by Grant Fausey
Callen's arms flew up from the thrust of an impact on his back. He fell to the ground face first. The critter on his back raised an arm, holding the curved edge of his Brandian Stick weapon high above his head. The blade plunged downward, narrowly missing its easy prey. The beast screamed in agony as a lightening bolt struck him in the chest, bursting through his back with enough force to push him off Callen's back in a smoking fury.
Callen went wide-eyed; his dark inset eyes lightening to the point of blue. Jolland swirled around in a lightening fast move that maneuvered her into another attack position. "How do you do that?" he demanded, pulling himself from the ground.
"Luck I guess."
"Bullshit!" Callen turned around. Another warrior hit the side of a tree and slid down the rough bark, landing in the underbrush. Jolland punched another Kel-fee in the face and headed toward the temple, running for her life. Tee right behind her and Jerolda Manchi behind him, bringing up the rear. He ducked, dodging tree limbs as they swatted back at him: The Kel-fee hot on his trail.
"Anything but this," shouted Tee. "Do you have a reading, Relix? We have to get out of here. Where the hell is the Atlantis?"
"I don't know!” snapped his stubby little companion. “There hasn't been a peep! Not a beep! Nothing at all!"
"Well––" shouted Tee, "Send another distress signal. This is as good a time as any!" The information crossed Jerolda Manchi's computer screen, but before he could send the message, a beam of light sprayed outward across the sky above the forest temple. The Beamrider, Atlantis II exploded into existence, emerging from the vortex of a future wave corridor into the threshold of a brilliant sky, filled with arcing electricity.
"Good job, Relix," screamed Tee with joy.
"But I didn't––"
The Beamrider shot for the heavens, arching across the sky in a wave of thunder that blackening the heavens. Relix centered his radar eyes on the horizon. The landmass exploded in an eruption of force that hurtled hunks of the planet's landmass into the clouds. The ground split open in a hundred directions beneath his feet.
"Holy shit!" Tee screamed, yelling on the run. “That bus wouldn't be able to stop long."
Tee scraped a knee, dodging another flying tree as he scrambled toward the steps of the temple. The structure shuddered: Its stone columns crumbling in the wake of the opening fissure. Jolland crashed into the ground, thrown from her feet by the force of another explosion. The soil opened behind her, swallowed up by the fissure. Her fingers dug into the dirt, dragging across the surface. But she couldn't hold on, the land was falling way underneath her. She struggled desperately trying to hold on until the last possible second, until; finally, she fell.
A cable snapped out to her, wrapping around her waist like a cord on a top. Relix tugged on the line. "Gotcha––" he clamored in an uneven tone. "Hang on ... I'll reel you in!"
Tee hit the side of a tree, bouncing off with enough force to run headlong into another warrior. His spindly legs hit the creature in the face forcing him to topple next to a fallen tree. Above him, the Beamrider circled the temple, coming in low on a cushion of air to hover amidst what was left of the western steps: A simple maneuver, but one that aided the crew in the rescue operation. Rotob stuck his head out of the hatchway, eyeing up the situation. He pulled Jolland aboard, pushing her through the entrance. Jerolda Manchi grabbed a hold of her foot, hitching a ride to the top. Tee, on-the-other-hand took a running start and leaped for his life catching the edge of the hatchway. Behind him, Callen climbed the disintegrating temple steps, stumbling on the way up. All he could think about was being left behind. There was no place else to go. He would be food for the Kel-fee, if he didn't make it onto the shuttle. Relix fired a line to him but missed. The temple shuddered, collapsing to the ground like match boxes, being swept away into the earth. Jerolda Manchi aimed for a second shot.
Tee slapped him across the back. "Fire again, will you!" This time the line hit its target and Callen grabbed a hold of the cable, flying into the air. The Beamrider's main drive kicked in, jerking Callen away from the temple like the tail of a kite. The cable sprang back like a rubber band, nearly pulling Relix and Tee from the hatchway.
Rotob latched onto the line and helped reel them all in. The hatchway slammed shut sealing the moment Callen's foot cleared the door. A particle beam leaped from the nose of the ship, cutting across the sky in a desperate attempt to reach the threshold of space. The ray engulfed the Beamrider in a burst of reddish-white light, allowing the Atlantis II to sail skyward into a network of swirling electrical arcs.
Jolland watched the planet rotate beneath her as the Atlantis II traversed time, heading back to the future draped against a backdrop of glistening stars set in a deep tapestry of space and time. The surface obscured by an atmosphere filled with soot and volcanic ash. Jolland relaxed and moved away from the window to relax next to Jerolda Manchi.
"Smoke," said the little tree-dweller.
"No––" said Jolland laughing, "just had one. Thanks."
Jerolda Manchi laughed too, but in a way she never felt before. There was sadness in his thoughts. A feeling of relief and conjecture; he knew the healing effect of the sun's warmth would take time to reach the surface, and even longer for the planet to return to normal. "There will be changes, Jolland," said Callen softly, putting his arm around her. "A different arrangement of life may be evident. The landmass will have been split apart with great oceans between them. But the beauty will return, and the Industries will have failed––that's the important point."
"Maybe," she agreed, feeling half sick from the smoke. Still she tried to smile, happy in a way but exhausted. The afternoon more than just a little ordeal, left her wondering about her father … had he set her up; tried to kill her in the midst of a cover up. Somehow, there was a feeling of insecurity she had to over come as she rested in Callen's arms.
Rotob bumped into her in a slight accidental turn of phase. "Sorry,” he said, his trash container shaped size and numerous arms flagging and whaling about. He looked up at Callen and Jolland and smiled. He didn't mean to drop in on them, but… “Our next stop is Telta Minor. I thought you might like to know!"
"Thank you," said Callen.
"In the meantime, how about you two get some sleep. We've an entire cargo of sleepers on this ship, and there should still be one or two empty pods if you'd like to try one? And get some rest."
"Thank," said Jolland, "but I think I'll stay right here for now."
Callen smiled, pulling her close and sighed, closing his eyes, in waiting for his own moment of awakening.
–– 25 ––
TELTA MINOR
Like a molten rock, the disabled shell of the jumpship, tumbled through space toward the glistening speck of a planet in the heavens. Commander Brant watched intently, making an adjustment here and there as the brilliant spot on his instrument panels spiraled into close proximity. The image quickly became a glowing blue-white planet, haven amidst the constellations skirting the edge of the Nexus and that point in space time known to history as the Trithen Barrier.
Jessica strapped herself in; the approach was going to be out of control. There was no way of knowing whether or not they would make it. Angles of approach, the decrees of inclination, the landing site, everything had to be perfect. There wouldn't time or power to make a controlled reentry. Wherever they were, they were going to end up. The best they could hope for was a landing, good, bad or indifferent. "The coordinates are locked in," Jessica told to Brant.
Brant's fingers gripped the stick tight, pulling the wheel back to him with his right hand. The ship righted as much as he could expect. The repairs he had made to the wire harness in the central access way seemed to be working. Now all he could do was pray. In a few minutes he would cross circuit the life support system, stealing the power he needed to make one course correction on reentry. That would be all he had power for. The main computer systems lit up, they at least had a fighting chance. The planet fell into vi
ew, filling the three narrow observation windows in the front of the craft. Suddenly the planet was taking up his view from edge to edge. This was it, the ship's alarms wanted to sound, but couldn't. There wasn't enough energy to run them. The planet's atmosphere struck the outer hull of the ship. The computerized countdown started wheeling backwards, Brant feeling the pressure inside him build to ignition. The thrust on him was similar to that on the outer skin of the ship. It would take a few moments to see success, or burn up in the path of failed reentry. He checked the nose's attitude adjusting it as best he could to thirty degrees. It wouldn't be perfect. The NAV computer whaled. The cockpit windows were beginning to heat up. "It's going to get a little bumpy from here on in," he said.
Jessica agreed, but not to loudly. Her seat rattled, bouncing loose from the floor of the navigation station.
"You still there," Brant said quickly. "I think we're going to make it, just keep your head."
"Instruments are useless, just about everything back here went inoperable," she yelled up to Brant. "I can't give you any course corrections at all; you'll have to fly her in by the seat of your pants."
"I'll give it my best shot," he yelled, letting out a scream as the ship exploded into a descending fireball. "But I wouldn't hold my breath."
"GREAT!" Brant pulled back on the stick and throttled up the engines, compensating the best he could for his missed approach.
"Hang on," he shouted above the racket of reentry. "We've hit the atmosphere––" Fear crossed his face. "She's sluggish ... can't keep the nose up," he mumbled panicking.
The space plane dipped beneath a blanket of clouds, leaving behind a smoldering trail of black smoke and debris. The craft was ripped apart. Brant fought hard attempting to keep the ship on course, but the ground was coming up too fast, the outer skin melting away, burning up in the atmosphere.
This was his worst nightmare ... dying in a blazing inferno. He pulled back on the stick as far as he could and blacked out from the G-forces on his body. Everything went momentarily black.
The thunder of the crash echoed across the land for kilometers bouncing off the trees, the soil, even the sky where the spacecraft came to rest. The fuselage splintered piling up against a mound of shattered trees and uprooted underbrush. They had made it to dry land at least.
The main body was broken in two demolished on both side of the central hull to where the main frame met the winglets. The under section of the ship was ripped away. The wings where gone, severed off at the mounting brackets. Only the outboard ship motors were still intact, ripped away from the rest of the bulk a hundred or so meters beyond the wreckage. The fuselage marked its landing in a patch of furrowed ground nearly ten meters deep, a hundred meters wide, and three hundred meters long. Pieces of the hulk settled everywhere, cluttering the soil in tiny smoldering piles of debris. Inside the ship, among the crushed equipment, sparking panels, and small fires in the front of the compartment, Commander Brant pulled himself away from the wreckage and released his harness. They were down, but not in one piece: Blood dripped from his forehead and his vision was cloudy, almost double vision.
"Jessica," he called, reaching out into the dark. "Are you okay?" There was a moan from somewhere in the rear of the ship. Jessica was alive, but he didn't know her condition. He searched the dark. The thought of being alone was overwhelming; his leg was definitely broken, just below the knee. Helmer's dead body was beside him on the floor, crushed by a piece of the fuselage that collapsed inward during the impact.
Jessica coughed and Brant breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn't alone. She wasn't dead. "Brant," she said out loud. "You okay?" Brant shook his head.
"Yeah, I think so."
"I don't see any signs of life," she added.
"Whose––mine, yours or ours outside?" Jessica laughed out a moan.
"Don't tell me––" she said. "Outside's a jungle."
Brant pushed aside an instrument panel dragging along the floor to her side. "It looks like we're stuck here, too: At least, for a while. I think my leg is broken."
Jessica as she sat up against the wall "Broken," she said, moving a piece of the ceiling out of the way so she could get to his leg. She pushed on it gently, almost majestically then with the force of an enraged animal, she ripped the cloth pants open to reveal the wound.
"Yeah, it's broken," she said to the commander. "I'm going to have to set it, you know?"
"I figured as much," Brant groaned, figuring his own demise was in the hands of someone he considered other than his equal. He didn't trust her, but he loved her just the same. He couldn't help it. It seemed his originator did too.
Brant screamed; the leg was set. Jessica picked up a piece of conduit that hung from the ceiling to the floor, and pulled the tube down from the wire harness, separating it from the instrument package along the roof. She snapped it loose. "It's not much," she said, "but it should keep your leg stable until you're well enough to travel. There's huts or something to the north of us."
Brant let out a long groan, responding to her pulling a cord around his leg. She had tied the tube into place. The commander knew too what, she was referring. "I saw them too," he said. "Just before we crashed."
Brant groaned. "We'll need a survival pack."
"In the morning."
"Don't worry," he said. "We'll get out of this nightmare, somehow."
"Who's worried?" she snickered, giving the commander reassuring smiles. She helped him to his feet. "Help me over to the hatchway, will you?" Jessica glanced at him then down the length of the ship to the open-air compartment at the other end. The rear of the ship was completely missing and opened to the countryside, but he wanted to use the entrance hatch. She shook her head, grabbed his arm. He depressed the latch, and she pushed open the cabin door.
The hatchway leaned outward, opening the door to the morning light in a slow, steady pace. The door creaked then fell off its hinges striking the ground. Jessica laughed. The planet wasn't covered in jungle but a thick beautiful forest: A paradise on the other side of the entrance.
Jessica pulled on his sleeve like a little child and the commander stepped out of the entrance as she helped lift his leg over the edge of the open hatch onto the downed ramp of dirt and debris. A mountain of rocks jetted up in the distance, embracing the blue sky. Bluebirds chirped in the distance, flying through the trees at the edge of a beautiful lake. Jessica's mouth dropped open, they were truly in the middle of paradise––the kind of place she had always dreamed of––a wonderland of natural beauty. The sky was clear, filled with streaks of orange and yellow and the air was clean, the ground firm, but soft like a cushion under her feet; rich with layers of grassy fields.
Jessica took a step away from Brant and ran through the meadow toward the dawn. She turned to face him, stared at him with a look of fear. Brant stepped away from the wreckage, and turned to gazed up looking back over the top of the ship to where some never before seen animal hustler, or bounty hunter but there was nothing: Only beauty and the wilds of nature. The young woman cringed and ran back toward him, fear covering her face like a blanket. Her senses frightened into awe. From where she stood, she could see the most awe-inspiring machinery she had ever been given the pleasure of seeing. A city of enormous size, a platform big enough to cover the sun from the sky for days crawled across the horizon, just barely visible in the thin air that covered the distance between her and the edge of the natural beauty that surrounded her.
The city towered above them, hidden by the height of the surrounding forest––a monument to something other than the Empire of the Industries.
• • •
"Rise and stand before me," thundered the voice of Alvericon. Travis lifted from his knees, standing before the mystical being bathed in his ghostly aura. He smiled and said, "I remember, Father." Alvericon returned the smile, indeed seeing beyond truth. "You have journeyed far but your task is not yet complete, my son. You must seek out your brothers and awaken within each of them, as Maccon
has awakened within you."
Travis looked down at the ground; he could feel numbness in his toes that ran up the back of his legs: An uncontrollable tension churning within him, pushed at him pressing him. He wanted to run away and hide but had no way of moving, or a place secret enough to congregate with the low life he would then consider himself a part of. Instead, he stood tall and faced Alvericon with all the strength he could muster. "The takers of life will soon be upon you," said Alvericon. "The fate of many worlds lies in your abilities. Should you fail, the future course of mankind will be altered forever."
Travis stared at Alvericon, feeling his heart stop; his entire body was numb, his vision reduced to a mere portion of the terrifying force that pulled at him from across space. Something unspeakable bore life and lived there. The youth searched his mind, trying to catch a glimpse of the beast, but only shadows moved in the darkness. His enemy was something shapeless ... something evil unknown to him. Something the Source called an Acreen.
The image faded then was gone. Travis returned to the world around him, his attentions drawn to the horizon, to the thunder of the crash and the massive machinery that lumbered across the distant fields traveling where the mountains meet the sky. It was devouring the planet's interior, stealing every bit of precious minerals this earth had to give. "A planet rig," stated Travis. "The city in the dawn."
Like countless centuries before, on Maccon's home world of Athin, this world was under siege. He knew it was only a matter of time, before there would be nothing left of it. He could feel the presence within him as he closed his fist tight about his medallion. The meadow flashed white. Travis vanished into thin air, propelled to the city by the power of the Source within him and his medallion. The light flashed again and the young knight stepped out of the brilliance onto a narrow plank: The shaky gantries and girder bridges of the city's main tower. Travis looked around, eye–balling the gantry behind him. He huffed and let out a sigh of relief under his breath. No one had seen him come aboard. The city machine was strangely familiar and he was no longer alone. Beings from a thousand different worlds inhabited the city. For him though, it was suddenly as if he had come home.