The Duty of the Core

A short story from the creative mind of Lance Johnson

Chapter One: Kania

“Face it,” my companion cried over the gale that was battering out makeshift shelter, “we’re lost!”

I turned onto my side and adjusted my bag so that I couldn’t hear him or the storm. “Go to sleep,” I yelled back. “We’ll get our bearings in the morning, provided it’s stopped raining by then.”

The fresh morning sun peeked up over the horizon. I crawled out of the cave and saw that our horses had run away in the night; the tree that we had tied them to had fallen onto its side. David came out of the cave as I said, “Well, our horses buggered off, so it looks like we’re walking.” I drew my cloak around my shoulders.

“Where are we headed?” David asked.

“I don’t know, but we’d best get on. We won’t get far just by standing here.” We had barely been half a mile when I heard a growling coming from the woods. “David, draw your steel – I don’t know what might be out there, but I won’t have my apprentice harmed. Prepare yourself.”

His twin knives seemed to materialize out of thin air – I knew better. He kept them hidden in the small of his back, between himself and his bedroll. I pulled my sword from its sheath and, feeling the leather-bound hilt that so well adjusted to my fingers, I charged forward into the brush. It was a bear, cornering an oddly clad individual. “What’re you waiting for, a written invitation? Kill this thing!” With nary an effort, I ran my blade through the beast’s skull and wiped it clean on the fur. “Not that I don’t appreciate you saving me,” the stranger said, “but what in the hell are you wearing?”

I grunted and helped the scrawny thing to his feet. “It is my armor, lad, and you’d do well to get some yourself. There’s danger all around. What in the name of S’rike were you doing out here alone?”

He started fidgeting with his hands as he said, “Well, I was at home, layin’ in my bed, watchin’ T.V., drowning myself in Southern Comfort, and I must’ve dozed off and started sleepwalking, ‘cause next thing I knew, I was wakin’ up in fronta that damn bear!”

“Stranger,” I said, “you speak of things of which I understand little. What is a ‘tee-vee’, and what exactly were you watching it for? What is ‘Southern Comfort’, and if you drowned yourself in it, why do you still live?”

He laughed for a bit, then said, “Waitaminnit…you really don’t know, huh? You really have no clue! This is flippin’ unbelieveable! I find someone that who might be able to help me and it turns out he’s got the I.Q. of a friggin’ rock!”

Chapter Two: Earth

I straightened my shades and pulled my gloves to my wrists. “Are you sure this is the place?” Dave asked.

“This is where the old man said. Let’s check it out.” I got out of my car, marched up to the door, and knocked. Receiving no answer, I knocked again. When no one came to the door that time, I pulled out my pistol, attached the silencer, turned off the safety, shot the knob off, and kicked the door in. “Anyone home?”

“I am in here! Help me, please help me!”

I motioned to Dave to get his gun ready and burst into the bedroom that the cry had come from. The first thing I saw was a geeky little dude in science-fiction-like clothes standing on top of a bed. On the floor in front of him was a Chihuahua. “What the – what’s going on here?”

“It is evil! It is trying to steal my soul!”

The pooch looked at him longingly, the way a dog usually does to its master. “All right, buddy, come on down from there. Come on, it won’t get your soul, I promise.”

“I – I – I do not believe you!”

I groaned and picked the dog up. “Here,” I said, handing it to Dave. “Lock Fido in the bathroom or something.” Dave disappeared out of the room with the little dog and reappeared a moment later without it. I looked at the crazy guy and asked, “Now will you come with me?”

“A-are you one of the Guardians?”

“What the – sure, kid. If it’ll get you to come with me.”

“Why have you saved me from the Demon?” he asked as I helped him down from his perch.

“Uh…why am I here? My employers have a good reason to believe that one of your inventions caused a gigantic storm in this area last night.”

“Inventions? No, I am not a Creator. I merely manage a food commerce sector.”

I groaned and said to Dave, “I hope the old man appreciates what we’re doing – five minutes with this little freak, and anyone else would’ve shot him, if not themselves first!”

Chapter Three: Dexun

A rollicking cry met my ears and I knew that yet another enemy attack had been turned away, and I couldn’t help but smile. But as Dav came running up to me, my smile faded. “Sir!” he shouted, throwing a crisp salute. “Permission to speak freely, sir?”

“Granted. What do you need?”

“I would like to request your assistance in a matter of great import.”

I pulled my lab coat around my shoulders and, standing up, said, “What is it?”

“Do you recall the storm last night, how strong it was, and how loud and bright the thunder and lightning were?”

“Yes, of course. It kept me awake all night. Why?”

“Well, you see, it somehow deposited something into Residential Chamber Five-B Alpha that would cause a level ZX4 mass hysteria.”

“A – a Demon?”

We entered his quarters, wherein he kept most of his experiments, and walked to a hydroaluminum viewing-cage, which held a hair-covered humanoid. “It does not appear to match any Demon form that we know of, but it also does not seem to be able to communicate intelligently.” He pushed a button on his personal computer terminal and the screen displayed several overlapping X-Rays of the beast, as well as vital signs and what have you. “What little data we have obtained, however, seems to indicate that it is a precursor of humankind.”

“But…how in the name of the Elders…?”

He removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “I…do not know, but it has come for some reason.”

“What reason could that be?”

“We will need to run more tests before we can determine that.”

The next day, I was helping Dav with the tests on the new creature, when I noticed an unusual spike in its adrenaline. When I looked up, I noticed that the beast was staring at me. It backed up as far as it could and charged forward. The hydroaluminum bars bent and snapped like twigs; it grabbed the biggest remnant of the cage and used it to bash in Dav’s skull. It let out a furious, primeval roar and destroyed the security console; I was locked in. The hideous thing descended upon me…my final moments were spent scrambling toward Dav’s computer…I hit the button to seal the room…it was completely airtight…there was no way out, for it or I.

Chapter Four: Wilre

I leveled the air rifle at the Storn and pulled the trigger. The hairy beast fell down as the fast-acting poison-pellet entered his mouth and then his throat. I looked for his prey, which was held in his camp. I couldn’t make out any details from my perch high in that tree, but it was clearly human. “Davie,” I said into my headset, “I’m going in. Watch my back, there might be more of those things around.”

“Aye, roger that boss,” he responded with his own headset. I cocked my gun and started sneaking down into the small camp.

From what I could see, there were no more Storns around, but I kept on my toes. I hated being caught unaware. The man couldn’t have been any older than twenty, and he was dressed in a light blue, frilly, puffy shirt, a dark brown leotard, and a pair of pointy yellow shoes. I couldn’t help it, I laughed. I mean, the guy looked like a fruit! It was little wonder that they nabbed him – Storns were attracted to bright colors. I untied him and asked, “You okay, Fruity?”

“I am fine,” he said quietly, rubbing his rope-burned wrists, “but I feel I should inform you, I am not a fruit, nor any other type of food.”

“Glad I could help. What the hell were you doing out here alone?”

“I don’t know, good sir. I was awaiting an escort through a hostile kingdom, and I must have fallen asleep…I woke up in this abysmal swamp and, I can scarcely believe it, they were preparing to cook and eat me!”

I nodded and switched my headset’s frequency to HQ. “This is Echo Two,” I said. “Delta Four and I have rescued a POW and now need extraction on the double.”

“Negative, Echo Two,” the admin said in response. “All drop ships are either busy or in need of repairs. What’s your supply situation?”

“We’re okay on ammo, but we haven’t got any food.”

“Roger that, Echo Two…we’ll send a ship for you as soon as we can…”

“Wait! What’re we gonna do for food!?”

“Well, you said you had plenty of ammunition, right? So go hunting.” I could almost hear the operator smile as he said, “After all – Storn season is always open.”

I changed my frequency back so that I could talk to my partner. “Davie, get down here, and bring the ammo. We’re going shopping.”

Together, the three of us raided every hut in the encampment and feasted on fruits, veggies, cheeses, and wines. We dared not touch the meat for fear or the possibility that we could be chewing on an old buddy. Davie and I took turns standing watch, until the morning came. During the day, it would be safe to travel – Storns wouldn’t dare attack us in broad daylight. Or so we thought.

The apelike beasts dropped from the limbs overhead, surrounding us. Before I could do anything, they had killed Davie and our charge. I snapped. I used my rifle as a ramrod and shoved it into a Stornian gut; I stabbed the barrel into one’s eye, broke another’s leg with a quick sweep, and then made a break for it. I knew they would catch me, but I had to try.

Chapter Five: Finality

“The worlds have done what was never meant to be done; they have intermixed. Paradoxes and causality problems aside, this will be very messy to clean up. Many have died due to this freak accident, and giving life to the lifeless is beyond even our great powers. So we must go to the other extreme; death. That, boy, is where you come in. So you understand, yes? You know what must be done?”

I stood up. “Yes, my lieges. I will eliminate the variations of the Inventor.”

“No, you must also exterminate the variations of yourself and your brother. They, too, have tampered with the worlds! Go now! Make things right!” My armor appeared; I put it all on and pushed the ‘transport’ button.

Wilre: I was still running when it happened – a gigantic hole in the air in front of me. Out of it stepped…a robot of some kind. It capped the Storns that were chasing me. As I stepped forward to examine it, it aimed its gun at me and unloaded. I still had enough life in me to hear it say, in my voice, “Target: Terminated.”

Dexun: The robot put a bullet into the creature and turned the oxygen back on. I got up to thank it, but before I could say anything, it grabbed my head slammed me repeatedly into the wall. I was still alive, but barely, and I was bleeding profusely. I had five minutes at the most. Dav’s computer terminal lit up and the intercom spouted, “We heard gunshots! What is going on?”

“Everything is under control,” the robot said, perfectly duplicating my voice. “The door is locked, though; can someone come give me a hand?”

“Of course, we will have someone down right away.”

The robot with my voice disappeared; I knew I would not live long enough to be rescued.

Earth: Dave had finally snapped and duct-taped the freak’s mouth closed. It was dark now, and we were going along a coastal road. As we drove along, my car got progressively slower and slower until the damn thing died. I grabbed a flashlight from the backseat, popped the trunk for a repair kit, and got to work. Everything looked fine, but the battery was fried. I stood there, holding the light like a goon, when I heard the report of a rifle and felt the bullet hit the object in my hand, which flew over the side of the cliff into the ocean below. “Whoever’s out there, don’t shoot again. I’m unarmed!”

What I heard next scared me witless. It was my own voice. “Sorry, I have no mercy. Only orders.” Whoever it was unloaded on the engine, which exploded almost instantly. Dave and the kid were gone; I was burnt up pretty bad. It took all I had to not lose consciousness. As the dark figure marched toward me, I growled, “Just who the f--- are you?”

Just before he stomped my face in, he whispered, “Why, I’m you.”

Kania: “Bandit!” David yelled while running toward us after venturing into the woods to relieve himself. “Wearing strange armor!”

The bandit emerged from the shadows. I could hear the stranger draw in a shaky breath. “Do not resist,” the bandit said. “Surrender, and your deaths will be quick and relatively painless.” Even though the helmet was distorting his speech, I couldn’t help but feel that I had heard his voice somewhere before.

I charged, swinging my sword over my head in a wide arc. He used his forearm to block the blow, grabbed the blade, and started swinging me around and around and around until I had no choice but to let go. David, brave lad that he was, jumped at the bandit’s back, but the bandit thrust my steel upward at him. As David hung there dead, the killer grabbed one of his knives and looked patiently at me. He strode forward and drove the dagger into my chest and went after the stranger, who had run off during the fight. I heard a loud noise like thunder, a scream, and the bandit reappeared. “Go ahead,” I said, spouting blood and fighting for air. “Finish me, evil bastard.”

He raised my sword above his head. “Last words?”

“What are you?”

He removed his helmet to reveal his face – my face – and dropped it to the ground. “I am everything that you are, only without the extreme sucking.” He ran the blade through my skull, transfixing me to the tree behind me.

Finality: I fell into the dimly lit council chamber and quickly reported. “Your highnesses,” I said, “I have completed the task that you have charged me with. In every world, the counterparts of myself, D, and the Inventor have been destroyed.”

“No, young one. Your job is not quite done yet. You see, our Inventor suffered a nervous breakdown and murdered your brother. Because of this, he was put to death. We have decided that, due to lack of your prescence, the other worlds may try to bring you to them…or destroy you. To avoid collateral damage from either option, we believe that it would be best if you were to…no longer exist.”

“What are you saying?”

“You are to end your own life.”

“What? But why?”

“If we kill you, it will cause civil unrest. Our world is socially instable enough as it is; you know that.”

“What if I refuse?”

“Refusal is not an option. You took a vow; you must now honor it.”

The nanobots in my nervous system linked up and gave me my new orders. Then, mechanically, my hand went for my pistol. I turned the safety…loaded it…put the barrel inside my ear…I pulled the trigger.

THE END