Earthman Jack vs. The Ghost Planet (49 page)

Jack glanced behind him again.  The entity was practically
on top of them.  Swirling and moaning ferociously, it had almost reached their
engine.  Jack could see the tiny grains of bone white sand as it swirled around
and melded into faces, open mouths screaming, eyes deep pits of sadness and
pain.  Little things that looked like fingers began to form, as if the entity
contained hands that were eager to reach out and grab him.

Suddenly, red blasts of plasma shot through the entity.  Jack
turned and saw Grohm beside them, a few feet away, blasting at the thing with
his large gun.  It didn’t seem to faze the entity at all.  It loomed over Jack,
so he could feel the wind from it biting at the back of his neck.  Jack closed
his eyes, hugging Scallywag tight, trying desperately to inch up, away from the
thing that was behind him…

And then, it was gone.

Jack opened his eyes.  They had crossed over the crater, and
the entity stood at its edge skidding restlessly back and forth along the precipice
of the metal ring that encircled the crater, unable to cross it.  It moaned in
protest, crying out for its prey.

Scallywag brought the bike to a stop, as did Grohm beside
them.  They hovered over a pit that descended deep into the planet, disappearing
into utter darkness far below.  The group stopped and took a breath for a
moment as they looked at the entity, the Doom that roamed the surface of the
Ghost Planet.

“Well now, this is peachy,” said Scallywag.

Jack looked at him, surprised by his tone.  “What’s the
matter?” he asked. “Heckubus was right, as long as we’re not over the ground, it
can’t hurt us.”

“Aye,” said Scallywag.  “But in case ya haven’t noticed,
we’re not exactly at our destination either.”

Scallywag pointed toward the Deathlord Mothership, which was
still a few good miles away.  Jack’s heart sank.  If they left the crater, the
entity would surely try to kill them again.  As long as it was there, they
couldn’t get to Anna.

“Still alive?” sang Heckubus’s voice over the comm.

“Alive, but trapped,” replied Scallywag.  “We’re stuck over
this crater until that blasted tornado thing gets bored.”

“Pah, ye of little faith,” replied Heckubus.  “What you’re
over is part of a complicated network of tunnels that crisscross the planet,
all of which eventually lead to its core.”

“So?”

“SO… all you need to do is descend into the tunnels and make
your way to the Princess underground.  I am sending you maps I was able to
construct using our own sensor readings and the data the Earthship stole from
the Deathlord Mothership.  They will get you to where the Deathlords are most
likely taking her.  I postulate they  should be accurate enough to get you
there safely.”

The hoverbikes both beeped as they received the maps.  Jack
couldn’t help but smile.  “Way to go, robot,” said Jack.  “Guess we’re not as
stuck as we thought.”

Scallywag grumbled, looking down into the abyss beneath them
as it tapered off into complete darkness.  “Let’s just hope that whatever’s
down there ain’t nearly as bad as what’s up here.”

Jack looked across the chasm toward the entity as it whirled
about, howling at them.  Jack gritted his teeth and gazed down into the
darkness below.  “No sense in waiting to find out,” he said.

Grohm and Scallywag nodded in agreement, flipping the
switches on their bikes and descending deep into the shadowy heart of the Ghost
Planet.

It felt like they had been travelling
for hours before the craft came to a stop.  Professor Green didn’t know how
long they had been working their way down the long, dark tunnel.  The aches and
pains that ran throughout his body made everything seem like it took longer
than it probably did.

His eyes fluttered open, and he looked around.  It was dark,
but small lights from the rails of the vehicle gave off enough illumination for
him to see.  They were on a circular platform – some type of hovervehicle he
guessed – big enough for 12 men.  Its sides rose up waist high, with a control
panel at the front for the pilot to operate.

He could sense the Princess beside him.  She was holding
onto his hand, a bit too tightly for comfort, but he understood why. Three
armed Dark Soldiers surrounded them.  Two more were with the Deathlord Supreme
at the front.  It was a pilot at the controls who was the first to speak.

“Contact, Supreme,” he said simply.  “We’ve found the energy
signature.”

“Show me,” came the reply.

Lights on the front of the vehicle came to life, shining a
spotlight on the wall before them.  The side of the tunnel was made of metal –
not solid metal, but ringed panels which seemed to snake down its sides like
armor, each one overlapping the one beneath it.  Green glanced upward; far off
in the distance above him, he could see faint signs of light from the surface,
where they’d exited the Deathlord Mothership and made their descent.  As far as
he could tell, this tunnel did not bend or twist; it was a straight drop down
from where they had been.

The craft turned slowly until it came to a half-moon shaped
opening in the tunnel to their right.  The light from the craft shone as far
into the darkness as it could before being swallowed up by the void that lay
beyond.  The pilot steered forward into the tunnel and landed the circular
shaped hovervehicle right inside the opening.

“The activation terminal should be ten meters ahead,
according to our readings, Supreme.”

“Acknowledged,” Zarrod replied, before turning to the Dark
Troopers guarding Anna and Green.  “Bring them.”

Green felt the clawed hands of his captors tighten around
his shoulders and yank him to his feet.  His legs felt wobbly, but he was able
to stay standing.  The Princess had to let go of her grip so he could steady
himself with his hands bound in front of him by a painful cord of ghostly
energy.

The Deathlord Supreme exited the craft where the side paneling
opened up for disembarking.  The Princess and Green were both ushered out
behind him, followed by the rest of their deadly company.

Though it was dark, the Deathlord Supreme moved as though he
could see everything.  His footsteps echoed through the shrouded void like the
heartbeat of some terrible animal that was stirring from slumber.  Finally, he
stopped before what looked like a waist-high pillar of stone jutting up from
the ground.  He looked down at it and motioned with his hand – a casual gesture
to his troops, signaling for them to bring the prisoner to his location.

A Dark Soldier grabbed Anna and brought her forward.  She
didn’t protest at her handling; she didn’t make a sound.  Even in the dark,
Green could imagine the look of defiance on her face.

“Activate it,” the Deathlord ordered when she was beside
him.

“I don’t know how,” said Anna.

The Deathlord reached out behind her head, without touching
her, and closed his fist.  Green saw Anna’s body stiffen and she gasped as
though he’d dug his claws directly into her skull.  He could see the faint
outline of her body in the darkness, shivering and twitching, helpless against
whatever hold the Deathlord Supreme wielded over her.

“Activate it,” he repeated.

Green watched as Anna raised her hand, her arm shaking as if
it were being forced to act against her will.  She placed her hand on the flat
part of the top of the pillar, and upon contact, the area she touched lit up
with a brilliant white light.

“Now,” said the Deathlord, “bring this planet back to life.”

“I… I…” said Anna through clenched teeth, as though she were
struggling with her own body.

“Do it,” commanded Zarrod.

Anna had no choice but to obey.  She closed her eyes, and
after a moment, the floor shook as a tremor snaked through their surroundings. 
A low rumble echoed all around them, as if the planet itself were some giant
being awakened from a long slumber.  Behind him, light shone suddenly as though
someone had turned on a light switch.  Green saw the metal rings of the tunnel
were now illuminated, each overlapping ring its own source of soft, white
light, dispelling any hint of darkness.

Before him, the passageway they were in slowly came to life. 
They were in what appeared to be a long, high-ceilinged hallway, the sides of
which were lined by majestic pillars marked with brilliantly glowing symbols at
their top.  The floor was made of smooth yellow stone, and the ceiling was
arched and adorned with intricate carvings.

The hallway seemed to stretch on forever, with various
sister tunnels branching off at random intersections.  Strange murals with more
glowing symbols adorned the walls.  Green gazed at the architecture in awe.  It
was of Ancient design, no doubt about it, beautiful and perfectly preserved. 
Under any other circumstance he would have let out a gleeful cry and fought
back tears of amazement and joy.  Scientists could spend their entire lives
looking for such a thing, and his natural instinct was to want to study every
nook and cranny of it.

“What is this place?” asked Anna, giving voice to the
question that had been running through Green’s mind.

“It never ceases to amaze me how little your kind knows of
its past,” growled the Deathlord Supreme.

“Then perhaps you’d care to enlighten me, since you seem to
know so much,” said the Princess.  Zarrod looked down at her, his eyes burning
with a hint of amusement at the girl’s challenge.

“It’s a prison,” he replied.  “A place where your Heretic Ancestors
tried in vain to stop the unstoppable.  Where they trapped the invincible
armada of the Void Lords in a state of quantum flux, at the core of this
planet.”

“Quantum flux?” asked Anna.

Zarrod laughed, a terrible sound, thick with condescension. 
“The only way to contain the greatest weapons the universe has ever seen,” he
said.  “The invincible armada cannot be destroyed. They are great ships of incredible
power that put our motherships to shame.  Our masters designed them to sweep
through galaxies, like some terrible force of nature, destroying everything in
their path, and with each victory, the ships grew stronger and more powerful. 
So how does one stop that which cannot be defeated?  You trap it, of course. 
Your ancestors were quite clever in that sense.  This planet is in a state of
quantum flux, you see.  It exists everywhere, yet at the same time, nowhere,
randomly choosing to exist in different dimensions, different realities,
different streams of space and time.  Should we try to leave, there is no
telling what reality we may end up in, if any at all.  But that is only part of
the prison, a last desperate attempt to safeguard your universe from the
terrors here.  The core of this planet, where the armada lies, is in an even
more concentrated state of flux.  The planet itself is meant to keep it that
way, so intense and chaotic, that the armada could never break free.”

“And that’s why we’re here, to free this armada of yours
from its prison?”

“Obviously,” growled Zarrod.  “Down this corridor is the
source of the planet’s power: a vault where your ancestors sealed away their
collective knowledge – an energy source designed to power this planet and all
its safeguards. When you shut it off, the quantum flux will stop, the planet
will return to its proper reality, and the invincible armada will be unleashed,
ready to complete its mission.”

Green felt his breath catch in this throat upon hearing the
Deathlord’s words.  The back of his mind tingled with excitement. 
Could it
be?
he thought. 
Is it possible?

“For what purpose?” asked Anna.  “What happens when you
destroy every living thing in the universe?  What could you possibly gain from
such destruction?”

“It is part of a plan.  One that is far beyond your
understanding or mine.  It is not our place to question the Lords of the Void. 
Only to obey them.”

“So that’s all you are, is it?” said Anna bitterly.  “The
mighty Deathlords, nothing but servants, slaves to the whims of some long dead
group of genocidal maniacs.”

Zarrod’s hand lashed out, almost lazily, and struck Anna
across the face, yet the force was so strong she stumbled and fell.  Green
watched her in despair as she sat up on her elbows, her lip bleeding from the
slap.

“Best hold your tongue, lest I rip it from your mouth,” said
Zarrod. “We hold the honor of our service in high esteem.  Our Lords created us
for a single purpose, and to serve them faithfully is the greatest reward we
can hope for.  I will not have you insult us or them by denigrating it.”

“We used to think there was something more to your kind,”
said Anna, getting to her feet, unfazed by the Deathlord’s threats.  “We
thought you were something beyond just simple machines.  But now I can see it
clearly.  You’re just robots – mindless robots designed to carry out your
programming no matter what.  You claim to have power over life, yet you have no
soul of your own.  You have no concept of what it means to be a living,
breathing,
thinking
being.  It’s something you could never understand,
because if you did, you’d see how pointless your true purpose is.”

“I think you over-estimate the importance of being a living,
breathing, thinking being,” scoffed Zarrod.  “In case you haven’t noticed, we
‘mindless robots’ are winning.”

Zarrod leaned down, bringing his burning red eyes at a level
with Anna’s.

“Look me in the eyes and tell me that little fact is
pointless
,”
he said, his voice dripping with triumph.

Anna met his gaze but said nothing.  There was nothing she
could say, and her silence was all the answer the Deathlord needed.  Standing
up straight, he gave the order: “Bring them.”

With a flourish of his cape, he turned and started walking
down the hallway.  The Dark Soldiers ushered Anna and Green along behind him. 
Anna marched ahead, quietly, her face hard and resolute.  Green, however,
couldn’t stop thinking about what the Deathlord had said: 
“A vault where
your ancestors sealed away their collective knowledge.”

He looked around as he walked, glancing at the symbols that
shimmered at the top of the columns, at the murals on the walls filled with
even more strange symbols and archaic writing.  His mind was racing as he tried
to remember all his studies – his lessons in Old Solar, in Ancient semiotics,
quantum theory, and anything else related to Ancient technology.

“A vault where your ancestors sealed away their
collective knowledge.”

That had to be the answer; he knew it.  But what was the
knowledge?  What was sealed away?  He had to figure it out, and he didn’t have
a lot of time in which to do it.

He continued looking at the writing on the walls as they
walked down the corridor.  They seemed to repeat every few meters, the same
symbols, the same writing.

Green looked at each in turn, his mind turning them over,
trying to fit them together like pieces of a puzzle.  He had some knowledge
about the planet they were on, and he had gleaned a bit more insight from the
Deathlord Supreme himself.  He knew the writings had to relate to it all
somehow…

Then, he started to make sense of the symbols and the
writings, bit by bit, until certain revelations began to fall into place.  And
finally, when it all clicked together for him, his eyes lit up with the kind of
excitement only an academic could experience when solving a very important
riddle.

“Great Scott!” said Green upon his realization.

He’d involuntarily opened his mouth, unable to control his
sudden outburst like one is unable to control a sneeze or a cough.  But he
realized immediately what a mistake he had made.  The Deathlord Supreme stopped
and turned toward Green, who immediately looked away, hoping he would go back
to being ignored.

He could feel the Deathlord glaring at him with those
horrible eyes of his.  Green squirmed under his gaze and felt a rising sense of
dread as the Deathlord turned and approached him.

“What did you say?” grumbled the Deathlord.

Green’s mind raced.  His first instinct was to deny he said
anything, but he knew the Deathlord would know it was a lie.  For the life of
him, he didn’t want to go through another agonizing torture session.  “I… uh…
said Great Scott.”

“Why did you say that?”

“It’s… just something I say…”

“But the way you said it…”

Green was quiet, silently kicking himself for being so
careless.  Of course, anyone listening would have known from the way he had
spoken that he’d had some kind of revelation.  He tried to keep avoiding the
Deathlord’s gaze but couldn’t help glancing at him, meeting his eyes, if only
briefly.

“I… uh…”

The Deathlord looked away, glancing at the walls and the
symbols, then back at Green.  “You can understand this.”

Green knew it wasn’t a question.

“You know what it all means,” said the Deathlord, his voice
low and menacing.

Green swallowed hard, a lump of anxiety forming in his
throat.  “I… wouldn’t presume to tell you my deductions, Supreme,” said Green. 
“Surely one such as yourself, who’s as great and powerful as you are, already
has a firm grasp of the symbology of the Ancients, and you probably already
know everything that is written on these walls. Please forgive my outburst; it
takes some time for a lowly life-form such as myself to figure things out.”