The Seryys Chronicles: Death Wish

by Joseph Nicholson

  Dah didn’t even have to think about it. “Fine. Let’s go.”

  “Really?” she squeaked.

  “Yeah, really. I owe you at least that. But you have to make it quick.”

  “I will move so fast, you won’t even see me.”

  “I would expect nothing less. But remember, your friends need to give us Puar’s location.”

  Dah juked hard to the right and pulled back on the yoke sending the ship into an inverted nosedive. The ship picked up speed and it dived down back into the city. The atmo fliers matched his maneuver and tried to keep up. Dah kept the dive going until he was certain that only a ship with hoverpads would be able to pull out of it in time. He was right. The jets pursuing him pulled out of the dive long before he did.

  Dah flew the ship to Kay’s home. He was a few miles away when Kay spoke up again.

  “Just slow down, don’t land. I’ll call you when I get them. You can swing around and land briefly just to pick us up. Okay?”

  “You sure you don’t need help?”

  “No,” Kay said confidently. “I can handle this on my own.”

  “You got it, kid.”

  Dah slowed slightly and Kay disappeared into the ship. Then he heard and felt the wind whip through the cockpit as Kay opened the hatch and lowered the ramp.

  The wind whipped about her as the ramp lowered. She could see her family’s complex and when the ship passed over about thirty feet up, she jumped. During the freefall, she let her body go limp and when she landed, she tucked into a roll and rolled to her feet in a dead run. She kicked open the door leading to the stairwell that led down into the building. She knew the layout like the back of her hand from years of running up and down the halls when she was a child. She found the door leading to her apartment and knocked frantically.

  A woman answered the door, her mother.

  She stood there for a few seconds just staring at her mother. She had waited a long time for this moment and had rehearsed what she was going to say at this moment a thousand times over, but now she couldn’t say anything. She could only stare into her mom’s eyes.

  “Kay’Lah?” she gasped. “Kay’Lah? Is that really you?”

  “Yes, mom!” she cried. “It’s me!”

  “This… isn’t possible! We…” Her eyes darted about trying to grasp the situation. “W-we were told you died. We had a funeral and everything!”

  “It was a ploy. But I’m here! We have to leave. You are in danger. I don’t have time to explain. Grab some essentials and follow me.”

  Kay forced her way into the home and started rounding up her family. Her brothers and father were just as bewildered as her mom was only a few minutes before.

  “Where are we going?” her dad asked.

  “To the roof. There’s a ship waiting for us there to take us to safety.”

  “Are we in danger?” her youngest brother asked.

  “I’m not going to lie: yes,” she took the honest approach. “Any minute, there will be soldiers breaking down that door, armed and ready to kill all of us. I’ve already repelled them once, but I don’t think I can protect you again. Dack, you there?”

  “More or less,” Dah answered. “We’re dodging jets left and right up here. How much longer?”

  Kay’s mom came out with a suitcase crammed full.

  “We’re leaving now!” she shouted. Kay opened the door and looked down the hallway. It was clear at the moment, but that was subject to change very quickly. “You know where the stairwell that leads up the roof is?” she asked her brother.

  “Yeah.”

  “Good. That’s where we’re going. I need you to lead mom, dad and your brother there. I’ll be right behind you. Okay?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Good. Now go!”

  They left the apartment and turned left down the hallway toward the stairwell. To the right was the lift at the end of the hallway. The lift chimed and Kay just had a bad feeling about that. The lift doors opened and five soldiers in combat gear emerged. The first thing they did was throw a flash-bang right at her. She quickly pulled her Kit’ra and deflected it back down the hall at them. They all dived out of the way as it went off.

  The soldiers recovered quickly and pulled their machine guns. Kay could deflect one or two bullets at a time, but not a full-on barrage from three machine guns. She pulled a knife and flung it into the face of one of the soldiers. He fell dead in mid-step as the others opened fire.

  The hallway turned ninety degrees to the right and the door to the stairwell was directly on the left. Her family made it around the corner before the men opened fire.

  But Kay didn’t.

  When Kay made it through the door, she barricaded it with a piece of the stair railing. It wouldn’t hold forever, but it would hold long enough for them to escape. She met her family on the roof just as Dah dropped in with the Bolt Bucket. They ran up the ramp. Kay gave Dah the signal and the ship lifted off as Kay ran up the ramp and hit the button to close it. The jets were making a strafing run across the ship with their guns blazing.

  Bullets ricocheted off the hull again as Dah made for orbit as fast as the ship could go without flying into a million pieces. The atmo fliers wouldn’t be able to keep up and eventually would have to break off their pursuit simply because they weren’t rated to fly in the vacuum of space.

  “I’ve got a missile lock!” Brix said.

  “Get the energy shield up!”

  Naad punched a few buttons and a dotted line traced the outline of the ship on the tactical display.

  “Shields are up!”

  The ship bucked hard as the missile impacted on the shields. A chorus of cries and screams echoed from the main hold of the ship as they were all thrown again when the ship bucked once more. An alarm went off on the damage control console.

  “What is that, Puar?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve never been in a ship like this before. I think it’s saying-”

  “Computer, damage report.”

  “Gravitational field crippled. Total gravity failure in ten seconds.”

  “Damn!” Dah growled, slamming his fist down on the navigation console.

  “Buckle up, everybody! This is about to get really bumpy!” Dah called into the inter-ship com system.

  The gravity failed and all those who weren’t strapped in were now floating helplessly though the cabin.

  “I’m punching the coordinates for Seryys Four. I have a contact there who’s making room for everyone.”

  “Who is this person?” Naad asked.

  “Her name is Joon. She was a friend of Khai’s,” Dah said, remembering Khai and that he hadn’t heard from him in almost a week.

  “Ah shit!” Brix growled.

  “What?”

  “Sharks, coming our way.”

  “Naad, that console controls the cannon turrets hidden inside the hull. Keep them off of us long enough to make the jump into the black hole.”

  “Got it!”

  The Eve’Zon Drive thrummed with power as it ramped up to punch a hole in the fabric of space time. The shields were holding and Naad was doing a hell of job keeping those Shark-Class fighters off their backs. The particles collided several thousand yards ahead of the Bolt Bucket and after a small flash, a micro black hole yawned wide enough for a ship to pass through.

  The thrusters fired and the ship started passing through. This was the most vulnerable moment for any ship. Any cannon fire coming from the entering ship was sucked into the black hole leaving it incapable of defending itself. Naad stopped firing and the ship bucked and rattled as the Sharks took small bites out of the ship’s shields.

  “Aft shields aren’t doing so hot!” Naad announced.

  “She just has to hold together long enough to get through. We’re entering now!”

  And just like that, they flew in and flew out just outside of the Seryys IV’s gravity well.

  “Computer,” Dah called out. “Call Joon.”

  “Channel op
en.”

  Joon’s strained face appeared on the view screen. “Captain Dah. You’re just in time for dinner.”

  “Good! I’m hungry. Is everything all right?”

  “Yes, just tired. You asked a lot of me here today. Finding places for several families to stay was no walk in the park.”

  “I appreciate all your help, Joon. I know Khai would appreciate it, too.”

  “Well, if your credentials hadn’t checked out, you wouldn’t have been appreciating anything. But I have contacts in almost every government branch on Seryys. They were able to verify your identity within the police secured database.”

  “You could’ve just looked me up in the general SCPD personnel file through the net.”

  “That can be altered or falsified. Going to the source was the most reliable way to go about it.”

  “Point taken,” Dah said with a nod. “Now, we should be dropping in on you within the next five minutes.”

  “I’ve already cleared a spot for you in docking bay fifty-one. The doors are open and the beds are made.”

  “Sounds like a plan. See you soon.”

  “Captain Dah!” Kay’s mom ran to the cockpit.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Kay’s dying!” she cried. “I guess she got shot trying to save us. There’s blood everywhere and…”

  “Naad,” Dah snapped. “Go back and try to stabilize her. I’ve gotta land this bucket. Computer, raise Joon again.”

  Joon’s face appeared on the screen. “Now what?”

  “One of my passengers is badly hurt. We’ll need medical team to meet us there.”

  “Okay, I’ll send for one.”

  “Thanks. See you in a few minutes.”

  Naad came back to the cockpit, his face betraying a grim prognosis.

  “That bad?”

  “She was shot six times,” Naad answered his captain. “I can’t get the bleeding to stop. I don’t think she’s gonna make it.”

  “Damn it!” Dah growled through his teeth.

  Khai had been wandering the expanse for about an hour. He wasn’t talking or interacting with anybody, he was simply observing his surroundings. Even in day two, he couldn’t fathom Vyysarri as “normal” people. A man and woman walked along a catwalk roughly forty feet above him, looking into shop windows and holding hands. Kids ran by, giggling and shouting at each other. They were playing Tag. How could a race of people get so strong and so violent? Why did they hate the Seryysans more than they loved themselves. Yeah, Khai still heard the propaganda that was crammed down his throat, but this wasn’t the picture those vyyds portrayed. The vyyds only showed the Vyysarri warriors, bloodthirsty—literally—and relentless. After seeing this whole station, he was even questioning how the war started. According to his education, the Vyysarri attacked without provocation; they mercilessly slaughtered millions on a far outlying colony; they were a warrior race that stopped at nothing to achieve total control of the entire galaxy. He had to wonder how they evolved the way they did. How does a race evolve to a point of only drinking blood, or being allergic to ultraviolet light? It was a question he would have to ask Sibrex.

  He strolled past a class of younglings, maybe ten years old, and listened. They were being taught about their history. It intrigued Khai so he sat with them and smiled at the children. It astonished him how accepting they were of his presence. The children just smiled back at him and went about their business.

  “Who knows why we are here?” the teacher asked. A little girl raised her hand. “Yes, Anya?”

  “Because we do not believe in killing our Seryysan Brethren.”

  Brethren? Khai was confused. What does that little girl mean?

  “That is correct, Anya. We are through with the killing, the war. We need to reunite with our Seryysan brothers and sisters.”

  Vyysarri sick of war? Is that possible? Every Vyysarri he encountered on the battlefield fought with the rage of a sabercat mother protecting her cubs. This wasn’t making any sense; it was shattering all his beliefs about the Vyysarri. They weren’t stabbing each other in the back for advancement; they weren’t eating their young; they were just… people making their way.

  The teacher continued. “Do we hold the Seryysans responsible for starting the war?”

  “Yeeeees,” the children almost chanted.

  “But do we take our vengeance on them?”

  “Nooooo,” they all answered.

  Is he teaching these kids that my people started the war? Anger boiled up from Khai’s stomach. They struck first!

  Khai opened his mouth to shout an anger-fueled retort when a soft hand fell on his shoulder. It was Sibrex. Khai stood, his hands balled up into fist, shaking with rage.

  “Follow me. We have much to discuss.”

  “You got that right,” Khai growled through a clenched jaw.

  “Please, I beg you, not here. You may yell and shout all you wish once we get to a secured area.”

  “You might want to bring guards,” Khai warned.

  “If you let me speak, I guarantee you will not feel that way.”

  “You have shown me nothing but kindness and hospitality since I got here. So I’ll go on a little faith right now. But if I don’t like what I hear, you’ll have to kill me or die trying.”

  Khai followed Sibrex to a small room off of the Hub. A desk with two chairs was in the room, one for Sibrex and, presumably, one for Khai. Sibrex moved in first and sat in the chair to the left of the door; Khai took the chair to the right, directly across from Sibrex.

  “First of all,” Sibrex stared. “Let me give you my real name: Broon’Kur Broor.”

  Khai frowned, taking a moment to assimilate that. “But that’s…”

  “A Seryysan name,” Sibrex finished Khai’s statement. “I know. There’s more. What I am about to tell you is the reason I left the military. The teacher, to whom you listened, spoke of ‘Seryysan Brethren’.” Sibrex sighed and shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He tossed a picture to Khai. It slid gracefully across the polished table and stopped under Khai’s hand.

  “What is this?” Khai asked contemptuously.

  “Just look,” Sibrex requested.

  Khai did just that. The picture was clearly old, printed on a type of paper that didn’t even exist anymore. It was faded, tattered and the corners of the picture were worn down. To make this picture a fake would have taken a lot of time, money and special equipment… all of which were things these particular Vyysarri didn’t have.

  The picture had three hundred or so people standing in front of a giant ship. Khai had to squint to see the image clearly. The ship was of ancient design with a bulbous nose and cockpit canopy. Just below the canopy was some lettering in ornate script. This word shook him to his core. The name of the ship was the Vyysar. Khai looked up at Sibrex, dumbstruck.

  “We are of the same ancestry.” The six-word statement hit Khai like a speeding hover train. His jaw was slack; his eyes were wide and darting back and forth as he tried to grasp the gravity of what this Vyysarri just told him. Sibrex continued. “What would you say if I told you that the Seryysans actually started the war?”

  “I would say you’re full of shit!” Khai snapped, slamming his hand down on the metallic table.

  “I am not lying to you. I have no reason to. That picture is proof that I tell the truth.”

  “I thought Vyysar was a planet,” Khai breathed.

  “It was, at one time,” Sibrex said with a nod.

  “What happened? Where do your people live?”

  “In colonies,” Sibrex said sadly. “Let me start at the beginning.”

  “No better place,” Khai said, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms defiantly.

  “It started nine thousand, seven hundred and twenty-one years ago…”

  Chapter Seventeen

  We have a detailed record of our evolution. The crew of the Vyysar was commissioned by the Seryys Government to explore the outer regions of the galaxy when th
e whole government-funded exploration race began. They set out with a faulty Eve’Zon Drive that failed as the ship passed through the event horizon. The cataclysmic failure of the Eve’Zon sent the ship hurtling farther than any ship had ever explored by several hundred lightyears.

  The pilots of the ship fought to get her back under control but lost that battle when she was gripped by the gravitational pull of a planet several times bigger than Seryys. They crashed on that planet and were forced to live there for millennia. Planet Vyysar was a giant world, with a dying sun. No ultraviolet light bathed this barren planet. The first generation had the hardest life. Using only the technology of the Vyysar, they built a small colony. They couldn’t live off of the land, because there was no plant life, at least not that they found right away. Fortunately, as part of the initiative to encourage exploration, each ship was assigned specialists to be a part of the crew. One of our specialists was a brilliant geneticist. He was the one who helped us “evolve” into what we are today, though some of our features came from actual adaptation. The next wave of colonists were given strength to handle the extreme gravity of the planet, the forefathers struggled daily with the extreme gravity and if they were going to make this new planet their home, they were going to have to make things easier for the next generations.

  Food was scarce on the planet and the rations were running thin. Upon exploration of the area, the colonists found caverns deep underground where watersheds existed, and where there was water, there was plant life. The plants lived off of carbon dioxide, water and geothermal energy—rather than sunlight. Many colonists died slow, horrible, agonizing deaths from poisoning from the toxins contained within the plants. The toxin attacked the brain stem, causing bodily functions to cease over time. Despite their best efforts, they could not remove the toxins from the plant life. They had to find food and time was of the essence. They finally found some indigenous life within the caverns… rodents. These small rodents, through millions of years of evolution, adapted to the plant life and grew glands on their livers that scrubbed their blood of the toxins. At first, they tried grafting that gland to their own livers; that only ended in disaster and more colonists died. The next logical step was simply trying to eat the animal, but the meat on these animals was also toxic. It appeared that their muscle tissue absorbed the toxins but the glands purified the blood. It took several years to adjust to living on only water and blood, but in time, our people were able to stomach it and now, through thousands of generations, we cannot live any other way. Our bodies simply rejected the genetic manipulation.