The Harvest (7 page)

The craft lifted higher, and the ground
collapsed inward where the beam impacted the battlefield.

“They created a temporary gravity well amidst
our soldiers.” Lily’s voice cracked. “We didn’t have a chance.”

“A black hole?” Laura asked with terrified
awe.

“Something like that,” Lily replied.

Her craft moved closer to the beam and then
spun away. The camera captured a double sunset, one yellow sun
slightly above the horizon and the other orange one half below. The
camera rotated down and back, filming the rebels as they fell and
clawed at the green plain, trying to resist being sucked toward the
beam. When they got close to it, their armor imploded, their bodies
crushed and violently ripped apart before vanishing into the
light.

“I tried to fly away, but it pulled me
in.”

There was no sound, but Shane imagined the
engines on Lily’s ship were screaming against the irresistible draw
of gravity. The light picked up by the camera grew brighter and
brighter until the TV screen was white. Then it went dark for a few
seconds, and the image changed. An image of North America from
space appeared on the screen, and the image began to rotate, slowly
at first and then faster until it was a blur.

“We were pulled into some sort of wormhole
created by the implosion. The mouth of the wormhole must’ve been
high enough above the plain that it only captured our ship,
protecting us from the most destructive gravitational forces
generated by the weapon. While everyone on the ground was being
crushed, we passed through unscathed. We came out over New Mexico,
our engines shut off by the space-time distortion,” Lily said.
Flames engulfed the image as the ship passed through the
atmosphere. When the fire retreated, the tan, spinning desert
rushed up to meet the camera, and then the screen went blank. Lily
turned the TV off and looked at Shane and his friends, her eyes
moist.

“It didn’t seem like you had a chance,” Jules
said distantly. “I don’t see how we can possibly fight them.”

“They knew we were going to attack.” She
regained her composure. “Their spies must’ve infiltrated us.”

“Looked like they really hated your people,”
Tracy mused, staring at the dark screen.

“We resisted the idea that Anunnaki are the
supreme beings in the universe. We believed all sentient beings
should be treated with respect and allowed their freedom,” she
explained. “We destroyed numerous factories and training facilities
that were preparing for attacks against planets like your own. The
Anunnaki government called us traitors and wanted us all dead.”

“What makes you think we’ll do any better?”
Shane had heard enough. He wanted to know what their chances were.
The rebels had advanced weapons and an understanding of their enemy
he and his friends couldn’t gain in a lifetime. He didn’t feel
overly confident at the moment.

“Although you are not as technologically
advanced, humans are a lot tougher than the Anunnaki, as is your
design. Your people have been fighting constantly for thousands of
years—it’s in your DNA,” she replied. “Humans have created heroes
and gods in myth, attributing great strength to them and telling
stories of how they overcame impossible obstacles. In Anunnaki
lore, humans fill the roles of our children’s heroes. We have
always admired your strength and willingness to fight when the odds
are against you. In combining the primitive, though physically
powerful, phenotype of the Neanderthals with the intellect of the
Anunnaki, my people created the perfect warriors.”

“We’re not all violent monsters bent on
killing each other,” Laura objected with disgust.

“No, you are not,” Lily confirmed
apologetically. “Humans have a great capacity for love and
creation. It’s another reason my people are so fond of you. Humans
are the greatest achievement of the Anunnaki—both sides agree upon
that. You also desire peace, and we rebels expect one day your
people will stop fighting each other. But for now, your
intelligence, primal aggressiveness, and propensity toward war make
you ideal soldiers. You are their secret weapon, and they expect
you’ll help them overthrow their enemies. These same
characteristics may save you and your planet from them.”

“But our armies are gone. We’re just a bunch
of kids,” Jules said. “What do you expect us to do?”

“Based on our calculations, we have between
four to six months until the Anunnaki arrive,” she replied. “It’s
not much time, but we can train you. My partner and I had a long
history of executing covert operations against the enemy before we
came here, and we helped train lots of recruits.”

“Yeah,” Steve said, “and you lost.”

“Remember,” her enthusiasm was undeterred by
his pessimistic response, “unlike the multitude of successful
attacks we rebels made during the war, the enemy won’t be expecting
you. They don’t know we are here. You have surprise on your side.
Yes, the odds of success in this mission are dire at best, but we
believe in you. And you have to believe in yourselves.”

Lily studied them, admiration and optimism in
her eyes. Shane fidgeted with his cup, his head aching from all the
new information. He glanced at his friends. They had to fight—what
else was there to do?

“We’ve been dealing with the impossible for
the last two days, so I guess we’re used to it,” Shane said. Then
he faced Lily, resting his elbows on the table. “What do we have to
do?”

“A small fleet of Anunnaki ships are coming
to earth,” she began. “Their mission is to enslave the remaining
kids. They’ll use the slave gene in the kids to make them pass
through seven main recruit ships, which will land in different
parts of the world. They’ll equip the kids with armor and weapons.
You will be with the enslaved kids. You and six other teams, en
route to this base now, will enter the ships, appearing to be under
Anunnaki control.”

She paused and looked up and down the table,
like she was making sure they were following what she was
saying.

“We already got that. Go on,” Shane demanded,
his head spinning.

“Once you’re equipped, you’ll slip away from
the rest of the recruits and make your way to the ship’s
engineering department,” she said, now speaking directly to him.
“We will teach you how to input a sequence into the control panel
that will destroy the primary reactor.”

“And then what?” Steve asked. “Sounds like a
suicide mission.”

“Everyone in the reactor chamber will die.
But if you can get out before the reactor goes critical, then your
odds of survival are actually quite high,” Lily said, though Shane
wasn’t convinced this part of the plan was a priority.

“The Anunnaki use the energy from the ship’s
reactors to power their strength-enhanced armor, and they need it
to boost the control signal to the human slaves. With the reactors
destroyed, the enemy will be thrown into chaos, and the slaves will
be freed. Then we have a chance of defeating them.”

Lily wanted to beat the Anunnaki—that much
was clear. Whether or not she cared if Shane and his friends
survived was yet to be determined.

“Well, if it’s the only hope we have,” Tracy
commented. “We have to at least give it a try.”

“We knew you would,” Lily replied. “Which is
why you are here.”

“And you think we’re the best people for this
mission?” Shane asked, skeptical.

“Well, you managed to shut down the limbic
manipulator weapon, didn’t you?” Lily looked up and down the table,
her eyes wide as if to invite an objection.

“You didn’t know that when you selected us,”
Shane said, his gazed fixed on her. Had he caught her in a lie?
“Why did you choose us?”

“We have neural scanning equipment that is
beyond your understanding,” she replied, not acting the least bit
suspicious. “We scanned you before we met you at the farmhouse,
when we flew over in the helicopters. The results of the scan are
what led to your, and every other team’s, selection. We were
surprised that you didn’t seem to have any special training, but
now that I know what you’ve done, the scan results make perfect
sense.” Lily paused, her expression becoming more sincere. “You may
not have the training of some of the other groups, but you’ve got a
fighting spirit that few can match. You’re the type of people that
don’t give up, and that’s what we need if we’re to make it through
this situation.”

“Judging by what
you must’ve gone through, I doubt those pastries have done much to
curb your appetite.” Lily stood and came back around the table.

He felt more at ease when she approached him,
beginning to come to terms with the idea that they were on the same
team. She had suffered too, had lost her people and her home. He
couldn’t ignore the irony of having the rebels land on a planet
destined for harvesting. What were the odds? And even if the enemy
was as formidable as she made them out to be, the notion of
destroying them from the inside seemed viable. He wanted to believe
she was good, and her plan could work, but he reminded himself to
stay cautious.

“So, about these guns,” Lily said, looking at
Kelly’s M-16, which was propped against the table. “I won’t order
you to relinquish them, but I do worry about an accidental
discharge. You brought a lot of kids with you, and it concerns me
to have these weapons everywhere.”

The teens were silent. Shane stared at her,
hesitant to take the final leap. He glanced at his friends—all eyes
were on him. They expected him to make the decision; otherwise,
they would have said something by now. Biting the inside of his
cheek, he looked at Lily once again and sighed.

“Yeah, I think it’s okay to leave them here,”
he said.

Lily smiled. Relief settled on everyone’s
face except Tracy’s and Steve’s. He sensed neither of them had
misgivings about parting with their guns for fear of Lily. They
glanced at the weapons with longing—children forced to surrender
their favorite toys.

Aside from football, Steve’s other great
passion was hunting. He wasn’t good at school, just barely making
the grades so he could play sports, and he wasn’t particularly
successful with the ladies, who probably didn’t enjoy that he only
talked about these two things.

Tracy loved anything military related. Her
stepdad had been a Green Beret in the Army, and she seemed to want
to be just like him. The JROTC program at Leeville High had been an
obscure club with a few oddballs in disheveled uniforms when Shane
was in the ninth grade. With her stepdad’s help, she revived the
unit in less than two years. She even had the soldier wannabes
marching during halftimes and twirling rifles.

Grinning at their discontentment and
satisfied his friends felt he’d made the right decision, he
followed Lily out of the conference room and onto the tarmac. She
pointed the hungry teenagers toward the base cafeteria and went
back inside.

He and his friends walked across the base in
silence, and he expected they, like him, were contemplating all
Lily had just said to them. She’d mentioned six other teams were on
their way, and his imagination conjured three dozen teenage
commandos with tattoos and battle scars being scooped up from the
darkest corners of the globe. It made sense to get the best kids
alive on this mission. But, if the rebels initially weren’t aware
his team had shut down the limbic manipulator, why had they chosen
them? It wasn’t like they had any special training that would make
them better candidates. The whole neural scan from above
explanation she gave wasn’t easy to believe. Maybe Lily did already
know what they’d achieved and was just trying to boost their egos
by acting amazed when they told her.

The cafeteria was inside a squat, rectangular
building, a contrast to the curved half-pipe or taller, blocky
structures making up much of the perimeter of the airfield. Passing
through the glass doors, Shane immediately got a sense that the
ceiling was too low. It gave the windowless dining room a dark and
claustrophobic feeling, despite the lines of fluorescent lights
breaking the monotony of the acoustic tiles. It had more rows of
tables than the Leeville High lunchroom had, and a long,
stainless-steel serving area took up the entire wall opposite the
entry.

“Some rescue,” Maurice grumbled, setting his
tray down across from Shane. “When they plucked us off that farm, I
thought things might get better.”

“I’m not ready to give up,” Shane replied,
trying to maintain a semblance of courage. He looked across the
room at Kelly, who was in line getting food.

“Me neither—I’m with you,” Maurice said
unconvincingly. “It just sucks, that’s all.” His head drooped, and
he shoveled a bite of tuna casserole into his mouth.

Although he’d only known him for a couple of
days, he felt close to Maurice. The short, thick kid was willing to
give his life if that was what it took to win. He was a great
orator, brave as hell, and strong as an ox. Shane didn’t know much
else about him. In the short time they’d been acquainted, he’d
never seen the boy carry his head so low. He usually stood proud
and seemed taller than he actually was, but now something was
undermining his confidence.