Then, with a gleeful smile, I send the final command.
The platforms’ thrusters fire at full strength, safeties off, and the gunners and weavers on the closest platform fall to their knees. All fire momentarily ceases. One man tumbles over the railing at the edge and plunges down into the Maz Sea. I wince and breathe a tiny, useless apology; that guy is almost certainly going to die, but at least he’ll be spared what awaits his friends. Angry shouts drift across the cavern as they try to regain control of the platform, but they aren’t fast enough. The course I programmed sends them back up the tunnel, where, somewhere in the vast depths, three more pods are descending at max speed.
It won’t end well for anyone involved.
Then, just to make extra sure we’re covered, the rest of the platforms I tampered with make the ascent up the tunnel as well, blocking them in completely.
They might live. If the Great Death Triceratops turns all their resources toward overriding my lock on the other platforms, they might be able to save themselves. Either way, they’re off our backs for a bit.
A violent crash of colliding metal echoes down from the tunnel.
Well, maybe for more than a bit. I’ve dealt with Death Triceratops, but I’ve also blocked our only known way out. There are still two platforms full of guards left. And we never did figure out what to do with the drill.
Below, a huge swath of the Maz Sea has solidified into a vast swirling grid, strongly barred with terraz and formaz for structure and interwoven with a delicate lace of every other type of maz twined together, more colorful and powerful and beautiful than anything I’ve ever seen. Even standing on the sea floor next to the rift, maybe fifteen, twenty feet below the surface, Remi can still orchestrate the whole thing. Their power is the key to everything.
It’s time. Time to fix this, to salvage what’s left of our planet, to eradicate the source of the spellplague and maybe . . . just maybe, start down a totally new path together. As a family.
When I head back into the drill controls and prepare to do my part, my eyebrows shoot up. There’s a whole category of commands that I missed last time around, completely separate from its drilling operations. A plan starts to take shape in my mind—probably a terrible one, but better than the nothing we’re working with at the moment.
“Ania,” I call, even as I pore over the code before my eyes and pull out a few select commands. “Weave an amplifier so we can call down to Remi. We have to time this right. Jaesin, keep those other platforms off our back as best you can, and get ready to pick up Remi as soon as they’re done.”
I trust them both to tackle their jobs, and the faint white light of songaz shimmers in my peripheral vision to confirm it. A few more commands, and I’m ready. The drill whines as I power the engines back up, readying it to pull free. I blow out a slow breath and turn to Ania.
“Call it down,” I say, then cover my ears.
“Remi!” she booms, her voice filling the entire cavern. Damn, girl. “We’re ready up here. Can you send us a signal?”
A quick shower of sunnaz sparks shoots up from the center of the woven hurricane.
Ready.
Okay then. Time to back the drill out of the rift. More maz-15 will come pouring out, but it’s okay. It’s fine. Remi is there to apply the patch. It’s almost over.
All I have to do is send the final command.
My throat locks up.
“You have to pull the drill, Dizzy,” Jaesin shouts, fighting to hold the platform’s controls steady. “Remi can’t get out of there until you do.”
Another shower of sparks goes up, weaker this time.
I have to trust them. Have to back off, do my part. Watch.
And be here for them when they come back.
I take three deep breaths.
Go.
The drill rumbles as it springs to life and begins to slowly inch its way out of the rift. We have five seconds of relative peace, nothing but the beautiful swirling maz below and the vibration of the drill, almost more of an even, soothing hum—then, all at once, a wave of intense violet maz-15 comes rushing out, flooding the empty eye of Remi’s storm. Remi’s gestures speed up, whipping the weave into a frenzy and incorporating as much of the new maz-15 as possible, but it’s too much, too much, and after a moment they’re completely swallowed up by the flood of poison. Invisible to us.
No, no, no, no, I chant in my head, gripping the edge of the platform as Jaesin pulls a hard reversal, barely avoiding a ramming attempt by another platform.
Then a bright flash, temporarily blinding in its intensity. A moment of nothingness, like the pressure in the cavern has dropped all at once, like someone has sucked all the air out.
Stillness.
Silence.
Then the brightness fades, and there’s Remi, their wards holding the Maz Sea back away from a shimmering, tightly woven patch, perfectly sealed to the sea floor around it. There’s no bubbling maz-15, just the calm waves of maz rolling gently outside the barrier Remi erected around themself.
They did it.
“Jaesin, take us down!” I shout, my voice high and unrecognizable. He’s already at it, though, practically putting us into freefall as the two remaining platforms plummet after us, spells flying and guns cracking. They must have finally figured out a way to override the speed limiter on their own platforms, because they easily keep pace with us, as if they’re herding us toward the sea floor.
Below, the Maz Sea begins to encroach on Remi’s circle, their wards breaking down in the face of so much raw energy. Tendrils of glowing, glittering maz lick in toward their crumpled form, casting a mottled rainbow of light over them. A bright green thread curls over their cheek . . . and they move. Just a hand, curling and uncurling as if to reach up and brush the maz away.
But it’s movement. They’re alive. Barely a second later, their eyes blink open, and they roll onto their front, pushing to all fours, then to unsteady feet.
The guards on the other platforms notice at the same time we do. They angle for Remi, and I didn’t think I had any more adrenaline left to give, but apparently I do. I grab the gun from Jaesin’s waistband as he brings us down to the seafloor, hovering just a foot off the ground, and I rush forward to pull Remi on board. I reach out and grab hold of their hand, leaving my other one free to fire the gun over their shoulder with no real accuracy, but plenty of intent. I haul back until Remi is securely on deck, wanting nothing more than to wrap my arms around them, but now that we present a single target instead of two, the other platforms are concentrating their fire. We’re so close, damn it, just let us win or something.
Jaesin hauls back on the controls, and the platform obeys with a lurch, a clatter of gunfire peppering the deck just in front of me. I stumble back and fall straight on my ass, slamming my shoulder into the console, and something behind me digs hard and hot into my back. I jerk away and grab my deck, ignoring the pain to pull up the drill interface once more.
“Jaesin, head for the drill’s core,” I shout over the sudden roaring in my ears. The maneuvering jets have gotten a lot louder. That can’t be good. Hopefully they aren’t about to give out. Just a little farther. Hold it together.
“Dizzy,” Remi says, falling to their knees beside me, but I shove the gun at them without looking. If I look, I’ll want to touch, and if I touch, I’ll never want to let go. There’s still work to do.