3 hours to Misery

The Schrikemans were hurrying. They had about three hours to get to an evacuation train and get off the planet. The planet, St. Alprecious, was set to be absolutely decimated by the intergalactic Schrook Syndicate. They were a semi-autonomous criminal syndicate, that ran a small empire in this sector of space, and they kicked up dues to the larger Scree Empire. The Scree were a ruthless Insectoid Species, who devoured entire star systems in large waves, unless those systems were clients of one of their clients. The Schrook Syndicate, while a loyal client to the Scree, was hoping to put black hole in this border system to provide a buffer between them and their patrons. They were putting black holes in all border systems for this purpose, and, rumor had it, they were even dragging more stars to form more black holes inbetween the systems to build a full wall of black holes to keep the Scree away.

               The people of St. Alprecious were not just be kicked off the planet. Great Ark trains that could carry ninety percent of the population, no matter what economic class, to a new planet on the other side of Schrook space, far from the Scree. This planet had been slowly terraformed, and much of the Alprecious culture and native life transplanted, with millions of workers building almost exact replicas of the cities, so all people being transplanted would feel at home upon arrival. The Schrook had spared no expenseand had prepared one of these planets for every displaced people from the border region. They had spent years developing the trains and other technology to make this a reality. When they pulled the pin and made the black holes, they would be completely cut off and the Scree would not be able to touch them. The Scree had recently told the Schrook that their systems were on the menu for the hoards. The Schrook had watched as the last of the other clients of the Scree had been wiped off the galactic map. Luckily for the Schrook, the last species they had devoured was on the other side of the galaxy, and the Scree only moved at sublight speeds, as going faster would mess with their delicate stomachs. Thus the Schrook had started this project of transferring populations sixty years ago. St. Alprecious was the last planet to be evacuated before they started the black hole process. They had been developing the tech to create the wall for much longer, since the first client fell.

The Scree had started turning on their clients when they defeated the last of their ancient enemies, the Scroo. That had been three millenia ago. Now the day was drawing near when the Scree would be outside the Schrook borders.

               The Schrikemans were a family of five. There were Breek and Bruneeta, the planet administrators, and adults of the family; Breetus, their young adult son, who helped the parents take care of the two younglings, Freeta and Froop. The family was on the last transport out, since they had to make sure that they got as many people as they could off the surface. They had been packing for several months, with Breetus doing the actual packing for the family, while Breek and Bruneeta oversaw the packing up of any and all cultural and living specimens that were being evacuated. There had been a lot of unpacking and repacking. Breetus was certain they had everything they would need and thus had told the family to go to the trains station and begin loading stuff to their cabin. Breek and Bruneeta took the twins and the first of several cargo pallets to be taken to the train. The only things that had not been moved to the new world yet were the interiors of peoples houses. The Schrook Syndicate was very benevolent and was doing everything to ensure its population would be taken care of, so the trains were massive beasts meant to haul the entire population, but there had been a last minute foul up and one of the trains had not arrived in time. The Schrooks were doing everything they could to get a train there in time to get the last ten percent, but it was not looking good.

               Breetus had stayed behind to see that the rest of the pallets for their home and, in fact, entire block were loaded properly onto the moving vehicles to be driven into the cargo area of the train. He was also looking for a stuffed animal for his little sister Freeta. It had been packed up, but she had gone digging and taken it out. Freeta was very young, so she did not understand what was going on. She had done this thinking it would be a fun game to play with her loving older brother. She no way to know the consequences of her fun.

               As the last trucks full of stuff and people pulled away from the building, Breetus checked his watch. It was almost time for the train to leave with whatever was on board. He pulled out his walkie and asked for a status update. The last trucks they were waiting for were the ones he had just seen off. As her returned his walkie to his belt, an alarm went off throughout the abandoned city. There was one more train from the surface and all people needed to get there with in the next two hours if they did not want to be left behind. Breetus took one last sweep of his building, checking to make sure everyone nd everything was out. As he was leaving the apartment he had grown up in, he suddenly recalled Freetas stuffed animal. He ran to her room and looked all over, finding nothing. As he went to leave, he recalled there was a loose vent cover in the corner. He walked over, opened the cover, and found the stuffed animal. He grabbed it and stuffed it in his belt, then checked his watch. Holy smokes!!, he thought, as he realized he only had an hour and a half to get to the train station. He ran down the stairs as fast as he could, since all power on the planet was being routed to the blackhole machine. He made it to the bottom of the building just as the trains engines started powering up. He could hear them from across the city and knew he was running out of time. He got in his vehicle and did ten-thousand gloops a second to make it to the other side of the city in time.

               He made it with fifteen minutes to launch, when another alarm started going off. Everyone froze and Breetus, who was climbing out of his vehicle; well his blood had run cold. That was an alarm they should never have heard. It was the Scree. They had beaten all expectations and the front edge of their forces was beginning to trickle into the system. Breetus found a worker about to board the train and gave him the stuffed animal, to ensure it got to his sister. Then he turned and started directing all remaining workers to get all the hatches battened down, and ensure any and all cargo were on board and secured. The launch window would be tight. Breetus radioed in to see if the train was ready for launch. He was the last being that would board the train before it hightailed it out of there. That is when a terrible fact became apparent; someone had forgotten to release the docking clamps that had securely held the train in place for loading. Breetus began bolting for the controls….. at the other end of the platform. Just as he got there, the first signs of the black hole machine shot up into the sky, towards the systems sun. They could also see on the horizon millions upon millions of Scree, beginning their descent towards the surface to start consuming what they thought was a vastly populated world. Breetus started flipping every switch and every button, having been trained on this procedure as part of the evacuation staff. The train was revving hard now. Breetus slammed his fist on the final release button and pulled the lever. The 1^st- 8^th securing rails released and mini explosives attaching the train to the 9^th and final rail went off, as well as the ones on the back of the train to give it a boost to get moving. In space, a massive battle raged to give this final train a chance to flee. The Schrook had begun the fast version of their black holing process and were beginning to receive reports from every system that the Scree were there in force. The defense fleet was running a fighting retreat ensuring the train was behind them before the system was given to the black hole.

               Breetus had begun running for the final car as soon as he had hit the last releases, but it was not looking good. The train was going very fast and the beings on the back of the train could see he was not going to make it. Someone had loaded his car onto the train before it was sealed, except for the hatch at the back they now stood at. Breek and Bruneeta were on the bridge, monitoring the launch, unaware of Breetus’ conundrum. They were aware of the attempt to try and rescue one last St. Alprecian, but they were busy making sure the train had enough speed to make their exit vector and reach orbit. They were cutting it close and were about to reach the point where they needed to speed up to reach their target orbit.

               Breetus watched as the train picked up more speed and pulled away too fast for him to catch up. He took solace in the fact his family was safely and securely aboard. As the train began is pull for orbit, and then hopefully the spacelanes, he took out his radio and said good bye and good luck. He then dropped his radio before anyone could respond, turned around and spread his arms, throwing his head back and his eyes closed. The Black hole beam for his city should be up to power now. It was in fact and it launched for the sun, the last of forty two such beams launched from around the system to set off the reaction for a black hole. Breetus was instantly vaporized since the machine for this beam was directly below the train station.

               As the train reached the outer system, Breek and Bruneeta could relax a little to check on that soul that had gone back to release the train; they found out something very disturbing. They found out the poor soul who had saved everyone on the train was their son, Breetus. They found out that their pushing the trains speed had caused him not to be able to catch up. And lastly, they found out that his final message to them was one of love and hope, encouraging them to make something of the future he had bought them. The worker who delivered this news was the one Breetus had given the stuffed animal to. The worker handed the stuffed animal to them after delivering the news. Breek and bruneeta Cried out in agony, collapsed in a heep on the floor of the bridge, grasping tightly to the stuffed animal and each other as they wept. They had forgotten their son.