Apocalyptic Shorts

by Victor Darksaber

  APOCALYPTIC SHORTS

  By

  Victor Darksaber

  Copyright © 2014 by Victor Darksaber

  These stories are works of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from Victor Darksaber.

  Contents

  Silas Cage

  DreadLine

  Entrance

  About The Author

  Silas Cage

  I AM A STRANGER, I'M LOST, but I will find my way back home.

  Three years four months one week five days ago, I found myself on this planet, Earth. I was a soldier, the hell I still am. But for the past three and half years, all I have been is human, hiding in shadow, watching and waiting for that time when my opportunity will come to get off this planet and find my way back to my homeworld.

  My name is Cyders Kaige, I am from planet Arbitrus, a world billions light-years away from this star system. Arbitrus, one of the hundred and sixteen worlds orbiting a super-giant star we called Sabenak, meaning ‘The mother of worlds’. On Arbitrus, I was a soldier, one of the best there is, and I had a woman that I loved so much, her name was Hanther, Hanther Sunhide. I was a warrior soldier, a legend. My unique skills made me an object of destruction for the powers that govern the planet, we call them The Governors––although The Governors are not the direct leaders of Arbitrus, they represent The Elders, a group of mysterious powerful beings we know absolutely nothing about.

  The Governors would assign me to secret missions no one else could do. Some of these missions made me question their judgments as our leaders, but only in my head. Even though I knew they had become corrupt, and they're using me to clean up their messes, I continued to work for them. Not for the money, even though the money was good, nor was it for the position, but for the fun, the rush, the feeling; it was paradise.

  To all arbitrons, I’m a hero, a legend. Soldiers want to be me. But who I am to myself, is a beast, an animal, someone who has lost the will to be good because he found comfort in evil. I knew there will be a day when I'll give it all up, all of the secrets, the fame, the fun, for an ordinary life, one in which I will have a wife and children. It is what it always comes to for everyone no matter who you are, and I never thought mine would be different.

  When arbitrons complete their years of civic duty, especially those exposed to classified information during their years in service, they go through a process called ‘redemption’, where they have their brains wiped of all the classified information, and their experiences left intact. The same was supposed to be my fate. But for reasons I don't know, they decided I needed to die, so they assigned to me a mission, which unknowingly to me, was meant to be my last. The mission was to find and terminate a rogue arbitron selling Arbitrus’s classified information on Venus. I was about to enter Venus’s orbit when I got hit by an asteroid storm my scanners didn’t see coming. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the ship lost all its power. As I ran about, trying everything I could to restore the ship’s power, I found a tube full of vetagems––the most precious gem in the universe, hidden in the wall of my ship, and then I realized that part of the mission objective was for me to die.

  I tried everything I could to restore the ships's power, but there wasn't enough time. I was hit by a ship-killer sized rock that was meant to conclude everything. I went black and thought I was dead, but I woke up, and when I did, it was here on Earth.

  I was badly injured, and my bio-suit severely damaged. The bio-suit is capable of repairing its wearer, no matter how severe the damage may be, unless the wearer is dead. But the suit was damaged too, and it had to repair itself before it can fix me, and seeing how damaged it was, its repair would take two days to complete and I wouldn’t last that long. I thought I was going to die. I wondered how I survived the impacts, but I was glad I did. My ship was destroyed beyond repair, and there was no means of sending a distress signal home, and no means of getting off this world. I searched for the tube, but it was gone and there were footprints which indicated that someone on this planet came for the tube. I thought about Hanther, and I realized that I have to survive, because I’m going to see her again, and nothing will stand in my way.

  The tube was taken, and I have to find whoever it was meant for on this world. And to do that, I became one of them, I became human, so I adopted the human name Silas Cage.

  Humans and arbitrons share very similar physical characteristics as do most civilized beings in the universe. For three and half years I’ve lived among them as one of them, and nobody suspected a thing.

  In the course of the three years, I found the guy that took the tube from my crash site, but it turned out he was nobody, just a random guy paid for a pick up. I followed up on the lead and found the man he gave the tube to and the man the man gave it to and so on, and it continued, the tube passed through thirty-five random people, and none of them meant anything. I was tempted to give up, but I didn’t. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. I have to see Hanther again, I have to see Arbitrus again.

  I tracked from one pick up guy to another until I found a clue that led me to a name that has been on the CIA's most wanted list for quite some time, Rainbird.

  According to the CIA, Rainbird is the leader of a rising terrorist group in America. I did my own digging on Rainbird and discovered the identity behind the name. Rainbird is a girl, and her name is Amy Whitefield, the richest person on the planet, and the muscle behind several off-earth missions that have launched recently. Funny how the humans can be so easily deceived. Whatever deal she is running with The Governors that involved a payment as heavy as a tube full of vetagem, it must be shady, and bad, really bad.

  I kept my distance from Rainbird, knowing that whatever her deal is with The Governors, it will bring them together again and when it does, I will be ready.

  For months, I watched her operations, every move, and for a long time, I found nothing Arbitrus, until I abducted one of her bodyguards, probed his dirty mind and found out about a meeting with some arbitrons, that is to hold in two weeks at someplace they call Area 47, somewhere in Nevada. That was two weeks ago. I figured if there is an arbitron involved, there is a starship involved––my sweet ride back home.

  I did some digging and found everything I needed on Area 47 from a conspiracy theorist blog. Area 47, Jasper Nevada. That brings me to this moment, the meeting day.

  For seven hours, I have been sitting on this platform, the top of a five hundred feet obelisk, watching, waiting. At first, all I see is sand and rocks. But after adjusting my eyes' spectrum a few times, a three hundred feet shiny metal pyramid appeared at four kilometers away. It's definitely where the meeting is going down. And judging by the number of guards outside the pyramid, which is zero, and how easy it was for me to get up here undetected, I can bet getting hold of my prize will be way too easy than I would like it to be.

  I see dust rising from north of the pyramid. Three armored and heavy-wheeled vehicles are approaching. The vehicles reach the pyramid and stop. Armed men in military uniform step out and form a circle around Rainbird as she steps out of the vehicle in a casual white top and blue jeans. They move into the pyramid. Two of the escorting soldiers remain outside by the vehicles.

  I scan the sky again and again for a ship, but there is nothing UFO-ish, as some humans will say. After a few minutes, a strong whooshing fills the sky, and a spaceship descends close to the pyramid, raising so much dust it becomes less
visible as it gets closer to the ground. It lands. The dust clears out. The ship is ten meters long and ten meters wide. I run a scan of the ship's design and find a five feet curvy bulge on its back above the tail. I sigh, a tiny smile forms on my left cheek. A warp drive engine. I had considered a possibility of the ship being a regular spaceship without deep space capability, in which case there would be a mothership in the orbit, in which case my mission will be near impossible to accomplish.

  The main hatch opens and three men walk out of the ship. Two of them are armed, and in military grade bio-suits like mine. The third man in the middle looks familiar. I narrow my eyes and observe his shape and motion; six feet five, broad shoulders, thick arms and thighs, and I realize there is only one arbitron I know with that shape, and it is Ra Argadus, the father of Hanther, my woman.

  “Well well.” I say to myself in my regular low-pitched voice.

  The three arbitrons walk into the pyramid.

  I shift my view back to the ship; my prize. There is no one outside, but I can be sure there are at least two men inside. I double the number, prepared for the worst. It’s not a question of whether I will be able to take the ship, but a question of how many people I’m going to have to kill to get it.

  I scan the perimeter again and again to make sure there is nobody outside. There are cameras and motion sensors around the pyramid, but the sensors were disabled right before the ship landed. They have all these security measures, but they don’t expect anything to go wrong.

  I twist my neck and rub my palms together. I’m about to do something I’m going to enjoy, something I haven’t been able to do in three years, I am about to dance with no more than a five inch laser-blade knife and my skills. I drop off the obelisk, my ragged cape flapping above my head as I fall. At fifty feet to the ground, I briefly release a force blast from my suit toward the ground, thrusting me up a bit, breaking my drop speed, then I come down at a bearable speed and land on my feet, raising dust around my legs. I cover my head with the hoodie of my cape and walk to the ship. I know they will see me coming, but they won't do a thing about it. It's an off world protocol to stay inside the ship when detected by high-intelligent native life forms with no knowledge of our existence, and in a worst case scenario, the ship will leave the vicinity as fast as possible. But in this case, they won't leave, and I’m really counting on them to stay on protocol and remain inside the ship.

  I walk to the hatch and knock. They don’t respond. I knock three times, stop, two times, stop, then five times. It is code for identification in case of tracking and communication failure. I stand back and the hatch hisses open. A man is standing by the hatchway, and he is about to say something, but I don’t wait to hear what he is going to say, I just walk past him into the ship and hit the door button on the wall beside the hatch, and it closes. Now, I am inside the ship, the first and the most difficult step of the invasion.

  Inside are four men. Two of them are armed and alert, with their eyes fixed on me.

  “Who are you?” one of them asks.

  I push down the hoodie and reveal my face. Just as I imagined, they are surprised to see me.

  “Cyders Kaige?” says the second armed soldier, his eyes wide open. “But you’re supposed to be dead.”

  “But I aint. I been stuck here three earth years, and it’s time to go home.”

  The man standing by the hatchway is now standing in front of me. “Cyders, it is really you. We mourned you. We thought you were dead.”

  I take a good look at his face, trying to confirm who I think the voice belongs to. He is Vask Autrazthak, the other man in love with Hanther. “Vask,” I say.

  Vask is a highly respected man on Arbitrus, and even I cannot deny that he has my respect. He was responsible for stopping several wars we would have fought in the past. In my world, we call that heroic. But we had a problem. He was in love with Hanther Sunhide, the daughter of Ra Argadus, but she was in love with me.

  Back then, I was reckless. I go out every day doing dangerous things, not caring much about my life, but I was damn good enough to make it back home every time. I didn’t care about anything, I didn’t believe in love, but she didn’t care. She saw me for the animal that I am and she loved it, and she tamed it. She chose me, made me a better man, she made me care, but he wasn’t ready to respect her choice.

  “You know, we cannot take you with us. We would have to go back and arrange transport for you.”

  I nod. “I know, it’s protocol, and that’s exactly why I didn’t come here to join the ride. I came to take it.” I let out a mischievous grin.

  “What?”

  I briskly turn to the two armed men, they are already raising their guns. In a single move, I draw my knife, power it on and throw at the nearest soldier’s lower torso, cutting through the nano-wires of his bio-suit, a core part of the suit, knowing the suit would induce sleep while it repairs damage inflicted on that part. I lunge forward at the second soldier and grab his gun. We drag the gun for a few seconds, then I drop on my right knee, bend my head between his arms and stomach and raise myself, lifting him with my shoulders and I toss him over. He hits the floor shoulders first. Before he gets a chance to breathe, I follow with an elbow-drop to his throat. He gasps, spittle flying out of his mouth. I claw my hand on his lower torso where the nano-wires are and rip it out, and just like the other soldier, he goes to sleep.

  I take the soldier’s gun and jump to my feet. I turn around to deal with the remaining two guys I considered much lesser threats, a thick ball of hot plasma hits me on the chest and send me flying. I fire three shots in midair. As I hit the floor, the two of them hit the floor too. I gasp for air, groaning as the whole of my body shrieks in pain. I sit up and look down at my chest, panting hard. The chest part of my bio-suit has been vaporized, and a small part of my chest with it. I reroute more power to the suit’s repair system so it can repair faster. The two men are down, and are not moving, so I relax and let my bio-suit fixes me. After a few minutes, the repair is done and I am good as new. I hear a sob and I look, Vask is alive, but he is weak. Since he is alive, he would have done the same thing I did––reroute more power for his repair, which means he will recover any time from now. I take a gun and point it at him. He grunts for a while and finally sits up, glaring at me.

  “Did you know?” I ask. “Did you know there was vetagem in my ship? Did you know they set me up die?”

  He stares at me for a while with a sorry look on his face. He swallows hard. “I knew the real objective of the mission was kept from you, I knew the arbitron gone rogue story was dogshit, but I had no idea they intended for you to die.”

  “Yeah? What did you think was going to happen? I was sent on a false mission to unknowingly accomplish another, what did you think was going to happen to me? You knew.” I shake my head. “The you I knew would have warned me, but I guess you wanted me gone anyway, 'cause I’m the only thing standing between you and Hanther.”

  “That is not true.” He says it, but his voice says otherwise.

  “You see, whatever party you got going here, I’m going to take this ship, I’m going to fly home and I’m going to ruin it for you.” I should yell at him, I want to, but knowing that I will soon be home again overwhelms me, and the words just come out cool and easy.

  I get up, pressing my back against the wall for support, I move to him and punch him hard on the face and he blacks out. I open the hatch, remove my laser knife from the sleeping soldier and drag them out in twos. I take off my cape and hang it on a bar. I look around the ship for a moment, admiring its beauty, the closest thing to Arbitrus that I’ve seen in three years. I move to the control chair and seat. I power up the engines and in a few seconds, the ship is ready to go interstellar. My hands on the steering-stick, tapping anxiously. Right now this moment, I miss Hanther and Arbitrus more than I ever have.

  I pull the steering-stick and the ship is supposed to lift off the ground, but instead, an alert pops up on the screen, saying the ship can
not fly unless the active mission's primary object is onboard. Mission primary object, Ra Argadus. Damn! Just when I thought it couldn’t get any harder. Moving the bodies out of the ship would have alerted the area security. I didn’t care because I thought I would be off this planet by now. I display the outside camera feed. I see armed men in military uniform coming out of the pyramid.

  Now, I have a problem. They know something is up, and Ra Argadus, my get-off-this-planet card is not coming out until he knows that the threat has been neutralized. I hate that it has come to this. There’s only one way about it now; I go in, get the bastard and drag his butt back to the ship. I can't say it will be easy, but what’s an arbitron to fear on an army of human soldiers?

  I power down the ship, enter the life chamber and recharge my bio-suit to maximum capacity. I take a gun, put my ragged cape back on and open the hatch. From the pyramid, twelve armed men are approaching tactically. I move toward them. They stop when we are about hundred and seven meters apart, but I don’t stop. They start yelling at me to stop and identify myself, but I keep moving. At fifty meters, they open fire on me, and I quickly raise my hand up to protect my face. A light-construct shield extends from my forearm and covers me from the bullets. I remain still as they continue to fire for the next one minute. They stop. In a sudden move, I retract the shield back into my suit and charge toward them, firing innium bullets. Innium bullets are weightless, self-propelled and controlled by the will of the person that wields the gun that fired the bullets, which means I decide how fast the bullets go and where it goes.

  Three of the soldiers drop dead, and the rest resume fire, but not coming closer. I leap as if the law of earth’s gravity does not apply to me. I land among them and engage the nine soldiers in close combat, but they don’t stand a chance, especially when it is close combat. I swipe my gun slightly above the sand, clearing two pairs of legs off the ground. I turn and weave a shiny silver knife coming at my face. I grab the hand holding the knife and swing the body that belongs to it, knocking down three soldiers with it. I let go of the body, and it flies at another soldier. I turn and fire blindly, knowing someone is coming from behind me. Two soldiers drop cold. I turn again and hold the mouth of a gun about to fire at me. I look into the eyes of the soldier holding the gun and see fear and sweat. He squeezes the trigger and watches as the shells bounce off my chest. I pull the gun, bringing him closer, I move my upper body back just a little and thrust it forward, running my forehead at his. His body shoots back and drops, his forehead broken and his face covered in blood.