by T. S. Hall
“We found it,” Allora said as they stood next to each other, staring at the momentous ancient ship that had been under their feet the whole time.
They walked to the base of the ship, searching for a way in.
“I don’t see anything,” Katie said, scanning the underbelly.
Suddenly Allora’s pocket started to vibrate and lift up. She pulled out the sapphire orb and felt a tug upward, so she let it go. The orb sailed up to a small, round socket in the base of the ship near the clay-covered metal landing gear. The ship shuddered slightly, causing them to step back. Then the lines in the ship widened and dropped down. The ramp hit the dirt and stopped, and the lights within the ship flickered on.
After pulling the blue orb from the indentation of the ship, they walked into the corridor of the Alexandria. Allora felt the excitement and fear of what they would find inside. The interior of the ship smelled of mildew and rust, but most of it was surprisingly intact. The graded metal floor made an echoing creak sound as they walked toward the center of the Alexandria. The corridor opened into a large room filled with small, round compartments lining the walls. Allora grabbed the handle of one of the compartments and pulled.
“Are you sure you should be doing that?” Tanner asked.
She ignored him and pulled further. A cold smoke billowed from within the tube-shaped compartment. Inside were small glass orbs covered in ice. Allora wiped away the frost, revealing a dark-red interior. Dax was opening the drawers in the center console, which were filled with different measuring devices, tools, and fragments of broken glass and metal.
“What are we even searching for?” Katie asked, scanning tubes on the other wall.
“I have no idea,” Allora said, pushing back the round tube.
They continued to search the ship, moving forward into the other areas. Everything was covered in dust, and there were random lighting fixtures hanging from the ceiling, metal boxes strewn on the floor, and litter everywhere. Allora would have loved to examine every part of the relic, but they didn’t have much time. The cockpit of the ship was large, spanning forty feet in length and thirty feet in width. At the center was a single chair, most likely for the captain of the ship. They slowly toured the room, looking for any clues to the location of the scroll. Dax sat down in the captain’s chair, imagining being at the helm of an amazing ship. Suddenly the ground in front of him lifted. It caused Dax to jump out of the chair and glance around as if he hadn’t been the instigator.
“What did you do now?” Katie said.
The round console lifted to about waist high, and a female voice said, “Hello, Captain. Where would you like to go?”
“ Um, should we get out of here?” Dax asked, unsure of what the ship’s artificial intelligence would do.
“No. Wait,” Allora said, noticing the concave center in the console.
Slowly, she placed the sapphire orb inside, which prompted a light to flash. Allora felt an energy grab her hand, and she couldn’t let go of the orb. It hung onto her as if it were attached. Then there was a reverberation, followed by a piercing sound that caused them to cover their ears and close their eyes. Allora’s mind suddenly gave way to only light, and she felt her whole body being pulled into itself, like entering the outer realm. All around her was white light. She stood in a white sand desert. In the distance, a fuzzy image of a man walked toward her. The waves of heat and light were distorting the image, but it got clearer as the man got closer. He was wearing a gray battle suit with the familiar insignia of the pyramid and eye on both shoulders. He had gray hair, a short, full, gray beard, glasses, a skinny figure, and a gray trench coat. He smiled as he walked toward her.
“Hello, daughter of Zeus,” the old man said.
“Who are you?”
“I am the preprogrammed artificial intelligence representative of the captain of the Alexandria. My name is Noah.
“Where am I, and why am I here?”
“We are in the outer realm of the scroll,” the old man said. “This is an introduction for what you are about to experience.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You will,” Noah said, moving his hands like the conductor of an orchestra. The scenery instantly changed to the interior of the city of Alexandria. It was completely illuminated by flickering torches, with towering, beautiful buildings that were pristine. The walkways were clean, the marble was polished, and the statues were in mint condition, but the entire city was in turmoil. Thousands of people were clamoring about as they tried to make it to one of the transport ships that was about to leave through a large opening above the city.
“Over five thousand years ago, the Titans invaded Earth through the gateways, which were permanently open at the time,” Noah began as Allora watched the panicked crowd climb over each other. “The first invasion was catastrophic, so the guardians of Delphi, or GODs as they were called, which included Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, Apollo, Demeter, Ares, Aphrodite, Dionysus, Hermes, and so on—really, there were a lot of them—they convinced the other Sonorans of Earth to join forces against the Titans. There were many Sonorans on Earth, working to accumulate resources for the different city-states on Sonora. The Sonorans of Rome, Jupiter, and Venus; the Sonorans of Egypt, Ra, and Horus; the Sonorans of the Norse, Thor, and Baldur; the Sonorans of India, Ganesha, and Maya, and many more joined forces and pushed back the Titans. Unfortunately, Kronos had his scientists create a weapon of immense power. Zeus and the other guardians tried to stop what would eventually destroy most life on Earth.”
Allora noticed the Alexandria taking off from a launch pad at the center of the city.
“The Alexandria was what we called an A.R.C., or Advanced Research Carrier. Our mission was to gather all the DNA from every species on Earth so that we could re-populate this world should the guardians fail to stop Kronos. It was also tasked with keeping the truth of the events so that future generations would know how to stop this catastrophe from ever happening again.”
Just as he said this, they floated above the city, along the outside of the Alexandria. Once in the sunlight, they could see a large blue wave coming right at them. The ship’s engine fired, launching it above the menacing wave, which took out an escaping vessel.
“This was a very dark day in our history,” Noah said as they lifted above, watching as the wave continued its destructive path, wiping out all life in its wake. “When the waters subsided, we landed here.” The scenery changed to a deep cavern in the midst of an expansive forest. The Alexandria set down, landing in the deep pit, where they found it thousands of years later. Noah showed Allora the progression of incubation for the many species that now existed today, including an image of a human fetus floating in a glass tube.
“You see, we altered the human genome slightly,” Noah said, staring at the baby within. “Before, the humans didn’t have the urge to expand or innovate. What we did was insert a part of our chromosome to create a void that would allow for curiosity and in turn force humanity to want to evolve as a species.” Allora looked at Noah, who seemed rigid and stern. “All of the scientists involved in this decision were apprehensive, but we wanted to give humanity a fighting chance. We wanted to give them the ability to defend themselves in the future.”
“So then what is the scroll?” Allora asked.
“It is a memory orb, comprised of the exact path that you need to follow in order to stop this from ever happening again. You must choose to go down this path, though. And do not make this choice lightly. This path is not going to be easy. It will test you physically, mentally, and even emotionally. You will most certainly die.”
“That’s not exactly a very good sales pitch,” Allora said jokingly.
“This is no joke,” Noah said sternly. “If you decide to take in the scroll’s memory, you must follow it to the end. The fates of both worlds rest in the keeper of the scroll.”
“Talk about pressure,” Allora said to herself. She thought about the faces of those in the city of Alexandria
. She thought about the billions of humans on Earth who would die, including the people back home in Sandy.
“Alright, I’m ready.”
“Are you sure?”
She nodded, and the image of Noah burst into pure light. Then she felt a sharp pressure against her forehead, and it felt like she had been electrocuted. Millions of images passed through her mind. Voices echoed, drowning each other out from clarity, followed by a throbbing headache like she’d never felt before. She blinked rapidly, trying to focus on something. Three blurry faces emerged. The muffled sound of her friends’ voices was comforting, but the pain in her head was too intense to focus on anything they were saying.
“Allora…,” Katie said, the muffled sound becoming clearer.
Then a dim red light filled the entire ship, followed by a siren.
“What the hell just happened?” Tanner asked, looking around.
“I don’t know, but this time I promise you it wasn’t my fault,” Dax said.
Allora moaned and got onto her elbow, still holding her head as the pain slowly decreased in intensity.
The AI got onto the intercom and said, “Please evacuate to one of the life pods in the aft of the ship. This is not a drill.”
“Aft? What is that?” Dax asked.
“The rear of the ship, you ding-dong,” Katie said, helping Allora to her feet. “Come on, girly. We’ve gotta get out of here.”
“What about the scroll?” Tanner asked, scanning the room further.
“I got it,” Allora mumbled while being dragged on the shoulders of Tanner and Dax through the corridors of the ship. On the sides were arrows pointing to the back. “I got the scroll.”
“How?” Tanner asked, Allora’s left arm draped over his shoulder.
“Trust me. I got it.”
The ship shuddered, knocking them into the wall as they stumbled through the corridor toward a glowing doorway. They all entered a small room with eight seats arranged in a circle. They sat down and buckled themselves in as the metal door shut, enclosing them in the capsule. Then the interior shook and rocketed upward. They held on and screamed as the escape pod hit the top of the cave, bursting through it, and then fell back down. Booster rockets ignited just before they crashed, burning the green turf below. After the pod hit the ground above the cavern, they unfastened the belts and got up from the seats. The door was slightly stuck, so they all pushed on it.
“Put your shoulder into it,” Dax said, straining to force it open.
Allora pressed a round button on the side, which slid the door open automatically, sending Tanner, Dax, and Katie out of the pod and onto the green turf. Allora jumped down and looked out on a sea of shocked faces staring at them from rowed seating in the middle of the Sandy High School football field. She had completely forgotten about graduation. Allora simply waved awkwardly, standing in front of the smoking escape pod.
“Will everyone give a round of applause for our valedictorian, Allora Smith,” Principal Winters said, which was following by a single person clapping. Everyone else was too shocked to move.
Twenty-Six
GRADUATION
Allora slowly walked up to the podium, wondering what she was going to say. The people in the audience still had their mouths open, staring with wide eyes.
“I had an entire speech planned out about how we are going to go out there and change the world, but I think that this calls for something a bit more honest,” Allora said, thinking about how little time she had to get everyone out of the city. “In truth, I am an alien from a world called Sonora, linked to Earth through portals, and I was told this by an eight-foot Sasquatch, two giants, a platoon of gnomes, and a jellyfish man that lives in the Salmon River.”
The student body erupted with laughter. Principal Winters rushed to the podium and pulled Allora aside.
“What in the world do you think you’re doing?”
“There is an army heading this way,” Allora said. The crowd was now whispering loudly. “We need to get everyone out of here right now.”
“Where is your mother?”
“Not really sure,” Allora said, going back to the mic. “There is an extraterrestrial army heading this way, and they will destroy everything and everyone.”
Again, the audience erupted with laughter. There was only one way Allora knew that would convince the masses. She focused, closed her eyes, absorbed the surrounding hadrons, and created two purple balls of energy within her palms. There was a collective scream, followed by a stampede of people running over each other to leave the area.
“Well, that worked,” Katie said, walking up to the podium.
“What are you doing?” Principal Winters asked, swinging her arms in an erratic manner.
The armband started to blink red. Allora pressed the activation button, which pulled up an image of a large dragon-class cruiser coming out of the clouds at the perimeter. A flurry of yellow streaks shot out from the perimeter defenses, exploding on the invisible shield ten feet from the hull of the ship. There were two more blinking lights on the south and east sides of the perimeter, followed by three more.
“That’s what she was thinking,” Tanner said.
“Where is Milly?” Principal Winters asked.
“Right here,” a female voice said, coming from the gym. Milly was followed by Sheriff Newton, Mr. Ferris, Mrs. Ferris, Maureen, Jarrod, Aunt Lizi, Mr. Swan, Aunt May, and Sas. “I thought that I told you to stay at Sas’s cave.”
“I’m old enough to make my own decisions,” Allora replied.
“You are seriously a pain in the—”
“We have no time for arguing,” Aunt May interrupted as he approached the podium. “We’ve got to get everyone out of the town before those cruisers get through the outer defenses.”
“They are going to keep the port inhibitors active to keep us isolated,” Mr. Swan said.
“They’re going to come here first,” Allora said.
“How do you know this?” Aunt May asked.
“Because they are looking for the scroll, and it was right underneath us,” Allora answered, pointing to the crashed escape pod still smoking on the turf.
“Do you have it?” Mr. Swan asked excitedly.
“Yes. The scroll was a memory orb,” Allora said, smiling slightly, still reeling from the pounding headache. “It’s all up here now.”
“Do you know what you’ve just done?” Milly said, looking petrified. “You just plastered a large target on yourself. Salazar will do anything to get what you’ve just put inside your head.”
“Like I didn’t already have a target on my back,” Allora said unflinchingly.
“We’ve got to get you out of here then,” Milly said, grabbing her forearm.
“No,” Allora said, pulling her arm away. “I’m not going to allow these people to get slaughtered. We leave now, and everyone in this town is dead. If we concentrate the fight at the school, it might allow the civilians to get far enough away.”
“Well, I’m in,” Katie said, wrapping her arm around Allora’s shoulder.
“I always did like a good fight,” Dax added.
“Could you use a few more bodies?” It was Yeti, followed by Abe right behind her. “I heard that this is where all the fun was.”
“Oh yeah, taking on an entire fleet of cruisers and Salazar’s royal guard,” Abe said sarcastically. “That sounds like loads of fun.”
Milly scanned the group, feeling anxious about their chances.
“Well, if we’re going to have any chance of survival, we need to keep the fight to the ground,” Milly said, compiling a mental list of every military tactic that she had learned over the many years of war. “Ferris, I need both of you to concoct a large batch of fog glue from that of dead ice you ordered and release it above the school.” Mr. and Mrs. Ferris left right away at their orders, knowing that they didn’t have much time. “Swan and May, I need you to retrieve the counterattack defensive prototypes that you’ve been working on and set them up in
the woods around the school.” They nodded, got on their skippers, and took off toward Mr. Swan’s house. “Sas, Yeti, Abe, I need you three to get the gnomes and giants and bring them here. They will be more useful fighting here than at the perimeter.” The warlocks nodded and launched themselves east toward the mountain. “Newt and Winters, I need you to lock down the school as best as you can and gather as much weaponry as you can. Lizi, Maureen, and Jarrod, I need you to take the kids into the gym and stay there. You are the last defense against infiltration.”
“I’m not just going sit and hide,” Allora argued.
“This isn’t a debate,” Milly said sternly.
Aunt Lizi grabbed Allora’s hand and led them to the gym while Milly left to instruct the others on defensive measures. The gym was hot and humid. Allora sat down on the hard wooden bleachers and activated her armband. The cruisers had just taken out the last of the perimeter defenses and were now heading directly for the school. The floating laser images were large and ominous. There were now ten of these vessels. From the edges of the image, small dots appeared, flying at great speed toward the cruisers. Allora zoomed into the outskirts. The dots were F-16s from a nearby air force base. The secret was out, and now the whole of Earth would know of the Sonoran existence. From the interior of the cruisers, skimmers and larger manned aircraft emerged. The dragon-class cruisers fired their own salvo of hadron bursts in front of the drones and aircraft, which took out a few of the F-16s. Missiles shot out toward the cruisers, which were either taken out by the exterior guns or disintegrated against the shield that protected the cruisers. The skimmers shot out hadron bursts, which took out a few aircraft. The F-16s were no match for the advanced weaponry. Numerous fireballs littered the sky. Allora felt helpless, watching these pilots struggle against the onslaught of alien aircraft. They had no chance. The cruisers continued their advance toward the school. Mrs. Ferris came into the gym just as the cruisers were about a mile out.
