“Maybe, but I think it might be something more. Look here. See this? Colin, this thing, this rock or asteroid, whatever – I… Colin – this isn’t an asteroid…”
Gabriel’s voice and practically everything else went muted as the connections sparked in Colin’s head. He knew what it was.
“Colin, it’s…”
“A spaceship.” Colin discerned, his attention already set to get back in his commander’s seat and give the order.
“All hands! Prepare evasive maneuvers!” He ordered.
Boom!
An energy missile made contact with the ship immediately as Colin attempted to get his men prepared, then another shot followed by another. They were under attack.
“LARS, get us out of here! NOW!” Colin shouted
The ship avoided as many attacks as best it could but the barrage was relentless and seemingly, being shot from the rocks of the asteroid. A confusing sight to see. Colin’s crew scrambled to their stations trying to hold the ship together, but the only option was to flee. The ship wasn’t meant to combat effectively, it was made to divert space debris. Suddenly the ship jerked forward, the crew slipped inside and sparks went flying. A red beam held the ship in stasis and everything went dark. In the middle of the room, a holographic image of a man, dressed in a foreign attire made his presence known; his face, burning with the hatred of a thousand suns.
“Hello Solarians.” The language translator spoke for him, “It’s been a very long time…”
The Offspring vs The Valkyrie
‘Hours, days, no, no, more like weeks, maybe even months… not sure how long I’ve been – HEY! Watch it!’
A battle-scarred Josh rolls to the side, narrowly avoiding Valkyrie’s onslaught of energy shots from higher ground. The area’s more or less, darkness in neon light but where they are, could be considered a ‘hilly’ area with lots of good spots for guerilla warfare. Once Josh regained himself, he hid behind one of the cracks in the darkness, readied his gun and waited for the war maiden to come nearby.
‘Alright. I can do this. Time her out. She always likes to play full aggressive and it’s good and all for heavy offense – certainly pushes the opposition back, but the problem is, she’s vulnerable after her burst period. Just need to time her out… just need…’
Click!
“Need to be more aware.” Valkyrie’s voice rang a shot of fear down Josh’s spine as he realized she was at his side, holding him gun point. Josh froze for a moment then he quickly slapped the gun away from Valkyrie’s hand and proceeded to return a shot, only for Valkyrie to kick his weapon out of his hand, so the two engaged in close quarter combat.
Josh kept up pretty well. An obvious result of his training during the time he’s been here with her. He was able to block and parry her, plus return some solid attacks of his own. However, here, Josh didn’t have his super speed nor agility or strength like he did outside. The program purposely kept him within the limits of a non-enhanced human for the sake of making his training not only harder, but lessening the reliance on augmented performance. Should he make it through the training, as just an average joe, then the result in the end, would make him that more efficient in the real world.
Josh was starting to gain the upper hand on his ancestor, forcing her footing to step back and back on the defensive. This inspired him and a well of fire sparked him to get more aggressive and so he did, but that would quickly work against him once Valkyrie noticed the overconfidence blinding him. She allowed him to feel he was gaining the advantage until she avoided a haymaker, sidestepped to his right and delivered a knee to his groin followed by a series of blows to his head and neck that sent him stumbling on the ground. Josh rolled away toward his weapon, grabbed it and fired wildly.
The wild barrage of attacks sent Valkyrie sideflipping away and retreating for as much cover as possible. Once again, Josh had the upper hand and he had no intention of letting this advantage slip away again. He followed her trail. She was heading to open space. He wondered why.
‘Now I have you…’
Valkyrie slid down a path on the dark hill, in the distance, an artificial energetic ball that acted like a sun to the virtual world caught the glimmer of her eye. She smiled deviously, seeing that ‘sun’ was giving energy to this dark world the two of them were in, but more than that, she smiled knowing Josh was near and that was exactly what she wanted.
Josh came around the corner, noticing she was standing still and repeatedly asking himself, ‘why?’ Nevertheless, he readied his shot. Valkyrie turned back and smirked at him. Just as he was about to hit the click, he noticed something on the ground. A small, hand-sized cylindrical object.
‘You have got to be kidding me…’
Boom!
The grenade explosion sent Josh flying away and smashing into the clear, flat ground below. Valkyrie grabbed Josh’s weapon and took careful steps toward him, waiting so he’d get up to see not only had he lost this duel but he lost it and lost his weapon in the process.
“Shit…” Josh said aloud realizing his defeat as he got to his knees against the standing, gun-pointed Valkyrie.
Valkyrie tilted her head at his comment, “What kind of language are you using there Martian boy? Don’t you know? Profanities are for earthlings.”
“Must’ve picked it up from you.” He jeered playfully.
Valkyrie lowered the gun. She waited for Josh to get back on his feet.
“I don’t understand where I’m going wrong… I see what you’re doing but, sometimes I feel like I can’t stop it from happening.”
Valkyrie listened well to her student’s complaints before formulating a proper response. Josh waited for her advice. Sure, he’d improve a lot since they first started. The original days in this program, it was two weeks straight of him getting his ass kicked before as much as landing a single blow or even a parry.
“The art of deception.” Valkyrie finally spoke, “It’s something that doesn’t come overnight. The ability to make your foes think you are something you are not. Indeed, a powerful tool, but once you are trained to create bullshit, you’ll know bullshit when it arrives.”
Josh nodded humbly. He was a good kid to his grandmother. More honored than anything to give her attitude, although there may have been an instance here or there with the young adult know-it-all enigma. Still, Josh was a good student. He listened to the words of his ancestor and monitored her as best he can. Valkyrie turned away, prepared to end the day and retreat with her student for the sake of rest for another day yet to come.
‘Ask her… Go on. Ask. Don’t let another day slip by where you don’t…’
There was something on his mind.
Something he had to get out.
“Ancestor…” He quietly stopped her – “I need to know something.”
Valkyrie turned back, watching him carefully, intrigued by not just his curiosity but his confidence in the curiosity. She could tell he needed to know something. No matter what. That reminded her of herself, especially her younger days. The curiosity that drove the feline into where she is now.
“Speak.” She responded.
Josh took a deep breath. No turning back now – “I need you to tell me exactly what Zero Sphere is…”
Valkyrie closed her eyes, knowing that this question would come sooner or later. Memory of old intel came flooding back to her.
ALLIANCE OF CRIMSON SPEAR: OUTER COLONY
SECTOR 5-D12
27 MARCH 2055
OPERATION ‘ZERO SPHERE’ FILE NO: 75-1
SUBJECT: ZERO REPORT #96
1. SYNOPSIS : Create enhanced humans capable of carrying out mission duty to Sirius in order to fix defective genes passed down from ancient earth forefathers.
2. DETAILS : Zero has moved into a new phase after a successful series of cloning and its own experimentation on human subjects on Mars. Due to the success, Zero’s subjects are housed with improved genetics from previous super soldier’s successors, therefore, possibl
y eliminating the need for Crimson Spear’s protection of the people on Mars. At this rate, Zero’s forces will eventually form into an army, eradicating the need for human-officiated forces of protection. Further intel has also suggested that three clones of Seven Sphere has been seen in Zero’s vicinity acting as watchers to Zero’s work. Zero’s intention of carrying its mission to interstellar boundaries continues to become less of an idea and more of a reality as it surpasses boundaries previously thought of as impossible. Zero is becoming a threat to global security and the citizens of Mars with its unauthorized experimentation and armaments.
3. ACTION : Commence PHASE C.
LT. ECHO
Crimson Spear
SECTOR 5-D12
In Cyberspace…
Valkyrie sat Josh down as she took a deep breath to explain the whole truth - “Zero Sphere is an operation code name created from the sight of the first clones we spotted; which ironically, happened to be the clones of your grandfather. After that we came to realize that there were more. Not just, clones of him, but clones of me, clones of other soldiers and the line kept going until the genetics probably couldn’t even be considered cloning anymore.”
In Space…
Colin found the strength to speak in a room of silence and fear, “Who are you?” He asked, pushing his emotions aside. A small moment of silence took over before the vicious looking man responded with a jaded look – “We are The Forgotten…”
In Cyberspace…
“For what purpose? The only idea we had was that the mission it informed Seven and I about decades ago. That is, to return to Sirius in order to fix our genes. But Zero wasn’t telling us everything…”
In Space…
“What do you want?” Colin asked bravely
“To end this old war.” The man responded.
LARS immediately warned the ship of incoming fire. The room jumped in a panic, fleeing to their stations to steer the ship away from the disaster. Colin gave orders to return fire but no matter how much they evaded or how much fire they returned, it proved useless against this gigantic mothership, prepared for war. Their ship would soon be torn to shreds and Colin kept thinking to himself, ‘Why?’
In Cyberspace…
“Zero kept it secret for as long as it could. It didn’t make sense that it was preparing super soldiers for interstellar travel. It was obvious Zero was suiting up for something much bigger. We thought it was a war against us, so we took the preemptive. Yeah, it was us. We started the cold war against Zero. We launched Phase C: stealth missions to shut down its operations. That’s when Zero turned on us…”
In Space…
‘ALL PERSONNEL EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY.’
‘ALL PERSONNEL EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY.’
‘ALL PERSONNEL EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY.’
LARS had given up on the ship, prompting everyone to retreat while its alarms went off frantically. Everyone fled to the escape vessels and equipped themselves with spacesuits for impact. As his spacesuit helmet clicked, Colin stayed behind to look over his ship being torn apart and wondered if this was how it was supposed to end.
“Colin! Get in here! NOW!” Gabriel shouted from the escape pod.
Colin could hear the voices around him, see the sparks and fire blowing wildly – but he froze in that moment. Not out of fear; out of realization.
He crunched his fists – “Not like this!”
An explosion engulfed the room. Soon the whole ship would be blown to bits and nothing but debris and fiery aftermaths would remain.
In Cyberspace…
A tear rolled down Valkyrie’s face. She wasn’t sure why she was crying. Maybe memories of everything she lost, or an intuitive jab at what was happening in space to her boy child. Colin flashed in her mind. She tried to shrug the thought off, but she couldn’t. He was there, stuck in her head and unwilling to let go as she continued explaining the enigma of ‘Zero Sphere’ but that pause held onto her longer than it should. She saw the last moment she had with Colin as a boy.
“The cost of war is always high, especially if you throw the first stone. I couldn’t trust Seven to take care of Zero alone, so I… tried to end it all. I wanted him back and I wanted Mars to be free. All I ended up doing was starting a war we never could’ve won. And in the end, I never got him back.”
She scoffed in a deep seeded sadness, attempting to play it off with her vigor and wit – “No, in the end – I lost him and I lost my boy.”
Xeilya paused unintentionally, taking a gulp at the words flowing out of her mouth, “Then I lost the Spear and heck, I’d even lose me too. Everything I worked for, everything I strived for; gone, all because… because…”
Valkyrie stopped tumbling down that endless pit of regret. She shrugged the emotion off to continue explaining.
“See, Zero Sphere wasn’t just about, clones getting to Sirius. It was a defense operation.”
Josh blinked his eyes as he took in everything. He tried to hold himself back from shedding a tear. The emotion pouring from Valkyrie was stifling, even in a computer zoned atmosphere.
He stood there with both his arms and legs crossed, thinking again and again about everything she was saying. He could feel the depth of Valkyrie’s voice as she spoke. The simple cracks here and there, telling its own chapters of her emotion and feeling to all the events.
Valkyrie cleared her throat and shot her eyes directly into Josh’s and got right back to the point, “That’s why the clones after a while were no longer just, clones. Zero started enhancing them with cybernetics, genetics, and all sorts of exotic technology to do the things people thought was just pure science fiction. That’s what Zero did to you. Turned you into a weapon…”
Valkyrie banked her head at Josh directly once more – “Zero’s been preparing to go to war.”
Josh simply sat there stupefied. He wasn’t sure how to respond; to nod or not to say yes or no. He just remained quiet until the trouble boiled up and the boy could remain quiet no more.
“There’s no hope is there?” Josh sounded defeated and as he talked. He wondered where that suddenly came from. Valkyrie paid close attention to his newfound outpour of pent up feelings.
“I mean, can we really win this? Do you think training me is the answer? Do you really think we have a chance against this… monster that always plans two steps ahead of us? I mean…” Josh’s voice began cracking as he continued – “Can I even get Heather back? Nick… ugh… I, I – I don’t…”
All of a sudden, Valkyrie did something completely unexpected. Something she should’ve done a long time ago but only now, found the strength to do it in this seemingly darkest hour. In the hour where the tears weren’t only hers. The sight of tears rolling down Josh’s faced stirred something deeply seeded within her. Something that needed to be awakened again. She grabbed her grandchild and embraced him tightly in a comforting hug.
Josh remained on his knees as he felt the warmth of his ancestor enriching the fiber of his being. At first he didn’t quite know how to relate to it. Something like this, months ago, sure he’d be willing to accept it – but now? It felt odd to see his warrior grandmother show such care, but then Josh would soon lose that front when he realizes that this is not only genuine; this is the strength of a lioness protecting her pack. He held her tight with tears of frustration and groans bent on stopping himself to keep his tough, shield.
“Shhh…” Valkyrie instructed him lovingly. After some seconds in their embrace, Josh calmed down. Xeilya could no longer find herself crying or feeling sorry for whatever happened. Seeing her blood in distress, knowing they needed her gave her a rejuvenation. She soothed Josh’s hair then held his chin up to look her directly in the eyes.
“Now you listen to me. We are going to win! We are going to march to Zero’s front doors and bang on them till our fists bleed and take back everything and everyone we lost! Heather, Seven, Nick, Colin – everyone. You hear me? Everyone!”
“I just need to know… why, why did it
choose us? I mean, why did Zero choose our family? For the cloning, for the mission… why us?” Josh asked solemnly.
“Because we were the ones who looked to the sky while others kept their eyes in the dirt.”
‘I can’t tell you why, maybe it’s how she said it or the timing but now I feel… that, what she just told me, is exactly what I needed to hear. From all the times everyone called me different, not wanting to fit into society… now I know that I was never alone.
Now I feel like I actually have a chance.
I feel like… I can get back up and win.
I can be me again.
Heather, I’m…’
Beep! Beep! Beep!
A subtle beep grew louder and louder, catching their attention. Valkyrie took a step back, looked at the sky and held her hand over her ear as if she were communicating with an invisible phone.
She cleared the drama away and went straight into command mode – “Talk to me.”
“Ma’am, new reports on Zero and the asteroid are coming in. You might want to take a look at this.” A male response came to her, most likely one of her underlings keeping watch outside the computer world
“Understood.” She replied already prepared to move.
Josh looked at her carefully as he dried his eyes. He could tell she wasn’t just forcefully pushing her emotions aside. Sure, she knew once they got out the computer sim, they’d have to deal with whatever this urgency is but he could tell she was fueled. Something he had never seen her with before and that, more than inspired Josh. He felt the need to reflect her underline ability to push against the storm.
“What’s wrong?” He asked
“Time to go.” She responded sternly.
In Space…
“Do you remember the first time we met?” A woman’s voice calls out in the blackness of the void.
‘How could I possibly forget?’ Colin thinks to himself. Nothing can be seen, only heard. He knows that voice. It’s familiar. It’s warm.
Zero Sphere: A Space Opera Thriller Page 16