“Look.” She pointed to the energy spheres that shot around the planet, then her eyes trailed to the sight of Mars itself – “In my time, this planet’s a blue gem.”
Colin paid strict attention to her words. He looked over Mars. It was still mostly ‘red’, but patches of blue started taking over. Colin thought carefully about what she said, ‘In my time, this planet’s a blue gem’
“That’s why you cannot lose hope. Without you, that blue gem won’t be possible.” She continued.
Colin’s grip on Astraea’s hand tightened as he looked out the window. He no longer felt misplaced. For the first time in years, he didn’t feel a sense of restriction. He woke up and realized, he was no longer a drone but a part of this world, a part of the solar system, the galaxy and the universe at large. He realized at last that this whole drama his family has experienced for so long, would one day pay off. That gave him unparalleled hope. Colin didn’t feel an ounce of regret or sorry for whatever happened. At last, he could forgive himself for Adria. Why?
Because in the end, the future depends on him.
Whatever happened in the past happened. It can’t be changed. All that matters now is what must happen. These unlocking cognitions sent a whirlwind of excitement in Colin’s consciousness. His mission is extremely dangerous; stopping the asteroid and then, he’d still have to go back to deal with Zero regardless of their success.
“I’m ready.” Colin smiled proudly.
Astraea smiled supportively as they gazed over Mars without any sense of dread but with hope and prosperity to a future they know they must strive to create.
“When will I see you again?” He had to ask. Colin didn’t want to appear imposing or needy, so he downplayed that question as much as he could’ve. Still, no one could resist this woman. No matter how hard they tried.
She looked over to him with something he hadn’t seen her with before, longing. “When you come back home.” She says.
Colin stood there trying to decipher her cryptic message. He knew better than arguing her riddles instantly expecting an answer right away, because Astraea spoke in these ways purposely due to all the things she knew she couldn’t directly say.
“I have one more thing to give you.” She tells him as she directs Colin to turn around with her and she stretches her hand forward where beams of light emit from her dress and soon, a holographic image is formed in front of them. Colin’s heartbeat probably skipped a beat or two. He couldn’t believe who he was seeing.
“Who is this? How did you get my transmission line?” Her suspicious voice, the voice of the woman he hadn’t seen since childhood.
“Mother…” Colin whispered underneath his breath to the hologram neutralized in fear if this was really happening or not. She couldn’t see him just yet. Valkyrie’s attention was focused on Astraea, who had purposely took a step forward to block Colin from seeing his mother. Colin wondered why she was doing this but he knew better than to question her wrongly.
“You…” Valkyrie started remembering the blonde from her trip to Mars. She wasn’t sure what to say to her, so Xeilya did the only thing any logical person would ask – “What do you want?”
“I have someone for you Ianna.” Astraea called her by her real name. It was funny, because Xeilya didn’t remember giving out her real name to the blonde. Astraea moved aside and behind her, Colin stood there with a racing heart as his mother laid eyes on him.
“Colin…” Valkyrie’s tough demeanor suddenly vanished if only for a second or two, and that motherly longing for her lost son overtook the tone in her voice. She tried talking again but immediately found it too difficult to register anything logical. She was silenced from the sight that her baby boy had become a man.
Unconsciously she extended her hand to touch the hologram’s face before realizing that indeed he wasn’t in the room.
“You’ve grown so much. Is it really you?” She had to verify.
“It is.” Colin kept his composure in check. The two of them locked in stasis as they stared each other down. She couldn’t believe it and neither could he.
“Where are you?” Valkyrie broke the silence, her voice trending back to the protective, tough as nails Xeilya.
“I’m on a mission in space to save the world and…” Colin gulped at the thought of what he was about to say next, “I’m not sure if I’ll be coming back.”
Valkyrie looked away for a moment. In that very instant, everything hit her like a broken dam swallowing a helpless village. Zero. Everything that she and Seven wanted; a better world, a better future and for what? What has done? Look at where her family was now. Separated, spliced into cybernetics and off on sacrificial missions to save the world and for what? What reward did it give them in the end?
Anger and sadness welled in her face. She had to keep herself together. She wouldn’t let her family see her broken, no matter how many nukes were firing inside that mind of hers.
“Don’t you dare say that!” She scolded him – “You’re coming back to me Colin. I don’t care if I have to come up there and drag you down here myself.”
Colin smirked. He remembered the ferocity his mother exerted. The lioness that would protect her pack.
“Look at me.” She continued, “I’ve had enough of losing this war. I’ve had enough of losing the ones I love and mark my words, I am not losing you out there.”
She looked at him sternly, “You hear me Colin?”
“Yes ma’am.” He replied
Astraea peered over to Colin, signaling that she had to close the communication link.
“Alright, I will do my best up here but I’ll also need you to do your best down there.”
The challenge in Colin’s words didn’t come across as rude to his mother, rather it inspired her that he had grown such a backbone to get things done.
“See you soon.” She smiled, knowing whether it be delusional or not that her family will make it through, though it didn’t really matter if they did truly make it to Valkyrie because her main concern was if they went out without a fight. If they died striving for what was right, then that’s all that really matters.
As Astraea was about to shut off the hologram, Valkyrie edged in a final note silently – “Love you.”
Colin stared at Astraea and Astraea stared right back at him. He knew what he had to do so he shoved his feelings aside and formed a sturdy attitude. He walked away from her, opened the commander’s door and proceeded to the command deck of the ship. His crew was busy at work. Checking the instruments, monitoring progress on the asteroid. Their faces were stressed. They were discouraged, one could even say hopeless. Colin walked to the window of the ship. Outside, the asteroid right in their faces.
“Listen…” He said softly, “Listen…” His voice raised slightly.
The crew looked over. They weren’t sure if he was about to give an order or something else. Colin kept looking at that asteroid. He thought to himself, ‘You are not my enemy. You are only an obstacle.’
Then he said aloud remembering the poetic nature of his father, “Life isn’t always peaches and cream. Sometimes its rain and thunder, fire and lightning.”
He turned around, his strength growing, his presence filling the room with something the people had lost – hope.
“You think this the end?” He challenged his audience – “You think we’re about to go out there and die? Is that it?”
He folded his arms behind his back and moved to the center of the room, walking slow, walking sure, listening to what was coming out of his mouth – “Let me tell you something. It’s not. Whether we go out there and stop it, whether we don’t, the universe keeps going. Whether you want to sit there, crying and sobbing that things should’ve been different.”
He peered over to Astraea who stood silently with her arms crossed at the back of the room.
“That things could’ve been different…” His voice went low for just a second, “But let me tell you all something. It is what it is. There�
��s no mystical force out there tugging that asteroid to destroy the planet we love. There’s no destiny controlling that hunk of rock, telling it to burn everything we worked so hard for.”
He made sure the whole room was paying attention and they definitely were.
“There’s us and there’s that obstacle. So let me ask you something: Are you going to let that rock wreck everything? Are we going to sit here and cry that things could’ve been this, that and the other?”
He looked at all of their faces, each word slithering into the back of their heads, “Or are we going out there to cancel doomsday and go back home?”
No one responded. No one knew what to say.
“I’ll tell you what I’m going to do.” He started low again, “And I’ll tell you what I’m not going to do.”
Colin walked to the window of the ship, his crew, leaving their stations and trailing behind him curiously.
“I’m going to stop that asteroid and I’m going back home to see my family.”
Then he looked back at the rest of them – “But I’m not going to sit here feeling sorry for all the things that we’ve done. All the things we could’ve did. It’s come to this. We either do, or die. We either strive to win or accept defeat like losers. So what do you say?”
They weren’t used to this kind of encouragement. On Mars it was foreign. Everything became bland.
“Let me ask you one more time. What are YOU going to do?! Are you going to cry or fight!” Colin raised his voice, the emotions at the edge of his tone.
“Fight!” Gabriel spoke out in the backdrop, inspired from where Colin was going with this. Then another spoke out, and then another, and then Colin kept asking the same question over and over till the whole room cheered for a victory that didn’t come.
“This is a time that will mark history. If we go down, we go down fighting till our last breath. We go down never giving up hope. And if we beat it? Another chapter to add to the books.”
As the crew cheered, Colin looked for Astraea. He saw a proud smile on her face, and then like a whisper in the wind, she was gone.
Cyberspace
The room is nothing but pure white, light and not a single detail to compliment the true nature of it. Josh lays on the floor, unscarred, rested and unsure of what he’s waking up to.
‘What’s going on?’
“Rise and shine sleepyhead.” Valkyrie calls to him.
There she stands in her prime. Her skinniness; gone, her face no longer tortured like the way he’s seen her and her hair’s back to pure red.What about Josh? How did he suddenly get all patched up so quickly?
“Where am I?” He asks as he brings himself to his feet, getting clear view of the nothingness around him.
“This…” Valkyrie showcases her hand to the direction behind her as if she were pointing to ‘this way’ – “Is a sandbox simulation.”
“A sandbox simulation?” Josh had to clarify her words. He had an idea but he really wasn’t sure.
“That’s right. You’re still recovering. My boys are working on you around the clock. However, time’s not a luxury we can afford.”
Valkyrie marched to Josh with a very strong posture, “Josh I need you to listen to me. In five days, Mars will be destroyed unless we fight to stop that. Your father is out there in space, doing his part. Now, you and I have to do ours.”
Josh didn’t know how to respond. He had a question in mind but chose to remain silent, seeing how Xeilya wasn’t done talking.
“This residual image of ourselves can be considered the mental projection of our, shall we say ‘primes’. It would take months for me to train you the way I want you to be fit, but in here… time goes by way slower. We can cover years in here compared to what we would try to do outside this matrix.”
“Combat uploads?” Josh discerned smartly.
“Atta’ boy. Looks like they taught you well. Yes, you are going to receive data directly to your consciousness of my combat techniques, abilities and performance in my prime. I cannot train you the way I want to with my physical body, so this will have to do.”
“Are you sure… I’m ready for this?” Josh was stumbling around his words. After his defeat at the hands of Red, he increasingly became less confident in his abilities.
“Josh.” Valkyrie looked him in square in the eye, “Everyone has their losses. Don’t let it get to you.”
Josh paid close attention to her words as she continued. She had the same empowering attitude his father possessed.
“If we don’t get back up after we go down, then and only then, are we the real losers. So shrug it off. You’re young and stupid, just like I was when I was your age. I know you want to say that we screwed up here and there but let me tell you something boy. The past is the past. What matters is what we do now.”
Valkyrie held her hand out gesturing him to come over challengingly – “Let’s begin.”
Josh took a few steps forward, then he stopped. His grandmother turned away from him and looked to the sky. Eyes determined, face all stern with her classic sleek smirk that came into play.
“Load: Level-T-105.” She spoke to the air. Josh just stood there baffled.
‘Is she talking to the computer?’
Suddenly the pitch white room was pitch white no more. Everything went black. Then lines of neon green circuit lights suddenly turned on. Josh looked at Valkyrie. She was completely nude for a second until these circuit lines started forming around her body, making a skin-tight black suit with neon lights highlighting her figure. She held her hand forward, crunched it and next came the best part. Armor started forming around her hand, then to her arm, then to her chest until her whole body was covered in her own War Maiden armor. Josh stood there stupefied. Not only was this whole thing beyond cool but now he wanted his own.
“Well don’t just stand there.” She taunted, “Get your gear on.”
Josh wasn’t sure what he should do. Maybe talk to the computer himself or something. Either way, he took another step forward and followed his ancestor, and soon enough the same process began happening to him. Valkyrie’s armor had a black covering with red outlines while Josh’s contained a green lined variant to counter her.
“Weapons!” She spoke aloud to the computer again.
In less than a nanosecond, the whole room became flooded with closets of weapons from nearly every era of human history. Guns, swords, beam rifles, grenades, whatever one could think up, it was there.
Valkyrie casually walked over to the closets of guns to start stockpiling herself as if she were going to World War IV. Josh followed her as well, not grabbing any weapons just yet because truthfully he hadn’t a clue what to do, so he asked – “What now?” while Xeilya armed herself to the teeth.
She cocked her hand beam gun then looked back at him, “Now? It’s go time kiddo!”
In an instant, a cybernetic helmet formed over her head and she took a shot right at Josh’s chest that sent him flying across the room. Josh stumbled back to his knees. He felt the pain, sure, but it didn’t kill him. He smirked. He was ready.
Solar Opus
What comes from the silence of the blackness? An old tale, a poetry written to soothe your own mind. Here I stay, subtle in the darkness, waiting for the time you are ready. Decades gone, and maybe even a thousand years would pass before I see your face again and yet here I wait. The time is coming when the boy becomes a man and when the woman lets go her past and sees a brighter future. A possible future. The observer waits in shadow knowing her limitations. The astronaut no longer thinks about what could’ve but looks ahead to what can be. So here I wait, in darkness, feeling and looking. The time will soon be ripe. When I am released on that fateful day, nothing in the universe will stop my part in this grand schematic.
My part’s coming.
I’ve waited for too long.
And soon the wait will all be over…
The Son of Mars nears The Asteroid
Colin had his cup of morning w
ake-me-up and sat stern on the commander’s seat. His underlings were strictly all about business and dead set on work. They were nearing the asteroid. Their mission was about to happen in this very hour.
“Status report on the rock?” Colin asked loudly while keeping his eye on the asteroid as if it were a person, staring him right back in the face, but something felt odd. Looking at the asteroid, Colin got a sense of displacement and in that moment, bit by bit from the simple expression on his underlings’ faces, things started getting weird.
“Commander, this is a bit strange… take a look.” One of the navigational experts responded immediately to his request.
Colin appeared unmoved. Perhaps he expected that response or better yet, maybe he expected anything at this point. Simply put, he was prepared for the worse. The holographic screen appeared in front of Colin and the data showed strange, new, unexpected orbital patterns of the asteroid.
“LARS, give me a report on this.” Colin spoke to the ship’s AI.
“Right away.” The AI uploaded the data to Colin’s holoterminal – “The findings show anomalies in the asteroid’s trajectory. It has changed its destination at least two times in the past three hours.”
A suspicious beat began revving up in Colin’s head.
“Colin!” Gabriel called out to him, “I need a minute.”
Colin immediately darted out of his seat and headed over to his friend. Gabriel wanted to keep their conversation private. He kept eyeing the rest of the room while the two of them walked to the ship’s edge.
“Colin, I’ve been studying these anomalies for the past day.”
“And?”
“It doesn’t make any sense.”
Colin could see Gabriel’s sweat pounding a message in his head that something was terribly off.
“The asteroid, it keeps ‘changing’ its destination. Look at this.” He handed a holo-file to Colin that showed his findings over the past 24 hours – “It’s reacting to our approach. Like it knows we’re coming…”
“Didn’t the Crimson Spear organize this attack? Couldn’t there be a machine pushing it the directions’ its going?”
Zero Sphere: A Space Opera Thriller Page 15
