2148

  Three years had passed since the last great war. From the Mars revolution, a republic emerged. The earth population could avert a nuclear winter, but it faced a new challenge.

  The sun was engulfed by a huge blanket of clouds and could only be seen for a few hours a day. Due to the absence of the sun, it became colder and colder on the planet's surface. The two ice continents spread far on the then blue planet. The ice layer of the Antarctic had increased on parts of South America and Australia. It reached almost to Africa. The Arctic had completely buried Greenland, as had many parts of Canada and Russia.

  Although much food could be produced by artificial sunlight, the demand was so gigantic that a world-wide famine could hardly be averted.

  To avert this precarious situation, the United Nations of Earth decided to expand the search for resources to unknown parts of space. Not only to exploit more planets, the Earth needed a new outpost after Mars became an independent republic.

  But mankind was hungry for more, it did not matter how many planets they found on their way into the unknown. The United Nations of Earth wanted a final solution to their present and future problems. Through their insatiable greed, an even crueler species than humanity became aware of them. For the first time in human history, humans competed with an alien species for resources.

  The Singarti so they called themselves, this completely alien species, with the same claim to power as mankind.

  If only humans had disappeared from Singarti territory at that time, we would have been spared this conflict for the next hundred years. But the United Nations of the Earth were greedy for more power in the universe. They attacked the Singarti spaceships without having a clue about their technology and strength.

  The Singarti did not hesitate for long and more and more capital ships and transporters fell victim to them. The many dead should only be a beginning, because the Singarti followed the trail of breadcrumbs to Earth. On their journey to Earth, they left behind only savage destruction and countless slaughter. We were prepared for a major attack and all our capital ships were getting ready for a defense of Earth. We set up a blockade to protect the inhabitants of Earth.

  But the Singarti did not come, they disappeared without a trace, as if they had been swallowed by space. At least that's what we thought, because they were lurking with an armada. They were just waiting for the right moment.

  It was the 30th of July 2148 and our ships saw a so-called blood moon. While the moon slowly turned blood red, our sensors detected slight deviations in the thermosphere. We thought these minimal deviations for a simple sensor disturbance, caused by the blood moon. But we were very wrong, because it was the Singarti. They broke through our blockade with a huge number of stealth ships to attack us. Only when they de-cloaked in front of us did we know where the sensor interference was coming from. A huge material battle raged over the earth, huge debris from both factions crashed into the atmosphere and caused great damage. We fired with everything we had and were able to destroy the Singarti stealth ships. But the fleet was scattered and the blockade was lifted.

  We were about to push for victory when our sensors detected another aberration, a whole fleet of Singarti destroyers de-cloaked in front of us. We tried to protect Earth from a Singarti invasion. But we failed, the cloaking ships were already unseen in the atmosphere and we lost all contact with the Earth's surface within minutes.

  While we were gradually losing every cruiser, the first Singarti landing ships landed on the surface. Even though the Singarti spacecraft technology was almost similar to ours, it was the Singarti themselves who were anything but human or human-like. I will never forget those red eyes and those huge claws that I saw that day. The war had left me scarred all over my body, and I had several artificial organs. My liver and one of my lungs were artificial, even my hands were synthetic. I really thought we had a chance against these monsters, but it was hopeless.

  They moved as fast as lightning like animals, because that's what the Singarti were, with their appearance they resembled anthropomorphic dogs or wolves. But it was not only their appearance that frightened us, for although they were far outnumbered, they had tremendous firepower. Our bullets simply bounced off their shiny black armor, it looked like we were shooting at them with rubber bullets. The David vs. Goliath battle had begun, but this time Goliath seemed to be winning. Although we managed to finish off these giants with well-aimed head shots, we learned that day not only did the Singarti have stealth ships, they also seemed to have conquered death. Proud as a man, we posed on the corpses of our enemies knowing they were dead. But our trophies began to breathe. They rose like the undead and continued to attack us. I didn't understand what was happening then and I still can't believe it today. The Singarti were looking for a moment of surprise, and they succeeded by using a serum called Revatim. A yellow liquid that can be injected like a drug. In humans, this stuff causes death within minutes, but in the Singarti, with their cybernetically enhanced bodies, it causes a rapid healing process that allows even severe injuries to heal like magic. I watched as one of the Singarti, thought dead, grabbed my lieutenant and tore his throat out while he was still alive. It was not enough for this beast to kill him and eat his throat before my eyes, he grabbed the lifeless and still twitching body and stared at me. While I saw the blood dripping down its mouth, it tore it in two with full force. These creatures were not only bigger, their power was enormous. I don't know if this creature was just trying to intimidate me, I grabbed my machine gun and charged at the beast. Even though only a small portion of my bullets even hit the Singarti's head, they were enough to bring the beast down by accident. I drew my knife and jammed it into the beasts neck. I cut through the flesh and muscle as if through butter. Let's see if these creatures can live without a head, I thought, cutting further. I had to hurry the healing process had already begun, but I was faster and cut the last bone. The neck tried in vain to heal the non-existent head.

  The flesh covered the severed part and closed it. Intimidated, I drew my service weapon, just to be sure. But the beast remained dead, now I marveled at my work. The head of the beast in my hands, I was perhaps the only person who had managed to kill a Singarti. But my pride did not last long, because the whole planet was now full of Singarti.

  On July 31, 2148, the Earth lost its freedom and mankind had to submit to a new species.