by J. N. Chaney
It had taken a small miracle to keep Elon back at the Orion with Iris. He finally gave in, understanding his leg was only just back to normal, and Arun had sat the last one out.
If anything happened to us, it would be up to Elon to lead the colony now, and he would do a fine job of it, because that was the kind of man I knew him to be.
The suns’ orange and yellow glow set behind us. I had been given a rifle that I knew how to use, more or less. If things went south, I’d stand a chance at living. I’d do what I did best—what I had always done. I’d find a way to survive.
Was it really only that morning that we’d been running for our lives? And now, as the twin suns set behind us, Arun, Stacy, and I were making our way through a set of mysterious alien doors, the likes of which no human being had ever witnessed. I wondered for a brief moment if Neil Armstrong had ever felt this claustrophobic when he first stepped out of his ship and set his foot down on the moon’s surface. What about Yuri Gagarin, the first man to ever journey into space? We were a far cry away from all of that now, standing here on this alien world, staring at doors carved by otherworldly hands, but this sense of fear mixed with intrigue mixed with excitement—it must have been with them, too. I was hardly the first person to feel any of this, and I certainly wouldn’t be the last. The unknown would always be there, always ahead of humanity, and we were always stupid enough to run blindly into it, like a suicidal cow off the side of a cliff.
And yet, my foot edged closer to the darkness.
We stared at the open doors, looking through the dark interior for anything we could see at all. I was mentally preparing myself for every possible outcome to this insane situation. Whether Iris was correct or not in assuming the aliens had given her a welcome message was beside the point.
Whatever we found in this place—whatever secrets it held—nothing would change the simple fact that our lives were about to change.
They’ve already changed, I told myself, trying to find some kind of comfort in it.
But it was true. Every second of every day we’d spent on this world had brought its own challenges, its own revelations. If we could survive a trip across the galaxy, a planetary crash, a cult, and whatever the hell those things were in the jungle, then why couldn’t we handle this?
“I think—I’m not sure if it’s my imagination or not, but I think I see light farther into the chamber,” Arun said, taking the lead.
We were lucky that we had flashlights at the end of our rifles. I clicked mine on as we pointed our barrels into the tunnel.
“Stay in constant communication.” Elon sounded nervous over the other line. “If you see anything even remotely dangerous, you head back to the Orion as soon as possible. I’ll have the Civil Authority Officers ready.”
“We’ll be alright,” I said more for Elon than me actually believing that. “I mean, what are the odds whatever is in here opened its doors because it didn’t want to see us?”
“6673 to 1,” Iris answered.
“What?” I asked.
“The odds,” Iris explained.
“Oh,” I said, and then decided I needed to choose my words more carefully when in the presence of a Cognitive.
“Come on,” called Stacy. “The sooner we find out what’s going on in there, the sooner we can get back and start figuring out a course of action for the infected.”
“And for our Disciple friend who’s still skulking around the colony,” I reminded her.
“Maybe the infected will get to him first,” she replied.
We passed through the open stone doors, entering a long corridor that slanted down ever so slightly. In a few meters, we were able to see that Arun had been right. There was a faint yellow glow coming from somewhere farther down the hall and to the right.
“I’m going to take point,” Arun said. Her voice left no recourse for argument. “Dean, behind me. Stacy, you bring up the rear.”
“You sure you don’t want me to take the lead?” I felt compelled to ask. I knew Arun was better versed in these types of things. Still, I had to offer.
“No, just maintain trigger discipline and stay focused.” Arun jerked her chin to the finger on my trigger. “Finger only touches the trigger when you’re about to discharge your weapon.”
“Yeah, sure,” I said, edging my finger away.
We continued down the sloping walkway, one at a time. There was no sound. There was nothing but darkness, and in the darkness, the faintest glowing yellow light.
My heart continued to pound in my chest, maybe even faster than it had been while I was racing away from the mob of infected. The walls of my mouth were dry as we turned the corner and came face to face with the source of the yellow glow.
To our right, a chamber opened in a massive circular room. The walls were smooth—even more than crafted steel. I knew the entire chamber was fashioned from stone, but I couldn’t tell how. There were no imperfections, no lines or breaks in the rock. It was smooth and shiny, almost reminding me of marble.
As far as I could tell, we were alone. The lights on our rifles swung this way and that, examining every corner of the chamber.
In the middle of the room was a circular control station. On the control station, a yellow symbol pulsated with life.
“Can you still hear us? What are you seeing?” Elon asked over the comm unit.
“We’re in a large room with some kind of device in the center,” Arun answered. “No contact with anything or anyone yet. I—”
A wheezing sound from the far wall brought all our rifles up at once.
A panel in the far wall lifted from the ground in a hiss of steam. A panel extended from the stone, as though from nothing, and in a place where there had been no indication of such a thing.
The fight or flight instinct swept through us all, so much that I could feel it emanate from every single one of my friends. Adrenaline pumped through my veins like I was about to be in the fight of my life. I lifted the rifle to my shoulder, ready for anything.
But I could never have prepared myself for what appeared next.
It had two legs and two arms, but that was where the similarity between humans and whatever this was had ended. Thick, hide-like skin covered its body and a reptilian face blinked back at us.
Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised. Maybe I should have expected it. I mean, so far, I’d heard of monsters snatching people out of the mist and seen infected colonists and rhino-like creatures in the jungle. But despite all of that, this was altogether different.
It was truly alien.
The creature stepped out of the chamber with his arms held wide. I guessed that was its way of trying to seem non-threatening, but who could even say? I knew absolutely nothing of its culture or communication. There was no way to know what it wanted or how it would react to us.
There were three fingers and three toes on each of its appendages. A thick tail followed behind. It wore a tight-fitting suit that left an opening for its hands and feet. It looked like the suit was made of one piece of material.
Yellow eyes blinked at us. A thin tongue snaked out of a wide mouth with short, stubby teeth.
We stood there staring at each other for far too long.
“Holy sh—”
“What is it?” Elon asked. “Have you made contact with anything yet?”
“Yeah, I guess you could say that,” I answered.
I ripped my eyes from the face of the reptilian creature that stood about four meters tall. It didn’t seem to be carrying any kind of weapon.
“Can you understand us?” Arun asked. “Can you communicate?”
The alien cocked his head to the side. It looked us up and down as if he were as shocked and awestruck to see us as we were to see it.
“Tch tch te shay,” it said, making a slithering sound in the back of his throat. “Shen tsya sith.”
“Nope,” I said. “Definitely don’t understand alien.”
“May I try?” Iris asked over our comms. “If I ca
n speak with the alien, perhaps I can work out some common language patterns. At least enough to begin a dialogue.”
“Be my guest,” Arun said, removing the earpiece. She extended the small device toward the alien.
It took about an hour, but it felt like minutes.
Back and forth the alien clicked its teeth and made the sounds from the back of his throat. Iris began to mimic the sound, repeating them back and at times coming up with words of her own. The Cognitive was not only learning a language from scratch, but it seemed as if she was doing so in record time.
After the first few hours, the little alien began motioning furiously and talking with Iris. What looked like a grin passed over the creature’s thin lips and spread across his face. I had to remind myself that every action could mean something else. A smile wasn’t necessarily a smile. A nod wasn’t necessarily a nod. They could both mean the opposite to this creature or they could mean nothing at all.
“How we doing, Iris?” Stacy asked after a while, still aiming her weapon at the alien.
“Very good,” Iris said. “The dialect he’s using is fairly simple once you work out the verb conjunctions. Their noun placement is also unlike most modern languages, but—”
“English, Iris. Can you translate whatever it’s saying into something we can understand yet?” I reminded the Cognitive.
“Oh yes.” Iris paused for the briefest moment. “I think in time I will be able to not only teach the alien our tongue, but as of this moment, I believe I can relay a simple question to him.”
“You called it a him,” said Stacy.
“Correct,” replied Iris. “This one is a male. At least, I am 93% certain of it. I’m still perfecting certain translations.”
“Great, good work, Iris,” Arun said with a nod toward our alien friend. “Can you ask him if he’s alone?”
Iris and the alien went back and forth for several minutes, giving no indication of progress. I also couldn’t tell from the variety of facial gestures whether or not this person was actually happy or pissed. The way I saw it, he seemed to be both at the same time, often giving something between a snarl and a smile.
Iris was doing her best, but I began to wonder if asking the most advanced sentient artificial intelligence in the history of mankind to learn an alien language in the matter of a few hours was actually too big of an ask.
“He says he’s alone,” Iris said, pulling me out of my thoughts. “His name is Tong, and he’s part of a race called the Remboshi.”
At the mention of his name, the alien placed a three-fingered hand on his chest and snapped its jaw furiously.
The rest of my team stared at him, saying nothing.
I cleared my throat. “Can you ask Tong what he’s doing here and why he’s alone?”
Iris spoke with Tong again, this time getting the answer much faster than before.
Whatever Iris and Tong were talking about had evoked a new expression from the reptilian alien—rigid eyes and an agape mouth, only slightly showing his fangs. He motioned to the three of us in the room. He looked and pointed directly at me.
Come on, I thought to myself. What is it now?
“Tong says his people were killed in this section of the planet. He says he was put to sleep until—” She paused. “I’m not certain of the translation, but my best assumption is—visitors. Yes, until the visitors awoke him.”
“What else?” I asked, sensing more to this unraveling thread. “What’s the rest of it?”
She paused. “He says he believes we were sent to save him. No, I’m sorry. I mistranslated. Not him. All of them.”
Arun looked around the room. “Who else is there?”
“The rest of his people,” explained Iris. “Thousands of them, and they’re sleeping all across this world, buried deep beneath the ground.”
Tong slammed his hand on his chest and made another strange gesture with his fingers. “Tse gu kal!”
Iris translated immediately. “The Great Dawn has come!”
Dean, Ricky, and Stacy will return in ORION AWAKENED, coming January, 2019!
Check Out the Renegade Star Series
Taking place 2000 years after the Orion Colony Series, experience the bestselling series from J.N. Chaney.
They say the Earth is just a myth. Something to tell your children when you put them to sleep, the lost homeworld of humanity. Everyone knows it isn't real, though. It can't be.
But when Captain Jace Hughes encounters a nun with a mysterious piece of cargo and a bold secret, he soon discovers that everything he thought he knew about Earth is wrong. So very, very wrong.
Climb aboard The Renegade Star and assemble a crew, follow the clues, uncover the truth, and most importantly, try to stay alive.
Experience the beginning of a sprawling galactic tale in this first entry to The Renegade Star series. If you’re a fan of Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, or Indiana Jones, you’ll love this epic, space opera thrill ride.
Warning: This book contains action, cussing, and general badassery. Read at your own risk.
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Books in the Renegade Star Universe
Renegade Star Series:
Renegade Star
Renegade Atlas
Renegade Moon
Renegade Lost
Renegade Fleet
Renegade Earth
Renegade Dawn
Renegade Children (Out Now!)
Renegade Union (January 2019)
Renegade Empire (March 2019)
Standalones:
Nameless: A Renegade Star Story (Out Now!)
The Orion Colony Series:
Orion Colony
Orion Uncharted (Dec 2018)
About the Authors
J. N. Chaney has a Master’s of Fine Arts in creative writing and fancies himself quite the Super Mario Bros. fan. When he isn’t writing or gaming, you can find him online at www.jnchaney.com.
Jonathan Yanez is the author of over 30 books. He has worked as a personal trainer, model, and life coach, not to mention a wide array of other professions. When he’s not writing, you can find him online at https://www.jonathan-yanez.com/