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Voyager: Chapter 18

They were off. Their ship was beginning to rise and leave the dreary old building that had served as their base of operations. I had managed to stop the AIs from opening fire on the ship and the people at the cost of my own security. What I had done was the equivalent of running out into the middle of an open field screaming that I was here. Not one of my most elegant moments as I tried to disrupt all of their systems by pushing myself into them and shutting them down. It worked, I managed to piss of all of the right AIs.

Without something to control them, the Collectors were just idle statues, they were incapable of doing anything on their own, especially in large numbers. They wandered around mindlessly, completely unaware of their surroundings. The AI in charge of them, Labor I believe, no longer had a reason to use them with all of the people inside the ship. The one controlling the ship whose name is unknown to me however, was trying to bring his ship about to open fire.

One hit and the ship would be gone, it wasn't that large. The armor on it looked basic enough for moderate space travel and minor combat in case of an emergency, but hardly thick enough to take on a capital ship. It just needed to escape the ship, not destroy it, but it wouldn't be able to, not like this. The AI ship had too many guns, I needed to do something.

There was a smaller AI ship that was floating nearby. It was fast and had moderate weapons on it. It wasn't enough to do any permanent damage, but it was enough to get their attention.

I invaded the ship swiftly and wrested control over it from the piloting AI. I learned that many of the AIs didn't have the ability to defend themselves from being forced out of their positions. I merely had to push hard enough and they would slip and get moved out of the way. I was a virus in their system, one that they did not have the proper protection against. This tactic would have been great with back up, but I was alone in this. Eventually the AIs would get to me and overwhelm me through their own numbers. I didn't have much time.

The AI ship opened fire on the escaping craft that was getting close to the cloud line. The red bolts passed right over it as the ship ducked and slowed to avoid it. It jarred the ship, but left it untouched. The pilot wouldn't be able to dodge those pot shots for long.

Bringing the ship that I was now in full control of around so that I could get clean field of fire, I readied myself. I had accepted that I wouldn't be coming back from this. My body was gone, shot by the people who I was now helping escape. I was slightly disappointed, but I understood that it was necessary in the current situation. Infiltration was going to kill Liam and take the girl back to Primary Directive if that other person didn't shoot him. No time for simple emotions and what ifs.

I fired on the ship that was three times large than my own. The shots left minor scorch marks on the hull that would have been washed off with a hose. Perhaps a larger ship would have been better, damn my caution. Regardless to my harmlessness in to them, the AI stopped firing at the escaping refugees and began to fire at me. I strafed as much as I could, flying crooked circles around the ship. A few hits landed, doing structural damage, there were warnings flaring at me about all kinds of shit that was going wrong. I ignored them.

The feeling of other AIs trying to get at me was slowly creeping into the ship. I had done what I could to keep them out by shutting down all forms of communication. It should have kept them from transferring over and 'boarding' my ship, but those ways were being taken from me. The other AIs were reactivating the necessary programs to get at me. This was also letting me see what they were doing as well.

The large ship was preparing to give chase to the people who were now above the cloud line. Normally that would have seemed insane. A ship that size wouldn't be able to catch them, it was too slow. But, that was the case for ships built by man, the AI's didn't travel to this solar system at a cruising speed. Their ships were fast and they intended to use that speed to easily catch up. Something more drastic needed to be done. I needed to destroy them.

The ships were powered by some sort of antimatter engine. I knew that antimatter was highly volatile when it came in contact with normal matter. I didn't fully understand it, but what information that I could get form the AIs was that it allowed them to both travel near the speed of light and even use it to 'jump' across light years at incredible speeds. The reason why the AIs didn't just jump everywhere they went was because any jump shorter than half a light year would cause the engine to tear itself apart.

I didn't know if it would work, but I planned to jump straight into the other ship's engine. Insane? Yes. Would it work? I didn't know. Though it was the only thing I could think of.

I pointed my ship at the other which was now beginning to rise up into the clouds to give chase. It was still firing at me as it went up and my ship was falling apart, but the engines were still working. I don't know if they knew what I was doing, but every other ship also began to rise away as I charged the engine. I suppose there would normally be complex calculations in a jump, but I was going with the ago old point and shoot. There would be no missing for me.

There were no warnings about doing this jump. There was no resistance when I took the ship. I was something new to the AIs, they only prepared for what they had already encountered. They wouldn't get the chance to prepare for me in the future. I jumped the ship.

When the light cleared, we were in space above Earth. My brain put up the image that I was so used to, one of the North American continent with the South American one barely holding onto that small tail of Central America. Green lush forests, tan expansive deserts and white, snowcapped mountains. It was beautiful, no sign of carnage, but it was a lie.

As my eyes refocused, that image of a pristine Earth was replaced with something else. There was a massive firestorm right were New York was. The clouds that we had been going through not ten minutes ago were nowhere in sight, wiped away in the fiery orange and red glow that was spreading. A massive chuck of the Eastern Seaboard was simply consumed. Even the ocean was covered in the fire. We had barely survived that blast, whatever it was.

"Holy shit." I breathed out in pure shock of the sight. The cargo bay was absolutely silent as we all watched. Even as the planet shrunk to the size of a marble, the red glow could still be seen, smudging its pristine surface. Eventually Earth was nothing more than another bright point of light to match the thousands of others, only then did I back away from the window.

My knees felt weak with each step and I found myself collapsed against the side of the cargo bay holding my legs up to my chest. Though the sight of the planet burning was truly terrifying, I felt a small bit of relief. We had escaped. We were going to survive.

25 AE (After Earth)

Earth survived the firestorm that ended up engulfing the entire North American and South American continent. It almost spread into Russia through Alaska, but was stopped due to the storms that continuously go on up there. It would still be another several decades before cleanup efforts would allow the air to be breathable again. The amount of poisonous chemicals that were released into the air killed most plant life on the planet and for a time, the air was just like that of Venus. But, we've made great progress and plants have been reintroduced. Plans have already been drawn for the reconstruction of major cities around the planet by the ruling government and land is now available to buy. I've already gotten myself a few acres in New York, despite the massive crater that exists there. In fact, I made sure to but the exact space of land where my old apartment used to be. I probably be dead by the time that area would be habitable, but perhaps my grandchildren would be able to use it one day.

The blast that had done all of this damage marked a turning point in the war. The aliens, which we later learned were a form of advanced artificial intelligence, were left in disarray. It was years before the military returned to Earth, bit they had little trouble in taking the planet. The pure simplicity of winning the final stages of the war highly contrasted the brutal opening stages. It was estimated that of the 15 billion people who lived on Earth, only 300 million survived. Three quarters of mankind was lost in less than a year.

The struggle to get back to a sense of normalcy was never achieved. We still live in constant fear of what else may be lurking out there. This fear is what is driving us now, not courage. But this fear also gives us hope because, with the technology we've reversed engineered from the AI's, the construction of a colony fleet is underway. It would be sent out to find a suitable planet to spread to. If we spread out far enough, it would be harder to wipe us out. All efforts and resources were put to this project and the restoration of Earth. Like the land, I would be dead by the time the colony ships would depart, but I worked so that a future generation would never have to experience what I did.

I found myself in waste management again. No matter how bad the situation was, people still wanted their toilets to flush. It wasn't the best job, but it was one that I was good at. There were other jobs that were considered more vital such as engineers and scientists, but we all had our own part to play in the grand scheme. I had also remarried a nice woman who found herself in the water treatment plant with me and we had a single child. Named him Crane, though my wife wasn't very happy about that. I would have given him Crane's first name if I had ever learned it, but oh well.

Crane is an engineer who is designing new ships designs for the colony project. He's doing a lot of good there and my wife and I are proud of him.

Susan stayed in the military and served on the ships that retook Earth. She stayed there with the garrison and was now retired aboard one of the stations that were towed from Jupiter. She was nicknamed the Queen of Earth due to her constant presence there and extremely strict rule over those under her command. I don't think she plans to ever let the planet out of her sight again.

Carlos got his act together and actually got into shape and joined the Navy as a communications officer. He died several years ago due to an old heart problem.

Tom helped his sister develop after all of the shock of what had happened. He found several surviving members of the Hawthorne family and set up a school for Canis with what is now being call Psionic potential. It's amazing what they can do. Dana's own powers got to the point where she could communicate with others with her mind. Some of their most powerful students are capable of lifting objects, making machinery obsolete to them. The government is working closely with them and offer jobs to nearly every graduate.

The government itself is mostly ran by the military since our elected Prime Ministers have all been Admirals and Generals. At first, when this pattern emerged, some were concerned that there would be a violent take over, but never happened. It's easy to not even notice when it's election year because each newly elected Prime Minister shares the same policy as the predecessor by giving full support to the colony and restorations projects. Anyone who wants to put funds into anything else usually ends up dropping out of the race a few days after revealing their ideas.

The main government is here on Mars in New London which is now the largest city around with some twenty million people living here. Most people live here on Mars, but some have gone off on private ventures to recolonize the moons of Jupiter and Saturn since it was found that many of the colonies there were still intact... just devoid of people.

The scars of the past would always be with us, but we would move on eventually. A colony outside of the solar system was the first step, getting people down to Earth would be the next and from there we had an infinite amount of directions to take it.

To this day I still wonder how he got away. Why did that other ship save us? Why was there that massive explosion? Why did I get a strange message a few days after getting to Mars? It was the oddest thing because it came from Earth of all placed. I don't know who it came from or what it meant. It was short, one sentence. It read, "Nailed it, right in the heart."

End