Before the Glitches (Book 0)

The Plague

"I made it! I'm on level 54! That's THREE whole levels ahead of Calvin and FIVE levels ahead of Jade!" Kate yelled, pumping her fists in the air.

"Jade is three years younger than you and I'm four years younger than you!" Calvin complained. "You can't expect US to beat you. And besides, the X-910 games are stupid anyway."

"Says the one who can't play them," Kate smiled tauntingly.

"Okay, Jade, Calvin, Kate, please stop!" Regina ordered in frustration, covering her ears.

"But Mommy, I didn't even do anything!" Jade whined.

"Of course you didn't. None of you did. Why don't you keep playing? Maybe you can catch up to your cousin Kate!" Regina offered with feigned enthusiasm, when she actually wanted to scream. It had been a restless day, and having to watch her two cranky first and second grade children as well as her eleven year old niece while her sister and her husband talked about who-knows-what just made it worse.

"I don't wanna play this game anymore! I wanna go outside!" Calvin yelled, clenching his hands into fists and pouting.

I'm done! Regina thought. "Stay in here, I'll be right back," she told the kids before storming out of the bedroom into the living room, where Lara and Lucas continued to discuss the Program.

"Regina?" Lara turned in surprise when she saw her flustered sister enter the hall. "The kids..."

"Look, I can't watch them for one more second!" Regina plopped down on the couch in exhaustion. "They've been eating my brains out!"

"Perfect timing, it's almost time for them to go to bed anyway," Lucas said. "And we've come to some major decisions about stocking up the Module."

"Stocking it up? You can't be serious about this idea. I'm sure this isn't the-"

"This is the apocalypse! And if we want humanity to survive, we've got to be prepared!" Lucas yelled. "My boss has agreed to fund the construction of the module's interior, simply because he knows we're all about to die and he wants to spend his money on something."

"So no more digging for you?" Lara asked, relieved. "Nope," Lucas grinned.

"Okay, so the plan is we get everyone we can into the Module, get the kids in the Program, and wait this out?" Regina asked.

"I wish we could to that," Lucas laughed grimly. "But according to my calculations, it will be at least June of 3006 by the time the plague and the Scorching have died down."

"That means we would have to spend more than seven years in the Module!" Regina gasped.

"We can't survive seven years in the Module," said Lucas sourly. "The Plague would find its way in, picking us off slowly. The only ones who would be safe are the Glitches. The Plague's AI control was engineered very well, but not well enough to penetrate a computer buried far underground.

"Wait? AI?" It was now Lara's turn to be confused. "The Plague isn't natural?"

"Of course not," Lucas snorted. I've been monitoring it ever since it started to appear. The timing was too perfect, with it appearing just after the natural disasters began, and I began to suspect its origins. So far, I've found that each Plague-carrying "mosquito" bears a microscopic chip that connects it to the control, which is currently in orbit around Jupiter. Close enough that it could devastate Earth, but far enough that we wouldn't immediately discover it."

"Lessaenites..." Regina's face lit up with understanding. "But we signed a peace treaty with their Queen thirty years ago after the Galactic Wars."

"Should've known those greedy alien buttfaces would come back to finish us off sooner or later. And with the sun acting up and the catastrophes...they had their perfect chance," Lara spat.

"Calm down, Lara" Lucas placed a hand on her shoulder. "We have to think this through. We know we're all going to eventually die in the Module, but our children in the Program will be safe. After growing up in the safety of Program, they will undoubtedly try to escape, figuring out that something is wrong. By the time they return to the real world, we will all be long dead, and they will have to survive on their own."

"What's it going to be like in the Program?" Asked Regina, fascinated by the idea of a virtual paradise. "I didn't have to make much up, it's set in the twenty-first century. Long before we discovered the Lessaenites, or rather they discovered us," he chuckled, thinking of his not-so-fond memory of the first alien landing when he was a little boy.

After a long silence, Lara spoke everyone's thoughts. "You said you're going to erase their memories of this world before you send them into the Program. What if they think the Program is the real world? What if they never figure it out?"

"Then they die with the Program when it self-destructs exactly ten years after I initiate it," Lucas said bitterly.

"What!?" Lara gasped, and Lucas only smiled grimly. "I'd let it run infinitely, but there's a chance of Lessaenites discovering and infiltrating it if we leave it active too long. We all know instant death would be far better than what those monsters would do to them."

"Okay, so suppose they do make it out of the Program alive. Earth's obviously not going to be an option by then, so where will they live?" Regina asked.

"You're not going to like this," Lucas gritted his teeth.

"We're ready to hear anything," Regina said confidently. "It's not like the situation can get much worse anyway."

Yes, it can, Lucas said to himself. "Their only option will be to go to the only other known life supporting planet in this galaxy," he sighed deeply. "They have to go to Lessaenes.

"That would be suicide," Lara hissed, grabbing his arm. "Do you know how carefully they monitor their orbit and all possible landing spots for spaceships?"

"Yeah, when you're running from a murderer, you don't go hide at the murderer's house! Aren't there other options? Maybe the Martian Colonies..." Regina trailed off.

"The Lessaenites aren't that stupid," Lucas rolled his eyes. "If they're trying to wipe out our species, they aren't going to leave our colonies with at least 750 people untouched. Yes, getting the Plague in the Martian Biodomes is going to be tougher than getting it into Earth's atmosphere was, but eventually, they're going to do it. Lessaenes is humanity's only chance!"

"Okay," Regina rubbed her forehead. "It's just not a very settling thought for me to picture my Jade and Calvin running for their lives on Lessaenes."

"I know," Lucas sighed. "But we're going to try, right?" "Yeah! Lara smiled. And they'll have their older cousin Kate there to help them."

"Yes, they'll have Kate," Lucas swallowed, gulping down his guilt.

Soon, he'd have to tell her. Soon, he'd have to break her heart.