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Alien Bet & The Rise of the Lake Puppets | Ch. 18 - The Colossus + Epilogue
🕑 Added 2024-11-14 13:00:32 +0000 UTCJoey struggled to stay on his feet as the impact shook the building. “Is it an earthquake?” he yelled.
“No, I don’t think so,” replied the commissioner, straining to listen. “It sounds like it’s coming from outside!”
They bolted for the exit. As they reached the street, the screams and shouts from panicked citizens met them in full force. The ground continued to shake. People around them were pointing east, fear on every face. Following their gazes, Joey and the commissioner finally saw it—a massive metal giant, towering above a cloud of dust and debris, silhouetted against the afternoon sun. From this distance, it seemed to be at least thirty, maybe forty meters tall. The sight was surreal.
Joey spun and rushed back into the precinct, shouting, “Binoculars! Quick! Who has a pair?” One of his colleagues stationed near the door tossed him a pair. Catching them mid-air, Joey sprinted back outside. The commissioner was trying to calm the fleeing crowd while keeping an eye on the robot.
Joey raised the binoculars, his hands shaking as he focused on the giant. Its skeletal metal structure looked haphazard, latticed with gas balls like those aboard the Albatross and exposing gears that churned relentlessly. Its every step seemed to press down on the air, sending tremors that Joey could feel in his bones.
“What do you see, Joey?” The commissioner had come up beside him, looking grim.
Joey handed over the binoculars, pointing. “I think we know what the Black Merchant was building, sir. Look at the shoulder joints.”
“Goodness gracious.” The commissioner squinted through the lenses, focusing on the joint. There, just visible, were the remnants of the locotanks gone missing, their compact boilers embedded in the giant’s frame.
“Cursed be that Black Merchant,” the commissioner muttered.
“It’s clever, sir. The locotanks were the only things we had that could stop something like this. By stealing them, he killed two birds with one stone.” Joey clenched his jaw, watching the machine lumber forward.
The ground shook as the behemoth took another step, and glass shattered in response. The street trembled beneath their feet, and the sounds of collapsing structures filled the air.
“Chief, what are we going to do? The only thing that could stop this thing is a fleet of locotanks—and they’ve all been stolen.”
“Joey, take a horse and follow it. Track where it’s going.” The commissioner looked back toward the precinct, calculating. “I’ll try to get us backup. If the pneumatic tubes to the airport and mayor’s office still work, I’ll contact the Air Force. We need every officer, every cannon, every Zeppelin. We have to stop this thing. Whatever the Black Merchant’s endgame is, if this machine goes on a rampage, it will be the worst disaster our city’s ever faced.”
It already is, Joey thought, though he kept his mouth shut. “Okay, Chief.”
Boom. Boom.
The robot’s steps grew faster, gaining momentum. Joey asked, “And what do I do when I catch up to it?” The absurdity of the question struck him as he said it.
“I don’t know, Joey! Just find out where it’s heading. I trust your judgment. Now go!” Fabius turned and dashed back into the precinct.
Joey ran to the precinct’s stables and mounted Luna, his gray mare, grabbing a rifle from the armory on the way out. He knew a rifle was nearly useless against a giant metal machine, but he took it anyway. Joey spurred Luna forward, galloping toward the ominous sounds in the distance.
The crowd streamed past him, fleeing in the opposite direction, but Joey pressed on, eyes fixed on the rising trail of smoke. Relief flooded him as he saw the robot was moving north, away from the part of town where his family lived. But where was it headed?
In only a few steps, the metal giant had crossed hundreds of meters. Joey lost sight of it between buildings, but he could still feel the tremors. Suddenly, it stopped moving. Joey glimpsed its hulking silhouette through the gaps and realized it had halted in front of City Hall. A new wave of screams cut through the air, punctuated by a loud crash.
Ignoring the crowds rushing past him, Joey urged Luna toward the source of the destruction. His heart pounded as he pushed closer, his thoughts a mix of dread and disbelief. This was madness. What was he—a lone officer on horseback—going to do against a monster of metal?
Now close enough to see the entire machine, Joey adjusted his grip on the reins. It stood about thirty meters tall, each limb an assembly of metal, its arms and legs a grotesque collage of butchered trains. Boilers hissed at every joint, while gears turned and cranked along its frame. Steam and smoke poured from it, thick and acrid, filling the air with a bitter, unnatural stench. Joey’s stomach churned as he recognized the smell. Forbidden fuels.
The behemoth had stopped in front of City Hall. With deliberate slowness, it raised one of its enormous arms, plunging it through the roof and into the building. Joey urged Luna closer, marveling at her courage as she held steady even in the face of the monstrosity towering over them.
The giant was moving its hand inside City Hall’s dome as if searching for something. Joey couldn’t help but think of a farmer rifling through hay searching for eggs. Then, with a mechanical jerk, it stopped, its hand closing around something deep within the building. Joey’s heart sank.
It had found whatever it was looking for.
It was a Sunday, so City Hall should have been nearly empty. Only a few security guards would be on duty, and if they’d already run for their lives, Joey wouldn’t blame them.
He galloped past the towering legs of the giant machine, guiding Luna up the City Hall’s stone steps. Pulling out his gun, he aimed and fired at the lock, shattering it just as Luna rammed the door open. They were inside.
A thick cloud of dust hung in the air, fogging his view, but he could hear the loud, grinding noises of machinery somewhere deeper within. Joey had walked these corridors many times, but this was the first time he’d been inside on horseback. For a fleeting, absurd moment, he wondered if he was the first person ever to do so.
Luna’s loud neighs echoed through the corridors, drawing a few of the security officers out of hiding.
“Everyone! Follow me!” Joey screamed, trying to impart some courage to the terrified men. Their eyes widened when they saw Joey’s uniform, and shaken from their shock by the sight of him charging forward, they began to trickle after him toward the source of the noise.
Finally, they reached the vault room. The robot’s massive arms had torn the steel vault door clean off its hinges. One of its giant hands rested on the marble floor, forming a makeshift ramp, while people in dark clothing scrambled up and down, carrying heavy bags.
Joey’s stomach dropped. He realized the Black Merchant’s plan—it wasn’t just about chaos or power.
He was stealing the city’s gold reserve.
*
The Black Merchant oversaw the final loading of gold ingots onto the Colossus. He’d recruited the biggest, strongest men in the city, and they hauled bag after bag up the conveyor belts extending from the Colossus’ hand. The gold moved in mechanical precision along the belts inside the robot’s arm, transported down to its legs. He’d drilled these men in countless practice runs, loading rocks instead of gold until they could complete the task in fifteen minutes.
A lookout signaled him. As he’d expected, the sight of his giant creation had stunned law enforcement into hesitation. But now, after five minutes of inactivity, they’d mustered the nerve to attack. The robot’s forearms had reinforced armor for precisely this reason, and he was ready.
“Don’t stop loading the gold. I’ll delay them.”
He climbed to the forearm and pulled a lever, releasing a cloud of steam that shrouded the corridor in thick fog. Then, lighting firecrackers, he tossed them into the haze. The popping sounds and smoke threw the officers into chaos.
As they shouted and fired blindly into the smoke, Arthurius’s men continued the transfer. Every so often, he threw a real stun grenade, adding a sense of real threat. Checking the weight gauges, he watched with satisfaction as they approached capacity.
“Keep going! Just as we practiced.” Arthurius tossed another round of firecrackers and checked the robot’s weight gauges, grinning as they neared full. After ten minutes, the loading was complete. Over a hundred billion crowns’ worth of gold was now stored in the Colossus.
“We’re out of here!” he shouted, lighting the last of his firecrackers and hurling two more stun grenades before joining his crew in the robot’s hand. Once inside the Colossus’ pilot cabin, nestled in one of the robot’s hips, he pulled a series of levers, and the machine began to move.
The added weight was too much for the Colossus to handle smoothly. Arthurius pulled a lever, and with a deafening crash, both arms of the robot detached, freeing it of the added burden. Now armless, he steered the robot toward the railway tracks he’d prepared.
Inside the cabin, the mechanical rumbling of the Colossus blocked out all other sounds. He couldn’t hear the screams, the houses crumbling, or the children’s cries—only the churning gears and hissing boilers. This heist was a triumph, a masterpiece of planning. His focus was singular: securing his daughter’s cure. Yet, as he glanced at a gauge on his left and saw the spike, he clicked his tongue. The police had figured it out. Another gauge spiked as bullets targeted the helium balloons embedded in the frame, weighing it down.
The robot was now under heavy fire. Marksmen fired from rooftops, hot air balloons, and Zeppelins hovering around it. Arthurius pushed the machine harder, finally steering it toward the twin tracks. Releasing a thick cloud of steam from one of the boilers, he created a smokescreen.
Aligning the right foot with the tracks, he activated the magnetic couplings. When the foot docked securely, he pressed a red button on the control panel.
The Colossus’s frame splintered and fell apart, but the right leg remained on the track. Detached from the main body, the leg transformed into a train car, carrying the gold and picking up speed as it moved down the track. Arthurius adjusted his expression, feigning panic as if he were a fleeing civilian.
Law enforcement agents watched the train in confusion, unable to understand how it had escaped the falling robot. By the time they pieced it together, he would be long gone.
The tracks led to a hidden warehouse he’d purchased three days earlier. His men had already stationed themselves at the switchpoints, guiding the train safely into the building. He’d done it. The biggest heist in history was his.
Inside, his crew of grunts, thieves, and hired pirates cheered, clapping and reveling in the fortune they now shared. Arthurius summoned the triplets—three pirate lords who everyone assumed to be a single person. Their demands were infamous, as they insisted on three times the payment of any other pirate lord. Yet they were worth every coin; their network ran deep, and their influence commanded respect.
“Unload the gold onto the ships by nightfall,” he ordered.
“Yes, boss,” they chorused.
He turned toward the room where he’d hidden his daughter, confident no one would betray him. Every criminal in the warehouse had swallowed a potion made by his poison master. Without an antidote, they would all be dead within hours, ensuring their cooperation and loyalty.
When he entered the room, he found, as he’d expected, he and his daughter weren’t alone. A tall, blond man in business attire stood beside her, his eyes closed as if asleep. A silver pocket watch dangled from a chain on his jacket, and golden “G” initials gleamed on his clothes.
“Right on time. We meet again, Arssuriuss, or Finley. Whichever you prefer.” The figure’s lips twisted in a faint smile.
“So, this is your… puppet,” Arthurius said. He’d met Geoffrey just a few days ago in his estate. It turned out that he’d met his adversary without knowing the wiser. “I knew this man was amassing wealth so quickly, but I didn’t suspect he had your hand behind him.”
“He’sss been quite useful,” the entity replied, each word sliding through the air like a serpent. “A man of many talentsss.”
“My win, monster. Now, heal my daughter.”
“Your win. Are you ssure?” The figure’s eyes stayed closed, but it held up a slip of paper—a bank statement. The balance showed a hundred and three billion crowns.
Arthurius’s heart sank. Despite decades of connections and a head start, he hadn’t come out on top. This ‘new player’ had somehow matched his fortune effortlessly.
“No. I won! I have a train full of gold in this warehouse! I’m the winner! You have to heal my daughter!”
The entity chuckled. “In all my yearsss of games, thisss is the firssst time I’ve tied.”
“A tie?” Arthurius felt his chest tighten.
The entity smirked. “We reached our goal at almossst the ssame time, Arssuriuss. A tie.”
“But we never agreed on what happens in a tie,” he whispered, dread pooling in his stomach.
“True. Let’sss play another game then—first to five hundred billion winsss. I will give you a year’s headstart. Same terms as before. I will also heal your daughter. Additionally, you already know my puppet. You have an advantage.”
Hearing that his daughter could still be healed, the black merchant accepted without hesitation. “Deal.”
“But jussst to keep you motivated… if you lossse, I will,” the voice paused, trying to think of the right word for what he wanted to do, “unheal her.”
With that, the figure in the business suit drifted into silence, his face slipping back into mock sleep. Arthurius’s hands clenched, anger boiling within him. This creature had no respect for him. But if he could tie once, he could win.
“Very well.”
The figure stood and shuffled away, his movements like those of a sleepwalker. Arthurius turned to his daughter, heart pounding. She blinked her eyes open, confusion in her gaze.
“Daddy? Is that you? Why do you look so… different? You look older.”
Arthurius fell to his knees, clutching her tightly. He knew now—he was nothing more than a pawn to this creature. But for her, for this moment, he’d play any game, pay any price. From the moment he’d poisoned his benefactor, he had chosen this path. For her sake, anything was worth it.
*
The city had been turned upside down after the giant metal man incident. Buildings lay in ruin, streets were still littered with debris, and cranes and construction crews worked tirelessly to restore the city to its former glory. Several days had passed since that chaotic day, yet the memory lingered in every crack and broken window.
Joey rode past the forest that separated the gate from his father’s old manor. The manor had been freshly painted, just as he’d requested. This time, though, it was anything but quiet. Men in lab coats, carrying scientific gear and delicate instruments, moved back and forth across the grounds.
The arrival of the Science Academy had brought Silverlake Ranch back to life. Joey hadn’t seen Esther in days, but as he neared the pier, he spotted her. When she saw him, she excused herself from a conversation and hurried over.
“Congratulations are in order,” she greeted him with a grin.
“Esther, good to see you,” he replied warmly.
“Hello, Constable. Or should I say… Commissioner?”
Joey shifted uncomfortably. After the Colossus incident, Commissioner Fabius resigned, taking responsibility for the disaster. The mayor hadn’t hesitated to accept. The backlash was swift—pressure mounted from citizens and governments alike. Eventually, the mayor stepped down too. Early elections had been called, and to Joey’s surprise, Geoffrey had emerged as one of the leading candidates for mayorship.
“No, please,” Joey said, shaking his head. “Just call me Joey. I’m still not sure how I feel about the promotion. To be honest, it’s not something I wanted.”
“Then consider it a testament to Fabius’ faith in you,” she replied, her eyes warm with encouragement. Her words brought a small smile to Joey’s face.
“How’s the research coming along?” he asked, gesturing to the scientists bustling around the grounds.
“It’s promising, to say the least. We’ve learned a lot these past few days. The life cycle of these creatures is astonishing, and their pharmaceutical properties are miraculous. We might be looking at a discovery so remarkable it could make up for the devastation to the city.”
“That’s incredible.” Joey looked out toward the lake, its surface calm, hiding its secrets. They’d never found out what had caused the initial flood. But if the creatures held the key to healing diseases, maybe—just maybe—all that destruction had led to something worthwhile.
Esther glanced at him with a smile. “Oh, and Marie asked me to invite you for dinner.”
“Does that mean you’re going to take a vacation?”
“Yes,” she laughed. “I told the interim mayor I wouldn’t accept the job without some time off. Besides, there are still no leads on the gold stolen from the reserve. It’s as if it vanished into thin air.”
“If there’s anyone who can find it, it’s you, Joey.”
“Thank you,” he replied, though doubt lingered in his voice.
“Would you like to come in for some tea before you go?” she asked, nodding toward the manor.
Joey glanced at the house, memories of the last time he’d been inside flooding back. A familiar unease prickled his skin, but before he could spiral, Esther gently looped her arm through his. “Come on,” she coaxed, smiling up at him. “I’ll brew it for you.”
“Alright,” he agreed, relaxing a little. “Thank you.”
They walked arm in arm toward the house, the shadows of the past fading just a bit as the light of something new began to take their place.
*
A few weeks later, with the city settling back into its routine, Esther was enjoying a quiet breakfast. She sipped her tea slowly, savoring the warmth as she thought of Joey and his family. She could imagine little Molly’s excitement aboard the Albatross—the girl must be having the time of her life. Esther let herself smile. Finally, after everything, things were calming down.
“Professor! Professor!” A voice shattered the peaceful morning, rising to a frantic pitch.
Startled, Esther looked up just as Ivan, one of her assistants, burst into the room without knocking. His face was flushed, his chest heaving, and his eyes wild with panic.
“Ivan? What on earth—can’t you knock?” she chided, setting her cup down. “What’s gotten into you?” But as she saw his pallor and trembling hands, her irritation turned to worry. “Ivan, what’s wrong?”
“Professor, you need to see this. Now.” His grip on her arm was firm, almost desperate, as he began to pull her out of the room.
“What?” she protested, trying to free herself. “You’re hurting me—what is this?”
But Ivan didn’t respond, dragging her outside. The morning light felt strange, almost muted, as though something monumental was casting a shadow over the landscape.
When Ivan stopped, he pointed west, his face a mask of dread. Esther followed his gaze, and as her eyes fixed on the horizon, the breath left her lungs. Her knees buckled, and she sank to the ground, staring in disbelief.
“No… impossible.”
Where only yesterday there had been empty sky above Lake Grassum, an enormous mountain range now loomed against the horizon, its jagged peaks stabbing into the sky. The mountains seemed alien, their slopes glistening with a strange, silvery light that made the rocky surfaces look almost otherworldly.
Esther’s mind raced, grasping for any possible explanation, but her thoughts came up empty. Mountains didn’t just appear overnight. And yet, there they stood—immovable, undeniable, and impossible.
