Earthfall

by Rhett C. Bruno

  “Do I have a choice?”

  “You don’t.” Sage hoisted Zaimur up and dragged him over to the ship’s command console. “First I need you to tell your people to unseal the hangar and open a transmission with the Monarch.”

  Zaimur grimaced in pain. “You heard her!” he shouted up to his engineers. “Open it!”

  Sage grabbed his shoulder and turned him around. She glowered straight into his eyes. “Try anything, and you die. Send for help, and you die. You will never escape my sight, no matter how many days it takes. I was an Executor of the New Earth Tribunal, and nothing would bring me more pleasure than watching you die.”

  “I knew from the moment I saw you in that hangar on Ceres that there was more to you. An Executor all along. So that’s why Talon was so intent on stopping me. You were both with them all along!”

  Sage clutched his jaw tight. “I am with nobody. Now open the transmission!”

  “Anything for you, my dear.” He pulled up a HOLO-Screen and keyed the commands. His trembling fingers betrayed his attempt to pretend like he was still in control. “There you go. Won’t do you any good. As soon as this is over I’ll have them hunted to the other end of the Circuit. I’ll make sure you watch.”

  Sage punched him across the mouth. It wasn’t her artificial hand, but it was hard enough to make him spit up blood.

  “Captain Larana, can you hear me?” Sage asked when the transmission opened, careful to keep her gun pointed at the Morastus Leader.

  “Sage, is that you?” Larana answered.

  She took a moment to compose herself. She didn’t want to sound like she was in pain. “It’s me. Are you alone?”

  Larana took half a minute, and then responded: “I am now. What’s goin’ on out there?”

  “We’ve run into a problem. I need you and everyone aboard the Monarch to leave immediately. Leave the Mech, take the girl, and go.”

  “The hangar’s openin’. There’s plenty of time for you to get here.”

  “Captain, if you stay you’ll all die. I can’t have that. I know it’s not your place, but you need to keep her safe.”

  “Where’s Talon?”

  “I have to go. We’ll find you when this is done.” Sage glanced down at Talon’s motionless body. Even dead he was as handsome as anyone she’d ever seen. Her lower lip quivered. Another tear streamed down her cheek. “Tell Elisha her father has to save the Circuit.”

  She cut transmission before she could hear a response. Just getting those last words out was a challenge that had her lungs struggling for air. She leaned against the console, directly beside Talon’s body, and stared into his glassy, blue eyes.

  “Contact the fleet and tell them the issue here has been resolved,” she said to Zaimur softly.

  “You’ll never last with your wounds,” Zaimur said. He was sitting nearby, rubbing his jaw and trying not to pay attention to Sage’s weapon. “Let me call for a medic.”

  “Contact the fleet.”

  She was battered and bruised, but patience was a virtue instilled upon Sage by years of training. It was roughly two weeks to Earth from where they were, potentially less with how fast the Ceresian fleet would need to burn in order to beat Benjar there once he realized what was happening. She’d last as long as she had to. She had a mission again, a renewed purpose. It was one she never wanted, but Talon was dead and there was nothing she could do to change that. All she could do was ensure that he didn’t die for nothing.

  CHAPTER TWENTY—CASSIUS

  I Love You

  Cassius stared at a looming, bluish-gray orb through the viewport in the command deck of the White Hand. There were hints of brown here and there, and thin lines where streams of magma cut across the arid landscape. Plenty of people had looked at the planet and wondered what it used to be like. Even Cassius used to. But presently, he saw Earth precisely for what it was—a dead, rotting world being sucked dry of what few resources it had left.

  Earth was a shackle wrapped around the heel of humanity. To Cassius all they really needed from it was the element harbored in its core. And so he was going to break it open like an egg, and show the Circuit the truth. Humanity had truly evolved beyond the world which conceived them and could look to the stars for new Earths to find, like the Ancients once dreamed of. Survival was no longer in question and for Cassius a golden age was approaching, one of expansion and untold advancements in technology. All his species needed to do was look beyond their noses and see it was there for the taking.

  Cassius could hardly believe the day had come. The closer the planet grew the better he could see the battle already raging over Luna. With the mass of Tribune Cardo Yashan’s fleet having embarked to Ceresian space, the moon would fall quickly. Most of the anti-craft defenses there and on Earth had been around since the last war, and they wouldn’t hold up long against the number of ships Cassius had convinced Zaimur Morastus to bring.

  Rail-fire lanced across space, from ship to ground and ground to ship. Hunks of wrecked vessels drifted all around. The Tribunal city on Luna, which was nestled into a network of deep craters, was ravaged. Black lines of scorched metal and rock lashed across the Citadel at its center, as if the claws of a great beast had scraped across it. Only the Luna Conduit Station, hovering above its fallen tower, remained completely intact. Nobody but Cassius was bold enough to dare touch the work of the Ancients.

  He could make out the bulky outline of the Hound’s Paw floating over the Conduit, as if claiming it as the Ceresians’ territory. Explosions burst here and there around it, from the few Tribunal fighters that remained. It looked like a celebration.

  Directly outside of Cassius’ viewport were five former Tribunal freighters. On the exterior they were unassuming, wearing a layer of extra plating, but not much beyond that. On the inside, however, they were each being piloted by one of Cassius’ creations and in control of five Gravitum Bombs, each the same potency as the one which destroyed Kalliope. The sixth was in the cargo bay of the White Hand, being monitored by the android ADIM had damaged.

  Yet, even with all of that, as Cassius watched Earth and the battle surrounding it grow ever nearer, he couldn’t help but feel like something was missing. He raised his hand to his right ear, and stroked the com-link fixed to the inside of his lobe. ADIM, he thought, where are you? He hadn’t heard from him in weeks. As proud as he was that the android made his own decision, he’d always wanted for them to arrive at Earth together. ADIM was going to ensure that everything went smoothly from his end, but all Cassius could think about was how there was a cold, empty space beside his chair.

  The command console chirped that a transmission was coming through. He keyed the commands to open the feed himself before swiveling a HOLO-Screen around in front of him.

  The image of Zaimur Morastus appeared on it. He was alone. There were no girls or guards in the background, only him, appearing more exhausted then he ever had. His blond hair stuck to his sweating forehead and his cheeks were gaunter than usual.

  Cassius wasn’t surprised. Attacking Earth was no simple task. They may have been winning the present battle with ease, but the Morastus Prince had to know what was approaching. Somewhere in the dark expanse behind Cassius was the combined fleet of both Tribune Cardo Yashan and Benjar Vakari, intent on protecting the world they worshipped. Whether he had faith in Cassius’ plan or not, Zaimur didn’t have the experience of war to harden him.

  “You sure took your time, Vale,” Zaimur said. Even his voice had lost much of its former luster.

  “Ensuring the safe transport of our stolen weapon took longer than expected,” Cassius replied.

  “Of course it did. Well, it’s no matter. Luna’s surface is taken and it won’t be long before we secure the tunnels beneath. They knew we were coming, but you were right, there wasn’t enough to repel us.”

  “Excellent news. Shall I transport to Earth immediately then, or would you like to see them first?”

  Zaimur was quiet for a few second. “Earth,�
� he said. “I saw the scans. Scouts tell me the Tribune is burning through fuel and will reach us within hours. There’s no time to waste. We’ve been bombing the turrets on the surface around our target for a day now so you should be able to land cleanly. Supervise the delivery of the weapon to the Euro-Continent Mine before the Tribune arrives in full force.”

  Finally willing to hand over control, Cassius thought. Either war has finally broken him, or something’s wrong.

  “Zaimur, we need you focused for the meeting to come,” Cassius said. “Don’t let your—”

  “I’m fine!” Zaimur growled. “Now go make the Earth our hostage. As soon as you’re done, report to me.”

  “Only once you assure me that Benjar Vakari is on your ship.”

  “He’ll be here.”

  “ADIM and I will deliver the weapon to the Euro-Continent Mine at once then. Your men should expect to see an android with it.”

  It was the largest mining hole on the planet, where they’d planned to threaten the Tribune and make a show of force if necessary. A detonation there would leave Earth an even more unstable place, but Cassius had no intention of making idle threats. Unbeknownst to Zaimur, Cassius hadn’t stolen the Gravitum Bomb at all and he had six of them, not one. One for each of the deepest mines on the planet. The five freighters would hover high above the others, hiding in the clouds, and on Cassius’ command the androids would drop straight into them with their bombs.

  “I’m counting on you, Vale,” Zaimur said. He looked around, before sighing and glaring straight at Cassius. “We both know I’ll need you here to help convince Benjar we’re not bluffing when he arrives. Blowing the mine is a last resort.”

  “Like I would miss a chance for a face to face with Benjar?” Cassius snickered. “Just ensure that the defenses are down and my passage is safe. ADIM is controlling an escort for me, but I don’t want to see what would happen if this bomb meets a rocket.”

  “It’s safe. Now go.”

  Zaimur ended transmission. Cassius’ heart began to race like it used to when he was merely a soldier, not yet trained in the arts of the Executor. It raced like it had when an infant Caleb showed up at his doorstep, sent from a streetwalker in the New Terrene Lower City who claimed it was his. Cassius hadn’t looked upon Earth with his own eyes since the day Caleb was lost, and now he was passing over its moon and through a field of wreckage and ruin which was all his doing.

  He expected that the sight of Earth would’ve filled him with rage in years before. Presently, it was difficult not to smile. His chance at retribution was so near that he could taste it. There was some time before he would enter its muddy atmosphere, but he couldn’t even think about closing his eyes. He took out the HOLO-Sphere which held the recording of Caleb’s final moments on Earth, and placed it on the arm of his seat.

  “Here we are, my son,” he said. “At last.”

  The Tribunal Freighters controlled by his androids fell into a diamond formation around the White Hand. Only their scanners and piloting abilities could guide him safely through the debris. Cassius wasn’t used to piloting manually through a field of metal shards which may as well have been mines. The White Hand’s plasmatic shield was far more apt at deflecting energy-based attacks. With a weapon in his cargo bay as volatile as Earth, he didn’t want to reduce the Ceresian fleet to dust before Benjar even arrived. The freighters had been re-outfitted with dense plating precisely for the purpose of withstanding physical collisions and keeping them all safe.

  It took some time to reach Earth’s upper atmosphere from there, but Cassius couldn’t peel his gaze away the entire way. His androids’ protective shells had worked to perfection; they'd deflected wreckage both current and ancient.

  “Creator,” the androids spoke into his ear. “We have successfully entered the atmosphere of planet Earth.”

  Cassius’ seat rattled, and with it, his heart raced faster. He couldn’t believe what he was feeling. He was entering the atmosphere of Earth, as shrouded by clouds as Titan’s atmosphere was.

  “Proceed to your assigned locations,” Cassius panted. “Remember, if you’re asked, you are all ADIM.”

  “Yes, Creator.”

  Cassius could barely see the blur of the freighters branching off onto their own paths. His bones vibrated from entry, but that didn’t stop him from grabbing the HOLO-Recorder. He set it to play the embedded recording, and paused it once the face of Caleb was fully formed in light.

  “Look, Caleb,” he said. “I finally made it.”

  The White Hand pierced a layer of dark clouds and the surface of Earth was revealed. The gray, desolate landscape extended for miles beneath him. There wasn’t a color to be found except for a stream of magma glowing in the distance, running out of a massive rift in the ground.

  Cassius’ hands went limp on the controls of his ship. He hadn’t looked upon the true face of humanity’s homeworld since he was named a Tribune and had to take his vows while standing upon its surface. It looked no different. No more healed by the Spirit or the efforts Caleb had spearheaded. It was a planet ready to die.

  The White Hand rocked to the side. It was too abrupt to still be from re-entry. Cassius saw the reflection of an explosion off of the ship’s port side, and then another in front of him.

  So much for clearing the defenses. He snapped out of his trance, threw on his scanners and set the Plasmatic Shields to full power. Then he began weaving his way through the clouds, evading missile-fire emerging from turrets hidden throughout the arid plains with the ease of an expert pilot.

  According to his navigation systems, the Euro-Continent Mine was located a few dozen miles beyond the rift he was heading towards. It was familiar to Cassius. It was the mine he’d sent ADIM to study and the rift had been the location where Caleb’s laboratory once stood. There were no signs of the laboratory left behind. It was as if the very lake from which Caleb had pulled the plant sitting at the heart of the Tribune was peeled apart.

  Cassius evaded a spray of missile shrapnel as the White Hand darted over the rift. He knew Caleb’s last message had been recorded straight below. His eyes began to well up, his store of tears finally returning from all those many years of re-watching Caleb’s transmission. He glanced over at the projection of his son and there was no doubt why he was doing what he was about to do.

  The Ancients couldn’t. The Tribune’s faith couldn’t. Caleb couldn’t. Only I can save the Earth by driving our kind to finally seek out a new one. By finishing the job the Ancients started long ago.

  A flock of rusty Ceresian bombers soared in front of his view, taking the aim of anti-air artillery off of him as they pummeled the parched ground with explosives. The stilts of the Plasmatic Drill suspended over the Euro-Continent Mine glinted on the horizon. Bodies of fallen Tribunal Combat Mechs littered the ground around a hole that was roughly three hundred feet in diameter and black as space in its center. An array of Ceresian vessels was arranged around it, with ground troops dispersed between them. Dust swirled about it all, kicked up from the fighting, providing Cassius with an easy approach.

  He banked the White Hand around the drill slowly so that he could cleanly position the cargo bay ramp a short distance from the pit. There was no reason to risk anything happening to the bomb. He knew from experience that it was impossible to predict when the Earth would split open and spew out liquid magma.

  The landing gear touched down gently. Cassius wasted no time undoing his restraints and heading out of the command deck. His legs were slightly wobbly from nerves, a sensation he never thought he’d feel again. He felt alive. He picked the bulbous helmet of his enviro-suit off of a shelf beside the entrance to the cargo bay and placed it over his head. He’d been wearing the suit the entire journey—just in case.

  The door opened with a whoosh, and inside even the red glow of the damaged android’s eyes was drowned out by oppressive Gravitum blue. The bomb looked identical to the one from Kalliope, and Cassius was close enough to feel his appendages t
ingle. There was so much energy locked in the orb he was amazed he and ADIM had ever found out a way to control it.

  He placed his hand on the android’s shoulder and said: “My creation, it’s time. On my mark, deliver the bomb as deep into the Earth as the mine goes.”

  “Yes, Creator,” it said and started prepping the bomb for transportation. Cassius took a step back into the shadow as the cargo bay ramp fell open.

  The android didn’t question the order at all. The delivery was a one way trip, one never intended for ADIM. There was no saying what obstructions lay inside of the mine. Without all six bombs going off as deep into the planet’s mantle as possible, the cumulative blast wouldn’t have the effect Cassius intended.

  “Is this it?” a Morastus agent said to the android through helmet’s speakers once the ramp was open. By then Cassius was completely out of sight. The agent wore a space-worthy suit that served as armor but also kept him safe from the poisonous air and the exposed Gravitum. Cassius couldn’t decide which was more toxic.

  “Yes,” the android replied. It began to slide the bomb out along a hovering cart.

  “Lord Morastus said to expect a bot. Didn’t expect it to be half beat to shit.” He stepped into the cargo bay and circled around the pulsing, blue bomb. Cassius couldn’t see the man’s expression from where he was hiding, but he could imagine.

  “So this is it?” the officer asked. “The bomb that blew up Kalliope?”

  “A similar model, yes,” the android replied, continuing to drag it along.

  “Well get it out then! I’d rather not be around it very long!”

  The agent hurried out of the cargo bay, and the android followed behind as quickly as it could. Due to ADIM’s assault it was still slower than the others. It didn’t look back as Cassius signaled the cargo bay to close back up. It didn’t turn and show him its swirling red eyes and have a question only he could answer.

  Where are you, ADIM? Cassius thought again. He wanted his creation, his son, at his side. But it was only while watching a bad imitation of ADIM walk to its doom without a thought in its head that he realized how much.