The Atlantis World (The Origin Mystery, Book 3) (39 page)

The hours that followed were the longest of Kate’s life. She watched the triangular Exile ships maneuver the Serpentine vessels into a course for the sun. The black objects got smaller by the minute as they sailed into the burning star. She knew this was happening around hundreds, possibly thousands of worlds. She just hoped David wasn’t on one of the ships.

Paul, Mary, and Milo had joined her in her stateroom, but no one said a word. The feeling was like a hospital waiting room. Everyone was there for Kate, but there was nothing to say.

In the Serpentine command center, David watched the triangular ships systematically destroy the Serpentine fleet. Of the hundred screens, only a handful still showed Serpentine ships. It was a massacre. On the central screen, which showed the rings of ships outside the one David occupied, a portal opened, and a fleet of triangular ships arrived.

They seemed to waste no time. Their shots immediately began tearing into the rings of Serpentine ships. The wave of destruction would reach David in seconds.

He watched the triangular fleet approach, bracing himself. At the back of his mind, he wondered if it was another illusion. A test. The lead triangular ship stopped, and David realized he was holding his breath.

Kate stood when Perseus entered.

“I think we’ve got something,” he said. “One life sign, on the Serpentine central ring.”

“Is he…”

“They’re running him through a battery of tests now, but he looks healthy.”

David sat in the decontamination chamber, waiting, debating what to do. If his rescue was another Serpentine illusion, what was the bait? How could he break it down the way he had the pit? He had to resist. He steeled himself.
It’s all an illusion. No matter what they throw at me, I will resist.

The doors opened, and Kate stood in the well-lit, white walled corridor. Her brunette hair hung down, spilling onto her shoulders, and her face was radiant, her eyes alive. She was healthy, vibrant, the same person he had met, fallen in love with. David stood still, unable to move.

She rushed in and hugged him. He felt Milo’s arms around him too.

David decided that if it was a Serpentine illusion, they had won. It was too real to him. He couldn’t resist her.

Kate pulled back and looked in his eyes. “Are you all right?”

“I am now.”

At the sentinel factory, Kate and David paused at the wide window that looked out on the assembly line. The sentinel spheres were returning in droves. Kate wondered how many there were. Millions perhaps.

“What will you do with them?” she asked Perseus.

“We’re still debating. We’d like to use some to destroy the remaining Serpentine ships. It could cut the process down by years. After that, we’ll either scrap them or keep them in case another threat emerges.”

Perseus led them through the factory’s corridors. A trail of dried blood marked the path to the ark.

The outer doors opened, and Kate remembered the first time she had seen them, two miles under Antarctica.

In the decontamination chamber, she paused. She had torn her suit off here, placing it beside the two small suits Adi and Surya had worn.

Inside the ark, teams were combing every inch of the ancient vessel.

“Did they find Lykos?” Kate asked.

“Yes. They’re still treating his wounds,” Perseus said.

“Can I see him?”

Perseus agreed and led them down the dim, metallic corridors to a large room where medical technicians were setting up equipment.

“Lykos,” Perseus said, “this is Dr. Kate Warner. She created the therapy that neutralized the sentinels, and she helped find you.”

“We’re in your debt, Dr. Warner.”

“You’re not. I want you to know that I was simply finishing the work Isis started. She was very, very sorry about what happened. Had she known the truth, she would have done things a lot differently.”

Lykos nodded. “I think we all would. The past is the past.”

“I agree.” She eyed the equipment. “You’re going to treat the Atlanteans?”

“Yes,” Perseus said. “We think the treatment we used to cure your resurrection syndrome will work on them. We’ll know soon.”

“What then?”

“We were actually thinking that we would return to our homeworld. Everything on the surface of the Exile world was destroyed, and going back underground doesn’t quite feel right. We’re thinking we could all make a fresh start.”

Kate smiled. She thought that a fresh start would have pleased Isis very much.

“There’s one more thing we’re hoping you can help us understand.”

Perseus led Kate and David to the massive chamber that held the rows of tubes. Just beyond the double doors at the entrance, a pile of bodies lay. All Ares.

“We’re still counting them. Cause of death was mostly blunt-force trauma, a few strangulations. Ship logs say he disabled his own resurrection.”

“Did you find any more bodies?” David asked.

“One. Outside.” Perseus held up a pad. Dorian Sloane’s dead body floated through space, the sentinel assembly line in the background.

David glanced at Kate.

She thought about the hate Dorian and Ares had shared, the things they had done—on the Atlantean world and on her world. She thought about Earth making a fresh start and about the Atlanteans, reuniting and rebuilding their civilization together.

“What do you think?” Perseus asked.

“I think we reap what we sow.”

E
PILOGUE

Atlanta, Georgia

Paul watched Mary walk through the home they had shared, a look somewhere between shock and amusement on her face. “You never took the pictures down?”

“I uh… no.”

“I think we should.”

“Of course, I could—”

“We’ll put new pictures up.”

“New pictures would be good,” Paul said. It was the best idea he had heard in a very long time.

The front door opened, and his nephew Matthew bolted in, making a beeline for Paul. The boy hugged him, and Paul hugged him back with all his strength.

Natalie and Major Thomas followed. They looked tired except for the smiles on their faces.

Paul made the introductions.

“Mary and I were just discussing what we’re going to do from here.”

“Us too,” Natalie said, glancing at Major Thomas. “We’re going to report to the relief office downtown, see how we can help.”

They said their goodbyes, and Mary and Paul began collecting the pictures. They carefully removed the old photos and placed them at the bottom of a dresser drawer. They kept the frames. They had been a wedding gift.

Kate didn’t know if her hearing was going bad or if she had gotten used to the constant sound of hammering and power tools. And that commotion—from David’s constant construction projects—was the only sound for miles around. There was no bustle of a city, no airplane noise, no stadium nearby. His parents’ home was nestled on a large plot of land with a beautiful yard, surrounded by the greenest trees she’d ever seen.

She had wondered how she would like it. She’d never lived outside a city, but to her surprise, she found that country life suited her. Or maybe it was just the company. From the kitchen window, she could see Milo playing with Adi and Surya, being the big brother. He planned to move out in a few months, and David and Kate were dreading that day. But he had big plans.

David walked in. He was sweaty, white dust particles filled his hair, and a pencil rested behind his ear. Kate liked the look very much.

“Are we in destruction or construction mode today?”

David poured himself a glass of water and spoke between gulps. “It’s demolition, not destruction but yes, major demo.”

“Maybe that’s what I’ll start calling you: Major Demo. Or would you prefer Colonel Demo?”

He finished his glass and set it on the island, then grabbed her. “Oh, I think we both know I’m just a lowly private in this woman’s army.”

Kate tried to push away. “Hey, you’re sweaty and dirty.”

“Yes, I am.”

The phone rang, and David released one hand just long enough to answer. Kate still struggled with the other hand’s grip, but he released her several seconds into the call.

He spoke quickly, asking questions, listening, growing more serious by the second.

When he hung up, he looked at Kate. “They found it.”

Kate had wondered if the call would ever come. When she had made David promise in Morocco, she had been dying then and had assumed she wouldn’t live to see this day. Now she was filled with fear, and she knew why: she had hope.