“We cannot. This ship is not designed for atmospheric travel, it will crush under the stresses. It was built in space and is meant to always reside there.”
“Have you contacted all the landings?” I asked.
“We have. Most have acquiesced, some will need a stronger show of force.”
“Iserwan is on board with that?” I asked.
“As long as he doesn’t need to fire upon his own kind, yes.”
“Are this ship’s defenses restored and manned?”
“The Genogerians are learning quickly. I am unsure if they could repel a determined attack quite yet, though. You have Iserwan’s word, he is not human, you have nothing to fear.”
“Old habits die hard. I’m glad you are up and about.”
“As am I.”
“Are you going to run this ship?” I asked him.
“It is yours, Michael.”
“I don’t want it. I could never afford the payments, the gas alone must be monstrous, and who the hell is going to insure this thing?”
“I know not what you speak of, Michael,” Urlack said with unease.
“Relax, my friend. I’m telling you, you would be much better suited to running this contraption than I would.”
“What would you have me do with it?”
“I’d rather you put it on autopilot and crash it into the moon.”
“We could do that.”
I stopped to look at him, I was completely unsure as to his true intention.
“My people are going to want to go over this thing. Will you have a problem with that?”
“Again, Michael, this ship is yours to do with as you please. I will merely monitor it for you if that is what you desire.”
“What else, Urlack? I really feel like you’re holding out on me.”
“I do not think crashing this ship to be a good idea.”
“I was mostly kidding about the crashing part.”
“There are more to fear in the universe than the Progerians. Only your remoteness in space has allowed you to stay relatively undiscovered.”
“Relatively?”
“We had conquered a species that had been monitoring your planet for centuries. They were more interested in your evolutionary development than the Progerians were. At first, it had to be decided if we would spend the resources to send a ship this far out. It was quite possible the aliens we had captured were trying to send us off on a fruitless endeavor. We are not the only ones that know of your existence in addition to that. Conquering ships will be dispatched here.”
That sounded far from good. “Ships?” I asked holding up my fingers.
“It is usually two, but early reports had you as a highly intelligent, war capable species. They will send three.”
“Lucky us.”
“That is not fortuitous.”
“Sorry, I forget it’s Dee that understands the sarcasm. Can this ship stop them?”
“I will try my best at one of your Earth analogies, this ship would be equal to an aircraft carrier and the Conquering ships would be equal to your heavy destroyers.”
“So head-to-head not a chance but, the fighters give us an edge.”
“Any destroyer is more than a match for a thousand fighters.”
I was wondering with the infrastructure of the world below in shambles would we be able to rebound quickly enough to manufacture more fighters and possibly our own heavy destroyer. People have a tendency to do the miraculous with their lives on the line.
“How much time do we have?”
“If we are able to hold off the initial Battle Fleet, they will surely send reinforcement, three to five years, depending on what else is happening in the Regime.”
“That sounds like a lot, but I know it’s not.” I answered.
"There is one more thing you should know Michael." Urlack said solemnly.
"Urlack I'm going to need some antacid soon."
"As we were going through the cells we came upon Supreme Commander Valletz."
"He was the original Supreme Commander? Why would he be in a cell?"
"It appears that Kuvlar was going to use him for his own purposes. Would you like me to have him brought to you?"
"How does your kind feel about public execution? Forget it sorry, no let him rot where he lay. On second thought why not stick Kuvlar in with him, I'm sure they will get along fabulously."
CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN
While the rest of the Hill stayed glued to their monitors for early news of the Genogerian rebellion, Beth was busy rifling through medical files.
"Shit, I thought the bitch was lying." Beth sighed as she held up a sonogram of Tracy's baby. She felt her grip on Mike slipping with every developmental cell split of the unborn fetus. "Dammit." She uttered as she hastily tossed the file back into the cabinet at the sound of footsteps coming back down the hallway.
"What are you doing?" A nurse asked as Beth stepped out of the medical room and quickly departed down the hallway.
"Lost." was all she uttered before she turned the corner and was out of sight. She headed toward the cafeteria, where a large gathering had assembled to listen for news. Nobody said anything as they waited but there was a calming affect being around so many others.
The majority of her hoped for Mike's victory but there was a darker part that hoped for his defeat. If he were to die or be defeated she could be done with him. It hurt her more than she could ever have imagined to want something so bad and not be able to have it. She knew her weakness for what it was and even laughed at herself. When he was falling all over himself for her, her interest hadn't been a tenth of what it was now.
When Mike's voice had boomed across the speakers from aboard the helm of the Julipion, the Hill had gone ecstatic, it was not something Beth felt that she could share in. Victory did not bring back her loved ones, she was to be alone in this new world and pretty would only get you so far. She purposefully strode out of the cafeteria and towards the only destination she could think of that did not stop in a dead end.
"What can I do for you Beth?" Paul asked jubilantly as he sat at his desk a large decanter of brown liquid being poured liberally amongst his senior officers.
"Is there any chance we could talk privately?" She nearly had to yell to be heard on top of the cacophony.
"Absolutely." He said getting up and grabbing her in friendly way to steer her back out to the empty waiting area. "Glorious day." Paul said beaming, as he looked at a picture that was mimicking a window.
Beth only shared some of his enthusiasm. "I'm going to leave here Paul."
"What?" He asked coming back from his reverie.
"There's nothing for me here anymore."
Paul almost said 'What about Mike?' But he knew that wasn't what she was looking for.
"I can tell by your face Paul, you're wondering what I'm doing here."
"It's that obvious?"
"Yes, as friends I just wanted to say goodbye."
Paul stared long and hard. "Beth just because Mike won today, the war is far from over, and you know as well as I do that it will be years before there is law and order established outside these walls."
"I know that." She answered but in reality she hadn't even thought about it, she figured as soon as Mike was victorious everything would revert back to the way it had been, why wouldn't people want that?
"I could have you detained."
"For what reason?" She asked haughtily.
"Personal safety, and this facility is still a closely guarded secret.
"And?"
"And what else?" Paul asked, "What more do I need?"
"I know once long ago Paul you wanted something more."
"Hold on Beth, we were kids a lot has happened since then. And since you've gone out with my best friend you are pretty much off limits anyway."
"Oh don't pull that man-code bullshit on me, if you think there's a chance between you and me I'll stay for a while, if not I'm grabbing my stuff and heading out no matter t
he consequences."
Paul was stuck he didn't know what to say.
Beth waited a moment longer before she walked past him heading towards her room.
"Beth." Paul began.
A smile spread across her lips as she kept walking, she was careful to not let him see.
"Beth wait, give me a chance to talk to Mike."
"I'll wait for a little while." She answered as she kept on walking.
CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT
Within a week, the fighting on the planet was over. To a being, the Genogerians desired freedom, there were a few hold outs. Some that had never known freedom and did not yet know how to wield it they were of the vast minority. The Progerians were another matter, completely. Very few took the offer of peace. Most were still in shock from the rapid turn of events. They had gone from colonizing a planet to prisoners in their own holds. Some would come around, but I wasn’t holding hope out for most of them.
A small colony of Genogerians set up homesteads right outside what was once Atlanta. A militia had to be hastily put together to keep them safe. For a very long time, there would be people that wanted to exact some measure of revenge against the invaders. It was going to take time and knowledge to let people know Genogerians were as much a victim as they were.
Most of the Genogerians understood the importance of learning the technology of their ‘masters’ so they could better defend themselves against the inevitability of a strike back. They had now tasted freedom and had no desire to give it back.
***
“Welcome aboard!” I shouted to Paul as I came into the hangar.
His jaw was about scraping the floor as he took in the sights. “Nice ride!” he yelled, with a huge grin on his face. “Bet you wouldn’t have to worry about a telephone pole in this thing,” he said referring to his accident a few years back.
A small (growing by the moment) pool of men and women poured out of the shuttle. They looked like they had the pocket protector market cornered. “Did you bring enough?”
“Scientists, theorists, engineers—everyone we could scrounge up. All of them said two years wouldn’t be enough time.”
“Not really a choice, this deadline is a true deadline.”
“Oh, buddy, horrible pun. I think you’ve been hanging with the enemy too long. Speaking of which, I brought a few more folks I’m sure you’d like to see.”
Dee appeared in the hatchway and began to descend the steps. He did not look too entirely pleased to be back on the vessel and why would he? His entire time aboard had been one of death and survival. I moved quickly to meet him.
“Hello, friend.” I waved as I approached.
Dee snarled. “It is good to see you hale of health, Michael Talbot,” Dee said, coming quickly to close the distance between us. He picked me up like I was a discarded rag doll. I was slightly embarrassed, but it felt good to be swept up in the moment, so to speak.
“Is there something you need to tell me?” Tracy asked from the doorway to the shuttle.
“Tracy?” I asked as I went twirling by. My heart leapt even as my stomach lurched from Dee’s ministrations. “You should probably put me down, Dee,” I told him.
“I was very overtaken with emotions, having seen you again without injury,” Dee said gently placing me on solid ground.
“It is always good to see you, my friend, and we will talk, but…” I said pointing to Tracy.
He turned. “Oh, yes your mate is here. Have I emasculated you in front of her?”
“It’ll be alright” I said, reaching up to smack his arm. I ran up the stairs to twirl Tracy around much like Dee had to me.
“Don’t you dare!” she smiled. “I’m not your plaything!!”
“It’s good to see you,” I told her, placing my forehead against hers.
***
Three billion people died as a direct result of the Progerian attack. Most were killed in the initial attacks, but a good number came from the riots, starvation and lack of an infrastructure afterward. There was nothing much left in terms of government or military. That was also by design of the invasion. And from the ashes, we had at most a two year reprieve before the battle fleet arrived. Earth, at present, resembled something more along the lines of the 1850s, with the help of the Genogerians and some Progerians, communications would be up and running to the entire planet in a month or so. And then the real work of rebuilding and preparing for the worst would take place. A team of over a thousand of the finest minds the world still had left to offer worked around the clock to reverse engineer everything on the Progerian vessel. It was believed that factories could be built and have the first human-sized Progerian fighters roll off the assembly line in eighteen months. Paul demanded it happen in nine.
Paul talked to me regarding him and Beth starting up a relationship, I was happy for him on one hand and a little hurt. It felt a little like a betrayal, but with Tracy getting ready to have our child I had other concerns on my mind. And as long as she had him to keep her busy that meant she would be out of my hair, at least that was how I hoped it was going to happen.
Nobody knows what the future holds. The planet is both a safer and a more hostile place at the same time. Within the new cities that are being built there is a sense of hope, of camaraderie, of man striving to come out on top against all odds. Outside lawlessness is the dominant force, it is still very much every man or woman for themselves. For some, having tasted the freedom to do whatever they pleased was too great a treat to give up, even if it were to save themselves or their eternal soul.
Check out these other titles by Mark Tufo
Zombie Fallout
It was a flu season like no other. With fears of contracting the H1N1 virus running rampant through the country, people lined up in droves to try and obtain one of the coveted vaccines. What was not known, was the effect this largely untested, rushed to market, inoculation was to have on the unsuspecting throngs.
Within days, feverish folk throughout the country, convulsed, collapsed and died, only to be re-born. With a taste for brains, blood and bodies, these modern day zombies scoured the lands for their next meal. Overnight the country became a killing ground for the hordes of zombies that ravaged the land.
This is the story of Michael Talbot, his family and his friends. When disaster strikes, Mike a self-proclaimed survivalist, does his best to ensure the safety and security of those he cares for. Can brains beat brain eaters? It's a battle for survival, winner take all!
Zombie Fallout 2: A Plague Upon Your Family
Zombies have destroyed Little Turtle, the Talbot’s find themselves on the run from a ruthless enemy that will stop at nothing to end their lineage. Here are the journal entries of Michael Talbot, his wife Tracy, their three kids Nicole, Justin and Travis. With them are Brendon, Nicole's fiancée and Tommy previously a Wal-Mart door greeter who may be more than he seems. Together they struggle against a relentless enemy that has singled them out above all others. As they travel across the war-torn country side they soon learn that there are more than just zombies to be fearful of, with law and order a long distant memory some humans have decided to take any and all matters into their own hands. Can the Talbots come through unscathed or will they suffer the fate of so many countless millions before them. It's not just brains versus brain-eaters anymore. And the stakes may be higher than merely life and death with eternal souls on the line.
Zombie Fallout 3: The End…
Continues Michael Talbot's quest to be rid of the evil named Eliza that hunts him and his family across the country. As the world spirals even further down into the abyss of apocalypse one man struggles to keep those around him safe. Side by side Michael stands with his wife, their children, his friends and the wonder Bulldog Henry along with the Wal-Mart greeter Tommy who is infinitely more than he appears and whether he is leading them to salvation or death is only a measure of degrees.
As Justin continues to slip further into the abyss he receives help from an unexpected ally all of wh
ich leads up to the biggest battle thus far.
Dr. Hugh Mann – A Zombie Fallout Prequel 3.5
Dr Hugh Mann delves deeper into what caused the zombie invasion. Early in the 1900’s Dr. Mann discovers a parasite that brings man to the brink of an early extinction. Come along on the journey with Jonathan Talbot is bride to be Marissa and the occasional visitations from the boy with the incredible baklava. Could there be a cure somewhere here and what part does the blood locket play?
Zombie Fallout IV: The End…Has Come and Gone
The End…has come and gone. This is the new beginning, the new world order and it sucks. The end for humanity came the moment the U.S. government sent out the infected flu shots. My name is Michael Talbot and this is my journal. I’m writing this because no one’s tomorrow is guaranteed, and I have to leave something behind to those who may follow.
So continues Mike’s journey, will he give up all that he is in a desperate bid to save his family and friends? Eliza is coming, can anyone be prepared?
Zombie Fallout V: Alive In A Dead World
Michael Talbot has set up a plan to finally turn the tables on his bitter rival Eliza. Sick of being relentlessly hunted, Mike asks for volunteers in a pivotal move that could finally end their conflict. But like what always happens to the best laid plans, nothing goes as it was drawn up. Now they are once again struggling to survive and more than one will succumb to the evil that walks the world.
Indian Hill
This first story is about an ordinary boy, who grows up in relatively normal times to find himself thrust into an extra-ordinary position. Growing up in suburban Boston he enjoys the trials and tribulations that all adolescents go through. From the seemingly tyrannical mother, to girl problems to run-ins with the law. From there he escapes to college out in Colorado with his best friend, Paul, where they begin to forge new relationships with those around them. It is one girl in particular that has caught the eye of Michael and he alternately pines for her and then laments ever meeting her.