The Song of Eternity
Canto 4 : Earth
Verse 2
The Legend of Starmore
He looks into the story,
He sees past it,
He wonders what really was,
And prepares to look for the truth.
"November 19th, 2085, Veritas Project, day 3, Earth Force Major Marcus Boyd reporting," Marcus said into the recorder as he shuffled the papers in front of him. "The Colonel informed me that my assistants have other jobs and will only really do whatever research and errands I need. I guess that is for the best, to keep whatever I find secret. Anyway, today's report will focus on the official events of World War 3 and Travis Starmore's involvement."
"The information surrounding Starmore before the war is sketchy at best There is a birth certificate showing a Travis Starmore born in rural Pennsylvania, outside of what was Pittsburgh on February 15th 1994. That would mean that the person battling above this installation, is 91 years old. I have yet to witness a battle yet, but will make my report on the subject as soon as possible," Marcus dictated as he grabbed another folder of papers.
"There are a few school records surviving from the time as well, indicating a normal childhood and life until he and a Nathan Starmore, his brother, disappear on his birthday in 2011. His brother was never heard from again. We're working on getting a list of students at the school he attended and seeing if any of them are still alive today for interviews." Marcus closed the folder and leaned back in his chair as he recited the next part of his report from memory.
"On March 4th, 2015, the Alpha WEAPON appeared near the Ural Mountains in Russia. No action was taken and the WEAPON disappeared shortly afterwards. It reappeared three weeks later, erupting from the ground itself outside of the Kremlin with an army of robotic soldiers. Russia's leaders were killed that day, ending its history as a country. As later intelligence figured, it dug into the rich mineral deposits and used its advanced nanotechnology to build its army. It swept through everything in a hundred mile radius of the Kremlin, leaving no survivors. During the next six months it swept through 80% of Russia, most of China, the entire Middle East, and Europe east of the Rhine."
"The refugees from the countries were evacuated to Canada, the United States, and Australia. Our weapons were pitifully ineffective against their forces and they continued to sweep through all of Asia, Europe, and Africa by August of 2016. It then gathered its forces and attacked the eastern seaboard of the United States. The military did what they could to hold them off long enough to allow the civilians to escape, but there were heavy casualties," he stopped as he grabbed a black military folder from the drawer to his right.
"When the WEAPON's
armies crossed the Mississippi River, a counterstrike
was launched at where the Alpha WEAPON was commanding his forces from in an
island he created in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The President at the time launched the full
nuclear arsenal at the Alpha WEAPON. Two
things happened as a result of this action.
First of all, the island was vaporized, but the WEAPON survived. Many of the WEAPON's troops were lost, but
the main force was still in the Midwest. Second was the resulting weather patterns of
present day, meaning the dust cloud in the atmosphere and the shift in the
Earth's magnetic poles, resulting in the current temperate zone running through
what was once Canada, Russia, and the south Pacific."
"The United
States, backed up by whatever military was
left at the time from other countries was losing a lot of ground to the forces
that were not destroyed by the nukes. By
December we were pushed back to Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. This is where the word of mouth conflicts
with the official governmental story," Marcus sighed as he looked between two
sheets of paper.
"The common word among the people is that Travis Starmore appeared in a flash of white light and vaporized the WEAPON's army. This, along with his actions in the later stages of the war has led to a form of worship by many people nowadays. They say he died and returned from the grave to save the world. The military story is much stranger. They say that he was genetically engineered from some cell samples they had from Travis Starmore before he disappeared. They scientists say that he broke free and attacked the enemy forces with an unknown power that had manifested after the nuclear explosions. The only problem is that according to most of our research, there was no technology there to facilitate the engineering of such a life-form," Marcus frowned.
"In any event, most of the enemy forces were destroyed and Starmore was on our side. He spoke with the General of the United States military forces at the time, General Joshua Stumpf, and agreed to help in the fight. General Stumpf liberated several prototype energy rifles from the ruins of Nellis and put them into mass production, finally giving the human race a chance against the invaders."
"The next year and a half consisted of us systematically pushing back their forces, abolishing the remaining countries on Earth, forming a new Earth government, and Starmore battling the Alpha WEAPON dozens of times, leaving destruction in their wake. Finally, the majority of the forces were pinned down in central Africa where Starmore either disappeared, taking the WEAPON to Hell with him if you believe that theory, or sacrificing himself to destroy the WEAPON. Either way, they were both gone and thankfully Alpha has stayed gone."
"I plan on talking to whoever I can find that was alive at the time period, but most importantly am going to talk to General Stumpf next week. Lieutenant Cole believes that he may have found some video footage from Nellis that I need to view, and Elena is digging into the list of people old enough to remember the war."
"I will find the truth behind these events soon," he finished as he clicked off the machine.