Battle Moon 2075: Ramming Speed Read online

Chapter 5.0:

  Moon Fall

  The small, white craft rocketed away from the moon below.

  “Ship, do you know where those creatures are headed?”

  Ship’s deep voice boomed through the cabin, causing loose pieces of the ship to vibrate.

  “The xenoforms appear to be headed toward the asteroid belt. It’s just on the other side of Mars.”

  “I want you to follow those creatures.”

  “Very well. With a fusion light-burn, we’ll be at the Asteroid belt in about forty-five minutes, clock-time.”

  “Make the burn, and show me a map of the solar system, Ship. I want a good idea of where we are.”

  Speed had finally had a chance to collect his thoughts, and the boyish fear and anger he had felt were gone. Now, it was as though Speed were playing a huge game on a court the size of the solar system.

  Speed came to accept, for the time being, that he couldn’t save anybody. He could only find out what had happened, and then go from there. The enemy was fleeing, since the GoodBots had defeated them soundly, and now he had to find them. He had to found out who they were and what exactly happened.

  “Very good, sir. Burn initiated.”

  The stars in front of his screen were replaced with a flat map of the solar system, a tiny white arrow representing Ship.

  With some horror, Speed had realized that this bizarre robot vessel was now the closest thing he had to a friend. After only a few moments, Speed began to think of the the ship as a person, a person whom he called “Ship.”

  “Sir, I have a question,” Ship announced.

  “What is it, Ship?”

  “Well, I’ve noted that it is a customary form of respect for humans to address their elders as Mister or Misses. Wouldn’t it be more appropriate for you to call me Mr. Ship, since I am many times older than you?”

  For a moment, Speed forgot about the disaster that was now his life, and laughed out loud.

  “Did I tell a joke, Human?”

  “It was pretty funny, but I wouldn’t call it a joke.”

  “Well, in that case, perhaps you would like to tell me a joke, Human.”

  Speed frowned. He felt dizzy and his mind kept returning to that explosion he had seen on the moon. That awful explosion. Moon Base. Gone. Dragon-creatures escaping into the night.

  “No, Ship. I’m not in the mood. In case you haven’t noticed, flying monsters have just attacked the moon, and destroyed Moon Base. It’s not really a good time.”

  Ship’s deep voice filled the cabin. Loose items continued to buzz around the console with the sound.

  “I understand. Speaking of the moon, you may wish to observe an event, which I believe is due to happen at any moment.”

  Speed was confused, but realized he didn’t need to watch every second of their travel toward the asteroid belt, and Ship would tell him if anything of importance was happening nearby. What could it be?

  “Okay, ship. What’s going on?”

  “The moon is no longer orbiting the earth. It’s trajectory has been altered.”

  “What!?”

  “The moon appears to be moving on a collision course for the earth. Impact in 3 minutes.”

  “How is that possible?”

  “You may remember that I was acquired from a large group of other GoodBots, with whom I am no longer in contact. I am no longer in contact with the Interlink.”

  “Yes, Ship. Get to the point!”

  “Human, my memory banks indicate that the purpose of this GoodBot group was to protect humanity from a disease that was spreading below on earth. That was why their technology was more advanced, and why there were large weapons installed. Just in case a disease created unexpected behavior. We might have needed to protect people, from themselves.”

  That didn’t make sense to Speed. What good would a large military force and a huge engine do against a disease on the planet below?

  “Explain, Ship, speculate if necessary.”

  Speed knew that Ship would have to guess, to fill in the blanks.

  “The activities of the xenoforms--the dragons, as you call them--disrupted our protective program, which was to eliminate the infestation from space, using GoodBot defensive weaponry. This activated a fail-safe program.”

  So apparently there was a disease on the earth below, and aliens had attacked just at the wrong moment. The GoodBots weren’t there to protect people from aliens, but against themselves if they started to get out of line!

  So, the GoodBots were curing an actual disease by killing the patient. They were basically ending a zombie apocalypse from the moon, with guns! Speed imagined if everyone on a continent was catching a deadly disease, it was possible that the GoodBots would quarantine the entire continent, or even bomb it from the atmosphere. Bomb earth from space to cure humanity? Was that what was going on right now? In the next three minutes?

  Ship had mentioned a failsafe program in case “plan A,” bombardment from space didn’t work against the infected humans.

  How could there be a plan even worse than bombing humanity from the moon?

  Speed thought for a second longer, then asked the ship, his voice trembling, what the failsafe program was.

  “In the case of failure to eliminate the disease from space, the contagion would need to be purged by any means possible. I speculate that the GoodBot Interlink correctly computed that a collision with the earth was the optimum solution. The moon will impact the earth’s surface, and the remaining human or humans will be safe from harm.”

  Plan B was to crash the moon into earth and destroy everything!

  “WHAT!? Turn around right now, Ship! We have to stop this.”

  Again, Ship’s deep voice boomed through the vessel. It was a strangely comforting sound, for the terrible subject of the conversation.

  “You know sir, fusion light speed cannot be interrupted without extreme damage to this vessel. We are in the middle of a fusion burn. You would be in danger, and I cannot allow that.”

  “You can’t do that, Ship! We have to stop this! The moon cannot collide with the earth!” Speed was screaming. His voice was becoming hoarse as tears came into his eyes, fogging up his helmet. Speed could feel sweat trickling down the sides of his face. He could see his tears reflected in the green light of the glass before his eyes.

  “I am no longer in contact with the GoodBot central processor. However, even if I were, I would not have the override authority to change the core loop: if humans exist, maximize their health and safety. Indeed, I am doing just that by remaining in a trajectory away from the imminent collision. I must keep you safe because, in my range of communication, you are the only human. Perhaps you will understand better if I allow you to observe the collision. It will be of great scientific importance.”

  Speed did not know how to feel. He did not want to watch this terrible event, but he knew that if humanity had any hope, that he would need to know what was going on. His friends and family, if they were still alive somehow, needed him to be alert and informed. Speed had never won a game by burying his head in the sand. This was the big game, and he had to get it right.

  Speed became icy with anger and determination. If earth was lost, someone would have to pay.

  “Show it to me.”

  The flat map of the solar system was replaced with feeds from tiny cameras which orbited the moon from a great distance. These cameras were so small that they operated in clouds, delivering a constant flow of data. Ship was apparently still in contact with the cameras, but not the GoodBots themselves. Speed had no idea if there were any more bots on the moon, or if the engines were operating automatically.

  The moon loomed in front of his face. To Speed’s astonishment, the large, round structures he had observed at the hidden robot base lit up in a clouds of blue, spewing energy out into space, like the flames of twin blow-torches.

  Speed remembered that the engine had been turned on, but now it was in full force. The moon was moving out of orbit. The
light from the huge fusion engine was blinding, but Ship dimmed the monitor to allow Speed to see everything that was happening.

  For a moment, it seemed that the moon had not moved at all. Then, slowly, it started to slide out from its ring around the earth. Speed expected to see some response from the earth. He thought something would be launched toward the moon, rockets, lasers, something! But, nothing happened. The earth seemed to sleep silently in space.

  The moon gradually picked up the pace, and seemed to be falling, then diving, toward the earth below. Speed began to whisper under his breath.

  No, no, no!

  At that moment, Speed heard something. Was it music? Then, Speed was sure. Ship was playing classical music. How could that stupid program play music at a time like that?

  “Shut that music off, Ship!”

  The music faded into silence.

  “Apologies, sir, I was attempting to lower your heart-rate. You are upset, and highly stressed. Perhaps you would enjoy some guided meditation? There is only one minute until impact, and the moon has achieved ramming speed.”

  Speed realized that the ship had been playing a song called “Jupiter” from his mother’s favorite classical suite, The Planets. It was one of Speed’s favorites, and he thought then that this hunk of metal actually seemed to care about, or even know him.

  In the silence that followed, Speed’s heart seemed to stand still. He stared into the display, with echoes of the music reflecting in his thoughts, as though the sound waves traveled from stone walls miles away. Everything seemed to disappear, except for the hard, round outlines of the moon and the earth. They had once been perfect circles, but now, as the moon barrelled into the earth, they looked like a cloudy venn diagram, jets of flame spiraling into empty space.

  Speed knew that most people would have been more concerned with the fate of the earth than the moon, but Speed saw his mother when he looked at the moon. Was she floating out in space somewhere, looking for him?

  Speed’s heart was beating so quickly, he thought he would have a heart attack.

  “Go ahead, Ship, I do need to calm down. Play something.”

  He had to keep from panicking. He had to focus.

  As the music played, the moon seemed to splash into the hard crust of the earth. Earth’s shell began to move around the moon like dough, then to crack like an egg. The moon flattened  as the enormous engines drove it deeper into the earth. Then, the hot core of the moon burst through the earth’s crust, sending rockets of debris into space. Flame engulfed the cratered egg.

  The moon continued to bore through.

  Orange, black and brown replaced any traces of blue. Speed saw no more city lights, just a growing cloud of debris. The moon’s surface melted away to reveal deep industrial structures supporting the huge engine which drove it into the earth now. Speed could hardly believe that the enormous fusion engine continued to operate as it drove the massive hunk of rock into the world where humanity was born.

  Even though Speed had guessed that the humans on earth were not humans any longer, the destruction filled him with sadness and fear.

  Whatever GoodBots were still on the moon were still fighting this unknown disease, attempting to bomb it out of existence upon impact. Speed saw little lasers fire like sparks of friction between the earth and the moon, the GoodBots fighting still.

  So, instead of being utterly destroyed upon impact, the moon continued to bore through the core of the earth, sending out lasers, missiles and fusion torpedos, tearing the earth inside out.

  The view changed to show the other side of the earth. Ship must have had access to the earth’s orbiting network, for Speed could see the carnage from many angles. From this side, little of the damage could yet be seen. But, as a mountain began to form, appearing then to be a planet-sized volcano, what was left of the moon poked through the surface of the earth. The shockwave then converged on the volcano and Speed knew that what he once thought of as the home of humanity was no more.

  In any case, the cloud of debris had obscured everything, and not even an army of tiny cameras could show Speed anything more, even if he could bear to watch.

  “Turn it off, Ship.”

  “We’re coming out of fusion burn in five… four… three… two...”

  The ship felt like it was rocketing backwards as harnesses immediately wrapped around Speed’s shoulders, waist, and legs to keep his body from slamming through the ship's forward viewport. Speed felt like throwing up.

  “Very well, Sir. Course set. May I ask you a question?”

  “There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with your voice circuits, Ship.”

  Speed felt terrible. The moon and earth were lost, and he was most likely close to certain death himself at the hands of frightening aliens.

  “Very funny sir. I sense some sarcasm, is everything alright?”

  Deep beeps and buzzes surrounded ship’s question, as though Ship’s processing power was being pushed to the limit.

  Was everything alright? The earth had just been destroyed. How could everything be alright?

  “No, Ship, everything’s not alright. You told me that the GoodBots just caused the moon to collide with the earth. Are your logic circuits working? Do you even know what we just saw!?”

  “Yes I do, unfortunately there were nearly 2 billion unexplained survivors. Apparently, plan B has failed as well.”

  “That’s what I mean! Aren’t you robots supposed to protect human lives? What do you mean unfortunately?”

  “Yes sir, we are, and our actions continue to be in the best interest of humanity. The new life forms are not humans, and pose a great threat to humanity. They must either be eliminated, or we must go far away to save your life.”

  Speed remembered that, as far as he and ship knew, he was the last living human, or at least soon to be the last living human. The truth of the idea, regardless of the poor souls still on the planet below, finally hit him.

  “Ship, When you say humanity, you mean me.”

  “Yes, human. I am aware of many threats to your existence. The remaining life forms constitute a large percentage of that threat. They do not yet possess the capability of space flight, but if they did...”

  Speed didn’t understand what Ship meant by the life forms not being human, or why they might be a threat, but that wasn’t the main issue. If Ship was malfunctioning, then Speed needed to figure out why, and what needed to be done.

  Speed interrupted.

  “I still don’t understand why crashing the moon into the earth was good for humanity.”

  “Perhaps we should address this issue another time, I have a question of a somewhat pressing concern.”

  “Go ahead!”

  Speed was exhausted with Ship’s random questions.

  “Since you are the only remaining human, I must protect your interests. The colony records indicate that your primary interest is MoonBall. How does it serve MoonBall to pursue the creatures we are following?”

  So, the ship wasn’t malfunctioning, it just had some seriously twisted morals, which were apparently a combination of the basic program and Speed’s best interest. Ship was playing a game of logic to illustrate the point to Speed.

  “That’s not a primary value anymore, computer.”

  Again, the truth of what he had just said hit him hard. Speed would probably never play MoonBall again.

  “I’m sorry, Last Human. Please summarize your current values, that I may better serve you. GoodBots are here to help.”

  “It’s not that easy. I can’t just tell you everything that’s important to me. It’s really a stupid question.”

  “Very well, perhaps I could ‘figure it out’ based on your current objective. Why are we proceeding to these coordinates?”

  “Those aliens attacked us, and earth was destroyed because of what they did. If I have any chance of finding other humans, and maybe saving them, we have to find those aliens.”

  “We do not have enough information to act
on that reasoning, Last Human. It is only one possible explanation for today’s events.”

  “I do, Ship, and it’s your job to do what I say, right?”

  “Yes, direct orders from the last human must be obeyed. You have sufficient neural mass to reason correctly, if emotionally.”

  Ship was saying that Speed’s brain was heavy enough to make it’s own decisions. So little had changed in these “advanced” GoodBots. That new title, Last Human, really bothered Speed.

  “I’m not the last human!”

  “In that case we are returning to our original coordinates around the moon to ascertain if this is true.”

  That was the last place Speed wanted to be, the debris cloud would be certain destruction. Speed wondered if Ship was somehow manipulating him. Were the new GoodBots that smart?

  “Stop! Okay, I’m the last human. Fine. Let’s get going.”

  Suddenly, they bucked sideways, and Speed’s straps tightened in their harnesses on his space suit.

  “Alert! We are under attack!,” Ship declared. Angry whirs and buzzes filled the cockpit, along with the powerful thrums of Ship’s processor.

  Ship had deactivated its vocoder, switching power to weapons. The transition was bizarre. Speed could feel Ship’s new attitude throughout the craft, and it felt exactly like the aggression Speed’s coach had wanted during a MoonBall game. The change made Speed more than a little nervous.

  Ship’s powerful combat capabilities gave Speed chills. For the first time, he was grateful that Ship had picked him up, and, even if they were about to be destroyed by some unknown enemy, Ship had at least tried to save him.

  Speed felt like he was in a zero-grav trainer as the ship bucked back and forth, spinning about. After a life on the moon, it still made him sick to his stomach. Speed caught glimpses of the viewscreen which showed the ship from outside, through Ship’s own orbiting crowd of microscopic cameras.

  Speed saw the ship, with him inside of it, darting about wildly in space, dogfighting something that flew in and out of the field of view. Like an out of body experience, Speed felt wild g-forces through his body, but saw everything from outside the ship.

  Like a firecracker, ship was spewing machine gun fire out into space. The self-guided bullets flew in clouds toward their attackers, as flames of fusion energy jetted out from Ship's internal cannons.

  Around him, Speed saw familiar sights and sounds, the sounds of high-pitched electrical charging: engine blasts on reptile bodies. They were the same sounds he had heard huddling under the rim of a large crater, which he now knew no longer existed. Through the cameras, Speed glimpsed reptile bodies twisting and writhing in combat with the small but powerful craft. The jaws of the dragons opened and closed as glowing light poured out of their mouths. Big, crystalline teeth chomped on empty space.

  Speed could make out only two targets, however, when he looked at the view screen. They looked just like the creatures which had attacked Moon Base.

  Meteorites whirred around the combat, as Ship fought tooth and nail against the creatures. One of them was hurt, and limping through space with only one green-spewing engine.

  Ship must have hit the dragon’s maneuvering jets, Speed thought. Without maneuvering jets, the space animal wouldn’t stand a chance.

  Then, Speed saw a bright green energy sphere expand from the injured creature, and everything went black.

  When Speed awoke, he couldn’t move.

  “Don't’ bother,” a voice hissed. It seemed to come from all around him. He was alone in a room made entirely of a black, shiny rock. He was not tied to the rock, but he could not move.

  “You’ve been drugged. You will be unable to move, but you will be able to hear everything I say.”

  Paralyzed.

  The voice seemed to have a british accent, but Speed knew this was not possible. Whoever had him, was of course, not from earth, or even from the solar system as far as he could tell.

  “Your primitive language has been dissected by our advanced computers, so that you can answer a few questions for us.”

  Speed was terrified. Once when he was little, he had awoken from a dream, but could not move. His parents told him this was called “sleep paralysis.” The feeling was awful, not being able to move, or even to scream. Since sleep paralysis had happened more than once, Speed had learned to calm himself, and even enjoy the feeling of not being able to move.

  Another dark figure entered the room, wearing long robes. It’s face was covered by a hood, and around the being’s narrow shoulders was draped a large chain which came to a point. At the point of the chain was an ornate symbol which resembled the space monsters, but with wings folded, and head tilted to the right.

  “I’m glad you’ve come to join us!” the voice said, moving from a deep chuckle to a high, nasal whine. “You’re going to be here for quite some time, so I’ve brought you something to eat.”

  A ledge of the chamber slowly separated itself from the wall, then hovered over to Speed’s stony bed.

  “Go ahead, you should be able to move now.” This time, it was the first man-like creature, who Speed could now see was tall and pale, wearing a black, shiny lab coat, and a strange mask.

  Speed felt feeling return to his arms and legs. They tingled painfully, but at least he could move them. It was as though his whole body was “asleep,” and it was waking up as the blood flowed into his veins. Speed was hungry.

  On the floating stone, supported by a green cloud of energy, was a silver plate. On the plate was a transparent disk, the pink hue of a liquid medicine Speed had once needed to take when he was ill. Was he supposed to eat that?

  “You’ll find it quite tasty.” The second creature this time, with the robes and the medallion. “We have decoded your nutritional needs and hacked your taste centers. Just give it a taste.”

  It wouldn’t do Speed any good to starve, and these aliens clearly had the ability to drug him at any time he wanted, so he decided to cooperate. After all, what did he have to lose? The entire earth had been destroyed.

  The disk felt like cold plastic, but when he brought it to his lips, he realized that it smelled and tasted like raspberries, his favorite fruit, with a hint of chocolate. Speed licked the disk, then greedily bit off a few chunks and wolfed them down.

  Soon Speed was asking for another, although he felt much less hungry.

  The robed alien chortled with glee.

  “Good, isn’t it? Well, it’s not to my liking but our computers are rather good at discovering what unfamiliar species desire. We don’t get to meet many other species, since they are understandably afraid of interacting with us. I assume that you were witness to our activities on, what did you call it, the moon?”

  “I haven’t … called it anything,” Speed managed to say between greedy bites, licking his fingers.

  “Well, let’s just say that you tend to talk in your sleep.” Again, the alien made a disturbing giggling sound.

  Speed knew he was right. His mother had mentioned that he would mumble odd things while sleeping. Speed wondered with creeping fear what else he had told these aliens, and what sort of power it would give them.

  “I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that we are evil, but you’re in a tough spot. You’re wondering what else we already know about you, and why we seem so familiar. The truth is that we have visited your planet--what was your planet--before. You’re also wondering why we attacked the moon.”

  Speed was amazed. It was as though the creature could read his thoughts. Coach often did this trick, though, and Coach was not psychic.

  In fact, Speed was not wondering why they had attacked the moon. These aliens obviously tortured people for kicks, and attacking the moon had inflicted enormous suffering upon the people of earth. The fact that the GoodBots were planning something similar in no way defended these pale, frightening creatures.

  “Well, wonder no more. Let’s start with the basics. I am the Great Emperor Nero, the first father of my
people. You will recognize me by this seal of authority.” Nero gestured to the medallion around his neck, which showed two great snakes locked in battle. “Your people, as they once were, called us Vampires.”