Earth Eternal (Earthrise Book 9)

by Daniel Arenson

  "We're ready to fly out. Ready to turn on the lights?"

  The professor paused. "Captain, I've done the math. I can reroute energy from other systems to produce an intense beam. Enough to burn your eyes."

  "We won't look directly at the light."

  "That won't be enough, Captain. You'll have to set your visors to maximum radiation. And keep your eyes closed. I also recommend covering your eyes with cloth inside your helmet. I'm not kidding. Stuff your helmets with towels."

  "Understood," Ben-Ari said.

  She had an ensign run to fetch towels, and they covered their eyes, then placed on their helmets and set the visors to black. No light would reach their eyes. She walked blindly toward the edge of the airlock. The four of them stood together. Ben-Ari. Fish. Niilo. Young Connor. All four of them—blind, communicating with the microphones built into their helmets.

  Fish grumbled. "We're like blind bats trying to catch a black wombat under a new moon."

  Niilo laughed. "Simply fly straight, little man. A big wall is hard to miss."

  Fish scoffed. "Little man? I'm over six feet tall, you know, and weigh two hundred pounds."

  The hulking security officer snorted. "As I said. Little man."

  "Enough," Ben-Ari said. "Your helmet can still provide audio coordinates. Rely on your hearing. And stay inside the professor's beam. So long as we fly in the beam, Beleth won't see us. Understood?"

  "Understood," said her crew, speaking together.

  "Good," Ben-Ari said, then spoke into her communicator. "Professor, are we ready?"

  His voice emerged from her communicator. "Ready. Godspeed, Captain."

  She nodded and blindly hit the airlock controls.

  The air whooshed out of the ship.

  Ben-Ari leaped into space.

  An instant later, the lights turned on.

  She had her eyes closed, wrapped in a towel, hidden behind a black visor. And she still saw that light. She felt that light. It blazed over her, searing hot. It thrummed in her ears. She screwed her eyes tighter, grimacing, and kept flying. Her helmet read out her coordinates. She hit her jetpack's thruster, flying faster. She could hear Niilo and Fish breathing through her communicator.

  "Almost there, boys!" she said. "Hold on!"

  "Captain!" It was Connor's voice. "Captain, where are you? I'm not sure where I'm flying!"

  "Stay cool, Connor," Ben-Ari said. "Follow your helmet's instructions."

  "Captain, I can't see!" Connor was panicking now. "I have to take the visor off! I'm flying too far. I—"

  "Connor, calm yourself!" Ben-Ari said.

  "I can't feel the beam anymore!" Conner shouted. "I'm out of the light! Captain, I'm spinning, I—"

  Searing heat flared nearby.

  Connor screamed.

  Then his voice went silent.

  A grumbling laughter rose—Beleth's laughter.

  Ben-Ari gritted her teeth and kept flying.

  Her helmet spoke in her ears. Impact in ten, nine, eight . . .

  Ben-Ari slowed down. She braced for impact. She hit the wall. An instant later, she heard two more thuds—Niilo and Fish hitting the wall with her.

  "Climb!" she said.

  They climbed up the wall, using their vacuum-enabled, air-pumping suction cups. HOPE loved its gadgets, and Ben-Ari was grateful.

  And as she was climbing, she felt the wall change.

  Its smooth form grew tumorous bulbs. She struggled to cling on. They climbed faster. She felt features form. The wall was growing a face again—a face the size of a house. She heard a rumbling voice.

  "Turn off the light!" Beleth roared, voice twisted with fury. "Do you think you can defeat me with simple lights, humans?" The creature's voice rose even louder. "Turn them off!"

  "Captain?" The professor's voice emerged from her communicator.

  "Give me ten more seconds!" she said.

  She kept climbing, faster now. Niilo and Fish were with her; she heard them breathing.

  "Turn off the light!" Beleth rumbled. "Turn it off now! Turn it off or you shall die!"

  The searing beam from the Lodestar shut off.

  Ben-Ari shook her head wildly, letting the towel drop off her eyes, and saw the top of the wall. With a burst from her jetpack, she reached the top and dived overboard. Fish and Niilo dived with her.

  They plunged down.

  They had made it over the wall.

  They stared at the far side, and Ben-Ari gasped.

  "It's not a wall," she whispered. "It's not a wall at all. It's a starship."

  On this side, instead of a smooth surface, she saw many features. Exhaust pipes. Domes. Vents. Lights. It was a massive machine.

  And she saw an airlock.

  She glanced at her companions. Fish and Niilo too had shaken off the towels from their eyes. She pointed at the airlock. They nodded. Rifles held before them, the three walked across the hull, their suction cups holding them in place. The alien ship was rumbling as, on the opposite side, the face spoke. Its voice trembled up Ben-Ari's boots.

  "If you turn on that beam again, humans, I will destroy you! I am Beleth! I am a god, and you are my slaves! You will behave, or I shall smite you!"

  Good. Beleth was too furious with the Lodestar to notice the three humans walking across his inner side. Ben-Ari had no idea what Beleth was. A lifeform inside this ship, projecting its face onto the hull? An AI system? The name of this entire flat starship?

  We're about to find out.

  She reached the airlock and yanked the door open. She stepped into the vessel, and Fish and Niilo followed.

  The airlock was small, dark, and dusty. It seemed like nobody had been here in years. Cobwebs covered the controls, and tiny creatures—they looked like spiders with a hundred legs—scurried over the webs. She cleared away cobwebs and found an inner door. It jammed, and it took Niilo to shove it open. The crew entered a low, narrow hallway. They had to walk stooped over. All the while, the ship shook, and they heard Beleth rumbling.

  "Foolish humans! Do not try to escape me! I am Beleth! Your starship is my toy. You must do what I say. Disobey me again and suffer!"

  Yet as they kept walking down the corridor, passing through dust and cobwebs, they heard another voice. A high-pitched voice. Female. A voice that sounded less cruel and more . . . cranky.

  It's a little girl's voice, Ben-Ari thought.

  "You are my toys!" The voice grew louder, whinier. "You must do what I say! You must or I'll punish you."

  As the girlish voice whined, Beleth's deep, booming voice spoke in unison.

  Ben-Ari looked at her companions. They stared back and shrugged. They kept walking through the alien starship, following the voice.

  They reached a round chamber. Dozens of iron braziers hovered, filled with luminous orange orbs. Pipes covered the ceiling and floor, pulsing with yellow liquid. A round monitor hung from one wall, rimmed with iron, displaying a view of the Lodestar.

  The high-pitched voice filled the chamber.

  "Good. Good, humans. Now you're behaving!"

  Ben-Ari froze and reached for her gun, then realized the voice was referring to the Lodestar.

  "Don't move again! Don't shine any more lights! I, Beleth, am a wrathful god. I will not tolerate disobedient slaves."

  Ben-Ari frowned. Both voices were speaking in unison. The deep voice was distant now. The high-pitched, whiny voice was closer. It came from an iron cauldron in the center of the chamber.

  Ben-Ari stepped closer. Fish and Niilo walked at her sides, guns raised. They reached the cauldron, leaned over the rim, and stared inside.

  Ben-Ari's eyes widened.

  Dear lord, she thought.

  "Cute little bugger!" Fish said. "Like a bald little wallaby."

  Niilo grumbled. "Ugly critter."

  An alien lay inside the cauldron. She was small, no larger than a toddler. Her body was blobby, lined with several limbs that could manipulate control panels inside the cauldron. She had no head, but a
face grew on her body. She stared up with large blue eyes. A small mouth opened, lined with sharp teeth.

  "I'm not ugly!" Her eyes dampened. "You're mean! You're a bully! I hate you!"

  The alien burst into tears.

  "My God," Ben-Ari whispered. "She's a child."

  "I'm not a child!" the alien blurted. "I'm three hundred and four. I'm big! Go away!"

  Ben-Ari frowned and accessed the interface built into her prosthetic arm. When she patched into the Lodestar's cameras, she saw that Beleth—the face on the wall—was mimicking this little alien's facial expressions and repeating her words. Inside the cauldron, she saw what looked like a camera. Ben-Ari covered the camera with her towel, the one she had used on her eyes. At once, the face of Beleth vanished off the alien ship's flat hull.

  Just an illusion, she thought. Just this little girl's alter ego.

  "All right," Ben-Ari said softly. "You're a big girl." She reached into the cauldron and stroked the alien. Her skin was clammy and rubbery. "I'm sorry that we frightened you."

  "I'm not scared of anything," the alien said. "You didn't scare me." She pointed at the monitor that showed the Lodestar. "That's my toy. It's mine!"

  "What's your name?" she said. "Your real name?"

  "Call me Beleth," the alien said.

  Ben-Ari shook her head. "I won't. That's the name of a demon from Earth mythology. You chose that name to frighten us. You obviously know something about us. Tell me something about yourself. Tell me your true name."

  The alien scoffed. "You would not be able to pronounce it."

  "I say we call her Wilma," said Fish. "Aww, isn't Wilma a beautiful little bludger?" He reached down and lifted the alien. "Little cutie."

  Ben-Ari glared at her exobiologist. "This little cutie killed ten of my crew members."

  Fish had the grace to look ashamed. "You're right, Captain. I get excited when I meet aliens."

  He leaned down, about to return the alien to the cauldron. But the small creature clung to him.

  "Don't put me down," the alien said. "Carry me. It's been so long. So long since somebody held me."

  Niilo stepped forward, fists clenched. The burly warrior turned red beneath his yellow beard. "I don't care how adorable you think that little monster is, Fish. It murdered our crewmates. It dies now." He raised a fist. "I will kill it myself."

  The alien whimpered and cowered. "No. Don't let him hurt me! I'm sorry. I'm sorry!" Tears flowed from her eyes. "I was lonely. I just wanted a toy. I don't know where my parents are." She trembled, weeping. "They left me out here. They said I was a bad girl. That was years ago. I'm scared. I'm so alone. Don't hurt me! I just wanted to play."

  Fish looked at Ben-Ari. "Can we take her with us, Captain? She's scared."

  Niilo growled. "We must kill it. We must avenge our crew."

  Ben-Ari thought for a moment. Take this alien with them? An alien who had already killed ten humans? No. She would not place this creature on their ship. It was too dangerous. Kill her? Perhaps she should. Yet it felt wrong to kill what was obviously a child—even if Beleth was centuries old.

  I know something of being a scared, angry little girl, Ben-Ari thought, thinking back to her own lonely childhood.

  "Put her back down, Fish," she said softly. "Back into her bowl."

  The exobiologist's eyes widened, but he nodded. He placed the alien back into the cauldron.

  "Good," said Niilo. "We kill it. I will make it painless. Mostly."

  Ben-Ari shook her head. "No."

  Niilo inhaled sharply. "You will let this creature live? Let it remain in its starship? After it killed our crew?"

  She gazed at the alien. Beleth—or whatever her true name was—lay there, a blob with many limbs and damp eyes.

  She's barely even a child, she thought. She's a toddler who doesn't know her own strength.

  "Fish," Ben-Ari said, "do you still have those Orionite hound-beetles in the Lodestar's biolab?"

  "Yes, Captain," he said. "Marvelous little creatures. As lovable as dogs, as durable as tardigrades. Just had a litter of cubs."

  "Good." She nodded. "Fly out. Choose one of the cubs. And bring it back here."

  Fish's mouth hung open, but then his eyes softened. He nodded. "Aye, Captain."

  He left the alien bridge, and in the monitor, Ben-Ari could see Fish flying toward the Lodestar. He soon returned, carrying a juvenile hound-beetle. It was a fluffy, purple critter the size of a house cat, a smooth black shell topping its back. Fish placed the cub inside the cauldron. Beleth caressed it, and the animal purred.

  "Would you let us pass by, Beleth?" Ben-Ari said. "In exchange for this gift? Isn't this better than an old starship?"

  Beleth patted the hound-beetle. The cub nuzzled her.

  "His fur is soft," Beleth said. "And his shell is hard and smooth. Is he smart?"

  "As smart as dogs on Earth," Ben-Ari said. "He'll be a good companion."

  Beleth hugged her pet. She looked at Ben-Ari with damp eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for being bad. You may pass. If you're not angry at me."

  Even Niilo's rage seemed to subside. The giant loosened his fists.

  "You are a special woman, Captain Ben-Ari," the burly Viking said. "And a damn fine soldier. A true shieldmaiden."

  Ben-Ari smiled and placed her hand on his broad chest. The top of her head didn't even reach his shoulders. "Thank you, Niilo. I'm sorry you didn't get to crush anyone to death with your bare hands on this mission. Maybe next time."

  They flew back to the Lodestar. When they stepped back onto the bridge, they saw the alien wall descending until it vanished in the darkness.

  Ben-Ari cleared her throat. "Aurora, continue on our course to the Galactic Alliance headquarters. Full speed ahead."

  The mollusk flashed gold and blue. "Yes, mistress."

  Aurora hit a few buttons, and the Lodestar thrummed and flew—dented, battered, and still exploring the darkness.

  The professor came to stand beside Ben-Ari. He looked at her, one eyebrow raised.

  "What did you find behind that wall, Einav?"

  She turned and gazed back into space. In the distance behind the Lodestar, she could see a glint—the starlight reflecting on the alien starship.

  "A girl," she said softly. "A girl who needed a puppy."

  The professor's second eyebrow rose. He opened his mouth, ready to ask another question, but then shut it, perhaps seeing sadness in Ben-Ari's eyes. He nodded.

  "Quite curious," he mumbled under his breath and returned to his workstation.

  The Lodestar flew onward, delving deeper into the unknown.

  CHAPTER THREE

  As the mechas approached Earth, Marco's heart sank.

  "We're too late," he whispered. "Oh God. We're too late."

  Even from here, he could see the devastation. The husks of dead warships guarded Earth like ghosts. The satellites were gone. Debris hovered in space—shattered cockpits, burnt chunks of metal, and corpses. A dead Firebird lost its orbit and plunged down to Earth, burning up in the atmosphere. Down on the surface, things seemed dire too. When Marco zoomed in, he could see smoldering battlefields. Thousands of charred tanks. Mass graves. Burnt cities.

  Among them all lay shattered saucers.

  "The grays were here," Marco said. "Thousands of them."

  "The grays lost!" Addy said. "Look, Marco. All those saucers? They're burned up. We won this battle! And thanks to these mechas, we'll win the next one too."

  He was flying inside Kaiyo, the male mecha. He used the giant's hammer to knock aside debris. Addy flew beside him inside Kaji, the female mecha. When a burnt saucer hovered toward her, she sliced it with her sword.

  "Earth's fleet is gone," Marco whispered, staring at the floating wreckage of a massive warship. Thousands of soldiers must have once served aboard it. Now holes filled its hull. The insides were burned out. A crack gaped open like a screaming mouth, revealing a charred engine room.

  "No," Addy said. "We are Earth's fleet."<
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  Communication signals began coming in from the planet, voices warning that missiles were aiming at the mechas, were ready to blast them apart. Marco grabbed his communicator.

  "This is Lieutenant Marco Emery!" After so long as an enlisted man, it still felt strange to refer to himself as an officer. President Petty had given him a battle commission two years ago, but the rank still felt like the wrong pair of shoes. "Lieutenant Addy Linden is here too. We're a bit late to the battle, sadly."

  "But we brought cookies!" Addy said.

  For a few moments, silence.

  Then President Petty's voice emerged from the speakers.

  "Emery. Linden. Thank goodness you're here. What the hell are those things you're flying?"

  "The cavalry," Addy said.

  The general-turned-president grunted. "Land them at the coordinates I'm feeding you. We've got a lot to discuss."

  "Yes, sir," Marco said. "I would request that medics await us. We bring the survivors of Titan with us. They need help."

  "The medics will be there," Petty said.

  Marco fed the coordinates into his navigation system. He was surprised to see the destination—Jerusalem.

  He knew of Jerusalem, of course. It was among Earth's most ancient cities, the birthplace of Abrahamic religions, a city conquered and destroyed and rebuilt time and time again. The scum had destroyed Jerusalem during the Cataclysm, killing half a million of its residents—nearly the entire city. Only a few had fled from the devastation.

  The history was impressive, but Marco had a personal connection to the city. Einav Ben-Ari, his commanding officer and dear friend, was from Jerusalem. Or at least her family was; her father had been born in Jerusalem before the scum had destroyed it. The city had lain in ruins since. Its refugees had found new homes in the military, had never rebuilt their city. But Marco knew that Einav Ben-Ari, though raised as a military brat, still considered Jerusalem her hometown.

  Why there? Marco wondered. Why are we to land among ancient ruins?

  Kaiyo and Kaji entered the atmosphere and flew toward the Middle East. Marco gazed at the deserts sprawling below him. He saw tan mountains, rolling dunes, the land that had birthed Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and many other faiths. A mountain rose from the desert, and upon it he saw the ancient city.