by T. R. Harris
“The lights,” Kaylor said, not taking his eyes from the view screen. The Klin ship had disappeared from view. “Before I removed the core, the lights were orange. When I removed it, the lights turned yellow and began to oscillate, just as they’re doing now.”
“But why would the self-destruct be activated when the core was returned”
“Because I reversed the controls. The device thinks the core has been removed. We have about seven minutes.”
Adam joined Kaylor and Jym in their vigil at the view screen.
Chapter Twenty-Five: Self-Destruct
Riyad jerked the struggling Overlord through the side door to the command room and dragged him down a hallway. He was unarmed, but he did have the most valuable hostage in the Fringe. He had planned for the ankle bombs to go off and take out most of the guards, then in the confusion he could have easily slipped away with the Overlord virtually unseen. But that didn’t happen. Now he knew he only had a few seconds to extract the information he needed from his hostage. From the reaction of the two Juireans, he was sure they had learned the locations of both the Klin and of Earth.
The guards could be seen cautiously moving down the hallway toward them, safely keeping their distance.
All of a sudden the ship rumbled and Riyad felt an explosion vibrate through its structure. Almost immediately, he heard the sound of plasma bolts charging the air. The guards seemed confused, as some of them broke off to disappear down the hallway.
Then a stream of electric blue bolts shot down the hall over his head toward the guards. The guards returned the fire and Riyad found himself caught in the middle of a firefight!
He dragged the Overlord through a doorway and threw him to the floor. There was a battle going on in the hallway and this could be his opportunity to interrogate the Overlord. Riyad straddled the Overlord, grabbing him firmly around the neck. The eyes of the Overlord were wide and he struggled vainly to escape. But Riyad easily kept him pinned.
“You found the location of Earth. Give me the coordinates!” Riyad demanded, squeezing tighter on the alien’s neck.
The Overlord tried to shake his head, but Riyad’s grip restricted the movement.
“I will not,” the Overlord managed to say through gritted teeth.
“Then I will crush the life out of you with my bare hands. You have about two seconds to tell me!” He squeezed even tighter.
“Ellipse plane minus 4, section 21.” the Overlord strained to say. Riyad could feel his heart begin to race.
Just then he heard a strange scrapping sound on the metal floor of the hallway outside. The sound was growing louder. Riyad looked over at the open doorway just in time to see a small, puck-size sphere come sliding up and stop right at the doorway.
Riyad’s eyes grew wide. It was a grenade! A grenade like his pirates used when boarding a hostile ship.
He rolled off the Overlord and further into the room just as the bomb exploded! He felt a hot searing pain across his right side-and then darkness enclosed him.
Counselor Deslor found the unconscious Overlord in a side room, bloody, but alive. Guards swept in and helped their leader to a nearby couch, just as he was regaining his senses.
“Where are the Humans” he asked the Counselor through the pain.
“I don’t know. We are searching the ship.”
The Overlord reached up and grabbed the Counselor’s cloak. “Open a link to the Fleet Commander - now!”
“Of course, my Lord. Immediately.”
The Counselor spoke to a guard who then hurried out of the room. Moments later, a tech arrived with a portable transmission unit. He placed the unit on a table at the end of the couch and after a few moments, stepped away so the two Juireans could operate the device. Deslor sent everyone out of the room.
The pain woke Riyad from his sleep. He became aware of people around him and he opened his eyes to find himself lying across a console chair in the pilothouse of a shuttlecraft. Through groggy and filmy eyes, he could see Angar seated at the controls, the blackness of space showing through the front viewport. He ached all over and suspected his right arm was badly damaged from the screaming pain emanating from that part of his body. He groaned and instantly several people were at his side, helping him sit up in the seat.
Angar turned to face him, a large, satisfied grin on his face. “I’m so glad to see you’re awake,” he said. “The meds should make you feel better pretty soon.”
“Where am I” Riyad managed to force out of his dry throat.
“You’re in a shuttle. We’re almost back to my ship.”
“How.how did I get here”
“We rescued you.” Angar’s voice was proud and animated. “I brought a boarding party and pulled you out. You’re safe now.”
Memory began to surface in Riyad, and he soon remembered sitting atop the Juirean Overlord, hearing him recite the coordinates of planet Earth. And then an explosion!
“You fucking idiot!” Riyad screamed at Angar, as loudly as he could manage.
Angar recoiled with a shocked look. “What’s wrong”
Riyad managed to stand, cradling his broken right arm in his left. Between gritted teeth he said, “I was about to learn the location of my homeworld - until you interfered!”
Angar’s jaw was slack, his eyes wide. He didn’t know what to say, so Riyad stepped into the silence. “Turn around. We have to go back!”
“But General, we.we can’t—”
“Do it, damn it!”
Angar sat back down in the pilot’s seat and cranked the stick over. The star field changed ahead of them, but they were so far out that the Klin ship was not visible. Riyad stood shakily behind the pilot seat, overflowing with anger. He was so close! The Juirean was telling him where his home was located. He had half the coordinates: Ellipse minus 4, sector 21. Another second and he would have had it!
The link to the Fleet Commander was established and Oplim and the Deslor moved closer to the small screen on the unit. “Are you alright, My Lord” he asked, seeing the bloody and battered Overlord. This was unheard of. No one in his memory had ever even struck a Juirean, let alone injured one as badly as his Overlord.
“Listen to me, this is important!” the Overlord said. “The Klin exist!”
The Commander’s mouth fell open and his eyes grew wide. “Are you sure” He was so shocked that he forgot all decorum with his superior.
“Yes, Commander. They have a secret base in the area. But that is not our biggest threat.”
“What What could be worst”
“It’s the race called Humans. I will give you the coordinates to their planet. Then Commander, you must assemble your fleet and-“
The Fleet Commander saw his screen go completely blank, no static, no ghost images. He pressed the buttons to try to regain the link, but nothing happened.
After a couple of tries, he called in a technician. Another few minutes went by while the terrified technician tried in vain to reestablish the connection. Finally, he had to tell the Commander that there was nothing wrong with his equipment. There was simply nothing to link to.
The blast first appeared a tiny, yet brilliant dot against the star field. Adam and his two alien companions watched in horror as the dot grew almost instantly to fill half the sky. They turned away to shield their eyes, as the view screen darkened to lessen the light intensity inside the pilothouse.
A nuclear explosion in space is quite different than one within an atmosphere. The fire was not as intense because of the lack of oxygen and there is no shockwave from compressed air. But the radioactivity created an almost perfect sphere of light as the force expanded equally in all directions. But what was the most startling to Adam, were the bolts of electric blue and yellow lightening that shot out from the point of origin. It reminded him of one of those static electricity globes. The ribbons were beautiful and filled most of their view, travelling away on their own, slowly losing intensity as the minutes passed.
Chapter Twenty-Six:
Aftermath
Riyad cradled his shattered left arm and fought the wave of nausea flowing over him. He had no idea what had happened to the Klin ship. Had it been destroyed from the outside, maybe by the Klin themselves Or was there a bomb aboard, a booby-trap of some kind That he had experience with. Either way, he was beyond anger, literally shaking from hatred for all things alien!
His vision had been so real — and he had been so close! Riyad Tarazi, ruler of the planet Earth! And now his vision had evaporated in an instant, along with the computer core and the Klin ship, all in a fireball of splitting atoms and radioactive debris.
Through the viewport, he watched as the last of remnants of the explosion — sparking ribbons of blue and yellow radiation — dissipated into the nothingness of space above Melfora Lum. And then there was nothing.
But that’s not exactly true, he thought, as a glimmer of an idea swelled up from his gut. I know now that the Klin exist! And they not only know the location of Earth, but they’re building an army of humans, probably somewhere here in the Fringe!
With a determination borne of hatred, as well as his lust for power, Riyad swore then and there that once he rounded up the scattered remains of his pirate fleet, he would spend every waking hour, every ounce of his being, on the singular quest of finding the Klin and the human army!
He would make his vision come true. He knew now that it was possible. He would find the Klin and he would return to Earth. And his homeworld would never be the same.
On the other side of Melfora Lum, Adam stood at the viewport of the FS-475, watching as the last remnants of the nuclear blast evaporated into ribbons of sparking blue and yellow electricity. He couldn’t believe it! He had been so close to finding his way home!
He didn’t care what happened to the Klin — or to anything else — in this nightmare universe. All he wanted to do was get home.
But all that didn’t matter now.
Kaylor and Jym stood behind him, not knowing what to say. Adam finally spoke without turning, “Well, I’m really stuck here now. There will be no homecoming for Adam Cain in the foreseeable future.” He turned to face the two aliens. “But it looks like the two of you are off the hook for now. The Juirean did say no one else knew about the ship and the Klin.”
There was an awkward moment of silence. Then Kaylor asked, “What will you do now”
Adam just shook his head. “Well the first thing I need to do is find a way to make a living. The two of you can’t carry me forever.”
Kaylor nodded vigorously, much to Adam’s surprise. “What were you trained at on your planet.on Earth”
Adam thought for a moment. He knew the long answer, but the time didn’t seem appropriate to go into detail. Finally he said, “I was a trained killer.”
Both Kaylor and Jym recoiled slightly from the answer. They had held their suspicion, and now it was confirmed.
Seeing the disgust on the faces of the aliens, Adam explained further, “I was in the military.”
This seemed to bring them a degree of relief, but then Jym blurted out, “Maybe you can go to work for the Gangs, as an assassin!”
Kaylor jabbed him in the ribs, shooting him a stern look. But Adam wasn’t offended. In fact, he gave them both a sly smile and said, “So, I could kill aliens for a living I could get used to that.”
The End of Book One
Look for the second book in The Human Chronicles Saga: Galactic Assassin available January 2012.
Also go to TheHumanChronicles.com for more information about the series and to help contribute to future volumes.
Please contact author T.R. Harris directly at [email protected]. He welcomes all comments, critiques and suggestions.