Chapter Sixteen
D-day
The preceding twenty four hours were frantic. The president having been debriefed called the United Nations chief, who in turn called an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.
All member states unanimously voted for war against the invading Roti. The UN general assembly was immediately convened and all representatives briefed. These members in turn briefed their respective Nations Heads of State who in turn declared a state of emergency in their own countries. A state of panic and dread gripped all the earth's inhabitants. And as night fall came over the Washington skyline, my heart pelted knowing this might be one hell of a long night, possibly a perpetual night.
'Danny my boy,' said Uncle Henry as we sat next to each other inside the war room of the pentagon. He kept pressing on to an empty coffee plastic mug. If this is our last day alive, I want you to know that am proud of you.'
'Uncle,' I said in reply, 'you need not worry, Eel and I will do what it takes to save our sun and the human race as a whole.'
'Look Danny, you are still only a teen you know. I've always wanted you to live life to the fullest, marry, have kids and die at an old hoary age, not like this, in a battle with aliens, trying to save the world. Besides, where did you and this freak meet up?' pointing at Eel who was engrossed in a conversation with the Army's Joint chief of Staff, NATO's Supreme commander, the President and a host of other High ranking civilian and military advisors from various nations.
'Online.' I replied trying to smile. At that point, Eel came over to where we were seated.
'DS, you still have the rocks with you?' He asked.
'Yes I do.' I replied, feeling for them in my denims.
'Good. The president wants to have a word with you.'
'Mister Daniel Snow I presume.' the President said shaking my hand vigorously. He was alot taller in real life than I had imagined having only seen him on television.
'Yes, I am Mister President.' I replied feeling nervous.
'Douglas or should I say Eel here has given me the run down on your mission and I must say we are forever indebted to you for your sacrifice.'
'I appreciate your comments Sir.' I replied.
'You see,' He said, 'our weapons and manpower are no match for the invaders and even if we were to launch all our missiles towards the sun, they, am afraid would take almost a year to reach their target given the vast distances and besides, the sun's heat would annihilate them hundreds of thousands of miles away.'
'That's true Sir.' I answered.
'Douglas however, has me convinced that you do have some special powers which can get you and him within striking distance of our enemies.'
'I believe so Sir.'
'Son, some decades ago, when some of our country's most brilliant minds set out to merge our species with Eel, most people thought they were out of their minds. But these noble men and women had anticipated days like this. We, their children and grandchildren have now vindicated them. So Daniel, my prayers are with you. The world has never been faced with such a peril nor such an adversary, the whole world is counting on you, your country is counting on you and I am counting on you, so help us God!'
'Mister President, we must leave now.' Eel interrupted.
'Alright then, God speed.' the president said as Eel and I made for the exit heading for the probe parked in the dark outside in the center of the pentagon greens. In the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of Uncle Henry's saddened stare. It made me feel sad but humanity was at stake and I had a job to do. I wiped a tear off my face as I climbed into the probe.
'Wear these.' Eel said handing me pitch black gaggles as soon as I settled into my sit next to him.
'Are you okay?'
'I think so.' I answered in reply.
'You know we might not make out alive out.' He added as he too fastened the dark gaggles around his face and proceeded to press a few buttons in the probe's cockpit.
'I hadn't really thought about it,' I said in reply, 'but now that you mention it, yes.'
The thud in my chest and the enlargement of my nostrils said it all. Eel on the other hand seemed resolute as he faced ahead.
'Okay,' he said firmly settling into his hard seat, 'say good bye to the earth and hello sun.'
We sliced through earth's atmosphere, whizzed past Venus and Mercury, covering almost eighty million miles in what seemed only in a matter of seconds. I had never been this close to the sun.
'Man, this thing is massive!' I exclaimed, my vision blurred by the sun's fiery brightness. All around us was intense heat, light and very loud massive multiple explosions. The sun's entire surface was covered in giant ball in flames and smoke, spasms of very bright lava shot from its surface in all directions. It was so huge, menacing and magnificent.
'Engage Pions.' Eel said pressing onto something as the temperature inside our probe drastically shot up sending a bolt of acute pain on my skin and face then almost immediately dropping to almost freezing point. I felt my bones recoil inside me that I let out a whimper from the resulting excruciating pain flash throughout my entire body. Till today, I cringe at the mere thought of that moment. The pain was so intense and inexpressible. Then, I realized what it was. I was disintegrating, piece by piece into tiny crystals. So were Eel and the probe.
'What is happening?' I cried out, almost fainting from freight. Bits of me were floating inside the cockpit.
'It’s the only way we are going to be able to shoot through the sun.' I heard him say.
'The what?' I asked alarmed. The next thing I recall was seeing me plunge into this giant ball of fire only to emerge from it all in an instant.
'Wow! What was that?' panting profusely and seeing I was again intact seated in the cockpit next to Eel.
'Surprise!' he said removing his gaggles. 'We are just in time to spoil the party!'
I quickly removed my gaggles and there in the distance ahead was a sea of space crafts, in their millions coming towards us.
'Xuyrae!' I muttered. He had arrived and we, just the two of us in a lone probe stood in his way and the sun.
'What are we to do now?' I asked panic seizing me.
'We fight!' Eel said. The look in his eyes was unwavering. 'Look Ds, he turned to face me, 'you carry the blood of a Roti within you, a worrier's blood. You are able to do things even Xuryae can only dream about, a super hybrid solider, a protector. All you have to do is believe in yourself and your abilities.'
'Eelxsis!' a loud voice came into my head. It was Xuryae. 'Do you dare stand in my way?' he was addressing Eel. Eel remained silent, his hands kept firmly onto the Probe's diagonally shaped steering wheel, his fingers tapping on the steering's red buttons, ready to engage.
'Step aside or ill count you as my enemy!' the voice came again. He was communicating telepathically. 'You,' continued the voice sounding like a raging storm, are outnumbered two million eight hundred thousand sixty six to one. You’ve grown so fond of the puny humanoids that you've even brought one along with you. What happened to you Eelxsis? Commander of my armies? My comrade in arms.' Xuryae said sounding sad.
I could see behind us the sun, as if hiding behind our space craft, counting on us to protect it from this multitude of Roti advancing steadily towards us.
'This tiny primitive race's blood flows in me now,' Eel answered in reply, 'which makes me a humanoid too. If you take our sun away, you are destroying us, wiping us off the face of the cosmos and I won't let you do that.'
'You’ve grown soft Eelxsis,' Xuryae said almost shouting, 'in such a small time, exchanging your gallant godlike form for mere flesh and dust from a small rock called earth.'
'At least I am not a thief like you Xuryae,' Eel shot back 'taking what doesn’t belong to you and leaving destruction everywhere you go. You have disgraced the entire Roti peoples and disgraced mother.'
'You dare speak to me about disgracing mother?' Xuryae bellowed anger in his voice. 'It was you who betrayed mother and our race in our greatest h
our of need, you Eelxsis, the chief Rogan, abandoned your duty station to protect Uls, our Healing sun, leaving us and our families at the mercies of the Morfs to ravage us, because of you, mother is dead and we have no home, roaming the dark recesses of the universe an orphaned race. Tell that humanoid with you the truth. Let him know who the real Eelxsis is.'
I turned to face Eel.
'Is it true what Xuryae is saying?'
'Yes, it's true.'
'I was outnumbered a million to one that day when the Morfs attacked our sun, Uls. I was afraid to fight so I chose to flee.'
'Is that why you ended up crashing on earth?' I asked stunned by this revelation.
'Yes,' he replied with a pained voice. 'I felt ashamed that I didn’t stand to fight and defend my people or at least die trying. When I found myself on earth, I chose to remain hidden there, opting to be a prisoner of another race, trying to erase the bad memories. My shame and crime which in itself deserved death has haunted me ever since.'
'I do not judge you Eel,' I said in a low voice. 'Neither do I condemn you for what happen back on your planet, for all I know and see is a man who has done more than is necessary to try and prevent our sun from being taken away from us. In you, I see a warrior, a savior of our race and I am proud to call you granddad.'
He turned to look at me and I saw tears in his eyes.
'I am honored,' I said, 'to stand in battle next to you Eel.'
'Alright DS,' he said, wiping tears from his face, 'let's do this or die trying!'
'What say you Eelxsis?' Xuryae thundered.
'I say,' replied Eel, 'come and get the sun but first, you'll have to go through me!'
'Rogans! Attack!' Xuryae cried out to his forces.