PART FOUR: CONSPIRACY
Chapter 16: Political Manipulation
While Ruckus and the professor explored the mothership, events on Earth spiraled toward catastrophe.
In a small office in the Zone 3 Nuclear Military Complex, Ruckus—back in the Third Dimension—stood invisibly before a locked chamber. His dimension device malfunctioned, leaving him stuck in the Second Dimension instead.
"Damn it," he muttered. "This thing doesn't work. I'll have to stay in the Second Dimension."
He switched on the alien camouflage feature and approached the nuclear vault. Using the professor's keys and codes, he bypassed the security systems and opened the chamber. Inside were three small capsules, each containing a nuclear device—four inches long, three inches wide, enough destructive power to level a city.
He took all four capsules instead of one, figuring more explosives gave them better odds.
What Ruckus didn't know was that an alien in the Minister of Defense's office was watching everything.
The next morning, a fist slammed on the Defense Minister's desk.
"How does this happen?" the Minister demanded.
General Harraway, Chief of Internal Defense, stood at attention. "We don't know who took it, but we have video of the robbery."
The security footage showed the bombs vanishing into thin air—actually being taken by Ruckus in the Second Dimension.
"We have a backup strategy, sir," Harraway continued. "Inside all the bombs is a locator chip that will activate within twenty hours once the bombs leave the range of this plant. By my calculations, it will activate tomorrow at 18:15 hours. I've instructed all my men to be on standby. Once it activates, all units will rush to the location."
"How can you assure me that the bombs won't explode within these twenty hours?"
"They can only detonate after twenty hours. Furthermore, the bombs have secret activation codes."
"So make sure your men are there on time and get me those bastards! If not, you and me and the rest of the world won't exist anymore after that."
"Yes, sir."
But the alien in the room had heard everything. It immediately reported to DIOS, the first commanding officer on the mothership.
On the mothership, DIOS presented the information to SEFFEN, the Master of the Amra race.
The screen showed Ruckus taking the bombs.
"Well, well, well," SEFFEN said, leaning forward in his throne. "We have an ambitious trooper here. What's he going to do with the bombs? Sabotage me and take over this ship? Who is this trooper?"
"We don't have him in our records, Master. I've checked everything, but we still can't identify him as one of our troopers."
"That's impossible. How can you give me that answer?" SEFFEN's eyes burned brighter. "Well, who he is isn't important. What he's going to do is what I'm interested in. Send the Elite troopers once the humans locate the bombs. We must be there before they are. And send more troopers to the deployment station at that coordinate. That's the only exit he can use to get up here."
"I would like to give my opinion, Master."
"Continue."
"The Quadrant, Master. We cannot destroy it. Maybe the unidentified trooper is inside the Quadrant."
"My dear DIOS, no trooper can enter the Quadrant. How can you say that?"
"Maybe that trooper is not from our race. Maybe he's human. I suggest sending our Elite troopers there."
SEFFEN considered this. "Whatever, DIOS. Whatever. But make sure you're right."
Chapter 17: The False Evidence
At the Spiritual Center, Ruckus waited with the four bombs on the table before him. The device lights blinked at exactly 18:15.
"Hemen! Hemen!" Ruckus called out in panic, trying to deactivate the tracking signal.
The preacher rushed in. "What's going on?"
"I don't know. It just started blinking. I don't know if it's going to explode."
Outside, helicopter blades thundered. Preacher Welch looked out the window to see hundreds of soldiers surrounding the center.
"You have to leave. They're coming for the bombs."
"What about you?"
"Don't worry about me."
"We have to destroy the portal to prevent them from chasing me and ruining the professor's plan."
"But how will you get back?"
"We'll figure something out. Destroy it! Save yourself, Hemen!"
Ruckus grabbed the bombs and rushed into the portal, vanishing just as the main door exploded inward. Soldiers poured into the center.
Preacher Welch picked up an axe and smashed the portal's control mechanism, sparking and shattering it beyond repair.
The soldiers arrested him immediately. The Quadrant's force field deactivated, and aliens in a flash rushed into the room, searching for Ruckus.
"We lost the signal, sir," a tracker reported. "It just vanished."
Colonel Winthrep called General Harraway. "General, subject managed to escape with the bombs, sir."
"What? Then search the entire area. Double time!"
But the conspiracy went deeper than anyone suspected.
In the Intelligence Office, a technician finished creating masks—one of Preacher Welch, and one of KARKI, the Head Representative of the Eastern Alliance.
General Harraway held up KARKI's mask, examining its lifelike quality.
The Minister of Defense walked in. "Everything ready?"
"Yes. We'll do the shooting in one hour. I'll send the video to you personally after that."
"Make it as real as possible. You're getting a movie award, after all. Furthermore, it's going to be box office around the globe anyway."
They both laughed.
Within hours, fake footage was broadcast worldwide showing "Preacher Welch" handing nuclear weapons to "KARKI" in a parking garage. Under interrogation, an actor wearing Welch's face "confessed" to hating the Western Alliance government and conspiring with the Eastern Alliance.
The evidence was manufactured. The confession was staged. But the world believed it.
Within twenty-four hours, both superpowers had their nuclear missiles on Alert One, ready to launch.
Chapter 18: March to War
In the Western Alliance President's office, President Arthur Denning stood with his hands on the window pane, looking out at the capital city. The Minister of Defense sat with
In the Western Alliance President's office, President Arthur Denning stood with his hands on the window pane, looking out at the capital city. The Minister of Defense sat with a file in his hands. Alex Mount, the President's Adviser—short and intelligent—sat beside him.
"So the main culprit is the Eastern Alliance," the President said.
"Yes, Mr. President. According to our main intelligence reports, they've tried to steal our warheads several times before, but this time they succeeded."
"Do we have any proof to show the world?"
"No, but the world will believe us as they usually do. Furthermore, we don't have any other source who would really want the warheads except them. And now, if they have taken four warheads, their strength is equal to ours."
The President turned from the window. "We have to be very careful in accusing them. We don't want to start a nuclear war, do we?"
"But we already have it, sir," the Adviser said. "The support of half the world. They will believe us."
The President sat in his chair. "All right. But for the meantime, try to get as much evidence as we can to support our claim. Alex, arrange a meeting with the Eastern Alliance Representative here right away. We'll give them a warning."
"Yes, Mr. President."
"And you!" The President pointed at the Minister. "You go get that evidence."
"Yes, sir."
Outside the Presidential Palace, the Minister lit a cigarette, sucking in the smoke deeply. In the Second Dimension, his alien leaned close to his ear, whispering suggestions, feeding fear and aggression.
"Well, your job is on the line, but I have some suggestions to help you."
The Minister picked up his car phone and called General Harraway.
"General, gather your actors. We've got some filming to do."
Hours later, in the President's Foreign Affairs meeting room, Alex Mount sat with other Western Alliance officials facing the Eastern Alliance delegation. Cameras lined the walls—this meeting was being broadcast worldwide.
Karki, the Head Representative of the Eastern Alliance, was a medium-sized man with simple attire but a serious face.
"May I start, Mr. Karki?"
Karki nodded curtly.
"We regret to tell you that four units of our warheads were stolen from our nuclear complex yesterday. We believe your Alliance has taken them, and this action is a breach of the Orea Agreement."
Karki turned to his advisers, then back to Alex. "This is a great accusation. We have no interest in your bombs. We have ours, which are much more powerful than yours."
"The President of the Western Alliances is really concerned about this and demands you return the bombs for the sake of world peace."
"You don't have the right to demand anything from us, and we did not steal your bombs!"
"Mr. Karki, if you do not return the bombs within twenty-four hours, we will put our warheads into position on Alert One. Do you understand what that means?"
"Yes, I understand. It means you're the one breaching the Agreement here, accusing us without showing any evidence. Listen very carefully. We also demand you provide evidence within twenty-four hours, and if not, we will also move to position Alert One in our way. This meeting is over!"
The Eastern Alliance delegation walked out. Around the world, people watched in horror as their leaders marched toward mutual destruction.
In the Second Dimension, millions of aliens whispered into millions of ears, pushing humanity toward the precipice.
Chapter 19: The Breakthrough
At the Spiritual Center, Ruckus waited for the next deployment with the bombs on the table. At exactly 18:15, the tracking devices inside the bombs began blinking.
"Hemen! Hemen!" Ruckus called in panic, trying to deactivate them.
The preacher rushed in. "What's going on?"
"I don't know. They just started blinking. I don't know if they're going to explode."
Outside, the thunder of helicopter blades filled the air. Preacher Welch looked out the window to see hundreds of soldiers surrounding the center, military vehicles blocking every exit.
"You have to leave. They're coming for the bombs."
"What ab1111111out you?"
"Don't worry about me."
"We have to destroy the portal to prevent them from chasing me and ruining the professor's plan."
"But how will you get back?"
"We'll figure something out. Destroy it! Save yourself, Hemen!"
Ruckus grabbed the bombs and rushed into the portal room. Just as he vanished into the Second Dimension, the main door exploded inward. Soldiers in full tactical gear poured into the center.
Preacher Welch picked up an axe and brought it down on the portal's control mechanism. Sparks flew as circuits shattered. The portal flickered and died, its quantum field collapsing into nothingness.
The soldiers arrested him immediately. As the Quadrant's force field deactivated, aliens in a flash rushed into the room, searching frantically for Ruckus. But he was already gone.
"We lost the signal, sir," a tracker reported. "It just vanished."
Colonel Winthrep grabbed his radio. "General, subject managed to escape with the bombs, sir."
"What? Then search the entire area. Double time!"
But Ruckus was already at the cemetery, preparing for the next exchange.
Chapter 20: Infiltration
Under cover of the Third Dimension, Ruckus waited at the cemetery deployment station. When an alien passed near him in a hidden area, Ruckus attacked from behind, striking the creature's head with an energy beam from his dimension device.
Green blood spurted. The alien collapsed, dead.
Ruckus took out his device and scanned the dead alien's body, programming his disguise to match it exactly—a trooper named Basker. He picked up the alien's human corpse and walked to the deployment station with the bombs hidden in his bag.
An Elite Alien Trooper stopped him at the checkpoint, examining his face carefully through sophisticated scanners. Ruckus held his breath.
The alien signaled him to move on.
On the transport ship heading to the mothership, another alien sat beside him.
"Basker! So you got a good one very fast, huh! This one brings me to number 1,434 to date. What's yours?"
Ruckus remained silent, trying to stay in character.
"I can't remember."
"What! You can't remember? You always talk about it every time we go and come back!" The alien stared at him suspiciously.
"I'm sorry. I'm too tired."
Ruckus turned away, but he could feel the alien's eyes boring into his back. This was going to be a problem.
Chapter 21: Discovery
At the mothership landing bay, each alien passed through checkpoints. Ruckus cleared them and immediately headed toward the engine room, laying down the human body he'd carried in a corner.
But the suspicious alien had followed him.
"Basker! Why did you put this human here? You're supposed to send it to the Chamber."
Ruckus said nothing, his mind racing.
"What is my name?"
Silence.
"You're not Basker. You're that traitor they're trying to find. Now this is my chance to make the Master proud of me!"
The alien pulled out an energy whip and struck Ruckus across the back. Searing pain exploded through him. The dimension device flew from his wrist, skittering across the floor toward the edge of a bridge overlooking the combustion chamber far below.
Ruckus dove for his bag with the bombs. The alien whipped again, snagging the bag from his hands.
"You want this? Come and get it."
Another strike opened a gash across Ruckus's chest. "That one's for Basker! Wherever you sent him to."
The alien raised the whip for a killing blow, but Ruckus grabbed it mid-swing. He pulled hard, yanking the alien off balance. As it stumbled forward, Ruckus pulled out his knife and drove it deep into the alien's abdomen.
Green blood spurted from the wound. The alien screamed, a sound like metal tearing.
They grappled at the edge of the bridge. The alien wrapped its hands around Ruckus's throat, choking him. Ruckus's vision began to darken. His right hand desperately searched the floor and found the dimension device. He grabbed it.
With his last strength, Ruckus kicked hard, catching the alien in what passed for its groin.
The alien flew backward over the edge, falling into the combustion chamber below. Its screams echoed as it burned to death in the intense heat meant to power the ship's engines.
Ruckus stood shakily, bleeding from multiple wounds, and retrieved his bag with the bombs.
"Well, that's two living beings in one day," he muttered, pressing his hand against his bleeding wounds.
He stumbled toward the engine room, leaving a trail of blood behind him.
Chapter 22: The Professor's Discovery
The professor was waiting when Ruckus staggered in, barely able to stand.
"What happened to you?"
"You don't want to know."
"Did you get them?"
"Yes. We have no time, Professor. They're searching for us."
"I know. How's Hemen?"
Ruckus's face fell. "He didn't make it. They caught him. He destroyed the portal to save us."
The professor's expression crumbled. He shook his head slowly, grief washing over him. Another good man sacrificed to this impossible mission.
Ruckus handed him one of the bombs. The professor examined it, his hands moving with practiced efficiency despite the emotional blow.
"This is it," the professor said quietly. "Once we activate these, there's no going back."
"Was there ever a way back?" Ruckus asked.
Before the professor could answer, he moved to the database terminal one last time.
"There's something I need to check," he said.
He accessed the human database, typing in his own subject number: 6001.
The screen filled with images from his life. But what he saw made his blood run cold.
The day Geena fell from the cliff—from the Second Dimension perspective, an alien hand was clearly visible, reaching out and pulling her foot, causing her to slip.
His wife's death wasn't an accident. It was murder.
The book given to the preacher—the screen showed it wasn't given by the professor in his dream, as Hemen had believed. The figure in the light was Ruckus, or rather, the alien who would later impersonate him.
Every element of their plan had been orchestrated by the aliens from the beginning.
"Professor?"
The professor turned to see Ruckus's face, and suddenly he understood. He quickly accessed Ruckus's database—subject number 9889.
The screen showed the truth: Ruckus's brother Raymond, falling from the roof. But in the Second Dimension view, an alien stood beside the boy, its hand on his ankle, pushing him off the edge.
Then the view shifted forward in time. After Jerry's death, after Ruckus joined the professor, the records showed Ruckus being taken by aliens. The real Ruckus Howling was extracted during one of his first trips through the portal, replaced by Temri, an elite alien operative.
The being standing before him now wasn't Ruckus at all. It never had been.
"It was all planned," the professor whispered. "To bring me here to activate the bombs. You're not Ruckus. You never were."
The alien wearing Ruckus's face smiled, a terrible expression that no human would make.
"What? What are you talking about?" it said, still maintaining the pretense.
The door hissed open.
SEFFEN walked in, flanked by DIOS and elite guards.
"You finally got it, Professor Samuel Matheson," SEFFEN said smoothly. "It is impossible for you to figure it out yourself, but it is happening."
He gestured welcomingly. "Welcome to my ship, Professor Samuel Matheson and Mr. Ruckus Howling. Well, I think you have done some touring at your own initiative. I'm impressed. You are the first human beings who managed to enter this ship alive. It is all because of the book."
SEFFEN picked up the ancient tome from a side table.
"This book was written by someone—I don't know whom—a long, long time ago. Remember the last pages that were missing? Those pages showed how the dimension device is created. The book was deliberately given to you, and you were smart enough to follow it and create a dimensional portal together with the wrist device that brought you here. And now, you have brought me something that I really wanted."
He gestured at the bombs.
"A result of human stupidity. Stupid enough to destroy your own planet. Yes, following the rules—the rules that the FORCE allows—I can only destroy your planet through something that human beings created as the result of their own weakness. The obsession with power. Thinking that your race can control each other by the bombs you own. Now I will use them to destroy your planet."
He turned to the alien wearing Ruckus's form. "Mr. Ruckus, give me the bombs."
The professor pulled out his gun and pointed it at the fake Ruckus. "No, Ruckus."
Ruckus smiled and opened his right hand, showing the bullets. "What are you doing? You can't shoot me. The bullets are with me."
The professor pulled the trigger anyway. It produced only the empty click of an unloaded weapon.
Ruckus walked toward SEFFEN, knelt, and offered all four bombs.
"Rise, Ruckus. Show us who you really are," SEFFEN commanded.
Using his finger, the alien traced a line from the middle of his head down to his abdomen. The human skin split open like a suit being unzipped, revealing the green-skinned, red-eyed creature beneath.
"That is the real Ruckus," SEFFEN said, though the name wasn't quite accurate. "He is actually one of my secret operatives who will do my covert operations. Even my first Commanding Officer doesn't know about this. Everything was planned. To use your intelligence to activate these bombs and bring them to me. Ruckus—or rather, Temri—not only brought one bomb but brought three others. That's enough to destroy your planet and the human race inside it."
"But you don't have the codes for the other bombs," the professor said desperately.
Temri raised his left hand, showing the small paper with all the activation codes. Then he reached down and deactivated the armed bomb with practiced ease.
The professor sank to his knees. "What have I done?"
Chapter 23: The Master's Speech
"Yes, blame it on yourself," SEFFEN said. "Because the only faith you had to destroy me was with these stupid tiny things. That is your weakness. Thinking that all your problems can be solved by bombs? You're just like the same people you have down there. Without giving faith to the FORCE. He is the only one that can save you. But no! You chose the bombs instead. So be it."
He turned to Temri. "Chain this stupid human."
Chains emerged from the alien's hands—living metal that wrapped around the professor and bound him to the floor, holding him in a kneeling position facing the weapons console.
"Professor, I want you to witness yourself the result of your stupidity. Temri, prepare to launch the gunners."
Temri took the bombs and placed each one inside rocket capsules. He loaded them into the ship's massive weapons systems, programming the targeting coordinates with inhuman precision.
"Master, all four rockets set on coordinate XCD3, AJK5, RTS7, and BTL10. Target locked, Master."
"Professor, allow me to explain what we're trying to do here," SEFFEN said, his tone almost professorial. "Coordinate XCD3 is for the Quadrant—the Spiritual Center. AJK5 is on the eastern part, RTS7 is on the north, and BTL10 is on the southern part of your planet. Perfect points to suck every source of energy. Don't worry. We're not going to blow up your planet. We just want to desert it. Just what we have done with the other planets in this solar system."
SEFFEN raised his hands and created a holographic screen. Nine planets appeared—Mars, Jupiter, Venus, Mercury, all of them.
"All of these planets once held billions of human beings," SEFFEN continued. "We have taken some of them into the ship, while others we just left to die when we hit them with the beam. Just what we're going to do to your planet after this. Your planet is the second to last planet, and this is the last system we have entered. The energy we're going to get here will be used to move this ship toward our next destination—Khell, where we are doomed to go for all eternity."
The screen disappeared.
"So now you know—you're going to be responsible for the death of millions of people on your planet. And not only you are to blame, but also the leaders of your planet. I think by now they are arranging to launch their warheads toward each other. When this happens, I will also send the beam to the four coordinates. So when some who are lucky enough to survive will blame each other for the destruction of the planet without knowing there is a third party involved. That is the whole plan."
SEFFEN's eyes blazed with ancient fury. "The trick is to show that we never existed."
He gave the order: "Temri, launch the rockets."
"Yes, Master."
Temri pressed the launch button. Four missiles blasted out from the launch panels, leaving trails of fire as they descended toward Earth in four different directions.
The professor watched in horror, tears streaming down his face, as everything he'd tried to prevent came to pass—and he had been the instrument of it all.
Chapter 24: Human Mistakes
On Earth, the dominoes continued to fall.
In the Eastern Alliance President's office, Karki was dragged in by armed soldiers, his face pale with terror.
"I didn't do it! I was framed!" he pleaded.
President Luuku sat behind his desk, his face a mask of cold fury. "Do you realize what you have done to your nation? You have humiliated us."
Karki fell to his knees, his voice breaking. "I swear I didn't do it. I was in another place at that time. You have to believe me!"
Lonj Da, the President's adviser, threw a bank statement at Karki's face. The papers scattered across the floor.
"We found ten million dollars in your account. The transaction was made the same day as the weapons exchange."
Karki grabbed the statement, reading it in horror. "I didn't put this money in! Somebody framed me! Can't you see? This is all manufactured!"
"You still want to defend yourself?" President Luuku's voice was ice. "Take this traitor out and execute him in front of the public. Let everyone see what happens to those who betray their nation."
"Please! Please! No!" Karki's screams echoed as soldiers dragged him from the room.
After the door closed, Lonj Da turned to the President. "Sir, our intelligence says they will launch their bombs ten minutes from now. I think we'd better launch ours first."
"But what about our people they have taken into custody in their part of the world? Our diplomats, our citizens?"
"They have to be sacrificed, sir. It's them or our entire nation."
President Luuku stood and walked to the window, looking out at his capital city. Millions of people going about their lives, unaware that the next hour would determine whether they lived or died.
In the Second Dimension, his alien leaned close to his ear, its voice a whisper of poison: "Do it. Don't give them a chance. Strike first, strike hard. It's the only way to protect your people."
Lonj Da picked up the red phone and handed it to the President.
President Luuku stared at it for a long moment. Then, with a hand that barely trembled, he took it.
"Fire."
At the Eastern Alliance Nuclear Battle Station, deep beneath the Caucasus Mountains, the order was relayed through encrypted channels.
An officer stood before a massive control panel, his hand hovering over the launch authorization button.
"Fire!" he repeated.
His hand came down.
A rocket burst from a hidden silo in the mountains, leaving a trail of smoke and fire as it climbed into the sky, arcing toward the Western Alliance capital city thousands of miles away.
At the Western Alliance Nuclear Battle Station in Montana, radar operators watched their screens in growing horror.
"Sir! One warhead has been launched from the east, heading toward the Capital. Impact in approximately eight minutes."
General Zack, a career military man who had spent thirty years preparing for this moment and praying it would never come, grabbed the red phone.
"Call the President now!"
In the Presidential office, Arthur Denning stood surrounded by his advisers and military chiefs. The room that had hosted peaceful policy discussions now felt like a tomb.
Colonel Hutchinson held the phone with a shaking hand. "Mr. President, our enemy has launched one missile sixty seconds ago. Estimated time to impact: seven minutes, thirty seconds."
The President looked at each person in the room. His Secretary of State. His Defense Minister. General Harraway. Men and women he'd worked with for years, now facing the unthinkable together.
In the Second Dimension, their aliens whispered urgently, each tailoring their poison to their specific human: feeding the President's sense of duty, the General's military instincts, the Minister's fear of appearing weak.
"Launch ours," the President said, his voice barely above a whisper.
Colonel Hutchinson repeated the order into the phone: "Fire."
At the Western Alliance Battle Station, General Zack closed his eyes for a moment, said a brief prayer, then gave the order.
Another rocket burst from its silo, climbing into the morning sky, heading east.
Mutual assured destruction was no longer a deterrent. It was happening.
A Secret Service agent grabbed the President's arm. "We have to get you to the bunker right away, sir."
The President nodded numbly, letting himself be led away.
General Harraway turned to stare at the Defense Minister, who stood frozen by the window.
"Is this real?" Harraway asked. "Did we really just launch nuclear weapons based on that evidence?"
The Minister couldn't meet his eyes. He bowed his head, unable to speak. He'd helped manufacture the evidence that started this war, creating the false video of Karki, planting the money in his account, never truly believing it would lead to this moment.
He'd thought he was protecting his nation. Instead, he'd doomed it.
They all rushed toward the emergency elevator as sirens began to wail across the capital, warning millions of people who had no shelter, no escape, no hope.
Chapter 25: The Preacher's End
At the Spiritual Center, Colonel Winthrep pressed Preacher Welch's face against the cold floor, his knee in the old man's back.
"For the last time, where are the bombs?"
Preacher Welch, his face bruised and bleeding, managed a sad smile. "They're not here. They never were. They're exactly where they need to be."
The roof of the Spiritual Center suddenly exploded inward with a sound like thunder. Dust and debris rained down as one of SEFFEN's missiles descended slowly through the opening, landing gear deploying from its sides like the legs of some massive insect.
The missile settled gently in the center of the hall, right in front of them, its surface gleaming with alien technology and human nuclear material combined into something unprecedented.
Preacher Welch looked at the bomb and his smile widened, no longer sad but almost peaceful.
"There are your bombs, Colonel."
The device activated with a sound like a choir singing backwards.
A brilliant flash of light consumed everything—Colonel Winthrep, Preacher Welch, the soldiers, the sacred hall that had protected them from the aliens for so long.
But the explosion wasn't like a normal nuclear detonation. Instead of simply destroying, it converted. Every atom, every molecule, every quantum of energy from every living thing in a hundred-mile radius was sucked into the missile and transmitted instantaneously back to the mothership orbiting beyond the moon.
The Spiritual Center, the university, the town—all of it was reduced to desert in an instant. Not even ash remained. Just empty, lifeless ground.
And in the pods on the mothership, the harvested souls screamed.
Chapter 26: The Harvest
Across the planet, the same scene repeated with mechanical precision.
At AJK5 in the eastern territories, the missile landed on the ancient temple grounds where pilgrims had worshipped for three thousand years. Farmers working in their fields saw the strange light and began to run. They didn't make it ten steps.
Fishermen on their boats tried to dive into the water. Children playing on the roads looked up at the sky in wonder.
The flash came.
All of them—farmers, fishermen, children, priests, animals, even the insects and bacteria in the soil—all converted to pure energy and sucked into the missile. Their life forces, their souls, their very essence stolen to power an alien ship's journey to damnation.
At RTS7 in the frozen north, the missile struck the ice fields. A research station full of scientists studying climate change had just enough time to see it coming on their instruments.
"What is that?" one asked.
They never got an answer.
The glaciers themselves seemed to scream as they were unmade. Villages of indigenous people who had lived in harmony with the ice for millennia simply ceased to exist. Polar bears, seals, even the frozen bacteria in the permafrost—all harvested, all fuel.
At BTL10 in the southern mountains, the missile landed on the peak of the highest mountain in the range. Hikers on the slopes below saw a new sun appear above them.
One of them, a young woman on her first real adventure, had just enough time to think, "It's beautiful," before she and everything around her was consumed.
The mountains themselves were stripped of life. Rivers ran empty. Forests became fields of standing dead wood in an instant.
On the mothership, the four beams of stolen energy returned through the weapons ports, flooding into the massive crystal at the ship's core. The crystal blazed with such intensity that even the aliens had to shield their eyes.
All the humans in the pods screamed in unified agony as the fresh energy was distributed through their tortured bodies. The ship needed them alive to process the power, to convert raw life force into usable propulsion energy.
The professor, newly attached to his pod beside Geena, experienced it for the first time. It felt like every nerve in his body was on fire, like his soul was being torn from his flesh and then forced back in, over and over again.
He wanted to die. But death wouldn't come. The aliens wouldn't allow it. He was too valuable as a battery.
Through his pain, he could hear Geena beside him, her screams mixing with his own, and he knew that this was his eternal punishment for his arrogance. He had thought he could save humanity with science, with bombs, with clever plans.
He had been so wrong.
The aliens throughout the ship—thousands of them on every deck—raised their fists and shouted for victory. Their mission was nearly complete.
The energy beams stopped.
On Earth, four vast zones—collectively covering an area the size of Western Europe—were left utterly empty. Silent. Dead.
Wind blew across landscapes where nothing lived anymore. Not even bacteria remained to begin the slow work of decay.
It was as if those places had never known life at all.
Chapter 27: Mission Accomplished
In the engine room, SEFFEN stood before the viewport, watching the energy indicators reach full capacity. His ancient eyes reflected the glow of the crystal, and for the first time in eons, something like satisfaction crossed his inhuman face.
"Mission accomplished," he said quietly, then turned to address the professor, still chained to the floor behind him.
"You see, Professor, just like I told you—I am not going to blow up your planet. I just want to destroy what is in it. The planet itself will remain, empty and lifeless, a testament to what happens when beings reject the FORCE and put their faith in their own power instead."
He walked closer to the professor, leaning down to speak directly to him.
"You wanted to be humanity's savior. You wanted to prove that science could defeat anything. But you forgot the oldest truth: every great evil works by convincing good men that they're doing the right thing. I didn't force you to build that portal. I didn't force you to steal those bombs. I simply provided the tools and let your arrogance do the rest."
He straightened up. "Temri, bring the Professor to the burning chamber and place him beside his wife so they can share the pain together for all eternity. Isn't that romantic?"
The alien opened the chains with a gesture and grabbed the professor by his arms, dragging him toward the human pod chamber.
As they walked, Temri leaned close to the professor's ear, his voice mocking. "Remember those words you used to say to me when I was pretending to be your student? 'How was the tour? Ready to face the real world?' Well, Professor—now it's your turn!"
They entered the massive chamber where millions of humans hung in their pods, some freshly harvested, others reduced to barely living husks after years of service as biological batteries.
The professor saw Geena hanging in her pod, her body half-blackened from prolonged energy extraction, her face frozen in an expression of eternal agony even though she was currently unconscious between feeding cycles.
"Geena!" he cried out, trying to pull free from Temri's grip.
She didn't respond. Perhaps couldn't respond. Perhaps there wasn't enough of her left to respond anymore.
Temri attached the professor to an empty pod beside her. Tubes snaked out and inserted themselves into his mouth, his veins, connecting him to the ship's power grid.
The energy extraction began immediately.
The professor screamed as his life force was drained, processed, and fed into the ship's engines. It felt like being burned alive from the inside, except it never stopped, never granted the mercy of death.
And he knew, with terrible clarity, that this would continue forever. As long as the ship needed power, as long as his body could be kept alive, he would suffer. Years. Decades. Centuries, perhaps, if the aliens' technology could sustain him that long.
He had sought to save humanity and instead had provided the means for its destruction.
He had sought to be reunited with his wife and instead had doomed her to eternal torment.
He had put his faith in science instead of the FORCE, and this was his reward.
The professor's screams joined the chorus of millions, a symphony of suffering that powered an ancient evil's march toward damnation.
Chapter 28: The Next Target
On the bridge of the mothership, SEFFEN settled into his command chair with evident satisfaction. DIOS approached, datapad in hand.
"Well, DIOS," SEFFEN said languidly, "what is our next target?"
"Coordinate 5674E. One Centron from now, Master."
"Coordinate 5674E."
The massive viewscreen activated, zooming across space to show their next destination. A blue and green planet rotated peacefully in its star's habitable zone, white clouds swirling across oceans and continents. Beautiful. Teeming with life.
"Planet Earth," SEFFEN said softly, almost lovingly. "How interesting. Our last planet before we reach Khell."
He stood from his chair and walked toward the viewscreen, placing one hand on it as if he could already feel the billions of souls waiting to be harvested.
"They don't even know we exist," he mused. "For all their science, all their technology, all their wars and nations and pride—they have no idea that we're already there, walking beside every single one of them, waiting for the moment they lose faith."
DIOS joined him at the screen. "Master, the preliminary surveys show Earth is even more populated than this planet was. Over seven billion humans. The harvest will be... substantial."
"Good," SEFFEN said. "We'll need every one of them for the final journey to Khell. And DIOS? Make sure we take our time with Earth. I want to savor it. The despair, the confusion, the moment when they realize their entire civilization was meaningless because we were there all along, orchestrating every tragedy, every war, every moment of suffering."
He slowly turned his head away from the screen, rotating until he was facing directly outward, as if he could see through the fourth wall, through the story itself, to the audience beyond.
His burning red eyes seemed to lock onto something outside the narrative.
"Remember," he said, his voice carrying a terrible weight that transcended the scene, "once you leave this room, once you close this book, once you return to your world—it's not going to be the same anymore. Because now you know. Now you've seen what we do, how we work, how we've been there all along."
His lipless mouth twisted into something that might have been a smile.
"Watch your back."
He held that gaze for a long moment, staring outward, then slowly turned back to the viewscreen showing Earth.
"Set course for Coordinate 5674E," he commanded. "Maximum speed. Let's not keep them waiting."
The mothership's engines flared to life, powered by the stolen life force of billions, burning brighter than before with the fresh energy of an entire planet's population.
The ship began to move through space, accelerating toward Earth.
Toward us.
The camera pulled back from SEFFEN on the bridge, moving through the vast corridors of the ship. It passed the engine room where the crystal pulsed with stolen souls. It passed the endless rows of human pods where the professor and Geena and millions of others hung suspended in eternal agony, their screams muted by the vacuum of space but no less real.
It passed the deployment stations where aliens prepared for the next harvest, sharpening their skills, perfecting their whispers, practicing the art of destroying faith.
It passed the war room where DIOS and his commanders planned the conquest of Earth, identifying key points of weakness in humanity's defenses—not military defenses, but spiritual ones. Where were the areas of strongest faith? Where were the places where hope burned brightest? Those would need to be targeted first, to break humanity's spirit before the harvest began.
The camera continued pulling back, showing the full scale of the mothership—a construct the size of a planet, built from the corpses of civilizations, powered by the suffering of the innocent, carrying the damned toward their eternal destination.
And still it moved toward Earth, steady and inevitable.
Inside the burning chamber, the professor opened his eyes one last time. Through his pain, through the torture of having his soul repeatedly drained and restored, he saw Geena beside him.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, though she couldn't hear him. "I'm so sorry."
But there was no one to accept his apology. No redemption. No escape.
Only endless suffering in service to an ancient evil's journey to damnation.
And Earth, beautiful and blue and completely unaware, waited in the darkness of space.
FADE TO BLACK
THE END