Jack Strong: Dark Matter

by Heys Wolfenden

  “Mind-merge?” intoned another. “With a human consciousness? You cannot be serious.”

  “I know it’s irregular.”

  “It’s illegal,” chimed the first voice. “And for good reason. The human mind is emotional, pernicious, prone to sudden swings in mood. Exposure to it can have unforeseen side-effects for an Asvari.”

  “I recommend that he be scanned for psychic contamination,” said another voice. “Immediately.”

  “And if he tests positive?” asked the second voice.

  “Then we’ll send him down there,” the first voice said, “with his own kind, whilst there’s still survivors.”

  “YOU HAVE NO RIGHT!” shouted Ros. The room shook, echoed, like the inside of a belfry.

  “What was that?” asked the first voice. “That shouldn’t be possible, you don’t have that ability, you didn’t…”

  “I’ve received an upgrade,” said Ros, trying not to let the smile show. “The spaceship…”

  “But it shouldn’t be possible, only Ren has access to those controls. How?”

  “I don’t know how. All I know is that I sat in the med-bay and asked for the necessary improvements to be made. The computer started working shortly after.”

  “But that means…”

  “THAT I HAVE THE RIGHT TO CHALLENGE REN. DO NOT DISOBEY ME, DO NOT DENY ME. CALL HIM BACK. NOW.”

  “But, the battle is…”

  “NOW!”

  “It’s okay, if he wants to get himself killed then let him. Genetic improvements or not, he’s no match for Ren, we’ve not had an Asvari with a mind like his in centuries. I’m going to enjoy this. I’m going to enjoy this a lot. He’s going to pull you apart one brain cell at a time. You know the rules of course?”

  “YES.”

  “The loser forfeits his life. Though it’s an act of mercy really, the way the mind combusts after all that carnage.”

  “JUST CALL HIM!”

  “WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?” It was Ren. He sounded angry, hateful, like a volcano about to explode.

  “YOU’VE BEEN CHALLENGED,” said Ros.

  “YOU. I always knew you liked him, always knew you’d been contaminated. You’ve been too close to the source, to the human filth.”

  “Are you going to come or not? Or is this just your way of mind-dueling?”

  “Yes, once the invasion is over.”

  “NOW. That’s what the tenets say. The timing of any mind duel is at the sole discretion of the challenger. And if you refuse you forfeit your leadership, your title. Which is it to be?”

  Ren’s hologram glared at Ros like a pack of marauding tiger-wolves. He looked livid, malevolent. “So be it,” he said, eyes like razors. “The humans can wait, your boyfriend too. I’m going to pull you apart one cell at a time. Don’t beg for mercy, you won’t receive any.”

  “I won’t.”

  Ros watched as a silver blip of light zipped out of Earth’s atmosphere, what looked like black storm clouds trailing in its wake. In less than a second it had whooshed through the vacuum, sliding through a jagged slit in the moon’s side.

  Ros turned towards the doorway, claws extended, and waited for Ren to appear. Could he beat him? With his mind enhancements it might just be…

  Suddenly his mind exploded with pain; what felt like daggers stabbed away at his skull.

  He collapsed.

  “Get up,” said Ren’s voice behind him. “You’re not going out that easily. No no no, I’m going to have some fun with you. I’m going to take my time. I’m going to enjoy this, I’m going to enjoy this a lot.”

  Ros screamed as another mind tremor slammed into him, ripping through his cerebral cortex.

  He tried to get up, stumbled.

  More pain, more mind tremors. Suddenly he was lifted off his feet and flung against the far wall. His spine snapped audibly.

  He tried to fight back, to resist as Jack would have done, but it was no use, his mind was empty, mute. What had happened to all his extra strength? Where were the advancements?

  Another mind tremor hit him.

  And another.

  He screamed.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Battle of the Nations

  Jack watched as their silver dart of a spaceship speared the clouds, the sunlight glinting off its nose like a huge jewel.

  “But that doesn’t make sense. Why would they flee now, when the battle’s only half won? Is it a trick?”

  “I don’t see how it can be,” said Jorge. “They have us beaten. One more shot and we would’ve disappeared beneath the waves like the Navy.”

  “Perhaps it’s tactical,” said Gaz. “Leaving here to go and fight somewhere else.”

  “No,” said Jack. “It’s Ros. It has to be. He’s challenged him to a mind duel and he’s accepted.”

  “But how do you know?” asked Jorge.

  “It’s the only thing that makes sense. They don’t need a secret plan or an amazing maneuver to win this war, all they need to do is keep firing. We don’t stand a chance otherwise; they’ll grind us down to rubble.”

  “But what about Vyleria?” asked Jorge.

  “What about her?” asked Jack.

  “Shouldn’t we go and rescue her?”

  “We’ve already been over this. We can’t. It’s…”

  “But she’s counting on us,” said Jorge.

  “Maybe,” said Jack. “But we have no choice. Down here we can still make a difference and tip the scales in this war. Up there we will just get blown apart. We can’t compete with Ren’s sonic cannons.”

  “But…”

  “My decision is final. I won’t risk any more lives than are necessary, including our own. Understood?”

  “I’m with you,” said Gaz. “Whatever it takes.”

  “Jorge?”

  “I…”

  “Look, as soon as this is over we will go back and get her, I promise. I want to see her alive as much as you do. Besides, this is what Vyleria would have done.”

  “Okay fine,” said Jorge, “but as soon as this is over we are going right back for her.”

  “Agreed.”

  “That’s if we even make it out of here,” said Gaz. “There’s one of us and at least a thousand of them. How do you propose to beat those odds?”

  “I don’t.”

  “What?”

  “We’re not going to do it on our own. That would be foolish, suicide. We are going to need friends, a whole lot of them in fact.”

  “Like who?”

  “The President for a start.”

  “But how do you know she’s even still alive?” asked Gaz. “The White House is in ruins.”

  “It doesn’t have to be her exactly. It can be anyone. If she died in the Asvari attack, then the job would just go to the Vice President.”

  “Oh yeah and what if he died too?”

  “Well then we’ll just have to keep going down the line until we find someone willing to listen to us, we are running out of options.”

  “How are we going to get through to the US President anyway?” asked Jorge. “The ship you were speaking to is in bits, the Commander dead. If she phones him back the line will be as dead as he is.”

  “Hey! That’s a person you’re talking about,” said Gaz. “Treat him with more respect. He died for his country. He might still be alive if it wasn’t for us.”

  “It’s okay, Gaz,” said Jack. “I understand what he’s trying to say. Look Jorge, if my request made it through then she should be waiting on my call.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Look around,” said Jack, pointing at the pyres of burning, twisted metal and black, acrid smoke. “It doesn’t look like they have much choice. They’re being eradicated, ground down, they won’t last much longer. They have to accept our help, to do the opposite is to accept the fate that Ren has assigned to them.”

  “Well then how are we going to…”

  “There,” said Jack, looking at the half-sunken aircraft carrier,
smoke drifting lazily from its battered control tower. “There might be survivors, someone in command who can help us.”

  “But Jack…”

  “Don’t listen to him,” said Gaz. “If there’s no one left alive down there, then we will just have to go to another military base and try there.”

  “My thoughts exactly,” said Jack.

  “Hello, are there any survivors down there?” said Jack, mentally activating the voice controls. “I need to speak to the President. I have a plan…”

  Nothing but radio static.

  “This is the flying saucer above you. We are not your enemies. We were talking to the Iwo Jima before it was destroyed, I need to reach the President.”

  More silence.

  “Hel…”

  Jack’s ears suddenly exploded with a flurry of white noise, followed by a high-pitched whine.

  “This is Petty Officer Jakes,” said a deep voice, overflowing with Texan grit. “To whom am I speaking?”

  “This is Jack Strong. I spoke with the Commander and the President earlier, I…”

  “Yes, I know who you are.”

  “You do?”

  “We all do. The President’s been trying to reach you since the last attack, your actions were decisive during that last engagement. We all owe you our lives, my crew especially; we would be at the bottom of the ocean if it wasn’t for you.”

  “When did you last speak to her? Is she okay? Was she hurt in the attack?”

  “From what I hear she received a few cuts and bruises when the White House went down, but she got to the emergency bunker just in time. Most of her staff weren’t so lucky.”

  “Are you able to get in touch with her? It’s vital I speak to her. We’ve got a battle to win.”

  “Okay, I’ll try. Just give me a few minutes, our comm system is pretty fried.”

  “Sure thing.”

  The minutes ticked away like bombs. Jack was getting nervous. Would the Americans buy into his plan or would they just go it alone like they always did?

  ‘Hi Jack, are you there?” It was Petty Officer Jakes.

  “Yes, did you speak to her?”

  “She’s on the line now. She’s desperate to speak to you. I can pass on a message if you like.”

  “Sure.”

  “No Jack, it’s okay,” said Gaz. “I think I can fix this.”

  “What are you...”

  Jack heard a few high-pitched whines, followed by a long, pronounced squeak. Then everything went quiet.

  “Gaz, what did you do? The line’s gone dead…”

  “Hello, Jack. Is that you?”

  “Madam President, yes… I think… I think my friend Gaz just did something to the reception. I can hear you loud and clear now, it’s like you’re right next to me.”

  “I wish the line was that good down our end, the Asvari are doing their best to blast their way into NORAD. We’ve managed to hold them off so far, I’m not sure for long though; we’re running low on supplies and personnel.”

  “Madam President, you’ve got to listen to me. I need you to do exactly as I say. I need you to withdraw all your forces from America.”

  “What? You can’t be serious.” Jack would recognise that voice anywhere. Stormborn… He sounded angry, hateful.

  “Like a nuclear attack,” said Jack. “Without it there will be no victory. All the nations of the world are fighting their own individual battles. If we can get enough planes together at once we can beat them, overpower them.”

  “But America…”

  “Will be fine,” said Jack. “Once you withdraw and engage them elsewhere they’ll cease attacking your bases and cities and go where you are.”

  “And then what?” asked the President.

  “Then we are going to surprise them.”

  “How?”

  “Through our humanity.”

  “You can’t expect me to trust the safety of America to a boy…”

  “That’s enough General Stormborn,” said the President. “I won’t tolerate any further interruptions. I am the Commander-in-chief, not you. Listen to him.”

  “Thank you,” said Jack. “America has to stand for the rest of the world, not just itself. If we all fight our own individual battles then the Asvari will just be able to pick us off one country, one air force at a time. Together we have a chance. If you sign up everyone else will fall in line.”

  There was a moment’s silence then Jack’s head crackled with life again. “Let’s do this.”

  “What?” screeched General Stormborn. “You can’t be serious. You’ll kill us all. You don’t know what you’ve done. It’s TREASON!”

  “That’s ENOUGH!” shouted the President. “Guards, arrest the General and place him in a holding cell. If he resists, shoot him.”

  Jack heard more yelling, a final screech, then a long penetrating silence.

  “Jack, are you still there?”

  “Yes, of course,” he said. “Is everything okay?”

  “I don’t know. For now, yes, but the General has powerful friends. Among the Joint Chiefs, in congress, Wall Street. This won’t be the end of it, that’s for sure. You better be right about this Jack, my job is on the line, if not my freedom.”

  “I am, now I want you to listen carefully, we’ve got to get this exactly right, time is running out.”

  “Did you really mean what you said back there?” asked Gaz.

  “Of course,” said Jack, looking at the ruffled sheet of the Atlantic Ocean. “We can only win this through unity, not discord.”

  “No, I meant about me being your friend.”

  “Err…”

  “I know I used to bully you and all, but I’ve changed. I swear I have.”

  Jack was silent for a few seconds. How was he supposed to respond to this? This was Gaz, the boy who used to bully him at school, the boy who made him feel worthless, pathetic… less than human. “I don’t know,” he said. “We’ll see, it’s… complicated. Let’s talk about it later, if we survive that is. This is going to be a pretty rough ride.”

  Jack saw the first flying saucer hovering above the dense Nigerian jungle and pounced.

  It exploded in a shower of sparks and flying metal. Trees caught fire, black columns of smoke snaking up into the clouds.

  A sliver of silver arced his way, flashes of light bursting in front of it. He veered up into a deep blue sky. The jungle behind him erupted. More fire. More smoke. Then another flying saucer came screaming out of the clouds, its gun ports spitting death.

  Jack ducked out of the way just in time, pulling his saucer up into a long, pronounced climb, the Asvari following like aerial bloodhounds.

  They were almost on him when one of them erupted into flames, two burning carcasses streaking down to the jungle below.

  The other one jigged to the right, narrowly avoiding a tail of red that jagged through the sky like a comet, only to run into a swirling cauldron of fire. It disintegrated instantly, metal melting in front of his eyes.

  When the smoke cleared he saw the first fighter plane screeching towards him, the letters USAF tattooed onto its wings and fuselage. Then there was another and another. Squadron after squadron, a whole fleet of them.

  The Americans had arrived.

  “Now what?” asked Gaz.

  “Now we wait,” said Jack.

  “Wait for what?”

  “That,” said Jack, dragging Gaz’s attention towards a silver blur on the steamy horizon. “We’ve gained their attention. Now we have to keep it. You know what to do.”

  “Soldiers, airmen,” said Jack, addressing the sky armada, “you know what to do. Engage with honour, we fight for everybody now, for the whole world.”

  Jack torpedoed forward as quickly as he could, streaking over the dense jungle in moments, before cutting through the enemy squadron. Rapid fire.

  Saucers exploded, smoke billowed, flames fanned and spread out of control.

  Hundreds died, thousands.

  In no tim
e at all, the flying saucers whirled all around him, like a tornado of metal, spitting fire and death. His sides exploded with pain, Gaz’s too. They wouldn’t last much longer. It was a foolish mission, a last throw of the dice, pure desperation.

  One of the Asvari zoomed down upon him, raining death, only to explode before his eyes, completely eviscerated. Then another erupted. And another and another. Suddenly all the flying saucers were being ripped to shreds, their smoking carcasses eaten-up by the green canopy beneath them.

  “We’ve won!” shouted Gaz.

  “That was only a skirmish,” said Jack, feeling his sides ache. As the main pilot, he felt more of impacts, more of the pain. How much more could he take? As much as I have to. “All we are doing is trying to get their attention, suck them in. They always help their friends, they are like humans in that regard. And that is their main weakness. We will make so many of them die that it forces more of them to come in and help. I want to fight over my ground, not theirs. Death will be my magnet. I just hope that we can hold back the tide.”

  “Look, there’s more of them,” said Gaz, zooming in on the horizon.

  “Are you ready?” asked Jack.

  “Never readier,” echoed Gaz.

  “Okay, don’t say I didn’t warn you. Let’s end this.”

  Jack slammed into the first Asvari squadron with all the speed he could muster, trying to ignore the pain in his side, in his chest. It was persistent now, like a dull ache. He hoped it didn’t get worse.

  He winced as they took a barrage of laser fire, only to spin back round and destroy his opponent at point blank range.

  The sky was full of smoke and metal. Flying saucers and planes engaged each other in a giant hurricane of war. Bullets whizzed and popped, missiles screeched and thudded into their targets, lasers cut through flesh and metal.

  “Jack…”

  “I know, they’re overrunning us,” said Jack as he cleared the sky of two more flying saucers. “We won’t last much longer at this rate, none of us will. The F18’s and F16’s are totally surrounded now, they are running out of time. We’ve got to help them.”

  “Jack, we’ve no chance…”

  Suddenly, the attacking saucers erupted in a chasm of fire, the sky filled with a barrage of lead and missiles.