They took their places amongst the other mech and dragonriders, waiting for Roy and Toppinir to arrive. If Alex was being honest with herself, the whole affair was a little gaudier than she would have imagined. It made sense, though. The vets had been with their squads for years. Leaving without saying goodbye would have been cruel.
The mech and dragonriders stood at attention, patiently waiting. They didn’t speak amongst themselves. They watched the podium in front of the ship, where Manny floated in silence.
Manny looked uncomfortable. Maybe it was because he feared the riders would blame him for the loss of their commanders. How could they not? He was always the one bringing orders, showing up when things could only get worse.
A shadow hung over the gathering, cast by the meteor. The sky had changed even further. Gone was the green hue. Now images flashed behind the meteor, images which could not be understood, changing rapidly.
Jim described it to Alex as a television on the fritz or with bad reception. “There’s something back there,” he whispered. “That meteor’s doing more than just sitting in the sky.”
Alex understood what Jim was saying. “We’re going to be the lucky ones who get to find out, right? You know what they say about curiosity.”
“I prefer to think about the satisfaction part.”
Alex grabbed Jim’s hand. Even with all the confusion with Gill, this is what she had imagined ever since she had first seen Jim’s avatar. “You know you don’t have to do this,” Alex whispered. “I’m not going to ask you to.”
Jim curled his fingers around Alex’s. “No one has asked me to do anything, just like no one asked you to do this. But like I said before, I’ll follow you anywhere, Alex. Period.”
“All right. Let’s leave it at that.”
Roy and Toppinir finally descended from the ship. They stood in front of the podium, looking out at the silent audience. Toppinir was the one to speak. “All right,” he started, “I’m not going to drag this out. That meteor is coming down. Today. It’s been a pleasure serving with you all.”
Toppinir stepped back and Roy went forward. “Hm. It’s gonna be hard to top that,” Roy joked. “Toppinir and I aren’t coming back from this, but you already knew that. I’ve seen a lot of crazy people in my day, but none as crazy as you. Every mission, you pull our asses out of the fire. This time it’s our turn.”
Roy raised his dragon anchor to the sky and his mech plummeted to earth, landing behind him. Its cockpit popped open as Toppinir’s dragon uncurled from the top of the ship and crawled down. Toppinir mounted as Roy climbed into his mech.
Alex nudged Jim and whispered to Jollies, “Let’s do this.”
Jollies flew off as Jim left the crowd. Alex watched Jim walk away with a lump in her throat. She had no problem accepting responsibility for herself, but being responsible for Jim, her oldest friend, felt wrong. But it didn’t matter. Alex raised her dragon anchor.
Chine came swooping out of the sky and grabbed Alex in his claws. He landed on the podium and shot a stream of fire into the sky in front of Roy and Toppinir as Alex climbed onto his back. “You guys can’t go up there,” Alex shouted.
Roy popped his head out of the mech. “Alex, this isn’t up for discussion. You see what the meteor is doing, right? It’s tearing up friggin’ reality! We need to deal with it.”
“Okay, sure, it needs to be dealt with, but it doesn’t have to be you two. Myrddin needs you. We need you.”
Toppinir shook his head, his eyes sad and heavy. “We aren’t going to ask anyone to sacrifice their lives on a gamble,” he explained. “We can’t do that.”
Alex slammed her hand to her chest. “You don’t have to ask anyone. I’ll do it.”
Roy’s face flashed red with anger as he ground his teeth. “We get it, you have a death wish,” he lectured. “But we aren’t going to entrust a mission this important to a cadet. It’s not happening. Now, will you kindly get the hell out of our way.”
Jim’s mech climbed onto the stage next to Alex. “We’re taking care of the meteor, sir. This is out of your hands.”
As Jim and Alex argued with the two veterans, Jollies zipped around the stage faster than any eyes other than Alex’s and Manny’s could see. Yet Manny stayed quiet, watching from the sidelines as events unfolded in front of him.
Jollies flew back to Alex and whispered in her ear, “All right, you’re good. Uh, I think you’re a great person. I love you. I mean, as a friend. You know what I mean. Whatever. I love you, and I’m going to miss you.” Jollies kissed Alex on the cheek and flew away, crying.
Alex fought back her tears. Now wasn’t the time. She pulled up on Chine and they took to the sky, Jim right behind her.
Roy shouted, “What the hell are you doing? Get back here!” He got back in his cockpit and powered up his mech. The machine surged forward for a second before whining loudly. It leaned to the side, struggling to stay up. “What the hell is going on?”
Toppinir pulled up on his dragon, but before it could take off, his dragon anchor started buzzing and sparking. The dragon anchor shut down, severing Toppinir’s link to his dragon.
Jollies watched from the crowd, holding a bundle of cords and wires in her hand—the missing pieces from Toppinir’s anchor and Roy’s mech.
Above Jollies, Gill, and Brath, the two human riders, one dragon, the other mech, raced toward the meteor drifting in the sky.
Chapter Six
The meteor had changed. There was no doubt now that Alex was closer. It had grown.
Substantially.
There was no longer a sky. The
