Bombardier - The Complete Trilogy

by SD Tanner

  “We’re working on it. I think we might be able to ramp up production. We’re also looking at faster methods of space travel.”

  “And more Boms?”

  Eyeing his brother skeptically, he asked, “Are you suggesting we lift the cap of two thousand?” With a slight shrug, he added, “I’m not even sure we have that many more people who’d even qualify to become Boms.”

  Ark Three snorted in disgust. “And whose fault is that? We keep the population dumb and dulled. Maybe we should turn off the Network and take away their meds.”

  “Oh, you’re just full of good ideas today,” he replied sarcastically. “That’s treason. Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

  “Why should speaking my mind get me killed? What’s wrong with having an opinion?”

  “Nothing providing you’re prepared to pay the consequences. Are you?”

  Without replying, Ark Three walked to the window, staring beyond the walls of CaliTech at the small houses that lined the streets. Getting up and standing by his side, he asked, “Why do you want to change what works? What happened in space?”

  With a deep sigh, he sounded distant when he replied, “You didn’t see the fear in their eyes.” Turning his head so that he could see his face, he added, “We’re not the good guys. I think in trying to find a solution we’ve made ourselves part of the problem.”

  “How do you figure that? We’ve made sure we’re powerful in a dangerous universe. How can that be wrong?”

  “With power comes responsibility.”

  “That’s a cliché, but what does it mean?”

  “By becoming strong enough to kill our enemy we’re also capable of killing everything else. We might have the right to kill our enemies, but that doesn’t mean we can kill our own, or anything else just because it’s weaker than us.”

  “Is that what we’re doing?”

  “When we order mothers to abort their children then yes. When we alienate and victimize our own people because of the DNA they were born with then yes. When we infect planets with diseases that selectively kill then yes.” Leaning into him with an almost hurt look in his eyes, Ark Three added, “I think we’re the bad guys. I never knew that, but now I know…” With a deep sigh, he added firmly, “It has to change. I can’t be this guy. I won’t be this guy.”

  He’d been taught that treason was a rot that once started would escalate until it undid everything they’d built, and his spine stiffened with worry. Dunk Two wouldn’t hesitate to kill Ark Three no matter what his heritage was. He was talking treason, and he’d be in trouble for not reporting it, much less agreeing with it.

  Fearing for his brother, he said intently, “You can’t talk about this with anyone else. I won’t tell anyone what you’ve said, but there are plenty who would.”

  He would have said more, but at that moment, Tank chose to walk into their living quarters. With its simple furniture made for humans, his enormous frame dwarfed the room as he stalked across the lounge.

  Standing nearly seven feet tall, Tank looked down, flicking his oversized thumb in his direction. “You look guilty and Ark looks pissed. What have you two been up to?”

  Gruff, barely approachable and never warm, he couldn’t understand Ark Three’s attachment to his mentor. Not wanting his brother to say anything that could get him into trouble, he replied with uncharacteristic jovially, “Just catching up on your adventures.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN:

  Friends in Low Places

  (Ark Three)

  In space, there was no sun to rise or set so he found himself awake at four o’clock in the morning, feeling the slight chill of cool air sweeping across his bare legs. The dark room was dimly lit by the small beams of light from his many electronic devices. One controlled the temperature, another told him the time, and a large screen opposite his bed was always connected to the Network. Lying on his back, staring at the ceiling, he contemplated his conversation with Dunk Three the night before.

  His blind acceptance of the status quo frustrated him, and feeling the need to move, he swung his legs over the edge of his bed. Life had been so much simpler before he’d left the Navigators to join Tank in space. When he was a boy, his life had appeared blessed. He and Dunk Three were destined to lead the civilized universe against a known and absent enemy, only now he wondered if he’d been told a pack of lies. He envied his grandfather. With an obvious enemy, his life had been the blessed one. All he had to do was defeat the aliens to save the world. If he took what Dunk Two had taught him at face value then he was supposed to become a Bombardier, travel the stars, leaving the legacy of his DNA for the next generation of Arks to be born. The way forward should have been a simple one, so why was he questioning it?

  Pulling on his Navigator tracksuit, he slipped his feet into his shoes, unsure of where he was going. The cafeteria was closed and nothing else would be open so early in the morning. Dunk Two slept in his own quarters on the same floor in the main building, and rather than use the elevator, he opened the door to the stairwell. The dew on the grass between the buildings soaked through his mesh trainers, leaving his feet cold and wet. Just as he’d expected, nothing much was moving around the grounds other than the scrubber bots. Brown, squat and with half a dozen long arms, they were sweeping the paths and chewing down the lawns. They were another of CaliTech’s mad cell transformations, largely used for repetitive manual work. Every living thing on Earth and now other planets were transformed, coerced or forced to be a slave for the Guild.

  The main gates to the large expanse of buildings wouldn’t be opened until the nighttime crews finished at dawn. Running three shifts a day, CaliTech never stopped designing, developing and building new technology. Even with the smartest and the best skilled people, there was a hierarchy amongst the engineers. Only the best of them never left the safety of CaliTech, living in private houses near the Navigator barracks. The next tier of brilliant minds were housed in larger residences just outside of the main gates. Everyone else was relegated to the trailer sized homes in what had now become the suburbs surrounding the city. In a world where the technologists ruled, the military came a close second in power and authority. With no other country able to challenge them, their troops were centralized within and around the city, making CaliTech an impenetrable fortress. No one with too much enemy DNA ever got behind the walls without a gun being pointed at their heads. CaliTech was both defended by the Navigators and protected by not allowing the rogue DNA within its ranks. This was his home, the place he knew best, only now it felt almost as alien as the planets he’d visited.

  Walking towards the medical building, he realized he wanted to talk to Mariana. Once he’d learned Dunk Two had sent a deadly virus to the bird planet, it meant bringing her to Earth was probably the last thing he should have done. Hindsight was a deadly thing, only ever highlighting stupid decisions.

  Hesitating at the entrance to the medical center, he decided she would have been taken to the underground research lab. Padding down the stairs, a chip in his arm opened the secure door at the bottom. Other than a dim light over the reception area, the corridor showed no signs of life, and he trotted along it looking for her room. There were large display windows on each one, giving the occupants no chance of privacy. In one of the rooms, two aliens were lying side by side on their beds. Their bodies were submerged in goo and only their faces appeared on the surface. During the alien attack, some of the people had been transformed into hairless, tall creatures with long limbs and fingers. Their bodies were almost transparent with oversized heads and hooded eyes that opened if they were touched. Once they’d defeated the enemy aliens all of these transformed humans had died, except for the two that had already been in CaliTech. Appearing lifeless, they’d never woken much less spoken.

  The next room was dimly lit and a tousle of honey hair was scattered across the pillow on the bed. Although she didn’t turn to look at him, when he walked into the room, she spoke through the AI unit he’d brought with him. “
Ark.”

  Her voice brought a smile to his face. “How do you know that?”

  Turning over and sitting up, he noticed her eyes were a light shade of purple. “You worry.”

  When he sat on the edge of the bed, he was pleased to see that she didn’t draw her feet away from him. “Do you know what I’m worried about?”

  Tilting her head slightly, she replied, “Me. You.” Looking around her, she added, “Here.”

  “You got all of that from how I feel?”

  “You talk.”

  Impulsively, he held out his hand to her. “Come with me, I’ll show you around.”

  His offer brought a smile to her lips. Once she’d slipped on her shoes, he took her hand, leading her away from what was effectively her cell. He hadn’t meant to make a prisoner of her. It was only by discovering how free he felt in space that he’d come to realize that he wasn’t when he was in CaliTech. The Guild brainwashed the stupid and crushed the defiant in ways he was only beginning to understand. Where he’d been taught that the laborers were the only slaves to the system, he now suspected he was too. It wasn’t as if they’d hidden the truth from him, but he thought his tutors had given a positive spin to what was essentially a defeated way to live.

  As they walked past the two aliens, he pointed at them. “They were humans transformed by the aliens almost two hundred years ago. They’re still alive.”

  “Not alive.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Empty.” Turning to face the other end of the corridor, she pointed at the closed door of another room that contained the bird creature. “Alive.” She faced the window to the room again. “Empty.”

  “We know that. The medical staff believe they’re waiting to be occupied by the enemy aliens.”

  Leading her away from the sleeping pair and up the stairs to the entrance, he guided her outside onto the lawn he’d just left. Unsure where to take her next, he hesitated.

  She made the decision for him by pointing at a windowless building at the far end of the CaliTech grounds. “There.”

  The red-bricked building next to the sprawling Navigator barracks was where the Guild kept political prisoners. “Criminals.”

  “Criminals?”

  “People who broke our laws.”

  “Laws?”

  He was about to say the government made their laws, but without thinking, he replied with a slight sneer, “Dunk’s rules.”

  Walking across the lawn, they made their way along a bricked path of many different colors. There had been so many houses left after the alien attack that people had dismantled them, reusing the materials to build new ones. The bricks under their feet had once been the homes of people now long dead. He’d always thought it was a sad reminder of the lives that had been lost, but Dunk Two assured him they were repurposing the materials to make good use of their hard work. It was another positive spin on what would always be a huge loss.

  Arriving outside of the prison, he was instantly recognized by the Navigator standing guard. Dressed in full combat gear, he couldn’t see if it was a man or woman hiding behind the skull shaped helmet. Technically, they might be peers, but he outranked the guard in every possible way. Upon joining the Navigator army, he’d automatically been given the title of Colonel. Once he transformed to become a Bombardier, he would become a General. Unlike his peers, he hadn’t done anything to earn his rank, it was granted to him based on his lineage alone.

  After the Navigator saluted, he nodded, allowing Mariana to walk ahead of him. Inside of the prison was a long corridor with rooms on each side with one-way viewing windows. It meant a prisoner had no privacy and couldn’t see who might be watching them.

  Appearing to know where she was going, Mariana walked to one of the windows. “Him?”

  Peering past her into the dimly lit room, he observed a lean man with untidy dark hair. “What about him?”

  “Worried.”

  “About what?”

  “Children.”

  Flicking on the intercom next to the window, he called, “You in there, what’s your name?”

  The man had been lying on his bunk, only now he swung his legs to the floor, looking at the window that would appear black to him. “Granger.”

  “What are you in here for?”

  “I’m…apparently I’m a renegade.”

  “You’re either one or you’re not.”

  Walking the few steps across the small cell, he stood facing the window, peering intently as if he might be able to through it if he looked hard enough. “I have too much enemy DNA so according to you I am.”

  Even though the half-light was throwing a shadow across Granger’s face, he didn’t look any different to anyone else, giving no hint of his genetic composition. “How were you caught?”

  “Navigators attacked our safe house so we had to go on the run.” His mouth pulled down into an unhappy grimace. “It was the second time in two months, but this time I got caught.”

  Renegades were thought of as the enemy in the making, and although his squad had never done it, sometimes the Navigators were trained by hunting them. He’d never given the hunts or the renegades much thought, but he knew someone like Granger wouldn’t have stood a chance against a Navigator, making him wonder how the man had survived.

  “Why weren’t you killed?”

  “They want me to tell them where our safe locations are.”

  “Have you told them?”

  A look of disbelief crossed Granger’s tired looking face. “No, my kids are there.”

  If the Guild wanted to know where the renegades were hiding then drugs would be their weapon of choice, and Granger would have no option other than to give up his secrets. The Guild was not about giving people choices and they didn’t waste their time trying to persuade anyone. Under the influence of mind-altering drugs, Granger would tell them everything he knew.

  Shaking his head and sighing, he replied, “They’ll get what they want from you.”

  Granger clearly knew what he was in for, but he shrugged dismissively. “Maybe so, but I don’t have to make it easy for them.”

  Clearly, he intended to stand his ground until there was none left under his feet, and his relaxed defiance was unsettling. “The drugs can damage you…permanently.”

  Seeming unfazed by his warning, Granger gave a sharp laugh. “Try living outside of the system for a while and you’ll realize everything can damage you.” Placing his hand on the window, he peered at it intently, still trying to see through it. “The longer I hold out the more chance my group have of moving somewhere safe.”

  “But they’ll only go to another safe location.”

  Vehemently shaking his head, he replied, “They’ll know not to.”

  “You sound organized.”

  “We have to be, the navs hunt us like rabbits.”

  It wasn’t a question he should have asked, but it left his lips before he could stop himself. “Do you think that’s fair?”

  Granger scowled deeply. “No, we have as much right to this planet as you do. It’s you that forced us out, not the other way around. We’d be willing to share. It’s you that won’t.” His face fell and his voice became quieter, almost as if he were talking to himself. “The navs killed my wife and now you’ll kill me. My children will be orphans.”

  His life had been that of an orphan so he knew what it was like to live without the unconditional love of a parent. As his stomach contracted with a sharp pang of guilt, he said, “I’m sorry.”

  Granger looked back at the window with angry eyes. “Words are cheap. If you’re really sorry then do something about it.”

  “Like what, let you go? The nav outside of this building would cut you down in seconds.”

  Banging his hand against the darkened window, Granger’s lips pulled away from his teeth in a fierce snarl. “It only takes one person to stand up. If one does it then others will too. Some will die, but they can’t kill everyone. It starts with one.” Stepping ba
ck from the window, his shoulders slumped in defeat as he tiredly ran his hand through his shaggy hair. “It’s just too easy for you to do nothing. The Guild keeps you all docile and slightly off center. They do just enough to keep you quiet, no matter who suffers around you.”

  Granger had unwittingly given words to how he was feeling. Docile and slightly off center. His life was just comfortable enough to want what he had, but he had to watch his back. With everyone scrambling for power, outside of Tank and Dunk Three, no one inside of CaliTech or the Guild could be trusted.

  Smiling to himself, he flicked another switch on the wall, making the window two-way. Granger looked at him in surprise then focused his wide eyes on Mariana before returning his gaze back to him. “I’ve seen pictures of you. You’re Ark Three.” Pointing to Mariana, he asked, “What is she?”

  Putting his arm around Mariana’s shoulders, he replied, “She’s a guest from another planet.” Placing his hand on the switch, he added, “Stay alive.”

  “Why?”

  It was good question. He wanted to say he could do something to help Granger and the renegades, but that would take an army he didn’t have. “It’s always good advice to stay alive.”

  Granger shrugged. “To make what difference?”

  Before flicking the switch, he leaned into the glass between them until his forehead was almost touching it. “When you’re dead you can’t make any difference, so stay alive for as long as you can.”

  After turning off the two-way window, he guided Mariana back along the corridor. “Why alive?”

  He couldn’t explain other than to think that the renegades were his future allies. If he told anyone else how he saw them he would be shot for talking treason, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was going to need them.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN:

  Hiding in Plain Sight

  (Tank)

  “They’re long range sensors.”

  Sitting in the command chair in the Battle Command Pod, Ark Three asked, “What makes them long range?”