2400 AD

“The frequency blocker isn’t working, sir.”

The man fell to the floor the moment Suiderland’s punch connected with his cheekbone. He writhed in pain momentarily, clutching his bloodied mouth with trembling hands.

Suiderland grunted as he punched every button on the console without success. He cursed and grunted some more.

“Bring Gideon here,” he shouted with extreme bother in his voice. “Now!”

Others came to his assistance but he shoved them aside, repeating that he wanted Gideon, only Gideon could analyze and fix the problem.

The moment Gideon came into the room, Suiderland gave instructions to remove the cuffs and demanded that he save the day.

“You designed this system. Now get the frequency blocker up and running!”

Gideon’s eyes, swollen and bruised from abuse by Suiderland’s security team, gazed at the monitor: The source of the destruction was coming from outside the building. A white orb. A tunnel of fiery light that enclosed the entire building. Streaks of lightning zapped everything organic. Other monitors showed hundreds of children on different floors, all terrorized by this phenomenon. The moment the electric bolts zapped them, they disappeared. Only the Android soldiers remained.

“All these children?” he mumbled.

“Not your business. Get to it,” Suiderland banged his fist on the counter top.

Gideon had designed the system to block any frequency. But, he had not designed it to block a wormhole.

He had also designed it to self-destruct.

Suiderland breathed a sigh of relief when Gideon sat down and pushed buttons on the instrument panel. A red light flashed on the ceiling of the room and a deafening siren rang throughout the building.

“The Frequency Suppression System will self-destruct in 2 minutes. Clear the room.”

Suiderland’s face turned white. His bottom lip quivered.

“What have you done?” he whispered with a look of determined terror in his eyes. “What have you done?” He shoved Gideon off the chair and punched buttons all over the place.

Gideon smiled. He had no intention of answering Suiderland.

“There must be a code to stop this. You stop this...”

“The Frequency Suppression System will self-destruct in one minute. Clear the room.”

Two soldiers stepped forward and grabbed Suiderland. “No! He knows the code. He has to stop it. If we go out there we all die.”

They were in the only room in the building not affected by Jacob and Thespian’s energy.

“The Frequency Suppression System will self-destruct in 30 seconds. Clear the room.”

“Kill him!”

***

Thespian and Jacob worked their magic, but their stored energy wasn’t enough. The streaks of lightning grew weaker and stopped altogether. The tunnel withdrew into the circle of light and faded.

Only the two boys were left in its wake. Two boys and a couple of hundred children surrounding them, standing close like Emperor Penguins huddled together secure in a snowstorm.

Thespian lay on the ground, his body jerking about as though in a fit of dementia.

Jacob lay motionless.

Callum ran towards the boys and fell beside Jacob, felt his ceratoid pulse. It was weak, but it was there.

“It’s okay, Jacob. You’ll be fine. Tumelo, take him back.”

In an instant Jacob was gone.

Cleo helped Thespian, now in a drowsy state, to get onto his feet.

“Callum,” Tumelo said. “The shield is down. There is also major structural damage to the building. Gideon is still in there. He’s in the only safe room of the building. Their energy couldn’t get in. I must tell you, they didn’t teleport the children only, there are scores of adults amongst them. Old and young.”

“I thought that might happen. Where is this room?”

“Seventh floor.”

“Thespian, can you get me in there.”

“Me too,” Cleo said.

“You will not be forgetting about me.” Indranil said quickly.

Thespian touched them and suddenly they were gone.

***

“Kill him! Do it, now!”

“The Frequency Suppression System will self-destruct in 15 seconds. Clear the room.”

Suiderland grabbed a laser from one of the soldiers and aimed it at Gideon.

“The Frequency Suppression System will self-destruct in 10 seconds...9...8...7...”

“You have less than 5 seconds...”

Suiderland didn’t complete the sentence. Cleo and Callum blasted the door open with their air guns and dived to protect Gideon just as Suiderland squeezed the laser trigger, it missed Gideon but shot through Cleo as she sped towards Suiderland.

First, the sound of the blast like thunder deafened them all. Then a flash of white light filled the room and everyone dived to the floor.

No one stirred for several moments. The hush that descended was palpable. And when the smoke cleared, Callum, lying on top of Gideon looked up and around him.

Krakat stood tall. It looked as if his head touched the ceiling. Behind him, a circle of Xenocon Androids, all armed, their weapons aimed at Gideon, Callum and Cleo.