CHAPTER 19

Kris

We had a great view of the world being torn apart.

There was an old saying from Earth: "They also serve who only stand and wait."Tara and I were now waiting our turn to serve, and we'd gone to the place where we could feel at least some connection to what was happening up above and outside.It was a monitor room in another area of the underground complex, with people sitting at control panels talking to each other and sending messages to other places.Two walls were taken up with large screens showing different views of what was happening in Leto, what was going on in other settlements on Lycia, and the action taking place in orbit and in space around the planet.All of it showed battle and upheaval.

In the city above us, it was like the horror that happened at the reception for new Guard personnel, where I had caught that Soorn spy, only dozens of times worse.Trees had been turned into walking creatures uprooted themselves and were shambling around, attacking Colonial and Guard troops on the ground.The human and lycanthrope forces struck back, using energy weapons to slice and hack limbs off the walking trees and set the huge plant creatures afire.Flames and smoke were everywhere; some monitors showed cityscapes with towering plumes of black smoke rising up near and far.We saw dinosaur-like creatures as big as houses, with bodies as tough as assault vehicles, stomping around, tearing into buildings; and more troops taking them on.Our forces shot at them with high-powered energy guns that had only a limited effect; they managed to wound some of the reptile things, which then slashed their tails and scattered their attackers, sending some troops running and others flying.

I could only guess how our people and the Colonial personnel reacted to the reinforcements that showed up.The Caloxi had hidden, sensor-screened bases inside of mountains and caverns in the area of Leto and in places scattered across Lycia.Those bases were like the one where Tara, my comrades, and I had been, with hibernating Caloxi waiting for the signal to wake up.They had been working without anyone knowing about it, preparing for just what was happening at this moment.Now they'd emerged in their bowl-shaped flyers with their energy-beam tentacles and had swooped into battle.Where our people in other levitating, ground-skimming, and hovering craft engaged in hit-and-run tactics with the monsters, they had the surprise of the Caloxi coming out of nowhere to help.I pictured myself as one of our people outside, having to deal first with mutated things rampaging everywhere, and then with aliens that no one had ever seen before suddenly appearing and being on our side.Alpha Commander Brunson and other higher-ups had given them the word that help was incoming and that they shouldn't attack the aliens, but it had to be confusing as hell.

Up in the sky were streaks of light from attacks back and forth, and the flashes and thunder of explosions.We saw the shapes of Colonial and Guard ships and Soorn vessels darting through the air, pivoting and swerving, lashing out at each other with lances of gleaming power.In some places we saw dark and flaming shapes falling to the ground, which we knew were the parts of destroyed craft and, if we could see a finer magnification, the bodies of doomed pilots and gunners who'd lost their lives in aerial combat.It was a heart-sinking sight.Tara and I instinctively held hands, unable to do anything else but watch.

And we saw still more.Out in space, our ships and the vessels of the Soorns were engaged in the same kind of battle that was going on above rooftops and in the sky.In orbit, our defenses arrayed themselves across the face of Lycia, and the view looking in at the beautiful planet was lit up with fiery bursts from clashing ships, some of them exploding in the blackness of surrounding space or against the blue-and-white-swirled disk of the planet itself.And from far out beyond the orbit of Lycia, other shapes appeared, with cruel flashes around them that must have been enemy fire hitting against force fields.These newcomers were Caloxi ships that had been lying in wait in surrounding systems, probably on planets where there was no breathable atmosphere, and their crews remained aboard hidden ships or in hidden bases.How long had they been out there, waiting for just this moment to come warping into our system for this battle against the beings who once drove the Caloxi from their adopted home?

It occurred to me that planets like Lycia—and Earth, where our people came from—were precious things, scattered through star systems across limited space.Sometimes things like this happened, with more than one species laying claim on the same planet and fighting over who got to possess it.In our history there had been disputes with one species or another over this planet or that one, and some combination of combat and diplomacy had smoothed them out.But this situation was unique, with three different species fighting over one planet.Tara said she hoped there would be a planet worth living on when it was all over, though exactly who would be left to live on it was in question.We kept hold of each other's hand and kept watching.Soon enough it would be our turn to act.

We spoke in lowered voices amid the chatter from the monitoring personnel.I looked grimly at everything happening out there and said in a tone to match my expression, "I should be out there."

"You're needed here," Tara said softly, squeezing my hand."This is where we both need to be."

"I know that," I said."But I wasn't trained to stand and wait.I was trained to be out there, standing with the rest of the Guard, being in the fight, not just watching it.I'm not good at just watching."

She hooked her arm with mine and said, "I know what you're good at.Everything you're good at."

Since we'd been in this room, I'd divided my attention between Tara and what was on the monitors, and I'd frankly focused more on those screens.But right now all I wanted to see was her.I wanted to see something beautiful that wasn't being attacked and torn apart.Facing her, I took the meaning of what she had just said.It was out of place now.It was no time for either of us to be thinking about what she meant.But on some level I needed to hear it, because it was a reminder of what we were really fighting for.

"I just hope Nick and Lon are all right, out there in all of that," I said.

Tara's little smile also seemed out of place."Those two?Nothing's happening to them; I know it.With those two out there in all that fighting, the ones to worry about are the Soorns."

"But Nick was just recovering from being hurt.It's like they patched him up and just sent him back out into it."

"It's his duty," Tara said."He wouldn't have it any other way.If Nick had stayed in that infirmary, he'd be howling to get out and be in action."

With a bitter little chuckle, I turned back to the screens and said, "Yeah.So would I.So would I…"

Then a voice came over the internal comm system, which made me look up and snap to attention.

"Now hear this.This is Alpha Commander Brunson.The empathic bridge has been completed.It is now linked in with all external comm systems across the planet and across Lycian space.It will be piggybacked on all civilian, Colonial defense, and Canis Guard frequencies.There is no time to test the system.The bridge must be activated now.And it is our fervent hope that it will meet with success.Sub-Lieutenant Tynan and Princess Tara Landon, report to the underground hangar immediately.Repeat, Sub-Lieutenant Tynan and Princess Tara Landon, report to the underground hangar immediately.All other personnel return to your duties.That is all."

In spite of the Alpha Commander's last order, all eyes in the monitor room naturally turned to us, showing us their hope and their confidence.The crew in the room repeated Brunson's wishes for our good luck.Tara and I thanked them, and then we were out of there.

*****

The underground hangar was like another cavern, an artificial one, that would ordinarily be filled with flying and hovering craft, ready to be used in emergency situations.Since there was an emergency situation going on right now, the underground hangar was an almost completely empty, wide-open space.In the middle of it was a group of half a dozen Colonial and Guard engineers huddled with Catrox and the Caloxi that he'd brought up with him.They were gathered around something that looked like a shiny, four-sided stone pillar that reached from the floor to the ceiling, with electronic conduits branching off from the base of it, extending across the floor and hooking into places in the walls.Off to one side was what looked like a podium with a computer interface on top of it, which was hooked into the conduits on the floor.

When Tara and I entered, Lieutenant Commander Nealon, the human leader of our group of engineers, and Catrox, were the first to acknowledge us.They waved us over to look at what they had hastily put up using Guard requisitions and a lot of quick ingenuity.

Nealon explained, "This tower is what will transmit the signals from the two of you out of this hangar and broadcast them wide all over the planet and out into space."He led us closer to the tower.On its east and west sides were pairs of flat, recessed nooks large enough for male human hands to fit into.Nealon said, "The two of you will place your hands palms-flat on these recesses.The circuits inside the tower will interface with your nervous systems.As Catrox explains it, you'll go into something like a dream state where you'll feel as if you're sharing a dream.The system will feed data from your connected nervous systems into the tower."He pointed to the other podium-like console where Catrox now stood."Catrox will be there, monitoring the process and your responses to it, to make sure the feed from the two of you and the outgoing signal are stable and constant.Everything will depend on your own state of mind while you're hooked into the system."

Catrox said, "During the process, you must be focused on your thoughts of each other and your feelings that exist between you.The technology will use your input, the circuit that you create with it, and do all else that is required."

"Think happy thoughts and you can fly," said Tara.

"What?" I wondered aloud at her.

"You don't know that old story?Sprinkle fairy dust on someone, have them think happy thoughts, and they'll take off for the first star to the right and straight on ‘til morning. An old story from Earth—that's what this makes me think of.You've never heard it?"

I scratched my head."Yeah, I guess I have.It's just not something that I'd think about at a time like this, looking at a thing like this."

With a funny little smile, Tara said, "It's the only thing I could think of, hearing what we're supposed to do now."

"We'd better hurry up and get started," said Nealon."All available comm channels are ready for you right now."

The engineers brought chairs and put them on either side of the pillar for Tara and me to sit in.Catrox stayed at his post, ready and waiting for us.Nealon and the others stepped back, some of them standing behind Catrox.A hush fell over everything.It was a make-or-break moment for all of us, and for the world.

Tara and I faced each other.I put my hands on her shoulders.

"We can do this," I told her.

"I know we can," she said.

"There's one thing we ought to do to start," I said.And I put my arms around her and pulled her close.In response, she buried her head on my shoulder and wrapped me up in her own arms.In all my life, I'd never felt so completely as if I belonged with another person—except for that one night we spent alone together in Tara's bed.I let my thoughts roll back there, to the way it felt to hold her, kiss her, penetrate her, come inside her and make her come all those times.If I could return to that night and whisper in my own ear, Kris, this is the most important sex of your life, I would have totally believed it.

I wondered if she might be thinking the same thing, which would have been the best thing to make us both ready for the task at hand.But some questions were better asked in private instead of surrounded by a room full of engineers and aliens.We pulled out of the hug, and I asked her, "Ready?"

"Ready," Tara softly said.

Looking over Tara's shoulder and around the space, I announced to Nealon and everyone else, "That was just preparation, people.We're set to go."

We stepped apart.Tara took the east position, and I took the west.We sat down and reached forward, putting our hands in the recesses, which lit up at our touch.I allowed myself to think about our bodies "lighting up" in a different way when we touched, and thought the idea was not out of bounds for what we now had to do.Our memories of being close, intimate, totally together, would be of service now.I hoped Tara had figured out the same thing and would be with me now, or that she would follow my lead when the system engaged.

As if he could hear me—or my thoughts—Catrox announced, "Now engaging the cyberempathic system.Engineering crew, stand by."

For a second, it seemed as if nothing was happening.Then, a feeling washed over me like a warm wave of water on a beach.It was as if every cell in my body, especially my nerves, were sparkling and tingling; a kind of excitement as if I were floating above the floor.I remembered Tara's words about pixie dust and flying.Then, it felt as if warm, soft hands were caressing my naked body all over, up and down.It was almost like foreplay with an invisible partner—except that in my mind, there was Tara.All of Tara, all the physical sensations and all the emotions that went with her:the humor, the gentleness, the passion, the caring; all the abandon of hot and raw sex, and all the sweetness and satisfaction of curling up in each other's arms afterward.That, and every kiss we'd ever had.It was all of that.And it was what we knew it was but had never dared to give it the word.All at once, I felt all the love.

Yes, the love there was no hiding from it.Not only was it the love between Tara and me, but the love that reached out from us and wrapped up Nick and Lon in it.Nick and Lon were my superior officers, my comrades, my partners in battle.But the two of them also were my partners in sex with Tara, in sharing her bed and loving her.The four of us had become a single unit of love.It was something greater than our ranks and greater than our duties.

It was who we all were.

And into all of these feelings that now wrapped themselves around me and spread themselves out from me, there was one feeling that flowed through it all.It was like a sigh and a laugh and a moan all at once, and it came from Tara's voice and it came with Tara's face filling my mind—her face, her body, her whole being.It sighed through me—and I felt a sigh and a laugh and a moan radiating from me through her.Through this strange device, we were suddenly both out of our bodies and into each other's body—and moving out everywhere, in every direction.We went up through the pillar, out through the walls, and out into everything.Everything.

We were what Catrox called us:a nexus, a core of feeling.And like a split atom in some old reactor, the feelings of our nexus exploded out everywhere; an empathic explosion, a wave of power strong enough to change a world.

Or save it.We would leave nothing untouched.And if we were strong enough—we had to be strong enough—we could save everything.