Chapter 11 - FIRE AND ICE
The Alpha dragged the Queen away.
Ethan rolled beneath a fallen pillar.
The Queen screamed and twisted.
Its claws tore deep wounds across the dragon’s chest.
Still the Alpha refused to release it.
“ETHAN!”
Maya pulled him up.
“We have enough power!”
They ran toward the eighth pillar.
Richard was already there.
Voss held two stripped cables.
“Tell me where these go.”
Ethan opened his father’s journal.
He flipped to the diagram.
“Left channel.”
Voss connected it.
The pillar flashed.
All eight structures hummed.
For one beautiful second, Ethan thought they had won.
Then every light shut off.
Maya stared.
“You have got to be kidding me.”
Richard studied the symbols.
“The Heart isn’t responding.”
“Why?”
“It was moved out of alignment.”
The Queen’s roar shook the room.
The Alpha was losing.
Ethan looked toward the lower chamber.
The blue crystal hung crooked above the broken platform.
“We have to put it back.”
Maya shook her head.
“That room is full of those things.”
“I know.”
“I hate your plans.”
“I know.”
She checked her ammunition.
“Let’s go.”
Voss joined them.
Ethan looked surprised.
“You could leave.”
“So could you.”
“Fair point.”
Richard tried to stand.
Ethan pushed him back.
“No.”
“I know the alignment.”
“Tell me.”
Richard gave instructions.
Ethan, Maya, and Voss descended.
The lower chamber looked like hell frozen over.
Creatures crawled across every wall.
Maya fired short controlled bursts.
Voss threw incendiary grenades.
Ethan reached the Heart.
It was warm.
Not hot.
Warm like skin.
When he touched it, images exploded inside his mind.
Dragons flying beneath stars.
Humans building pillars.
A black object falling from the sky.
Cities burning.
Thousands of creatures spreading.
Then one final image.
The Queen wasn’t the invader.
She was the ship.
The smaller creatures lived inside her.
The Heart was not a prison key.
It was part of her.
Her heart.
Ethan pulled his hands away.
“Oh God.”
Maya shouted, “What?”
“The crystal belongs to the Queen.”
Voss stared.
“Then why does it power the seal?”
“Because the dragons ripped it out.”
Understanding hit them all.
Without the Heart, the Queen couldn’t leave.
Returning it to the correct position would imprison her again.
Giving it back to her body would restore her completely.
A creature lunged.
Maya shot it.
“Can we discuss ancient alien biology after we survive?”
“Good idea.”
They pushed the Heart onto the original platform.
It clicked into place.
All eight pillars ignited.
A wave of blue energy tore through the cavern.
Every small creature froze instantly.
The Queen screamed.
The Alpha collapsed.
The prison began sealing.
Richard’s voice came through the radio.
“You did it!”
Then another voice interrupted.
Commander Shaw.
“Not quite.”
Ethan looked upward.
May you like
Shaw stood beside Richard.
A knife pressed against his throat.
