Reclaiming Earth

THE CRASH

Light blazed into his eyes. He could hear his own ragged breath and tried to flex his fingers; gradually they began to remember movement. He raised his arm and used it to shield his eyes form the light. He looked around. He was fixed inside some form of casket with a light blue padded interior. He tried to lift himself up and was thrust back down. Taking his shield arm his hand began to probe his body and he located a belt securely fastening him into the casket at his waist. He clicked the belt open.

He then noticed the light was not as intense. Looking up he saw a thick cloud of smoke make its way along his view. He used both arms to prop himself up. He could now see out of the casket. The land around him was black, charred and completely unfamiliar. He looked around the casket and discovered the earth it rested in looked like some form of impact damage. He then realised he must of fallen from somewhere. He tried to remember what had happened but he kept reaching a void in his mind.

It was then he realised that could not even remember his own name. He got out of the casket, his legs felt slightly shaky as they touched upon solid earth. Earth!?! Now there was a word that he recognised. If only he could remember why. He ran his hands through his hair. It was no use his memory was extremely patchy. He would just have to hope he could rediscover everything. Then another waft of smoke appeared to engulf him. This was followed by a shriek. He glanced in the direction of the shriek and he realised that it was coming from where his casket’s impact marks lead over a hill. He gently made his way up the hill.

Further shrieks followed. He stopped half way up now wondering if this actually was such a good idea. How could he offer anyone any assistance when he did not know who he was? But on the other hand, he thought, they may know who I am. Resolute he continued.

As he neared the edge of hill he then heard what sounded very much like large machines operating. He dropped to the ground and crawled the last few feet to the edge. More thick smoke appeared. He waited a few minutes for it to settle and was then able to see the other side of the hill was actually a large crater.

Sat in the middle a huge craft was lodged deep into the ground. He cast his eyes along its crumpled body and made out the ships name as U.S.E. Laurence. Various pieces of wrecked machinery sat everywhere. There were also several large fires too. He then noticed a gleaming white craft that hovered near to the wreckage. He could also make out a number of caskets, like his. The majority of theses had bodies slumped over them. In some cases he could also still see bodies lifeless in the caskets but puncture marks appeared in the caskets glass covering.

He then remembered these were not caskets. These were cryo-pods. Designed for human beings for long space journeys. He had remembered something; but obviously something had made him return. His reveries were quickly disrupted. A window on the Laurence suddenly smashed and a woman came flying out of it. She tried to pick herself from off of the ground but did not appear to be able. She looked to be in a bad way as a massive head wound appeared to be heavily bleeding. He made to move from the edge but then a large figure smashed through the hull of the Laurence. He quickly sank back to the ground and watched.

The wounded woman sounded like she was crying and crawled as quickly as she could. A large figure loomed out of the shadows. It was white from head to toe. The way it glistened gave it the appearance of metal. That was it; the figure was a robot of some description.

The robot had a large musculatured body frame. Huge blades appeared on the shoulders and out the side of the head. The head itself was made up of two black slits for eyes and one great open maw with two upper spikes that looked like teeth, almost as if it planned to feed. It was quite chilling to look at. The woman had now stopped crawling and fell to the floor with a thud. She began to sob. Three other figures loomed out of the Laurence. These appeared to be identical to the first one. The robot that he had first looked at was now stood over the sobbing woman.

He felt he should help her but his legs had turned to jelly. The robot raised his huge arm. It was here he realised that the forearms of these robots were oversized, almost twice as thick as the actual arm itself. He also noticed that around the entire forearm appeared to be some form of glass tubules, which were red. Although he did spot one empty tubule on this robot’s arm. The robot’s hand was formed by three sturdy pincers. The robot closed them so that the hand now the appearance of a short dagger. The robot then thrust he arm forward and directly into the back of the woman.

The woman cried out and convulsed as the pincer/dagger entered her. He felt sick and placed his hand over his mouth. It was then he noticed the movement on the robot’s forearm. The oversized section that held the tubules began to rotate round until the one that was empty was level with the upper part of the robot’s arm. The next thing that happened churned his stomach even more. Red liquid began to pump into the empty tubule. The woman’s convulsing body now began to sag lifelessly on the end of the robot’s arm. Her dead head lolled to one side and her lifeless eyes now appeared to be looking straight at him.

The robot pulled its arm back and the body fell to the floor. The tubule that was empty now appeared to be full of red liquid. Only he suddenly realised it wasn’t red liquid but blood. The creature had drained her of blood and used the forearm tubules as carriers for the precious liquid. He then realised that the marks on the glass of the other cryo-pods. Oh God. It had been these creatures. They had massacred everyone on this crash site. Everyone except him. He began to retch.

He immediately began to wish he hadn’t. The noise he made was instantly audible in the silence of all but the fires and the hovering white craft. The four robots all immediately turned their attention to the edge of the crater that he was hiding behind. He heard the machinery sound again as their huge legs began to motivate them up the side of the crater. He tried to make his own legs move but found that he was rooted to the ground with fear. His head was damp with sweat. He realised he had survived the crash just to die this way like that poor unfortunate woman.

THE RESCUE

Suddenly he felt the impact of another body and fell backwards. As he fell back his eye’s caught the appearance of the robots at the crater’s edge. He looked at his chest and discovered a small girl holding him. She was a dressed in a simple green one piece outfit, her skin was grubby and hair matted. Her head flicked up from his chest.

“Keep down,” she said.

Then she rolled down the crater to its base. The four robots appeared. Three of them had registered the girl and began to march down to the crater’s base. However he soon felt a shadow stand over him. The fourth robot had remained.

“Who are you!?!” he cried.

The robot raised its arm, the tubules on the forearm rotated to one that was empty. The pincers met together to form the dagger. In his mind all he could see were the eyes of the dead woman burning into him. The robot moved its arm forward.

What happened next appeared to occur in slow motion. A large piece of cord appeared over the robot’s arm. The robot tried but could not move its arm forward. It then turned its head to look behind. As the head turned he also moved slightly to get a better a view of what was going on. Then he saw a man and the cord that held the robots arm was securely imbedded into the ground. . This man looked to be in his thirties. He had dark black hair, thick stubble on his face and his eyes were a piercing blue. His clothing was simple, trousers, shirt and a jacket. The jacket was extremely beaten and well worn. His shirt and trousers also appeared to have holes in them. The only thing that did not seem to fit the scruffiness was two gold belts. One was around his waist and the other was over his left shoulder.

He then noticed the man reach into a pocket of the gold belt around his waist and remove a piece of metal. By this point the robot had realised what had occurred to its arm, so it stepped backwards and the tension holding the cord in place loosened. The cord limply fell away. The robot’s large body moved to face the man.

The man had a goofy grin on his face. The piece of metal that he had produced now seemed to have grown in size. The robot lunged forward with its dagger/pincer reaching out. The man jumped up. The weight of the robot carried it forward. The man seemed to fly over the top of the robot. He then imbedded the piece of metal into the top of the robot’s head as he passed over it. The man landed with a roll on the floor.

The robot regained its balance and turned to face the man. It seemed oblivious to the metal sticking out of its head. The tip of this metal had a light that flashed. The man then produced another object from his gold belt. This appeared to be some form of a push button control.

“Fuck you,” the man said.

He pressed the switch. There was then a loud shriek. The robot stood stock still. Electricity played across its head. Then the head exploded. The robot’s body sank to the floor with a thud.

The man turned his attention to him.

“Hi, I’m Barb,” he said. “And you are?”

He shook his head firmly. “I don’t know.”

“Humph, well that’s not good,” replied Barb. “Hey, Paige, care to give me a hand?”

The girl who had knocked him over suddenly reappeared.

“Hi, hope I wasn’t too forceful,” she winked. “Say barb, what’s this guy’s name?”

“He doesn’t know.”

“Don’t you?” exclaimed Paige.

“N-n-n-no” he stammered.

“He’s a survivor of the crash,” said Barb indicating the ship in the crater’s centre.

Paige looked over the crater.

“The U.S.E Laurence,” she read. “Maybe we should call you that.”

“It’s as good as anything I’ve got,” he replied. “Guess Laurence will have to do for now.”

Then there was a loud explosion.

“Introduction time is over people. Paige give me a hand, you too Laurence,”

Barb and Paige ran over the robot on the ground. Paige began to work over the robot’s forearms. She started to remove the tubules.

“What are you doing?” asked Laurence.

“Surviving,” replied Barb.

Barb then moved a flat orange disc from another belt pocket. He raised the disc to him mouth.

“Lisa, you all set down there?”

A female voice came from out of the disc.

“Stay where you are. I have your signal and I am on my way.”

“There, these are all off now,” said Paige.

The tubules from the robot’s forearm were now laid across the floor. Barb went into another belt pocket and took out three pieces of cord. He threw one at Paige and she began to bind the tubules together. He threw another piece at Laurence and he started on the third piece with binding tubules. Barb looked up and saw Laurence was just staring at them.

“The other four robots,” said Laurence

Another explosion sounded at the same level as before.

Barb looked up. “I think you now mean the other one robot. Don’t worry, we got that covered, now give us a hand here.”

Laurence went to the floor and immediately started to help binding the tubules together. They had created three packages of blood filled tubules. The empty tubules had been left.

“Neato,” cried out Paige.

A loud hovering noise then seemed to come towards them from out of the crater. From the lip of the crater then appeared the white hovering vehicle that Laurence had seen earlier. Barb waved to the cockpit area at the top. Laurence looked up and saw a young blond haired woman operating the controls. She saluted back and a set of steps dropped out from the underside of the ship. Paige picked up her tubules and ran into the ship. Barb picked up a bundle of tubules and pushed the other bundle into Laurence’s arms.

“Let’s go,” he cried.

Barb ran into the ship. Laurence looked the ship over. He could hardly believe the situation he now found himself in and then followed.

The initial entrance to the ship was dark and then it became more illuminated. The interior was just one open space. To his left Laurence saw four large caskets, each appeared to be empty. These must be for the robot’s he realised. Paige came up to him and took his tubule bundle. He numbly handed it over. He looked to his right and saw that the other end was just a big control room. The blond woman, Lisa, was sat where he had seen her from outside. Barb jumped into the seat beside her.

“All aboard,” said Barb.

“Then hold onto something,” said Lisa as the ship’s engines roared into life.

“Laurence!” called out Paige. She had tied cord to herself and a pylon. “She means it. Hold onto something.”

Laurence moved towards the controls. Then the ship lurched. Laurence fell and steadied himself on the top on Barb’s chair. Lisa smiled at him.

“Takes some getting used to,” she called out.

“Don’t forget the guys,” ordered Barb.

Laurence looked out the window. Then he noticed a caped figure move to the edge of the crater.

“Paige, open the hatch,” called out Lisa.

Paige gingerly made her way to a control panel and pressed a thick blue button. With a whooshing noise a hatchway slid open.

“I hope he can make this,” said Lisa.

Lisa then drove the ship directly at the caped figure. The figure jumped up. Inside the ship there was a loud thud. Laurence turned round and saw the caped figure rise from the floor near the hatch.

“Faultless as usual Nick,” called out Barb.

Nick stood up full and Laurence saw a long white beard appear from beneath a thick black hood. Nick’s cape was billowing with the wind from the hatch. He looked like a benevolent grim reaper. Hang on, thought Laurence, who on Earth is the grim reaper? Paige repressed the button to close the hatch. She then ran up to Nick.

“Did you get them?”

Nick’s cape swished back to reveal a bright red tunic and trousers along his deep black boots. His thick black belt firmly held two scabbards complete with swords to his sides. He raised his arm from the cape. He held out a bundle of tubules. Paige caught Laurence looking.

“Oh these will be from number two,” she called out. She took the tubules and added them to the previous pile.

Laurence then watched as Nick’s cape lowered, moved to the back on the ship and sat on the floor. Paige ran back to Nick and hugged him. His vision was then altered when he heard Lisa cry out “There he is!”

Laurence looked out the window. He saw on the ground one of the robots completely ripped apart. The tubule spaces on its arm were empty.

“Shit!” cried out Barb. “I think he’s in trouble.”

Laurence followed Barb’s gaze and saw one of the robots, presumably the last one, grappling with a figure which seemed equal in proportion of size. The two were grappling and clearly appeared to be an equal match. It was then he looked closer and realised that one of the figures was golden. The gold figure also had a human face. Laurence noticed that the gold figure had tubules on his forearms. But these appeared to be empting very quickly into the golden body.

“That should not be happening,” called out Lisa. “Sunn’s system should not use that much blood.”

Barb jumped out of his chair. He ran towards Nick.

“Need your help old man.”

Nick nodded. Paige moved back to the button and opened the hatch. Laurence sat in Barb’s empty chair and watch the two grappling behemoths outside. Barb took out a rope from his belt and handed one end to Nick. He then wrapped the end around a pylon. Nick fastened the other end to his belt.

“Keep her steady Lisa!” barked Barb.

Nick dropped through the hatch. The rope pulled tight and he hung underneath the ship. He immediately removed his swords from their scabbards. He was like a falcon poised with its claws. All that could be heard was the roar of the ship’s engine and the flapping of Nick’s cape. The ship moved nearer to the grappling figures.

Sunn looked up and saw the ship, with Nick underneath, flying towards him.

“Bet you aint seen nutthin yet,” he muttered to the robot.

Sunn moved his head to one side. Lisa kept the ship straight to pass directly over Sunn and the robot. Nick quickly did two clean strikes with his swords. As the ship flew over Sunn the robot’s head fell clean off.

“Pick up time!” called out Lisa.

She swung the heavy steering column to the left. The ship circled back round.

Sunn watched the ship turn back. He then ripped both of the robot’s arms from its lifeless body.

“Pardon me if I don’t stick around,” rumbled his deep baritone voice.

Sunn raised the two arms. He could hear the loud ship engine. The sound was followed by Nick’s blades whirling into action. The blades imbedded themselves into the wet robot arms. Sunn held tight and he was pulled from the ground.

“Laurence!” called out Barb. “Help me get them in!”

Laurence and Barb pulled on the rope with all their strength. Nick came through first and was aided through the hatch by Paige. Next the sword embedded robot arms. These were followed by Sunn. Paige ran to the button and closed the hatch.

Laurence had clearly misjudged Sunn’s size; he was slightly smaller than the robots. But still cut a very imposing figure. Sunn’s huge golden frame then suddenly dropped to the floor.

“Lisa get us out of here!” cried Barb.

Laurence and Paige then laid Sunn flat out onto the floor. The black skin on his face was covered in oil from the ends of the robot’s arms. Paige then removed the tubules on his forearms, which were nearly empty, and replaced them with the tubules from one of the bundles they had brought on board. Sunn’s body then started to hum. He opened his eyes.

“Thanks baby.”

Barb slapped Nick on the back.

“Nice going old man.”

Then a cry came from the controls.

“Barb! We’ve got trouble!”

THE ESCAPE

Barb glanced at the monitor near Lisa.

“How long we got?” he asked.

Lisa looked at what appeared to be some form of clock.

“About five minutes,” she replied.

“What’s the problem?” Laurence asked.

“We aint out of the woods yet,” said Lisa.

Barb was hunting over the control panels. “Shit! There are no armaments on this thing.”

“Two minutes!” cried out Lisa.

“Lisa, can you pull off some fancy manoeuvres?” asked Barb.

Lisa reached to a monitor on her left and pressed a switch.

"Yeah I reckon I can get you some time Barb.”

Laurence looked at the monitor. He saw the vista disappearing behind them and reasoned that this must be a rear view. He then noticed three specks that were growing, which were becoming white ships. They appeared similar in design to the one they currently had. Only these seemed to be twice as large. He also noticed what appeared to be large cylinders rotating towards them.

“What’s those?” he asked Lisa, pointing at cylinders.

Lisa threw the control stick to the right. The ship banked right. The large cylinders on the other ships then appeared to explode and a projectile appeared, which shot through the space that their craft had just occupied. Then it curved back round towards them.

“Blood seekers!” shouted Lisa.

Barb immediately headed to the back of the craft towards Sunn’s inactive body.

“What are Blood Seekers?” asked Laurence. “What do they do?”

“They basically home in on creatures who have blood.”

With that she then thrust the craft towards the ground. Laurence lurched into the control panel and gingerly made his way towards the other chair. Lisa then sharply pulled the craft up. Laurence was flung into the seat. He looked at the monitor and watched as the two most recently launched Blood Seekers impacted into the ground.

“Nick I need another hand,” called out Barb

He nodded at Barb’s request.

“I need you top side. We gotta get our armament up there.”

Nick took the rope, fastened it around waist, opened the hatch and dropped through it. Barb knelt down to Sunn.

“You sure you’re going to be ok?”

Sunn nodded. Barb firmly wrapped the rope around Sunn’s body, and began unscrewing Sunn’s right forearm. Barb then tapped on Sunn’s chest. There was a whirring sound and his chest opened up to reveal a cavity inside that held a cannon. Barb removed the cannon and screwed it onto Sunn’s upper right arm.

Nick swung on the rope outside until he hit the side of the craft. He used his swords as picks and began to scale the side of the craft. Once on the top of the ship he stood up and struck his sword deep into the hull. He removed the rope and wrapped it around the blade’s handle. Next he pushed a button on his belt and two pincers shot from his boots into the body of the ship. Now he was secure. He then tugged on the rope.

Barb held the rope at the hatch’s edge. He felt a tug. There was the signal. He grabbed Sunn under the arms and began to drag him to the hatch.

“You could let me walk,” said Sunn.

“We both know that’s not an option for you. Just let Nick handle it.” With that he pushed Sunn through the hatchway.

Laurence watched on the monitor as Lisa’s latest roll made the final Blood Seeker run into one of the pursuing craft. The impact pushed the craft onto the ground. Now there were only two.

Nick felt the rope violently lurch in his hands. His blade held it taught. He then began to pull it up. There were loud clangs heard from the ship. Another almighty tug and he saw that Sunn’s body was beginning to appear. Nick picked up the golden body, and then fastened the rope tightly around his sword and Sunn’s legs. Sunn’s upper torso how dangled towards the ship.

“Oh this is cute.”

Nick retracted his feet pincers and moved behind Sunn. He raised Sunn’s torso, raised right arm and aimed the cannon at the ship’s following. There was a loud bang as the cannon fired. Laurence watched on the monitor as one of the pursuing ships erupted into a ball of flame. This ship then banked left and went straight into the other ship. Both ships hit the ground in a great explosion.

Barb came up behind Lisa.

“Nice.”

Their ship sped away.

THE CREW

Their ship had been travelling for a while now. Lisa was constantly on edge looking at her instruments to see if any more ships were following. Nick was seated in the corner. On the floor lay Sunn, his golden body blacked from the cannon fire. His cannon arm was now replaced with his regular arm. Barb stood in one of the robot alcoves and was pulling out bits of wires. Paige was sat in a corner nursing her bruised head. Laurence moved towards her.

“How’s the head?”

“Oh I’ve had worse,” she smiled.

“Look I never got chance to thank you for saving my life back there.”

“No problem. Say, you managed to remember who you are yet?”

“I’ve tried, but all I get for my trouble seems to be a headache.”

“Cool, you could be anybody. You could start everything afresh. It would be nice to do that.”

“Look we may as well get this over with, can you bring me up to speed?”

She looked up blankly at him.

“Well for starters who are you guys?”

Paige chuckled. “Well believe it or not we’re the last.”

“The last what?” asked Laurence.

“The last humans,” she replied.

Laurence sat down on the floor beside her.

“Just you guys?”

“Yeah,” she said. “Lot of people left the Earth.”

“Maybe I was too.”

“Maybe. But look on the bright side at least you aren’t alone.”

“True.”

“Lisa was due to leave too.”

Laurence looked at the back of their pilot. “What happened?”

“He came back,” said Paige. “He was the cause of it all.”

“Fraid I need more than that.”

“Sure, well you’d best be comfy cause here goes. Bout twenty years ago the world discovered a truth. That horror long thought not to exist, one that had become myth, was actually real.”

Laurence shuffled uncomfortably on the floor.

Paige cast her eyes over to view port. “Thing’s were different then. The world was happy. Technology had grown to such a point that we could cryogenically freeze people and revive them. Missions were going off deep into space and we, as humans were well aware of the dangers of space. But no one thought to check the danger’s at home.”

“What happened?” whispered Laurence.

“The Lord of darkness incarnate arrives. Everyone thought he was just a legend, a story told to frighten children and curl the blood. But all this time he was waiting. He kept to the shadows for thousands of years. He built his empire from inside large corporations. Those robots, this ship, they all belong to him and he conquered all.”

“Yeah those robots, what were they?”

“They were the army he spent thousands of years perfecting. It stops him from getting his hand’s dirty. Those things ravaged the Earth, took men, women and children. Then it drains them of blood. This is then returned to their master.”

“Blood,” baulked Laurence. “Why is blood needed? Who has taken Earth over?”

Paige looked directly at him.

“Dracula.”

Laurence's mind swam when the name was mentioned. He recalled the book being read to him when he was younger. But as soon as he tried to push his memory into other areas it closed up on him.

“You’re joking.”

“Yeah it sounds funny doesn’t it,” said Barb. He had finished with the wiring and moved towards Laurence and Paige.

“Well it is. I mean even if he was real the Earth would have defended itself.”

Barb dropped to his haunches so he was level with Laurence.

“Oh it tried,” he indicated Sunn. “Earth created a large army. Every soul he took with his robots the government’s designed a program to use them.”

“What, you mean he’s…”

“Technically, yeah, Sunn’s dead. You see nothing could stop Dracula’s robot army. They swept across nations like a plague. Some people managed to hold out but it was a loosing battle. The government’s got their hands on one of Drac’s robots and they reverse engineered it. Discovered the secret’s of his technology. It requires blood to operate.”

“The tubules?”

“Got it. Son of a bitch made creations in his own image. Well once the government knew how these machines operated they knew they needed something equally as powerful. But they decided in their wisdom that the machines need to be more than Drac’s and so it was agreed that a human brain would power each one. Their main reasoning was the number of cadavers drained that were left lying around. Excess brain tissue. So the grand Army was born.”

“Was Sunn one?”

“Sunn? Oh yeah he was a sergeant, you can tell by the markings on his chest. He still has his memories but is now lashed together with machinery and the blood of others keeping him alive. We take the tubules when we can so we can keep him powered up. When he has a drain on his systems, like today, it can take a while to reboot.”

“But what if you can’t get the tubules?”

Barb rolled up his left sleeve and revealed his arm. Several healed cuts across it were on it.

“Then we help power him.”

“But where is this grand army?” asked Laurence.

“Wiped out. The whole lot of them. You see they just were not as strong as Drac’s. The grand army went out in one final battle. Earth lost and Drac pushed forward taking out all governments. We discovered Sunn by accident on a pile of bodies. Paige here managed to get him operational.”

“So where are all the humans?”

“Either dead or left the planet,” replied Paige.

“Left the planet?” asked Laurence.

“I reckon that’s where you dropped from. The U.S.E. were evacuating those they could find. Lisa here was supposed to be a pilot on one of the flights. That was until a friend rendered her unconscious and took her place leaving her to die here.”

“Yup, we all have a story like that,” said Barb. “I’m from a small town in Texas. I was caught in Drac’s initial wave. I managed to dodge the robots. I spent four days hiding in a rotting pile of bodies. It was on my travels then I met Paige and Nick.”

Laurence looked over at Nick.

“We don’t know much about him,” said Paige. “I was trying to escape the robots and he just appeared from out of the blue. Saved my ass. We travelled to see if we could get help. Met Barb on the way. Found Sunn later, then Lisa, and here we are.”

Laurence sagged against the bulkhead.

“It’s a lot to take in,” said Barb. “But we do now have a chance.”

Paige looked up. “It worked then?”

Barb held a red dot in hand. “It’s right here.”

“What’s that?” asked Laurence.

“This, my friend, is a chip that contains the access codes to Drac’s fortress. It was exactly where Sunn said it would be located in the robot’s alcove. It’s now time we reclaimed Earth.”

THE PLAN

Sunn was now upright. His metal body had managed to rest enough for him to be mobile.

“Barb, did you find it?”

Barb showed him the red dot.

“This is it right?”

“That’s it, replied Sunn. “This microchip will give us the access codes to Drac’s fortress. The robots keep these chips as back up memory holders.”

“Guys,” called Lisa. “I think I found a chipper.”

“Chipper?” asked Laurence.

“Yeah during the third micro revolution they developed ting microchips. These could only be access on a special reader, or chipper.”

“Ah,” replied Laurence feeling very out of his depth.

Barb brought the dot over to Lisa’s console.

“There’s the chipper, just place the chip onto the reader.”

Sunn, Laurence and Paige came up behind Lisa so they could view the screen. Nick had also silently moved next to Laurence. This just gave him the creeps. Barb placed the chip onto a flat piece of glass, the reader. A blue light illuminated the glass. Tiny electronic strands started to play across the chip. The screen then blipped into action.

“At last,” said Sunn.

The screen then revealed a large building. The view of the screen changed and a list of numbers were running across it. Several of these numbers became illuminated.

“There’s the code,” cried Paige.

“Did you get it?” asked Barb.

“Yup.”

“Well that’s phase one,” stated Sunn. “Let’s see phase two.”

The screen then blipped again. This time it revealed a passage way, this then turned into a map. The camera pulled out of the rooms and three areas were highlighted.

“There!” roared Sunn. “Did you see it?”

“Hmm that’s gonna be tricky,” replied Paige.

“But can you do it?”

Laurence could contain his silence no longer. “Can I ask for an update please?”

Paige smiled at him. “Sure. Well we now know the code to access Drac’s fortress.”

“We can get this baby straight in there,” said Lisa.

“Great,” replied Laurence.

“Not so great,” said Sunn. “You see we know have an additional problem. Drac stays cooped up in his main chamber. No one really knows why. Probably the legends regarding sun light could be true. But his chamber has a force field around it.”

“That’s not going to be easy to deal with,” stated Barb.

“Can’t you shut the field down?” quizzed Laurence.

Sunn looked taken aback. Barb grinned.

“It’s not impossible,” said Paige. “I should be able to trip it.”

“This is very dangerous,” said Sunn.

“Yeah but I for one am fed up of us sneaking around. We planned this attack and we gotta carry it through,” said Barb.

“Now hold on soldier,” replied Sunn. “That was before this issue regarding the force field came into this.”

“Not an issue to me. As far as I am concerned we can do this. We just need to split up.”

“Split up?” asked Laurence.

“It’s our best shot,” said Lisa. “I’m willing to try.”

“Try?” choked Laurence.

Sunn turned to Paige and Nick. Nick simply nodded.

“I guess we’re in too,” said Paige.

“Guess?” cried Laurence.

Sunn turned his large golden frame to face Laurence. “How bout you mister? You got what it takes too bro?”

Laurence looked at the faces around him. He didn’t even know who he was. What use would he be? But then even if he did leave these guys where would he go. His world, or at least the one he couldn’t remember, was gone. His shoulders sagged.

“Guess I am.”

“Okay,” said Sunn. “Here’s how it will work. Lisa, you will stay with the ship in dock. We need you ready to fly at a seconds notice if we get trapped or things go wrong.”

“No problem,” said Lisa.

“Paige, you and Nick are to go to security and stop the force field on Drac’s chamber.”

Nick nodded.

“Okay,” Paige beamed.

“Barb, you and the new boy are with me. We attack the main chamber and take down Drac.”

Laurence felt a cold bead of sweat run down his back. The one thing going through his mind was he wondered if he had ever been as scared as this before in his life.

THE ASSAULT

“Here we go people,” cried out Lisa.

Laurence looked out the view and saw a massive complex coming up. It appeared to be dark blue in colour. Its style seemed somewhat mixed between a bunker and a gothic castle.

“Drac’s fortress,” sighed Barb.

“Can you see the dock?” asked Sunn.

Lisa pointed. “It’s right there on the second turret.”

Sunn placed a cold hand on her shoulder. Paige moved towards the console. She flicked a few switches. A beeping sound emitted from the speakers.

“The request for the code has been received.”

“Transmit the response.”

Paige hit a series of buttons and then whacked down a yellow one. “Response transmitting.”

“Well now we find out if this a fool’s errand,” said Lisa.

“Steady now, try and fly casual. But not too casual.”

Everyone looked at Sunn.

“What did I say?” he asked.

“Response has been received. The docking port has been opened for us.”

“Here we go,” said Laurence

Lisa flew the ship directly into the black hole that appeared in the side of the turret.
She then manoeuvred the ship and landed on a large blue floor.

“We’re in,” she said.

“Nice work Lisa,” said Sunn.

Barb winked at her.

“Now you all know what you have to do and where to go. Let’s do this!”

Sunn started forward until Laurence blocked his way.

“What about the guards?”

“Boy, there is only a skeleton crew aboard this fortress. One of Drac’s big problems. He thinks the competition is so low he started to pull back on the use of robots so he can save his blood stock. Most of them will be out on the planet hunting for him. Now let’s go.”

Paige opened the hatch. Lisa watched them all leave.

“Be careful,” she called.

The landing platform was completely empty. They made their way over to the single door. Sunn placed a metal pincer, taken from the robots whose arms he took, and placed in into an alcove. The door whooshed open.

“Okay Nick, you and Paige go left. We’re heading deeper into the complex. Once you are in security give us ten minutes and then deactivate the field.”

“No problem, should be able to disarm the field in eight minutes,” replied Paige.

Barb passed Paige another pincer.

“Here you’ll need this to enter locked doors.”

“Okay catch you later guys,” Paige then ran to the left of the corridor and disappeared round the corner.

Nick bowed to the others and he followed her, his cape whipping up behind him.

Sunn, Barb and Laurence ran down the right.


* * * * *

Lisa watched them leave through the door. Now all she had to do was make sure the engine’s stayed heated. She knew the minute the temperature of those engines dropped then it would take at least ten minutes to start up. She couldn’t just remain idle till then. She looked outside again and then realised she had better check the hull. After their dog fight and Nick’s use of his sword she didn’t want a hull breach when they needed to get away.

She descended through the hatch and ran her hand along the under side of the ship. There were marks across where the engines of the Blood Seekers had come far too close.

Suddenly she found herself falling onto the floor of the landing bay. Something appeared to be wrapped around her ankle. Next her body was sharply being pulled away from the ship. She tried to reach out, her fingers making little contact with the floor. She pushed her body over and saw her foot was held by a metal claw. This claw was attached to an arm that appeared to be retracting. The retracting arm went into the shadows. As she got near she could make out the silhouette of some figure. She got nearer and nearer, unable to wriggle free. She finally screamed as she was engulfed by the shadows.


*****

Paige and Nick moved carefully towards the security door.

“Here goes,” she whispered.

Paige placed the pincer into the alcove. Nick withdrew his swords ready. The doors whooshed open to reveal a door full of computers all of which were buzzing with operation. Paige put her head into the room.

“Excellent, this is completely automated.”

She made her way towards the nearest computer console. Nick stayed at the entrance his swords ready.

“Just a few minutes,” said Paige. She began to fervently type on the keyboard.


*****

All that Laurence could hear in the corridors was the sound of Sunn’s golden feet hitting the floor. Barb was nervously glancing left and right on the look out for any foes. As they turned a corner Sunn came to a halt. Laurence looked up and saw two huge white doors. These doors had large and gnarled spikes protruding from them.

“I guess we’re here,” said Barb.

Sunn looked at his internal timer.

“5...4...3...2…1.”

He looked at the others.

“Time’s up. The field should be down.”

Sunn placed his large weight against the doors which creaked open under his strength. He entered the room followed by Barb and Laurence.


*****

Paige looked at the computer screen.

“There, that’s done it. Now then, Nick, let’s go.”

Nick, who was still in the doorway, turned to her and smiled. But then two large darts embedded themselves into his neck.

“Nick!” cried Paige.

Blue light shot across Nick’s entire body. He convulsed in the light and dropped both of his swords. Paige could do nothing but watch as his skin became charred and twisted. The blue light then stopped and Nick dropped to the floor, smoke rising from his body.

Paige stood still her mouth gaping open. Then the next thing she heard where loud footsteps drawing nearer. The robots. Some of the guards had found her. There was no way out of the room. The robots stepped over Nick’s body. They reached out their pincers towards Paige. Paige looked liked a trapped animal. In the end she decided not to scream. She would not give him the satisfaction of her death cry.


*****


Sunn lumbered into the chamber. There were six pillars holding up the roof. Each pillar had some form of face carved into it. In the middle on the room was a solitary coffin on a raised dais.

“This is almost too easy,” muttered Barb.

“Is it?” stammered Laurence.

“Eyes sharp people,” said Sunn.

It was then that Laurence realised Sunn had stopped walking.

“You okay back there?”

Sunn was stationary and his arms were trying to pull his legs up. Barb continued his way towards the coffin.

“What are you doing?” whispered Laurence.

“The floor,” said Sunn. “It’s magnetised my feet to the floor. You guys have to get out, you have to…”

Sunn did not get to finish his sentence. Laurence watched as a blue electric discharge built up from the floor, it ran up Sunn’s leg and danced over his torso. Sunn turned his face to look directly at Laurence and then his head exploded. Laurence stood stunned as Sunn’s upper torso dropped singed to the floor. It was then he heard a noise behind him and saw Barb flying through the air and landing in a heap next to him. As he looked at Barb he notice two darts imbedded into his neck.

“Now that was foolish.”

A new voice now appeared in the room. This voice was cool, calm and a little raspy. Laurence felt a chill run over him. He slowly turned to face the coffin.

“Good evening,” came the voice again.

Laurence dropped to floor in surprise. Stood in front of him was a solitary figure, dressed in a red suit. The left arm appeared to be mechanical. As he moved his vision up the figure he then came to the face. The face was angular and thin, the skin white, the hair a deep black, two small sharp teeth jutted out of the mouth. This head was then framed by a large layered metallic collar. This collar had two pipes attached to it and they ran in the darkness of the now open coffin.

“E..e..evening,” stammered Laurence.

The figure eyed him over. “Allow me introduce myself. I am Emperor Dracula.”

Laurence’s mind jumped. “I thought you were a Count.”

Dracula threw back his head and omitted a raspy laugh.

“I was, and now I have won everything,” he indicated the destroyed Sunn and Barb’s body. “Your pathetic rebellion is at an end.”

“There are others..,” cried Laurence.

“The two in security are dead.”

Just Lisa left thought Laurence. If he could pluck up the courage to run he could get back to the ship. He then noticed Dracula was watching him.

“I would forget that idea if I were you.” Dracula snapped his fingers.

Laurence heard a low motorised noise come from behind him. He turned and found him self facing a small figure. Only this figure was metallic and ran on caterpillar trends. But the hideous thing was at the top of the figure was a small dome that contained a human’s face. The face was barren and the skin worn and in some areas peeling away. There were tiny clumps of mattered hair across it. But the part that stuck in Laurence’s mind was that the creature held out an extendable arm, opened its claw and Lisa dropped to floor, her faced all bloodied. Laurence shot his head round to face Dracula.

“Excellent work Gateshead,” croaked Dracula.

The motorised noise started and Gateshead left the room.

“He was my electronics genius. I have kept him alive these last few centuries.”

Laurence’s mind boggled. “But why?”

Dracula looked taken aback. “Why? Because he asked for it. It was his bargain for helping me design and prepare my robotic army.”

Laurence shook his head. “But…that…what’s any of this for?”

Dracula’s eyes turned dark scarlet. “What’s it for!”

Dracula leaped forward and scooped Laurence up by his lapels. He reached inside Laurence’s t-shirt and produced a small gold cross.

“This is for him!”

He dropped Laurence like a sack.

“I don’t under stand,” gasped Laurence.

“No, how could you pathetic mortal,” croaked Dracula. “But you see he scorned me all the years. The almighty. God. He allowed me to continue this wretched existence. Living of the lifeforce of others and immortality. For time I grew weary of it. I tried to starve myself but the hunger grew and I again began to sustain my life. It was then I realised I was in a vicious circle. God had the power to end my existence and he chose not too.”

Laurence sat on the ground and edge towards Sunn’s body. Dracula had started to walk back towards his coffin.

“So I realised that I was more than man and that God had no power over me,” he sneered. “It was down to me to create my own destiny. I no longer want power over man. I want power over him.”

Laurence reached towards Sunn’s chest cavity and felt a dart embed itself in the back of his hand. He turned back to Dracula.

“Now that’s not very nice,” he cackled. “Your friends cannot remain located in his chest. Those models were always easy to take down, that’s why I had my chamber rigged to be able to stop the grand army.”

Laurence sagged back to the floor, his eye lids heavy.

“Ah yes, the dart. It contains a sedative. It allows the blood to stay fresh for me.”

Laurence laughed. “You kill us all you’ll have no stock left.”

Dracula curled his lips. “You haven’t been listening. I told you I am not interested in man. I have saved stocks of blood.”

“Then…?”

Dracula moved back towards Laurence and leaned towards his face.

“My goal is simple. As God has decided to forget me I will have my revenge by destroying his creation.”

“Man,” said Laurence.

“No,” seethed Dracula. “Earth. In seven days once human kind is wiped off the face of this planet. I shall rebuild it in my image. I shall become God in my own garden of Eden. The almighty God will be completely forgotten and I will have everything.”

Laurence could hardly believe his ears. Centuries of isolation must have driven Dracula mad. He then realised all he could see was darkness. His eyelids had closed. He could feel his dry lips move along his neck. Two sharp teeth were burying into his flesh. The last Laurence heard were the words.

“Come unto me my child.”

THE END