War of the Worlds 2030 (25 page)

“Too bad,” said a voice. He turned and saw Janis backlit by a shining tunnel.

“You, Richard's wife?” said Edwin, too stunned to question his sudden lack of shackles.

“Ex-wife. A lot of people wanted to be here, but they didn't trust any of them not to let you rot as a ghost, so I agreed to help.”

“What?”

“No free rides, Edwin. You really haven't earned a break.”

“What are you going on about, woman?”

Janis smiled.

Edwin careened down a passage into night.

An ill tempered emu in an Ontario zoo laid its eggs.

* * * *

The thermal tap responded to the chaos in the bio-mind. Its cell division rate surged then fell. It bored deeper, pressure built. The tap root's wall ruptured and water poured into the porous rock boiling and cracking the rock further. The rock shifted under pressure and molten rock drove through into the shaft to the surface. The pressure deep beneath the earth drove the magma up and up. The drilling structure died and the minerals in its cellular matrix liquefied as the Earth itself rebelled against the alien thing. The rock shifted as the steam expanded undermining the supporting geology.

* * * *

Natalie cuddled Carry close to her side.

“I really wish we could have gotten to Greece,” said the brunette.

“You just wanted to visit Lesbos and see where all that naughty poetry came from,” said Natalie.

“You know when Tannal forced us to join the bio-mind, I thought I was going to die, but then I was with you. I love you more than I've ever loved anyone.”

Natalie kissed her life mate. “Ditto.”

“Do you think—”

The blast of super heated gasses that shot along the tunnel burnt the flesh from both of them before the nerves could register what happened.

A bright light shone.

“Come along, my dears. You've done all you can,” said a matronly woman of late middle years.

“Mother?” asked Natalie.

“Yes, dear.” was the last, first thing they heard.

* * * *

Rachel sat in the passenger seat as the limo sped into the mountains. A slender Caucasian man, with unruly brown hair, was at the wheel, and her son and daughter sat to either side of her. Her best friend and her family filled the rest of the seats.

“Hurry,” she pleaded.

“I am.” Her husband had his foot pressed tight against the accelerator pedal.

“Walter, drop me off then if it explodes—”

“I told you no!”

The road dipped into a valley, Goleta was lost to sight behind them.

They sped along. The world shook. A blast of hot wind followed along the road. Walter slammed on the brakes. Trees swayed, rocks tumbled from the mountainsides. A bolder smashed into the limo's door, leaving a huge dent. The car jumped wildly.

“Quake,” called Rachel. The windshield cracked.

“Oh my God!” Walter had turned to check on his family and now stared behind them, slack jawed.

“What?” Rachel looked back. A huge cloud of black smoke shot through with red flames rose into the sky. “Drive!”

Walter slammed his foot down on the pedal and sped into the mountains.

* * * *

Ji-Yeon held her son around the shoulders as she stood in a corner on the ship's bridge. Her husband was below decks helping in the engine room.

A roar sounded over the water.

“What the fuck was that?” demanded Andy.

“Sonar's going nuts,” remarked a blond woman.

“Full steam!” ordered an elderly man dressed in rags.

“Aye captain,” agreed Andy who worked the helm.

“What is it?” asked Ji-Yeon.

“Mam, I've only ever seen something like this once before. I was a second lieutenant. Cruiser I was on got caught over a sea quake. We lost the water under our keel like nothing. Then it came back with a vengeance.

“Are all the hatches battened down?” demanded the old man.

“Aye, sir,” snapped Billy from the intercom station. His classic Mezzo-American features were drawn into a mask of fear.

“Hold onto your hats, mates.”

Ji-Yeon felt a sensation in her stomach, as if an elevator was dropping too fast.

“We're losing depth, we're gonna run aground,” called the blonde woman from her station.

“Steady, keep the engines going,” snapped the captain.

“Jesus, Mary and Joseph,” swore Andy.

Ji-Yeon followed the line of his gaze. The ocean had risen, forming a wall in front of them.

“God help us!” said the captain.

The ship sped into the wall, which actually sloped sharply up. It crested over them. Water pounded onto the deck. The bridge's widows imploded under the driving force. The engines screamed. Ji-Yeon felt the ship jerk backwards with the momentum of the wave then they were on top of it. They sped for all they were worth out to sea, and still the force carried them inland. A huge pall of smoke and flame rose behind them. Slowly the wave released them.

“Status?” snapped the captain.

“Lower deck flooded, number three hatch gave way. We lost people, sir,” replied the intercom operator.

“Run the bilges full out, get us dry mister. Keep us headed out to sea, the more depth under our keel the better.”

“Aye, sir,” agreed Andy.

Ji-Yeon hugged her son then shook the water out of her hair. ”Have we made it captain?”

“We got a chance, Mam. Better than those poor buggers caught land side. We got a chance.”

General Flanders watched the satellite feed. The
Darmuk
mother ship wobbled in its lunar orbit. It had tried to charge the Earth, but a barrage of missal fire and lasers from the two remaining space fighters had driven it back. Now it accelerated around the moon. The green color it had displayed throughout most of its time near Earth now revealed yellow splotches.

“What's it doing?” Major Joans sat beside the general in the small theatre-like viewing room.

“You're the egghead,” replied the general.

“It's building up velocity.” Ben sat beside the general holding Carol's hand. He absently raised her hand to his lips and kissed it. She smiled at him and inside he knew his reality was all and more than his fantasy..

“Look.” Mary pointed at the screen. The ship had just broken lunar orbit and deployed a huge defamations canopy. It began to slowly accelerate away from Earth.

“What is that?” asked Kate.

“Jerry told me about an article he read in Popular Science, about solar sails. The sun sends out a wind of light and subatomic particles, the sail catches them and uses them to pull the ship.”

“Whatever it is, that damn ship is leaving.” People, good work. Lieutenant Carlson, I've approved that leave. You and your husband enjoy Egypt. That's an order.” General Flanders returned his attention to the screen and watched the mother ship depart.

* * * *

Candy looked at the old photograph. Satellite pictures of the Goleta volcano had been on the news, along with the details of the mission that destroyed the
Darmuk
base. The Reporter had said that humanity had retaken Oregon, Utah and parts of Arizona.

“You did it, Zane.” She looked around her bedroom. Her husband's painting of the desert outside hung on the wall, like a window. She moved to her writing desk in the corner and pulled out a pad of paper. She began to write.

Dear Zane,

This is Mommy. I'm writing this now despite the fact that I hope to tell you when the time is right, because no one ever knows what's going to happen.

I want to tell you about your father. Mark is your Dad and always will be, but before Mark there was another man. You came from his seed. He was a great man, a hero, and you're named for him.

* * * *

Light blazed into his eyes and it hurt. He forced himself to blink and slowly the world swam into focus. “Kate?” he asked.

“Colonel.”

“Oh, Gods, I feel like someone put my brain through a cheese grater. I…” Richard held up his hand. A scar he'd had all his adult life was missing. “I need a mirror.”

“Sir, perhaps.”

“Now!” He was surprised by the texture of his voice.

Kate cranked up the back of the hospital bed he lay in so that he could see himself in the mirror on the wall.

Richard blinked, swallowed and blinked again. He vaguely recognized the fifteen year old that stared back at him from the reflection. Tall and gawky, with just the beginnings of the muscle bulk that would fill him out over the next few years. “Oh, Gods! It worked. The others?”

“Came to yesterday.”

“Both of them?” Panic touched his voice

“Both of them.”

Richard settled back against the bed.

“When can I see her?”

“Testing first. You set the protocols yourself. You know, you were a cute kid, but you definitely improved with age.”

Richard smiled. “I'll keep that in mind.”

* * * *

Ashley paced nervously across the interface room.

“Relax, the doctors and nurses say he's one-hundred percent,” soothed Zane. He looked as he had at fifteen, though he spoke with a self-assurance, and moved with an economy, that put a lie to the appearance.

“I know. I know! I just. I mean, okay, Richard knows what I looked like, and you, but him? All I ever saw was an old photograph and well. Damn it, Zane. I hated being a teenager the first time!”

A chuckle sounded from the door and a youth dressed in a Colonel's field uniform moved into the room.

Richard stared at Ashley. Her hair fell long and straight past her shoulder blades and was a reddish chestnut in color. The emerald, knee-length dress she'd worn showed off her slender figure. “I always thought you were a really cute teenager.”

“Richard.” Ashley threw herself into his arms. They held each other for a long minute before Zane cleared his throat.

“I love you,” said Richard as he released her.

“And I you. We're still engaged, right?”

“No doubt.”

Zane looked at the floor. Conflict was written on his face. He wanted to be happy for them, but there was no one for him.

Richard and Ashley noticed his pain and understanding it moved to his sides.

“Zane,” opened Richard.

“Just tell me. If you know. I lost everything after the lab session. Did she say yes?”

“Yes. Ash managed to download our last week's memories. It's all jumbled, but I know this much. Janis and you were married. She loved you, Zane.”

Zane nodded.

“So what's the plan now?” asked Ashley.

“Admiral MacMillan wants us to perfect the transfer. He sees great application in the
Darmuk
technology. Copy a great soldier. Custom genetics for the battlefield. We were discussing the potentials earlier. War without death. Soldiers can be backed up and regenerated at need.”

Richard went pale. He looked at Ashley and read the same thoughts in her eyes.

“There's a jack in port. Sword and shield, my love.”

“Sword and shield. Just like with the bio-mind.” she agreed.

Together they moved to the computer terminal and connected to the interface. The system whirred. A list of files appeared on the screen, they glowed for a second then deleted as they, and all the backups, vanished.

“What? You just deleted the entire resurrection project.” gasped Zane.

Richard and Ashley un-jacked. They swayed a little then straightened.

“Yes,” they spoke in unison.

“Why?” demanded Zane.

“Because of Janis, and Betty, and Wendle, and Stanley, and every other poor bugger who wasn't downloaded. War has to cost the warrior more than it does anyone else. Otherwise why avoid it? As well, humans must be human. It's one thing to be the best we can be, another to change ourselves into something we're not. To stop being the creature shaped by millions of years of evolution. Who has the wisdom to know which change is right? We must never go the route the
Darmuks
took,” explained Richard.

“So, what now?” asked Ashley.

* * * *

Four years later Richard brought the axe down on the block of firewood. The sky above was a rich blue, with white, fluffy clouds. He'd muscled out since his new body had emerged from the gestational chamber. He turned to look at his home. The earth-shelter residence blended into the mountain side, hardly impacting on the view. A solar array stood to one side, with a windmill turning gently in the breeze behind the house. Ashley exited through the side door that led to their private lab. Her maternity dress bulging.

“Richard, the simulation on the antiviral implant is finishing up. I think you should save the file and get the car. You should also call Zane. I want him to watch my experiments for a day or two.”

Richard put down the axe and moved to kiss his wife. “Okay. Where do you want to visit this time?”

“Richard…I…ohh.” Ashley exhaled sharply as pain rippled across her belly.

“Ash!” Richard shifted position taking her weight on his arm.

“Still a long ways apart. Now save that file and get me to the birthing center.”

Richard raced to obey.

* * * *

Zane dismissed the class of first-year students. Repeating his degrees had been simplicity itself and his doctorate earned he had gone on to become the ‘youngest Prof' ever to received tenure. The war was seventeen years past, though scars still lay deep in the consciousness of the world, and an effort had been started to thrust weapons into space.

His eyes came to rest on a young beauty as she approached his desk. Her hair was a brown so dark it was almost black and her eyes were blue. Her firm, well-proportioned body was clad in a yellow, summer dress.

“Professor Hinkly, I didn't quite understand the structure of the organelles in the cell. I know it's an imposition, but could you find some time to go over it with me?”

Zane was preparing to say no then he saw a spark in her eyes. “What's your name?”

“Jane—Jane Ferguson, sir.”

Zane smiled.
Why should Richard have all the luck?
he thought then answered. “Normally I wouldn't Jane, but you remind me of an old friend. What part
confused you?”

 

Stephen B. Pearl is a multiple published author whose works range from Post-Apocalyptic science fiction,
Tinker's Plague
, to Modern Fantasy,
Nukekubi
, touching on Paranormal romance,
Worlds Apart,
and
The Hollow Curse
, and Science fiction romance/erotica,
Slaves of Love
, and of course Military Science Fiction,
War of the Worlds 2030
. If it is in the speculative fiction field he has probably given it a shot. His writings often incorporate real places and focus heavily on the logical consequences of the worlds he crafts.

Stephen's inspirations encompass H.G. Wells, J.R. Tolken, Frank Herbert, Jim Butcher, Anne McCaffrey, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Homer among others. He strongly believes that to write one must read and that there is greatness in all forms of literature. One could say he pursues the great then to the best of his abilities tries to distill it down and express it as his own original work.

For more visit his website at:
http://www.stephenpearl.com

for free first chapters, links to where to buy and more about his books visit:
http://www.stephenpearl.com/Books/Books.htm

Blog—Stephen's Musings:
http://stephenpearl.blogspot.ca/

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