by T. R. Harris
He was, but he was also floating, facing down into a swirling mass of semi-translucent air, like a diaphanous cloud swirling only inches from his face.
He was lying on his stomach on the cushion. That changed once he realized he’d done it, and that he was alive. He stood up, feeling his legs being wrapped in the tingling mass of air. It gripped him, giving his body stability.
He let out a whoop. He was ready to rock!
And then Kanan swooped down next to him and fired another electric bolt from only a few feet away.
The pain shook him from his reverie. By his count, that was two-and-a-half bolts. He could handle three, but he wasn’t sure about three-and-a-half.
With a mental command, the cushion of compressed air shot into the sky. Adam wasn’t worried about falling off; the cushion held him firmly in its grip. He could sense this was a different kind of platform, stronger, more under his control. Again, he credited Arieel’s new ATD. This was incredible. He truly did feel like Superman, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.
And that was just what he had to do to keep Kanan from lighting off another energy bolt his way.
He reached the top of the twenty-story building in a fraction of the time it took him to fall from it. He glanced down. Although Kanan was small, the few tentacles he had dangling from his body made him visible to Adam’s enhanced eyesight. He was following, and at a pretty good clip.
Adam banked over hard to the left and shot out over the top of the vault building. This part of the city—he didn’t know the name—was a forest of such structures, with many twice or three times as tall. It became a mad dash between the towers, with Adam occasionally turning to see if Kanan was still behind him. The orb was hard to see unless he lit off an energy bolt, which he frequently did. No longer did Kanan seemed concerned about the box Adam was carrying. All he wanted to do was stop the Human.
Adam could still feel the interference in Kanan’s mind when he tried to make contact, not to have a conversation, but rather to check in on his status. The field was more widespread and not targeted. It had to be coming from a Lerpiniere Pod, and that could only come from the team—at least Lila and possibly Panur. But how did they manage to stay up with Kanan’s DEmon?
Having gained confidence that he could walk and chew gum at the same time, Adam attempted to make contact with Panur. He was staying ahead of Kanan, but barely. One more hit from the energy bolts might be enough to expand the singularity’s event horizon beyond the point of no return. Adam had to do something and quickly.
Panur, are you there? Adam cried out in his mind.
Adam! It is so good to hear your thoughts.
Where are you?
On Gracilia, or more precisely, in orbit above Gracilia. We have located Kanan’s ship and have activated an L-Pod. Where are you?
Currently, I’m flying a condensed cloud of air through the skyscrapers of this city with Kanan on my ass. I’ve taken two-and-a-half energy bolts; I don’t think I can take another.
Why are you doing … well, any of that?
Because I have a part of something Kanan calls The Formation. It’s what he came here to get. I have the last piece of the puzzle.
You can’t let him have it.
Like, duh. Why do you think I’m riding this cushion of air through the skyscrapers of the city trying to keep my ass from getting shot off? Is there anything you can do?
We can take the shuttle down, run interference for you.
We? The others?
We’re all fine. We got off the planet before the dark matter event.
Adam felt a wave of relief sweep over him.
Then an energy bolt struck the side of a building only a few feet from his head, bringing him back to the moment. He dove for the surface before shooting through the open edifice of what had once been an alien shopping mall. The layout was familiar, built on four levels with a lot of room to maneuver. Storefronts were exploding around him, proving that Kanan did have more of a capacity for shooting off bolts than Adam had to absorb them. The damn service module didn’t even need to recharge.
A shaft of light appeared in front of him, coming from a skylight in the ceiling of the mall. The glass had long since broken out, giving him an exit. He angled the cushion up and broke back into the open air without slowing down. He angled back over the top of the building before climbing high and heading for the tallest building he could see. It was a monster, easily a hundred stories tall.
Adam, are you still there?
I’m here, just got a little distracted. You know what, I don’t think I can keep this up long enough for you to get here. I have an idea. I’ll let you know if it works.
He zigged and zagged between a couple of tall buildings just to make it look convincing, before whipping back around until he made almost a complete loop around a tower. Kanan moved in the opposite direction to cut him off. Adam saw the service module a split second before the energy bolt lashed out, twisting the cushion of air up until he made a complete loop.
Unfortunately, it was a second too late. A bolt scraped across Adam’s back, causing his ATD to screech and turn red hot. The pain was excruciating, but luckily, the hit was off by a few degrees. Adam would count that as a half-hit.
But it gave Adam the excuse he was looking for. With a flourish, he fumbled with the container, reaching out with both hands in a feeble attempt to hold on. He lost control, and the dark brown box tumbled toward the ground forty stories below
Kanan saw Adam lose control and shot out after the falling box. In an impressive display of in-air acrobatics, the two dangling appendages jutting out from Kanan’s orb caught the box and pressed it against the shell of the service module, holding it secure.
Adam spun his cushion around and looked down.
Although Adam no longer had a mental link with the service module, he got the impression the thing would have flipped him the bird in a gesture of victory—if he knew what flipping the bird meant.
Kanan shot off, heading back to the vault building undoubtedly to gather up the other containers for The Formation.
Adam hovered in mid-air, wondering what to do next. He wasn’t about to go after Kanan—his quota of energy bolts had to be redlining—and so far, Panur hadn’t left orbit to come looking for him.
He decided to fly off into the desert, looking for a landmark in which to guide Panur to a rescue.
Kanan has just lifted off, Panur said on their mental link several minutes later. He knows I am here, and now that he has what he came for, he’s leaving. Lila and I need to see this vault you speak of. Maybe there’s a clue as to what the Formation is. We will be down to pick you up in five minutes.
Chapter 22
The Ed Gibson, Jr. landed in the desert right on time. By then, Adam was back on solid ground, his face beet red from the windburn he’d suffered while running from Kanan. The Gracilian sun had just set, and it was cold. A pink glow filled the sky.
As soon as the hatch opened, Sherri, Riyad and Copernicus streamed out to smother him with hugs, fist bumps and the occasional kiss.
Adam was just as glad to see them. They had each thought the other was dead, making the reunion especially satisfying.
“How, how did you follow me?” Adam asked.
Copernicus laughed. “Well, it seems the Ed Gibson finally gave out, just as we were leaving the Liave system. We were able to salvage one of the DEmons at that point, one that had its weapons damaged, but the drive was in good shape. We were only an hour or so behind you on the way here.” He turned and waved a hand at the Ed Gibson, Jr. “Eddie boy fit fine in the launch bay of the DEmon, so daddy’s legacy shall live on, but Junior has some pretty big shoes to fill.”
“Here’s to the Ed Gibson,” Adam announced.
Panur and Lila appeared from the shuttle a couple of minutes later.
Lila hugged her father. “I knew you would survive; you always do.”
Adam smirked. “It was touch and go there for a while.”
>
“Come, everyone,” Panur prompted. “There’s no time to linger. We need to get to the vault so we can learn more about this superweapon—or whatever it is—this Formation Kanan was so adamant to acquire. Our troubles are not yet over, not by a long shot.”
Adam stepped up to the short mutant and put a hand on his thin shoulder. “Perhaps this can help with your research.” Adam reached into a pocket of the baggy Gracilian uniform and pulled out a dollar-sized crystal disk. He handed it to Panur.
“What is this?”
“It’s part of the Formation.”
“It is? How did you get it?”
“I took it from the case while Kanan was chasing me. But don’t get too excited. There were about a dozen other disks in there. There are a total of eight boxes, and I only took one disk.”
“Will that make a difference?”
Adam shrugged. “Kanan did say he needed all the parts to make it work. I don’t know if there were any spares. Even so, I thought you and Lila could take a look at this thing and figure out what it is.”
Panur turned the disk over in his hands before holding it up to the pink sky. The object was translucent.
“Interesting. It will be a challenge to learn its secrets.”
“In the meantime, let’s hope that Kanan doesn’t discover I took the disk, at least not for a couple of books. First, let him try to put the Formation together and then blow a fuse when it doesn’t work. It would serve him right.”
Riyad stepped up to Adam and flashed his trademark white smile. “You’re a mean one, Mr. Cain, teasing an ancient Aris service module like that. You know it’s just going to piss him off.”
“That’s what I’m hoping.”
Riyad laughed. He put an arm around Adam’s shoulder, and the two men began the walk back to the Ed Gibson, Jr. “Now, what say we make like a tree and get outta here. There’s a lot of clean up to do in the Zone. And Marshal Adam Cain is just the man to do it.”
“With a little help from his trusty sidekick, Riyad Tarazi.”
“Hey, I didn’t have anything to do with that!”
The End
Next Up — Universal Law
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The Adam Cain Saga #6
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Author’s Notes
Another one bites the dust!
Thanks so much for reading
Dark Energy
Book #5
The Adam Cain Saga.
Next up is
Universal Law
Five books in the Adam Cain Saga already. Can you believe it? Sometimes I even impress myself! Next up for Adam and Co. is Universal Law, which is now available for pre-order and releasing on May 23, 2020.
I was thinking about how two hundred years from now, while students are sitting in their university class studying the classic works of the author T.R. Harris, someone might ask what is this COVID-19 crisis he speaks about in his Author Notes? The instructor, being intimately knowledgeable about the life and times of the Master, will have a ready answer.
Hopefully, he’ll say is was an event that upset most of the world for a few months way back in 2020. For a time, it caused quite a scare, believing a deadly pandemic would soon kill millions and ravage economies around the world. Fortunately, a vaccine was found in record time and COVID-19 became nothing more serious than the seasonal flu.
In the meantime, here we sit and wait.
Fortunately, for me, not much has changed in my life. I’m a hermit anyway. I have to be to do my job. And with a goal to write twelve Adam Cain novels over twelve months, I need the solitude. Of course, I didn’t know the world would join me in my self-imposed lockdown.
Anyway, I hope all of you are tolerating the times as best you can. This will all be over soon.
And now for more updates.
I’m still intend to have all my books in paperback by the end of the year, and hopefully, as many in audiobook form as possible as well. On the audiobook front, I have been selling each of the new Adam Cain books to Tantor Media. The first one—The Dead Worlds—is scheduled for release in the middle of June. But don’t hold me to that. Like everything else, that date could be subject to change. In the meantime, Tantor has had the last three REV books for a while now. They should be hitting soon, although I don’t have a date. I’ll update you in both my emails and on my Facebook fan page.
And speaking of that, I would like to encourage all of you to join my email list as well as my Facebook Fan Group. Since most of us will be spending more time with our online friends and family, this will be a great way to stay in touch. Social distancing is the big thing these days. The internet is a great way to soften the blow of isolation.
Okay, that’s it for now. Be looking for the next Adam Cain book coming out in May, and every month after that, along with all the exciting new stories I have lined up.
And, please, don’t lose faith. Everything that’s happening is only temporary.
T.R. Harris
April 2020
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Novels by T.R. Harris
The Adam Cain Saga
The Dead Worlds
Empires
Battle Plan
Galactic Vortex
Dark Energy
Universal Law (coming May 2020)
The Human Chronicles
The Fringe Worlds
Alien Assassin
The War of Pawns
The Tactics of Revenge
The Legend of Earth
Cain’s Crusaders
The Apex Predator
A Galaxy to Conquer
The Masters of War
Prelude to War
The Unreachable Stars
When Earth Reigned Supreme
A Clash of Aliens
Battlelines
The Copernicus Deception
Scorched Earth
Alien Games
The Cain Legacy
The Andromeda Mission
Last Species Standing
Invasion Force
Force of Gravity
Mission Critical
The Lost Universe
The Immortal War
Destroyer of Worlds
Phantoms
Terminus Rising
The Last Aris
The Human Chronicles Box Set Series
Box Set #1 – Books 1-5 in the series
Box Set #2 – Books 6-10 in the series
Box Set #3 – Books 11-15 in the series
Box Set #4 – Books 16-20 in the series
Box Set #5—Books 21-25 in the series
REV Warriors Series
Rev
REV: Renegades
REV: Rebirth
REV: Revolution
REV: Retribution
REV: Revelations (coming soon)
REV Warriors Box Set #1 – Books 1-3 in the series
Jason King – Agent to the Stars Series
The Enclaves of Sylox
Treasure of the Galactic Lights
The Drone Wars Series
Day of the Drone
In collaboration with Co-Author George Wier…
The Libe
ration Series
Captains Malicious
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