Pain lanced through Rosemary's legs as she dragged herself through the ruined building. She warily eyed the ceiling, fearing the rickety structure might topple at any second. Half had already collapsed, making her trek to the basement nail-biting.
But Rosemary pushed ahead anyway. After all, dying early would doom humanity forever. She gave her left arm a quick glance and winced. The infection had already spread to her shoulder blade, the thick glowing purple undulations sickening to behold. Rosemary figured she had an hour remaining until the parasitic infection consumed her whole. But that didn't matter. She'd complete her task well before then.
"Well, shoot." Rocks had collapsed over the door leading to her destination. Refused to be deterred, metal squealed as Rosemary pushed against it with her infected arm. Sweat dripped down her brow as she forced open the metal door, beaming as she spotted what she hoped would be the home of humanity.
"There you are, girl. You can't imagine how pleased I am to see you." She tapped at some keys, grunting in satisfaction as all systems read green. It won't do to send her creation if it didn't work.
"Still, doing this will doom me and everything I worked towards for the last twenty-odd years," she mumbled to herself. This wasn't a decision she made lightly. Heck, this half-baked scheme might not even work. Or worse, doom all history in a paradoxical tangle. Still, she had little choice. The Altair had ruined her precious planet beyond repair. It's only a matter of time until they spread their infection across the entire galaxy.
"Macauley better be right about this." With more taps of the key, everything was ready. She only prayed this would work. They hadn't exactly tested this yet. Oh, well. Nothing for it, she supposed.
"Hey, kiddo. I'm sure you're surprised to see me," Rosemary said in her final message. She couldn't send the Luyten V without explaining its purpose. "Now listen to me carefully. The Earth's fate hangs in the balance."
---
"I don't like the looks of this corridor." The avatars on Rose's computer screen said. The animesque girl's eyes darted from side to side, her animated expression turning pensive.
"Creepy. Maybe you should turn back?" Rose said, tensing with her favorite Vtuber star, Stella Kilonova, as she explored further down the pitch-black corridor. The dilapidated industrial complex sent waves of unease through Rose, its metal rusted into an ugly orange.
Rose hated horror games, never having the nerve to play one herself. She watched as Stella directed her character past some pitch-black window. Rose tensed, fearing something jumping out at any second.
The horror came as expected, bursting from the window in an explosion of glass. The indescribable horror lumbered forward, and Stella screamed. Her avatar, a blue-haired girl with twin starburst hairpins froze, pupils widening in utter terror.
To illustrate her fear, Rose posed a scared emoji with Stella's face in the chat. Similar reactions zipped through the chat log as the Vtuber's other viewers dreaded what might happen next.
"No!" Stella's player character tried fleeing for his life, but the monster moved lightning fast, its jagged claws lashing forward to gut him. Much to Rose's astonishment, the blow did nothing. The character bounced back several steps, but seemed otherwise unharmed. Huh, what was happening?
In response, Stella broke into a high-pitched giggle, her avatar laughing and clasping her stomach. "Gotcha!"
"Huh?" Rose posted her confusion in the chat.
The monster attacked again with a terrifying single-minded determination. But its efforts to bash Stella's character proved futile, the video game character receiving no damage.
"Before I started the game, I entered a cheat code that made my character immune to all damage," Stella said, amused at the monster's futile attempts to hurt her, and broke into another laughing fit.
"Hilarious," Rose said, scowling and voicing her annoyance in the chat. Typical. Stella loved playing these unpredictable practical jokes.
"The monsters should never win," Stella said with absolute confidence. Her chat remained unamused, many claiming she'd ruined the game. They'd been looking forward to her streaming this game. But, ever the entertainer, Stella showed other fun tricks you could do with this game, demonstrating amusing glitches if the player character hit a wall just right. She had an impressive knowledge of the game.
After closing the game, Stella returned to her default star-filled background and answered some questions from her viewers. She answered each super chat donation with her usual humble gratitude. The cute smile of her avatar made everyone's previous annoyance with her evaporate like smoke.
"Rose!" Her mother said, yelling up the stairs.
"Yeah, Mom?" Rose yelled back.
"I need help with the groceries."
"Okay, coming." Rose frowned, but did as instructed. She'd just watch the VOD repeat later.
"Ugh," Rose grunted as she lifted the bags onto the kitchen counter, panting as she finally relieved the weight.
"Mom, look at this." Rose's youngest brother, Dan, said, holding up a collection of sticks he'd glued together. Much to Rose's dismay, the sticky substance covered him everywhere.
"That's great, dear." Their mom paused, her tongue clicking when she spotted her son's mess. Like her mother and little brother, Rose shared her mother's raven locks. Only her older sister had inherited chestnut hair. Typical. His perfect always needed to stand out. "Look at you. Clean up before dinner, young man."
"Must I?" Dan said, pouting.
"Rose, can you wash up your brother?" Her mom asked. "I need to put away groceries and start dinner. Dad will be home soon."
"What? I was in the middle of something. Make Sophie do it!"
"Sophie's studying right now." Her mom replied. "She's studying for her SAT. Lacerta University doesn't allow just anyone in."
"Yeah, yeah. Wouldn't that be a crime?" Like her Miss Perfect older sister even needed to study!
"Rose." Her mom's tone contained a warning.
"Okay. Come, Danny boy, let's get you washed up." She led her brother by the hand to the bathroom.
The dinner table was a hive of activity as they prayed and dug in. With her father home for once, her mom wanted a happy, idyllic family get-together. Danny was making a mess as usual, while her father sang Sophie's praises as she recounted a scholarship she'd gotten for her fantastic grades. No one paid Rose much attention as she picked at her Parmesan-crusted chicken. Rose wished she could eat it in her room, as was her habit, and finish watching Stella's livestream.
Family dinners are the worst. And her father hadn't even bothered asking about her week, like he didn't even remember his middle child existed. Noticing Rose's pensive expression, her mom elbowed her husband hard in the stomach.
"And how have you been, Rosemary?" Her father asked, finally getting the hint. His gaunt face extended into a facsimile of a smile. Rose had always thought her high cheek bones made him look downright skeletal.
"The usual."
Undeterred by this bland response, her father pressed the conversation. "Mother tells me you've been working on a special project. How's that going?"
"That? I finished it yesterday." While not as smart as her perfect older sister, Rose had her talents. She'd worked on it while listening to Stella's stream. "Got it ticking down to the second."
Ever since she was little, the mechanical had fascinated Rose. Much to her parents' exasperation, she'd loved taking apart anything she could get her hands on to learn how it worked. Then she'd reassemble it, making the contraption work better than ever. Her newest project was building a working clock from random scraps she'd collected.
"That's wonderful. You'll have to…" Her father paused as his phone buzzed. He quickly dismissed himself to talk in the other room. After a quick apology, her father rushed out the door. There'd been some commotion at work, and his immediate presence was required.
"I'm sure you can show him later when he returns home." Her mom said, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Why bother?" But Rose shrugged it off. "I'm going to my room." Her sister seemed ready to say something. But she closed her mouth, deciding against it. The door slammed behind her as she reentered her room. Much to her annoyance, Stella had already ended her stream.
Rose flopped on her bed, not interested in doing much anymore. She listened as her makeshift clock ticked and tocked. She'd always loved the sound of old-fashioned clocks. It reminded her of her grandmother's house, a wonderful jumble of random knick-knacks, many dating back a hundred years or more.
"Should I just go to bed early?" Rose wasn't interested in socializing. Unlike her perfect, beloved sister, she possessed poor social skills.
Before she could decide, Rose almost toppled off her bed as her entire room shook. "What the heck?" After the rumbling stopped, she regained her bearings.
"What was that?" Rose checked her phone, trying to figure out what had happened. They didn't live near a fault line, so it couldn't be an earthquake, could it?
"Are you okay, Rose?" Her mom yelled up to her, concern evident in her voice.
"Fine." She shouted back. The rumble made her room a total disaster. Rose spent the next few minutes righting everything as she checked the newsfeed.
"Was it a meteor?" It must have been enormous to cause that kind of tremor. The news claimed it'd crashed about four miles away from her house. The news advised that people stay clear of the crash site. Thankfully, it'd only crashed in a nearby field. No one had gotten hurt.
"I have to check this out." Rose grabbed a jacket, running out before her mom noticed she'd left. At a hurried pace, she dashed towards the distance crash site.
Spectators already filled the street as she approached. Police cars and police tape cordoned off the crash site. Officers waved people away, telling them to return to their homes. She tried peering around the crowd, but her short stature made the effort useless.
"I wonder what they're hiding." A familiar voice said.
"Oh, hi Hans," Rose said, her tone neutral. "What do you mean?"
"You haven't heard?" Unlike her, her classmate stood tall, almost dwarfing her by a foot. Some called him tall, dark, and handsome, but Rose only considered him a jerk. He was brusque with everyone by nature, especially to her.
"What?"
"Before the meteor crashed, something like an aurora borealis lit up the sky."
Rose only snorted. "No way. That's stupid."
"You think? They're hiding something. Why are they here, then?" He pointed to some men in black in shades. They looked like government types.
"Okay, you might have a point." Rose scowled. She hated being wrong. "But what are you saying? That it was a UFO? Now that's stupid."
Her classmate didn't reply, lost in his own thoughts. Annoyed by his rude dismissal, she tried to slip past the crowd to get a better glimpse of the crash site.
But her efforts proved futile, a police officer pushing her away. "Return to your homes. Nothing to see here." Dejected, Rose did as instructed. She spent the night visiting various social media sites for more information. This mystery fascinated her. It was a bright spot in her usually uninteresting life. Whatever it meant, something interesting had finally happened in her incredibly dull town.
---
"What is this?" Agent Millar said, combing a hand through her blonde hair. "It just crashed, but it's already cool to the touch?" Whatever it was, it wasn't anything she'd ever seen on Earth. But it couldn't be a UFO from space. That'd be crazy! The "meteor" sat in the crater, curled up in a ball, its form vaguely humanoid. Could it be some sort of weird new drone?
"Washington has already sent its best minds to the scene to investigate." Her partner, Agent Gaddas, replied. He adjusted his shades for the fifteenth time, a habit he displayed when nervous. "We're seeing about moving it. But I doubt it'd be easy."
The UFO had to weigh at least 250 tons, standing almost the size of a two-story building. She frowned as something caught her eye.
"What's wrong?"
"I thought I saw a light." Something on the UFO's surface had flashed purple. Not from the UFO itself, but from the odd grim covering it.
"What? D-did it just move?" She could have sworn the grim had just undulated.
"We have a problem, I think." But her partner never finished his words.
The odd ooze leaped from the UFO, plopping to the crater floor. Whatever the substance was, it was alive. Its body became more solid, taking the vague outline of a great cat. A single eye cracked open on its forehead, studying them with alien intelligence. Her partner reached for his weapon. But that'd been a mistake. Sensing his hostile action, the creature lunged with impossible quickness. Gaddas didn't even get to scream as the monstrosity consumed him, the poor man flailing as the monster's body absorbed him on contact.
Much to her confusion, the UFO lit up, emitting a sound like an engine starting. But Millar never got a chance to consider what the sound meant before the monstrosity pounced, her body dissolving in seconds.
---
"Did you see the crash last night?" Vera asked, leaning over to talk with Rose over her seat. Since class hadn't begun yet, students took full advantage to socialize.
"Not much," Rose said, shaking her head. "When I'd gotten there, the FBI or whatever had cordoned it off already."
A sly look overtook her friend. Her mouse-like face turning mischievous, She knew something. Vera paused, waiting for her friend to squeeze the information out of her.
"What is it?" Rose said, finally relenting after an awkward few seconds of silence.
"I live nearby, right?" Vera said, her voice a conspiratorial whisper. "I saw the lights everyone's been talking about. I was out walking Mr. Fluffy when it happened."
"You saw something? Really?" The red-haired boy sitting next to her said, pushing up his glasses with a finger. His name was Georges, he'd been her next door neighbor forever.
"Oh yes! And not a giant rock, either. More like a giant man forged from metal, like a titan from myth. It had battle paint over both eyes. Its face was something fearsome, like a demon!"
"Now I know you're pulling my leg." Rose still wasn't buying the story.
"Cool." Georges, however, seemed more inclined to believe this fanciful story.
"The light appeared way high in the sky! The figure fell at least fifty feet! It curled up into a ball to protect itself." Vera said, continuing her tale.
"So, it's not from space? Wait, are you saying? It's a giant robot?"
"Exactly!" Vera wanted to elaborate more, but Mr. Lynn cleared his throat to get the class's attention to start class. He was a balding, middle-aged man with a slight limp in his left leg, a result of a terrible football injury thirty years earlier.
Rose, however, was only half listening to the history lesson. Had a giant robot crashed in their sleepy little town? It sounded hard to credit, though it sparked the imagination. While taking her notes, Rose doodled tiny robots in the margins, each more fanciful than the last.
"Okay, class, read Chapters 3 and 4, and don't forget the chapter questions at the end. They're due tomorrow." He wished to say more, but a sudden, ear-piercing crash interrupted him. It wasn't like the impact from yesterday. It sounded closer. Had a building just collapsed?
"One moment, class." Without another word, Mr. Lynn retreated from the classroom. He spoke with another teacher, each reading something on their phones. The entire class was on the edge, their nerves fraying.
"A monster attack?" A student said, his phone out, despite this breaking the rules.
"What? Impossible! Monsters don't exist!" Another student cried, incredulous. Arguments broke out as everyone declared their own theories, each more outlandish than the last. After twenty minutes passed, their teacher returned, clearing his throat to catch everyone's attention.
"Class, school is canceled." While his outward expression remained calm, a fretful look hid behind it. "In a calm, orderly manner, follow Ms. Sagan outside. A school bus will be ready for you."
This earned confused glances from his students, but his expression brooked no argument. "There's no time to explain. We're taking you to somewhere safe. There's nothing to fear."
Someone screamed, and everyone turned to what Vera was pointing at through the windows. Her heart caught in Rose's throat, she froze like a deer caught in a headlight.
The creature was enormous, dwarfing the surrounding buildings. It was a creature from a nightmare, a cross between a feline predator and a ferocious lizard. Spikes ran across its spine, its scales the ugly color of bruised flesh.
"Go, now!" Mr. Lynn said, pushing his students towards the exit.
Rose screamed as the monster turned to face their direction. This was impossible. This had to be a nightmare. With a casual sweep of its tails, it demolished a nearby building. Dear God, she'd passed that store every day without thinking, and now it was gone, history. The monster stomped in their direction, mouth open to gobble them whole.
A deafening howl resonated through the school as the monster cried out in pain. A jagged line ran across its scales, blackened like coal.
"What the heck?" Rose's breath caught as a red figure appeared from behind a building.
Much to her astonishment, it was the metal creature Vera had described. Its appearance was fearsome. Yet Rose got the distinct impression of a metal sentinel, a guardian here to protect humanity. It wore armor shaped like a knight's chest plate, its body an orangish red hue. It stood even taller than the monster, strong and proud. The fearsome, proud face was like Vera described, with two horns pointing from its metal skull.
Instead of dealing with the stunned monster, it stomped right towards them at frightening speed. Stupid. Why had she assumed the robot was there to protect them? Rose turned to flee, but a hand reached out and smashed through her classroom's wall. She collapsed, shaken by the sudden impact.
The metal colossus's chest opened, revealing an impenetrable black void. A fretful Georges screamed her name, reaching out to grab her hand so they might escape. But tendrils shot out from the metal creature, grabbing Rose in a vice-like grip. Try as she might, they were impossible to escape from.
"Rose!" Georges' frantic plea was the last thing she heard before darkness consumed her.
----
"What the?" Rose shook her head, confused. Much to her relief, she wasn't dead. Something soft sat under her. Cushions?
"Where am I?" Everything was pitch dark. Rose flailed around, trying to find a light. Illumination suddenly blinded her as a screen turned on. A woman of early middle years greeted her, her raven-colored hair in a short bob.
"Mom?" No, but something about the face displayed on the computer screen seemed familiar. Wait. Rose's heart dropped into her stomach. This was her face, older, more battered but clearly her own visage!
"Hey, kiddo. I'm sure you're surprised to see me." An eye patch covered one of the dark-haired woman's eyes. She looked haggard, like she'd suffered through terrible starvation. Yet, her single eye blazed with intensity, a candle that refused to be blown out.
"Now listen to me carefully. The Earth's fate hangs in the balance.There wasn't anyone else I'd trust my Luyten V with. Use it to fight, defend the world. Or else, everyone is doomed!"