As evening approach the militia was halfway to home, Mateo’s plan had worked as the droids were slowly carrying the downed craft back to the base, soon they would be home and soon they could have their peace.
Colton rode in a wagon, with Ashley at his side. Tyson, Mateo, Emmet, Wes, the ship's original crew, and a a handcuffed Kaleb shackled to their ride.
“So what do you think will be the plan once we return to the base?” Wes asked.
“It’s been a long day, I suppose we’ll get there and secure the ship. From there we can just call it a day, Emmet can have the workers begin work on the ship tomorrow. We’ll have Kaleb spend the night in a cell, monitored all night so he can’t do anything stupid, and besides that I think we all deserve a break.” Colton replied as Ashley snuggled into him.
“Perhaps we take tomorrow off as well, and then begin the work the following day, my men have been out there working non-stop. It would be beneficial to everyone if they had a break and spent some time with their loved ones.” Emmet added.
“I second that idea.” Mateo agreed.
Colton looked back at the massive metal structure and then nodded, “Seems fair, alright, your men get tomorrow off as well.”
At that moment a loud screeching sound was heard in the distance. Every living thing held position and waited, just listening. All that could be heard was the creaking of the droids as they continued along.
“Let’s keep going, the longer we stand around the less likely the cargo will make it back in one piece.” Colton announced, the military continued cautiously. Some men drew their weapons for safety.
“You, what the hell was that!”
Kaleb, turned back to his old friend with a look of fear. “Nothing good… it appears someone really doesn’t like me.”
“Why do you say that?”
“All the creatures that we created were based on a template provided by living creatures. It would be easier to pull this off as a natural occurrence that way.”
“Then what’s the problem.”
“Certain measures were put in place to ensure that the world would never become like it was before. Besides being explosives, those orbs serve as scanners as well. They detect temperature, oxygen levels, several other factors that could show a shift in our environment. They’re main purpose of course to determine if the earth is falling apart again, all of the sensors are connected with one another to prevent false readings. Anyway, if the environment was beginning to falter then the devices would automatically activate the failsafe, or protocol Titan.”
“What the hell is protocol Titan?”
“Each member of our council had an orb placed in an area close to where they would awaken. Each of these orbs house a Titan, a creature much more powerful then any other beast. They would rise and begin attacking, until of course they could be stopped but by that time the damage would have been done and problem solved.”
“But this can only activate if earth begins to fall so why does this matter.”
“In case it happened too soon, we each had a code phrase. Once said, given an hour or so, the beast would rise. Valkyrie, that was my phrase. It’s a serpent beast that can spray acid and tear a man in two. However that isn’t what’s coming, meaning that the team creating the monsters knew they weren’t coming and held a grudge.”
“Yeah, probably, now what the hell is coming for us?”
“It’s called a Reaper, the harbinger of death. A dragon like monster who will burn the world with flaming breath and consume all that surrounds it. You will know it coming by the black cloud that will form above, it be about half the size of that ship and fearless as can be. On top of that, it’s nearly indestructible. We were given weapons if the Titans got out of hand, but unless point blank, there useless. It will kill us all and then burn this world.”
“Earth will no longer be the planet of humanity, it will simply be a cloud of destruction.” He said Grimly.
On cue, a giant black beast flew above the ship. It then began to hover over them and examine the situation. The Reaper looked similar to a Drakin, except it was black, had three heads with red eyes, two legs and wings. As well as it being utterly more intimidating and twice the size.
“Why the hell did you make that thing?”
“I didn’t, in fact I thought it was deleted.” Kaleb responded looking up at the monster.
“Where the hell is that weapon you had?”
“Right shoe, don’t see how it will be of any help.” Kaleb stated as Colton pulled off the shoe and looked inside. There laid a small gun, similar to the blasters that Wes had provided him. “You got six shots, six very deadly, very powerful, very ineffective shots.”
“Well it’s the only thing we have.” He responded to the old man. With the ship being shut down, Wes had ordered all the firearms to be returned to the armory and locked in until the ship was rebooted. His defense, better to be safe than sorry.
At that moment the large beast dropped down to the ground behind the ship and began its siege on the military. The troops began their defense, they had to protect the ship at all cost. The Reaper seemed to be laughing as the soldiers slashed at it and fired arrows, almost like it was enjoying it. Then it began picking them up three by three and eating them whole.
The group watched from the wagon, as other soldiers began to reposition themselves nearby.
“Commander, what are we going to do?” Emmet asked, his voice laced with panic as he watched the monster’s attack.
“I’m going to kill it… Kaleb, any pointers?” Colton stated as he stood up.
The old man looked up at him, “It’s head, central head, without that The Reaper can’t do anything.”
“There are three heads, how can you be so sure?” Mateo asked.
“The men who engineered it thought giving it three brains would cause difficulty in creating the beast, so they simply put one in the central head.”
“Then that’s where I’m going, climb onto its back, put the gun in its head, pull the trigger and then it's dead.”
“Commander, you do realize it’s a suicide mission. If it doesn’t take off while you’re climbing, then the second that you blast its brain off its default response is to fly as high as possible and then fall.” Kaleb stated.
He looked down at the old man, then to the ship and creature, then finally to Ashley. “What choice do I have, if I don’t do this then we’re screwed, it will kill everything, right?”
“Lad, there has to be another solution.” Emmet protested.
“I’ve done the calculations, according to Kaleb’s data, if it’s true… there isn’t one.” Mateo stated somberly.
“I won’t let you go,” Ashley stated grabbing him.
“There’s no other way, if we want to survive then it needs to be done this way.” Colton simply stated.
“Please, anything but this.” Tears began to stream down her face, “You’re the first good thing that’s happened in my life in a long time. I can’t lose you, we’ve barely had a chance to be together.”
“Ashley… if he doesn’t, then there is no future for any of us. Either way, you don’t get the chance to be together.” Wes stated.
“He’s right, that thing is eating through our troops as we speak. Give it ten minutes and it’s coming for all of us.” Reid added.
“There is no other way, it’s either Colton or Everyone including him and you. You have to let him do this.” Zayne added.
Ashley looked back at them, and then back to Colton. She released him slowly and then jumped out of the wagon and waited outside of it with Tyson.
Kaleb began to laugh, “Oh look at all of you, go ahead and egg on the man who is willing to throw away his life. You think he has a chance… no, he will most certainly die before making it halfway up the monster. We’re all dead now, so you may as well say your goodbyes.”
Colton looked to the old man and shook his head. “What was your goal Kaleb? If we truly are dead then there is no point in hiding it.”
“Well, if you must know, we wished to restore earth bring it back to it’s former glory and stop its destruction by all means necessary.”
“Why did you want to save it?”
He paused a moment, then responded, “So the children of tomorrow could know the beauty of this world, back before we killed her.”
“All of this for the future!” Colton shouted, “Did it not occur to you that one of the billions of people you wiped off the face of this planet could have solved these problems. Yeah, it was pretty bad but that doesn’t warrant genocide. Even after the Reset though, you have such little faith in humanity that even if the temperature rose go up a couple degrees that everyone else would die? Did you not think that perhaps in this new world we could have held the planet together?”
Kaleb looked at the Commander, then to everyone around him until finally he was hit by the words that came to him. “My god... what have we done? I’m sorry, you don’t deserve this. No one here deserves this. All we wanted to do is save the world, and we may have just killed ourselves.” He paused for a moment, and then continued. “You’re a brave man, now I see why they follow you. It’s been an honor…Commander.” He finished raising his hand up slightly.
Colton took it and gently shook it, “You want to make it up to me… help them live.”
Mateo stood up next and hugged his friend, “Thank you sir, I won’t let them down.”
Then Emmet stood up, he smiled and nodded, before stiffening up and saluting the man, “We will rebuild, and there will be a statue in your honor.”
Next, Evelynn approached him, “You saved my crew, more than once now. You made one of them fall in love and now you die for your nation. I wish we could have met sooner.” She hugged him as well.
Colton then jumped out, and went around to the side where Tyson, Ashley and Julian waited.
“Colton, I’m going with you.” Tyson stated as he approached.
Colton held his hand up, “Not this time, you need to be here, you need to help them.”
“But Commander, I sho-“
“You’re going to be the one to pull them back after this. They need you more than I do.”
A few tears formed around Tyson’s eyes, before he nodded and saluted, “Yes sir.”
Next Colton approached Ashley, he looked her in the eyes and sighed, “Why are you so attached to me? We’ve known each other two days.”
She turned red, “It’s just… I haven’t felt anything like what I’m feeling with you… and it’s so natural. I know it seems rash but in the short time we’ve been together, I’ve fallen in love with you.”
Colton looked down, then back at The Reaper on its rampage. “I love you too… and I’m so sorry it has to be this way.”
“Commander, how are you able to accept such things with ease.” Emmet asked.
“Because… she reminds me of her, and like she said there is a natural chemistry. I was hoping to break the pattern with her though.” He responded turning to his lover.
“He’ll be back my dear, don’t you worry bout a thing,” Julian stated with a smiling, patting his friend on the back of his neck. “When you do, the first round is on you, alright!”
Colton chuckled softly and hugged his friend, “Yep, like always.”
He then turned back to her and held her close once more.
“Commander, just let me do this.” Tyson stated holding his hand out.
“I can’t, you're one of the strongest and bravest men I’ve had the pleasure in working with. However, I won’t lose my friend over this damn thing.” He then kissed Ashley once more before turning to the large beast.
“All of this, just to protect the planet Kaleb. You take treehugger to whole new level.” With those final words he began his approach.
The Reaper roared loudly and began spitting fire around it, killing as many people as possible. It roared loudly so focused on what was in front of it that it wasn’t looking to what was coming from its sides. Colton wasted little time, he ran for the back of the monster and leaped onto it, digging his hands into its warm back.
The creature roared loudly, and began thrashing wildly as it attempted to throw Colton off. The wild motion only forced him to tighten his grip, he would not let himself be thrown off by this thing, not now, not ever.
The Reaper must have come to a similar conclusion, it then took the sky flying high. As the distance between him and the ground became farther, he moved faster climbing higher up its back. Soon the wind picked up making it nearly impossible to climb, he countered this by placing a shot into the monster's back startling it and forcing it to dip down and head towards the ground. Knowing this was his chance he pushed forward off of the creature. He fell for a moment before wrapping his arms around the central neck. The two side heads sprang into action and quickly attempted an attack, two more shots were fired, both of the attackers died before reaching him.
In a last effort, The Reaper began thrashing back and forward. It then flew higher, back to the wind, back where it had the advantage. As it blasted towards the stars, Colton pushed the gun against the back of its head.
“No, I win.”
He then pulled the trigger, once, twice, and third just to be sure. The creature stopped in mid-air, and then let itself go limp. It had done everything and it had lost, and as this happened, gravity began to fall.
Colton pushed away from the creature, he too was falling back towards the earth, yet at this height he knew death was all he could be given. He didn’t scream, nor feel any fear. He relaxed himself, pulling into a lying position holding his neck. He took in the view from up here and for the first time, saw this as a beautiful place rather than hell. The land was green and blue, no destructive qualities to be seen. This was earth at its best, he finally understood Kaleb’s cause. Many did die, too many, yet the result could lead to a better tomorrow for all of them then the alternative. A long smile formed over his face at that moment. Humanity would grow, maybe this time they were smarter than those previous. Maybe we won’t kill our home in a quest for power, maybe this would be what they needed.
He felt himself becoming more and more relaxed, finally he closed his eyes and felt rest overcome him, and he slowly drifted off with a final thought. Perhaps the future would be better.
Several hours passed, slowly a burning light shone through his eyes. Death? Heaven? Some other place, maybe. His eyes flicker a bit more and he found himself in a mechanical room, strapped to a white table with a light shining down into his eyes. He moved his neck slowly and looked around the room.
“Where the hell am I?” He asked the room, looking around it, he couldn’t figure it out.
Then a door opened, someone stood there. He couldn’t make out his face, or who he was.
“Hello, who’s there?” He asked, squinting, trying to gain focus.
The man approached and the door closed behind him, Colton’s vision remained blurred. He pulled a syringe out from… somewhere, and then he slowly placed it into Colton’s neck and injected the clear liquid within the plastic vial.
Colton instantly began to feel better. His lingering sense of pain disappeared, his vision became clearer, he was able to feel the soft fabric of the table and the cool temperature of the room.
The man then released the restraints on his wrists and ankles, and Colton sat up and rubbed his eyes.
“You still owe me that drink friend.” He spoke softly.
Colton quickly turned and looked at the other man, finally with clear vision he could see Julian with a soft smile.
“Julian… but how?” Colton asked.
Out of the corner of his jacket he pulled a circular patch out. “After I assured you that the Drakin had done nothing, and you left for our base I did some looking around. They sure have a lot of supplies to play with, especially medical. Using my knowledge I was able to create the safety patch. Placed on the neck of your patient before the accident occurs, once activated, your thrown into a form of stasis, shielding you from any potential dangers. Even if you fell from the atmosphere you wouldn’t be able to suffer any damage because the shield is so strong, and it absorbs basically all the force upon impact. It keeps you safe and everything intact before you hit the ground and for lack of better words, break into pieces. Once you wake up, I apply a similar stabilizer we use on Mateo and bring you back.”
“So you knew I was going to survive?”
“No, just very optimistic in my work and my Commander.”
He sighed, “Right then, what did I miss.”
“You’ve been out for, let’s say six hours. The ship was brought back where, due to important matters” He gesture to Colton, “it was reactivated. We then had you placed in this medical center where you’ve been resting. Kaleb has been placed in the brig where we all agree he belongs, Tyson and the senior officers are up in the tower, along with almost all of Evelynn’s crew.” Stated making a ‘come in’ motion.
The door opened and in ran the familiar brown haired girl who had captivated him in the shortest of time. Quickly she threw her arms around him as he wrapped his around her. He looked down, at her, letting a few tears stream down his face, then his gaze returned to the medic, “Thank you, Julian.”
He nodded, “You’re welcome Colton, when you’re ready they need you up in the tower.” Julian smiled at his friend, also wiping at his eyes before leaving.
The two of them sat in silence for a moment, then Ashley pulled her head away from him and looked up at his face. “Don’t you ever do something like that again, you hear me?”
Colton nodded, before passionately kissing her. It lasted a minute, and then they broke part. “Never, now that we have your ship we can create more of the plasma guns. Maybe create a rifle version of Kaleb’s blaster.”
“Anything that keeps you from being so thick headed works with me.”
They chatted a bit longer before she led him out, and back into to the town. They made their way to the tower, Colton stopped and looked up at the stone structure, and smiled. Then Ashley grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the door. As they entered, they were met with applause. Colton froze in place, shocked at what was occurring.
“Why are they all applauding?” He asked.
“Because they love you sir,” Tyson shouted as he walked down the stairs, he approached Colton with a grin as big as the room and hugged him for a moment before backing off and saluting him. “Everyone in this room is here because of you, you were willing to die for them and this stronghold. This city is forever in your debt sir, thank you.”
Colton was speechless, he looked around the room at the faces of those he had saved, and then nodded. Tyson then motioned to the Commander to follow him upstairs. He began to walk up the stairs, then paused and looked back to the room.
“I know, it has been rough for us, all of us. I know this week in particular, has been the stuff of fairy tales, and we did loses some good troops. None of this,” motioning to the room, “could never have occurred without soldiers like them.”
“Ones who gave up their lives for the people of this sanctuary.”
“Ones who knew, we could make things better.”
“One who… followed some crazy kid, who dreamed of starting over. I thank all of you, and all of them, for helping me with this dream. We aren’t done yet… but it’s a fine start” The room applauded once more, and Colton turned around and continued upstairs.
They climbed to the top, and entered the lab. Outside on the observatory deck, Evelynn and her crew stood along with Emmet and everyone else, except Kaleb.
“There’s the bastard who thinks he can fly.” Emmet shouted happily as they too applauded his entrance.
“You really must consider a desk job Colton, after all you have a lot of people depending on you.” Evelynn stated with a smile.
Mateo jumped up and down dancing, “Colton, you won’t believe this. Now that we have the ship we can begin developing power plants. We’re no longer stuck in the dark ages my friend!”
Colton thought about this for a moment, he remembered the beauty he had seen from above, and the darkness that encumbered the world they once lived in. Perhaps Kaleb was half right in his actions.
“Mateo, I’ve decided something,” he began looking at everyone around him. “This entire mess began, by a single group thinking that we were destined to burn are world to ash. When I was up in the sky looking down on this place, I saw something beautiful, something that, if we repeat history, will be destroyed by us. So, although they’ll generate an unbelievable amount of power, I can’t let history repeat itself.”
Mateo eyed his Commander with confusion. “What… don’t tell me you’re going hippy on us now?”
“He’s not,” Zayne said, “although none of us admitted it, after the reset we all began to believe that our old home looked a bit greener, almost nice. He doesn’t want it to die, nor do any of us.”
“There are plenty of other ways we can do it.” Reid’s added, “Solar panels and windmills will work out here for sure.”
Mateo looked out at the night sky and then nodded, “Fine, will start by creating a fleet of solar panels. With all the sun we’re getting out here, we’ll be able to power ten of our strongholds.”
“Excellent, thank you.” Colton said calmly.
Wes then approached, “You’re a good leader sir, your people should be proud of you for everything you’ve done.”
Then Rocco came beside him. “Yeah, I don’t think there would have been anyone else who would have basically killed themselves for their home. You truly are a brave man.”
Next Zayne spoke, “Oye, I’m sorry about before… you really came through for us.”
Reid, “You saved my life, you saved my family, you brought my home back to civilization and you were willing to throw away your life to do that… I owe you sir.”
Evelynn spoke also, “Don’t think you’re off the hook yet, you break my friend's heart and we’re going to have a problem.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Colton replied with a smile.
Emmet approached his Commander next, “You sir are by far the greatest leader to live, like it or not I’m building you that damn statue.”
Julian approached after, “Words can't express what you have done, however under doctor’s orders you must take the next week off to recover. There still is a chance of spinal injury.”
“I second that,” Ashley agreed.
“Fine, fine, I’ll take it easy for a bit.” Colton stated.
Mateo came up to him now, “I don’t know where I would be, without any of you people or this colony and I am still in awe as to what you were willing to do for it.”
Finally Tyson approached, “I can’t say anymore other then, I can only dream of being as good of a leader as you are.”
Colton fought back more tears before speaking again, “Thank you, all of you… as of now, we’ve done it. Everyone here is now a part of saving this place, and I want you all to know that. Tomorrow, I shall address the public as to what has occurred and that we are out of the thick of things. Now I personally am tired, so I think I have to call it a night, but I shall see you all in the morning.”
Everyone said their goodnights and praised him with wishes before allowing him to leave with Ashley by his side. As they walked down the stairs he told her to go to his room and wait for him while he ran one final errand. She nodded and left him as he continued down into the basement, rather than go to the makeshift autopsy lab. he travelled down a few more corridors to a private room. Two guards stood outside of it, and unlocked it for him allowing him to enter. There a barred wall stood with two more guards on the outside and the old man on the inside.
“So you did survive, nice to know that the landing didn’t make you forget the old man.”
A tone of serious came out of Colton’s mouth, “Look here. You were a part of something worse than treason, I should have you executed publicly.”
“Yes, and I understand if that is what you want to do.”
“It’s not, in fact I want to do the exact opposite. You’re going to go out there after my speech and apologize to everyone outside for what you have done and then I’m going to let you go back to your original job.”
“What? Why the hell would you do that?”
“You know this world best now, on top of that, you’ve been my mentor for too long for me just to execute you like that. Plus, after seeing how beautiful the world is, I won’t let us kill this world again… but I need your help. Yes, I know you’re a factor in her death but I needed to let go of the past and focus on the now, and right now you’re our best chance of helping me save this world. So will you help me save our planet?” He asked.
Kaleb thought for a moment… then drew a large grin over his face and nodded, “That’s all I’ve wanted to do.”
“Excellent, we’ll speak more tomorrow, good night sir.”
“Good night… Commander.”
He walked back out of the brig and to the room, there he found Ashley tucked into bed already. He sat on the side and smiled looking down at her.
“It’s been quite a couple of days now hasn’t it?” She asked
“Yeah, but it’s over now, after my speech and few other things I’ve been ordered to take a break though. Which I damn well need.”
“You saved our world, you need more than just a break, and you still seem tense.”
“I fell out of the sky, plus I think the doctor said that the stiffness will last for a couple of hours.” He responded.
“I could help relieve it,” She spoke again, another devious look appeared on her face.
“You sure about that?”
“Oh, after almost losing you… I think I deserve to help out.”
There smiles mirrored one another and she grabbed him bringing them to the same level in a passionate embrace, where the lover’s heart beats could resonate loudly as one.
As the world stood under the millions of stars above, Colton knew not where they would take this world, or what would happen now that they had the ship. However he did know that no matter the journey, he knew that the planet would live to its lifespan now and that was just fine with him.
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