“Claudia?” Her sister bounded out of the chair, her small legs taking her across the storage room into the arms of her overjoyed sister.
The man who brought Claudia into the room exited, the heavy door clanging behind him, but Claudia didn’t care anymore, didn’t care about her fear she’d felt upon first glimpsing this room. She was safe now and with Rose, her sister, just like her father told her she’d be. She wanted to tell Rose that everything was going to be fine and that she would protect her, that their dad would protect them from now on. But she didn’t. To Claudia’s mind, her sister was too young to understand.
“Girls,” said a woman. “I’m Dr. Andrea Cross. Can you come over here for a second?” She held up a rubber knee hammer, a device just about every child had seen during a doctor visit or two. “Your dad wants us to check your reflexes.”
The girls unclasped from each other and walked over to the doctor.
Andrea gestured to her assistant. “My friend here will work on you, Rose. So, please sit back down and relax.” She motioned toward a chair with restraints, the chair Rose was sitting on before Claudia entered the room.
“And Claudia, you sit here.” She patted a similar chair a few feet away. It too had restraints.
Claudia sat down, touching her knee. She never liked the feeling of that rubber hammer thing connecting with her knee, causing her lower leg to twitch. It was weird.
“We’re going to have to strap you in, girls.” Andrea buckled Claudia in at the waist, then tied her arms, and bound her head against the back of the chair.
Claudia’s eyes darted around, doing her best to locate her sister. This wasn’t normal. She’d never been seat belted in during a doctor’s visit, especially around the head.
She moved a few inches, but the restraints held Claudia in place. She could only see her sister’s feet. “Are you okay, Rose?”
“I’m okay,” responded her sister. Her sister’s patent-leather Mary-Jane’s bounced back and forth, telling Claudia her sister was fine. And that most likely this entire scenario was fine...was normal...just something she’d never experienced before? She had to be an adult and fearless. She had to grow up.
“How are you doing, Claudia?” questioned Andrea.
Claudia nodded. “I’m fine.”
“Excellent. Now, just look at this thing right here.” Andrea pulled a long, black gadget, the size and shape of a pencil, from her coat pocket. A man handed her a long cord attached to a monitor. Andrea looked it over and fit it into the bottom of her gadget, clicking the cord in place. She slid her hand up the gadget and twisted the top. A red-light glowed. “Do you remember what we did to your mommy?”
Claudia didn’t know what she meant by we or any other word in Andrea’s question. In fact, she didn’t see this Andrea lady in the room when her mom was killed. There was no we about it. It was only one person who killed her mom and he had minty breath.
She held her breath and stiffened. The guy who escorted her here had minty breath.
“Sit still,” said Andrea. “This will only hurt for a second.” She moved the red light closer to Claudia’s eyes.
A strong heat hit Andrea between the eyes, then a zap went through her forehead and to her brain. Her body and chest lifted off of the chair, her arms and hands went rigid, her fingers outstretched. She convulsed and convulsed again, her eyes widening, saliva frothing at her mouth.
She screamed. Her little sister let out a blood-curdling yell. She went to reach over, to hold her sister’s hand, to do anything to comfort her. Her arm was stuck, her legs wouldn’t kick, and her body wasn’t cooperating. She was writhing, out of control.
Memories came flooding to the surface. Her mom playing with her at home in the sand box in their backyard, years before her father became the president of the United States. They gathered sand in their shovels and filled up several beach buckets, laughing at each other, playing around like loving mothers and daughters do.
The memory left, evaporating, disconnecting from her brain. Gone forever. She attempted to bring the memory back up only to realize she didn’t even know what memory she was looking for.
She took in a deep breath as another memory popped up from the recesses of her mind. It was one that brought her the most happiness, one of her most cherished. The time her mother surprised her at school, holding a doll and flowers. Her mom had been gone for months, she didn’t know where to, but there she was, picking her up, a smile on her face, tears in her eyes.
An instant later, the memory disappeared. It was now a blank wall, no longer a remembrance of any sort.
A thousand movies and pictures ran through her mind, then were erased, thrown away like corrupted computer files. Suddenly, a new memory came into being. Claudia was young, too young to be watching this, and staring at her mom’s dead body lying in a ditch, her mother’s car smashed against a tree, its wheels flat and broken, its front-end dented in with steam rising from the engine. She was with her father and her two-year old sister. They were holding each other’s hands, police lights shining and blaring in the background. She stared at her mother’s dead face and blank eyes.
A new memory entered Claudia.
At four years old, exactly seven years ago, her mother died in a car accident, hit by a drunk driver.
“What’s a drunk driver, Daddy?” Claudia watched her new memory ask that question. Claudia looked up at Doctor Andrea, who smiled back at her. It was Andrea’s question, but coming out of her own lips in this new memory. Then she sank back into the memory, her eyes trained on her father, who looked just like she felt.
His eyes were sad and swollen. “That’s something you’ll learn when you get older.”
Claudia struggled for air, then came to.
Andrea was in front of her, grinning, combing her hair. “Do you remember what we did to your mommy?” inquired Andrea.
Claudia gave her an odd look. “My mom died in car accident a long time ago. Were you there?”
Andrea shook her head. “No, sweetie. I wasn’t.”
“Can I see my dad yet?”
“Soon. Very soon.”
40
Edge of J-Quadrant, Starship Atlantis (Slipping Further Away from Jupiter)
Craig spun around as Slade entered his quarters. Slade could tell he had been crying for quite some time, yet there was anger behind it all. “Are both of my daughters safe and accounted for?”
“Yes.” Slade wanted to roll his eyes. He hated emotions and the sob stories that people tell themselves to feel better. He wanted Craig to grow a pair of balls, to man-up.
“Are my daughters okay, Slade? I need to know that.”
“They are fine. Their minds are being wiped, replaced with new memories of their mother. You’ll be happy to hear that your wife didn’t die by gun, but by a car accident when your children were two and four years old.” Slade paced over to a door adjoining this room to the next room. “We commence now.”
“This is gonna be quite the battle we’re entering into. You have our transport ship ready?” asked Craig.
“Yes, ready to take us to Callisto. The Kelhoons have a palace already in place for us. I can’t wait.”
Craig walked over to a drawer and opened it up, pulling out a handful of vid cards. “Have you seen the pictures?”
Slade nodded. “Yes. It’s going to be a different life. Don’t forget that.”
“When is the first shipment of humans due from Earth?”
“In a month. Starting with a batch that includes my son, Drew. He won’t be a slave or on the farms. I’ll convince him to help us with our new line of work.”
Craig shot him a look. “Drew? He won’t comply. He’ll be like the politicians on Starship Atlantis. They mutinied, remember?”
Slade curled his fingers in a ball. “First off, we crushed that mutiny and emerged victorious. Second, he’s the only blood that I have left. I’ll change his memory, like I did with your daughters.”
Craig sighed. “Okay, Slade.
But if he gives us half the trouble that Ken Furr gave us, then you and I will have trouble. Understand?”
Slade didn’t respond. He opened the door to a massive room, filled with weapons, military boxes, and Kelhoon soldiers, all ready to pounce on as many humans as they could find.
Except Craig’s daughters. Slade made damn sure they wouldn’t eat Craig’s daughters.
Orders were orders.
41
E-Quadrant, Earth ~ Whitefish, Montana
A loud roar boomed across the sky and the helicopter bounced, hitting turbulence. Drew shuddered in his seat. He turned, looking out the front window. He moved his helmet mic closer to his mouth. “What was that? If it’s a US fighter jet, then this time I’m making you put Master Sergeant Angel Segarra on the radio.”
Anderle kept his mouth shut and pointed toward the distance. A large black cloud grew over the horizon, lightning striking all around it, highlighting a massive ship armada coming through. All ships were cut like perfect, silver diamonds. “They are on their way.” Anderle dipped the helicopter. “We’re landing in Whitefish in a couple minutes.”
Segarra inched forward on his seat and Mya laying her head against his side. “Let me on the radio. If you don’t, then Whitefish won’t let you in. You’re in a damn Chinese helicopter.”
Anderle gave Segarra an exaggerated smile. “That’s another reason we needed you.” He flipped a switch on the console. “You’re on the mic. Speak.”
The cloud grew bigger as it moved closer. Drew shifted in his seat. They had no chance against that number of ships, or any ships. No one had a chance. “They are going to devastate Whitefish. We have to find someplace else.”
Segarra jumped on the line. “Whitefish Global Command, this is MS Angel Segarra. We will be landing in under a minute. We need clearance. You have outer terrestrial birds coming your way.”
“Master Sergeant, we copy. What is your access code?”
Segarra glanced at Anderle and T-hacker. “I can’t give those at the moment.”
“You’re in a Chinese craft. We cannot give permission unless you give us the Whitefish codes.”
“Hold on, Global Command.”
The helicopter moved in closer to the city, a large mountain looming over it, a blue sky quickly being overrun by a tornado of black clouds – the armada moving in faster. Drew tilted closer to the cockpit, focusing on an anomaly. Something he’d never seen before. Several turrets, hundreds and counting, with large boxes on each side, all connected by large wires to wood-shed like structures, littered the city. Some were in the middle of the streets, others on a small airport, some on top of the few buildings lining the four streets making up the downtown area. They all rotated, the cannons extending upward, aiming at the oncoming enemy ships. A couple of turrets twisted around, targeting the oncoming Chinese helicopter – their helicopter.
Segarra eyed the back of Anderle’s helmet. “Take off your helmets for five seconds. All of you.”
“No can do, bro,” said Anderle. “You give them the code. We’re fine hearing it too.”
Drew had enough, plus he had the big guy behind him to back him up if anything went awry. He unstrapped his chin strap and took off his helmet, then stood. Drew held on to Anderle’s seat so he wouldn’t fall forward into the cockpit controls. He slipped his hands under Anderle’s neck and unclipped Anderle’s chin strap.
Anderle swatted Drew’s hand away and went to get up. The helicopter dipped and Drew rocked forward, his grip strong enough on Anderle’s seat to keep him from crashing into the cockpit window. Anderle dropped back on his seat, pulling the control stick back a fraction of an inch, yelling obscenities Drew couldn’t hear. Drew yanked Anderle’s helmet off and tossed it into the cabin.
Anderle lunged for Drew a second time, the helicopter pulling to the right. Anderle jumped back into his seat, grabbing the control stick, mouthing more expletives.
Drew sat, seeing T-hacker slowly slipping his own helmet off and putting it on his lap.
Anderle gave T-hacker a look, shaking his head, obviously not happy T-hacker was obeying Segarra’s demand.
Segarra said some things in his helmet then gave the thumbs up.
Drew eyed the turrets aimed at them. They rotated, changing direction.
The cloud grew more and giant robots, twenty-stories tall, at least eight or nine stories wide, barreled down from the sky and toward the city; jet-like crafts, fire blazing out of their boosters, followed them.
Drew sat down, putting his helmet back on, breathing heavily.
Segarra squeezed his shoulder. “Thank you.” He glanced out the cockpit window. “We got a shit-show coming our way.”
The helicopter shook again as thunder erupted. Drew squeezed his fingers around the edge of his seat. “I see that.”
A click came over Drew’s helmet’s audio. “Don’t ever do that again, Drew,” said Anderle. He was now wearing T-hacker’s helmet.
“We have permission for a landing,” said Segarra. “Hurry your ass up, pilot.”
“I’m in the process, genius.”
Anderle brought the chopper into a hover and pressed the collective lever down, lowering the bird. The back of the skids hit the ground first, then the front, rocking the cabin.
Humvees pulled up, along with small Jeeps. Several Marines ran out of their vehicles.
Anderle and T-hacker pulled out their guns, hiding them by their inside thighs. Anderle grinned at Segarra. “Tell them we’re with you or you and your daughter won’t live.”
“Aye, boss,” said Segarra. He huffed, opening the cabin door. Sirens were blasting throughout the city. He put his hands up, making sure to shield his daughter, just in case a scared Marine had a nervous trigger finger. “Master Sergeant Angel Segarra, United States – ”
“Oorah,” yelled several men outside.
Drew hunched over and walked forward. They needed to hurry. They needed to find some way underground. There was no way in hell they could survive the coming onslaught. An onslaught only minutes away.
Segarra motioned inside the cockpit. “Everyone in here is with me. Take us someplace safe and by God, initiate the reflector shields.”
“They are initiating. It’s taking time. Something is caught in the software loop. We’re fixing it now.” The Marine was anxious. He knew the shields were their only way of survival just as much as Segarra did.
Drew scooted out of the cabin and jumped on the tarmac. He glanced up as a shadow spread out across the tarmac. “Well, shit.” He eyed the humvees and jeeps. All the drivers’ seats were being used and spoken for. If he could drive everyone out of here, away from the battle, he would.
Segarra frowned. He glanced back at his daughter, then at a Marine. “Get the shields online.”
“They –”
Vvsshrommm!
The sound of the turrets coming online interrupted the Marine. A white beam of light expelled from each cannon. They reached about five hundred feet, then widened, each beam touching the next. The energy field expanded outward, creating a white translucent mushroom dome over the city.
Bwoom! Bwoom!
Blasts from the enemy ricocheted off of the dome, shielding everyone below. The entire city, including the suburbs, were covered.
“What the hell?” stated Drew. “Where did we get those things?” He gestured to a nearby turret. “And what are they?” He glanced up at the ships zipping in and out of view.
“We took the turrets off black ops and into the public eye just after the government fled to the stars. These were in the underground duorail tunnels under Whitefish.”
Drew remembered the tunnels quite well. He was in them no longer than a month ago, running for his life, exposing the story on Slade getting the government off-world.
“And regarding the bastards shooting at us now?” continued Segarra. “We don’t have a clue what they are or where they came from. The turrets, well, the good news is that it will keep the enemy ships at bay. The bad news, t
he shields don’t go all the way to the ground. If they did, they’d electrocute every person in this town. So, in that case, the shield won’t keep any of their ground troops away – if they have ground troops and they probably do.”
T-hacker and Anderle jumped out of the cabin.
Anderle stared Segarra dead in the eyes. “We have to use your daughter. And now.”
Segarra reached into the cabin and took his daughter’s hand, pulling her out of the helicopter. “You’re right. For this attack, we have to use my daughter.”
“What the hell can Mya do that Marines and the military can’t?” asked Drew.
A boom swept across the city, the evil-ass aliens dropping something even bigger than their initial bombs.
Mya wrapped her arms around her dad. “I can do a lot, Drew.”
“You’re going to have to do it now, sweetie,” Segarra whispered in her ear.
Segarra put her on the ground. She closed her eyes. A glow emanated from deep inside her. She started shaking, her eyelids fluttering. She let out a scream and her head whipped back. She fell to her knees and raised her arms toward the sky. A sound, something Drew had never heard before, low and deep, pulsed out of her. The shield rippled and every enemy craft near the shield burst into flames.
She fell to the tarmac, her body limp.
Segarra picked her up and ran into a Jeep and shut the door. The Marines followed suit and jumped into their vehicles. They sped off down the tarmac and onto a side road.
Drew’s mouth was agape. “What the hell?” Drew watched them as they disappeared around a building and down a small hill. He turned around, seeing Anderle and T-hacker glaring back at him. “Did that just happen?” asked Drew, hardly believing his own eyes.
“It did. She’s been underground for a long time,” said Anderle.
Drew put his hands on his hips. Anderle would no doubt find a way to harness the talent or whatever it was that Mya had. He’d also use it against everyone. “Fuck you, Anderle.”
Atlantis Quadrilogy - Box Set Page 66