The Prodigal Sun: A Novel

by S. E. Meyer

  John smiled at her. “I think we actually did it Jen. Can you believe it?”

  Jenny returned his smile “I guess we make a pretty good team don’t we?” They both sat quietly for a moment as the seconds ticked away on the display above their heads. “John, how did you figure out how to operate the control panel?” Jenny finally asked.

  John made eye contact with her again. “It was Braedon, Jen. He showed me how.”

  There was a bright flash of light and a large glowing blue shape came up out of shaft. John and Jenny watched in awe as it landed on the floor in front of them and quickly took form. They both sucked in a breath, horrified, as they stared at the fiery, electric blue outline of Traedon. The hope drained from their hearts along with the air in their lungs as they hung their heads in defeat. Traedon’s shape began to grow larger and soon stretched to the ceiling.

  “You think you have won? Do you really think you could ever kill me?” Traedon said in a thunderous, earsplitting voice that shook the floor beneath them. He laughed. “Killed by you? Impossible!” He paused, and then bent down so his giant head could look deep into both of their eyes. He continued in a roar. “I have invoked the birthright! No one can kill me!” Traedon’s voice continued to shake the room. “I am an invincible Annunaki God!”

  There was a sound that came from behind John and Jenny. They turned around to see the weapon firing on Nibiru. The display showed several large bursts of intense energy striking the planet’s surface near its equator. “You’re too late Traedon!” yelled John.

  Traedon pounded his fists into the floor in anger, making the entire room shake more violently. “You have ruined everything!” he roared. Traedon paused a moment as a look of pure hatred crossed his brow. “You may have stopped the weapon from firing on Eridu, but you’re not going to stop me from squeezing the life out of you,” Traedon said as he extended his large, wispy electric blue arms out towards John and Jenny.

  A column of blue light exploded up through the top of the shaft next to them. John and Jenny watched as a small, lonely blue orb began to buzz around Traedon’s head. Three more joined the first orb, and they began to smack into Traedon’s face. “What is this?” Traedon asked. “What’s going on here?” Traedon began to swat at the orbs like flies, but they easily dodged his attempts. The wide column of radiance began to fill the room with the small, bright blue orbs.

  Hundreds of them, and then thousands, poured up through the shaft as Traedon watched in shock. Dozens of blue spheres persistently buzzed around Traedon’s head and body, tugging at his wispy outline and crashing into his frame. He continued to thrash about, flailing at them with both hands while kicking with his feet.

  “Get away from me!” Traedon commanded, unsuccessfully, as more orbs continued to veer towards him. Soon he was completely hidden in a cloud of the bright shiny spheres. He backed away as he frantically tried to brush them off. “This is impossible! It can’t be!” he growled as the orbs continued to swarm around him. John and Jenny watched in awe as the orbs pushed Traedon back towards the shaft and slowly lifted him off the ground. They held him there, hovering over the opening in the floor, as thousands of orbs continued to stream out of it from below. They swirled around the room, dancing in celebration.

  The swarm of orbs that was around Traedon began to descend, pulling him down into the shaft with them. John and Jenny continued to watch, their faces frozen with bewildered expressions, as the orbs forced Traedon deeper into the pit. He began to writhe and moan. An electric blue flash in the shape of a hand flew out and grasped the railing. Several small spheres latched onto Traedon’s arm, freeing it from the cold steel rail. “No!” Traedon wailed with wide, staring eyes, and then vanished down the shaft into the dark depths below.

  Operation K.M.A.

  “You want me to do what?” the old general bellowed across the small cafeteria table in his army cadence.

  “Keep it down sir, we really don’t want everyone to know what we’re trying to do here,” explained Lucas as he looked around. Fortunately, lunchtime was several hours ago and there were only two other people in the mess hall, other than Lucas and the general. The two men glanced in the general’s direction and then turned away once Lucas made eye contact.

  “Why on Earth would I want to take you guys to Peru? That just seems crazy, with everything that’s going on out there,” the general argued in a whisper

  “Sir, I could tell when I first met you in Baghdad, when you basically kidnapped us all and brought us here, that you were a man of action. Am I right?” Lucas asked. The general slowly nodded his head. “Well, here’s your chance to actually do something. Do you really want to just sit here and stand by, waiting to see what may, or may not happen? Maybe we all die down here; I don’t know what’s going to take place,” explained Lucas.

  “How do you know you’re right and the Secretary General is wrong?” asked the general, squinting with a serious expression.”

  “That’s the beauty of it sir. If we’re wrong, and these ships that we think are coming.” Lucas paused a moment. “Well, if they end up trying to kill us, or take us as slaves, then you will actually have an enemy that you can fight. Do you really want to go through the greatest fight of human civilization without even firing off a shot? Lucas coaxed.

  There was a long pause as the general continued to stare at Lucas. “I am getting damn sick and tired of sitting around here and doing absolutely nothing,” he grunted. “I might be able to get a few of my boys together, but even if I did, how do you plan to get clearance to leave? The Secretary General has this place locked up tighter than a drum right now.”

  “Just leave that to me,” Lucas replied. “I will see if Dennis can hack in to the system and set up a training exercise. We’ll have a plane fueled and ready to go, as long as you can get us someone to fly it.” The general gave Lucas a nod and then stood up and left the room.

  Lucas made it back to the lab where Hosea and Dennis were waiting. “Dennis were you able to set up the communications system to send out the message to everyone?” asked Lucas as he entered the room and sat down.

  “Yes I was. It was a little tricky, but nothing I couldn’t handle. As soon as we’re ready I can have it transmit the message to anyone that’s still listening on the emergency channels,” Dennis replied.

  “Good. Now there’s something else we need Dennis. I was able to convince the general to help us, but we need a plane. Can you hack in and get us cleared for take off?” asked Lucas.

  “Should be a piece of cake now that I’m in the system,” replied Dennis with a smile.

  “Good, as soon as you have that done, I’ll let the general know,” said Lucas.

  Within a few hours Lucas, Dennis and Hosea met up with the general at the main exit to the airstrip. There were two guards stationed at the door, who kept looking in the group’s direction. The general had brought four men with him and everyone donned the cold weather gear that hung along the wall in the corridor. As they approached the two guards, the general addressed them. “We’re here for the training exercise, is our plane ready to go?”

  One of the guards checked the computer terminal and then nodded. “It looks like there is a plane authorized for take off for a General Wentworth? Can I see some ID Sir?” the guard asked. The general showed his ID to the guard and the rest of the group did the same. “Okay, it looks like you’re cleared for Operation-” The guard stopped and raised his eyebrow. “Is this right? Operation, Kiss My Ass?” Dennis let out a chuckle and Lucas glared at him.

  “Yes, it’s a secret code name,” Lucas muttered.

  The guard just shook his head. “Whatever sir, right through those doors. Your plane is waiting,” the guard instructed.

  “That was childish, what the hell were you thinking?” Lucas asked Dennis, once they were outside.

  “A little humor. I figure once the Secretary General figures this all out it will be too late. We’ll be long gone and he can do exactly what I named this operatio
n,” Dennis explained

  They boarded the plane and took their seats. The pilot and co-pilot went through their pre-flight checklist as the plane’s engines warmed up. Within a few minutes they were taxiing to the end of the runway. “Dennis, when did you set up the message to transmit?” Lucas asked.

  Dennis leaned over in his seat so he could speak into Lucas’s ear over the sound of the aircraft’s engines. “I set it up on a timer. It should be going out any minute now,” he replied.

  “S-P-O tower, November, one-eight-nine-er, Charlie, Sierra is at the end of designated runway and awaiting instructions,” the pilot said into his headset.

  He had the speaker turned on in the small cabin and everyone could hear the air traffic controller’s response. ‘Roger, nine-er, Charlie, Sierra. You are clear for take off for operation kiss my ass.’ Dennis smiled in response while Lucas shook his head.

  “Roger that tower. Cleared for take-off. South Pole traffic, E.T.A. to ceiling is twelve minutes, operation kiss my ass is underway,” replied the pilot. Dennis let out a childish giggle.

  “You’re getting a real kick out of this aren’t you?” asked Lucas.

  “You have to admit, it is kind of funny,” said Hosea.

  After several minutes of gaining altitude a voice came over the radio. “How do you work this thing? Is it on? Lucas, you son of a bitch!” yelled the Secretary General through the crackling speaker. Lucas could barely hear him over the sound of the engines. The pilot looked back towards Lucas, waiting for instructions on how to respond. Lucas just made a simple gesture with his hand. He ran his fingers sideways across his neck that meant cut the radio.

  It was almost a six-hour flight to the mountainous area of Nazca, situated just inland from the South American Pacific. It was a quiet flight with the speaker off, and there wasn’t much conversation. No one felt much like talking and the roar of the aircraft’s jet engines made it difficult to hear. As they neared the mountains the general moved through the cabin and sat next to Lucas. He put his lips next to Lucas’s ear. “Pilot says we’re getting close, but he’s not sure if he can land where you want him to. Says he has to make sure he has enough room on the runway to take off again. Are you sure it’s smooth enough to land safely?”

  Lucas nodded. “We should be fine, the flat mountain we’re landing on is almost perfectly level. The only thing the pilot will have to worry about is some loose stones,” replied Lucas.

  “There’s something else,” the general yelled into his ear. “The pilot says he’s having a little trouble getting his bearings. He says the coast is completely under water and the ocean has made it all the way to the mountains.”

  “So it’s happening,” replied Lucas.

  “What is?” the general asked.

  “The tides,” Lucas yelled back. “Nibiru is stretching our oceans.” The general nodded and moved to the front of the plane to relay the information. The pilot made one pass over the plateau and then turned for his final approach. Lucas felt the aircraft slow as the pilot increased the flaps and prepared to land. Dennis let out a yelp as the plane touched down hard and then bounced twice before finally coming to a stop. Lucas took off his winter parka and dropped it across the seat as he stood up. “You’re not going to need these here,” he said, loud enough for everyone to hear. “It’s fairly warm this time of year.” The co-pilot opened the stairway hatch and everyone got out to have a look around.

  “So now what?” the general asked, staring Lucas down.

  “Now, we wait,” replied Lucas. “We’ll see if I was right. Either something is going to land here today or we did all this for nothing. Only time will tell.”

  Everyone meandered around, kicking pebbles or staring up at Nibiru, looming overhead. They were standing on a mountain peak that had been completely flattened off. It looked just like any of the other mountains stretching out of the ground in this area except for one major difference. The very top peak had been removed, leaving a smooth flat surface that stretched out along the range for thousands of feet.

  “How did this mountain get like this? It’s so strange, and it completely stands out,” said Hosea.

  “No one really knows, Hosea. No one knows how it got here, or what its purpose is,” Lucas replied.

  Hosea looked out towards the western horizon. He could see the valleys nearest them beginning to fill with water as the tides continued to push the ocean further inland. “Lucas, why are the tides climbing now? I mean, Nibiru has been pretty close to us for some time now,” asked Hosea.

  “Because when Nibiru was initially approaching it was on the opposite side of both suns. So the opposing gravitational effects kept the tides at bay, although I’m sure they were much higher than normal. Once Nibiru and both suns aligned during the eclipse the tides would be unimaginable,” Lucas explained.

  “But they’re still climbing,” replied Hosea.

  “Yes, and they will continue to climb higher, everyday, as long as Nibiru continues to get closer. They will recede at night when the Earths’ surface is facing away from Nibiru, but then climb again to new heights during the day.” Lucas turned to face Hosea. “I guess the Mayans were right,” he finished.

  “What do you mean? Are you referring to the Dresden Codex?” Hosea asked.

  “Yes. It’s one of the few artifacts that survived the fires of bigotry during the Inquisition. It shows a great serpent spewing water from its mouth, and is believed to represent a flood around the time their long count calendar ends,” Lucas explained.

  “Yes Lucas, I’m very familiar with it, but I never bought into the ‘end of the world Mayan prophecy’ hype,” Hosea replied, shaking his head.

  “Me neither, until now. It’s kind of ironic that we’re also entering the astrological age of Aquarius though. Don’t you think? Maybe there is a reason its name means water. It would seem the ancients knew this was coming,” Lucas replied. He allowed his eyes to drift up to the alien planet above them.

  The general grew impatient. “This was a waste of time. I thought you said we would have a chance to shoot at something? I have half a mind to go back.”

  “You’re free to do so, general, if that’s what you want-”

  “Look,” Hosea yelled out, cutting Lucas off. Everyone looked in the direction Hosea was pointing. Off in the distance, just above the horizon, something was coming towards them.

  “What is it?” the general asked, squinting in the direction Hosea was looking.

  “I don’t know,” whispered Lucas. He continued to stare at the obscure shape. It shone brightly, reflecting the sun, growing larger as it neared them.

  “Ready your weapons. Lock and load boys,” the general called out to his men.

  “Hold on General,” said Lucas. “We don’t even know what it is yet.”

  The object was moving with amazing speed. Within a few minutes it was almost directly above them. It was a fixed wing aircraft, but was monstrous in size. Its shape reminded Lucas of a stealth bomber, except this craft was ten times its size. Everyone watched in awe as it flew directly overhead and then slowed as it reached the opposite end of the plateau. It gracefully turned and then smoothly glided to a landing. The craft’s landing gear was unlike anything Lucas had ever seen. Instead of wheels, there were three elongated pads, which extended from each wing and the front of the ship. The alien technology seemed to hold the craft just above the ground, hovering on a cushion of air. Lucas could feel its powerful engines reverberating through the ground and up his legs to his chest. He looked on in wonder as the enormous spacecraft effortlessly stopped in front of them. It was about fifty feet away, but the ship was high enough to cast a shadow across the group as it blotted out the sun. Its engines became quieter and Lucas saw a door open underneath the craft. A large walkway dropped down onto the smooth stone in front of them.

  Hosea moved closer to Lucas. “What do we do?” he asked, but never took his eyes off of the large craft in front of them.

  “I-I don’t know for sur
e,” replied Lucas. “Do we board or do we wait for a signal, or some kind of sign from it?”

  Lucas heard gunfire. It wasn’t coming from the general’s men. It was much farther away. He looked towards the opposite end of the plateau and could see a long line of armored trucks heading towards them. “What the hell is that?” asked Hosea.

  “I don’t know, but I don’t really want to wait around and find out,” replied Lucas as several rounds began to ricochet off the flat rock around their feet. “General, you wanted to shoot at something. Well start shooting,” yelled Lucas as he pointed towards the army vehicles that were approaching. The general and his men took up positions around the only cover available; the aircraft they had flown in on. Several rounds began to rip through the plane’s fuselage behind them as the general ordered to fire back. Lucas, Hosea and Dennis crouched behind the plane, pinned down from the gunfire.

  The general moved around the plane and made eye contact with Lucas “If you’re hitching a ride on that thing, I suggest you do it now,” he yelled.

  “What about you General? You’re not coming?” Lucas asked.

  “Just get going, I’ll cover you,” he replied.

  Lucas looked at Hosea and then to Dennis. “Come on guys, let’s just get on that thing,” he said, gesturing towards the large craft in front of them.

  “Are you sure?” Hosea asked. “What if your wrong?”

  Several more rounds landed around their feet and Lucas began to run. “I don’t think we have a choice,” he called behind him.

  Hosea and Dennis ran after him and the general watched the three men as they ran up the stairway of the ship and disappeared inside. The walkway began to retract just as the line of army vehicles screeched to a halt in front of the craft.

  “Why aren’t they firing at the ship? They only seem to be interested in killing us,” said one of the general’s men as several dozen heavily armed soldiers ran up to them with automatic rifles aimed.