Once they got close to the border Josh signaled Nick to ‘take care’ of the AI patrol units. An easy task for the Martian’s Einstein. He slowed his bike, sliced the way into the access controls and opened the gates. The trio slipped past the guards practically unnoticed. To the fooled AI, they appeared as routine shipments to the outer desert facilities.
‘Heather’s grip tightened around my waist as she held onto me. Sometimes I wondered if she already knew how I felt or, what if, she already knew what was coming?’
A few hours went by as the trio trailed the dark sands of the red planet chasing the beeping blip of the Crimson Zone. Heather never loosened her grip on Josh, though she kept silent while Josh and Nick exchanged pleasantries and encouragements along the way. Josh might have been confident. To his friends, they knew, anytime they needed – they can lean on him and yet Heather could feel his heartbeat racing as fast as hers.
In the end, Josh was still human like the rest of them.
“Up ahead, you see it on the radar?” Nick called Josh through the bike’s communication phone.
“Yeah, so that’s it, huh? Right up there?” Josh looked out into the darkness. He only saw natural surfaces and hills, an overcast sky and a bed of sand filled with nothingness.
“It should be…” Nick sounded doubtful, as if he wanted to just turn around and head back home.
A feeling of letdown and disappointment crept into the atmosphere. The boys felt like they made a huge miscalculation, especially Nick since after all, this is his field. On the other hand, Heather felt a slight ease. No matter how much she tried shaking her feelings, there could be no denying – something was off. Josh slowed his raven to a halt, inspiring Nick to do the same.
“Something’s wrong.” Josh double-checked the radar. They were past the blip. It simply wasn’t making any sense – “Nick, do you see this?”
“Yeah, yeah, I do…”
“Well?”
“I’m working on it.”
Josh slightly turned his head back to acknowledge his passenger
“You okay?”
“I’m fine.”
He got off the bike, stood up and look around until he felt a gentle but firm grip demanding his immediate attention
“What if there’s nothing out here? Maybe Nick stumbled on a glitch or something…”
Fire grew in Josh
“No. There’s no error, no glitch. We’re just not reading it right.”
Josh firmly moved away from Heather toward Nick
“Well?” He asked him again, this time in person
“I rebooted the system two times. It’s still the same. Josh, according to this thing, we should be in it.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.” Josh placed his hands on his hips, surveying the area thoughtfully – “My father did tell me that there’s strange things that happen once you’re close to the Zone. Like electromagnetic disturbances and some ships get kicked out the area by some kind of barrier.”
“Josh…” It started connected in Nick – “What if, we didn’t get kicked out?”
“What are you talking about?”
“What if, we were accepted into the Zone? What if this is Crimson Zone, right here?”
“Guys!” Heather’s scream disrupted the boys. Josh peered over to see her and saw her pointing into the distance. A fog overtook the far away hills, and soon, it became clear that it wasn’t no ordinary fog. It was getting closer: A sandstorm.
“Oh no.” Josh rushed over to his bike and activated the radar. The storm began blocking out their signals, interfering with the blip.
“Unreal…” Josh angrily stated – “Nick, we have to go. Now!”
Nick didn’t waste a second confirming Josh’s command. Both of them got on their bikes and sped off in the opposite direction they came from. Naturally, you’d assume the bikes would outrun the storm, but this was getting stranger by the minute. The computers on the vehicles began malfunctioning, giving off false readings of their speed, the time and destination. Heather looked behind. She saw sparks of electromagnetic activity from the storm.
“Nick!” Josh tried calling his friend in the com systems, but even that wasn’t working. He only heard static. They could still see Nick riding some meters away from them but regardless, things were getting hairy.
“That storm’s gaining on us…” Heather did her best not to confuse her tone in worry so that her driver won’t panic but she needed to warn him. Nevertheless, Josh grew irritated. He didn’t want their adventure to be chased away by nature.
But this wasn’t any common storm and Heather sensed it.
Suddenly, bright spotlights shined down from the sky, trailing the ravens wherever they went.
A robotic voice called out:
“Attention citizens! You are violating The N12 act! Pull over immediately! We will transport you to safety.”
‘EDF? MDSU? I don’t care. They’re not getting in my way.’
Nick followed their orders willingly. As soon as he stopped his bike, an overhead saucer shot an orange ray down and beamed him into its ship. Josh on the other hand, didn’t stop. Heather held onto him. She didn’t have much of a choice.
“Attention! You are violating The N12 act! Pull over immediately!”
The storm was getting closer. Neither saucer or bike could outrun it for much longer. It was really a freak of nature.
“Attention! You are…dk0d2kdddoeofrkfosdkoz.defo3.d.d….”
A violent twist in the robot’s voice overtook its tone. When Heather looked back, it was gone. Only a tyrannical mix of sand, dust, clutter and lightning threatened to engulf them as it came spiraling closer. Heather shrieked out of pure instinctual worry.
“Hang on Heather!” Josh found the courage to push harder. Hearing Heather in distress, seeing his friend taken away and the idea that this might have been his fault, pushed him to the limit. He had to protect her.
But in the end, nature always wins. Josh could only get so far before his bike and Heather with it, were swallowed into the dark storm.
‘Water’s everywhere. My vision’s fuzzy. Can’t make out the shapes properly. Sometimes I see colors, other times I see figures. They’re in suits. The kind that stops contagions. I have no idea what they’re doing. I feel needles in my arms. I’m hooked up to a monitor. Now I’m being walked. I blank out. Where am I? Why’s everything so white?
Wha… what…
Focus, focus, focus. Come on, focus…
What! Why! Why am I in a wheelchair?
I can’t move… someone’s pushing me down a long corridor. The lights make me feel sleepy. I can’t move… I’m drooling stupidly. Why, why is everything so soft? What? What did I just say? Stop… Stop, stop, stop! Can you hear me?! Hello?’
A dumbed, banged up Josh sits in a wheelchair, unable to talk and unable to respond. He’s pushed down a spotless corridor by someone in a white hazmat suit. The person’s face cannot be seen. Only darkness prevails.
They arrive at their destination, which happens to be one of the many rooms down the corridor. Josh is escorted inside a completely white interrogation room, featuring one flat desk and a chair with a dark, observatory mirror on the far wall.
“Whhuurrr…” Josh struggles to get the attention of the person parking him on one side of the desk but all that comes out his mouth is a mixture of drool and gibberish. The hazmat person ignores him and walks out.
‘Move, move… why can’t I move? Why am I speaking so stupid? Can’t concentrate. It’s too much. Head hurts. Think I might lose consciousness.’
Another hazmat person walks in and carefully sits in the only available chair.
‘Why can’t I see their faces?’
This new, unknown guest, holds his hand over the desk and a visual interface comes up. The guest types on the interface, perhaps taking notes of Josh’s status.
“Do you remember your name?” The guest speaks with a robotic voice.
“Jaaah… Hmmm, Jaaooo… ugh
…” Josh tries his hardest to get words out his mouth but it’s just too difficult for him. The guest gets up and walks over to Josh then holds his arm out to insert a small, strange needle-like device. As the guest walks back to his seat, a sudden clarity fills Josh. He can see properly. He can breathe normally.
“Hello?” Josh asks, realizing he has the ability to speak again. The guest, however, refuses to acknowledge him. Instead, the guest takes notes of Josh on the holoterminal.
Whatever the guest did, Josh is normal again with one exception; he still can’t move.
“Where am I?” Josh pleasantly asks.
The guest stops typing on the holoterminal and returns an inquiry – “Do you remember your name?”
“Joshua Sphere.” Josh announces proudly as if he were beating a test.
The guest types once more. An uncomfortable silence emanates to the point one can hear their insides tick. Josh takes a look around the room. No visible cameras, no indication of where all the light in the room is coming from. It’s all so very strange.
“Where am I?” Josh tries to spark conversation again
“What do you remember before arriving here?” The guest asks.
Josh was about to easily answer his question until he came to the conclusion that he simply has no clue how he got there or what happened before it. As a matter of fact, Josh didn’t even remember going to The Crimson Zone. All he can do is sit there in a dumbfounded pause.
“I don’t… remember.” He says.
The guest types on his holoterminal once more. Aggravation gets to Josh.
‘Why can’t I remember anything? Where am I? Who is this person? Is he going to keep asking me these questions?’
“Who are you?!” Josh demands.
The guest instantly stops typing. This time a new silence whisks into the room and it’s not the friendly type. Josh feels his gut tightening and a general heaviness in the atmosphere, sinking into his chest. The guest gracefully moves its hand to the neck area of the hazmat suit and presses a button. The inside visor unsheathes itself. Josh’s jaw loosens its grip, hanging stupefied from who he’s seeing.
“Grandfather?” He asks.
Son of Mars searches for The Offspring
Might as well call it the raging tempest when that man’s fists smashed into the desk, interrupting the Martian-EDF Congress Meeting. Colin was furious. No, Colin was enraged but not a kind of blind fury. It’s a level deeper. It’s the kind of anger where you have pure clarity. He’s in total control, all the anger’s good for is just fuel.
“Where is my son!” He shouted to the council
“Colin…” Gabriel tried calming his friend to the best of his ability. It was no use. Colin phased out any distraction. He had already assumed the worst.
The council room was a medium-sized congress room. It featured a board for EDF interests and on the other side, Martian interests. Routine meetings took place every month to cover progress, trade and the advancement of Mars but since the ‘Re-Discovery’ incident, meetings have been taking place generally every week, sometimes more than once. Naturally the people were growing frustrated at seeing each other so regularly, especially when the matters were so heavy and gloomy.
Crimson Zone became a hidden enemy that both EDF and Martian council strove their hardest to keep away from the public. The effort was honestly futile. Crimson Zone, the way it carried about its defensiveness around its territory was starting to extend beyond that barrier. Crimson Zone was growing.
“Order!” Edward, the Martian Council Chief spoke out. Tension grew in the room at Colin’s behavior. Normally, he was among the most composed. This time, Colin had his sights set on another man across the room. An older man. The EDF’s Chief – John. He got out of his assigned seat and briskly marched toward his marked enemy.
“Colin, stop!!” Gabriel tried stopping him but it was of absolutely no use.
“If I found out you had anything to do with this…” Colin grabbed the collar on John and raised him into the air with tremendous strength inspired from the bone shattering adrenaline pumping in him – “It won’t be mercy like it was with your predecessors!”
John simply smirked and that irritated Colin even more.
“Colin!” A dark, soothing voice shot out across the room – silencing every voice and forcing the lion in Colin to be tamed. Colin identified the voice immediately but he just didn’t want to accept it. He loosened his grip on John and faced the direction the voice came from, along with everyone else in the room.
A figure of legend stepped in the room with light from outside shining behind him.
Slender and wiry, dressed in a long, buttoned trench coat with dark skin, slicked back long red hair and clean shaven with flame-orange eyes; it was none other than the man long thought to be seemingly dead.
“Father?” Colin whispered.
Seven fearlessly made his way into the room. All eyes were on him in shock. The stranger part was that it didn’t look like he had aged one bit. When he arrived near Colin, he gave him a smirk and paid his respects to the Martian council.
“I know you all have questions but I’d like to clarify one thing.” He solemnly stated – “There is a storm coming and if you can’t surf those waves, expect to be eradicated by it.”
Colin wanted to reach out and touch him. He stood still in disbelief.
“Care to explain your cryptic meaning?” He found the strength to confront his father neutrally
“There is a force outside these walls aiming to wreak havoc on everything we’ve created here. A group of rebels long forgotten. They’ve grown in power and now they won’t hold anything back.”
The entire congress instantly went into a dismay of noisy chatter
“Order!” Edward spoke against the noise – “Order! Seven Sphere, you need to explain how this is possible. Is it the same force that has caused ruckus lately? Who are they?”
Seven made sure the whole room paid attention to him, then he replied in a calm yet ominous undertone, “They call themselves ‘The Crimson Spear’.”
The Offspring searches for himself
“How?” Josh struggled to shake himself back to reality. It has to be a delusion, right? Seven died decades ago. How could he be here? No matter how hard he tried, Josh couldn’t shake it off. It’s him. It’s definitely Seven. No mistake about it.
“Can you tell me what’s going on…” Confusion started getting the better of Josh. This whole thing was getting really weird. Seven didn’t really respond to him. It seemed like he was there to evaluate his status – like a guinea pig.
“Why am I in this wheelchair? What happened to us? Where’s… Heather? Where’s Nick… ugh.”
‘Why isn’t he responding to me? My head just keeps on pounding and pounding. I’m starting to feel bad again. Give me another shot or something. I’m your blood. Help me…’
Suddenly the lights go dim.
Boom!
The room shakes violently. Josh goes into a panic and even the emotionless Seven cannot help but display a face of worry. The room’s lights come back on. Emergency red.
“What was that?” A panicking Josh asks as his vision stumbles about trying to forge a picture. Seven ignores him. He gets up and walks to the door of the room.
“Hey!” Josh tries to get his attention again. It works, but not necessarily in the way he was expecting. Seven turns around and waves his hand effortlessly at Josh. His face goes blank and his eyes roll to the back of his head. Josh drops to the ground unconscious.
Seven opens the door. When he gets into the hallway, a group of four armored men, all sporting high tech weaponry attempt to open fire on him from the east. Seven holds his hand out – just like the technique he did years ago; overload. All the men drop lifelessly, almost as if a swift, invisible force knocked them down silly. More of these attackers appear. This time from the west. Seven tries to overload the new assailants but it’s too late. They open fire before he can raise his hand and they do
n’t hold anything back. Seven is shredded by merciless gunfire for a total of seven seconds. By the time the smoke’s cleared, the bullet-holed, energy-shafted Seven is on the ground dead as a rock.
“We got him!” One of the men victoriously state as they move in closer to confirm the kill, “Suffered some casualties though. The bastard.”
“Focus on the primary target. We have to get to her now. Move!” The commanding voice orders the rest of these strangers. Not a second is wasted. They quickly clear out to the destination of wherever they were aiming for.
Josh stumbles out of his wheelchair. Through pure determination he somehow manages to crawl his way out of the red-lit room and into the hallway. Once he notices the riddled body of Seven, it connects to him that yes, that’s the man you were just talking to and that horrifies him.
“No! No!!” Josh protests to a blank audience.
So much he wanted to ask him. So much he needed to know.
“Pst…” A whisper sounds from behind him.
Josh turns around. A gun stock connects to his face and back to dreamland he goes.
Son of Mars confronts The Seven
Seven turned his attention to the entirety of the room. He stretched his hand forward and out of it, literally, a hologram of the Mars formed for all to see. In it, a large structure of debris – an asteroid about the size of a country could be seen past the orbit.
“In seven days, Mars will be struck by a weapon of mass destruction.” An eerie silence got the best of any chatter as he continued – “This attack, however, will not be of a natural kind as it appears to be. This attack has been orchestrated by the forces of the Crimson Spear.”
“WHAT!!” All of congress had blurted out the same word in one way or another. Chaos erupted. Bickering got the better of the meeting. Colin stood there unmoved, his focus on Seven with a heated suspicion steadily rising. After connecting his own readings, he knew this was simply ‘off’. The chaos in the room reached record-breaking confrontation until Colin decided to take a step further. He drew his blaster gun at Seven. This action silenced everyone and forced them to pay attention.
Zero Sphere: A Space Opera Thriller Page 11
