Invasion: the apocalypse

2.3

Astra swallowed her hard and faced the man holding her weapons, “How did you know I fought the crawlers with the HELL blades and what is the with the sudden mood change once Jada’s name was mentioned? Does my mother have anything to do with the government that I have not heard of yet?” she asked.

Carter walked close to her and lowered the glow of the swords by reducing the power that the battery supply to them. He eventually switched them off and put them right back on the table.

“The Jada that we know is surely different from your mother. She must have changed beyond recognition when she quit working for the government and got herself a new identity. Who would have thought that she will still keep her name?” Carter said while unstrapping the pod for the HELL blades.

“do you eve know how the HELL blade’s work? They use an ultra-rare element called Runite that we have spent all of our resources trying to find, but can’t. The only person who knows how to and where to find it is Jada, your mother,” he added.

“what does that mean? You know her, it seems.” She said.

“it is as I have guessed, it appears that I do know her, even more than you do kid, the Jada I know however would never pick an orphan and raise it as her child, she was not a mother, she is an enlightened researcher and engineer who has dedicated her life to advancement of humanity. She has contributed the federation’s military forces more than any person alive, even more than I have done.” Cater said.

“what do you mean by Runite? Isn’t it a theoretical element whose existence should not be because it defies the laws of physics, and what exactly is the relationship between you and her? She never really told me anything about her past, so I didn’t know. No matter how much I ask, she refused to tell me.” Astra said.

“follow me. I need a drink and some fresh air. Lets talk in my place. By the way, your friend are in excellent hands too, so do not worry much about them.” He said and started packing the hell blades into a briefcase that he carried and walked to the door, pressing a few keys and opening the door.

Astra walked after him. They walked through a tight corridor for some minutes before finally arriving at an open space that has a transparent roof of glass. The space is obviously a living area that has an apple tree at the center, a flower garden and a small stream of water that has gold fishes swimming inside. By the side of the apple tree is a couch and to the extreme end are wooden chairs.

“this is my house. I officially live here. Over there is where the route to the presidential quarters and right there is where you will be staying. Your friends can’t stay there with you, unfortunately, and you are not allowed to move out too. Have a rest, you clothe and food have been prepared. Meet me out here twenty hours from now. You should rest and accustom yourself to the place first.” Carter said, placing a keycard on her hands and left answering none of the questions she has asked him earlier.

Astra walked to the door he has shown her and swiped the keycard he has given her on the door, unlocking it and walking in. as soon as she was inside the apartment, she realized by the sweet fragrance it emits that the place had belonged to Jada and has not been used since she left.

“this confirms that Jada was an engineer for the federation before she went to chrome city, but if she had such a job, it looks and certainly is more important than the teaching she does in the Chrome city college of engineering so why did she leave the fortress for the Chrome walled city? The inside decoration and wall art in this room also resemble the ones that I have grown up appreciating. There is no mistaking it, Jada truly lived here,” Astra said to herself and dropped the suitcase carrying the HELL blades and walked to the table in the room's corner with a plate full of food that has been prepared and dropped there for her.

After she had eaten to her fill, she took off her dirty and torn clothes. She had not changed in a week. She walked into the bathroom and took a hot shower.

When she came out, her purple hair has regained its glow. She also noticed that her hands have been blistered and bruised all over from fighting and constantly running from the crawlers.

On the bed next to her are a few changes in clothes that have been prepared for her. She opened the bag and pulled a military camouflage trousers and top. She put them on and rested on the bed for five hours where she had intended to sleep, but could not close her eyes once.

When the time for her to head out and meet with Carter where he asked her to wait for him reached, she walked out of the room with the hell blades and walked out of the room, locking the door after her. When she arrived at the place he has asked her to wait for him, she was surprised to find him already there checking his watch.

Once he sees her, he asked her to follow him and they went further down using an escalator. They travelled over seventeen floors below the one that they were on before finally arriving at where they were heading.

“we are at the bottom floor of the floating fortress and here is where we test out our destructive weapons that will normally damage other parts of the fortress. But in here, we can be at ease knowing that we are surrounded by a three feet thick wall of titanium gold alloy.” Carter explain.

He asked her to sit and asked her a few questions with a serious face. “do you know why the HELL blade worked against the alien crawlers that can survive even a stinger missile’s explosive powers?” he asked her.

“I do not know,” she resounded.

“Tell me how you activated the weapon when you first took it.” Carter said while walking round her from where she sat on a plastic chair.

“I don’t understand what you mean, but I simply switched the button on as Jada had instructed me to. She was standing right by my side.” She responded.

“what is with the questions here? Is the weapon so important to you? You can have it and pass it to a soldier that can use it properly.” She added.

“you really know nothing. Earlier, I told you that Jada created some weapons for the federation, but quit afterwards. The HELL blades are among these weapons too. The element she uses to make the laser transmitter that controls the atomic temperature of specific parts of a metal. But the lasers won’t activate until she has decoded them.” He said and walked to the distance in the room to pick the chair situated there.

“He has placed a Nano-scale encoder that prevents her weapons from activating if she was not there to operate them. It was the condition she gave the federation of if it wants her technology. She has always been afraid that the government will use the weapons she creates to fight off human rebels that seek the end of the federation, returning the world to how it was before the third world war where different nations existed. But Jada was right,” He added, now sitting on the chair.

“I was the only one she trusted with the encoded code for unlocking her second creation aside the HELL blades and, an atomic blaster that can instantly vaporize living matter, I was given a mission to unlock it so I tried to, and I foolishly succeeded, we mounted the atomic blaster on a plane and attacked the separatists who were attacking federation facilities.” He said, pausing for a minute before continuing.

“when she found out that we have exterminated an entire camp of the old world separatists when the core went out of our control and blasted at full power, wiping all the living things near the region including the women, children and all the refugees and hostages that they were holding. She was so mad and destroyed the core of the blaster, leaving with no word and disappearing. We drove her away with our lack of faith in her and by breaking our promise.” He said.

“What did she make the weapons to be used against then? Are you saying she knew the aliens will come one day? That’s not possible.” Astra said.

“this is what we all said too, but here are the aliens and after twelve days of battle with them, all the weapons in our arsenal have proven useless against them. Then we saw the footage from the servers in the chrome shelter. You were swinging these swords and cutting through the same crawlers that cannot be killed, even by a tank.” Carter said, standing from his seat.

“I was asking you earlier because she made five blades in total. Two of them are swords of different variety, while the rest include three spears. We have been keeping the second sword that she left behind with us because we tried all we could but could not get the Runite, but it was futile. We could not find it anywhere, so we simply gave up on her weapons and moved on. “

“But you, my dear, must have something that only Jada knows about. Which is why I want you to try activating the second hell blade that we have here.” He said and looked at the camera over their head and nodded.

A man in military uniform walked into the room through the door and placed a long briefcase that resembles a guitar case on the table in form of the two of them, then turned and left saying nothing.

Carter opened the briefcase and pulled out a similar pod from within, it was chained to two thinner swords than the HELL blades that she was fighting with. The blade is Japanese style Katana, slimmer but longer than the ones she was using by more than double. When she held it, it was heavier than the two she was using despite its thinness. It has shiny black coloration even though it is not painted.

“Activate it. Just be careful.” Carter said while backing away a little.

Astra strapped the pod on her back and picked the heavy sword and stepped back from the table. She turned on the battery and pressed the button on the handle of the sword, immediately; the sword started vibrating and shaking in her hand. A few seconds later, the entire sword was white and glowing with exception of the handle she was holding. Astra has never seen a power such as the one he held in her hands.

“I am sure this thing right here will cut through anything no matter what it sis like cheese,” Astra said,

She placed the edge of the sword on the metallic table they were seated on before they stood up. Almost immediately, the sword went through the metallic table and sliced off the edge effortlessly, turning both sides of the already cut metal red hot.

Astra switched off the HELL blade and placed it back in its cover, closing the long briefcase and looking at the direction that Carter was standing. Surprise petrified him and his jaw can’t seem to close shut his mouth.

“Are you okay? You are not saying anything.” She said, walking closer to him.

Carter finally managed to come back to his senses from the surprise that had taken him unaware after Astra has activated a weapon he has spent nine years of his life trying to activate. He walked closer and reached for her hands, grabbing her arm and holding it.

“Open your palm. I want to examine something.” He said to her.

Astra opened her palm. He scanned her palms with five different scanners that all showed him nothing in the end. After five hours of questions and scans of her body, Astra has just started getting uneasy with Carter, having found out she can activate the weapons that Jada has made, he has become obsessed with checking her body for clues why but could not find any.

“This man has turned into a pervert who just wants to check my body out,” she said out loud after the twenty-eighth body scan she has done today scan.

“I indeed have a serious interest in that little body of yours, how can it be possible that you can activate the HELL blades but no matter what I do, I cannot find out what is in your body that is allowing you to activate them on touch. Either way, we will keep the hell blades close to you at all times since you are the only one that can activate it.” He said.

Astra lowered her head in frustration that she lost her temper and literally called the smartest man alive a pervert that wants her body and in response he said yes.

“get out of your head Astra. Anyway, you need to head to you apartment and rest. I have them take your new uniform and schedule for tomorrow to your room. All the residents of the fortress above the age of sixteen must serve as soldiers. Your evaluation, assignment of unit and training begin the next day. Better head to your room and have some sleep.” He said.

Astra went to her room and took another bath, cutting her hair even lower before going to bed.

“tomorrow is the day I join the military. I finally have chance to fight back now.” She said to herself as sleep slowly takes away her consciousness.