Intrinsic: Book One of the Terran Cycle

by Philip C. Quaintrell

  The large door parted in half again, flooding Kalian’s senses with the sights and sounds of the bridge. Telarrek stopped in the middle of the doorway.

  “Whatever we find when we reach Century, know this,” he bowed his head looking from one to the other; “I will ensure Kalian’s survival.” He centred his eyes just on Kalian and walked off into the bridge without waiting for a reply. They knew what he was saying; I will leave Century to its fate if that is required to keep Kalian safe.

  “What am I to them?” It was said so only Li’ara could hear him.

  “I don’t know, yet. But I will not leave Century to burn; it’s all we have left.” Li’ara lowered her head. Kalian couldn’t read her face; she was still too much of a mystery to him.

  “You should both get some rest before our arrival. Ilyseal will show you to your quarter’s if-”

  “We’ll be fine on the Fathom, but thank you.” Li’ara interrupted. Kalian wasn’t sure if Li’ara had ever said thank you before.

  “As you wish, you are guests here. Ilyseal will escort you back to the hangar.” Ilyseal led them over to the Translift that they arrived in with Telarrek coming up behind them. He stopped, clearly intending to stay on the bridge.

  “I promise you, we will do everything in our power to help your people.” Li’ara entered the lift turning back to face Telarrek.

  “What if that’s not enough?”

  Before leaving them on the Fathom, Ilyseal gave them a disc the size a human palm, interlaced with smaller raised circles. She told them it was a way of communicating with the bridge should they require it. Kalian left the details of how to use the device with Li’ara; he avoided small electrical objects whenever possible.

  Li’ara keyed in the code to close the ramp and hatch behind them as Kalian looked across to the medical bay behind the glass. It was still a mess with used canisters of Medifoam on the floor. He could see blood staining the table and half a bloodied hand print on the edge of the door, his blood. At the time he hadn’t realised how close to death he had come; up to the moment he collapsed in the Valoran’s hangar, everything had been an adrenaline fuelled run for his life.

  Li’ara had entered the armoury towards the back of the ship, most likely in search of her relinquished weapon. Being the only other person around, Kalian naturally gravitated towards her. The armoury was a small corridor lined with side arms, rifles, a collection of knives and even another rail gun propped against the far wall.

  We really did come prepared for a war.

  The room was a contrast of dark grated walls and bright overhead spotlights. With her back to Kalian, Li’ara began to remove the various segments of her armour. Depressing hidden buttons under the plating created a suction noise before they fell to the floor. After removing her grieves, boots and shoulder guards she reached for a switch under the back of her chest plating. Kalian tensed for a moment unsure of what he should do next, he hadn’t announced his presence or made it clear why he was even in the armoury. Very aware that an awkward situation was seconds away he quickly turned to leave only to bump into the door frame on his way.

  “Try not to fall over yourself, Kalian; I’m only taking the armour off.” Had he not been so flustered and embarrassed, he would have detected the hint of playfulness in her voice.

  “I wasn’t-” At the sight of her he couldn’t quite find the words. With the armour removed she was wearing a tight fitted undersuit in flat black with a zip down the centre. The only skin it revealed was her hands and feet which were now bare. She pulled down the zip giving her neck more room to move as she slid passed Kalian and into the rest of the Fathom. Lump firmly removed from his throat, Kalian left the armoury behind her.

  “So where do we sleep on this thing?” Kalian was looking everywhere but at Li’ara while trying to move the topic along.

  “We aren’t sleeping.” Li’ara activated the hull cameras creating giant holograms of the outside. No one would be arriving unannounced.

  Looking either side Kalian could now see the hangar stretched out before him. There were rows of ships identical to the ones that Telarrek arrived in on the Icarus station. To his left was the vast portal that reached from end to end of the hangar, from there he had seen his world come to an end. He pushed the memory away.

  “You need sleep Li’ara. I got some while I was passed out but you, when was the last time you got any rest?” He had noticed the pale skin under her eyes becoming darker over the last couple of hours.

  “I’ll sleep when there’s time.” Always the soldier. “Right now I need to know more about you.” Kalian looked into the distance of the hangar; he knew what she wanted to know. She wanted to continue their conversation from earlier. The topic was hard for him to broach out loud. He had spent his whole life keeping it a secret not even knowing what it was himself, and he had no idea how to explain the event in the medical room.

  “What do you want to know?”

  “Everything. Chances are high this is the reason they’re so interested in you. If we can maybe figure it out before they do, we’ll have the advantage.” That’s what it was to her, what he was. Just another way to gain the advantage against a species they couldn’t hope to beat, and why should they? Telarrek had said they were guests, not prisoners. So far the Novaarians had done nothing but try and help. How could she see them as such a threat. Even Kalian was frustrated at Telarrek’s lack of answers regarding his significance, but that doesn’t make him the enemy.

  He realised he hadn’t said anything for a while but couldn’t think of anything to say, it was like his brain wouldn’t allow him to talk about it.

  “What else can you do Kalian?” Li’ara sat on the back rest of the long sofa, her bare feet digging into the cushion beneath. “You pushed me away without touching me. Not to mention all the floating stuff in the room. I’m no expert but that sounds like...”

  “Telekinesis,” Kalian couldn’t look her in the eyes as he said it, it sounded so absurd. But he had done his own research growing up. Waking up almost every morning with his belongings floating around had forced him into looking into it. “I’ve never been able to use it on a person before, only small objects, things I could actually pick up you know?” He took his jacket off throwing it onto the sofa. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he could feel a headache coming on. He looked down at his long sleeved top that had once been a navy blue colour. Now it was stained with soot and ash with blood stains around the hole near his abdomen. It would have to do though since his entire wardrobe was distant stardust.

  “Is that it, nothing else? You mentioned something about breaking Info-bands earlier. ” Kalian could feel those green eyes boring into him.

  “I don’t get on very well with electronics...” He slumped onto the sofa opposite.

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means they malfunction around me. I walk into a room after a bad day and all the fuses meld together, lights overheat, alarms go off, doors don’t open for me because the sensors short circuit.” He was getting frustrated thinking about it. “Shit just breaks around me.” He let his head fall on to the soft back rest.

  “That sounds frustrating.” Li’ara appeared only half interested as she was trying to piece a bigger puzzle together. “How have you kept this a secret so long, you obviously haven’t learned to control it?”

  Kalian lifted his head to argue his side but the subject exhausted him. He had been fighting this thing for as long as he could remember, and telling her all the ways he had tried to take control wouldn’t change fact that she was right. In a pinch he could focus his thoughts and feelings to limit its reach, but he couldn’t use it at will or for any good.

  “I’ve kept to myself, a lot.” He let his head fall back again. “I’m the reason my parents are dead...” he didn’t know why he said it. The words had never been spoken out loud before, only ever in his thoughts. The world had spiralled that day and nothing was ever the same.

  Today had that same feeling.<
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  “The accident with the Mag-car.” It was a statement not a question; Li’ara had clearly done her research on him. With the world having come to an end only hours before; this seemed so trivial in comparison.

  “They were arguing about something, I don’t remember what. I was in the back becoming upset about it, I remember the Weather Net had created a rainstorm that night, it was pounding the windows. I don’t think they even noticed the speed, why would they, it was on auto. It was the last bend before our exit, the Mag-car should have slowed down automatically but it just got faster and faster. At those speeds the magnets just weren’t strong enough to keep us connected.” It was as though a weight was lifting off his chest. Just talking about it out loud gave him the feeling of release. But the guilt was still rooted.

  “It went over the edge, into the lanes below.” Li’ara finished it for him. She was right of course; they dropped fifty feet, colliding with the back half of an empty Mag-transport. “The report didn’t make much sense after that.” Li’ara left her words hanging giving Kalian the opportunity to fill in the hazy facts.

  “The car was a mess, just a ball of twisted metal and broken glass. They told me my parents died on impact, but I...” He had to think of the right words. He had spent years reliving this memory trying to define what he could remember. “They had to prise the car apart to get to me. The space around me was untouched; the metal literally bent away from me, even my seat wasn’t scratched.” Li’ara continued to listen intently. “I passed out before they removed me, the next thing I know I’m waking up in hospital.”

  “What happened?”

  “I think,” he paused a moment. He couldn’t believe what he was about to say. “I think I kept it all back. The same way I lift things or the way I pushed you. I think it was all instinct.” Li’ara was just looking at him, no expression to give her thoughts away. Silence filled the ship as she absorbed his words. Kalian couldn’t believe the only person he had ever opened up to was a UDC soldier. The one organisation he had feared would lock him up forever and turn him into a lab rat. Something about Li’ara was different though; there was an understanding under all the training she had been put through. He couldn’t explain it, but he trusted her. His head had become a lead weight sinking into the sofa.

  “What am I, Li’ara?” He knew she wouldn’t have the answer, but he asked anyway.

  “You’re different.” Her smile was almost undetectable.

  Chapter Five

  Not long after their conversation, Li’ara had disappeared into the cockpit. She said something about running a diagnostic on the Fathom, but Kalian could tell her armour had cracked. There was a sad glint in her eyes after talking about memories of Earth. She had certainly lost someone, but he couldn’t tell who and he didn’t want to press her. She would talk to him when she wanted, or shoot someone- he wasn’t sure.

  Before leaving Li’ara, he retrieved his Datapad from a storage locker disguised as a wall. Apparently Li’ara had stored it away along with his bag. Kalian had thought never to see such things again. He had used this Datapad for teaching since he qualified; it was the one piece of technology that he hadn’t wrecked.

  With all the recent revelations about this new galaxy, he couldn’t relax enough to sleep. His head was full of new ideas about the other species Telarrek had spoken of, this Conclave and new invaders that even they didn’t know about. He had so many questions and almost no answers. Thinking about what they were flying towards made it all so trivial. There was a chance they might not even survive another encounter with the invaders, he only just made it through the first.

  To take his mind off it, he spent the next few hours trawling through his Datapad just going over old lectures and notes. It even had his schedule for the coming week on it. His eyes hovered over the delete option. He couldn’t bring himself to get rid of it; the one last piece of normality left of what was certainly his old life. Instead he skipped to the next file, bringing up the lecture he had planned on teaching that very morning. He laughed ironically at how little they had really known about the events that took place four hundred years ago. He looked at the image of the downed ship on Charon, remembering what Telarrek had said about it being a damaged Laronian mining vessel. Without realising, he started correcting the slides and surrounding facts of his lecture. He relabelled the ship and even changed the Solarcite to Intrinium as if he was preparing a new lesson. To think, the last four centuries of human history had been dictated by an alien mining accident.

  The silence was broken by the sound of a soft chirp coming from the table. Putting the Datapad down, Kalian could see the small round device Ilyseal had given them. The centre was flashing intermittently with the chirping alarm. Kalian was flustered for a moment, unsure what to do next. He half reached out for the device while looking to the cockpit door.

  “Li’ara!” He picked it up examining the domed ridges. “The thing, the thing’s making a noise!” Li’ara almost burst through the door at the alarm in Kalian’s voice. Seeing the reason for the commotion, Li’ara took the device back and placed it onto the table. As if making a point of it she showed Kalian her index finger as she depressed the central node. A full colour image of Ilyseal’s head projected from the source of the flashing light. Li’ara’s face said it all.

  Moron.

  Before Ilyseal said a word, Li’ara disappeared into the armoury leaving Kalian to talk to the floating head.

  “Greetings of peace, Kalian.”

  “Hi, I mean greetings, Ilyseal.” He could hear Li’ara putting on her armour and boots.

  “We are moments away from reaching Century; your presence is required on the bridge.” He definitely heard the clinking of weapons being removed from the wall.

  “Great, we’ll be right there.”

  As soon as Li’ara’s finished picking the right gun.

  “Will you require an escort?” One of her red tendrils had broken loose from the tight bind and ran down the side of her head. Kalian was still finding it hard to distinguish between the males and females, he was thankful for Ilyseal’s distinct red hair.

  “No we’ll be fine thanks, I’m pretty sure Li’ara’s got the whole ship memorised anyway.” He added that last part quietly.

  Li’ara came walking out of the armoury, looking more machine than human fully clad in her UDC armour. Her sidearm was magnetised to its circular clip on her thigh.

  “We’re on our way.” Li’ara picked up the communication device and slipped it into a compartment on her belt. They shared a look for a moment, neither of them knew what they were about to go into.

  They left the Fathom with Li’ara leading the way across the expanse of the hangar floor. Kalian wondered how far they would get before Li’ara was forced to hand over her weapon. Before they reached the door the hangar was filled with a low hum that seemed to resonate from somewhere else in the ship. The view beyond the force field flashed momentarily as a cosmos of stars reappeared. They were here.

  They both paused for a moment as staccato flashes of light were visible at the edge of the field.

  “They’re attacking!” They both made for the force field instead of the door.

  They weren’t the only ones taking a look, when they got there at least a dozen Novaarians had lined against the field. Kalian didn’t know what to make of the sight; it was like something out of the old science fiction films he watched as a child. Lights brighter than a star illuminated the view as atomic weapons bombarded the enemy ship. UDC vessels of all sizes were swarming like angry bees around a threatened nest. The detonations were constant as missiles and omega class rail guns were unleashed from every vessel without pause.

  Knowing how big some of the UDC ships were made the mammoth ship seem even bigger, if that were possible. What was puzzling was the ship’s reaction to being attacked. Every impact clearly hit the hull and created a considerable explosion, but the surface of the monstrous ship almost appeared liquid in its reaction. The craters appeared a
s charred smoking holes as expected from such fire power, but as quick as the ship was damaged it was soon repaired. The hull was continuously rebuilding itself out of nothing.

  “How is it doing that?”

  “I don’t know. I assumed from those scans that it had shields.” Li’ara was scanning every ship in the battle. If there was a formation to their attack, Kalian couldn’t see it. One UDC ship rose up from behind the far side of the colossal enemy. It was definitely the biggest vessel in this fleet but it was still too far away to make out the name on its hull.

  “The Centurion!” Li’ara’s eyes widened at the sight of the ship. “It’s the second largest ship we have.” She hesitated. “I suppose it’s the biggest one now, the Hyperion was in orbit around the Sun before it...” She put the flat of her hand on the force field, creating small ripples around her fingers. “We need to make contact with that ship; it’ll have the commanding General on board.”

  Oh shit.

  Kalian grabbed her arm as she turned to leave for the command bridge.

  “Look, there on the side.” Li’ara followed his gaze to the flat side of the expansive ship. It looked like the reverse of the rebuilding process. The side of the ship started to disappear from the centre expanding outwards. Small green and white lights appeared around the edges as if that specific part of the ship was just switching on. The new rectangular hole gave off a flourescent green hue that could be seen reflecting off other ships. Kalian’s fears were answered. Without any visible structures to support it, a pointed sphere glided out through the entrance to sit alongside its parent ship. It was an identical weapon to the one that had destroyed their entire solar system.

  “No...” Li’ara’s whisper was barely audible. He couldn’t believe it; they were going to do it all over again. As if ending one solar system and billions of lives weren’t enough. He felt an anger building inside himself at the sight of the weapon. Whatever these things are, they are determined to end all human life as quickly as possible.