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Page 74.

10. Earth

The boat turned, braking with full rockets under the Earth’s night side. The boat’s tail engines blazed silently against a backdrop of stars and black space.

The boat drove itself down into the atmosphere, just so to avoid burning up. Alex and Maryan sat in their cockpit chairs, strapped in and wearing thickly padded dark leather flight suits. Helmets were strapped to the high backs of their seats, ready to pull down over their heads. The boat had become a flying military installation loaded down with rockets, cannons, machine guns, death rays, and nukepods. It was just a dessert menu of selections from all the armatures humankind had managed to devise in its infinite Rector-like genius for self-destruction. The boat began its hotly glowing reentry.

“Check out this toy,” Alex said proudly. “I chose the easy-drive model.” He held a joystick in each gloved hand. “Love this technology of the future, even if it is the past.” He exercised his booted feet over a variety of pedals, and the engines roared with life. The bulkheads vibrated tautly with power. “Ready to get down and straighten things out,” he said. The nose began to glow as it entered Earth’s atmosphere. Fire danced before the cockpit’s virtual windows. The craft rumbled and rocked in the plasma flow.

Ten minutes later, the boat was slicing through clean blue air above what had once been the Pacific Ocean. Its smaller wing engines and larger tail engines glowed in a mix of internal heat and reflected pinkish-golden evening sunlight as they streaked in the direction of what once had been Australia, now the home of the Siirk.

“You look beautiful with sunlight streaming through your hair,” Alex told Maryan.

“Thanks,” she said fondly. “I love sunlight and moonlight and wind in the waves,” she said as she moved thickly gloved hands over her navigator e-maps. “I love life and birds and dogs and...”

“...ice cream,” he said. “Chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry.”

They laughed.

“Here we go,” she said. “You can triangulate in by those parked ships.”

“Wow, look at them,” Alex said. On the sea below sat the Siirk fleet. Populating them were some of first the clones that Rector had created, far more violent and ruthless even than the real Siirk. “We eliminate those babies,” Alex said, and we set the real Siirk back generations. In the meantime we conquer Earth back, make arrangements to coexist with the Takkar and the LooWoo!, and give the Siirk the ultimatum to either behave or leave town.”

Alex zoomed the boat down between the warships. “Let’s save the Takkar nation!” He made repeated warning passes, and then came around with his guns blazing. The water was full of stitches, and one could see Siirk jumping overboard. A few ships were already sinking. Others heeled and started to flee south toward the Siirk homeland.

“The real Siirk will kill them off,” Maryan predicted.

“Just in time,” Alex said. They witnessed the horror of Siirk expansion that Rector had set in motion. Hovering at a standstill, they watched a fleet of several hundred Siirk boats sprawl over a huge harbor in what had once been Hudson Bay, while thousands of Siirk marauders looted and pillaged Takkar cities.

“We can stop that,” Alex said, wheeling the boat around through the air.

“Don’t shoot up their boats,” Maryan said. “Let them get away. They’ll bring a real tough message home to the other Siirk.”

Alex nodded. “I’m reluctant to shoot them on land for fear of hitting Takkar. Let’s take out a few of the ships to send them a clear message.” They wheeled the boat around and came in low over the water. Alex worked the flight controls with his hands while pressing various pedals with his feet to activate weapons systems. The system was intuitive, and it took only several passes before Alex was proficient. They roared in low, filling the water with ten thousand rounds a second of energy pellets like machine gun bullets. The water seethed gray over an area the size of a football field as the boat passed over again and again. Siirk ships were sinking, or ablaze, or both. The water was filled with Siirk heads looking up in shock.

“There’s a little taste of your own medicine!” Alex growled as he fired again. "Just think, a short while back, we were naked, shivering creatures, helpless as a new-born babies. Now we own the planet, and we're roaring around in this hot rod."

“Look over there,” Maryan said pointing with a gloved hand.

“A Siirk supply depot,” Alex said. He flew overhead for a good look. Dozens of flaming projectiles flew up ineffectually, falling short or bouncing off the boat’s hull. “Let’s help them rearrange their supplies a bit.” He came in high, right down the middle, and fired off a dozen or more rockets. The Siirk depot flickered with angry orange flames and black oily smoke.

“I can see Siirk running for the water!” Maryan exulted. “Yay! Yahhhh!” She made two thumbs up. “Yeeee-hoooo!”

They made a pass over Xumar’s settlement. Takkar warriors danced below, and waved their weapons in joyous greetings. “We’ll visit them tomorrow,” Alex said, suddenly feeling tired. Abruptly, the exhilaration disappeared. He knew he couldn't attack the helpless Siirk anymore--it would only be sickening slaughter.

“Hopefully we taught them a lesson” Maryan said, putting her arms over his, and resting her cheek against his forearm.

He nodded. "As long as we control the hardware, they will stay within their boundaries, and we can figure out some way to coexist with them until they can start acting civilized."

She shuddered. "You think they ever will?"

He steered the craft away from the smoke roiling over the water. "We had company once, long ago. They were called Neanderthalers. They didn't quite make it into the space age. I don't want to be responsible for another episode like that." He put his arm around her. "We have time. We're in control and we can do the right thing. Meanwhile, we've got some social calls to make." He remembered the Takkar holy place, and hoped their friends would feel safe to worship there tonight with a new sense of safety. Both Alex and Maryan lost their passion as the win became easier and easier. Victory was hands-down. Alex made pass after surgical pass around the cluster of Takkar settlements. He broke up every cluster of Siirk warriors he saw. Before dusk, they saw Takkar chasing the Siirk down to the water, which was filled with Siirk heads swimming for their ships. “The Takkar are winning,” he said, slapping his gun grips shut. “I think our day’s work is done.” Dusk was coming on, and darkness hid the horrors of war except for the licking and crawling of angry oily fires.

“Time to call it a day.” Maryan said. “Hope we never have another one like it.”

“Yeah,” Alex said. “We’ll put this old tank in storage in case we ever need her again. I hope the Siirk never forget this lesson as long as there is one of them left.”

“We have someplace to go, don’t we?” Maryan said. She leaned over into Alex’s chair and lightly kissed his cheek.