“So it’s frying our brains, turning us crazy?” Hadley said. “I don’t feel crazy.”
“That’s because it’s contained,” Nori said. “Right now, it’s only causing some people to move to extremes, causing some people to become filled with hate and rage. If the Venutians hadn’t contained the entity, shielded it, the people in our time might be seeing the dead or experiencing mass hallucinations, nightmares, horrifying things. We’d be enacting the most barbaric instincts humans have ever indulged, on a massive scale. This thing tore these people apart, even after they sealed it away on another planet. We have to stop it.”
“Things have been getting pretty nuts at home,” Fang said. “It wasn’t like this when I was a kid. Things used to be… normal I guess, not perfect, certainly not crazy. Now everyone seems so insanely angry, faces all bitter and twisted whilst they fight and scream at each other in the streets or online, saying the craziest stuff, the scariest things, calling each other the worst names over pointless disagreements. It seems there’s no balance or reason anymore, just anger. You think this thing is the reason why, that we can stop this?”
“Maybe it’s true,” Hadley said. “I’ve never known people to be as angry as they are now. Everyone feels it. It seems to be spreading like a virus, tribes forming. It feels like we’re heading towards something real bad real fast.”
“Yes, and it’s all because of the entity the Venutians imprisoned,” Nori said. “We can end this, Fang, send it back where it came from. They’ve figured out how to get rid of it once and for all. If we’re successful, things at home will calm down. We have to act fast. We have to trust them. The Venutians aren’t getting anything out of this. They already escaped, or at least some did. This isn’t for them, it’s for us alone. If we fail, humanity won’t last another century, and those unlucky enough to survive will live in a world of scorched earth and chaos.”
“Dogs and cats, living together,” Reece murmured.
“Exactly,” Nori said. “Constant war all the time. Rage and hate, never ending. The destruction of everything. Armageddon, the total breakdown of civility…”
“And the machines?” Schweighofer said. “What about them? Surely it was the machines that chased the Venutians off-world. How are they explaining that away? It could still be a well-crafted lie. It’s believable, maybe that’s the exact reason we shouldn’t trust them.”
“The entity built them,” Nori said. “It can reconstruct matter, re-order atoms. It built the machines. The Venutians call them Nestroy. They hoped the machines would lose power after the entity was contained, but that didn’t happen. They were too evolved. They kept killing. They forced survivors across the entire planet to evacuate. They couldn’t be stopped or reasoned with. With their energy source gone they adapted to feed off bio-matter. They devoured everything, plants, trees, animals, the Venutians. There are millions of them, waking up as we speak, and they’re all coming our way, from all across the planet. They’re hungry and we are fuel they desperately crave.”
“Jeeez… At least it’s nice to know the odds are in our favor,” Fang said. “Millions of hungry killer robots versus us seven. Sounds a fair match.”
Daisuke Barked.
“Sorry, eight. Don’t wanna forget four-paws the weaponless do we. No offence, dog.”
Daisuke grumbled and snorted disapprovingly.
“The ship they’re fabricating has gun turrets,” Nori said. “Me and Reece’ll fly. The rest of you take gunner positions. Shoot anything that moves. The controls will be familiar. You will know how these weapons systems work. They’re designed specifically for us. We only need to escape the atmosphere. The Nestroy can’t follow beyond that.”
“What are our chances?” Hadley asked.
“We have a chance,” Nori replied.
“I mean like a percentage?”
“We have a chance,” Nori repeated.
“That bad, huh?”
“You don’t want to know.”
Destroyer of Worlds
T he elevator passed from gloom into searing brightness and the planet’s surface opened out. Reece shielded his eyes and squinted towards a volcanic mountain range pluming yellow smoke into a blanket of mustard cloud, the glare scorching his retinas. The temperature rocketed, at once causing sweat to bead across his hairline. It felt as though the sun was hovering inches behind the clouds, bombarding the group with superheated radiation, enough to sterilize an entire planet apparently.
A heat haze shimmered across the barren rocky world, which was littered with the carcasses of decaying battle cruisers and transports, relics of a war that had been lost before it had begun. They lay like whale skeletons on a dried-up sea bed, the remains of their mammoth cannons wilted by the ferocious heat. Yellow sulphur snow drifted all around. Reece gazed up and watched flakes settle atop the bubble of red light protecting the group from the worst of the sulphuric furnace, which he was positive would dissolve their lungs in a single breath. Hot winds were sweeping the alien snow against crags and cruisers, bunching it into drifts that smouldered and flickered with blue flames.
Reece pressed the activation plate on his chest and his helmet slid into place, shoulder guards and spine section rising up, joining into one solid form. The relief from the heat was instantaneous. The squad mimicked the action, all gawping across the scorched world as the elevator slowly decelerated. A swathe of the barren vista was strewn with giant slabs of rock the size of cities, jutting up at haphazard angles, stacked and overhanging in places. It appeared as though chunks of the land had been lifted by a titan and slammed back down. Reece couldn’t imagine what kind of weapon might achieve such catastrophic destruction. The war that had raged here must have been horrifying, the death toll unimaginable.
“Is that our ship?” Commander Blake said. “How long ‘til it’s finished?”
“A few minutes more,” Nori replied.
“Have you thought of a name? It’s bad luck to go into combat in a craft without a name. She needs a soul to keep ours safe.”
Reece turned, his eyes widening. The elevator was coming to a stop on a cliff that overlooked a vivid jade ocean, pierced by the spires of the towers beneath the waves. They were sun-bleached, wind-blasted and sterile white, shockingly bright. They looked like desert-baked skeletal fingers pointing to the heavens, a warning to wayward travellers, urging them to flee before all hope was lost. The foreboding scene served as a backdrop to the molecular fabricator, which consisted of two giant cranes joined by a central boom. The structure resembled an oversized staple, the kind you might use for fastening a wad of papers. The contraption was sliding along runners the length of a football field, projecting needles of light, which were speedily weaving a spaceship out of thin air.
“Shinrai, that’s her name,” Nori replied after a few moments of consideration. “Trust is the reason she exists. This whole exercise is an act of trust. It’s all we can do. Shinrai, trust.”
“Shinrai it is,” Commander Blake said.
“Dude, we could build X-Wings with that fabricator,” Hadley said. “Imagine, we could retire and become X-Wing dealers. Here’s your X-Wing sir, or ma’am, you know. That’ll be six million dollars, cha-ching. Try not to crash it leaving the shop. No refunds, no lawsuits.”
“What’s that saying,” Scarlet said. “Take my money.”
The ship being fabricated was roughly the scale of two World War Two Lancaster Bombers end to end, fifty meters or so. The hull plating was gray and it had snub wings that tapered backwards, aerodynamically useless as far as Reece could tell. An angular cockpit thrust out ahead of the body. This was joined by a sturdy neck and corrugated tubes, similar to what you might see in an air conditioning system. Below the belly was a bubble gun nest with two seats inside. There was a second nest between the shoulders, and a third slung under the rear. Twin gun barrels poked through rubberized seals in the glass of each turret. Between all that was a bulbous section from which a loading ramp descended to the ground. Th
ere appeared to be an empty bay inside and what looked like a smaller version of the molecular fabricator. Out the back, three enormous engines were still being fabricated by the speedily knitting needles of light.
“Make sure your helmets are up,” Nori said. “When this light barrier comes down there’ll be no oxygen, you’ll just have what’s in your suits. Get ready to move. The atmosphere’s corrosive. You’re gonna get burns where your suits are damaged. Just accept it and run.”
To their right, a black object burst from the water, it’s trajectory high and long, sending it over their heads. The machine flipped, its propellers transforming into rotary blades mid arc, which chattered loudly as the machine leaned into a controlled airborne turn.
“That’s not fair, they can fly too!” Scarlet said.
“When’s this barrier coming down?” Commander Blake demanded. “We don’t wanna be stuck here after the whole cavalry’s arrived.”
“I don’t know,” Nori replied. “I’m not in control.”
“Tell them to switch the damn thing off, we need to move. They’re coming!”
Dozens of Nestroy began bursting from the water, launching like cruise missiles from an undersea submarine, shooting upwards, streaming water. Reece ducked as a fuzzing laser beam glanced off their cocoon of crimson light. Outside, some of the newly arriving machines were transforming into helicopter style craft, others tumbling across the dirt, sprouting legs which were becoming coated with sulphuric dust. Daisuke barked and sprinted as the light barrier dropped.
A mere few steps into the desperate sprint for the Shinrai, an agonising blow whipped across Reece’s back, knocking him aggressively forwards. He tumbled alongside Schweighofer, Scarlet and Commander Blake, a mess of tumbling arms and legs. Coming to rest, struggling to draw breath, he noticed a streak across the back of Scarlet’s suit. It was glowing with burning embers. A deafening laser beam sliced overhead and gouged a deep groove in the rock only meters away. Winded, Reece felt across his back where he’d been struck. The area felt too numb to tell if the laser had cut through his suit, but his fingers didn’t slip into his body, which he took as a good sign. Schweighofer was scrabbling towards Scarlet, who was lying motionless.
Behind the pair, an arachnid army was marching on their position, bolstered by considerable air support, laser beams bursting sporadically. The ground-based units resembled mechanical spider crabs, water boiling off their armored shells in the heat, limpets and algae burning away, leaking bubbling oil. Mandibles sprouted from below the machines’ laser orifices, jagged insectile pincers.
“Scar, wake up!” Schweighofer was shouting, shaking her friend. “Scar, you gotta get up!”
“Up and at it, Scarlet,” Commander Blake roared, rearing up and firing exploding rounds at the approaching horde. The offensive gesture looked impressive, gouts of flame bursting across the giant machines, but when the shock and awe subsided there was no visible damage other than a few burning patches of oil.
“Oh shit,” Commander Blake breathed. “Get up, Scarlet. Get her up!”
“Quick,” Nori’s voice came through the speakers in Reece’s helmet. “Drag her to the ramp, you need to hurry.”
“Fang, follow me,” Hadley’s voice came.
Reece rolled and saw Nori and Daisuke dashing up the ramp into the Shinrai, Fang and Hadley close behind. Reece staggered up, the arms of his suit steaming and his helmet deforming in the brutal heat, the softening plastic melting inwards, aeration bubbles beginning to obscure his vision. He stumbled towards Scarlet and hoisted her by her armpits. Schweighofer grabbed her feet and together they stretchered Scarlet towards the loading ramp. Daisuke was standing inside the craft, barking madly.
A second laser beam swept across the trio, knocking them down once more and sending them barrelling across the dirt. Reece came to rest helmet down, pain streaking across his entire torso. He felt across his chest. It seemed intact. When he pushed up, he saw an arachnid limb curling around Scarlet’s body. The mechanical monster began lifting Scarlet towards its nipping mandibles, dribbling oily drool.
“Scarlet!” Schweighofer screamed. “Noooo!”
“Gun’s jammed,” Commander Blake shouted, slamming the weapon with his palm. “It’s not harvesting, there’s no moisture. Damn thing’s seized up. Work, damn it!”
Just as the mechanical monster was moving to crunch Scarlet’s head from her neck, a second machine curled a limb around her body and tugged, battling to be the one to devour the spoils. Other machines were joining the fray, squabbling and snapping at one another. A series of rattling booms caused Reece to hit the dirt. When he looked up the machines that had been squabbling over Scarlet were collapsing, gaping holes smoking across their bulk. Reece looked back at the Shinrai and saw a second burst of fire spitting from the belly gun nest. Fang and Hadley were inside, faces concentrated as they blasted the arachnids to pieces. Commander Blake dumped his rifle and sprinted for Scarlet.
“Reece, I need you in the cockpit,” Nori’s voice came. “I need help with power up.”
“But Scarlet…”
“We got her,” Schweighofer said. “Get us ready for dust-off, go!”
“There’s more coming,” Nori said. “The eastern horizon is full or radar signatures. We need to be heading for orbit before they get here. We won’t make it otherwise.”
“East, which way’s east?” Reece said, breaking into a sprint, a dead metallic arachnid slamming down inches away. “Woah… jeeezus!”
“Heads up,” Fang said. “I can’t help where they fall.”
“I need you up here!” Nori barked. “Quick!”
“We got you,” Commander Blake grunted, struggling to prize Scarlet from the toppled Nestroy’s clutches.
Reece dashed up the loading ramp. There was a slight resistance as he entered the bay, like he’d passed through a netting of spiderwebs. He ignored the fleeting sensation and raced along the cockpit access tunnel, Daisuke scampering at his side. Midway, he noticed his suit had been altered. This new suit was gray and orange, with ash colored gloves and boots. There were also wrist mounted cannons on the topside of his forearms. He also realized he was missing his helmet. He passed into the cockpit, under its glass panelled canopy, and squeezed through the rows of brown leather seats where he took position at the controls beside Nori. Daisuke jumped onto one of the passenger seats behind and sat panting.
“I got a new suit,” Reece said, displaying an arm. “You know about this?”
“Their technology does that,” Nori said, flicking switches and buttons. “Next time you exit it’ll also manifest a helmet. It’ll feed a filtered electronic image to your retinas, so you can’t be tricked by apparitions. We’re shielded in here. Those weapons mounted to the topside of your wrists are energy weapons, Bose-Einstein-Condensate blasters, electric freeze rays. Try not to shoot the dash, you’ll shatter it.”
“Einstein what? How am I supposed to not shoot the dash if I don’t know how they work?” Reece said, eyeing the wrist mounted blasters uneasily.
“Just don’t ball your fists and bend your wrists.”
“Excellent, that’s an added layer of terror I wasn’t expecting,” he said, scanning the cockpit control layout. “At least this all seems familiar. How about we get you fired up. Let’s do a little dance, Shinrai.”
Commander Blake dragged Scarlet from the fallen Nestroy and laid her head on his lap. He craned his neck and looked into the sky, filling with flying machines, which Fang and Hadley were doing their best to fend off. He looked back down on Scarlet.
“No, no, Scarlet, you gotta wake up. Please, no, not you too…”
“Commander…” Scarlet murmured softly, opening her eyes. “Did we make it?”
“Oh, thank… there you are... Anything broken?”
“I don’t think so.”
“I can’t see any obvious injuries,” he said, checking her over. “Can you stand?”
“I’ll try,” Scarlet groaned as Commander Blake help
ed her sit upright.
“There’s more coming from the water,” Schweighofer hollered, firing a volley of explosive projectiles that exploded against the newly arriving machines. Her javelin suddenly seized, internal components crunching. “I’m out,” she said, tossing the weapon to the ground. “We gotta bug out, Commander!”
Schweighofer dashed towards Scarlet and Commander Blake. She threaded her arm under Scarlet’s armpit and hoisted her up. Commander Blake joined the effort and together they hobbled towards the Shinrai, Fang and Hadley furiously dusting the skies with obliterating flak.
“We’re in,” Commander Blake’s voice came.
“Take gunner positions, quick,” Nori instructed, reaching up and depressing the ramp control button. “Resistance will be heavy. We need all hands to the pump.”
“You okay, Scar?” Fang asked.
“Lost a few brain cells, but I think so.”
“You had me scared for a moment,” Fang said, her voice thick with emotion. “I don’t know what I’d do if... you know… don’t make me say it out loud. Wanna retire after this run, go find somewhere peaceful, that place in Mauritius maybe, or maybe a Greek island, blue sea and a sky full of stars?”
“Promise?” Scarlet said. “For real this time?”
“Yeah. I get it now. Now get your ass in here so I can give you a hug.”
“That’s the third thing!” Hadley said brightly. “Of course, a hug.”
“They grow up so fast,” Scarlet said, chuckling.
“They sure do,” Fang replied, laughing.
“Nine seconds until full power,” Nori said. “You’re going to have to delay that hug. I need you all in gunner positions. Our shields have taken a hammering. We badly need defences.”
The squad charged into the ship, vibrating on the launch pad, engine pitch rising to a thunderous squeal, the Shinrai ready to unleash her might.
“We’re in, belted in,” Commander Blake said. “Schweighofer, Hadley, you secure?”
“Locked and loaded,” Hadley replied.
Jurassic Earth Trilogy Box Set Page 54
