I vaguely remembered the security guard on Earth twelve zeta and his warning about an elite company of Republic soldiers who were actively tracking down the MEAD resistance.
Just like Lannon’s receding hairline, I’d figured that wasn’t my problem.
It looked like I was wrong.
“Republic drones spotted near our portal,” a voice reported breathlessly in my ear. “They’re inbound for our position. ETA three and a half minutes.”
Lannon pressed a hand to his cheek, speaking into his microphone.
“Put up the prism shield. Arm yourselves and stand ready.”
Soldiers began scrambling around the field before us like ants in a nest that had just been stomped.
“The Republic?” Jack asked me. “I thought those were the bad guys.”
The voice reported in my ear again.
“Imaging has detected about fifty drones, multiple armored vehicles, and at least a hundred Republic soldiers so far, with more passing through the portal every second.”
Lannon took off running for the safehouse. I followed, and Jack scrambled after me.
“They are the bad guys,” I said over my shoulder. “For right now, at least.”
A difference voice shouted in my ear.
“Lannon! Close the portal!”
I looked over at Lannon, he was typing furiously into his palm computer while we moved. He responded, and I heard him through the micro-communicator.
“The portal isn’t closing. Prepare to fight.”
Another voice.
“What do you mean the portal isn’t closing?”
A third voice.
“Everyone stay off the main communication channel unless you have critical information.”
“What’s wrong with the portal?” I asked Lannon.
“I don’t know.”
For the first time since I’d met him, he truly sounded panicked.
“I should be able to close it with this controller, but it’s not responding.”
He stopped at the entrance to the safehouse and continued typing commands. The screen blinked a bright red error message, and he kicked the metal door in frustration. The sound echoed like a gunshot.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck that fucking bridgemaker and those fucking engineers. Our bridge is corrupted somewhere along its path. I can’t close it.”
Jack grabbed my hand.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but we need to find Violet.”
A voice chimed in my ear.
“Prism shield going up.”
All around us, the futuristic outhouses came to life. Soft auroras stabbed upward to meet in a central apex. A translucent barrier painted in the space between the lines, molding into a giant pyramid over the safehouse and the MEAD encampment. The clouds overhead became blurry through the crystalline membrane.
I let Jack pull me through the doors. We ran down the labyrinth of quarters and supply rooms before we found our own. Jack nearly ripped the doorknob off its mount in his haste to unlock the door.
Violet was still asleep in her bed. She stirred at our loud arrival.
“Good morning,” Jack said with a performer’s calmness.
“Breakfast time?” she asked, stirring under her blanket.
“We might have to skip breakfast for now,” Jack said.
He turned to me.
“Where can we go?”
“Anywhere that’s not here. This isn’t our fight. They have no reason to come after us.”
Jack grabbed a keychain and a jacket. I unlocked my laser from the safe and stuffed it in my pocket.
“Let’s go,” I said. “Before this building collapses.”
Jack picked up Violet and threw her over his shoulder like a sack of flour.
I was technically the stronger of the two of us, but I let Jack carry her. I would need my hands free to wield my gun and operate the computer on my wrist.
“Drones in sight,” the voice in my ear reported. “More enemy forces inbound in five minutes.”
We scrambled out of the safehouse at as fast a pace as Jack could manage. It was infuriating how slow non-augmented humans were. I’d forgotten in my time with the MEAD soldiers. After a long two minutes, we reached the fire exit. I shoved it open so hard the door almost snapped off its hinges.
Outside was chaos.
The drones had arrived. They were built like toasters with little helicopter rotors mounted on the sides. They emitted a deep-throated thrum like giant insects and buzzed in an angry swarm outside our protective pyramid, spouting laser blasts at us the way lawn sprinklers chittered volleys of water.
The prism shield deflected the lasers, sending them slicing off in random directions. On the yard in front of me, MEAD soldiers and FBI agents fired their own lasers and mechanical guns. Our artillery passed through the pyramid’s walls. The prism shield was a two-way mirror for lasers.
The pilots of the drones realized the shield only deflected light beams and promptly flew through the shimmering barrier without resistance. The machines buzzed overhead, raining their lasers unfettered down on the camp. Most of the MEAD soldiers had body shields and returned fire without fear. The FBI agents dove for cover underneath shelters and behind vehicles.
Belatedly, I ordered my own body shield to activate. It snapped around me like titanium clingwrap. I was grateful I’d used one of MEAD’s magnetic charging ports to replenish my battery.
Lannon’s troops scrambled into the mobile artillery units they’d erected on the backs of their vehicles. From these mounted cannons, they began firing laser beams and ultrasonic blasts which distorted the air with a concussive vibration. Drones caught in the blast were shattered like walnuts under a hammer.
The drones had approached from the north. I motioned to Jack, pointing down the road’s southern direction. There was a small factory about a quarter mile that way. We could take shelter there.
“Go!” I urged.
Jack started running for the road. I shadowed him, ready to throw my body shield-protected arms over Violet if we caught the attention of any drones.
A few blasts of laser light struck the grass near us, but the drones were mostly preoccupied with being shredded by MEAD forces.
Jack and I approached the wall of the prism shield. I sensed him slowing.
“It’s just light,” I shouted. “You can run through it!”
“I hope you’re right.”
Jack lowered his Violet-free shoulder like a charging linebacker and ran through the barrier. We passed through it as easily as if it were a cloud of mist.
The sounds of violence dimmed as we exited the pyramid. I could see the faint outline of the factory in the distance. We ran for it but had only covered a handful of strides beyond the pyramid when a flash of red blinked in the corner of my vision.
“Gah!”
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Jack grunted in shock, stumbling forward. Instinctively, I lunged out, stretching to catch Violet. I snagged her in my arms just before she hit the ground. My body shield pillowed our impact with the dirt.
I rolled onto my back and pulled out my gun. A drone was bearing down on us with a malevolent humming of its rotors. I squeezed the trigger as many times as I could before the weapon overheated. One of my thirty shots tagged the flying box of metal and snipped the invisible string holding it aloft. The machine dropped out of the sky and eggshelled on the unforgiving ground.
I made sure Violet was okay and turned to Jack. He was still on the ground.
“Baby?”
I shook his shoulder.
“Are you okay?”
“My leg,” he managed through shaky breaths.
I examined it. The beam had bitten through the fabric of his pants and speared deep into his lower thigh. The heat of the blast had cauterized most of the bleeding vessels on impact, but the energy had stabbed all the way through to the bone. I could see shredded tendons and chewed up muscle lining the injury.
“Can you walk?”
Jack’s face told me that was a stupid question.
I fished in my pockets and pulled out an analgesic patch. I slapped it on his arm, but I knew the patch alone wasn’t going to get him up and walking. Not with an injury like that.
No problem. I could carry Jack. We wouldn’t move as fast, but I certainly had the strength to do so. It was only a quarter mile.
I scanned the distance again. Vehicles were approaching. Unless something had massively changed while I was gone, tanks didn’t drive down civilian roads.
Damnit.
I spun around. Flying drones had begun encircling the prism shield from all cardinal directions. Republic tanks and transport vehicles rumbled our way from the northern and southern road.
We were trapped.
I scooped Jack up with my arms and picked him up off the ground.
“Hold on to me,” I instructed.
He obeyed. I wasn’t sure if he was stunned by his injury or by the fact that I was picking up a two-hundred pound man without strain.
I hadn’t really explained in detail how strong I was now. The man spent an hour in the gym five days a week. I’d worried it would crush his ego to discover how greatly I’d outclassed his abilities in just a few months.
I shuttled my husband back behind the safety of the prism shield. Violet hurried after us.
“Violet, I need you to stay close,” I ordered.
She hugged my leg, eyes watering.
“Mommy, what’s happening? It’s too loud here. Is Daddy okay?”
“Hold on, sweetie. One second.”
“Enemy artillery vehicles spotted,” the voice in my micro-communicator said. “Prepare anti-missile measures.”
I swore, quietly so Violet couldn’t hear me.
I activated the microphone in my cheek with a press of my watch. Lannon’s line was busy, but I was able to contact Clifton. She’d been given a handheld communicator to stay in contact with the MEAD team.
The AI gave off a pinging sound in my ear to let me know a connection had been established.
"Hello, this is Laura Parsons.”
“Copy.”
“I’m outside the safehouse with my husband and daughter. The whole place is surrounded. How can I get them out of here?”
“What! You’re all still here?”
Finally, something had cracked her veil of stoicism.
“Yes. My husband’s been shot above his knee. Doesn’t look immediately life-threatening, but he can’t walk.”
She grunted with frustration.
“Hold on.”
Lannon’s communicator was added to the call.
“Lannon, I need a line to communicate with these people. We need a ceasefire. There are civilians on the battlefield, including a young child.”
Lannon’s laugh was alkaline through the radio static.
“You think they’re going to agree to a ceasefire for a few civilians?”
“We’ve got to get them evacuated.”
“Maybe that’s how conflicts are handled on this Earth, but that’s not combat etiquette in the multiverse. You don’t make exceptions for a few civilians caught in the crossfire.”
I jumped in.
“Then help me get my family to safety, Lannon. Give us a vehicle or something.”
“Can’t spare any,” he said. “We’re kind of outgunned as it is, in case you haven’t noticed.”
An explosion rumbled in the background of someone’s audio. I heard it in real life through my other ear from somewhere on the other side of the safehouse.
Lannon continued, “we won’t be able to get you to safety until we’ve gotten control of the portal. Since it’s broken, and I can’t control it, we’ll have to fight our way there and block it off manually. Until then, more and more of these Republic sardine pissers are going to keep coming through.”
“What about an umbrella shield? I need something, Lannon. Even if it’s just a temporary measure.”
He paused reluctantly before admitting, “I’ve got one. Send me your location, and I’ll get it to you.”
I did so and ended the call. I carried Jack to the side of the safehouse facing the least action, although soldiers were running around shooting at drones from all four sides. I kept Violet tightly between me and the wall of the house, where errant lasers couldn’t hit her.
A soldier ran past and gave me a small cube. I pressed it into the ground and activated it. A dome of solid light cascaded around Jack, Violet, and me.
Violet was crying. I tried to soothe her.
“Look,” I said, grabbing her hand and pointing at the glowing igloo around us.
“We’re safe in here. The bad guys can’t hurt us. See?”
It was half true. We would be safe. Until the repetitive beatings drained the battery or an impact stuck with enough force to overwhelm the shield’s capacity to dissipate energy.
The battle continued to rage around us. A steady stream of insectoid drones entered the prism shield and regurgitated laser beams down on their targets below. MEAD soldiers operating the ultrasonic cannons eliminated them quickly, but we still took losses as lasers bore down on body shields. Medics scrambled to grab wounded and carry them underneath hastily deployed umbrella shields.
The tanks sported long-nosed barrels mounted on a hyperdynamic gyrating dome. They steamrolled up to firing range and began launching missiles. These were much more of a problem. Protective cannons erected around our perimeter blasted grapeshot into the air, causing the missiles to explode in-flight. Each one carried enough firepower to ignite the sky and shake the ground underneath us. If just one penetrated past our defenses, it would carve a flaming sinkhole into half of our encampment.
I doubted our umbrella shield had the voltage to protect us from something like that.
Jack grabbed my hand. I looked down.
“Leave me here,” he whispered.
“What?”
“Take Violet. Get her to safety.”
I looked around at the shelling we were taking from all directions.
“Jack, there’s nowhere safe to go. Not right now.”
He grunted in frustration and pressed a hand to his injury.
“Isn’t there something they can do? Why don’t they just put up a giant force field instead of this pyramid thing?”
I didn’t have the breath to explain to him how much power it took to generate even the umbrella shield we huddled beneath. To cover a property that was almost ten acres in size with a single force field would’ve drained the power grid from here to Portland.
Men and women had begun climbing out of the transport vehicles. They wore futuristic mesh suits designed to magnify the power of their body shields. They hefted spearlight rifles and hurled grenades seeping with yellow gas.
I had a toxin filter thanks to Dr. Glass, but Jack and Violet were horribly vulnerable to whatever bioweapon was festering in those rotten Easter eggs. I’d seen a few oxygen filters in the supply boxes brought by the soldiers, but there wasn’t enough for Jack, Violet, and all the FBI agents still standing. My fingers inched to the gun in my pocket.
A voice spoke in my ear. Lannon.
“Alright. Listen up, everyone. We need to go on the offensive, or they’re going to keep grinding us down. They have more firepower, but we’re smaller and faster. If we can slip past them with a convoy of our best guns, we can refocus our attack on the portal before they have time to regroup.”
He paused for a second. Nobody else spoke up on the communications channel.
“I need four to a vehicle. One driver. Three gunners. Leave five mounted cannons here to keep shooting down drones. Take everything else. We need to get control of that portal or else we’re all up the river.”
All around me, MEAD soldiers ran for the hodgepodge of weaponized trucks and vans. The vehicles weren’t uniform or shiny with fresh-pressed armor panels like the Republic transporters and missile launchers, but they were nimble and sported jerry-rigged turrets in the backseats. They looked every bit the fleet of a true guerilla army.
A pickup truck looped around and braked in front of the umbrella shield where I crouched. The top had been sawed-off to make space for the barrel of a giant armor-piercing laser mounted in the bed.
I saw Lannon sitting in the driver’s seat. He waved at us.
“You three. Get in. This is your best shot to get out of the crossfire.”
I deactivated the umbrella shield and hefted Jack over my shoulder.
“Come on, Violet,” I urged.
She stood rooted to the spot, trembling with fear and sobbing.
To be fair, it’s how I would’ve reacted up until a few months ago, but now was really not the time for a breakdown.
I tossed Jack into the back seat of the truck, careful not to bang his head on the low-hanging barrel. The MEAD soldier operating the weapon stopped launching beams to pull him up to a sitting position.
I turned to my daughter. She hadn’t moved.
“Violet. We need to move now. Do you hear me?”
She continued bawling.
I sighed, bending my knees to scoop her up.
A rocket splashed kerosine acrylics overhead, and I hunched over, pressing Violet close to my chest to shield her from falling shrapnel. I didn’t feel the debris hit my body shield, but white sparks rolling off my shoulders told me the maneuver had been necessary.
I climbed into the truck with my daughter.
“Let’s go.”
Lannon didn’t need to be told twice. We lurched forward, joining the fleet of twenty MEAD vehicles spearheading for the eastern fence surrounding the property.
A flash of laser light reduced the chain link to a salad of shredded iron bits. We motored through the prism shield and bounced over the molehills and weedy shrubs to reach a one-lane road.
The Republic realized what we were doing. Drones swiveled and pursued us, slathering our path with lasers. They were kept at bay by ultrasonic blasts. Armored vehicles turned to cut us off, but Lannon had been right. We were fast enough to shoot the gap before they could converge.
I grabbed Violet in one arm and Jack in the other, tucking them underneath me. I had a body shield, but our truck had only a reinforced steel frame. It was definitely not laser-proof.
A blast sliced through headrest of the seat next to Lannon. Foam burst out of the cushion like popcorn from a steaming bag. The soldier in the seat grunted and keeled over the dashboard as the laser punched through his body shield.
We swerved hard as Lannon reacted to his man falling.
“I’m fine,” the soldier gurgled. “I have blood reserves and autocoagulators. I’ll make it to the portal.”
The woman operating the mounted laser behind us scrawled red cursive in the sky with her weapon, slicing through a drone caught in the beam’s path.
We rumbled hard over the uneven terrain. I fought to keep my family tucked securely underneath me without accidentally crushing them. Jack grabbed my shirt and pulled his lips close to my ear.
“Laura,” he whispered.
The weakness of his voice alarmed me. I met his eyes, concern etching deep across my brow.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t keep it together when you were gone.”
I answered reflexively.
“It…It’s okay. You did your best.”
I frowned.
“Not that I’m not happy we’re talking about it, but is now the best time?”
He grimaced.
“I just wanted you to know. How much I love you. In case something happens to me.”
“What?”
“I’m feeling lightheaded.”
I looked down and nearly vomited up my inverted stomach. One of the vessels in his leg that had been cauterized by the laser appeared to have reopened. The seat and floor of the truck were winestained with dark blood. A river of the stuff was flowing from the wound.
Violet sensed my alarm and started crying again.
I didn’t want to swear in front of my daughter, so the multiverse’s most popular curse rose to my lips.
“Codknocker,” I grunted.