Book of Glitch - Chapter 16

The young Stonie had said it in jest, and knew full well that such a thing could never happen. Yet, the idea seemed to swell in Joshua’s mind like a crack in the side of a Cerulean dam with a persistent leak until the waters at its borders gushed forth untamed. Joshua rose to his feet and stood in front of Phit.

“You’re right,” he said. Phit continued to smile as he looked at Joshua, but his face fell as he stared into the desperate eyes of the man before him. “Just now, you said that the Elders would stand a chance if we were more like you all. Professor, do you know of any studies in which Elders attempted to heighten their tolerance to the Shamans’ enthrall?”

Reginald looked away from where Hershol was floating and shook his head.

“I’m afraid young Elder, the only studies that come to mind concerning the enthralling of Elders had to do with making the effect more potent during reproduction,” he explained. “And while inter-variant relations may produce offspring that possess the abilities of both parents, such cases are so rare that I cannot reference any particular instance in which a Minor child had any effect on his father’s reaction to Sham enthrall, which I realize is still far from what you are asking.”

Joshua looked down at the floor dejected. He closed his eyes and tried to listen for his heartbeat. One strong thump coursed through his chest and up to his ears. The sound had always brought him peace in the late hours of the night, and he would often lie awake matching every passing hour to each solitary beat reverberating through him. His uncle Caleb had once praised him for how strong his heart was as most Elders’ heartbeats were so faint. Joshua squinted his eyes shut harder as he imagined his uncle being enthralled to death by his so-called wife.

“Hey Gray, what was that story Abraham told us when we were younger?” Phit asked his brother.

“Which one?” asked Gray.

“The one about Glitch’s son, Leprechaun.”

Gray appeared to ponder for a moment before answering, “I think the story was that the Minor boy apparently turned his Shaman mother into an Elder.”

“Oh right,” his brother said. “Once again, Glitch’s absence is proving rather unlucky for his kin.”

Joshua had overheard this conversation while he stewed in his own despair. He had never heard the story, but of course Abraham would know and to his relief had apparently told his Stonie companions too. Joshua stepped over to Gray with what little hope he had left.

“Please Gray, can you tell me everything you know about this Leprechaun?” he pled.

Gray looked down at Joshua with his usual somber expression, but appeared to soften as the Elder’s eyes flooded. Finally, a smirk came to the edge of Gray’s mouth.

“Well, according to Abraham…”

But the boy could not continue. Hershol had deflated to the ground, wailing.

“Reginald, it’s Argos,” she screamed. “He’s been captured by Bolts and the Dragoons are chasing after Maximus.”

Just as she spoke his name, the gorilla burst through the door with singed patches of fur as two Dragoons ran into the room after him. Seeing the collection of variants the two infernal intruders began to huff until the air around them steamed. The professor sent his desk flying toward them pinning one to the wall, while the other had jumped on top of the object just in time to avoid injury.

The Dragoon leapt off of the small table while reaching toward the Elder. It landed short of where the young man stood guarded by the Stonie twins, but had managed to come close enough for its infringing heat to scorch the fabric at the legs of the young males.

Joshua screamed as he threw himself back in agony. Gray patted down his pant legs just as the smoke had begun to signal the impending flame that would have sparked. Phit swatted away the Dragoon’s hand and watched as the creature’s four fingers snapped backward. While the fiend shrieked, the twin grabbed onto his sizzling skin and launched him out of the loft window.

“We must leave at once,” shouted Professor Reginald. “Maximus quickly, get everyone onto the dining table. Hershol, do you think you can manage to guard all of us from below.”

The Aero looked at the professor with glassy eyes and nodded her assent. The gorilla rushed to the table, flipped it over and loaded the injured Elder onto its center as the two Stonies sat on either side of him. Professor Reginald stood near the edge of the metallic surface facing Maximus who stood opposite him.

The two locked eyes briefly then shut them as the slab began to levitate. Hershol wafted underneath the tabletop and inhaled until she had expanded to at least twice the size of the makeshift carrier. She propelled the group out through the shattered opening and continued to puff as they soared higher up the needle.

“Where do you think they’re taking us?” Phit asked.

The female Aero floated up to look at the young Stonie. “We’re heading into the Aerospace,” she answered. “It’ll be the safest place for us to hide. Almost no one has ever been there, so finding it wouldn’t happen without the help of a…”

“The help of a what?” Phit asked.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m so deeply sorry young Elder.”

With that Hershol exhaled a jetstream of air at the ascending group, thrusting them higher into the sky while plunging herself back toward the Earth. The concentration of the two Cerebra broke from the unexpected force and all five looked down to see that she was hurtling into what appeared to be the glint of metallic-black boltine jet hovering outside of the broken loft window.

“Give him back to me you eels,” she bellowed.

The group had soared to the sixty-eighth level of the needle before Hershol’s gust had catapulted them another fifteen, and now without the aid of her air direction/manipulation their ascent began to decelerate rapidly. Maximus and the professor attempted to refocus their minds on keeping the group afloat, which you should appreciate was almost the collective weight of two tons. 

The two Cerebra struggled to keep their companions aloft, but from below they could hear the curdling wails of Hershol calling out for Argos as she flitted around the craft.

“Give him to me,” she hollered. “Wake up, Argos. Wake!”

The realization that their Aero companion was in the midst of the pursuers appeared to trouble the gorilla Cerebra. He struggled to keep the group in the air while searching the darkness for any sign of his friends. Then a female voice pierced the cold, still air. The upturned table began to tremble until the gorilla leapt over the edge where he had stood and plummeted downward in the same direction as Hershol.

Soon Joshua, the twins, and the professor were also falling alongside the Needle, with their reflections as evidence to their absolute peril. Professor Reginald managed to regain control of the table and replanted himself on its surface before directing it toward Joshua, who had almost fainted a second time. Next he approached the brothers and nudged them toward the Needles, which they were able to grab hold of the building after ripping through three stories of window.

The four proceeded back down to the Cerebra’s loft to see that not only had his male Aero friend been captured, but the gorilla and Hershol were being thrown into a cage as well. The professor landed himself and Joshua onto the glass covered floor, before shooting the table into the backs of the Bolt captors.

He made a step toward the prisoners, but Joshua yanked him away just before the remaining Bolt in the craft outside the window could send a shock of one-hundred thousand volts through the Cerebra’s cranium. Phit swung through the opening at that exact moment and kicked into the back of the eel, while Gray leapt into the jet and threw out its pilot. The younger Stonie tossed the Elder and the Cerebra over his shoulders and sprinted toward the craft.

“What are you doing, boy?” the professor shouted.

“Saving your life for the second, no third…” Phit counted. “I’ve lost count by now just stay still. Do you know how to fly this thing?”

“No,” answered his brother. “But it looks as though the Bolts left it charged up.”

“Please we have to go back, we can still save them,” wept the Cerebra.

Joshua looked back into the room and saw that two of the Bolts were stirring, which meant that they could summon a swarm of boltine jets and transporters to intercept them long before one of the brothers could jump back and break open the tiny prison.

“Go find my sister,” called the female Aero. “Hurry Reginald, she can bring us help.”

The professor stared back at his friends with weary eyes. Argos’s flat, unconscious body was cradled in Maximus’s burly arms while Hershol clung to the cage’s bars. He gave a slight nod to the female and walked over to the jet’s controls.

“Best you boys hold on,” he ordered. “It’s been a while since I’ve flown one of these things.”

And just as Joshua strapped himself into one of the seats, the craft rocketed into the sky at an unforgiving speed just as the sound of propellers thrummed in the distance.