by Mars Dorian
“You’re not going to make it through the atmosphere. At least not alive.”
“Yeah, looks like it.”
The gravity pulled him into the lower layers of ExoEve’s atmosphere.
Normally no problem, but with the many holes in his hull, the heat burned up his craft. Cooked his electronics like a plasma inferno.
RX should have been afraid, but he remained calm.
He did what he had to do, to the best of his ability.
Nothing less, nothing more.
A pilot’s life well spent.
“I can get you out of here,” Aida said.
“What?”
“The APEX is lost, but I can save you.”
“Why would you do that?”
“My priority is to assist the operating pilot, not the vessel.”
“Doesn’t sound like Stryker.”
But sounded like Aida.
She activated the emergency protocol while the heat inside the cockpit increased to boiling levels. RX sweated as his APEX wreckage fireballed down ExoEve’s atmosphere.
“Assume horizontal position for maximum stability.”
“Roger.”
He lay straight and felt the liquid seat embracing him. Aida’s voice counted down.
“Eject in T-minus five, four, three, two—“
“One,” RX said as his cockpit capsule launched from the glowing APEX.
It rotated through the sky.
Floating in the air, he saw his APEX shooting down the heavens like a wishing star. It left a trail of smoke and fire.
Swallowed by the relentless friction heat.
Goodbye my love.
May you rest in pieces.
The parachute extracted from his capsule and blew open. The saving sail reduced his fall.
RX cruised down.
Thanks to Aida.
“You rescued me.”
“I know.”
58
The capsule landed on the soil with a thud. The seat unstrapped RX. He staggered out like someone with way too many Fluffies. But hey, let’s not complain. He was still alive, with all limbs attached.
Reality caught up with him.
“Aida?”
“I’m still with you.”
Thank the linker.
“What about my APEX?”
“Gone.”
Sayoonara, old girl.
RX still couldn’t believe it. The beloved spacecraft that protected his butt more than he could count, now blown into glowing pieces, raining down on ExoEve’s surface.
On a sunny day.
“And Arrow?”
“No sign.”
RX hoped the debris ripped her APEX good. Hoped she’d still make it, no matter how unlikely it seemed.
Man, what a fight.
And what a loss.
If only the redhead had come to terms with him.
If only...
RX wiped his sweaty forehead and marched all the way back to Evergreen.
A long way filled with pondering.
Did he do the right thing?
Didn't he endanger his future by shooting down one of his peers? Would Stryker retaliate?
Too many worries, and RX was too tired to cope with them. After a march that demanded every ounce of his strength, he reached Evergreen central. Citizens stood on the streets and applauded RX. At least they remembered him.
“Did you kill her?” some kid said.
“I freed her from the tyranny of physical reality.”
And the kid smiled, even high-fived RX.
Hero of the day, again.
Most of the folks erupted in applause and cheered, some shook their head or frowned like peeps suffering from food poisoning. With that thing from the underground gone, groupthink behavior was passé. The Evergreens were free humans again, the way it was supposed to be. And still, they didn’t seem to realize they were controlled by an alien life form. Kind of frustrating, considering RX risked his life and destroyed his APEX to accomplish this goal.
RX spotted Toyler among the masses, looking back at him with some of his many children. Some of which would have been sacrificed to ‘mother'.
It was sick to just think about it.
“Where’s Bloom?” Toyler said.
“Don’t know. The commons?”
Of course. She was married to that place.
RX waved his green-ish fans goodbye and hasted toward the Evergreen commons. Walked into the hall of all halls and discovered Bloom sitting at the main table. Fingers intertwined, body bent forward. On her delicate face a gentle smile. For a split second, she looked like Norma.
“Did you finish Arrow?”
“I vaporized her.”
She nodded.
“Was she able to connect with Stryker?”
“I don’t know, but even if she did, she’s space dust now.”
He might as well run with the narrative that made everyone happy.
“What if she shared her findings with Stryker?”
“I doubt it.”
“That’s not good enough, Rex.”
So much pissyness in her voice.
Did she realize how many times he saved the colony from destruction?
First from the USC Separatists, now from his Stryker rival.
But no, not a single expression of thankfulness.
“Where’s your APEX?”
A second of hesitation.
“I’ve parked it somewhere safe. It’s repairing itself.”
RX walked across the hall and sat opposite of Bloom. She relaxed a bit, but something in her posture remained stiff.
“What now?”
“We’ll have a big feast and celebrate with everyone.”
“No, I mean, what about this colony? How are we going to function from now on?”
She looked up with expecting eyes. RX touched her hands.
“Your pacifist plant enslaved you to a child-producing peace of meat. You no longer have to accept that limitation.”
He smiled.
“You can become the person you wish to be.”
Words of liberation, but Bloom didn’t seem as impressed. She gave him a faint nod and turned away. RX rolled his eyes.
Why wasn't she thankful for her freedom?
“Bloom, where are you going?”
She halted near the entrance wall.
“I need some rest. All this stress from the last weeks wrecked my body.”
RX nodded.
She bowed half and closed her eyes.
“I’m sorry for your APEX.”
And with that, she left the hall and disappeared from RX’s sight. Her last statement lingered on his mind.
I’m sorry for your APEX.
Did she know?
How could she?
Damn, still too many variables.
RX leaned into his chair and watched the ginormous space around him.
But now what? The problems piled on top of each other. Klaven and his USC Separatists wouldn’t be satisfied with Norma’s corpse for long. Even in his advanced age, the desire to dominate glistened in his eyes. He was dangerous and well-respected among his troops. Maybe RX should have taken care of him while he had the chance. But it was too late for that. And with the loss of his APEX, he had no means to defend the colony from the Separatists. Worse, if Stryker found out about his fight with Arrow, they’d punish him with something more terrible than death.
The future looked uncertain, but not hopeless.
RX grew over the last months.
He learned how to deescalate a war.
He led.
Now he had to upgrade his skills.
He’d teach the Evergreens how to defend themselves, introduce military strategy and create a society that would make the US Corps and Stryker green with envy, pun intended. Even without his all-purpose executioner, RX was more knowledgeable than anyone else on this planet. As if destiny picked him to land here and take charge of the people. RX remembered stories about Terr
a and their chosen leaders that accumulated billions of followers. Wise humanoids predestined to lead the masses. He should ask Aida about those ancient stories, he could learn much from them. Besides, it was much better to reign here than to serve in space.
“Hey Rex.”
Toyler walked in with three of his kids.
“They just want to say ‘thank you’.”
And they did with their innocent voices.
“Anything for you, guys,” RX said.
He shook their hands and shared their smirk.
“I hope you guys are hungry. We’re going to have a big dinner tonight. To celebrate our victory.”
“Sounds good,” Toyler said, “what about Bloom?”
“What about her?”
“I mean, mmmm—we’ve never thought about leadership before you showed up. It’s like the community always regulated itself.”
With a little help from the underground alien of course.
But RX saved the words and listened to Toyler’s.
“But with Norma gone, people wonder who’s in charge of Evergreen. Is it Bloom?”
“We’ll figure that out in the upcoming days. For now, rest your mind and relax with your kids. You guys have been through a lot.”
Toyler nodded, grabbed his kids’ hands and strolled toward the entrance of the hall.
RX sank back into his seat. It was too low for his taste. A bit of elevation would allow him to overview the masses during the dinner. A chance to gauge the community’s standing, just to understand them better.
To learn how to properly guide them.
Toyler reached the entrance with his kids, the smallest one turned around.
“See you later, Rex-friend.”
RX smiled back, but the tag rubbed him off.
Rex-friend, meh.
Cute intention, but not accurate, considering everything he sacrificed to keep this community alive. He lost his billion credit spacecraft and risked his life—many times.
A friend wouldn’t do that.
Only a leader would.
“Don’t say ‘friend’,” he said to Toyler’s kid.
“Call me the liberator.”
59 Epilogue
Bloom.
Back underground, tiptoeing in the tunnels below Evergreen. It was dark and wet, but she knew her way around. She had been here for many cycles and would hopefully return for many more.
Anything to get away from that imperialist.
Anything to reconnect with the source that loved her.
Unconditionally.
Bloom marched into the comfort of the darkness.
Followed the voice in her head, deep into the subterranean of ExoEve, where no survivor had ever ventured.
She picked up speed, ignored the black that dampened her vision.
Down here, she didn’t need eyes to see.
Corner for corner, corridor for corridor, until she returned to the hub where it all originated from. A cylinder-shaped cave many stories high, crossed by many organic tunnels that connected with the soil and the surface. And there in the darkness it waited, like the heart inside a tree of life.
It breathed with every heartbeat.
Bloom knelt in awe, touched one of the many roots and felt a connection that could not be described. With closed eyes, she touched the breathing root, kissed its reptilian skin and smiled. True love wasn’t the right term, but it was the first that came to mind.
That soldier thought he killed you.
Thought that a rocket would take out your branch.
His mind is so limited, he only sees death where you create life.
He doesn’t understand what you are, or why you’re here.
Bloom maneuvered around the root that pulsated with life. Followed it to the heart of the hub where the creature breathed in, breathed out.
From one angle, it looked like a giant tree intertwined with the tunnels, but up close, it showed reptilian features.
Truth was, no words could describe the life form.
Not even Bloom could.
And she didn’t care.
She leaned against its scaly skin and felt the spores entering her nose.
The connection intensified.
And Bloom lost herself.
Became one with the voice.
The Äitiö answered, not in words, but in thoughts traveling through the bacteria in Bloom’s bloodstream. A voice that wasn’t human, but soothing in sound. A warmth that spread through Bloom’s body and unleashed oxytocin. If Bloom would put it in words, it would say…
60
—don’t worry, my child
we take care of you
always have
always will
and now that we learned
about the warrior
we will adapt and evolve—
and Bloom disappeared
till only the Äitiö remained
in the darkness
breathing
changing
waiting
for the rebirth
The war continues…
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Author’s notes
Thanx for reading ‘Fear The Liberator’. I wanted to write a compelling space opera about ‘The Will To Power’ concept popularized by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. I asked myself—what makes people crave power? And why do so many people follow an authority? Is the desire part of who we are, or a byproduct of our upbringing and experience? Or both? Countless books have been written about that topic, but as a geek, I wanted to tell it in a sci-fi scenario that deals with colonization, future technologies and war-mongering factions. If readers like you enjoy this book and review it, I’m going to release the second one.
I also want to thank my editor Colleen Conger and proofreader Arjan Salomons for their amazing work in bringing my writing to the next level.
Please send me an email to [email protected] and share your feedback. I’d love to hear from you. Seriously, I do.