“Run?” I asked. “How am I supposed to outrun a meteor? If it hits anywhere near here, we’re dead.”
Rax must have contemplated that, finally saying, “Yes. You are correct.”
“Damn,” I whispered. “You mean that’s it?”
I certainly did not want to be correct. As I stared at the meteor, I remembered a dream I’d had before. In the dream, I was in a giant plaza full of frightened people. We all knew that a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile was coming. In the dream, I told people to relax, as there was nothing we could do about it.
I exhaled. I was living the dream. That wasn’t a nuke coming down, but it was the end of me, and there was nowhere I could run in time to escape it.
“I cannot believe this,” Rax said.
“What?”
“The meteor is moving far too slowly.”
“Yes!” I shouted. “That’s what I’ve been thinking. What’s causing the different fall rates?”
“If it were a meteor on Earth, it should have struck the surface by now.”
“Right. What does that all mean?”
“That you should run, Logan, and see if you can reach the portal in time. There are odd properties at work here that I do not understand. I also cannot fathom why the portal is semi-activated and why no one is coming through.”
“Run?” I asked.
“That is what I said. As fast as you can up to the portal.”
I looked up one more time. Then, I lowered my head and broke into a steady trot, as I would not be able to sprint for long with the hot air coming into my lungs nor plowing through all this sand. I needed some water, and after a hundred yards, I wondered if I should shed the rifle, duffel bag and waist pack.
After two hundred yards, I threw the Polarion rifle down, dug out the box holder and undid the waist pack, dropping it to the sand.
After another hundred yards, Rax said, “Logan! I have made a terrible error. You must turn back, and get the waist pack and rifle as fast as you can.”
“Why?” I panted.
“Because it is the only way we shall succeed,” Rax said.
-38-
I didn’t want to turn around, but I trusted the little sentient crystal from Rax Prime. We had been through a lot together. We bickered sometimes, but he had a good—I was going to say a good heart. But he clearly didn’t have one. I didn’t really know how Rax did the things he did. At this point, I didn’t care. But it would have been good to know how he sensed things, how he controlled alien machines through his wireless connection.
I skidded to a halt, dared to look up at the fireball—it did look bigger, a hell of a lot bigger than the last time I’d checked.
I sprinted back for the waist pack. It had a few worthless items and the belt he’d told me to leave behind in the asteroid-station storage locker. That seemed like a lifetime ago now. After scooping up the waist pack and duffel bag, I raced to the rifle, but didn’t see it right away.
A hot wind had been blowing, and it had already erased my tracks.
“Rax!” I shouted. “Where’s the rifle?”
“Two meters to your left.”
I turned and started in that direction and finally got on my hands and knees—there it was. I picked it up, slinging the strap over my shoulder.
“I have them,” I yelled.
“Put on the Polarion belt,” Rax said. “It has a control unit in place of a belt buckle.”
The belt was heavier than it looked, with round discs in various places and a set of buttons on a round silver buckle.
“What is this thing that’s it’s so important?”
“A null-gravity belt,” Rax said.
“What the heck?” I shouted. “You mean I can fly with it?”
“Yes.”
“You mean I needn’t have trekked through the damn dinosaur jungle if I’d been using this?”
“If you had used the null-G belt in the last world, the Sliths likely would have killed you in the air.”
He had a point. Still, I could have worn this and sailed down to the ground instead of plunging from the ornithopter in a pod.
“How does it work?” I asked grumpily.
He began explaining. It sounded complicated, and with all his warnings about it, dangerous to use.
“You mean I can crash while wearing this?” I asked.
“Break your neck or other vital bones.”
I looked up at the fireball. The heat from it had become quite noticeable. The roar was starting to become deafening. I’d had to hold Rax against one of my ears to hear his final instructions.
“One last thing,” he said. “You must avoid the guardian building if you can. I should have foreseen this. Guardian creatures live there and I believe they have technological weapons that could do you harm. It’s possible they know we are here.”
“It’s always something,” I muttered. “Are you ready?”
“The question is, are you?”
I nodded, and on second thought, slid the rifle strap off and slung it and the box crossways on my back. I didn’t want the rifle or Prometheus stone slipping off while I was flying.
I heard a noise and realized Rax was shouting at me.
I placed him against my right ear. “If the portal loses the blue glow, that means it is deactivated. You must enter the threshold before that happens. We will not have longer—”
I didn’t hear the rest because I tucked him in my belt. I wanted the Celestial Cybernetic Circuit. I didn’t just want to survive for a few days, but find the parts I needed to make the weapon that would defeat Nerelon Brontios and save Earth.
I looked at the cliff top. The blue in the portal flickering was less than before. If the fireball hit, nothing would matter. I doubted that even the ancient portal would survive a meteor strike. Could I race down into the vault and find the CCC in time?
There was only one way to find out. I mumbled a short prayer and began to activate the Polarion null-gravity belt.
At first, I felt lighter. Then, my feet left the hot black sand. I shouted, fiddled with the belt—and shot skyward at an alarming rate. That nearly proved my undoing. I touched controls, tipped over headfirst and began falling toward the black sand.
For two heartbeats, I thought it was over. I was going to break my neck before I got the hang of this. But I felt lighter again as I pressed a control and stopped upside-down three feet above the hot black sand.
That was not fun a feeling, let me tell you.
By degrees, I righted myself and started floating upward at a slower rate. I adjusted and began to move toward the cliff, not directly but to the left. Naturally, it seemed from here that I was on an intercept course for the half-buried metal tower. That was just great.
A light snapped on in a middle-story window. I would have liked the Polarion space helmet I’d worn before so I could have used zoom to see what was happening. It looked like a human shape moved in front of the light. Then, an object sped from the window at me.
“Shit!” I shouted, realizing a rocket-propelled grenade was heading for me.
I pressed a buckle control and dropped like a rock—I’d already gained some height.
I wasn’t looking closely enough, but something hissed over me. I was too busy attempting to regain control of the null-G belt to study the grenade.
Finally, I bobbed upward like a cork in the air. I was still headed for the half-buried building. As carefully as I could, I unlimbered my Polarion rifle. It was harder than it sounded. It’s amazing how much we take for granted being grounded.
As I neared the cliff and the half-buried metal tower to the left, I saw humanoids leaning out the widows. They were tall and manlike, but scaly like the basilisks. They had squished-in human faces. Most of the face was in one-third of the area as on a regular human face.
I was close all right, and I—
I did not fire. Instead, on inspiration, I raised my rifle with both hands over my head. I jerked it up and down several times, as I drift
ed nearer.
By now, I counted fifteen of them. Most of them cradled heavy-looking rocket launchers. I could not wipe out fifteen of the suckers before one of them blew me out of the sky. So, I practiced the subtle art of diplomacy, indicating my peaceful intent.
The humanoids watched me closely as I pointed the rifle at the ground and beamed it, turning black sand into black glass.
As quickly as I could, I re-slung the rifle strap across my torso. After that, I kept my hands on the belt’s buckle controls. I had to figure this thing out fast, or I would pass the portal and have to land far behind it, hoofing up to it using a roundabout path.
I did not think the fireball, slow as it was, was going to give me the needed time for that, especially if I was going to go down into a vault.
The meteor roar was deafening and the heat almost intolerable. It was a weird feeling, this world, the situation. I almost felt sorry for the guardians until the bastards started firing their rocket launchers at me again.
So much for my peaceful approach.
I tapped the buckle and shot upward like a rocket. The grenades whooshed past far below me.
I no longer had time to watch them. I tried several expedients, and finally, I shifted to the right. I cried out from the meteor heat, tapped a control and fell like a rock. I had to get down pronto. Far down there on the hill, the portal flickered and went blank.
I groaned.
Then, it flickered on again.
I swallowed, my ears popped, and the ground rushed up. I no longer noticed if any rocket-propelled grenades headed at me. Maybe the guardians no longer cared. Surely, they knew it was the end for them.
I concentrated on using the belt. With a jerk, my descent stopped, and I hung in the air. I tapped, lowering myself by fits and starts.
I heard nothing but the great and final roar of the approaching fireball. My skin felt prickly, worse than any sunburn I’d ever had.
With a final drop, I crumpled upon the ground behind the portal. I lay there panting, grimly hot and tired, feeling wasted inside and defeated. Slowly, I looked up.
A great metal trapdoor rose as if from the very ground. I saw a thin scaly hand on a handle on the bottom, pushing. He struggled to lift what must have been a heavy metal hatch. Finally, he passed a certain point, releasing it as the heavy metal door slammed down against the rocky ground.
In the glow of the great fireball, I saw a slender humanoid climb out from the vault. He moved closer until he stood over me, regarding me. The half-human was wearing a towering metal hat that came to a point and a smoldering leather coat. He was holding a round pulsating device like an out-of-control crystal ball. The device seemed to ray stuff into my mind.
I had an idea that maybe the CCC was inside the crystal ball. Yet, how had he known to bring it here? I wanted to get up and tear it out of his hands, but a terrible lethargy filled me. The half-human—he was a priest, I somehow realized—squatted before me. He pressed the pulsating sphere against my head.
“Do you hear me?” he asked.
“I do,” I said, or thought, realizing I hadn’t opened my mouth to speak.
“You are the cosmic-powered stranger, the one who flies but does not kill. You are the one spoken of in legend that will signal the end of life. I have a message for you.”
“You can’t possibly have a message for me.”
“You seek truth and justice, but someone has played you false.”
I thought of Ailuros.
“She is evil. My master taught her a bitter lesson once, long ago. He is gone now. You must be his knife. In order to defeat her and her allies, you must gain wisdom and understanding. You will never reach home unless you take the sphere and let it fill you with power.”
“Who are you?” I asked.
“The last guardian priest,” he replied. “I have read the ancient prophecies. I know you are the one even though you are not of the race of the gods. You must take the sphere. It will guide you back to your world.”
“Why are you helping me?”
“I told you, you were foretold and passed the tests, and the proximity grenades did not kill you. That was a miracle.”
I imagine Rax had done that.
“It was a miracle,” the priest insisted. “This is the end of life, the end of my world, and you are the cosmic stranger. Take the sphere and let me finish my days, having done my duty.”
It felt surreal as I sat up and extended my hands. He placed the pulsating ball in my palms, closed my fingers around it with his and backed away toward the vault entrance.
As he released the sphere, I arched in agony as light, pain, joy and inky darkness exploded in my mind. I could not move, as levers seemed to click in my mind. Pathways blossomed into existence, and it felt as if my fingers were welded to the sphere. My mind fused in some terrible fashion, in some invisible way like an electronic connection. Ideas flowed into me, new thoughts sped into my mind. I became enraptured at this, so much so that I failed to hear Rax warning me of dire consequences from his place on my belt.
I realized my old ways of thought were slow and mundane. The—
I cocked my head even as I strove to reconnect my mind to my optic nerves. I could spend a lifetime simply thinking, absorbed with my inner thoughts. Yet, I remembered that I was also a physical entity. I could die if I remained here, on this world, too long.
Ah. I spied black sand around me. I looked up. The fireball was almost here. Yes. Doom had come to this world.
I climbed to my feet. That took unbelievable concentration. I wanted to retreat within my innermost thoughts. A deadening lethargy filled me.
I saw the problem, naturally, and made swift adjustments.
With the pulsating sphere in my hands—I knew it held the Celestial Cybernetic Circuit—I eyed the null-G belt around my waist. It was almost as if I had X-ray vision. There was a foreign unit in there, a meta-dimensional quantum portal randomizer.
How did I know that? And how did I know it was set to go off this time?
I stared at the pulsating ball in my hands—the CCC holder. The cybernetic circuit held the guiding program and systems to fire the Ultimate Annihilator.
That was the super-science weapon’s name. But I would never use the annihilator if I couldn’t leave this world in time. That meant I had to concentrate on present reality.
I used my eyes—the fireball!
With the fiery meteor nearly here, I did not have time to physically extract the meta-dimensional quantum portal randomizer. Instead, while holding the sphere in one hand, I unbuckled the null-G belt with the other, letting the traitorous belt drop to the sand.
At that point, I hunched my shoulders, as I heard the fireball roar overhead as it descended. I’d reconnected my mind to my ears, wanting that sense as well.
Like a sleepwalker, holding the pulsating sphere before me, I headed to the front of the portal. The flickering from there was diminished, the blue almost invisible.
I could hardly breathe, as the fiery air hurt my mouth, throat and lungs. My hair must have started charring, because the stink was awful. I walked serenely just the same until I studied the flickering, swirling blue in the portal. For the first time I understood the properties under which it worked, how to activate and guide it. I lowered my head and thought harder than I ever had. Earth was far, far away from here. It seemed like an impossible distance. I concentrated, activating unseen portal controls. Doing it like this hurt my brain. It was like the worst math test I’d ever taken, times ten. Some controls seemed frozen.
I grunted, and the pulsating sphere began to beat in time to my heart, using me to power the CCC. I coughed, added a variable, subtracted several paths and walked slowly into the portal—
To trip and plunge out on the other side, falling on my face. I still gripped the pulsating sphere, it was under me, and because of my lethargy, I might have lain on the hot sand and cried in misery, but it was too damn hot for that. I scrambled up, thought a second—the vault trapdo
or had shut—and walked around to the front of the portal again. Had I entered it during a flicker moment?
Mentally recalibrating the portal took a moment. Ah, I saw a possible error. The pulsating ball almost blinded me at that point because it glowed so brightly, and my pounding headache was making it hard to think straight.
It felt as if my skin was on fire as the fireball’s roar broke through my concentration. The impact was only seconds away. Smoke billowed from the sand around me.
I stepped into the portal, and with a sigh of relief, I felt the disorientation I had come to expect. Unfortunately, that only lasted a second. Because of the pulsating sphere, I saw what transpired around me in a fundamental manner. In effect, time slowed to almost nothing so I could perceive what occurred, using the CCC to do so.
-39-
How does one go about explaining meta-quantum portal tube-dynamics to mere level two intellects? The laws governing the portal linkages and usages were ultra-complex. Despite that, I understood now how the Polarions and others had built the ancient constructs, how they could cross vast reaches and even into other dimensions, if the conditions were right.
With the direct, mental link to the CCC, my knowledge widened and deepened to an astonishing degree. Through the pulsating sphere, which beat in time to my heart—using my electro-energy to power the CCC—I could also sense what was happening around me in this ethereal realm.
There were lanes, subways, hidden routes and rifts—it was bewildering and awe-inspiring to contemplate. Instead of merely tumbling willy-nilly through the ethereal realm, I could shift into different eddies and sub-currents the way a skilled skydiver could control the direction of his fall.
Using the CCC and the slowing of time, I zipped toward my distant Earth. As I had said before, it was far away in light-years from the doom world. I was starting to get the hang of things when a terrific shudder struck me from behind.
I instantly recognized that this was a meta-quantum tube-dynamic blast, an ethereal shockwave that picked me up and propelled me at horrific velocity.
Surely, the directed fireball had finally landed on the doom world. The impact must have destroyed the ancient structure, and that destruction had begun a chain-reaction of dreadful portal mechanics.
Invaders: Dreadnought Ocelot (Invaders Series Book 4) Page 18