by Ira Tabankin
Rhett thought he was dreaming or floating to heaven when he felt a sensation of being lifted and movement. He didn’t understand it, so he decided to wait and see where he ended up. He knew as the universe’s largest mass murderer he would end up spending eternity in Hell. He didn’t know how bad it was going to be, but he was willing to accept his sentence because he was killing to defend his people.
Kalteck gently laid his friend on the new medical bed which quickly read all of Rhett’s bodily signs. The medical AI reported, “Kalteck, I am sorry. I can save some of his body but not all of it. The nanites had cut the blood flow to the most damaged parts so they could extend his life as long as possible. They focused on saving his heart and brain the rest of his body is either already dead or so damaged it can’t be repaired.”
“First save his life…”
“That is done, his blood loss has been stopped, his nanites and the new ones I’ve injected into him are already working. I can’t save his legs or one arm. His right eye is missing and can’t be repaired. He can be rebuilt, I can replace his damaged legs, arms, and missing eye with artificial ones. They will look natural but will be artificial. I will also have to replace most of his organs. Please decide now, my time is limited in order to save even the ability to give him working limbs. The artificial ones will make him stronger and his new eye will be able to see in the dark and infrared frequencies. I can also tie his eye to any weapon’s targeting system. Should I also instruct the nanites to upgrade his implant?”
“Do it.”
Kalteck felt his eyes water as he looked down at the broken body of his friend. He prayed to the Creator of All to save Rhett and allow him to be live. “Kalteck I am going to begin removing his damaged limbs, are you sure you want to be here when I do that?”
“No, I do not want to see my friend cut up like a piece of brunt meat. Call me when you are finished repairing him, please save him.”
“It is going to be awfully close, had we arrived ten minutes sooner there wouldn’t have been any problems. He has lost a lot of blood. Without the nanites he would have died from his injuries.”
“I know. He is my friend, my longest friend, please save him.”
“You should leave now. The robots are about to begin. You do not want to see him when they begin.”
“Thank you. I will be in the command room.”
Kalteck listened to the other ship captains reporting their success in chasing down the few enemy fighters still in the system and their admiral talking to the highest-ranking enemy officer. Kalteck’s admiral was offering the enemy life if he surrendered his remaining ships.
The enemy commander checked his sensors before finally agreeing to surrender. Kalteck’s admiral was overjoyed their long war was finally over, thousands of years of war. A war which destroyed their home world, and then destroyed Earth, and was now finally over.
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Rhett felt like he was floating on his back in a warm lake, he was buoyant and just floated half in and half out of the gently lapping water. He wondered if this was heaven, he wondered if he was dreaming. He attempted to listen for any sounds, all he heard was nothing, just silence. Is this my damnation? Floating with no senses? Slowly going insane due to a lack of any outside sensory input? I guess it’s better than being ripped apart by demons over and over again. I thought I would have had a least a chance to meet the Creator of All, but I guess my sin of destroying an entire solar system was too great to get me an audience with him so he cast me down here. At least I’m not being boiled. Should I, can I open my eyes? If I keep them closed, I won’t be scared by what I might see, if I open them maybe I’ll learn where I am, is the lake endless? Could I swim to a shore someplace, what will I find at the shore? So many questions and no answers. I must be dead because my implant isn’t responding. This isn’t what I thought it would be, but I guess since no one’s ever returned, or maybe one did, but he didn’t tell us what was here. I’ll have to open my eyes and look around.
Rhett tried to open his eyes, the bright white light over the medical bed briefly blinded him, he closed his burning eyes as soon as he had opened them. Well that sucks, that bright light hurt. Is that the bright white light others spoke of when they died? Why am I seeing it now if I’m already dead?
Rhett slowly opened his eyes again, this time he began to see shapes, he blinked a few times until his vision slowly began to clear. He didn’t understand why one of his eyes was telling him distance to some objects and their temperature, if he concentrated, he could even automatically know what the machines were. This is crazy, if I didn’t know better, I’d say I’m still alive and my implant has begun working again, I don’t know if I should be happy or not. Damn nanites, they just couldn’t let me go. I’m in a medical lab, but not on the Lincoln, we didn’t have anything like this. It’s much more advanced than ours or the Neanderthals. Maybe I was in a comma for many years and they just now figured out a way to save me, or maybe it took my nanites a really long time to repair the damage.
“Hello, is anyone here? I’m awake and could use some water. If anyone can hear me, could they at least tell me how long I’ve been out and what happened at the end of the battle?”
The medical AI replied, “Human Fleet Admiral McIntyre you are on Kalteck’s new ship’s medical lab. You are laying on a revised medical table. You have undergone many major surgeries. Please do not move. The nanites are almost finished repairing your damaged body.”
“I remember now. When did Kalteck arrive? What happened at the battle? Did we lose the war and Earth?”
“Fleet Admiral, your forces did an excellent job. You destroyed their home system and you killed the Emperor. You did something we were unable to accomplish for thousands of years. The battle was won when Kalteck convinced the military command they had to send some ships to assist you. The military sent a small force which it turned out was sufficient to clean up what your forces had left behind. The enemy admiral has surrendered, Fleet Admiral, you WON the battle and the war. Now please rest. Your new body needs time to rest so your neuro network can complete its mending and complete making the connections to your new limbs.”
“What do you mean my new limbs? What happened to my old ones? Why is my vision so funny?”
“Rest now.” Rhett’s nanites gently put him back to sleep so he could rest.
The medical AI told Kalteck the good news.
Three days later Rhett woke up and saw Kalteck sitting next to him. Rhett saw his alien friend, “Why the long face? If I remember correctly, the medical AI told me the battle is over and your people won! So why the long face?”
“Has the medical AI talked to you? Has it filled you in on your condition?”
The AI responded, “Kalteck, I have not yet brought him up to date. He just now opened both of his eyes. Would you like to talk to him, or would you like me to?”
“I will. How is he?”
“He will be fine, his new limbs responded to the nerve impulses and he should easily have a full recovery. He needs more rest so he can fully heal. He will need to learn how to walk again but the nanites will assist with his recovery.”
Rhett looked at Kalteck, “Before you tell me what happened to me, please tell me about the battle and my ship. Did your people locate Admiral Dune?”
“Rhett, I’m sorry to say Admiral Dune didn’t make it. The bridge was blown open to space, all of the crew, including the Admiral were sucked out of the ship. The Lincoln didn’t survive. In fact, I’m sorry to say, none of your ships survived fully functional. The good news is you defeated the undefeatable. You won the war. You did what we couldn’t do. You destroyed them. You brought peace to the universe.”
“The Earth?”
“Very severely damaged. It can be healed but it will take time. I have ships picking up as many survivors as possible. We will take them to your new home world. In time both Earth and Mars will be repaired, both will be returned to their former glory. You have my word on it.”
&nb
sp; “Kalteck, thank you for coming to save us.”
“How could I not? We started something over a hundred years ago, I had to see it through with my friend. I made you a promise that we’d see this through together, plus I ran out of beer.”
End of The Alien Whisperer Trilogy.
I hope you enjoyed it. I had this idea for a story line for over a year, I wrote the outline in 2019 and realized it was too long for a single book, so I broke it into three. I’m writing this in April 2020 with the COVD 19 virus still running wild, back in November/December I wrote about a virus for this story and part of it came true. If you’d like to read more of my stories, below is a listing of my current and soon to be released books. Most are available in both eBook and paperback format.
Thank you for reading my stories, if you have a moment, please leave a review as reviews do help indie authors like me.
Ira Tabankin
Additional books by the author available on Amazon:
The Alien Whisperer, Book 1, 1947-1958
The Alien Whisperer, Book 2, 1958-1999
The Alien Whisperer, Book 3, 2000-2050
The Second Holocaust
The Wrath of God, Book 1
The Wrath of God, Book 2
The Wrath of God Book 3, coming Summer 2020.
Red Sunset
Earthquake
Pestilence
Pax Romana
It’s Good to be the King. Book 1
It’s Good to be the King, book 2, coming Spring 2020.
The Changelings Book 1
Justin’s Journal
Project Xiangqi
Korean Crises
CALEXIT, Book 1, Secession
CALEXIT, Book 2, Politics as Normal.
CALEXIT, book 3, If at First, You Don’t Secede
America on Fire
37 Miles (Revised Edition)
37 Miles, Book 2, Patty’s Journey
My Story
A History Lesson (Short story)
2015 Second American Civil War, Book 1
2015 Second American Civil War, Book 2
2015 Second American Civil War, Book 3
2015 Second American Civil War, Book 4
2015 Second American Civil War, Book 5
By the Light of the Moon, Book 1
By the Light of the Moon, Book 2
By the Light of the Moon, Book 3
By the Light of the Moon, Book 4
Christmas Eve
The Shelter, Book 1, The Beginning
The Shelter, Book 2, A Long Day’s Night
The Shelter, Book 3, The Aftermath
The Shelter, Book 4, The New World.
The Shelter, Book 5, War
The Shelter, Book 6, Revenge
The Shelter, Book 7, Genesis
The Shelter, Chapter 2, a new beginning.
In the Year 2050, America’s Religious Civil War
In the Year 2050, Book 2
The Impeachment of President Obama
Silent Death
The Third World War
We Knew They Were Coming
We Knew They Were Coming, Book 2
We Knew They Were Coming, Book 3
We Knew They Were Coming, Book 4
We Knew They Were Coming, Book 5
We Knew They Were Coming, Book 6
We Knew They Were Coming, Book 7
We Knew They Were Coming, Book 8
We Knew They Were Coming, Book 9
We Knew They Were Coming, Book 10
Feel free to contact me at [email protected] with any questions or comments.
