Les brought up the laser rifle hidden under his body, and pulled the trigger before it could stab him again. The bolts erased the visor and a chunk of metal skull.
The machine clattered to the floor beside him, giving him a view inside the skulclass="underline" a small microchip suspended from wires in some sort of thick fluid.
With one hand pressed against his gut, Les stumbled into the room. He set his rifle down and reached into his vest pocket for the USB stick. Bolts streaked down the road outside, and the aerial battle continued, rattling the tower walls.
Les resisted the urge to look down at his wound. He knew that it was something he probably wouldn’t survive, and checking it wasn’t going to help. Keeping his hand over the wound, he scooted all the way to a wall of computers.
Lights blinked up and down the bulkheads, right up to the ceiling ten stories above. Each time they flashed, he had a feeling they were sending out the same signal to machines across the planet.
He pushed himself up, cried out in pain, and nearly fell back down.
“Captain,” a voice hissed in his earpiece.
Les blinked, trying to steady himself.
“Captain, we’re almost out of ammo and have sustained severe damage,” Timothy said. “I’m not sure how much longer I can keep us in the air.”
“I just need… a few…” Les slumped against the computers, his vision going dark. It came back a moment later, but his body felt weightless, as in the first seconds of a dive.
He pulled off the end of the thumb drive and searched for a place to upload it. “I’m almost there,” he said. “Just…”
More explosions rang outside—from ground or air, he couldn’t say. They sounded faint, or maybe that was just his hearing. His body was failing.
Les inserted the drive into a slot in a computer and then connected his wrist computer, using cables from another pocket in his vest. He tapped the screen, starting the upload.
At first, nothing happened. The percentage showed zero on his wrist computer.
He slumped down the wall of computers with a view of the open door. The fighting was distant now, and he heard only one voice, crackling in his helmet.
“Everyone’s outside the base,” Michael said. “I’m coming back in.”
“No,” Les choked. He saw the upload starting on his computer. It jumped to 10 percent, then 15. That gave him a shot of confidence.
“Get as far away from the base as you can, just in case this doesn’t work,” Les said.
“But, sir…”
Les spoke as firmly as he could. “That’s an order, Commander.”
“No way. I’m coming back.”
“Michael, if you do, you will never see Layla again or hold your son,” Les said. “Now, go. I’m finishing this myself!”
“But, Captain…”
“Take care of Phyl and Katherine.”
A pause.
“Sir, you can take care of them when we get out of here.”
“I’m sorry, Michael, but it’s over for me…” Les groaned in pain. “I’m hurt bad and not leaving this place. I’m counting on you. I love you like a son, and that’s why I can’t lose you like I lost Trey.”
Les shut off the channel before Michael could reply. He straightened his body against the wall.
“Timothy,” he said into his headset. “Do you copy, Timothy?”
“Copy, sir.”
Beyond the trees, the street was still. No machines in sight, nor any human prisoners. Tall weeds swayed gently in the breeze. It was almost peaceful.
He looked at his monitor: 95 percent.
A moment later, the virus was uploaded, and the inside of the tower glowed again, sending out the signal worldwide.
But it wasn’t over yet.
“Timothy, you have to destroy the main tower,” Les said.
“I’m out of rockets, sir,” Timothy replied.
Les closed his eyes.
Another voice came online.
Les disconnected his wrist computer and squirmed all the way to the door, where he had a view of the skyline above the canopy.
“We’ll use the airship,” Samson said. “Slam it right into the side.”
Les wanted to say no, but he knew that the airship was done for. This would ensure that the mainframe could never be brought back online.
“It’s been an honor serving with you, Captain,” Timothy replied.
“The honor has been mine, Timothy. Thank you for everything you’ve done for us. And you as well, Samson.”
“You’re a good man, Les,” Samson said. “Leave this to us now.”
“Hit the tower at the lowest point possible,” Les choked.
Les didn’t mention that he was right underneath it. He was already dead anyway.
“Roger that,” Samson said. “I always wanted to say this: we dive so humanity survives!”
With what strength he had left, Les crawled out into the dirt, past the weeds. He managed to sit up against a tree trunk. A perfect view of the skyline.
A glowing outline moved through the clouds above the walls. Discovery shot through the barrier a moment later. Fire spewed from the hull as the airship hurtled toward the tower. An armored panel cartwheeled away to expose a translucent figure standing at the helm.
“Well done, Timothy,” Les croaked. “It’s been a hell of a ride.”
He closed his eyes, ready to join his son. The mission to avenge Trey and save his family was complete at last.
FORTY-TWO
Raven’s Claw carved through the sea on a course for the Vanguard Islands. A day had passed since they left Aruba, but to Magnolia it felt like a lifetime.
She stood in the command tower, looking out over the deck below. Most of the fighting had taken place here after General Forge boarded with a team of his fiercest warriors. They barely won the hand-to-hand battle against the skinwalkers, leaving a deck slick with blood. No one had walked away from the fight without an injury, and most of the survivors were in the medical ward three decks below.
General Forge, Magnolia, Imulah, and X and Miles were in the command center. The king sat in a chair, stroking Miles, while the general stared out over the water, his arm in a sling.
No one had said much since they left Aruba and heard a single radio message from a militia soldier. It played endlessly in Magnolia’s head.
The machines are almost to the capitol tower! We can’t hold them back!
Raven’s Claw had lost contact shortly thereafter, and they were sailing home at full speed. Magnolia knew that the chances of anything being left by the time they arrived weren’t good. It was a two-day sail in the best conditions, and it wouldn’t take the machines long at all to kill everything that breathed.
“Try the radio again,” X said.
Magnolia turned the dials, but only static crackled back. It was possible the electrical storms were interfering with the comms, but it was more likely that no one was left to answer the radio.
X let out a long sigh and went back to stroking Miles.
“We must not give up hope,” Imulah said. “Lieutenant Wynn was ready for them, and we have the Octopus Lords on our side.”
Magnolia snorted.
The general turned from the window, his chiseled jaw covered by a bandage that moved while he spoke to Imulah. He was ready to fight, and so were his men, but Magnolia knew they couldn’t do much with what they had left.
“General Forge says we crushed Horn and Moreto, and we will do the same to the metal gods,” Imulah said.
“ ‘Crushed’ isn’t exactly…” A glare from X stopped Magnolia from finishing the thought.
She backed away from the three men and Miles. “I’ll go check on Rodger,” she said.
X nodded, and she went to the lower decks, which smelled of body odor, mold, and a putrid scent that she couldn’t and didn’t want to place. The skinwalkers, cannibalistic barbarians that they were, had lived in filth. And while she was glad they had salvaged the warship, restoring it to habitable conditions was going to take a lot of work.