Earthman Jack vs. The Ghost Planet
Page 52
The man turned to him, looking at Jack intently, a sudden urgency in his voice. “Jack, you need to listen to me very carefully…”
Jack could feel himself slowly start to be pulled away from the man. He struggled, trying to stay with him, but the more he tried, the more he seemed to slip backwards.
“What’s going on?” yelled Jack over the increasing wind that was swirling around him. “Help me!” he screamed.
“Jack - your ship–” yelled the man. Jack tried to focus on what he was saying, but the wind was screeching in his ears so loudly he could barely make out the words. “…the key to
“I can’t hear you!” cried Jack. He could feel himself slipping away faster and faster.
“Only way
“But how!” yelled Jack. “Where do I start!?!?”
“Go to
Jack was barely able to make out the last word. As the darkness and the light around him mixed together and the wind engulfed him, he took one last look at the man as he began to fade away in the distance.
“I love you... son...” the man cried.
Jack’s eyes grew wide. What was nagging him in the back of his memory quickly flooded to the forefront. He had indeed met that man before, when he was very young. How could he have not seen it?
Dad!
“NO!” Jack cried. “Come back! Come BACK!”
He reached out toward the fading image of his father just as a brilliant blue lightning bolt shot out from where he had been, streaking through Jack’s body. Suddenly, Jack was in pain and his muscles twisted and writhed from the fury of the electricity that was shooting through him.
The lightning stopped, and Jack fell to the floor. His chest burned, and his eyes were blinded by tears. Had it been a dream? he wondered. Was any of it real?
He looked up to see a black figure crumpled on the floor before him. It was Zarrod, his armor charred and smoldering from the blast unleashed by the breaking of the seal. The Deathlord stirred and started struggling to get back to his feet.
Jack tried to get up, but his legs didn’t seem to want to work. Every muscle in his body ached, and his head felt like it was about to be split open from the inside. He couldn’t think, he could barely see, and he was in no condition to face the Deathlord again. So he did the only thing he could, which was to try to put as much distance as possible between himself and his foe by crawling away.
Zarrod had made it to his feet, only to fall down again weakly. Jack could hear his guttural growl of frustration, which only made Jack try harder to escape, working his elbows back and forth as he crawled along the floor, his legs dragging behind him.
Finally, Jack was able to get a knee under him and pushed himself up to his feet. The room seemed to sway as he stumbled to and fro, but he was off the ground at last.
Each step was a battle. Jack felt sensation creeping back into his limbs, but he still was not able to walk straight. He shook his head, trying to clear his vision and to make his way to the stairs. In the periphery of his eyesight, he knew Zarrod was still there, and each moment he stayed within reach of the Deathlord, he was in danger.
Then, Jack felt a tingle in the back of his head - a slight buzzing sensation, as though an alarm was going off. Suddenly, he knew he was in deep trouble.
With every ounce of strength he could muster, he dove aside, just as a ball of death energy whizzed by, impacting the stairs before him and blowing a crater into the stone.
Jack rolled to his side. The tingling in his head returned and he looked over to see Zarrod limping toward him, his soulless red eyes blazing with fury.
“What did you do?” cried Zarrod. “What did you do... to me!!!”
Zarrod stumbled and fell to one knee. As he struggled to get up, Jack realized, with a glimmer of hope - the Deathlord was actually hurt.
Jack mustered what strength he could and climbed to his feet. The Deathlord followed suit, and within moments, the two were staring each other down.
“It’s called pain, Zarrod,” said Jack. “Not so fun when you’re on the receiving end, is it?”
“I underestimated you, Earthman,” growled Zarrod. “But I learn from my mistakes...”
Zarrod straightened and reached his clawed hand out toward Jack.
Suddenly, time seemed to slow...
Jack’s mind instantly became clear. It was an odd sensation, as though he were acutely aware of everything around him. All his senses were heightened, and as his eyes focused on the Deathlord before him, it was as if he could see everything there was to observe – his skin, his muscles, his armor, the molecules that made them, the electrical impulses that sparked within him – everything.
Jack was able to see inside the Deathlord, and saw a spark of energy emanate from the center of Zarrod’s chest. It wound its way through his body, snaking around his outstretched arm, sprouting from his clawed fingers, and writhing toward Jack as tiny blades of energy formed like barbs around it.
Jack’s mind flashed to a mental image of Zarrod’s body, looking past his armor and into his very being. He saw the flow of the Deathlord’s energy and how he was able to channel it. Suddenly, it all made sense. Energy is what animated the Deathlord’s body, and energy could not be destroyed. That is why the Deathlords could not be killed, because despite their outer shell, inside, they were just energy that could be manipulated, controlled, and re-channeled as they saw fit.
In his mind’s eye, Jack saw an image of the human body, in much the same way he saw Zarrod’s. Though humans were made up of flesh and blood, they too had an energy flow. It was this energy the Deathlords fed on and ripped from their victims.
And that’s when Jack realized… there was no difference between the two types of energies.
Instinctually, Jack raised his hand as the Deathlord’s soul culling shot toward him, and rather than allow it to burrow into him and withdraw back to Zarrod, Jack allowed it to flow into his body, and grabbed onto it with his own, not letting it leave.
Jack could feel the Deathlord try and tug his energy tendril back, but Jack wasn’t about to let go. Instead, he pulled, taking in more of Zarrod’s energy.
Zarrod cried out in surprise, and tried to pull back again, but Jack refused to release his hold.
“What – what’s happening?” cried Zarrod. For the first time, Jack heard fear in the Deathlord’s voice. “What are you doing?!?!”
Jack grinned.
“Where I’m from,” said Jack, “it’s called kicking your ass!”
With that, Jack let go of his hold on Zarrod’s energy. The sudden release caused the Deathlord’s energy tendril to sling shot back toward Zarrod violently, crashing into him.
Zarrod screamed as his body disintegrated in a puff of black dust and smoke, lingering sparks of his ghost energy wriggled in the air like a fish out of water and slowly vanished.
Jack lowered his hand, absolutely amazed. He had done it! He'd actually defeated a Deathlord! Not just a Deathlord, but a Supreme one at that! Then, he realized that he wasn’t hurting any more. In fact, he felt incredibly energized. It was as though he had somehow absorbed some of what Zarrod had thrown at him, and it had invigorated him.
Jack looked around. The massive room seemed quiet and peaceful, and for the first time since setting foot on the planet, Jack felt safe. He smiled, allowing himself a moment to feel victorious.
Then he remembered Grohm.
Jack looked up where Zarrod had thrown Grohm and saw the giant Rognok lying hunched against the crater he’d made in the dome.
“Grohm!” yelled Jack as he ran up to him, leaping from bench to bench, making his way to his friend.
Jack approached. The gargantuan alien lay still, and for a moment, Jack was
afraid he was dead. He had seen Grohm take some punishment before, but what the Deathlord had dished out might have been too much, even for him.
Grohm wasn’t moving. Jack tried shaking him, to no avail. He put his ear to Grohm’s chest, but heard nothing – he wasn’t even sure if Rognok’s had hearts, let alone where they’d be.
“Please, don’t be dead…” he muttered aloud.
Jack tried to access whatever it was that had shown him how to take on Zarrod, but whatever switch was flipped mere moments ago didn’t seem to want to work again. When it came to Rognok anatomy, Jack was drawing a blank.
Jack then remembered how Zarrod’s energy flowed through his hand, and how Jack’s was able to do the same. Grohm had two arms, sure enough, so maybe they could act like conduits, too?
Jack grabbed one of Grohm’s massive mitts and tried to remember what he did that shot his energy back into Zarrod. If he were able to transfer some of what he’d stolen from the Deathlord, maybe he could save Grohm?
It’s worth a try, he thought.
Jack held tight to Grohm’s hand and concentrated.
And concentrated…
And concentrated.
But nothing seemed to be happening. Jack couldn’t feel the flow like he had with Zarrod. He didn’t feel any different. He had no idea if what he was doing was even working.
“C’mon,” Jack muttered, squeezing Grohm’s hand tighter. “I was flinging awesomeness not two seconds ago! Why aren’t you working?”
Jack closed his eyes and tried to imagine his life energy flowing into Grohm. He concentrated so hard, every muscle in his body tensed and felt like it was going to rip.
Finally, he relented, and his head slumped in defeat.
He’d failed.
“I’m sorry, big guy,” he said.
“Earthman...” came a familiar, gravelly voice.
Jack looked up. Grohm’s eyes were open, looking directly at him.
“No way!” exclaimed Jack. “You’re alive? YOU’RE ALIVE!”
Grohm snorted. “Why is Earthman holding Grohm’s hand?”
Jack looked down and realized he was still grasping Grohm’s palm. He let go abruptly.
“I was… uh… just trying to save you with my sweet new superpowers. Did it work?”
Grohm furrowed his brow. “Is Earthman suffering from head wound?”
“I don’t think so,” said Jack. “But… I guess it is a possibility, considering what I’ve just been through.”
Grohm gently shoved Jack away and struggled back to his feet. Jack could see the Rognok was still wobbly in the knees and visibly weakened.
“Dude, I wish you could have been conscious. Zarrod was about to kill me, but I broke the Great Seal, and absorbed some Ancient knowledge, and then blew that jerk up!”
Grohm sniffed the air and looked down at Jack, his brow raised slightly in surprise. “Earthman killed Deathlord Supreme?”
“What? Oh yeah, totally. You should have seen it, dude. I had this great line about kicking his ass, it was so awesome…”
Grohm started to lumber away.
“Hey,” said Jack, “Where are you going?”
“Back to ship,” said Grohm. “Battle is over.”
So much had been happening, Jack had almost forgotten about the fact they were still on the Ghost Planet.
“Wait up,” said Jack. “I need you to carry Anna. She’s unconscious and heavier than she looks.”
Grohm stopped and looked at Jack wearily. Jack could tell that the Rognok was hurting. Suddenly, he was worried Grohm might not be able to help, but the giant alien simply nodded. Anna was right where Jack had left her, and Grohm knelt down and gently picked her up, swung her over his shoulder, and began making his way up the stairs, with Jack not far behind.
“So… you believe me about killing the Deathlord, right?” asked Jack as they walked.
Grohm snorted. He kept walking.
“Uh, right?” asked Jack again.
Chapter 43
"What is happening?” growled Abraxas as chaos reigned down around him.
Too much time had passed since he’d last heard from the scout team he had sent out to investigate the mysterious explosion they had detected earlier. He had been about to join a group of Dark Soldiers he’d summoned at one of the disembarkment hatches to investigate the matter himself when every computer on the bridge had suddenly gone haywire.
Acolytes immediately went into crisis mode, opening panels to check for hardware malfunctions while others frantically tried to get responses from their assigned consoles. Even the lights on the bridge began to flicker, as if fighting to stay alive.
“Report!” he barked, to no one in particular.
“Warlord,” replied a nearby Acolyte. “We have been locked out of all systems. Computers are unresponsive.”
“How is this possible?”
“Unknown, Warlord. I have never seen anything like it.”
Abraxas reached out and dug his claws into the Acolyte’s shoulder, pulling him close and gazing fiercely into his eyes. “Don’t just stand there – FIX IT!”
Annoyed, Abraxas threw the Acolyte across the room into two of his companions, sending them crumpling to the ground. The others began to try to diagnose the problem even more frantically in response. All Abraxas could think about was how fortunate it was that he did not have the authority to cull his own people, otherwise half the Acolytes in the room would be gone by now.
Then, a familiar alarm rang out – one which normally filled Abraxas with anticipation and joy but now just served to confuse him.
“Why is the main weapon powering up?” he yelled.
“Unknown, Warlord,” responded an Acolyte.
“If we’ve lost control of the computers, then who’s firing up the weapon?”
“Unknown, Warlord,” responded another Acolyte.
“Don’t any of you know ANYTHING?” the Deathlord raged.
“Funny,” came a voice. “I wonder the same thing constantly.”
Abraxas turned to the source of the voice that had responded, looking up at the bridge’s large viewscreen which was now dominated by the image of a rather odd looking robot.
“Who are you?” growled the Deathlord.
“Me?” said the robot innocently. “Why isn’t it obvious? I am the one who has unlocked the secret to your technology. I am the one who has taken over your ship. I am the one powering up your weapon to blast the unstable core of this planet and destroy you and every last one of your minions with it. I am your Superior. I am your DOOM. I am Heckubus Moriarty, the greatest evil genius in eight star systems! And I am the one who has beaten you! Mwuahahahahaha!”
As the robot laughed, Abraxas squinted at the image before him. In the back of his mind, he seemed to recall he’d seen this robot somewhere before.
“Remember my name, fools!” said the robot triumphantly. “It is I who have brought the greatest threat the galaxy has ever known to its knees! I, and I alone have—”
“Wait a minute,” said Abraxas. “I know you…”
The robot stopped suddenly and looked at Abraxas curiously. “You… you’ve heard of me?”
“No,” responded the Deathlord. “You were with the Earthman!”
“Hmph. I don’t really see how that’s relev—”
“He’s here!” cried Abraxas. “He’s the one behind this!”
“Now wait just one minute—”
“ACOLYTES!” Abraxas screamed. “Destroy all current systems. Use your node stones to grow new ones and wipe out whatever pathetic virus this robot uploaded before our weapon has a chance to fire.”
“Yes, Warlord!” all the Acolytes responded in unison.
“Pah!” sneered Heckubus. “You won’t have time to—”
“Are our emergency communications still on a separate system from the mainframe?” asked Abraxas.
“They are, Warlord,” replied a nearby Acolyte.
Abraxas punched an emergency switch at a consol
e, causing a circular podium to rise from the floor. Holographic representations of his Lieutenants from around the ship sprang to life before him.
“Quickly, have we had any disturbances on the ship?” he inquired.
“None,” replied one of the holographic Deathlords. “Except, the escort from the Supreme’s return party has not checked back in, Warlord.”
“Then that must be where they infiltrated our systems,” growled Abraxas. “Send security squads two and three to that hangar. Kill anyone you find. Air Squad six and seven…”
“Yes, Warlord?” replied two of the holographic Deathlords.
“Prepare to launch and cut them off if they try to escape. I’ll be joining you shortly. After the intruders have been dispatched, we’ll head to where their ship crashed and finish the job.”
“Yes, Warlord!” replied all the Lieutenants at once before their images disintegrated.
“Well, uh…” twittered Heckubus nervously. “It doesn’t matter. You’re entire ship is locked down. You’ll never be able to get to—”
Before Heckubus could finish his sentence, Abraxas hurled a few balls of death energy against the blast door to the bridge, blowing it off its frame.
“Oh. Oh, dear,” said the robot.
Abraxas turned and looked at the robot’s image on the viewscreen, his eyes burning red. “Thank you for alerting us to what was going on,” he growled. “And don’t worry. I’ll make sure every Deathlord in every corner of the galaxy knows the exact name of whom to hunt down and destroy, should you somehow manage to survive what I am about to do to you and your friends.”
And with that, the Deathlord rushed into the hallway.
* * *
“What do you mean we’re going to have company?” asked Scallywag.
“’Tis a mystery to me how they figured out what we were up to,” said Heckubus over the comm unit, “but regardless, they are sending two security squads to your location, and will be there any minute. I recommend firing the weapon and making a hasty retreat.”
“But the bloody weapon ain’t even fully charged yet!”
“Oh, dear. Oh, dear. Oh, dear,” muttered Green as he frantically typed away at the console in front of him.