Narican- the Cloaked Deception

by D M Robbins

  Tanz closes his eyes breathing deeply then slowly releases. “We must get to the air and end this. The dark forces of the four corners will soon be upon us. The Toxic Whisperers council will seize upon this moment.”

  On the wall behind Kimbel’s chair the heads of commerce and world leaders watch live from monitors, perhaps determining if they will fall in line behind Kimbel’s rule or whoever now takes his place. Gold name plates sit under each of the dozen monitors. The top six are of commerce, corporations, and media, while the lower six are nation leaders: New Baltic Peninsula, Ukrimia, others.

  *

  Outside, in a side alley The Revos and Milleron are still swinging hitting the big guy in red shirt, exhausted, from one to the next, delivering a round of punches each.

  Milleron shouts over, “Nice work with Kimbel. We have him secured.”

  We step down onto the pavement when Bill asks, “What is this guy?”

  “A physical beast. Nothing more.” Tanz says.

  “He has mutated genes,” I shout over. Bill nods and swings again.

  Tanz says to me, “We must finish this then get to Narican.”

  “But we don’t know how to get there!”

  “We will. Trust the intelligence of the universe. It guides when we are quiet and allowing.” I nod trying to understand.

  Milleron throws one last exhausted punch and is bleeding again as his stitches have opened. Belinda stands off to the side watching. A Revo fighter throws a side kick that knocks red shirt flying into the garbage cans. We leave him there.

  Walking down the alley, Tanz says, “We must be swift in our attack knowing who’s behind this.” He pauses and brings up his equation sprinkling in a few more facts. I anticipate it will move to one hundred percent, but it does not budge from 95% Complete, before it evaporates.

  “How can that be?” I shout in frustration, wanting this to end.

  “Facts are missing. The equation is infallible. Be patient. More will be revealed.” He pats my back. “As always, the closer you get to truth, the more that truth desires to be known. Universal law. We must get to an airship. The dark forces of the Toxic Whisperers will soon fill the sky.” We walk out in front of the statehouse and stop. Belinda tends to Milleron.

  “You knew that four-eyed man?” I ask.

  “I knew of him…”

  “Well, are you going to tell me who he is?”

  “A ghost really. His name is Aldana and well, he was your mother’s much older half-brother.”

  “My mother didn’t have any brothers.”

  “He was cast out of the dimension long before you were born. Indeed, long before I or your mother were born.” He shows images and events of the time. “The Toxic Whisperers and Sun Clan had a brief truce eons ago that created Aldana as a peace offering to both sides. Soon he was rebellious and angry and never felt pure on either side… as he was not… Though both sides tried to comfort him, he was resentful, feeling more a byproduct than an act of love. He had no true home. His young head swelled with destructive rage, attacking Narican and murdering Chenoro of the Whisperers dark council, who he accused of being soft and weak, yet had brokered the tentative peace deal. They had no choice but to remove Aldana, cast him out so as not to tear apart the universal thread.”

  “So what became of him?”

  Tanz shakes his head. “Rumors. Innuendo. The records show nothing. He disappeared. A ghost, as I said. But he is here and clearly seeks revenge. It is also clear which side of his soul he chose.”

  Belinda, Bill and the Revo fighters break off on Milleron’s command. The three of us jog in silence toward the airfield where ships and hoverplanes rise to patrol the city looking for us.

  CHOPPER AND TANZ FLYING

  We sneak onto the airstrip through a hole in a chain-link fence. Most of the troops are on the ground in the city searching for us. We get to the crazy looking chopper, half-submarine and half-ball with chopper blades on each side built into the wings.

  Standing at the base of one near the door, I ask, “Can you fly this thing?”

  “Not yet…” Tanz says, he smiles, eyes growing wide, overjoyed. “Since you wouldn’t let me drive that hyperjeep…” He brings up the schematics and hotwires the chopper, popping off a panel near the front.

  I roll my eyes, knowing what I’ve gotten myself into.

  Milleron stands in shock, not fully registering what Tanz is doing. “Nothing should surprise me about you two.”

  The entry door comes down. Tanz goes in first. “Time is of the essence, sir. Please board.”

  “He’s a bit of a thief in case you hadn’t noticed,” I say to Milleron as we head up the ramp.

  I hear from up front. “Necessa—”

  “Yes, yes, necessary means. Let’s roll, Accountant,” I say as we find our seats and strap in.

  Tanz punches a few buttons and the massive gunship rises above the city.

  “We’ll be arrested or killed. Shot out of the sky!” Milleron shouts, holding on as Tanz moves the thruster forward.

  We hear over the radio, “Airship 431 out of Field Eleven, illegal launch. Illegal launch.” We see #431 imprinted on the dashboard.

  Once we rise above the buildings, smaller and same style airships turn in pursuit. They close in from the city sectors like a midair gang. Orders to blow us up come over the radio.

  “Not today. Not for Anselier,” Tanz says jamming the thruster, making calculations, and turning knobs.

  “Who’s that?” I ask.

  “My wife,” Tanz says, outmaneuvering the first wave by dropping down.

  Gunships come at us from the side and rear. Tanz drops the nose further toward the street, flying into tunnels in the speed pass lane, smashing through tollbooths.

  “Never cared for them.” Tanz says. Milleron raises an eyebrow, holding on.

  Up and around buildings, doing crazy zigzag stunts over the congested roadway.

  Milleron says, “I think I’m gonna be sick.”

  I lean over to him in the rear seat. “That’s how I usually feel when he drives.”

  Several ships close in on us and launch missiles, hitting our hull. There’s damage underneath to the rear. The right wing is smoking. The navigation, radio, and dash lights go out. Red warning lights flash on the dash.

  Milleron shouts, “How the hell are you going to fly this bird? We’re blind. Need to abandon ship! Get us out of here.” We’re smoking and losing power.

  Tanz brings up a calculation and his own pulsating blue radar and navigation map, placing them on the dash. Milleron stares like he wants to say something but doesn’t know what.

  “We can’t get a good shot at the pump station being chased like this. Must ditch enemy birds at once,” Tanz says, flying lower over the streets, angry mobs everywhere, fists in the air.

  “That’s why we’re flying to avoid them and to end this false reality. Deception is intolerable. Anything that distorts truths,” he says, swerving around a ship tail in front of us.”

  “We must save them, yet they want us dead, Tanz,” I respond.

  “Only their ignorance and hatred do.”

  “You do know we’re being chased by the best trained pilots in the world, right?” Milleron shouts at him.

  “As you may have surmised, sir, I am not from this world,” he says, smiling, then he dives lower, skipping off the ground doing half a loop around other planes, cutting back the thrusters and hitting the brakes. Upside down we come crashing onto the top of an airship, knocking him out of the sky. Tanz is playing chicken, bumper cars as missiles whiz by striking buildings.

  “The city’s getting blown up.”

  He nods, understanding this battle has to stop.

  “He’s a bit of a cowboy,” I shout to Milleron behind us. He’s holding his stomach while we both hold on for dear life.

  Tanz straightens the bird, slowing it, waiting for warbirds to come up the rear then twists our ship flipping out the tail and smacking them into buildings lik
e a pit maneuver cops use, knocking out the rear of cars. I learned it in a video game.

  “Order 11223, what was that?” I ask.

  He shrugs and shakes his head. “Don’t know,” he says, focusing on flying.

  “You bluffed?”

  “Made it up. I only account for victories and the fulfillment of one’s purpose. Nothing else is worth focusing upon.” He dips and shoots a tactical shot at the ship behind us, hitting them, jamming their propellers but low enough so they can land safely. “Enough child’s play,” he says out loud to them as we fly low over the streets to the pump station.

  A few more airships come in. Tanz makes minor modifications and the plane goes even faster, taking off. “GGGGgggggggg FFFFfffooorrrceee,” he yells with spittle across his face. Airships fall back as he blazes fast forward, rising and sinking, assessing, accounting, calculating. My head is pressed against the seat like a ride at the fair. My head bounces. I can’t lift it.

  We loop around the city perimeter shaking any remaining guys who fall away. Several crash, not able to keep up as Tanz flies full speed around the capital, swinging out to no man’s land. Loop after loop after loop. I close my eyes.

  “Now, first things first, the water plant…” He slows the bird pulling up front, cutting all but the hover engines. Milleron and I try to breathe normally again. We sit approximately twenty feet above the street and fifty from the building.

  “You know you’re blowing up their water supply, right, Mr. Tanz?” Milleron asks, concerned as the mob grows below, funneling in from streets, holding their fists up and throwing rocks that ding against the ship.

  Tanz nods, turning the nose of the plane vertical, and shoots the base of a huge satellite dish that sits atop a building. As it comes down everyone flees below. It crashes to the ground in front of us resting like an enormous metal bowl.

  The mob with red murder in their eyes throws rocks and sticks at our hovering craft, anything they can hurl.

  “Hit that button, Claremone. Hit it now!”

  I launch missiles. We hit what’s left of the white stucco building then rip into the pipes and pumps. The mob scatters for safety.

  A toxic plume goes up. The permanent false yellow sun around the capital fades and that dark cloud is visible for the first time. Rain begins to fall. The dish fills with water before Tanz flies off.

  DESTROY TO LIVE

  With people everywhere on the street, we fly low over the scattered, disoriented mob. “They’d kill us if they could,” I say.

  “They’re just confused,” Milleron responds. “They’re good people and mean well. We can’t give up on them.” He shakes his head, looking out. “Well, some of them.”

  Tanz slows the aircraft so Milleron and I can hear him clearly. We stop flying to hover in a quiet industrial area out of sight behind rusting warehouses.

  “Our strikes must be tactical: crucial buildings and operations only,” Tanz says. “The dark forces are coming, and time is limited. We must blow up the statehouse and the entire infrastructure before they arrive.”

  “No that’s ridiculous!” Milleron replies. “You can’t. I disagree.”

  “We must. Nothing will change if we do not. The dark forces will overrun the land and simply replace Kimbel. This will at least give people a fighting chance to start anew.”

  “I firmly disagree, Mr. Tanz. That statehouse is the very symbol of our country’s ideals.”

  “Ideals live within us, sir, and are passed down.” He shows images of fathers and mothers teaching their children, showing them right from wrong.

  “Kimbel wants to be Earth’s king,” I say to Milleron.

  “What? That’s impossible. This is a democracy.”

  “That’s what I told him,” I say.

  Tanz continues, “If successful, he or someone else will rule Earth while Aldana’s dark forces remain his ally—until they no longer find him useful.”

  Milleron goes quiet.

  Tanz concludes, “World leaders watch from monitors in Kimbel’s office. They are waiting to see if they will become subjugated partners.”

  “Wow, that guy is out of his mind…” Milleron says, looking out the window.

  “Not so at all. Simply opportunistic, aligned with his belief system and soul’s purpose. People will never believe us, or our intentions. And they do not need to. They must find it in themselves. Their minds are currently too entangled to trust us. We must take out the men in the shadows, the string pullers, and give the human race a chance. Sometimes you must destroy something to let it live. Wouldn’t you agree, Senator Milleron? Is that not what happened to you?”

  Milleron nods slightly. “Okay.”

  “We will set course for the statehouse.” Tanz turns the knobs, we begin moving slowly above the warehouse’s gravel parking lot.

  Tanz and I look at Milleron, who seems to get a second wind, nodding more confidently. “Let’s do this. Change is in the air,” he says.

  “We’ll first hit commerce then the statehouse to disrupt all operations.” The rain falls harder, and gray clouds enclose the city. The black matte sky is gone and only thunderclouds remain.

  We fly several blocks across the city then shoot tactical missiles at the tan commerce building. It crumbles and all of its lies with it. Two blocks over we take out the red statehouse. A cloud of dust and debris billows.

  We watch the red statehouse crumble. Milleron has tears in his eyes.

  “I am sorry,” Tanz utters to him. “But what good is a symbol if it no longer holds true?”

  Milleron nods rubbing his eyes. “We will rebuild and write laws that preserve our ideals. And never let them slip away again.”

  As we fly back through the city people are dropping their rocks and sticks. They look around as if coming out of some daze as the rain falls upon them. Hatred gone from their eyes. One little girl hops in puddles. Many people walk with cupped hands tasting the sweet rain.

  Milleron breathes deeply, looking out the window at the remaining city.

  He speaks into his watch, “All teams, meet at the rendezvous point.”

  GOODBYES WITH THE ADVANCED HUMANS

  Just outside the city limits, the nurse and a few other Revos come out from the perimeter and walk toward us. The wolves gather at the edge of the forest. Milleron and Belinda hug and kiss. He stares, smiling at her. She smiles back with devotion. He drops to one knee and reaches out his hand, taking hers in his.

  “Belinda, I’ve loved you forever. Will you start a new world with me?” She nods, smiling back. “Will you marry me?” he asks.

  She smiles down upon him. “Why yes, I will, Senator. Yes, I will.” She bends to kiss him then also gets down on one knee in a long passionate embrace. As the world crumbles, their love has grown stronger.

  The hyperjeeps pull around and the drivers, Mark included, stand at their vehicles. The wolves howl seeing their family safe again. Milleron and Belinda and the Revos all laugh.

  “It has been a pleasure to meet you all.” Tanz puts out his hand for Milleron to shake. “Congratulations.” He nods to her as well. “I am happy for you both. We must put our plan into action now. The dark forces will attempt to consume all sentient beings on this planet. We will not let them.”

  Milleron says with his arm around Belinda, “Please call on us if you are ever in need.”

  “We most certainly will.” Tanz says.

  I shake their hands as well. Tanz hugs her.

  Milleron says, “I didn’t know we had such friends in high places.”

  “You shall build your home in accordance with your soul’s true purpose. The gods will be watching. So will we. That was the ideal of this nation and that statehouse. You will build another with laws to ensure that.”

  “We will, Mr. Tanz. We will.”

  “Lastly, you must help others find their truths.”

  “You have our word.”

  “Do you know who we are now?”

  He smiles and laughs. “I know eno
ugh.”

  “Come, we’ll give you a lift back to the base,” Tanz offers, wanting to fly the airship once more.

  Milleron raises an eyebrow placing a hand over his stomach. We shake our heads No at him.

  “I promise, it will be a pleasure cruise… Belinda, madam? Please.”

  We board and fly leisurely back to their camouflaged home. The wolves follow along the hyperjeeps below.

  Inside the hangar the guards march Kimbel out.

  “Now what should we do with our captive here?” Milleron wonders.

  “I have rights,” Kimbel demands with his hands cuffed behind him.

  “No longer. Treason is what you have.”

  “Milleron, I have a symbolic and fitting idea.” Tanz leans in, whispering to him.

  Milleron laughs emphatically. “Perfect, Mr. Tanz.”

  We bring him into a room. Tanz sets calculations and Belinda administers an I.V. The liquid is murky. “His sentence shall be what it deserves to be,” Tanz says. “Though most crimes do not warrant DNA tampering, in this case… it is fitting…”

  “By your actions you have chosen your own fate, you piece of crap, Kimbel.” Milleron says then punches him in the face. “That’s for what you did to me. And this is for what you did to my country.” He punches him in the gut dropping him to floor.

  Belinda turns on the drip and after a few minutes his color changes turning gray, growing fur, and he shrinks down becoming a rat who scurries to the wall looking for escape. Milleron catches him and places him in a cage.

  “What will you name him?” I ask.

  He thinks for a moment.

  “King.”

  SATELLITES

  After our goodbyes, Tanz and I get into the airship and fly back inside the city limits.

  “Where are we going? I thought we needed to get home and prepare,” I ask as we land in front of the capital’s power grid. “Tanz, the dark forces are coming! We need to prepare, remember?”