by Bryan Nyaude
“The fortifications and the platinum welding we did on this ship really paid off,” a guy, barely my age, spoke, observing the melted hull of the ship. He placed his right hand on the ship and quickly retracted it back, once he felt how hot it was. Idiot!
So that was it. Heavy modifications on the ship had definitely saved us from certain death. Whatever they were fighting for had to be worth the struggle and sacrifice. I felt out of place, because I lacked their resolve and confidence. This was just not my area of expertise. I was a scientist and not a soldier. If it wasn’t for the terror beast invasion, I would have never touched a gun ever. But this was reality and it was cruel. I held my gun tightly and concentrated on the task at hand.
“Initiating phase two,” the girl, or Cathy as they called her, said and everyone began to move. “You all know what to do.”
Everyone except me rechecked their gear and quickly moved forward without fear. They marched in a uniform pace and stopped, inches from the gate, looking up. I felt a tingling feeling in my stomach, telling me that this was a bad idea. My high cognitive ability had never let me down before, but this time, I had no choice. There was no way to flee—only one way forward.
“Can you hack the door, Jan?” Cathy turned towards a scruffy guy, who looked out of place.
He wore mini metallic pads on his elbows and knees. Unnoticed to everyone, I detected a slight shiver of fear from his body. His eyes, however, looked determined and ready to prove something to himself, and to everyone. I glanced at him for a couple of seconds and looked away slowly. Compared to the others, he looked like he was not a warrior, more like a scouter or technical support.
I stepped forward and tilted my head for a closer look. The access pad, near the gate, needed some sort of password or key to be opened. It was a trick pad, one wrong code and the alarm would sound off. Meaning there was a trap probably set to go off once that happened. These guys were way over their heads on this one. Obviously, the enemy was very smart and well aware of their plans. I had to get out of here—no sense in me risking my life on a suicide mission like this. Someone stepped gently next to me, on one knee, near the pad. It was Jan. He pulled out and attached some sort of cord from his helmet and began doing something weird. Symbols and numbers were displayed on his screen like a gigon code.
“Maybe, but it will take time,” Jan said as he tried to access the door’s control.
Slowly, I moved back and went to examine my gear. I had to do something to keep my mind busy. Everything looked great for all I could see, and I had enough weapons to bring down a whole block of buildings.
“There, I got it,” Jan said, with excitement in his voice.
The gate vibrated and slowly opened up. It was an amazing spectacle to behold; the level of ingenuity that went into its creation was extraordinary. We quickly stepped back to get out of the way.
“We are still on time,” Cathy said, checking her timer. She quickly grabbed her equipment and went ahead through the door. “The second phase of the mission is complete, but now comes the hard part.”
What did she mean by that? In my opinion, this was the hard part. Or at least, I was hoping this was the difficult part. I felt a jolt of hesitation pull me back a little. How much more difficult did they expect this to get? Note to self again: ask for a raise. This had to be considered over time. I mean, I was doing more than what I was paid for. As evidence, my com lenses recorded everything while reading and deciphering codes belonging to the enemy. I had an important secondary task of getting this information to the government. For all I know, this information would prove useful against the terror beasts still on earth. I stopped moving and remained motionless for a bit. While everyone was occupied, I retried my com signal to send the new intel to Ali and the others. But it kept saying, “Static jam interference. No signal!”
An incredible powerful device, probably, an electronic transmitter was near and causing this noise. I had no way to contact Rick or Dalla. If I didn’t make it, I had to find some way to pass on this new knowledge. Doubt the new allies would do me that favor. For all I knew, they were probably going to backstab me once they were done with me. On the other hand, I could be wrong. Allying with these aliens played to my advantage, since I was pretty much alone without crewmates to back me up. Plus, their knowledge and manpower was more than I could hope for against the terror beasts, and the maniac controlling them. A loud thump woke me up to reality. We had finally made it into the alien fortress (kingdom of Ras). This was possibly where the rest of my crew was being held. The fortress was as big as a country, and would take at least three weeks to look through it. It was a hustle, but I was a desperate man. At the moment, I couldn’t leave just yet. I needed these guys to lead me away from the booby traps, possibly, scattered across this underground passage. I planned on staying with them for a while—well, until I found some way to escape safely. I was determined to find my crew and leave this miserable rock.
The ledges on the wall echoed to our steps. It was dark and gloomy, showing no signs of life. It was nerve wrecking. I tilted my head in every direction, constantly listening for anything out of the ordinary. Everything was going according to plan, but it was just a matter of time before something went wrong. I mean, I wasn’t hoping something would go wrong, although I had to consider the possibility of something going out of line.
“Switch to infrared, everyone, we are going in dark,” Cathy said as she led us through the corridor. “We can’t let anyone see us; otherwise, all our efforts will be for nothing.”
Just what was this mission we were supposed to do? I knew absolutely nothing except for the fact that I had almost died again. We all switched our flash lights off and walked stealth fully in the dark. No one spoke, it was all hand signals till we reached our objective. I noticed something very peculiar and began to worry. Strangely as it seemed, this place was not guarded, not even one spy drone was mounted on the wall. It felt like the enemy wanted us to come to them. Or possibly, they didn’t expect anyone to make it through their shield in one piece. I could only hope Cathy knew where she was going; otherwise, we were walking directly into our own doom. “Stop, everyone!” Cathy whispered and raised her hand, to signal us not to move.
Something was coming towards us; it looked like a robot or some sort of monster with bladed wings. Was it a terror beast? Nah! It looked way too big to be a terror beast and also its eyes were glowing way too bright in a yellow color. Could it see us? It looked like it was coming directly straight towards us. I got a little nervous and gripped my gun firmly. I don’t know when I had taken it from its strap, but all I knew was, it was in my hand and loaded. The safety was off and any sudden movement could result in a discharge of a bullet. I still couldn’t make out who or what it was exactly. However, one thing was clear, it was not here to make friends. Everyone stopped dead in their tracks, with their weapons pointed directly at it. One sudden movement and this monster would detect and destroy us. The creature moved away, it didn’t seem to pick us up at all. Was it just luck?
No, I noticed Cathy holding some sort of device at the monster. It was possible this machine was disrupting this monster’s vision, in some sort of way, making it unable to see us. I watched the beast move away and disappear in another corridor, leaving us to continue our mission.
“This is just too much,” I sighed to myself.
I put away my gun and begun to follow after Cathy and the others. The corridors forked away into different direction. Cathy held a map, allowing us to navigate our way through the treacherous tunnels. We all stopped as we came into contact with another door. It was a little bit smaller than the gate and, of course, requiring an access card or key. Jan walked towards it and did the same thing he did with the gate to get it open. It took a few minutes to open the door and access the controls of the building.
“Okay, everyone, you know what to do, right?” Jan asked, and everyone else nodded, except for me.
“Just what are we doing?” I asked, confused
and curious as to what was the mission plan.
Cathy looked at me and said, “Just try not to get yourself killed.”
She patted my shoulder lightly, with a faint smile and went through the door first.
“Easy enough, if I wasn’t on this planet, that is,” I responded sarcastically.
Suddenly, the whole crew split up and went into different directions, leaving me behind with Jan and Cathy. I had no idea what to do, so I decided to follow Jan and Cathy.
“We are here,” Jan explained, pointing at the com unit grid. “If we go here, we should be able to see the main shield generator control room.”
So that was their plan? If my guess was right, they were trying to shut down the kingdom’s defense power system and disable the outside shields. Great plan, except they really didn’t plan it right. Something as important as that was probably heavily guarded—no way could a mere handful of soldiers pull this off.
“You know your plan is suicide” I commented, making a remark to get their attention. They both looked at me with eyes full of resent, causing me to feel a bit uneasy.
“It’s better than doing nothing,” Cathy hissed, and stood up, with her fist clenched. “Do you have anything worth fighting for?”
Of course! Perhaps, I shouldn’t have used those exact words. They sure took everything seriously. Jan picked up his equipment quickly, “it’s time to leave, I don’t think the others outside can keep on attacking. They will run out of ammo soon, so we need to get these shields down now.”
“Lead the way,” I said, giving him a hand sign to proceed in front of me, since he knew the way. Jan began to run at a constant pace. We followed behind him, holding our guns in our hands. The tunnel ended directly beneath a series of metal stairs. We climbed them, going up until we reached a shaft. Jan signaled us to follow him through the tight shaft to the other side. He was leading us through a series of random passages—it felt like he was just side winding it. I think we were lost.
“Relax, guys, this is a shortcut. If we follow this map, we should get somewhere soon.”
“Somewhere! Are you serious?” I rattled in anger. “Do you even know where you are going?”
“Stop,” he growled and we all halted.
Below us, a squadron of guard soldiers, in super armor showed up, marching in a straight line. They were carrying weapons and it looked like they were going directly to war. Wait! These guys looked exactly like the people I had seen on the video com link; the soldiers who took my crew away and disappeared. I was definitely in the right location. My crew was here. As soon as the guards left, we began to move again, following Jan’s map.
“There it is,” he pointed at a unique compartment, spaced apart from the other rooms.
It was very small, hardly about three quarters of a room, in size, and heavily guarded by three dozen soldiers.
“There is no way to get in there,” I said to Cathy, holding her shoulder to stop her from proceeding.
“Are you always this negative and doubtful? It’s no wonder Rose left you.”
Hurtful! Okay, that was really what I would call a low blow, in my opinion. How did she know about Rose? Just how many people knew? Never mind! I don’t think I wanted to know, it would probably mess with my mind.
“Just keep yourself hidden for now, and try not to fall behind,” she said and began to crawl her way out of the tunnel. “Switch your system to sonar vision and use a disruptor to cover your movements from the enemy’s tracking system. They probably have traps mounted everywhere”
I did as I was told and checked my equipment, one last time, running a diagnostic check in case we came under attack. Silently, we moved to a more secluded position, allowing ourselves a full view of the entire surrounding compartments. Due to the enhancements in my helmet, I could hear everything the enemy was saying. Thank you technology!
“How many forces does the enemy have?” a superior looking soldier spoke, looking at a very big visual screen. “Deploy all our troops and surround them, make sure none of them survive.”
“As you command,” all of the soldiers replied at the same time, like they all possessed the same brain.
It freaked me out a bit, but it explained what Kristin said about them being under some kind of hypnosis. Their movements were not wasted as they moved like one entity. There were no arguments and constant bickering most armies had. It made me wonder for a bit if having people under hypnosis was the only way to stop people from fighting. No! What am I saying? Was I really considering that as an option? I mean, it was after all taking away people’s individual right to freedom and choice. I placed my hand on my helmet and closed my eyes, to clear my thoughts completely. In order to succeed, I had to keep my mind focused and rational. I looked around and observed all the soldiers within the vicinity. Every little movement they made gave me a clue as to how to launch our assault. The soldiers were stationed at every corner and exit in pairs. Direct confrontation would play badly for us, meaning we had to catch them off guard and launch a guerrilla attack.
“Let’s move in closer,” Jan whispered, while slowly creeping closer to the control room.
We crawled our way out of sight and stopped once we were within a few yards away. It was getting intense; my heart was racing. One wrong mistake and we would be found out. I glanced at the others for comfort, but found none. They were occupied and focused on the task at hand, they barely saw the worry on my face. The guards patrolled around us without realizing what was happening. Strangely, it was like they were not trying to find us. Was this possibly a trap? It sure looked like they were leading me into the hands of the enemy. I felt an odd feeling in my stomach and realized what I had to do. When Jan and Cathy were not looking, I took out an EMP generator and stuck it on the wall of tunnel shift—a few inches behind me.
“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” I said, reassuring myself.
I looked back at the generator, and realized I had secured my way out of this mess, in case things went quickly south on me. Jan stopped briefly, and began cutting one of the satellite link grids. He extended his arms out, typing codes into a small grid screen at the end of the shaft. Silently, the mounted machine let out a blipping flash of red light, which then turned green after five seconds. Images and videos began to pop up on his pad. It seemed like whatever they were seeing was being displayed directly to his hack pad, allowing him to see what the enemy was seeing.
“It will take time to manually cut the system off without being noticed,” Jan whispered to us, as he kept trying to redirect the power out of the building. “This might be harder than we thought, but try to buy me as much time as possible.”
“Den, can you hear me?” a voice suddenly spoke through my com link.
Crap! I was not expecting that. I was startled as so was Jan and Cathy. A loud siren came online as the whole place began to go under lockdown. I heard footsteps closing on our position, fast and loud. We had been compromised. Of all the fortune in the world! I clenched my fist hard out of frustration and sighed down heavily.
“What did you do?” Cathy shook me against the wall in anger.
Just my luck, my com link would come online when I really didn’t want it. It sounded like Rick or Dalla—meaning they were really close by, within a fifty mile radius. But what were they doing here?
“There is an intruder,” all the soldiers’ voices rattled through the walls.
“Find them and destroy them,” a single loud voice commanded the other soldiers.
“I will deal with you later, but right now, we have to fight,” Cathy said and burst out of the thin shaft wall.
She rattled towards them, firing her power burst gun. Her movements were fast and agile, I barely caught sight of her. I moved in closer and studied the surrounding to find a better defensive position. Outnumbered and outgunned, going on the offensive was suicide. Jan barely looked back; he kept trying to hack into the power system relentlessly. On the other hand, Cathy was going fully berserk. She
knocked soldiers left and right, moving out of range when things got too hot. I wanted to go and help her; however, I chose not to. Our mission depended on Jan, so protecting his life was my top priority at the moment.
“Hurry, Jan,” I said and turned on the weapon system in my suit.
Two surveillance drones deployed out of my suit and began to attack from above. Unfortunately, they didn’t last a few minutes as they were easily taken out by one of the soldiers. I quickly lifted up and begun shooting at the guards from the air, with a Rasian Javelin super blaster. Magnificent, the weapon was light and powerful; it shot out a barrage of target lock guarded rockets, but regrettably, they all missed.
“Crappy piece of technology!”
The guards easily avoided my heat guided rockets with ease and pursued after me. Thankfully, they lacked the flight ability to come after me in the air. I watched them and studied the pattern and rhythm of their movements. Amazing, it was like they were one single entity—moving in the same style and attacking perfectly, in a synchronized manner.
“Hold still, will you?” I yelled out of frustration.
It was a rather bothersome trick to say the least. I would never have believed this if someone had told me. Ali was right: the truth was stranger than fiction. Mindless puppets, baby terror beasts, dimensional warp gates, alien resistant soldiers, etc. The list goes on. It felt like I was reading some fictional hologram. Everything on this planet made me question my own perception of reality. Without warning, a blast knocked me out of the air and I crash landed onto the metal gritted floor hard. It was painful and unexpected. Again, they took out one of my flight thrusters, forcing me into ground confrontation.
“What are we going to do?” I yelled to Cathy, retreating back to cover Jan from harm. “Can’t you call the others for backup?”
“No,” she replied quickly, “you screwed up, and I can’t let you jeopardize us any longer.”
“So, what do you want us to do?” I yelled back at her as I ducked past a blast of blue metallic bullets.