“I need to go back, Dan.” Jennifer was pacing back and forth as images from Earth played on the scrying stone. Fires burned in the streets of Washington DC as armed figures darted in between high rises. Occasionally, a plane or helicopter flew overhead. No one could tell who was winning or losing via scrying, and from the sound of the overheard news programs, the media didn’t have much of an idea, either.
The story was the same in London, Moscow, Paris, and Beijing. Vague reports were coming out that a group calling itself the Coalition for Human Transcendence was taking credit for the simultaneous attacks. Apparently, the German and Mexican governments were able to put down the uprisings before they gained enough momentum, but in the rest of the nations, chaos reigned.
Complicating matters further, strategically-placed military units revolted at key moments. A significant number of politicians and civil servants took to the air, decrying the corruption of the existing governments and declaring their support for the CHT. Even the media had a good number of newscasters testing the waters by claiming that a unified world government such as the CHT would be better situated to respond to the Tellask’s interstellar menace. Despite the Coalition first appearing publicly less than eight hours ago, the efficiency of their rebellion demonstrated years worth of planning.
“I don’t know if that’s a great idea,” Dan’s eyes flicked back and forth between Jennifer and the images of Washington DC burning. “The only beacon on Earth is the Viceroy’s Pride in the Thoth compound. I didn’t trust Henry before the world started falling apart, but I know for a fact that I trust him less now. Plus, I’m not sure what you can do to stabilize the situation from upstate New York.”
“I have to try.” She wrung her hands as unshed tears brought a sparkle to her eyes. “My Dad and I might not be on the best terms, but whatever is happening right now, he’s in the middle of it. If I don’t go back, he might die. I don’t have any idea what the Coalition for Human Transcendence is, but Dad is an old-school hardliner. If they win, he’s dead.”
“Then tell me what you’re going to do,” Dan begged. “If you’re going back to save your Dad, tell me the plan. If we have a realistic chance of pulling this off, I’m all ears, but we can’t just act out of panic. Charging into battle with no forethought is a good way for us to both get killed.”
“You don’t have to come.” she was pacing again. “I don’t want you to come, Dan. You’re completely right that I don’t have a plan, but I don’t think you understand. I need to save my Dad, and I don’t want to put you at risk because of my selfish actions.”
“You can’t go back without me, Jennifer. I don’t mean this in a metaphorical sense. You don’t have the space affinity to activate the teleporter. I am going to need to go with you. So, tell me what the plan is. How are we going to get your father out?”
“I don’t know, Dan!” She slumped against the station wall, crying softly. “Everything up until now has been just like a game. I’ve optimized my build and leveled up, but there has always been a clear path forward. Right now, I don’t even know what to say or do. I just know that I need to get my Dad out.”
“I don’t even know why!” She gasped for breath, her eyes wild. “I haven’t spoken to him since last Christmas. I just don’t know what to say. My heart is beating like a hummingbird, and I can’t think properly. I need to find a way to get him out of there.”
On the scrying stone, a trio of figures exchanged fire with a pair of cops stationed on top of a nearby building. Although they were giving a good accounting of themselves, it was clear that the defenders were outmatched. Some were armed with proper weaponry, but almost half of them were simple Washington DC police officers. Slowly but surely, the better-equipped and organized attackers were pushing them back.
By now, reinforcements should have arrived. The attackers were mostly infantry. Airstrikes or armored vehicles would be more than enough to stop them, but for some reason, they never came. When the scrying stone was focused on the military bases, it was like looking at a different world. Everyone went about their day-to-day business without even a hint of urgency. As far as Dan could tell, the CHT had enough influence over the army to prevent their intervention.
Listening in on the conversations between enlisted soldiers, it seemed inaction didn’t sit well with most of them, but the predominant question seemed to be who to side with. Around the time of the revolt, the CHT had publicly announced that the terrestrial governments had betrayed humanity to the elves. After all, the elves only had swords and bows. How could they possibly hold off the collective military might of the entire world without some duplicity on the part of the elected officials? It was a hard question to answer, although Dan suspected that good, old-fashioned all American incompetence had a lot to do with it.
In short, the army wanted to follow their oaths, but they didn’t know who was obeying the constitution. Their elected leaders may or may not have betrayed the world to aliens, directly leading to the death of thousands of service members. On the other end was the decidedly nefarious Coalition for Human Transcendence, openly revolting against the allegedly corrupt rule. Without leadership from their officers, most units decided to just stay put and wait for some sort of definitive result from the assorted coups.
“I’m sure we can think of something.” Dan pulled his vision away from the stone. “We just need to brainstorm. If we put our heads together, we can almost-certainly think of a way out of this.”
She nodded, wiping tears from her face with some embarrassment. Dan was happy to observe something more from her than her usual sarcasm, but it was obvious that Jennifer wasn’t comfortable being vulnerable. He understood, after a fashion. In his experience, opening up to others was usually the first step toward letting them hurt you. Still, refusing to interact with other people seriously seemed like a good way to be miserable. Dan was pretty sure that you needed at least a handful of people with whom your actions weren’t flippant and superficial.
“Dan?” Gregory interjected from where he stood by the door to the seer’s chamber. The man sighed, closing his book as both Dan and Jennifer jerked in surprise at his interruption. “Look, if you want to go to the planet, you can just purposely screw up the teleportation. We won’t have any idea where you’ll end up, but it’ll probably be about ten to sixty miles from the site of the beacon. You can’t really do that in space or onto a small island because you’ll expose yourself to fatal environmental hazards fairly quickly, but if you’re trying to land on a planet, it really isn’t that big of a deal.”
“That.” Dan paused before responding. “That’s actually a really good idea. I’ve literally been exposed to the same phenomena. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that on my own. Now we just need to figure out a way to get back with the beacon disabled, and we’re good to go.”
“We just pick a time.” Gregory shrugged. “We sync up watches and have one or two five-minute windows a day when we plug the beacon in. Unless someone knows the exact time to try and teleport up here, we should be secure.”
“That’s also a fairly logical solution.” Dan nodded slowly. “Just out of curiosity, how much longer were you going to let us ramble before you stepped in?”
“You seemed like you were having a heartfelt moment there.” Gregory opened his book once more before settling his back against the station wall so he could return to his reading. “I didn’t really see the point in interrupting you. Plus, I’m sure you would have come around to it eventually, oh glorious leader. I just saved us about ten minutes of angst and exposition.”
“I suppose we should just get to it, then,” Jennifer replied, more than slightly embarrassed.
“I won’t keep you,” Gregory spoke distractedly, his face still buried in the book. “If you want to meet in the teleportation chamber in about a half hour, I can make sure everything is prepared and ready for you to go dirtside.”
With a strained moment of eye contact, Dan and Jennifer separated, each going to their chambers to prepare. Dan made sure to put on a thick cotton shirt before slipping his battered and worn chainmail over it. A cotton undershirt might not have been the best idea in the jungle, but in a more temperate climate, he would take padding over chafing in a heartbeat. Finally, he made sure to pack his weapons and at least a couple days’ worth of food.
Given the state of things, there were no promises that Jennifer and Dan would be teleporting into an area with working infrastructure. Even if most of the day-to-day functions on Earth continued unabated, Dan didn’t want to take the risk that panicking locals might have stripped the local grocery stores bare.
Finally, Dan and Jennifer met once again, both kitted out for combat, in the station’s teleportation chamber. After conferring with Amelia, they agreed that the beacon would be turned on for 5 minutes every 8:00 and 20:00 Eastern time until they reported back. That still left the problem of breaking into the Thoth Foundation headquarters in order to use Henry’s teleportation pad, but they would at least have a chance to plan for that. Until then, Earth was in chaos, and they needed to see what sense they could make of the conflicting reports.
Gripping Jennifer’s shoulder, Dan focused on the only nearby beacon. Just as his spatial mana reached out to it, he scattered the connection. For a second, he felt the world go fuzzy, as if he were observing everything through static. Then everything went white.
Together, they stumbled slightly. There was an inch of snow on the ground, and they were in a deciduous forest. Dan had no idea where they were. Hell, he only had an educated guess as to what state they were in, but at least they didn’t come to in the middle of a compound with well-trained guards pointing rifles at them.
Jennifer stood up and rubbed her hands together before blowing on them, her breath fogging the otherwise clear air. It was cold out, and even with the help of the System, they would have to keep moving to avoid freezing. Of course, he could always just activate his Fire Aura to keep warm, but that was probably the least-stealthy course of action available to him short of hiring a brass band to follow them around.
“Where to?” Jennifer asked as she looked around the otherwise-empty forest.
“No clue.” Dan shrugged helplessly. “I say we pick a direction and start walking until we find a road. We could check which side of the trees the moss and lichen is growing on to figure out which direction we’re walking in, but I have no idea where we are. Boy Scout survival skills can help point you in the right direction if you have an idea where you’re going, but we’re going to need some idea as to our location first.”
Jennifer spun on her heel and began walking in what appeared to be a randomly-chosen direction. For a second, Dan just watched her before chuckling and hurrying to catch up.
