Anteverse

There and back again, with a fight to the death along the way.

[Author's Note: This story follows the stories Strange Allies and Ocean Voyagers, and concludes this story cycle.]

It was an experience not unlike being drunk. From the perspective of the drink.

They went tumbling down a wide, sloped corridor, coming to rest on a large, flat ledge. It had the appearance of rock but was strangely sponge-like in consistency.

"Fuck!" said Dee.

"Indeed," said Hermann.

They struggled to their feet, rubbing their bruises. They looked around. The portal was closing.

"Oh … my," said Hermann.

"So this is the Anteverse," said Dee. "It's … different."

"Indeed," said Hermann again.

The Anteverse seemed to be a huge cavern, stretching away for as far as they could see. The ceiling, and parts of the ground, seemed to pulsate with energy.

For a long moment, they simply stared. It threatened to overwhelm them.

Dee took Hermann's hand. "Herm," she said. "I … I'm … scared."

He had never thought he would hear those words from her. But he could not tell her that they were inappropriate. He decided that it would not help matters if he mentioned that he was, himself, absolutely fucking terrified.

He forced himself to look around. There was no-one – if that was the right term – in the vicinity. This appeared to be an out-of-the-way piece of the Anteverse.

And then he saw the TDV. He remembered seeing it being swept into the Breach. It was a hundred metres away, not far from the lip of the ledge, and it looked intact.

"Over there," he said, pointing. They started for it.

They managed to open the door. They climbed in. The TDV had power.

"I think," said Hermann, "that this console is for communications. Back to our world."

"But the portal is closed," said Dee.

"Maybe … maybe I can do something," said Hermann. "Maybe some simple pulses will get through." He began to tap a key on the unit. He waited for a reply. Nothing.

He glanced at his watch. It was an old-fashioned, wind-up one, with hands that went around a dial of numbers. But now the hands were not ticking around in their usual regular way. They would go quickly for a few moments, speeding around the face, and then slow to normal, and then speed up again. He saw Dee looking at it.

"Time here seems to work differently," he said. "Time and distance, different displacements to our world. That's according to the research that Newton and I did. It is entirely possible that more time has passed in our world."

He tapped the key again.

And something came back, a series of answering pulses. Nine, two, six, five.

"Newton got the message," he said. "They know we're still alive. That's something."

"Herm," said Dee. "Time … distance … I … don't understand – "

"I don't understand it either," said Hermann.

His wife stared at him. Then she burst out: "Don't say that! Don't say you don't know! You always know! You always have a theory or an idea or something!"

She began to cry. He took her in his arms.

They stayed like that for a long time.

Then she said: "You didn't have to come with me. When I lost my grip on you. You didn't have to."

"Yes," he said. "Yes, I did."

She stared at him.

"Because I love you," he said. He had never said that before. She had known it, in a way, but he had never said the words.

She kissed him. "I guess we might die here," she said. "Any passing Kaiju would squash us like a bug. So since it might be our last few hours … maybe we should … "

One thing about Hannibal Chau, thought Newton, is that he's got contacts everywhere. Helpful when you have to move fast.

Now the jetcopter was zooming across Canada. They had stopped for refuelling several times, and on each occasion there had been people ready on the tarmac. Even a doctor to properly treat Natasha. She and Hannibal alternated the pilot duties.

Newton had been on the radio with Marshall Hansen, telling him about the attempt to create a pathway to the Anteverse and how it had ended with Hermann and Dee on the other side.

"We have other problems," said Hansen. "Namazu, Xia Ci, and Snakehead are on their way here. Apparently there were alerted to the existence of the Iceland Breach by Ursu."

"Who says?" said Newton.

"Jin Wei."

"Oh. Well, it's most likely right then."

"Liberty Phoenix and Nova Artemis are on their way here, as well as any military forces I've been able to scramble. Not sure it will be enough. Not against three of them. And that's not counting anything more that comes through the Breach. In fact, we've picked up some strange readings from it lately."

"Tell me," said Newton.

Hansen read out a long series of numbers.

"Uh, that's not good," said Newton, when Hansen had finished.

"You mean, it's suddenly going to get large enough for a full-size Kaiju?" said Hansen.

Newton considered. "Not larger," he said. "Not more than we thought, anyway. But maybe it could stay open for longer."

Hansen was silent. "No," he said. "That's not good."

They were lying on the floor of the TDV, entangled. Dee was dozing. Hermann was gazing at her. So beautiful, he thought. I used to think she was the most beautiful woman in the world. Now I know she is the most beautiful woman in two worlds.

She came awake. She smiled at him, and kissed him. Then she began to pull her clothes on.

"I feel much better now," she said.

"Given that we are adrift in an alien universe that is at war with us, I feel pretty good too," said Hermann, as he began to dress.

They went into the TDV cockpit. Dee took a pair of binoculars from a rack and surveyed the wider area. She handed them to Hermann and pointed.

There was an area that was thoroughly wrecked. The images made a scratch on Hermann's memory. He had seen it before, in a way. In the Drift with the brain of the infant Kaiju. It was the area where the monster-size Kaijus had been manufactured and sent through the Marianas Breach.

Now, the massive vats were destroyed, the huge machines that had knitted together the tissues of the creatures were overturned and broken, the ceiling of the cavern was collapsed.

"I'm guessing," said Dee, "that that was where Gipsy Danger went up. Looks like they haven't made any attempt to re-build it."

Hermann nodded. "When Newton and I Drifted," he said, "we had the strong feeling that the Precursors were trying to invade our world because the Anteverse was running out of resources. So maybe they do not have the materials to rebuild their Kaiju manufacturing capacity. Perhaps it is their equivalent of the funding problem that our anti-Kaiju program faced in the final stages of the war."

Dee nodded. She was looking around the cavernous space with the binoculars.

"Herm," she said. "What's that?" She pointed across the cavern, where there was a glowing source of light.

"Whatever it is," he said, taking the binoculars from her to look at it, "it's taking a lot of energy. Building up, I would say."

"I know what it is," she said. "We've seen it before. Not from here, though. From the other side."

He stared at her, an eyebrow raised.

She began to check the instruments of the TDV. "Let's see if we can get this thing off the ground," she said.

In the Mustang hangar at the Iceland Breach complex, Jin Wei stood, looking up at Blackhawk.

Marshall Hansen, standing next to him, called some of the techs over.

"Get it set up," he said to them. "On the back."

The atmosphere of the Anteverse was dank and heavy but the TDV was managing to fly through it. The glow of the Iceland Breach was markedly closer. The entrance appeared as a large opening in the wall of the cavern, leading off a flat area of ground.

"Where did you learn to fly something like this?" said Hermann.

"Oh, I can fly pretty well anything," said Dee.

Hermann gave a little grunt. "Just what," he said, "does a woman as competent, clever, and attractive as you see in someone as inept, foolish, and unappealing as me?"

Dee considered it. "It's the really great sex, I think," she said.

Hermann gave a little laugh. "Do me a favour," he said. "When we get back, tell Newton that."

"Right, I'll do that," she said, with a little laugh. "Uh, you said when. Not if."

Hermann nodded. "I know," he said.

He was studying his watch. The mental arithmetic was tricky but he thought he had developed a formula to translate Anteverse time into human-world time.

Going to be close, he thought.

The jetcopter had crossed the Iceland coast and was coming up to the complex around the Breach. It passed over the two Jaegers, standing a few kilometres from the shoreline, backed up by phalanxes of missile launchers on the ground. Two aircraft carriers were not far away.

"Looks like it's shaping up as a hell of a rumble," said Hannibal.

"They can't let the Kaiju get to the Breach," said Newton. "If they do, they'll form a defensive line and we'll have no chance of stopping it from getting bigger."

"And then we do the Kaiju War thing all over again," said Elle.

"What's all that?" said Hermann.

They were flying over a huge crowd of Kaiju: the dog-type, the bear-type, and ones the size of houses. They were moving slowly towards the entrance to the Breach.

"Looks like an invasion force," said Dee.

"I assume that means that the Precursors have found a way to keep it open for longer," said Hermann. "Newton was right when he said that they were hard to predict, always coming up with new tactics. Uh, please don't tell him that I said he was right." He checked his watch again. "I believe it will open in a few minutes, although I cannot be more precise. Will we make it?"

Dee checked the instruments. "Maybe," she said. "Not a huge amount of fuel left."

Suddenly, there was a flash of movement in front of them. And then another, this one on the side. Then something whacked into them.

"What the fuck!?" said Dee, struggling to keep control.

"There!" said Hermann, pointing.

It was a flying Kaiju, like a miniature version of the winged iteration of Otachi. There was a half-dozen of them. They had a wingspan of about three metres. Another one hit the TDV.

"So you want to play, eh?" said Dee. She hit a control, and a burst of machine-gun fire erupted from the front of the TDV. One of the mini-Otachis went down. Dee swung the TDV around and shot another one to pieces.

Then another one smashed into them, and then another.

They could see the entrance to the Breach now. The TDV was beginning to vibrate, and there was the smell of smoke from somewhere.

"Probably would be a good idea if you put your seatbelt on, honey," said Dee.

"What? Oh, yes, seatbelt, yes, of course."

"And, uh, try and hold onto something. It's going to be a rough landing. In fact, landing might not be the right word."

"What might be the right word?"

"Crash."

The TDV hit the ground and bounced. The engines screamed.

"Did I mention that you should try and hold onto something?" said Dee.

The three Kaiju came out of the water together, roaring.

"Let's rock," said Kemi.

Bolts of plasma energy and volleys of missiles streaked towards the Kaiju. Flights of warbirds came sweeping in.

Newton and Elle, with Hannibal helping Natasha along behind them, ran up to Marshall Hansen. They were not far from the edge of the Breach. It was already beginning to crackle with energy.

"Marshall," said Newton, "I believe that Hermann and Dee will try and get back through the Breach. You have to give them a bit more time before you start shooting."

Hansen stared at them. "There's a lot at stake here," he said. "The Breach has already started to open, and the latest readings show a lot of activity on the other side."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, the needs of the many, all that, I know," said Newton. "But … we all owe Hermann. We owe him a lot. Without him, we might not have got this far. And Dee … well, she's one of your Rangers."

There was the sound of heavy mechanical feet. Blackhawk walked up to them. Newton saw what was on its back. The panel in the front of the Mustang swung open. Jin Wei stared at them.

"The plan," said Hansen, "is to go in and detonate the nuke as soon as the Breach stabilises. He might not be able to get all the way through but maybe he can fight his way in far enough to collapse it."

"But … Hermann and Dee – "

" – will have to take their chances," said Hansen.

"I have an idea," said Newton. "Let me go in first. Before it's fully stabilised. On a rope or something. I'll grab them and then you can pull me out. Or … something."

Hansen looked at the energy crackling from the Breach. "There isn't a rope in the world that could take that," he said.

"Hey," said Hannibal. "We have something else." He ran off, towards the jetcopter.

"It's not enough," said Elizabeth. "They're hurt, but they're not stopping."

"Then … hand-to-hand," said Riisa. "Two on three."

The Jaegers strode forward. The Kaijus gave a howl.

Together, the Jaegers roared back: HUH-ROOM!

The TDV skidded to a halt, sixty metres from the doorway. Dee popped the hatch and they jumped to the ground – and immediately a hurricane wind slammed into them. It was as if it was trying to push them away from the Breach.

They looked back into the Anteverse cavern.

An army of creatures was running towards them.

Faces against the storm, Dee and Hermann headed for the Breach.

"Try this," said Hannibal. He handed them the cilia rope – maybe fifty metres of it. It was the rope that had bound Ursu, which he had retrieved.

"Rope, not of this world," said Natasha. She and Hannibal started to tie it around Newton's waist.

"From the readings we have, the Breach is a long chamber, about a hundred metres," said Hansen.

"Yeah, I know, I did the modelling," said Newton.

"Did your modelling show that there's a cyclone going on in there?" said Hansen.

"Uh, no, missed that," said Newton. He prepared to jump into the Breach.

"Hey, sweetie," said Elle. She pulled him to her and kissed him passionately.

When she let him go, he staggered a little. Then he smiled. "Hold that thought," he said to her. Then he leaped into the Breach.

Natasha looked at Elle.

"Church bells," she said.

It was a gale of hot wind that tore at them. They were half-way along, they could almost see the end.

"I … can't make it," said Hermann. "I'm not strong enough. You go on alone."

"Never," said Dee. She grabbed his hand and pushed on. But she could feel her own strength start to fail.

She looked along the turmoil of the Breach.

There was … something … there … someone … coming towards them …

A nightmare of punching and stabbing, trying to stop any of the three from getting past. The Mark VI Jaegers were fast, and strong, and tough, but the Kaijus were fighting with a determination that the Jaeger pilots had never seen before. The Kaijus had pushed the Jaegers back. The Breach was in sight.

"Charge the plasma cannons, both arms!" said Riisa.

"We'll fire together!" said Louise. "Target Snakehead!"

The two Jaegers retreated a few steps as the cannons charged. The Kaijus readied themselves for another assault.

FULL CHARGE.

"FIRE!"

"Fuck," said Dee. "It's … Newton."

"Who?" said Hermann, behind her, struggling to hold on.

"Hi," said Newton.

"Oh, you," said Hermann.

They fell into his arms.

"And now," said Newton to himself, "all we need is for someone really strong to pull the rope."

Apache was beside Blackhawk.

"There will be no coming back for you, you know," said Elle to Jin.

"I think of it," said Jin, "as going to meet my brothers again."

The two Mustangs knocked their metal knuckles.

"It's stable!" shouted Hansen, looking at the scanner.

Blackhawk went in.

Apache picked up the rope.

The four plasma bolts smashed into Snakehead. The Kaiju gave a roar of pain, and then fell back, dead.

The other two charged. Both Jaegers extended the blades on their arms again.

"Bring it," said Elizabeth.

"For sure," said Kemi.

"Oh no," said Newton.

There was a horde of Kaiju creatures boiling along the chamber.

And then Blackhawk was striding past him, firing its weapons. It waded into the throng, shooting, slashing, punching.

Newton felt the cilia rope tighten, pulling him back. He tightened his grip on his friends.

Even as he was pulled backwards, he could see Blackhawk still fighting, surrounded but resolutely moving towards the doorway on the Anteverse side.

And suddenly he, Hermann and Dee were in the open air. Apache was still hauling on the rope, dragging them across the ground and away from the hole. It stopped pulling. Newton, struggling to remain conscious, saw Elle clamber out of the machine and run towards them.

And he heard the calm voice of Jin Wei, over the radio in Hansen's hand: "I am there."

"Goodbye, Ranger," said Hansen.

Liberty Phoenix rammed the blade into the neck of Xia Ci and pulled it across the monster's throat. There was a cascade of blue blood. The Kaiju staggered backwards.

Namazu was trying to wrestle Nova Artemis to the ground. But the Jaeger punched into the Kaiju's jaw, and then swung it around. It grasped the Kaiju from behind, wrapping its arms around the creature's head. It twisted. There was a huge cracking sound.

Both Kaiju, near death, turned towards the Breach. They gave a final howl.

And then they both fell.

The ground around the Breach began to collapse.

"Come on!" shouted Elle. "Run!"

But Newton, Dee and Hermann were near exhaustion.

Elle helped Newton to his feet and put his arm around her shoulders.

Hansen ran forward. But he could not help both Dee and Hermann.

"You take the Ranger, I'll take the nerd," said a voice from behind him. Hannibal Chau.

Hansen hefted Dee to her feet and Hannibal lifted Hermann into his arms. Together, and with Natasha limping behind, they ran for solid ground. It was a desperate, lung-bursting run. But they made it, throwing themselves down.

They turned back, just in time to see Apache tumble into the hole.

"Huh," said Elle. "Oh well. At least I've still got you, Newt."

"Or, to put it another way, you're stuck with me," said Newton.

She laughed, and kissed him.

"Mr Chau, thank you," said Hermann.

"Yeah, well, don't think that I'm going to start doing good deeds or anything," he said.

He cast a glance at Natasha. "And don't you start expecting things, either," he muttered to her.

"I would not dream of it," she said.

"There are about a thousand charges I should bring against you," said Hansen to him. "And I will. One day. But … given everything that has happened … I guess I can give you a head start."

"And that," said Hannibal, "is really all I have ever had." He got to his feet. He looked at Natasha. "Well?" he said.

"Well what?" she said.

"Well, aren't you coming? Or do I have to carry you again?"

She looked up at him. "I guess … carrying would be alright," she said. "Since I was, you know, injured. While I was saving you, in fact."

He snorted. Then he offered her his hand. She took it, and he helped her up. He gave another snort. Then he swept her into his arms. She put an arm around his neck. He began to walk towards the jetcopter.

"How much of a head start?" said Elle to Hansen, as they watched the two of them depart.

The Marshall shrugged. "As much as I think they need," he said.

"So what was the Anteverse like, Dee?" said Elle.

"It was okay," said Dee. "Had some really good sex there. Aside from that … "

"Aside from that, meh," said Hermann.

Hansen stared at the four of them. He sighed. "I will never understand you people," he said.

"Don't worry about it," said Newton.

END AND AMEN