by Adam Moon
At the last minute, he decided Sally didn’t actually need to get more involved than she already was. It wasn’t just dangerous, but exceedingly likely they’d all die if he pulled this off. There was no reason to involve Sally more than he already had.
He tried to concentrate on Shaylo, who was now just ten feet from him but Shaylo had him on the run with his constant barrage of laser fire.
There was only one way to teleport the Grey and that was to stay in one place long enough to focus on him.
Jack planted his feet and took hit after painful hit of laser fire. He had two impossible tasks to take care of but before he could do them he had to get Shaylo inside the force field.
He took a blast to the face but he didn’t let it ruin his concentration. He didn’t even close his eyes as it hit him.
First, he teleported Shaylo’s armored faceplate away, making it reappear in his outstretched hand. It was as heavy as a cinderblock and warm to the touch.
Shaylo rolled with it, barely pausing to reflect on what had just happened. Jack took multiple hits now as Shaylo ramped up his output, but the Grey was already too late because Jack had a lock on him.
He teleported Shaylo’s biological body inside the force field, leaving his protective armor, guns, and sword to clatter on the ground where he once stood.
This time, Shaylo seemed out of his comfort zone. He rushed towards Jack but the inverted force field wall repelled him. As Jack walked to him, Shaylo seemed to panic.
Jack stopped before him, looked past him to Melanie’s dead body, and then held the faceplate up to examine it.
He found a little black button inside the faceplate and pressed it. He spoke into it and waited to see if it would translate for him. “I’m going to make you suffer.”
An alien mechanical voice came back from the faceplate, with Jack’s translated message.
Shaylo didn’t react one way or another.
Jack said, “You’re about to suffer in a way no one has ever suffered before for what you did to my friend.”
The faceplate translated again in its weird alien dialect. This time, Shaylo seemed to sneer. That infuriated Jack as much as anything had yet.
He walked forward, right through the wall of the force field. He walked up to Shaylo and punched him in his big Grey face.
Sally asked, “What now?”
“You stay here. I’m going to try something I’ve never consciously done before. I’m going to teleport across space to his planet.”
Sally’s brow wrinkled. “That’s impossible. You don’t even know where it is.”
But he did. He’d seen a world where warlike creatures lived. They’re sole purpose was to eradicate alien creatures they deemed unworthy of life, which just so happened to be every being they’d ever come across, and then use their worlds for their own gains. The people who inhabited that world were Greys. Jack had little doubt about that. It had been only a fleeting glimpse, but he knew he was focused enough and furious enough to find it again. He just needed the guts to try.
Shaylo reached out and snatched the faceplate from Jack’s hand. He hit the translator button and spoke.
It translated into English, “You cannot defeat me. Go ahead and kill me because you’re just delaying the inevitable. Your world will crumble whether I lead the attack or not.”
Jack snatched the faceplate back aggressively and said into it, “I’m about to show you how wrong you are. I’m going to break you into little pieces. Your mind and soul will beg for a mercy that I will never give.”
Then he concentrated in ways he had never done before. He had to teleport the force field, which was normally too big of an object for him, and he had to take it farther than he could even imagine.
He couldn’t pinpoint his destination so he did the only thing he could think of and he let his empathic ability rise forth as it had the last time he’d traversed the universe, hoping it would serve him properly. Then, just as it rose beyond his control, his teleportation ability reared its head and took over. His vision flickered and his head rang like a bell. He slammed his eyes shut when the light all around him became unbearable.
Grey Home World
When he opened his eyes, a green and blue world spun beneath them. They were in space, in orbit around the Grey Planet. Jack had little time to accomplish his cruel task because the oxygen inside the force field would run out soon. In fact, he was a little surprised the force field had held up at all, especially now that Sally couldn’t possibly be keeping it erected from so far away. It was a gamble that had paid off so far. But he knew he was on borrowed time.
Shaylo moved close to the wall of the force field, looking at the planet outside intently.
Then he wheeled about angrily and took the faceplate from Jack’s grasp.
He hissed in his alien language and the faceplate translated, “What could you possibly do to my entire species? Just a few thousand of us can eradicate mankind. What can one human do to billions of my people?”
Jack didn’t care to argue with him, but Shaylo had already told him all he needed to know. Until Shaylo confirmed it, he couldn’t be certain the planet was the Grey home world.
Jack took the faceplate back and said, “Watch what I can do.” He held the button down as his hands balled into fists.
His eyes widened as he focused all of his will towards the slowly rotating world. A blood vessel in his eye burst and both nostrils leaked thin rivers of blood. The veins bulged in his forehead.
The entire planet flickered before his eyes.
Shaylo said, “What the hell are you doing? Stop that!”
But it was too late. Jack’s powers were rising to incredible heights and there was no going back.
Jack stammered, “So, you enjoy destroying worlds, do you? Well how do you feel watching me destroy your planet?”
Shaylo struck him in the face but Jack didn’t feel the blow. He grabbed him by the collar and said, “Please don’t do this!”
Jack laughed maniacally. He said, “I wouldn’t stop even if I knew how.” And then he screamed as a palpable yet invisible force radiated all around him.
And in that instant, the Grey home world vanished.
He fell to a knee inside the bubble, but he quickly regained his composure. Blood now streamed liberally from his nose. He stood up and glared at Shaylo.
Shaylo sobbed, which was odd to hear translated. He said, “Where is it?”
Jack lifted his arm up and pointed off to the circular sun that the Grey world had once orbited. He said, “Let me show you,” and teleported closer to the star.
As soon as they reappeared, it was clear what Jack had done. The dark blotch on the surface of the star was the Grey World, being engulfed in flames and radiation. It was already being broken down by the star’s immense gravitational pull.
Jack couldn’t feel the overwhelming despair which meant the Greys were already all dead.
He wanted to feel terrible for what he’d done but he couldn’t. He couldn’t get the image of Melanie’s dead body out of his minds eye. He kept seeing a vision of Shaylo bringing his sword down on the top of her head and her expression turning to one of surprise right before she fell over dead.
Shaylo fell to his knees sobbing. Jack had destroyed the alien leader in every imaginable way. He reveled in the power it gave him. He wanted to kick the alien in his stupid head while he was down on his knees. He wanted to spit on him and laugh like a lunatic.
But when he turned back to the bright circular disc of the star and saw that small dark patch on its surface, a guilt like no other washed over him. Had he really just caused mass genocide because he was angry? How could he do such a terrible thing for nothing but revenge? He knew deep down that Melanie wouldn’t have wanted him to do such an awful thing in her name. She was better than that and she had truly believed he was too.
That was when he felt the anguish of a hundred billion crushed souls rush through him, tearing him apart from within. He felt the heat
of the sun evaporate his body in a second in the same way the Greys must have felt it, except he felt it times a hundred billion. He felt the finality of their deaths. He felt the absence of hope as though it were a real, tangible thing that could be quantified. The pain of every creature that had died on that planet was now his burden to live with and all of a sudden he wasn’t sure he could do it. How could he live with himself after what he’d just done?
His anger propelled him to commit another wicked act, as it had so often lately.
Just then Shaylo shakily got to his feet. He gave Jack a look filled with knives and hatred and nuclear weapons. If looks could kill, Shaylo would’ve killed everything in a ten light-year radius. And then he did something Jack hadn’t expected. He started to gasp for air, clutching his throat as he fell back to one knee.
On nothing but instinct, Jack took a step closer, maybe to help him, or maybe just to ascertain what was going on. Shaylo held his hand up to ward him away.
Jack did the only thing he could under the circumstances and teleported them both back to earth.
He wasn’t sure how he’d managed to find it, but he had. He felt the force field diminish the moment they arrived. They were beside Melanie’s body, Jack standing there with blood from his nose all down his shirt and an eye that looked like it had been beaten with a tenderizing mallet for a few days, and Shaylo still struggling for life on his knee.
Sally rushed forward and put a hand on either side of Jack’s face to inspect the damage, but it was all self-inflicted. She barely gave a concern to the fact that Shaylo was kneeling right next to him.
Shaylo looked up from his crouched position, but he wasn’t looking in their direction.
Strangled alien words hissed forth from him in angry outbursts and then he collapsed, dead.
It wasn’t until Jack took a closer look that he realized Shaylo had been speaking into the camera he’d positioned on the stop sign earlier to broadcast the murder of Melanie.
He tried to ponder what Shaylo had said into it. He tried to second guess him. But all he could do was shake his head in confusion.
Jack the Ripper
Jack fell to his knees and cried in a way he’d never cried before. The sobs caused his entire body to shudder.
Sally crouched beside him and held him up.
He didn’t deserve to be alive after what he’d just done. He’d burn in hell for it.
She asked him between his sobs, “Is it over?”
He stammered, “It’s done. I did something so impossible that it should have never even been attempted.”
“How did you do it? What did you do?”
Jack saw Melanie’s still dead body and in that moment he wished he’d done even more to the Greys.
He said, “I need to find somewhere to lie down. I’m spent.”
“What about the other Greys? They’re still coming for us.”
“I can only hope that when they see their leader dead, they’ll have a change of heart about that. Either way, I don’t have the strength to fight back just yet.”
He held her hand and teleported them both back to the mountain bunker in Wyoming, leaving behind Melanie and Shaylo’s bodies. It wasn’t a move he’d planned out. He just needed to escape.
It was a mess at the base but the Greys had already left; their ships vanishing among the clouds within seconds of their arrival.
Sally stared up in amazement at the retreating alien ships. “What did you do? How did you convince them to leave?”
“I didn’t. Maybe Shaylo did.” He barely managed to get the words out before he fell into her heavily. He felt faint. He had no idea if that was because of the immense powers he’d expelled or if it was because his system couldn’t handle the terrible thing he’d just done to those billions of innocent Greys.
The blast door was still standing, sealing the base up tight as a drum. Sally used her force field to slice through it several times. It fell heavily to the ground in pieces.
Then she put a field around them both and hovered it into the mouth of the mountain, so she didn’t have to carry him the whole way.
Victory
She placed Jack’s slumped figure in a hospital bed. She checked for a pulse, draped a cool cloth across his clammy forehead, and then went to the communications hub. She tried to open up any kind of line of communication, but everything was dead.
Then she pulled her cell phone out and dialed Hank, but his phone went straight to voice mail. Of course it did; he’d probably accidentally destroyed it the first time he used his powers.
She searched for the Commander’s number and dialed it.
Watson answered on the second ring. He said, “I saw them all leave at the same time, right after that Grey came on TV, spoke and then died. The news is saying a mass exodus is occurring. Where’s Jack?”
“He’s okay, I think. He’s out like a light. We’re back in Cheyenne inside the base.”
Watson said, “I suppose that means we’ll need to find a way to get to you.”
“I’d ask Jack to fetch you, but he’s too far gone.”
“I understand. There’s a base not far from here. I’ll procure transport from there.”
“I can’t wait to see everyone. Is everyone alright?”
“We’re fine. I’m just glad you two are alive. What did Jack do?”
“He didn’t say. Whatever it was, it took everything out of him.”
“That young man has saved out entire species from certain extinction twice now. They ought to name the planet after him.”
“Yeah, planet Jack. I don’t think he’d appreciate that.”
“You’re probably right. I’ll call again when we’re on our way.”
Demons
Jack awoke alone in the room, sweating and screaming. His nose was gushing blood. One of his eyes was bright red where blood vessels had popped, one after the other. He reached for the glass of water at the side of the bed and drank it down in one gulp.
His hands were shaking as he remembered what he’d done to the Grey planet. He had never before thought about ending his life, but at that moment, the notion crept across his thoughts like a poisonous snake. He didn’t deserve to steal another breath of good, clean air or eat a meal that could go to a better person than he was.
Sally rushed in through the doorway and all thoughts of suicide evaporated in an instant. The sight of her instilled hope in his heart. She stared at him for a second and then slipped into bed beside him.
She whispered, “Your mom and the rest of them are on their way here.”
Jack mumbled, “Give me a couple hours to get my strength back and I’ll go and get them. Tell them to hold tight for now.”
“Too late. They’re already on their way. Just rest.” She dabbed the blood from his upper lip and kissed him on the forehead as she rested his head back on the sweat soaked pillow.
The thought of facing his mom after what he’d just done sent a heavy sinking dread through his soul. How could he look at her again? How could she look at him and see anything but a monster?
He sobbed anew and Sally cradled his head in her arms. She said softly, “The Greys all left. What happened?”
He sniffed. “I decided the moment I saw what Shaylo did to Melanie. If I tell you what I did, you can never tell anyone.”
“I won’t.”
Final Order
Jack managed to shuffle towards the nearest TV he found inside the base. As soon as he turned it on he could tell that the world was still scratching its collective head about the recent turn of events. Most talking heads were still arguing about what had caused the Greys to leave so abruptly. Opinions and theories abounded but most of them were nonsensical.
But one theory he heard seemed to hold water. An anchorwoman guessed that the Grey who had died on camera might have ordered the retreat. It coincided too neatly with reality.
Jack switched stations. He wasn’t interested in theories. He wanted answers. He found a channel that was bro
adcasting two short clips back to back. One of them, in extremely poor taste, was the video of Shaylo killing Melanie. Jack had to turn away when it played. But the second video was of Shaylo, dying and speaking in his guttural tongue to the camera. That was the footage Jack was interested in.
He waited for it to start over and then he held Shaylo’s faceplate towards the TV and held the translator button down. Shaylo began to speak in his alien language, and then after a short delay the faceplate translated.
It said: “We cannot win. Our planet has been destroyed by the humans. Escape while you still can. This is your final order: if you can find a reason to live then save yourselves. Our species needs to live on.”
Jack let go of the button and let the faceplate fall by his thigh. He switched the TV off and stared into space. He’d succeeded in vanquishing the Greys but at what cost? He had to live with the screams of billions of intelligent beings crying out within his head at all times. His heart was too small to contain all of their anguish.
He was a monster, but he was the monster mankind needed. The realization that what he did was necessary didn’t help to heal his broken heart or mend his ruined psyche.
He was the most wretched creature in the universe. He was certain of that because he’d seen them all. And worse, he had to live with himself until his dying day.
He traipsed back to bed, hopeful that his dreams would afford him a momentary reprieve from his guilty conscience.
Decisions
Admiral Liktar received word of the Grey planet’s fate and he felt instantly light headed. He’d created a monster when he’d enhanced those humans. The young male had powers that were beyond comprehension and apparently he had no compunction about unleashing them in horrifying ways.