by Paul Ormond
“But a home you have, and we’re all going to go there together,” SoHee said.
“I will be honored to show you the way,” the robot said. “But try as I might, I cannot seem to find these memories you speak of.”
“If you will allow me to make a few adjustments, I think I can help you remember,” SoHee said.
“I am blessed to have met one as kind as you are,” the robot said. “First you rescue me from the ground, and now you are going to give me back the memories I did not know I lost. I cannot tell you how long I was stuck within that mound, but I can certainly tell you how happy I am to be standing before you now. How will I ever repay you for this generous act?”
“I told you already,” SoHee said. “You are going to take us to your home, and there we will set things right. But first we need to restore your memories. Rise to your feet and I will see what I can do to help you. Don’t worry. What I am about to do will bring you no harm.”
“You’ve got to throw me a bone here,” Mitch said, watching the robot rise above him.
“Kalis told me a few things, that kind of helped bring it all into perspective,” SoHee said while she raised her arm and directed a beam at the robot’s chest.
Imbued with light, the robot rose into the air and a great rumbling tore across the plateau. As the ground beneath his feet rumbled and shook, Mitch launched into the air alongside SoHee.
“What is going on here?” Mitch shouted before a cascade of light shot out of the robot and connected with points across the ground.
“I told you it was a surprise,” SoHee said as thousands of explosions occurred simultaneously across the wide plain creating an enormous cloud of dust and smoke.
Shielding himself against the debris, he searched for SoHee amongst the carnage, but he was forced to cover his eyes when a tremendous burst of light lit up the sky. Several heavy gusts of wind tore across the plain, carrying the dust cloud with it, and Mitch had to adjust his eyes while he tried to comprehend what stood before him.
Several thousand robotic figures hovered above the ground in tight columns stretching into the distance. Dirt fell from their limbs in chunks as the dust settled to the ground.
Spotting SoHee standing next to a single robot, he descended to the ground and came to her side.
“So what do you think of my surprise?” She said before her orb packed itself into a cube underneath her chin.
“Yeah, I wasn’t expecting this,” Mitch said while he peered up at the Robot standing before him.
“Well, surprise, I got you a robot army for our anniversary,” SoHee said with a laugh.
“What anniversary?” Mitch asked.
“It’s our one-year anniversary,” SoHee said.
“What? Are we dating now?”
“You are such a babo. It’s been one year since we first started defeating evil.”
“Hasn’t it been longer than that?”
“Well, a few months late, but who’s counting?”
“I guess no one, but what are you going to do with these guys?”
“These are the Defenders and they are going to take us to the sanctuary of the Architects.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
“THIS SHOULD BE enough,” Christine said, pushing up a dial on her panel. “We’ll need to monitor his vitals. There is no telling what he might do when he comes out. I can’t see him breaking out of these bonds, but let’s just be ready for anything.”
“It’ll be all right, just get him up and we’ll handle it” Amit said before a strand of light extended out of Christine’s hand and connected with the unconscious body of O’Dell Grimes.
Spasming as the energy pulsed through his body, O’Dell kicked and thrashed and flailed his limbs before letting out a terrifying shriek.
“You bastards, I’ll eat your eyeballs for breakfast,” O’Dell screamed as his comrades struggled to hold him down.
“You are safe now,” Sheila said, rushing forward and grabbing his arm. “My darling, I have waited so long to feel your touch. You are among friends and you are safe.”
“It cannot be,” O’Dell hollered. “I will not fall for your lies again.”
“This is no lie,” Sheila said, gripping his hand. “We are here and all is well. I know your mind is reeling, but look at me. Remember who you are and who loves you.”
“My Sheila, my darling Sheila,” O’Dell gasped while he looked the woman in the eye for the first time. “I must be dead, or locked in a dream.”
“This is no dream, O’Dell,” Sheila said. “There is much to explain, and there was no way we could get word to you inside that horrible place to warn you in advance of our plans, but you are free now.”
“Free? How can I be free?” O’Dell said, looking at the glowing bonds wrapped around his wrists and ankles. “This is just another illusion. I will not fall prey to your lies again.”
“It’s not an illusion,” Sheila said. “I am real. Feel me. Touch me. I am here and you are safe.”
“This isn’t possible,” O’Dell said, looking Sheila in the eye. “How can this be?”
“It is a long story, but you have to trust me.” Sheila said, indicating her companions. “Don’t you recognize any familiar faces?”
“All I can see are these lights in my face,” O’Dell said, squinting against the light.
“I have your sunglasses right here. Let me put them on for you. You always hated bright light.” Sheila said before turning to Christine. “Let’s get these cuffs off of him. It’s going to be ok.”
“It’s no problem,” Christine said, hitting a button on her panel. “Just wanted to make sure he was safe.”
“He is safe and everything will be fine,” Sheila said as the glowing straps faded away. “Is that better? You can relax now.”
“I can hardly say if it is better or not,” O’Dell said, rolling to his side. “I need water and a smoke.”
“We can get you both,” Sheila said while nodding to Paddy who pulled out a pack of cigarettes and rushed forward with a lighter in hand.
“Paddy, my dear friend,” O’Dell said as he filled his lungs with smoke. “If all of this is real, I am indebted to you immeasurably.”
“I am hardly the one you need to thank,” Paddy said, lighting a cigarette of his own. “I played a small part in this. It is all of these brave people that you should be thanking.”
“I see some familiar faces,” O’Dell said, looking around the room. “But many here are strangers to me.”
“Unfamiliar they may be, but they are not strangers,” Amit said, stepping forward. “You may have been thrown into a dark hole, but your legend lives on. These brave souls that came to your aid represent the new generation of the Cell. Inspired by your actions and fearless determination, they continue the fight we began long ago.”
“A legend? Is that what they call me? Amit, we should have never spent so much of our lives fighting for a lost cause.” O’Dell said before he blew a cloud of smoke into the air. “We never stood a chance and look where we are now.”
“You have suffered a great deal, it is true,” Klovina said, rushing forward and dropping to her knees before O’Dell. “But we cannot lose hope. There is much to explain, and I know this all must be difficult to comprehend. But you must understand that your legacy lived on long after you sacrificed yourself to the cause.”
“What kind of legacy could I have possibly left behind?” O’Dell said, tossing his cigarette aside and jumping to his feet. “All I did was try to take on the powers that be and lost. They must think of me as some damned fool.”
“That is simply not the case,” Conrad said, embracing his leader. “Your brave act inspired a generation of freedom fighters to join our cause, and now, when the stakes couldn’t be higher, they will look to you for leadership as we navigate our darkest hour.”
“Our darkest hour?” O’Dell said, grabbing Conrad by the shoulders. “Are they coming for us now?”
“They are certainly looking for
you,” Conrad said. “But the authorities are the least of our concerns. Since you’ve been gone, things have escalated beyond anything we could have possibly imagined. It would appear that our worst fears are coming true.”
“I always knew MindHIve was nothing more than a mind control device,” O’Dell said.
“I’m afraid it is worse than that,” Klovina said, rising to her feet. “The sinister plot you always believed to be true is connected to a conspiracy that reaches across space and time.”
“Now I know I must be dreaming,” O’Dell said. “You break me out of prison to tell me we are under attack from an alien presence and I’m the crazy one. Although we entertained the notion, all logic led us to assume that this situation was beyond improbable.”
“That is just it,” Amit said. “No one wants to believe that it is true, but there is an imminent threat to this planet and it has everything to do with MindHIve and their developments. The universe as we have come to think of it is not what it seems. These people present before you are proof of that.”
“Proof of what?” O’Dell asked while he scanned the room.
“As incredible as it is to believe,” Sheila said. “The governments of the world have acquired technology from an alien civilization and they plan to use it to enslave humanity. But our brave freedom fighters have put a plan in place that will form a resistance to their plot.”
“And what proof do you have of all this?” O’Dell asked before he took another cigarette from Paddy.
“More than we require,” Conrad said. “Even the President has admitted to the government's involvement, although she has subverted the message to serve her purpose.”
“I’m sure it is a lot to take in,” Amit said. “But you must understand that the threat is real. If not, we wouldn’t have resorted to such drastic measures.”
“Breaking me out of that hellhole is sure to bring the heat,” O’Dell said. “So you better damn well have a good reason for it. I’m surprised there aren’t a bunch of feds kicking that door down right now.”
“We’ve already had a few run-ins with the authorities,” Ramon said. “They have assembled a special task force designed to apprehend us.”
“And who might you be?” O’Dell said, looking Ramon up and down.
“Ramon is a dedicated member of the cell,” Sheila said. “He has worked tirelessly to provide our operation with the technology we need to fight against the forces that come to enslave us.”
“Technology? What kind of technology?” O’Dell asked.
“After acquiring the necessary information through our network, we were able to build our own devices based on the secret technology utilized by the government,” Ramon said.
“What the hell is he talking about?” O’Dell asked.
“I’m talking about this, sir,” Ramon said before he crossed his arms over his chest and launched into the air.
“That’s a neat trick, but how the hell is that supposed to stop an alien invasion?” O’Dell said.
“This is only scratching the surface of what is possible with this technology,” Gaelin said. “Myself and my companions have firsthand knowledge of the enemy's tactics and weaponry having engaged them in combat on several occasions.”
“Engaged in combat? You’re telling me the fight has already begun?” O’Dell asked.
“No contact with the enemy has been made on Earth yet,” Gaelin said. “All of our encounters occurred off world.”
“Off-world?” O’Dell asked. “Don’t tell me have begun intergalactic explorations since I went inside.”
“It’s more complicated than that,” Gaelin said. “This technology is capable of producing wormholes that give access to different worlds. We believe they exist in dimensions other than our own.”
“That is just typical,” O’Dell said. “So invaders from another dimension are coming to take the earth. Don’t worry about explaining anymore. I get it. But I only have one question: What the hell do you want me to do about it? It seems like I’m the only one that has no idea what is going on around here.”
“That may be true. You certainly have a lot of catching up to do, but you are not that much further behind than all of us,” Conrad said. “Things have escalated faster than we thought, but we have a plan, we have the people and we have the firepower, the only thing we don’t have is a leader.”
“And you expect me to slap my name all over this,” O’Dell said, fixing a look at the weather-beaten man looking back at him.
Brushing back a wisp of gray hair, O’Dell adjusted his glasses and straightened his mustache before letting go a long exhale.
“When this all began we had such high hopes,” he said in a low voice. “It seemed like anything was possible. We could jockey onto the web and get into almost anything, but the heavy hitters found a way into the game and it felt like a violation, like this was our turf. They were treading on the future with all their dirty money and their proxy wars. I thought I could fight back, but what a fool I was. No man gets to decide the future. It just ends up steamrolling us all. And now you want to thrust me out in front of everybody to make a fool of myself again.”
“I can’t believe that I’m actually hearing this,” Sanchez said. “I thought you said this guy was a badass.”
“It sounds to me like I should take a flame thrower to the lot of you,” O’Dell as he looked round the room.
“Just like you tried to do to my company?” Robert said.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” O’Dell said before he broke into a laugh. “Am I really looking the Robert Chapman in the face right now. Things are that serious that you had to go and recruit that hunk of trash to our team? He’s the reason we’re all in this mess in the first place.”
“No one is disagreeing with you there,” Davis said. “But there are a lot of things you don’t understand.”
“I can see that,” O’Dell said while he looked around the room. Coming to an abrupt halt, he let go an audible gasp as he found XiaoFan standing next to Sanchez.
“I feel like I’ve seen a ghost,” O’Dell said before he stepped forward. “Do you know a man named Pan XiaoBo?”
“He is my father,” XiaoFan said, dropping your head.
“Your father is the bravest man I ever met,” O’Dell said, stepping to her side. “XiaoFan? Is it you?”
“That is my name, but I don’t believe we ever met,” XiaoFan said, while trying to hide her embarrassment.
“You wouldn’t remember me, but I held you long ago when you barely out of diapers,” O’Dell said. “Your father was so proud of you. How is it that you’ve gotten yourself tied up with this crew of lunatics?”
“It’s kind of a long story,” XiaoFan said, looking across the room at Ramon. “But you could say it’s my father’s fault.”
“That wouldn’t surprise me,” O’Dell said. “He was always a damned fool. Couldn’t keep his nose out of where it shouldn’t belong. That is how he got into all that trouble. It broke my heart when he got locked away. He’s the whole reason we started escalating our endeavors. He said we couldn’t wait. If we didn’t take the fight to them, all would be lost. I guess he was right. But tell me, XiaoFan, do you think we have a chance here?”
“I believe we have a duty to fight,” XiaoFan said. “I’ve already had my future stolen from me. I’m not going to lose my planet as well.”
“In that case, I’ll do whatever it is you want me to do,” O’Dell said, turning back to Sheila.
“As you are well aware, this is as much a battle of words as it of weapons,” Sheila said. “Are you ready to announce your role as leader to the world?”
“If that’s all it’s going to take, fine,” O’Dell said. “I’m already the most wanted man on the planet, how much worse could it get.”
“Apparently it could get a lot worse,” Paddy said. “Has anyone seen this feed coming from the White House? It looks like the visitors have arrived.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
&
nbsp; “MY NAME IS O’Dell Grimes. I recently escaped from a maximum security facility with the aid of my comrades. I was held in solitary confinement for the better part of 10 years on charges of conspiracy against the United States and its Allies after I orchestrated a hack on the company known as MindHIve. Upon capture, I was presented to the public as the embodiment of evil in its purest form; a monster with no respect for authority or concern for his fellow man. But as we all know now, I may have been guilty of hacking a major corporation, but I am not guilty of treason. The only ones guilty of these high crimes against humanity are those that we allow to be in power. As many of you are aware, the governments of numerous states have made an arrangement with an outside force without the consent of us: the people. My claims would seem outrageous had they occurred prior to the revelation of this outside threat at the White House this evening. The appearance of the entities only proves that we are right. We have been sold out by our governments. They did this for their own gain and to maintain the status quo: us on the bottom and them on top. But we are not going to take this lying down. My escape from prison was only the beginning of our resistance to this Draconian rule. In the coming days, we will demonstrate how we intend to stand up for our freedom, and I am asking all that wish to be free from our tyrannical overlords to join us as we show these cowards that we mean business. Already, our organization has recruited brave souls from across the planet to participate in our resistance. We are ubiquitous and ever present, and we will not stop fighting until this planet is free from the scourge of tyranny that has held us captive for so long,”
The video feed paused and the mustachioed face of O’Dell Grimes, frozen in mid-sentence, stared out of the screen while a banner bearing the logo of the cell hung in the background.
“So this is what the resistance looks like,” President Edwards said, leaning against her chair. “I’m not going to lie to you. I do not think it was a wise idea to just show up like that. All you’ve gone and done is enraged them.”
