Aetherial Annihilation (28 page)

"That won't solve the Colombian issue though," Elyssa said. "They'll probably anticipate a portal opening over the crystoid, and you have to be fairly close to channel into it."

"Right, but if I fly a broom close enough, I might be able to drop a timed explosive into the crater." I made a diving motion with my hand, then swooped it back up. "I fly back through the sky portal, the timer goes off, and boom."

"I have a better idea," Elyssa said. "Didn't Cinder learn how to make golems from Fjoeruss?"

"Genius!" I hugged her and pulled back. "We could have a golem fly an explosive right into the crater."

Elyssa beamed. "Let's call Cinder."

"I'll tell Commander Salazar to pull back his troops," Thomas said. "If this works, they'll need to be miles away to escape the blast radius."

I called Cinder, but his reply to my request dampened my mood.

"Justin, I'm afraid I can't make a golem coordinated enough to fly a broom," he said. "So far, my creations have been rather rudimentary. I can offer an alternative."

"Fjoeruss?" I said.

"Perhaps, though Victus Edison might provide you with a robot that could perform the task."

I scowled at the thought of asking Victus, but he might actually prove useful. Plus, unless he was in league with Frankenberg, he hadn't actually done anything to hinder our efforts. "Thanks, Cinder."

"I wish I could be more useful, Justin, though I may have come up with a way to safely neutralize the crystoids from afar."

My grim mood brightened. "Really?"

"Indeed. I studied our past encounters with the malaether crucibles," he said. "Theoretically, it should be possible to fill a crucible with Stasis and detonate it on a crystoid."

I whooped. "Cinder, that's brilliant!"

"Ha, ha, ha," he responded with a somewhat manic laugh. "I am glad you think so. Though I lack the ability to infuse a crucible, you should find all the materials you need at the Templar compound."

"Cinder, you might have just found the magic bullet." I almost hopped in place like Ivy when she was overjoyed. "I'll test one right away."

I ended the call.

"Wow." Elyssa gave me a wondering look. "Did Cinder pull through?"

"He more than pulled through." I told them about his crucible theory.

"We have dozens of empty crucibles in the armory," Thomas said.

I turned for the door. "I'm on the way."

"Wait." Elyssa grabbed my arm. "A crucible can't be guided. We'll still need a delivery system."

It seemed Victus might still have a part to play. "I think it's time to ask Science Academy for help."

Thomas took out his phone. "I'll contact Victus."

"Let's be careful who we tell about this." An uneasy feeling squirmed in my stomach. "Frankenberg might be acting alone, or he might have help."

Thomas lowered the phone. "Are you suggesting I contact someone else at the academy?"

"Maybe. I think we need to play it safe." Unfortunately, I didn't know who else to contact.

Commander Borathen folded his arms across his chest. "I've dealt with plenty of similar situations. Let me handle it. What I need to know is if the crucible idea will be feasible."

Thomas Borathen had a few centuries' worth of dealing with scumbags and fighting wars. Knowing he was in charge of the Science Academy issue made me feel a lot better. "In that case, we'll be in the armory." I grabbed Elyssa's hand and we made our way down to the weapons room.

A Templar behind a window let us into the back room at Elyssa's command. We walked past racks of swords, past shelves filled with crates, and to the back wall where pads held the spherical glass crucibles. They varied in size from small melon-shaped globes to the largest that came up past my waist. They looked incredibly fragile, but were strong enough to be launched from catapults. Arcanes usually filled them with destructive magical spells, which reminded me—I didn't know how to charge one.

"How do I get Stasis inside one of these things?" I asked.

Elyssa pointed to a large bronze contraption shaped like a box. A wide vice with suction cups on the clamps protruded from the center. "Arcanes put the crucible on the sealer and tighten the arm so a suction cup touches the top and bottom. Then they cast spells at the crucible." She pretended to wave a wand. "Once they're done charging the crucible, you spin the handle on the sealer and it charges the outside of the glass to keep the spell from leaking out."

"Sounds easy enough." I picked up a large crucible and set it on the lower suction cup then twisted the wheel on the side of the arm until the top suction cup made contact.

"Not too tight," Elyssa said. She inspected the top. "It's not all the way down."

I eased the vice tighter until Elyssa told me to stop.

"Good enough." She backed up. "Do your magic, hot stuff."

I kissed her on the cheek. "As you wish." I summoned spheres of Murk and Brilliance in either hand, then wove them into a ball of Stasis. I channeled a gray beam into the crucible and it began to fill with fog. "How much can this thing hold?" I asked.

"I have no idea." Elyssa backed up a few steps.

I gave her an alarmed look. "Will it shatter if it gets too full?"

She shrugged and backed up again.

Discerning the correct amount of Stasis was something I hadn't considered. It typically took me a solid minute or two of channeling to disable a crystoid, so I counted the seconds and let the Stasis flow. When I reached the two-minute mark, I breathed a sigh of relief and released the weave. "I hope that's enough."

Elyssa pointed to the lever on the side of the machine. "Don't forget to seal it."

I spun the handle on the side and the sealer hummed.

"Keep spinning it until it crackles," Elyssa said.

I did as instructed. A few seconds later, magical energy arced across the surface of the glass sphere, crackling like electricity. I stopped rotating the handle and the crucible emitted a dim glow.

I stepped back and admired my handiwork. "Looking good."

Elyssa stepped to my side. "Now we have to test it."

I pumped a fist. "Colombia, here we come."

After carefully loosening the vice, I lifted the sphere and noted it felt only slightly heavier than before. Even so, it was cumbersome to walk with such a large glass ball in my arms.

Elyssa snorted as I waddled toward her. "We have levitator carts for those things." She walked behind the sealing machine and returned, pulling the handle of a floating platform with four pads lined up in a row on top.

I placed the crucible on it.
One might not be enough.
"I'm going to fill four crucibles just in case."

She nodded. "Yeah, good idea."

About a half hour later, I breathed a sigh of relief and loaded the cart with the fourth and final crucible. The process had drained me, but hopefully it would be worth it.

I towed the cart out of the armory. At Elyssa's suggestion, we rode the levitator at the end of the corridor all the way up to the underground parking garage and tucked the cart with the Stasis crucibles in a corner.

Practically the whole gang except for Nightliss was waiting for us when we reached the conference room.

Shelton went for a high-five when he saw me, and I didn't leave him hanging. "You ready to kick some ass?"

I slapped his hand. "You know it."

A hopeful gleam shone in Mom's eyes. "If this works, it could be the turning point."

"It's got to work," I said. "We just need a way to land them to the crystoids."

"Do you need me to fill some crucibles?" Ivy asked.

"Not yet," I told her. "First, we need to test them."

Thomas appeared in the doorway and motioned me into the hall.

"What did you find out?" I asked.

"I spoke with Victus," he said. "Before I could talk to him about our new idea, he told me that he'd heard about Frankenberg's betrayal, and had assembled a small army of battle bots to assist us."

I felt my eyebrows rise. "Interesting."

"I invited him here so we could discuss logistics." Thomas's phone beeped and he checked it. "In fact, he just arrived in the hangar."

"What do you want me to do?" I asked.

"I'll speak to him about specifics and make it very clear he's not to tell anyone, not even his wife, about our plans."

"Let's hope he agrees to it."

Thomas nodded his head toward the levitator at the end of the corridor. "I'll go meet him and join the rest of you after our discussion." He turned and left without another word.

Shelton was arguing with Adam when I entered the room. "Are you kidding me? Rocket sticks would be perfect."

"You can't guide the stupid things," Adam said. "Plus, how in the world would you secure a big honking crucible to the stick?"

"Duct tape." Shelton circled his arm through the air as if taping a crucible to a rocket stick.

"Doesn't Science Academy have guided rockets?" I asked.

"Yeah," Adam said. "But even if you could strap a crucible to them, their aerodynamic profile would be so far off, the missile would probably fly in loops or crash."

"There must be some way to guide the crucibles to the crystoids." I ran a hand through my hair. "What about strapping a crucible to the back of a robot and command it to fly a rocket stick into the crater?"

"Sure, that could work," Shelton said.

Adam nodded. "It'd work, but robots are expensive and time-consuming to build. I doubt we'd have enough to spare."

"Man, you guys really know how to spoil the mood." I puffed out a breath. "And here I thought we had the answer."

"We do have the answer," Adam said. "It's just not going to be as easy to use it as we'd hoped."

Thomas marched past us and to the front of the room with Victus Edison behind him. The conversations faded.

"As I'm sure you're all aware, we've had some recent developments that may speed the conclusion of the crystoid incident," Thomas said. "Victus also has something he'd like to share."

"Thank you, Commander Borathen." Victus's lips curved into a politician's smile. "Science Academy wholeheartedly condemns the actions of former Chancellor Frankenberg. We don't know if he's a key player in the crystoid incident, or simply an opportunist, but we will do whatever possible to bring him to justice."

"Sounds like a stump speech," Shelton murmured.

"To that end, we're donating twenty-five new battle-bots to help combat Frankenberg's troops." He paused as if waiting for applause, but Ivy was the only one who clapped.

"Oh, I love robots!" she exclaimed. "Do they make beep-beep boop-boop noises, or can they talk?"

Victus's smile faded. "Uh, these talk." He cleared his throat and continued. "Commander Borathen also asked if we could provide a reliable delivery method for crucibles."

"Rocket sticks and duct tape," Shelton said.

Adam face-palmed.

Victus nodded as if it were an idea worthy of consideration. "I thought about rockets or missiles, but the size of the crucibles would be a hindrance to navigation."

"What about flying robots?" Ivy said.

"The current generation of flying robots suffers from too many deficiencies to do the job," he replied. "Robots are also not very good at flying rocket sticks or that might also be a consideration."

Shelton frowned. "Dash all our hopes and dreams, why don't ya?"

Victus frowned. "The situation might seem rather hopeless." His frown turned upside down. "Fortunately, we do have a solution."

"Of course he does," Adam muttered.

"Delivery drones." Victus's statement didn't exactly arouse a big cheer, primarily because we were trading confused looks.

"You mean like those remote-controlled planes the noms use?" Elyssa said.

He shook his head. "No. It's better if I show you." Victus took out an arcphone, set it on the table, and projected a video from it. "This is a promotional video, so please excuse any hyperbole."

A somber voice spoke. "Getting a time-sensitive package to a recipient is a challenge." The video showed a frustrated man trying to fly a rocket stick with a big box under one arm, and crashing into the water. "Until now, you've always had to rely on others to do it for you." The image switched to a kid tossing a package onto someone's doorstep and the sound of glass shattering inside.

The voice grew excited. "Now there's an easier way. Introducing the UFO Three-K personal delivery drone." The image switched to show a flying saucer the size of a dinner plate lifting a large box off the ground and carrying it from a man with a huge grin on his face, to a woman who squealed with joy as she pulled fragile glass statues from the delivered box.

Victus paused the video. "I think you get the idea."

"Yeah, I get the idea," Shelton said. "That thing will get shot out of the sky faster than a buck-toothed fairy on a flying corncob."

"Uh…" Victus gave him an uncertain look. "We can fit the drones with camouflage. If we only activate the camouflage during the crucial transition through enemy forces, the battery should last long enough to see it safely to the ground."

Adam raised a hand. "The crucible actually needs to smash on the ground to be effective."

"We can program the drones for a low altitude airdrop." Victus forwarded the video to show one of the flying saucers drop a box with a parachute attached. "Instead of putting a parachute on the package, we allow it to freefall."

"How soon can we get these drones?" Elyssa asked.

Victus splayed his hands. "Right now if you want."

"I'll go with him," Shelton said.

Adam waved a hand. "Me too."

"Can I have a flying saucer?" Ivy asked Mom.

Mom rubbed her shoulder. "Maybe after the war, darling."

Ivy sagged. "Aw, but I want one now."

"You can fill crucibles for the flying saucers," I told her. 

She brightened. "Sure. Where do we go?"

"I'll take you." I turned to Elyssa. "We'll be in the armory."

"Sounds good." She motioned toward the holographic map. "I'll be up here discussing logistics. If the test in Colombia goes well, we could launch dozens of attacks at once."