When Forever Ends (Part 2: The Place with No Name)

XXXII

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T h i r t y - T w o

"You!" the commander shouted in disbelief. "Tarron... Why?"

"You thought I was one of you?" Tarron asked.

My dad's hesitation told him all he needed to know.

"You were wrong! This whole time, I've been using you to achieve my goal!"

The commander finally found his voice. "Which is...?"

"Chaos," he said simply. "Complete chaos. You have built me a fine ship. Now I intend to pilot Last Hope to each and every settlement on the globe and destroy your leaders. I will wage a one man war on the people of Magnus, and there is nothing you can do to stop me. And once everyone is running scared, with no one to turn to, I will sit back and watch civilization crumble to dust."

"Impossible!" the commander scoffed. "This ship was not designed for warfare and you know it!"

Tarron leaned over and turned a knob on the control panel, and the cover popped off a large red button. "I've made some... modifications," he said.

Just then, a town appeared over the horizon. It was at the edge of the Endless, one side dotted with trees, the other side dry and sandy.

A flicker of fear passed over Jack's face. He recognized the town.

"Sarentino," Tarron sneered, the name rolling off his tongue like the hiss of a snake. "I thought you'd know it. Still don't believe me?" Tarron asked. The button lit up and he slowly lowered his hand towards it.

This time, the commander's face paled. "You wouldn't."

Tarron gave him a sly smile. "Try me."

At that moment, the security officer charged towards Tarron from behind. While he had been busy talking, some of the other men had moved around behind Tarron, and they now rushed forward, surrounding him.

Too late.

Tarron swung his fist in a circle, taking out all of the men surrounding him with one sweep. He slammed his hand into the button and one of the prototype missiles shot out from the underside of the ship with a roar, straight towards the town. It hit the town hall, causing a fireball to light up the night.

"No!" Jack shouted.

"There is nothing you can do about it," Tarron reminded him. He made a gesture with his hand and a mountainous figure dressed in a thick, black suit stepped out of the shadows in the corner of the room and walked over the unconscious guards sprawled on the floor. "Deploy the ground squad," he told the person in the suit. "I'll be with you in ten." The giant lumbered off to do his bidding.

As Jack watched, paralyzed with shock, Tarron crossed the room to a silver case on the floor and pried it open. He pulled another one of the giant suits from the case and put it on as gracefully as was possible with the thick fabric. He turned to Jack and proclaimed, "Welcome to the beginning of the end!" He gave a maniacal laugh and flipped the tinted visor down over his face, then strode from the room.

The case slammed shut with a bang and snapped the commander out of his shock. This wasn't over yet. There was nothing he could do about his guard, but he could follow Tarron and try to stop him.

The ship was still moving slowly towards the town, but Jack had to get off. He charged back the way he came, so fast I could barely keep up. I followed him through clouds of vapor and through the narrow corridors until he halted at a door marked with a silver star and the letters J.W. He thrust the door aside with such force that it fell off its hinge and crashed to the floor, making the boy waiting on the other side jump in surprise.

"What's go-" the younger me began, but Jack grabbed his arm and wrenched him from the office.

"Come with me. We have to get out of here."

"Is this part of the training exercise?" he asked innocently.

Jack set his face in determination. He had to know the truth. "No, son, this is real."

His eyes widened in fear, but he didn't protest against the fast pace through the corridors. "Who's that?" he asked as we passed an intersection.

Jack stopped and looked down the path. It was one of the people in the suits.

"No one we need to worry about," he said as the person turned a corner and disappeared. But even so, he set off after them.

Around the corner, we came upon a long rectangular room with rows of one meter holes in the floor. Jack stepped close to one and saw that it was open to the outside, a long cable attached to the ceiling dangling all the way down to the ground below.

He reached over and grabbed a metal clamp of sorts off a shelf and attached it to the cable. He held out a hand. "Come on, Ryan!"

Ryan took his hand and held on tight as they disappeared through the hole in the floor, Jack using the clamp to control their descent.

I watched them slide down the cable, wondering how I was going to follow them if I couldn't grab a clamp myself, since this was a memory. Then it occurred to me that I couldn't get hurt in a memory, could I? I took a deep breath and jumped.

The air whistled past my ears as I fell, and I hit the sand with a thud. Of course, the sand felt like concrete since I couldn't affect it. I crumpled to the ground clutching my feet in agony. In my head, I swore. Why had I done something so stupid?

When the pain had subsided enough that I could stand, I rose to see that Jack had already reached the ground ahead of me and was sprinting towards the town. The huge shape above me was quickly passing him, the long cables still dangling from the bottom.

Now that I was outside the ship, I saw what a massive thing it was. From end to end it had to be at least two hundred meters long, and it was easily thirty wide. The whole thing was shaped kind of like an oval, with a rounded point at the front and a flat end, out of which shot several jets of blue flame. I couldn't make out its coloring very well, due to the dark sky, but I could clearly read the name printed on the side in large letters: Last Hope.

I barely had time to register the fact that Tarron had mentioned that name earlier before another person in a suit rappelled down a cable and hit the ground at a jog. Whoever it was must've been pretty fit to be able to run with the suit on. It had to have been pretty heavy.

I dashed towards the figure, easily overtaking him without checking to see who it was. I saw Jack turn and glance at his pursuer, then whisper something in his son's ear. I reached him just as he stopped in his tracks. He shoved Ryan towards the town and yelled, "Run! Get home and warn your mother! Warn everyone! Tell them I-" He was cut off as the pursuer caught up and threw a powerful punch across his jaw.

"Dad!" Ryan shouted in shock.

Jack spat blood from his mouth and yelled at him again to run. Ryan reluctantly tore his gaze away from the duel and hurried off in the direction of the town.

"You should have stayed on the ship!" Tarron's voice came from the helmeted figure. He wasn't even breathing hard after the run wearing the thick suit. "It would have been better for you that way!" He slapped Jack hard in the face as he turned to Tarron.

"I am commander of this project!" Jack shouted in defiance. "It is my job to fix this! And do you really think I'll sit by and watch as you destroy my home and family?!" He reached out to yank the helmet off and Tarron grabbed his arm with lightning reflexes.

"Actually," he said, "yes. As I said before, there is nothing you can do to stop me."

"I could kill you," Jack spat. He wrenched his arm free and kneed Tarron in the gut.

The move had no effect. "I'd love to see you try," he sneered. He clamped one hand around Jack's throat and lifted him off the ground, slamming him into the sand in much the same way as Tarron had done to me. I winced at the ominous crack that reached my ears.

"And when you fail, you'll be just like the rest of your family." A gleaming silver sword materialized in his hand and he raised it high as Jack groaned in pain. "Dead." The sword arced down, humming its fatal song.