The Restoration of Flaws (The Phantom of the Earth Book 5) (20 page)

The column next to her fired out of the hull, creating a larger breach.

She lost her grip and flipped toward the void. Shrader grabbed her foot. She kicked, but he wouldn’t let go and they whirled out of the shuttle, above the dark time portal.

Ruiner flailed and flew off course, caught in the sun’s gravity.

The
Voltaire
, on fire now, plummeted toward the Earth.

Blood rushed into Oriana’s head as she swung and somersaulted and screamed until Shrader, Ruiner, the
Voltaire
, and the Earth, After Reassortment, disappeared …

Beimeni City

Phanes, Underground Central

2,500 meters deep

The Liberation Front whittled the chancellor’s might the way a river erodes the shore, bit by bit, unseen for years and years until rock dissolves and causeways curve. Though Antosha knew his allies and the people would rally to him, he wouldn’t rely on luck or the gods to decide his or their fate.

He stepped through the Cerebral Core’s spherical inner chamber. Sixty lasers crisscrossed over the center from the thirty black bots around its rim.

Supreme Scientist Antosha Zereoue, requesting permission to access the Cerebral Core.

Permission granted,
Marstone replied. The lasers cleared.
Welcome to the Cerebral Core of Beimeni, Supreme Scientist Antosha Zereoue. How may I be of service to you?

I seek neural access to citizens including Heywood Querice in Mission Control, Corvin Norrod in the Valley of Masimovian, and Swarro Gallegos in Luxor City.

Permission granted.

Antosha now saw and heard the world as these men did.

At Mission Control, Heywood was considering the merits of having Mintel sedated.

“I told you not to send Barão and Shrader!” Mintel threw his arms in the air.

The pad in the middle of Mission Control displayed the time portal, the
Voltaire
spiraling to its grave in the Earth’s ocean, a disruption, explosions. Captain Ruiner Holcombe had entered what the teams called “a death spin” beside the time portal, and worse, seemed to be pulled by the sun’s gravity—over a long period of time he’d barrel into it like a comet.

Mintel raised his voice, his face red. “Everyone got it?”

Few engineers acknowledged him this time. Dahlia put her hand on his arm and said, “Mintel, relax, step away—”

“Heywood and Antosha put the mission in the hands of rookies!”

Mariner hand-signaled the Janzers.

Mintel peered side to side and narrowed his eyes, seething. “Where the hell
is
Antosha, anyway?” He moved closer to Mariner. “You authorized this debacle—”

“Shut it,” Heywood said.

The time portal loomed, a three-dimensional hole in space, Ruiner beyond it as he flailed and rolled on his way to the sun.

Heywood communicated with the engineers and sent stabilizing messages to Ruiner’s synsuit, ordering it to reverse his supersonic descent to his death— “Mariner!” Heywood said. “We have a problem!”

An explosion at the edge of the time portal sent a shower of starry matter looping into and out of it and around Lagrange point one.

An alteration of space-time?
Antosha thought from within the Cerebral Core.
How interesting.

“What is that?” Mariner said.

“I don’t—” Heywood said.

Two figures burst from the bottom of the portal, falling fast, wrapped together, and the time portal disappeared.

“Captain Holcombe’s passed out, sir,” an engineer said.

“The striker and strategist signals are not yet detected, sir,” a second engineer said.

“The
Voltaire
is unrecoverable, sir,” a third said.

“Prepare the teams for a manual rescue of Captain Holcombe,” Mariner said. “And find out what happened with the time portal, what the ejection means, what those … things are that fell from the bottom.”

Mintel frowned. “Cap’n ain’t gonna make it, ain’t gonna make it.”

No he won’t
, Antosha thought,
gods be good. One less of Broden Barão’s allies to deal with later.

The lights and holograms sputtered, and the Granville panels and workstations darkened, replaced by dark red emergency light.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Mintel said.

The engineers stirred.

The facility shook.

“Oh my stars,” Heywood said.

“That’s not an earthquake,” Dahlia said, “not here, is it?”

“No,” Mariner said, “not a quake.”

The ceiling split open, and bits of the carbyne plating broke free.

“It’s a terrorist attack,” Heywood said. “Check the supply shafts—”

“It’s too close for that,” Mariner said. “They’re in Outer Boundary Village, they’re in Mission Control—”

Another tremor rumbled Mission Control, and the engineers braced on the railings.

“What weaponry do you have?” Dahlia said.

“I’m not concerned about our safety,” Heywood said.

“We’re protected by ten Janzer divisions,” Mariner said.

“What of the backup generators?” Mintel said.

“Should be up any minute,” Mariner responded.

A minute passed. Then two, then three, then four and five and six, and many minutes later the Janzers hadn’t yet restored power.

The explosions grew louder and closer.

In the Valley of Masimovian, General Norrod stood between the dunes at the head of one hundred fifty thousand Janzers, Arnao beside him.

“Do you go west?” Arnao said.

“East.”

“The terrorists may be long gone in the east, but the stronghold in the west—”

“Is reserved for Lady Isabelle; she has something special in mind for them. Our scouts indicate a steady flow of Polemon into Volano, Peanowera, and Navita, so I suspect many yet remain in the place they call Blackeye Cavern.” Norrod brushed his fingers over the golden buttons down the left side of his suit. “This war ends tonight.”

“What will you have of me, General?”

“Go back to the DOC and await my orders.”

Arnao nodded, and Norrod raised his arms. The Janzers, lined up in rows over the white sands, clad in gold-lined synsuits, grasping shuriken, batons, and pulse weapons. They sang the “Battle Hymn of Beimeni.”

Norrod stepped to the pulpit and flashed a bright green light to the army below. The Janzers finished the last verse and marched in place, sending the sand into a storm. They held their shuriken above their heads with their right hands.

“The fiercest army ever assembled stands before me,” Norrod began. “And I’m proud to lead you into battle.”

“
Aoi-yah!
” the Janzers screamed.

“The enemy is wicked, and they hide behind women and children as traitorous as they. The enemy attacks transhumanity’s lifeblood with reckless abandon. But this day the enemy will meet their makers.

“This day the enemy will meet the Janzer Army of the Commonwealth!”

“
Aoi-yah!
”

“The enemy will fall to an army that will show no mercy, no cowardice, no weakness!

“Remit sustenance to loyal Navitans in need, but when you ascend into the enemy’s traitorous Blackeye Cavern, do not yield!

“Serve Beimeni!”

“
Live forever!
”

“ON TO NA-VI-TA!”

In Luxor City, Chairman Gallegos rode a camel into the city proper beside the chancellor. Pyramids rose up around them. Gallegos fanned himself, wondering how Luxorians survived this heat. With all Prime Minister Decca’s wealth, how did he not utilize the commonwealth’s terraforming technology to its full potential?

“Wonderful choice, my chancellor,” Gallegos said to Chancellor Masimovian, “coming to Luxor for this announcement.” He swiped his face with his Beimeni beret. “And better still riding in on these camels instead of a luxury transport.” The camel’s fur felt soft on his ankles, but the smell! Gods, he’d never get it out of his tunic.

Masimovian guffawed and rubbed his camel’s neck.

“Splendid. Swarro, is that bitterness I sense? Good for you—you’ve failed me for so long I should’ve hung you from a palm tree in Artemis Square ages ago.”

Gallegos shook.

“When you’re a ruler of a great people,” Masimovian said, “times arrive when you have to be among them. The pyramids on the Earth symbolized ancient power, and those we built below represent modern power. Don’t you agree?”

Gallegos sighed. “I think Hammerton Hall would have worked as good if not better.”

The chancellor didn’t respond.

Minister Decca awaited their arrival upon a stage near the Palace of Luxor. A golden sign hovered above the golden promenade: WELCOME TO THE AUTUMN GALA.

Antosha tuned back in to moonlit Navita, where Norrod’s Janzers handed boxes of Loverealan wine, cheeses and crepes, trinkets and treats, dishes and dates, and pouches jingling with benari coins to any and every Navitan who neared.

Navitans bowed, dropped violet rose petals, or offered a grin when they retrieved their gifts. Antosha felt the city’s relief through Marstone. Anxiety about the army’s sudden appearance began to dissipate.

The Janzers moved up into the tunnels behind the Great Falls.

There was a flash of red light and a rumble, followed by smoke, darkness, more explosions, gasps, and screams. The stars and moon went out. Somehow, the BP had managed to cut power to the city.

Norrod telepathically ordered a thousand divisions to aid their fellow Janzers already stationed in the city to restore electricity and maintain peace.

He led a Janzer division, dressed in synsuits lined with neon blue to signify their scientific status, to the front of the lines. The Blues, as they were known, were cleared to use mineral crushers and other sensitive synthetic materials. They sprinted through the tunnels just ahead of him.

At first there was dust and silver phosphorescent light, then darkness. They traveled an incalculable distance, north and east, east and north, west and south, and north and west. They used ultraviolet vision and coordinates provided by Lady Isabelle to determine Blackeye Cavern’s location.