Chapter 19
“Well, that wasn’t encouraging,” Circe murmured as they left Aries’ office.
“The boss isn’t one to blow smoke up our asses or give false hope. However, if anyone can find a way to fix that little machine, it’s him.”
“This is my fault. If you hadn’t come to get me, then Demetrius wouldn’t have—”
He didn’t let her finish her statement, as he picked her up for a thorough kiss, murmuring, “Not point in saving the world if I lose you.”
“Oh, Taurus.” She sighed against his lips. “What are we going to do?”
“Exactly what I promised. Head to bed and not come out until you’ve come a few times.”
“Taurus!”
“Save the name-screaming for when I’m making your toes curl.” He scooped her into his arms and began jogging the stairs to reach his apartment faster.
“You’re incorrigible,” said with a giggle.
“But sexy, right?”
Her husky laughter tightened his chest. “Very.”
As they entered his room, she glanced around. “You live in a man cave.” An apt observation, given his massive flat screen, gaming consoles, and leather recliners with built-in beer fridges.
“Guess it could use a woman’s touch. You’re the first one I’ve ever brought to my room in Tower.”
“And here I took you for a ladies’ man.”
“Oh, the ladies love me,” he boasted. “But I never had any interest in getting serious with any until you.”
The sweetest smile curved her lips. “Why, Taurus, are you asking me to be your girlfriend?”
“Yeah, I guess I am.”
A statement that earned him a passionate kiss, which led to clothes hitting the floor, but they didn’t make it to a bed, the several paces too far for his impatience.
The moment he touched her between the legs and felt her honey, he hoisted her, his eager dick finding its way.
Her arms and legs wrapped around him, drawing him deep, where he belonged.
They kissed while they fucked. Tongues a hot sliding mess. His hands cupping her sweet ass. Her pussy clenching his cock to keep him buried. He bounced her on his dick, driving hard, and she loved it. Moaning, and squeezing, and quickly coming.
The release they both needed.
“Mmm. That was amazing.”
“Not as good as you’re going to get after our shower.”
“Oh.” The only teasing syllable uttered before she sashayed into his bathroom, casting him a coy look over her bare shoulder. As if he could resist that invitation.
Round two happened under the hot spray. What could he say? Soaping her body, hearing her utter soft sounds of pleasure had him on his knees worshipping until she practically ripped out his hair when she came.
When they eventually made it to a bed with his rock-hard cock, she returned the oral treat, bobbing and suctioning until he bellowed for her to get on top. But instead, she kept going, leaving him spent.
After that, even a mighty Zodiac Warrior needed time to recover, and so they cuddled, sated—for the moment.
“I can hear you thinking,” he stated, stroking a hand down her back.
“Since we don’t know if we can use the Antikythera to stop the asteroid, I’m thinking maybe there’s still time for the military to act.”
“Doubt they’ll listen to us.”
“Because all the current data is wrong, but what if it could be corrected? If I can get a few observatories to refresh, or at least look at the raw numbers, they will recognize their current models are wrong and warn their governments.”
“It’s worth a try.” He offered encouragement even as he doubted the success.
However, he understood her need to act. He just wished he could do something because the days following the Agora mission proved rough.
He’d never felt so helpless. An asteroid heading on a collision course with Earth couldn’t be stopped like a monster with a few whacks of a sword.
Knowing they might only have weeks, or less, to live, unless they could find a way to fix the fried scout, left Taurus with only a few outlets for his frustration. Sex and exercise.
The latter he did when Circe spent time in her new Tower-provided office as she made calls to observatories around the world, doing her best to get them to convince them of the danger.
It actually proved easier than expected.
With Demetrius and his infected henchmen eliminated, the tampering of data ceased, revealing their impending predicament.
Astronomers around the world began sounding the alarm, and governments took notice.
Unfortunately, so did social media and the news.
As per usual, they preyed on people’s fears.
Catastrophic Collision with Earth
End of the World is Nigh!
Repent now or burn in Hell.
Predictably, people immediately panicked.
Store shelves emptied. Suicides exploded overnight.
Concrete sold out as people tried to fortify basements and homes.
Violence erupted everywhere, and martial law got declared in most countries to little effect.
Who cared about the rules with the end of the world coming?
Governments put out messages telling the populace to remain calm, that their military had a plan.
It was kind of impressive how fast they actually moved, given the tight deadline.
A multi-country cooperative effort emerged that involved all those with nukes joining together, along with Elon Musk, who donated all his active spaceships to deliver the payloads.
A tentative optimism emerged as news of their intervention leaked.
It didn’t take long before everyone named the plan Operation Armageddon Two-Point-Oh.
The people of Earth truly believed the asteroid would be blown to pieces.
Taurus and the others in Tower—whose number swelled as all the brothers in the field, with the exception of Libra, returned home—knew better.
Not just Olivia saw the missiles failing. Sage, in her brief glimpse of the future, offered the same ominous prediction. Humanity’s efforts, while commendable, are in vain. Only the stars can save us now. Problem being, the stars couldn’t see the threat.
Despite all the uncertainty, while they waited on Aquarius to complete the new Antikythera mechanism, and for the mystery person hired to fix the nanobot, Taurus fell in love.
Circe was everything he’d ever wanted in a companion.
Brilliant mind. Brave, even if she didn’t think so.
Sexy as fuck. And a killer at Space Invaders.
He’d never been more shocked than when she beat his high score, which, of course, earned her an orgasmic reward.
What a cruel twist of fate that he’d discovered the one woman he wanted to spend his life with only mere days before their world would end.
A little melodramatic, perhaps. There was talk by the warriors that Tower, with its protective magic, might just survive the calamity.
Also, according to what Demetrius revealed to Circe, the aliens expected some humans to live—as food and playthings.
However, billions would die. The impact would result in tidal waves and firestorms. The dust clouds that would cover the skies would cause temperatures to drop and would affect plant life, which, in turn, would lead to worldwide starvation.
This would be an extinction-level event.
A few days before impact, a harried Aquarius rushed into the dining room to announce, “It’s done!”
Circe bounced up from her seat. “You built the Antikythera?”
He nodded. “I completed it days ago and was just waiting for Aries to retrieve the repaired nanobot. Now I just need to put the little bot inside a dimple in the rock and we should be good to go. However, I haven’t the slightest clue how to work the device.”
“I can help with that. Where is it?”
“Rooftop. Figured that was probably the best place for us to activate it. Clear shot to space and all.”
“Then let’s get going. The sooner we divert or destroy that asteroid, the better.”
Not just Aquarius and Circe headed to the stairs.
Everyone went; after all, what happened next would decide their fate.
Tower kindly zoomed them all to its apex.
However, for once, the big sky, full of stars, didn’t fill Taurus with peace.
How could it when even he could see with his naked eye the approaching alien craft?
The military and governments still thought they dealt with an interstellar rock. Little did they know it was far worse.
A box with dials sat in the center of the rooftop. The size of a shoebox, it didn’t inspire confidence.
“Hold on while I get that bot back into a dimple.” Aquarius dug in his pockets and pulled out the rock and a small glass container.
He sat down lotus-style, and his tongue stuck out as he poked the grain-size nanobot.
It stuck to his fingertip, and when he pressed it against the spherical stone, it somehow stayed in place.
“That went better than expected. Thought I might have to use glue.”
“Where does the rock go on the mechanism?” Circe asked, crouching beside him.
“The diagrams showed it balanced on top of this knob.” Aquarius placed it atop a bronze gear, and it fell over. “Fuck.” He snagged it, checked to ensure the nanobot remained in place, and tried again. Plop. It fell over, and Aquarius sighed.
“That doesn’t seem to be working,” Pisces pointed out, quite unnecessarily.
“No shit.” Aquarius glanced at Aries. “I thought you said the engineer fixed it.”
“He did, or at least managed to repair the fried circuits. However, he couldn’t figure out how to turn it on. I thought, when you put it in the rock, it would activate. Guess I was wrong.”
“Without power, this thing is useless,” Aquarius grumbled.
“What if we wired a battery to it?” Leo suggested.
“Doubtful it would work, but at this point, I’m willing to try anything.”
“Before we accidentally burn the circuits again, maybe we should try a different dimple,” Circe suggested. “Could be the one you used is defective, or the scouts are keyed to specific spots.”
“Easy enough to try.” Aquarius managed to get the nanobot back on his fingertip, but his hand shook so hard it fell off and plinked to a spot by Circe’s feet. “Sorry. Guess too little sleep and stress don’t have me at my best.”
“Can’t blame you. I think we’re all high-strung.” Circe reached down and pinched the bot with her fingers. She offered it to Aquarius, who shook his head.
“You wanna do it for me? I don’t want to drop it again.”
“Sure.”
She kept the finger with the bot outstretched and steady, but as soon as Aquarius handed Circe the rock, she turned pale and dropped the stone.
Taurus hit his knees so hard he’d have bruises. “What’s wrong? You okay?”
Before replying, she glanced at the oval stone then Aquarius. “Did you feel anything when you touched the rock?”
He shook his head.
She glanced at Aries. “The person working on it, did you ever give them the rock or just the bot?”
Aries’ brow creased. “Bot only, why?”
“I think I know what kind of power it wants.” Still holding the hand with the nanobot steady, Circe reached for the stone, but Taurus caught her wrist as he got an inkling of what she planned.
“Explain. What do you mean you know what kind of power it wants?”
“I am pretty sure it needs a life force to activate.”
“That makes sense,” Aquarius explained. “Seeing as how they usually attach themselves to hosts.”
“If it wants living juice, then it can use mine,” Taurus declared, only to see Circe shake her head.
“It doesn’t work with Zodiac Warriors.”
“Worked fine before,” Taurus retorted. “Or have you forgotten Demetrius was using it to track me?”
“I haven’t forgotten, but that was before it got broken.”
“Aries had it fixed.”
“Fixed to the best of that engineer’s ability. But we’re talking alien tech. Who knows what they missed?”
“So you’re going to… what? Let it infect you to turn it on?”
“I’ve already touched the scout and look.
” She held out her finger. “Not embedded, and I’m still me.
However, I think this rock, or transport as Demetrius called it, has some way of rebooting the bot, but only under the right circumstances.
In this case, the right kind of life form to give it a jumpstart. ”
“Sounds fucking dangerous.”
“Probably.”
“I won’t let you do this.”
“And what would you say if I forbade you from fighting monsters?” she hotly retorted.
His lips flattened into a thin line. “Not the same.”
“It is, and you know it. Trust me, I don’t want the nanobots to take me over, but if it happens, then I’m counting on you to make sure I don’t destroy the Antikythera mechanism.”
“I’ll keep you safe,” a promise he hoped to keep.
Circe glanced at Aquarius. “If the rock needs me to touch it continuously to feed power to the scout, then that means I might not be able to let go while you activate the device. Here’s what you need to do.
” Circe launched into a crash course on how to work the dials, while Taurus could only stare, memorizing every facet of her face. Her voice. Her scent.
Damn her for being brave.
Damn her for being perfect.
At the end of her speech, she leaned close to Taurus and whispered, “I’m expecting a reward after I save the world.”
“Anything you want, honey.”
“Okay then, let’s do this.” Circe took a deep breath before reaching for the alien stone. This time she tightened her jaw and held on. She poked the finger with the scout into a dimple, and her whole body stiffened. Her head went back, and gibberish emerged from her mouth.
“I think she’s speaking alien,” someone whispered.
Sure sounded like it, and it raised the hairs on his body.
When she stood with the stone fisted and began to run for the edge of the rooftop, Taurus captured her, swinging her off her feet, ignoring her inhuman screeches and the flailing of her limbs.
While he wanted to tear that rock from her hand, she counted on him to help her see this through.
It killed him though. Would this work? Would this invasion of her mind mean he’d lost her forever?
Despite his doubts, though, he carried her to the box and crouched. Aries knelt on the opposite side.
“Let me help you, brother.”
He gave Aries a nod. “Thanks.”
While Taurus kept her wrapped tight, Aries pried the fist clutched to her chest and stretched it over the machine and then down until the jutting butt of the stone touched the dial. They locked together like magnets, and the whole thing began to glow.
“Holy fuck, it’s working,” Sagittarius exclaimed.
Aquarius spun the dials, and as gears locked into place, the glow brightened. Everyone knew when the mechanism activated because a beam of light shot into the vast sky, spotlighting the asteroid.
Awakening the constellations.
Who then put their avatars to work.