Read Online THE VROL TRILOGY by S.K. Benton - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: S.K. Benton
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Max
asked excitedly. He was starting to get interested.
"Oh the war! Brilliant! Mankind at its
finest! All nations came together, leaving behind all of their old
prejudices. They simply fought for survival against the threat of
the invaders. The Vrol, that's what they are called - the Vrol.
Virulent creatures, they are. Much like intergalactic insects, with
no individuality. So, eventually coming together, Earth forces had
practically destroyed the Vrol, despite its advanced technology.
Pure grit, I must say," said Draagh while displaying a bright
expression, his eyes momentarily growing big, as he proceeded to
reload his pipe. "So the last thing the Vrol could do was to try
and decimate the entire population of the Earth, and they did so -
out of spite. They did this with a particularly horrific piece of
biological warfare. They polluted the entire water supply of the
planet with a genetically-engineered amoeba. Unfortunately, this
amoeba penetrated on contact with the skin or mucous membranes.
Everyone perished; all perished with horrible, painful deaths. The
transmission vectors were all over the planet - drinking water, in
the shower, swimming pools, and lawn sprinklers - anywhere. The
amoebas simply consumed all organic tissues, with an extreme
fondness for calcium, hence - no bones! Anywhere!"
Max shuddered as he imagined dying
slowly and painfully, watching as his bones dissolved while he was
still alive.
"So, what you are saying is that there
are no humans left on Earth? That it is basically a dead planet?"
asked Max.
"No!" exclaimed Draagh.
"Life always continues, my son, always. Life cannot be stopped. It
may take centuries, or even eons, but life always manages to forge
on ahead. Yes, yes it does. In fact, there are nomadic tribes of
humans running about in areas where the infection could not be
implemented. As the amoeba could not travel up into the atmosphere
when the water evaporated, that same water went up and formed
clouds. Clouds of pure, unadulterated water, and those clouds
created rainfall that collected in places where there was no
contamination! This was true especially in the higher altitudes. Of
course, there were some smart humans who waited until the amoeba
lifecycle ran its course, simply subsiding on bottled water
products and anything else that had been sealed before the
infection. Speaking of sealed, that whisky is perfectly fine, as I stated
earlier. Would you mind sharing a bit with me? It has been so long
since I tasted a fine single malt."
Max looked at Draagh with a quizzical
expression and simply shrugged, saying, "Sure, I guess, but are you
certain that it's ok to drink?"
Draagh pointed to Max's backpack,
wearing a slight grin as he did so. "If you do not believe me, drop
one of your little devices in it and perform an analysis. I do
imagine you detected fossilized amoebas when you checked the area
around Lima, did you not?"
"Yes, in fact I did. The computer
couldn't identify them, but it said they were inactive, or even
dead."
"Just so you know," said Draagh, "that
whisky was bottled before the invasion. It is fine, so let us make
a toast to a new friendship. I am sure we have much more to discuss
before we depart."
Max pulled two sterile cups from his
pack and filled them with the golden liquid, handing one to Draagh
before returning to his seat on the log, as he had been standing
during the strange man's entire string of monologues.
He thought he heard Draagh
say depart , but
let it waft to the back of his mind, interested in hearing more
strange tales. In the worst-case scenario, he was dead and in Hell.
In any other scenario it was completely up for grabs as to what had
happened. He could be laying somewhere, sick, dying and simply
having a magnificent hallucination, or he could really be sitting
with an old man - who looked like a badass Viking - and was smoking
a pipe.
Whatever.
The two sat back, sipping on delicious
single malt whisky hundreds of years old,
asked excitedly. He was starting to get interested.
"Oh the war! Brilliant! Mankind at its
finest! All nations came together, leaving behind all of their old
prejudices. They simply fought for survival against the threat of
the invaders. The Vrol, that's what they are called - the Vrol.
Virulent creatures, they are. Much like intergalactic insects, with
no individuality. So, eventually coming together, Earth forces had
practically destroyed the Vrol, despite its advanced technology.
Pure grit, I must say," said Draagh while displaying a bright
expression, his eyes momentarily growing big, as he proceeded to
reload his pipe. "So the last thing the Vrol could do was to try
and decimate the entire population of the Earth, and they did so -
out of spite. They did this with a particularly horrific piece of
biological warfare. They polluted the entire water supply of the
planet with a genetically-engineered amoeba. Unfortunately, this
amoeba penetrated on contact with the skin or mucous membranes.
Everyone perished; all perished with horrible, painful deaths. The
transmission vectors were all over the planet - drinking water, in
the shower, swimming pools, and lawn sprinklers - anywhere. The
amoebas simply consumed all organic tissues, with an extreme
fondness for calcium, hence - no bones! Anywhere!"
Max shuddered as he imagined dying
slowly and painfully, watching as his bones dissolved while he was
still alive.
"So, what you are saying is that there
are no humans left on Earth? That it is basically a dead planet?"
asked Max.
"No!" exclaimed Draagh.
"Life always continues, my son, always. Life cannot be stopped. It
may take centuries, or even eons, but life always manages to forge
on ahead. Yes, yes it does. In fact, there are nomadic tribes of
humans running about in areas where the infection could not be
implemented. As the amoeba could not travel up into the atmosphere
when the water evaporated, that same water went up and formed
clouds. Clouds of pure, unadulterated water, and those clouds
created rainfall that collected in places where there was no
contamination! This was true especially in the higher altitudes. Of
course, there were some smart humans who waited until the amoeba
lifecycle ran its course, simply subsiding on bottled water
products and anything else that had been sealed before the
infection. Speaking of sealed, that whisky is perfectly fine, as I stated
earlier. Would you mind sharing a bit with me? It has been so long
since I tasted a fine single malt."
Max looked at Draagh with a quizzical
expression and simply shrugged, saying, "Sure, I guess, but are you
certain that it's ok to drink?"
Draagh pointed to Max's backpack,
wearing a slight grin as he did so. "If you do not believe me, drop
one of your little devices in it and perform an analysis. I do
imagine you detected fossilized amoebas when you checked the area
around Lima, did you not?"
"Yes, in fact I did. The computer
couldn't identify them, but it said they were inactive, or even
dead."
"Just so you know," said Draagh, "that
whisky was bottled before the invasion. It is fine, so let us make
a toast to a new friendship. I am sure we have much more to discuss
before we depart."
Max pulled two sterile cups from his
pack and filled them with the golden liquid, handing one to Draagh
before returning to his seat on the log, as he had been standing
during the strange man's entire string of monologues.
He thought he heard Draagh
say depart , but
let it waft to the back of his mind, interested in hearing more
strange tales. In the worst-case scenario, he was dead and in Hell.
In any other scenario it was completely up for grabs as to what had
happened. He could be laying somewhere, sick, dying and simply
having a magnificent hallucination, or he could really be sitting
with an old man - who looked like a badass Viking - and was smoking
a pipe.
Whatever.
The two sat back, sipping on delicious
single malt whisky hundreds of years old,
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