Tweet....tweet.... The Planet done... 20/01

The Planet was a tough one not in contents or creative thoughts, it was the buildup to write. I was 'away'from my usual self then; done a few writes that did not come to any conclusion. But I did with must effort on the Planet.

And then I begin to feel the old me was back. I done the new tale which I will publish tonight. And I am doing a new one now for a break on the thoughts.

So without much ado, let us  move on.

Cheers

The Planet 12.3 Finale

12.3  Home

I had strapped in at the pilot seat while watching the indicators on the console. The engines were powering up steadily although I felt the tremors outside. The planet surface was in turmoil with cracks appearing on it. The sensors on the craft reported the core of the planet was erupting. The hammering at the Bridge Door was thundering but it was holding up. The doorway was designed to repel intruders in the case of boarding. Once locked from inside, it intricate locking mechanism could only be opened by inside or by a special code. I had run from the Hanger to here when I saw Daniel.

I had to escape from the dusts.

“Surface compromise on the integrity of the craft.” The system was responding to the condition. It then gave out a stern warning. “We are attacked by some mineral substance from the surface. Wind velocity had picked up on the surface. We are registering…”

L391 or L391-2 was trying to get into the craft. They had force opened the rear doorway and more dusts were accumulating in. It was their only option given the planet was in the brink of self destruct.

It was then I pressed the thruster ignition on the console. The thrusters were not fully operational and needed some time to recalibrate. I was also concerned on the craft other sections for the sensors were displaying that the hull structure was deteriorating due to the harsh developing conditions outside. I felt a lurch on my seat then.

“Craft in danger of collapsing.” The sensor registered the surface was cracking beneath its landing struts. I checked the indicators. I have no choice and pushed the thruster buttons once more to force the fuel into the combustion unit. We have to take off soon or be buried there. The three combustion engines screamed out and then it lifted the craft from the surface. It was forcing itself up despite the strong winds and then the craft was soaring up.

“Surface compromised! Core discharge hitting us in three seconds. The sensors screeched out. I felt the craft tilted to the side when the heated plasma from the planet core hit at its left wing. The impact tore at the winds plating and the craft screamed out more warnings. I hit the switches to compensate for it while the craft resumed its lift off. I then turned my attention to the doorway. It was all quiet there and that concerns me.

Maybe they got through.

The reply came to me when I saw the other consoles lighted up. The dusts have compromised on the system. Somehow it had locked into the Bridge through the secondary system, and was piloting the craft. I looked at the main screen on the Bridge and ran a diagnostic scan for the dusts. They were everywhere, and they were taking control of the craft. Then the message came from the system speakers.

“It’s futile, John. We have control on the craft now.” The dusts have won. “We will command your craft now to your planet.”

“Who are you? Daniel? Dusty?” I shouted out.

“It’s neither of them. We are the new L 391 now. You may call us L 391-3 or any name you may wished. We will rebuild the planets into our new destiny.”

I knew then I was doomed like the others. The sensors have picked up that the fleet around the planet was no more there. 

I was all alone. Even the craft was not mine to control anymore. The system will not respond to my commands. I slammed my right fist onto the console. I was defeated.

“Do not despair, John. We will let you live. You are our savior.”

I slumped back into the seat and sighed. There was nothing I could do. These dusts are too powerful for me to fight them. I then stood up and walked to the doorway. I hit the unlock commands and then watched the doorway slide open. Just when it did, the dusts came flowing in like rolling waves. It ignored me and proceeded to the consoles. I had enough and walked towards the hanger. The rear door was closed on takeoff but the place was covered in dusts. The dusts moved away where I may step. I stood in the middle of the hanger and looked at the rear doorway. If its forced open, it may compromise on the craft integrity if the doorway. Even if I left it open but there was nothing I could do to hold it there.

I looked around and saw the battle suits. It had its weapons removed and was only the basic suit shell. The shoulder mounted mini cannon was on the flooring and so were the energy packs. There was a cluster of them on the flooring. The dusts had worked like an army of ants moving the items to the corner. I made my way across the hanger flooring towards the droid suit.

It was a calculated risk.

 I hit the manual override on the rear door. It triggered the mechanical door lock to release on it clasp. The door lowered down and a vacuum was created in the hanger. Everything was not pinned or clammed down was sucked out including myself. So was the droid suit.

My right fingers grabbed onto the suit and then I hit the codes on the armor plate. It activated the suit to receive me. It was not easy to handle oneself in the cold void space and without oxygen. I was also among the item sucked out by the vacuum including the dusts. I squeezed in and then activated the suit. Once it was activated, the suit oxygen unit went into action and gave me the needed relief. I did not have much time to dally then and searched for the mini cannon that were dismounted. It was there and I used the jet pack on the boots to reach for it. I grabbed it and checked that its energy pack was still intact.

Then it was hell to pay.

I shot the energy shot at the closing rear door which the dust had taken back control. The door was still closing when the energy shot hit the hanger. It was a wild shot but its impact was great. I may have hit the explosives or something vulnerable to the craft for it resulted into a massive explosion there. The hanger rear door blew open and the flames were seen in there. The craft went into a spin and then it dived back into the planet atmosphere.

It worked.

My plan worked.

\

And it was then I saw the planet began to break into sections with visible explosions on the surface.

The planet was going into an explosive ball of flame.

I was going to die.

I was then.

Epilogue

“Commander Cain, I think the survivor can be questioned now.”

I opened my eyes and saw the officer standing before me. I was in Infirmary.

“I am Commander Cain of DSV Madeson. Can you understand me?” I nodded and then replied.

“The dusts killed them all.” 

The Planet 12.2

12.2  Kinsgley

Mark Kingsley stood there in the damaged battle suit. The droid battle suit was damaged with chest plate removed. So were the elbow pads but on the right shoulder the mounted mini cannon that was still working. It was aimed at me. He had lost the rotary mini cannon rifle model PH-500C but he held a side arm then.

“Hello, John. We met once more.” Mark looked to his battle suit. “Pardon the dressing. I have not changed just yet.”

We were in the hangar section on the craft. There were three battle suits there with the full array of weapons on it. There were also cases of explosives there. I proceeded towards him but he aimed the side arm at me.

“Move any closer and I will give you a new hole.” Mark was convincing with the side arm. “It was supposed to be a simple task. You were to be my recorder.”

“Record everything for me but you have to screw it all.” Mark took a step forward and it was then I saw his left leg. It was bloodied at the knee. That was not my focus but the speck of dust there. It was moving up the knee.

“Recorder? I am your fucking cam.” I hollered back. “Why can’t you just not knew tell me?”

“So you know? Who told you?” Mark stood back. “I guess the dust told you. Those deceit bastards never held their side of the deal. So how much do you know?”

“More than you will ever know.” I replied. “Why the alliance with them and also why are the Corsairs here?”

“There John, you were always the one with the questions. Even on my command, you were questioning me most times.” Mark hobbled on his wounded left leg. “I was contacted by the dusts that you knew as L 391. It was an arrangement we had until I was told that they were going to renegade.”

Mark was paranoia; I ought to know when he was my commander. He will send us out on scouting tasks to re-confirm what the Intel had confirmed.

“I got the Corsairs in as back up. They were to back your team but had to encounter the renegade dusts. That destroyed the stealth task when you detected them. With them out of action, I called for the backup plan.”

Mark was also an impatient person. He’s desire for victory supersedes all other desires. That was the major reason I left the Marines. He caused some of my good mates dead from his actions.

“Who else was in here?” I asked.

“Duggan was in. He was to be back up in case you failed. He was to remove the recorder from you.” Mark smiled. “I did not know he got Nguyen in too. I saw Machete reached for you. So I guess he was in too. Do you know what happened in Suzuka was also my doing?”

I feigned amazement at that line but the sidearm stopped me from attacking him.

“I had an arrangement with DOD to steal the Suzuka prototype then when your team went in. Duggan was given the command with your team. I did not tell the DOD I had a backup plan which the Kings went in to steal the prototype. Unfortunately, the DOD wanted retribution. They lost their mercs and wanted your heads.”

“Yeah, we heard you bought us our freedom.” I replied. “And get us to join your team.”

“At a high price. Your team survived when DOD did not. Since you joined the Kings, your contributions have been good. You got me some great winnings. This one was one. You managed to get us access to the Core Domain. Even the dusts kept that from me.”

It was then I snapped out.

“So you brought out the whole brigade of droids to defeat a nation. You …”

“Clam it, John. The dusts are insignificant but the Core Domain was the survivor. I need that to study it.”

That was the real Mark Kingsley.

“Arghh!” Mark screamed out. There was when I saw the blood spurting at the wound. The dust had moved inside the wound. I saw Mark fell to his knees and then on his side clutching his left knee. I saw him cringed and then screamed under the intense pain on his body. He went into a convulsed position and then I saw more wounds appeared. It was the dusts that had formed into a molded spike and it was damaging Mark’s body.  I rushed over but Mark had then raised his side arm at me again.

“I will not have you gloating at my obituary.” Mark keeled over when the spike struck out from his nose. I had then turned away from the death throes of his.

“Hello, John.” I turned towards the voice. It was the smaller version of Daniel with blood over it. “I am happy you made it. We are all happy you made it.”

Daniel was growing in size. 

The Planet 12.1

12.

12.1 Surface

I felt myself moved forward but it was not a straight move. I felt as if I was being moved in different directions by the dust based on the tunnel bored then. During the journey, I felt the more vibrations, and it felt more like a series of explosion. I then noticed the tunnel below me sealed up below me. It was as if the dusts had responded to my thoughts; it shut me off from battle scene. I did not have long to wait before I was to exit from the tunnel.

I felt myself ejected out and was caught by the strong wind that swept the surface. I was tossed in the wind and felt my body scraped across some hard surfaces but I was fine. I suddenly felt the wind subsided and fell to the surface. I was saved by the wall of dusts that shielded me. I was shaken by the impact and laid there on the surface. The dusts have formed a cocoon around me and the wind was on the outside. I stayed there to recover from the impact.

The moment I felt the wind had died down outside I tapped at the wall of dusts. It fell off like crusts and a hole appeared. It fell apart to a size which I could crawl through. There was a state of serenity out there. I meant that the whole place had turned silent. The scene was like a stroll through the graveyard on late afternoon; everything was in a stand still.

Even the large craft I saw on the nearby horizon.

It had Kinsley sign on it.

It was KDS Kingsley Five. The oblong airship with a length of a thousand five hundred yards and a radius of two hundred yards at its widest had its rear door lowered. I pushed my body up and it was then the shots came. I saw the newly designed double armored explorer series. That was a modified C-102, which resembled a saucer on two extended metal legs with tracks wheels. Each unit was with a radius of twenty five feet and a depth of ten feet. . The saucer has a set of swivel mounted twin mini cannons on the top and bottom on the saucer. On the side of the extended legs were the three mini missiles mounted there. The unit was operated by the human who sat in the saucer. It have a series of sensors built into its system.

There were four of them and was attacking the Kingsley Five. There was also a squad of mercenaries in the flanks armed with heavy weapons. They were dressed in DOD colors.

The Kingsley Five was not without its own defenses. The cannons mounted on its hull retaliate at the C-102. The first salvo took out one of the units. The other three units attacked the rear door of the Kingsley Five. From there, three battle droids appeared and defended the door. The remaining three C-102 exchanged fires with the droids. In seconds the one of the three droids went down with its chest plate burst open. The second droid went down its left lower tracks blown off.  It was time for the DOD to hit for the doorway when it was lowered.  The shooting stopped then.  I saw the anti grav-loader tray was pushed out hovering at three feet above the surface. It was Dmitri and he was wrapped in bandages around his midriff.

“Hold your fire!” The order was given by the DOD Commander. His name was Mathew Bane and was a back stabber and officer. “He’s got a Mega-Nuke there.”

It was true then for Dmitri had pushed out the hexagon design explosive with the capacity to blow up the planet.  It measured over four feet across and weighed half a ton. Dmitri had on a dead man trigger in his right hand raised high above his head.

“You bastards DOD backed off.” Dmitri shouted. “Kingsley won’t give up for your end.”

A stray shot could explode the bomb then and it was seated on the loader. Dmitri pushed the loader with his left hand. The DOD Commander stepped forth with his rifle lowered.

“It’s not you we want, Corsair. We want the five survivals of Suzuka.” The Commander voiced out. “They owe us a debt which had yet to be repaid. They defied orders and deserved to be shot.”

“Screw it, DOD. Kingsley bought out the contracts then.” Dmitri replied. He must have known through Peggy. “You hold no rights on them anymore. They are Kingsley Kings now. The Corsairs are allies with the Kingsley now.”

“A truce which we once held with the Kings but not anymore. We want only the five and then we will leave.” Commander Bane stated his demands. “The DOD does not want to fight the Corsairs.”

“Screw you, Commander. The five are not here. They are in there.” Dmitri pointed to the surface. “They are battling the war there.”

“I…” Commander Bane did not get to complete his words when the surface trembled. It was as if a quake was happening then. Pockets of dust blew up like little whirlwinds but they were all dusts. The whirlwinds were appearing everywhere from beneath the surface and rose up high to over thirty feet in some with a radius of over twelve feet. It grabbed the mercenaries and tossed them into the air to land a distance away or be taken by another whirlwind. The last battle droid was tossed aside like discarded equipment.

And so was Dmitri.

He was grabbed by the nearby whirlwind and then tossed into the vortex. The grab also make him lost his grip on the trigger and the countdown had begun.

It was set at sixty seconds.

I saw the craft engines were started up and the rear door was closing again. I have little time but to run for it. It was a short distance but then the wind picked up again. I was to reach the doorway when the wind came. It blew me away by a short distance but then the doorway was moving half way to close. I pushed myself up and ran for the closing doorway. It was then the craft began lifting off from the surface and the doorway was almost shut. I was still a few feet away. I reached out with my left hand for the door edge. I grabbed it with the fingers and tried to haul myself up.

I got the grip but the door was near to full closing. I felt the pressure on my fingers trying to hold on. There was a lurch on the craft lift off when the winds impacted it. The craft went into a tile on its side and the doorway creaked open. It was not a large opening but one which I managed to pull myself in. I landed on my back inside the craft just when the doorway re-calibrate and then closed.

I was in.

“Nice of you to drop in, John.” It was Mark Kinsley. 

The Planet 11.3

11.3 Demise

“Sorry John, we have our new orders.” Machete pulled me around. I was unable to move for Machete had somehow intervened on the battle suit controls and I was caught inside it.

“Duggan gave us the new order to secure you.” Machete smiled from behind his visor. “He wants your recorder.”

Without any warning Machete had reached out with his right index finger at my face. It was a jab at the lower lid of my left eye and then he pushed hard in. I was immobile inside the suit but I could feel pain.

It was awful then.

It was more than awful.

It was hell.

Machete was a bastard. He grabbed my left eye socket and pulled hard at it. He yanked out my eye socket. I would have succumbed to a state of unconsciousness but I fought hard against the pain. I recalled during my tests with the suit then there was an auxiliary switch to kick start the suit. It was on the chest plate. All I needed was to hit it but I was motionless. An idea came to mind.

I spat at Machete.

That roused him and he did what I was hoping. He punched me on the chest plate. It was the spot I was aiming for. I felt the suit began to re-calibrate then. Machete had then focus on my extracted eye socket. I saw the attachment on it with the wirings.

Kingsley dunked me in as his watchdog.

The suit had begun to become like one. I started by twitching my left hand fingers. It was moving. I kept on looking at Machete despite the pain and the blood that was spurting on my cheek. I felt for the control on my right shoulder mini cannon. It was then I activated it and shot at Machete. The later was not prepared for it, and it took his left shoulder off and the arm.

An arm for the eye. 

I saw my left eye socket flew into the air and landed near me.

“Fuck you, John.” Machete cursed at me holding his left shoulder. He was in a bad shape. I seen those wounds; they are never cured. The person will just die soon.

“I will kill you.” Machete screamed out but he was not to do it. The dusts convened on him and covered him. It was only seconds but I felt like it was hours. I saw Machete exploded inside the shell of dusts. The blood seeped through the shell and Machete was gone. I looked away and saw the eye socket. Damned thing was lying there with the blood dried on the end of its stems. The blogging pupil was staring at me.

My own eye sacred me then.

When I am scared, I react with violence.

I kicked it. In the anti gravity environment, the socket went far. So far I had wished it then so I won’t see it again. I will get another. After all, I am already a construct.

I am a frigging construct.

I saw the Corsairs were winning the battle. They were better equipped with the battle suit. The new rifle was making major damages. The shoulder mini cannon were splattering the branches. The Core Domain was still rebuilding itself but it was weakening. It will soon be gone. With the branches damaged or broken off at the walls, the Core Domain surface was showing craters and cracks. I saw Kingsley at the helm of the battle. He knew when the odds are for him.

Bastard.

That was how he made Commander. No one was indispensable.

Not even me who was his best mate.

Just like then there was little I could do to save those poor souls who died for the Commander. It was always “I am the Commander. Do as I command.” Yeah, our squad had the highest ‘hand me the tags’. There was little I could do then. 

And it was then and things were no different in the cavern.

I moved myself to the wall, and looked at the surface. There were cracks on it but it was not hard enough for me to climb in. I saw then the ball of dusts next to me.

“Daniel?” I voiced out. The ball of dust went towards the crack. It dug in through the crack. The crack open up and then it became a tunnel. The tunnel was wide enough for me to climb in. There were cracks for me to climb. I unlocked the suit and then climbed in. Soon I was inside the tunnel but the climb was tough. I had only one arm to hold on. I fell a few times in the dark tunnel, and then I felt myself lifted. I was carried by the dusts up the tunnel. It was during the climb, I felt the vibrations of something in pain howling out. I knew then it was the Core Domain.

It was defeated.

The dusts around me were screaming for it.

I think the whole planet was screaming for it.

The whole frigging planet.

Tweet..tweet....15/01...Happy Chinese New Year

Soon we will be celebrating the Chinese New Year. The new year will be the Monkey Year. Here is my daughter ( phew.....the effort of the father to coax the children to do something can be fathomless and wider than the fisherman's catch tale...) effort to the coming new year.

Trust me, the father used to draw like that but economics demand then outweighed the supply. Hence the later venture into the art of telling tales....

Cheers

The Planet 11.2

11.2 Retaliation

I saw then my way out. I moved towards the nearest branch and used it to propel myself up. I climbed from branch to branch. I was making some progress then without the droids blasting at me. Or at the Core Domain.

“Stop!” Daniel appeared. “You must not leave.”

I ignored Daniel to continue my climb. The branch of stone dissolved in my hand. It was as if it was never there. I did fall then when the other branches below me all dissolved. I had the free fall feeling then and soon found myself lifted. I looked down or was it up. I lost the sense of direction.

It was a droid.

The battle droid was back.

I had landed on the droid who was hovering up. I landed on its chest, ironically it could be flying somewhere and I had become its new baggage. I had to balance myself on it but with it double my frame, I managed hold on. I adjusted my frame on it with the caution on the droid either turning over or leveling its cannons onto me. I may be a mercenary but inside me I am still a human, and we are prone to wounds that bleed with death as its ultimate prize.

But I lived.

The droid flew me across the cavern at the Core Domain. .

It was then I saw more droids were dropping in. There were more of the battle droids and then the working droids. There were about fifty or more of these droids. They were all aiming for the Core Domain. The stone branches soon resumed again but that time it was intense and dense in dimension. Some of the droids were seen hitting through the branches of stone and still headed for the Core Domain.

I climbed off the droid to free fall again. I was not keen to rejoin with the Core Domain.

During my second round of free fall, I saw the new intruders.

Corsairs.

Those mercenaries were into the fight, with the new battle suits that I was testing then at Kingsley. It was a full droid battle suit with the height of eight feet where the human operator resided inside and be part of it. It covered the whole body and with shoulder and elbow pads. The chest was covered by the thick plate while on the rear was the energy pack. 

On the right shoulder was the mounted mini cannon that were on a swivel stand which gave it an one hundred degree coverage from front to the back. The lower limbs were covered with the armored pads and the boots have build-in jetpacks. Each mercenary carried on their arms, the rotary mini cannon rifle model PH-500C.  The rifle was loaded with a five rounds pack.

There were about a hundred of them.

And then I saw Machete, Duggan and Nguyen among them.

And there was Kingsley.

They were all wearing Corsairs colors. Matt Kingsley could not resist the battle even though he was the head of a corporation. Those other three were my team mates and we were not with the Corsairs before. It was all baffling then. I presumed dead but there they were battling with the Corsairs.

“Keep the blast on the Core.” I heard Kingsley gave the command. I dropped off the droid and fell towards the wall. The cavern was still free of gravity hold. I stood there looking at the droids and battle suits fought it out with L 391-1 extended stone branches. More branches sprouted out to replace those shot or broken off.

I saw Nguyen approached me then.

“Hello, John.” Nguyen smiled from behind the clear visor on the battle suit head piece. “We were rescued by the Corsairs. They got us to safety and here we are now fighting on their side.”

I glared at healer who had then stood before me. He reached out with his armored right arm and to swing it at my head. I would had been hit if not for the intervention of the dusts. It formed a block of dusts on the swing to prevent it from hitting me. Nguyen was surprised by the move but his battle instinct got him to aim the shoulder mounted cannon at it. The block of dust dissolved but by then another branch of stone had grabbed Nguyen on the lower limbs. It jammed the jets propulsion on the boots and moved up to the waist level. It stopped there and then I saw the effect of the attack. It was like a swarm of small spikes that pierced the battle suit inside the encased stone. The spikes pierced through the battle suit and into the human operator.

Nguyen screamed out in pain but by then, his body was severed into two parts. His upper part of the body floated in the anti gravity condition with his blood spurting out alongside his severed organs. I tried to grab him by his arms but he was soon flung across the cavern by another branch.

I saw the shots then and jumped aside. It was Duggan and he was shooting at me. I rolled and ducked form the shots. The commander was raving mad then and accused me of killing Nguyen

“You killed him!” Duggan ranted on while shooting at me. I could not evade him for I was without any weapon. I kept on using my legs to run or jump in random moves. I jumped high with my arms reaching out for the nearest branch when Duggan shot me. I felt the right arm gave way but there was little pain. The arm dangled at the elbow area.

“Arghh!” I then screamed out in pain. It was a delayed reaction to the damaged arm. I rolled onto my back and felt something hard on it. I reached with my left hand and pulled it to the front. It was the cannon rifle that was Nguyen. It was floating there and I grabbed it. I leveled the rifle and pulled the trigger. The shot propelled me to the cavern wall but it also blew Duggan’s head off his shoulder. The remaining battle suit of Duggan then broke open at the fixtures that held the human operator. It then ejected the headless body out before it remained floating for a new operator. It was one of the features of the battle suit.

There was no time to lose. I jumped towards the unit and slipped it on. The broken arm was difficult to adjust to and then I made the decision to detach it. I pulled it off at the elbow and tossed it aside. With my left hand, I punched in the codes which will activate the suit. It sealed on my command and then did a diagnostics.

“Head piece missing. Re-calibrate the coordinators and signals.” All it was one second for it to get it operational. I was undecided to join the battle or escape.

I chose the second option. It was then I saw Machete. He had his right hand on my energy pack. I felt the vibrations and then the stiffness.