Swooping across the room, Jack focused his power on a row of the robot men ahead, and sent them flying as if from an invisible wave as they twisted and tumbled through the air into a jumbled mess upon the floor. No sooner did he smile at the ease with which they were dispatched, than he noticed more of the things still filing out of a chasm in the wall. Where there were dozens, now near a hundred of the mechanical beings stood and as he noted them, they too took aim at him as a new wave of blasts began falling all about him.
Refocusing his power, Jack soared up and away, putting some distance between himself and his foes. All about the room more of the mechanical beings were pouring in from hidden corridors, forming into lines and groups all about the massive chamber. Thinking to use their weapons against them, Jack rose to face the giant pulsing vessel in the middle of the room. Pausing briefly, he allowed the multitude of enemies to draw down upon him and begin firing before he released his control of the power to plummet straight down by more than thirty feet. Above him, sparks rained down as hundreds of searing blasts struck the reactor. Jack’s hope faded quickly as he watched on for a brief second, only to realize that no harm had come to the thing. It seemed almost as if the blasts were simply absorbed, adding to the power which the thing already contained. Was there no way to bring the thing down?
Dodging a new round of blasts and then another, Jack gasped in surprise when Sam appeared out of thin air just a dozen yards away, only to begin falling before vanishing once more. Again she appeared, this time higher up, and with a scream she fell and vanished again. Blasts of blue light sizzled past Jack still, but darting between the supporting pipes and tubes and hoses that held the reactor aloft, he managed to dodge them again and again. Above, Sam screamed once more and looking up, Jack barely noted her location before she vanished again as a series of blasts struck the large tube behind where she had been. From the tube, liquid oozed and bubbled, and Jack moved to take a closer look.
Weaving up to the damaged tube, careful to hide behind cover as much as possible, he looked down briefly and noted that several groups of the robots were on the move and converging on a spot almost directly below him. There, in the shadows between two giant pipes, Will moved about the tangled web of a floor, dragging the unconscious form of Tammy with him. Cursing his luck, Jack was forced to abandon his inspection of the leaking pipe above just as Sam screamed again from somewhere behind him.
Dropping out of the sky like a rock, Jack threw his power against the floor just before impact to slow his fall to a near stop. Gingerly touching down, he quickly spun on a heel to get his bearings and began picking targets. Tossing a robo-sapien here and smacking two together there, he began with the nearest and started clearing a path for him and Will to escape.
“C’mon, Will, we’ve got to get out of the middle and find some better cover for you.”
“I’m not leaving Tammy,” Will shouted in reply.
“For now you have to, we’ll come back for her, I promise.” Two more robots sailed away as Jack spun to locate his next victim.
“She saved all of us when we needed her most. I’m not leaving her.”
Jack knew the argument was moot. He also knew his little brother was right. Even if it were to save their own skin, they couldn’t leave Tammy unprotected. Nodding his agreement to his brother’s waiting gaze, Jack turned to locate his next target as a blast caught him in the back, flinging him forward to somersault across the floor as the breath rushed from his lungs.
* * * * *
Sam hated teleporting. At least teleporting into a place with no floor. It was terrifying no matter how many times she did it. Each time she reappeared she immediately began to plummet. Each fall made her scream, and both the fall and the scream made it increasingly hard to focus on the next blink. Fortunately, it also made her extremely hard to target. At least that was what she suspected as each time she appeared the robot jerks began shooting their light thingamajiggies at her, and each time they neared, she fell beneath their blows and out of harm’s way. No matter how much she hated doing it, however, she had a plan and so far it was working.
Looking as she fell, another embarrassing scream tearing out from between her clenched lips, she located a huge collection of woven pipes and wires above and ahead of her. Sam blinked and found herself just above the point she wanted by several feet and began to plummet and scream. Blasts followed her as she fell, their blue lights reflecting and dancing off the metal surfaces around her as the twisted metal, now above her, was shredded to pieces by the onslaught.
Blinking away, Sam looked back to where she had been as the decimated steel and rubber of the pipes and wires began to shred and tear, a great mournful sound echoing throughout the room as it gave way. Below, as Sam blinked again, she watched as the great pulsing reactor twisted slightly as one of its supports failed. Her plan was working. Locating another major support for the reactor, she blinked again as she was relocated and blasts of flashing and crackling light ensued.
Support after support, large and small, Sam used the robots’ weapons against them. From time to time she would look about for her siblings and Tammy, but had seen no sign of them. Though fear welled up inside her, making her question whether or not they were alive and well, she swallowed it down, steeling her resolve, and continued to fight in the only way she could.
It was an hour, maybe more, or maybe less, when Sam found herself too exhausted to carry on much longer. With her shoulders sagging and head hung low, she ported for a final time, reappearing just above the last major support she could locate. For more than half an hour the giant tear-shaped orb groaned and pulsed irregularly, but still it clung to the giant room with its remaining wires and strands of tubes and pipes. It had turned nearly a full revolution at one point and that was the point when Sam had thought herself victorious, but she realized all too soon that she had been wrong.
Plummeting down, yet again, she watched as the blasts landed above her and to her left slightly, searing through the large bundle of wires, catching fire to the insulation and melting the copper cores. Like living serpents, the torn and severed strands danced in the air, some of them recoiling quickly due to strain, others weaving and wriggling in the air as if possessed by something inhuman. Sam fell.
She tried to focus, tried to look down to a point that was safe to land, but she was tired. Too tired. With her head pounding and vision growing dark, she plummeted towards the twisted metal floor like a meteor from the heavens. Just as the last of her vision faded, she felt her body jerk, her fall coming to a sudden stop and knew she had hit the floor. There was no pain. She was too tired.
* * * * *
Will pulled on Tammy’s wrists with all of his might. Dragging her across the uneven floor was becoming more difficult by the minute, but he refused to give up. He had thought that the hit Jack had taken would be their undoing, but luckily for them all, his pack and its contents had taken the brunt of the damage. Glancing up towards his brother, he knew immediately that something else was wrong. Gone was the angered and concentrated look upon Jack’s face. Now, instead, he looked worried. Scared.
Turning his attention past Jack, Will quickly located the source of his brother’s concern. There, levitating perhaps a foot off the floor, was the limp form of Sam, now swiftly moving towards them. She didn’t move. Her eyes were closed. The robot warriors of the aliens continued to crowd around them, growing nearer and nearer. Will realized that something else had changed. They had stopped shooting.
Tearing his eyes away from his siblings, Will looked all about. They were surrounded and the enemy was closing in. There were hundreds of the things. They were all identical, and all of them, though not firing, aimed their weapons at him and his companions. There was nowhere to go. Nothing to be done. The battle was over. They had been bested. Defeated. They had lost.
Will’s face shifted from determined to angry as his cheeks swiftly grew hot. It wasn’t fair. They had come so far and worked so hard. To lose now, to give up,
just didn’t seem possible. They had spent weeks on the run, chased from one place to another by creatures bent on their destruction, only to finally locate the source of all their problems and fail to defeat it. Will couldn’t give in. He couldn’t let it go. Apparently, neither could Jack.
With a roar that sounded something like a lion, Jack thrust out his arms, throwing back dozens of the robot attackers before turning his gaze upwards. With the tendons straining in his neck and the blood vessels in his eyes and forehead throbbing, Will watched as the great pulsating reactor, still clinging to the air by tenuous cords, began to heave and twist upon its supports. Sparks and fluid rained down and a deep resounding moaning sound seemed to come from everywhere at once as just for an instant the robo-aliens hesitated in their approach.
Jack seemed to notice it too, as Will watched him strain yet further as the reactor was suddenly yanked one way and then another, tubes and wires ripping free from its surface again and again. With another growl, this time much quieter than the first, Jack fell to his knees as the pulsating tear was wrenched downwards with a twist and continued to fall.
Will expected the thing to shatter when it hit the ground, like a light bulb he had seen Dad drop in the kitchen once. Instead, the semi-transparent reactor smacked the floor causing it to vibrate, bouncing once before it settled amongst its fallen supports. Flashing once, more brightly than ever before, it flickered out as smoke rose from it, emitting a hissing sound and rancid smell. Jack collapsed to the floor ahead of him, but Will knew that it was okay. The robots had ceased their approach with the snuffing of the reactor. Even now they stood like statues with their heads sagging forwards.
Looking quickly to Jack and then Sam, Will was at a loss as to what to do next. Both of his siblings were unconscious, and Tammy lay at his feet, wounded and bleeding. As if to make matters worse, the flickering lights about the room, partially hidden by the masses of twisted steel and wire, began to fade, as if the reactor had indeed powered everything. At least that was what Will imagined as darkness enveloped the room.
Alone in the dark, in an alien city, Will reached out to brush Tammy’s face.
“It’ll be okay. We just gotta think, what would a superhero do?” Will said into the darkness. Ahead of him, beyond the frozen metallic bodies of the robots, the reactor flickered to life once more and glowed dimly, creating an eerie mockery of the room’s prior appearance as Tammy’s eyes flickered open. Around them, several of the robots began to stir once more.
* * * * *
Blinking rapidly, Tammy tried to clear her vision while fighting the urge to vomit. Her arm and shoulder throbbed to the point of fainting yet again, but she fought past the pain, trying her best to understand little Will’s words from above her. With her blurred vision clearing, she looked up as Will‘s words fell silent, and turning her head painfully she located both Jack and Sam only a short distance away. Both lay upon the floor unmoving, but motion from beyond them caught her attention.
Silhouetted by the fallen reactor behind them, the robots closed in on them, their shadows stretching out across the twisted floor, making it appear alive and moving. On they came, slowly and steadily, their arms up as if reaching out to grasp at the air, and Tammy could do nothing but watch them come, fearing more for Will than for herself. Trembling from the exertion of holding her head up, she let it fall once more as Will stood above her in an attempt to keep her safe.
Within moments the robots were on them and Tammy watched from the floor as both Sam and Jack were lifted off the floor roughly by their arms and legs and carried away to be lost in the masses of metallic bodies. Still on the mechanical beings came.
Tammy fought the urge to scream, trying to remain brave for Will as the things grabbed him up and off of his feet, kicking and screaming, as he was hauled away and suddenly silenced. Crying silently as Will’s small body vanished in the crowd, Tammy cared little for herself as she too was yanked up off the floor and bodily flung over the shoulder of one of the bots before it turned and began moving in the opposite direction her companions had been taken.
Sobbing, she realized the truth of the situation. She had failed in her duty to guide them. She had failed to lead her friends to victory. She had failed her race, who would now remain slaves until at last they perished into a history that none would be left to retell. Crying angrily, Tammy twisted, ignoring the pain, and began to kick and thrash as metallic bodies moved aside for her abductor to pass with her in tow.
Slow and steady they progressed across the expanse of the immense room, and though she fought, as best she could, the being that carried her away, it was all for naught. As she was carried into one of the light-filled elevator type transporters, Tammy heard Will scream in the distance one final time as her heart broke yet again with the knowledge of her failure.
Chapter Six
Jack awoke with a start, and lifting his chin from his chest he was surprised to find himself standing. More or less. With his back against something solid, and his abdomen, wrists, and ankles restrained, he was upright but unable to move. Trying to turn his head, he found that it too was somehow held in place as piercing pains erupted from his forehead and temples each time he struggled. Unable to break free, he did the only thing he was able, and turned his attention to the room around him.
He could hear breathing to either side of him, a sign he took as good. If he had been captured and contained here, it was likely that Sam, Will, and Tammy were still with him. At least they were safe. Kind of. They were alive. That was what mattered. They were all alive and they were still together. They could get out of this and get through this if he could just figure out a way. Jack quickly began to scan the room.
Nearly vacant of anything at all, the wall directly in front of him appeared a patchwork of stainless steel, welded and riveted at irregular intervals to secure the many pieces of its surface together. The floor was likewise manufactured, and the walls to the right and left, that which he could see with his peripheral vision, appeared to look much as they had in the reactor room. Pipes, wires, and tubing coiled and twisted up each wall, broken only by an occasional valve. Unable to look up, he could barely see the top of the wall in front of him, and only mere inches of the ceiling above.
Defeated and angry, he turned his frustration against the wall before him and bore down on it with his telekinetic gift with all his might. The wall of overlapping steel plates stood unaffected against his power. It was no use.
Taking a deep breath, he did his best to let go of the anger and think, something his dad had told him to do a thousand times when he was little. It wasn’t easy. Not by any standard. But he did it.
After another deep breath, he looked around the room again, this time in the opposite order. More slowly and more concentrated than before, Jack studied the ceiling and then the wall in front of him, noting that the two did not appear to be welded together. Instead, there was a deep, solid line that ran the entire length that he could see, appearing as if they simply met at the ceiling but were not attached. It was peculiar, but if they had the ability for interplanetary travel, who was he to question their building methods?
Examining the wall he looked from one piece of metal that made its surface to the next, studying each one for weakness. After several minutes he only found a single rivet that appeared to be improperly installed. No dice. Down to the floor his eyes traveled and immediately his search stopped. Jerking his head forward for an attempt at a closer look, he reeled back against the structure that bound him as pain shot through his head, something digging uncomfortably into the flesh of his forehead as something hot dribbled down his face.
Blinking away the tears from his eyes, he pushed the pain aside and again looked to where the wall met the floor, or rather where it passed through it. It was a hardly noticeable detail, but there was an obvious gap of perhaps an eighth of an inch where the wall disappeared through the floor into what he presumed was another chamber below. In Jack’s mind there was only one reason fo
r a wall to pass through a floor with clearance, unless of course the aliens simply had far different approaches to building, but he doubted it. No, the wall had to be mobile. If it could come up from the floor, then it only made sense that it could also go back down through it. That was why Jack couldn’t locate a door. The rest of the room they were in was hidden beyond the wall in front of them. If they could manage to get themselves free, maybe they could find a way past the wall and into the chamber beyond. There had to be a way out, didn’t there?
Wriggling his wrists and pulling against his restraints, Jack huffed and puffed, pushing and pulling with all his might as he flexed and relaxed all of his muscles. It was useless, the bindings were too tight. If only he could see how they were fastened, he could use his ability to undo them. His ability… Jack cursed himself.
“Sam!” Jack half shouted. “Wake up.”
Nothing. Jack listened and all he could hear was the breathing to either side of them. Perhaps they had been drugged. There was no way of knowing. All he could do was keep trying.
“C’mon, Sam. I need your help,” Jack pleaded, and quickly held his breath as a cough sounded to his right.
“Sam?”
“Tammy!” Will screamed, as if waking from a nightmare.
“Will. It’s okay. Calm down,” Jack said, wishing he could see his smaller brother. “It’s okay. We’re all here.”
“You’re sure?” Will asked after a moment.
“Yeah, I think so. Listen, we need to wake up Sam so we can get out of here.”
“Okay,” Will replied. “Wake up, Sam!” he shouted.
Children of the After: The Complete Series Page 41