Godeena: SF Novel

by Stjepan Cobets

  As they approached closer, the colossal buildings blocked the sun more and more. All over there were buildings in the shapes of domes, with tiny glass openings through which one could see their interiors. Among these, there were numerous lesser conical buildings in the form of pyramids, but the most prominent were the towers, which protruded like needles. All the conical buildings were covered with weird written signs from the top of the bottom. On the stone protrusions at each level, there were statues of different sizes under the windows. They weren’t able to understand what they were representing, though they seemed to be humanoid creatures. In contrast with the conical buildings, the needle-shaped buildings were coated with a smooth, dark green layer that looked like glass and one couldn’t look into their interiors.

  “It’s as beautiful as it was when I saw it for the first time,” Diana concluded after a few minutes.

  Henry respectfully watched the city and admired its builders, and said, “I must agree with you. It’s really beautiful.”

  “But it is still his town,” claimed Kir, adding, “Look down beneath us!”

  On the wide streets, there were crowds of robots moving in the direction of where they are going to land.

  Henry swore, “Shit! There are more of them than we hoped!”

  Kir watched robots and dissatisfied determined, “I thought that we had killed most of them in the crater.”

  “It seems that we didn’t!”

  “Do we still have the Delta bombs?” asked Kir after a short pause.

  “I think we have a couple of them, but they are on Vallery’s transporter,” I said.

  “Nice. Get Endy to prepare them. We’ll attack from the air.”

  “Or we could make the robots come closer when we have landed, and then we can take off and activate the bombs from a decent distance by remote control like we did in the crater?”

  “Yes, that option is better,” Kir agreed.

  “It’s more effective,” Henry decided and switched turned on the communicator. “Vallery let Endy prepare and time the remaining Delta bombs like we did in the crater. We’ll place them around the edges of the square where the original expedition made camp. There’s quite a number robots around, and it would be a shame not to serve them dessert.”

  After a short pause Vallery called. “He… ver… satisfy… with …at.”

  “Berry, have you been listening?”

  “All… it.”

  “Once you’ve planted the Delta bombs, we’ll wait until the robots come closer to you and Vallery and then we’ll take off out of range.”

  “I under…nd.”

  “We’ll speak again when we land.”

  In two hours of flight, they arrived at the base camp of the disappeared expedition. “Is this the right place?” Henry asked, looking at the square, which was as large as hundreds of football fields.

  With a sad face, Diana watched the utterly empty square. A tear glided down her cheek while she remembered the friends whom she had lost in this place. She pointed with a hand towards a building at its edge and confirmed, wiping off tears, “There was our camp, right behind that big building.”

  The dome-shaped building was prominent with its black granite and its beehive-like interior. It had a massive emerald arch, and the pillars seemed to hang in the air, but that was an optical illusion. Admiring its appearance, Henry asked, “Did you enter that and explore it?”

  “Yes, inside there was unusual radiation, for which we had to wear our suits. That’s why we had our base camp there since were expecting to find the cause of the radiation.”

  “And you found it?”

  “Unfortunately, it was the Being.”

  “Sorry for interrupting you, but I have to inform Berry to land.” Henry switched on the communicator. “Berry, we have to land in the middle of the huge square.”

  “I un…stand.”

  Then Henry called his deputy commander. “Vallery, set up the bombs as we agreed.”

  “All r…t.”

  After they had landed, they watched Endy jump from the transporter and set up the Delta bombs around them. Then they only had to wait. The boy soon appeared with his robot army, which advanced from all the streets coming into the square. When they came closer, Henry fired from his cannon and shouted, “We’re taking off!”

  They were soon out of range, and Endy activated the bombs. Satisfied, Henry watched the bomb jump two meters above the ground and scatter its electro-magnetic impulses. From this distance, the impulses looked like milk, white waves which collided with each other. After a quick strike, all the robots in the square were killed and they stopped in place when their memory systems burned. Most of them sparked and then toppled to the floor with eerie creaking sounds, and a few of them exploded. Henry was pleased. Endy had done a good job.

  “We’re coming back, but this time, we’ll land at the position where the camp was. Prepare your armaments; we’ll have to have a firefight. I doubt that his favorites went into the square.”

  They left the heap of destroyed robots and took off to the appointed position. Henry put his helmet on and gave it a light press to seal it hermetically. Then he pushed one clip into his rifle and put the rest of them into his ammunition vest. “Kir, fetch me four hand grenades. It’s time for a little action.”

  “Macho shithead,” Diana muttered to herself and unwillingly took hold of her rifle.

  Kir turned to her and cut her with a severe look. “You don’t like our company, Miss?”

  Diana backed away and leaned in her chair. “I haven’t thought about it.”

  “And what have you thought about?” Henry asked.

  “I can’t stand this bullshit about proving manhood. My whole childhood I was surrounded by soldiers, and I have never liked this showing off. I saw my friends die in the crazy war against the Anskers. They went back home in those black coffins. That’s why I ran away as far as I could from my grandpa because he wanted me to enroll in the military academy.”

  Henry closed his eyes. “I myself have lost many friends at war. I saw them die…” he caught his breath and composed himself as best he could. “Diana, now you have found yourself in a war from which we have come to save you, so this ‘macho bullshit’ is the only way to survive. That’s why you put that ammunition vest at your side! Take the rifle with all the bullets you’ve been issued and endeavor to kill any robot which comes near you! Is that clear?” She nodded, and he repeated, “Is that clear?”

  She wanted to punch him, but she only took hold of the rifle and snapped back, “Yes, it’s clear, Brigadier!”

  After Vallery and Berry had landed Henry got out, followed by Diana’s furious look. Sergeant Colburn loudly deployed his soldiers all around the aircraft, and he started towards him. Kir caught up with him. “You’ve overdone it a little with Diana.”

  “Somebody had to shake her up. Maybe she’ll transfer her anger to the robots.”

  Kir laughed. “I have always known that there’s a little devil hiding in you.”

  “If somebody else told me that I wouldn’t take it seriously, but when you say it I have to be worried.” he couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Contact!” somebody shouted and fired.

  Henry aimed in the direction from which the shots were heard, but something made him look back at Diana, who was just getting off the fighter. Panicking, she tried to take off her rifle, but she didn’t manage it, and the rifle stuck in the buckle of the vest. A small robot was approaching behind her. He aimed and shattered it into pieces, and then reached for the belt that held her rifle. “I’ll help you!”

  Kir covered him while Henry unbuckled and took off Diana’s rifle. When he freed her, he shouted loudly, “Take it and shoot!”

  Diana started to shoot towards the closest robots, which were advancing like ants. After some fifteen minutes of continuous destruction, Henry shouted to the others.

  “Vallery, Colburn! How’s the situation wher
e you are?”

  Colburn was the first to answer. “They are still advancing, but we’re holding our position.”

  Vallery added, “The same with us. We’re holding the position.”

  Loud thunder in the east attracted his attention. The ground began to quake from the droning of strong motors, followed by the squeaking and creaking of metal. Henry quickly climbed onto the fighter-bomber to have a look at where the sound was coming from. Five huge, monstrous machines, five times larger than our transporters, were rapidly approaching from the other end of the square. Like massive armored tanks, they smashed everything in their way with their caterpillar tracks. They opened fire at us, but luckily they were out of their range, so the nearest shell fell some hundred meters away from them, throwing the destroyed robots in the air. Henry loudly shouted and dropped the nearest robot with a precise hit. “Flan comes here! There’s a considerable problem approaching from the opposite side of the square.”

  “Yes, Commander!”

  “Sergeant Colburn!”

  “Yes?”

  “We need Hydras, six of them.”

  “I am coming!”

  Flan was soon standing beside me, adorned with the six BB 48 Hydra rocket launchers. With an open mouth, he watched the gigantic monsters approaching us.

  Henry loud command, “They mustn’t get here! We’ll burn down those shit before they get closer.”

  Flam handed him a Hydra, and then he put one on his shoulder and laid the others down. Henry aimed towards the closest monster. “Mine is the first from the left.”

  “Mine is the right one.”

  Simultaneously they pulled the triggers. Six rockets flew out of each launcher, leaving white smoky tracks behind them, and flew like hornets towards the closest machines. The front part of Flan’s robot disappeared in six consecutive explosions, which stopped it on the spot. The machine Henry hit continued to move for a couple of feet, but in the end, it stopped, sparking and jerking like a wounded animal, and then explode into a blue fireball. The remaining three robots accelerated and opened fire on them, explosion, this time, is been much closer to the spot from which they fired a few ricochets whizzed over their heads. Henry pointed out to Flan which one to shoot at and pressed the trigger on another Hydra. Not waiting to see the effect of the explosion, he picked up the next launcher and aimed towards the last remaining robot, but when Henry pulled the trigger, he could hear only empty clicking. The last huge robot pushed aside the ruined monsters and then opened fire. This time, its shell exploded very close from Berry’s transporter and rain of shrapnel hit the transporter behind which they hid Colburn and his team.

  Henry loudly shouted, “Endy!”

  “Say it, Boss!”

  “Can you see this last monster dashing toward us?”

  “I see!”

  “Hit it with a mortar. My shit Hydra is jammed!”

  “You needn’t worry; that iron vulture is mine.”

  When he open fire, his first couple of grenades demolished the whole left lateral part of the huge machine, but it didn’t stop it. Endy sent off several more grenades and destroyed its cannon barrel, but the machine was still advancing, and for a moment it seemed that it was speeding up. Endy swore angrily. “Shit! This one is still not stopping.”

  “Hit it until it stops!” Henry commanded while shooting at the smaller robots which were still approaching to them, crushing the destroyed remnants of the others.

  Endy carefully aimed at the smoking hole in its anterior part switched to burst shooting and squeezed the trigger. Four or five grenades flew out simultaneously; the rebound pushed Endy to the floor, and he groaned painfully. However, the effect of his stroke was terrible. The entire front part of the monster machine vanished in the greenish explosion. Pieces of metal flew all around and, with a series of minor explosions in its interior, it began to jerk and fall apart. A moment later there was a sharp explosion and the machine literally flew apart. Several parts falling near us and one sharp piece of metal stuck right between Endy’s legs. Endy watched wide-eyed in the glowing hot metal and swore loudly. “Shit! I almost lost my balls.”

  Sergeant Colburn approached to give him a hand up. “Don’t worry! You’re all in one piece.”

  “Thank God. I think I might still need him.”

  Colburn laughed and pulled him up. “Good job.” He patted him on the shoulder and continued, “I taught you not to shoot on burst, didn’t I?”

  With a painful grimace on his face, Endy responded, “Yes, you did, but it was effective. And I would thrash it with a burst again if I had to, even if my shoulder fell off.”

  “There, you have a chance! More visitors are coming from the right side. Clear them away!”

  *

  The fight lasted for half an hour and soon there was a smoking heap of destroyed robots around them. They were in the lull after the battle. From the top of the fighter, Henry watched the surroundings and called to the others. “Vallery, how’s the situation at your site?”

  “Peaceful. They aren’t coming closer anymore.”

  “Colburn tell me your status!”

  “It’s quiet for now sir!”

  “We have to prepare for a new attack. Take out the ammunition and let everybody take their positions.”

  Henry noticed Diana. Many times he had seen that expression of contentment after a won battle, so he said to her, “Do I see a shine in your eyes?”

  Diana winked at me. “I’m feeling great. We have won the day. I’m only sorry I wasn’t able to destroy more of them.”

  “That, unfortunately, won’t bring your friends back.”

  “True, but it was still satisfying to watch their parts fall off when I was shooting at them. You’re right; I enjoyed it, but you should know…” She stopped when she spotted the Being materializing in one of the huge piles of remnants some two hundred meters away. Black smoke was pouring from the wreckage of the destroyed monsters, fluttering unnaturally around him like whirled up veils. Diana raised her rifle, shouted and pulled the trigger. “It’s time to drop dead, you tiny little shithead!”

  She hit him right in the middle of the chest, but he barely backed away; he only took a step back. He watched them, grinning unnaturally, and shouted in a voice that resounded across the Whole Square, “Bad, bad, and very bad!” Then he began to laugh like a madman. His laughter hardened the blood in our veins to ice.

  Diana aimed at his head and pulled the trigger. His face evaporated, turning into a jelly-like masque, but it lasted only for a second before he again took the form of a boy. Diana wanted to shoot again, but Henry stopped her. “There is no use. You won’t do harm to him.”

  Then the Being addressed them. “Welcome to my city of Ankaramanka! This is the city of all cities, like my masters used to say. I can’t see you, but I know that you are somewhere by your ships.” He stopped and looked around. “You have surprised me for a minute by killing so many of my favorite. When I studied you for the first time and learned your language, you looked as frail and liable to be wounded as my former masters, but you have resisted me in a worthy manner.” He laughed roguishly and spread his hands like a preacher. “Surely you may ask yourselves who my lords were, but that does not matter because they are long gone, like the Anskers, Deltons, Saritas, Kalans, Gutardins and many others who wanted my planet. Just as I ruined them, I will destroy you as well.”

  Kir whispered in my ear, “I’m feeling fear in his words.”

  “I like that,” Henry confirmed while the Being continued with his monologue.

  “Why have you come here anyway? Nobody has called you. Why does everybody want a piece of my planet?”

  Suddenly before him materialized a tall creature covered by an old, worn-out black cape, airily fluttering in the mild breeze. For a moment Henry thought it could be one of his monsters, but when the boy backed away, he turned to ask Kir what was happening. Henry was surprised to see her sitting on the ground with crosse
d legs. When the caped person spoke up, he comprehended that she was using her powers.

  “We’ve come to kill you, you little brat!”

  The boy quickly composed himself, waved his hand in the air and created beside himself four monsters like the one whom Henry had seen when they had been collecting equipment in the desert. The apparition in black indolently raised its hand and pointed towards them with a finger. “So you think that your favorites shall do harm to me?”

  His face darkened from fury, and the monsters advanced to attack. Whoever was under the cape reacted quickly and spread her hands; they could see flame shimmering around her fingers. In the following second, the monsters began to burn, turning into dust. The Being went crazy and began to jump on the destroyed robots, trampling them with his feet. Then he calmed down and growled; “Now you shall meet my true might.”

  The remnants of the destroyed robots flew into the air and began to join up behind him with a loud metallic scraping. A rain of sparks showered the boy, but he didn’t pay attention to them because he was carefully watching his opponent with a malicious look. She didn’t show any concern at any of his moves. When the monstrous humanoid machine was constructed, it topped them all by some fifty meters. The boy was smiling contentedly with a wild expression on the face, and then he spoke. “It’s my turn now.”

  With a thundering sound, the machine swung at the apparition with its hand, which was thickly set with sharp points. She quickly dodged sideways to avoid the deadly hit. The steel hand of the gigantic robot hit the ground, and the square shook from the mighty blow. The shockwave almost knocked Henry and crew down, though they were pretty far from the point of impact. At the same time the robot moved to begin another attack, swaying with its other hand to smash its enemy, but this time, the apparition under the cape didn’t move. She raised her hands and shouted, “Enough!”

  Between her hands appeared a bluish ball of light which flew towards the thundering hand. With a mighty blow, metal squeaked, and the broken hand flew some hundred meters away. The next light ball hit the robot directly in the chest and pushed it back ten meters, where it fell on its back with a thunderous screech of metal. While the robot was raising itself up, the apparition under the cape bowed and began swaying left to the right, and then stood up and reached her hand forwards. A burning red ball flew towards the robot, wildly pulsating and sparkling in its flight. It hit the robot’s right shoulder and absorbed itself into its body. It seemed as if nothing had happened, and the robot erected itself and prepared for its next attack, but still its right shoulder burned with a red flame. It had made it barely two paces when it began to melt.