The general, exasperated, turned to Alejandra for advice. "I don't know, General," she told him, without him having to ask the question aloud. "They each sincerely believe they are right."

"Then what is your feeling?" the general asked her.

Alejandra drew her eyes up to Old-timer's; he knew she was reading him.

"I think we have nothing to lose. Our best chance is to confront the A.I. directly," she told the general.

The general nodded and leaned wearily against the wall of the complex entrance. "So what is the plan?"

"Old-timer and I will set out for Venus," Thel explained.

"What about us?" Djanet asked.

Thel released her grip on Rich and looked him squarely in the eye."These people will have no protection. It will take at least an hour for us to get to Venus and back. It will only take the nans a matter of minutes to reconst.i.tute. You have to protect these people for as long as you can. Okay?" she asked Rich, sternly.

She was right: It was the moment Rich had feared his entire life-the moment when he'd have to face all his fears and insecurities head on. The Purists' lives depended on it. He straightened his collar and sighed. "Okay. As if I had a choice. But you better kill that thing once and for all, or my name is gonna be mud-not to mention the rest of me."

"Okay," Thel said after taking a deep breath. She turned to Old-timer. "You ready?"

"Just one minute," he responded as he stepped toward Alejandra. He grabbed her in his arms and kissed her pa.s.sionately for several seconds before gently pulling back. "I'll be back," he told her before exiting the entranceway with Thel.

Thel and Old-timer lifted off from the lifeless earth outside the complex and immediately saw the spider tendrils of the nan storm only moments away from reaching the complex. "We have to hurry," Thel said.

They ignited their coc.o.o.ns and blasted into the stratosphere.

2.

Rich and Djanet stepped outside the complex and stood together as the ma.s.sive black fingers of the nan cloud inched toward them from all directions.

"How's your aim?" Djanet asked Rich.

"Not great. I think you better play shooter."

"Okay."

Alejandra, Lieutenant Patrick, General Wong, and Private Gernot stood near the entrance of the complex.

"Is there anything we can do?" asked a bloodied Lieutenant Patrick.

"Get your people into the deepest part of the complex and stay together," Djanet replied.

"Can we help you up here?" asked the general.

"Your weapons will be useless against these things," Djanet replied.

"We can be extra eyes," Gernot offered.

Djanet turned to him and saw the sincerity in his offer.

"We're in this together, right?" Gernot added.

"Yeah, yeah, she can use your help," Rich said.

"I want to help too," Alejandra echoed Gernot.

"Okay," Djanet agreed. "General Wong and Lieutenant Patrick, go help your people." The general and the lieutenant disappeared inside the complex.

"Oh my G.o.d," Rich whispered as the cloud of black began to whir, ripping through the putrid air.

"I think you better put up your force field, Rich," Djanet said, her mouth suddenly dry. Rich's field surrounded the four humans, as well as the rocky hill that made up the entrance to the south complex. He ground his teeth as the nans began crashing against the green glow of the field like the waves of an ocean in h.e.l.l.

"Okay, you two," Djanet began, addressing Alejandra and Gernot. "I need you to act as my eyes. The nans are not a serious threat to us, but the larger robotic bats are equipped with rays that can neutralize our powers. They're slower than the nans, but if you see nans, you know the bats aren't far behind."

"Okay," Gernot replied.

The light quickly dimmed as the nans swarmed over the shield.

"I think we've got enough here, Rich," Djanet announced. "Are you ready? Count of three?"

"Wait! One, two, three, go or go on three?"

"Go on three!"

"Okay!"

"One...two...three!" Djanet shouted.

Rich flashed his shield off for the briefest of moments so Djanet could blast the nans with magnetic energy. The nans within a few meters of the shield rained down on the ground and actually spilled across the earth, then covered the ground near the humans like a black snowfall.

Rich reengaged his shield. "Holy c.r.a.p, that's frightening!" he said, gulping down air.

The nans began to build up once again near the shield almost immediately.

"I see one of those larger ones!" Alejandra shouted to the others. Djanet turned to see a black shape quickly approaching from the east. "I see it."

"I see one too!" Gernot announced as the second bat came from the west.

"Can you take them, Djanet?" Rich shouted to her.

"I can do it. One...two...three!"

Rich released his shield once again, and Djanet flashed her energy at another sea of nans. Again, they dropped to the ground and tumbled across the earth, threatening to cause Rich to spill. In the next instant, Djanet fired two blasts of concentrated energy at the bats, one to the east and one to the west. Both demonic machines dropped to the ground with a thud. Rich reengaged his shield just as another wave of nans moved within inches from his face.

"I think I just wet myself! We're not gonna last out here much longer, Djanet! That was close!"

"We have to! We have to buy Old-timer and Thel as much time as we can!"

3.

Thel and Old-timer raced toward the pale blue orb of Earth, with the ma.s.sive Zeus cylinder just in front of them. With their mind's eyes functioning once again, they were able to make it to Venus in impressive time and were now streaking like lightning toward Seattle.

As they punctured the atmosphere, they jointly formed a ma.s.sive shield to protect the Zeus on reentry. Old-timer and Thel were both awed by the ma.s.sive fiery spectacle they were creating.

As the surface of the Earth neared, Old-timer spoke to Thel with his mind's eye. "They're bound to see us. I think we better activate the Zeus."

"Agreed," Thel responded.

As the fire from reentry died down to a faint orange glow, the twosome initiated the spinning of the Zeus cylinder. Immediately, a ma.s.sive wave of magnetic energy began to fan out from the Zeus, spinning at an increasing rate of speed.

The activation of the Zeus cylinder came just in time. Only seconds after the magnetic blades of the fan began to spin, a horde of black bats and nans emerged from the clouds below and raced toward Thel and Old-timer.

"Let's hope this works," Old-timer said.

"It will," Thel said calmly.

The nans reached the twosome first, but the fans dissipated them as though they were blowing an evil smoke aside. Too light to fall back to the Earth, the deactivated nans simply blew away into the wind. Moments later, the bats reached the blades and suffered the same fate. As soon as they were within a few meters of the ma.s.sive turning blades, they plummeted back toward the ground. Before long, an endless rainstorm of jet-black metal was hurtling downward toward the mainframe of the A.I.

"I love it!" Old-timer shouted with joy as they cut a swathe through the mechanical nightmares. "Yee-haw!"

The Zeus's magnetic waves wiped the cloud cover away, just as it was designed to do on Venus, and the A.I.'s mammoth black bunker appeared like the doors to h.e.l.l. The complex was protected by a magnetic shielding, and thousands of robotic bats bounced harmlessly off of the greenish coc.o.o.n and crashed to the surrounding wet pavement.

"James didn't find a way to lower its defenses, Thel."

"He must have. He must have. He wouldn't have told us to come here if he hadn't."

"What if he wasn't telling us to come here?"

Old-timer and Thel slowed their approach and then halted just a stone's throw away from the gigantic black doors they had entered the day before.

"Well, it's a standoff now. The Zeus will protect us, but it doesn't seem to have any effect on his shielding."

Suddenly, a very small gap opened in the protective field of the A.I.'s mainframe. The black doors slowly slid open, reminding Thel of the incision James had suffered such a short time ago.

"Well, I guess it wants to negotiate," Thel surmised.

"I'll go. You stay with the Zeus and keep it running."

"No," Thel insisted. "I'll go."

"Are you sure?" asked Old-timer.

"I'm sure. It should be me."

Thel slowly set down on the ground and began to walk toward the A.I.'s magnetic field. She entered, and the coc.o.o.n began to close behind her.

"Good luck!" Old-timer shouted before they were cut off from one another.

Thel shared a long, knowing gaze with Old-timer. This was their last chance, and they both knew it. Thel forced a small smile to contrast her frightened eyes and then turned back toward the open doors. She walked through into the blackness and let the immense doors close behind her.

This was it.

4.

"There are too many of them!" Djanet shouted as Rich reengaged his magnetic field.

"Run!" Rich shouted to the others as Djanet, Alejandra, and Gernot raced toward the entrance to the complex. Dozens of bats had moved within firing range, and Rich's protective field disappeared as it was simultaneously blasted by multiple bats. The next moments seemed to unfold in slow motion for Rich.

For the first time in his life, with nothing left to lose, he found courage. Rich had kept his magnetic field up just long enough for the other three to race toward the doors of the complex, but he knew there was no time to save himself. It didn't matter-he'd saved three lives. His instincts had taken over. He lifted off and flew blindly backward toward the doors of the complex to further cover the escape of his friends. As he flew, he blasted out more magnetic energy and deactivated multiple bats. A blast of yellow appeared to his right and he reengaged his protective field just in time to save himself, but his powers were gone now. He crashed to the ground and rolled backward to a stop. He looked up to see the blackness closing in. In less than a second, he would be dead.

"No!" Djanet shouted from behind him.

Green magnetic energy blasted the nans and robots away before Djanet engaged one last magnetic field to protect Rich. Rich turned to see Alejandra and Gernot had already made it inside.

"Run!" Djanet shouted.

Rich jumped to his feet and began to run toward the open doors. He turned to see Djanet backing up slowly toward the door, just a few paces away. "Do it now!" he shouted to her.

Djanet disengaged the magnetic field, blasted one last wave of energy at the robotic hordes surrounding them, and thrust herself backward toward Rich. Rich caught hold of her as she flew into the complex and held on tight as the duo flew through the narrow hallway. Djanet began to blast the walls, bringing them down behind them as the robots began to reach the entrance. Rich held on, literally for dear life, as Djanet flew into the elevator shaft and raced downward while blasting upward, bringing the mountain down behind them.

Alejandra and Gernot were in the elevator just below and were thrown against one another as the cables snapped and tore and Djanet forced the elevator down the shaft at a breakneck rate.

"G.o.d save us!" shouted Gernot.

The elevator shaft disintegrated under the power of Djanet's energy blasts. "The elevator!" Rich shouted.

"I can't save us all!" Djanet replied.

"I can do it!" Rich yelled. "Get me down there!"

Rich let go of Djanet as she used one hand to force Rich down to the elevator while she acrobatically twisted her body and continued to rip the walls of the shaft apart above her with her other hand. Rich hit the top of the elevator with a thud and didn't miss a beat as he pulled the access panel off and pulled himself into the elevator.