by Bryan Nyaude
As I watched the screen, I saw them place their wagers, and most of them thought I wasn’t going to make it back to earth. I didn’t care—I was determined to prove them all wrong, although I had no idea if I could make such a claim. I went through my armor’s system, for the last time, scanning for any other abnormalities and nothing seemed wrong at the moment. Without warning, the ship stopped completely, causing me to fly across the deck and land face flat on the floor.
“Move out, now,” the captain ordered everyone, as the hull doors opened up. “All defense squads set a parameter around the area and maintain your post till further orders. All science personnel, follow the beta squad to the target mark and begin recon investigation.”
Everyone exited the hover ship. I followed suit being the last one to exit, after I checked my oxygen tanks unit. My scanners were picking up and readjusting to the surrounding moisture and temperature of the planet.
45 Degrees Celsius!
It was bizarre and strange how constant the temperature on this planet stayed. There was no fluctuation in the atmosphere, and the winds blew frequently without any direction. With no sign of any other color, everything was just blue and seriously annoying. I walked slowly away from the ships, headed towards the others, with my weapons and equipment firmly in each arm.
“You’re with me,” someone snuck up on me in a very proud voice. “I put a lot of money on your survival, so I’m going to have to make sure to protect my investment.”
“Gee! What a kind and friendly person indeed, protecting me all for money.”
I looked backed to see who it was and suddenly heard a loud roar of a terror beast. The person who had spoken to me was wearing protective head gear, with blue shaded lenses to protect his or her eyes from the harmful rays of this planet. I couldn’t tell what gender the person was as his or her black armor suit was very bulky and equipped with massive weapons of destruction. I surely was glad this person was on our side.
“Move now,” the person commanded me, pushing me forward. “Go straight ahead and you will meet the other scientists in the vicinity.”
“Scanners are picking up five large objects moving towards us,” the AI spoke to me. “Threat level is 5, evasion is the most logical option. This combat suit is not at the moment able to withstand threats of this level.”
I know! That much I knew already without my artificial intelligence system telling me. The sun was very bright considering how far away the planet was from it. I couldn’t help but get annoyed with the environment. It was just as blue as the sky. Everything just blended in well together so naturally. I jogged through blue grass that was almost as high as my shoulders; it was so thick and dense, I barely saw anything beneath my feet. Truly the perfect place for natural predators like the terror beast to hide and ambush unsuspecting prey. The thought of being attacked by a terror beast, in this area, sent a cold jolt of fear running through my veins. A few minutes later, I rendezvoused with my colleagues, who were busy setting up grid perimeter tents and gravity propellers. Several of them were talking casually and unloading their mission setup gear, while others took samples of the surrounding areas.
“Ah, Den, you are finally here,” one of them hissed at me, alerting the others of my sudden arrival. “For a second, I thought you had been eaten by a terror beast, meaning I would win the bet.”
That voice! It belonged to Peter Crabmark, I could recognize that annoying and irritating voice even in a huge crowd. Man! I seriously could not stand that guy. He not only got on my nerves—he ripped them apart.
Peter was my work colleague, and he was a high level expert in zoology. His theories were to try and understand the terror beasts in order to tame the creatures into pets. Such creatures could not be controlled as they were too destructive. Many attempts to capture them had all failed, due to their incredible speed, strength and toughness. I couldn’t even begin to comprehend how many people sacrificed their lives pursuing this impossible goal; all this proved his work to be irrelevant, since it yielded no true progress at all.
“Ahh! I see that the zoo finally let you out of the cage, huh, Peter?” I snickered as I got closer. “I almost mistook you for an elephant in that armor of yours.”
“You got some nerve, Den Atmas. How dare you compare me with an elephant, you insignificant fool?”
Peter roared, marking me as a target with the laser system installed in his suit. His armor was far more advanced, and several centuries more powerful than what I was wearing. The laser system was composed of highly compressed protons that discharged out through an optical amplifier. One hit from that could send me into history within an instant. I thought carefully of my next words, since they could probably be my last.
“With that useless armor of yours, I could easily destroy you right now. In fact, allow me to show you.”
Oh no! It seemed as if I had shaken a hornet’s nest, and now I had to live with the consequence. “Danger! Danger!” my AI screamed, warning me of the imminent danger in front of me.
“Stop, Peter,” I roared at him from the top of my lungs. “I was just joking around, please don’t take me seriously. We don’t have time for this now, terror beasts are approaching, so let’s work together for now.”
“Well, allow me to make time,” Peter chuckled at me as he pointed the laser mounted rail gun system at me, preparing to fire. “Oh, I promise you this is going to be a blast.”
Crap! What was I going to do next? As long as this suit lacked its microchip, it was totally useless to me, in terms of combat. I just had to say something to him, didn’t I? Peter’s sudden temper issues were known throughout the northern part of the city. It was unfortunate indeed he wasn’t in jail. How could they let this lunatic join this mission? But considering the situation on earth, I guess they didn’t have many options. I felt a surge or adrenaline, combined with anxiety and fear, go through me in an instant. My body tensed with gut wrenching fear as I debated on my next move.
“Guess what?” Peter started again, talking with a loud bass in his tone. “If I destroy you now, I will win the bet. A lot of people will be happy indeed—since most of them bet against you.”
Darn! He was right; most people had placed bets on me earlier, so my demise was imminent if not expected.
“Wait a moment, Peter,” one of the other scientists stopped him, buying me some time. I watched him move between me and Peter, trying to knock back some sense into the lunatic. “You can’t do this without arousing suspicion. Think about what I said for a second, my friend.”
“Hmm! You are right,” Peter giggled and fired his laser beam at that scientist.
The man was struck so fast I barely noticed it happen until he was on the ground. Smoke erupted from his armor. I glared at him and saw the other guys try to put out the fire that was spreading throughout his body.
“Anyone else care to make a comment?” he roared at them, and then turned his attention towards me. “As for you, Den, I will tell the captain you went crazy and injured this scientist, with your armor’s weapon system. I am the one who stopped you by shooting you down. How unfortunate for you to end this way”
Liar! No one would believe that, would they? Where were the guards stationed to accompany us? That’s right! They had gone to intercept the creatures, while we went and gathered the data readings. Meaning it was up to me to get myself out of this pinch.
“So now, Den, this is the end of the line for you,” Peter growled, and aimed at me again.
“How many times are you going to keep saying that,” I lashed out completely annoyed.
I hated it when people kept repeating the same thing over and over again, even if they put it in a different manner.
Fortunately, his laser system took a long time to charge up, only giving me a few seconds to breathe easily. What was I going to do?
Rabbits! This wasn’t what I had signed up for when I joined this mission. I wanted to help my planet by doing what I was good at, and not to end up dead at the hands
of a maniac.
Note to self: “jobs with the most money are the ones I must avoid, if I ever make it out alive.”
“I suggest you run,” Peter laughed, bolstering his own confidence with the magnificence power of his weapon system. “It wouldn’t be fun, if I just blasted you away right now without as much as a struggle to go on.”
Crap! I quickly turned around and started to run away as fast as I could, with no second to spare. The lab equipment and tents along the area made it hard for me to maneuver out of his range quickly enough. In such a desolate world, humans were still not united even when facing a greater and more powerful threat. How were we going to fight the terror beasts, if we couldn’t even unite amongst ourselves? I felt something brush against my clavicle, followed by an innate pain that just wouldn’t go away. My right arm that had been injured before became so sensitive and irritating that a slight touch produced a much undesired pain. Was this truly the end for me?
“Incoming danger threat level rising,” my AI system went off again without warning. “Beginning evasive maneuver process in 5 4 3 2 1.”
What the! Nothing happened and I couldn’t explain why. If I had to guess, I would say this armor was useless unless a microchip with all its data was inserted.
“Time’s up, Den,” Peter spoke, hovering above me, using the flight emission jet pack system that sliced up the wind, enabling flight. “It was fun while it lasted, but all good things must come to an end. I really hated you with a passion, so it doesn’t pain me to do this to you right now.”
“Yeah! I can believe that.”
Peter had always opposed my ideals and theories even when they were accurate. He was the sort of person who would rather see me fail, no matter what it took to achieve the results, and now I had finally pushed him over the edge. With no more ways to escape, I stood there, watching as my life was about to come to an end again for the second time. I honestly thought that it would be terror beasts that would take my life—apparently I was wrong.
“So long, old friend,” Peter whispered and fired a laser bullet at point blank range, aiming for my whole body.
I barely saw it coming until it was too late. My whole body was shook massively apart, completely shattered to the core. I felt a rush of heat go through my every fiber; it felt like I was being engulfed by flames.
Fortunately, I shielded my head in time with my hands to avoid the worst possible situation. However, the ground beneath my feet became unstable and collapsed. I fell into a huge hole that seemed bottomless. My eyes closed automatically, while I reminisced over everything that had happened up until now.
“I really did have a good run,” I chucked to myself, before my consciousness faded away slowly: “But what a crummy ending indeed.”
“Is this how you want it to end?”
That voice! It was definitely Rose, I am sure of it. But why was I hearing it now? What did those words mean? I knew it was just a figment of my imagination; however, it felt real to me. At that moment, I felt a sudden urge to cling onto what little life I had left, realizing how much I still wanted to live. My eyes opened again, filled with an intense passion for survival. I tried to gain some leverage by grabbing onto one of the walls close to me, but my hand slipped and I kept falling.
“Darn you, Peter,” I growled out, with the remaining strength in my mouth before I heard a loud thump.
Everything became blurry; I lost my strength and the will to get up, as I closed my eyes and fell into an unwanted sleep.
2
“Do you know the true value of life?” someone’s voice echoed through my ears. “Do you truly know what it means to be alive in this wretched world? Where does your faith lie?”
This annoying and yet powerful voice sounded so familiar to me. I opened my eyes to see who it was, but all I could see was this bright yellow light filled with emptiness.
“Father, is that you?” I whispered into the light, while shielding my eyes with my left hand.
“Have you already forgotten your true objective?” the voice echoed again, sending chills crawling down my spine. Man was it creepy.
“Forgotten what?” I was confused as what it was referring to.
“Wake up, Den,” it whispered in my ear and suddenly my eyes truly opened.
Oh! It was just another dream or was it something else? The last time I saw my father was when the terror beasts showed up. He somehow vanished without a trace, but I believed he was still alive somewhere on earth, and I was determined to find him, along with my other family members. That hope was one of the things that kept me going through these hard obstacles.
Wait a minute! Was I still alive? My surroundings seemed very unfamiliar and void of life completely. The last thing I remembered was falling to my doom, when Peter blasted me with his laser system. Man! If I ever saw that arrogant maniac again, I was going to make him sorry. My body hurt a little from fatigue—but aside from that, I was okay. I slowly raised my hand to examine myself and what I saw frightened me. The entire armor had holes in it as the oxygen tank unit had been blown apart. On all possible accounts, I should be dead. The air on Erzat contained a poison we termed Sellium 11. It was almost as heavy as uranium and four times more lethal than mercury. What made it so dangerous was its high affinity to bind hemoglobin, almost three times stronger than carbon monoxide.
How was this possible? There was obviously no way a mere human like me could breathe Erzat’s air and still live. What could have caused this abnormality? I believed there was an answer to everything and eventually I would come up with a theory for this anomaly.
“Running a diagnostic check on the system,” the AI system spoke up as my entire light screen went blank.
Com link--- no signal
Optic sensors scanning—0005678
Sensory Unit- disarmed
Oxygen reserves—0%
Power supply—16%
Nuclear core reactor--- critical
Weapon system—defective
Gravity control- Stabilizing at 52%
Well, this was the definition of a bad dilemma. I didn’t even know that my suit had a nuclear core reactor. It kind of explained why it suddenly felt hot inside of it. The fusion reactor battery must have gotten damaged during the fall, causing it to destabilize beyond minor repairs. Quickly, I started to struggle to take the armor off and throw it away before it blew up; however, something was wrong. The armor had become too tight and wasn’t budging at all. The more I struggled, the tighter it became.
“DX 300! Is there a way to stabilize the nuclear core reactor without taking the armor off?” I spoke to my AI, struggling to remain very calm.
“Yes, it is possible; however, the chance of this plan working is 14.5%.”
I scratched my arm armor, realizing that my options were limited. The longer I stayed here, the more difficult things would get later on.
“Reveal the plan on my com link screen, please.”
Oh! That sounds easy enough—the more I looked at the plan on the screen.
(0000---Ship power supply contains a XT1 nuclear compressor with high propulsion dual system that can neutralize any nuclear power. From last well coordinates and geographical point of the ship, it is a 50 mile walk back. Judging from the level of the nuclear core reactor, only two days remain before armor suit reaches maximum critical levels and explodes. Suggestion- Contact main ship HQ and have them deploy a mobile vehicle to come get you---0000)
The plan sounded simple enough at first, but there was no way it could work, because of so many variables. First of all, I had fallen into a large hole—the size of a sky scrapper, and the crew might have left in order to flee the terror beasts. Or they already thought I was dead and left the planet, if they managed to complete the mission. I moved around a bit and took a long breath of air while thinking slowly. Strange! This air in the atmosphere felt good on my taste buds. It was a truly strange experience and almost thrilling. What did this new world have to offer? Looking around, I saw a glimpse of
sunlight, which slowly touched some of my exposed skin softly like a warm embrace. Fortunately, my suit was still operational which is why I was able to move freely, despite the heavy gravity.
“I want an estimate of this hole’s depth,” I said, speaking to my AI, as I twisted my neck a little.
There was no response for a minute as it was busy doing some calculation.
“Approximately 70 meters to the top,” it responded slowly. “The suit’s Neos wing propulsion seems to be working; however, only in manual control.”
Good! It seemed my luck had not run out nearly just yet. But what did manual control mean? Most of the modern technology had become easier to use and did operations automatically. Manual machinery was more sophisticated to use and it was a pain in the rear, literally.
Think!
“You are a space biologist,” I said to myself, closing my eyes and imagining flying. “You can do this! Do you want to be stuck in here waiting for death?”
Promptly, I began to force the Neos wings to move, prying them open with both hands, but they wouldn’t move. Irritated, I irrationally jumped up on one foot, plotting to fly and landed down quickly. The planet’s gravity was way too strong and kept pulling me back down instantly. I scanned around the walls of the hole to see if I could get any leverage. It was a slight, but promising possibility that I could climb my way up, since I didn’t know how to operate the flight system. The armor was supposed to have enhanced all of my physical characteristics to their highest peak, making me almost invincible.
“Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!”
I just had to go and pick the oldest armor, didn’t I? I mean, I could and should have picked up the latest model, which I regrettably didn’t do. Surprising fact, the Planetary Government had begun the allowance of destructive armors and weapons in order to combat the terror beasts. Ironically, this government had been formed to stop the wars, and allow humanity another chance for peace. The first thing they did, once they gained power, was destroy all war armors and level 2 and above weapons. Conversely, that all changed when all the first cities in the Eastern continent were destroyed by the terror beasts. It forced the government to take drastic measures, issuing the creation of new war armors and weapons to fight off the alien creatures. These beasts were not discriminating at all; they preyed on everything on earth that moved. What drove them to such madness was unknown, as every attempt to capture the beasts failed. They were unstoppable, possessing the most unique massive replication ability I had ever seen. They budded like fungus, but on a greater and epic scale. Still, how had they come to earth? I mean they were surely not that bright to build a ship, or even create a dimensional portal to our planet, or were they? Maybe, this was a part of their plan, making themselves look mindless in order to deceive and destroy us. Well, I would never know unless I truly found out the secrets planet Erzat was hiding. I had a feeling there was more to this than our superior commanders, of the Planetary Government, had told us. Darn!