And the vibrations. On her skin, through her feet, even in her skull, the place was alive with the awful tremoring and shuddering of machines, more of them than she could have ever imagined. The noise was worse than the storms that took her people. And that was without the fight, without the wrong thing that looked like the ancient enemy, that sent prickles up her back just to look at; and from it, the worst vibration of all, a sickening feeling in the middle of her bones that felt like illness come alive, like all of the hatred in the world put on two legs.
And in all of this horror, amidst all of the chaos and weirdness, in the stink of fire and the burning of unnatural things there were only two things she recognized as familiar—her mother and Kong. And Kong needed her.
She reached where he lay collapsed; she pressed her hand to the earth that wasn’t earth. And there she felt it. His heartbeat. Slow. Getting slower, fainter.
* * *
Ilene found Jia next to Kong, her palms spread against the ground. She knelt by the girl.
What are you doing? Ilene signed.
His heart is slowing down, Jia replied.
Nathan caught up just then. “What’s happening?” he asked.
“She can feel his heartbeat,” Ilene told him. “It’s slowing down. He’s dying.”
Nathan looked away, toward the ongoing fight.
“There’s nothing we can do,” Ilene said. “To start his heart, we’d need to produce a charge big enough to—”
“—light up Las Vegas for a week?” Nathan finished. He had a gleam in his eye as he looked back toward the HEAV.
TWENTY-ONE
The sun darkens,
earth in ocean sinks,
fall from heaven
the bright stars,
fire’s breath assails
the all-nourishing tree,
towering fire plays
heaven against itself.
Völuspá, circa 1270 (an account of Ragnarök, the Old Norse Apocalypse),
trans. Benjamin Thorpe, 1865
Hong Kong
Josh typed frantically at the keyboard as Bernie crowded over him.
“Is that a password?” Bernie asked. “Is that a password?”
“I don’t know!” Josh replied, exasperated. “It’s all just evil jargon. I’m not used to this; I’m used to pirating movies online!”
“Do you see ‘settings’?” Bernie demanded. “Look for ‘settings.’ Control-Alt-Delete. I thought you were a hacker!”
Meanwhile, Madison was working the phone. She finally figured out how to get an outside line and entered her father’s number. The phone rang…
And he picked up.
“This is Mark,” he said.
“Dad!” she said. “Can you hear me? I’m in Hong Kong.”
“Madi … son…” She heard his voice break up and then the phone went dead.
“Hello?” she said. “Hello?”
But the connection wasn’t coming back. She looked over at Josh and Bernie, just in time to see “security lock” appear on the monitor. Josh was still typing, but nothing was happening anymore.
* * *
Nathan made it back to the HEAV and climbed into the cargo hold. He popped what he thought was the right panel. He rewired it, hoping against hope he was doing it right. Then the light on the panel changed and it closed.
That … looked promising.
“Okay,” he told Jia and Ilene, “you two better get some distance.”
Nathan saw Jia hesitate. Tears streaked down her face.
“You’re a very brave little girl,” he said. He made the sign for “brave” as he remembered her making it what seemed like an eternity ago.
She smiled; it was like a little burst of sun in the middle of a storm. She shook her head and pointed at him.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe we both are.”
He watched as Jia and Ilene climbed out. Then he made his way forward to the controls.
* * *
Ilene watched the HEAV lift off, then turned her attention to the gargantuan battle still unfolding.
It wasn’t going well for Godzilla. As she watched, he tried to swipe the mechanical monster with his tail, but his foe caught it, spun to gather momentum, and hurled the Titan across the city, where he crashed into Victoria Peak.
Godzilla wasn’t out, though. He planted his feet and unleashed the energy beam that had tunneled through the Earth’s crust and mantel to Hollow Earth. But the robot thing let loose its own energy beam—a red one—meeting and overpowering Godzilla’s, blasting the Titan back through multiple buildings.
* * *
Nathan landed the HEAV on Kong’s chest. Then he went to work on the anti-gravity engine, rewiring it, directing the immense charge that powered it to his purposes. He was just finishing up when he felt a tremor of movement. He looked over to see Kong’s eyes were slightly open.
It wasn’t the Kong he had come to know. He looked sad, beaten. Dying. He was glad Jia wasn’t there to see it.
He made the final connection.
“All right,” he said. “Good luck, big fella.”
He flipped the final switch and ran like hell as a high-pitched whine began building up behind him. He’d made about two blocks when the engine exploded. He looked back and saw electricity pulsing through the Titan’s body. Then his own muscles spasmed, seized up.
Oh, crap, Nathan thought as his knees buckled. All I’ve done is electrocute him.
Then everything went black.
* * *
Jia saw the HEAV explode, felt the distant lightning on her face. She saw Kong twitch.
Then he jerked up, eyes wide, huffing frenetically. He opened up his mouth and she felt his roar on her skin. She broke away from her mother and ran back toward him. She didn’t know what the man Nathan had done, but she could feel Kong’s heartbeat again, even through her feet; strong, alive. She ran up to him, waving her arms to get his attention.
Finally he looked down at her, squinting. She started telling him.
Godzilla. Not. Enemy.
He snorted at her, roaring his disapproval at the very thought. He didn’t believe. How could he? Their kinds had been at war for so long. Godzilla—like Jia, like Kong—he was an orphan now. The last. But this other thing—it had no people, and never had. And it was not right, not a thing that should be
