CAST OF HEROES

Chapter Two

In a rectangle formation, lasers cut through the reinforced steel doors as a loud thud engulfed dust. Androids marched on in a single file, green plasma ripped holes through steel, opening fire at Finder. She jumped out of the way to avoid the blast as it nicked her right shoulder. Her eyes spoke of dread. Finder clenched down her teeth, clutching on her wound as she fired back. Finder took out half the androids with head and torso shots. She pressed a button on her black belt and activated a red forcefield  while firing at the androids. She jumped for cover under the steel table as she turned and fired more rounds at the androids. Ducking down for cover, she counted her breaths. The lasers started rummaging through the concrete wall. Androids continued their march forward, firing their weapons and covering all exits. 

Finder's eyes glared at the androids. "Come and get some." She ran to the other corner, dodging incoming assaults with a forward flip. 

Finder pressed forward, her dark cloak wiping in the air as she adjusted the level of her weapon, pressing hard on a small dial above the triggers. The weapons hummed in synergy. She took her guns out and increased her firing range, taking out a dozen more androids. Finder sighed, glancing up at the ship as they took off through the hanger bay. She screamed at the top of her lungs, turning back to the androids, firing her weapons. Olympus exploded and Millennia and Hard Drive were traveling through space. All they saw was a purple dust cloud.

                                                                              * * *

"How long until we open a portal to another Earth?" Millenia asked, feeling the weight of his choices.

"The device will be ready in a few minutes. All we need is the crystal," Hard Drive replied.

Millennia's reached deep within his blue leather cloak, retrieving the red Crystal of Kondo, glowing from a black pouch, placed at the center of the device. The red Crystal of Kondo, one of the cosmic crystals from Earth 36, grants the kind of powers that allows one the ability to travel between parallel worlds with ease when its power is channeled at a specific frequency. Millennia placed into the hub of the device that stimulated the sound. The red crystal glowed, powering the transponders in the core relays. A screen materialized in front of them that showed 75 percent, indicating to them how much time until the next temporal jump.

"I failed them, Janos... I failed this world." Millennia, pounded his fist on the bar rail making a dent.

"It is not your fault, Millennia, they knew the risk and knew what they signed up for. Our friends died proudly defending this world."

Millennia shook his head. "That is the thing. They died and it's all my fault."

Hard Drive turned and reached Millennia's shoulder. "All that matters now is that we have a chance to make this right."

A round circle in the middle lit up at the main control board. "The device is ready," Hard Drive said, pushing buttons on the control box.

Millennia regained his composure. "Set coordinates to Earth 1."

In a matter of seconds, a temporal distortion of red energy pulled their ship across several worlds until they reached Earth 1. Millennia took the time to look at the blue-rich planet. Hard Drive remained stoic as his eyes widened. The sun revealed its radiance on the corner of the horizon. 

"We have a chance to save this world and others," Millennia said. 

A piece of the right wing of the ship came off as a downward turbulence caused them to fall. The sound of the alert system blared in the background. Hard Drive got up and tried to override the emergency brakes by linking himself to the main system core. An electrical wire from the wall connected to his exposed chest ring. A surge of power entered inside him as he gained data access at lightning speed. Fire and smoke circled the engines and the ship headed toward Earth at a high speed. Millennia ran to the controls to help steer the ship upward. He grunted, pulling the controls up as hard as he could.