by D. L. Denham
The details of it all were too much for him to entertain. He felt his eyes and lips move but there was no light. He had died with Jimmy. That much he knew. Their bodies had been evaporated in the reactor room in the Mainframe.
Reho moved around; he could feel his arms and legs. He could feel the floor beneath his feet. He bumped into a wall.
Am I alive?
***
“Where is his body?” Rainne’s scream turned into sobs as she braced herself on the metal table where Reho’s body had lain for the past seven days. The journal evident, cradled as though it were her unborn child.
“Are we sure there is no one else on this ship?” Thursday asked.
“I’ve watched those monitors for a week,” Gibson replied. “If someone else was here, I would know.”
“What do you think?” Thursday asked, looking at the crew. Everyone had gathered around the table. All that remained was Reho’s clothing, spread out where his body had been.
As Sola lifted Reho’s fighter pilot jacket, a device with hundreds of tiny wires dropped out from the sleeve. Ends flipped it over and recognized what it was: his AIM. The device was dead because it had lost its power source: Reho’s body.
“Is that his . . .” Sola said.
“Yes,” Ends replied.
Rainne tucked the journal under one arm and reached out with one hand, wiping her tears with the other. Ends placed the AIM in her hand. She clutched it to her chest and looked at the crew. They had done what Reho had asked: they had saved her. It had cost Reho his life. Her salvation had come at too high a price. If not for the life growing inside her, it would be more than she could bear. She pressed her hands against her stomach and closed her eyes.
“He’s not dead,” she said.
***
A light. Across the room he saw a faint green light that hadn’t been there before. Reho rushed toward the light. It was a panel with a switch. Above and below the switch were the words More Magic and Magic. The switch was in the Magic position. He remembered Gibson and a story he’d once told. It had been a joke, a prank played on Kawasaki years before. It made no sense for it to be here, now. But there were just two options: leave it in the Magic position or flip the switch up.
More Magic. He heard himself say as he raised the switch.
Nothing happened at first. He looked around, and saw only darkness. Then he heard something move in the room; it sounded like a metal door being raised. A sliver of light shot across the floor and expanded as one of the walls opened. Reho walked to where the wall lifted, revealing a window.
Light filled the room as he pressed his hands against the thick glass. He looked down at his naked body, millions of twinkling stars reflected on his skin.
The endless view was clear.
And amongst the stars, Reho saw one other object. What he thought should be the moon was instead a tiny blue sphere coated with white swirls.
Earth.
Thank you for reading
REHO
Book One of The Hegemon Wars
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About the Author
D. L. Denham is a native of Ascension Parish in Louisiana. A life longer learner and lover of education, history, science fiction, and writing, he pursues a career both as a Social Studies educator and Science Fiction author. He is an alumnus of Southeastern Louisiana University and will finish his Master of Arts in History in Spring 2015.
When he is not teaching, he can usually be found at local coffee shops hammering away at his latest book or reading about kings and assassins from a bygone era.
Reho is his first full-length novel and is the first of three in a planned series called The Hegemon Wars. Red Denver was his first published work and includes the protagonist REHO.
Visit him on the web at www.dldenham.com