by Luigi Robles
As the command station lowered back into the bridge, he was met with everyone’s gazes. But they were not cheerful gazes; they were the kind of gazes that were about to deliver bad news. As Fain took his seatbelts off, he looked around the bridge, looking for the source of the incoming bad news. And out of everyone in the room, Pycca seemed to be it. Spots of grease covered her from head to toe, and her suit was torn and wet in several places.
“What happened?” Fain asked.
“I tried the best I could,” Pycca said as she began tearing up. “I did the best I could. Even Kya was there, trying to help. But one of the blasts from the enemy ship damaged the already overloaded cooling system. And then…” Pycca sniffled. “And then it happened. The whole lower room where we keep the valve controls was engulfed in an explosion.”
Fain’s heart sank as he braced for the worst.
“Six engineers died,” Pycca continued as a single tear escaped her eye. “The medics tried everything, but the trauma was extensive.”
Fain wanted to break, he wanted to let out a scream and yell out the anger he felt. But he knew that he had to be strong, he had to be the prevailing mind. Everyone on board the ship was counting on him.
“They will be known as heroes of Earth. I’ll make sure of it,” Fain said as he lowered his head. “Let us have a moment of silence for those who did not make it home in one piece.”
After a long moment, Fain broke the silence by clearing his throat.
“We will continue to make our way home,” Fain said. “We did our best, and that’s all we could do. Begin preparations to land on Earth.”
After Pycca and Larissa had finished giving a full report to Fain, he couldn’t help but think that they had beaten the odds once again. Sodenia was severely damaged, so much so that Pycca assured Fain that without extensive repairs, the ship wouldn’t be able to go into FTL or get close to its max speed. Even re-entering the atmosphere seemed dangerous at this point.
We have been pushing our luck too much, Fain thought as he made his way to a nearby meeting room, where Green’s video call was waiting for him. There’s going to come a time when our luck runs out. We need to be ready.
“Fain,” Green greeted him from the floating orb in the room. “Captain Fain Jegga. I don’t even know where to start. I’ve been trying to read the report Kya sent me, but it just boggles my mind.”
“I feel the same way too, Colonel Green,” Fain said as he sat down on a nearby couch. “But that’s what happened, and that’s why we’re back home now.”
“I guess the only thing we can do is assimilate the information and move forward,” Green said as he flipped through the pages of the report.
“That would be nice,” Fain said as he sighed. “Moving forward seems like it’s the right thing to do.”
“Any ideas on how to deal with all our new allies?” Green said. “All seventy-seven of them?” Green shook his head incredulously.
“I gave it some thought on the way here,” Fain said. “Maybe the Ochilenes can helps us build an intergalactic space station of some sort. But somewhere far away from Earth, near Pluto or something. I just hope that humanity is ready for some extreme cultural exchange.”
“That’s one of the problems, for sure,” Green said. “We need to keep the communication going. For all we know, that’s the only thing that’s keeping us alive and keeping the Acram away.”
“I don’t think that’s the case,” Fain said. “Even though the fleet that showed up was in the tens of thousands, the Acram Armada could have easily taken us on. Sodenia was already badly damaged at that point.”
“I see,” Green said as he scratched his five o’clock shadow. “We’ll surely try to figure it out. But for now, go ahead and come home. I’m sure all of you need some rest. Truman and I will be personally waiting for you on Soden Island.”
“Colonel Green, if you don’t mind,” Fain said, “I have two things that I’d like to ask of you.”
“Sure thing, go ahead.”
“If such a thing as an international space station does come to fruition, I’d like to put in a recommendation.”
“That won’t be a problem at all. Who do you have in mind?”
“An old friend of mine, from before the first Acram attack on Earth. I haven’t seen him since then. But I’m hoping he’s doing good, alive somewhere.”
“You haven’t seen him since the first Acram attack?”
“Yeah, since then. The very first thing I did after the Acram attack was enroll in the ESAF program when it was announced. I mean, I had nothing else better to do. My city had just been leveled, and my parents…”
“When you get here, find your friend. Take some time off if you need to. We need all the people we can get. ESAF will surely appreciate it.”
“And lastly, I’ve been wanting to ask you… This has been really bothering me for some time now. Did you know my father? He died in the first Acram attack. He worked at Clearer Waters facility, where you found me the day of the attack. Better said, I know you did; he mentioned your name outside of Clearer Waters facility were you and your men found me that day.”
“Professor Ignace Jegga. Yes, I did know your father,” Green said. “He was a great and bright man. He helped us further the human UI, pilot’s stations, control stations, and that pilot seat you use to control Sodenia on a one-to-one; that was his life’s work.”
Fain had always known that Green knew his father, but he never had the courage to ask, to reopen the wound that had never fully healed. Green must’ve sensed that much from Fain, as he never brought it up either.
“Thanks for letting me know,” Fain said, holding back the emotions he felt. “Maybe someday you can tell me more about him.”
“Anytime, Fain,” Green said as he nodded slowly.
“And how are things between ESAF and the world?” Fain asked. “I’m assuming it’s still safe to land.”
“Things won’t be like last time around. General Truman has been taking a lot of heat lately,” Green said as he snickered. “And so have I. But it’s nothing we can’t handle. We believe that things are under control for the time being. There are some rumors that world leaders won’t dare to act against ESAF because of Kya. Word got out about the little incident we had with Cross, but we’ve buried it since then. As long as she is on our side, there’s nothing to worry about.”
“That’s comforting, in a way,” Fain said as he half-smiled. “We’ll be heading back to Earth as soon as we finish transporting the pilots from Radio One to Sodenia. The Ochilenes will stay in orbit for a few more days until they find out what is happening in their homeworld and we come up with a plan. I’ll see you in around six hours, Colonel.”
“See you then,” Green said as the orb turned off.
Fain sat on the couch for a few moments longer, just trying to relax, to empty his mind, and to be glad to be alive. As he got up and headed to the door, he cracked his neck once again and stretched out. The motion felt so good to his tired body. As he walked out, he saw Kya standing next to the door with her head down. He instantly felt anxiety beginning to rise; there was no way this was a good sign.
“Kya?” Fain asked. “What’s wrong?”
No response.
“Kya? Are you OK?”
No response.
“You know, whatever it is…” Fain said as he grabbed her left arm. He was surprised at just how human her synthetic flesh felt; it was soft and warm.
No response.
“Whatever it is,” Fain said, “we’ll get through it.”
“Fain… I’m scared. I don’t want to die,” Kya said with a sad voice as she raised her head to reveal watery eyes. “And what’s more important, I don’t want any of you to die. Especially you.”
“Kya,” Fain said softly. “No one is going to die, not me, not you. As long as we have each other, we can get through this. I promise. Just tell me, what is it?”
“There have been multiple attempts by an unknown source to
contact me directly. Their message is one of pure destruction to organic life. It terrifies me. The message is so hard to stop.”
“This message, do you know who’s sending it?”
“The only thing I know is that it’s machine, like me,” Kya said as she began to sniffle.
Fain embraced Kya and let her cry on his shoulder. Kya’s body felt warm and soft, just as human body would. As her synthetic tears made their way to his neck, Fain wondered how much Kya had been working on herself and other improvements she had made.
Fain knew that it was too early to really know what was going on. He had too little information to go on. But the one thing he knew for sure was that he would be ready for a fight. He, the crew of Sodenia, and the ship itself had emerged victorious. As long as there was a fight to be brought, he would bring it, and he didn’t mind not resting until Earth was at peace once again.
Afterword
This book was one of the most difficult I’ve done to date; in fact, I’ll just go ahead and say the most difficult. If you made it this far, then you are able to tell that there was a lot of things going on. But that wasn’t the challenge, Sodenia’s Universe is a lot bigger than the stuff I’ve brought forth. A gap that I hope to bridge in the future of my writing career. The challenge was telling the story that needed to be told in the way that you would enjoy the most.
This is why I stuck with the characters that you already know and love and added a few more sparingly. While I was writing Sodenia: At the Edge of Chaos. Four more books were planned in Sodenia’s Universe including the third book in the series. Just image, multiple notebooks on my desk as I sat down to write this book.
Overall, I had a lot of fun writing it, and I hope you enjoyed reading it that much more.
Thank you for reading.
If you enjoyed this book, help me spread the word about by leaving a review. This helps the books visibility immensely, and it also lets me know that I am bringing you the books that you want to read.
Also by Luigi Robles
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Find out what happen during the first Acram attack.
The final epic entry in the series is out now. Book 3
1
Static
Fain stood in front of his apartment window in a high rise in Neo LA, contemplating recent events. In just under a year after returning from their encounter with the Golden Armada, humanity was enjoying its first space elevator, located a few miles away from Soden Island. Though, construction of the elevator wouldn’t have been possible in such a short time if it wasn’t for the Ochilenes. Thanks to the space elevator, Sodenia was now permanently docked in space, and Soden Island had been transformed into a state-of-the-art R&D facility-slash-main headquarters for ESAF.
The ESAF fleet had undergone a major overhaul; instead of it consisting of just Sodenia and an array of smaller space, air and watercrafts, the fleet now boasted eighteen additional new ships. The ships ranged in size from large carrier-class ships to the smaller but potent frigate class. However, all of the new additions paled in comparison with the size and majesty of Sodenia.
Fain was allowing himself to feel good, to feel normal for the first time since he was a child. But he hadn’t entirely let go. Yes, the Acram were no longer a threat to Earth, at least for the foreseeable future. Yes, progress was being made with giant strides in space politics. Yes, humanity wasn’t alone; they had allies, and the intergalactic space station was fully operational, making their ongoing communication efforts possible. But there was something that kept fain on edge, something that he was missing.
Even the news had a more positive tone lately. There was hardly anything bad to report about, and from the looks of it, there was little effort to do so. Humanity’s outlook was changing; people wanted to hear positive things. Fain suspected it had a lot to do with being near extinction and all that. But he didn’t dive too deep into the matter. Humans moving in the right direction was good enough for him.
I’m relieved we were able to get to this point, Fain thought. If someone had told me sixteen months ago, when the Ochilenes first arrived, that I would be relaxing now, staring out the window with a cup of coffee in my hand, there’s no way I would have believed them. It all just seemed so impossible. But here I am, doing exactly that. Who would have thought?
Fain took a sip of his coffee. It wasn’t as good as the one on board Sodenia.
Kya does know how to make one hell of a coffee, Fain thought. I wonder if it’s the same for everyone else, or if she customizes the coffee for each one of us? I’ll ask her next time I see her. I wonder how she’s doing. I’ll see her soon enough. In the meantime, there are three more weeks before my leave is over, and that’s plenty of time for what I’ve been meaning to do since we got back.
Fain’s heart began beating faster as mild chills ran down his body.
Fain opened a new communication screen just to the side of him. The window was the size of a large book, monochromatic blue and with an array of options. It was old tech, but it would do the job just fine.
Usually, apartments and homes came hardwired with the latest communication tech, which was added when they were built. You could watch TV from virtually anywhere in the house, and phone calls could be made as well. The only problem with this kind of system was that to upgrade it, the tenants or owners would usually have to leave their homes for a week or so, not to mention the cost involved. Thus, hardly anyone upgraded unless they were moving in for the first time. The communication system did have its merits, and at one point it was a must-have. But the ease of handheld devices and more portable and replaceable ones rendered this old system somewhat obsolete.
Fain thought about making a video call, but as he glanced at his reflection in the window in front of him, his mind quickly changed. His hair was messy, and the shape of the pillow was still visible on his face. So, he pressed the voice-only button and then chose Pycca’s name.
The coms pane rang four times before she answered.
“Hello?”
“Hey.”
“Hey?”
“Pycca, right?”
“Fain Jegga, who else would it be?”
Fain chuckled.
“I was just making sure.” Fain put down his coffee on a nearby table. “It’s been a few days since I’ve talked to you.”
“Is this a butt-dialed call or something? Were you trying to reach someone else?”
“There’s not a chance in the world that either of those suppositions is true.”
“See, now that’s better.” There was a slight static sound at the end of Pycca’s last word.
“Wait, did you hear that?” A light nearby flickered.
“Hear what? Fain, are you OK? Are you talking about the static again? I’m telling you, you should just get your communications system replaced.”
“I don’t even use it that often, and I’m only in my apartment a few months of the year. It’s really not worth it for me. It’s probably nothing. I think there are some electrical issues in the neighborhood or something.”
“Electrical issues? Those haven’t been around in how many years?”
Electricity and technology had advanced significantly from what they used to be at the turn of the century. Companies were fully invested in renewable energy, and advances in the delivery of power were a weekly occurrence. There hadn’t been a fire caused by downed power lines in over one hundred years.
“Anyway, that’s not important,” Fain said as he walked towards the flickering light. The communication window followed him. He tapped on the flickering light slightly, fixing it on the second tap. “There’s something else that’s been on my mind lately.”
“OK, I’m all ears.”
“We have three weeks left before our leave is over. So, Ms. Pycca Evans, would you like to go out on a date?”
There was a moment of silence that sent Fain into an instant state of paranoia.
Oh crap, please don’t let me be wrong about th
is, Fain thought. I’ve thought and stressed about this for way too long. It played out perfectly in my mind; don’t tell me I’m wrong about all of this.
Fain felt every inch of his lungs rub against his ribcage as he took a deep breath to try and calm himself.
“Hello?” Fain finally said, unable to handle the suspense.
“For as good as you are at other things, you aren’t very good at this, are you?”
He sighed in relief and took another deep breath, trying to get a hold of himself.
“Yeah, pretty much,” Fain said, trying to sound as nonchalant about it as possible. “But I mean it. I really do.”
Pycca chuckled, but her soft laughter was not the only thing Fain heard. There it was again, an electrical noise. But this time it was more prominent than the last.
“I just have a couple of things to say. One, it’s about damn time. I was beginning to think it was never going to happen. Two, I would love to go on a date with you, Fain Jegga.” Pycca’s voice sounded soft and genuine, with all traces of humor gone.
“So, how about this weekend?”
“Saturday works for me. I’m having dinner with my parents on Sunday. Neo LA or St. Paul?”
“I’ll leave that up to you.”
As much as Fain wanted to continue talking with Pycca, the electrical twitches he had experienced were beginning to mess with his mind. He suspected they weren’t normal.
“Maybe you can show me around Neo LA, and while you’re at it, you can try to change my mind about the city. I promise to keep an open mind about it.”
In previous conversations, Pycca had always maintained that massive cities were impossible to live in. By live in, she meant enjoy the city, be able to go places without facing huge crowds or traffic jams. The topic came up several times as they talked about where each of them planned to settle down once the ESAF ordeal was settled. As so much progress had been made, the end seemed near.