Now! Selenne whispered inside his head. Open the Bridge. Set the Illuminate free.
8
Sam ignored the burning waves of agony shooting up his arm and triggered the implant inside his head. He was struck by a sudden crackling explosion of red lightning, which sent him flying backwards from the command node before landing hard.
He slowly staggered to his feet, backing away from the command node as the red portal at its base flared angrily with a screeching whine that was rapidly increasing in pitch. He had absolutely no idea if their desperate plan had worked or not. Behind him there was a shriek of tearing metal as the Voidborn swarm surged up and over the edge of the platform, tearing away the guard rail. It seethed towards the command node then recoiled from it as if repulsed by some kind of invisible force field.
Sam leapt over the edge of the platform, engaging his armour’s flight systems, and flew down towards Mag’s crumpled body, scooping her up as gently as he could before flying up and out of the massive tear in the dome above him. He landed on the roof, lowering Mag to the ground as gently as he could.
‘Sam!’ Jack yelled over the comms system. ‘The Voidborn, they . . . oh no.’
The others landed all around him as Sam knelt down next to Mag, cradling her head in his arms.
The suits sensors indicate that she is alive, Selenne said inside Sam’s head, but she requires immediate medical attention. She has been infected with Voidborn nanites. Let me work.
Sam suddenly felt a sensation that was quite different to any that he had previously felt Selenne exert over him. This wasn’t subtle coercion; this felt like she was hijacking his body completely. An instant later a stream of glowing particles began to radiate from the hand Sam was using to support Mag’s head, spreading across her face and into her nose and mouth.
‘Defensive line!’ Jay yelled as the Voidborn swarm began to pour out of the tear in the hive superstructure fifty metres away. He raised both his arms as the others ran to join him, energy beams lancing out and slicing into the black mass as it swept towards them. The others followed Jay’s lead, laying down a withering barrage of fire at the tide of tiny, scurrying monsters. The swarm slowed its advance beneath the relentless assault, but still it kept coming.
I need more time, Selenne said. Your friend’s physiology is . . . unique. I am being forced to make certain assumptions about the best way to treat her.
Sam felt a moment of despair as he watched his friends start to fall back, retreating before the seemingly unstoppable advance of the swarm. Time was the one thing they did not have.
From nowhere a hail of blue energy bolts rained down upon the leading edge of the Voidborn swarm, vaporising it and sending the main bulk recoiling backwards. Sam’s head snapped around, looking over his shoulder, his mouth hanging open with surprise at the astonishing sight before him. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of Hunters were swooping down towards the top of the Voidborn structure, the energy cannons mounted on their backs blazing. The sickly green glow that had illuminated their shells up until just a few minutes before had been replaced with a deep blue. Behind the Hunters, pounding across the ground towards Sam, were at least a dozen Grendels glowing with the same blue light.
‘It worked,’ Sam whispered to himself.
Yes, Selenne said in his head, I believe it did.
Sam had succeeded in opening the Bridge between the Illuminate Heart and the Voidborn control node. Now every last Voidborn in North America, whether it was a Hunter or a Mothership, was under the control of a very old, probably very angry Illuminate warrior. Sam watched as wave after wave of Hunters tore into the black mass while the Grendels formed a protective cordon around him and his friends. A minute later it was over, as the Hunters mopped up the last scuttling remnants of the swarm. Against all the odds, they had succeeded. Now they had an army.
Your friend’s condition is stabilising, Selenne said, and Sam looked down at Mag as her eyes flickered open.
‘Ow . . . everything . . . ow,’ Mag groaned.
‘Take it easy,’ Sam said, feeling a flood of relief. ‘I think you got into a fist fight with a Voidborn swarm.’
‘Yeah, it feels like it,’ Mag said with a pained wince.
She should recover fully, Selenne said. Her hybrid anatomy makes her unusually strong.
‘Help me up,’ Mag said, after taking a couple of long, deep breaths.
‘Are you sure you’re OK to stand?’ Sam said with a slight frown.
‘Don’t mollycoddle me, Riley,’ Mag said as she held on to his arm for support and slowly climbed to her feet. ‘I feel fine.’
The others gathered round them as the final glowing remnants of the Illuminate nanites flowed in a flickering ribbon from Mag’s arm before being reabsorbed into Sam’s hand.
‘You’re OK?’ Jay said with a broad but slightly confused-looking grin.
‘Looks that way,’ Mag replied, returning his smile. ‘Though I think I’ve got Sam to thank for that.’
‘Don’t thank me,’ Sam said, shaking his head, ‘thank Selenne. Without her I don’t want to think about what might have happened.’
‘You be sure to thank her for me,’ Mag said, tapping the side of Sam’s head and smiling at him.
Illuminate forces are reporting in from across the continent, Selenne said, her voice clear in all of their heads. It would appear that our mission has been a complete success. There are no signs of any Voidborn forces moving to counter attack.
‘We did it, buddy! You took over the control node; we’ve got ourselves our very own army,’ Jay said, punching Sam playfully in the shoulder. ‘This is it. Now we can take the fight to the Voidborn.’
‘Yeah, we did,’ Sam said with a smile, ‘but it’s not over yet. What about the Sleepers? Is there any change in their condition?’
No, Selenne replied after a couple of seconds, the Illuminate controlling the drones that attend the sleeping humans are reporting that they still appear to be in distress.
‘It didn’t make any difference at all?’ Will asked with a confused frown. ‘But that must mean that whatever’s causing this isn’t connected to the Motherships. Which means –’
‘That we might just need this army we’ve acquired,’ Sam said. ‘This isn’t over yet.’
‘I’m beginning to wonder if it ever will be,’ Nat said with a sigh. ‘So what exactly . . .’
The rest of Nat’s question was drowned out by a thunderous roar as a chain of massive blazing projectiles slammed into the canyon floor less than a mile from where they were standing. The shock waves from the impacts tore outwards, vaporising the nearby Voidborn structures in clouds of billowing black dust. The concussive blast of the explosions hit them a moment later, sending Hunters spinning through the air and even staggering the Grendels. Sam grabbed Mag, wrapping his arms around her, his armour expanding to form a protective shield. Jay and the others were blown off their feet, the flight systems in their suits fighting desperately to right them as they spun through the air.
Sam gritted his teeth as there was another series of explosive impacts at the other end of the canyon, sending more shock waves smashing into them from the opposite direction. He hunkered down, feeling the nanites of his armour hooking into the crystalline black floor, anchoring him in place. It was at least thirty seconds before the rumbling dissipated and an eerie calm fell over the area around Sam. His heads-up display highlighted the positions of his friends scattered nearby, but the billowing clouds of ash and dust were making it impossible to see more than a few metres in front of him.
‘Are you OK?’ Sam said as he looked down at Mag.
‘I think so,’ she replied with a cough, the smoke irritating her lungs. ‘What the hell was that?’
‘I’m not sure,’ Sam said, ‘but I’ve got a horrible feeling it might be the same thing that happened in London yesterday. Could you help me find the others?’ Sam stood up, the nanites in his suit releasing their grip on the Voidborn structure with a crackling sound. ‘Co
me on, this way!’
He hurried through the swirling, acrid fog, heading for the nearest blip on his visor. He stepped to one side as a Grendel loomed out of the fog, stomping past him, and a group of Hunters raced overhead.
‘Did the Illuminate see anything?’ Sam asked.
No, Selenne replied. There are Illuminate units approaching the impact sites now, but whatever attacked us came from nowhere as far as the Voidborn sensors were concerned.
‘That’s what worries me,’ Sam muttered to himself.
A moment later Anne came sprinting out of the cloud and almost ran into him.
‘Did you see what it was?’ Sam asked urgently. ‘Did you see what hit us?’
‘No,’ Anne replied, shaking her head, ‘it all happened too fast. I know what it felt like though.’
‘Yeah, me too,’ Sam said, hoping he didn’t sound as nervous as he suddenly felt.
‘Sam, look!’ Mag yelled, pointing over his shoulder. Sam spun around and spotted Nat’s armour suit just visible through the haze, half buried under a collapsed section of the Voidborn superstructure. Without a word he sprinted towards his fallen friend, with Mag and Anne just two steps behind him. He knelt down next to Nat and gently shook her shoulder.
‘Hey, you awake?’ Sam asked.
‘Yeah,’ Nat replied groggily after a second or two. ‘I feel like I’m stuck, though. I think you’re going to have to help me out from under this.’
‘OK,’ Sam said. ‘Mag, we’ll lift this thing, you pull her out, OK?’
Mag gave a quick nod and bent down, grabbing both of Nat’s hands, ready to haul her out.
Sam grabbed one end of the huge black crystalline slab that was pinning his friend to the floor and Anne grabbed the other, the nanites in their armour boosting their strength to inhuman levels as they both heaved upwards.
‘That’s it!’ Mag yelled, feeling Nat start to move. ‘I’ve got her.’
Mag hauled Nat clear with a grunt. As soon as she was out of the way, Sam and Anne let go of the slab and it slammed back down on to the ground.
‘Thanks,’ Nat said, climbing to her feet. ‘Where are the others?’
‘I’ve got blips for Will and Jack,’ Anne said, spinning around as she scanned for her friends. ‘Nothing for Jay.’
Sam suddenly realised that she was right; he could see the blips that she was talking about but there was no sign of Jay anywhere.
‘Jay, Jack, Will, sound off!’ Sam snapped, broadcasting to his friends, feeling a sudden chill in the pit of his stomach.
A couple of seconds later Will’s voice replied, sounding slightly shaky.
‘I’m OK. I got knocked off the top of that thing. Took a bit of a tumble but the suit saved me.’
‘Roger that,’ Sam replied. ‘Could you get back up here as fast as you can?’
‘On my way,’ Will replied.
‘Jack? Jay?’ Sam asked again, but there was still no response from either of them.
‘Oh, God, no,’ Nat suddenly whispered and Sam spun around to look at whatever it was she had seen. As the billowing clouds thrown up by the impacts began to disperse, it became horribly clear exactly what it was that had caused them. Half a dozen massive black cylinders, identical to the ones that had fallen on London, were towering over the desert at each end of the canyon, standing in scorched, smouldering impact craters.
‘How quickly can you get more Voidborn reinforcements here?’ Sam asked Selenne.
The nearest Mothership that we control is twenty minutes away, Selenne replied.
‘OK, pull back all of our remaining forces in the vicinity,’ Sam said quickly. ‘We need everything we have here, protecting the control node. Those things could swarm at any moment.’
I’ll marshal our forces into a defensive perimeter, Selenne said. I suggest you and your friends stay as close to the control node as possible. You may be our last line of defence.
‘OK, let’s move!’ Sam yelled, running back towards the massive tear in the roof of the Voidborn structure that led down to the core below. He tried not to think about the fact that there was still no sign of Jack or Jay; right now he had to focus on the most clear and present danger.
Sam watched as Grendels moved into defensive positions around the opening in the roof, their hulking black techno-organic bodies glowing with the blue light that indicated they were under Illuminate control. They suddenly seemed a very inadequate defence against the threat they now faced. A second later, Sam heard a voice in his ear garbled by static.
‘Repeat that last transmission,’ Sam said, ‘repeat, say again.’
‘Anyone . . . this . . . seeing what I’m . . .’
Sam felt a sudden surge of relief; it was unmistakeably Jack’s voice.
‘Jack!’ Sam yelled back. ‘Are you OK? Repeat your last message. Your transmission’s breaking up.’
‘Above us!’ Jack yelled back, his transmission suddenly clear to them all. ‘Up in the sky, what the hell is that?’
They all looked upwards in perfect unison as an enormous shadow raced across the top of the Voidborn base towards them. In the sky directly above, a ship larger than anything any of them had ever seen before was slowly descending. It would have dwarfed even a Voidborn Mothership, but its design seemed quite different to the Voidborn vessels they had encountered before. At its centre was a giant glowing red eye ablaze with crackling bolts of crimson energy that shot outwards to the ring of claw-like black structures surrounding it. The rest of the hulking vessel’s main body was covered in flowing rib-shaped structures that pulsed from within with a deep red glow. Sweeping out from the central superstructure were massive pylons, lit up by the coruscating scarlet lightning bolts that arced between them. Sam felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as the giant vessel dropped towards them. A very simple, very old but very insistent part of his brain was telling him to run and hide under the nearest rock.
There was a sudden ear-splitting screech from the enormous ship and the giant black cylinders at both ends of the canyon began to disintegrate into black waves that swept across the desert floor in the direction of the Voidborn base.
‘Selenne,’ Sam said, ‘what is that thing?’
I have no idea, Selenne replied. I . . . We have never seen anything like it.
‘Whatever it is, it must be the same thing that dropped those things on London,’ Jack said. ‘Which puts it right at the top of my to-shoot list.’
Sam glanced around at the nearby Grendels flexing their claws and the Hunters sweeping through the air overhead. He took a deep breath, pushing his concern for Jay to the back of his mind and focusing instead on this new threat.
‘Whatever that is,’ Sam said, ‘I don’t think it comes in peace. Hit it with everything you’ve got.’
His friends opened fire on the monstrous ship. Sam launched into the air, weaving crazily, hoping that his wild manoeuvres would stop the ship from being able to lock its weapons on to him. He raised his arms, triggering his beam weapons, the bolts searing into the hull of the behemoth as Sam closed the distance between them, pushing his suit to its maximum speed. The others were not far behind him, rocketing towards the huge vessel, their guns blazing. As he sped towards it he could not help but feel intimidated by its overwhelming scale, his shots striking home but seeming little more than meaningless pinpricks.
‘Everyone follow my lead,’ Sam yelled. ‘Concentrate your fire on my target. Let’s see if we can actually do some damage to this thing.’
Sam banked hard, racing along the flank of the giant ship and heading straight for the base of one of the wing-like spines jutting out of the side of it. He raised both his hands, concentrating the beams on a single spot, the hull of the giant ship glowing white hot where his weapons struck home. The others opened fire as they too banked towards Sam’s target, their own beams of energy lancing out and striking the ship in precisely the same location. There was a small, rippling chain of explosions across the base of the pylon as the concentrate
d beams tore into the ship’s hull and Sam led the others back round for another attack run.
Swarms of Hunters were now swooping at the alien ship as it continued its descent towards the Voidborn control node, the Grendels below still tightening their defensive cordon around the tear in the roof of the structure. As he made another dive at the vast ship, Sam noticed the black wave of the swarm sweeping up the walls of the canyon and towards the central span of the core structure. At the speed they were travelling he could see they would reach the control node in a matter of minutes. If the swarm succeeded in destroying the control node, they would lose their control over the Voidborn forces and everything they had done would count for nothing. He accelerated again, swooping towards the damaged area of the pylon, raising his arms to fire.
The bolts of crimson lightning that struck Sam seemed to come from nowhere, arcing from the giant ship’s hull and enveloping him in a crackling blood-red energy field. Sam let out a piercing scream as every nerve ending seemed to light up with excruciating pain, his body convulsing as the surface of his armour morphed into chaotic, angular shapes. He began to tumble through the air, barely conscious, his connection with the Illuminate technology that had been keeping him aloft suddenly severed. He hardly noticed the other crackling bolts of energy that lanced out towards his friends too as they frantically tried to dodge the sudden hail of fire. As he finally surrendered to unconsciousness, Sam felt something catch him, arresting his plummeting descent and pulling him towards the alien vessel. He was faintly aware of being surrounded by a bright red light, which was blinding in its intensity, before everything faded to black.