Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8
While steering this spaceship to the only place I could think of, only one thing is absolutely clear to me. I do not trust Rick. Not after everything that happened. Not after he arrived here with the Splerions. It is just too convenient that he was able to trick them.
But what choice do I have? Realistically? If I just wait for everything to sort itself out, my people will be dead. There isn’t any hope left, not this time. The Splerion’s force is just too strong. They’re too many.
So I transport the poison to the biggest military station we have, hoping that it’s still active. That there are still people alive.
The buildings come in sight and to my immeasurable relief, they seem intact.
A red light starts blinking.
I forgot that I’m steering a Splerion spaceship. They’ve noticed me. There’s a missile coming.
Cursing, I open a communication channel, hoping they’ll receive it.
”Splerion ship to base, Splerion ship to base! There are no Splerions on board, this is a stolen vessel. I repeat this is a stolen vessel! Please don’t shoot at me.” The milliseconds of radio silence draw out endlessly.
”Base to Splerion ship, please identify yourself using the appropriate codeword.”
Fuck. I hadn’t really paid much attention to the codebook as I didn’t expect to need it one day. It’s always the things you think are boring and useless that you end up needing. This one display of laziness might now kill me.
”Splerion ship to base”, I start one last effort to secure my survival, ”I’m from a science crew and barely passed the code exam. If you decide to blow me up, please tell Professor Moryaj that he was right and his class is important for our survival.” @suesa
I hear a chocked chuckle.
”Base to Splerion ship, you have permission to land. I doubt anybody really paid attention in that class.”
Saved by the shared dislike for higher education. That’s a story one should not tell one’s children.
I carefully land the ship and am greeted by three Mystacinidans with badges that label them as high-ranking defense officers. I salute as best as I can but they just nod.
”Tell us”, one of them says, ”how did you steal that ship? I can see that you’re not much of a fighter, so how did you do it? And what is in those barrels?”
I feel slightly offended by the remark that I’m visibly not a fighter, but I swallow my pride. This is not the right moment for it.
”I’m the scientist who just returned from earth”, I explained. ”The human that took me in his care chose to serve as a double agent and betrayed the Splerions. He made them transport a potent toxin all the way from earth to our planet. They think it’s to kill us. But it’s been designed to kill Splerions, fast and effective.”
The three officers look skeptical. I can’t blame them.
”And you’re sure he’s telling the truth?”
Now I must decide, once and for all. Do I trust Rick? Do I trust him with my life, after everything that happened?
Memories rise from the depths of my consciousness where I buried them because they made what happened just more painful. Memories of Rick carrying me into the safety of his greenhouse when he found me dying after the crash. Rick sitting next to me while I was recovering from my aspergillus infection. Rick saying farewell when I boarded the ship that should bring me home.
He always seemed so honest, so loving. Like a true friend. Did he want to betray me? Or was he forced to?
I decide to believe the second option.
”Yes”, I say. ”I think he’s telling the truth. We need to find a way to spread this toxin over the whole planet as fast as possible.”
”That’s actually not much of a problem. Let me show you the fertilization drones that were recently built for commercial use …”
The three officers show me around and I’m more than amazed. This military base isn’t just a military base, it never was. Why have a military base if you never have to fight? It’s more symbolic than anything. And that’s why it has a second use: It’s a storage unit for new agricultural machines before they’re distributed to the farmers.
The fertilization drones are one of these new machines. Loading them with the toxin is quick, the base suddenly seems to swarm with soldiers and farmers of all ranks. They take the barrels from the ship in which I arrived and split the toxin between the waiting drones.
When they finally lift off from the ground, my heart pounds so fast that it feels like my chest is going to explode. The anticipation is killing me.
A fine mist touches my face the moment the drones are being activated and start spreading the toxic through the atmosphere.
Absent-mindedly, I touch my face.
And then I scream.
My fingers feel like they’re on fire, my face feels like it’s melting. I can’t breathe. As I fall down to the ground, I can see everyone who had just worked hand in hand to load the drones fall down to the ground, gasping for air.
And dying.
I should not have trusted Rick.
Rick flips a coin into the air, catches it and checks which side it landed on. Tails. Again. But it doesn’t matter, not when he’s playing against himself. If you’re the only possible winner in a game, it’s almost boring.
He touches the tiny droplets that have formed on his spacesuit. The toxic rain ended several minutes ago but he just doesn’t feel like leaving yet. Rick’s eyes wander across the dead bodies spread out all around him. Splerions. Mystacinidans. They’re all dead. In the end, the double agent had been a triple agent.
Rick had never planned to be the one to finally bring an end to this war humanity had been dragged into but in the end, he accepted that it had to be him. Who else would that weird purple alien have trusted? Who else could have convinced the Splerions to take him along?
The spacesuit makes a small cracking noise when he finally stands up and walks back into the ship. The Splerions hadn’t stood a chance. Just as the Mystacinidans, they knew they could breathe the air on this planet. None of them had worn a spacesuit, none of them had made any precautions it seems. How naïve.
The buttons in the cockpit are familiar to Rick, he made sure that he’d be able to steer the ship once his mission would be over. Now, the moment had come, he could finally go home.
Humming an old song from his childhood, Rick first closes the spaceship’s hatch and then takes off to leave this cursed alien planet. At home, people are waiting for him to bring them the good news that they are now free, that they don’t need to serve any of those war mongering aliens anymore.
And the alien technology would catapult humanity into a new era of prosperity.
After all, he got his happy ending.
Picture taken from pixabay.com
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Great post!
Yup, thats Great!!
From my point of view Stranded and Space War series are the best so far. I count it as a whole.
I liked Rick until something more was revealed and it changed everything. But then again flaws were shown with Mystacinidans. There was really no good guy, bad guy thing. Just a fight for survival. The course of nature.
Yes! I love stories like that. Because just as in real life, there is no true right or wrong.
Exactly :) It's just a point of view.
Realistic science fiction. My analysis on the earlier post was wrong, but this is something I could really imagine truly happening.
Well written and a well deserved ending for the story. I feel bad for both of the alien races, even though I know they should have guessed this might be coming for them.
They probably didn't expect this level of evil from an undeveloped race like that. Their mistake, they won't be able to do it again.
Damn. I thought it was your happy ending! Awesome twist there. It was a great read. One that I will reread now that I have all the parts :)
Great ending!
I didn't expect it. I was just looking to see which one of the two alien kinds would fail. But, this was something else :D
Do you expect to make any sequel in the future?
Just asking because I believe that there are still Splerions around. Specially on their home planet.
It would be their revenge time :)
Thanks for sharing!
Yeah I have some ideas for a sequel but will give it some time :)
Awesome!
Yes, of course. It makes sense to give it a rest for now.
Looking forward to it :)
Wow... this is so realistic. You've taken me on a scifi journey, this is a fantastic end to the series, am truly going to miss the characters; am sure your already on something better to share with us, thanks for sharing!
Great post!
+upvote
Good
Damn thats too much to read....
Some people print everything out or even put it on their kindle :D
Ya i know i was just saying is alot to read
It is :D it was a lot to write too
Definitely worth an upvote and a resteem :)
Do you know how disappointing it is to see a new comment and then it's this, something copy&pasted with absolutely no meaning? No relation to the post?
Thanks for share Final Part
Your idea caught my mind. I gave you more encouragement to publish such ideas and invite you to vote in my view.
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