by S D Tanner
Joker wasn’t prone to outbursts of joy and his guffaws of laughter caught him by surprise. “What now?”
“Look up.”
Given he was lying flat on his back, up was all he could see. “Zoom.”
His eye cover obliged and the image of the city above him grew more detailed. Not only were the cities moving closer together, they were slowly dropping toward Earth. Thick, white tendrils, like the ones that hung from the ceilings inside the cities, were emerging from its curved base. Like a cat chasing prey, the ropey tails flicked against the sky, appearing to stroke the bullet-shaped mechs. Gracefully curling around their bodies, the tendrils from the cities were catching them like butterflies. Mechs were firing at them, but weapons that were deadly to the Dead Force, were easily absorbed by the weaving tendrils.
Without a decent-sized nuclear weapon, how could anyone destroy something the size of a floating city? It wasn’t a question he needed to answer and he never would. The enormous underbellies of the cities were drawing closer. Two of the cities touched one another and, instead of moving away, they began reconfiguring and melting together.
“Joker, what are you seeing?”
“Umm, I think they’re joining up.”
Four cities were colliding into one another with a grace that belied their size. First two became one and then another added to the widening base. Their tendrils were still clutching mechs that were now firing at the growing underbelly of the city. Dancing and weaving over his head, a mech waved through the air unable to free itself. The base had grown to over five miles wide and was so close, not only did it block the sunlight, it cast a deep gloom over him.
He didn’t need to zoom anymore and he sat upright, pulling off his damaged helmet. The enormous city was wider than he could see now and less than four hundred yards above him. Rising to his feet, a tendril with its end wrapped around a mech was only twenty feet away and less than ten feet from the ground. He assumed it would stop, only it didn’t. The land-based city he was standing in would have once been the pride and joy of its residents, but now the buildings were collapsing and trees had pushed through the asphalt. The old city was a shattered mess and the tendril scraped the mech against the filthy ground.
Realizing the tendril might drop the mech and restart a fight he’d already lost, he looked around the road for anything to use as a weapon, but rusty frames and chunks of rock would have been no match for laser fire.
“Take cover!” He shouted.
“Shut up, Tag,” Judge replied.
The tendril didn’t let go of the mech, instead it began driving through the asphalt and into the earth, taking the metal monster with it. Thousands of thick white roots were drilling into the ground as the city slowly lowered itself to Earth. The already collapsing buildings were being crushed even further by the underbelly of the new city. Broken walls exploded under the pressure, collapsing and creating billows of dust. Without his helmet, gritty dirt filled his human eye, making him blink rapidly to clear it.
“We’re gonna be squashed,” Rok remarked, but he didn’t sound worried.
As more tendrils took root, burying the mechs deep inside the earth, they seemed to pull the city down with them. The underbelly was only fifteen feet above his head, crushing everything beneath it. Walls were exploding and a creaking and cracking filled the air. The collapsing buildings were filling the narrow gap between city and the ground with a thickening dust, and pieces of concrete and metal were firing through it. Acting like shrapnel, chunks of displaced metal were snapping through the air, and he raised his hand to protect his face.
He shouldn’t have taken off his helmet. It might not have been working, but it would have offered some protection. A piece of sharp metal spun through the dust, slicing into his cheek until he felt it lodge deep inside his brain. It was the end of another life and he hoped it would be his last.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: Born Again
His hand automatically reached for his face, seeking the hole the shrapnel had drilled through the roof of his mouth. The cheek felt rough as if he hadn’t shaved for a week. Running his tongue around his dry mouth, he suspected he had worse breath than Grunt. Eight feet above his head was a grill, and he recognized the outline of side-by-side pods. He was inside the chamber on the Extrema, or so he thought, only the air wasn’t cool and it didn’t have the usual soft hum. If he was on the Extrema then the chamber wasn’t functioning right, but it occurred to him that neither was he.
The shrapnel caused by the floating city as it took root on Earth had killed him, or at least wounded him badly enough to need repairing inside a pod. There was nothing unusual about that, he’d done it at least half a dozen times according to Jessica. Leafing through his memory like an old photo album, he realized with a start that he knew who he was and what had happened to him. The shock was enough to make him bolt upright inside in his pod.
“Hello, Tag.”
A woman was sitting at the end of his pod, one leg crossed over the other, and twisting at the waist so was she facing him.
“Jessica?”
When he’d last seen her, she’d been lying on the floor inside the city, bloodied and brutalized by the aliens. She could have been dead, but Joker had teleported her onto the Extrema and handed her to Robert. The pinkness of her cheeks, the glossy dark hair, and her clear eyes spoke to what an excellent doctor Robert was. Although he’d always thought Jessica was in her forties, seeing her now she could have passed for being much younger. Dressed in the same suit the robot had worn, her round breasts and small waist gave it a shape her mechanical self never had.
“You’re finally awake.”
“How long was I down?”
“A month.”
“Why do I remember who I am?”
“I burned out the controller inside your brain.”
Even in his half-awake state, he couldn’t help wondering why she hadn’t done that earlier, but maybe her memory was as flaky as his own. “What did I miss?”
Judge’s voice boomed across the room. “All the hard work.” Flinging a folded uniform at him, it unraveled in the air and draped across the edge of his pod. “Cover yourself up, man. There’s a lady present.”
Taking the pants from the pile of now crumpled clothes, he supposed he should have been grateful Judge hadn’t thrown his boots at him as well. “Catch me up.”
Even before Judge opened his mouth, the chamber caught his attention. It wasn’t the enormous room filled with levels and pods he remembered. Instead, there were only a few hundred pods spread across two levels.
Pulling on his pants, he asked, “Where am I?”
“You bought yourself some real estate, remember?”
In comparison to the chamber, the room was small and well lit. The tan-colored walls shone with life, reminding him of those inside the floating city and he glanced at Judge. “Are we inside the floating city?”
“It doesn’t float anymore. It took root.”
Zipping his fly, he reached for the shirt hanging limply over the edge of the pod. “How does that work?”
“It’s alive, sort of like a smart tree.”
Sitting on the edge of the pod, he laced up his boots and then stood. “Why did it change color?”
“Camouflage or mimicry, we don’t know which, but it adapts to its environment.”
His face twisted in confusion. The last thing he remembered was the floating city coming toward him, sending dust and chunks of building spinning through the air. Although a piece of metal had sliced through him like a bullet, he would have been crushed by the city when it landed.
Although he realized his question sounded stupid, he couldn’t think of a better way to ask it. “The city landed on you like a house on a witch. Why aren’t you dead?”
“The city didn’t like how we tasted, so it spat us out.”
The city had swallowed them during the fight against the mechs, only to vomit them from its curved underbell
y. He supposed it had done something similar after it took root on Earth. Looking across at the pods inside the chamber, he asked, “Where did the sleepers go?”
“We woke ‘em up.”
“Who were they?”
“Just regular folk.”
Lolo had said the sleepers were the worst kind of people, but he didn’t trust anything she’d told them. Judge was already walking toward a gap in the wall and he followed him with Jessica in tow. Although he wanted to talk to her, he was a Commander first and he wanted a briefing.
“Have you spoken to Lolo?”
Although all he could see the back of Judge’s head, his reply was tinged with something that sounded like regret. “No. Jessica can’t talk to her anymore.”
“Where are the Dead Force?”
The next room was filled with lockers he recognized from the Extrema, and he assumed the room he’d been in was used to repair wounded soldiers. Judge had said they were inside the city, but he recognized the lockers from the arks.
“Some live inside the city and others are on patrol.”
“What are they patrolling?”
“Civilian areas outside the city.” Half-turning to glance at him, Judge added, “Where do you think the sleepers from the Extrema went?”
He’d made a deal with Merc and wondered if he was with the civilians. The man was a slave trader and he wouldn’t tolerate him anywhere near his base. Hoping Judge hadn’t let Merc set up business on his real estate, he felt his upper lip curling into a sneer. “What happened to Merc?”
“He lives outside the city in his own territory.” Glancing at him again, Judge smirked. “He’s your kill.”
The locker room led to another one filled with armor and weapons hanging from hooks just as they had inside the production city. Rows of suits hung limply, each with a box beneath them and a gun leaning against it.
Stopping to admire the gear, he asked, “Did we make these?”
“Yep. We could even grow more clones, but Rok has a soft spot for the beanies. Ditto is a handy guy in that he has hundreds of hands.” Tapping his head, Judge added, “He’s one brain with many bodies.”
Walking past rows of gear hanging hundreds deep meant Judge had gotten the lines working for them. The next room was an open area filled with bedding, where sleeping bags and blankets with pillows were crumpled together, clearly recently used. Judge had said the civilians lived outside the city, and the Dead Force didn’t need to sleep.
“Who are the beds for?”
“Jessica says the Dead Force need to rest.”
Jessica took his hand and smiled up at him. “They are aware now. Their brain needs time to assimilate each day.”
Although he didn’t let go of her hand, he wasn’t sure why she’d taken his. There was a history between them, but this was the first time they’d met in person. Where he should have been happy to see her, something about the real woman was bothering him. The look in her brown eyes was hiding something, but he couldn’t work out what it was. “How long were you held prisoner?”
Her face creased into a frown. “I don’t remember.”
It wasn’t the answer he’d expected and he would quiz her later. Looking at Judge, he asked, “Where is everyone? Rok. Joker. Hawk. Stock.”
“Rok and Stock are outside the wire organizing patrols. Hawk is building a new fleet with Jack. Joker is running the city and working on the tech we found inside them.”
Remembering Rok had heard Ash dying inside Delta’s city, he asked, “How’s Rok doing?”
“Keeping busy.”
“What about Hawk?”
“He’s teaming up with Jack.”
No doubt they would talk more about the men they’d lost in the fight, but for now there wasn’t much more that could be said. Passing through the barracks, they entered a smaller room with rows of chairs he assumed were used during briefings. Like the pod room, all the walls were a tan color and the once gold pattern on the walls was now green, making it appear like climbing ivy. A small furry animal skittered across the floor, chattering to itself as it chased something he couldn’t see.
“Beanie?”
“Yeah, they’re a cross between a cat and a dog, but with much sharper teeth.” Walking through the next gap, Judge added, “They make good hunters.”
Hearing the word hunters reminded him of the venators and quaesitors. They’d hunted the cities looking for human prey and he wondered if they still did. “What about the venators and quaesitors?”
Judge laughed. “We hunt them to feed the civilians. I’m told they taste like chicken.”
The next room had clearly been taken from the Bridge of the Extrema. His command chair sat in the middle in front of the main screen, and Joker was sitting at his usual console behind it.
Spinning his chair to face him, Joker rose to his feet. “You’re up.” Peering at his face, he asked, “How’s your head.”
“Same place I left it.”
Clearly hearing his voice, Grunt walked through the door of the room next to the Bridge. “Taaaag!” Striding across the room, he slapped his back so hard he jolted forward. “You liiiive.”
Straightening, he pulled away from Grunt, trying to avoid another blow from the alien he thought of as a friend. “No, I’m dead.” Anything that looked like Grunt and hissed was usually dangerous, but permitting himself a small grin, he added, “Your English is better.”
Joker smiled proudly at Grunt. “Ditto is building us more production lines, and I’m working on adapting Grunt’s tech to make us harnesses with shields.” Flicking his hand at the main screen, he added, “We landed the Extrema in the middle of the city and it wrapped around it like a cocoon.”
“Can we still take off?”
“Yeah, but we detached the domes, so it’s a lot smaller now.”
“What happened to the lifeform powering it?”
Glancing around the Bridge as if he were looking for his cat, Joker replied, “It’s around, but it likes to hide inside the vents.”
Standing next to his command chair, Judge beckoned him to sit. “Rok and I have set up a command structure and daily schedule. We’re running the troops through training to get a fix on what we have.
Sitting in his command chair, he gave Judge a sidelong look. “So, you agree with me?”
In the scheme of the war he intended to have, the battle to free Jessica had only been a firefight to win him a base. There was a whole country to take back and then a planet. Even if he won the war, the aliens would still be somewhere in the Universe and, despite what Jessica had said about needing to assimilate the day, he never intended to sleep again. Judge might have called his plan a goat fuck, but while he’d been repaired inside the pod, he’d been busy setting up for a war.
Judge snorted. “You’re a pain in my ass, Tag.”
The last soldier had died in 2130, heralding the end of mankind’s domination of their planet. What had Stock called where they were now? Year Zero. The year the Dead Force would go to war and take back the house.
EPILOGUE
“He does not know.”
“Are you sure? Mine is clever. Not easily fooled.”
“Emotions blind them.”
The one they called Commander Tag was looking at her, but she detected a wariness behind his faint smile. Lolo was right, they could be clever and, as she had come to appreciate, violent when angered. It was anger that made the man rescue her. She would not tap his rage again, not until he was finished. Adaptation was inbuilt into her kind, the way flight came naturally to a bird. It was her drive to survive and thrive, taking whatever she found and using it to become dominant.
It was the one thing she shared with this species; what made them human was their need to rule.
DEAD FORCE BOOKS 4-7
NOW AVAILABLE (Purchase Now)
BOOK 4 - VALHALLA
Having secured Valhalla, home to his Dead Force army, Tag aims to steal more of
the enemy’s arsenal before extending his control over Earth. He finds a planet called Caladar that may be to blame for all their trouble, but they might have the solution he’s looking for.
BOOK 5 - WARLORD
In a Universe where nothing is as it seems, the Dead Force are splintering into factions, and every alien Tag meets seems to know more about him than he does, but none will tell him the truth. Finding Grunt’s army should have been easy, but they aren’t where he left them.
Critically underpowered, it appears Tag has started the drum beat for a war he can’t possibly win. With trust in Tag’s leadership eroding, the race is on to build an allied force.
BOOK 6 - JUDAS
Jessica finally tells the truth about the Dead Force and it breaks their trust in her and confidence in themselves. Plagued by strange visions, Tag is slowly losing his mind, but he has Mayla build him the end of days so the last shot will be his to fire. The core of Earth is ignited and the countdown to the winner begins.
BOOK 7 - EAGLE
Tag leads the Dead Force into a war he can't win and his command team are furious. The Valkyrie desperately try to save the wounded, but the queen and her enemy fleet are on their way to Earth.
This is the stunning conclusion to Tag's war. Is he a man or a monster? Will the Dead Force take him down before he destroys the Universe?
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