Nightmare to Earth

by bobdat

Chapter Four: Land and Sea

We arrived in the morning the next day, the ruined hulks of dock building appearing out of the morning mist. It was clearly safe – there was chatter coming from the people ready to welcome us to their safe haven. It was something I hadn't heard for a long time.

Once they'd seen how few of us there were, their smiles dimmed a little. We were disembarked hurriedly so that the ship could go back and look for more survivors, balancing along rickety planks leading to burnt cranes that no longer operated, then climbing down.
There were a lot of people dressed in Kevlar body armour and carrying various weapons, who looked a lot like guards. This reassured me.

We were taken to a special centre where we were assigned accommodation and food rotas. It was a little bit like a commune – everyone had to do something to contribute to the community. Apparently they thought I was useless, because I got midnight-4a.m. guard duty on the city walls. The walls themselves were little more than large embankments made out of rubble, but they were pretty imposing and had a layer of spikes on top.

Whilst eating my first meal there, I asked a guard about the danger of manning the walls.
“Oh, it's not bad. We've only had a few injuries and one disappearance in all my time here, which is about six months. It's getting better as we get more people, of course.”
With all that body armour, I was sure I'd feel fairly safe, even if I was rather bored.

Mayumi had disappeared as soon as she'd got here, and Darius was going his guard duty, in the day time. I was at a loose end, so I went to find the Professor and see how he was doing.
The third person I asked directed me to a prefabricated building that looked as if it was a new construction, mainly of wood. I knocked before entering.

Inside was the Professor and a few other older gentlemen, looking serious and huddling around a table. I got the feeling I was out of place as soon as I stepped inside.
“Ah, come in. You can help settle our disagreement.” Professor Franklin said, beckoning me over. Reluctantly, I made my way to the table, one hand steadying my sword to stop it hitting things.

“Okay, take a look at this map.”
It seemed to show the city and its surroundings. A black outline showed where the walls were, blocking off the dock area. I nodded.
“Look here.” The Professor pointed to a raised bit of ground about ten miles from the walls. “This is where the ghosts seem to be coming from. They've got some kind of observation post.”
“So what's the disagreement?”

“I think we should leave it well alone, and just let them watch so long as they're not attacking, but others think we should strike early and knock it out.”
“Isn't it better to wait until we can reinforce the area, stop them setting up another one?”
One of the other men took over. “Yes it would be, but they may have valuable intelligence. We've found that the things are more cunning than we'd previously thought – their communication is at least as sophisticated as ours, and they can use maps too.”
This was news. “Okay, well I don't know then. You should ask Mayumi, she's quite tactical.”
The Professor chuckled. “Oh, Mayumi is strange isn't she? When she arrived she wouldn't tell anyone what job she'd had before the wars, and so we're just keeping an eye on her at the moment.”

“Why? She's one of the best people I know at you know, all this planning.”
“We know very little about people's pasts, which makes it hard to trust them. She might've just been unemployed and embarrassed about it, but she could also be a serial killer escaped from prison or a terrorist. If she won't tell us, we can't trust her.” The Professor explained. “It's a shame, because I think she would be very valuable.”
I shrugged in response. “Well, whatever you think's safest. Anyway, I'll leave you all to it.”

They murmured their goodbyes and I left the hut, not entirely convinced they had the right idea. I didn't really have anything to do for the rest of the day and I didn't feel like being super-helpful and helping to cook or anything, so I just went back to my bunk room and read. I thought that life trapped in this city was going to be very boring, especially if they ran out of books.

“Why don't they attack the outpost...” Nightmare murmured to herself, pacing around in front of her throne. Another two hapless messengers were bowing before her, having just brought the latest news of where the ship had docked.
“I knew this was going to be irritating, and now this... this plan to move all of the humans there. I can't let it happen.”
She turned suddenly to her audience, who seemed to cower away a little.
“You may wait outside.”
They couldn't escape fast enough.

At least she was winning the battle for the beaches that the ship was visiting. Well, that wasn't entirely true. It was barely a battle, it was so easy. After letting those four through deliberately, and possibly a few more who'd chosen unusual paths, it was a very tight net down there. If she'd been a kind pony, she would have remembered to congratulate the commanders on the ground.

“These humans... they're so irritating.” She said, turning her brilliant mind back to the problem of the outpost. It was fake of course, swarming with her minions just waiting for the humans to attack. But surely they didn't suspect that... they were too far to know for sure how many of her minions were there.
Nightmare clicked her teeth. “Perhaps a frontal assault... too dangerous.” She knew that casualties were high and the humans were vigilant. An overwhelming attack might work, but she only had a limited army size. And there were humans all over the place. She couldn't afford to lose too many in a single sweep.

“If only I could provoke them... something to get their blood boiling.” She chuckled. “Hmm. What about the boat?”
“Commanders!” Her tone switched from scheming to shrill in a matter of seconds.
The senior minions hurried in. They weren't actually any more intelligent or talented than the other nameless masses, but she needed some of them to remember things she couldn't.
“How might we sink a boat?” She asked, waiting for a reply whilst casting her evil eye over the pathetic beings.

“Two choices, Princess.” One of them said, snapping to attention as he spoke. “Firstly, we board the boat when it docks and overwhelm it with our forces, who sink it by deliberately crashing it.”
“No good! It only docks in safety.” Nightmare replied, dismissing the answer with a flick of her hoof.
“Secondly, we use the human technology for sinking boats on it.”
“Interesting... go on.”
“We have complete control over several large floating metal islands that can be driven towards this boat. They have special weapons, large tubes that fire explosives.”
“Will it work?”
“Almost certainly. It will even work at night.”

Nightmare nodded curtly. “Okay, do it. Sink the boat that keeps docking in their futile little city, and any other boats you find humans on.”
The Commanders scurried away to carry out their orders. Nightmare sighed.
“Maybe this will force you to attack, make you leave your little rat-hole...”

They were mid-way back to their beach run, with the moon shining brightly over the black waves. The captain was doing his part of the night watch, running his hands softly over the wooden wheel, enjoying the touch.
“Cap'n?” It was the first mate.
“Yes, what is it?” The Captain was in a good mood, despite their recent lack of success.
“There's something off the starboard bow. Can't really tell what it is from this distance, could be a stray iceberg.”
“Better steer clear.” The Captain chuckled, adjusting the course a few degrees port before heading onto the decks for a better look.

He'd just reached the side and was squinting into the darkness when the first orange lights appeared. Unsure what to make of it, he thought it might be some form of signal.
“First mate?”
“Yes, Cap'n?”
Before he could say any more, the shells landed in the water about three hundred yards short of the ship's side. It took a few seconds to sink in.
“Cap'n? I think we're under attack. Cap'n?”

The Captain dashed back to the bridge and quickly wrenched the wheel to port. Only modern battleships could fire shells that far, so he had no chance of outrunning it. They had to get to shallow water and hope that their displacement saved them.
“First mate, send a mayday call back to the city. They need to be informed at all costs. Tell the radio operator he may not leave his post under any circumstance until the message has been received.” He barked, setting the engines to full forward.
“Aye aye.” The first mate disappeared.

Whilst the boat slowly turned, the Captain debated waking the crew. They'd undoubtedly be awoken if they took a direct hit, but by then it would be too late. Maybe it was better to let them sleep. After all, the large container ship was a sitting duck.
The next volley landed about a hundred yards short. The next ones would make contact. The noise of the shells would probably have already awoken anyone.
The Captain looked out of the starboard windows and prayed that the radio message got through. It was unlikely that his slow ship would escape, but the knowledge that the ghosts could sail a battleship would be incredibly precious to those who remained.

Taking a chance, the Captain wrenched the wheel around to the right, starting a zig zag pattern. If they went towards the battleship on the horizon, they might overshoot the next volley, buying time. He was no warship captain, that was for sure, so it was a gamble.
The first mate returned as the orange lights of the guns firing appeared again.
“We've got about thirty seconds. Any last requests?” The Captain, laughing a little.
“The radio message got through, cap'n. We're resending it over and over to make sure, and trying to contact the beaches, and anyone else listening.”
“Excellent, good work.”

The volley did overshoot, and the Captain allowed himself a childish fist pump.
“Well, I think that's probably it. They'll have us for sure next time.” He said, pulling the wheel around. Noise behind him indicated that a few of the crew had woken up and were wondering what was going on. “Anything you want to do?”
The first mate shook his head. “I'll just stay here. Not much we can do, I suppose.”
“You could try getting a dinghy and jumping overboard. Tell the crew to do that. It's up to you.” The Captain said, keeping his eyes fixed on their opponent.

The first mate disappeared again and began shouting at the crew. His words didn't carry through the thick glass onto the bridge, so the Captain simply kept staring. The orange lights appeared at the same time as he heard the first splashes of something going over the side.
The first mate stepped back onto the bridge and shut the door.
“Well done.”
“Thank you, cap'n.”

The shells hit the midsection of the ship, in the starboard side. It was a poor shot due to the ship moving to port again, but it punched through the hull with ease and sent the ship reeling. Taking on water at an alarming rate, the bridge tried a final turn away, hoping that the enemy believed the damage fatal but they could still limp back to port.

The fifth volley destroyed the bridge and living quarters entirely and broke the hull midway. The ship sank in the subsequent nine minutes.