Short story: Extinction

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Well, here goes, I know not many people read stuff posted here but I thought I would give it another chance. I have just finished a little short story which in a way is a prequel to a larger story stuck in mind. It is not edited in any way so I am sure there are plenty of oddities to be pointed out by anyone having the energy and it will be very appreciated if they are.

Extinction

How had it come to this? It is a question I had asked myself many times in the last decades. I paced the room restlessly looking at the few but determined faces around me dreading what would happen to them, what had already happen. Worn, tired faces looked at me, all hope gone from their eyes but still looking at me for strength to face what we all knew was to come. As I had done many times during my life I thought back on the last decades trying to make some sense out of what has happened.

It all started 42 years ago, the year 2543. Earth, our once sweet beautiful home was for the first time united and had been so for almost a century after millennia of intermittent warfare. United may be a too strong a word as it was still a patchwork of factions but we know had now a common goal, a common interest and there was no room for petty human strife as we struck out for the stars, exploiting space as we had exploited the Earth since the dawn of humanity. Colonies on Mars and Europa had been thriving for a few centuries and we now had the technology to strike out to different solar systems. Planting our seed wherever it could get the slightest hold.

We had made contact with the Yartan, popularly known as “elves” due to their eerie resemblance of the elves of ancient mythology and fantasy, two decades earlier. They were a tall long limbed race with big eyes and fine hair. They were so like us that we had to come from the same stock or evolution is more rigid than we could ever had imagined. Their planet, Yart as they called it, were much like earth. Teeming with life and for us full of exotic products, just as our earth was full of for the Yartan exotic products. For a decade we traded and lived in peace, both races fascinated by the other as the first and only alien intelligence they had encountered. This peaceful co-existence was to come to an abrupt end though and it was all our fault, even if we did not know it at the time.

Human ships started to disappear with no trace, first a few which were thought of as accidents. Space is a large place and a lot can happen there. As more and more ships started to go missing it was obvious that something was going on. Fingers started being pointed at the elves. We know now that the Christian Coalition of America was behind the disappearances in a bid to gain complete control of Earth during a war with Yart. As all ships to and from Yart disappeared reports started to come in of vessels seeing Yartan ships attacking the unarmed Earth trading ships. All these rapports came from CCA ships, something we might have thought about at the time but there was no reason to suspect fellow humans over an alien race which was more and more depicted as untrustworthy, sinister and outright evil. None of our communications with the elves came through and we were more and more convinced that they meant business. Uncertain reports of distant human space stations and colonies being blasted into oblivion drifted about turning our fears into what we thought was fact. Demagogues rallied the masses all over the world and our shipyards started building a vast fleet of warships. We put all of Earth's resources under the emergency authority of the CCA. Strike teams were sent out to attack Yartan ships and outposts and these “great” victory lead the people of Earth to laud praise over their protectors and saviors in CCA. The plan of the Christian Coalition seemed to work perfectly. They had made one critical mistake however. The Yartan had always to us seemed like a peaceful, almost weak, race with no interest in war or strife and a technology much on the same level as ours. We were wrong, the CCA were wrong, we were all wrong. The Yartan might have appeared peaceful and placid but they had a history longer than ours and just as full conflict. They refitted what ships they had and proved to have a vast capability to build new ones, and their weapon technology was for the most part much more advanced than ours. Our strike teams were blasted from space and instead it was our outposts and colonies which were blown away, this time for real. Elven ships took control of most of known space and everything we sent against them were obliterated. A sense of panic engulfed the Earth. The CCA was not hand fallen though, they had one last final desperate plan. We would strike at the elven heart, rip it out of the Yartan war machine. A fleet was outfitted with the newly developed nova bombs, bombs made up of particles with no mass capable of shooting through the crust of a planet and ignite its centre into a miniature supernova. I was to be part of the crew of one the nova carrying vessels.

As I think back at the time before the launch of operation “Divine Wrath” which our planet destroying fleet was called I shudder. How easy humans took to the thought of incinerating an entire planet, how easy I took to that thought. Of killing billions of sentient persons and bringing about the destruction of the only life outside of Earth all in the blink of an eye. I pace around the complex, checking in on the children huddling at the lowest levels looking at their innocent eyes. Is that the eyes of beings capable of destroying entire planets? I do not want to think the thought but my own experience tells me it is. I call my lieutenant and he tells me that it will not be long now. My thoughts again drift away, to the day we launched the Divine Wrath.

Oh so convinced I was! Convinced that we were doing the right thing, that we would end the threat of the wicked evil elves and live happily forever after. Humanity has a knack for stupidity. Divine Wrath was a fleet built for speed and stealth, its only goal was to deliver the nova bombs. The black sleek ships cut through space with little left to show of their passing. As we rushed through the empty void we got reports of more and more human outposts falling and every encounter of human and elven ships was an absolute elven victory. We were certain that we would put an end to humanities humiliating retreat. We slipped into the Yartan solar system and rushed past all their defences. It was all so easy, I pushed a single button when we came within range and so did my counterparts on the other vessels and a bare few seconds afterwards the planet Yart and all the beings on it ceased to exist, replaced by a bright shining light which soon faded leaving a hole in space where there once was life, music and laughter. I think it was at that moment I started to really think for the first time. Slowly I realized what we, what I had done and I dazed and confused made my way to my quarters through a throng of celebrating shipmates. I sat there, looking at nothing, trying to convince myself that they would have done the same to us and that it needed to be done. Our journey home was a joyous one for most of the crew but I was racked with guilt and doubt. Thinking of the elves I had seen before the war, the weird merchandise I had occasionally had afforded to indulge in and the strange music that had been all the rage.

I felt the ground shake underneath my feet and knew our outer defences would soon be broken. I rallied the troopers and we took up position, waiting for the inevitable onslaught.

As we neared the end of our journey and our communication with Earth came back on-line we told them about our complete success and asked whether the remaining elven forces were prepared to surrender. The response sobered up the entire fleet, apparently the force of the elves had yet again been underestimated and they had amassed an awe inspiring fleet in our solar system, and they were understandably not pleased at the destruction of their home planet and all their loved ones. Mars and Europe was no more and the alien fleet prepared to take Earth. The small fleet of the Divine Wrath managed to sneak past and once again I walked the green pastures of my home planet. I would not get much time to enjoy it though as the first elven wave of attack struck. Completely severing the human race from space. All our installations in space were obliterated and every single Earth based space facility was wiped from the face of the planet in a matter of ours. Humanity braced itself for the next attack but nothing happened except for what we thought some kind of meteor rain of space debris which fell over the entire globe, thickest over the American continent. It was made up of for meteorites tiny particles and we did not pay them much heed instead preparing for the attack we thought we knew had to come and we all prayed that they would not repay us in kind by blowing up our entire planet. When the attack came it came in a most unexpected form. Almost two weeks had passed since the obliteration of our space capacity and the strange meteor shower when strange things started to happen. The elves version of cannon fodder had arrived.

I hear the screams of my dying soldiers in my mind, the bugs have arrived at our outer perimeter, swarming in and ignoring any amount of casualties. I think to myself that these monsters are in some way worse a weapon than our nova bombs. They are grotesque insect like monsters standing almost six feet tall with snapping jaws and slicing claws, existing only for destruction and death. Scientists theorised that they were some kind of hive creature from Yart genetically modified by the elves into slaughtering monsters. A kind of soldier ants on a monstrous scale. The elves have only a limited control over the creatures only being able to point them in a general direction to weaken enemy positions which they were doing to us now. The elves preferred way of deploying the bugs though was to just let them loose on their enemy land leaving them live out their short (the elves may be ruthless but they have never been stupid, the bugs they let loose are sterile and die of old age in a matter of weeks but the elves had, have, a seemingly endless supply of them) murderous life killing the people of their enemies. That is what that mysterious meteor shower had been. Eggs of terrible creatures had landed all over the surface of Earth.

The first signs of the bugs was when mysterious disappearances started, at first just children, then adults, then whole families and finally the population of entire towns were just gone. It was worst in the territory firmly in the control of the CCA, the human faction with the greatest military capabilities. Finally the high command figured out what was going on and started to hunt down these creatures, now known as bugs. Lone bugs or even groups of them were no match for human hunting parties but the sheer terror they inspired in the entire planets population gnawed away at our resolve and our moral. Just as we had started to get the bugs under control a new meteor shower rained down and now we knew what it was and we gave it a name, we had been seeded again, this time much thicker and most of the planets resources had to be used to deal with these bloodthirsty beasts. We were seeded once a month for over a year, completely draining Earth's once mighty resources and billions of people died either of direct attacks of the bugs or of the starvation and exposure the collapse of our society brought with it. Every attempt to launch some kind of attack on the elven fleet in orbit was rebuffed with scornful ease. Humanity was not completely out of ideas though and as a last desperate effort to gain control of the bug situation a new technology was deployed.

The wave of bugs have overwhelmed our outer defences scuttling over the corpses of their brethren in their blood thirst. They rush toward our heavily fortified position right into an intensive blast of plasma fire from our weapons. I close my eyes for a second feeling the tiny little machines implanted within me flowing through my body, empowering me, charging me, filling me with a sense of elation as I am enhanced with a godlike power. I levitate over our position and unleash the power contained within me short circuiting the bug's neuro system leaving them lifeless husks. I laugh madly as the corpses of the bugs mount up beneath me, wave after wave stopped before my might and the fire from my soldiers. At last, after what seems like an eternity the nano bots have no more shocks to give but there are still more bugs. I swoop down and engage them with my bare fists, my strength far above that of a normal man and my skin impervious to all but the most powerful blasts. I feel the plasma fire fly past me as I rip apart bug after bug.

After the sixth seeding I was called to a small secret facility at the base of the Ural mountains where I was told that I was to be a part of a program which could be the last hope of humanity. They told me they would make me into something much more than a human, a super being if you like, possessing vast powers. I was put through a series of tests and after I had passed it was time for the transformation. I do not remember much of it except that it was extremely painful and that I was sedated for most of it. What they did was that they filled my body, my blood, my brain, my muscles, my skin, all of my organs with microscopic little machines they called nano bots and linked them to my brain and neuro system. This they told would give me immense power and resilience, and they were right. The nano bots not only permeated my body but swarmed around me like an invisible cloud. I spent a month learning my new powers and they were extensive. I could now fly, the tiny little machines propelling me through the sky, I had gained considerable strength enabling me to lift several tonnes, agility and speed far above that of any human before, my bones and skin were almost impossible to injure and if it was we healed a hundred times faster than normal. I could lift and move small objects without touching them and communicate with people without ever opening my mouth. The most useful power I was granted by the nano bots was the ability to unleash an electric shock, short circuiting any living being it was directed at, instantly killing it. This in contrast to the other powers was not ever lasting though but had to be used with discretion as the nano bots needed to charge up after unleashing a couple of shocks. Humanity rejoiced when were revealed, flying through the sky and battling the freakish bugs. For a few weeks we had hope. In some way the elves found out about this program and the location of the facility and promptly flattened half the Urals with their bombardment. No more “super humans” were to be created, a mere few hundred had been granted the power I enjoyed. We who had been created fought valiantly though, wiping out bugs wherever we encountered them, but by now vast stretches of the Earth surface was devoid of any moving life the bugs killing everything in their path. After the final seeding the elves themselves finally joined the battle. At first bombing every single major city of the planet of the face of planet and then landing their immense battleships in North America and at the start showing their intent of taking over out planet to replace the one we destroyed by building cities and infrastructure in the empty lands. All attempts of communications with the Yartans were rejected. Soon the bugs not killed by human force died of their own volition and the elves started to consolidate their holdings on their own, revealing that we were not alone in our knowledge of nano bots. The first nano enhanced humans fell in battle with nano enhanced elves. The elven tactic was crude but effective, against every pocket of human resistance they would first unleash their ferocious bugs now somewhat controlled against the humans to wear down their defences then assault troops led by nano enhanced elves would move in to finish the work.. Humanity was pushed further and further back, reduced to living in small strongholds in constant fear of elven attack. Nano human after nano human fell to their elven counterpart, though not without putting up spectacular fights and often winning but in the end there were too few of us. The elves seemed intent on building up a new society on their now mostly conquered planet and I could again hear the beautiful elven music but this time tinged with an unbearable sadness and longing as they lamented their lost home world.

I look around me, standing in a pile of dead bugs, I try to make contact with my men but the only humans I can sense are the children and the elderly tucked away far below. I see the mutilated corpses of my entire force, half eaten bodies and empty faces looking at me. No bugs had got past us though but I was the last one standing. I hear the heavy footsteps of elven assault troops in their deadly armour and prepare myself for a final last stand. They fan out around me making no move to attack, encircling me and looking at me through the black glass of their helmets. An opening appears right in front of me and an elf without armour stands a few metres from me, smiling. I recognise him, I do not know his name but his face is often seen on the intercepted elven broadcasts. I assume he is some kind of big shot. He looks at me and smiles; “So, Jack...” I am surprised he know my name and the familiar tone he uses with his accent less global makes me a bit confused. In response I just look at him. “Perhaps I am a bit rude, I have not introduced myself, my name is Gaolain, head of the effort to...hmm...pacify humanity.” I do not know what to say, I hear my mouth saying; “Hello”, then I sneer and glare at Gaolain. “Greetings to you too Jack” He says, “you have been giving us quite a bit of trouble with your, what is your word? Ah, with your terrorism. Can you not see that it is only fair that we take your planet after you destroyed ours? Many of your fellow humans have joined us and we welcome them, we are not numerous enough to rebuild this planet on our own, we will need people working for us and we will see to their every need. You however have made it hard for us with your insistent show of defiance. With you gone there is no choice for humanity to accept it penance and help us create a new society here, here on...New Yart.” Thoughts raced through my mind,once voice wailed and agreed with Gaolain, we deserved everything which had befallen us but another part of me refused to accept the thought of humanity living in servitude to alien conquerors. At the end I decided it did not matter, we may deserve our new masters, and I knew I deserved death for my part of the destruction of Yart. I would not go down without a fight however. I would learn the elves not to look down upon humanity at least. I unleashed a shock, killing every assault troop close to me and then threw myself at Gaolain. He met my charge with the same blinding speed as me and we danced across the ground exchanging blows and kicks which would have demolished the strongest bunker. Not even our nano enhanced bodies could completely withstand the might we unleashed upon each other and bruises and cuts started to appear on our bodies, healing almost as fast as new ones were created.. We fought on and on and by now more elven troops had arrived at watched our struggle with awe. We blasted through buildings, pounded each other into the ground. He felt even my empowered body starting to tire and I could see that Gaolain's was too. I launched a final, feral attack, hitting, kicking, elbowing, head butting, even scratching and biting into Gaolain, his blood touching my tongue with an uncomfortable human taste. He managed to throw me off and I smashed through a group of armoured elves scattering them in all directions. Gaolain flew on me, pinning me down and hitting me again and again, I felt my power wane as blow after blow landed upon my body. I looked upon Gaolain and managed to speak; “Spare the people down below please, the children were barely born when we destroyed Yart.” Gaolain gave me a scornful look and spoke; “We are not monsters, we will care for the children, probably better than their human parents ever could. They will lack for nothing but they will serve to repay their parents debt.” I coughed, feeling life draining away from me, I barely felt Gaolain's final killing blow. As I died the final image in my mind was of of the short lived supernova which was once the beautiful planet of Yart.

The last free human outpost has fallen. Earth is no more, New Yart now occupies it's place in the universe.

 

Wow.

Thanks for letting me be part of your incredible imagination, friend.

Please keep it up.

 

Wohoo! Feedback! Thank you HS =)
Though I cannot stand to even look at it now after I have written it. Always the same with me, I think it is really great as I pen it and for a short while afterwards but after a few days I cant stand it and all I see are things I should be doing better. But it is nice to see that atleast someone have read it, truly made my day. Geez, you right wing nuts are good for something.

 

Entertaining story, I had good read. One comment though, try to use shorter sentences or at least some more commas because sometimes it's a bit hard to read. I suggest you make a sequel to this

 

Nice - and scarily probable...
/me shudders.
Good Writing!

 

Ancalimon, you sound like my grammar teacher, always she whines about my punctuation. Nothing wrong with long sentences! Well, apparently there is and I am working on it, the problem is that I tend to write extremely short sentences instead when I try not to write long ones.

As for the sequel this is more or less just a set up for a "fantasy" world of mine. Might write a few more more short stories until I either finally admit that I will never write a great fantasy epic of my own and scrap it all or against all odds I decide to give a go and end up bashing my head on the cold rejections of the publishers. =)

 

As I see it

Great story BTW

 

*huggles* It is good; evocative and allt aht jazzs.

Great work!

(yes, I am shamelessly ressurrecting this one.... sowwy!)