Mutation (22 page)

I was still heaving when Estrella appeared beside me.  She kneed me in the face, a move that sent me soaring backwards before landing hard enough to knock the wind out of me and crack my skull on the floor again.  Two things happened almost simultaneously then.

First, a jagged red line appeared in the air behind Estrella.  I recognized it as the spatial scar I’d first seen in my dorm room.  Then Gossamer and Kane stepped through it.

At the same time, I heard gunfire coming from Li’s direction.  I painfully lifted my head from the floor and looked in his direction.  Schaefer was there, holding what appeared to be a shotgun.  He fired, sending Li staggering back in my direction.  A second shot knocked him off his feet.  From where I was, it appeared that the shots had severely damaged Li’s stomach and the left side of his face.  Li didn’t move.

I struggled to my hands and knees, head spinning.  When I tried to rise, nausea hit me like a tsunami and I collapsed back down.  At this point, Gossamer and Kane were taking on Estrella.  Gossamer had her daggers crossed in front of her, forming her shield as Estrella fired a laser at her.  Kane, standing diagonal to Estrella, fired a sphere of light at her, but she teleported, appearing next to him.  She gripped his wrists, and suddenly the air was filled with Kane’s anguished screams and the smell of cooking flesh.  Then she flung him to the side like a toy, sending him crashing into the door of a nearby SUV.  Kane flopped over onto the ground like a dead chicken and didn’t move.

Over by Li, Schaefer was reloading, muttering something about “freaking robot.” Unexpectedly, Li moved.  His arm swung in a wide arc, sweeping Schaefer’s legs out from under him.  Schaefer hit the ground with a bone-jarring thud.  Li stood up, wires and circuitry exposed, then bent over, grabbed Schaefer by the shirt, and flung him into the wall.  Schaefer hit hard enough to crack the plaster, then fell down to the floor, out of sight, behind one of the cars.  Li went back to work on the vortex equipment.

Near me, Gossamer was fighting Estrella, trying to get at her with her daggers, but it was a lost cause.  She knew she couldn’t win, but she fought anyway.  She spared a second to give me a concerned glance, and that’s when I realized that Gossamer wasn’t trying to win.  She was simply trying to buy time.  For me.  Because I was the only one who could really face Estrella.  With that in mind, I focused - trying to take control of all my bodily functions to combat the nausea, despite my throbbing head - and struggled to my feet.

Estrella teleported behind Gossamer, firing lasers at the elf’s hands.  Gossamer’s daggers went flying.  Estrella gripped Gossamer by her hair, twisting the latter’s head until they were almost face to face.

Oddly enough, I was still holding the gun.  I hadn’t fully conquered the nausea, but I raised the weapon and fired.  I couldn’t tell if any hit Estrella, but she just laughed.

“Don’t you get it?” she asked, chuckling.  “I’m a star, like the sun!  You can’t kill a star!”

Her words triggered something in my brain, something I tried to remember – a conversation of some sort.  Without warning, it came to me.  I forgot about my nausea and concentrated on a new train of thought.

Estrella turned her attention back to Gossamer.  “As for you, girlfriend, you hit me in the face with my own laser before.  And I just happen to believe in an eye for an eye…”

Estrella pointed a finger at the right side of Gossamer’s face and made a downstroke motion.  Gossamer screamed, her body convulsing almost spasmodically.

“And now the other one,” Estrella said.  She raised her hand, then stopped.  She looked in my direction with a curious expression, then let go of Gossamer (who collapsed to the floor) and placed a hand to her chest, gasping.  I kept concentrating, staying focused since my plan seemed to be working.  Forgotten, Gossamer crawled slowly across the floor towards Kane, who was just coming to.

Estrella raised a trembling hand at me.  “What are you doing???!!!” she screamed.  She fired a laser at me, but her hand was shaking so badly that she missed.  (Which is a good thing, because I was focusing so hard that I forgot to become insubstantial.)

“Stop it!” she screamed.  “
Stop it!!!
”

My phasing power actually had several components.  I could make things insubstantial, so they could pass through solid objects like ghosts; I could also return them to their normal state.  In addition, I could make physical objects
more
substantial – increasing their weight and density beyond what was natural for them.  I had never done the latter with anything or anyone other than myself, but I was doing it now to Estrella.  If BT’s theory was right, she could be made to collapse under her own weight and density – two elements which I was now increasing substantially.

Estrella lifted her head up and let out an ear-splitting, undulating scream that shattered the remaining glass in the window.  Then she vanished.

Gossamer and Kane were now huddled together.  Gossamer sported an unsightly wound that went from just above the middle of her right eyebrow, across her eye, and almost straight down to the middle of her cheek.  I couldn’t see her eye itself – the lid seemed soldered shut – but it could not be good.  Kane’s wrists looked ugly and charred, like barbecue left on the grill too long.

The sound of a ricochet near my feet made me instinctively crouch.  It had come from near the vortex equipment.  When I looked in that direction, I saw Schaefer – bloodied and with a crazed look in his eye – on the far side of Li, firing an assault rifle wildly.

“Get out!” I shouted at Gossamer and Kane, who had just gotten to their feet.  They didn’t wait to be told twice.  Gossamer raised a glowing hand and her daggers flew to her, and then they scrambled out the door.

Down by Li, I saw the vortex gate light up.  Any second now, if Li knew what he was doing, the vortex tunnel at the Academy should open.  We had to leave.

Schaefer was still firing when Li stood up and rushed him.  Despite the damage he’d taken from the shotgun, Li still appeared to be very much functional.  He had almost reached Schaefer when suddenly his momentum was checked and he flew up into the air, limbs flailing.  He hit a large circular object up near the roof with an echoing metallic thud.

It was the industrial magnet.  Schaefer had turned it on and positioned it to trap Li, who was struggling to get free.  Schaefer pointed his rifle up and fired repeatedly, ripping Li to shreds.

I ran towards him, determined to help.  Schaefer saw me coming and dropped the rifle.  He held his hands up at chest level to show me what he was gripping:  a hand grenade.

“That’s far enough,” he said, when I got close.  “I don’t know what your little robot buddy was doing, but one more step and I’ll erase all his efforts.”

I was about to mention that destroying the vortex would leave him stranded here, too, but from what I could sense of his emotions, he was beyond caring about stuff like that.  In fact, I could feel an utter, black hate in him, and it was directed at me.

I backed up slowly, then found my movement checked by the hydraulic lift.  Up above me was the station wagon I’d seen earlier.

A look of pure evil came over Schaefer’s face.  I knew what he was going to do before he even did it.  He pulled the pin, then tossed the grenade at me.  I phased, and the grenade passed through me, striking the lift before falling to the ground.

I turned my head to the side as the grenade exploded, destroying the base of the lift and cracking the concrete floor.  Dust flew up into the air as if caught in a windstorm.  There was the unmistakable screech of tearing metal as the lift slowly tilted and then fell forward in Schaefer’s direction.  I thought that it would hit him, but instead it struck the ground about three feet in front of him, embedding itself in the floor.

The station wagon that was on the lift, however, thudded to the ground grill-first, headlights shattering and hood crumpling.  Then it slowly fell forward onto its roof, crushing a shrieking Schaefer under it.

I didn’t bother checking on him.  Instead, I looked to see if the vortex equipment was damaged.  There were a few sparks, but in truth I didn’t know enough about the technology to determine if it was still in working order.  My thoughts on the subject were interrupted by someone shouting my name.

“Jim!” Kane screamed from the doorway.  “Come quick!  There’s some kind of red giant out here!”

Red giant? 
I wasn’t sure that I’d heard him right.  I ran outside and saw something I’d never seen before.

Lumbering in our direction from the far north end of the street was a woman.  She was red all over - not just her complexion but also the soft light that surrounded her - roughly twelve feet tall, and just as big around.  As Kane had said, a red giant.  As she came waddling slowly down the street, wailing at the top of her lungs, buildings on both sides seemed to crumble inwards.  With a shock, I realized that the woman was Estrella.  Whatever was happening to her was running its course at a high rate of speed.  In addition, it was affecting the environment, because in the few seconds I’d been outside, the wind had whipped up into a frenzy, blowing in Estrella’s direction.

“You have to get us out of here!” Kane shouted, Gossamer leaning protectively against him.

“Me?” I asked incredulously.  “How?”

“Teleport us!”

“Teleport?” I asked, puzzled by what he meant.  The word
sounded
familiar…my head was still throbbing, making it hard to think.

“What’s wrong with him?” I heard Gossamer ask Kane, who gave me an odd look, then poked a finger at my forehead.  I flinched away from his touch in pain.

“Oh, jeez!” he yelled.  “I think he’s got a concussion!  There’s a lump on his head the size of a golf ball!”

Teleport…Teleport…
I
know
that word…

Gossamer pulled out one of her daggers.  “I think I could
–
”

“No!” Kane told her.  “You’re too weak!”

Teleport…Teleport…
As I tried to concentrate, I glanced at Estrella, who lifted her head to the sky, screamed, and vanished.

“Oh!” I said in sudden realization.  “Teleport!”

A second later we were at the Academy, in the room with the vortex gate.

Chapter 38

I have to give Gavin credit; he did an excellent job of rounding everyone up.  The room where the vortex normally opened - and the hallway leading into it - was completely packed.  It looked like everyone was there, and already wearing their sunglasses.

Magnavolt, despite looking haggard and withdrawn, had taken charge of things since being brought out of sedation just an hour or so earlier.  We found him and several of his senior staff near the gate (or rather, what was left of it), trying to keep order.  Gavin had already brought him up to speed on everything regarding the virus, and we briefed him on the mission we’d just completed.

“I hate to have to tell you this,” he said when we’d finished, “especially after everything you went through, but I think it’s a bust.”

“Why’s that?” asked Kane.

“Because the vortex opened before you got here,” Magnavolt said.  “It was only for a few seconds – not long enough for anyone to go through.  Everyone’s been waiting around, hoping it will open again.”

“I guess that explains why everyone already has their sunglasses on,” I said.

“So, after all that,” Gossamer said, “we’re still stuck here.”

“And in a few minutes almost all of the students here will start losing control of their powers,” Kane added.

I didn’t have the heart to tell them about the additional danger posed by Estrella, who could possibly go supernova at any moment and fry the whole planet to a cinder.  I don’t know if anyone else noticed, but I could hear the wind outside starting to build.  I felt someone take my hand; I turned and saw Electra standing there, with Smokey behind her.  She gave me a kiss.

“You never showed up for dinner,” she said with a pout.

I smiled.  If this is how things were going to end, I was glad to have the people I cared about at my side.  I thought back to Adam’s last moments…

All of a sudden there was a brilliant burst of light from the direction of the gate.  Anyone who hadn’t been looking in that direction turned their head that way now.

A silhouette slowly took shape at the edge of the gate as the vortex opened up.  I switched my vision over and almost jumped for joy when I saw who was standing there.

“Anybody need a ride home?” asked Mouse nonchalantly, with the ever-present tablet under his arm.

There was a loud cheer, and people started pressing forward.  Magnavolt took to the air, floating in front of the gate, voice booming.

“QUICKLY AND IN ORDERLY FASHION, PEOPLE!  THIS IS NOT SOME CATTLE DRIVE!”

Mouse stepped down from the gate as people started to go through the vortex.

“We did it!” Kane screamed.  “We did it!”

“I don’t know that
we
did anything,” Gossamer said.  “It looks like this is all work they did on the other side – on Earth.”

“Still, I like to think we helped,” Kane said.

We all stood back as everyone started to file through.  I wanted to talk to Mouse, but he was too busy, first speaking to Magnavolt, then running out of the room to do something else.  When he came back in, he looked worried.

I grabbed him by the arm.  “What is it?  What’s happening?”

“Something’s going on here,” he replied.  “I don’t know exactly what, but some kind of gravity well is forming on this world and growing fast, becoming more powerful by the second.  The vortex is providing some stability for the area we’re in, but it won’t last.  The rest of the school’s already coming apart.  We’ve got to move faster, before it sucks this school, us, and everything else down its throat – including the vortex.”

I sighed, then gave him (and everyone else standing around) a thirty-second overview about Estrella and what was – theoretically - happening to her.

“Well, I think the theory’s being proven,” he stated when I finished.  “That said, we should have enough time to make it if we hustle – we only need another minute or two.” He clapped me on the shoulder.  “You guys did good.  I’m glad you came through it okay.”

“Not all of us,” said Gossamer.

For a moment I didn’t know what she was talking about, then I remembered.

“Li!” I shouted.  “I’ve got to go back for him!”

Before anyone could protest, I teleported back to the garage.

*****

When I popped into Manny’s Garage, the wind outside was audibly ferocious and blowing in the direction where we had last seen Estrella.  From what I could see out the window, there wasn’t another building on the street…or the next street, or the next, and so on.  I also didn’t see a tree, shrub, bush, or blade of grass…anything.  Whatever was happening to Estrella, it was, as Mouse indicated, sucking this entire world dry.

That being the case, I was actually surprised to find the garage still in one piece, but then I remembered what Mouse had just said about the vortex providing stability.  Although there was no vortex here, the machinery was still on, and maybe that was enough.

Apparently I was getting ahead of myself, though, because the next second the north end of the building ripped away from its foundation and went soaring off into the distance towards something that looked like a shining white dot.  Slightly panicked, I flew up to where the industrial magnet was located.  This area, being a bit closer to the vortex machinery, seemed slightly more stable, but I knew it wouldn’t last long; the roof was already coming apart.

Li was still there, stuck on the magnet like he’d been welded to it.  I spent a minute or two zipping around the garage looking for the magnet’s controls.  One set of equipment that I thought might control it actually raised a hydraulic lift I hadn’t noticed before.  Another opened a set of bay doors on the east wall.  Finally, knowing time was running out, I gave up on finding the controls and flew up to see if there was anything I could do otherwise.

Looking at Li closely, I could see that he was horribly shredded.  Thanks to the magnet, Schaefer had really been able to do a number on him.  Almost every part of his interior was exposed and obviously damaged:  frayed wires, ripped couplings, busted hydraulics.  It didn’t look like there was anything to be done even if I could get him off the magnet.

I was about to teleport away when I caught a brief flash of colored light from the area of his sternum.  Telekinetically, I peeled back part of the housing that made up his chest and the accompanying wires and connections.  There, in the center, I saw the piece of ceramic I had observed earlier when he’d been wounded.  Using my telekinesis, I took hold of it and pulled.  It seemed to snap right out.  I took the ceramic in my hand and teleported back to the school just as the rest of the garage blew away.