Doomed

by Adam Moon

  No one even knew how long a day lasted here so that was another stupid statement. What if a day took a thousand hours or more?

  Mike desperately wanted someone bigger and tougher to make the douche bag sit down but no one volunteered. If he wasn’t such a coward he would have done so himself.

  Paul continued, “That brings us to the crops. Once we figure out what is already growing out there, we need to set up a time-table to harvest it.”

  Mike had enough. Without being too forceful, he took over the meeting.

  He stood up and walked to the front of the hall. Paul glared at him and then changed tack and tried to act dismissive but Mike held his ground.

  He faced the group and said, “I know this must be hard for everyone. I know the Earth has been gone for millions of years, but to us it seems like only an hour or two ago that we were standing on it. But we have to adjust to survive.”

  Several heads nodded sadly.

  He continued, “Human beings became great because they learned to delegate duties. When we created the first communities, they thrived because everyone was a specialist at one or two things. The last thing we need is for the person best suited to tending to our crops, to get stuck sewing all day. We need people dedicated to overseeing the crops, we need scout teams to find out what kind of resources we have at our disposal in the outlying areas and we need another scout team to assess the alien threat. We can fetch our own water but I think we only need a couple people to watch over the seeds.” He was out of breath by the time he was done. He’d never been very good with public speaking. But the people had listened. Maybe it was because they thought he knew more than they did because he’d actually met their abductors?

  A woman at the front said, “I can sew, if anyone needs anything made.”

  A guy beside her said, “I was a farm hand when I was a kid. I know a little bit about crops.”

  Then Mike added, “I have this suit of armor so I’ll take a scout team out to check out our surroundings. I need a few volunteers for that.”

  Several hands shot up in the air, including Melanie’s. He saw in his peripheral vision that Paul had his hand up too. That was a good thing. Paul was an eager but worthless leader, more suited to being led than leading.

  A handful of people volunteered to guard the sacks of seeds, but only after Mike suggested they be divvied up. Each person would get to take several sacks back home with them so they didn’t need to hang out in the dining hall all damn day.

  One brave soul volunteered himself to taste-test the drinking water. If they could drink it without having to boil it first, that was a huge plus. But if it was contaminated, the human guinea pig could die or at least get sick from it.

  Two scout teams were formed, with a dozen or so members in each and then another dozen men and women were tasked with guarding the camp while the scout teams were gone.

  With that accomplished, Mike said, “Let’s go see what this planet has to offer.”

  Scouting

  Mike took a team out to check for the warrior aliens while Paul took one to find burnable materials, just in case they were needed.

  Mike had no idea when the sun would go down. It looked like it hadn’t moved an inch since they landed. That meant they couldn’t use it to navigate. Especially since they had no idea which way it moved across the sky yet.

  He made a mental note to task someone with charting the visible stars, for navigational purposes at night.

  Until they knew more, they’d just have to make sure they remembered their way back or kept the camp in sight.

  He said to his little group, “Let’s check out that mountain region. I saw water there. Maybe there’s plant life. We also need to see if there’s any evidence of the alien presence as we go.”

  Melanie resisted the urge to take his hand.

  She said, “If we have time we should see if we can get over or around the mountain.”

  Mike nodded. If the aliens were camped on the other side, then they were too close for comfort.

  The mechanized suit did a lot of the walking for him. He watched the read-outs whiz by in front of his eyes. The characters were alien though, so he had no idea what they meant. He found he was able to will the suit to adhere to his thought commands, which freaked him out at first. But mostly it just served to protect him from the wind. He was happy that he’d grabbed one of the few suits available.

  When they got thirsty, a tall woman named Kristy offered water from the bucket she’d brought with her. There was the general feeling that they should wait to find out if the well water had killed the human guinea pig first, but they were too thirsty to care.

  The water was cold and tasted fresh. When no one keeled over, they knew it was safe.

  Kristy looked up and whispered, “I think I just saw a bird or something. Does this place have birds?”

  Mike corrected her. “The aliens said this planet was devoid of animal life. Maybe it was a meteor or a trick of the light.”

  Kristy shrugged her shoulders and took another long drink of water.

  Before they started out again, Melanie called out from ten feet away, “Hey, check this out.”

  Mike rushed over and looked at what she was staring at on the ground. There was a strange misshapen skeleton about the size of a dog, but with two legs and two vestigial arms. It had a toothless beak and four hollow eye sockets. It was in a heap so it was difficult to imagine what it used to look like.

  Melanie said, “If the aliens said there’s no animal life here, then how do you explain this?”

  Mike said, “Yeah, but that skeleton could be millions of years old. I don’t think they’d lie to us. What would be the point?”

  A woman nudged it with her foot and a guy picked up the skull to take a closer look. After they were done scrutinizing it, they left it where they found it and set off for the mountains.

  Attack

  They weren’t even halfway to the mountains when a series of distant explosions shook the ground. They wheeled around, looking for the source. Then they saw smoke rising from their camp in the distance behind them. Something had either blown up at camp or they’d come under attack.

  Mike took off at a sprint, the others following close behind. His mechanized suit did a lot of the running for him. He was surprised by his newfound speed and agility.

  As they got closer it was obvious that serious damage had been done. Several homes were ruined, including the dining hall. People were wandering about, shell shocked.

  A woman came up to them and said, “Something attacked us.”

  Mike said, “God damn it. Which direction did the attack come from?”

  The woman looked all around, trying to get her bearings and then she said, “No one saw it happen. I have no idea.”

  Mike aimed his rifle off into the distance and pulled the trigger just to make sure he knew how to use it. He was annoyed when it shot like a regular rifle, with a regular projectile. He was kind of hoping for an energy pulse or something futuristic but a plain old rifle was still deadly.

  Paul approached them and said, “We need to retaliate. Group up with us and let’s head out.”

  Someone far away yelled, “The seeds are all ruined. They burned up.”

  “Fuck,” Paul yelled. “We’re fucked without the seeds.” Then he smiled sadistically and said, “The aliens destroyed our seeds so we’ll have to take theirs.”

  They were all getting worked up for a fight when suddenly, a thousand alien creatures started to rush over the hilltop, and across their crops towards the camp.

  “Take cover,” Mike yelled as bullets pierced the air.

  Showdown

  The attacking aliens looked almost exactly the way Hollywood used to portray aliens in film. They were tall and spindly with pale skin but instead of having big black eyes, theirs were yellow and reptilian. They moved fast as they rushed the camp, firing from the hip as they ran.

  The entire field was full of them. It was right out of a night
mare. Even though they had no way to understand the alien’s facial expressions or body language, it was obvious they were furious at the humans. And their anger manifested in bloodshed.

  A female scream came from the left and Mike turned in time to see a young woman fall to the ground, clutching her abdomen.

  He had taken refuge behind a house, but seeing that woman bleed out made his blood boil. He came away from the house and ran at the aliens, firing his rifle, hitting each creature he aimed at. They went down, one after the other. His mechanized suit propelled him faster than he thought was possible. His reflexes were pristine; his reaction time was almost perfect.

  But the aliens were good too. He was nearly hit several times. He couldn’t tell if dumb luck or reflexes played a part in his continued survival.

  His fearless charge energized some of the others and soon enough, the humans were fighting back.

  Three aliens made it all the way into the center of the camp as a handful of humans gave chase.

  A minute later two of the aliens reemerged and yelled something to their comrades. Mike thought he understood some of what was shouted. He thought he heard them say something about the seeds.

  But how was that possible? The aliens didn’t speak English. Then he remembered that gray jelly bean translator the other aliens had pushed into his ear. He’d hoped they had removed it, but apparently they forgot. Maybe it worked on this species of warrior alien too.

  Then, just as the fighting really started to kick off, the aliens took flight.

  They fired behind them as they retreated but they also snatched plants from the fields before disappearing over the hilltop.

  Paul insisted they should give chase but no one else agreed. There were dying people who needed tended to. Damage had to be assessed.

  Paul shook his head and said huffily, “We have them on their heels. We’re missing a golden opportunity.” Then he trudged off in a foul mood.

  Mike volunteered to go out and follow the aliens back to their camp and Melanie insisted she was going too. They weren’t going for a fight, but to get intel.

  Together, they jogged toward the hillside past the fields. They approached the top slowly, fearful of an ambush.

  Right on the opposite side of the hill was a village similar to theirs.

  Melanie whispered, “No fucking way.”

  The warrior aliens had set up camp just a few thousand feet from them. That was not good because it would be difficult for them to pack up camp and move away to a safer spot. The landscape was barren, with no natural shelters. And water was in short supply. They were stuck in enemy territory until they found another site.

  Mike wondered why the helpful aliens had dropped them so close to the warrior aliens. Maybe the warrior aliens had migrated and the helpful ones didn’t know that.

  If only the drop pod had been turned around as they fell to the surface, they would’ve seen the alien village and they could have done something to prevent the bloodshed.

  Aftermath

  When they returned to camp, Kristy, the tall woman told them, “They caved in the well. They tried to steal our seeds but since they accidentally blew them up, they got jack-shit for their trouble. They got some of our crop but not enough to starve us out any time soon.”

  Mike asked, “How many died?”

  “We’ve counted almost a hundred dead on our side and about the same on theirs. Paul’s interrogating the only surviving alien right now.”

  “Where is he?”

  Kristy pointed at a house. “In there.”

  By the time Mike and Melanie approached the house, Paul was exiting it. He had pale yellow ooze spattered on his clothes and his knuckles were raw.

  He jovially said, “I don’t know my own strength,” as he walked away. They heard him laughing to himself.

  Inside the house was a lanky alien, dead as a doornail. Pale yellow blood pooled from under its crumpled body. It had a mechanized suit on that was remarkably similar to the ones they had, except that it was shaped for its tall, thin frame and it had different markings and colorations. But the chest plate was about the same shape.

  Melanie shook her head. “What the hell did Paul expect? Did he think this guy was going to speak English to him? Of course not. He just wanted to beat him to death. We need to watch that fucking psycho from now on.”

  Mike said, “I agree. But I think I can understand the aliens. I’m pretty sure that translator that got plugged into my ear is still inside me. I heard one of the aliens say the word seeds in perfect English as he ran from the dining hall. I doubt they have the exact same word for them as we do.”

  “Then next time someone gets the chance to interrogate one of these things, you should do it.”

  “Ok.”

  Lebensraum

  Paul was already rallying the troops by the time Mike and Melanie found him.

  Paul yelled, “This is all we have now. It sucks but it’s our future. It’s our job to ensure the survival of the human race, people. We can’t let those tall aliens cause our extinction and one way to make sure of that is to take the fight to them. We don’t need to wipe them all out; we just need to let them know to never fuck with us again.”

  A handful of people cheered which only invigorated Paul. “We will retaliate immediately. Who’s with me?”

  A bunch of people stood up and yelled out in what could only be described as a confused battle cry.

  One guy screamed, “Let’s kill them all,” and the cheers rose in intensity.

  Mike had been all for attacking the aliens until he saw how rabid the crowd was. The sight of them reveling in their own bloodlust made him sick to his stomach.

  He took Melanie by the hand and said, “I’m not going to fight those aliens. We don’t even know them yet. What if they saw our presence as a threat? They were here first, after all.”

  Melanie wrinkled her brow at him. She wanted to join the attack party but not without Mike. Finally she nodded and said, “Well then what should we do?”

  “We should move camp to somewhere safer but we can’t do that unless we can find another source of fresh water. I saw a lake at the base of the mountains when we landed. If it’s drinkable, we could uproot and set up camp there. It’s more easily defensible for one thing because we’d have the mountain at our backs and it’s farther away from the tall aliens.”

  “That sounds good. I’m coming with you.”

  As they set out, Paul came towards them angrily. “Where the fuck are you two going? We’ve got a war to fight. You don’t get to just wander off on your own.”

  Mike put a hand on Paul’s chest when he got too close and said, “I suppose you think you can tell us all what to do now because you gave a little speech. No one asked you to lead and no one wants you to. If you think you can stop us, please try.”

  Paul tried to swipe Mike’s arm away so Mike punched him in the jaw. The mech suit did all the damage though.

  Paul stumbled back clutching at his chin with both hands. “I think you broke it you little shit.”

  “Next time I’ll kick you in the balls with my metal foot, mother fucker. We’re going to scout for a place to move the camp in the likely event that your stupid little payback mission fails. If you survive your revenge raid, maybe we’ll let you come with us.”

  “No one’s moving camp. If anyone is going to move it’ll be the Talls.”

  “Did you give them that name? I bet you did.”

  “As a matter of fact, I did, and people like it.”

  The Talls,” Mike said to Melanie. “It’s so sophisticated. It just rolls off the tongue,” he said sarcastically.

  She laughed as they walked out of camp together.

  Paul gingerly touched his jaw as he glared after them.

  Mountains

  Mike was pissed that so many people were following Paul’s ill-conceived advice. Paul’s attack might do nothing more than create a blood-feud between the two species.

  And something didn’t m
ake sense. When the alien spaceship had dropped them, they’d landed just a few thousand feet from the Tall alien camp. Surely the Talls would’ve seen that. So why didn’t they fire upon the pod as it fell to the ground?

  He shook it from his thoughts and cheered up immediately when he saw Melanie smiling at him.

  He said, “Let’s run to the mountain. You’ll be surprised at how little effort it takes. The suit does all the work.”

  Before Melanie could tell him she already knew that, he ran off.

  She wondered how he’d managed to move past the fact that they’d just been in a blood-soaked battle. He was acting like it had never happened. Then she realized she wasn’t all that bothered by it either. The aggression seemed like second nature now.

  They’d seen people bleed out. They’d killed. And yet they were unaffected by it. She had a vague realization that it probably had something to do with their altered DNA but there was no way to know for sure.

  She realized she was dwelling on it too much. What was done was done and they had to keep their head in the game to find another camp site to ensure their survival.

  She ran after him and caught up pretty quickly.

  She yelled to him, “The wearer of the suit has to be athletic too, which you are not.” Then she overtook him and leapt in the air. She landed at a run thirty feet distant.

  Mike felt a little slighted by the insult but she’d meant it only in jest so he let it go. She was right anyway. He’d become a couch-potato over the course of his last summer on Earth. But the DNA alterations should have made up for his laziness.

  He exerted himself now to test out his theory and sure enough, he caught up to her. Once he was ahead of her, he did his own little leap to show her he could.

  By the time she caught up to him again, they were already close to the lake.