Earthman Jack vs. The Ghost Planet (8 page)

Anna laughed.  “In that case, I would love to get something
to eat.”

Jack clapped his hands and smiled.  “Excellent!  Just let me
grab my jacket, and then be prepared to be a slave to delicious flavor.  Sound
good?”

Anna nodded.  “Sounds good.”

As Jack rushed back into his home, Anna couldn’t help but
dwell on the notion that for the first time in a long while, she was actually
starting to enjoy herself. 

For some reason, this boy was not like the others she’d
encountered on this planet.  He had an energy to him that she had not felt in a
long time, and despite the fact she had made it a point to try not to get
attached to anyone here, she had the nagging feeling that Jack was starting to
grow on her.

Little did she know, her enjoyment would be short-lived. 
For far off, in the night sky above her, Earth’s doom was approaching…

Captain Rylack looked at the
unremarkable blue-green planet on the viewscreen and cursed his luck.  On the
list of the last things he wanted to see before he died, this blasted
back-woods planet was not among them.

He coughed, and his lungs burned as though they were being
seared with hot irons.  Shivers of agony spidered through every muscle in his
body, and as much as he resisted, he couldn’t help but let a pathetic sob
escape from him.

He gritted his teeth, trying to pull himself back together. 
But it was getting harder and harder.  He knew that though it felt like an
eternity since the torture had started, very little time had actually passed.  His
pale green eyes were watery with tears and he blinked to clear them.  Not much
good that did, though.  Darkness surrounded him, with the exception of a tiny
pool of blinding light that hammered down from above so brightly it hurt. 

Rylack could hear the sound of his tormentor’s footsteps
casually circling around him.  Though he could not see much past the bright
light that engulfed him and the large viewscreen projecting the image of the
planet, there were others in the room, too; he was sure of it.  They made no
sound, but their very presence made his skin crawl, and that was enough to
confirm his suspicions.

He was on his knees, and his hands were bound behind his
back so tightly he could feel them throbbing and swelling.  Whatever bound him
was not rope or metal but some type of energy that coiled around his arms and
made his skin seem like it was on fire.  He almost wished whatever bound his arms
was actually burning him.  At least then, the nerve endings would eventually be
destroyed and the pain would cease.  Whatever it was that had him in its grasp,
it was unrelenting.

“Where is the girl?” the voice from the darkness asked, as
it had again and again since the interrogation had started.  It was a deep and
gravelly voice, and it made Rylack’s ears hurt just to hear it.  He looked up
and saw the glow of two red eyes in the darkness gazing at him with contempt.

“Gone,” he croaked.  “Far away.  You’ll never—”

A clawed hand reached out and suddenly Rylack cried in
agony.  The hand never touched him, but his skin felt as if it were being
pierced by a thousand needles, digging into his muscles and burning them with
flames.  He felt waves of pain wash over him, and a hollow pit of despair
opened in his gut, as though his very soul were being torn apart within him by
a ravenous wild animal.

The pain stopped and he crumpled to the floor.  He gasped
for air, but each breath was a labor of agony.  His lungs felt as though they would
burst through his chest, and his head pounded with the fury of a thousand
drums.  As soon as he caught his breath again, he could not help it any longer
and began to cry.

“Shall I ask again?” came the charcoal voice from the
darkness.

Rylack steeled himself.  For all the pain, he was able to
find a small spark of courage deep within him.  He had a duty – a duty to his
Princess.  He could not allow himself to give her up to these monsters.  But
the pain…the pain was so great, he did not know if he could last much longer.

“Ask all you want,” he muttered.  “My answer’s the same. 
She’s gone–”

Another jolt of pain.  This time, it was quick, like a spear
being jabbed into his back, twisted, and then pulled out again.  He jerked and
spasmed from the blow, a sharp cry escaping from him.

“You are lying to me, Captain,” the voice said.  “I always
know when your kind is lying.  Just tell us where she is, and this will be all
over.  The pain will end, and you will be taken to a comfortable cell.  You
have my word.”

“Your word means nothing to me…” he said, as defiantly as he
could.

Something that Rylack could only assume was a laugh echoed
from the darkness.

“I will give you credit, Captain,” the voice said.  “You’ve
lasted longer than most in your position would have.”

Icy cold tendrils snaked through Rylack’s body.  He gasped
as he was yanked up into the air by the invisible hooks that had just wormed
their way inside him.  He hung there, suspended, helpless, with icy agony
chilling him to the core of his being.  He tried to cry out in pain, but his
throat closed up, and the only thing that could escape him was a feeble gurgle.

“But you cannot outlast me,” the voice said.  “I will not
allow you to pass out.  I will not allow you to die.  Every moment you resist
me is a moment you will bear witness to unimaginable pain and suffering, and it
can go on as long as I wish it to.”

Suddenly, the pain stopped.  Rylack could breathe again. 
His muscles were relaxed, the frigid cold that had dug into him moments before
was replaced with a soothing warmth, and he felt an overwhelming sense of peace
descend upon him.

“I can also make it end,” said the voice.  “Just tell me
what I want to know…”

The icy scourge of agony came rushing back, racking Rylack’s
body.  He struggled helplessly against the invisible daggers as they burrowed
through his muscles, into his bones, and back out again.  Then, the pain
disappeared, and that feeling of peace returned to him.

“Please…” he begged.

“Tell me,” the voice insisted.

More pain, then peace.  Pain and peace, pain and peace.  For
some reason, every time the pain went away, the fear of it coming back began to
grow and grow, and the thought of it returning once again was far more
frightening than actually enduring it.  Images of his family flashed into his
mind – his wife, with her shy smile, the smell of her cooking at night, his son
and the times they played together…

And then those memories were all ripped away, replaced by
the blinding scream of agony.  Try as he might, he could not withstand any
more, not even for his Princess.

“I’ll tell!” he cried.

The pain once more subsided, and whatever unseen force had
hold of him, let him go.  He crumpled to the ground.

“Where is she?” the voice asked again.

For a brief moment, Rylack considered giving false
coordinates, one last ditch effort to keep his oath to protect his Princess. 
But he knew it was no use.  The demon in the darkness always knew when he was
lying, and he would make him suffer greatly for it if he did so now.  Rylack
licked his parched lips with a dry tongue and did the unthinkable…

“Planetary sector, Kappa-642…” he muttered.  “Grid D-12.”

The planet on the viewscreen grew in size as it was zoomed
in on.  Computer-generated grid lines appeared; one flashed, leaping up to fill
the screen as another grid formed, and soon a plot of land could be seen.  It
was the town Rylack and his crew had been monitoring for so many months, and
the sight of it made him feel sick with betrayal.

“Deploy the extraction force,” the voice ordered.  “Scan
that area for all energy readings.  I want the girl found, and I want her taken
alive.”

Rylack could hear movement as the others in the room
scuttled off to do their master’s bidding.

He lay on the cold, unforgiving floor, feeling sick to his
stomach.  He had betrayed his sacred trust, and he knew that there was no
reason to keep him alive now that they had what they wanted.  A million things
raced through his mind – why did they want the Princess?  Why hadn’t they asked
about their mission?  How were they able to find them in the first place?

“I know you have questions…” said the voice, as though it were
able to read his mind.  “Your kind always does.”

Rylack took that to be an invitation.  He could have asked
any number of things, but one question stood out above all the others, and he
desperately wanted to know the answer before it was all over.

“Why?” he asked.  “Why are you doing this?  We did nothing
to you –
nothing!
  And you’re slaughtering us… entire planets… for
what?”

The only response was the sound of his tormentor’s boots
echoing in the room as he stalked around him.  Then, the feeling of invisible
hooks digging into his flesh assaulted him once again, and he was reeled up
into the air like a fish struggling for release.

A figure emerged from the darkness – a shadow amongst
shadows.  Its two red eyes blazed at him, glowing brightly with pure malice.  A
taloned hand pointed toward the viewscreen.

“What do you see on that screen?” the figure demanded.

Rylack looked.  It was the same blue-green planet as
before.  “Just… a planet,” he choked.

“You see a planet,” the figure responded.  “I see an
aberration.  I see a great expansive void, littered with vile mistakes you call
life.  We are simply removing the clutter, making the void pure once again.”

“You’re insane,” growled Rylack.

“We are righteous,” replied the figure.  “And we will sweep
across the universe and lay waste to every abomination which crosses our path. 
Once we have your Princess, the final piece will be in place, and we will bring
purity and balance back to the void.”

The words echoed in Rylack’s ears, and suddenly, he feared
he knew why they were after the woman he’d sworn to protect.

“The Princess…” gasped Rylack.

“Yes,” purred the figure.  “She’s the key, you see.  With
her, we will bring about the destruction of all.  Every planet will be laid to
waste, every star will be extinguished, and every life will be ended.  We will
march from one galaxy to another, leaving nothing in our wake.  And all the
universe will tremble.”

Cold, unbridled fear gripped Rylack’s stomach and twisted. 
“You can’t…” he cried.  “She won’t…”

“She will,” said the figure.  “Just as you did.  She will
not be able to resist.”

“Someone will stop you,” spat Rylack.

“Nothing can stop us,” said the figure.  “Not a weapon, not
an army... and certainly not you.”

With that, Rylack felt the cold razors return as they dug
deep into his muscles, but this time, they hooked themselves into him, and he
felt them tug at him violently.  He writhed in pain, screamed in protest, but
it was no use.

A wave of icy cold washed over him, and he could feel the
very essence of his being as it was ripped from his body, as his very soul was
torn from him.

And the last thing he heard before he died was the booming
laughter of the voice from the darkness.

A teapot whistled, steam erupting
from its spout.  Shepherd lifted it off the burner and poured the boiling water
into a mug with the friendly words “World’s Greatest Dad” printed on it.  He
never felt right being referred to as a father, since he had no real children
of his own.  But Anna had insisted when she had given it to him that it was
strictly for the sake of their cover.

He took out a small bag of black tea and began to steep it
in the hot water, spilling a little on the bright gold granite countertops of
the kitchen.    He chalked it up to just more mess he’d have to clean after
tackling the pile of dishes in the sink from his failed attempt at making an
edible broccoli and cheese casserole.  Shepherd was a man of many skills, but
cooking was not one of them.  Even the Professor politely passed on the meal,
and he would eat practically anything.

Because of that, it was probably for the best Anna had not
come down for dinner.  Shepherd even went so far as to take a plate up to her,
but she had refused to answer the door.  It wouldn’t be the first time she’d
ignored him when she was upset, which seemed to happen more and more lately. Because
of the questionable quality of the food, he did not press the matter and
decided to let her sulk uninterrupted.

Shepherd sipped his tea and looked thoughtfully out the
window behind the sink, gazing off into the night.
Perhaps I am being too
hard on her,
he thought.  She was, after all, no older than any of the
other children that he taught in class, and they were always up to far worse
than simply wanting to go to a dance.  He began to think about all she’d been through,
and all she’d yet go through, and he felt the piercing pang of guilt gnaw at
his stomach.

When did I become such a grumpy old man?
 he
wondered.  He hadn’t always been this way.  There was a time when he had been carefree,
when he had been rebellious, when he had known what it was like to have fun. 
For some reason his mind wandered to his student Jack Finnegan and to the
realization that the boy reminded him much of himself back in his youth.

But that had been long ago, before the war.  Its tragedies had
made him grow up fast, and he was afraid Anna would have to do so even faster.

At least he’d had his time.  He had known what it was like
to be free from responsibility, to laugh and play, and not to worry about
tomorrow.  Anna, however, had been shouldered with the harsh burden of responsibility
almost since the day she was born.  And even if there had been hope that she
would have a chance to live a somewhat “normal” life, it had been destroyed
long ago, along with so much else.

Still, that would be all the more reason to let her have one
day, wouldn’t it?  A day when she could just be a kid, a day to have fun and
forget about the horrors she would have to face after it was time to leave this
planet?

Then again, to allow Anna to escape from the reality of her
situation for such a short time only to drag her back into it might be crueler
still.  It was one thing not to know what she was missing.  It was another all
together to let her taste what freedom was like and then yank it away from her.

Shepherd sighed and ground his teeth. 
When did this
become so complicated,
he wondered.  His job should be simple.  All he had ever
been required to do was to make sure no harm came to the Princess.  That meant
keeping her away from danger and killing anything that tried to harm her. 
That’s what he’d been doing for years, and it had always worked.  But more and
more lately, he’d felt Anna resenting his protection, insisting it was becoming
over
-protective to the point of being unbearable.

It certainly didn’t help things now that she was surrounded
by beings her own age and who so closely resembled her own kind.  In fact, he
was surprised it had taken this long before she had given into the urge to
start socializing with them.

Shepherd had known that it would be an issue the minute Anna
suggested infiltrating Earth society.  The original plan of rushing in and accessing
the temple wasn’t as easy as anyone had thought.  Anna should have been able to
unlock the Ancient technology rather quickly, but after many failed attempts,
she had become convinced the secret to doing so lay with the Earthlings.  After
all, there had to be a connection between the two, didn’t there?  Looking back,
he should have insisted on calling in the dig team immediately, saving themselves
months of pointless research.  But he was not in the habit of countermanding
orders from his Princess when it came to matters of Ancient technology.

Despite it all, though, keeping her insulated was the safest
course of action.  But Shepherd struggled with the reason behind doing so.  Was
he really doing it to protect her?  Or had he fallen prey to the trap of trying
to keep her from growing up?  In his mind, she was still the scared little girl
he’d held in his arms while death and destruction erupted around them so many
years ago – the same little pigtailed girl clutching a ragged Yuppi doll while
everything she’d ever loved had been savagely ripped away from her in a single
day.

However, the Professor’s words were truer than he cared to
admit.  She was, in fact, a teenager.  She was beginning to mature, and she was
growing into her royal birthright as perfectly as anyone could expect.  Soon,
she would be old enough to claim her rightful seat of power in the Empire her
ancestors had forged.  But it still nagged at Shepherd that her childhood had
been squandered, and he may have stolen her one chance to experience it before
it was too late.

He took another sip of his tea and made up his mind.  He’d
allow her to attend the dance.  This would, of course, mean he’d have to
approach Principal Montgomery about being a chaperone at the function – a fact with
which Anna would no doubt be less than thrilled.  But there was only so much
ground he’d be willing to cede for the sake of her excursion into teenagery. 
There would no doubt be temptations at the dance, which he’d have to prepare
for.  Things like alcohol, drugs, and, of course, the worst vice of them all – boys.

The question of with whom she’d be attending the dance
suddenly leapt into his mind.  No doubt she’d brought up the notion of going to
Homecoming because there was someone she wanted to go
with
.  He’d have
to find out whom and quickly set the boy to rights about how he’d have to
behave around her royal highness – if he wanted continued use of his limbs,
that is.

A myriad of different and varied scenarios of intimidation
played out in Shepherd’s mind for Anna’s yet-to-be-revealed date when Professor
Green came bursting into the kitchen, clutching the boxy subspace communicator
to his chest, his eyes wild and frightful.

“Oh, dear,” he muttered.  “Oh dear oh dear oh dear…”

Shepherd put down his tea, instantly alarmed.  “Professor?”
he said.

Green swept his hand across the kitchen table, knocking off
the homey little knickknacks meant to make the house look as normal as
possible, and plopped down the shiny box he’d been fiddling with all day.

“We, uh… have a problem,” said Green.

“What?” demanded Shepherd.

“I was able to finally isolate whatever was interfering with
our subspace pocket channel,” said Green.  “It’s a very strong sequence of
multi-dimensional frequencies that are being broadcast into subspace,
effectively scrambling any communication being sent through there.”

“I thought it was impossible to jam a subspace frequency,”
said Shepherd.

“Correct,” said Green.  “It is impossible to block
information from being transmitted and received through subspace channels.  However,
we’re not being jammed.  We’re being overrun.  So much noise is being broadcast
into our designated subspace pocket at so many different frequencies, any
message meant for us is getting lost in the clutter.”

“So our communications are cut off?” asked Shepherd.  This
was indeed a problem.

“Well, no,” said Green as he quickly plugged in a small data
tablet into the communicator.  “I was able to create an algorithm which
separates much of the noise from our assigned frequency with the fleet.  It’s
crude, but… it works.”

“Then what’s the problem?” asked Shepherd.

“This,” said Green, as he hit a button on his data tablet.

The air above the communicator box began to shimmer and a
holographic image of a tall, thin man wearing the proud crimson uniform of a
Regalus Prime space officer came into focus.  Small details of his environment
were transmitted, as well – the familiar bridge of the starship
Protector
among them.  However, along with that were the sparks of damage and the smoke
of fire.  Figures scrambled around behind him, frantically trying to control
the chaos.

“Emergency Alert,” the man said. “Shepherd, do you read?
Please respond!”

“Rylack,” Shepherd muttered under his breath, the cold hand
of worry beginning to tickle his throat.

“We’ve been attacked,” Captain Rylack went on, his image flickering
in and out of alignment.  “They came… of nowhere… …
ambush…”

Green furiously tapped on his data tablet, trying to clear
the signal.

“The
Yellowtail
,
Guardian
, and
Javelin
have all been destroyed…” the Captain went on.  “We are being boarded.  Don’t
know how long we can hold out.  Evacuate the planet immediately!  Repeat,
evacuate immed—”

Then, a fireball erupted.  There was the sound of screams as
dark shadows swept into the room.  Captain Rylack turned, right before
disappearing in a flash of purple light, and then the transmission went dead.

For a moment, Green and Shepherd were both silent, the
gravity of what they had just seen settling in.

“Four warships… the best of the fleet… destroyed without
warning.” muttered Green.  “How is that possible?”

Shepherd’s mind raced.  It didn’t make sense.  There was no
way anything could have snuck up on the fleet so completely as to have caught them
unaware, not with all the precautions they had taken.  There were sensor arrays
spread throughout the entire planetary system to ensure they would see any
danger coming from light-years away.

Shepherd turned and marched into the dining room.  Against
the wall was a very nice mahogany cabinet housing all types of fine dinnerware. 
With a wave of his arm, the cabinet shimmered, and with a ripple, its
holographic camouflage dissipated to reveal a large screen, housed in a bright,
shining metal casing with three access terminals mounted in it – a typical
configuration for a standard sensor console.

Shepherd ran a quick scan of Earth’s planetary system, but
all results came back empty.  According to their long-range sensor array, there
were no hostiles anywhere in the vicinity.

“The sensors would have alerted us of any unknown activity
within the system,” Green said, standing in the doorway to the kitchen.  “Maybe
the threat has passed?  A fluke encounter?”

“Professor,” said Shepherd, “You said the subspace
interference was multi-dimensional?”

“Yes,” blinked Green.

“Is it possible the same signal is being used to fool our
detection systems?” Shepherd asked.

Green looked thoughtful.  “Oh, dear,” he said.

Green rushed up to a second access panel on the sensor console
before them and began to enter his detection algorithm.  Suddenly, the large
empty screen flickered and red dots began to litter the system.  A tiny alarm
sounded, signaling the detection of multiple enemy energy signatures.

“Great Scott!” exclaimed Green breathlessly.

Shepherd could feel his heart skip a beat.  Not only were
there more energy signatures than he could count, they were already beginning
to encircle the planet, which could only mean one thing.

“
Planetkillers
,” he snarled.

“But… but how?” stammered Green.  “How did they find us?”

“We’ll figure that out later,” said Shepherd urgently.  “Get
ready to head to the emergency shuttle.  I’ll get the Princess.  With any luck,
we still have time to escape.”

Without a moment to lose, Shepherd sprinted up the stairs to
Anna’s room.  His mind was racing.  All of the Empire’s high-level military communications
were based around creating secure pockets within the subspace dimension that
would not only allow instantaneous communication over vast distances but also could
prevent the enemy from intercepting or interfering with it.  If their foe had
somehow figured out a way not only to corrupt their transmissions but also to render
subspace useless, nowhere would be safe.

He reached the door to Anna’s room and pounded on it.

“Princess!” he yelled.  Without waiting, he tried to open
the door but found it locked.  He pounded again.  “Princess, open the door!  We
must evacuate!”

No answer.  Without hesitation, Shepherd rammed his shoulder
into the door, forcing it to fly open.

He looked around.  The room was empty.  For a split second,
he was afraid that somehow the Princess had already been kidnapped, killed, or
worse.  But then he noticed the sheets tied to the post of the bed, leading out
an open window.

He rushed to it and looked outside.  The makeshift rope made
it almost all the way down to the ground.  It would appear that Anna had
successfully snuck out without him noticing.

Shepherd’s stomach felt like it dropped out of him, and he
cursed himself for becoming complacent.  He had allowed the relative
peacefulness of the planet to fool him into relaxing his guard, and that had
given the Princess enough opportunity to take advantage of it.

Now she was out there.  Alone.  Unprotected.

And the full might of the deadliest army the universe had
ever known was about to descend upon her.