The weapon was not responding.
Khoth slammed the butt of the draagves into the sensor. It didn’t even crack or chip. The door remained closed. There was a ting from the cockpit. Khoth’s head snapped towards it. The screen flickered and changed to show him the desert that surrounded the town of Sunrise.
They wanted me to see something. They wanted me to see this.
Something punched through the sand. It glittered as it rose up into the air.
“What is that?” Jack asked as he circled the town once more. “Fuck it. I’m taking it out.”
“No, do not!” Khoth cried.
His statement was illogical. His ship had been turned against him by some unknown technology that was keeping him here to witness a massacre. This thing that had risen from the sand was unknown technology. So why was he urging Jack not to take it out? He didn’t know and that should have caused him to question his sanity. But he was certain nonetheless.
Like Daesah...
“What is that? Goddamnit, Voor, what is that? My son is down there and--”
“I do not know,” Khoth whispered.
Daesah, have I lost my mind?
The glittering thing streaked towards the center of town, towards him, towards the house. It then stopped and hovered at the same level as the Exarch. The thing was cylindrical in shape until it unfurled its petals. A golden glow began in the very center of it. The glow grew so bright that Khoth had to hold up his right arm to shield his eyes. There was a high, singing sound that pierced to Khoth’s bones and then… then the light dimmed though it did not go away. He blinked to clear his vision.
The Khul…
… all of the Khul…
… were dead.
Khoth felt hot air blast him from the now open door of the Exarch. The door to the house that the Khul had been surrounded opened, or more like toppled over, and a human stepped out. He was swaying and there was blood dripping from his nose, eyes, and ears. He was staring up at the something that still glittered and glowed. He reached a hand up and the cylinder’s “petals” retracted and hid the golden glow.
They wanted me to see this. To see him…
“My God, they’re all dead! It’s like a carpet of Khul! Is that my--my son?” Jack asked.
Without further thought, Khoth stepped out of the open door and landed on the ground with the exo-suit taking the brunt of it. He landed in a crouch and slowly got up. Without pause, he jogged towards the young man who was standing there, swaying, with his hand still raised upwards to the cylinder that glittered and slowly turned.
More humans were gathered in the doorway behind the young man. They were staring out at the devastation with huge, shocked eyes and open mouths. They would not forget this. But then they saw him and they retreated with murmured cries.
The young man turned towards Khoth. His eyes, bloodshot and filled with unbearable pain, widened too. But not in fear. In fact, for a moment, there was awe in them and a smile played over his mouth. But then he grimaced and his hands went to his temples as he swayed a final time and nearly collapsed on the ground.
But Khoth caught him. The young man was terribly light in his arms. Those lips parted.
The young man rasped, “Gehenna. Get me to Gehenna.”
Alien Blue
Jace felt like he was in dark water. But whenever he came to the surface, towards the light, blinding pain would fill him and he would dive down again for the safety of the dark. In those moments, he started to “surface” he would hear voices. They were indistinct and blurry at first, but then the voices would sharpen and he would be able to identify the speaker and what they were saying. The first time he surfaced, he heard his mother and father talking to one another about him.
“... is he? What happened?” his mother asked. Her normally calm voice, full of confidence and judgment, was uncertain and frightened.
“Sami says that Jace did it,” his father answered.
“Did what?” His mother’s voice was strained.
“Killed all of those Khul. Called that--that cylinder from the ship,” his father explained. “Same said he was talking to an AI.”
“Artificial intelligence?” His mother’s tone was filled with a mixture of awe and fear.
