismissed you yet.”
“I’m done talking to a wall, Father, with all due respect.”
“Respect. Too many Olympians have forgotten the word’s true meaning.”
“I think you confuse respect with blind obedience.”
“I never thought you’d be one of them.”
Apollo didn’t answer but flew away from the temple with such acceleration that the resulting shockwave pushed away the nearest clouds and sent Zeus’ long hair flying horizontally behind him.
Ares lost no time and followed his brother into the sky.
“So you didn’t come to see me,” said Zeus aloud.
* * *
When Chase opened his eyes he didn’t see anything at first. He blinked multiple times to try to clear his vision.
What is this? Where am I?
“Anyone there?”
There was no answer.
Rise of the Ultra Fury (Universe in Flames Book 5) Page 3