Battle for Earth (30 page)

“Go on then,” he said. “Though it would be a shame—you know it really is such a lovely view. I think, if it was actually there, we'd be able to see all the way to St. Catharine's from here.” He stood up again, surprising a passing pigeon which squawked loudly before settling atop Nelson's bicorn.

“This is disgusting,” said Clara, looking slightly more human, attempting to cross her legs to help her fold, but spotting the gray goo stuck to the hem of her jeans.

Johnny had to force his advantage home. “You know, I miss Mum so much. I don't understand why she and Dad had to leave, but I'm sure of one thing. If she was here, in our universe, it would kill her to see you like this, so desperate to use your power. This place reminds me of her. When we first saw her together, but didn't even know it, in Neith's tower. That was even further down.” He turned to look at his sister. It was as though Clara's whole body was aglow, the silver flecks in her eyes shining brighter than ever, repelling the oily blackness. For a moment she reminded him so much of their mom. “You look like her sometimes—like that first time we saw her on the bridge.” A pigeon squawked above Johnny, flapping its wings, and landed right on his head. He tried to push it off and, in doing so, his trainers slipped in the gray sludge. His arms windmilled helplessly and, unable to maintain his balance, he went over the side.

“Johnny!” shouted Clara, but her cry tailed off as he landed on the invisible roof of the
Bakerloo
before his gravity assist could even kick in. For half a second before he stepped back up onto the ledge his legs became transparent. Seeing the look of horror in his sister's bright white open eyes, he couldn't help but start to laugh.

“That wasn't funny,” said Clara.

“Oh, come on,” said Johnny. “A pigeon lands on my head and I fall off Nelson's Column?” Not minding the mess at all, he sat down beside her.

“It was Mum,” she said, smiling for the first time in ages. “Of course it was you as well, but when you mentioned her name it kind of cleansed me.”

“I saw it too,” said Johnny. “Now listen to me,” he went on. “This is really important. Do you remember what happened to you?”

“You don't forget a Klein fold, Johnny. Knowing that you're trapped in nothingness for all eternity—not just a year, or a thousand years, or even to the end of this universe. Forever.”

Johnny thought Clara looked suddenly older. “You know you must never fold again,” he said.

Clara's eyes were welling up. “You can't understand how hard that's going to be.”

“I know,” said Johnny. He felt his eyes watering too.

“Oh, Johnny.” Clara flung her arms around him with such force they both almost fell off the ledge.

Everything was going to be all right. With Clara back and well, they could fight the Krun together. Johnny felt unstoppable.

The
Spirit of London
was a magnificent sight, reflecting the starlight in her very high orbit. With Clara unable to fold the real Gherkin away, Johnny wondered if his spaceship would ever find herself back on Earth. He knew Sol was born to plow the vastness between the stars, not blend in impressively at the heart of London, but he felt a pang of sadness that she might never again stand proudly on his home planet.

Although he hated being a passenger, he'd let Clara pilot the
Bakerloo
from Trafalgar Square. The journey had been a little slow but surprisingly smooth and, as they entered the shuttle bay doors, a welcoming committee was there to greet them. Louise was crouching with Bentley one side and Rusty the other, and Johnny was pleased to see that Alf had found his way out of the library.

The android was first to step forward, giving Clara a clumsy hug. “I do not know what you and your brother got up to down there, but I want to be the first to say welcome home, Miss Clara.”

“Oi—out the way, metal man,” said Louise. “Good to have you back, girl,” she said to Clara as the two merged in a warm embrace. Louise broke off first and turned to Johnny, stretching her arms out again and saying, “Well done, you.” Awkwardly Johnny ducked beneath them, not wanting to encourage her. “What's eating you? I'm just being friendly.”

“Er … sorry,” he said, cursing his reddening face. “It's just we have things to do. The Krun are coming. The invasion's begun.”

Sol's voice cut in, easing Johnny's embarrassment. “I have prepared the strategy room on deck 14 to discuss the imminent threat. For better or probably worse, that floating box of nuts and bolts has agreed to join us.” She added, “I have also taken the liberty of installing a cabin within the elevator shafts. I can't fathom why it took me so long to spot the oversight and complete the build.”

Johnny mouthed a silent thank you in his head and led the way to the center of the deck. The new bullet-shaped elevator cabin was pretty cool, but he'd miss being able to use the elevators the original way. Once everyone else had piled inside, Johnny said, “Deck 14,” and the enclosed capsule whizzed silently upward.

From the mezzanine perch overlooking the display area, Sol's graphics showed all too clearly how the number of disappeared humans had risen. She was currently tracking seven Krun vessels, a mixture of Hunter-Killers and the giant Destroyers, submerged in various locations beneath Earth's oceans, five in the Atlantic, one in the Mediterranean and the last in the Antarctic. There was also now a second Corporation submarine operating, giving them one in the Atlantic and the other in the Straits of Gibraltar. The Krun battle fleet was well on the way from Mars—they would arrive in two days' time.

Kovac interrupted with, “What this vaguely sentient hulk of Meccano hasn't said is that all the underwater players are converging on the same area in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean—communications I've intercepted show the Krun and Corporation vessels elsewhere have been ordered there at full speed.” In his head, Johnny could sense Sol's annoyance that
she might have overlooked this. The quantum computer went on: “Despite the unjust ridicule to which I shall doubtless be subjected, I feel it my duty to point out that so far the only Earth-based evidence of tracking the Krun spacefleet is centered on Halader House.”

It was Johnny's turn to sigh. “Kovac, how many times do we need to go through this? You're at Halader House—your four-dimensional casing places you there as well as here. You're tracking yourself, not some secret alien-hunting force based in my old children's home.”

Before the computer could respond, Alf stepped in to defuse the argument. “The real question before us is deciding what to do before the invasion fleet arrives. Last time, when faced with Earth's destruction, we began organizing an evacuation. I propose we dust off those plans.”

“We stopped a supernova,” said Johnny. “We can fight an invasion.” He wasn't about to stand meekly by and let the Krun take over his homeworld.

“I am fully battle-ready,” said Sol. “It would be an honor to fight for Terra, for Earth.”

“But a futile one,” said Alf. “Display the advancing fleet so that everyone can see.”

“Very well,” said Sol. Johnny could tell she wasn't happy and the reason was soon clear. The Krun fleet comprised over a thousand ships. Admittedly many were the smaller Hunter-Killers, but there must be at least a couple of hundred Destroyers and, at the heart of the swarm, one giant blob that was so large that the craft it represented must be almost visible to Earth telescopes. So completely outnumbered, Johnny's heart sank. The
Spirit of London
was good, but not even she could fight those odds, or be in quite so many places at once as she'd have to be.

“As I was saying,” Alf continued, “we must evacuate before
these ships arrive—save some of humanity before Earth falls to the Nameless One's minions, just as Melania has fallen.”

“I know it sounds mad,” said Clara, “but when we were in the pyramid, back on Mars, the Krun were talking of ruling the galaxy themselves—not handing another planet over to that thing.”

“Pure bravado,” Alf replied. “In galactic terms, they are puny. Sadly, that will not save humanity. Start now and we can rescue a few thousand.”

“The most powerful fleet needn't win a space battle,” said Johnny.

“Master Johnny—I don't know where you heard that, but I can assure you—”

“It was one of the last things Bram said to me,” said Johnny. “Maybe he knew.” The android fell silent. Even from beyond the rim of the galaxy, it was as if the Emperor had the final say on what was to come. There was, though, something Johnny couldn't make sense of. “What I don't get,” he said, “is why the Krun are searching for spaceships in the oceans. Just where do they expect to find them?”

“But we know.” It was Louise who'd spoken and everyone's heads swiveled in her direction, making it her turn to blush through her many freckles.

“Since when?” asked Johnny.

“Oh, listen to some half-grown human, why don't you, but ignore the finest brain this side of the Horsehead Nebula.”

“Quiet, Kovac,” said Johnny. “What is it, Louise?” All eyes upon her, she'd gone uncharacteristically quiet and was looking down at her shoes in a pose Johnny recognized all too well.

“She doesn't know anything,” said Kovac, the lights on his casing flashing particularly bright. “It's a pathetic attempt to gain your attention.”

“Shut up,” said Clara. She stood up and moved to sit beside Louise. “How do you know what they're after?”

“I'm really sorry,” said Louise. “I thought I must have told you before. It was something Peter said to me when we were in the cave on Santorini—like Kovac says, it's probably stupid.”

“No one listens to Kovac,” said Clara, glaring at the quantum computer as he hovered over Sol's projection.

“Out of the mouths of babes,” said Kovac, rising high over everyone's heads and flying out of the room.

“What did Peter say?” asked Johnny, glad they were rid of the annoying computer.

“He said … He said they were looking for Atlantis.”

It was like turning a Rubik's cube and suddenly finding all the colors lined up. “Of course,” said Johnny, slapping himself in the forehead.

“Forgive me, Master Johnny, but I fail to see the relevance,” said Alf. “Atlantis was destroyed. We were there. We saw it.”

“Exactly,” said Johnny, “which gives us a rather big advantage, wouldn't you say?” It was everyone's turn to look at him now. “They had the biggest fleet of the most advanced fighters in the galaxy and plenty of them are probably still down there. We have to find them before the Krun do.”

The destruction of Atlantis had happened over thirty thousand years earlier. Although the
Spirit of London
was there in the thick of it, Sol said it all took place so far back in time that even she would struggle to pinpoint the location precisely. Kovac was sulking and refusing to help.

Going back through her navigational records and projecting thirty thousand years' worth of tectonic and seismic activity on the ocean floor, and adding some highly advanced calculations from chaos theory, Sol narrowed the search area to a radius of
less than fifty kilometers in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Projecting the circle onto an oceanographic map revealed three Krun Destroyers and one Corporation submarine were just within the zone. Nearby was a particular feature named Milwaukee Deep.

“What's that?” asked Johnny, pointing to the label.

“The lowest point of the Atlantic Ocean,” replied Sol. “It's part of the Puerto Rico Trench and not somewhere I wish to return to in a hurry. Happily it is almost far enough from the optimal search site to be excluded.”

Everything was falling into place for Johnny. “You're saying
that's
where we sank when you were damaged?”

“The very location,” Sol replied.