Earthweeds

by Rod Little

  Like a tidal wave, the power arc swelled and surged forward in the direction of the swarm. It struck the first pack of creatures and sent them flying backward, spinning and rolling. At least two hundred of the beasts were tossed back; they cascaded over each other in a roll of carnage. The ripple of energy continued for more than a mile. It covered three quarters of the downtown city, and touched most of creatures in the surrounding area. Their bodies sizzled and twitched; the smell of burning flesh flooded the nostrils. Blue electricity shimmered across the air and reached its climax, then fizzled out. This was no flash like a camera bulb, this was an explosion of fireworks.

  The whole event happened within a mere few seconds. And then it was over.

  While it had only killed the first several hundred lizards in the front lines, it has singed many others and scared them into retreat. Even the light static shock, received at the rear lines, was enough to make the creatures back away.

  George fired his tank again, and the lizards turned tail and ran – those still alive, anyway. The power arc and the shelling were too much. The demons made a mass retreat to the other side of town, back to the third river. Many crossed the bridge to the stadium and did not look back.

  When Sam stood back up, he was dizzy. He gazed out at the path of destruction he had caused. The city lay silent, except for the hissing of a few rogue lizards now crawling up from hidden cavities and trying to decide whether to flee or fight. They had escaped the power arc, and now scurried away under buildings and behind cars. Their ultimate decision was to flee. The breeze carried the sickening stench of death. One dead lizard was curled up and burned from head to tail; it looked like a fossil. The city tableau resembled a horrifying Monet painting, if Monet painted in only red and black.

  Sam fell over, and Walter ran to catch him. The scientist and Camila helped Sam to the jeep.

  “I'm okay,” Sam said, but his voice cracked. “Get Shane out of there.”

  George and Stu dragged Shane's body out of his toppled tank. It wasn't immediately apparent if he was still alive, but he regained consciousness and started coughing.

  Bohai ran to Sam, grabbed his face with both hands and kissed him on the cheek. “You rock, man!” He laughed and ruffled his hair. “Incredible. The Amazing Sam.”

  Everyone gathered around the jeep.

  “I'm fine, I'm fine,” Sam assured them. He still needed a minute to catch his breath. He was getting better at this, sparking and recovering. The tips of his fingers trembled, his heart raced, as the high came crashing down.

  Sam looked at what he had done and briefly wondered if he might have saved Ken this way. That was an absurd notion, of course; Ken would have been fried alive. Still, this was a guilt Sam would wear forever, like an old jean jacket, torn and ragged. Something he would never be rid of.

  Shane stopped coughing and stood on shaky legs. His body was badly bruised, but he had suffered no broken bones.

  “Are you alright, Shane?” Camila asked.

  “Just some scrapes. I'm okay.” Shane grabbed his brother by the shoulder. “Look at me, Sammy. You sure you're alright.”

  “Fine. Really.”

  “How many fingers am I holding up?” Shane gave him the finger.

  “Two,” Sam lied, and forced a laugh. “I'm fine.”

  “Um, guys...” Stu pointed up to the sky that was now shifting. “We may not be so fine.”

  A new spaceship appeared, moving fast, and large enough to blot out one of the clouds. It dove from the sky and headed straight for them.

  Chapter 35

  The ship plunged from the clouds and rapidly descended in a spiral. Much bigger than the probe object they had deactivated, this was at least fifty feet long and thirty feet wide. It had ten-foot wings on either side, and spikes running along the top. Although they knew nothing about it, Sam's guess was a small warship. It looked menacing. Its blue and gray metal flashed in the light.

  Two more ships swooped out of the sky, a few miles apart on either side, east and west. They had the same appearance and configuration as the first, and the scene of three of them together, landing in unison, looked impressive... and scary.

  “No offense, Sam, but I'm gonna say you did it.” Shane said. He always joked when he was nervous, and right now, he was panic-stricken.

  “Something's hitting the fan, that's for sure,” George asserted through his cigar. “Should we start the tanks?”

  “I don't think so,” Walter said. “I doubt the tanks will have any effect against those.”

  “Can we try?”

  “No. I doubt they intend to kill us,” Walter said confidently. “They could have done that already, I would assume.”

  Stu exhaled. “Really hope you're right. You know what they say about assumptions.”

  Sam drank a bottle of water, and regained his focus. He watched the closest ship land on Bigelow Boulevard, just a hundred yards away. Lights flickered on all sides and down the length of the wings.

  A hatch opened and a ladder descended from the body under one wing. They waited anxiously to see who or what might climb down the steps. Sam half expected to see a talking lizard pop out and extend his claw to shake hands.

  King of the reptiles.

  Instead, a simple man climbed down the ladder – a human man. He wore a gray military uniform of unique design, decidedly not from any Earth nation. It bore an emblem on its left shoulder that resembled the probe they found earlier. Looking well into his forties, black hair barely starting to go gray at the edges around the ears, he stood up straight and tall. The man walked out alone, and surveyed the destruction around him, the damaged buildings and the hundreds of dead creatures. He soaked in the scene for a good minute.

  Then a soldier wearing an intricate helmet came out of the ship and stood next to the ladder. His uniform was simpler but also bore the probe emblem on its left shoulder. The soldier carried no weapon, as far as they could tell. He stood his ground by the ship and did not move.

  At last, the first man began to walk up the street toward the group of seven. He did not hurry, each step was careful and calculated. No one else came out of the spacecraft, and his soldier did not join him. He approached by himself. It took him ten long minutes to reach them, and when he did, he simply smiled and opened his palm.

  “I come in peace,” he said.

  They did not know how to respond to that. Sam, Shane and Bohai exchanged looks of both confusion and slight amusement.

  “That was a joke,” the man said. Seeing the joke had not landed, he continued, “This situation is out of control. I will need to kill at least one of you today. I thought I might lighten the mood first with a joke. But... I guess you're not in the mood.”

  No one said a word. It took a few seconds for his words to sink in. “I believe this was a common phrase in your entertainment media.” He paused, then asked, “Did I say it wrong? Should I place the inflection on come instead of peace?”

  “You said it perfectly,” Walter told him. “We did not expect your first words to be a joke... or to be in English”

  “Well, it is a serious day, isn't it,” the man said.

  “We did not expect you to be human, either.”

  “What did you think? Green skin and antennae?”

  “To be honest... yes,” Shane said.

  “At the least,” Bohai agreed. “And with claws.”

  “Sorry to disappoint you. I am humanoid, as are all the inhabitants of this galaxy, and most other galaxies, too. There are few worlds without humanoids; and you'll probably never meet them. And I speak many languages. Perituraque defectum. Is that right?”

  “Not exactly,” said Walter. “So you originally came from Earth?”

  That irritated the man, and he could not hide his displeasure. “Why are you people so egotistical. You think life started here or ended here, and that your planet is the center of the universe. No, I did not come from Earth, and we are not the same race, by the way.”

  “You look the
same to me,” Stu said.

  “But I am not the same,” the man snapped. “I am a Sayan, part of the Saraid Empire. In this galaxy, we occupy Neptune's largest moon, Triton. We live beneath the surface. You are Earthenians, part of the Earthenian Empire. This was their home world, the seat of their government over a millennium ago. They left it behind for better worlds, set up a new home world on Earthus and haven't been back since. They moved on when they saw the planet-killer asteroid on course for Earth.”

  “You mean, there were humans here before the ice age,” Walter sputtered.

  “They left for greener shores, and have no idea the few humans who remained actually survived the asteroid hit. The world here had to start over.”

  “Start over,” Walter muttered. His mind raced, and he had a million questions.

  “That's why you're so far behind in technology. This is your second age for Earth 1.”

  “Earth 1?”

  “The name of your planet. There are many Earths in the Earthenian Empire, along with Earthus, and Earthkhen and Eartious. But yours is the most primitive. My home world is Neptune Caliphen, but in this galaxy we live on Neptune 2, what you call Triton, Neptune's moon.”

  “Triton,” Walter said, lost in thought. He was starting to sound like a child repeating an adult's words.

  “Before our invasion, we waited to be sure that Earthus did not know of this planet's continued survival. We wish to avoid another war with the Earthenians. Living on Neptune 2, Triton, is not easy; we cannot live above-ground. We have always been jealous of Earth 1. It is time we take it for our own. Our people are peaceful, we deserve to enjoy the sun, deserve it more than you.”

  “How presumptuous of you,” Walter said.

  The alien man snorted. “You who are barbarians fighting always, even within your own world, every day. We deserve this sun-filled paradise more than you. Our time has come.”

  “But you really caused the mutations?” Sam asked.

  “Ah, our man Sam. You disabled our probe, good for you!” The alien clapped his hands together twice in mock applause. “But you didn't knock out the communications system. We heard everything you said last night. And you are right about everything. Almost everything. We want the infrastructure to remain whole and intact for our settlements here. Which is why this...” he waved his hand at the destruction of the city, “...has to stop. You have to stop destroying our new world.”

  “It's not yours,” Shane said. “And we'll destroy whatever the hell we want.”

  “We won't let you have it,” Bohai growled. “If we can't have it, you can't either. We can take it all down.”

  “No. No, you won't,” the Sayan said. “We'll kill one of you, and then another, until you stop. Accept your fate. Earthus doesn't even know you still exist. Earth 1 is lost. Surely you realize that.”

  “No,” Sam said. “We won't let you take it.”

  The Sayan turned to Sam and smiled, “Our wayward son. The one who is different from the rest. Let me show you something.”

  The alien held out his hand and sparked a small plasma ball. It hovered a few seconds, then rose in the air until it disappeared in the clouds. He held his smile, quite pleased with his small display.

  “What the hell?” Shane cried.

  “Recognize that trick?” The alien asked.

  “No,” Sam said, defiant. “I don't.”

  “You're not an Earthenian, Sam. You're one of us.”

  Sam shook his head. “No. I don't think so.” This was a trick. It had to be!

  “A few of our people were put here on Earth, years ago, to keep an eye on the planet and to test the waters for invasion. Your father was one of them. He was one of our greatest scientists, a loyal agent. However, he fell in love and married an Earthling, and they had two sons, two half-breeds. Sam, you inherited some of your father's Sayan abilities, it seems.”

  “This is bull crap,” Shane hissed. “I don't believe a word of it!'

  “Maybe so. But it is the truth,” the man stated without a hint of humor or guile. “The truth is rarely what you want it to be, son, but it is what it is. Didn't you ever wonder why there were no relatives on your father's side of the family? He has family, but they do not reside on Earth. They are on Neptune 2.”

  “No,” Sam mumbled, even though he felt it might be true. This suddenly made a lot of sense. His dad had been highly secretive about his work, his past, his family. And their last name was Summer, after Dad's favorite season. A fake last name for Earth.

  “Dad wasn't an alien!” Shane bellowed, but even he held no conviction for the words. It made sense to him, too, that Dad wasn't from Earth. The boy remembered his father's odd observations about the simplest aspects of the world.

  The alien man ignored the outburst, and continued: “We developed skills after centuries of living on Neptune's moon. Our DNA changed and adapted. The powers were a means to survive our harsh world. You got some of that, Sam, and Shane... maybe even a little, too. You just don't know it yet. You'll inherit the Earth with us, both of you. You're part of us, and we will take good care of you both.”

  “I don't want that. What about my friends?”

  “Oh, come now, son. They're already dead. Do not fret about them.”

  Sam's anger welled up in his chest, and he shot a thin bolt of lightning toward the man. His power had been drained from the day's events, so it wasn't much of an assault. The man deflected the tiny burst easily without lifting a hand, and the lightning fizzled. The sparks faded to nothing.

  “You can't hurt me, Sam. I am too strong. Our abilities are all that separate us physically from the Earthenians. As for other differences, there are some...” The Sayan man sighed. “Their Earth religions promote weapons, while ours forbids them. They have crusades, and we have peace.”

  “I am an Earth boy,” Sam said. “I'm not one of you. I won't follow you. I'm here with my people, my friends.”

  “It doesn't matter, Sam. Stay or go. I do not care; it makes no difference to our invasion. This isn't about you. You are merely a bee sting.” He thought a moment, then added, “An interesting bee sting, I'll admit that. Do you know what we call you Earthlings on my world?”

  They shrugged. Of course, no one knew.

  “Weeds. We call you the weeds of Earth, or Earthweeds. It's a nickname the young ones gave you. I think there's even a school rhyme about it. Earthweeds in our garden... something like that. Pluck them, pull them.... I forget.”

  He smiled to himself, lost for a moment in a childhood memory. Then he shook himself free and returned to the present. His smile remained but was no longer warm.

  “And today, we...” the alien held out his hands toward the ships behind him, “We are the gardeners. And the gardeners are pulling weeds today.”

  “Well, these weeds are fighting back,” Bohai said defiantly.

  “We'll keep taking down buildings, we'll be thorns in your side, forever,” Sam said. His anger and confusion were preventing him from being more clever. He felt like a petulant child fighting for control of a sandbox with just a plastic shovel and a Dixie cup.

  “We'll be your worst nightmare,” said Shane. “We'll take down every pipeline and brick on this planet–”

  “No. No, you won't,” the alien man interrupted calmly. He didn't seem worried at all. “You'll stop this mess now. Surrender, and cease your efforts. Or I will start to kill your friends one by one.”

  A chill thought reached Sam just then: were soldiers already at the Peak? Would they kill Tina or Lucy, or even the kids? How far would they go?

  “We'll...” he started to say something, but didn't know how to finish the thought.

  “It's over, Sam,” the man from Neptune said in a clear, matter-of-fact tone. “You must surrender, or I will start to kill your friends today.”

  Tension leaked out of the air, and was replaced by utter despair. In that moment when one realizes his chances are gone, that he's not holding any more Aces or Kings, when it's time to fol
d and go home. That moment when he realizes his bankroll, his savings, his life are over, that same feeling of anguish... it now enveloped the group as a whole.

  You are just weeds, and the gardener has arrived.

  Chapter 36

  Strangely, at that very moment, an unexpected voice spoke from behind the group, an oddly familiar voice. It startled Sam, and at first he thought the voice was in his head, in his thoughts.

  “No. He won't,” the voice said. “He won't kill anyone.”

  They turned and saw the specter of a man walking toward them, and it took a second to realize it was Dexter. His henchman, Mitch, stood next to a pickup truck several hundred yards away. In all the commotion, no one had noticed their approach. Mitch stayed at the truck, standing with his shotgun in hand, and staring in awe at the tall buildings in ruins, while Dexter took deliberate steps toward Sam and the alien.

  “He won't do that at all,” Dexter said. He reached the group and glanced coolly at Walter, then glared at the Sayan. “Kiern! The Devil of Saraid.”

  The alien's eyes widened. “You know my name?”

  “I do,” Dexter said with his trademark know-it-all self-assurance, although slightly out of breath from his journey. He and Mitch had rushed to get here. “Commander Kiern You served with my brother. I never met you, but I'm sure you're as big a prick as he is.”

  “You're Sayan?” Kiern was genuinely surprised. “How?”

  “I was exiled here years ago,” Dexter told him. “I was injected with Methyl to reduce my sparking abilities, and forced to live among the backwards rabble of this planet.”

  “You're a criminal?”

  “We outlawed capital punishment a century ago,” Dexter explained to Sam and his group. “Criminals are sent to primitive planets to live out the rest of their lives. Earth was my prison.”