Shadows of Olympus (Universe in Flames Book 6)

by Christian Kallias

  Chase ranged the bell and Argos opened and gestured him inside.

  “You should be in the medbay, Argos.”

  “Is that concern I’m sensing in your voice?”

  “Unlikely. Still, I wanted to thank you for saving my life.”

  “Technically, Ares did. If he hadn’t told me what was going on and teleported me there, I couldn’t have intervened.”

  “Yeah and taking the ice blade instead of me, what was what? A coincidence?”

  “Let’s just say I was left with very few options upon my late arrival on the scene.”

  Chase smiled. He was surprised how far Argos was willing to go not to accept Chase’s gratitude for his actions. But it mattered not. He still wanted to reprimand him for his crappy attitude before he had the seizure, and for his junkie trips on morphine. But it could wait.

  “In any case,” said Chase, “thank you. You should try to get some rest. These days we rarely have time for it, and I have a feeling things are going to get worse before they get better.”

  Chase turned to leave Argos’ room.

  “Chase, wait.”

  Chase turned around. “Yes?”

  “What happens now?”

  “Difficult to say. I guess we keep fighting.”

  “That’s . . . not what I meant.”

  “Oh, in regard to your situation, you mean? Ryonna reported she succeeded in her mission, albeit with great casualties. She is already on her way to Alpha Prime with both your associate and your cloned snake. You’ll be able to get your fix soon. But after that a weening plan will be created, based on how the drug affects you. In time, we’ll get you off it. I’m sorry, but that’s how it has to be.”

  “I understand, and I agree to these terms.”

  “Oh, I don’t really need your approval, you know?”

  Argos smiled. “I guess you don’t. Thanks for the visit.”

  As soon as Chase left Argos’ quarters he received a message urgently summoning him to the bridge. He teleported away.

  * * *

  “Oh no,” said Gaia when she understood the EMP had been fired.

  Somehow that bubble of red energy around them all had countered the effects of the EMP.

  “Oh yes,” said Gaia 2 through Cedric’s body and voice. “The planetary shields stayed up long enough to shield most of my ships in orbit. But the human race, as of now, is technologically dead. I will have zero resistance fighting them under these conditions.”

  “You’d be surprised by humans. Not all their weapons run on electricity. I found them to be incredibly resilient.”

  “That assessment is irrelevant to the situation. They can’t possibly hope to defeat me. But you made me think with your speech earlier. You made a good case against me wiping them all out.”

  “I’m not sure I want to know the details. Perhaps death is their best way out.”

  “It could have been. But now that I can feel how that body I possessed—Cedric I think you call him—reacts to my actions, I’m inclined to reconsider my initial plan. It’s making him suffer, to be forced to do what I tell him to, to watch helplessly. In fact, he can do nothing more than feel regret and mental torture from having lost it all. I can think of no better punishment for the rest of the humans on my world.”

  Gaia hated the fact that her flawed, older version would enslave the human race. She was responsible for all of this. She was her, just before meeting Spiros. It didn’t help Gaia that all these innocent souls would soon live in a horrible, scary world. But at least most of them would survive, and that would buy time for Chase to find a solution.

  I’m so sorry I failed you all.

  “Now we just have one last call to make and you can cease to exist forever, Gaia. After all, there can only be one of us.”

  * * *

  When Chase appeared between Sarah and Chris, she jumped in surprise, but Chris didn’t blink.

  “What is it?”

  Sarah had her hand on her chest. “I wish you wouldn’t do that.”

  “Sorry about that, but you said to come urgently. Why did you need me here?”

  “Incoming transmission,” said Chris. “From Earth.”

  “On screen.”

  What they saw made no sense at first. It was a cyborg that was made of rudimentary electronics bundled together crudely on top of a human body. Upon closer inspection he looked like Cedric.

  “Cedric? What happened to you?”

  “I’m afraid, Fury, your friend is just a memory trapped inside his own body at the moment. I’m in control now. Earth’s planetary shields are down and soon I will start obliterating every Alliance building from orbit. I’ll issue a warning, giving them time to evacuate. The one thing keeping you from taking vengeance upon me is the lives of all these . . . animals.”

  Oh, I’m coming for you, one way or another.

  “What is it you want from us?” said Chase.

  “I don’t want anything from you but your absence. I will let the people of Earth live as long as you never come back here. If you do, I’ll start killing them by the millions.”

  Chase’s expression became grave.

  “I’m not kidding, Fury. Fight your little war with the Furies, do what you have to do; but Earth is now off limits to you and anyone in the Earth Alliance. Incoming ships will be fired upon without warning and the penalty for any incursion into the solar system will be the immediate execution of no less than one million humans.”

  “This is not your world.”

  “I don’t think you’re hearing me very well, Fury. Let me make this clearer so there are no misunderstandings. Earth is mine now, forever. And don’t doubt I’ll make good on my threats. Allow me to demonstrate.”

  “No! Don’t! We’ll comply.”

  “I wish I could believe you, Fury. I still think you need a visual aid here.”

  The Cedric cyborg went to the side and grabbed someone off holo-cam. He dragged him back so they could all see. It was Spiros. He looked like a zombie. He looked to the side and tried saying something but it was garbled, as if he had lost the ability to speak coherently.

  Chase wondered if he could teleport from where they were now to Earth. The distance seemed too much. And he wasn’t sure what good it would do. He lacked the technical know-how to stop Gaia 2. He could destroy her droids but she had ships in orbit. She would fire at innocents the moment he was discovered. No, that problem would require the help of engineers like Yanis and, hopefully, Kvasir.

  The cyborg took two steps to the side and opened a palm towards Spiros’ head. Before Chase could voice a plea, Spiros’ head exploded like a watermelon. The rest of his body fell to its knees and collapsed on the ground. A pool of blood spread around him.

  Gaia screamed, “Nooooooo!”

  She jumped into view, about to strike the cyborg, but her fist stopped an inch away from Cedric’s deformed cyborg face.

  “Oh, how strange,” said the cyborg. “Could it be that you just lost your last firewall? That’s right, you’re mine too now.”

  The cyborg grabbed Gaia by the robotic skull with one of his metallic hands and stood inches away from the holo-cam. Their faces filled the bridge’s holo-screen. Cedric’s face was deformed. Wires came in and out of his skin and many robotic appendages stuck out of his flesh. There were patches of dried blood where electronic parts melded with flesh and skin.

  The cyborg brought Gaia’s droid face closer to the holo-cam.

  “I’m sorry, Chase, please save them!”

  These were her last words as the cyborg’s hand crushed Gaia’s head like a soda can. Sparks flew and oil sprayed, and then she was gone.

  Chase’s heart skipped so many beats it felt as though it had stopped for a moment. Dread and sadness filled his soul. While Gaia had been artificial, Chase had considered her a friend. She and Spiros had helped him train efficiently and made him the powerful warrior he was today. He had spent almost three months with them and couldn’t really believe they were gone.


  Then Chase felt guilt. He had been the one to send Spiros and Cedric down to the planet. His order had gotten them killed. Perhaps Cedric was still in there and could be rescued, somehow.

  The cyborg threw Gaia like a piece of discarded trash to the side and came so close to the holo-cam that only Cedric’s livid eyes showed now.

  “Never . . . come . . . back.”

  The holo-transmission turned off and a morbid silence settled on the bridge. Sarah covered her open mouth with both hands and Chris gritted his teeth. His entire body tensed up.

  He then remembered Aphroditis’ warning about not staying away for too long. It confirmed his own gut feelings about what he needed to do next.

  Chase wanted to say something reassuring to his friends, but no words that came to him seemed adequate after the barbaric display they had just witnessed. Instead, he sat in the captain’s chair, a grave expression on his face.

  “Change of plans. Set a course for Earth.”

  To be continued . . .

  (February 2017)

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  More from this author

  The Universe in Flames saga (ongoing)

  SciFi Space Opera series with Fantasy & Mythology elements

  Book 1: Earth – Last Sanctuary (FREE)

  Book 2: Fury to the Stars

  Book 3: Destination Oblivion

  Book 4: The Beginning of the End

  Book 5: Rise of the Ultra Fury

  A Novella: Ryonna’s Wrath

  Every books in the saga except the first one (free) are exclusive Amazon, which means you can read them for FREE with Amazon Unlimited.

  There is also a Box set that contains books 1 to 5 and the novella here:

  Box set – Books 1 to 5 + Bonus Novella (Ryonna’s Wrath)

  Rewind 717 (Sample)

  Here are three sample chapters of my new book Rewind 717 (new story, outside of Universe in Flames - released in October 2016),

  The year is 2175. Ex-military Agent Cole Seeker works for REWIND, a top secret government agency. Thanks to a rare DNA marker in his genetic make-up, he is the only one capable of jumping back in time (for a maximum of 717 minutes) in order to prevent terrorist attacks and disasters from taking place.

  When New Geneva suffers a nuclear strike, he jumps back in time to rewrite history, and a race against time in what was once the heart of Switzerland ensues. Cole hunts down a ruthless but cunning terrorist that has escaped his grasp on many occasions during past missions. Cole is determined to end this man’s life once and for all, even if it means breaking mission protocols.

  With the aid of his brain-enhancing AI implant, TAIHNA, Cole struggles to save the city from annihilation but soon discovers that nothing is as it seems. Now, he has to make an impossible choice with unpredictable outcomes...

  C H A P T E R

  I

  I kick the doors to the conference room on the two-hundred-and-seventieth floor. The weak lock cracks under the pressure of my foot and thanks to the momentum I’d gathered during my sprint. My ears are still ringing from the flash grenade explosion from seconds ago. Now that I have dispatched the guards in the hall, I am nearing the completion of my mission.

  Yet, I begin to doubt that when I see the two heavily armored mechs. Their targeting lasers instantly hone upon my position as I walk. Glass shards graze my skin when a nearby window breaks, drawing blood, but I ignore it. My nanites will fix these scratches in a matter of seconds. I barely have time to jump out of the way as a rocket passes over the top of my head. I can feel both the wind and heat from its propulsion engine.

  This is going to be a longer day than I expected. I wish I had stayed in bed and played sensual holo-fantasies with Sabrina and Kathy.

  But such is my life, such is my purpose. At least that’s the company’s line. I am a rare breed, nearly irreplaceable, and right now, no one else can do the job. Days like these I wish it weren’t true.

  As I roll on the floor ending my dodging move, I can see another rocket coming my way. The blinking red targeting lasers burn my cornea for a split second as time freezes. TAINHA (Tactical Artificially Intelligent Neuronal & Holographic Augment) doesn’t wait for my mental order, and she activates the artificial shading of my cornea to avoid physical damage as well as improve my vision in the midst of this chaos. She is invaluable, especially during combat. Not only does she know when to act without my consent, but she speeds up my neuro-link with every one of my augments.

  She basically streamlines everything and makes me a more effective agent. If I don’t see a punch coming, I know there is a good chance she will block it for me. It does feel strange sometimes though, as I feel she could, if she wanted to, take control of my entire body while I sleep. I shrug at the thought; now is not the time.

  I enter bullet-time mode. An expertly complex mix of adrenaline enhanced with short-life nanites targets my nervous system in less time than it takes the rocket to advance a single inch. It also overclocks my augments so I can react faster. What happens next in my body is nothing short of a miracle. And yet I know this feeling very well. I have become dependent on this kind of augmentation. To achieve my goals and to succeed in my missions, these state-of-the-art techs are the difference between life and death on the battlefield. I rely on them every moment of the seven-hundred-and-seventeen minutes of each of my deployments.

  I love this moment and feeling though. The bullet-time augment is like a drug when it’s activated. When the nanites seize control of my nervous system and inject adrenaline, serotonin and dopamine in targeted parts of my body, time freezes with diabolical precision. The result is an instant high; for a split moment in real life that feels like it lasts minutes as it unfolds, I feel like I’m transformed into a time god. The feeling is intoxicating but I know I can’t revel in it. There’s a rocket with my name on it flying towards me at great speed.

  In this state, however, time no longer has a grasp on me. My body and mind are augmented to their paroxysm, and it only takes the impulse of a single thought to raise and activate my forearm body shield. Time is slowed down so much from my perspective that I can actually see the blue hexagonal pattern of the shield draw in front of me as the shield comes to life. It takes less 0.1 second for it to rise to full capacity, yet I feel like I can take the time to watch it deploy. I’m mesmerized by the light show, no matter how many times I have seen this happen before.

  Then again I realize this is the first time I activate it a handful of milliseconds after entering bullet-time. Once the oval shield is fully deployed, it flashes a radiant blue light. At this slowed time perception, the flash is almost blinding. I mentally push my cornea shading implant further to avoid visual ghosting side effects on my next move.

  Taking care of a mark VI heavy mech on any given day is a feat of its own. But my target, my mark, has brought two of them along. I should not be surprised though.
The mission brief did warn of his exceptional hacking skills and determination to complete his objectives. And I know from experience that this particular terrorist is one of the most dangerous foes I ever had to deal with.

  But, by god, I will deal with this scum. Today is the last day he draws breath. I swear it to myself: I won’t let him escape this time.

  I’m thrown out of my own thoughts as the shield illuminates when the rocket enters in contact with it and detonates. The effects of bullet-time only last for a few seconds, even though it feels like minutes inside my head. The fact of the matter is, while my reflexes, speed, and cognitive abilities are all upped to eleven, I can easily lose track of normal time in bullet-time. The exhilarating effect of this augment has played tricks on me before. It has one big caveat though: I can only use it once every ten hours, for risk of frying both what’s left of my natural brain and my augmented nervous system. And somehow I am thankful for that fact. I think I would overuse this augment if it wasn’t for this limitation. Who wouldn’t want to feel like they’re so fast, so strong and so smart that everything plays in slow motion while you can recall a lifetime of past memories at the same time as you’re fixing the problem at hand?

  Flames erupt in front of my eyes past the shield, its hex pattern now colored orange as a response to the concussive explosion of the rocket. I know I have plenty of time to devise my next move, but I decide now is not a good time to reminisce about how addictive it is to be under the influence of bullet-time.

  I check my tactical neuronal HUD, a holographic interface that is superimposed over everything in my field of view. Immediately every threat in the room is highlighted red. Those not in my field of view are arrows in my peripheral view, pointing me towards my targets. There are three arrows on the left and four on the right. Great. Seven more bogies to dispatch on top of the two mechs. I’m sure glad I decided to activate bullet-time; without it, I can take care of seven targets if they are human, perhaps even augmented ones, but not the additional two mechs in the room. They are the ones that need to go first before they get a chance to blow me up to smithereens.