"The invasion is going well, I see," Zoltar said. Captain Morlock's image was insubstantial on the screen, but it would evade detection by any of Earth's forces. "Our starships are standing by." A great day; he knew too well to count victory before it was truly his, but surely he was close this time.
"Earth forces are in a panic," Captain Morlock reported, satisfaction evident in his voice. "The flowers are spreading everywhere."
"Good!"
"We have captured one of the G Force team, Sire," Morlock said. "The girl they call Princess. Your orders?"
Zoltar considered. The safest thing would be to order Morlock to kill her now. As prisoners, G Force had proved models of intransigence in the past. But this was the girl; Morlock should be able to hold her. "Use her to attract the others. I want all of G Force captured."
"A marvellous suggestion, Sire."
Morlock's unctuous tone irritated Zoltar. "We are close to final victory. Do not fail me, Captain!" he said, and broke off the link. Then he turned to stare over Earth, the planet that would so soon be his.
::
Mark's eyes flickered open when his wrist communicator began to chirp. Princess...
It wasn't. Anderson's voice.
"Code 33 oh four; this is an emergency."
Translation: no news.
"Calling Mark. Come in, Mark."
No chance. Not until you've got something more to tell me.
"Come in Mark. Emergency, Mark."
Chief Anderson's voice was becoming more and more strained. Good. You put her in that situation. You put me in that situation. His eyes closed again, the better to replay the vision of the burning flowers, and the rising, spiralling seeds. It would have been bearable - maybe - if they'd won the battle.
"Come in commander. I know you're listening, Mark. Come in. This is an emergency!"
Mark released the catch of his bracelet and let it fall to the desk.
"Earth is depending on you."
Right now, Earth can go to hell.
"Commander..."
There was more, but Mark didn't stay around to hear it. He left his shack and headed for the Snack.
::
Precious little comfort there. Keyop, Tiny and Jason were all there, but offered no help or hope, caught in a despondent mood. We're broken, Mark thought. It's my job to fix it, and I don't know where to begin. Before he could help the others - each an island of silence - he had to help himself, and that wasn't possible.
Mark had suffered qualms of guilt on his way into town, wondering if Anderson had really had something to pass on it, but the gloom at the Snack killed that idea. If Anderson had had news and failed to reach Mark, he would have called the others.
The television news didn't help.
"All persons have been evacuated and accounted for, but the giant flowers are wreaking havoc upon the city. We have thrown in all available defence units in an attempt to stop them, but it looks as though the city is doomed..."
"Shut it off!" Mark snapped. That was the final straw, to hear not only that had he failed in keeping his team safe, but that he had - they all had - failed in their job. "I'm going back to my pad."
He slouched out the door, hearing Tiny's voice behind him.
"Commander's real down himself."
If anyone else offered pointless observations about his state of mind, he didn't hear it, for the door closed behind him.
::
He closed the door to his shack behind him and leaned back on the doorframe. Where do we go now?
If Princess had been there, Mark knew, she would have been the first person telling him to think positive, to keep trying; that something would present itself.
His wrist communicator began to chirp again. Goddamn, Anderson, leave me alone...
But there was no voice, no Security Chief trying to get a reaction from him, and automatically his brain began to translate the signal from seeming-random chirps and flashes into something meaningful. "Princess!" It had to be; his heart caught.
She's transmitting in secret code. "Princess, give me the coordinates of your location." He said it aloud, but didn't transmit: if she was using code rather than voice there was a reason.
One more flash of light and chirp, then the communicator fell silent. Despair rose, but Mark strangled it; even partial coordinates were a lead, a clue.
And better than that, it meant she was alive. Capable of transmitting. "We'll find you."
It meant hope. For the first time in days, hope.
::
"I think I know why you're here." Chief Anderson's face was neutral.
"We want you to clear us for a mission into the city." Mark knew he had his teammates behind him; he'd told them of Princess' transmission, and they'd immediately agreed.
"It's impossible. The city is devastated, the flowers are everywhere. I can't risk losing you."
"We're going." That was the absolute truth. Mark had knuckled under when Anderson had directed him to fire the flowerbeds, broken the rebellion threatened by his comrades.
Not this time.
"Sorry, commander, but security is my responsibility. It's my job to clear the city, see no-one is hurt."
"Princess contacted me," Mark said, and saw brief emotion flicker across Anderson's face. A chink in the armour? Work it. "I think she's somewhere in that city. We have to find her."
"How do you know it was Princess?"
"She used the G Force secret code." Triumph; doubt over the sender's identity was Anderson's last card, and there was no way Princess would have given that code up to anyone. This was right, dammit; this was the time for action, and he knew Jason, Tiny and Keyop were with him.
Anderson considered, taking his time, then gave in. "In that case, get going. I'll clear it with the defence department."
Mark held his eyes for a moment, wanting to be sure Anderson got the message, Just as well.
::
The city was a war zone, and defence forces were working on levelling anything still upright in a vain attempt at destroying the flowers. Tiny picked a part of town with little military activity; the tanks and flame-throwers had been and gone. The flowers remained.
"Arr-root... No sign...root-oot...of Princess."
Princess' message, short as it had been, had given Mark new hope. He wasn't losing it, not by any means, but the logistics of searching a city were daunting. "We'll keep looking. Maybe Zark will come up with something soon."
The four settled on the pavement outside a shattered department store.
"Brr-rip.... Gives me...reep...the creeps." Keyop was sitting next to one of the flowers; it made no move, but Keyop wrapped his arms around his knees.
"They're quiet now, those flowers. Like they've been told to lay low for a while, await further orders," Jason said.
Not possible, Mark knew. But still, he knew what Jason and Keyop meant. The city was eerie; the flowers only added to the atmosphere. Mark pulled his cape closer around himself and leaned back against the storefront. "I've got an uneasy feeling they're waiting for us to make a move," Mark said. "Keeping tabs on us."
::
Anderson watched the flower in its tank of water, looking down on the monstrosity from a railed walkway. It was quiet, the tentacles hardly moving. This close to it, the smell of burnt spice was almost overpowering.
"You seem to be watching me," he said. "I wish you could tell me your next move."
Then he shook his head. Talking to flowers...this is getting to me. He turned to go, and gasped; he'd cut his hand on a rough join on the metal railing. Blood welled, and he held his hand out to prevent any getting on his suit. Par for the course. It was right in the palm of his hand, where any movement would cause it to ache until it healed properly. He whipped out his handkerchief to use as a rough bandage, and turned away, intending to find a first aid kit, but sudden splashing and an increase in that burnt cinnamon stink brought him back around.
The flower was thrashing wildly. What....
The convulsions only lasted a few minutes, and then the flower contracted and sank to the bottom of the tank. Anderson watched it disintegrate - turning to brown sludge over the course of ten minutes.
"I don't understand it...it just suddenly up and died...." Why? In the wild, they didn't seem to have a short lifespan, so it wasn't a natural death. And it was so fast. What triggered it? "Started right after I cut my hand. A drop or two of blood dripped down...must have fallen on the flower...
"That's it! Something in the blood destroyed it!"
He couldn't help but laugh. Right in the palm of his hand, indeed.
::
Princess didn't need to open her eyes to know her situation. She'd had a chance to get a look around when she'd been brought in here and secured into this...this coffin-like thing. She'd barely had time to stretch muscles aching from confinement in the flower. The room was round and high-ceilinged, something like a silo. Walkways ringed the wall, and she'd taken a headcount of the armed goons watching her. They obviously weren't taking chances.
She'd also taken note of the Spectran who was evidently Zoltar's delegate in this little venture.
"Your friends will join you soon, Princess," he said. She opened her eyes and looked up at him; bat-winged, white-haired and evidently fond of the sound of his own voice.
Whatever. Just keep talking. It's your own time you're wasting.
"The invasion of Earth will begin soon and, this time, G Force will be unable to stop it!"
She started tapping her wrist - and thus her wrist communicator - against the side of her prison. Just keep talking, you arrogant little man. Enjoy it while you can.
::
They were still waiting, sitting on the pavement outside the shattered store. Tiny seemed half-asleep, and Mark almost envied his ability to relax like that. Keyop was fidgeting, Jason was coiled watchfulness.
The air was humid; another storm was coming, Mark guessed. The slight breeze offered no relief from the heat. If it's going to rain, I wish it would just get it over with. Maybe it was ions in the air or something, but he felt pent up.
He was sitting a little apart, wings still wrapped around himself despite the sticky heat. Likely places for a Spectran base in a city this size...there must be thousands of places where they could hide from--
Then his wrist communicator began to flash. Silent code, the angular pattern lighting and fading, lighting and fading.
"It's Princess, signalling!" Mark leaned forward, looked questioningly at Jason.
"Right on the beam, Mark" he agreed.
"Rr-ip...got it."
Tiny stretched and yawned, and Mark realised their pilot hadn't been 'almost' asleep.
"She's in trouble," Mark said. "We'll have to move fast."
They ran for the Phoenix, each straight to their station. Tiny launched, and Jason started feeding Princess' signal through the computer. "Due north, sectors C and B, can't miss it," he reported.
Mark sat, flipping his wings out of the way. "Full speed ahead, Tiny."
"Full jets." No sign of sleep about him now. The engines roared as Tiny guided the Phoenix low over the city.
Behind him, Jason had called up a map of the city, to get a more accurate fix on Princess' location. "Signal's coming from the city's old water plant."
And that's all we need to know, Mark thought.
Tiny sent the Phoenix arrowing through the plant, utterly destroying everything in its path, without being told to, bringing the ship to rest with its nose jutting from the wall. That kind of entrance was standard procedure, allowing them fast egress to the scene. There was shock value too; most people were considerably surprised to find a large warship in their laps, and lost initiative. It also sent a message: don't mess with us. There is no fortress that can keep us out.
They ran to the nose of the ship, and Mark passed the one order he needed to: "Tiny, go after Princess! We'll hold them off."
Even as he was flying from the Phoenix's nose he was assessing the situation, mind speeding to record everything. Spectrans already on the ground, toppled by the impact of G Force's entry; the Spectran captain was shouting orders nobody was heeding. Only a few of the Spectrans were really in a position to take action against them. Peripheral vision showed Jason firing his cable gun, Keyop running lightly along the wire to punch the Spectran Jason had entangled, and then Mark had to deal with one himself. He flipped the goon easily and left him lying stunned on the ground.
Distantly he heard Princess cry, "Transmute - G Force!" and saw the flash of light echo off the walls; the flare moved, meaning she was in action and thus unhurt. He turned and advanced on the Spectran captain.
The man was crabbing backwards, pressing himself against the wall. "Spare me, Commander!"
Two things saved the Spectran's life; Princess was safe and he wasn't Zoltar. "I shouldn't. But go ahead, get your men out of here." Apart from anything else, when Tiny pulled the Phoenix out of the plant, the place would probably collapse.
The Spectran didn't care about the reasons. "Thank you, Commander!" He fled, and Mark noted with disdain that the rest of his men were left to run or fall where they stood. He turned and saw Princess in uniform, Jason, Tiny and Keyop ranged behind her.
"Hi, Mark," Princess said.
If she's trying to sound calm, it isn't working, he thought, and then had to wait a moment before he could be sure of his own voice. "Good to have you back, Princess." It was all he could say here, with the others watching.
"Arr-roo-ip...me too!"
"Let's go," Tiny said.
::
They didn't go straight back to the Phoenix. Instead they followed one of the tunnels - twenty-foot wide outflow pipes - leading out from the chamber where Princess had been held. It had been the path the fleeing Spectrans had taken, and Mark wanted to make sure they were all gone.
There was no sign of anything Spectran, and Mark finally allowed himself to relax a little.
They followed the outflow pipe to the end, and looked out over the city. That's what we still have to do - get rid of the flowers, Mark thought. The original problem hadn't gone away just because they'd rescued Princess, and Mark estimated he could see at least fifty of the monstrosities from their position. Maybe Chief Anderson--
Mark remembered guiltily he had yet to notify Anderson of how things have turned out, and tapped his communicator to signal him.
"Come in, Mark." Anderson must have been waiting by the comm to hear from them.
"All clear. Princess is safe."
"We've found a way to totally destroy the flowers by using chemical bombs," Anderson said, and Mark felt a momentary flare of anger that Anderson hadn't acknowledged Princess' safety.
"Stay clear of the city," Anderson continued. "New crops of the terrible flowers have sprung up. Do not touch any of the flowers; it can be dangerous.
"The solution to the fierce flowers turned out to be quite simple. An iron molecule in the haemoglobin, combined with carbon dioxide, when infused in water create a toxic reaction inside the plant's botanical makeup causing it to convulse and finally wither away.
"Zark designed the chemical bombs and our planes are ready to drop them now."
They'd stay where they were until the bombing run was over, Mark decided. The way Anderson was talking, the strike would be on its way already, and he didn't know that they'd be able to get the Phoenix extricated from the plant and out of range by the time the bombs were flying.
He'd made the right decision because, bare minutes later, Keyop pointed to three planes coming in over the city, flying in close formation; red, clearly visible against the building clouds. Motion in the air beneath the jets; bombs falling.
The blast. Mark felt his capewings flutter slightly as the airburst seemed to inhale, taking the oxygen it needed. He watched the mushroom cloud form, spread out, dissipate, taking the bomb chemicals with it...
Then the thunderstorm broke, supplying the needed water.
The flowers didn't react for almost a minute, making Mark wonder if the formula hadn't been quite right. Then, he spotted one of them, another and another, beginning to convulse, tentacles whipping fiercely but with no coordination, no aim.
A peculiar scent - part rain, part something metallic, part cinnamon-stink - was borne up to them on the breeze. Flowers were beginning to brown around the edges, tentacles to wither under the chemical downpour. "Be a while before I buy flowers again," Mark said.
"They looked so pretty and harmless," Princess said from behind him. "They should never have been taken from their home planet.
Mark continued to watch the vegetative destruction; flowers were decaying at an amazing rate, shreds and scraps being washed away by the pounding rain. In ten minutes there was barely any evidence of their existence, except for the general destruction.
"I'm glad they're gone," Tiny said.
"Trr-it...good job." Keyop looked up at the three red jets circling around for another run over the city, perhaps to see if another dose of chemical was in order. The clouds were started to look tattered around the edges; the storm would be over soon.
"What now, Commander?" Jason asked.
"Wait until the rain stops," Mark said, and tilted his head back to feel the thin and precious sunlight that was beginning to appear.