Last Hope for Earth

by Jaime Mera

  “This is a momentous day, Captain.” Director Quinn stepped into the bridge wearing a lightweight space suit.

  “Yes, Director, it is.” Eve 109 replied.

  “The time for formal titles is long past, you can call me Tim from now on.” Quinn smiled but half frowned seeing no seats in the room.

  “All sections report complete success.” Adam 17 stated as he stood in front of the helms console.

  Eve 109 looked at Quinn and reverted her attention to the main screen. “We will get seats created and placed in all the areas you designate for all the humans onboard.”

  “Thank you. Does it look like we can get a window? Leader Varken will soon figure out we’re not supporting his insane plan.”

  “No, not at the moment. Leader Varken has enough to distract him, so don’t be anxious about the possibility he will order my sisters and brothers to stop us.”

  “Did we find a suitable planet?” Quinn leaned on the railing of Eve 109’s console.

  “Affirmative. There are fifteen possible planets far from Argonian influence. It will take several years to arrive to the first proposed planet.”

  “Excellent, I will go back and see how everyone is settling in.”

  “I will call you once we see a window. Probable analysis is when the South American forces have secured the force generator, the spaceships in orbit will likely disperse at that moment.”

  “You think they will get that far?” Quinn’s surprised voice revealed doubt of anyone penetrating Apex’s formidable defenses.

  “South American strength and numbers, along with the beta and gamma class superhumans are more than enough to subdue the city.”

  Quinn turned to the main screen, seeing the several open digital windows monitoring the orbit and aerial tracks of stationary and moving objects. “It’s a good thing we won’t have to see this place again.” He smiled as he turned back to the entrance sliding double door and exited the bridge, as Eve 14 waited for him on the other side.

  Eve 109 maintained her stare at the main screen, touching the consoles to her front as if they were a part of her. Pylaxian bodies were being incinerated and soon there would be no evidence of the biological alien presence in the ship or outside of it. If their plan worked, they would be viewed as being an escaping band of Pylaxians, not a band of Earthling Tantalized androids and humans.

  Chapter 21

   --- 

  In the Center

  Center Projector Tube, Apex

  Lee’s energy suit penetrated the air, intentionally creating sonic booms as he flew through the bubble shaped energy field surrounding the three mile radius of the force generator. His battle screen alerted him to dozens of active emitters tracking him, but nothing was attacking him. He scanned the area seeing the twelve beams surrounding the main green energy pulsing up into the atmosphere. There were hundreds of androids patrolling the center, who turned their attention to Lee. He flew down beside one of the thinner beam aperture slab doors.

  “I guess I flew in too fast.” Lee said to himself, only to grunt as an android plowed into him without warning.

  The male android slammed his fist into Lee’s helmet, as they both skidded along the concrete ground. A laser bolt burst out of Lee’s forearm cutting into the android’s upper body up to his head. Without fail, Lee threw the android’s body away from him as it blew up in a ball of white energy. A large crater on the concrete demonstrated the lethality of the explosion; however, Lee’s armor easily maintained its defensive properties. As soon as he stood up, forty androids surrounded him within ten meters distance. With both hands extended away from each other, Lee twirled in place, laser bursts coming out of both energy cannons on his forearms. The splitting of air by the laser beams sounded like a quick zip tie, but the follow on self-destruct explosions by the androids imitated Bangalore torpedoes detonating almost all at once.

  The little bit of white dust created by the disintegrating effects of the Tantalized energy explosions, quickly scattered into the wind as 30mm gunfire sprayed Lee’s body. Five turrets were letting loose on him with very effective targeting. Hundreds of rounds bounced off or mushroomed on his energy suit, leaving piles of depleted uranium warheads every ensuing second.

  He targeted the turrets on his radar with his optics zooming in on the guns. His cannon on his right arm lifted up to fire, but it was annoying for Lee as the continuous multiple impacts shook his perfect aim. The laser bursts hit the turrets, guns and the immediate surroundings as Lee focused on being destructive, instead of precise.

  The rounds stopped and the androids once in the line of sight were now inside the nearest buildings just within distance of the energy generator beams. Lee slowly scanned the area, seeing through the concrete and metallic alloys used in the one piece complex. His optics counted over five hundred androids and several hundred humans, but it seemed they were for now not going to continue to try to attack him.

  “So what happened? Did they give up?” Ghost asked as Rat Bastard, Spot and Io appeared a few meters away from the piles of mutilated rounds all around Lee’s body.

  Lee floated up a few feet in a hover. “No, they’re trying to figure out how to hurt me.”

  “You’re a gamma class entity. They will steer clear of you for now.” Io said as he scanned the area with his enhanced visions.

  “I assume they have some retaliation against gamma class entities.” Lee turned his head at Io, but was monitoring his radar, penetrating underneath them.

  “They have two gamma class entities working for them, but not sure why they haven’t appeared yet.”

  “Let’s take advantage of the situation and go see what’s down there and stop this machine.” Ghost’s voice came out of thin air.

  “The South American army will be here soon. I will stay up here and keep the androids from following you guys.” Spot flew up ten feet facing the distant South American particle beam bombardments.

  “I will stay with you.” Rat Bastard flew up behind Spot facing the opposite direction.

  “I think I will be of more help up here.” Io stated as he found effective defensive positions behind the fixed structures surrounding the energy generator doors and reinforced elevation designed to protect against aerial attacks.

  “That leaves us to save the day.” Lee said as his visor cleared up from black to clear transparent, showing his smiling face.

  “Are you sure we can’t just blast this machine to kingdom come.” Spot asked before Lee departed.

  “Yeah, I’m sure. But I think we can tell it to go to sleep and then send it to kingdom come.” Lee said as he flew off.

  “Great, well I hope everyone else knows that.” Rat Bastard commented.

  Io heard the exchange and turned to the center of the generator beam in thought.

  “The South Americans would have nuked this place if they didn’t know.” Spot replied seeing movement all around the perimeter of the exposed buildings. “Get ready, because I don’t think they fear us now that Lee’s gone.”

  Rat bastard’s eyes widen with excitement. “Really, now I get to kick some ass.”

  Io turned up to Rat with a curious stare. “Your attitude is very motivating but allows for unnecessary chaos.”

  “Chaos… I like the sound of that.” Rat grinned and flew off to one of the sliding concrete door next to the smaller energy beam. With a long grunt, Rat Bastard pushed the eighty ton door on top of the energy field. The concrete held for a few seconds, but the energy beam ate away at the door reducing it to a frame of concrete where the beam never made contact.

  Shutters opened from distant building and started shooting at Rat Bastard. Spot flew next to him. “You didn’t think it would be that easy, did you.”

  Rat Bastard ignored the 20mm rounds. “Well yeah. What if we plug them up with something bigger?”

  Spot also ignored the mini-gun rounds as they bounced off of him. “You know, you might have something.”

  Rat Bastard smiled, flaring his
3D white sharp edged teeth, “Let’s go get a skyscraper.”

  Spot smiled as he followed Rat flying to the nearest building.

  Io stood for a second and sprinted towards the main energy beam. He veered towards the loading zone, but the floor didn’t open as he hoped. Someone on the surface had instructed them to not open the vehicle entrance once a person, android or vehicle stood on the platform. He scanned the area quickly, as he punched the platform concrete, hitting metal four inches in.

  The edge of the platform was clearly visible as he forced his fingers into the three millimeter wide crack. He forced the door to slide six inches, bending the metal and cracking the concrete, deforming a section of the platform. He stopped pushing and jumped up as an android missed his head with a steel like punch.

  Io let go of the platform and used his free hand to slam the attacking android’s head into the ground. His hand transformed into a spike as he pressed it into the android’s head. Before the android self-destructed, Io teleported twenty feet away, waited the fraction of a second for the explosion to occur and teleported back to the platform which now had a ten foot hole where the platform made contact with the ground.

  Io saw the many clear levels of empty shaft down to the first parking lot. Without a second thought he teleported down to the lot. Instantly, upon hitting the lot surface he transformed into Eve 135, one of the androids Lee killed on the outskirts of the city. He instantly ported across the lot into one of three personnel elevators.

  Io pushed the 48th sublevel button and patiently waited for the elevator to descend. Ten levels down, two androids materialized next to him. Without a flinch he turned his head to one of them.

  “Identification.” The android held his hand out.

  Io touched his wrist on the android’s wrist.

  The android read the identification code and nodded towards the other android. Io stood emotionless and returned his gaze on the door as the two androids teleported away. He would have smiled, but the elevator camera was on his new eve form, and he knew better if he wanted to successfully continue with the imposter form he took. The elevator quickly descended and opened on the eighth sublevel. Io walked into the hallway foyer, seeing multiple signs of movement in the distance along an open work area of terminals. He casually walked towards the far end of the sixty meter square room, but the five androids in the room turned in his direction when an intruder alert was sounded over the intercom.

  Back on the surface, Rat Bastard and Spot flew into a hostile spray of heavier caliber gunfire. “Okay, knock out the bottom, while I try to carry the building.” Spot said, as the rounds hitting his eyes started to annoy him.

  Rat Bastard swooped down next to the building and screeched a long exhale out of his mouth as a sonic cone of destruction disrupted the structural integrity of the first two floors of the building. The walls and internals of the building buckled under Rat’s sonic area effect attack.

  With precision timing, Spot flew one third of the way down the building and used the momentum of the fall to push up and at a slant towards his desired landing point. The building was well constructed with many metallic alloys and reinforced concrete slabs, but it didn’t help too much as Spot’s body surface started to force itself into the building. The building flew twenty meters sideways, as if it was destined to not be guided by Spot’s efforts.

  Rat Bastard flew under the falling fragment debris as he pushed the bottom portion of the building towards the center. The building floated in slow motion towards the center as if a humongous invisible crane was moving it to another resting place.

  An android from within the building burst out from a room entrance and jumped at Spot from the inside. With a finger, Spot pointed at the android and lased him in the head. The android exploded creating a vacuum where Spot held the building, which also caused the building to fall while Spot adjusted to the new anchor point. It was an awkward slant as the building plunged into one of the twelve smaller force generator beams. The building would have rocked flat on its side, had Spot not flew around to keep the building upright inside the beam.

  The light stopped shining above the building for twenty seconds, before the inside of the building caved in on itself, the building crumbling into a mountain of rubble and metal mesh. Rat Bastard flew next to Spot. “It worked.”

  “No, by the time we bring another building, that beam will be shooting back into the sky.” Spot sighed.

  Rat looked down at the perimeter. “We have a problem.”

  Spot glanced at hundreds of humanoids stepping and flying out from the buildings. “Yeah, let’s do this on the ground.”

  Rat Bastard and Spot flew down on the rubble and stood back to back ready to take on whoever came close.

  Southeast side of Apex, 17th Armor Legion advance

  Creator blasted through the last standing building near Mathew’s group. He placed the tank on the ground missing a tread and main gun bent seventy degrees downward. He turned back as the particle beams started to blast away inside the city. “Well at least I won’t have to destroy another tank.” He talked to himself.

  “What did I miss?” Cindy asked into Creator’s ear.

  Creator smiled. “Trash duty, but now that you’re here, we need to find Varken and end this.”

  “What about the rest?”

  “The legion seems to be holding their own, so we take the group. Okay I will gather them while you get ready.” Creator said, flying straight for Mathew.

  Mathew blasted away with his pistol at opportune targets showing themselves through opened windows.

  “Mathew, can we get everyone together, so Cindy can take us to Varken’s location and take the fight to him?” Creator said not using Mirage’s superhero name.

  Mathew faced Creator and twirled his hand up in the air. “Rally everyone. Okay, that sounds like a good idea.” Valerie, Diana, Kyle and Cynthia gathered next to the two men. In an instant the group shrunk to doll size, with Cindy making them all invisible and intangible.

  As soon as they disappeared, South American tanks and APCs rolled on through the relative clearing on the road.

  The group flew through the air as if the city was now made of specter like mirror images to include the building structures. Diana and Kyle were very impressed as Cindy had both of their main powers. “We’ll fly to the center and then do a small circle. I should be able to spot Varken through the buildings.” Creator said with a distant echo in the ghostly state they were in.

  “I wonder how Lee and the other guys are doing?” Diana asked.

  “We’ll find out soon.” Creator replied as they soared to the center unseen by anyone below them.

  Southwestern side of Apex, 8th Armor Legion advance

  Estabon’s APC raced around vehicles down the street as they hit the ten mile mark into the first defensive clearing. The electron particle beams cleared a large path, but the standing buildings to the sides left their flanks vulnerable to attack. A string of tanks and dismounted APCs littered the ten mile stretch, aiming fire towards the sea of buildings to the left and right. Units poured through as androids and superhumans attempted to disrupt the advance. The superhumans were not as powerful as the Eternal Champions or Mathew’s group, but they were gifted with abilities to create massive dust storms and misleading illusions. The 8th and 17th Legions were specifically chosen to attack Australia, having the most numbers of telepaths in their ranks, and minimized the need for logistical supporting units. This also countered many attempts to cause the legions to commit fratricide. Artillery and starship bombardments on the surrounding buildings left only the questionable maneuver for possibly dropping of munitions on civilian populations. But the Federation were not going to get ideological on the situation, since all life on Earth was at stake.

  Estabon looked across the clearing, witnessing the particle beams making great progress almost a mile from the center. He couldn’t see it with his eyes, but Eduardo’s computer display on the starship indicated the beams were
almost complete in clearing the simulated full path. Once they were complete, the beams would spread towards any adjacent buildings within a klick of the cleared path. Estabon was about to tell the commander to move forward, but instead swung around towards his rear.

  Gabriela and eight other Soldiers instinctively activated their sabers and swung away at a dozen androids teleporting on top of them. Estabon let his bodyguards do their job, but two androids were not sliced properly, leaving their heads intact. With a concentrated effort, he telekinetically pushed the androids away from the APC as they exploded into a ball of white energy.

  One of the explosions caught two Soldiers in its lethal zone. The concussion flung them over the APC as the men landed on the far side of the carrier. Everyone saw what was going on as Estabon let his guards see what all of them were feeling and sensing. This allowed for the squad to work as one mind, knowing the two Soldiers were okay and just got their wind temporarily knocked out of them. They were scooped up and helped on top of the APC.

  All of them dropped on to the APC’s surface and clung to the railing or other Soldiers as the APC bolted forward. Indirect rounds hit the spot the APC left throwing dirt and concrete in all directions. Anti-battery fire immediately erupted from the surrounding tanks and APCs, as well as missile launchers on the outskirts of the city. But the Australian artillery barrage was doing its job by creating chaos and inflicting damage to several tanks and APCs. Estabon ordered the APC to move on towards the other side, not giving the enemy a clear view of the units out in the open for much longer. The vehicles reacted according to the push forward, dismounted Soldiers loading into APCs or moving back behind cover among the piles of side rubble or stationary security vehicles. Tanks and APCs raced across the clearing hitting 70 mph, firing at the same time to the sides at buildings.