2018 Lonestar Ventures, LLC.
Kahnu
1st edition
Edited by Misty Huffman and Yves LF Giraud
Cover illustration by Yves LF Giraud
WWW.YVESGIRAUD.COM
Published in the United States by Lonestar Ventures, LLC.
Copyright © 2018 Yves LF Giraud
All rights reserved.
DEDICATION
This book is for my grandparents
Yvonne Legoff, Auguste Giraud and Marthe Giraud.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
vii
Prologue
PART I
1
Chapter I: The welcome mat
5
Chapter II: Twenty-three days before lift-off
37
Chapter III: Martians
On Mars – (Lyrics and chords)
PART II
63
84
Chapter IV: H2O
105
Chapter V: Red lights
119
Chapter VI: Rita
161
Chapter VII: Chasma
PART III
189
Chapter VIII: The big cloud
211
Chapter IX: Kahnu
Chapter X: Varih-Aru
Chapter XI: Status report
Chapter XII: Kahjuna, the brown world
253
285
295
313
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
While this book is a pure work of fiction on my part, I would like to thank several individuals who have made this journey possible, either by landing their ears and knowledge on the various ideas and subjects this first novel covers, or by giving me the moral and encouraging support I needed to see this work to completion.
Of those, I’d like to thank my parents, Pierre and Monique Giraud, as well as my brother, Christian Giraud, for their love and continued support throughout my chaotic life as a writer and musician.
My friend Robert Cayol, my best and worst critic.
My ex-wife and best friend, Carol Via for believing in me, even when I did not.
Most importantly, I want to thank my wonderful friend, agent and manager, Misty Huffman, for all her support, dealing with my artistic personality, and without whom this book would have never seen the light of day.
Prologue
Kahjuna, the blue planet
A gigantic flash of light suddenly lit the entire sky. Bright as the mid-day sun and piercing through the cloud cover at over 30,000 kilometers an hour, a giant blazing ball cut through the thin atmosphere, igniting the blue sky behind its path in a long straight blaze of fire. As the object streaked from one end of the sky to the other, the shadows of trees, rocky outcrops, and other tall features below seemed to run across the alien landscape in the opposite direction. A few seconds later, the thundering sound of the tremendous pandemonium caused by the spaceship shook the ground below.
Inside the cockpit, bathed in a hazy purple hue, several beings were seated around a circular platform. Flashing lights and alarms were going off everywhere. The ship’s occupants, fighting the effects of the vessel’s speed and the planet’s gravity, were in obvious discomfort.
Sitting in the center of the group, Silargh, the largest of them, his heart pounding furiously in his chest, slowly raised his arm with great effort due to the extreme pressure the rogue ship was putting on him, and finally able to get his hand high enough, made a waving gesture in the direction of the circular platform in front of him. A perfect sphere, about two meters in diameter, appeared in the center of the pad. The shiny object, hovering just above the platform, slowly started spinning. As colorful rays of light, appearing and disappearing at random, began creating beautiful waveforms above its off-white surface, the sphere also began to glow from within.
“Silargh, forty-nine seconds left before impact!” said Tehe, one of the female passengers, without making a sound. She was sitting to his right, hands clutching her armrests, struggling to bear the enormous pressure that was pinning her to her seat. Her head turned toward him, she was waiting for a telepathic response. But, although he had “heard her,” Silargh didn't reply. He was concentrating all his efforts on re-initializing the ship's gravitational generator. He knew doing so while in flight was a dangerous maneuver. At their current speed, the shock would be tremendous, but he also knew it was their only chance to stop their ship before it crashed on the fast approaching ground below. The task was taking all his concentration. Regaining some strength after the previous effort, he slowly managed to raise his arm once more, and with another elaborate move of his hand in the air, made the hovering sphere rotate on itself to expose a small hole beneath. Inside, a bright light flashed an instant, responding to his telepathic command, and everything went completely dark.
Almost in the same instant, an enormous change in velocity sucked the air out of everyone's lungs on board the spaceship. In less than three seconds, the vessel's speed had dropped down to 1000 kilometers an hour. Any human would have been killed instantly by the sudden deceleration. The passengers, used to a strong gravity on their home planet and physically much stronger than any life form on Earth, were capable of withstanding much greater forces. Even so, not all the occupants made it through the maneuver unharmed.
“Tehe, Berhis is hurt!” said a voice in Tehe's head as the lights in the room came back on.
Without hesitation, Tehe unfastened her invisible restraint with a wave of the hand and rushed out of the room. Running through the corridors as fast as she could on her massive legs, her heart pounding with fear, she reached the cargo bay in seconds where she knew Berhis was stationed. She saw him as soon as she entered the room. He was awkwardly seated on the floor, his large elongated head resting uncomfortably against the back wall. To his left, a few containers were strewn about on the floor. Three other passengers were leaning over him. She could see he was having difficulties breathing. Her heart jumped in her chest when she looked at Lishieru's face. She was the most qualified doctor onboard, and from her deeply concerned expression, Tehe knew it was bad.
“Berhis!” she called out mentally as she ran toward him. Lishieru stopped her before she was in reaching distance.
“Don't touch him, he’s in pain and is having difficulties breathing. I’m afraid he may have serious internal injuries.”
Looking at Berhis with distress, Tehe said telepathically, “I'm here, Berhis, I'm here. You're gonna be OK.”
She was struggling not to grab his hand or touch him in anyway. Most of all, she was desperately trying not to cry or show him the fear and despair she felt inside her, seeing him in such a state. A difficult challenge since her people could read minds. He looked up at her and tried to give her a reassuring smile, but he was in excruciating pain.
Lishieru opened the box sitting in front of her on the floor and pulled out a handful of round objects called Rodas that resembled hockey pucks. With a slow movement, she tilted her hand and all the small disks started gliding out and approached Berhis’ injured body, slowly hovering in place under his arms, legs, back and attaching themselves to him. Lishieru then stood up and with a slow hand motion over Berhis, made the small hovering devices slowly raise his body, ever so gently.
A few moans and grunts came out of Berhis' mouth, a part of the body he very rarely used, but within seconds he was asleep. The Rodas, now supporting his body above the ground, were designed to induce the injured patient into a deep state of trance that completely numbed the person's sensory system, eliminating pain, and allowing the caretaker to perform any surgery without additional anesthesia.
“I don't know yet, we need to get him on the scanning platform,” answered Lishieru hastily. Every second counted and she was already rushing to the medical quarters, Berhis' body floating in front of her through the ship's corridors.
“Attention, everyone! We are about to attempt a landing. This is going to be rough. Secure yourselves! Impact in less than two minutes,” announced Silargh telepathically from the cockpit.
Lishieru, still controlling the hovering “package” in front of her, entered the medical lab in a fury, Tehe and two other occupants right on her tail. The lights came on automatically as they entered, and a hovering medical bed approached them to receive Berhis' body. With one more hand gesture from the doctor, a white cocoon like pod quickly materialized all around him, enclosing his entire body.
Tehe was about to rush again to Berhis’ side when Lishieru called her, “No time Tehe! He'll be OK for now. We need to secure ourselves down. We're about to land... TEHE!”
Tehe, seemingly confused at first, finally came back to the reality of their situation and rushed to a seat nearby to anchor herself in, as everyone else was doing on the ship.
In a few minutes, they would land on an alien world, a rocky and completely foreign landscape, covered by a wild and lush vegetation and inhabited by strange creatures and monsters they had never seen before; a dangerous and uninviting world, full of unknowns and deadly things. A new world, nonetheless, they now would have to call home. It was known to them as Kahjuna, the blue planet. Seventy million years from now, man would inherit it and call it Earth.
PART I
Chapter I
The welcome mat
The sky was still overcast, but the rain had stopped. Walking through the large Amsterdam airport, Dedrick was looking for his passport. He had just used it at customs and hoped he had not left it there. He stopped in front of a big map of the city on the wall and put his bag down. Searching every pocket, he finally found it in the left one of his Swede jacket and slipped it into his carry-on bag. After closing the zipper, he took a look at the map. The Schiphol airport where he had just landed was just southwest of the Netherlands capital, in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer. Staring at that name with interest, Dedrick was counting the multiple letters in it when a voice behind him called out, “Mr. Sokolov? Dedrick Sokolov?”
Dedrick turned around to face a beautiful short hair brunette staring at him through her glasses, holding a sign with his name on it.
“Yes?” he replied a bit hesitant.
“My name is Sylvia Kaarzeev. I work for the Mars First foundation. I am your guide. Welcome to Amsterdam. This way, please.” Her Dutch accent was barely noticeable.
Pointing towards the exit sign, she added as she started walking beside him, “Do you have any other luggage to pick up?”
“No, that's it. Would you mind if I grab something to eat before we go, though? I'm starving!”
“There will be a meal waiting for you at the base when we arrive. The drive is not long.”
Feeling there was probably not much room for discussion on the matter, Dedrick followed her to the exit. After crossing an automatic double glass door, they walked straight to a black limousine parked along the sidewalk. A man wearing a dark suit was already holding a door open for them. Sylvia gestured for Dedrick to step inside the vehicle and followed him in.
A few minutes later, the black car and its passengers were flying down A1, in route for Amersfoort, about thirty minutes southeast of the airport.
Sitting across from Sylvia in the back seat, Dedrick couldn't help looking at her. She seemed lost in thoughts, looking out the window at the scenery, her legs and hands crossed. A very attractive woman, probably of Asiatic descent, he thought. She looked sharp and professional while still very sexy. Her legs looked fit under her long skirt and her suit jacket was shaping her upper body nicely, without revealing hardly any cleavage. Sensing the Russian’s obvious stare, she slowly brushed her medium-length hair with her left hand, revealing a gold hearing dangling a couple of inches from her ear, then turned her eyes on him. Dedrick turned away immediately. She smiled.
“How was your trip?”
“Good... good,” he replied, trying to hide his embarrassment.
“I don't like traveling in those big airliners much,” she then offered. “Or I have to fly first class. People drive me nuts.”
He was glad to see he wasn't the only one thinking so. “Actually, me too. I can't stand some of these people. Not that I am complaining, of course. Your company paid for my trip and I'm grateful for that,” he added quickly, not wanting to sound rude or ungrateful.
Looking down, he noticed her thin ankle chain.
“Trust me, Mr. Sokolov, the company I work for doesn't mind. You are an asset to them now.”
“Yes, I guess. Me and forty others.”
She just looked at him for a moment but did not reply. As she turned back her attention to the scenery outside her window, Dedrick thought he had noticed a faint smirk on her face and wondered what she knew that he didn't.
For the next several kilometers, neither one said anything anymore. The two passengers lost in thoughts, seemed to focus their attention on the flat landscape rolling outside.
Dedrick knew very well this wasn’t Russia anymore. Of course, anyone observant enough would have quickly noticed the different vegetation, rolling hills, and European style architecture that was so distinct and differed from the buildings and houses he was used to back home. Yet, he was also thinking of how similar the world could be from country to country. Although several thousand kilometers apart, cities like Amsterdam and Moscow were essentially identical in their overall layout and function. People gathered and lived in them in pretty much the same way. Arteries of roads and highways often connected the different suburbs and places of interest to the town’s center while the essential amenities, water, electricity, and communication lines were made part of their intricate design. Some eco-friendly balance was almost always considered as well, allowing space for enough parks and “green” places, sufficient trees, walking trails, flower filled medians, especially in heavily populated areas. Mars would definitely be a new experience, no doubt.
“No trees or rivers there… I hope we know what we’re doing,” he thought, thinking of the other candidates as well.
Dedrick wasn't much of a talker and even less so in front of such a beautiful woman but the small confinement of the car eventually made him want to fill the silence, so he asked, “Do we have far to drive?”
“No, not far, we'll be there soon,” she replied without looking at him.
About forty minutes later, after having crossed several small towns and made several turns, the limousine finally came to a stop in front of a guard house. A few signs were visible but Dedrick couldn't read any of them since he did not know Dutch.
After showing his passport and a few checks were made by one of the guards over the radio, the gate was lifted, and the limousine let through.
They drove another kilometer or so through a dense forest of pines before entering a clearing several hundred meters in diameter. The grass looked freshly mowed. A few lonely trees stood in the open space, randomly scattered around. In the distance, a dense forest partially encircled the area, making for a dramatic contrast. A wide, two-story building stood in the center of the field. Dedrick quickly estimated the structure was fairly new and covered a good 10,000 square meters at its base.
“That’s a pretty big space,” he thought to himself. Another white building had just come into view behind the first one. A large dome adorned its roof. “There must be one heck of a telescope in there.”
Connecting the two buildings, a tall glass gallery was flanked by manicured vegetation and beautiful flowers of all sorts. The car came to a stop near the entrance of the larger building.
“Here we are Mr. Sokolov,” said Sylvia getting out of the vehicle.
�
��You can leave your bag in the car. I'll have someone take it to your room, but first, I'd like you to meet Mr. Bruininck before I show you around. This way, please.”
Dedrick followed the woman along a narrow, gravel path. Two large glass doors opened automatically as they approached the building and four armed guards appeared from inside.
“Hi, ma’am. We’ve been instructed to check everyone’s ID. I’ll need to see yours too, sir.”
“Don’t worry, this is typical these days. We’ve received several threats in the past few weeks. Lars takes security very seriously,” she informed Dedrick.
“The welcome mat, I guess…” he thought to himself.
A few minutes later, both entered a small office at the end of a long hallway. The man seated behind the desk looked tall and thin, in his thirties with a receding hairline, and a friendly smile. Behind him, a three-dimensional reproduction of the Mars First station, laid in front of a photo of the red planet. It included a couple of astronauts and two rovers.
“Hello Dedrick. I'm Lars Bruininck. Welcome to Mars First,” said the man smiling while vaguely pointing at the walls around the room. His heavy accent left no doubt as to his Dutch roots.
“Thank you, sir. Glad to be here,” replied the young Russian as he moved forward to shake Lars' extended hand.
“Please, call me Lars. Have a seat. So, how was your trip?”
“Very good. Sir, Thank you.” He thought of mentioning how long the trek had actually felt, but refrained.
Kahnu (The Guardians of Tomorrow Book 1) Page 1