Twin Earth

Chapter 53

I could feel the sweat dripping down the side of my face and wiping it away I finally opened my eyes. The hanger doors had opened and a few dozen jets were flying off in front of me. Then it was my turn.

I hadn't noticed it, but my jet had actually risen above the ground by a few metres and the sudden depth change took me by surprise, giving me slight vertigo. I looked down and saw Apo frantically pushing buttons and shouting and waving at people to help him. He looked out of his depth and I hoped he would get to safety before the tsunami or Magnus' entourage arrived.

"This is a nightmare," I whispered desperately. I had to focus, but the image of war, tsunamis, planet annihilation was like something out of a hellish novel.

Trying to calm my breathing I looked ahead, picking up the black box and placing it on my lap as if somehow that was better, but feeling it gave me less control I placed it back down to my side again. Wiping my sweat I fidgeted in my seat and pulled at the slightly too tight space suit I had been given to wear. I had been told I wouldn't need a helmet as the jet would sufficiently be enough to withhold outside forces, but I was going through the vortex. No-one had ever done that before. Was it even big enough? Would I be crushed before I even reached the other side? What was the other side? I knew there were black holes there, which was horrendous enough, but what did they exist in? Another universe? Another dimension? Would I be stuck there forever? Or was Rachel right, would I be transported to the creators' home world? Neither option was particularly favourable.

My mind was racing with questions, theories, nightmare scenarios, even hope. I felt giddy and was finding it hard to focus on the limited jobs I had been given to do in the jet.

"Close the wheels, close the fucking wheels," I reminded myself, suddenly clicking the relevant switch. A nasty grinding sound emanated from underneath, which didn't fill me with much confidence, not that I had much within me anyway.

Suddenly a warning sound bleeped to the left of me and a green button flashed blindingly on the dashboard. I had no idea what it meant. The symbol on its face looked like an upside down teapot and the sheer ridiculousness of the whole situation finally engulfed me and I began to laugh. Eventually the sound subsided and the light went off much to my relief, but only to be followed by the engine noise suddenly gearing up a notch.

Then finally I was thrusted hard back into my seat as the jet bolted out the hanger door and up into the sky in a matter of seconds.

"Holy..." I mouthed as I struggled to keep my eyes open and my head away from the seat. "Fuck!"

This was not like the jets back on earth, not that I had flown many anyway and none that were high military grade, this was something else. I could see the colour of the sky slowly brighten around me as I flew higher into the atmosphere. I knew I had been here before, but because we had crashed on the planet I hadn't remembered much of it at all and the sheer brightness of the light within the sphere around the planet was almost painful. Thankfully the jet's screens accommodated for this and gradually reduced the intensity of the light to something more bearable and the jet slowed to a more sensible speed.

As my eyes adjusted and I continued to rise higher into the atmosphere to presumable what would be considered space if I was around Earth, I could finally see the extent of the damage that was ravaging Mochuvia. Hundreds of other fighter jets were at war with very familiar Earth jets and I was surprised to see just how many there were. The sphere was now noticeably decayed, warping and flashing, but it didn't look like the jets were coming from space if that was even possible. How Earth couldn't know about this invasion was beyond me, which made me worry about just what kind of state Earth was in too.

'They must know,' I debated and a sick feeling of realising it had to be more than just a rogue scientist and a mad millionaire washed over me. Then I saw a huge ellipse had opened above Mochuvia in the North.

"That's how they're getting in," I declared out loud in surprise. "They must have managed to open another one of Magnus' ellipses, but this time just above the planet. A perfect gateway for an invasion." I was stunned.

I recognised not just American jets but also Russian ones. I didn't know how Mochuvia would survive or why this was happening, but hoped that their sheer speed and technology and my mission would help them win this unexpected war. The only consolation was that the Russian jets seemed to be fighting the American jets just as much as the Mochuvians.

"Jesus Christ, this is a three way war!" I exclaimed.

Avoiding the chaos and under strict instructions to avoid confrontation I helped manoeuvre my jet away before anyone saw me and turned it towards the southern ocean. Much of the tsunami had swamped the surrounding jungle and even the desert along the centre of the planet. Mochuvia had begun to resemble Earth with distinct patches of sea and land. I was also stunned to see volcanic eruptions and tiny volcanoes appearing along the pole, which must have at one time been deep under the sea, but even though Mochuvia was returning to more of an Earth like state I could see just how close the tsunami was gaining ground on the southern home-world. Hundreds of huge planes were filling up with people and taking off, but to where I didn't know, because as soon as they rose up into the air they had to escape the fire of the on-coming war. Closing my eyes I couldn't bear to watch as one particular plane got too close to a Russian jet.

Then a warning bleep began to sound above my head and I looked up to see a small screen flashing what looked like a black dot heading to the shape of what I suddenly realised was my jet.

"What the hell?" I gasped as the dot grew closer to the image of my jet and the bleeping sound grew faster. Then the same Russian jet I'd seen moments before zoomed past my window and out of eye shot.

"It's a bloody missile!" I shouted in realisation and panicking I stared around at the controls. "How the hell do you fight with this thing?" I gasped, but before I could figure anything out the bleeping stopped and the dot vanished. Confused, I bent round to see if I could see anything out the window, but all I could see were metal fragments in what looked like a spherical shape of debris. Looking up at the small screen again I noticed a circle flash around the image of my jet and then stop, finally switching itself off again.

"Am I in some kind of protective bubble?" I wondered, but before I could debate the issue I saw the Russian jet appear on my horizon once again, closely followed by an American jet.

"They must know what I'm trying to do. I have to get out of here," I whispered, pulling away from the two jets and higher up into the atmosphere towards the vortex.

As a fight ensued below me between the two jets I focused my attention on my mission. For some reason the unexpected missile encounter had taken my mind of the blind panic I had been experiencing and I began to feel a sense of calm. Something I hadn't felt for a while. As I flew closer to the vortex the surrounding windscreen grew dimmer, presumably to offset the intense light that was increasing around me. What surprised me was the ability to now see into the vortex itself. I was so used to thinking it was a rabbit hole of intense light that I had never considered what it would look like if the light switch was turned off, and it wasn't a round hole as you would expect it to be at all. In fact it was a hive of small hexagonal holes on the edge of the sphere that flashed different colours and even locations within them. I had never considered that there would be more than one or that some of the smaller ones would lead to somewhere completely different. The largest hole of course led quite clearly to the vast black holes that I could now see merging with each other just beyond the hexagonal hole.

"At least I won't be crushed by the front door," I sarcastically moaned to myself.

I edged closer and silently flew easily through the large vortex hole and into the space beyond. I felt nothing. Not even a slight rumble beyond the engine sound interrupted my journey and for the first time I felt like a prat for being such a pansy about it before.

"So why, if it was this easy to enter through the vortex, or vortexes, did none of the Mochuvians travel here themselves," I wondered. Then I noticed the small black box was vibrating softly next to me.

"It's the box! The box is creating a protective bubble. That's why I felt nothing. Maybe the creators' have my back after all," I smiled.

Quickly though, my smile faded as the image of the two vast black holes slowly grew closer. The view was all too familiar, but last time it had been a dream or at least it had felt like one. This time it was real and I still had no idea what I was expected to do.