Visions of the Atom: The Last Children

by Luis Robles

  The Shinka swung its blades at Deimos at full strength, but Deimos avoided them as he got closer. When the Shinka was in range of the sword, Deimos swung his sword from left to right. As it encountered majority of the Shinka’s body, it did not stop; the sword cut through the monster’s body just like a piece of bread back in the Haven, cutting the monster in half.

  Both halves of the monster fell to each side, where they quickly began to bleed out and loose its color. Deimos stepped away, keeping his guard up, ready to swing the sword once again if he had to.

  “Iris, can it recover from that?” Avenn said.

  “No. While Shinkas are known to recover from most wounds, they are not known to recover from extensive wounds such as the one you caused it,” Iris said.

  “We got some more of them approaching from your 9 o’clock, and they look pissed!” Clint said, firing his drones at the new monsters. “They already took out some of my drones!”

  “Keep your distance from the monsters. We won’t do Avenn any good if they keep on swatting us like flies,” Arnold said. “Kenya, try to go ahead and tell me what you see... if there’s anything else coming this way. We need to know what’s out there.”

  “All right, I’m on my way,” Kenya said as she flew the drones even further north.

  Deimos stood his ground while the monsters ran towards him. He held his sword at the back left by instinct. The Shinkas attacked Deimos with all eight tentacle blades, getting at him from every angle. But with each swing, Deimos blocked, and with each block a piece of their blade fell, and even sometimes the tentacles would end up cut off. The drones focused all their firepower into their eyes, effectively blinding them for the meantime. In a moment of frustration, the Shinkas backed off and fired their weapons at Deimos.

  Deimos did not have time to react at such a near distance, and the Shinkas’ weapons hit him with 100% accuracy, causing a large explosion; smoke and debris flew everywhere.

  A few moments passed, and nothing happened, nothing was moving. Deimos suddenly flew out of the cloud of dust, running with his sword on his left side. As he got close enough to the Shinka, he thrusted the sword upwards, cutting the monster in half through its side. Without waiting to see what would happen, he began running towards the remaining Shinkas and did the same thing. Both monsters were slain.

  “That kind of hurt a lot. Are all attacks going to feel that way?” Avenn asked Iris.

  “No. It entirely depends on the strength of the attack. The stronger the attack, the more pain it will cause you,” Iris said.

  “Hey, guys! We have a big problem. Big... as in big. Dammit, my drones are gone!” Kenya shouted at the coms. “There’s four more of those monster things heading our way. And there is one big spider-looking thing heading our way also. It’s easily three times the size.”

  “Which one is first?” Avenn asked.

  “They are all coming at the same time!” Kenya responded.

  It wasn’t long before Deimos was able to spot the giant spider.

  “Iris, what the heck is that thing?” Avenn asked, turning Deimos to face the enemy head on.

  “The human military used to call it the Eater. It was often used in large-scale attacks, and it was often the cause of the War Beasts’ destruction. I suggest you use extreme precaution with this one. And if I may also suggest, there is one weapon you haven’t tried out that was built specifically for this,” Iris said.

  “Oh, yeah? I will try it as soon as we are clear,” Avenn said, feeling overwhelmed by the situation.

  As the monsters saw Deimos, they accelerated towards him, roaring and screeching. The Eater let out thousands upon thousands of four-legged creatures; the small four-legged creatures were fast.

  “Don’t let them get close to Deimos!” Arnold shouted through the coms.

  “Should I turn the Drone Hyper Mode on? This will allow the drones to move and acquire more targets than their own as when you’re not using them,” Iris said.

  “Do it, Do it!” Arnold replied.

  The drones started swarming all around, finding target after target, and not letting off it until it was destroyed. The small four-legged creatures were tough, each taking several seconds to destroy at full grown firepower. One of the four-legged small creatures got through the line of drones and on to Deimos’ leg. It climbed for a few seconds then detonated, causing a fiery of explosion.

  Avenn was able to feel it: it stung just as much, if not more than the Shinka’s weapons.

  “Don’t let them break the line!” Arnold shouted.

  Deimos began running towards one of the Shinkas, while evading the swipes of the Eater trying to take him down. He slew one, then another, then he flew to the third one, cutting it into half once again. He was about to reach for the forth Shinka when two of the small four-legged creatures exploded on him, causing him to lose balance with the momentum and fall to the floor.

  Both the Eater and the Shinka pummeled on him, burying him towards the ground. In the Central Control Bay, Avenn screamed in pain, as he was able to feel the beating. Deimos clenched his sword and had his shields deployed, lessening the attack. The shields wouldn’t hold for very long under the attacks of the Eater, but Deimos was already up. He swung his sword as hard as it could, cutting off its legs. The Eater screamed. Without wasting time, he went towards the Shinka at full speed, cutting it in half.

  “You know that weapon you were telling me about? I think I am ready to give it a try,” Avenn said, breathing heavily.

  “There will be an option to select it. It will be displayed on screen. In theory, this is the most powerful weapon conceived by humankind, the true differentiator between Deimos and the past War Beasts,” Iris said, making the weapon appear in front of Avenn’s screen.

  The God Cannons

  Using the turbine engines on his back, Deimos distanced himself from the Eater. He put back the sword and selected the God Cannons from his arsenal. The Hyper Beam Cannons were a long to ultra-long range cannons; Deimos was still too close to the Eater to use them. Warnings flashed on the screen.

  Minimum distance to target not met.

  Collateral damage is imminent.

  “Relay message,” Avenn said, determined to fire.

  Deimos’ feet locked on the floor, and the turbines began to wind up as the God Cannons aimed at the Eater. The God Cannons extended and doubled their length towards the front, and one time towards the back.

  “Move the drones away from the Eater and hold on to something now!” Avenn yelled, feeling the immense power of the cannons.

  The turbines roared back to life and attempted to push Deimos forward; it took nearly all of his strength to hold Deimos back, even at a quarter of their top speed. The God Cannons fired with extreme force, pushing Deimos back even as the turbines were now surpassing their full speed. The Eater was fast, moving at incredible speed for its size, but the cannons were instantaneous.

  The two beams fired from the cannons combined into one, as they gained distance away from Deimos. The Eater and the ground around it were incinerated the second they met the powerful beam. All the nearby snow evaporated. Seconds later, tons upon tons of debris flew as projectiles everywhere, many of which flew towards Deimos, but thousands of drones formed a wall in front of him, blocking most of it; when one drone was destroyed, another one quickly replaced it.

  The God Cannons were still smoking as they contracted to their original position.

  “We need to know if that’s the last of them,” Arnold said.

  Back in the Central Control Bay, Avenn was winded and breathing heavily. His body felt broken and tired. It wasn’t long before Avenn began moving again once he saw movement on the ground.

  “There’s still some small spiders left,” Avenn said through the coms.

  “As in this moment, there is no big obstacles. May I suggest we use the sterilization protocol with the drones,” Iris said.

  “What is that?” Arnold asked.

  “The sterilization
protocol is where all drones that are not in use clean the battlefield in a coordinated effort, concentrating their firepower around Deimos,” Iris said.

  “Do it,” Arnold said.

  Most of the drones began to circle around Deimos in a tight formation, pointing their weapons towards the ground in a 2-mile radius. As they began to fire, they began to speed up; munition rained from the sky, destroying all the remaining four-legged creatures, clearing the battle field before Deimos.

  The drones stopped and speeded out, flanking Deimos once again.

  “We are low on ammo; the drones don’t have much left. Kenya, go once again. We need to know if it’s safe to advance,” Arnold said.

  Kenya grabbed five more drones, and she headed north once again.

  Not half a minute had passed before Kenya was shouting on the coms, “You are not going to like this. There’s seven more monsters coming this way, and a multitude of other vehicles.”

  Avenn took a fighting stance and grabbed his sword as he saw the number of enemies approaching. In that same moment, his sensors noted seismic activity from south of him.

  “I need eyes on my 6 o'clock. Something big is coming,” Avenn said.

  “I don’t see anything. There’s nothing here,” Clint said.

  “Look harder, it’s getting closer,” Avenn said as he braced for impact with the first of the Shinkas.

  “I see something... I see something. It’s coming from underneath the ground!” Clint shouted as he saw the ground break in a wavy line towards Deimos.

  The drones began to fire at everything they could; the small vehicles that accompanied the Shinkas fired back as well. Some of the drones did not have any more ammo left, and the drone pilots began to hurdle at full speed towards the enemy in a suicide mission. The 250 kg of explosives caused large explosions. A storm of fire was created within seconds between the two factions.

  “From underneath? You’ve got to be kidding me,” Avenn said as he stood his ground and readied his sword.

  The Shinkas launched at Deimos, and he was ready to swing as soon as they came within range. But the Shinkas were met at midair by a giant worm that dwarfed their size and weight. Two more of them came out of the ground, then a third that made the ground underneath Deimos collapse as a result. Deimos fell halfway into the ground.

  Three more giant worms unearthed and began preying on the monsters and alien vehicles. Some of the drones that were close to the giant worms were getting attacked as well. But the worms seemed to ignore Deimos.

  “Pull the drones up. They would just be collateral damage if we keep them there,” Arnold said as the fire between the drones and the alien vehicles had stopped and now were firing at the worms.

  Deimos got out the crevice in the ground and looked around, only to see the worms and the monsters fully engaged.

  “Iris, is there anything you might know that I don’t?” Avenn asked, bemused with the scene.

  “It looks like the ongoing seismic activity between Deimos and the alien creatures has attracted the Giant Lumbricina to this location. By the looks of things, the scent of the ones you slew still lingers on Deimos, making him invisible to the worms,” Iris said.

  “There’s no sense in staying here. I think those monsters will have their hands full,” Avenn said as he advanced through the battlefield.

  The worms paid little attention to him as he walked by; the monsters tried to get away from the worms and attack Deimos, but they were outmatched by the giants. Deimos continued heading north.

  It wasn’t long before Deimos and his thousands of drones were in front of the energy barrier the invaders had put up around their settlement. Wilderness was all around them; everywhere Deimos looked, there was some form of life. Even under the blanket of the cold tundra, flora and fauna flourished. It looked like a whole new world to the group, something humanity had been deprived of for centuries.

  The energy dome barrier was massive: it extended as far as Deimos could see. Large pillars were posted around the radius of the barrier. Far in the center of the energy barrier was the alien ship. Even from afar, it looked massive, with many smaller structures surrounding it.

  “It’s time to blow this place back to hell,” Avenn said as he attempted to select the God Cannons once again. A message was displayed on the main screen.

  God Cannons temporarily deactivated — 5% charged.

  “What?” Avenn asked.

  “The God Cannons were not designed to fire in rapid succession. A recharge time is required before being able to use them again,” Iris said.

  “Hey, guys… We have a decision on our hands. Either we just wait around until the cannons are recharged and engage anything that comes our way, or we take Deimos everything it’s got, and we march straight up to them,” Avenn said, ready to face whatever was in there.

  “I’m with you, Avenn, anything you decide to do is something I can live with,” Jordan said.

  “We’ve already come this far. It would be a shame if we don’t keep going,” Kenya said.

  “Let’s do this!” Clint said.

  “There’s nothing for us here, and there’s nothing for us back home. We have no business but to keep moving forward. We are with you,” Arnold added.

  “Forward it is. Get ready,” Avenn said to them as he grabbed the railgun from his back.

  Deimos aimed the railgun at a large pillar in front of him. He fired the railgun, effectively piercing the pillar, causing a disrupted wave throughout the barrier. The railgun charged in seconds, and he fired again. He then fired multiple shots at all the twelve pillars that he was able to see. It wasn’t long before the pillars exploded, causing the barrier to become unstable. He put away the smoking railgun.

  Deimos marched up to the energy barrier with his right hand extended. Energy began discharging on him; Avenn felt the sting. As Deimos placed one hand on the barrier, the discharge incremented exponentially. The barrier felt hot and unwavering. By reflex, numerous shields came to Avenn’s aid, reinforcing Deimos’ hands, lessening the heat and pain.

  “Here goes nothing!” Avenn said as he placed his left hand on the barrier and began pushing with both hands. He felt his hands heating up, and it started to burn as he pressed them against the barrier.

  All the drones opened fire with everything they had left at the barrier. Some of the drones launched at the barrier and exploded on impact. The turbines at his back began to come alive, pushing Deimos towards the barrier with great force.

  The energy barrier groaned and shifted as the attack increased. Avenn screamed and pushed Deimos, and himself, to the limit. Moments later, the giant barrier broke, making a thunderous sound. Shards of energy rained from the sky, as the alien technology broke into a billion pieces.

  The display inside the Central Control Bay lit up with red warnings, flashing.

  Warning

  Locked on

  Incoming fire

  The same message appeared on the drone cockpits.

  “Let’s not wait here and find out what’s coming,” Avenn said as he grabbed the machine gun and began running towards the distant structure.

  “The drones are running on fumes,” Kenya said.

  “We’ll just have to do with what we got,” Arnold said.

  Deimos moved fast throughout the frozen land; his strength was solid and his resolve absolute. As the first waves of fire collided with Deimos, the drones jumped into action, blocking and firing back at anything they could. But many of the drones began to dwindle in a barrage of relentless fire. For a little while, sheer number was on their side, but that too faded once they were a quarter of their way there, and the enemy’s firepower increased by double.

  “If this amount of firepower keeps up, I’m afraid that the number of drones we have won’t be enough,” Iris said.

  Avenn didn’t respond, as he was concentrating on the task at hand, trying to get out the way of the incoming fire and advancing at the same time. But it was an impossible task, as the enemy�
��s firepower kept increasing systematically as they got closer. Perhaps, it was the number of weapons they came into range as the War Beast got closer. Who knows. But one thing that was for sure was that they were in big trouble, and they needed a quick solution.

  “There is one thing that we can try,” Iris said as she made appear an option on Avenn’s display.

  Abaddon

  “What is that?” Avenn said as he noticed the new option.

  “Abaddon: a place of destruction, the depths of hell. It also happens to be Deimos’ most powerful mode. All power chambers will be opened, and Deimos’ true fighting power will be unleashed,” Iris said.

  Without thinking about it, Avenn selected the option, and Deimos began to transform. Vents began to open all throughout his body, exposing heavy radiator cores, and fins. Over two hundred turrets dotted his body, and six more small turbines appeared as well, two in each leg, and one on each arm. The larger turbines that were on his back also started to transform, while the front scoops expanded, and their rear got longer. All throughout Deimos’ body, radiating blue energy lines separated his armor plating.

  A message appeared in the drone cockpits.

  Drones are temporarily unavailable.

  Abaddon has been engaged.

  Avenn felt the surge of power; his adrenal glands were working double time as his body jolted with life. As he felt his new-found power, a large see-through timer appeared on the giant display, counting down.

  00:00:03:00

  “I’m guessing that is the amount of time I have while in Abaddon mode?” Avenn said, and he ran.

  “That is correct. Anything longer than three minutes can put your life at risk,” Iris replied.

  “This is going to have to do,” Avenn said as he increased the speed of his approach.

  The remaining drones were struggling to keep up as Deimos ran at full speed. The enemies’ fire incremented once more, but Deimos did not notice the difference as he plowed through all of it. Deimos was firing from all angles; every turret on his body was at full strength. Shinkas disappeared from existence just as soon as they appeared in front of Deimos, attempting to slow his run. Two more Eaters appeared, and they too met the same fate as the rest, as Deimos passed straight through them. Vehicles of every kind collided with Deimos—small, large, heavy—all but mere nuisance. All were destroyed in a matter of seconds.