I tried to count the containers I saw out there and figured there were around ninety. To think there were more than seventy million people on each of those cubes was mindboggling. We figured the huge cubes were about seventy rooms wide and tall. I wondered how many of the people were still living on these things. Even if this worked, I knew the Earth would never be the same; its population would be sorely depleted.
Natalia and Magnus pulled up beside us, their smaller ship a blue blip on our screen.
“Attention, all loyal to the Kraski. The war is over and we have been ordered to return the humans to their planet. An agreement has been made for their lives. I say this with the orders from the Supreme Legislation’s full authority. Feed the oxygen back through the rooms, turn the thrusters on, and work your ways back to Earth. K53251 over.”
We waited for someone to reply, and I had to tell my brain to keep me breathing. My heart was pounding in my chest.
“Roger that, K53251. We are turning around now. N32154 over,” a voice called over the speaker.
“Roger that, K53251. We are also turning.”
Mae turned it to mute, and we all cheered loudly. Magnus was cheering and I could hear Natalia laughing. We watched as dozens of the cubes started heading toward us slowly.
“This might actually work!” Mary said excitedly.
About ten minutes later, most of the containers had changed direction, and we were ready to get help to our people. I noticed there were a few units hanging back, and at this point, they were extremely close to the sun.
“What do you think they’re waiting for?” As soon as I asked, one of them sped up and headed directly to the sun. It happened so fast that we didn’t have time to react. Just like that, a whole cube of our people snuffed up in a flare of hot orange light, hardly visible since we were so close.
A new voice cut over the comm-system. “Do not listen to these traitors. There is no way the Kraski would renege on this. This is what they lived for; Earth was their last hope. We were created to serve them, and this is our ultimate sacrifice. Let us do what we were made for, and end this!” The voice was full of venom, and Mae visibly paled.
“I know that one. He was always a bully but was more than happy to lead this endeavor.”
“What do we do now? Do they have any weapons?” Mary asked.
As if her words were a curse, a green blip appeared on our screen and headed quickly toward us.
“Yes, he had a Kraski ship, like this one. For emergencies. I think this constitutes an emergency to him,” Mae said.
Thoughts raced through my head, and I tried to make some sense out of what we were seeing here. A couple of the containers had turned around, presumably persuaded by the newcomer’s words.
“I have an idea. Natalia, you know where the guns are on that thing, right?” I asked.
“Da. Teelon showed me. I think in case the Kraski figured it out and we needed to shoot our way out of there.”
“Good. Can you lead this guy away, keep him on his toes? We need a few minutes.”
Without saying anything, Natalia’s ship raced in front of us, firing at the incoming ship. She veered off and he followed, firing on her. I silently hoped she could evade him long enough for us to succeed.
Two other containers started their thrusters to full speed and were crashing into the sun’s deadly heat. They too faded in massive flares as we sped toward the rest of them. Millions of lives snuffed out like nothing. I had to push the pain down for the time being. I would have time for mourning them later, after we saved the rest of them.
“Mary, you get in close. Mae, where are all the thrusters?” She hesitated, unsure of what I was asking. Another cube was starting to head into the sun. The ships were insulated, but beads of sweat fell down my face as we were so close to the massive burning ball of gas. Any closer, and its gravitational pull was going to drag us down. “Dammit, Mae! Where are the thrusters?”
We gained on the cube closest to us, and she directed Mary to each of the glowing thrusters. Mae took it upon herself to fire away at them, blowing them up with precision. We followed suit on the rest of the cubes nearby.
While she was firing, she called out on the open line to all of her hybrid people. “The Kraski are all dead. We are now free to do as we will. I’ve met some humans and they are more than willing to let us live side-by-side among them. Stop what you’re doing, and we can have lives for ourselves!” she called, her passion obvious to anyone listening.
The last few containers still nearing the sun stopped and turned around. I wiped my forehead and kissed the top of Mary’s head.
Our ship shook, and Carey began barking loudly as we were tossed around. Apparently, we could still get shaken up in this thing. The other Kraski ship flew by us, lasers blasting, Natalia close behind him. There wasn’t much more frightening than a gun-wielding man with nothing to lose. This was one of those things that was. Sensing his new focus, I realized what he was going to do. The beams cut into one of the nearby containers and ripped the sides to shreds. We were close enough to see people floating away by the hundreds.
Mary was already heading after him, Mae firing their weapons, hitting his shields a few times before he veered off. But his work was done, and we saw small explosions starting throughout his target.
“Mary, get the hell away from that thing!” I yelled, and as we flew down and away from it, the whole thing exploded violently. The concussion shook our ship, but we were otherwise okay. Another chunk of human lives gone. The weight of all the lives lost was pushing me down, and I felt like gravity had doubled. I thought about Ray, and Janine… the Kraski we’d destroyed – a whole race of beings. I thought about the hundreds of dead people Magnus and I had walked over to get to the center of the container we found Mae in, before we proceeded to kill her companions. So much death. I slid to the ground and looked at my hands. The hands of an accountant. A man who liked to have a cold one with his buddies, and watch the Yankees play for the pennant. I almost expected them to be covered in blood as I peered at them, my vision narrowing as my pulse raced. I could hear voices, but I didn’t know what they were saying. I looked up to see Janine staring at me. I’d missed her so much, but that felt like a dream; a time so long ago, so full of lies, that it was never truly my life. Then I thought of Mary, so strong-willed and real.
Something wet licked my face. Carey, the ever-loyal dog I’d hardly known until a week ago, was stepping on my lap and licking me. I snapped out of it. I realized that it wasn’t Janine with me there, it was Mae.
“Nat, I’m going to cut under him and pop up hard in front. You cut down and we’ll have him between us. We both fire, neither of us can miss. Got it?” Mary’s voice called out.
I was still on the floor and stayed there, trying not to pass out. The panic attack had subsided, but I was still lightheaded. Not quite the hero of the books I’d read, either.
“Now!” Mary called, and Mae let out a whoop. I pulled myself up to catch the tail end of their battle, the Kraski ship exploding into a million pieces.
Everything went quiet for a moment. I looked to the computer and saw the cube dots all moving away from the sun. The ones we’d fired on, taking out the thrusters, were still sitting back, slowly and surely heading into their imminent demise.
“We have to do something about those guys,” I said quietly, suddenly ashamed of my fall from grace a few minutes ago. They didn’t seem to notice or care a whole lot, not that I blamed them, since they’d had their hands quite full at the time.
I pulled my suit on and locked in my helmet again. “Mae, you’re with me. I have an idea.”