“HOW DID YOU GET HERE?” SIERRA SAID, HER VOICE SHAKING with surprise. She reached for Cora and pulled her into a hug.
Aileen smirked. “Someone killed the power. It was just long enough for Remi here to break free.” She motioned to her giant partner. “Cora and I were together when he found us and broke us out.”
Jeth couldn’t believe it, not just the luck of the Disrupter giving Remi the chance to escape, but that they had taken the risk to fight their way down here. He would have bet anything that Aileen would’ve made a run for it. Yet, here she was.
“I wanted to just get the hell out of here,” Aileen said, hands on hips. “But Cora insisted.”
“Yeah,” Cora said, pulling out of Sierra’s arms. “We need to do what Mom wanted.” She fixed a glare on Jeth as if daring him to disagree.
Jeth shook his head, feeling a wild urge to laugh. He handed the Reinette device to Sierra then turned back to Aileen. “Do you have the rest?”
“Sure do.” Aileen patted the bag. “What’s the plan?”
“Six of us need to stay here long enough to set the devices. Then we get out of here.”
“Works for me,” said Aileen.
Jeth nodded. “You, Cora, Lizzie, and Remi head up to the flight deck. Get Polaris ready to go. The rest of us will set the devices and meet you up there.”
For once, no one argued with his command. Aileen pulled the bag off her shoulder and handed it to Jeth. Lizzie checked the safety on the gun she’d snatched off a dead soldier then stepped out into the hallway.
“Hold on, Liz.” Jeth reached into his pocket and withdrew the data crystal. He tossed it to her. “Keep it safe.”
“Right.” She stowed it into her pants pocket.
Jeth turned to Remi. “You go first. And take care of them.”
The big man nodded. Then he led the way out, Cora, Lizzie, and Aileen following after him. Pushing away his worry for them, Jeth faced the others. He handed each a Reinette device, keeping one for himself.
“We need to do it in succession,” Jeth said. “These things are supposed to work fast. If we’re not careful we’ll get caught in the destruction as the Harvester collapses.” He pointed at Celeste and Sierra. “You two take the farthest beams. Once you’ve discharged them and are on your way out, Shady and Flynn will discharge theirs next. Then Milton. I’ll go last.”
Sierra and Celeste turned in unison and took off at a run. Flynn and Shady followed after them. Milton hurried too, moving surprisingly fast in his old age. Jeth took position at the beam nearest where Saar had fallen. Then he waited while the others did their part.
Moving together, Celeste and Sierra opened their canisters and discharged the Reinette right on their assigned beams. The results were nearly instantaneous. The loud groan of metal echoed through the chamber as holes began to form in the beams. The Harvester was disintegrating before their eyes.
Sierra and Celeste were on the move, soon passing Flynn and Shady. They wasted no time discharging their canisters. Next it was Milton’s turn. The first two beams were halfway gone, but the Reinette didn’t stop there. The floor was plasinum too, and already it was eating away at it, the platform that made up the reaping floor disappearing into the sea. Above them, the Pyrean branches were moving more violently. Their sway was nearly a thrashing now, as if they could sense their impending freedom. That strange hum buzzed in Jeth’s mind.
As Milton turned and headed for the door, Jeth opened his Reinette and leaned toward the beam.
Something struck him from behind. The canister went sailing to his left, out of his hands. Jeth spun around, ignoring the pain in his right side. Horror froze him in place as he stared at Saar. Blood was flowing freely from the man’s mouth and from the wound in his chest. His gray uniform was stained brown, but he was still alive. Still fighting.
Hatred exploded inside Jeth, and he leaped at the man. Saar ducked to the right, just barely escaping Jeth’s punch. He wheezed from the effort, but it didn’t stop him from throwing another punch. Jeth blocked it, then followed through with a left hook that connected with the old man’s face.
Across the way, Jeth saw Milton standing in the doorway. “Go!” he shouted. “I’ve got this. Right behind you.”
Milton hesitated a moment, then disappeared from view. Jeth stifled his relief, focusing on the fight. He needed to get this over with now. The Reinette was more powerful than his mother had anticipated. Jeth had a feeling the whole place would be going down in a matter of moments.
No sooner had he thought it than the floor beneath his feet gave way. He felt himself slip, sliding downward. Saar, a malevolent grin still on his face, looked down at him as he too lost his footing and they both fell into the writhing, chaotic ocean beneath.
Panic grabbed Jeth by the throat and squeezed. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t control his body. He didn’t know which way was up or down. The Pyreans were churning the ocean around him, their departure and the destruction of the Hive whipping the water into a vicious whirlpool. It was sucking him down, batting him about like a cat with a toy.
This is it, he realized as his body struck something. Through blurred vision he saw that it was Saar. The man’s mouth was open in a sneer, but the light in his eyes had gone out. He disappeared from view, falling deeper into the sea.
One of the Pyrean branches brushed past Jeth, tossing him about again. He tried to swim up, but it was no good. The turbulence was too strong. Already his lungs were screaming for oxygen. Soon he would open his mouth and inhale water, drowning in seconds. Black clouds started to fill his vision.
Help, he thought, his approaching death driving him to madness. There was no one to help him. No way out of this. And yet he thought it again, pleading it with all his mind and heart. Help. I don’t want to die.
The black kept creeping in, his consciousness slipping.
But then bright, blinding light filled his vision. The light was something alive. It filled the entire ocean, wrapping over all of them, Jeth and the Pyreans both.
They’re retreating, Jeth realized, understanding what he was seeing as if the Pyreans themselves were speaking to him. Maybe they were. Sentient, his mother had called them.
They were retreating back into metaspace, from where they had first come, set free from the beams of the Harvester that had held them here so long. The familiar sense of being unmade came over Jeth and he disappeared into metaspace with them. Away from the sea, away from First-Earth. Away to somewhere elsewhere.
He woke to the sound of leaves stirring. It was a strange sound, one he hadn’t heard for so long that he almost didn’t recognize it. He slowly opened his eyes. Tall trees unlike any he’d ever seen stretched far above him. They were moving, swaying back and forth but not from any wind. They looked completely alive, as if at any moment they might pull up their roots and march away like the ones in those old stories he used to know. Light poured down in between the trees from a sky as blue and glistening as sapphires.
Jeth pushed himself into a sitting position, his hands sinking into the cool, soft grass he’d been lying on. The blades were so pleasant against his skin that he ran his hands over the tops of them, petting it.
He looked around, taking in more of the strange landscape. Beneath the trees, near the earth, were hundreds upon thousands of different species of plants. Nearly all of them bore flowers with brightly colored petals in shades Jeth had never seen on any plant before.
Scattered among the plants and trees like a vast network of vines were Pyreans, easily recognizable by their luminescent glow.
Where am I? Jeth thought. He could guess the answer, but it seemed incredible. There was no way he could’ve traveled so far in a single metaspace jump, unless he hadn’t traveled at all, merely passed into the dimension of metaspace.
A musical laughing voice filled his head. We know no limitations.
Not a voice, Jeth realized, but multiple voices. Millions of them. The Pyreans. Jeth drew a deep breath, marveling at how sweet the air tasted. It seemed to fill him up, making his body feel weightless. Is this Empyria?
Yes. More voices, more musical laughter. Welcome, Jethro Seagrave. We thank you.
Jeth sensed their gratitude. It filled him like light fills glass, both capturing the glow and letting it seep through, magnified. He suddenly wanted to dance and scream and run about like a small child. You’re welcome, he thought, a grin breaking over his face. He thought he might never stop grinning.
We didn’t mean to take you with us. We are sorry.
Sorry? Jeth laughed out loud. He stood up, taking another of those deep breaths. He thought he might make a career out of just breathing. I never want to leave.
We know. But you must.
Jeth frowned, remembering his mother’s story. Why?
We want more of you. All who will come.
Jeth shook his head. Why? We hurt you, almost killed you. It’ll happen again.
No, they said with absolute certainty. The past will not repeat. We are stronger here. We will not be captured again. When we came for you the first time you were not ready. You had forgotten how to sense us. But some of you are ready now. Others will follow.
At once images began to fill his head. He saw hundreds of faces, people of all colors and types from all the worlds. He saw them on spaceships or passing through metagates, and he understood that even dead, the harvested Pyreans had been watching humankind, waiting, evaluating. He saw faces of people like Lizzie, Marian, Sierra, even himself—people ready for the change the Pyreans offered.
How will I find these people? How will I bring them? Jeth said, overwhelmed by the prospect.
We will help you. We have all the time of the universe and infinite reach.
Impossibly, Jeth understood. These were beings of metaspace—they existed outside the dimension of time. And they could transport him anywhere without need of a spaceship.
We will help your race become greater than you are now. We will solve problems you never thought solvable.
Again, images filled his mind—this time, of the future as the Pyreans would make it. Jeth saw a new race of humans, ones evolved like Cora, all bearing the ability to perceive metaspace. The need for metatech would be no longer. Once humans were able to perceive this dimension, they could build new machines for metaspace travel, computers that could simulate the Pyreans’ abilities. And in time, some humans would be able to move through metaspace on their own.
But what about right now? Jeth asked. The metatech is dying. My kind won’t survive long without the ability to travel through space. And all this will take time, time that matters to humans.
Yes, we understand. But have no fear. Our dead will not disintegrate so quickly, not now that you have freed us. Your kind will continue on as they have been, long enough for us to bring about these changes. And now you must return and be the catalyst for this change as your mother was before you.
Jeth felt his heart breaking. He didn’t think he could bear to leave this place. There was so much to see and explore. It was as if he’d been dead before and was now alive. He felt whole, complete, free. Gone was the hunger no food or drink or drug could satisfy. This was what he’d always wanted, always needed. He just never knew. Until now. How could he have ever doubted his mother? How could he have ever not trusted in these strange, comforting creatures whose presence seemed to fill his mind, not as an invasion but as a puzzle piece slipping into place, one he’d never before realized had been missing.
I can’t go.
You must. But it will be for a short time. You will be back. This we know. And you won’t be alone.
Alone. For the first time since his arrival—a time that might have been only minutes and yet seemed like years, Jeth thought about the others. About Lizzie and Sierra, Cora and Milton. They were waiting for him back on First-Earth. How long would they wait? How much time did they have before the ITA came in and captured them?
They will wait forever for you, the Pyreans said.
Jeth swallowed, knowing it was true. Then something new occurred to him. Did you . . . did you keep me from killing my sister?
No. The decision to save her was yours. We just lent you the strength to follow through. Your connection to her is very strong. We thrive in those connections.
Jeth wasn’t sure what that meant, but it didn’t matter. Gratitude filled him. It made the reality of leaving this place hurt even more, although he understood that he had to. But it would be a temporary exodus. No power in the universe would keep him from returning.
Okay, he thought. Send me back.
A bright light, an opening into metaspace, filled his vision, and he stepped into it, and through it, traveling millions of light years in a single moment.
He felt himself falling and then wetness swept over him. Salty water filled his mouth and stung his eyes. He was back in the wreckage of the Harvester, but the Pyreans were gone, vanished as if they had never been. Jeth kicked upward, breasting the surface. The Hive was still disintegrating around him. He had to hurry. Swimming as hard as he could, he headed for what remained of the platform, arriving just ahead of the final stages of the Reinettes’ destruction.
He pulled himself out and ran. He ran as fast as he could, his breath coming in quick, hard pants. The air felt wrong here, too heavy. Too much effort. There were others running as well, ITA agents and soldiers. But they paid him no mind. They were as desperate for escape as he was.
Moments later Jeth arrived on the flight deck. He scanned the few remaining ships, and his heart leaped in his chest as he spotted Polaris. For the first time the sight didn’t hurt him. He was glad that she so closely resembled his Avalon.
Jeth sprinted across the flight deck toward the open cargo bay. Sierra was waiting for him. He reached it a moment later, flinging himself inside.
“Jeth’s on board,” Sierra signaled through the comm. “Get us out of here.”