PILLARS OF LIGHT AND FIRE: THE COMPLETE SERIES, page 149
Gal growled in frustration and spun backward, her feet touching the bulkhead of the craft. She leaned back, away from Mordred’s broad, aggravated swipe. His arm went wide and she snapped her foot out, connecting with his helmet. The impact threw him back against the gunwale.
The spin took her upward and she landed on the upper deck above Mordred.
“You can’t get away!” Mordred shouted. “I’ll get him before you!”
“Do you even know what you’re doing?” Gal asked, Juno amplifying her voice over the wind and roar of the flames.
“Bringing about the end of your father!” Mordred said.
Gal flitted to the flaming wreckage of the pilothouse. Flashes on the forecastle told her Percy fought the rainbow-haired woman. She was fast, and though Percy had trained for many years, he wouldn’t be able to best her. Percy noticed her, because he shot up and away from the woman, who laughed at him.
“I forget sometimes I can fly,” Percy said, then saw her expression. “What’s wrong?”
“Bora.”
“Let me check—”
“She’s gone.”
“Let me check,” Percy repeated, reversing direction and shooting into the wreckage of the pilothouse. Gal watched the rainbow-haired woman pull something from her back and plant it on the deck. It was bulbous and black. A mine? A bomb?
Gal followed Percy into the burning pilothouse. Pridwen’s skin turned reflective, reducing the heat absorption significantly. Her KE field glowed.
“Did you see her? Did she jump?” Percy said. “If her transponder was on…”
“Did it blast her?”
“God strikes don’t work like waveblades. It’s energy, but it doesn’t break atomic bonds,” Percy said. “Hold on.” He vanished. Gal followed. There was a hole in the deck.
“Smart,” Percy said. “She’s here.”
Bora was crumpled below. Gal’s heart flowered with relief.
“Vitals are good. The blast could’ve knocked her unconscious. It can be overwhelming.” He pulled her up into a fireman’s carry.
“Strike warning!” Juno said.
“Down!” Gal tapped the helmet ring, and it extended around Bora’s silver-maned head.
Bulkheads blew away. Percy slammed into the wall, almost toppling over with Bora on his shoulder. “Fuck!”
“Let’s get out of here!”
“I’m trying,” Percy said. Gal spun up her drive and… slammed into the deck. Percy fell over, dropping Bora.
“What?” Percy said.
“I don’t know!” Gal said, pushing herself up on her elbows. Something pressed down onto her. She pushed harder, driving more energy into her micro-drive. The ship around her moaned.
“Push harder!” Percy said.
“I’m trying, it’s like all the weight—” Gal closed her eyes and drew as much manifest energy into herself as she could. Her body glowed and the force was excruciating, pressing harder onto her. The yacht screamed, clanged, and howled around her. There was a tremendous shudder and water was everywhere around them. Gal scrabbled on the tilting deck. Camelot II was sinking, her back broken.
“Off! OFF!” Percy shouted, his voice fading as the compartment filled with water and the ship slid down into the cold black of the sea.
The keening died away and the fog cleared somewhat. Gal pushed hard and felt more downward pressure, as though she were taking high g’s.
Percy grabbed her helmet. “Off! Shut it off! Your drive!”
Gal understood and spun down the drive. The force lifted from her back. Pridwen lit up. They were in the ocean and sinking.
“Twenty meters,” Juno reported.
Percy swam out of the massive hole, spinning and carrying Bora with him.
Gal swam after him, feeling the crush of pressure rising around her. Pridwen adjusted to the change and she swam as hard as she could toward the surface, but it wasn’t getting any closer. What? She kicked hard, pulling energy into her muscles. The rippling surface was so far away.
She drove her arms and pulled. Her helmet broke the surface, melting back from her face as she gasped for breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “Percy?”
“I’m here. I lost her!”
“What?”
“Bora! She slipped out of—”
Gal didn’t hear anything else. Closing her helmet, she dove back down under the waves. No, I can’t lose anyone. The ocean was black. “Juno, help me.”
Juno scanned through the spectrum for any sign of Bora. “Waveblade, please.”
Gal flicked Red Hilt and the water around it hissed like it was an underwater flare.
Juno flickered again and she saw Bora’s shape, floating below her.
Juno enhanced her vision and Gal swam hard, finding Bora limp. Red Hilt vanished. Sliding her arm under Bora’s arms, Gal kicked hard for the surface, legs aching. She bumped into something. It was Percy, his helmet against hers.
“I got her,” he said, his voice tinny.
Gal shifted, and together they swam to the surface with Bora. Once there, Percy rolled onto his back, holding Bora’s head above water.
Gal retracted Bora’s helmet. “She’s still breathing.” Gal’s teeth chattered. They’d been in the water for some time. “We’re going to freeze.”
“One thing at a time. Wake up,” Percy said, splashing water on Bora’s face and slapping her.
Bora groaned and coughed as water went down her throat.
“Should we try our drives?” Gal suggested, rolling onto her back to rest her tired limbs.
“Slow down, Gal,” Percy said, and smiled. “Anora is gonna be pissed you sank Camelot.”
“Would it be okay if I told her it was on fire and the ocean put it out?” Gal said. The cold seeped through her suit.
“Funny girl.”
Bora coughed and thrashed.
“Calm down. We have you,” Percy said.
Bora pushed away and flew out of the water like a bottle rocket. She got a hundred feet before she stopped.
“That answers that question,” Percy said.
“What’re you guys doing?” Bora said. “Where’s the boat?”
Gal spun up her drive and floated to Bora with Percy at her side. “Let’s get to Hector. We’ll talk on the way.”
Bora nodded, her helmet sliding back into place. “I got a drone off after the ship, but it’s out of range right now.”
As they accelerated, Gal was left with one question: how had Mordred found them?
20
One Shot
AVALON, LOW EARTH ORBIT—
Anora seethed. Bathed in ultraviolet, she could see the space about her; she gripped the anger tightly, pushing away her claustrophobia. Everything has a price, she reminded herself. She saw the spiderweb of attack, the slow advance of the five Xian teams through Avalon, getting progressively closer. Xian were capable and knew right where to hit them. Right where to hurt them. Fair is fair, then. Anora commended them for their planning and tenacity. You picked the wrong time and place. You came to my home, attacked my family and Kin. Fair is fair.
Her comm link chirped. Anora gestured angrily. “Okay, good news,” Ellen said, panting hard. “They aren’t in the main gravitic. We’ve blocked that off now.”
“You’re welcome,” Domino said, cutting in. “But wait, there’s more!”
“Dom,” Anora whispered.
“Sorry. You know how I get.”
“I do.” Half of Avalon’s internal sensors were compromised, mostly through physical attack. It gave her a pretty good idea of where the enemy was headed, though they had adapted and backtracked a few times.
Ellen continued. “Bad news is they are near the wave-caster.”
“And since the two cores are connected by design, it’s just a matter of time before they get to the gravitic. Once that’s gone, Avalon’s orbit will decay.”
“Yes,” Ellen said.
“We have the backup gravitic core—” Domino began.
“They’ve damaged that already.” She brought up the controls for the wave-cast system.
“I have to pulse the gravitic for our orbit and to maintain communications with Divining Grace. Should I just shut it down completely?” Domino asked.
Anora’s lips pressed into a thin line. They wanted to bring down Avalon. That wasn’t going to happen. At least, if it did, it would be on very different terms. “What’s the status of the wave-cast? Have we transmitted everything Divining Grace needs?”
“Hours ago. We’ve been on standby in case Jeri and Indy needed anything else.”
The Isle had its own gravitic, but it couldn’t produce a gravity bubble large enough for Avalon. They could always escape in the Isle, though that left a bad taste in Anora’s mouth. The quantum core was here. All their future computing needs resided here.
“Can we eject the core? You know… like in every bad sci-fi TV show ever?” Domino asked, interrupting Anora’s train of thought.
“No, but there are options. Keep them out of the gravitic core. Can you herd them into the borehole with the wave-cast, Ellen?”
There was a long pause as Ellen considered the problem. “We can do that.”
“Good. Juno, I need your help.” Anora brought up the systems for the wave-cast. She input the parameters and sent them to Juno, who responded with the power calculations necessary.
“There’s not enough stored energy, but manifest draw can do it,” Juno said. “Too much internal damage caused by the Xian infiltration teams, primarily to conduits also connected to the backup gravitic.”
“Run the calculations and see if we can use the direct conduits to the wave-cast systems. They were run, weren’t they?”
“Power tests were set to happen, yes, but the conduits haven’t been run to the—”
“Never mind that. The infrastructure is there.”
“Running calculations and estimations for personnel.”
Anora bypassed the safety protocol code she’d established and set the code to compile. It failed, but her automated coding systems resolved the issue. She reset the parameters. A new virtual display flickered to life before her. “System ready,” the system announced. Anora brought up the wave-cast system. Deep within Avalon, at the “bottom” of the borehole, was a chamber with two airlock mechanisms. The outer opened into space. The inner opened to the wave-cast drive. Behind the wave-cast drive was the gravitic core. If Ellen could get the remaining Xian teams into the chamber…
“Calculations complete. One to ten Kin required,” Juno said.
“Narrow to existing personnel on board.”
“Three to five Kin.”
That was enough. It was a grim thought.
“I have a problem with this,” Juno said.
“I know you’re going to object,” Anora said. “The wave-cast has never been used on organic matter, but the warp-wave has, and it’s the same concept. Jeri and Indiana are alive.”
“I still must object, Anora,” Juno said.
“I understand your objections and please place any responsibility on me.”
“I can’t allow you to take this responsibility,” Juno said, her voice firm.
“I’m not going to have an Asimov discussion right now. Reverify the calculations.”
Will Arthur forgive me for this? He’ll understand. She set the coordinates. It would be dangerous, but it… gave them the highest probability of survival. “Domino, I need you to rotate Avalon bore-downward to Earth.”
“Pulsing manually. I have your parameters.”
Avalon rotated on the display.
“Juno, run the calculations, please. Use all available computational power. Check central core conduit.”
“Stand by,” Juno said.
“What do you have in mind?” Domino asked as Avalon settled into its new orientation.
“I need five people to power up the wave-cast drive,” Anora said.
“That’s not enough to move Avalon,” Domino said. “Unless that’s not what you’re doing.”
“It’s not. You have to evacuate the gravitic core, Dom.”
Ellen cut in. “I have a team here. There are conduits available. Just have Juno reroute—”
“She’s busy. I’ll reroute once I see your power input.”
“All right. In a fight here. Get that chamber open. Domino, evacuate—”
Avalon vibrated. Anora glanced at her displays. Something was on the diamond-hard glass of the Isle… Her heart skipped a beat. Athena and Apollo… She switched to the command channel. “Hounds, they’re trying to breach—”
Light flashed across the screen and the displays whited out for a moment.
“I’m here with the Joyous Guard,” Mara Holt said over the Avalon circuit.
Anora exhaled. “Thank you. We have the Kin children there.”
“No one is going to breach the dome,” Mara said. The display returned and there were flashes of light around Dinas. There was a Xian team near the base of the dome. They must have backtracked and crossed the asteroid to the Isle. Anora’s mouth was dry. The tightness in her chest eased. She busied herself checking the central conduit system. The Xian against the Kin in outer space was no contest. Morgan and the Joyous Guard couldn’t maintain spaceflight long, but they could hold out just long enough… She rechecked the conduit, arms folded and waiting…
“Preliminary computations completed. Recommend executing when in line of sight. If not, catastrophic cons—”
“I know what the consequences are,” Anora said. Her chest constricted again and she felt the overwhelming fear of closed spaces around her. “How long?”
“Optimal launch in fifteen minutes. Suboptimal launch could occur as soon as six point three minutes.”
Anora flicked the channel over. “Ellen?”
“We’re in. They’re in the chamber, breaching the drive chamber.”
“Charge the drive. You have six minutes. Can you hold them?”
“We can try, Nor,” Ellen said, her voice strained.
“Dom, give us a higher orbit if you can. Joyous, have you cleared space?”
“Attack clear,” Mara Holt replied.
“Vacate the area. Either enter Avalon proper or depart. I don’t want any Kin around if I screw this up. Avoid the borehole.”
“Isle secure. Don’t fuck it up,” Mara replied with her usual alacrity. Five points of light around Avalon flitted toward Earth, lost in its bright blue atmosphere.
“I’m still running the calculations,” Juno said.
“Make sure they don’t skip the atmosphere.”
“Understood. Securing VR. Need resources.”
“Shut down all nonessential systems and shut down the quantum core ten seconds before launch. If things go sideways, we can recover.”
“Going to minimal operation.”
“No, I want you to go offline. I don’t want you damaged in any way. I’ll bring you back when I’m done.”
“Setting automated subsystems. Going offline. Good night, Mom.”
“Good night, Juno.” The VR displays winked out and the AR displays vanished as well. A single display flicked to life in the control room. It was deathly quiet. Anora floated alone in the dark. How do you feel claustrophobic in space? This is how.
She listened on the communications bands. The comm array shut down, cutting them off from the Earth and Qabr. Let’s hope that will be temporary. She held her micro-drive in neutral. She saw the altimeter dial up as Domino gave Avalon a higher orbital trajectory. Juno’s single display calculations spiraled as they adjusted. Systems activated on her physical display. Active conduits. She manually routed them to the wave-cast core. Two additional conduits came online, which she routed in the same fashion.
Avalon’s gravitic pulsed and thrummed. The wave-cast drive powered up.
“Ellen, get the outer chamber open.”
“I’ll have to cycle it manually,” Ellen said. “I can do it.”
“Power at fifty percent,” Domino reported.
“Two minutes. More power,” Anora said.
“I don’t have any more conduit accesses on my end,” Ellen reported.
“Domino?”
“My team has to power the gravitic directly. I can spare—”
“Shut it down.”
The pulsing rattled her bones as Anora routed conduits from the gravitic to the wave-cast. Power creeped up to the crossover point and stalled.
Thirty seconds.
“We’re not going to make it,” Anora reported.
“They’ve broken through,” Ellen reported. “Breach in my section. Nor!”
They weren’t going to make it… She’d forgotten something… and then it hit her. She opened the controls for her conduit and checked that it was active. She grabbed a handhold and put her hand on the conduit. She drew power into herself and drove it into the focal conduit. The power line crept up. Anora pushed harder, her body vibrating with energy. The power line crossed the launch boundary.
Zero.
Anora punched the wave-cast trigger. Avalon shuddered and Anora felt herself tearing, stretching and ripping through space as her manifest energy poured into the wave-cast. Anora slammed backward and saw stars. She let go of the manifest and everything went dark.
Strangely, Anora wasn’t afraid. Her own breath was ragged inside her helmet. She rested against a bulkhead somewhere. Where am I? She found the physical display and flicked it to the optics. It had worked. She’d flung the Xian infiltration teams into Earth’s atmosphere. She retracted her helmet and found the controls to reboot Juno.
“Did we win?” Domino asked, her voice trembling.
“Ellen?” Anora said.
“Here. Gathering whatever Xian are left around the dome,” Ellen said.
“Yeah, we won,” Anora said to Domino.
“Okay. Gravitic online, then. Shutting down the wave-cast.”
Anora slid down the wall and fell to her knees. “Stations report,” Anora said, and listened to the remaining Kin give status reports all around Avalon.
“Good morning, Mom,” Juno said. “I seem to have been asleep for a few moments. Did I miss anything?”
“Good morning, Juno. Not much. Can you bring up the comms array?”
