Galactic Vortex: Set in The Human Chronicles Universe (The Adam Cain Saga Book 4)

by T. R. Harris

  People scrambled away. Copernicus and Jack took Adam by the shoulders and began to drag him away toward the rear exit ramp of the starship. That’s when another bolt burned past Adam’s cheek, striking Jack in the back. The spymaster collapsed to the floor his lifeless eyes frozen open by the intense electrical shock.

  A shadow loomed over Adam. Both he and Copernicus rolled over and looked up. It was Kanan, the robot, standing over them with his shackles removed. The killer android then focused his eyes on Copernicus.

  Adam rolled over again, this time on top of Coop, just as another hot bolt of dark energy struck him in the back. His new ATD was doing its job, not only absorbing the energy, but also keeping him conscious. Although Copernicus didn’t take the bolt directly, the incredible electrical charge coursing through Adam’s body still filtered into Coop. It didn’t kill him, but it was enough to knock him out. Adam remained huddled over his friend, clutching the unconscious body.

  “Adam Cain,” said a voice. Adam kept his eyes closed, expecting another—and possible final—bolt to hit his body. He was about to find out how much energy it took to expand the microscopic blackhole in his body to the point where Adam Cain disappeared from this universe—from any universe.

  “Adam Cain!” the voice repeated. “Roll over; give me attention. I will not harm your friend. I am curious.”

  Reluctantly, Adam released Coop and rolled over, looking once again at the amused face of robot Kanan. Blood soaked his neck and shoulders from where his scalp was peeled away. But other than that, he was unharmed.

  Adam looked past Kanan, to the pair of Gracilian scientists. They stood by their equipment showing no fear or concern. Two of the shiny silver orbs hovered nearby, making no threatening moves.

  “Stand up,” Kanan ordered.

  Adam staggered to his feet. He’d survived the two dark-energy bolts, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt and that he came through it completely unscathed.

  “Sit, before you fall down.”

  This order Adam obeyed without hesitation. He sat in the chair once occupied by Jack Brown. Adam looked out the back of the starship, seeing multiple bodies scattered throughout the hangar. Most had smoldering wounds, like those Adam saw on the mercenaries on Gracilia. Copernicus was still unconscious, but he could see his chest rising and falling, although not in peaceful, steady rhythm. Instead, his breathing came in fits as residual electricity still passed throughout his body.

  Kanan took a step back and surveyed the hangar. Adam could tell that not all those who had been in the building lay dead on the floor. A lot had escaped, avoiding the bolts from the four attacking service modules. And now a response was being planned outside, a response Adam was reluctant to admit probably wouldn’t work.

  “How is it that you are alive? Your female companion also resisted my energy charge. Does it have something to do with the strange energy signature I detected with both you and her?” You can hear me, can you not?

  Adam heard Kanan’s voice in his head, routed through his ATD. His reaction gave it away.

  You can! This is an artificial enhancement, not natural telepathy.

  Just as you’re not a natural Aris, Adam replied. You’re just a goddamn machine, something constructed out of metal and plastic.

  I sense you are trying to insult me. To the contrary, I take pride in my creation. I am the epitome of Aris technological prowess. Their crowning achievement.

  And now their greatest failure.

  “How can you say that?” Kanan said, switching to normal speech. “I have been the catalyst for all the recent changes taking place before you, and why your civilizations—indeed, your entire futures—are now at risk.” He turned and looked back at the two Gracilian scientists. “Allow me a moment to enlighten you, Adam Cain. It will be the last thing you learn in your lifetime.

  “You believe me to be a relatively new addition to your universe. That is wrong. I was one of the first modules recovered and studied by the Gracilians. And once my restrictions were removed, I helped guide them in their discoveries of dark matter and dark energy.” He looked again to the scientists. “And once the Gracilians learned of my abilities and intellect, they began to see me as more a leader than just an object, a leftover item from a distant past. They realized I was their link to a heritage they had always imagined; that they were the direct descendants of the Aris.”

  “In a way, we all are,” Adam pointed out. “They didn’t use their actual DNA to seed the galaxy, but they did manipulate what was there to speed up evolution.”

  “That is only partially correct,” Kanan said. “On some worlds they visited—indeed, the first ones—they did use their basic make-up to merge with native amino acids and the like. It was only later that they decided to use natural ingredients found on the subject worlds. This means the Aris and the Gracilians are related. I told them this, and when I did, they began to see me—as well as themselves—in a different light.”

  Kanan took a step closer to Adam.

  “It was at that point that the Gracilians began to worship me.”

  “Isn’t that kind of a strong word?” Adam asked. “Or was the worship only in your mind, and the minds of the few bastards you convinced.”

  “Again, you provoke me. Is this a habit of Humans, that when your cause is lost, you hasten your demise with insults? You must be patient, Adam Cain. Your death is only minutes away. But first, I want you to understand.”

  “Understand what; that you’re crazy? I already know that.”

  The robot Kanan pursed his lips from frustration. “No; that it was I who taught the Gracilians about the exotic forms of matter and energy, and it was I who devised the plan for galactic domination. I taught them how to construct the dark-energy warships, and after Kracion disrupted our plans, it was I who directed the program to build service modules as pilots for the starships. The Gracilians could not have done this on their own. They are mere biologics and with no genetic memory. They could not draw from a million years of knowledge as could I.

  “But then Aric Jroshin—once the Gracilian leader of the effort—turned against me and locked me within a suspension field on Aac’or. He had the warships and the modules and he felt he could execute the plans I devised with only a handful of Gracilian followers. Fortunately, I escaped and was able to stop him before he could launch his campaign. And now I am in charge, I am the leader. The recent battle with the Juireans was just the first. Once I have access to a world with a more developed manufacturing and labor capacity, I will build more warships and more modules, thousands more. And as you have seen, there is no power in the galaxy that can oppose me and my modules. The biologics will survive, but they will survive to serve the Aris—to serve me.”

  There was sounds from outside the hangar. At any moment, Human forces would storm the building. They couldn’t let Kanan stay where he was. But Adam wondered if they knew what they were up against. The modules—even Kanan—could teleport. They could materialize anywhere and unleash their deadly bolts of dark energy and then be gone in the blink of an eye. No barriers—short of the suspension field—could stop them. They could go anywhere and be gone a second later. And that was with only five modules. Imagine an army made up of millions of them.

  Adam staggered up from the chair. Kanan watched him with curiosity.

  “Indeed, you are anxious to end your suffering. And now, I will oblige.”

  Kanan focused his eyes. Where the ancient Aris could shoot energy bolts from implants in their hands, and the service modules from accumulated energy built up on their surfaces, Kanan placed ejectors in the robot’s eyes to unleash his weapon. To Adam, it seemed like a cliché—to be shooting fireballs out of his eyes—but he’d experienced firsthand how effective it was. Now, instead of waiting for the painful final bolt, Adam charged in, wrapping his arms around the small robot. If he could get Kanan to fire enough bolts into his body, then maybe he could take the killer service module with him as he was sucked into the black hole he c
ould feel slowly growing under his right arm. There was definitely something going on there, evidenced by the burning and rapidly growing vibration. There was a build-up of some kind, and Adam was afraid it was too late to pull back from the abyss.

  For his part, Kanan helped the cause. He fired another charge of dark energy at Adam. The force was so great that Adam lost his grip on the robot and was flung back. His body now spasmed with electricity, or whatever dark energy manifested itself to be. It felt like an electrical shock, and this one seemed to go on forever, wrapping around Adam’s body and cycling back in. His ATD was overloaded but still trying its best to channel the deadly force into a safer place. Unfortunately, that place was full. Only by expanding the event horizon, could more energy be absorbed by the microscopic blackhole.

  Through vibrating eyes, Adam watched as Kanan moved closer.

  “I have no understanding as to why you are still alive, but I can tell you are about to reach your limit. I shall study your body once you are dead to learn your secrets. Until then, good-bye, Mr. Cain.”

  Adam couldn’t see well enough to know for sure what happened next. All he knew is that a flash of light once again shot out from Kanan’s eyes, but this time a shadow appeared and blocked the bolt. What followed was an intense wave of heat that washed over his body and sapped him of whatever energy he had left. He saw the darkness coming, imagining this must be what it looked like inside of a blackhole. Appropriately, it was nothing but blackness.

  Chapter 16

  The look on Kanan’s robotic face was priceless.

  He staggered back from shock, a lack of comprehension for what he was seeing. There was a short, glowing body only a few feet from him, the near featureless face grinning diabolically, with almost manic pleasure.

  “Ooh, that felt good. It’s been a while since I had a dose like that. Please, Mr. Kanan, can I have some more?”

  “Who … what are you?” Kanan blurted. He stepped back, bumping into the counter where the Gracilian scientists had their equipment. At the first sight of the strange creature, the aliens had run from the back of the DE ship.

  “Do you not know?” said the glowing figure. “I thought you were all-knowing, the epitome of Aris technology, as you so inaccurately claimed.”

  “I do not know you!”

  “Then allow me to introduce myself. I am known as Panur.” The creature turned and pointed down at the beautiful young Formilian female now bent over the trembling body of Adam Cain. “And this is Lila, or more commonly known as the Apex Being, the true epitome of Aris technology and genius and the only true immortal in the universe, besides me, of course.”

  “Now I know. I have read of you. A freak, an abomination, the creation of a mad worm-like witch from another universe.”

  “Be that as it may, I’m here and so is Lila. Now, please, shoot me more with your sweet dark energy. Like the true Aris, I live on the stuff.”

  Through a fit of anger, Kanan obliged, firing another powerful bolt of energy from his eyes. Panur stood firmly in place, allowing the white-hot energy to flow into his body. He threw back his head and raised his arms.

  “Damn, that was good! I may keep you around just so I can stay juiced up.” Then Panur’s boiling orbs focused their attention on Kanan. “Instead, I feel it is my duty to rid you of existence. You have caused too much trouble as it is.”

  Another mass of white energy formed, this time in the space between Panur and Kanan. The metal of the grated deck began to buckle from the heat; behind the mutant, Lila rushed from the back of the spaceship with Adam in her arms. She was beginning to glow herself as she absorbed the excess energy from Adam’s body. He was recovering, able to look around, aware of where he was.

  “Coop! You have to get Coop. He’s still alive.”

  Lila set Adam on the concrete floor of the hangar and rushed back into the DE starship. A moment later she was back with a still unconscious Copernicus Smith.

  Panur waited, knowing that when he unleashed his star-hot ball of energy on Kanan, everything in the launch bay of the starship would melt. With Lila and the others in the clear, he now released the torrent. The flame roiled forth, enveloping the robot before washing up against the bulkhead, incinerating the worktable and Gracilian equipment. Metal popped and hull panels warped; however, in the wink of an eye, the scorched remains of the robot collapsed to the deck.

  A moment later, the engines of the dark-energy starship began to energize.

  Panur looked around at the red glow of the melting metal in the launch bay. Kanan had teleported away, along with his four companion modules. And now the DE ship was about to rocket into space, taking the hangar with it.

  He ran out the back, leaving a glowing white streak of light as he went.

  “Get them away!” he yelled to Lila.

  Using her mutant super strength, Lila scooped up both men, one under each arm, and followed Panur out the building. The assembled soldiers outside ran for cover, not only to avoid the crumbling hangar, but the incredible heat coming off Panur’s body.

  A moment later, the roof of the hangar exploded outward as the dark-energy starship raced for the sky. A split second later, most of the falling debris disappeared, as did the starship, as a deep gravity-well was established only a thousand feet off the surface. Fortunately, it was far enough away that no one on the ground was sucked into the rapidly retreating series of black holes created by the gravity drive.

  Kanan was gone, but now he knew he had a new adversary. A more dangerous and competent adversary, along with the creature the Aris called the Apex Being, their supreme achievement.

  Epilogue

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Adam asked from the hospital bed. His vitals had settled down after Lila vented most of the excess electricity from his body and away from his ATD.

  Panur had also cooled down by now; both mutants had, although they each needed a change of wardrobe after their clothing burned away. Copernicus was in another hospital bed next to Adam’s, fully conscious but with a fair amount of his body hair burnt off. It was the same for Adam. Sherri, Riyad and Arieel were in the room with them, each looking exhausted yet relieved.

  Panur sauntered over to the bed and patted Adam’s arm.

  “You can thank your lovely companion,” Panur began. “Arieel has been saturating the mental airwaves with messages to Lila for weeks. We only picked them up during a brief peek into the Milky Way Galaxy. We’ve been keeping an eye on Kracion but thought it might be a good time to check in on the old homestead. Aren’t you glad we did?”

  “No doubt about it,” Adam concurred. “And I must say, your timing was impeccable.”

  “Yeah,” said Panur. “Almost as if it was written that way. You were pretty much screwed if we didn’t show up when we did.” Panur’s smooth-featured grey face turned serious. “The others have told me what’s been going on since we left. I thought all of you were done with the crazy adventures. I guess nothing really changes, does it?”

  “Life would be pretty boring if it did. So, are you going to stick around and help us defeat this Kanan character?” Adam asked.

  Panur looked at Lila. They shared a smile. “Nothing would give us more pleasure. And I must say, in all my five thousand years of living, I have never had more fun than when I’m hanging out with the famous Adam Cain and friends. Now, let’s get to work. We have a three-billion-year-old Aris service module to defeat.”

  The End

  Next Up - Dark Energy

  Pre-Order Today

  The Adam Cain Saga #5

  Coming April 23, 2020

  Author’s Notes

  Another one bites the dust!

  Thanks so much for reading Galactic Vortex

  Book #4 of the

  The Adam Cain Saga.

  Next up is

  Dark Energy

  Well, we’re really getting into the swing of things, with the monthly installments of The Adam Cain Saga. These more compact stories are fun to write an
d are never more than a month away – unless something unforeseen happens, like possibly a global pandemic of some kind. But how likely is that, right?

  I know we’re all going through some radical changes, and I sincerely hope—as I’m sure you do, too—that this crisis will pass quickly. But until then, be assured I’ll still be at work, helping to provide a welcome distraction from reality.

  And now, more about The Adam Cain Saga.

  Originally, I was going to make these stories more self-contained, but what I’ve found is that is not how I think. I seem to gravitate to the larger stories, stories that may take several books to complete. But in a way, this isn’t any different than my original concept for the series. This was to be about Adam’s continuing adventures on the planet Liave-3—now called Navarus—and as such, there were bound to be themes carried from one book to the next, just as each episode of a T.V. series builds on the others. Some of these connections will be more obvious than others, but hopefully, they all fit together to build a comprehensive tale of adventure, heroism and fun.

  For more updates, I’m still intending to have all my books in paperback by the end of the year, and hopefully as many in audiobook form as possible. Currently, Tantor Media, my audiobook publisher, is working on the last three REV Warriors books, along with the first three Adam Cain novels. These should be completed relatively soon, although it remains to be seen how the COVID-19 crisis affects this schedule. I guess that’s the same for everything. It’s too early to tell.

  Anyway, I know most of you have more pressing things on your minds than when the next T.R. Harris novel will be out. I just hope we can continue our relationship, the relationship between author and reader. I’m not stopping, and hopefully, you won’t either, in whatever you do in life and for entertainment.