Roy rubbed his forehead as he sighed. “It’s a human idiom,” Roy explained. “You can only see the tip of an iceberg. There’s a whole mess of ice underneath. What’s beneath the surface usually does the damage.”
“An apt analogy, then. But I believe the rest of the iceberg has vomited out into the sky already.”
Alex shook her head in disagreement and said, “No, that’s the thing, I don’t think it has. Those monsters, all that—it’s just a smokescreen for what’s inside. Like, I don’t know, a defense mechanism or something.”
Toppinir looked interested in Alex’s reasoning. “Why do you think that?”
“Why would the most powerful thing be located on the outside of the meteor, close to the surface? And as soon as we damage the rest of the meteor, more monsters come flooding out? It’s to protect something. Like when you get too close to an anthill, piles of ants come out to protect the queen. There’s something else in there.”
Roy and Toppinir exchanged glances as they thought through what Alex had said. “All right,” Roy finally said. “What do you propose?”
Alex pointed up at the monsters passively flying in the sky. “See how they haven’t even attacked us yet?” she asked. “They’re waiting for us to go up there. Like I said before, I say we drive them down, wipe them out, and try to crack the meteor open.”
The plan wasn’t any different from what had been offered before. The big difference was, it caught Toppinir’s and Roy’s interest this time. Throwing your life away was one thing, but the mystery of what was in the meteor made the prospect more exciting.
Toppinir, still being the voice of reason, said, “And how do you propose we do this?”
Alex held her hand out in front of her. “This is the wall of monsters,” she explained. “They’re all grouped together. I say we swing around from the far side and come down on top of them. That’ll force them down. Sure, they’ll be stragglers, but we’ll catch most of them. Then we clean up the rest.”
Roy pushed Toppinir away and said, “Give us a minute to talk this out.”
Alex politely watched as Toppinir and Roy walked away, talking between themselves. They stood a little way off and discussed the mission prospects as the rest of Boundless came up to Alex. “What are they talking about?” Jim asked.
“My plan to figure out what’s inside the meteor,” Alex answered.
“Didn’t we already find out what was in there? Holmorth, right?”
“No, that was just the beginning. I think whatever is in there will put Holmorth to shame.”
Jollies gasped, and her hue shimmered to a deep blue. “Really? Worse than him?” she asked. “He was so strong and disgusting.”
Alex noticed Roy and Toppinir walking back as she shrugged off Jollies’ concern. “Yeah, Holmorth was pretty bad,” Alex agreed, “but we took care of him easy enough. No casualties. And he and his drones or whatever the hell they were are dead. I think we can take it.”
Toppinir and Roy joined the group, and the elf stepped forward. “We think your plan might be viable,” he said. “I suggest you check on your dragons and prepare to—”
Alex cut him off. “Our dragons are already prepped. When will you be ready?”
Toppinir was caught off-guard by Alex’s readiness. “Uh, give us half an hour or so. Then we’ll be ready for the battle.”
“Good. Hurry up. The longer we wait, the more of those monsters we’ll have to deal with.”
As Jollies had said, the cloud of creatures and monsters floating around the meteor had doubled. It truly looked as if the monsters had the potential to block out the sun.
The only speck of hope left was that the monsters hadn’t descended and attacked. They continued to float, unaware of, or perhaps unconcerned with, the dragonriders beneath them.
Alex thought the monsters might operate like some kind of security system. If you passed a certain point, the alarm went off, and the vrosks and bats would attack. As long as they didn’t pass that point, the dragonriders would be okay. The problem was figuring out what that point was.
Realistically, it couldn’t be just any spot in the sky; it had to be near the meteor. That meant, in theory, there was a lot of working space for the dragonriders. It was inevitable they were going to cross the line in the sky and send the beasts into a frenzy. They just had to make sure they were in the proper position before that happened.
Roy was rallying his troops with a speech, as was Toppinir. Team Boundless watched from the sidelines. Alex didn’t see the point in trying to whip her squad into a frenzy. Each of them looked ready to do what must be done.
There wasn’t any doubt on their faces. Team Boundless’ will was as strong as Alex’s.
Also, Alex wasn’t sure if she and Boundless were invited on the mission. She thought it better not to make a scene either way. It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission, she thought.
Chine’s voice chimed in Alex’s head. Both also stop being a problem in the face of defeat or victory. The dead can make no apologies, and victors have no need of them.”
Alex reached down and rubbed the dragon’s back scales. That’s exactly what I needed to cheer me up in the most morbid way as possible. She laughed.
I thought that would be motivating.
Roy and Toppinir pointed to the meteor in the sky, Roy shouting, “All right, mech riders, this is what we came here for. That hunk of rock is the most dangerous thing to come to Middang3ard since we did. Let’s remind the Dark One why we’re the stuff of his nightmares!”
Alex suddenly realized Jim wasn’t with the other mech riders. “Hey, shouldn’t you be with your squad?” Alex asked Jim.
Jim popped open his cockpit and leaned out. “Eh, they’re not going to miss me,” he said nonchalantly. “Besides,
