Stellar fusion, p.25
Stellar Fusion, page 25
part #1 of Infinite Spark Series
Another blast from above and a porous metal panel fell, slamming down across Panton’s back. Pieces thundered down on top of them. He braced himself against the wall, above Josie’s head, taking the beating. He quivered but held.
“You okay?” he groaned.
Seeing a shelf falling toward him and the debris still resting on his shoulders, she gasped, flinching on the ground at his feet. He knew what her reaction meant and reset himself for the impact. It knocked most of the strength out of him when it hit. A vein bulged in his forehead. He coughed and sucked in.
“Let it go!” Her voice came out scratchy from the thick, smoky air. Blood dripped from the cuts in his pectoral muscle, falling to her vest with several pops. “Let it go!”
He grunted through grit teeth, with a shake of his head. “Guards protect, at any cost.”
Blinking forcibly, he attempted to clear his mind and renew fortitude of his fight. But the weight was too much, pushing his exhausted body down, forcing him onto his hands and knees.
Through a small opening, she caught a glimpse of a Linoan, sneaking closer to them. “Even if it means dying?”
Tears formed in the bottom of his eyelids.
“It’s my job, to my last drop.” Afraid she would be crushed if he let the structure win, he said, “You have to climb out and leave me behind.”
“No, I’m not leaving you!”
Another blast smacked the floor of the middle storage level. Her body quaked, startled, globs of molten steel dripping like rain from the misshapen edge. To her relief, the level above provided a shelf of cover from the Suanoa’s fiery barrage. “I… I don’t want to.”
“Please, Josie.”
“Why are you doing this?” Her lips quivered as she looked up at him.
“It’s my job,” his raspy voice reiterated. “If it doesn’t kill me, I’ll climb out and find you.”
Staring down into her emerald eyes, so clear amidst the pulverulent haze of destruction surrounding them, they broke down the last barrier he had inside. His wristband sent out alerts in rapid succession, flashing.
Serum Dose Overdue
No More Vials Available
Last Five Doses: Ineffective
See Serum Specialist Immediately
“But for you, Yalina Cera Josandizer…” His voice was rough from the strain. “I would willingly do anything.”
“For…me?” She tried to find words to rationalize their situation. Caged in silence, their connection evolved into something that, until now, she had believed was impossible. His dark eyes stared longingly at her, unwavering, despite the agony she knew he was in.
A blast hit a few meters from their location. More pieces of clay burst into the air, pelting down around them, startling her emotionally young heart. Her focus jumped frantically through their surroundings.
“You have to go.”
She cursed, realizing her distraction. “No! Not after so many years! No shepherd left behind!”
Refocusing, she picked up her e-rifle, attempting to line up through the opening for a shot. Her arms trembled, the muscles refusing to obey her commands.
“Brace it on my shoulder. You’ve got this.” His words were comforting, calming the unfamiliar sensations. Another explosion from the Suanoa’s hands came from above, a meter closer than before.
Realizing the danger for the first time, the risk to Panton’s life, as she began to place a new value on their bond, she felt something she never had before, a flicker of fire in her soul—anger.
Her arms stopped shaking. A rush of heat swept over her body as time slowed.
Panton turned away when she confidently reset the e-rifle over his shoulder. Every one of her cells honed in on a single point. Through the narrow peeled-back opening in the mass of twisted metal, she took them down like trees in a hurricane.
Nine shots and nine of their enemies met a blazing, green demise.
“Come on. Move into the clearing, between the shelves, that’s it.”
Another bullet ignited from her chamber as it went ripping through the air, climbing two levels, and boring straight through the Suanoa’s head.
“Got you,” she whispered with quiet satisfaction as its body hit the floor with a thud.
A cool chill passed through her calming heart, syncing her chronologically once again with Panton. Slouching down, pointing her e-rifle between Panton’s spread legs, she searched.
“Josie?”
“One more. He’s trying to hide. Might be a little warm.”
He stifled a whine through his nose. Her eyes grinned, tracking the movement out on the floor. She took her first clear shot. The Linoan rolled over, a burnt e-bullet hole pierced through its chest.
Panton coughed.
“I don’t think I can hold it.” His shaking arms gave out, and he collapsed onto her. His forearms flopped to either side of her head, mere molecules between their faces. He groaned, resting his aching legs to either side of hers. “Are you all right? I’m not too heavy, am I?”
“I’m fine. Are you?” she asked softly.
He nodded to her question until blood from the slits dripped onto her vest again. Remembering his injuries, she frantically reached down and pulled a gauze bandage out of his cargo pocket, ripping it open. Unzipping his jacket, she shoved it under his shirt and over the slices. His eyes rolled shut with the agonizing sting of the cuts, sending feverish impulses up his neck and into his brain.
“This was a lot easier when I didn’t know you liked me.” She lifted the corners of her mouth in a timid smile.
His head drooped, forcing an exhale to control the overwhelming signals.
“I’m sorry Yalina. I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” Her warm vanilla scent hummed through his system, a justification for the pain. “After the last eight years I…” Realizing the tip of his nose was drawing lines against the side of her neck, his jaw clenched. He jerked back. Damn it, man. Get your shit together. “I was trying to hide it.”
“Your secret’s safe with me.” She lifted his face with her free hand until his eyes met hers again.
Hope burst alight in his chest. “Why?”
“Last thing I want is a newbie protecting me.” Reaching into his pocket, she drew out the medical tape. She grinned, tearing off several strips with her teeth. Her fingers delicately shifted his shirt and jacket to the side and tacked down the bandage.
His lips pressed together. Working with her is better than never seeing her again, he reminded himself. “We might be able to get free if we both try.”
“On it, boss.” Sitting up, Josie placed her palms on the metal overhead and pushed hard with a grunt.
The pile lifted just enough for him to crouch beneath it. Together, they moved the pieces of walkway restraining them.
When they climbed out and picked up their e-rifles, she laughed once, flashing her green eyes at him. “After eight years, Josh Panton, I don’t think anyone else could handle me.”
Chapter 58
AN EXECUTION.
They checked the Suanoa spires, the stairwells, the halls—nothing.
No one. Anywhere.
The moment Atana and her squad entered the imperial ring was like a drop of water in a vat of pure acid. The ring boiled with fire. Blue-green, blood-orange, blue, blood. And a slurry of red was thrown against the walls. Only five imperials down—and her entire team.
Her leathers smoking and charred, she stumbled to her feet, drawing her hooked blade, and prepared for their attack. Spinning frantically, she scoured the boundary. Impervious.
Thousands of voices raced through her mind, crying out to the universe, to her. She dropped to a knee. Her knife clinked to the floor. Lifting her heavy eyelids, she caught a glimpse through the window of the containers’ contents, in space, one after another: crops, land, and innocent, lifeless bodies. Her heart quivered, trying to flow the wrong direction, pining to turn back time.
A bright, carmine fire burst from the circle of raised hands, each coalescing with the next. Flaming fingers crept their way around her throat—their noose. Clawing at the calescent rope, she met nothing she could grasp. The soles of her boots lifted from the floor.
They slung her out of the imperial ring and onto the abaddon deck. At the center, her body slammed into a hollowed-out metal cast. Locks clamped her wrists above her head, despite her resistance, so even when her knees gave out, she could be forced to watch. Through the window wall lining the circular room, between the towering arced spires along the ships perimeter, she saw Earth, her view speckled with the tragedies of war.
It was part of their ritual. With each new planet consumption, they took a prisoner, who was forced to witness their home planet fold in on itself. The Suanoa did it for amusement at their power. For vengeance of their weakness.
A tremor shook Atana’s cage. A pulse deflected, burrowing into crust. The Suanoa weren’t waiting for the collectors and containers to clear Earth’s surface. Their castle was under attack, and they intended to purge the universe of the insubordinate filth.
All will perish. There will be nothing left, nothing to return to. You have failed. Their raucous words grated through her brain. You are a disgrace to your kind. You lie to them, make them think they can overthrow us. You deserve this pain for ensnaring them in your little, selfish scheme and for the trouble you have caused us. You will join them soon, in the cold darkness, the hollow veins of the universe.
Another pulse. The Earth’s core exploded out of every active volcano with exceptional force. Once-dormant pockets of magma reactivated, causing hot springs and fissures in the oceans to boil. The human’s home was bleeding out, forming itself a new layer of skin.
Their rumbling voices rattled her bones. “Sahara…”
“No,” she wheezed, tearing desperately at her restraints. The lack of oxygen going to her brain made it hard to fight. How could they know? Plumes of volcanic ash blotted out the sunlight sparkling off the oceans. Horrified and aware the temperature would soon hit its threshold, fragmenting her planet into a churning, swirling, molten mass, she choked out. “Please, stop! Please! They have done nothing to you! Niema! Niema!”
Her cries were met by deaf ears. “Take everything. Leave nothing. Survive. This is our way. You have impeded our way, wasted our time, time we cannot afford to lose.”
Another wave of specks traveled by the window in the distance, already silent victims to the heartless hands of space. She felt the fear of billions below, amplified by the anger and hopelessness of the mutineers on the ship. But it was the fleck of charred paper drifting before her eyes, the remnant of Ekiipa’s devastating note from the incinerating pocket of her jacket that ripped her heart wide open.
Her lenses froze, tormented by the never-ending suffering absorbing through their portals to the dimensions beyond. She tugged weakly at the unforgiving restraints. Her lungs pined for air, wanting to scream, to fuel her fight. Heated by crushingly implosive grasp from the Suanoa, and the building fire inside, her body began to effervesce.
Yet, beneath the hatred searing her soul was a whisper amidst the crackling flames. Her eyes closed.
It’s what we are.
The voice was familiar, but it wasn’t Sensei’s this time.
Father? Iridescent, white dust illuminated, drifting delicately away from the surface of her skin. Even on this darkest night… From her core, her heart the synergist, her veins burnished spark-blue. I am a shepherd…a guiding light.
Arrogant and benighted, unaware of the strength of human will, the potential of intense emotion, or the importance of sacrifice for the good of others, the Suanoa saw their second mistake too late, a repeat offense. Stepping back, they opened up their circle, pushing the limits of their abilities and increasing the compressive energy thrusting at her.
She rolled her head. Disarm evil…
Another plasma pulse deflected around the Earth, submerging into the depths of the Arctic Ocean.
With every last drop…
The murkiness in the atmosphere expanded.
Amidst the storm.
Bit by bit, they tore apart the one place she could remember clearly, with the people she had worked alongside and those she had sworn to protect on its surface.
I will set them free.
Her head and shoulders slumped forward, debilitated by the lack of oxygen, her lungs collapsing.
The wicked will succumb. They must. Her previous reservations, the emotional control she had worked so hard to acquire, had lost its appeal in this moment. I fight; I die; I live. Repeat. For once, let this be enough.
Her brows narrowed with decisive determination. Slowly and steadily, straining her neck, with gritted teeth, drawing with all the might in her ribs, she slipped oxygen through the blazing coils crushing her windpipe, belting out a battle cry of such fervent fury the chords in her throat vibrated until they ached. Her body pulsed with its own light, swirling like snow, twisting and weaving amongst the Suanoa with cyclone-like force.
. . .
Azure and Bennett raced through the imperial ring, searching for a way onto the abaddon deck. Reaching the door of the platform, they saw her locked in and surrounded. The loop of billowing, lucent red energy around the prisoner was more pressure than any average life form should have been able to tolerate, its undulating, conflagrant force creating such intense heat that it radiated through the metal and glass.
They heard a murderous scream. The room flashed in bright, white waves. The two shielded their faces, jerking away from the door.
“Is that her?” Bennett squinted into the room.
Peering through the window in the door, Azure caught a glimpse of her turquoise eyes in the vibrant haze.
“The prophecy didn’t say anything about this.” His weakened voice stated the truth—a truth he didn’t want to exist. “She’s a Nova Xahu’ré. There has only been one other known to exist.”
No! Azure screamed inside, his tensed hands pressing up against the door. The thermo-receptors in his palms detected the heat from the smooth surface. I can’t endure this anymore! Stop taking her away from me!
“Jesus.” Bennett held his head and slammed sideways into the wall, weakened and distraught, muffled segments of noise bouncing around in the back of his mind. “Why’s that such a bad thing?”
Azure’s eyes lit with a fire like burning copper. He lifted his contorted brows to look at Bennett. “He died! He died protecting our home, Vioras, from the first wave of Suanoa infiltration! But they just came back. They always come back!” He desperately screamed, yanking and pounding on the locked door. “Nakio, stop! You have to stop this!”
Bennett was in shock, unsure of what he was witnessing. His mind clouded with thoughts different from his own. He didn’t want to lose her either. Realizing he wasn’t capable of understanding what she needed and wanted because he wasn’t like her, he made a humbled request, swinging Cutter’s shotgun off his shoulder. “Step aside.”
“Like hell!” Azure rammed a tight fist into the door, the metal surface caving from the force.
“Jesus, Azure!” Bennett flinched. He knew it was going to take more than a punch or two to get through a door with no visible keypad or lock. There was one way in. Lifting Cutter’s shotgun and pointing it in front of Azure, clicking the safety switch off, he barked, “Move!”
Seeing his intention now was to help, Azure stepped out of the way. Bennett directed several shots at the frame, which split. Cutter’s gun ran out of ammo. For a moment, hope felt lost. Bennett gave Azure’s size a quick calculation and tilted his head toward the door.
Together?
Azure stepped back beside the man, the one who was letting go of the one thing he wanted, the one giving in to give her a chance. Spreading their feet, he gave the sergeant beside him a sharp nod. Throwing care to the wind and their shoulders into it, they tore the panel from the frame, slamming it to the floor and sliding inside, onto the deck.
The heat in the room made the air thick and hard to breathe. The winds rippled through their hair and clothing. When they screeched to a stop, Bennett reached up and grabbed Azure’s forearm in a handshake.
“Go get her,” he yelled over the deafening noise of the crackling fire erupting from the center of the room.
Azure returned Bennett’s grasp. “Best get back.”
As Bennett hopped up and took off out the open doorway, Azure leapt to his feet, sprinting into the light between two Suanoa, breaking into the circle. He immediately crumpled in agony, his skin scalding from the swirling flames pelting his left side. He squinted toward her but couldn’t focus with the roar of the Suanoa’s vociferous mental network storming his brain.
He crawled out, stumbling to his feet, his body smoking. The Suanoa were too focused on her to notice his existence. Taking a few steps around the perimeter of the luminous twister, Azure reassessed the situation. Feeling the rising heat, he knew his available time dwindled.
The outline of a woman appeared amidst the waves of photons as he circled to his right. Repositioning himself directly in front of her, he prepared for the worst, knowing the fire would surely strip him clean down to his elements and maybe even take him away from her before he got any words out. It was a risk he had to take and a sacrifice he’d have to make—for her.
I’d rather die than live without her again.
Turning on his own mental noise to block some of the Suanoa’s telepathic control, he leapt forward, bursting through the outer edge and into the depths of unforgiving heat. Halfway to her, his steps slowed, as if he were running through molasses. He cried out, reaching her feet, his brainstem demanding he retreat. Shivering from the excruciating sensations, he fought to lift his failing body up to her face.
The two became wrapped in a blanket of sparkling blue and white flames. The fabric of his clothing was scorching. Hers had completely vanished, though he couldn’t see much through the blinding light.
“Nakio, please,” he choked out, his skin dissipating into the swirling winds. A pained howl escaped his exhausted lungs. “You know this won’t be the end. Don’t do this! Your people still need you!”
