HUMANITY: A Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Novel (11 page)

“Who has a hundred million credits to buy a thing like this anyway?”

“We’d have to get off of Rashada to sell the sword. Find a private buyer or a broker… A bit dangerous and would also require a starship. That’s something that we currently don’t have.”

“You’re not very good at suggesting solutions,” Mich mused.

“We’d could steal a ship. Not sure how well that would work with Nerrian soldiers crawling all over the place. Or…” Earl looked away and grimaced. “Walter has a starship over at port. But he’s the only one who knows the access keys.”

“Do you have any idea where they took Walter?”

“Trist and Walter are probably being held at the port before being transferred to the elected Council for criminal trial. Should still be there. Lots of red tape to be signed before a man can be pulled off of Rashada.”

Mich let out a big sigh and closed his eyes as he considered the options, but just as soon as he started pondering, he cracked a slight grin. “I think I have an idea… “

S
craggs sighed
. “I’m not sure about this. If it doesn’t work, we’ll be just as screwed as Walter and Tristyn.”

“Working the mines is a better alternative?” Mich questioned. “It’s the only chance we have to save your rebellion.” The two men were crouched in the shadows behind a small building near the port’s holding cell.

“We’re not even sure if they’re in there. And the disrupters haven’t been tested on anything of
that
size. What if they don’t work?” Scraggs held one of the grey-colored, experimental eggs in one hand and a metal pipe in the other.

“Look,” Mich said sternly. “I heard the way you talked to Tristyn. What will she think if she finds out that you’re responsible for her rescue? I’m pretty sure it’ll get you some major brownie points.”

Scraggs rubbed his chin gently as he thought. “Alright, but if we die, I’m blaming you.”

Mich nodded. “Okay, so remember the plan. Once the mech is disabled, we’ll rush into its piloting room and take over.” Mich held up large utility hammer. “We’ll attack the guards with the mech, and use the hostage inside to demand that they free Tristyn and Walter.”

Scraggs nodded, and Mich gave a return nod to signal the go-ahead. The two men waited for the mech to patrol closer. They needed ample space from the Nerrian soldiers posted at the port, and a short enough distance so that they could run to the mech and get inside before the disruption wore off.

After several minutes, the mech that they were eyeing came within 100 feet, and Scraggs leaned back and let his egg fly. When the disruptor egg landed on the mech, the shell shattered and the bright energies inside crackled and seemed to be sucked directly in the metal machine.

The mech let off a low hiss, and suddenly its 4 legs stopped moving; it appeared to have shut down. The two men went running for the mech as fast as they could, but within a second of stopping, the mech moved again, this time erratically, standing itself upright and then kneeling itself back down. The hydraulics in the mech seemed to be moving faster and more robotically than normal, and the mech spun from side to side and began firing random laser blasts in various directions. Rather than disrupt the mech’s systems, it seemed the disruptor made the mech go haywire.

The two men ducked behind another building when they realized that they were in danger, and as the mech unleased laser bolts, the Nerrian soldier’s took notice. One soldier standing near the port pointed at the mech, and just as soon as he pointed at it, a laser shot was sent his way, landing near his feet and sending dirt and debris up in his face from the impact.

“Shit! That’s not what was supposed to happen,” Mich huffed.

“I told you. I freakin’ told you!” Earl scolded.

The mech continued spinning around, firing shots in every direction, and the nearby Nerrian soldiers were gathering up and trying to figure out how to shut the mech down. A shot landed between a group of three soldiers and sent them all flying off the ground. Another shot landed in front of the holding cell, and the two guards in front of the door ran off to seek cover and assist the others.

“It wasn’t what was planned, but at least they’re all distracted,” Mich said and poked Scraggs in the shoulder, motioning for him to follow. The two men scurried towards the holding cell while the guards were busy trying to get the mech under control and slipped through the opened door unnoticed.

When they arrived inside the cell, they immediately saw Walter and Tristyn sitting behind bars in a small room with benches lining the unmarked walls. A typical-looking prison. Walter was lying on a bench, and Tristyn was sitting down. She stood up quickly when the new faces entered. “Scraggs!” Tristryn shouted. She squinted her eyes and breathed heavily, confusion etched across her face. “Is that you, Mich?”

“Shhh,” Mich said. “We need to get you out of here while the guards are distracted.”

“Yeah, well how are you going to do that?” Walter asked groggily as he pulled himself up from the bench. “He banged the back of his hand against the metal bars, causing a slight clang. “Solid Rashadan steel. That hammer isn’t going to help you.”

“Well, the original plan was for us to–“

“I’m going try something really fast. Everyone be quiet,” Mich interrupted Scraggs.

The three others eyed Mich as he approached the cell door and closed his eyes. He stood there silently and began to focusing on his breathing. Outside of the holding room, Mich could hear laser blasts and chaos, but he pushed his mind into another world, trying his hardest to zone out of the situation.

Eventually, the noises disappeared. Everything obscured, and all that Mich could see was the strange color dancing around in front of him. He picked up the color and held it in his imaginary hands, willing it through his body and down to his real hands.

They all watched quietly in awe as a light blue hue began to appear around Mich’s fingers, and then suddenly Mich’s hands shot out quickly, striking the metal bars near the area of the door lock, causing a huge dent in the door and the lock to break.

“What the fuck was that?” Scraggs yelped, his face twisted and his mouth set in a large ‘O’.

Mich opened his eyes and smiled at the success.

“That’s Keeper power,” Tristyn said, mouth agape. “I can’t believe–“

“It’s not a Keeper power. It’s a power that everyone has inside of them. Keepers have just learned to harness it to the highest degree. I personally can’t do much more than what I just did.” A laser shot hit the side of the holding cell, causing the whole place to rattle, snapping all of them back into the severity of the situation. “Anyway, we need to get going, fast!”

Walter pushed open the cell door, and the four humans went running as fast as possible from the holding cell. Outside, one of the soldiers fighting the mech noticed almost immediately when the humans ran out and shouted to the others. “Oh fuck! They’re getting away!”

Two of the soldiers moved their attention off of the mech and ran in pursuit of the escapees, but no sooner than the starting giving chase, a large speeder zipped past the haywire mech and stopped right next to the humans. Earl pooped open the speeder’s cockpit door and motioned for everyone to get inside.

“Engaging,” one of the soldiers said into a communication device attached to the arm of his armor, and then the two soldiers started sending shots in the direction of the speeder.

“What the fuck happened?” Earl asked as Mich, Scraggs and the two escaped prisoners hopped inside, shots ricocheting off the speeders’ body. “Wasn’t this supposed to be a hostage negotiation situation?”

“Didn’t go exactly as planned,” Mich sneered. “Let’s go!”

They closed the speeder door and zipped towards the city, attempting to divert attention in the direction they were not actually headed. “What port number is the old Zatyr docked at?” Earl asked frantically.

“What? We’re flying out of Rashada?” Tristyn wailed.

“It’s at port 36.” Walter said calmly. “And if we stayed on Rashada, we’d be captured just as quickly as we were rescued. Let’s just hope the old bird can fly us out of here quick enough. It’s been ages since I’ve fired her up.”

After a few quick turns, Earl spun the speeder around and headed back in the direction of the ports from different angle. They had captured the attention of the other soldiers that they passed, but were flying so fast, none of them had enough time to react.

Eventually, they found themselves pulling up to port 36, a long narrow platform with several spacecraft’s and starships parked to the sides. One of the smaller ships near the end of the platform was shaped like a massive, light-grey American jetfighter with wings that Mich imagined was quite unsophisticated in comparison to the sleeker and more high-tech looking counterparts parked near it. On the side of the starship was etched the words
Zatyr
in a retro-colored print.

“There she is,” Walter said as Earl parked as close to the
Zatyr
as possible.

“Looks a little dated compared to the other ships. It’s safe, right?” Mich asked.

“I’m one of the few humans that has the privilege of owning a starship. An older model z-18, but no chance of getting my hands on anything that costs more. At least with the situation we’re living in. It suits its purpose. Never had any issues.”

Behind their group came the sound of other speeders, and when they turned, they saw the soldiers quickly approaching on foot as well. The group jumped out of their craft, and Walter ran over to the Zatyr and opened the door by typing on a keyboard attached to the panel. He motioned for everyone to go inside with his hands.

Walter was the last to enter, and barely managed to dodge a laser shot as the soldiers began shooting right as he was closing the door.

The inside of the Zatyr smelled old and dusty, but everything was well organized. There were several rooms inside with solid steel walls and there was plenty of room to stand and move around throughout. Walter rushed towards the cockpit of Zatry, and the others were standing behind him, watching through the window as more soldiers joined in the rush towards them.

Walter furiously pressed buttons on the control panel as the entire ship rattled with the weapon fire from the soldiers outside.

“They’re going to destroy the ship!” Mich squawked.

“Nah, they might hurt ‘er, but they won’t destroy ‘er. They’d need something a little stronger to bring her down.”

“Like that?” asked Scaggs, pointing through the front window.

Off in the distance, they could see one of the mechs–one that was not haywire–slowly marching towards their ship.

“Yep, that’ll do it.” Walter gulped. “No time for formalities. Everyone hold onto something.”

Scraggs saw Walter reach for the thrusters. “Hey, you haven’t disconnected the anchor!”

“If I go through the disconnect sequence, that mech will roast us.”

“And if you take us up without–“ Scraggs was interrupted by the thrusters engaging and lifting the Zatyr vertically into the sky, much quicker than a normal undocking. The ship rattled furiously as the anchor broke, sending the three standing parties to the ground, and there was a powerful thunder that echoed from outside. “…that’ll happen.”

“What the hell was that?” Earl asked.

Scraggs sighed. “Our underside shields were ripped off by the anchor.”

“It was either that or get roasted by the mech. We’ll have to be careful not to take damage to the belly, but otherwise the bird should be okay.” Walter patted the control panel of the Zatry and turned the ship so he could see the soldiers on Rashada, some still firing in the direction of the escapees, and others rushing to board another starship. “They’ll be coming in hot if we don’t get out of here now.
Hold on this time
!”

Tristyn and Mich each grabbed on to pieces of secured furniture, and Scraggs, not seeing anything else to grab onto to, reached for Tristyn’s arm. Tristyn threw Scraggs a menacing look as Walter rolled the ship, and the sound of thrusters roaring into full throttle filled the air.

They soon found themselves hurdling out of the Rashada atmosphere and into the vastness of space.

K
ryle stood
on the deck of his large mansion on his home planet, Dreasha. His home overlooked a large sea of water, and over the horizon he could see the planet’s three moons simmering brightly in the sky. Dreasha was large, dry, flat, and even though he lived in a desirable coastal area, the closest other home was nearly a half mile away.

Off into the distance, he could hear the gentle hum of thrusters slowly approaching his land, so he knew that a visitor was forthcoming. He navigated to the front of the house and then stepped on the purple, barren land to great the newcomer. A small, single-passenger, craft slowly descended to the ground.

The vessel landed, and then the gentle hum turned to silence as the power was turned off, and out of the ship stepped Carl, his arm hung in a sling and a wide smile on his face.

“Carl, nice that you made it here. I take it everything went according to plan?”

“It happened just as you expected. They rebels thought I had been kidnapped and led me right to their rebel base. And then as soon as I saw the soldiers, I flipped… Everyone bought the whole thing.”

“The results?”

“The rebel base was wiped out. Weapons confiscated. Most of the rebels fled to the surface, and those who tried to resist the soldiers were killed.”

“What about Walter St. James?”

“Captured, along with a few of his henchmen. I knew the access codes for Candy’s transporter, so as soon as everything was taken care of, I fled straight here to share the news.”

“Why didn’t you use your telecommunicator?”

“I didn’t want another situation like the one with Candy on my hands. With the Queen’s military on Rashada and the humans who would have my head, if anyone heard me talking, it could have been bad. Better to tell you in person.”

“Good… You’ve done a good job.”

“Sir?” Carl asked questioningly and bobbed his head as if expecting something. “The compensation we spoke about?”

Kryle Yago’s head tilted back as if he was about to laugh. “Oh yes, I almost forgot. Just a moment.” He retreated into his home, and a few moments later, he returned with a thick envelope in his hand. “I take it that a million credits will be enough?”

Carl accepted the envelope and tilted his head gratefully several times. “Oh wow… Thank you, sir. It’s… It’s more than enough.” He continued to bow his head as if he couldn’t control himself.

“And I think I also said something about a starship? I have a beautiful machine that I think you’ll love.”

“Really? I’ve always dreamed of having my own starship.”

Kryle lead Carl to the side of his house where three other starships were parked, and pointed to a smaller one with a circular body and two large thrusters jutting out the back. “She’ll house 3 or 4 comfortably and can take you from here to Krimeous without needing to refuel. Go ahead and take her. Her systems are unlocked, so you can reprogram her to your liking when you land wherever you wish to go. I’ll have that tiny transporter returned before anyone notices.”

Carl’s eyes glistened as he stared at the starship. “Wow, sir. This is more than I could’ve asked for. It’s been a pleasure working for you.”

“Yes, of course,” Kryle said dryly. “No need for thanks. Run along. I have matters to attend.”

Carl walked to the starship, stopping halfway to turn and give another last minute bow. He placed his hand on the door, entered, and then sat down in the pilot’s chair. It was one of the nicest ships he had ever seen and perfect for the life he had planned.

With a million credits, maybe he could move to Atlantos, buy a flat and take up a life of gambling. Or perhaps a simpler life on Milliean would be more appropriate. Surely, he could find a human wife or he might set his sights high and look for a female of another species to mingle with a bit before settling down. Now that he had a starship of his own and a mass of credits, the possibilities seemed endless.

Carl waved through the window to Kryle who was standing on his deck as he started the thrusters in the starship. The controls on his new ship were simple–another great benefit of the craft. He pulled a lever and the craft hovered into the air, and he looked down one more time to see Kryle press a flat hand to his hand as if he was saluting a soldier.

Carl smiled at his good fortune, having escaped the troubling life that the vast majority of humans on Rashada would live. He further accelerated the thrusters and the starship hurdled into the atmosphere.

Kryle watched patiently as the Starship bolted high into the sky and then exploded into a million pieces, creating something akin to a fireworks display. There were enough explosives on the craft that any evidence of what it was would be incinerated beyond scrutiny.

“Disgusting humans,” he muttered to himself. “Will betray their own for a few credits.”

He retreated inside his home and rested his head on his plush bed. The human from E-17 had been killed, the rebellion had been flushed out, and Walter St. James had been captured. He may have lost his spot on the Council, but his work had been done. The humans did not pose a threat, at least for the immediate future.