Minutes went on. He tried to coax them to get them to say something. The roar slowly dimmed and he yelled for them, but got no response. He opened the blanket to look at them and his heart sank. The red storm had scarred and burned them, and there was no way they could breathe this haze. Tears welled in his eyes and L’el let out a scream which may have well been heard through out the worlds. He had lost them.
With one last heartfelt embrace he let them go. They were gone now and he had to find survivors. What of the rest of the Aelopians? And he had to find a pocket of air himself or his reserves would deplete and time was of the essence.
Scouring the surface he searched and searched. But like a ship navigating the mists without compass he was lost. He came upon a body here and there, an over turned car, a blockade. But there were no signs of life and his vision only penetrated a few feet ahead at a time. It was hopeless.
The blood red mists swirled around him and he was horrified to walk into lifeless body after lifeless body, each time without the warning of sight until he was already standing over them or had walked into them. Their hopes and dreams crushed, he carried on but his path again was barred, he looked down at a mother clutching her infant beyond the threshold of death. Eyes now empty, staring listlessly out to the great beyond he could only imagine what thoughts went through their minds before their souls were wrenched away into limbo.
He came upon the senate building which housed a laboratory towards the west wing. He hoped that perhaps someone had been quick witted enough to have donned an environment suit in time. There had to be someone left alive. It felt odd, being able to walk right into the grand chancellors chambers without anyone stopping him or asking for identification. He just walked right in. Inside the structure he could see a few yards ahead of him at a time, bodies were strewn everywhere. He went to the desk where the chancellor had held many an address to his people through Comcast. It was empty. He went through the side door and followed a hallway which seemed like it would have been used as an emergency exit. The wind was howling outside and he couldn’t hear sounds clearly through his suit. He could have found life at any moment without warning, he was still hopeful. The hall lead to a bunker of sorts. More bodies, he climbed over them. Finally his hopes sunk, there was a pile of bodies strewn in the corner all atop another body as if protecting it. When he burrowed through them he finally exhumed one that was very familiar to him. His chancellor was dead. There was no one to lead his people anymore, if anyone else had survived L’el himself would be left in charge if it came to it. He had to find somebody somewhere!
He trudged on towards the science lab. He opened the door hoping to at least find additional breathe matter for his tank. The interior was motionless and he made his way to the rear where the bio-hazard division was. He found a tank! He carefully inspected it for puncture marks, if there was even the slightest encroachment of this red mist it would be unusable. He found a small mark on it. He wasn’t sure if he could use it and decided to take it with him as a last resort. Curious as to the radioactivity of this mist, L’el activated a meter to tell him the properties of this gas that was now everywhere. It was radioactive! He would not only die of asphyxiation, starvation but he would soon be poisoned to death from the effects of the radiation. Even if he did live through this, his lifespan was decreasing as each minute went by. He calculated he would only have a day left to live at best.
Still there was no sign of survivors, only more bodies. He did find a hazmat suit, but it was left untouched! The clouds must have hypnotized everyone into inactivity. Incredulous, L’el had to move on, he had no choice, the clock was really ticking now and his hunger pangs were really starting to hit home. He would have to find food and find it soon because he would not live much longer like this. Not to mention he would need water, but with atmosphere contaminated there was little hope of finding any that is fresh. He thought about making his way deep into the innards of the moon to perhaps find a pocket of water that hadn’t been effected, but that was a long trek for what might be a fruitless task, the cloud penetrated his own lab with enough force that it was doubtful there was any place free of the gas anywhere. Unless he could find a sustainable source of food and breathable air he would soon perish. Despondent and weary, he made his way out into the open again.
“How could one storm wipe out a whole people!?” he thought. He had never seen anything like this. There were so many fail safes against this kind of thing happening, even the great storms of history had been met by minimal casualties because they had been prepared. But for something to destroy EVERYTHING! Impossible. He had to find out what happened and then he might have some slim hope of survival.
He made his way to the food district and groping, found what appeared to be a meat packing plant. He thought his way through what he was going to do. He would need to find the most self-contained room he could find, probably a bomb shelter near a military base, take as much food as he had to strength to carry that distance and using a knife cut layers deep into the meat which hopefully had not been affected and eat. A bomb shelter was also one of the more likelier places that L’el would be able to find survivors.
“Damn it!” He realized, in order to eat or drink he would have to expose himself for moments to the haze, and he had no idea whether he would survive that or if it was just a matter of being unable to breathe. Also he would have to consume food which would also be exposed to the atmosphere and that he also could not do. He would have to figure that out later. Finally, he decided that canned food and bottled water was the only way to go, he needed to find a grocery store not a food plant.
Working his back to what was the express way, he went in search, still only seeing a few feet in front of each time. Seeing the dead inhabitants of his peoples transport vehicles confirmed the deadliness of the gas, even in the confines of their cars, it seeped through the gaskets to cause what appeared to be a quick death. There was a lit neon sign in the distance that L’el recognized. It was the same grocery store he had been to many times as a kid, perhaps here he could forage a meal. He grabbed as much canned meats as he could carry and a gallon of water. He felt any more would exhaust him to where he would waste his air supply too fast as he would be exerting himself too greatly.
The nearest military base was closer to the senate building he had been to and so he trudged on back letting the highway be his guide. After another hour or so he saw the sign for the government district and then the military base. Stumbling into the building he found every door was on lockdown. Maybe that was a good sign, but it wasn’t any good to him if he couldn’t gain entry anywhere. He tried a nearby window to see if it would give and nothing. There had to be a way to get inside, the base was pretty massive.
Finally he found a door which had been left partially ajar due a corpse having been lodged into it. He set down his provisions and muscled it aside and went in, shutting the door behind him.
“Hello! Is anybody there?!” he yelled. There was no response. He waded through the communications area seeing that everything had been shut down and no comm was coming in from any of the other districts. The deeper into the interior of the building he went the easier it was to see as the atmosphere had not gotten this far. Perhaps the military had built their structures to proof against an event like this. For the first time something fortuitous had happened and his spirits lifted even if just a little. He found a map that would lead him deeper into the interior and into the bomb shelter. Then he realized that a bomb shelter would also probably have canned food and water.
A lift took him to an elevator, but he decided to play it safe and use the stairs that lead down. After a few flights he realized that before he got much further, that without electricity, he would be lost in complete blackness. He had to find a light source before he could go any further. He retraced his steps and found a flashlight near a med kit on the top level and then then went back down. The bomb shelter was 12 stories down, with newfound hope he continued.
He finall
y found a door at the very bottom which was the entrance. He pulled at it and found it was jammed. He tried to force it with all his strength and nothing happened. He had come all this way to be stopped again! He rapped his knuckles against the peephole hopeful that someone would answer. But after about 30 seconds he was amazed to hear movement that was not his own!
He stood back and watched the door creak open slowly from the inside. A disheveled ragged figure slowly moved its head out to see who was there. The moment its eyes caught sight of L’el he started coughing.
“No! No! the gas is getting *cough* in! I can’t let you in! *cough* *cough*” He rasped and tried to close the door again but weakened by a coughing fit began to fall to his knees.
“No I’m here to help!” pleaded L’el. “Please let me in”
He fought for the door and with a swift motion slipped past the figure and hurriedly closed the door behind them.
He snuck a peek at the inside and didn’t see anyone else that was still alive, just this lone being who was now retching on the ground below him. He stood back in disbelief but also in fear to see what looked like the only other survivor of his people. He was able to fight his way into the door because of the weakened state of the stranger.
The man lunged for L’el as if out of revenge! L’el weaved out of the way careful not to make any contact with him lest he rip a tear in his suit which would bring his end. There must be something that he can do for him he thought, but he was helpless. All he could do was watch, the man just kept coughing, unable to get a word in. Slowly, the man collapsed upon the ground and then lay there motionless for several minutes. No further movement. He was dead. The gas had traversed all the distance from the surface to here after all.
He had no intention of causing harm. He had seen so much death, he had to move on. He couldn’t just lie here and wallow in his misery. His own clock was ticking away. He searched the room for supplies and found a large stock of canned goods as well as water, but how to ingest? He took a straw from near the water receptacle. Using great care he fashioned a tiny hole in a can of food and immediately stuck his straw into while keeping the other end covered. If this man was able to survive in here up until now then a few seconds of exposure should be ok. He took his lips off the mouthpiece of his suit and sucked at the straw for the first food he had had in probably 12 hours. Luckily he experienced no ill effects from the food or the water. But he couldn’t stay down here much longer. He climbed the stairways back up.
He felt a surge of renewed energy and decided to make the best of the remaining air reserves he had left. He peered down at the gauge read out, there was enough for another 8-10 hours max, that’s if he didn’t exert himself too much.
He had no way to track the time but for what felt like hours, he continued his foray into the fiery shroud of death only to find more death and decay. Again his thoughts went to his lost son, to his sweet sweet daughter. Without them he almost felt like he didn’t have a reason to live. What good was he if there was no one around. Maybe he should just plop down right here and waste away. This spot was as good as any, everything was shrouded in red anyways. L’el found what I looked like a rock and sat. Hopeless he got lost in his thoughts. He looked out ahead of him pensively.
Strangely something suddenly was glinting out of the corner of his eye. He tentatively approached. There was some type of craft he had never seen before poised on a cliff near the road which lead to the town hall. It still had a pristine look about it as if just recently arrived. He carefully searched the ground hear and found what looked like footprints, but he couldn’t be sure. Curious he went closer and found that the central hub of the machine automatically slid back as he approached! Strange, it was not of this moon. It must have been a transport device. He knew that because had he designed a craft for extremely fast travel, he would have created a similar type layout. There would be a central hub from which to view and it would small and compact yet sleek and able to resist drag due to its frame. Worn from his trek through the storm he decided to sit down in this bizarre construct.
As he sat down the dark glass panel slid into place in the cabin and he was trapped! However, L’el had long since passed the point of where he really gave a damn about much of anything anymore. Fine, so he was trapped. He was going to die from lack of air anyways. He needed to find a spot where there was a pocket of his atmosphere left, somewhere where this storm hadn’t ravaged the countryside, somewhere where he would be able to sustain himself and possibly still find others. Let’s see if we can make this thing work, he thought to himself.
Everywhere he looked peculiar shapes and alien symbology greeted him. The main handle, slightly too small for his hand must have been the controls. There had to be an “ON” switch, he found the most protuberant shape with the most obvious design and tried it. It didn’t work. He tried yanking it, jogging it, nothing. He tried other knobs and handles with no luck. It was a long shot anyways. He was stuck here and whoever left this craft would soon be back. He finally KICKED hard at the weird protrubing avian looking button and all the controls lit up and came to life! The craft lifted itself off into the air. Amazing! He had never been airborne before like in his in his life. He always dreamed of creating a machine which could do this and here it was! Of course his visibility was almost zero, but it seemed the higher he ascended, the clearer things seemed to appear. He could see some distant red clouds.
Despite how hard it was to start he found the controls to be extremely responsive to the point of being deadly! One wrong move and his head would literally snap off his neck. If he broke hard in a direction, his whole body would be violently thrown into the side of the cabin. He nearly broke his wrist on his first maneuver. Clearly a design flaw, L’el would never have let that pass his drafting table. But then again maybe these harnesses behind his head had something to do with it, but they were too small and unwieldly anyways. He very gingerly manipulated the control stick and flew on. Everywhere he went he found the same red haze. He simply couldn’t alight upon a single iota of life, or anything for that matter because of the lack of visibility.
He decided to pull out straight up into the night sky to see things from a greater distance. Finally the gloom cleared and what he saw was both awe inspiring and horrifying! He saw the grandeur of his own moon for the first time from space, something no other Aeolopian had ever done. He also saw that the source of the storm came from several points way out in space. This was no storm at all! Something was pushing this gas into his moon, swallowing up his home and wiping out his people. Someone or something was responsible for this!
L’el looked again at his breathe matter reserve gauge. He still had about an hour and a half left. Enough time for him to make someone pay! His view-screen was showing all sorts of odds and ends, but most notably, there was an electronic representation of what appeared to be a giant vessel nearby. Giant at least by L’els standards. He set a course.
He could start to make it out with his naked eye. There it was looming, whoever was aboard would know what was happening. As he approached it further, it let out a strange miniscule spark. Something was released from the interior of the vessel. The internal automated camera-zoom showed it was small, but nimble. It looked like it was pointed directly at L’el, but with its needle-like appearance, he could barely make it out. The electronic read outs seemed to indicate that it was of some importance. But he was in a quandary as to what was happening.
Suddenly a warning klaxon went off. He noticed the little figures below the camera on the object were decreasing in number.Whatever it was it heading straight for him at blistering speeds. He was in danger! He readied a nervous hand on his control stick. He could die from impact or from his swerving craft. The next few seconds would tell whether he would live or die. He still couldn’t see it with his naked eye. If only this annoying klaxon wasn’t so deafening!
Then in a sudden split instant he saw it and swerved hard!!
His turn was too hard in an upper directio
n and left his head with little blood. He couldn’t tell if this being his initial visit to space, whether it was due to his crystal clear view or if they were now just all in his head that the heavens were filled with a myriad of stars. Dazed he looked at his readouts and found the camera-zoom was still pinpointed on this object and that while its angle was changing it was still looping around. It’s not giving up! He could see it behind him and it was coming for him again.
Again a split second before impact, L’el swerved hard left and the missile flew right by him. This movement caused him to see blood in his eyes. The missile was coming around again. He wouldn’t be able to keep this up. It was unrelenting. He was locked in an interminable dance to the death. SWERVE!! He was losing consciousness. The missile was coming around again…
* * *
Commander Drekker sat back and stared at the con on the bridge of his ship, the SS Ravager. The moons schematics proved to be promising for terraforming. Within days it would be ready for the first colonists of the Brikander Empire . All had gone according to plan. As usual, the atmosphere deployment drones were all that was needed to conquer the moon dwellers, as usual they put up no real resistance and as usual Commander Drekker was bored beyond belief. The moon Aelon, inhabited by a Level V civilization by all reports, which meant their level of development was just about to enter into advanced physics and computer science, was a pushover. But even if they had nuclear capability, it would have had little effect on the Ravagers impregnable hull. No, Drekker was doomed to trekking the outer rims mopping up primitive tribes so that his glorious Empire could expand its tenuous hold on the galaxy. If he just could find deployment against the rival Tryndulivian Empire, the only other Level IXs in the galaxy, he wouldn’t have to rely on stimulants to keep himself awake during his tours due to his extreme boredom.
Epic Page 22
