Jack Strong: Dark Matter

by Heys Wolfenden

  “Vyleria!”

  He saw her on the floor, slumped over a floating panel, a large round hole in her stomach. He felt for a pulse.

  She was still alive. Barely.

  He was about to put her into a med-bay when something distracted his attention. He turned around. A blue and green planet occupied the viewscreen. Bands of grey clouds drifted across several continents, black, acrid smoke giving way to white. Even with its myriad fires and its cities laid to waste Earth still looked absolutely beautiful. The futility of war…

  Then he noticed the figure inside the weapons’ console.

  Ren.

  His face was a mask of hate and anger. Like war itself.

  BURN! BURN! He cackled at the viewscreen. Over and over again. He hadn’t realised that Jack was there. BURN! BURN! BURN!

  A blue light began to simmer and glow in front of their spaceship. Brighter than the moon, the sun, even the stars.

  The planet killer.

  There wasn’t long left before it fired.

  Jack launched himself at the weapons’ console, knocking Ren out onto the floor.

  BURN! BURN! BURN! Nothing but teeth and rage and sinew as fists and claws battered and scraped against Jack’s face, forcing him down.

  Ren leered over him like the damned, a figure sent from hell to toy with the living. Why wasn’t he using his mind to attack him?

  One blow followed another, then another and another.

  Jack’s nose broke, then his cheekbone, then his lips burst.

  “I’M GOING TO KILL THEM ALL!” Ren screamed. “Just like your Mum. Just like your Dad. Then Ros. Then Vyleria. Then the world. ALL! ALL! ALL!” His teeth were daggers, his eyes pits of hate. He bit him, tore at him, punched him, kicked him. He was beating him to death. Blood flew in every direction.

  Then something snapped. Something beastly, something primal. All Jack’s fears, all his anxieties were unleashed in a wave of hate and violence.

  He knocked Ren off him, hitting him, kicking him, knocking him to the floor.

  He stood over him, kicking and stamping as Ren thrashed and flailed, desperate to get to his feet, trying to escape.

  Jack looked into his eyes.

  He saw fear and terror and mortality. Still he hit him, his rage unrelenting. He saw those eyes again, like an animal’s in pain, begging, pleading.

  He couldn’t do it. Not now. Not after all he’d been through, not after what he’d just said to the President and to the other soldiers. Peace meant forgiving someone as despicable and as loathsome as Ren too.

  He stopped hitting him, stopped kicking. He held out a hand. Ren grasped it instantly.

  The moment he clasped Ren’s hand, Jack saw his face change, the grin unmistakable. Wicked in its madness.

  He saw the glimmer of a blade come darting towards his sternum. He had no time to react, no time to defend himself.

  Jack looked on as Ren’s head disappeared in an explosion of bone, tissue and blood, the red laser dart exiting the back of his head and impacting against the far wall.

  He spun around.

  The laser rifle dropped from Vyleria’s hands, a large purple lake coagulating at her feet.

  He ran over instantly. Checked her pulse.

  There was none.

  Chapter Forty-Four: Last goodbye

  Vyleria awoke with a rush of air into her lungs, the rainbow-coloured lasers of the med-bay ballet-dancing over her chest.

  “You’re alive!” said Jack, moving towards her. “I thought…”

  “Where is he?” she croaked, holding her head in her hands.

  “Who, Ros?”

  “No, Jorge. I want to see him. Now.”

  “Oh… sure,” said Jack. I’ll beam him right up. Gaz too.”

  “Gaz? I thought you hated him.”

  “It’s… complicated. We’ve been through a lot. It’s changed us both. I’ll explain later.”

  “Look, just tell me where Jorge is okay? I need…”

  “Whatever you say,” said Jack, trying to hide the bitterness in his voice. Why was she being like this? After all he’d done for her. He jabbed away at one of the floating consoles like it was a punchbag.

  As soon as Jorge appeared Vyleria leapt into his arms. She held him like he used to hold her, passionately and with nothing held back, like her life depended on it. She was his now, and there was nothing that he could do about it.

  “Sorry,” said Gaz, coming up behind him. “Sucks when that happens.”

  “What would you know about it?” said Jack, some of the old enmity returning.

  “More than you’d think,” he said. “Girls love a tough guy. At least until they get sent to youth detention.”

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean… Hey, where’s Ros?” asked Jack.

  “Dunno.”

  “Vyleria, have you seen Ros?” he asked. Her and Jorge were locked together like a pair of smooching magnets. He felt sick inside. Jealousy bubbled away like a pool of molten lava.

  “I… I’m not sure,” she said, finally peeling away from Jorge. Her mind was fuzzy, blank. When had she last seen him? “The last I saw him he was… in that room… on the floor… with…”

  “WITH WHO, VYLERIA? WITH WHO?”

  “One of the other Asvari, I think. But Jack I’m sure it’s okay, don’t get so upset.”

  “Fine,” he said gritting his teeth like razors. “Well where is he then?”

  “Down… down the corridor, I think,” said Vyleria, gripping her forehead again. “So woozy.”

  When she looked up Jack had gone.

  “Who are you?” said Jack at the pale, thin Asvari stood over Ros.

  “I’m number three. He is number one,” he said glancing down at Ros.

  “You’re the one that helped us on Earth?”

  “Yes, after number two was killed that task fell to me.”

  “Who was he?”

  The Asvari glanced at a decapitated corpse by the door.

  “Oh…” Jack’s eyes veered towards Ros. He was lying prostrate on the floor. Face blank. Head bloody. He wasn’t moving. “What’s wrong with him?” he asked, his voice devoid of all warmth.

  “I’m sorry, Jack, it’s too late. He’s gone.”

  “Gone? What do you mean?”

  “He’s dead. His brain is full of temporal ruptures, his skull is cracked in a dozen places, he’s lost a lot of blood too. I’m surprised he lasted as long as he did.”

  “What are you talking about? Revive him. Use the ship’s computer.”

  “I already…”

  Jack shoved the Asvari aside and stood over Ros. He looked weak, fragile. Like a bag of broken bones. He’d never seen him looking so vulnerable before. A pool of black blood had coagulated around his neck and shoulders. It looked like an oil slick. How long had he been out for? His mind whirred like a machine gun. He activated the ship’s med-bay immediately, as a squadron of multi-coloured lasers started darting all over his body. He expected Ros to spring up alert and alive, just as Vyleria had done, and as he himself had done on more than one occasion. Every adventure deserved a happy ending, right?

  Ros stared back up at him, his gaze as blank and as lifeless as ever. “Why isn’t it working?” he shouted. “It worked for me and Vyleria. Why not him?”

  “I’m sorry, that was what I was trying to tell you. He was like this when I found him. I tried to use the ship’s med-bay, but it didn’t work for me, I don’t know…”

  “It only works for the original crew members,” said Jack grimly. “When Ren was thrust from the controls the ship reverted to its default settings. That’s me, Vyleria, Ros, Padget, Grunt, Kat and Xylem. It will work for no one else. Not even Jorge has access to the master settings.”

  “Oh Ros,” said Jack, cradling his head in his hands. “What have I done? I’ve let you down, I’m so sorry.”

  Jack pulled Ros close, closer than he had when he was living. He cried like he’d never cried before, wild and full of regret. He lay like that
for a very long time.

  Chapter Forty-Five: Aftershocks

  “He left this for you,” said the Asvari as Jack got to his feet. How much time had passed? He didn’t know, and he didn’t care. There was one last star in the universe now.

  “What is it?” asked Jack, looking at the small piece of metal in his hand. It was shaped a little bit like a tear. Fitting…

  “It’s from Ros.”

  “But how?”

  “After he died I linked with him one last time.”

  “But how is that…”

  “It’s possible. For us. At the point of death, the deceased normally writes a message for his friends, his family, his loved ones.”

  “Like a will?”

  “Something like that. Though it’s more of a confessional in our culture, a bearing of truths.”

  “Oh, I see. What does he say?”

  “You’ll have to open it to find out. I can’t tell you; his message is for your heart, your mind only.”

  “But how?”

  “Hold it tightly and then press it to your head.”

  “Then what?”

  “Then you’ll see, hear.”

  “What? That’s it?”

  “All of that and more. You’ll understand when the time comes. You can open it now if you choose.”

  “It can wait,” said Jack looking down at Ros’ bloodied body. He looked so frail, so fragile. To think he used to be scared of him when he first came aboard. He thought he was a bully, a tyrant, like Gaz; he couldn’t have been more wrong. “I can’t face it… not yet, not now, later… much later.”

  Oh Ros…

  “You should be proud of him you know, and of yourself too. What you did this day has finally set us free, allowed us to understand, to empathise. Where once there was only death and destruction there is now a chance of life, with Earth, with humanity.”

  “Yeah, but Ros…”

  “Did what he had to. Like we all do when fate calls upon us to act. If he hadn’t then we’d all be dead, and the Scourge would be upon us.”

  “The Scourge? You know about them?”

  “Yes, I understand now, finally. When Ros died, he transmitted all his thoughts and feelings about you, your ship and all the other races you’ve met. It allowed us to understand a human like I’ve never done before. We are not too dissimilar you know.”

  “No, I suppose not,” said Jack, still transfixed by Ros’ broken body. “And that’s how you learnt about the Scourge?”

  “Yes, unfortunately. We have to prepare Jack, all of us. If not, we consign the universe to everlasting darkness. Death hangs over us all. If we fail to commit, to face the foe then…”

  “We’re finished,” said Jack. “We become intergalactic dodoes on the scrapheap of history.”

  “An appropriate metaphor,” said the Asvari.

  “What will you do?” asked Jack.

  “What I must. And you?”

  “The same,” said Jack, again looking at Ros’ too frail limbs. “For him if nothing else, and for my parents too. The Scourge killed them in the attack on Nevada.”

  “Yes, I know, but you mustn’t let your grief overwhelm you, consume you as it did Ren.”

  “I won’t,” said Jack. “I don’t want vengeance, I don’t want revenge, I just want to ensure that no one else has to go through what I have. And I want to give my people, the united peoples of Earth, a chance at something better. No more war, no more poverty, no more death.”

  “A laudable aim, but one that I fear is all to futile.”

  “Perhaps,” said Jack, smiling a little. “But it’s a worthy aim, a noble aim; one I’m sure Ros would have agreed with.”

  “Yes, I think you are right,” said the Asvari, smiling a little himself. “You should go and tell the others about Ros. I’ll look after his body. I’ve also got to contact my people, all of them, we’ve got some important work to do and it’s best if I do it alone.”

  “Of course,” said Jack. “I’ll… I’ll see you later.”

  Of that you can be certain.

  “Whoah! Did you just use telepathy on me?”

  “Yes. Now go, I’ve much to prepare.”

  “Where’s Ros?” asked Gaz, as Jack entered the control room.

  Jack shook his head. Once. Twice. Three times. Then he sat down. He could do nothing else.

  “Oh Jack, I’m so sorry,” said Gaz. “I know how much he meant to you.”

  “Ros is dead?” asked Vyleria, still holding Jorge. “H-how?”

  “Does it matter?” said Jack, brushing something from his eye. “Ren killed him. His last act was to save us when he could’ve saved himself. It was he that arranged the ceasefire and convinced the other Asvari to stand down. We couldn’t have ended the war without him. If I could be only half as brave in my final moments, then I’d be a brave boy indeed.”

  “Look at that!” said Jorge.

  They all looked at what he was pointing at. A rugged grey planet appeared before their spaceship, mid-way between the Earth and the Moon. Craters snaked across its surface like potholes on a back-country road. It looked to be about the same size as Mars or Mercury. Perhaps bigger.

  “Is that?”

  “Yes Gaz,” said Jack. “It’s the Asvari. They’ve come to fulfill their side of the bargain, to put right a legion of wrongs.”

  “Look at them,” said Vyleria as a silver stream poured out from a myriad of craters, heading towards Earth, towards its still smoldering cities.

  “Beautiful isn’t it?” said Jack. “There’s not as many as before, but still… it’s quite the sight, majestic.”

  “I hope we greet them well,” said Gaz. “You know what we can be like.”

  “I sure do,” said Jack, inspecting the hands that had done so much killing, so much destroying lately. “But my gut tells me that they’ll lead by example. It’s time to end this war… And begin a new one. We can either fight the Scourge together or die alone.”

  “Jack,” called out a woman’s voice. It came from everywhere at once. Like a wave of sound. “Are you there? Were you successful?”

  “Yes, Madam President,” said Jack, still looking at his hands. How much blood had they spilled? “We won, we saved the Earth.”

  “Thank goodness. Are you okay? Did everyone make it?”

  “Most of us,” he said. Don’t say his name, don’t say his name. “We’ve found a few of your space SEALS too, though some unfortunately were on the saucers when they attacked Earth. They didn’t make it, I’m afraid.”

  “I figured as much. How many survived?”

  “Half the squad. I’ll send them down to Earth as soon as possible.”

  “Good, good.”

  “Madam President, some visitors are heading your way,” said Jack, looking at the silver stream passing in front of his eyes.

  “Yes, I see them. We all do. All of Earth is watching now.”

  “And you have a new moon too.”

  “Yes, it just appeared on our scanners. It’s incredible. Despite its size, it doesn’t seem to have any gravitational effect upon Earth. We were worried that Earthquakes and volcanoes would spring up all over the continents, but nothing has happened.”

  “I didn’t expect it would.”

  “Oh?”

  “The Asvari aren’t going to come down to help only to accidentally rip our planet to shreds out of sheer stupidity. They’re thousands, if not tens of thousands of years more advanced than us after all; I’m sure they have a way to nullify the gravitational pull of their moon somehow.”

  “Yes, I’m sure you’re right. So finally, Earth is victorious. Peace, peace at last; in our time.”

  “I’m afraid not Madam President, there will be no peace, no intergalactic armistice, not yet.”

  “What do you mean? We’ve won. And now the Asvari will help us to re-build and re-integrate our scattered peoples into a truly global nation. And then there are the off-world projects too; we can become an intergalactic species explor
ing other planets…”

  “I wish it were that easy. The battle we’ve fought today was nothing but a skirmish, Madam President, a comet in the face of a supernova. The Scourge are coming. Millions of them, perhaps billions, trillions even. Now we must prepare, be vigilant, build-up our armies and space forces whilst we still can… whilst we have time.”

  “The people aren’t going to like that, Jack. Not after what they’ve just been through, after the war they’ve fought.”

  “Tough. The war is coming to them whether they like it or not. It is a mercy that the Scourge have left it so late to attack. Perhaps they underestimate us, perhaps they think we are weak, divided, irrelevant.”

  “But Jack, we are.”

  “Then you must unite them. Give them warning, prepare them for what’s coming.”

  “What? Wait, but where are you going? We need you. We’ve got a war to fight, you just said so. You can’t go now, we can’t do it alone.”

  “But you’re not alone, Madam President, not anymore. You have each other. And the Asvari. Use them wisely. Do you still have my communication device?”

  “Yes, it’s right here.”

  “Good. We’ll stay in touch. I’ll be back soon, I promise.”

  “But you didn’t answer my question, where are you going?”

  “To see the Scourge, to scout their numbers, their locations in our galaxy, and if necessary give them battle. We need to buy Earth some more time.”

  “But that ship of yours might be all that stands between us and planetary Armageddon. If it’s lost…”

  “We have to take that chance; the stakes have never been higher. But I promise you if we are cornered we’ll fight like tigers, frantically and ferociously. Until our next meeting, Madam President.”

  “Bye Jack. Good luck.”

  “And you too. Though I doubt you’ll need it.”

  Jack turned towards the others. “Did you hear that?” he asked.

  “Of course,” said Gaz.

  “Then you know where we are going, what’s expected of us, what we may have to do when we get there?”

  The control room echoed with agreement.

  “Well then,” he said gliding into the pilot’s console. The moment he was embedded within the system he felt completely in control, powerful. He could go anywhere he wanted, do anything. “Let’s see what’s out there.”