Kepler: Humanity's Ark

by Kyle Perkins

  “Orrin, what is this?” he asks.

  “Go with her,” I say, as my astral form dissolves.

  Aya weathers the storm, walking through the flying debris, and finally reaches me. Her forcefield blocks the barrage of matter from obscuring Erikk’s view, and he grabs all of the syringes quickly, plunging them into my neck.

  The flood of adrenaline jerks me up out of my seat, and all of the floating debris falls in unison to the ground.

  Some calm washes over me, and everything becomes still, except for my suit, which is vibrating so quickly that you wouldn’t notice it if time was flowing at a normal pace.

  Aya and Erikk look almost fearful as I move towards them, but she lets down her shield, regardless.

  “Sir, are you okay?” Erikk asks.

  “I am. Erikk, I want you to know that you are the best soldier and friend that I ever had. Loyal through and through. There will never be another like you,” I say as I bring my hand up to his chin and snap his neck in a fraction of a second.

  In the next fraction of a second, before his body even starts to fall to the ground, I pull his rifle off of his back and shoot E-7, dead center, causing him to explode. Before the shrapnel from his frame leaves even inches from the site, I am already in front of Aya.

  “Run. Protect your people, even from me,” I say calmly.

  “HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?! THEY WERE YOUR FRIENDS!” she screams. I raise the rifle and aim it directly at her forehead, and she instantly throws up her shield.

  “I said go,” I demand with aggression in my voice.

  Aya lifts off the ground, levitating into the air with her spherical violet shield protecting her. She gives me one last look of betrayal before flying off towards her settlement.

  I outstretch my arms, and release the full power of my suit, causing a massive whirlwind around me to collect the power sources, as well as any of the other technology left behind.

  As it swirls around me violently, the pieces begin to bash into each other, destroying the site and any remaining support staff who didn’t leave with Caius.

  I am purposely giving her a head start, and wiping away any chance of survival for my crew, even if they do manage a win. I hope Aya understands what I am doing, in time.

  Chapter 17

  Orrin

  I arrive to the encampment to a scene of pure carnage. The bodies of women, children and men litter the landscape like a painting of oblivion. The forest around me burns, and the king that once held me captive is now lying in the dirt in two pieces.

  Aya has clearly already seen her father. Even from here, I can see the tears streaming down her face from behind her protective bubble. This site makes me sick. For someone as soft hearted as she is, this has to be crippling.

  The remaining survivors of Caius’ onslaught are all under the protection of Aya, with a few straggling behind, trying to get in. As soon as a new survivor rears their head, Caius and his men relieve them of it.

  “I admire your technology, girl. I may be willing to spare you, if you drop the shield, and help us develop it,” I hear Caius shout.

  Aya stays silent, with a deep burning fire building behind her eyes. She was never meant to attack, only protect. It has to be killing her to stand by and watch her people die. Though she has hundreds sheltered under her dome, even the loss of one soul will haunt Aya.

  I can’t let any more be murdered.

  “I’m going to give you one last chance to let down the shield, and we will spare you. If you refuse to comply, we will wait until your energy source depletes, and we will kill them all in front of you, saving you for last. So you can watch them all die. Slowly,” Caius shouts.

  I step out into the clearing and a hush falls over the crowd. Caius stops pacing and I see a smile form on his face.

  “I’m the one you want. The traitor. Leave them out of this. This is between us,” I say, looking down at the electricity dancing on my plating.

  “Oh, you had a chance to show up and spare these people, Orrin. Instead, you chose to hide like the coward you are.” He smiles.

  “You never intended to let any of these people go, even if I did show up.”

  “Do you hear that? He calls them ‘people,’ everyone.” Caius starts pacing again. “Some of you may have thought I came down too hard on the captain, and you may have not been sure if he was a traitor or not. Now, you have your proof. He likens them to us – the actual people that flew across the galaxy, as the last hope for our kind.”

  “Look, you’re right. I am a traitor. This cause, it’s over. We do not belong here. We never did. We should have died on Earth, all of us. We ruined one world, what gives us the right to ruin theirs?” I shout.

  “Everything is ours. Anything our eyes gaze upon. If they were meant to have it, they would be winning. It’s survival of the fittest, and that doesn’t stop on Earth. It’s an intergalactic concept. Lay down your weapon, and I will also spare you, along with the girl, should she concede. You will go to prison, and never again be a free man, but you’ll have your life. You’ll get to watch what we make here.”

  “How about this. You all put down your weapons, remove your suits, and start walking towards the blood bushes. Spare yourself the agony of what will come next.”

  The crowd suddenly roars with laughter, and through it all, I can pinpoint Caius’ laugh as the loudest.

  Aya is having a hard time keeping her shield up for this long, and I can see that the power is wearing on her. Her hair keeps flickering from deep blue to its normal dark brown. They must have been firing on it for some time before I arrived. Even now, she refuses to look at me.

  “Exactly how do you plan to manage to take us all on? You don’t even have your number one fan-boy with you. Where is Erikk, by the way?” he asks.

  “Dead. You’ll see him soon.”

  “Didn’t think we hit him that hard, but man. That has to be rough on you. Look, so I doubt you’re going to just drop this thing, especially since we killed your fragile friend. So, can we get on with it?” he asks.

  I say nothing, and instead take a few steps forward, unveiling my power with each step. The pebbles on the ground begin to lift and swirl wildly around me, along with the clouds overhead. The air around me begins to vibrate, obscuring their view of me, making me appear as a mirage. My suit starts rattling and I can feel my heart beating at around two-hundred beats per minute. It’s all or nothing, now.

  I begin firing into the crowd. With my suit connected to my gun, huge beams of energy fire out of the rifle with enough force to carve out the ground in front of me. As I focus the beam onto each individual soldier, their body explodes, and their bones and teeth become shrapnel, killing anyone within fifty feet of them.

  The people I grew up with, lived with on the ship – all running from me like I am some sort of monster. These are people I care about, but they don’t know the stakes, here. They’ll never understand why I have to do this. I push the thought out of my head, dehumanizing them as I continue blasting, thinning the herd.

  Suddenly, I lose control of my thoughts, almost as if my subconscious is sheltering me from what will come next. The whole world turns to varying shades of red, and time stands still. I leap from my spot, flying towards the first line of defense protecting Caius.

  They try to fire off a few shots, but I tear through them like a buzz saw, my fists ripping through their armor like a battering ram through paper. With every punch and kick, a bright red flash of mist explodes out of their wounds, and hangs still in the air, while I move to the next target.

  My onboard targeting system goes haywire, and shuts down. I am only using my eyes, now.

  I stop after ten men have dropped, letting time return to its normal speed.

  “Ready to stop?” I ask Caius, just a few lines of men separating us.

  “Not even close,” he says, taking aim at my chest.

  He fires, and I slow time again, but not before the shot grazes me, knocking off a plate and putting a
hole through my shoulder.

  I shake it off, and continue through the next wave, starting with the two men closest to me. I smash their heads together with enough force that their brains slide through my fingers like meat paste. I take the next soldier’s gun and swing it so hard, it knocks his head off of his shoulders and through the chest of the guy standing next to him.

  In my blind rage, I don’t notice the flash from the gun to my left, and another shot tears through my calf, but the adrenaline keeps me standing. I grab the shooter by the shoulders and knee him so hard in the chest that I hear his spine snap. As he falls to the ground, I grab his arm and use his body as a weapon, swinging him into a couple other soldiers and collapsing them like a house of cards.

  Time slows down again, and I think my injuries are starting to get to me.

  I look up to see that Aya is no longer alone in supporting the shield. The spriggans that I met are now inside, lending their power to her, making the shield glow bright red and fluctuate in size rapidly. Almost unstably. She looks about as surprised to see them as I was the first time, except I know from the look on her face, that she knows she isn’t hallucinating. Like she just came to the quiet realization that they’ve been helping her all along.

  “Had enough?” Caius smiles.

  I pull my rifle from my back and fire right up the middle, but he’s fast, too. Somehow, he manages to evade it and it only gets the right side of his face. As he stumbles backwards, I fire about a dozen shots in rapid succession, blowing bits of his soldiers all over him while he struggles to regain his composure.

  I feel a sudden burning in the spots that I’ve been shot, and realize that the adrenaline is finally wearing off. The suit, after losing part of its structure, is also bleeding out energy. Time is moving at its normal speed, and I have no tricks left. I have to take Caius on man-to-man.

  “Fucking kill him!” Caius says desperately to the few soldiers still guarding him.

  Luckily, the suit still has enough steam to quickly dispatch these few… though, maybe not as beautifully as their buddies. The first soldier attacks by trying to jab his rifle towards me, and I use his momentum to throw him to the ground behind me, me rolling with him. The other two soldiers open fire, and I use his body as a human shield and return fire on the other two, blowing holes through their chests.

  I stand up, with the rifle still in hand, and bring it down with all the force I can muster, denting the soldier’s helmet like a can.

  “You’ve ruined everything. You fucking idiot. You fucking traitor!” Caius yells. “We’re all that’s left, now!”

  “Not for long,” I say, as I move forward with a right hook.

  He blocks the punch, and returns one of his own, landing squarely in my ribs. The wind is knocked out of me, and for a second, I don’t even register that he’s still hitting me.

  He throws me to the ground and climbs on top of me, delivering two shots directly to the face. By the third, I regain my composure and catch his fist, throwing him into an arm bar. Once I hear his arm snap, I roll on top and take the offensive, dropping heavy elbows into his visor, cracking it more and more with each hit.

  Suddenly, I feel a deep burning pain in my side. He has managed to slide a blade through my plating and between my ribs. He twists hard, forcing me onto my back. The world goes from red to a dusky color, and the light begins flickering in and out, like someone is flipping a light switch on and off.

  He pulls the knife out of my side, and uses his good arm to swing down with all of his might towards my face. I throw up both hands to block him, but with me quickly losing blood, he is gaining the advantage. Even with one arm.

  “We could have been gods!” he sneers.

  “Our mistake was playing god in the first place,” I say as he inches closer to my visor.

  His arm suddenly goes limp for a second, and it take a moment to register the sound of an axe hitting the back of his helmet. He takes his attention off of me for a split-second to see who had the balls to hit him, and that’s all the time I need. I crank his wrist with both hands until I hear a pop, and before he has time to react, I jab his own knife into his throat.

  Caius collapses on top of me, and I see who hit him. One of the people who kept me prisoner. The king’s right-hand man.

  The light flickers out, and then back again, with Aya and the entire village standing over me. The king’s man pulls Caius off of me, removing his helmet and slitting his throat for good measure.

  “I can’t believe it worked. I can’t believe you actually did it,” Aya says, kneeling over me, her hair returned to blue.

  “We did it. I told you that your people would need you,” I cough, feeling a warm stream running out of my mouth.

  “It didn’t have to end like this… We could have found another way,” she says, with tears starting to form in her eyes.

  “It did have to end this way. Everything we touch turns to shit. If you learn one thing from this… From me… Learn to never be like us.”

  “I love you, you can’t go. Not like this. There must be something we can do,” she says, and I see the king’s man wince.

  “I love you, too. I have since I first laid eyes on you, but I knew we could never be together. So, I never wanted to get your hopes up.” I put my hand onto hers. “But, Aya, it’s time. I want to go. I don’t belong here. There is a whole universe out there for me to explore. That’s what I do. When I projected out, I realized there is more to this world than a body. You have to let me go. My job here is done,” I say, with tears swelling up in my eyes.

  “I… can’t,” she says.

  “Aya, it’s an order.” I smile, faintly.

  “You’re not my captain.” She smiles back.

  “You should be happy, you finally got what you wanted…”

  “No, I didn’t. I didn’t get you,” she says, trying to say strong.

  “No, you got something better. You’re free now,” I say as the light flickers off, and the world around me goes white.

  Epilogue

  Aya

  He is right. He has always been right. I asked for my freedom and that is exactly what he has given me. I should be thankful, but everything hurts too much. Never did I think that it would come to this. I wasn’t prepared for an end. I have lost so much more than I have gained.

  In this moment, I am lost; completely and utterly lost.

  “We were stronger together, Orrin. You said it yourself,” I cry for him as he stares to the sky. His lifeless body is drained of the soul that I fell in love with; the soul that made me what I am today. Without regard for the survivors of the fight, I take this moment. I claim it as mine.

  I can hear the whispers from the people surrounding me. I am going to have to answer to them. No-one understands what I am going through right now. The only person that knew what it was like to be me, sacrificed himself to give me the life he wanted me to have. A life that he deserved as well.

  What am I going to do? I had so much to look forward to before he made the decision to break me. My people don’t understand, but Orrin did.

  I wasn’t left with much time to explain my obvious differences before I did exactly what I was told; I protected my people as I was drained of everything I had to give. I wasn’t strong enough alone, and Orrin expected me to be strong enough without him.

  “How could you?” The tears flood my cheeks, falling to his chest. “How could you just leave me?”

  I feel a hand on my back, rubbing gentle circles. I don’t turn around to acknowledge the kind gesture. There is only so much that I should be expected of, and I’m not ready to face my future without him. How can I be? The only reason I am here right now – any of my people are here right now – is because he sacrificed himself for me. For us.

  I’m not as strong as he thought I was. I tried, and I was failing miserably. The flood of tears is unstoppable as everyone stares at me. I feel the holes being burned into my back as they watch the daughter of their leader break over on
e of them – the star people. Many of them will never know what he gave up, or what I was forced to watch die.

  With my father gone, I know what this means for me. I am to be wed and my betrothed will become an Elite, the next leader of the Vaklarn and the king of the land. I’m going to be sick knowing that Garret is already mentally preparing for his rule.

  Unable to look away from Orrin, I reach down to my dress and begin tearing strips of fabric from the hem. When we first met, my heart broke for him, tied to the stake, left to fend helplessly for himself. Balling up the fabric, I pull his helmet away. The blood has begun to dry at the corners of his mouth and I wipe away the crimson stains from his cheeks.

  He didn’t deserve the life that he abandoned, he deserved a long life full of happiness and love.

  The tears won’t stop as I picture the future that I could’ve had with him, but he was right. He was always right. There was nothing here for him or his people. He gave me everything that I had ever wanted and more. I was able to live, free from the confines of my father. He gave me hope that I was meant to be the person I am, not the person I was required to be.

  Most importantly, he allowed me to love with my whole heart. He let me fall in love with him, knowing that he wouldn’t be there to pick up the pieces after he shattered it. He may have loved me and left, but a small piece of my heart will always belong to him; to the man that gave himself for me.

  Placing my hands on his face, I whisper softly, “Love is a simple gift that can only be destroyed if you allow it.”

  I kiss him gently on the forehead before replacing his helmet and mouthing a goodbye to my past.

  I stand to let everyone know that things will be different. Life will continue, but the brave will never be forgotten. Orrin wanted that from me and I will do just that.

  Scanning the crowd, I turn to find Garret with his hand still on my back. He towers over me as he waits for my next move. He looks like he has something to say, but fears my reaction.