The Terran Cycle Boxset

by Philip C. Quaintrell

  “Did you...” He hesitated looking at Li’ara. “Did you have any family?”

  This broke Roland’s reverie as he looked to be remembering something distant. “I’ve never really had time for family. Think I had a dad in Australia, a cousin on Mars...” His attention returned fully to the two looking at him. “So it’s all gone, Earth, Century, hell the UDC?” Li’ara gave a slow nod, as it was hard for her to say as well. “Well, shit...” Was all he could say.

  He stood up and started pacing the med bay. Kalian assumed pacing was something they taught at the academy.

  “So between our extinction, these armoured bastards and whatever the hell you are in all this,” Roland pointed at Kalian, “what are we supposed to do now?”

  “Without the UDC we have to come up with our own objectives.” Li’ara stood as well now.

  “Really? Because it looks to me as if... whatever its name is, is the one giving the orders on this boat,” Roland countered.

  “We can trust, Telarrek.” Kalian felt quite defensive about him.

  Roland sat back down and rolled his eyes. “Hell, I never took orders from the UDC when they were around.” He said it more to himself as he inspected the sleeve of his hide coat.

  Li’ara looked puzzled at his comment. “What do you mean? You’re a Commander,” she said.

  Roland’s head fell back as he laughed. “Six months ago I didn’t even have a rank.”

  Kalian didn’t really know what was being said between the two soldiers, but he was amazed at how well Roland was taking everything in.

  “Since the term classified no longer applies,” Roland elaborated cryptically, “let’s just say I was more of a free agent than a windup toy for Central Parliament.”

  Kalian still didn’t understand the reference, but Li’ara’s face dropped. “You’re an agent aren’t you? You must have screwed up pretty bad to get put in line with us grunts.”

  “What are you talking about?” Kalian was in the wrong profession to understand all the terms they were using.

  “He’s an agent for Central Parliament. Trained by some black ops branch of the UDC and given free rein in the name of progression.” Roland had a smug face after her description. “He’s just a killer.” Li’ara clearly didn’t approve of his line of work.

  “I did the things you couldn’t, sweetheart. Someone had to look pretty for the civvies,” He flicked his finger at Li’ara, “I worked in the dark so you could keep marching in your parades and wearing your shiny armour. If you ever got in deep they’d send the fleet in after you, me they just disavow like I never existed.”

  “Or send you to the ass-end of the galaxy.”

  Her reply made Roland laugh again. “Well, that’s another story, sweetheart.”

  Li’ara’s eyes rolled. Kalian didn’t think he was brave enough to call her sweetheart. Whatever the reason for his exile, he wasn’t ready to share it yet.

  “Well, now you know about us and we sort of know about you.” Kalian was trying to see the bigger picture.

  They now had to find a way to save the people on the Laronian ship as well as prepare for any survivors that might respond to the Conclave’s beacon. As far as Savrick was concerned, he had a feeling Telarrek had a plan.

  “I suggest we go meet Telarrek in the Observatory and plan our next move.”

  Li’ara looked at him in slight surprise, but he could tell she was a little impressed with his take-charge attitude. In truth he surprised himself at the authority he intoned.

  A quick introspection showed he had changed quite a bit in the last week. He felt that if ever the circumstances required a change, it was certainly these. Since taking the time to focus he had found new control as well as abilities he never thought he would have. Though he felt running for his life had a hand in things. He had gone from being an obscure lecturer to the centre of a galactic size question mark. As they left the med bay for the bridge, he couldn’t help but ponder his part in everything. Why was he so significant? Was he like Savrick, whatever that was? It was hard to deny the fact that they had similar abilities. He looked at his healed hand again and suddenly felt very alien in his own skin.

  After reaching the bridge Kalian was annoyed at how easily Roland had taken to the vertical walkway. It wasn’t that he was jealous of the agent, but he knew Roland’s past would make relating to Li’ara easier than his own. The thought made him stop and think about his own feelings towards her. It felt stupid to even consider the thought of having feelings for her. They had only known each other for a week in a set of circumstances that were less than ideal. The only reason they were getting on was because they had been forced together in a bad situation. Not to mention the crisis their species was now in. He forced himself to be realistic as they were met by Ilyseal; there were actual lives depending on their next course of action, Kalian’s world had just become a lot bigger with his decisions forming its shape. Guilt began to creep in as he considered this new exciting pace of life, he could never return to the classroom after this. For the first time in his life, he felt a measure of control that gave him meaning and purpose. How could he give that up?

  Ilyseal escorted them into the Observatory after Roland had soaked up every detail the eyes and ears could get from the bridge. He kept the hide coat on that he had apparently taken from a corpse after he escaped the Laronians. From the way he had described his escape, Kalian got the impression he enjoyed that particular part of his job. Li’ara looked better now that she wore a long grey shawl, left for her in the med bay, over the top half of her torn undersuit. She had said there were more undersuits in the Fathom but she was eager to know why they were heading for Corvus.

  Telarrek was busy manipulating many holograms with all four of his hands. They all moved in around the central column with the holographic display console wrapped around it. At first glance, Kalian guessed he was looking at trajectories on a star map with different systems and planets labelled throughout. He was quietly impressed with his ability to read most of the information laid out, as well as the orange console.

  “Now we know the face of our enemy.” Telarrek looked at Kalian but he couldn’t read the Novaarian face. “Of course this only begs more questions.”

  He altered the image to show a recording from the hover-cameras that floated over the fight. The picture froze on a clear image of Savrick after his helmet disappeared.

  “Did any of the others survive?” Kalian asked.

  He suddenly felt very guilty for leaving Uthor and even the Nix to possibly suffer the wrath of Savrick.

  Telarrek cupped his long jaw. “We do not know, I only pray that Councillor Elondrasa is alive with the rest of the Highclave.”

  Upon hearing the words, Kalian realised he had never considered the Novaarian culture to have a religion. He reminded himself to look it up on the data-module later.

  “Well he might look human, but he ain’t like any human I’ve ever seen.” Roland was leaning against the wall, half in shadow. “Except maybe you.”

  With his last words, everyone turned to Kalian. He looked around but didn’t know what to say.

  “Without complete concealment, we were able to scan this, Savrick.” Telarrek brought up a smaller hologram alongside his image. Kalian now recognised the sight of the karyogram. “His DNA is identical to yours, Kalian.”

  Another karyogram appeared with his name below it. The two strands of DNA merged together perfectly.

  “Their technology is advanced,” Li’ara said, “more so than your own, and especially ours. How is it even possible they could be human?”

  “I was hoping you might be able to shed some light on the situation.” Telarrek looked down at Kalian.

  The connections were easy for them all to make. He had demonstrated the unusual abilities that Savrick and his kind had shown. Even his DNA was the same.

  “You’ve been watching me my whole life. Since I was born.” Kalian had his own suspicions about what he might be, but the facts were th
ere, he had been born on Earth. “Everything I know, you know.”

  “We were monitoring you and the surrounding communications to ensure your safety. We never saw you until we met on the Icarus station. And I think there are a few things you are not telling me.” Telarrek’s head slowly ducked closer to Kalian’s.

  The comment was fair, he had been keeping secrets. But he had been keeping that one his whole life.

  “I don’t know how I’m able to do the things I do, I really don’t.” He gave them a quick account of the strange things that had occurred throughout his life, as well as the new developments. “I’ve been emotionally numb my entire life trying to prevent it from getting worse. That’s been a little harder this last week, what with all the near-death experiences and...” He realised he was midway through pointing at Li’ara and couldn’t find the words.

  She gave him a curious look but remained silent.

  “You’re a freak kid, we get it.” Roland looked bored. “Can we get on with it?” He looked to Telarrek hoping he would move things on.

  Telarrek took a moment to absorb everything Kalian had said while sharing some silent conversation with Ilyseal.

  “I believe there may be answers on, Naveen.” Telarrek altered the hologram again to return to the galaxy map.

  “Is that the place with the...” Roland displayed his open palm.

  “The Wall, yes. We are currently heading for the Trillik homeworld, Corvus.”

  The hologram clearly showed Corvus at the end of a highlighted line, with the Conclave at the other end and the Valoran near the middle.

  “But Naveen is in orbit around Nova Prime, why are we going to Corvus?” Li’ara raised the question before Kalian could.

  Ilyseal replied, “The Valoran will leave a trail carrying the unique signature of Intrinium. Savrick and his ship will be able to track us wherever we go.”

  The holographic lighting made her red tendrils appear black like dreadlocks.

  Telarrek attempted to elaborate for the confused looks before Roland interjected. “Decoy, very nice.” The agent strolled over to the central column.

  Telarrek bowed and continued, “The Valoran will continue its journey to Corvus while a smaller ship departs here.” He pointed at a section of the highlighted line. “We will enter real space for a moment before continuing on.”

  “Won’t Savrick be able to detect the other ship, do you even have another ship that can travel at FTL?” Kalian asked what he thought was an obvious question.

  “You want to use the Fathom don’t you?” Li’ara was staring intently at Telarrek.

  “We have used our own Starrillium to charge the stored Intrinium; your people’s design is quite sophisticated,” Ilyseal replied.

  “You mean, for a bunch of apes?” Kalian could tell Li’ara hadn’t taken real offence at what he knew was meant to be a compliment.

  Telarrek continued, “The Fathom will jump to Naveen with us, while Ilyseal takes the Valoran to Corvus. We do not doubt their ability to track both ships, nor do we doubt that they have smaller ships within. But they will have to divide their forces to catch both of us. It may just give us the time we need to discover some much-needed answers.”

  The humans looked at each other, weighing up the plan. Kalian knew the outcome though, they had no other choice.

  “There is something else to consider.” Everyone looked to Ilyseal. “All scans and recordings have been filtered from the attack on the Conclave.”

  The Novaarian slid something across her bracer and the information passed over into the central hologram. It showed Savrick’s ship shortly before it rammed the security vessel.

  Out of the three humans, only Roland reacted to the sight. “That’s the ship they were holding us on!”

  The enormous ship silently moved over the top of the Laronian warship and appeared to swallow it whole. There was no explosion or firing of any kind, leading them to believe the ship had been captured and not destroyed.

  “Our analysts believe they took the ship because of the humans within, though why they were not instantly destroyed we do not know,” Ilyseal added.

  Kalian could only guess at the reason they had been taken prisoner.

  “Chances are that ship will follow the Valoran to Corvus and they’ll send a smaller one to follow the Fathom.”

  They followed Roland’s chain of thought; it made sense to send the big ship after the other big ship.

  “So I think I’ll stick with the Valoran.”

  The comment surprised all of them. Kalian had assumed he would want to follow them and get some answers, or at least stick with the two of them.

  “I’ve got some unfinished business with that Laronian ship.” Roland stroked his stubble - like a general planning a battle.

  “How the hell are you going to get inside that ship?” Li’ara looked doubtful at Roland’s idea.

  “I don’t usually plan that far ahead.” He turned back to Telarrek. “How long until the Fathom departs?”

  “You have less than one human day.”

  Roland headed for the door.

  “Where are you going?” Kalian asked.

  Roland didn’t bother to turn around. “To see if there’s a bar on this boat.”

  After leaving the Observatory, Kalian and Li’ara headed for the Fathom in the hangar bay. They couldn’t help but smile as Namek was there waiting for them. He looked as brand new as the Fathom did. All of his bruises and cuts were gone, and Kalian could easily guess that Namek suffered internal injury as well as broken bones.

  “Greetings of peace, Namek.” To Kalian’s surprise, it was Li’ara who had used the alien greeting.

  He returned the phrase with a bow. “I am glad you are both well.” They both noticed a new addition to his attire. A silver cylinder was now strapped to his long thigh. “I wanted to show you both the new upgrades we have made to your ship.”.

  “You’ve been messing with my ship?” Her face suggested she was not too concerned.

  Namek returned the playful comment. “Only for the better, I assure you.”

  They entered the cabin which appeared the same, minus the blood. Li’ara made the armoury her first stop. She lightly touched some of the mounted weapons, like a mother checking her sleeping children. At the end of the room, she opened a panel on the wall and entered the required code to unlock the cabinet beside her. Kalian recognised the dark undersuit as well as new plates of armour. When she was satisfied, Namek informed them that the medical room had been upgraded with a small version of the Medder that now rested in its housing above them. Li’ara subconsciously gripped her shoulder, slowly rotating it as she inspected the mechanical spider. As unsure as she was having such an alien device on board, Kalian knew she couldn’t argue with the results.

  The cockpit held the biggest changes. Just by entering the room the main console came to life instantly projecting green and blue holograms of all the internal sensors. Kalian couldn’t figure out why it looked so much bigger, they had even managed to fit two more chairs in. Namek explained that the two rear consoles had been removed to make space for the extra seating. Before Li’ara could complain, he went on to explain that everything could now be accessed from the main console and something to do with Conclave technology allowing for greater processing space. It went a little over his head as Namek showed Li’ara how the new touch holograms worked, as well as some new guidance systems. Kalian was mostly impressed with the comfy new chairs.

  “Weapons?” Li’ara’s excited tone brought his attention back.

  “We found a lot of unutilized space as well as some redundant mechanisms. Once removed or replaced we thought the ship would benefit from some defensive measures.”

  Kalian tuned out again as Namek explained the yield of the new weapons and how to use them. He instead chose to retire to the sofa in favour of his Datapad. He unrolled it on the table and activated the hologram setting so he could sit back and view the images. Again he found himself sifting through d
ifferent images of all things human. He especially enjoyed the images from Century since he had never been there and seen it for himself. The thought of never being able to see any of it again made him tired as he was flooded with emotion. He let his head rest back and his dreams consume him.

  His dreams were violent and chaotic until he emerged back in his parents’ car the night they died. He was sitting in the back while they argued. It had always been hazy in his memory; he could never remember what they were so upset about. The dreamy state of his surroundings took on a sharper edge as memory became very real. He could hear the rain hammering against the car as they hurtled over the mag track across the various sky bridges. It was dark outside with all the light coming from the holographic signs and billboards they passed. He heard his mother’s voice and felt scared and frightened, knowing they were talking about him.

  “We can’t do this, Joseph!” His mother shouted with tears streaming down her face. “Think what they’ll do to him, we’ll never see him again!” She turned back to look at Kalian with wet brown eyes.

  “What else can we do?” his father shouted back with desperation in his voice. “They’ll have scientists and experts who can help him!”

  They were both facing each other, not even looking at the road ahead. The Mag-car would take them to their destination without any input from them. Kalian could see the display showing the path of the road in highlighted red as it curved around the buildings.

  “You mean study him!” his mother countered. “He’s not some alien we found on Charon; he’s our son, Joseph!”

  Kalian felt suddenly upset that his parents were so angry with him. They were talking about sending him away because of the strange things that keep happening around him. He was upset because he was the reason they didn’t want him anymore and he was angry with himself because he couldn’t control it.