Void's Psionics (43 page)

“
Well that sucks.” The first
grumbled.

“
Don’t feel too bad, I’ll
let you in on a secret. After business is complete I’ll continue my
research into a way by rewriting human DNA into the decouple helix
of Solarians like myself. You guys still won’t be strong enough for
Oliver, but genetically you all won’t be so different from
us.”

“
You can do
that?”

“
Preliminary results look
promising. Genetically we have a similar baseline. DNA. I’m missing
a few things in my research, but I can tell you it
is
possible. After
all,
I’m
alive
aren’t I?” Renee came up and took Oliver’s hand in her own. “Elder,
it is good to see you again.”

“
The pleasure is mine, Ms.
Dorgen.”

“
It’s now Mrs. Void. Olly
and I are married. Papa is coming to talk to you soon enough, but
my man here told you we’re going to the ruins and we’re not going
to waste time. I’ve got plans of my own and can’t wait any longer.
So I hope this isn’t rude, but we’re leaving. Oh, and please don’t
open this. I’ve got sensitive supplies I need for researching DNA
alterations and you could fuck up nearly a year’s worth of work if
it is opened improperly. All I ask is you to put this in a safe
spot and bring it with you when you hear Papa’s story.”

“
Very well, Mrs. Void. I
don’t know where these ruins are, but good luck finding them.”
Elder Scythe took care of a metallic box the size of a
cooler.

Renee though changed clothes before their eye
from sexy dancer into battle bitch. Taking on armor like her larger
man. “Thanks. Sparky, catch up later. I need to stretch my legs.”
The emerald Drake nodded.

At that time the Ligers returned. Oliver took
and put the shield back, anticipating something else they saw and
loved. He glanced at the wryly smirking Renee dominatingly staring
down the other women who wanted to slip into her territory. They
let go of each other’s hands, leaned forward and ran.

“
WHOA! She’s faster than all
of us!” the fastest man of the village confirmed as they saw the
near blurring caped forms of a tall woman and even taller man.
Around them were the great cats. No one even tried to keep up as
they were already gone.

Hot and humid air was a constant on Zerika
and they couldn’t run flat out as the forests were nearly all
untouched by man. Oliver already downloaded the geography and every
trail to calculate the fastest route to the destination. Still, it
was well over a week away. He remembered that well when tracking
the Fire Wyrm. Renee was the slowest, but she didn’t slow them down
much. The Pride loved how they all ran together. Between their
smell and their master’s, no creature that tried to eat them got a
chance of a meal. Renee got the choicest parts since Oliver was no
longer consumed by the need to grow stronger. She still was, but
she too was growing gradually in strength.

Jake Dorgen did indeed sit in the village and
told them precisely their intentions and the villagers looked to
Stone, a native brother who grew up here and he confirmed it.
Curiosity had Elder Scythe granting the pirate king all he desired
in exchange for tagging along.

By first light the next day a rather large
party of Hunters gathered to follow after the advanced scouting
party that had left clear signs of their passing. A sword cut here.
A Liger print there. A middle finger pointing the direction etched
in stone was clearly done by her.

In eight days, right at dusk it was Oliver
who said “We’re here.”

“
Huh? Where are the ruins?”
Renee asked as she looked around. Trees, undergrowth and weathered
rocks scattered all over. “I don’t see it.”

“
What do you mean. The ruins
are right there.” He pointed. “Look at the way these rocks had
fallen in a line. This was once a pillar.” He then moved over. “And
here, this was part of… oh here, you can see the proof.”

Oliver had his journey companions back up and
created a bit of a tempest. Hot, muggy air went cool as the wind
kicked up violently. The worst part happened far ahead. Entire
trees were uprooted as easily as plucking blades of grass and
thrown away. A telekinetic windstorm blew loose dust and debris.
Only the heaviest stones didn’t move in the battering gale.

Slowly there came clear signs of
civilization. The pillar he tried showing ran much deeper than she
had guessed. Yet deeper the storm dug and cleansed. Yet in the
pillar were animal carvings like totem poles that survived only by
burial beneath the sands of time. Another was revealed and another,
each pillar nearly three meters thick. Ten in all. Yet in the
center was another pyramid, this one completely buried near twenty
meters below the surface of Zerika. It was solid and large, but
only had one barred nano-wall.

“
He was correct.”
Rose commented beside her mate.

“
It’s getting to be a bad
habit.” Remarked the redhead. By the shaking in his shoulders she
knew he had heard the comment over the still raging
storm.

“
I better stop.” The storm
died and debris sat over in a large mound the size of a
hill.

“
Why?”

“
Because I just sensed a
warning ripple of energy hit me in the chest that came from deep
beneath the ground.” He rubbed his chest with an uncomfortable
grimace. “Defenses are up still.”

“
Alright. Go down there and
recon. I’ll tell Papa we found the entrance.”

Lightly he landed thirty
meters on a smooth stone surface that was wet and muddy, not
allowing for drainage of rain to seep. Up above Renee was
delivering the news rather gleefully and caught her thinking
“Baby, baby, baby! I’m going to be pregnant as
soon as we leave and settle in. Oh, hurry up old man.”
“Don’t tell me you are still twelve days out. I
even gave you and the others the ligament enhancement so move your
sorry ass. You got four days.
”
And she didn’t hide those words. Only the baby
part. Renee never held much back.

Oliver had Nova and the rest
of the Pride go secure two kilometers around the site. They gladly
got to work eliminating threats. Rose and Sparky soon landed near
him and the latter asked
“Is the message
the same?”

Staring at the secure
nano-wall he said “No. It says:
This temple
to the castle of Terra is sealed by order of Queen Beli. Passage
beyond is filled with poison gas. Beyond is an experiment that must
be killed by the gas for ten millennia. To have uncovered this
temple is a violation and you will be persecuted to full extent of
the awareness and forethought of the act.
It’s a warning clear as day.”

“
But I remember seeing the
image through my mate’s eyes of the AI’s focusing through this
terrain. We must try to open.”
Admitted
Rose.

“
No fucking way. Have you
learned nothing from me, Rose? Remember poison creating?” Renee
landed, sliding down the steep incline. “If it’s a poison they are
using that lasts ten
thousand
years, it’s an aging poison that gradually gets
stronger as time passes. We’ve well exceeded twice when it should
have been opened
long
ago and see if whatever inside is dead. If Olly and I try to
open it we could unleash a poison that’ll kill every single thing
on this planet. It could be why he was warned to back the fuck off.
But, maybe Olly can try out his new toy.”

“
The neutrino drones?” He
asked and she nodded. “They’re still experimental. I can’t always
get a clear picture. And what if it collects poison and
returns.”

“
Leave them inside if they
do. If the air is clean and anything inside is no longer moving,
we’ll go in as a last resort. If it is bad you’ll need to level the
rest of the area and see if there is another entrance. But try it
first.”

“
Alright.” He decided it was
not a bad idea. Oliver connected his mind to the chip which relayed
to the vambrace’s many functions. Five days ago, when he was bored
he discovered an idea for drones so small they can pass through
solid objects as energy. It was merely a rough idea the Valek had
showed and there were issues that had to be solved and was beyond
difficult, but little by little the ascent to a working product was
being made. The downside was he knew he was months to years away
from a reliable form of technology.

It was one of the billions of things it could
create, but to create it meant the wiElder had to have intimate
knowledge of mathematical and intuitive ways to regulate necessary
power and how to put it into a working program it could run. Even
inside the vambrace was the ability to teleport himself and anyone
touching him to anywhere in the entire universe, but it was still
far beyond his mental grasp. It was the original way to instantly
travel. Oliver even suspected that the Creelin learned to teleport
from his lost people. The calculating factors involved were truly
astronomical to unlock the program. He knew Davan Took would be
happy to know this since he had spent most of his adult life in
pursuit of it.

Connected to the vambrace, deep on the
subatomic level dropped millions of neutrino sized drones at the
beck and call to command. They were contained in the vambrace
itself since his suit was far too malleable. They were too small
individually to make an image Oliver’s neural chip could recreate,
but with millions working in tandem they formed a blurry,
flickering image and were sent through the nano-wall, easily
passing through solid matter. Readouts were jittery and gave Oliver
a headache. Renee seeing his discomfort came up from behind and
started rubbing his thick neck. Several times they failed and had
to reconnect to the vambrace, but beyond the door showed fragments
of green mist passing by like distant stars and several had
measured what it contained. “We can’t open that damn door.” Oliver
was adamant.

“
That bad?”

“
Worse.” Oliver swallowed
and let the drones he had made be left inside. “Renee, run the
poison through your chip and tell me your expert
opinion.”

The flash of data came to her chip and she
mentally ran the biological side, something her brain could do that
his couldn’t fully grasp like hers on the technical side. She gave
Oliver a sharp look and nodded. Tapping her ear she said “Papa, we
hit a big snag.”

“
Hold up, everyone.” He said
and responded moments later. “Go ahead, Lass.”

“
Papa, the door we found is
laced with the deadliest poison I’ve
ever
come across. Just a dozen
particles released in the atmosphere will propagate like a virus
and kill all living organism on this planet within seventy hours.
I’m issuing a stage zero biological hazard. We got lucky Oliver’s
uncovering this place didn’t kill us all. Order Abdul to bring the
Dorgenox around and prepare the Ripper for maximum
load.”

“
Lass, are ye
certain…”

“
Papa, I can’t leave this
hazard here. It’s an extinction level poison. The only solution is
to take it all and throw it right into Zerika’s sun to be safe.
Nothing I can do can negate this concentration. It’ll take one tiny
crack. One little earthquake. I don’t care how advanced they were,
we have no choice.”

“
I will inform Elder Scythe
of the situation. Send me your report while I also make Abdul
aware.”

“
Sending now.” She got the
confirmation the transfer chip to chip was successful.

Oliver leaned back against
the ground, rubbed the bridge of his nose and she helped by leaning
her rear up against his groin, gave a little wiggle and settled her
armored back against him. They were left to silence for several
minutes till Jake said “Lass, ye were
under
stating how bad it is. I won’t
ask how ye got the reading without killing yerself, but I’m glad.
Young Elder Scythe is granting permission to fly it to ye and use
the Ripper, but we must continue on foot. Lass, ye need to get away
from there.”

“
Fine, but Olly says he’s
going to throw up a barrier in event the Dorgenox doesn’t catch it
all and in event the city attacks.”

Rose, Sparky and Renee flew far away and the
Pride also cleared out. Flying above the treetops, Oliver easily
found the Dorgenox silently sailing through the air. It came right
over, high enough for the failing sunlight to beat against the
starboard hull. It moved very slow. His com beeped and Abdul’s
voice came through. “Ripper functions are up and running, Oliver.
Tell me how wide and deep I must go. Ground penetrating scans are
useless.”

“
Assume the worst. The
castle of wind was over ten kilometers deep. Go nine. Also I don’t
know how the defenses will react to such a violent means, so power
up the shields to maximum and I’ll add a second layer over the ship
at full power too.”

“
The ripper will start in
fifteen seconds. We’re depending on you.”

Oliver’s hair burned bright gold as he
Gathered every shard of inner power together and lifted his hand to
cloak the ship in a barrier so brilliant it lit up the sky like
staring into a blue star. The land grew bright. Below he erected
another barrier that would trap everything. If the Ripper didn’t
work, it would need to keep taking.