End Boss

by Bryan Nyaude

  “That was too close,” the old man said, sighing a breath of relief. “I can handle two terror beasts, but a dozen of them are just too much.”

  Really! Could he really handle two terror beasts by himself? That sounded unbelievable; we could barely harm those creatures, and yet this man claimed he could take out two by himself? Was he serious? I suppose, it was possible with the right equipment, plus additional background on the inner structure of the creatures.

  “Are you familiar with the quantum proton theory?” I asked him, trying to see just how smart he was. If he was as intelligent as I assumed, then this question should be easy. He chuckled while blinking slowly, in a careless manner, like I had something stupid.

  “What! Are you serious?” he replied to me, with a shock on his face. “I literally invented it myself; any person with the knowledge of science knows this theory is irrelevant.”

  Well said. By his response, I was now sure that he had knowledge in science, because by not answering the question, he actually answered it correctly. Every scientist knew of this theory and to not repeat it out loud—since it had not yet been proven accurately. That was the first basic law of Krin. I could tell now that his knowledge of natural and artificial science was great, but just how great? I felt excited as if I had discovered a new heavy element in nature. My level of interest peaked as I decided to ask him an even more difficult question, trying to estimate how high his IQ could be.

  “What about the concept behind using neon alpha particle exposure on human flesh?”

  The man snickered and said, “I don’t think you truly know the reason for using neon alpha particles in the first place.”

  What! When and why was this question turned around to me? I turned my attention towards him, surprised, and stunned. He was drastically doing everything possible to keep questions away. His actions only fueled my curiosity even more. I liked the challenge and I knew he would eventually crack, and tell me what I wanted.

  “Of course, I know the answer but I’m asking you.”

  Was I testing him or was it the other way around? I knew enough about neon alpha particles, although it wasn’t much. My knowledge in them was limited at best. I ran my left arm against the plate on my thigh, while waiting for him to respond. The mobile vehicle let out a small thump as we ran over something solid. I turned to look at what it was; however, I saw nothing. Everything looked the same, a vivid blue color that only glowed brighter in the sun.

  “Neon alpha particles are particles which have similar properties like that of an electron cloud, and due to their durability and non-poisonous manner, they have been used by the military as a way to heal the soldiers quickly, and increase endurance in order to deploy them back onto the battlefield. The particles increase red blood cell formation in the bone marrow and increases platelet production in the body. However, I don’t think they told you what the long term exposure to these particles could do to your body. Massive acceleration of red blood cell formation will increase further output of energy and further deplete your body of ATP, causing damage to other metabolic pathways in your body. Of course, you will learn and experience it firsthand, considering how much of these particles you have in your body.”

  What! This couldn’t be true, could it? They told us that these particles were safe and could be used over a long period of time, without any risk to the user, even if a bit overdosed. Oh no! I had highly overdosed, the day before, and I could still feel them in my body, but not in a painful way. They swam throughout my veins slowly without causing any irritating sensation. But how could he know all that? Just who was he? He was like a closed book that required a key to unlock. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the key which only seemed to cause me a great deal of grief.

  “There is a lot you still don’t know, but don’t worry: all will be revealed in due time.”

  “Well, thanks, that answer makes me feel better,” I sighed to myself.

  I felt a small drop of sweat pour down my forehead, followed by a faint shiver. The information he had given me had shook me up a little, as I really had no idea how much damage I had done to my body. I honestly tried my best in life to stay fit by exercising and eating healthy—I had never smoked any Buzz cigarettes or alcohol, which was rather a great accomplishment for me. Never had I thought I would die from exposure to neon alpha particle poisoning. What a terrible twist of fortune. Everything was silent. All I could hear was the roaring sound of the hover vehicle, jolting across the terrain.

  We kept moving ahead towards the coordinates displayed in the vehicle’s navigational unit at a constant speed. The words he said kept echoing inside my mind, blocking every other matter at hand. If this was all true, then I was in some serious trouble. Aside from having an unstable nuclear core, I had neon alpha particle poison to deal with too. Could this mission get any worse? I spoke to soon because it suddenly did.

  “We are getting close to your ship,’ the old man said, as the scanner got louder and intense. “Just a few more miles till we get there and get off this planet.”

  But did I want to really go there? I was having second thoughts, considering what I had been through these past two days. If my other crew had been found so easily, what was the chance that whoever took them couldn’t have missed that giant ship on the ground? It was way too big not be noticed by anyone. All I could hope for was that they were alright. The moment I saw the ship’s outer structure in a distance, my heart began to panic. What if they had been found and also taken away?

  No! No! No! I couldn’t think like that. I had to stay positive and believe in something good. We got close and my com link came back on, but there were no voices speaking through it. I was not surprised considering the chain of events that had taken place recently. My heart was pounding so hard I could almost hear it clearly. Was this fear I was sensing from myself? Just what was I so afraid of? Maybe, what was scaring me was being stranded on this planet, with no way to get back home, stuck with this old man till the terror beasts tore us to pieces. Taking into account the ship’s damaged engines, I would say it was more than likely. No! I couldn’t think like that if I wanted to survive. I had to man up now. The alien man stopped the vehicle, close to the ship, and I got out. He instructed me to go on ahead as he went and found a safe place to hide his hover vehicle. The sun was still burning in the sky, with only a few more hours before sunset. With no weapons, and no sensory scanners in my suit, I was completely defenseless against the terror beasts. Slowly, I moved forward, gazing in all directions for anything out of the ordinary. I was freaking out and scared half out of my mind, as I thought of crazy scenarios in my head. What if there was a terror beast inside the ship? What if everyone had been turned into those creatures?

  “No stop!” I literally knocked some sense into myself and took a really big breath. “I am being irrational; terror beasts are not a virus or disease.”

  Without thinking, I ran towards the closest point of entry into the ship and opened it forcefully, fearing something was following me. I got into the ship and quickly closed the door behind me. I didn’t lock it, in case the alien man decided to use the same door to get in as me. The hull of the ship was badly damaged, but it looked like some repairs had been made to it. The funny thing was that there was no one in plain sight and yet the com link was operational. I don’t know why I found it funny. Perhaps, it was a way for me to cope with my fears. Deep down, all I wanted was just to hear the voice of another person, just one—but that didn’t happen. It was obvious that something had happened, a terrible disaster indeed. A mystery lay before me requiring careful investigation, and a crucial amount of detailed analysis. Thankfully, I had most of the ship’s structure inserted in my com link. I took advantage of the map, on my eye contact screen, and used it to navigate my way to the armory room. If I was to go any further, I needed some sort of weapon to defend myself with. I walked carefully, watching my back—towards my objective compartment; I didn’t bother checking the other rooms beside me for people. Get
ting a weapon was my primary objective, besides going to the mess hall and getting something to eat. When I approached the armory, I noticed that the door was wide open, and at least 94% of the guns were missing from their compartments. Most of the armors were also gone along with the canister grenades and javelin bazookas. It was now clear to me that either the terror beasts or the unknown enemy, from earlier, had passed by the ship, causing panic and chaos among the remaining crew. There were no signs of struggle inside, which meant the battle had taken place outside. Oddly enough, I saw no signs outside to tell me where this had all occurred. After thinking for a short while, I went inside the armory and began looking for a suitable weapon for heavy battle. It had to be compact, small, and yet powerful. But could I find something relatively like that in this place? Too many unknown variables were making this far more difficult to come up with a solid plan I would use to locate the others.

  “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t just kill you myself, right now,” the alien man hissed with such fury his veins popped out. “It seems you forgot to tell me that this ship was in no condition to move.”

  Oopps! It seems I had, but telling him now would only anger him even more. I had a strange feeling this might happen, although I chose to mislead him anyway.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, sounding sincere.

  I backed away, a few steps, and observed his movements with careful analysis. He was very angry, that much I was sure of, but I had no idea how he would react. He staggered on his feet, struggling to keep his bottled up frustration in. Most of the veins on his weary arms were showing as his hands grasped tightly on his gun. The angle and position of his gun was directly aimed at my head.

  “If I had said something, you wouldn’t have brought me back here now, would you?”

  The old man paused silently and then replied, “true enough, I probably wouldn’t have.”

  “I am sorry for deceiving you; however, I didn’t have a lot of options at that moment.”

  “I guess you are right.”

  He lowered his weapon slowly and sheathed it back on his belt. The anger on his face did not subside, even when he went around the room, looking curiously at the remaining arsenal. Still, it was strange how a brilliant man like him could have missed seeing the obvious wreck the ship was in, from the outside; it was as clear as day that even a fool could see it. But seriously, just what was he anyway? On the outside, his physical characteristics looked human enough, and at the same time, different. I mean, the gray color of his arms didn’t exactly spell earthly human at all: it spelled alien to me. Was he also nearsighted or something? I mean, it could explain why he didn’t see how damaged the ship was when we first arrived at it. Oh well! I bothered not pushing my luck by asking him why he didn’t see such a simple thing as that. With him around, I felt at ease, since if a monster was to come, I would probably run and leave him behind as a distraction. Hehehe! Hopefully this plan of mine wouldn’t back fire and make me the distraction while he ran away. My eyes shifted around as I started to move briefly inside the armory, hoping to find something useful. The metal floor squeaked out loudly, alerting me of soft spots beneath me. I gently slithered around as cautiously as I could, while looking left and right. After a few minutes of looking around, I found two L250 pistols, fully loaded, and some canisters. I quickly took one of the guns and a few canisters and placed them into an empty compartment in my armor. My mind began to wander around, feeling me up with concerning, yet positive thoughts. I looked at my map screen, on my visor, and calculated how many hidden compartments the ship had. It was literally impossible that all of the crew had been kidnapped by the alien ship. Possibly, some might have escaped or found safe places to hide aboard the ship.

  With my hope rekindled, I made a hasty decision, and decided that I would search every inch of this ship until I found them—or even someone. Before I could exit, my eyes caught the attention of a long distance quantum rifle. I walked towards it, and lifted it close enough to examine it. The hilt of the rifle was rough for a tight grip while the long barrel offered me moderate long distance accuracy. I brought the weapon closer to my face and carefully released the cartridge magazine, to estimate the amount of bullets in it. The gun let out a loud cocking sound, causing the alien man to look my way for a bit. He didn’t say much, but looked at me with eyes filled with wrath and disappointment. It was clear that he hadn’t forgiven me for misleading him into coming here. He looked at me for a few more seconds, before going back to whatever he was doing. I took the quantum rifle and reloaded the magazine back before going towards the exit door.

  “I will be back in while. There might be survivors in here, so I am going to look for them.”

  He didn’t reply as if he was trying to ignore me. His body movements told me that he had heard me, but was pretending not to or just didn’t care.

  “What a sour man,” I sighed, shaking my head as I found myself in the corridor, outside the armory. There was a loud dripping noise coming from the upper structure. A few drops of water were making their way down onto the metal floor from a broken pipe. Fortunately for me, the anterior wall was made from platinum alloy, which explained why the inner structure hadn’t collapsed yet. I pondered for a long minute, looking at the dripping water, while planning my next move at the same time. The ship was gigantic and it was going to take a while to look through every room. This colossus piece of advanced technology had housed about five hundred people which made my plan more complicated. I looked carefully at the ship's inner structure map, displayed on my com screen, attempting to locate my exact location. It seemed I was on the deck, below on the west wing, a few floors from the man cockpit. From this location, I was at a good angle and position away from the main control compartments.

  “I guess that settles that!”

  I proceeded forward, north, towards the main ship’s control room, cautiously and quietly. It was a little bit too quiet even for my taste, which meant trouble was ahead of me. Somehow, in my mind, I could sense the impending danger coming from all direction, like a very bad cold. The air inside the ship was cold, thin, and almost suffocating. It was getting very hard to breath with each step. My muscles tensed firmly, as I gripped my rifle hard with both arms on it. I had the nozzle positioned straight ahead of me, aimed to strike anything that could approach from the front. I felt a drizzle of sweat from my forehead flow down to the rest of my face, almost clouding my vision. I didn’t stop at all; instead, I kept going further into the depths of the ship. I had never been this nervous before: it was quite a chilling experience. The looming quietness completely threw me over the edge. The walls looked black, with the snaring clutch of the fire that had once engulfed us upon entrance into the atmosphere. I made my way to the end of the last corridor and saw the main control room. The door was sealed from the outside and required a password or access card. I felt nothing and realized it was safe to approach the door. Swiftly, I moved until I was directly beneath the giant metal door. I extended my free arm towards my chest plate and took out my access card. Every crew member had one in case a situation like this occured. The door AI analyzed my card for a few seconds and glowed green, granting me access inside. The door let out a loud screech as it opened widely to the right. The lighting and controls came online, as soon as the door was open wide enough. I quickly got in and scanned around, with my gun gripped tightly in front of me. This emptiness, it was suffocating and unbearable to carry. Just what had happened here? Was it terror beasts or the aliens that caused this? I slowly lowered my gun and put it on the bandoleer, on my back. My arms moved automatically, trying to gain control of the ship’s infrastructure.

  As expected, the system monitors were badly damaged. Flight control circuits looked fried along with the main hard drives. I went and sat down by the senior engineer’s seat, trying to find out the status of the ship. My feet rested slightly against the floor while my back relaxed against the soft seat. I sighed for a while, closing my eyes to think rationally. I had to admit,
I was rather disappointed with my findings. There was no one here, even though this was the most secure room on the ship. My discoveries led me to reanalyze my plan and take a different approach on it.

  I linked my com link system to the system server and began to scan the ship’s entire system, from top to bottom. The screens blinked red, displaying several critical problems that needed to be dealt with immediately. I estimated that it would be a month or so before this ship was within operating range—I mean, that was if the whole crew was helping out.

  “Just perfect!”

  With half the crew gone, and the other half vanished, things did not look delightful. We had completed our mission; however, we wouldn’t be able to return home for a while. My left hand clenched into a fist as I was filled with agonizing frustration. I had no idea what my next move was. I took off my head gear and wiped away the sweat from my face. The cold air stuck to my face like glue to paper. It gave me a sense of coolness and grief at the same time. All of my thoughts seemed to fade to the back of my mind, leaving emptiness in my conscience.

  “I can’t lose hope.”

  I opened my eyes and placed my hands down again. There was always a coloring, even in the cold dark. Hope was always possible even in a bad situation. My crew was still alive, somewhere on this miserable waste of a planet.

  Using the com link, I uploaded all the video surveillance into my suit system and got off the chair. I sturdily put my head gear back on firmly and gently. The videos popped up, one at a time, on my visor, in a constant timely manner. I watched them carelessly while moving out of the control room. The door stayed opened, surprisingly, after I left—but I did not bother with it, at all. From what I could see, the ship’s remaining crew had come under attack from terror beasts just as soon as we left. They were outnumbered too, and that was when another ship—similar to the one from before, came down to their location; everything went static after that.