I could not believe it.
I was in shock.
I was down in the archives of the Hive of Hives, looking up some records regarding construction supplies. The Regent and Regess were away on business.
I'm an Invid again. Am I dead, going to live life as an Invid from now on?
It was while I was down there that the ground shook violently. I wondered if it was another quake. The place became dimmer, with only the emergency lights on.
The elevators were down. I tried the main stairwell, but apparently there was rubble.
Did the Hive of Hives collapse?
"Are you okay?" asked an archivist who worked down here.
"Yeah," I replied. "The stairs above collapsed."
"I know a way out," he replied.
So we walked along this long corridor, lit only by red emergency lights.
We finally emerged out into the open air.
The first thing I noticed was the sky covered with clouds. But it was completely clear of clouds earlier today.
I looked around. The whole surface was devastated, like a powerful quake or storm hit the Hive of Hives. Smoke arose from the ruins.
It seemed too quiet. I would expect aerial vehicles to fly above us, doing a preliminary survey of the damage.
WE managed to gather with a few other survivors.
We managed to find the wreckage of an air vehicle. From its condition it looked as it could no longer fly, but the good news- news which were in short supply at this time- that the wireless still worked.
There were cries for help.
People were saying giant beams fell from the sky, destroying everything.
We were attacked.
There was no confirmation on whether either the Regent or the Regess survived.
I knelt down and started crying.
Was this how Dad felt when he first saw the surface of Earth after the First War?
Oooooooooo
A day later, everything was in ruins. There was no sign of the Regent or Regess. I did make contact with some of the surviving Hive Lords.
I cried when I saw the fields where the Flower of Life once grew. Those fields were reduced to ash.
I heard some reports, that the attackers sent scouts to the surface, presumably to assess the damage. They were said to be giant bipeds.
The Zentraedi!
Were these giants the Children of the Shadow or their successors?
We were disorganized.
The only protoculture we had was what we could scrounge from the ruins of storeroom and warehouses.
There was one person that can help us, unite us against this new threat. One who was experienced in the arts of war.
Ooooooo
Here I was again. The place was still intact, as it was deep underground and thus well-protected from those powerful beams that rained from space.
I finally reached the guard.
"Halt," he said. "It is you." He recognized me. "You have come to visit the prisoner."
"I have come to release him," I said.
"Do you have a copy of the release order from the Crown? I am trained not to release prisoners absent proper authority."
I looked behind at the advisors and the one Hive Lord who had followed me. They all bore metal clubs.
"We are the proper authority."
We took down the guards and I activated the console to release the lock on the cell door. I looked and sqaw the prisoner.
"We are breaking you out," I said.
"That is a foolish risk you took," he replied. "We would be hunted down for the rest of our lives."
"Something terrible has happened," I said. "I shall explain when we leave the Hole."
Oooooooooo
I looked at the crowd below.
Below were survivors of the Royal Court, Hive Lords, their advisors, and guards. The ruins of the Hive of Hives, once the most magnificent structure on the surface of Optera, stood behind me.
"I have had my differences with the Crown," he said. "That does not diminish my desire for payback against those who killed our dear departed Lord Regent and Lady Regess, against those who killed many of us, burnt the surface of our world to a cinder!"
There were yells from the crowd.
"Allow me to lead you, and people across this Galaxy shall fear the Invid Regency! Hail me as your Regent!" He put his arm around me. "Hail her, my wife, as the Regess!"
"All hail the Regent and Regess!" yelled the crowd. "All hail the Regent and Regess!"
"I'm the Regess?!"
I looked around. I was in this room with white walls.
I was back in my real life.
I was not dead.
I hurt too much to be dead.
"You are awake," said this lady in blue overalls.
"You think?" I asked.
"Oh, my apologies, it is just that Ocean Patrol regulations require me to state the obvious." She went to a penl on the room and pressed a button. "Dr. Embry, room 504. Patient is up."
I lay in the bed. I still felt too weak to stand up. This was definitely a hospital room.
Where?
I knew I was trying to fly a Beta from Vietnam to Japan.
I was wounded.
I could be anywhere on Earth.
Or even off Earth, for all I knew.
A woman walked into the room, wearing a white coat over a khaki blouse. An ID tag was pinned to her white coat. She had black hair tied into a bun.
"Hi there," I said.
"I've been looking after your recovery," said the woman, who was clearly a doctor. "Anyway, I must introduce myself. I am Lieutenant Commander Stacy Embry, M.D., United Nations Ocean Patrol Medical Corps and your physician."
"So you saved my life."
"Oh no," replied Dr. Embry. "You can thank Dr. Mayumi Yumekano, the trauma physician. She told me your heart stopped for a minute and a half."
"Well, I'm glad she was able to jump start it."
"You were lucky. If that blast hit a little to the left, you would have been killed instantly. A little further down, you would not be able to have children."
"Stacy, how's your patient?" asked this male voice.
I looked and saw this man who appeared to be in his mid-thirties, with brown hair and a short-cropped brown beard. He wore jeans and a short-sleeved polo shirt.
Entering the room behind him were Gabe, Itzak, Laureline, and Doc. All were dressed in casual clothes. Now that I was thinking of clothes, I noticed I was dressed in a blue gown.
"I don't feel very good," I said to them, "but I'm happy you are here."
"Glad to hear your voice," said Itzak.
"How long was I out?" I asked.
Embry looked at Gabe.
"About one and a half weeks," I said.
"One and a half weeks?" I asked, looking at my hands.
"You went into a coma so your body can heal," said Dr. Embry. "Your friends kept a round-the-clock vigil ever since you came out of the emergency room."
"Perhaps I should introduce myself now," said the bearded man. "I am Mark Landry, Chief of Staff of this whole place."
"Whole place?" I asked.
"The whole place- not just the Ocean Patrol Hospital- used to be the Robotech Research Center, a vast underground complex just outside Tokyo in Japan."
"Yeah, there is like a whole city underground," said Laureline.
"This was the main research center for robotechnology," said Landry. ". The Alpha and Beta fighters, as well as the Cyclone, were developed here, before they went into mass production just before the end of the Second War. This place is now used as the main supply base for anti-Invid operations in the western Pacific. I remember when I first saw this place over sixteen years ago."
"You were a scientist here?" I asked.
"Not exactly."
I started to rise, but then I felt lightheaded.
"Your body is still healing," said Dr. Embry. "You need to rest."
"I'm an engineer," I said. "I'm used to fixing things, not being the one who needs fixing."
"Better take the doctor's advice, babe," Gabe said, putting his hand on my arm.
"You are helping me heal already," I said, lying down on the bed. "Wait, what happened to the Karen?"
"They're fine. Mr. Landry and his staff are helping them integrate with our society here."
That was good to know, after what those Karen had been through.
"As for our Vietnamese friend," continued Gabe, "he took the next supply sub back to Vietnam after a little R & R here. Colonel Nguyen said he had to continue the fight against the Invid. He hoped you would make a full recovery, and he did hope that he could one day sit with me and my dad and family over a bowl of pho."
We both knew the colonel could not promise that.
I fell asleep.
I did not remember exactly what I dreamt about, but it was not reliving the life of an Invid.