Chapter 1
‘You have resisted us for the last time. The penalty is death.’
Alone, in a mirrored room, with odd angles of support on the reflecting wall surfaces, Greg listened to the commands in his head, blasted from a green pod from above, clean, machined, chrome cut, razor sharp commands, inside his butchered brain.
He stood there. Waiting, he knew this all too well, many times he had been reprimanded, and the only thing that stopped his execution was obedience. But this time, that would not be enough. His brain kept… growing back.
‘We have a use for you. It is better than termination, but you will die.’
‘I accept.’ Greg said anything was better than being dissolved in the nutrient vats over the days of execution. Greg had been disciplined before a few times for strangling to death those that lasted longer than expected there, when his only job was to clean the vat storage rooms. So this new mission would be his last one. At last.
‘You would wish to have revenge on the man who destroyed your planet?’
The green pod burned in, through his eyes, the one thing he wanted more than an end to his miserable life, revenge on Him, the one who set fire to the skies, the one who baked the earth into this…ashtray, where survivors were turned into walking tin cans, and crystallized aliens who sprayed lights at each other seemed quite comfortable, living in some melted sterile piece of slag with a moon around it.
He remembered when he was very young, the plants and animals, the laughter of play, the mommy, the parks the music, then, one morning, the world burned.
‘YES!’ he screamed with everything he was, ‘YES! I WANT TO!’
‘Report to Timeship-153 for assignment, NOW.’
Greg suited up in the launch tunnel, and filled his helmet with green liquid, breathed it in as he had many times before, but this time, the last time. He thought. Most of his brain survived the psytronic surgeries, but enough was gone to make him feel cold, just memories of the sky on fire floating in the green fluid in front of his pinpoint eyes as a reminder of passionate heat. He stepped inside the UFO, another green light blazed into his head his orders.
‘After time-corridor exit, head directly to moon base. Set craft course to collision with shuttle tower. Use emergency lifeboat to float in covertly to moon base area. Destroy Straker and Foster.’
The UFO spun and lifted off, the inside capsule free from spinning by being balanced and gyro’d while the outer part of the craft emitted its null wave propulsion field. The time corridor opened out in space, triggered by a sonic/anti-sonic crash and Greg and his space ship were thrown out a purplish haze that stretched like a rubber band and snapped the ship 30 years into the past, and a few light months away from earth.
Chapter 2
Straker turned to Paul Foster and smiled. ‘Thanks for letting me steer for a while.’
‘Don’t worry’ Paul grinned ‘I will enter into the log that I had to go adjust a thruster control, just to keep things official.’
‘Officiality is what keeps us ahead of repetitive mistakes Col. Foster.’ Straker frowned through his smile. ‘If we had paper work on those clones last week, I wouldn’t be in this mess.’
‘Maybe the hormonal oil from the fingerprints you left on moon base two weeks ago will put you in the clear.’ Paul said and added,’ Commander.’
Straker shifted uncomfortably in his pilot seat and said, ‘If my own friends and colleagues can’t recognize me, after all these years, I wonder if any kind of identification can distinguish me from a clone, even if my dna was tainted by some concoction left for me in my coffee.’
‘It’s because we are friends that we need to verify that you aren’t a duplicate, Ed.’ Foster said softly. These last few days have been hell for him, not knowing which Ed Straker was the real one. It wasn’t until the clone with the clean dna went berserk and degenerated that Paul was certain who his real commander was. But a triple play wouldn’t be beyond the alien’s incomprehensible actions as of late. Paul thought deeply on the subject of maybe some kind of division in the aliens was taking place, making them act erratic, unpredictable.
‘Don’t think to deeply Col., I assure you that I am the real Ed Straker.’’ the look of concern on Straker’s face amused Paul, this would all be over in a few hours and then Ed’s paranoia and insecurity would return to barking out commands and strategies and noses to the grindstones.
‘I would wipe that smile off your face Col. I don’t think it’s that funny.’ Straker growled and turned and looked out at the stars, looking quite uneasy and perturbed.
Paul hadn’t had this much of a hard time suppressing a smile since standing at attention in boot camp.
Chapter 3
The emergency pod skidded into the moon dust with the grace of a long distance ski jumper.
Greg had regenerated much since he left; the green liquid did more for the human body than provide air. It was more like embryonic fluid. Greg’s mind was warmer, more human again, the burnt out parts nurtured by the jade juice. But the pain, the emotional pain was something that tech assist nutrients could not heal. The timing from records on the moon of when Straker and Foster would be there and why provided the time lock for Greg to arrive on time.
Greg felt like he was floating up when he opened the capsule hatch and kind of rolled out and up to his feet, smashing the powder with his boots and skipping a few inches until he settled down onto the moon. His red suit was dark blood color in the darkness of the shadow of the crater rim, but the silver part cast glimmers of a dull electric blue and white, as he hop-walked away from the cigar shaped capsule, and towards the top of the crater, a half a mile away from moon base. He knew that a crevice dark green on light green in his vision ahead of him would be where he would hide. He leaped all the way there, leaving as few of smeared boot prints behind him to conceal his trail.
The moon hoppers arrived in minutes, skimming the area, blasting dust up from their thrusters, the dim sunshine making everything look a yellow dusty brown to the pilots.
‘Lt. Jameson to moon base, nothing so far.’ The co-pilot spoke into the mic. Diligently, they patrolled the whole area where the radar image, normally missed by most operators or dismissed as micro-meteorites, was tracked by Lt. Ellis, who was especially wary about any readings after a suicide attack by a UFO that was cut short by an interceptor.
Apparently, Jameson thought, they wanted to delay the commander from landing, another insane attack attempt, so much of this year, that didn’t make any sense at all. He cleared his mind of speculations and stopped his moon hopper and looked around through the porthole. He reached up and flicked on the mic switch.
‘I’m going to have a look in a crater; I will contact you if I see anything, out.’
The other moon hoppers took up a perimeter around the crater and activated laser weapons and established firing sectors to protect Lt. Jameson.
The green moon landscape viewed from inside the crevice had 3 vehicles landed on it. Greg watched them silently, only his hand up in front of his chest, no movement. Watching.
Lt. Jameson glanced around as he hopped along the rim, in full sight of the moon hoppers. A skid line…and then at the end of it a small olive green tube…the hatch open. He turned and waved them in, pointing to the capsule down in the crater.
As they moved in, Greg clenched his thumb down on the small detonator and an exploding fountain of rocks and fire shot up and out of the crater. The man fell. The moon hoppers fired lasers. The shockwave rattled the crevice and Greg let his hand fall and he remained completely still until the all left.
Chapter 4
Paul looked at Lt. Ellis and tried hard not to notice her elegant beauty, scoping past her large lovely eyes and onto the scanner report. ‘Well, is it him or not?’ Paul softly and impatiently demanded.
‘the hormonal report from the oil off his fingerprints on these documents will be finished shortly col. Foster, I suggest maybe we have a cup of coffee while it processes, would you mind?’ she said so professionally that you might think it was her job to brush off pests from superstars.
‘Of course.’ Paul said curtly with an arched eyebrow and went to bring back some coffee from the rec room.
Straker was imprisoned in the repair hanger doing inspections on bolts and doors for usage stress with a metal fatigue scanner. He didn’t mind it; in fact he wanted to make sure everything was in tip top shape himself as long as he had the time. He had to wait, out of secured areas such as the HQ command center and almost every other station in moon base, and the repair hanger was the only place he could roam free from his quarters while computers and people ran their tests. It was damn irritating he breathed out in a whisper that didn’t really have a voice.
‘It must be, to do such menial tasks.’- Ed spun around with the scanner in his hand, poised as if it were a pistol. Paul was standing there, smiling.
‘I guess that you’re really enjoying this Mister Foster.’ Straker said in a tense and sarcastic tone.
‘Well, if you must know… yes.’ Paul grinned.
‘ Then you wont mind if I charge for my act that amuses you so much, by giving you a two week pay cut, for expenses of course…’ Ed barked and threw the scanner at Paul who caught it in a fumble. ‘I want to buy new bolts for all these door tracks. Thank you. I’m sure your charity will be noted.’
‘No doubt.’ Foster grumbled and went to get the coffee and return to more pleasant company.
A red suit passed outside the repair hanger door, and headed inwards and under the center, crawling in the moon sands, inches below the white metallic tubes and boxes of moon base. Slowly, constantly, until the spaceman could reach a place that would give readings on device held in a silver glove. Greg’s green face showed in its bath of emerald fluid signs of emotions that ran like a slideshow and repeated. Hate, anger, remorse, wonder, intensity, even doubt. All because he was here, back in time, here, with HIM. The one who would destroy all this.
But a human instinct also swam in the helmet’s pool too, one of…instinct. Pack survival. Something was wrong about his orders, about his hate, and he could feel it. But not yet…he told himself, not yet. First, complete the mission, then-go to earth and die in a lush green park or forest, yes, just lay down in some flowery meadow or glen, and let the trees bury him in leaves, or even the animals to have the most unusual meal of their lives. To die in such an Eden, would make all of his tortured life…worth it.
The alien, Greg, had followed his scanner all the way to where the crew quarters were, pre-fed co-ordinance was posted along side with the tiny readout. He was close to his designed position. But, more of his brain was healed, and he was experiencing emotions that he never really considered before. Thoughts of self-preservation were intrusive in his mission orientated mind. But why shouldn’t he just quit and join the humans of this time? It wasn’t too late to enjoy the rest of his life before the Burn out. No, he had lived all his life with the hatred of these people, to let one man decide to destroy the earth, he couldn’t even finish his reasoning, the anger and rage were too much for him.
He went back to sliding on his side, shifting in the gray dust in the shadow of the hallway above him. Inching his way to them, the ones who ruined his short little sweet childhood. To the ones who made it so he would never be able to live again, at least …inside. Inside himself, he was as dead and burnt as the world he left.
Anger flushed through him like the lava flows of Norway flushed through the steaming land lochs there. memories that he had been forced to work there as a child, to retrieve safes full of information of this time, seeds, specimens, even viruses encased in glass, anything that had life or the possibility of making some kind, any kind of life possible again. The scanner went off. A dark green screen was on the thumb sized device, he had reached his goal and the scanner had self destructed, turning into solid slag without any heat. Greg dropped it and began to wait again, until his prey were in position too, but he wondered what it would be like to get a ride from them down to earth. To the gardens and flowers, to the lakes and fish, to the fuzzy animals with strange names: skh-wirl, buh-neez, khatz.
He wanted to see them, if he could cry thru the fluid that was green as the leaves in the meadows he remembered, he would have. But his viper like pinpoint eye covers allowed no tears. So he sobbed silently with only a quiver, whipped into this habit of remorse by painful force beams that hit like a baseball bat on his back when he worked as a child in the mines.
He had never fit in , especially when he was found out to be mutant that regenerated. The psytronic surgeries left him more tortured than the other earthers, after they healed away.
He was brought to the green pulsing pods on the computers and delivered black mail as his reward. Do this or that or you will be punished with more pain. He resisted once, when he was 14 years old. And the cyber bags who were modified to be guards, hands of black tendrilled metal on their heads, drilled into their brains making them only human in form, beat him with their hands, finger points in his ribs, chops to his shoulders, and legs. They left him in the sewage pit in the tunnel and then up for more black mail. He soon understood and learned to not show any reason for another treatment like that.
Cold waves of sweat passed over his body like a space wind. He had just realized that things were so desperate in the then to come that he had left, that they didn’t need him anymore, no more compliant victim to use in raids, or retrievals. He was lost in thought of hundreds of new dreams about all this when footsteps above him came over and stopped.
Chapter 5
’Well, I’m glad that you all are so happy to come to understand that I am me.’ Straker sighed, almost a threat.
‘We couldn’t be sure commander with your polluted dna registries.’ The purple haired beauty said in a thick concise British accent. ‘You would have insisted thorough tests on anyone of us yourself and for the same reasons… Sir.’
‘Yes.’ Straker said with a tired breath’ and I still might, goodnight.’ He clicked off the com switch and pulled his clothes off and then lay back and pulled up the sheets, closed his eyes and went to sleep.
Straker came awake to a full alert. The smell of the alien’s liquid air reeked in his room; he focused his eyes and saw his security console demolished. Melted away by acid of some kind, and on the floor too, a hole covered up with a plate from the wall, and then the scented green puddles on the floor, and a alien helmet. He sat up and spun around in one motion, hands in a Jukido position to throw or strike. An olive faced man sat in his red and silver space suit in the corner, laughing and shaking his head, his gloveless hands hanging over his knee caps. He smiled in laughter and pointed on finger at Ed.
‘yu…yu—u-u’ the alien chortled. Straker’s face was as red as his intruder’s was green.
Infuriated Straker yelled- ‘don’t make a move.’
The alien shook his head again, in pity it seemed, his chuckling subsided. ‘ No… no. yu, no move.’ The alien stood up. ‘I am sent to kill you.’ The alien said quite firmly. He leaned forward. ‘And, … I want to.’
Not smiling now. Straker leaned into the aliens face as much, ‘and what makes you think I wont kill you?’ they locked eyes, fierce hatred burned in each one’s irises. Sky blue vs. tree brown. The stare link became more intense each muscle in both their bodies tensing for a spring into battle.
‘Commander.’ The voice broke them, startled they looked at the com unit. Moments passed. ‘Commander Straker.’ The woman’s voice repeated. ‘if I don’t answer that, your off-world ass is dead.’ Straker said coolly. ‘Answer it’ the alien said colder still.
‘Yes?’ Straker barked softly, not revealing anything at all.
‘UFOS on an attack course to earth, computed to Newfarmland, India. Interceptors launched and in position to attack in 12 seconds.’ She said.
Straker lost the alien completely. ‘Make sure those aliens never reach those farming settlements, we can’t afford to lose them. Out.’ Straker switched the com off. He returned his ice blue stare to the alien again.
‘Shall we?’ Straker threatened the alien in firm unmistakable challenge.
‘No. I want to see.’
‘Very well’ Straker said calmly. ‘There.’ And he pointed to the viewer.
Tactical video game like read outs on the left side, moving and scanning about, and the upper part of the right side of the screen were live telescopic shots of the interceptors, and below it, the ufos. They watched in silence as the droning voices of battle marched their verbal steps and then the interceptors released their missiles. And the UFOs exploded.
‘OH! GUD!’ the alien shouted and clapped his hands.
‘Wha-at?’ Straker quizzed. ’You applaud the deaths of your own kind?’
‘I dohnt like zem.’ The alien paused and looked at Straker, his green face smirking with anger and glee at that same time. ‘yu woodnt after wat ze did to me, tu.’ And he squinted his eyes at Straker and frowned.
Straker flipped his hands palm up and looked exasperated and said, ’Then why kill me? I hate them too, after what they did to me.’ he mocked.
The alien looked away, and then slid up the wall. He turned to the door, and glared in anger. And then to Straker.
‘Yu, wod not kill me,….if I joined yu?’ the alien inquired intensely.
‘No.’ Straker said firmly again. ‘No I would not.’
‘Awnt, yu wood let me walk in zthe gartens of earth,’ greg asked with an expression of careless abandon. ‘ To let me eat gud food awnt roll in zuh flowherz?’ Greg raised his eyebrows and waited for Straker, it was his move now.
‘Arrangements can be made.’ Straker said, rising to his feet. ‘What do you have to offer?’
Greg was shocked for a moment and then laughed uproariously, a laugh that was repressed for almost 30 years, a laugh that was insanity killing its own self. And then tears. Greg’s eyes blurred and sobs of pain came out.
Straker chopped his Adams apple perfectly, right above the helmet ring on the suit, with in micro meters of hitting it with his hand, a hand of flesh colored blur arced into Greg’s throat, and then Greg went down. Straker placed his hand at his side.
Greg lay in a heap, red bloody foam bubbled down his chin and cheek to the floor. Images shifting, slanting, the force of the impact stunned him, His eyes growing dark.
Straker leaned into his face. ‘Any last words?’
‘Ai,…aihhhhhh, wanted to save zheh,……….gartens.’ and Greg died.
‘So do I.’ Straker said.
Foster came in,-the door sliding into the frame, ‘We wondered…….’ Paul looked at the alien and then at Straker. Paul’s face scrunched up, ‘You might have left him alive, he could have been interrogated first’ foster said, his tone almost adolescent in disappointment.
Straker sighed and sat on his bunk, and looked up sideways at Paul ‘Really? Look at his belt.’
Paul turned Greg’s body over, and handled a silver and black box, it was obvious a detonator and explosive with a single slide button to activate it.
Paul looked up into Straker’s face. ‘I guess you didn’t have much of a choice then.’
‘Not if we both were to save the gardens.’ Straker said and looked out his porthole out to earth, blue and white, so lovely against the blackness of space, then over to the sun, and pulling back to a cold dead world out there, light years away, yet so close in the vastness of space.
The end.