The Never Army

by Hodges, T. Ellery

“Strange,” Olivia said, looking at Jonathan. “Don’t you know exactly how this is all going to play out?”

  He shook his head. “I could have. But it’s not how I want to do this. I’d rather we all be on equal footing this time.”

  For the moment she stood still in the middle of a forest. The General and Dr. Watts not far behind her. She was still getting used to the shifting environment.

  A group of seven men moved around them, through the trees—sometimes through them. The faces were blurred. The voices distorted. Still, Olivia recognized the coordinated movements of trained soldiers.

  They used as little unnecessary communication as possible, yet they carried no firearms and wore no camouflage. Their gear was tactical, but not meant to hide them. The weapons they did carry were all blunted steel.

  As they had before, the soldiers eventually moved beyond where she could observe them, and Mr. Clean updated the projection around them. It was as though they jumped forward in space to be placed amongst the soldiers once again.

  While the details of this entire experience seemed perfectly lifelike, there were surreal moments. As they observed these men, it was clear they were capable of things no mere human should be. Sometimes they moved too fast, jumped into the trees like something out of a comic book, only to drop back down from heights that should have left their bodies a crumpled pile of broken bones.

  Yet, there was an absence of any small details that might have made what they were observing feel staged. Even being completely immersed by what Jonathan called a projection, there was no feeling that they were placed in some sort of slick VR production.

  She listened in on their radio chatter; the men were taking directions from one amongst them. For reasons that were uncertain, the navigator seemed to know exactly where they were heading.

  “We’re close,” the navigator said. “Fifty yards, give or take . . . and . . . he definitely knows we’re here.”

  The men readied themselves, as an unearthly growl came out of the woods. For a moment she nearly expected Sasquatch to come barreling through the bushes. What came, she recognized as the living incarnation of the creature they had pulled out of the sands in Libya.

  She could tell that the video had been manipulated in some portions. But not such that it was meant to tell a lie. Rather, the footage was slowed down so that they could see what was happening without the events becoming a blur of motion that was too fast for the human eye to make out clearly.

  As the seven men worked together to subdue this creature—this Ferox—it broke full-grown trees in half. Picked up boulders that must have weighed as much as tanks only to launch them at a disturbing velocity toward the men attempting to bring it under control. She noticed that while all the men in the videos were wearing masks, there was one exception: Jonathan.

  So, he was hiding the identities of all the men around him.

  “This isn’t possible,” Dr. Watts said as she watched the footage. “The physics involved just aren’t possible.”

  Olivia eyed Jonathan after Dr. Watts’ statement, but he only smiled and shook his head. “I don’t disagree. If I were you I’d worry I was being tricked by some movie with incredible special effects. But, after having been on the receiving end of one of their fists, you don’t spend too long reminding yourself that it shouldn’t be possible. It’s the reality we have to deal with.”

  “But, if you expect us to believe what these things are capable of there must be some explanation,” Dr. Watts said.

  “I’m a college drop-out, Mags,” Jonathan said. “Take it up with Mr. Clean though, he might be able to give you some insight.”

  “Perhaps I will,” Dr. Watts said.

  She looked about her surroundings. “How do I get out of the projection?”

  A doorway manifested beside her. Mr. Clean, looking somewhat eager, waited in the oval chamber. A moment later Dr. Watts walked out, and the doorway disappeared back into the projection. Delacy was still watching the men subdue the creature. That left Jonathan standing beside Olivia.

  “Something’s on your mind, Olivia,” Jonathan said. “So just say it.”

  “Fine, all this looks very real,” Olivia said. “But we both know what that AI is capable of. How am I supposed to know that any of this is true?”

  “I intend to introduce you,” Jonathan said. “But this is still the safest way to make you aware of their capabilities. That . . . and there is still something I want you to see.”

  As though anticipating this moment, Olivia and Jonathan left the Delacys and entered a new record. They were in the same forest, but on a different night. Jonathan pointed, and while there was no monster to be seen, Olivia could infer from the disruption of branches and trees that something large and essentially invisible was moving about.

  She saw what must have been Jonathan’s past-self move in to engage the invisible creature. She noted that he seemed to do so with a strength and speed that surpassed the monster’s. Again, he was the only one on the screen whose identity was clear.

  “You don’t want me to know who these other men working with you are?”

  “You don’t need to know,” he said.

  “But you expect me to believe that you and everyone in this video are capable of—all this?” Olivia asked.

  He took a long breath. “Just keep watching.”

  In the moments that followed Olivia watched as a green gas erupted from the invisible creature. She saw Jonathan’s concern as he sent his men away. She saw the whole night’s events up to the creature being subdued.

  “You captured it,” she said.

  “That was the point of the operation,” Jonathan said. “But the spontaneous combustion wasn’t part of the plan.”

  “Is that man speaking with it? And how exactly is he sticking to that tree?” Olivia asked.

  Jonathan ignored the questions, pulled her attention to something else in the record. She saw a look of deep concern on Jonathan’s face—the Jonathan in the record more than the one standing beside her—as he held a thick black sludge in his hand.

  “That is what you wanted me to see?” Olivia asked.

  “That is what was left of an armored alien steel plate,” Jonathan said. “I know you understand what that means. After all, I had to steal my equipment back from you when we left.”

  When the oval room vanished around them, Olivia saw she was standing in what appeared to be a walled off portion of an exceptionally large building. When the walls were gone, she found herself in a plain, somewhat disappointingly typical-looking warehouse. There were windows near the ceiling, but for the most part a great deal of open space and polished cement floors.

  While the room itself wasn’t very exciting, it did hold five cages.

  There was plenty of space between her and the cages, Jonathan wasn’t trying to give any of them a scare. She could see that each was made with the same alien steel; she was familiar with the unique way it caught the light.

  As she turned, she noticed that only four of the cages currently had occupants.

  She had to steady herself. Even knowing she was safe, looking back into the white gaze of these creatures was like trying to stare down a nightmare. In fact, the longer she held any of their eyes, the angrier the things seemed to get. Struggling against the steel as though she were declaring herself a predator looking for a fight.

  “You’re riling them up. Look away,” Jonathan said. “We call that one Mr. Grumpy.”

  She turned her head. When she did, she noticed that General Delacy and Dr. Watts had joined them but were keeping their distance. Leah did not appear to have come along.

  A muffled sort of growl came from the beast. She saw Jonathan give the creature a look, as though he agreed with something.

  “Did that thing just talk, Mr. Tibbs?” Olivia asked.

  Jonathan nodded.

  “And you could understand it, even through the muzzle,” she asked.

  “It’s a long story,” Jonathan said. “Suffice it
to say the language can be translated into English—just very poorly.”

  “And what did it say?”

  “Grumpy wants you in the arena,” Jonathan said. “He’s as impressed as he is offended, that you looked him in the eyes that long.”

  The creature growled something again, and this time Jonathan only shrugged.

  “Now he’s offended that I’m introducing him as Grumpy instead of his real name,” Jonathan said.

  “They have names?”

  “Yeah,” Jonathan said, not letting the monster see him roll his eyes as he held up one hand. “This is Chews the Tooth.”

  “So, they’re sentient? They have language?” Olivia asked.

  “You were hoping for mindless beasts?” Jonathan asked.

  Olivia didn’t reply. She, the General, and Dr. Watts only moved in for a closer look.

  “Well, you can’t fake this,” Dr. Watts said. “But how do we know it’s capable of what you showed us in the videos? You gonna let one out?”

  Jonathan raised an eyebrow. “If you absolutely must see it. But I’d really appreciate it if that could be the line where you simply take me at my word. That said . . .”

  Jonathan held out a hand for them to follow him. “If you can stomach the necessary cruelty, I have a demonstration.”

  “Cruelty?” Dr. Watts whispered uncomfortably as she followed him, wisely giving the cages a wide birth.

  He took them to what looked like two large mechanisms under dustcovers. He pulled the covers off and revealed two very familiar looking miniguns.

  “You may recognize these, but they aren’t firing blanks today,” Jonathan said.

  As they crossed a threshold, Mr. Clean formed a translucent wall between them and the cages, only letting the barrels of the guns through with enough space to rotate.

  “This one is loaded with standard military grade rounds,” Jonathan said. “Would one of you like to do the honors?”

  To their credit, none appeared eager to shoot at a helpless creature, but the General finally stepped forward. When he opened fire, no one was surprised—they stared in disbelief—but were not surprised. Chews the Tooth took the fire, he squirmed—more in anger than pain, but nothing penetrated his armored flesh. Meanwhile, bullets ricocheted wildly around the room on the other side of the translucent shield.

  The General fired longer than was necessary, as though he thought that if he kept the bullets trained on one spot long enough, he could eat his way through. By the time he gave up, a few drops of black blood fell to the floor.

  “Well, at least it’s not invincible,” the General said.

  “Look closer,” Jonathan replied.

  Unsure, the General did as he was asked, and to his surprise he found the blood was not coming from where he’d concentrated the fire. Chews the Tooth bled where one of the alien steel restraints had eaten into his flesh. He had fought so hard to free himself under the barrage of fire, that his own strength against his bonds had drawn blood.

  Olivia and the General exchanged worried glances.

  “You say these things intend to invade—how many?” the General asked.

  “I don’t have exact numbers,” Jonathan said. “But I believe I can deal with roughly ten thousand before my men will be overwhelmed.”

  “Ten thousand,” Dr. Watts’ words had come out a whisper.

  “How many men do you have?” Olivia asked.

  He turned his gaze on her. “Just short of four hundred.”

  “Four hundred!”

  The anger in Olivia’s voice was—multilayered.

  On the one hand, she was finding out that she’d seriously underestimated Heyer’s activity. On the other, she’d just learned the number of enemy combatants Jonathan expected—and despite what she’d seen them capable of on those videos—she knew 400 wasn’t going to stand a chance.

  “I told you,” Jonathan said. “A day was coming that we were going to need one another. Well, it’s almost here. I’m not going to be able to give you much of a warning.”

  She frowned at him. “You’ll know when they’re coming?”

  “Mr. Clean estimates he’ll be able to give us 6 to 8 days’ notice.”

  “Why such a range?” Dr. Watts asked.

  “The conduit they intend to open is too massive to hide,” Jonathan said. “Mr. Clean will know when they activate it. But there is a highly complicated time distortion between our dimension and theirs. It makes a precise time of arrival impossible.

  “There is good news though,” Jonathan said. “With some calculation and maneuvering of my men, we have some control over where the conduit will open.”

  There was a moment of silence that followed. Then the General spoke up, “Perhaps this is a stupid question, but if you can target where they’ll enter, why not open their portal at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean?”

  Jonathan smiled. “Not a stupid question, General. I asked it myself months ago. Mr. Clean will be happy to explain the dynamics of the gateway’s protocols and how we intend to pick our battleground, but the short version is we can’t deliberately open the gateway into a location that will drop the enemy into immediate danger. If we tried, the conduit would simply recalculate to a better position. There is a little wiggle room we can play with, but the Ferox are gonna hit land and it’s gonna be on a major continent.”

  “Makes sense if you think about it,” Dr. Watts said. “I wouldn’t create a way to travel through space and time if there wasn’t some way to be sure it didn’t deliver me into the middle of a volcano.”

  The General considered this for a minute.

  “Then you target them, and we nuke their asses the moment they step through,” General Delacy said.

  “It won’t work, for more than a couple reasons,” Jonathan nodded to the caged Ferox in the room. “These grunts are low-tech and deadly, but their leader is our worst nightmare. He isn’t one of them—he’s Borealis, one of Heyer’s species. And he really doesn’t like humanity.”

  Jonathan let them grapple with this for a moment, before going on. “His name is Malkier, though they call him their prophet. He is aware of our military’s capabilities and his first move will be to take out our technology—especially anything that runs on electricity. Now, I can’t tell you for sure just how far back into the stone age he will put us, combustion engines should work as long as the ignition is fairly simple, but anything too sophisticated is gonna fail. We are gonna be fighting these things with . . . old-fashioned weapons.”

  “You said there were more reasons,” Olivia said.

  “Yeah, if I’m wrong—which I’m not—then you’ll be dropping a nuclear weapon into the middle of all my men. To target that gateway to a location of our choosing, my entire army will need to be within 2 miles, most of us a lot closer. Even if we could go nuclear, I’d like to try my way first.”

  Olivia considered him for a long while. Though what she was really thinking about was the list of things he requested the day of his escape.

  “Is this why you want to evacuate the city, why you want us to set up a perimeter? You think you can contain them . . . but you aren’t going to risk all your men unless you’ve failed.”

  “I have a plan,” Jonathan said. “But until I know we are on the same page, that is as much as I’m telling you.”

  He turned away from them then and walked over to a table that had clearly been set up in preparation of their arrival. He pulled off another dustcover and revealed an arsenal of explosives.

  “I prepared these in case you needed to see for yourself that explosives, while effective to some extent, aren’t going to get the job done against the numbers we’ll be facing.”

  Olivia looked at the table. She quickly lost any interest in its contents. “It’s clear you already know how that experiment will go,” Olivia said. “So why don’t you tell us what will be effective.”

  Jonathan gave her a sly grin, then walked to the end of the table and picked up an assault rifle. Beside it was a m
agazine. He loaded it, then asked which of them would prefer to do the honors.

  This time, Olivia took the weapon.

  “We need it alive,” Jonathan said. “Aim for a limb.”

  “What do you need them alive for?” Dr. Watts asked.

  “Testing,” Jonathan said.

  Olivia took aim at Chews the Tooth’s leg. Some of the shots ricocheted as she pulled the trigger but eventually a black splat of blood hit the floor in front of them.

  “Why did that work?” the General asked.

  Jonathan retrieved the magazine from the gun and showed them.

  “Alien steel rounds,” Dr. Watts said.

  Jonathan smiled at her. “I missed you Mags, you deserve every dime they’re paying you.”

  “Th . . . thanks,” she said, awkwardly.

  A look of relief had come over the General and Dr. Watts. Olivia knew what they were thinking, if guns could still be brought into the equation, then all the strength and speed of these creatures wasn’t going to give them enough advantage.

  Olivia didn’t share their relief.

  “The WX gas,” she said.

  “Yeah, we have a plan,” Jonathan said. “I want to arm your men with these bullets. I can supply more than you’ll ever need, but you aren’t going to be able to get close to the city. You’re going to need to keep the cargo in airtight containers, so the gas won’t get to them. And you’ll only be using it to shred what breaks through my army’s containment. We’ve got a few other toys to help you, but again—”

  “Only if we’re all on the same page here,” Olivia finished for him.

  He nodded.

  “Jonathan,” General Delacy said. “What you are asking is no simple military operation. You want us to convince the President and the Joint Chiefs of Staff to let a kid, who can barely buy a beer legally, wage war with an alien species on US soil. And it seems like you want command?”

  “General, if I were stupid enough to want command, I would tell you not to give it to me,” Jonathan said. “But, even after everything I’ve shown you, you don’t really know how this war is gonna be fought.”

  “So, if you think you’ve got a better person for the job, I’d love to meet them.”