CHAPTER NINETEEN

The Commander received the news as any good Tenalpian leader would: with quiet stoicism and a hint of disappointment.

"The Core has been lost, sir."

The Commander rocked to and fro thoughtfully. "Well, I suppose we should find it again."

"There isn't time," the ensign reported. "The realiticians have determined we'll have irreversible corrosion very shortly."

"How shortly?"

"A few hours, sir. No longer."

The Commander dragged himself over to the bank of flickering screens. Across the dying remains of the universe, the Tenalpians found themselves in a thousand battles with the Otherlings. The Tenalpians were winning the war, but not quickly enough according to this latest information. By the time all this distracting (and ultimately pointless) resistance was dealt with, the cosmos would have ceased to be.

He tossed his pseudopods in the air. The Tenalpians had failed. There was no shame in failure. Only in not trying.

The ensign slid beside him. "Shall we abort, sir?"

The Commander's fleshy head bobbed. "We have no choice."

***

Xyreen's contingent of angels and demons engaged the enemy over the crumbling ruins of the Eastern Continents. The battle was going badly. For every egg defeated, it seemed another three took its place.

The Wa'surians were down to a dwindling handful. They could not afford a war of attrition.

Below them, the world they fought over looked to be already lost. Xyreen concentrated on the war at hand. After it was over, Wa'suria could be restored to its former greatness. One problem at a time, she reminded herself.

A nearby egg fell from the sky, firing its last volley of death rays. Another platoon of her forces was obliterated. Her troops rallied and continued the good fight.

Xyreen shouted orders over the turmoil even as a fresh dozen eggs appeared. She led the charge, preparing for an attack that never came.

Suddenly, the eggs stopped fighting back. They just floated there as angelic blades and demonic steel sliced them into sparkling confetti. Another egg was blasted into dust by unholy fire without the slightest attempt to defend itself.

Xyreen stopped, but the others, overcome with the lust of battle, swarmed their opponents. Within moments, the tide had turned. Xyreen knew something was terribly wrong. There was no reason for the eggs to give up. They were winning.

It was a miracle, but she no longer believed in miracles. Desaphanus, the maker of miracles, was dead.

Even as the Horns of Heaven sounded the victory charge, Xyreen knew this was not the glorious triumph she'd been hoping for.

The eggs began to glow ominously.

***

The Tenalpians had never been a race to sit back and idly wait for their fate, good or bad. The time had finally come to embrace destiny.

The Commander paused before the green button marked "ABORT."

"It was a good try, sir," the ensign replied.

"Yes, it was."

The commander pressed the button. Across the universe, each and every Tenalpian war egg began the countdown to a spectacular and inevitable self-destruct sequence.

"Good bye, ensign."

"Good bye, sir."

And the first ship exploded. Nanoseconds later, another followed its example, and like a sweeping, thundering tide, the signal careened throughout the cosmos.

***

The shock wave of an exploding Tenalpian war egg annihilated most everything nearby. A crashing wave of colorful shrapnel and undirected energy surges washed forward, engulfing and disintegrating Xyreen's forces.

Xyreen didn't even try to flee as it rushed towards her. In the final moments of her existence, she consoled herself with the knowledge that even if she failed, at least she had tried.

And then a large chunk of Tenalpian metal crushed her into a feathery pulp.