The Drellic Saga: Books One, Two and Three

by Mike Marlinski

  Chapter Twenty

  Marco found himself vomiting over Feldman’s body, as he watched the DVD recording, of what had been done to him and Simone, while they were unconscious. Simone was sitting quietly at the kitchen table, reading Feldman’s journal. The terrible truth about the doctor, was buried within its coffee stained pages. Out for fear for his own survival, Feldman had agreed to work for Drellic and perform gruesome experiments, regarding human anatomy.

  When Drellic had first arrived on Earth, he found modern humans to be inferior to his own people and was disgusted by their appearance. Ancient humans were naturally taller and more muscular than modern ones. Their incredibly fast metabolisms, prevented them from ever becoming obese, or even the slightest bit overweight. There had never been any mentally disabled people on Siren or Tyrran, either. Drellic’s lack of patience for modern man’s shortcomings, drove him to seek ways to improve upon modern man, by stimulating brain activity, increasing strength, improving agility and eliminating the chemical activity, responsible for fat cells.

  To further his experiments, he brought in scientists like Feldman, who obviously had a much better understanding of the biology of modern man. The procedures Feldman was coerced into performing, caused irreversible deformities and brain asphyxiation. Hundreds of people died at Feldman’s hands and by the time Drellic was defeated, the damage had already been done to Feldman’s psyche.

  In his journal, he noted that there were demons inside of him that could never be removed. He wrote, “I have to find a way to be in control. But the only way I can do that, is to appease my demons first. I hear their voices screaming in my head every second of every day, begging me to feed their bloodlust. Only after I nourish them, can I finally receive a few hours of peace, before it starts all over again. There is no one left alive who can help me. I am alone with these horrible urges. I just need to find a way to silence the voices that continue to punish me for the things I have done.”

  Anchorage, Alaska only received 5-7 hours of daylight per day, during the winter. The sun had already been up for a few hours, and Simone and Marco needed to return to the base, and be on their way to Moscow. There was a long line forming in the Russian capital, for Severov’s colonist interviews. If Simone and Marco had any chance of being allowed on board one of the ten super rockets, they needed to leave, immediately.

  Although she was just as devastated about what had been done to them as Marco was, she was still driven more than anything, by her desire for vengeance. She decided to build a shell of strength around herself; something she was very used to doing. She collected Marco from Feldman’s bedroom, once his stomach had been completely voided of its contents, and comforted him, until he could breathe normally again and stand up straight.

  It took some convincing on her part, but she finally managed to convince Marco to put it out of his mind and proceed with the plan. They gathered the ID cards and information packets that Feldman had put together for them. Simone felt it must’ve been Feldman’s last remaining ounces of humanity and patriotism that inspired him to put together such an impressive cover story for them.

  After retrieving their winter coats, they decided that no trace of their presence there, could be left behind. Simone remembered having seen several red gas cans, sitting in Feldman’s open garage, behind the house. Marco helped her carry the dozen or so cans inside the house, where they drenched kitchen, bedroom and laboratory with gasoline. Simone then noticed that Feldman had an old fashioned gas stove; so she found the pressure regulator and opened it, causing gas to leak into the kitchen for good measure.

  Marco found a lighter and a box of matches, in one of the kitchen cabinets and he and Simone set the place ablaze. They made sure to start the fire in the front doorway, giving them time to get a safe distance away before the entire house exploded.

  They then returned to the van. They were thankful to see that it was still in working order, allowing them to escape the twisted environment they had found themselves in. Evidently, Feldman had no plans of keeping them there and assumed his foul play would remain buried in the stack of DVDs, next to his bed.

  A few hours later, they were back at their base of operations, on the other side of Anchorage, planning the next phase of their mission. Severov had a profile on everyone in the camp, and Simone and Marco were the only ones willing to sacrifice their identities and attempt making the journey to Mars, on behalf of the colonists. They had acquired new finger prints, out of necessity, and needed to undergo a retina scan, before being allowed access to their own compound. Once inside the crude garage-like structure, Simone and Marco led a discussion with their group, concerning the details of the plan that they had been slowly piecing together, over the previous ten years.

  Most of the men Marco had brought with them to Anchorage, were the same men that had defected from Severov’s revamped Darkside, with him. They all had bits and pieces of information concerning Severov’s tactics, surrounding the Shadow Colony. Some accounts contradicted others, but there was one thing they all agreed on. Severov was planning to reveal his true nature to the world, shortly after the new colonists’ arrival on Mars.

  He was keeping all of the Drellic Tech he had acquired over the years, in the underground facility in Moscow, and would launch every ship he had, to secure a stranglehold over the entire world. It was rumored that Severov was waiting to do this, because of a bargain he had arranged with the leader of “Shadow”. This bargain supposedly guaranteed him the means to become the Earth’s sole dictator, which would only be given upon the arrival of the new batch of unsuspecting colonists.

  There were less than one billion humans, scattered across the globe at this time. And Severov was willing to sacrifice another 2,000 lives out of his selfish need for ultimate power, without a second’s thought. This was something Simone could not allow to come to pass. She had decided years prior that preventing Severov from essentially becoming the next Drellic, was her destiny.

  Dozens of people, including her husband, had been killed to protect the secrets on Mars. Marco and his men had become outcasts. With the colonist interviews just a few weeks away, Simone and Marco were coming to the breathtaking realization that they were finally about to begin their journey towards learning the truth about the Shadow Colony.

  Three days later, an unmarked, commercial jumbo jet landed at Sheremetyevo International Airport, 18 miles north-west of Moscow. The jet had departed from Portland, Oregon the day before, and was the last of four flights that had come in that day, carrying potential colonists. After its recent reconstruction, the airport had been converted into a hub for the dealings of the Mars Mission.

  Simone and Marco de-boarded and entered the busy Sheremetyevo foyer, as Dr. Timothy Burrows and Dr. Tara Burrows, a married couple from Baltimore, Maryland. According to their cover stories, they had been married for ten years and met in college before earning their doctorates in Geological Sciences. After they had both developed a passion for the study of the forming of the earth, and having no children to leave behind, they jumped at the opportunity to set foot on another world, to explore all that it had to offer.

  As they made their way further into the foyer, they noticed a growing mass of people, huddled together in the center of the room. People were crowding around something or someone. The room then exploded with an uproar of cheers and bright camera flashes. They continued to creep closer to the edge of the crowd, not knowing who or what to expect. Suddenly, the crowd began to part ways, clearing a path for Winston Severov, who smiled at his guests and gave warm handshakes, as he was only a few feet away from Simone. She trembled at the sight of him, remembering all that he had done to her, but remembered that she and Marco keeping their collective composure, was the only thing that mattered.

  She took a deep breath and extended her hand, as Winston passed in front of her. He looked at her, stared into her eyes for a momen,t as if he recognized her, then smiled and said, “I’m Winston Severov. It’s a pleasu
re to meet you.” Their hands made contact and Winston wasted no time in tightening his grip around her fingers, nearly to the point of discomfort. Simone showed no fear, smiled back at him and said, “I’m Dr. Tara Burrows. This is my husband, Dr. Timothy Burrows.”

  Winston’s eyes widened. He released her hand and exclaimed, “The geologists from Baltimore! Of course! I’ve been anxious to meet you and get your perspective on what we intend to find out there!”

  Winston then turned his attention to Marco and gave him a firm handshake. “How do you do, sir?” he asked him. Marco nervously replied, “Fine, sir. Thank you. Never better. Just anxious to get these interviews under way. Just like everyone else.”

  “Of course! Of course!” Winston exclaimed. He then leaned in closer to them and whispered, “But between you and I; I’ve already made up my mind about you two. You are among the ideal candidates we’ve been searching for. As soon as I saw your files, I jumped out of my seat with anticipation! And now, here you are!”

  Marco and Simone were left with few options for disguising their voices. Feldman had told them that he wasn’t equipped to safely tamper with their vocal chords. They had both conditioned themselves over the past few years, to develop different pitches and accents. They couldn’t tell if Winston was completely sold on them or not, but it appeared to be working for the time being. Simone feared that he was merely waiting for the room to clear out, before killing them both. But they continued the conversation, complete with false pleasantries and forced enthusiasm.

  “Here, we are!” Simone exclaimed, with a smile. Marco chuckled behind her, while waiting for Severov to make his next move. Winston grinned from ear to ear and replied, “I have a feeling the three of us are going to have a lot of fun, these next few weeks.”