by Andrew Gates
“Uh… what the hell did I miss?” Ophelia asked as she faced the exit.
Jallah turned around.
The queen was still convulsing, so hard now that she was nearly about to fall right off the platform. Behind her, the army of drones started to act strangely. They walked into one another, some tripped, some fell down or in some cases, even walked right off the ledge into the abyss.
“Their mind is broken,” Margery explained. “They share a single mind, remember? If the queen can’t think, neither can they.”
“Then let’s get out of here while they’re dumb and stupid,” Jallah said.
“Jallah, Margery, Ophelia, anybody! Is anyone still alive in there?” Dan asked over the comm.
“We’re all here, Dan. We were just about to leave. What’s going on?” Jallah asked.
“The chemical must have done the trick. All hell has broken loose out here! Drone fighters are flying sporadically. They’re smashing into each other, colliding. It’s complete chaos! I don’t know how much longer we can last out here. We were safer when they thought we were dead!”
“We’ll get to you as fast as we can. We’re moving to the exit. Can you get to the hangar?” Jallah asked, not sure where his newfound courage had come from.
“Let me know when you’re there and we can pick you up, assuming we don’t die in the process. Hurry, it’s crazy out here!” Dan said.
“Got it.” Jallah turned to face the others, then looked at the chaos unfolding among the Hive before him. “You guys ready?” he asked.
The girls nodded.
“Let’s go,” Margery said.
They ran forward across the platform. As they passed by the pulsating queen, Jallah gave her a kick, so did Margery, so did Ophelia. The last kick seemed to do the trick, as the queen lost her balance and fell over the edge for good, tumbling down to the abyss below.
The queen is dead, Jallah thought with a grin. It’s over.
They passed through the army now, but directionless and stupid, the creatures paid the trio no mind as the three humans pushed their way through the mob of Hive. Moving through them was more of an inconvenience than anything. The creatures were huge and there was no way to see around them easily. Push after push, the trio worked their way through the army, passing through three separate rooms, until finally the crowd was thin enough that they could walk through the ship with ease.
Recalling the way back was easy since they just went straight the whole way. One room to the next to the next, they continued along. It did not seem this far when they first came through. But eventually they finally reached the door that Jallah recognized as the one leading back to the hangar.
“Dan, we’re here!” Jallah said over the comm. “Come pick us up!”
“Roger that. It’s gonna be messy,” he replied.
Jallah approached the door and a light blinked, signifying that the room was depressurizing. Anticipating that they would need to hold something, Jallah gripped the threshold of the door, as did Margery, who held onto Ophelia. Slowly gravity faded away, as did all sound. His body lifted off the floor and orientation meant nothing again. A few seconds later, the door opened.
Dan’s warning had not done it justice. Outside of the hangar was pure fire. Ships collided into ships left and right, erupting in massive explosions. He did not see how anyone could survive out there. Worst of all, the transport was nowhere in sight.
“I don’t see you. When should we deploy?” Jallah asked.
“We’re on approach. Deploy now!” Dan ordered.
Taking his word for it, Jallah pushed off, heading toward the void. Margery and Ophelia followed. Mid-flight, they locked hands with one another to keep together. Margery had to assist Ophelia with the maneuver since her arms were broken. All in all, they were starting to get the hang of this space thing.
Floating through the hangar, Jallah noticed that they were traveling faster than intended. I must’ve pushed off too hard, he thought. They were close to the hangar’s exit now and yet the transport was nowhere to be seen.
“Guys? You there?” he asked, worried.
“Coming. We see you!” Dan said.
Suddenly Jallah saw them too. Four Kholvari stood on the outside of the ship, one on each edge, using the thrusters in their suits to control the ship’s direction. Just as Dan had said, the back of the ship was completely blown off. A purple forcefield now covered the exposed portion. All in all, the transport was in terrible shape. It was a wonder they could even get this thing to fly anymore.
“I see you too!” Jallah said, excitedly.
The ship moved to position just ahead of the trio. The Kreed soldiers used their thrusters to spin the vessel around so that the backside now faced the incoming three. The purple forcefield now faced them.
“The shield is still up!” Margery said.
“Wait for it…” Dan said. “Wait for it…”
The trio grew nearer and nearer. Jallah could now see Dan, Grey and Ikharus on the inside of the shield. They watched back with intense focus.
“Guys!” Margery said.
“Now!” Dan shouted.
The shield suddenly powered down and a wave of higher-pressure air pushed into Jallah and the others, nearly forcing them back in the other direction were in not for a hand coming to quickly meet his arm and hold him in place. Jallah turned forward, facing the ship. He realized it was not a hand that grabbed him, but a claw, the claw of Kho Ikharus.
The Supreme Chieftain pulled forcefully with his only claw and brought the three inside the cabin. As soon as they were inside, the shield popped back in place. Pressure slowly came back to the ship and the trio slowly dropped down to the floor.
“Jallah, Margery, Ophelia!” Dan cried out in excitement. His arms were open wide, but with his leg, he was unable to stand. He remained seated and firmly strapped in.
“You did it!” Grey added. He was seated too. A smile covered his face from ear to ear. “I can’t believe it! You did it!”
Jallah ran into Dan’s arms first and broke down. Tears streamed from his eyes. Then he moved to Grey and did the same. He could not believe he was alive either.
The Hive was defeated. At long last, the world was safe. Just thinking those thoughts felt somehow impossible.
When he was done hugging them both, Jallah dropped to the floor and closed his eyes. His breath was heavy. He could feel his chest move up and down, up and down.
The world seemed to spin around him. Sound muddled together in one messy conglomeration. Despite being in a gravity environment again, he felt somehow weightless. He let out a deep breath, then another, then another.
For the first time in hours, Jallah felt calm.
“How are we getting out of here?” Margery asked. Her voice was the only one that came through the mumble of noises mashed together.
Jallah could feel the footsteps of Ikharus as he walked toward Margery. He tried his best to focus now. They might have saved the day, but they still needed to get home. They were not out of this yet.
“The Hive swarm is too dangerous to travel near,” Ikharus explained. “The swarm is massive, but it does not encompass the entire orbit of the planet. Once Scion is able to get us out of here, we will take a vector beyond the swarm, then come back to Earth once we are clear of it.”
“Do the suits’ thrusters have enough power to perform that maneuver?” Dan asked.
“They will,” Ikharus said definitively. “But only if we can get through this devastation soon.”
Jallah found it difficult to stay focused after those words. He tried to lift his head, but it fell back down. He was tired, too tired to do anything.
It was suddenly very quiet. Everything was quiet.
Outer space: the empty, black, desolate expanse.
Here everything felt so lonely, so isolated. Even when surrounded by the others, Jallah could not help but feel like he was the only living being for lightseconds in all directions.
Epilogue
/> Tomorrow
Mr. Greyson Georgopolis
A twinkle decorated the blackness of his closed eyes. At first it was enough to ignore, but then it grew more intense. Eventually, when he could tolerate it no more, Grey decided it was time to wake up as sunlight glistening through the windows of the cabin.
He mumbled to himself and leaned up, careful not to bother Selena, still sleeping beside him. He smiled as he saw her. She was fast asleep, as unconscious as a statue. Not even a crashing boom could wake her. But he was glad to see it. With another baby on the way, she needed all the rest she could get. Her belly had already swelled enough that most of her clothes no longer fit.
He stretched his arms and slid off the bed. His arms were still sore from cutting logs the day before, but with most of the hard work finished now, he would have more time to rest his muscles today. He squeezed his upper arms, trying to ease the stiffness, and walked forward. Walking out of his bedroom as the pain eased, he moved forward toward the kitchen and began preparing his meal for the day as the sound of chirping birds and blowing leaves filled the early-autumn air.
He peered out the window to see the 20 sheep and 10 ewes grazing in their pen as the babies suckled milk from their mothers. He smiled at the sight as he finished packing his lunch and then went outside to join them.
Taking up his staff, he began the long task of leading the sheep to a nearby river, gently guiding them with prods of the wooden crock as they walked across the grassy land that once went by the name Nova Scotia, part of the old nation of Canada. But today it was just another field in the Chiefdom that Grey and his family called home. It was far away from the world, from everything.
He and his family were the only inhabitants here, the only humans or Kholvari for kilometers in all directions. The isolation had its pros and cons, but today he did not mind being by himself. He knew the Kholvari traders would come to visit him soon anyway, providing a bit of excitement. It was almost time for them to purchase their next stock of wool and with colder weather on the way, he knew demand would only increase.
As he and his sheep left the grassy field behind, Grey smiled as the old shed came into view by the water. Though only about a year old, it was rickety and rotting in some places already. When he had first built the shed here, he had done so with little more than rocks and twigs for tools. Almost everything had been built by hand. And so, all things considered, Grey did not mind its poor condition. If anything, he was proud of what he had been able to build out of so little. There was something strangely comforting about being in a place he had made. This was his home away from home. He could leave all his worries behind here and just be at peace.
That was what mattered. The quiet, the solitude and family.
When Grey and his family first settled here, before anything was built, Ikharus had been kind enough to offer the resources of the Chiefdom to build a shed for him, like he had done for the cabin. But where the cabin was home and needed to be held up to a certain standard of quality, Grey did not mind building the shed by himself. And so, he had kindly rejected Ikharus’s offer.
As he led the sheep to the shed door and hauled it open, his dog rushed out, barking happily to see his master.
The black creature was a mutt he had found a few months after building the shed. The girls loved him and insisted that they keep him. Grey had to admit, he loved him too. The dog was excited about everything and full of energy. How could I refuse? The dog was young enough that he could still be trained and with some proper training and a little love, he proved to be a perfect companion for herding sheep.
Grey petted the dog, smiling softly.
“Hello, Trace. It’s good to see you! Did you sleep well?”
He had chosen the name Trace after Ophelia’s father, Tracey Saljov, the man responsible for saving their lives when he deployed the escape pods to the surface. Selena and the girls all loved the name. It was one of the easiest decisions they had ever made.
A happy bark answered him as Trace wagged his tail, already sniffing at the sheep as the ewes bleated at him, comfortable with the dog’s presence.
Grey grabbed the rest of his supplies from the shed, confident that Trace could watch over the sheep as he loaded his bag with rope, shears and a few other things.
Once he was ready, Grey moved down to the water now. He led the sheep along and they followed behind. Trace walked after his master, his tail wagging as he helped to make sure that the sheep did as they were told.
The soft babbling of the river filled his ears as the sheep moved across it, some heading to the greener pastures, a few stopping to sip water before following the others as their shepherd sat on a nearby rock.
A few were almost ready for shearing, and if he was lucky, he would shear them before the Kholvari traders arrived and be able to sell the wool quickly. Some of the ewes were already growing up, opening the possibility of getting more sheep with the money he would get from the wool, not that he needed money anyway. Being friends with both the Supreme Chieftain and Under Chieftess had its perks, namely that he could get pretty much whatever he wanted, but Grey still wanted to earn his keep the old-fashioned way. It kept him humble and honest.
As he watched the sheep graze and drink, he struggled to keep his mind on business. The memories of the old battles returned to him. He envisioned the zombies snarling at him, the Kholvari hunters chasing him with spears, the Hive swarm swirling in orbit. And he remembered Iris getting ripped apart.
His leg suddenly stung again, reminding him of his old injury. He placed his hand on his leg and tried to forget that it had ever been broken.
That was a long time ago, he tried to remind himself. Forget about the past. It’s behind me.
Trace barked and licked his hand, causing Grey to smile as the phantoms faded away. Regardless of his memories, he was a shepherd now. He had a good life with a good family that loved him. That was what mattered, not the past.
The rest of the day went by smoothly as he sheared a few of the sheep that were ready, then took out his lunch, letting the sun warm his skin as he planned for tomorrow when he would have to shear the remaining sheep and get the wool ready for sale.
Eventually the sun reached the part of the sky he had marked. He stood, working with Trace to prod and herd the sheep into one flock again before leading them back home. Leaving Trace with food and water at the shed, he prepared the shed for the shearing that would happen tomorrow, then led the sheep back across the field to the pen.
As he moved across the plain back to his home, he was struck by how quiet it was. Normally there were sounds of birds squawking or animals screeching or scurrying about, but today there was no sound aside from the movement of his sheep and his own footsteps. Grey was instantly on guard. His thoughts naturally turned to zombies. Though there had not been any sightings of zombies on this isolated island, he supposed there was a first time for everything.
As he secured the sheep, he locked the gate and kept his staff handy before moving back to his cabin. He could hear the sound of voices coming from inside. He heard Selena laugh and… another voice. It did not belong to either of his girls. It sounded like a human man speaking. Who could that be?
Grey cautiously entered his home and suddenly stopped in awe as his eyes behind his guests.
Dan, Jallah, Margery and Ophelia stood before his eyes, garbed in Kholvari clothes. They all appeared different than he remembered, and not just because they were older. Dan was clean-shaven, for the first time in as long as he could remember and the hair atop his head had been cut short. Jallah was clean-shaven as well and had shot up in height. He towered above them all now, lanky, as if his bones had grown faster than his muscles. Margery was taller too, and the scars across her face had grown with her, though the most noticeable difference was her belly, which was beginning to swell like Selena’s. She’s pregnant, Grey realized. Lastly, Ophelia had gotten taller too and had died her hair black. She almost looks like Iris, Grey thought. The four friends sm
iled at him and he smiled back. Grey instantly dropped his staff and ran forward with open arms. He embraced his brother first. It had been so long since he had felt his touch.
“Dan! So good to see you again!” he said, a smile taking up his whole face.
“Grey,” Dan replied.
He released his arms from his brother now and then greeted the others one by one. Each seemed happier to see him than the last.
“Oh, what a surprise!” Grey said as soon as he had finished greeting everyone. “When did you arrive?”
“About an hour ago,” Dan answered. “Selena told us you were out with the sheep.”
“Yes, I was. If only I’d known you were coming, I would have returned sooner!”
“We thought it would be best to surprise you,” Dan replied, smiling.
Grey spun around to face Margery.
“Look at you!” he declared. “A mother to be!”
Margery blushed and clasped her fingers around Jallah’s.
“And father,” the young man added.
Margery and Jallah, mother and father. It was strange to think that a new generation was already being born, a generation that would have no memories of the station they once called home.
“Wow, that’s incredible, just incredible!” Grey said. He turned to face his wife, who was busy giving their girls direction on how to set the table for dinner. “Selena is expecting too. We aren’t entirely sure when, but we think it’s within the next two months.”
“Same here,” Margery said, rubbing the roundness of her belly.
“Well, come on and sit down!” Grey said, motioning to the table.
“We were just sitting, but we went to the door when we heard you coming in,” Dan explained. “Selena has been a wonderful host.”
“Thank you, Dan,” Selena said back, amusingly.
“What about me?” Misha asked.
“Or me?” added Kaitlyn.
“You’ve all been great hosts, all of you,” Dan returned, smiling at the girls as they giggled back.
Everyone took a seat at the wooden dinner table. There were not enough chairs for the entire group, but Jallah and Margery shared a wooden chest as a seat while Ophelia used a log brought in from outside. Grey supposed that worked all the same.