The Harvest (21 page)

“And you know where the command ship will
land?” Shane asked.

“That part is easy. The primary recruit ships
are the largest in the fleet, and the command ship will be the
largest of those. Aside from dirt-mound pyramids, which can’t
support the ship’s resource extraction process, there is only one
pyramid in the world that is big enough.”

“The Great Pyramid at Giza?” Laura said.

“Exactly,” Lily replied. “And two other
recruit ships will land in the same complex.”

While they spoke, the ship had descended.
Nearing the ground, it kicked up gusts, throwing dirt on them and
making them turn away and shield their eyes. It dropped down onto
the Aztec temple, its concave inside fitting perfectly over the
structure. Letting out a final hiss, it fell quiet. The ship itself
was a massive pyramid, the same kind that had destroyed Lily’s
rebel army and created the wormhole that sent her here. Its ominous
exterior was composed of what looked like a seamless sheet of
gold.

Shane was dumbstruck. Although the vessel had
a sinister purpose, it was magnificent. The video Lily had shown
them when they first arrived didn’t do it justice. It looked ten
times bigger than the pyramid it sat on, its apex reaching high
into the clear blue sky.

A rising curtain of molten gold, a section of
the ship’s gleaming surface vanished upward from the bottom. It
formed a forty-foot tall opening, looking in on a stark white
interior as brightly lit as the world surrounding it. Shane
imagined it was a giant tick, landing on its terrestrial host and
sucking the life from it. What
resources
besides people were
these invading marauders after?

Gazing into the silent, bright interior, he
tensed, half expecting an army of Anunnaki soldiers, clad in red
armor and sporting plasma guns, to march out and slaughter
them.

“This is one of the regular recruit ships.
Although the command ship is larger, they all have a similar
design,” Jones said, leading the way into the apparently empty
vessel.

Shane’s neck hurt from surveying the vast
chamber just beyond the entry. He was surprised at the ship’s
inside, expecting it would look futuristic and utilitarian like the
gray passageways and the reactor chamber he’d seen on the TV loop
in the barracks. But instead, a pyramid with stepped sides that
seemed carved from solid marble was hidden beneath the reflective
outer surface. The inner pyramid with fluted pillars and statues of
toga-wearing deities looked dreamed up by some ancient Roman or
Greek architect. Each massive step had guardrails along the edge
carved with intricate designs.

Lily and Jones led them to a futuristic
escalator that carried them up the side of the inner pyramid.
Everyone’s jaw was slack, their eyes wide with disbelief as they
surveyed the vessel.

“This outer region of the ship contains the
Anunnaki living chambers,” Lily explained.

The horizontal steps of the inner pyramid had
wide boulevards with railings on the edge and elegant apartments
forming the vertical part of each step. Fluted marble columns
rising at regular intervals along the railings supported the sparse
frame of the sloped outer skin, which Shane guessed must be created
by some kind of energy field. White sidewalks framed lawns of lush
grass, and palm and fruit trees delineated each apartment’s square
yard. The lavish dwellings were occasionally separated by terraced
gardens that ran at an angle up the full height of the pyramid.

“The plants in these outer portions of the
ship clean the air of carbon dioxide, make oxygen, and provide
food.”

Sunlight shone brightly through the golden
exterior, which looked completely transparent from the inside. He
imagined the views of space must be spectacular from the opulent
homes. Shane looked behind him and grew dizzy. They were so high up
that a tumble down the escalator would be fatal. He leaned forward
so he’d fall up the steps if he lost balance and returned his
attention to the stepped living areas they rose past, determined
not to look down again.

While all the apartments looked elegant
enough for royalty, it was apparent as they went higher that the
elite of the alien society lived near the top. The distance between
the steps increased by fifteen feet every so many levels, adding a
floor to the apartments until they were five stories tall. They had
elegant balconies on each floor, and grand entrances with pillars
on either side. If the lost city of Atlantis ever existed, Shane
reckoned this might be what it looked like.

Three quarters of the way up the golden outer
pyramid, the wide escalator brought them to the flat top of the
marble inner structure. He stepped out of the way so the other kids
could get off and made sure a guardrail was between him and the
five-story fall to the highest apartment’s courtyard. His jaw
remained slackened with awe as he surveyed the city complex that
sat atop the artificial mesa.

A grassy park, punctuated by trees,
surrounded the city. To accommodate the sloped exterior, the
buildings on the edges were shorter, and toward the middle, they
were taller. Shane could see a massive, circular structure standing
at the center of the city, its outer walls constructed of layers of
arches.

“That looks a bit like a Roman coliseum,”
Petrov mused. He was standing beside Shane, his mouth agape like
the rest of the teenagers.

“Unfortunately, it is used for a similar
purpose,” Lily said. “Anunnaki citizens can buy slaves and train
them for sport. Then they enter them into contests for public
entertainment.”

“It’s what they do to pass the time during
long voyages,” Jones growled, hatred showing on his face as he
glared at the massive structure.

“So this whole cleansing war they do to find
the best soldiers is probably like the Super Bowl to them,” Steve
observed with disgust.

Rising above it all, the sides of the outer
pyramid continued upward, meeting at the apex hundreds of feet
overhead.

Jones and Lily led them through the city
along a wide, palm tree-lined street that ended in a loop around
the coliseum. Then they took them back down the escalator and
showed them the entrance into the slave-processing parts of the
ship.

“Initially, they’ll bring you and the other
recruits into this holding chamber,” Jones explained.

Beyond the elegant outer living spaces was a
room the size of a football field. Its walls, ceiling, and floor
were windowless and featureless, and all the same flat gray color
that Shane remembered from the clip he watched last night. He
imagined a person would go mad in such a room if they were left in
it for too long.

They were shown the route into the ship the
harvested kids would take, and where they would be sorted into
slaves and soldiers. Those fit for neither would be rejected back
out of the ship. Then Jones showed them where they would be given
their armor and a weapon and led them into the final holding
chamber, where all the kids’ brains would be uploaded with their
combat training and missions.

“This is where the six members from each team
will slip away and go to the reactor chamber,” Jones said.

“And the seventh?” Jules asked.

“One person from each team will stay here,”
Lily answered. “When the reactor is destroyed, and the recruits are
released from the enemy’s control, that person will get as many of
the people in this room as they can to attack the Anunnaki and
overtake the ship. At this time, we will send in the other
teenagers we’re training to overtake the outer portions of the
ship.”

“All the recruits’ helmets will be equipped
with a universal translator, so they’ll understand you,” Jones
added. “Whoever is in this room will have to act fast and get as
many of the kids to fight as they can. Each second that passes will
give the Anunnaki time to regroup and come up with a plan to stop
you.”

“How are we supposed to get a bunch of
confused kids to rally an attack?” Anfisa asked. “That is a
ridiculous plan.”

“Their brains will already be uploaded with
combat training via their telepathic slave link,” Jones replied,
glowering at her as if to scold her for her negative comment. “They
will know how to fight and how to use the weapons the Anunnaki
issued them, but they’ll suddenly have free will. You just have to
point them in the right direction and give them the motivation they
need. Tell them the Anunnaki are the aliens who killed their
parents. They’ll do the rest.”

The buzzing came in Shane’s ear, and a flash
of light returned him to the training room. Kelly’s hand was still
holding his, and his butt was numb like he’d been sitting for
hours.

“Go have breakfast. Meet on the tarmac in
half an hour,” Jones ordered.

Although they all wore stunned looks on their
faces from the tour of the Anunnaki ship, apparently everyone else
was as hungry as he was. The room cleared like there was a fire in
the building.

“Feeling better or worse about this whole
thing?” Liam asked as they walked toward the cafeteria.

“Better, because I’m getting a grip on what
we have to do,” he lied.

“Their plan still sounds like a long shot,”
Kelly said. She was on Shane’s other side.

“It beats having no plan at all,” Steve
joined in, twisting his big fist in his opposite palm, “and that’s
what we’d have without them.”

It was a good point. The Anunnaki would’ve
enslaved them all before they had a clue if it weren’t for the
rebels. He mulled over their predicament in silence at breakfast.
Even the Russians, who were usually a noisy mess, wore expressions
of quiet contemplation as they ate. They’d learned so much new
stuff over the last day that it gave him a headache trying to sort
through it all.

They were going to have to face down an alien
force that was as old as time. The Anunnaki had been space
travelers since before humans existed. What chance did they really
have of defeating such an advanced race? Shane didn’t mind being
the underdog and always felt it gave him an advantage when viewed
as such. But this was more like an ant tackling an elephant.

Jones stepped into the cafeteria and ordered
them outside. They made a circle on the tarmac, as they’d done the
day before. Shane was overcome by dread, but he kept his head up.
He couldn’t let his teammates sense his gloomy mood, couldn’t risk
demoralizing them.

The captain stepped into the center of the
ring, looking around at each of their faces. He shook his head,
appearing disappointed with the morbid attitude that seemed to have
infected them all. Even the Finns, who until this point had been
the masters of stoicism, stood slack, their shoulders visibly
slumping, like they were sentenced to the firing squad.

“The task ahead seems insurmountable,” Jones
said, his gruff tone softer, more paternal than ever before. “But
we know you are up to it. We’ve run multiple simulations and are
confident the humans can defeat the Anunnaki. There is so much
riding in your favor. They will not expect an attack. They’ll
expect absolute obedience from the human population. When using the
slave gene, they have never had a recruit uprising. They will be
arrogant on that point. This arrogance is a weakness we will
exploit.”

Jones walked over to Steve, grabbed him by
the wrist, and led him into the center of the ring.

“You all must believe you have a chance—you
must believe you can destroy this enemy and take revenge on them
for what they did to your parents,” he continued. His voice grew
louder, and Shane noticed everyone stood taller as he spoke. Like a
halftime pep talk from Coach Rice, his words infused them with
hope. Jones was a model for how he should behave if he wanted to
give his team the best chance of survival.

“We train here—running countless laps,
fighting each other on this blacktop, and competing to capture a
flag off the mountain—to build your strength, your endurance, but
most importantly, your confidence. If you doubt yourselves in the
face of the enemy, then we don’t stand a chance. Humans have a
propensity towards arrogance as well, and it can give you an
advantage if focused properly. You have to believe you can beat
them. ”

Pointing at Anfisa, he signaled her to enter
the ring and fight Steve. She took a fighting stance, putting her
fists in front of her and turning her body slightly sideways. Steve
raised his fists as well, each seeming as big as the Russian girl’s
head. The air of aggression that charged yesterday’s fights was
dampened this morning. Shane felt closer to these foreigners, the
world seeming a lot smaller after being in the simulation of the
Anunnaki ship. These were not just his fellow humans, or even his
neighbors. Regardless of the differences his team had with the
Russians yesterday, the common enemy they shared made these kids
feel like his brothers and sisters.

Steve circled Anfisa, and Shane could see his
big friend didn’t want to attack. He wasn’t the type to hit a girl.
The calculating look in her eyes made it clear she didn’t have the
same reservations about assaulting him. Stepping sideways and
closing on Steve at the same time, she slipped within striking
range. With lightning speed and lethal precision, she punched under
his elbow and made contact with his ribs. There was a loud crack,
and Steve buckled over, groaning in pain.

Where yesterday, the Russians would have
cheered over the victory, this time, everyone remained relatively
quiet, aside from the empathetic sighs at hearing a bone break.
Anfisa dropped her guard, her expression transforming into one of
regret and concern.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“I think you broke some ribs,” Steve said
through gritted teeth. He gave her a weak smile, and she helped him
to the side where Dr. Blain was waiting. He wasn’t the type to stop
fighting over a few ribs, but Anfisa’s attention seemed to diffuse
what little aggression he’d approached her with in the first
place.