“I purposely led you here…” Isabella continued. She held a small horsewhip in her right hand. From where I could see, she had no other weapons.
“What the hell are you trying to say?” I snapped, trying to prod her. You old bitch, don’t mistake us for trained monkeys that will eat out of your hand!
“Soon this base will be destroyed,” said Isabella. She was unaffected by the tone in my voice. Her speech remained soft and quiet. “The United Space Force will use more force than needed, but this castle wasn’t designed to withstand that kind of attack.”
“So what, what do you want?” I asked pointedly. “Are you surrendering?”
“Not on your life!”
Isabella’s response echoed. She had a strong personality. This might not be good for us. Maybe I was just worried about that whip. “Members of Lucifer don’t surrender,” she followed up. “Success, or death. Those are the only paths.”
“Then… What?!”
I had lost all patience. Damn, and I was trying to look superior, too—
“I wanted to meet Thunder and Lucha… and you two as well…” Isabella stated, gesturing to the brother and sister. The nerve! Adding us in like an afterthought… “You were the adopted children of Dr. Russell, former Maleenay Central Police detective Thunder, and policewoman Lucha… I’ve waited a long time to finally make your acquaintance.”
“Who-who are you?!” Thunder blurted out yelling, his face looked confused and distressed. His sister, Lucha’s face had gone white as a sheet.
“Well, I am Isabella…” she said. “Dr. Russell’s real daughter—”
“Wha—?” “Erp!” “Ack!” “Kaff!”
We were all struck speechless. In shock, not one of us could even muster a breath. But having heard what she said, that face, those eyes, could it be—But—!
“It’s a lie!” Thunder shouted. Lucha held onto his arm. Thunder’s face was burning red.
“It’s a lie!” Thunder said again, “There is no way in the galaxy you could be Dr. Russell’s daughter. Lucifer is a bond of blood. How would the daughter of Dr. Russell from Elckian join Lucifer? A little peon, maybe, but one of the top dogs? Us guys might be country folks, so you think you can fool us. You can’t pull one on us that easy!”
“My father, Russell, was a researching monster…” Isabella’s eyes got distant and seemed to lose focus. She looked as if she was watching a dream. “Even though he was the Science and Technology Agency’s Director General, a management position, he was always, always in the research lab. Sometimes he wouldn’t come home for days at a time…”
“…”
Not a peep came from us as we listened to Isabella’s story.
“And on the occasions he did come home, all he did was fight with Mother… they constantly quarreled and really seemed to hate each other.”
“…”
“And then, from out of nowhere, the day of disaster came. My father, the inventor of this new demon called the Space Smasher, finding himself showered in public criticism, tossed Mother and me aside, and ran away. I learned later that he had jumped around from planet to planet, eventually being shunned everywhere he went. In the end, he found Maleenay, a place he could live a peaceful life.”
“All lies…” Thunder stated again, his words stumbling out. There was no power behind his voice.
In reality, Thunder had a vague inkling of Isabella’s story. Yet, he was a country boy from a backwoods star cluster, and no matter where Dr. Russell went, he was a stranger… And crowded places are just like that. What else could you say? Away from your home, everyone is a foreigner.
“Leaving just Mother and me, I took a bad turn. I started hanging out at the entertainment district at night, picking fights with other girls. At that time I got to know a young thug. He was related to a member of Lucifer. We ended up getting married, and he rose through the Lucifer ranks. Four years after we got married, around the Cetus constellation he got into a heroic battle with a United Space Force destroyer, and in the end his ship was blown up. I took over my husband’s turf and became a Lucifer officer.”
“…”
“In my home, there were a ton of research notes that Father had left behind. Funny, huh? The Central Computer could purge its memory banks of the data, but it had no way of getting a hold of the originals. I cut myself off from everything, and immersed myself in my father’s research notes on the Space Smasher. All on my own, I completed the Lucifer Space Smasher. I got no help from anybody. The Space Smasher belongs to me and to my father only.”
“…”
“In order to mass produce the Space Smasher, I decided to build a research laboratory and factory here on Lamier. There’s lots of money here, and few restrictions on ships coming in and out. No matter what sort of ship I used, all were allowed to pass. I killed the mighty Standalf, and took over his power. Can you guess what I was thinking in the beginning, building this castle here on this island… ?”
“…”
“I thought this would give me a chance to meet Father again.”
“…”
“My plan was approved by the Lucifer godfathers, and I put it into effect. But Father never showed. Around the time of the fifth capital destruction, we planned to force a list of our demands to be broadcast in every home in the galaxy, but before that, I earnestly requested Father to come to me.”
“…”
“Father did arrive. I met him here, and killed him. From that moment on, everything inside me was dead. All that was left were my days with blood still pumping through my veins—I was done with dreams.”
“You lie!” Thunder yelled, and pointed his laser gun at Isabella and fired. Blaow! Massive amounts of sparks flew for meters. But the beam did not reach Isabella. Laser barrier. There was a protective field between us and Isabella. Thunder and Lucha both collapsed to their knees.
“Flo ho ho ho ho…”
Suddenly Isabella began to laugh. It was a high-pitched shrill, that didn’t sound altogether human. She continued laughing harder, raising both hands, and the whip, above her head.
“Isabella, the Space Smasher won’t work!” I said. Isabella immediately stopped her chuckling and looked at me.
“I know that…” said Isabella. “You are talking about the Anti-Smasher my father made. From the start, I have installed only the most minimal of defense systems, only one troop of defense soldiers. The way things are working out with the United Space Force attack, I figure we have less than an hour. You will all die with me—!”
“Chck-chck,” I clicked my tongue, correcting her. “Don’t even try your bullshit with us…! You psycho idiot, certifiable, father-complex, bitch!”
“Ho ho ho ho ho…”
Again she laughed maniacally, and then turned her back to us. Facing the shiny black panels, one by one she started pushing levers on.
“I made my Super-Size Super Smasher!” Isabella screamed in a painful screech. The calm and collected Isabella had disappeared. “It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t work. This is a monument to my and my father’s work.”
And then it happened.
The entire panel suddenly lit up. Now we could see though a special inlaid glass in the panel, and what we saw shined like an explosion. There was some intense radiation activity. The entire front turned into a bright white light. Isabella seemed to jump, then fall to the floor from shock. We were also hit with a wave of dizziness, and covered our heads with our arms.
The bright light did not lose intensity. On the contrary, the hum of a motor started up from somewhere. I wanted to see the panel’s state, but I didn’t dare look with my naked eye. However, I was able to surmise that one thing was true. The Space Smasher was functional. There was no other conclusion. Something or other had gone wrong with the Anti-Smasher. We were beyond the point of no return.