Doomsday Pillars

Mountains of papers, people reporting in and out, in the midst of the busy office, a woman in her 30"s worked left and right trying to settle everything. For the last 30 days, s.h.i.+ps from Surabaya arrived with a hundred thousand refugees causing their base to be filled with people. Since that caused a spike in the base"s population, she needed to make sure everyone was contributing instead of just loafing around separating them into the base 7 division.

Size: 115 hectares

Population: 353,312

Guards Division:  20,500

Administration: 2,000

Education Division Children: 32,496 

Elders: 9,681

Farmers & Fish Division: 38,400

Construction workers: 25,290

Medical & Research Division: 950

Supply Division: 45,500

Military: 78,500

Una.s.signed: 99,995

The StarBase was first prepared to hold at most 100.000 men. later on, it was upgraded to hold another 50.000, but that"s the limit of it. One warehouse could hold 500 men.  Now there was no more s.p.a.ce to put the warehouses inside the base. With the military has its own base outside the complex, the rest 100.000 more people were separated to stay in the surrounding villages.

The beautiful middle-aged woman had no experience in what she was doing, but who in the world had "experience in dealing with Doomsday in their resume". Although she had a background in management, but what made her an effective leader at the moment was her status as the wife of the base"s leader. The man named Alex who created a sanctuary for all the people here. 

Since Alex left two months ago, Devita had been left in charge. Alex had a.s.signed hand-picked people to help her manage; Tony construction manager, Doctor Rachel, and Jane the plant whisperer, but the one who helped her the most was Cahya the ex-governor who came 4 weeks ago with the refugees from Surabaya. This governor had the leaders.h.i.+p skills and the experience of governing a city, he became the best advisor in building the base.

"Finally, today"s job is done," she said as she stretched out her arms.

Devita walked to the window and gazed into the setting sun. She touched her wedding ring remembering the time all four of them enjoyed their moment at the beach. 

"Alex," she whispered.

She has always been an independent and strong woman; she never relied on anyone else, not even to her husband. The last 13 years of their marriage has been about work and taking care of their children. They never realized that their life revolved around their kids, their romance was not as pa.s.sionate as before. 

But the Doomsday was everyone"s wake up call. No one was safe, anyone could die at a moment"s notice. In the face of impending death, people looked after their loved ones the most. 

She wasn"t an exception, with everything that has happened, She grabbed the picture frame of all four of them sitting on top of her desk and held it.  She realized his husband has never been away from home for more than 6 nights before, the 60 days he has gone suddenly felt like an eternity. Like the saying, "You only learn to miss someone when they are gone."

Staring at the far sea, she had heard that her husband would return today.

Her moment of thought got interrupted when someone knocked at the door. Two little figures entered, they were her daughters, Tiffany and Tiarra.

Tiffany entered the room while caressing the small animal on her shoulder. It"s a beetle the size of a tennis ball with a red dot on its back. A mutated ladybird. Tiffany had been training her abilities in the last 60 days. She found out connecting with a bug was much easier and took a liking to this cute looking ladybird bug. The bug has become her eyes and help her see. 

"Mother, is it true daddy would return today?" Tiffany asked.

"Yes, but probably very late."

"Can we go see the s.h.i.+ps at the port?" 

"No, it will be pretty dark soon. It"s best that the two of you wait here."

"But—"

"No buts. Listen to your mother. As soon as daddy gets home, I"m sure he"ll want to see the two of you immediately," Devita said and smiled.

As always, the two were unable to argue with their strict mother. Making their way unto their room, one of the guards pa.s.sed them as he was rus.h.i.+ng into their mother"s office.

Tiffany connected with the ladybug and eavesdropped.

"A s.h.i.+p… the lookout spotted an unrecognized s.h.i.+p."

"!!!"

"It"s gotta be daddy!" An idea sparked in Tiffany"s head. "I"m gonna see daddy. Don"t tell mom."

"But I wanna see daddy too!"

"No, you stay here and act like normal."

"I"m gonna go with you, it"s unfair."

Tiffany thought for a moment and said, "Ok, but you"ll have to follow my instructions so we don"t get caught."

"Unn!"

As they snuck out of their room, the guards were running around. 

Tiffany went to a corner of the base and whistled.

Pssssssuuuiiiittttt

A moment later, a mutated cat as big as a tiger approached them. The mutated cat has a saddle and snuggled towards Tiffany.

"Catty! You came so quick. Good girl," Tiffany said as she patted the mutated cat"s head.

Tiffany tamed this mutated cat before Alex left for Java. She had used her ability with this cat multiple times and was now her personal pet. The large mutated cat lowered its body and Tiffany hopped on.

"Ok Tiarra, come on up," Tiffany said as she held out her hand.

"You sure Cie(older sister)? Maybe we should ask auntie Vili to come along."

Tiarra may be7 years old, but sometimes she was more mature than her 12 years old sister.

"Yes, don"t worry I have been practicing for a while. Also, Catty can protect us but suit yourself if you don"t want to come, you can stay here."

Tiarra fidgeted, but thinking about her father, she decided to come along. The two girls held tightly on the saddle as Catty quickly dashed towards the port. Some people noticed them running out of the base, but didn"t bat an eye since Tiffany often rides her mutated cat around the area.

Tiffany saw the world as black and white through the ladybird bug attached to her shoulder. She switched her perspective to the mutated cat and saw the world with bright colors. She also felt the wind pa.s.sing through them with her telepathic connection with the mutated cat. 

The mutated cat ran really fast and that it took less than 30 minutes for them to reach the port area near the Bay CIty.  

From the hill, Tiffany saw the s.h.i.+p not far from the beach and several small boats lying on the coast. Not thinking much, they dashed to the beach but when they arrived, Tiffany noticed that the s.h.i.+p"s shape was quite peculiar. It was something she wasn"t familiar with. It was different than any s.h.i.+p she ever saw before. It"s a very huge s.h.i.+p with airplanes sitting on top of it. 

She ordered the mutated cat to stop.

"What"s wrong Cie?"

"Something"s wrong, we should head back!"

As they turned around, a dozen foreign men in military uniforms fully armed appeared behind!

"!!!"

"Cie Cie, what should we do?"

Tiarra buried her head on Tiffany"s back. Tiarra"s shaking and about to cry.

Two jeeps suddenly arrived, they were guards from Bay city. They rushed here when they had seen two little girls on top of a beast heading towards the unknown visitors.

The two groups aimed their weapons at each other, and the girls were in the middle. A crossfire wasn"t the last thing anyone could wish for. Especially more so for the Bay City guards as they knew who these girls are. The only deafening silence was heard as the two groups stared at each other. 

Breaking the silence, one of the Bay City guards slowly said, "Don"t shoot! Please miss, slowly come towards us!"

The moment the mutated cat moved, an item was thrown in front of the Bay City guards. 

BAAAANNGGGG!!!!

A bright light blinded the Bay City guards and the two girls with the mutated cat. The mutated cat thrashed causing the two girls to fall on the ground. 

From the forest, a dozen more uniformed men appeared and rushed towards the Bay City guards incapacitating them. Within just a few seconds, all guards dropped unconscious on the ground. 

When the girls opened their eyes, a man slowly walked towards them while cautiously eyeing the big mutated cat. 

He stopped a distance which he thought appropriate, not too close that the big mutated cat could jump at him. He noticed the older girl"s eyes to be all white, usually an indication of blindness. Thinking she might be blind, he then carefully said, "h.e.l.lo my name is Kenny, what"s your name?"

"..."

The man didn"t look like a soldier. Tiffany looked at the crying Tiarra whose knees were bleeding because of the fall.

"We don"t want to hurt you. Please let us help."

The man crouched carefully approached her, but the mutated cat suddenly roared and bared its fangs towards the man. 

The soldiers were startled and surrounded the mutated cat aiming their weapons at it. 

Tiffany grabbed Tiarra and held onto the mutated cat and said, "Please don"t hurt Catty."

The mutated cat felt threatened and snarled at the man named Kenny. The mutated cat prowled, getting ready to jump when a soldier suddenly opened fire.

"BANG! BANG! BANG!"