The Drellic Saga: Books One, Two and Three

by Mike Marlinski

Chapter Eleven

  Daelon wrapped his mind around the message he had just received from Drellic, as he put the cargo ship in orbit around Siren. Once the last of the forward thrusters had fired, slowing the ship’s momentum, Daelon confirmed that the artificial gravity system was in perfect order, before detaching the black leather safety harness from his waist. He then rose to his feet and cautiously peered through the broken window on the hatch, to search for Core. After noticing that the corridor was empty, he squinted his eyes to get a good look inside the Gate Chamber, at the far end of the ship. There, he noticed one of Core’s giant black combat boots, sticking out from behind the chamber platform.

  Drellic had just informed Daelon that he had intended to arrive on Tyrran to save him, along with other survivors. But when Daelon was first confronted by Core, Core had arrived alone and said that he had watched Drellic kill himself, by leaping out into space to attack an Architect ship. Daelon was becoming irate at the thought of Core being not only responsible for Drellic’s death, but the derailing of a plan that Drellic had set in motion, to evacuate a small band of survivors to safety.

  Daelon took a deep breath and composed himself. He then quietly opened the hatch and cautiously started down the catwalk. He didn’t want to kill Core. He had never wanted to kill anyone, not even in war. But Daelon felt that these were very different circumstances. Drellic also told Daelon that there was another message waiting for him in The Depths on Tyrran. To Daelon, this implied that there might still be a way for Drellic’s plan to be a partial success. He wondered about the possibility of there being other survivors in The Depths that Drellic wanted him to find. If that were the case, he knew that Core’s presence could be a problem. He already had no doubt that Core had been driven insane by the war, and also knew that Core would most likely get them both killed, after learning that he had failed to prevent Tyrran’s destruction.

  About a minute later, he reached the end of the corridor and started into the Gate Chamber. He immediately saw Core lying on his side to his left, as he was still pinned in between the concrete wall of the compartment and the tall metal stanchion. Daelon noticed the deep gash in Core’s forehead that was still dripping blood, adding to the small pool on the floor.

  For an instant, Daelon pondered just leaving Core in his present state and allowing him to bleed to death. But he didn’t want to risk Core regaining consciousness and retaliating, and so Daelon decided that he needed to take his brother’s advice, and cast aside his pacifist nature. Although it would require him to compromise his innermost beliefs and values, he knew he had to dispose of Core, before returning to Faul City.

  The cargo ship’s airlock was located off of the Gate Chamber, directly across from where Core had been pinned. Daelon used all of his might to grab Core by his armpits and pull him out from behind the metal beam. He stopped for a moment to catch his breath, then reached down to attempt dragging him across the room, the same way.

  As he placed his hands on Core’s shoulders, Core quickly grabbed both of Daelon’s arms and flipped him over into the concrete wall, at Core’s feet. Daelon crashed into the wall and then slid down, head first onto the floor. The floor pushed his neck forward, as his shoulders made contact. Daelon quickly pushed off of the wall with his feet and turned himself right side up, before Core could land his first blow. He managed to get to one knee, before Core violently kicked him in the face, forcing him onto his back. Core then jumped on top of Daelon and began mercilessly beating him. Core’s knees dug into Daelon’s chest, as he repeatedly punched Daelon in the face, alternating between his left and right fists over and over again, until his knuckles were just as bloody as Daelon’s face.

  Once Core saw that Daelon was unconscious, he stopped beating him and pressed two of his fingers against his neck, to feel for a pulse. After a few seconds, he established that Daelon was still alive and dragged him down the corridor, by his hands and into the ship’s bridge. Core then assumed the captain’s chair, leaving Daelon a bloody mess, on the floor behind him.

  Daelon’s nose was broken and bleeding profusely down into his mouth. Tiny red bubbles formed in between his lips, as he took short unconscious breaths. Core looked over the control console, finding it to be just as odd and awkward to learn, as Daelon had. He had also never seen this kind of ship design before. Core then noticed that the text message Drellic had left for Daelon, was still visible on the touch screen panel to his left. Once he finished reading it, he calmly exited out of the message, as if it hadn’t fazed him at all, and turned his attention to the digital navigational charts on the opposite touch screen. He then noticed that the ship was in orbit around Siren, and that Tyrran would soon be visible on the horizon. He looked up through the ship’s dome shaped canopy with great anticipation, only to be utterly devastated by the sight of Tyrran’s appearance, which was now identical to Siren’s. He then saw that the Architect fleet was long gone, leaving behind nothing expect a trail of sparkling white mist from their engines.

  The two worlds of man were gone, and Core was islanded in space with Daelon, whom he had immeasurable hatred for. In his mind, he had only Drellic’s brother to blame for the end of humanity and the Architect’s effortless departure. Deep within all his conflicting emotions, he still had the presence of mind to think back to Drellic’s message, which mentioned a second message waiting for Daelon in The Depths.

  Core had worshiped Drellic like a god for years, and had always been bitter with jealousy, due to his thirst for the Starblood, his generation had been denied. He had also known for some time that Drellic had never fully trusted him. Knowing that Drellic frequently questioned his integrity, drove Core to develop a reputation for reckless behavior. His mind raced with questions, along with feelings of anger and betrayal. As he stared deeply into the black abyss of charred rock before him, he had only one desire. He needed to pilot the cargo ship down into The Depths, to uncover the truth of Drellic’s plan. Despite knowing that the message was specifically intended for Daelon’s eyes only, he saw this moment as his last chance to be the hero to his people, he always wanted to be.

  Core spun around in his chair, to see that Daelon’s face was barely recognizable, through all the blood and scars, and that he was still unconscious. He then turned back to the control panels, took manual control of the ship, fired the engines and headed for Tyrran.

  As the cargo ship sped towards its destination, Core noticed a faint glimmer out beyond Tyrran’s planetary horizon. At first, he thought it was just another star, but then realized it had an odd shape to it and that it appeared to be getting closer. It was too far away for him to tell exactly what the shimmering object was, but he had hopes that it was either a stranded friendly vessel, or an Architect ship returning to assess the damage they had left behind.

  Either way, the object was on a direct course for Tyrran and Core was determined to reach The Depths, before the unknown ship had a chance to interfere with his personal vendetta. After some rough navigating and awkward thrusts, as Core was still getting used to the cargo ship’s controls, he managed to locate the ruins of Faul City, pieces of the once mile high Delendra Tower, and a wide rocky entrance to the underground caverns known as The Depths.

  He carefully slowed the ship’s descent, as he passed through the planet’s surface without incident. He found that the ship’s front spotlights were automated, and once the ship had passed beyond the view of the sun, they clicked on, showing him the way down to the bottom of the mighty caverns.

  Moments later, he activated the ship’s six landing extensions. Six steel extremities emerged in two rows of three, on both the port and starboard sides of the ship, allowing six flat metal platforms to softly make contact with the rocky terrain, at the bottom of The Depths. Upon making contact with the surface, Core programmed the ship’s auto defense grid to engage, once he left the airlock to explore. He hoped that there would be at least one pressure suit aboard, since Drellic had intended for this ship to land here, after the des
truction of the planet.

  Core slowly turned away from the controls in his chair, and stepped over Daelon’s body, to reach the hatchway. He was more focused and alert than ever, as he purposefully strolled down the catwalk, while scanning the walls and side compartments for attire that would allow for extra vehicular activity. He then entered the Gate Chamber, and found the entrance to the ship’s airlock on his right.

  He smirked at the memory of Daelon, attempting to drag his body into the airlock minutes earlier. He then located a small gray dial on the inner hatch, which he turned clockwise, to open it. Once inside the airlock, he found something he did not expect. The actual outer hatch for the airlock was directly in front of him, but there was also a steel staircase to his right, leading to another chamber beneath the airlock. At the top of the staircase, was an open utility closet, stuffed with seven pressure suits and helmets. Core was about to sift through them to find an ideal fit, but his curiosity compelled him to investigate the mysterious lower deck.

  He slowly descended the staircase. Each step had been retrofitted with a pressure sensitive light panel, which turned on as his feet touched them, lighting his way. Once he reached the bottom, he was met by even more confusion. There was nothing on the lower deck. It was just a large, empty rectangular concrete room.

  The walls were lined with locking mechanisms, designed to be occupied by long cylindrical objects, but there were no objects for them to be locked onto. This room was clearly part of a stage of Drellic’s plan that hadn’t been reached yet. Core disappointedly returned to the top of the staircase and rifled through the utility closet, searching for a pressure suit and matching helmet that would fit him.

  The suits were made up of an external layer of dull gray fabric and five internal, aluminized insulation layers. The innermost garment was a liquid cooling and ventilation layer that was partially organic in nature. It removed heat, perspiration and waste from its occupant, after converting it all into a single gas and dumping it into space, with an external radiator, worn on the right shoulder. The oxygen pack was worn over the left shoulder, and was a cumbersome black cube that replenished itself by immediately converting exhaled carbon dioxide into new oxygen. The helmet was just a thick, clear plastic dome that locked into the neck ring of the suit, and came with a fitted protective visor that could be pulled over his face from back to front.

  Once Core found an appropriate match and secured himself inside a suit, he made one final pass in front of the corridor leading to the bridge, to make sure that Daelon was still lying unconscious on the floor. Once satisfied that Daelon wasn’t moving any time soon, he made his way back to the airlock and sealed himself inside.

  Using a keypad on his right arm that was linked to the ship’s airlock control, he depressurized the airlock and opened the outer door. He then became exposed to the caverns outside, which were completely void of an atmosphere. The sun was shining down on the surface above, but was barely visible through the thick layers of rock over his head. The Depths had never been more dark and mysterious than they were at that moment.

  Core’s warrior instincts took over. He cast his fears aside and dutifully marched forward into the black. He had two tiny spotlights attached to either side of his helmet, which automatically turned on, once he left the ship. He cautiously passed beneath an archway, forged in rock, and came to a giant, shiny metal door, similar to a shipyard garage door; imprinted with the Ringed Circles, Siren and Tyrran’s unity symbol.

  A small, blue glowing circular key pad was embedded in the rock, to the right of the door. Core then realized that he needed to input a password, to see what was concealed on the other side. He thought for a moment, breathed a heavy sigh and inputted the name, Daelon Kail into the security system. Core wasn’t surprised at all, when the door instantly rose from the ground and stopped halfway, giving him more than enough room to walk normally beneath it.

  Once beyond the metal door, he came upon another sight that astounded him. He found himself looking at dozens of long, white cylindrical pods lined up to his right, along one of the rock walls of the chamber. Each pod had a clear glass plate near its top, revealing the face of a living human occupant in suspended animation.