by Adam Moon
That creature barely even noticed him when it was replaced by another, this one small and white, like a fish but with a single, lidless eyeball that was held above its head by a thin filament. It walked on two long legs with fat suckers at the base of each that acted as its feet. It only looked like a white fish because it breathed through gill-like apparatus on either side of its head. It was making guttural noises with its mouth as it operated some type of alien technology that made no sense to Jack.
The fish was replaced by a black tentacled creature with a huge boxy head and way too many tentacles it used to support its weight. It had thick, muscular arms that jutted from its trunk in all the wrong places. There was no pattern to their distribution around its body. Each moved fluidly, like they either had no bones in them or else they had a hundred elbows. Its box shaped head spun all the way around, its sunken, jet black eyes, swiveled this way and that as it took in a panoramic view of its world.
Then Jack found himself inside a metallic structure, staring at a pink, gelatinous blob that was working some advanced alien controls. He was aboard an alien spacecraft. The blob squelched and farted as it moved around the small space, flipping switches and pressing buttons frantically. Its body looked like it could just melt away into a puddle of sludge. He was glad he phased away before he had to see its face.
He saw so many creatures, in such quick succession that he could barely contain all of the information. Sometimes he’d see one for a few minutes, and sometimes for just a second. He’d see terrestrial creatures, and then aquatic, and then airborne ones. Often he’d appear in places so dark he didn’t even see the creature he was sure was right in front of him, but he could feel it.
He had no clue how he was able to survive in their alien atmospheres or when this would all end. He was traveling the universe. This could take awhile.
Safe and Sound
Sally’s face hovered before him. He couldn’t feel her with his empathic ability and for that he was grateful.
He had reappeared back in the cafeteria, in the exact same spot he’d vanished from. He wondered how long he’d been gone. Was it years, or decades?
His mind was spinning out of control. “How long was I gone?”
His mom’s face came into view. “You didn’t go anywhere, son.”
That wasn’t right. “I went everywhere. I was a part of everything.”
Watson said, “Get him back to bed. He’s delirious.”
He felt his weight being lifted by many arms. He tried to move his legs but they were dangling in the air like a marionette’s.
He was placed in a bed. Faces hovered and shadows fell over him for awhile and then, after some time, he was left alone.
His brain felt bruised and raw with all of the new information flashing through it. He tried to focus on any one single thing, but he couldn’t manage it. There was just too much. He must’ve seen millions of different types of alien creatures. He felt like he’d spent a very long time touring the cosmos, and yet he had never left the mountain bunker.
Then he had an epiphany. He might have phased in and out so rapidly all across the universe that it just appeared to the others that he’d never left their sight. He wasn’t even sure if he could do that, but it felt like the truth.
His brain crashed like it had been attacked by a computer virus and he fell asleep instantly.
Deployment
The First Mate reported that none of the armored suits showed any bio-readouts any longer. That meant that the owners were all dead, including the Captain. There were now no survivors from the initial invasion as far as she could tell.
For his part, Shaylo didn’t seem to care either way. He’d been ignoring her reports on them ever since she’d started to give them.
He sat at his command console and watched as his warriors departed in ship after ship. The ships were well armored and armed with enough firepower to take out the rest of mankind but he knew better than to ask his men to sit behind the controls and let the ships do all of the fighting for them. Part of being an effective General was oftentimes letting the men have their fun. The troops wanted to get dirty. They had a bloodlust that had to be sated or it would drive them crazy. He couldn’t have that on his ship so he would let them disembark and get to know the enemy intimately as they slaughtered them.
The first order of business was to kill off the advanced humans. He had a visual on them already so if his men failed, he’d at least know how they’d failed and be able to adjust for a follow-up attack. He doubted if the additional scrutiny was necessary but he was thorough when it came to his job. No stone would be left unturned. And no human would escape death today.
He rarely got excited about a conquest, but these creatures had proven to be far more formidable than he’d expected when he first accepted the mission from High Command. They might even put up a struggle. It would be futile, but it would make things more interesting.
He said to the First Mate. “Tell Command that we’ve begun the invasion. Get coordinates for the next planet we’re supposed to clear while you’re at it.”
She was surprised by his reversal. He had insisted that he always focused on the task at hand before moving to the next one so his order seemed hypocritical. Maybe he’d decided the Earth didn’t deserve his whole concentration any longer now that he had a plan in place. She didn’t question him though; she just obeyed his orders.
Swarmed
Watson jostled Jack’s shoulder until he opened his bleary eyes.
“We’re under attack.”
“Hank and Sally can handle it. I already killed most of them.”
“It’s the second wave.”
He slowly sat up; memories of his tour of the universe piercing his mind like a hot dagger. He’d seen so much that the news of the second wave hardly affected him.
He mumbled, “There are millions of intelligent species out there. What’s so special about us that we should be saved?”
Watson grabbed his arm and said, “Snap out of it. We need you. We should be saved because we don’t deserve to be exterminated.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Get up, dammit. People are dying.”
He thought about saying he didn’t care, but he was starting to come to his senses. He did care. He cared a lot, in fact. Just because he’d seen amazing things didn’t mean his world was any less spectacular.
He sat up and sniffed. “Where are they?”
“Can’t you hear? They’re outside. They’re swarming the base.”
Jack shook his foggy head. And then, bit by bit, the sounds of chaos came to his ears. He heard screams and the sounds of gunshot reports. It sounded like the mountain was coming down all around him.
He felt his empathic sense rise up but he was able to subdue it before it took over. He was glad for that small reprieve. He didn’t want to feel the despair of the men and women dying outside.
Watson helped him dress and then led him by the hand out of the room. He followed after the Commander like a drowsy puppy.
Jack knew his role in all of this. He was Watson’s weapon. The realization that he was being manipulated would have angered him except that he wanted to be the weapon. In fact, he was glad Watson appreciated his abilities. Or did he? He was confused still. Incoherent thoughts crowded out the sensible ones.
His legs were weak beneath him and his breath came in quick gasps. He felt discombobulated, like a head on a leash being dragged from one place to the next. All he really wanted to do now was to go back to sleep, maybe for an hour or better yet, years. Wouldn’t it just be easier to let the Greys win? All of this fighting was exhausting.
And then Sally ran up to him, bloody and crying.
That was all he needed to see to get in the moment. Someone had hurt her. The anger swelled in him to breaking point and he shrugged Watson off.
He felt his body for the first time since waking up. It felt stronger than before, like it had been tempered by fire.
S
ally said, “Oh, thank God you’re awake. We’re being overrun.”
She hugged him tight. Her body shook from fear and adrenaline.
Jack rubbed his eyes and said, “Well, let’s go and kill some Greys.”
Watson nodded but Sally shook her head. She said, “You don’t understand. There are thousands of them out there. You’ll never beat them all. You need to get us out of here.”
Jack looked to Watson for confirmation.
He said, “She’s right. We might be better off escaping if you don’t think you can defeat them.”
Jack said incredulously, “You overestimate my powers. I can’t kill thousands of them.”
“Then we should run.”
“Where’s my mom?”
“She’s fine. I’ll send for her.”
“Gather everyone together and I’ll teleport us out of here. Once we regroup, we’ll take the fight to them but on our terms.”
Escape
When Watson returned and said, “This is it,” referring to the small group of soldiers as the only survivors, it nearly broke Jack’s heart. The Greys had had a field day. But the important thing was that Hank, Sally, Watson, and his mom were there. Those were the people he cared about and they’d all survived against all odds. The six additional soldiers were just a cherry on top.
Sally said, “Everyone needs to grab a hold of him.”
They all reached in but nothing happened. Jack wouldn’t do it.
The silence became deafening as they waited in rapt anticipation.
Jack said, “Let me try it by myself first. I’m a bit worried I might teleport us into the sun or the edge of the universe or something.”
Watson clucked his tongue. “You could have experimented while I was gathering everyone together. Just get us out of here.”
Jack locked him in a stare. “Are you kidding? Why are you questioning me when I’m about to save your ass?”
Watson chuffed. “Hurry up about it then. There are aliens with death rays and spaceships and high tech flying suits of armor out there and they’d like to see us take our last breaths.” He ordered his men to take a step back and then he stared at Jack, waiting for him to disappear.
Sally kept holding him though. “If you’re going to die, I’m coming with you.”
His mom reached around her waist and pulled her away. “He needs to see for himself without worrying about your safety.”
Sally could’ve struggled but she didn’t and for that, Jack was thankful. His mom might have developed a hatred for her if she’d fought her off.
As soon as he was released, Jack vanished. He reappeared outside the mountain and he immediately wished he hadn’t.
The sun was blotted out by hundreds of small spaceships. The mountain was falling away from the impact of all of the laser fire. Greys in mechanized armor whooshed through the air like angry hornets. The sounds were deafening and the sight of the vicious attack made him want to find a nice dark place to hide.
Luckily none of them saw him floating above them before he was able to teleport back into the mountain.
The soldiers jumped backwards when he reappeared but soon all hands were on him when he said, “It’s okay. Let’s go.”
They appeared on a street in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was obvious they were in Milwaukee because everyone walking down the street was wearing a Packers Jersey or a Milwaukee Brewers hat even though neither sport had been played since the invasion. There was even talk of canceling seasons until humanity course-corrected enough to be able to relax and have a good time.
They were about to walk past a trendy bar when they stopped in their tracks. The interior of the bar was silent even though it was packed to the rafters. On the TV screens was footage of the second wave.
The footage showed hundreds of spacecrafts breaking below cloud cover and then heading off to the left of the shot, all going in the exact same direction, ignoring the fact that there were humans directly below them, ripe for the slaughter. The camera person tried to keep up but he or she wasn’t quite fast enough with the camera to catch up to them.
The world now knew it was about to be overrun by a second Grey attack. Jack sure hoped people didn’t think he’d be able to thwart another invasion. The first time had been a fluke. This time, with so many attackers, it would be impossible.
A few of the patrons turned around to see who was casting the shadows from outside the windows. When they saw Jack, enough people recognized him that they started to whisper and then file out to greet him as a hero and their savior.
He didn’t need that. He said to his group, “Reach in, we’re out of here.”
He teleported them all to a neighboring town called Racine where things were far more subdued. He could only guess that there was no one around because most had died during the first wave. But the silence was a blessing to his senses. It gave him a moment to think and plan their next move.
A cowardly thought came to him. If there was a way to get everyone on the planet to touch him, he’d just teleport everyone away from the Greys, from one place to the next, for so long that they’d give up chasing them. If only it were that simple.
Concession
The First Mate said, “I’ve got a lock on the enhanced humans. Three of them have appeared here,” she pointed at the screen showing the surface of the Earth.
Shaylo smiled. “I expected they’d run. Send half of our forces to that location and have the rest fan out across the globe to intercept him if he jumps again. He can’t run forever.”
The First Mate said, “Wouldn’t it be easier to just bomb them from here?”
“That’s not how we operate. That’s a coward’s tactic. You should be ashamed of yourself for even considering it.”
He was blowing smoke though. She knew his ships never carried long range weapons. He couldn’t use them because he was too arrogant to stock them. She just wanted to call him out on it, to force him to reconsider his own tactics for future battles.
More and more, she found herself at odds with his way of doing things. She knew she’d be killed if she kept questioning him, but she just couldn’t help herself. She’d rather die fighting down on the surface of Earth than be stuck in the same room as Shaylo, watching all the action from such a safe vantage point. That wasn’t the life she’d planned for herself. Hers was supposed to be a life of action and accolades, not bureaucracy and obedience.
She said, “Yes sir,” barely even knowing what she was saying yes to.
He considered her for a moment. He liked her despite the fact that he knew he should never treat a First Mate with anything other than contempt. But he’d give her one last chance.
“You’re getting difficult. Normally I’d kill you right now and save myself future aggravation but I think I know why you are repeatedly questioning me the way you are. You don’t necessarily disagree with anything I’ve done or will do in the future. No, you just want to be on the other side. You’d follow my orders, as you always have, if there was the right payoff.”
She stared at him, petrified by what he might say next.
He scratched his chin thoughtfully and continued. “I’ll tell you what; why don’t you suit up and take one of the remaining shuttles down there? Get in a fight. Bathe in some alien blood. Then come back here refreshed and thank me for my generosity. Then I trust you’ll do your damn job.”
She was momentarily stunned. He was absolutely right. He knew her better than she knew herself because the moment he mentioned getting involved in the ground based wet work, her spirits lifted and she forgot all about how miserable her life had so recently become.
Just the promise of battle was enough to put a spring in her step and a wellspring of hope in her heart.
She nodded and said, “I apologize for aggravating you, sir. You’re right. I’d be happy if I could get involved in the dirty work, if only for a while.”
He shook his head and looked away in disgust but it was all just a show so she didn’t know he had a
soft spot for her. If she ever found out, she might try and use it to her advantage.
But if she came back after the fight and gave him any lip, he resolved to kill her right away rather than continue catering to her. It was the right thing to do.
The Chase
When three dozen spaceships appeared over the horizon, heading straight for them, Jack knew that the invasion had stages and the first stage was to take him out.
Something about that gave him hope. If he could stall them from annihilating him, he’d be stalling them from exterminating humanity. It wasn’t much to get giddy about but it was enough to keep him strong.
He waited for the others to grab a hold of him and then he vanished.
They appeared in a desert.
He snarled, “I was aiming for Cleveland. What the hell is this? I hate the desert.”
They let go of him for about two seconds before reaching back in and grabbing him again because two spacecraft were approaching them rapidly from either side.
Jack shook his head and concentrated. He hoped he hadn’t ended up in the desert the way he usually did; because he’d lost control of his powers. If that was true this time, then he wouldn’t be able to teleport for at least another hour, and they’d be long dead by then.
Luckily, his powers worked and this time they did end up in Cleveland.
There was looting and mayhem all around them. That was normal for Cleveland lately, but this was on a far grander scale, probably because everyone guessed that the end was upon them. People were animals when they convinced themselves to start caring more about themselves than their fellow man. Proof of that was in the rioting and looting all around them.