by Andrew Gates
“Jallah Sane. You value your life. As do I. But know that your life is not mine and whether you live or die will not change the course of my destiny. I care not for the trivial details you have laid before me about your title, your age, your desires. To me, you earthlings are all the same. You are naught but a nuisance that must be erased.”
Jallah fought through the pain in his head and continued, not willing to give up.
“But why do you want to destroy us? I’m sure we can work something out. Tell us what you want and we can negotiate. We can talk about it!”
“Talk?” the queen let out what Jallah could best describe as a laugh, though there was nothing funny about it. The sound was one of pure horror. “You wish to talk, but I have already listened. I have listened through the void and watched as your people scattered across the globe, fleeing from my wrath. I am not interested in meeting. The last human who wanted to meet was weak and foolish. And although I entertained the notion of meeting, I did so only to watch the creature whimper in despair as the end finally came.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The other human, the obstinate perversity that called itself Sanja Parnel.”
“Sanja Parnel? You… you killed her?” Jallah asked.
“I did,” the voice replied, “and I shall do the same to you.”
“Please,” Jallah continued. “You don’t have to do this!”
“Know that your pleading bears no consequence. You shall meet your end soon.”
The pain instantly subsided as the presence left Jallah’s mind. He let out a gasp of air and leaned back suddenly, remembering what it felt like to have his mind all to himself again.
Margery kept her hands on him and gave him a few seconds to catch his breath.
“What did she say?” Ikharus asked, walking over to him.
“She… she knows,” Jallah said through deep gasps. “She knows we have the Metamorph. She knows what we’re trying to do. Somehow she knows!”
“Then we haven’t much time,” Ikharus said.
Suddenly the layers of warships on either side of them broke apart nearly simultaneously, completely severing in half. Orange fireballs lit up the windows on both sides.
And then the Hive broke through.
They were out of time.
“Kal Ukhrani, engage all weapons!” Ikharus shouted through the comm. “Kreed Scion, do what you can from your positions. Keep those drones away from us!”
Outside the window, the Kreed soldiers taking position on the outer hull began firing whatever they could, all while working to steer the ship.
The last remaining Sorrevahni fighters clustered tighter around the transport, acting as one final barrier against the Hive. But compared to the strength of the Tecerons before it, these small fighters were like wrapping twigs to your chest and calling it armor.
We’re not going to make it, Jallah thought, too scared to look out anymore. They’re all coming for us now. We’re not going to make it.
Ukhrani’s voice echoed through the speakers in words Jallah could not understand.
“What is she saying?” Dan asked.
“She says we are nearly there. If we are to make it, you will have to deploy in motion,” Ikharus translated.
“Deploy in motion? What does that mean?” Jallah asked, though he already had an idea.
“It means you will need to jump for it, Kho Jallah.”
He gulped. That was exactly what he hoped Ikharus wouldn’t say.
“Uh… how will that work?” Jallah asked.
“You will need to follow my directive exactly. Tell me, Kho Jallah, does your comm work?” Ikharus asked.
“Uh… yeah, I guess so, but the translator chip doesn’t work through the comm. It only works if I’m in the same room with you,” he explained.
“You are correct,” Ikharus replied nodding. He turned to the two wounded humans. “That is why Kho Daniel and Kho Greyson will have to speak for me.”
“What?” Dan asked. “What are we doing?”
“You two cannot walk. Therefore, you must stay behind, but you can still be extremely useful by relaying my messages to Kho Jallah and the others over the comm,” Ikharus explained.
“So… so you’re all staying behind?” he asked.
“Someone must stay behind. Someone must give you orders from the ship. You, Kal Margery and Kal Ophelia are still able to move. Therefore, you three must go,” Ikharus continued.
Jallah did not like this plan one bit, but then again, he knew he had no choice. He must do this. If he didn’t, the world died… or what was left of it.
“Is that understood, Kho Jallah?” Ikharus asked.
“Uh… uh…”
“Is that understood?” he repeated, forcefully now. He banged his scepter against the ship’s floor in fury.
“Yes, understood!” Jallah said, finding his courage. He sat up straight.
“We understand,” added Margery.
“We will do it,” said Ophelia.
“Good.” Ikharus turned to face the cockpit. “Kal Ukhrani, how long until the jump point?”
Her voice answered over the speakers.
“What did she say?” Jallah asked.
“Fifteen seconds. Please, rise,” he responded.
Oh Lord Beyond Both Seas, please be with me, Jallah thought. Oh Lord, oh Lord, I don’t want to die. Please, let me live. Please.
His whole body shook as he stood up from his seat. He felt as if he had no control of his muscles. He nervously walked to the door with Margery and Ophelia on either side. It felt unreal that the fate of the world now rested in the three of them.
“You three, what you’re doing is so brave. I can’t begin to express what I’m feeling. I am so proud of you,” Dan said to them.
“We will see each other again when you’re done,” Grey said, smiling. “And you can tell me all about it.” There was a stutter to his words as a tear dripped down from his left eye. “Good luck.”
He doesn’t believe that we will see each other again, Jallah realized.
Jallah balled his fists.
But I want to see him again, he said to himself. I want to see everyone again. I want to see Earth again. I want to see the ocean, the beach, the trees, the sand, the wind, the sky, even the insects and by the Lord, I’ll even take the zombies if I have to. I don’t want to die. I want to live. I won’t let it happen. I won’t!
“It has been an honor to serve by your side,” Ikharus said, stepping up next to the three. “You are all Kholvari today. May you be swift an efficient in your-”
Swoosh!
Jallah instantly found himself pushed out into the void of space. At first, Jallah thought perhaps the door had opened faster than normal, but then he realized that the entire ramp was floating in space just before him, bouncing inside a snake of Hive ships before being chopped up into a thousand pieces like a piece of fruit in a blender and discarded out into the void.
Oh no, they did it! The Hive destroyed the ship. Everyone is dead. Oh Lord Beyond Both Seas!
A hand suddenly grasped his left. Jallah looked to his side. It was Margery. In Margery’s other hand was Ophelia. They were all three here together. At least I’m not alone.
Jallah checked his other hand and realized that it was empty. He panicked again. The Metamorph. It’s gone!
He searched around and suddenly saw a glistening shade of blue in the light of the sun. It was close, about a meter above his head, but too far to reach. He tried swimming out to it, but his movements were not effective. He did not go anywhere. It was obvious that the physics of space worked differently than swimming in the ocean.
He turned to Margery.
“I dropped it,” he said, hoping his comm worked and that she would be able to hear him.
Thankfully her voice replied through the speakers in the helmet, just as it was supposed to.
“Dropped what?”
“The Metamorph,” he explained. He pointed up with hi
s free hand.
“Shit,” Dan’s voice said over the comm. “Did you say you dropped it?”
“Dan! You’re still alive!”
“Yes, alive. The ship is still intact. Everyone is here. The Hive skimmed the back of the hull. The kamikaze strike took out the rear, but the rest is together. The transport uses some kind of shielding technology in case of emergency breaches like this. It’s all too advanced for my knowledge, but there’s a purple backup forcefield covering the hole now.”
“Are you okay?” Margery asked.
“Yeah, we’re okay. The Hive seems to think they killed us all. They haven’t looped back around, thankfully.”
“But they still could loop around, right? Hasn’t it only been a few seconds?” Jallah asked.
“A few seconds? No. You’ve been outside for nearly a minute and a half.”
“What? It just happened a few seconds ago.”
“You must have been stunned from the blast. You may have blacked out for a moment. But enough about that. Where is the Metamorph? Do you have eyes on it?” Dan asked, getting back on track.
“I can see it, but I can’t reach it,” Jallah explained.
“Good. If you can see it, that’s good,” Dan said. “He says he can see it, but he can’t reach it,” Dan said, obviously addressing someone in the cabin with him.
After a few seconds, Dan continued.
“Where is it in relation to you?” he asked.
“Above me.”
“And where are the others? Are Margery and Ophelia near you?”
“Yes. We are all holding hands.”
“Perfect,” Dan said. “Margery, when I say so, let go of Jallah’s hand and feed him upward until he’s high enough, then grab onto his leg so he doesn’t fly away. You will not need a lot of force to get him moving. Push him lightly, as light as you can. The last thing we need is you kids building up momentum and getting yourselves lost out there.”
“I understand,” Margery said.
“Okay. Go!”
Margery did as Dan said. She pushed Jallah upward ever so lightly and grabbed onto his leg when he was high enough. Jallah was now in range of the Metamorph. He grasped it tightly and pulled it closer to him.
“I’ve got it!” he said.
“Good. Well done,” Dan replied. “Now you’re probably all three moving upward a bit now, right?”
Jallah looked around. Dan was right.
“Yeah,” Jallah said.
“What do we do?” asked Ophelia.
“Where are you in relation to the queen’s ship?”
Jallah had not even thought about that. He was so distracted by the fact that he was in outer space that he did not check his surroundings. He spun his head around and studied the area around him. It was hard to describe what he saw without an up or down orientation, so he decided to call forward the direction that his chest faced.
Before him was the Hive snake that had destroyed the back part of the transport. It was now peeling off in some other direction, likely going to wipe out one of the final remnants of the Sorrevahni fleet, if there even were any left. Beyond that, Earth was visible. It felt so strange seeing it from this angle. Jallah had never felt so removed from everything he knew.
To his left was Margery and Ophelia. They both looked around, getting themselves oriented as well. Beyond them, the moon was visible. It looked so much larger than he had ever seen it before.
To his right was an immense sea of wreckage and debris. Most of the debris was unidentifiable. Whatever these things were had been ripped apart. But in some cases, Jallah could make out the familiar shape of Sorrevahni or Hive ships. He even saw a few corpses. Jallah wondered if one of the ships in the wreckage was secretly Ikharus and the others, playing dead.
Below him was more wreckage and the bulk of the Hive swarm’s body. The Hive moved and swirled around like a massive entity taking a breath in and out. It was terrifying. Not wanting to see it for even another second, Jallah turned his gaze up now.
Above him, he saw more wreckage and the shimmer of sunlight coming through. If below him was hell, above him was the heavens. Perhaps the Lord Beyond Both Seas still had power here after all.
Jallah did his best to spin his head around now. He did not get the best view, but he was not prepared to let go of Margery again in order to spin all the way around. He was able to see enough though. Behind him, not even 30 meters from where he and the others floated, was the hangar to the swarm queen’s ship. The forcefield door was down.
They had made it.
“Uh… Dan, are you still there?” Jallah asked.
“I’m here, Jallah.”
“I’m here too,” added Grey.
“The queen’s ship is directly behind us. What do you want us to do?”
Dan could be heard consulting Ikharus again before answering.
“Is there anything near you? Any debris? A destroyed ship? A dead body?” Dan asked.
Jallah looked around, but Ophelia was the first to answer.
“There is a chunk of metal about two meters to my left,” she replied. “It’s a big thin sheet. I can’t reach it from here, but if we do the same trick from earlier, I might be able to get over that far.”
Dan relayed the message to Ikharus again before answering.
“Alright, Ophelia. That’s good. Very good. Listen carefully. Margery, I want you to push Ophelia toward the metal just like you did with Jallah. But before you do it, Ophelia, you are going to twist your body so that you’re perpendicular to Margery. In other words, the metal will be above you instead of to your left. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” both girls replied.
“And Margery, when she gets far enough out to reach it, I want you to grab onto her leg. Do not let her go. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” they said again.
“Good. Go for it.”
The girls did as Dan directed. Ophelia twisted her body as Margery moved her outward. She was perpendicular to the others now, almost like she was standing on Margery’s side. Ophelia reached out and grabbed onto the metal, clasping it with both hands. The sheet was big. Jallah assumed it must have been part of a Sorrevahni warship. As soon as Ophelia had it, Margery grabbed hold of her leg.
“Got it!” Ophelia said.
“And I have her,” Margery added.
“Good, good. They have it!” Dan said, obviously addressing Ikharus again. “Alright, now line yourselves up again the way you did before with the three of you in line together. Ophelia, make sure not to lose hold of that metal while you do it.”
“Got it,” she said.
The three of them did as Dan said, realigning themselves in space. It was harder than Jallah thought it would be, but after about a minute, they were able to do it.
“We’re there,” Margery reported.
“Alright, now you’re going to put the metal piece in front of you with your backs to the hangar door. I want you guys to press your feet against it and when I say so, I want you to kick off of it in unison. Do you guys remember Isaac Newton? For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. When you guys kick the metal, you will send the sheet forward and it will send you guys in the opposite direction. Line it up carefully. Remember, you are going to travel the exact opposite way that the metal travels. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” Margery said.
“Got it,” added Ophelia.
“I… I think so,” said Jallah.
“You know so,” Grey said, reassuringly.
“Yes, uh, I know so.”
“Alright, let me know when you have that metal in place,” Dan continued.
Ophelia slid it down to Margery and she held it out evenly before them all.
“It’s in place,” Margery said.
“Alright. On the count of three, push off.”
The three kids lifted their legs, ready to push off. Jallah turned his head to check one last time that they were in position.
“Ready… o
ne… two… three.”
On the count of three, they pushed. Just as Dan said, the metal went flying forward toward the planet and the kids traveled the opposite way. Jallah held tightly onto the vial and closed his eyes. Momentum had them now. There was nothing he could do but hope they had gotten it right.
Seconds passed and then in an instant, Jallah’s body smashed against something hard. He reverberated back but Margery’s grasp held him back.
Where am I? What did I just hit?
Jallah opened his eyes and smiled as he beheld the inside of the hangar. Above him was a solid wall or… a ceiling. When he faced down, he was looking out to space, past the threshold of the hangar. He lifted his head now, taking in the sight. The interior of the hangar was pristine. The walls were like mirrors and the corners were rounded instead of sharp. It almost seemed like a big mirror house from an old circus in the station.
Despite being inside the ship, it was clear that they were still exposed to space. There was no gravity, no sound, no anything. Jallah wondered how they were even staying in place and then saw that Ophelia had managed to grab hold of some sort of cable on what was meant to be the floor, but from the way they were positioned, was more like a vertical wall that they had their backs against.
“We’re inside!” Margery said over the comm. “We did it!”
“Yes!” Grey cheered.
“Wonderful job!” Dan said.
“There’s something wrong. There’s no gravity in here. The hangar isn’t pressured,” Margery continued.
“It’s not?” Grey asked. He sounded surprised.
“No, it’s not. There’s no shield door or anything.”
“Then you need to find an area that is pressurized. The whole ship can’t be that way. Kal Ukhrani says most of it is full of methane,” Dan said.
“Is there a door anywhere near you guys?” Grey asked.
Jallah looked deeper into the ship, which by his orientation was up. There appeared to be a doorway on the other end, but it was far.
“I see one,” he said.
“Can you get to it?” Dan asked.
Jallah checked the cable that Ophelia held onto. It seemed like it extended a few meters farther into the hangar, but not nearly far enough.