by Luigi Robles
“Pathetic. ‘Can’t wait to see what happens.’ OK.” Joan sniggered. “You’ll see what happens next.”
“Very nice response. Thank you for your time,” Lu said. “Let’s try to find one more.” The camera orb followed the reporter as he searched for one more person to interview. “Sir, how about you? What do you think about our first visit to an alien civilization?”
“Do you really wanna know what I think?”
“Yeah, that’s why I’m asking…” Lu sounded like he was regretting his choice.
“You wanna know what I think? Fine. I’ll tell you what I think. I think it’s all a cover-up. There are some messed-up things going on, and the government has been lying to us. I—”
Joan switched off the news. If there was one thing she couldn’t stand, it was a conspiracy theorist. People who would put their own thoughts above the hard and readily available evidence. Though she knew that she would be turning the news back on in a few hours, a moment of silence with her thoughts would come in handy. She needed to focus.
Stupidity. It seems that we’ll be plagued with it until humans cease to exist, Joan thought as she adjusted the heat on the soldering iron. But that’s not what matters right now. Right now, the only thing that matters is the fall of Kya. I will restore the council once more, and Kya will fall no matter what. She will fall.
“She will fall,” Joan said through gritted teeth.
Ever since Kya barged into the council’s fortified bunker and murdered Cross, the head of the council organization, Joan had revenge on her mind. She firmly believed that the only thing preventing the council from wielding the power of Sodenia was and had always been Kya. But if Kya was removed from the scenario, the council would quickly rise and surpass its former glory. She was sure of it. After all, there wasn’t another being on Earth that could do what Kya did that night when her boss was slain. Fain and the flight crew might put up a fight, but it wouldn’t be a problem. Not even Truman could stand against the council; he would eventually be overturned by the council’s manipulation of politics. It was that cursed android, the would-be human, the only one who didn’t play by the rules.
According to Cross, Joan, among other things, was one of the deadliest humans alive. Joan knew this because Cross would often repeat it during his nights of heavy drinking. “Joan, do you know why I hired you? Do you? You know it, right?” Cross often asked the same question.
Though his drinking habit was one of the things that contributed to his downfall, Joan believed he wasn’t too far off when he called her the deadliest human alive. Among her long list of skills were special ops, advanced hand-to-hand and weapons training, multiple languages, structural and electronic engineering and much more. Like most of the people who had witnessed the first Acram attack firsthand, Joan had set out to learn as much as she could and prepare as much as she could. But she did so in the opposite direction than most people took. She didn’t want to have anything to do with the U.S. military or any kind of military body.
For Joan, there had been only suffering in the aftermath of the first alien attack. She pounded on the table as she remembered the cold.
Joan was only eight years old when the Acram scouts leveled a nearby city. Though the city she lived in wasn’t directly affected, the aftereffects of having a nearby city erased off the map were catastrophic. There was a major influx of people, supplies quickly dwindled out of existence, and the city’s power grid went completely offline in the days that followed.
At first it had seemed as if they would be able to ride out the storm even through the blistering cold front. For the first few days without power, things were still normal. The hover still had enough battery left to get supplies, though there weren’t many to be had, and there were plenty of batteries throughout the house to keep them warm. The main battery cell in the house told them they had power for five days. Mama and Papa had enough supplies to last for weeks.
Things weren’t bad for them at first, but just two days later, the main battery cell in the house ran out of power. When Papa went to go check what had happened, he found out that there was someone leaching power out of the battery cell.
All wasn’t lost; they still had a fireplace and plenty of wood to burn to try and keep the house warm. But after a few nights of lighting a fire and sitting by the fireplace, Joan was beginning to think otherwise. As soon as the fire started, people would knock on their door, asking to be let in. The first few nights hadn’t been as scary. Papa would simply shout at the people that were knocking at the door to leave them alone and go away. But as the days without power went by, the outside world got more aggressive.
Joan began to fear the coming of night. She hated when Papa would light the fire, even if it was to keep the house warm.
“Papa,” Joan said as she helped Papa place the wood in the firebox. “What if tonight we don’t light the fire?”
“It’s too cold. I reckon we don’t have enough blankets.”
“And are you sure the stove is still not working?”
“I check every morning, honey, to see if the gas is back. You know that. I wish there was another way. But there isn’t.”
“OK, Papa.”
“Don’t worry, honey, I’ll go stand by the door and yell at anyone that tries to bother us, huh? Enjoy the fire together with Mama, honey.”
“Come on, Joan, it’s the only way we can keep warm.”
“OK, Mama. Papa, be careful.”
“I always am, you know that, honey.”
Joan went to sit next to her mom on one of the couches that surrounded the fireplace. The house began to feel much warmer, and for a second or two, Joan thought that they might be able to have a good, warm night after all. Maybe one or two more days of this, and everything would go back to normal. Power would be restored, and the military would send more reinforcements. Joan could hardly wait.
Mere minutes after the fire had been lit, there were already people trying to get in the house. Though this time, they seemed more desperate.
“Open up,” a stranger yelled from outside.
“Yeah, we know there’s lots of room in there. It’s only a few of us.”
A few of them? Joan thought. Before today, only one person would yell at the door, if anything. Now there was a group?
“Get lost,” Papa yelled from behind the door as he went to grab a nearby bat. That was the first time Joan had seen him hold a bat near the door. Maybe he also felt that this time the threat was real. “There’s no room for you here.”
“Look,” the stranger from before yelled. “Either you let us in, or we’ll let ourselves in. You decide.”
“Merry, this isn’t looking good,” Papa said in a low voice as he got near the fireplace. “Grab Joan and get some blankets. We might have to leave and go to the nearest shelter.”
Mama didn’t hesitate to comply with what Papa had said. She quickly got up and led Joan to her room by the hand.
There was back-and-forth yelling from Papa and the strangers outside, but it had become indistinguishable, and all they heard was multiple voices talking at once.
“Joan, honey,” Mama said. “You’re going to have to help Mama, OK?”
Joan nodded.
“While I go get some blankets,” Mama said, “grab the warmest set of clothes you can find and put them on above these ones, OK?”
Joan nodded and went to her closet. She looked for the fluffiest, thickest clothes that she could find and started putting them on.
There were loud banging and scuffling noises coming from the living room. Joan’s stomach felt like it had left her body, and she was afraid Papa was in danger. Seconds later, Papa came running into Joan’s room with a bloody bat in hand.
“We gotta go now,” Papa said frantically. “I got one as he was climbing through one of the windows. But there’s a lot of them, and I think they have weapons.”
Mama didn’t say anything. Instead she grabbed Joan by the hand and headed out of the room. They made t
heir way out of the house through the back door. The blistering cold made itself felt with every step they took further away from home. Everything outside was icy and white; it had just stopped snowing a few hours earlier. Mama and Papa wrapped themselves in the blankets Mama had gotten from Joan’s room.
They walked for about twenty minutes without saying a word.
“Why is it so cold?” Papa asked as he adjusted his blanket. “It gets cold, but never this cold. Does it?”
“It has gotten this cold before. We just don’t feel it because we have power, and the heaters are always on. But cold fronts usually do drop the temperature this much.”
“It’s going to be a long night,” Papa said, with his breath visible in the cold night.
“What about the military patrol?” Mama asked between shivers as they made their way to the nearest shelter.
“There are like four of them for the entire city,” Papa said. “That won’t do us any good. If there was a way we could call them over, maybe. But even then, they probably have their hands full with all this sacking going around.” Papa pointed to some homes with broken windows and opened doors. “We’ve got to hurry; it’s the only way.”
“Joan, honey,” Mama said. “The shelter is like an hour more from here. You think you’ll be OK?”
“Yes, Mama,” Joan said, even though she thought she might not be able to make it. She had never experienced that kind of cold, at least not for such a prolonged period.
It had to be well into the night by the time they reached the nearest shelter, but as soon as they got there, things weren’t looking good for them. The gates of the shelter were closed, and there was no one in sight to open them. The lights were also partially off inside the shelter.
“Look for some kind of doorbell or intercom,” Papa said as they walked up to the gate.
Joan saw a white button attached to a speaker plate next to the booth, where a guard would normally be sitting. “What about that one, Papa?” Joan said as she pointed towards the small white button.
“That’s the one,” Papa said as he walked hurriedly towards it. He pressed the button as soon as he was able to reach it.
The speaker began to emit a loud, ringing song right after Papa pressed the button. Hope began to make itself present in Joan. She imagined herself, Papa and Mama walking into the shelter, getting another set of warm blankets and maybe some hot soup.
“Admissions aren’t until ten am,” a voice behind the speaker said lazily. There was a click shortly after, followed by a dial tone.
Papa pressed the button once again and got even closer. The speaker rang a few more times, but it was clear that someone had picked up.
“Sir, sir, please don’t hang up,” Papa pleaded. “We’re a group of three, and we have a child with us. Please, just let us in the building. We don’t need anything else right now. Just let us in so we can bear the cold.”
“I’ve already told you,” the voice behind the speaker said. “Admissions aren’t until ten am. If you want to try to get in, then I suggest you come back at that time. But good luck with that; this shelter is well over its capacity.” There was a click once again, followed by a dial tone.
Papa sighed and pressed the white button once again. As soon as there was a sound on the other end, Papa began talking.
“Please just let my wife and daughter in,” Papa said.
Joan felt her eyes tearing up at the possibility that Papa would have to stay outside.
“Look, I already told you,” the voice behind the speaker said, this time with a clearly angered tone. “No one is going to go out there and open the doors for you. Go and try shelter B if you’d like. If not, see you at ten am.” This time there was no hanging up sound or dial tone, only a busy tone on the other side of the speaker.
Papa pounded on the wall. Mama got up behind him, trying to calm him down.
“It’s OK, it’s OK, it’s OK,” Mama said as she hugged Papa. “We’ll just try to go to the next one.”
They tried to make their way to the next shelter, but an hour of walking later, Papa and Mama decided to stop and rest.
“Honey,” Mama said. “We’ll stop here for a little while, maybe until the sun comes up and warms things a little. Papa needs to rest.”
They stopped near the wall of a building that partially shielded them from the cold air. It was as good a place as any considering the surroundings. To one side there was only an open field, and to the other there were empty locked-up buildings, few and far between. Joan didn’t even know if they were heading in the right direction.
“Are you alright, Papa?”
“Yes, honey, I just need to rest a little bit before we move on.”
Joan wondered if Papa had been injured in the scuffle with the intruder back in the house and they were just not telling her.
They held each other and tried to keep warm waiting for sunrise. Joan hugged her parents, attempting to keep them warm.
Her parents didn’t make it through that night. They died of hypothermia.
As much as it still hurt and probably always would, Joan knew well those were things of the past. She had to focus and be ready to put all of her accumulated experience into a single goal. She would take from humanity what was taken from her at a young age: hope.
“Sorry,” Joan whispered. “But I must remove all obstacles, and I must start with the largest one.”
7
Lost
The journey back to Earth from Doka was eerily quiet for Pycca and the rest of the flight crew. For the last nine-and-a-half hours, no one had been talking, and only half an hour remained before they reached Earth space and Sodenia would have to decelerate.
What everyone had witnessed was on par with the word extraordinary, but not in a good way, that much Pycca knew. The amount of power a single one of those machines had displayed was something she thought she would never see in her lifetime.
A single machine had disabled all of the flotilla’s weapons and the anti-air weapons of the Ochilenean capital. Pycca couldn’t begin wrapping her head around how they would combat such a threat. Only one thing had come to mind, and it was an obvious move—cut all incoming communications off permanently, and if not permanently, mechanically at the very least. She would submit her suggestion via the proper channel before she left the ship. She was planning on leaving Sodenia for a day or two as soon as she got back home, if they would allow it.
Aside from the Immortals, Pycca had many things weighing her down in her heart and mind. The way Fain had made her feel as he took a step towards the Immortal had left her shaken. To think that the man she was falling for could just throw in the towel at any second didn’t give her any confidence.
What the hell, Pycca, she thought. Is this really what you’re going to spend your time thinking about? A boy? I am so disappointed in you. As a matter of fact, I think I’m going to stop talking to you, at least until you realize just how much you are worth. Fain should be fighting for you. He shouldn’t be confused about what he wants. And that brings me to the second point. Is he still confused, or has he decided yet?
Pycca stared across the bridge towards Larissa. She too sat in her station, lost in thought. The only difference was that she was perfect. Everything about Larissa screamed perfection—her beauty, her posture, her dumb extra-cute new hairstyle and even her intelligence. Pycca sighed as she compared herself with the goddess across the bridge.
Just kill me now and let this all be over, she thought. I’m so tired of competing with impossible odds. She has every right in the world to be with Fain, if that’s what he wants.
Pycca felt her eyes beginning to water.
“This is your captain speaking,” Fain said, probably addressing the entire fleet. “We’ll be reaching Earth space in t-minus 90 seconds. Medical bays, please stand by.”
Pycca turned back to her station and tried to keep herself busy for the remainder of the trip. She decided not to add further fuel to the situation she was in. She w
asn’t going to think about it.
Sodenia came out of faster-than-light travel, and stars as well as far-off planets began to materialize. They were only some 300,000 miles away from Earth, a ten-minute safety ride to Earth if Fain stepped on it.
Though it had been less than ten minutes, Pycca felt as if an entire half-hour had passed, if not more. She really didn’t want to be there anymore. She needed to breathe. But not Sodenia’s purified air; she wanted the air back on Earth.
“We’re back home,” Fain broadcasted. “Prepare all relevant data for a full report. This is your captain out.”
“Captain,” Pycca said as she stood up from her station. “Permission to be dismissed.”
Fain looked back at Pycca with a clear frown on his face and simply nodded, granting her permission. Pycca then turned and began walking from the bridge.
“Hey, what’s the matter?” August asked as Pycca walked by him.
She didn’t answer and continued walking, exiting the bridge swiftly. She made her way to the only place on Sodenia where she could clear her mind. The levitation machine room near the helm of the ship was her preferred place to go when she needed to think.
As she walked into the machine room, her mind began to calm down. Pycca had helped rebuild the room straight out of ESAF engineering school. It had been her first and longest project on board the ship.
She let out a sigh as she picked one of the levitation machines to sit next to and lean on. She spent a few minutes trying to clear her mind, to feel like herself once again and to remind herself why she was there in the first place.
Her moment of relaxation was interrupted by three knocks on the door.
You have got to be kidding me, she thought.
“Pycca, can I come in?” Larissa’s muffled voice made it through the door.
Pycca banged the back of her head slightly on the levitation machine and sighed.
