Earthman Jack vs. The Secret Army (Earthman Jack Space Saga Book 2)

by Matthew Kadish

  “Oh, dear,” Green said, his large eyes seeming to roll in every direction. “Oh dear, oh dear…”

  Jack tried to keep walking, but the room was spinning. He fell onto the floor, unable to focus on anything around him. He rolled to his side and saw Shanks sitting propped against the wall, the monk’s eyes barely open, fighting to stay awake. “Shanks…” Jack said, struggling to crawl toward him. “What… is this…”

  Shanks did not respond. Instead, his eyes closed, and he simply slumped against the wall, his position looking eerily similar to those of the skeletons around him.

  “No…” grunted Jack as he struggled to keep his eyes open. Darkness was creeping into the edges of his vision, his mind feeling numb and distant. His body stopped responding to him, all feeling draining away. The sounds of Heckubus calling to him went dull, fading as though he were falling down a deep tunnel. He fought as long as he could to hold on to consciousness, but it was futile.

  In the end, the darkness took him.

  Jack’s eyes fluttered open. A ray of sunshine shone down, blinding him. He blinked his eyes and turned his face in toward a soft pillow. Suddenly, he realized he wasn’t in the Ancient hallway anymore. He was in a bed.

  Jack opened his eyes and sat up, looking around him in shock. He was in his room! But not the room he’d recreated on the Earthship – he was in his actual room! He looked up at the small window the sun was shining through, quickly hopping up on the bed and looking outside. His breath caught in his throat. Outside was the Eagle Hill trailer park! Outside… was Earth!

  Jack was so stunned, he almost missed the aroma of eggs and onions cooking. He exited his room and walked into the living area of the trailer where he froze, his eyes wide, his heart practically leaping up into his throat.

  His mom was standing in the kitchen, humming absently as she cooked breakfast. She was exactly like he remembered her - her long auburn hair fell to her shoulders and she was wearing that fuzzy green sweater she always put on when she was at home. She turned and pushed some scrambled eggs and onions from a skillet onto a plate at the table, the smile on her face striking Jack like an arrow through his heart as he gasped, sheer and unadulterated joy at the sight of her swelling up inside him.

  “M… mom?” Jack squeaked.

  “Hey, honey!” his mother said. “You want bacon to go with your eggs? Gotta have a special breakfast to go with a special day!”

  Jack couldn’t restrain himself. He rushed forward, hugging his mother tightly. His mother yelped, surprised, then laughed. “Maybe I should offer to cook bacon more often!” she joked.

  “I can’t believe it!” Jack said, holding his mother tightly. She even smelled just like he remembered her! “I can’t believe you’re here!”

  “I told you I was taking the day off work,” she said. “I already got the cake in the oven. You still want to help me frost it?”

  Jack looked up at her, so happy he didn’t even care if he didn’t understand what she was talking about. “I love you, mom,” he said. “I never got the chance to tell you the last time I saw you, but I love you so much!”

  “Aw, I love you, too, sweetie,” she said, kissing Jack on the forehead. “Now eat up, before it gets cold.”

  Before Jack had a chance to sit down to his breakfast, there was a knock at the trailer door. Jack opened it and looked at the figures on the other side in disbelief. “Matt?” he said in shock. “Chunk?”

  His two best friends, Matt and Chunk, stood outside smiling. “S’up, dude?” Matt said.

  Jack was so happy to see them, he immediately fell forward and wrapped his arms around their necks, hugging them both tightly. “HOLY CRAP!” Jack cheered. “It’s so good to see you guys! You have no idea!”

  Matt and Chunk gave each other confused smiles. “Uh… yeah, good to see you, too, buddy,” Matt said, patting Jack on the back.

  “Totally,” chimed in Chunk. “It’s been so long… since yesterday.”

  Jack pulled back, smiling at his friends. “What are you guys doing here?” he asked.

  “You asked us to come over and help set up for the party, remember?” Matt replied.

  “The party?” Jack asked, confused.

  “Yeah, the birthday party?” Chunk said. “Your birthday party?” he clarified when it became clear Jack didn’t understand.

  “It… it’s my birthday?” Jack asked, knowing it wasn’t anywhere close to being his birthday.

  “Dude, did you seriously forget your own birthday?” Matt asked.

  “Ms. Finnegan, has Jack suffered any major head trauma recently?” Chunk inquired jokingly, looking behind Jack.

  Jack turned and saw his mother standing in the doorway, smiling at the three boys. “No more than usual,” she said. “You boys hungry? I’m making Jack’s favorite – eggs and bacon.”

  “I could eat,” said Chunk with a smile as he pushed past Jack and into the trailer.

  “You could?” joked Matt, following him. “When do you ever stop?”

  Jack looked around him, feeling the cool breeze as it wafted by and the warm rays of the sun. He watched the cornstalks gently swaying in the fields all around him. He glanced at the dusty lot of the trailer park and Detroit Street right by it, stretching off toward town. His heart filled with joy as he soaked it all in.

  Home! he thought. I’m home!

  After breakfast, Matt and Chunk helped him set up picnic tables under his trailer’s rickety garage port, and they all tied balloons to the port’s struts. They’d just finished icing the cake when other guests started to arrive. Peter, Norma, and their parents showed up. Yoshi came by with his foreign exchange family. Gothy showed up, as well, bringing along a couple of equally emo Goth kids with her. Some of the neighbors even came to the party, bringing delicious dishes to share with the group.

  Jack couldn’t remember the last time he’d been happier. He was back with his friends and family, laughing and joking and horsing around. They all sang “Happy Birthday” to him and he blew out the candles on his cake to applause and whistles. He gorged on chocolate cake and ice cream, sitting next to his mom and laughing at his friends bickering and joking with one another. Then, it was time to open his gifts.

  “This one is from me,” his mom said, handing him a big box wrapped with paper sporting tiny rocketships on it. Jack tore into it excitedly, and his eyes practically bulged out of his skull when he saw its contents.

  “A Gamerbox 4000???” he shrieked in excitement. “NO WAY!!!”

  “Somehow I knew you’d like it, considering all the time you’ve spent with the older model,” his mom said happily, rubbing his back.

  “It’s so awesome! Thank you! Thank you so much!” Jack hugged his mother tightly. But when he pulled back, he saw something that broke him out of his merriment. Shanks was standing not far away, the monk’s blue robes billowing in the wind. He was staring at Jack sadly. Jack looked around, but no one else seemed to notice the alien that had suddenly appeared in the dusty lot of the trailer park.

  “Jack,” Shanks said. “You are not seeing things. I am real.”

  Jack felt a sudden sense of unease come upon him. No, he thought. No, I don’t want to see him.

  “May we talk?” Shanks asked. “Please? I am here to help you.”

  Jack frowned. He got up from the picnic table at which he was sitting, slowly extricated himself from the party, and walked toward the monk. “What… what do you want to talk about?” Jack asked.

  “We were right. There was a trap. And this is it,” Shanks said. “The Chamber of Bliss takes your deepest desires, your greatest wishes, and gives them to you. And while you wallow in the joy it brings, your body wastes away until you die. I was able to free myself once I realized what I was seeing was false. And now I am here to help you do the same.”

  Jack closed his eyes, struggling against the words he was hearing. He knew Shanks was telling him the truth, but he didn’t want to believe it. “What are you saying?” Jack asked. “Are you
saying you’re here to take me away from my mom and my friends?”

  “I cannot force you to leave,” Shanks said. “The choice to go must be yours. You must find the strength to leave this all behind and come back to reality.”

  “I can’t just leave this behind,” said Jack. “I won’t.”

  “You must.”

  “Please…” Jack begged. “Please, don’t make me do this!”

  “Jack,” Shanks replied, calmly, “if you don’t, you will die.”

  “Don’t ask me to give them up!” cried Jack. “I can’t lose them! I can’t lose them again!”

  “They’re not real,” Shanks said. “None of this is real.”

  “I don’t care!” said Jack.

  “But don’t you see? That is the test,” Shanks said softly. “Are you willing to stop believing in a wonderful lie… in exchange for the hard truth?”

  Jack’s lips quivered. He shut his eyes as hard as he could, tears streaking down his face. In his mind he knew Shanks was right. Deep down, he knew none of this was real. It was just one great, big, beautiful lie. But his heart didn’t seem to care. The lie made him happy. The lie made him feel whole again. “I can’t,” Jack said, shaking his head. “I can’t do it. I’d rather die than let them all go again.”

  Shanks frowned. “You are willing to give up your life to be with those who do not truly exist?”

  “They exist to me,” Jack said. “They’re real to me.”

  “Take a look around, Jack,” Shanks said gently. “Who do you care about that is not at your party?”

  Jack looked at Shanks, questioningly. He turned back to his party, looking at the faces of all the people he loved and cared about. Everyone was there – his mother, his friends, everyone except…

  “Anna,” Jack breathed.

  “Anna is real, Jack,” Shanks said. “She is alive. She is the one who needs you. These others… their time has come and gone. There is nothing you can do for them now. You may be willing to give up your own life to be with them. But are you willing to sacrifice Anna’s, as well?”

  Jack clenched his teeth, squeezing his fists so hard his nails cut into his palms. Tears streaked down his cheeks as he struggled to make the one decision he didn’t want to. Anna’s image flashed into his mind. Memories of his time with her. The way she smiled. The sound of her laugh. The way her hand felt in his when he held it. Shanks was right. She was real. And as willing as Jack was to waste away living in the bliss this lie brought him… he couldn’t find it in himself to sacrifice Anna, as well.

  Jack’s body relaxed as though a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, as he finally made his decision. However, it wasn’t a liberating feeling. It was a sad, depressed, awful feeling that tore his heart in two.

  “You’re right,” Jack said quietly. “Anna needs me. I can’t stay here.”

  Shanks laid his hand on Jack’s shoulder, smiling sadly with the knowledge of what it took to make that decision. “You made the correct choice,” Shanks said. “Now, we must go.”

  Jack followed Shanks’ gaze as the monk turned and looked down Detroit Street. There was a ghostly portal there now, one which looked very similar to the hidden door in the first chamber. When Jack turned back around, his mother and his friends were all standing before the car port, staring at him. “Don’t go,” his mother pleaded. “Please, don’t leave me… not again.”

  A sob escaped from Jack as he looked at his mother’s anguished face. “I have to…” he choked out.

  “Stay with us,” said Matt. “You don’t have to go!”

  “Please, Jack,” said Chunk, tears forming in his eyes, as well. “We love you.”

  Jack began to back away. “And I love all of you,” he said. “I love you all so much it hurts…”

  His mother fell to her knees, stretching her arms out toward him, tears streaming down her cheeks. “You’re my baby!” she cried. “I lost you once before! Don’t abandon me again!”

  Jack turned, knowing if he kept looking at them he’d lose his resolve. He began walking toward the portal.

  “Jack, please…” he heard his mother’s voice say.

  Jack began to run, his heart breaking every time he heard his mother call out.

  “Jack!” she cried.

  Jack sprinted forward, racing toward the portal, his eyes blurry with tears and his chest tight with sorrow.

  “JACK!!!” his mother wailed.

  Jack screamed as he ran, releasing all the pain, anger, and sadness that was welling up inside him, forcing himself forward, away from everything he held dear. His legs were burning, his feet aching as they pounded the ground, carrying him forward. He ran, and ran, and ran, directly for the portal, and leapt into it.

  Jack gasped, his eyes opening wide. Shanks cradled him in his lap as Heckubus and Grohm stood over him. Jack breathed rapidly as his surroundings settled in on him, and once he realized he was back, he wept.

  “Are those tears of joy at being alive? I can never tell,” asked Heckubus.

  “Give him a moment,” Shanks said softly. “What he just went through was very painful.”

  Grohm knelt down beside Jack. Jack sniffled and looked at the Rognok’s face. Grohm rested his massive hand on Jack’s shoulder. “Be strong,” Grohm said gently.

  Something about the Rognok’s words made Jack feel better. He nodded, pulling himself together. “How long was I out?” he asked.

  “Approximately 188 seconds,” Heckubus responded.

  “That’s it?” Jack said, shocked. “It felt so much longer!”

  “I believe that is on purpose,” Shanks replied. “The longer one is exposed to the lie, the harder it is to accept the truth. Which is why it is imperative we help them as soon as possible.”

  Jack looked at Scallywag and Professor Green, who were propped up against the wall, unconscious. Jack wiped his tears away and sat up. “How do we help them?”

  “The same way I helped you,” Shanks said. “We must enter their dream state and convince them to come out of it.”

  “And how exactly did you do that?”

  “Do you remember our meditation together?” Shanks asked. “I tapped into your energy and found my way to your Source. We must do that now if we are to save them.”

  “We?” asked Jack. “I… I don’t know if I can do that!”

  “You can,” replied Shanks. “You must. Every second we waste they become further lost to us. If you do not help, I fear one of them will have to be sacrificed.”

  Jack frowned. “Then I’ll help,” he said.

  “Good,” said Shanks. “Do not worry. I will lead you through it just as I did before.”

  Shanks sat in front of the Professor while Jack sat before Scallywag. He followed Shanks’ lead and took Scallywag by the hands. “Close your eyes,” Shanks said. “Find your Source. That place within you where your life’s energy resides. Follow your breath, the beat of your heart… follow the energy that flows through you, and find it.”

  Jack breathed deeply, following the instructions. He felt his mind tingle, like when he was talking with his spaceship, and suddenly he became aware of his own energy. He then sensed it flow through his body and focused in on its Source, a pulsing orb of light at his solar plexus.

  “Pull energy from your Source,” Shanks said. “Send it flowing through your arms, from your hands, and into the other’s body. Let it touch his life’s energy that flows through him. Follow it back to its Source… and make contact.”

  Jack did as he was told. He felt himself touch Scallywag’s energy. He followed it as it coursed through Scallywag’s body, eventually finding its way to his Source. Jack reached out for it, making contact. And when he did, the world disappeared.

  Jack found himself on a grassy hilltop. Before him was a sprawling valley with rock formations reaching high into the air, rustic cottages built into their sides. Waterfalls streamed from the grassy tops of the formations, raining down to beautiful rivers far below. A floating city in the
sky loomed large in the distance, and zeppelin-like airships drifted about high above.

  Jack looked around in awe. Not far away was a large mansion, its grounds lush with colorful flowers and neatly trimmed shrubs. Jack could hear the sound of laughter coming from the gardens and began walking toward them.

  “Scully!” he heard a child’s voice call out. “Scullian, sound off!”

  “North!” another child’s voice replied. “Northstar, sound off!”

  Jack came across two Visini children, laughing as they chased each other around, wearing capes and bicorne hats, and brandishing wooden swords. The younger one’s skin was already a light purple shade, and the older one’s was a light blue.

  “Can’t catch me, Scully!” the purple one teased as he ran off, his cape flapping in the wind.

  “Wanna bet, twerp?” the blue one joked as he gave chase. “No one escapes General Scullian the Blue!” The blue boy gave chase, causing the younger one to squeal as he ran around evading capture. Then, when the blue Visini saw Jack standing there, he froze, looking at him with a mixture of shock and horror.

  “Scally?” Jack asked, unsure of what he was seeing.

  “Go away!” the blue boy said, pointing at Jack. “You’re not welcome here! Leave!”

  “Scally, it’s me, Jack.”

  “I know who you are!” the boy cried. “You’ve come to take me away! But I’m never leaving! Never!”

  “Relax,” Jack said gently, holding his hands up. “I’m just here to help you.”

  Scallywag eyed Jack suspiciously, but didn’t seem to object any further. The purple boy came up beside Scallywag’s younger self, looking at him curiously. “You okay, big brother?” he asked innocently.

  “I’m fine, North,” Scallywag replied, patting the young boy on his shoulder. “Go and play. I’ll be right over.”

  “Okay!” the boy said before running off, chasing some butterflies with his sword.

  Jack walked up toward Scallywag, both of them looking at the young purple Visini. “You never mentioned you have a brother,” Jack said.