by Andrew Gates
“I’m glad to hear it,” Dan said. “I’ve informally taken the lead of the group for the past few days. We’ve encountered a few problems, but we’re all still here.”
A few problems? More like, barely survived a mantis attack!
“For those of you who just joined, my name is Dan,” he continued. He held out his hand and pointed to the others, introducing them one by one. When he was all finished, he looked over at the strange piece of equipment that Ryan carried out with him.
“The radio,” Ryan answered, clearly anticipating Dan’s question before he even asked it.
“I know,” Dan replied. “We had one in our pod too. It was damaged. We tried fixing it, but we could not get it to work.”
“We encountered our own set of issues,” said the red-haired man named Tobias. He walked over to the radio in his silly suit. “As you can see, we made several modifications to it. Since radio waves do not transmit well through water, we’ve attached a Meganet uplink to it. We’re trying to bounce its radio signal through the net. This takes a drain on the battery though, so we’ve also attached an external power supply.”
Jallah had no idea what the man just said. He was never one for techno-mumbo-jumbo.
“Wait, I don’t understand,” added Selena. “I thought the radio was for communicating with the other pods. Haven’t all three pods reached the surface already? Why are you trying to communicate through water?”
“To talk to the station, of course!” Sixtine responded without hesitation. She seemed frustrated that she even needed to answer that question.
Garren sighed and rolled his eyes as if he’d heard this a thousand times. Ryan held his hand out, as if trying to quiet her.
“I thought the station was destroyed,” Jallah said.
“It was,” Garren replied. “But don’t even try explaining it to her.”
Sixtine twitched frustratingly, like a kid denied her favorite toy. Her cheeks turned red.
“You all think I’m dumb, I know,” she said. “But nothing can destroy the Atlantic Station. The Federation Navy is strong. I just don’t believe it.”
Dan opened his mouth like he was about to say something, but Tobias continued before he could say anything.
“Should the station still exist, we should theoretically be able to communicate with it now that we’ve made our modifications to the radio,” he explained, neither denying nor agreeing with Sixtine’s wild claim. “However, the main reason I advocated for these modifications was not to communicate with the station, but with the FCP.”
“The FCP? What’s that?” Margery asked.
“For that, you’ll have to ask Lieutenant Stone,” Tobias answered.
“I only just found out about it. To be honest, I’m not sure of all the details yet,” Ryan started. “During the final attack on the station, I took command of the operation of external defense cannons on the city’s north side. These other men and women you see around me were part of my team. Commanders Jordan Grey and Linda Faulkner were both there. I overheard them speaking to one another. I didn’t hear much, but I could tell they knew the city was doomed. They knew the battle was lost. They said the only means of survival was to get to the FCP, whatever that is.”
“So you went to the escape pod instead?” Dan asked.
Ryan nodded his head.
“I didn’t have a clue what they were talking about. I’d never heard of the FCP before then. But I knew about the escape pods. If the city was truly doomed like they said, then I would find a way to fight another day.”
“Good way to justify abandoning your post,” Ophelia said. Jallah was surprised to hear her say something so bold.
“It is,” Ryan simply agreed. “Anyway, when I heard the news, I promptly ordered my team to the lower public level. I saw a man. I guess he was someone in your group. A crowd pulled him through the pod doors. He was injured and bleeding.”
“That’s my dad!” Ophelia added excitedly. Her face lit up. “You saw him?”
“I did. We all did,” Ryan answered. He motioned to his group. “The mob pulled on his clothes, grabbed at his arms, pushed him, shoved him. It was horrible. I fired my gun to scare a few of them away. The crowd dissipated a bit. I had to fight off the rest.”
Ophelia stared at the storyteller as he went on. Her eyes started reddening. She sniffled. This is the first time she’s finding out what happened to him.
“The bloody man insisted he had to get your escape pod moving,” Ryan continued. “Your father pushed some buttons on the keypad and I could hear the sound of the escape pod jettisoning. I asked him if he could help lead me out as well. He eyed me up. He seemed weirdly reluctant. It was like he would rather help anyone else but me. But then he nodded his head and took me to the next working pod.”
“Trace hated the Navy,” Iris said. “I can’t believe he would help you. You must have made a good impression.”
“Of course he made a good impression! He saved him from the mob!” Ophelia added. “Ryan saved dad from those people!”
Ryan put his hand up, as if modestly taking credit.
“Whatever the case, your father found two other pods. The civilians had mostly left the area by that point. I think I scared them off. The only other people around were Navy. We had a lot of supplies on us. Each of us had several weapons, armor, medical packs. We crammed two pods. Your father helped jettison us both. He volunteered to stay behind. He said with his wounds, he would not live long anyway. I guess he didn’t want to be unnecessary cargo.”
Ophelia started crying now. Tears streamed down her face uncontrollably. She seemed to lose her balance. Iris rushed in and held her up. The teacher embraced her.
Ophelia was right all along. He really did save us all. He was a hero.
“Your father was a good man. He saved a bunch of strangers as the last deed of his life, Navy strangers no less. You should be honored,” Tobias said, consolingly.
“None of us would be here if it weren’t for him,” Ryan added.
Jallah looked around. There were 15 people standing on the beach, all thanks to one man. He let that sink in.
Nobody spoke for a moment. Out of respect for Ophelia, everyone simply stood still and remained quiet. But the silence was eventually broken by little Misha.
“Mommy, I’m hungry,” she said.
“Me too,” added Kaitlyn.
Selena turned to the children and whispered something back, not wanting to cause a scene.
“Perhaps we should listen to the children,” Ryan suggested. “Let’s eat some food. I think it will do us all some good.”
“What’s our next move after that?” Dan asked.
“We need to locate the third escape pod,” he answered.
“Good idea. Have you tried them on the radio?”
“We have, but there’s been no response. I know it landed south of here though. I saw it. The pod can’t be far,” Ryan explained.
“Then we should go soon. The quicker we get going, the better. There’s a lot of danger out there,” Dan said.
Danger. That’s putting it mildly. It occurred to Jallah that these Navy people didn’t know about any of the discoveries the group had made over the last few days. They did not know about the booby-trapped trees, the mantis hunting parties, the mantis city or that the station had been underwater for thousands of years. These guys would have to get updated on all the news.
“Roger that,” Ryan replied. “Once we get to that third escape pod, we’ll be a lot safer.”
Jallah was not sure what that was supposed to mean.
The 15 survivors all took a momentary break to eat and get acquainted with one another. Jallah spent most of his time talking to Garren. He seemed cool. He was younger than all the other soldiers but still really confident. Jallah liked him right away.
Dan spoke with Ryan almost the entire time. Jallah guessed he must have been sharing all the important discoveries they’d made. There was a lot to get caught up on.
; After what seemed to be about 20 minutes, Ryan called his squad together. They all stopped eating and rounded up. They looked so professional. All the civilians took the hint and stopped eating too, but most remained seated.
“Alright, I think we’ve had enough of a break. Let’s start heading south along the beach. The pod can’t be far,” Ryan said.
Dan and Grey both nodded back. Jallah was glad to see that everyone seemed to be working together. He felt a lot safer with more people around.
Jallah got one of the heavier food boxes again. His arms still ached, but that was no surprise. He knew these boxes would be getting lighter and lighter over the next few days. Part of him was glad they were still fairly heavy for now. What happens when the food runs out? What will we do then?
One bad thought led to another. First he envisioned the group starving on the beach. All the food boxes had been picked clean long ago. Then the mantises arrived and ripped the starving survivors to pieces. Those who got away in one piece were then attacked by the big humanoid creatures from his earlier thoughts. They would bite at Jallah’s arms until his skin was no more.
No, no, stop thinking about these things! Jallah told himself.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Jallah returned to the station a few months ago. It was his first day of middle school. He remembered seeing Margery for the first time, sitting quietly in the classroom. The thought made him smile.
He opened his eyes again and looked at the bright sunlight that lit up the world in a lush golden color. The waves calmly splashed against the sand. The wind blew against his skin. Birds chirped in the distance. It was pleasant.
Okay, good. Stay like this, he told himself. Don’t think about those bad things anymore.
Jallah tried to maintain his positive thoughts along the walk. The group did not travel far. It felt like a half hour, barely longer than their brief stop for food. But then everyone halted. Jallah instinctively stopped too and set his box of food on the sand.
“What are we stopping for?” he asked to whoever was listening.
Felix was the closest person to him.
“Look!” he replied, pointing in the distance.
Jallah had not noticed before, but there seemed to be something in the water. It was far enough from shore that they could not swim to it, but close enough to see. It appeared to be a huge rectangular platform covered in plants. It looked like there was a hole in the center of it. White water erupted from the hole like smoke.
“What… what is it?” Jallah asked.
Someone was speaking in the distance, but Jallah could not hear. This must be how Iris feels.
“Speak up!” Jallah shouted.
Tobias turned so that he was facing the whole group.
“It’s an agro-platform!” he replied.
What the heck is that?
“In English please,” Garren said.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who doesn’t understand Tobias.
“An agro-platform is just theoretical. Or, I guess, it was just theoretical. It seems someone has actually built one.”
“What does it do?” asked Margery.
“In the late surface era, open land was becoming harder and harder to find. Some scientists at the time theorized the possibility of constructing farms off-land in order to supplement the land on the continents. The idea was essentially to create floating farms on the ocean. All the soil is inside that platform there. This way, farmers can still produce crops, but not worry about the land usage.”
“That sounds like a good idea. Why didn’t they do it?” Iris asked.
“The problem was getting the water to the crops. Ocean water is far too salty. The crops would not be able to grow with ocean water. Nobody was ever able to figure it out.”
“Well it looks like someone solved the problem,” Dan said, jumping in. “Is that steam?”
“It looks like it,” Tobias affirmed. “Whoever built this agro-farm is generating fresh water by converting the ocean to steam.”
“Steam,” Iris repeated aloud. “Steam!”
“Yes, Iris, steam,” Dan said.
“It’s the mantises!” she surmised. “This is their farm. They’re using superheated balls about 200 meters under the water. That’s what’s generating the steam!”
Jallah was confused. She may have known a lot about history, but there was no way Iris could know all that.
“Holy fuck!” Rina said. She almost tripped over herself as she jolted in shock. She looked far out into the second sea.
Jallah looked out too. That’s when he saw it. His heart beat like a drum.
They had all been so distracted by the agro-platform; none of them even noticed what soared far above their heads in the southern sky.
It looked like one of the triangular mantis submarines, only bigger, way bigger. It had a pointed body to it. Small blades shot out from the sides. The whole thing looked like a decorative spear tip. The moon could be seen just next to it. From down on the ground, the two looked comparable in size. Smaller triangles circled around it, like insects around food.
It’s a spaceship, he realized, remembering the old lessons on Yuri Gagarin. It’s a huge, enormous spaceship.
“Lord Beyond Both Seas,” Ophelia said.
“No fucking way,” Felix added.
“Is that what I think it is?” asked Margery.
Nobody spoke for what seemed like an eternity. Everyone stood still, transfixed on the sight above them. Here they were looking at a real spaceship, an actual vessel out in the sea beyond. Jallah could hardly believe it.
“It’s not moving relative to the planet,” Tobias explained as he watched it. “It looks like it’s in geosynchronous orbit. Those smaller ones around it must be for defense.”
Jallah did not know what geosynchronous meant, but it sounded cool.
“If it’s in geosynchronous orbit, how come we haven’t seen it until now?” Grey wondered.
“Well it’s far to the south and we’ve been walking south. We probably just weren’t down far enough to see it yet, until now that is,” Tobias replied.
“It’s got to be massive if it looks this big from all the way down here,” Dan added.
“My guess is it’s probably around the size of the Atlantic Station, maybe even bigger,” Tobias said.
Bigger than the Atlantic Station? Did I hear that right?
“Who do you think built it?” Rina asked.
Jallah knew the answer, though he was too scared to admit it.
The mantises, he thought to himself. The mantises have a spaceship the size of a city.
Jallah struggled to sleep that night. He tossed and turned on the sand. As far as he was concerned, there were monsters everywhere; in the forest, in the water, even in space.
Close your eyes, he thought. Go back to your memory.
He envisioned his first day of school. He talked to Louis. His eyes met a beautiful girl. He followed her into class and took a seat. The memory played out in his mind just as it had several times today.
Then the ceiling split. Students panicked. Some rushed out of the room. Others simply froze in fear. A bright light filled the classroom. Sunlight, the boy realized. Jallah looked for Margery, but she was nowhere to be found.
Suddenly a figure emerged through the light. It was a mantis, reaching down into the classroom like a claw picking a stuffed toy out of a bin.
Jallah knew this was a dream so he did not move, but the other students ran for their lives. The mantis settled on Margery, who was crouched behind Iris’s desk. No wonder I couldn’t see her earlier. The monster lifted her into the air as she squirmed, trying as hard as she could to get away.
A spaceship flew above the mantis. A doorway opened on the bottom of the craft. The creature looked up and snarled, as if trying to smile. Then it ascended into the open door with Margery still squirming in its grip. Once inside, the doorway closed and the spaceship flew off.
Jallah looked aroun
d. All the other students had left the room. He was alone.
Steam started rolling in from the ceiling. It filled the room like a toxic gas. Jallah instinctively covered his mouth, though he knew it was just water.
It was harder to see now. With all the smoke, he could hardly make out his feet below him.
He heard someone walking in the room. Their footsteps were heavy.
“Who is there?” he asked.
There was no answer, but the footsteps grew louder.
“Hello?”
Before he knew it, a monstrous humanoid snarled in his face. Jallah fell over in fear.
“Aaah!” the boy shouted as he awoke.
The night air was cool and full of the sound of insects and splashing waves. Jallah was covered in sweat.
Why did this happen? This was my memory. This was supposed to be the thought that kept me safe, not worried.
Fear had found its way into his safest memories. That was not good. That was not good at all
RAIN, SHE THOUGHT. I NEVER thought I’d see the day.
When the first drop landed on her head, Iris thought she had just walked underneath something wet. But when she looked up, she saw nothing but grey sky above. The clouds obscured everything now; the moon, the mantis ship, even the sun.
From that moment, Iris knew what was coming. She smiled as another drop landed on her, then another. She held her arms out, embracing the inevitable precipitation.
Meanwhile the kids had no idea what was happening. Misha started crying. Kaitlyn shouted in fear. Jallah ducked like something was about to hit him. Margery and Ophelia just stood around, confused.
“It’s rain!” Dan said almost right away.
“What’s that?” Jallah asked.
The raindrops fell harder and faster. Within just a few seconds, she could not make out any of the voices around her.
The droplets were not thick like what came out of the shower. These drops were more like thin bands of sweat after a long workout. They originated in her hair and slowly traveled down the side of her skin, caressing her face like the sweet touch of Dan’s fingertips. The water soaked into her clothes, making the fabric heavier and stickier. She could even feel the thin droplets flow inside of the jumpsuit and around her body like a tender touch.
