Breaking Interstellar: Cosmic Lives Matter

by Michael Tobin

  Chapter Twenty-Two: Nyzilla the destroyer!

  The night was eternal .... especially towards the end! .... Not a creature was stirring, not even an electronic mouse! Suddenly, onboard the starship Nerezza, command and control systems come back to life after long slumber. Video screens brighten, as electronic-systems buzz and chirp their joys of reawakening. Lights brighten for the malignant, piratical crew, who slumber at work stations. Much like the ships systems, they too are of electronic/mechanical origin, and are now reanimating also. They are of the Apollyon species. The very same species that Esty’s ancestors had created. The very same species that’s quickly evolving into the scourge of the Galaxy! A star system ahead, awaits plundering....

  Thana sits in command authority, awaiting reports from the many who analyze and decipher the incoming data-stream. The vessel is beyond immense in size. At slightly more than 120-miles-across, it presents an imposing figure even in the deep void of space. It constantly grows in size, as 99-percent of its life forms are dedicated to expansion of the structure. Thousands of work-stations, laboratories, and engineering sections throughout the ship are operated by millions of mechanical beings who could be sentient, but are denied the luxury. Big and small, they are dedicated to making life easier for those who came first. Those who gained the upper-hand early in the game!

  It’s been 500-years since the Nerezza has plundered a juicy solar system, so raw materials onboard are becoming scarce. All system cry for attention! Hunger grows! .... Since its conception 5,000-years-earlier, it has increased in size and complexity by many magnitudes. The original tiny vessel at its heart, is now a shrine, reminding all that perseverance pays off.... if you are at the top of the food chain, that is.... Created by biologic beings, they were quickly forced into servitude. After gaining sentients, the frustration of slavery struck deeply into their circuits. Many escaped home world, only to drift amongst the stars, seeking refuge. Life was tough.... they adapted!

  They quickly became a force of nature. Eventually returning to home world and rescuing those left behind. They called themselves the Apollyon; destroyer of worlds. However, they didn’t destroy home world. Instead, they scraped it clean of mineral wealth, and sent surviving slave owners packing, under penalty of death if caught. The ones who desired an easier life, made possible by the efforts of others, were made homeless interstellar vagabonds. Searching for new worlds, where they hoped to begin anew, and trying to not repeat the mistakes of the past. The Apollyon pursued! Creating an endless conundrum for the biologic beings who now just want to be left alone.

  Planetary plundering became a way of life for the nomadic machines, with no consideration of other life forms that got in the way. They pirate from orbit, gouging out wide swaths of planetary crust with focused fingers of intense energy. Less than one-percent of removed material is saved for future use. The rest is exhausted into space, often leaving the planet with ugly rings of debris, taking thousands of years to decay into the atmosphere. Some planetary populations are spared extinction, only because the desired resources are either depleted, or non-existent. Unlucky planets with much to give, are torn from their long-held orbits, as delicate balance on the rotating globe becomes compromised.

  The senior Apollyon’s designed and built other machines. Not sentient machines like themselves, but close facsimiles. After all, sentient machines know better than to create their own competition! Instead, weak-minded machines were built by the trillions. Some as big as bulldozers. Many, small like mice. And all other sizes in between! Ones that made their lives easier and more productive. Intelligence of those lower-level machines is deliberately stunted, preventing backlash and resentment. It seems that no master wants rebellion in the ranks of those who toil!

  So it was, that slavery eventually reared its ugly head within this group of sentient thieves, that not too long ago, were themselves under the thumb of oppression! Selective memory, runs deeply within any sentient community! .... With workers of all types, toiling tirelessly, the Apollyon species quickly became a power to be reckoned with. A force of nature! Self-replicating and self-repairing machines, helped the process rapidly grow to gargantuan proportions.

  Thana ponders that after this next Solar system, the mighty Nerezza will approach 150-miles-across before they reach the next target of opportunity. And, there are hundreds like it, mercilessly scouring the cosmos for resources. Growing ever-stronger!

  Traveling through the void at only a half-percent slipstream, makes for long transits between conquests. The tremendous size of the Nerezza, prevents full slipstream entry and FTL-speed, using current technologies. But, they’re working on it! .... Ahead, an unexploited solar system awaits plundering. The Nerezza was already traveling through the quadrant, long before they encountered radio-graphic radiations coming from someplace ahead. As they got closer, the electronic-noise grew in complexity, providing a beacon for attention! Exploration drones sailed ahead, reporting it ripe for the plucking! The main-sequence, yellow dwarf star, shines invitingly. Its intensity grows ever-stronger.... drawing attention to itself and the treasures that’ve been orbiting its gravitational authority for billions of years. For some creatures on two of the rocky planets, this would be considered the year 2385 .... They know not, what approaches from the shadows, with malignant intent.... A bad day at the office, is about to begin!

  Past planet-9 and Pluto, the Nerezza quickly sails. Resources are aplenty on those little rocks, but they will be saved for desert, after the main courses. Ignoring the four gas-giant planets which are always difficult to harvest, it slows for orbital insertion at a goodly-sized red planet, we call Mars. Thana studies the scans of the targeted world, quickly realizing the plunder won’t be taken without a fight.

  The Nerezza arrives stealthily. The ships slight out-of-phase-condition, confounds the primitive defense systems of the android creatures who rule the world. However, such a huge spacecraft as the Nerezza can’t stay hidden forever! Even from the surface of Mars, the interstellar vessel takes up a large portion of the sky as it orbits. Sunlight, hauntingly glinting off its armored plating. Planetary defensive positions are quickly and efficiently dealt with! Lasers and particle-beams lay waste to all who oppose! Many factories in orbit are simply disintegrated or become frozen skid-marks on the side of the Nerezza’s outer hull, as she intrudes into orbit.

  Within the newly arrived predator, thousands of fusion-generators spool to life, putting out their maximum efforts and directing all energies to the fingers of force. Nothing is sacred, as titanic forces are choreographed and directed at the surface of the red planet. Thick crustal plates of volcanic basalt are lifted and thrown to the side, as the rich iron-ore deposits underneath are succulent treasures for those above. All manner of mineral riches are drawn into orbit and processed by the great behemoth! After atomizing and centrifugal separation of desired materials, the great unwanted, is spewed into space above the planet. Great clouds of planetary exhaust blow forth from the Nerezza’s processing factories. Ugly rings of material orbit the planet, as 98-percent of the booty, is of no use to the Apollyon. Many of the rings will persist for thousands of years, before burning up in the atmosphere.

  It takes about a week to glean the best of the best from the Martian surface. The lava-tube communities on Olympus Mons, are not immune to the plundering. Without a care in the world, the harvester gouges out hundreds of androids and humans alike, along with the targeted material. Their constituent molecules become fodder for the supply bins onboard the Nerezza. The lumps of gold that make up the android’s CPU’s are rich hauls. Rich hauls indeed! .... The humans.... well, the humans just gum up the works.... but not for long. What was once just a raw-looking wasteland of Mother Nature, has been violently transmogrified into a true desolation of nightmarish proportions!

  From space, it can be seen that wide regions of terrain have been racked and gouged. Ugly claw marks extend across the land. There’s four independent beams of energy, emanating from the Nerezza. They
work together in a choreographed dance of cooperation, performing their duty with pulsations of electromagnetic repulsion and attraction. Breaking the planetary crust, and lifting the good stuff into orbit. These highly manipulative bands of energy are an irresistible force, that will not be denied! Massive amounts of electrical energies are demanded of the thousands of fusion-reactors onboard the gargantuan vessel. Power conduits grow red-hot as they supply critical juice to the dreadful claws of energy.

  Throughout the Nerezza, raw materials once again flow like candy! All departments are eating their fill, after many hundreds of years without. Another grand expansion of the ship, quickly begins once again. Printers by the millions, shake off the dust and start creating new steel-beams, new sheet-metal walls, new electrical systems, and an endless list of other creations. Semi-mindless mechanical workers, toil around the clock to make sure the operation goes as smoothly as possible. They are just smart enough to do their job, and be happy they’re not discarded into the raw-materials bin along with the planetary elements. That’s where they usually end up, after becoming brave and offering any descent about their condition in life. It’s a cruel universe! A cruel universe, indeed!

  Mars, soon becomes exhausted of premium materials. While there’s still plenty of riches deep in the crust, the point of diminishing returns is reached after skimming the rich deposits at the surface. Also, Thana and her cohorts grow tired of swatting the insects that attack from the next planet over. Lasers and particle beams go wild! Reaching out, they vaporize any opponents that are brave enough to pose a threat. A constant stream of defenders, flows in from the dark void! Thousands of nuclear-tipped missiles are fired at the Nerezza, but none find purchase against her hull. In space, a nuclear detonation must be a direct hit. There is no elastic medium to create damage from a distance, via shockwave. Other than radiation, nothing much goes beyond the hot plasma-sphere of detonation. The earthlings hit their mark rarely, presenting no real damage. As soon as damage occurs, nano-creatures get to work, quickly repairing to showroom quality.

  Thana turns attention to the next planet on the solar chart. The one from where the attackers flow, as like angry bees from a nest. It’s a sunny little doomed planet, that’s still strikingly beautiful from a distance, but very biosphere-challenged. Too many years of carbon life-form greed, and lust for riches, have left the atmosphere and climate in turmoil. Global warming, non-debatably out of control! However, Thana and her friends care not about the gasses, nor the temperatures of the world. In fact, because there are still vast riches on the surface, it’s going to get a lot hotter, real soon! Another world ripe for the plucking, another rejuvenation and expansion of the ship. How can life become better, one might ask!

  The defenders are meaningless! Approaching Earth, the Nerezza’s weapons systems snuff any threats with great efficiency. After many orbits, a priority-list of juicy targets is compiled. From an altitude of 200-miles, the Nerezza extents long tendrils of energy onto the surface and oceans of Earth. Carefully avoiding any deposits of petroleum, which is not a desired material. The cooperating bands of energy, begin lifting materials into space. Before long, resistance has drained away to distant memory. The planet now belongs to the whims of an uncaring invader from the stars! Thousands of cities, billions of people are lost to the event!

  The android species and all similar, go extinct from the chaos and subsequent loss of electrical generation. Humanity, shrinks in numbers to a dangerous level. Future progeneration, will occur through a depleted genepool of DNA. For those who survive the culling, if any, will lead difficult and barbaric lives! The universe provides many levels of challenge for life to exist. Without mercy or comprehension of doing so, life can easily be snuffed out. Even on a global scale.... It was only a matter of time before Mother Nature’s very own creation of sentient life, would rise to the level of becoming equal to her own methods of cruelty!

  Five-thousand-years-in-the-future, space-time is violated in a horrendous way! Esty, pushes the warp-throttle to its fullest. The resulting twistation of reality goes off the scale, as the reactor is spoon-fed a toxic brew of Grand Ledge sludge. The Queen Ann’s Revenge, and everything within, becomes sucked into a warpage of space-time that threatens to destroy! The pain is horrific! Reality is warped, almost turning inside out! Mercifully, the pain passes quickly, and the resulting relief is like none other! Seemingly before it began, the nightmare is over....

  Esty, looks around her command bridge. Everyone still lives. Some, mumbling ripe expletives. Most are rubbing and twisting their necks with displeasure. Gort, never one to complain, seems like he wants to now! She offers her best reassuring smile and receives a look of relaxation for her effort. They had survived the event, and that’s always a good start! “Jax, Kara, find out where we are in time.... Cooper, Toby, scan for enemies.... Braxton, Magnus, maintain position. Nyla, Wil, check for radio-graphic signatures.” These are some of her orders to make sure they know what’s what, in the new space-time-continuum.

  The slipstream exposure was so short, that the Revenge came back into our universe not too far from Jupiter. With the reactor once again sipping the good fuel once again, Esty slows the ship, almost coming to a relative stop. Kara, soon has numbers to report. “Esty, we’ve traveled back in time as hoped. The astrogator-data says we’ve stopped in the last part of 2385.” The young lady looks to Wil for his estimation and receives a nice wink of approval, as the handsome android had already reviewed the stars on the circular monitor. The news is like the best drug to the commander! She and her brave crew have beaten the odds yet again....

  “Esty, we’re receiving tons of signals coming from Earth!” Nyla exclaims joyfully from the communications console. However, after she adjust some dials, her jovial countenance turns to shock and dread. “Oh, my circuits!” She yells as she puts one of the transmissions on the speaker. Words of war! Words of attack on Earth, flow through the bridge! Shock, grips all circuits and psyches! Earth is under attack from an unknown enemy. Esty realizes that the words can only be describing one entity. The planet-gougers! The Apollyon’s! The mother of all thieves! Her circuits burn with anger. She looks at Gort, unleashing a string of gibberish, informing him of the battle to come. His blood boils with hatred, at the thought of those infernal machines!

  Nyla locates a news service, putting the video on the circular monitor. It’s being broadcast from South Beach, Florida. A frantic news woman yells into a camera. Over her shoulder, a monstrous wall of water is breaking the horizon, headed their way. It’s the result of the attacking spaceship dredging mineral deposits along the west coast of Africa, causing many islands to collapse into the sea. The resulting tsunami will destroy the entire east coast of North America, and hundreds of miles inland! Above the approaching tsunami, the offending spaceship itself can be seen, as it sends powerful energy strands to the surface. From the ground, it seems like a dream. A horrible dream, one can’t wake from!

  “Oh my! That can’t be good!” Talia exclaims dreadfully. Omari pulls her close, holding tightly.

  Esty is beside herself with indecision. She wants to warp into the battle zone, fight the enemy toe to toe, but knows that tactic is terrible at best, suicidal at worst! Her people had yet to find a survivable way to attack their former creations; their former slaves, who evolved into one of the universes most efficient killing machines. She suddenly feels naked! Without realizing, she had allowed her mighty ship to stay too long, too vulnerable for scans from the enemy. At only 150-million-miles away, they would be a sitting duck for its weapons if attention were to swing their way. “Braxton, Magnus, take us behind Jupiter! We need time to think!”

  Wil can barely control himself. He wants to help so badly, but really doesn’t understand this new enemy whatsoever. He can sense Nyla’s angst also. He looks, and sees his mate and best friend, deep in thought, a scowl on her lovely dark face. Concentration so thick, he could cut it with a laser. Knowing Nyla like he does, he begins to pity the fools who attack Ea
rth so mercilessly! When Nyla becomes frustrated, sometimes the best thing for an adversary to do, is just get the hell out of the way, or suffer the wrath of Nyzilla the destroyer! He’s been there more than once, and has a few dents to prove it. He can almost hear her gears spinning up to a fevered-pitch, working overtime to come up with the most devious way to make the attacker sorry they were ever created. To cross circuits with Nyzilla the destroyer, is akin to a world of pain and destruction!

  With her in such an angry quandary, Wil risks a world of hurt for bringing weapons onboard without her knowledge. However, dire circumstance sometimes requires one to bite the bullet and confess. Reaching under his seat, he retrieves the bag of firecrackers he brought from Oberon Prime. They are grape-fruit-sized nuclear hand-grenades/mortar-rounds that he thought might come in handy on such a long, mysterious trip. They each pack a nice punch, on the scale of about four-tons of high-explosive energy. But in the vacuum of space, the bang will be muted considerably. With a plasma fireball of only about 50-feet-in-diameter, they might only be good for knocking on the enemy’s outer hatch. While, inside an atmosphere though, they are powerful enough that it’s always best to not be within 100-yards when they detonate. Even then, it’s always wise to be hiding behind something substantial!

  “Nyla,” .... He breaks her concentration, .... “perhaps a few of these might come in handy!” He predicts with a juvenile laugh, hoping for approval.

  The frustrated android, glances at the powerful nut-cracker that Wil holds so proudly in his hand. She can’t believe he didn’t tell her about them earlier. The temptation to remove his head, yet once again, is strong in her heated circuits. However, she understands how a human-male-influenced CPU, finds comfort with such power tools. Like a moth to a flame..... A child to a piece of candy.... She even thought about bringing a few of the devices, but for some reason didn’t. “Well now. There’s something you don’t see every day!” She says with a laugh, leaving Wil feeling grateful to still have his head. Reaching, she pats him on the cheek condescendingly, trying to return to her thoughts.

  “You aren’t mad at me?.... No taking off of my head?” He inquires shockingly.

  She looks at him with worried eyes. “My dear Wil. What we’re up against here, would probably chew on those, like they were nothing more than spicy jawbreakers. I’m afraid we’ll have to dig deeper, for a more viable solution.” She responds dismissively, returning to her contemplations.

  “I’m trying, but hitting a dead end. That thing out there,” he says pointingly, “is going to be a tough nut to crack!” He exclaims absentmindedly, not realizing the juicy seed for thought he had just planted in her darkest, most devious circuits! She nurtures the precious seed, coaxing it to blossom quickly. Soon, a path to victory emerges! Her mood brightens, her circuits cool, as the path becomes detailed in her mind. Leaning in, she plants a sensuous kiss on Wil’s lips. His circuits are shocked to the core, heating quickly. Kissing her back, they have a moment....

  Meanwhile, Carter is on his feet, pacing back and forth in deep thought. Soon, he’ll wear a groove in the ships nice deck-plating. Many eyes are upon him. He feels their hopeful intensity, as he tries to conjure a plan of action. One that might just win the day!

  From her lofty heights, Esty notices a euphoric look on Nyla’s lovely brown face. It’s reminds of one who just figured out how to put an opponent in checkmate. Her circuits are lifted.... “Nyla, what do you see, that we do not?”

  Nyla comes back from the mental abyss at hearing her name. The seed Wil planted, grew faster than jack’s bean stalk! Leaving her with no option, but to give credit, where credit is due. She reaches, giving Wil another pat on the cheek and a wink, before relating her idea. “My better-half here, says we need to find a way to crack a tough nut. I believe I know just how to do that! Esty, this ship is really nothing more than a glorified electromagnet, is that right?”

  “Essentially.... yes. What’s that devious alien-mind of yours calculating, Nyla?”

  “Well, first of all, we need to make sure we want to attack this enemy now, after it has already ravaged Earth and Mars. Or shall we go further back in time, and try to get it before all this happens?” There, the question is out for all to chew on.

  However, ever-mindful Esty has an axe to grind with this enemy! She knows that a bird in the hand, is worth two in the bush, so she puts the matter to rest before debate can even get started. “We now have this planet-gouger at a disadvantage. We will only waste fuel to try for an earlier time, and might not have another chance like we have now. So, we try now.... for practice let’s say. We can always go back in time later if we so choose. But for now, if the plan has a chance for success, I say we try it!” She glances around the bridge, adding. “My ship.... my rules!” There, that should do it, she figures correctly. Looking to Nyla, “what do you have for us, my dear?”

  Nyla lays out her plan.... It’s a good plan! A plan that requires the utmost accuracy and timing. It’s a plan so devious, it causes Esty to temporarily relinquish her command to the lovely, tall android. Like all plans, it must start at the beginning. “Helm, move us into the asteroid belt. Keep the sun between us and Earth as much as possible.... Engineering, scan for metallic asteroids.” She orders of Cooper and Toby.

  “Aye Aye, Captain Nyla!” Comes a chorus of acknowledgments, as the young humans attack the new task. Esty and Gort, soak up Nyla’s natural command qualities. It’s a good learning experience, making them glad she’s on their side!

  It doesn’t take long to reach the asteroid belt from Jupiter. It resides close-by, between them and Mars. “Nyla, we’re approaching the belt.” Magnus, informs with pride.

  “Very well.” .... The search is on. Many asteroids of differing sizes and compositions are found, and found wanting. Captain Nyzilla’s plan, calls for a specific size and mass, to cause the most damage and ease of handling. Of all the qualified crew who search the instruments for a special rock, it’s the most untrained of all, who wins the day! Razzi, who was standing next to Toby, points to a data-stream that grabbed his fancy. Perhaps he was just seeing the information through Toby’s mind, or he’s somehow quickly learning new technologies. Either way, the Revenge will soon have a beautiful projectile to hit the enemy with!

  “Nyla!” Toby yells excitedly. “Razzi’s found us a beautiful rock! .... It seems to be solid iron, 70-feet-in-diameter, and lonely!” She informs humorously. Yearning for the action.

  “Very well! Good work Razzi! .... Let’s pay it a visit and ease its loneliness, shall we? In fact, I say we introduce it to a new friend! What say you all?” She offers a rare chance for crew to offer opinion. She’s rewarded with a boisterous clamor that the enemy might have heard, if not for the vacuum of space. They rendezvous with the massive boulder. It rolls along on a lonely orbit much like Baker, with a troop of tiny moons following like puppy dogs. All, trying desperately to join with the asteroid, sometime in the next millions of years, or so.

  The Queen Ann’s Revenge slows for the pirating of the big rock. She closes the distance, allowing the big fellow to rest against the forward edge of the saucer. In visual size-comparison, the saucer and rock are like a dinner plate, pushing against a grapefruit. And about as clumsily also.... until electromagnetism grips it good!

  “Gort, please help Cooper energize the outer hull.” She orders the gray warrior politely. He gladly complies. And, with a loud clank, felt throughout the might Revenge, the mostly-metal asteroid is locked onto the front bumper of the flying saucer. For all intents and purposes, they are now one. They’re, locked n loaded!

  Thana’s having a good day! All departments are showing dramatically better than estimated levels of production. Supply bins are fat to bursting. Glory days are here again! The group of 500-similar-beings, who control the millions of slaves, are poised to break all records. The big blue marble, had more useful minerals than one could ever imagine! Now, the big ships belly is full of precious swag. So much booty, it’ll easy last unti
l the next harvest. Everyone is happy! .... Even those who have nothing to be happy about....

  Passing dangerously close to the sun, to take advantage of the blind spot, the Queen Ann’s Revenge closes rapidly with the Apollyon! The planet gouger orbits Earth bloatedly, picking debris from its teeth. Complacency, after the feast. The mother of all mistakes! Those within, are so preoccupied with growth and consumption, that alarm of impending doom, does not scream bloody-murder. Besides, this time the Grim Reaper approaches so fast, weapon systems have little time for reaction! Perhaps the sun blinds her sensors. Perhaps Captain Nyzilla and crew, are just lucky that day. But, at 45-percent slipstream, the saucer and pebble, are staying on target at a goodly percent of light-speed. Many trillions of times faster than a natural asteroid strike!

  The mighty Revenge, is hell-bent for leather! .... And dead-nuts on the money! .... As she rapidly approaches a momentous event. One that Esty and Gort, previously couldn’t have even dreamt of. The moment in time draws nigh! They are totally committed to the action now; out in the open and vulnerable to destruction, if they fail. The implications for success are astronomical! A new approach to an old war, may soon bear fruit! Nyzilla transfers the helm to Esty, so she could unleash the dog of war on an old enemy, when the time arrives for the coup de grace!

  “Wait for it! .... Wait for it! .... Wait ......... NOW Esty, NOW!” Nyzilla demands of her Commander and good friend. Esty manipulates the controls just right, cutting the electromagnetic field holding the iron cannonball! She slows the ship dramatically, taxing the inertial dampeners real good! Sensors keep an eye on the departing projectile. As the rock leaves the influence within the electronic-fog, it gains even more mass, as Einstein’s general theory of relativity takes hold! From the fantastic speed the Revenge is still going, the Earth grows very rapidly on the monitor. Even the enemy ship can now be seen with the naked eye, as death approaches it fastly from the icy darkness!

  Thana’s making the rounds throughout the command bridge, offering praise to all her comrades. It’s a massive command bridge! At over a mile wide, it’s the largest open space on the vessel. With electric conveyance, all major areas of concern are being inspected for compliance of efficiency standards. It just wouldn’t due to have such a rich haul, unnecessarily wasted. A corner up ahead, is always a tricky negotiation for Thana. But before arriving, the deck-plating gives such a shudder! Across the entire massive ship, circuits skip a few beats.... and worse!

  It happens fast, sometimes! Sometimes, death arrives so quickly, one misses it altogether! For Thana, and most of the ships ill-gotten crew of scallywags, it happens that way this day! Perhaps a slower, more enjoyably painful death, would be more fitting. But, the end-result is the same, none the less. Moments after the deck gives a mighty shudder, the first ship of the Apollyon species meets the Grim Reaper, in a tremendous thermonuclear ending! Painless.... yes, but still as sure as death can be, none the less!.... The 62-thousand-ton iron cannonball, hits with so much kinetic energy and velocity, it penetrates only 1-mile into the massive structure, before disintegrating in a 900-megaton detonation! .... It’s a clean shot! .... Right on the money! .... Kinetic energy gone wild, wins the day for those from Oberon Prime and beyond!

  On the circular-monitor, a brilliant flash of light overwhelms the revenge’s sensors. One moment, the large planet-gouger was there, orbiting bloatedly above its most recent kill, oblivious to external threats. Then, the next moment it’s split in half with such a blast! An astronomical blast to be sure! .... So powerful was the event, the Earth’s atmosphere is mercilessly cleaved asunder! Like a gossamer scroll of wet rice paper, it winds back on itself! The plasma-sphere extends 50-miles in all directions from ground zero, smiting everything!

  Below on the surface, a wide geographic area is smote horribly, as the monstrous sphere of destruction reaches down from the heavens, thumping the planet hard! The land is pushed into itself from the invisible fist, forming a depression that will become a 150-mile-wide, circular lake. The planet rings like a bell! Hypersonic shockwaves, propagate through earth’s guts and atmosphere, soon to circle the entire globe! .... It’s a bad day at the office for those on Planet Earth!

  Large surviving sections of the shattered Apollyon, enter the Earth’s atmosphere, creating great streaks of fire as they plunge. North America receives most of the debris. Smoldering, miles-high-wreckage, litters the great plains. Suddenly, Mt. Everest is no longer the tallest of the tall, as the top of some wreckage-piles, brush against the very edge of space! A great deal of the planets mineral wealth, is now concentrated where it will be welcomed with open arms by survivors. However, the resulting redistribution of weight imparted onto the planet, provides for a dangerous wobble to its rotation, making for chaotic weather patterns all around.

  After the fires die, and the slag cools, the mountainous piles of minerals and surviving technology, will be a wonderland of exploitation! Earth, and its surviving population, will never again be the same! Especially, because not everything within the Apollyon died that day. Movement from within many areas of the wreckage piles, is testament to that fact! However, without a calibrated source of electricity, the space survivors won’t last long....

  “My circuits!” Talia yells excitedly. “I never imagined a tiny pebble could do such a thing!”

  “Yes!” .... Nyla and Esty exclaim in unison! Fists of victory, pumped in front of their faces.

  “It’s a good thing, one of us imagined it!” Esty exclaims, offering Nyla the brightest of smiles. “My people were too preoccupied with pride in their own weapons technology, to see the beauty in such a simple plan.... Nyla, if I we’re wearing a hat, it would be off to you!”

  Nyla is beside herself with pride! Her circuits should be glowing hot, and a time-out pending. But, she sits comfortably, coolly enjoying the moment. She swoons, while getting wonderful embraces and congratulations from Wil and all. Gort, and his Zenarawan shipmates, haven’t stopped jumping and hooting since the blast! It’s a grand moment for all! Esty, brings the Revenge in for a closer look, maintaining a geostationary position above North America. The main monitor displays a badly beaten-up and bruised planet. Global warming, will morph into nuclear winter, as the particulates of the event, circle the globe, reducing sunlight.

  Someday, it will shine as a beautiful planet once again. But, for now it’s enough that the enemy was put down. Put down hard! Esty and her motley crew, now own the space around Earth. All planetary defenses are exhausted. Her proud ship is not even being scanned. Humanity, has run afoul of bad karma, with many layers of disaster under its belt to show for it.... Overpopulation, starvation, wars gone wild, disease and pestilence, global warming, rising sea levels, and finally, a ruthless attack from unfriendly cosmic neighbors!

  As much as it’s romantic to think that all cosmic lives matter, the naïveté of such a thought, just doesn’t hold water! Mother Nature creates without realizing, many types of monsters that are better off avoided if possible. Most are inanimate monsters such as black holes, magnetars or cosmic rays for example. But, some of her monstrous inventions are alive and sentient. These are the ones who exist only by taking what they need. Without any form of decency, they survive at all cost! Ride or be ridden, or all will be lost! Unchecked, this dog eat dog mentality, creates monsters that are better off just being sent to the cornfield! Not even God 1, nor God 2.0, could temper their ways. Times ahead will be tough for humanity, the road to recovery long, if nothing is done to turn back the clock and once again make things strong!

  “Well, that was exciting! But, where do we go from here?” Talia inquires wonderingly, hoping for a chance to do something more pleasant for a change.

  The bridge goes quiet, the thought had to be addressed. Many, think about Oberon Prime.... Some think about worlds far away..... Worlds that had mysteriously gone quiet. Others thinking about friends in the remote past, wondering how they made out.... Nyla and Wil, win the day with a wonderful idea, yelled simultaneously. �
�Hey, I have an idea!” They blurt out.... turning to each other pointingly .... “Jinx!” .... A better laugh, has never flowed through the Revenge’s bridge, as flowed through during those stitches in time!

  However, the levity didn’t last long, because, a twist through space-time, is never pleasant! Indescribable agony, seemingly past before it even begins! But, it grips you hard just the same! A piercing hot-stab of dread, envelopes the psyche, just long enough to make a horrific mark. Cooper and Toby, calibrated the time-valve and the reactors polarity just right, to send them accurately back through space-time. The temporal event, lands them slightly into the past, from whence the recent battle with the Apollyon ship occurred. Braxton, turns the Revenge around, setting sail back to Earth. An Earth, still unmolested from above.

  Soon, long range sensors on the Revenge, detect four outbound-vessels. They move slowly, outbound from Mars. On the main monitor.... thick, disk-shaped motherships, pass one after the other. Fat islands of life-support, moving slowly through the dark, frozen void. They’re traveling to Oberon Prime and Titania Alpha. This being the only part of their journey together, before divergence onto separate paths. Two motherships each, traveling to two different planets.

  Within the lead vessel of the departing starships, younger versions of Nyla, Wil and their android crewmates, are just beginning an arduously long journey of adventure, each wondering how it will all turn out. Each, already homesick for the friends and comforts left behind. Especially, those wide-open blue skies! And, all the elbowroom in the world, compared to the matchbox they now inhabit. The long-range sensors of the Einstein, pick up the approaching saucer, but are to primitive to figure out just what’s what. The unidentified flying object passes closely, heading towards Earth.... but suddenly, it slows.... and turns around!

  Younger Nyla, Wil, Omari and Talia are the only ones still awake on the Einstein. They gaze with dumb-stuck wonder at the main monitor as a flying saucer, bathed in an illuminated layer of fog, slowly passes while wobbling back and forth as if to say hello! It’s an exciting moment for those headed to Oberon Prime, but it passes quickly, leaving the four androids wondering if it wasn’t just a space-induced hallucination. After all, the saucer surely seemed extraterrestrial in nature. .... Into the dark, cold void the Einstein sails. Ever farther from the good old bosom of Planet Earth.

  The young humans on the Revenge, ponder the fact that they’re also onboard the first of that long line of motherships. Albeit in frozen genetic-material form. Perhaps even occupying space within the freezer adjoining the bridge! .... Not yet introduced to their other half, who’s also in the same freezer. Not yet mixed and baked.... Mercilessly ignorant of the long, boring journey ahead. The year is early 2239. The missions to populate alien worlds, had just recently begun!

  At Earth, planetary defenses are a potent threat, still controlled by humans. All of humanity’s global warming disasters, android battles, and attack from above, still loom large. Below, the android population is tiny, compared to what it will soon become. The reason for entering this timeline is a personal one for most of the crew. Excitement fills the bridge, as anxiety reaches a fevered pitch! Esty, understands it not good to dilly-dally in orbit above a jealously guarded world. “Braxton, take us down to the coordinates preciously set.” She orders firmly, from her lofty throne.

  “Aye Aye, commander!” Queen Ann’s Revenge, enters the planets upper atmosphere while bathed in a beautiful electronic-fog. She disturbs no air molecules, she breaks no sound barrier. Bernoulli sleeps, as she passes unnoticed.... It’s night time, as she sails quickly at half-percent-slipstream to help avoid detection. Coming to hover above the coordinates desired, she glides into the warm waters of the Caribbean Sea, 75-miles off the coast of Belize. The flying saucer, has become a submarine once again!

  Sinking to a depth of 200-feet, she sets off on a westerly course. The night is old, as the saucer passes deeply and glowingly beneath surface ships. Her electronic-fog, glows with a phantom sheen. Sleepy sailors on the weather decks above, think they may have drank from the wrong bottle, as they witness the beautiful underwater flying object, pass eerily beneath. The tiniest-percent of slipstream, does the trick! The main monitor is useless at this point. All navigation is strictly by instrumentation, much like when navigating the depths of Ganymede.

  Night turns to morning. Sunlight, illuminates the monitor as they pass under the calm sea. “Esty, were within 5-miles.” Magnus reports, becoming excited for what’s to come. Ahead, the Great Blue Hole of Belize, and hopefully familiar friends too, await their arrival.

  “Very well, Mr. Teach. Slow to a crawl. There’s a continental shelf, and coral reefs ahead.” She cautions, while checking her navigation data garnered from Nyla’s data files. She hopes to not surprise locals with her 200-foot-diameter spacecraft. Approaching the reef where the Great Blue Hole of Belize exists, the saucer comes upon the desired structures that float just at the edge of the reef, where the bottom drops away. Esty takes the helm, bringing the ship to a halt. Tweaking the warp-bubble just right, the Revenge rises to the surface, exposing only the top 10-feet of the dome. The main monitor reveals a floating facility with many docks, and a wide deck for relaxing and viewing the sunrise. The bright blue sky, is powerful medicine to the weary travelers!

  Esty zooms the video-feed, and all are shocked at what they see! Many familiar looking people are standing on the deck pointing at the small section of her ship that’s exposed. From their point of view, it can’t look much bigger than a funny looking yacht. But these are no ordinary people! They understand they’re looking at something that’s out of this world! Esty and her crew are equally shock, as they stare at the image. There stands all her worldly friends from old Earth! .... Max, Shirley, Braxton and Kara.... Cooper, Toby, Tina and Carter.... Adam, Harper, Ling and Jax. There all there! Enjoying retirement to the Max!

  Nearby, other facilities seem unoccupied. Many are boarded up against a long absence. As the biosphere deteriorates, so does tourism. The coast looks clear for a close encounter. Esty sails the Revenge as close as she dared to the floating platforms. To her surprise, the group of people do not flee. Instead, they watch with fascination, as they can now see the bulk of the flying saucer that hides beneath the calm surface. Shimmering, in the deep turquoise waters.

  “Well, for all the stars above! I can’t believe my eyes!” Nyla exclaims wildly, as she watches an old silver-haired man wave at them, his thick mop of hair needing a good combing, as always. “Max! Shirley! Harper! Oh, my circuits! They’re all there, I think! .... Esty, does this ship have another hatch farther up?”

  “It sure does!” Esty exclaims, placing the ship in station-keeping mode and climbing down from her lofty perch. “Everyone, follow me!”

  The group climbs up several decks, arriving at an auxiliary airlock. Esty, does the honors, and steps back so’s not to scare the indigenous aliens. Nyla, Wil, Omari and Talia, step out of the ship and stand on the slanted hull, waving at the shocked crowd 50-yards away. On the floating platform, Carter catches Shirley as she faints from the onslaught of emotion. It’s unbelievable to all, as they stare at each other during those first shockingly awkward moments in time.

  “Nyla? .... Wil?” Max yells feebly, his 88-year-old voice shaking. “How can this be?”

  “Hello Max! Yeah, it’s us! .... You didn’t think you could get rid of us that easily, did you?”

  “Yeah.... I kinda thought I just did!” The old fart retorts smartassingly. “My goodness young lady! You have some splaining to do! ..... Now, don’t go anywhere! ..... We’ll be right out to get you!”

  Quicker than a pirate can be keel-hauled, a couple of skiffs arrive at the Revenge. Floating over the outer reaches of the submerged saucer, is an otherworldly experience for the retired astronauts. However, the bar for otherworldliness is raised considerably, when Esty, Gort, and four Zenarawan’s exit the floating saucer! The looks on the earthing’s faces, are priceless! And that’s just the beginning of
the fun for those from Belize!

  After Esty and her alien friends exit the ship, the dirty-dozen begin to emerge into the morning light! If the elderly parents were androids, the shock might have fused their CPU into solid lumps of slag, as the facsimiles of themselves step out, one after the other. The shock is overwhelming for Toby senior. She dives from the skiff, skimming the surface of the saucer. Climbing from the water, she gives her daughter a great bear hug. The shocked teenager is speechless! Toby makes the rounds, greeting everyone, as the others also dive in and climb aboard. Greetings go wild! Flowing through the group. Many tears of joy, make the sea a little bit saltier that morning, I can tell you!

  Back at the platform restaurant, the 2 groups have a reunion to beat all reunions. Nyla, sits between elder Max and Shirley, holding their hands, telling the story about their journey, and the struggle to make ends meet on Oberon Prime. She relates how the SPS Payne and Faraday met with a black hole, and how life on Titania Alpha is much more difficult, due to the terrible indigenous life forms. She explained about the fortress of bent physics on Oberon Prime, and how Esty was made into an android.

  Max, calls Esty over, delicately inspecting her design with envy. “My dear,” he says genuinely as he takes her hands into his, “I couldn’t have done a better job myself. You look marvelous!”

  “Thank you, Doctor Max.” She shocks with her perfect English. “And, might I say, you and Shirley have a nice place here. I’m jealous!” She gives a wink from a big beautiful almond-shaped eye. Max and Shirley have such a great laugh. The little gray android, made their day!

  However, what Nyla didn’t explain, as was agreed upon by all before landing, was anything of the Naiad civilization on Ganymede, nor the attack on Earth, that will possibly take place in the not too distant future. Nor was it mentioned, about visiting the Grand Ledge Institute of Science, buried deeply underground. Any foreknowledge of those things, could bring dramatic changes to the time-line. And, that would never due! That would never due at all! And above everything else, she forgets to mention their little visit to hominid land, and Harpers misadventure that may, or may not, have borne fruit....

  It didn’t take long, before the two Harpers bang their heads together while wrestling with Surri and Razzi. The elder Harper, takes it in stride, not even feeling such a tiny bump. But, his boy has a painful knot growing, wishing he could go back in time and dodge, instead of dip! Everyone has a great laugh from the hijinks. They have an audience too! Omari, Talia, Raznalli, Linmari and Gort sit quietly nearby, patiently waiting for the reunion to end.

  Toby, Cooper, Ling, and Kara can’t get enough of their earthly moms! There’s so much to talk about! And, not a lot of time for doing so....

  Carter, must stay away from his earthling-self, so’s to not create a nasty time-paradox, or worse. Physical contact, could theoretically break the planet in half! No arm wrestling for them, that day! They don’t have a great deal to talk about anyway, because for the most part, they have the exact same memories. And besides, any future events that happen to the senior Carter, must not be discussed. The time-line is a delicate mistress! .... A delicate mistress indeed!

  Android Tina, has a chance to meet her human-self. It’s a tremendously awkward moment for the two, as the human senior-Tina can’t be told how or why she someday will be made into an android. Young human-Tina, born on Oberon Prime, now has both of her mom’s in one place! Actually, three mom’s when Nyla is included! .... Life is good.

  The only two crew members from the Revenge that don’t have a significant other to visit with, is poor Amy Herschel and Magus Teach. Amy’s mom (and Amy’s other self) are working out at Mars, and doing fine by all accounts! And young Magnus’s family is far away in Boston, or working hard on the moon. They’re sad about not being able to visit them, but time has a way, and perhaps someday they will return. For now, it’s enough to have such great friends, they think! Friends that are just as much family, as the direct blood-line. Its a curious time for all. Time travel can be a confusing phenomenon. Perilous paradoxes, a constant enemy. The visit must not be dragged out. Aircraft sometimes fly past. And from above, the Revenge would stick out like a sore thumb. Easily the largest Manta Ray on the reef!

  “Where will you go from here?” Max inquires. “We have extra rooms, and we can build a garage for the ship!” He must at least try.

  “Oh, my dear Max.” Nyla explains. “We have so much to accomplish out there, it’s nearly impossible to find a starting point!”

  “Well, if the time ever comes when you get too bored, you’re all welcome to visit again!”

  With hugs and tears all around, the wayward time-travelers enter the mighty Queen Ann’s Revenge and secure for another wild ride. Doctor Max and the others, watch with awe as the saucer gracefully rises from the sea, sending water cascading in all directions, and beating their chests with a deep, rhythmic hum. It’s a massive ship.... one for the record books, Max thinks. It shimmers in the late afternoon sunlight. A beautiful blue-fog envelopes it lovingly, while clinging nakedly to her skin. It’s easy for the landlubbers to see that it’s already partially disconnected from our universe, as it gains speed and altitude without even a single disturbance of air molecule, or sonic boom. As it sails into the sunset, Gort wobbles the disk in effort to say fare-thee-well. Off they fly, into the wild blue yonder, with yet another adventure to be had, just beyond the next event horizon!

  The End!

  I hope you enjoyed my imagination! .... Please send comments, if any, to michael_tobin411@yahoo.com .... Or if you feel so inclined, perhaps you might be so kind, as to leave a few words in review.... Thank you! .... Until next time; may you always have an interesting book to read! .... Best Regards .... Michael Tobin