The Overlord: A Post-Apocalyptic Novel (5 page)

4

THE COMMANDER

Upon landing in the custody of my captives, I found thousands of Thralls ceremoniously awaiting my return. There, in the foreboding forest, they were commemorating the arrival of a Space Wizard from the far reaches of a mythical Evening Galaxy. According to their distorted beliefs, the Space Wizard would be the one to restore the energy behind their glory. Unfortunately, they had mistaken me for this wizard. What had Zero done to twist the minds of these poor worshippers?

I don't know where the Commander came up with such yarns. I expect that the people of the ravaged world needed something to cling to for hope. Therefore, Zero took it upon himself to fabricate an idea that might give them some answers. I'm just sorry that idea had to be me.

There were rows upon rows of them, so many and all so very young. More than I remembered leaving behind, this was not the Thralldom I had once known. It seemed that Commander Zero had kept himself busy in my absence.

Setting foot onto the grounds of the Lair, Sentria and her squad escorted me through the main entrance of the pyramid. The atrium inside was at least forty levels high. Despite the overrun foliage outside, the massive room gleamed as if I were peering from inside a diamond. The distant panorama of the forest beyond shone through every sloping pane as rain poured against the angled panels like endless waterfalls.

Still cuffed, I was defenseless as Sentria propositioned me to move deeper into the atrium. All around, I found myself greeted by every manner of plant life, both rare and common. These days, though, any plant can probably be considered rare.

The whole place was like one massive greenhouse. It'd been so long since I'd seen such emerald life forms. My spirit felt calm and comforted as I touched their leaves and breathed the earthly air that emanated around them.

My enchantment was soon broken by the unnerving slam of the entrance behind me. I turned my gaze back around and realized I was alone. Sentria and her squad had left me. The only company that lingered was the speech of a man, drifting throughout the entire atrium. I returned to look forward to investigate the voice's source.

It resounded with a rhythmic tone, "Once, I lit up the darkest place. Once, I stood at the edge of space."

It was not a new voice to me. I had a suspicion on who it might be, but I didn't dare interrupt. I wanted to hear more. I wanted to find out what the voice was attempting to accomplish.

The echo continued in rhyme, "Once, I was the furthest king. Once, I had everything."

Intrigued, I began to follow the vocal trajectory deeper into the tranquil gardens as I hunted for any sign of a human.

"I roam the farthest orbit of shame," the vocals recited. "My reign is done, but I still have my name."

I was getting close. I soon found the source of the voice within a circular array of trees. In the center was a statue of me. My own likeness had been sculpted with the world between my palms like a toy in my hands. The sight of that image made my stomach turn. I continued forward for a closer look as the unsettling cadence lingered in my ears.

The rhyme progressed, "One day, I was there. The next, I was gone. Some say it's not fair. Some say it's where I belong."

My stone face seemed to be studying that of my flesh and vice versa. It was making me uneasy. I could look upon it no more. I lowered my gaze to its statuesque feet where I discovered that there was a man seated beneath the eerie effigy.

It was Commander Zero, my right-hand man whom I had scouted from the land down under. During the days of the Last War, he always wore his armor, even off-duty. All these years later, he was still ready for battle. Zero was a huge man and a force I wouldn't want to reckon with, the kind of man made of pure muscle. His eyes were blue and cold. The hair on his head was an atypical white, just as it was when I last saw him. It had nothing to do with age. It was something else from when he was a boy. No one ever felt it was right to ask and he never hinted as to how he got such a snow bleached mane. Various scars were scattered about his skin, an unusual appearance that never seemed to intimidate anyone. Somehow, he always managed to look more complacent than a resting stag in the forest.

He hid his ferocity well. Zero was the kind of man who never let anyone know what to expect, but I had fought side by side with him enough to expect at least one thing. I knew not to trust him. I knew that it was in these calmer, quieter moments where he always proved to be the most dangerous.

Zero was reading from a singed page of a heavily beaten book, "So as I am, so will you be. I was found out by my truest deeds. I remain to make this plea. You cannot hide from those you deceive. You cannot hide from what you truly be."

As he brought the narration to an end, he slammed the worn cover shut. His sapphire eyes pierced over to me as he let out a rascally smile. "'The Fall of Pluto.' Somebody lost to the ages wrote it during the days of the old world." He held up the ragged book, "A beauty. Wouldn't you agree? I happened upon this tome out in the wasteland, in the middle of battle. There's not many books left, you know."

"Doesn't look like there's much of anything left," I said as I finally chose to speak.

Ignoring my statement, Zero kept on about the poem in his heavy Australian strine, "That's exactly why I hold onto this little rip snorter. It's a treasure, a personification of the ninth planet's fall from fame after it was found out to be nothing more than a heaping moon. Alternatively, I think these words have more in common with you than they do with little Pluto."

Knowing that this was the beginning of what was likely to be another defensive conversation, I decided to make myself comfortable. Crossing my arms, I leaned back against the trunk of a nearby tree. The key to beating an adversary at a mind game was to convince myself that I wasn't really a player at all. Rather, I always took the role of a spectator. From there, I could observe more than I ever could in the thick of it all.

I defended, "Pluto may not be all it once seemed to be, but it hasn't ceased to exist. It's still out there, guarding the backs of this galaxy from the rest of the universe."

Sneakily, he took the opportunity to question my motives, "Well, isn't that some good oil. Is that what you been doing this whole time, mate?"

I then realized that in his mind, by defending Pluto, I was actually defending myself. I quickly changed my tactics as I hastily responded, "I'm no guardian. Not sure if I ever was."

"No worries," the Commander replied. "I'm just glad you finally stopped mucking around out there. Thank you for coming back, Doctor."

Doctor? That title took me by surprise. Doctor was something I had long forgotten. I hadn't been called Doctor in so long, I had to recall to myself if I was even qualified to be addressed as one. I could tell he was trying to take me off guard by throwing it out there. The other Thralls greeted me as their Overlord, not just out of respect, but out of submission. By calling me Doctor, Zero had just revealed his true colors. Our whole conversation was a game of chess and every word was a pawn.

"Are you thanking me for coming back or for coming here?" I queried. "Because I didn't really have much of a choice with the latter." I held up my cuffed wrists to prove my point.

"Bull dust! You and I both know that you could have gotten away at any moment," countered Commander Zero. "Don't tell me you didn't have a choice and don't you dare try to tell me those shackles are actually holding you back. No one really made you come here. I know that much, London to a brick. Might as well admit it, you chose to come here freely."

He paused for a moment and tilted his head to one side. Zero was trying to catch a glimpse of my eyes. He had been attempting to see them ever since I walked over to him, but my eyes were too well concealed behind my bulky shades.

The Commander then held up his arms with outstretched hands, adding, "Besides, is this not where you belong? This place is the pinnacle of the empire you created. You may have been absent from current elements, but we, your followers, have remained here awaiting your return."

"Waiting for what, Commander, some wizard from space?" I rhetorically balked. "I know you're behind these tales. You were always fabricating stories in the old days, manipulating people's hopes with false prophecies. It was always for your own gain back then and I see nothing has changed with you now."

He sat there for a few unnerving seconds, staring at me with his jawline raised. Finally, he let his thick neck come to a rest as he lowered his chin and tapped his fingers together in front of himself. Spookily, it was almost a mirror image of my statue that stood above him.

"Doctor, I think today those tales just proved to be more than stories," he grinned wildly. "Are you not here standing before me now? This very moment has long been awaited."

"You have waited in vain," I remarked.

"You left in vain," Zero jabbed back.

I was beginning to become infuriated. I contested, "What do you know about why I left?"

A wry smile then snuck out from his shadowed whiskers as Zero answered my question with a query of his own, "Tell me, mate, did you find whatever it was you were looking for out there?"

I asked, "Who said I went looking for something?"

"You didn't find it, did you?" Zero was beginning to try me. "Your walkabout through the universe was an absolute waste."

I admitted with a forlorn reply, "I didn't find what I thought I would, if that's what you mean."

Zero strangely concluded, "That's because everything you are, everything you'll ever be is right here. All you have to do is take it back."

"From who?" I implored.

The Commander then gave me a broad hint. "Consider what has become of humanity since you left, Doctor."

"They're all better off without any interference from you or me," I proposed.

Zero lectured back, "I've come to a universal conclusion that humans are meant to be ruled. It's the only way to ensure their survival."

"I've also come to a universal conclusion, Commander," I argued. "Surviving isn't really living."

The Commander must've known in that moment that I wasn't at all interested in managing mankind because he suddenly switched to a plea of empathy. It might've convinced someone else, but I personally found the transition somewhat unnatural. I was witnessing a performance. The man who stood there before me knew how to act. I was being played.

"Life can flourish once more," he pleaded. "It just needs a fighting chance, but I can't do it alone. I need your help."

Half of a chuckle accidentally slipped from my lips. His proposition was bathed in drama and it amused me. He terribly wanted something and was trying his best to hide it from plain view by coaxing it with the welfare of others. I knew his attempt was really all about him and his agenda, but what was it that he was so desperately after?

Zero continued, "Don't think this is about old quarrels, mate. There's no longer a war between the Thralls and the rest of the Free World. I don't ever wish there to be again, but there is now a mutual evil that must be eradicated for the good of all."

Suspicious, I asked, "What evil?"

"Mankind itself," he answered.

"This again?" I thought to myself. "He better be joking."

My blood boiled. It took everything in me to not to take him down right then and there. Did not a single Thrall harbor any respect for the loss humanity had already suffered in the Last War? Now Zero wished to declare war on life itself. Luckily for him, he had an addendum.

He went on, "You're probably not familiar with the problem behind the Echoes. You weren't here when they first came about. The Echoes are human beings, like you and me. Only difference is that their bodies have succumbed to the radiation sickness brought on by the Last War. Those that have survived the affliction have now turned mad, partial from the beings they once were. Of course, there are different levels of brain corruption, but no matter the stage, they all pose a hazard. These violent and vagrant inhabitants of the wasteland have somehow got the idea that the only way to get what they want is to kill for it."

"I wonder where they could've gotten that idea," I sarcastically mused. "We can't exactly say we didn't set the example for them all those years ago."

"A vicious cycle, to be sure. Change who is in control too much and the people will start to believe that anybody can do it, that they, themselves, can rule their own world." Zero explained, "That's beside the point, though. Those Echoes out in the wasteland aim to diminish what little order is left with new forms of weaponry unlike anything we've ever seen."

"How so?" I asked, thinking I had seen and heard it all and would probably not be surprised by the dilemma.

He educated, "They've harnessed radiation, weaponized it with guns that can blast a victim until literally nothing is left of them save for soup and ash. Our joint relations with the United Corps intelligence say we're dealing with atomic energy or something along those lines, but I think we're all in for something far more sinister. Doctor, I fully believe this technology is being created with the help of some new form of the Blood Tech."

That didn't add up. "I find that hard to believe. How could a band of wasteland degenerates accomplish advanced atomic weaponry, let alone formulate new integrations of the Blood Tech? I currently hold the only way to control it all. There's no way the technology exists outside the reach of the Wandering Star."