The Terran Cycle Boxset

by Philip C. Quaintrell

  Instead of heading for the exit with the thousands of others, he tried to force his way down to the podium level. He didn’t know who these new aliens were but they could take some damage if they could drop from such a height without the fear of death. He wasn’t sure how much his new boot accessories would protect him but he guessed it wouldn’t be as good as their armour.

  The crowd froze for a moment as everyone witnessed some kind of violence within the arena. Roland couldn’t see it over the large rock creature that obstructed his view, but everyone gasped after he heard the distinct yell of a woman. Whatever happened, it only spurred them on as the rock creature pushed multiple aliens aside in one stride. With that small clearing, he managed to jump down two rows worth of steps before something small and chubby with mechanical headgear knocked him over.

  He rose to his feet convinced he must have hit his head; he couldn’t be seeing what he thought he was seeing. After several others around him had similar expressions he knew it to be true, though he couldn’t explain it. All the guards surrounding the podium were floating ten feet in the air. Their deaths were quick but violent. He had never seen anything like it; their limbs just imploded into their bodies like someone had placed a black hole in their gut. He noticed a couple of aliens faint at the sight while others screamed in terror, frozen still.

  He stopped to check the other attackers but was only confused as they stood motionless. It occurred to him that they were most likely guarding the one in the centre who he could now see was holding the young man. Roland couldn’t help but notice the behemoth standing in front of the podium.

  Well, aren’t you a big bastard...

  It was unnaturally big, bigger than any alien he had seen so far. It was actually subduing one of the rock creatures with one hand.

  As the broken guards dropped back to their posts he immediately took note of the guns attached to their waists. Now past the fleeing crowds, he was free to move onto the guard’s walkway and get a better look at what was going on. He crept onto the platform, though he was sure he couldn’t be heard over the crowds and the screams. It wasn’t long before he was in possession of two handguns with large rectangular barrels.

  He was again witness to something he couldn’t explain. The human man being held up by the armoured figure created some kind of light in his hand. A moment later he pushed into the attacker and blew the two apart.

  Well, they’re dead...

  That was a given since they were so close to the explosion. He reasoned that the human must have been concealing a grenade. What he wouldn’t do for grenades. He made his way over to the arena door as the redhead got her feet below him. She was injured; broken arm, maybe collarbone too. He was impressed with the man, he recovered quickly from what he was sure should have killed him.

  Laughter broke through the ruckus. Not just any laughter, he had heard that kind before. He had heard it from old enemies and targets from his past. It was always the ones who thought themselves untouchable, invincible and above reproach. When that laughter came from a being who had dropped half a mile like it was nothing and been blown into a wall, it gave Roland pause.

  The figure strode across the clearing as its headgear compacted into the suit. Roland wasn’t ready for the face underneath. The confusion of recent events combined with what he was now seeing gave him a headache. He couldn’t quite make out every word over the thousands of feet thundering around the stadium. The man was definitely human as he was speaking central, but he only caught the odd word and got the impression he was making threats.

  In his assessment, things were only going to escalate. He had to act now or they would most likely be dead in the next sixty seconds. There was that conscience again.

  Kalian had been faced with death so many times in the last week he was becoming numb to the feeling of dread. His world had been upended and thrust into a life of violence and destruction. He had never felt rage like he had at the sight of Li’ara being hurt. His hand was beginning to burn but his senses were being overridden by the tingling in his spine. He knew he faced death again and perceived this Savrick to be an even greater threat than the goliath.

  When Savrick came for him, he would pour all of the power he felt building inside his arms into the madman. He wouldn’t let him hurt Li’ara again. Having seen Savrick’s abilities, he doubted he could beat him, but he didn’t need to; if he could just distract him long enough, the others could escape. He tried to ignore the pain in his hand and concentrate on the image of Li’ara being flung into the wall. If he could find that rage again, maybe he could create the light again.

  Savrick closed the space between them, his eyes fixed on Kalian.

  He paused as Elondrasa rose from her seat on the podium. “You have no right to attack us or these humans, they have sought refuge within our borders and they will have it. Leave now and we will not bring the full weight of our combined fleets on you and your ship.”

  Kalian admired her courage. She stood up with nothing but words as her weapon against a foe who had already demonstrated a greater power. Savrick slowly turned on the spot to face the Highclave, who all looked very sheepish.

  “You are advanced, Novaarian. Your society is remarkable, and it is truly a great feat to have brought so many cultures under one roof.” His face turned sour. “But you are a shadow of the world we have left behind. If you could see how primitive you are compared to those left in our wake, you would tremble at my feet and beg for the chance to evolve as we have.”

  Kalian was desperate to find the meaning behind Savrick’s words but feared he would be dead before he got any answers. A movement above him caught his eye. There was a strange person crawling along the gantry in what looked to be a large coat and helmet.

  Elondrasa took a breath to protest more before Savrick raised his unsheathed hand. As his hand lifted, so did the councillor. She gasped as her long legs kicked out to find the floor; she looked to her fellow councillors for help and watched as they sank into their seats. Savrick flipped his raised hand sending the Novaarian councillor flying into the empty seats behind the podium. At the same moment, her body crashed into the chairs the archway behind Kalian opened up to reveal Namek with his staff in hand and a small ball in the other. Telarrek and Ilyseal reacted to the sight quicker than he or Li’ara did. They moved aside allowing him space to enter whilst guiding the two humans back through the doorway.

  Namek’s movements were swift and clearly rehearsed as he flicked his upper arm to the side releasing the ball. This action instantly caught Savrick’s attention as he swivelled round to face them. But it was already too late. The ball had stuck to the wall and activated with a high pitched hum.

  Everything happened at once after that. Savrick was immediately pulled into the wall on which the ball was stuck. The force and speed were impressive as he became a blur of dark armour. The wall crumbled under the impact as he remained lodged above the floor. The other three acted at once with the statuesque guards jumping through the air, aiming for the podium. The goliath looked at its master before making giant strides towards them. Telarrek and Ilyseal gripped both Kalian and Li’ara pushing them through the archway, Li’ara groaned as she held back the scream of Ilyseal’s hand around her injured shoulder.

  The stranger from the gantry dropped down in front of them alongside Namek. Kalian could hear him shouting as he fell while firing two handguns at the approaching goliath. The shots were absorbed by the armour and did nothing to stop it, though that didn’t seem to stop him from shooting. Before landing, he appeared to slow down just before reaching the floor allowing him to keep his balance after such a drop. Kalian would have stopped to think about this new ally had he not been running for his life, again.

  The six of them ran through the connecting corridors until they found themselves back at the yellow vehicle. Ilyseal jumped an impossible distance for any human as she landed in the driver’s seat. Telarrek scooped Li’ara up into his arms as though she weighed no more than a child.
Kalian thought again how serious their situation was when she made no protest to being handled that way. Once all in the vehicle, the new stranger jumped into the back seat and kept his guns levelled at the doorway.

  “What was that?” Kalian asked.

  “Gravity bomb,” was Namek’s only reply, his lip raised above one of his fangs in the Novaarian equivalent of a smirk.

  “Get us out of-” the stranger’s augmented voice was cut off as Ilyseal engaged the vehicle’s maximum thrust.

  They were ejected from the stadium, the g-forces pushing them back into their seats. The goliath burst through the door bringing the frame and surrounding wall with it. The stranger released several blue shots, each one hitting its mark but causing no damage.

  Ilyseal banked the vehicle sharply before entering into a dive, trying to avoid another armoured attacker that flew off one of the great rings. It just missed them with his fingertips scratching the back of the car. The ride was sickening as they were pinned into their seats hurtling down the tower.

  “Activating grav enforcers.” Ilyseal’s words were followed by a change of inertia.

  Despite their direction, gravity was not pulling them towards the diving front of the car. Ilyseal continued to manipulate the holographic domes in the console, in a bid to avoid debris and wayward attackers. An explosion to their right made her change course so they were no longer weaving between the floating platforms. They banked hard along a platform that resembled a giant park with forests and streams. The car flew low over an expansive lake kicking up waves of water behind them, weaving between falling debris and the occasional person as they impacted the lake.

  As they dove again leaving the park behind, Kalian saw one armoured attacker jump from the outer ring and land on a passing hover car just below them. The car wobbled under the added weight before the attacker jumped again, this time heading straight up and past them into the platform above. Moments later the underside of the platform began to crack, creating a web around the impact site. Kalian couldn’t believe his eyes as the underside completely shattered under the weight of the lake. Water poured out like blood from a wound before finally releasing its entire content. Kalian shouted a warning as Ilyseal changed course again heading for the outer ring. Water rained down on them just before the car managed to avoid the main body of water.

  They all looked over to see the platform below take the full brunt. Anyone who didn’t die instantly would have been washed off the edge. Kalian felt angry again. They could kill thousands in a single blow. Was he like them? He recognised the power they used but not to that level. What did any of this mean? Were they human, or was he something else? He was angry with himself for not having better control. If he had spent more time learning how to use his strange abilities maybe he could help. He looked at Li’ara cradling her broken arm and felt his other hand becoming hot. Before anything took shape the car banked to the left then the right, avoiding the falling debris from another platform that tumbled down the side of the rings like a waterfall of rock.

  “We need to get to the Valoran, now!” Telarrek had to shout over the whipping wind caused by their speed.

  Ilyseal interacted with the console for a moment, bringing up a holographic display that would lead them to the nearest port. “There is a problem,” she replied. “When the Starrillium was ruptured it destroyed the atmo-barrier.”

  Kalian took a second to consider the consequences of that statement. If the atmo-barrier had been disabled then anyone outside, across the entire planet, would have been exposed to vacuum. That one attack could have killed millions.

  “If the barrier’s down everyone outside will die,” Kalian said.

  As if only just understanding what was going on, the stranger spoke up. “They would have been flash-burned by the explosion before space could kill them.”

  Kalian looked at him as if that statement was supposed to help.

  “Just saying...”

  Who was this guy? Using his good hand he quickly grasped the stranger’s own. His hands. He looked up into the orange orbs of the faceplate but nothing was said between them. There was no time to get into it, he was helping and that would have to suffice, for now.

  “We need to find another transport, alert the Valoran we are en route.” Telarrek looked across at Kalian as if considering something of note. “Inform them we need to travel to Corvus at maximum yield the moment we land.”

  Ilyseal made the appropriate arrangements via the console. Kalian wasn’t sure of the importance of Corvus; the name was familiar from the data module. It was the home planet of the Trillik, a Conclave race that lived within the Novaarian border.

  The car soon levelled out on the required ring and travelled across the gap to the spaceport. With so much danger around, Kalian couldn’t stop the tingling in his spine. He was constantly on the lookout for another attack since they could come from any direction. It was Li’ara who saw it first. The human, or whatever it was, landed on the back of the car in a kneeling position as the metal crumpled around it. The whole car tilted before Ilyseal could make the correction. Namek moved in the blink of an eye. One second he was sitting down, the next he was standing half on the stranger’s seat, half on the back of the car. Using his upper hands he thrust his staff horizontally into the attacker’s neck. In a manoeuvre, only a Novaarian could accomplish he used his lower arms to grip the back of the legs and forced the attacker onto his back.

  Namek’s strength was impressive as he managed to keep him pinned while maintaining his balance on the moving vehicle. The stranger was dodging the many limbs that kicked out in his direction.

  “The AI has initiated lockdown procedures. The port is not responding!” Ilyseal was just audible over the fighting.

  “We shall deal with that when we get there!” Telarrek replied.

  “If we get there...” Li’ara was watching closely as Namek continued to take blow after blow from the armoured fists.

  Bloodied and bruised Namek held the attacker down with his staff across the bulky chest. The light was impossible to miss. Just like his own, the attacker formed a ball of molten light within the palm of his hand. If he hit Namek with it, there would only be one outcome, and Kalian wouldn’t allow it.

  Without thinking he jumped out of his seat allowing the wind to force him across the distance and into the tangle of warriors. Telarrek and Li’ara reached out trying to stop him. The interruption disrupted the light, ending it all together while his body forced them apart. Namek was flung back into the car, landing on the stranger while Kalian and the attacker were not so lucky. At the last second, Kalian was able to grab hold of the ridge at the back of the car while the attacker clung to his leg. They were both being dragged behind the car as Ilyseal continued to dodge falling debris.

  “Kalian!” Li’ara was climbing over the seats in agony as her arm slowed her down.

  He looked back at the attacker wondering how long they could both hold on. The adrenaline was masking the pain he should be feeling in his burnt hand. The tingling in his back was increasing like a pressure building in his muscles. It didn’t matter though, he couldn’t hold on anymore. In the same instant his fingers let go, he felt the grip of two hands around his burnt one. What came next was more like instinct as he levelled his free hand at the attacker and released the energy he felt inside. The unseen wave smashed into the attacker, denting the impervious armour. Kalian watched as he was thrown away, out of sight.

  Returning his attention to his saviour he saw the masked stranger holding on to him. He seemed to hesitate for a moment before pulling him back into the safety of the car, not that it was much safer. Ilyseal banked and dove under an explosion before returning to their original height. They all felt the heat overhead before the car eventually slowed and manoeuvred into the spaceport.

  “Thanks.” Kalian was examining the dirty helmet worn by the stranger.

  “Don’t mention it, kid.”

  Kalian got the feeling he meant it.


  Li’ara reached over grabbing Kalian by the shoulder. “If you ever do anything like that again, I’ll kill you myself!”

  Kalian could only concentrate on the coy smile she wore.

  The car landed in a hangar filled with ships, a little bigger than the Fathom. It was the same deep red as all Conclave security ships, though boxy in appearance. Kalian thought it looked like some kind of patrol ship with multiple forward armaments. He noticed the thick door up ahead and wondered if the lockdown procedure meant they wouldn’t open.

  “Can you override the ship controls?” Telarrek was supporting Namek’s broken body as he asked.

  “I already have.” Ilyseal pressed something on her bracer and the hatch opened on the side of the ship with a ramp descending.

  They soon found themselves sitting in various chairs in the ship’s cockpit. Again Ilyseal worked the controls bringing up different holograms that altered the console for Novaarian use. All four of her limbs danced across the different lights, activating the ship’s systems.

  “What about the door?” Li’ara asked.

  “Not a problem.” As Ilyseal spoke, a heads-up display shot across the viewport.

  It indicated the section of the door that was currently being targeted by one of the ship’s cannons. A flash of green hit the door, blowing it into space with most of the hangars contents. The ship scratched the edges as it passed through and out of the Clave Tower.

  Thinking back only ten minutes Kalian couldn’t believe the chain of events that had allowed them to get this far. There was no sign in the distance of where the Conclave ship had been rammed and the Starrillium had gone supernova. Why would there be? The power of the explosion would have incinerated everything in its path. Only the mammoth rectangular ship remained as hundreds of Conclave ships surrounded it with salvo after salvo. Across the interior of the planet was flying debris and broken structures, the cockpit was hit by more than one body. Even the cylindrical towers had been attacked as well as the city above and below.