After an unknown amount of time that could have been minutes, but felt more like hours, light and sound returned. They weren't welcome. Erik had to close his eyes to keep the unwelcome sunlight at bay, but he couldn't do anything to keep the hands from helping him up. He really didn't want to go to the barracks, but there was no choice. He wanted to be chosen, and if he had to get his butt chewed, then let them chew away.
"Don't you understand how important your mission is?" an overweight and obviously underpaid sergeant was screaming in his face.
Erik watched the veins in the man's forehead and neck pulse and quiver in some arrhythmic dance to music only they were aware of. "Yes, sir," he answered.
Apparently the answer wasn't enthusiastic enough to please the chubby sergeant whose deep black skin was beginning to appear red. The man was really pissed. "Private, the invaders will be here in less than six months. We have to be ready to defend our planet. Do you understand?"
"Sir, yes, sir," Erik shouted. It seemed pointless to tell the man that the Protectorate had already told them the Earth probably wouldn't survive. They should know. The group of alien races had protected countless other alien races over thousands of years. Now they'd come to Earth to tell the people they were doomed. The lines of a poem came to Erik:
|
"Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee." |
He wasn't sure if he remembered the lines properly, but it gave the general gist. Speaking of generals, he would soon have to see his. That was of course after a captain, a major, and a colonel all took their turns chewing him out. He just hoped he'd be home in time for dinner."
"Rough day?" Becky asked as soon as he walked in the door of their tiny apartment. Erik smiled. No matter how bad the day had been, walking in and seeing his lovely wife made everything fade. "I've had better," he said with a brief humorless laugh.
She walked over and kissed him. She was a small woman, but tough. Her sandy brown hair hung to her shoulders with the slightest hint of a curl, and her milk-chocolate brown eyes held a passion like none he'd ever seen before. She gently rubbed the nape of his neck. "Must have been really bad. What happened?"
Erik quickly jumped into the story. By the time he was finished, he was sitting on their broken down couch with Becky rubbing his shoulders in the gentle yet tough way she had. "It was one drill, honey. You've only been knocked out twice so far, right?"
"Yeah," he said.
"So what do you have to worry about?"
He turned and took her hands in his. Looking into her eyes, his face grew intense. "If we want to go before the attack, we have to be chosen."
"You don't think there'll be a defense?"
Erik waved his hand in dismissal. They both knew there would be no defense of Earth. The machine intelligences on their way to Earth were too powerful. There was no hope of defeating them. "We want to go, right?"
"Of course," she said, looking frightened by his sudden intensity. "Two knockouts aren't going to eliminate you. Hell, you're doing better than me."
A pang of guilt ran through Erik. She was right, of course. Her training hadn't been going well. She was improving, moving up in her class, but whether or not she'd be able to move up enough by the time the machines arrived was hard to say. It was something Erik didn't want to think about. "Something smells delicious," he said, even though it wasn't true.
"Meatloaf," Becky responded with a frown. She knew he didn't like her meatloaf, but they were on a budget, although what purpose a budget served when the world was going to end was a mystery to both of them.
"I'm starving," Erik said, trying to force himself to gain an appetite he knew wouldn't come.
Her breathing was becoming more rhythmic, although Erik could tell she wasn't asleep yet. Their lovemaking had been passionate, as it always was, but there seemed a certain urgency that had never been there before.
She shifted, her firm breast pushing farther across his chest as she tried to meld with him. The only unsatisfying part of their relationship was that they couldn't become one person, no matter how hard they tried. They were as close as any two people could be, but it still never seemed close enough. "You awake?" she asked, her voice muffled against his chest.
"Yeah," he answered, running his hand through her hair.
"What happens if. . . ?"
"Shhh," he answered. Don't ask that." He pulled her face up to his and kissed her. Their lips quickly parted, each of them knowing what the other wanted and needed. Without another word, they began to make love again. Erik knew this would go on all night. There were only so many nights left if they weren't chosen. They had to make the best of them.
The i-r goggles kicked in. Erik saw his targets in the distance. "One, two, three," he whispered as he fired the simulated plasma rifle. Three shots, three kills. Not bad, he thought.
"The sarge is hit," someone called over the privacy band.
Erik bit down on the faceplate control at the corner of his mouth. A display of the remaining troops flashed up in front of him. There weren't many of them.
He sighed. Just as he thought, he was in command.
"Beta group," he called, drop back fifteen meters and then flank them on the left. Alpha group, prepare for frontal assault."
No one acknowledged his commands. That wouldn't be necessary. He knew they'd follow him into Hell and back if he asked them to. They all wanted their chance to get off planet, and disobeying a command wouldn't get them away. Time was growing short.
A sim-explosion went off twenty meters to his right. His faceplate blackened. For a moment, Erik thought he'd been hit yet again, but he still had full use of his extremities. Slowly, the faceplate grew less opaque. Only a simulated reaction to the blast.
"Beta group beginning attack," a voice called. Erik was ashamed when he realized that he didn't recognize the voice. He should have been able to, but he knew it wouldn't matter. Soon, most of these people would be dead. He just didn't want to be one of them.
Before Erik even had time to realize it, the enemies had been neutralized. He'd never seen them taken out so easily, and Erik knew that each simulation was becoming more difficult. Apparently he wasn't the only one to notice. "Well done, troops," a voice said over the general band. Erik did recognize this voice as belonging to the general who had only recently chewed him into little bits. A gentle chiming tone told him that his privacy circuit had been activated. "Private, report to my office as soon as you get a chance," the general said. "And nice job. I knew you had it in you." Erik smiled. He couldn't help himself.
He opened the door to his cramped apartment and was quickly assaulted by the mind-splitting sound of what Becky called "Urban Rock." It was a horrendous blend of Erik's two least favorite forms of music from the end of the previous century. Why those people had listened to rap and heavy metal, he'd never be able to understand. Now, someone had come up with the horrible idea of blending the two forms of music, and of course his wife would have to love it. The only good thing about it was that Becky only subjected him to the cacophonous noise when she was in a very good mood.
"Good day?" he called above the noise.
Becky turned in surprise and smiled when she saw him. She ran over to the computer and turned the music down. Erik might have hoped for off, but he'd settle for down. She ran over to him and threw herself into his arms. "The best," she said, planting a solid kiss on his lips. He let his lips slide open and she was more than willing to oblige him.
Disentangling himself from her with a sigh of regret, he asked, "So, what happened?"
She quickly told him that her scores on all of the aptitude tests had catapulted her to near the top of her group. Erik noticed her emphasis on the word near. Her news was good, but it might not be good enough.
She smiled at him as his smile disappeared. "Very near," she said. "Now, tell me your news. I'm sure that smile couldn't have been just because you're glad to see me."
His smile returned. "It most certainly could be," he said, grabbing her in his arms and kissing her passionately. For a moment, Erik thought he wouldn't get to tell her his news, the kiss was becoming so passionate, but she finally pulled away, barely able to breathe. He then told her the news of his day. He was almost assured a place on the ship leaving Earth, a plan the government now favored as opposed to defense. The protectorate had apparently convinced them, finally. Now they just had to wait the three days until the final decision as to who would live and who would die was made.
"That's great," she said, kissing him with more urgency than he'd ever known. Without breaking away from her embrace, Erik led the two bodies becoming one into the bedroom. Dinner would have to wait. He just didn't know it would be skipped all together, but that was all right.
The three days passed as an interminable amount of time. It was as if the Earth had become entrapped in the gravity well of a black hole and time was slowing the closer they got to the event horizon.
With little fanfare, not even a bell or a whistle, the day finally came. They both sat on the dilapidated couch waiting, neither of them speaking. Time could have stopped for all they knew.
With a gentle chiming, each of their portables began to signal an incoming message. Neither of them moved. The moment had come for them to know, but neither of them wanted to find out. Finally, Becky reached for her portable. Erik quickly followed her action.
The message was brief. He'd been chosen. Erik held back his emotion. He wasn't sure if he wanted to yell or cry. He decided to wait for Becky's reaction, but her face was stoic. He couldn't read her, and he always thought he knew her so well. Then she shook her head. "I wasn't chosen."
"Neither was I," he said.
She let out a short laugh. "You were never as good of a liar as I was, Erik."
Erik hung his head. Suddenly, he was ashamed of being chosen as one of the best the Earth had to offer.
"I was chosen as an alternate," she said. "Maybe enough people will decide no to go. Then I'll be in."
"Don't count on it," Erik said, feeling bad for being so honest, but it was the truth, not many people would drop out, and if he left, he would never see her again. She'd be dead. He was silent for a long moment, trying to compose his next sentence, knowing full well that Becky was about to become furious with him. Absolute honesty seemed like the best plan. "I'm turning down my seat."
"Like hell you are," she exploded. Erik made a mental note that absolute honesty wasn't everything everyone said it was. "If you stay, you're dead."
"Better to die with you than live out in the stars without you."
She shook her head, tears beginning to fall freely from her face. "You always were a romantic. That's why you married me. I'm a realist."
She grabbed him and pulled him towards her into a passionate kiss. They tore their clothes off and made love as if there would be no tomorrow. Erik knew there would be a tomorrow, but there wouldn't be very many more after that.
For the next few days they made love passionately at every chance they had, but Becky grew more distant at the other times. Erik understood. She was trying to separate herself. Make it easier for him, she would probably say. Shows how little she knew about him. There hadn't been any more discussion of his staying. She'd decided, and that was that, but Erik still wanted to try to argue his point. He knew she wouldn't hear him.
Becky watched as the last of the shuttles left the landing field. Nobody had backed out. She was stuck on Earth with the alien invasion fleet less than a week away. According to the Protectorate, these aliens didn't take prisoners. They were just going to destroy the Earth for raw materials. After all, why should they care about primitive organic lifeforms.
Erik was gone. She still couldn't believe it. In the back of her mind, she'd always wanted to ask him not to go, but she couldn't do that. She couldn't deny him his chance to live. Becky began to cry. She hadn't even sobbed since her initial reaction, but now she began to cry uncontrollably. Erik was gone, and soon everything she knew would be destroyed. She collapsed to the ground, unable to breathe.
There was an arm around her and she leaned into the offered shoulder. She needed something. "You didn't think I'd leave you, did you?" a voice asked. She didn't have to look up. She knew who it was.
"You're a stubborn bastard," she said.
"I had a great teacher," Erik answered, pulling her face up to look at his. He smiled before he kissed her.
The day the alien fleet arrived found Erik and Becky making love. Their bodies moved as one, their cries echoed as one, their needs fulfilled each other. As the Earth was destroyed, Erik and Becky became one.
Bio:
E-mail: jerwine@netzero.net
URL: http://www.geocities.com/j_erwine
Visit Aphelion's Lettercolumn and voice your opinion of this story.
Return to the Aphelion main page.