Return, page 20
part #3 of The Quantum Wars Series
The fangs of the Leviathan sank into her neck parting the metal of the nanids and driving into the flesh below. Wren felt the burning of the strain immediately. She blocked the pain from her mind formulating a response to the Leviathan’s attack. The monster wrapped her close seeking to consume her power and gain a new host. The cry of rage from Curtis broke into her mind. Love for the man surged through her cementing her decision. She would not let her family come to harm because of her failure. Wren withdrew into her mind feeling her strength fading. She connected to SIA in the sky high above her directing the AI’s actions, ending the brief exchange with a whispered farewell. She rekindled the connection to Curtis.
“Flee, Curtis I am lost. If you stay you will be destroyed,” she whispered. Anger and loss surged across from him.
“I will not leave you,” he replied, his human voice ringing in her mind. Even now she could sense him battering through the Leviathan’s minions trying to reach her. She felt herself fading as the Leviathan continued drawing from her. Wren did not wait for him to get closer. Reaching out to the silver nanids she manipulated the field technology within them bringing the dragon to a halt.
“You are still needed Curtis, leave now or I will force you,” she said holding him in place. Grief tore across their connection as he realized she was beyond any aid he could provide. Emotions tumbled across the connection. Wren withdrew from Curtis manipulating the nanids within her body and those being drawn from her by the Leviathan. The changes were received by the nanids, the technology altered, preparing to carry out her instructions. Curtis still stood looking at her, agony tearing through him. Wren turned her eyes to him sensing his decision. As he launched into the air spiraling higher, she issued the command to her nanids, sending a wave of love across her connection with Curtis.
A millisecond later Wren was gone. The nanids consumed her body instantly turning into a swarm of insect like machines. Having consumed their host, the silver nanids turned to the Leviathan. The rogue quantum staggered to the ground unbalanced by the sudden disappearance of Wren Fore. The swarm wrapped around it tearing into its body with impunity. The Leviathan was surrounded completely by a cloud of silver. The strain could not stop the attack or repair it fast enough. The nanids of Wren Fore had begun the final destruction of Nathan Landis’ creation.
The scream of rage and pain never left the Leviathan’s chest, the nanids it had consumed with Wren Fore’s blood took its voice. The machines were destroying it from inside and out. Its mind was striving to keep the strain ahead of the damage being done by the swarm of silver pests the Fore woman had become. It was of no avail. The swarm was simply to numerous and its attack to widespread to counter. The Leviathan did what it could to slow the effect, creating a shifting barrier with the strain that would be more difficult to penetrate. The effort did little. Pain lanced through it from inside its chest. The attackers within it had arrived at its heart and other organs. It fell to its knees. This body was no longer a suitable host. It focused looking for a connection to one of it minions, so it could escape the attacks machines. There was nothing. It was trapped in this body with nowhere to flee. The silver attackers had blocked any chance of escape. Adrenaline coursed into giving it the energy to rise.
The Leviathan staggered to its feet, stumbling forward in a vain effort to find one of its creatures. It took less than ten steps when the swarm removed its left leg below the knee, consuming the appendage completely. The Leviathan fell forward catching itself with clawed hands swarming with the silver plague. The pain was constant now, not even the quantum could block it. It felt its consciousness fading as the nanids continued their voracious trek through its body. Its arms buckled simultaneously, the limbs almost completely stripped of the muscles required to hold it upright. Its twisted face drove into the ancient pavement of the city sending more pain coursing into its brain. As it lay on ground its massive body began convulsing, thrashing as it lost control. What little remained of its legs and arms sought escape trying to propel the creature away from the attack. The Leviathan felt the attack on its spine acutely as the nanids consumed the muscle corded neck. It felt death emerging in its mind, the weakness and loss of control was a foreign experience. If it had been able, it would have begged for release. There was none. The thrashing continued as the Leviathan was driven completely out of control by the pain and impending death.
The nanids finally tore through the Leviathan’s neck and throat. The thrashing ceased as the head rolled away propelled by the death throes of its body. It came to a rest a few feet away, the silver cloud of nanids still blocking any attempt to escape. Its eyes were still open staring directly at the now still body, as the nanids completed their grisly task. The strain in the head kept the Leviathan alive long enough to see its body consumed and to watch powerlessly as the swarm descended destroying it, removing its stain from the Earth permanently. When all trace of the Leviathan was gone the swarm of nanids coalesced drawing tighter together while spinning faster. Soon they had drawn into a ball barely the size of a baseball from many years past. The speed and pressure imparted massive amounts of energy causing the ball to glow brightly in the morning sun. The minions of the Leviathan now leaderless drew closer as their twisted minds sought an outlet for their unbridled rage. As the small army tested the limits of the ball’s energy and light, it flashed releasing the energy in a small explosion that killed the foremost creatures instantly. All others were burned and tossed through the air by the impact of the blast. A cloud of dust and smoke drifted slowly into the air, marking the explosion and following the ship rising into the air once more.
EPILOGUE
Stephen fell to his knees on the ruined path outside the newly liberated military base. Dust rose from the ground swirling with his robes as they moved around him protectively. Cheyenne Mountain rose ominously behind him, all the joy at having freed the facility evaporating like water in the scorching heat. He watched the silver ship which had belonged to his daughter rise slowly into the air. The images of her death still streamed to him from his connection with Curtis, accompanied with the man’s madness and grief. It was overwhelming even for the quantum Stephen had become. The grief drove into him bringing back the loss of his wife. The corruption of Natalie by ODIN played through his mind reopening a wound he long thought was healed. Raw, uncontrolled emotions tore across his quantum consciousness consuming any urge to act. The image of his wife succumbing to the white nanids of ODIN joined Wren’s death at the hands of the Leviathan. Stephen felt the blame of what had occurred to his family fall upon him. His absence had allowed these events to occur. The many years alone weighed down on him, his choices holding him to the Earth. He had lost her. Wren had returned only to be destroyed stopping the Leviathan. He could not fathom how the events had turned to this.
The quantum calculations spun in his mind trying to decipher the events. Again, and again he tried to understand as the ship piloted by SIA grew smaller. He barely noticed the rain of drones coming down to the city from space above. The orb shaped machines scoured the city and surrounding area to find any of the Leviathan’s remaining creatures, dispatching them with deadly efficiency. His mind could not surmount the agony of losing his daughter and he was unable to logically move forward. Tears ran down his face falling to the arid ground below. The light of the sun glinted in each tear as they fell casting a small green tinged prism in the shadow of their master. Hours passed while the drones continued their hunt. The ship disappeared into the sky above and still he knelt with his grief holding him in place. The maddened images of Curtis had disappeared fleeing with the man as he sought to escape the reality of Wren’s death. A transport ship approached landing in front of him, the dust spinning away from it and past him as the engines cycled down. Stephen watched as Kelly Holt emerged from the ship, not registering who she was. Grief had utterly consumed the quantum, allowing for nothing else. Kelly drew close and knelt in front of him.
“Stephen?” she queried, her concern etched into her face. He shifted his eyes as her question broke the spell of grief. Anger surged through him as he stared at her. Rage at what had happened tore apart his grief burning it away. Stephen stood holding Kelly’s eye as she rose with him. Her eyes still held the question. He would tell her all of it, but not yet. He turned, the sun blazing behind him, well on its way to setting. As his gaze focused on the horizon seeking his foe, the rage abated leaving only the cold logic of revenge. Without a word Stephen Fore slowly began walking to the east.
Thank you for reading Return, Book Three of the Quantum Wars. I am C.A. Fraser, author and purveyor of ideas! I currently reside in Seattle with my wife and two sons. I work in the tech industry in addition to writing. I also enjoy hiking and games of various types.
If you would like to keep up on the next books in The Quantum Wars series, you can join my mailing list. I am also active on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram as C.A. Fraser. Thanks again for reading!
C A Fraser, Return
