The Drellic Saga: Books One, Two and Three

by Mike Marlinski

  Chapter Nineteen

  After being banished from the Architect Flagship, Drellic spent the next four days traveling in secret across the two worlds, hoping to gather information about the Architects, which could be used against them.

  Before leaving, he announced to the High Council that he would be taking a week’s leave for personal reasons. He then returned to Kail House, where he met privately with his wife and parents. He told them that he would be tied up in closed sessions with the government over the following week, to discuss the Architects’ ongoing presence over the worlds of man.

  The only person who knew of Drellic’s true intentions was his father, who whole heartily encouraged his son’s quest to learn the truth about the mysterious aliens.

  Once Drellic was satisfied with his alibies, he acquired a transport with a falsified registration, through some of his dealership contacts in the city, and traveled the planet, in search for his answers.

  The Architect Flagship had left Siren City, but was still in orbit around Siren; along with several other ships, not including the ships in orbit around Tyrran and Bouldon.

  Drellic’s new transport was equipped with a long range telescope, which had a built in long range infrared lens and a projector, for three dimensional mapping and imagery.

  He used it to monitor the alien ships within range of his vehicle, but found that he was unable to track individual heat signatures inside the ships. The organic husks on the Planet Farmers were somehow able to remain at very warm temperatures, even in the vacuum of space.

  The fact that his people were holding the Architects in such high regard, also put a damper on his situation. Everywhere he traveled, he found hordes of citizens taking part in public prayer sessions, where the Architects were practically worshipped as gods, in place of the fates.

  Recent scientific studies had proven that Architect technology had saved both Siren and Tyrran from atmospheric collapses, which would have reduced the planets to ashes. But Drellic believed that a price would one day have to be paid for such a kindness.

  Upon reaching the central point of the Siren Sea, after gliding over hundreds of miles of open water, Drellic saw a sight that sickened him.

  On Gravet Island, the largest island on Siren, Drellic saw a giant banner flying high over the capital city, displaying the face of the Architect’s High Overseer.

  The banner was twice the size of the city’s unity flag, displaying the ringed circles and cast an insulting shadow over it. Drellic’s stomach turned, as he witnessed the raising of the banner first hand, from inside his transport.

  “How dare you insult millions of years of peace and progress?! We are the sons and daughters of the men and women who resurrected our civilizations! We are not the children of these cowardly creatures, who hide behind projected masks!” Drellic thought; his own screams, echoing inside his mind for what felt like hours.

  Despite his disgust for the people of Gravet Island, he waited until the banner raising ceremony ended, before proceeding to his next stop; Halathos; the most dangerous region on Siren.

  Formerly a solid plain of granite, stretching for hundreds of miles, Halathos had become patch of very treacherous terrain. Thousands of giant X-shaped rock formations covered the area; collapsing without warning and crushing the local wildlife to death, each day.

  Oddly enough, the Architect Flagship had been spotted hovering just a few hundred kilometers above the area, which immediately peaked Drellic’s attention. He knew he was taking an awful risk by getting so close to the Overseer’s ship, but he could always count on his love for his people to smother his fear, during his times of self-doubt.

  Two hours after he left Gravet Island, he arrived on the outskirts of Halathos, where he had a clear view of the Architect Flagship. The monstrous entity seemed to slither across the sky, like a predator hunting its next meal.

  Drellic attempted to scan the ship with his infrared lens, but was once again blinded by the intense heat of the ship’s outer skin. Then, just as he was about to increase the strength of the lens, the topside of his ship was smashed into by an unknown force, causing his cabin ceiling to cave in. When he attempted to restart his engines and escape, he found that whatever had struck the top of his transport, was also pinning it to the ground.

  He used a voice command to open the port side window and stuck his head outside to find out what had trapped him against the rocks below.

  At first, Drellic thought that one of the massive boulders from an unstable rock formation had landed on him. But he distinctly heard the sound of metal crashing against metal, when he was struck.

  Drellic cautiously looked up to the transport’s top side, when he saw a giant metal claw attached to an unmarked cargo ship, hovering overhead. It was a dark green heavy cruiser; a ship commonly used by the insurgency.

  “Just my luck,” he thought, as the steel claw gripping his transport, retracted into the cargo bay of the heavy cruiser; dragging Drellic into the hands of one of his many enemies.

  When the transport came to a stop, Drellic heard the cruiser’s cargo bay doors closing beneath him. He then heard the distinct sound of a cutting torch, carving its way through the metal hatchway beside him.

  A moment later, a circular portion of the hatch fell into the cargo bay of the cruiser, exposing Drellic to his captors. Upon hearing footsteps approaching him, Drellic decided to stand still in the open hatchway, since there was clearly nowhere to hide.

  Drellic then gasped, after identifying the person who had used the cutting torch. It was Moya’s sister, Delendra.

  “Delendra? What the hell are you doing here?!” Drellic yelled through the opening.

  Delendra responded by pointing a laser rifle at Drellic and instructing him to exit the transport. Once he did, Delendra ordered him to get down on his knees and face her.

  “Delendra, I don’t understand,” he stuttered. “What’s the meaning of this?”

  “You are the property of the insurgency now,” she said. “Over the next several minutes, you alone are going to decide whether you live or die.”

  “What are you talking about?! Why the fuck are you doing this?!” Drellic screamed. “You of all people! Are you serious?!”

  “We know you’ve been studying them,” Delendra said. “The Architects. We know what you’re after. We’ve seen it. You’ve been right all along, brother-in-law. They are hiding something. They are manufacturing something terrible on that Flagship; most likely a biological weapon for some sick experiment.”

  “How do you know this?” Drellic hesitantly asked.

  “We’ve been monitoring you,” Delendra said. “You’ve been searching for the wrong data. You’ve been focusing on heat, when you should have been focusing on cold.”

  Delendra then used a small hand held projector, to show Drellic a three dimensional image of the Architect Flagship, and a rectangular chamber at the center of the ship, highlighted in blue, to indicate extreme cold.

  Within the outline of the chamber, Drellic could see thousands of tiny specks of white light, indicating intense radiation.

  “What is that?” Drellic pondered. “It can’t be part of their propulsion system or main power supply. They don’t use anything that produces radiation. Their technology is way beyond that.”

  “Then use your scientific mind to find the most logical explanation,” Delendra demanded.

  “A weapon,” Drellic quietly replied, as his voice trailed off. “It would have to be. There can be no other purpose, due to what we’ve learned about their ships.”

  “Exactly,” Delendra snapped. “So, as I said before. It’s time for you to choose; to choose whether you live or die. You’ve always said that you would do anything for your people; for Siren. This is your chance to prove it.”

  Part Three: The Blood of Aia