Deceit - Part 3

Chapter 5

Lord Xanthor rested his large, strong arms of steel on the golden throne’s armrests and grunted as the messenger robot marched towards him, creaking loudly as oil dripped from his back. Xanthor smirked and boomed in a voice that made the palace tremble with fear, shaking as though an earthquake had hit.

“What is it, Zayn?”

Zayn gulped and answered, “My lord, our interceptor robots have picked up some unidentified signals from the fourth universe. We believe it is the humans who have made their camp there and —”

“Zayn, how many times do you want me to tell you that the humans are dead? They are no more! We have searched every nook and corner of this multiverse in vain!” Lord Xanthor growled.

“My lord,” a voice began, “Zayn is correct. The information that he presents to you has been verified by every single interceptor robot that we have.”

“Are you sure, Raven?”

“Always, my lord,” Raven replied with a smirk.

“In fact, general Raven was with us when we got hold of this signal. She sent me to deliver this jaw-dropping news to you,” Zayn added.

“Alright, then,” Lord Xanthor boomed. “Send in our best fighters to finish them off. Then, this multiverse will be ours forever.”

“I don’t think that is the best decision, my lord,” Raven put in.

“Why do you say so?”

“This could very well be a trap—”

“A trap?” Xanthor laughed. “Are you out of your mind? The humans are fleeing from us in fear. We are stronger than them, mentally and physically. They possess no weapons, and are small in number, not to mention miniscule compared to the size of our army. After all this, you think they would have the guts and wits to trap us and take us off guard? I don’t think so, general.”

“My lord, I would suggest that we wait for some more time.” Raven replied humbly. “Let us watch if anything else happens or if there is any other action. We might even get word from Sarah Jones, our spy.”

“Raven, we don’t even know if Sarah is alive,” Xanthor replied wearily. “She boarded that escape spacecraft four hundred years ago, and we have not heard from her yet.”

“My lord, it is quite possible that the humans have just found a great place for their new home and are setting up their planet now. We should be hearing from Sarah soon.”

“Alright, I will wait, but not for too long.”

“My lord!” an interceptor robot stormed into the palace. “We have a message from Sarah Jones!”

Xanthor smiled as he read the message. Sarah had given them all the information: her whereabouts, the weapon information and what they did everyday.

“Fifty remaining humans to kill,” Xanthor grinned.

“Sir, I can send in a small squad right away, if you wish,” Raven suggested.

“Not a small squad, Raven. I want to send my mightiest heroes to finish them off. Looks like they have Lucia with them as well. She will surely prove a challenge to our mercenaries. Her tactical skills are unparalleled. Raven, I need you to lead the army. Select one thousand of our best elites and nine thousand other soldiers. Take our best fighter airplanes with you and make sure you have as much ammo as you can muster. I need you to come back victorious.”

“As you wish, my lord. I will make sure that this battle will be rightfully won by us,” Raven replied and left with a bow. She then marched towards the military headquarters which law sprawling just beside Xanthor’s palace. Two large robots guarded the gargantuan gates, and upon sighting their general, immediately gave way and pushed the doors open. Raven stormed in and screamed at the top of her voice to get everyone’s attention.

“Good evening, lionhearts! Upon Lord Xanthor’s command, I come here to gather ten thousand warriors to fight the remaining humans who lay hiding in the fourth universe. All soldiers, assemble before me!”

The colossal mothership cut through the empty space, slicing it like cheese. Hundreds of smaller fighters followed, flanking the ship from all directions. Raven and the elites were on the mothership, while the fighters were guided by the other mercenaries. As they neared the final wormhole which would take them directly to the fourth universe, Raven addressed the elites.

“We are nearing the inevitable. Get ready, soldiers of Earth! We shall destroy the human race once and for all! Long live Lord Xanthor!” Raven pumped her fist high up in the air, and her soldiers followed suit. She then ducked through the door into the cockpit and the tiny planet came into view. It seemed as though it was painted green and blue, as though it was a carbon copy of Earth.

“Your end in nearing,” Raven muttered under her breath.

Chapter 6

Anish, Zach and Lucia marched out of the control room building with Moshe’s body over Lucia’s shoulder. A determined look was etched on Lucia’s face and Anish quite frankly looked worried. Just as they set their eyes on the dark horizon after exiting the building, Anish screamed.

“Guys! Look, an escape pod rising!”

“To the turrets! Now!” Lucia acknowledged. Zach and Anish ran to the nearest defense turrets strategically placed all over the planet. Anish took a deep breath, hauled the massive gun upwards and began to fire.

It seemed as though the pods were bullet proof as the bullets bounced off the exterior of the pod harmlessly. Well, there has to be a limit for how much that tiny wall can withstand, Anish thought and continued to fire. Zach also got to his turret and both began to pierce the pod with holes. After about half a minute of continuous firing, smoke began to billow from the bottom of the pod and it came crashing down. The two of them sprinted towards the downed escape vehicle and tore open the door, and Anish’s face went stark white.

Sarah’s wavy blond hair was spread out over the floor of the pod and blood was spewing from her head slowly but surely. The two friends quickly lifted Sarah’s body in their arms and carried it to Lucia, who took them to the infirmary. They placed Sarah’s body in the recovery machine. After about two minutes, Sarah squinted her eyes open.

“Where am I?” she murmured.

“Your deathbed,” Lucia growled. A wicked smile formed over Sarah’s face and she sniggered.

“So you finally found out, did you?” she laughed.

“What have you done?” Lucia snarled.

“Oh, nothing much,” Sarah frowned. “I just gave the robots your location, the number of people here, and what boring stuff we do everyday. Oh, and the military equipment we possess. Yeah, that’s about it. Let me also warn you that the robots will be here any moment now.”

“Were you using Moshe?” Anish raised an eyebrow.

“Oh yes, about that,” Sarah sighed. “The first time I broke in was alone. I had stolen Moshe’s access card during lunch one day, but then I thought it would be much easier to use one of the crew members themselves to do the job. The simplicity of how I managed it cannot be emphasized through words alone. You see, Lucia had conveniently organised a party, and that was when I struck.”

“You were with Moshe that time,” Anish gritted his teeth.

“Yes. I stuck that miniature earplug into Moshe ear, and the man didn’t even notice! Well, after doing that it was easy enough to pour the special potion into his drink - a large dose it was, mind you - and then, the job was done. He would listen and execute to whatever I commanded him to do, and that was the potion’s trick alone.”

“Who gave you this potion?” Anish questioned.

“Well, I made it. I was taught the recipe all the way back on Earth by the robots, and when my memory fully returned, I wasted no time.” Just as those words left her mouth, an explosion rocked the surface and the walls seemed to sway like flowers in the wind.

“Whoops! Looks like the robots are here! Good luck!” Sarah laughed.

Rage engulfed Lucia and wrapped around her like a cocoon. “How dare you!” she barked. She wrenched out a pistol from her belt, aimed straight at Sarah’s face and pulled the trigger. Sarah’s body went limp and blood oozed from her forehead like water from a small opening.

“That’s the end of her,” Anish noticed.

“Now let’s get to the guns,” Lucia urged. “We have a robot army to defeat.” The two of them ran towards the grounds where robot swarms were overwhelming everyone on the planet. Lucia took a turret while Anish rushed to the airfield. Zach was just getting on his plane when Anish arrived.

“Let’s do this,” Anish said confidently. He took a deep breath and got into his airplane. He had to make sure that he saved his people, his allies. He had to be a lionheart, ready for battle. The two of them took off and began firing missiles down at the swarms. The sound of machinery creaking brought an unpleasant sound to Anish’s ears, which was soon replaced by explosions and the lingering taste of orange fire. The robots noticed the firing from above and began releasing homing missiles at the two aircrafts, which Anish and Zach took down in mid air using the plane’s bullets. Anish made sure not to focus too much on the area where his fellow humans were fighting the machines and took down incoming swarms in the distance. Several spaceships had filled the no longer grassy and cheerful fields of the planet, looming down on the human soldiers. The robots seemed to keep coming like there was no end to them, large masses of steel marching down towards the buildings, sniffing for any presence of flesh. Suddenly, Anish spotted a fleet of aircraft storming towards him. He notified Zach, whose eyes had also caught this movement in the air. Just as he was about to focus his turret on the incoming planes, the fleet swooped down and began dropping several bombs at the robots, and the explosions were so loud that Anish could feel them high up in the air.

“Zach, they seem to be our allies,” Anish commented over the microphone.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Zach acknowledged. All of a sudden, the bottom of Anish’s plane rocked violently. The smell of smoke rushed into Anish’s nose and determination and bravery seemed to take control of him. His aircraft stooped downwards, its nose perpendicular to the ground. A huge robot swarm below him seemed to be celebrating the successful hit on his aircraft, and a wicked grin etched itself on Anish’s face. Zach’s screams of concern over the speaker were drowned by Anish’s willpower, and he increased the speed of the aircraft as it neared its doom in the ground below. Finally, he pulled the escape button.

Anish was shot upwards and he feasted his eyes upon the aircraft as it crashed into the large robot swarm, giving birth to an eternal fire. One by one, explosions welcomed the robots as they burst into pieces of machinery flying through the air like asteroids in space. Anish dropped to the ground and lay on his back. His eyes forced themselves shut and all went black.