I opened my eyes.
They hurt.
My whole face throbbed and ached
. I was sitting in a chair, my hands tied behind my back with strong tape.
I was curious to see what my face looked like, or even my whole head, which was throbbing with intense pain, as if I'd been drinking all week and now had a hangover.
At first, the light hurt my aching eyes, but after a while, I got used to it.
At that moment, I felt my ribs—they hurt too.
After a few moments, I came to the conclusion that my entire body was nothing but a throbbing, radiating, pulsating, and growing pain.
In this rather small room, a single low lamp above my head burned with a bright, almost white light.
I looked around as far as the twist of my neck would allow.
To my left, Rebecca sat tied up on a metal chair.
Her head hung limply down.
"Are you alive!?" – I shouted at the woman, but she didn't move.
I looked around the room more carefully
. The room was bare and small. Aside from us, only a red fire extinguisher hung on the concrete wall.
"Hey, wake up!" I tried again, trying to move the chair as close to her as possible.
It whined and squeaked as it moved across the raw concrete.
I jumped carelessly, trying to get closer.
Instinctively, I tried to help myself with my hands, but they were tied.
For the first time in my life, I was tied to a chair, and I felt a slight discomfort.
I was making more and more noise and clattering, trying to get closer, when I noticed the woman moving her head slowly and heavily.
She was waking up.
I calmed down and waited for her to open her eyes.
She lifted her head slowly and carelessly, moaning under her breath.
Her bladder must have hurt as much as mine.
She looked around heavily.
She looked at me, and I could clearly feel her trying to focus her still slightly blurry gaze on me.
"What happened?" she asked, trying to move her hands.
"Your harmless sect has set us up this way," I replied truthfully, with a rasp in my voice
. She looked at me as if she didn't understand, but after a moment, her pupils dilated and the realization dawned on her.
"We have to escape, They could show up any minute!" she shouted suddenly and unnaturally animated.
"They? Will you finally tell me who they are!?" I tried to raise my voice, but the pain in my head intensified even more.
"We don't have time for this; if we don't free ourselves immediately, you'll surely share our friend's fate," she said, struggling in her chair like a fish on a hook.
"We're not going anywhere from here anyway, so calm down and finally explain this whole thing to me," I said calmly, realizing the tape was holding very tightly.
I frowned.
The woman calmed down.
"Listen," she began. "I don't know how to explain this to you so you'd believe me.
" "I mean?"
She looked me in the eye
. "I lied to you." "I never belonged to that cult."
Oh, that's when she really surprised me. If she's not from a cult, then who the hell is she? I'll find out eventually, or not.
"Listen," she tried again to explain. "Sit comfortably and try to relax your mind, and to make things easier, I'll pour my memories of the whole thing straight into your head, okay."
She looked at me with a serious expression and waited for an answer.
"Okay," I replied jokingly. "If that's what you prefer, please feel free to do so."
"Hmm, did they hit her on the head too hard?" I thought.
"Although, you know, I think the best way to communicate on Earth is still through conversation," I added with a sarcastic tone, when I suddenly felt something strange happening to me.
It was as if I were losing consciousness.
Everything began to spin, and the image of the empty room seemed to fade.
I felt like I was fainting, but I didn't.
It was as if someone was choking me and then loosening their grip, so I could take a breath, then repeat the process all over again.
Vivid images and fragmented conversations began to fly through my mind.
I turned my head in the direction where the mysterious woman had been sitting a moment ago.
I couldn't see her, but I could hear her voice.
"Try to calm down—nothing bad is happening."
A hurricane of alien thoughts, concepts, and sensations flowed through my mind, and I tried to calm down and breathe normally, though I felt myself salivating and tossing around in the hard chair as if I were having a seizure.
Images were getting closer and closer. As if I were both a participant and an observer.
I saw planets. Space.
THEM.
Yes, they wanted to take over the Earth, to rule them
. They were powerful.
Their solar system contained many planets, and they themselves populated seventeen powerful ones and countless smaller ones.
They were a power in the universe.
A dominant race.
They did as they pleased, and no one could impose anything on them.
They were barbarians. They acquired all their knowledge and technology from other conquered races, becoming a power.
The united races of the universe feared them.
They knew they would never achieve unity and harmony in the universe as long as THEY existed.
They needed our planet. They were shrinking it.
Images flew around me, and all sorts of thoughts overwhelmed and dominated my mind.
I saw the Earth.
They wanted to take over. Our civilization is like dust on a shelf to them.
They will shrink our planet to the size they desire, to fit their galaxy and meet its expectations, and do with it whatever they desire.
A garbage dump? A prison?
Anything they desire.
They came to Earth and used a small religious sect, the Rahni Hani, to manage their affairs.
Their minds were remarkably weak and prone to believing many things.
Controlling them for any length of time was no problem for them.
They sold them some fairy tale about unity with the universe and the transference of Earth to another dimension where our civilization would finally live with other races, and they believed it all.
They had to build this structure; it was through it that a portal to another dimension would open.
The aliens lied. They constantly deceived them.
They tried to control the councilors' minds, but having already controlled a dozen others, they failed to do so with impressive results.
Councilor Garret didn't feel it at all.
His mind was strong; it had to be disposed of.
The futuristic structure was, in reality, a powerful weapon that would be used to wipe out our civilization from the planet. To cleanse it so it would be suitable for THEM
. She, Rebecca, came to Earth to help. She couldn't bear the thought of another civilization being reduced to dust.
She joined a cult and infiltrated them, but they sensed her.
I felt myself going crazy.
I trembled like a small child on a giant roller coaster hurtling downward at breakneck speed.
I heard voices in my mind, and various images flashed through my mind. They overwhelmed me.
Everything became clear to me.
She – one of the workers of the great Council for unity and harmony in the universe.
She believed that if she could convince the humans and get them to try to stop the barbarians from taking over the planet, the Universal Council, concerned about our fate and determination, would gather its strength and finally confront the barbarians.
It included many species and planets; the only thing missing was courage.
However, Rebecca's chances were slim.
She turned to Tom for help, but he didn't believe her, claiming that physicists had long known that the Earth expands slightly over millions of years and that any shrinkage was out of the question.
However, as fate would have it, after a few days, Tom believed her words.
He tried to meet with me and explain his observations about the changes taking place on our planet.
Unfortunately, he didn't make it. THEY killed him. They took over the mind of the driver of the black limousine, causing him to veer off the lane and crash directly into Tom's car.
Lodzack suffered the same fate.
After his visit, he went to several other places, attracting attention.
The sect tracked him down and stabbed him to death.
The shrinking would end in a few months, and the cult's leaders were rushing to build an office building, believing it to be the key that would open a wormhole and transport Earth to another galaxy.
The truth, however, was that the cultists were building a weapon that would destroy our entire civilization.
The woman must have sensed that my mind couldn't take it any longer, because the voices slowly faded.
The swirling images blurred.
My head was tilted upward, and after a moment, the lamplight began to dazzle my eyes again.
Everything fell into place
. Breathing heavily, I looked in Rebecca's direction, terrified.
I felt exhausted. As if in an instant, someone had shattered my mind like a puzzle into thousands of pieces and carelessly put them back together.
She was staring into my eyes. I thought I was going crazy
. I must have had a terrified expression. I definitely did.
I felt like I was looking at a ghost. She wasn't from here. She
was alien. The mysterious woman was from another planet.
I tried to come to terms with the thought, catching my breath and not taking my eyes off her.
She looked completely ordinary and innocent.
"How are we going to stop them?" I asked in a concerned voice, looking deep into her eyes.
Sweat dripped into my eyes. My heart was pounding.
Just as she was about to speak, the door to the room opened
14.
I quickly turned my gaze toward the opening door.
Three men entered.
One of them I recognized as a pale redhead, the supposed spokesman for the cult.
He stood to the side.
In the center, at the front, stood a middle-aged man with short, spiky blond hair.
To his left, another man stood.
"I see you're awake, Mr. Martinez," the middle-aged man said.
"Who are you?
" "My name is Rahni Hani.
The head of the sect… or whatever their main mentor is called."
He was stupid enough to name his religious group after himself.
He probably couldn't think of anything sensible himself.
He glanced at my gray T-shirt, stained in places with dried blood.
It also adorned my worn-out jeans.
"I see my boys gave you a real hard time.
" "Not worse than I'll give them today," I replied confidently, "but I felt like I was just bragging."
The guru approached me.
"I don't think so, Mr. Martinez," he said, looking into my eyes, quite close to me. "Because you see, my superiors will be here soon, and then certain death awaits you," he said, looking me in the eye.
He had a square face with cloudy, crazy eyes.
"Oh, you mean those space twats who rule you all?" I asked boldly and contemptuously.
I guess I'd been watching too many Bruce Willis movies, who always manages to get out of every predicament unscathed in his films, but I hadn't acted in any, and my situation so far was pretty dire.
The cult leader nodded to a pale redhead who approached me, and before I could even look back, he delivered a powerful uppercut.
My head snapped to the side, and Rebecca flinched.
"You're in a terrible situation, and I advise you not to mock us anymore," he said calmly.
His manner of speaking and his whole face told me I was dealing with a complete lunatic.
"What, are you going to kill me?" I asked mockingly.
"Are you going to get rid of me like you did Tom and that old man, you fucking fanatics?"
The pale redhead approached me again, without a nod from the boss, and I got punched in the face.
Again,
this puppet was slowly getting on my nerves.
I was literally starting to burn with the urge to deal with them all.
"We'll definitely kill you, Mr. Martinez. I mean, you can spare yourself some pain before you die," he pointed out cleverly
. I didn't answer. I was just threatening him with my face, shifting in my chair, a sign that if I could just get free, I'd kick his crazy ass!
Suddenly, I felt like I could move my wrists a little more freely.
Maybe somehow I could free my hands.
"Besides, it's no time to regret individual roses when you have the good of the entire garden in mind—have you ever heard of that, Mr. Martinez?
Oh, what a great fucking philosopher." They're the worst.
"You're like stupid sheep," I began. "You've all been deceived by THEM, it's because of you that our civilization is facing destruction!"
"Hahahahaha," the blond guru laughed. "Who told you such nonsense?" With a slight smile on his face, he pointed at Rebecca, who was listening.
"She's an alien, Mr. Martinez. An alien life form that doesn't want our world to join other civilizations.
To live, populate, and expand the universe in harmony with other sentient beings in the universe." He paused significantly.
"She used you to prevent that, with your help, and you fell for it like a child, Mr. Martinez," he continued
. "I fell for it!?" "Your aliens filled your minds with nonsense and are doing whatever they want to you!" I turned briskly toward Rebecca. "You can't show them what you're showing me!" "—I asked, increasingly irritated by this whole stupid sect.
"It won't do any good; their minds are taken over by barbarians. My thoughts won't reach them," she replied calmly.
"Ah, damn, that's perfect," I replied, discreetly working my hands to loosen them from the grip of the tape. The blond man was starting to get on my nerves more and more
. "Listen to these Rahni and Gahni—the aliens are shrinking the Earth to take possession of it. They'll annihilate entire civilizations with this strange structure, and you're even helping them!" My words made little impression on him.
The bonds, however, were growing weaker. I should free myself.
"I see this space whore has really messed with your head, Mr. Martinez—alright, I'll explain everything to you before I die."
"The aliens communicated with us several months ago," he began. "There were two of them. They chose me and my wonderful community because they determined that the ideology we bring to the world is wise, and that we ourselves are highly developed individuals on Earth," he spoke slowly and calmly, folding and resting his fingertips
. "They also explained to us that our civilization had reached a good point of development and it was high time we joined other united races living in harmony in the vastness of the universe. "
He paused, as if to see how these words affected me
. Whether he had managed to fascinate me or not.
"To this end, they decided to transport our planet through a wormhole to another dimension," he continued, seeing only increasing annoyance on my face.
"To a cluster of highly developed planets."
Another pause. And again, nothing .
"To the union of a unified universe, Mr. Martinez." He placed more emphasis on his words than usual and leaned slightly toward me.
He seemed to be waiting for some applause or words of appreciation from me.
Fucking clown.
"Doesn't that sound wonderful?" "What do you think?" he asked, leaning closer to me, and I only took a deeper breath.
"They'll move our planet and turn it into a fucking golf course, and wipe us off the face of the earth like useless bugs!" "That's the truth!"
The blond man nodded at the redhead.
I got hit again.
A few more blows like that, and nothing would be left of my face.
"Your stupidity knows no bounds, Mr. Martinez—it's scary to think if we let you live. You're ready to unleash chaos and panic among all of humanity, and we don't need that."
He paused for a moment, as if trying to remember something in his alien-possessed mind. He rested his fist on his chin and tapped his cheek with his index finger.
"What you can do," he began slowly, "is only a drop in the vastness of the ocean, but it's precisely what gives meaning to your life." Have you ever heard that sentence? "My life will be given meaning by uniting the earth with other civilizations, but only death will give yours." The guy was completely insane. I was starting to realize that the aliens wouldn't have needed to take over his mind at all, because he'd believe anything without it.
I spat on the ground – after the redhead's last blow, it was a mixture of saliva and blood from my gum.
"Okay, I'm already exhausted. Just explain to me how the aliens are shrinking the earth, and I'm out of here," I explained. The fact that my hands would soon be completely free gave me courage.
"Hahaha, I see you're still joking, but I'd be happy to tell you about that too."
"Well, the Council of the United Universe," he began, excitement palpable in his voice, "has strict standards, Mr. Martinez.
Our Earth must lose some weight so it can orbit our planet.
And for them, it's no problem to thin it out a bit .
It's like shining your shoes.
With their technology, anything is possible.
" His voice showed that he was as excited by these absurd lies as a kid about a bag of candy.
"Plus, their gravity is a bit lower.
They'll shrink our blue planet a bit, so it fits their galaxy in every way." "The bastards have thought of everything," I thought.
They'll even get gravity just like theirs."
I wondered what they were doing with our planet.
Maybe they'll start letting alien species in and hunting them for fun?
For a moment, I imagined two unidentified creatures chasing each other through the rainforest.
The guru began to unravel.
He boasted of his super knowledge and the illusory fact that he played a significant role in this entire historic event.The world is going to change, Mr. Martinez." "If foolish people would stop for a moment, maybe they would notice these changes.
Every day, tens of thousands of hectoliters of water and ocean floor are being absorbed underground and burned in nuclear explosions. "The Earth is shrinking." "The oceans will be the most depleted." "On land, the impact is quite small. "
He began to speak like a university lecturer spouting dry facts and rules.
"Mostly, it's fields and excess land between cities that are being absorbed, although if you looked closely at the sidewalks and streets, you might notice strange cracks or uneven shapes.
Part of our city is also being absorbed underground.
Buildings and skyscrapers are being slightly shifted, along with their entire foundations." "It's all hard to believe, isn't it?"
He asked and waited for an answer, but he didn't get one.
"Let me guess, and this structure is probably supposed to help you get to another dimension, right?"
"Exactly, Mr. Martinez – as soon as we complete it, the aliens will plant their technology here.
The rings will begin to rotate, gaining speed, and the energy they create will flow along the metal arms and accumulate above the roof, creating an interdimensional passageway. "
Rebeca only shook her head.
"The energy will accumulate and in a second, it will burst upon your entire world, destroying you and everything you've managed to build, and then the barbarians will calmly take your planet.
" "Please don't say anything, your false stories won't work on us," he said sharply to the woman.
"What bad luck you're such stupid and dim-witted sheep," I added as the redhead slapped Rebecca, and hearing my words, he didn't spare me either.
Ah! I'd had enough of these damn fanatics.
"You hit me for the last time!"
I leaped from the chair, a piece of torn tape hanging from my right hand.
I leaped in a single bound to a red fire extinguisher attached to the wall.
The surprised men didn't have time to move.
Snatching the extinguisher, I slammed it into the redhead's head and charged at the leader of the sect.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the tall fanatic collapse to the ground. I must have broken his spine.
Furious beyond belief, I unleashed a powerful kick into the stomach of their magnificent mentor, and a moment later, I dodged a blow from a third man who had been standing obediently to my left.
I landed a punch that could have at least broken his jaw, and almost broken the bones in my fingers.
I lashed out, contorting my face in sharp pain, and finished him off with a kick in the face.
He didn't get up. Blood was streaming down his face.
"Rick, watch out!" was all I heard, but before I could turn around, I was already on the ground, bent under the impact of a heavy fire extinguisher that slammed into my back.
I tried to pull myself together and catch my breath as Rahni Hani began to choke me.
I tensed every muscle in my body, trying to break free from the grip.
I punched him in the head with my left hand, but he remained impervious to my blows.
Finally, I elbowed him hard in the ribs, and the grip loosened.
I stood up carelessly, turned toward him, and delivered a right hook with all my might, followed by a second and a third.
I had no strength left in my arms. The blond man was barely able to stand. So was I.
I leaned my hand against the wall to catch my breath
. It was a mistake.
He'd punched me.
My aching body fell backward.
"Until now, I didn't realize the nature of your character, Mr. Martinez," he said with tremendous effort.
Blood dripped from his nose onto the white shirt he'd pulled from his pants.
I tried to punch him back, but he pushed my hand away and punched me in the teeth.
I felt warm, sweet blood in my mouth.
I fell onto the hard concrete.
My knee struck the hard floor, and I groaned in pain.
"You're a fool! Our civilization has been given the chance to develop on an equal footing and in friendship with other species in the universe, and you want to ruin everything!" he shouted, furious to the point of redness. "You won't stop what's already been started, Mr. Martinez!" he shouted, then took a swing with his leg.
I gathered the last of my strength and caught his leg as it reached me.
I pulled with all my strength, and the battered man lost his balance.
I crawled to him and struck him square in the jaw.
His sluggish body tried to rise, supporting its weight on the doorknob.
I couldn't let him.
I dragged him down and wrapped my arms around his neck.
The tables were turned, and now I was strangling him.
I held him there, trying to catch my breath. I felt pain in every muscle.
"You can kill a king, but his knighthood will accomplish his will!" he managed to mutter through bloody teeth before I snapped his neck.
Bones crunched, and his body fell limply to the floor.
"Never let fear eliminate you from the game, son of a bitch," I said, wiping the sweat from my brow.
I, an average journalist for a second-rate newspaper, snapped the neck of the guru of some stupid sect.
I guess I didn't fully understand the nature of my own character.
Or perhaps the extent of my anger.
After a moment, I remembered Rebecca.
She was looking at me with her innocent eyes.
I looked into hers.
We didn't need to say anything. Not after what had just happened.
I hesitantly rose and tried to free her hands.
"We have to flee, They could appear any moment now."
The woman was right; if everyone in the universe flinched at the sound of their name, then they had to run.
"Tell me how to stop them." My words, coming from my aching, bruised face, sounded more like gibberish than a sentence.
I leaned back in my chair and looked at Rebecca.
"Your planet can be shrunk, even from a distance of several million kilometers." The right equipment sends out the right waves, thus shrinking the Earth.
"How can we stop them?" I asked again, and the woman took my arm
. "We have to kill those on Earth, and then I'll return and convince the council to declare war on them." "The problem is, they have incredibly strong and powerful bodies."
That comforted me.
I'd barely dispatched three humans, and I still had to fight extraterrestrials.
We emerged from the small room.
With horror, we saw that they were already there, standing twenty-five meters away
Brak komentarzy:
Prześlij komentarz