Chapter 17: CounterAttack

They looked around in stunned amazement. Only moments before, or so it seemed, they had been standing in a pleasant glade in the midst of goldengreen forest. Then, something had happened! But what? All they had were some confused memories of titanic forces in conflict, and suddenly they stood in the midst of desolation! Swaths of charred stumps, some of them still reeking of quenched fire, were left standing amidst expanses of frostwithered foliage that stretched as far as they could see. It was as though the land had been subjected to repeated blasts of mingled fire and ice.

Then the wasteland tilted and slid away from them, out of their sight. A cushioning field of force closed about them, and once more Chad felt the disorientation of being moved from one place to another by the powers of The Goddess. This time, though, he was able to keep a tenuous hold on reality. He saw all of Gardhe spread out before him like a map. He and his friends moved past, not through, jutting mountains and dense stands of timber. They quickly left the desolated area behind, scenes shifting and blurring as he perceived other worlds and other spaces pressing close around them. Then, their feet once more firmly planted, they were in a chamber of what Chad immediately recognized as the lair of The Goddess.

"Welcome to My dwelling, friends of Chad," the high, thin voice greeted them. "There is food and drink in plenty for your refreshment. Eat heartily, but you must make haste! The time of your trial is close at hand. My Brother is furious, raging at the slap you gave Him just now. If you are to prevail in Our contest, you must strike immediately. If you do not, He will have time to retrieve and activate more of the weapons that Our People brought with Them to this planet."

"What kind of weapons?" Chad demanded. "And how much time do we have?"

"It will take Him some hours, yet," was Her calm reply. "His weapons are purely physical, yet even so they are strong enough to split this tiny planet open and scatter it across all nearby space. Now, join your companions in their repast. Soon you will need all of your strength."

Her voice ceased. Chad turned impatiently to where his friends were cautiously tasting the lavish assortment of unfamiliar fruits spread out for them.

"Hey, Chad," Kenny piped. "Are all these things really good to eat?"

"Yeah. And those little blue ones are specially good." He scooped up a handful of assorted berries. "Better eat some of the stuff we brought with us, too. This fruit ain't the best fodder for the long haul, and I dunno when we'll get the chance to eat real food again."

They fell to with a will, and almost before they were done The Goddess spoke again from the empty air.

"Hurry, now. Down the corridor to your right. Follow the blinking lights to the room that lifts."

"She means the elevator," Chad explained in a soft voice, exchanging grins with his friends as they followed him along the still dustyfeeling corridor. The upward ride was longer this time, and the spacious room they stepped out into was deceptively light and airy.

For a moment he thought that they might be at the surface, but a second look disillusioned him. It was just that this ceiling was arched high, and points and lines of light set into the milky stone gave the feeling of being outdoors under spreading branches. In the middle of the expanse of patterned floor, a cluster of black objects made an ugly blot on the scene.

"That the gadget you was tellin' us about?" Nora looked at it nervously, but it was the voice of The Goddess that answered from the air around them.

"This is the device that will enable you to link your minds fully together. Although you proved by warding off My Brother's attack that you have already managed to achieve a small amount of coordination of your mentalities, you will find that it was as nothing compared to what you can do with My help."

They all realized that this was no time for joking or clowning around. As one, they moved forward and placed the circlets on their heads. The dials of the central cabinet leaped and trembled as an invisible force adjusted its knobs, bringing their thought streams into congruence.

"Now, turn the large central knob," She told Chad. "Slowly. You will know how far."

Hesitantly, he turned the central knob a fractional amount. A feeling of warmth, of togetherness coursed through him. Farther, and the feeling grew, nearing the strength of the linkages they had experienced earlier. Still farther, and Chad was suddenly conscious of every nuance of thought, of every sight and sound, every fleeting sense impression of every one of the seven of them, even more than when they had linked up to fight off the Dark One's attack. One last, miniscule twist of the knob. Every single thoughttrain, every thread of memory that their brains held, faded into one allpervading MIND!

The Entity looked about IT in childish wonder, perceiving all frequencies of all spectra. IT admired the symmetry of the universes, stretching away toward infinity in all eight directions. Only with reluctance did IT focus ITs attention on the minor goldengreen world to which IT was temporarily linked. Sensing a strain, IT demodulated slightly, bringing ITs being more into harmony with this one sector of this one particular physical universe, aligning ITself more closely with the elements of this pretty little goldengreen world.

Around the curve of this little globe, a dark blob of malignancy festered and spread, gaining in strength and scope from moment to moment. Even while The Entity directed most of ITs energies to the analysis of ITs own existence, IT directed a probe to observe this disharmony more closely, only to recoil hastily from a stinging lash of erosive energy!

Expanding ITs consciousness to encompass the entire globe, The Entity perceived blighted areas, crude cities whose primitive dwellings were populated only by frozen nearcorpses, and unmoving bodies of men and animals scattered randomly throughout the forests. The only life to be found was a scattering of tiny birds, roosting high in the trees where they'd escaped the war's deadly forces.

Recollection of ITs appointed task overcame ITs wonder at ITs own existence, and that of the manifold universes. IT marshaled ITs forces to crush this annoying pest that pompously styled itself 'The Dark God'.

Drawing sustenance from the sun above and the planet below, The Entity set up a crimson globe of force around ITs opponent, set it to absorb any imaginable impinging force, and began to exert pressure inward. The dark vortex of energies exploded outward to the limits of this confining sphere. It slashed out viciously at the blanketing field, only to find that all of its energies were simply vanishing at a certain radius, giving no hint that they had ever existed.

The Entity's sphere contracted further, tightening like a threedimensional noose about the lair of The Dark God, but the fight was far from over. At the heart of the dark vortex, a cluster of silver globules sprang into being, spiraling outward in complex patterns to meet the prisoning sphere. At each point of contact, there was a wrenching, twisting shock that momentarily overloaded the confining forces. Before The Entity could recover and close the gap, ITs attack was broken. A semisolid rod of blackness was driving straight at ITs heart!

Fighting against time, The Entity worked frantically to build back ITs defenses. The dark energies, traveling only partially within the confines of a single universe, were not limited to light's crawling pace. They met ITs hastily erected deflecting shield. The energies twisted farther out of synchronization with this space, dissipating harmlessly into the interstices between the universes. Another blast of dark energies sprang into being, but this one was nullified almost before it began. Once more, the pale crimson glow of the confining sphere enclosed and sealed off the Dark God's lair.

The Entity noted absently that the forces being released so profligately had set off a string of longdormant volcanoes on the far side of the planet, thrusting up a new chain of islands where for eons there had been only shallow seas. Also, a persistent quivering in the rocks of this continent could not be entirely damped out by the cushioning effects of ITs energy shields. More important right now was a slight irritation, almost an itch, that nagged at IT impatiently. Contenting ITself with passively countering the Dark God's efforts for a moment, The Entity turned ITs attention to dealing with this distraction.

"Why have you not destroyed My Brother?" The thin voice whined at IT irritatingly. "You must hurry, before He destroys this entire world with His weapons!"

"Have patience," The Entity chuckled soothingly. "This task should not take long."

"Not take long! You have been battling now for three whole days and nights! You will weaken soon for lack of food and drink if you are not careful."

The Entity scanned ITself in surprise, noting that ITs bodies were indeed becoming depleted in spite of the high efficiency with which even ITs unconscious operations were now being performed. A minor adjustment in ITs forces, and one of ITs smaller bodies lifted the circlet from its head, walking over to where an untidy heap of packs lay neglected on the floor. Within minutes, all seven of ITs bodies were again adequately fueled and watered. The Entity again turned ITs full attention to the battle.

A steady rain of silver globules was battering at the inside of the prisoning sphere, but now all they could accomplish was to make momentary bulges in its symmetrical surface. The Entity increased its energy drain on the planetary magma, and the globe again held steady. Now even the cushioning fields could not entirely muffle the grinding shocks that were causing trees to sway, and sending normally placid waters to surge and tear at the shores of the continent. It was time for The Entity to put into operation the next phase of ITs plan.

The globe surrounding the lair of The Dark God changed from pale crimson to somber purple as it became a secondary radiator, converting and reradiating all of the energies contained within it.

Deep within His mountain retreat, The Dark God felt the first numbing effects of this new attack. With a slithering leap, He raced to His control board, finding to His horror that every dial was showing power drains far in excess of anything they had been designed for. Fusible bars in His power plants turned from dull red to blinding bluewhite, sagging and flowing to interrupt energy flows that would have been sufficient to shatter large chunks of the planetary crust.

Quenching sprays went into action. The exploding gasses vented out through escape channels, sending arcs of molten lava spraying in bright fountains from the cones of several nearby dormant volcanoes, adding to the violence of the storm of warring energies that lit up the night sky.

Within the Dark God's buried fortress, lights died and huge machines whirred to a stop, leaving Him naked to the onslaught from without. He marshaled all of His mental energies, knowing that even He could withstand this unbelievable load for only a few more seconds. Slithering rapidly to where a large switch was mounted on a nearby pillar, He knocked aside its transparent cover, pulling it shut in a spasm of vindictive, suicidal glee!

"It's no use, all of Your batteries have been drained." The Entity's deep, calm voice resonated the air of the control room as The Dark God jerked and tugged at the switch in stunned disbelief. "None of Your devices will respond to Your commands."

The Dark God whirled to face the voice in the gloom. His other senses reported a focus of energies in the center of the room, but nothing material appeared. From a lesser focus of energies, a familiar voice lashed out at Him, high and thin.

"I have triumphed, oh My Brother. This world now belongs to Me, to shape as I will. As We agreed, so long ago, the time has come for You to die!"

From the lesser focus, a beam of deadly frequencies lanced out, only to waver and fade yards short of its target.

"That time has not yet come," the deep voice reproved. "Nor does this planet belong to You."

"Hold your tongue," The Goddess shrilled. "I created you, and I shall destroy you just as easily. Your usefulness is at an end!"

In a room deep under a mountain, seven youths stepped hastily back, removing the circlets from their heads. The cabinet in their midst puffed out heat and smoke as it melted down into a puddle of metal and plastic, but the composite entity continued to exist.

"I permitted that, simply as a demonstration of Your impotence," The Entity told Her. "There will be no more such demonstrations. Each and every one of the machines in both of Your little strongholds has been rendered powerless. The powers of mind remaining to You will avail You naught. It is now time for ME to devise a final solution to the problem posed by Your existence on this world."

There was a swirl of displaced air, and The Goddess appeared before Her Brother. Seen in person They were quite small, less humanoid, more reptilian than Their mental projections had suggested. Their serpentine necks flowed into reptilian torsos, with thin, scaly arms and hands. Their crested reptilian heads turned to face one another.

An almost palpable hatred quivered between Them for an instant, only to be replaced by another emotion as they exchanged flashing mental images. They turned in unison to face Their captor, launching a twinpronged mental attack that made the very air about Them boil and churn!