Stryker #5, At the End of Eternity – Chapter 2

“I was quite disappointed to find that the legendary Pyramid of Kings was ruined beyond repair. It’s the only building we’ve found so far that wasn’t salvageable. Legend says that the pyramid used to be an energy weapon, and I was hoping that its ruin might provide some insights. Sadly, the legend will have to remain a legend. There is simply not enough of it left to tell what purpose it actually served.”
–Noel Lawson
June 18, 7243
 

Amy was in a state of utter shock. The nanites told her that the forest was gone, the tribe was gone, and all life in that area was gone. All that remained was an intense pool of lethal radiation. To her surprise, she saw that the radiation had already begun to decay. A quick calculation revealed that it would only take a few weeks for the radiation to fall to harmless levels. Even after the radiation had dissipated, however, the area would still not be habitable. All life in that area had been vaporized, and there was nothing left but parched rock and fused soil. The damage was so great that life might never return. A thriving ecosystem had been turned into a barren wasteland.

What broke her heart was that the forest-dwellers were gone. Someone had savagely murdered that unique band of people. There were other tribes in the world, but that group was gone forever, and there was nothing Amy could do to bring them back.

Alex looked up at her, but said nothing. He just stayed by her side.

Amy may have been at a loss for words, but the Sentinel was not. “The bomb undoubtedly came from Adrasta,” he commented.

The teenage girl nodded. “I know. They’re the only ones that have the technology. Even the Martians can’t build neutron bombs. I just – I can’t believe they would do something like this. I mean, sure, I’ve seen them kill people before, but this – this is different.”

“How so?”

“Well, before when they killed people they were trying to get that artifact. They had a reason for doing it. It was an appalling reason, but it wasn’t killing just out of spite. This is totally different. There was absolutely no reason for nuking that tribe. The people in Adrasta live in the mountains, not in the plains. The tribe wasn’t threatening them in any way, and they didn’t have anything that the Adrastans might have wanted. Even if the tribe was a threat to them – which it was not – there is no justification for vaporizing every last living thing in the forest and rendering it uninhabitable forever. This was an act of pure hatred. How could anyone be that evil?”

“The people on Xanthe would have been capable of doing this,” the Sentinel pointed out.

“I know,” Amy sighed. “I was just hoping that we were done dealing with that level of depravity. I mean, I really thought we weren’t going to run into any trouble this time. I thought we would just come here, cure the tribes, and move on. Oh, those poor people! How could the Adrastans do this? How could they just bomb them into oblivion?”

“What would you like to do?” the Sentinel asked.

“Well, first things first, I suppose. Can you set up a defensive perimeter around the other tribes? I want to make sure that no one else gets vaporized by nuclear weapons. I don’t know what’s going on yet, but I am not going to let the Adrastans murder everyone else on the planet. No more bombs are going to get dropped, no more raids are going to happen, and no more forest-dwellers are going to get killed. They are under our protection now.”

“Understood,” the Sentinel replied. “I will take care of the arrangements. But what are you going to do about Adrasta?”

“I’ll tell you what I’d like to do. I’d like to vaporize the entire city, in the same way that those heartless people vaporized that tribe. I am so intensely angry right now. It’s like Adrian Garza all over again. But I’m not going to do that – not yet, anyway. Right now I’m going to go to Adrasta and see what’s going on.”

“Can I go with you?” Alex asked.

Amy shook her head. “I’m sorry, boy, but the stone city isn’t a good place for you. You need to stay here with Steve. Don’t worry, though – I’ll be back as soon as I know what those godless heathens are doing.”

“I believe they are called the Children of Light,” the Sentinel commented.

“I am not calling them that,” Amy said firmly. “They’re the children of the devil, if you ask me. No true child of the light would go on a murderous rampage. I strongly suspect that this is going to turn out just like Xanthe did – I bet we’re dealing with another group of crazed, murderous lunatics who aren’t going to listen to reason. Whatever happened to all of the sane people?”

“Nolan and Miles were quite sane. In fact, Mars has become quite a civilized place! I believe it has a bright future ahead of it.”

Amy sighed. “I wish the same thing could be said of Earth. I just – I don’t know. I need to find out what is going on before I make any decisions. I mean, we could always move the tribes to another planet, but this is their home. They belong here.”

“We could always ask a Steward to turn a different planet into an exact replica of Earth,” the Sentinel suggested. “The tribes would never know the difference.”

“Well, the stars would be different. They might notice that. But still, it’s not fair. The tribes are not the problem here. The issue is the Adrastans. If anyone needs to leave it’s them.”

“So are you just going to remove them?”

Amy shook her head. “Not until I find out what’s going on. It may be that the bomb was built by some rogue psycho. The entire city may not be evil. But I’m not holding out a lot of hope. That bomb was a complex piece of technology that surely took some effort to manufacture. Unless things have gotten so bad in Adrasta that everyone has access to their own private nuclear weapons, that bomb means that the city as a whole supported and paid for the attack. That tells me that we’re dealing with a corrupt city, not a corrupt individual. But I’ll get to the bottom of it.”

The Sentinel nodded. “Very well. While you are doing that I will set up the defensive perimeter and continue looking for the cure. I will keep you posted as developments arise.”

Amy nodded. She looked into the distance, where she saw that smoke was still rising. She sighed. “Why does it always have to be like this, Steve? Why does everything have to be so hard?”

“I suppose that is why you were brought to this time, and not to some other century. You were brought here to solve the hard problems. After all, the perfect place to put a candle is not in a well-lit room but in an impossibly dark chasm. You have been placed where you were needed, and you are very much needed here right now. You are the only one who can protect these people and find a cure for their illness. There simply is no one else.”

“Well, there’s you too, you know. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

“It has been an honor to serve you,” the Sentinel replied. “That is, after all, why I was created. I was built for the express purpose of going back in time and rescuing you.”

Amy sighed. “I’m just hoping this will all be over soon. I’m getting tired of all this.”

“Just hold on a little bit longer. It’s not that much further to the end. You’re not alone, you know.”

“I know,” she replied.