Redemption: Annihilation

All the delegates including myself just stood motionless trying to comprehend what we had just heard. Cameron stood up “What do you mean kill us? Where are you getting this information”? Robertino sighed deeply and sat back down “I overheard them planning it.” After few minutes of silence I grew impatient “Well c’mon Robby, don’t leave us in suspense, what the hell did you over hear”? Robby just sat back with a sly smirk on his face “You know I can’t believe our ignorance. For twelve years we’ve just sat back and watched these bastards suck our planet dry. It never occurred to us, that when they were done with Earth- what was to become of us. Now there gonna move on and toss us aside like yesterday’s shit, there really gonna do it”. “Do what!” I shouted. “Destroy us, destroy every last human being on these goddamn stations!” he shouted back. The room was again silent and I stood there with a fire burning inside me. What I feared for years was actually going to take place. For twelve years I had diluted myself into thinking that I had it all. That guilt that plagued me was overshadowed and galvanized by the fear that I felt now. I had betrayed and participated in the senseless slaughter of over five and a half billion people, and all for what? My eyes took on a glassy complexion as I stared blankly into oblivion. My sullen state was broken by Robertino, he again stood up “The resource stations have reached their full capacity and that means only one thing, the planet has been completely depleted. Earth is now a dead planet. At hearing this I chuckled slightly “Is now a dead planet, now being the operative word. Like it wasn’t dead twelve years ago when we sold our fucking souls to a bunch of ten foot roaches, and for what! That damn rock down there was once a vital active place. Mankind’s entire history: wars, events, great minds, inventions, milestones, all of it was shoveled into a grave the day we made a deal to sell our own kind out!” President Stanley slowly stood up “Please Dr. Alvarado getting hysterical isn’t going to solve anything. We need more conformation to verify this is true.” Cameron jerked his head to the side and spit “Yeah, I mean we have been here for twelve years. Why would the Nefarians decide now to get rid of us now? Besides if we die than who will mine their Derthum for them?” At that I looked at Cameron and grabbed him by his collar “When will you ignorant shit heads open your eyes! What do you think their plan was all along. Make us an offer we couldn’t refuse, grant our petty little wishes, use us to mine their operation, and when they were through they would kill us! Sounds like a good plan to me” I released Cameron.

Stanley just sighed “Alright suppose your right. How do they plan on killing all of us, and furthermore what could we possibly do to stop it”? I spoke up “We have the Pluritium”. Cameron slammed his fist on the table “What do you expect us to do with something that hardly puts these things to sleep”? I whirled around and shouted right back in Cameron’s face “Well goddamnit it’s something! I mean …” at that I stopped in my tracks, there standing by the entranceway stood Satan himself. The razor sharp metal claws of the creature glistened in a reflective splendor. The Nefarian just stood there, ominous and frightening. “Well speak of the devil” I said defiantly. Without fear I strode up to the creature and got right in it’s reptilian face “If you don’t mind were trying to conduct a meeting”. The Nefarian let out a vibrant growl “We don’t care about your insignificant meetings. The Derthum must be in triple quantity for the next two solar weeks, get your people working!” I smiled “Oh yes massa, whateva yuze says massa. Any particular reason you want the amounts tripled”? The sheen of the creature’s armor was almost blinding. He arrogantly looked down at me “We don’t need to explain ourselves to you human, you will do as you are ordered”! What happened next earned me the “Balls of Steel” golden award. I firmly patted the side of the Nefarian’s face “Or what”. This seemed to enrage him and he pulled his arm back as if to strike me. I quickly pulled out a small vile filled with fluid and held it up. He stopped at the sight of this and froze. I nonchalantly flicked the vile in the air and caught it “Oh what’s the matter Nefarian, scared of lil old tube? Or maybe it’s what’s in this tube that scares you. Yeah that’s it, what could this be? I’ll give you three guesses, the first two don’t count.” “You don’t frighten me human, if that’s your so called Pluritium, it affects us to no avail” the creature growled. A wide grin crossed my face as I somewhat enjoyed taunting this creature “Oh really, well how about the super duper, mega enhanced version? Guaranteed to take down any Nefarian within five seconds flat. You see this new version condenses into a gas as soon as it is exposed to air, so all I have to do is smash this little vile and poof: a dead Nefarian.” The armored reptilian just stood there unsure about whether to move. This prompted me to tempt him further “I can see we have a doubting customer, lets see what happens”. I drop the vile, the Nefarian flinches in apprehension and I catch it just a second before it hit’s the floor. I laugh and turn my head to address my fellow delegates “Looks like we made a believer out of em. Now if you don’t mind we were having a meeting”. Without warning he grabbed me by the throat and lifted me up “You think your so smart human! We could destroy you at our whim! Do not continue to try our patience!” At that he tossed me to the ground and swiftly left. I rubbed my neck and said “Well that could have gone better”.

It was a warm sunny day in June and life carried on at usually had in the normal way. Little did they know what was to follow. Me and my cohorts had accepted the Nefarians offer and had strategically planned our actions to this very day. All of us stood in a Nefarian ship in orbit around the Earth and waited to make our move. All of the planet’s resources were at our finger tips and all we had to do was flip a few switches, enter in a few key sequences and cripple any defense mankind could muster up. At 12:38 pm, eastern standard time, the world changed forever. President Stanley held a press conference in the White House and announced to the world of visitors from outer space. All through the nation his image was being broadcast as he delivered the astounding news. Through the flash bulbs and reporters jarring questions he uttered these words “My fellow Americans, I’ve come to you on this day to deliver a message. You must understand that what I’m about to tell you will change this planet forever, and your cooperation will determine whether or not you survive it. An extraterrestrial race known as the Codex Nefarians have come upon our planet. They have expressed their desire to harvest Earth’s natural resources for a greater scientific endeavor. I’m here to tell you that they will take what they want, with or without our cooperation. My colleagues and I have studied these creatures and their technology and have accepted an offer that they have proposed to us. If we allow them to harvest our planet’s resources, than they will keep the human race in a state of splendid peace and protection aboard their paradise ships. Please understand that there is no use in trying to fight them. Their technology far out weighs our own and at the first sign of any resistance they would crush us without mercy. We are trying to save lives by fully cooperating with them. I leave this choice up to you the people. You have forty eight hours to come up with a decision, the Nefarians warn however, that any delay after that will be extremely costly. Do it for your children and indeed for their children. Thank you.”

Similar broadcasts were permeated throughout the nations of the world, offering the same ultimatum. As one would expect, they didn’t take to kindly to our decision and saw us as traitors. Of course they tried to retaliate, but we knew their every move and disabled any offensive they could come with. After the forty eight hours their response was to try to launch a nuclear bomb at the orbiting ships, needless to say it failed. That decision was a grave one, the Nefarians responded by destroying city after city after city. New York, Paris, Houston, Libya, Israel, Brazil and Tokyo were erased from the map in just under twenty two hours. Six hundred and seventy million people, annihilated in less than a day. One would have thought that this would have been enough to insight them to give up, but just one month later they tried a biological attack. This backfired hideously and nearly three quarters of the human race was obliterated by a device of their own making. Why were people so stubborn, so determined to try and overcome something that couldn’t be overcome. When all was said and done the survivors were rounded up and brought to the various resource stations brought by the Nefarians through an inter dimensional gate. Some one million people were brought to the stations and were forced to mine Derthum. The Nefarians kept their word to us and made us the governing body over what was left of the human race. Derthum was a hybrid mineral comprised of several different crystals and alloys. It is highly conductive isotope that acts as storage batteries. The bigger the chunk, the more power it can hold.

I sat in my bedroom and looked out into the stars. I had been guilty of so much and yet had paid nothing. Adrian came up beside me and asked me why I was so sad. I looked into her little eyes and saw an innocence there that I just couldn’t fathom. She could never know what her father really was and what I had done. Than a knock came at my door, it was Robertino and he said the four words that would lead to my redemption, he said “We have a plan”.