05.20.2135

Twelve years after Man Fall, heavy rain pours down on a post-apocalyptic, Far East, urban landscape. Buildings, vehicles, corpses…anything once worth salvaging, long picked clean to its bones.

A hooded silhouette with an electrokat sheathed to its back sifts through what’s left of a large, hollowed-out alien vessel. Ignoring the sounds of slapping rainwater, the mysterious scavenger turns his head and scans the area. A faint, cloudy mist emanates from under the scavenger’s hood as he continues about his business.

Behind a rusted trolley car a few yards away, a large shadow quietly stalks the hooded scavenger. Tracking its prey’s scent, it inches closer for the kill. The faintest of light exposes a dark, four-legged beast with glowing, blood-red eyes. It silently creeps beside an old rectangular sign adjacent to a set of light rail tracks:

はりまや橋駅

Water drips from the furry creature as it stops behind a condemned Japanese Defense Force tank, the fading reminder of a proud nation’s final and futile stand. Beads of water roll down the ferocious animal and land next to its blood-red, razor-sharp claws gripping the littered soil for traction. The cat-like creature sniffs around; its right ear perks up and twists right. It turns its head right, sniffs, and quietly navigates the rubble toward the targeted scent. The mutant feline creeps toward the hollowed-out alien vessel and then stops only feet from its target. Its left ear perks up and twists left. The creature turns its head, sniffs the ground, and gingerly walks toward the scavenger’s back near a pile of twisted metal. It crouches back, wiggles its rear, then pounces on the scavenger’s back. The creature gnaws at the scavenger’s jacket, shaking it in its mouth. Amazingly, its razor sharp teeth cannot penetrate the jacket’s laser-resistant cloth.

The scavenger’s electrokat protrudes from the pile of twisted metal and pierces the large beast right through its neck. The beast manages a final whimper as the scavenger, a mechanoid camouflaged among the twisted metal, rises from the rubble as the large creature collapses. The animal twitches until the mechanoid scavenger shoves the rest of his long, electromagnetic blade into it. Rain washes the pool of blood beside the animal’s limp body.

The mechanoid pries open the creature’s jaws to retrieve its hooded jacket and puts it back on. The human-like robot then proceeds to slice up his catch with speed and precision. He pulls out an expandable x-sak and fills it with enough lean meat to carry while moving quickly. The mechanoid tosses aside large chunks of twisted metal from the pile to reveal a modified hoverbike fitted with light weaponry, a faded insignia for the Japanese National Police, and a few laser burns that add character. Task complete, the hooded mechanoid leaves the remaining carcass for any poor souls left to partake.

The mechanoid rides his hoverbike west alongside the Enokuchi River. As the path narrows near Kurumase Park, the hoverbike continues toward a small bridge glaringly unfit for traversing. The mechanoid jumps his hoverbike onto a right-side guardrail just wide enough to hover over. Miraculously, the hoverbike and its contents safely make it to the opposite side of the river. The hoverbike’s radar and navigation systems guide the mechanoid through a dystopian landscape that includes a variety of threats and obstacles undetectable to the naked human eye. The mechanoid scavenger easily avoids a few nearby booby traps set by someone, or thing, looking to snag a prize.

The heavy rain lets up a bit. Slowing at a predetermined intersection, the mechanoid then turns and enters a five-story building where the only evidence remaining from the top two floors are its walls. He hovers up the open stairwell to the third floor and into an empty office area. The mechanoid parks, then grabs a box from the hoverbike’s storage space. On guard for imminent threats, he crouches beside a wall, opens the box, retrieves parts, and quickly assembles a sniper rifle. Removing his hood, the mechanoid peers just above the exposed window ledge and scans the area. Using infrared vision, he identifies two humans and a cyborg set up in three separate buildings nearly a quarter mile away. The three snipers sweep their laser rifle scopes in search of targets.

The mechanoid aims, shoots, and takes out all three snipers. After visually confirming each kill, the mechanoid quickly disassembles the sniper rifle, packs it back into the box, and loads the box into the storage space. The mechanoid activates his hoverbike, rides it back down three flights, and exits the building. He speeds north toward a trajectory between the three dead snipers. Frequent thunder follows increasing lighting strikes as rain persists.

Inside one of the three sniper buildings, the mechanoid stands over the dead cyborg sniper, a middle-aged, European female. He scans her and then loots her gear, including a small laser pen. The mechanoid then places a sealed chunk of fresh meat beside her. Using the female cyborg’s small laser pen, he signals morse code to her comrades patrolling about twenty blocks away and observes their multiple heat signatures scrambling to positions that provides the mechanoid safe passage through them.

The hoverbike safely enters the woodlands southwest of the decimated city. A few miles further, it veers off the dirt path, yet continues parallel to it while under forest cover. The mechanoid turns his head left to calculate his distance to the shoreline less than a couple of miles away. He rides past a set of booby traps that reactivate upon his passage. A few yards ahead, a camouflaged security gate opens. The mechanoid rides through it and down a dirt driveway between a house and a large, covered dock. The mechanoid pulls into the garage attached to a house and parks his hoverbike.

Inside the garage, the mechanoid unloads his bounty and places the meat in a freezer. He heads through another door that leads into the house. The mechanoid walks down the narrow hallway, passing a series of doors. He continues straight into a large open area the size of a three-bedroom apartment. The mechanoid looks around the room and spots a large 3-D printer in the process of creating a strange weapon. He spots an old Japanese man with balding, gray hair, on a recliner surrounded by monitors. The old-timer has a makeshift cast on one leg.

Somehow, he’s got access to a functioning satellite orbiting the planet.

“Fresh meat!” the mechanoid says in Japanese.

“I hope it’s Kobe,” the old-timer replies.

“More like Shaq,” the mechanoid replies as he walks toward the old-timer.

“Huh?”

“Modified Siberian tiger. Rare, but safe for consumption.”

Wearing a Kochi University of Technology shirt, the old-timer sits up and sips some cold tea from his cup.

“Beggars can’t be choosers,” the old-timer says.

Shinzo scans the old-timer’s broken leg.

“Father, please stay off your leg,” he says.

“I’ve seen every movie we have three times now! And these satellite feeds continue to depress me.”

Shinzo looks up at the monitors and says, “I agree.”

“The mushrooms should be ready.”

“I need a recharge before preparing dinner. I suggest you do the same.”

“I’ll have plenty of time to rest later.”

“Oyasumi,” Shinzo says.

“Sweet dreams,” the old-timer replies.

Shinzo the mechanoid walks across the room and steps back against a metal charging frame affixed to a wall at the far side of the room. While in sleep mode, Shinzo uploads data files to the computer server while the main generator replenishes both his power core and reserves. The mechanoid’s display also reveals a diagnostic check on the solar cells strategically positioned all over his metallic body.

The old-timer types on his keyboard, triggering a satellite replay:

Two Lorian megacities occupy the eastern and western territories of what was once Canada. Dark, blurry images of two Lorian vessels loom over the northern part of the country.

A thick cloud blankets the western part of the former United States. Three ginormous Lorian cities sit right in its heartland. Smoke rises from two gigantic craters replacing most of what was Montana and nearly all of Washington D.C.

Ten large Lorian cities in various stages of construction, along with thick clouds of various sizes, blanket the South American continent.

Naval wreckage from the global conflict, along with a few floating Lorian megacities and tons of discarded plastics, are visible in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Lorian cities in varying sizes and stages of construction dot the European continent. Most human civilizations are all but wiped from the surface.

Massive, alien industrial projects take shape across the African continent. Lorian machinery appears to suck water from the Mediterranean. Smoke rises from vents atop large alien structures. There are a few Lorian starshipyards where various vessels sit idle. Lorian megacities primarily occupy the northern part continent.

A Lorian starcruiser hovers over central India.

Aerial images capture smoke hovering over large craters where Beijing, Islamabad, and New Delhi once stood.

A gigantic Lorian starcruiser hovers somewhere over the central part of the former Russian Republic. There are also three large, smoking craters: one replacing Moscow, the second wiping the Kosvinsky Kamen mountain off the planet, and a third covering a desolate area in the central part of the country. To the east, there’s a series of large Lorian communities.

The old-timer sighs and mumbles, “All things must come to an end.”

Yanskii

It only took two decades from Man Fall for Earth’s conquerors to settle in. Alien structures, once confined to the creative or paranoid, are now intimidating fixtures on every continent. Strange diseases appear and vanish almost as quickly. Stranger creatures hunt and are hunted.

Some would say, a natural byproduct of colonization. Others, poetic justice.

Divine intervention, the devout preaches.

Every man for himself, the realist warns.

Gone are the good ol’ days!

Intoxicated by illusions of conquering the stars, we feasted on each other for sport.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Pax humana was our birthright. Just ask Him.

Nothing but crickets. Perhaps He’s contemplating His next steps.

Or perhaps, He got going when the going got tough.

Meanwhile, a derelict international space station, occupied by a crew of skeletons, slowly orbits Earth.

Many miles below, on a former prefecture to the north, a large, bustling Lorian megalopolis spans nearly a quarter of the territory. Aside from the strange alien symbols embedded across the city’s outer walls, starfreighters coming and going, and the hundreds of four-armed kyojin running around, one could’ve mistaken this massive city as a product of human ingenuity. However, Terrans crazy (or stupid) enough to venture here alone would be welcomed with open mouths. A beam of light shoots up from the city center like a beacon. It cuts through the thin haze blanketing the sky as Lorian hypershuttles enter and depart the bright alien city.

Just off shore, east of the city, two adolescent Lorians frolic on the rusted corpse of an aircraft carrier. Once a demonstration of man’s military might, the empty, rusted hull’s reduced to an alien tourist attraction.

Ashore, giant Lorian beasts stomp on a sandy beach of blood and bone ground into the coastline. Winged scavengers fight over whatever scraps these monsters provide. Alone a few yards inland, a young Lorian plays with two disabled Japanese Defense Force tanks. The ‘little’ monster crashes them into each other like a kid playing with toys.

A few miles up the coast, two large Lorians with viridian skin bathe naked in a large pocket of water pooled inland. Two dry, commercial mechsuits rest on the lake shore next to a parked hypershuttle a few yards from them.

Not far from the hypershuttle, a scrap yard of human military fortifications blanket the coastline. Among its ruins, a halo-wearing, male hominoid named Gunta creeps around, sniffing the air in search of his prey. Gunta’s sharp vision spots something hiding among the rusted metal. He quietly stalks his target.

“Gotcha!” Gunta roars as he pounces.

Diving through his older sister Kanzu’s hologram, Gunta hits the sand. Spitting out silicone and bone particles, he shakes himself off to see a small box projecting the hologram of his sister. He turns to face the dull end of a wooden pole.

“Gotcha!” Kanzu cries out in victory.

Her tall frame and dark complexion differs from most native Terrans, though Kanzu and her family appear more human than other breeds of her kind.

“Unfair advantage,” Gunta says.

“Only to those who lack the advantage,” Kanzu chuckles.

Both hominoids wear implants embedded in their necks. Gunta brushes away the pole. The taller Kanzu helps her brother up.

Kanzu studies the two teen aliens playing on the partially submerged aircraft carrier offshore.

“I wish we had others to play with,” Kanzu says.

“My company bores you, sister?”

“I simply long for a challenge!”

Kanzu tackles her brother. They land a few feet from a rusted sign:

湧洞沼

The two siblings wrestle on the ground until Gunta manages to toss Kanzu aside. However, Kanzu uses her agility to flawlessly roll to her feet and ride the momentum into a backflip. The two charge at each other and engage in hand-to-hand combat. Gunta pins Kanzu to her back.

“It appears my little sister’s getting stronger,” he says.

“And it’s a fact she’ll overtake you.”

For now, however, Kanzu struggles to push her brother off. She turns her head when something catches her attention toward the ocean.

“You submit?”

“I do, brother. For the last time.”

Smiling, Gunta rises. Kanzu jumps up and runs toward the water.

“Where are you going?” Gunta yells as he pursues his sister.

Kanzu sees something stuck in the wet sand reflecting light. She reaches and pulls out a small, rectangular device as the receding tide washes it clean. She holds it up.

“What is it?” Gunta asks.

“The markings. They look…archaic.”

Their flickering halos interrupt the playful, yet very physical, sparring session.

“Return!” their halos telepathically repeat.

“Kaan-zoo!” Vinzi cries out. “Goon-tah!”

“Return!” Mabel barks.

Gunta snatches the rectangular device from Kanzu and sprints toward the hypershuttle.

“Loser gets the holobox!” Gunta yells.

Kanzu quickly grabs the small box, deactivates it, and sprints after Gunta as Mabel and Vinzi wave them back to the alien vessel.

“That’s mine!” Kanzu yells.

“Our procreators will decide,” Gunta responds.

Their two large alien masters exit the large body of water and retrieve their mechsuits.

“Perhaps the owner will come looking for it.”

“Perhaps the owner has expired.”

A starcruiser glides across the distant, hazy horizon as the adolescent hominoids head back toward their masters’ large hypershuttle.

“Perhaps you wish for the same fate?” Kanzu asks.

She chases Gunta to the hypershuttle’s loading ramp where their parents stand. Mabel grabs the rectangular device from Gunta.

“Enjoy your playtime?” Mabel asks.

“Look what we found,” Gunta says as he hands their find over to Mabel.

“I found!” Kanzu interjects.

“Vinzi, look,” Mabel says.

Vinzi stares at the device and confirms the adolescents’ assumptions, “Looks archaic.”

“I knew it!” Kanzu replies.

Mabel discovers the rectangular device is actually encased. He opens the outer shell to reveal a smaller device with a small display and two tiny buttons.

“What does it do?” Gunta asks.

“It appears to be some kind of electronic device,” Mabel answers.

“What kind of data?” Kanzu asks.

“Are you sure this is wise, mate?” Vinzi asks.

“It is not incendiary,” Mabel replies.

Mabel presses the tiny buttons. The display lights up. Music plays.

Wincing, Gunta asks, “What is that irritating noise?”

“Archaic tunes,” Vinzi replies. “O’Brien made similar sounds, though not as harmonious.”

“You call that harmonious?” Gunta asks.

Kanzu snatches the device from her father’s hand.

“I find it pleasant,” Kanzu says.

“Unlike your scent,” Vinzi counters with a smile.

Roars from their Lorian masters prompt them into the hypershuttle. The giant aliens follow the hominoid family into the ship as the hypershuttle loading ramp retracts and shuts.

The glowing halos silently direct their sapien hosts through the ship while the large aliens position themselves at the main console.

“Return!” their halos telepathically repeat.

For the uninitiated, halos don’t actually bark orders or anything like that. And it’s not a two-way radio, either. More like a very strong suggestion the brain finds extremely difficult ignore.

Following her mother, Kanzu glances over at the flashing circuitry. Gunta follows his sister as they pass four black, sapien-sized lifeboxes affixed to a wall near another door. Mabel brings up the rear.

“There’s nothing to fear, Gunta,” Mabel says. “As long as we obey.”

Vinzi leads her family to four small chairs near a window toward the rear of the cabin. Their halos elevate as they each take a seat so they can rest their heads back. Up front, the smaller Lorian turns and stares at them while one of its grapplers presses a button on the console. The small chairs light up and secure the hominoid family in place.

The larger Lorian activates the hypershuttle. The engines harmoniously hum throughout the main cabin as the hypershuttle rises. The aliens observe the light hypershuttle traffic through the cockpit display. They spot a fellow Lorian enjoying alone time in a secluded enclave about half a mile up the coast.

Although they remain secured to their chairs, the hominoid family can use swivel them three hundred and sixty degrees. Gunta swivels his chair toward the window for a bird’s eye view of the naval graveyard below. The rusted metal wreckage spans nearly the entire coastline for miles in each direction, and out to a quarter mile from shore. Extraordinary vision bestowed upon most hominoids allows Gunta to focus on a large starfreighter as it hovers over a decimated Tokyo skyline. Meanwhile, Kanzu focuses on their two masters up front. Specifically, she studies the alien symbols her masters type into the ship’s control console. The smaller Lorian turns and grunts at them, its vocal base gently rumbling their internal organs. Kanzu makes eye contact with the giant creature before turning her chair toward the window.

Gunta turns from the window to see the larger Lorian snacking on what appears to be multiple human limbs. He stares at fingers and toes before they vanish into beast’s large mouth.

“Don’t dwell, son,” Mabel says.

Gunta turns to his father and asks, “Will they consume us?”

Vinzi also pivots her chair to face Gunta.

“Of course not, Gunta,” Mabel answers.

“Not while we live,” Vinzi reassures.

“And after?” Kanzu rhetorically asks while still looking outside.

Mabel, Vinzi, and Gunta pivot their chairs toward Kanzu who shrugs.

The hypershuttle flies over a field of impact craters among a sea of bones and twisted metal. Near the center of this graveyard lies the rusted, charred carcass of a gigantic space laser with a faded United Nations flag etched into its base. There’s an ineligible Russian taunt to the alien invaders painted in large letters above the faded flag.

House Broken

Like most of their stature, the two viridian Lorians reside with their family of hominoid pets in an enclosed, four-story structure the size of a large warehouse. Inside, the Lorian Empire flag embedded with alien symbols representing the homeowners’ clan hangs proudly over the center of the enormous abode. A storage locker with transparent doors showcases a pair of armored mechsuits, each beside its respective drone backpack. Another locker contains various weapons. In one corner of the domicile, a pipe drips water into a large sink. Beside it, a hole in the floor surrounded by a yellowish goo. A few yards away, cool smoke billows from a long food storage unit. Tracked dirt from outside litters the floor. A holographic bubble, or hubble for short, sits in another corner of the abode. Large enough to accommodate two giant aliens simultaneously, the hubble serves as a virtual environment for both work and leisure. Various otherworldly trophies hang high on the walls as do strangely shaped electronic devices of varying sizes. Tiny lights on these electronic devices blink randomly. Special molding along the base and corners of the structure doubles as pest collectors for protein storage.

Attached to a wall, a large tube connected to the covered base of the hominoid family’s large transport cube trades sewage for somewhat fresh water. Inside resembles a three bedroom, European-style condo. However, the three bedrooms and bathroom are both transparent and door-less. The children and parents sit opposite each other Indian-style in a dining area. One of the walls displays a digital view of the former Kuala Lumpur skyline. They take turns sticking their hands into the big bowl, pulling out a thick, black, tar-like substance. Kanzu stares at her hand, fixating on the insect limbs mixed into the black tar. The rest of the family licks their hands clean and digs in for more. Kanzu eventually follows suit.

“Are we not archaic if we share the same blood?” Kanzu asks.

The others stop what they’re doing and turn to Kanzu.

“We share code, Kanzu,” Mabel answers. “Not blood.”

“Are those not the same?” Kanzu asks.

“Code is merely instruction. Blood is lineage,” Mabel replies.

“And archaics, a dying breed,” Vinzi adds. “Though, I suppose, they deserve credit for their contributions to our species.”

“Like O’Brien?” Kanzu asks.

“And Jonathan the Archaic,” Mabel answers with a nod.

Gunta turns to Kanzu and whispers, “Why do you wish to antagonize?”

“I wish to comprehend this existence,” Kanzu whispers back.

“Why replay this every cycle?” Gunta asks.

“No one requested your commentary,” Kanzu snaps back.

“And no one requested this bickering,” Vinzi barks. “Eat.”

“Apologies,” Gunta says.

“Apologies,” Kanzu says. “I’m full.”

Kanzu gets up and retreats to her small bedroom with a pile of trinkets in one corner. In another corner sits a mattress, blanket, and pillow. She stares at her private window display of a forest until the window display. Kanzu lowers her head and gazes at the blanket and pillow near her feet when a faint breeze sways a hair on her pinky toe. Her ears perk and her nostrils flare as footsteps approach.

“Reflection,” Kanzu says.

The window display transforms from the forest to a mirror. Kanzu spots Vinzi’s reflection approaching from behind the transparent wall. She quickly pushes the mattress closer to the wall with her foot. Vinzi enters the room with her hands behind her back.

“Life is too short for conflict,” Vinzi says, extending her hand with the rectangular device.

Kanzu turns, smiles, and accepts the rectangular device.

“Agreed,” Kanzu replies. “Conflict wasn’t my intention, mother.”

“What was your intention?”

Keeping a foot over the small hole, Kanzu turns to Vinzi.

“We condemn archaics. But they are truly free.”

“And you wish to be free?” Vinzi chuckles.

“Don’t you?”

“Your father and I wish for you and your brother to be safe. And if freedom is the price, then we shall gladly pay it.”

“I disagree.”

“In the light, Kanzu.”

Kanzu stares at her mother’s glare, then looks away.

“In the light,” she replies.

Vinzi looks at the pile of trinkets in the far corner opposite the mattress.

Vinzi leaves and enters the slightly more spacious master bedroom. A smiling Gunta peeks his head into view.

“See you in the light, little sister,” Gunta teases.

Using her long toes, Kanzu grabs and throws her pillow at Gunta who dodges it. Gunta sticks his tongue out at Kanzu from behind the transparent wall when he notices the rectangular device in her hand.

“Hey!” Gunta cries.

“Gunta!” Mabel barks.

Pouting, Gunta retreats to his small room as Kanzu retrieves her pillow. In the dining area, Mabel presses a virtual button on one of the digital walls, switching only the interior walls from transparent to solid for privacy. Kanzu lays down on her blanket and pillow.

“In the light, offspring,” Mabel says.

“In the light, offspring,” Vinzi says while carrying the small archaic device.

“In the light, procreators,” Kanzu returns with a smile.

When the coast is clear, Kanzu walks over to the pile of trinkets, partially exposing a backpack. She places the rectangular device inside the backpack and buries it back under the pile of trinkets. She then pulls out a makeshift laser tool also camouflaged in the pile of trinkets. Kanzu then quietly pulls the mattress about a foot from the wall. She crawls between the blanket and mattress toward the wall, covering herself and a hole near its base that exposes the plumbing and wiring below. The upward airflow tickles her eyeball. Kanzu activates the makeshift laser tool which quietly widens the hole.