Sliding Into Antar

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The Granolith's Revenge

Chapter 28

XXVII

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The Antarian mothership, the New Granolith, sailed back into the Antarian atmosphere, armed with every imaginable stealth device that Varec had been able to give it. Max and Michael both knew that if Pierce actually had succeeded in gaining control of the original granolith in this dimension, they were going to be in for a very difficult fight. Although the New Granolith was far superior, in many ways, to the original granolith; after all, the New Granolith could travel interdimensionally and carry huge numbers of people, the original granolith was intended to be more than just a method of transportation between planets. It was also a weapon… a formidable weapon… a semi-intelligent weapon. It could, and would, protect the rightful king or whomever it perceived to be the rightful king. And somehow… no one knew how… Pierce had made it believe that he was the rightful heir to the Antarian throne. The New Granolith, for all its sophistication and immense size, was never meant to be a weapon; it was meant to be a mothership… a vessel of peace. Some of its systems could be turned into weapons… by a resourceful person like Varec… no doubt; but it still would not be a match for the original granolith in a show of powers. The New Granolith did have the advantages of stealth and size, though. And, it had a resourceful crew thinking for it and guiding it. Max wondered if that would be enough against the original granolith's powers.

The ship had barely entered Antarian airspace… fully cloaked and in full stealth mode… when it was rocked by a powerful shock wave.

"What was that?" Maria asked, grabbing hold of Michael's arm and then his co-pilot's seat to keep from being thrown to the floor.

"If I had to guess," Michael replied glumly, "I'd say it was a challenge… or at least a warning… from the granolith."

"But we're in stealth mode… aren't we?" Maria asked, holding tightly to the back of Michael's co-pilot's seat and spreading her feet out a bit further for stability.

Michael nodded. "Apparently it's not fooling the granolith. We might as well have a big target painted on us."

This information caused everyone's heart to sink a little bit, but it did not destroy their resolve. It was only the opening salvo in the battle. They were not going to turn and run on the opening salvo.

"I say we go straight for Pierce," Michael said. "He controls what's happening in the long run. If we chop off the snake's head…"

Max nodded… "Agreed."

Max turned the New Granolith in the direction of the palace and brought the ship down so low over the Golden Sea that it was almost skimming the surface of the water. Only a dozen seconds had passed, though, before a huge wall of water appeared suddenly directly in front of the ship, like an immense, two-hundred-foot high tsunami rising up out of the Golden Sea. Max and Michael had no time to react. The ship plunged into the wall of water with full force… slowing considerably as it did. Everyone waited for the ship to emerge on the other side of the wave… and they waited… and they waited…

"Uh, Max," Kyle said at last, "Where are we?"

Max chuckled, and Michael smiled, knowing exactly what had happened. "Whoever or whatever threw that wall of water at us," Max said, "expected it to crush us; and it would have if we were any normal ship, but the New Granolith is easily able to withstand those forces. I suspect that something was waiting to see if we made it through to the other side or not; so as soon as we plunged into the wave, I took the ship down… under the sea. We're below the surface, but still moving toward the shore."

"Cool," Alex said, starting to smile, too. "So when we don't come out on the other side of the wave, the granolith thinks we're history, and it stops looking for us."

"That's the plan." Michael said.

"Works for me," Kyle agreed.

"It will slow us down a bit," Max admitted, "It'll take more than four times as long to get there underwater, but if it works…"

Apparently, it did. Twenty-two minutes later, the New Granolith rose back out of the sea, having gone as far as it could go underwater due to its size and the shallower depths near shore, and it headed off again in the direction of the palace. During the time spent below the surface, nothing unexpected had occurred. They knew that that would not last, though… and it didn't.

Eighteen seconds after coming out of the water, the New Granolith was unexpectedly caught in a magnetic wave that effectively and instantly shut down all power on the ship. The ship came to a precipitous halt but did not fall to the ground or crash.

"Is it holding us here… in the air?" Max asked, though he didn't really expect an answer.

Varec shook his head. "It doesn't know how to shut our backups down."

Max and Michael both looked at Varec… "Backups?" both of them asked at the same time.

Varec nodded. I built in backup anti-gravity generators before we left Antar… our Antar, I mean. Since we were going interdimensional, I wasn't sure what we might encounter, so I devised a new system that operates on a totally new theory. I never had time to test it under actual field conditions, and it was never intended to replace the main generators or systems.

"Well, apparently it works," Kyle said appreciatively, "You can go to the front of the class."

Indeed, the backups did work, and with one major unexpected benefit. The system was so radically different than anything else that existed in any of the known galaxies that the granolith apparently did not know how to shut it down. But Varec had no doubt that it would learn how to very quickly. It was going to be a race between the granolith and Varec… the granolith to find a way to shut down Varec's radical new backup system… and Varec to get the ship moving again.

"It works like a charm," Alex said, stating the obvious, "But now all we can do is sit here and wait to be slapped down with a giant fly swatter or something when the granolith figures out how to kill it."

"Maybe not," Varec said, already working feverishly to bypass the main system in the engine compartment. "If I'm right, I may be able to route the power from the backup anti-gravity generators to the entire ship."

"You'd better hurry," Tess said, looking around with a worried expression, "I can tell you that the granolith will figure it out very quickly… no matter how different the system is."

"I'm doing my best," Varec said.

Everyone knew that that was true… and it was all they could ask for. Nobody else on the ship had the ability that Varec had to get them out of this. But could he do it fast enough? That would be the crucial question.

"I've got it… I think!" Varec said, backing out of the engine compartment and flipping a switch. Immediately, the power came on, and Michael shot the ship forward, momentarily breaking the granolith's grip and propelling the ship in the direction of the palace, which was no longer very far away. It took less than a minute… about 45 seconds in all, in fact… to get there.

Michael quickly placed the ship directly over the palace…

"I'm betting that the granolith doesn't want the palace crushed under a falling space ship that takes up several city blocks… not if it's trying to protect someone inside there. So it won't be sucking the energy out of our ship as long as we're sitting right on top of the palace."

Max nodded and grinned then turned to Varec… "Can we get Pierce up here… maybe with the transporter?"

Varec shook his head. "Only if he had a pin on him somewhere."

"So somebody has to go down there and stick a pin on him… is that what you're saying," Kyle asked.

"That would be one way," Varec conceded.

"I'll go," Kyle said, "One way or the other, I'll get a pin on him. You guys just be ready up here to beam me back up with him once the pin is on him."

"I'll go with you," Michael said.

"No," Kyle replied, surprising Michael with his sudden authoritarian manner, "You need to be here on the ship where you can protect Max and the others. I can do this. It'll be better if one person goes. I can avoid attention easier if I'm alone."

Michael nodded, knowing that, at least logistically, Kyle was right. "Okay… go for it… but you may have trouble clipping a clip pin to him if there's nothing easily accessible to clip it to… and the Velcro ones are no good, because there isn't likely to be any Velcro on him."

Kyle grinned and selected a pin with a long, sharp prong on the back, "No sweat. I'll use this one. If it doesn't go into his shirt, it'll go into his arm just fine."

Maria grinned and closed her eyes, and Max laughed.

Kyle smiled and touched his own pin, just inside his shirt…

"Kyle…" Max said, "Good luck."

Kyle nodded then disappeared from the ship in a wisp of light. He reappeared inside the palace and, looking around, quickly ascertained where he was. Kyle knew the palace well… at least he knew the one on his own Antar well. And so far they had all been fairly similar. This one did not appear to be any different. He edged his way down the grand hall, staying in the shadows as much as possible, rushing fleetingly from one column to the next until he reached the king's suite. He listened at the door but heard nothing. That really didn't mean anything, though. The doors of the palace were thick and very soundproof.

Kyle tested the handle carefully, and the door opened… just a bit. He looked around the room. There was no one there, so he opened the door the rest of the way and stepped inside, quietly closing the door back behind himself.

"I'm inside the king's suite," he whispered into the pin under his shirt, "Pierce isn't here, but he's bound to return eventually. I'll wait for a while and try to surprise him."

Kyle looked around the huge room. For some reason, it gave him the creeps. It had none of the warmth of Max and Liz's suite on their Antar. It looked more like a huge laboratory with a bed in it. Kyle grimaced…

"He dissects them and sleeps in the same room? How sick is this man!"

For a moment, Kyle fought off a shudder. Then he heard the door handle turn. Quickly, he dove behind a covered table. It was Pierce, and he was alone. He looked frustrated. Kyle watched as Pierce picked up a scalpel and turned it over several times in his hand, as though longing to use it, but… Michael had been "abducted" from his table right under his nose. It must have galled Pierce immensely. Still, there was so much that just did not make sense here. This room looked like it had been lived in this way for a considerable amount of time… and yet… few people on this Antar, outside of the palace guards and some apparently kidnapped victims, seemed to know even the most basic thing about this man who was pretending to be their king. It made no sense. But then… Pierce never had made any sense to Kyle.

As Kyle watched, Pierce walked across the room and removed his shirt, tossing it onto a large bureau. Then he sat down on the foot of the bed and removed his shoes.

If he removes his pants, I'll gag and give myself away, Kyle thought to himself, as he watched from behind the covered table.

But Pierce did not remove his pants, at least for the moment. He stood back up and walked toward the door, then he looked like he was going to walk back to the bed again; but instead, he turned and walked back the way he had come from. Then he walked the other way again, and Kyle realized, with growing alarm, that each time Pierce paced back and forth, he seemed to come closer and closer to where he was hiding. It had to be a coincidence. Finally, Pierce walked in front of the table, directly on the other side of where Kyle was hiding, and as he did, he flipped the table over, exposing Kyle, who looked momentarily like a deer caught in the headlights… but only momentarily. He quickly recovered from the surprise and leapt at Pierce, hoping to get the pin onto him, but Pierce was ready for him. Pierce waved his hand, and Kyle felt something slam into him… hard. Kyle reeled backwards, rolling on the floor from the force. It felt like he had run head on into a stone wall and then been run over by a truck…

"Oh, crap! What the hell was that?"

Pierce smiled, but it was a sadistic sort of smile. "That, Valenti, was a force field. You may have heard that I am well protected here. Well, it's true. I have powers that you never dreamed of."

"You mean the granolith."

Pierce smiled, obviously pleased with himself. "The alien machine does my every wish… It reads my mind. Its powers are mine. I can kill you with the wave of a hand."

"Why don't you then?"

"You know me better than that, Valenti. Did I ever take the easy way… if there was a better way?"

"You mean if there was a more sadistic way?"

"Sadistic is such a harsh word. I protect my planet from alien invasion."

"This is not your planet, Pierce. What are you protecting here?"

"Isn't that obvious? Earth! Eventually, I'll wipe this alien colony out… and earth will be safe."

"It's not a colony… it's a planet. It's their planet."

"Only semantics, Valenti. I see no difference. It's a planet of aliens that intend to take over our planet. So I take over their planet first. I wipe out the colony before it attacks us."

"How in the name of everything unholy and sadistic did you get the granolith to protect you, Pierce? That's what I want to know!"

"Granolith? Oh, yeah, the alien machine. The aliens were kind enough to provide us with an instruction manual for it. Nice of them, huh!"

Kyle sighed. "That's what I heard… but it doesn't make sense."

"It doesn't matter, Kyle… it won't help you to know how I did it. You're not going to live long enough to enjoy the knowledge."

"Or to tell anybody?"

"Exactly."

"Then there is more to tell."

Pierce smiled again. It seemed that he smiled a lot. But it was the smile of a shark. "I don't know why I should tell you anything, Valenti. You can't help me."

"I didn't know you needed help… Dan."

"I don't!" Pierce said quickly… almost defensively, "I just meant that if I did, you wouldn't be able to… do anything about it anyway."

"You need to get off of this planet," Kyle said, venturing a guess.

Pierce rolled his eyes. "Kyle, I have the machine. It does my bidding. When I'm ready to go home… after this alien plague is wiped out… it will take me home."

"Really?"

"Really."

"What was that "alien machine" called again, Pierce?"

Pierce looked at Kyle, and his eyes sparkled… with daggers. "It doesn't matter what it's called, Kyle. What matters is it obeys me."

"That's the part I can't figure out, Pierce. That was never meant to happen. It's… it's… impossible. The granolith was made with too many safeguards to fall into the hands of someone like you."

Apparently, Kyle struck a nerve with that last comment, because Pierce swung around and grabbed him by the collar, pinning him to the wall…

"WHAT do you know about that machine, Kyle?"

Kyle smiled, reading the truth in Pierce's eyes. "Everything you'd like to know, Pierce. Everything you pretend to know, but don't."

"Don't mess with me, Kyle. I can destroy you with a wave of my hand. You've seen that."

The air went out of Kyle's lungs. He HAD seen that. He had FELT it! Whatever Pierce knew or did not know, he clearly did have the power. It just didn't make sense.

"If you tell me what I want to know," Pierce said slowly… and threateningly… "I could be inclined to let you live."

"You're too generous."

"Don't knock it. It's better than the alternative. Would you like to see some of the alternatives?" Pierce pulled the sheet off of the table, and Kyle saw a number of Antarian internal organs."

"How long have those been there," Kyle asked, turning uncharacteristically white.

"A few days… maybe a week… some of them," Pierce replied.

Kyle shook his head. "Antarian bodies dissolve into dust upon death… or very shortly thereafter. No way would they last a few days… much less a week."

"I've learned to preserve them," Pierce said with a sadistic smile.

Kyle sensed that Pierce was telling the truth, at least on this matter, and for a moment, he couldn't think of anything to say.

"All I want from you, Kyle, is information on the alien machine… the granolith machine."

"Don't you already know everything there is to know about it? It protects you, doesn't it?"

Pierce looked frustrated, and he was losing patience. Aware that this conversation couldn't go much further without Pierce doing something rash, Kyle began to look for a way to put an end to the encounter, but Pierce had removed his shirt. If Kyle was going to stick the pin on him, he would have to stick it to his pants… or stick it into his skin. He lunged at Pierce's arm, but Pierce raised his hand, and a bolt of something like lightning hit Kyle, bowling him over.

Kyle groaned and tried to raise his head, but everything looked fuzzy, and the room was spinning.

"You thought you'd sucker punch me, Valenti? That was stupid… even for you." Pierce stood over Kyle and glared at him with those sparkling little daggers in his eyes…

"Tell me what I want to know, Kyle. It's your last chance."

"Okay… okay…" Kyle tried to lift himself off the floor; then instead, in one swift motion, with his head still swimming, he reached up and pinned the pin to Pierce's pants. Apparently, the pin went deep, and judging by Pierce's reaction, in a most sensitive place. Pierce let out a howl that was probably heard all the way up on the New Granolith.

"NOW!" Kyle yelled into his shirt. "NOW, MICHAEL! If you want to live to see tomorrow, get me out of here NOW!"

Kyle had not yet finished the sentence when he appeared on the bridge of the New Granolith… along with a very surprised Agent Pierce, who was still trying desperately to remove the deeply embedded pin from the family jewel box without causing more damage… or pain… than he had already suffered. Assessing his situation quickly, and finally getting the long prong out, Pierce held up one hand threateningly, and Kyle dove for cover.

"I should kill you ALL right here, right now!"

Pierce moved his hand slowly back and forth, choosing his first victim, as he issued his threat. Michael and Max already had him covered. Both of them had one hand up, palms aimed directly at him. It appeared to be a standoff. But there was that nagging little problem… Pierce was channeling the granolith's powers. If not for that, it would be no contest at all. Even if Pierce had somehow gained some kind of powers on his own, Max and Michael would incinerate him… easily… before he could act. But if the granolith was protecting Pierce… blasting him could get the New Granolith destroyed… and everyone onboard killed.

"You can't hurt me. You know that, don't you," Pierce blustered, "The machine protects me. I'm all-powerful."

"I would like to test that theory," Michael said calmly.

"Be my guest," Pierce said, a sadistic smile playing impatiently at his lips, as he moved his hand in Michael's direction. Then, without any forewarning at all, Pierce waved his hand as though he were swatting away a pesky fly. Michael and Max both dove for the floor and rolled, and Michael got off a solid blast that sent Pierce flying backwards into the wall. For some unknown reason, Pierce's attempt to blast Michael had been totally, and unexplainably, unsuccessful… like trying to shoot a gun and discovering that it was out of bullets… and no one was more surprised than Pierce…

"NO!" No, it can't be! They wouldn't dare!"

Max and Michael, seeing their chance, quickly subdued Pierce and tied him up, as he alternately ranted, cursed, and threatened ultimate vengeance against someone. Whom, they weren't sure.

"Well," said Maria, looking very relieved and maybe just a teeny bit cocky after the present unexpected turn of events, "It looks like the granolith has turned its back on you. I guess it doesn't like you much either."

Pierce appeared to sneer, and his eyes narrowed noticeably, but his mouth remained tightly shut.

"Who was it that betrayed you, Pierce," asked Max, "Who were you swearing vengeance against so vehemently just a moment ago?"

Pierce shook his head, but said nothing.

Max shrugged. "It doesn't matter. If you have nothing to say, we'll let the people down there decide what to do with you and be done with it."

"You can't…" Pierce blurted out unexpectedly, but then he hesitated, unsure that he wanted to say anything more.

"Just watch us," Michael said, grinning now like a Cheshire cat. "If there's anything I love it's poetic justice."

Pierce grimaced, even though he was trying to appear stoic… "What happens to me if I do talk?"

Michael looked at Max, and Max shrugged… "We can't let him go. We have to turn him over to the proper authorities either way. What would you do?"

Michael smiled ever so slightly… "I'd blast his ass."

Max looked at Pierce and noticed that an uneasy pall had settled over Pierce's face. Pierce had no reason at all to doubt that Michael would do what he said, given the opportunity… or the go ahead from Max and the others. And he had no reason at all to believe that anyone else aboard the New Granolith would be any kinder to him. He was certain that he wouldn't find mercy below, on Antar… not among those who knew him. One thing about being a self-serving sadistic tyrant is that it brings a certain relevancy to one's paranoia.

"If you take me back to earth, I'll tell you anything you want to know," Pierce said, out of the blue.

"Can't do that," Max replied, shaking his head, "We're on kind of a tight schedule. Besides, didn't you say that the granolith was going to return you to earth… after you destroyed Antar?"

"I have nothing more to say," Pierce replied, resigned now to what he assumed to be his inevitable fate and determined not to tell them anything more.

"Max," Liz said, patting Max gently on the arm, "Maybe we should ask the granolith ourselves."

"Yeah," Tess agreed, "The granolith on our Antar was designed to recognize the royal four… this one probably is, too. If it is, you can find out how Pierce got here and what's going on. We don't need Pierce to tell us anything."

"It can do that?" Pierce asked.

Max nodded.

Pierce groaned.

"So are you going to tell us yourself," Max asked.

"Find it out the hard way… if you can," Pierce retorted defiantly, "I'm not giving you anything. I have nothing to gain from it."

"Except maybe a good feeling inside for having done the right thing," Liz said innocently.

Pierce stared at Liz momentarily, wondering silently if she was serious. He decided that the comment had been intended as a smart-aleck jest.

Maria stifled a laugh and shook her head, as she put one arm around Liz protectively… "Girlfriend, I've got to have a serious talk with you sometime."

Liz turned slightly red and rolled her eyes with a sigh. "I know… I know… it sounded stupid. But I can't help it. I always think there's some good in everyone… somewhere… deep down. It just doesn't usually come out sounding so lame."

Maria glanced at Pierce and nodded… "Very, very, very, very, very deep down… maybe… but I'm not sure there's anything that goes that deep."

"I know," Liz said, smiling abashedly, "It was a momentary lapse. Just forget I said it."

"Don't try to change her," Max said, grinning, "If Liz ever sees the real me, she may decide to give me the boot."

Liz gave Max a playful shove… "I fell in love with you knowing what you are, Max. You never fooled me for a moment!"

She turned and walked away, and Max looked at Maria, puzzled… "What did she mean by that?"

Maria shrugged. "I'd say she wants you to wonder."

Max looked at Liz again then shook his head, dispelling any further questions he might have had on the subject in order to return to the matter at hand…

"Okay, we find the granolith… and we get some honest answers… about Pierce, I mean."

End of Chapter 28

tbc…