Skyfire (34 page)

They shot into the infinitely small particle, exploding out the back end into the most violent scene Trent had ever witnessed.  Fire, pressure, heat, cosmic gas, and all manner of tumultuous natural phenomena swirled around him. 
What am I watching?  I want out.  Let me out!  Help! 

“Necessary.”

“I still don’t get it!  Why didn’t you try to explain this shit to the dude we came to the city to save?  Why would you choose a drunk asshole?  I don’t know what you want!  Just kill me and try again!  I’m tapping out!  I’m FUCKING tapping out of life!”

“No. You.  Prepare.  Painful.”

“No, please.”  Trent was terrified.

“Necessary.  Understand.”

The volume increased. Trent’s paranoia and fear escalated into full-blown hysteria. 

“NO!  DON’T!  YOU CAN’T!  I’LL  FUCKING KILL YOU!”

“You.  Fighter.  Good.”

“Then fucking fight me you goddamn faggot!  I will fuck you up!”

“No.  Friend.  All.  As one.  Perception flawed.”

Trent was consumed by hysteria.  He was ripped out of the subatomic hell, back into the solar system, and then zoomed into Ronak over and over as Ronak fought for his life.  Only a microsecond had passed.  Each of the smallest, most zoomed-in particles showed Trent cosmic nature’s capacity for violence and chaos.  Over and over, they zoomed into the smallest point in the microscopic realm and watched an entire reality come to fruition in its most infantile form on the opposite side. 

“Understand?”  The presence asked as it beat the living shit out of Trent’s psyche.

“How is this physically possible?”

“Now, same.  But bigger.”

“What?  Please, man.  Don’t …” 

The presence took Trent back out to a view of the Milky Way Galaxy.  “Ready?”

“Please.  Don’t.”

They zoomed into countless black holes at the centers of all the surrounding galaxies – Andromeda, Omega Centauri, Bode’s Galaxy, Messier 83, and a great many others.  Each time the presence dragged Trent through a black hole’s event horizon, he saw the same violent entropy all around him. 
Holy shit.  These are all little big bangs! 
The supermassive black holes, as well as the smallest subatomic particles yet to be discovered, were gateways to other universes.  Some of these massive realities were thriving and prosperous, much like our own.  Some had failed.  Each time a “big bang” occurs, different results ensue.  Some results were similar to our perception of reality, with natural laws such as gravity. Other results had no such laws, and were not conducive to creating planets, galaxies, and local clusters. 

“Holy shit.  I think I understand.”

“I AM.”

“I understand now.  I get what you are.  I mean, I kind of get it.  You are literally infinity.”

“YES.”

“Why do we do everything?”

There was only silence.

“Why don’t you just tell me what the point is?  I’d be better at my job.”

“COME TO THE DARK STAR.”

“Why do you need me if you’re an infinite web of fractal big bangs creating deeper and deeper degrees of reality?  I am literally nothing.  I’m a drop in the bucket.”

“You.  Needed.  In time.”

“Why me?”

“Decision time.”

“Show me Emma again.  It’s easier for me.  Please, it’s all I have left.”

“Yes, baby?” asked Emma.

“What do I do?”

“If I’m going to talk to you, you need to focus.  Can you focus?  It doesn’t seem like you can.”

“I can!”  Trent said with childlike enthusiasm.

“OK, you have a choice.  What do you want to do?”

“Emma, I’m bleeding out all over Central Park West right now.  I don’t exactly have a lot of options.”

“Let’s take a look, shall we?”

The presence zoomed onto the island of Manhattan.  Trent was on his back on the Upper West Side. Dark blood gushed from his left arm.  He was in bad shape.  The blood was flowing so quickly that it took a few seconds to turn from black to red. 

“Well, fuck, Emma.  What the hell do I do now?  I’m seconds from death.”

“Don’t worry, I can take care of that.  Now focus on what you’d like to get done.  What do you want to achieve?”

“I want to save everyone, but I don’t know how.” 
Isn’t that always the case?

“You know how.  What have you learned so far?”

“Emma, I honestly don’t know.  I saw infinity and I saw my past.  I have so much to go over.  I don’t even know where to begin.  I always thought I was pretty smart, but now I realize just how dumb I am.”

“That’s why I love you, baby.  You’re not too arrogant to realize you don’t know shit.”

“I honestly still don’t get it,” Trent said.

“You need to make a choice.  Time is a ruthless law of nature.  What will you do?”

Ronak swung around, creating a whirlwind of death that allowed him to break free of his attackers.  He was fighting toward Trent’s body.  Karl had taken notice and was sprinting back from the LZ to assist.  Rudich took one more pass over the crowd, buying Ronak and Karl a few more seconds.  The sound of the 240s was deafening.  Flesh was ripped to pieces.   

Trent rotated 180 degrees and looked at the pulsating phenomenon over the financial district.  “This is causing everything, isn’t it?”

“It is,” Emma responded.

“Is that you?”

“I am.” 

“Why would you want us to kill ourselves?”

“That’s not the point, Trent.”  The presence sounded frustrated.  “I’m trying to get you to understand.”

“It’s like drinking through a fire hose.  I need to take all this and think about it.”

“You will do all of that, but not now.”

“So what do you want me to do?”

“Make a choice.”

“Are you all-powerful?”

“Make your choice.”

“What are my choices?  Please, just tell me what to do!”

“Trent, I can’t give you the answers.  This is your journey.  Make a choice.  Calm down and decide.  Here, I’ll help.”  Emma transported them both back to their apartment across the river.

“Is this real?”  Trent walked around and touched the dining table.  He was teetering on the brink of insanity.  The table’s brown, polished finish comforted him. He craved anything with some semblance of familiarity.  He looked at his bar across the room, beneath the monument to naiveté that was his military awards wall. 

“Just relax, honey.”  Emma’s voice was very calming.

Trent walked to the bar and bent down to open the bottom left cabinet.  It was stocked with three bottles of vodka and two bottles of relatively expensive scotch.  “OK.”

“What are you doing?”

“I was going to-”

“Don’t.  Trust me.  Come here.  You don’t need that anymore.”

Trent walked over to Emma and hugged her tightly. 
I don’t care if this is not real, I just don’t want this moment to ever end.  Weird, both my arms are still attached…

Emma gently removed his arms and stared him in the eyes.  “Come with me.”  She led him to the sliding door that opened to the balcony overlooking everything from the city to the stadium where the Jets played.  It was beautiful, except for the pulsating phenomenon.  “So what are you going to do?” Emma asked.
              “I need to get rid of that thing.”

“Then do it.”  Emma said this as if it were obvious and easy.

“How?”

“You tell me.”

“I need to destroy it.  I don’t know how.”

“Are you sure?” 

“Yes.  I mean, how else do I fix this?”

“Think about what we just did.  All I need is your intention, Trent.  Please.”

“OK, let’s do it.  I want this fucking thing dead as… dead.”

“Let us continue, baby,” said Emma.

“But wait - will everything be OK afterward?”

“You have a lot of work ahead of you.  It will be a very difficult road.  Prepare yourself for that.  This is just the beginning.”

Trent remained silent.  It was always a tough road.  Why did everything need to be a struggle? 
I feel like I’m getting on the plane for my second tour.  I know how much this is going to be complete bullshit, but I’m fully committed.  How embarrassing.  I’m such a fucking coward.  I hate myself. Why can’t I stand up for myself and what’s right when it matters?  Whatever, maybe now I can.
 

The light tunnel transported them into the empty space around the smallest, yet-to-be discovered subatomic singularity at the center of the phenomenon.  Trent still felt Emma’s presence with him in the fractal bliss.  He didn’t ever want to leave. 

“Trent, are you ready?”

“No.  Let me just stay here with you for a few more minutes.  I don’t want to do this yet.  Please, just five more minutes.”

“Honey, my love . . . You know I love you.”

“Of course.” 
No, please don’t go… 

“But now I need you to do something for me.  Something very, very important.”

“What’s that?” 

Emma now appeared clearly in the light tunnel.  Trent felt his body return, though he couldn’t see it.  He dropped to his knees and hugged his wife.

“Stop being a fucking pussy and get this done!”  Emma smacked him in the face with more force than he’d ever felt.  Then everything went from bliss to chaos.

RONAK

              Trent somersaulted out of the sky and back onto the street, fifty meters from where he had initially killed the beast. 

“Captain Hughes!”  Ronak frantically searched for Trent amid the chaos, but couldn’t find him. 
This man was here moments ago.  I do not understand.

              The sounds of controlled pairs got closer and closer as Karl ran up to Ronak.  “Ron, where the fuck is Trent?”

              “He sacrificed himself to save my life, but I cannot find any remains.  He was right here!”

              “Green Dragon, cover our movement!  We’re coming back to the LZ!”  Karl yelled into his handset.

              “Roger.  Be advised, I have maybe three more passes of ammo at this rate!”  Rudich took another pass over the crowd.

              “Got it!” said Karl.

              “Shit, everyone!  The thing in the sky is gone!”  Rudich blurted over the net.

              “Legate Ronak, this is RCV4 Nexus.”

             
Thank The Veil! 
“Nexus, this is Legate Ronak.  Can you hear me?”

              “Indeed.”

              “Is Extra-Local-Communication back online?”

              “Indeed, prepare for synchronization.”  It was never convenient to sync on a large scale during moments of stress or activity, especially when running for one’s life.

              In a split second, Ronak’s technological augmentation shared all the data he had gleaned during his mission with the Nexus.  Simultaneously, Ronak absorbed all new available pertinent information. 

              “
Sameena!  No!  Nexus, what is Sameena’s status?”

              “Sameena perished by the hand of the very person you are trying to rescue.”

              “No!  I refuse to believe it!”
Ronak communicated.

              “Hughes!”  Karl sprinted fifty meters toward the museum and saw his friend, bloody and unconscious on the street.  Steam rose off Trent’s naked body.  Karl ran to pick him up.  “Ron, why the fuck is he naked?”

              Ronak continued slicing through the crowd, securing Karl as Karl performed first aid on Trent. 
I don’t understand, why he would do that? 
Ronak was exasperated.  As he fought the horde, he continually replayed-the first person perspective of Sameena’s death in the bottom left corner of his heads-up display.  He saw Trent jumping toward Sameena’s point of view like a vicious animal, thrusting forward with his bayonet and stumbling off to the side.  Over and over he played the memory. 
Why am I even fighting for this man anymore?  Look what he’s done! 

             
Ronak received more communication from the Nexus.  “
Legate Ronak, we sense your concern.  Please stay with us and focus on your current task. What needs to be done to assist you?  We are still synthesizing your data into useful information.” 

              I mustn’t lose sight of what is important.  I can sort this out emotionally when the task is complete.   “RCV4 Nexus, Veil interference is now somehow negated.  I do not yet fully understand what happened.  We can no longer see the visual representation of the fractal phenomenon.  However, we are about to be overrun.  You need to execute an extra-local propulsion jump into Earth’s atmosphere to extract us.  There is no time for local propulsion pods or transport vessels.  Look at my visual feed to assess for yourselves!”

              The Nexus administrators viewed the situation through Ronak’s perspective, but still weren’t convinced.  “
Legate Ronak, do you understand what you are asking?”

              “Yes, I understand.  Do it now!  We will all expire if you don’t!  All of this will have been for nothing!”

              Rudich’s Blackhawk made another pass, ripping apart everything in its fields of fire.    Karl now had Trent on his back as he ran toward the planned helicopter landing zone. 

              “Major McMullin, consolidate everyone at the landing zone!” said Ronak.

              “Ron, I don’t think that plan’s going to work anymore!”  For the first time, there was desperation in Karl’s voice.

              “I know, trust me!  Just do it!”  Ronak’s unorthodox plan was to jump RCV4 into orbit and extra-locally transport all the survivors from the museum to the ship.  They would jump out immediately afterward.

             
“Ronak, RCV4 is not designed for atmospheric travel!”

              “Nexus, it will take a split second, and then you can jump back to your coordinates behind Europa!  This is getting unmanageable!  Unless you want a failed mission, two dead Legates, and the loss of my ability to help synthesize the data for your records, I suggest you make this happen!”

             
Ronak, Trent, and Karl approached the security perimeter on the western boundary of Central Park, just south of their location. 

              “Coming in!  Got a bunch of bad guys on our ass!” said Karl.

              “Trent!”  Callie’s stomach dropped when she saw Trent’s unconscious body and mangled arm.  “What the hell happened!”

              “The fuck you think happened?” said Karl.

              “
RCV4, we are assembled.  Use the signal from the orb I am about to deploy as a lock-on radius.”
  Ronak flicked his wrist, deploying a spherical beacon that floated eight feet off the grass, in the center of the security perimeter. 
I don’t know if they’re going to help.  I’ve done all I can.  Is this how my existence ends?

             
“Legate Ronak, what the hell is going on!  Chief cannot land here!”  Jack yelled.

              Everyone manned the perimeter around the casualties and civilians. Controlled pairs were firing off in every direction.

              “Reloading!”  Harrison yelled.  “One mag left after this one!”

              “I’m on my last one too!” said Callie.

             
“RCV4, this is Legate Ronak.  We have moments left before we are out of options.  I implore you to do as I asked, as unorthodox as it is.  We are in grave danger, regardless of whether we make it out of this location.”
  Ronak felt himself becoming emotional, although he would never show it. 

              “Gun one dry, coming for one last pass with my second!”  said Rudich.

              “Roger!”  said Jack.  “Fuck, I’m out!”

              The bird flew low and tore apart the closest wave of attackers.

              “Ron, you said to trust you!  So what the fuck, man?”  Karl moved to replace Jack on the perimeter with his final two magazines of ammunition.

              Then there was a brilliant flash of kaleidoscopic light, and all twenty-three kilometers of Resolute Colony Vessel 4 appeared over the New York metropolitan area.  Its hulking mass obscured the moon and all the stars directly overhead. 

              “Ron, what the fuck is that?”  said Karl.

              “It is friendly!  Everyone, brace yourselves!” said Ronak.  

              The sound of metal compressing due to the increase in atmospheric pressure was deafening.  RCV4 was clearly not meant to travel in anything but the vacuum of deep space.

              “Brace ourselves for what?”  Jack said.

              “
Brother, we are preparing for extra-local transport.  Consolidate your companions within the radius.”

              “We are ready!” 
Ronak communicated to the Nexus.

              “We have prepared cargo bay K42 in the fifth junction to acceptable temperature and life support parameters.”

              “Nexus, now!”

             
Within seconds, RCV4 transported the group and jumped right back to its coordinates behind Jupiter’s moon, Europa.  The extra-local transport took all the people in the orb’s radius, three uprooted trees, and a good deal of debris from the surrounding area.  The remaining touched ones continued tearing each other apart, as if nothing had happened.

***

              “Warrior 2, Green Dragon 1-3!” Rudich exclaimed.

              There was no response.

              “Warrior 2, Green Dragon 1-3!”

              Nothing.

              “Any station on this net, any station on this net, this is Green Dragon 1-3, please respond!”

              Silence.

***

              The people on RCV4 were extremely disoriented.  Jack was about to have a full-blown breakdown.

              “Ronak, where the fuck are we?” Jack asked. What just happened?”

              “Major Rugerman, welcome to Resolute Colony Vessel 4.  You are safe for the time being.”

              “Fuck that, Ron!  What about Hughes?  He’s lost a ton of blood!” said Karl.

             
I am deeply saddened by the loss of Sameena.  She was very special to me.  I want to let Hughes die.  I know this is wrong, but I simply do not care. 

             
The Nexus wasted no time contacting its asset.  “Legate Ronak, medical assistance is en route.  Your critical casualties will be put into stasis until we devise the most prudent course of treatment.  Take the tram immediately to the Nexus Operations Center (NOC) for debriefing.”

             
“I will be there momentarily,” said Ronak.