by T. R. Harris
Robert had learned to swim at an early age, taking advantage of both the indoor and outdoor pools on his parents’ property. So he now leaned back and floated, resting Simms’ head on his chest. It was hard to perform CPR while bobbing on the surface of a lake, but Robert tried anyway. He pressed down on her chest several times, before kicking away and holding her head above water as he breathed into her mouth. He repeated the process three more times before the woman suddenly began to cough up water and blood.
Her eyes remained unfocused as Robert set off for the shore using a side stroke and cradling the groggy UPE president on his right side. He covered the short hundred foot distance in less than two minutes.
Drake waded out towards them as they got closer to shore and helped carry Victoria to the muddy bank. Robert rolled her over and patted her back several times to help free any other obstructions—that was until she raised a hand in protest.
“I think you’re enjoying hitting me a little too much.”
“Welcome back to the world of the living, Madam President.”
With bloodshot eyes and a large, darkening bruise on the left side of her face, Victoria Simms looked at each of her saviors, tears now mixed in with the water dripping off her body. She reached out and pulled them both to her in a tight hug. “That was one hell of a ride, gentlemen. Thank you. Thank you both!”
Their tearful celebration was suddenly cut short when a massive sonic boom swept over them, carrying with it a wind as powerful as a tornado. They looked to the east, across the lake and to the horizon, where a gigantic and blindingly brilliant bolt of white energy struck the surface. It was still several hundred miles away, somewhere near Houston, likely, yet the air crackled with an abundance of static electricity. Slack-jawed, they watched as the unbelievably large bolt of lightning suddenly climbed back into the air and whipped right over them at an altitude of a hundred miles, before touching down once again farther south.
“Either they didn’t get the other module assembled, or it’s not working!” Robert cried out. Even with the bolt now a thousand miles away, a deafening roar filled the air. “What’s happening; could there be more than one bolt?”
Drake shook his head and looked up into the sky. Through a mass of streaking debris falling from orbit he squinted until he sighted the pale white and mottled disk of the daytime Moon. Robert followed his gaze, as did Simms.
“What are you looking at, the Moon?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Robert said. “And there, just below that big crater at the bottom.”
“I see a light. That’s just one of the cities.”
“I beg your pardon, ma’am, but no it isn’t. Just keep watching.”
Within seconds the tiny white dot grew to fill a tenth of the surface, and even from the Earth, they could make out tiny threads of white light shooting out from the dot.
“That’s not another one of those things, is it?”
“We hope so. It’s the only thing that’s going to save the planet.”
“I don’t understand—”
Simms was interrupted when the huge electric snake once more took flight and entered the upper atmosphere. They held their breath, waiting to see which direction the beast would take this time. But the seething monster remained high in the air; still, the intense heat from the bolt raised the temperature noticeably. The trio moved back into the water, looking for any kind of relief, yet already the lake itself was too hot.
The massive bolt suddenly flashed off into space, forming a huge whip-like motion that covered the entire sky from horizon to horizon before making a beeline for the Moon.
The impact was incredible, with the blast area covering a full quarter of the visible surface. A halo of gray dust spread out across the surface and into space before the brilliant beam of electricity straightened out completely and formed a direct line between both sources of its energy. The edges of the bolt began to glow blue…before the beam suddenly vanished.
The sky darkened following the demise of brilliant lightning bolt, and the air temperature began to cool.
“What just happened? Is it over?”
Kincaid and Drake looked at each other, and then Robert spoke for the both of them. “It should be. We had a couple of our friends set up a counter source on the Moon. The two alien devices cancelled each other out.”
“So it is over! You did it, you saved Earth.” Simms noticed the glum looks of the faces of the two men. “Here’s your cue: this is the time for celebration.”
“Our buddies are on the Moon,” Drake explained. “And I don’t know about you, Robert, but that was more powerful than I was expecting.”
Kincaid nodded. “Let’s hope they got to a safe distance before it hit.”
“First things first,” Simms said, interrupting the men’s depressing conversation. “Let’s get me rescued and then I’ll send out the largest search party ever seen to look for them. There have been a lot of casualties today, yet I’d really hate to count among them two of the people who just saved the Earth from utter destruction.”
26
FIVE days later, and after a prolonged—and in their opinion—unnecessary stay at the government’s finest hospital, Kincaid and Drake were discharged and summoned to Simms’ private office.
“Well, you two look well-rested and full of vim and vigor.”
“Thank you, Madam President.”
She frowned. “Don’t bother returning the compliment. I know the side of my face is now yellow instead of black and blue, but I am recovering. Please sit down; I know I’m going to. After your rather rocky reentry, Mr. Drake, my back just hasn’t been the same. In fact it’s so bad I may be looking to sue someone.”
The President of the UPE moved back behind her desk and sank into a new, overly padded chair that had been brought in to aide her recovery. “We’ll have drinks afterwards, but first this.”
She pressed a comm button on her desk and five seconds later a side door opened and in walked Javon Steele and Ryan Grossman—sort of. Both men were bandaged on their left sides and Grossman was on crutches.
“Don’t feel bad for us, Captain; you should see the other guys!”
Drake and Robert embraced the other two men as much as they could without causing further injury.
“Good job, men. You did it, and looks like by the skin on your teeth,”
“It seems my estimates were off by a factor of ten,” said Ryan. “So what at first seemed to be a safe acceptable distance should have been another hundred miles or more.”
“But we’ll be as good as new, according to the docs,” said Steele, his brilliant white teeth on full display against his dark complexion. “But we really thought the two of you had bought the farm when we saw the space station pop. Only heard bits and pieces about what happened, so you’ll have to fill us in.”
“That can wait until later, Mr. Steele. Right now I get to employ the privileges of my office and make a speech.”
Robert, Drake and Steele all sat down on the couches in the room while Ryan stood, leaning on his crutches.
“First of all, I want to commend you, Captain Kincaid, for a job well done. I know you have suffered mightily as a consequence of your assignment, and I promise I will do everything in my power to see that you recover all you can. Even though the Vixx’r remain in possession of the Reaches, there is a newfound enthusiasm for the war effort. The alien betrayal was seen by over eight trillion citizens of the UPE, and now they know the true nature of the enemy, and soon we’ll be launching a new campaign designed to liberate all Human territory from alien domination. And all of this I owe to you and the loyalty you have demonstrated towards your race and duty to the service.”
“Madam President, I thank you; however, you’ve seen first-hand that I couldn’t have accomplished any of this without the help of my crew. Misters Steele and Grossman deserve equal share of the credit. And as for Mr. Drake; even though we have clashed at times, I have been continually surprised by his abilities and fortitud
e, even in spite of our rocky start and his negative attitude.”
Robert saw a wide smile stretch across Simms’ face. “Yes, Mr. Drake is indeed a man of many talents, and I would expect nothing less…from my most accomplished secret agent.”
Kincaid felt as if he’d just been hit across the face with brick. “Pardon me, Madam President, but can you repeat that?”
“Sure. Bondel Drake works for me. He has from the beginning, and with the current assignment of looking out for you.”
“And, bud, it hasn’t been easy. You do seem to have propensity for finding trouble everywhere you go.”
“You’re a spy!”
“That’s my day job, rather than babysitting spoiled little rich kids who have nothing better to do in their spare time than save Earth from total destruction. In fact, I think I’m an exceptional spy, since I had you fooled the whole time.” He turned to President Simms. “I think I deserve hazardous duty pay—and a raise!”
Victoria Simms smiled. “And all this time I thought you did your job out of loyalty to your race and love for your president. Now I find out you’re just another money-loving capitalist, just like the rest of us.”
“A patriot still has to pay his bills. And speaking of that, someone owes me a new starship.”
“Submit a request through the proper channels, Mr. Drake, and I’ll see what I can do. On second thought, I believe the Kai Shek was government property, so the way I see it, you owe me a new starship.”
“Hey Kincaid, if you ever get KST back again, I think I may need a second job. Starships ain’t cheap, you know.”
“Madam President, in all seriousness, what happens to us now?” Robert asked.
“There’s still a war going on, Captain Kincaid, so I’m sure I can find something to keep a man of your talents busy for a while. In fact, I have something sitting on my desk right now that might interest you.”
“That would be appreciated, seeing that I do have a little spare time on my hands…you know between saving planets and all. Yet I believe you have me confused with someone else. I believe the person you created now goes by the rather pretentious name of Captain Malicious.”
The End
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
T.R. Harris is the author of nine books in the bestselling Human Chronicles Saga, including The Fringe Worlds, Alien Assassin, The War of Pawns, The Tactics of Revenge, The Legend of Earth, Cain’s Crusaders, The Apex Predator, A Galaxy to Conquer, The Masters of War and Prelude to War. Most recently he penned the standalone science fiction novel The Enclaves of Sylox. He lives in San Diego, California. Visit the author’s website at bytrharris.com or follow him on Facebook at TR Tom Harris.
George Wier lives in Austin, Texas with his lovely wife Sallie, two cats and two dogs. He is the author of the Bill Travis Mysteries. He writes mystery and crime, action-adventure, science fiction and steampunk. He also plays country fiddle and dabbles in art and photography, as well as public speaking on the subject of writing. Visit his website at georgewier.com, his Facebook page at George Wier-Author, or on Twitter at @BillTravisWrite.
Books by T.R. Harris
The Human Chronicles Saga:
Book 1: The Fringe Worlds
Book 2: Alien Assassin
Book 3: The War of Pawns
Book 4: The Tactics of Revenge
Book 5: The Legend of Earth
Book 6: Cain’s Crusaders
Book 7: The Apex Predator
Book 8: A Galaxy to Conquer
Book 9: The Masters of War
Agent to the Stars:
Book 1: The Enclaves of Sylox
Visit the author’s website at: bytrharris.com
Books by George Wier
The Bill Travis Mysteries:
The Last Call
Capitol Offense
Longnecks & Twisted Hearts
The Devil to Pay
Death on the Pedernales
Slow Falling
Caddo Cold
Arrowmoon
After the Fire
Ghost of the Karankawa
Other mysteries:
Murder In Elysium
Collaborations:
Long Fall From Heaven (with Milton T. Burton)
1889: Journey to the Moon (with Billy Kring)
1899: Journey to Mars (with Billy Kring)
The Vindicators (with Robert A. Taylor)
Anthologies:
’14: A Texanthology
Visit the Author’s website at: georgewier.com
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