"W-what do you mean, kill us?" Himiko stuttered, brows furrowed.
"It… showed… us." It croaked, eyes full of rage, piercing Himiko's soul.
She shuddered.
Mrs Isamu crouched down, nudging Himiko out of the way, gently. "Who are you talking about? Showed you what?"
"Ultrua'is… showed us… fu-ture."
Ultrua'is… BB mentioned that name after the void.
Mrs Isamu's brows lowered, as if the words it said went straight through her, "What are you—?"
Suddenly, the capital ship let out a low metallic groan that instantly hushed everyone into silence. The floorboards beneath the ashy carpet vibrated beneath their feet. Rubble trickled down from the ceiling, scattering across the floor like a clump of snow crashing on ice. The general remained quiet. Its eyes were relaxed as if it understood what the call meant.
"What the hell was that?" Kaoru yelled first.
But no one else responded instantly. Instead, everyone stood dead still, scanning the area.
Himiko peeked through the shattered window, and as if on cue, the radio crackled into life. Aiko's voice cut through the static, "Erm… Guys… I think the big guy's on the move."
"What? 'Big guy'? What are you talking about, Aiko?" Himiko inquired into the radio.
"The big ship. You know, the one with the big laser gun. It looks like it's leaving."
Slowly pulling the radio away from her face, Himiko looked up at Mrs Isamu, then Kaoru. Her mind was like a cauldron swirling with emotions of fear, excitement, and anger.
Mrs Isamu gazed at her with uncertainty in her narrow eyes.
"Stay with him," Himiko said as she stepped towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Mrs Isamu asked in a deep voice.
"I'm gonna go check what Aiko was talking about."
"Ok, be careful, Himiko."
She nodded, pacing her way to the door.
Feet pounding against the vintage floral carpet, Himiko darted into the room across the corridor. The cold breeze hit her face the moment she passed through the empty door frame. Small flames lit up the edges of the wall where the beam struck.
Himiko took careful steps as she navigated through the debris on the floor. The hole now loomed in front of her.
The view she had of the city was breathtaking, for all the wrong reasons. Pillars of smoke bloomed up into the clouds, highlighted by roaring flames that consumed the towers. Destroyers and cruisers hung above the city line. The ship lights illuminated the night like fairy lights in the sky. Fighters, reminiscent of shooting stars, danced between the clouds.
And the capital ship—
Rose above them all, slicing through the clouds.
"It's retreating."
I mumbled to myself as I hovered in the air, gazing upon the drifting carcass. But something lingered deep within me.
Is this really the end?
Carving a bright red arc in the sky, Tom glided over to me, gripping my shoulder forcefully, "Oi, lad, get moving, we're not done yet."
"We might be," I said, pointing up to the clouds.
He followed my finger upwards.
"Whoa, what the fuck?"
"It's leaving."
"Well, if he can't handle the smoke, that's fine. We'll handle the re—"
"I'm going after it."
Tom froze.
He opened his mouth.
Closed it.
He placed his clenched fist over his mouth.
Then lowered it as he turned to me.
"Are you mad?"
Not taking my eyes off the ship, I responded bluntly, "What if they regroup and come back again?"
"Then we'll stop them."
"And they'll come back." I locked eyes with him, "Again and again and again. Look at the city, how long do you reckon it can last before they destroy everything? God knows what the rest of the planet looks like."
Tom parted his lips, but words failed to come out.
I didn't wait for a response; I drifted upwards.
Tom yanked my arm, "Wait—wait. Hold on a minute. Are you sure about this—"
"Yes—"
"You have no idea where you're even goin'. How are you even gonna get back?"
"I'll just wing it like we've been doing already."
"Gettin' stranded in the middle of nowhere is a bit different, lad."
"Look, I have a feeling that god isn't just gonna let us get lost—"
"Eh?"
"Look. The ship's gonna leave—it's now or never. Do you really want this war to last forever?"
Tom struggled to muster up a response. He swallowed. Then snorted, "Go on, our kid. Make sure they don't come back." He held out a hand in front of him.
I couldn't stop the smile from curling on my lips. I took his hand, gripping it firmly. Tom grinned in response. "I'll only be in and out," I said before shooting up towards the ship. I looked back for a moment.
Tom was still watching.
Suddenly, I felt a heavy wave of heat from above. I looked up.
OH SHIT.
Giant flames burst out from the capital ship's jet engines. I had managed to drift right up close to one of them.
I shifted my weight and dashed around the flame.
Engines crackled from behind—distant.
Fighters.
I pushed on towards the base of the engine. I can't let them see me trying to board the ship—they'll call off the retreat, and we'll keep fighting, and fighting. Up ahead, I saw a small crevice in the hull, torn from the battle. I hid myself in it and waited.
The jets zoomed by, wobbling on the past, limping into a large hole in the side of the ship. Presumably a hangar bay. What's going on?
Low rumbles closed in from below.
Two destroyers and one large cruiser rushed their way up, lining up beside the capital ship. They're leaving too? How big is this retreat? I looked down. There were still plenty of ships left behind. The red ribbon of Tom sliced through, lighting fireworks down below. The war was very much still on.
The air suddenly became thicker.
Shit. Now or never.
I slipped out of the crevice. As I scaled the side of the ship, scanning for an entrance, I noticed a hole below a turret. Perfect. I launched myself in, and just like it waited for me, the ship sealed up the hole.
I rose to my feet.
The room was burnt black. It was hard to tell what it looked like before. A large metal cylinder protruded from the ceiling, heavily bent and mangled. It must've been the turret bay.
The door out of the room stood badly damaged and barely hanging on. I so badly wanted to kick it down. But I needed to keep quiet. So instead, I gently lifted the door from its hinges and slowly set it down against the wall beside it.
The corridor beyond was dark except for intermittent crimson strobes rotating somewhere deeper in the structure. I slipped past the empty door frame. Each flash illuminated a different fragment of destruction: collapsed support beams, hanging cables thick as tree roots, sections of wall peeled open to reveal dense forests of conduits and coolant pipes. The air tasted metallic. Every surface sweated with condensation that instantly froze along the floor grates.
The interior wasn't sleek like I'd imagined. There were no smooth, silver walls. Nor elegant glowing panels. Thick iron bulkheads ribbed the walls like a massive bunker. Massive hydraulic doors sat embedded every fifty meters with warning sigils stamped into the metal. Exposed machinery thundered behind the walls in uneven rhythms, as though the wounded ship still struggled to keep its organs functioning.
Below my feet, something deep within groaned.
The sound rolled through the decks again—low, strained, almost whale-like—followed by a vibration that travelled up through my legs. Then silence returned except for the distant scream of ruptured steam lines.
Emergency lights flickered weakly up ahead, revealing large corridors that extended for miles.
My eyes narrowed. There was something in the distance. Something slumped against the wall, unmoving. Like a corpse of some kind
As I approached, my hair stood on end. The red glow of the warning lights flashed onto it. No doubt it was an alien corpse, the armour gave it away: heavily segmented, resembling dark ceramic wrapped around thick pressure suits.
My eyes avoided it.
Suddenly, stomping echoed in the distance. It sounded like three—no, way more—coming from the corridor to my right.
In haste, I ducked behind a damaged pillar, uncloaking the purple veil around me so the light didn't give me away.
The soldiers sprinted by as one, the one up front yelled words that were unrecognisable.
As the clamping of boots faded, I peeked out. In front was a crossroads. I could go right, where the aliens came from; left, to where they went. Or straight ahead, where I noticed a large door in the distance, just barely lit by the dim emergency lights.
Switching back into purple, slipped out from behind the pillar.
The corridor narrowed as I descended deeper, the walls changing from armoured military plating to something older and heavier. The metal here was darker, almost charcoal-black, covered in vertical grooves that disappeared into shadow above me. Emergency lights pulsed slowly behind protective cages, washing the passage in alternating red and darkness. Every few seconds, the ship groaned around me, the sound carrying through the floor like distant thunder trapped inside steel.
As I approached the door, I noticed it was slightly ajar. To the right of it was a sign, but it was written in shapes that I'd never seen before. Cold breeze leaked in through the gap in the door. Behind, I could hear the sound of steam engines and heavy metal plates shifting.
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I moved my trembling hand towards the door. I gripped the cold metal plating, digging my fingers deep into it, tickling the circuitry that lay beneath.
I tugged.
The door groaned, bending as I pulled.
It didn't take as much effort as I thought it would, given the size.
The breeze felt heavier now. The smell of chemicals leaked through, too, sour and wrong.
I placed one foot forward, then another, carefully lowering each to the ground.
My heart beat out of my chest.
What monstrosities would I find ahead?
Then the chamber unfolded around me piece by piece as emergency illumination flickered somewhere far below.
It was enormous.
I slowly stepped onto one of the observation platforms; the railing overlooked the chamber's impossible depth.
The room descended straight downward through the ship like a vertical abyss, so deep I couldn't immediately see the bottom. Massive circular platforms ringed the outer walls at different levels, connected by narrow bridges and industrial lift systems. Observation decks protruded from the walls like execution balconies, each lined with dead consoles and shattered glass displays. Thick support columns disappeared downward into darkness while gigantic pipes ran vertically beside them, carrying fluids that glowed faint blue beneath layers of frost.
And filling the centre of the chamber were rows upon rows of transparent containment cylinders.
Hundreds of them.
Maybe thousands.
Each chamber stood upright in vertical stacks, extending down into the depths below, connected by thick black tubing and mechanical infrastructure. Pale vapour drifted inside the glass. Dim lights blinked weakly beneath each pod like fading heart monitors.
Inside them floated…
No
I've seen them before.
I moved closer, dreading the thought.
Their bodies were massive, nine or so feet tall. Their bodies were broad and dense with heavy musculature wrapped beneath greyish skin that looked almost synthetic under the cold lighting. Four arms folded against their torsos, ending in thick, clawed hands. Their heads were elongated back with varying amounts of horns, and four eyes that stared forward lifelessly, mouths hidden beneath breathing masks. Their lungs expanded as the oxygen pumped into them through black tubes flowing from the top of the cylinder.
The whole chamber hummed with the synchronised rhythm of breathing apparatuses.
Hssss. Click.
Hssss. Click.
The sound echoed endlessly through the vertical abyss.
My stomach curled. I held my mouth to stop myself from vomiting.
This… just… isn't right.
Walking along the platform, I noticed one of the holding chambers didn't look right. The glass was shattered and scattered along the platform. As I approached, I realised that it wasn't lit up the same way the others were. Inside, the creature was limp—slumped over lifelessly at the bottom of the chamber now that the liquid had left it. I reached over and poked its leathery skin with my finger. Nothing. Its eyes—partially open—didn't even twitch; they just stared, glassy. Its mask remained on, but I could hear no his coming from the machine, now dead.
"So without these machines, they're dead," I mumbled to myself.
With a long exhale from my nose, I continued analysing the others.
To the right of each holding cell, there was a console with buttons—each containing words and letters I couldn't understand. There was also a green heart rate monitor on a dark glass screen at the top. As I passed them, the heart rate monitors fluctuated; some were off entirely, and a deep red line didn't move.
I felt sick. Was this what they wanted to do to us? Turn us into mindless slaves? Or were they just going to kill us, because we can only grow two arms?
Mind overflowing from this shockwave of information, I pressed my head against the glass, hammering my fist on it gently.
Within seconds, alarms sounded. The lights switched off, now replaced by blaring red rotating lights.
"What the hell?"
Boots clamped against the ground in the distance.
Alien soldiers flooded in, encased in thick, black metal plating. They wielded batons flowing with golden currents of electricity.
I lunged forward, dancing between their strikes. I disarmed their attack with gentle strikes—a mere flick of the wrist here, a tender palm to the core. Their armour crumbled regardless.
I leapt up onto one's shoulders—bounced off. The soldier slammed into the platform floor.
I grabbed the collar of another and threw it into the platform above.
There were more platforms above. Ramming through the soldier, feet first, the platforms shattered one by one until I reached the ceiling.
The soldier bounced off the chamber's roof, tumbling back down to the top platform.
Scanning side to side, there were two exits—right and left.
CRASH!
Soldiers breached the door to the right. No choice now; left it is.
I charged full force through the metal bulkhead.
It splintered into small pieces. Scattering across the gridded floor.
But as I stopped against the floor, I heard something thud in front of me.
An alien had fallen down to the floor, now crawling backwards carefully.
This alien wasn't clad in armour like the others. Instead, it wore a baggy, dark grey button-up uniform, bearing a stark geometric sigil composed of sharp golden lines radiating from a central circle, resembling both a crown and a weapon aimed skyward, along with black trousers and black boots. There were no guns on hand. Its head was exposed. It had vibrant turquoise skin and eyes that looked like a painter had thrown orange and green paint on a bright blue canvas. Yet there was a distinct lack of pupils in their eyes, which made them look unnatural. On top of its head were tendril-like appendages that flowed like hair underwater. Black flower-like marks swept across either side of its forehead, just above its brows, surrounded by a light dusting of black spots.
It was…
Afraid…
Of me.
"You're…"
The alien shuffled back, breathing heavily. Its triangular-shaped mouth was gaping wide.
Raising my hand carefully, I took a step forward, but I was interrupted by the sound of stomping coming from around the chamber behind.
"Dammit." I groaned as I darted up ahead. Looking back, I noticed that some guards crouched down beside the alien I spooked.
I kept out of my mind—looked forward.
They made the Hive…
They invaded Earth…
They've killed…
I grit my teeth.
At the end of the corridor, a glass door drew closer. I slowed to a halt. It was cylindrical in shape and crystal clear. Behind it was an empty space with another curved wall on the other side. It must've been an elevator; the shaft reached into the shadows above and below.
Maybe that was my ticket to the command centre.
There were two buttons on the side, one with an arrow pointing up, the other pointing down. It's just like Earth. I pressed the one pointing up.
More soldiers came storming in from behind.
Come on, can this elevator get here already?
Just in time, I heard the groan of the elevator arriving on the floor. Shortly after, the door hissed open.
Yes!
Then I heard the thudding of boots.
I swung my head behind. More soldiers stormed out of the elevator platform. I was now surrounded at all sides, guns pointed at me.
I stood tall, fists clenched.
Guns trembled from behind.
I have no choice…
I must fight them.
Suddenly, a voice blares from a speaker, croaking alien tones. Within an instant, chairs shoot out of the walls with seatbelts and breathing apparatuses.
The soldiers look at each other and dart off, each filling a seat and scrambling to buckle the seatbelts.
"What the hell's going on?!"
No one responded, or even gave the slightest hint of recognition. They moved in autopilot, croaking to each other as they buckled their seatbelts. Due to the helmets, they left the breathing masks dangling.
The voice had been croaking single words in succession. Like it was counting down for something. After five, my ears began to deafen, as if I were sitting in an aeroplane lifting off. Then, after seven, I felt light. My feet began slowly levitating upwards off the ground. My stomach tied up into a knot.
This can't be good.
I guided myself towards the wall, plunging my fist into the metal plating.
After the tenth croak, the walls began folding in on themselves, the corridors meandered impossibly.
I felt a million trains ramming into me from all directions.
The contents of my guts were wrung out of me.
I was pushed and pulled back, screaming as my muscles felt as though they were about to tear.
The alien soldiers stared at me through their blacked-out glass masks.
I bet they hope this killed me.
The world around me swirled, making it impossible to tell the shapes around me apart. Sound lagged and jittered like a fax machine.
After what felt like a millennium of head pounding and muscle fibre-tearing pain, they came to an instant stop. I crashed down to the grated floor.
Not wasting a second, the soldiers unbuckled their seat belts, grabbed their weapons and surrounded me, still slumped on the ground, face down.
I grumbled.
"Give me a break."
No response.
It seemed there was nothing more I could do. It's like I was their sworn enemy. What could I have even possibly done for them to seek my death so adamantly?
Without the move of a muscle, I levitated upwards. My arms dangled.
Their guns tracked me as I rose, trembling. Their stances widened. Feet planted firmly on the floor.
Slowly, I placed myself back down on my feet.
"Move."
I flicked my wrist in the direction behind me.
The soldiers flew off their feet. Tumbling across the floor. Their weapons pinged against the metal ground.
The rest opened fire.
The bullets tingled—creating ripples in my aura.
I ignored them.
Stepped towards the elevator doors. The soldiers guarding it stumbled back, the glass doors stopping them. Their knees buckled.
"Move."
They didn't muster a response. It was clear they didn't understand.
"MOVE!"
This time, they understood—they scrambled out of the way.
The elevator doors opened, as if inviting me in. A single control panel stood alone on the platform. I couldn't understand where any of the buttons led. However, from what I remember, the control tower sat at the very top of the ship, and what caught my attention was a single button that rose above the rest.
I pressed it.
The door hissed behind me.
I turned around.
The alien soldiers watched, weapons lowered in defeat. Slowly, the platform rose, leaving the wallowing soldiers to submerge out of sight.
Lights leading up to the top passed one by one. Metal conduits appeared, then disappeared behind the rising platform. Pristine, white doors approached from above, far more inviting than the other bulkheads that made up the rest of the ship so far. The platform slowed to a stop as it came level with the door.
Clicks and groans came from within the walls beside the door, and it glided open smoothly.
Light cut through, so blinding that I had to shield my violet eyes with my hand.
Sound came before the light faded. He heard the tapping of keys and numerous croaky voices of different frequencies—some low, some high.
I placed one foot forward.
The room faded in around me.
Chair wheels whistled as they flew backwards. Aliens rose to their feet in an instant. None wore helmets or protective armour. Their faces were clear to see. Their mouths quivered, their vibrant eyes widened.
I finally reached it.
The command centre.
I didn't pay it any mind. Not the steel walkways that crisscrossed beneath cold blue lighting. The polished surfaces reflecting the glow of dozens of holographic displays suspended in the air. Or even the massive translucent sphere, burning with shades of amber and crimson, that rotated slowly above a circular platform.
No.
The planet had my full attention.
The ginormous sphere glowed with a fluorescent violet atmosphere. The planet lacked Earth's large oceans, just numerous lakes and large rivers, all reflecting the same colour. The soil was gone. Instead, it was replaced by blacks and greys as far as the eye can see, lit up streaks of vibrant hues, forming intricate shapes across the cityscapes.
Black angular shapes moved in and out and across the atmosphere. Orbiting the planet in groups of thousands.
Drifting above orbit was a giant structure. It imposed militaristic authority. Three immense rings of dark metal rotated slowly atop one another, separated by vast gaps that exposed the gigantic central cylinder running through them. The cylinder descended endlessly toward the planet below like a spear driven through the world's heart, tethering the station directly to the surface.
Hexagonal bands of pale light pulsed around its base in perfect intervals, stretching outward across the surface like circuitry. Streams of ships moved constantly between the rings—destroyers, carriers, freight vessels—flowing through the structure like blood through an artery.
That must be it.
The backbone of their military.
I need to destroy that.