Chapter Three
STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND
APRIL 21ST, 2669
Felix blinks, the blue light is gone, replaced with a warm yellow, and lush greens. Sounds of birds and wildlife filter through his daze, he smiles at the beauty of it all.
“I can’t believe it.” He says to himself as he walks through the trees, allowing the leaves to brush his hands.
His internal screen bleeps and flashes a red dot to his right. He turns, raising his arms, aiming the blasters in his suit’s wrists, but there is nothing threatening, just trees.
He holds his position, ready for an ambush. Leaves rustle, and a small, lizard like creature steps out. Walking on hind legs, the creature looks up at Ivor, it’s body is covered in scales which reflect the sun.
It looked harmless, like a baby dinosaur he thought.
He goes to take a step towards it, but there is another rustle. Felix glances to his sides to find he is now surrounded by four more of these animals, and these were much larger than the first.
The mutant dinosaurs pull themselves up to their full height, spines stretching out from the side of their heads, creating such a terrifying image that Felix hesitates for just a moment.
With a flick of both wrists, two ultra-violet sonic blades extend from both arms, humming as they burn the air around them.
The creatures jump at him and in one move, he slices two in half before they get too close. Another manages to latch onto his back, claws wrapping around his shoulders, squeezing the metal. Felix ignites his boosters for a moment, frying the monster, the smell of burnt lizard fills the air.
Felix spins and brings his blades down in an overhead swing through the last one from the ambush. It’s body splits in two, blood gushing everywhere. The last creature, the one who’d been the bait, has enough sense to turn tail and run away from him.
Felix stands and retracts his sonic blades, watching the little dinosaur scamper into the thick forest, vanishing from sight. Then Felix notices a digital clicking sound withing his helmet. He taps onto his wrist and the translator Ivor had installed kicks in.
A loud, cold, robotic voice fills his helmet.
IDENTIFY YOURSELF, it demands.
Felix slowly turns and see’s the black and silver living machine. Up close and with his own eyes, as well as with the information gleamed from his scanning systems, he could see it for what it really was.
Towering over him at nine feet tall, it’s cylindrical visor was optic in design, and like a giant eye it stares down at him, with glowing red alien symbols floating around it’s circumference.
The monsters body was both biological and machine, a fusing of both, and neither of which were recognized by his suit, not even the elemental composition of the metal.
It’s anatomy is different to the other two he’d seen, still structured like that of an insects, but standing on two thick legs which ended the same as it’s four arms did; in four long claws, each as thick as his wrist.
“I am-” He starts.
IMPOSTOR, it states.
The words scream in his head.
The living machine raises one of it’s arms and fires a blast of energy. Felix is knocked through the air but uses his boosters to land on his feet. Digging them into the ground he aims his shoulders at the stationary robot and fires two missiles at it.
There is a large explosion, but his suit easily shields him from the blast. After the dust settles, he slowly moves over to investigate, pieces of the alien robot are scattered far across the blast radius.
“Well that was anti-climactic.” Felix says as his suit scans the debris for life, finding none.
A signal graph then appears on his screen and shows the locations of other alien robots nearby, the closest being only two hundred meters away and moving in his direction.
“IVOR, is the atmosphere breathable?”
He waits, but there is no response. He’d gotten so used to having the AI around, but out here, in this time, he was unavailable.
Felix looks around at the wild-lands, overgrown with vines and trees. On his screen the suit displays the results of the surrounding atmosphere.
He presses a button on his neck and the helmet slides back around his head. He takes a deep breath of clean fresh air, unlike anything he’d ever tasted before in his life. His body feels light at the unusually high levels of oxygen now coursing through his system.
“But he can’t be-” A small voice catches his ears and he turns, looking into the bushes.
“Hello?” Felix calls out, “Is anyone there? I mean you no harm.”
A moment later two tall muscular men with dark, tattooed skin step out of the brush, both supporting energy weapons.
“Who you? How you take head off?” One of them demands of Felix.
“How do I? This is just a helmet, it’s not my actual head.”
The mans eyes narrow, then he points at the robot Felix had destroyed.
“They can’t take head off, metal is head, is body, why you attack comrade?”
“My com…?” Felix mumbles, “He wasn’t my… I just got here, from the past, my name is Dr Felix Eisenmann.”
The native’s face drops it’s seriousness.
“What?”
He then turns to the other man and they talk fast. The second man wasn’t agreeing with the first, but after a moment they settle their dispute.
“We need to confirm your identity first, come.” he jerks his head back, turning. “With haste stranger, not safe here, and keep helmet off.”
As the two men move into the forest, a teenage boy steps out from his hiding spot and joins them, but keeps staring back at Felix who follows a short distance behind.
Felix wonders why his name would mean anything to these people, who were so far removed from his own time.
***
“Can you just tell me where we are going?” Felix asks again.
The air is hot and the forest thick, making it very hard to keep up with these nomads. He wanted to put his helmet back up so he could regulate his temperature better, but it would only upset them.
“No, soon you will see,” Says one of his guides, “we are close.”
“Fine.” Felix sighs as they continue their trek.
The teenage boy with blue hair appears to come to some conclusion and slows down to come in line with Felix.
“I bet it feels amazing to fly.” States the young man.
“Yeah, it does. Felix says.
“I wish I could fly.” The boy says. Then after a few minutes he says, “I like your laser sword, can you teach me how to make one?”
“Heh, it’s is a very dangerous weapon, you’re too young-”
“I took down Mammoth all by myself and saved tribe, I’ve faced dangers all my life, please can I have a sword?”
Felix hesitates, was this going to be a big deal? He got the feeling that this kid could probably handle it, but would he get into trouble for it?
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He reaches over his arm and disconnects one of the blade holders, and activates it. The blade sprouts forward and the sudden hum sends the adults before him into a panic, crouching low and looking around for a robot.
“Relax, I’m just showing the kid something.”
They watch as he hands the kid his sonic blade who gives it a few test swings before spinning and slicing a tree in two.
“Wow…” He breathes, “Incredible.”
The two men eye Felix, then indicate to continue walking.
After almost another hour they finally reach their destination. As they step out of the trees, Felix has to shield his eyes from the rays of sunlight, but in a moment they adjust enough for him to see a ruined building. It looks like it had been a library in the past, but now it was covered in vines and moss, and most of the brick work had crumbled away.
“Nature reclaims it’s territory.” Felix says to himself, marveling at the changes a few hundred years have made.
“So did someone fix the planet?”
The three locals look at him with perplexing stares, he takes a deep breath and points at the ground.
“Land, was dying, we were trying to save it, what happened?”
They look at one another.
“You do not know yet?” Says one.
“Elder will tell what he can.” Says the other before they both enter the building.
After a frustrating moment, Felix follows, reveling in the cool air of the buildings interiors.
The shelves had long since been ransacked, turned into barricades, dried blood coats almost every surface, rusted bullet casings and large blackened areas indicating fire damage, litter the room, all telling a story of a battle fought.
“What happened here?” he asks, expecting, and being correct, that he’d get no answer, again. But Felix can’t help but wonder if this was where one of the last stands of humans versus alien robots had happened.
They walk deeper into the library, passing archways which had once housed double doors. Down a winding set of metal stairs, down into the basement.
At a metal door, two more of these local men stood, these two looking more like warriors than his pair. They wore armor which seemed to have been fashioned from the scales of the dinosaurs he’d fought earlier. They also had a lot more tattoo’s than the other two.
They speak quietly to each other, the guards at the door stare hard at Felix, eying his suit and helmet.
They nod and open the door for them. The man who’d first found him turns to speak.
“Do not make trouble, or you dead.” He states with cold truth.
Felix nods and follows them inside.
It is warm, populated with men, woman and children, some strong and wild, others thin and weak, being cared for by the rest. His eyes meet many of their frightened gazes.
He says nothing, taking in the fragile society of humans, forced to live underground. What kind of future was this?
They reach a large tent which has been erected in a corner of the room. One of his guides enters and the other turns to block the door.
“Wait.” He says, and so Felix does.
A minute later the flap on the tent is drawn back.
“Come.” Says a voice inside, and so Felix enters.
He is greeted by an old man with a feather head piece, who is flanked by a middle aged man and woman. Less important looking, but with faces that were just as serious, if not more so.
“Sit.” Says the younger man. As Felix obliges, his guide nods to the three and departs, leaving Felix alone with the… Elders of the tribe?
“Please, explain who you are and how you arrived here.” The old leader states in a husky voice.
“My name is Dr. Felix Eisenmann, I traveled here from the past, from three-hundred years ago.”
“Why have you come here.” The woman on the elders left asks.
“My planet, this planet,” he touches the ground, “Was dying, I tried to heal it but people didn’t care, so… I guess, I wanted to know if there was a future to fight for or not… That’s why I came here.”
The three of them stare back.
The older man, reaches behind him and pulls out a wooden box.
“If you are him, then maybe, you can find yourself.”
He opens the box to reveal an electro-magnetic strength detector, Felix’s mouth hangs open as he reaches in to touch it.
“I… don’t understand,” he says after a moment, “why would you need this, why do you think I can help?”
“It’s in the prophecy.”
“The…” He bites back the word, “Very well then, tell me everything you know about your past, and you can start with those machines I encountered topside.”
“They are the owners of this world,” Says the younger man, “according to legend they arrived from the stars to heal the world, and then choose to remain, to protect it from further destruction.”
Felix nods as he ponders this.
“So they don’t come from this world?” He asks.
“Well they’re not like us, in any way.” Says the woman, “and not like you either, you are man, they are not.”
“They can’t remove their head like you remove yours.” Says the younger man.
“Yeah I got that, so why hide from them?” Felix asks.
“They hunt us, always have, they want us to be gone from here.” Replies the man.
Despite the heat of the tent, Felix shivers, his skin cold and wet beneath the suit.
“Why?” Felix asks, his voice hollow.
They shake their heads.
“All we know for sure, is that when they catch one of us, they take us away and we never see them again.” The woman says.
“They don’t just kill you?” Felix frowns, “I wonder why.”
“I’ve never stuck around long enough to find out.” Says the elder as he lifts up the box. “Please, we need this to work.”
“Why?” Felix asks again.
“It’s stated in prophecy,” says the woman, “A Doctor Eisenmann will appear and aid us in finding the secret weapon.”
“Sorry, Secret weapon?” Felix looks between them, “What is it?”
They all shake their heads, the elder man speaks.
“I can not tell you how or where this came into my possession, but that it is destined to bring peace to our world, and I have been waiting for you, for so many years.” He adds with a weary smile.
Felix picks up the device and turns it over, scratched on it’s underside, were the words;
USE TO FIND KEY
DESTROY THEM
-DR EISENMANN
Felix’s bones felt like icicles. How was this possible? Does he leave this message? How did he know it would find it’s way here? Why did he think this would…
“I have no memory of this,” Felix says, “which means, that for me, it has yet to happen. In the past, my future, I knew of this threat, and must have tried to stop it. But… I must have failed…”
Felix’s eyes grow wide, speaking to himself further, “I go back, try to stop them, but being here, in this future, I failed? If I change the past, would this moment even happen?”
The paradox of his soon to be historical actions renders him motionless.
“So, can you help?” The old mans voice breaks his flow. Felix looks up, seeing his eyes wide with anticipation.
“Eh, yeah, I suppose I can fix this, I’ll need some kind of screwdriver, but I fail to see how this will…”
Nothing but blank stares, “Or a sharp knife?” he asks.
The older man reaches for his hip and pulls out a knife wrapped in leather strips. He unwinds it and passes it to Felix.
“Thank you.” Felix says.
He works on the device, trying to push any thoughts of paradoxes out of his mind, being replaced by flying saucers and alien robots assimilating the population of earth. That was what the message had said wasn’t it?
Felix then has a stray thought and looks up.
“Have you ever spoken with anyone, not on this planet?”
“Like where?” The woman asks.
He points up, “Like the Moon, Mars, Jupiter?”
They frown and shake their heads, looking between them, Felix doubts that they had any inclination of what he was talking about.
“Some people,” Felix starts, “tried to escape, traveling to other lands, other worlds where they could live. I’m wondering if they made it, if they survived.”
“We’ve not had any contact with any of the other tribes in a long time,” Says the elder man, “never have I heard of contact with those in heaven.”
Felix smirks, even after the fall of civilization, we still call the sky ‘the heavens’.
The device starts to whir, lights flicker on and off before a slow clicking noise starts up. Felix frowns, the device must have been modified as these never made a sound like… like a Geiger counter.
The three elders hold out their hands, each eager to examine the device. Felix notices something silver flashing inside the Elder mans sleeve.
“What’s that?” Felix asks the old man.
The elder looks to his wrist and quickly tucks the bracelet back inside his sleeve.
“I can’t say much more, but we met once, before the fall.”
Felix’s eyes almost pop out of his skull.
“That’s impossible, how-“ But Felix doesn’t get to finish his question, nor to get an answer.
A loud explosion rocks the earth and knocks them all to the ground.
“They have found us! We must go!” The woman orders as she helps the old man to his feet.
The young man stares hard at Felix, gripping the device to his chest.
“You led them here!” He screams.
“If I did it was not my intent, I don’t even know them.” Felix barks back.
“Daven, It doesn’t matter,” Says the elder man, who coughs before turning to Felix and says, “You must go now, return to your own time, and Felix… Try not to let your work consume you.”
The three elders slip away through a secret tunnel in the wall just as a guard grabs Felix, and drags him out of the collapsing tent.
What the hell was that supposed to mean? Felix wonders before another explosion rocks the building.