Trevor asked, "Tell me something, on my world before the invasion began, thousands of my people disappeared. In the years since, they've been reappearing in areas we've liberated. We call it 'riding the ark'."
Through his translator, Fromm answered, "We experienced nothing like that."
"Are you sure? We keep finding people stuck in this green stuff, sort of like a coffin but when we pull them out they're fine, they just don't remember what happened."
Again, Fromm answered, "That is a mystery unique to you."
Trevor turned to Major Forest and asked, "Do you know anything about that?"
"Sorry, no. I don't remember anything like that. One other thing, though, when you're talking about all these races that are fighting. Don't forget The Nyx."
"The…the Nyx?" Trevor remembered the oily black entity from which Nina’s people had stole the dimension-crossing building. Apparently Fromm had not heard of the Nyx, either.
Trevor asked, "How do they fit in? Do you know?"
Nina hesitated but stares from Trevor and Fromm forced her to speak.
"I don’t know, but my Trevor-the one from Sirius-I heard him joke about them. He called them something…I don’t know if it means anything…he called them the ‘umpires.’"
"The umpires?" Trevor did not so much ask a question as he did roll the idea around in his mind. Fromm remained quiet after listening to the translation.
"I think they are close to Voggoth. Maybe even under his control. I told you, Snowe set up everything to, well, to go and get you and he was in contact with Voggoth's agents."
Trevor placed his hands over his ears and gave his head a good squeeze.
"I think I’ve stuffed too much in here. I’ve learned more than I ever bargained for."
Fromm spoke slowly to his translator who said, "Until the truth of the matter is revealed, we can only play our part inside the scheme. Perhaps a day will come when we can fight against the scheme itself."
– The early evening sun hung low in a clear sky, sending sharp streaks of brilliant gold above the mountain tops, over Trevor's position, across open grassland, and slamming into the city by the shore like laser beams.
He hid among the remains of abandoned Chaktaw cliff dwellings near the crest of the last hill in a series of hills rippling away from the coastline like protective walls. Through binoculars, he eyed the city that sat along the crescent-shaped coastline.
At one time, that city had belonged to the Chaktaw, but now the Geryon Reich laid claim to the place. Trevor clearly saw the differences in architecture.
The original buildings resembled something like sandcastle towers built by the ocean including grand balconies, stylish archways, terracotta roofs, patios made of rock pavers, as well as statues and fountains decorating intersections. All the signs of a beachside resort, reminding him of his own summer house along the shores of southern New Jersey.
Jorgie liked to build sandcastles.
In contrast, the Geryons added a fifteen-foot tall perimeter wall made of black and gray steel and built in stretches with each section hinged to the next. Catwalks and guard towers with both spotlights and gun emplacements were fixed to the interior side of the barrier, and Trevor spotted a dozen robotic Steel Guard Golems marching the exterior perimeter.
Inside, alien buildings rose from the ground like iron stalagmites reaching fifty to one hundred feet in the air and clustered together in large numbers akin to steel cancers on otherwise beautiful flesh.
A trio of large structures dominated the city center, two rectangular and colored gray and white with a series of antenna and towers on their roofs. The third a circular, dark building resting atop a wide pedestal and lined with both windows and what resembled loudspeakers.
Regardless of aesthetics, the invaders had turned the seaside resort into a fortress. If the walls, guns, and towers were not imposing enough, a Geryon battleship cast its shadow over the scene, floating above the central area not far from those big rectangular buildings and nearly directly above the circular one. The juggernaut was tethered to the ground by heavy iron chains affixed to massive anchors wedged into the earth below.
In addition to the formidable defenses, an attack from inland would have to traverse the open field of grass, mud, and debris that stretched between Trevor's position and the front gate. Apparently someone had tried at some point because the remnants of many battles lay in that field like broken and burned fossils.
Just like the wastelands at Thebes' northern gate.
Stone lay on his belly amidst a tangle of thickets in front of the collapsed entrance to a long-forgotten Chaktaw cliff dwelling. Fromm stood in the shadows behind him with his interpreter at his side who relayed, "There are docks on the southeastern side of the city. They are of importance to us."
Trevor raised his field glasses and scanned. He saw huge buildings along the coast to the southeast but they appeared neglected, as did the nearby, sagging docks. It stood to reason that with air ships, the Geryons held seafaring vessels in little regard.
He crawled backwards until in the shadow of the mountain and then stood next to Fromm. The Chaktaw leader spoke and his interpreter said, "Tough walls. Towers have rapid fire guns but will be no problem. The big problem is their airship. Very powerful."
"Yes," Trevor agreed as he recalled his encounter with the Geryons at this Earth’s estate. "Very powerful. But not invulnerable."
Fromm asked, "Tell me, what strategy would you employ?"
Judging by the sharp squint of Fromm's eyes, Trevor suspected he did not seek advice but, rather, wanted to understand how a human leader saw the situation. No doubt such insight would help him better fight mankind.
"That depends on what the objectives are."
Fromm first pointed toward the big rectangular buildings sitting beneath the air ship. "They must be taken whole." He then pointed at the circular building. "That one must either be destroyed or over run." Then the Chaktaw pointed his finger toward the big dock buildings on the southern stretch of the city. "I want those intact."
Trevor scratched his nose and offered Fromm his thoughts. "I’d open up with artillery on the northern end supported by air power, send a sizable force down from the north to draw their attention, and then hit them with a smaller, more mobile force from the south. Break the walls down there and then move toward the center of town taking the objectives along the way."
Fromm listened to the translation then shook his head. "Why do you always try tricks? You don’t know the Geryon, do you? They get stronger with time. While you waste effort to the north, they send that ship to blow everything up. Then the Steel Guard is waiting for you in the south where your small force is struggling to break down the wall. Too fancy, Trevor Stone."
"Okay, then, what is it you’re going to do?"
"I am going to strike at the heart of my enemy as fast and as hard as I can so as to kill him with one blow."
Stone watched as Fromm turned his hazel and green eyes toward the city. In that gaze Trevor saw more than a commander looking at the things he planned to destroy, he saw a leader contemplating a decisive blow much greater than an isolated victory over a solitary fortress.
Trevor remembered the strange room when first arriving at the Chaktaw caves. He remembered the door that opened long enough to see a mocked up control room inside.
His eyes widened and he said, "You’re going after their battleships, aren’t you?"
Fromm faced Stone again. And smiled.
– The Earth shook. A cloud of dust stormed across the plains approaching the coastal city and the walls protecting it.