Children of the After: The Complete Series: A Young Adult Postapocalyptic Action and Adventure series (44 page)

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Tammy awoke groggily, her head falling limply to the side, revealing she was lying on her back. She felt weak. Sick. Cold. Pain washed over her in waves, causing bile to rise in her throat, but she fought the urge to vomit. Opening her eyes, she was assaulted by blinding light and quickly closed them again as she was forced for a second time to choke back that which sought to escape her stomach.

Turning her neck, she felt the cold hard surface beneath her and relaxing, her head fell again to the side, this time in the opposite direction. Through her lids the light seemed dimmer in this direction and as such she tried again to see her surroundings.

Cautiously opening her eyes for the second time, she found the light on this side more or less bearable, and blinking several times to focus she quickly realized why. Beside her, standing perpendicular to her prone body, stood one of the alien mechanisms with its weapon focused on her. From its chest a light lanced out, moving rapidly as if to scan her for something, and then blinked out once more.

“What is your purpose here?” the machine asked in Tammy’s native tongue.

It took her several seconds to gather her wits, but when she did, she decided to stay quiet. How the thing knew her language was only one of the hundreds of questions swirling in her mind, but she dared not ask any of them. She dared not speak at all.

To her right, the direction that would be up, the sounds of tiny motors and servos sprang to life as a small mechanical arm appeared from somewhere above, twisting and turning back out of her line of sight, and Tammy turned her head to follow it. Suspended from the ceiling above her, somewhere beyond the blinding light that shone from a similar location, the arm twisted into position just above her face before stopping momentarily.

“What is your purpose here?” the robot repeated.

Tammy refused to give it the satisfaction of an answer. The small robotic arm began to whir again and in one quick motion it darted down, its tiny finger-like appendages spreading open the wound in her shoulder before it thrust inside. Tammy opened her mouth to scream but instead she vomited. Whether it was from the pain of the machine in her wound or simply the thought of it, she couldn’t be certain. Mind-numbing pain exploded in her shoulder. It felt as if the machine inside her was tearing and pulling at the already damaged tissue, and pinpricks of light exploded before Tammy’s eyes. Then, just as it began, the tiny arm extracted itself and twisting up towards the light it vanished.

“Your purpose?”

Tammy ignored the robot again. The tiny arm above her sprang to life somewhere once more and within seconds it reappeared, this time with a new attachment at the end of its tiny arm. Tammy winced. It appeared to be some form of small rotary saw. Its intentions seemed clear enough. The plan was to torture the information out of her. Even so, she ignored the robot guard’s question and gritted her teeth as tightly as she was able. Down came the arm.

Watching as the thing neared, she witnessed as the blade began to spin slowly at first then burst into what she assumed was top speed as it closed in on her flesh. With tears streaming from her eyes, she clenched her jaw as the blade bit deeply into her skin again and again, darting first one way and then the other, spraying a red mist into the air each time it touched her. Her body convulsed, but there was nothing left to vomit. After dry heaving several times she defiantly turned her eyes upon the guard.

“Your purpose?” it demanded.

The saw arm retracted beyond the light above and returned seconds later with yet a new attachment. How long? How long would it torture her? Until it got the answers, she presumed. Again the tiny arm began to buzz and whir and from it, dozens of tiny spider-leg like fingers protruded, moving back and forth like scissors. It began lowering towards her injured shoulder again, obviously intending to inflict yet more pain and damage.

“Your purpose?”

The contraption dove into the wound in her shoulder again. Tammy couldn’t help it. She screamed a long mournful scream that broke her own heart just hearing it. She couldn’t endure the pain. It wasn’t supposed to go like this. It wasn’t supposed to end like this.

“Stop. Please,” she whined, all strength having fled her as the machine inside her cut and tore at the wound.

“Your purpose?”

“Just guide. I’m just supposed to guide.”

“Guide whom?”

“The Star Children.”

“The human siblings?”

“Yes, that is the prophecy of my people.”

The whirring inside her shoulder ceased. The arm removed itself from her wound, but the guard stood silent, as if actually pondering her words. Wracked by pain and emotion, Tammy had no concept of time, but it seemed uncomfortably long before the machine spoke again.

“The Star Children,” it began, sounding more like a statement than a question. “Prophesied to save your race and lead them to a new prosperous home.”

“Yes,” Tammy managed.

“Interesting,” the robot replied.

Interesting? Really?
Tammy was angry at its response. The survival of her race wasn’t interesting. Wait.
Could a robot find something interesting?
She supposed it could if it were intelligent. Unless someone was simply using it as a communication device. Too much. It was all too much.

“What do you want with me?” Tammy finally demanded.

The robot didn’t answer, having fallen silent once again. Though she hadn’t noticed it depart, the small robotic arm from above returned with yet another menacing looking attachment which it began lowering towards her shoulder once more. It seemed to Tammy that they weren’t yet finished with her. She would not give them the enjoyment of hearing her scream again. Not this time. Gritting her teeth, she closed her eyes and tried to focus on the darkness of her mind instead of the pain she was about to endure.

The wall was down, and Jack sighed loudly. Holding his shoulders square, he peered straight into the giant glass tube in front of him and met the gaze of the alien being inside it. This was them. It had to be. These were the invaders. The
true
invaders. These were the ones who had enslaved countless humanoids from several planets and destroyed earth. These beings were responsible for ruining everything and killing their parents. Jack could feel his muscles straining against his restraints. He could feel his face growing hot. They were right here. He could pay them back for all the wrong they had done. All he had to do was get free.

“Sam… Let me out,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Wait!” Will interrupted.

Jack was impatient to be done with it. He was more than ready to bring revenge to those who had destroyed countless lives, but Will was delaying him. Why?

Breaking his gaze from the alien directly across from him, he turned his eyes up to the being furthest to the left and watched as it swiveled towards him. From above the creature, Jack noted as several small lights began to blink and a humming sound, similar to static on a radio, was emitted from somewhere unseen. Something was happening, and Jack knew it couldn’t be good.

With his eyes darting about the room he noted a passageway beyond the three giant vials, and watched as a pair of the robotic guards entered through it. Was this their plan? Wait until they awoke, just to slaughter them? It didn’t quite seem like enough somehow. There had to be more. The static sound ceased.

“Greetings,” an obviously synthetic voice sounded through the chamber. “Why do you wish to destroy our construct?” it asked.

Jack simply sneered. He couldn’t make words form on his lips if he wanted to. He was angry. He hated the aliens. Wanted them gone. No, dead. He wanted them dead.

“You started it!” Will shouted.

“Yes. I suppose we did, though long, long before your life began,” the foreign sounding voice admitted.

“Why?” Sam cried.

Jack found himself wondering the same. Why come to their world just to deposit a bunch of aliens and destroy everything? It didn’t make sense. There had to be something they wanted. Even he wanted the answer, but even so he simply locked eyes with one of the aliens and poured all of his emotion into his gaze.

“Long ago, when our sun began to fail, we sought other planets like our home that could support life, much as your race does now. Like you, we did not heed the warnings that our world gave us and we continued to destroy and poison it. We found dozens of planets with primitive life, but all of the inhabitable worlds we found were beyond the ability of our genetic code to cope with. Some had too much gravity for our delicate bones, others’ atmospheres were too dense for us to breathe. All could support life, but none was suitable for our continued survival.”

“Then why are you here?” Sam questioned, interrupting the peculiar narrative.

“Knowing that we had failed to find a suitable place to resettle, one of our scientists developed a plan to preserve our race. Here, on the planet you call home, we discovered a primitive race of bipedal vertebrates that are your ancient ancestors. They were lumbering beings, far from the intelligent race you represent now. Alone, we would never be able to survive upon your planet, but with your DNA there was hope that we could preserve ourselves.

Taking specimens of your ancient relatives, we began splicing our own genes with that of primitive humans. In the span of a single generation they began to evolve. It was impressive, to say the least. On this world our genes could thrive, so we encoded as much of our race as was possible into human DNA. We couldn’t stay long, however, and as such we left your world again as the atmosphere made us weak and subject to sickness. We left, taking a substantial population of the altered species of man we had made, and deposited variations of your race on every suitable planet we could find. It was more than a simple experiment, it was for our survival. We knew that if our heritage was to survive, it was best to give it a hold on as many planets as was possible. What we didn’t calculate, was how differently man would evolve on each planet.”

The narration paused and Jack found that he was no longer struggling against the bindings that held him fast. Instead he listened and pondered their words. It actually made sense. Kind of. The missing link was missing because it didn’t exist. Man had been altered synthetically by DNA manipulation. Historically it was possible. Wasn’t it? Could all they said be true? The geneticist with the resistance said they all shared a common ancestor with every race of aliens that had come to Earth. Was it possible that the common ancestor was the very invaders themselves? Jack’s head began to hurt. So many ideas and thoughts tried to make themselves known at the same time and he went into overload. It was the same when taking a test at school. The answer was there, just he couldn’t find it among everything competing for his attention. Fortunately he wasn’t looking for an answer. Not this time. Instead, he was being given the answers and Jack found himself actually shaking at the revelations as all the puzzle pieces began to fall into place.

“Over time, your species and every other one we created began to evolve independently of one another in order to best survive the worlds where you were placed. As our race continued to fail without a home or the proper technology to sustain us, we worked for any solution or technology we could to keep those of us that remained alive. As our technology improved, the likelihood of our survival on a planet such as your own improved. We visited all of the races often and at times shared minor technologies and engineering ideas. The many races of man prospered and advanced. Some, such as your own, developed technologies to rival what ours had been before leaving our homes. Others remained primitive, but their populations still thrived. Over time our own technology saw advancements from necessity, and our hope was rekindled.

We believe that we are now at the point where we can implant our thoughts, our emotions, and our history into another body and so preserve our race for all time within new flesh, but which is the most resilient? Which race of man was the strongest? We didn’t want history to repeat, and so we developed a simple plan to decide which race of man was superior. We built planet ships and gathered the races we had created millennia ago and with only a handful of our race still living we brought them here. In order to make it a controlled test we had to eliminate your human technology.”

“So you destroyed everything and killed those we loved for a test?” Jack demanded, his anger fully restored.

“It was a necessary evil. If it had not been for our technology, your race would still live in trees and walk on four limbs. It seemed an even trade to take that which you would not have had to begin with, in order to perform our test. Cruel perhaps, but over the expanse of time it is a minor crime to your race should it survive. In any case, our test was flawed. In preparation for this test and with the creation of the world ships and the weapons we devised to destroy your technology, we overlooked how our advancements would affect those who were subjected to them. The radiation pulse drives developed to destroy all that humanity had built, affected your race on a genetic level. Many of your adults fell victim within weeks. Nearly half of adolescents fell ill weeks later and succumbed shortly thereafter. But there were some that persisted. Some who not only survived, but thrived with their rearranging DNA. The very genetic code we implanted within you to advance your race and preserve our own had turned against us. It began to mutate. Fortunately not all humans were exposed. A great many were spared the effects of our pulse drives and have been isolated. Only those who managed to evade our collection were either altered or destroyed. Most of those fell to the other races of man we returned to their native home. You yourselves are growing ill due to the exposure. Tests have shown that you are no longer adequate examples of possible host bodies for our new technology.”

Jack spat on the floor.

“Why even tell us this?” he demanded.

“Because you asked,” the robotic voice replied calmly. “You see, although we intended to see which race was the strongest and which would survive when pitted against each other, we inadvertently created a genetic offshoot that was unanticipated. Those like you were a mistake. A miscalculation. Something that we intended to eradicate quickly in order to preserve our experiment. But then you came here and we sampled your DNA and your molecular structure. The mutation has accelerated your ability to evolve. With nurturing, we believe we can guide such evolution towards a race of man even better suited for the re-establishment of our race than any that exist now. You see, because of you, we can save our race as intended simply by exposing all of your race to our radiation and keeping those that survive as our new flock.”

Jack felt sick. The aliens saw them as animals for the slaughter. They intended to destroy humanity for a handful of specimens who survived like him and his siblings. Even if they destroyed this alien spire and
these
aliens, there were likely more, all around the world, and there was no way to beat them all.

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Sam’s breath had caught in her chest. If they had simply stayed away from the spire there was a good chance humans would have survived, but not now. Because of them, their entire race would be subjected to radiation poisoning and would die over the weeks to come as they slowly went blind, with both their teeth and hair falling out. They had done this to their race. They had failed.

With her stomach twisting in knots, Sam couldn’t help but wonder what the aliens intended after eliminating humankind. Would they move on to settle upon another planet or stay here? Would they continue to play God with the many races of man they had deposited here, or leave them in peace? Though she knew she should be worried about herself and her siblings, not to mention her entire race, the questions were relentless. She needed to know more.

“So what then?” she asked, looking from one giant glass vial to another.

Before the synthetic voice came again, all three alien heads swiveled in her direction as six huge eyes focused on her. Being under their scrutiny sent a shiver up her spine. It felt gross to be looked at as property.

“When we have selected those best suited for manipulation, it is likely we will return to the world ships and exit Earth’s atmosphere as it interferes with our health. Once in orbit we will calculate the time it will take to successfully alter the remnants of your race into suitable hosts, and prepare to travel to another planet of our choosing.”

“Why not just stay here once you have created suitable bodies to survive?”

“Because you have ruined your planet. It is on the brink of an ending the like of which you cannot even fathom. There is nothing left for us here.”

“So you would destroy an entire race just to save your own? You would do to us what you did to yourselves? Genocide?”

“There is no other way.”

“And if there was?” Sam demanded.

“There is no time.”

“What if there was time? What if there was another way?”

“Your plight is understandable. The outcome is… regrettable. But you must understand, you were created in our image as a means to save us from extinction. You were made for a purpose and you are fulfilling that purpose. Your lives have meaning.”

“What if we don’t want to serve
your
purpose? We are our own people, not yours. You don’t own us. You can’t own life. You can’t own the will of another.”

“Through your sacrifice, and our own, all will be mended once more. The evils of both of our races will be expunged and we can begin anew. Surely you must see the logic?” the synthesized voice replied in a tone that almost sounded pleading.

Did they have a conscience? Did they have morals? Could they see that what they were doing was evil? Did they struggle with the knowledge that they were dooming a species to extinction? Sam had to know.

“What gives you the right to exterminate us? What gives you the right to use us for your own gain? Who are you to ask understanding from those you intend to murder?”

“Without our intervention, humanity will destroy itself. Already your planet suffers. You create food to sustain your expanding population, but the very sustenance you create poisons your bodies, creating disease. Your pollution chokes the air and water near past the point of repair. You wage wars for resources that cannot sustain you. Earth is a lost cause.”

“Who gives you the right to make that decision?” Sam asked, her body shaking as tears streamed down her cheeks.

“It is not a right, it is a necessity,” the voice replied.

Sam couldn’t take it. If they were remorseful, if they had hearts, such a thing wouldn’t even be conceivable. They were evil. They had to be stopped. Apparently Will agreed.

“Set us free and let our people go. Go back to where you came from,” her little brother demanded.

Sam watched, waiting expectantly, but they did not comply. For some reason Will’s gift didn’t have an effect on them. Maybe they were immune, or maybe it was because they were floating in jars like Grandma’s pickles. Either way, Sam realized that she was going to have to be the one to make them see. Taking a deep breath, Sam focused straight ahead and blinked out of her restraints.

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