by Ryan Dunlap
Ras wouldn’t let it.
“Do you hear something?” Elias asked.
As they neared the next engine, Ras heard a fourth set of footfalls rapidly approaching from behind and saw the blur just before it collided with him, flinging him forward and ripping his hand away from Callie’s.
With the wind knocked from his lungs, Ras flailed madly before colliding with the sphere and crumpling to the base of it. His head swam and he sucked for air.
Moments later, Callie overloaded.
One of the half dozen newly materialized soldiers walked up to him at a leisurely pace. Older. Gray hair and wrinkles adorned his crazed face. He grabbed Ras by the throat and lifted.
“Thought you could sink us, huh, Lack?” the soldier said, his black eyes looking manic. He slammed Ras against the sphere, retaining his vise-like grip around Ras’ neck.
With a clamped throat and burning lungs, Ras fought the pain and the blackness that haunted the corners of his vision. He kicked at the soldier to little effect.
“Do you realize how long I’ve been waiting for this moment?” he asked. “Me and my men have had to watch the world inch by just in case you and your girl arrived.” He shook Ras violently. “Look at what your Lack serum did to me! I was twenty-three when we came here!”
From what little Ras’ clouded mind could guess, the squad’s job was to clear out anything that hindered The Collective’s path to the Time Origin. Which meant they would likely kill Callie next.
Ras threw a right hook, which the soldier promptly caught and pinned. Ras would have cried out in pain if he could, but the soldier took the feint, locking up both arms. Ras then swung his left arm with the grapple gun against the porthole glass, cracking it.
Again, again. Ras could feel the life being choked out of him.
One last blow smashed the glass and The Convergence’s Energy seeped out into the corridor. The soldier lost his grasp and Ras’ oxygen deprived body fell limp.
The soldier screamed, waving the Energy-thick air away, but he had already taken several deep breaths. He clutched his head as the Lack injection did its job, fighting to reject the intruder, immunizing itself and pulling double duty against Energy and Time, wreaking further havoc on his body.
Ras gulped for air, finally filling his lungs with relief just in time to scream in surprise as an aged corpse collapsed next to him. The black in his eyes returned to a pale green, and the frail body of a man well past a century of life stared at Ras from the floor.
Scrambling up against the engine, Ras watched the other five soldiers, all staring wide-eyed at their fallen leader. None dared to step forward to challenge Ras in his fog of death.
Ras stood, his chest flooding with pain as he learned what a broken rib felt like. “Run,” he coughed as he walked toward them, his bubble pushing Energy away. He unholstered his wrench and strode toward his opponents.
The soldiers backpedaled down the corridor, and Ras gave chase until they disappeared around the corner.
Turning on his heel, Ras still struggled to catch his breath when the usual operational sounds of a flying city returned to his ears. “Callie?” He jogged past the damaged Engine and spotted his father with his hands held high at the prompting of a handful of armed men.
A few feet in front of Elias, the scientist from the stairwell cradled Callie in his arms as he finished depressing the plunger on the syringe into her neck. He clicked his tongue at Ras in disappointment. “You really shouldn’t leave this one alone.” He spoke in a normal tone while the guards by Elias still moved at a slowed pace.
“Ras, how are you over there?” Callie asked, then reached up to feel the needle in her neck.
The scientist shushed her like a young daughter. “Now, now, you mustn’t get worked up. I just saved your life.”
“What did you do to her?” Ras walked toward the scientist with wrench at the ready. The guards moved their guns from Elias to Ras, stopping him.
The scientist released her and she struggled to find her footing as she ran to Ras, burying herself in his embrace. “I don’t want either one of you to get damaged,” he said. “You both have years and years of valuable research left in you.”
“I feel funny,” Callie said, “like I brushed my teeth for too long, but all over.” She looked over Ras’ shoulder at another set of guards joining the standoff. “What did they do to me?”
“I think they stopped you from being a Knack,” Ras said, holding her.
“Very perceptive, Mr. Veir,” the scientist said, offering a polite clap. “We’re branding it as ‘Void,’ but yes, this newest batch has proven most effective. Your weapons, please.” The scientist motioned for several of the guards to relieve Ras of his wrench, pistols, and grapple gun. “Mr. Helios has a very strict no weapons policy in his lab.”
“The soldiers,” Ras nodded to the corpse on the floor. “Did they get the same injection?”
“Them?” the scientist asked. “Oh no, no. We hadn’t perfected the serum yet.” He smiled. “We shall be spending quite a bit of time together in the future, Mr. Veir. My name is Dr. Lupava.”
Elias was corralled in with Ras and Callie. His hands shook and his breathing was labored as the three were bound with handcuffs.
“You all right, dad?”
“Just a lot of Energy in here,” he said, strained. “I’m fine near you.”
Half a dozen men in engineer garb approached the engine sphere, wheeling in a sedated man on a gurney and lifting him in through the open porthole. The tubes and wires from the dead Knack were transferred to the new recruit.
A second team of engineers arrived, quickly replacing the broken porthole glass and sealing the first team in. A hissing noise preceded one of the engineers’ overloading and taking the rest of the men up in a blaze, birthing a new mini-Convergence.
Beneath, one of The Winnower’s engines roared back to life.
“There we are, good as new,” Lupava said. “Shall we to the elevators, then?” He offered a sweeping gesture.
“How many times does that trick work?” Elias asked.
“We get plenty of headstrong new recruits all the time,” said Lupava. “But to think, they would still be alive if you hadn’t destroyed our Convergences in the first place. Pity.”
The group began their walk to the elevators. The soldiers jogged in order to keep up with Lupava, Ras, Elias, and Callie until the group reached the wide double doors.
“I know this will be a terribly long ride for us,” Lupava said as he pressed the button to go up, “but please, do try to have some patience.”
The doors slowly opened, revealing a large, circular transport with a single person standing in the middle.
Dixie Piper.
“Ah, glad I caught you before you made it to the lab,” Dixie said slowly. “Foster wants to see the prisoners before you begin your experiments.” She had a black left eye and scrapes on her right arm where her jacket sleeve had been ripped away.
“I was informed of no such thing,” Lupava said, stepping into the elevator with a few guards. “He can see them in the lab.”
Dixie raised an eyebrow. “You feel like telling him that in person?”
“What are your credentials? I am not familiar with you,” Lupava said, looking her over.
“I led you into The Wild,” she said, pressing the elevator button for the bridge. “What floor should I drop you off on?”
Dr. Lupava pressed another button as the elevator doors closed. “A little caution goes a long way, young miss.”
“Dixie, never thought I’d—” Ras began.
“Shut up.” Dixie looked over to Ras. Her eyes didn’t hold hatred, but instead a melancholic resolve. “You know, only an idiot would try to pull eight plugs, one at a time,” she said. “I can see you trying to take down three at once, especially with a speed advantage.” Her eyes flitted to one of the guards, then narrowed. “But even then you have a small window of opportunity.” She lifted a small pistol and fired
, dropping Dr. Lupava and throwing the elevator into chaos.
Ras flung himself at one of the guards before the man could raise his rifle. Connecting his elbow to the guard’s temple, Ras shouted to distract the other two armed men.
Dixie sprang into action, dipping and sweeping the legs out from a second guard, then wrested the rifle away and slammed it against the man’s forehead, silencing his surprised cry.
A shot rang out toward Ras before Elias could throw his shoulder into the third guard, slamming him against the elevator wall. The musket ball moved slowly enough for Ras to spin his guard into its path, then ripped into the man’s back as it entered Ras’ sphere of influence.
The guard in Ras’ grasp collapsed to the floor as Dixie ran over, silencing the pinned guard with a twist of the neck before he could get a call out.
Dixie threw her arms around a motionless Callie. “I thought I lost you guys.”
“I’m sorry, I’m confused. What changed?” Callie asked.
“India Bravo flying into battle with The Collective, that’s what changed,” Dixie said as she pulled herself back to face Callie. “The next ship coming through the pass was crewed by a mix of sky pirates and men in Collective uniforms. We had a bit of a disagreement,” she said, pointing to her black eye. “I’ve been going after the wrong target. Well, not the wrong target, but my scope has been too limited.”
“What are you saying?” Ras asked.
“I’m saying Foster Helios has to die, and you all are my ticket to the bridge,” Dixie said. “Oh, and I’m sorry about the whole betrayal thing. I’ll make it up to you somehow.”
“Hold on, killing Foster won’t take down The Winnower,” Ras said.
“No, but there are plenty of lovely controls on the bridge that we can smash to make that happen after Foster is dead,” Dixie said with a smile.
Ras offered his cuffed wrists, but Dixie pushed them away. “No, you have to stay like that. Foster will think something’s wrong if you’re not cuffed.” She stepped over to the body of one of the guards, dragging him into the side of the circular elevator. “Are you just going to watch me work?”
Ras stepped over and helped her drag the second guard.
The elevator chimed. Dixie picked up a musket before stepping behind the trio and aiming it at Ras’ back. “Just play along.”
The doors swept open, revealing a far more ornately decorated part of the ship and a path opening up to the command center of The Winnower. Dozens of crew sat at their positions around the large room, monitoring their stations. Nobody looked up to address the newcomers.
On the other side of the room stood a figure swathed in a tailored, gray uniform, staring out the massive window, with his hands clasped behind his back.
“Sir?” one of the officers said.
Foster turned, spotting Ras, Callie, and Elias walking forward, cuffed.
“Guards!”
“Got it covered!” said Dixie, stepping out from behind Ras, showing her rifle was aimed at the wind merchant.
Foster flattened his hand, motioning for the guards to hold. He stepped down from his platform to the main level of the room. “I see you’ve finally reeled in the Knack and the Lack. And who might I ask is the bonus piece? Are we working for extra credit to return to my good graces?”
“His father,” Dixie said.
Foster took a couple of cautious steps forward to inspect Elias from a distance. “Very interesting.”
“He spent a while in a Time bubble,” said Dixie. “Might be worth studying the long term effects of being frozen.”
Waving a hand dismissively to Dixie, Foster addressed Elias. “Someone’s been well preserved, hasn’t he? You spoke with my father, if I recall.”
Elias nodded.
“He was a difficult man with which to obtain an audience, let alone strike a bargain,” Foster said. “What did he offer you?”
“Does it matter?” Elias asked. “I’m not expecting you to fulfill his obligation.”
“Obligation? Oh, yes. You were supposed to give us the location of the Origin.” Foster looked back out the window at the purple hued sky. “Looks like we did quite all right on our own.”
“You wouldn’t have found it if I didn’t make it here first,” Elias said.
“Appealing to my sense of honor now?” Foster asked.
“Just stating a fact.”
“Tell me what he offered, and don’t be difficult,” Foster said, sliding his hand down to an ornately designed silver pistol hanging at his side.
“He promised to stop harvesting the Convergences around Verdant.”
Foster laughed. “Now that’s a promise I can most certainly keep. Isn’t that right, Ras?”
Ras’ eyes flitted about, trying not to focus on Dixie moving to casually flank Foster. “You run this place with Knacks,” Ras said in an attempt to get Foster to focus on him.
“Given yourself the tour, it seems,” said Foster. “Very impolite.”
“I can see why you wouldn’t allow people to know how you make fuel,” Ras said.
“There is a penalty for trespassing, you know,” Foster said, pulling the pistol from his holster and remorselessly aiming it at Callie. “And you, you should be grateful.”
Callie glared at him. “Why?”
“I cut your tether to your idiot Lack,” Foster said. “You don’t have to stand two inches away from him. Then again, the serum essentially made you a Lack yourself, so I’m not sure which is worse.” After a moment, he dropped it to his side. “Oh, Lupava would go on and on if I shot you,” Foster said, then turned to Ras. “You’re annoyingly difficult to dispatch, did you know that?”
Foster leveled the pistol at Ras and squeezed the trigger. The end of the barrel glowed green, and Ras felt a sharp shift in momentum throwing him to his right.
Callie had shoved him out of the way.
The beam emitted from the barrel struck her midsection, throwing her back as she cried out in pain. She struggled to put out a small fire from her shirt, but her hands came up covered with blood in the attempt.
“No!” Ras shouted, scrambling to pick himself up. He lunged at Foster, who easily shifted targets to Ras’ chest. The beam stopped just before striking him. However, the force from the blast knocked him backwards. He slid on the polished metal floor until he stopped next to Callie.
“See? Not perfect, but better than our first test subjects,” Foster said, inspecting his toy. “That should have put a hole straight through both of you.”
Ras inched over to Callie. “Callie! Are you all right?” He looked at the pain in her eyes, then down at the blood escaping to the floor from her hands clenching her stomach.
“Any other volunteers?” Foster asked, pointing the gun at Elias.
“I’ll have a go,” Dixie said.
Foster turned and saw the musket pointed at him. Dixie fired and his uniform blew open over his heart. He crumpled to the floor.
In moments, bodyguards moved to tackle Dixie and knock loose the rifle.
“Do you have any idea how long it’ll take to get a replacement suit sent from Derailleur, especially out here?” Foster asked, pained. He stuck two fingers in the hole in his gray uniform, ripping at it and revealing a black mesh layer of clothing. “I’ll have to thank Lupava.” Foster righted himself and aimed the gun at Dixie. “You mentioned wanting a turn.”
Elias launched himself at Foster’s back, getting his cuffed arms around Foster’s neck as guards rushed to stop the loose prisoner.
Foster’s gun fired.
The struggle stopped.
“Dad!”
Foster ducked out of the other man’s embrace and Elias fell to the ground, reaching for his absent leg, eyes glowing green.
“He’s a Knack!” Foster shouted, then looked at Ras. “Stop this!” He dashed out of the room as crew members ran away from their stations in a panic. Lights fluctuated and screens flickered. Winds howled as Energy began pooling in from everywhere to join Elias.<
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Even if the explosion of an overload wouldn’t destroy The Winnower’s bridge, having the loose mini-Convergence of his father bouncing around the control center would surely do it.
Ras couldn’t watch his father die. He scrambled to be alongside Elias, sliding in next to him. “Dad!”
“Let me go!” Elias said, pained.
“I can’t!” Ras placed his hands on his father, watching for the green glow of his eyes to subside. It didn’t. “Why isn’t this working?” He shouted, fearing his father was at the point of no return.
“Callie! Help me!”
She looked at Ras, then back to the pool of blood. She mouthed something Ras couldn’t make out. He needed another Lack strong enough to repel his father’s overload, but she wasn’t moving.
Ras began dragging his father’s body over to her. The room rattled violently. Ras had never seen the formation of a Convergence and he was determined not to find out how the process went quite yet. Callie gasped as Ras slid Elias next to her and her blue eyes turned black. Ras placed a hand on Callie, the other on Elias.
“You are not leaving me!” Ras shouted. “I won’t let you!”
The beginnings of a Convergence glowed about Elias, dancing along his skin, emanating from where his leg used to be.
Dixie crawled away from the epicenter of Elias, backing up against the wall.
The Energy danced over to Callie, swirling around her. She screamed, throwing the Energy away in a one-foot radius from her body, then further, scrubbing away the Energy that had pooled into Elias' skin.
Sparks showered throughout the bridge. The room filled with a vortex as the Void fought the Energy. With one more scream, the Energy blasted away to the far corners of the bridge, shattering every window.
Elias exhaled sharply as his eyes returned to their hazel hue.
Callie’s blue eyes remained black as The Winnower lurched and canted slightly at an angle. They were dropping. Warning klaxons went wild inside the nearly empty command center and green lights flipped to red all over the room.
“The Convergences!” Ras said. “I think you just took down eight Convergences at once!”
“What just happened?” Dixie asked, trying to find her footing.