Chapter 31
Erik
Everything we’ve known is a lie.
We’ve honored gods who were never more than mortal men.
I’m sure they seemed like gods to primitives who didn’t know better.
Instead, they were just clones. Clones with technology woven into their DNA.
They created a biological map that distorted our future.
It was never the will of the gods or Cosmic Influence.
It was just an advanced civilization fucking with the universe.
I hold my breath until Morlock steps back through the door with our children in his arms. Then I let out a sigh that feels like it’s been bottled for ages. The babies are safe. That’s all that truly matters.
“By Thor—” Ivar begins, then he shakes his head. “I don’t know who to pray to or thank, but they’re beautiful.”
“Our future king,” Sigurd says, taking Vivar from Morlock. “You’re going to be a fierce warrior, son.”
“Or maybe he should just be kind,” Ivar sighs, taking Tove while I take Revna. “Kind like his mother.”
“I don’t think I’m very kind,” Avery says, quickly checking on all three of our children. Once she confirms they’re all breathing and still have the right number of fingers and toes, she seems to relax. “But they make me want to be better than I ever was.”
“I feel the same way,” I admit, looking into my daughter’s eyes. Both of the girls look like Avery. There’s no doubt she is their mother. “There’s a lot to discuss. A lot to think about.”
“Not here,” Morlock says. “You have been sentenced to banishment. It’s time for you to leave.”
“I will not give you a chance to change your mind,” Sigurd says, looking Morlock over as he walks past him. “But I’d still like to find out what you’re made of, since you think you’re a god.”
Morlock chuckles under his breath, then his eyes flicker into flames and so does his right hand.
“You’d be quite overmatched, wolf. You may have slaughtered my kind in the past, but I’m nothing like them, because I know how to use what is in my blood.
You’d be whimpering with your tail between your legs before I started peeling away your fur to get to your heart. ”
“Big words from someone who had to use wolfsbane to down us,” Sigurd growls.
“I had my men use wolfsbane so they would be able to arrest you without the hospital turning into a battlefield,” Morlock rumbles. “I can handle three wolves and a human girl without relying on ancient plants.”
“A dick measuring contest isn’t going to get us home,” Ivar cuts in, patting Sigurd on the back. “Let’s go, brother. Midgard awaits.”
“I’d win the dick measuring contest too,” Sigurd grumbles, but then he relents and walks into the ship.
Avery follows them inside. I walk up to Morlock and let out a sigh, then I extend my hand.
“Thank you for allowing us to leave,” I say.
He looks at my hand for a moment, then the fire fades from him and he shakes my hand. “Heed my warning, wolf. Do not return to Mallow.”
“You’ll never see any of us again,” I say confidently, then step onto the ship.
Morlock has done more than just repair the ship. He’s upgraded it, too. Once we get the babies situated next to Avery, I sit down in my seat and look over my control panel. Almost everything is different now.
“Holy shit,” I mutter. “He repaired everything. Not just that, but we have shields now, and several other upgrades.”
“Yeah, we’ve got enough firepower to handle anything we run into,” Sigurd observes. “Morlock doesn’t want us coming back. He wants us as far away from here as possible.”
“Then we shouldn’t delay,” Ivar says, hitting the button to fire up the engines. “We have people waiting for our return.”
We engage the cloak, then the ship rises. I look out the window and there’s no sign of Morlock. That’s a good thing, because Ivar doesn’t bother trying to fit the ship through the door. He crashes through the roof and a few seconds later, we’re hovering over Mallow.
“It’ll only take two jumps to get home, based on the coordinates,” Ivar says. “The upgrades to the hyperdrive will allow us to get there must faster.”
“We should let them know we’re coming,” I say, turning on the communication system. “Ah, we have a message from the others. Oh, fuck…”
“What’s wrong?” Sigurd asks. “They’re not on the way here, are they? If so, tell them to stay the fuck away from this cursed planet.”
“No, they’re not on the way,” I say, reading the message again. “But we can’t go home. There’s an Intergalactic Alliance warship parked over Midgard. It arrived two days ago.”
“Fuck!” Ivar says. “Have they communicated with anyone?”
“No, which means there’s only one thing they could be looking for,” I say.
“Us…” Avery says, glancing over at the babies.
“We can’t return to Mallow,” Sigurd growls. “What about the upgrades? Could we handle an Intergalactic Alliance warship?”
“We’d do better than we would have in the past,” I say, looking over the upgrades. “But even with the shields and the extra firepower, we’d take heavy damage. And if we down one of their warships, they’ll send more.”
“Normally, I’d say fuck it. Say a prayer and tear them apart,” Sigurd says. “But prayer is useless. We’re just honoring dead men, and we’ve got children to protect.”
“We always assumed the gods were no longer living,” I sigh. “But it does change things knowing they were clones.”
“What do the other royal families say?” Ivar asks.
“They just warned us not to come home,” I answer. “They don’t have a ship that can down an Intergalactic Alliance warship. And as far as they know, we don’t either.”
“We need to find a safe planet. Somewhere we can regroup and plan our next move,” Ivar says. “Somewhere we can find food. The babies will be hungry soon, which means Avery needs to eat.”
“We didn’t really have time to pack a lunch,” Sigurd quips. “What planets are nearby?”
“There’s nothing close, but with the upgrades to the hyperdrive, we won’t have to worry about it burning out,” I say.
“Before, we were limited to nearby planets. We could go anywhere now. Unfortunately, that doesn’t help us do anything but find somewhere new to hide, but the options are better.
I’ll find somewhere safe. Somewhere that doesn’t worship demons. ”
“Or anything else for that matter,” Ivar says. “I’ve had my fill of false religion.”
“Me too,” Sigurd growls.
I use my Vik-Touch to access the ship’s archives.
They aren’t complete like the ones I accessed when I hacked the Intergalactic Alliance, but there’s a lot of information.
With the hyperdrive’s increased range, there are options that weren’t even worth looking at previously.
Some of them are rather intriguing, especially when I see numbers beside the planets with my expanded view.
“How about another Midgard?” I offer. “One that abandoned the gods long ago.”
“Vikings?” Ivar asks.
“Yes,” I confirm. “It’s not our home, but they will be friendly to us, according to the Intergalactic Alliance archives. They’ve taken in Vikings from other worlds similar to ours. The Intergalactic Alliance identifies our world as Midgard 21. This one is known as Midgard 13.”
“Punch in the coordinates,” Ivar suggests. “Let’s hope thirteen is a lucky number where we’re going.”
I load the coordinates and Ivar engages the hyperdrive.
I was looking forward to going home. Seeing the Midgard I know.
But I guess I never really knew it. Not really.
Our legends may be true, but it isn’t because gods walked amongst us.
Just clones that were more advanced than the primitives we were when they showed up.
The Intergalactic Alliance’s warship means we won’t see Midgard 21 for a while. We may not even be able to return home.
Hopefully, Midgard 13 will be more welcoming than Mallow.