In A Universe Without Stars 1: Skyeater

by J Alex McCarthy

  Why should he be afraid of them if he has this kind of power?

  He asks himself this, there is something holding him back.

  Maybe it’s his anxiety or Lane’s death. His light is cut off, a huge shadow engulfs him.

  The faire, the one he was going too, supposed to stop, flies over him.

  A flourish of emotions hits him.

  The thing taunts him.

  He looks back at the remains of the auditorium. It’s a smoldering crater of failure.

  Serena and Wilker fight on while he’s standing back, being a useless fifth wheel. He’s never even gotten in real fight before, he’s never had to.

  But Jahum chose him for a reason, he’s barely injured after all he’s been through, he can feel his bones and ribs shift back into place.

  He wants to fight.

  There’s something stopping him, stopping his motivation too. He doesn’t know what. Something causing self-doubt and second guessing.

  No. He’s going to ignore his doubts and just fight, he’s not going to allow any more people, people like Lane, die again. Noata’s thoughts go around in circles, pushing him toward his skepticism.

  Noata gets to his knees, he can’t keep doing this, hesitating while other people die around him. The angel lands in front of him, covered in what Noata assumes is his teammate’s blood.

  It picks him up, he doesn’t struggle to fight it.

  “I don’t want to die,” he mutters.

  He can still see their faces, the people in the auditorium. Their tear studded eyes begging for him to save them.

  Save us.

  “I don’t want to die,” he mutters again.

  Save us.

  The angel lights up.

  Save yourself.

  “Not like this!” he yells. Noata throws his arm into its mouth. He’s not going to die a coward.

  He blows off its head.

  The angel drops like a bag of rocks. Noata lands on his feet. He looks at the faire behind him. The faire in the blink of an eye it appears many miles away, facing him.

  It’s far more nimble than it appears, damn near teleporting short distances.

  Noata stares at his hands, he can do this. A wave of emotions hits him again.

  Anger, happiness, frustration, sadness, fear and then, finally, calmness. He looks back at the faire, it’s already covered half of the distance to him.

  It’s the faire, it’s the one causing this, whenever he looks at the faire, he can feel the strongest of his emotions hit him. He forgot that was one of its powers, but Noata believes it’s having a hard time with his mind.

  A strange calmness continues to run through him. The faire approaches him. Noata knows what he’s going to do next. He’s going to kill it. He finds his gun in the rubble.

  He picks it up and wipes it off.

  He charges for the faire, the world around it disappears as he stares it down, it’s just him and it. It approaches incredibly fast.

  All of his emotions tells him to stop, pushing, pulling, and tugging at the control of his muscles and emotions to stop him.

  But he must continue on.

  A tear streaks down his cheek, he feels an emptiness inside him as they’re about to collide.

  Its power gets stronger.

  It hurts him.

  He’s going to die, he can feel the emptiness beyond it all, the nothingness.

  The faire is only a few meters away.

  “NOOO!” he screams with all his might.

  He snaps.

  Noata jumps on to the wall of the building next to him and jumps into the air.

  The faire passes under him. He aims his gun at it and pulls the second trigger. His last round rips into the ship and expands into a sphere of light.

  The faire lets out the most horrendous screech. The round annihilates everything it touches as it expands into a thirty foot radius. Part of the ship explodes and launches Noata into the air.

  He lands on his feet on a rooftop and skids to a stop.

  He collapses to his knees. The ship crashes down exploding on impact. Letting out one final scream.

  Noata’s void fills, his thoughts and emotions settle down. He can finally hear his thoughts clearly. He feels nothing except a small hint of anger and excitement.

  He looks at his hands, this is who he is. He wipes away his tears. The young man who had the courage to ask out Lane, to accept the Astrons offer for something greater. He isn’t a coward.

  “Noata! Noata! Are you there?” Serena’s screams from Noata’s wrist. A display pops up on top of his bracelet and shows Serena, sweat covers her face, guns and explosions goes off behind her.

  It’s the same bracelet he was going to give to Lane. How did she figure out how to do this? She seemed like she was a quick learner for everything Astron.

  “I’m coming,” He says to it. He’s not sure if she heard but she’s going to see him coming, because he’s now a force to be reckoned with.

  They’ve touched his emotions and because of that he now knows how to block them.

  He’s not going to let them mess with his mind again.

  He has the power to understand.

  He turns to where he believes Serena is and walks into the battlefield.

  Julio crashes across the airfield, gun in hand. A grunt lands on top of him. The grunt rips the gun from his hand and throws it on the runway.

  “Shit!” Julio yells.

  The grunt lurches his rifle toward Julio. Julio swings up his left hand up. His force field catches it. He struggles as the grunt drives down.

  He never learned how to create a sword with his left hand.

  He forces it back and sends the grunt into the air. This grunt is tougher than the rest, he’s a higher rank, guessing by the different marks on his shoulder.

  This isn’t his first planetary invasion.

  Julio runs for his gun. The grunt behind him gets up and charges for him. Julio leaps for his weapon and swings it at the grunt. He pulls the second trigger.

  A red round shoots out and hits the grunt in the chest. He stops and looks at his midsection. His mouth rips open to let out a scream as the bullet immediately expands.

  In an instant, the bullet expands into a 10 foot diameter sphere, consuming everything in it. And then it was gone. Everything it touched was wiped from this universe.

  Julio stands there, contemplating on what just happen. “Holy shit man,” Julio mumbles. Why didn’t he use this before? It’s only because he has three bullets, two now.

  He hears something.

  What now?

  An F-18 landing gear suddenly skirts the top of his head. He falls to the ground.

  “What the fuck?!” Julio yells. An F-18 skids to a landing only a couple meters away.

  The F-18 refuels in front of a hanger. Crew members roll up with armaments and bullets and restock the plane. A hiss comes from the front as the cockpit opens.

  “I can’t fucking take this anymore!” The navigator takes off his helmet and throws it out. His starts to take off his belts and harnesses. A crew member pushes a ladder against the side of the jet.

  “I’m done,” He yells as he gets out.

  The pilot takes off his helmet, sweat slicks back his brown hair. It’s Reese, Reese from Julio and Cole’s old unit.

  Not this shit again.

  “Wait what!?” Reese screams. He tries to take off his harness.

  “I need you!”

  “No! Fuck that, I just seen half of my friends die up there! Those motherfuckers are killing us, I have a wife and kid to think about,” The navigator says. He goes toward the hanger.

  Reese gives up taking off his harness, he has a mission to do but so does Reese.

  “So you’re just going to abandon me to die, too, I thought I was your friend.”

  The navigator stops in his tracks.

  “I’ve already made my decision.” He continues into the hanger doors, leaving Reese behind. So he’s going to abandon his planet
just like that, some kind of friend he is.

  “Hey you motherfuck—“

  Julio runs from behind the jet and up to the cockpit.

  “Holy crap,” he mutters as he looks into the cockpit. “Reese?”

  Reese looks down at him. What are the chances?

  “Well-well-well, if it isn’t Julio Garcia. Long time no see, bud,” Reese says.

  “Small world,” Julio says, he leans against the ladder on the jet.

  “So what have you been up to?”

  “Not much you know, just killing aliens and shit,” Julio says with a smile. “I see you finally got your pilot license.”

  Reese laughs as he looks down at Julio’s uniform. A tight blue jumpsuit, like he’s some kind of damned superhero. He’s a chosen. Reese is somewhat surprised that he isn’t wearing his underwear outside his pants.

  “Hmm.”

  “What?” Julio asks. The crew members around him are hard at work, refueling and rearming the jet. But there’s a strange attitude toward Julio.

  The crew try their hardest not to look directly at him, trying their best to avoid getting his attention. All because of what he is now, all because he was chosen by these so called alien saviors.

  He’s still only human but maybe he can hopefully protect them, save them from the horrors they’ve seen. Also, because the chosen was given command over them.

  “So you’re a chosen, huh? You got a big job ahead of you,” Reese says, relocking his harness. He looks back above him.

  There’s still a battle going on, except that the Eliite are avoiding the base for some reason.

  “It looks like we can’t win this without you guys. Especially with those angel fuckers.”

  “Bullshit! They used to call you fearless Reese, Reese’s mother-fucking Pieces. You headed straight into this clusterfuck of a war with far less capabilities than I have, unless you’ve turned into a pussy since the last time we met?”

  The crew members signals Reese, the jet is ready to go. Reese puts on his helmet, ready to head back into the death above.

  “I miss the talks we used to have Julio. If I don’t come back name your first born after me.”

  He jumps up to grab the canopy and starts to pull down.

  “Wait! Don’t you need a navigator?” Julio asks.

  “I can go alone.”

  “Wait!”

  Reese and the crew members stop in their tracks.

  “Take me with you.”

  The F-18 idles on the runway, getting ready for takeoff. Another jet in front of them launches into the air. The sky above them empty. The dogfights swirl around the perimeter of the base, but never entering them.

  “What the hell? Why aren’t they attacking the base?” Julio asks in the navigator’s seat. He’s just now noticed that there wasn’t any fighting going on above them.

  “They’re not going to attack something that sends out targets for them. If you haven’t noticed they get some sick satisfaction from stringing us out.”

  Julio locks in his harness, he can’t believe they’re letting him do this. Apparently the Astrons worked something out to give the chosen some kind of high ranking status.

  “Hmm, well, are you ready?” Julio asks. Reese places his hand on the throttle, with no major satellite communications it’s up to him when to go.

  Julio puts on his helmet and snaps on his nose mask.

  “I can’t believe we’re doing this.”

  “Me either,” Julio replies with a smile.

  “GO!” Julio yells.

  Reese forces down the throttle, with a lurch the afterburners are unleashed.

  Julio is pressed into his seat as they rocket down the runway. The pressure hits him hard. His smile turns into a giant grin. They lift into the sky, ripping straight up into the sky.

  Reese relaxes in his seat as the Gs push into his body, tightening the right body parts to not pass out. Julio eyes water in the back. His teary eyes stare up into the empty sky.

  No planes or aliens are in the sky.

  It’s calm.

  They quickly approach the clouds above.

  “You ready for this shit? ‘Cause I think you’re not,” Reese announces.

  “Yeah.”

  Reese lets off the throttle as they hit the clouds. Whiteness engulfs them. The jet starts to shake.

  “Are you ready!” Reese screams, more for himself than Julio.

  Julio was born ready.

  The clouds break.

  Julio’s smile leaves.

  It’s chaos.

  Hundreds, thousands of ships enter their view.

  The explosions rocks the jet. Hundreds of dog fights are going on around them. Streams and puffs of smoke paint the blue canvas of the sky.

  It’s hard for Julio to become oriented with all the ships around him. There’s just so many, so many jets and ships, so many bullets and explosions.

  So much death.

  Reese is the real hero here, to go into this. It takes more than balls to fly in this.

  The sky around them shakes violently as a dinging sound is heard as they still fly vertically. It vibrate through Julio’s and Reese’s core. Its echo is heard all around them. Julio looks back at the clouds behind him. The clouds suddenly disappear, he can see the battle on the ground.

  The clouds aren’t real?

  It is just a psychological barrier? Is it for the ground forces or them?

  The battle finally gets to them.

  “Hold on!” Reese screams. A group of Peons swarm in around them.

  “Shit!” Julio screams as he throws his hands on the glass.

  Twenty Peons engulf them. Hording so close together but somehow not running into each other. Reese’s jet burst through it, sending Peons hurling down to the ground.

  Julio’s force field surrounds the jet, encompassed of multiple tiny mirror like force fields that make a sphere around the jet. Julio removed his hands from the glass, his force field disappears.

  The Peons they smashed through scatter away. Reese looks around in the sky, searching for something.

  “We got their attention!” Julio shouts. A group of Peons in the distance swirl together and flies toward them.

  “There!” Reese found what he was looking for. An angel spits beams of hellfire only a couple miles away, decimating any and every jet that crosses its path.

  Julio’s ready for this, the moment he’s been waiting for. He’s going to do the stupidest thing he’s ever done in he’s entire life.

  “You sure you’re ready?” Reese asks again.

  “Just go!”

  Reese pulls on the stick. They lurch backwards, finally flying horizontally. The Peons shot past the spot they were just in.

  They head toward the angel, approaching fast. Into the thick of battle, the world’s forces versus the Eliite. Julio places his hands on the cockpit glass.

  “Don’t. Save your energy. I got this,” Reese says.

  Julio slowly moves his hands away from the cockpit. He looks at his hands. He’s never thought about a limit, how much can he do before he runs out? Does his power have a limit? What happens when he runs out? Does he die?

  Julio continues to stare at his hand while Reese does his job. He swerves and weaves through legions of Peons and jets. Julio is amazed at how good of a pilot Reese is. Flying through the weaves of the battle without engaging in combat. There’s so many other prey out in the sky, the Peons that notice them just attack someone else.

  But it’s time now for Julio to do his part, the angel is quickly approaching.

  “Brace yourself.”

  Julio puts his hands on the glass. A shield expands out of Julio and around the jet.

  Reese fires the afterburners, the jet lurches and they rocket toward the angel.

  “Fight or flight motherfuckers!” he screams.

  They ram right into the angel. It flings off the shield like a ragdoll and tumbles toward the ground. It continues down until it rips from its chains and cruci
fix, breaking out of the Ulbe’s, the Damons, control.

  It’s pissed. Its energy wings erupts from its back.

  It lets out a screech that pierces through the entire battlefield.

  “Hell yeah it worked!” Julio says, the angel flies for them.

  “Let’s get those other fuckers.”

  There’s two more angels in the distance, annihilating everything around it.

  Even its own comrades.

  They jet for them, force field still active, crashing into any Peon that dare get in their way, destroying them instantly on touch.

  Crash! They run into the next angel. Crash! And into the next.

  “They’re following us,” Julio says looking back. Reese grips the joystick.

  “Let’s do this.”

  Reese jerks down on the joystick. Once again they head straight up, heading for the glass ceiling of the Earth’s so called atmosphere. The jet’s shield disappears. Julio relaxes back in his seat.

  Below them the angels furiously follow. They have no other thoughts besides kill. Rage in their eyes, fire in their mouths, they spit out beams of hellfire but they fall short of the jet. The lack of air around them hinders them as they ascend.

  Their wings and claws frost over, but their unbridled rage forces them on. The battle is thousands of feet below them, they’re alone in the outskirts of Earth’s atmosphere. Ice crusts on the jets wings.

  Inside, Reese struggles to keep the jet stable, sweat slicks his face.

  “Julio! Are you going to do this or what?!”

  Julio sits in his seat, trying to hype himself up. He snaps off his air mask and takes off his helmet. It gets hard to breathe as he starts to sweat. Bells and alarms ring out from the console.

  “Shit! We’re going to stall!” Reese yells.

  Julio sits still. He can do this, he’s done far crazier shit than this before. So why is he hesitating? He’s done many death defying things before, what makes this any different?

  Because he’s going to die, he thought. He comes to this realization while he stares out into the bleakness of outer space. It’s all silent to him now as if no matter what his decision is everything is going to be okay.

  Reese is yelling at him in the reflection of the cockpit glass.