The briefing room was dark and quiet save for the few murmurs from the lab coats and some generals. William Keshiner, a large built man with a brown buzz cut, sighed and glanced down at the pamphlet he was holding in his right hand. The front of the pamphlet read, in large red words, “Classified,” and just below them were the words: Project Icarus.
William hadn’t really figured out what the pictures on the document were trying to represent. Upon opening it he was greeted with blueprints and diagrams that looked to be something straight out of a Star Wars film. Just then the door on the other side of the room opened, and in came the commander-in-chief, Alan Crawski, being escorted by two guards and a lone scientist.
“ATEN-HUT!” commanded a stern, deep voice from the front. Everyone in the room rose, backs straight and stiff. In the front of the room, the man that had come in from the far left, along with the scientist, positioned himself behind the podium.
“At ease,” said the voice again, and everyone sat back down.
“As many of you may already know," Alan spoke as he stepped out from behind the podium, "Headquarters lost contact with Fort McClellan two nights ago, exactly two minutes after losing contact with Fort Rucker. We are to assume the bases were attacked simultaneously.” The man stopped for a brief moment, letting what he had just said sink in. In the back, a woman slowly stood up. “Yes, Dr. MacLean?”
“Have there been any signs of any survivors, sir?” she asked.
Alan shook his head. “Not as of yet, no." The woman slowly sat back down. Just beside her a second hand shot up. "Yes Dr. Carol?” Alan asked as he turned towards the other scientist. The scientist stood up from his chair.
“What about whoever attacked these bases? Do we have any pictures or recordings; something that will let us know what we’re up against?” the doctor’s voice wavered.
Alan nodded his head. “That we do. I was actually just about to get to that, Dr. Carol," he then turned towards the scientist sitting just a few feet away from him. "Dr. Hassel, could you bring up the photograph.”
The lab coat nodded his head silently as he picked up the remote from the table in front of him. Turning around, he activated the projector on the ceiling, which shot a blurred image onto the wall. The picture contained a strange, mutilated creature, comprised entirely of other creatures and strange animals the men had never heard of before. The “Chimera” looking creature was shown to be flying over the burning wreckage of Fort Rucker.
William raised an eyebrow, and glanced up at the commander-in-chief. Alan had his eyes locked on the image as he spoke, “This creature is what we assume to be the cause of the devastation of both forts McClellan and Rucker.”
“You’re kidding, right, sir? You said that McClellan and Rucker were attacked at the same time,” pointed out one of the soldiers in the back.
“That’s because they were, Lieutenant Michaels. They were attacked by this creature at approximately three-thirty in the morning while our men were still in bed. We believe this creature holds an unbelievable amount of power, a power that we humans have yet to obtain. That is why on the day of the attack we dubbed this extraterrestrial being Archangel. The United Nations has given the all clear that; “Any and all personnel to see Archangel have the green light to engage.” But be warned, Archangel, as I've said thus far, has been known for his agility, strength, speed and…” The commander-in-chief trailed off into silence, after he took a deep breath he spoke up, “And his ability to bend the laws of physics themselves.” Whispers began to murmur themselves into existence around William. “Thirty years ago the Japanese began a project, known as Project Ikarusu, or Icarus to us.”
Dr. Hassel clicked a button on the remote that changed the picture on the screen to a much larger photo of a massive half built ship, which was slightly bigger than an American destroyer. “This here, ladies and gentlemen, is humanity’s final act in case things decide to take a turn for the worse. This here is Starship Horizon.” He flung his right arm out wide. “She weighs exactly twelve thousand and thirty-two tons, and in theory, can reach speeds of over one hundred thousand miles per hour, while maintaining the capacity to hold three hundred of our top personnel.” Alan cleared his throat. “Starting today, ladies and gentlemen, the United Nations has agreed for us to reboot the project.”
“I’m sorry, sir, but what exactly would we need a starship for? If Archangel is our only enemy, couldn’t we just blast it into oblivion?” asked a young soldier, standing by the back door.
“Private, if only it were that easy." Alan snorted, "Fort McClellan and Rucker had over one thousand armed personnel on the premises, and all were wiped out in a matter of minutes. If Archangel does prove to be successful in its operation to wipe all human history off this planet, if that's its intention, the U.N. has agreed to launch Operation Lazarus.” Alan took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair before speaking. “Across the globe, in almost every major country, are large underground fallout shelters which reach depths of three hundred feet. The vaults we will be using were built during the Cold War in case of a nuclear fallout, but are now being expanded and improved upon. The day before we launch Horizon into the stars, we’ll begin the evacuation process. Three days after that we’ll launch every nuclear missile on the planet at Archangel, the only flaw with this plan is… the Earth’s surface will be destroyed in the process–”
A man in the back raised his hand. “What do you mean by “the planet’s surface will be destroyed”?”
“If zee bombs do go off,” Dr. Hassel spoke up for the first time. He got up out of his chair and stepped forward, so that he was standing in front everyone. “Zee amount of radiation and pollution vill cause a nuclear vinter, vich vill zen block out zee sun across zee entire planet. Zus plunging zee vorld into another ice age, and vith the sun blocked out due to zee amount of radiation and pollution in zee planet’s atmosphere, zee planet vill literally freeze to death; zus killing all life forms on zee planet's survace.”
A soldier in the front stood up. “How long would it take for everything to die out,” he asked nervously. “Is it like an instant death?”
“Nein, zee process vould take about a veek,” the doctor deadpanned.
The soldier slowly sat down. “Slow and painful… That’s all you had to say,” He murmured to himself.
“So, ladies and gentlemen, your mission is, if things do go to Hell.” Alan’s voice became low. “Will be to journey off into the absolute unknown, wait for things to settle down back here and–”
“With all due respect, sir, I’m going to have to stop you right there.” William said as he stood up. Alan motioned for him to continue. “But, what do you mean we have to go off into the unknown. We have families and children here, there’s no way I’m going off into space and letting you destroy our planet, just so you can stop one creature…”
“I’m sorry, Commander, but we have no choice, and nobody better to choose from besides all you individuals,” the Chief said without any emotion in his voice.
“What about my wife and chi–”
“Leave them, Commander." William cringed. "It’s either your wife and child or the entirety of the human race. Choose now, Commander, because what happens now will change the fate of humanity,” the Chief said. William remained silent. Furrowing his brow, he slowly sat back down in his seat.
“What about the vaults, Chief? Won’t our families survive down there?” a soldier over by the door asked.
“Zee probability of anybody surviving zee nuclear vinter is below ten percent,” responded Dr. Hassel.
The room fell silent for a few moments, save for the quiet breaths coming from the scientists and soldiers. After a few moments of silence, Alan finally spoke, “This session is dismissed; all of you are free to go say your possible final goodbyes to your families. Be back here by tomorrow morning at oh eight hundred hours.”
:[-]:
A searing hiss made its way into William’s ears, with a metallic clank the pod he was sleeping in opened up, steam billowing out of the machine. William’s eyes opened slowly, as he numbly swung his legs over to the side and pulled himself up into a sitting position. William ran his hand under his eyes, trying to get the crust out from under them. His stomach groaned and a wave of nausea almost overwhelmed him, his empty stomach yearning for nutrition.
“Fire team Six, please report to central control in zero-three hundred.” Johnny’s voice boomed throughout the ship’s hull. “We’ll be descending into the planet’s atmosphere in seventy-two hours.”
“Wait... what?!” William’s eyes shot towards the intercom that was just beside the clock. “What the hell happened while I was out?” Will said to no one in particular. His eyes began to wander about the room he was in. Empty stasis chambers lined the walls on either side of the room. William, still sitting in his stasis chamber, eyed the empty pods. “Where is everyone?” he asked out loud. “Why am I the last one being awakened...?” Grasping onto the edge of the pod he pushed himself out, landing on the chilled metal floor.
He winced as the blood in his feet ran cold. Gazing about, he searched for the locker that would contain his clothes and his gear. After a few seconds of searching, he found the locker just beside the door along with the others. Inputting his combination, he opened it up and quickly got dressed in his white tank top and green cargo pants. Slipping on his tennis shoes, he reached into his locker and grabbed his firearm and holster, which he then strapped to his belt.
“Nice to see you’re finally awake, commander.” William nearly jumped out of his skin. Spinning around he saw a tall, slender woman with long brown hair. Her eyes were a bright green and she was wearing a grey suit with a purple undershirt.
“Jesus, Angela!” he cursed. “You nearly scared the life out of me.”
She chuckled and walked up alongside William. “Still a bit edgy I see?”
William raised an eyebrow as she got closer. The girl seemed a few years older since the last time he saw her. “Who wouldn’t be?” he said. "With our entire race on the verge of extinction, I think everyone here is a little tense."
She snickered. "You’d think,” she placed a hand on his chest and gave him a predatory smirk. “With there only being a few of us left–”
William silenced her by gently grabbing a hold of her wrist. “Angela,” His voice was stern. “I told you last time, I’m not interested. I have a wife back on Earth.” He lied then released her hand and allowed her to back away. William took hold of the railing to his left and stepped around it so he could go up the steps towards the door. “But don’t get me wrong,” he glanced over his shoulder, a grin on his face. “I am flattered.” With that, he opened the door and began heading towards the main control room.
:[-]:
“Zis is incredible, Mr. Convay.” said Dr. Ludvig Hassel, an elderly scientist known for his dabbling in both biology and physics.
Johnny smiled and watched the scientist as he once again placed the large headphones over his ears, so he could listen to the audio recovered from the drone crash. Around him, the usually empty control room was now bustling with young men and women, most sitting at computers taking measurements and readings of Earth’s surface, which they were now orbiting. “We uncovered it on my sixth shift six thousand years ago, we tried making contact with them but just like the first few years after departure... coms still won’t work.”
“Zat is odd indeed, how about now? Has Mr. Grimes tried setting up zee laser communications relay?” Hassel asked as he placed the headphones back on its stand.
Johnny shrugged. “Last I spoke to the lad; he was in the middle of talking to some girls back down in engineering.”
Hassel pinched the bridge of his nose. “Zat boy may be good at vat he does... but at times he makes me vant to hit him.”
John chuckled. “Go ahead, no one's stopping you. Matter of fact, half the crew would probably appreciate it.” The doctor laughed.
On the far end of the room, the door right under the main screen opened and in came Commander William, followed by his four squad mates. “Ah, Commander,” Hassel beamed at the sight of his old friend. He stood up from his chair and approached him.
William smiled and offered his right hand. The doctor took it, but instead of shaking it he pulled the man into a close hug. “Whoa now,” Will laughed.
“It is nice to see you, friend. How have sings been going for you?” Hassel broke the hug and looked William in the eyes.
William scratched the back of his neck. “Well, aside from fighting in a massive battle, then going to sleep for nearly twelve thousand years... great, I guess.” He chuckled.
Johnny smiled at the sight of the two playing catch up, but not wanting to hold things up any further he cleared his throat. “Excuse me, Commander Keshiner.” Both the commander and doctor looked at him. One of the soldiers in the back, a red headed female, jabbed one of her squad mates in the side, gathering the rest of the crew’s attention. “The admiral has requested that we send a research team down to the planet’s surface as soon as possible.” John said briefly.
“Alright, I’m betting he wants to send my squad and I to go protect a few lab coats while they look at some trees and rocks?” Will guessed.
“Precisely,” Johnny said as he picked up a nearby remote from off the computer desk he was standing in front of. He clicked the power button and the monitor came to life, revealing an overhead view of their drop zone. “Your team, along with the science division, will be dropped off here. While Dr. Hassel and his team work, I want you and your squad to scout out the surrounding area.”
“How are we for communications?” Will asked. “Has anyone been able to get it to work yet?”
“Currently, no, like I told the doctor here, Nelson was flirting with the girls down in engineering.” John said in a monotone.
Will sighed and shook his head. “I swear I’m going to beat that kid to a pulp...” he growled.
Hassel chuckled. “Not to worry though, Commander. It’ll take the Condor about four to five hours to reach the planet’s surface. By then Nelson should have communications up and running. For now, there are drones now scouting the planet’s surface hoping to find any signs of civilization... That’s if they made it this far since we last heard from them.”
“Oh I bet zay did,” Dr. Hassel crossed his arms. “Vith zee amount of technology vee left behind, you could start vorld var three...” Hassel said as he walked towards the monitor. “I vill rally my top scientists, ve’ll be ready in a matter of twenty minutes.”
William nodded his head. “Alright then, I’ll see to it that my team is prepared before then.” He turned away from the two. “Come on now,” he said to his four squad mates, “get on down to the barracks and prep yourselves, we got work to do.”
“Yes sir,” they said and followed behind the commander.
Johnny sighed and turned away once William and his men were out of sight. He eyed the screen that held the overhead view of the drop point, “I still can’t believe it,” he said under his breath.
“Excuse me?” Hassel cocked an eyebrow.
“The Earth,” Johnny cleared his throat. He could really use a drink right now. “The fact that it was able to recover so fast...” He saw Hassel out of the corner of his eye turning to face him. “Doc, you even said it yourself, that the Earth wasn’t going to reform for another few thousand years.”
“In seory yes, but like I just said Johnny, zat it was only a seory. Must've been a minor miscalculation, zat is all.” Johnny shrugged, and then Hassel snorted. “Or vee loss track of zee time and over sirty sousand years has passed.”
John chuckled. “That’s always a possibility, I just never thought I’d see this place again... at least not in this magnificent state.”
Hassel smiled and reached over to pat him on the shoulder. “It has been nice talking to you, lad. But it is time zat I start rounding up my men.”
John smirked and took his eyes off the screen for a few seconds to look at his friend. “I guess I’ll be talking to you once you guys are on the ground.”
“Indeed you vill,” Hassel stepped back and made his way towards the exit that led down into the research department.
Once Hassel was gone, all that was left was Johnny and the few men and women that were left working on the computers. John slipped his hand into his pocket and took out his old wallet he’d kept hidden safely away in his locker. He opened the wallet and smiled at the picture of a young eight year old girl. In the photo she was wearing an old hand-me-down Ohio State jersey and a pair of baggy jeans. She was smiling at the camera. Behind her was a man and a woman, Johnny and his wife Stacey; John was wearing his service uniform. His hand resting on his daughter’s, Amy’s, shoulder. This was the day Johnny came home for the holiday.
His brother, Arin, was the one who took the picture, “So did you bring back any battle scars yet?” He remembered him asking when he stepped into the lobby and was greeted with a tight bear hug. Johnny could remember laughing and telling him that he didn’t fight on field, he never had... before the collapse that is, when the Sleepers were storming Headquarters and slaughtering everyone. Johnny barely made it out alive that day–
John shook his head. Now was not the time to think about the past. He went over the photograph one last time before closing it and stuffing it back into his pocket. It would only be a matter of days before they began cracking open the vaults to make sure that, if anyone was alive down there, they got woken up. That is, unless the people from the recording they heard were still alive... their kid’s kids, that is.
“Sir,” Said the voice of man that was working at one of the computers.
“What is it?” John looked over at him.
“We’ve just received our latest footage from drone sixty-two,” he said.
“Throw it up on main screen,” John stepped back from the table. He stepped past the holo-globe so that he had a clear view of the screen.
“She’s coming up there now, sir,” said the girl John was standing behind.
With a small amount of static followed by the occasional flicker, the image came up clearly. From a skyward view, the drone’s camera was trained on a large valley of fire and lava. John glanced over back at the boy. “What’s the drone's position now?”
“Forty four point six degrees north, hundred ten point five degrees west, she’s right above Yellowstone, sir...” The man trailed off into silence and focused back onto his work.
“Jesus...” Johnny gazed at the fiery image. “I remember going there as a kid.”
Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, a black shadow swooped past the screen and instantly everything went to black. Startled by this sudden outburst, Johnny jolted back cursing under his breath. The room fell silent. “What was that?” someone asked.
Johnny scratched the back of his neck, eyes wide. “You there,” he pointed at the brown haired girl he was standing behind, “see if you can rewind a few seconds back.”
“Y-yes, sir,” she stuttered, her eyes wide by the sudden jump scare that got all of them.
“Central,” another voice came from behind. “We’ve lost contact with sixty-two. I can’t get any readings off it.”
“Impossible!” Johnny shot up. “Those drones are built to withstand nearly anything!”
“With all due respect, sir, they clearly weren’t built to withstand whatever the hell that was–”
“Can it, Charlie!” Charlie’s friend, Derek, snapped.
“Video is ready for replay, sir,” the woman in front of Johnny said.
“Play it,” he ordered.
The girl nodded her head and pressed the button to start the video, again the image flickered and displayed the picture of the now volcanic Yellowstone. Clenching his fist and trying to remember the exact moment in the video when this mysterious creature of sorts would appear. He gritted his teeth and– “Pause it!” He commanded and right away the video stopped, right as the dark figure appeared on screen. “Brighten the image, I want to see exactly what we're dealing with here.”
With a few keystrokes the darkness that enveloped a large portion of the picture tinted ever so slightly to reveal few key details. “What in the name of...” Derek muttered.
“Are those scales?” someone asked.
“It’s a bloody dinosaur!” another shouted.
“Caroline,” Johnny took his eyes off the monitor and looked to the woman standing back by the holo-globe, “get engineering on the phone and tell them I want those condors equipped with turrets immediately.”
“Right away, Central,” She nodded and got to work.
Turning his gaze back towards the image of the massive winged beast, with teeth the length of swords, Johnny gulped. “What in God’s name have we done...”