The Miserable Planet #2

by Jacob Lindaman

camera…uh…a tool that will let us see what she sees.” Inside of his mecha suit he spoke to Calvin, “OK, now.”

  Tuck projected an image from the top of his helmet. A holographic video displayed before them. The professor, Avers and Postulis were flying over trees and moving very quickly. Though they were not very high Avers held the camera in front of the vehicle. Tuck could see where they were heading. A large clearing had been cut in the middle of the forest. He saw the professor’s arm cut into the field of vision pointing to the clearing. The vehicle slowed and circled around. Tuck zoomed in. The professor was right. A large army waited in the distance. A few flying machines hovered over the camp like watchful buzzards. The professor did not go any closer.

  He looked up at Hermenes and Pepla whose eyes remained fixated on the holograph.

  “He told the truth.”

  The two women looked up; their hearts now broken.

  “There is little left of the Amazonian Kingdom. There will be nothing left when the swarm of the North plunders our cities and our fields.”

  Suddenly, the holograph went out. Only static projected from Tuck.

  “What’s wrong?” Pepla asked. “What happened?”

  “I’m not sure. Calvin, what happened to the feed?”

  “Sir, it seems that it was disconnected.”

  “That camera is controlled remotely right? By you or me?”

  “Correct. Which means that it must have been destroyed.”

  Tuck looked in the direction the flying craft had gone. Far off a small plume of black smoke rose above the trees. Then another and another. They were getting closer.

  He checked his defenses. Calvin confirmed they were running to their maximum available potential. His rifle was ready as well.

  “Dig in girls. We may be on the verge of combat.”

  He hid behind the barn. The women waited there with him. He zoomed in panning the sky. There! He saw them. They were moving fast. Very fast. But they were being chased by no less than a dozen other flying machines. They were firing at them and thankfully, missing. What the professor’s ship lacked in firepower it more than made up for in velocity.

  He raised his rifle steadying himself against the side of the barn and riddle off a few rounds. One of the machines jerked back and dropped beneath the trees. But the other pursuers only seemed to poor it on. He fired again taking down another ship. Two more. Three more. But they filled the sky.

  The professor was near now, but he did not slow. Was he not going to land? Quickly, he circled the barn. Postulis and Avers extended their arms. Were they supposed to jump on? What were they doing?

  The professor yelled something unintelligible. Finally, he slowed, but did not land. He circled once more. This time Hermenes latched onto Postulis’s hand. Pepla grabbed for Avers, but missed. The next time around she made it. Tuck watched Avers as she pulled her onboard. She looked up their eyes connecting briefly. In that moment he caught the first honest emotion on her face that he had ever seen; sorrow. Then before he knew it they were off and the air was still.

  He thought for a moment what to do next. The thought of Aver’s sad face distracted him. Just like a little puppy dog.

  Mechanical whizzing replaced the quiet sky. He dropped three more birds. Their lifeless carcasses exploded in a ball of thick black smoke in the field near the house.

  He took to the forest. The ships were not able to find him beneath the trees, but he ran anyways. Which way had the professor gone?

  An hour passed, but it seemed a minute. He rested against the trunk of a tree. “Well Calvin, should we make for Amazonia or do you have another destination?”

  “Sir, entering Amazonia would be hazardous with the pending invasion.”

  “That’s why I keep you around. Reminding me of the things I already know. So where then?”

  “I am unfamiliar with this terrain.”

  “Are you saying you don’t know?”

  “Affirmative.”

  Just then the holograph display popped up in his faceplate.

  “What’s this?”

  “It appears that the camera was not destroyed after all.”

  The video showed the tops of the forest. The camera was aimed out the back. Parts of Postulis and Pepla wavered in from each side.

  “She’s showing me something isn’t she?”

  “A goodbye message perhaps.”

  “Calvin are you recording this? I want you to analyze and map their travel.”

  “Sir, that will only show their path in relation to where they are now and where they stop.”

  “I know, but if I can find something familiar from the video I can follow the course you plot.”

  “Very well sir.”

  The video continued for some time, but it became increasingly fuzzy. Calvin warned that the course he plotted would be less and less accurate as the clarity of the video decreased.

  “Wait! What is that? They’re following a river or stream of some sort. Calvin where is the river? Didn't someone say something about a lake earlier? Do you have that on your map?”

  Calvin searched his records. He had mapped the terrain they crossed on their way into Nething. They crossed two streams. Both led north.

  “Then east we will go. Until we reach a stream. Then we will follow it north. And I bet we find them.”

  The last thing the video displayed was a sudden change in direction. The camera pointed up and then it went out completely.

  He used the boosters on his legs to help him cover more distance. Within ten minutes he reached the river.

  Turning north he followed it for several miles. It grew wider and slower. Calvin confirmed this was an indication that they were close to the mouth. Finally, the course he plotted lined up with the course of the river they had traveled.

  “The video went out half a mile ahead.”

  He trudged on.

  There it was. The lake. It was huge. In fact, Calvin could not detect any side other than the shore they stood on. Tuck scanned the surface. “There!” He zoomed in. It was debris and it looked like it was from the professor’s ship. Yes, there was the red knob floating a hundred yards out. Did they crash? Where were their bodies?

  “Do you think they drowned?”

  “I cannot sense any living organisms in the water although you should be aware that fluids greatly hinder my ability to detect such things.”

  He looked to the sky. The sun hid behind purple clouds casting dark red and a sliver of orange through the atmosphere. As he stood there pondering his situation a chorus of irregular humming sprang from the forest. It was the flying machines and there were many of them spewing their black smoke into the sky.

  His decision was made for him.

  He ran into the lake quickly sinking in his metal suit. After turning his boosters on he was able to steer himself towards the wreckage. Most of it was still slowly sinking. The light from above grew dimmer until he was in complete darkness. As he sank he lost his sense of spatial orientation. Then to his surprise a little orange glow appeared further down.

  The orange blip grew into an impressive neon spectacle. The luminescence radiated as far as he could see. A thousand buildings outlined in every color spread all around him.

  He forgot his place and time. Calvin offered his reminders, but Tuck was too perplexed to process any other information. Paying his boosters no mind he sank quickly. That is, until a beautiful mermaid suddenly popped up in front of him. She put her hand into his and with her gently tug guided him towards one of the buildings.

  She entered through the bottom. Water filled the lower half which he now recognized was more of a mushroom shaped room than a solid square building. The walls were transparent. The mermaid let him stand on his own
as she curled up around a moist spongy ledge above the water.

  “Your friends are here,” she motioned with her arm to the wall. Outside was another mushroom structure. In it Tuck saw the four women and the professor. “They told me you would be coming. You are safe now.”

  Wow! What a rush. Hope you enjoyed the adventure. Here’s a sneak peak at the cover of Issue #3.

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