Page 62 of The Space Traveller's Lover
Shaillah defiantly holds General Stewart’s belligerent gaze. “You must not fire at the robots … they are lethal soldier robots! You must not give that order,” she insists, her tone more pleading than demanding.
General Ming stands up, his face twisted in a deep frown, as he groans. “Our people are suffering. These relentless robots are invading our cities.Reports of even more invasions are coming fast from this continent and across the Atlantic. We must act!”
“There is no time to discuss.” Shaillah runs towards General Ming, shouting at the top of her voice. “Stop the order to attack the robots, and then let’s talk. Stop everything now!”
But she finds everyone’s faces blankly looking at her, utterly unmoved by her pleas.
Shaillah steps back, staring intently at the generals as she delivers her starkest warning yet. “You saw how we can disrupt the weather in an instant. You saw our unstoppable robots. You saw our powerful energy fields and impassable shields. You do not want to see what will happen next … if your missiles hit the robots’ bouncing shields—”
“We’ve made the decision.We’re notgoing to stand by, idly watching while our cities are destroyed. We will fight!” As she hears General Stewart’s stern voice, she knows, this time, she has failed.
At first, no one moves, trying to figure out the source of the deafening noises and deep rumble shaking the entire room. But as the increasing tremors coming from below turn frighteningly violent, everyone starts running for his or her lives out of the crumbling walls.
As the whole building begins to collapse and the lights flicker rapidly before going out altogether, in the chaos, Sam finds himself pushed towards the exit. The masonry crumbles and falls and the thick choking dust cloud swiftly revolves around him, but neither touches him.
While his body is being thrust forward, he closes his eyes and presses his hands tightly against his ears. Surrounded by darkness and thundering noises, he is so confused and disorientated that he abandons himself to whatever is taking him. He lets his body go as he is relentlessly shoved and thrown outside the crumbling building, wondering how he’s managing to stay upright over the shaking ground.
Suddenly an intense glow compels him to open his eyes. To his horror, he watches a giant mushroom cloud rapidly growing on the horizon, while a torrential downpour of thick mud buries the piles of mangled rubble scattered all over the desolate streets.
As the dusty air clogs up his throat and the pungent burning stench stuffs his airways, he tries to bury his face among his elbows. Even though Sam is firmly pressing his hands on his ears, he can still hear the loudnoises of crumbling concrete, glass, and metal—as loud as the thunder and lightning across the darkened sky.
Amid the total devastation, he looks around in despair, wondering if he is the only one left on planet Earth. He checks his body for any sign of blood or injury and finds none. By now, he is sure that Erin has protected him and kept him alive.
“Erin, Shaillah, Erin!” He desperately shouts her name, even though he can hardly hear himself.
There’s no answer to his screams, but he is sure she must be close to him as he watches the hurtling rubble flying past his body, never touching him, as if he were inside a protective shelter, saving him from any harm.
Encouraged by this seemingly unbreakable armour, he tentatively makes a few steps forwards.At least I’m still alive, he thinks.And if I’m still alive, there is hope.
But his relief is short-lived, as his skin feels sore under the intense heat and his eyes water in the dense smoke. Blazing flames suddenly burst out of the mangled ruins, devouring what little is left. He watches in awe as the ferocious fire spreads and multiplies out of control, twisting and swaying in a wild chaotic dance, merging into a massive, unstoppable fireball and heading towards him from all directions.
Sam knows he cannot run anywhere, so he spares his last precious minutes to think about his family; his beloved island; and his dear Erin, who was cruelly taken away from him.She was never the enemy; they transformed her, changed her—those aliens, those evil beings.
Nervously blinking and covering his cheeks with his sore reddened hands, he decides to face the inferno with all the bravery he can muster. “The last thing they will burn is my dignity,” he whispers to himself, his body shaking as the searing heat and smoke start to suffocate him.
He watches the lapping flames as they get brighter and brighter, spluttering while conjuring weird, vibrant colours he has never seen before. They will soon turn him into ashes, yet he thinks it all looks beautiful.
He feels dazed and disorientated, starting to cough violently while desperately gasping for air. He thinks he is hallucinating when he spots a bright metallic object appearing in front of the firewall and flying towards him. He falls flat onto the ground as a cloud of dust and ashes completely buries him. But before it can settle, the fast-moving object briefly landsnext to him, and he is pulled inside. The furtive aircraft jets off vertically into the sky, seconds before the devastating flames consume the whole area, soon followed by an all-engulfing tsunami flood.
All that is left of the ARA’s compound is scattered heaps of concrete and steel. Only the glistening pyramidal object is rising intact from the scattered debris. It bathes the devastated surroundings with a brightening fulgor as if some revival energy is resurging from the ruins, ready to stop the fast-spreading disaster. But the pyramid soon jets off towards the Pacific Ocean, disappearing into the smothering sky.
Sam opens his sore eyes; they’re still hurting from the smoke and soot, but he can make out Shaillah’s welcoming smile as she softly wipes away the dark slime and muck covering his face.
“Where are we, Erin?” he asks, looking around and trying to focus his stinging eyes.
“We’re safe. I rescued you from the entrance of the ARA headquarters.” She comforts him.
“The ARA headquarters. Let’s go back there—to LA. We must rescue Professor Khan and the others.”
The sombre look on Shaillah’s face makes Sam shudder. As she gazes downheartedly at him, he fears what she is about to say.
“Sam,” she says in a shaky voice, “LA isn’t there. The city is gone. Everybody is gone.”
He stands up and stumbles and then tries to run away from her, ending up crashing against a solid glass wall. He tries to hit it with his hands, but then he spots a billowing dark cloud expanding down below, reminding him from where he has escaped. The engulfing black clouds are packed with floating debris, soot, and dust, throwing a dark blanket over everything.
He turns around, looking desperately at Shaillah, pleading for answers. He moves his mouth in an attempt to speak, but his muscles are stiffened, his mind blocked.
Shaillah walks towards him, looking at him sympathetically as if trying to calm him down.
