Chapter 24

  The morning had come, and both Amos and Reva were back in their favorite room of their brand new city ship. All of the people who had worked on the Lantean warship were busy moving into their new citadel overlooking the ancient military base. With a Lantean shield covering it, and now – thanks to Amos and Reva – both an infinite amount of drones and Zero Point Modules, Taranis had become the safest human world in the Pegasus galaxy, or so they thought.

  As Amos and Reva slowly began to toss and turn in their bed they felt a sudden series of jolts shaking the entire city. “What’s that!” said Amos as he quickly rose up from bed. Reva too was startled by what felt like a violent earthquake. Suddenly, screams of people could be heard coming from outside piercing the thick walls of the Lantean city ship. The two quickly got out of bed and walked downstairs of their Penthouse suite and ran over to the balcony window to see all the commotion. In the distance both Amos and Reva noticed a pillar of lava bursting forth out of a lonely mountain peek.

  “Oh no, a volcano just erupted, how can this be, it’s way too soon,” Amos thought to himself, his heart brimming with fear. He had remembered that the SGC mission report mentioned that Taranis was prone to unstable volcanic activity. Eventually, the Daedalus had to evacuate all of their people to another world, but that wouldn’t happen for 6 years. “All of our work, all that we’ve accomplished, this can’t be happening now!” said Amos, his words filled with dread.

  The two put on their clothes and rushed down to the control center where Lycus, Freyr, and the other scientists had gathered. “Freyr, how bad is it?” yelled Amos.

  “Bad, really bad, Amos Fyree. If my calculations are correct, the entire mountain will explode and the entire military base will be submerged by lava in a matter of 10 hours,” Freyr warned. Reva ran to the control interface that Freyr was standing and began furiously going over the data.

  “Freyr is wrong,” Reva clarified. Amos and the others in the room breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing these words, however Reva was not quite finished. “We have 5 hours before the entire military base is covered in lava. Not only that, the blast will be so devastating it could destroy all life on this planet.”

  “Oh Ancestors!” Lycus wailed. Lycus turned to his personnel manning the city ship and gave the following orders: “Get word to all citizens living near the Mountain and have them evacuate to the Ancestral city. I want everyone on Taranis, both native and foreign, to pack their belongings and be ready to leave this world in a moment’s notice!”

  “But sir, what about the Lantean Warships!” said a control technician.

  “We don’t have time to worry about them right now, our first priority is the safety of our people,” said Lycus angrily.

  As soon as Lycus spoke, teams of Taranians were dispatched all over the world to prepare for an evacuation. Meanwhile, Amos and Reva were in the control room working the problem. “It looks like we used too much geothermal energy and that is why the Volcano is about to erupt,” said Amos. “We may be able to redirect the flow of lava away from the city, that should at least be able to buy us some time.”

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  “Maybe a few more hours, but when that thing goes nuclear it is going to kill us all. Death is not my reason for being!” she said as she worked vigorously. Here Amos had just made his brand new girlfriend and now they were about to die, he was hell bent on preventing her from going out like FRAN in a planetary explosion. The two continued working until they both came up with a solution.

  “THE NANITES!” they both said at the same time. “Baby you’re a genius,” said Amos. “The nanite ablative armor I created for the Skidbladnir as well as the Lantean warships should be able to absorb the heat from the magma and make a protective foundation separating the magma flow from the rest of the Taranian settlements. Once the energy is absorbed by the nanite foundation the pressure underneath the ground will subside and the volcano will cease its activity.”

  “All we need is a proper delivery method and we should be good to go,” said Amos. “How about the Kinos. The material making up the Kinos is made of the same material we use to make the nanites. All we have to do is drop one of the new kinos into the caldera of the volcano and control it via remote control. As the Kino descends it should produce the nanites we need to cool the volcano and relax the Planet’s core.” The two kissed each other and ran off to the jumper Bay.

  Within minutes, both Amos and Reva were in the air headed to the sight of the volcano. As they approached the caldera, Reva got up from her seat and printed a Kino and a holographic emitter. “I’ve programmed the Kino to continuously eject the nanites as it moves throughout the Volcano. We can control its descent from this holographic control interface I’ve created. It should allow us to move the kino and visibly see where the kino is going,” explained Reva as she finished her preparation.

  The jumper hovered over the smoldering volcano as thick ash and molten lava poured out from the devastating tip. Reva made her way to the back of the jumper in order to drop the Kino into the volcano.

  “Hey Reva,” Amos said, face glued to the controls.

  “Yes, babe.”

  “Drop two.”

  Reva prepared two Kinos to be dropped into the Volcano and opened the jumper’s rear hatch. Both Amos and Reva could feel the pulsating heat boil in the air around them as Reva opened the jumper’s door. As Reva was about to drop both Kinos into the caldera, the volcano exploded and a large burst of lava shot up into the air towards the jumper. In the ensuing chaos, Reva lost her balance and fell out of the jumper. Her screams were loud and deafening. So loud Amos heard her as she fell. Like lightning, Amos turned around and ran to the back of the jumper, grabbed the door, and reached out his hand. There suspended in the air was Reva, floating in place. A look of relief fell across her face. Death was not her reason for being. With all his might, Amos used his Telekensis to pull Reva back onboard the jumper. As she reentered the jumper, Reva fell forwards onto Amos, knocking him on his back. She then began to kiss him passionately, sobs of tears coming down her cheeks.

  “Reva, I hate to stop you, but we are on top of an active volcano,” Amos said. The two then got up and raced back up to the cockpit and left the caldera.

  Back on Taranis, sirens were wailing and people were hurriedly packing their things. The mountain had become Vesuvius, and Taranis was now Pompeii. Everywhere, people could feel thunderous earthquakes as ash and smoke filled the air. In Arkology, families of men, women and children were scurrying about trying to pack their things one more time because they had just made this place their new home. A long line of people could be seen making their way for the Ancestral city, once their hope at defending this world, now their only hope at surviving it. As the long caravan of people made their way to the city, their mood began to shift and many began to notice that the ground had stopped shaking. A still silence slowly began to form around the Taranian settlements.

  “Shhh, listen…” said a Taranian man.

  “The Volcano, it’s calming down! All the lava and smoke are disappearing,” he continued.

  “We’re saved! Yay!” screamed the grateful crowd.

  As they looked up at the miracle happening right before them, they saw in the distance Amos and Reva’s jumper skim across the sky. Amos and Reva looked down at the exuberant crowds who were waving their hands up at the two heroes who had saved Taranis.