“It looks like the Marinas Trench only you know not underwater,” he said. Lt. Barker had switched to autopilot after plotting a small course on the dropship’s terminal. We were inside one of the most proficient weapons with one of the most accurate systems devised in the history of mankind. The ship was able to account for near-instant reactions and debris that swam around us. It even calculated the movements of the daemons that were lingering behind.
Michael and I wrapped up the bodies of Blair, Bran, and the pilot. “Three down, four if you count Ed and another hundred if you count those that died while in stasis and when the daemons blew that fucking hole in the ship,” said Emily who came over to help us. The rest of the team was huddled in the cockpit watching as the computer continued to plot our course.
“They deserved a better death than that,” said Michael.
“We all knew the stakes coming here,” I said.
“How many died in stasis?” asked Michael. Both of us had been unaware. Even though Khione industries had sworn there was little risk we all knew there was a disclaimer. A warning before entering inside the deep sleep.
“About 24 maybe 25, not that many when you consider how many of us there were but still more then estimated,” she said.
“How do you know this?” I asked.
Emily held out a small tablet that she had been carrying in her jacket.
“It’s streaming the entire thing, this entire battle broadcasting it back to Earth with different feeds from our squad and several others,” she said.
“So they are broadcasting this? Like a live TV show?” said Michael.
“Not quite. It’s public and it’s live but only a few have access to it right now, mostly military and scientists. Same thing they did with the drones when we first encountered the daemons,” she finished.
“So we’re almost like celebrities?” Michael laughed.
Both of us waved towards Emily and her tablet.
“It’s not filming from that stupid!” she said then pointing towards a small stud that was attached to the collar of our jackets.
“We are all the camera, and if what I have heard is correct then we are all broadcasting simultaneously while several dozen groups of coders do their best to create and maintain algorithms to send the right information to the right people. I also know it’s a two way street. There is a slight delay given how far away we are but the signal is broadcasting on a light spectrum. Another experimental program we’ve become unwilling participants in,” she said smiling.
“I’m not sure how you can smile right now,” said Michael.
“Fuck you, you were just telling jokes about us being celebrities,” she said in return.
“Damn never heard you cuss before, two years of training even fighting withered and not a bad word that whole time,” he said finishing with, “plus I’m an asshole. I never liked Blair anyway. I feel bad for Bran and the pilot but like Jake said we all knew what we were getting into when we signed up to become human weapons.”
“Fine, you’re right, I’m sorry. This is just a lot, I miss my family, I miss my friends, I miss the world we lived in,” she said.
“We all do, that’s why we’re here,” I chimed in.
For a split second Michael and Emily made eye contact. I swear if you were there you would have smiled as it seemed like sparks were beginning to fly. Our team had lived and worked and trained together for two years but never had bothered to really get to know one another. You, Michael, myself we broke contact with our families years ago. Before the event even happened. The most conversation I had with my parents since you entered the dreaming had been a few times a year to hear how they were doing and to tell them I was alive. They were grateful of course just as I was grateful they hadn’t fallen ill or into the dreaming. My father, a soldier was re-activated and went with my mother to defend areas in New England. After Chicago we got back in touch and I told him how Michael and I had enlisted. How we had developed powers and that it would be awhile before we would be able to speak again. I never told him about this mission. For all he knew I was safe in Alaska away from the true terrors of this war. I wanted to leave it that way.
Your parents were nowhere to be found. We weren’t sure if they had joined the dreaming or they were just dead. Michael didn’t spend too much time worrying about it. As far as your other siblings. They were alive and they were fine. You were the only one that fell into the dreaming.
A load moan burst from Jackson’s mouth. He squeezed his eyes shut, silently hoping that with each passing second that somebody would ease his pain and take him away. Cassandra rushed over to him and began to heal him. Blood poured down from his eye lids.
“We’re entering some kind of weird field around the daemon ship, as far as the ship’s sensors are concerned it thinks we’re entering the atmosphere of Earth only with a little less gravity,” said Lt. Barker who immediately began taking back control of the ship.
“Daemon ships approaching from the side,” said Nate.
“Which side?” shouted Lt. Barker.
“Left! Sorry Right! I meant Right!” shouted Nate just as we felt something hit the right side of the ship.
“Remember we are riding inside a giant bomb I would rather not blow up before we find out what’s buried inside that trench,” said Lt. Barker.
“We can take a couple hits, we’re not damned yet,” said Nate who began programming something from the co-pilot’s seat.
“What are you doing?” shouted Barker.
“Creating a program to track the daemon ship’s coming our way, well, giving what we have an update. This piece of shit is practically useless its like they are countering our radar,” Nate replied.
Just as Nate finished his coding. The monitors which had been displaying few red dots gave way to an area filled with red dots.
“We can now see individual daemons, ones that aren’t inside dropships, remember how they took down the drones the first time we tried this several years ago,” Nate said.
We looked on in horror.
“That’s why they recalled their grunts,” said Lt. Barker.
“Yeah, they can fly,” said Nate pointing towards a little red dot that was heading straight towards us.
One of the pilot’s escorting us came through the comm.
“I’ll be brining you in, just keep the bird straight,” he said as the red dot disappeared.
Nate began fiddling around with the terminal again and several dozen blue dots appeared. The cockpit which before had seemed lonely was now full of hope.
“I’m happy to see everyone’s alive out there,” said Lt. Barker.
“Happy to be at service, you are all that’s left,” said the pilot.
“All that’s left? You mean to tell me the Perseverance?” asked Lt. Barker.
“No, Perseverance is fine. In fact the Captain is brining her closer to the fissure. They are going to swing left and provide cover fire for us. Another daemon ship broke through the hangar after you took off and we were only able to launch about half the fleet. The daemons at the moment are still outgunned. They used half their ships to ram us taking out the other VTOL’s. There’s you, me, and a about forty others still in the air that didn’t lose their mind for whatever the hell that was that happened a few minutes ago,” said the pilot.
“What’s your name son?” asked Lt. Barker.
“Chiru, and who is it that I have the pleasure of escorting?” he asked.
“Please let me say it,” said Nate looking over at Lt. Barker.
He shook his head and gave the ok.
“The eight immortals,” said Nate cheerfully.
“Nice name, hope you live up to it,” said Chiru.
Emily pulled up Chiru’s name from the tablet she held. Another benefit of having a whirlwind of information. In his career he had been shot down four times; during his last crash, he was in the ruins of Chicago right around the same time we had been sen
t to receive the artifact. Fuel had splashed on his face just as the wreckage of his ship began to ignite. He was covered in severe burns but yet he fought on despite being in serious pain and almost blind. He killed about twelve daemons on his own using the same rifles we were using now. He then made his way almost thirty miles before finally being picked up by U.E.D forces. Once his wounds had healed he was back out there. He was rewarded an offered an officer’s chair but he refused telling the U.E.D he much preferred to be on the front lines. He spent the last year preparing for this mission and accompanying the Perseverance on her maiden voyage to Mars. He genuinely believed that victory was possible. Reading this aloud put our minds at ease. If there was anybody that we wanted watching our sides it was Chiru.
“Be back gotta fly ahead and take out a few more dragons,” Chiru said.
“Dragons?” asked Nate.
“Nickname we gave the flying daemons, not sure what to call them but they have wings, claws, and sharp teeth so we just went ahead and called them that,” said Chiru.
“Actually they are called Cerbere,” chimed Nate.
“Sorry ‘Mate that name is too hard to pronounce, doesn’t roll of the tongue or feel as exciting,” said Chiru back.
“Wait so the daemons have names?” asked Emily.
“Yeah I’m surprised you don’t already know about that with your tablet and all,” said Lt. Barker.
“We didn’t exactly study them while we were training, though you think that would be important,” she said.
“I studied them,” said Nate, “so the rest of you could focus on your powers.”
“So what are they?” she asked.
“Three types we know of so far, the regular grunts that look like raptors from hell which spread across Chicago and Europe, they are called ‘Legion’, there is a variant of them called the ‘yokai’ too that we’ve encountered in Europe. The yokai seem more feral like they have gone wild. Then there is the Cerbere, named for a daemon raven not the three-headed dog. They are the flying ones, the ones that look like Baphomet with wings though some of the larger ones do look a lot more in line with medieval depictions of dragons, hell they probably put the idea there. Then there are the Morax who look more like men fused with bulls. Then there is the Ronove and Berith. We think they are like engineers. We believe there are more. Probably several different races and genders in fact, possibly different cultures too based on how some of them in Europe behaved. They all want the same thing though, the destruction of Earth. Names or what we call them aren’t really important,” said Nate.
“You don’t have to be a dick about it,” she said.
“Know your enemy,” said Lt. Barker, “she’s right, information is power and you should have all been taught more about the daemons then you were.”
“I just need to know how to kill them,” said Michael.
“I agree,” I said supporting him. I didn’t care then and I don’t care now how many names you give them. They were all monsters. Monsters that took you away from me and I was going to make them suffer. Whatever hell they crawled and flew out of would be a paradise compared to what I had in mind for them.
“Four O’clock!” shouted Chiru.
Lt. Barker turned the drop ship scraping against the side of a daemon that Chiru had missed.
“Sorry about that, can’t catch ‘em all,” he said.
“What the fuck was that about,” said Lt. Barker.
“Nothing, should be another few ten before we are close enough to enter inside the fissure, get ready because we have no idea what is waiting for us inside,” Chiru finished.
“They are closing in on us,” said Lt. Barker.
“We can’t help, you have to find another way,” shouted Chiru who’s ship was starting to take damage.
Another pilot doubled back heading towards our rear. He was caught mid air by one of the Cerbere which then latched itself onto our ship.
“We’re in an Earthlike atmosphere right, meaning we can breathe and not worry about our eyes popping out like we would in space,” asked Michael.
“You’re not thinking?” said Nate.
“Will it work?” Michael asked. Nate shook his head yes.
“Everyone grab a mask and buckle in, Jake, Jackson, Todd, you are with me, open the back hatch,” said Michael.
We did as he ordered. Each of us grabbed a cable and clipped it to our the center of our torso and upwards to a latch near the cockpit. We opened the back hatch and began firing our rifles at anything that moved. Michael and I stood at the edge of the abyss. All around us it still looked like we were in space. Like we were surrounded by the night sky. In front of us to my right I could see Saturn nearly filling the horizon. After several minutes we managed to take out two maybe three of the winged creatures as they moved around us like vultures scavenging for prey.
We were a few minutes away. We watched through Emily’s feed as Chiru and several others moved in tight formation taking out one daemon after another until there was nothing that stood in our path. Lt. Barker ordered us back to our seats and shouted at us to strap in. He had lost control. Something deep inside the fissure was pulling us forward. Over the next several seconds we lost contact with Chiru. All the red and blue dots disappeared. Lt. Barker fired the reverse thrusters but it was too late we were swallowed by the darkness. Emily’s feed went blank. The lights went out. Power stopped working. We felt ourselves falling. For a moment I thought I had gone blind and deaf as if all of my senses had somehow left my body. I didn’t feel sick. It was more like astral projection. I felt like I was standing up staring down at my own silhouette.
Into the Abyss
Do you remember that time we were racing to my car in the cold. I had just bought that car maybe a few months before we met. You ran to the door in forty degree weather. We were about to go to the movies. Another superhero film had opened that weekend. We were both excited. It was the beginning of fall our favorite season. The leaves were just beginning to turn red, orange, and yellow. You were wearing one of my hoodies and one of my Tee shirts. Below that you were still wearing flip flops. When you reached the car you yelled out “I win” like we were in some kind of relay race. I reminded you I had the keys and that you still had to wait for me. You laughed and smiled as I unlocked the doors. Since I sat down first I told you it was a tie. You were nearly out of breath but you kissed me anyway.
Only a handful of films were made after the event happened. Most depicted a war against the daemons. Showing a war we would win. For years those were the only popular science fiction movies. All the other stories aliens seemed irrelevant. Even the major publishers became overly cautious about what they released and how. Most everything was released digitally at that point. Going to the movies meant leaving the safety of your space. Going out mean having to leave a loved one alone in the dreaming. It seemed as if half the people that fell into the dreaming were the creative types. The filmmakers and authors of the world. A handful of bright open minded scientists. The dreaming didn’t care about age, race, or even gender, it just seemed to pick at random. You and I both smiled all the way to the theatre.
3:27 am.
I woke up screaming again.
I forgot to take my medicine. This time I knew I needed help. I called the number you had given me once. A specialist. Someone you said could help me deal with some of my problems. You said they had helped you. I knew that was the only way I would be able to get any of this out in the open.
These nightmares I kept having. Other worlds. Worlds on fire. Space battles, aliens, angels and demons and the end of time.
His name was Dr. Leer.. He asked me to meet him at his office about an hour away in one of the cities most urban areas. He was a tall man, Egyptian descent, probably in his late thirties. He walked with a cane. He had served as a medic in the military and had retired soon after a helicopter crash. He had several degrees in various medical fields and psychology focusing on PTSD patients, and drea
m interpretation. His office was just as I imagined it. Perfectly clean with several full book shelves. Pretty cliche.
"Please no hipster bullshit" Those were the first words he said to me,
“and no conspiracy theories either. I am here to listen and help you the best I can without prejudice or ignorance. Now so long as you understand me we can go and we can begin to unravel the truth behind your so called nightmares." I felt like I already liked the guy. He was very direct, straight to the point. He didn't clutter shit up with small details about this and that.
So here I am. The middle of one of the largest cities in the world, an urban jungle and I am talking to a former officer about dreams. I never in a million years imagined I'd be talking to anyone about "dream interpretation".
"So first thing I have to ask you." He paused. "Are you a daemon?”
I felt shocked. Why is this the first thing everyone has to ask. What the hell did that mean?
“No,” I proclaimed. I felt hesitant but I didn't let it show in my voice even though he must have sensed it.
"It's alright, I’m a daemon,” he said straight faced.
I looked him up and down. I felt a pain shoot down the side of my neck like I was being stabbed a million times over by tiny pins and needles.
“Just kidding,” he said comfortingly. The pain subsided.
"What are you talking about? What does this have to do with my dreams?" I said knowing very well the word had everything to do with my dreams. The only problem was I couldn't explain anything else. The dreams in the desert. The nightmares of daemons coming to life and chasing me down as a child.
"Sometimes when someone dies, the images, the pain lingers on. From what I read you died a few months ago. A total of eleven seconds if reports are correct? Did you take the medicine?"
"I tried." I replied knowing that I did take the medicine just not on nights when I was with Vee.
Sleepers (Convergence Book 1) Page 7