Hope in Paradise

by Elizabeth Kirby

  It was eerie in the midst of all the chaos, to see something so… normal.

  Now, thinking about it, wasn’t there something… something that Simon had said before? Something… Aha!

  That’s it! That’s what can get us out of here!

  When Simon had told her of the legend of a monstrous machine hidden somewhere in their hometown, she hadn’t believed him. She thought it was preposterous. Impossible, even. This backwater planet couldn’t possibly have a weapon like that, could it? As far as she knew, there had not been any battles here for over a century. Why would there be a “monster” here in Appia? But over time, Cynthia had started to believe him. Simon had rambled on and on about this machine, its unique specifications, it’s amazing history, he even speculated that it was an Alliance vessel of some sort. All while eating her grandmother’s sandwiches, listening to the breeze, only occasionally hearing what he had to say about this “wonder of a mechanism.”

  Now, she knew it could be their only hope of survival.

  “Simon?” Cynthia called.

  “Yes, what is it?” Simon asked. He wanted to leave this place as soon as possible.

  “Where’s this hangar you were always talking about?”

  “Oh. It’s to the north of here,” Simon told her and she nodded. She sped off again towards the level ground to the north.

  When they cut across the plains, they never expected the distinct and intricate trinkets they found. A long piece of steel tube. Countless numbers of screws and bolts. Even huge pieces of machinery were strewn around, as if there had indeed been some kind of program underway in the countryside.

  Finally, everything seemed quiet and quite unlike the rapid-fire succession of earlier events. It felt like there was some sort of peace beyond the blazing fires for the survivors. But the children knew it was an illusion. In the span of a few hours they’d experienced more than a lifetime of suffering and tragedy.

  What was their reason to try to escape from this nightmare?

  Was there any?

  Who knew.

  But the peace barely lasted five minutes.

  They had just started to approach a neighboring town when the fleet arrived.

  Gunfire separated them. Cynthia cried out in fear as the aircraft circled back to fire on them again. She dodged the oncoming fire by sliding behind a wall of rubble. Her crazed eyes started to turn crimson once more as they shifted from one wall to the other. Where was Simon? Her breathing started to quicken at the realization she had lost him.

  Where is he?

  The gunfire and scattering debris stopped. She looked from her cover to see the planes had vanished, seemingly into thin air.

  They were replaced by a steel creature that stomped heavily through the ruined town. A shadow darted past the figure and dove behind Cynthia’s cover.

  “Cynthia, we have to run!” a voice yelled to her.

  Cynthia turned to the voice. She offered Simon a brief smile then sprinted towards a large shed some distance away. The sluggish, steel anomaly turned and trod heavily after them.

  Explosion after explosion chased them as they ran towards the shed. The steel giant had quickened, and was gaining on them. Soon, it would outrun them all.

  Cynthia looked behind her to see where the creature was.

  “Is that one of them?” she asked Simon.

  “Of what?”

  “Those mechs you were rambling about!” Cynthia yelled.

  “Those?” Simon glanced behind him. He searched the landscape for it, but it was gone.

  He stopped, almost causing Cynthia to fall.

  “Hey!”

  “What…” Simon glanced nervously around.

  “It’s gone,” Cynthia said warily.

  But where to?

  Cynthia examined their surroundings cautiously. The neighboring town was behind them now, the shed was within walking distance. They could make it!

  If only…

  A faint rumbling in the air. She whipped her head up to the heavens. She frantically pushed Simon out of her way. Above them was the weapon they had feared. It dropped down from the sky, making the ground rumble when it landed. Cynthia grabbed Simon and ran for her life, even though it seemed to be too late. The mech charged up its lasers for a calculated kill.

  Time was running out.

  The laser’s red-hot plasma shot out of the cannon, nearly hitting them. The shot left a small impact crater and sent them flying. Then it burst into flames. Cynthia watched open-mouthed as it crumpled to the ground.

  Seeing an opportunity, she took it.

  “Run already!” she yelled at Simon, but he was still dazed. She shook him repeatedly.

  “Come on, Simon!” she said. “Home stretch! No quitting now!” She pointed towards the doors of the shed. Simon ran for it. He too was ready to be done with this madness.

  As they neared the doors Simon cast a sad smile at Cynthia. She sighed and pulled him along towards the entrance and almost threw him against the door, but he didn’t let go of her hand.

  He would always stick with her.

  Cynthia felt relief for the first time in what seemed like forever and she dragged Simon’s hand high in victory.

  They’d made it!

  Chapter IV

  Sky

  It had always been there, silently waiting. Waiting for the doors to open once more.

  Simon and Cynthia entered the hangar, and he squinted and looked around. He saw the shadowed machine waiting. Rust had begun to form on the durable frame and the spherical shield that masked its face. The cockpit was no longer visible on first glance, as it had been in past years. It was veiled in darkness. He heard a click. The ceiling lights flickered on—an antique orange hue, revealing the towering figure ahead of him.

  It was more intricate than he had ever imagined.

  Not quite humanoid, the mech had an animal appearance from a distance. Thin, spider-like legs were welded together with navy-blue armor, making it seem more menacing. Its frame was also a dark blue—large molded half-spheres covered it from bottom to top. The head had a conical shape.

  Simon tried not to laugh at the machine. This was supposed to be their hope?

  He watched as Cynthia looked at it with genuine amazement. He sighed. How would he explain this now?

  “Simon!” Cynthia called to him.

  “Hmm?” Simon snapped out of his thoughts.

  “Look!” Cynthia pointed towards the mech’s head.

  Simon watched with amazement as the machine’s visor flickered with a glow of white light. Soon, the mechanism was fully lit up. He looked around and spotted a dusty control station not far from the machine. The boy smiled and walked to it briskly. It was coated with dust and debris that concealed the incomprehensible markings that controlled the mech. Simon wiped off the dust and Cynthia walked up to the giant.

  When the panel glowed with a brilliant artificial light, Simon noticed a kind of shimmering at the mech’s base. He hurried to check the abnormality when he saw Cynthia about to touch the mech. Something this old and extremely used, he didn’t know if it was somehow rigged.

  He shouted her name. Cynthia flinched and turned to him with a bleak smile.

  “Don’t worry, Simon,” she said, reaching towards the mech, “it’s not going to—”

  A deafening metal clang reverberated through the hangar. They hurriedly covered their ears. Explosions began bursting outside.

  Were those craft trying to destroy the hangar?

  When the explosions stopped, Simon nodded to Cynthia and returned to the control panel. Cynthia approached the cockpit’s loading lift. The orange hue of the hangar brightened, the transparent glow of its early days. He blinked at the sudden change, but his fingers danced over the controls. He took in the hastily-scrawled notes left near the docking and locking settings.

  Simon tapped the docking window to his left and went to work with the machine.

  He entered the final sequence into the panel and stepped back as
the cockpit was detached by the lift and lowered to the docking area. The lift retracted when the cockpit opened. When Cynthia stepped inside, it closed once more. Cockpits like these were compacted rectangles. It weighed just under five tons because substantial armor and other upgrades had been added. When the pilot entered, the cockpit compensated for the added weight by equalizing it across the machine, like the spine does for the human body.

  The lift came back around to reinsert the cockpit into the mech’s head, which had opened up to receive it. The conical visors clamped down on each other once more and the mech powered up, throwing a blinding light inside the hangar.

  Simon glanced up at the machine and back to the panels for a final safety check before pressing down on the lock controls, releasing the mech.

  He opened the hangar doors with a quick swipe of his fingers and the mech exited. Perhaps in the past there was a concrete runway leading from the open doors, but not today.

  Today the mech launched into the sky; it was free.

  Why didn’t we come upon this sooner? Simon wondered when he saw Cynthia dwindling into the darkened sky. He keyed the controls to close the doors and stepped back to marvel at his achievement. If the mech hadn’t been there, who knew what would have become of them? Somehow, he was… grateful.

  He pushed the thought away. Soon he would be locked in here, all alone. Simon chuckled as the doors finally shut with a loud crashing sound.

  Wait a minute…

  Crashing?

  Simon stared up at the ceiling as the sound came closer and closer to the shed. Was he imagining it? He furrowed his brows and slid beneath the control desk. As quickly as they began, the sounds stopped. He laughed and stood up. He might have been going crazy after—

  Debris fell on Simon and his eyes widened with fear. Something had indeed crashed through the roof, but not what he expected. Wait… what had he expected?

  Still, he wasn’t crazy! He was congratulating himself when something fell through—he froze.

  Lasers danced through the hangar, making a concerted effort to incinerate anything they came in contact with. Simon peered at the destroyer. It was almost the same mech that Cynthia had just flown off with, but it seemed… newer. An upgraded version, perhaps. As the onslaught continued, he realized he couldn’t negotiate with it. His chances of survival were diminishing with each passing moment.

  Simon forced himself out of his daze and ran for a hole in the wall behind him. The monster tracked his movements and laser after laser fired at him in a synchronized pattern of attack. He barely avoided being hit by stray plasma. Simon dropped to the floor and scrambled towards the hole. As soon as he reached it, he rolled out of the building as it creaked and collapsed, trapping the mech under it.

  But by that time, it was almost too late.

  In front of him was something so surreal that it eclipsed even his greatest fears.

  Fields were ablaze against a pitch-black sky. Mechs crawled, sweeping for any signs of life. Spacecraft landed in the scorched fields, and endless troops emerged from the craft.

  Sounds of a raging battle roared in the heavens and he finally snapped out of his shock. What was happening up there? Was Cynthia involved? He looked towards the landing craft. Could he outrun all of them? Where would he go? What would happen if they caught him? Would he be imprisoned, killed, tortured?

  Simon broke into a sprint, away from the fields. The sky lit up in fantastic, churning red colors, an awesome spectacle. Soldiers turned to see the boiling sky, and spotted the fleeing Simon. They raised their blasters and shot mixed flurries of laser bolts and bullets at him.

  Simon was lucky to dodge them at all. In the dark, he could barely distinguish anything. But they couldn’t be all be bad shots, right? One must certainly have a good line of sight—

  Another barrage was aimed directly at Simon. He dove to the blackened earth and hid in the short, dry grass.

  The sharp pings and bursts of the weapons stopped, but new orders were shouted. Simon crawled through the grass as fast as he could. And somehow it worked.

  By the time the search party had found his tracks, he was sprinting back towards Appia.

  How terrible of an idea could this be? Maybe the machine wouldn’t be there, as it was… destroyed. But…

  No, this plan would work.

  When Simon finally reached his hometown, a squadron of mechs was patrolling. They formed a blockade, putting a stop to Simon’s plan of hiding in the rubble. He heard the sounds of muffled fire from the east. If he tried to enter, he too would be executed.

  Everywhere he turned, Simon was cut off. He lowered himself to the ground, and racked his brain.

  Now what would he do? No doubt that these advanced mechs had heat sensors; he would be found and killed anyway.

  So, why wasn’t he dead now?

  Screeching from the sky caught his attention. Simon made his decision and stood.

  He would run.

  More like strategic retreat, of course. But what other option did he have? For all he knew, Cynthia was still among those clouds, fighting. What could he accomplish from the ground? What hope did he have against the mechs?

  He would take his chances.

  He looked back at the patrolling mechs.

  All of them were facing him.

  Simon raised his hands in surrender, hoping that they would notice. Instead, their targeting systems locked onto him, and fired accordingly. But the distance between them was too great; the bolts undershot their distance. Taking advantage of this, Simon ran back toward the mountains before they could launch a second attack.

  He prayed that they would protect him.

  Usually, this would work.

  And this time, it did.

  The mechs stopped chasing him and returned to their normal duties.

  Simon began to feel as if this was just a terrible, terrible dream. Shock overtook him, making him think he was hallucinating, that any time now he would wake up in his bed, safe and sound.

  Every time he pinched himself, nothing happened.

  His anxiety grew.

  The beautiful paradise he had once lived in was annihilated by nothing short of an invasion. The sky above glowed in the wake of the battle taking place. Dashes of red ripped through the skies to hit their targets. He looked away, and concentrated on reaching the mountains.

  But when he looked up, they were no more. It seemed that the bombardment had taken its toll on them. They were all but leveled by the invading forces.

  It was mocking him. Where will you go now? Where will you run?

  He looked towards the horizon. Where would he end up now? He kept asking himself this. He had nowhere to turn and no help to run to. He was trapped on this incinerated world.

  The sky erupted again.

  Simon sighed. By now, the noise was commonplace, he was numb to it. He hoped that Cynthia was all right. But what could he do if she wasn’t? What should he do next? How would he run from the endless terror this invasion and its ever-lasting memories brought him?

  How would he escape to the luminescent stars?

  As he looked up, low-orbit spaceships hurtled out of the sky, exploding when they impacted the ground. This seemed to be the final assault team, but now….

  What had happened?

  So many unanswered questions floated through Simon’s head. He didn’t have much time before he was trapped on this desolate wasteland forever. Any chance of escape had disappeared. He was alone, exhausted, and afraid. It was all gone. Everything. All his hopes and dreams. And his memories, as well.

  He slid down to the soil and stared blankly up to the heavens. His eyes caught the movement of objects speeding through the clouds. Why was there still a battle taking place? Simon could just make out slight variations in the mechs, but it was enough.

  A scouting party.

  “They’re here,” he murmured as exhaustion threatened to overwhelm him.

  Someone had finally come back!

  He cried
as he stood and surveyed the team above. The mechs fell to the ground near Simon, folding back their retractable wings. He began to run toward the giants before it clicked—he was in the middle of a battlefield, why was he rushing towards what might be the enemy? He turned back towards the fields before they noticed him.

  He stumbled to the safety of the fields, but something had already been through the area. Deep grooves cut through the thick, tall grasses. Conventional weaponry didn’t make such tracks. And as far as Simon knew, neither did these new machines. The only possible explanation was….

  Simon stooped down closer to inspect the newfound tracks.

  “Impossible.”

  But he was convinced otherwise. His reality had been shattered by horror today. The impossible was possible. On this day, phantoms became real.

  The Phoenix is here.

  Simon scanned the plains, looking for any sign of the monstrous machine. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw no towering apparition.

  “It’s gone.” Simon chuckled to himself and let his body relax. He sat then, lay back with his arms behind his head and gazed up at the charcoal clouds. The battle still echoed in his ears; he closed his eyes and tuned out the noise. After a few moments an explosion pierced the sky. Simon jolted up and scanned the sky for any abnormalities, but he found nothing, except the hazy skyline.

  Then he saw it.

  A mech falling from the sky.

  Of course, that had happened often, Simon thought to himself watching the machine fall. That couldn’t be…

  He searched his pockets and pulled out a gadget the size of a small rock. He pressed a button on the tip and it expanded into nearly full-size binoculars. By now the mech had almost completely disappeared from view.

  “Where…” he searched the raging clouds for the falling mech. “Where… are you?” Finally, the scanner alerted him to the machine’s presence by displaying a slew of information on the screen. He looked at the area indicated.

  No….

  He dropped the binoculars and sprinted towards the destroyed giant.