Visions of the Atom: The Last Children Read online

  Jordan went down to the engine room once again; however, this time there was no chaos. Regardless, that didn’t make the situation any better. The Orca was the only form of transportation. Without it, they were pretty much doomed. The main computer was displaying what seemed to be the problem.

  Damaged interface (unfixable).

  Damaged solar sail (unfixable).

  Emergency power cell (unfixable).

  Replace heavy power conduit.

  “Well, at least there’s something I can do in this bucket of junk,” Jordan said to himself after reading the screen in the main computer.

  Meanwhile, it took Kenny and Clint several minutes to get to the crown of the mound that Arnold had pointed. When they got there, both of them were breathing heavily, sweating, and wishing that the water they carried in the pouches of their suits was just a bit colder.

  “I really don’t understand what happened to this place...why this much desert?” Clint said, trying to spark a conversation.

  “Yeah, me neither,” Kenya said, not taking the bait.

  “Hey, so what’s up with you and Arnold? Are you guys still a thing? I heard a lot of rumors back in the Haven. You know, I always knew that he wasn’t good enough for you. You need a real man, somebody that can take care of you,” Clint teased, blocking off everybody but Kenya from the coms.

  Kenya didn’t bother to respond. She always knew Clint was an instigator, troublemaker, and somewhat a bully; instead, she just rolled her eyes and concentrated at the task at hand.

  “All right, fair enough. I’ll take that as a maybe, as in you will consider it for later. I understand that your decision-making abilities might be compromised because of the mission. I can understand that. So, we’ll talk about it later,” Clint said, half-joking, half-serious.

  While they were there, they both heard a faint noise coming from the bottom of the mound on the outside of the body of water. Hurriedly, they both grabbed their shoulder rifles and looked into the digital scope to try and find who or what was making that noise.

  “Well, well, well, would you look at that? I have never seen one of these in person before. Heck, I never thought I would see one of these in my lifetime. I thought that the paintings in all those books back in Haven were just bullshit, but nah... look at that! It’s very real, one of those things. What are they called again?” Clint said, with his finger on the trigger, aiming directly at the animal.

  “I believe that’s a condor…” Kenya responded to Clint’s closed line, as a condor scavenged on the remnants of another dead creature.

  “Yeah, condor… That’s what I thought... Although looks a lot different and a lot bigger than the ones in the books. Regardless, I’ve always wanted to find out for myself what a condor tastes like. You think Arnold would get mad if I shoot this one down? I’ll share with you,” Clint commented on the closed line.

  “You better not dare compromise this mission. This is not a game; our life is in danger here. I don’t know what’s your problem with Arnold, but he’s our lead, and you have to follow his orders to the letter. If you, by any chance, were to fire at that bird like an idiot, the worms will be upon us in a matter of minutes, and I don’t know if you noticed, but we have no freaking way out of here,” Kenya hissed while looking at Clint.

  “Lead? We aren’t in an army thing! Those army things were a long time ago. Now is a whole new ballgame. Relax, you are taking that boy way too seriously. I don’t think he knows what he’s doing. He’s the one that got us here, in the first place. If I was the one in charge, we would’ve made it to the thing by now. Don’t worry, the worms won’t come. It’ll be just one shot,” Clint said as he smirked, tightening his aim at the mutated condor.

  Clint heard a clipping sound and turned ever so slightly towards Kenya, and he saw her rifle pointed right at his head, with her finger on the trigger.

  “If you so much as do anything but stand down, I will put a bullet through your head. I swear to God,” Kenya said through gritted teeth.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa, sweetheart... I was just trying to have a little fun! Don’t take me seriously. You know that I would never do anything to compromise the mission. Arnold’s my man. Anyways, aren’t you afraid of worms coming to get us if they hear a shot?” Clint said, with no doubt whatsoever that she would fire. He began to put down his riffle slowly.

  “You are trying to get us killed. At least I would have the pleasure of killing you myself,” Kenya said as she tightened her grip on the rifle.

  “Aww, baby, you’re breaking my heart. Those are big words coming from you,” Clint responded with a fake smile.

  “How are things going? Is everybody in their position?” Arnold asked through the radio.

  “Yes, sir! No hostile activity here. There’s only a big bird scavenging on some remains of another big bird... I think that was. Nothing else to report, sir,” Clint said with a shrug and putting down his weapon, looking at Kenya as if nothing had happened.

  “There’s no signs of those worms. Everything is clear over here,” Avenn said.

  “Okay, good. Same thing here, there’s nothing to report. Jordan, can you give me an update?” Arnold said without bothering to look back at them.

  “Things aren’t looking too good down here, sir. Uh… There are several things that cannot be repaired, but that won’t stop us from giving it a go one more time. I say that in about ten minutes, we’ll be on our way again, sir,” Jordan answered.

  “Not all is lost yet, then. Keep your eyes sharp. Kenya, how about that signal? Do we know what’s our location?” Arnold asked.

  “The signal is coming in and out, and I have a good idea of our location now. I just need a few more minutes to be certain of it,” Kenya replied.

  “Damn, what are we doing? What am I doing here? I know how to read books and bunch of useless information is stored in my head, but that’s about it. I don’t know what Sir Marcus was thinking when he decided to put me in this group. Oh well, I’m here now. Better make the best out of it,” Avenn thought.

  No more than six minutes had passed when Avenn noticed an eerie silence surrounding them. He began to look all around them in 360°, but he didn’t see anything. The desert was petrifying; only heat waves moved at a distance. He looked up at the sky. The sun was too bright, and his hand combined with the helmet did not make for a good visor: he did not see anything. He looked down to the floor and hoped to ease his nerves, when he saw it. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a shadow move out of sight. He looked back up at the sky once again, but there was nothing there. He then looked at the ground, and once again he saw a shadow disappear. But this time, it wasn’t just the corner of his eye that saw it. He looked up for the third time and saw them.

  “Uh, Houston, we have a problem... More likely many problems,” Avenn spoke.

  “Who the heck is Houston?” Clint asked, confused.

  “That’s not important now. Everybody, look up and do not move,” Avenn uttered.

  The four of them looked up at the sky and instinctively grabbed their rifles and pointed them upward. Condors were circling above the oasis, forming a flock with each second that passed. They were circling them like dying animals, waiting for an opportunity to move in and get a meal.

  “What’s happening out there, man? I can’t see anything from down here,” Jordan asked as sweat dripped on his forehead.

  “Jordan, how is it? And how is it looking down there? We need to get out of here fast!” Arnold yelled.

  “There’s some nasty looking birds circling us. I don’t think this is something you want to see, honestly. You have it way better down there,” Avenn added as he pointed his rifle towards the flock.

  The condors were large, but not as large as the desert worms. They each had two sets of wings with messy feathers. Their tail feathers extended far beyond their body, and their scaly claws looked formidable and strong. Their upper mandible separated into two, giving way to the lower mandible.

  One of the birds i
n the sky let out a deafening shriek; after a few moments, the others followed.

  “Move towards the Orca slowly. Try not to kick the loose rocks and don’t let them out of your sight,” Arnold said as they all started to move down the mound.

  “This is just what we need, to become some chicken’s supper,” Clint remarked.

  “Be quiet!” Kenya scorned as she looked at Clint angrily.

  In that moment, one of the bird dove towards Kenya and Clint; they both scrambled to aim at the bird. They both fired and missed. A bird was finally hit, but from its side; the bullet came from Avenn’s direction. It didn’t take much to take one down, but that didn’t make the situation better. At least two dozen more condors had joined the flock.

  “Uh... We should run. We should definitely run! If not, we are just going to be sitting food for them,” Avenn prompted them as he began to run.

  The other three followed and began to run towards the Orca.

  “Get to work as quickly as you can. Jordan, hope you know we are coming on board. Have the Orca running by the time we get there. We don’t want to be bird food,” Arnold said.

  “I know, I know, I know, I know... working on it,” Jordan responded as sweat dripped down his forehead.

  “Working on it... is not going to be good enough. Get it fixed!” Arnold said in between breaths.

  The four ran as fast as they could towards the Orca, dodging the preying birds as they came inches away from their claws.

  “Will the Orca’s machine guns work?” Kenya asked, running straight for one.

  “There’s only one way to find out. Everyone, grab a gun! Aim as best as you can. Remember, we don’t have much ammo anymore,” Arnold called out as he grabbed one of the machine guns from the Orca.

  They started to fire at the birds surrounding them. Within moments, birds hit the ground, but others appeared towards the sky. To their relief, the switches on the Orca began to flicker on. When Arnold turned around to look, Jordan was already at the controls.

  “Get us out of here!” Arnold yelled.

  “Towards what direction?” Jordan hurriedly asked as the Orca began levitating once again.

  Arnold didn’t respond; instead, he looked towards Kenya, signaling that she should be the one to answer.

  “Forward! Get us over the mound right in front of us,” Kenya shouted as she pointed north.

  Jordan nodded, and the Orca came back to life, picking up speed as it climbed the mound. As they left the oasis, they noticed the birds were still behind them. They began to screech continuously and as if taking turns, they dove towards the Orca, one after another. The birds were relentless even as the Orca picked up speed. With each dive, the birds kept getting closer and closer to them.

  Small desert worms were also approaching the Orca from all sides.

  “It looks like we are going to have to do some heavy maneuvering to avoid them,” Jordan said, looking straight ahead at the incoming worms.

  “Dammit! Is this all she’s got?” Arnold yelled.

  “We’ll pick up a bit more speed, and we’ll outrun the worms. But for the birds, uh... I’m afraid it is not enough. These birds are fast, sir,” Jordan responded as he pushed the Orca to its limit.

  “Let them have it. Aim carefully and try not to waste any rounds if you don’t have to,” Arnold told them.

  For fifteen straight minutes, they fired at the flock of birds. One by one, thirty-two birds fell from the sky onto the desert floor, to be swiftly devoured by the worms. Clint, Kenya, and Arnold were out of ammo by the time Avenn shot down the last six birds.

  Less and less followed the Orca as the worms headed towards the feast of birds.

  “Avenn, how much ammo do you have left?” Arnold asked.

  “I’m not sure... will have to count it,” Avenn replied, already taking the jacket out of the machine.

  “Count it. Then that ammo you have there, what is left in the main cannon, and whatever we have in our personal rifles, including two extra ones in the ammo room...” Arnold said.

  Trying to gather themselves together, they each took turns in replenishing themselves as they traveled on the seamlessly endless desert. Tension was still high with the crew as any unexpected gust of wind would automatically have them looking through their scopes and pointing their rifles to the sky. Sunset was at the horizon.

  “I’m getting sick of this desert. Is it ever going to end?” Clint asked.

  Arnold didn’t say anything; instead, he looked at Kenya for the answer. But she was already preoccupied, marking the digital tablet with a knife. That could only mean one thing, that they were unsuccessful in getting signal from the Havens.

  “Do you have good news, or do you have bad news?” Arnold finally asked as he looked towards Kenya.

  “I think it’s both,” she sighed, “but it is more bad news than it is good. It’s a little hard to explain... Uh... I’ll show you,” Kenya said as she held the digital map out in front of her for them to see.

  Arnold, Clint, and Avenn gathered around the digital map, while Jordan was down in the Orca’s engine room. The digital map had a frozen image in it. On the lower end of the tablet, there was an X carved on the screen, and on the upper end, there was a circle with an X inside it, also carved. Between the two carving, a wavy dashed line connected the two.

  “Wait a minute… Why is this thing not moving?” Clint asked as he scratched the back of his helmet.

  “This was the best I was able to do. I wasn’t getting any clear signal from the Havens. I zoomed out the map enough to know our location,” she uttered as she pointed at the bottom X on the tablet, “and to know where we have to be.” She then pointed to the X on the upper part of the screen. Then, she grabbed her knife and marked the digital tablet’s screen once again with another X. “...And this is our current location.”

  “How long until we get to where we need to be?” Arnold asked.

  “If we keep going at this current speed, we can be there as early as tomorrow noon, or even earlier. We are at least making good time,” Kenya answered.

  “And how much more desert?” Arnold asked, desperate for it to finish.

  “I’m afraid it’s all deserts... There’s nothing else,” Kenya said with despair in her voice.

  “Hey, look at the bright side. At least, we don’t have anything following us. Maybe we’ve left the worst behind,” Avenn responded, trying to ease everyone.

  A half smile appeared on their faces, and they just hoped that what Avenn said was true.

  “I’m afraid that’s not so,” Jordan interrupted, sending a chill down their spine as he appeared back on deck.

  Nobody spoke; they all stood quiet, awaiting whatever bad news Jordan had.

  “We have been steadily losing power for the past three hours or so. And we are beginning to slow. Albeit it’s on a slow rate, we are losing power. Before you ask, I’ve tried to do everything in my power to fix it, but there’s no way. We lost our emergency power cell a while back. The Orca fed on the cell every time the solar sails overheated to prevent outages. The Orca used to have a regular main power cell where it drew power from, but we took it out to make the other airboats in the Haven run,” Jordan explained.

  “Like how much speed are we going to lose?” Kenya asked with a grave look on her face.

  “I’m not sure... But maybe by dawn, we will be at half the speed, and by midday we will be crawling.”

  A sinking feeling crept into their stomachs. They didn’t want to admit it, but one thing became clear. It was something they knew from the beginning, but they were hoping it would never come to realize. However, the odds kept stacking against them, making it more probable that this would be a one-way trip. It was hard to imagine any conceivable way back.

  5

  The Visitors

  Their highest commanding officer, the leader of the invasion of Earth, lay on his death bed. Medics and machine arms scrambled all around him, trying to keep him alive. He had already far exte
nded the life expectancy of his kind by over 140 years. Now, he was taking his last few breaths.

  Their language was far different from those on Earth; it sounded shorter and sharper. Many human scientists that got the chance to study the alien language called it a “universal language.” Among themselves, they only spoke in their native tongue, but whenever in contact with humans, sometimes they would choose to speak in the human language, easily picking it up.

  They were known to humans as the “Amphibian Slime” for their wet-like looks and gestures. They looked to the humans like big lizards with smooth skin. Their torso and arms were longer than a human was, and they all had bright colored eyes, with many distinctive markings in their skin. As far as names went, the alien invaders had a more prominent name: they called themselves “Hackaram” like their home world.

  “Call my son!” the dying alien commanded.

  “Right away, my lord,” the nearest medic complied right away, pulling up a digital pane from the floor. He typed in “Rendeleor Palac” in their language on the screen.

  A young-looking Hackaram appeared on the screen. “What is it?”

  “Lord Endorem would like to see you now,” the medic replied.

  “Very well then, I guess I’ll be on my way. I won’t be long,” Rendeleor said with clear annoyance.

  Only a few minutes passed before Rendeleor was in front of his father. The old leader gestured with his hand for all movement around him to stop and for everybody in the room to leave.

  “What can I do for you, my lord?” Rendeleor asked as he kneeled beside the old leader’s bed.