Revelation

first sign of trouble, we’re out of there, and we’re blowing this spire to smithereens.”

“Alright,” Marcus said. “Fine. I see I’m not changing anyone’s mind, so we can go on and find out what we can. But I’m holding you to what you said, Makara. We go for the Reds after this.”

Makara nodded. “I won’t forget, Marcus. They will pay for what they did to you and your men.”

Marcus stepped back, placated, at least for now. The xenodragon was all but gone, lost in the darkness of night. I could see nothing outside. We were below the cloud layer, and no light made it through from above.

Makara switched on Odin’s twin floodlights, pointing them down to the surface. The lights revealed alien, pink terrain that passed in a blur. We flew over jagged hills and twisting canyons, all covered with the sick, pink growth.

“About three miles out,” Makara said. “Prepare for landing.”

Marcus had gone back to the galley, probably to let his men know about the change in plans. Hopefully, they wouldn’t take it half as bad as he did, or we were going to have a mutiny on our hands. Char went with his brother, to make sure that Marcus wouldn’t start anything. I thought their being together was a bad idea, but no one else seemed to think anything of it.

“I’ve never been in the Great Blight,” Michael said. “Can’t say I’ve ever wanted to be in it.”

“We’ll be fine,” Makara said. “Get in, do what we need to do, get out.”

“Should be easy,” Anna said, shaking her head.

“This could be our chance to learn about how the Voice works,” Samuel said.

“Thinking like a scientist,” I said.

Samuel nodded. “It’s the chance Ashton and I have been waiting for.”

From the galley came shouts and protests. The Exiles were not taking the news well. Marcus yelled, trying to calm his men down. It sounded like a losing battle.

“At least he’s not instigating them,” I said.

“They can bite me,” Makara said. “Here we go.”

She veered the ship down. I grabbed onto the wall, my seat having been taken by Char.

Then, it was in front of us: the spire Ashton had spoken of. It was a gigantic, organic swath, twisting and rising into the dark sky. The spire was tethered to the ground with thick, trunk-like struts growing out of the xenofungal bed. The spire was about five hundred tall, if I had to guess, and it ended on top in a series of jagged, cruel spikes — not unlike antennae. The entire thing was a deep purple color — the same color as the blood of the xenolife we’d had to kill all too often. The surrounding area was empty of tangible threats. Too empty. I didn’t trust how easy this seemed so far, despite that dragon. It had merely flown off. Why? Was there something so nasty about this thing that even a xenodragon was afraid of it?

Apparently, similar thoughts were passing through everyone else’s minds. It was Samuel who broke the silence.

“It looks like a radio tower. From that top, a signal can be projected and communicated to the entire xenoswarm. This thing is dangerous. It needs to come down.”

“Gilgamesh has the missiles,” Makara said. “Odin doesn’t.”

“Where is Gilgamesh, anyway?” I asked.

“We’re about to find out,” Makara said. She nodded to Anna. “Put Ashton on the line.”

Anna fiddled with the communicator on the dash, opening the channel.

“Ashton, you have a copy?” Makara asked.

“Yeah, go ahead.”

“We’re here.”

“Yeah, I see you up there.”

“What’s your location?”

“I’m at the base of this thing,” he said. “Come on down. It’s safe.”

“You’re down there?” Makara asked. “Ashton, I thought I told you to stay put until we got here.”

“I want to study it up close. Gilgamesh is parked just a few feet away. If anything pops out, I can just take off.”

Makara mouthed the word “stupid.”

“Alright, we’ll meet you down there,” Samuel said.

Samuel’s eyes shone with excitement. He hadn’t had the chance to study xenolife directly since his time at Bunker 114. Seeing him look at that strange, creepy spire, as weird as it might sound, reminded me of a kid looking at a new toy.

“We just need to blow it up,” Makara said. “Forget the research. That thing looks evil.”

“Not before we have Ashton’s go-ahead,” Samuel said. “I’m curious to hear about what he’s learned so far.”

Makara sighed. “Fine. But we’re blowing it up as soon as you guys are finished.”

Samuel held up his hands. “Fine.”

I was more inclined to agree with Samuel, though I could also see Makara’s point. If that thing was transmitting another Voice, destroying it quickly might be a good idea. Then again, if we could learn about this spire before destroying it, it might help us out in the long run.

“All I know is, that thing creeps me out,” Michael said.

Anna nodded her agreement.

“We’ll get in and out of here,” I said. “Won’t be anything to it.”

At least, that’s what I hoped.

As we circled around the spire, lowering to the xenofungal floor, I couldn’t help but stare. The spire was thicker toward the bottom, a series of thick, twisting vines rooted in the xenofungus. The vines interlocked in a complex braid, circling around and around to form the spire’s trunk. The trunk shot up in the sky, until they turned into the series of thin needle points that rose even higher. Samuel was right. The spire looked like it was designed to transmit something. There was no doubt in my mind that if this thing were destroyed, this second Voice would not be able to transmit itself over the air.

But I also remembered what Samuel had said about the Black Files. The xenofungus itself was a communication device. That meant as long as the Blighters were connected to the Great Blight, they could still take orders from the Voice. The point of the spires, then, assuming there were more than one, was the ability to transmit those orders over the air, beyond the reach of the Great Blight. Maybe the other, smaller Blights were part of the main xenofungal network as well, somehow.

All I knew was, the xenofungus was starting to seem less and less like simple fungus, and more like something intelligent. Something that could think and communicate. That’s what made this fungus and the virus that spread it so scary. It was able to think and adapt, and that made it all the more dangerous.

Maybe it even knew we were here, right now.

Makara set Odin down next to Gilgamesh, which was parked on a level bed of xenofungus right before the xenofungal spire. Ashton, for now, wasn’t in sight.

Makara left the ship running, keeping the power on low in case we needed to get out of here quickly.

“I’m giving us thirty minutes to find out whatever we can,” Makara said. “Then, we’re blasting this thing.”

Samuel’s eyes told Makara that thirty minutes would not be nearly enough time. Makara raised an eyebrow, causing Samuel to sigh.

“Fine. Let me grab my instruments.”

The rest of us left the cockpit and headed for the galley. There, Char’s and Marcus’s men stood, talking quietly. None of them appeared happy. Michael and I went to the armory, and started to distribute what few gas masks we had. There were enough for everyone in the main party, plus a few of the Raiders, to have one. The Exiles refused to budge, feeling cheated out of their attack on the Reds.

“I can go to Gilgamesh and bring the other gas masks here,” Michael said.

“I’ll help,” a nearby Raider said.

Another Raider stepped forward. Michael led them off the ship, and into the xenofungal field. Many men