“Linda, we need to find Maurice right away. These three pieces of antimatters are enough to blow up this whole solar system. We need to transport this stuff off the planet. Cassi was trying to make us do that so she so she could have enough power to go back to Earth,” he said.

  Linda replied, “She won’t need to now. She has possession of Duhbe. She’s trying to leave Topaz right now. We need to help them. Come on, let’s go. We’ve got to stop Fire-Bird from taking off!”

  They all started to leave. Brian instructed Dr. Sern to seal the underground lab away from the conflict above them.

  Once everyone got back to the surface, Linda tried to contact Tasha. There was no response. She tried to contact Maurice. No response. The both of them needed help, she thought.

  Tasha’s team was closer, so Linda said, “Let’s join Tasha, then we’ll help Maurice. Leave me alone. All I’m trying to do is get rid of people that don’t belong here. Now I’m going to give you my full power, directly into your brain.” Her hands began to crackle.

  But so did Tasha’s hands. Her orange energy began to crackle also. “Not this time,” said Tasha. She kicked her in the stomach. Something was wrong. Her power was malfunctioning.

  While she was trying to get a firm footing, Tasha pushed Cassi, and the both of them rolled down the ramp where Joseph and Dena were.

  Joseph was scared but didn’t want to show it.

  Tasha recovered first. She rose to her feet as Cassi’s limp body came tumbling down after her.

  “Let’s get out of here,” said Tasha. As she tried to help her brother up on his feet, Cassi came from behind her and socked her as hard as she could. Tasha hit the ground.

  Cassi couldn’t deal with this anymore. Tasha and Dena were down. She was alone.

  Then Cassi said angrily, “Okay, you little sweet tart. I’m only going to ask you once. Give me that.”

  Then everything happened fast. It was Joseph, Tasha, and Dena. Joseph snatched Duhbe from her, and Dena ran to the outer door of Fire-Bird to cut off Cassi’s retreat. Then Cassi was punched in the face by Tasha.

  “You’ll pay for that, cow!” As both her hands crackled with her netherworld energy, she started becoming transparent.

  “Joseph, Dena, run! I’ll handle her!” exclaimed Tasha.

  Joseph was holding Duhbe, and Dena ran behind him. He slipped pass Cassi, down the ramp, but Dena wasn’t so lucky. Cassi grabbed Dena’s ankle, and the pain she felt was excruciating. Her body simply rolled down the ramp. She fell unconscious.

  “One down,” Cassi said.

  Tasha was angry. Instinctively she lunged at Cassi but passed right through her. She slid on her belly. Just as she was turning to get on her back, Cassi came at her in solid form.

  Cassie began to strangle Tasha with her bare hands.

  Slowly, her hands sank into Tasha’s neck. Cassi said, “I hated you more than all your friends put together. Leave the landing bay housing.”

  Fire-Bird was pretty big. But no one was there. Cassi was alone, or so she thought. She told all the guards and her people not to be anywhere near her ship. It was an hour before the hour. Cassi was tired of all that religious nonsense. She was only interested in power.

  She stepped on the space ramp that led directly inside. One minute and I will be on her way back to Earth while these savages fight over scraps, she thought.

  She smashed open the glass container containing Duhbe. She could feel it rejecting her a little, but all she had to do at this point was to put Duhbe into the containment chamber on the bridge, and she would be forced to take her back to Earth.

  She grabbed Duhbe with a motion like an angry child trying to get a disobedient cat to see the light. Her grip tightened. “Don’t start acting up on me, you stupid carpet!” she commanded.

  Duhbe went limp, and she felt, once again, in control. She kept going up the ramp. Suddenly, out of nowhere, she heard footsteps behind her.

  “Carpet and I promise you a merciful death,” she added as she walked aggressively toward him. Her entire body glowed with pure black and white energy. She had never used her full power before. Her hands glowed again.

  She extended both hands out to end Joseph’s life.

  Desperate, he held up Duhbe and tried to shield himself.

  Cassi said, “You’re so stupid. That carpet won’t respond to your male brain waves.” To her surprise, it did.

  She kept trying to punch through Duhbe as a shield, but that wasn’t working.

  Instinctively, she clasped her hands over Joseph’s. Her grip. Nothing was happening, except for an even tug of war between the two. He felt no pain. Only concentrating behind Duhbe, Joseph was speaking some ancient language written on its tapestry. The words appeared as he spoke them. The both of them. Cassi didn’t understand what was happening. She felt weaker.

  By this time, Tasha had recovered and hit Cassi in the head with her boot. She got up. Something was definitely wrong. Tasha hit her again. Tasha was even more mad and ready to unleash her full power. Her hands radiated with orange magic energy.

  She stabbed both her hands into Cassi’s heart. It was like she was electrocuted.

  “Let’s see how you like it!” She didn’t. Cassi got up and ran.

  “No! Oh my God! Oh my God!” Cassi said as she ran from the battle. There was only one person who could save her—Omar. She had to find him. She had never felt this sick, confused, and upset with her right now. She would give anything to get back to normal.

  Joseph helped Dena and Tasha recover. Tasha had to speak, although battered and bruised, “I’m so proud of you, Joe. I know you had a warrior spirit in you.” She picked up Duhbe as Joseph put his arms around her and Dena. He was the strongest of the trio. He had to be their pillar.

  “Let’s go find Maurice. It’s almost the hour. We’ve got to try something.”

  Cassi ran through the city of Omen streets. For the first time in her life, she felt panicked.

  Her powers were out of control at this point, changing from flesh and blood to transparent to energy to nothing. She ran, occasionally touching as many Omen citizens and killing them as she could. She didn’t care.

  At a distance, she saw Omar! She felt a new boost of strength.

  “Omar! Omar! Please come to me.”

  They met at almost the exact center of town. He was also wounded and bleeding badly. He had been shot at least four times. He still clutched onto the spellbinder, his people’s history.

  They ran into each other’s arms. He squeezed her tight and the book.

  “Cassi . . . we’re both wounded. Please . . . please tell me you love me . . . I can heal us.”

  Wounded, her body only hurt worse. “Honey, my body is dying. Please help me,” she said.

  “Cassi,” he looked her in the eye, “do you love me?” His grip tightened.

  She looked him in the eye. “No.”

  His grip got even tighter. At this point, Cassi tried to break away from him.

  Somehow, everyone ran from the two. Energy was building up.

  Then both of them exploded in a very destructive blast—loud, blinding, and final.

  They both self-destructed. And then, for a moment, everything got quiet.

  Chapter 16

  Oblivion

  Behind a metal barrier, Maurice couldn’t believe what he just witnessed. Slowly, he raised his head. He just had to be the first to look. All that was left of Cassi and Omar was a blinding light of residual energy and a giant crater, at least a thousand feet wide and a hundred feet deep. Imagine the energy in both their bodies. Still, he couldn’t help but think that Omar, in his last moments, somehow dampened the explosion like he wanted suicide but not to take his own people with him. Maybe he wasn’t such a bad person in the end. He opened the door for us.

  Slowly the others came to the edge of the crater. Its edges were very hot. It was like standing next to an oven on full blast with the door open.

  Tony and Linda scrambled through the crowd to be next to Maurice.

  “Look down there,” exclaimed Tony.

  “Yeah, I see it,” responded Maurice.

  By then, Robert, Tasha, and Joseph had come to join them.

  “It’s Omar’s magic book. It survived the explosion,” said Tasha.

  “Robert, Tasha, get that book now!” Maurice commanded.

  Tasha aimed her fingers into the crater. “Okay, let’s have a look at that book.” Her magic brought the book into Maurice’s hands.

  The crowds began to back up, except for one. He stepped forward. “You have defeated us. What do you intend to do now?” said Vizir.

  “We’re going to save you,” said Maurice, even the other Karpenters were wondering how. Maurice had a solution. “I know Cassi’s dead, but Tasha, the answer lies with you. According to my instruments, Duhbe absorbed quite a bit of her intangible energy. We can transfer the energy into you, and you and Robert can make the entire planet intangible. The devil’s comet will pass through us as it always has.”

  Markell chimed in, “Well, yes, but we’ll be right back to square one. We’ll have the same problem a year from now.”

  Good point, Maurice thought. He concluded, “Not if we blow it up with antimatter. We can easily build a device that can move with the comet and the antimatter and detonate it once it gets far enough from Topaz. Let’s get to work.”

  For the next few hours, Maurice, Brian, Tony, and Markell got to work on the device. With the fear of God in their hearts, the device was ready.

  Maurice and Tony put on their protective suits and, with special care, loaded the boulder-sized chunk of antimatter into their device’s special case, which was about the size of a small refrigerator.

  Maurice pressed a button and cut on its electromagnetic field. The strange matter began to float. All four of them were scared to death.

  * * *

  Tasha, Joseph, Linda, and Robert had gone to the north temple together. Tasha was scared. There was a long hallway, and the four of them walked down to the end where there was a fancy chair connected to multiple machines. Tasha sat down.

  Robert knew he had to comfort her. “Tasha, you’re going to get hurt. This machine is going to take everything out of us. Do you still want to do this?”

  “Yes, I do,” she said. He kissed her, and as they were about to leave, she grabbed Joseph’s hand.

  “Don’t leave me, brother,” she said.

  Joseph knelt down and held his sister’s hand as Linda walked off with Robert to the southern temple. Then, as they reached the outside, they both mounted Merek. After a few minutes, they reached their destination.

  There were several assistants there to help Robert into his chair and connect the equipment without being asked. Linda stood by Robert’s side, knowing the incredible pain he was about to endure.

  By this time, The Devil’s Comet entered Topaz’s atmosphere. Down below, the crew had activated the machinery, and within seconds, the intangible energy crackled and sliced through the planet.

  Slowly the comet sank into Topaz but wasn’t doing any damage whatsoever.

  Tasha and Robert, although miles apart, were in extreme pain. It worked. The comet was passing through!

  They could both almost telepathically feel each other’s life force saving the planet.

  The tense hour had passed. The comet had taken Maurice’s device. It had no conscience. It had no reasoning. Somehow it knew it’s life was about to end. Maurice commanded Linda, and Linda obeyed.

  “Cut the field now!”

  Then, in an instant, the night sky of Topaz lit up with a bright white light. The plants began to rumble, but after about a minute, there was an eerie silence.

  Everyone on Topaz was in shock. No one moved. Maurice went to the public address system. He activated the amplified speakers, and spoke, “People of Topaz, The Devil’s Comet has been totally destroyed. It will never bother your people again.”

  There was a thunderous roar of celebration. Maurice was so happy. All their hard work had paid off. As he exited the booth, the crowds lifted him on their showers.

  “Hail, Maurice, hail, Maurice!”

  This was the moment he had lived for. Now to get the others together, there was still work to do.

  Chapter 17

  New Blood

  Even for the ones who were warriors at heart, it was a little dead. Paralyzed bodies were all over the streets of Omen. Victory was won at a high cost.

  Most of the city was assembled at the launching bay because it was clear from all sides, and most of the city’s power was cut off to the surface. The people were shocked to see Starcutter coming down. It landed, with the people in awe because they had never seen a space ship other than Fire-Bird, and most hadn’t seen it up close.

  Finally, its landing stairs came down as the door opened. Steve and Kimberley walked down the landing ramp.

  “Glad you could make it,” said Maurice.

  “Do you have to leave so soon?” said Markell. “We can learn so much about each other.”

  “Well, not just yet. Listen, I want you people to use Fire-Bird wisely. It can travel faster than light and can take you pretty far. Remember what I said. Use it to take the rest of that antimatter into space and blow it up. That stuff is dangerous.”

  “I will make it our first priority as soon as I can get a crew together. We have to train and rebuild,” said Markell.

  Sometime later, as the Karpenters were all assembled to celebrate their victory, Terri came to Maurice to confront him.

  “We’ve finished our mission. Now I want to return home.”

  Maurice had almost forgotten. Then Brian shocked him, “I want to return to Earth too. We’ve been out in space all this time, and I, for one, think it’s too dangerous. I want my life back and I miss my family.”

  Maurice was outvoted. The only way to get them back without a year of space travel was through the warps that Duhbe and Merek could create.

  He thought, No one’s magic on the ship is strong enough to hold the warp open . . . except maybe Robert. Hmmm . . . What if Robert and Tasha’s magic worked together? That just might do it.

  * * *

  Tasha and Robert held Duhbe and Merek about ten feet apart from each other as the other Karpenters watched.

  There was an electrical-like energy flowing between both carpets. The energy kept building up. You could feel the magic. Tasha recited her spell.

  “Space, time, time, space, these two are ready to leave this place. Open up for what you’re worth and send these warriors back to Earth!” With that, a circle of energy appeared between both carpets.

  It ripped through time and space. There was a tunnel of energy, and on the other side, they could see a park back on Earth. There was an old man sitting on a park bench.

  “Wow,” Terri said, “that’s my grandfather. That’s Cherry Park. I can go home!”

  She started walking toward the portal. Natalie and Linda stopped her and gave her a group hug. Then Brian walked to the portal.

  Maurice had to have the last word, “Brian, you’re my best scientist . . . I . . . ”—he tried not to cry—“I’m gonna miss you.” He hugged him.

  “I’m your top scientist now,” said Tony.

  “No, this is the OG right here,” said Maurice. “When you get back, Terri, I want you to make sure Brian gets to his people. You got that?”

  “I will, Captain,” Terri said with a salute.

  Joseph and Linda both said to Brian, “Hava nagila hava.” And then Terri and Brian went through the portal. Everyone could tell it was about to close.

  Maurice had taken the letters off their uniforms as the magic wore off, and Brian and Terri’s clothes changed instantly to what they were wearing when they both started their trip to space two years ago.

  They were both happy to be going home. As the portal was closing, Maurice said to Robert, “Do you want to go back to Earth too?”

  The portal closed. Robert went over to Maurice. “No.” He looked at Tasha. “My place is with the Karpenters. If it’s not too much trouble, I would be honored to serve with you.”

  Dena chimed in, noticing Maurice had two letters, “Maurice, please make me a Karpenter too. I’ll do anything to leave this planet. I want to be with you, guys.”

  Maurice looked at the magic letters. Then he gave Dena Brian’s letter, and to Robert, Maurice gave Terri’s letter. Their uniforms popped on instantly. They recited the Karpenter’s oath, then Maurice spoke.

  “You two have proven yourselves to be more valuable than gold. I’m proud to have you serve with me.”

  Dena kissed her uncle Markell goodbye. “Sorry, I can’t stay for the rebuilding, but this is the trip of a lifetime.”

  Epilogue I

  Three days had passed since the arrival, passing, and the destruction of The Devil’s Comet. Everyone on Topaz was still celebrating.

  From atop a tall mesa in the desert between Kai and Omen, Maurice and Linda looked down on the massive two rows of people caravanning back to their respective cities. The Omens were marching back to Kai to be in touch with magic and nature, while the Mondarians were going back to Omen for science and discovery.

  In Maurice’s heart, this was the best solution for both peoples.

  Linda put her arm around his waist. “Do you think both cultures will survive from this point?”

  “Yes, I truly believe that they will,” he concluded. “These people are people just like us. All they need is good leadership. I trust that Markell will be the right person for the job.”

  It was just before evening on Topaz. Maurice turned his attention to Kimberley and Tasha. They were both lifting a small but heavy machine that Maurice and Markell had rushed together and were placing it on top of Duhbe.

 

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