Dawn of Hope- Exodus

by Dobrin Kostadinov

  The crew continued towards the targeted location. Liu and Hiroshi were piloting the ship while Alan and Scott helped them with the navigation via the instruments. Their good coordination was apparent, but something else seemed to be lacking. No, it was not courage. It seemed that the determination that the Colonel inspired in them with such intensity was now gone. Could that have been the result of a momentary state or was it the acute feeling of the ostensible absence of the strongest link in the team? Nevertheless, Mila left her place of a co-pilot and went to prepare her equipment. She grabbed the electric shock gun from the on-board armory–the one she had picked at the training course. But she suddenly got flashbacks from her first conversation with Thomas, it was about that very weapon. His gesture back then expressed a degree of care and that made her feel like she was not alone and there was someone to defend her. She checked if the charge carrier was ready to be used, just as he had taught her. Nikolaevna was on the verge of bursting into tears, but she could not afford to do so. Not then, not inside that suit . . .

  ‘Lieutenant,’ Zanev piped up and followed her to the dimly lit armory in the cargo bay. ‘We’ll land on the mother ship in a while, so be cautious,’ the Professor warned her as he suspected that the situation on Earth had gone terribly wrong. He put on nothing but a simple vest.

  ‘I’m ready,’ she said and stood by him in a threatening fashion. Roman looked like a child next to the suit of the fair part of the team. ‘Is that all you’re going to wear?’

  ‘Yes, otherwise moving will be difficult for me,’ the Russian replied.

  ‘Here, take this,’ Nikolaevna stretched her arm out and handed him a nine millimeter gun. ‘It’s old, but it will do.’

  ‘I don’t think I need one. I’ll be a dead man with or without it. If something from the local fauna captures me, I won’t have a way out,’ Zanev proclaimed desperately.

  ‘It’s not to be used on them, but on you. Use it on yourself in case they lay their hands on you.’ She said straight into his face the most horrifying words Roman had ever heard. ‘Let’s join the others, we’re probably close now,’ Mila prompted.

  They walked down the small corridor which led to the bridge, the Professor took the lead and Mila followed at his heels. She made confident and proud steps and the floor beneath her feet shook under the combined weight of the über suit and the human. She looked more like evil autonomous robot who guarded the fragile mortal human and that was not too far off the mark. The Professor was so fragile in the eyes of the Russian blondе and she felt a surge of destructive energy flowing through every cell of her body from her top to her toe. She was the brains of the machine and the limits to that multifaceted organism, or to be precise, that symbiosis between human and technology, bordered the vast expanse of the human consciousness. That tender beautiful woman had to now let go of her prejudice and give the control over to the exoskeleton. That would lead to an outpour of the incredible amount of power which that combat unit of one kept hidden behind its fearsome exterior. The advance of the grayish-white, though, was getting closer and closer. The armada was bringing along the sense of death and its movement through the forest sounded like the thunder of thousands of tanks headed for an assault.

  The plateau could be seen now and the massive spaceship had landed right at its heart, probably the best place on the entire planet. There was enough space to set the machines between the city of steel and the vertical rocks. The forest gradually grew into a plateu in the direction of our ship. That gave them an advantage since the machine looked like an ancient castle built upon the most inaccessible and strategic place so as to remain standing even in the face of fierce attacks. The most important thing was that they were safeguarded by three sides and could be assaulted only from one, but no one knew if that was going to be enough. Iris 1 approached the massive city of steel and starter circling over it in an attempt to establish contact.

  ‘This is German Dawn 1. Identify yourselves!’ came through the receiver inside the shuttle and the six got to know the name of the newcomer.

  ‘This is Iris 1, Professor Roman Zanev from the exploration team of Menoetius speaking. Permission to land?’ came back from the shuttle’s bridge.

  ‘Permission granted. Wait for your escort!’ And while the team was pondering over what the escort could look like, a flap door opened from the starboard side and two pilotless planes flew out of it and buzzed towards the hovering research machine. The upper deck of German Dawn 1 was transformed into a landing pad and our heroes along with the two drones made a touchdown by numbers on the top of the highest point in the entire area.

  ‘Turning engines off,’ Liu announced from the pilot’s seat. The army forces of the German titan waited for them outside. Those who awaited the explorers saw something that overwhelmed their senses. When the hatch of the shuttle opened Roman together with the five heroes walked out and stepped down on the vast pad that looked like a football pitch. The soldiers stood and stared bewildered at the fact that there were living, breathing humans inside the exoskeletons. Some of them even raised their weapons out of fear.

  ‘Who’s in charge here?’ Zanev called loudly so everyone could hear him. Most of the people in front of him exchanged looks, as though they were at a loss what to say, but a muffled voice came from the sidelines.

  ‘I am!’ a young bloke who was standing behind a few burly men came forward. He did not seem to be neither a military officer, nor part of the ship’s crew.

  ‘Who are you? I’ve never seen you before!’ the Professor inquired without giving it much thought.

  ‘My name is Harry Rogers and for the time being I’m the commander of this ship,’ the Englishman introduced himself as he approached the newcomers.

  ‘Commander? From now on our team takes control over the ship, that means over you, too. In case you have any claims, turn to my personal security!’ the scientist said in a threatening voice, pointing at the five machine-like mountains. He was in no mood to have any kind of conversations. Rogers did wish to put on airs or retain the control in his hands, nothing of the sort. He knew who Roman Zanev was and was only too eager to let him step in and take upon himself the burning burden that rested on his shoulders. That is why he did not utter a word, but merely gave the Russian a nod.

  ‘Mila and the rest of you, arm yourselves to the teeth because you need to protect us. We have no time at all. They will be attacking us within minutes.’

  ‘Who’s going to attack us? I don’t understand! A while ago I received distress signals from the other ships, but they were breaking up and I could not fathom what was happening. I was just about to order the pilots to prepare for a take-off so we can go help the others. Then you appeared, along with that nasty noise,’ Harry spoke heatedly, seized by a mild panic.

  ‘We’re not going anywhere! The grayish-white are everywhere and this is the only place where we stand any chance of staying alive. I have many questions and I demand answers.’

  ‘You’ll get them, Professor Zanev, but tell us first who is everywhere and what are we up against?!’ the Englishman wanted to know the details despite the shock of what he had just heard.

  ‘Professor, I think it is time to give them a name, the honor is entirely yours!’ Mila encouraged her compatriot as she was standing behind him, glancing around as though she was scanning the people and the place with dead eyes. Roman thought for a few seconds, looking at the ground. He had not really considered it how important something like this was and who if not him had the right to be the namegiver of the Menoetian species.

  ‘I will call them Vacari–after the basic elements that make up their structure. It comes from the Russian words for water, calcium and sodium. But you can call them the grayish-white nightmare. If you can’t imagine how these elements can create something organic, now you’ll see,’ Zanev felt somewhat strong, having the privilege to give the name of something so powerful and dangerous. Now they knew how to call their adversary. ‘I need access to the control room,’
the Russian scientist quickly changed the tone. Come with me, Rogers! If there is someone here who had been hired under my command in Eisenhower, I want you to bring them to me. Now you’re my right-hand man and I want you to listen to me carefully. I was part of the designing of this machine and I know that we won’t make it without our people,’ he prompted him and the two headed towards the bridge which was a spacious control room.

  ‘What happened on Earth? We left less than a week ago?’ Roman tried to accumulate and assess the facts as he was walking down German Dawn 1’s corridors along with his companion.

  ‘Everything just spiraled out of control. The bulwarks they built drove mad the majority of the population and it unleashed all of its anger. In the end nothing worked–neither the state, nor the police or the military, absolutely nothing. All the marauding, the terroristic attacks and the desire for revenge were more terrifying than our society could take. The masses were struck by insanity! It was so strong and contagious that it managed to destroy our entire civilization in a matter of hours. When we left our home planet we saw multiple flashes from atomic weapons. They were blinding, they had the power of a thousand suns. And I thought such weapons did not exist anymore, but at that moment I knew I was wrong,’ the young man related with a shade of grief. He had made everything in his power to stay alive.

  ‘But why did it happen so fast? We needed a few more weeks . . . We would have reaped the success of the first successful exodus and transportation of raw materials. And now we have no idea whether we’ll survive until nightfall!’ the Russian began repenting his failed plans and lost hopes for humankind.

  ‘Not everything is lost! We have something to fight for. A few months ago I didn’t even know if I would have the chance to depart at all, but the circumstances changed. People came into my life unexpectedly, they showed me the right path–they were people I detested, but despite their pitiful human size, they proved capable of unheard-of feats . . .’ Rogers said with a flicker of the almost extinguished fire of hope.

  ‘You haven’t seen them yet. You don’t know what their capable of and they are really fairly many . . .’ the Professor said, pensive, with a shred of fear. The two men were pacing fast down the seemingly endless dimly lit corridor which eventually opened into a vast and well lit passage with vaulted ceiling that led them to the bridge. Without losing any more precious time Zanev pressed a square button which took his fingerprints and the double steel door slid open. He strutted into a large, semi-round room full of people who navigated the ship, but he did not know more than half of them. There were about fifty people inside scurrying from place to place. He was greeted at the door by the most unexpected person, though . . .

  ‘What are you doing here, Alice?’ stunned and perplexed by their meeting the Professor asked the woman who he had sent away months ago at the interview.

  ‘Harry and I are taking care of the ship now,’ his old acquaintance said.

  ‘I don’t understand, I had a team of pilots and a team of officers who were supposed to run the ship and now I’m seeing completely new faces,’ he explained, still astonished. Fury started mounting inside of him because of the well-trained team from Eisenhower that was now missing. ‘Where are my people?!’ he yelled in the face of the beautiful brunette. But he did not expect Rogers to pull him back by the shoulder, standing up for his girlfriend.

  ‘Calm down, old man! We stole the ships and the familiar faces you’re seeing were on duty at the moment of the take-over. The rest are mercenaries. They helped us attack the German base and it fell very quickly.’

  ‘Are you terrorists or something of the sort?’ Zanev asked unable to believe how it was possible for someone to infiltrate and steal something from one of the most modern bases in the entire world.

  ‘No, we’re not. We only wanted to survive! Someone had to give everyone a fair chance, it was unjust only for people like Konrad and his immeasurable power and money to take the places that ordinary people deserve no less,’ Harry stated, meaning every word he said and moving over to stand right by Alice’s side.

  ‘You knew Konrad?’ the Russian asked.

  ‘Yes, I knew him, our plan wouldn’t have worked if it hadn’t been for him. He was stubborn, but we dealt with him. Now he’s probably buried somewhere on Earth . . . We needed someone to finance the operation after all . . .

  ‘Moron! Radeberg had incredibly large means, he was the only one who could bring our planet back to life!’ Zanev nearly ran amok due to the unpleasant turn of events.

  ‘Apparently you didn’t know him as well as I did.’

  ‘Pray, boy, pray to whomever you can because even if there were God, he would run and hide in some dark distant corner of the Galaxy. The plan and a handful of people has been forging for years is now useless and redundant. Because another handful of ragtag and bobtail are only going to speed up the failure . . .

  ‘No! The civilians are civilians, but everyone onboard who’s wearing a uniform is an elite fighter who can outdo the officers of any army in the world. These are my people, the people of General Saadi and Lieutenant Milev who will sacrifice themselves for us without a second thought if needs be. But you still don’t know our leaders. What a pity! Have a little faith in us, we’re armed for an entire world war. All we have to do is use the weapons properly. We´re almost ready with the metal panel defense fence we´re building to protect the weak side of the plateau.’

  ‘When the moment arises, you’ll change your opinion, you’ll see,’ the scientist retorted.

  ‘I will not quit hoping until then! So what is your final choice–are you going to help us or not?’ he said and it sounded like an ultimatum and like courage for the angry, despondent scientist who did not like to improvise, but he had nowhere to go this time. He raised his arms and moaned. Having lost control over his actions, he stepped aside from the spot where the other two were standing.

  ‘Move!’ he yelled rudely at a young man who was studying the information on the main screen. He got between the man and the screen and began sliding his index fingers along the display which looked more like a transparent glass case. With a few weird movements and flicks of his hand the Professor managed to pull a few types of real-time maps. One of them was an electromagnetic map of the area they were in. They made it clear that the magnetic lines in the distance were scattered, but those around the ship were concentrated in one location – their current whereabouts.

  ‘This isn’t good, is it?’ the hacker said startled while Roman kept on using masterfully the available information. That surprised Harry. The discoverer of the New World typed a few consecutive ten-digit codes and a real-time live feed window from Iris 1 popped up on the screen. The picture was not a pleasant one at all, but a fearsome one. The Russian loaded the picture on all of the screens in the room so everyone could see it.

  ‘They need about six more miles to get to us, they’ll be here within minutes. Harry, send all available fighting units to secure the path that leads to the forest. I want them to back the fences you’re building there. I want patrols of at least two people every 65 feet at the corners of the plateau. The abyss is quite deep, but tell them to look at the slopes all the time–the grayish-white are incredible climbers,’ the scientist commanded. He was rather clever and cunning at critical times.

  ‘Yes, Sir! I’ll do everything in my power,’ the young Englishman said and dashed for the exit.

  ‘One more thing!’ the Professor called. ‘There’s a well-equipped lab on board. I want you to check if there is a man named Jean- Pierre Alléguié who’s most probably buried his nose in research and who might want to come out of it. Bring him here no matter what, tell him Zanev needs him.’ The French who was his right-hand man as well as a good personal friend was badly needed in that situation. Harry bolted out the door, grabbed a small radio on the way out and started to transmit the directions he had been given and then disappeared into the corridor.

  ‘Alice, I need you. You have to stay by my side,’
Roman called as she was still standing on the sidelines.

  ‘Right away, Sir!’ the dark-haired English lady said and walked over to the main screen to help him, unwillingly, though, recalling how he rejected her at that key moment in the past. But she was a strong woman and did not allow anything to stand in the way of following orders irreproachably.

  ‘Let’s see if you’re as good at tactics as you purport. I want you to navigate our battalion directly. Divide well the positions in front of the fences and don’t forget the five people from my team. They need to be at the front line,’ he said and at that very instance he remembered sorrowfully about the Colonel who had gone missing. Yes, he was just a human, a military officer, but he could have turned the course of events . . . ‘Make me regret my choice that day,’ he added and turned to Alice, intending to see her extend her full capacity.

  ‘If I make you regret your decision to reject me, I would’ve done a better job here with my direct actions,’ she replied with a tinge of reservation towards the man who took away her illusion to become part of the team, but little by little she realized that it did not matter any longer because, one way or another, she was now standing shoulder to shoulder with him. Zanev left Alice to do what she could best and went to check how things were going outside. The two were standing in the frontmost part of the interstellar traveller in front of the control panel, but there were no windows to look out. Maybe they had been removed because of the danger of melting down when entering the atmosphere of the planet. But the genii of the contemporary technologies had picked something else to place there. Instead of a huge front window through which they would have seen a tiny portion of the distant horizon–having in mind that they were more than 330 feet above the ground–it had a projector. A few high-definition cameras transmitted the view from the outside directly before their eyes. Those cameras were conveniently situated in different places on the body of the megamachine. That gave a 360-degree observation radius and the picture could be zoomed in and out multiple times–the focus in large distances was not a problem. The scientist was aiming at a narrow front line right in front of the forest where the assault was expected to come from. A small span that could be defended with difficulty . . .