The Apocalypse Contract

CHAPTER 45 - MEL

"I didn't think airships could fly this fast," Roger hissed through clenched teeth.

Sydney grabbed his arm as the jolting ride knocked her off balance. "Do we need to have another conversation about how none of this is real?"

The top of the airship ripped through a banner advertising the Capital City Music Festival. Mel spotted the building she was looking for, right at the end of the skyway where it should be. They were still too high, so she cranked a valve to divert steam from the lifting body. They lost more altitude.

"Miss Mel, I think we are in danger of crashing into that building." Roger was annoyingly composed considering the gravity of his observation.

"You are not wrong," Mel answered as she steered toward the building in question.

"Sis, are you sure you know what you're doing?" An edge of panic had entered Sydney's voice.

Mel didn't have time to answer. The building was rushing toward them, and there was little room for error. She pulled a level, deploying the portside air brake, then killed the engines and cranked the wheel hard to port. The airship began rotating while still mostly flying toward the building. Their altitude continued to drop as they approached a broad balcony that jutted out from the massive building. The gondola tore through the balcony railing as they careened toward a wall, then the ship was scraping across the floor, and they were all thrown from their feet.

They smashed into the building.

Mel's ears were ringing. The ringing subsided to a hiss. Steam was venting from a broken pipe. She stared at it, trying to remember where she was. Then she remembered and jumped to her feet. She checked the back of her hand and saw her health had dropped to 37%. "No time to waste. Everyone up, we have to get inside. Teleporting the airship was like sending up a signal flare. The worm will follow my admin commands right back here."

She stepped carefully over broken glass, then climbed through the now gaping hole where one of the giant porthole windows had been. Twisted bits of metal and broken masonry covered the surface of the enormous balcony on which the airship now rested. The crumpled metal body of the ship was partially embedded into the side of the building. Some of the antigravity Icarite ore escaped from the wrecked lifting body and drifted upward into the clear blue sky. She idly wondered how high it would rise before cooling and drifting downward again.

"What the hell," Samantha exclaimed as she followed Mel from the shattered ship, "where did you learn to fly?"

"Hey, I got us here," Mel replied.

"But where is here, exactly," Roger asked as he joined them. He somehow managed to climb down from the gondola while still clutching his sword.

Sydney emerged from the airship. "Yeah, what's the plan, sis?"

In response, Mel began striding toward the door into the building. "You asked about a backdoor," she called to them, "it's in there."

She hurried through the door, her friends following behind. They found themselves in a spacious office suite. An elegantly carved wooden desk perched on a marble tile floor. The desk faced toward the massive, arched windows looking out onto the balcony, the city and the massive central spire visible beyond it. The view was partially obscured by the wrecked hulk of their airship.

"I take it this is your backdoor?" Sydney was staring at the archaic device sitting on the desk. It looked like an antique typewriter with an enormous magnifying glass rising from the back of it.

"Exactly right," Mel confirmed as she sat in the leather chair facing the device. "This terminal is part of the game sim, so it doesn't need to loop commands through an external hexframe. I used it a bunch when I was designing the city." She pushed the rocker switch on the side of the computer. The magnifying glass turned opaque, and a torrent of green text scrolled past before presenting a flashing command prompt.

Roger leaned over and peered at the screen while she typed in a series of status query commands. "You can use this to manipulate this reality without alerting that Nandan chap?"

"Unfortunately, that ship has sailed. Literally. The moment I bounced our airship here, he probably followed the command stream right to this sim. Using this makes it harder for him to find us, but it's only a matter of time now." As if to confirm her assessment, a triangular hole was punched in the sky. It was soon joined by several more.

"This is all too familiar," Samantha stated as she stared out the window at the wounded sky.

"Can I help?" Sydney asked.

"Sure. Run interference to slow that damn worm down. Buy me some time." She tapped out a flurry of commands, and a second identical computer appeared, this one perched on a folding table with a wooden stool in front of it. Sydney sat down and got to work.

Roger glanced from one sister to the other. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Actually, yes." Mel typed another command, and Roger's sword transformed into a shovel. He nearly dropped it in surprise.

"What am I supposed to do with this?"

"I'll let you know when it's time," she assured him.

Samantha turned from the window she was standing at. "Buildings are starting to disappear."

"It's OK, I'm almost done," Mel promised. "I've killed the garbage collector, and once I start this looping search routine, we will be ready for... this." She hit the enter key, and something like a steampunk barbeque grill popped into existence between the desk and the windows. It was an iron sphere covered in dozens of studs, each extending a few inches out from the surface. It hovered a couple of feet above the floor like some great, metal balloon.

Sydney looked up from her terminal. "Why do we need a high yield air mine? You know that won't work this close to the Spire. The lashback effect will stop it from exploding."

"Yes, I know how this game works," Mel shot back, "I did help write it you know."

Samantha cleared her throat. "Um, I hate to interrupt you two, but the buildings are getting zapped pretty fast now, and it's working its way toward us."

Mel looked out the window. "Just a little more time..." A building just across the skyway disappeared in a tangle of color.

"I think we might be running out of that," Sydney observed. "Time, I mean."

The city was quickly being erased. More than half the buildings were now gone. Airships were blinking out existence while they watched.

Roger looked weary as he gazed out the window. "It's always a humbling experience. Watching the world fall apart around you. Watching your comrades die. Knowing you are helpless to stop it."

The Spire at the center of the city dissolved in a shower of color, leaving an afterimage like a child's scribbled drawing before fading away completely.

"Now, Roger," Mel shouted, "Do it now."

He spun around. "What?"

"Hit. The. Mine."

He looked at the shovel in his hand. He looked at the hovering mine. He seemed to struggle with the idea for a moment before raising the shovel over his head.

"What are you doing?" Sydney screamed as Roger brought the shovel crashing down.

Then everything disappeared in a wave of light and heat.