by Jim Spencer
He closed all remaining doors and hid in the corner, loading his gun. As he sat there silently, listening, a creature emerged. Eight feet tall, scaly skinned and with a huge lizard-like tail. A Wolf, as if there were not any other problems. In the outside, he would probably be in trouble right now, but knowing what these creatures were like, he decided to signal the mainframe computer to scan the area. It made a loud screeching noise as it began, which startled the creature, along with two others.
He waited for the scan to finish. The results came onto his wristband, there were four? He could only see three. Pinpointing where they were, he aimed a grapple gun at the three. This was a gun designed for a Rantsys, especially the flying type, with five nozzles and up to fifteen shots at one time, enough to level a small room. He aimed the gun and directed to all three. They shot out and killed the Wolves in succession, but there was still one more. He took out his communication.
‘Anyone still on frequency?’
No response. Dammit. He ran the scanner again and it located the Wolf, making its way to the mall. Luckily, no one was there right now. He went to the end of the room and grabbed a ptactyl pod. He put in one last command to close all doors in the mall. The Wolf was trapped and no one could get in. He would have to explain later why he had to do this, but that could wait. He would have to take out this one on his own.
*
He made his way to the lobby entrance of the mall. a large hallway with great stone pillars, running for miles. All exits here had been shut, but it was still in this vast space of many miles. He had a limited number of rounds in his grapple gun. He knew it was here somewhere. On its own, so it couldn’t do a surprise attack. There was only one problem, it was dark now, and he had forgotten his night goggles. That was a schoolboy error and he cursed under his breath for his foolishness. A great lieutenant, killed by a Wolf because he forgot his glasses.
He could see it now, written on his tombstone. Well, at least he still had the controls for his intercom. Only problem, everyone was off duty. He decided to switch the dial to speaker. A loud crackle ought to startle it. Covering his ears as best he could, he pressed the buzzer. It made a loud screeching noise, which startled something in the corner of his eye. The thing was right near him and he hadn’t even noticed. He went into a corner, this way he could see all angles. He had to flush it out.
He snapped a button on his gun. This would allow him to stun as oppose to kill. This whole place was full of carts. Many workers simply left their stuff lying around, because it was easier to set up during the day.
Lazy bones, he thought to himself. There was a fruit cart, a meat cart in a freezer on the side, merchandise and cubes, which glowed green in the corner. It wasn’t there, but it was difficult to see. It could easily be right next to him. These things were very hard to kill, due to their speed. He was lucky with the previous three. Deciding not to waste any time, he aimed at a cabinet in the corner.
It fell down in a slow haze and the Wolf sprung to the side and went into a different corner. Losing patience somewhat, Cordell decided to shoot down every cart in view, that way it would have no choice but to come out in the open. As he shot down each cart, the Wolf screamed and hissed, knowing that it’s options were running out. When there were only four more left, the Wolf sprung out and went straight for the lieutenant. Just as he wanted. With his limited number of rounds, he let out everything and the Wolf fell mere inches from his feet.
‘I got you, you bastard!’ Cordell spoke out. Just then, the lights came on. He put his empty gun on the floor and let the fleeting officers come in.
‘What happened?’ one of them asked.
‘Wolves got in.’
‘Really? How?’
‘That’s what I’m curious about.’
*
He was looking over footage of the Wolves coming in. It was early in the morning, but he couldn’t sleep. In all his years, he had never had Wolves come in like that. Was he getting too old for this? Maybe, but it still didn’t make sense. They simply ran in and hid in the corner, until the doors closed. It was a miracle no one got killed earlier. In fact, it was a miracle no one got killed at all. Either way, he had to present his findings to the council now and explain why security had lagged for the first time in twenty years.
*
He was sat in the room, waiting for the council to call him out. They always took a long time in doing things. But at least they did act he thought to himself. It was better than the initial government of years past, or so he read. They were quick to act on warfare, but never quick to do anything for civilians. That was until the old generations boycotted working for a month until demands were met. Of course, losing cubes meant no weapons, so they had to listen. Since then, they had been fine.
‘You can come in,’ a spokesperson told him. He walked into a blackened room. Or so it seemed. There was a projection at the end of the long corridor with a long round table of delegates. These were the senators of the councillor. Seating himself in the middle of the dark room, the person on the projection, who was the high chancellor began to speak.
‘Report.’ he said simply.
‘There is nothing. Our security is stringent, everyone did what they were supposed to and all seemed well.’
‘Then how do you explain how four Wolves got into a secure build like our complexes?’
‘Honestly, we were unlucky.’
‘I don’t want to hear unlucky. Give me a straight answer.’
‘I don’t know. We did everything we could.’
There was a moment of silence as the high chancellor considered this. He was a taut old man, somewhat baby-faced, but weary, probably from the stress of this kind of work. He did however, not seem too amused by his explanation.
‘You are lucky, lieutenant general,’ he finally spoke, ‘lucky that you got rid of the Wolves in quick succession. Otherwise I would be considering to have you eliminated for this.’
‘I don’t think that is very fair, chancellor.’
‘Really, you want to argue with me over the delicacies of this nature?’ He stared at him hard-faced, waiting for him to flinch. Cordell wasn’t about to bow down, but he had been in the game long enough to know when to stay silent, although he realised he had somewhat pushed his luck.
‘Do you realise what it has taken to create this society?’ the chancellor asked him.
‘Yes, of course I do’ he answered.
‘No, you don’t. You have only read about these things. There is a major difference. It was my family that helped create this country and push it to the level it is at today. You would not be living in this safe haven today if it wasn’t for what our forefathers had done.’
‘Yes, I know. Forgive me, I shouldn’t have spoken like that.’ though deep down he was thinking something completely different. The chancellor was silent for a moment again, before speaking,
‘What of the remains of the others?’
‘They have been found and the metal pieces have been salvaged’
‘And how many more men do you have now?’
‘Not many.’ he answered, though in truth he had no men to spare.
‘I want you to put extra men at guard around the gates every night to ensure the security of our people. I have worked too hard to have this system ruined by some hot-head.’
Cordell decided not to comment on that. He gritted his teeth and gave a simple nod. And with that, he was excused and made his way out of the delegation room. He sat down a moment later, shaking from his ordeal. Not so much out of fear, but more out of anger. If any of his other delegates had called him hot-headed they would not live to tell the tale. But he had to hold himself with the chancellor, something he had learnt the hard way. He had gotten himself into trouble with them on many occasions before.
Almost every time, it was his great skill as a fighter that had saved him. Many times in his youth had he needed that, and even then the high chancellor was the same. Of course, he was younger back then and Corde
ll showed him more attitude, because he didn’t agree with a younger person being in charge. Although, in all honesty, it was not as though he did anything. He was right in one way; his forefathers were the ones who had done all the work. They were the ones who had built these prisons they called a safe haven.
Although he understood the reason behind it, he couldn’t help but feel that they were beginning to restrict themselves somewhat by staying indoors. Although the chancellors would argue against this, but he always felt a certain freedom in the outdoors. There was something about fresh air that a simulated environment could simply not do. No matter how hard it tried. He knew he could survive the environment. Although the slight percentage of nitrogen would probably give him a cold for a couple of days, but other than that, he would be fine, he was sure of it.
Besides, if the Nargus could evolve so that they developed extra muscles to walk the lands, then couldn’t his lungs develop back to what they were? In fact, in some ways, it would be de-evolving. Maybe tribe country had a point by leaving technology behind. Perhaps there reasoning was legitimate. He couldn’t know for sure. All he knew was that he was finally beginning to feel constrained with this kind of a monotonous life. He needed a way out. If he had to fight the chancellor for this, he would. People had been exiled before after all.
*
‘Come in my lad,’ Tali told Arion. He had just made his way back from the hospital. His father seemed to be in high spirits, though still in pain.
‘I’ve come to give my findings to the high chancellor.’ Arion stated, figuring it would be best to stay focused on business for now.
‘Oh, my lad, I told you. We can wait on that; your father’s health is the most important thing right now.’
‘He’s fine. Besides he’s getting the best treatment, so I might as well get this out of the way. You know, keep myself busy.’ Arion shrugged.
‘Well, come on in then,’ Tali motioned. Just as he walked out, Arion saw an older, well-built man walking out. He saw them coming in and decided to hold the door open for them. Thanking him, he made his way in.
‘Everything ok?’ Arion asked.
‘You mean the lieutenant? We had a break in yesterday, some Wolves. Nothing to worry about laddy, they’ve been sorted.’
‘That’s good to know, but how did they get in?’
‘It is strange. They simply…hid.’ Arion shook his head. Wolves had never shown that much intelligence before. Almost seeming to read his mind, Tali answered, ‘Don’t worry my lad. We’ve got extra reinforcements out there. It’ll be fine.’
‘I certainly hope so…’
*
‘Report,’ the high chancellor spoke again. It was what he always said. He sounded robotic, thought Arion as he sat down in the rather claustrophobic surroundings. He began by showing them the calculations that he had done.
‘You know I don’t understand numbers,’ the high chancellor finally said.
‘Yes, sorry I do get carried away sometimes. I’ll explain this in simple terms then,’ he sat there thinking for a moment, then finally spoke.
‘Ok, we discovered two years ago, that every atom seems to have a new compound between it, which was as previously unknown to scientists. Due to its unknown capacity, we called this particle the GOD particle. Now, over the last few years I have been trying to simulate a reaction to see if we can influence this particle to move, thus giving us the time to influence atoms to help either repair cells, or get rid of damaged cells, taking out the need of operating on people. Of course, this can have great implications to medicine, sometimes taking out the need of having to operate and allowing us to possibly develop a new type of MRI scanner, who knows.’
‘Of course, the problem comes in the particle itself. Because it is connected so intricately to the atom, it is virtually impossible to separate it. At least, not without influencing an uncontrollable reaction. Of course, if my calculations are wrong, then it could create a reaction that could eliminate anything within an unknown ratio. However, I ran a simulation last night and completing my formula that I have been devising over the last two years, I was able to create a reaction. The GOD particle did indeed separate and go back in place and the atoms stabilised.’
‘Now this is a great breakthrough for science, and I feel for humanity, in general. I do feel that it requires more testing, so I am asking if it is possible to begin my next phase of operations by testing this device. I will have to, on this occasion, test on animals first. The idea is to injure them and see if we can repair their cells using this formula and test the results over a space of 6 months.’
He said simple, but even that explanation was long-winded. Unfortunately, there was never an easy way to explain his line of work, so they just had to cope with that. There was silence for a moment and later some murmuring amongst delegates as they discussed the possibilities of this discovery. Everyone seemed to be in fairly high spirits, which was always a good sign. But knowing from experience, there would always be a catch.
After what felt like hours, the high chancellor finally spoke from his monitor,
‘This is great news that you have given us. For the next stage of the operation however, we would like to propose that you get these experimentations done within three months as opposed to six and also that you hire some of the other scientists that we have in this country.’
He had a feeling they would ask for this. Keeping his discovery a secret was key here. He did not want many people to know of the specifics of this formula. His reason for this was because too much knowledge could be used in the wrong way. The council didn’t agree with him, but the chancellor, having a good relation with him had managed to persuade the council to leave him alone on this. He was hoping of something similar here also.
‘With all due respect,’ he finally spoke, ‘I feel I can get this done on my own. It would be safer. However, if you wish, I will put in extra time to make sure it gets up to the three-month deadline, that would be possible.’
‘That is not what I asked,’ the high chancellor mentioned.
‘Yes, I know and understand. But you can understand that this discovery is a very delicate matter. The less people know about this, the better.’
Of course, the high chancellor understood exactly what he meant. The more people who had knowledge of this confidential work, the more dangerous it could be. Reluctantly, the high chancellor sighed and nodded his approval.
‘Very well, if you can get the test complete within three months, then I am willing to let you work on your own.’
‘Thank you.’ Arion responded and with that he left the room. He would have to stay at the lab 24 hours a day, but then again, it was not like he was doing anything else.
*
Cordell made his way back to headquarters, when a red warning light came on. His intercom was on, just in case and there was an urgent request.
‘Code purple, I repeat, code purple’ a voice came out. The lieutenant knew that could mean only one thing. A giant Nargus was attacking the complex.
Chapter 4
He ran into his command centre as he saw a great fiend. This was an adult Nargus. A full 30 metres in height, it towered above the complex. Using its one evolved muscle to stand up, it used the remaining suckers to try and break the glass outer layer. He didn’t even have to say anything; people were already gathering their weapons or going straight into their ptactyl pods. These pods ran on Phospine gas, extremely flammable, but since most creatures in the outside world were dead, it made sense to use this.
He went into one of the nearest pods and started the engine. The giant tentacles hit the outer layer of glass. Though they were reinforced, they could not hold any more hits. Pushing up as quickly as possible, he joined the other fighters. He switched on the intercom,
‘This is your lieutenant general here. Use Omega Delta strategy, now!’
This was a simple manoeuvre where three pilots would circle the creature and three would go back and forth in a straight
line, constantly firing rounds. From the sky, it would make the shape OD, hence the name. He began the manoeuvre as the creature smashed at the glass. He could see a small crack emerging from the top straight away. As it pulled back one of its suckers, the other six began to fly around them. Keeping to his formation, he and his cadets all fired a shot each, direct to its eyes.
It seemed as though the creature knew what they were trying, as it tried to stop the blasts from coming close, but a couple still got through. It was like a punch to the face, enough to startle it momentarily. The tactic worked as it moved away from the complex. Five more pods came out as they made their way towards the creature. In frenzy, the creature began to move its tentacles wildly to any plane it could find. A couple of its claws found a few pods and simply crushed them under its weight.
Cordell continued with the same formation but it seemed to be savvy to it. These creatures were becoming too intelligent. Instead of shooting, he aimed the missile directly at the large muscle, which was being used to stabilise it. As the missile hit, the creature let out a massive shriek, which if he wasn’t covered in glass, would have deafened him. Becoming extremely angry, the creature began to flay around even more wildly, taking out any pod that came near it. This was not going well, within a few seconds, he had lost seven commanders. There were only four more pods left, and he didn’t exactly have any extras.
‘I need more pods,’ he yelled on his intercom.
‘We don’t have any sir,’ a despairing voice came from within the confines.
‘Use the grapple gun!’
‘I’m trying!’ The other shouted.
He looked down his pod, covered in small shards of glass from the shriek. One of its tentacles was covering the entranceway. Getting to the gun would be difficult. He moved the pod up in the air and continued for a few seconds. He had to try something different. They always went for the leg, no one had ever gone for the head before. Just as he thought this, the creature was beginning to lower itself down. The front entrance was slightly open. Using its evolutionary advantage, it was going to squeeze itself into the complex, quite literally. It didn’t exactly have a backbone, after all.