Fox pushed himself off the bed, his voice low. “I fight for SSP only. Not for you. Not for Jaxx. I’m giving you an hour to get me back space-side before I fuck more shit up. I owe Jaxx this, but only once.”
Liberty dipped her head. “If you wish.”
32
Georgia and Tennessee Border ~ Earth
“I don’t exactly know where your father is,” explained Drew, his eyes on the road, the vapors from the gas cans seeping into the car from the trunk.
They had used all but four gas cans, an odd gift from an even more odd and suspicious drone. Drew could count on his fingers how much luck he’d had his short life and he was happy to count one more.
“Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth,” his mother used to say when he was younger.
“Then how do you know I’ll see him?” asked Mya.
Drew blinked a couple of times, staring at the road, dusk was settling in. He was out of the mountains and heading for the shared Tennessee and Georgia hills, otherwise known as Lookout Mountain. From his estimation, he’d be there in twenty minutes or so. Then, what?
He tapped his noggin. He was a genius with a photographic memory. He had the directions in the forefront of his mind, plus every direction he’d ever read was filed away in his mind to be conjured up whenever needed.
“Drew?”
Drew jerked back, his mind intent on the drive and not the girl’s questions. “What?”
The girl looked up at him, eyes wide and angelic. “Will mom be there when I see my dad again?”
The freeway was long, uncomfortable, unknown. A car could come out of nowhere and try to get him to pullover for God knows what, or a Chinese jet could pick him off, or a bullet could shatter through the side window at any time. This wasn’t the United States of a few months ago where he was relatively safe – relatively. But this girl’s question trumped it all.
He cleared his throat. “Mya? I don’t want to lie to you. Your mom won’t be coming to see you.” He glanced at her for a moment, his heart seeping up to his throat. “And I don’t know how to get a hold of your father.”
Mya looked down at her fiddling hands. “What do you mean? You said my mom and dad were going to see me.”
Drew blinked a couple of times. The sweat rolled down his sides and soaked his belt. “Well, you see, I was scared and because I was scared, I lied. I didn’t want you to have a hard time while I was trying to keep us safe, so I made all that up.”
Mya kept her head down. “Oh...” she started to shake and tears welled up in her eyes but Drew could tell she was trying to hold it in.
Drew rubbed her back. “I will try to find your dad.” He shook his head. “No, I will find your dad.” He couldn’t believe his last statement. How would that be possible?
She grabbed his arm and squeezed it tight, leaning her cheek against it. How quickly she trusted him, how quickly she knew what he was saying would be true. “Mommy, too?”
He wanted to pull his arm back, he wanted to tell her how horrible life was and to be ready, because it’s going to get worse. He wasn’t a pessimistic guy, he was a realist leaning toward ridiculous optimism. He had this mindset that he could get anything accomplished that he wanted to, and he usually did, no matter how many different paths and windy roads he had to go onto to meet his accomplishments.
He peeked at his rear-view mirror. No one in sight. He was going sixty-miles-an-hour. He pushed the volume button, turning on the radio. Static. He upped the dial, zipping through station after station. All static.
What else could he do to avoid the question?
Fuck it.
He took a deep breath. “Mya? Your mom died.”
Mya released her grip and Drew brought his hand back, resting it on the middle console. Mya looked out of the passenger window, watching the trees pass by on the freeway. “What does die mean?”
How did she not know what death was? This wasn’t going to be easy. “When someone – ” He slammed on the breaks, the wheels screeching a whine he’d only heard in movies, black rubber smoke trailing behind them.
Four cars – police cars – and a heavy SWAT-looking vehicle were lined across the freeway, men in uniform standing in front of the car, police rifles resting in their hands and across their arms. They spread out the moment they heard the screeching from Drew’s car, racing far behind their own, readying for impact.
Drew twisted the wheel as the car abruptly slowed, fish tailing, the back end skidding and nearly turning the car around. It then came to a sudden halt, smoke lifting from the tires, surrounding the car.
Drew patted down Mya. Seeing no blood, he checked her eyes. She was awake, alive, and just as astonished as him. “Are you okay?”
She slowly nodded, her mouth curling downward. Drew’s hand was still on her chest, her heart beat rapidly against it.
“Sit still. That’s the police, maybe they know what’s going on – or where your daddy is.” Drew opened the door and stepped out. His car was only feet from theirs. He eyed a police man – short hair, nice and tidy, mid-fifties, police-issue trousers and short sleeve shirt. He was clean shaven, although he had missed a spot. Several other policemen stood by him, all walking slowly in Drew’s direction.
Drew put his hands out, showing them he wasn’t someone to be wary of. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t expecting a barricade.”
A policeman held his hand up, stopping the rest of the advancing police, then spoke. “In a different time, you would have been cited. Where are you trying to get to, son?”
“Lookout Mountain, Tennessee.”
“Why?”
Drew pointed behind the police man. “It’s just fifteen-minutes that way.”
The policeman gingerly looked behind him, as if that was a surprise to him. “I see. What for?”
“To meet with my friends.”
“What for?”
“For...uh...safety.”
“I’d suggest you turn right back around. The next city over is quite accommodating.”
Drew jabbed a finger over his shoulder. “Which one?”
The policeman flicked his nose with his thumb. “Piney Woods.”
Drew looked over his shoulder. Mya was in the car, watching Drew’s conversation. Drew looked back and eyed the policemen. They were standing patiently, though not happily. “If you guys part your cars, I can just drive on by.”
“Please turn around, Sir.” All policemen, as if they were part of a perfectly synchronized flock of flying birds, pointed their rifles at Drew. “I’m not going to ask again.”
Drew threw his hands in the air. “Alright.” He slowly backed up, then turned around, cautiously making his way back to his car. Mya was in a ball on the front seat, hiding.
Thrum. Thrum. Thrum. Thrum.
Drew looked up and twisted around, facing the police, his eyes trained to the sky. A helicopter was coming from Lookout Mountain and coming in fast. The policemen, however, were back in front of their cars, leaning against them, as if nothing had happened or was going on. They were as still as mannequins.
The helicopter descended, the first rush of rotor blade air slamming against Drew, until a steady stream blasted against him, the helicopter now only five feet above the policemen’s heads.
It lowered.
Drew put his hands up. “Watch out. Just above you.” How could the policemen not see the helicopter?
The helicopter’s landing skids were now a few inches from the top of the cars. It moved lower, its skids passing through the cars and the policemen as if they weren’t really there. As if they were a hologram.
The helicopter touched down, its body slicing through the men, yet the men still hadn’t moved an inch. A second later, Drew jerked back. The police, along with their vehicles, disappeared.
A young man, hair smoothed back in an overabundance of hair gel, fixed his tie as he stepped down from the copter and buttoned his suit, yelling something at Drew.
Drew put his hands out. “What?”
“Sir,” said the man, coming closer. “President Jefferson Kennedy has asked to see you. Please join us in the helicopter and we can get you to him.”
Drew’s eyes swept across where the police were only moments ago. “Clever.”
“They are holograms. Very advanced.” He cocked his head to the side, gesturing for Drew to get in the car. “This way, Sir.”
Drew took a step forward, then remembered. “I have to get Mya.”
The young man’s eye brows lifted. “The young girl?”
Drew nodded.
“She’s already well on her way.”
Drew turned, seeing a young woman carrying Mya to the helicopter, Mya’s eyes looked at Drew for help.
Drew rushed over and grabbed her from the woman.
The young man put his hand on Drew’s back, prodding him forward. “The President is in communication with Starship Atlantis.”
Drew gave the man a look. “You’re kidding me.”
“Trust me, that’s not the only surprise you’ll see.”
Drew stopped, his arms tightening around Mya. He could take her and get back in his car, turn tail, and find Mya’s father, who could probably protect her better than he could. But protection would be difficult racing through a war zone.
Drew glared at the man. “I need to find this girl’s father.”
“We have all records of military personnel. We know where her father is.”
“Good.” Drew took a few steps forward and only feet from the helicopter, he stopped. How could they possibly know this girl’s father was in the military?
33
J-Quadrant, Solar System ~ Flood of Dawn, Callisto
Fox left in his Oospor Class 9 Dropship in a hurry. Jaxx guessed Fox would orbit Callisto in wait for the Secret Space Program’s arrival, where he’d help pound the Atlanteans to shit. Why the Atlanteans let the prick leave, Jaxx didn’t quite understand. Fox would just be another asshole coming down to take the Atlanteans away from their civilization, most likely to enslave, beat, use them for bartering tools, or worse.
Jaxx sat at a picnic table that didn’t have any legs and instead hovered in place, the bench he sat upon was soft like a cushion. He pressed his lips together, baffled with it all, especially with Fox. Not that he had left, but for his lack of excitement that Fox was gone. Something in him missed the guy – a guy that would kill him at any chance he could get. How could you miss a guy like that?
He rubbed his face, his stomach growling.
Rivkah approached on a path, holding a book so huge and thick he was surprised one person could carry it alone. A few men and women in combat uniform strode behind her, the trees surrounding the area fluttered on the breeze, their pinkish-yellow leaves and golden needles shimmered in the artificial light from the glass dome above.
These were too surreal.
He looked past Rivkah at trees in the distance that cascaded from hill top to hill top, accompanied by domed structures dotting the hills, a plethora of waterfalls plummeted everywhere.
He dropped his forehead into his hands. It was a beautiful city, but almost too beautiful, too concocted as if these people spent their entire life constructing, fixing, creating, and designing the greatest city in the Universe. A city that would be gone in a matter of weeks, especially since the Kelhoon were already here.
He hung his head, pressing his forehead more into his palm. The Kelhoon were potentially beatable. But even if they held off the Kelhoon, the Secret Space Program was on route. There was no way the Atlanteans could fend off both armies. It was a logistical impossibility. The best the Atlanteans could do would be to leave, find another home, one that was putrid enough that not even the Golgath Boars of Panzea would find enjoyment with.
An image of a bi-ped human type creature with a hair-like mane, large furry ears, a pig nose, prominent tusks, and barrel, stout body came to his mind. Where the hell had that come from? He knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that was a Golgath, probably another race he had met during his stint with the Secret Space Program. The memories were returning; faster now. And they were sticking. When he’d worked with Doctor Donny, back in Underfoot Black, he’d had trouble holding on to the simplest memory from that time, but now he was seeing entire swathes of his own history in full, living color. If there was one thing he needed to do, it was apologize to Rivkah. No wonder the woman hated him. She believed he’d left her for dead, or at least left her burned to a crisp when her ship had gone down. He hadn’t, but she didn’t know that – or rather, didn’t believe it.
Rivkah whistled, bringing Jaxx to the present.
He gave a fake smile, his mind racing with thoughts of any possibility these people could win this war, a war against horrific, well-armed enemies.
“Jaxx, you with us?” asked Rivkah, smiling pleasantly for the first time in...Jaxx couldn’t remember when. A part of him wanted to jump up and give her a hug, then a kiss, then more. The energetic pull was getting more and more intense every time he saw her, a flood of erotic desires almost oozing out of him. Did she feel the same?
Nope.
It was Rivkah. Even if she did, he couldn’t sense it from her, couldn’t read her mind, as if she psychically masked it from these odd powers they both shared.
He lowered his eyes to his hands, which were splayed out on the table in front of him. The ground shook, then the table, almost rocked Jaxx off the bench and on his back. A thunderous roar filled the domed city and a bright flash lit up the pinkish-purple sky. He glanced to the east. An explosive cloud grew on the horizon.
Rivkah dropped the book on the table, shifting her hands to her hips, watching the cloud along with Jaxx and the other who were with her. “Those Kelhoon...they did something to a girl. I can’t get it out of my mind, Jaxx.” She glanced at her feet, pounding her boot heel into the earth. “We have to stop them. I don’t care how we do it, but we have to stop the coming slaughter.” She shook her head, eying the dissipating battle cloud, squinting.
Jaxx stared at the iron clad men and women behind Rivkah that held spears with barrel tips, most likely used to shoot energy charges, rather than to poke.
Rivkah sat down next to him, butting him over. “Scoot your fat ass over, gimpy.”
Jaxx sighed. If doom and gloom were a real thing, it was trumped by what would come to fruition soon. “I’m going to help them fight, but where is everyone? Are all the warriors fighting already?”
“Kaden Jaxx,” said a man, pointing at a temple at the top of the farthest and tallest hill, almost touching the glass dome. He dipped his head in respect. “I am Morning Star. My people are underground, practicing and equipping. We have many, but not enough I’m afraid.”
Rivkah chimed in. “They have technology that tops our own. High-mechanized tanks, ten-story tall mechs, advanced starfighters, you name it. They just don’t have the man power. These Atlanteans are masters in the air – I’ve seen it – and they could give you a run for your money, but that’s not how you win a war. You win on the ground.” She shook her head, her eyes soft, sad. Again, something Jaxx wasn’t used to. “I can’t tell you what I saw in East Rise, the city to the east, but it’s terrible. The Kelhoon are dogs and I can’t wait to whip them.”
Jaxx’s eyes went wide. “You’re thinking of joining this fight?”
“I’m not thinking. I’m doing.” She shrugged. “What else am I going to do? I either run, fail, or fight. That’s all I know.” She glanced at the book on the table. “Apparently, this is for you.” She stood. “I guess you, me, and blondie...uh...Captain Katherine Bogle...are part of some master plan.” She gestured to the book. “Liberty told me it’s all in there.”
Jaxx looked at the book. There was no doubt that he would help with whatever these people needed. He just needed to know more, to learn as much as he could about them, about any hieroglyph he
could get his hands on, just in case it might tell him something worthwhile, something important like the vortex and the pyramid power.
“What can you do with the pyramids, Morning Star? Can you use them in a battle?”
Morning Star folded his hands in front of him, then glanced at a few of his compatriots. “It’s not what we can do with it. It’s a matter of your willingness to do something with it.”
Jaxx tilted his head, his brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”
Morning Star scratched his chin, looking uncomfortable, then gestured to the book. “It’s all there.”
Jaxx took a step toward Rivkah, then stopped. “Your chest.” At the top of her sternum was a blue, glowing crystal embedded in her skin.
Rivkah put her hand on Jaxx’s chest and a warmth enveloped him, soothed him. “You have one too. It’s a way of communication between us and them.” There was a softness in her eyes, her lips parted. She moved back and shifted her eyes from his. She turned on her heels.
“Where are you going?” asked Jaxx, touching her shoulder.
She glanced at his hand. “To the temple. We’ve got to get prepared. We’re commencing a ground assault tonight, hoping to get as many survivors back over here as possible.”
“What exactly is happening out there?” asked Jaxx.
“There are many cities on Atlantis Alto – Callisto. And, with many cities there are many deaths, my friend,” responded Morning Star. “We only know what we’ve seen in East Rise, but the other cities are an unknown and unresponsive. Anyone we’ve sent through the pyramid coffers have not returned with reports.”
“Pyramid coffers?” questioned Jaxx.
“It’s a teleport system,” replied Rivkah.
“A teleport –”
“No more questions, my friend. We must leave.” Morning Star bowed. “It is your choice to join our fight, but we will not hold it against you if you do not.”
They all turned and hastily walked down the rock slated path, except Rivkah. “Please help us. I don’t know what it is, but you, Blondie, and I are important. I can feel it. We can help these people.”
Atlantis Quadrilogy - Box Set Page 42