by Anna Lewis
Nodding, Ryan turned and kept his ray gun armed at the door, waiting patiently for Vihatagons to come barreling through. The two of them were left to their mission mostly undisturbed. Lena tapped the keys on the screen, utilizing her limited knowledge of Vihatagon language and technology to discern what keys would get the drones going again. If Trevor hadn’t clipped that wire, this would be much easier. She smiled ironically at how things had turned out, and hit a few keys on the dashboard while watching the screen.
The system started to reboot, shutting down the electricity in the ship momentarily before staring back up. A circular shape on the display indicated that the drones were ready to be used again and she excitedly tapped the screen to enter Earth’s coordinates. This particular mission reminded her of a time in college when she had to hack her way into the university system just to get a good look at her grades. Her efforts then weren’t as valiant, mostly because she was worried that she was failing chemistry. Medical school was tough since the educational upgrades. Only students of outstanding intelligence could enter and she didn’t want to rely on her intelligence alone. A little tweaking here and there helped get her into the right programs, even though it hadn’t been a particularly honest way of doing so. But she figured a good doctor ought to be creative as well as intelligent; be able to see solutions to problems when others couldn’t. She still thought that.
Friends of hers had taught her the trade of hacking and it had helped on more than one occasion. She had fixed the medical system of the hospital twice during an air raid early in the war. On another occasion, she had gained access to sensitive files for the Navy who needed to find someone of utmost importance. Lena was glad to be able to use her knowledge on this system, especially because it proved to be the most difficult.
As soon as she was done, and had rerouted the drones to earth and programmed them to release people, she radioed for the soldiers to respond as soon as they made it to the cargo hold.
“Copy that,” replied Jeffery, pausing near the corner of a hall.
The two soldiers could hear the Vihatagons on the other end, peeking around the corner to get a good look at what they were dealing with. Three of the ugly mugs were on the other side guarding the door and exchanging a few words. Muffled screams were heard coming from behind them, but the Vihatagons weren’t fazed, as they were used to the sounds of people dying. Their callousness sickened Jeffery to his core. He looked at his comrade, Wesley, who knitted his eyebrows together. They had been fighting this war for far too long, the weight of the world hanging on their broad shoulders. Nodding, they each patted each other on the arm and took a deep breath.
“To the end,” said Wesley while gripping his comrade’s shoulder.
“Till we meet again,” said Jeffery.
On a whispered count of three, the two soldiers sprang around the corner and charged the Vihatagons standing in their way. The Vihatagons barely had time to return fire as Jeffery and Wesley tore through them, knocking them to the ground with their guns. Standing on top of the fallen Vihatagons, Wesley looked around at the room full of people who were all staring at the human soldiers. One of them shouted praise. The rest of the group cheered, realizing that their fate was about to change.
Another group of Vihatagons was in the corner, slaying people with their disintegrators. The valiant soldiers sprinted in that direction and took down the enemy aliens. Cheers erupted again at the sight, inspiring hope in the crowd of people waiting to be taken home. They would have to be synthesized again which some of them were opposed to, resisting stubbornly against the soldiers who insisted that it was the only practical way to get back home.
In the bridge, Lena radioed the soldiers and asked for an update. Jeffery responded that they were holding down the cargo area, but that people were resisting the plan.
“Tell them it’s the only way to get back home. However, I’ll radio General Sanders and see if we can get some rescue ships up here as well. It’ll take a minute,” responded Lena.
“Copy that,” said Jeffery.
While he turned to inform the group the general plan, Lena explored the contents of the computer. It held history predating the existence of Earth. The data it held was astounding and made her eyes wide with wonder. She would be the first to discover this alien species and document it.
“Do you see this?” she asked the soldier next to her. “This is some groundbreaking stuff, soldier.”
Ryan looked over her shoulder and marveled at the documents on the screen, looking at the pictures of the farthest reaches of the Milky Way. Many documents held accounts of other species, especially ones they had never encountered because of the eradication by the Vihatagons. This pushed Lena enough to want to destroy the Vihatagons and every bit of their hatred from space.
There will be no more suffering, she thought as she stared at the screen. I will personally make sure of that.
Lena made a note in her cyber watch to ask the scientists about collecting the information. It would prove to be a huge discovery and it would add to the bounty of knowledge they had about the universe and the many aliens that inhabit it. An entirely different universe lay out there in space beyond their sun. What great potential there was!
***
Running through the halls of the alien mothership was the brave Trevor, punching Vihatagons in the face as he came across them. He wasn’t sure if Lena had arrived yet, but he planned on keeping up with his diversion for as long as possible. He darted down the hallway while laughing, enjoying the fact that the Vihatagons weren’t particularly fast on foot. Most of them relied on their disintegrators to stop the bouncing cyborg. However, he wouldn’t stay still long enough to be shot.
“Get him!” cried one of the Vihatagons.
“I can’t. He’s too quick!” the other one yelled.
“Use your stun gun, you buffoon!” he yelled back.
“Stop calling me that!” the other one cried.
Trevor laughed at this exchange, diving around the corner of a hallway and heading back to the room where he was being held. The captain waited for him inside with another round of guards who were ready to shoot. As Trevor raised his arm to fire, the charging button blinked rapidly and made a whirling sound, refusing to emit any more rays from his palm. The brave cyborg hid behind the wall, waiting for the enemy aliens to cease fire.
“We know you’re there, cyborg!” yelled the captain from inside. “You might as well surrender considering you’re predicament.”
Trevor would not yield. He wasn’t ready to surrender and he wasn’t about to allow his own species to go extinct because of the greedy desires of these Vihatagons. An image of Lena popped into his head, her long hair flowing over her shoulders while she sat on his lap. How desperately he clung to this image of his love. Every fiber of his being grasped at this picture of her, reminding him of what he was fighting for. He just hoped she had arrived safely. Charging his arm again, he waited until the blinking light turned green and then turned the corner.
On Earth, General Sanders was preparing his troops for a rescue mission. The scientists informed him of the most vulnerable parts of the alien’s bodies, and reminded him that they were a bit slow.
“Shoot for the belly,” said Dr. Snyder. “That seems to be a particularly sensitive area.”
“We’re still not sure how these creatures work. We would need to dissect them for further information,” said Professor McLeod.
“Are any of you trained to do that?” asked the general.
“I am, sir,” said a soldier from the side of the room. “I’ve been medically trained to dress wounds, but I think I could open up one of those aliens.”
“We’ll get you on it, soldier,” said the general. “Retrieve a body from the battlefield.”
The soldiers went to work on retrieving a mostly intact Vihatagon body and brought it back to the main building. It had taken about five men just to get it off the ground and an extra man to carry it. These aliens were particularly he
avy with fatty tissue. On the table, the medic leaned over the body by standing on a chair and procured a scalpel from his medical bag. The scientists watched with intensity as he pried open the skin. A thick, viscous ooze trickled down the side of the body as the medic peered inside.
“The heart is in the belly, sir. That would explain their vulnerability,” said the medic.
“And what of the other parts?” asked Dr. Warren.
“They’re enlarged. Many of them I don’t recognize, but the lungs are located behind the heart. You could potentially shoot them in the back and deprive them of air,” replied the medic.
“Good job, soldier. Now let the scientists do their work,” said General Sanders.
The medic stepped aside and the five curious scientists each took turns looking inside of the alien, admiring the intricate way it was made. Some of them took notes for further study and posed questions about alien physiology. Others informed the general where other weak spots might be located. In a matter of minutes, the table was covered with the vile fluid from inside the body. It made the entire room smell like wet garbage.
Once they were finished inspecting the body, the soldiers were commanded to remove and dispose of the body immediately before the smell stuck. No matter how much bleach they used, it could not rid their nostrils of the putrid stench.
The general went outside to inform his troops of their plan and organized rescue parties to be sent into space. There was still no word from Lena who was occupied with the fascinating documents on the Vihatagon computer.
Lena wished she had a thumb drive so she could download the files. Perhaps she could find one and retrieve them later. Try as she might to memorize as much as she could, there was a limit.
“Dr. Clark, what should we do next?” asked the soldier, his ray gun perfectly fixed on the doorway.
“We need to alert the general,” she replied, lifting her radio from her pocket. “General Sanders, this is Dr. Clark. Over.”
Crackling came from the radio before General Sanders replied.
“This is General Sanders. What is your position? Over,” he said.
“We’ve taken the bridge. Soldiers are ready to release prisoners. Over,” responded Lena.
“We’ll send reinforcements. Over,” said the general.
“Good. Now we need to find Trevor,” said Lena. “Are you ready, soldier?”
“Yes, ma’am. The coast is clear,” he replied.
As the two exited the bridge, Trevor was firing wildly at the Vihatagons in the room. Each one fell to the ground as the captain pulled them in front of him, using them all as a shield against the rays from Trevor’s palm. What a coward, hiding behind his men, thought Trevor as he slayed the last one.
The Vihatagon soldiers were piled in front of the captain who grinned over the top of them, beady eyes daring Trevor to step further into the room.
“Face me, coward,” said Trevor while stepping forward. “I have faced you once and I’ll face you again.”
“Not until all of my requests are met, cyborg,” said the captain. “Give me your life and I will leave your petty planet behind. But you must come with me.”
Trevor weighed the consequences of this decision. Could he really leave Lena behind? Was there any way to tell her? He pressed his finger to the ear piece, but nothing came from the other end. Communication had ceased once Lena had mentioned her rescue mission to come up here. Every second felt like an hour standing in that room, the captain waiting for Trevor’s response. He knew it was too good to be true. As soon as they got the information they needed, he would be killed.
He had to keep fighting.
***
The human soldiers who had come to the rescue of the prisoners were being barreled by enemy aliens. Every wave of Vihatagons forced the people to push forward, helping their fellow soldiers in the fight to keep their lives. Some people fell to the ground defeated due to a lack of hydration while others pressed on covered in sweat. No matter how hard the Vihatagons pushed, the people fought back. The soldiers were glad to have their support in this particular battle, it proving to be more difficult than the one on land.
As Wesley fired his ray gun, Jeffery pushed him to the side to save him from being shot. It resulted in his body disintegrating right before the eyes of his comrade who screamed with rage. Scrambling to the place where Jeffery had once stood, Wesley lifted the ashes of his fellow soldier and wailed. He had witnessed many men fall in the battlefield, but this particular sight had left him hollow. Jeffery had been by his side during many a fight and he had cherished their bond. Now he was left with nothing to remember except pictures – and the awful last image of him being disintegrated.
The death fueled his passion and he rushed against the fleshy alien bodies, beating them with his bare fists. His ray gun had fallen to the ground and one of the people picked it up to shoot at the guards. Once the group had the Vihatagons defeated, they all ran back to the ports where they had initially arrived. Many of them were hesitant to be synthesized again. Wesley assured them that they would be safe and radioed for Lena’s instructions on how to get the people back on the drones.
“Open up the panel and push the green button,” Lena said. “And be careful not to synthesize yourself!”
He assigned groups a leader to push the buttons and hundreds of people disappeared in a flash, absorbed into the memory banks of the drones. Walking up the aisle, he made sure everyone made it safely and watched the drones take off into space where they would travel back to Earth. A few hundred people were left behind where they waited patiently for rescue.
“Dr. Clark, is a rescue team on the way? Over,” said Wesley into his radio.
Crackles greeted him from the speaker.
“Dr. Clark, Dr. Lena Clark, do you copy? Over,” he repeated.
What was keeping her from responding? The group stared at Wesley who would now lead them to safety, listening to the sound of heavy foot falls coming from the other side of the room. Grabbing his ray gun from its holster, he stood next to the door. He was prepared to meet his enemies. The sounds of running feet grew closer and Wesley nearly laid fire into Lena and the other soldier. They raised their arms.
“Don’t shoot!” cried Ryan.
Wesley lowered his ray gun and greeted them with a smile, relieved that there weren’t any more Vihatagons. It was possible the rest were in hiding as the ship was rather large, but it wasn’t clear where they might be.
“Is everyone safe?” Lena asked, tapping the buttons on her cybernetic attachment.
“Yes, most of them have left. There are a few hundred remaining,” replied Wesley.
“Good job, soldier,” said Lena. “You’ll have to keep them safe while I locate Trevor.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied while raising his gun.
“Where’s Jeffery?”
The question prompted Wesley to look at the ground, searching for the ashes of his fallen comrade. There was black soot all over the floor from the people who had been demolished. Jeffery was somewhere amidst this mess. Following his gaze, Ryan studied the room and then lowered his head in honor of those who had been lost. Wesley didn’t need to explain what happened. It was evident that Jeffery had fallen victim to the dreadful Vihatagons. Lena wasn’t sure what to say. She could offer her condolences, but what good would that do? It would ignore the rest who had crumbled beneath the weight of the hateful aliens.
Lifting his head, Wesley saluted Lena and Ryan before heading back to the group of people in the corner. Most of them were sitting on the ground, suffering from a lack of sustenance. They asked the soldier for food who grimly replied that he didn’t have any.
“Help is on the way. Don’t worry,” he assured them. “We’ll get out of here alive.”
Lena and Ryan left the room and walked the length of the hallway, relying on Lena’s knowledge of the interior to guide them. They could hear the sound of a ray gun firing in the distance, but weren’t sure where it was coming from. All
of the halls were made of a metal alloy. It caused sound to ricochet in every direction. While carefully exploring the area, they heard the faint sound of crying coming from somewhere nearby. It sounded like a woman. They followed it around the corner, not far from the cargo area.
Sitting in an electrical cage was Alexis, her body worn from stress. The Vihatagons who had dragged her there had long since left, alerted that a breech had been made in the cargo hold. The torture she had endured left her feeling weak and vulnerable, the electrical pulses causing a headache on top of her hunger. She had considered calling out for help, but feared the guards might return and zap her again. She wasn’t sure she could handle any more.
Footsteps came from the hallway that caused her to perk up. She clenched her fists at her side, ready for anything to happen. As Lena came around the edge of the doorway, Alexis screeched at the top of her lungs in an effort to scare away the dreadful guards, whom she thought it was. But it was Lena. She raised her hands.
“Hey!” she screamed. “It’s okay!”
Alexis stared at the two humans standing in the door, sobbing uncontrollably at the sight. She never thought she would ever see someone like her again. Hope was restored in her gut and she begged the two to get her out of the cage.
“It’s going to be alright. I’ll try to get you out. What’s your name?” asked Lena while walking over to the controls.
“Alexis,” she replied while sniffling. “They tortured me.”
It occurred to Lena that this was the woman who had suffered on behalf of Trevor. She remembered considering telling Trevor to continue holding out to the aliens’ demands, which would have killed the poor girl. How easy it would have been to let this life pass without seeing her face. Now that she was looking at the girl, it broke her heart to think they would have sacrificed this soul to the greater good. Was their situation so awful that they would have killed one to save the masses? How many more lives would have to be given for that matter? Lena promised herself to never allow such moral ambiguity to enter her brain. All life matters here and they were going to get out alive, no matter what.