The Glorious Becoming (43 page)

“Deny them,” said Archer calmly. “Tell them we have Superwolves en route.”

“Sir, they want to know what’s going on.” The operator sounded desperate. “I can’t tell them nothing.”

Archer looked at him. “Tell them we have a situation—say nothing more. Send a message to the global network to put all bases on orange alert.”

“Yes, sir,” the operator said, taking a step away before turning back. “Wait, you said
all
bases?”

The judge’s stare returned to the globe. “Yes, lieutenant. Don’t question me again.”

“Yes, sir.”

Archer’s voice rose. “Ears, gentlemen! As of this moment, we are responding to a matter of global security,
not
organizing an incident! This room is about to be very full. We must all play our roles.” The room full of conspirators affirmed, and Archer nodded to another operator. “Notify the Council, then call Russia’s President Belikov. His country’s largest base just declared war on EDEN.”

A squadron of Superwolves appeared on the globe, plotting lines taking them on an intercept course with the six ships from
Novosibirsk
.

“Get ready, Carol,” Archer murmured to himself. “You’re about to be a busy woman.”

* * *

S
LIDING IN THE
mud, Tiffany pressed her back against a tree near the shoreline. The EDEN soldiers were still clustered by the water’s edge, leaving the transport’s bay door undefended.

Briefly, she surveyed the Vulture. Its hull was charred and worn. It looked more like a ship in line to be demolished than to fly. She gazed at the tail fin, where she saw the remnants of what appeared to be some kind of logo.

Like some kind of dog.

Catalina in his arms, Lilan and the rest of the survivors moved stealthily through the marsh. Though Lilan occasionally glanced back to see if he could spot the pilot’s progress, he knew they couldn’t afford to slow down. He had to trust Tiffany to get the job done.

Easing around the tree, Tiffany wiped the water droplets from her face. The hostiles were still clustered by the shore, completely unaware.

Crouching low, the pilot made her break. Positioning the Vulture between her and the hostiles, she bolted toward it, leapt up the ramp, then burst into the troop bay. The cockpit was ahead.

Whhhrrrrrr.

At the unexpected sound, Tiffany skidded to a halt. She whipped her head toward the rear bay door. It was closing by itself. Gasping wideeyed, she watched as it sealed her in. Immediately, the ship’s thrusters began to rumble.

“Ohmygod! Ohmygod!” Dashing to the cockpit, she inspected the controls. What she saw made her go rigid. The console was in ruin. Scorch marks were everywhere, like it’d been through a crash. She reached for the ship’s comm, only to realize after her hand was extended that there was none. There was only a vacant socket. The autopilot indicator—one of the few functional components to be seen—began to urgently flash green. Heart pounding, she flipped the switch for manual control. The autopilot overrode it. Freezing in the seat, Tiffany clutched her scalp with both hands.

The ship was launching on its own.

“Look!” Tom said, pointing at the shore. Lilan and the rest of them stopped and turned just in time to see the transport lift off the ground. But its cannons didn’t fire. On the contrary, it was like a routine takeoff—and not one of the hostiles on the beach seemed concerned.

“Uhhh,” was all Lilan could muster as he watched the ship rise, pivot, then slowly drift away.

Tiffany screamed at the ship at the top of her lungs. “Why are you doing this?” She searched desperately for any button that retained functionality. There was no working comm, no working manual override, almost no working
anything
. On the verge of hyperventilating, she dashed from her seat back to the troop bay, tearing through overhead bins and lockers while the ship picked up speed through the sky.

Finally, in the second-to-last locker, she found what she was looking for: an old, seemingly abandoned handheld comm. Wiping her hair from her forehead, she looked at the frequency. It was a setting that looked nothing like
Richmond
. Swallowing hard and with no other options, she hesitated, whispered a prayer, then pressed in the button.

* * *

NOVOSIBIRSK, RUSSIA

“D
UDE, THAT’S BULL
,” Travis said from his upper bunk, looking down from his comics. “Stellar Man could beat Commander Kill any day of the week.”

William scoffed. “How old is Stellar Man? He was invented what, two hundred years ago? Commander Kill is so much better.”

“Just because he’s newer?”

“No, just because he’s
better
.”

Travis slammed his book down. “How is he better? Stellar Man can fly, he can shoot lightning, he has skin as strong as iron!”

“He doesn’t have any weaknesses, dude!”

“That’s what I’m saying!”

William threw up his hands. “But that makes him so lame!”

Travis’s comm suddenly queued. Raising an eyebrow, he snagged it from his nightstand.

“Commander Kill rocks,” said Williams.

“Shut up.” Engaging the talk button, Travis held it to his lips. “Y’ello.”

A
CROSS THE PLANET
, Tiffany’s eyes widened wildly. “Hello! Who is this?”

“D
UDE, SHE SOUNDS
hot!” exclaimed William.

Travis hurled a pillow at him. “This is me,” he answered. “Who be you?”

“This is Tiffany!”

William nodded confidently. “Oh yeah. Tiffanys are
always
hot.”

“Well hello there, Tiffany,” mused Travis. “This is Stellar Man.” He placed his hand over receiver and whispered to William. “It’s Max. He’s getting some chick to screw with us.”

“How do you know?”

“Because it’s from one of our comms. Who else would be screwing with us? Egor?”

T
IFFANY BLINKED
and stared at the comm. “
Stellar
Man?” she murmured to herself. Pausing confoundedly, she spoke again. “I need your help, Stellar Man!”

W
ILLIAM RUSHED TO
the side of Travis’s bunk. “Dude, tell her you’re fighting Commander Kill! Do it!”

Travis sniggered and held up his hand. Clearing his throat, he deepened his voice. “I’m afraid I can’t help you, good citizen. You see, I’m staving off an attack from Commander Kill.”

“Dude,
staving
! That word is awesome!”

They high-fived.

T
IFFANY’S MOUTH HUNG
open. She didn’t have a reply.

T
RAVIS SPOKE AGAIN
. “What kind of assistance do you require?”

William cut in loudly. “Is it
sexual
?”

Travis cracked up and jerked the comm away. “Dude!”

The demolitionist lost it.

E
YES NARROWING
, Tiffany answered, “No, it’s not
sexual
!”

“Then how may I be of stellar service to you?”

Carrying the comm to the cockpit, Tiffany sat down and looked out the window. The ship was flying full speed through the storm. “We just got attacked by EDEN ships! We don’t know where they came from, but I’m in one of them now and I don’t know where I’m going.” She pored over the console. “For some reason the autopilot’s overriding manual control. I can’t get it to switch back!”

T
RAVIS AND
W
ILLIAM
stared at the comm in silence. For several seconds, neither said a word. William finally broke the quiet. “This prank sucks.”

“T
HERE’S NO COMM
in the ship, it’s like this thing’s held together with duct tape!” She eyed the radar. “I’m in formation with four Vindicators and another Vulture, all on the same trajectory. They must all be on autopilot!”

A
LOOK OF
concern struck Travis’s face. “Wait a minute,” he spoke into the comm, “you said the ship didn’t have a working comm. How are you on one now?”

Her breathing heightened. “I found it in a locker! It was the only one in the ship.”

“
What
ship?”

“I don’t know!
This
ship! This...piece of crap!”

Holding out a hand of seriousness, Travis leapt off his bunk and walked to the middle of the room. “I need to know what ship. Read me the serial number.”

Several seconds passed before the voice answered. “It’s VD723-442-MX09. There was something on the tail, like a dog.”

Travis’s mouth fell open. His face shaded pale. “Oh my God,” he said off-comm. “She’s in the
Pariah
.”

“I
HAVE NO IDEA
where I’m going! This thing just took off on its own. I wasn’t even trying to do anything!”

A
LL LEVITY WAS
gone as Travis’s tone increased. “Tell me exactly what happened. You said you were attacked?”

“Yes, by ships from EDEN! My unit was sent on a mission near Lake Drummond.”

“Lake Drummond?” William mouthed in bewilderment.

Tiffany went on. “We don’t know why they attacked us, but the rest of my team is on the ground! The hostiles abandoned their ship and I climbed on board. Then it just took off!”

“Where is Lake Drummond?” Travis asked.

“In the Great Dismal Swamp!”

Travis looked at William, who shrugged. “Where’s the Great Dismal Swamp?” Travis asked. “Is that in Russia?”

“What?”
the voice shouted. “No it’s not in Russia! It’s by the Virginian coast. Who the hell am I talking to?”

“This is Travis Navarro, in the Fourteenth of
Novosibirsk
.”

She sounded stunned. “
Novosibirsk
? Why the hell am I talking to
Novosibirsk
?”

“Why the hell are you flying in my ship?”

There was a distinct pause from the other end of the line. When the woman’s voice returned, it was low in disbelief. “Oh. My. God. I think I’m flying to you.”

The hair stood on Travis’s arms. For several seconds, he said nothing—he simply stared in a blank stupor. Finally, he queued the comm again. “Hold please.” Breaking the connection, he turned to a new frequency.

“Dude, who are you calling?” asked William.

Travis locked eyes with William as he prepared to speak on the line. His dreadful expression said it all. “Hello,NovCom?” The pilot swallowed. “I need to talk to General Thoor.”

* * *

“T
HAT HO LEFT
us!” Tom said as the transport disappeared out of view. “Y’all see that?”

Javon shook his head. “Man, what’s goin’ on?”

“She didn’t leave us,” Lilan said definitively. “Did you see those troops on the ground? They weren’t even fazed when that transport took off. That was an autopilot kicking in with her inside.”

Catalina was panicked. “Where is she going? What if they take her prisoner?”

“Forget that trash,” said Tom. “We gotta get outta here.”

“Forget that
trash
?” asked Catalina furiously.

“Hey!” said Javon, stepping in front of Tom and looking at him. “You best back it off, King.”

Ignoring the rising tempers, Lilan pointed toward the lake. “We have to keep moving. Those hostiles think our dead bodies are in that wreckage. When they find out they aren’t, they’re going to come looking for us. We’ve got until then to get out of this swamp or to get somewhere where we can hide and sort this out. So let’s get moving.”

Tom and Javon glared at one another for several moments, before the latter turned away. Crouching down, he scooped Catalina in his arms.

The group’s trek resumed.

* * *

I
GNATIUS
V
AN
T
HOOR
was in the midst of an afternoon nap when his comm sounded. Grunting groggily, he lifted his head and stared at the comm on his stand. Sitting upright and allowing himself a moment to become alert, he queued the comm up. “Thoor,” he said gravelly.

“General, this isNovCom. We have received a request from Travis Navarro of the Fourteenth. He says he needs to speak with you immediately. He says it is urgent.”

Running a hand through his hair and breathing heavily, the general paused to collect his senses. “Put him through.”

“Yes, general.” The voice hesitated. “I would also like to advise you... the global network was just raised to orange alert.”

“Orange alert? For what?”

“It has not been defined.”

Thoor’s quarters fell into silence. He nodded absently. “Give me Navarro.”

“Yes, general.”

Several seconds passed, during which General Thoor closed his eyes and simply breathed. Finally, Travis’s trembling voice crackled through. “General Thoor? This is Travis Navarro with the Fourteenth. Remington’s unit.”

“I know what the Fourteenth is. Speak.”

“General, I just received a transmission from a woman who claims to be on a transport on its way here. She’s saying EDEN attacked her unit with that same transport. I’m not sure how she got on board, but she said the autopilot kicked in automatically.”

A bewildered look struck Thoor’s face. “EDEN attacked this woman’s unit? And
she
is with EDEN?”

“Yes, sir. The transport she commed me from...it’s ours. It’s the
Pariah
.”

Thoor’s eyes opened widely. New alertness came. “I want to clarify. An EDEN unit was attacked by an EDEN vessel that belongs to us and is now en route to us?”

“Yes, sir. It sounded like multiple ships took part in the attack.”

“Where are they now?”

“North America, headed this way.”

Thoor rose from his bed. “Thank you.” He closed the channel, changing his frequency toNovCom. “This is Thoor. Can you verify that multiple vessels with
Novosibirsk
signatures are en route to The Machine from North America?” Several seconds passed, but verification indeed came. “Dispatch Gagarin Wing on an immediate intercept course. Tell them their job is to escort these vessels back to
Novosibirsk
. Instruct them to engage any other approaching aircraft. Send a message to EDEN Command clarifying orange alert. I am on my way to you now.”

* * *

“J
UDGE
A
RCHER
!” one of the operators yelled. “I have two squadrons of Vindicators launching from
Novosibirsk
on an intercept course with the transports!”