Into the Future (the conclusion): Part Three

And...the last part of this short story! Tell me how you liked it! The next post will be Alice & Alyssa: Part Twelve, and then I'll root around in my story archives for something to post every other time. If you missed any of the other parts of this story, go to the links below. Otherwise, read on and enjoy! :)

Part One
Part Two

Part Three:

 

They led them down a hallway. Corbin’s blindfold hadn’t been put on completely correctly, and by straining his eyes downwards, he could make out the off-white floor under his feet and rolling his eyes towards the far right and left, he could see where the tiled floors met the walls. He tried wiggling his hands out of the handcuffs, but they were locked fast.

A few minutes later, after several turns, they were stopped and their blindfolds were taken off. However, their handcuffs were not removed. Blinking their eyes in the sudden light, the humans again looked around them to get some sort of bearing of their surroundings.

They appeared to be in a room like their cell, only bigger, and instead of a cot and tables, the furniture consisted of computers linked to huge machines that filled the room with a steady hum. Chairs occupied by aliens sat in front of each computer, and everything was the same color of off-white. Even the clothing which was being worn by the aliens sitting in front of the computers was the same color.

“I’m getting tired of that color…” Corbin muttered to Dania.

She grinned. “If we get out of this, I never want to see anything that’s that shade of off-white again!” She agreed.

From a door behind one of the buzzing machines came the tall alien who seemed to be the leader. He was holding the vest. Walking over to the one wall that didn’t have any computers or machines next to it, he set the vest down.

Several aliens, all armed with fire guns, seemed to know what was going on, and began lining themselves up, glancing off and on at the three humans with hate-filled eyes.

The alien leader took his place at the beginning of the line and raised his open hand, his other hand holding a fire gun. “Ready,” He began.

The other aliens took their guns from the holsters and held them bare at their sides.

“Aim,” The alien continued.

The aliens lifted their guns and pointed them at the lone vest, leaning against the off-white wall.

“Fire!”

Immediately there was a deafening hiss as all the guns were ignited. Twenty beams of fire shot out of the guns and landed with a sizzle on the vest’s smooth surface. A minute ticked slowly by.

“Turn weapons off,” The alien commanded.

The guns were switched off and the beams of fire disappeared. There was a moment of absolute silence as the leader walked over to the vest and examined it. He threw it on the ground with a loud clang and stalked over to the humans, anger and disappointment at his failure glowing from his eyes.

“It was a trick!” He exclaimed. “You, human,” he pointed an accusing finger at Aaron, “You could not have figured out a way to shield humans from our guns. It’s impossible!”

The alien grabbed Aaron’s shirt, lifting him off of the ground. “You must tell me what will destroy that vest!” When Aaron hesitated, the alien continued, “Tell me now or your friends will suffer.”

“Water,” Aaron chocked out, trying to make the alien release his neck, “You have to submerge it in water.”

“Very well,” The alien dropped him back onto his feet and stalked away. He soon came back, followed by two aliens holding between them a large bucket of water. This time the alien simply put the vest into the water.

When that didn’t work he stormed over to Aaron, his eyes bright with anger. “You lied to me!”

Aaron put on a sulky air, playing his part so well it took all Corbin’s self-control to keep a straight face. “If you aliens are so smart, you figure out how to destroy it.” He answered.

That seemed to do the trick. “Take them back to their cell!” the leader demanded.

He was obeyed and the humans were put back into their blindfolds and cell. Once they were free of their bonds again, Dania walked over to Aaron and pretended to look at his sore neck.

“Why did you say that?” She asked almost inaudibly while massaging his neck.

“I’m stalling,” Aaron replied through a grimace, “My wife will have guessed what has happened by now and will bring in human officers to take over the alien forces in this hovel and set us free.”

“How would your statement stall our death sentence?”

“They are a very proud race; they’ll do anything to prove to us humans that they’re smarter than us. They think they are, but it’s not true. An appeal to their vanity works as a stalling device every time.”

“So…now we just wait?”

“My wife will be here soon.”

Corbin walked over to “examine” Aaron’s neck. “We’ll be ready,” He promised softly.

 

 

Day after day while they waited for Miriam to show up, the three humans watched as the aliens tried thing after thing on the vest. Every time, the aliens were confident that they were going to be victorious, but every time their method failed.

Their mistake was that everything they tried on the vest involved heat of some kind. It never crossed their minds to try something cold like ice, and therefore the metal vest only grew stronger and more immune to destruction.

As failure’s piled up, the aliens were getting agitated. They didn’t kill the humans, since they were under orders not to until the vest was destroyed, but life in the aliens’ hands was by no means pleasant. The humans were given hardly any food, and they stayed in their cell at all times unless the aliens had a new plan of destruction to show them.

Time went by, and the humans began getting worried. What was taking Miriam so long to rescue them?

Thankfully, it turned out they didn’t have long to wait. Miriam came the next day with fifty-three human officers, men trained for the specific alien problem and men who were just as efficient in using the fire guns as the aliens were themselves.

An explosive destroyed the alien hovel entrance. A smoke bomb kept the aliens from seeing the human rescuers, whereas the aliens’ bright yellow eyes made them a perfect target for the officers.

The angry hiss of fire guns filled the hovel and for about an hour there was complete chaos as the humans dodged and fired at aliens and aliens stumbled aimlessly through the smoke. Beams of fire lighted up the hovel, but as the smoke cleared away, it was obvious that the human officers were victorious.

The aliens that were alive quickly gave themselves up, and the officers had their hands full making sure their fire guns were confiscated and the aliens in chains. However, three human officers could be spared and they went with Miriam to find the human prisoners.

Eventually, they found them. Miriam ran into the arms of her husband, tears of relief running down her cheeks. “You’re still alive!” She exclaimed, “I was so worried that I would find you killed by those awful aliens.”

Aaron gave her a kiss, smiling down into her tear-filled eyes. “They couldn’t,” He answered simply, “At least; they were under orders not to kill us until we had seen the vest destroyed. But…” an excited gleam appeared in his eyes, “They couldn’t do it! Miriam, I think I’ve finally done it; I’ve created a vest that can’t be destroyed by the fire guns!”

Miriam hugged him again, “I’m so happy for you, Aaron,” She answered.

Aaron looked up at the officers who were smiling while watching the joyful reunion. “Guys,” He said dramatically, “I’ve got something to show you.”

 

 

The fire gun proof vest was approved by the government, and just as Aaron had predicted, the factories began pumping out vests for the humans. Once the aliens found that their guns were no longer effective, they gave up on trying to conquer the planet earth and instead went back to their own planet.

Of course they were still a worry, after all, they could come up with another weapon even more dangerous than the fire guns, but for a short time there would be peace for the human race.

After Corbin and Dania supported Aaron and his family through getting the vest out into the public, the siblings decided it was high time they got back home. Having outstayed their time in the future by a month, they began to feel home sick. Living in the future was all well and good, but both of them wanted to be back in their time.

Goodbyes were said at Aaron and Miriam’s house. It was a sad time, but Corbin and Dania were glad to finally be on their way home.

Once inside the time traveler, Corbin looked over at his sister with a grin. “Quite an adventure, huh?” He exclaimed with a wink.

Dania laughed. “I’ll say!”

“Where do you think the USRSA will send us next?” Corbin turned his twinkling eyes to meet her own.

“I don’t know,” she admitted, “But I can’t wait to find out!”

 

The End