by Lance Powers
New Earth One
(The Regina Scott Chronicles: Book One)
Lance Powers
This is a book of action, mystery, and exploration of new worlds… It is the story of a planet named New Earth One. The supposed last stand of what was left of Earth’s final humans. At first, it seemed to be a promising land – but, quite naturally, while the humans may have travelled far across the galaxy… their natures did as well.
Soon, with resources running low and horrific attacks from strange alien lifeforms on the rise, the last of mankind find themselves teetering on the brink of absolute ruination and extinction! Out of this turmoil comes a strict and totalitarian government’s ascension to power. They sought to bring the people under control. One way or another…
It is precisely at this moment when the young and bold scientist, Regina Scott, discovers an anomaly on New Earth One. One which could save what remains of humanity – or, perhaps more likely, see her killed! She stumbles across a secret which was never meant to get out. And in doing so, sets off a chain reaction of events more dangerous than she ever thought possible…
If you love action, gunplay, and bad-ass females – take a look inside!
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Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter One
‘NAR-SD-1013 Regina Lauren Scott.’ The little screen on her handheld console confirmed her signature. Smiling, she hit send and looked up at the white brilliance of the Sun. Mercury 2 was streaking across the Sun’s scorching surface on its usual six hour orbit. The small black dot of its disc looked like a dark hole cut into the blazing face of Sol 2. Mercury 1 would follow its twin in another half hour on their shared orbit. Regina adjusted the protective filters on her helmet visor and looked away, returning her focus to the landscape before her. Her full body exo-suit protected her from the harmful atmosphere outdoors, and sensors on the suit fed her with a constant influx of localized data.
“The ground shows no signs of harmful radiation here, just as the air over it.” She observed, noting down details for her next report. “But here, a few steps away, the toxicity levels are as high as anywhere else.”
She looked up the thick trunk of a nearby tree. It was several hundred meters high and its branches and leaves were not clearly visible from the ground without magnification. Adjusting the telescopic focus of her visor, Regina made her notes on the variation in the molecular structure of the leaves and the flowering buds. This entire region, the PDZ sectors, from 1 through 25 was her assignment for the year. It was her job, as an environmental scientist to study conditions in the contaminated atmosphere and log periodic reports into the massive database of the Science Division, the leading authority on anything science and technology related on New Earth One. The initial remote scans she had made from her base at home of this region were correct. The radiation levels of this area were not consistent with the rest of the planet. If that was good news or not, she couldn’t really tell. This was a first, a discovery that could entirely be credited to her. Of course, further research and analysis was necessary before any kind of decision could be made. Samples! She had to collect samples of everything in the area and get them to the labs.
A little probing device shot out of her backpack and rocketed straight up along the length of the tree. It reached the high branches and began collecting cell samples from the leaves and flower buds above. The data the probe collected was then transmitted down to her handheld console. Regina took mental notes and compared that with what she already knew. Definitely there were variations here from what the databanks of New Earth One held for so many years. She attested the information with her signature and sent it off to her lab back home. Home was about three hundred Terran miles from where she was at the moment.
“And now, a little sample of the dirt from under my feet…” She huffed and puffed, making her way through the dense foliage. “And if I could find a lake or a river near here, we’d get our liquid samples too.”
The pulsing sonar-graphic waves her helmet emitted bounced back information of a decent sized water body about another mile from there. She collected enough dirt samples off the ground and then fired up the jet propulsion tubes in her boots. The added boost allowed her to cover several meters with every step she took. The ground zipped past under her and she was within sight of a little stream in less than a quarter of a minute.
“Hmm, never seen water so clear and pure before.” She spoke into her recording device as she scanned the rushing stream. “The composition is quite different from what we generate inside the citadel. The ratio of Oxygen is naturally twice that of Hydrogen. And no trace of radioactivity.”
Her trusty probe dived into the bubbling water and relayed every little detail it could collect to her. The information confirmed her initial scan with conviction. The water of this stream was free of any impurity and if she dared, she could drink it right off the flow.
“I’d have to be totally deranged to even think of trying that.” She laughed. “But this place is so completely at odds with the world we know, it’s as if I’m standing on another planet.”
Was this a recent anomaly or did it exist from the beginning? If so, why had it not been discovered and analyzed? And were there other places like this hidden away on this hostile world that she was born into twenty four years ago? So many questions that begged more questions with answers far fewer, she frowned.
Now the only other thing she needed to have a record of was an animated life form that lived in these conditions. So far she hadn’t seen any kind of life other than the surrounding vegetation, not even at a simple cellular level. “A little insect or mollusk would do.” She sighed, scanning the horizon before her.
The sun had gone further down the eastern horizon and she had to get back home before it completely set. That was the most important law of the land. Nobody, authorized or not, was allowed to be outside the domed citadel after dark. For with darkness came the worst of it all. A poisonous radiation which corroded everything that was not of this planet.
“Right.” She nodded to herself. “I guess that’s all I can get for today… time to head back to the lab and have all of this data analyzed and catalogued.”
She waited for the probe to get back from the final sweep of the area before she could head for home. That’s when it caught her eye. The little dark cleft in the wall of the hill to her left. A strange pale light, green and luminous, was emanating from within the opening. Damn, that old fashioned probe. It still had a few more minutes to complete its scan. Her curiosity could not wait. Reminding herself to upgrade that probe when she got back home, Regina kicked in her boot jets and shot right for the cavern. The light from it seemed to get fainter as she got closer. What was inside? Her heart was beating faster now, faster than even when the initial scans of the region detected the anomaly that brought her in person to investigate this wild and remote area.
She peered inside. Darkness greeted her. The faint light was no longer there. The sensors in her suit suddenly began sending in data with frenzied urgency. Regina would forever be grateful for that, and by sheer reflex she had her jet propelled boots whisk her away on reverse.
The thing that lunged for her was nothing
she had ever seen before or even heard of. Twice as large as she, it was elongated, coiled and muscular, and it had several grasping appendages jutting out of its dark glistening body. The head was massive and it had no eyes, only sensory tentacles protruding from the top and a large slavering gash for a mouth. Gathering as much data she could about the thing, she kicked her boot jets into overdrive and widened the distance between them. It gave chase, and it moved fast, almost reaching her with each twisting maneuver around the tall trees. Then abruptly it stopped, as if held back by some invisible barrier. Regina pulled away, increasing her distance from it as she watched the creature turn around and glide away into the foliage.
“What was that thing?” She gasped, hardly able to contain her excitement. “It was amazing, this thing. So alive and active… in a world too toxic to support life; this changes everything.”
The familiar sound of the probe whistling though the air on its return made her wonder if she should send it after that creature. “If I can ever find the thing again.” She decided against the idea and set off on a blistering pace in the direction back home. Three hundred miles separated her from there, a mere half hour away at her present velocity of ten Terran miles a minute.
***
Ten miles out and she could see the gleaming dome of the citadel. Another minute and she would be inside its protective cover, and then home. The sun had another three minutes to set when she came skidding in to the first outer entrance .The security check point at the entry required her to indentify who she was. NAR-SD-1013 Regina Lauren Scott flashed on the monitor when she held up her left wrist imprinted with the code against the scanner.
“Access granted.” The monotone of the computer echoed around the airlocked tube as a series of doorway panels slid open to allow her in.
“Thank you.” Regina nodded and shot through the corridor. Another few minutes through the labyrinthine passages of the protected settlement and she would be at the regulation living quarters that she had been allotted to share with her parents. Living space was limited and people who were still single had to lodge with members of immediate family, or bunk at one of the several common dorms operated by Earth Gov. Regina chose the former.
Her wrist imprint gave her access to her own home and she sped up to her room. She stepped in and removed her helmet, allowing the confined locks of her long and lustrous black hair to cascade free. The jet boots came off next and she stepped out of the exo suit as it snapped open on command. In the full length mirror before her, Regina eyed her slender, well toned body with an appreciative nod before she glided into the tiny bathroom for a much needed anti-septic shower. A minute later, she stepped out and quickly slipped on a pair of clean slacks and a t-shirt.
“Mom, Dad. I’m home.” She called as she came down the stairwell. “What’s for dinner?”
“Regina Lauren Scott…” Her step-mother’s shrill voice made her wince. “One of these days, I swear, you are going to be caught outside after dark… and that will be the death of your father and I.”
“Aw, Mom!” She put her arms around the short plump woman. Regina’s birth mother had passed when she was just six, and her father remarried a year later. Lilith Hensley-Scott had never given Regina a reason to ever feel the lack of a mother figure. “I made it with three whole minutes to spare before sundown.” She reassured her step-mother with a peck on her cheek.
“So you did, this time.” The older woman shook her head. “Now come on, dinner’s on the table. We have soup and ham today, and boiled sweet noodles.”
“Yay!” Regina faked a smile. It was the same almost every day of the week, except maybe on Sundays, when Beef was rationed and there was Salmon on Mondays.
“So how’d it go, precious?” Her father, Milton Scott, former head of the Science Division, asked her.
“You won’t believe it, Dad.” She replied, wide eyed as she blew air on to a spoonful of hot soup. “I’ve got everything logged, and it’s all out of this world… literally.”
“You mean those anomalies on the sweep scans that we recorded last night were not some system glitches.” Milton Scott’s eyebrows arched upward.
“Not in the least….” She grinned excitedly, placing her spoon on the table. “Come on, I’ve got it all on file. Let’s analyze the data…”
“Not after you’ve finished your meal, child.” Her step-mother said in a tone that would brook no argument.
“Oh, Mom.” She laughed insipidly. “I’m twenty four, and have a doctorate in physics.”
“As long as you’re living with us, you’re still our little girl.” The older woman gave her a tight smile.
“I’m doomed then, to be stuck here all my life.” Regina crossed her arms and leaned back on her chair.
“Not if you wise up and find a decent man to marry.” Mrs. Scott looked up brightly.
“Ugh, not that again.” The twenty-four year old scientist groaned.
“What do you say, honey.” Her step-mother smiled at her father. “Don’t you think that nice Doctor Niall Bryson would prefer our Regina?”
“Oh, Niall. Yes, yes. Of course he will.” Milton Scott jerked up from his soup bowl. “He’s well established in the Science Division. Highly regarded and earns quite a decent amount each year. A very honest and respectable fellow indeed.”
“And he’s ten years older than me.” Regina exhaled and shook her head. “You guys are insane.”
“There’s nothing wrong with marrying an older man.” Her step-mother looked at her sternly. “Why, I’m almost ten years younger than your father and we’ve been very happy together.”
“Well, I’m not interested in Doctor Bryson and any man so much older than I am.” She replied with an air of assertiveness. “In fact, right now I’m not interested in any man at all. So I guess I’m stuck here with you two.”
“And so as long as you are, you will finish your meals and keep your room tidy every day.” Lilith Hensley-Scott had the last word.
“Yes, Mother.” Regina rolled her eyes and sliced into her ham.
On the media hype box suspended from the ceiling, the news played out across the large view screen. President Leland Roberson was making one of his promised filled speeches about how Earth Gov was making breakthroughs on improving things around the citadel. He also promised to bring the insurgent faction led by Mavis Orkney to heel. Regina knew that none of that would actually happen. There were no breakthroughs in the pipeline. If there were any, Science Division would know of it before Earth Gov did. And the rebellion against Earth Gov existed almost from even before she was born. Nothing all the Presidents in office promised ever came to pass. She turned away from the screen and sighed loudly.
“So what did you find?” Her father asked enthusiastically.
“Everything in that little area was different.” She sat up, widening her eyes. “The readings didn’t match with anything we have on file. There’s almost no toxic traces in some areas, and the water, the air and the vegetation are almost good enough to sustain us, naturally.”
“Hm, that sounds interesting.” Milton Scott scratched the stubble of his chin.
“And oh, yeah… there was something alive there, it almost attacked me.”
“What?” Her parents sat bolt upright.
“That’s it.” Her step-mother added. “You’re not going out on these hare-brained little stunt runs on your own ever again, you hear.”
“But Mom, it’s for research…” Regina protested, eyeing her father imploringly to bail her out.
“Don’t you ‘but Mom’ me.” Lilith Hensley-Scott looked at her with resolute eyes.
“Dad, can you tell her…”
“She’s right, precious.” Her father shrugged. “This changes things… if there are other life forms on this planet, and hostile ones at that. Also, they attacked you…”
“It was just the one and I’m not sure what it was…” Regina gave up with a sigh. “…not until I analyze the data, Dad.”
“The en
vironment there was different from anywhere else, you say?” The retired Head of the Science Division leaned in.
“Yes… almost free of all this radiation everywhere else.”
“That’s how this planet was when I was a boy growing up.” Her father nodded his balding head. “I remember the skies being blue and the clouds white and pillowy. Grass was green, the water was sweet and we had real food to eat. And we did everything without any of this confinement and surveillance all the time.”
“Yes, all of that is in the archives,” She nodded, holding a slice of synthesized ham up to her face and staring at it. “…and also how everything began to change about forty years ago when we humans went on abusing the environment.”
“The history tells as much.” Her step-mother gave her a sorrowful look.
“But why did it take a hundred and sixty years for the changes to happen?” Regina pushed away her soup bowl and reached for the sweet noodles. “Humans came to this planet almost two hundred years ago, in 2331.”
“Yes, we did…” Milton Scott smiled contemplatively. “…and back then New Earth One was a veritable paradise waiting to be colonized by higher life forms. It’s a pity we humans were never the higher life forms deserving of this world. And we ended up polluting this planet as much as we did the one we originally came from.”
“The original Earth, the one humanity escaped from after abusing it for centuries.” She furrowed her brow. “But how did we ruin this world in so short a time?”
“That’s what the Science Division has been trying to find out for the last thirty-nine years, precious.” Her father replied shaking his head. “We are yet to know how. When I retired from being Head of the Division three years ago, I told my successor, Doctor Hartman Keller, that unless we find a solution, we may have to leave this planet too, or die with it.”