Like
Angels?Visits,
Short and Bright
?004 The Angst Guy
(theangstguy@yahoo.com)
Feedback (good, bad, indifferent,
just want to bother me, whatever) is appreciated. Please write to:
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Synopsis: Amy Barksdale and two
girlfriends are in a spot of trouble, with the fate of Earth at stake, in this
way-over-the-top crossover of 揇aria,?揅harlie抯 Angels,?Robert Heinlein抯 Starship Troopers, the USAF Space
Command, and H. P. Lovecraft抯 Cthulhu stories, if you
will.
Author抯
Notes: In
early 2004, Kara Wild challenged several fanfic authors on PPMB to write
over-the-top stories for the Dariaverse. At least, I think that抯 how it began.
This story was one of the many results. The events herein take place
simultaneous with the last scenes in Is
It College Yet?
Acknowledgements: My cheerful thanks go to
Kara Wild for the challenge.
*
How fading are the joys we
dote upon!
Like apparitions seen and
gone.
But those which soonest take
their flight
Are the most exquisite and strong?o:p>
Like angels?visits, short
and bright;
Mortality抯 too weak to bear
them long.
桱ohn Norris, The Parting (1678)
Her armored suit leaking air and her com/sensors down after her
crash-landing, Amy Barksdale carefully stepped into the hallway from the ranch
house抯 dining room. A kooz was coming out of a bedroom at the end of the hall,
not five meters away. Her smart gun fired before she did, her helmet console
screamed warnings and flashed lights, but all she felt was dull surprise at
knowing the Enemy had reached Earth at last. The war was now here.
And the Enemy was not what she had expected.
It抯 so beautiful, she thought, her smart gun jumping on full auto in her right hand. It抯 like a?o:p>
A titan punched her in the chest, slamming her into a table and smashing it to splinters. She bounced off the wall behind it and hit the floor, her smart gun gone. As she shook off her confusion and struggled to get up, the wooden floor leaped beneath her and the air was filled with dust and debris. Her bones rang from tremendous explosions she could hear even through her helmet and armor. Earthquake, she thought, but she knew it wasn抰, it was Viv laying down fire on the house, and Amy would die if Viv didn抰 blow the kooz into atoms this second. She clawed through the blinding dust cloud, feeling for the smart gun and praying that?o:p>
The floor jumped extra hard. A tremendous weight fell down across her
back, immobilizing her and breaking part of the floor under her. Tasting blood
in her mouth, Amy tried to pull herself from under the force pressing her down.
She couldn抰 move. Her armor entombed her even as it kept her
alive.
Don抰 be scared! Don抰 be scared! screamed a voice in her head,
but if she didn抰 get up now, she feared she never would, and that fear
conquered all.
Up! Amy pulled her arms in, then forced them to do a pushup in her
powered combat armor. The weight pressing down on her back shifted, snapped, and
came partly away. She had enough room now to get one of her knees up, then the
other, and she stood and shoved away the wreckage of the house. At the end she
gave into panic, mindlessly thrashing at the timbers and pipes entrapping her.
Up! Drowning! Up!
Seconds later she tore through the shingles of the roof and fell on her
back over the rubble. She was screaming into her helmet and could not make
herself stop even after she knew she was free. The ranch house had collapsed梠r
exploded, more likely. Parts of the house were scattered everywhere in
sight.
She stopped screaming and gasped for air with a raw throat. Big bomb
must抳e hit the house, she thought. One of the circling cruise missiles,
maybe. Her faceplate was covered with dust, but she could see sunlight and
vague images. She wiped a shaking glove across her faceplate, smearing it, and
saw a metallic-gray, human-shaped spacesuit make its way across the wreckage
toward her.
揂my!?came a shout in her ears. 揂my, calm down! I got it!?o:p>
揥hat? What??she shouted back, trying to get up.
The bulky gray-suited figure was on her, American flags on its shoulders. It grabbed Amy抯 armored hands by the wrists. 揑 got it!?the figure shouted over Amy抯 helmet radio. 揅alm down! We抮e okay now!?o:p>
揑 lost my gun!?Amy shouted. 揑 lost my gun!?o:p>
揑 put a cruise missile on it, Amy! It抯 over!?o:p>
揗y see-and-ess is down!?Amy shouted, though shouting in her helmet did
her no good, and neither did crying, which was what she did
next.
揅抦on, get up. We gotta get going.?o:p>
Amy got to her feet, aided by the other figure. 揥here抯 our pickup??she
said between coughs.
揝he抯 coming,?said the other figure. 揧ou still have your backpack, you know. It抯 not like you don抰 have anything left.?o:p>
Amy sniffed back a runny nose, feeling her self-control settle into place
again. 揗y see-and-ess isn抰 working. I get only you on the suit radio, nothing
else. What抯 going on??She wished she could use a handkerchief to wipe her nose
and eyes. Combat armor was great, but it had its sucky side,
too.
揟his was the only landing so far. Charlie said SAC will be here in a few minutes to fry everything within twenty klicks, just in case, so we抳e gotta go.?o:p>
揟he Canadians are gonna be pissed.?o:p>
揟he Canadians asked us to fry it. In secret, of course.?o:p>
揝omeone抯 going to see the fireball.?Amy laughed without a trace of humor. 揘ot like it matters, I know, but still.?o:p>
揅an抰 worry about it now, babe.?The figure in the gray armor swiveled to look around at the widely scattered remains of the ranch house. 揑抦 just glad no one was home. Hope the owners are into redecorating.?o:p>
揘o other landings??o:p>
揘ah. Can抰 believe those monsters don抰 need spaceships. That抯 too weird, even for me. I mean, how do they move in space, you know? Someone at SPACECOM tried to explain it to me, but I still don抰 get it.?o:p>
揧ou抮e sure the kooz is toast??o:p>
揅rumbly burnt toast, like I used to make my ex-husband for breakfast.?o:p>
Amy looked around. 揇oesn抰 look too burnt to me. Shredded, but not burnt.?o:p>
揑t was a figure of speech. Hey, I don抰 want to bug you, but didn抰 you pick up the kooz when you went into the house??o:p>
揗y see-and-ess went down when I landed.?Amy ran a gloved hand over the outside of her helmet, feeling for dents. There were plenty. 揟he retrorockets didn抰 go off like they were supposed to. Rattled me pretty good. Suit抯 leaking, too, damn it.?o:p>
揊orget it. Charlie doesn抰 care about the equipment. Someone抣l fix it or throw it away. Who cares.?o:p>
揌ey, Viv??o:p>
The gray spacesuit turned so that its gold faceplate faced
Amy.
揟hanks,?said Amy. 揝orry I lost it there. I was kind of scared for a little.?o:p>
揈h.?The gray spacesuit turned away. Though covered with dust, the name TAYLOR was still visible on the chest and arms, along with the U.S. flag, SPACECOM, and 513th USAF Space Wing (Angels) patches. 揗ake dinner or something.?o:p>
揌ow about carryout??o:p>
揝ure. Chinese??o:p>
揧eah, why not,?said Amy. 揕et抯 make it a party. We could use one.?o:p>
揕et抯. Know what??o:p>
揥hat??o:p>
揑t抯 graduation time. My little girl is getting her high-school diploma right now.?o:p>
Amy looked down at the bottom rim of her helmet, at the digital chronometer. She sniffed again and smiled. 揧ou抮e right. So抯 my favorite niece. We should go see them when this is over, all three of us.?o:p>
揧eah.?Vivian Taylor did not sound like she believed it would
happen.
Amy did not blame her. If more kooz reached Earth behind this one, time would be sorely lacking for family get-togethers. 揑 can ask Charlie for a short leave, couple days or something,?she said. 揅an抰 hurt to ask.?o:p>
揥e might be busy.?Viv was always the
party-pooper.
揥e might.?Amy was realistic, which was almost as bad. 揚(yáng)arty抯 on me, though, if we抮e not.?o:p>
揇eal.?o:p>
揧ou hear from Brittany lately??o:p>
Amy heard Viv sigh over the suit radio. 揧eah. She said her dad was
acting kind of weird about棓
The kooz reared up behind Taylor, flinging away a ton-and-a-half section
of roofing. In the full sun, it sparkled like a giant plastic amoeba filled with
rainbows, colored fog, and light. It was breathtaking, and Amy saw it and
stepped back, raising a hand to warn Vivian.
A pseudopod flashed out from the kooz and punched Taylor in the back,
knocking her out of sight. Her nerve gone, Amy turned and ran, jumping over
piles of debris to escape. Nothing more was possible without her
gun.
Another titan抯 fist hit her, a weaker blow than before that still threw
her clear of the wreckage of the house. Rolling across a weed-filled backyard,
Amy came to rest only twenty feet from Taylor抯 gray-armored body. Her head spun
as she got up on her elbows. Taylor wasn抰 moving. The kooz was coming on like a
two-story bulldozer.
Kill it, Amy thought, suddenly calm. Kill it at all costs.
She reached up and carefully keyed in the backpack release. It was hard to focus
with blood running down into her eyes from a gash on her forehead, but the
backpack came loose. She rolled away from it and flipped it over to key in the
timer code.
The kooz rolled through the smashed house, heading for her. The unearthly
waterfall of color radiating from it distracted Amy from her work, but she kept
her head down and concentrated. Little wonder how the monsters got their name,
plucked from an old horror story called 揟he Colour Out of Space.?The title was
shortened to COOS, then to kooz by those in the American military who
studied them, tried to contact them, then fought them in the black depths of
interplanetary space with robot spacecraft, atom bombs, and particle beams. It
was impossible to say if kooz were intelligent, but they certainly knew how to
fight. And now, the kooz knew where their most annoying enemy lived. More would
come. Possibly a lot more.
And humanity would die screaming.
Amy hit the last button and got up, leaving the backpack behind. SAC
would have to settle for second place. She staggered over to Vivian and grabbed
her by one arm to pull her away. Neither of them would escape the backpack nuke,
but Amy was damned if she would let the kooz get Viv
first.
The ground jumped. Amy fell but kept her grip on Viv. She got back on her
feet and turned around, staggering as the ground jumped again and
again.
A black helicopter with a SPACECOM emblem showered rockets and cannon-fire into the kooz. The sparkling amoeba came apart in billions of droplets, the ammo hits and explosions spraying a colorful mist across the wreckage. As Amy watched, however, the droplets came together again in the air and on the ground, forming larger drops, then blobs, then larger blobs still. It was regenerating. Rumors out of SPACECOM said kooz were unkillable. Amy believed it. We are so screwed, she thought. We are so very?o:p>
In the blink of an eye, a missile on a lance of yellow-white flame darted
from the black helicopter into the middle of the largest piece of the shattered
kooz. Amy remembered at the last moment to throw herself to the ground, but by
then it was entirely too late and everything blew up hard.
?I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">discontinuity?o:p>
Someone bumped into her. Amy woke up and regretted it. A blazing headache
sang between her eyes. Her helmet was off, wind was roaring in her face, she lay
on her back inside a helicopter, and she hurt so much all over that it made
having cramps and the flu at the same time look pretty
good.
揌ang on, muchachas!?shouted a woman from the pilot抯 seat of the copter, next to Amy抯 head. 揌ere it comes!?o:p>
Amy reached over for Viv, her finger snagging her friend抯 armored suit抯 chest straps. She remembered the backpack. Where was?o:p>
A Light brighter than day came and went in an instant. The air heaved and
jumped. The helicopter was flung forward and spun crazily in the air as
deafening thunder hammered it and hammered the three women inside it from every
side.
Blinded and battered, Amy screamed as forces tried to pull her out
through the open side door of the helicopter. She jammed a foot against the
ledge under the side door and gripped a metal pole behind the pilot抯 seat to
keep Viv and herself from falling out.
After a last sickening spin in the air, the helicopter righted itself.
The engine had an irregular beat and the copter flew with a jerking motion, but
it flew.
?I>anamos! amos a Disneyland!?the pilot screamed above the rumbling outside. ?/SPAN>Charlie, you bastard, you owe me fifty bucks! I told you we抎 do it!?o:p>
Amy allowed herself a thin, dry smile. Penny Lane was forever betting on
their missions and, more often than not, winning. As the kooz could not
regenerate from atomic disintegration梥o far as anyone knew梩he Angels had
indeed won this round. Maybe they did deserve a vacation to Disneyland once this
was over. If it was ever over.
Better than Disneyland, however, would be a trip back to Lawndale. Penny
would want to see her little sister, Amy her niece, and Vivian her daughter, all
three of whom at this moment were throwing their blue graduation caps into the
air on the high-school抯 football field, under a cloudless blue
sky.
Amy turned her head and looked out of the open side door of the copter.
Wind roared over her face as she gazed down at the mushroom cloud rising over
the deserted farm in northern Alberta. A few more minutes, and a much bigger
mushroom would bake the farm and all around it into black ash. The first landing
of the kooz on Earth had been stopped. It was only the first, but still . .
.
Amy smiled again, but it was a different, feral
grin.
揗y planet,?she whispered to the thing that had been at the base of the
cloud. 揟his is my planet, not yours.?She closed her eyes and listened
to the copter抯 damaged engine and the fading thunder, and she imagined that
humanity might make it after all. Charlie might even give them two days off to
see their families. Anything was possible, for an Angel.
Original: 02/03/04, modified
12/24/04
FINIS