Episode Sixteen

[Velociryx]

Episode XVI: Showdown
Somewhere inside the Monolith

He did not have to wait long.

Three of them, all told, and by the time they came into his view, he was more than ready, and he wasted no time.

They came almost leisurely....*strolling* toward him, but he would not be taken in by it.

He attacked.

His Psi-Levels were peaked out, but he divided them, holding back a portion for defense and lashing out savagely with the other part.

In his mind, the Psi-energy took on the form of a deadly, invisible sword which swung down toward the smaller (but not by much) of the two Demon Boils.

The creature Psi’d up as well, peaking out at just a shade over 500, and unlike Velociryx, he held nothing for defense. His was a juggernaut, intended to simply roll through his defenses, and that was the creature’s mistake, because Velociryx had struck first.

Defenseless, the creature wailed as the energy hit home and began overloading its synapses. Boiling them into nothingness. And as the number of neural connects began dropping off, so too, did the Psi Energy in its attack.

435....402....388.....And by the time it found its mark, Velociryx was ready, turning some of his attack energy into defensive....a shield, which easily warded off the first attack.

*Overconfident.* His Cybernetic self told him coldly. *And it will cost them.*

He hit the weakened one again, with half his total strength, and it was brutal.

Then he felt the other wave approaching.

Winced.

It was going to hurt. No doubt about it.

Still, he was relentless. If he could just put the weakened one out of commission....

He checked. Still peaked at 245....high enough to be dangerous, even though nearly half his mass was burned out. Not good enough. He pressed the attack.

The Psi-Wave from the other one loomed up before him like a tidal wave at the periphery of his vision.

Then it hit.

Hard enough to knock him back a several steps, and then off his feet entirely.

His Mind Cloak shattered, and his Psi-Defenses cracked, then crumbled.

And then there was only the pain as his own attack levels began tapering off.

The weakened one summoned up enough energy for another attack, adding his energies to the assault.

And now that they were attacking together, they were winning.

With supreme effort, he regained his feet, ignoring the warm trickle of blood as it ran down from his nose to his chin.

Wincing slightly as one of his eardrums blew out.

He kept fighting.

No time for defense, and it wouldn’t matter anyway. They could overpower anything he could muster, so he struck again at the weakened one. Only at 400 now, and dropping rapidly, but it was enough to blast him out of the fight.

He felt, rather than heard the creature’s scream, and then smiled with grim satisfaction as it crumpled to the walk and did not move.

Without skipping a beat, he turned his attention to the larger. Did a quick system’s check, or, as quick as he could under the circumstances. His Psi-Levels were peaking at 308, the Worm’s at 511.

No chance.

Defeating the first one had cost him too much of his strength.

This was a fight he could not win, unless....

No.

He couldn’t do it.

There was enough of Gayle in the creature with the Demon Boils that he could not bring himself to strike out at her, even if it might force the other Boil to break off his attack.

He looked into her eyes, warm and brown. There was sorrow there. Pain.

She was crying.

Crying for him.

And he was crying too, he realized. His were Fairy tears, and a result of the relentless assault, but those were mixed with real ones as well.

“Gayle.” He whispered, and let his Psi-Energies fall away, exposing himself completely to it.

Hastening the inevitable.
***

His mind raced and spun as the Squad shoved him down the hall in front of them.

*Tattooed Baboons!* He thought darkly. *Wanting me to tell them how the Monolith works....They have no idea....*

But then, neither did he, really. It almost made him laugh.

Strange, was the fact that when he’d been alone and facing the dark eyed creature, he had been filled up with an all but blinding terror, and now that he was in the company of others (“baboons” or not), he felt more secure. Safety in numbers, perhaps? At least until his captors turned mean once they discovered that he couldn’t show them much of anything about the workings of the Monolith. And he had no doubts at all that the Monolith would choose to keep its secrets from these lunks....

And that was just it, wasn’t it? He could no more tell them how the Monolith worked than he could give them the layout of Sparta Command. The Monolith would choose.

He let the full weight of that settle down on him.

The Monolith would choose because....the Monolith was....sentient? Aware? They’d talked about that before, and it certainly seemed so. Small things, like the fact that the first time it opened to him, it did so slowly....almost to impress. But then it closed in an instant.

And when he pulled the lever, just the opposite had occurred. It had opened up in the blink of an eye, but began closing slowly....

He shook his head, and more of his fear left him.

He should not have run. He knew that now. Like his first trip to the Fungal Bed with Velociryx, when the worms came. If they’d wanted him dead, they would have killed him outright. No, the Monolith wanted him here. Its reasons for that were still a mystery, but that much was clear, at least.

The Monolith wanted him.

That thought had no sooner hit him with full force than another washed over him.

Sparta.

The Monolith had opened in Spartan territory.

His mind chewed on that for a long moment.

The realization was more massive and incredible than any so far.

He suddenly knew why the Monolith was so well-preserved, even after a million and a half years.

It not only warped space, but the very fabric of time as well. Not in a time traveling sense....or at least he didn’t think so. Not exactly, anyway. He almost giggled as the awareness of it all flooded into him. He could *feel* the massive computer massaging his brain, coaxing him toward the revelation. *Or maybe I’m just losing my mind.* He thought as he fought off another giggle.

Monoliths might appear (and had been reported) all over the globe, but there was only the one “Monolith,” which existed in several places simultaneously. It was the Builders city, computer, and mode of transportation, all rolled into one. It allowed them to go almost anywhere on the surface of Planet by simply stepping outside.

The computer coaxed more thoughts and images into his mind. Melding with him.

He felt his synapses burn with the unfamiliar contact, and sensed an image forming. Building. It worked its way to the forefront of his mind and then broke through, revealing itself to him.

A Builder.
***

Behemoth choked off his attack the moment he felt Velocirix’s energies fall away. It was a small gap, but it was there, and in that moment, his worthy human opponent was hit with the full force of his energies.

It was enough to send him to his knees, and he bit his lip hard enough to draw a line of blood, but he did not cry out.

Then the pressure was gone.

Velociryx opened his eyes warily.

Gayle was coming toward him.

Her eyes shifted to black as she drew nearer.

No matter.

He was too tired to fight.

Instead, he shifted backwards a little, and sat before her, leaning against the arch at the entrance of the Zoo.

“We must have a truthsaying, you and I.” She said, quietly.

He absently wiped some of the blood from his face onto his palms, and sighed heavily. “You have my attention.”

So she sat with him.