Chapter 17

Merlin sat on the bridge of the Avalon at the control console on the second level of the bridge. After collecting the weapons and assessing how many remained, there were four including Huitzilopochtli.

“Circe wanted to distract us from something, so she purposely placed that tracker to lead us to the temple,” said Merlin as he pressed button. His hands pressed a point on a map, and the ship started to move.

This allowed him to get up and look at a distraught Huitzilopochtli. The warrior seemed to be in mourning. “We lost most of my men in the past two days. That witch took so many of my men.”

Merlin nodded as he walked towards the warrior who sat in the captain’s throne. “Unfortunately, we have been blind in this fight. It is only now that I realize the true issue- Chronos is trying to escape to the future. Why Circe is helping him is disturbing? We must prevent him from getting into the time stream.”

Huitzilopochtli looked at the ancient human, and he seemed off to Merlin. “Ancient, why did so many of my men die if you know so much and yet are so blind?”

Merlin laughed even if he was a tad nervous around the armed warrior. Gripping his staff. “Because I like you am just a man with limited information to work with.”

Huitzilopochtli just moved his head towards Merlin. “You have by your mouth lived since a much earlier age. You should be a god by those standards, and you claim just to be a man. You are no god, and you just keep getting my men killed.”

Huitzilopochtli rose, and he started to arm the Murau weapon, but Merlin laughed. Raising his arms out, the wizard just shook his head. Then he looked at Huitzilopochtli, the warrior pointed the gun at him.

“Go ahead and try it.”

Huitzilopochtli didn’t even hesitate. But instead of the sound of discharge that the warrior expected from learning to fire the weapon. Nothing happened, and the gun singed with heat. Huitzilopochtli dropped the gun to the ground.

Merlin shrugged, and then he let out a bit of electricity that subdued Huitzilopochtli. “I believe that my alliance with Tlaxcala is over,” said Merlin. First thing was first was to make sure that he had merely knocked him out. Scanning with his staff, Merlin was satisfied with the air flow and heart-beat.

“I am so sorry, Huitzilopochtli, but you forgot this is my ship. And lastly, those are weapons designed to kill anyone who isn’t a Murau.”

Quickly, the wizard went to a console that he rarely used on the first level after descending from the upper level. It was the security console. Small robots roamed the ship. In fact, most of these robots kept the ship working. They were the ones who adjusted and repaired the ship for the most part. The fusion core had to redone at the last rearming facility near the Artic, but those drones took care of maintaining it as well.

At the same time, the other three Tlaxcala warriors were in a waiting room. It was a simple pressing of buttons on that same console that was used to redirect drones, and a fine gas released into the room that knocked out those warriors. If he wanted to, he could have killed them, but he didn’t want to kill them. It was just time to end this alliance.

For Merlin, they were loyal up until Huitzilopochtli tried to shoot him. As he instructed the robots to strip them of their weapons and clothing that Merlin had provided for them, he pressed the button telling the robots to execute. Hopefully none of the robots had been in the fusion core.

As the square floating robots came into the room, Merlin noticed how the three types of machines floated into the bridge. There were the smaller ones that looked like floating rectangles. They were used to prepare food and scanned things. Then a longer one came in. It appeared to be a flattened dog. It extended the arms as the smaller ones with little arms deployed lifted Huitzilopochtli up.

Then as Merlin rose up to the control console at the front of the second level, he turned his head to watch the larger drone strap down his former lead guard down as the smaller ones took off the duty uniform of a Murau solider. Then a third circular drone picked up the gun and clothes as the semi naked Huitzilopochtli was taken out of the room. The other three were being bound in the same way in the holding room.

“Okay, let’s see where we are currently.” The wizard looked at the chart where he was just a minute away from Tizatlan. Taking full control of the ship, he flew over the city and then dropped quickly to the amphitheater that he had been using, and as he hovered over the building as he directed the robots to drop off the Tlaxcala warriors in the amphitheater that he had used. Merlin hoped that the leaders didn’t kill the warriors now that the alliance was over.

Once the robots returned to the Avalon from the open bay, Merlin pushed the ship slowly out of the city. He didn’t want the people of the city to linger on it too long. The machine man threat was basically gone now. However, something was unusual as he continued to move towards the summoning pool that the Tlaxcala priests had used.

An indicator at the weapons station started to blink, Merlin checked to see if something had locked onto the ship which was on the main control board. The weapons systems were on the lower level, but Merlin quickly moved down to the that console that was next to the security console.

Glancing at the security system that told him that he was the only living being on the ship. It lingered on an unused stasis chamber. It was so much like the one that held a man that he considered his son that rested buried at Glastonbury Tor to keep him from truly dying. The wizard moved his eyes back to the tactical and weapons console to keep from lingering on what he needed to do to save him. What the weapons console showed was shocking.

“Someone has taken control of Mary’s machine man.”

It was a remote signal, but the worst part was that it was attacking Ashton. The boy was probably not in the best state of mind. His machine had taken damage, but there was something else that made Merlin’s blood go cold.

“No, you fool!”

The boy had transformed the machine knight into the beastly dragon mode. It wasn’t stupid in the sense that the machine had limited weapons in knight mode thanks to the fact that it had not been armed with palm lasers before being placed in stasis along with the lasers in the eyes going out. The problem was that Ashton had not been trained to factor how the dragon mode affected the mind of the pilot.

Deciding quickly against going to where he suspected Chronos, Merlin redirected the Avalon to go help Ashton. If he had enough time, he’d be able then to get him home. One last thing that Merlin noticed on the console was that Mary’s machine man no longer had a pilot signal.

There was no organic material in the cockpit, so Mary had either been taken out of the ship or something worse had occurred. However, that was not important to Merlin at the moment despite the fact he cared for the girl as well. He had to get to Ashton before the dragon mode got to the young man’s head.

Ashton wanted blood. All he could think was how he had been betrayed. Mary would pay. Jesse would pay. “Bill, you bloated jerk! I am going to crush you between the jaw of this metallic dragon!”

Stomping down with the right leg, Quetzalcoatl suddenly got into run again as Mary’s machine man continued to firing its gun. Ashton gripping the controls didn’t want to kill her for the moment, but at the same, he wanted her dead as anger seemed to rise in his mind. Avoiding the shots, the altered machine knight kept running and avoided shots.

He tried to calm down, but the only thing that he could do to calm his mind was concentrate on one target. The machine controlled by Jesse was the main target. After being pushed back by a tentacle, Ashton had already recovered.

Ashton pushed the Quetzalcoatl into a gallop, and then he pushed down on a button that shot out jets on the machine. Rising into the air, Ashton landed on top of the machine man. Slicing with the clawed hand, the other machine man fell as deep cuts slashed into it the chest armor.

The Atlantean machine man fired its weapons into Ashton’s Quetzalcoatl which pushed the machine off Jesse’s machine. It got back up as Ashton for a moment escaped the rage that overwhelmed him realized that he had received damage as the damage control systems kicked in. That didn’t matter since the repairs were still working.

Instead of pulling back as Mary’s machine continued to pummel him from behind, Ashton once again moved forward to attack Jesse’s machine. It felt weird as Ashton directed the elongated head towards one arm. The arms of the Quetzalcoatl pulled on the left arm as the head ripped into the right arm.

Blaster fire from the Atlantean upgraded machine’s three remaining tentacles hit Quetzalcoatl, but Ashton didn’t mind as fire from the dragon head erupted out of the machine. That ripped off the lower right arm. It fell to the ground.

And as that happened the left arm got ripped from the shoulder by the clawed arms. There was damage to the back from being hit from Mary’s machine-man, but Ashton shook off the hits. His machine had been built differently.

The head of Quetzalcoatl roared, as it went to the back pack. Switching to different cameras, Ashton used a screen to watch as the head ate into the back pack. Each bite ripped into the backpack. Metal shredded as it flew away from the jaws of the dragon. The arms continued to pummel and rip the body of the machine man.

Then Ashton released fire into the back pack. The machine suddenly fell back as Ashton released it. Fire erupted from it. Drawn from the rage and fear of what he had become, Ashton shifted Quetzalcoatl back to the knight mode. The damage slowed down the transformation, but Ashton continue to watch Jesse’s machine twitch with only one arm as the internal fire consumed it. The smooth dome head showed no emotion, but the machine looked in pain as the remaining hand wretched.

Pulling the wings from the back, Ashton noticed that there was something wrong with Mary’s machine man as well. It seemed to be wailing in pain as well.

The wings combined and turned into a shield that Ashton used as suddenly the altered machine man suddenly exploded from the fires. It was a fusion explosion. No radiation from the explosion, and it was quite small. However, the heat required the shield to protect Quetzalcoatl.

Ashton looked at Mary’s machine, and he started to move towards the machine. The rage had disappeared when Jesse’s machine had disappeared along with the transformation back to a more humanoid form. There was blackened edges of the explosion in some of the trees. It left few fires just a lot of flash frying.

Ashton held out the shield as the sword got pulled out. He tried to communicate with Mary, but he got no answer.

“Mary, talk to me. . .!”

Jesse shuddered as an explosion occurred miles away. Bill didn’t even flinch. Mary looked worried as Bill loomed over her. Holding a cylinder device, Bill looked sinister in something like what he had originally worn when he arrived in jeans and an orange t-shirt. In fact, it was the same clothing only cleaned.

“Now Mary, there is nothing to worry about,” said Circe who came up from behind Mary.

She then pressed something like what Bill had in his hand into Mary’s neck. Mary fell back, and then she suddenly shook her head as Bill walked forward.

“And now, I shall give you my peace,” he said. Jesse didn’t say anything. “Mary, I need you to stand at attention.”

Suddenly, Mary stood ramrod straight. “What did you do to me?” she asked unable to move.

“Murau blood is making you less malleable; I was hoping that the biochip would make you totally obedient. But the bio-enhancements that I did to your brother probably added to the control mechanisms. You can resist saying things.”

Circe wore some sort of body suit along with a neck brace that protected her neck. Bill looked at her. “You are still afraid that I am going to take over your mind, witch.”

Circe touched the metal brace on her neck. “Despite your attempts over the centuries, I will always be doing my own thing.”

Bill almost had Jesse take out Circe, but the BioBorg started to shake and wail from some mysterious ailment.

Circe laughed. “You really want to pump me with your biochips, but it feels like your BioBorg is having issues.”

Jesse reported as he continued to shake. “Control of primary unit has ended. Murau machine knight destroyed it. Data shakes occurring.”

Bill sighed. “That’s not good. We need to capture Ashton for my plan to work.”

Mary standing there still yelled at Bill. “What are you trying to do to Ashton?”

Bill laughed. “Well, I was going to bring him back to the future to have him get blamed for our disappearance. Say that he raped you, and then have him go to jail or at the least get sent juvenile hall.”

Mary gasped. “But why?”

“Because he is a descendant of the Murau. A noble no less who thought that they understood the universe. I would make his life a living hell just because I have seen how they denied the future for humanity that we Archons sought. You have no idea the greatness that Atlantis would have brought humanity.”

“You forgot about the remaining ships that Murau had according to Merlin.”

Bill chuckled. “That was a mistake that will not happen this time. I have seen that world thanks to the memories of Bill, and I see how easily it would be to manipulate just as we had almost achieved in those ancient days. The Murau hid that fleet in what you call Greece.”

Mary laughed. “And yet, you were the ones who destroyed the Earth.”

Bill took his hand and had Mary look into his eyes. “That doesn’t matter. If Atlantis hadn’t been destroyed the consequences of our attack would have been less damaging to the Earth.”

Mary could still not move, but Bill heard more shots fired. Jesse followed him without an issue. “Jesse, I need you to see if Joe survived the destruction of that Murau abomination, and if he is dead, find Juan.”

That was when Jaguar Warriors rushed into the clearing as the priests started to get into a strange chant. Following behind them was Juan.

“I don’t think that you need to look far you bloated black hillbilly,” said Juan.

Bill smiled. “Just the idiot white liberal that I need, Jesse take care of the annoyances, and bring Juan to me.”

Walking to the flying throne that had landed in the clearing, Bill watched as Jesse had already started the slaughter as claws came out of his hands made of a steel-like substance. The first Jaguar jabbed at Jesse with the obsidian Spear, but Jesse ripped it from the hands of the warrior while lifting on that warrior above his head. Then he threw it through another warrior. With a force of semitruck running through him, that warrior withered after a moment as the first warrior got his throat slashed.

Then Jesse ran at a speed faster than a normal man at the Jaguar warriors. Two of the Jaguar warriors ran up to fight with Jesse. Deflecting with his claws as sparks occurred as the spears tried to strike the BioBorg. Then out of nowhere, Jesse kicked one of the Jaguar Warriors which split the man in two.

That was when Juan realized that he was losing troops too quickly. He started to fidget away. But a blood-stained hand with fresh blood dripping from it, gripped him.

“Now Jesse, we are brothers in a war for our familia,” said Juan trying to escape the grip.

Jesse merely spoke a single line. “You are not Mexican- you are Spanish German from Chile.”

Lifted by his cape, Jesse brough Juan to look at Bill. The last Archon of Atlantis pulled from his belt out the strange cylinder that he had used on Mary again. Then he had Juan placed on the ground with Jesse putting one arm on his shoulder to pin him. Juan looked up at Bill as he walked up to him with the strange cylinder.

“I’m just trying to undo a wrong,” stated Juan

Bill laughed. “How is that possible? You are a child of the Murau nobles?” said the amalgam of Chronos and Bill. That confused Juan.

“Merlin never told you the truth. You are exactly like Ashton- a descendant of Murau nobles. Meaning you could have controlled the mecha-knight like Ashton. But Merlin Prometheus tends to be a good judge of his allies. He took one look at you, and not even knowing it said, ‘Nazi.’”

Juan’s eyes went wide, and he tried to rise, but Juan suddenly had a second arm on him. “What did you do to him?” asked Juan.

“Oh, you mean the control that I now have over Jesse.”

Bill gave a wicked smiled as he brandished the strange device as he got on his knees to talk to Jesse to repeat what he had said.

“You see Juan since you need it explained. No one cares that you are Chilean with German blood, but you are a jerk. However, Merlin realized that you are a jerk, so he was willing to not give you a great weapon. You coveted power for things that Merlin probably didn’t want you to have. My old enemy has threatened me probably more times that I will ever know since each shard had a hard time communicating with another shard. However, one thing remained about old Merlin Prometheus of Clan Emrys, he is always judging while he gives gifts. And he might not have my knowledge of the future from Bill, but he will never give things to those that he feels unworthy.”

Bill took the device that he had been holding, and he stabbed into Juan necks twice. The first-time gentle poking, but then the next time, he did it with almost an excited insanity striking him enough to draw a bit of blood.

Juan barely was able to slur some words. “What did . . .you do . . .to mien head?”

Bill laughed. “I need that German to come out. You see purer Murau blood and physiology is tougher for me to control. I can’t just tell you to stand still even if I put two or three bio control parasites in your system. However, I can make suggestions.”

Jesse started to malfunction again. “Losing control of other machine-man, Archon,” said the BioBorg.

Bill continued to speak knowing that he didn’t have much time as he heard something no one else did. “I need to you be the worst human being that ever existed that kills boys and tries to spread his Aryan blood with young women. Also, you killed Ashton, and you’ll never deny it. You enjoyed it because he wasn’t a good little Nazi . . . like you.”

Bill continued to speak those words to Juan as he screamed.

Ashton tried to plead with Mary. There was never any response. Quetzalcoatl took the blunt of the abuse as he marched on trying to fight against the constant punishment that he was receiving from those guns.

The shield would have issues turning back into wings from the pounding, but Ashton slowly moved the machine knight forward. Each shot felt like a sting.

“Mary, I thought that we had something special,” said Ashton tried to fight back the pain that he had experienced that was more in the heart.

Something about the transformation had been different when he did it. There was rage when he fought against Jesse. He had never felt that rage before. But it was gone now, and he felt just empty. And the continually being shot by Mary just made Ashton feel even worse.

A shot rebounded off the shield and hit the left foot of Quetzalcoatl, but Ashton continuing marching.

“Mary, we did something amazing in Quetzalcoatl. Please stop firing,” said Ashton. Tears wallowed up in his eyes.

He no longer had a choice; he was at sword length. In his right hand, he had the sword. It started to burn as each segment heated up. Ashton had been taught by the simulator repeatedly to make it quick.

Despite being cool inside the cockpit, sweat dripped down his forehead, and then he willed it going through the command crown. It sliced through the middle of the machine man. It still fired as it slid apart.

Explosions ripped across the right side of the machine. Ashton cried to no one as the machine fell to the ground.

Quetzalcoatl put the sword and shield on its back. Soon after, Ashton opened the chest. In the twilight of the night, Ashton just heard the jungle echoes. The sound of slithering snakes disturbed him. The hoots of mammals did not reassure him.

Dangling his legs over the edge, he looked at the two sides of the broken machine-man. Then Ashton noticed something off. There was no human debris.

The slash had come down vertical, and it had opened the cockpit, and despite it being hot, the sword would have left a burnt body behind if Mary was strapped in. There would have been some debris.

Going back into the cockpit, Ashton got the emergency weapon that was hidden underneath the command throne. Also, there was some sort of flashlight that could be placed on his shoulder in a special slot in the pilot suit. Triangular with the light coming out the glassy end with a hinge that attached to the slot on the shoulder it slid on easily. Quickly pulling the henge on the bottom, he attached the light to his right shoulder. And then pulled out a remote for Quetzalcoatl which he attached to the belt on the suit.

Going back to the open edge, Ashton put his right foot on a powered winch that he had used before. It lowered him down from the cockpit into the floor of the jungle. Pulling out the remote, Ashton closed Quetzalcoatl with the line disappearing into the top panel before the chest closed. The lower part of the cockpit slid back into the machine knight while the top attached to the it again. The eyes of the machine knight turned off, and it just stood there as a damaged sentinel while whatever repaired continued to work.

Ashton walked over to the shattered machine man to the larger pieces, and he looked inside the bifurcated cockpit with the flashlight and gun. There was no one in control of the cockpit, but something had slid out of the cockpit- it looked like a ball with spidery legs. It had lost an arm.

Ashton kicked the device, and it felt odd. Then one of the legs responded, and Ashton used the odd site and shot the machine. The gun released a burst of energy, and the thing exploded.

Then the crackling of footsteps, and Ashton turned around towards the sound. It was Merlin walking with his staff.

Ashton with all of pain and sorrow of the night nearly shot the man. “Are you Merlin or some madness?”

Merlin shook his head up and down once. “You know those lights are blinding, lad.” He shielded his eyes with his left hand

Ashton dropped the gun, and he hugged the ancient. “I am so sorry. I didn’t realize what it meant to fight with the machine knight if I turned it into the dragon mode.”

The ancient wizard nodded. “I can see that ripped apart three machine men. Where is Mary?”

Ashton looked at the ground. “I don’t know. Her machine starting firing on me after it depowered, and after I ripped what appeared to be Atlantean altered machine man that I think was controlled by Jesse who you never met with the dragon mode, I tried calming down. That mode was not what I thought it was. I gave her fair warning as she continued to fire on me.”

Merlin nodded as even in the dark he saw the strange spherical creature that laid in pieces. “Ah an Atlantean Bio Controller, it is in better shape than the last one that I saw.”

The wizard got out of the hug, and he marched over and poked it with his staff. “I see that you shot it as well. Not the worst idea. You never want one climbing on your back. However, that confirms that my old enemy Chronos has his Bio Borg operational as I feared. And I suspect it is this Jesse that you spoke of.”

Merlin started to walk back where he came from. “Come along Ashton. We must get back to my shuttle. I left the Avalon hovering to check on you. We will collect the machine knight later. For now, we must be quick. I feel that our choices in the next moments will decide many, many things.”

Ashton picked up the weapon, and he joined Merlin as they trotted quickly to a gull winged rectangular body with a snubbed nose aircraft. The Quetzalcoatl stood empty silently looking over a destroyed machine man with a blackened jungle behind them. Another machine man looked shattered in the background.

Only Quetzalcoatl still stood, and the body of the machine slowly regenerated as the white scale like armor continued to repair itself.