John looked outside through the cockpit window, and then his mouth dropped again. 

Machines surrounded the passenger ship, crawling out from the junk piles. There seemed to be millions of them, all in different shapes and sizes. Rusted androids and boxed-shaped robots covered in trash. All their eyes glowed red, except the ones missing their camera lens. 

John’s E.E.T beeped like crazy now. Ecto energy has infected all of those machines. How could Dragmorath generate so much power to control all of them while he was heading to his destination? 

If he could do that, he must be as powerful as a god. Hopefully not, or else there won’t be any hope to save the galaxy.

“Shit, there are too many of them!” Alexis shouted. “We have to retreat!”

John clicked his com-link. “Lena! Can you pick us up from the ship?”

“I am already off the ground,” said Lena’s voice. “But your location isn’t clear for extraction.”

John gritted his teeth. “Damnit!”

He turned to Alexis and Kara. “Can one of you fly this ship?”

“Not me,” said Kara. “I don’t have a piloting license.”

John looked at Alexis. “How about you?”

Alexis stroked her purple hair. “No, but I can use a spell to levitate this vessel and guide it anywhere.”

“Will it drain you?”

“My spell can last for ten minutes. It will be enough to move us out of this area.”

John heard loud tapping from the top of the ship. Already the zombie robots climbed onto the ship.

“Then get us off the ground now!” John ordered.

Alexis nodded her head and approached the flight panel. She pushed the pilot’s body off the seat and sat down.

She placed her purple glowing hands on the panel and mumbled an ancient chant.

John and Kara turned their attention to the passager cabin and saw a few android flight attendants rose. Their eyes glowed red too, and they lumbered toward the cockpit entrance.

“Keep them away from Alexis till we start flying!” John ordered.

Kara held up her sniper rifle and fired, shooting off one android’s head off.

John held up his photon machine gun arms and fired. He tore the androids into pieces.

“When are you going to transform?” Kara shot the last android.

John lowered his arms. “Don’t know, but hopefully not now.”

The entire ship suddenly shook as the floor vibrated. John and Kara raced back into the cockpit and stopped.

Alexis’s entire body glowed brightly as her magical energy flowed into the flight panel. Through the cockpit window, the garbage mountains lowered as space came into full view.

“Where do you want to go?” Alexis asked.

“Just move us forward away from this area,” John ordered.

The ship blasted forward past the two giant junk piles. They flew over the sea of trash toward a clear area. 

Many mechanic figures crawled within the junk like sharks swimming through water. Did the demon have the entire moon under his control?

“Is that you?” Lena’s voice asked from John’s com-link.

John pushed his communication device. “Yes, Lena. Alexis is using a levitation spell to fly this ship.”

“Great! I will follow you.”

“I will keep in touch.” 

Straight ahead, John spotted a tall mountain among the ocean of trash. Instead of junk, it was a rocky gray mountain, covered inspires of rock, reaching for space. It almost looked like a gothic castle. 

“I guessed the garbage ships didn’t cover everything on this moon,” said Kara.

Suddenly, a red beam blasted from the top of the mountain. It flew straight up into space until the tip of the beam exploded a bright flash of light.

John shielded his eyes, and then he saw a bubble growing over the red beam. Red and yellow colors swirled around it. The sphere looked like a glass ball with the reflection of the colors around it. 

“Oh my god!” Kara shouted. “Is that the hell portal?”

“I’m afraid so,” said John. “But we can’t give up. Now that we know where the beacon is, we can still stop it and find Dragmorath.”

Kara nodded. “You are right. We gotta get that bastard quick!”

John nodded back and turned to Alexis. “Take us straight to that mountain.”

“I’m on it,” Alexis replied.

The passenger ship steeped toward the mountain and flew toward it. 

John hoped nothing came out of the portal. It was still growing and the demons in hell space might not have noticed it yet. Still, the doomsday clock ticked.