Gasping for breath, Amy was struck by a bright green burst of light in the distance, shining just as bright as the reds and golds of the chamber.
"It's about goddam time!" Amy heard the Ergosphere say.
A black object emerged from within the green flame higher up in the chamber, right above Amy. She wouldn't have seen it if hadn't silhouetted with swirling green flame, she might not have seen it at all.
The Ergosphere had brought his personal flying saucer the Accretion into the chamber.
The manufacturer holding Amy threw her to the floor and turned its attention to the ship, which came to a halt right overhead.
Amy saw other manufacturers come around from behind the pyramids, each with their attention on the ship. In a blink, all eight manufacturers had jumped into the air and grabbed hold of the sides of the ship.
A metallic groan came out of the ship. It tilted to the side slightly, hovered that way for a second, and then fell.
Amy tried to fly toward the ship, but she was still out of breath from the manufacturer squeezing the air out of her. She wasn't fast enough.
The Accretion tilted to the side and hit one of the pyramids, sending glittering gold debris breaking apart in all directions. The ship's rear then dropped right onto the black floor with a thunderous boom.
The manufacturers struck the Accretion's surface, breaking apart its hull. Amy flew straight at the nearest one in hopes of at least knocking it away from the ship. Instead, she was knocked out of the air back onto the floor again.
"Yee-haw!" a girl's voice rang out. Amy was then greeted with one of the most ridiculous things she'd ever seen. A cowgirl riding a personal hovercraft blasted out of the ship. She aimed a high-tech handgun at the manufacturers and fired a wave of pure sound at the creatures. They did not fall back, but they paused their attack out of disorientation. The flew off farther into the chamber, and some of manufacturers took off in pursuit.
"Who is that?" Amy said, getting her breath back.
"History Girl," The Ergosphere said. "My backup plan. She reminds me ofyou."
The Ergosphere sprinted toward the ship, running faster than a human could, as far as Amy could tell. He jumped, leaping with a flip over the manufacturer's heads. A small hatch slid open on the ship's roof, and the Ergosphere immediately ducked inside.
A line of fire lit up the whole chamber as it burned toward the opposite side of the ship. Amy knew this was Dreamsmith, cutting loose. Proscenium, still in his cloud form, swirled around the wrecked ship, no doubt in hopes of distracting the creatures.
Amy saw a flash of yellow light in the distance and saw Jhedora back in midair, attacking Future Girl. History Girl flew pastagain, grinning wildly while shooting more sonic blasts at the manufacturerschasing her.
Amy flew over the ship and landed on top of it, Proscenium's smoke parting to make room for her. The hatch didn't open for her, and she wondered what the Ergosphere was up to.
The entire ship shuddered beneath her, followed by a loud boom, which sent her flying upward and the manufacturers falling back away from the ship.
Amy recovered in midair and flew back to the ship, which now had several holes in its side. The Ergosphere stepped out of the ship, holding a familiar large black canister. Three more sat at his feet.
"Look what I got," the Ergosphere said.
Amy nodded. "Anybody with superhuman strength – which I guess is everyone but Dreamsmith – grab one of these."
Amy flew over for a closer look at the canisters. "These are the Temple's artificial suns. Like the one we recovered from the British Museum."
"Now we can add stating the obvious to your list of superpowers," the Ergosphere said.
Future Girl flew next to Amy. "Whatever we do, we've got to it fast. These things are... Marci?"
Future Girl's friend from Mirai Academy stepped out from inside the ship. "Can you believe this this ship?" Marci said. "We have got to take it apart and see how it works. Sorry it took us so long to get here, but we had to pick up Rachel."
"Marse, it's too dangerous for you to be here. You have to..."
"Epic battle first, soap opera later," Amy said. "Everyone grab a canister and surround those manufacturers."
"Yeah," the Ergosphere said. "Let's get those sonsabitches."
"Whoa," Future Girl said. "I know someone who always says 'sonsabitches.'"
"She's here in spirit," the Ergosphere said, grabbing a canister of his own.
Proscenium formed from a cloud back into his solid form behind Amy and grabbed a canister. Amy took the fourth.
"What now?" Proscenium said.
"Those manufacturer things are still stunned," Amy said. "But they won't be for long. We surround them with the suns and rip them apart."
Future Girl looked at her canister. "If each of these things are as powerful as an actual sun, won't that rip apart the Earth as well?"
Marci raised her hand. "I'm on that. I took a look at these things on the flight over, and it appears they come with a localized field that concentrates each sun's..."
"Good enough." The Ergosphere looked up and down his damaged ship. "I have to get the Accretion out of range. It can fly if we get it in the air, but there's not enough juice for a proper takeoff."
"Fine," Amy said. "I'll get the ship flying. The rest of you get in position."
Proscenium nodded and ran, still sprinting fast in his armor.
Future Girl shot a look at Marci.
"I'll stay on the ship," Marci said. "It'll work, probably."
"Please be careful." Future Girl gave Marci a hug, then flew off with her canister. The Ergosphere shook his head and followed.
"Get ready," Amy said to Marci. "I'll get you in the air."
"Yeah, but..." Marci started, but Amy shut the door, sealing Marci inside the ship.
"Trust me!" Amy wrapped her arms around her canister and flew back into the raging fire still burning in the center of the room.
Dreamsmith was sprawled out on his back, in the hottest part of the fire. Somehow, all the heat and raw flame still flowed forth out of his body, not damaging his pseudo-Victorian white-scarf-and-black-cape outfit at all.
"Sam!" Amy screamed. "I need you!"
# # # #
Next: This other universe.