by Chad Spencer
The dairei was taken aback. “Who told you that?” he demanded. “That’s not how it is at all! It’s true that a few are necessarily sacrificed to maintain order. But our universe was in chaos before we brought peace. It takes power to maintain order. There has to be limits to personal choices. There has to be someone in charge. Someone has to help everyone else choose what’s good for them. And our species is perfectly suited to that role. We’re much more advanced than any other species that we’ve encountered. Our species has a powerful mind control ability that allows us to be a police force for every species. We’re called the Peacekeepers. Our females have particularly strong mind control powers.”
Quickly, the dairei added, “It’s true that there are some downsides to that. Males, like myself, are treated as second-class citizens in our world. We struggle for equality. But fortunately, taking hosts in this universe boosts our abilities. In this universe, males are just as powerful as females.”
Amanda interrupted with, “And what do we get out of all of this?”
“Peace,” the dairei answered. “You get peace. Look, I want to reach my full potential. I need to have the same level of power as females in order to do that. Even a limited species like yours can understand that, can't you? I can stop humanity from making the same mistakes over and over again. I can bring your race peace and protection. I can give you stability and order. I’ll make it so that everyone has what they need. There will never be unfairness or inequality again. I’ll make everyone share. No one needs to fight anyone again. I want to help you.”
Disgusted by what he was hearing, Jeff growled, “Peace? You're actually going to say that you're offering us peace? We already know it was you that started all three World Wars on Earth. The last one killed half of all humans who were alive at the time. And we know it was you that started the Interstellar War by invading the New Tokyo System.”
Indignantly, the dairei dismissed, “These were necessary sacrifices on the path to peace. I needed to develop your race’s technology and war was the most efficient way to do that. They would have destroyed themselves anyway.”
“Oh really? What makes you say that? Where’s your proof? After World War III, which YOU started, we had no wars for 600 years–not until the Interstellar War, which YOU started. It seems to me that if we want peace, the best thing to do is to stop YOU. You're not bringing us stability. You don't protect us. The only thing you do is control us, not help us. But you can't tell the difference between the two. You rob people of everything that makes them individuals, kill their freedom, and impose your version of how things should be on them. And then you try to tell us you're helping us? For someone who says they're such an advanced species, you seem pretty stupid to me.”
The dairei was clearly out of patience. Every muscle of the dairei's stolen body clenched. It flushed a livid crimson. Then it growled, “I am a god compared to you. I am the only god your species will ever have.”
Scornfully Jeff shot back, “You seem more like the devil to me.”
The dairei clenched his teeth and his fists. “You will suffer like no other human in your entire history,” he threatened, “if you do not tell me where that ship seed is. You will beg for death.”
“HYAH!” screamed Akio suddenly as he slammed down onto the dairei, crushing Dunkeens’ body.
40
Jeff leaped backward, trying to make sense of what had just happened. He staggered a moment, as Rick dove in front of him.
“Wha … what did Akio just do?” Jeff stuttered.
Akio was sprawled on top of Dunkeens’ broken body, whose blood was everywhere. Dunkeens was clearly dead. Akio lay unconscious and badly broken. His blood was gushing from the gashes his shattered bones had made in his skin. If he wasn’t dead already, he would be in seconds.
Before Jeff knew what was happening, Rick pulled the life out of the nearby tahkti and began healing Akio.
It was then that it dawned on Jeff that the dairei had left Dunkeens’ body and was suspended in the air in front of him. Apparently, the dairei was just as stupefied by what had happened as Jeff. After a brief second, the dairei zipped away and passed through a wall.
Finally putting it all together, Jeff grasped that Akio had jumped feet-first from the balcony five stories above him. He had shoved a wooden rod, which looked like a section of the handrails from the building’s stairways, down through the dairei’s machine.
‘It stopped working,’ comprehended Jeff, ‘so our powers work now. Rick flew down here to heal Akio. He may have even jumped off the balcony before Akio put the wooden rod through the machine and just hoped he could fly before he hit the floor.’
Turning his gaze up again, Jeff understood, ‘Akio was willing to jump off a five-story balcony and maybe die to save us.’ Jeff couldn’t even begin to grasp the awe and gratitude for his friend that ran through him at that moment.
Akio’s bleeding stopped. His bones reformed and moved back into place as the terrible gashes in his skin closed.
‘I’ve got to do something!’ recognized Jeff. ‘I can’t waste this chance.’
Immediately Jeff cut loose with the strongest blast of lightning he could. It arced out over the dairei’s remaining forces, splitting repeatedly as it went. The electricity ran through them with such strength that it fried them instantly.
Trying to push the fact that he had just killed people out of his mind, Jeff flew upward to one of the TV cameras. A red light instantly lit up on the front of the camera and Jeff took that to mean that this camera was the one whose video was being sent out to the entire continent.
“The invasion has started,” Jeff announced. “Take whatever weapons you can and destroy those machines. Once you do, our technology can work and we can stop the invaders. The lives of every human on this planet are at stake. Fight now or die. It’s your choice.”
Whooshing downward to Tolool, Jeff directed, “Get on my back. We’re leaving. Amanda, you take Joonen.” She nodded and moved to comply.
Jeff saw that Nuraiyana was at Akio’s side, as was Harriet, Kenji, Ai, and Sebastian. Leo still stood on the platform next to the cryostasis unit. He seemed unsure what he should do.
Rising upward with Tolool on his back, Jeff told Sebastian, “Start teleporting our colonist crewmembers to the roof of this building. I’ll call Hugh and have him pick us up.”
Sebastian agreed and added, “I’ll call the Hiryu and have them meet us too. Akifumi just radioed me and told me that his people are on the way.”
‘Akifumi has people?’ questioned Jeff. ‘What’s that about?’ But he didn’t stop to ask. He flew out through the gaping hole in the shattered dome and over to the other end of the building. He alighted onto a large flat section of the roof and let Tolool off. Radioing Hugh, Jeff found that the Shadow Eagle was already on the way and would arrive in minutes.
“We watched the show,” Hugh commented. “We figured you’d need a fast pickup, so we headed for you as fast as we could.”
Things started to happen faster by the moment. Amanda landed next to them and dropped Jolool off. Sebastian appeared with four colonists and then disappeared again. From their vantage point, Jeff could see black jet aircraft closing on the city. ‘It’s the dairei’s forces.’
Nearly hysterical people below were surging through the streets with whatever they could carry, attempting to flee. Jeff could hear and see explosions all over the city as the dairei’s forces commenced their bombardment.
“I don’t think so,” Jeff muttered as he lifted off the roof and arrowed toward the attacking aircraft. Focusing all of his will on the first jet he encountered, Jeff let loose with a blast of fire unlike anything he had ever produced. The aircraft exploded instantly. Not pausing in the least, Jeff zipped toward another aircraft.
At that point, he noticed a brilliantly bright object whooshing through the sky. With deadly accuracy, it struck a jet, causing it to explode. Looking upward, he saw Amanda far above him throwing disks of light at every mov
ing aircraft she could hit.
Harriet appeared from behind him, riding a white tiger and blasting every jet she could with fire. Her tiger opened its mouth and emitted a column of white-orange fire that vaporized everything it touched.
Kenji shot up from below, formed a shining, missile-shaped object and launched it across the sky. It homed in on the nearest group of aircraft, split apart, and hit each enemy vehicle, causing them to explode instantly.
Glancing behind himself, Jeff observed that Ai was vectoring through the air toward another group of jet fighters. She cast a black cloud of long, ethereal, worm-like creatures that latched onto their opponents’ aircraft and devoured them in the blink of an eye. As they did, they multiplied and spread like an infection.
Jeff also saw Rick in the air. Like Ai, Rick cast a black cloud at their enemies. But this cloud was filled with ghost-like creatures that resembled oversized, rats. They instantly ate through anything they attacked. Enemy fighters shot electric blasts and bullets at them, but they had little effect.
Suddenly, Akio appeared, fully healed. He was riding a dragon and was full of fury. Jeff watched as both he and his dragon downed one jet after another. Nuraiyana was sitting behind Akio, hanging onto him tightly and throwing massive force pushes that knocked down enemy jets one after another.
A Living Fighter approached, its blaster cannons blazing. It shot down all of the enemy aircraft that were in range as it came. Sirsen Darnell’s voice erupted from the radio, speaking in English, “To everyone with korei, this is the Hiryu. We’re moving across the city to take down aircraft that are farther from your position. Please be careful of us as you fight. A mistake by any one of you can take us right out of the sky. And not all of us have the powers you do, so it’s unlikely we’ll survive.”
As the Hiryu swept away to the south, Jeff recalled that Sirsen Darnell had volunteered to be a gunner on Akio’s ship. ‘He must also be doing the Communications Officer’s job since they’re short-handed on board.’
On his radio, Jeff directed, “To all of our forces, spread out around the city and take down any enemy aircraft that you can. Hugh, are you there?”
“Yes, Jeff. I’m here.”
“How soon will the Shadow Eagle get here?”
“Three and a half minutes. We’re shooting down enemy aircraft as we approach. I think the whole continent is being invaded at once. We’ve got a big invasion to stop, Jeff.”
“We’ll take it step-by-step. First, let’s stop the invasion of this city. We can deal with the rest later.”
A man’s voice broke in, “Jeff, can you hear me? This is Akifumi.”
“You don’t sound like Akifumi.”
The man chuckled in a way that reminded Jeff of Akio’s father. “Well, I understand that. But it’s me. We’re coming in from the east. You should see us come over the mountains to the east in a few minutes. My people have biologically-based jet fighters that are a lot like the dairei’s aircraft. But our aircraft are all green. His are black. Kill the black ones, but not the green ones.”
“Acknowledged,” responded Jeff curtly. ‘I guess Akifumi does have people.’
Surprisingly, Jeff saw a man in his mid twenties flying toward the Hiryu. “The dairei!” he exclaimed out loud. “The dairei wants the Hiryu.”
Using his radio, Jeff called, “Hiryu, this is Jeff Bowman. Get out of here NOW! The dairei is after you.”
Instantly, the Hiryu accelerated upward and away, leaving the dairei behind. Across the distance that separated them, Jeff could hear the dairei scream in rage. The dairei cast a ring of energy at the ship, but the Hiryu was faster than the ring. Amazingly, the ring split off a larger ring. The pair of rings travelling together pursued the Hiryu much more quickly. But the ship accelerated again. The outer ring of the pair duplicated itself and produced a larger ring. The Hiryu tilted and accelerated straight up as the three concentric rings trailed after it.
“I’ve got to do something,” Jeff yelled to no one. And then he knew exactly what to do. Darting toward the dairei, Jeff launched a lightning blast and hit him squarely in the back. The dairei wasn’t seriously hurt. But he lost his concentration and the rings chasing the Hiryu dissipated.
Jeff was still barreling straight at the dairei when the dairei tried to launch another ring of energy at the ship. At that moment, Akio appeared, diving directly out of the sun. His dragon opened its mouth and let loose a beam of intense blackness. The dairei dodged and the energy ring it was trying to launch faded away. Jeff hit the dairei with another lightning blast, just to be sure.
As he drew near the dairei, Jeff could see that Akio had produced five black swords. Nuraiyana was protecting the both of them as well as the dragon with an energy shield just like Jeff’s. The swords moved in formation in front of the dragon. Jeff decided to bring up his own shield, just in case.
Trying to keep up the pressure, Jeff hit the dairei with a column of the hottest fire he could produce. An instant later, Akio’s swords plunged into the dairei. Akio, Nuraiyana, and the dragon, safely encased in the shield, slammed the dairei downward. Following suit, Jeff crashed himself into the pulverized remains of the dairei’s host as they tumbled downward.
But the dairei came out of its host. The energy creature dove toward the buildings below, hunting for a new host.
‘We can’t kill it by killing its host,’ Jeff recognized. ‘We’ve got to have another way. I wish I could ask Eden.’
“Jeff?” Eden’s voice called from nowhere. “Is that you? I can hardly connect to you telepathically. I don’t understand it. It’s like you’re in fast forward.”
“I am,” Jeff called out. “We’re in a pocket universe fighting the dairei. Time goes faster here.”
“Are you serious?”
“Eden! We’re fighting the dairei! Every time we kill the host, he just gets another one. What do we do?”
“I can’t see what you’re seeing. Our connection is too poor. Is the dairei there now?”
“No, he went to the city below us to get another host. Oh wait. Here he comes.”
This time the dairei was in a man in his forties. He was burning with fury.
Jeff heard the sound of engines. Stopping in midair and turning, he saw that the Shadow Eagle had arrived.
“Hugh!” he screamed into the radio. “Get that ship out of here as fast as it will go!”
The ship reacted instantaneously. It did a hard bank and accelerated away before the dairei could go after it.
“What’s going on?” questioned Hugh. “Where do you want us to go?”
“Stay away from that dairei! Don’t let him have that ship. Destroy it if you have to to keep it out of his hands. Just get out of here!”
The Shadow Eagle’s gravity mirrors hummed so loudly that the sound echoed across the city. Moments later, the ship was far out on the horizon.
At that instant, a wave of Akifumi’s green aircraft cascaded over the mountains in the distance. Jeff heard Akio call out in warning, “Akifumi, there’s a dairei. Get your jet fighters out of here now!”
“No, Akio. We can help you. We’ve got lots of korei masters in our military forces. They’ll fight with you.”
Akifumi’s soldiers poured out of their fighters and into the sky. Dropping into formation, they flew straight at the dairei.
Eden shouted out, “Jeff, if you can get the dairei to use his powers, I can connect to him and take control of him. But be careful, he’s very dangerous. You don’t have enough experience with your korei to protect yourself against an enemy like him.”
“I guess I was wrong to not learn more from you.”
“Yes, Jeff. You were. In the future, it would be best if you’d let me teach you things rather than having to learn the hard way. But for now, focus on getting the dairei to use his powers. Then this can all be over.”
Eden continued, “I just connected telepathically with Akio a moment ago and told him the same thing. The two of you should work together.”
But the dairei anticipated that. He darted across the sky, singling out Jeff. Carrying some sort of intensely bright sword, the dairei prepared to slice Jeff in half.
“Jeff,” exclaimed Eden, “I can feel your fear. Let me help you!”
“Ok.”
Suddenly, a change came over Jeff. Feeling like a puppet, Jeff deftly dodged the dairei’s strike. He produced a burning blade of his own and struck back at the dairei, who easily countered his attack and darted upward.
Jeff’s sword felt natural in his hands. It was a burning double-edged broadsword made from lightning and fire. He rushed the dairei and struck again. But the dairei was able to block and make a counterattack. Jeff was barely able to dodge the dairei’s blade.
Five black swords cut the dairei’s host to shreds from behind. The dairei came out of the host and dove again toward the city below. Akio hovered near Jeff.
Jeff wanted to pause, but he couldn’t because Eden was still in control. Panicking, he realized, ‘I’ve let Eden take me over!’
Struggling with all his might, Jeff cut Eden’s control. He flushed with anger and screamed at Eden, “I’m not some kind of slave, you know!”
“Don’t worry, Jeff. I was just trying to keep you alive. I can’t see anything any more. What’s happening?”
Akio broke in with, “The dairei’s getting another host. Whatever he attacks us with this time is going to be his very worst. He’s going to throw everything he has at us.”
Eden agreed, “You’re right, Akio. You two are about to be in very real danger. Where are the other korei masters?”
Akio answered, “They’re here. They were holding back because they couldn’t attack without hurting Jeff. We’re ready to all fight together.”
“Jeff,” warned Eden, “you must let me give you the ability to fight with a sword. If you won’t let me fight for you, you must do this much before the dairei comes back in order to stay alive.”
