Apocalypse Short Story 2

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Apocalypse Short #2

 

The skies over MegaPrimus were dark and filled with a sense of foreboding. The clouds were thick; in the polluted atmosphere of even this much-vaunted corner of the Earth this was not uncommon. Two alien wars and decades of pollution by heavy industries had left Earth a ruin. MegaPrimus was the last bastion of humanity on a dying world; it was the single largest settlement left. A few other self-contained cities remained elsewhere on the planet, but they were but pale shadows of MegaPrimus, and most were dependent upon the larger city in any case. MegaPrimus was the last hope for Earth - if it fell, so did humanity.

Unfortunately, Earth's enemies knew this.

Above the city floated three impossible anomalies - slowly revolving red pyramids surrounded by a blue sphere of crackling energy. They shimmered and flickered, defying reality by their presence. The human eye was drawn to these things, but just as soon forced away as the mind refused to accept what it was being shown.

For weeks now, these anomalies had existed over MegaPrimus. For most citizens, completely immersed in the mundane lives they led within the city, the anomalies were just another bizarre sign of the dying of their world. But they were far more significant than that.

One of the spheres flared, and the red pyramid ceased its spinning. Instead, it expanded, growing steadily fainter as it did - until it was outside the blue sphere. And it still expanded - until it was nearly a kilometre across, and almost invisible. Then the blue sphere flared and vanished into nothingness. Simultaneously, a vast, disc-shaped something appeared at the epicentre of the pyramid. Even as it flickered into being, it had begun to drift out over the city, spinning in a similar manner to the pyramid. Behind it, the anomaly snapped back to it's regular shape, returning to its steady revolutions.

The UFO spins serenely out over the city. It seemed to be crawling along at a snail's pace, but in reality it is moving as fast as any fighter jet of Earth's glorious history. But this is no jet plane - it is a battle cruiser, an alien craft brimming with weaponry.

And in response to the threat, an unmarked Valkyrie fighter aircraft rises from an inconspicuous warehouse nearby. Instantly, the UFO opens fire, purple beams of energy ionising the air as they scream towards the rising Valkyrie. One connects, melting part of the ship's hull to slag. Another soars past, missing by mere metres, crashing instead into the warehouse below. The roof collapses inwards, and a half of the building falls with it.

The Earthen craft's retort seems puny in comparison. Brilliantly bright beams of pure white light stab out, and a missile launcher sheds its load. The beams of white light both strike the alien craft, but a blue screen around the UFO dissipates their energy. The missile strikes the UFO, but its explosive force is similarly negated.

The pilot of the Valkyrie, sensing his inferiority in the face of this opponent, switches to evasive manoeuvres. It is to no avail; the terrifyingly accurate alien craft fires again, and a purple energy blast tears down the side of the Valkyrie. The aircraft bucks, but it's pilot somehow manages to keep her in the air.

Fleeing now, the Valkyrie accelerates to its maximum velocity. But the UFO keeps pace, still spinning sedately behind the aircraft. The pilot pumps pure fuel into the Valkyrie's engine in desperation, and afterburners flare, pushing the aircraft ahead. Now the alien battle cruiser is falling behind slightly - but as the escaping Valkyrie passes the five hundred-metre mark, and it's pilot relaxes his breath, it unleashes its most powerful weapon yet.

From one of the tubes in its side, a sleek rocket is ejected. It does not seem to be guided, merely drifting in the direction of the Earthen aircraft - but it is fast, and is slowly gaining. But no, now it is falling, its vector dipping lower and lower towards the city's streets.

And then it explodes.

But instead of tiny chunks of wreckage spreading out about the flaring explosion, twelve smaller missiles - guided, this time - soar out, on a direct course to intercept the Valkyrie. They are terrifyingly fast - the pilot barely has time to scream before they reach his craft.

As X-Com watches from the safety of their underground base, the elite of their airforce is blown into nothingness, as if it had never been. And the UFO drifts on, unhindered, until it settles over a massively tall building. A pulsing cylinder of white smoke and pure energy stabs down, somehow passing through the roof of the building. Inside the cylinder, misshapen humanoid figures, and others, impossibly twisted, move steadily downwards, into the building.

The cylinder disappears, and the alien craft heads back on itself, moving for the safety of the dimension gates. Its work here is done.

By noon tomorrow, the city will be infested with alien spawn.