May Flowers

“It’s day three of what will later be referred to as The April Alien Invasion-“

“They don’t like being called Aliens.” Jake chimed in from somewhere off-camera.

“I don’t care what they like being called, they’ll be pushing up daisies when I’m done with them,” Garrison grumbled. He wore a wicked grin as he finished reassembling his long-range vaporizer and admired it with pride.

“I doubt their bodies would do more than turn into freeze dried bacon in the frozen desert of Mars,” Jake quipped with an amused chuckle.

“I’m trying to do our daily log, you boneheads. Could I have some quiet?” I asked, with a look of exasperation.

“We’re the only ones left. No one’s going to watch it.” Garrison dismissed.

“You don’t know that and even if we are, the people that come after us have a right to know what happened,” I argued with a huff of indignation.

“We don’t even know what happened yet. So, how are you going to tell the next people to come?” Jake asked in a mocking tone. “Just let me get the feed up and then we can see what we’re dealing with.” He added, followed by the clicking of his fingers on the keyboard before him.

Garrison and I both glared at him.

“Look, all I’m saying is just wait until I get the feed up. Then we will know, instead of speculating.” He explained with a sigh of impatience.

With a static sound, the large monitor in the middle of the room came to life.

The three of us sat in silence as Jake rewound through the last three days of footage. We watched as the six main cameras changed and a horrifying scene played out in reverse.

“Just stop here. We can already see what’s happened,” Garrison grunted with a furrowed brow.

“I’m going to the beginning. I want to see everything that happened,” Jake explained with an anxious expression.

While we wait for this to finish rewinding, let me explain to you how we got here.

 

Three days ago, the settlers of Station 34 were negotiating a treaty with the local Martians. We sought to work together to cultivate common farmland and grow mutually agreed upon food sources.

Since Martians are vegetarians, we hit a rough spot in the negotiations when we mentioned the idea of raising meat alongside the vegetation. Then using their waste as fertilizer for the produce, which did not go over well.

So the negotiations were at a standstill until further notice.

 

My team and I had guessed that the protein problem had sparked some tension between us and the Martians, causing them to attack our settlement.

However, as we watched the video continue to rewind, we realized that we could not have been more wrong.

“There’s the Ambassador leaving,” Jake stated as he pressed play on the surveillance feed.

We sat in silence as we watched the Martian Ambassador and his crew leave our settlement. Nothing looked out of the ordinary as our guards escorted them to their ship and they departed.

The rest of the morning went on as usual. We even saw ourselves being carted from the station to the South outpost for surveillance duty. But just as we were swapping out with the other team, trouble began at Station 34’s settlement gate.

A pack of ID-10-T’s had rolled in.

Literally, they travel around by rolling in ball form and then popping out of it into a scorpion-like shape before they attack. They were created with artificial intelligence with the purpose of defending Station 34 from all things alien and unknown. But their hard drives caught a Martian virus and now they target humans, instead of protecting us.

 

Currently they roam the deserts of Mars in packs and seek out human settlements to desolate for sport. Unfortunately that meant that Station 34 didn’t stand a chance.

First, the IDs broke through the main gate by hurtling their hover car-sized bodies against it until it was crumpled into useless scrap metal.

Then we watched in stunned horror as they systematically hunted down every living being in the Station settlement, including the Aliens that had been visiting or coming to do trade with us. No one was safe from their long-range vaporizers or plasma grenades.

We watched the feed until the ID Invasion was over and they had settled inside the Station 34 main hangar. They sat before the many monitors that showed the surveillance feed, as though to double-check they’d finished the job.

“What about the other outposts?” Garrison asked with a guarded expression.

“Let me see if we can get a live feed.” Jake sighed as he began clicking at the keyboard once more.

Within minutes, the video feed for the three other outposts came up. But they all appeared deserted.

The North outpost had the airlock hangar doors wide open and sand blew into the cabin. The East was closed, but the smearing of blood all over the walls and the unmoving leg of a body that lay just off-screen didn’t seem promising. The West had no sign of a struggle of any kind, so they held some semblance of promise. Even though we couldn’t see them.

“Where are they?” I muttered in a barely audible voice.

Jake clicked away at his keyboard and rewound the feed.

We watched as the North and East outposts fell under attack from the IDs just before they attacked the Station settlement. The teams never stood a chance as the IDs rolled directly into the unprotected cabins before they even knew what hit them. Some died from oxygen deprivation, others were shot with vaporizers and the less fortunate were pummelled to death by the sphere shaped ID’s.

Meanwhile the West team packed their bags and rushed out into the mid-day sun, wearing their anti-gravity oxygen suits.

“Follow them. I need to see where they went,” Garrison demanded.

“Got it, Sarge,” Jake replied as the room filled with the sound of his clicking again.

We anxiously watched the scene play out.

The West outpost team was making a break for the transporter pad, which wasn’t far from them. Just as they were about to reach the transporter pad, the balled-up IDs gunned them down and trampled their bodies for good measure.

We watched in horror as one of them unfurled and began playing with the corpse of one of our fallen comrades like a cat would with a mouse.

Suddenly, the screen went black as Jake turned it off.

“I hate those things,” Garrison mumbled, his cheeks red with rage. “They don’t even have a reason for killing. It’s just fun for them.”

“As opposed to the Uranians that kill us for food. Yes, I see how that’s much better.” Jake commented sarcastically. His eyes were glassy as he stared at the blank monitor before him.

“I can’t stay here.” I stated and got to my feet, rushing for the supply closet to start filling my bag.

“You saw what happened to the other teams,” Jake argued.

“And what’s your plan? Wait until they hunt us down, too? Or better yet, until our food runs out and we starve to death?” I challenged. “Honestly, we’re lucky they haven’t come for us yet.”

“Bridget, listen to me. We need to come up with a plan. We can’t just go running into the desert.” Garrison stated as he got to his feet.

“Let’s make it rain ID body parts.” Jake blurted, and a fire burned in his eyes.

Garrison and I gave him a look of disturbed confusion.

“How?” I challenged.

“There are some plasma grenades in the back. I could take down the force field, and then you and Garrison can set them along the fault line. When the ID-10-T’s come for us, I can activate the force field and blow them to kingdom come.” Jake explained.

I looked at Garrison with uncertainty. “What do you think?” I asked.

“Are you kidding? This is the best plan I’ve ever heard. Those idiots won’t know what hit them.” He stated with an impressed smirk. “Let’s do it.” He commanded.

“Heard.” Jake and I resounded in agreement.

“Let’s start with surveillance on the IDs. Jake, you get started on that. Bridget and I will gather all the explosives we can find.” Garrison added and led the way to the armoury.

I followed behind him nervously as we began gathering all the supplies and loading them into our packs. “We might not make it out of this,” I commented in a low voice, checking over my shoulder that Jake was preoccupied.

“You’re not one to back away from a challenge,” Garrison commented with a furrowed brow of confusion.

“This isn’t a challenge. It feels more like a death sentence.” I explained.

“I guess you just need to decide what you believe in.” He stated and knelt beside me with an appraising look.

“I don’t know what to believe,” I stated in a small voice, “But I don’t want to die.”

“Then believe in yourself and this team. Believe that you’ll make it out of this alive.” He stated and then shot a look over his shoulder at Jake.

“He’s just a kid,” I murmured with sadness. “If we don’t make it back-“

“Don’t think like that.” He cooed and placed a hand on my shoulder. His eyes bore into mine with determination as he tried to comfort me.

“Let’s just get this over with.” I sighed and did everything I could to focus on our final preparations, instead of our impending doom.

“What are you two talking about back there?” Jake called in suspicion.

“What’s the report?” Garrison asked as he handed me my anti-gravity oxygen suit and we suited up.

“They are sticking close to the station, patrolling the perimeter. One is monitoring the cameras but doesn’t seem to have control of them, which is a good thing for us. But the second you two set foot on the terra, they will see you and come for us, so you need to move fast.” He explained.

I clicked my radio on, “I’m ready when you are, G.” I stated as I flung my explosive-filled backpack over my shoulder.

“Let’s go.” He agreed. “What’s that old saying? April showers bring…”

“May flowers.” I finished with a chuckle as we moved to the airlock hangar and waited for it to pressurize.

“I feel the need to explain that machinery can’t become fertilizer.“ Jake stated over the radio, “And-“

“We know. Now shut up and keep an eye out for us while we try to make our last act a noble one. “ I muttered as Garrison and I stepped out into the frigid Mars desert landscape.

As we undertook what might be our last mission, I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d turned the daily log camera off.

I guess I did end up leaving something for those that came after us.

Author’s Note:

Apologies for the uncharacteristically long story. As most of you know, this isn’t typically my style (both genre and length) so I appreciate you taking the time to read!

So thank you for reading. This was an entry for RM’s April AI challenge.