The Red Rover: Clash Of The Celestials

Jovan sat alone at the navigation control station. The Red Rover was still nonoperational as the outside light filtered in via the front windshield. He affixed a headset and lowered the microphone to his mouth.

He looked towards the front console where the empty pilot seats resided. One of the metallic rods vertically passed the windshield coming from the ground to the apex of the spacecraft. The Red Rover’s force-field activator had been bent horizontally while another rod was secured to it.

The remaining rods were all melded together by Dee-Dee and Ozone using the parts from the WaftMar and HoverSol to create a long metallic pipe that led into the jungle towards the water source. At least, according to Marius.

Silence. Marius, Callista and the two androids had left him in the cockpit ages ago and yet the ship was still dark. The waiting was the worst aspect of it all.

He had no way of knowing what phase of the process they were in—and that wouldn’t change unless they got the ship working or they returned. He shook his head as he turned back to the console.

“All I know is—this had better work.”

A small hole was dug just ahead of the raging river. Dee-Dee and Ozone were securing the end of the metal piping slightly under the ground surface against the water. Callista leaned over Ozone’s shoulder watching them.

She wore a headset and held two non-extended batons.

“Are we good?” Marius said.

He seemed somewhat nervous. Should this plan work like she said it could, there was a chance the rods might turn into projectiles from the excess energy. Heck, that was a concern even if it didn’t work. Not that she was ever going to tell him that. This was more his idea anyway. She had only told him they needed a conduit.

The androids rose to their feet and turned to them.

“Yes sir.” They said.

Marius turned to Callista and nodded. She handed the two batons to Ozone. Dee-Dee transformed into a metallic battle-cat. Callista shook her head. For a brief instant, she flashed back to the mountains of Cnaeus, when she and the other cadets faced off with the duplicates—not that she had the fondest memories of that particular experience. How they survived that ordeal was a miracle in and of itself.

Ozone got down on both knees as Dee-Dee leapt into the water a moment later. Marius snapped his fingers as Callista turned to see him taking up a position several feet away. She joined him and turned back to the river—they could see the profile of the android kneeling at the shore—holding the batons.

“This is just in case sparks fly.” He said.

“I figured as much.”

Callista crossed her fingers. They were running out of workable solutions for the Red Rover. This was their last best hope. She looked to the river once more—nothing had changed thus far. It was a mystery to them if Dee-Dee would be powerful enough to change the composition of the water by itself. Unfortunately, they hadn’t had the opportunity to do a trial run.

The rapids were moving downstream as Marius’ plan called for the android to run upstream against it in a circular motion. Depending on how deep the river was, it was possible that Dee-Dee had already been washed away. The android was low on battery according to Marius and there was no way to know if it would be able to function against such incredible pressure.

Callista affixed her headset better around her hair. Her nerves were beginning to get the best of her. Each second they waited felt like a minute. Each minute even longer than that. She turned to Marius.

“Nothing’s happening.”

“Just be patient.” He said.

Callista turned back to the water, watching it with hope in her eyes.

Within moments, the composition of the river around Ozone’s position began to change. It was whirl-pooling. Dee-Dee could be vaguely seen within the water running along the river bed in a circular pattern.

“It’s happening Doctor Marius.” Ozone said.

Callista looked at Marius as he still hadn’t given the order. What could he have possibly been waiting for? The whirlpool continued to grow as the water coming downstream flowed into it like a wall before being sucked into the vortex.

“Sir?” Callista asked.

“All right Ozone. Hit it!” Marius called out.

Ozone flicked its wrists as the two batons extended.

“Cross your fingers.”

Marius said as he turned to her. She revealed her hands—she was already ahead of him.

Ozone activated the batons as they electrified. The android held the batons in a downward motion above its head and slammed them against the river. Sparks immediately flew from the electric shock. Ozone was blown backwards from the power surge as the android slammed into a nearby tree.

That was the second time she had seen Ozone do that. Better it was the android than any of the cadets. Dee-Dee had also been thrown out of the river as the android flew into the jungle behind them. Dee-Dee’s momentum combined with the voltage was probably too potent to keep the android grounded.

Callista sniffed the air. She could smell something burning around them.

“Sir, do you smell that?”

“I certainly do.”

Marius looked back to the jungle towards the rod piping as she followed his eyes. The foliage underneath the rod was smoldering—leading back towards the Red Rover.

Jovan’s clasped hands bounced up and down against the top of his head. The waiting was slowly killing him inside. With each passing moment, the doubt in his mind grew just a little bit stronger. If Callista and Marius were mistaken—what other options did they have?

He sighed and shook his head. Perish the thought. Now he understood that phrase completely. A flash of light arrived upon the cockpit windshield as Jovan could see it out of the corner of his eyes. He turned to the window as the light flashed brightly—temporarily blinding him.

He shielded his eyes as the Red Rover violently shook all around, taking him—along with his wheelchair to the floor.

“What the hell?”

Jovan struggled to get his bearings as he looked around. His chair was now on its side and would be a tall task to get right side up again—especially all by himself.

“Great. That’s just great.”

He looked up at the navigation station. A tiny indicator light on the console was blinking. It was blinking. The lights were still out all over the cockpit, but the blinking never stopped. He fixed his headset, grabbing the microphone.

“Callista. Callista do you copy? Is everything all right?”

He paused a moment as she didn’t respond. He sighed. Maybe it hadn’t worked after all.

“Jovan. Is that you?” Callista’s voice was like a sweet symphony to his eardrums.

“Woo hoo. You damn right it is.”

“Doctor Marius. It worked. I can hear him.”

“Of course it worked. I never doubted you for a second.” Marius said.

He must have been beside Callista for Jovan to hear him so clearly. Not only did their headsets work. The sound quality was amazing.

“Sit tight Jovan. We’re on our way back to you.”

“Roger that. I ain’t going nowhere.”

Jovan lowered the headset to his neck. He lied back down on the floor. At last, the Red Rover was working again and he was finally able to exhale.

Orion sat on the edge of the pool kicking his feet in the water. June and Rio were swimming laps as Gordie was lying across a massage table receiving a treatment from an Aphotriton. The masseuse rubbed him in silence while he was making all kinds of embarrassing squealing noises.

“Now you see, this is the kind of treatment that’ll have a guy calling this place home.”

Orion turned to him. He did look relaxed. Which was not the norm as far as Gordie was concerned.

“Don’t get used to it, Gordie. We have to go back soon.”

“Why? Just so Marius can yell at us for leaving them behind? No thanks.”

Orion scoffed. Gordie was something else. Not even a full day had passed from when they were in the jungle. All he did was whine about how much he hated being here and how much he wanted to go back to the Red Rover. Now—all it took was a single back rub and some hot oils—for him to be singing a different tune. What a joke.

The craftsmanship that went into building this indoor sanctuary was notable as Orion glanced around. He had never been a big fan of large bodies of water, however, the Aphotritons continued to show him that they were an alien race of many talents.

On the Rover Base, a spa like this one would be entirely mechanical—just cold, soulless and artificial. The only thing warm would have been the water. But in Aphotriton—the atmosphere around them—around this swimming pool—was like an extension of nature itself. Earth and greenery acting together in perfect harmony.

This was how they should have been living all along. Their Rover community had it wrong. Sure, there was a place for order, routine and discipline. But not to the degree in which that mantra had been imposed upon them as children. It was as oppressive as it was regressive. To the detriment of life itself.

Now it made sense why Delly was so determined to leave. If she hadn’t left, she would have surely died. She was too much of a free-spirit to live there for the rest of her life, being told what to do. What to think. What to feel. Where to go. And how to live.

Though he never told her—Orion always admired her courage. She was confident bordering on arrogant, but that was probably her over-compensating for what she had to endure growing up. All they were told was what they couldn’t do. And all she wanted was to be told what she could.

Orion was lost in a daze when a huge splash slapped him in the face. He immediately covered his face as he spit some water out. He wiped his face and opened his eyes.

“Which one of you did that?”

Both girls pointed at one another as he looked at them both. He wiped his face once more. They both looked guilty as far as he was concerned.

“I’m serious, which one of you did that?”

“I don’t know Orion, why don’t you get in the water and find out?” June said.

“Yeah. We’ll tell you if you get in.” Rio added.

Both girls started laughing as they looked at each other. He shook his head. They were egging him on. The possibility that both had done it was now in play.

“Gordie. Did you see which one of them splashed me?”

Gordie lifted his head slightly. He clearly hadn’t been paying attention.

“Never mind. Enjoy your massage.”

Orion turned back to the girls. They were both displaying playful looks. They really thought that shit was funny.

“You know what? Forget this. I’m going back to the room to sleep.”

He rose to his feet and headed for the exit.

“Oh come on, Orion. It was a joke.” Rio said.

“Yeah. Rio didn’t mean to do it. Come on—swim with us.” June chimed in.

He approached the door and just before reaching it—did an immediate about face. He took off running and jumped as high as he could—before reaching the pool’s edge.

Orion pulled his body in tight as he landed in the water with a huge splash. He submerged in the water for a moment before opening his eyes. He swam back to the surface. He came up for air to see the two girls before him.

“Now are you gonna tell me which one of you did it?

Rio and June looked at each other once more. They turned back to him and immediately started splashing him. He tried to deflect their attacks by submerging himself. He swam towards them under the surface.

“Uh oh.” Rio said.

She and June began swimming away as he was getting closer. Orion was now the predator and they were his prey.

Ammaik sat on the floor of her room with her legs crossed and her eyes closed. Her room was an amalgamation of elemental engineering fused with nature. The quiet around her made it an ideal environment for meditation. This was a needed exercise for her to maintain her sanity.

She meditated to reminisce on the period in her youth when the Aphotriton people were happy—at least before the curfew had been instituted by Lord Severus.

Before that time—her father would regularly take their entire family—including her older brother, Olgus, for brisk walks throughout the surrounding jungle. Mostly in the daylight—but sometimes at night as well. There were even rare occasions that they would camp for the night, only to return to Aphotriton the next day.

During their evening jaunts, they would scour the territory in search of a comfortable environ—which once found—they would settle and simply count the stars. Neither her nor her brother were ever able to finish counting before falling asleep. The billions of stars always made Ammaik lose her place, forcing her to start over. How she yearned to reach out and touch them.

Andrew was the lucky one. He had actually lived among the stars. He saw their beauty up close and personal. He was living what she dreamed. He was a Celestial.

Ammaik shook her head. She longed for the glorious days of her past as now they were becoming nothing more than a faded memory. Olgus had been gone for so long that she could barely remember what he looked like. That her parents had never gotten around to having a family portrait made for them was regrettable.

As she grew to adulthood, practically every citizen in Aphotriton had become husks of their former selves. The children rarely played outside and sleep-overs were a relic of a bygone era. Their civilization used to be a collective—now it was simply a collection of individuals—who rarely interacted with one another unless absolutely necessary.

Maybe that was what Severus’ plan was all along. If the kingdom had a problem with his leadership, they were simply too distrust worthy of one another to seek change.

Whenever news spread that another civilian had been designated as gone or missing, a collective shrug was felt all around the kingdom. Sadly, their aloofness had turned to indifference.

Life was no longer about living for the common citizen of Aphotriton. Instead it had become an exercise in endurance. A question of how long could they go before they were ready to retire. It would have been unsurprising if any of the missing citizens had actually left under their own volition.

Araneus was a world that her collective civilization literally knew nothing about. Andrew had just arrived and he probably knew more about it than she did. What a sobering thought that was. That a guest could know more about a home than the one who resided in it.

“She was actually walking around with one of them!”

Her father said. Ammaik’s eyes opened, her concentration had been broken. She looked towards her bedroom door. It was cracked. She rose to her feet and nimbly approached it. She leaned against the door as she pulled it out further.

Ammaik peeked outside and looked towards the lower level to see her mother, Quora, barely within view—her father was hidden from her position.

“I told her to stay away from the celestial. They’re not like us. It’s not safe.” Her father went on.

“I thought they would be confined to the palace until the Harvest was complete.” Quora said.

“What did I tell you about ever saying that word? You are never, ever supposed to say that word in this house or anywhere else.”

Quora recoiled as she lowered her head in shame. The Harvest was a sore subject around the kingdom. Rumors quietly festered that the random disappearances were not random at all. That it was possible that the Araneans had not been defeated after all. That their victory over them generations ago was merely a truce.

It was only a myth. However, as the vanishings began to affect more families in Aphotriton, the legend had only grown stronger—even if no one dared to utter it out loud—for fear of being called a heretic.

“You need to speak to someone about this.” Her mother said. She was trembling as she did. “We can’t afford to lose Ammaik too. Not after—”

“I understand. And I’ll take care of it.”

Ammaik fell back into her bedroom. She quietly closed the door before leaning back against it. Andrew and his fellow celestials were in danger. She was sure of it. The only problem was—how would she be able to help him?