Aetherial Annihilation (25 page)

I scrambled to the top and shuffled from one side to the other until I felt the whisper of static against my face. "This might work!" I looked around and spotted a large flat rock that could boost me a little higher. I dropped to the ground and hefted it.

The pilot and radio operator gasped and broke into an argument. The copilot finally achieved consciousness again. He tried to run, but the other two men tackled him and shouted desperately in his face.

"Damn, I wish I knew what they were saying." Obviously, they weren't plotting escape, or they would've run already. I doubted they had any hope of capturing me. I hoped they simply wanted to get the hell out of North Korea like I did.

With my booster rock in place, the aether hit me in the upper chest. It wasn't perfect, but it was good enough. I focused on the airships. "Let's see how good your shields are." They were still too far off for me to hit. Their lasers would be in range long before I could hit them.

I pointed at the pilot and crew and motioned them to take cover behind my rock. Faces frightened, they huddled against it. The boulder wouldn't protect any of us—the destruction I'd wrought on the infantry with our laser was testament enough. On the other hand, I now had access to Murk.

An ultraviolet sphere blossomed in my left hand. I projected it in a wall in front of the boulder and let it thicken. The first laser splashed against it an instant later. Hot air washed past, but the shield held.

The crewmen cried out when the next blast thundered into the ground in front of the shield. The pilot looked with amazement at the shimmering energy flowing from my hand. I gave him a thumbs-up. He hesitantly returned the gesture.

I hope those lasers don't hit the crystoid or we're all cooked.

The airships closed in. Under normal circumstances, they'd need to be fairly close for my attacks to do any damage, but the aether beam was like super-concentrated fuel to my Seraphim core. I fired a thin beam of Brilliance from my right index finger. Even from a hundred yards away, it left a burn mark on the ablative armor.

My new buddies cried out at the display.

It was a promising start, but no reason to celebrate. The only hope at holding my ground was disabling the lasers on the airships. They had to get closer. Instead, the lead vessel held position while the other one circled to our right.

They're going to flank us.

In a few short moments, we'd be surrounded. I could extend my protective shield, but then what? We'd be trapped. Soldiers would soon flood the area, and surrender or death would be the only option.
Come on, Elyssa!

I aimed my right palm toward the laser turret on the bottom of the first airship and unleashed everything I had. A torrent of Brilliance sliced the air and speared into the weapon. The energy splashed over it, seeming to do no damage. I felt perspiration break on my forehead. Salt stung my eyes, and my arm began to ache from the strain of pouring so much energy through it. In my peripheral vision, I saw the other airship drift into position. Its turret swiveled toward me.

"No!" I shouted. "Blow up, you son of a bitch!"

The laser on the first vessel glowed cherry red and finally exploded. I released the energy and shifted my left hand to form another Murk shield to protect our flank. Before I could move, a red beam speared from the second airship.

I threw up my arms, as if that would save me. It didn't.

The laser slammed into another shield of Murk that appeared from nowhere.

I heard someone shouting—in English. I looked up and behind me to see the glorious sight of Ivy channeling the protective barrier from a gateway ten feet above. Elyssa appeared behind her and dropped a rope. It unfurled to the ground a few feet behind the boulder.

"Go! Go!" I motioned the crewmen toward the rope. The pilot shimmied up, but his progress was agonizingly slow. "Didn't you go through boot camp?" I yelled.

A look of puzzlement swept over Elyssa's face, but she quickly recovered and pulled up the rope. I shouted at Ivy. "Blow up the laser turret!" I jabbed a finger at the target.

Still holding the Murk shield, she balled up a crackling sphere of Brilliance and released a massive beam of energy. The turret didn't hold out long before it melted to slag. Ivy wasn't finished. Face locked in a fierce scowl, she directed the beam up the nacelle of the airship.

"Nobody messes with my brother!" she shrieked.

The deadly beam splashed off the nose of the aircraft, but within seconds the metal glowed red and Ivy's attack blew a hole through it. The vessel listed and lost altitude, plummeting down. With a loud groan and shriek of metal, the airship smashed into the ground and broke apart.

"Now, Justin!" Elyssa shouted.

I spun and saw the rope hit the ground. Shouts echoed all around me and gunfire erupted. I leapt from the boulder and grabbed the rope, shimmying up it as fast as my hands could move. Elyssa jerked the rope. I flew through the portal and skidded to a stop at her feet.

"Close the portal," I told Ivy.

Lips peeled back from her teeth, she faced me and said, "This isn't finished." Lifting both hands, she channeled Murk and Brilliance into a ball of stasis and fired a gray beam into the crystoid.

Bullets zinged somewhere on the other side of the gateway, but the soldiers apparently didn't have a good angle to fire directly into the portal. I leapt up and summoned Murk, ready to shield my sister from attack. The crystoid crackled as Stasis consumed it.

I saw a soldier run into view and take aim. A quick lance of Brilliance from my finger pierced his chest and he dropped, smoke pouring from his mouth. I saw another and cut him down. Two more burst into view, one with a rocket launcher on his shoulder. I hit the projectile on the nose and it exploded. Body parts rained across the blasted terrain.

The crystoid shattered.

"Got it!" Ivy piped.

I pulled her back from the gateway and willed it closed. The portal winked away and the only sound was our heavy breathing.

"Son of a bitch!" I dropped to my knees and breathed a sigh of relief.

Elyssa gripped me in a fierce hug. "What happened? Are you okay?"

I pulled myself up and peppered her face with kisses. "I'm wonderful now." Turning to Ivy, I smothered her with a hug. "Thanks, sis."

She giggled. "You got it."

"I was beginning to wonder if you'd open another portal," I said.

"We tried for over an hour." Elyssa wiped tears from her eyes. "How did they block us?"

"A steel plate covered with diamond fiber." I gave them the details of my encounter and looked around for the crewmen. They huddled, eyes wide, in the aisle between the omniarches and the smaller black arches. "Anyone speak Korean?"

"Uh, I suppose we can find someone." Elyssa took out her phone. "I have no idea what to do with these people."

I walked over to them and smiled. "Welcome to the Overworld."

They all spoke at once, motioning around the control room, faces screwed up in confusion.

It was great to be home, but this development pointed toward something sinister afoot in our own ranks. It seemed we had a traitor in our midst.

Chapter 21

We traveled via portal to the Ranch with our North Korean refugees and met with Thomas and the others.

"Man, I thought you were done travelling the world," Shelton said with a wry grin after I finished the story.

"The pilot and crew are in an interrogation room with a translator," Thomas said. "If they know who gave them those airships and the robot, we'll find out."

I repeated my suspicions. "It's obvious someone from Science Academy supplied them. It all points to Victus. He has first-hand knowledge about our operations."

"The evidence does seem damning," Thomas agreed. "But you still have plenty of enemies at the academy. It could have been any one of them. Our operation to nullify the crystoids is no secret."

"Why would Victus want to stop us?" Elyssa said. "He wants to be the next Arcanus Primus, so getting rid of the crystoids should be at the top of his priorities."

Their arguments make too much sense.
"True. His interests should align with ours." I thought back to my failed meeting with the Science Council during the war. They'd done everything possible to prevent anyone, even students from aiding our cause. Several members had likely been in cahoots with Daelissa. That realization broadened the spectrum of possible culprits.

"None of this changes our objectives," Elyssa said. "We need to continue wiping out the crystoid menace. From now on, we'll be more careful before following anonymous tips."

"Got that right." Shelton looked at Thomas. "Speaking of which, any intel on potential targets?"

"We have images for three more," Thomas replied. He set an arctablet on the table and projected the map. "One in California and two in Canada. If we nullify them, North America will be free of crystoids."

Shelton pumped his fist. "Let's get on it."

Ivy stepped forward, an eager look on her face. "I'm good to go."

Elyssa, Shelton, Ivy and I portaled back to the Grotto and used the image of the crystoid in California. This time, I stayed at the edge of the gateway to avoid any traps and poked my head through.

Four men in lab coats stood at the crater edge, an array of various instruments nearby. None of them seemed aware of the portal open in the sky above them. They'd certainly be aware the moment Ivy started channeling and we couldn't allow that. A tall chain link fence topped with razor wire surrounded the perimeter and a pair of soldiers in camouflage guarded the only gate.

I pointed two fingers at my eyes and then held up six fingers. Elyssa nodded and joined me at the gateway. She licked a finger and held it up to gauge the wind, then carefully aimed a wrist-mounted lancer at the nearest scientist. Within seconds, four darts found their targets and dropped them. The soldiers, however, would be harder to knock out thanks to their body armor and the fence.

Elyssa strapped another lancer to her other wrist and slid down a rope with catlike grace. She stealthily approached the guards from behind and held both hands up to the holes in the chain link fence. A heartbeat later, the pair took a trip to dreamland and slumped to the ground. Shelton and I slid down the rope and moved the unconscious scientists all the way to the fence, keeping them away from the crater in case something went wrong.

Shelton looked around nervously. "Glad there aren't any robots."

I puffed a breath through my lips. "Tell me about it."

The moment we climbed the rope and returned through the gateway, Ivy took her place and channeled Stasis into the crystoid, rendering it inert within minutes while I anchored her. I closed the portal and exchanged high-fives with everyone.

Shelton grunted. "Let's hope the next one goes as smoothly."

We decided to target the crystoid at Algonquin Provincial Park north of Toronto next. The moment we opened the gateway, a very startled man on a platform on the opposite side of the crater looked back at us.

Eyes, wide, he backed up a step and said, "Oh, excuse me, but are you floating in mid-air?"

I looked around and saw several more people staring up at us. Thankfully, there weren't any gun-wielding soldiers nearby.

I decided to use truth instead of force with this group. "These crystoids are a huge danger to our world, so we're disabling them."

"You're Americans?" He asked.

"Some of us are, yes."

Elyssa stepped into view. "We're an international group trying to stop the crystoid menace before it wrecks the environment."

"Oh." He nodded vigorously.

"That sure sounds good," said a woman standing near the crater edge. "Some of these things have already exploded in other parts of the world and killed thousands of people. We sure don't want it ruining our lovely park."

"If you'd like, we can neutralize this thing and be on our way," I said.

"Yeah, sure," the man on the platform said. "I'm sure sorry for asking, but are you using some sort of interdimensional gateway?"

"That's sure what it looks like, Bob," the woman said.

"Wish I could explain, but it's better if you don't know," I said. "May we proceed?"

"Sure," Bob replied. "Should we move away?"

"I'd stand back a good ways, just in case." I motioned Ivy over.

She stepped into the gateway and grinned brightly. "Hey, everyone!"

"Wow, they sure do hire young these days," Bob said.

Ivy seemed eager to perform for a crowd. "Enjoy the light show." With that, she blasted the crystoid with Stasis, and blew the Canadians' minds.

The Canadians clapped politely after Ivy finished. She bowed and waved. "You're so polite!"

"They're Canadians," Shelton huffed. He checked the crystoid off the map. "See if they have any connections at the site in British Columbia."

I relayed the question to Bob.

"Sure, I know a couple of the fellas over there." He took out a cell phone. "I'll bet they'd be real pleased if you could help them out."

"We'll get right on it," I said.

"I'll call and let them know you're, uh,"—he stared at the portal—"coming, or whatever you do."

"Tell them we'll be there in about ten minutes," I said.

"Wow, okay then."

We waved goodbye and closed the portal.

Elyssa and Ivy burst into giggles.

"They were so nice," Ivy said.

"Gotta love Canadians," Shelton mused. "If the rest of the world was like that, we'd never have to worry about war again."

"Yeah, but you'd never get through a door either," Elyssa said. "Everyone would be too busy saying, 'you first' to ever get inside."

"I'm really disappointed in all of you," I said, giving them a stern gaze. "You're stereotyping an entire nation of people just because a few of them happened to be polite."

Elyssa narrowed her eyes at me. "It's a positive stereotype."

"I'm sure there are plenty of mean Canadians," I said.

"I dunno, but the farther north you go, the friendlier they get," Shelton said. "Those people in North Dakota sure were nice, and they made some great cookies." He frowned. "I wonder if those scientists had cookies somewhere."