Rise of Aen (33 page)

Tears welled up in the corners of Maria’s eyes as the words from Sara seemed to be exactly what she needed to hear. Without words, she hugged Sara tightly and cried. She was safe here and for now she knew there was people here that cared and would make sure her kids were
safe.

—

Emily Phillips was in shock—not from the fact that she had been whisked away to the other side of the planet and up a mountain to a monastery that modern life had forgotten about, but the fact that one of the first faces she saw was that of the daughter of the man whose life she had a part in stealing. As her weary father pushed the wheelchair past the gates and following the Asian monk to where they would be staying, her eyes fell upon Sara Foster and the woman returned her gaze. A brief panic gripped her heart as she silently wondered how much this girl knew. Emily knew she was a reporter and had been obsessed with digging for the truth about her father’s
disappearance.

But the girl just smiled in response to the Major’s curious stare and Emily relaxed, lowering her gaze. Fatigue began to catch up with her and she longed to find a bed of some sort to sleep off the jet lag and wear from the trip up the mountain, her body still mending from the damage of the day Subject 54
awoke.

There would be time to pick the mind of the young Foster girl to why she was here amongst the best minds and elite of the world in probably the one true safe place on the planet. It was her training that had pushed through the fog of weariness to notice the well-hidden but strategically placed generators just inside both doors of the enormous gate. She had been brought to a fortress, one disguised as a simple monastery. Although she knew that the truth would come out soon about her involvement with the Foster girl’s father and his demise, she knew that here was as safe as she would get and that alone would help her sleep, at least for one night for
once.

Mars Orbit, Sol System - Fifteen Days until Arrival

The gigantic ship passed by Mars, creating a massive shadow on the surface of the red planet as it did. Using the gravity of the dead and dusty red rock, it thrust itself towards its final destination: Earth. Once clear of obstructions, a structure extended from the nose of the ship and spewed metallic globes—projectiles that rocketed ahead, towards its
target.

True to what was known about the Husk, they had done their research on the human world and noticed a glaring weakness that they intended to exploit. The Harvesters had launched their opening salvo that would soften the Earth up for when they arrived. In just over a week, Terra Sol and its inhabitants would have their first taste of the power of the Husk, and soon after they would arrive to take what they
wanted.

Groom Lake Military Installation –
Code Named Area 51, Nevada - Fourteen Days until Arrival

He watched the feed as it tracked the new contacts at a speed far greater than the ship that launched them. Patterson read the reports on these globes; about the size of a compact car each; they were more than likely not probes as they numbered in the thousands as they blazed through the darkness to reach the
Earth.

The old general had done his homework too and knew as much as he could about his alien adversaries and their tendencies. He knew that the planet was over dependant on technology and the enemy would use this weakness to the fullest—this action proved that hunch. This was an EMP weapon of some sort, an attempt to severely cripple the human forces before the all-out invasion took place, to better limit any unnecessary losses on their part. A perfect strategy, if only Patterson wasn’t ready for
it.

“What is the ETA of the objects? I need to know when they are a few miles from the Earth,” he
barked.

“ETA is six days, fourteen hours, give or take a few hours,” one of the privates manning the computers
replied.

“Well, get me an exact time and get the word out to all the assets to get someone standing beside the power switch. When these things get here we gotta turn the fucking lights out before these things turn them out for good. Because if they hit us with that EMP and we aren’t ready, we are done before we
start!”

Himalayan Mountains, Mount Kailash, Tibet -
Eleven Days until Arrival

Aen sat on a rock ledge a few hundred meters above the hidden encampment, quietly contemplating what was yet to come. He was tired—his mind still struggled to cope with what he had become and he was emotionally exhausted after exacting his revenge. There had been no time for reflection, no time to heal his tattered soul. But here he found some quiet time to reflect a little on what had transpired; here the beauty of the mountains soothed him for the moment as dawn broke over the range and cast deep shadows on the
valley.

Below, he could sense a bit of activity, as the sounds of voices and shuffling feet drifted up to him. He sought to ignore it; he wanted so badly to be left alone even though he knew he should help them. Pausing for a moment to bask in the warm glow of the rising sun, Aen climbed to his feet and slowly made his way down to the compound
below.

It was a little known path, overgrown with wild grass and brush. Carefully Aen pushed through the vegetation and, after some time, came out into a clearing near the camp entrance. From here, he could see the people scurrying about, most heading to the center of the village which he knew held the temple. Joining the crowd, Aen walked at a slower pace to better hide in the crowd. On and on he followed them, until the surrounding buildings cleared and gave rise to the old structure of the Temple of Light. Voices inside spilled out to the walkway, obviously an important meeting of some sort. Quietly, Aen edged inside and stealthily climbed the oak stairs to the second floor, which was unoccupied save for two women—Sara and Krista. Sticking to the shadows to stay unseen, he crouched and began to listen to the grand
debate.

“It all broke loose this morning!” a man shouted at Nyun. “Our government finally told us to brace for hostility; the world is chaotic and you expect us to remain here and do
nothing?”

“We have family and friends out there!” another man chimed in. “What about
them?”

“Can’t we tell them where we are?” a woman pleaded, “Can’t we show them the way to
safety?”

“I understand your concerns for others as my heart aches for them as well. It is a hard decision, but the village is taxed past its occupational limit as it is. Any more people and the shields won’t be able to mask the heat signatures.” Nyun responded nervously; sensing the crowd about to turn on the
monks.

“And all this is on your word only?” a military woman shouted. She was bruised and in a wheelchair; obviously she had been through the ringer. As she turned back to the crowd, Aen recognized her immediately and smiled to himself; the last person he expected to see here was Major Emily Phillips. “What if we took this place by force and made our own rules?” the soldier
continued.

“There would be no force needed, we would simply allow you to do as you wished. But we would leave you to your own devices, and with us we would take all that protects you from the Husk.” Nyun
replied.

“What is wrong with you people?” yelled Sara from just a few feet from Aen. “These people have offered us sanctuary and you threaten them? This is why we face destruction, we are stupid and
arrogant!”

“Shut up little girl!” the crippled woman shot back, unwilling to take any insults from
anyone.

“No, I won’t!” she spat back. “You fuckers sat on this as they came for us, and now you want to steal the roof of our heads? Assholes like you were the cause of all this! People like you are the ones that killed my dad for the greater good to suit your needs!” she was seething mad and letting loose years of frustration. But it was having an effect; some of the crowd began to calm
down.

“Are you insane?” the soldier hollered back. “What the fuck are you talking
about?”

The conversation was heating up, and Sara was intent in fuelling it more. Rising from her spot on the balcony, she strode past the hidden Aen and darted down the steps to confront the main agitator of the group. The crowd parted for her, and she marched right up to go face to face with the soldier intent on taking
charge.

“If you are here,” she began, her voice still raised, even from a distance, “Then obviously you are someone important, and someone important would know about black ops projects. Ever hear of a project in the Colorado Mountains? Do the words ‘Subject 54’ ring any
bells?”

This caused a stir in both the soldier below and Aen from his vantage point. He hadn’t realized how deep her research had dug before it had been halted. This new development caused him to shift forward, making the floorboards creak, giving away his presence—the sound was slight, but loud enough to be heard by Krista, who was still seated a few feet away. She turned to see what had caused it, then gasped at the sight of the eerie blue glow from his eyes that stared below. She could make out most of the features of his face, but the fear of discovering this lurking creature made her scurry down the bench to put more distance between them. Aen saw this from the periphery of his vision, but he was far to engrossed with the argument that continued
below.

“Anything like that is beyond classified, young lady,” Phillips shot
back.

“There is no classified anymore, you asshole,” she screamed, pointing to the sky. “They changed everything! In a few days your fucking government—your precious military—whole fucking countries won’t exist! They aren’t here to make friends and kiss our asses; they are here to conquer and enslave us! Don’t give me that classified bullshit and answer my fucking
question!”

Major Phillips was stunned, though her reddening face showed her anger was about to get the best of her soon. Murmurs rolled through the gathering as all eyes fixated on her, awaiting a
response.

“What do you know of ‘54’ besides a name?” Emily’s voice was laced with venomous hate. “The details of that project are so far beyond you child that I couldn’t begin to make you understand
them.”

Before she could respond, a voice from above took everyone off guard. “Then try me, because I have a great understanding of it.” Aen could take no more of the Major’s blatant denial of the subject and sought to intercede before she struck out physically at Sara. Slowly emerging from the darkness, he stood tall and jumped effortlessly down to the floor
below.

Emily froze; she had hoped to never see 54 ever again, but here he was and he was interrupting her with an argument with his own daughter. Did he remember her? Did he remember his daughter who was now right beside him? She felt her body be squeezed slightly as her body was lifted up from the wheelchair she was bound to. Aen was about to prove a point with her and Emily hoped she would survive it. Everyone, including Sara and Krista, gasped at this show of power, but Aen approached his prey without noticing the terror he was
creating.

“Tell me of these details, these far reaching possibilities,” Aen continued walking slowly towards Phillips, his stature causing the soldier to recoil slightly. “Because I am anxious to hear someone truly explain what you sought to gain by torturing innocent
people.”

“And what do you know of this project?” The question was an attempt to sidetrack the attention levied upon him all of the sudden. “There aren’t many people out there with knowledge of this and they won’t talk about
it.”

“There are even less than you think, after I was done with them.” Aen said with an evil smile, his eyes locked onto his adversary’s. “Your precious installation in the mountains is all but gutted, her data and samples wiped out. Your research team is either dead or too scared to speak to anyone about it. And the hangar in the desert, the one with the Lyarran ship in it, has been reduced to rubble that covers the carcasses of soldiers pitted against me. I believe your precious Dr. Frankenstein is under there
too.”

“Why?” Emily asked in shock and fear. “Why would you do that? There was so much knowledge, so much to learn from all we’d
done.”

Aen was now right in front of her, glaring down into the fearful eyes of the lifelong soldier. “Why was I stolen from those I loved, tortured and changed? Why do I stand before you as the greatest failure of any experiment in human history, yet remain power incarnate? It was arrogance such as yours that allowed you to play god with forces you couldn’t understand, and it is arrogance like yours that threatens to destroy the best of intentions
here.”

“These monks didn’t have to invite any of you here. They could have let every one of you die, let the brightest minds and the valuable works of mankind disappear in the fires of reckoning. With your need to be in charge, you have almost undone that which had been planned for a thousand years—the safety of all these innocents jeopardized by your stupidity! And out of kindness, these men of the cloth have offered to leave this place to you and your delusions of ultimate power. Look around you—the sun is setting on the world you know, and the dawn of a new one rests on what we do
next.”

Silence followed his words; all in attendance struggled to digest what had been thrown at them. The officer just hung there, as if slapped in the face and unsure of how to respond. Aen backed down and lowered Phillips gently to her chair once more, turning away to face Sara. He nodded to her before making his way through the crowd to the doors. He felt the heaviness of the room, the energy drained from the people of this simple haven. He knew that Phillips would never be the same, he had broken her will as much as her
body.

“So now what?” Sara called out from behind. Aen stopped at the door and swung around
slowly.