Chapter 100: The Mighty Have Fallen
Back in the Capital Region. Pardi was feeling much better. The 19CE serum appeared to be working well on him. He was now able to focus on his work again.
Pardi was also glad to hear reports that the regions were coming back under control again. The Capital Region enforcers and the artificial intelligence from Cellrebrum had done a good job of quelling the rebellions. Pardi instructed the Capital Region Head Enforcer to begin recruiting enforcers. He wanted the regions to become prisons until he could replace all the Sapiens with his ‘new’ Linap.
Pardi headed down to his underground laboratory. He went into a massive room. In this room, the newborn adult Linap were taking care of the newborn baby Linap.
Pardi approached one of the adult Linap. ‘How are you feeling today?’ he asked.
‘I’m feeling wonderful,’ said the Linap.
Pardi rattled off half a dozen science trivia questions. The Linap answered all of them correctly.
‘You absorb knowledge better than Aqua Sponge absorbs moisture,’ joked Pardi.
The Linap clapped.
‘Still, no time to be complacent,’ said Pardi in a more stern tone. ‘You have a lot more to learn. Get back to your studies.’
The Linap bowed and returned to his learning area.
The Sentray were closing in on the Capital Region. They had not attacked any of the regions they had passed. This might have been because the train bypassed them or because they were purely focused on locating the cry from the baby Sentray.
At this point, many had seen the Sentray, but because they were focused on escaping the riots, they were not paying much attention to them. They simply and foolishly passed them off as a product of the contamination.
Pardi had entered another room in his underground laboratory. He was about to begin cloning himself. He was studying the results from his own DNA. It seemed different to him. He pulled up the results from a previous DNA sample taken from him when he was young. He compared the two. They were different. Pardi was confused, and then he was furious. He looked up who processed the older DNA sample. It was his father’s best friend and the former senior scientist who worked for Carvaress. Pardi studied the results from the two sets of DNA. He was unsure why they had been swapped. There was nothing abnormal about either sample.
Pardi continued studying them when he heard footsteps approaching him. He turned around. It was Rotiart.
‘Who are you and what are you doing in this private laboratory?’ demanded Pardi.
‘Wow, you have distanced yourself so far from politics that you don’t even recognise a governor,’ replied Rotiart.
‘I’ve been too busy saving Sapey to memorise the names and faces of the new governors,’ said Pardi.
‘Of course, you are such a hero,’ said Rotiart sarcastically.
‘We are entering a new era,’ said Pardi. ‘It would be wise to stay on my right side.’
Rotiart started to giggle.
‘You still haven’t answered my second question,’ said Pardi.
‘I like this room because it is private,’ said Rotiart. ‘No prying cameras.’
‘If that is some sort of threat, you better be very careful,’ said Pardi.
‘It is not a threat. It is an unveiling,’ said Rotiart. Rotiart shapeshifted into Lily.
‘Do not play games with me,’ said Pardi angrily.
‘No games. It’s really me,’ said Lily.
Pardi looked carefully. He knew it was Lily but was still in partial shock.
‘I escaped after our final conversation,’ said Lily. ‘A girl, a Linap girl, from the House of Divine Knowledge visited me. They let her into my cell for my final prayers. She worshipped me like an idol. I asked her to trade places with me. She agreed. I told her what to do. We shapeshifted and exchanged places.’
‘You let that girl die for you,’ said Pardi.
‘Yes, I gave her death meaning,’ replied Lily. ‘She made me a martyr. Proving, despite your slanderous campaign against me, I am truly loved and adored.’
‘Despite everything, I’m happy you’re alive,’ said Pardi.
Meanwhile, outside the Capital Region, the Sentray were at the outer wall. They were neither tall enough to jump the wall nor strong enough to break through it. Instead, the Sentray started forming a row at the base of the wall. Sentray climbed on top of the bottom row, forming a second row. The remaining Sentray began climbing the two rows. This gave them the height to get over the wall. The first few Sentray leaped over. They landed in the outer Industrial Zone. They were caught on camera. However, there were no enforcers to respond.
Meanwhile, in the laboratory, Pardi and Lily continued their conversation.
‘Have you stopped lying to yourself?’ asked Lily.
‘I have just found out that I have been lied to,’ replied Pardi.
‘Maybe you wilfully allowed that to be the case,’ said Lily.
Pardi snorted in disapproval. ‘Someone had switched my DNA. I have a feeling you might know something about that.’
‘Yeah, I know about it,’ said Lily with a smirk. ‘I know about a lot of things.’
‘Why was my DNA sample swapped?’ asked Pardi.
‘The answers are in your DNA database,’ replied Lily.
‘What do you mean?’ asked Pardi.
‘Compare your new DNA results with those of your child, Orcilla,’ chuckled Lily.
Pardi’s face turned pale. He pulled up Orcilla’s DNA results. Their DNA matched. Pardi was Orcilla’s biological father.
‘Why the hell did you do this to me?’ shouted Pardi.
‘My uncle did this to protect me,’ said Lily. ‘There was no malice against you.’
Pardi paused for a moment. Then the truth dawned on him. ‘You’re not Linap. You’re Sapien,’ said Pardi with a look of desperation on his face.
Lily began to clap.
Meanwhile, several dozen Sentray had entered the Industrial Zone. Security guards knew they were there, but they were too terrified to take any action against the huge, ferocious creatures. One of the security guards called the Carvaress security team. They were still standing in for the enforcers. They raised the alarm. Sirens began blaring out across the region. The media were informed. Several media helicopters took to the sky. They began broadcasting as the Sentray started to smash several buildings in the Industrial Zone. The story they ran with was ‘Giant Sapes Attack the Capital’.
Back in the underground laboratory, Lily and Pardi were still unaware that the Sentray were attacking the region.
‘How can you be Sapien? How could I not know?’ Pardi said, in disbelief.
‘We have your genetics. Some of us are able to shapeshift like Linap,’ said Lily.
‘Your parents were Linap,’ said Pardi.
‘Yes,’ said Lily, ‘we were adopted after our parents died. Your father helped place us. Our new parents revealed everything about the Linap to us.’
Pardi continued to grow in rage.
‘At first, shapeshifting was very difficult, but our parents were great teachers,’ said Lily. ‘Thinking about it. Most of the time, I didn’t even need to shapeshift at all. The Linap just assumed that I shapeshifted into my Sapien form, but I was just me.’ Lily smiled widely. She could see the fury continue to build in Pardi.
‘You are despicable. You ruined my life. You ruined my daughter’s life,’ shouted Pardi.
‘You ruined your own and your daughters’ lives with your hatred,’ said Lily. ‘I tried to help you, but you could never look past it.’
Meanwhile, the Sentray were now crossing the Capital Agriculture Zone and were heading towards the outer Residential Area. Guards fired long-range weapons from buildings, but they had no impact on the Sentray. One of the media helicopters got too close to a Sentray. The Sentray reached out, grabbed it, and then slammed it hard into the ground, destroying it on impact.
The Sentray began to converge on the train station. A train had just entered the region. It was slowing to stop at the station. Two Sentray charged the line. Another Sentray bounced off the back of the Sentray, attacking the line. This Sentray slammed hard into the side of the train, forcing it off the rails and causing one of the carriages to torpedo into an apartment building. At this point, there were many panicking Linap and Sapiens in the streets. Some of them ran. Some of them hid in buildings. Some of them became invisible.
Pardi opened a drawer in his personal cabinet. He pulled out a gun. He went to aim it at Lily, but she had become invisible.
‘I've changed my mind,’ shouted Pardi. ‘I'd rather you were dead.’
He then fired two shots in the general direction of where Lily had been standing. He moved very quietly to try to hear any sound that she might make moving around. He looked to see if he could catch any shimmers from reflections off her invisible body. He saw something. He fired at it, but it was not her.
‘Show yourself,’ shouted Pardi. ‘You can't hide. I will find you.’
Suddenly, Pardi felt a sharp pain in his back. Lily had stabbed him. He tried to turn around. Lily stabbed him again. Pardi dropped the gun. He tried to lash out. Lily stabbed him again, this time in the shoulder. Pardi fell hard to the ground. Lily became visible. She walked over and picked up the gun.
Meanwhile, the Sentray had now reached the train station. They smashed out sections of the station. A Sentray had climbed up the station and had reached the platform. The Sentray was swiping and killing all those on the platform. Even the Linap that had turned invisible were being swiped. Several Sentray turned their attention to the Carvaress office building and the original source of the scream.
Several security guards fired at the Sentray from the buildings, but their bullets did little harm to them. A Sentray smashed through a window and part of an apartment wall while slashing a guard. The governors and representatives were transferred to an underground bunker. Business owners and top executives also went to the underground basements of their buildings.
Back in the laboratory, Pardi was lying on the floor, covered in blood.
‘You are not looking well,’ said Lily. ‘I think you might be dying.’
Lily pretended to cry by rubbing her clenched fists over her eyes.
‘My sister and I wanted to control all of Sapey,’ said Lily. ‘I was to become the most influential leader of all time, and I did. She was to take control of the largest businesses.’
Pardi spat blood out of his mouth.
‘Oh no, did you think she married you out of love?’ sniggered Lily as she kicked Pardi hard. ‘It was easy. She was beautiful and a great actor. Even though you were super rich, the Linap girls could not bring themselves to be with you because they thought you were too shit for them.’
Pardi stared back at Lily with hatred in his bloodshot eyes.
‘You hate me, huh,’ said Lily. ‘I have more right to hate you. Your decrepit Linap genetics killed my sister. After she gave birth to the sole heir to your fortune, it should have been all ours. Given the state of your health, putting you down would have been too easy.’
Lily kicked Pardi several times in the side. ‘I would love to tell you that you’re going to die without anyone loving you, but that’s not quite true,’ said Lily. ‘My dear niece, Orcilla, loved you with all her heart. My uncle told me how she stuck with you no matter what you did or how badly you treated her.’
Pardi was trembling all over as he tried to maintain eye contact with Lily.
‘You rewarded her love by mutilating her,’ said Lily. ‘Divert your dying brain to think about that.’
Meanwhile, the Sentray had spread themselves across the region, destroying everything in their path. Several Sentray had climbed to the top of the Carvaress office building. They smashed windows along the way up. They smashed the antennas on the building. They smashed through the large windows leading into Pardi’s top-floor office.
In the underground basement, the governors called the Capital Region enforcers to instruct them to return to fight the invading monsters.
‘We are ordering you to return to the Capital Region immediately,’ said John forcefully.
‘We can’t return yet,’ said the Head Enforcer. ‘We are needed in the regions to maintain order until we have established new enforcer teams.’
‘Your duty is to protect the Capital Region,’ shouted Dratsab.
‘We will establish a new one and protect that,’ chuckled the Head Enforcer.
‘That is an act of treason,’ shouted John.
‘Bite me,’ said the Head Enforcer as he hung up.
They could feel the building shaking above them as the Sentray smashed into it.
Meanwhile, in the laboratory, Lily continued to taunt Pardi.
‘I have a feeling this will be our final encounter,’ said Lily as she crouched down to poke Pardi with the gun. ‘Our world is in a state of collapse. Our systems are broken. I intend to fix them. I worked with the House of Divine Knowledge my whole life. I died as their hero. Now, I think I will rule Sapey as the leader of the Business Sector.’
Pardi groaned in pain.
‘I’ll do it as Rotiart,’ said Lily. ‘The shapeshifting is a drag, but it’s a small price to pay.’
Lily rose to her feet. She stomped down hard on Pardi’s head. ‘I have to leave you now,’ said Lily. ‘I need to find Orcilla. The poor thing needs to be put down.’
Lily started to walk away. Just before she reached the door, she turned around. ‘One last thing,’ she said as a large smile came over her face. ‘I’m not actually barren. You knocked me up. I had the baby terminated. Maybe Cabas served him up to you as a nice meal. I was just glad to get that filth out of me.’
Pardi screamed as Lily walked out the door.
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