The Colossus Collection : A Space Opera Adventure (Books 1-7 + Bonus Material)

by Nicole Grotepas

  Brand let out a stressed sounding breath. “That’s it? Those creatures look like a big problem.”

  “There could be more monsters,” Cortez pointed out, her voice shrill with fear.

  Watson nodded. “I know.”

  “How much longer till we’re out of the wormhole?”

  “That I don’t know,” Watson admitted.

  Lightning from the tunnel connected with the eel-like creature facing them down, again. It seemed impervious to the electricity—in fact, the strike seemed to charge up the beast. It spun in a twirl and then targeted one of the nearby ships, coiling around the heavy cruiser with its body. The other ships peppered it with fire.

  Three more giant eel creatures fell into the tunnel, closer to Fortune’s Zenith than the Centau security detail.

  Daniel shrieked.

  “Sorry,” he apologized, immediately.

  “We all feel the same,” Brand said, cursing under his breath. Perspiration broke out on his face.

  “The Centaus are charging their aether weapons,” Cortez said.

  “Charge our aether weapons,” Watson ordered. His cool was turning hot. “Brand, get Janessa to the bridge. Then order all passengers back to their wormhole entry assignments, tell them to prepare for a bumpy ride.”

  “Yes, sir,” Brand said, standing up and moving to a control panel where he began making the announcements.

  “Hurry,” Watson said.

  He focused his attention back out at the battle in the wormhole. The Centau ships needed to deal a blow that would cause the creature to let go of the ship, so they could focus their fire on the new arrivals.

  The captain ran his hand through his hair. Turning or changing his ship’s direction in the wormhole was a problem—the Centau ships were on a trajectory that placed them in front of the rest of the caravan. There was no way for them to turn and begin firing on the eel-like creatures that were behind them, yet in front of Fortune’s Zenith. The wormhole pushed them in a specific direction. He didn’t understand the physics of it, but he knew that they were on their own.

  Watson muttered a few choice curses beneath his breath. This was looking worse than he was prepared for. He’d have to wing it.

  “Weapons ready,” Brand said, returning to his seat next to Watson. He leaned toward the captain. “Janessa will be here soon. The crew is ushering all passengers to their cabins.”

  “Good, man,” Watson said. “Target the nearest creature.”

  “But Captain,” Cortez protested. “You said—”

  “I know what I said,” Watson said, losing patience. “Fire anyway. Do it, Cortez, fire!”

  The eel-like creature was close. Its maw wide. They looked into the gaping jaws of death and saw the coruscating, iridescent innards that opened just like the tunnel they were flying through. The skin inside the creature glowed as though with swirling galaxies and stars—brilliant golds, greens, and reds like it was made of galactic fire.

  “What the—” Watson said.

  The aether guns went off, the violet projectiles connecting with the jaws of the creature. It trembled as though in pain. The eyeless monster rippled and moved backwards, away from them, defying the motions that Watson had observed as governing the rules within the wormhole.

  Another creature took its place, however, and they were forced to fire again.

  “This is out of control,” Brand said.

  Even as he said it, the remaining writhing shadows that squirmed around the walls of the wormhole dropped into the tunnel, filling their path like a bucket of fish at a fair. The tunnel was thick with the creatures, and they were trapped, facing down hundreds of the monsters.

  “We’re outnumbered,” Daniel said, his voice a hushed whisper.

  Watson groaned. There were one hundred ships, not all of them zeppelins, but disaster now could mean the remaining colonists on Earth would never join them in the 6 Moons. Watson was beginning to regret his choice to take a wormhole across the god-forsaken cosmos.

  “Good lord, this is it,” Brand said. “Is this it? Are we done for?”

  “No, we’re not done for,” Watson said in disgust, standing up and taking steps forward as though he’d bypass the hull and walk out into the wormhole to fight the creatures.

  He dug deep instinctively, searching for an answer. In his mind he saw the appealing green eyes of Sally. His promise to her echoed in his ears. He wouldn’t give up. If this was it, then he would throw all his might at the battle and go down until he had no battle left in him.

  “Charge weapons. Begin a staggered firing sequence at the closest monsters. All of them. Do not stop till we see a break in the wall of the beasts.”

  The nearest behemoths reared up, coiling like snakes about to strike.

  “Captain,” Cortez said, pointing at more shadows collecting in the walls of the wormhole.

  Had their weapon lured more of the creatures in? He’d never know.

  “The Centau flagship is hailing us,” Dan said.

  “Let them through, but don’t stop programming the firing sequence,” Watson said.

  Half the view into the wormhole vanished, forming into an image of the bridge of the interior of the Centau ship. Everything looked calm there. Con hovered in the background sipping from one of the popular Centau-made three-bulbed mugs like he hadn’t a care in the world.

  “What are you doing?” Ibair Shan, the Centau captain of the ship asked. A female, she emanated calm and seemed unimpressed with Watson.

  He was beyond caring. He had a ship of colonists to worry about.

  “Protecting my ship and those behind us,” Watson answered.

  “Stop.” Ibair’s face formed into the Centau equivalent of a look of disdain. “You mean well. But your weapons are bringing more of them.”

  “Then I’ll shoot them too,” Watson said.

  “Till what? You will only bring more and more of them. We cannot fight them all. The goal is to survive, for now.”

  “Is that how you expect to survive?” Watson flung a hand at the view of the ships in the wormhole. Ibair couldn’t see it. “With a monster coiled around a ship, crushing it?”

  Ibair turned so that only the back of her head showed. She appeared to address Con. The Centau male said something that Watson couldn’t hear. She turned back.

  “The creature won’t hurt the ship. It only saps the energy. Your weapons draw them from the between space,” Ibair explained.

  “Then so be it,” Watson said.

  He motioned for Dan to cut the connection.

  The view returned to the scene outside the ship.

  Between space? Why was this the first time I’m hearing this?

  “Ready to fire, captain,” Cortez said.

  “Begin firing sequence,” Watson ordered, shaking his head to chase the thoughts about between space away. No time to think that through now.

  “Is this a good idea, Watson?” Brand asked. “She said to just survive.”

  “This is how we’ll survive. I won’t kowtow to the Centau when I have a ship full of passengers and crew that trust me. No, Brand. I’ll trust myself. I’m not going down without a fight. What would you do? Let the worms swallow us?”

  Brand didn’t answer. Watson stood in the middle of the bridge, his heart thundering, the smell of sweat and fear filling his nose as he waited to watch the reaction of the worms outside.

  The volley of aether projectiles rippled across the monsters closest to them. The beasts shuddered and recoiled, lurching backwards. That was good.

  Well done, Watson.

  The next moment, however, another helping of the creatures fell out almost on top of Fortune’s Zenith. Before they could do anything, one of the eel-like creatures lurched toward them. Even as it moved toward them, another creature lunged, latching onto the side of the first creature. They began to struggle with each other.

  “Hold fire,” Watson said, waiting to see what might happen. The struggle between the two kept them preoccupied, and
blocked Watson’s ship from other monsters. It was like watching a struggle between titans, the gods. The monsters were of mammoth proportions, directly out of the worst nightmares of man. Watson began to worry about colliding with them as the two beasts flipped and twisted, nipping at each other almost like playful animals. Lightning flashed and seemed to intensify with the responses back and forth between the creatures.

  And then, without warning, the ships dropped out of the wormhole.

  Blessed blackness surrounded them, a darkness suddenly so thick outside the ship it was like they’d fallen to sleep. The lights on the bridge went up, illuminating the interior.

  Watson backed to his seat and fell into it, exhaustion sweeping through him.

  How much of that had the passengers seen? He cursed, thinking about the damage control he and his crew would have to handle now.

  “I thought we were done for,” Brand confessed, stretching. He let out a long sigh. “This isn’t heaven is it?”

  “I don’t think so,” Dan said. “I hope not. After that?”

  “Are we there? Is this the 6 Moons solar system?” Cortez asked, her fingers gliding over her console. She studied it. “I received a message—contains a real-time map of the system.”

  She looked over her shoulder at Watson.

  “Captain, we’re there. Here: the 6 Moons,” Cortez announced.

  “Safe,” Brand said. “Finally.”

  “For now,” Watson advised.

  “True. Watson’s going to have to deal with breaking the rules. I’m sure the Centaus will love handling that,” Brand said. “Maybe he’ll get censured. Wouldn’t that be fun?”

  Watson ignored the jab, collecting his thoughts, gathering himself. What next?

  “Did Janessa ever show up?” he asked.

  “She stayed with the passengers,” Brand said. “I got a message from her during that battle.”

  “Bless her soul,” Watson said, feeling relieved. “Finally, some good news. That should help us some as we assess the trauma the passengers suffered.”

  “So thoughtful, Captain. But what about my trauma?” Brand asked.

  “Trauma? You thrive on those edge-of-your-seat thrills. I think you’ll manage.”

  They both laughed, a hint of the hysteria from the past several hours touching their voices.

  12

  Watson stood in his stateroom just off the bridge, arms crossed and gazing out at the distant sun as Fortune’s Zenith soared toward the inner solar system. An aether-way increased their speeds, reducing travel times significantly, something the Centaus had not done for the Sol system—forming aether-ways. Watson had no idea how they’d done that. Magic? All he knew was that it worked and he was grateful they wouldn’t be traveling to the 6 Moons for months.

  Con Taimois hovered beside Watson, his gaze also focused at the celestial body beyond the large windows of the ship. The Centau was annoyed to be there, but Watson wasn’t sure what it was that conveyed it—a certain look about the taller male, or a subliminal scent. It wasn’t conveyed in the same ways that a human communicated irritation.

  The Centau had boarded Watson’s zeppelin forty-eight hours earlier, allowing Watson and his crew time to take care of the passengers, assess for damage from the wormhole journey, and recover before coming to reprimand Watson.

  “I’ll take my stripes, Con,” Watson said. “I went against the very vague orders of your leadership.”

  “Does that mean, in your culture, that you accept your punishment?”

  “Aye,” Watson said. He bit his lip, then continued. “Just remember that you didn’t prepare us for the monsters entirely.”

  “No we did not, but you knew not to fire your weapons in the wormhole. What happened in the wormhole on this passage doesn’t always happen. Why cause undue worry for this journey? We hoped for the best, and we planned for the worst, as you humans say. Had you known the level of possible danger, would you have come?”

  “Don’t underestimate my disregard for danger.” Watson began to pace as he recalled the size of the monsters and the sensation of being dwarfed by something so huge. So alive. It had been terrifying. “But I am curious, why did it happen this time?”

  “We believe it was a cluster, awoken from hibernation, ready to feed.”

  “Jesus Christ,” Watson said.

  “When we reach the 6 Moons, we ask that you anchor your ship for a length of time, yet to be determined.”

  “Fine,” Watson shrugged, the cold of accepting the punishment, the shame of it, gripping his stomach. “As long as I get her back.”

  “Yes. There is one more thing. That wormhole is compromised now,” Con said.

  “What do you mean?” Watson asked, cocking his head to one side and pausing to stare at the Centau.

  “Unfortunately, it will take us years to form another that can be used to go back to your solar system.”

  Watson took a step toward Con, wondering if he’d misheard. “What?”

  “The leviathan worms. They have overrun that wormhole. We cannot use it again until they leave, if they ever leave.”

  “Do they? Do they ever leave? How much do you even know about those beasts?”

  Con shifted, and began to walk away from Watson, heading to the doors. “Very little. What we know is the obvious. They are giant aether creatures that feed on the energies in the space between our space, where they reside unless something lures them into our space.

  “There are all sorts of leviathan species and behemoth species. The worms create the wormholes, and we find them and use the empty ones. There have been times when we have been able to force a worm to make a wormhole.” Con paused beside Watson and stared down at him. “One of our ships was caught, as you may recall. Then it called to others. And your weapons, which were not cloaked, rang like a signal across the between space. More came. My people have not seen that many in one space for ages. The worms are clever and now they will wait for prey to show up again. They can wait eons, because they live for eons as far as we have been able to determine.”

  Watson stared, considering what the Centau had said—there would be no going back to see his sister. Would they be able to bring the remaining colonists?

  His mind scrambled to make sense of what he was hearing.

  “How long till you have another wormhole?”

  “Years.”

  “Oh, you said that already,” Watson said, dazed.

  The Centau placed his long fingers on Watson’s shoulder. The sensation of it recalled one of his parents comforting him as a small boy.

  “I am sorry, Watson.”

  “We’re all cut off?”

  “Yes. Many of us left important family behind, who we were to bring on the later journeys.”

  “Are you OK?” Watson felt obligated to ask, but even as he said it, he realized that he cared more than he realized. “I’m sorry, my friend.”

  “We will fix this, but it will take time,” Con said. “My family is still on your Earth.”

  Watson cleared his throat. “I know.”

  They returned to the bridge together, where his crew waited. Their concerned eyes followed him. He gave a brief nod with the intent to calm their anxiety.

  Then Watson started, noticing a new addition. Sally stood off to the side, waiting. Brand nodded his chin in her direction as though to say go to her, you fool. Watson approached her and gave her a brief hug. He turned, feeling her move to stand beside him.

  Again Brand caught Watson’s gaze, but this time he conveyed a wary look. His First Officer knew something had happened in the meeting with Con. Watson would tell his crew, eventually, about the compromised wormhole.

  For now, they were coming into view of their future home.

  “Muibaus,” Con said to the room, as they drew closer to the massive planet. “The gas giant, a pale mother, she brings us the hydrantium and from that we make the aether that powers nearly everything.”

  The gas giant was many times larger than Jupiter b
ack in the Sol system. Tiny flecks orbited the planet, reflecting sunlight, seeming to be mere particles of dust against the size of the planet.

  Watson inhaled. “Stunning.”

  “We have worked to make it a good home for you, and for the other races,” Con said, seeming to exhibit what could only be called pride. “We will dock at the Kota space platform.”

  “Take us there, Cortez,” Watson said.

  From the ashes of disaster rose new possibility and new hope. If he ever got back to Earth—and he hoped to god he would—he’d never take it for granted again. For now, Watson was just glad to make it to a home.

  Any home.

  * * *

  THE END

  * * *

  Return of the Colossus continues the saga of Holly Drake against the Shadow Coalition.

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  Angels and Amulets

  1

  Holly Drake leaned back into the sofa, pulled a fuzzy blanket around her shoulders and sighed. “It’s really nice to be back here with you. I didn’t realize how much I missed it.”

  A fire crackled in the fireplace within Iain Grant’s small apartments above his shop in Analogue Alley. Down below, the lights were out and his shop was closed. His niece, Kay, had only said goodbye and traipsed out into the falling snow fifteen minutes ago, leaving Holly and Iain alone upstairs.

  “This place missed you.” Iain pulled a bottle from the cabinet in the kitchen. Holly snuggled down deeper into the blanket as she watched him. She heard a pop as he pulled the cork stopper out of the bottle and busied himself making drinks for the two of them. “Do you want ice in yours?”