When they arrived at Josef’s office, the man wore a different sort of sweats, khaki in color, stiffer, and with a lot more pockets. And the biggest pair of boots Sean had ever seen. There was no insignia anywhere, no sign of a weapon, but Sean was pretty sure this was some version of battle gear. Which prompted the question, what had Josef been doing in his previous life? The change they had noticed earlier, the shift away from gentle encouragement, was magnified. Josef was a giant with a warrior’s gaze.
He led them to the transit room and reached out both arms. “Take hold.”
Sean felt like he had returned to early childhood, when holding an adult’s hand only heightened his sense of smallness. Josef stepped forward and he and Dillon followed suit. There was the familiar tug of forces, and they transited to . . .
The arrival point was so unexpected, the sight so jarring, Sean’s brain refused to compute. He went into a full freeze for a second or two, until his eyes finally locked on the one thing that made any sense. What he had first taken as a weird greyish-green sky overhead was actually the ceiling of a cave. They were inside. But the dimensions were all wrong. And it was cold. There was snow on the ground and ice floes forming weird sculptures and snow falling. And clouds drifting high up, between them and the grey-stone ceiling. The walls were lost to mist. They stood on a hill, he could see the endless snow-and-rock vista in every direction, and there were no walls. The only reason he was certain he stood inside a cave was because of the ceiling, which had to be a mile or so high. Then he fastened on the nearest stalactite, a massive blue-grey icicle that hung way, way down, like a pillar with the bottom hundred feet or so chopped off.
Josef waited while they turned slowly and gaped. When they finally fastened their attention back on him, he said, “Directly beneath the Lothian surface open many such chambers. Thousands of caverns, some far larger than here. This one has been partly humanized. The air is breathable. The temperature has been raised to human levels.”
Dillon’s teeth chattered as he said, “This is warm?”
“Even in summer, some Lothian nights the surface temperature drops to where iron breaks like candy. This cavern is a training ground for Praetorians and the Lothian military . . . Do you understand when I say ‘not pretending’?”
“Live fire,” Dillon offered.
“Correct. Today the Lothians celebrate. So we have this to ourselves. To your left is an opening to the outer world. That is where we will make our live-fire exercise.” He held out his hands once more. “Ready?”
They transited to one side of the cavern, up near one ice-clad wall. Sean needed another moment, longer than the first, to come to terms with where he stood.
Josef said, “The Lothians export their shield technology all over the empire. The shield here is semi-porous—you understand what that means? It allows in some of the cold and none of the atmosphere.”
Sean tried to listen. He really did. But the entire scope of their position left him catching every third word at most. They stood atop a natural column, maybe sixty feet wide, and so high the mist boiled about them like a cloud bank. The cavern’s floor was lost. The sense of impossible height was magnified by the cave mouth, which loomed behind Josef. The opening had to be several miles across. Now and then something touched the energy surface, causing electric spiderwebs to radiate out a ways, then fade back to nothingness. Beyond the shield, the Lothian surface gleamed beneath the two dim suns.
Dillon asked, “You okay?”
“I . . . guess.”
“You’ve gone all green.”
“I’ve just discovered I don’t like heights.”
“Check out the side wall.”
Sean looked where Dillon pointed and saw a dark stain with a deep flame-scoured gouge at its heart. Dillon sounded totally matter-of-fact about it all. “Gives a whole new meaning to live fire.”
“You kidding? This is the coolest thing since trains riding on the ceiling.”
Josef motioned for their attention and said, “I will transit to that second column. When I arrive, I will wave my hand. When you have prepared your shields, you will wave back. At that point I will reveal a battle tactic that feeds upon this world’s natural energy. What do you think that might be?”
“Cold and ice,” Dillon instantly replied.
“Correct. This is the core component of a recruit’s initial training in battle tactics. Use the energy that is available. Here, as you say, it is cold.” The giant waited for a moment, then said, “Remember, wave back only when you are shielded.”
Josef took a step away and vanished, then reappeared on a second column that Sean only noticed at that moment. Josef’s position was midway between where Sean stood and the cave mouth. The transit only heightened his sense of surreal unease. It made no logical sense. He stood in the middle of a huge, flat stone surface, wider than the school’s main assembly hall. But he couldn’t get over what waited just beyond the distant lip. Like he was being sucked toward it, even without moving, drawn to the point where he flipped over the ledge and fell forever.
Dillon obviously felt none of this. “Hey, I just thought of something. You know how I turned the fire around when the house got toasted? Maybe I could try that with Josef’s ice.”
“Too late now.” Just releasing the words threatened to bring up Sean’s last meal.
“No, hang on, I’ll go ask.”
Before Sean could tell his brother not to transit to an unknown point, he was already over on the other column, standing by Josef. Sean was too far away to see the professor’s expression, but something about the way the giant straightened and stepped back made Sean pretty certain Josef was as spooked by Dillon’s move as Sean.
Dillon popped back into view and said, “Josef says I should go for it.”
“He didn’t look happy to have you show up.”
“No, he was okay. Surprised. But pleased. Kinda like watching a clown pop from a hole, I guess.” Dillon held out his hand. “You think we could connect like last time?”
Actually, it was precisely what Sean wanted to do at that point. Gripping his brother’s hand made him fairly certain he would not fall. Which was ridiculous. But still.
Dillon took hold of Sean’s hand and said, “You can’t be hot.”
“In here? Are you nuts?”
“Then why are you sweating?”
“Man, I am about this close to tossing my cookies.”
“Well, just be sure and turn downwind.”
“I can’t get over how calm you are.”
“This is great. Okay, Josef is waving. Shields up?”
“Yes.”
“Cool.” Dillon waved. “Remember, feed me the power and let me pull the trigger.”
Sean was about to say he had no interest in shooting anything. But there wasn’t time to reply. Because Josef began his assault.
The giant seemed to grow even bigger, drawing upon the power. Sean knew this was happening, even though all he saw with his physical eyes was how the professor began waving his hands. Josef looked like a demented conductor, steering the energy into a whirlwind. Sean watched as the drifting mist and the snow and the cold began sucking in, growing into this massive ball that expanded until it was broader than his platform. A circular tornado with Josef at its center, weaving his arms, building, building . . .
Sean had something to focus on now. The dizzy feeling was replaced by genuine fear. The guy was going to shoot that mass at them.
Dillon laughed out loud. “Frosty!”
Sean had never actually hated his brother until that very moment.
“Remember!” Dillon shouted. “Feed me the force!”
Sean decided there was no point in telling Dillon where he’d really like to insert the force. He just squatted down. Clenched the stone base with the hand not holding Dillon’s. Almost able to carve his fingernails into solid rock.
Then the force struck. A blast of ice and snow and power, a tumult that Sean actually heard. Like they had stepped inside the heart of a frozen waterfall. The roar was flecked with the sounds of stones and ice striking the shield, a tight drumbeat, fast as machine-gun fire.
Dillon shot Sean a thought bullet. Feed me. Feed me.
All Sean could think about was where they were and what would hammer him if his shield didn’t hold. Even so, he managed to flick a tiny fragment of his attention out to the shield, catch hold of a stream of the torrential energy, and draw it in. It felt like a toffee pull, except made of ice and rock and energy, but still. Even with his fear and his shaken state, Sean was actually able to follow what the first time had been a gut-level act. The toffee line coursed down his arm and through his grip and into Dillon.
Sean formed the thought bubble and sent back, Go.
Dillon probably didn’t mean to roar like he did. But the force of his rebel yell was enough to shrink Sean down further to the floor.
His brother was actually having a good time.
The onslaught lasted another few seconds. Or hours. Depending on who was asked. Then the assault ended, and the world went quiet.
Josef transited back into view. He was chuckling. “Well, well.”
“Man, did you see that? I was killing it!” Dillon moonwalked around the platform, punctuated by the giant’s bass laughter. He started cocking an imaginary shotgun, swinging the weapon in circles, banging away at moving targets. “Dudes think they’re bad news, man, do I have a little surprise in my pocket.”
Josef looked down to where Sean was gradually uncoiling from his crouch. “I take it you are ready to transit back to home base.”
“You got that right.”
Dillon deflated. “Aw, man. Can’t we do it one more time?”
Sean rose to as close to full height as he could manage. “Absolutely not.” He decided he wasn’t even waiting for them. “I am out of here.” And he left. Bang and gone.