Part Four
“EXTERMINATE!”
The pre-adolescent Mako tearfully cried out, shutting her
eyes. The metallic creature cornering her primed its weapon – some type of gun
stick or death ray.
“Mako. Don’t be afraid.”
Hearing Neas, she opened her eyes to see him standing
beside the creature.
It hardly acknowledged his presence at all.
“It won’t hurt you,” he reassured.
“What is it?”
“It’s called a Dalek, and it’s only an illusion brought
on by my side of the drift.”
He took her by the hand, leading her through a maze of
his infinite memories. They crossed a tall woman with short blond hair who
appeared to be early-forties, wearing white shorts and a black long-sleeved
shirt.
“Well, there I am,” Neas indicated to her. “The original me, that is.”
They passed more women of different ages and races,
taking part in events that were far beyond Mako’s level of understanding.
“I do not understand. What is happening? These are your memories?!”
“They are. I’m sorry, Mako. My father warned me this
would happen once we drifted. Humans and Time Lords were never meant to share a
telepathic connection this strong.”
Mako questionably frowned. “Time…Lord?”
“It’s what I am. An alien from another world – another
dimension. Dr. Curtsinger, the woman I came to the Shatterdome with, is a Time
Lord regeneration of my father.”
It all seemed too much for Mako to take, collapsing right
in front of Neas.
He would soon realize this to be the result of a shutdown
in the neural link and the Gipsy Danger altogether. He found himself standing
back in the Conn-Pod beside Mako, who was lying on the floor, convulsing with
blood gushing from her nose.
Neas rushed to her aid, screaming for help to whoever
could hear him from the control room.
Medics
answered right away, arriving at the scene with an extremely disconcerted (and
peeved) Stacker Pentecost. “What went wrong in here?!” He roared specifically
to Neas.
--------------------
Once the crisis was averted with Neas and Mako, Lauren
returned to Newt and Hermann’s laboratory post haste. There, she found a shaken
but recovering Newton wiping his bloodied nose with nothing but his thumb and
drinking a glass of water to calm his nerves.
The sight of him unsettled Lauren.
“Newt,” she tenderly said. “Are you okay?”
“I told you it would work,” he replied. “It was only a
fragment of a brain, so all I was able to see were a…a series of…images o-or
impressions…”
He began to ramble on, his focus as unstable as his
breathing.
“Newton, take a breath,” Lauren instructed. “And calmly tell me what you saw.”
He did as she said and, once he managed to ease his mind,
he began: “I think they’re attacking us…under orders. These beings – these masters – they’re colonists! They go
from world-to-world, using the Kaiju to wipe out any inhabitants! They tried
once with the dinosaurs! But there was too much oxygen in the atmosphere then!
So they waited and waited ‘til the atmosphere was just
right! We practically terraformed it for them! There are waves and waves of
them! The first wave was just the hounds – they were nothing! But the second wave is the exterminators to wipe out all
the remaining vermin…us! And the
final wave is when the new tenants take possession!”
It was the true definition of “apocalypse.”
Lauren knew these “colonists” and their breach had to be
the reason she and Neas were trapped in this dimension, interfering with the
Time Lords’ T.A.R.D.I.S. and its connection to the infinite dimensional
corridor. But if they were to discover the corridor itself in the breach, it
could spell the ultimate doom of countless realities – including their own.
“Do another link.”
She spun around to see Pentecost inside the lab, having
arrived unnoticed by Lauren, Newt, and Hermann.
“I need more information,” he added.
“I…I can’t do another one,” Newt said. “Not unless you
have a fresh Kaiju brain lying around.”
“Hannibal Chau,” Pentecost uttered. “He runs the Kaiju
black market here in Asia. He can get us what we need.”
“No,” Lauren defiantly spoke up. “Newt may’ve survived
the first link, but I don’t think he will survive another! It’s a bad idea,
Marshal!”
Pentecost’s stance stiffened. “I agree, Dr. Curtsinger –
if that happens to be your real name.
I witnessed twice this moment what
harm a neural link between a human and an alien can do. Only the one I put in the
Conn-Pod with Mako nearly killed
her!”
His tone rose in ferocity. It was clear the marshal
discovered the truth.
That much was certain when Lauren saw Neas guiltily walk
into the lab.
“Your son
confessed what you two really are,” Pentecost continued. “I admit that the idea
sounds ridiculous, but after what happened during the trial run, I can’t take
any more chances with you two. I’m having you both removed from the Shatterdome.”
The order was carried out immediately, with security
escorting Neas and Lauren out of the lab and off the premises.
As she left, Lauren took one last
glance at a heartbroken and confused Newton.
-----------------
From the T.A.R.D.I.S., an alarmed Raleigh watched Neas
and Lauren’s restriction on the view screen. The feed had cut to static from
Lauren’s video specs as soon as she and Neas were tossed out into the rainy
streets of Hong Kong.
He bolted out of the T.A.R.D.I.S. and the quarters,
rushing past several personnel who were more than baffled by his presence in
the Shatterdome. After getting directions on where Pentecost was, he found the
marshal in the infirmary, checking up on a recovered Mako.
“Marshal,” he called the second he entered.
His entrance caught Pentecost and Mako off guard.
“Becket?!” Pentecost exclaimed. “How did you get here?”
“Neas and Lauren, they brought me here in something I
couldn’t even begin to explain,” Raleigh explained. “I agreed to help them,
only if it meant that I didn’t have to get involved. You have to get them back.
They’re our only chance in stopping what the Kaiju are planning.”
Pentecost was seething, but he maintained composure.
“They brought you here in what exactly?” He grittily asked.
With no other choice, Raleigh led Mako and the marshal
into Neas’s T.A.R.D.I.S.
The bizarre spatial differentiation was off-putting on
entry. Nonetheless, they were awed by the technology housed in the alien
capsule, which was far ahead of what they achieved in their world with Jaegers.
Mako came across a certain adorable Mogwai that she
remembered seeing in Neas’s memories and wanted to cuddle with. She got her
chance when she found him sitting in the T.A.R.D.I.S. console room.
“Look, Marshal, I’m sorry about all of this,” Raleigh admitted.
“As you should be, Mr. Becket,” Pentecost furiously
snapped. “The guilt of your past has made you too much of a coward to help that
you instead have two aliens do it for you and nearly jeopardize the mission!”
Raleigh kept himself silent; nothing to say to cover up
his shame.
“Nevertheless,” Pentecost considered. “They do have the tech we need. I’ll see if I
can have them returned to the Shatterdome A.S.A.P.”
“Thank you, Marshal,” Raleigh graciously said.
They exited the T.A.R.D.I.S. to the alert of two Category
IV Kaiju codenamed “Leatherback” and “Otachi.”
Pentecost deployed three Jaegers: Striker Eureka, Crimson
Typhoon, and Cherno Alpha. Herc and Chuck were to remain back at the coastline
in Striker, serving as a last resort.
Meanwhile, the Wei Tang triplets and the Kaidonovskys
attacked the two Kaiju in Crimson and Alpha.
The swift decimation of the Crimson Typhoon prompted
Striker to assist.
Unfortunately, it would not be long before Cherno Alpha
fell as well.
With only Striker Eureka left standing, the Otachi moved
on Hong Kong. The Leatherback attempted to shut down the digitally-powered Jaeger
by triggering an E.M.P.
That was until another
Kaiju, one far different from the Category IV’s in the fight, emerged out of
the ocean. It leapt right onto the Leatherback, chomping down on its neck and
successively snapping it in half.
Herc and Chuck observed the surprise attack from the
Conn-Pod.
They recognized this new Kaiju as the same one that had
been attacking others – the giant reptilian beast with the ear-splitting roar.
“It’s him!” Chuck yelled. “It’s the Godzilla!”
“Godzilla?!” Herc reacted to his son’s christening
moniker.
“A god-like lizard,” Chuck illuminated. “Let’s take ‘em!”
“Are you insane? It just saved us!”
“Saved us all for himself! These monsters have no loyalty
to anyone but themselves! Now do you wanna just stand here and watch it tear us
to bits?!”
Herc knew there was no time to argue.
The Godzilla was there waiting for them to make a move.
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