Chapter 9 - Impact: Solar Day Three
The cords and sorrows of death were around me, and the terrors of Sheol (the place of the dead) had laid hold of me; I suffered anguish and grief (trouble and sorrow).
Then called I upon the name of the Lord: O Lord, I beseech You, save my life and deliver me!
--Psalm 116:3-4 (The Amplified Bible)
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In the midst of the firmaments, its dark shape separated the light from the dark as the evening of the third day began. And darkness was upon the face of Armana. The clouds were without form and the sky an empty waste, and death came upon the face of the Spherical as it descended.
The Spherical slowly approached over their heads, huge and intimidating like the balloons of a Macy's parade.
The operatives hovered around it, like apparitions to taunt tormented souls. The number of them totaled twelve black sentinels, one aboard each aerial platform. They watched for any movement that would disturb their destination, taut and ready for action. As told by Adu, these messengers of doom were the Peacekeeper's finest Commandos, the Black Ghosts.
That's one big mother, John thought, peering through the oculars.
Evoked by the Spherical's magnetic energy, the breeze chafed John, causing his skin to burn and his coat to flap against his leg while he watched the terror. Feeling prickles or goose bumps, even with his coat on, was no comparison to what he had felt when they had emerged from the sub-mobile out into the street. His skin had felt like exploding, felt as if it were being sucked from his bones from the internal pressure after leaving the sub-mobile. John looked up, no longer having to squint, and saw the huge shadow overtake them as the Spherical passed over. It measured nearly the full width of the street, about fifty to fifty-six feet.
Oh, God, deliver us from this Sheol. There's enough lives on my hands. I can't let this thing win, John thought.
Remembering those days when the Reverend delivered those old time messages, John thought it was like peering up at the black belly of Sheol. Had death really arrived for them? John crouched with Adu and the team under cover, peeking around the side of a building, trying to make sense of the humongous sphere that promised death. Rifts of design patterned on its surface, alien cuneiform writing was displayed within the planes of the ebony-curved surface, and on its diameter were twenty or so odd cup-like extensions. To John, they appeared like ladles without the handles to scoop up the ground.
The Spherical's shadow spanned an eighth of a metra over Armana, dwarfing the skyscrapers. It proceeded north only motras above the buildings. John let out a sigh of relief when they weren't spotted after the sphere passed overhead. Slowly, it proceeded across the city, the twelve armed Peacekeepers holding vigilant watch from their platforms. Increasing the magnification, John saw that the weapon wasn't a standard-issue pulse rifle like Aeryn always toted around in battle. Its barrel was double the size, appearing more like a miniature missile launcher.
Beforehand, they had discussed the plans within the sub-mobile: round up the Sebaceans, keep the operatives from knowing they were there, then get the frell out of Dodge. This was as normal as any other hare-brained plan like his: impossible to follow through without screwing up.
Farther down the Spherical's path, there were sub-mobile ports every other block. This gave them access to an escape route at any point of contact with the Sebaceans. John and the team followed about two hundred motras behind, crouching and hiding, then bursting forth across open space to cover again, going north toward the Temple of Gratuities. No firepower erupted, neither were they detected as they pounded the pavement. But John couldn't get over the hugeness of the round black ball as it skimmed along, barely above the skyscrapers. If the Spherical lowered, the streets seemed wide enough, like an eight-lane thoroughfare, to contain it.
One big fat armadillo coming up. You want fries with that? John mused. That's what it looked like a balled-up armadillo, especially with the rifts that appeared like sectioned plates in its curved surface. And at that moment, realizing the magnitude of the weapon, John needed to reach the Sebaceans soon before that huge eight-ball in the sky made its destination. Once it stopped and touched the ground, he didn't want to be there for the grand show. They all had to make it out of there before things got nasty.
***
All the pacing and running, chasing after the Spherical, eventually wore them down. The electrified air made the chase more difficult, like breathing hot air in a fire. John wondered how Adu and the guards fared in the heat. It seemed all of them were holding out. John was amazed that Adu and the Sebacean guards were able to struggle along in the heat. None of them faltered.
Finally, they spotted the Sebaceans, wandering aimlessly and scattered within the Spherical's range. Fortunately, no firepower erupted at that point. John gave a sigh of relief that no harm was being inflicted. At the moment, it appeared the operatives were ignoring the Sebaceans.
The big black ball ambled on without any regard.
Adu sent six of the guards to round up the poor souls. A few elderly men and women, some teenagers, girls, boys, and toddlers made up the group. As the seventeen Sebaceans staggered closer, John stopped abruptly, shocked by their appearance. Suffering from exposure to the conditions outdoors and the extreme light, they were shivering, with barely the strength to hold themselves up. They were all naked with only tags around their necks, contrasting their exposed and bruised pale flesh.
Stunned by the atrocity done against them, John wished he could've killed Palimous himself, for taking harmless, trusting people like these and turning them into slaves. Now Palimous' legacy was this abhorrence. John winced, turning away from the sight with bile rising in his mouth from the evident foul treatment of them. Palimous, you've joined the ranks of Nazism and attempted genocide, he thought.
Seventeen of them were taken to a nearby port to go below. Six guards and the dazed Sebaceans were gone, and now there was only he, Adu, and two other guards left. Their mission was nearly complete. They only needed to find one more. If they couldn't find that one within a quarter of an arn, they would have to leave. They ran quickly to catch up with the Spherical. Time was ticking away; John could feel its desperate passage.
***
Suddenly, the Spherical stopped. The operatives maneuvered their aerial platforms cautiously, slowly, to make featherlike contact with the ground. John could see rings, and ripples form as the beams from their mini-missile launchers lanced the atmosphere. What kind of weapon were they up against and who the frell were they shooting at?
John and company were peeking around the corner of a smaller building when a whirring blimp flew over them.
"That doesn't look good," John said, after he dodged the thing, pointing at it flying toward the Spherical.
Adu nodded. "I agree. The street sensors must have activated the blimps. See ahead, all the blimps have been released. The operatives are firing at the blimps to protect the Spherical. Now we'll have to be more careful. That particular weapon not only pulverizes whatever it hits, but also it paralyzes the neural system of a living creature. Anything standing within range is paralyzed, then dies. The operatives ensures the Spherical's protection at this stage of vulnerability. Nothing can touch it, until it's ready."
John cursed beneath his breath. "Now isn't this my luck. Blimps, of all things, have just frelled up our whole plan. I guess this is as good as it's going to get. Ain't that right, Adu?"
Adu in answer to John gave a lame smile.
But it wasn't good. Everything went south when he spotted her. After they closed in on the action, John saw a child crying between two pillars at the plinth. The blasts weren't reaching her, but she wavered uncertainly, seeming ready to sprint out into danger.
"What are they doing? Why shoot at her and not the others?" John hollered. He spoke of the seventeen Sebaceans the operatives had ignored. Those freakin', pain in the butt, dren-infested blimps now ruined the rescue. "Why can't they just shoot at the blimps, not her!" He cursed again and hit his knee.
"This is bad, bad. Very bad for the child." Adu shook his head, chest heaving from all the exertion. "The sphere is now highly vulnerable. It has something to do with anything touching the outer surface will cause premature eruption, leading to a failed targeted explosion. The Spherical must make it to the stalactite to explode the three planets. Otherwise, only a portion of this planet will be impacted."
"That sounds cheerful." The girl was moving and she looked familiar. John took out the flimsy to make identification. It was her! Just his luck!
"We can't save her. It's too dangerous." Adu grabbed John's arm and started to retreat.
"No! Cover me. I'll get her." John pulled his arm from Adu's grasp and peered at the danger ahead. Steeling himself to take the first step, he counted the blasts and calculated from the angles of the shots where he should position his feet. More blasts flared, but not in his direction. At least not yet.
Ready. Steady. Go!
He sprinted across the street, dodging the operatives' blasts.
John hefted the eight-shooter and blasted away a couple of operatives, hitting the platforms and then them. He could hear the dull thud of falling enemies and smell the acrid burning of flesh. John kept running, hearing firepower from behind and in front. Then it all stopped.
Too quiet!
John sensed no movements a few moments before he reached the child. In the middle of the street, he turned toward the Spherical where the operatives were firing and found them fallen. All were down. Still. Not moving.
Adu caught up with John and explained why the operatives had stopped firing. It was a suicide mission for the operatives to fulfill Grayza's orders . They had taken poison according to orders, knowing there was no time to escape from impact. This was a mercy killing. The Black Ghosts, the elite of the Peacekeepers were no longer needed. Their duty was complete and the Spherical was no longer vulnerable. Adu sharply turned toward the Spherical lowering between the buildings. "Let's go!"
That was a cue for him to finish what he had started. The child was still screaming and crying. Grabbing the strap, John slung the gun onto the steps and snatched off his coat. With one stride, he reached the girl, wrapping the coat around her and sweeping her into his arms. He sat against the pillar's base, ensuring the coat was well-wrapped around her. "Hey, it'll be okay, Rea'Lan." He bit his lip and held the hiccupping child against him, her little head poking out of the black leather wrap. Finally, sensing security, she had settled down. Then she wrestled her little fat arms out to hold tightly against his neck. John sighed.
Was this how it would be with his child? Sweet. She's so fragile to be in such a rough world. He smiled and stroked Rea'Lan's dusty blonde hair back, her eyes pitch black framed by pale skin. And her wet face sank back into John's neck, her tears soaking his T-shirt collar. He readied himself to leave, to pick up his gun and take off running.
It stopped him, the hissing from motras away coming out of the Spherical. John quickly recognized it was the neural paralyzing gas spewing from it. He quickly unclamped the mask from his belt and put it over the child's mouth, gathering her into his arms to rush her to safety.
Then the ground shook beneath him. The sphere had crashed into part of the building, and it was slowly toppling. The dust was choking him and the child while the Spherical descended until it was nearly touching the street. John lifted the child in his arms, one hand holding the mask to her face. Focusing on Adu, crouched behind a stone monolith fronted by a sprinkling fountain, John began to run as the ground beneath him shook again, groaning even before the Spherical touched it.
From out of nowhere a blast ricocheted and hit him. It felt different from a pulse pistol's burn. It had a percussive feel, splitting the air. A loud, scratching noise grated his ears, and prickled his flesh. It was as if everything within him exploded, his brain set on fire. A network of pain seared the nerve endings of his wounded back and enflamed his wounds. His skin became one organism of stabbing pain.
John felt death approach. Face down in the street, his body covering the child, John used his waning strength to reach into his pants pocket to find his keepsake, his lifeline, a part of his love. The pain kept shooting through him, but he fought it, inching his throbbing fingers through the chafing material of his pocket. Can I do it? He kept inching. There it was. He got it!
Aeryn's flight pin! Baby, I'll miss you.
He took it out and squeezed it, tight. He barely could roll to his side off the child. With much struggle, he succeeded and brought his balled fist to his chest, never feeling the sharp broken edges of the pin. A piece of Aeryn's flight pin had been broken off for the metallurgist to work with. Something for her to remember him by. With that hope, he never felt the edges cut into his flesh.
My center.
His eyes fluttered shut. Then he felt nothing.
***
Adu saw the whole horrific act unfolding before him. He thought John, after retrieving the child, would follow him to the sub-mobile port. But Adu was proven wrong; brother man was more stubborn than their yak-driven beasts and slower, too. Adu backtracked to witness the Spherical knocking down an edge of the skyscraper where the child was, and the release of the paralyzing gas, and an operative firing on them.
With mask on, Adu ensured that one of the guards who had an extra mask cover him while they rallied against the last operative. Apparently this operative must have withheld taking the poison, seeing the job was not complete. Frelling idiot, thought Adu. The Peacekeeper could have fled. Ducking from the fire, Adu was relieved to see the Regent's guard had a good aim. From Adu's peripheral vision, the operative was shot and fell to the ground. Adu now sprinted as fast as he could toward John and the child. Unfortunately for the rescue, it was harder to maintain balance now that the Spherical was causing quakes that worsened.
"Get the girl! Take her down NOW!"" Adu yelled the other guard who took the child and sprinted the best he could, while the ground intermittently quaked. "Give me a mask, quick!" Adu took it and covered John's mouth with it. "Silly human." Adu waved to the same guard. "Give him the nerve boost here, HERE!" Adu pointed anxiously at the vein in John's neck. He knew the blast hadn't directly hit John and hoped the nerve boost would be enough to bring him around.
The frelling human's face was still as stone. Adu had no time to waste. He slapped John again. "Wake up!"
"Captain," the guard queried. "We must go now. Any later we will not have access to the ports. Everything is falling around us. Sir?" It seemed the ground would swallow them, but they had a mission. And this was the last comment Adu could handle.
Adu flashed an angry look at the guard, whose breathing subsequently became erratic. "Aiyee!" Adu hissed. "Frell you, Guardsman Leeontu! I can see that. But we can't let him die. Go wait for us at the port."
Adu slapped John's face again. Fragile human. We will all die here, thought Adu. However, even his cheeks were turning red from Adu's rounds of slaps, which Adu took as a good sign.
"You, brother man, are FOOLISH," Adu yelled into John's ear above the breaking of stone and ground, "hardheaded, stiff-necked! To risk our lives. WAKE UP!" He gave John one more slap. John wouldn't budge. "You are a frelling idiot, and I wouldn't have you any other way." He slung John over his shoulder and ran into the port before the building toppled over.
One last look. Adu turned and saw the Spherical's cups extend more. While revolving, the Spherical caused a sucking current. Pulverized cement, stone, and ground created a black plume of dust rising above the ruins. Catastrophic! It was beautiful and evil...black dust with a sphere spinning in the middle and fallen operatives collapsed in its wake. Adu turned quickly and entered the sub-mobile with the guard to escape the horror.
The Spherical is no longer vulnerable.
***
"We're not gonna make it," John mumbled. At first he couldn't remember where he was, but then he realized he was back in the lab. But it was dark, so dark. John found himself lying on his side and still felt inflamed all over. There was a slight tremor and emergency lights struggled back on.
"Here take this." Yeah, it was Adu's friendly face, blurry, but friendly. John felt the guy cup his chin so he could sip some awful drink.
"What the frell is this mess?" John pushed away the rest of the drink.
"Water and Fellip urine," Adu said, casually. "Takes away the pain. You know we almost lost you, brother man."
"Well, my Jamaican brother, you should've left me dead. I would've been a happy camper." John winced as he lifted himself up to sit against the wall. He let out a dry laugh. "Yep, the universe would've been better off without me."
"Shut up! You and your dren, brother man, is about to..." Adu kept rattling, but John couldn't hear him.
John shut his eyes and closed out the conversation. His head was constantly whirring now. An electrical buzzing in his head that he not only heard but felt kept nagging him. And the tremors within the lab weren't helping his concentration, nor were the flickering emergency lights. "Oh God, we're not gonna make it." He sighed. "I screwed it up, didn't I?"
Adu sat beside John's shoulder to anchor him from falling. They were in a quieter part of the lab adjacent to the small corridor that led into office of the late Palimous, Jughead, who started it all by frelling with Sebaceans. Sitting at the door frame of the supply room, John sensed Adu turning toward him in the darkness.
"Ahhh, Commander John Crichton," Adu said, his eyes kept on John's. "The universe does not revolve around you."
John sat up. Suddenly, the whirring abated. "The Hezmana it does! If you went through what I have, you'd say the same thing."
"Perhaps you're right. I remember some of our ancient elders and priests speak of a wormhole walker that would preserve the galaxy and encounter the woes of others. Nearly five hundred cycles ago this was prophesied. I remembered that prophesy when Officer Sun spoke of you and who you were. It was good because you became the link to help the investigation." Adu laughed, "You should have seen Commandant Grayza's face when I mentioned you. The female trel--"
Before Adu could finish the word, John grabbed him by the throat and straddled him. "You almost had Aeryn, me, and the BABY killed!" Now John had both hands around Adu's throat. "I could kill you. Right here! Right now!"
The lab started to quake more, each tremor growing stronger. It thrust the two men together, muscle against muscle, bone against bone. Adu's mocha skin contrasted sharply from the fallen dust and mortar seeping through the walls and ceiling. John saw Adu's muscles bulge as he tightened the chokehold. Yet no fear was in the warrior's eyes as the nauseous pounding continued. They bumped into the walls and John never lightened his grip.
But for John, the fortified walls of trust, patience, and control fell. And it was this abhorrent truth that spurred more strength into his stranglehold until the quaking lurched them apart. John quickly grabbed Winona and aimed.
"I knew it. You're a freakin' spy." John stood up and hissed while drawing in his breath. "You know at this point, I was expecting a nice vacation with Aeryn on a beach. Maybe we're frelling around in our own condo, Porsche, Ferrari, yacht with all the amenities." He waved the muzzle. "You and Grayza kind of interrupted those plans."
"My brother man, you seem to be quick at the temper." John saw Adu step away. Then John's heart sank. His plans always frelled up. Adu waved Winona's cartridge in front of him. Okay...how did Adu get the cartridge out of my gun? When? He was knocked out of the game when the freakin' bowling ball and an operative got him and the kid. Probably Adu stole it when he was the most vulnerable...unconscious and dead to the world.
John, realizing he was defenseless, cocked his head. "Well, I wasn't always this way."
Adu grinned and shook his burnt locks. "No?"
"Hey, you screwed over me and Aeryn. What do you expect?"
"Aaaaahhh, I expect for you to listen to a fellow warrior and scientist before you jump. That is why took your cartridge in the sub-mobile. I've examined your behavior, brother man. And you're not one to reckon lightly with. I needed to tell you everything as I am doing now. You should trust me."
Adu waved the cartridge at John and forced his tone, as if John was a child hard of hearing. "Grayza would have targeted this planet anyway. She needed this weapon for her use. Your beloved Aeryn would have died, along with billions of others if I had not intervened. If your name weren't mentioned, I wouldn't have discovered Grayza's scheme. After contacting you, Our Regent and I had expected you to whisk away the Command Carrier with your wormhole. But, alas, things did not work that way. Did they, brother man?"
"No."
Adu came closer to John, nose to nose, and proffered the cartridge. John still locking eyes with the warrior took the cartridge and instinctively slammed it up the pistol's handle without looking.
John shifted his stance, scratched his head. He needed to search for the child he had wrapped in his coat.
"Okay. One question. Where's the girl?" John's lip tightened. He would settle this issue later with Adu, if there was a later. But right now, he wondered if Rea'Lan had survived the fall.
***
They were safe in the underground lab, well, hypothetically. A person could have an epileptic seizure the way the emergency lights flashed on and off. John rubbed his forehead with his palm. The lab was falling apart from the Spherical's bombardment, and he had just received bad news. The pole they had attached to the lab was coming apart, and they had no way of fixing it.
John had checked on Rea'Lan; she was okay, still breathing and slept soundly with the leather cover. The other recovering Sebaceans reached out to him as he checked some that were uncovered and demanded blankets, or at least towels to cover their nakedness, even if it was hot inside. It was relief in their eyes that shined when he demanded water for some that were crying of thirst. Irony seemed to play a major role here. To help them felt really good, felt good that they needed him even with doom overshadowing them. And John was glad to yell for water and blankets, and to turn some of the helpless Sebaceans over in a more comfortable position. He knew each life was of great value to their families. And just about a solar day ago, these people were the living dead. John hoped this struggle would end in a royal flush if he played his cards right. Otherwise...he couldn't think of it.
It was hardly a quarter of an arn when things became worse. They were in the dark with emergency lights freaking him. One good thing, all the communications were opened, the image field and monitors were still up and running. One bad thing, the monitor displayed the doomsday machine in all its glory while it crashed through the different geological layers of Yontur, heading to the tunnels littered with stalactite and stalagmite.
John made his way to the image field. He had to check in and see how everyone was doing. Home was calling him, and that was where he wanted to be. To see anyone from Moya to appear on the image field became a need; a familiar voice, face, or just plain anyone would calm his nerves. He had to see their faces and he had to have an update on how everyone was, especially Aeryn. His heart pounded in his chest as he cried out to them.
"Hey, anybody home? What's up? Pilot?"
"Commander," Pilot said, his shelled head appeared in the image field. John laughed. Hearing Pilot answer was the sugar in his coffee. The navigator's voice couldn't sound better.
"Hey, how's it going over there?" John asked, smiling nervously.
"D'Argo, Chiana, and the others are preoccupied with Officer Sun."
"What?" John felt his heart lurch.
"She is attempting to leave in her Prowler at this moment."
"Get her to command, Pilot. Right now! Tell her anything. No, nothing. She can't come down. Do you hear me?"
"Yes, Commander, right away."
The intermittent pounding grew louder. It didn't matter because it blended in with his heart and his head. John paced, raking his fingers through his hair, nails cutting into his scalp. No! She can't do this. She can't do this. He kept pacing, automatically stepping over the people littering the floor.
The pounding persisted. He felt a wave was taking him under. He could sense the ticking ... ticking ... ticking inside his brain. It was coming. Soon. Detonation. He looked at the monitors and that big black ugly thing taking him away from her. It spun and crashed through the ground of Yontur. Lifting himself out of his misery, John glanced back at the image field and saw D'Argo first, then Aeryn and Chiana.
"Guys, stay where you are. I need you right there to monitor things along with Pilot. Understand?" John searched for Aeryn's reaction. She appeared flustered and kept turning her head as if watching for someone to come in on them. "Aeryn, baby, haven't heard from you. Are you okay?"
"John, we've been hearing everything. And I think it's about time for me to come down and help."
John spread his arms. "Hey, you've missed all the wild action. There's nothing going on down here now."
"The frell there is. I'm coming down." Her voice was hard and cold, ready for battle. This was one of the times he didn't approve of her Peacekeeper mode. Aeryn smacked her palm on the console and turned to leave.
"WAIT!" John hollered at the image field. Aeryn hesitated, and John was relieved to see D'Argo grab Aeryn by her arm gently but firmly.
"Maybe you should listen," D'Argo said, his voice deep, soft, wavering at the end. John braced himself, hoping Aeryn wouldn't detect anything from D'Argo's anxious tone.
Chiana, from behind D'Argo and Aeryn, twisted in her unusual stance. "Maybe you ought to listen to him, Aeryn. He's not a fekkik."
Aeryn's gaze traveled from D'Argo's earnest face to Chiana's tearful one. Setting her jaw, Aeryn shook off D'Argo's hand and turned back to the monitor.
"Okay," Aeryn nodded. "John, what do you have to say before I leave? Because I am coming down to help you."
John shook his head. Frell. How do I tell her there's no way to reach the lab, no way to reach me? Nothing she can do but stay there and watch this planet come apart—
Nothing she can do but lose me again.
"John? John, what is it? What are you not telling me—"
"Commander, check your monitors." Pilot cut in abruptly. "I believe you'll want to know what is happening to the Spherical." Turning, John noticed that the doomsday machine was changing colors, from ebony to ruby red.
"Commander!" Pilot yelled this time. Not good. "The Spherical, it is gaining mass!"
"Oh, God!" John's voice caught. It was dark, he was like a fly caught in ointment, stuck, helpless, and unable to end this horror. John noticed on another monitor that displayed the pole from the outside that was attached to the lab. It appeared three Sebaceans in casual civilian dress were outside holding the pole down. Are these guys insane! What the...
"Regent, Adu!" John yelled, ignoring Pilot's warning. "We've got to get those men in here!"
Adu hopped over bodies to where John was standing. "Where!"
"There!" John pointed to the monitor with the three men. "See 'em. Crazy, fahrbots. All the help in the world won't do any good. We're doomed."
Adu peered, "I don't see anyone. Regent?" The Regent nervously negated also.
Shocked and overwhelmed, John hoped he wasn't seeing things because of stress. Then he remembered when he had been aboard Moya thinking and blind to a solution to all this madness. And now his petition came back to him in an answer clear as crystal. The memory came, there when he had whispered to the stars on the terrace: If God had any angels on this side of the universe, he needed them now. "Open my eyes."
"Commander!" Pilot screamed again. "The Spherical is at CRITICAL MASS!"
Pilot's warning jumpstarted John out of his reverie. The monitor to his right displayed the Spherical about a metra away beneath the planet where the mineral formations that had made up the CL3 was prolific. It pulsed, turning scarlet. But at the circumference, the scarlet graduated from orange to gold.
"Everybody!" John barked the commands. "Change the signature to shielding NOW!" He could tell the change in power shift or whatever that was left of it. But it worked!
SNAP! ...Time was wound up...
John quickly turned and slapped both hands on the console.
"Pilot! STARBURST! NOW!" he yelled into the image field.