CHAPTER 12

No Data

The man opened his eyes but his vision was obscured by a layer of sludge. He could barely perceive what was in front of him and couldn’t make sense of the little he could see. His ears were ringing and his head ached. He blinked and wiped his hands over his eyes. After a few wipes, he was able to remove some of the fluid and the images on the visor screen became clearer. As he tried to focus, the smell of his vomit overwhelmed him. He retched and desperately tried to unfasten the safety buckle, eventually succeeding and releasing himself from the seat. He took deep breaths in and out. His eyes scanned the screen, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. All that made sense to him was the eject button at the top-left corner of the display. Fighting through the pain in his chest, he hit the button. The screen immediately turned off. The hatch hissed and jerked outward, opening far enough for him to wedge his hand into the gap and push it open completely. He climbed out to the shotgun deck, the small area on the outside of the mech, next to the hatch. From the deck, he surveyed his surroundings. There was a tag on his chest with the name ‘Capt. Garth Andrews’. He descended to the surface. The ground felt like iron under him, and every step made a clanging sound.

Garth took a deep breath. The air tasted strange, like metal and vinegar, and its chill lingered in his chest after he exhaled. Garth walked away from his mech, then stopped and turned back to look at it. The mech was standing at the center of a crater it had created. In the sky overhead, bright orange and purple clouds shifted back and forth like waves. It was the most beautiful sight Garth had ever witnessed. Despite the vibrant sky, the surface of the planet seemed completely devoid of life. The silence made him anxious.

Garth shielded his face with his hand and looked toward the sun. It was larger than it should have been, but it felt familiar. It was familiar enough to tell Garth that he was looking at Earth’s sun. If it was Earth, Garth wondered, where did all the trees go?

He bent down and touched the ground. It was rigid. The ground didn’t only look like metal; it was metal. Garth frowned, sprung up, and ran back to his mech. The mech was bulky, about thirty meters tall, and its thick arms made it resemble a muscular physique. When he was a few feet away, Garth magnetized his boots and ran up the mech. He moved swiftly into his seat and closed the hatch behind him. He initiated a constellation scan. The result displayed a mapped image of the current constellation. He spoke to the mech’s artificial intelligence support system.

“Iris, compare the result with the existing constellation map.”

A window appeared on the screen with the new constellation scan and the old map juxtaposed. Garth’s jaw dropped. The stars were the same, but their positions were different.

“How far back did we go?”

“That might not be an accurate question,” Iris responded. “I don’t believe we traveled back in time, but rather forward. I can’t know precisely how far, but I estimate about three thousand years into the future.”

“No, no, no.” Garth opened another interface on the display screen, hurriedly swiping and tapping at it.

“What are you doing?” asked Iris.

“I’m taking us back.”

“I would advise against that, Garth. The machine only recently performed a time jump and requires a considerable amount of time to prepare for another jump. Also…”

“Also what?”

“We do not know the current date. I can find no data feed, satellite, nor any other form of network to extract data from.”

“I can still set a date!” Garth shouted. “The time drive will do the calculations and take us where we need to go.”

“Stay calm, Garth. If we have traveled thousands of years into the future, going back would be too much for the drive. It could kill you, me, both of us.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be the smart one? It brought us here, which means it can take us back, and it will.”

Iris sighed. “I think we arrived here accidentally, via some kind of anomaly. I do not possess enough data to evaluate the circumstance that led to our being here. However, I am confident that, if you try to send us back, you will only succeed in vaporizing us and distributing our particles throughout the time stream.”

Garth hit the mute button and activated the backward time jump. The moment he initiated the jump, the entire mech exploded into bright white light.

Garth opened his eyes. They were blurry. He wiped sludge out of his eyes. His head was aching and his ears were ringing. He held his head tightly until the ringing stopped. As his senses returned, a terrible stench penetrated his nose. It was the smell of his vomit. Garth retched, then popped the hatch open. He climbed out onto the platform and looked around, then got back inside and shut the hatch. He opened Iris’s interface to unmute her, but she was already unmuted. He frowned.

“Garth, what just happened?” Iris asked.

“Nothing happened,” Garth replied. “It didn’t work. We’re still here.”

“I don’t think that’s true.”

Garth opened the controls and prepared the system for another jump.

“Garth, you need to stop. Something happened the first time.”

Garth muted Iris again, then he continued initiating the jump. He entered the year, date, and time he intended to go back to. The time drive activated and, as soon as it reached a hundred percent, Garth hit the jump button. The time drive tried to execute the jump. Instead, the mech exploded in a massive burst of vivid temporal energy and tore a hole in the planet's surface.

Garth opened his eyes. They were blurry. His ears were ringing. He held his head with both hands and applied pressure until the ringing faded.

“Wh—wh—ha—wh—Ga—Gar…”

“Iris, what? What’s going on?”

The smell of vomit hit Garth. He grimaced, then retched. He popped the hatch to go outside for some air. As he was about to step out onto the platform, he stopped and narrowed his eyes.

“Wait a minute,” Garth muttered. He turned around and went back inside. He closed the hatch and fell back into his seat. He pulled up Iris’s interface.

“Iris,” he called, but she couldn’t respond.

Garth opened a small port below the visor, the AI system drive slot. There was a chip in the slot with a name engraved onto it, ‘Iris’. Garth yanked out the drive, smacked it against the hull a few times, then slid it back into the slot.

Iris came online. “Garth, why did you do that? Never pull out my drive without shutting me down first. You could cause permanent damage to my memory.”

“Okay, won’t happen again,” said Garth. “Now tell me what the hell is going on.”

“It appears we died when you tried to travel back in time. Somehow, we returned to this point, at the very moment when we first arrived.”

“What?” Garth wondered if he had already done permanent damage to Iris.

Iris sighed. “I believe we started again.”

“What does that mean?”

“I’m not sure but we should find out as quickly as possible.”

Garth grabbed the control levers and the mech immediately moved. He was unsure which direction to choose. He closed his eyes and spun around three times, then stopped. Garth opened his eyes and moved the mech straight ahead. He walked on across more metal ground. He was beginning to think the entire planet was metal when he encountered a dune, seven feet high. Garth took a knee beside the dune and cupped some sand in his hand. The wind quickly blew it away. He rose to his feet and Iris scanned the area. There were hundreds of similar dunes scattered across the planet’s surface. Garth stared at the dune, wondering if it was manmade.

After trekking for an hour, the mech’s sensors detected a body of liquid up ahead. Garth almost smiled. It was the first time he had felt something resembling happiness since he first opened his eyes in that wretched time. His throat was dry, lips cracked, and even thinking hurt. He was dehydrated but Garth was also beginning to starve. He approached the lake, only to see that it was full of bubbling green acid instead of water. Garth fell to his knees and released a roar of anguish. He slammed his fists on the ground with all the strength he still had. The sound echoed across the wasteland.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

He stood by the lake, staring at the pool of acid. Had all the water on Earth turned into acid like this? Garth looked back to the dunes, then forward across the lake.

He noticed movement in the lake. He looked at it, but whatever he believed he had seen was no longer there. He crouched by the lake to get a closer look and initiated a scan. The result showed multiple objects moving beneath the surface. Something leaped out of the water and landed on one of the mech’s feet. It was a leech the size of a dog. As soon as it touched the hull, the leech began burning its way inside with eerie hisses. Garth stomped his foot repeatedly, trying to shake the leech off. After kicking and stumbling, the leech fell away, leaving a scar of corroded metal on the armor. The leech slithered back into the acid lake, but kept its head-end above the surface, looking at Garth. More leeches quickly joined it with their heads slightly out of the acid, peering at the mech.

Dejected, Garth moved away from the lake and continued away from the dunes. Several miles further on, Garth stopped, his eyes twitching as he stared blankly at the screen. He jumped out of his chair and staggered toward the wall. He fiddled with various buttons, opening compartment after compartment until one of them contained hundreds of bags with sealed food inside. Garth’s eyes widened. He grabbed a bag and tore it open. A black gooey substance flowed out of it. Garth jerked back as the stench of decay filled the cockpit. He dropped the bag into the compartment, shoved it back into the wall, covered his nose, and rushed out to the shotgun deck. He remained outside until the smell faded from the cockpit, then went back inside. Garth searched the other compartments. He breathed a sigh of relief when one of the compartments contained water bags. Garth gasped. He tore the straw open with his teeth and poured the water into his mouth. As soon as he swallowed his first mouthful, Garth was sick. It was the foulest substance he had ever tasted. It wasn’t only bitter; it tasted like acid. He rubbed his tongue with his fingers, then dropped the bag and sat with his back against the wall.

“Iris,” he said quietly. “What happened to the food and water?”

“I cannot say for certain, but it appears our travel through the space-time continuum somehow altered the properties of the food and water in the storage systems.”

“What?”

“I am not certain.”

Garth returned to his seat and continued the journey, no longer running but walking, with one heavy stride after another. After several more hours, he finally reached the edge of the metal wasteland. At the edge of the metal plain, Garth came to a cliff about four hundred feet high. Below, there was a dry wilderness that reached out for miles with lumps of barely green bushes scattered everywhere. Garth finally smiled. It was the first plant life he had seen since waking up. He rolled down the slope, sliding off the edge of the cliff until he reached the ground. After landing, Garth scanned the area for life signs but found nothing. Optimistically, he ejected from the mech and hurried down. Garth was lightheaded, and he could barely stand up. He knew exactly why he felt that way. He needed to find food as soon as possible, and the shrubs looked appetizing.

Garth moved to the nearest bush. The leaves were small and pointed like needles. He broke off a small branch and held it to his nose. He inhaled deeply and frowned. The smell wasn’t entirely familiar, but there was something resembling sulfur in the leaves. He pinched a few leaves with his finger and rolled them. When it extracted some fluid, he touched the liquid to the tip of his tongue. It was disgusting and he spat repeatedly until he got the worst of the taste out of his mouth. Garth moved on to the next one and did so for hours, moving further from his mech.

A sound of thunder suddenly rocked the ground. Garth looked up and sighed when he saw a large mass of dark clouds approaching, lightning flashing within. He looked ahead and saw a sandstorm in the air, speeding toward him. Garth dropped the foliage, then turned and ran for his mech. Garth glanced back over his shoulder and saw how much ground the storm had gained in mere seconds. There was no way he could make it back to Endurance in time, but he had to try. He ran with all his remaining strength.

Garth was about a hundred feet from the mech when the storm caught up to him, lashing pebbles and sand against his body. The particles ripped through Garth’s clothes and then his skin, tearing him apart piece by piece until he fell on his face. He desperately reached out with a bloody hand, hoping for one last chance to touch the Endurance again.

Garth opened his eyes. They were blurry and he couldn’t see. He was about to hold his head between his palms but he stopped himself. His eyes widened as he realized what had just happened. He immediately powered up the engine and ran in the same direction as before. When he reached the edge of the cliff, he slid down. This time, he remained in the Endurance and waited for the storm. The storm approached, just as fierce as the first time. Garth planted his feet and braced for the impact. The storm engulfed him. It was a mighty storm, but no match for the power of the mech. Endurance was not a combat mech. It had no weapon appendages but it was built to endure otherwise impossible conditions. In that regard, it was highly capable. Garth could only hear the rattling of the sharp sand and particles whipping against the hull and the boom of thunder overhead. The storm lasted for about an hour, then it passed. When it left, Endurance was knee-deep in sand. Garth shook the sand off.

With newfound strength, Garth set the mech in motion. He ran with all the strength he could muster until his path was blocked by a sandhill the height of a skyscraper. The hill stretched as far as the eye could see in both directions. When Garth tried to climb the hill, Endurance’s foot sank into the sand and slid back down. He tried several more times without success. Frustrated, he punched the display, but he only succeeded in hurting himself. Garth sighed. He backed away from the hill, then opened the hatch and got out of the mech. Now on foot, Garth took his first step up the hill. He grinned when his foot didn’t sink. He continued walking. It was a long and difficult climb, but he eventually made it to the top. At the summit, Garth finally had a vantage point of his surrounding. All he saw was sand and scattered bushes. Along the line of rock to the east, a glimmer caught Garth’s eye. He ran down the hill, struggling to keep his footing on the sand. Descending was far easier than climbing had been.

Garth ran for a few minutes more before he reached a small pool of water, with sunlight reflecting on its surface. He dropped to his knees and lowered his head to drink, then hesitated. He stared at the water for a moment, then moved back. Garth stepped toward it cautiously, scanning as far as he could see beneath the water. The water looked clear and smelled clean. Garth couldn’t remember the last time he smelled freshwater. He picked up a pebble and dropped it into the water. Something moved. He jumped back and held his hands out in front of his face to defend himself. The movement continued in the water, and then it increased. It was a school of fish, swimming away from the pebble. Garth laughed so hard that his stomach hurt. He lowered his head to the water, cupped his hands, dipped them in, and brought them to his mouth. He could taste that fish were living in the water, but he had never been so glad for a drink. He closed his eyes and smiled. He drank until he was full. His eyes followed the fish as they swam peacefully in the water. Garth drew his gun and aimed at them, but then shook his head and shoved the weapon back into its holster.

The lake was surrounded by dried sticks and branches, carried there by the wind. Garth found a strong one and snapped it to the length of a spear. He took out his knife and sharpened the thinner end to a point. When the spear was sharp enough, Garth sheathed his knife and stepped into the water. He carefully moved his feet, checking the depth of the pool, then proceeded toward the fish. The further he went into the water, the more fish appeared at the surface. Soon, there were hundreds of fish swimming around him in circles. He smiled as he fondled the spear, then stabbed it into the water, certain he must have hit something. He pulled the spear back out of the water, but there was nothing on it. For the next hour, Garth waded in the water, struggling to spear a fish, despite them being right in front of him. He shouted into the air and threw the spear out of the river. He tried to catch a fish with his bare hands but only succeeded in getting himself soaked.

Garth snarled at the fish as they danced around his feet. He scoffed and walked to the edge of the water. As he was about to climb out, a fish jumped at his thigh and he caught it. It almost slipped through his hands but he finally got a good grip on it.

“Ha!” he exclaimed, triumphantly.

Garth climbed out of the water with a big grin. Garth held the fish up to his face to inspect it. He put his thumb and index finger in its gills and yanked its head back to break its neck. A low, deep growl came from behind him. Garth turned sharply and saw a hyena the size of a bull, with fangs like a saber-toothed tiger. Garth froze. He had never seen a feliform so huge. His hand worked its way to his sidearm. He quickly drew it and aimed at the hyena. Another hyena, slightly larger than the first, appeared from Garth’s other side, then another jumped to the top of a boulder near the river.

With a fish in one hand and his gun in the other, Garth stayed perfectly still. He only needed to make one wrong move to become a meal for the beasts. He flicked the safety with his thumb, raised the gun, and shot it into the sky. The hyenas didn’t react.

“Shit,” he muttered. They had probably endured too many thunderstorms to be frightened by the sound of a handgun.

They slowly moved toward Garth from each side. He backed away and the animals charged. Garth aimed at the closest one and fired three shots. It tumbled and crashed onto its face. The other hyenas stopped and looked at the dead animal. One of them nudged it with their nose, but it didn’t move. The surviving hyenas turned their attention back to Garth. They howled, then charged together. Garth fired more shots, but the creatures had learned. They jumped and zig-zagged toward him, avoiding his shots. Garth turned and ran but another hyena blocked his path.

They had him surrounded and there was nowhere to run, other than the water. Garth backed away toward it, while the creatures bared their fangs and snarled, closing in on their prey.

As Garth moved closer to the water, four huge tentacles quietly emerged from the water. The hyenas saw the tentacles, whined for a moment, then quickly turned and ran away. Instead of experiencing a sense of relief, Garth immediately knew something was wrong. He turned around in time to see a tentacle wrapping around his neck and another around his waist. It lifted him high above the water. Garth tried to struggle free, but he was powerless. He couldn’t breathe, nor could he scream. He dropped the fish but still held the gun. Garth tried to aim at the tentacle, but he couldn’t maneuver his arm freely. He was able to fire a few shots as the tentacles tightened around him. He dropped the gun and reached for the tentacle around his neck, trying to tear it away.

The tentacles lowered Garth into the water, barely making a splash as he broke the surface. As he descended deeper, he wriggled and helplessly flailed his hands. There was nothing more he could do.

Garth opened his eyes and immediately grabbed his neck, gasping for air. He slowly realized that he was no longer in the grasp of the tentacles, but in the seat of his mechanized time armor, the Endurance.

“Son of a bitch...” he whispered.