Equilibrium of Terror: Part 1 (Splintered Galaxy Book 3)

by Eddie R. Hicks

  Karklosea rose with a fist full of yellow sand as it fell from her grip like in an hour glass. Her green eyes looked toward the translucent horizon from beneath her imposing helmet as Stolanei stepped next to her.

  “Do you feel it?” she asked him.

  “Yes.” Stolanei said slowly

  “It’s a high concentration of psionic power,” she said, looking at his reptilian eyes peeking through his helmet’s glass visor.

  “It’s not focused, almost like it’s orbiting the planet.”

  “Then diving deep into the crust of the planet, only to blast back out.” She shut her eyes, trying hard to focus on the source of the power. Her suit was getting in the way, she needed to be outside without a suit on.

  “We are about to break orbit,” Captain Gab Ueyei’s voice transmitted to their helmets.

  She sighed knowing what that would entail. Walking back to the airlock, removing these gods damn suits, then teleporting back up. Too many steps for one simple task. All the while she’d be reminded that being indoors and out of the suits wouldn’t help her track the psionic force. They needed to be deeper into the desert to get a solid fix on it.

  “Understood, coming aboard,” Karklosea said, then addressed Stolanei. “We should come back and study this place in more detail later.”

  He nodded as they began to back track into the camp, walking toward the circular airlock door, kicking up plumes of sand behind them.

  … … …

  ►► Abyssal Explorer, Oyuri orbit

  ► Barnard’s Star system

  Karklosea and Stolanei made a grand return aboard the bridge, stepping away from a bright flash of blue light. Psionic Mil Dargonea attended to her tasks at the main psionic workstation behind Captain Ueyei’s chair. Karklosea’s blonde hair was still pinned back due to the helmet. She rather liked it, mainly because it saved her the trouble of having to use her powers to keep it still while floating in zero-g. Not that weightlessness was an issue right now, Dargonea used her psionics to generate gravity for the busy bridge crew as they attended to their stations, getting ready to leave orbit.

  “Welcome back,” Ueyei said, lifting his Vorcambreum head way up to greet Karklosea and Stolanei “Helm, set a course to Rasi.”

  “Yes, Captain,” the Linl helmsman said.

  “Any plans on a return to this world, sir?” Karklosea said as she relieved Dargonea from her station.

  “Perhaps. Given the lack of ships in system we’ll probably spend a lot of time transporting researchers back and forth,” Ueyei said as the view of the yellow planet disappeared from the window. “Something catch your interest?”

  “Psionic energy, and I have no idea why or where it’s coming from.”

  “The ruins perhaps? The civilization that built this are the same ones that were in Morutrin before the Linl showed up, correct?”

  “Psionics was given to us by the gods,” Karklosea said “There was never a mention in the ancient texts of another race before us getting the same gifts.”

  “Exactly the reason the Union set up a colony in this system in the first place, to uncover the mystery of the Lyonria.”

  Karklosea merged her thoughts with the Abyssal Explorer, she felt the ship enter sub light speed and head toward Rasi. As usual she didn’t sense anything else out of the ordinary in the system, nevertheless it didn’t hurt to project her thoughts and probe for the presence of Hashmedai ships. She stretched her shoulders upwards a few times to relieve the slight pain she felt in her Linl back. The environment suit pressed against the large tubular cybernetics mounted into her back, she’d have to request a larger sized suit the next time she travelled to the surface.

  The trip from Oyuri to Rasi took half an hour, during which she saw the new commander, and First Officer Vaishea chat with the captain while Stolanei kept his eyes on Vaishea. She never did understand his interest in the commander. As far as Karklosea was concerned she was one of the weaker ones she’d worked with since becoming a shipboard psionic. True, the Abyssal Explorer wasn’t a warship and its focus was science and discovery, but the galaxy was a dangerous place, ships like that needed a strong command crew in case the Hashmedai showed up. If something were to happen to the captain, then Vaishea would be in command, a thought that terrified Karklosea more than a Hashmedai ambush.

  “My gods, what is that?” Vaishea shouted as her gaze fixed out of the window.

  Karklosea scanned the region around Rasi as they slowed to enter orbit. She sensed the presence of a ship, a big one. Her ESP performed a deeper scan of the ship. It was four maybe five times larger than the Abyssal Explorer. Its power output was at a level she didn’t think was possible for any ship, even one that size. She sensed the presence of forward plasma cannons that rivaled ones Hashmedai destroyers used, an uncountable number of plasma missile launchers and a crew of thousands.

  “My friends, the Abyssal Pelican, the new flagship of the Radiance fleet,” Ueyei said, extending his tiny hand outwards, “and personal transport of Patriarch Ure Dalhakei.”

  The entire bridge crew looked out the window as the Abyssal Explorer made a flyby of the enormous ship. Karklosea continued to look at it with her thoughts. She sensed Stolanei doing the same.

  “The Patriarch is here?” Stolanei asked.

  “This system has yet to be blessed by anyone,” said Ueyei. “The Patriarch is here personally to do just that.”

  “We’re in a system that has not been blessed? That’s a bad omen. Even the human system was blessed before we started to study it,” he said

  “And look what happened there,” Ueyei grumbled to himself.

  “Exactly,” Stolanei said, grimacing.

  … … …

  ►► Radiance R&D complex, Rasi

  ► Barnard’s Star system

  Rasi was a more frozen world than the Hashmedai home world. The planet could be easily described to humans as a larger version of Europa. A sheet of snow and ice covered the entire surface of the planet while an ocean of water underneath it flowed, heated by undersea volcanoes. A few snow-covered mountains stretched outwards from the thick layer of ice, reaching upwards to the skies while arcologies across the planet’s surface became home to the millions of people that took up residence there. Rasi was indeed a proud achievement for the Radiance Union, that a world as harsh as this could be tamed and made livable.

  It was hard to tell the difference between night and day when the clouds hung overhead. Even under clear skies there was barely enough light to create a shadow of oneself on the ground. During cloud coverage? It was pure darkness, though it wasn’t a big deal to the people that lived there. As with Oyuri, the outside was uninhabitable, too cold and no breathable air so people had to spend their time inside the arcologies that housed the cities while relying on the bright lights to simulate the feeling of sunlight.

  The Radiance R&D labs were built inside mountains far away from the arcology where people lived. The reason was twofold. First, if there was ever a problem the lab could be shut down with minimal risk of contamination traveling to the population. Second, much like with the Hashmedai psionic training facilities, bombing the labs from orbit would be a challenge, Hashmedai would be forced to send ground teams into the labs. A detachment of rangers stationed there would meet them with deadly force.

  Alisha Levesque grinned at one of the rangers as she sat in the lab’s cafeteria. The ranger was a young Linl with a brawny body underneath his combat armor and he always flirted with her whenever he was off duty. Radiance weren’t used to seeing a half-Japanese, half-French Canadian around after all. Alisha turned away from him to finish her cup of Yarmo, Aryile coffee and attack her meal of steamed vegetables from the name of a planet she had a tough time pronouncing out loud.

  Alisha was one of the first humans to flee Earth during the Hashmedai invasion. She travelled toward Alpha Centauri aboard the Abyssal Explorer, only to discover her husband Jason and daughter Hannah were nowhere to be found. She was alone on an ali
en world with a few other human refugees. With nothing left for her, she offered to work with Radiance scientists aided by her background in science from Earth and was tasked with staffing this new facility here on Rasi. Luckily for her, the Abyssal Explorer was ordered to fly here as well allowing her to catch up on the Radiance way of life, scientific advancements and learn their language for the first year or so of the voyage before retreating to cryostasis.

  “Alisha, go home.”

  The voice that called out to her brought her thoughts back into the present. She saw Dr. Katotea standing next to her donning a white lab coat just like Alisha’s. She was a Linl with deep brown hair tied in a long ponytail, and a bad habit of always being late, thus forcing Alisha to cover the first hour of her shifts to keep the lab foreman off her back whenever Katotea had a shift in Alisha’s lab.

  “This is my first meal in the last twelve hours,” Alisha said.

  “Just because one day on Rasi lasts seventy-two days on Earth doesn’t mean you have to go that long without eating.”

  “That’s funny, now that you mention it, technically I’ve only been here for a day and a half as far as the rules of this world is concerned.”

  Katotea smiled and swiped a piece of Alisha’s meal, sampling it for herself. “So, how’s life in psionic augmentation research coming along?”

  Alisha’s first task upon arriving was developing and testing new cybernetic upgrades for psionics. Radiance was hoping to roll out a new line of psionics to counter the new upgrades Hashmedai recently developed. “Making progress,” Alisha said. “At this rate, we’ll be able to test the new implants on live subjects soon. How about you?”

  “My work is still—”

  “Classified, yeah I remember,” Alisha said cutting her off. Katotea was the only lab worker in Alisha’s section that bounced back and forth between her secret work and Alisha’s. Alisha’s head tilted to one side, the cafeteria was empty, even the ranger made his way out. “Guess it’s time to return to my lonely apartment.”

  The R&D complex had a rapid transit tram that carried commuters to the facility on a direct track toward Courelia, the closest city within the main arcology. The transit platform was located six floors down from where the cafeteria was located. Alisha found herself alone at the platform as she waited for the next automated tram to slide across the tracks to pick her up. She stepped aboard as it arrived. It too was devoid of anyone else. I got to stop working so late.

  The high velocity tram shot into the darkened tunnels. Only the bright lights from inside, reflecting off the white, shiny floor and walls, could be seen from the outside. The darkness from the outside of the tubes the tram travelled in, turned into the darkness of the outside world as it left the mountains. Alisha saw blowing snow pile up on the outside of the transparent tubes that protected the tram from the atmosphere.

  As the arcology got closer, the tram tunnels dipped lower into underground tunnels that were bored through the thick layer of ice on the surface. Eventually the tram was led into an undersea passage deep below the icy surface. If it wasn’t for the lights placed along the ceilings of the tubes and the massive lights on the surface of the ocean, there would be total darkness down here. A group of aquatic creatures swam through the waters, they lacked eyes so were relying on sonar detection to know what was around them. In fact, none of the aquatic life had eyes. No point evolving an organ such as that in an environment that has virtually no light source with the exception of volcanic activity here and there. A creature that looked like a snake caught a large eyeless fish in its two mouths, one mouth up front, another at the snake’s tail end.

  The tram entered the lower tier of the arcology that rested below the frozen surface. Immaculate buildings from the inside were finally visible. Skyscrapers dominated the view as with most Radiance cities. In tram stations sat people who waited for their next ride, elevators traveled up and down in transparent shafts. Below was a green forest featuring trees and plants from the Aryile home world. A circular fountain was in the middle of the forest, spraying a geyser of water in the air which trickled back down slowly due to the planet’s weaker gravitational pull.

  Bridges stretched out creating a web of walkways leading into skyscrapers, additional elevators and observation platforms looked over the forest below. Bright lights from the ceiling and holographic skies provided the fake sense that this entire environment was outside on a sunny tropical planet. Alisha’s tram ride came to an end as the doors slid open, no one else got on, understandable, as this tram was going to head right back to the complex she had just left.

  Her place of residence was a mere ten-minute walk away from the station. The sidewalks were filled with Radiance races, most likely people like her who just finished a late shift, or were heading to indulge in afterhours entertainment like the tavern she stepped past, full of Linl and Rabuabin, drinking booze and telling each other stories. A small river ran next to the side walk, the water from it fell off forming a small waterfall that dropped into another river below, which then flowed into the ground forest. It was all visible from the sidewalk that eventually turned into a bridge that hung high above the forest.

  Home sweet home, Alisha thought as her high rise building came into view. It was a white circular shaped building, adorned with windows and balconies. Each balcony had a small patch of grass growing on it with three or four small trees. They were based on the personal choice of the person living there and Aryile had tropical trees from their world, Javnis had trees that typically thrived on the swamp like continents on their world. Alisha had to settle with Linl trees as they closely resembled trees found on Earth.

  She swiped her credit chit across a scanner next to her front door. A beep sounded informing her that money had been withdrawn, thus unlocking her door. Radiance collected rent payments every time you requested entry into your home. It was a double edged sword at times, if you spent a lot of time away, it worked out as you rarely requested entry. This also worked out well for those that traveled in space and spent years away. But those that frequently left? They ended up paying more, though there was a grace period before the system charged you more credits to reenter. Leaving your home to visit the park for three hours didn’t require a deduction as you were only gone for a short period of time.

  Alisha’s suite was simply laid out. A large rectangular shaped main area that held the living and dining areas, followed by five sets of sliding doors, one leading to the balcony, three to the bedrooms and one to the rest room. She entered her room commanding the window to block out the light from the outside as she lay down on her bed. She picked up her data pad from her nightstand and her fingers tapped against the touch screen. To her surprise there was a new message waiting for her, someone had replied to her ad requesting a roommate. A Vorcambreum named Eicelea.

  … … …

  ►► Silver Raven, Rasi

  ► Barnard’s Star system

  Jazz climbed down into the Silver Raven’s cargo hold and looked at Chloe while shaking his head at her as she sat on a crate awaiting her chance to leave. He glanced back toward the upper deck he’d come from. No one was around including Destiny. Good. Now to ask the real questions.

  “I know about the beef between you and Destiny,” he said. “She popped you in the head point blank, yet here you are, alive with no signs of it ever happening.”

  “I don’t want to talk about that right now.”

  “Well I do.” He stepped in front of her lifting his top, exposing the area of his body where she stabbed him during their first meet up. She had an ‘oh, please’ look on her face. “Remember when you shanked me in LA?” He pointed toward his scar free six pack abs. “You got me good, should have left a mark, right? I also got shot three times with a magnetic rifle shortly afterwards and was left for dead. One of those bullets went through my head.”

  Chloe grimaced as Jazz lowered his top back down. “I don’t know how to explain it.”

  “Neither do I except for one thin
g, I had a run in with a red—”

  “Gem?”

  “Yeah with a glowing orb in the middle,” he said, crossing his arms. “Kroshka used it to heal me, ever since then my mind and body ain’t been the same. One moment I can get shot the fuck up by the cops, next moment those powers are gone.”

  Chloe reached back, placing her hands into her pocket, removing the red shimmering object in discussion. “Did it look like this?” She presented it to him in the palm of her hands.

  “Oh, fuck me...”

  “Before the invasion, Hannah told me in a dream I needed to take hold of this when the time came,” said Chloe.

  Whatever trick Kroshka used in conjunction with the gem to heal Jazz also saved Chloe’s life. One question answered only for new ones to be asked, why was Chloe dreaming about Hannah? And why did Hannah trust her with the task of taking a hold of this gem and not him? One thing at a time man, he thought as this was just too much for him to process.

  Destiny’s voice called for Jazz to come up to the cockpit. As he entered he was tossed a holo video by Eupiar. It displayed footage from the outside, Radiance people going about their business.

  “And I’m looking at what?” Jazz said.

  “We’re going to need to change our outfits,” said Destiny.

  He took another glance at the video, particularly at Linl. She was indeed right, the style of clothing was quite different. He felt like kicking himself for not thinking about this earlier, he spent a solid year living on Morutrin Prime so knew that Earth based attire was considered to be alien. “Might be best, I doubt the locals are used to seeing a human wearing Hashmedai assassin armor.”