Hey, all who are reading this. Amazing. :) This was actually a school assignment and I just randomly thought, "HEY! I should put this on ffnet...because I need a little break from Japanese Proverbs; Chapter 2." Yeah, check it out. :) Thanks.
The Cold Equations – Alternate Ending
As Marilyn stood by the communicator, the words of her brother – Goodbye, little sister…– drifted through her head, a cold smile creeping onto her face. Barton's eyebrows pulled together in confusion – why was the young girl so happy to be nearing her death? The small teenager slowly turned towards the pilot of the EDS, her eyes turning from a cool blue to blistering orange, like the color of blazing flames. Barton pulled back in fear. He recognized that color – that dreadful color. The color he had not seen in years and most everyone was lucky if they hadn't. He prepared himself for the next transformation – and soon it came.
She started to hunch over, the bones of her cheeks stretching out at odd, abnormal angles, giving her a grotesque look. Milky blue saliva dripped from her rotten-yellow teeth. Her skin glistened under the soft light of the control panel – a silvery blue. An almost pretty blue – if it had not been her skin. Barton glanced down at Marilyn's hands and feet to see the nails extended and yellow in color, as if it were attacked by fungus.
Barton cowered back in horror as she neared him, an evil glint in her still blistering eyes. His short stumbles could not match her long strides. Thump, thump, thump. Her heavy steps echoed through the room.
"Please…" Barton called out, his hand searching for the emergency call button, "spare me. I beg of you."
"You foolish humans! You thought your race had defeated ours? The great Zombonians?!" Marilyn cried out in rage, a deep growl emitting from the back of her throat – a sound that sent chills crawling up Barton's spine. She stalked forward, her lanky arms outstretched towards him.
Her stench wafted up to his nose, the sickly sweet odor clouding his vision. Barton leaned to the left discreetly, finally coming across the familiar, large, square button. He quickly pressed down on it, sending alarms through the whole ship. Marilyn jumped back in surprise, tossing her head every which way. She clutched her overgrown ears with her blue hands, cringing at the loud sound. The sound was much louder to her than any human aboard the EDS. The receptors of her inner ear were much larger and amplified the alarm as much as twenty times. Within fifteen minutes of staying in the space with the alarm going off, she would be deaf – and she knew it. She made a break for the escape pod, vaguely hearing the concerned shouts of Commander Delhart over the loud siren – "What do you mean there is a Zombonian?! The young girl? She's one of them?!"
Marilyn's awkward hand pounded down on the button that would lift the hatch. She quickly crawled into the pod, closing the hatch as some members of the crew came rushing towards it. Without looking at the destination point, she hit the launch button, sending the pod spinning away from the EDS. She let out a sigh and sat back, looking at the navigation panel – destination: Earth, it read. She nearly giggled in joy – it, of course, had not been her destination, but it surely was safe place to contact her commander and inform him of the incident aboard the EDS. She did, however, allow herself to give out an evil and cliché laugh. The boisterous noise echoed off of the walls of the pod, rushing back to her ears, making it near impossible to keep her from laughing once more. She loved the sound – it reminded her of success – her key goal on this voyage. Marilyn – or the name given by birth, Jhilk – was sent by the top military commander, Awpolm. Her missions were to aboard the ship and make it to Group One to stop them from receiving the serum, then off to Group Two in Woden, where she would pick up Gerry – Syuopk.
Jhilk looked out the small window to see Earth approaching at a rapid rate – her smile grew in response. Almost there, she thought.
Suddenly, a blue ray shot by the window and she curled back in fear, tearing herself from it and looking out the window behind her. She let out a gasp at the sight of a squadron of shuttle carts racing towards her – their ray guns ready to fire. She quickly turned back to the control panel, switching the pod from auto-pilot to manual. She quickly grabbed hold of the steer and pushing it down, causing the pod to follow suit. She circle passed a meteor and pushed the throttle up farther, urging the pod to go faster. She had nearly hit light speed when another ray whizzed towards the pod and hit one of the small, three engines, sending the pod in spirals. Jhilk immediately turned the steer the opposite way of the spinning – the way she had been taught at the military academy back home on planet Zombonia.
The pod stopped spinning, which was as much control she could have upon it in this condition. She pressed down on a pedal at the bottom of the pod – much like a cockpit of a small airplane – guiding the pod to the right, finally entering Earth's atmosphere. She was safe now – no shuttle cart could enter Earth's atmosphere. The sudden change of air pressure would cause the cart to compress in on itself, evidently demolishing it and whatever's manning it.
Jhilk couldn't rest just yet – she still barely had control over the pod, but at least her destination was looking just fine. She was heading towards a patch of white – snow obviously – a good place to hunker down and tap into headquarters using her telebracelet.
The pod bounced several times on the soft ground before coming to a complete halt. Jhilk sighed and leaned back against the cold surface of the pod, glad that the fiasco was over. She sighed once more before reaching down and unsnapping her telebracelet off of her wrist, pushing in the side so it would float up in front of her and expand, revealing a navy blue screen with flashing icons.
"Requesting commander Awpolm," she sounded to the screen. The screen flashed, signaling that it had received the voice command. Soon, a gruesome face appeared on the screen.
"Yes, Jhilk?" the commander spoke in a gruff voice.
"Commander, there was an incident upon the EDS I was sent on. I am here upon Earth, in the north-western hemisphere," she replied. Awpolm's face fell in disappointment.
"Very well. We will be sending help."
"Thank you, sir."
"Goodbye." The commander closed the conversation before Jhilk had a chance to say anymore.
"Shut off," she spoke nonchalantly to the telebracelet. It snapped back to its original form, falling onto her lap. She placed it on her wrist and sat back, letting out a sigh and closed her eyes, hoping to get a bit of rest before the help arrived.
The small girl ran wildly in the chaotic streets of Plotyp – the town she had lived in her whole life. Her scared face was lit up by the rotating red lights that were accompanied by sirens – war.
That had been the beginning of it all. When she had desperately search for her mother and father – her brown curls whipping back in the wind as she circled around in fear.
"Mother!" she cried out, but received screams of panic in return. A young man crashed into her, sending her falling to the ground, face first. She hit her head hard upon the cobblestone, busting open her forehead. Black blood oozed out and she cried in horror and pain. She jumped up once again, ignoring the pain that rushed to her head and began running through the streets, searching for any sign of her parents, or even her brother.
Her stomach nearly curdled at the sight of her mother, curled up on the ground in a limp heap. She noticed the pool of black she was laying in and let out a screech, running towards her. She fell to her knees, ignoring the pain, and shook her mother fiercely.
"Mother, get up! We must go! The alarms are sounding. People are attacking!" she cried desperately, brushing the tears in her eyes with the back of her hand.
Suddenly, she was pulled up by her arm. She looked up into the face of her brother.
"We must go, Jhilk," he said sternly, dragging her and leaving their mother behind to be trampled upon.
"But-"she started.
"Father and mother are dead! We must go!" he said loudly, looking down at Jhilk. She nodded curtly, pushing back her emotions and taking her brother's hand and running with the others to the underground tunnels – a place for safety.
Jhilk's eyes opened quickly only to shut again from the bright lights overhead. Sweat beaded down her forehead – oh, I hate that memory.
"Oh, I see you're awake," a familiar voice sounded near her. She cracked open one eye and glanced to where the voice had been coming from. Much to her horror, it was commander Delhart. Her eyes widened in shock and she glanced down upon the cold, metal table she was strapped to. She looked around the room – it appeared to be a refurbished medical station from the early 2000's. It was rare to see one.
"How did you find me?!" she yelled out at the smirking commander.
"Is that really important? You're going to die anyways. Just like your mother, father…brother," he cackled evilly. Jhilk's mouth opened and closed several times, mocking a fish.
"Syuopk?!" she screeched in a high-pitched voice. "What have you done to him?"
"Oh, let's just say he had a nice little…float," he said, cackling once more, the sound echoing off the walls and hitting Jhilk's ears in discomfort. She let out a whimper, trying to keep a hold of her demeanor – say tough, stay tough, her brother's words echoed through her head. She mentally agreed.
"I don't understand why we must waste time. Just kill me," she said harshly.
"Oh, not so fast, Marilyn, Jhilk – whatever your name is!" he took in a deep breath before continuing, "I'd like you to answer some questions."
"Never," spat at him, a harsh tone to her voice.
"Oh, is that right?" he replied slyly, walking slowly towards the large line of buttons, knobs, and switches to the right of her. He drew his hand slowly – his sick smirk mocking her – to a yellow switch. With a flick of his hand, the switch was facing up and a loud noise sounded through the room. Jhilk let out a wail of pain and clawed the metal table, trying to get free of the cold, severe clutches. She clamped her teeth shut, a rush of pain surging from her mouth cavity upwards. That pain combined with the loud noise began to cause a throbbing in her head. Her body wiggled from left to right and back. The silver tyrant wouldn't release its hold on her blue body.
Jhilk's body went limp in relief as Delhart flipped the switch once again, silencing the painful racket.
"Will you comply, now?" he demanded. She seriously considered betraying her people, but after killing her family and many other loved ones, a severe wrath burned under her blue skin, boiling her black blood. Her eyes flashed towards him, causing him to flinch.
"No," she said through gritted teeth.
Delhart let out a bone-chilling laugh. "Of course you won't," he stated. "But, I will get a hold of your commander. Why am I keeping you alive?" he mused, giving out another laugh. He quickly ran his hand over a bigger switch – this one red. Jhilk gulped as she saw everything around her move in slow motion. The drone of Delhart's laugh, the slow flicker and humming of the fluorescent lighting, her own slow breathing. All of it seemed to slow even more as the evil commander pushed the switch up. A bright blue light flashed and Jhilk closed her eyes tightly.
Jhilk almost didn't notice she stopped breathing until she opened her eyes and let out a breath, looking over to see a pile of ashes where commander Delhart had just been standing. This place is so old. It must have backfired, she thought in happiness, noticing her clutches were released. She quickly hopped off the cold table, looking down at her wrist, happy to see her telebracelet was still there.
She slipped it off and snapped it open to hover in front of her. "Requesting commander Awpolm," she said, trying to keep her relief and happiness from her voice. She could finish her mission and her race could be saved! The screen flashed blue and soon the commander appeared, surprised to see her alive.
"Commander, I have escaped from Delhart," she said as calmly as possible.
"So, I see, Jhilk. We have traced you and are coming. We will arrive in approximately five minutes," Awpolm said thankfully.
"Yes, sir," she said and the screen shut off. She held out her hand and the telebracelet fell into it. She slipped it back onto her wrist, smiling to herself. Her people were almost back to having control of what was rightfully theirs.