by Chucho Jones
“The power of energy creation. Beautiful,” Kha Tse said in awe of the sight.
The energy manifestations rested on a nebula filled with glorious colors composed of star dust. The atmosphere seemed to be surrounded with Vitro-Plasma. Luminous beings dappled the beautiful quantum cosmos in front of them. Oliver felt at peace regardless of the immediate and present predicament.
That all quickly came to a halt as Chuggy jumped on Kha Tse’s head. The pygmite pounded away at the alien menace, slamming her fists into Kha Tse’s head. The manifestation of the Quantum cosmos began to morph again. Different time periods from earth appeared inside the nexus.
Nanook came to at hearing the ruckus of his small female companion. The alien hybrid grabbed the pygmite by the scruff and roughly tossed her away. Chuggy was flying straight towards the nexus. Nanook jumped in front of her to prevent her from getting sucked in by the energy, but instead, he was pulled in. As he disappeared, the sight of an underground structure of ancient civilizations eminated from the Nexus.
Then… there was nothing else. He was simply gone. Lost forever.
Chuggy let out a scream of shock and rage. Oliver helplessly witnessed everything happening before him without being able to do anything to help.
For some reason, he then realized the Nexus changed according to his focus.
Suddenly, something hard bounced off the back of Kha Tse’s head. She turned to see what was responsible. Leon was hitting metal debris at her with his bat, followed closely by the general, who had found a way to use the broken robot as a crutch. One after another, every piece of debris he swung at hit Kha Tse. The creature got angrier with every blow.
“There ain’t much to being a ball player, if you’re a ball player,” said Leon to Kha Tse as he swung his lucky bat at another piece of debris that shot straight toward her.
Victoria ran to hug her father. “Daddy, you came for me!” she said excitedly.
She quickly supported her father to help him stand properly. Kha Tse lashed her whip towards Leon, sending him flying against the wall with a thud, knocking him out cold. Victoria cocked Laura’s gun in one hand and fired multiple shots at Kha Tse.
Laura still seemed too weak to partake in any action, and the general couldn’t move on account of his stiff leg. A very enraged Kha Tse turned to Victoria, her tendril becoming sharp and stiff as she charged directly at the girl.
Victoria couldn’t react in time, and everything happened so fast. The pulse in Oliver’s temple thumped out of control, and rage overcame him. But he was also still paralyzed in fear, and it was too late for him to do anything.
As Kha Tse delivered her blow, there was an orange blur that flung itself in front of Kha Tse. It was the space suit of General Banks, now punctured and stained with blood. Though his whole career had trained him for that moment, it was his primal paternal instincts that had kicked in.
Kha Tse tried to swing him off her tendril, but the general held on tight. He reached to the side and pulled his side phatasfa. He switched the grip and activated its shocking mode and rammed the shocking end to the alien’s weapon. The tendril received enough voltage to incapacitate both Kha Tse and General Banks.
“Daddy!” screamed Victoria.
She flung herself at him, blinking back tears in her shock. Oliver’s rage faded, and his heart sank at the sight of Victoria’s devastation. He looked around and, even though they had beat the threat, it seemed they had lost the battle.
General Banks was dying, Nanook was gone, Leon and Chuggy remained unconscious, and Oliver had failed at keeping Victoria safe as he had promised. He felt powerless, and the mental turmoil made the nexus unstable.
* * *
Leon came to his senses as the mother ship shook uncontrollably. He went on to help Laura get to her feet and headed to tend to General Banks.
“We must find a way to release Oliver from the platform. It’s too unstable,” Laura said as the orb from the nexus expanded and contracted.
“Let me see if there’s something I can do about it. You help Banks,” Leon said as he headed towards Oliver.
“Don’t touch it,” Laura ordered.
“Don’t worry; I have an idea. You take care of them,” he said as he winked at her.
“Leon, don’t be a moron. Be careful,” she spat at her brother.
Leon walked up to Oliver and waved his hand in front of his face. Oliver remained as stoic as a statue. Leon observed the nexus. He couldn’t find a logical explanation to the alien mechanics. The nexus grew even more unstable, causing the ship to move.
“Quickly, do something. The ship is moving, and we don’t know the course!” yelled Laura.
Leon looked at her with a displeased grin on his face. He studied the nexus once more and didn’t think twice. He timed how the orb expanded and compressed. He gripped his lucky bat with all his might and swung like never before.
The jolt of energy reverberated from the head of his bat as the wooden club hit the contracting orb. The thing broke off and hurled across the main control room until it hit the other side of the large hall. Leon flew back and landed on his ass.
Laura helped Oliver away from the platform. He had been depleted. There was no more power left in him. He slowly glanced over at his uncle as Leon maladroitly got up from the ground and started brushing the dirt off his sides.
27
Chapter 27
“What took you so long? Had to see if I blinked or something?” Oliver asked.
“No, I had to make sure not to risk any damage. Did you see me waving?” Leon replied.
Oliver looked over to Victoria as she wept silently, holding on to her father. “Victoria,” Oliver said softly as he stumbled towards her.
They all came together around General Banks. Victoria’s heart was torn. She only felt guilt. Everything had escalated because of her abduction. Things would have turned differently if she hadn’t been taken by aliens. The man that once had sought out to protect her was lying weary in her arms.
“Can you do something?” Victoria desperately asked Oliver.
He only looked at her with anguish on his face. Oliver had been granted power, but not that kind. She still held on to her father tight.
“Daddy, please, please stay with me. I need you to protect me. Please stay strong,” she pleaded in a sorrowful tone, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Banks looked at his daughter with a gleam in his eyes that showed nothing but love. He blinked back tears as he became weaker with every breath.
“Sweet baby girl, don’t worry about a thing. You’re a big girl now. Daddy taught you what you need to know. I came all the way here because aliens took my girl. To my surprise and delight, my little girl saved herself. She doesn’t need me anymore,” Banks said in the most soothing tone he could muster as he struggled to breathe.
“Daddy don’t say that; don’t leave yet,” Victoria said as tears dripped off her chin. Banks raised his hands to his head and took his helmet off. he held his breath in the alien atmosphere. He gave the helmet to Laura, and with his last breaths, he spoke.
“Here, General. You’ll need this for your way home. Please take care of her.” He looked into his girl’s eyes once more and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “You have a great family. It was my privilege to have served as your father.”
He held her by the side of her face, but soon let go. Victoria was encumbered with emotion. Her heart pounded hard, yet it couldn’t seem pump enough blood to let her think straight.
She went into shock, hardly able to breathe while everything became foreign. She felt isolated, and for a second, she saw everyone as strangers. Everything about her last day had been a tide of surreal emotions. She felt lightheaded and everything felt hollow.
“Quick, she’s fainting. We need to get out of here,” Laura said as she held the teen.
* * *
Oliver walked over to the robot, his heavy heart was looking for a way forward. He got close to GR-3G and began to synchronize
with the robot. The familiar energy jolt of the data exchange was becoming a pleasant feeling for Oliver.
“We need to get out of here now. We’ve overstayed our welcome,” Laura said as Kha Tse remained unconscious on the ground. She switched helmets and carried Victoria over her shoulder.
“How are we gonna do that, Mrs. Genius?” Leon retorted to his sister.
“For the remainder of the mission, I’m your commanding officer, so show a morsel of respect. After what we’ve been through, you give attitude? Come on,” Laura spat with a hint of venom in her words.
“I know where to go,” said Oliver as he kept his hand on the robot.
“You stay the hell away from that thing,” Laura jumped at the sight of the unrecognizable android.
“Don’t worry, Mom. I’ve got it under control. Follow me,” he replied as he walked over to the Quantessence that lay dormant on the ground. Oliver raised his arm to the orb and it began to respond.
“Be careful, Oliver,” his mother said in a cautious tone.
Oliver turned to her and nodded. The Quantessence began to rise as it contracted to the size of a lime. Oliver’s Quantum Wielder opened a circular slot on his palm. The orb began to float toward Oliver, but for some reason it turned away from him.
A towering alien figure with four mechanical tentacles plated in heavy armor glided graciously into the room. The creature underneath the armor resembled Kha Tse, except he looked more like an eyeless octopus with a slender brain for a head.
His voice resounded inside everyone’s head as his chest piece attracted the Quantessence towards him. The creature entered surrounded by an alien entourage that was ready to storm the room.
Oliver was losing the battle of power as the orb ended in the alien master’s grasp. Oliver knew the team was too weary for another battle.
“I need the Quantum Wielder, now,” demanded the alien Forefather.
There was nothing to be done. They had gotten to the end of the line. A faint clanking sound bouncing off the walls became stronger and stronger as it appeared to get closer and closer. Then suddenly, debris burst everywhere.
“Makongo! Oooooooh,” Chuggy yelled in panic.
“What the heck is a Makongo?” Leon asked, surprised.
Oliver was perplexed at the sight of a giant purple ape-like creature standing nearly thirty feet tall. The beast seemed like an altered gigantopithecus from the Cenozoic period. Chuggy flailed her arms in fear.
The giant gorilla took a swing at the Forefather that knocked him to the side.
The alien commandoes were forced to fight the giant beast, but he quickly ridded most of them. The destruction the giant ape caused created a rupture in the ship’s interiors that exposed some of the large hallway to the darkness of space.
Pockets of Vitro-plasma attached to strands of liquid mercuranium adherences mended the ship’s holes. XY was trapped behind the adherences and had to look for a different way out. He pronged his tentacles against a wall and added to the ships destruction to make his way.
Oliver saw this as their only chance to escape, and he couldn’t get distracted any more at all the wonders he’d witnessed at that point. He crossed eyes with his uncle, and he felt they both shared the same feeling. Oliver went to grab the broken robot while the rest of the group made haste to escape.
“Leon, quick, help me with this thing,” the boy said to his uncle.
“Fine, but let’s do this quick before the bitch wakes up,” Leon said to Oliver as they both looked at the unconscious alien mistress.
Leon ran behind him, grabbed the bigger end, and they both jolted off with the broken robot. Laura went ahead, followed by Chuggy, who was hopping along with Victoria on her back.
The crew managed to make their way out of the room without further interference other than the crumbling mothership’s interiors. Chuggy and Victoria managed to jump onto a mercuranium platform, and Oliver and Leon jumped on the next one. The boy genius—with the help of the robot—managed to hack both platforms to his will, serving as intergalactic canoes in the pink viscous river.
Oliver looked around, and he couldn’t believe General Banks was gone. His heart crumbled when he saw Victoria helplessly shedding tears for her father while Laura held her in comfort. He wished it was him that could wipe her tears, but it was not time for him to think about Victoria that way. Once again, she had lost the person she loved the most.
His thoughts came interrupted after Leon yelled at Chuggy for jumping on top of his head and shoulders.
“Makongo, Oooooooh!” yelled Chuggy in reaction to the destruction around them.
“Get off me, you hairy fuzzball. Enough with your Makongo. He caused this; we get it,” Leon replied nervously.
Oliver saw Laura’s face change from a confident nursing expression to a brooding one. The giant purple beast flailed its arms among the destruction.
“Oliver, we really need to get out of here,” she desperately said to her child.
Leon rolled his eyes before widening them at the sight of the beast.
“Oh, come on! What else are we gonna have to deal with? How are we even getting off this thing? Is there even a plan?!” Leon yelled as if taunting the beast.
The gargantuan ape yelled and snarled back at Leon. His chest began to glow a luminescent pink as it pounded its fists hard against it. The frail structure began to collapse, and the beast got sucked into the vacuum of darkness.
Two pink plasma rays shot out each one of the beast’s nipples. Oliver took stronghold of GR-3G and created an energy field that was big enough to sustain both platforms in suspension. The crew reached an alien hangar and approached an atom shaped spacecraft.
Victoria looked around, still disoriented. “I’m not getting in that thing again. He’s gone, and he can’t come get me,” the girl said with a trembling tone as tears flowed down her cheeks.
“I know it’s hard, but it’s ok. I’m taking you home now. Let’s go,” Oliver said. He used his arm to slice an opening in the pink membrane, protecting the cockpit as everyone boarded.
“I’ll take the controls,” Laura said.
“No, I’ll take the controls,” Leon said. “I bet this handles like a S-Wing, and we need to get outta here fast.”
The two began a power struggle, arguing over the controls, and Oliver saw Victoria’s face, his heart pounding as strong as ever. His words had managed to give her comfort. He saw a glimpse of a smile, and then felt a rush.
The jolting feeling inside made him realize that he was bathed in Vitro-Plasma. He felt the power within.
The Quantum Wielder drained enough energy to finally acknowledge Oliver as the new host. GR-3G began to break apart and latched on to the boy from his arm to his shoulder and also across his chest. Oliver had quickly become one with the robot.
His glasses had been replaced by a black, faceless membrane with an extruded white visor. Hoses and cables attached to him, and the ship’s controls lit up.
“Holy shit, what are you now?” Leon asked in surprise.
“Get off my son, you wretched vermin!” Laura yelled at the robot as she began to kick it off.
“Shut up, both of you. I’ve got this,” he said as he latched them on to their seats, took the ship off its honeycomb docking bay, and blasted out of the hangar bay into space.
“Watch your tone, young man. I’m still your mother,” replied Laura to her son in response to his earlier order.
Even with all the extra strength he’d been given, Oliver couldn’t help but feel powerless against his mother’s scolding.
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied breathlessly.
His mother nodded back in approval. As they left the hangar, Leon spotted an oval shaped vessel with and atom shaped cockpit, Kha Tse manning the controls.
“The bitch survived! She’s following us!” Leon yelled at the crew.
Oliver could tell Laura was concerned with Leon’s sailor mouth but said nothing—there were bigger things to be worrying about.
Though they had quickly gained distance from the massive starship, Oliver realized the mother ship was headed uncontrollably fast towards earth. He realized if the mothership were to hit the planet at that speed, the destruction could be catastrophic.
“Mom, Leon, I’m going to need both of you to co-pilot this thing with me. We need to get in touch with ground control. I’ll guide you through.”
Their distance from Earth was shrinking remarkably fast. The speed began to rob the massive starship of its size. Among the hazardous debris, a grand spherical vessel detached from the mother ship, and four smaller spheres followed.
The giant sphere began to maneuver in a deliberate fashion. The four smaller atom-shaped spheres began to spin around the larger circular structure. It was the Forefather’s escape vessel.
The ship—giant in comparison—closed in fast. Its scale was unmatched by any debris speeding towards the planet. Kha Tse’s ship followed closely behind like a speeding parasite.
“They’re preparing to engage,” Laura reported.
“Mom, keep an eye on the screens. Leon can you man the guns? Just point and squeeze the triggers,” Oliver commanded as he proficiently piloted the alien ship.
Leon took control of the swiveling turrets that dangled from the ship’s atom-shaped rings. Victoria was finally her usual self at the sight of Leon manning the weapons and missing every shot he was taking.
“You’re a terrible shot. Do you want me to do that?” she asked Leon.
“Yeah, it’s been said before. Knock yourself out; just squeeze the triggers,” he replied as he moved to the side.
Oliver saw Victoria got in the post with serious expressions. He realized she just wanted to get home and survive at that point. He could see she wanted to shoot down aliens to honor her fallen father.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Almost every shot she took hit the mark. Some hit the massive spherical vessel, and some hit Kha Tse’s ride, but not a single shot was wasted. Kha Tse quickly retaliated and destroyed the small spacecraft’s weapons systems.
