Aetherial Annihilation (29 page)

Victus stopped in front of me on his way out the door. "Let us hope this will be the blow that brings us peace."

Well, it'll give you something to brag about on the campaign trail.
I planted a smile on my face. "If it works, it'll bring us a step closer to victory."

He nodded. "I suppose the next logical step would be invading Seraphina."

"Maybe." I didn't want to give him anything else for the campaign trail.

"I'm certain Science Academy will donate more battle-bots to the cause." He leaned closer and whispered, "Unfortunately, right after the war, hundreds of our top of the line units went missing from our warehouse. It appears Frankenberg must have absconded with them while everyone was busy celebrating."

"Just what we need," I said. "A well-armed madman on the loose."

"Hey, we're burning daylight," Shelton said. "We need to get those drones."

Victus stiffened and his jaw went tight. He obviously didn't like anyone telling him what to do. He quickly recovered with an affable smile. "Of course. Let's go."

"What about Nightliss?" Ivy asked.

"Blessing Templar recruits has tired her," Thomas said. "She's resting."

I turned to Ivy and Mom. "Let's go charge some crucibles."

We were about to turn this battle around.

Chapter 24

Ivy sagged after charging her sixth crucible.

"I think you might have overcharged that first one," I told her, looking uneasily at the webbed cracks in the glass. I hadn't paid close enough attention to the time she took to fill it.

"Can we get more ice cream now?" Ivy asked, a hopeful gleam in her eyes. "I'm so hungry."

"Let's get some real food after I'm done," Mom said. She looked at me with a radiant smile. "I hear you two had a good time going out together."

I grinned back. "It was a blast."

Ivy let out a long sigh. "Ice cream would be tops right now."

I kissed her forehead. "Maybe later."

Mom pulled back the sleeves on her dress. "I suppose it's my turn."

I placed a crucible on the sealer and reset the timer on my arcphone. "Ready when you are."

She took a deep breath and channeled. By the time she was done, we had four more crucibles ready to go.

I loaded the last globe on a levitation cart. "That's fourteen including mine," I said. "Good start."

We each grabbed the handle of a cart and loaded them onto the levitator. Only two fit in at a time, so I took them up to the garage and parked them next to the ones I'd filled, then returned and brought up the last one. I met everyone in the conference room where Victus demonstrated one of the drones.

He held up a shiny chrome disc shaped like a flying saucer from a vintage movie. It measured perhaps three feet in diameter and four inches thick at the base with a curved hump in the middle complete with little lighted windows. "The UFO delivery drone can be programmed or controlled remotely from an app on your arcphone or arctablet devices." He held up a tablet and touched an icon shaped like the drone. When the program started, he demonstrated how to use a map to assign coordinates where the drone would automatically travel.

"Simply zoom into the map and touch the precise location or put in an address." Victus switched to another screen with a first-person view from the camera on the drone. "Alternatively, you can fly the drone using these simple controls."

"Looks easy enough," Adam said. "How will the drones carry crucibles?"

Victus flicked the controls on the screen and the drone lifted off. A small hook extended from the bottom. "You'll need to harness the crucibles in some sort of net so the hook has something to hold onto."

Shelton grunted. "I expected something fancier."

Victus stiffened. "Sometimes, simpler is better."

"What about the camouflage?" Elyssa asked.

"Simply affix this module"—he held up a thin coin-sized device—"to the side of the drone. It holds about a three minute charge, so you won't want to activate it until absolutely necessary."

Adam took the camouflage module and turned it over in his fingers. "Remotely activated, I hope?"

"Yes, yes," Victus replied, a note of impatience in his voice. He cleared his throat and was once again Mr. Friendly. "Once the package is in the desired position, press the release icon." He landed the drone back on the table and deactivated it.

"Let's test it," I said. I motioned toward the drone on the table. "May I?"

Victus was all smiles again. "Of course, Justin." He affixed the camouflage module to the underside of the saucer. "First, you'll need to download the app and register it with the drone."

"Already done." I'd followed along when he'd registered the drone on his phone, even though he hadn't given us a step-by-step tutorial.

"Oh, excellent." He pocketed his phone. "I'm ready when you are."

I turned to Thomas. "Is everything set?"

He nodded. "The ASE we sent to scout for the correct portal to Colombia returned with the information."

"Use my cracked crucible first," Ivy said. "I want to see what happens."

"Cracked one?" Shelton gave Ivy a troubled look. "How did it get cracked?"

"I accidentally channeled too much Stasis inside." She giggled. "I'll bet it's gonna look neato when it hits the ground."

"Uh, yeah." Shelton shook his head. "Man, I didn't even know it was possible to fill a crucible so full you cracked it."

Adam nudged me in the ribs and spoke in a low voice. "Your sister is kinda scary powerful."

"Thanks, Adam!" Ivy blushed. "That's so sweet."

I snorted. "Let's go." I tucked the UFO drone under an arm and headed toward the levitator while the crowd followed behind.

Victus kept pace with me, but seemed content to remain silent. I didn't really feel like engaging him in small talk, so I kept quiet and thought about the mission. We packed into the levitator and rode it up to the garage.

Ivy clasped her hands as if in prayer. "The cracked one, Justin, please."

I handed Shelton the drone. "Hold onto that one for me, please."

He took it and looked warily at the damaged crucible on the cart. "That thing makes me a little nervous."

"Yeah, well Stasis doesn't usually kill—it just freezes things for a while." I shrugged. "At least that's the theory."

He shuddered. "Just make sure you don't drop it."

I chuckled and grabbed the cart handle. "I'll be extra careful."

Elyssa spoke with the Templar in charge of scheduling portals, and requested one for the Grotto control room, then she and her father each grabbed the handle of the remaining two carts and pulled them up to the yellow line around the portal zone. Another Templar jogged over and handed Thomas several black nets to harness the crucibles.

A portal opened a few minutes later, and we stepped through it to the Grotto control room. After everyone filed through, I closed the portal and turned to Elyssa.

"Do you have the image for the ocean portal?" I asked.

"Yep." She stepped into the silver ring around the omniarch, sealed it, and concentrated on the image on her phone. The air within the arch split open a moment later to reveal a massive maelstrom roaring about twenty feet below. Despite how often I'd used portals, it was still strange to be looking straight ahead at something that was technically below me. If I stepped through the gateway, I'd plummet into the foaming salt water.

A shiver ran through my back.

Elyssa touched my arm. "You okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Just looking at that thing reminds me of Thailand."

"Gives me the chills," Elyssa said. "Just don't think of going for a swim."

"I didn't bring my water wings." I turned around and took the drone from Shelton, setting it on the floor in front of the portal.

"One cracked crucible coming right up," Adam said, as he helped Thomas secure the glass sphere with one of the nets.

A bead of sweat trickled down Shelton's face as he watched them outfit the Stasis bomb.

"Whoops!" Adam shouted.

Shelton leapt back and nearly tripped over his own feet. He scowled. "Not funny, man."

Ivy giggle-snorted. "That was hilarious."

Adam chuckled. "Go clean your pants, Shelton."

I flicked to the drone app on my phone and levitated the UFO off the floor using the remote controls. Thomas and Adam lifted the cracked crucible by the net harness and brought it over to me. I flew the drone over the net, lowered the grappling hook, and latched on.

Shelton recovered some of his dignity and walked closer. "Man, I feel like a straight up alien invader."

"Aliens versus robots," Adam added. "This would make a great movie."

"It would be pretty sick," I agreed.

Bella sighed. "I suppose anything with robots, aliens, and explosions would make you boys happy."

Shelton nodded. "Yeah, pretty much."

"Totally," Adam agreed.

I flew the drone through the portal. It flipped to adjust to the change in gravitational orientation. "Let's hope this explosion does the job."

"Yeah, well first you gotta reach the target," Adam said. "Remember, every single crystoid on the planet is holding open a sky portal to Seraphina. Once you get through the sky portal above this crystoid, you'll be directly over Cephus's fortress. There will be dozens of sky portals there, and you'll need to go through the correct one to reach the target crystoid."

"You make it sound so easy," Shelton grumbled. He nudged my arm. "Oh and don't forget every one of those portals is sucking Eden dry. Every second you waste brings us another step closer to annihilation."

"Will you two shut up?" I glared at them. "I know what's at stake here."

Adam grinned. "We just want to make sure you're on top of your game."

"Yeah, no pressure." I sat on the floor, set the phone in front of me, and projected a holographic image of the controls. From this perspective, I could rotate the camera three hundred and sixty degrees around the drone. The perspective shifted up from the drone's perspective and I saw myself seemingly sitting in the sky with the group huddled behind me.

"Whoah, that's weird," Shelton said.

"Can I fly it?" Ivy asked.

I shook my head. "Sorry, sis. I'm gonna drop this bomb." I made the drone climb higher and higher until finally it reached the crystoid portal to Seraphina. Since this gateway faced the ground in the other realm, the drone and its cargo flipped in response to the reversal in gravity.

I released a relieved breath after the drone made the transition. Even though the grappling hook looked secure, I feared it might lose its cargo. The next part of the journey might have taken hours if Thomas hadn't sent ASEs to scout the way. Just as Adam said, dozens of portals, one for each remaining crystoid in Eden, shimmered in the air above the drone. Every single one of them was like an open drain hole sucking away Eden's magic.

Thomas consulted his arcphone and held it up next to the holographic camera view from the drone. "I believe it's this one." He circled a gateway with his finger.

Elyssa looked from Thomas's phone to the view from the drone. "Yep, that's it."

I sent the drone up and through the portal. Once again, the view spun as gravity flip-flopped. Dark clouds formed a gray landscape far below the portal.

I sent the drone into a sharp descent. It cleared the clouds moments later and revealed verdant mountains covered with trees. The winged shapes of modified airships circled far below, confirming we were in the right location.

"Thar they blow," Shelton said.

Ivy giggled. "Thar they blow up!"

A gust of wind sent the drone off course, so I adjusted its flight path, taking it lower and lower. "How far of a drop will the crucible need to break?" I asked.

"At least a hundred feet," Shelton said.

Adam nodded. "Yeah, that'll do it."

The altimeter on the drone read five-thousand feet. The airships hovered far below. If they were at the same altitude as the ones in North Korea, that would put them at only a few hundred feet.

It wasn't until the drone reached five-hundred feet that a laser beam flashed past. I hit the camouflage button and took evasive action.

Five more airships opened fire on the UFO's previous coordinates. Brilliant energy crackled past. A timer in the lower right corner of the holographic control panel told me how much time remained on the camouflage module's charge. Despite my best efforts, the drone was descending too slowly to make it.

Another stiff wind took the drone farther away from the target. "Damn it." I drove it back against the current and finally got back on course.

"C'mon, Justin," Shelton said. "You got this."

"Go, bro, go!" Ivy shouted.

One minute remained on the timer. The airships dove lower until they barely skimmed the trees, firing blindly all around the UFO. One laser nearly engulfed the drone, missing by inches. I shifted the camera angle directly at the ground. The altimeter read two hundred feet. Thirty seconds of camouflage remained. Seconds ticked past. A hundred and fifty feet remained.

"Drop it," Elyssa said. "They won't be able to hit it in time."

I trusted her instincts and released the crucible. The glass sphere lost its camouflage the moment it separated from the drone. I flew the drone with the prevailing wind and spun the camera behind it just as the crucible hit home.

For a long moment, nothing happened. Suddenly a huge cloud of Stasis exploded from the crater like a thundercloud, rushing across the landscape and engulfing the airships. I pulled the drone into a steep climb and barely managed to keep out of the blast zone. Over the course of several seconds, the energy sparkled and slowly dissipated.

Airships drifted aimlessly, spiraling toward the forest below. Some shattered on impact; others crumpled like paper. Trees smashed apart like glass. The landscape below resembled a gray petrified wasteland.

"Whoa, that was awesome," Ivy breathed.

"The crystoid." Thomas said.

I took the drone over the crater and zoomed in. The last pockets of Stasis faded away, revealing shattered crystal below.