CHAPTER 17

One of the nearest habitable planets is in Deneb Algedi, the Delta star system in the zodiac of Capricorn. Tuas and Cira pinpoint it on a map before they initiate the final plan that will salvage the city. Sector 10's quantum field is still alive, and they only have a few hours to reach that constellation before its strength dissipates into the background. The grey goo has been gone for several minutes already, but Tuas sits idle in anticipation for the new portal to open. They need to kindle self-detonation before that fateful minute arrives. And as the Yhemlen world begins to disintegrate right before their eyes, Tuas and Cira anticipate saving what's left of it.

"Let the countdown begin," Cira says. "Where are the other Overseers?" Cira asks.

"Consider them casualties," Tuas replies.

Deneb Algedi has been locked into the positioning system where a pulsating circle surrounds a descending number sequence. Tuas is worried too, but he can't let Cira see his reactions permeate without those unwanted vices coming to the forefront, like rushing the countdown. The city of Pangaea's clear shield is being repaired, albeit slowly, with a temporary fix. Artificial polymers are forming where the dome ruptured with help of quantum fields. It is part of the electromagnetic field's assortment of organic plasma. The Yhemlen aren't giving up the metropolis completely. Once the shield is repaired, self-detonation will move them to Deneb Algedi, beyond the reach of The Concord. There, they will be safe from The Concord. Tuas and Cira know that it will deplete the Grey Order's fuel to trail them.

Other Yhemlen were lucky enough to fetch one of the many cosmic taxis, catching a ride on an asteroid or comet large enough to settle upon and save energy. These express trips are like traveling without a license or roadmap in space, though roaming space to go where gravity takes them, they can at least steer the course somewhat with short thrusts. And besides saving fuel, riders must constantly check trajectories to see where they are. Tuas and Cira aren't settling for happenstance. It is Deneb Algedi, in Sector 10 of the zodiac, that will keep them safe.

In low orbit, Grandmaster Frost and the silver phantom wait in between worlds, waiting to cross into even another parallel reality. Communication transmissions are becoming weaker while they stay in geostationary orbit. Frost's astral stone is siphoned of its radioactive elements to leave him completely drained, shriveled up, and dry. It is the phantom. Though Frost's life hasn't ended: he's being prepared for a new one. While Frost lies limp, and unconscious in the transport ship's seat, the silver phantom's metallic body reflects the outline of Pangaea through the window, where the remnants of explosions line the atmosphere. In each direction are another set of tankers and transport ships.

The receiver to communicate across quantum channels is attached to the cockpit, as well on Frost's right arm sleeve. There are two separate receivers, but one point of contact in the ship. If the phantom can access the channel freely, it will be able to hijack an entire group of transport ships to take back home.

Cira is just now strapping herself in completely at Pangaea, hidden in an underground bunker beside Tuas. Meanwhile, the phantom inside Grandmaster Frost's transport ship needs to locate the proper controls. When it shifts its head to one side to perceive what's happening down below. A light bright as the sun gleams in the eyes of the demon, who tilts its head even further while covering its eyes with metallic arms illuminated by the same shine. It's much too bright for most, and what's left of the squadrons are annihilated by blinded transmissions. Frost remains in the Captain's seat, with no vital signs.

When the silver phantom returns its gaze, it gradually reveals silver, marbled eyes that are boldened as something spectacular happens. What is reflected in them, below, is the city of Pangaea lifting off. Its base was tethered to the soil with nuclear propulsion nozzles the size of hundreds of athletic stadiums. Beneath it is a launchpad made of rare mineral deposits that can withstand the blast while also absorbing exotic matter. The Phantom rushes to the transport ship window, unable to respond in time. Tuas and Cira are the saviors that Yhemlen legends praised, to at least keep the memory alive. The metropolis is more than a fortress city, but a starship capable of interstellar travel. It isn't until this present moment that fleeing is accepted, as The Concord is spent of its energy by now.

The Mariner in stationary orbit retracts the space elevators before initiating its own Q-thruster system infused with exotic matter to exit Earth's orbit and allow the city metropolis of Pangea to exit Earth's atmosphere and catch up. A replacement piece reconnects the two when the Mariner and its booster below elevating Pangaea's city reach the final stage of their liftoff sequence. When the two pieces do finally reconnect, the metropolis starship departs in a warp that vanishes in the cold vacuum of space.

The phantom's demeanor relaxes as Pangaea's thrusters propel it into an effervescence of light that encapsulates it, disappearing into the void. When darkness overcomes the interior of the transport ship, the phantom knows that all evidence must be destroyed so that there aren't more dissenters. What Tuas and Cira leave behind are mere pebbles festering below, and the reconnaissance android sent to destroy the grey goo has opened another portal that remains visible.

Grandmaster Frost's plan to annihilate the Earth with a new-planet killer is only partially successful. It forced the Yhemlen to evacuate, in the least. All the grey goo managed to do is engulf a few acres of foliage. Critical parts of the city were mostly repaired, and what remains is acres of burnt land. On the barren plot where Pangaea rested, crop circles are left illustrating the precise marks that architects used to lay the foundation for the city.

The vaporized nanobots from the Yhemlen android's jamming of quantum channels have entangled a new dimensional fold, opening another reality of pure automation. Here, machines have taken over their entire universe, and when the portal opens, all the silver phantom sees is the home it left behind. This silver being is from another world, and while the war is cooling down, it can see its home through the transport ship's window. It is a race of self-replicating machines that have taken over their reality, conquering the expanse of space with supreme Artificial Intelligence. These are referred to as the Tetragrammaton, the penultimate in machine intelligence. Its leader, Zaid, has situated itself in the original galaxy where AI continues to expand. All of the organic matter is being overtaken by Zaid and his army of Tetra machines. This silver phantom is but one of many in the Tetragrammaton universe.

Through the portal, the silver phantom sees its home: a universe in which all space has been occupied by its race of self-replicating machines.

The phantom must hurry before he's chastised. With Grandmaster Frost debilitated in his seat, the Tetra decides to direct a group of ships hovering closest to the transport ship it resides in, forward toward the open portal. With the touch of a button, Convoy 8, along with its host of transport ships and tankers bursts through the portal at hyper-speed. When they've crossed over, the silver phantom teleports to an empty void of space where the only thing for light-years are machines the size of planets and engulfed stars of nanobots gone haywire. This phantom is but one of many henchmen to the host program, Zaid.

Floating in the void, the phantom recognizes the portal will close soon. This Tetra is making a pact to not return anytime soon. Convoy 8 has been hijacked for good, along with Grandmaster Frost to conceal a damning truth of Earth's history, caught up in a multiverse of simulations. The quantum fields entangling worlds are converging more rapidly now until a singularity threatens to rule the entire multiverse.

A pervasive beep is heard pulsating from within Frost's transport spacecraft. When the Tetra appears back inside, a message from Xavier Moth reminds him to leave no trace of what's happened. Aside from the few Grey minions, bounty hunter Moth, and The Concord star children, Jasper and Madame Ria are the only lone survivors of this brawl besides new genetic hybrids at the Delphi Corp. Headquarters in D.C. ready to fight.

The Heinemann siblings were able to remain safe when they activated an invisibility cloak to protect them from the onslaught. All that's left for the silver phantom, tetra, to rescue is the bounty hunter.

To make a final stand, the Tetra obeys its host's command by following the simulator's database, sequencing another move across quantum fields to help destroy the last remnants of genetic hybrids. When it does, the brightness of the day appears right before the phantom's face and descends with it to Earth like a ballistic missile at hypersonic speeds. The phantom disappears and reappears on Earth. At its feet, rubble from the hybrids and Xavier Moth in a duel have cracked and marred the concrete, almost caving it in completely. This cannot go on. As the Tetra's feet shine with the heat of molten metal, they clash against the ground, absorbing the impact in loud clanks.

Seven mutated hybrids stand still in their tracks at the phantom's presence. A thunderous screeching when the phantom finally arrives on the humans' Earth startles them all. As it descends, the Tetra bot wastes no time in clutching Xavier Moth by his wings, tearing him to ligaments and bones as shredded flesh flies everywhere. There is no time for Moth to speak, and as his blood pours through the streets, it seeps through the crevices in sidewalk drainage. As it accumulates, the venom of hatred builds in the seven hybrids who are guarding Delphi Corp. with their lives. The fate of the world depends on doing away with this seething monstrosity.

They can see past the façade of some interdimensional warlock. There's more than what the eyes can see, a story rooted in some humanity. And the Tetra, likewise, can see past their ram tusks and hoofs made of brass. It doesn't want to continue the fight; it would only be a burden to go on like this. The seven hybrids will not be spared. The three volunteers who retrieved Cira's and Tuas' egg revisit a memory from Berlin, Germany that reveals who this Tetra is. The sight of gruesome surgeries after they left, visions of quarrels between Dr. Frost and his mistress pain them with flashbacks that distract them from the present moment.

"We meet again," the Tetra says. Its voice is that of Frost.

"It's an interdimensional being, some machine intelligence," Ronny shouts to the group telepathically. "Berlin" Ronny responds.

Sarah and Dimitri are quick to respond. "Where did it come from?"

"Somewhere where they let the AI scum run rampant," Yasmine says. She's still scorned by AIS Aladdin who by committing suicide abandoned its Delphi Corp. creators.

"I've come to save you from yourselves." the Tetra says. It is trying to avoid conflict by having the seven hybrids surrender.

The hybrids are alerted of something else that reverberates deeper into the memories. That's the voice of Dr. Frost, not of someone else.

Sarah gets excited by the striking image of Dr. Frost's transition from human form to a Grey, and then into something else. He has been kidnapped, along with his Convoy of transport ships. The vision is distorted, but when the Tetra takes Dr. Frost's limp body to its host after removing him from the transport ship, what Sarah envisions is hard to bear.

A burst of energy is thrown at the silver phantom. Sarah ignites a bolt of electricity that hurls the Tetra into a collapsed building. This phantom is just one of many forms Dr. Frost takes on in the quest for supremacy. Only this time, the supreme race changes from the Grey Order to a universe of machine overlords.

Sarah may have made a mistake in striking the Tetra. Now, the phantom takes no chances at its survival. It will not worry about pointless conversation. For the first time, the hybrids will have to unite under the power of the thirteenth zodiac to summon the demi-God consciousness of Asclepius. The sign of Ophiuchus has made it easy for them to reach their consciousness to the source energy, just like Yhemlen warned. The quantum field is strong enough that the Dragon the Yhemlen talked about can be reshaped into something suitable for these genetic hybrids, into something more human, like a herculean giant wielding a serpent. But to do it, the hybrids must merge their cosmic power into a single stream of consciousness.

This Tetra won't be battling the hybrids this time around. The silver phantom vanishes from the rubble. Shortly thereafter, the herculean giant and its seething serpent slowly come into view, but only for a minute until the phantom races away and dematerializes. The seven hybrids come back into the form of their human bodies and the scene's graphic destruction reveals what they've lost.

"He's not there anymore!" Bartram yells out in disbelief. Ahead of the group, Sarah runs to get a close view of the imploded building where the silver phantom crashed into it with a violent force.

"Listen to me, Sarah, listen." Bartram runs after her, grabbing her waist from behind and pulling her back to reassurance amid dust from the gravel they kick up with their feet.

She's barely able to contain herself from the stirring emotions of grief and regret. With a hand around her waist, she takes comfort as Bartram assists her while they limp back to the group of exhausted, depleted hybrids. All seven of them are inundated with pessimistic thoughts, about regrets for what they should have done or how to make the wrongs right. They put up a good fight. Up to now, that's all they ever needed to survive amid the hoopla of Delphi Corp.'s experiment gone awry.

A few hundred feet away, what's left of the grey goo towers toward the sky in a bulge of decomposing matter. The nanobots have all but short-circuited since it was controlled by The Concord, but its communication channels were disrupted long enough to disengage all its tools. And as it is now, the rubble is falling in minute pieces to the ground, leaving a pancake of silver for miles. Silas Betts watches his work with satisfaction, where water continues to drip from aching muscles. What is left of his clothes are tattered pants that cover his genitals, barely.

Back inside the vault chamber, latecomer Chris has taken reign as the programming lead while presiding over the volunteers still stuck in total immersion. Dr. Adams and the fortunate scientist to make it out are rewiring loose coils that lie loosely on the floor. If they're lucky at least one of the volunteers will come back to consciousness. Though like the zombie lost in Pangaea told them, it was too late.

When the seven hybrids return, the battle with bounty hunter Xavier Moth and the Tetra leaves a mark that makes the others quiver. Their bodies and psyches alike need time to recover from the injuries sustained in combat. Blood and guts are seeping everywhere, and the pain is finally coming on strong. Bartram imagines a better future where advanced suits would take the brunt of such damage. To their benefit, their bodies will heal much faster than most. Bartram is still walking step for step beside Sarah, who is reeling from the vision that she had of Dr. Frost. She and Bartram follow the group into the chamber last, and Sarah bends to the floor in agony. Bartram lets her go gently, grabbing the end of her blouse that hangs from her lower back before she falls recklessly to the floor. Witnessing Frost's transformation to Grey form and later to Tetra confirms Sarah's suspicions of a multiverse accident.

The Tetra that killed Moth could have easily done the same to them with so much power at its disposal, but that would have driven the alternate timelines awry further. There is still time to claim what is rightfully theirs, the Tetra concludes.

The rest of the Grey minions that were dropped from transport ships didn't stand a chance. By the time they could react, a ray of energy abducts them in a cloud of vapor before the Tetra decided to take it out on Xavier Moth, clearing the nuisance. The rest of the Grey Order will not stand for making themselves such easy targets in the future.

Away from the chamber, Pangaea is barren now that the Yhemlen city has left for Deneb Algedi. Teleporting from its alternate universe the Tetra ventures back to Pangaea where a portal for home is open. The Tetra will have to close the quantum leap before more invaders enter the Tetra universe. Hijacked Convoy 8 contains a group of transport and tanker ships, most of which carried Grey minions that flew small strikers to Earth. The silver phantom can't let any more of those stranded on the surface regather their strength.

Grandmaster Frost has gone along with Convoy 8, and the only Armada crew that is still standing from the age-old war is starship Nemesis and the Heinemann. Captain Gereon's heirs have gotten back to the low orbit station where it's getting its Q-thrusters recalibrated. Jasper and Madame Ria have not given up on the strike just yet. The silver phantom senses that something ominous is looming at the outer edge of the solar system. There's no more time to contemplate trivialities, and the Tetra does what it needs to, closing the quantum leap. The glimmer of the Earth's sun lightens its face against the backdrop of metal and brimstone in the Tetragrammaton world. The darkness awaits Dr. Frost, who will sit at the right hand of the host program in the simulation, Zaid.

It won't be long until the gargantuan, off-orbit asteroid from another planetary system strikes prehistoric Earth. The blast will destroy all the Yhemlen had relished in on Earth, but what's leftover are the seeds of life for primates and mammals. The Earth in ash from millions of megatons exploding into a dissonance of heat and radiation. For the Grey Order, this has exhausted enough of their energy resources, and they must destroy the memory of it.

Asteroids may have been the best planet-killers after all, made from previous planets and space rocks. It doesn't matter to Madame Ria who's situated herself at the railing where she last spoke to Grandmaster Frost, he's gone. The Earth's orbit turns slowly in their alternate timeline where things aren't completely over, because she knows the Yhemlen city hasn't vanished, but gone to another star system. A stark change is amiss that may permanently alter the multiverse, and the threat of planet-killers will be changed next time around so that it isn't only planets that are in danger, but whole galaxies or more.