[APH] Falling Without Knowing (four)
Title: Falling Without Knowing
Category: Axis Powers Hetalia / Hetalia World Series
Characters/Pairings: Greece/Japan, others mentioned
Genre/Rating/Warnings: romance, drama, sci-fi/PG/post apocalyptic space opera, switching between country and human names
Summary/Excerpt: The nations are living in their own planets, united under one galaxy. By strict decree, they are unable to see or travel to each other and any sort of communication is under the Council's heavy surveillance. New Greece is bothered by the memories of his former self, especially those of a certain island nation. He is willing to break boundaries, cross time and space to know if a connection between them still exists.
A/N: It's already Friday over here so, Posting Day! /O/ Thank you again to chromatic_coma for the beta! :) I have a busy week ahead so March 4 won't be Posting Day, sorry! ^^; I'll be back on the 11th with the fifth and final chapter.
one | two | three | FOUR | five | six
In this installment: The Council finds out.
Light as a feather, lifting up together
But a heavy ache and focus blames circles in our heads
Eyes meet, though we didn't see what would be
'I want to see you,' Herakles had said.
what
'I want to see you. You sound so lonely out there. I'll build a ship and I'll see you. We'll meet and we'll definitely be sure-'
you don't know where i am herakles san
He had waved the interruption off. 'I'll follow the coordinates of the gaps in my signals. It'll take me to the wormhole where the spacetime is deformed. I'll warp into your atmosphere.'
you don't know what my atmosphere is like
what if it kills you
'Then you have to tell me everything there is to know about your planet. I'll make a space suit."
what about the council. direct travel is strictly forbidden. who knows what will happen when you get caught
'If I get caught. What the Council doesn't know won't hurt them. I'll be fine.'
how can you be so sure
you may be fine but what about your planet
your people need you
And as Herakles almost replied, 'they'll be fine too, I'll be right back' with boyish confidence, the thought of his planet tipped the scales and sent the first fingers of helplessness and frustration creeping into his chest.
i'm sorry herakles san. but i cannot think as grandly as you
'You haven't said you didn't want to see me.'
i do want to see you. so very badly
it is already my immense happiness that i can talk with you like this
and
if you come here i don't think it would be fair to my people if i were the only one to experience a world beyond my own
Herakles heard a dispassionate laugh there, like one after cracking a lame, inopportune joke. He slumped in his chair, drained and disbelieving. 'This is ridiculous. We all know of worlds beyond ours. It's in our history-'
you are special herakles
He stopped typing and waited with a sinking heart for an elaboration.
out of all the nations i've met again, you are the only one who doesn't seem afraid of voicing out your feelings
and that is the strength in my hope that i will someday see you
but as we are now, i am not sure
And something small but incredibly illuminating clicked in place. 'Who do you email? Have you hacked into other servers?'
yours is the first server i got through. we correspond through the council
arthur san often jokes he feels his planet is as small as ever
feliciano kun mails his brother everyday but it doesn't seem enough, at least for him
alfred san says inventing distracts him when he gets lonely
everyone seems to be unnerved by the distance
'Then shouldn't the Council do something about this?'
no one thinks it's something they can bring to the council
'You're joking-'
herakles i know you're mad but it's for the good of our people
we knew what we were getting into when we agreed to all of this
'No we didn't. We didn't know we'd be separated from our loved ones by rules and lightyears. Who does the Council think they're fooling? We humans can never hope to be contained in one country, let alone one planet.'
they are humans herakles san
let them learn as much as they can with butterflies and books
we are nations
we
There was a sad pause and it was in those pauses that Herakles longed to cup Japan's face in his hands, look into his eyes, say you don't have to do this and place a kiss on his lips.
'Do you believe that, Kiku? That we're too much of nations not to be human anymore?'
no
i don't believe that at all
'I want to see you.'
i want to see you too
And after the server had disconnected, Herakles had gone straight to the Library.
The week was almost over and Corporal Cat still hadn't returned home. The Memory Sheets Herakles had borrowed lay unread on the living room couch. Herakles himself ceased to spend time on the computer in his tiny kitchen. He badly needed a distraction from the conflict in him, one so simple yet powerful enough to tear him apart if he stayed in his house.
He spent long afternoons in the Santorini City Botanical Gardens, helping the staff tend herbs and flowers bred from strains of the natural flora and DNA that are native to their land. The greenhouses held some of the most intriguing hybrids and the manual labor was gratifying.
As Herakles violently dug up holes in the soil to replant a tray of lavender lilies, he looked forlornly at his large hands, gloved and dirty from working with earth and bitterly wondered why they were shaped as humans if they weren't going to be allowed act like them.
It was funny, though, that in a different age, on a different planet, in a different body, he was still painfully torn between his duties as a nation and his impulses as a person-a person who saw, heard, felt, perceived, dreamed, laughed, cried and loved just like any other person. The only difference between them and his people was the time given to him to learn from mistakes and make amends to those he had wounded over the years, which honestly wasn't much of a difference at all.
And despite not feeling worthy of containing the rich memories of his past in a body that neither made nor experienced them, Herakles was at ease, knowing this particular pain of duality told him he was very much a nation and that this rebellious analytical stubbornness told him that nation was Greece.
"You've been coming over almost everyday, Sir Karpusi," the owner of the Botanical Gardens told him as he crouched over the flower patch. "We can't thank you enough for helping us."
"It's nothing," Herakles answered with a smile. "I'm just trying to see what flowers we can bring back here."
"You are truly remarkable, sir, for having seen so many beautiful flowers in your lifetime," the owner said with peaceful awe.
"It's not that I miss seeing them," Herakles continued as the man joined him in planting the lavender lilies. "There's something comforting in keeping the things from the past with you, but…maybe like these plants, the best way to let the past live is to have them change with the times. Or at least a little from what they used to be, so they can still be beautiful."
The owner smiled too. "I know what you mean, sir. I have been told about the fragrance of a lavender and the fragrance of a lily, but fused together, they make a new fragrance I experience for myself. It is a rather refreshing change."
They admired their handiwork for a moment before the man spoke again. "Do you love plants as you did back then, sir?"
"I wouldn't call it love," Herakles answered as his soiled, stubby-fingered working gloves stroked a petal and he paused in momentary surprise at what he just said. "I…I didn't need to call it anything."
And whether he was still talking about planting or something else, it didn't seem to matter.
He sent an email to a person he hadn’t thought of sending one since he returned as New Greece.
'Have you ever wanted to see me?' it read and Herakles hoped the Council wouldn't make anything suspicious of it. He didn't know why his hands were sweaty, or why his heart was pounding like one confronting family he had abandoned for years.
New Turkey's reply was quick to be sent. 'I suppose I haven't. But why the hell not. You're cute.'
Herakles almost snorted out the lunch he was eating. 'What Butterflies are you on? The 1600s?'
'I've gotten well past 2050, thank you very much. And yep, you weren't cute all the time. Wanted to strangle you more than a couple but that was all back then, right kiddo? If I was given the chance to see you, I'd tease you. But I won't because I wanna think you're still cute, ain't you. Don't let me down now.'
And as Herakles read his mail, hearing a haughty voice and bark-like laughter, his cheeks flamed with annoyance and embarrassment, mostly at himself for feeling like a school boy who had been commended by a teacher who never before acknowledged him outside of criticisms.
'Stupid old man,' he typed with a comfortable rush in his fingers.
'Wouldn't you like to see me?'
'Yeah I would,' Herakles found himself grinning at the computer screen. 'To kick you. I have big feet now.'
'Oh yea. Well I'm a motherfucking dragon, kiddo. Tough luck.'
'Douche.'
'Darlin'
It was amazing, how he found himself laughing. Was this how the emails between Veneziano and Romano went? Between Romano and Spain and America and England as Japan had told him? It had been a while since Herakles heard laughter in his home, but he couldn't help thinking how lonely the laughter rang inside empty walls.
He suddenly got the urge to talk to everyone, so he mailed New Egypt and hoped he was online, wondering if his quiet friend was now more verbose, if not in speech then in letters.
'I need some advice, my friend,' the email read. 'Would I be able to stop myself acting out of love?'
'When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.'
He stared at his screen, bemused. 'Who's that from?'
'Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet. He wrote before the Second War.'
'Of course, how could I forget.'
'He says to act within reason, Herakles. Whatever you're up to…'
'I know. Thank you, Hassan.'
'Talk to me again.'
'I will.'
Herakles was running on adrenaline. He washed his plate and dried his hands on the dishtowel, gearing for the hope that was building inside him. He wasn't going to construct a ship. Japan was right to say it would be unfair for them to meet when everyone also wanted to bridge the distances between them but had no inclination or courage to try. Herakles was going to be the first to make the difference, and whatever the outcome, at least he could tell himself he did something.
He went about his home, drawing the curtains against the afternoon evening sky for good measure before returning to his computer and breaking through Council security with practiced ease.
'Japan, are you there?'
herakles san?
'Listen, I have an idea.'
please don't tell me you are still building a ship
'Nothing of the sort. Well maybe, in the future. But for now I've got an idea how to see you. I'm hacking into the radar orbiting around your planet as we chat.'
herakles san
He heard Japan's overwhelmed sigh, one mixed with fear and excitement. He grinned. 'I'm wiring your camera to my screen. I won't see just numbers.'
how
have you done this before? i mean
how do you know there's a camera on the radar
and oh
i'm worried for you
'I've been wondering about it,' Herakles said as his fingers flew over the keyboard, typing like a combo breaker in a dance video game. 'It seems to work in theory but I wouldn't really know unless I try.'
please be careful
After three layers of security and fifteen tries of passwords, a window expanded on Herakles' computer screen. He trembled as a father would upon seeing the first image of his baby in its mother's womb.
The feed was slightly grainy and static disrupted it often, but it was colored and clear. A white star circled around a small planet with a severely thick atmosphere. It was so wrapped up in layers and layers of space gas that Herakles was sure no starlight would be able to pierce through their skies. But past this grey-blue gas, he could make out a glowing sphere, round and tantalizing, gentle like the nation it gave birth to.
herakles san?
'Japan.' There were tears in his eyes and an ache in his heart. 'Kiku. You are beautiful.'
ah
All of a sudden, the computer screen blazed an angry red and a message in large, white letters blinked unceasingly, warningly, threateningly.
VIOLATION VIOLATION
CODE #616
BREACHED
Herakles froze.
Dread rapidly spiralled downward and out his stomach like horrible vertigo. Heat left his fingers and movement left his legs. His heart began pounding fiercely in his throat.
The computer flashed a new message.
NATION #47
PLEASE COME QUIETLY
YOU WILL BE TRIED AT THE SHANGRI LA
"This isn't fair," Herakles whispered under his breath and that was all it took to gather his wits and make him bolt from the kitchen.
He jumped a mile in the air when the front door creaked open.
"Listen Herakles," Corporal Cat said coolly, as if she dislike apologizing but wanted to do so anyway. "I'm sorry I said those things to you. I know you've got a lot going on inside you being from Earth and all and…what's wrong?"
Herakles was peeking through the curtains. The thrum and whine of space craft engines were growing louder and louder above his house and a crowd was gathering around the market place. Curious faces turned skyward at the egg-shaped vessel descending on the highest point of Santorini City.
He turned to Corporal with shining eyes and a bittersweet smile. "I'm sorry, Corporal. I've been caught.
Her jaw dropped open in surprise. "What-?"
"But I'm not going down without a fight."
A steel mechanical claw crashed through the back door and lumbered into the living room. The erin!ŋao arched and hissed, backing up against the wall and Herakles smashed a large decorative jar over the clamps.
Like a blind, enraged bull, the claw swerved from left to right, caught Corporal Cat by the stomach and threw her to the ceiling. Herakles ducked and ran to the laundry area for his shovel.
The computer in the kitchen continued to flash an angry red.
NATION #47
PLEASE COME QUIETLY
YOU WILL BE TRIED AT THE SHANGRI LA
Herakles came running into the living room, yelling an ancient battle cry and holding the shovel high above his head, before bringing it down on the claw with a deafening clang.
Sparks flew as metal clashed against steel and the space craft grew impatient. New Greeks around the market place watched in growing indignation as the egg-shaped vessel hovering above Herakles' house smashed through with a crushing boom. The white washed roof caved in, knocking the shovel from the nation's hands. The clamp shut tightly around his waist and hoisted him in the air. Panicked cries resounded from below.
"HERAKLES!" Corporal screeched, fighting from the rubble to grab hold of him with her paws, but the claw bludgeoned her aside and sent her flying to the cobbled pathways with a sickening thud.
Enraged New Greeks hastened up the streets, shouting and waving whatever weapons they could find.
"STAY BACK!" Herakles bellowed and the claw all but threw him in the egg-shaped ship and closed shut.
He banged against its walls with bare fists, raged and screamed but soon found out there was no air.
He couldn't breathe.
And pain, searing pain, pushed its way past his lungs to his head, threatening to burst from his skull.
"Adjusting atmospheric temperatures. Adjusting atmospheric temperatures," he heard the machine say before losing consciousness.
His citizens could do nothing more but watch in horror as their beloved nation was carried into space.
to chapter five
Category: Axis Powers Hetalia / Hetalia World Series
Characters/Pairings: Greece/Japan, others mentioned
Genre/Rating/Warnings: romance, drama, sci-fi/PG/post apocalyptic space opera, switching between country and human names
Summary/Excerpt: The nations are living in their own planets, united under one galaxy. By strict decree, they are unable to see or travel to each other and any sort of communication is under the Council's heavy surveillance. New Greece is bothered by the memories of his former self, especially those of a certain island nation. He is willing to break boundaries, cross time and space to know if a connection between them still exists.
A/N: It's already Friday over here so, Posting Day! /O/ Thank you again to chromatic_coma for the beta! :) I have a busy week ahead so March 4 won't be Posting Day, sorry! ^^; I'll be back on the 11th with the fifth and final chapter.
one | two | three | FOUR | five | six
In this installment: The Council finds out.
Light as a feather, lifting up together
But a heavy ache and focus blames circles in our heads
Eyes meet, though we didn't see what would be
'I want to see you,' Herakles had said.
what
'I want to see you. You sound so lonely out there. I'll build a ship and I'll see you. We'll meet and we'll definitely be sure-'
you don't know where i am herakles san
He had waved the interruption off. 'I'll follow the coordinates of the gaps in my signals. It'll take me to the wormhole where the spacetime is deformed. I'll warp into your atmosphere.'
you don't know what my atmosphere is like
what if it kills you
'Then you have to tell me everything there is to know about your planet. I'll make a space suit."
what about the council. direct travel is strictly forbidden. who knows what will happen when you get caught
'If I get caught. What the Council doesn't know won't hurt them. I'll be fine.'
how can you be so sure
you may be fine but what about your planet
your people need you
And as Herakles almost replied, 'they'll be fine too, I'll be right back' with boyish confidence, the thought of his planet tipped the scales and sent the first fingers of helplessness and frustration creeping into his chest.
i'm sorry herakles san. but i cannot think as grandly as you
'You haven't said you didn't want to see me.'
i do want to see you. so very badly
it is already my immense happiness that i can talk with you like this
and
if you come here i don't think it would be fair to my people if i were the only one to experience a world beyond my own
Herakles heard a dispassionate laugh there, like one after cracking a lame, inopportune joke. He slumped in his chair, drained and disbelieving. 'This is ridiculous. We all know of worlds beyond ours. It's in our history-'
you are special herakles
He stopped typing and waited with a sinking heart for an elaboration.
out of all the nations i've met again, you are the only one who doesn't seem afraid of voicing out your feelings
and that is the strength in my hope that i will someday see you
but as we are now, i am not sure
And something small but incredibly illuminating clicked in place. 'Who do you email? Have you hacked into other servers?'
yours is the first server i got through. we correspond through the council
arthur san often jokes he feels his planet is as small as ever
feliciano kun mails his brother everyday but it doesn't seem enough, at least for him
alfred san says inventing distracts him when he gets lonely
everyone seems to be unnerved by the distance
'Then shouldn't the Council do something about this?'
no one thinks it's something they can bring to the council
'You're joking-'
herakles i know you're mad but it's for the good of our people
we knew what we were getting into when we agreed to all of this
'No we didn't. We didn't know we'd be separated from our loved ones by rules and lightyears. Who does the Council think they're fooling? We humans can never hope to be contained in one country, let alone one planet.'
they are humans herakles san
let them learn as much as they can with butterflies and books
we are nations
we
There was a sad pause and it was in those pauses that Herakles longed to cup Japan's face in his hands, look into his eyes, say you don't have to do this and place a kiss on his lips.
'Do you believe that, Kiku? That we're too much of nations not to be human anymore?'
no
i don't believe that at all
'I want to see you.'
i want to see you too
And after the server had disconnected, Herakles had gone straight to the Library.
The week was almost over and Corporal Cat still hadn't returned home. The Memory Sheets Herakles had borrowed lay unread on the living room couch. Herakles himself ceased to spend time on the computer in his tiny kitchen. He badly needed a distraction from the conflict in him, one so simple yet powerful enough to tear him apart if he stayed in his house.
He spent long afternoons in the Santorini City Botanical Gardens, helping the staff tend herbs and flowers bred from strains of the natural flora and DNA that are native to their land. The greenhouses held some of the most intriguing hybrids and the manual labor was gratifying.
As Herakles violently dug up holes in the soil to replant a tray of lavender lilies, he looked forlornly at his large hands, gloved and dirty from working with earth and bitterly wondered why they were shaped as humans if they weren't going to be allowed act like them.
It was funny, though, that in a different age, on a different planet, in a different body, he was still painfully torn between his duties as a nation and his impulses as a person-a person who saw, heard, felt, perceived, dreamed, laughed, cried and loved just like any other person. The only difference between them and his people was the time given to him to learn from mistakes and make amends to those he had wounded over the years, which honestly wasn't much of a difference at all.
And despite not feeling worthy of containing the rich memories of his past in a body that neither made nor experienced them, Herakles was at ease, knowing this particular pain of duality told him he was very much a nation and that this rebellious analytical stubbornness told him that nation was Greece.
"You've been coming over almost everyday, Sir Karpusi," the owner of the Botanical Gardens told him as he crouched over the flower patch. "We can't thank you enough for helping us."
"It's nothing," Herakles answered with a smile. "I'm just trying to see what flowers we can bring back here."
"You are truly remarkable, sir, for having seen so many beautiful flowers in your lifetime," the owner said with peaceful awe.
"It's not that I miss seeing them," Herakles continued as the man joined him in planting the lavender lilies. "There's something comforting in keeping the things from the past with you, but…maybe like these plants, the best way to let the past live is to have them change with the times. Or at least a little from what they used to be, so they can still be beautiful."
The owner smiled too. "I know what you mean, sir. I have been told about the fragrance of a lavender and the fragrance of a lily, but fused together, they make a new fragrance I experience for myself. It is a rather refreshing change."
They admired their handiwork for a moment before the man spoke again. "Do you love plants as you did back then, sir?"
"I wouldn't call it love," Herakles answered as his soiled, stubby-fingered working gloves stroked a petal and he paused in momentary surprise at what he just said. "I…I didn't need to call it anything."
And whether he was still talking about planting or something else, it didn't seem to matter.
He sent an email to a person he hadn’t thought of sending one since he returned as New Greece.
'Have you ever wanted to see me?' it read and Herakles hoped the Council wouldn't make anything suspicious of it. He didn't know why his hands were sweaty, or why his heart was pounding like one confronting family he had abandoned for years.
New Turkey's reply was quick to be sent. 'I suppose I haven't. But why the hell not. You're cute.'
Herakles almost snorted out the lunch he was eating. 'What Butterflies are you on? The 1600s?'
'I've gotten well past 2050, thank you very much. And yep, you weren't cute all the time. Wanted to strangle you more than a couple but that was all back then, right kiddo? If I was given the chance to see you, I'd tease you. But I won't because I wanna think you're still cute, ain't you. Don't let me down now.'
And as Herakles read his mail, hearing a haughty voice and bark-like laughter, his cheeks flamed with annoyance and embarrassment, mostly at himself for feeling like a school boy who had been commended by a teacher who never before acknowledged him outside of criticisms.
'Stupid old man,' he typed with a comfortable rush in his fingers.
'Wouldn't you like to see me?'
'Yeah I would,' Herakles found himself grinning at the computer screen. 'To kick you. I have big feet now.'
'Oh yea. Well I'm a motherfucking dragon, kiddo. Tough luck.'
'Douche.'
'Darlin'
It was amazing, how he found himself laughing. Was this how the emails between Veneziano and Romano went? Between Romano and Spain and America and England as Japan had told him? It had been a while since Herakles heard laughter in his home, but he couldn't help thinking how lonely the laughter rang inside empty walls.
He suddenly got the urge to talk to everyone, so he mailed New Egypt and hoped he was online, wondering if his quiet friend was now more verbose, if not in speech then in letters.
'I need some advice, my friend,' the email read. 'Would I be able to stop myself acting out of love?'
'When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.'
He stared at his screen, bemused. 'Who's that from?'
'Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet. He wrote before the Second War.'
'Of course, how could I forget.'
'He says to act within reason, Herakles. Whatever you're up to…'
'I know. Thank you, Hassan.'
'Talk to me again.'
'I will.'
Herakles was running on adrenaline. He washed his plate and dried his hands on the dishtowel, gearing for the hope that was building inside him. He wasn't going to construct a ship. Japan was right to say it would be unfair for them to meet when everyone also wanted to bridge the distances between them but had no inclination or courage to try. Herakles was going to be the first to make the difference, and whatever the outcome, at least he could tell himself he did something.
He went about his home, drawing the curtains against the afternoon evening sky for good measure before returning to his computer and breaking through Council security with practiced ease.
'Japan, are you there?'
herakles san?
'Listen, I have an idea.'
please don't tell me you are still building a ship
'Nothing of the sort. Well maybe, in the future. But for now I've got an idea how to see you. I'm hacking into the radar orbiting around your planet as we chat.'
herakles san
He heard Japan's overwhelmed sigh, one mixed with fear and excitement. He grinned. 'I'm wiring your camera to my screen. I won't see just numbers.'
how
have you done this before? i mean
how do you know there's a camera on the radar
and oh
i'm worried for you
'I've been wondering about it,' Herakles said as his fingers flew over the keyboard, typing like a combo breaker in a dance video game. 'It seems to work in theory but I wouldn't really know unless I try.'
please be careful
After three layers of security and fifteen tries of passwords, a window expanded on Herakles' computer screen. He trembled as a father would upon seeing the first image of his baby in its mother's womb.
The feed was slightly grainy and static disrupted it often, but it was colored and clear. A white star circled around a small planet with a severely thick atmosphere. It was so wrapped up in layers and layers of space gas that Herakles was sure no starlight would be able to pierce through their skies. But past this grey-blue gas, he could make out a glowing sphere, round and tantalizing, gentle like the nation it gave birth to.
herakles san?
'Japan.' There were tears in his eyes and an ache in his heart. 'Kiku. You are beautiful.'
ah
All of a sudden, the computer screen blazed an angry red and a message in large, white letters blinked unceasingly, warningly, threateningly.
VIOLATION VIOLATION
CODE #616
BREACHED
Herakles froze.
Dread rapidly spiralled downward and out his stomach like horrible vertigo. Heat left his fingers and movement left his legs. His heart began pounding fiercely in his throat.
The computer flashed a new message.
NATION #47
PLEASE COME QUIETLY
YOU WILL BE TRIED AT THE SHANGRI LA
"This isn't fair," Herakles whispered under his breath and that was all it took to gather his wits and make him bolt from the kitchen.
He jumped a mile in the air when the front door creaked open.
"Listen Herakles," Corporal Cat said coolly, as if she dislike apologizing but wanted to do so anyway. "I'm sorry I said those things to you. I know you've got a lot going on inside you being from Earth and all and…what's wrong?"
Herakles was peeking through the curtains. The thrum and whine of space craft engines were growing louder and louder above his house and a crowd was gathering around the market place. Curious faces turned skyward at the egg-shaped vessel descending on the highest point of Santorini City.
He turned to Corporal with shining eyes and a bittersweet smile. "I'm sorry, Corporal. I've been caught.
Her jaw dropped open in surprise. "What-?"
"But I'm not going down without a fight."
A steel mechanical claw crashed through the back door and lumbered into the living room. The erin!ŋao arched and hissed, backing up against the wall and Herakles smashed a large decorative jar over the clamps.
Like a blind, enraged bull, the claw swerved from left to right, caught Corporal Cat by the stomach and threw her to the ceiling. Herakles ducked and ran to the laundry area for his shovel.
The computer in the kitchen continued to flash an angry red.
NATION #47
PLEASE COME QUIETLY
YOU WILL BE TRIED AT THE SHANGRI LA
Herakles came running into the living room, yelling an ancient battle cry and holding the shovel high above his head, before bringing it down on the claw with a deafening clang.
Sparks flew as metal clashed against steel and the space craft grew impatient. New Greeks around the market place watched in growing indignation as the egg-shaped vessel hovering above Herakles' house smashed through with a crushing boom. The white washed roof caved in, knocking the shovel from the nation's hands. The clamp shut tightly around his waist and hoisted him in the air. Panicked cries resounded from below.
"HERAKLES!" Corporal screeched, fighting from the rubble to grab hold of him with her paws, but the claw bludgeoned her aside and sent her flying to the cobbled pathways with a sickening thud.
Enraged New Greeks hastened up the streets, shouting and waving whatever weapons they could find.
"STAY BACK!" Herakles bellowed and the claw all but threw him in the egg-shaped ship and closed shut.
He banged against its walls with bare fists, raged and screamed but soon found out there was no air.
He couldn't breathe.
And pain, searing pain, pushed its way past his lungs to his head, threatening to burst from his skull.
"Adjusting atmospheric temperatures. Adjusting atmospheric temperatures," he heard the machine say before losing consciousness.
His citizens could do nothing more but watch in horror as their beloved nation was carried into space.
to chapter five