HUMANITY: A Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Novel (10 page)

V
ishi tossed
the pail of water in Mich’s face. “Do you hear me Mich?”

He did not respond. Mich toyed with the strange color that was directly in front of his face as he meditated, shaping it to various shapes and sizes. Slowly, the flame grew.

“Can you hear me, Mich?” Vishi asked again. She could see a small blue hue growing around Mich’s hands.

He’s doing it… He’s actually doing it.

A few of the other villagers began gathering around Mich, all curious to see the first human who they had ever seen channel their energy.

Vishi tilted her head to a small, female child. “Bring me a sparring stick, please. Run quickly, now.” The small girl ran off.

Mich fell deeper and deeper into his new reality, manipulating the color, sensing it course through is body, feeling in control and more in tune with nature than he had ever felt before. For a moment, he almost thought that he felt something splash on him, but it was of no concern. He was busy with more important things.

He tossed the flame in his invisible hands, and it grew larger. Then again he willed it towards his physical hands. He had the thought to bring the flame back directly in front of him, but just as he was about to will the change, he felt a strange twinge of concern.

Danger
.

He could sense an imminent threat, and his quickly responded, almost reflexively, to the peril. Mich’s eyes snapped open as the long sparring stick came hurdling towards his face, and his hands moved at an otherworldly speed to jolt up and catch it. As his fingers rounded this stick, his powerful hands, imbued with his own energy, clenched down on the stick, crushing the wood and breaking the stick in half.

Mich stared at the haze on his hands as it slowly began to fade, and the villagers who had witnessed it were silent and blank.

Vishi lifted the remnants of her stick to her face and inspected it with large eyes. Never had she seen a beginning student channel enough energy that crush solid wood with their bare hands like Mich had. He had only been studying a couple of weeks. His potential was perhaps greater than she ever imagined.

“Good job, human,” Vishi said. “It seems you’ve learned how to access your untapped potential. Now you need to learn how to control it, to summon it at will.”

“That was amazing,” Mich awed. “It felt so strange… So beyond anything I ever imagined.” He held his hands in front of his face and inspected them for signs of damage.

Vishi pointed the broken stick at Mich. “You’ve obviously have a lot of power inside of you. Just keep practicing. Practice until you can summon your energy without closing your eyes, without meditating. You’ve barely scratched the surface.”

“Thank you,” Mich said. “I’m going to practice some more now.”

Mich closed his eyes, and Vishi smiled at her student. She shooed the other villagers away and began walking back towards her room before noticing Grim standing a few feet away.

“He’s doing well. I’m certain that he’ll learn to control his life force some day,” Vishi boasted.

“Yes, I saw,” Grim said. “Destroyed a sparring stick when responding to his first threat as well. Unheard of, especially for a human.”

“But he’s still unstable. There’s no telling if he will have that level of power when he can control it–if he learns how to control it.”

Grim nodded. “I have a feeling that he will learn. There’s something about this man that makes me think he will become something special.”

“Special?” Vishi asked, her face twisted with surprise. “I’ve never heard you say something so positive about a human.”

“Greedy, irresponsible, hateful, proud… There’s not a lot of things to like about humans. But we’ve associated these traits with humans of old, humans from E-17, humans that did not know of the universe outside of their Earth.” Grim inhaled and looked off into space. “I wonder if there would have been a
Cleanse
if the humans knew that there was life on other planets. Perhaps they only fought and killed each other because they had no one else to fight with. If they had only realized there were other species, maybe they would’ve been as united as we are.”

“You’ve always been wise, Grim. Kind and wise.”

“But I could be wrong,” Grim added. “The humans may never change. And teaching a human to use his life force might be a grave mistake.”

As Grim continued to look into the sky, several dark grey ships slowly began descending into the atmosphere. He instinctively reached out a protective hand and placed it on Vishi’s shoulder.

“Warships?” Vishi asked.

“It would appear so. Those are Nerrian warships as well. From the Queen’s fleet. Something’s going on in the city.”

As Mich toyed with his flame, a strange discomfort grew over his body, and his flame grew smaller. Fear and uncertainty flooded his emotions, and as much as he tried, he could not control his energy.

It was similar to a threat, but he did not know what to do and his body didn’t respond to counter it. He opened his eyes slowly, and turned to see Vishi and Grim a few meters away, staring up at the sky. He stood and looked to the sky as well.

Trouble was looming over Rashada.

S
alil stood
and slammed his hand on the table. “Let’s all settle down.” He scanned the eyes of each of the members of the Galactic Council. “The Queen has already taken action.”

“This was a matter for the Council, not for the Queen!” the half-metal faced council member spat. He squinted his reddened eye and gritted his teeth.

“The Queen is the supreme law of the galaxy, Kontra. It is up to her as to what action she should take. And let me ask you all this. What would you have done if the news had traveled to you first? Would it had been any different?”

The Council grew quiet. Salil had a point. The Council would have definitely sent a force to squelch the rebellion on Rashada. Murdering the ambassador would have required strong action.

“This smells of manipulation,” Lady Hamm said. “It’s too convenient. With the human that was discovered on E-17 being murdered just weeks ago and the push from some to eradicate Rashada, I find it hard to believe that the assassination of the ambassador isn’t connected in some way.”

“It could be retaliation for the human’s death,” Salil replied.

“If the humans had a place on the Council, they would know that the Council and the Queen did not support the human’s kidnapping and murder,” Kontra added.

“It’s a bit too late to discuss Council positions now,” Salil countered. “What’s done has been done. We need to figure out how we’re going to control the situation.”

Lady Hamm spoke, “The humans will be suppressed. They have no way of resisting the Queen’s military.”

“If you back someone into a corner, they will have no choice but to fight back,” Salil explained. “The humans may seem weak and lack technology, but let’s not forget that they managed to obliterate their own planet. We should not underestimate them.”

“
T
hey’re comin
’. I seen ‘em with my own eyes. Lots of ships landing. Some of them skippin’ the port and just landing anywhere,” Jimmy cried to rebels sitting in Walter’s room.

“There’s going to force us into the mines! Just like I told you!” Carl waved his hands and yelled spastically. “They’re sending reinforcements to send all the humans to the mines and factories. I heard Candy talking about it. Too many rebels hiding out and finding their own way. Need to up the productivity level.”

“I don’t buy it,” Tristyn said. “Neither the Queen nor the Council would do such a thing… They might not treat us as equals, but the haven’t took up the position of slavers.”

“Yet…” Earl said.

Carl contested, “Times are changing. They know that more people are joining the rebellion. Less girls entering the sex trade, less cheap resources coming out of the mine.”

Walter leaned back and blew out a deep breath. “We don’t know the purpose of sending the Nerrian military here, but we do know it probably has to do with the rebellion.” Walter’s eyes looked over to the bandage that was on Carl’s shoulder. “And if they are really thinking about forcing us to work, then we have no choice to fight.”

“We’re not yet prepared for war, Walter,” Tristyn rationalized.

“You’re right. We’re not… But would you have us kneel and do as they say? Our people deserve their freedom, and I’d rather die than lie down without a fight.”

“I’m ready.” Earl smirked.

“Earl, get our men armed and ready to defend. Tristyn, head to the surface and gather whatever intelligence you can.”

“I’ll go with the girl,” Carl said. “I want to participate.”

“Woman…” Tristyn snarled.

Walter shook his head. “If you’re parading around town, you’ll be recognized right away. You can post yourself up at the southern lookout point and notify us of any approaching soldiers. Tristyn, take Carl to the southern exit.”

Tristyn glanced at Carl and then gave a slight nod before turning and heading out the door.

The pair began walking through the underground base, and when they passed the armory, Carl asked, “Don’t I get a weapon?”

“You don’t need a weapon at lookout,” Tristyn answered sternly.

“W-what if I’m attacked?”

“Lookouts are to appear as if they are normal citizens. You shouldn’t be attacked, but if you are, you shouldn’t be fighting back.”

Carl frowned. “Are you sure I shouldn’t go with you? I know this city like the back of my hand.”

“I know it better,” Tristyn assured him.

The two approached a dimly lit corner with a long rope dangling from the ceiling. Tristyn pulled down on the rope, and a small circular piece of the ceiling tilted down, causing light to pour into the mine. To the left of them was a wooden ladder, and after climbing the ladder, a slight leap was required to grab the edge of the hole and pull themselves up.

Once they had navigated out of the hole and the rebel base, the found themselves in an isolated alleyway behind a large metal crate. Tristyn motioned for Carl to follow and when they were at the end of the alleyway, she pointed toward a small chair that gave view of the main road a few hundred meters away.

“You’ll sit here. Monitor the main street and the general vicinity. If you see anything worth noting, report back to Walter.” As Tristyn was talking, she noticed a group of Nerrian soldiers round the corner of the main street and begin aggressively questioning humans. She ducked into the shadows as to not be noticed. “They’re already on the move...”

Tristyn turned her head, expecting to see Carl sitting in the chair as she commanded, but the seat was empty. Instead, a tip of a laser pistol came pressing against her cheek and an arm skillfully wrapped around her waist.

“I really don’t like killing people,” Carl hissed. “So please, just come with me and make this easy.”

Carl slid the pistol off of Tristyn’s cheek and placed it behind her head, nudging her forward towards the main street.

“You bastard…” Tristyn spat. “I knew we couldn’t trust you.”

They continued their march until they were within shouting distance of the soldiers. “Help!” Carl shouted. The Nerrian militants looked up and drew their weapons as they noticed the armed Carl and the women he was holding in front of him. “Don’t shoot! She’s a rebel. I’ve managed to escape the rebels!”

One of the 3 militants was an alor, and the other two were wearing helmets. The unmasked solider ordered, “Put your weapon down immediately,” as they shuffled forward with their rifles pointed at the two humans.

Carl laid his weapon down and both Tristyn and Carl put their hands in the air. When the solders circled in on them, Carl continued his spiel, stuttering quickly. “I… I… work for Candy… or… worked. I was captured by rebels. They hurt me real bad.” He motioned towards his wound. “I managed to get away and captured this one. She’s an officer of the rebel Army. I know their hideout. I can take you there.”

Tristyn couldn’t control her anger towards the betrayal and swiftly leaned an elbow into Carl’s abs with all her might, causing him to keel over and cough. For a moment, she thought she could make a run for it, but before she made another move, she was rocked by the blunt side of one of the soldier’s rifles and fell unconscious to the ground.

V
ishi handed
Mich a small pouch as they stood at the edge of the village. Several other miholos were gathered nearby. “There’s only 10 credits inside, but it should help you with transport once you arrive to the edge of the city.” When Mich accepted, Vishi reached up and rubbed her palms around Mich’s freshly shaved head. “The new look suits you.”

One of the miholo women had cut his hair down to stubble before he set off. He was not only tired of the scraggly look, but figured it would help him go unrecognized when he made it back to the city.

Mich beamed a shy smile at Vishi’s kind touch. “I thought you don’t use credits here?”

“We don’t. One of our trackers came across it a while back when scouting through the jungle. A wanderer must have lost it. We have no use for the credits in the village.”

Soot pulled up beside Mich and the other miholos, riding atop a giant wolf-like creature. By all appearances, Mich would have guessed it actually was a wolf, aside from the fact that it was nearly 3 times his size and had a jet black mane of fur. A beautiful beast, he thought.

Grim patted Mich on the back. “If you’d like to continue your training with Vishi, you’re welcome to return, but having a trainer can only get you so far. The real potential lies within you.”

Mich nodded. “Thanks for all you’ve done for me. I’ve net never met a group of such wonderful people. I don’t want to leave, but I need to make sure my friends are safe.” By friends, he meant Tristyn. He still had the sinking sensation he needed to see the rebel girl once more and couldn’t figure out why. With warships heading towards the city, he felt even more compelled to make sure she was okay.

Vishi grinned. “I look forward to seeing you again Mich.”

Soot reached his hand out, and Mich accepted, simultaneously pulling up to sit behind him on the wolf-like creature. The wolf flexed its rear and stretched out its paws when it felt the new weight on its back.

“He can only take you to the forest’s edge. Once you’ve reached the clearing, you’re on your own,” Grim reinforced.

“Understood.”

“Take care of yourself, human.”

With that, Soot kicked his legs and gently pulled the creature’s fur, and the two slowly trotted off towards the city. After they made it a few hundred meters away, Mich turned to see Vishi and the others still watching him ride away through the dense foliage of the jungle.

Grim looked down at the Vishi with curious eyes. “Don’t tell me you’ve developed feelings for him…”

“No, But he’s a good man.” Vishi paused and turned back for the village. “Although, I have to admit, he’s rather handsome with a head shaved.”

Grim snarled in disgust. It was rare for miholos to encounter humans, but the thought of a romance between the two different species was unthinkable.

When Soot and Mich made it to the edge of the jungle, Soot snorted something in his native language and pointed to the city, which was visibly about a half mile from where they were standing.

“Thanks again,” Mich said as he hopped off the giant creature. When Mich was on the ground, Soot simply turned around and started riding back to the village without saying a word.

“Not one for goodbyes, I guess…” Mich muttered to himself. He straightened his clothes and began his short trek to the city infrastructure.

Mich could tell that something was different when he was among the city buildings and streets. There was tension in the air, and there were far less people milling about than before. He wondered if it was just the area of the city that he was in or if it had something to do with the warships that he had saw flying overhead while he was in the miholo village.

He flagged down the first taxi he saw and agreed to pay 2 credit to be transported to the poor quarter. As the taxi flew the through streets, his suspicions where confirmed as he passed numerous Nerrian soldiers wielding large rifles, many of them looking exactly like the alor guards he saw when he was brought to the Queen. He wasn’t sure why they would be on Rashada, but he had a good feeling it had something to do with the rebels.

The taxi reached the poor corner, and Mich flipped a couple credit to the driver before exiting the craft. He immediately felt nervous and thought back to when he had been kidnapped by the Keeper. He hoped that his freshly shaved head was enough for him to avoid any more unwanted attention.

Mich strolled down the familiar street that he had entered on his first day at Rashada and noticed the brothel door was now closed, and no women were hanging outside looking for customers. There no ladies throwing oil out into the street or beggars asking for money. To his surprise, the man he had saw lying in street before was still there, but now he was lying on his back with his eyes rolled into the back of his head and the smell of decay emanating off of his body–dead.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a small boy dip around a corner and recognized him as Jimmy. Still not trying to draw attention, he picked up his pace, but did not call out to him. He rounded the corner and found Jimmy crouched into the corner of a sunken door entrance, hiding and looking afraid.

“Jimmy,” Mich whispered.

“Ay, I didn’t do nothin’. Just leave me alone!”

Mich placed his hands on Jimmy’s shoulders. “Hey, I’m not going to do anything to you. It’s Mich. Don’t you recognize me?”

Jimmy tried to shake away. “I’m not fighting. I don’t want to fight!”

“I don’t want to fight you, Jimmy.” Mich thought back to the words that Tristyn had told him, and he muttered, “Do you believe in freedom?”

Jimmy’s muscles slacked, and he gave Mich a good look in the eyes. “Eh, it’s you! I thought you were dead!”

Mich put his finger up to his mouth and made a “Shhh” sound. “Don’t talk so loud. I don’t want anyone to hear us.”

“What happened to your hair? Ya look funny.”

Mich smiled at the boy’s innocence. “Yeah, I look funny, and I want to show Tristyn how funny I look. Can you take me to the base?”

“Oh, it’s not safe there now, Mich. It’s bad…”

“What do you mean?”

“The soldiers done came and got in the base. It’s big trouble now.”

Mich gritted his teeth. “Are the soldiers still there? Can you take me?”

“I think they’re gone now, but I don’t know when they’ll be back. I’ll take you to the door, but I ain’t going in.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

Jimmy led Mich through the streets until they reached an unassuming building with a door. He opened the door, which revealed another door, but rather than opening the second door, Jimmy pushed on the wall nudged in between both doors to reveal a secret passage. “Go ahead,” Jimmy said. “If you come back the same way, make sure everything is closed up before you open the door.

Mich nodded and entered the dark area. That passage lead to a smaller opening that Mich had to duck to pass through, and eventually he reached a roped ladder that lead him into the main area of the rebel base.

When he jumped down from the ladder and started walking through The Crawlspace, he realized there had clearly been a struggle. Everything that had been organized before was now in complete disarray, and there was the occasional blood splatter on the wall and floor.

The armory was completely cleared out of all the weapons that had been there before, and outside of the armory door were two dead humans. He briefly stopped to check if they were showing any signs of life–they weren’t–and he moved on with even more urgency.

He pushed opened the door to the tech room, and everything was in shambles. The flying devices were smashed to pieces, and papers were scattered all over the floor. Scraggs was left lying on the ground, but he was still alive and groaning. Mich rushed over to help him.

“Scraggs?”

“Oh… It’s you. Nice haircut,” he moaned as soon as he saw Mich, not seeming nearly as surprised as Jimmy that Mich was alive.

“What happened? Are you okay?”

“I’m not really sure what happened. One minute, I’m listening to rock music and working on the omincron, and the next minute Nerrian soldiers are tearing through the place.” He tried to lift himself up but winced at the pain. “I’m pretty beat up, but I’ll be alright. I think I’m more hurt they destroyed my bots.”

Mich placed his hand under Scraggs neck and help lift him into a chair.

Scraggs slouched in the chair and struggled to hold himself up. “Don’t worry about me,” he said. “Go check on the others.” Mich nodded and turned for the door, but just as he was about to exit, Scraggs called out. “Oh, and here’s that old telephone. It was pretty easy to charge up after altering the power supply and soldering a custom adapter.”

Mich reached out, took the phone from Scraggs hand, and squeezed his shoulder in gratitude. “Thank you,” he muttered.

His heart raced as he continued through the Crawlspace, trying to remember the turns that he had made previously and where he had met Walter St. James. Was Tristyn okay? Was Walter still alive?

He wasn’t walking much further when Earl came limping around a corner, holding his sagging shoulder. He looked badly beaten and his eye was black, swollen. When Earl saw the newcomer, he briefly grimaced, and then his eyes refocused on Mich’s face.

“Mich?” Earl asked. “Is that you?” Mich rushed up to Earl’s side to give him some support. “How did you…? They said you were dead.”

“Almost but not quite. What the hell happened here?”

“That fucker Carl…”

“Carl? Candy’s assistant?”

“Yeah, that asshole came here and asked to join the rebellion. Said they tried to force him to work the mines. Turns out it was just a ploy to flush us out.”

“And the Nerrian soldiers?”

“Not sure, but Carl went about yappin’ to them that we had kidnapped and tortured him. Claimed we killed Candy too. The whole thing barely makes any sense.”

“Candy is dead?”

Earl nodded. “Apparently so.”

“Where’s Walter and Tristyn?”

“Gone…” Earl sighed and then grimaced as he felt a pain jolting through his shoulder. “They took both of them prisoner. Wanted to take me too, but I managed to get away.” Earl paused and shook his head in disgust. “We weren’t ready… Didn’t even have our weapons out. Most of the other rebels managed to get to the surface, but a few got killed.”

The two navigated to a small table with two chairs that was once used to feed soldiers. “So what now?” Mich asked.

“What do you mean, what now? They took our weapons, even took my blade. Our leader’s been caught.” Earl waved his hand through the air. “The rebellion’s finished.”

“So if it’s finished, where will you go?”

Once the soldiers clear out, I guess I’ll go work the same as everyone else. I’ve got a brother who works in the factory. I’ll join him there.”

“And what about the others?”

“What can we do, Mich? Don’t you understand? We’ve got nothing on these monsters. They’re fully armored, fully armed. The Queen controls everything.”

“I’ve met the Queen, and she seemed like a good person. Something just isn’t adding up about this whole thing.”

“You’re clueless, Mich. The galaxy hates humans. Ever since
The Cleanse,
we’ve been regarded as scum.”

Mich sulked and thought back to the book he read about
The Cleanse
, but he was still finding the whole thing hard to process.

“Anyway, how are you alive? They said you’d been murdered.”

“Someone tried… It was a Keeper who damn near succeeded too.”

“You’re telling me a Keeper tried to kill you and you managed to survive?” Earl coughed out a laugh. “A Keeper could take on a hundred humans at once. A single man wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“Another one showed up. One of the Queen’s men–has a dragon tattoo on his face. I saw him at the palace in Nerria.”

“Tamor Landry… No fucking way he would be on Rashada unless something big was going on. They must have known you were targeted–by someone with a lot of influence no doubt.”

“He had the other guy down, but still couldn’t save me.” Mich reached behind his back and pulled out the copper sword that he had hidden underneath his shirt. “Threw this right into my stomach from several yards away. It’s a miracle I didn’t die.”

“Fuckin’ hell!” Earl said as he eyeballed the sword. He reached his hand out and rubbed his finger across the edge of the blade. “I’ve never seen one of these in real life… This sword–it must be worth at least a hundred million credits.”

“And what exactly is a hundred million credits worth? I’m still used to American dollars.”

Earl chucked. “If we sold this sword, we could outfit the whole rebel army.”

“But it’s copper? Wouldn’t it be better if it were gold or something?”

“Fucking hell, you’re still living back on E-17! Gold is one of the most common metals in the galaxy. Copper is not only one of the rarest resources available, but it’s one of the most desired. Sure, gold was rare on E-17, so humans thought it was something special. But now they’ve got mining crews that go back to the shithole specifically for the copper.” Earl sighed. “If humans had integrated with the rest of the galaxy rather than fighting all the time, they would’ve found out that they were sitting on a goldmine.”

“Don’t you mean copper mine?”

“Sometimes old puns travel across planets.” Earl laughed. “Anyway, everything would be different. Humans would have an upper hand with other species–at least economically.”

“So, why don’t we sell it? Outfit the rebel soldiers…”

Earl’s tilted his head to the side as if he was in a deep thought. After a moment he said, “You know, if we could regroup our people, that wouldn’t be such a bad idea. But are you sure you’d be willing to give this up for us? This little sword could send you to any planet you wanted to go to, buy you your own starship, live the good life.”

It was then that Mich realized the gravity of his choice. The good life–it was what he had built himself up to before. It was what he was missing now. Had wondered if he snuffed up by suggesting that he sell the sword for the rebellion. It could afford him the kind of lifestyle he had before he stepped inside the cryonics chamber. At the same time, he had no idea how or where to sell it and would probably get himself robbed or killed trying alone.