Children of the After: The Complete Series: A Young Adult Postapocalyptic Action and Adventure series (45 page)

Though Will didn’t witness his sister vanish, he somehow instinctively knew she was gone when a slight gust of air swept past him in what would have been her direction. Before he could even process the realization, however, he watched her reappear in the most unlikely place on the planet.

Like a small explosion had gone off inside one of the giant green vials, liquid spurted out of vents at the top of the canister as Sam materialized within it. Will’s breath caught in his chest as he watched Sam thrash and kick for a moment, getting her bearings, as her eyes bugged out of their sockets. Within a second, perhaps two, her panicked thrashing ceased and, bracing herself to the sides of the container with her legs, she reached out to grasp the alien within. Will was helpless to do anything but watch as the robot guards in the room turned to train their weapons upon her. But they couldn’t shoot, not without taking the chance of killing one of their own masters.

All eyes in the room were on Sam, including those of the aliens in the tubes that she did not occupy. Watching as his sister grappled with the creature, unable to breathe, he saw as she wrapped her small arms around its neck and began to squeeze. Thrashing and kicking, in an attempt to free itself from her grasp, the alien’s chest tubes tore free and the greenish fluid in the tank began to grow a darker color, somewhere between copper and brown.

On the alien fought, squirming and thrashing, but Sam held tight, small bubbles of air escaping her mouth and nose as she struggled to hold her breath. With each passing second Will watched as Sam’s eyes grew larger, panic beginning to set into his sister. Then, just as quickly as it began, the alien stopped moving, falling limp in Samantha’s arms. Will sighed in relief, though his sister’s plight was not ended. If she exited the giant vial, the robots would surely attack her and if she remained within she would drown.

Filled with fear for his sister, Will knew that any decision she made would be folly, but watched as she vanished from the vial, the darkening fluid crashing down to fill the void she had created. One instant she was there, the next she was gone. For a moment it seemed that Sam had left them, until a loud clang echoed from the passageway beyond the aliens. Watching the robots turn and begin towards the corridor, Will nearly peed himself when Sam appeared just inches from his face, holding her finger up to her mouth. With a nod he signaled his understanding, and watched as she reached up to remove the restraints from his head before unstrapping his wrists.

Listening intently, Will could hear the robo-guards’ metallic footfalls moving further down the corridor before coming to a sudden stop. Leaving him to unbind his own legs and feet, Sam moved on to Jack. Ahead, beyond the fluid-filled tanks, the footsteps began anew, only this time they grew louder.

Bending at the waist, Will undid the straps that bound him at the knees. They were simple things really, something between what you would find on a belt and the adjustment for his backpack’s straps. With a tug on one side and a flick of his finger, the strap securing his knees fell slack as he moved on towards his ankles. In seconds he was free, and looking towards his brother, he watched as Sam vanished into thin air once again, leaving Jack to free his lower limbs as well. The footsteps of the robots continued to near, and Will realized that they needed a plan.

Looking about the room he knew that the only means of escape lay beyond the aliens and their mechanical protectors. They would have to defeat the robots to escape, but these were but a pair of the hundreds or thousands that roamed the vast spire. No, they still needed to defeat the ones controlling the robots. They needed to defeat the very beings within the vials in front of him. But how? His power was of no use against them. His pack was missing. He had no weapon. Will was useless here. Or was he?

“Jack. We have to destroy them, it’s the only way,” Will said, turning to face his bigger brother.

Receiving a nod in return, Will turned back to the room as Sam appeared atop one of the giant canisters just as the bots re-entered the room. Blasts from both of their weapons crackled across the chamber, but Sam was quicker. Watching his sister vanish yet again, Will grinned as both blue beams missed their mark only to crash into the ceiling with a dazzling display of sparks. His grin was quickly wiped away when Sam reappeared. Sapped beyond her limit, Sam’s legs crumpled beneath her as she collapsed to the floor in a heap just mere feet away from the robot guardians. She was exhausted. Spent. The robotic invaders turned their weapons on her just as they both rocketed up and back, sailing into the wall above the corridor’s entry with a crash. Down they came a split second later, slamming into the floor of the room with a sound that made Will’s ears ring.

Smoke rose from the ruined, mechanical beings, and turning, Will watched as Jack’s shoulders sagged. Walking towards him, it was apparent that he too was tired beyond measure. It was up to him to save them.

* * * * *

Pain lanced down Tammy’s arm, carried down by the nerves from her shoulder. Inside her wound the mechanical torture device darted this way and that, scraping and squeezing and pulling at her ruined flesh. She could feel the sweat beading on her skin, yet she felt cold. Too cold. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she winced as the arm began to move the device about yet again and then extracted it. Several loud snapping sounds split the air, sounding as if they came from only inches away from her face. With each one, more pain erupted in her shoulder. Why torture her still? She had answered their questions.

Several seconds passed and no new device came. No new pain was inflicted to replace the last. Opening her eyes slowly, she found the robot leaning in over her. Was this it? Was this when it intended to finish her off?

“Should heal,” the robot proclaimed.

Not understanding the robot’s meaning, Tammy twisted her head down as best she was able and gasped in shock. There, where a gaping wound had been, her flesh had been pulled together neatly, stapled closed with an unknown material, and cleaned. Already, she realized that the pain was subsiding. Something beyond her comprehension was happening. She needed answers.

“Why did you fix me?” she demanded.

“You were injured.”

“Yes, but why heal me just to make me a slave or lock me away like you did my people?”

“It has occurred to us, that we all remain bound together,” the robot replied.

“Who is us? What do you mean?”

“Your understanding of your people’s prophecy is flawed. Even after eons, it appears that the webs of all of our fates are intertwined. We share DNA. We share life. And it seems we too share a future.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. Why do we share these things? How is our understanding flawed?” Tammy asked as the straps that bound her suddenly fell slack.

Something was going on. Perhaps it was a trick. She needed to be cautious, ask the right questions.

“Long ago our race was combined with another to create many species of man. Your race was one of those created. As your people fail, so do the humans and even our own race,” the robot answered.

Tammy mulled it over quickly. Parts of what it said seemed true. The crazy scientist had said they were all related. Her people were dying. The humans’ world seemed okay, though she supposed that it too could be beginning to fail. Still, something major was missing from this puzzle. She needed to know what the thing had meant.

“What about the prophecy?” she asked the robot, rising to a seated position.

“Those you have guided to us are not the Star Children you have prophesied. You see, you have interpreted it too literally. This mechanical body that accompanies you is controlled by a separate entity with nothing but thought. Our ships are navigated and can leap through space by thought alone. We can move entire races from one world to another with nothing more than a thought. You see…
We
are the real Star Children, those you led here to destroy us are a mistake. They are a side effect, an accident. Already they fight to destroy us. If we do not survive, all of us will die, you, your people, every race of man brought to this planet will perish.”

Realization dawned on Tammy. Her heart hammered. Her breath came in gulps and gasps. Could it be that she had led them to destroy all life instead of save it? Could it be possible? Something inside her warned her it was a trick, but her heart believed. It believed so strongly she felt ill once more. What had she done? She’d ruined everything. If Jack, Sam, and Will succeeded it would be her fault that everything died.
She
had made them believe.
She
had told them it was their destiny. She had been wrong. The lives of all men of all races depended on her to fix it, but how?

“What do I do? How can I fix it?”

“Your allies are fighting as we speak. Make your way to the highest level and stop them. If you fail, all is lost.” The robot stepped aside.

Walking towards the three fluid and alien filled cylinders, Jack could feel his legs trembling beneath him. The world seemed to sway this way and that, and he felt as if he would fall at any second. He couldn’t, though, and he knew it. The aliens had to be destroyed, but he doubted he would have the strength. Even so, he had to try.

Stepping up to the nearest of the tanks to where he had been restrained, Jack grinned down to his little brother who still hid behind the container.

“Mind giving me a hand, little man?”

Leaning into the vial of fluid, Jack shoved with all his might and felt the container rock slightly. Will must have realized what he was planning and Jack noted his younger brother leaning into the vial beside him. Again they shoved. With more force than before, the vial rocked further, the edge lifting a couple of inches off the floor. Still it wasn’t enough and the vial fell back to its original position.

“Again,” Jack huffed, pressing his shoulder into the glass.

This time the vial leaned, Jack was prepared. Shoving with all of his might, he pushed with his telekinetic powers and watched as the fluid in the vial sloshed to one side, adding its weight to the momentum. Over the cylinder toppled as Jack himself collapsed to the floor. Grinning, he watched as the vial smashed into its neighbor, both of their glass containers shattering, as green fluid spewed out in all directions. Spilled from their containers, the aliens began to crawl about on limbs that were not strong enough to support their weight. The thick green fluid was everywhere and shards of broken glass carpeted everything. As slick as the floor was, the aliens seemed not to notice. One began crawling towards Jack, and kicking out at it he watched as the other approached his brother.

“Will!” Jack shouted.

Hearing his warning, Will spun on his heel to glare at the approaching invader. Pointing at the creature, his little brother grinned before shaking his fist.

“Don’t either one of you move an inch or I’ll bop you a good one!”

Both aliens froze and Jack was relieved. Outside of their protective vials, they were susceptible to Will’s telepathy. His younger brother could now do with them as he wished.

“You won’t escape,” the synthetic voice echoed around the room as the final alien swiveled in its tank to glare at them.

Jack peered about the room. One tank remained but he was too weakened to walk, let along topple the giant container. Only Will remained, and now the small boy who had relied on him so much these last weeks, turned to walk to the remaining capsule alone. Jack was proud of his little brother in that moment, more than any time he could ever recall. In the face of defeat, in the face of despair, little Will walked to the final container and pressed a single hand upon the glass. Jack didn’t know his intentions, and wondered why he presented himself to the final alien like a child might to a parent outside a window. It was a familiar gesture. People made it to say we are not alone. I am with you. We are together. But Will couldn’t mean such a thing, not to the aliens that wished to erase their entire species. Could he?

Lying in both glass and fluid, Jack watched Will remove his hand and step back from the vial.

“This doesn’t need to happen,” Will pleaded to the remaining alien. “You can just leave. You already said that the pieces of your people are within us. You can live on through us.”

“Our history, our technology, and our legacy are too great to let them die here,” came the response.

“But you said that you could transplant your knowledge into another person. Why destroy all of us if you only need a few?”

“The recipient must be a near identical match. No race exists that is so close to make a successful transfer. Many are needed if we are to succeed in guiding your evolution through mutation.”

Jack watch Will’s features change as he considered the answer. He was small, and he was young, but he was smart and had survived through more than any child should even have to imagine. Jack could only begin to fathom what must be going on in the boy’s mind.

“It’s just the three of you, isn’t it?” Will asked.

No answer came. Jack stared on, panting on the floor, but the aliens did not speak again.

* * * * *

Will stood looking at the alien creature suspended within the fluid before him by tubes and wires. He looked sick. He looked like he was dying. It was like the picture of a person at a hospital with tubes and machines hooked to them, and it made him feel sorry for the aliens. Yes they had done terrible things, but who wouldn’t do everything they could to save their family, their community, or their entire race? It was a larger than life concept, but Will understood. He understood it all too well. This one alien stood between him and everything he still loved. Mom and Dad had been taken from him. Grandma and Grandpa were gone too. These three surviving aliens of a race long ago lost to time were the only things standing between him, his people, and freedom. They wanted to kill him. Will didn’t really understand why, but he knew that it was their plan to do so. It didn’t seem right. None of it seemed right. It wasn’t fair to just kill something, and so he did the only thing he could do to save them.

Reaching down, Will picked up a broken piece of piping that had torn free from one of the ruined tanks. Standing, he tested its weight in his small hand. Without a moment of delay, Will swung with all his might and yelped in pain as the pipe smashed into the side of the tank with a loud clang. Though the glass didn’t shatter, a mass of cracks appeared where he had struck the glass and slowly they began spreading outwards as green fluid began dripping slowly down the, side of the container.

“Stop what you are doing,” the robotic voice pleaded from somewhere above the room. “You don’t understand what you are doing. As a sign of good faith we will return to you someone you have lost.”

That was it. It was the hope that Will had relied upon during this entire trip. The pipe slipped from his hand as he looked towards the corridor with hope. He tried to imagine how Mom and Dad would react when they saw him and couldn’t wait for them to pick him up and squeeze him tightly. It was all he wanted. He just wanted his family back the way it was and to snuggle with Mom on the couch when he was sick. He wanted to walk to the bus stop with Dad each morning before school. He wanted his parents back so badly he would trade anything for them. Even the lives of the aliens. Even if it meant they would continue to destroy everything.

Watching as a light appeared at the opposite end of the corridor and one of the familiar elevator thingies opened up, Will was caught off guard when the glass tank beside him gave way. Swept off his feet, he struck his head on the floor as lights exploded before his eyes. With his ears ringing, he struggled back to his feet, but such was the pain in his head that he was forced to squint in the room’s odd light. Two figures came down the hall. He could see them speeding up. They had seen him.

“Mom, Dad, I’m here!” Will yelled as their metallic footsteps echoed down the hall.

Metal. Machines. More of the guards. Will had been tricked. It wasn’t Mom and Dad as he had hoped. Roaring in anger and frustration, he pointed towards the corridor and screamed.

“Don’t come any closer or I’ll kill your masters!”

Without even awaiting a reply, Will ducked down and searched the wet ground with his fingers, locating his pipe with little effort. Rising again, he screamed in surprise as long fingers wrapped around his ankle. Looking down, he raised the pipe with all the anger and rage he felt for destroying his hopes of seeing his parents again. With tears streaming down his cheeks he brought the pipe to bear and smashed the alien in the face.

“No, Will! Don’t do it!” a familiar voice screamed from somewhere ahead.

Ignoring the voice, Will lifted the pipe again. This time they wouldn’t fool him with their tricks and their machines. Not this time. Down he slung the pipe again, and listened as it hit with a sickly thud.

“Will, please, there is another way. Please, Will, listen to me,” Tammy’s voice came again.

Will looked up with a snarl of rage as all anger drained from his body in an instant. There at the mouth of the corridor stood Tammy. Though her shirt was ruined, her shoulder appeared much improved since the last time he saw her. Could she be a mirage or hologram? Will didn’t know, but it certainly looked like Tammy.

* * * * *

Tammy couldn’t believe what she had just seen. Poor little Will had been forced to defend his fallen siblings, and had done the unthinkable for a child his age. He had been forced into doing it by her own guidance and so couldn’t be held accountable. It wasn’t his fault that he thought he was defending them. Both sides were at fault. Both sides could claim the defensive. But now, an understanding had to be reached. Something had to be done to ensure the survival of all races involved. If her friends killed the real Star Children, all hope would be lost. There had to be a way.

“Please, Will. Listen to me,” she pleaded. “Don’t hurt them. There has been a mistake. I promise.”

“But they said they would hurt all of us, Tammy. They’re mean and tricky,”

“Maybe they are, Will. But think about what you would do to keep your family alive. I made a mistake, Will. You and Jack and Sam aren’t the Star Children.
They
are.” Tammy pointed to the three aliens sprawled out across the floor. “Think about it. They saved my people from certain destruction. Maybe not on purpose, but they did. They can control robots and even those they have enslaved with their minds. They move and control their ships with their minds. They are like the three of you, only they are all that is left of their race. If we kill them, we will have destroyed them forever.”

“I don’t care,” Will proclaimed. “They took Mom and Dad and everybody else. They deserve it.”

“They have done a lot of bad things. You are right. But, do you think that maybe they just made a mistake? Have you ever done something bad by mistake?”

“It’s not the same, Tammy, and you know it.”

“I know, but violence isn’t the answer.”

“She’s right,” came Sam’s voice from across the room.

Tammy turned and watched as Sam pulled herself up from the floor. Though she wanted to help her friend, she wasn’t able to get her legs to cooperate. Such was the command from Will to not move. She had gotten them all into this mess and now she had to find a way to get them all safely out of it.

“See, Will, Sam agrees,” she stated to reassure him.

“But he is right too,” Sam added.

“What do you mean?” Tammy asked her.

“They have already told us their plan. They intend to blast every human with radiation to see how many change like we did. Then they plan to culture our DNA into mutating rapidly into a race of people they can use to re-establish their own,” Sam explained.

“That must have been before they realized that they were to be the ones to save us,” Tammy said, wondering herself if it was true.

“How can we trust them?” This time it was Jack who asked.

Looking across the slick floor to him, Tammy watched him sit up and begin massaging his temples.

“I don’t know. Look. They fixed my shoulder. Why would they do that if they still intended what you say?”

“To use you to convince us to let them live,” Sam replied.

Tammy was beginning to question the truth. Were these aliens their saviors or their destroyers? They couldn’t be both, yet both seemed true. Though she was sure just moments ago that the aliens were their allies, now she wasn’t certain. They needed to find out for sure. They needed a way to force the aliens into telling them the truth. She had thought, at one time, that they were torturing her for just that reason, but Tammy knew there was no need for torture here. Not so long as they had Will and his ability.

“Will,” Tammy said to gain his attention once more. “Make them tell us the truth.”

Tammy watched as little Will’s eyes lit up in understanding, and he turned to face the aliens.

“You are going to tell us the truth and nothing more. Understand?”

“Yes,” came the synthesized voice from above.

“Do you intend to save or destroy all the species of man you have gathered?” Tammy asked.

“Our intention is to save them,” the voice confirmed.

“You see,” Tammy smiled, “They’ve had a change of heart. It is okay to let them go.”

“Not so fast, Tammy,” Jack interrupted. “How do you intend to save the race of humans and your own race?” he questioned the aliens.

“Through genetic mutation of one, and gene therapy, both races can be saved.”

“You see, they cannot be allowed to live,” Jack said, pushing himself up to his feet.

Now Tammy was really torn. If these last three beings of their kind were destroyed, her people could still live on earth if permitted by the humans, but if what they said was true, Earth itself was dying. They would find themselves right back where they started so long ago. If they allowed their abductors to go free, her people would still be saved, at the cost of the humans, but humans would not meet their end, they would simply be changed. Neither scenario was perfect, and she knew that she couldn’t be the person to decide. This was too big. It was too much. Tammy shook her head.

* * * * *