by Ethan Bibile
“Come on,” He said, and he pushed Quinn forward with his free hand that didn't have a gun in it. Quinn and his father joined the crowd, simply becoming more of the terrified citizens that ran for their lives.
As Quinn and his father ran, people fell all around them, and in Quinn’s mind, every single one of them was Natalie or his mother falling to their death. The two did their best to help anyone in distress but they found it was a very rare occasion that someone wasn't immediately killed.
Quinn’s father did his best to protect the people from the robots, shooting as he ran, only occasionally hitting the robots as it became a lot harder for him to hit his target perfectly whilst he ran.
Quinn and his father made it to an intersection where they joined a larger group of screaming people. Quinn looked down the street, and to his horror, he saw a large, mechanical beast. It seemed to be a tank with arms, arms that shot deadly missiles from its body. Rage boiled up from within Quinn as he stared at the beast, which took down buildings and people who stood in its way.
Had this been the creature that had killed his mother and sister? Had its missile been the last straw for his home, which caused it to explode, thus killing two of the people that he loved most? Quinn’s mind went to Natalie, her terrified expression as she had emerged in the hallway with her and Quinn’s mother. He thought of how their father had consoled them. How the terror vanished from her eyes. And then only seconds later she had departed the land of the living.
Quinn didn't care that he was only seventeen years of age. Or that he was completely unarmed, defenceless in his pyjamas and jacket. Or even that he was facing up against a giant, mechanical beast that was highly protected and armed with missiles. All he cared about was bringing down this mechanical machine of death.
A sudden explosion brought him out of his rage spell. The screaming heightened as Quinn turned to his right. The explosion had hit a large tower at its base. The building wobbled, threatening to fall over until it eventually tipped sideways. More screams followed as gravity pulled the massive tower towards the ground. Right towards Quinn.
Suddenly, Quinn felt a pair of hands shove him from behind, and he felt himself fall towards the ground, sprawling across it. The entire ground beneath him seemed to tremble.
Quinn pushed himself up, looking around at the massive tower that had been standing only moments prior. Quinn looked around, curious as to who was the owner of the hands that had pushed him forward.
And then he saw.
His father.
Quinn’s father was sprawled out behind him the dirt, his teeth gritted in pain. From his chest down, he had been brutally crushed by the fallen building. Quinn could see him desperately trying to suck in air, but he didn't seem to be able to accomplish that task.
“Dad!” Quinn screamed, spinning around, pushing himself to his knees so that he was facing his father. “Dad, it’s going to be OK, you’ll be fine, we’ll get this off you…” Quinn said. He tried to dig his fingers underneath the building, and he tried to push up with all his might. Sweat poured down his face, but the building wouldn't budge.
“Quinn…” Whispered his father, trying to grab his son’s hands out from underneath the building.
“No, it’s OK, I’ll get you out,” Quinn said, determined to save his father. He felt terror enclosing him more than it already had. He’d already lost his mother and sister, and he felt the internal pain eating away at him. He wasn't going to lose someone else…
“Help!” Quinn cried out, desperately looking around. “Help!” He screamed again, his vocal cords nearly being shredded as the sound he made was inhuman.
Yet nobody came. They simply ran by, screaming, running around the tower. No one even seemed to notice him crouching down by the side of the tower. It shocked Quinn to the core how if this situation had of happened yesterday, every single person down the street would come to his father’s aid. Yet now something like this seemed completely normal for the time.
“Quinn,” His father repeated weakly, and Quinn looked back at him, determined not to give up. His eyes stung with the combined effect of tears and the smoke fuming from around him. “Quinn, there’s nothing you can do, you know that,” Quinn bit his lip, absolutely refusing to accept what he knew deep down inside of him.
“Take these,” Quinn’s father shoved his gun at his son. He then shoved a blue card at Quinn, which he recognized to be the key to the hangar. He closed Quinn’s fingers shut around his parting gifts, staining his son's hand with his own blood.
“Go,” Quinn’s father whispered, his lip now trembling. “Go…” His voice trailed off until no sound came from within his mouth, his voice box having stopped working. His head bent down, resting on the dirt, and his clenched hands loosened, as well as the rest of his body.
“Dad,” Quinn said, shocked. He sat there, amidst the entire war and destruction of his home planet. “Dad!” Quinn cried again. He sat in disbelief, anger, sorrow and terror. His father couldn't be gone, he simply couldn't.
Quinn slowly stood up, trembling, his mind struggling to comprehend everything that was going on. He looked at the gun that he held in his hand, his last gift from his father.
He turned around, looking at the oncoming crowd. The metallic machine was still coming forth slowly, its blasters still pointed as the surrounding, buildings exploding in its wake.
It was then that Quinn saw him. The only person that seemed to be calm in the wake of everything that was happening.
The man was standing in front of the mechanical beasts, walking slowly yet not so slowly as to be run over by it. Next to him, men and women stood around as they seemed to be taking orders from him. He pointed in a direction, and they would run off, directing the robot soldiers milling by to follow them, surely to cause more destruction and death.
The man had a long, black coat that was long enough to trail behind him. He had dark, shoulder-length hair that seemingly resembled his coat.
This was the man that was ordering the destruction. This was the person who was calling the shots, ordering for people to be killed. This was the man who had killed Quinn’s family.
“Agross!” A name was called out through the screams. Even though Quinn felt like his heart had been ripped from his chest, the voice sounded even more hurt that he felt. But the name, Agross. Although he didn’t have it as a fact, Quinn’s mind gave that man in the long black coat that name. Agross.
As Quinn stared at him, anger raging through his veins, Agross turned his head and looked directly at Quinn. A smile played upon his lips, finally forming into a fully-fledged demonic grin. Quinn was furious that this man was enjoying the destruction and death that was going on around him.
Quinn’s fingers grabbed the handle of the gun and he felt his hand pointing it up. He was going to make this man pay for what he had caused…
Then Quinn stopped, and he barely noticed the smug smile occupying the man’s face as he did so. Quinn’s own anger had caused his father's death, his utter fury at the horrifying mechanical beasts that had killed his mother and sister. His anger at the man who served as the catalyst for the events that were happening could only result in more deaths of innocent.
So, Quinn turned around and ran.
He sprinted down the street. Again, he was just another one of the screaming crowd members. He ran from the robots, from the mechanical beasts, from the man who caused everything around him, and from his deceased father.
Quinn ran like he had never run before, tearing down the streets, sprinting past people and buildings, avoiding explosions and the robot soldiers that were so obviously programmed to kill in a single moment.
Quinn turned down the street that led towards the hangar where the Audion was kept. As he rounded the corner, he nearly cried out in joy at the fact that the hangar hadn't been destroyed.
He was one of the few people running down the street. He sprinted past every single person, not even noticing them as he made his desperate dash for the ship that
would carry him away to safety.
Quinn ran up to the wall of the hangar. Attached to the wall was a scanner. Quinn fumbled around, his hands trembling as he shoved his father’s card key against it. Instantly, the scanner lit up green, granting Quinn access to the building. With the loud, grinding sound of metal on metal, the roller door ascended into the roof.
Quinn crawled under the small gap that had formed between the roller door and the ground. He stood up and ran as the door continued ascending. He did not stop for a moment, not even to savour the glory of being safe underneath the roof of the building. He continued to sprint through the hangar, passing other people’s spaceships.
Quinn ran towards the Audion, the ship coming closer into his view with every step. The great big metallic ship loomed over him, casting a large shadow. Quinn sprinted up to where a metallic plate was, next to the ramp door of the ship. He pressed his finger against the plate, this lighting up green just as the scanner had outside. The cargo ramp began to descend.
Not bothering to wait for the door to make a full descent, Quinn gripped the edges of the door and pulled himself up. He strained his face and tensed every muscle in his body as he did so, taking in deep breaths of air as he slithered between the still descending ramp and the top of the ship.
“Hello, Quinn,” The cool, metallic voice of Morgan came as an incredible comfort to Quinn, and for a second, he nearly sat down in the cargo room of the ship and processed everything that had happened. But he needed to get off the planet. He was going to make it, and his family's deaths wouldn't be in vain.
“Morgan shut the door,” Quinn said as he threw the next-door open and emerged into the heavily furnished living area. He didn't stop. Instead, he ran straight towards the stairs that ascended towards the control room of the ship.
“Quinn, where is the Captain? Your mother, Natalie?” Morgan asked, but Quinn cut him off quickly.
“Just shut the door, Morgan!” Quinn yelled out, not stopping his trek up the stairs towards the control room. He made his way to the top of the stairs and went through the doorway that led to the cockpit. Quinn quickly crossed the room and sat himself down in the seat his father would usually occupy as Captain of the Audion.
“Excuse me Quinn for asking, but is everything alright?” Morgan asked, and Quinn could hear the inquisitiveness behind his voice. Quinn remained mute, preferring not to answer the A.I, trying not to focus on what had happened but rather his escape. Quinn started the engines on the Audion, and he felt the ship begin to hum ever so slightly as the Audion started up.
Quinn began to reverse the time ship out of the hangar, the back of the ship emerging into the outside world, a world now full of flames and death. He continued reversing, the shadow of the hangar roof beginning to disappear. Quinn looked out the large, front window as the Audion left the hangar and fully entered the exterior world, now fully exposed to its threats.
“Quinn, what has happened to Nespritia?” Asked Morgan, and despite being an artificial intelligence Quinn could hear the worry laced throughout his voice.
Continuing to ignore his A.I companion, Quinn directed the thrusters towards the ground. He pushed forward on the thrust levers and the Audion shot up towards the sky. The view of the hangar quickly disappeared.
Yet the view was replaced with something much worse.
All around, the only sight that met Quinn’s eyes was destruction and death. Now sky high, he had a full view of the war that raged beneath him. As far as he could see, the sky was bathed in a horrendous orange colour, smoke covering the sky.
Quinn could see people, humans and aliens alike running down streets. From his sky-high view they looked like tiny insects. The assassin like robots could be seen, easily distinguished by their silvery metallic outer shells and the faint red glow of their cores.
Buildings fell and burned, multiple of the missile launching monster like robots parading down streets, randomly shooting off missiles into the crowds that ran from them.
“Quinn?” Morgan asked tentatively. “Are we still on Nespritia?”
Quinn bit his lip, looking down upon that place that he once would have recognised in an instant. A place that he had once called home. Now, it was a war zone, entirely unrecognisable.
“Yep,” Quinn said. “This was our home,” Quinn felt his eyes threaten to produce tears once again, the thought that just yesterday, yesterday, this place had been a happily prosperous planet, the prospect of impending doom on nobody's mind.
Suddenly, the entire Audion jerked forward violently, Quinn very nearly smashing his head into the dashboard. On it, a small red light began blinking. As Quinn looked out the window into the horrendous world beneath him, he saw one of the offensive ships turning to attack the Audion yet again.
“Quinn, the shield status is now seventy-nine percent,” Morgan warned. “I highly recommend we leave Nespritia immediately. Otherwise, we’ll go down in a couple more hits.”
“Well then we are out of here,” Quinn said and put his full weight on the thrust levers of the ship. The Audion shot up into the air, out of any danger it had previously been in from the ominous threat of the oncoming ship.
Suddenly, the Audion was hit again. This time the entire ship spun around and headed towards the ground.
“Quinn, shield status is now fifty-four percent,” Morgan said. “I’d also advise you to pull up, otherwise we’ll hit the ground!” Morgan’s voice was incredibly sarcastic, and Quinn could very plainly hear it.
“No kidding!” Quinn gritted his teeth, and with all his might pulled the thrust lever towards him. He feared he would break it from the amount of strain he was applying to the lever. But he continued to hold rigid muscles and pull it as hard as he could.
The Audion began to tilt its nose upward, and very narrowly missed hitting a small tower, which would have only caused more destruction down below. Quinn could only imagine the fear that it would have caused people who were already filled with terror from the oncoming attack of robots.
“Quinn, I am now detecting at least three ships following us,” Morgan informed, and Quinn swore out loud. The Audion had no weapons installed in it, as its purpose was to be a family-friendly ship. It wasn't meant to be weaving in and out of battlefields.
“OK then, Morgan, inform me if any blasts come our way, we’re going to make it this time.” The determination in Quinn’s voice was set, and once again, he put his full weight upon the thrust of the ship. The Audion flew towards the orange bathed sky.
“Quinn, we have incoming on the left!” Morgan said. Quinn immediately swerved towards the right and watched as the blast flew past, narrowly missing the Audion and disappearing into the sky.
“Quinn, swerve to the right!” Morgan warned, and Quinn did, yet as he did, he felt the entire ship slow do slightly.
Quinn gritted his teeth and flew straight towards the atmosphere of the planet. Now the entire cockpit window was filled with sparks, dangerously flying towards the window.
Suddenly, the flames ceased, and Quinn got a good look out the window.
They had escaped Nespritia, having pulled free of its gravitational pull. Usually, Quinn would be in complete awe when staring at the beautiful, starry universe. However, this time, none of that awe came to him.
“We did it Morgan, we es-” Quinn began, but he was suddenly cut off by the metallic sound of his A.I’s voice.
“Quinn, to your left!” Morgan shouted, but it was too late. Another blast hit the Audion, and the time ship jerked forward even further than it had before. Quinn felt himself being thrown off the Captain’s chair, brutally hitting the roof of the cockpit.
“Quinn, are you-” Morgan’s voice was suddenly cut off, any presence of him disappearing completely. The entire ship was sent spinning throughout space, and Quinn was thrown around like a rag doll.
Somehow, Quinn managed to pull himself through the air, grabbing hold of the Captain’s seat. His knuckles went white as he gripped the chair harder, and as he lo
oked out the window, he saw Nespritia coming into view. They were going to crash right into the planet.
Quinn knew that he was going to have to regain control of the Audion otherwise it would only contribute to the heavy destruction that was going down on the surface below.
Quinn managed to pull himself into the Captain’s chair, gritting his teeth and ignoring the throbbing pain coursing throughout his entire body. He strapped himself in with the seat belt.
“Morgan, are you-” Quinn began, but another explosion hit the side of the ship, and his head brutally hit the dashboard causing the world to fade away into nothing.
POINTS OUT OF PHASE
Quinn’s first thought when he woke up was how much his body ached.
Groaning, he slowly opened his eyes. The sights of the world were only a blur, colours mixing together. Grey, blue and green all swirled into one and in his disorientated state, Quinn was not able to make out anything on the ship.
Slowly, his vision returned. Things became clearer and soon his vision was once again perfect. He could make out the cockpit of the Audion.
Quinn groaned as he pushed himself up off the dashboard, where he had been painfully laying. He could feel distinct marks on the side of his head where several buttons and levers had pushed into his head whilst he was unconscious.
Quinn looked around the cockpit, taking in the sights. The front window was cracked, yet no holes had been made in it. On the other side of the cockpit window was lush, green vegetation. He had no idea where he had crash landed. The Audion seemed to have caused damage to the jungle outside, as the leaves on the trees and bushes were torn in half and several trees had been knocked down.
Looking around at the rest of the cockpit, Quinn realised just how damaged the ship was.
A few buttons and levers had been smashed to pieces, some scattered around the cockpit. The touchscreen controls had been cracked in several places, gas billowing out of one end. Two of the seats had been knocked out of place, lying upon the floor.