Origins: The Reich (26 page)

Frank stood behind
Commander Gallono as he worked the business end of his cutting torch along the seals running down the middle and around the edges of the copper door blocking their path.  The commander was the only one with dark welding glasses, so Frank made do with brief glances at the blazing nozzle to judge their progress; he was almost through.

As Frank stood there holding one of the thirty-pound sledgehammers Gallono brought for the group to defend themselves with against the clay warriors, he could not help but marvel at the circumstance.  He had spent his entire career within the NSA trying to verify and locate the source of alien activity on Earth.  He deemed it a noble quest to root out and eliminate the ‘bad guys’.

He imagined many times what these beings might look like and what he would do to one of them once captured.  Now here he was with an alien, who looked completely human, kneeling before him with his back turned.  All Frank needed to do was swing his hammer to bring an entire lifetime of labor to an end.

He could not bring himself to take that swing.  It was not just the fact that they needed the extra manpower to destroy the Alpha’s regeneration chamber.  Deep down he was now questioning if this man really was the ‘bad guy’.  He had no doubts about the Alpha and their clay bodies; they were evil and dangerous in a way only storybooks could convey.  These Novi though, what was he to make of them and their motives?

“Five more seconds, then I’m through,” Gallono announced, ending Frank’s moral debate for the time being.

Alex and Professor Russell moved up to grab hold of the one-foot diameter looped handle controlling the left door.  Chin stepped forward carrying his own sledgehammer and leaned a second weapon against the right door next to Gallono for the man to arm himself once the task of cutting was complete.

Frank stood midway between the door to lend assistance if needed and still be able to keep an eye on their armless clay captive in the corner. 

Gallono extinguished his cutting torch, picked up his weapon and looked to the professor and his assistant, “Now.”

Together they heaved against the heavy copper door with all their collective might.  The fixture remained stubbornly closed for a few grunt-filled seconds until a teeth-wiggling screech gave way to movement.

Not satisfied with the pace, Chin grabbed the revealed edge of the door and yanked with every ounce of strength and weight his diminutive frame could generate.  The tiny gap widened to three feet and Gallono dashed through the opening followed by Chin.

Frank expected to either hear a tremendous tussle on the other side of the door, or see the two men ejected from the chamber with arms and legs flailing about. Instead, it was neither, only a maddening silence.  That silence was shattered by an ancient groan from the door hinges as it rotated open to reveal Gallono and Chin both pushing it with their shoulders.  Beyond the open doorway, Frank spied a rectangular room covering over 40,000 square feet housing a mesmerizing sight.

In the center of the burial chamber rested a solid bronze coffin overturned and laying on its side with the remains of the Chinese nation’s first emperor, Qui Shi Huang, spilled out across the stone floor.  Surrounding the coffin was a detailed three-dimensional map of the nation complete with rivers of mercury representing the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers. 

The slightly domed ceiling stood twenty feet overhead with embedded seashells, pearls and gemstones depicting the sun, moon and star constellations of the sky.  Hanging from the ceiling at evenly spaced intervals were a hundred whale oil lamps, which had either been refilled recently or still functioned admirably today.

The only imperfection to the ceiling’s portrayal of the heavens was an antenna the size of a man’s head.  It extended down from the chamber above, and allowed the Alpha to reanimate into the form of the Terracotta warriors standing guard over a mile to the west.

If the sight impressed Gallono, he did not show it.  He retrieved a blue disk from his pocket and activated the device to produce a 3-dimensional rendering of an aging man’s head inside the cone of light.  “Tonwen, are you ready to test your ability to interfere with the Alpha’s regeneration process?”

“Yes, the Nexus has been reconfigured to emit interference, but I must warn you commander,” the floating head responded but stopped speaking when Gallono interrupted.

“I am aware of the related issues, proceed anyway.”

“The interference is now active,” Tonwen responded a moment later, which prompted Gallono to terminate the conversation and put the disk back into his pocket.  He then took twelve efficient strides over to the corner, hoisted the armless soldier made of wet clay to his feet, and gave it a shove toward the open doorway.  Before the clay soldier could catch its balance, Gallono swung his sledgehammer parallel to the ground and sent the clay body flying through the air toward the wall.

Frank watched the once wet clay harden in midflight and shatter upon impact with the wall leaving three-inch thick shards of broken pottery strewn about the floor.  Where the creature once stood, a vibrant flame with the consistency of flowing metal now appeared.  The flame began floating downward until settling into a gentle hover an inch off the floor.

“Looks like the interference Tonwen is putting out using the Nexus is working,” Gallono declared with great satisfaction.  “Otherwise this worthless runt, using that antenna, would have vanished like the others back into their regeneration chamber to take over another clay body.”

Frank heard a deep, guttural series of growls and snarls emanate from the flame.  He had no hope of interpreting the alien language, but Gallono’s response gave him a good idea of the meaning.  “I’m not about to go procreate with myself, I have a job to do.  Now you be a good boy and stay there while I get to work.”

“Death is only the beginning,” the flame declared in perfect English that dripped with false bravado.

“Today it will be an ending; I guarantee it,” Gallono countered on his way into the burial chamber.

“For both of us,” Frank overheard the flame say as the rest of the assault team entered the expansive burial chamber.

“That other set of doors open along the western wall leads to the clay warrior pits.  You can bet your last dollar or Yuan that reinforcements are on their way,” Frank declared.

“How could they know?” Chin asked.  “You dispatched all of their guards and electronic communications are all being jammed.”

“A wise man once told me to always hope for the best, but prepare for the worst,” Gallono countered.  “Frank, I need you, the professor, and his lovely assistant to cover me while I work to seal that door closed.  Chin, I want you to start wiring up the explosives you carried in with you.

“Consider it done,” Chin responded while Frank lugged the heavy gas canister of the acetylene torch over to the west doorway.

Professor Russell poked
his head between the set of copper doors Gallono was feverishly working to weld shut.  The man knew what he was doing and worked fast, but at this moment even the time it took to blink an eye felt too long.  The prospect of more of these clay soldiers storming the burial chamber was terrifying. 

He had witnessed these creatures overtake an army barricade and assimilate an entire military base with no casualties.  Up until just a few minutes earlier, they seemed indestructible.  This Gallono person had shown otherwise with his blunt instrument, but he was just one man who, at the moment, had his hands full welding a copper door.  That gave Brian little comfort considering how many clay statues resided at the other end of the dark tunnel.

There was no sign of light or sound coming from the corridor just yet, but it was only a matter of time.  Brian pulled his head back in to inspect Gallono’s progress for the thousandth time in the last thirty seconds.  He was about halfway finished sealing around the edges of the left door and making good time.

“What is with that slab of stone along the north wall over there?” Alex asked.  “There are shards of broken clay and discolored flooring all around the thing and I think I see some wiring coming out of it.”

“That’s what started this whole mess in the first place,” Gallono answered without turning attention away from his welding.  “When hooked up to a powerful enough battery, it harnesses a dying Alpha’s life force so it can continue to exist in the form of a relic; that flame we saw earlier.”

“It only works on the Alpha?” Alex pondered.

“We’re not really sure. A few hundred years ago, we were in this very spot facing a similar shortage of time.  I destroyed the batteries driving that device before we got to examine or test it.”

“So what you’re telling me is if I hooked up a car battery to those wires it might still work?” Alex attempted to clarify.

“More like a nuclear reactor or two,” Gallono chuckled as he came to the end of his welding line.  He released his thumb from the gas supply valve, extinguishing the torch in his hands with a sharp pop.

Without the constant sizzle filling the air, the group was able to hear the rhythmic pounding of heavy footsteps approaching from the corridor.

Professor Russell took a quick look through the opening before Gallono closed it tight and began welding the other side along the top, then moved on to fuse together the vertical gap between the two doors.

“I saw three or four of them running up the corridor,” Brian reported.  “It looked like one was carrying a relic and using it as a light source.”

Gallono let out a frustrated huff while he worked.  “It also probably serves as their means of communicating with the rest of their forces.  The relics all exist in some state of collective consciousness.  Having a relic with each group out in the field would be an ideal way to stay coordinated even when electronic communications are down.  Plus they’re a decent source of light, especially if you get them a little agitated.”

Gallono paused in his welding when he reached the floor to look at the professor.  “Tell me, how bright was it?”

“Like a second sun,” Brian answered, drawing a confident grin from Gallono as he repositioned to weld along the door hinge side of the frame.

“Good.  That means they’re worried,” Gallono managed to say just before a colossal impact hit the door from the other side.  Gallono stood up and looked at his work with pride.  The doors did not even budge a single millimeter under the impacts.  “I’d say they’re very worried.”

“Now let’s see about helping Chin rig this place to blow before they come through our only way out,” Gallono said while turning around.

Brian followed his turn and was about to give a Gallono congratulatory pat on the back.  Instead he found of two pistols trained on them that forced him to freeze mid motion and simply raise both his hands into the air.

“Chin, what the hell are you doing?” Alex demanded.  “You should have this place almost ready to blow by now.”

“We’re not destroying this chamber,” Chin responded with a sinister finality to his words.  “This room is everything I could have hoped for and more when I retrieved the two of you from his custody.”

“Maybe, but it is also regenerating an indestructible army that is taking over your country,” Frank countered.  “Do what’s right for your people, your government.  Blow the place up and be a hero.”

Chin must have sensed Gallono subtly pacing toward him.  He took a few steps back and trained his aim on the alien and Frank, by far the two most dangerous people in the room.  “No, I don’t think so.  I’m the one who opened the chamber and unleashed their forces.  I’d face a firing squad, and they would send the bill for the bullets to my parents.  No, the only way this ends well for me is if we get the technology.  All will be forgiven then.”

“Well, at least you’re betraying us for a cause that’s both selfless and noble,” Gallono mused.  “Your sense of honor must know no bounds.”

“What about your sense of safety?” Frank added.  “They regenerate, you can’t stop them.”

Chin looked to the flame setting on the floor just outside the southern doorway.  He flipped his head toward Gallono.  “Looks like his people have managed to stop them from doing that.”

“For how long?” Frank countered while looking ready to take his chances with a charge.  “They were accessing the locations of your nuclear silos.  How long until they tear somebody’s arm off who knows the access codes?  Then they make the Giza Plateau glow in the dark along with anyone else who tries to stop them.”

“They caught us off guard,” Chin countered.  “We’ll adapt.  We have over 1.3 billion people in my country.  We have the largest land army on earth.  They have fewer than 7,000 clay figures to play with.  The weight of large numbers is on our side.  Just ask the Germans in WWII how it worked out facing an extremely numerous army in Russia.”

“An individual who was there happens to be standing here telling you that your assessment is dead wrong,” Gallono shouted.  “I’ll be happy to discuss the subject further with you when this is all over, but for right now you need to stop acting like a lunatic and destroy this chamber.”

“Not a chance.  Now pick up that welding lance and set it outside the south door on the opposite side from the explosives.”

Gallono vented a frustrated huff and threw his hands out to the side in disgust.  “Fine.  Do you mind if I put an end to that relic over there while I’m at it?  It’s providing valuable intelligence to his friends on the other side of that door.”

“I am very curious to see how you accomplish that.  The rest of you stay here while Commander Gallono and I run a little experiment,” Chin ordered.

Professor Russell watched as Gallono picked up his welding equipment and carried it over to the southern door with Chin holding him at gunpoint while maintaining a safe ten-foot gap between them.

“What’s the play after this,” Gallono asked.  “Are you going to shoot all four of us?”

“What do you care,” Chin countered.  “From what I hear you will regenerate just like these Alpha relics.”

When Gallono glanced back at Chin, Brian was quite certain he saw real fear in the alien’s eyes at that moment.  It was possible Chin was incorrect with that assumption.  Perhaps the interference preventing the Alpha from doing their thing disrupted the Novi’s ability to regenerate as well.

“I’m going to light the welding torch now,” Gallono announced.  Next, he crouched down and applied the intense flame to the Alpha relic. 

At first, the thing was not phased in the least, but that soon changed.  The life force began to cry out in an agonizing death wail that rivaled the final moments of a person being burned at the stake.  The once vibrant flame sputtered three times in rapid succession before evaporating into nothing and taking the ear-piercing shrieks with it.

Chin cringed at the violent assault on his ears, which gave Gallono an opportunity.  He dove across the open doorway and reached with the flaming end of his welding torch for the nearest bag of explosives, but Chin must have been expecting the move.  The Chinese operative stepped on the gas line, which brought it to a dead stop midflight and ripped it from Gallono’s still traveling grasp.

Gallono performed a tuck roll, sprung back to his feet, stepped up onto the door and launched himself back toward Chin in one beautifully fluid motion.  Unfortunately, Chin was prepared for that as well and pulled the trigger twice with time to spare.  Gallono sustained two hits to the right side of his chest and dropped to the floor.

Chin was without mercy.  He stepped forward and delivered a kick to the ribs that sent Gallono rolling back into the burial chamber.  One more kick to the stomach sent Gallono ten feet further in and gave Chin enough time to close the door behind him and begin the process of welding it shut from the outside.