CHAPTER SEVEN:

Minions

            Night in Cadavra. Two moons, one full, one crescent, bathed The Cluster’s quiet fortress in an eerie light.

            “They’re late! They were supposed to start the decoy attack before we burned in!” Josh said, after he and Denso had dimension jumped into Cadavra and were hiding in bushes some one hundred meters from The Cluster’s fortress.

            “They’ll come,” Denso said. He worked some toggle switches on his metal belt and a pair of glass lenses hummed quietly out of Denso’s shoulder mount. They were mounted on a hydraulic stem that telescoped out to position the lenses in front of Denso’s eyes. Josh looked bewildered.

            “Distance viewers. They can magnify an image up to five hundred times,” Denso said. He worked more switches and the lenses telescoped over to position themselves before Josh’s eyes. Josh looked through them, and saw the horror close up.

            The Minions were repulsive creatures with purple skin, sunken eyes, and black uniforms. They carried chrome weapons that looked deadly and efficient. Just then, the Minions guarding this side of the fortress reacted to lightning flashes and explosions coming from the other side of the fortress. Most of their number scurried off to defend against the decoy attack, but two remained behind.

            “The decoy worked, but we have to get past those two without them alerting the others,” Josh said, as Denso’s distance viewers hummed back into his shoulder mount.

            “Leave it to me,” Denso replied with a grin of anticipation. The colossal blue warrior then rose straight up and vanished into the darkness high above Josh’s head. Josh waited for what seemed an eternity, hoping Fractal and Spindle could keep up the decoy attack long enough for him and Denso to complete their part of the mission.

            Josh looked back at the two Minions, wondering what sort of creatures would dedicate themselves to such evil purpose? Suddenly, Denso dropped down on them from above. He cracked their heads together. Their heads splattered into mush like rotten purple pumpkins and their bodies seemed to instantly crumble into piles of dusty debris. It was a quick and nearly silent assault, which rendered the two Minions out of action, and then some. The sight sickened Josh. It was the first time he’d seen men killed -- if they were men.

            Denso beckoned. Josh looked down at the circular magnetic mine it was his duty to carry. It was shaped like a pie tin. He was amazed by how light in weight it was. Still queasy, Josh hurried forward with the mine.

            “You killed them!” Josh said to Denso in a whisper.

            “They would have killed us.”

            “But, killing, geez!”

            Starla spoke in a hush over the burn bands. “They were already dead. Seven years ago, a plague killed every living thing in Cadavra, except for four that had found a way to immunize themselves. These four became The Evil Cluster. They then found a way to raise the corpses of their dead soldiers. Corpses they enlisted in an army of conquest.”

            “You mean -- they’re zombies?” Josh gulped.

            “We call them the walking dead,” Starla said over the communicators.

            “Close enough!” Josh said with a sickened whine.

            “So you see?” Denso grinned down at Josh. “They are already dead when we kill them!”

            Denso picked up one of the silver rifle-like weapons the Minions had been holding.

            “Don’t ever get shot with one of these,” he said. “Cell disruptors. They’ll dissolve anything organic their beam comes in contact with.”

            “That would be me,” Josh winced.

            “And me,” Denso said, tossing the weapon aside, “but they have no effect on the Minions. That prevents us from capturing their weapons and using them against them.”

            Ingenious, the boy thought. Chaos and The Evil Cluster could raise the dead, create deadly weapons, and look into the future. Well, Josh was determined to take one of those capabilities away from them by destroying the accelerometer.

            Josh headed for the fortress wall while Denso guarded his back. Josh’s queasiness was replaced by a strange exhilaration he hadn’t expected. Here he was, a Kansas school boy who twelve hours ago was sleeping in his bedroom in the dimension he now knew was called Solaria. Earth, or at least earth’s solar system, was his safe environment, but it no longer existed as he knew it. He had discovered that there were strange worlds hidden in the spaces between the dimensions with which he was familiar. Now all had changed and he was joined by purpose with beings from those interdimensional worlds, rebel warriors who counted him as a colleague in their quest to win the Dimension Wars. Joshua Miles had come a long way, and now he was risking his life to help these rebels destroy a machine that threatened all the dimensions, including earth. Earth, where billions slept, blissfully unaware of the epic struggle going on between their comfortable dimensions.

            Josh skidded to a stop, a vast chasm of smooth stone before him. It was like poured concrete and encircled the entire fortress like a deep empty moat. Josh might be able to slide down into it, but he’d never be able to climb out. It was obviously a structure designed to trap any army assaulting the fortress. Then Josh got an idea. He put the magnetic mine under one arm, snatched the skateboard from his backpack, and mounted it at the edge of the abyss. He set the timer on the mine as Denso had shown him, and hurled himself down into the moat. The walls of the moat must have actually been some sort of metal, for sparks flew from the wheels of his skateboard as he swooped down, gaining incredible speed. Minions high on the walls spotted him and began firing their cell disruptors! Beams of purple death impacted all around him, until two missiles from Denso’s shoulder mount obliterated the Minions’ positions on the wall. Josh skated up the other side of the moat and grabbed some awesome air. At the apogee of his arc, he came just close enough to the wall to place the mine. It magnetically stuck to the wall with a satisfying clink, just as Starla had promised it would. Then Josh turned in mid-air and brought his board down on the far slope of the moat. He zipped back into the depths and shot up the other side, landing neatly next to an amazed Denso.

            “You are indeed a great warrior!” Denso said in awe, then he threw Josh to the ground and fell upon the boy to protect him from the colossal blast of the mine.

            The two looked up as the smoke began to clear and they beheld Josh’s success. The wall had crumbled and there, exposed to attack, was the gigantic accelerometer. They stood up and Denso looked to Josh. Josh was confused, then he remembered Starla saying Denso would fire on Josh’s command. “Fire, already!” the boy shouted.

            Denso smiled, and fired his six remaining missiles in rapid succession, then they both turned and ran.

            “I hope six will be enough. I had to waste two missiles saving you!” the big blue DimensioNoid said.

            “Sorry to be a nuisance!” Josh cracked.

            The heat-seeking projectiles arced in six divergent paths, but all came together to impact the machine. Six overlapping explosions rocked the fortress, followed by secondary explosions. Just then, a phalanx of Minions rounded the corner of the fortress and began firing weapons.

            As they ran, Denso shouted, “Let’s burn!” and they both punched their burn bands, which Starla had preset. Josh and Denso simultaneously evaporated into their return burns.

            While flying through his burn tube, Josh felt smug, though it really wasn’t his nature. The mission had gone exactly as -- well, he’d planned, even though he hadn’t been aware he was planning anything at all. His innocent conversations had somehow led to a daring attack and the destruction of the accelerometer. Perhaps it was as Fractal said. Perhaps Josh was a natural leader. That’s when his burn hit terminus and he plunged headfirst into a snowdrift.

            “I’m never gonna get this terminus thing!” Josh sputtered as he stood up covered in snow.

            “I at first had trouble, too,” Denso comforted, amused. “Try landing at terminus velocity when your density is a thousand times higher than any other dimension traveler.”

            “No thanks!” Josh replied, dusting himself off.

            Josh and Denso’s burn back into the Forbidden Zone had landed them at the edge of the snowfield on the Black Mountain. It was much closer to the command center than Josh’s first visit to the Zone. It was DimensioNoid policy never to burn directly to the secret entrance of their command center, should the enemy discover a way to track them here in the Forbidden Zone. Therefore, Josh was forced to again make an arduous climb through deep snow and against a bitter freezing wind. It was colder than during Josh’s first trek through the snowfield. At the halfway point, Denso used the laser in his shoulder mount to heat an exposed black boulder to a rosy red. Josh and Denso squatted and held their freezing hands close to the warm glow. Josh wished he’d thought to bring gloves from home.

            “It went well,” Josh grinned, finally unable to contain his pride at the mission’s success.

            “Our first true victory in some time,” Denso replied, great puffs of white breath blowing from his mouth.

            “You were great, big guy. Uh, I did okay, too, huh?”

            “Your strategies were flawless. We are fortunate to have you as our leader.”

            “Yeah, well, c’mon. I’m not really your leader. Fractal, and Starla. They’re your leaders, not me.”

            “They have great powers, true,” Denso shrugged, “but power is not always the strength of muscle or of machine.”

            “So, we’re back to my brain, again,” Josh sighed.

            “It is what we need to have any hope. It’s what Chaos needs, as well.”

            “Yeah, Old Snake Head. Glad he didn’t show up. He must have been drawn to the decoy just like we planned.”

            “There, Fractal and Spindle would’ve had to face him,” Denso worriedly said. “I hope they survived.”

            The warm glow of the laser-heated boulder dimmed, and the two of them continued up the mountain and entered the hidden command center. Starla provided more food, but Josh opted for one of his protein bars. Odd how a bit of food from home could make a boy feel homesick. Fully recovered, Tempo put her hand on his shoulder, the tactile contact necessary for a Quaternion to telepathically read another being’s mind. “You’ll be able to go home, now,” Tempo said in the pleasing form of Emily Kinicki.

            “I will?” Josh answered.

            “Without the accelerometer, Chaos won’t be able to locate or track you.”

            “Well, gee, when can I get going?”

            “Whenever you wish,” she warmly said.

            “Yo. Maybe I ought to stick around awhile. What if something comes up?”

            “Starla can call you on your burn band. You’ll burn to wherever you’re needed.”

            “Yeah, I’ll be sitting in math class, then all of a sudden, Whoosh! I’ll vanish in a puff of smoke like a magician’s assistant.”

            “You and Starla can find a way to keep your secret.”

            “Well, I’m gonna hang. At least until Fractal and Spindle get back.”

            As if by omnipotent design, the viewers over the four tactics benches winked on, and Fractal and Spindle appeared, trudging through the snow to the secret entrance. Spindle had been injured, leaning on Fractal for support. Josh was shocked to see one of Spindle’s legs had been cut off at the knee! In moments, they were in the ready room, Fractal helping Spindle to a tactics bench.

            “So Chaos hacked off my leg, so what? I have another one,” Spindle said, in pain, but trying to make light of it.

            “It was a small price to pay,” Fractal submitted.

            “Oh, yeah,” Spindle sarcastically agreed.

            “We destroyed the accelerometer and we killed hundreds of them,” Fractal vengefully stated.

            “Exactly,” Spindle affirmed, tongue-in-cheek.

            Frobenians didn’t really have tongues, nor did they have lips, both lips and tongues being critical in the formation of words. Their speech came via a highly evolved syrinx, a bird larynx, which forced air into squeaky vocalization. They did have teeth, which were all one solid unit and yellow, like the beaks of birds.

            Starla moved to Spindle’s side and scanned him with the prismatic inspection light. The leg of Spindle’s bright red uniform was cut off at the knee and hung raggedly off the edge of the tactics bench. Yet there was no bleeding. Frobenian systems were botanically based. They don’t have blood, but instead have a kind of plant sap that seals and cauterizes their injuries reflexively. Still, without a leg, Spindle was of little use to the cause.

            Starla said, “Joshua Miles, you and Tempo must go to Frobenius and acquire for Spindle a -- spare part.”

            “Starla is right,” Tempo said. “My healing powers cannot replace a limb.”

            “Wear these,” Starla went on as two of its floating remote orbs arrived levitating two hooded cloaks before them. “You will blend in among the gatherers.”

            “Gatherers?” Josh blinked, putting on the cloak.

            “My dimension is totally organic,” Spindle explained through clenched yellow teeth. “It’s one big bountiful jungle. My people gather fruit, vegetables, water, and medicines. We used to trade with other dimensions. Now it all goes to The Cluster, who occupy Frobenius. You’ll need to acquire at least five hundred grams of Frobenian regeneroot to mend this,” he said, lifting up the stub of his right leg. “Make sure you get the purple ones, not the maroon ones. I’d hate to end up with two left feet.”

            Josh’s jaw dropped open in disbelief. Tempo giggled.

            “I’m joking!” Spindle laughed, which brought him a wince of pain. “Five hundred grams of any regeneroot will do. But The Cluster knows this plant is vital to Frobenian regeneration. They guard the regeneroot crops at all times and destroy most of it when it’s harvested.”

            “There are clandestine growers,” Starla noted. “Perhaps you can acquire the needed material from one of them.”

            “Uh, look, I’m not chickening out, or anything,” Josh said, swimming in the oversized Frobenian cloak, “but wouldn’t one of the big guys be better for this mission?”

            “Therein lies the problem,” Starla replied. “Fractal and Denso are too big. Twice the size of adult Frobenians. They will stand out. You and Tempo, however, will pass cursory inspection -- as Frobenian children.”