The Last Revolution (28 page)

“You’re going to need this.” Alden handed over a soldier’s uniform.

Another explosion rocked the facility. “Is this all for me?” Stone asked.

Alden nodded.

“What’s the year?”

“2125 sir, but we’ll have plenty of time for questions later. Your safety is paramount. Get that suit on. We have to move!”

General Stone clumsily dressed. The re-animation had slowed his hand-eye coordination. Alden would have to keep a close eye on him.

“You’ll need this.” Alden lifted a gun off the security rack and chucked it at Stone.

Stone’s hand shot up and grabbed the rifle. Maybe he wouldn’t have to watch him so closely after all.

Alden headed for the door. He pulled the rifle from his shoulder.

“It looks good on you.”

Alden peered out the damaged door and then back at Stone. “What’s that?”

“My suit.” With that, Stone put on the soldier’s helmet and clicked it into place.

Alden turned back to the exit, smiling. He clicked his own helmet into place. He walked up the stairs to Callisto and Solana. They nodded to the general and then fell into formation behind them. The four rushed down the hallway, but two guards suddenly rounded the corner.

Before Alden had time to act, several jets of blood exploded from their chests. The guards dropped to a heap at Alden’s feet. General Stone lowered his weapon, then stepped over the bodies. Regret washed over him as he realized that both soldiers had been wearing the crest of the Council military.

Stone probably shouldn’t have been doing this much physical exercise after being in stasis for so long; his arteries would surely have atrophied. Unfortunately, time was a luxury they didn’t have.

“You doing okay?”

“Don’t you worry about me.”

Thereon’s transponder registered on Alden’s map. They were getting close.

“The next group is ours. Mind holding your fire this time?”

Stone was silent.

Moments later, Thereon and his men sprinted around the corner. Some of them were still dressed as prisoners. It was apparent that there were far fewer of them than they’d arrived with. They’d sustained casualties when they’d released all the prisoners in the facility.

“Thereon, I’d like to introduce you to General Stone.”

“General. It’s a pleasure.”

“Thanks. But we don’t have time for this, let’s get out of here.”

Alden nodded.

“Get behind something and make sure your suits are secure. It’s about to get real cold in here!”

The group dropped behind the previous corner. Alden turned his wrist over and concentrated for several moments. A small blue ball formed on his palm. It grew bigger and bigger until it was the size of an orange. Flicking one of his fingers, the ball was infused with a couple anti-matter electrons.

The protective barrier charge would only last a few seconds. The moment the anti-matter came into contact with matter it would explode. He pitched it at the ceiling several meters down the hall and then dove away in the opposite direction. A massive explosion shook the building and then everything went silent. They had successfully breached the surface.

One at a time, the soldiers pulled themselves through the destroyed ceiling and back on to the lunar surface. Everyone moved as fast as they could down the hill towards their prison transport.

Before they made it halfway, another explosion hit one of the walls just beyond their ship. Behind, several mech-warriors, a tank and dozens of soldiers were moving towards their position.

“Move faster!” Thereon yelled through the communication headsets. “They didn’t send all of their forces to the blast site!”

Anti-matter bullets whizzed past. Chunks of lunar surface detonated in every direction. Alden pointed his arm at the closest mech and fired two rockets. The first veered off course, slamming into the outer wall. It did little real damage, but the second connected directly with the mech’s leg and exploded. Fire and debris expanded out for the briefest of moments and then collapsed back on itself. To Alden’s amazement, the force wasn’t enough to knock the mech down. There was no gravity to pull it down, and so the machine stayed balanced on only one foot.

Alden peppered the mech’s front windshield with several short bursts. It wasn’t enough to break the barrier but the force pushed it back. Without the second leg to stabilize it, the mech drifted backwards. Gunfire came in from every direction and he did his best to provide a distraction as the remaining rebel fighters climbed out of the prison and hopped back towards their ship.

It felt like he was firing in twenty different directions at once. Dozens of small shots sailed past him every second. Suddenly a blue ball the size of a grenade made contact with the surface two feet in front of him. He’d never have enough time to turn, but then he remembered that he was in the suit. It sensed his movement and adjusted accordingly. It moved as if he was in an environment with gravity. Jets of air propelled him in the direction he wanted to move. He dove out of the way.

There were no sounds in space, but little pebbles could be heard bouncing against his suit. It had detonated. There was no time to spare. Alden jumped up from the ground and continued running towards their escape craft.

One of the fighters that had been dressed as a prisoner floated in his path. Crystallized blood stuck out behind him like a red icicle. More shots rained down and Alden was forced to dive behind the wreckage of the ground transport. To his surprise Thereon and General Stone were also hunkered down behind it. They were trapped.

“Go! I’ll hold them,” Alden yelled over the comm.

“We’re not leaving you behind!”

Another grenade went off on the other side of the vehicle. The concussive blast sent Alden and General Stone back into the ground behind them. Alden used the thrusters to quickly right himself. Where was Thereon? Looking up, Alden spotted him floating off into space. Tracers from anti-gravity bullets whizzed past him in every direction. Thereon’s suit would be able to handle one or two direct hits, but after that its barriers would fail and he’d be spaced.

Alden picked the general off the ground and hurtled him through space towards their ship. Alden fired his thrusters and blasted off the ground towards Thereon, who was struggling to maintain control. With the lack of gravity he’d continue to flail until his suit ruptured or he drifted off the surface completely.

No longer hidden by the ground transport, Alden became the new target for the soldiers. His body was jolted as several shots reached their mark. Each successive hit reduced the structural integrity of the suit. Several safety alarms sounded inside his helmet. Alden drained the power from the propulsion system and re-routed it to the life support. He was down to his last moments of sustained flight.

Thereon scrambled to stabilize his movements as he tumbled end over end. He was just out of reach. Below, dozens of soldiers moved toward their location. Alden gave the suit one final push and then killed the engines. Using the last of his battery life, he infused an energy grenade with his remaining anti-gravity particles. He lobbed it at the soldiers. The blue sphere landed right in the middle of them. A shockwave of energy radiated out from the spot where it made contact. The blast sent the soldiers sailing in every direction. That should give them a break from the attack.

Alden closed in on Thereon. He grabbed hold and pulled them together. They floated up out of the prison and past the guard walls. The heads-up display inside the suit went dark. He was no longer able to control his movements. Alden was trapped in a dead suit.

He didn’t know if Thereon was trying to talk to him or not, he’d lost all power to the comm and he only had the oxygen left inside the suit. Without power, the carbon dioxide he expelled would slowly poison him. Be calm, breathe slowly...

Warm air washed over him. The salty smell of the ocean breeze wafted in on the evening air, the last rays of sunlight bathed the hanger in an orange glow. He was all alone on the outskirts of the Island. Dozens of rows of empty chairs surrounded him. They faced a single solitary stage, with giant flags at half-mast lazily flapping in the wind.

The stage held two lone caskets; they were both draped in Council flags. Alden’s eyes were blurry, stinging hot in the night air. Giant images of the deceased hung off the ends. He used his sleeve to wipe his nose. It was hard to make out who was pictured. He needed to get a closer look. Using the chair in front of him for stability, he pulled himself out of his seat. It was still difficult to control his body after the procedures on Hyperion.

He edged towards the center, terrified of what he’d find. The photographs slowly came into view; two smiling figures without a care in the world. As the reality of the moment sank in, an uncomfortable darkness clawed its way to the surface. It hadn’t been real until now, just a horrible nightmare he hoped to wake up from. The sight of Mary and Daniel’s photos were more than he could handle. Tears streamed down his cheeks, and he dropped to his knees. Uncontrollable sobs overcame his entire body. They were the only family members he’d ever known and he’d let them down. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry.”

Faint footsteps came up the path behind him. Alden expected to see Gabriel, but it was Father McKinley, still wearing his ceremonial robes. He walked to Alden’s side and rested a hand on his shoulder. “They’re gone.”

“I failed them,” Alden said, his chest heaved with pain.

“You did nothing of the sort. Their deaths were an accident. You did everything you could.”

“I did everything I was told to do, and this is what happened.”

Father McKinley sighed. “I know it’s hard to see, but trust me, there is a plan. You are not alone.”

“That’s just it, I feel so very alone.” Alden could hear distant voices, they sounded familiar and foreign at the same time. Something touched his face, hit his face. What was going on? Where was he? Alden opened his eyes and saw dozens of soldiers kneeling around him.

“There you go. Wake up, come back to us.”

Thereon stood above Alden, worried.

“He’s alive!” someone shouted.

General Stone looked down at him as well. “Thought we lost you.”

“What happened?”

“You blacked out from asphyxiation. If we hadn’t grabbed you when we did, you would have been lost.”

General Stone nodded once more. “We’re safe and on our way back to Apollo City. You did it.”

***

Arakiel opened his eyes. He was still inside the H-3 plant. The facility’s machines hummed in cadence with the giant conveyor belt and automated delivery vehicles. His body ached and he could barely move. Tilting his head slightly, he realized he was covered in lunar regolith. Far above his position was the ledge he’d fallen from. What happened? In an instant, he remembered the attack, being helpless, and the flash of the light that preceded his fall. Why wasn’t he dead? They’d executed him.

Where was… pain surged through his body. They’d taken the reactor, the thing he’d been sworn to protect. It was the most important task he’d ever been given… and he’d failed. Arakiel lifted his head and hands out of the dirt. As he began to remove the soil from his chest, his fingers grazed the fabric of his suit. There was a giant hole where the bullet had penetrated his body. The edge of the material was scarred. Dried blood soiled the periphery. The wound had already healed. He would have been dead if it hadn’t been for transcendence surgery.

He dug the rest of his body out, and stumbled over to the wall. Arakiel collapsed against the cold steel. In the distance, robots continued to deposit the regolith harvested from the surface. He had failed. What would the Guardian do? A small light blinked along the edge of his wrist deck. Missed connections, dozens of them; the Guardian had been trying to contact him.

Staring out at the lunar surface and the vacuum of space, an idea took shape. He’d never be able to explain his failure; death was the only answer. Ancient warriors had taken their own lives when they’d brought dishonor to their clan or mission. The nuclear reactor was gone, stolen by the lunar terrorists.

He pushed off from the wall and staggered between the mounds of processed material. This was the end. His deck blinked again—incoming transmission. Arakiel collapsed to the ground. Even in his final moments he couldn’t disobey a command from the Guardian. The familiar glow of the hologram came to life.

The Guardian looked down at Arakiel. “You’re alive!”

“Yes.” He didn’t have the heart to look him in the eyes.

“What are you doing down there?”

“I’ve failed you, sir. I’ve failed at my only mission. The package is gone.”

“What happened?”

“I was ambushed by the lunar terrorists. I was able to take several of them down, but there were too many of them. They’d left me for dead. I’m so sorry that I’ve failed you. You won’t have to live with my failure much longer.”

“What are you talking about? You’re only one man. You couldn’t have taken all of them at once. Regardless of the training you’ve received, you’re only one man.”

For the first time, Arakiel raised his head and looked at the Guardian. “You’re not… disappointed with me?”

“Of course not, you’ve already accomplished so much. You did everything you could.”

Arakiel nodded. “Yes sir.”

“How would your death help us accomplish our mission? Do you really plan to let the terrorists get away with the reactor, especially after they tried to execute you?”

Life began to pump through his veins once more. His despair was quickly replaced with anger. He would not let them get away with this!

“This isn’t how it’s supposed to end. You must get that device back!”

“Yes sir.” Arakiel pounded his fist into the dirt. How could he have been so stupid, so willing to give up? He was weak.

“There was an attack on Traterous last night. Many soldiers were killed, and dozens of terrorists escaped. The Council believes the attack was launched from Apollo City. They’re preparing a full scale invasion within a fortnight. We’ll use this diversion to make contact with Alden.”

“What?! We can’t do that. Alden is just as bad as they are. He won’t help us.”