There were several Plutonian soldiers standing on the surface of Mercury, looking for a suitable place to set up camp.
“I guess so. But why are we even here? From what I’ve heard, all the action is back on Earth.”
“Sure, but do you really want to be in the middle of all that?” He laughed and held his arms out to the vast empty space around them. “We’re literally in the safest place we could be right now!”
“Are we though? We don’t know what’s out there. At least back on Earth, our enemy has a face.”
“Fair, but look at this.” He held up the device in his hand. “One hundred percent success no matter where I point the thing. That has never happened before.” He put his hands to the side of his head and mimicked and explosion. “Never.”
“So we’re in a safe spot. What about out there?” He thrust a thumb over his shoulder.
“Here,” he tossed the device over, “go see if you can find anything worth worrying about. We’ve got a few days before the device will be ready.”
He took the device and spent the next two days exploring the planet finding only near-perfect numbers. On the third day, there was a small blip in the device where it dropped to twenty percent. He smacked the device on his palm and read the area again. It had jumped back up to one hundred. He walked back to camp that day, convinced that there was nothing on Mercury to be worried about. The convergence would go smoothly and then he could head back home.
◆◆◆
Three days passed as Patrick and his army roamed the planet looking for any form of intelligent life to warn of the incoming invasion. But with each day they were further convinced that Mercury was not capable of life, it was just a big rock floating through space. There were flickers or shadows that everyone swore they saw, but could never confirm. Any circling back proved fruitless.
He was just finishing up his trip for the day, Jane watching the horizon with Chelydra and Zinta following along. Over the days of silence, his mind had begun to drift back home. He longed for his mother’s cooking and the smell of his bed. He had left everything behind for this journey and wasn’t sure if he could ever go back. He was only just about to finish high school and head off to college. Patrick had always wanted to study Engineering and someday invent something that would change the world.
Patrick was soon daydreaming about the life he had left behind. What college would have been like, what kind of summer internship he would have gotten, how happy he would be to see his brother home again, and many other things.
His thoughts were interrupted when Jane ripped his helmet off of his head. The computer on the ship shut down and the ship dropped the three inches it had been hovering. The impact sent Patrick and Jane reeling forward. The ship slid across the ground only stopping once they had made impact with a rock formation that crumpled the front end.
“Jane!” Patrick screamed at her, red in the face as he tried to right himself. “What are you doing!”
“Is this some kind of suicide mission for you?” she screamed back, just as red in the face.
“We were fine! The only reason we crashed is you ripped my helmet off!”
“I only had to rip your helmet off because we were flying right by a Plutonian base!”
Patrick was silent.
“Exactly,” she spat. “Chelydra stopped her ship way back there!” She pointed out the back of the ship, where sure as anything the other ship was stopped before an opening in the rock formations.
“What kind of base was it? Did they see us?”
“I didn’t have much time to see. I don’t think they saw us either. We need to head back to camp and let the others know what’s going on.”
“And what are we going to tell them? We already know the Plutonians are here. Let’s figure out why before we leave.”
“Patrick,” she sighed, “that doesn’t sound like a good idea. If we’re caught, you know they outnumber us greatly.”
“I’ll take those odds.” He picked up his radio. “Chelydra, Zinta, hold your position.”
“You good over there? What happened? Are you hurt at all?” Chelydra replied over the radio.
“Lapse in judgment, we’re both okay. But while we’re here, I’m going to try and get a closer look, see what they’re up to out here.”
Patrick didn’t wait for them to agree with his plan and to Jane’s dismay, he exited the ship. He crept forward slowly, keeping low behind the rocks. Once he was close enough to hear their voices he raised himself up to look over the rock wall. In the middle of the valley, the Plutonians were hard at work building a massive piece of machinery. It almost looked like a drill meant to dig deep into the planet. If only I hadn’t lost the morphing power! Patrick wanted to creep closer but knew he couldn’t. Instead, he kept watching as the soldiers ran around, barking orders at one another. An alarm sounded out then from the camp and Patrick dropped behind the rock, sure he had been spotted. He began to run back to his ship where Jane was waiting for him.
“Get back on the ship!” Patrick tripped, rolled a few feet, and jumped up.
“What did you see?” Jane handed him his helmet as he scrambled into the ship.
“Honestly, no idea. But whatever it is, it isn’t good.”
Patrick jammed his helmet on and yelled at the ship, GO! The ship came to life and took off. Faster! He was pushing the limits of the ship and he knew it. Jane turned around to make sure Chelydra and Zinta were keeping up.
“What is that?” Jane pointed back at a wave of pure black that was racing across the land, blocking all light stories high from the surface of the planet.
Patrick didn’t have the time to turn around but pushed the ship harder. He could feel it strain against his thoughts. The wave of darkness was moving much faster than either ship and soon rolled over them. For a few moments, the pilots were flying blind. Slow down! The ship jerked as it responded to Patrick’s thoughts.
“Watch out!”
As the darkness raced ahead of them and their vision was restored Jane saw they were about to crash into a large metal structure. Left! The ship swerved and brushed by the structure leaving a deep scratch on the side.
“That was too close.” Jane felt the sweat drip into her eyes.
“We’re on the same path we took out, aren’t we?”
“Give or take a few yards, yes.”
“Then what was that thing back there? We haven’t seen anything like it before?”
“I don’t know…” she trailed off as she looked out the windows. “But look! It’s not the only one!”
Sure enough, where the land had once been covered in nothing but rocks and dust there were now structures of different shapes protruding from the ground.
“What was that wave?”
As if to answer them, a second wave began to descend upon them. This one was both light and dark at the same time and washed over just as quickly. When it had, the surface of the planet changed yet again. There were now large pools of water in the valleys, mountains covered in plant life, and even more signs of civilization.
“Are they bringing the planet to life?” Jane stared out the window with wide eyes.
Faster! Patrick was screaming at the ship now. He knew they had to get back to the base and regroup. It was clear at this point that even if the planet was dead, King Flaca had plans for it.
“Patrick, there’s another wave coming.”
“Hold on!” All power forward!
The ship buckled as the engine sputtered, barely hanging on. The last wave was one of bright white, and it was gaining on them.
“We’re not going to make it! We need to find a place to wait out whatever this is!”
The light washed over them, blinding everyone yet again. Patrick and Jane felt their ship suddenly launch into the air. The white light had revealed a wall where the ship had been causing it to flip tail over front. It slammed to the ground upside down and the window shattered around them. Jane and Patrick were both flung from the ship as
it continued to roll away. Both spiraled through the air with little control. Only when Patrick was hurtling at the ground did he call on his fire power to slow his descent. He still hit the ground hard and all air rushed from his lungs on impact. Jane had not been so lucky. She hit the ground with a sickening crunch that made Patrick’s skin crawl.
Chelydra and Zinta had turned around and were now racing back to Patrick and Jane. They were waving wildly at Patrick, trying to get him back on his feet. Between where he stood and the others all he could see were the remnants of an old civilization. Behind him, however, Chelydra and Zinta saw a large city, very much alive and rolling slowly across the planet on giant wheels. They came to a sudden stop between him and Jane and jumped from their ship.
“Get up and get in! We have to get out of here!”
Chelydra looked to the city and saw several specks now flying out towards them. She ran to Patrick’s side and helped lift him up.
“I’m going, I’m going!”
“Well hurry up! Before we’re pinned down!”
“Pinned down?”
Patrick saw the fear in Chelydra’s eyes then and turned to follow her gaze. The specks in the air had gotten closer now and it was clear they were armed.
“Take Jane and go!” Patrick helped to lift her up and buckled her limp body in. “You know we can’t all fit!”
“He’s right.” Zinta stepped back from the ship. “Our weight will just slow you down. Go, I’ll stay here with Patrick.”
“No, you too. Get back to base and get support back here.”
“Don’t waste your time trying to convince me, I’m staying. Flupotia would kill me if I let anything happen to you.” Zinta crossed his arms as if to dare Patrick to protest.
“Fine!” Patrick went to close the door, but Chelydra held it open.
“Promise me you’ll be okay?” She placed her hand on his.
“I promise. Now go!” Patrick pulled his hand free and slammed the door shut.
“May the Spirit of Venus protect you,” Chelydra muttered the words under her breath as she put on her helmet and sped off.
“Any plan?” Zinta turned to Patrick.
“Let’s show our hosts a warm welcome.”
Patrick pulled his ax from its sheath across his back, amazed that it had survived the crash. He called yet again on the fire coursing through him and was shocked when the flames reached the handle of the ax and shot up it, spiraling through the shards of glass in the hilt. Each pass caused the flame to grow hotter and brighter, to the point that the flame was white by the time it encompassed the golden blades.
“Here we go!” The ships were closing in and Patrick turned his back against them.
Focus. He raised the ax above his head and screaming out he slammed it into the ground before him. The sound of metal on rock rang through the air as vibrations raced up Patrick’s arms. Where he had hit the ground fire raced in both directions, flames reaching thirty feet high.
“Well, if that doesn’t keep them from chasing Chelydra, nothing will.” Zinta’s eyes were wide as the light of the fire reflected in them.
“We’ll fight if we have to. Hopefully, it doesn’t come to that.”
◆◆◆
Gin-us, Roger, Xavo, and Gneiss were all miles away in the opposite direction of camp at the time. They were scouting out a large cave they had discovered on the edge of a deep valley.
“Gin-us,” Gneiss was standing guard at the entrance to the cave, “come.”
“You two keep moving forward. I want to know how deep this thing goes. It may be that whoever lives here is underground.” He left Roger and Xavo to keep exploring while he went to see what Gneiss was so worried about.
“Gin-us!” Gneiss’ voice was louder.
“I’m coming, just hang on!” Gin-us grunted as he pulled himself up over the last rock. “What is it?”
Gneiss didn’t say anything, opting to point in the direction of the black wave that was racing towards them.
“What is that?” Gin-us strained to see what the wave was, but could not see anything. “It looks empty, like it’s just darkness.”
“Plan?”
Gin-us stared at the wave which was picking up speed. There was no time to get to the safety of their ships and definitely no time to get Xavo and Roger out of the tunnel.
“Hold on and hope for the best.” Gin-us took a few hurried steps back and leaned into the cave behind him. “Hang on down there. We’ve got something coming at us. Wait down there until I give you the all-clear!” He turned to Gneiss, “Climb down so we’re at least covered. Hopefully, it flies over our heads.”
Gneiss grunted and climbed down until he was hidden behind the walls of the cave. Gin-us followed, scooting up close to Gneiss. Now we wait. The wave of darkness made no sound as it rushed through the cave walls and over Gin-us and Gneiss. Xavo and Roger were momentarily tossed into darkness as the wave washed through them.
“Nothing?” Gneiss looked Gin-us up and down as the wave of darkness continued past them.
“Hey, Gin-us? There are some new structures down here.”
“What kind of structures?”
“Looks like…”
“Second wave!”
Gneiss yelled over Xavo and Gin-us turned to see a new wave of black and white racing towards them. This wave was moving much faster than the first and washed through them before they could react.
“Hey, there’s water down here now!”
“What is going on.”
“Another!”
The third wave of bright light rushed over, blinding everyone as it went. The ground beneath them shuddered slightly and everyone held onto whatever they could to keep from falling over. It was several seconds before the light had disappeared and their vision slowly started coming back.
“Are you both good down there?” Gin-us looked down into the cave which was now dripping from the walls where several small crabs were scurrying about. What kind of magic is this?
“We’re good. Things have moved around a bit, going to take a few minutes to get out of here.”
“Take your time,” he looked over his shoulder, “I don’t see any other waves coming.”
“Red valley.” Gneiss pointed to the valley which was now filled with red liquid.
Gneiss and Gin-us walked to the edge of the red water and stared at their distorted reflections. Gin-us reached forward cautiously with his left hand to splash at the water. However, as his hand made contact with the liquid he found he was stuck.
“What in…”
The red liquid spiraled up Gin-us’ arm faster than he could pull away. Within seconds his body was covered and the liquid had reached out to Gneiss. The two of them were then pulled forward, dragged to the depths of the red sea.
Several minutes later Roger and Xavo exited the cave looking for Gin-us and Gneiss.
“Where did they go?” Xavo asked Roger, worried about the fate of his King.
◆◆◆
Flupotia was sitting at the edge of the cliff overlooking their base. She had opted to cease explorations with her team, wanting instead to focus on necessary repairs to their ships and equipment. The convergence washed over them the same way it did everyone else. The first wave of darkness revealed nothing, their camp having truly been set up in the middle of nowhere. The second wave, however, revealed that the ships had not been parked in a valley but in a deep body of water. The ships were instantly flooded which sent everyone into a panic. Frize, sitting in the command center, was the only one to keep a clear head. Utilizing his powers of fire and ice he was able to push the water away from the ships, forming a dome of ice beneath the surface that surrounded the ships. He then ordered the ship's engines to be turned on and began the slow climb to the surface.
Flupotia watched from the surface as the vast body of water froze over and then cracked, the ships beneath bursting forward.
◆◆◆
XIII: Elves of Mercury
Patrick and Zinta
stood side by side as the natives came into vision and landed in front of them. The wall of fire didn’t seem to bother them as they landed. Each of the creatures was wearing a black hazmat suit and mask. They carried large guns that were currently pointed at Patrick and Zinta.
“Who are you?” The voice was muffled beneath the heavy mask.
“Patrick. I come to you from Earth to warn you of an invasion.”
“The only invader I see is you.”
“I know how this must look.” Patrick looked at the crowd around him, shadows dancing behind them adding to their eerie feel. “But you have to listen to me. I’ve traveled here from Earth on stolen ships from a Plutonian army. We’ve already liberated Venus and it looks like we just barely managed to beat them here.”
Aliens from Arapholanx: The Burn of Magic Page 17
