“What is it? Why did she stop?” Stephen asked.
Michael looked over in Stephen’s direction and lowered his voice so the crowd behind him would not hear. “She’s given up.”
Only four stories away from the safety of the ground, Selene stopped rocking and crooned to her infant as the following moments passed with the weight of all eternity. The impending rumble of the nearby fire was now a distant worry in her mind, and she smiled in tears when her baby stopped crying and blinked upward in silent question at his mother’s sorrowful smile. She only held him closer.
Stephen watched Selene’s final opportunity to climb down in time to survive pass, and soon the wall of flame was upon her. Through his telescope eye, he saw a massive explosion strike the back end of the building with the force of a giant wrecking ball, and flames then proceeded to wrap around its sides and across its surface - enveloping the innocent souls in fiery darkness. Beyond them, in a cloud of dust and ash, the ghostly shadow of the apartment building where they once lived shattered under the pressure and heat, falling in flames to the necropolis below that was once a bustling city street.
Stephen lowered his head and closed his eyes.
Smoldering rubble lay everywhere. Stephen could only see a few feet in front of his face through the tumbling smoke. He mostly just followed the sound of Michael’s footsteps, directly ahead of him, as the two walked carefully through the blast zone. Several piles of debris were still roaring in flames which licked at the sky like fiery serpent tongues.
The bodies on the ground were mostly in charred pieces, and most of the ones who survived wished they hadn’t. Screams of agony (and some of grief at the loss of a loved one) echoed through the streets - augmented by the rumbling fires. “Over here, sir,” shouted someone up ahead.
Stephen heard Michael conversing with a person he could not see. Stephen came closer, waving his hand futilely in the air to dissipate the smoke. At first, he did not recognize the man standing with Michael, but after a moment, he saw that it was Dylan’s face - now charred and black. He stayed a short distance back, unwilling to intrude.
“I’ve got them working on it now, sir,” Dylan said. “But, the hospital will be full soon.”
“Have the reserve squad outfit that empty building into a temporary hospital, complex number 115 on the north side of the city, and make it yesterday.”
“Yes, sir,” Dylan Hamish said, and then vanished into the smoke again.
Michael shook his head and looked at Stephen.
“Kirin will have her hands full until the morning,” he said.
Stephen opened his mouth to speak, but he could not utter a word before being cut off.
“Commander Lee! Mister Carlisse!” shouted someone nearby.
As Byron approached, Stephen took notice of his otherwise colorful apparel, which was now as black as the air itself. Stephen then realized his own hands and face were covered in soot as well. Any exposed skin was being subjected to an unwanted scorching and stain from the smoldering ash in the air.
“I need to see you both very urgently…in the control tower,” Byron said, gasping for breath.
“In a while,” Michael said. “I have to deal with the people now.” He began walking away from Byron with Stephen close behind.
Byron was frantic. “No, sir!” he shouted. “What I have to show you may be the only thing that can save the people now.”
Michael stopped.
Stephen stopped.
“What is it, Byron?” Stephen asked.
“You must see it,” Byron said. “Follow me.”
The three men walked silently through the disaster area, trying their best to ignore the pain and chaos around them.
V – COUNTERSTRIKE
1
“I’ve discovered the identity of our attackers,” Byron said solemnly as he sat down in front of his computer console in the control room. Michael and Stephen gathered around him, listening intently.
Byron typed in a few quick commands, accessing the damaged logbook. “That’ll take a few minutes to load,” he said.
“What is it?” Stephen asked.
Byron shook his head. “Maybe our only hope.” He typed in a last command and then turned to face the other two men. “Since I accessed the Alpha Journey’s log-book, I’ve been mostly reading the previous Commander’s log and some other information he stored: maps, diagrams, schematics and whatnot. From what I can tell, our attackers are aliens here too.”
Stephen and Michael both sat down, captivated.
“Fifty some odd years ago,” he continued, “our other ship landed here under the impression the planet was uninhabited. They traveled to the coastline and found a nice place to settle. They built this city over several years and lived well for a long time.’
‘One day, they received a transmission from a race of aliens from yet another planet. The humans called these aliens “travelers”. They were explorers from a far away world and found this planet suitable to their liking. The humans were happy to share the planet, and the travelers settled here as well. Their settlement was a huge tower, built from mined ore in a mountain range far to the north. Along with the tower, the travelers set up two space stations in orbit under the guise of being for research purposes. At first, they were very open and shared a lot of their information, including some blueprints and diagrams of their base and satellites. But as time passed, they became more introverted and interacted with the people less and less. Come to find out, the tower…the satellites…the whole traveling bit was all a scam.’
‘They’re a race of conquerors. They had overpowered a race of primitives from some other planet and used them as slave laborers to build their enormous tower. As it turns out, the tower fires massive beams of energy straight up into space. The beam is reflected off the two satellite stations back to any given point on the planet’s surface.”
“No place in the world for us to hide,” Stephen said thoughtfully.
Byron nodded. “Exactly. They were setting up a planned takeover all along. And the humans never suspected anything. When the time came to begin the conquering, our predecessors surrendered rather than be destroyed. The travelers came to this city and forced everyone to leave. They raided the homes too, taking all the humans’ belongings and technology.’
‘However, when the travelers’ army was away conquering this city, the slave beings began an uprising back at the tower. Apparently, they were faster learners than the travelers expected, and they forced their own masters into slavery. But despite their intelligence, they were still a barbaric race bent on murder and destrution. They’re savage, primitive creatures.’
‘They attacked the army in the forest and won easily. However, during the struggle, some of our human friends escaped and retreated back to their ship, under the hope that they could leave this place and find another home. But as they were charging the generators to prepare for takeoff, the slave warriors must have acquired the ability to use the travelers’ beam weapon. They destroyed the ship and all the people on board. And that’s where the story left off.’
‘As far as I know, the barbarians still occupy the tower and the travelers are still enslaved within. The barbarians had what they wanted until we showed up again. Now they know we’re here in their territory, and they want us gone too. They’ve got us held up here in the city and they’re just waiting.”
“Waiting for what? Why haven’t they finished us yet?” Michael asked. “Why would they only fire once? It would only take a couple more of those blasts to completely wipe this place out.”
Byron nodded. “Their weapon is powerful but not efficient. It uses partial mechanical power but mostly solar energy for its charge. The day our ship was shot, it was very cloudy. They couldn’t fire again for more than a whole day. But today was very sunny. If my guess is right, they’ll be able to fire again tomorrow morning.”
Stephen shook his head in disbelief. “Are we doomed?”
Michael’s face showed no h
ope either.
The computer beeped softly and Byron turned to the keyboard and began typing in more commands. “Maybe,” he said. “The only thing we have to go on is this.” He leaned back to let Michael and Stephen examine the screen, which displayed only a crude map to a group of mountains.
“What are we looking at, Byron?” Michael asked.
“This shows us how to get to the aliens’ tower from here. It’s not very elaborate, but I believe it’s accurate.”
Michael nodded. “You’re suggesting we attack… make a last effort.”
Byron shrugged. “I’m not suggesting anything. All I know is that the creatures trying to kill us live here,” he said, pointing at the screen. “What we do about it isn’t my decision.”
Michael looked to Stephen, who grew suddenly pale.
Stephen stared out the window of the shuttle as it raced across the landscape. It whizzed over trees and shook their branches before the sound of the shuttle’s approach ever arrived. The evening sun had already set, and the night sky was beginning to darken. Only a lighter shade of the dim blanket near the horizon gave evidence of any light, and all shadows were beginning to mingle with the darkness of the night.
Stephen looked at Michael, who was talking with the co-pilot. Stephen guessed he was asking how much longer it would take to arrive at their destination (although he really could not make out what was being said over the noise of the engines).
Michael turned around. “We should be there in few more minutes!” he yelled.
“Okay!” Stephen replied. As Michael sat down on the bench across from him, Stephen began to grow curious over something. Puzzled, he asked, “Michael, why didn’t you try to take command of the people instead of me? I mean your chances were even better than mine.”
Michael thought a moment, then leaned close and looked at Stephen casually. “These people needed a leader wise enough to keep them safe and young enough to be able to stay with them for a long time,” he said. “And though I may be wiser, your mind is fresher and more open. I don’t think it was my path to travel.”
Stephen was silent with bewilderment. He had never been offered such a high complement from anyone in authority. He began to tell Michael how grateful he was, but was stopped by the sound of the pilot’s voice over the loudspeaker.
“We’re near the site now, sirs,” Joel announced. “We’re going to land a short distance away to make sure we avoid being spotted.”
Stephen and Michael looked out the window as the ground below rapidly disappeared and was replaced by a steep, dark mountain range that oddly sat on ground level with the rest of the countryside. The cluster of mountains, which were bathed in mist, rested snuggly in a huge crater that stretched to the extent of Stephen’s range of vision. He then realized a sudden feeling of upward motion as the shuttle dropped sharply and descended into the shadowy field of earthen pinnacles.
As the shuttle’s engines died down, the small party, which consisted of Stephen, Michael and the co-pilot, ventured into the forest with only the aid of the glorious, white moon to light their path.
Stephen picked his way through the dense branches of the trees - all of which were low to the ground in that region of the continent. Each of the men carried rifle-packs on their backs, and Michael and Stephen held their guns ready. The co-pilot, however, kept his weapon in its holster since his hands were occupied by the softly blipping locator they held. He also had a long blue bag strapped to the side of his pack, which he took great care not to jostle too much.
“Straight ahead and to the right,” he said.
Stephen and Michael nodded in affirmation, and soon the party arrived at the foot of a small hill. There, the co-pilot gave a signal to slow their pace. He then began carefully stepping through the branches in order to avoid making more noise than was necessary. Stephen and Michael followed in a likewise manner until the three finally reached the peak of the rise. The co-pilot then pointed to a bush that blocked their view of what lied beyond them. He remained where he stood and let Michael and Stephen walk up to the bush and spread its leaves apart to reveal the source of their unknown enemy.
The three men all stared forward. Then, they slowly began to raise their eyes higher and higher toward the sky. Far above them, and stretching wide to each side, rose an enormous scaffold-like tower made up of a conglomeration of long, thick beams - both horizontal and vertical. Each of the beams was speckled with hundreds of dim, orange lights from the inhabitants of the tower. The base of the scaffold was square and reached across the landscape over a kilometer in each direction, while the body itself stopped on a common level with the mountain peaks. At the top of the tower, (silhouetted by the magnificent moonlight and tilted at a slight angle) sat a gigantic round dish. A spike-shaped antenna protruded from the dish’s center. It pointed towards the sky like a rifle waiting to fire.
“Incredible…” Michael uttered, astonished and gaping.
“It’s gigantic…” replied Stephen.
The co-pilot then came toward them and said, “We should be leaving soon.”
“Well wait a minute,” began Stephen. “Why don’t we go back and get scopes so we can take a closer look?”
The co-pilot shook his head and replied, “Because they seem to be uninviting of intruders here.”
He then pointed to a small clearing just beside the spot where they were standing. There, dangling in the twilight, like a victim pleading for help, hung some native animal on one of the enemy’s deadly spears. Although the carcass had obviously been decaying for many months, it still embodied a clear and frightening message that warned any trespassers to leave immediately, lest they should befall the same fate.
The co-pilot slung the blue bag down from his shoulder and set it on the ground. From it, he produced a tripod and surveillance camera. He hurriedly assembled the tripod and mounted the camera on top of it. He then began adjusting setting on the camera’s control panel, drawing Michael’s attention.
Stephen then surveyed the valley at the base of the tower. Through the thick mist that carpeted the valley floor, Stephen saw the outline of what he surmised must be a flowing river along the tower’s eastern support platforms. Apart from the gargantuan tower, Stephen thought the land there was beautiful.
Stephen’s attention was suddenly drawn by a brief glimpse of something peculiar. For an instant, Stephen could swear he had seen a pair of glowing red eyes through the mist near the tower’s base. They had only appeared faintly before being swallowed up by the massive metal structure.
A chill ran up Stephen’s spine. Perplexed, he started to ask Michael if he too had seen the eyes in the fog, but Michael was still watching the assembly of the camera. Because he was not sure what to say, Stephen decided to say nothing.
The co-pilot was finishing some adjustments on the camera’s focus. Once he got the full image of the tower into shot, he signaled the other men with a thumbs-up.
Stephen looked to Michael, who nodded with approval. The three men slowly backed away from the hillside and marched in the direction of the waiting shuttle.
Stephen could not help looking over his shoulder one last time as the distant apparition of the tower disappeared from view.
“It’s not safe to stay here,” Michael said. “They’ll destroy us.”
“We can’t leave either,” Stephen added. “We know all too well that they can ambush us in the forest.”
Michael nodded and continued pacing back and forth in the control room. Byron sat motionless as he listened to the other two men collaborate. Dylan Hamish stood quietly in one corner of the room. He wanted to be involved, but he did not want to intrude.
“We have only two options I think,” Stephen said. “One, we can give up. We can stay here and just let them have us. Or two, we can fight them with all we got. Make a final stand.”
Michael nodded. “I’d love to fight, but we need a plan. We’ve seen how ruthless and powerful they are in the field. We know they have powerful technolo
gy. They can decimate our entire city with only a few more blasts. And the ships are no refuge. Ours is still smoldering. We have nothing that can match them.”
Stephen nodded, solemnly wishing he could somehow cause the discovery of some new powerful weapon which could vie with the aliens’. But there was nothing. As Michael had surmised, they had nothing that could match them.
“Except their own weapon…” Byron announced. “That’s the only thing short of an earthquake that could tackle that tower. What if we used their own weapon against them?”
“Is that even possible?” Michael asked. He was interested, but skeptical.
Byron thought for a moment, processing the factors in his mind. “It may be,” he finally concluded. “Their weapon is reflected off two satellites orbiting the planet. It’s conceivable that we could take control of one of the satellites, alter its position so that it points back to the tower instead of us, and let them destroy themselves.”
“Wait a second,” Michael began. “How do we take control of a satellite?”
Byron swung around in his chair to face the computer console. He typed in a few keystrokes and a blueprint of the satellites appeared.
“They’re hollow on the inside,” Byron began. “They were originally designed to be manned I believe, but now they are controlled from the tower by remote. There shouldn’t be anybody onboard. We have our shuttle. It’s capable of space travel and it even has an airlock port on the top. Look,” he said, pointing on the diagram to a hatchway beneath the satellite. “There’s an entry point.”
Michael and Stephen were both excited now.
“How soon before the tower can fire again?” Michael asked.
Byron shrugged. “Hard to tell, probably around sunrise tomorrow at the earliest.”
Michael nodded. “Then we’ve got to work tonight. Dylan, round up your mechanics. They’ll need to outfit the shuttle tonight. Have it prepped and charged. Also take a look at the airlock ports. Make sure they’re working right. We need to assemble a strike team to infiltrate the satellite and control its navigation. You never know what we might find onboard. Get Ramses and Duncan up here too, they’re going to need to learn this diagram so they can plug in their own computers when we get there.” Michael stopped instantly. “Wait a second. What if they don’t fire? What if they figure out what we’re doing?”
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