ARC OF THE IMMORTALS Book 2

Time Rifts 59/ Eminent Failure

Ascent into the Atmosphere

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As the hovercraft plummeted a force came from below and hurled the craft upward.

Prepping — orbital jump, Touzdae thought. She met low-level static in the telepathic stream.

No answer.

“I’m starting to make preparations for a jump into orbit. Got it?” Touzdae shouted-out.

“Not in position yet. Time?” Shisla shouted back.

No response.

Shisla’s hands sped over the controls. The vehicle pitched and heaved higher supported by the faster arc.

Kurtz tapped the scanner.

“Odd,” he said aloud.

Jac floated in the dark void of the vacuum of space. Floating was neither pleasant nor unpleasant. Flashes of sunlight blinked through the void. Jac thought himself dead.

“Five minutes,” Touzdae boomed.

“Got it!” Shisla shouted back. He began angling the front of the vehicle towards the outer edges of the atmosphere. He moved to commune his thoughts/feelings/sensings with Touzdae. Or did she prompt him to do that?

Tu Mai’s arc banked away from the hovercraft ending the lift. Shisla engaged rear thrusters. The craft grazed the edges of the atmosphere.

Oxygen masks and support systems descended from the overhead compartments. Inside the tube, Jac was flooded with oxygen.

In the Governor’s Dome Touzdae had managed to cut away most of the last central docking clamp. The cutting weapons were unable to reach all the clamp. It occurred to her as visualizations appeared… The first visual: she could jump with the clamp in place. A rip in the hull would appear. Emergency forcefields would seal most holes. The second visual: The jump would cut away the clamp. The third visual — a disastrous possibility did not occur to her. The fires and the debris were accelerating the collapse of the dome. She had started the faster-than-light folding generators and disengaged the cutting lasers. She managed to keep the shielding up. Several beams fell and were deflected but they shorted out the shields.

Kurtz pushed the Newt-Greys aside and took possession of the weapons array. The lead Newt-Grey lowered his hand, “No,” he said.

“No nuclear weapons in the upper atmosphere. We agreed,” the Newt said dispassionately.

“I’ll use the particle beam,” the Kurtz said seething in anger.

Touzdae jumped into the Needlecraft’s pilot’s seat. She micro-jumped the ship into orbit. It was a few feet below the struggling hovercraft. As it jumped it pulled in the fires that had begun spilling into the demolished dome through the one unreleased clamp. The fires were sucked through the transdimensional portal into the hovercraft. They raged — lightning into the hovercraft vehicle. A micro-nanosecond later the molecular transporter engaged. Jac went out first. The firestorm consumed him for a fraction of a nanosecond.

Touzdae found herself in the cockpit of the Needlecraft. The Mu-1’s enhanced exo-suit assembled around her.

Fire bled into the Needlecraft. The raging fire filled the Needlecraft save for the cockpit. Touzdae depressed the emergency blow switch. All atmosphere vented — fire snuffed out. It took three nanoseconds for the oxygen rich atmosphere to flood the space.

She glanced at the monitor as she began the charge of the light-jump engines. Jac was below, in the med-chamber, his skin 93% burnt.

Jac floated in the dark void. Searing pain pierced his dermis. Flashes of sunlight blinked through the intense pain. His Hivbrit opened the sunlight and immersed himself inside. Oh my Spirits — paradise. He thought/felt/sensed. Luxurious. Flash — searing pain of nerves in his dermis forced screams. Silence — screams too painful for a voice. Jac floated through streamers of multi-colored lights. Stabbed by fire. Light of paradise. An eternity of paradise and hell of searing pain. Light and seeing Po running to Touzdae. The searing pain of nerves in his dermis faded into background noise.

The Needlecraft under the hovercraft. Touzdae’s body convulsed as she third-eye saw Shisla incinerate in flames.

Gone.

A particle weapon hit the damaged hovercraft once — grazed it. Touzdae readied a small jump beyond Mars to the Mu. The particle weapon’s hit a second time. A direct hit on the hovercraft. The explosion consumed the surrounding space.

The explosion filled the scope. Kurtz was overcome by the intensity of the light.

“They’re all gone now,” and he exhaled with relief.

The blonde woman moved to his side and whispered: “What was that about?”

“Nothing. I had an ancient feeling and I needed to obliterate it. It’s done now,” Kurtz stated with relief.

Number 8, Kurtz, and three Newts moved back to the holographic platform. They watched the mushroom clouds on Earth’s surface.

next chapter:

60/ Three Factions (end of book two)

Contents:

Thank you for joining me in the adventures that span lifetimes and worlds. Blessings, Passion, and Grace on your journey. May whatever your looking for — find you.

[This is a fictional story. Like all fiction, elements of truth are present.]

(If you do NOT wish to be tagged, let me know, and I’ll tag you not):

Mawde Olssen | K. Pearson Bradley | Rebecca Romanelli | Joseph Lieungh | Dr. Preeti Singh | Dr Mehmet Yildiz | Kris Bedenian | Alberto García 🚀🚀🚀 | Blaine Coleman | Lee David Tyrrell | DL Nemeril | David Price | Rip Parker | Annelise Lords | Libby Shively McAvoy | Bruno T. | Vlad Casian |