The Gus Ascendancy, page 18
A detail nagging at the back of his mind surfaced.
“Oh, no,” he breathed.
Veins of red were beginning to spread up through the blue crystal obelisks. A murmur of voices was starting up on the crowded lawn, indistinct and unsettling. He couldn’t tell whether it was the acolytes or the Resistance or the Ascendancy minions or everybody. Maybe it was just in his mind, like the flickering of phantom voices he’d heard sometimes near the altar.
A strange pressure grew in the air, like a slow-motion implosion. Or like a pulse from the altar that just hung there instead of whooshing by.
He watched the spreading veins of red, mesmerized. The acolytes in the circles began turning to one another uneasily. One of the titans broke off then headed for the church.
“John Mark. I think I need to go. Find someone who can help you take care of this guy. Tell them it’s working. Thor’s getting people back. But I think something’s going wrong. I —”
A disturbance arose at the lakeside — a strange sucking gurgle followed by scrambling splashes.
The reptar.
It charged out of the lake, water cascading off its slick black body. Raising its head to the sky, it let out an unearthly rattling howl. Then it was off, plowing into the crowd like it was making up for the long minutes it had lost struggling on the bottom of the lake.
Screams filled the air. Sam let out a yelp and turned to run. The side door was between him and the reptar, but there was no way he could risk it. The titan was almost at that door, and the reptar was closing fast. Instead he made for the front door, around on the far side of the building.
“Quick, quick, quick,” he muttered, willing his legs to run faster.
More screaming and urgent shouts sounded behind him. Ronan would have known what to do. Sam just ran. All he could think about was getting to Journey before the reptar did. Once they were together, they could figure something out.
Or if not, at least they would be together.
He glanced back.
The titan was already inside. And the reptar was disappearing around the far side of the church.
Sam redoubled his speed.
Journey’s distant voice called his name.
"Over here!" he cried.
He was just about to reach the door when the reptar pounced around the corner with a rattling roar. Sam let out a small shriek and jumped back.
“Sam, I —” Her face appeared in the doorway. Sam raised an urgent hand and she fell silent. With a minute movement of his fingers, he waved her back. With a tiny nod, she slipped away into the darkness of the building.
The reptar faced Sam and took a long, slow, rattling inhale. Its black scale-skin glistened, showing eerie fissures glowing blue underneath.
Sam swallowed. Tried to remember what Ronan would do in a situation like this. Tried to remember anything. Tried — and failed — to not think about the reptar’s huge jaws and three rows of teeth.
Tried to think of a heroic pose to die in.
He squeezed his eyes shut. Not very heroic, but the situation was getting a little beyond him.
At the sound of a crash, he flinched.
A long, breathless moment passed, then more crashing.
He didn’t seem to be dead.
Sam opened his eyes.
The reptar had turned aside and crashed through the church door.
“Journey!” He dashed after it, slowing only to climb gingerly through the splintered wood.
Journey slammed into him. Grabbed hold of him. Gripped him in a terrified hug.
“Where is it?”
She pointed to the sanctuary. “I — Why didn’t it eat us?”
He didn’t try to answer. They ran together through the church’s lobby toward the sanctuary.
“Gus! They’re coming for you! Emergency protocol! Ca-caw, ca-caw!”
But no reply came.
“Gus? Did you get Thor out? Are you okay?”
Sam darted through the doors, tore into the sanctuary, then skidded to a stop, bracing himself for another face-to-face with the reptar.
Journey was a few steps ahead of him, silent and half-crouched.
The reptar was beyond her, prowling up the center aisle, while the titan was already at the stage.
Sam dodged aside into one of the pews, trying to get a look beyond them. If Gus had managed to get Thor out of the altar, there might still be some kind of chance they could make it out of this.
Maybe Thor could use whatever powers Gus was talking about. Or Gus could do something with the pyramid. Or the hatchet. Or —
Except Gus had failed. Thor was still kneeling at the altar, and Gus still had a hand on Thor’s head.
The altar was shot through with red — the scars of Gus’s attempts to get Thor out.
“Gus! Get away! Did it work?”
The reptar crouched in preparation for a leap, then jumped clear over the titan’s head, landing inches from Gus and Thor.
“No!” cried Sam. “Gus!”
But the reptar stopped in its tracks. For a long moment, Sam wondered what it was up to. Then Gus rose, turned, smiled.
“Kickass.” He laid a hand on the reptar’s bullet head. The hand didn’t get eaten. “That’s an impressive vertical leap, kid. We’ll be watching your career with great interest.”
Sam dodged out from between the pews then ran up the aisle toward Gus.
“Gus! Get away from that thing. You’re going to get—”
But Journey grabbed his arm as he ran past her and skidded him to a halt. She whispered, “Don’t.”
“But he’s going to — I mean, he’s … it's—”
But now the insight Sam wasn’t letting himself see was fighting its way into his consciousness despite his best efforts.
“Ah, Sam, my boy. Good of you to join us.” Gus beamed like a friendly uncle. “Why don’t you come up to the stage?”
Sam shook his head. Something wasn’t tracking, and every instinct within him screamed to stay back until he figured it out.
“Come on. This is your big chance. Phenomenal cosmic powers.” Gus couldn’t even get through the line without a little laugh, like he couldn’t believe his good luck. Like everything was finally going his way. “I mean, you know I can make you, right?”
“Try it,” snapped Journey.
Gus gave a little shrug and pointed at them. Sam expected to feel a wave of power. Maybe one of those weird magnetic pulses. Or a jolt of force lightning. He expected to start dancing like a puppet.
But it was much simpler than that. The titan turned.
There was a red gem in its forehead.
“Oh, shit,” muttered Journey beside him.
“We’ve got to get out of here.” Sam wasn’t sure if he was talking to himself or to her or to nobody. He was just talking.
“We can’t leave Thor.”
“We can’t do anything for him. We’ll come back.”
But she was already dashing toward the front of the sanctuary, and Sam knew that the fierce anger in her was the only thing keeping her from falling apart.
And Sam did what a Sam does. He followed. Even as every terrified bit of him screamed to get out of there, there was never really any question about it.
His feet moved practically of their own volition, and Sam was left calculating his odds, catching whatever little scraps of contingency thinking he could hold onto from his time with Ronan. His time as Ronan. Whatever.
Gus was apparently controlling the reptar now, and however much everything had changed, Sam couldn’t bring himself to believe Gus would sic it on him. So that was that taken care of. Probably. For now.
He had no idea what the titan would do. He didn’t even really know what they were capable of. With a sinking feeling, he realized it was the titan he had slashed with the hatchet.
It advanced on him.
Sam tried to figure out what he could use as a weapon. He tried to find the wild unexpected Ronan solution. Tried to think three steps ahead. Nothing.
The titan grabbed him by the upper arm. Not tightly enough to hurt. Just tight enough that it was like being held firmly. By a statue.
And then it just stood there. Journey began beating at it with her fists. “Let go of him! Get away!”
It ignored her. Sam was relieved and a little confused that it wasn’t doing anything worse.
And then it clicked.
He looked past the titan, past the reptar.
To Gus.
Gus had a funny look on his face. Not exactly concentration, but something in that neighborhood.
And then, in a croaking Frankenstein voice, the Titan spoke.
“The viceroy will see you now.”
Behind it, Gus pumped a fist in victory. “Kickass!”
Epilogue
At the intern house, Timothy fiddled with the audio feeds. He was not exactly happy about the alien invasion, obviously. You weren’t allowed to be happy about it. It had ruined too many lives.
But it was pretty exciting.
And it did give him a chance to put his audio skills to use.
So far, he mostly posted the Fresh Fire sermon to the podcast feed for the three listeners a week who would download it, possibly without realizing they had done so. Which was fine. Ministry wasn’t about the accolades or personal glory. But he couldn’t help but sometimes feel there had to more fulfilling uses for his skills.
Now that he had taken over Ronan’s communications relay, the challenges were important and interesting.
There were a lot of frequencies to scan, and a lot of chaff to sort through. And the signal was usually weak or spotty, and the good stations tended to switch around to avoid detection. He’d written scripts to automate the parts he could, but it still presented him with interesting problems on a regular basis.
And today was one of the best yet.
The message from Journey’s grandmother had been patchy, almost unlistenable, and it had still lit her up like a Christmas tree.
“Just you wait,” he murmured. He tweaked a couple parameters on the audio reprocesser he’d cobbled together then hit the button. The progress bar crawled along, generating his nineteenth attempt.
He was pretty sure he was getting closer. The early efforts had just come out weirdly robotic, or muffled with heavier static than the original, or skittering between inaudible and deafening.
The latest ones were getting closer. The audio was getting clearer. A little. He was pretty sure.
The progress bar hit one hundred percent.
Moment of truth.
He put on his big headphones and hit play. A grin spread across his face.
“Yes!” He pumped a fist. “Jimmy! Listen to this!”
Jimmy sauntered over. “Yeah?”
“Dude. I think I got it. This is crazy smart.” Timothy yanked off the headphones and started pacing. “It’s like those cheesy old cop shows where they go ‘enhance’ and it can just magically interpolate a license plate number out of a grainy security camera photo from a block away. But I did it. In real life.”
“Nice. Can you … you know, do that?”
“Totally! I figured out this genius trick. You just add random noise to the signal. I mean, not just, obviously, but —”
“Doesn’t that make it worse?”
“You’d think, right? But it’s all about averages. Because if you bump everything up equally, you just get what you started with but louder, right?”
He could already tell he was talking too fast, falling into geek mode, and he didn’t care. He’d earned it.
“But if you bump everything up a random amount — well, look. The signal you want is buried in noise, right? But the signal’s always there, and on average the noise cancels out because it’s just static, so if you enhance a random scattering of each one, the signal gets a bigger boost on average than the noise, and then you recombine it with the original and —”
Jimmy was giving him the look.
“Sorry. Forget it. I mean, and it’s not perfect or anything. But I think I managed to sharpen Grandma June's message. Here, listen.”
He unplugged the headphones, and they both leaned forward with anticipation.
“ … it needs to be. Listen, honey. Be brave, and do what you have to do. And if you can stay safe, too, so much the better. I love you, babe. … be there as soon as I can. Oh, and watch out for Thor. He’s not what he seems. More soon if I can manage it. Gotta run.”
The Invasion of Lake Peculiar continues…
If Gus had his druthers...
Gus has shifted his ambitions from local ascendancy to planetary domination. Too bad the Titans want him dead – and they’ll destroy the town to stop him. Can Sam stand up to Gus or is he still too Midwest Nice to save the day?
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About the Author
Jack Ravenhill loves to build strange and complex worlds rich with unforgettable characters, hidden corners, and looming questions. His favorite stories break down old categories and invite you into fresh and fascinating ways of thinking. Whether it's robot fairies or small-town aliens, whether the stakes are the fate of the world or a teenage heartbreak, Jack always gets you through with heart, humor, and a feast among friends.
Also By Jack Ravenhill
The Invasion of Lake Peculiar Series
Three Aliens Walk Into A Bar
Fun With Mind Control
The Gus Ascendancy
Everything Is Ruined Forever
Sam’s First Last Stand
Jack Ravenhill, The Gus Ascendancy
